One Little Spark: Part 2

Chapter 9

"ROORAY!!!" Algar shrieks, being the first to cheer with relief for his creator's survival.

"Rachel! You're okay!" shouted Figment, also filled with glee.

          Rachel, who is still lying there before her friends motionless is still coughing up all of the water she had inhaled while drowning in the lake underwater by the wicked lake women. Thanks to Fantasia's last-ditch effort to save Rachel, her skin is returning to its pre-peach-colored state. Once again, Rachel had just survived another death-defying escape in place of her friends from getting hurt. Her blood, in spite of getting warmed up again right now, has been chilling tremendously in Rachel's attempt to retrieve the apparently-destined sword, which she succeeded in doing. The blueness in her lips are changing back to a rosy pink shade. The soiling patches of blood on her head have been closed and miraculously healed out of Fantasia's magic. Her eyes slowly open once more, peering directly above and realizing she is being gently cradled in her potential rescuer's arms. While being warmly kissed and nuzzled on both sides of her frozen cheeks by both Algar and Figment.

          Bewildered and astonished by Rachel's not-so-near-serendipitous escape from deep within the lake, the Dreamfinder stares down at Rachel in her slowly-depleting pitiful state as his mind starts ferociously swirling with tainted mixed emotions: fear, relief, anger, tension, and euphoria. The tears that had formed in his eyes have fallen nonstop, dropping down one by one like raindrops onto Rachel's face. His bearded face clenches tightly in an anguished frustration despite his overall internal relief of Rachel's safety. This sort of predicament has happened more to Rachel than enough times throughout this journey into imagination: the "Wily-Wooso" deception in Fillidore during their first adventure, the time Governor Crizwalke dropped Rachel from the top of his thousand-foot tall building, when the Doubt Monster sprang out and attacked and all it got out of it was a one-way ticket to banishment back into the Bewilderness. Just one life-threatening event after another. It's been so bad it's not even funny. And for the most of it, it had been no one but Rachel to step up and take the fall for his friends. Ergo, since Dreamfinder had insisted on taking care and protecting Rachel from all possible harm, the thought of Rachel intervening in these while heading straight for her demise has his mind and conscious weighing on him like tens of tons of bricks.

          The Dreamfinder clenches his teeth, trying his best to hold back more of his tears, but he couldn't hold them back. He grips his fingers through the fabric on Rachel's shoulders and buries his face to weep the tears over Rachel's chest. Once again, he had almost lost the woman he loves, and once again, he is given a second chance to protect her again.

"Dreamy...?" muttered Rachel with a weakly faint whisper and a small smile. "I...I got you the sword. ...Happy?"

"Happy?!" Dreamfinder angrily cries. "How could you think I could be...I almost...I almost lost you! I almost lost you again over...over what? That stupid sword?! Am I to believe you think of me as selfish?"

"No...no, not selfish. Blessed."

"Blessed?!"

"To have a friend who would do anything for her friends...whether it's to protect them..." snickering the, she finishes, "...or even grab a sword from a flock of freaky lake women."

          Dreamfinder, unable to contain himself any longer, he grabs Rachel by her shirt collar and screams, "Don't you EVER do that again! Do you hear me?! I can't afford to bear another moment of horror when you...you..."

          Finally, the Dreamfinder, making with the waterworks out of his most-certain weakness, he buries his face between Rachel's left side of her neck and shoulder as he makes his way down with his eyes clamped shut against Rachel's heart. This surprised everyone; Figment especially. He had never seen Dreamfinder act like this before. Most of the time he'd see Dreamfinder cry, it'd happen when the Dreamfinder would find himself in a situation where his greatest dreams, or even his own self-esteem, would plummet down for the worst. In the end, the Dreamfinder would succeed over such problems, further justifying the name and career change from being Blarion Mercurial to Dreamfinder for it. But this time is different. Figment had known this whole time how madly in love Dreamfinder is for Rachel, but he never realized how mad it really is. This scene right here, to Figment, is truly intense and it's likely this secret love overflow is overwhelming him.