Otherworldly

Found

  When Wiese parks the capsule on their home planet, everyone is relieved to feel the soft earth under their feet again. Stahl has to shake Feuer awake, and in the process, Feuer hits her head on the window. This definitely wakes her up and she punches Stahl before he can escape from the capsule.

  Wiese pulls the bags out and chucks the bag of boy clothes at Ele. Ele catches it, but barely, and falls over. She hands Stahl the bag he got from the store and Dun grabs the bag of the girls clothes.

  Feuer gets out of the capsule and walks next to Stahl as he makes his way to Feuer's home, "What's in the bag?"

  Stahl glances over, "Nothing really."

  Feuer nods and walks silently. Stahl purses his lips and gathers the courage to say something else to Feuer. Wiese yells to Stahl as he opens his mouth to speak his next words. He turns to Wiese and she asks him where he is going. He remembers his home is now available for him to go back  to and he glances back at Feuer, wordlessly. She gives him a look- something almost pleading- but turns away and waves a lazy goodbye to him before walking the rest of the way home.

A Week Later... 

  Sen stares up the stairs, knowing that Feuer is there, in her room, staring at the wall. Stahl sits with Seel and Dun at the kitchen table as Wasser walks in. Sen sets tea cups in front of them all, but Seel waves it away, a sort of uneasiness about her at the site of the cup. Sen thanks them for coming as he sets a cup of tea in front of the now sitting Wasser and she asks if there have been any updates to Feuer's condition. Sen shakes his head and turns, biting his lip as he looks back at the stairs. He asks the four visitors to wait as he makes his way up the stairs.

  Feuer stares at her wall, thoughtlessly, until a soft knock pulls her out of her trance and she jumps, turning around to face the door quickly.

"Feuer...?"

Feuer remains silent for a few seconds before Sen's voice returns, "I know it's been rough for you, but if you could come down and just let us all know that you are okay..."

The door clicks open and Sen steps back. Feuer peaks out and nods. Her hair is even messier than it usually is and she is still wearing pajamas that could be a few days old by now. She doesn't seems to care about her appearance, however, and follows Sen down the stairs to the four friends. They stand quickly and Seel rushes to see her. Stahl takes a step, but holds himself back from getting any closer. Seel holds Feuer in her arms until Feuer begins to shake and Sen gently touches Seel's arm to remind her to be gentle. Seel steps back and apologizes. Feuer shakes her head but remains silent. She sits at the table and Sen sets a coffee down in front of her. 

The rest of the time spent goes slowly; Feuer refusing to speak for the entirety of the duration. When the sun sets and Dun and Seel have no choice but to retreat, they leave hesitantly. Stahl stays sitting a bit longer. He stares intently at Feuer, the gaze not met with her normally burning, fiery eyes. Sen watches sadly and eventually walks up and lightly touches Stahl's shoulder to remind him it was time leave.

...

When the sun rises the next day, Feuer is no where to be found. This is evident by Sen's hasty knocks on each door he can get to. When the knocks found themselves at Stahl's door, they are met with the door swinging open quickly.

"When I went to check on Feuer, she was gone. I haven't been able to find her," Sen hastily explains, Wasser and Seel glancing around behind him.

  Stahl nods and grabs his coat. A quick glance up tells him that the rest of them are already searching for Feuer. Wiese uses her plants as a pair of tall legs to look around better, Kampf held up with her, looking around. Stahl already has an idea of where to look. He hurries to Wasser's property, rushing down to the cliff him and Feuer had been on once before, nearly out of breath. He sees a bit of red hair as he nears.

He nears, catching his breath and stands next to her for a few minutes. Stahl sits next to Feuer silently.

"I... I feel like I let you down."

Feuer turns, her interest peaked, though she remains silent.

"It's really all my fault with everything that happened, you know," he meets her gaze and hesitates, "I didn't know how to act and I took it out on you unfairly; I'm sorry. If I hadn't pushed you that time and if I had been honest about my feelings and thoughts I wouldn't have hurt you and we could've been actual friends. If I hadn't hurt you... you wouldn't have been mad and avoiding me and you wouldn't have..."

Stahl glances down and Feuer touches his arm lightly. She bites her lip to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. Stahl looks back at her and they stare at each other until Feuer bursts out laughing.

Stahl smiles, his eyebrows furrowing, "What is wrong with you?"

Feuer meets his gaze and smiles, "This whole experience has been absolutely insane but I never considered you to not be my friend. Isn't that crazy? I must really have something wrong with me."

They stare into each other's eyes, a new understanding and connection made.