Method to the Madness

When I awake the next morning, I am vaguely aware of the arm around me, but I still refrain from believing it. I tell myself that I might be in some sort of dreamland still – as if a dream within a dream – but it even sounds ridiculous in my head; I haven’t had a single dream since I had woken up as a Selva – hell, I didn’t really understand the idea of a dream except what I had heard about. Dream was only a word kept in my vocabulary from a life before now and I knew that this arm was really around me.

I rolled over and smiled at his sleeping figure with a sigh, wondering how all of this had ended up happening, and I leaned in for my lips to brush his for only a moment. Of course, the subtleties of being able to stay with him for a little longer are demolished by the remembrance that I, as the newest member of the mature Selva family, must engage in my first mission today. At least there is the plus that I can take Elias with me – though no one could know that we saw each other as more than just Guardian and Selva.

When his chocolate brown eyes turned on me, I couldn’t help but to giggle giddily and peck his lips again. His hands rest in mine for a moment and I wonder if we had ever ventured down this road before he was a Guardian and I was Selva; it was a topic I would have to ask him about later, I supposed.

“Good morning, Alyson,” Elias said brightly as if he was enjoying his newfound remembrance of it. “Sleep alright?”

I sighed and nodded my head. I hadn’t recalled sleeping so well in a long time – well, at least since Elias had gone missing and come back like he was.

I got up from the bed then and saw it fit that I better get ready. Probably Crimson would be in to give us our mission orders and I didn’t want to experience her wrath exactly if we were still cuddled onto the bed when she came in.

“You’d better get up too,” I told Elias, leaning over to kiss him again when he closed his eyes. I was certainly taking advantage of the fact that he was here and I was able to kiss him since I wasn’t sure if this was a one-time thing or if any sort of relationship between us was going to continue. “We get our assignment today and we wouldn’t want to be so informal!” I teased.

It was then that his hands graced my waist again and I rolled my eyes at his (quite tempting) attempt to distract me. “Alyson…” He started again as he blinked, and I found it necessary to bring a finger to his lips to silence him.

“I guess it would be best to tell you that my Selvic name is Blue,” I told him in a soft voice that was a whisper. I liked hearing ‘Alyson’ on his lips too much, but I knew he had better get used to using my Selvic name while we were around other Selvas. There was no telling the consequences that would come about if any of the Selva – though especially Crimson – knew that he had told me even that smallest detail about my name.

“Blue…” He said softly and I saw his tongue dancing between his teeth as he tested the name on it. “I like it… It’s no Alyson but I like it.”

I pulled him up then and kissed him quickly before we heard a knock on the door. Oliver didn’t seem like the type to wait very long and it was only a second later that he came in.

“Blue, have you seen Elias?” He asked and then smirked when he saw him. “Well, never mind… Anyways, Crimson is looking for the two of you – you might want to hurry up and find her before she gets annoyed.”

I was still blushing slightly from the “deer in headlights” effect of Oliver coming in, but both boys seemed to be handling things much better and they left together to go back to the Guardian living arrangements while I got ready.

A tight type of jumpsuit was left for me on top of my dresser and I found it quite ironic that it had a deep blue color for accent around the black frame. I wondered if the irony was on purpose and inferred it probably was, but I liked it all the same. It was a tight fit that clung to the skin and I figured this was normal Selva attire for a mission – certainly not normal attire for a non-working Selva since I had seen none dressed in such before.

I met Elias in the main hallway of the training area and smiled that he looked quite the same as I, though his suit didn’t have any of the blue accent. I suddenly felt mostly ridiculous dressed like this, but he seemed to find it amusing by the stupid little grin on his face and I just shook my head at him, warning him that I was in no mood for the puns.

Crimson was in the middle of the hall, tapping her foot as if we were very late for an appointment we had not scheduled. “It’s about time!” She said with an intense burning of her eyes. “I know this is your first mission, but when you know you are assigned a mission, you want to get your assignment as early as possible! Efficiency and time management is the key!” She smiled in a satisfied manner and it was the first time that I had actually taken part in the nerves in the realization that this was my first mission.

She handed me a file folder with the number 274D on it and I opened it up to see a girl’s picture on it. Right… The girl that I was supposed to guide into the afterlife. That was what I had all of these unique powers for.

“Belfast, Maine.” She said and I heard the slightest of a gasp from Elias – but I didn’t turn to him since I knew I could always ask later. “Shouldn’t be too hard since her body’s already submitting itself to cancer and she can’t do much of anything. Just get there in time that her soul doesn’t wander and you should be good to go!”

She hurried us away without another second’s thought and I was breathing heavily on the edge of hyperventilation. This was my first time out of Purgatory and it was an incredibly different experience for me.

As we were blasted between the dimensions of Selvic world and ‘Earth,’ I held onto Elias’s hand fiercely tight. Hopefully this was as easy as it sounded…