A Melting of a Heart Chapter 9

Secret

By Key Mima

The scene of the forest was quite a wreck. Magus approached it with wonder; not because it had disappeared without a trace, but because Sunev had had the power to make it.
 
She followed him miserably, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and frowning.
 
"Chipper up, my dear," he told her sarcastically. "With luck, we can get out of here with our heads still on our shoulders."
 
"Magus, how could they suspect me? Everyone here thinks I'm Earthbound."
 
"They don't suspect you. But they'll find out." He turned around and gave her a sharp look. "I don't want you to use your power for the rest of the duration here."
 
"But weren't we going to train or-"
 
"Not anymore. We can't risk letting them find us out. You made a stupid move, Sunev."
 
Sunev took in a breath as if she were going to say something in reply, but puffed it out in exasperation when she saw that it would be no use.
 
Magus began walking again. Deep down, he was proud of Sunev. She was his student, after all. But now she might have aroused the suspiscions of Zeal; and worse, the suspiscions of his mother, the queen.
 
"Prophet! Long time, no see!" Dalton called, running to greet them. "Hey, babycakes," he added, slapping Sunev on the butt.
 
"Don't touch me," she mumbled, her black hair falling into her crystal clear eyes. Magus, before he realized what he was doing, instinctively reached out and brushed her hair aside. Their eyes met.
 
Dalton looked at the two, locked in each other's gaze, and sighed in exasperation.
 
"You two are a damned couple!" he cried. Magus snapped back to earth.
 
"We are not. She's like a daughter to me."
 
Lie. The trio froze at those words. Sunev looked shocked, Magus couldn't believe himself, and Dalton looked like he had just been awarded a medal.
 
"...A daughter?" Sunev whispered.
 
"Well! Hey then, Daddy-O, can Sunev and I get hitched?"
 
"Not in your lifetime," Magus replied coldly.
 
"Well then how about when yours is over, old man?" Dalton retorted coolly.
 
"Sunev, let's go."
 
Magus turned on heel and started toward the investigation site. He didn't look back to see if she was following him. He knew she was.
 
"So that's what you think of me, huh?" she said, falling angrily into step with him.
 
"What if it were?" he asked, not daring to meet her eyes.
 
"Well if it were then that means that everything your doing is just to be polite to me. You don't wanna hurt my feelings."
 
"What type of love did you think I regarded you with in the first place?" Shut up, Magus, his mind told him. Don't hurt the girl more than she already is. Especially with a lie.
 
Sunev remained silent.
 
"Was it that kind of love, then?" he asked, his tongue going faster than his brain.
 
Sunev again remained silent.
 
"Well then I'm sorry. You were sadly mistaken."
 
He stopped walking. Sunev had stopped a while ago.
 
"Are you coming?" he asked. The sympathy he felt did not show.
 
"No," she croaked.
 
"Fine, then."
 
Sunev cried something unintelligable, then turned the other way and ran.


Sunev flopped onto her bed and cried softly into her pillow. She had admitted her love to him, only to be shot down from the sky like a goose. He had never liked her. All the kindness he had shown her she had taken the wrong way. The times he had held her meant nothing to him. Everything they had done meant nothing to him.
 
Sunev sniffled and turned her head to look out across the room. Instead, she looked directly into the face of Janus.
 
"Why are you crying?" he asked, the innocence of his youth making her feel calm. "Is it because the prophet sent your friends away?" Sunev smiled.
 
"No, something worse."
 
"Worse? What is it?" the little boy asked, climbing onto the covers with her and wrapping his arms around her neck.
 
"It's nothing, Ja-"
 
"You have to tell me," he stated stubbornly.
 
"Janus," Sunev started hesitantly, "the prophet and I are very close." The boy's eyes widened. "I love him." His jaw dropped.
 
"But I love you!" he cried, hugging her tighter.
 
"I love you too, Janus," Sunev replied with a smile.
 
"No, I mean that way."
 
"What do you mean?" Sunev studied him.
 
"I want you to marry me, Sunev." Sunev was dumbstruck. A ten year old was proposing to her.
 
"Janus-"
 
Janus lifted his head up and kissed her.
 
Sunev froze. She looked at the prince, whose eyes were closed in sweet indifference, and realized that he was serious. She pulled away and the boy's eyes fluttered open.
 
"Janus, what was that?" she sputtered.
 
"It was a kiss." Sunev was speechless.
 
Not being able to say anything else, she got up and exited the room. On her way out, she bumped into Magus.
 
"What did he do?" Magus asked in a hushed whisper. Sunev's heart skipped a beat and her stomach knotted. She wasn't sure if she was ready to converse with him this soon, but it seemed inescapable.
 
"You remember, don't you?"
 
"Yes, but why did you let him?"
 
"Me? You should have stopped yourself."
 
Janus flung open the bedroom and the two adults looked down at him.
 
A moment of uncomfortable silence passed, where each of them studied each other. Janus's eye twotched.
 
"You!" he cried, glowering at Magus.
 
"What?" Magus asked.
 
"You took Sunev away from me! It's all your fault she doesn't love me!"
 
"I did not. That was Sunev's fault. Bother her."
 
"Magus! Janus!" That sounded odd to Sunev, and she couldn't help but smirk. "Both of you shut up."
 
The two Januses looked to Sunev, who was visibly giving off steam.
 
She then realized that she didn't want their attention at all, and she took off in the opposite direction. Into the main hall, up the stairs, and into Schala's room. She was in a rocking chair, knitting a cobalt blue quilt.
 
The quilt needles hit the floor when she looked up.
 
"Sunev! What's wrong?"
 
Sunev sighed. "Oh, Schala... Everything."
 
"Sit down. Tell me everything."
 
Sunev smoothed out her skirt and sat down.
 
"The prophet and I..." she began, choosing her words carefully, "have been working together for about three months." Schala nodded. "During that time, I kinda began to like him..."
 
"Like Janus? How sweet!" Schala clapped her hands together. Sunev smiled sadly.
 
"Well, today he found out."
 
"And?"
 
"Well, look at me."
 
Schala nodded in womanly understanding. "He told you he doesn't feel the same."
 
"Exactly! Perfect."
 
"Janus... Not in love with you?"
 
"So it was written."
 
"That's unbelievable! I always thought he liked you from the way he acted around you."
 
"I thought so too," Sunev muttered, looking out the window at the gold-lined clouds. "'Well then, I'm sorry. You were sadly mistaken,' he said."
 
"How rude! He should know by now to at least be kind about it! Women's feelings are not something to be toyed with..." Schala made a tiny fist and tried as best she could to look threatening.
 
Sunev fell back into a pile of pillows. "This is so soap opera," she groaned. "He won't at least respect me as long as I'm acting like this."
 
"Let me talk to him," Schala offered, picking up her yarn and knitting needles and placing them in the seat of the chair. "I'll be back. Stay here." She smiled. "I won't let my friends get hurt, even by my little brother."

Schala set off down the halls, searchin for Janus. She saw him, but it was the wrong one.
 
The boy held Alfador in his arms, stroking his head distractedly.
 
"Hello, Janus. How are you and Alfador doing?" she asked, scratching the cat under the chin. He purred loudly and dug his claws into Janus's forearm.
 
"Ow..." he mumbled, putting the cat on the ground and petting his head. "I feel terrible," he finally answered.
 
"How come?" Schala asked, hugging him.
 
"I love Sunev, but she loves that freaky prophet guy! And he doesn't even like her at all."
 
"I bet he does."
 
"Well, that doesn't make me feel any better."
 
Schala sighed.
 
"If you just keep loving her, even when she's gone, I know she'll love you back someday."
 
"How do you know?"
 
"I know a lot. After all, I'm a teenager."
 
Janus's eyes grew large. "You're right! Teenagers know a lot."
 
Schala grinned and kissed him on the cheek, then started back on her search.

.

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