The Fog of Airyll COMPLETE

Chapter 21

Hello everyone!

Thank you for reading my novel! ^^ I hope you're enjoying it so far!

This chapter gave me a bit of trouble, but I'm satisfied with the end result. What do you think?

Again, thank you for your support. The next update is scheduled for August, 16th. I hope to see you there!

Chapter 21

Fox couldn't stop pacing.

Inside his mind he could see what the right choice was clearly - he wanted to protect Nephelle. He had bonded with the girl as soon as he had first seen her - if it was love or something else entirely, he couldn't say. There was just something about her that drew him in like a moth to a flame.

And yet, his family... His family was his lifeblood. Fox would kill for them, die for them - it was the way it had always been and that it would always be. It was how he was raised - family was everything. It was the beginning and the end.

How could he pick someone over his family?

But wasn't Nephelle part of the family? After all, what was that word, 'family' about?

Family is more than a word, or at least, that was what he'd always believed in. He had had the luck of being born in a wonderful family who accepted him and loved him with everything in them, but he knew that wasn't always the case.

Hadn't one of his old classmates said it to him just a couple of months before everything had begun?

"Family is more than a word, it's more than blood. It's about feelings - those feelings that tie you together as a family or that drives you apart, like strangers."

And in his heart, Nephelle was as much family as the others. How could he choose? Either way, he'd be breaking a piece of his own heart.

And yet...

The Owens, they had each other - and they always had that. They could not know whether they'd have food on the table the next day, but they knew that whether there was food or not, they'd all be there. Together.

Nephelle had a loneliness tied to herself so strongly that he often imagined he could smell it in her very scent - that independence, the hard time she had accepting anybody's help, the almost mechanical way she went about thanking someone - as if she was surprised, and yet forced herself to react in a polite way.

But also, it was impossible not to admire - that independence, that strength... that fire that burned in her eyes. It called to him - he admired her spirit, the way she wouldn't let that flame go down no matter what.

Had she ever fought with a family member - but really, really fought - all the while secure in the knowledge that she was loved? That the world might end, but she'd never be alone?

He hoped so, he prayed so, but whatever the case he wanted to do that with her.

And he wanted to argue about silly things as well as important ones. He wanted to tug at her hair until she shouted at him in annoyance and he wanted to play footsie with her during meals. He wanted to buy her silly trinkets that made her smile and tickle her so she'd laugh so hard she'd be breathless. He wanted to hold her hand, to cook something for her and to eat something she'd made... He wanted to show her all the hidden spots on the farm and to lay down on the grass to watch the stars at night. He wanted to talk about her dreams and the things that she wanted to do and...