The Lightning Mage

6 | The Sea Quest, Part III

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Lyn's eyes fluttered open. The first thing that came into view was a head of black, silky hair. Some strands were even stuck inside her mouth.

She blinked a few times before realizing that the head was Cydney's, and her heart came to a complete stop—wait, what?

Indeed, the petite woman was laying on top of her chest; her legs were curled up into a fetal position, while her arms were wrapped around her waist.

Lyn suddenly forgot how to breathe. The two of them had fallen asleep next to each other last night, but how did they end up in a position like this? Not that she was complaining, of course...

Just lifting her head to look around prompted a soft sigh of protest from the sleeping woman. Sandwiched between Cydney and the couch, every slight movement seemed to disturb her, so Lyn decided to remain frozen in place, letting her eyes do the work.

They traced Cydney's serene face, messy hair, and toned figure, before drifting over to the scars on her arms. Like always, Lyn's heart ached at the sight of them. They were old and faded, but they still stabbed at her every time she noticed them. She had asked Raph if he could heal them, but the usually efficient healer had not done anything about them yet. Maybe she should remind him again.

Cydney stirred, and a few strands of her hair landed on her cheeks. Without thinking, Lyn reached a hand over and brushed them away. Cydney's eyebrows twitched, and her eyes flickered open.

Oh dear, she woke her up.

Blinking a couple of times, Cydney's dark, drowsy eyes found Lyn's. They stared at each other in silence for what seemed like forever.

"Good morning, Cinna," Lyn whispered, breaking the strange tension in the air.

That jolted Cydney wide awake. Her face turned bright red as she pushed herself off Lyn.

"Lyn! Oh my god, I'm sorry! I- I don't know what I'm... I... I'm sorry!" Cydney was so flustered that she fell off the couch. Her butt landed on the floor with a loud thud, but before Lyn could help her up, she scrambled to her feet, sprinted into her shared room with Millie, and slammed the door shut.

That was... a dramatic reaction.

"Wow, that was a dramatic reaction," a voice said from behind her.

Turning around, Lyn saw Irene sitting on the armchair next to the couch, munching on a box of pastries nonchalantly.

"Argh, Irene." She rubbed her eyes in frustration. "You were here this entire time?"

"Hey, I'm just eating breakfast." Irene shrugged. "It's not my fault you two lovebirds are cuddling in the common area."

"We're not lovebirds..." Lyn squinted at Irene's breakfast suspiciously. "Where did you get those pastries?"

"Oh, you know that baker girl you were talking to last night? She came by and dropped some off."

"What? Those are mine!" Lyn jumped out of the couch and lunged towards the pastry box.

Irene defended as quickly as Lynn attacked; pressing a hand against Lyn's face, she held the box as far as she could with the other.

"You get plenty of these when you go to your parents'!" she bellowed. "Let me have them!"

"She gave them to me, you thief! I bet you finished all the cake from last night too!"

"Well, of course I did! I'm not gonna let it go to waste!"

"I was gonna save it for Cinna!"

As the two of them wrestled each other over some pastries, Millie skipped out of the bedroom, dragging a confused—but dressed up—Cydney by the arm.

"I'm bringing Cyd to get some breakfast!" she chirped. "See ya!"

The moment the two of them left the hotel suite, a smirk cracked at Irene's lips as she wiggled her eyebrows.

"So I see that someone had a lot of fun last night," she teased. "I want to hear all about it."

Lyn rolled her eyes. Every bit of energy drained from her as she remembered what happened the night before, and she slumped onto the couch.

"We didn't... do anything."

"Really? The two of you left the party so early to do nothing?"

"We were... Cinna was just making her new sword after I destroyed hers."

Irene nodded, the amusement in her tone did not subside. "Ah I see, and we all know that sword-making famously leads to cuddling on the couch together."

"That- That was unintentional. I mean, you saw the way Cinna reacted." Lyn buried deeper into the fabric. "But yeah, we also talked. Erm, she told me about her life, and... I learned that she had a boyfriend."

"Oh." Irene's expression immediately softened. "Is she... bi?"

"I don't know. We did spend an hour looking at photos of random men she had a crush on."

"Damn." Irene sat next to her. "I'm sorry, Lyn."

A pause settled between them until Lyn forced out a chuckle. "Why are you apologizing? There's nothing to be sorry about."

"I mean, weren't you trying to get with her or something?"

"I wasn't really trying to get with her..." Lyn said with a sigh.

Ever since meeting Cydney a year ago, Lyn had been drawn to her and her sweet, gentle demeanor. It had not mattered to Lyn whether she could 'get with' Cydney, and it still did not matter now. All she wanted was for her to be happy, and not cry alone in the streets again.

Grabbing a scone from Irene's box, Lyn added, "And I always kind of suspected that she's not into women anyway, so I'm not upset or anything. Don't worry about it, Irene."

"What?" Irene scowled. "If you knew that then why do you still flirt with her so intensely all the damn time?"

"Why not? I like flirting with Cinna; her reaction is always so cute."

"Well, you need to stop flirting with her and start going after people who would actually be interested in you. Maybe someone who's very obviously lesbian, like" —Irene paused to think of an example.— "like Emily, for instance."

Lyn almost choked on her pastry as she burst into laughter. "Irene, never in my entire life would I ever imagine you telling me to go after someone like Em."

Irene punched Lyn in the arm. "You know what I mean!"

Lyn chortled while rubbing her sore spot. "I know, I know. But I'm not looking for a relationship right now anyway, so I'm okay with this situation. I just..." A sheepish grin crawled up her face. "I just have to make sure I don't accidentally kiss her when I'm drunk or something."

Irene seemed genuinely concerned about that. "Do you want me to hit you whenever you want to kiss her, as a preventative measure?"

"What? No! You'd be hitting me every single second of the day."

"Jesus Christ, Lyn." Irene stared at Lyn in absolute disgust and disbelief. She proceeded to hit Lyn, as promised. "Get! That! Thought! Out! Of! Your! Mind!" Irene yelled, smacking Lyn on the head with every word.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay! Okay! Okay!"

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A/N: We all need a friend like Irene, eh? ;) 

And that is a wrap of this particular 'arc'. Hope you enjoyed!