Surprise!

[Eden Silverback]

Eden woke up early today was her 14th birthday and everything was going to be perfect or Eden would be very upset. Getting dressed Eden walked downstairs only to find Chase was gone. Finding a note that said he would meet her at Obsidian Harbour after a while. Eden ate her breakfast and headed out. Finding a bench Eden took a seat. Eden knew she would not have to wait for Chase that long. It was her birthday for goodness sakes and he would not waste time spending it away from her.

 

[Chase Blade]

Chase walked down towards Obsidian, hoping that Eden would be there for now, he didn't want to wait, and he wondered whether her present was a little bit grand or not. He had just sent a letter off to Artemis, he was going to try and get these two to be friends, he didn't think it would happen easily, Artemis would be the stubborn one today. Eden would be more then willing, she only wanted to see Chase happy, and this gesture would make Chase extremely happy indeed. He spotted Eden sitting on a bench and snuck up behind her, dropping a wrapped jewelery box on her lap, containing an Emerald Necklace. "Happy Birthday, baby." He said, kissing her.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

Artemis was fiddling with her fingers and pacing around the front door of her house, just as Chase was giving Eden her necklace. "Arty, come on, ye'll be late!" called her mother from the kitchen, and Art made no more to open the door. "P'raps I should just owl Chase and say that I came down with Dragonpox last night!" she called back to her mother. For the first time in many years, all Artemis wanted to do was to stay home and hide. Why on earth had Chase invited her out to meet Eden when it he knew perfectly well that she would hate the sight of her? He didn't know that they had met briefly in the corridor one afternoon, and it had been just as awkward as she expected this meeting to go. Artemis jumped as she felt a hand nudge her back towards the door. She looked up, and there stood Bess. "Go on, love." Grumbling, Art pushed open the door and was soon trotting down the lane.

It wasn't long till she spotted Chase's tall figure and a shorter, slender one beside him. Eden, Art sighed inwardly. She squinted slightly as she approached, trying to see what Chase was giving her but figuring she'd know soon enough. Art was about five meters away before she stopped, her hands behind her back and her fingers tugging at her little blue dress nervously.

 

[Eden Silverback]

Eden felt something drop onto her lap. Hearing Chase wish her a happy birthday. Eden jumped up and turned around to face him. "You little sneak you shouldn't have." Kissing him. Eden unwrapped the box very carefully and lifted the lid. "Omygosh baby you shouldn't have." Eden said as she opened the box and saw the perfect match to her ring. Kissing Chase again. Eden smiled, looking over to the right she saw Artemis. "Hey there." Eden called out to Artemis when she saw her.

 

[Chase Blade]

Chase laughed as Eden unwrapped her present, "Well I couldn't get you nothing now, could I?" Chase asked. He took it out of her hands and put it around her neck, "There. It looks perfect on you." Chase said, grinning. Chase glanced around as Eden started talking to somebody, "Artemis." He said, sighing. He walked over to her, "Please at least try and make an effort to be friendly, Artemis. It would mean so much to me if you two could just get along. She's really not that bad when you get to know her." Chase whispered in her ear, and he walked back to Eden, "You can join us whenever you like. Thanks for coming as well." Chase said, smiling. Chase glanced around the Harbour, a lot of First Years, guess it was the time of the year for them to all come and get there wands. Chase positioned himself behind Eden and stood there, waiting for Artemis to come and join them.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

The cheek of that boy! Chase barely glanced at her before coming over and telling her to be nice to Eden. Well, it wasn't as though she was glaring daggers at his fiance, and Art tried not to look offended as she pulled him back for a moment. "I'll make an effort so long as 'ye don't treat me like a child no more. I know when to be civil and when not to," she hissed, releasing him on his way back to Eden. Art's face was blank of any hostility by the time Chase had his arms wrapped around Eden again and she stepped forward gingerly, still fiddling with her dress. "That's a lovely necklace he just bought 'ye," commented Artemis mildly before looking around the Harbour just as Chase did.

"So where are we off to today?" she added slowly, figuring that this was meant to be some sort of girl bonding time that Chase had set up for the two of them to get to know each other. As far as Art was concerned, no such thing was going to take place and she wanted nothing more than to be running around in the garden of her cottage home. Was Eden the outdoor-sy type? Artemis had no idea, but she knew Chase was to some degree. What were they to do ... swimming, walking in the park, ice cream? As long as they weren't talking; she had nothing to say to Eden one way or another.

 

[Eden Silverback]

Eden noticed that Artemis looked a little mad. Pushing away from Chase a bit. Eden walked over to where Artemis was standing. "I'm sorry about the last time we met I should not have ran off like that, it was very rude of me." Eden was unsure of why Artemis did not like her but Eden was hopping that it would come out sooner or later so that she could fix it.

Walking back over to Chase, Eden looked up at him and than back to Artemis. "So what would you like to do Artemis? I don't have anything planed and I'm very unsure of what to do. If this was the castle I would suggest going for a walk in the forest or even going for a swim in the lake but out here I'm very unsure." Eden smiled again. She was going to do everything in her power to make Artemis feel at ease as she could.

 

[Chase Blade]

Chase shrugged, "What's all this then? You two have met before? And nobody told me about it? Way too leave me out of the loop, guys." Chase said, laughing softly. He stepped next to Eden and took her hand, looking over at Artemis, "How about we just go for a walk through the harbour?" Chase asked, he knew Artemis wouldn't want to say anything, not with Eden around, if it was just Chase she would though, but she wanted Artemis to at least be nice. Chase let go of Eden and walked up to Artemis, "You are a kid, remember?" Chase said, laughing. He glanced around, looking over towards Eden, "Where should we go first?" Chase asked, holding out his hand for her. Chase was worried about today, and hoped the two of them wouldn't get into an argument, but Chase trusted Artemis enough to know that she knew not to do something like that and he reassured himself.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

Forget Eden, Artemis just wanted to punch Chase now. He was being completely insufferable. She decided to ignore his remark and shrugged at Eden. "It's fine." After all, her swift departure had probably saved them from an excruciating conversation that would have consisted of very little until Art finally snapped. "The pebbled beach is rather nice," she mumbled, still having no idea what to say. Anxiety was beginning to get the better of her then. If there was one thing that Artemis hated, it was embarrassing social situations. Falling over or humiliating herself was one thing, but being forced to talk to someone when you had nothing to talk about made her cringe like nothing else. Was she to remark about the weather?

Exasperated, Artemis folded her arms and just gave in. "Alright, I've buggerin' had enough of twiddlin' my thumbs like a loser and watchin' 'ye two snuggle." She fixed a serious look onto Chase and Eden and continued. "Frankly I think this whole thing is wrong, and unless I have a single clue that Eden is the goddess of relationships and will treat Chase perfectly, then I will forever be against the match and not a bit civil to 'ye both." With that out the way, Art let go of her dress at last and simply planted her hands on her hips. Everyone there knew that she had been dying to say something like she had out in the open, and now that it was then perhaps they could reach some sort of understanding. Artemis just wouldn't accept the two of them being together unless she was convinced that Eden was a nice person, and today was the day for her to prove it.

 

[Eden Silverback]

Eden listened as Artemis mentioned something about the beach. But the way she was carrying herself was saying something way different. After a moment Artemis blew up in a manner of speaking. After hearing her go on for about a moment. Eden let go of Chase and walked back over to Artemis. "It's about bloody time you said something. I knew from the gate that you did not like that Chase and I where together. Now I know you will not believe me when I say this but truth be told I don't care. I love Chase with everything I have inside of me. I will never in my life do something that would hurt him, because if I did that than I would be hurting a part of me. And if you don't like that Chase and I are together than your just going to have to get over it because not you or Tohoru or Lilith or even my parents are going to stop us from being together. So your going to let me try and be your friend or your not, but you will not force Chase and I apart. I'm not trying to steal your friend as a matter of fact I want you two to stay friends and I would like to be yours. I have tried but you keep shutting me down. So just stop it." Eden stood there breathing heavy. She felt like she had ran a mile. Standing there Eden felt so very lost that she just started crying for no reason at all.

 

[Chase Blade]

Chase merely stood there, he was extremely disappointed right now. He had expected these two to be able to be civil and not turn full argumentative right here, but it seems Chase was wrong. He walked up to Eden and grabbed her arm, pulling her away from Artemis, "Calm down, Eden, now. I will not have you acting like this, just explain it all to her. I'm staying out of all of it. This is not my fight." Chase said, retreating back to the buildings and leaning against the fall, drawing his wand incase things started to get ugly. He didn't want to have to restrain either of them, but he would if he had too. Chase sighed, and watched the two of them.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

Artemis simply stared at Eden.

After one long minute of silence, she finally gathered the wit to say something, for that whole minute had been spent thinking on exactly how to say it. Artemis took a deep breath and began slowly. "Did 'ye ... not listen to a single word I said?". Her eyebrows were pressed heavily together in irritation and complete bafflement. It seemed as though Eden had taken only one small part of her announcement and blown it entirely out of proportion. "That wasn't my point at all. What I was trying to say was that I am not happy with 'ye two being together, but that I wanted to make an effort today to understand 'ye and make things right. I do not want to break 'ye up and I know perfectly well that ye're not trying to steal my friend." Art shook her head to herself, overwhelmed by the entire misunderstanding. "So should I take this as who 'ye really are? Who only hears what they want to hear?" her voice growing slightly in volume and her pointed ears turning red. Artemis completely ignored Chase as he made his retreat.

"For if that's the case, then I ought to have stayed at home and not bothered." Oh, she would not cry like Eden was, never. Just seeing Eden fall apart doubled her irritation. Now what did she have to say for herself ...

 

[Eden Silverback]

Eden stopped and took in a deep breath.

"Look I'm sorry ok? I'm just so tired of everyone having something bad to say about me and Chase, and I just want to know why you don't like us together. I know I'm 14 and he's 18 and I know we rushed things, but we really do care about each other and I don't even know what else to say." Eden said simply. The tears where gone she was just feeling drained. Everything had been so stressful as of lately. She really did not mean to blow up on Artemis but she just could not take it anymore. Eden turned around and went and sat back down on the bench. "I just want us to be friends Artemis." Eden said softly under her breath.

 

[Artemis Tuuri]

Sighing, Art approached Eden hesitantly. She looked down at the ground as she listened and tried not to say anything before she had finished. Perhaps Art was being too harsh because she did not know Eden well enough yet. It seemed that Chase was very happy with her; should that not have been enough for Artemis? She knew now that she had been childish in her reaction, so it was only now that she recognised her feelings of abandonment and jealousy. Art's enormous hazel eyes filled with tears, and she reached out gently to take Eden's hand in her own tiny one. "I'm sorry that I made you sad," she mumbled quietly.

That was she was able to offer at the present time, being too choked up to offer further apologies and promises, etc. Art looked over at Chase and gave him a tiny smile. "Shall we go to the beach, then? I'd like that." it was a nice day for winter too, much warmer than expected and not too cloudy, either.

 

[Eden Silverback]

Eden looked up as Artemis as she walked up to her almost like she was scared. Sitting there feeling as if the world was shaking like the smallest sound was going to make everything shatter. Why did everything seem like it was falling apart? Looking up into Art's eyes she saw tears starting to feel her eyes. Gently holding her hand Eden brushed away a tear that was trying to fall from her eye. "It's ok. I'm sure that it can't be easy for you to have Chase all to yourself and than all of the sudden have to share. I felt the same thing when my sister Lilith was born."

Eden stood up and pulled out a few tissues from her purse. Handing one to Artemis, Eden wiped her eyes softly. "Yes the beach seems like a good idea. It's been ages since I have been there and I think the feel of sand under my feet would feel nice." Holding her hand out so that Chase could take it. Eden looked up at Chase. "You ready to go, dear?" Eden asked softly.