It's sad knowing that this story is finally ending, after about a year's worth of planning, plotting, and writing. I also don't know what the hell to write next, so that may prove to be a problem.
Thank you to all of my reviewers, who have helped me refine my writing style, and the such! And a special thank you to cappyandpashy4ever (Melissa), the reviewer (And school friend) who introduced me to and eventually became my beta.
I really love this chapter, and I think it ends the story well. So enjoy, and drop a review!
At first, the thought seemed vague, like she didn't actually believe that it happened.
'He saw me?'
Then it finally set in.
'He saw me!'
Currently Marine was running down the center of Mossdeep, looking for the right dock, where her ship should be boarding currently. She glanced behind her to see the man advancing quickly.
'And he's following me? Crap..."
As Marine approached the ferry, she quickly realized something.
"It's…It's leaving!"
In desperation and fear, she jumped into the water, hoping to get on the boat and escape her pursuer.
'Damn incorrect watch!'
As water splashed around her, she wondered why she just had to run away. Lack of oxygen made her head spin as Marine kept trying to think fruitlessly.
'He knows and hates me for it.'
Arms wrapped around her and pulled her up as she screamed, letting all of the air out before closing her eyes.
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
'I wonder what she's doing now; maybe she's a bit lonely?'
Steven quickly paid for his fruit, and left the vendor for another. There was silence as he stopped in the middle of the market.
'Maybe I'm lonely?"
The woman in front of him was buying salve for her pokemon, and she asked the owner what would be best for a dragonair.
"Well lady, you have an expert behind you! Ask him, I'm busy…."
She turned around quickly to see him, and he didn't even get a chance to see her face before she bolted off.
And, quite stupidly as it seemed to himself, he ran after her as she headed off towards the dock.
They both got tired, and the black-haired woman glanced behind her so that Steven could barely make out her face.
"Marine!"
She jumped in right before he closed the distance between them. He didn't wait to think, and dived in after her, ignoring the bubbles as she screamed in frustration.
The next thing he knew, Marine laid on his bed, but not peacefully, because as Steven left the room, tears poured once again from her eyes.
The blue-winged angel was crying as if she thought no one was there.
"I killed one who was weak, I am no better!"
Steven remembered that night vividly while Marine's back heaved from stifling her tears in her sleep.
He remembered what had happened the first time he met her, the quickening of heart. She was truly beautiful to him, even in her crying state.
The man reached over and stroked her hair.
'I can surely do this as a friend, right?'
Steven then released her, parting through the door with an inaudible 'Good Dreams.'
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
She awoke drearily from the sheets, barely remembering what happened, and immediately traded her ripped and soaked dress for the pajamas lying on the chair.
"Wait…pajamas?"
An elderly woman promptly broke through the door and almost pushed Marine into bed.
"Yes, pajamas!"
After the younger woman recovered from shock, she quickly remembered seeing Steven.
"Ahh, uh, well I really need to get off this island."
"Nope! My boss says you need at least five days of rest after that shock. Who wouldn't after all!?"
Before Marine could explain, the maid started talking again.
"You're lucky that Nartha Hubbins, maid of Steven Stone, is here to take care of you."
"Ste…ven Stone?"
"She finally gets the general idea of the situation! Are you mentally ill or something!?"
Marine dizzily covered her head with the bedspread and started to sleep again, hoping that would bring an answer.
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
Steven was currently sitting in his living room with a cup of now-cold tea in his hands.
"Do I really love her so much that I've been sitting here, thinking about her for the past two years while she's been absent from my life?"
He could now hear the commotion in the next room before utter silence yet again. The fire crackled its non-existent reply.
"Why did she have to change her mind? She sounded so sincere at the brink of her death! Then again, who wouldn't be…?"
"A silver-haired man will come into this base as a prisoner soon. Just tell him I love him."
Steven's heart wrenched and he put his head in his hands.
"I'm just so lonely without her."
He quickly went into the hall, and found himself in his room again, where Marine was residing.
And there on the left side of the room on his bed, crouched a big, grey lump where someone almost hid under the covers.
"Marine?"
Either she was acting like she was sleeping or she actually was sleeping, Steven couldn't tell.
He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to wake her up. Surprisingly, she did almost immediately, words flying from her mouth and tear marks streaming down her face.
"Nartha! Please, I just need to get away from your bo—"
There was awkward silence as Marine crawled back under her covers so that her face stuck out onto the pillow, and Steven fingered the blanket.
".."
"…Could you please just tell me the truth?"
Steven's comment rushed through Marine's mind as she put it bluntly.
"I loved people who…couldn't love me back. You know the rest."
"No, I don-"
"You heard it through the door!"
She now had tears running down her cheeks.
"You think I'm a monster now! I killed my sister, think of the life she could have led with him! She could have been in love! Ember died because she just was checking up on me, so did Bill…I'm killing everyone!"
"Go back to sleep, you're not thinking straight…"
"See?! The man in the dungeon was wrong! He told you the real thing, I can tell from the way you're acting. You can't even try to be friendly with me…"
"At least I didn't go back on my word! You'd think someone, at the brink of their death, would actually tell the truth about their love!"
"What?"
"I don't know what happened, but you're the one who avoided me. You're the one who decided to run away from me on the dock, and chose a watery death over conversing with me!"
Marine strangely got calm at that moment.
"I know it hurts you. Even being in the same room, it hurts."
"It only hurts because you're so far away! It's lonely, knowing you just can't love me back, for whatever reason! The man that you talked to in the dungeon was so sure about my feelings because they were his. You were speaking, confessing to me, and it only hurts knowing that you changed your mind because you were still afraid of hurting me!"
He continued on while both of them had tear-stained faces.
"But you can only hurt me by hurting yourself."
Steven gathered her up in his arms, and could feel her fast heart against his before he quickly released Marine and walked away. He turned around as soon as he heard whispers.
"I just couldn't hurt another loved one. Another person I love immensely, still. I'm just realizing that keeping the pain from the others…"
Steven walked back over to the bed and kissed her, their fingers intertwined.
"…Is what killed them."
'' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' '' ''
Nartha blushed wildly when she walked in on the two, kissing serenely, and immediately rushed over and whacked Steven on the head with a magazine from the table.
"Whatever happened to, 'She needs a lot of uninterrupted, peaceful sleep'!? Oh sweetie, he hasn't done anything unpleasant to you, has he?"
"U-u-um, n-no, I'm j-just a bit sh-shaken up."
Realization hit the maid.
"Aww, Mr. Stone's son is finally a man! I remember when he was running naked all over the house when he was younger! And now, here he is, finally creating an heir!"
"Oh no, he just kissed me…"
"Took you long enough, Mr. Stone! You're thirty!"
"What do you mean, creating an heir!?"
Nartha quickly ran out of the room to phone the older Stone, while there were two bewildered people left on the bed. After a few seconds in the dark, someone finally decided to say something.
"I've got to go straighten things out, so have a nice night."
"It doesn't hurt anymore, loving you."
They embraced and their hearts leapt once again, but this time, they jumped together.