daughter of esmund

Twenty-Five

A/N: Hey all. Long time no see! I know I've been radio silent and if you've seen my announcements on my profile you know why. But I'm getting back into the swing of things! My school is closed because of COVID-19 so I hopefully will have more time to write. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! And if you do enjoy it, leave a vote and a comment if you're able! Thanks for the continued support.
- Jay
Word Count: 2060
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The willow branches extend and bend around the dirt path, blanketing it in shade from the mid-fall sun and framing it in the weeping leaves that drape from the branches. Sunlight breaks through the spaces in between the leaves, casting thin strips of golden sunlight on the path. The distant sound of running feet digging into the dirt is coming closer though, disturbing the peaceful silence of the mid-afternoon forest.
    Aphmau, Laurence and I are trailing after Travis through the dense forest around Meteli, breathing heavy and eyes peeled. He'd disappeared from the path moments prior, and chances are he could be anywhere. My suspicions are proved correct as after a few more moments of running, the half-demon jumped down onto the path in front of us, eyes flaring purple as he lunged forward with a grunt. Aphmau brought her sword up, catching his blow and pushing him back. He's quick to recover, hopping to his feet as Laurence closes in for the attack, swinging his blood red weapon at Travis but hesitating just enough to allow Travis to block it. I hop to the closest tree, blocking Travis' sword as he tries to knock me away before taking the distraction of Aphmau and Laurence to my advantage. I climb up the rough bark of the tree trunk. Finding a sturdy branch and sliding myself onto it. I watch the fight for a few moments before knocking an arrow into the bow and pulling it back with the drawstring between my fingers. I line the shot up, making sure my shot is going to be accurate before firing.
    The arrow just misses Travis' head and digs itself into the tree behind him.
    He freezes in an instant, letting out a small squeak as he squeezed his eyes shut. I laugh as he opens them and looks up to the tree, smirking, "Are you trying to kill me Ro'meave?"
    Laurence laughs, his blood red eyes softening back to their light blue but the rest of him not showing any change. He looks up to the branch I'm sitting on, resheathing his sword, "Need some help down m'lady?"
    I blush before shaking my head, hopping down and landing on my feet. Travis pulls the arrow from the tree and tosses it back to me, which I instantly return to the quiver. He smiles, crossing his arms, "I told you guys I wasn't going down easy.."
    "If you don't count being scared by an arrow as going down easy."
    "You almost shot my eye out Annie!"
    "You know as well as everyone else that if I wanted to shoot your eye out I wouldn't have missed!"
    He sighs before chuckling a bit, "Fair point."
    I smile triumphantly before turning as I feel someone's hand on my shoulder, Laurence meeting my gaze. He's back in his normal attire, no shadow knight characteristics remaining. He grins a bit before turning to the group, "You guys go ahead, I need to talk to Annie about something."
    Aphmau and Travis nod and start heading back down the path and to Meteli. Laurence waits until they're out of view and earshot before he motions for me to walk with him. We start walking down the path, the peace and quiet of the forest now returned. It's a few moments of silence before he speaks, "So...I thought we should talk about the sparring session?"
    I glance at him, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket, "You mean the fact that you totally went easy on Travis?"
    He chuckles, "Y'know I had to or I could've hurt him, but that brings me to my point.." He takes a deep breath, "You didn't react..at all to..me. N-not that it's a bad thing I just...what made the change?"
    It takes me a few moments to realize what he's referring to. The entire time that we'd been sparring with the others, he'd been in his shadow knight form and I guess I just didn't care. I shrug, taking a deep breath, "I-I guess that...I mean, I've known you for a while now and I haven't really had a bad experience with you. So, there's trust there I guess. I trust you and I know that, no matter what ever happens, you would never mean to hurt me...the same didn't ever go for Gene and I guess, it wasn't like that with Vylad for a while.."
    A smile grazes his lips as he puts his arm around me, pulling me close, "That..means a lot, beauty...I'm glad that you feel like you can trust me.."
    I smirk softly, pecking his cheek, "Of course. Like I've said, I'm trying to get better..."
    The words make him smile and with that our conversation switches to a random one as we finish the journey to Meteli. Once there the group reunites and we get our things together, finally ready to return to Phoenix Drop, this time, with Lucinda journeying with us. On the journey home, Lucinda eases her way to the back of the group, where I'm standing, until she's walking in time with me.
    She glances over, her amber eyes searching me for what seems to be some invisible force before she speaks, "You know Annie, you have a very strong and...unique aura. Were you already aware of that?"
    I look at her with a bit of confusion as I shake my head, "Uh...no..what do you mean?"
    Her eyes inspect me again before she speaks, "Well, you see, I picked up on your aura when we first met, though, it was clouded by the state of panic you were in. Now that your calmer, I was able to pick up on just how strong your aura is. It's the strength that you'd expect from an experienced magicks user.."
    My expression only grows more confused as I laugh awkwardly, shaking my head, "I'm not sure what you mean. I've never used magicks before.."
    She places her hand on my shoulder, stopping us from walking and turning me to face her, "You should. If you have any interest in learning, come talk to me. I'd be glad to teach you.."
    And with that she made her way back to the front of the group, striking up a new conversation with Katelyn. My mind circles around the comments before I decide to shake it off and try to push it to the back of my mind. But no matter how hard I try to do so, my mind keeps wandering back to that place.
    It's a couple hours before we reach the front gates of Phoenix Drop, and when we do, it's almost like a rush of relief hit me. I'd only been staying there for a little over two months, but it just felt so warm and welcoming. It was starting to feel like home. And for someone who just lost their home, that's an important feeling. As soon as we're within the walls of the village, I go off in search of Vylad. After some searching, I find him sitting on the docks of the village, just staring off at the ocean with his scarf in his hands. He turns his head up to me as I approach, a smile grazing his lips as he stands up and pulls me into a hug. I smile, giggling a bit as I wrap my arms around him. After a few seconds he pulls back, that grin still on his face, "So, how was the trip?"
I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans, "It was good!"
He nodded, "Good. So, I..wanted to talk to you about something.."
I notice his smile drop, my expression dropping with his, "Is...everything okay?"
He sits back down, patting on the empty spot on the dock beside him as an invitation to sit. I sit down criss cross beside him as he takes a deep breath, "I...I wanted to talk to you about Laurence.."
My expression shifts to one of confusion as I tilt my head, "Okayyy..."
He pauses for a few moments, seemingly thinking critically about his next words, before finally speaking, "So...he transformed while you were gone, correct?"
I freeze before I nod, "Y-yes, he did...b-but why does it matter?"
He stands up and begins pacing the length of the dock so I turn to face him. It takes another few moments before he stops his pacing and speaks once more, "Annie, Laurence is...unstable. I-I think he's almost..too unstable to be in a..serious relationship.."
I raise my eyebrow, standing up to be at the (almost) same height as Vylad, "What are you saying?"
He sighs, "Annie, you need to end, whatever this is with Laurence. Before...before you, or someone else gets hurt.."
My eyes widen as I laugh a bit, looking down and shaking my head before making eye contact with Vylad once more, "You...you can't be serious.."
He sighs out of frustration this time, rubbing at his forehead, "I am. Annie, what if he transforms and-"
I laugh, "Hurt me?" I shake my head, almost in disbelief, "Laurence wouldn't hurt me."
Vylad shakes his head, "Not intentionally, but when he's like that, he's not in control. How long do you think it's going to be until you get hurt? What do you think that will do to him?"
I growl underneath my breath, "He's not gonna hurt me! I'm not going to leave him just based on some...s-stupid suspicion!"
Vylad snaps around to face me, frustration clear in his face, "Fine then! Be selfish! But when something happens don't expect me to be sorry.."
My eyes widen as I watch him storm past me and off into Phoenix Drop. I growl quietly once more and rub at my face before I plop down on the edge of the dock, folding my arms and staring at the ripples in the water.
"What was all that about?"
Katelyn's voice causes me to turn to face her for a few moments before I turn back to the water, sighing. I shake my head, "It's...It's nothing.."
She chuckles, taking off her shoes and sitting down beside me, letting her feet dangle into the water, "Didn't seem like nothing, come on An, you can talk to me."
I smile weakly, shaking my head as I look up, now staring at the horizon, "He's...upset that I'm with Laurence," I rub at my eyes, "He's convinced that at some point he's gonna snap and hurt me.."
Katelyn frowns, tilting her head for a second before taking a deep breath, "Annie when you two are fighting, you have to remember that it's you two against the problem, not you two against each other. He's worried, but he's your older brother, it's expected for him to be concerned."
I nod, before a troubling thought crosses my mind. I glance over at Katelyn, "Vylad told me I was selfish for staying with Laurence..a-and.." I take a shaky breath, "I-I mean..what if he's right.." I give a self-deprecating laugh, "How can I really love Laurence if I'm not willing to take caution.."
I hide my face in my hands, looking away from Katelyn, "I-Irene...d-do I love him?"
Katelyn puts her arm around me, pulling me close as she leans her head on my shoulder, "An...if you didn't love Laurence, you wouldn't work so hard to defend it from the world."
I open my eyes, sniffing a bit as I try to stop them from watering. I pull a soft smile and give a hint of a laugh as I nod, "Y-You're right..."
Katelyn laughs, shrugging, "I know."
I roll my eyes and shove her playfully as she giggles. She stands up, offering me a hand which I take as she pulls me to my feet. I smile, pulling her into a hug, "Thanks."
She smiles, "No problem, I'm always here for advice," She pulls away, "Now come on, I think you and Vylad should sort this out."
I nod, taking a deep breath as I walk towards the beach, "You're right.." I turn around to face her, "See you around?"
She smiles and nods, "See you."