The Magic Of An Alter Ego.

Chapter 4

"Wilson!"

Almost as quickly as his name was called Wilson was gripped into a bear hug. He flinched, nearly ready to fight back at the stranger. They let him go after a few, painful moments. Wilson stumbled back, dizzy and disorientated.

He held out his hands to stop them from anymore advances, "I...I'm sorry. How... how do you know me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He commented. "Don't tell me you've forgotten the soon to be General Alter Ego!" They boasted the name out loud, a few people from the crowd around them cheering.

Alter Ego? "Argo!" He gushed.  To him, Argo wasn't the same. Yet he had some how stayed the same over the years.

His palish hair, which had begun to go dark around the roots was tied back. He'd grown it out of course. His dark skin radiating off the same excitable energy they had years ago. He'd grown in height, at least a little under six feet tall. His eyes were wide and just as full of energy as they had always been.

He wasn't the same lanky, almost swagger full teen. Dressed in the cloak of the castle, Argo almost looked mature.

The halfling laughed. "What didn't expect me to be here?" He gave a punch to Wilson's arm, Wilson flinching as he noticed how sharp Argo had let his nails become.

Wilson opened his mouth to speak but the halfling beat him to it.

"You haven't changed at all." Laughed the halfling. He ruffled the black curls of Wilson's hair and grinned down at him. "Look at you, you're barely a foot more than you were the last time I saw you." He paused for a moment to think. "How long was that again? Two, three years?"

"Argo, it's been ten years!"

"I'm sorry halfling years have been messing me up!"

They both laughed at the response. The halfling didn't seem too upset about not being recognized The town must have filled his ego.

Someone cleared their throat, both Argo and Wilson turning to see Princess Regan. Argo immediately bowed, the action catching Wilson off guard, "Your Highness, forgive my question but what are you doing outside the castle grounds without a bodyguard."

The princess approached them smugly, watching Argo like a hawk.

"I was here with a guard." she pointed at Wilson with a sharp finger nail. He tensed as her eyes seemed to glow. "I was simply wondering how you two knew each other."

Wilson spoke up, "Argo lived in my home town before he moved here. Speaking of which, how is life in the Capital-" Wilson rambled on and on.

"Argo?" The princess budded in.

Argo stood up straight, refusing to look the girl in the eyes.

"Alter Ego, Your Highness. Argo was a nickname I went by for quite a bit." He shrugged off the question. "Though it is true, we were childhood friends."

The princess seemed to bounce around, her face slowly twisting into a grin that made Wilson cringe. "Oh! Alter Ego, Argo! I get it!" She laughed.

"I can see why you dropped that name." She commented. "It does have a nice ring to it but honestly you could do better."

Was that the slight look of annoyance in Argo's eyes?

Princess Regan examined her long fingernails. She almost leaned into Argo's side; the halfling moving away from her.

"Believe me when I say I'd change it if I could." Chuckled Argo, "Should I send a carriage to send you to your father." the halfling slid away from the demon, who persistently followed him.