The Bachelor Party
Mini-Chapter/Epilogue
A Tales of Phantasia Fanfiction By Cremrock
Foreword/Endword? Did I just invent a word: With this epilogue,the Bachelor Party is done. Thanks to all who read it, and I hope everyone enjoyed reading the entire story as much as I did writing it! Also, my further gratitude to any who review/reviewed already. -Cremrock
Their boat left the following morning, and a few hours into the journey, Cless found himself standing next to Mint, looking over the edge into the water. He was trying to teach her how to skip stones in hopes that it would help her forget about her seasickness, but unfortunately, all it did was make her focus on the rolling, tossing, tumbling, and turning. She humored him anyway. Cless had brought a big bag of stones from the shore, and they were taking turns winging them into the water. Cless went first.
Skip skip skip skip splash.
Splash.
Skip skip skip skip splash.
Splash.
Skip skip skip skip skip splash.
Splash.
Skip skip skip skip splash.
Skip splash.
"I got one!" Mint cheered, and Cless grinned.
"I knew you'd get one eventually!" He handed her another stone, forsaking his own turn to allow her to keep whatever "rhythm" she had gotten into. She looked at it for a second, and then accepted it with a weak smile.
"Thanks."
Splash.
"Phooey." It was as strong a curse as Mint had ever uttered.
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it eventually…" Cless said, trying to be reassuring. Chester told me once that it's all about the energy you exude… How happy you feel… though I don't know if that's true or not, you can't get discouraged!"
Mint nodded, tossing another stone into the water. Another splash, followed by a faint sound of disgust from Mint.
"It took me a really long time, too…" Cless explained. "Watch me again." He turned, and whipped the stone into the water.
Skip skip skip splash.
Mint just watched, not one to complain, but the look on her face told Cless she was less than pleased. Normally she put a good face on everything, staying quiet through their adventures, but Cless cut her some slack. She was sick, after all.
"What's the matter, Mint? Besides the, seasickness, I mean."
"I wish we were back at the wedding. Elwyn and Nancy really hoped we'd be able to attend… Though we have a job to do, its kind of saddening knowing that we might not ever see them again… If what we do in Thor succeeds…"
"Are you sure you want to be back there?" Cless asked, slightly despondent. "After the way I screwed up last night… I'm really sorry about that. I had no idea what was in all those little gummies…"
Mint turned away for a moment, taking her turn to throw a stone. The throw was terrible, but somehow the stone appeared to manage a tiny skip, before connecting with a wave.
Splash.
"Yes… we helped get those two together, you know. And I already told you that I don't blame you, or anyone for what happened to you at the party… I just think we could've avoided a lot of a mess if Arche and Klarth had just come forward about the whole thing… Mistakes happen… I was just concerned for your well-being. And last night, I was really tired in addition to that." She offered another weak smile, though it'd have been stronger if she didn't feel quite so sick. "I don't heal you all the time just for kicks, you know."
"…Thanks. I really appreciate that. You know, I don't think either one of us really wanted to go to that party… but I guess it was worth it… I never really asked you how you felt… about things."
Mint gasped. Where had that come from?
"Klarth went and told you? About… about…" Mint's face flushed, and she looked around nervously. She hadn't quite intended to tell Cless that she harbored an affection for him yet; she could never find the words, never say it the way she wanted to say, and she never had much time to worry about that sort of thing while they were journeying.
"If I say yes, will you kill Klarth?" Cless joked, throwing another stone into the water.
"No, its okay, it's just… I kind of wanted to tell you myself, and…"
A crescent not unlike an awkward smile formed on Mint's face, one that Cless matched.
"Don't worry about it… I feel the same way, I think. This is really kind of a new thing, you know?"
"Yes…" She uttered softly in reply, turning away to throw a stone in the water. It was her turn, after all.
Skip skip skip skip skip splash.
Cless blinked in disbelief, and then smiled even wider at Mint. "See? Not bad!"
Mint merely chuckled, turned, and looked straight at Cless, her eyes sparkling rather than lolling left and right with the horizon. "Well… I did have some help… If that 'happiness' thing you said about Chester is true." She glanced around for a moment, looking unsure of herself, before turning her gaze back to Cless, a gaze that Cless matched.
That was when Mint did something entirely unexpected by either of them, poking Cless lightly in the nose, though she wasn't exactly sure why the urge struck her. Much to her own surprise, Cless opted not to shrink away, smiling again after his faint look of surprise. Without even thinking about what they were doing, the two of them edged closer to each other. Their eyes, contrasting pools of blue and light brown, directly reflected into one another…
…Their lips were about to touch, when a sudden cry from above snapped them out of their trance.
"HEY! What are you two doing over there? Skipping stones? Can I try too?" Arche shouted from atop the crows' nest.
Mint and Cless pulled away suddenly, Mint blushing bright red at the thought of what she'd been about to do, in public no less. Cless seemed equally embarrassed, though he was pretty sure he'd been thinking the same thought Mint had… That the moment, or what they had been about to do was so right, too.
"Mmm… No offense Arche, but we're kind of having a private conversa-" Cless began, but it was too late, as Arche had flown down to them, snatched a stone and whipped it into the water with a flourish, throwing her entire body into the gesture. She hadn't even bothered to dismount her broom.
Skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip SPLASH.
The interrupted almost-kiss suddenly became the last thing on Cless and Mint's minds, as they both stared over the horizon at Arche's handiwork. Mint blinked in disbelief, wondering if she should cheer, before she felt seasick again and swirled her eyes down to the deck. Cless's reaction was slightly more instinctive, and not at all what Mint would have suspected. He'd been taking a few more "lessons in life" from Klarth, and Klarth's latest "scholarly advice" (as he'd put it) had been a lesson in language.
"HOLY F-"
Mint slapped a hand over Cless's mouth before he could finish the oath.
"Bad language!" Mint admonished, and Arche couldn't help but smile at the chaos she'd caused, flexing one of her chicken wing arms and making a mock muscle. She could explain to the two of them how magic could be utilized to cheat in a skipping stone contest after they had acknowledged her as the queen of stones, or the skipping thereof, as she hadn't even used magic that time.
Quite unlike herself, Mint continued to explain to Cless that the language Klarth had told him he should use wasn't the most appropriate in the world, though it seemed clear to Arche that Mint wasn't really angry. The witch couldn't help glancing away, but a sad smile formed on her face. She'd seen something she hadn't really wanted to see, or at least believe, even though every bit of her understood that what she had seen was right, that didn't mean she had to like it.
"Arche? Is something wrong?" Mint asked from behind her.
Arche spun around, grinning the way she always did when she was up to mischief, banishing the sad smile away. "No, not at all! Watch this!" She picked up another stone, preparing to fling it into the water as hard as she had the first, though she had to spare a final thought to what she had seen.
"Mint… I'll have to explain to you the way to REALLY plant one on a guy… I can't go seeing you OR Cless not enjoying every moment of a first kiss because of inexperience…"
She flung the stone into the water, and the sad smile flickered a second time, which was most unlike her. As the stone bounced, Arche wondered if some things were better left to be discovered on their own, Cless and Mint's private experience among them. The witch most certainly wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she smiled it away; that was something she could worry about at a later day, and she began a bizarre victory dance as the second stone skipped even further than the first, clasping both hands overhead and raising them in victory like a champion.
Cless was about to ask how she'd skipped the stones so far. Klarth interrupted the three of them by tapping his foot impatiently on the upper deck. He'd emerged from the cabin a moment ago. They looked up; well, two of them, anyway. Arche readied another stone.
"The captain has informed me that we're just about over Thor, but we'll have to hurry, as another storm is on the horizon and the ship needs to turn back soon. Are you all ready to…"
Skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip skip SPLASH.
"Are you DONE?" Klarth asked Arche, glaring while he extended one arm with a flourish, already focusing himself to the task at hand. "The spirits don't wait, you know, and as I was saying, we need to get to Thor before another storm hits. The captain says there's one on the horizon, but we'll be all right."
"How will we get there?" Cless asked, always concerned with the details. Klarth smiled.
"Watch and learn, my young friend… Ahem… UNDINE!"
There was an overall gasp of silence from the crew and its captain, who had been watching the group, and then… nothing. Klarth looked around confusedly, then pulled out his tome and clutched it protectively.
"Ooooooooh! Aaaaaaaaah!" Arche whistled, giggling. Klarth wisely ignored her, turning to address Cless, Mint, and the crew, his face red with embarrassment. Trying to save face, he dusted himself off, glanced around at the crew, and made another flourish. "That's never happened before… Allow me to try again. AHEM… UNDINE!"
Again, there was nothing but the silence of the waves. Klarth looked down to make sure he wasn't in another one of those dreams where you realize you're in your underwear. That possibility accounted for, embarrassment turned to anger.
"Damn it, I don't understand it! Why isn't she coming!" He threw the tome down in disgust and raised his hands. "I can't be getting her name wrong, I'm not tired, I've summoned her a thousand times before… UNDINE!" He screamed, at the top of his lungs. "UNDINE! UNDINE! UNNNNNNDIIIIIIINE!" His face was beginning to get awfully red, and he finally ceased, huffing and puffing, putting one hand to his forehead and brushing the sweat from his eyes.
That was when he noticed that something was missing.
"One… two… three… four… …four… four… I thought I had six rings of contract… Luna, Maxwell, Ifrit, Gnome, Undine, and Sylph… Where the devil is Sylph? And…" Klarth swung his other hand into his view and looked at the rings on his fingers, confirming his suspicion. "Undine! Where the HELL is Undine's ring of contract!" He flew into a rage and checked his pockets, his hat, his pants, frantically waving his hands all over his body, before jumping up and down.
Arche nudged Mint and winked all-knowingly, even as Cless walked over to Klarth and got down on his hands and knees, thinking the rings might be on the deck somewhere.
"I don't see it, Klarth…"
"THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S NOT HERE!" The summoner, angrier and less in control than Cless had ever seen, whirled around and pointed a finger at the crew. YOU SAILORS DIDN'T STEAL IT, DID YOU? IT'S WORTH A FORTUNE! IT…"
The captain stepped forward, removing his hat.
"Calm down, Mr. Lester. We didn't steal your ring… My sailors are honest men. Maybe you left it at the inn you stayed at. Looks like you'll get a chance to check… That storm's even closer now. We have to return to port."
"Damnable hell! Another storm? If I had Sylph at my disposal, we wouldn't have to worry about it in the short-term! Where the heck did the rings go? Cless, check the food sack, check the backpacks… we're going to check it all!" He stormed off towards the below-decks, turning curtly to look at Arche and Mint, the former of which was smiling innocently, the latter of which was eyeing Arche with a hint of concern. "Ladies, let me know when we get back to Venezzia!"
"Woohoo! We can attend the wedding if we get back before tomorrow!" Arche cheered, giving Klarth a mock salute.
Klarth ignored her for a second time, intent on inspecting the ship's cargo hold, slamming the door that led below-decks behind him, cursing all the while. Strategically, Mint didn't even bother to tell Klarth not to use such language. His was simply beyond help at this point.
"Klarth, wait! Calm down!" Cless groaned, chasing after him, casting a glance of apology Mint's way. Another door slam was followed by a third, as the captain charged after them, hoping to cool Klarth's temper.
Mint and Arche were left alone on deck, and Arche turned to her friend with a smile that held just a hint of whimsy. The sea breeze tugged lightly at both of their hairstyles. "I guess I picked the wrong two rings to lend to Elwyn and Nancy for the ceremony, huh? I could've sworn that the blue one was Ifrit…" Arche's smile grew wider, until she was grinning broadly.
Mint shook her head, but she was smiling. "Arche… I don't know if that was a very nice thing you did, or a very wrong thing… It is good that they'll have rings to use until the new ones they ordered arrive, but… still… Klarth's rings…"
Arche reached up and patted Mint on the shoulder, grinning broadly at her taller companion.
"It'll be okay! I dragged you to the party, now you can drag me to the wedding! You'll have to show me how to act and things… will there be food? Drinks?" The witch glanced back at the sea, before fixing Mint with an amorous glare that flustered the healer, which was Arche's intent. "Boys?"
Mint blinked, unsure of how to respond, before uncharacteristically patting Arche on the back.
"I think you're going to have more fun at the reception afterwards, Arche… Promise me you won't do anything drastic while you're there? I don't want to chase you around again…"
THE END