I'm alive! It's taken almost a year, but I'm alive! I won't bore everyone with reasons for the long wait, but some details are covered over in my DeviantART journal. Speaking of dA, I'm traveling again starting this week, so I'm skipping the usual delay of a few days in uploading to that site for this chapter.

Updated story warning: relationships! The good, the bad, and the downright ugly. The list at the start of chapter one has been updated to reflect this. Disclaimer from first chapter still stands.

Chapter 3

"The Hell am I reading?"

Garet's brows knitted at a sense of déjà vu, but his unenthused glower stayed otherwise firmly in place. His voice didn't express much, either. "Funny you should ask." Yes, a tone of barely contained loathing and contempt counted as "not expressing much". Completely emotionless.

Alex scoffed at some written line that apparently tickled his funny bone. Assuming he had one, that is. "'Evil never prevails'? What kind of ridiculous line is that?" He flipped through the papers to the last page. Garet's jaw clenched at the sound of one page starting to tear at the staple holding it all together. "No wonder Isaac's only in the intro class. This writing style is pure amateur."

"Then how fortunate I'm not here for your opinion," Garet snapped back smartly. He hated Alex so much. There was really only one reason Garet even put up with the jerk.

Or more accurately, one person.

A figure glided gracefully into the doorway behind the elder student. "Alex, please stop being mean to my friend." There was no force or question behind the request. If anything, anyone could hear the patient smile behind it without looking. Nonetheless, Alex's response was near immediate.

"I have class. Don't waste too much of her time." The papers were pressed roughly into Garet's chest as Alex shoved past, causing the redhead to take a half step back to stay upright and quickly stop the papers from falling.

Yep. He really did not like that guy.

Mia's voice pulled him back from his angry simmer. "Sorry about him. He stopped by to check on me on his way to class." Her smile turned apologetic. "I know you two don't really get along, but he really is just trying to look out for me."

As much as he wanted to stay mad at Alex, Garet exhaled a deflating sigh. It was really that impossible to stay mad in Mia's presence. For not the first time, he doubted all claims of her being related to such a pompous jerk. "Yeah, well… I brought you a copy of that story I was telling you about. I promise it was way less wrinkled before you-know-who got it." Mia chuckled. It was too airy, Garet noted, and the light cough at the end didn't help. The detail prodded at his earlier frustration in dealing with Alex. Mia may have looked better than when she was in the hospital, especially with her bangs now pulled into their usual braid at the back of her head, but she was obviously still tired.

But, of course, Mia was always tired to some extent.

"I look forward to reading it. Come on inside. My roommate won't be back for a while." She turned and moved to her desk, leaving Garet to enter and shut the door behind them. "Want anything? Alex restocked it all for me yesterday. I think he may have gone a little overboard on the chips, though."

Garet picked up one such bag of flavored potato chips from the bookcase beside him. "Nacho cheese, huh? Somehow, I pegged him as a supporter of salt and vinegar."

Mia made a face. "You wouldn't be wrong. Salt and vinegar isn't too bad, I guess, but only a few at a time. I may take a handful before sending the rest of the bag home with him, but that's it." As she spoke, Garet had pulled open the top seam of the bag. He helped himself to two chips before offering the bag to Mia. She took out a few for herself. The bag itself stayed in Garet's hand. "He probably heard the doctors say something about my sodium levels. He doesn't normally buy me this many salty snacks in one go." She eyed the overstocked bookcase with suspicion, and added, "Or so many sports drinks."

"Yeah?" Garet stuffed a few chips in his mouth, offering the bag to Mia again as he crunched away on the cheesy goodness. Huh, that sounded weird, even in his mind. "Any other concerns we should—you know—be concerned about?"

Mia gave him a stern look over the bag he had successfully passed entirely to her that time. "Garet, as much as I appreciate the concern over my concerns, it's the same as I've already told Alex and the rest of my family. I am very capable of taking care of myself."

Garet unrolled the papers he had forgotten were still in his hand. "Yeah… I know you are." As she turned to check a notification on her laptop, Garet at last took the time to look her up and down completely. From the top of her dark-haired head, to her pale face, to the black rubber treads on her chair wheels, and finally to the thick blanket covering her legs and sweater draped over her shoulders…

She wasn't in perfect health, not by a long shot. But overall she was as well as could be expected.

"But I'm still freaking out Isaac later."

Mia threw a disapproving chip at his smug face.

Isaac completely failed to notice the knocking at the door. He missed the sound of said door swinging open, and was unfazed by the cool draft of air it created. And he was utterly oblivious to any sound of approaching footsteps.

What his distracted brain did—finally—manage to register, and with a jolt of surprise and stuttered yelp in response, was the sensation of something wrapping around his neck.

Jenna burst out laughing, completely without an ounce of guilt. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you that badly." She loosened her arms, which had been wrapped firmly around his shoulders and neck from behind

Isaac huffed and gave her a very put upon face. "Oh, but you did mean to startle me."

"You know it." She rested her chin on his shoulder. Leave it to Jenna to bypass "reading over your shoulder" and jumping straight to "reading from right on top of your shoulder." It was yet another of her specialties. "Is this the story I've heard so much about?"

Isaac nodded, but his sigh said plenty of things for him. Confidence was not one of those things. "I'm stuck." He scrolled back to the beginning of the chapter, allowing Jenna to reach and tap the down arrow key as she caught up from the start. "Again."

Due to some convenient circumstances, the character Iwan was unable to reunite with his merchant master, and had made a quick return to Robin and Gerald outside of Vault. Unfortunately, the two sentences that contained the entire event were going to need some elaboration. And Garet, with his masterful skill at making things sound far more grandiose than they were, wasn't back from his classes yet. However, that wasn't even the worst part.

"When is this due?"

That was the worst part.

Isaac's head drooped as much as could be possible in Jenna's loose chokehold. "Four hours." Maybe she could tighten that grip around his neck? End the misery?

While Jenna's grip didn't turn lethal (darn it), there was definitely a noticeable tensing of the arm muscles. "And you are still adding to the chapter… why?"

Isaac grimaced. There was an explanation, surely. But Isaac was muttering and hell if that was going to solve anything.

"Mumble that again, Shakespeare?"

He muttered it slightly louder, but still squeaky and generally incoherent.

"So help me, Isaac, if you do not start making sense-"

"Ivan wanted to stay in!"

The small dorm was oddly silent after. Isaac tried to hide his reddened face under a hand.

"I let him read the chapter, and of course he noticed Iwan was based on him," he clarified. "Garet just got his pencil back for him the other day—the wood one that looks like a wand, you know?—and he's been kind of out of it lately. He asked if his character could stay in, so…" He shrugged one shoulder. "I just don't know why the character would."

Jenna stared at the side of his head for several long seconds, before at last making a thoughtful sound and turning back to the story. She tapped the arrows up and down a few times to reread certain parts. "Iwan's master is a successful merchant?" Isaac nodded. The character's higher status was a very clearly stated fact within the tale, though the exact level was still somewhat obscure. "Well, why not have him get captured and held for ransom? The guy must be worth something if one stick is worth a manhunt. And we all know Ivan's dad is out making the big bucks."

Isaac mulled it over for a long moment, and Jenna was perfectly content to let him.

"Jenna?"

"Isaac?"

"You're a genius."

Jenna grinned. "I know." She ruffled his hair with both hands and hopped back a step to avoid any flailing retaliation. "You got it from here?"

Try as he might, there was no hiding the smile in Isaac's rumbled glare. "Yeah, I've got it. Thanks, Jenna."

Jenna waved over her shoulder as she retrieved her bag from beside the door. "No problem. Just don't die, okay?" Isaac rolled his eyes at the request, and Jenna exited with a laugh and final command. "And eat that lunch!"

Isaac raised a confused brow and swiveled back to his desk. Just when the Hell did a paper bag of take-out food appear?!

Living in the next building over, it didn't take long for Jenna to reach her door. Even stopping to be audience to a prank setup involving chicken wire and papier-mâché, it was only a few minutes before Jenna was digging out her own set of keys. She knocked twice to give her roommate a heads up, then strolled right on in after unlocking and opening the door. "Hey, you won't believe what those guys down the hall are… doing..." The greeting quickly died on her lips. "Feizhi?"

At the desk against the left wall sat a petite girl with long, dark hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Her body was turned in the chair at an angle that effectively had her back to the door, and she didn't look up or make any other movement to greet her returning roommate.

At a glance, she seemed to be deeply concentrating on scribbling notes from a thick textbook. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. The catch was the sniffing Jenna had heard upon entering, and a hand motion that hinted way too much at the wiping of eyes.

"Hey, Jenna. How was class?" The greeting itself was light and cheerful. It was the voice that sent up the warning flags. Too high pitched, for one.

"It was alright," Jenna answered slowly. She hung up her jacket and set aside her bag. Feizhi still hadn't turned around. "What about you? Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." After what Jenna assumed was another effort to quickly wipe her eyes, Feizhi finally turned in her seat and gave a shaky smile. The black eyeliner under her left eye was smudged, leaving a faded streak of gray across her temple. "Allergies have been crazy today. Must be the weather changing."

"Yeah." Jenna knew damn well allergies weren't the issue, but she let the poor excuse slide for the time being with a smile of her own. "Must be." She set her bag on the floor and pushed it under the edge of her bed with one foot

"You were saying something was going on outside?"

Jenna opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped by a loud tearing sound and thumps, followed by several whoops and cheers, from the hall. The roommates looked to the door in wide eyed surprise, then back to each other.

"Think we should…?"

"No."

There were loud shouts that sounded suspiciously like a very irate floor R.A. joining the commotion.

"Good idea."

To be continued...

See? SEE?! What did I say? Only the third chapter in, and there's drama building up already!

There are a lot of things cropping up that are in some way based on or inspired by real events. Most are minor details, like dorm bookcases being used less for books and more for everything else (a.k.a. junk food!). Other details are more significant, such as Feizhi's troubles. You'll learn more about those later. I know it'll likely look out of character as all get out for now, but I'm hoping the decision to use her for this purpose will ultimately fit the situation, and how she will find her way into Isaac's story. Please don't kill me in the meantime, Feizhi fans!

That being said, please be mindful of the T-rating. It's college. A lot of stuff can go wonderfully right, and a lot can go horrifically wrong. This story is shaping up to have a mix of both.

Finally, while it will be explained later, Mia is not completely wheelchair-bound. She can get up and walk around, and does prefer to do so, but some days a set of wheels just makes life easier. Of the few details I have mapped out for the sake of continuity and consistency, never revealing a specific cause for Mia's overall health is one of them.

Last and certainly FAR from least, thank you to the wonderful reviewers, and for the faves and follows. Isaac couldn't continue writing his oddly RPG-like tale without you all.

Ta for now!