-Chapter 190: I Don't Want It to Stay
"You had a good time hanging out with your friend, Yaiba, today, right?" Gai asks me, putting his arms around me gently. His warms are so warm and comfortable and I wish I didn't have to leave them at some point.
"She was fun to chat with about a few things. She asked me something about the current situation and so I have to ask you something now. What happens if Horobi dies?" What happens if I can't bring him back?
"If Horobi dies and can't be restored, I will take good care of you. I will be the father of your child and show them how to live life to the fullest," Gai answers, being honest with me about his plans for that possible future. "But don't worry, Horobi will be fine. I believe that Aruto will not kill him."
I wish I could share that view, but I just can. He brutally murdered Jin and didn't care. He is still out for revenge and won't let his heart be still. I'm going to make sure that he pays for what he did to my precious son I can't get back.
"Why do you think that? He took Izu from Aruto," I ask him. I don't understand why he thinks he'll end up sparing Horobi.
"Aruto isn't someone who wants to kill someone. He may feel like doing so right now, but he won't do it. He will refuse to in the end. If he doesn't, we will have to come up with a backup plan."
"I see."
He pulls back a bit and kisses my forehead gently. "You will see that everything will turn out just fine, Mari."
I look over as Elise forms, staring right at us, and I swallow.
Elise crosses her arms as she leans against the wall, a smirk growing on her beautiful face. She's judging me isn't she? She's judging me because she sees what is going on here. Gai can't see her, but that is because he's blind. Everyone is blind.
"You seem a bit tense right now. Do you need me to make you some tea to ease it?" Gai asks me and I look at him, staring into his dark eyes. He thinks that I am just tense? Nothing else?
"No, I'm fine with you staying here with me right now." I put my hands on him and pull him closer to me. "Just stay right here with me for now. I need someone to keep me company at this time."
"Oh, alright." Gai places a hand on my back and touches it gently, patting it. My eyes flicker over to Elise as she stands there, judging us. "I won't make you tea right now. Do you need me to do anything else for you?"
"No, you're doing everything you can right now." If I tell him about her, he'll just put me back into that one place and I don't want to go back. "Gai, thank you."
"You don't need to thank me for being here for you right now, Mari. I'm always going to be around for you." He thinks that, but he isn't going to out live me. I'm younger and way healthier than he is at this point.
Elise looks away. "Aw, he's trying to be really romantic with you! He doesn't want this union to end." Elise isn't wrong about that at all since Gai wants to stay with me for a long time.
Gai is willing to let me go, but he's just not going to just yet. He will when the time comes. He will do the right thing and let me finally live my life. I can't wait to go and live my life without him at my side. I need the space after our marriage going up and down constantly.
"This is boring!" Elise exclaims, uncrossing her arms and moving away from the wall. She approaches us and stops beside us, looking us over. "You two are a good looking pair. It is unfortunate that you're just not a match personality wise."
I pull back from Gai a bit and look down. "Gai, I think I could use that tea right now."
"Alright," he says. "I will go and prepare it. I'll be out of the room until it is ready for you to drink. Be careful, it'll be hot when it is in the cup."
"I am aware that tea makes the cup hot. You don't have to worry about all the time." I can handle things head on.
He removes himself from me and touches my shoulder gently with his left hand. "I know that you can handle yourself, but I worry about you no matter what. You're my wife and I have to worry about you."
"And I worry about you as well." Only because he's an ally and my husband. "You can head off and make that tea now. I'm waiting."
He nods his head and removes his hand from my shoulder. "Alright, Mari. I'll be right back." He turns away, heading towards where the kitchen is.
"I'm so glad he's gone now! He's so dull!" Elise exclaims and I look at her as she stretches casually. "How does anyone even want to stay with him for the rest of their pitiful life? Honestly, he's definitely not going to ever marry again after you two divorce."
"He's not that bad," I state, sighing. "Elise, what are you doing here now? There is nothing for us to talk about at this moment."
"You said that we would talk. You wanted to listen to me. You know I can tell what you're thinking, right?" She puts her arms down and starts moving around me, circling. "I know you so well."
"We can talk, but not right now." I am not ready to talk to her at this moment.
She stops in front of me and gets in my face, staring me in the eyes. "Then when will we be able to talk to each other? Never? What happens if Azu struts into this home of yours and decides to talk to you before you decide to talk to me? She could end up convincing you that her plan is the right way when it isn't."
"Azu wouldn't strut her stuff in here at all. She knows that I'll get her if she does." Azu has a physical body and is actually moving around in the real world. I am amazed that no one has noticed her before all of this.
She turns, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "You don't know that," she tells me. "She could do it and you could take that key from her. She'll be all like 'You're my precious master now' and be all fan girl like towards you."
Elise does have a point about Azu. She would do that if I took the key from her. I won't take that key though and I will never take a key like that from anyone. Any of those keys mean destruction and pain. Nothing good comes from power gained through the Ark.
"Well?" Elise turns back to me, her lips curving upwards. "Shouldn't you at least get ready to hear me out on things? I have a lot of things you want to hear. You know you want to hear it."
"Can you tell me how you came back here first?"
"How I came back here?" She blinks. "That's a long story! You don't have the time to sit around for that, right?"
"I have time."
"And I don't," she says, refusing to answer the question. "Mari, you don't need to know all that boring mumbo jumbo, alright? All you need is to hear about how to stop Aruto and Horobi from ending this world. That is all you need and that is all you're going to get from me."
"So, nothing else is needed from me?"
"Of course nothing is else needed from you!" She nods her head quickly as her smile drops. "Do you think that I'm like Azu? I don't swindle people by handing them keys that mean nothing in the end. She's an obvious manipulator and the other two are too stupid to realize that. That is why I approached you after so long."
"That is why you approached me?" I didn't know that she picked me out of everyone else.
She closes her eyes and sighs. "I would have gone for Aruto, but he's too stupid to listen to anyone but himself!" She opens her eyes back up. "Also, he only really listened to Izu. He won't listen to me at this time or you."
"And Horobi?"
"He's too...uptight. Yeah, let's put it like that." She nods her head, happy with her word choice. "So, let's chat soon, alright? Once you're done with your husband, we can chat. We are going to have a night out together and it'll be fun."
I nod my head. "Alright."
Bzzzz~
I flinch as I lift my hand up, bringing it to my head. "Ah..." What is up with these headaches lately?
"It seems like you need to focus on something else. How about you go and do your own thing and I'll do mine?" Elise suggests. "Then we can talk for sure! You know you already agreed to it, right?"
I did agree to hear her out. "Yeah, sure."
I'll see what words she has to say to me and then make a decision then.
A/n: Mari still having her head pain and ear troubles it seems. Elise is...well, doing her own thing it seems. Wonder what her goal is going to be. We'll find out soon.
Thank you for reading.