"Okay." Ace sat back, already lost in a daydream. His eyes met Macha's and he grinned, blowing her a kiss. Ace stretched, his suit dusting sand all around, he pulled off his suit jacket, exposing the white dress shirt, only just noticing the blood-stained red bandanna falling onto the ground next to Blake.
Zander picked up the bloody clothe and began to pass it up to him," Are you sure you're okay? I don't remember cutting you."
Blake was unsure of what to say, but still worried for his friend. He clumsily stretched out his wing and wrapped it fully around Ace.
"That's because you didn't," Ace hissed and snatched the bandanna out of Zander's hands.
Zander raised his hands in mock-surrrender," Chill man, we're cool now. You don't shoot me, I don't stab you, you know, all that stuff." Zander got up," Look I'm sorry for your loss, I' heard you say that you had a tough day."
Ace's heart hardened. Sorry for your loss…He took a deep breathe, "It's cool, man." he smiled, but it was forced.
GTG BRB (got to go, be right back)
Blake began to pick up on the rising tension in the room. Unwilling to have any anger taken out on him, he made himself look as small as possible, bending over Kata and trying to focus his nervous energy on petting her soft fur.
Ace looked over a Blake, his anger cooling, "We should really be getting back, y'know?"
Zander could tell he struck a nerve, this was an emotional minefield and he just stepped on the biggest one. Why hadn't the R.A.C. ever done a course of this stuff. It was way more useful than how to turn ogre eggs into said mine.(very deadly) Now he had to wait it out, so he sat back down to brush Blake's hair. It was surprisingly knotted.
"I don't wanna go back, not yet." Blake looked away at the floor, starting to get worked up.
"Why?"
Zander got back up, "Blake I'll finsh you hair when we get to where we are going."
"I don't want to go." Blake restated, hot tears running down his cheeks again.
Ace's thoughts gushed like a river with no end. Knife, blood, ship, sea red, death, loss, gone, salt, pirate, love, hate, slave, deck, cabin, anger, happiness, love, love, love, love, love, Kameo- "Why not, Blake?"
Zander squat next to Blake and put an arm on his shoulder," What's up man? Is this about Dani?"
Blake curled his wings around himself protectively, half expected to be hit for disobeying direct orders. "N-No… I can't g-go back… Not a-after what happened." He looked at Zander for support, his voice breaking.
Ace wrapped his arms around Blake, "It'll be okay. Come back. Please."
" I remember, you said Dani had a file on your parents, but Blake if we go back you might meet someone who knew them. You could get to know you're real parents, not the lies the R.A.C. fed you. " Zander soothed.
Ace nodded, placing an arm on Zander's shoulder. Jealousy began creeping into his system as he noticed how close Blake and Zander were.
"T-They're gone, Ace!" Blake suddenly wailed, tears pooling down his face unchecked. "M-My parents… " He whispered desperately his voice dropping in volume. Blake choked on a sob, clutching onto Ace's arm tightly.
Ace buried Blake into a hug and held him, with Blake's chest heaving with sobs and Ace letting Blake's tears mix with the material of his suit,
Kata purred against Blake, trying to comfort him in any way she could.
GTG BRB
Blake's hated that he remembered. He hated crying and feeling terrible. "I don't think I had enough to drink." He said, sniffing and holding Ace close.
"You had too much to drink." Ace patted Blake's mess of blond hair and bopped his nose. "We can stay here if you want, until you can go back. We're not safe here."
Blake hiccupped and then fluffed up his wings as if he'd startled himself. "I wanna go home and take a nap." Blake was calming down now, starting to slacken his grip on Ace.
"Ok." Ace put his hands on Blake's shoulders, trying to lift him up, "Work with me here?"
Zander felt aroud his pockets til he found what he was looking for. It was a small oval mirror that could expand, with ornate detailing around the edges, and it had once belonged to a witch. It had been meant as a gift for Lily but, he felt Blake needed it more, after all she had him still. He turned to face Blake, "I think you're going to want to look into this." (It has the power to show relatives who have passed on stand behind the person holding it and bring comfort onto the person it is being reflected upon(in rare cases the witch said if feelings are strong enough the relative spirits will come))
ooh! Like the mirror of Erised!