Chapter Text
Bash woke up the next day feeling tired. Every part of him hurt, from his head to his toes, to his heart. The events of the last night were still fresh in his brain, and though he had a few questions, he had no burning desire to find answers to them. All he wanted to do was to stay in bed and sleep it all off. He had been fighting with the Skylanders for years. Sometimes, he had to fight an enemy late into the night. He's done it multiple times in the past. Yet he never got used to the exhaustion the next day brought.
This time it was especially taxing. Normally, he wasn't emotionally drained along with his physical weariness. But this time, he felt tired everywhere.
As he slept, his subconscious mind thought over what the mabu woman said about them. He knew that many people kept track of what the Skylanders did. But he thought that the only people who really cared about them were young fans and weirdos who read the tabloids. He had been certain that most of the things people talked about were rumors and lies anyways. But the things the mabu woman said last night weren't that far off the mark, upon further introspection.
How did they even get that information in the first place?
It doesn't matter. The entire situation was just a huge mess. One that he does not feel like dealing with at all.
He crawled out from under his blanket and sat at the edge of his bed. With a sigh, he took a look at the world outside his window. What did it look like on this fine day?
Bash had left his curtains unopened, and outside, the early morning sky was a cooling blue color. A few long, grey clouds filled up the sky, blocking the rising sun from the view. It was probably going to rain soon. For some reason, Bash turned his attention to the ground when the thought of rain popped into his head. Maybe it was because he had associated the rain with puddles. Whatever the reason, he had managed to find some strength, and crawled out of his bed to walk towards his window. The Earth element rooms were on the ground floor, which left him in a decent position to study the ground. So there he stood, trying his best to make out the environment in the dark.
His window faced a great grassy field. That was all there was; grass. There was nothing else there to obstruct his view. No artificial lights or buildings or anything. The only things to really see down there were overgrown grass, a few patches of weeds, and several puddles scattered about.
Puddles. There was no more snow on the ground. It had all melted. Bash sighed. To many others, Winter would be over due to the lack of snow. But to his cold-blooded self, it would probably still be freezing outside.
Maybe that's what caused all his recent moodiness. All this cold weather.
He sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't really matter now." That must have been the second time he thought that that morning. He really ought to stop self-pitying and get out there soon.
Was he self-pitying though?
"Not really…" He thought. Sure, he felt tired. And he definitely felt sad. But he didn't feel sorry for himself. Rather, there was another feeling taking self-pity's place. It was… a lot warmer than self-pity, that was for sure. It felt comforting, similar to the way a warm cup of tea and a freshly-ironed blanket felt while a wild storm poured outside. "Relief." The word finally popped into his head. He was relieved.
He had felt relieved before, but there was also something else nagging at him from the inside. He instantly identified that feeling too. Concern; like the desire to check on anyone else who had also been caught in the storm. Then wanting to put a blanket around them. And then make them a cup of tea.
He pushed his door open, feeling a little bit happier. He knew what he should do now. Firstly, get his morning routine going. A shower, brush his teeth, all that jazz. After that, he should talk to Terrafin, Pop Fizz, Whirlwind, and most importantly, Flashwing. It was time to give some closure to this little episode. Time to actually be there and show actual love and support. Time to serve up a cup of tea.
He entered the dining hall to the sight of filled tables. He supposed that he did come in pretty late, but he was certain that he could find a seat. But first, he needed to get his breakfast.
Sure enough, he soon found, coincidentally enough, the table where, Whirlwind, Pop Fizz, Terrafin, and Flashwing sat. Whirlwind spotted Bash approaching them and waved at him with a small smile. Bash smiled back and walked towards them. He placed his plastic bowl of sausage on the table with a soft plunk and slid into his seat.
'Morning, guys,' Said Bash. As everyone else replied to his greeting, he took a bite of his meal.
'You came just in time, Bash. Terrafin was about to tell us all what happened to Lavender.' Said Whirlwind.
Bash looked up from his bowl of food, mouth stuffed full of sausage. 'Lavender? Who's that?' He asked, bits of sausage spitting out. 'Sorry 'bout that.'
'That's the mabu from last night,' Replied Terrafin, flicking a chunk of sausage off his arm. 'So, when we brought her to Cloudcracker, she just confessed all the things she did to Snap Shot with no regrets. She just smiled and said to lock her up. I think she might be crazy.'
'She really said that? Just went up and told Snap Shot to put her in jail?' Said Whirlwind, a brow raising.
'It was more like, "Lock me up. It's not like I have anything left to do now." or something like that.'
Bash nodded, then turned towards Flashwing. She had been pretty quiet that morning. He didn't blame her though. It can't be easy for her to process everything. Especially after being poisoned by a love potion. (Love-poisoned?)
He looked back down at his breakfast. Still a few sausages left. His eyes then darted over to all the plates of his friends. All of them, except for Flashwing, were almost finished with their meal.
That meant two things. Either they were all going to wait for them to finish, or they would leave early and leave the two of them alone together at the table.
As Pop Fizz guzzled down another bottle of soda, Terrafin chomped down on the last bits of his waffle and Whirlwind finished her fruit salad. 'Well, guys, Master Eon said that he wanted to meet the three of us in order to properly record the incident. He says to rest well, and remember not to neglect your duties next time.' Said Whirlwind, picking up her bowl. Guess it'll be the latter.
Bash nodded. 'We'll see you guys soon, then.' Whirlwind nodded and flew off with her bowl. Terrafin and Pop Fizz tagged along beside her.
Bash sank back into his seat and grabbed a sausage. He tore a chunk off with his teeth, and as he chewed, he gazed over at Flashwing.
Her large grey eyes were unfocused. Like she was staring off into space. She spun her spoon idly, her bowl of cereal remaining mostly untouched. The colorful bits floated around the milk, getting soggier by the minute, but she didn't seem to care. Eventually, Bash tapped her on the shoulder, his concern taking over him. 'Hey, Flashwing. You okay?'
Flashwing snapped out of her dazed state with a few blinks. She turned to Bash and sighed. 'Yes, I'm alright. There's just a lot to process now. Especially with, you know, what went down last night.'
'Mm…' Bash nodded. 'How… how do you feel right now?'
Flashwing dipped her spoon into her cereal and scooped some out. 'Tired, mainly. I feel a little drained too. Like I don't want to do much right now.' She popped the spoon in her mouth.
'I feel pretty tired too.' Said Bash, taking another bite of his sausage. 'And… and I feel kinda sad too, to be honest.'
Flashwing nodded and scooped out another mouthful of cereal. 'I understand where you're coming from.' She ate up another spoonful of cereal. The soggy crunching noises once again filled her mouth. For a moment, that was the only sound made between the two of them. The conversation had ended, and they had nothing else to say. The conversation probably could have ended right there.
But soon, the crunching stopped. Flashwing couldn't bring herself to do anything. Not lift her jaw to chew, or even to swallow. She just sat there, her emotions and thoughts buzzing in her mind again while half-eaten cereal filled her mouth. After a few seconds, Bash noticed the sudden lack of soft chewing sounds and turned to face Flashwing again. 'Flashwing, is there something on your mind?' He asked.
Flashwing swallowed her cereal, having been snapped back to reality. She then dunked her spoon into the bowl with a small splash. She didn't feel all that hungry anymore. With a sigh, she turned to meet Bash in the eye. 'Bash, do you really want to know why I've been ignoring all your advances?' She asked. Her grey eyes seemed to demand him to ask. Like she had a thought that had been brewing in her mind for awhile now, and she finally got to say it.
'Erm, sure thing. Go ahead.'
There was a moment of silence like Flashwing was collecting her thoughts. She stirred her cereal, creating a tiny whirlpool in it. Bash found himself looking at it, the swirling motion of the milk with tiny miscellaneous shapes mixed in hypnotizing him. Finally, Flashwing spoke, taking him out of his trance.
'Alright, it wasn't that I didn't like you. I think you're a great friend. You're a heroic Skylander and a resilient fighter. It's just that…' She paused, biting her bottom lip. 'I'm not attracted to you.'
For a moment, Bash felt his heart stop. It felt disconnected from everything for just the tiniest nanosecond. But that feeling soon stopped. He had been anticipating Flashwing's rejection all night. This was no surprise. 'Mm, I see.'
'You're not upset by that, are you?' She asked, almost out of obligation. She had a tense look to her, as if she desperately wanted this awkward situation to be over as soon as possible. Have everything go according to the plan in her head, then let all bygones be bygones. Bash didn't blame her for feeling that way.
'No, not really.' He said, twiddling his thumbs. 'But I do want to know one thing.'
'Yeah?'
'Why didn't you just tell me that?'
Flashwing dipped her spoon into the bowl and scooped a spoonful of cereal out. Classic tactic; eating to avoid talking. Bash followed after her, reaching for another sausage and taking a big bite out of it. They both chewed equally slowly.
Eventually, Flashwing swallowed and sighed. Better get this out of the way now. 'Well, it's stupid, but I didn't want you to be disappointed.'
And just like that, the words flowed out. 'I don't know. I guess it's because you're nice and sensitive. I didn't want to be that mean girl. You seemed like the type to get your heart broken easily, and I thought that you might just get over it after a while. But you didn't, and by then I started to really like you as a friend. And then I didn't want to ruin our friendship, especially since you were the first one to find me when I crashed over here. And, well…' She stopped, unsure of what to say next. Once she said it out loud, she thought it did sound kind of stupid. But she was glad to finally get that weight off her chest. And fortunately, Bash got the gist of it.
'Yeah, I see.' They both sat there in silence for a while, taking a few bites out of their cereal and sausages. But then a thought popped into Bash's head. Since Flashwing shared her feelings with him, it really would only be fair if he shared his feelings with her.
'Well,' He began. 'I thought that you weren't aware of my crush. That was why I kept giving you all those gifts and such. I thought that you would appreciate those gestures. But now that I know you're not interested…' He paused. 'I understand now.'
Once again, after he shared his feelings, there was an awkward period of silence as the two of them ate. This really was too easy to resolve. All they needed to do was just… talk like that. It was a little awkward, and it wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't too difficult once they got over themselves. To think, if they had done it earlier, they really could have avoided all the trouble with Lavender and her love potion...
Never mind that. That's in the past. They should move on.
The two were close to finishing their meals. By that time, the dining hall was fairly empty. Most Skylanders had already left for their missions. Bash didn't know what to spend the rest of the day doing. Maybe train? Yes, that's what he should do. He hasn't done that in a week.
Holy cow, he hasn't done it in a week.
That little episode really did waste a lot of time.
He sighed and ate up the last of his sausage. Well, no point crying over spilled milk. Now he has to focus on training. He turned over to face Flashwing, who was also about to finish her breakfast. 'Want me to clear that up for you?' He asked.
'Oh, sure. Thanks.' Said Flashwing. 'I have to go now. Hope to see you soon, Bash.' She smiled, pushing in her chair. 'Bye.'
'Bye.' Replied Bash softly. He grabbed her bowl, balanced it on his plate, then made his way to the sink.
As he walked over, he looked down at the bowl. Out of sheer coincidence, or maybe just plain luck, the only pieces left in the bowl were an "X" and an "O". Bash couldn't help but snicker at that. What were the odds?
But as he arrived at the sink, he dumped out the two pieces into a nearby garbage can. No point in holding onto that. He needed to get over it. He wanted to get over it. To just let it remain in the past. As he arrived at the sink, he took the sponge out, squirted a little soap on it, and began to scrub both plates clean, whistling while he worked.
Life was fine.