On the other side of Geraheim, Roun was also lying in bed. Unlike Zed however, he was not rewarding himself with rest and relaxation. In the week since his departure from the Gaea pocket, he had spent the better part of three days bringing his friends and fellow guardians up to speed on what had transpired thus far. But the entire ordeal had left him psychologically drained, and with the gravity of his upcoming battle with Teros weighing heavily upon him, the young man had fallen into a somewhat depressive state.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as sympathetic to his plight as he would he liked. As his mind raced, processing the thousands of variables that could affect how his inevitable battle with Teros would play out, a loud voice bombarded his consciousness. At first, he’d done his best to ignore it, but the persistence of its source was beginning to pay off as Roun found his thoughts buried beneath the weight of the outside world as his senses once again took over the forefront of his mind.

“Roun, get down here.” Kairi’s voice finally roused him from his thoughts, causing his gaze to narrow sharply at his brother’s demand.

A light growl escaped his lips in response.

“If its mom or dad, tell them I still don’t want to talk to them… that’s why I turned off my phone.” He snarled as he sat up, before sighing heavily and falling back onto his bed.

“First of all, I’m not your secretary, fool.” Kairi retorted with audible annoyance. “Secondly, it’s not our parents—you have a visitor.”

Roun just whined slightly. He was certainly in no condition to entertain guests.

“Who is it, Tyler?” He inquired from inside his locked room, drawing a loud growl from his increasingly impatient brother in response to the query.

“Ask me one more stupid question and see if I don’t drag you down these stairs by your ears.” Roun could hear the genuine annoyance mounting in his brother’s voice.

Reluctantly, and with a light sigh, he sat up. He was hardly in any condition to have an argument—furthermore an altercation—with Kairi, so begrudgingly he simply complied. With a deep breath, the young man summoned the ambient energies into his braver form and vanished from his location.

After a brief slide through the ambient zeta, he materialised down the stairs where their guest was waiting. Roun hadn’t even realised how long it had been since he powered up. The sudden influx of energy into his body left him somewhat dizzy, but luckily that sensation soon passed. As his vision sharpened into focus, the young man set his gaze on the form of Zadavia Moreno standing in his living room. As his body solidified from his silhouette slide, a light smile broke across the young woman’s lips.

Zadavia just looked Roun up and down briefly before she started.

“Can I assume that something happened?” She inquired, motioning towards Roun’s dishevelled and generally unkempt appearance.

The young man’s eyebrow tipped upwards at the statement, before his gaze followed Zadavia’s downwards towards his attire. It was only at this point that Roun realised he was standing in front of the young woman in just a pair of shorts, thrown on carelessly over his bare expansion suit, and neither of the garments were even energized. It was at that point that he also realised that his hair hadn’t been combed in days and it was likely a while since he had even showered.

Roun’s eyes widened at the realisation, such things had been farthest from his mind, but his reaction in that moment only caused Zadavia to burst out laughing. Almost instinctually, Roun faded from view as fast as he had popped into it, returning to his room the same way he had left it.

“That boy’s an idiot.” Kairi shook his head at the brief exchange. “His room’s at the top of the stairs, first door on the left, I’ll unlock it remotely.” He added, before motioning for Zadavia to proceed up the stairs.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“He’s not that bad, you know.” Zadavia giggled lightly. “Though, he does seem pretty out of it.” She paused. “What happened to him?”

Kairi just shook his head.

“Honestly? A lot—and it’s best if he explains it to you himself.” He just shrugged casually before returning to the living room to watch the holoviewer. “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

As he did this, Zadavia just nodded and made her way up the stairs to Roun’s room. Luckily, by the time she arrived, the young man had at least done some personal grooming.

“Well, that’s one upside of super speed at least.” She announced, as the door slid open to reveal Roun combing his hair into the usual style.

The young man didn’t reply however, instead just smiling with embarrassment.

“Mmm, you smell nice.” She smiled as she made her way into the small and dimly lit room.

“Thanks.” Roun just smirked lightly as he moved over to his dresser and threw on a clean shirt.

“So, what’s been going on with you?” Zadavia inquired as the young man moved over to his bed and sat down. “I haven’t been able to reach you for the past couple of days.”

Roun just sighed in reply to the statement.

“Sorry, I’ve just had a lot on my mind and my parents have just been blowing up my phone.” He explained with audible exasperation in his voice. “I got fed up, so I ended up just turning it off.” He explained. “I just… I needed some time to myself to think.”

Zadavia nodded slowly.

“You wanna talk about what’s going on?” She inquired as she moved over and sat on the bed next to him.

Roun just sighed and shook his head, getting up and walking over to the control panel on his wall to disable the tint on the windows and open them, flushing the room with fresh air for the first time in days.

“That’s the thing—there’s just too much going on. It’s too hard to keep track of all the moving pieces in my head.” Roun growled lightly as he came back and sat down next to Zadavia. “And that’s sad… because you already know at least half of the crazy shit that’s been going on with me since we met.”

Zadavia just chuckled.

“That’s true.” She nodded. “Well, you might as well fill me in on the other half while I’m here.” She shrugged.

Roun just sighed lightly.

“We’ve spoken almost every day since we made that jump from Genaisa to Merricent.” She reminded him, bumping shoulders with him as she did. “You can’t cut me out now.” She added, prompting Roun to explain his newfound origins to the young woman.

Zadavia could see how much Roun was struggling to process the sudden realisation that not only was Oya a mirror world to Terra, but that it was populated by humans. Beyond that, this very heritage was in this parallel realm and his parents had kept that from him his entire life. The young woman understood that the implications were vast, but at the same time she couldn’t help but think that it explained so much about the young man and his anomalous father. She couldn’t help but find herself fascinated by the story, as bizarre as it all was.

As Roun wrapped it up, he was surprised to notice that Zadavia was just sitting quietly, nodding. Unlike the others, she didn’t have a lot of questions, seeming to just accept the story as it was told. A light sigh escaped his lips as he finished.

“So that’s why you’re not speaking with your parents then?” She opened, causing Roun’s eyes to widen slightly at the query.

After a brief pause, he spoke.

“That’s the part you pick up on?” He questioned incredulously. “The parallel earth, humans from another realm, and my dad being from another dimension… that didn’t catch your attention?”

Zadavia laughed just shrugged.

“That’s no weirder than an ancient spirit living inside of you or your fated battle with a demon that wants to destroy the world.” She retorted. “Look Roun, since I got mixed up with you and your family, I’ve kinda just accepted that weird things like that are going to happen to you—and as a result me.” She sighed. “You having issues with your parents is new, and it’s at least something that I can relate to you on—maybe even help you with.” She explained.

Roun just chuckled lightly at her reasoning.

“I guess that out of all of this, that does seem like the most ‘normal’ thing going on in my life right now.” He replied with mild amusement.

“Yep.” Zadavia smiled and nodded. “It’s a little reassuring honestly. When I couldn’t get through to you, I thought it was ‘destroyer’ related.” She sighed. “You had me pretty worried.”

“Is that why you came all the way over here?” Roun inquired, drawing a light nod from the young lady.

“I know we’ve both been pretty busy putting our lives back together since we got back to Merricent, but when I hadn’t heard from your in four whole days… I—I just figured it was something serious.” Zadavia explained.

“I’m sorry I worried you.” Roun sighed.

“It’s alright.” Zadavia smiled in return. “You’ve been through quite an ordeal yourself, shutting down for a bit is only natural.”

Roun sighed lightly, slumping over as he spoke.

“You busy today?” He inquired; his voice soft as his fatigue began to show through the facade.

“Nah, I’ve cleared my schedule.” Zadavia replied as she rested her hand on his back.

“You mind… sticking around for a bit?” He inquired, drawing a light smile from the young woman.

“Just for a bit.” She smiled, sliding her hand up to his head and drawing it towards her lap. “Just a little bit.”