War Never Ends

Chapter 2: A Place To Stay

Chapter two

After the terrible crisis of not asking for enough doughnuts at the store, Chelsea paid Karen, and they set off on their way, red's boots trekking along the gravel road as his friend chatted on happily behind him. Where are they going, you may ask? Well, that's a good question.

They don't know.

Ever since the war started, which was around eight years ago, Chelsea and Red have been trying to conjure up a plan to stop it. And you guessed it! They came up with nothing. So, what's the best thing to do when you can't think? Take a walk! Or in this case, wander the plains and try to find the source of the war and stop it.

Sure, they had a very small team of two, but they were the most powerful Mages out there, or maybe that was just their egos talking. Fire and Water were some of the more powerful elements for a Mage to inherit, especially if it was coloured, though they never really got to use it outside because of the war. If a Human saw them dabbling with their magic, they'd have them shot dead in seconds and Red didn't want to risk that happening.

They read some sort of prophecy once when they were 16, two years after the war started. Apparently, people with coloured symbols, have the most power. Especially if they were a Prophecor. But no one has seen any of those in years. Some think that the prophecy is outdated, and there really are no more Prophecors left in the world.

Red and Chelsea didn't believe that though.

They knew that they couldn't have just been wiped out of existence entirely. There had to be at least one left in the world. May it be old, young, man, woman, non-binary, or didn't even know they had the power, they just felt it. They didn't know where they were though.

Red didn't realize that while he had been spacing out, he had already finished two of his doughnuts, and was halfway to the other town up ahead. Dang, he wanted to save those.

----

"Yes! We're here Red!" Chelsea exclaimed, jumping up and down with a fist in the air, while Red was hunched over with his hands on his knees. He was never really good at running long distance, so he was completely worn out.

"Next time-" he cut himself off with a huff "you see a rabbit, don't-" and... yet another huff for air, "don't go running after it, okay?"

"Yea, yea. You're just jealous that I got to hold it!"

"You chased it and dragged it by its back legs back to the clearing, just to hold it!?"

".... yeah?" Red sighed at the short woman's response.

"Let's just go find a place to stay for the night. It might be a while before we enter the next town. It's quite far from here." Red stood up from his crouching position and stretched his back. God, he should've stretched before running after Chelsea, his muscles were killing him.

They set off once again, but this time not in search of a town, or doughnut shop, but rather a hotel.

----

"Wait, wait! I think I've found one!" Chelsea peeked over the corner into the alleyway towards Red, pointing towards a building across the street. It looked cozy on the outside. It had the resemblance of a wooden cottage, the ones you'd usually find in the snowy outback of Canada. Outside the house was a big flashing sign that said; 'McMartin's Family Hotel'

Wow. Red knew he was utterly horrible at looking for things, but he didn't know he was that bad at it. How could he have missed a giant flashing sign, and a building that differs from a lot of the other buildings in this town, that was just across the street from him? He was now extremely grateful that Chelsea insisted to come. She had such keen eyes.

Chelsea and Red crossed the street towards the cozy hotel, (don't worry, they looked both ways) and knocked on the door twice. They didn't have to wait long, before an energetic looking man, that looked around the age of 21, answered.

He had clothes that looked rather fancy. A long-sleeved, white shirt, with a little red bow tied around the collar. Over the white shirt, he had on an orange waistcoat, with a red collar, and an orange pocket on the bottom of it with yellow stripes. He had red dress pants with black combat boots. His hair was messy and looked like it hadn't been brushed that morning, his skin was a pale peach and his eyes were a blinding lime green.

"Hello, ho-- wH-- Chelsea!?"

These two knew each other?

"Tobias!" Chelsea exclaimed, a smile coming to her face at the familiar person. So, his name was 'Tobias'? "It's been so long! how are you, buddy? I didn't know you worked at a hotel."

"Hotel-? Oh, yea. Yea! Dad! Dad! We've got customers!" Tobias yelled into the house. "It's so good to see you, though! when was the last time we saw each other? eight, nine years ago?" he said, a bright smile on his face as a man -- presumably Tobias' dad -- walked into the room behind the boy. He looked a lot like Tobias. The only difference was that his eyes were blue, and he was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, with black overalls.

"Hello there! Sorry, it is not the cleanest in here. We haven't had anyone stay here for a while. Oh! Where are my manners? My name's Thomas. Come in, come in." the older man moved to the side with Tobias, leaving room for Chelsea and Red to come inside.

Wow. Thomas was right. It wasn't really.... the cleanest.

There were a few clothes lying around here and there, and a plate of half-eaten toast on the coffee table in front of the tv. There was a leather couch leaning against the wall, facing to tv. To the right of the tv, was an archway to a rather spacious kitchen. To the left of the tv, were stairs, leading up to a balcony with four rooms. Red guessed that they were bedrooms and a bathroom.

"How long will you be staying?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, just tonight," Red answered. At his words, Red could see a little hope die from Tobias's eyes. He wondered why.

----

"A-are you sure you want to share a bed?" Red was nervous about sharing a bed with Chelsea. Not that he didn't want to, it would just be embarrassing, and overall awkward if he did something in his sleep, like mumble an embarrassing thing, or smack her in the face with his arm.

"Don't worry! We'll be fine, trust me. We're best friends remember? It's like sharing a bed with your sibling!" Red's mouth twitched downwards, he hated hearing her call them 'best friends'. Not that he didn't want to be best friends with her, no. He just.... wanted to be something more than just friends. But how would an amazing and childishly adorable girl like Chelsea like him back? Oh well. He'll just deal with it.

"F-... fine, but if I-I do something embarrassing in my sleep, just promise me you won't tease me about it 'till I die."

"Don't worry! I promise. As I said, it'll be fine."