The Achievement Junkie

Eliza quietly scampered down the hall to intercept them. "Hey, I'm going to help the boys prepared dinner, so can you prepare the rooms upstairs? I'm sure they could use a touch-up."

Both Daliea and Keela agreed to help as they turned and made their way upstairs, leaving Eliza alone as she went back to the edge of the hallway and listened in on the rest of the conversation.

"Out with the Jack, come on." Rydel gave Jack a nudge to try and jumpstart his brain.

Jack grumbled, "It's different than it was before…"

"And why is that?"

"Because… Because I…" Jack shook himself, trying to find the last bit of sense still inside him. "Because I care about you guys…"

"What… What do you mean?" Bewildered by that strange statement, Rydel gave Jack a goofy look.

Jack continued to slowly put his thoughts together and open up to the hunter. "Before… I didn't really care much about others. It was totally different than it is now too… Before I wasn't even here, and I had no clue who the other heroes were, nor did my actions affect the real lives of those heroes. But now it's different… Now I'm here and not only is my life in danger but yours, as well as everybody else's too…"

Even more confused, Rydel asked, "You mean you didn't care about anyone before? Anybody?"

Jack let out a self-mocking chuckle but it slowly turned into a whimper. "No, I didn't. I only cared about myself… And since we could respawn in the past, I planned all my tactics accordingly, not really caring about how many people died because it wasn't real death… I thought…

"If you think about it… I'm not really a hero, am I?"

Only their breathing could be heard, along with the bubbling of stew. Suddenly, both Rydel and Jack heard a sound in the hallway. They traced the nearly silent sniffling back to Eliza who finally revealed herself.

Jack tensed up even more, now completely frozen in fear of disappointing his friends. But as he avoided Eliza's gaze he suddenly felt warm as her body embraced his.

"Jack… Do you think we care about what you did in the past?" asked Eliza.

"Well… Isn't that why your dad married you and me?" grumbled Jack, struggling to even reply.

"Maybe, but do you know why I agreed to it even if I knew nothing about you, personally?" whispered Eliza, making sure that the girls upstairs wouldn't overhear them.

"I love my father, but he never let me do anything I wanted. You were the only way that I could escape that sheltered life that he gave. For the very reason that you were against the marriage, I agreed to it. That's how I knew you wouldn't mistreat me.

"Yeah, I'm too pushy at times and I'm sorry for that. But I didn't know how else I could thank for helping me find my own life…"

Gently, she kissed his cheek. "That alone makes you my hero. So, I'll go where you go and help you however I can. These past few months alone have been more exciting than the rest of my life combined, and that's all thanks to you."

Choked up on emotions that he still wasn't too familiar with, Jack couldn't find any words to reply with. But Rydel laughed, "See, Jack? I told you the others would feel the same way."

"I guess, but it doesn't change the fact that you'll all be in danger because of me," reasoned Jack.

"You're so stupid sometimes."

Eliza released Jack's torso and placed both hands on his cheeks. She held him tenderly but firmly as she pulled him in close for a kiss.

After a few moments passed she released the emotion-filled hero. "Since we were kids, all of us have seen plenty of death, Jack. It happened when my mother gave her life for my father and many other times when the guild was in danger during its growing years. We all understand what we signed up for, especially after meeting gods face-to-face and learning what you have to do. If anything, you're the only one stupid enough to not realize that till now."

Eliza fixed her hair and walked toward the stew pot. With a smile, she picked up a spoon and gave it a taste. "Not bad for a couple of boys. I'm guessing Rydel took the lead?"

"You guessed it." Rydel walked up and gave it a taste himself. "It's almost ready. Jack, how about you go get the other girls and tell them it's time for dinner?"

"Sure, I'll do that." Blinking and blushing, Jack swallowed some saliva as his gaze left Eliza and he ran into the hallway.

"You know, that's not exactly how I would've handled it," mentioned Rydel.

Shaking her head Eliza joked, "it's only natural for his wife to know him better."

In minutes Jack returned with Keela and Daliea behind him. The large pot of stew was already resting on a towel in the center table as Eliza was gathering bowls and spoons for everybody. Together they enjoyed the venison stew and chatted for most of the night, happy to have Jack be more open and receptive than before.

*****

After talking throughout the night, the party knew what they were supposed to be doing. The following day was the beginning of their operation.

Thanks to Sterfen's blessing, Rydel was chosen to gather information throughout the city. With his ability to sneak in and out of the property while invisible they would draw less attention to themselves and increase their odds of learning something they shouldn't.

Keela volunteered to leave in search of supplies and anything else they might need during their stay there in the safe house. She borrowed the bracer that allowed her to be invisible and spent most of her day in the streets of Zurden after she disappeared from the others' views.

Since they were hiding it meant that Bowzer was allowed to be out and about. The growing fox spent his time in the covered courtyard in the center of the property. There he was able to play with fire, as well as Dahlia and her Flame Tiger. It gave them time to bond as well as enjoy themselves and let the beasts relieve some stress.

Jack took the liberty to take an afternoon bath. He felt great as he soaked in the warm waters that came gushing from the mouths of old lion statues. He had long since washed himself and was now enjoying the stress relief of the tiny waves crashing against his skin.

"You've been here for quite a while."

His eyes jolted open as the relaxed Jack suddenly rocketed to his feet out of reflex.

"Don't mind me," giggled Eliza as she gave him a once over with blush on her cheeks. "Since you were taking so long, I figured I would join you instead of waiting."

"Eliza!" shouted Jack. "What are you doing here?! I'm almost done, so I'll just--"

Eliza clicked her tongue in an interjection. "What's wrong? It's not like I'm doing anything wrong, as your wife."

Her steps were small as she neared the bath and ever so slightly peeled away the towel covering her body. After checking the temperature of the water with her toes, Eliza smiled as she threw the towel to the side and entered the bath on the opposite side of Jack.

Redder than the raw meat he handled the night before, Jack averted his eyes from the exposed Eliza. But he couldn't help himself as he kept his wife in the corner of his sight. Now it felt as if the gentle waves were coming from his pounding heart as it tried to leap out of his chest.

"What's wrong?" As if she didn't notice Jack stealing glances at her, Eliza walked to the side and grabbed the bar of soap that Jack had used earlier. "If you're going to watch, then at least own up to it. Is it so hard to appreciate your wife's beauty?"

"Uhh…Umm…" Nothing from Jack's mouth was making sense.

"If you're not busy, then how about washing my back instead of just peeping?" laughed Eliza. She turned her back toward him and held the bar of soap to the side. "Here."

Jack choked on his mumbling syllables, not even able to swallow his own saliva or cough to regain his composure.

"I'm waiting…"