They Came Into Our World

~3~

"Shall I start off easy?" he asked.

"No." But then I added, "But maybe medium."

"Alright." There was a laugh on his lips. He thought for a moment, then posed, "What is my middle name?"

A couple of the others let out a smirk, and since I did not know (no one knows), I looked at them confusedly.

"What?" I finally asked.

"He doesn't have one!" Jay burst.

"Oh," I forced a smile. "Good to know." There was a pause before I realized. "Oh, Jay, you go, since you said the answer first."

"Hmm," he thought with an adorable smile on his face, then turned to me suddenly. "Easy or hard?"

"I don't care," I shrugged.

"Ok! What are my parents' names?"

"Ed and Edna Walker," I said without hesitation. "But do we want to do creepy questions? Because I can give creepy answers."

"What do you mean, creepy?" Zane asked, eyeing me.

"Like how I know Jay's parents' names. I know more," I warned.

"Then we'll keep playing!" Kai said.

"Jay, I do know more," I told him, looking straight into his sapphire blue eyes.

"What- what do you know?"

I beckoned him to come closer with my finger. He leaned forward and put his face close to mine. His very cute face. Did I really want to tell him?

"N-nevermind." I turned away.

"No, what is it?" he tapped my shoulder.

Like always, I didn't think. 

I pulled his face towards mine and whispered two words in his ear.

"Cliff Gordon."

I didn't think about the consequences of what I said. All I had thought was, did he tell anyone else? About what happened? Especially since I was in love with Skybound. I wanted to know. I really wanted to talk to him about it.

At least I didn't say "you're adopted." That would be... just plain stupid. And annoying.

He let out an airy gasp and pulled away, getting as far away from me, or anyone, as he could. He closed his eyes for a couple seconds and his breaths quickened.

"Jay?" Cole asked.

"What did you say to him?" Kai sounded pissed. Not good.

"Jay." I half climbed out of my seat so I could reach his hand, which I took and squeezed. "I'm sorry. Nobody else knows." That was a lie. Well, no one else in his world knew.

He pulled his hand away. "How did you know?"

"I can explain. Do you want to step out for a minute?"

He nodded. I hate to admit it, but at the time, I was enjoying it too much for the seriousness of the matter.

"What the crap, Jay," Kai said.

We got out of the car and walked a few parking spots away so they couldn't eavesdrop.

"How do you know?" he demanded, features lighting up.

"It's..." I tried to think of an answer. "What if I told you I remembered?"

"Remembered what?" he asked, voice fallen to a pianissimo.

"The... teapot." I didn't want to trigger him or anything.

"What teapot?" he snapped, face paling.

"The Teapot of Tyrahn." I stared at the ground.

"What?" His face nearly lost all color. Which wasn't that alarming considering he had pretty fair skin.

"I'm s-sorry."

"How do you know that?" Something in his voice made me look up, and yup, there were tears glinting in his eyes.

The weight of this hit me. It's not like hundreds of thousands of people all over the world know about it and think about it and make a big deal and write horrible, terrible things about it-

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"Yes, that's what we're doing!"

"Are you okay?" I asked partly because it looked like he was going to pass out or something and partly because I wanted to know for the screaming fangirl inside of me.

"What does that even mean?!"

"Just answer the question."

"Why should I tell you, you're a creep!"

That cut.

That cut real deep.

But I thought of a comeback.

"Because I know you! Even if you don't know me, I know you! And you need to trust me right now! I'm the one taking you home. You can't, okay? You can't do it without my help. Honestly I don't even know if I'll be able to. There are people out there that... I don't know. If people found out you were here they would- you would not be happy." I took a breath. "You just have to trust me." I looked into his eyes, pleading for peace. Understanding.

He didn't say anything.

I took my chance. "You are not okay."

"In what way?" he winced.

"Now and in general."

No response.

"Hey." I lowered my voice and came a step closer.

"What." He just stared at the ground.

"You are so strong."

There was a spark, a connection. Somehow. He looked at me.

"They hurt you. And... you went through so much." My voice went close to a whisper. There were new tears in his eyes. "And I'm so sorry any of that happened. The life of a ninja is really tough." I put a hand on his shoulder. He wiped his face. I wrapped him in a hug and could hear him sniffling.

He pulled away. "I think I needed that," he smiled faintly, and my heart filled with sympathy.

For someone who doesn't exist.

No, he freakin' does exist, he's standing right in front of you.

"You're gonna be okay." I offered a smile. "Don't be afraid to go to your friends, promise?"

"Yeah."

"Good." We headed back to the car.

"What just happened?" Kai demanded.

"It's fine," Jay huffed, then flashed them a smile, albeit a fake one.

"Lies," Kai said.

"Agreed," Cole said.

"What was that about, Jay?" Zane asked.

"N-nothing. We just... talked."

"Whoa. No way," Kai rolled his eyes.

"Can we go to the movie now or are we going to just sit around arguing?" Jay asked.

"No," I chuckled, "we can go." Then quickly added, "-if everyone else wants to."

Cole agreed and Kai shrugged and Zane said he was fine with it.

So we drove to the theater.

Stupid me.

Of course, I didn't think again.