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A Dish Best Served Cold-Chapter Fourteen
Jinx sighed softly in her sleep and shut her eyes tight as the sun slowly rose up in the sky. She was aware of this only because she felt a bright ray of morning sunlight streaming through a nearby porthole and shining against her face.
She reached out with her hand, stretching and trying to stay asleep, despite the invasive sunlight. Suddenly, her hand brushed against something... soft.
Still mostly asleep, she gripped it gently and ran her fingers through it... it felt soft, smooth, and silky, and at first she thought it was the sheets, until she realized it wasn't one, solid sheet. It was in strands, almost like... hair. The sleeper purred softly, pleased by the soft, fluffy substance she had found
All of the sudden, her still-asleep brain 'clicked' and she realized, it WAS hair.
Jinx's eyes snapped open, and for a moment, all she saw was a blur of snowy whiteness, roughly in the shape of a person under sheets. Then, her eyes widened again with recognition.
"...Z-Zero?" she murmured in confusion.
'Wait... I'm in bed...so is he... and he's next to me... and I think I remember him saying I drank...rum... and now we're both in...bed...that means...we .....' She thought mentally... then, her eyes shot open wide has realization hit home.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!"
Jinx shrieked loudly and sat up in bed, yanking the sheets toward herself.
Zero awoke with a yelp, and rolled over the side of the bed, landing on the wooden floor with a painful, yet comical, 'thump!'
He sat up looking half-awake and confused. "Huh...what the...?"
"SUB-ZERO, HOW COULD YOU?", she screamed angrily
He looked at her blankly. "Could I...huh?" he yawned. But then, he spotted a glowing pink orb sailing through the air towards him.
"YIKES!" He yelped and ducked down. The hex blast sailed over his head, nearly singing his hair, and sailing out one of the porthole windows, which Zero had thankfully opened last night to let in some air.
"What in the name of... Jinx, are you mad? What are you doing?" He asked dumbfounded, and unaware why she was so outraged.
"Me? ME? What about YOU? Oh, God, Zero, I can't believe you'd do this..." she said, looking furious and hurt at the same time.
He looked at her blank faced, and then broke into a nervous grin.
"Oh, this is about the whole 'rum' thing, isn't it? Jinx, you're right that was my fault... I should've gone down there with you and...."
"RUM? YOU THINK I'M MAD ABOUT THE RUM?" She demanded, almost hysterical.
"Uhhhh.....yes?" he said in a small, hesitant voice.
She screamed angrily and hurled another hex bolt, which this time hit him dead on and sent him reeling toward the bookshelf; he landed against it with a crash, and several books and papers fell out onto his head. He groaned softly and put a hand to his forehead as Jinx advanced on him with glowing eyes.
"Zero, I... I just can't b-believe you...you...took a-a-advantage of m-me like that...." She whimpered, her voice choked with suppressed sobs.
"...Advantage? ... Jinx I... I had no idea you'd be so mad at me... I would've just slept on the floor..." he mumbled, sounding thoroughly hurt.
"Floor?" she asked, and her eyes stopped glowing. She looked down at herself, and she realized something for the first time since she awoke... she was still fully clothed. And come to think of it, so was Sub-Zero... and she realized with a mental jolt that she had been horribly mistaken.
"Z-Z-Zero... we didn't .... We didn't do ...you know what....?" She asked, looking ashamed of herself.
"Didn't do what?" he asked baffled. "I just needed somewhere to sleep... I'm sorry if I upset you..."
She was horrified. She stumbled over to Sub-Zero and fell to her knees, her hand over her mouth.
"Oh my God...Zero, I... I'm so sorry... I hurt you! Are you all right? Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry..." she kept moaning over and over again.
He stared at her. "Madame.... You have now officially lost me. First, you wanted to kill me, and now you're concerned about me?"
Apparently, the poor lunkhead STILL had no idea why she had attacked him in the first place.
"Zero! Jinx! Are you all right?" Robin shouted as he busted open the cabin door. "I heard screaming!"
Jinx busted in to full blown crying at this point, and Zero just sighed. "I'm fine... but something is wrong with Jinx... I think she's still a touch drunk...."
TWENTY MINUTES LATER
"Now wait just a minute... you thought we did WHAT??" Zero gasped, aghast by the revelation that was just now hitting him. Zero, Jinx, and Robin were sitting in the Cabin, and a sniffling Jinx had just now explained how she'd had things misconstrued.
"Sub-Zero, please... please forgive me, I .... I jumped the gun, I should have known better." She moaned, still hating herself. "I could have hurt you!"
"Look, I'm not mad, It's was just such a shock..." he said, stunned by what she had thought.
Robin looked at them and chuckled. "Well, there doesn't seem to have been any harm done, so... I guess it didn't turn out THAT badly." He said, trying to lighten the situation a little.
Zero smiled, despite the small bruise on his face where a large novel had smacked him in the face when she zapped him into the bookshelf.
"Rob's right... It was partially my fault anyway, so..." he held out a hand to the young witch. "No hard feelings?"
She reached out with a trembling hand and took his.
"I just feel so... so ... stupid." She whispered.
"Yeah, well, in your position, I'd have kicked my snowy ass too, so don't worry about it!" Zero joked. "Cheer up, will ya? I promise, I'm not mad... and I hope you're not mad at me, anymore."
"Of course not!" she blurted out at once.
He grinned and slapped her lightly on the back. "Well then, what's the problem? Nothing! Now, if you guys could excuse me... I think I ought to go out and steer... "
Before they could respond, he got up, walked outside and closed the door behind him, leaving Robin and Jinx sitting alone in there.
Robin looked at Jinx and laughed. She looked at him, confused.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"Heh...you." He answered. "Who else would think a KNIGHT would deliberately get a girl drunk, just to get her in bed.... Kind of contradictive to the whole 'chivalry' thing, isn't it?"
She looked down at the floor. "I feel awful... ever since Zero saved me, I... I've been nothing but trouble to him...and he's still so nice to me... no one besides Mammoth and Gizmo have ever been this good to me before. And even Gizmo and Mammoth never made me feel..." she broke off and blushed.
Robin got up and started to go outside, where Sub-Zero was. But before he left, he nodded and said:
"Yeah, well... Zero's just a good guy, that's all... he's polite, forgiving, friendly, a gentlemen... heh, I guess you could say he's like the perfect knight."
And then, he walked out the door leaving the sorceress by herself.
After reflecting upon her morning for a moment, Jinx stood up and followed him out.
Zero was up at the helm, ship's wheel in both hands steering. Even though there was nothing around them but a vast expanse of water that looked completely identical from every angle... Sub-Zero seemed to know exactly where he was going.
She sighed as she watched him steer. His hair flowed slightly in the wind, and his cape billowed out elegantly behind him... he looked so handsome and important, standing there like that... exactly like a knight should.
After hesitating for a minute, she walked up the stairs on the side of the cabin up to the helm, and went up to Zero.
"Hey... you know where we're going, right?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, I know..." he assured her, smiling knowingly. "Hey... could you do me a favor?" he asked her.
"Sure." She replied quickly... after the whole fiasco this morning, it was the least she could do.
"Go in my room and look in the bottom-right drawer of my desk... you'll see a compass... could you bring it to me, please?" Zero requested.
"Of course!" she said brightly.
She walked back into the cabin and searched out his large, metal desk. She opened the lower right drawer, as he had instructed, and sure enough there was an old-fashioned, brass compass there. She picked it up, and was about to bring it straight to Sub-Zero, but then she noticed something else that caught her eye...
Right under where the compass had been... was a small amulet...it was made a pure sapphire, with an emerald lining around the edges. On the blue, sapphire center was carved the picture of a wicked looking dragon. Jinx, who was fond of jewelry of all kinds, was immediately enchanted.
"Oooh... beautiful..." she whispered, her cat eyes going wide in awe.
Then, she remembered what she was doing, and cast the amulet one last wistful glance before leaving and taking the compass back to Zero.
When she got to him, he immediately took it and smiled widely as he observed it.
"Ahh, good! We're right on course." He said, pleased with his navigational skills.
"Sub-Zero... what was that amulet?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity for long.
"...Amulet?" he asked, not sure of what she meant.
"It was blue, sapphire jewel looking... and the edge was made of sapphire and a dragon was on it, with a silver chain attached." She elaborated.
He immediately looked surprised. "Oh, so you found that, eh?" he asked with a chuckle.
She nodded and he explained:
"That amulet... is a very important artifact from my homeland... it's called, the Talisman Of The Ice Dragon. Without it, my entire purpose would be forfeit." He said solemnly.
"God.... And I thought it was just a piece of jewelry." She said, looking surprised.
"That 'jewelry' is the key to my mission... the only way I'll know when I'm ready to attain knighthood. It'll start to glow... or so I'm told, anyway. I'll present it as proof to my Liege, and I'll be a knight at last."
Jinx looked at him strangely. And finally, she found the words to voice what she was thinking.
"Zero... when it glows... when you can be a knight... will you go back home? To your island, and live there?" she asked softly. There was a trace of sadness in her voice, and he noticed this.
He shifted uncomfortably and spoke hesitantly after a second, "Well... I... I suppose so."
She looked at him for a moment with an unreadable expression... and then walked back off without another word.
He watched her go, and kicked himself mentally.
"Alas... how am I ever going to let go of her? I'm...becoming so attached...I mean, I... I love her... but.... I can't stay in Jump City forever..." He groaned woefully.
Then, he took a deep breath and decided to focus upon the task at hand...
'I have to get home...'
A Dish Best Served Cold-Chapter Fourteen
Jinx sighed softly in her sleep and shut her eyes tight as the sun slowly rose up in the sky. She was aware of this only because she felt a bright ray of morning sunlight streaming through a nearby porthole and shining against her face.
She reached out with her hand, stretching and trying to stay asleep, despite the invasive sunlight. Suddenly, her hand brushed against something... soft.
Still mostly asleep, she gripped it gently and ran her fingers through it... it felt soft, smooth, and silky, and at first she thought it was the sheets, until she realized it wasn't one, solid sheet. It was in strands, almost like... hair. The sleeper purred softly, pleased by the soft, fluffy substance she had found
All of the sudden, her still-asleep brain 'clicked' and she realized, it WAS hair.
Jinx's eyes snapped open, and for a moment, all she saw was a blur of snowy whiteness, roughly in the shape of a person under sheets. Then, her eyes widened again with recognition.
"...Z-Zero?" she murmured in confusion.
'Wait... I'm in bed...so is he... and he's next to me... and I think I remember him saying I drank...rum... and now we're both in...bed...that means...we .....' She thought mentally... then, her eyes shot open wide has realization hit home.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!"
Jinx shrieked loudly and sat up in bed, yanking the sheets toward herself.
Zero awoke with a yelp, and rolled over the side of the bed, landing on the wooden floor with a painful, yet comical, 'thump!'
He sat up looking half-awake and confused. "Huh...what the...?"
"SUB-ZERO, HOW COULD YOU?", she screamed angrily
He looked at her blankly. "Could I...huh?" he yawned. But then, he spotted a glowing pink orb sailing through the air towards him.
"YIKES!" He yelped and ducked down. The hex blast sailed over his head, nearly singing his hair, and sailing out one of the porthole windows, which Zero had thankfully opened last night to let in some air.
"What in the name of... Jinx, are you mad? What are you doing?" He asked dumbfounded, and unaware why she was so outraged.
"Me? ME? What about YOU? Oh, God, Zero, I can't believe you'd do this..." she said, looking furious and hurt at the same time.
He looked at her blank faced, and then broke into a nervous grin.
"Oh, this is about the whole 'rum' thing, isn't it? Jinx, you're right that was my fault... I should've gone down there with you and...."
"RUM? YOU THINK I'M MAD ABOUT THE RUM?" She demanded, almost hysterical.
"Uhhhh.....yes?" he said in a small, hesitant voice.
She screamed angrily and hurled another hex bolt, which this time hit him dead on and sent him reeling toward the bookshelf; he landed against it with a crash, and several books and papers fell out onto his head. He groaned softly and put a hand to his forehead as Jinx advanced on him with glowing eyes.
"Zero, I... I just can't b-believe you...you...took a-a-advantage of m-me like that...." She whimpered, her voice choked with suppressed sobs.
"...Advantage? ... Jinx I... I had no idea you'd be so mad at me... I would've just slept on the floor..." he mumbled, sounding thoroughly hurt.
"Floor?" she asked, and her eyes stopped glowing. She looked down at herself, and she realized something for the first time since she awoke... she was still fully clothed. And come to think of it, so was Sub-Zero... and she realized with a mental jolt that she had been horribly mistaken.
"Z-Z-Zero... we didn't .... We didn't do ...you know what....?" She asked, looking ashamed of herself.
"Didn't do what?" he asked baffled. "I just needed somewhere to sleep... I'm sorry if I upset you..."
She was horrified. She stumbled over to Sub-Zero and fell to her knees, her hand over her mouth.
"Oh my God...Zero, I... I'm so sorry... I hurt you! Are you all right? Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry..." she kept moaning over and over again.
He stared at her. "Madame.... You have now officially lost me. First, you wanted to kill me, and now you're concerned about me?"
Apparently, the poor lunkhead STILL had no idea why she had attacked him in the first place.
"Zero! Jinx! Are you all right?" Robin shouted as he busted open the cabin door. "I heard screaming!"
Jinx busted in to full blown crying at this point, and Zero just sighed. "I'm fine... but something is wrong with Jinx... I think she's still a touch drunk...."
TWENTY MINUTES LATER
"Now wait just a minute... you thought we did WHAT??" Zero gasped, aghast by the revelation that was just now hitting him. Zero, Jinx, and Robin were sitting in the Cabin, and a sniffling Jinx had just now explained how she'd had things misconstrued.
"Sub-Zero, please... please forgive me, I .... I jumped the gun, I should have known better." She moaned, still hating herself. "I could have hurt you!"
"Look, I'm not mad, It's was just such a shock..." he said, stunned by what she had thought.
Robin looked at them and chuckled. "Well, there doesn't seem to have been any harm done, so... I guess it didn't turn out THAT badly." He said, trying to lighten the situation a little.
Zero smiled, despite the small bruise on his face where a large novel had smacked him in the face when she zapped him into the bookshelf.
"Rob's right... It was partially my fault anyway, so..." he held out a hand to the young witch. "No hard feelings?"
She reached out with a trembling hand and took his.
"I just feel so... so ... stupid." She whispered.
"Yeah, well, in your position, I'd have kicked my snowy ass too, so don't worry about it!" Zero joked. "Cheer up, will ya? I promise, I'm not mad... and I hope you're not mad at me, anymore."
"Of course not!" she blurted out at once.
He grinned and slapped her lightly on the back. "Well then, what's the problem? Nothing! Now, if you guys could excuse me... I think I ought to go out and steer... "
Before they could respond, he got up, walked outside and closed the door behind him, leaving Robin and Jinx sitting alone in there.
Robin looked at Jinx and laughed. She looked at him, confused.
"What's so funny?" she asked.
"Heh...you." He answered. "Who else would think a KNIGHT would deliberately get a girl drunk, just to get her in bed.... Kind of contradictive to the whole 'chivalry' thing, isn't it?"
She looked down at the floor. "I feel awful... ever since Zero saved me, I... I've been nothing but trouble to him...and he's still so nice to me... no one besides Mammoth and Gizmo have ever been this good to me before. And even Gizmo and Mammoth never made me feel..." she broke off and blushed.
Robin got up and started to go outside, where Sub-Zero was. But before he left, he nodded and said:
"Yeah, well... Zero's just a good guy, that's all... he's polite, forgiving, friendly, a gentlemen... heh, I guess you could say he's like the perfect knight."
And then, he walked out the door leaving the sorceress by herself.
After reflecting upon her morning for a moment, Jinx stood up and followed him out.
Zero was up at the helm, ship's wheel in both hands steering. Even though there was nothing around them but a vast expanse of water that looked completely identical from every angle... Sub-Zero seemed to know exactly where he was going.
She sighed as she watched him steer. His hair flowed slightly in the wind, and his cape billowed out elegantly behind him... he looked so handsome and important, standing there like that... exactly like a knight should.
After hesitating for a minute, she walked up the stairs on the side of the cabin up to the helm, and went up to Zero.
"Hey... you know where we're going, right?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, I know..." he assured her, smiling knowingly. "Hey... could you do me a favor?" he asked her.
"Sure." She replied quickly... after the whole fiasco this morning, it was the least she could do.
"Go in my room and look in the bottom-right drawer of my desk... you'll see a compass... could you bring it to me, please?" Zero requested.
"Of course!" she said brightly.
She walked back into the cabin and searched out his large, metal desk. She opened the lower right drawer, as he had instructed, and sure enough there was an old-fashioned, brass compass there. She picked it up, and was about to bring it straight to Sub-Zero, but then she noticed something else that caught her eye...
Right under where the compass had been... was a small amulet...it was made a pure sapphire, with an emerald lining around the edges. On the blue, sapphire center was carved the picture of a wicked looking dragon. Jinx, who was fond of jewelry of all kinds, was immediately enchanted.
"Oooh... beautiful..." she whispered, her cat eyes going wide in awe.
Then, she remembered what she was doing, and cast the amulet one last wistful glance before leaving and taking the compass back to Zero.
When she got to him, he immediately took it and smiled widely as he observed it.
"Ahh, good! We're right on course." He said, pleased with his navigational skills.
"Sub-Zero... what was that amulet?" she asked, unable to contain her curiosity for long.
"...Amulet?" he asked, not sure of what she meant.
"It was blue, sapphire jewel looking... and the edge was made of sapphire and a dragon was on it, with a silver chain attached." She elaborated.
He immediately looked surprised. "Oh, so you found that, eh?" he asked with a chuckle.
She nodded and he explained:
"That amulet... is a very important artifact from my homeland... it's called, the Talisman Of The Ice Dragon. Without it, my entire purpose would be forfeit." He said solemnly.
"God.... And I thought it was just a piece of jewelry." She said, looking surprised.
"That 'jewelry' is the key to my mission... the only way I'll know when I'm ready to attain knighthood. It'll start to glow... or so I'm told, anyway. I'll present it as proof to my Liege, and I'll be a knight at last."
Jinx looked at him strangely. And finally, she found the words to voice what she was thinking.
"Zero... when it glows... when you can be a knight... will you go back home? To your island, and live there?" she asked softly. There was a trace of sadness in her voice, and he noticed this.
He shifted uncomfortably and spoke hesitantly after a second, "Well... I... I suppose so."
She looked at him for a moment with an unreadable expression... and then walked back off without another word.
He watched her go, and kicked himself mentally.
"Alas... how am I ever going to let go of her? I'm...becoming so attached...I mean, I... I love her... but.... I can't stay in Jump City forever..." He groaned woefully.
Then, he took a deep breath and decided to focus upon the task at hand...
'I have to get home...'
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