The Redemption of Maximus

Water Nightmares-Emily

"What the fuck was that Em?" Julia ask when the coast is finally clear. "And who the hell is the evil hunk who is after us?"

I roll my eyes at her antics. Of course she would find someone like him to be attractive. Tall, dark, and handsome pretty much fit her type to a tee. As I think of Maximus I realize that we pretty much have the same type. Laughter fills my chest and as it bubbles up I am unable to stop it.

Tears fill my eyes as I laugh. This situation really isn't funny, but I can't seem to stop myself. Here we are in the middle of the forest looking for dragons. Now we have one hunting us with his little army. All of this and the first thing that comes to mind is the type of guy I am into. The utter ridiculousness of the situation just seemed to manifest itself in laughter and tears. Truthfully, all I feel is fear. A deep overwhelming amount of fear because of the danger I have put my best friend in.

She shouldn't even be here. She should be finding her own story and her own path in life. She shouldn't be anywhere near the dangers that these beast hold. I shouldn't even be here. I should have been with him and yet all I feel is that he didn't want me anymore. I freaked out completely because I felt the opposite. After everything I heard from his dragon, the fact that he was willing to kill so that I could stay safe, I wanted him even more. I still want him.

"Oh god Jules. I'm so sorry that I got you into this. I'm sorry that I'm such a shitty friend. Sorry that I just quit your job for you. I'm sorry that I took your grandmothers ring and much more I had you lie so many times for me. I'm sorry that----" My apologies are quickly cut off by the sound of her laughter.

She hunches over holding onto her knees as she laughs her ass off. As I look at her I realize that she is an absolute mess right now. She's covered in twigs; leaves dirt and god know what else from the forest. Looking at myself I see that I am even worse off. The once blue robe is now almost fully brown from the amount of things I have touched. I walk over and hug her as I start to laugh along with her. As she hugs me back, I find that I am glad she is here even if we are now running for our lives.

"You are a beautiful hot mess, Em. You don't have anything to be sorry for. There was no way I was leaving you when I knew you needed me. I can get another job, but I can't, however, ever get another one of you" she says as our laughter dies down.

"I love you too, Jules. You have always been like a sister to me. I wouldn't change meeting you for the world" I tell her with all the love I feel.

"Okay girlie, now enough of the mushy shit. Let's go get this dragon of yours so I can give him a piece of my mind too" she says as we pull away and wipe at the tears on our faces the best we can.

"I just wish I had a way to know that we were truly going in the right direction. I've been relaying on the satellite images they showed us" I admit allowed.

"I know. They made us all study those images. We are going in the direction that dragons were spotted in" she muses aloud. "Just curious though, did your dragon man show you that trick back there" she ask as she watches me closely.

"I didn't even know that I could do that. It has to have something to deal with the fact that I am his mate" I tell her as she looks at me quizzically. I start walking as tell her what I mean. "According to them, they are all destined to meet the one that is perfect for them. I guess you could call them a soul mate even though they only say mate. They only have one other couple to go off of" I state.

"And the thing I saw you do, what's that" she ask again.

"That would be his ability. He can make his self-invisible but when he does I am the only one that can still see him. He can use the ability to travel too. It's probably how he got me back to camp without any of you see us" I muse allowed. Suddenly the thought has both of us stopping in our tracks. As I look at her face I can tell that we are having the same thoughts.