18 Pissed

"Jasper! How are you? You should call your parents, so they stop bugging me." Corson rambled excitedly as he entered the private and cozily furnished room.

Jasper looked paler than the last time his teammates had seen him. He also looked a lot thinner, but that was to be expected. Most healers and healing methods would involve using the energy stored in one's body and the healer's aura. Syra's method of healing with only aura was an uncommon one.

"T-tired b-but I-I'm okay." Jasper shifted on the bed, so his back was resting against the headboard. "T-the staff h-has m-my h-holo-watch."

"That doesn't matter." Corson unlocked and removed his holo-watch before handing it to Jasper. "You can use mine."

Jasper took Corson's holo-watch, opened its display, and texted his mom.

*Hi mom, hi dad.*

*Honey, how are you? Are you okay?

*Should we pick you up? Surely, you can stay at home for a few days?*

*I'm fine. I don't need to go home.*

*You may not need to, but I want you too… *

*I'm not coming home!*

*Fine :( but I need to see my precious baby boy. And don't think you can escape that. Just ask your brother how that worked out for him.*

Jasper grimaced, he'd heard the horror stories from Jason. His mom had temporarily reactivated her LegendSlayer license to follow Jason's every move for a month. After that Jason made sure she knew when he was hurt and came to visit her, even if it was hardly a scratch.

"Are you still in pain?" DJ asked.

"I can go get a healer if you need one," Corson said he glanced at the doorway Kyrie was awkwardly occupying.

"Ah. N-no I-I'm f-fine. My m-mom j-just w-want's to s-see me."

DJ smiled, "Centra's told me a few stories about your mom. She sounds pretty cool."

"Ugh, c-cool is n-not h-how I w-would d-describe her. She's s-so embarrassing."

*Jasper you better not be ignoring me. When can I come see you and make sure you're eating properly?

*And Centra.

*You know what, your father and I'll take your whole team out for dinner! And Corson too! That sounds like fun! :)*

*Mom! Seriously, do you have to drag my new teammates into this.*

*Of course! They're your team which means they're part of your new family. Don't you remember, we've taken Jason's teammates out to dinner several times.*

Jasper recalled how embarrassed his brother had been as their mom told every childhood story she could think of. He was filled with dread as he said, "M-my mom w-wants to take us out for d-dinner."

DJ rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, how about tomorrow? We can go with Centra and her parents if we do it then."

"W-why n-not w-with m-my parents t-tonight and Centra's tomorrow?" The sooner Jasper could appease his mom the better.

Kyrie spoke from his spot by the door, "Because Centra won't be released until tomorrow afternoon."

"W-what s-seriously?" No way, she was hurt that badly? And, and not attacking the harpy was his idea.

"Yes, she nearly died Jasper. And you nearly killed a member of our team," Kyrie growled as he stalked farther into the room. The room that's temperature dropped for a second.

Jasper grimaced, no way, he couldn't have… "I d-didn't mean to n-nearly k-kill Centra! I t-tried to p-protect her, you b-bastard!"

When Kyrie arrived at Jasper's bedside, he slowly shook his head and spoke, "I'm not talking about the crappy Valkine Ice wall. I'm talking about the fire spell you cast at Liza."

DJ grabbed Kyrie's shoulder as his bracelet beeped and said, "What are you talking about? Jasper would never have done something like that."

Jasper had barely concealed his shock that DJ had sided with him. When, Liza shook her head, looked at Jasper, and spoke with scorn, "You bastard."

Kyrie shrugged off DJ's hand and turned to look at him. "Yeah well, he's the only one I know of that could have cast that spell. You could have mimicked it, but you were too far away. It had to be Jasper."

Jasper ground his teeth and said, "Y-you could have! A-are you sure you a-aren't just c-covering your own a-ass!"

Kyrie looked at Jasper with a mix of fury and shock that had the temperature in the room spiking. Did Jasper seriously just try to pass the blame?!

Corson looked at Kyrie and said, "Of course he is. A crappy hero would never want to take the blame for his actions. Or inactions like you did with Avalon."

Kyrie's growled at Corson, "You don't know shit about Avalon or what happened in that fight so but out."

"Oh, I know plenty! You're strong enough to easily kill that dragon. But you waited until after the other LegendSlayers were dead to do it."

"I told them to leave! They didn't listen!"

"They didn't need to! You could have just handled it before it became a problem!"

"And have killed everyone! Thanks, but no!"

Corson paused for a moment trying to figure out what happened. Did Kyrie say he could have done something… but it would have meant killing everyone?

Kyrie looked at Jasper. "This isn't about me. It's about him and the shit he pulled!"

DJ was still trying to process the whirlwind argument but said, "If he did something wrong, then Centra and I did it too."

"No, you didn't. Not this." Kyrie took a deep breath, the room's temperature leveled out a bit, and he continued, "Yes the three of you screwed up by wanting to let the legend go but you didn't try to kill your teammate for fighting it."

"I d-didn't t-try to kill a-anyone. I w-was t-trying to a-attack the Harpy and m-missed."

Liza spoke, "If you were trying to attack the Harpy then why not admit it."

Jasper looked down and fidgeted with his sheet as he spoke, "I s-screwed up okay. I d-didn't t-think about t-the fact t-that it w-would move or t-that you could h-have been hurt by the s-spell."

DJ glanced around the room and said, "See it was just a misunderstanding. Everything's cool now, right? If we just admit when we screw up, then we can avoid misunderstandings like this." DJ got a nod from Liza and waited for a response from Jasper and Kyrie, but he didn't receive one. "Kyrie? It's exactly like what happened between us earlier only you admitted your mistake at the start."

Kyrie sighed and glanced at Jasper, maybe DJ was right? And this was all just a mistake? "Alright, just fess up next time, okay?"

"Alright, n-next time I w-won't try and h-hide it or b-blame it on s-some else." Jasper gave an embarrassed smile and asked, "C-can you f-forgive me?"

Kyrie looked at Jasper and said, "Yeah."

Despite the peaceful resolution, the atmosphere remained awkward. Eventually, Jasper glanced at Corson's holo-watch to find ten new messages from his mom. They were all along the same line as the most recent message.

*Jasper you better not be trying to keep me away from your new friends!*

*I'm not mom we're trying to figure out when to have dinner with you.*

*Silly boy, that's easy. We have dinner with Centra's family and the team tomorrow. I've already worked it all out with her parents.*

Jasper shivered and said, "M-my mom is t-terrifying. A-apparently w-we're all h-having d-dinner w-with her tomorrow."

♢ ♢ ♢

*URGENT:

An influx of legend movements has been reported near the town of Sentry. We have sent Three teams consisting of mostly Master Rank LegendSlayers and one scout team. All contact has been lost. We are mobilizing Kyrie Say (@Sword) for a SAM mission to recover the town of Sentry.*