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"They've been out for days... Why is it taking so long for them to come back?"
"I don't know. Maybe because they were the last to be taken.
"Maybe... but I hope they wake up soon."
Valon listened to the voices around him and immediately recognized the people as Rafael and Alister.
"Who's still out?"
"You're awake!"
Valon opened his eyes and saw Alister smiling at him.
"Geeze! You sure took your sweet time!" The redhead said teasingly.
Valon smiled at him.
"Hey, I need my beauty sleep."
Rafael smirked.
"No arguments there."
Valon laughed and sat up in his bed, looking around the room as he did.
"Where's Jackie?" He asked curiously. His two friends frowned.
"How are you feeling?" Alister asked, avoiding the question.
A slight panic began to build in Valon's chest.
"Fine." He replied quickly. "Where's Jackie?"
Alister looked down and Rafael turned and looked out Valon's window with crossed
arms. All was silent for a few minutes until the blonde man finally turned back to Valon with a smirk.
"So it's Jackie again now is it? Finally gave up on Mai did you?"
Valon gave the man an unamused look.
"Where is she Rafael?" He asked firmly.
Alister sighed.
"Mai is fine, just in-case you still care. She's out with Joey... but.. Jackie is still out."
Alister looked away from Valon.
"She didn't look so good the last time we checked in on her."
Valon felt his heart jump up into his throat and swallowed hard.
"Where?" He asked hoarsely.
"She's in her room." Rafael replied.
Valon got out of bed then and headed for his door, ignoring the protests from his friends behind him.
"Please be alright Jackie..." He thought worriedly as he quickly made his way down the hall.

When he reached Jackie's door, Valon stopped in front of it and took a deep breath. He raised his fist, and after a slight hesitation, knocked softly. There was no answer -- not that he really expected one -- so he opened the door and poked his head in.
"Jackie?" He said softly.
Again getting no answer, he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. Valon walked over to the bed and sat down beside Jackie. Her normally bright face was now pale and looked lifeless.

Valon frowned and picked up Jackie's hand. It was cold as ice and sent shivers down his spine. He felt his frown deepen as he starred past her closed eyelids and imagined her bright green eyes looking back at him. Then again, perhaps he didn't want to see them, not if they had dulled as much as her complexion.
"Oh Jackie..." He whispered. "I'm sorry... I should 'ave let you explain. You probably didn't even say anything against me did you?"
Valon suddenly snorted then.
"Explain? What am I saying? I'm the one who should 'ave explained to you. You didn't know what was eatin me did ya? 'Ow could you? I should 'ave talked to you..."
Valon sighed deeply and lifted Jackie's hand to his lips.
"I'm sorry Jackie... please wake up. I feel so alone without you."
His own words surprised him a little but he knew he'd meant them. Though everyone else in his world was still there, it just wasn't the same without Jackie. While he hadn't always been with her, he had never really been without her either. Jackie was the friend who didn't demand his constant attention, but was still there whenever he needed her. It had always been that way. And even though he had never admitted it, Valon knew that without Jackie in his life, he would be completely lost.

He didn't know exactly when he'd realized it; whether it was on their date together, because of his dream, or when her soul was taken, he didn't know; but he couldn't deny the fact. Valon knew that he was in love with Jackie. Perhaps he always had been, although what he'd felt for Mai had seemed pretty real, even if it wasn't as strong as his feelings towards Jackie. But none of this mattered. What mattered, was the fact that Valon's heart was aching now. That he wanted Jackie to wake up now. That she was no longer simply his friend, she was so much more -- just like she'd been all those years ago.

Valon suddenly frowned. It didn't matter what Jackie was to him, he was simply a friend to her. He had proof, he'd heard it with his own ears. Well... sort of. But it was close enough, he wasn't stupid! He knew the signs!
Well, even if Jackie couldn't return his feelings, Valon couldn't deny his for her any longer. So if friendship was all he would get, then friendship would be what he'd take, simply because friendship was better than nothing at all.

As Valon starred at Jackie, a thought came to him. He though about a children's story he'd once heard, a story called 'Snow White'. In the story, the prince awoke the sleeping maiden with a kiss and they lived happily after. A wide grin slowly spread across his face as he imagined himself as the prince and Jackie as the princess -- and at the moment, with her dark hair and pale skin, he didn't really have to stretch his imagination very far.
"I wonder..." Valon thought cheekily.
He starred at Jackie for a moment and suddenly grew very nervous.
"Well, aint no harm in tryin right?"
Valon swallowed hard and leaned down to Jackie. He hesitated when he was a few inches from her face, but soon regained his nerve and continued. His eyes closed and their lips brushed, and suddenly, as if shocked, Valon pulled back quickly.
"You idiot!" He scolded himself. "This ain't a bloody fairy tale!"
Just then Valon felt like a complete moron. Jackie hadn't eaten a poison apple, she'd had her soul ripped from her! And he was definitely no prince charming!
After thinking about it for a few moments, Valon couldn't help but laugh. It was rather funny.

"Wat are you smiling about?"
Valon's head snapped back to Jackie, seeing her eyes now half mast and looking at him.
"You're awake!" He exclaimed in shock. And before Jackie could respond, Valon had pulled her into a tight hug.
"Um...?" Jackie said, not knowing what to say.
"Finally! I was startin to think you'd never wake up!"
Valon pulled away from Jackie a little so he could look at her.
"Are you OK? 'Ow are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"
Jackie starred at Valon for a few minutes, then laughed.
"I'm fine Valon!... So, I guess you're not mad at me anymore?"
Valon looked down.
"Look.. Jackie, I-"
"Don't." Jackie interrupted. "I don't care why you were mad at me, just as long as you're not anymore. Just know that, whatever the reason, I really am sorry!"
Valon smiled at her.
"You got nothing to apologise for. I was just bein an idiot."
Jackie smiled.
"What else is new?" She replied playfully. Valon grinned.
"Yea, right?" He said with a laugh. He then smiled and hugged Jackie again.
"I'm really glad you're OK Jackie. I dunno what I'd do if you didn't wake up.."
Jackie smiled and hugged Valon back tightly.
"Me too Valon." She said softly. "And it's nice to see your face when I first wake up. Not something I expected."
Valon smiled and hugged her tighter.
"Yea, I know. But I'll always be 'ere from now on."

"Well, well, well. What have we here."
Valon pulled away from Jackie and looked to the door, seeing four smirking people starring at them.
"Don't anyone knock anymore?" He said irritably. Mai ignored him.
"Thought I told you never to go near her again." She said tonelessly.
Valon glared at her.
"Just try and move me." He replied coldly. Mai smirked again.
"Easy Romeo, I was kidding."
Valon blushed every shade of red, earning snickers from Alister, Rafael and Joey. He looked away from them all as Mai made her way over to Jackie's bed and sat down, giving the girl a hug of her own.
"Glad to see you're OK kiddo." She said gently. "You had us worried there for a while."

Jackie smiled as she hugged the blonde back.
"Yea, sorry about that."
Mai smiled and pulled away, looking Jackie over.
"Looks like you got your color back too. That's good to see. Maybe your soul took longer to come back than ours."
Jackie shrugged.
"Maybe." She replied casually. "Guess we'll never know."
Valon looked Jackie over too. He hadn't noticed her color return, it had probably happened while he was holding her. Either way, it didn't matter. Suddenly Jackie asked a question that Valon very much wanted to know the answer to.
"Where's Dartz?"
Mai pulled completely away from Jackie and looked at both her and Valon.
"He's gone." She said simply. Jackie and Valon exchanged looks but said nothing else. Mai continued.
"You already know Dartz wasn't who we thought he was right? Well, he wasn't really all bad either."
Jackie frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Mai looked back at her.
"See, apparently he'd walked the world for over ten thousand years or something, looking for souls to help raise the Leviathan. His city, Atlantis, sunk a long time ago and the Orichalchos stone corrupted the people; including him. He's actually a really nice guy."
Mai stopped and looked at Joey, who gave her a small nod, and she continued.
"Anyway, he wanted to destroy the world and remake it to be like Atlantis, without the evil... it's kinda a long story, but the point is, I don't think we should think too badly of him, we should just remember the good things and stuff, cause that was all the real Dartz -- without corruption."

Jackie's glared off into nothing.
"No. I don't care what the reason is, I will never think well of that man again. Yes, I understand what happened and why he did it and whatever, but he still killed my family and I can never forgive him for that... especially since there was no closure."
Valon frowned and nodded, looking back at Mai.
"I agree." He said solemnly. "No matter how hard I might try, I'll never be able to forgive 'im."
Mai nodded.
"I understand, I just thought you guys should know."
Jackie gave her friend a small smile.
"I know. Thanks Mai."
Mai returned the smile then stood up.
"Well, we pretty much just came to see how you were doing and to tell you guys that, so we're gonna head out again."
Jackie nodded again and Mai gave her another smile.
"OK. I'll see ya later kiddo."
Mai gave Jackie another hug, followed by Joey and Alister and a hand on the shoulder from Rafael, then the others left the room, leaving Jackie and Valon alone again.

Valon looked back at Jackie and gave her a small smile.
"I'm real 'appy you're OK Jackie... and, I'm... really glad we're friends."
Jackie starred at Valon for a minute with an emotional expression, then returned his smile.
"Me too." She said softly. "I'm glad I have you Valon."
Valon forced himself to keep the smile in face. It had been a fool's hope, but he had sort of hopped that she'd disagree with him, that she'd somehow give him a subtle hint that she wanted to be more that friends. But once again, he'd been disappointed. That decided it; friendship would be all he would get and he'd just have to learn to live with that.
"Well, now that my mind's at ease again, I think I'm gonna go get some sleep."
Jackie's smile slipped a little but she quickly recovered and gave him a nod.
"OK." She said softly. "I'll see you later."
Valon smiled at her again and leaned in to give her a kiss on the forehead.
"Take care Jackie. Get some rest."
And with that said, Valon got up and walked to the door, pausing before leaving to give Jackie one more smile before finally heading back to his room.
________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jackie smiled at Valon until he left, but as soon as he did, it dropped into a deep frown.
"I'm real 'appy you're OK Jackie... and, I'm... really glad we're friends."
Valon's words rang in her head long after he was gone.
Friends.
That's all they'd ever be. She knew that. Somehow, she'd always known that; but that didn't make it easier to accept. But accept it she did. Finally. She finally knew that it was time to move on. While she knew that no one would ever mean to her what Valon did, and she'd never be able to be with anyone else, she knew she wouldn't be with Valon either. But she wasn't alone, not really. Valon was still in her life, he would always be, he just wouldn't be what she so badly wanted him to.

Jackie sighed heavily and slid back down in her bed. Sleep was so much more attractive than the turmoil she lived in while conscious. So, without much reluctance, Jackie allowed herself to slip, once again, into a deep healing sleep.