Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Call ❯ Entry the Seventeenth? ( Chapter 17 )

Um… Hi. -waves to readers- Julie (or rather, Jewels) here. Surprise! Here's one of those special chapters promised by Corben. ^^ Written by yours truly. Now, I'll stop being a slight annoyance and let you read. ^.^

 

Jewels' Point of View

 

Staring up into the eyes of the person whom had been the cause of my, and a few others', leaving after him, I slowly passed the others until I stopped in front of him. Never once did I look away, nor blink. I had missed the face that was the subject of my attention, and it was almost too good to be true to see it in person yet again.

 

I wanted to yell and scream, throw a tantrum and lecture him about how idiotic it had been for him to leave as he did, but I couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I slid my arms around him, breaking the gaze only then with tears in my eyes, breathing in the all-familiar scent of him.

 

“You idiot…” I muttered, wiping my eyes with a hand but not moving away, just shaking my head a little. “Corben, you can't just leave like that… We need you…. Or, at least, I do….”

 

He was my friend; the only one I had left from before this whole event started up. Sure, I'd made new ones, but still… It was different, somehow.

 

Getting to the point of finding him, however, had not been easy….

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

For that first moment, feeling the absence of Corben, I couldn't move. Breathing, anything, was just impossible. Once I'd gathered myself enough, I fled across the camp. It was just a blur, and I didn't stop until I found Franky.

 

A lone tear slid down my cheek as I met her gaze, “We're going after him.”

 

I was thankful that she didn't ask questions, just agreeing and walking with me to where I knew Tarius would be. Sometimes my feelings are helpful, but the visions can sometimes get painful. Or not be helpful enough-I hadn't seen Corben leaving, and I regretted it. For some reason, it felt like it was my fault for not stopping him. Then again, the whole self-blame thing went on a lot for me when I didn't see something important. Sure, my gift had flaws, but like everyone's, but sometimes I interpreted them wrong, making it my own fault.

 

It wasn't the easiest thing to get Tarius to go along with the whole idea, however. He didn't want Franky and I to be going by ourselves, because Franky was the only fighter of the two of us. As nice as it was that he worried, I wasn't in too much of a mood for arguing-I just wanted to get going. Of course, I wasn't about to ask him to go with us-he was the main tech guy, after all-and he didn't seem to thrilled about it to begin with.

 

There weren't too very many people I knew, though. Biting my lip lightly, I looked around slowly, trying to think of whom to ask. However, my sight faded out….

 

There were many trees going past. Forests, miles, quickly. Ahead, Josh…Sprite was hurrying somewhere.

He wanted to find his brother. Right…

North….

 

The vision fading as it had come; I opened my eyes to find myself seated on one of the crates that had been laying nearby, Franky kneeling in front of me, holding my forearms as she stared up at me. Blinking slowly, I gave myself a moment to get used to all of my senses again, besides just sight and hearing words that weren't there in other's reality.

 

“Maybe Sprite could come with us…” I suggested after a moment, my own voice startling myself, seeing as neither of them had spoken yet. It had been nearly dead quiet until then.

 

“I'll go find him,” Franky offered, patting my shoulder as she stood. In reply, I nodded, and she headed off as she had said she would.

 

I knew better than to try to go with her for the moment. Whenever possible, I'd figured out it was better to just give myself a couple of minutes after a vision to get used to reality. It was one of the reasons I preferred invasive thoughts rather than the full-out visions. More than once, I'd found myself on the floor in my room after them if I'd been standing before. Apparently, my mind couldn't handle making my muscles continue to hold me up during a vision, and I'd gotten my fair share of bruises from falling.

 

To anyone who didn't know about my power, I know that a lot of them just believe I faint a lot. Let them believe that-my power's a secret. Corben chose whom to tell, and Franky ended up at my side a lot when it happened. Then again, I tended to stay close to her, anyway, when I wasn't around him… Guess I was down to only her for the time being.

 

“Sorry about that, Tarius,” I said, figuring that probably hadn't been the most interesting thing for him to see-I knew he hadn't been around me before when I had a vision, even though he knew about them. On top of his just generally nice personality, I really respected his amazing talent with mechanics. I was glad that he wasn't forcing us to stay behind, at least. If there's one thing I can say, it's the Corben sure knows how to pick friends.

 

He just shrugged it off. “It's fine. Don't worry about it.”

 

The remaining minutes until Franky came back with Sprite at her side were filled with silence. I didn't mind it, standing up and walking a little, looking around. Once they were there, Tarius gave Sprite the whole run-down of the vehicle. My attention waning, I just looked around quietly from where I stood. I'm not exactly very big in the whole sciency things; I didn't really need to know how to drive it or anything, after all. You don't let the seer girl drive, it's just common sense. It's a wreck just waiting to happen.

 

As much as I tried, actually wanting a vision for once, I couldn't come up with anything about Corben. God, I was worried. Nevertheless, I felt like I had every right to be. I don't think I need to explain why again.

 

Before I knew it, we were on the road, heading north. Where, I didn't know yet, but we went off any little blips I could catch. That night, I was slightly comforted by a few invasive thoughts, vague as they were, as I drifted to sleep.

 

Someone will find Corben, and he shall find someone as well.

 

The third day, I had another thought, which worried and frightened me more than the ones before had.

 

Salvage a soul so nearly drowned in darkness and loneliness.

 

I didn't know if it was about Corben or someone else, but still, it wasn't exactly the type of thing I wanted to hear right now.

 

As the days turned into a couple of weeks, we were able to find a pattern: Corben was going through smaller camps of sorts, getting more people to head towards our camp back where we had started this journey. Sure, there was destruction left in his wake, but it was only of the enemy. That couldn't be a bad thing, could it?

 

When we could spare the time, we stopped to help clean some of the wreckage and give more clear directions to the refugees. It hurt each time I saw a child in those groups, and we did all we could. However, we had to keep moving, just like Corben was.

 

Luckily, there were some people we passed who told of what happened, all speaking of Corben. It was the lead we had that was the most effective. Apparently, whoever was in charge of my visions had gone on holiday, sending just brief little thoughts on occasion to keep us headed in the correct general direction. Or so, I thought. Staring out the window as we continued on, the world blacked again.

 

A giant, six-legged turtle on a field. Dormant, quiet. Almost like a hill… A blur, then a highway sign.

 

Minneapolis

Next Exit

 

Jumping slightly when my sight came back and I heard Sprite asking if I was alright. Oops… Did he know that I was a seer? I had to doubt it, but maybe. Either way, I wasn't about to tell, just in case.

 

“How far away are we from Minneapolis?” I asked, just trying to play it off as just spacing off, even though I was pretty sure I'd blacked out again the wall.

 

“Err… We could probably get there by tomorrow night,” Franky said, looking on the GPS-like system that Tarius had installed-or, most likely made-in the car.

 

Nodding, I said, “Okay, that's where we need to go, then.”

 

As confused as Sprite looked, I just urged him on to head the way that the little map thingy said to get there. I tried to smile, but I figure it looked a lot more like a grimace; I hadn't been able to smile confidently since before Corben had left.

 

Once we stopped to rest, I took Franky aside, explaining to her what I'd seen, along with what I'd thought up since the vision. We just needed to get Corben back, somehow. The best thing I'd thought of was maybe a trap or something, based on the whole turtle thing. After all, that seemed like something that would catch his attention.

 

While I drifted off to sleep, I heard her talking with Sprite about it where they were finishing eating. Recently, I hadn't been able to get my stomach to settle enough to eat too much, finishing quite a bit before them each time, with a lot less in my stomach. Nerves, I guess. Knowing that we would see Corben soon, though, was helping some. One less thing off my chest, I guess.

 

On the edge of sleep, a soft thought came into my mind, and left as it had came, letting me sleep after it had passed. Kindred spirits light each other's way….

 

Just as Franky had said, we got to Minneapolis the next evening, and Sprite went off to set whatever trap he had thought up to make. After all, Corben would pass here tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow.

 

It seemed to close, after those weeks of not having any clue as to when I would see him again. Almost, just almost, I couldn't believe it. But, oh, I wanted to. It was nearly impossible for me to sleep for more than an hour that night, too anxious. Would he be okay? Or was he hurt? I had nearly gotten sick trying to eat before going to bed, but I got down decent amounts the next day.

 

Just a few more hours.

 

They passed more slowly than the weeks had, it seemed, but then again, they passed much more quickly. Time has a weird way of confusing people that way. Biting my lip, I spent the time sitting in the shade at the edge of the clearing until I had the urge to get up. Following the urge-something that was just natural now-I stood and went over to where Franky was with the fourth `member' of our little group; the fox that had grown attached to Corben before he had left. I hadn't even known he'd been with us for very long, the sneaky little thing. I knelt and scratched Loophole behind the ears for a moment until he darted away.

 

Franky turned away from me, looking the direction the fox had gone. After a moment, she moved to the side, giving me a perfect view of the young man who had led us on this wild goose chase.

 

Thus, bringing us to the present….

 

Staring up into the eyes of the person whom had been the cause of my, and a few others', leaving after him, I slowly passed the others until I stopped in front of him. Never once did I look away, nor blink. I had missed the face that was the subject of my attention, and it was almost too good to be true to see it in person yet again.

 

I wanted to yell and scream, throw a tantrum and lecture him about how idiotic it had been for him to leave as he did, but I couldn't bring myself to. Instead, I slid my arms around him, breaking the gaze only then with tears in my eyes, breathing in the all-familiar scent of him.

 

“You idiot…” I muttered, wiping my eyes with a hand but not moving away, just shaking my head a little. “Corben, you can't just leave like that… We need you…. Or, at least, I do….”

 

He was my friend; the only one I had left from before this whole event started up. Sure, I'd made new ones, but still… It was different, somehow.