Mariana started to climb, and everyone followed her. They already know that cliff looks tall and huge but they can make it. The rock falls away beneath their feet. They know there is a ledge, otherwise they would be falling, but cannot see it at all. If they turn their heads too far, they could unbalance and the drop is further than they can see. Sure, their muscles are stronger and they were more awake than they have ever been. This, however, was not a situation, where running hard for a long time is going to help.

Mariana just have to think back to her training since she was a little girl. It was so easy in the gym with the air conditioning and the smiling staff. Out here, there was no safety rope, no soft mats to land on. She wished she had wired as before, she could get the increased strength without the urge to run but she cannot. The group of fifteen have is the rock, the wind and a long way down. How could they have thought this would ever be fun? No one knows.

She kept climbing, until she made it to the top. Mariana finally made to the top; lend a helping hand to Derek, Nadia, Ashkii, Nova, Wayna, Sayen, Chayton, Migisi, Knoton, Tama, Aquene and the chief. Mariana stood up the cliff, and saw the captain stranded on the edge of the cliff.

"Stranded on here, captain?" Mariana asked the captain.

The captain turned around and he saw them as a group of warriors. He cackled manically like a devil.

"You as Indians can fight me? It doesn't look like it!" The captain cackled.

Mariana sarcastically laughed, but inside of her, she burned up with anger, revenge and justice.

"You can make fun of anything, except our traits." Mariana warned directly to the captain.

"Oh, yeah? Well, fight me! Show it what you got!" The captain exclaimed.

"Now." Mariana muttered everyone and her fellow friends shouted, ready to fight the captain.

They ran towards him, but the captain spun past them. They were at the edge of the cliff, and suddenly, a big crack came from the edge of the cliff.

"What's happening?" Aquene gasped.

"This piece's about to fall and it's under us!" Derek exclaimed.

The piece of the cliff fell, everyone screamed and they all fell in the water. Mariana was shocked then angered of the captain's trap to her adoptive family, youngest brother and friends. She took the sword out from the scabbard, and outstretched it towards him. She already know that she needs to save them, but first, she needs to fight the captain back.

"You'll never get away from this." Mariana growled.

"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS!" Mariana angrily yelled.

The captain's sword was about to cut Mariana's arm, but her sword stopped his sword. They clashed each other's swords, preventing themselves of getting hurt. Down there, Derek, Nadia, Jason, Keira and others were splashing, trying afloat on the water surface. Their lungs squeezed smaller by the pressure, choked and gagged on nothing. Their throat burned with trapped air and their ears were pounding. Their heart was beating against their chest as fast as a cheetah and each one of them, all they heard was the rumble of the clear liquid that had surrounded them. They kept splashing, gasping for air, bobbing in and out from the water, screaming for help. The tourists and buccaneers on the boats panicked of all the commotion they saw. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins panicked more than anyone else did, because their three children were in the risk between life and death.

Mariana and the captain were in a close, intense fight. She whipped the sword to cut his face, but he ducked down. Suddenly, her blue topaz necklace began to glow until it was sky blue all over. He was about to stab her chest, but she flipped herself over him. After she flipped, she was floating on air. That made the captain shocked and scared at the same time.

"Is she a ghost?" He thought.

She violently outstretched her hand towards him, and her force knocked him out on air. She turned around with her powerful raised hand, pressuring the captain. She had her sword ready, slashed and killed the captain. The captain's dead body fell in the water, which made everyone down there startled. They looked up, wanting to know if Mariana is alive. Mariana looked down, her fellow friends stranded in the floating water.

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY DOWN THERE?" Mariana called them.

"We're okay, but we need to get out of here. Fast!" Derek called back.

Suddenly, Mariana had an idea.

"I have an idea! Everyone, form a line and hold hands together." Mariana called as down there, they held hands.

Mariana gave them thumbs up.

"Okay, good. I'll get you out." Mariana called as she walked back from the edge of the cliff.

She inhaled and exhaled three times, prepared herself for her very first flight. She ran swiftly, jumped off from the cliff and flied down to grab Derek's outstretched hand.

"Hang on tight!" Mariana shouted.

"Ok!" Derek shouted as she grabbed his hand and flied all the way up to the cliff.

They landed smoothly like an airplane, on the top of the cliff. They still stood up there.

"We did it." Nadia panted.

"That was a long battle." Derek panted as he put his hand on her shoulder and hugged her that he felt his strength is weakening.

Everyone's hairs and clothes damped after all of splashing. Everyone smiled of the victory of saving the island. Suddenly, a boom was heard right here in the island. They saw the gray clouds darkening like there was a storm coming. Mariana was sure enough that this would be the last battle.

"Oh, no." Derek shuddered.

"A monsoon is coming. Marcos, where are you?" Nadia softly spoke.

Nadia seemed so desperate to have her dad back, but when the monsoon comes, it will be hard for him to get back.

"Mariana, just like you said yesterday." Aquene was shocked.

"I knew it." Mariana said with a firm tone.

Rain started falling heavily, and hundreds needles of rain stabbed their whole bodies. They ran away from the cliff and down to the jungle. The tourists and buccaneers used umbrellas and they covered themselves from the rain. They ran past the wet plants blocking their way, to the hill where Mariana and her adoptive family lives. The howling, raging wind shoved them, making them to run faster. They climbed up the hill, despite of the earth being damp and slippery. It was like climbing a mountain without any supports. However, the wind tried to push them down, not letting them to get to the top.

The rain kept stinging their faces, suffering the pain from those stings. The six couples held hands together and kept climbing to the top hill; Mariana, Aquene and the chief climbed up by holding arms together. Finally, they all made it to the top, after struggling their weaknesses. Their wet hairs whipped so violently on their face and they can barely see. Mariana saw the horrible environment happening in the island. The waves were raging, the boats were going up and down, and the people on those boats cannot handle the storms anymore. They felt stranded in the middle of the sea. The tall trees swayed in both sides as if they were about to fall.

"Doesn't remind you ten years ago when a tornado nearly killed you?" Aquene asked Mariana; Aquene was standing behind her; she still remember the whole story.

"Yeah, but I'm sure a monsoon would never take me away." Mariana spoke.

The blue topaz began to glow once again, transmitting her glowing blue eyes. She outstretched her hand up in the air, trying to stop the monsoon. However, the monsoon was raging on like a wildfire, and the storm had turned to a whiteout. Everyone tried to find each other by running but nearly blinded by the rain and the wind. A desperate Derek tried to find Nadia but everything that surrounded him is white. He felt he could shout her name, but he felt he was suffocating. The cold air hit his throat, as he started shedding tears. He decided to shout aloud despite of crying.

"Nadia! NADIA!" He cried aloud bitterly, he turned around and the howling, windy storm kept raging on.

"DEREK?" A female voice called him back. Would be really Nadia?

Derek turned back and saw Nadia, struggling the wind to run towards him. However, he ran towards her and embraced her tightly that not a blow from the wind could take her away.

Mariana kept her outstretched hand to the sky, the blue topaz kept glowing, and she felt the power from it to push it away. With its power, she started to push away, and the clouds began to lighten little by little. She covered her eyes with her other arm, rain annoying her sight.

Derek and Nadia still embraced tightly to each other, wishing to stop the monsoon.

"This monsoon needs to stop. What should we do?" Nadia asked.

Derek shuddered while the raining wind made them soaked; he did not know how to stop this monsoon. Suddenly, while they were embracing, Derek felt his heart skipping a beat, and wanted to give her a kiss. They passionately gazed each other; he brought his hand on her neck and his thumb caressed gently on her cheekbone. His other hand was on her waist; she brought her hand on his collarbone, the other on his waist, also. *They felt their heart jumping in and out, while their lips are centimeters apart from each other. Their breaths are quickening, and they kissed passionately. The power of their passionate kisses made the storm suddenly stop and the shining white sun flashed the whole island. Derek and Nadia kept kissing, despite the whole storm was finally vanished. Mariana still covered her eyes with her arm and the other outstretched to the air. Seconds later, she felt that the rain had stopped.* She saw the ocean calm, the trees stood still, the boats were okay there; Mariana looked the right side and saw Derek and Nadia kissing. She wondered that if the power of her blue topaz and their love came together, made the storm stop and go away immediately. She smiled and sighed in relief. Everyone's hairs were stringy, their clothes were damped and their skins were glistening by the sunlight.

"Love and courage works well than courage alone." Mariana softly spoke.

Aquene, her family, Jason and Keira walked behind her, looked at Derek and Nadia still kissing that made them in awe.

"Mariana, you, Derek and Nadia did it. You stopped the storm by the power of their kiss along of your courage." The chief spoke.

Mariana smiled and chuckled that she knew it from her thought.

Derek and Nadia broke their kiss apart, causing them to pant heavily after an eternity of kissing.

"Derek! Nadia!" Mariana called while she ran towards them.

"Mariana?" Derek thought as the trio gathered.

"We did it. The storm has stopped, by two powers. One from your kiss, the other from my blue topaz." Mariana smiled.

Suddenly, Mariana realized the true meaning of the blue topaz. After all of unforgettable processes before the meaning, she finally knows.

"Now I know the true meaning of the blue topaz." Mariana realized as she held the blue topaz pendant in her hand.

"What is it?" Nadia asked.

Mariana would tell them but she needs her adoptive family to tell them, too.

"Soaia! Jason! Keira! Come here!" Mariana called as her adoptive family walked towards the trio.

Now they gathered altogether to hear Mariana's discovery of the blue topaz's meaning.

"I finally found out the true meaning of this gemstone. It's courage." Mariana answered the meaning as everyone smiled.

"Exactly." The chief smiled.

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"Soaia" means Family

*A short soundtrack I found (I do not own this) from YouTube and it's the Summit Entertainment's music track. I loved it that I could imagine this scenario. About six seconds from that track, I started to sigh as relaxation has come. Beautiful.

https://youtu.be/UmVXmU3fP_U