moira

five

A few weeks have passed, both of us have grown upmost closest, I believe. We've fought against monsters to get meat to feed ourselves, sleeping in the same area and not arguing or even butting heads, as I would've thought because royalty and witches do not mix. We've walked to the mountain as much as possible before we stopped for the day, usually right as it's "night" or dark. In just those few weeks, I gained a little crush on Shoto, but I wouldn't admit it. I don't mix with a prince. I would be frowned upon immediately, or killed, or hung. At this point in time, though, we're in the home stretch and I can see the rift in the world is clear to me. It looks just like a forest, but it looks normal. Normal brown and green trees, blue sky. It's our home. I can still see it, but normal people, like Shoto, cannot see it.

I took a few deep breaths, feeling a bit excited about finally going back home. I was incredibly ready to be done with this world, but I bet to Shoto, it was honestly nice being away from home for a bit and exploring outside of a world known to him. We were almost there, back to our world and everything was gonna go back to normal, except it wasn't. Mostly because Shoto and I have a bond, we grew closer, just as friends. Despite all that, I do have a crush on him and things going back to the way it was before would be impossible. Crushing on the prince is worse enough. "I'm so done with this place. Are you ready? To go home again, that is. To face reality and your father again?" I looked at him, sitting down to take a small rest. I watched him sit next to me, there was rock and mountain behind and below us.

The path was not super small, but we couldn't walk next to each other. It was wide enough if we both walked shoulder to shoulder really tight. Or if we held hands and stayed close to each other.. I watched the pink sky as was still out which means we could walk some more, but this is, in fact, a mountain and we're going uphill so it has taken us the longest. 

"I mean, I'm ready. And I'm definitely excited to go back home and everything. I'm not excited to have to deal with my father again though." He said with a small sigh, as if to say that it was obvious he wasn't exactly looking forward to that. I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to confront a parent that's been shitty and even worse to people before I was even alive. "But I don't think I'll have a choice in the matter. So I guess I'm ready to go back home." He said quietly. He closed his eyes for a few minutes, leaning back against the mountain wall.

"Hey Shoto?" I asked, unwrapping some leftovers from earlier and handing him his share, tilting my head towards him as I ate.

"Yes?" He started, urging me to go on, turning his attention toward me right as he took the food I offered him. He took a quick bite of it before continuing to listen to whatever I wanted to ask him.

"I think, I want to stay friends when we go back home." My voice was unnaturally soft in that moment. Every other time, I've been a bit brash, or harsher. My voice more loud and booming rather than soft or tiny. But here, I felt a little vulnerable in expressing friendship. It wasn't a thought before, to want to stay friends, but it came out and I'm not sure how much I like it. Maybe the fairy world here is encouraging this kind of behavior. I would never confess my crush on him though. Not until I knew for sure I was in love with him.

He paused for a long time, the pink sky slowing turning purple as I await for his answer. He looked at me, trying to come up with an answer, even if it was a small one, though he turned his head away and down, eating the rest of the food I gave him and standing up to dust himself off. He offered a hand to me and smiled softly. "I'd love to stay friends too."

I took his hand and stood up too, pointing to the sky. We both nodded and started heading up again. We wanted to make it up before night completely fell upon us and I feel we could make it. I spoke up again as we walked. "You have to promise to be a good king, if not for yourself, for me. Better than your father. Even if our friendship doesn't stick for long when we get back home. I'm scared you'll be back to your ways and I'll be back doing my witch jobs and such." My voice got quieter than before, if that was even possible. "We probably won't see each other much." I paused. "Time works differently here than it does there, don't you remember? If I had known you for almost a moon rotation here, it would be a single world rotation in our world. A few weeks here is a day or two in our home world."

"Yeah, I know that and... I'll try to be a good king for sure." He said, sounding a bit more enthusiastic the more he talked about becoming the king eventually. "And yeah, we will have to probably go our separate ways, eventually. This is our last little bit of time together for real before we head back to our own world." He said, sounding a bit sad.

"We can rest once we get to the top, by the way." I said. I was really just tired of all of this walking. I mean, we had gone so far together already, so the least I could do was hurry up a bit. Finally, we reached the top and Shoto mentioned that he could now see the rift, and the normal looking world on the other side. I stopped abruptly, Shoto bumping into me and apologizing, though I don't say anything and just turn around, putting my hands on his shoulder.

At first, he just stared, wide eyed, at the hand that was placed on his shoulder. For a moment, he gave me a soft and slightly confused smile. "What's going on?" He asked, speaking in a soft tone as to not startle me.

My hand got a little firmer before I pulled Shoto into a hug. I don't know what got over me, I wrapped my arms awkwardly around his torso and nuzzled my head, my face, into his shoulder, standing there for a moment. He's a lot taller than I thought, a whole 6 inches taller. I pulled away rather quick before looking at the rift and grabbing the edge. "Sorry about that, but I meant it." I pointed to the rift before putting my other hand on the edge. "You can put your hands on the edges, it won't hurt and pull yourself up, or I'll help once I get up there." I started pulling myself up after I smiled over at him, focused on getting out of there. I got up and felt the normal green grass around me. When I looked down into the hole, Shoto was pulling himself up through. I grabbed his wrist to help him up and out.

I watched the rift abruptly closed and this world was sealed off from the other. The world knew these we did not belong in it and wanted us out. I was breathing heavily, feeling the affects of the nice little fairy world wear off. Shoto looked at me, almost disgusted and when he looked as if he was about to scream something, I immediately lunged towards him and covered his mouth with my hands. He looked at me confused and I looked up from him to behind him, watching the shadows start to emerge from the thick forest.