Team ALLY

Chapter 9: The Midnight Talk

We land and start walking. The streets are quiet and empty. But it seems there's some people on the sidewalks. Mostly...oi. I put up my hood and we continue walking. "You do this often?" she asks. I shrug. "Did it quite a bit when school started. Mostly when I couldn't sleep."

"Must've felt lonely."

"Not truly, I had all the voices in my head." she laughs. We arrive at a local park and decide to walk through. We stop at a bench and take a seat, looking over the small pond with the moon reflecting off it. "What did you do?"

"Hmm?"

"What did you do when you went on these walks?"

"Cleared my head, did some reading, restocked on dust if I needed to."

"What did you read?"

"Grimm hunters. Decent series, a bit dramatic at times but the drama's addicting. Guess it helps me forget my problems for a bit." I pull the book out of my jacket and hand it to her. "I've been re-reading the first book, it's gonna be a while until the next one is released." She opens the book and starts to read the first chapter. I look across and see a young couple sitting at a bench across the way. They look at us and I pull my hood up, trying to hide the blush on my face. Lilac puts the book down and hands it to me. "You can hang onto it if you want, just give it back when you finish it." She grins puts the book in her lap and stares at the lake. "So, Lavandeville."

"Yeah?"

"You have many friends back there?"

"More like family. Wasn't that big of a village so the older kids treated us like family. It was a lovely community. But the move out to the city was for the best. We still go back to visit in the summers but otherwise we just live here in Vale." Lilac looks around then grabs my arm. "H-hey!" She drags me to a clearing in the park." Fly me over your house."

"What?"

"C'mon I want to see where you live." I shrug and take her hand. We float into the air and I fly a few blocks to my grandmother's house, a small, red, two-story townhouse. "This is the place, 2403 maroon drive."

"It's quaint." I see the handle turn and out steps my grandmother. "Aries!"

"Hey grandma." She runs down the steps and gives me a big hug. "Oh it's so good to see you! What are you doing out this late?"

"Me and Lilac couldn't sleep so I thought I'd give her a tour of the town."

"Well come in, I'll pour us some milk and you can introduce me to your lady friend." I blush at her connotation as we walk in.

We sit down at the table and my dog, Alexis, jumps into my lap. Grandma lays down the three glasses of milk and joins us at the table. "So introduce me." Grandma says cheerfully.

"Grandma this is my partner and friend from beacon, Lilac, this is my Grandma Paladin."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Paladin."

"Oh just call me grandma, his friends from where we used to live did that all the time."

"Alright."

"You remind me of someone, are you by chance related to Rose Flora?"

"Yeah, she's my grandma on my mom's side."

"Oh! I thought I'd heard your name before, before we moved to Vale, I lived in a small cottage in patch, right across from your grandma. How's she doing dear. I haven't heard much from Patch since we moved here to Vale."

"She's doing alright. She lives with me and mom now, she moved in after grandpa Flora passed away."

"Oh I'm so sorry to hear he passed. John was a great man." It was at this point I started to feel like a third wheel. My mind wandered, and I let them talk amongst themselves. The warm glow of the candle was dim, but lit up enough for us to see each other and some of the kitchen around us. For some reason my mind drifted to the question Lilac asked me earlier. Why was she curious if I had goes back in Lavandeville? Was she curious if I was always so closed up? What possessed her to ask such an odd question? I put it out of my mind and focus back on the conversation, which had turned into grandma telling a story about us. Suddenly a question of my own cropped up. "Did you ever meet Tyrian?" Her expression shifts from happy to somber. "Everyone in Lavandeville knew of Tyrian. I warned your parents against bringing him in, but I raised your father too well. He felt obligated to help Tyrian because he was in need." I saw the tears start to well up in her eyes. I didn't mean to make her cry, I just wanted more information. "I'm sorry, just one of the things that's been on my mind."

"That's alright, you're old enough to be asking these kinds of questions. But you never get strong enough to talk about burying your own child." I walk around the table and give her a hug. We sit there and talk for a little while and finish off our glasses of milk. The whole while my mind kept drifting to the same question, why did Lilac ask about my old ties? We end up leaving and head to the park for bit. She ends up falling asleep on my arm and I just sit there for a bit, letting her rest. I stand up and lift her bridal style. I carefully start to fly back.I feel her stir and look down to see her eyes start to open. "I was going to take you back and get some shuteye myself."

"What's the highest you've ever flown?"

"Uh, no idea."

"I've always wondered what it looked like above the clouds." I look up and see the cloud line then back down at her. Something in her eyes convinced me to try the insane act. I move her to my back and fly up, above the clouds, above everything. The moonlight giving the clouds a soft, blue glow. I fly close to a cloud and she runs her hand through it. "It's beautiful up here."

"It's surprising what happens when you decide to take a chance." I feel her arms wrap tighter around my chest and she lays her head on my back. She mumbles something I couldn't quite catch." Hmm?"

"Nothing, I'm getting pretty tired. Let's head back to the room." I fly us down then kneel down, letting her climb off my back. She lays down in her bed and I go to walk to mine when I hear her softly call my name. "Yeah Lilac?"

"Thanks for the fresh air." I smile and sit down on my bed. "Needed some myself anyway." I shove my jacket under my bed and pull the blanket over myself. I stare at the ceiling and slowly drift to sleep.