The Peculiar Alchemist

46 || Adorably Shy

There was a piece of paper in his hand of the ingredients he needed, and Aubrey was rummaging through Agnes' stuff trying to find said ingredients. There were just too many, and sadly Agnes never bothered to sort them since she already knew where everything was.

Aubrey, on the other hand, did not. He was still grateful that she was nice enough to label them, but as he found himself fooled once again by the purple contents of one of the jars, he couldn't help but sigh in dejection when he read the label and saw that it was not what he was looking for. It was the third time this had happened.

Even if he did manage to find what he needed, he still had four more ingredients to look for, and there were many shelves. More cupboards. So much clutter...

It was a miracle he could find anything in that mess, and the fourth container he picked up was actually what he needed, so he happily placed it aside to look for the other ingredients he also needed. The moment he turned around to look for it was the moment he caught sight of someone standing by the doorway, and he froze in his place.

He pushed down his nervousness as he tried to sound unaffected. "Exactly what happened to you this time?"

"Why do you keep asking when it's obvious?" Kellen asked with a collection of bruises and scratches all over his arm placing a box on one of the shelves. It didn't look as bad as his usual injuries, but they were still bad. "I was wrestling a plant."

"For all I know, you could have been wrestling someone into their grave."

"No, I did that before I wrestled the plants." The way Aubrey looked at him when he told him that made his lip twitch upward before he raised both of his hands. "I was joking."

"It's hard to tell with you." Aubrey sighed, going back to looking for his ingredients. He wasn't deliberately avoiding him or anything, he really was just looking for ingredients. Sadly it wasn't that easy to focus with Kellen around, and it was hard to ignore him when he snatched the paper from Aubrey's hand to look at what was written on it. "Excuse me, I need that."

He was ignored, and within seconds, Aubrey found all the ingredients placed in front of him by Kellen who seemed to know exactly where everything was. Aubrey stared at everything in silence feeling slightly impressed before he was handed back the paper.

Kellen rarely did anything to be nice, so what he said next was kind of expected. "Can you help me with something?"

"No." The rejection came immediately from Aubrey who looked at Kellen suspiciously. "Whatever it is, I am sure it'll be traumatizing or completely illegal."

"It's actually both." Kellen admitted with a grin. "But you don't have to come with me this time. Just cast one tiny spell, that's all I ask."

The request was simple enough, and Aubrey was ashamedly tempted to do it, but he shook his head knowing that nothing good will come out of helping him. "Things will be stolen and people will probably die if I help you. I don't want to take part in that."

Sighing, Kellen nodded his head not even denying those words. At least he was honest about his intentions and let the matter go, but Aubrey should have known that nothing was ever this easy with Kellen. "Since you're not helping, how about we talk about the other day?"

"Ah." Aubrey snapped his fingers as if he just remembered something. "I forgot to tell you, I had a little accident with a potion the other day. I lost my memories."

A laugh escaped Kellen as he looked at him with slight bewilderment. "Wait, let me guess, did you forget about that day you gave me a 'healing potion'?"

Aubrey quickly nodded his head. "Yup, that day. I don't even remember making any healing potions. It is so weird how it happens."

"It's almost convenient..."