Resentment -- MCD S3 Zenix x Laurence

Chapter 9

A/N:

omg hiii, sorry i got caught up in school and work. then forgot about it, then got really bad writers block. the first draft of this chapter had them walking through towha, but i kept getting caught and lost in the details so i ended up just scrapping it and trying again. (the last time i edited that draft was september 30, and i had been working on it for most of september)

as an apology, this is a lot longer of a chapter than the previous ones. i wrote this in one sitting so hopefully it is coherent and makes some semblance of sense.

Zenix POV:

With a groan, we finally reached the treeline surrounding Towha. The sun was beginning to set below the horizon, causing another groan to leave me.

The settlement was huge and prosperous. There were large seas of people that separated Laurence and I multiple times. When we had finally found the two shops that the guards had mentioned, the owners insisted on talking our ears off. As much as it aggravated me, we had little money, so I bit my tongue and let Laurence do the sweet talking in hopes of getting some sort of discount.

The bookshop owner Amelia was a sweet older lady who soaked up every bit of charm Laurence put out. I almost gagged with how thick he was laying it on. She gave us an entire new map with important locations circled, and places where we shouldn't go. The clothes store was much more tolerable, Schmendrick was a senile old man who threw some raggedy secondhand clothes at us. He paced around the shop and would mumble incoherent nothings to himself, and talked the entire time we were in there. Afterwards, he led us back out to the gate and waved us off. Finally it was just me and Laurence, my peace was back.

I let out a sigh, placing a hand over my heart. There was no heartbeat, but I tapped my fingers rhythmically mimicking the sound of a heartbeat to ease my mind. I was beyond agitated, and nearly burnt down the village multiple times, but Laurence's stern glare kept me in check.

I stopped and turned to Laurence who was looking at the ground absentmindedly, his brows furrowed deep in thought. I nudged his shoulder, bringing him out of his daze.

"Since we wasted all day in that shit hole," I said nodding my head towards the village behind us. "do you want to continue walking through the night?"

Laurence puffed his cheeks in thought, looking between the setting sun and the dark forest ahead of us.

"Probably, time is of the essence right?"

I nodded.

He pulled his bag off his back, digging around and pulling out a torch.

"We should probably have a light to ward off creatures of the night." He said, lighting the torch with a match.

With that, we continued our journey west to O'khasis.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

It was a little after midnight and we were still walking. The journey was uneventful, thankfully we hadn't seen anyone since our departure from Towha. The torch was burning low, not that we needed the source of light. 

Much like our hike to Towha, there were little words shared between us. There was the occasional, "you doing alright?" and "are we still heading in the right direction?", but that was all. There was no small talk and I was thankful for the quiet.

The wind howled through the forest, the trees swaying back and forth with its aggressive force. The occasional hoot from an owl could be heard, and the toads would croak in response.  Laurence was walking to my right instead of behind me, his presence bringing me a sort of comfort. He was deep in thought, so deep he didn't notice me staring at him for minutes at a time. His expression was contorted with worry, pain evident on his features. He was thinking about Aphmau again, I just knew it.