Zen woke to find herself standing in a beautiful garden of blue wolfsbane. A dangerous garden.

“Are you dreaming of me or am I dreaming of you Zen?”

Zen turned around to gaze into familiar crystal-clear eyes. She smiled and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck and tugging him close.

“Does it matter,” she asked as she leaned into him and kissed him with a fervor she didn’t know she could have. She kissed him with all she was and he reciprocated tasting her sweetness as he delved past her lips into her mouth. They stayed entwined like that for what seemed an eternity. He drew back, pressing his palm against her cheek and running his finger down it.

“I don’t want to wake up. I miss you, all of you,” she whispered a tear slipping past his fingers. He leaned in and kissed it away.

“You left us in quite a time loop Zen. We just got out a few hours ago. We got to the SMVK but everyone was tired from trekking up the caves of Kuja that led to the Yuka.”

“What time is it?”

“A quarter to ten in the morning.”

“When did you get out of the time loop?”

“A quarter into Eight O'clock in the morning.”

“What! You made the others go up the Yuka caves in two hours? Are you crazy? It took us four to go down them!”

“Marco teleported Isaias and Edline teleported the rest halfway. We walked the rest. I carried Edline the rest of the way since she really used her abilities lately.”

“Yes. tell her she is a brave little girl and that I love her.”

Stephan grinned. “You can tell her yourself.”

“Stephan! You’re fading!”

“Guess it was my dream.”

“This wasn’t a dream at all, waterboy. We both know that.”

He grinned stroking her cheek. “I know. Stay safe. We’re coming.”

Zen kissed him.

“I’ll try.”

###

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Stephan woke up with a trembling Edline sparking him awake. Those were the hazards of sleeping beside a lightning elemental not quite in charge of her abilities. He sighed and wrapped his arms around Edline quieting her shaking. She snuggled into him and sighed. Her sparking stopped and she let out a little snore. He smiled and held his sister to him. Isaias must be in real pain. Zen is his twin and twins always share a bond. This must be hard on him. I hope my brother can help him.

He slept for thirty more minutes before removing himself from Edline and walking to the common room where Isaias was sitting on one of the sofas.

“Couldn’t sleep either,” he said, his chin tucked under his knees.

“Yeah, Edline woke me up from...a good dream.”

“Was my sister in it?”

“Yup.”

“I should punch you for that...but”

Stephan took a seat on the couch. “But…”

“I keep imagining what she’d do to me and...I miss her so damn much! I woke up from a dream of having my insides burned and having a hole carved into me by acid. That’s what they’re doing to her! I know it! I…”

“I knew I’d find you here,” Marco said, coming from the hallway and sitting down beside Isaias. He rubbed his back and Isaias leaned into him. “Zen is a survivor like you and like Senka. She’ll survive this and we will rescue her Isaias.”

“What are we going to do when we get there? It’ll be crawling with soldiers not to mention the Dons themselves?” asked Isaias.

“Well, we could…I have no clue,” he said, Stephan's shoulders drooping slightly.

“Heh that’s what I thought, Pirate,” Isaias muttered.

“Hey! Who got your ass out of the rainforest?” Stephan said.

“You were trapped with us!” Isaias shouted.

“Why don’t you just ram the station?”

Everyone looked at Senka who was scratching his back and yawning.

Isaias sat up. “Say what!”

“This ship is big enough to ram the space station that revolves to keep its gravity. Jam that and you doom the station. You can ram the biggest window and…” began Senka.

“Wouldn’t they have countermeasures against this though,” Stephan asked.

Senka nodded. “For an asteroid or a comet, not a ship full of Pirates hell-bent on saving their friend,” said Senka.

“We do this, we have to be able to fly out of there,” Marco murmured.

“Don’t you have a metal elemental onboard? He can direct the crash” said Senka.

Isaias grinned. “I say yes to this!”

Stephan sighed and nodded. “It’s a solid plan and with Val directing the crash we have no worries about external damages. Ok, let’s do this.”

Senka grinned and disappeared into the shadows again.

“I’ve got to learn how to do that,” Isaias muttered.

“As long as you don’t do it with me! I find it creepy as hell,” said Marco as he stood.

“Come here,” Isaias muttered, pulling Marco on top of him and Stephan got up and left. He didn’t want to see his brother smooching Zen’s brother. It also hurts a damn lot to see them so happy.

He went back to his room and stayed up watching Edline toss and turn. Even she can’t sleep without you, Zen.

He put his arms around her and snuggled with her. She stopped twisting around at least.

He closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.