Kinship

The girl’s lips quivered and eyes bugged out of her skull as she slowly moved to accept the book before pushing it away, back to him.

“You… don’t want it?” He looked so scared. “I-I’m sorry, I should’ve known better than to dump my niche hyperfixations onto unsuspecting-“

“I FOUND ONE!”

Frankie jumped like she was suddenly floating on air and practically screamed in his ear as she jumped onto the unknowing mage boy, pushing him to the ground.

“H-Hey!” Serah gawked, unable to defend her crush.

“I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this-“

Greg shuddered as the unstable superfan breathed down his neck, shuddering as if she’d just seen the first other human being to speak her language in years.

“YOU READ PERCY TOO?!?!” Wailing over the boy’s face, he was happy for the clarification, as from his point of view it just seemed that his fellow party member had snapped and decided to kill him for his taste in young adult literature.

“Y-yeah I do!” He nodded. “Are you serious? You, too?”

Thoroughly embarrassed, but too excited to dwell on it, Frankie hastefully stood Greg back up and wiped the dust off his robes. The others could only watch as this uninterpretable interaction occurred between two members of the same dying tribe.

“My friend.” Her eyes were still bulging out of their sockets, but her speech was calming down. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this day?”

“Y-you bet I know. Ever since I was a kid, I- I’d never met another soul who liked Percy as much as me- l-let alone even heard of it!”

She grabbed his hands, squealing like a mouse.

“This is incredible…!” Frankie jumped. Katie wiped a tear from her eye. Never, ever before, had she seen her this happy. “Have you written any fan fiction?”

Gregory blinked.

“Fan… fiction?”

Instantly a wave of curiosity fell over him.

“I’ve never… why, I’m not a writer… wait. Wait wait. Does that mean- you’ve written fan fiction? Of- P-Percy, Percy himself, Percy the- Mace-Wielding Phytoplankton Hero of the Sea?”

Frankie grinned.

“Books and books of it.”

“That’s- that’s unbelievable!”

“How else was I supposed to find out how it ended?” She shrugged.

“Wow, just… wow.” Greg’s whole body was shaking. “Where can I read them?”

Frankie froze.

“Read…”

She’d never had the thought.

“Read them?”

“Y-you must have published them somewhere! Then again I- I guess I’d know, I scour the web for any sign of Percy every day…”

She twiddled her fingers. She’d never thought… somebody out there would want to read them. Or to see her fanart. Or to watch her fan film.

“They’re… just for me, sorry…” she admitted sorrowfully.

“W-why keep it that way?”

This time he seized her hands.

“You should share it with the world! Can’t be that hard to put it up somewhere, can it?”

“I- I dunno.” The still-shy adventurer looked away. “It’s just- the series has been dead since… since before history… what would be the point in…”

The entire galaxy froze.

Gregory sat his small hands on his fellow fan’s shoulders.

“So why don’t you… continue it?”

Frankie’s mind grew three sizes too big.

“I-If you got your hands on the IP… from… w-whoever out there has it now, I mean… couldn’t you… just continue the series as your own?”

The girl’s mouth fell open, but the words didn’t come out right away. Looking into Gregory’s fiery eyes with her own glassy whites, she couldn’t even think straight.

All she knew was… he was right.

As much as she loved this fellow fan of hers, she immediately turned her back on him- whipped around to Katie, and spoke.

“I’ve got a new dream now.”

She briefly turned back to Gregory, and waved at him, before handing him a paper slip.

“Call here frequently. We have much to discuss.”

It hurt her to do, but she then turned her back for real, Katie looking between her sister and the group as she started to make her way out of the park.

“B-bye guys! Love you!” She smiled. “We’ll be back one day, I promise!”

“Y-You get ready! When you come back, I’ll kick your ass in a duel!” Percival cried, manly tears welling in his eyes.

“Me and my husbands will be waiting on you!” Serah waved.

“Good luck.” The stoic Rocco just nodded, but the hint of a smile on his face grew and grew as they drifted away.

“I’ll talk your ear off about Percy as much as you want, Frankie!” The mage yelled. “I expect you to do the same!”

Frankie allowed herself one final glance back at the team- seeing their smiling, happy faces admiring her and her sister- before she waved one last time and said her goodbyes.

“You’re the best heroes in the land, you guys.”

Everyone kept saying goodbye for about half an hour before the sisters finally disappeared over the horizon.