Chapter 51: Unknown (Arc 2 – Across The Stars END)

  Mel… didn’t know what to do.

  She had a lot of regrets, but dealing with them had been hard since there was just so much going on right now.

  The st month had been a mess, well the mess began before that, but ever since Ceel disappeared a month ago everything was just so much more exhausting.

  “I should just be grateful for what I have…” Mumbled Mel as she pced both her hands on her knees.

  With a little bit of practice, she was right back as new, and all her friends were ecstatic but she was still down because she was missing her sister again. But they didn’t know that, she kept it a secret that Ceel came home originally, and now she needed to keep that fact secret again.

  While Mel was feeling down again, a girl with trimmed pink hair walked inside, “You feeling okay Mel?” Li asked, “I’ve brought some ice cream home.”

  “I’ll have some ter, but I’m okay thank you.”

  Li had returned home with them, which was another mess in its own right, but Mel was just gd she was okay and she felt guilty of nearly getting Li killed.

  Mel felt guilty about not seeking recovery immediately. Her body hated her as now with her limbs back, she never wanted to lose them again. And in her mind, she was a selfish arsehole, who deyed her recovery which just caused an uncountable amount of pain for herself and her family. She was a damsel in distress who couldn’t do anything while her family was under attack, and she nearly got Li killed by being too close to the action and nearly getting caught.

  That incident is what led to Li coming home to Metous with the Stel family–not legally.

  She had a special ID created for her, but she didn’t go far from the house and simply stayed home most of the time. If she did go somewhere, it was to help Tel at the flower store and maybe pick something up on the way to their house.

  …This was all thanks to Nina. Who honestly helped out the family a lot.

  She said it was just ‘repaying the favour’, but she was really going up and beyond what a normal person would do in Mel’s eyes.

  Maybe that’s why she isn’t a normal person… Thinking about it, all the strong people she knew were kind of weird. Even her sister, while she seemed normal, Mel knew she had changed a lot.

  The situation with Nina was told to Mel and Tyell by Tel, Tyell was part of the original talk but once he fell asleep he didn’t wake up for a week and forgot parts of it.

  When Nina came by to treat the nearby injured, she came over to where the Stel family were resting and found Li still in her Dominous Hood gear colpsed on the ground.

  Mel and Tyell vehemently defended Li, which allowed Nina to not capture or send her to the authorities, but they had to agree to make sure she talked to Nina once she awoke.

  The stress and excitement did finally get to Mel and she colpsed before the end of the conversation.

  Once Li awoke and the family was in a private setting, the beans were spilled. Li spewed out everything she knew about Dominous Hood and her pn to disappear after this mission. Of course, this did lead to the topic of Ceel, how could it not?

  Nina was nice enough and followed her promise and didn’t report Li, and instead helped hide her while she was on Earth.

  Afterwards, the family waited for Ceel to return.

  But then the crack disappeared and Ceel still wasn’t back, then they waited a week and there was still no sight of her. There was fear for the worst but Tyell said with confidence, “There is no way she’s dead, she survived once, she just must be far away this time.”

  Tel wanted to stay on Earth to wait for Ceel but she was convinced by everyone to return home. With Nina’s words of assurance that she will look out for and bring Ceel home if she pops up anywhere.

  Tyell said goodbye to Beatrice on behalf of Ceel, he didn’t know if the lie he gave to convince her worked but she didn’t call again, and she said she’d wait for Ceel to call first.

  Then with the help of Nina, they all went home on a private vessel, including Li as Nina told them that if she wanted to hide, she needed to be somewhere completely different and the Stel family were all too quick to take her home with them.

  She resisted a bit but was overwhelmed by the family’s persistence.

  With everything sorted, they were now living together on Metous in the Stel family house. Nina also visited Metous frequently and checked up on them.

  “What if she never comes back…” Mel started to spiral again, Li quickly jumped to her side and Tyell rushed out of his room hearing her voice. This wasn’t the first time Mel started thinking the worst happened.

  Tyell reassured her, “Mel, Ceel is probably fine…”

  “How do we know that?!” Mel snapped back, “She could be dead, her corpse lost in space!”

  “I don’t think she will be dying anytime soon…” Tyell remembered the line ‘Ceel better thank me for this ter’. Tyell thought, With her strength and willpower she should be fine… she made it home once, and she CAN do it again… plus there is that voice…

  The voice frightened him so much he didn’t tell anybody, but what it did was amazing, and if that was on Ceel’s side at the bare minimum she should still be alive in Tyell’s mind.

  Li added, trying to help Mel and lighten the mood, “Tyell’s right… I doubt anything will kill her easily. Even if something was strong enough to kill her, she’s too stubborn to die.”

  Tyell chuckled, “Stubborn doesn’t even remotely describe it.”

  Mel smiled and remembered all of Ceel’s kind words but also her ferocious side, “Yeah…”

  While the trio were having this conversation. Far away from the house in a small private garden that Nina rented out, completely blocked from any outside interference, two individuals were enjoying a quiet lunch.

  “This is too much,” Tel sighed.

  She looked down at the teacup in her hand and then back up and across from her was Nina wearing a new dress. A blue dress with a gradient blue to purple, with a faded moon pattern towards the bottom quarter.

  Nina smiled, “Tis fine, I know you gave me more than you are willing to let on.”

  Tel put down her cup, “It is nothing to be proud of, I was just doing what any mother would.”

  “Even mothers have their limits.”

  They continued their small lunch, the garden was something Nina had built long ago. Not the only one, it was brand, she just wanted a pce to rex and meet people no matter where. It was a decently successful business, nothing crazy, but the only one who knew Nina was involved with the company's creation was the president himself.

  Nina stared at Tel again, and mentioned, “Like st time, I can still see the concern in your eyes, why?”

  Tel simply answered, “Your purpose here.”

  Nina went along with Tel’s question and asked one herself, “So why do you think I’m here?”

  “To keep tabs on Li, and to see when my daughter returns home if she suddenly shows up. That’s the only reason I can see you staying here for so long.”

  Nina gave a light chuckle, “You underestimate how fast I travel, to you it might seem like I’m here a lot, and I guess in my schedule I am, but I’m not really staying here, I’ve visited numerous locations, some on different pnets, in the short time we’ve known each other.”

  Nina added, “There are thousands of people I know and visit regurly, your family is just another one I’ve added to the list.”

  This comment shocked Tel, she didn’t really know much about Nina after, “How do you even remember that many people?”

  “Being a high level mostly, but having a skill for it does help.” Nina sipped her tea, “I do just enjoy interacting with people,

  “I still don’t know why you chose to interact with me more than once.” Tel was just an ordinary person who worked in a flower shop after all, hanging out with what was basically a celebrity more than once made no sense.

  Nina answered again, “Well I like you and as I’ve mentioned, you helped a lot.”

  “Yes, I was successful in defending my family thanks to you, but I didn’t help, you still lost an item that was important to you.” Tel had no idea of the importance of Nina’s staff when they first met, but she did her research after the fact and was devastated that such a powerful item ended up in the hands of those who wanted to hurt her family. If she just helped more, maybe that wouldn't have happened.

  Nina just wryly smiled and pondered for a moment, “Well, cause you were there I will let you in on a little secret, no telling your kids alright?”

  Tel nodded but was a little confused.

  There was a small fsh in Nina’s left eye, and a crescent moon appeared within. “They may have gotten the staff, but I don’t keep the core of it in it unless I enter a combat situation.” She tapped the air in front of her eye, “If I was successful in keeping this safe, then I’m sure you were completely successful in helping your kids. They will all come home.”

  Tel asked for confirmation, “...you sure?”

  “Yes, I haven’t met her, but your kids and her friend have spoken quite highly of her.” Nina thought about her own research into Ceel as well, “She'll be back one day.”

  Waking up on a faraway pnet in a mess of blood and metal, she coughed up some stones that entered her stomach and stood up.

  The bloodied horns retracted into her head and her unfocused golden eyes stared up into the void of space, not recognising the new stars in the sky.

  Not again…

  There she was… alone in the cold emptiness of space.

  Bobple

  Simple Thoughts

  This is just a lot of my thoughts. Just type out here in scribble hub editor now.

  Overall, I'm happy. I was a little worried going into this arc, because well, just nerves I guess.

  I'm happy with my pnning, I'm happy with most of the ideas I came up with, and I'm excited to continue writing once I pn the next arc.

  My best friend Grammar

  I am happy to say my grammar has improved! It’s still far from perfect, or honestly far from good. (Quickly gncing over this quickly written afterword.... maybe I should've grammar checked it) But it has improved a lot. Just reading new chapters, as while there are still mistakes which I try to fix when I see them, there are far less. Even when some of my friends read my newer chapters they are surprised about the fewer mistakes!

  Overall, I’m happy with my improvements but I know I still have a lot of work to do before I am at a level I’m happy at.

  Characters

  Here is where I will talk about some of the major characters of this arc. Honestly I could talk about them all... but I should control my rambling.

  CharactersCeel: If arc 1 had Ceel calm down, arc 2 was when Ceel started to let a bit of the crazy back in. Coming into contact with people that made her remember her past, in ways that more strongly tie back to the accident. Dealing with bastards and learning not only her brother, but one of her closest friend’s sister was wrapped up in Dominous Hood’s web. A lot happened, but I do like all the small happy moments she spends with her family and friends in this arc.

  Espoiramissa: It was great to use them more this arc. Of course they only appeared towards the end of arc 1, so they didn’t have much time to shine there. But I think they progressed well here. The audience slowly got to learn more about their personality and goals, while they were revealed to be a great ally but also an obstacle Ceel needs to overcome for her own freedom.

  Mel: Mel was an interesting case. So before this arc began, I knew that Mel would be cured, but knowing you can/will be cured doesn’t magically remove the pain of losing so much. Mel’s arc in arc 2 were themes about accepting, but necessarily her accepting. By the end, Mel very much doesn’t accept the idea of losing her limbs, and never wants that to happen again. She accepts some things, but it will take time before she can accept everything. Yes I’m being kind of vague-ish, I got pns!

  Tel: Not much to mention here. She wasn’t a major pyer in this arc, but I like all the small moments I was able to give her which showed the support she tries to provide for her family.

  Tyell: Tyell, Tyell, Tyell, my boy. You certainly went through a lot. Tyell pretty much spent the whole arc dealing with his own guilt. Which is fair, when you remember what he did. Overall I’m really happy with the direction his characters have gone, slowly being less sad and becoming more determined to help his family and the friends around him.

  Li: If we talk about Tyell, we can’t forget his parallel in Li. Li was in Tyell’s position st arc, before he did the deed, but in a deeper position in Dominous Hood so it was harder for her to escape. Ceel was able to stop her before she did something she would regret, but Ceel’s arrival was like a hammer that shattered the st few years of life. So she is now on the road to.... something. Mostly recovery, but really she is just very lost. I got some more pns for her and the Stel family, so look forward to that.

  [colpse]Things I wish I wrote better/differently

  There are some small things, like a couple chapters I wish I happened faster. Some of the action could've better.

  But the big thing was the reasoning the Stel family had to stay in Newcastle. I could've done better...

  So context, the original pn was for the attack on Earth to be surprise for everyone on Earth. Ceel would’ve still gone to the Juptar, but wouldn’t tell the family where she was going, and she was going on the day of the attack.

  I changed this for numerous reasons, and I am happy that I changed it. (listing some of the reasons–gives more Li and Ceel time, more family development, Ceel becoming less closed off, etc)

  I don’t hate it. As it helps get across a little bit about Earth’s culture, how they are stuck with old rules they don;t want to change. But I think it could’ve been executed much better. I was short on time, but I rushed the reasoning.

  Another thing I wish I did differently, was I wished I did more with the Espoiramissa chapters. That was the pn! But... I ran into time constraints... so I had to cut a lot. The original pn was for them to be from Ceel's perspective, and build up to the meeting with Espoiramissa. Of course that didn't happen, but I do like what I did. Because it was written from Espoiramissa point of view, I got to explore them more than if I did the original version. Either way, I still think I could've done more with these chapters.

  What's next

  I haven’t got a name for it yet, but arc 3 is the next arc! It should either start in December, or the start of January.

  There will be a slight change with arc 3, that is there will be two chapters a week. The current schedule is one chapter a week then a bonus chapter if there is a side chapter. With the new schedule I won’t be doing the bonus side chapters anymore cause the overall quantity will have increased.

  I don’t know if I will keep up this pace after the arc. So arc 3 is an experiment to see if I can do a different, more consistent writing schedule.

  Thanks again

  I know I am rambling, but I really do mean it. Thank you a lot, it has been a lot of fun reading comments and seeing people enjoy the story.

  [colpse]Also, Please comment if you have an questions you want to ask, I will be happy to answer them. Of course there are certain things I will keep secret because of spoiler reason, but I happy to talk about most things.