The Oracle

Chapter 51: A Way to Aurora

SORA

I wake up in the morning with my arm wrapped around Merrick's waist and his face resting against my chest, a soft smile forming on my lips at the sight. Merrick shifts around in his sleep before he looks up at me, his eyes opening slowly to reveal calm brown orbs.

"Good morning," I murmur and Merrick smiles.

"Good morning," Merrick says back.

Merrick shifts and rolls us around so that he's pinning me to the mattress and he grins seductively before he leans in and kisses me lazily. I groan lightly before I kiss him back, one of my hands resting on the small of his back and my other hand carding through his hair at the back of his head.

"Merrick," I whine as he pulls back, "I won't want to get up if you keep it up."

"Isn't that the point?" Merrick wiggles his eyebrows and I laugh as I gently shove him off of me before I kiss his forehead.

"Come on," I say. "We have a mission to do."

"Sora..." Merrick's voice suddenly turns serious. "About that..."

"Hmm?" I hum as I glance over at him, frowning when I notice his unease. "Merrick? What's wrong?"

"I wanted to tell you..." Merrick swallows thickly, his hands fisting the sheets. "The reason I left without telling you was because I knew you'd try and stop me if I did. I left because I wanted to protect you. I knew I had to do something before it was too late. I wanted to find the runestones myself, but Miroslava came to me with a plan, a way that I could help. Naturally, I couldn't refuse if it meant saving you."

"Merrick," I sigh affectionately. "I knew that whatever had happened, you had a good reason. Yeah, I was worried sick, but I didn't doubt that you'd eventually find my way back to me or that I'd find you again."

Merrick tears up a bit before he wraps his arms around my neck in a tight hug and I smile as I wrap my arms around his waist in return.

"I love you, Sora," Merrick sighs.

"I love you too, Merrick," I grin and hug him tighter. "Now, let's get out of this bed before I decide to show you just how much again."

"If that's the case," Merrick purrs. "Why would I ever want to leave?"

As I'm about to reply, the door to the room opens to reveal a less than amused Clea and a certainly amused Gambit.

"Alright, lovebirds. Time to get up," Gambit teases as Clea crosses her arms and raises a brow at the two of us.

"Thanks to you two, I had a hard time focusing on my meditations last night," Clea says with a sigh before the corners of her lips twitch into a smile. "But, nevertheless, I managed."

As Merrick and I climb out of bed and begin to get ready, Clea heads out into the main part of the cabin while Gambit continues to watch from the doorway for a few seconds.

"And, Merrick," Gambit starts, making Merrick glance over at her with raised eyebrows, "it's good to have you back."

Merrick smiles and Gambit smiles in return before she heads off to give the two of us our privacy as we continue to get ready. Once we're both ready, we head out to sit with the others in the main area of the cabin. On the way there, though, I take the time to admire Merrick's new outfit since I was a bit preoccupied last night to do so. As opposed to his old fedora, black jacket and scarlet colored t-shirt, black skinny jeans, necklace, black combat boots, and never ending supply of rings, he now has on a black hoodie with cut off sleeves that has scarlet trim, black ripped jeans, his same pair of boots, a couple rings, and an arm band to be the compliment of mine. While his old look was more put together, this one seems more combat ready and rugged, which...I don't happen to mind at all, not that I minded the other version either though.