Chapter 27-Team Noah’s Fourth Member, Part Two
"WE WON!"
"WE WON!"
"WE WON!"
Khione and I continue to holler and cheer as we set up our tents. Although the sun had LITERALLY just risen after we had defeated Twilight Wolf, the four of us are dead tired after our non-stop battles, and are in need of some desperate shut-eye.
Mary sits by herself a couple of feet away from the camp, smiling shyly with her knees tucked into her chest.
"They're lively, those two, eh?" Old-Man F asks as he takes a seat next to Mary, and this time, the girl doesn't flinch.
"Yeah…" Mary replies with a small smile, "Zippy and Cherika were quite lively too, but Noah and Khione feel…DIFFERENT, somehow. They're liveliness just feels…BRIGHTER."
"That's because they're bright people," Old-Man F replies as he watches Khione and I dance around the fire that we're SUPPOSED to make dinner over.
Old-Man F and Mary sit in silence for a bit.
"I'm…sorry," Old-Man F eventually says, breaking the silence, "I'm sorry for saying that you were too much trouble than you're worth, and for treating you like a traitor."
"It's alright," Mary replies as she wipes her eyes, "I'm sorry I paged Twilight Wolf."
"It's fine. If you didn't, then happy we wouldn't be sitting here now."
Mary's eyes widen as she peers up at Old-Man F. "Can I call you…Grandpa Flint?"
"H-HUH?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, was that too forward?! Maybe I should tone things down a bit…"
"It's not that! It's calling me your grandpa, part! I'm old enough to be your dad, not your grandpa!"
"You are? I thought you were…in your sixties?"
Old-Man F's face goes blank.
"Plus, Noah and Khione have really funny nicknames for you! I heard Noah call you an old-man, and Khione calls you 'Master F'!"
"You have a cute laugh," Old-Man F smiles, causing Mary to blush, "But don't you have something to say to Noah and Khione?"
"R-right…" Mary replies as she stands up and dusts herself off, "Thank you."
"Not a problem," Old-Man F replies as he waves Mary off.
"Um…Noah, Khione?" Mary asks as she timidly strolls over to us.
"Yeah, what's up?" I ask with a smile as Khione and I turn to face Mary.
A blush creeps across Mary's face. "Can I call you…big brother and big sis?"
Khione and I are silent.
"No, not again!" Mary groans as she looks away in embarrassment.
Khione and I then rear to the sky and begin laughing.
"H-huh…?"
"Of course you can!" Khione and I laugh.
Our laughter then slows down as we peer back to Mary.
"Now…let's eat!"
And so, Khione, Old-Man F, Mary, and myself gather around the fire as we have a lively breakfast.
"So if Mary's our team's healer, and Noah is the captain, then what's my role?" Khione asks.
"Well I'M certainly the Vice-Captain," Old-Man F snickers.
"You, Khione…" I say, "Are the HEART."
"The…Heart?" Khione asks.
"The Heart!" I answer, "You're the brightest and kindest of us, Khione, you're the caring, personable, and social one of the group!"
"I see…" Khione replies with a small smile, "I'll take it."
"I wonder what's gonna happen to Tungsten and Zippy…?" Mary asks.
"Who knows," I shrug, "Knowing those two, maybe they'll start up another bandit group, or something."
"Yeah, and they'll probably call it something stupid like Dawn Huskies, or something," Khione snickers.
"I'm glad you let them live, Noah," Old-Man F adds.
"We had no reason not to," I shrug as I slurp down some soup, "And besides, those two are the only remaining members of Twilight Wolf, they're hardly a threat anymore. And on top of that, I like the idea of sparing some bandits every time to spread the name and goals of Team Noah. Maybe it'll help us prevent the Elemental Apocalypse."
"Good thinking," Old-Man F replies as he chomps down on some soup as well.
"What about the train?" Khione asks as she greedily shoves another spoonful of soup into her mouth, "Should we have kept it?"
"No, it'll bring back bad memories…" Mary shudders.
"And besides, riding around in a train will spoil our fun!" I exclaim, "My favorite part about this quest is strolling through the desert with you guys, watering plants, and randomly getting attacked by Old-Man F during our training. We can't do that on a train!"
"A-attacked?!" Mary squeaks, causing the rest of us to laugh.
As my laughter slows down, Old-Man F taps me on the arm.
"Yeah?" I ask.
"Noah, I need to talk to you," Old-Man F whispers, "ALONE."
"Ah…alright" I sigh as I place my bowl of soup down and stand up.
"Where are you two going?" Khione asks as Old-Man F begins leading me away from the campsite.
"We gotta talk about many things," I answer, causing Khione and Mary to turn to one another and shrug.
"So Khione, what are you going to do now?" Mary asks.
"What do you mean?" Khione asks as she turns to face the girl.
"Now that you've obtained your goal of avenging your parents, where do you go from here?" Mary asks.
"Oh, that's simple!" Khione answers, "Now…I fight to create a girl where little girls like you and I once was could live in peace, rather than having to fight!"
Mary smiles. "That's…a great goal,"
"Do you think Khione is alright?" I ask the second the two of us are out of ear range.
"Yeah, it was pretty obvious what I wanted to talk to you about," Old-Man F replies.
"Well what do you think?" I ask, "You knew Khione longer, do you think she's alright."
"I…I don't know…" Old-Man F sighs, "That's the scary part, that Khione DOES seem alright after committing murder."
"But was it really murder?" I ask, "Cherika killed Khione's parents, she had it coming."
"That's true," Old-Man F replies, "HOWEVER, I've done horrible things as a member of Twilight Wolf, I've…KILLED people. And I just don't want to see my daughter become like me."
"I understand," I reply as I place a hand on Old-Man F's shoulder, "But this Khione we're talking about, remember? She'll NEVER lose her way!"
"You're right," Old-Man F replied with a small smile, "Now…let's go finish breakfast."