Peace Of Mind(M)

It was odd to Adell. All around himhe could see what looked to be a coliseum of some kind and he was in
the middle of it. There was a cheering crowd going wild and saying things that he couldn't make out due too many people at once. The sky was gray and it was raining, not too heavy but strong enough to be
considered more then just a mere drizzle.

From the other side of of thecoliseum walked out his opponent, and to his surprise what seemed to
be a older version of himself. Only they seemed different, their face for lack of a better word seemed far more cruel.


Adell didn't know what was said exactly, but before he could regain his bearings more, his 'clone'
moved fast enough to completely vanish from his eyesight. And then he felt himself slam into the other wall of the fighting arena as the crowd went wild.


Damn it, that asshole hits hard.

Adell pushed himself up, wincing as he ignored the pain in the back as the other him turned their
attention them, seeming bored.



“You. I can't believe someone like you is in charge.” They scoffed. “You're too weak. Even if
you were there to protect our family it wouldn't have made a difference.”


“Okay, now you're asking for it.” Adell snarled, sliding into a fighting stance and prepared himself.
But once more they vanished from his eyesight and this time he was sent upwards, then back painfully back on the ground face first.


The other him landed some distance away, still bored. As they walked, not red, but blue flames slowly
covered him almost like an aura as they walked towards him, taking their time. “I don't know why I bothered doing even this much.You're not worthy of using blue flames on much less white. I don't
even need the normal orange. Give up. You've lost.”


Adell pushed himself back to his feet, spitting out some blood. “Go to hell.”


Again, the his clone shrugged but instead of charging relaxed. “I've been playing with you the whole
time only using barely any of my power. If I went full out you'd get destroyed before you even knew you were in a fight. But I'm feeling generous. Come at me if you can.”


Adell actually didn't just rush forward. He knew he was outclass in pretty much everyway, he wouldn't
put it pass him to be more skilled too. Still, he wasn't just going to lay there. So he attacked anyway, only predictably for his other half to easily and very lazily block or dodge the blows. Some he let hit which didn't seem to do Any damage.


"Tell me-” They said, boredly blocking a blow to their head. “Why continue? Why fight? Even
Monica will have no more use of you eventually as far as fighting is concerned. Eventually, you'll just be useless. Not that you aren't pretty close to that already.”


“Shut up. There's more to strength then just power!” Adell yelled, as his opponent still continued to pay him little mind.


“Indeed, there is. But what good does that do on the battlefield? You going to help them by giving
them pep talks on the sides?” They sneered. “Remember that winged girl? She pretty much rolled over you. Monica would have died or been seriously injured if not for that other man. You weren't ever a good distraction. Useless when it counts as always.”


“I don't care what you think! I don't care about power, I just care about protecting those close to
me!”

And that seemed to get a reaction, because his clone seemed pissed, and snarled, going on the offensive.“Fool! How can you say that with a straight face when you can't even protect yourself!?”


Adell's opponent suddenly backed away and did something rather odd, they seemed to float, or more
accurately fly hovering above some feet. The flames came around them again, first orange, blue, then turning into a pure white color. They made a strange hand motion, Adell wasn't sure what it was but
something formed from their hands.


It was almost similar to the times he summoned his own fire but different. The flames being white were
obvious but something else as well—it was forming a shape. The flames got bigger and bigger until it formed a strange etheral dragon made of flames. Before Adell could do anything, it lunged forward at
incredible speed but it was as if his clone wasn't Trying to hit him.


Regardless, Adell moved out the way as the attack sailed passed. Even if he didn't take the attack he
could still Feel the heat coming from it as it scorched the ground.The attack connected with the other side of the arena, exploding and destroying it completely. As well as whatever was behind it. The
crowd though didn't seem to care, in fact they went More wild.


And somehow Adell knew he was still holding back,


Even if Adell was losing badly, he was nothing else if stubborn.“I don't need your approval to do what
I need to do! If I have to break my limits and my body to protect them then so be it. I'll get as strong as I need to be! As strong as I have too!”


“Naive!” His clone roared, furious, suddenly vanishing to engage in hand to hand. Or more
accurately, pummel Adell as he couldn't defend himself at all. “You're such a naïve fool! You have limits you'll never break and mountains you'll never reach!”


“Watch me!”Adell by this time took a lot more bad hits as the other half seemed to stop playing, the last attack sent him flying away and into the ground hard enough to crater. Adell felt like most of his body was broken but still tried to will it to move, the rain making the ground muddy which was soaked with his blood.


They somehow managed to pull themselves out, but barely, and hardly any energy to move.


For some reason his other half stopped, watching Adell silently, then oddly slowly turned their back
on them. “I see. So that's your strength..” They began walking away. “Maybe you aren't as useless as I thought. Maybe you can truly break your limits to do what needs to be done. I'm still
skeptical, but we'll see...”

And just like that, the strange dream ended.

* *

'It's that damned dream again..'

Adell looked to his clock, it read around one A.M. in the morning but he was unable to go back to sleep so he decided to leave, getting dressed. He tended to sleep in just his pants and not a shirt since he was more comfortable that way, but he wasn't going to wander around like that. There were a couple of women aboard plus it was a bit cold out.

For the life of him, he didn't know why he kept having that strange dream. It had started happening around each every other week, then thankfully only every once in a while. Without warning it had suddenly stopped before having a repeat just like tonight. Was it because he didn't feel strong enough to protect those close to him, or it was some other reason?

The young man didn't see anyone out, and had a seat in the front where he could watch the waves roll past. It had been about a year being with this group, and honestly he had grown closer to their new friends but it also made him think of things.

Over the course of his time here, he seemed to have grown out of his crush for Anita. It was not to say he didn't care about her of course, she and Monica would always be one his closes friends but he thought of them more like sisters then anything and in a way that applied to Angelique as well, but she already had someone so it took her completely out the equation entirely thankfully. There were still two tangled pieces of his love life.

The first, was the source of much grief in terms of cold showers. Cinda was a very sweet girl, but that was hardly the problem. The problem was the fact on top of being heavily attractive she gave off these strange..pheromones. Because of this combined with her looks, there was always a underline of sexual tension(though he was pretty sure that was one-sided) it didn't help his demon side acted up as a result of said pheromones. If he was left alone with her too long, he wasn't sure what would happen but he didn't want to experiment. Cinda was a wonderful girl and deserved more then just some release of pent up hormones.

..It was actually Star was the real problem.

She didn't have the pheromones or anything supernatural or otherwise, but the problem was he did like her and wanted to be more then friends with her. Though, it was seemingly because of that fact that his damned demon side was going nuts. If Star was around, his mind sort of entered a fog and his heart beat would pick up. She had about three traits he found hard to resist. One, she had a very likebale personality once got to know her. He found himself wanting to spend more and more time with her. Two, though if asked Adell might not say it right away but he had a thing for older women. Three, her looks. While looks weren't everything they certainly helped and he was very attracted to her.

The worse part was the..dreams. The dreams were innocent at times. Some of them were just of he and Star eating at a picnic alone or at a beach together, nothing out of the ordinary. Others, not so much. From time to time, Adell had more..carnal dreams of her. It would start off simple, then a bit of touching which would lead to another thing. It was usually different too. At times it might be alone at a beach or a forest, other times in a room with Star withering under him as he thrusted into her.

In the dreams, if the pleasure got particularly to her, she'd begin mumble things in her native language. The problem with these dreams was they were..particularly vivid and he often needed to make sure he was calm after taking a Long cold shower. Thankfully, those type of dreams weren't common as they were embarrassing enough as is.

'..Maybe I'll just ask her out.' Honestly, he may as well. Even if she did say no it wasn't like they would stop being friends.

It was going to be a long night.

Cinda was, infact, up and about. She wanders out and looks over to where Adell was and strarts off towards the kitchen, as if she didn't see him there. Anita was also up and was in the kitchen. She was pulling an all nighter for an exam that was tomorrow. Thanks to the wonders of Hylian technology, Anita would be able to take a live correspondence with her professors. She was looking forward to that. She looks up as Cinda comes walking in "Good morning." the Hylian says in a honey tone. "O-oh..uhhh...good morning..." Anita mumbles. She didn't know what, but Cinda seemed to make her very jittery for some reason "Adell's outside. Looking over the waves again." Cinda says as she gets a glass and walks over to the sink. She often did that so well, Anita forgot, at times, that the Hylian girl was blind.

There was one other problem too, Anita. He wasn't sure if she still liked him after all this time but if she did the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her. Adell couldn't handle girls crying or anything, he had always been like that since he could remember, especially when it involved something he did. Or just someone he cared about.

He wasn't really sure what to do. Just be quite about things and let go as they are now? Though once they did finally part ways from the wish, he might end up regretting not saying anything years from now. It left him a crossroads of sorts.

'Ugh..this isn't getting me Anywhere. Only thing I'm getting is a headache.'

Tired of thinking about his jumbled love life he headed to where the others were, he'd think about it later. Maybe talk to Cinda or something.

Speaking of, Cinda and Anita were up and about, he greeted both of them. "Evening..or it technically morning?" He shrugged, deciding it wasn't worth the trouble and got himself a seat. "How are you two?"

Cinda looks over to him "I'm just getting something to drink." she says simpily. Anita looks up from her laptop "I'm just finishing up my studies then I'm going to hit the sack." she says, tiredly. Cinda looks out a window, which was strange "There's going to be a storm moving in soon." she says as she finishes her water "We had best return to our rooms." she sets the glass down "Oh, but please don't worry. This ship is designed to withstand storms." she explains. Anita nods "We've been lucky enough to not run into any storms so far." she says. Cinda shakes her head "No. The navigational computer was streering us out of the path of them." she says "But Star had to turn it off so it could repair it's self. So that's why we're going to be heading into one now." she says. ANita nods as she closes her laptop "Well then, I guess I'll be heading to bed early." she chuckles lightly at her own joke.

'Great. Oh well, its not like I was doing anything productive out here.'

Adell got up after that. "All right, I guess I'll call it a night. See you two tomorrow."

Honestly, he didn't really even feel like going to bed. There were a lot of things on his mind and he didn't think he'd instantly go back to sleep. Still, at the same time he needed to be well rested in case anything bad actually happened. Considering what Cinda could do, according to Jason, which was wishes, there would be more likely more people coming out of the woodworks for her.

Anita nods to Cinda and Adell "Good night, you two." she says as she wanders off. Cinda holds up a hand before Adell could leave "If I may, could you walk me to my room, please?" she asks "When the seas start to get rough, I start to lose my sence of direction." she explains. "Also, I sence that you're troubled by something." she points out "Do you wish to talk about it?" she asks.

"Sure." Adell moved over so he could help Cinda. "I forget at times that you need help getting around since you can get around without help so well. I guess with anything it becomes second nature." He paused a bit and sighed. "..And you're right, there is something bugging me. You could say its girl problems."

Cinda nods "Yes. I remember the spacing where everything is. But when things are too rough, then I can't space the area too well." she says as she takes Adell's arm "This girl trouble wouldn't be about Star and Anita, would it?" she asks "Anita still has feeling for you, ya know." she says in a plesent tone "She's just way too shy to come forth and tell you. But I think you already know that. And Star, she's...more complicated. She feels that her first and only duty, is to protecting me." he says in a soft voice "Second to that, is her student, Angelique. She takes those two tasks, I guess you could call them, very seirously." she mutters softly.

Adell was silent for a moment, thinking about things. Then he sighed. "I figured just wasn't sure about Anita. She's a really nice girl its just.." He paused, then decided to speak about what he had been on his mind. "When we first met Anita, it was San Franciso, I think. I didn't know her too well at the time, but during that time I began to have a crush on her."

"Sometime later, I think it was a month in, some stuff happened. Eventually, it lead to us thinking Anita died in an explosion. After that, months later it was more me and Monica moving on with our lives, then Jason came and told us she wasn't really dead, and needed our help."

"So, we ended up helping her. See, Anita was possesed by this evil spirit of a different version of herself, crazy as it sounds. A girl named Cedrick from this dimension. Things settled down a bit and it was a bit back to normal, we'll what's normal for us.." Adell paused for a bit longer. "When Anita came back, its not like just jumping back in, I had moved on a bit but I wanted to see if there was anything there. Then after thinking about it, I decided for Anita's sake I needed to find out more about what she was by getting to know her a bit more. That way I could say for sure and not rush things."

"But..I've gotten to know Anita better." Adell said, thinking. "I've gotten to know everyone here better, but I'm not naive to think a single year is enough. But its a long enough time to get a decent grasp of who somebody is. I think Anita more like a sister, Monica too. The thing is, I really like Star and enjoy her company. But as you said, she thinks her duty is just you and her student."

He sighed again. "But I don't want to hurt Anita either, Or Monica. I know Monica likes me too now. More then likely I'm not sure if anything will actually happen but I can't write that off. I know you can't help how you feel but still.." Adell seemed a bit lost. "..What should I do? Just be quite about everything? I'm not sure Star even likes me like that."

"Hmmmm...." Cinda hums, thinking to herself "You know, discussions of the heart aren't ment for speaking in a hallway." she says as she opens the door to her room "Lets talk more about this in privet." she says, then hauls Adell into her room, closes the door behind them and wanders over to her bed "Now, I don't have much expearience with relationships, so please bare that in mind with any advice I give you." she says as she pats the bed "Please, have a seat. I promise I won't bite." she giggles lightly "Now, about Anita and Star, I advise you to be completely sure how they'll react to anything you have to say to them, relationship wise. Ask either Monica or Angelique if they'll talk with them about certain things, like rejection and the like, just to see what their reaction will be." the Hylian girl offers "I can tell you right now, Star won't be too open to a relationship. She still doesn't Fully trust you, Monica or Anita especially, for reasons I'm unaware of." she says.

While his mind protested it wasn't an good idea to be alone in a room with Cinda, he decided to ignore it. A few minutes wasn't going to kill him. He took a seat nearby after she offered.

"So she doesn't fully trust us still." Adell said more to himself, thinking. "..It's probably safe to say I have less experience then you, but if there is one thing I do know is that if you don't have trust, you don't have an relationship. That's basically the building block for the rest."

He couldn't think of as to why, but decided to wonder about it later. "As for Monica, I can't go to her. I know she likes me so asking that sort of thing would be beyond insensitive. Maybe Angelique though, we get along well enough. I don't want to hurt anyone, but that's not realistic. I'll have to make up my mind eventually.."

Adell seemed really conflicted about things, which he was. That's why he was thinking more about things before he acted, but he was doing that more and more as of late.

Cinda was thinking for a bit "Well, Angelique is spoken for already, her boyfriend is currently out of...the country." she mumbles "As for Star, she's never been too trusting and unless she's really impressed. Which is why she teaches Angelique away from you, Monica and Anita." she explains "Don't blame Star, I asked that you three be allowed to travle with us and...she's accustom to doing as I asked, for whatever reason." she mumbles the last part "What I'm trying to say, is that if they're your friends, they'll understand your feelings, just like you have to understand theirs." she smiles as Adell "Right?"

Adell found himself smiling back a bit. "..Yeah." He liked Cinda's company, mainly because she was easy going and he felt better when talking to her about things that were troubling him, he was slightly reluctant but Cinda needed her sleep most likely. "..I guess I should be heading to my own room now."

Cinda nods "Then I wish a good night." She says in her honeyed voice "But I would ask that you think on this. If ever there was feeling for Anita or even Monica, it's because feelings exsist there." She says "And I don't mean feelings of friendship only, but something stronger and more wonderful." She says, still smiling in Adell's direction "Dream well, my young friend."

"Night."

Adell then left Cinda to get some sleep and headed back to his room to Try to get some rest. He was just wound up about things but he'd go back to sleep eventually and then see how tomorrow played out. Adell's mind drifted from any number of topics, from all that had happened as of recently, Cinda and his two friends. He even briefly wondered if it was true or not if he was the last of his kind around here, but it wasn't likely as if he'd ever know.

It was a rough, but unevenful night. Morning comes along a bit Too quickly and there were rough seas about, along with the winds and rain. Lightning could be seen getting closer, however, the ship was doing well. It wasn't as rough a ride as it would have been without the stablisers. Cinda was up and about, being a morning person, so was Star. But Anita was Just now getting up. Having stayed up late, she was getting a late start. She needed a shower, bad. It would help wake her up for one. She walks over to the cramped shaower stall in her room (Star insisted that every room have it's own shower), undresses and wanders on in, she didn't bother closing the stall door, since it was just her in the room and lets the water run down her bare body. It didn't matter if it were cold water or not, because of the strangeness of her body tempture. Still, it felt better once the water warmed up. She didn't have anything to do until tonight, so she could enjoy the rest of the day. Maybe spend sometime with her friends. It seemed that Monica and Adell were to busy to spend any time togeather, or atleast with her. She was starting to miss her friends.

Adell would have woken up earlier, if not for the fact he been staying up late thinking about various things as he was usually a morning person as well. As was, he got up just slightly later then normal, he went to get a shower and personal hygene done before heading out. Some breakfast wouldn't hurt either.

* *

Monica woke up a bit earlier then normal, despite Not being a morning person at all. Angelique was already up with Star and Cinda, but she herself took a moment to get going. Today, she decided, she was going to spend a bit more time with Anita. It wasn't as if they didn't hang out(on a ship, there wasn't much to do but talk and get to know each other anyway) it just they hadn't had as much one on one time. Just for the girls, as they say.

But first..she needed to beat her arch nemesis known as the morning cold you got when lifting your covers in the morning.

Anita finished her shower, dried off, got dressed in something simple (tee-shirt, shorts and her boots), then she wanders on into the main deck. The storm shutters were closed, so they wouldn't get soaked "Morning everyone." she mumbles as she walks in. Cinda looks in her direction "Good morning, Anita." she says in her usual good mood. Star wasn't there, she was off training, or setting up, the days training for Angelique.

"..Morning.." Adell said as he came into where everyone else was at, he was still slightly tired but not nearly as much as he was before. Monica came in not too long ago after he did, but was more energetic then Adell was this morning.

Cinda smiles over to Adell and Monica "Good morning you two." she says in a cheerful tone as Star comes walking in as if she owns the place (which she does). She grabs something quick to eat "Alright, we're all set_" her words were cut off by the boat rocking sharply. Star braced herself as did Anita. Cinda, on the other hand was cought off guard and she was sent stumbling "Whoa!" she says suprised.

It wasn't too long after Star came, did Angelique come as well though she, like Monica seemed a bit more energetic in the morning. If Adell hadn't missed a bit of sleep he would have too.

Before Monica could say something or Angelique, the ship jerked. Both young woman grabbed onto something. Adell, however, had a very good balance because of his training but even then you could get knocked on your ass if you weren't careful. That said, the moment Cinda looked as if she was going to go tumbling, he caught her with one arm, the other having gripped something briefly to steady himself.

After that he let her go. "Easy. You okay?"

Cinda nods "Yes. Thank you." she smiles at him. Star looks around, nothing was broken "I think we should hold off on training until the storm passes. In the mean time, I'll be in my room if I'm needed." she says, nods to Angelique and touches Cinda on the sholder, which gets a smile from her friend, then she leaves. Anita frowns "Uhhh...I don't like bad weather at all...for some reason it always seems to drain me of my strength." she mumbles as she sits down, looking drained.

Cinda's smile kind of made Adell feel strange, but he ignored it. Probably the pheromone thing at work so he thought. He noticed Anita a bit tired from the bad weather though he couldn't quite figure it out.

"Maybe storms drain Anita of her power." Monica offered, sitting down by her friend.

"I don't think so.." She hadn't been too bothered by it last night, but odds are they would never figure it out anytime soon. It seemed to make her tired but nothing to worry about, least for now, maybe in the future though. It might be something to look into.

Anita had an idea of why she felt this way. It might have had something to do with that woman, Regina. She was the Cedrick from this dimension's mother. So in away, that made her Anita's mother. She found out that her friends had a run in with her last year, she cursed herself for not being there. Still...she slumps forward "Blahh..." she mumbles "Maybe I just need some excersize." she stands as the boat rocks back and forth "Hey Monica, Adell, would you two care to join me in the gym?" she asks.

It wasn't like Adell was doing anything at the moment so he shrugged. "Sure."

"Might as well." Monica said, not seeing why not.

Angelique decided she would just stay behind and keep Cinda company. She knew, from just observing but not being told a little bit of what was going on with Adell. She considered him a friend, so she hoped things worked itself with his little love triangle--or as she thought of Cinda if not her imagination, possibly a square.