Only You

Chp 20

I showed Damian to my favorite ice cream shop, the owner's been around since my mom was my age despite being human -probably some kind of spell-, and we sat at a two person table as we waited for Ms. Rose to finish up with her current customer.
"She makes the best ice cream, trust me."

Rose quickly made her way over to us and we ordered a rootbeer pop to share -basically rootbeer flavored ice cream with pop rocks inside.
"So what have you been up to?" Damian asked, breaking the silence.
"Just riding and walking mostly. Ever since the incident I've been distant from everyone." I replied quietly, shoving a spoonful of the mouthwatering ice cream into my mouth.

"Could you tell me what happened? At least part of it so I actually understand what happened?"
"Ok, we all left for the castle with a plan after finding the human farm. We'd finished and sort of perfected the plan, everyone knew where'd they'd be and what they'd be doing."
I sighed heavily and looked to the ceiling to keep the tears from falling as the memories resurfaced.

"We'd split up as planned, you and I went to the throne room to confront the king. But he was ready for us. We fought for a while, y'know what else would you expect right? Well anyway, the kings sword ended up.... Y'know....." I poked him lightly on the chest and watched his reaction.
With a frown on his face he stared at his ice cream, digesting the new information.

"Let's focus on something else, I'm sure I can find a spell to get you..... back to normal." I stood, put the money on the table and pulled Damian to the castle, determined to find a way to get him back.

~~~~

Hours later and I've found nothing. I sighed heavily and flopped backwards on my bed, annoyed. I'd searched every spell book I could find that had anything to do with healing spells and potions. I've even searched all auntie Mav's books but I was no closer now than I was since we left the ice cream shop.

With a huff I sat up and rubbed my eyes, wondering if I would go cross eyed from this.
"Hey Astrid...?" Darius called though my door.
"Come in D."
He pushed the door open and stepped in.
"Mom says she wants you down for dinner. It's spaghetti."
"Alright I'll be down in a sec."
He nodded softly and left me alone again.
I stared out my window for a moment before gathering myself and heading down to the dining hall.

As I grew closer to the room I heard light chatter amongst my family and frowned to myself, wondering why I'd closed myself off from such an amazing crowd.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside the dining hall to find my entire family sitting around the large table, all laughing and talking; at least they were, until they noticed me.
Everyone grew silent and I smiled weakly.

"Don't let me stop you, I'm not a ghost." Mom grinned and instantly came over to wrap me in a hug, muttering how happy she was that I was telling stupid jokes again.
"I'm ok, I've lost enough time sulking. I've decided to put the past to bed and move on." I informed her, pulling away gently.

Makes it easier to move on when my dead best friend became my guardian

"I'm proud of you Astrid. Let's eat." She smiles ecstatically and trots to her chair with me following slowly behind.
My dad had an empty spot beside him -which I took- and as I reached to grab a plate for food he leant over and whispered into my ear.
"You feelin' ok?"
"Of course," I grinned.
"Just a bit tired."
"Remember, I'm always here for you."
"I know dad, I know."

I kissed his cheek and served myself some dinner, happily chatting with my family just like old times.

~~~~

*a few weeks later*

Damian's popped by a few times to make sure everything was ok with me before he'd go who knows where.
I on the other have have started getting back to normal, I've been joining my family on pretty much everything and I couldn't be happier.
Well that's what I thought until Damian arrived one morning, claiming he had a way to come back to life, like actual human life.

"You're dead Damian, how on earth are you supposed to come back to life just by seeing your dad?" I asked incredulously, setting my spell book down on the floor beside me.
"I'm not really sure, but Skye found something somewhere and it said my dad had a way to bring me back." Damian insisted, pacing back and forth in my room.
"So what? I'm supposed to get us to Alaska just to try something that might work?"
"Well that was technically the plan anyway, just here and not in Alaska."
"Fine. I'll talk to my parents about going, but I make no promises."

"Good enough for me." He grinned and disappeared from sight.
I sighed heavily, gathered my spell books and put them all away before trotting towards my parents room, where I figured they'd be. I knocked.
"Come in Astrid!" Mom called from the other side.
"Hey guys, I had a question." I started quietly as I walked in, studying their faces closely.

My dad was sitting beside my mom on their bed, looking through a photo album they insisted on having.
"What's up?" Dad asked, frowning softly.
"Well, I was hoping we- I could go to Alaska. I want to visit Damian's family."
"As long as you to Tsuki with you, I'm sure she and you grandmother can whip up some kind of trouble." Mom piped up, rolling her eyes at the thought.

"Sounds good, thanks guys!" And before they changed their minds, i quickly left the room, practically sprinted to mine and began packing anything I might need.

A/N I'm so saddddd TwT this is the second to last chapter of Only You -not including the epilogue- and I couldn't imagine having better readers. Y'all probably read the description and thought 'sounds lame, but I guess I'll try it out' and realized it really was lame but still kinda enjoyed it lol idk.

I'm so excited -but obviously sad- to finally finish this story, I've known how I wanted it to end before it even started. So y'know what? To show my appreciation to everyone who reads this, I'm dedicating the last chapter to YOU! No matter who you are or where you are, if you're reading this chapter the next one is dedicated to all of you. Thanks so much for reading!