The Ultima King: Graeria Region {Ultima Series}

|Chapter Fifteen| A hole in one

Aaron grabs Aphmau and wraps his arms around her before they hit the ground. Aaron falls flat on his back but his arms are still around her so the impact wouldn't be so harsh for her. "Are you okay?" He coughs as she realizes where she was.

"I- yeah I'm fine." She changes her answer, "Thanks for catching me up there."

"No problem," She climbs off of him and stands up, pulling him up with her. "Now we just need to find out where the hell we are."

"I think it's another floor. It looks like a replica of the one up there. Up there. How are we supposed to get back up? We didn't find any stairs while searching." They both look up at the hole when Travis runs up and looks down.

"Guys! Are you alright down there?" His voice echoes through the hole.

"Yeah! We're fine, Travis. Can you look for a way out while we look for anything down here?" Aaron yells back. Aphmau notices how he said "We." The thought made her smile to herself.

"Of course! I'll go get the others and we're be back before you know it!" Travis walks away from the hole opening, leaving Aaron and Aphmau alone together.

"So want to continue to look around until they get here?" Aaron makes conversation.

"Yeah sure. Let's not waste any time."

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Aaron and Aphmau check the walls, floors, and ceiling, or whatever's left of it, on the secret floor. Unfortunately, they don't find much and Aphmau is beginning to lose hope.

"Please tell me you've found something." She says to Aaron.

"Nothing. It was easier to look up there since there isn't much rubble and scratched-out posts around." He responds honestly. She scoffs and sits on a large rock leaning against a wall.

"I'm so stupid." She says, "I really thought this place would be the answer. I thought I could find Papa here."

"You aren't stupid." Aaron responds. "I don't know what you're going through right now, but don't call yourself stupid. We aren't going to solve anything on the first try."

"We haven't solved anything! That's the thing!" Aaron sits down next to her. "I came here to find him before those... guys can do anything to him. We've been here for three weeks and we have found absolutely nothing! I feel like I'm failing my dad." She says, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Look at me." Aaron says but she doesn't even glance up at him. "Well, I'll say it anyway. You're so focused to succeeding the first time around, you don't even realize that you have to fail a few times. Finding Zach in a completely different region wasn't going to be easy and you knew that, deep down. But you can't succeed without failing a few times. And you can't fail without trying."

She then looks up at him. "Why are you doing this? I thought you were still mad at me." He doesn't answer. "Wait. What did you pull Garroth outside to talk about this morning?"

{This morning}

Aaron takes Garroth to the back of the diner. "I need to talk to you about Aph."

"Okay, let me say something before you punch me!" Garroth throws his hands in the air, "I just want to apologize for meddling in your relationship. I should've never kissed her and I should've never told you the truth."

"Garroth, calm down. I'm not mad at you." Garroth puts his hands down. "I just want to clear something up. How did you know she didn't?"