What Lays Beneath the Surface [discontinued]

Chapter 22

Ex walked through the woods, he laughed and talked to himself. His brother was back, he was finally there. Ex could finally get his revenge.

  Dragon walked beside him, he walked around a tree. He saw a face that was far too familiar, he smiled.

  He pulled his sword a stepped forward, he stopped as another person came in view. They talked with X," X, I'm so so sorry," Angelica tried to comfort X.

  Ex narrowed his eyes, he remembered Angelica, he knew he couldn't fight her and win. He turned around, Dragon followed close behind him, Ex thought. What was Angelica apologizing for?

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   X stood against a tree, Grian sat on the ground beside him. X stood there in silence, tears streamed down his face.

  Grian buried his head in his legs. X looked down at him, he kneed down, "Hey, I'm sure he's gonna be okay, " X tried to assure him.

  X put his hand on Grian's shoulder, he pulled away almost immediately. Grian stayed silent before he snapped back, "Yeah, they said that last time. Is False okay?" X was surprised by Grian's response. He quickly got the hint the Grian didn't want to
talk.

  X hung his head, he had no desire to put his helmet back on. He quickly looked up as he heard footsteps approaching, Ren walked over.

  His face told him everything, tears ran down his face. X felt his stomach turn, he shook his head, this couldn't be real. Ren seemed to struggle to talk for a second, " H-he, X, he's gone, " Ren said through tears.

  X cupped his head in his hand, he couldn't believe it. He dug his fingernails into the side of his face. It stung, it wasn't a dream, Scar was dead. He heard shakey breathing to the side of him.

He looked at Grian who stood completely horror-struck beside him. Tears ran down his face, he looked as if he didn't believe a word Ren was saying. X didn't blame him, he barely could believe it himself. The entire thing felt like an awful nightmare that he would wake up from in a panic, but it wasn't no matter how much he wished it wasn't this was real.

  He placed his hand on Grian's shoulder, Grian turned to him, " This is my fault, " Grian said. X shook his head, " Grian if anything it's my fault, I was the one with him, " X told him. Guilt overwhelmed the admin, " No, it's not either of your faults, there wasn't anything you could do!" Ren yelled at the two.

  He seemed almost mad that Grian and X were blaming themselves. X wanted to do something to comfort the two but couldn't even think of something to comfort himself.

  He closed his eyes," I-I'm going to go on a small walk, to convince myself this isn't just an awful, awful nightmare," X said.

  He turned to leave feeling guilty for leaving the two but he couldn't bare to see his friends like that. Angelica who was walked over noticed X walking away and followed behind him.

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  Ren watched as X disappeared out of sight. He turned back to Grian who now hung his head and stayed completely silent.

  Ren didn't know what to say, he felt horrible. His eyes hurt, he was completely overwhelmed by grief and guilt. His hand shook and he felt as if he couldn't speak.

  "I-I'm going to go talk to Iskall," Grian broke the silence.

  He walked off, leaving Ren alone with his thoughts. He leaned against a tree, memories of his lost friends swam through his head like fish in a pond.

  He slid down the tree sitting on the ground, he pulled his legs up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around his knees, he thought of Scar, something Scar had told him, a small line that would haunt Ren for the rest of his life.

  The reason Ren blamed himself for his friend's death.

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  Scar and Ren sat outside, it was pitch black outside and well past midnight but neither of them could sleep.

  Earlier that day Scar had risked his life to save Grian, he had betrayed a friend. At least someone he thought was a friend. Ren looked at his friend.

  "Why did you do it?" Ren asked.

  Scar looked confused for a second, "Do what?"

  "Stay so long, who knew that it wasn't right," Ren said.

  Scar looked disappointed at himself, "I don't know," he responded, "I just always consider Doc to be one of my best friends, I guess I just couldn't see past that to what he was doing," Scar laughed slightly trying to hide the fact he was extremely upset.

  Ren saw past his faked chuckle and knew his friend was going through something rough.

  Ren turned to him and smiled, "You did the right thing Scar."

  Scar smiled slightly," Thanks Ren, you're the reason I came here,"

  Ren looked at him curiously, "If you hadn't convinced me that we were in the wrong, then I don't know what would have happened," Scar said.

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  Ren stood up, he looked off into the woods. The cool breeze caused the leaves to shift, he pulled out his sword.

  Ren knew who was to blame, he knew what would happen if he didn't do something.

  He stepped forward, looking behind him once more to make sure that no one was going to follow him. He didn't want to put anyone else at risk.

He stepped foot into the forest disappearing behind the trees and thick bushes. Ren walked, stumbling over tree roots. He was intent on doing what he set out to.

He froze in place as he heard laughing from above him, he knew who it was at once and called him out, "Ex you bastard! Why don't you actually come out from your hiding for once!" Ren shouted. Ex seem amused by this, he snickered, "Oh no, I'm doing just fine up here."

Ren looked around eventually seeing Ex's white hair that stuck out like a sore thumb among the green leaves. He sat on a tree limb leaning up against the three with his arms crossed and a mischievous smirk on his face, "You killed him!" Ren yelled. Ex looked at him like he was crazy," I'm not sure what you're talking about, I haven't killed anyone," Ex said.

"You lying son of a bit-" Ex cut Ren off before he could finish his insult, "I warned you," he said, "Warned me about what?" Ren snapped back. Ex rolled his eyes," Wow you're stupid, I told you there's a traitor among you," Ex said looking dead serious now.

The look in his eyes almost frightened him, Ren knew that this man was insane and extremely skilled in combat. Although Ren stared him directly in his eyes. Ren didn't believe a word he said, his eyes began to tear up as he thought about his friend.

Ex noticed and felt slightly sympathetic for the dog-like man, he looked to the side as he spoke, "I understand losing someone close to you," Ex said. Ren was mad at Ex for trying to relate to him, "Yeah? Do you understand the guilt? Knowing that it's your fault!" Ren yelled.

Ex stayed silent for a while, "Answer m-"

"Yes," Ren was taken aback by Ex's answer, "I do."
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Word count- 1288

I've decided to organize my writing a bit better, I was going back and going to rewrite the entire thing but apparently rewriting a 25 part book is a bit time consuming, it took about an hour to correct everything in my second book, and that only has 4 parts