Keeping Him Loved

Chapter 35

        The walk to the gardens had been an experience to say the least. The lack of concern held by the few elves who saw them was not something (y/n) was used to. She had intended to wear the hood of her cloak, but Synn had insisted that Add wear it instead. It had been a sly play on his part. Even Add gave the boy credit for the idea. His dynamos went unnoticed beneath the looming cloak. They were all able to reach the garden just as easily as Add could calculate the solubility of an unidentified liquid compound. Which was...well (y/n) didn't know how he made it look so easy, but it truly was for him.

        "Are you sure we won't get lost?" (y/n) asked once more as they stepped into the foliage.

        "You've both asked me that a billion times already," Synn whined. "I have Sael's charm with me. He probably doesn't even know that it's gone." He pulled out the little item that was supposedly responsible for qualifying Sael to be a guide through the gardens. It glowed just enough to light their path in the areas where the flowers and leaves didn't glow themselves. "We're going to be just fine. Long as Ilphas doesn't check my room any time soon haha..."

        "We should have enough time to get what we came here for and still investigate," Add said. "I doubt she'd reach us that quickly without knowing exactly where you went. At the very least, she'd have to figure out where you might have gone. With the way you act, it could be anywhere. I'm positive that you get into all sorts of conflicts."

        "That's not very nice, doctor," Synn laughed.

        "Where did you get the idea that I am nice?"

        Synn tilted his head. "Before we all got back here to Eldemyr, you kept going around to see if any of us were sick. Doctor or not, isn't that a nice thing to do?" Add didn't answer him.

        "I don't know where that fairy was trying to lead me earlier today, but it sounded like the issue was urgent," (y/n) quickly changed the topic. Whether or not Add had acted under the pretense of his facade was not any of Synn's business, and it was best for the troublesome elven child not to know. "She came out of nowhere."

        "If we just go straight towards the tree, plenty of fairies are bound to stop us. It's their job afterall," Synn announced, determined to see even just one.

        Add rose his hand and caused his dynamos to shoot from beneath the cloak that he was still wearing and scatter into the surrounding area. Synn gave him a baffled look. "I need to check something again. Just keep leading the way. I'll explain as we go."

        They walked for quite some time in what felt like a straight line, but (y/n) noticed their subtle changes in direction. She couldn't see when it happened even though she never took her eyes off the area no longer than the time it took her to blink. Maybe that was just all the time the garden needed to decieve her senses. She wasn't familiar with Eldemyr's mysteries. The stories about them were limited to what her father had known.

        "Stop," Add warned. He brought up the rear of their little travel group, but his tone demanded their attention. "We're too close to the tree. Approaching it is a bad idea. I let us get this far to check for the fairies, but there aren't any. We need to turn back."

        "Huh? Why? Doctor, it's just a tree. The wind shard is there, but it's not like it will do anything to us. I think..."

        Add shook his head. "I've been monitoring the garden this entire time." His dynamo's returned to them in that moment. "My theory was correct." Charts showing a progression of growth displayed around the trio. "This entire garden is infected. The Alterasia got to it. What's interesting about it all is that the further we get, the more my dynamos are able to pick up its traces. From the outside, its hard to even tell that the plants are contaminated. Sael must have been keeping us on the outer perimeter to avoid breaking any rules which explains why I couldn't immediately tell."

        "Then the source! Don't tell me it's what I think it is..." (Y/n) looked up into the sky unable to see the tree's massive branches through the darkness. "But wouldn't it show signs of that? Didn't Kassias say before that the tree wilts?"

        "He also mentioned that despite there being so many sick in Eldemyr, the tree had yet to wilt," Add recalled. "Whatever sort of plant that was able to cause all of this on such a massive scale will not be simple to deal with. I need time." He waved the holograms away already turning back to leave. "We need to get out of here. The plants can wait until morning. We'll find the fairy when we come back."

        "If you wanted to avoid the tree, then it might be a little too late for that. It isn't too much further ahead of us." Synn started forward again. "We get a fairy then we leave. Easy."

        "Synn, you don't understand." Add followed behind him anyway. He nor (y/n) had a choice unless they wanted to get lost. Leaving the charm in the boy's hands was suddenly a concerning thought. "Stop. You're heading towards something you don't understand. I've seen the plants that give off the spores, but I've never seen the source of it. It shouldn't be too harmful under regular circumstances, but it's taken root in something that is connected to all of Eldemyr." The young elf paid him no mind and sped up his pace. "Synn. Stop!" Add raised his voice and had his dynamos block the boy's path.

        "Okay okay, just don't point those things at me," Synn whined. "Huh? Wait, look! Aren't those fairies?"

        Ahead of him, (y/n) could see small green particles floating in the air. Their neon glow was a bit different than the fairy (y/n) had seen. Although she wasn't sure what colors fairies came in, it didn't take much staring to notice that those were nothing of the sort. The particles all simultaneously froze for half a second before they swarmed at them, multiplying as they gathered around.

        Synn staggered backwards. "Those aren't..." he stopped short of his realization still trying to catch his footing. Add caught him before the boy lost conciousness altogether. (Y/n)'s vision was started to grow fuzzy.

        "(Y/n)! Hey, listen to me!" It was his second time trying to get her attention. "Take Synn, get out of here. Now," Add spoke. "Get the charm, quickly!" Fighting against her sudden headache, (y/n) took the charm and Synn from Add. The elf was a little heavier than she expected, but she would be able to carry him a fair distance before needing a break. "I'll be right behind you, go!"

        She heard him, but her senses were fading too quickly for her to act any more than she already had. Fatigue fell onto her, and she shot a hand up to hold her head. Synn slipped from her grasp, and (y/n) failed to remain balanced as her head began to spin from the effects of the spores.

        Add was there in an instant catching (y/n) and using his dynamos to once again catch Synn. "Dammit," he hissed. The dynamos dropped Synn a few centimeters from the ground and zipped across the area to shred the spores into electrocuted ashes. "Hang on. Don't pass out," Add spoke as he cradled her in his arms. "I'm going to get us out of here."

        (Y/n) shut her eyes and tried to focus, but her head was clouded from the nauseating feeling that only continued to grow. Add called her again. She was lifted from the ground again, but after that she couldn't remember anything else.
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Yeah, so that just happened. Until next time you awesome readers!