Vic came around, as People all came with torches and many different light sources, to light the place.
Some went into the tent and saw, the stacks and stacks of kids, the fire illuminated them as many people saw they gasped and had sour faces.
I didn't care.
I only wanted for Marcilene to be fine:
I moved closer, dropping the bow beside me.
"I'm sorry, she wouldn't be like this is I had stopped the lady from taking her earlier."
I had the tears falling from my face even more.
'Why… why am I crying? She's not even my biological sister though, why am I crying?'
"I should have hit the lady before she got to far, I'm sorry."
'Is it because she's the one that has taken care of me… No, why am I questioning myself? She's my sister, one of the people that shows me love. A person that worried for me when I was going through something, she was there waiting by the door, she my Sister.'
"I'm sorry Marcilene."
The doctor put his hand on Marcilene's chest and a soft gentle glow came from his hand, a calm green color.
My eye began to sting but I didn't care.
I wiped my eye and felt the blood that was from before, Steel looked at me for a second and with worry on his face he covered my eye.
"Wears you eye cover?"
He asks me with concern in his voice.
Tali looks down and sees my hand with the blood and Steel covering my eye.
"I'm fine."
I try to move away, but Steel holds me strongly.
"No, I'm not letting you get hurt as well."
He turns to Tali as she stand over me, the same concerned look on her face.
"Can you look for his eye cover or something to cover his eye."
Steel asked her with a sense of urgency.
Tali nodded, but she walked in front of me before she did so.
"Where do you last remember throwing your eye cover?"
I shrugged.
"But the eye patch that Flock gave me should be near the campfire area."
I didn't even look at Tali. I was to concerned for Marcilene, and with Steel covering my eye, it was difficult to tell if she was completely fine, all I saw was that she had aura around her body.
Tali nodded when I finished my sentence and ran around me, toward Flock that had already been near the campfire area, since he was one of the few people that saw the inside of the tent along with the giant man/woman person named, Tran.
Tali tell Flock about what I need and they both begin to look for it.
Steel kneels next to me.
"What happened my boy?"
My tears still fall, but I don't freak out anymore, now I'm feeling a different feeling about myself.
I'm unsure with myself.
"Marcilene dragged us to far, when I told her about it we came across these guys, they ended up being Slavers. After that the fire died out, they freighted them and as lights died out lower. They grew more concerned for themselves, a clicking sound was heard…"
Vic stops with his check up to look over at me, the look of terror on his face after I say that.
Steel looks at me as well, but with a calm and steady voice.
"Did the cliques attack you?"
I shake my head.
"I think they helped instead, there was on of them a young girl that clicked again, she was dying so as a way to help her I used my eye to gain the Soul Energy of those around me and transferred it to her… I think that was her way of repaying me, she used her father to help me."
Steel nodded.
Then he turned to Vic:
"Please finish the check up on my daughter."
Vic nodded, his hands roaming back into Marcilene.
Talk came back and with Flock this time, they had the black eye patch in hand.
Tali moved infront of me.
Steel removed his hand and for a second I could see Tali's red aura, not as bright or as deep as Steel's but still red, until she put the eye patch over my eye.
"Are you okay now?"
I nodded.
My eyes began to feel better.
"Why did you run off?"
"I'm sorry, Marcilene ran off and she had her grip around me."
My voice holds a little resentment not to Tali, nor towards Marcilene, but myself.
'Why didn't I stop her, she not mentally mature as me and I should have immediately told her that we shouldn't go and do something that dumb.'
My nose begins to drip.
I wipe it, thinking it's mucus, but when I look to the back of my hand I see the redness of blood.
'Oh yeah, I was hurt too… the sword hits, the slaps, the way she straddled on me…'
I shivered at the thought.
'My head hurts too.'
My hand slowly heads toward my head as it begins to pound, harder and harder as I stay knelt there.
"Steel, I'm not feeling to good."
Steel looks at me and with concern on his face, and in his voice.
"What's wrong? Lazuli hey!?"
His voice doesn't make it any better but I understand he's trying to help.
"Please stop yelling."
My voice asked, filled with pain.
He look above me toward Tali that was standing right behind me, squeezing my shoulders, to comfort me, but has now stopped.
"I'm not yelling!"
I groan in pain.
"Yes, you are."
Instead of speaking again he looks around.
He doesn't speak, I watch him call for someone, before my mind fades and I end up blinking, one long blink that felt like it was going on forever.
My head goes limp and I feel myself falling before Tali grabs me and holds me up.
My mind goes blank as I fall out of consciousness.
~~~
When I wake I feel my head spin, my eyes flutter to an open and the sun shines through the window.
I look around and I'm back in Steel's room, my eye not covered so I have full view.
I turn my head toward the nightstand and see the eye patch there. Beside the nightstand is the bow from last night.
'Guess they thought it was mine.'
I grab it and pull it over my head.
There's distant talking going on outside.
I pull myself slowly off of the bed and hold myself up, using the bed as a cane for me to stand, before I take another step to stand tall.
"Everything hurts…"
I walk and as I continue to walk my feet feel good enough to make my hands leave the bed for me to get to a good standing.
I open the door, with a bit of struggle.
Each step feels like I've just finished running five marathons.
'Little me should not have been through that.'
I reach the stairs and hear more clearly who's talking, it's Marcilene, Steel, Tali and Flock.
My head still stinks though.
I walk around the wall that is near the stairs and head over to the living room.
They are still speaking.
"How long will he be asleep?"
I head there and another voice breaks through them all… Vic's.
"He should be waking up soon."
Vic tells whoever asks the question.
Walking around the corner, for a second everyone looks at me like an anomaly, before, Marcilene breaks into a sprint.
"LAZIIIIII!!!!!"
She screams my name as she jumps to wrap her arms around my neck.
"You're awake! Why didn't you let us know!?"
She smothered me with the strongest hug she could muster from her small, but very strong body.
Before Tali grabbed her off of me.
Steel walked up beside me and grabbed Marcilene from Tali.
Vic came around and checked on me from the ground, as I was on the ground because Marcilene jumped on my ass.
"How are you feeling boy?"
I look towards Marcilene and back toward Vic before I answered.
"He's okay with Marcilene being an Elf?"
Vic nods.
"Steel told me that he raised her, after he adopted her during the war."
I nod along.
"I didn't even know that…"
"Anyway, how are you feeling?"
He asks the question again.
"I'm feeling better, just sore, on my arms and my nose hurts."
Steel laughs.
"We can see that."
Both Marcilene and Tali, punch him at the same time.
He looks hurt by it even though I believe he's not and rubs it.
"That's better, okay. How's you Soul Energy feeling?"
Reluctantly I put my hand onto the eye patch.
Looking over at Steel, mentally asking for permission.
He nods.
Slowly, I begin to lift the eye patch and the colors of all of them show, all there regular colors and Flocks color as well, a light blue color.
I pull it back down.
"Wow, he had two eye colors?"
Flock asked.
Tali nods at him.
"It's also apparently a Soul Ability."
Flock eyes go wide.
"Your family is crazy…"
She scoffs, this is only some of us, wait till you see the rest.
"Really..?"
'They are people crazier than me?'
Even I grow curious.
"I feel fine."
Vic nods.
"Okay great, I'll let you be, but for now, I'll be out of your hair, and just like when we had to check his eye, send him to me once a week for a check up. Got that Steel?"
Vic gets to a stand as he walks toward the door.
Steel replies back before he exists.
"Yes. Thank you."
Vic is already out the door, by Thank you.
Marcilene breaking into another sprint and jumps into me again.
"You're just the best brother!!!!"
She smothers me in a deep hug again.
Steel takes her this time.
Tali moves closer and holds out her hand for me to grab it.
I take the hand and I go flying to my feet as she pulls me up.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome."
She says with a smile.
Taliguided me to the living room, making me sit on the couch, alongside Marcilene as they told me I slept for two days.
Steel told me that I did good as a son, but it didn't feel that way.
Regardless I was happy that Marcilene was better condition then me.
Tali told me that Vic said, she had fainted due to surprise and shock. Nothing more.
I took a deep sigh of relief.
After that scary talk stuff ended, we sat around and Tali told us about herself.
She is actually a traveling singer for herself, she met him on that said trip and after then both became very close.
They sponsored each other to the best of their ability, every song that was sang helped his clothing brand grow and every shirt sold helped her recognition for the world.
Tali grabbed Flocks arm and he caressed her hand.
They smiled at each other and planted a nice sweet kiss.
"We wouldn't have it any other way."
They loved each other, and they knew that.
After those words Steel just had to get involved:
"I give you permission to marry my daughter."
He smiled as he said that.
Both Tali and Flock grew red, and I didn't need to take off my eye patch to see that.
"Dad Stop!"
Tali looked for something to throw but couldn't find anything.
So instead Marcilene just slapped him, since she was the closest to him.
"Stop teasing them dad."
She sounded as brave as she could.
They all had a laugh together, I saw it, a happy family.
My vision flashed for a second to the image of my father, sitting away from me and my mother on the other side of our apartment room, watching an old show, that was cartoonish, laughing at the jokes.
All the while my mother yelled at me for a 98 percent in a class I had missed an assignment for, but aced all the tests.
Then I'm back toward this.
'I want to protect it.'
Their laughing was slowly dying down as we all continued to talk, myself included.
Flock turned to me.
"So you can shot a bow?"
Steel turn not to Flock or anyone else, but to me.
I still have my eye on Flock.
"I've tried it the night of the incident, but I don't have steady hands, nor am I able to hold it with enough power."
Flock scoffs.
"Don't say that lil dude. Believe me, if you wanted to, you'd be the best archer out there."
Tali nodded.
"Believe him, he knows how to pull back a string."
Flock laughs.
"Yeah, if we're talking about yarn."
Every looks around, then we share a laugh.
We continue coming together to laugh with joke, talk about our experiences and enjoy each other's company.
After a while the sun reaches a point in where we have to stop with laughter, since Tali, and Flock have to take their leave.
With a wave, they head in the direction of the square, where their most likely staying at an inn.
The sun is now hiding behind the horizon, which happens to be the Forest.
I look toward the Forest, but never behind it, to see the giant tree that sticking out of it.
Cutting through the clouds that are in the sky.
"Wow…"
I say.
"I know."
It makes me jump when he approaches out of no where.
Steel chuckles.
I turn back to not see Marcilene.
"She tuckered herself out."
"Oh okay."
"It's the Life Tree."
I turn to him, my head leaning out the window, using my hands to hold it up with the window sill.
"You were looking at the Life Tree."
"That's what it's called? Why?"
I frow my eyebrows.
"Because it's supposed to be the thing that provides all of us with Soul Energy. But since the tree is to thick, and to high to even climb, no one really knows if it true."
"Why would you cut it?"
Steel shrugs.
He pats me on the back before backing away.
I let out a gasp of air, trying to bring myself back from a near death with his gaunt hand nearly covering the entirety of my back and slapping it.
"Let's get some sleep."
He begins to walk toward the stairs as he moves away from the couch from standing behind me and watching out the window along side me.
"Steel, I… this time. I truly want to learn to fight."
Steel stops in his place and turns to look to me.
He lets out a sigh.
I get off the couch and stand up, as tall as I can.
"Are you sure Lazuli?"
I pause, my heart drops, I remember the violence of them, the pain of getting hurt again and again.
The fear of looking someone in the eye, while not having the ability to stop them from hurting me.
But I also remember the feeling of being to weak to stop someone from taking my sister from me.
I nod.
"I'm serious Steel. I don't care if I get hurt, but if I can stop Marlene from getting hurt in the process the. I'll be fine with that."
Steel nods, he takes a few steps and moves closer to me, he rubs his hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair.
"We're going to start early tomorrow, sleep and wake up."
He goes upstairs, meaning I'll sleep downstairs.
The sun break down behind the forest completely and the moon illuminates the Life tree once more. As I lean on the couch and feel the heaviness of my eyes, even though it was closer for two whole days.