What was Lost

Chiron

I turned around and frowned at him.

"Sorry, it's just that I've never seen Rene speechless before," he chuckled again, but after looking at my not-very-amused face, cleared his throat and sobered up.

"How is it that you know of these plants? Such things are not common knowledge". I bristled.

My knowledge of the plants came from a man I loved very much. In fact, it was he who told me that although I may not have the power to physically overcome my enemy's, no one could destroy my spirit. Thinking of him brought back both loving and painful memories.

"Someone taught me the ways of nature a long time ago"

"Someone?"

"A man who I loved more than anything. But he is dead now, as most of the people I love are".

I was looking down as I said it and when I looked up, there was a strange expression in his eyes. If I didn't know better, I'd have called it jealousy.

"You had a lover? What about your mates?"

I looked at him startled. Lover? What on Earth-my train of thought was cut off by my wolf laughing.

"He thinks that that Chiron was our lover".

My eyes widened, and although the thought of Chiron brought tears to my eyes, I could not stop the laugh that burst out.

"Me-lovers-Chiron," I broke out into another fit of hysterical giggles, all but slapping my thigh at the absurd concept.

After the last of my giggles subsided, I looked at Castiel to see he was embarrassed. Feeling guilty for making him blush-although I had to admit he looked adorable-I decided to explain to him who Chiron was.

"Chiron is-was old. Centuries old when I was merely 10, but he appeared about 25. We loved each other, but not as lovers, obviously. We met when I was 9 in a place filled with nightmares I don't wish to remember, and immediately clicked, I guess. I loved him-love him, more than anything. In some ways our love was stronger than even a romantic love. I guess that when you go through something like that with someone, a strong bond is formed. He was not a witch per say, but he was some sort of other with knowledge of magic. I'm not quite sure what, he never said, but he taught me a lot about nature, and lore and other things. We kept each other sane I guess," I gulped, but my throat was suddenly dry and the action felt like swallowing sandpaper. I hadn't wanted to tell him this much, but somehow it was all coming out.

"He died. It was not the noble or peaceful death that he deserved, but a cruel torturous thing that lasted a full year. The silly old man held on for so long," I took a ragged breath, my eyes tearing up.

"They made me watch, you know. He kept telling me to close my eyes but I couldn't, just couldn't. Every day for a year I watched him walk closer and closer to deaths door. He told me that it hurt him more for me to be forced to watch than anything else. Eventually he died. He told me he loved me, but I never got the chance to say it back," I was full out sobbing now, and was frustrated at myself for crying so much. Chiron never wanted me to cry. He said he loved me strong. I wanted to be strong, but the thought of him always left me weak.

Arms encircled me and pulled me to a warm chest. He tucked my head into his neck and placed his chin on top of my head, rocking me slightly.

"Shhh. It's alright. I am certain he knew how much you loved him," he kept speaking, but I didn't hear the words, instead I focused on the cadence of his voice, the rises and falls in his words, and began to calm down.

When I was sure I was not going to break down again, I pushed away from the extremely inviting chest and looked away. After a long, awkward silence I looked up to see him staring at me with eyes full of guilt and sadness. I couldn't take looking at those eyes so I quickly changed the subject.

"Um. You said that you knew a way to restore the mate bond?" I asked knowing it would distract him from the things I had told him, and sure enough it did. One the word mate, he jerked up, moving away from me.

"Yes, of course. Follow me please," and he was off.

Running to catch up with him before I lost him in the labyrinth of the towers corridors, I noticed that his stride was clipped, and his shoulders stiff. I didn't understand why, though. As I was busy mulling over it, we arrived at another room after going down some stairs.

We were in a library, and it was a bookworm's wet dream. The room was again, circular, and was filled with shelves, made of the same stone as the herb room, that touched the floor and ran all the way up to the ceiling covered every wall in sight. On the shelves sat thousands of books of all sizes and shapes.

The really magical thing about the room was, well, the magic. Thick ancient magic covered the room and seemed to be coming from the thousands of ancient texts present. The magic was so thick and potent, it felt like miasma, and when I walked into the room after Castiel, it felt as if the magic was trying to get into my body, seep into my pores and nest inside me. Instead of it feeling uncomfortable like it should have when that much magic tried to enter my body, I felt euphoric. It felt as if the magic belonged there.

Castiel said something under his breath that sounded like "Reditum" and all of a sudden the magic was gone from the air, and it appeared as if it had been sucked back into the books which were now practically humming with the magic they contained.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes old magic likes to move around," he said it nonchalantly, like such things happened all the time, and I merely stared at him in awe.

"Okay, so we need to find a book that can help us figure out how exactly your bond was broken, and how to restore it," he said. Walking over to the nearest shelf he stared for a while before picking out a few dusty old tombs and turned around to give me a grin.

"Well come one then" he laughed "we've got a lot to read, and I can't do it all myself".