Nova Myst
He was actually quite looking forward to going home. Alright, so it wasn’t ideal that everyone else was coming with them, but Eden was right. They needed to rest, and then figure out how to sort this mess out somewhere where their conversations couldn’t be overheard.
Nova tried to check his phone for the time, but his battery had died at some point along the line. It was clearly the early hours of the morning by the looks of things, and clearly not the same evening that they’d disappeared on. Most people from Alexandria visit Ramblum for the Parade of Lights, it would be unusual for there to be this many people out drunk in Alexandria for that festival.
It was then he realised he still had his sword in his hand, so he quickly folded it back down and sheathed it. No monsters to fight here.
As the siblings began to lead them to their home, Nova checked to make sure they were all following. Sure enough, Kite was being stubborn and refused to leave. “I gotta sort Kite out, I’ll catch up with you, Eden.”
She sighed, but nodded. She didn’t seem to want to argue, but to be honest, she looked exhausted. Maybe she trusted his intentions for once? Probably not, but where else other than home did he have to go at this time of night?
As Nova approached, Kite refused to look at him. “Look, I know you’re mad at me. But you’re in a foreign city with nowhere to go, so please just stay at my house tonight because there’s no transport back to Ramblum until the morning, and I can’t drive you.” His bike was still in Ramblum, and knowing his luck it had probably either been stolen or destroyed by the goblins. “Please?”
It took a few moments for Kite to respond, but at least it was positive. “Alright, but don’t talk to me. I don’t wanna hear any more of your bullshit.”
Fine... Okay, maybe now’s not the best time to explain everything. They hurried to catch up with everyone, and then walked together. “I am sorry, though, Kite...”
“I said don’t talk to me.”
The rest of their walk home wasn’t very eventful. Everyone was tired, so there wasn’t a lot of conversation between them. As they reached their house, Eden stopped at their front door, looking back at Nova expectantly. He swiped a card through a reader to turn the alarm off and unlocked the door, switching the lights on.
“Okay, guided tour is gonna be quick, cos I wanna crash, so essentials only. This is the lounge, where I will be sleeping on the couch again.” He pointed right. “That way is the kitchen, help yourselves to whatever you want.”
He couldn’t help but notice that they all seemed to be gawking as he took them upstairs. Had they really never been in a house like this before? Sometimes, he forgot how lucky he was with his upbringing...
There were many pictures on the wall. All of them fairly old, it wasn’t like Eden or Nova to display new ones. He wondered if any of them were paying attention to the fact there was another sister in most of them. They probably weren’t even looking, to be honest, they all seemed like they just wanted to sleep.
“Alex, you can have my room, I’ll find you a duvet since mine’s on the sofa.” He opened the first door on the left and turned on the light. Thankfully it was fairly tidy since he hadn’t been around to mess it up. “The next door down is a bathroom. Jin, you can take the one after that. Eden’s is opposite, so Markus and Kite, you can fight amongst yourselves for the other two rooms.”
As they moved to get themselves settled, Nova managed to get back downstairs and come back with a spare duvet before they’d sorted themselves out. Jin and Eden had obviously taken their rooms, Alex was waiting for his return, but Kite and Markus seemed to be taking their time with picking rooms.
“Here.” He followed Alex into his room, laying out the duvet for her. “Um, I just need to grab a few things.”
He rummaged through some drawers for some clean clothes and pyjamas, when Alex stood next to him and pointed at a photo in front of them. “Is she another sister?” She said quietly.
It was of himself and Kara on Ramblum beach earlier in the summer when he’d managed to convince her to join them on a little family outing. He was giving her a piggy-back with the intention of throwing her in the sea; Eden had somehow managed to capture the exact moment when she’d given up trying to steer him away and had thrown her arms in the air, ready to bring him down with her. “What makes you think that?”
“She looks too old to be Eden, but too young to be your mother...”
There was no fooling Alex. “Her name’s Kara, she doesn’t live here anymore, but you might get to meet her soon.” He finished what he was doing and headed out of the room. “Sweet dreams.”
“Nova, wait!”
He turned back to face her to be greeted by a hug, a gesture that he gladly returned. “I’ll still be here in the morning, y’know...”
They could hear Kite grumbling something before slamming whichever bedroom door that he’d just picked. Nova sighed as Alex let go. “Goodnight, Nova.”
He closed the door for her, only to find Markus still stood there. What was with him today? Normally they got on just fine... “Are you waiting for me to go so you can attempt to woo Eden?”
“No.”
“Whatever, Markus, just don’t go pestering her. She doesn’t need you right now.”
“I could say the same about you and Alex.”
There it was. For a brief moment that irritating smug look took over, before going back to the serious face. He wanted to make some kind of clever retort so badly, but they were interrupted.
“You, in that room. You, downstairs.” Eden commanded from the other end of the corridor. “If either of you protest, I will end you.”
Thankfully Nova knew when it wasn’t worth irritating Eden any further, so without so much as a glare, he made his way back to the sofa. Well, he would have if he hadn’t made a quick detour to charge his phone and then go through the wall-length glass doors out onto the balcony that overlooked most of Alexandria.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, just watching the world go by. He was alone for a while, until a steaming mug of hot chocolate with a couple of marshmallows floating around appeared in his line of vision. He looked up to see his sister sipping from a second mug, waiting.
“Thanks.” He smiled at her as he took it from her. She sat next to him and they sat together in silence, until Eden had finished her drink and decided to use Nova’s shoulder as a pillow. As much as he wanted to talk about the events of the day, he knew that she really didn’t. He put his arm around her and they sat for a little while longer before he spoke again. “Are we going to see Kara tomorrow?”
“Yeah... This isn’t something we should hide from her.”
“Good. I miss her.”
“It’s not really going to be a social visit, Nova.”
“No, maybe not.” He chuckled as Eden yawned. “Go to bed, we can worry about that in the morning.”
They went inside without another word. He waited for her to go upstairs before changing into his PJs, rescuing his little baby chocobo from his jacket pocket and cocooning himself in his duvet on the sofa.
---
So just FYI, Jin is staying in Kara's old bedroom, Markus has ended up in their parents' old bedroom, and Kite is in the guest room. Yes because they have a guest room XD Off the balcony, there is a flight of stairs that takes you to their garden. It's not very big. Opposite to the kitchen, there's a study with a piano in it. Most of the pictures I mentioned were of the kids when they were 17, 13 and 9 respectively, or younger (that's if Kara is indeed 27 now, I can't remember. Sie? XD) and some are of their parents (who are dead, if you didn't remember).
Other than that... Have fun exploring their house 8D I dare any of you to wake Nova up in the morning XD *scurries off to bed*