Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

136 - Love In Winter

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"I hope he's been eating well. I brought some fruits with me but maybe I should have bought something more nutritious?" Satella stressed as we walked through the hospital's corridor.

"Come on Ella, you're being way too worried. What are you, Storm's mom? Are you going to let him get a drink from these wonderful pillows next?" Evie teased her, as she grabbed Satella's chest from behind.

"Evelynn! Stop that!" she protested.

"Satella has always been this way," I laughed, "Ever since ye good old days, whenever either Storm or I even got sick she would completely freak out and she'd go above and beyond to see us get better... although I have to admit it was so bad that it got annoying at some points."

"That's only because if I left the two of you knuckleheads alone, you'd do something stupid and dig your own graves!" she insisted seriously, much to our amusement.

"Storm is a really strong guy. You and I know this better than anyone else. Something like this won't hurt him in the slightest," I told her.

"I know you're right but I can't help it. I'm always concerned about you both, especially at a time like this," she murmered.

"We're aware and Storm will certainly appreaciate your intentions alot Satella. Come, we can show him now," I said, coming to a halt and pushing open the door to Storm's room. There, an unexpected sight awaited us. Storm sat upright in his bed while a familiar, white-haired girl gently plopped a large grape into his mouth. As she reached for another from the bowl on her lap, Storm finally noticed our presence.

"Xyder! Satella! You guys are here!" he exclaimed. Winter turned to look at us in shock as her cheeks grew a rosy red hue.

"Of course we're here. You know I can't live without my OG ride or die," I grinned.

"I brought some apples and milk! You need to watch your diet when you're ill you know!" Satella spoke up.

"Forget all of that, I need a doctor," Evie interrupted.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I questioned my sister.

"Xy, Ella, don't freak out but I'm having vivid hallucinations. I just saw Winter *hand feeding* Storm. I'm going crazy right?" she said as she pointed towards them.

Winter hid her face in utter embarrassment as Storm began to laugh nervously.

"So um, Xyder... Satella... there's something I meant to tell you," Storm admitted.

"Go on," I told him.

"So given that things are how they are... well Winter and I began to talk. One thing led to another and well... the two of us kind of decided that um..."

"You're finally going out together?!" Satella lit up excitedly.

"Well... yeah," Storm answered sheepishly.

"Congrats my brother. Just make sure I'm invited to the wedding," I joked.

"You two were made for each other!" Satella squealed, "How many of the others did you tell?"

"None actually. The truth is I wanted to let you guys know first," he revealed.

"Aww, new love blooms to overcome the greatest hurdles. It's poetic and so sweet," Evie swooned.

"So how long until the two of you can go out freely?" I pressed.

"I'm not sure, but the doctor said that as long as I continue at this rate, they will be fine with letting me leave in about a week's time. It seems that the fact that I am a Lightning Vessel did alot more to protect me than I'd expected," he revealed.

"Then we'll have to celebrate your and Dagan's release as well as Disas's continued recovery at that time!" Satella cheered.

"Ring! Ring! Ring!" my cell blared suddenly.

"Hmm? Who is it?" Evie asked curiously.

"This is weird and sudden," I thought aloud, "It's Nero."

****

"Nero, you said you had something huge to update us on?" I asked the boy as I took a seat on the edge of my hotel room's bed.

"Very huge," he muttered, removing a roll of parchment from his suit blazer's inner pocket and spreading it onto a small table.

"A map? As in a literal, paper map?" Emiko asked looking at him work.

"Seriously Nero, you need to get with the times. For a rich kid, you sure are outdated," Evelynn said to him in a pitiful tone.

"I know about smartphones and I have modern devices but it's precisely because I know them that I brought this. Unlike your phone, you can hack a slip of paper," Nero shot back.

"Geez, no need to be a smartass," Evie pouted.

"So what's special about this map?" I pressed.

"Simple. All of Blaze's most recent records, business and transactions have all led to one thing," Nero said, removing a marker from his pocket and circling a region on the page, "All of their movement has been centred around leaving from or returning to this general area. It's almost guaranteed at this point that their current hideout is somewhere inside here. Its still quite a few square miles but it's a significantly smaller area to work with nevertheless."

"So those bastards have our sisters holed up somewhere there?!" Zeliel hissed, pushing himself off of the wall he was leaning against and stepping closer to us.

"Precisely. If we find them, we find your people and then Blaze will have nothing to hold against us!" Nero declared.

"I'm liking the sound of that very, very much," Zeliel cracked his fingers.

"Then we should begin looking into it right away. Our time is quickly running out. We have to find Blaze before we face off against them in the tournament!" I declared.

"Then Emiko and I will go search there immediately," Zeliel stated.

"There are some things that has been bothering me for quite some time as well. I'm going to look into it and I'll let you know if anything interesting pops up!" Nero informed me.

"Then we all have our own missions. Be careful out there. All of you," I spoke to them, "We're beating those bastards together and once all of this is over, we will rejoice in our victory... together!"