IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE AT BOTTOM

Chapter 30—(91)

Orion's POV

Diana continued. "So I was asking around, trying to find some afterlife knowledge that could help my darling but struggling niece and lo and behold, Alessa here was actually looking for the family of Selene! Therefore, I think it's a good time for us to sit down and have a big long talk. Maybe we can learn something or two that could help our girl!"

"Well," I said. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

Merlin's POV

"That's it!" Luca cried, jolting me out of my concentration and nearly causing me to burn my finger.

"Luca! Watch it!" I scolded.

"Sorry, it's just I think I figured out the way to fix that one bug, the glitchy one for the auditory." He slid the notebook over. I looked over the formulas and my eyes widened.

"I feel just a bit idiotic for not having seen that variable." I admitted. Luca was working through the theoretical bugs quite a bit faster than I myself could. Which worked well for this specific project, because him tackling those while I make prototypes made the whole process much faster than I'd originally anticipated. We were ahead of the schedule I'd given to Selene, so that was fantastic. "Wish I had you for all my projects, but then again half the fun is in figuring it all out."

"Even so, I wouldn't mind working with you on future projects at some point, I've never worked with someone who could keep up with me. Although, to be fair, I haven't really worked with someone before, but I don't think that would make much difference. You're intellectually on the same wavelength as me." Luca said, flipping the notebook page to start on a new bug. "I never thought I'd enjoy working with another person in these sorts of things."

I shrugged. "It mostly depends on who the other person is, honestly. Just because someone is just as smart doesn't mean you can work with their personality."

He nodded, tackling the next bug. We continued work in silence until he figured it out the next kink and shared it, or until I finished a prototype and we tested it. We were getting closer and closer by the hour, so by the time everyone else finishes their ends, we should have a solid working device for the select group going on this endeavor.

When we reached a good spot to end for the day, it was evening.

My stomach gurgled loudly as I was cleaning up papers, and a second later Luca's did the same. We looked at each other and started laughing.

"I suppose we should eat." Luca suggested.

"Yeah, the donuts from this morning aren't enough." I agreed. It felt like the day had zipped by, but also that it was several days crammed into one. "Any good places to eat around here that aren't that cafe?"

"This inn actually serves a pretty good dinner most nights, so we could probably just head downstairs," Luca said.

"Sounds good to me."

We finished cleaning up, I magically locked my suitcase as I always did when leaving the room, and we headed out.

"So, despite having been working with you for a few days, we haven't really talked about much other than the project." I began. "Selene's told me a bit about you, but to be honest I don't know a whole lot about you other than you're our cousin, what you look like, and that you're wicked smart. Also a bit of a prankster, right?"

"Yeah, a bit. But I have to admit my life hasn't been anything too interesting up until late. Although knowing Selene and what she's said in regards to her family, you guys seem much more interesting." He said.

"I mean, with a big family there's always some sort of chaos happening. The chaos just happens to be currently a lot of Selene-chaos. Which isn't anything new, even if the specific kind of chaos is." I laughed. "But I'm also asking what sorts of things are you interested in?"

"Oh. Well, I suppose I can talk a bit about that," he said. "I haven't really talked much about my interests with anyone but Marelda, and she mostly doesn't understand a lot of it as much as she's willing to listen."

"Well, I likely might keep up a bit better, given my background in advanced magic." I supplied.

"Yeah, probably." So he delved into an explanation of various niche magical interests—many of which I'd studied at some point in the past, either for class or personal curiosity. It's a lot of fun being able to have a purely intellectual conversation about things a lot of people didn't get. It was nice being able to just discuss things, without having to explain concepts and terminology every other word.

And when the subject turned to art, something Luca really enjoyed, while I didn't do much with it one of my best friends at school did art, so I knew enough to carry on the conversation. Luca didn't have any of his sketchbooks on him, but he promised he'd bring one the next day to show me some. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation throughout dinner and a bit beyond, until we realized the time and that Luca needed to head back to his dorm. So we bid each other goodbye and parted ways.

Author's Note:

It is with a heavy heart I make this announcement. I know I've said for a long time that I wasn't giving up on this series. And to be honest, I not. However, I will not be finishing this story.

There is a variety of reasons. The biggest two being these: I am leaving on a year and a half mission for my church in a few months. Meaning pop culture is taking a break for that period of time. Second, I'm really struggling with continuing this story. As I've been working on editing Elemental, the original plan I had for Halfling has completely changed. One day, I'll completely re-write Halfling to better follow Elemental as a whole. Because, as you know, my current draft of Elemental has become it's own original novel, and to be honest, it's very different from the original fanfic version I wrote as a 15/16 year old who barely knew what she was doing and hadn't developed her writing style much at all.

I will, however, leave the stories I have up. There has been so many wonderful comments left that when I'm feeling down, I'll go back and read because they're all so positive and uplifting. And, I'll leave you a summary of what I originally had planned because even if I couldn't figure out how to write it, I had an idea of what was going to happen.

And finally, I want to thank all the many, many readers who got me here with their lovely comments and support. Even if many of you never see this, I am so grateful for you. You helped an insecure teen girl who was trying to figure out how to write actually complete something she will always be proud of. And I can never thank you enough for that, because when Elemental began, I was so close to quitting writing entirely. But the amazing feedback and support helped me gain enough confidence and motivation to create something and finish it. So thank you.

Summary:

They make it to the Tower with the help the the devices that cancel out magical illusions. Selene and Celeste let Angel front for a while as Angel and Marelda do their best to take care of the chimera. Marelda does get hurt, but Celeste's magic is able to burn out the poison and heal Marelda with just one new scar. Selene regains control of the body and so she and Luca continue to the top of the Tower together, and open the doors together. And then…

SELENE DOESN'T DECLARE HERSELF AT THE TOWER AND NEITHER, SURPRISINGLY, DOES LUCA.

"What is the purpose of this Luca? The real purpose." Selene asked.

"Because it's who I am. It gives me a past beyond a two room cage, it…it gives me a reason."

"Luca, you're so much more than your bloodline. And if it's about finding family, you've found it. And I'm not talking just about my family—our family. I'm talking about the friends here. Me, and Katalina, and maybe eventually Elliot. Not to mention Marelda, who's pretty stinking amazing. She literally almost died back there trying to help me with that chimera. And she did it for you, Luca. Because she knew you needed to be able to make this choice. You two aren't romantic and I don't think you'll ever be but…a good friend like her is someone you don't want to lose chasing the dead, Luca."

"How are you always right about these things?" he sighed, putting the gemstone back in the hollow eye socket of the stone dragon.

"I'm not. But sometimes it's easier to see a problem and it's variables when you're not so close to it." She reached out and hugged her cousin, and he returned it, sinking into her as he choked on the first of many sobs.