Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone was thrown out around the forest, the flash of light had died down and all was left were heavy breathing and quick breaths of shock and anxiety. A hand went to Aphmau’s cheek, pulling her face upwards, someone then asked her if she was okay.

Aphmau sat on the grassy floor in shock, no words came out of her agape mouth as she looked around. Emmalyn and Kenmur were hugging each other and making sure the other was okay, Kitten was slowly standing up and looking around the place, Laurance was laying down on the floor taking in deep breaths, Oberon was sitting against the tree doing the same, and Katelyn was looking into Aphmau’s eyes in worry “Are you okay?” She repeated. 

“I… I don’t know. Garroth!” Aphmau called out “Garroth!” 

Katelyn pulled her hand back “Aphmau, please.” 

“Where is he? We need to go back, we need-” She turned behind her to just see an empty white portal, her heart jumped “No, NO! No, no, no, no, no!” She cried while rubbing her hands along the inside of the portal trying to find something that would let her through “He can’t be gone! He’s not gone, how can we get back!” Her body burned with pain. 

“Aph stop, Aph please.” Laurance pleaded, grabbing her arms and pulling her away from the portal. 

“No! We need to go back, Laurance please listen to me I can’t leave him!” She cried, whipping her body to face him “We can’t leave him, please tell me he’s not gone!”

“Aph, he’s…” Laurance’s sentence faded out as he bit his lip, tears were forming in his eyes. 

Tears started streaming out of Aphmau’s face “No! He’s not gone, please just need to go back!” 

“Aph, please, please stop.” Laurance held on tightly to Aphmau as she sobbed into his chest, he laid his head on hers and started crying softly with her “I know, it hurts.” He rubbed her back while tears streamed out of his eyes. 

Everyone stood silently as they watched the pair sob, they almost started crying as well. The sobs and cries of Aphmau echoed through the forest, going through everyone’s hearts. It sounded like someone had died, well someone had to her, it was horrific to hear her screams.

The woman who had helped drag Aphmau out of the dimension kneeled next to her, she placed her hand on her back. Aphmau turned her head, snot was coming out of her nose and her face was wet with tears “Who the fuck are you?” She asked in the middle of her cries. 

The woman had a soft face which was caring, she had nice pretty eyes. Her skin was a light brown, she was wearing a blue long sleeve shirt with sleeves that got bigger towards the end under a brown corset and multiple brown belts that had little pouches attached to them, she had brown gloves along with brown leggings and dark brown boots. She looked absolutely stunning, the wrinkles near her tear ducts and mouth showed Aphmau that this woman was slowly aging. “It’s really you.” The woman said softly, tears coming to her eyes. 

“You didn’t… you didn’t answer my question.” Aphmau hiccuped. 

“I knew you wouldn’t recognize me. It's me… it’s Zoey.” The woman smiled softly. 

Aphmau’s eyes widened with shock, she quickly released her arm from Laurance and hugged Zoey tightly “You look so different, oh my Irene I didn’t even know it was you.” 

Zoey laughed “I would expect that, I mean it had been fifteen years.” Everyone and everything in the area froze at the words that Zoey just spoke. 

Aphmau slowly pulled away from the smiling Zoey “Fifteen… what the fuck do you mean fifteen years?” 

“I mean it’s been fifteen years. I don’t know how else to explain that to you, I’m sorry.” Zoey said. 

“Oh, my Irene.” Katelyn and Emmalyn said at the same time for two different reasons. 

Emmalyn went first “Aphmau you know how I said that every minute in the Irene dimension means a year here… we were probably there for around fifteen minutes.” 

“What? No, no that can’t be.” Aphmau said, her anxiety hiking up. 

“Aphmau please, breathe,” Zoey said, placing her hands on Aphmau’s arms. 

Katelyn stared down at her gauntlets in shock “Oberon please check if you still have your morning stars.” She said with fear. 

Oberon shook his head with confusion, he brought his hand behind his back and acted like he was bringing a weapon out like he usually did to obtain his morning stars but nothing happened. No weapon appeared in Oberon’s hand which caused him to start panicking, he still had his large purple sword on his waist but he no longer had his Jury of Nine weapon. 

“Are you guys okay?” Kenmur asked. 

Katelyn looked at the scientist in slight fear “We’ve lost our Jury titles, we can no longer use our weapons.” 

“When did Zane do this?” Oberon asked, “We were with him the entire time.” 

“Do you think it happened when we were leaving, he did a quick take away?” Katelyn asked. 

“Zane can take away your Jury of Nine titles? How?” Laurance asked in confusion. 

“Well Zane I guess was our boss, he can take away our titles by simply saying the word but most of the time the member has to be aware that their title is being taken away.” Katelyn explained “We both were not aware-” 

“ARE YOU GUYS NOT FUCKING WORRYING HOW WE’RE FIFTEEN YEARS INTO THE FUCKING FUTURE!?" Aphmau screamed at the group. 

“Zoey, what happened when we left?” Kitten asked.

Zoey looked between Aphmau and Kitten and stood in the middle of the group to explain everything “The original plan was to clean up Phoenix Drop and restore it after the war but… when you left everyone started panicking. Scaleswind eventually decided that with the main people in the alliance gone… there was no reason for them to help this village, they meant it in the nicest way possible. After almost a year of searching we gave up, we accepted the fact that you were gone and no one had any idea what to do. No one could bring themselves to be the new Lord of Phoenix so eventually the structure of the village collapsed. Many of the villagers took up the offer of Scaleswind and sought refuge there and… some went off elsewhere.” Zoey told the story. 

“Is everyone gone?” Laurance asked his arm around Aphmau to try and calm the woman down. 

Zoey shook her head “No, there are still people here, a few. We’ve made a small settlement set up near the shoreline.” She went silent, looking around the group “How is everyone.” 

“Terrified.” 

“Confused.” 

“Scared.” 

“I don’t know what’s going on exactly.” 

“Meh.” 

“Zoey is… is Belladonna here?” Kitten asked.

Zoey nodded “Yeah, she at the settlement I can show you where it is.” 

“How did you get to the Irene Dimension?” Emmalyn asked. 

“You were in the Irene Dimension? I wasn’t aware of that but, I’ve been trying for years to get you guys out of wherever you were and it isn’t something you can do without consequences.” Zoey explained, “There’s no easy way to replicate what I did, I’m sorry.” 

“How did you know I was going to ask how you replicate it?” Emmalyn asked.

“Garroth… Garroth isn’t here. I know you want to go back for him but you can’t… I’m sorry.” Zoey turned to Kitten “Now, do you want me to show you where the settlement is?” 

Laurance gasped, he leaned back and took his hand off Aphmau “The grave.” He whispered before he ran off into the forest. Aphmau shook her head in shock and ran after the man. 

All that was left in the clearing were Katelyn, Oberon, Emmalyn, and Kenmur. 

“So what’s our course of action?” Oberon asked. 

Emmalyn looked up “Are you kidding me right now!? Are you not bothered by any of this?” 

“Bothered by what? The fact that we’re fifteen years into the future or the fact that we visited the fabled dimension of Irene?” The man asked. 

“That we’re fifteen years into the future.” Emmalyn deadpanned. 

“The no, I’m not bothered in the slightest.” 

“What why? Everyone that you know could be dead and gone!” Emmalyn asked. 

Oberon sighed “There’s a huge difference between you and me. You had people you loved and cared about before you got sucked into the Irene dimension. The thought of coming back to a time where loved ones have probably already accepted the fact that you’ve passed away… it would be hard for any regular person to accept.” 

“Then what are you if you aren’t a ‘regular person’?” Emmalyn asked. 

“I’m a broken person if you want the answer. I’ve been through some stuff, also if we’re going through this since I’m no longer a Jury of Nine I would prefer it if all of you wouldn’t call me Oberon anymore.” The man said. 

“Of course yeah, then what is your name?” Katelyn asked.

“I don’t care what you refer to me as but… just don’t call me Oberon.” The man answered, “Now I feel like we should go find the village and then meet back up at the settlement wherever it is.”  

The group agreed, Emmalyn and Kenmur got up and started to follow the man to the village. He didn’t know where he was going exactly but maybe they could catch up to Zoey and Kitten and they could show the way. 

Aphmau finally caught up to Laurance, who was kneeling in defeat at the edge of a small flower patch, after limping through the forest for a while. The guard was running his hands through the flower patch, the tears were coming back to his eyes as he stared at the flower patch. 

“Laurance?” Aphmau whispered, sitting on her knees next to him. “Laurance, are you okay?” 

He scrunched up his face as he began crying, sobbing almost “Ungrth’s grave it’s… his grave.” he rubbed the dirt under his hands and got closer to the ground “What type of sick monster would still from the dead!?” Aphmau could only hug the man as his tears fell into the rich soil that beautiful flowers grew from. He cried and talked about Ungrth, how he had helped him get out of the scarring place that was Hell, the place that had changed Laurance, killed the man that he once was. Sometimes when no one was paying attention to him he would just stare into the void and his brain would make him remember the terrible things that happened to him, he could still feel the cold metal that went through his head the moment that Aphmau and Castor left the castle. Ungrth had been with him for so long, he had saved him and Laurance wanted the best for his friend, when he was informed from the Wyverns that they built him a grave he would go there every time and just… cry. 

“This has to be a dream, right?” Laurance asked, “I mean first we lose Garroth and now I find out that Ungrth’s grave has been robbed.” 

Aphmau pulled away “I wish it was.” Tears fell from her eyes “I really wish it was.” 

“So this is what’s happening? This is our lives now? Fifteen years into the future?” Laurance asked. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Aphmau nodded, she looked at the man’s face “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you cry before?” 

Laurance realized this as well “I try not to, it hurts. I’ve been through too much shit for crying to not hurt.” 

“Do you still think about what happened in hell?” Aphmau asked. 

Laurance gave Aphmau a look as if she were stupid “Why wouldn’t I be? I was tortured and murdered there, of course, I’m going to still think about it.” 

“I’m sorry, you’ve just… never talked about. I thought it didn’t bother you.” Aphmau answered. 

“Well it does,” his voice failed “it really does.” he sniffled and cried onto the back of his hand. 

“Laurance you know you can always talk to me, you don’t have to keep it all bottled up.” Aphmau rubbed the man’s back.

“It isn’t always easy to just… talk about it… I don’t even wanna be having this conversation.” Laurance said, “Can we please just stop talking about this?” 

Aphmau nodded “Do you wanna go and find the settlement?” Aphmau asked. 

Laurance looked at the flower patch before looking back at Aphmau and nodded. There were no words between the two but Laurance helped get Aphmau and they started going the way that they hoped would lead them to the village. 

When they approached the wall Aphmau almost broke down in tears, it had decayed and most of the structure had fallen. Vines and greenery had grown in the cracks of the stone, it was like the earth was slowly swallowing the wall. It was saddening to see something that the village had worked so hard on just… waste away into the earth, her heart broke as she walked through the decaying wall, inside the village was even worse. The bridge that had connected the land that held the wall and the land that held the actual village was decayed and had weeds and vines growing out of the cracks, it was depressing. The trees had overgrown the land, towering over them and casting large shadows leaving the place that Aphmau once knew as Phoenix Drop in the dark. They walked through the village until they came across Emmalyn and Kenmur who were both holding a small stack of books. Aphmau and Laurance made their way towards the pair who didn’t even notice them at first. 

“How are you guys dealing with this?” Aphmau asked. 

Kenmur turned his head “Oh hi! Um, I’m fine really.” He answered, “I mean I don’t have parents to check up on since they died like a few years ago… our time, a few years, the only person I care for and would love to check up on is Ulrich but I bet he’s fine on his own.” 

“What about the whole… time thing?” Aphmau asked. 

“It’s scary, I wish it didn’t have to be but, interestingly, we were able to basically time travel. Time travel is talked about in the science community and I’m kinda happy I got to experience it.” Kenmur explained.

“Well my statue of Irene is gone, which meant a lot to me so that sucks but I got almost half of my book collection which means whoever went through my house only wanted shiny things,” Emmalyn answered. 

“Maybe someone at the settlement has it,” Laurance suggested, he had dried his eyes so they were just red now. 

“Do you know where Katelyn or Oberon are?” Aphmau asked the pair. 

Emmalyn nodded “Yeah! I’m pretty sure they’re already at the settlement, I just wanted to stop by my house to see if my books were there.”

Aphmau nodded. They passed by the plaza and Aphmau stopped, the plaza had taken the most brutal of hits from father time and mother nature, it broke her heart. In the far distance Aphmau could see a large tree that used to be the treehouse, she assumed that was where the settlement was, she told the others to go without her because she wanted to do something. She remembered the statue of Irene, if there was anyone she could go to it would be that statue. After visiting the dimension of Irene maybe she could finally answer Aphmau and give her help through this terrible time. 

She walked through the plaza, reminiscing on old times where she would talk to Donna and Logan while they were selling things when she first met Zoey, Belladonna, and Kitten. It hurt that those times were gone with this village practically being gone. She passed by her house and realized that unlike everything around it wasn’t decayed and dull, it looked as if she never left if she didn’t look at the scenery around it. She immediately began worrying about her dogs but as she made her way towards the beach she found that none were there, they were probably dead which hurt her heart, even more, her heart was almost experiencing as much pain as her body. She was no longer bleeding but her stitches had still been ripped and her body had bruises all over so even breathing was painful. She went down the stairs that went towards the beach and followed the path towards the Irene statue, she wasn’t even near it yet and she could still feel its energy, burning into her soul. It was the same feeling she got when the glowing flame got absorbed into her body, it made her wonder what that flame even was. She walked up the stone stairs that led up to the statue and froze, she stared at the back of the blue-haired man she had met all that time ago. 

“Dante?” She whimpered, tears coming to her eyes for probably the twentieth time today. 

The man turned around and silently gasped, bringing a hand to his mouth and tears brimming his eyes “Aphmau?” The man was always on his knees from praying to Irene so he didn’t need to fall.

Aphmau ran and hugged the man tightly, knocking them both almost into the water that surrounded the Irene statue. She gripped her hand in the man’s hair and cried into his shoulder, Dante did the same to her. 

“Do you realize how long I’ve been looking for you!?” The man yelled, pulling away from Aphmau to look at her “How every night I go to bed thinking that I should have been by your side to protect you from whatever took you away!?” 

She put her hands on the sides of the man’s head as he cried, she stayed silent as he continued to vent “Every single day I’ve gone back to that one spot where you told me to stay! Today of all days when I decided to hold off on patrol there, you come back.” He said through his tears. 

“I’m so sorry… you look so different.” Aphmau noted, “I didn’t even think I was gone that long.” 

Dante rolled his eyes “Are you being serious right now? Where did you even go?” 

“I guess I went to the fabled Irene Dimension.” She answered, “I still don’t even know where we went.” 

“Is everyone back? Garroth? Laurance?” The man asked. 

Aphmau’s heart dropped as she heard Garroth’s name, she shook her head “Can we… can we talk about that later?” 

Dante noticed Aphmau’s drop in mood and dropped the subject “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He stared into Aphmau’s eyes “Gods you haven’t changed one bit, you look the same… it’s kinds of a comforting sight.”  He brushed his hand against Aphmau’s cheek. 

She smiled softly “Dante…”

Dante’s eyes widened and he jumped up “Do you want to see everyone? I’m sure everyone wants to see you come on!” He grabbed Aphmau’s hand and pulled her up, bringing her to the gate of the settlement. He informed Aphmau of everyone that lived there, Malachi, Levin, Donna, Logan, and their four kids, Kawaii~Chan and their daughter, Zoey, Kyle, and Alexis. Kiki’s barn had taken a good beating but there was a healthy group of hamster living under it which Aphmau didn’t notice at first when she was walking through the village and they had also moved the old Lord’s house closer to the tree because Levin and Malachi wanted to live in it, more Levin than Malachi though. 

They stopped at an open gate, Kitten and Belladonna were hugging each other tightly on the floor while crying, everyone else had spread out. The settlement was small but it held a few small buildings for the few people that lived there. A small gasp alerted Aphmau and she turned her head towards the sound, Levin was standing there with tears brimming his eyes. 

“Mom?” He whimpered. 

Aphmau ran and hugged the boy tightly, almost knocking them back. The boy quickly pulled back “Are you okay? What happened to you? Where were you?” He was asking the questions so fast Aphmau didn’t have an option to answer.

“Levin honey, chill, chill, chill.” She placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders, he was older and taller, of course, his bright blonde hair was fluffy and shaved on the sides. He looked more mature and smarter, he wore a blue shirt with armored shoulders under bulky brown overalls that went to his chest. He had fingerless brown gloves and brown boots, he looked so mature and Aphmau just couldn’t get over it “Is there somewhere we can talk?” 

Levin nodded “Yeah, yeah my uh… my house that me and Malachi share.” he took his mom’s hand and brought her over to a two-story house with the layout of the old Lord’s house, it gave Aphmau a sense of sadness as she remembered what happened to the family that owned this house. She walked past Belladonna and Kitten who were just now getting up and talking to each other, she could talk to Belladonna after talking to Levin.

He brought her inside the house and over to a blue couch that was close to a fireplace. Aphmau sat and he got a cup of tea from his kitchen, he sat across from Aphmau on the couch and handed her the tea “I just… I can’t believe it’s really you.” 

She looked up and down at her son “You’ve so much, I can’t believe you're so old.”

The boy laughed “Well, I wish I could say the same for you.” He awkwardly laughed “I’m sorry it’s just… I get to have my mom back after fifteen years.” He began to tear up and turned his head away from his mother. 

Aphmau placed her tea on the table next to her and went over to the boy and hugged him tightly, she rubbed his back and reassured him that she was going to be staying for good now. Instead of sitting across from him she changed her seating and was now sitting next to her son. He asked her where she had been all these years and she explained to him everything that happened, even the things that she still didn’t understand. It took a few minutes and a cup of tea but Aphmau finished explaining everything to Levin, he was left in a shocked and confused state. 

“So fifteen minutes for you what fifteen years for me… gods I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, mom.” Levin sympathized. 

“Yeah, I’m just… I can’t imagine what you're feeling right now.” Aphmau said.  

“I’m relieved.” Levin said after a moment of stuttering “I’m happy you’re home… alive. I thought you had left because you didn’t love me or Malachi anymore.” 

Aphmau gasped “No! No, I would never do that! I love you both so much and I would never ever leave you! You guys are my sunshine and happiness.” 

He was smiling brightly as tears came out of his eyes “I know, I know. Zoey told us how much you loved us and how you took us both into your heart when we didn’t have anyone else. She would tell us bedtime stories about all of your adventures every night, she always left us hanging on the best part too.” He let out a small huff of a laugh “So everyone back that left with you that day… except for Garroth right?”

Aphmau nodded “Do you remember Garroth?” Aphmau asked. 

“I know of him, I vaguely remember how he was. Everyone here says I look like Garroth, I just hope that they don’t expect me to live up to his reputation… or Laurance’s. Speaking of him, Laurance is back right? I saw him heading up to Donna’s but I never got a chance to talk to him, Malachi is going to freak when he sees him.” Levin laughed. 

“Yeah, Laurance is back. He comforted me when we came back through the portal, he’s pretty distraught though with Ungrth’s grave being robbed.” Aphmau answered.  

Levin nodded “I can understand that, when we found out everyone was distraught as well. If he and Garroth are anything like Dante, my new head guard, then I know they’re good people.” 

Aphmau went along with what he was saying until she realized what he said. She gasped with happiness and her eyes widened “Head guard? What do you mean head guard ?” She lightly slapped the boy’s arm. 

“Oh yeah! I haven’t really told you anything about what’s happened, huh? Well, from what I was told when I was younger we came back from the ship that sailed off. Malachi and I were devastated that you were gone, Zoey had a hard time dealing with us the months after. It got to the point where she needed help with Malachi and mine’s feelings so she took us to the Yggdrasil Forest, to her home village. Admittedly I don’t remember it very much but it was indeed beautiful and calming. When we came back some years later Zoey had found out that people were slowly leaving the village, no one wanted to step up as Lord after you left so things got a little hectic. Eventually, everyone who isn’t in the village now left but when I came of age a year ago I took on the position of Lord of Phoenix Drop.” Levin explained it all. 

Aphmau gasped again “No you did not! Oh my Irene, how old are you? Gods I’ve missed so much my own son is the Lord of Phoenix Drop, I’ve been dethroned!”

Levin laughed a genuine laugh since Aphmau got here “I’m sixteen, I turned sixteen like a few months ago. I always wanted to be the Lord after hearing from everyone how amazing you were, you inspired me, even if you weren’t there and I thought you didn’t love me you still inspired me. Zoey didn't allow me to become Lord until she was sure I could handle the responsibility of it. Now I’m the Lord of Phoenix Drop and I appointed Dante as my head Guard.” Levin explained. 

“Dear Irene, I’m so proud of you Levin. You are the Lord that Phoenix Drop deserved, truly.” Aphmau remembered how he was the son of the old Lord, he was going to inherit this position anyway. 

“Thanks, but you’ll be proud of Malachi too! He has been so busy helping, he even helps me run the village! Malachi is currently out on a trade meeting with Nahakra Village along with two of our guards, Alexis and Kyle, they should be back by morning though if not tonight.” 

“Oh yeah, Dante told me that Alexis and Kyle live here, what about their parents?” Aphmau asked, “Dante didn’t say anything about them being here.” 

Levin’s mood dropped “They moved away after Kyle and Alexis decided to stay here, they didn’t disown them or anything but they were getting old and they didn’t want to stay here anymore. I’m pretty sure they moved to Scaleswind.” He turned his head and looked out the window, the sun was beginning to set and he jumped with realization “Oh! Mom, it’s getting late and I really want you to meet everyone before dark!” 

“What about you?” Aphmau asked as Levin lifted her. 

“Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine, I love you mom and what matters is that we’re together now. Now, go see everyone! I have to tend to a few things that need my attention but when you’re done you’re more than welcome to spend the night with me here, I’ll have Dante work on a place for everyone to stay in the meantime.” He guided Aphmau towards the door “I love you.” 

She smiled softly and kissed the boy’s forehead “I love you too.” She said before they both exited the house and split ways, Aphmau went over to the closest house to the wall while Levin went over by the large tree. 

She didn’t know if she should just walk in or not but she decided that it would be a good surprise to the person living in the house. She walked through the door and was met with a little Asian kid with long blue hair sitting at a table with two dolls looking down at her. The little kid had pale skin, one blue eye and one gold one, two pigtails tied with pink polka-dotted ribbons with the rest of their hair going down to their butt, they had a cute little pink button-up shirt with black overall shorts over it. They had white cheetah-like ears with a white cheetah-like tail, they were staring at Aphmau with nervousness “Hello.” The child squeaked out. 

Aphmau’s heart melted at the sight of this adorable child “Hi,” She said softly, careful to not answer “my name is Aphmau.” She introduced herself. 

“Aphmau? Oh like Aphmau~Senpai?” The child gasped “NANA!” She yelled out. 

Aphmau felt as if she was about to be hit upside the head for coming into someone’s house without being invited, footsteps came down from the spiral staircase in the corner met with confused Japanese. The person’s cat ears had more spots and their tail had more stripes, they looked more mature. When the person looked up at Aphmau they both gasped and ran over to hug each other tightly. 

“Aphmau?” Kawaii~Chan cried into the woman’s shoulder “Holy shit I've missed you so much! You’re actually here! You’re actually here!” 

Aphmau hugged the Meif'wa tightly. "What is with this new dialect?" She asked. "You're no longer speaking in third person and suffixs." 

Kawaii~Chan giggled and pulled away. "Oh yeah, um... I'm not really sure how to explain it. I started reading more into my culture and who I was and realized that all those things I was trying to force myself to say were really just... a white man's version of my culture." 

"Wow," Aphmau had no idea. She felt like a bad friend for never really asking the Meif'wa about their culture. "so how long did this take?" 

"A good couple of years I'll be honest." Kawaii~Chan laughed. "But at least I like who I am now." 

“Well, you look so amazing! How have you been?” 

Kawaii~Chan shook their head “You have no idea how happy I am right now, I've missed you so much.” Tears fell from the meif’wa’s eyes “I don’t even know what to say.” 

Aphmau brushed the meif’was’s hair behind their ear “You’re smile is more than enough.” 

Kawaii~Chan’s smile grew when Aphmau said that, they turned their head and realized that there was a small child right next to them “Oh! I haven't even introduced you yet to Itsuki or Nekoette~Tan as she likes to call herself, this is my daughter.” They extended their arm to show off their daughter. 

Aphmau gasped “Dante told me about her! She’s so beautiful Kawaii~Chan, who's the father?” Aphmau asked. 

Kawaii~Chan immediately got awkward “Dante.” They said quietly. 

Aphmau gasped again “WHAT!? He did not tell me this when informing me that you had a daughter!” Aphmau yelled.  

“Nana tells me all about your adventures and when you found them in that maid cafe-” 

“We don’t talk about the maid cafe Neko.” Kawaii~Chan stared at their daughter before resuming conversation with Aphmau. 

“Why does she call you Nana?” Aphmau asked. 

“Oh! Um… I never told you this but that’s my real first name. My name is Nana Ashida but friends are still allowed to call me Kawaii~Chan if they so please.” Nana informed. 

“Oh.” Aphmau nodded “I’m still shocked that he didn’t tell me you two had a kid.” 

Nana giggled “Dante must have been so shocked that Aphmau returned that he didn’t think to tell you this kind of stuff. Dante still wears his old uniform, I’m sure you saw, he refuses to let me upgrade it for him so it’s a little worse for wear. He missed you so much.” 

Aphmau laughed “He cried in my arms, I would expect him to always wear that old thing.” Aphmau looked out the door, the sun was getting lower and lower and the sky was getting darker “I really should be getting to see other people, I still need to see Belladonna and Donna and her kids and-” 

“It’s okay Aphmau!” Nana reassured the old Lord “Maybe sometime later this week you could join us for dinner?” 

“Yes of course I’d love that, have a nice day Nana.” Aphmau waved goodbye to the meif’wa. 

They smiled happily “You too Aphmau!” Nana waved goodbye and closed the door behind Aphmau. 

Aphmau sighed and started walking towards a house she saw in the distance but was attacked instead. She was brought down to the ground by what felt like a heavy sandbag, she pushed back and saw the teary face of Belladonna. Aphmau laughed in shock and hugged the woman’s neck tightly, rolling on the grass floor. Aphmau pulled back to look at the woman better “Bella you don’t know how happy I am to see you.” She cried, she didn’t look like she had changed one bit which was comforting to Aphmau.

“You don’t know how happy I am! I haven’t seen you in fifteen years!” Belladonna pulled in again to hug the woman again. “You don’t know how much I missed you.” 

Aphmau laughed “I saw you and Kitten on the floor crying today before I visited Nana.” Aphmau said, “I’m surprised you aren’t screaming right now, I’m a little hurt.” 

Belladonna laughed “I got all my screaming out of the way with her, now I’m just sad.” 

They sat up to talk to each other better and get a better look at each other rather than staring at the grass behind them. They sat there for a little bit, sitting silently across from each other while holding hands. It was a soft and quiet moment as the cold air began rushing from the night slowly returning to gaze upon the earth that Aphmau sat on, the earth that had aged while Aphmau was away in the Irene Dimension, the earth that Garroth would no longer be able to touch, and the earth that Zoey had somehow bent into her hands to 'break the barrier’. 

“How did… do you know how Zoey ‘broke the barrier’ or whatever she talked about doing,” Aphmau asked. 

Belladonna’s face turned sour, she avoided eye contact with the woman in front of her “I don’t think Zoey would appreciate it if I told you. She sacrificed something very special to her to get you guys here.” She sighed “I know you want to bring Garroth back, I saw, but it’s impossible to get him back and the word ‘impossible’ isn’t really in my vocabulary.” 

“Oh right, the Titan of the present… did everyone find out about that or?” Aphmau asked, she knew that the only people that knew were her, Kitten, and Zoey. She wondered if Belladonna also knew about Kitten’s ‘fuck up’. 

Belladonna shrugged “Not ‘everyone’. Levin and Malachi found out sometime around three-ish years ago because I was meditating and they walked in on me in my almost true form. But besides them no one else knows, they can’t know it would destroy everything and they would be able to see things that they shouldn’t see. I suppose Kitten was freaking out about the timeline and things like that when you guys disappeared… she messed up when she kicked me away from that vacuum.” 

Aphmau nodded “I still don’t understand how someone whose main thing is being a Titan of time can mess up time.” 

“Well there are certain events that need to happen and we make sure that those events do happen, if something is about to happen that isn’t supposed to happen we intervene. Kitten saw everyone going into the Irene Dimension, she didn’t see herself kicking me away from the ‘entrance’ I guess… she made an event happen that wasn’t supposed to happen and it can just mess up what we want to happen. Donna was only supposed to have two kids from what I saw but… now she had four.” 

Aphmau went silent. This whole timeline concept went over her head, it was difficult to understand, it was impossible to understand. She couldn’t grasp the idea of how something so small could change everything in such a big way, did something small happen that made her become the Lord of Phoenix Drop? Maybe she would never know, maybe she would find out tomorrow… It was strange to her and made her brain hurt. “Do you… do you think I could perform the ritual?” 

Belladonna quickly shook her head “You can’t.” 

“There has to be some way.” 

“There isn’t, don’t try it.” 

“We have to save Garroth.” 

“Zoey gave up her immortality for this.” Belladonna snapped. 

Aphmau went silent “Excuse… what?” 

“Yeah. I told her not to and she did it anyway, I told her so many times that it wasn’t worth it but she did it anyway.” Belladonna answered, “These might be the last a hundred years of her life.” 

“Holy shit… I wasn’t expecting that.” 

Belladonna rolled her eyes “Yeah, so you can’t really try the ritual. You would have to sacrifice someone else because you don’t have immortality and I know you would never kill someone.” 

Aphmau just sat there in complete shock, she would never want Zoey to risk something so important… to save her . She wasn’t even that good of a Lord, a friend, a mother and for some reason, Zoey decided to risk her life just to get her back. “Well… this is insane.” Aphmau raked her fingers through her hair “I think I need to go see Donna now. I just… I’m so sorry Bella.” 

“It’s fine, just… don’t try it. Zoey risked everything for you to be here, it would be pointless if you just killed yourself right after. Have fun at Donna’s.” 

“Thanks,” Aphmau said as she got up and walked away, she didn’t understand how that conversation turned so sour so quickly… she must’ve hit a nerve. She walked on a natural path made by the earth towards a two-story house that was outlooking the water, she had to walk under the gigantic tree that used to be Levin and Malahchi’s treehouse, the roots curved upwards and made arches in the sky… it was terrifying. To be honest, everything was terrifying right now, her body had a slight shake to it and she hadn’t really been able to calm down since she got through the portal, and even though she was no longer a screaming crying mess she was still scared of what was happening. She made her way to the house, passing by Oberon. 

“Hey.” She quietly said. 

The man nodded “By the way, my name is no longer Oberon.” 

“Oh… so what is it?” Aphmau asked, stopping in her tracks. 

“Well, I can’t tell you my real name so anything is fine… just not Oberon.” The man informed.

“Oh okay.” Aphmau nodded “Well, have a nice one.” She said as she walked away, the strange saying nothing else. Everything felt so uncomfortable, it wasn’t nice. It was like everything was off, strange conversations, strange moods, strange feelings… Aphmau didn’t like it. 

As she rounded a corner she stopped, Donna was sitting on a rocking chair with a baby cradled in her arms. Three kids were playing in the fields next to her just running around and tackling each other, all three of them had wolf ears and a tail, the tallest one had pure black wolf attributes while the two others had light brown wolf attributes that matched their hair. Aphmau made her way over to the woman and her baby, the three other kids stopped playing to stare at this strange woman. 

“Donna.” Aphmau choked out, Donna was her everything, she cared for her before anyone else did and she was the light in Aphmau’s darkness. The place in her heart for Donna may no longer be as big as it was when she first met the southern woman… she still loved her more than anything “Donna it’s me… Aphmau.” 

Donna turned her head towards the woman and smiled softly “Well you don’t look as if you’ve aged whatsoever, can you tell me where you went so I can look that good?” She laughed “You know I need it with these kids.” 

Aphmau laughed, both of these women were starting to break as tears came to their eyes “You’ve aged beautifully Donna, I don’t know why you would need to look  like me.” 

“Of course I’ve aged beautifully darling! I’m a mother of four kids now, I keep in shape!” The woman laughed, lighting Aphmau’s heart up with joy. 

“You don’t even look as if you’ve had one kid.” Aphmau smiled. 

Donna shook her head with a smile “Hey, I can’t hug you right now because… obviously but it’s amazing to see you. Don’t you ever leave us like that again, you hear me!?” Donna pointed her finger at the woman. 

“I won’t, I won’t. So how have you been?” Aphmau asked, sitting down on the steps of the porch. 

“I’ve been great! Logan and I have four amazing children, two of them are twins Rollo and Lello, are new little girl, Luca, and Yip who now has a human form.” Donna nodded towards the tallest out of the three kids who were back to playing in the field.  

“Wow, I swear that logan did not like kids.” Aphmau joked. 

Donna laughed “Yeah, that grumpy old man has changed a lot since you left. He’s still a complete jerk but he helped Zoey a lot with Levin and Malachi… thanks to them he had a change of heart.” She went quiet for a moment before looking down at Aphmau “So did everyone that left with you back?” 

Aphmau laughed quietly to herself, it seemed as if everyone was asking this question, and every time her heart hurt more and more. She began to tell Donna what had happened the moment that they left and what had happened in the Irene Dimension, she thought that she deserved to know. When she got to Garroth’s part of the story she began choking up, the realization that Garroth was still stuck there was still settling in and it didn’t make it better that he had confessed his love for Aphmau. She looked up at Donna when she was done with her story. 

“Gods… what a foolish and nobleman. So he told you his feelings?” Donna asked. 

Aphmau nodded “Did you know?” 

Donna nodded “I can read body language very well, it wasn’t hard to tell how Garroth felt about you. But, don’t worry about that now, I’m sure he’s fine and kicking Zane's stupid ass! Oh, by the way, I know you would absolutely love to see Logan and Malachi and those bunch but sadly they're out on a trade but they should be here later tonight or maybe early tomorrow.” 

Aphmau looked sincerely at Donna “Are you okay?” 

“What? Of course, I’m okay! Now that you’re back I’m beaming much brighter than I did on my wedding day, er… don’t tell Logan that. Or tell him, who cares! He’d probably feel the same way, now just rest and wait for the trade boat I guess to see your other son.” Aphmau laughed and stood up from the porch steps. 

Aphmau played with the children for a little bit, learning Yip’s new pronouns which were they/them, hanging out with Rollo and Lello, and understanding that they liked to call themselves the trouble twins which Aphmau thought was a funny name. Aphmau learned that Yip had gone through a lot the past fifteen years, finding out their pronouns and figuring out who they liked, figuring out their family’s history, and finding out that their biological father was the leader of the Eastern Wolf Tribe that had been causing a ruckus through the werewolf community for ages, exploring their own culture as a Native Tu’La from their mother’s side, she also found out that Yip was seventeen. Rollo and Lello were truly insane and Aphmau didn’t understand how Yip and Donna weren’t going insane while watching them. 

Aphmau made her way over to the large tree where it took her a while to find the entrance of the tree which barely changed, she made her way up the tree where at the top she found a large living area with Laurance and Dante in it talking. In front of Aphmau was a large podium that held Laurance, Garroth, and Dante’s old uniforms, like a memorial or something like that. Garroth’s was above both of them and in the middle, Laurance’s was on Aphmau’s left, and Dante’s was on Aphmau’s right. Aphmau turned her head, Dante was showing Laurance the entire place that they were in, Aphmau got their attention and went over to them. “So Dante, you did not tell me that you were a father!” 

Dante stuttered “Yeah I um… uh… I’m a dad, surprise!” 

Laurance stifled a laugh but ended up snorting, Aphmau just stood there with her mouth agape. She slapped Dante “It’s not even a surprise anymore!” 

Dante burst out laughing “I’m sorry! I was waiting for you to be totally settled until I told you, how was I supposed to know you were going to go see Nana as soon as I left?” 

“You should’ve told me that you were a father when you told me about Nana and their daughter IN THE FIRST PLACE!” 

“Dude, you may be thirty but you are still the stupid person I have ever met.” Laurance laughed. 

Dante rolled his eyes “Yeah well at least I’m not stupid enough to get sucked into a weird-ass dimension.” Dante hit his friend. 

Laurance hit the man back “Below the belt dude, below the belt.” 

Aphmau looked around, cots and hammocks around the area with foldable tables and reusable utensils “Are we going to be staying here?” Aphmau asked, pointing around the room to the things she spotted. 

“Oh yeah, I put up most of the cots while you guys were out talking and meeting up with people. This tree serves as our guard tower as most of the old ones are broken and dust at this point but while you guys are just settling in you guys can stay here.” Dante explained. 

Aphmau smiled softly “Thank you, Dante, that’s so sweet of you.” 

“So you totally learned from me right?” Laurance asked, “I mean how else would you have gotten someone as beautiful as Nana? Nana right?” 

Dante rolled his eyes, Aphmau raised her eyebrow in question “Laurance you wished he learned from you, oh your ego would be so big.”

“So how are you guys feeling about this place? Is it home yet?” Dante asked. 

Aphmau shook her head “Everything feels so off, I mean this in the absolute nicest way possible but I don’t think that this place could ever really be home for me.” 

“Same, Phoenix Drop was my everything and now we have… this. And yeah, everything does feel like, I’m getting like a feeling that everything is supposed to be like five inches inward.” The group laughed “It’s just… I can’t see it being home for me for a very long time.” 

“That’s fine! It took me a while to finally get settled to this place and I know it’s going to take you guys a lot longer since you’re fifteen years into the future.” Dante said, “It’s small but we’re making do with the people we have left.” 

Laurance’s head was turned towards the ocean “A ship is coming our way… is it the trade ship that Malachi is on?” He asked. 

Dante looked out where Laurance was looking, he nodded his head “Yep! We should go meet them!” 

Laurance turned his head to Aphmau “Do you think… do you think Malachi remembers me?” 

“Oh, I bet he remembers you.” Aphmau laughed. Dante led them down to the bass of the tree, she would meet Kyle, Alexis, and Logan after fifteen years. She didn’t know how she felt really, she felt tired so maybe that would dull down her feelings a bit but she wondered if it was going to be the same as when she saw Levin. She didn’t know how she was going to react when she saw Logan, she didn’t know Alexis and Kyle that much because they were babies but she did know Logan. For her, she just hadn’t seen the man in fifteen minutes but something deep inside her made her miss him, maybe it was the fact that she was starting to settle with the idea that it's been fifteen years. She knew that Laurance hadn’t settled with the idea from how he kept staring into the void when they were doing nothing, he looked scared. 

They followed Dante to behind the gigantic tree where there was a dock with a ship on it. Someone was coming up onto the floor of the ship as they came from a basement. They were older looking and had light grey streaks in their hair that were in a large messy bun. It was Logan. When he spotted Aphmau and Laurance he dropped the crate he was holding onto his foot causing him to groan out in pain “Oh my Irene!” He yelled “Even after fifteen fucking years of you being missing you STILL have the ability to FUCK. ME. OVER!” 

Aphmau, Dante, and Laurance were standing there in shock when Logan picked the crate up from his foot, giving Aphmau a complete death stare. “Logan I’m so sorry!” Aphmau apologized even though she didn’t even do anything. She made her way over to the boat, standing right in front of the wooden plank they put down to walk in and out. “Are you okay?” 

Logan rolled his eyes as three people came up from below the boat, one with dirty blonde hair that was tall and hefty wearing what looked to be a guard uniform, another one with strawberry blonde hair who was short and stocky and who was wearing the same guard uniform that the other person was wearing, and finally a boy with dark brown hair and dark tan shin with green eyes. Malachi stood on the boat with shock in his eyes, he had a long green scarf that wrapped around his neck and covered his mouth, his brown hair was short and faded on the sides, he had a brown shirt and high-waisted brown pants with black boots. The two others stood there in complete shock as Logan just acted as nothing had ever happened, but like everyone else, his eyes were starting to tear up too. 

“Malachi?” Aphmau whispered as she stared at the boy in front of her, he was so much taller, more mature. 

Malachi ran over to the woman and hugged her tightly, almost knocking them onto the dock floor. Laurance stood there with a smile carved into his face and Dante stood next to them proud, he began helping the other people on the boat and explaining to them what was going on.

Malachi pulled away and started making strange gestures and signals with his hands that Aphmau didn’t understand. She grabbed the man’s wrist which shook him with shock “Honey, what are you trying to say?” 

Dante went back over to Aphmau “Um, I don’t know what Malachi was trying to say because I wasn’t paying attention but Malachi can’t talk. A while ago he was attacked by pirates and they slit his throat, he survived but his vocal cords didn’t. He signs now.” Dante explained while holding a crate. 

“Oh, um, so what is he trying to say?” Aphmau asked. Malachi began signing to Dante what he was trying to tell his mother. 

“I missed you so much over these past fifteen years that I don’t know what to say. Where have you been, I miss hugging you, did you know that Kyle is my boyfriend, do you know what I’ve been up to, I miss you.” Dante translated. 

Aphmau smiled brightly “I can tell you where I’ve been once we all calm down, I miss you hugging you as well, I did not know that Kyle was your boyfriend, all I know about you is that you’ve been at trade with a village, and I miss you too.” 

Malachi’s eyes showed that he was smiling, tears fell from his eyes when Laurance tapped on his shoulder. He turned around and gasped loudly, throwing his arms around the man’s neck and hanging off him. What Aphmau assumed to be Alexis and Kyle appeared at Aphmau’s side, Logan stood behind them. 

“Hello, ma'am!” Alexis greeted her. 

“Hi, Apple.” Kyle smiled. 

Aphmau gasped “Kyle! You remember me!?” When Kyle was first learning everyone in the village’s name he had always called Aphmau Apple since he couldn’t get her name right. 

“Of course I remember you!” Kyle laughed “Also I hope you’re okay with me dating… your… son.” He cringed. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “As long as he doesn’t come crying into my arms because you broke his heart I’ll be fine, I know you’re a good kid.” She turned her attention to Alexis “Now are you dating my other son?” 

Alexis’ face turned red “What!? No, no, no, NO! Not to be mean or anything, Levin is attractive, but I could never date the Lord of the village, too many complications and dangerous possibilities that could happen. 

Kyle rolled his eyes “My Enki, Alexis! It’s not like she’s asking you if you married her son, chill.” 

“I’m sorry, it’s just I wasn’t expecting a question like that especially since I don’t remember you all that much Miss. Aphmau.” Alexis admitted, “I vaguely recall your face but I do know of your amazing deeds as a Lord.” 

Aphmau nodded “Thank you, now Dante did tell me that your parents left but why? I wish I could see them.” 

“I know they would absolutely die if they saw you.” Kyle joked “My parents left for Scaleswind because it was practically pointless for them to stay in a decaying village.” 

Alexis nodded “Mine too, they tried so hard to fight for this village to stay alive but all their efforts were just pointless as more and more people were leaving and letting the village rot. It got to a point where they were just completely stressed and couldn’t take it anymore, I was guard training with Dante and I just couldn’t leave so they gave me a choice, to stay or to leave with them. The choice I made was pretty obvious but it was in no mean nature, they send me care packages now and then.” 

“Same here,” Kyle said. 

Logan pushed past the two guards to stare at Aphmau “You really are a pain in my ass even after fifteen years, huh?” 

“And you’re still a jerk after fifteen years…. How’s your foot?” Aphmau asked. 

“I’ll live. I’m surprised you aren’t ashes by now, I swear you were like fifty when I met you.” A smirk rose to Logan’s lips. 

“Oh wow, look who's talking Mr. four kids. I’m surprised you aren’t shriveled on the floor by now with those grey hairs.” Aphmau pointed to the man’s head. 

Logan rolled his eyes before he got semi-serious “I really missed you.” he bit his cheek to prevent him from crying “It wasn’t the same without you.” 

“I missed you too Logan, it kinda hurts to see you look like this. I thought you would’ve taken it easy by now.” Aphmau said, “Thank you for just… staying.” 

The werewolf nodded, she was kinda surprised that he didn’t have wolf ears or a tail like his children but maybe it was some type of special trait. “Now I don’t need to start getting all sappy so get out my way!” He yelled. 

Dante elbowed the man “Chill out grandpa.” 

“Oh shut up, senpai .” Logan moaned.

Dante gasped “WILL YOU SHUT IT!” 

“Oh, what? You don’t want everyone to know what Kawaii~Chan calls you when you guys-” 

“I will MURDER YOU LOGAN!” Dante yelled as he began to chase the old man. Logan cackled as he ran from the head guard. 

Aphmau sat on the couch that she sat on when speaking to Levin, Malachi sat across from her where Levin sat the first time but now Levin was standing up translating everything that Malachi sat so Aphmau could understand what he was saying. It hurt her heart that she couldn’t understand what he was saying but she was determined to learn RSL while she was here. She remembered Hayden’s new head guard who used Ru’aun sign language because co was deaf, she even remembered co’s pronouns which shocked her… she wondered where Hayden and co were.

She was explaining to Malachi everything that happened as she had done with Levin. 

“Wow, that has to be one of the most insane experiences I’ve ever heard of.” Levin translated “It’s so much to take in.” 

“I know… I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you Mali. You've grown into such a handsome man, the both of you.” Aphmau pointed to Malachi and Levin. 

Tears slowly fell down Malachi’s face, soaking into the scarf. “I can’t believe you’re back. You look that same as you did the day we left, as expected after listening to you. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing a ghost, I still-” Malachi paused his signing to shake his head at Levin and resigned the phrase he was meaning, Levin, made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth before continuing to translate “This is some cruel joke right? I’m going to wake up and see that you aren’t here right?” 

Aphmau shook her head and lightly pinched the man, exciting a jolt out of him, Malachi seemed confused at first before nodding “I love you, Malachi, I’m not leaving this time.” she said. 

His eyes showed he was smiling “I can’t believe you’re really here, I mean dear gods Dante stayed here just looking and searching for you for so many years.” Levin translated. 

“What?” Aphmau asked, “He stayed here for all fifteen years after I left?” 

Malachi nodded “We even held a funeral but… he stayed. He refused to accept the fact that you guys were dead, he stayed here alone.” 

Aphmau sat there in disbelief “That’s… that’s insane.” She laughed and looked back up at her son “That’s literally insane.” 

Malachi agreed “Yeah, I don’t see how anyone can do that… I’d go insane.” He looked into his mother’s eyes “It’s been a long day for you I bet, you probably should go to sleep now and we can hang out and talk more tomorrow.” 

“Are you sure?” Aphmau asked, “I just want you guys to be okay.” 

Malachi grabbed Aphmau’s hands gently before pulling them back to sign “There is no greater happiness I have experienced than finding out you are alive after all this time. We are going to be okay if you go and sleep.” He hugged his mother tightly “ I love you, mom .” Malachi signed, Aphmau understood what he said through context clues so she didn’t really need the help of Levin’s translation but it still felt nice to know that she guessed correctly. 

She left the boy’s house and headed over to the large treehouse that Aphmau now stayed in with everyone else that came back with her. Laurance, Emmalyn, and Kenmur were all already there getting ready for bed or getting ready to binge read all of the books in front of them. Aphmau chose the cot right next to Laurance because it made her feel a little safer. She would have to get some new clothes tomorrow since she was in the blood-caked, ripped outfit that she wore when the war happened. Laurance turned towards her, he had talked to Malachi a bit while she had been talking to Alexis, Kyle, and Logan. 

“Is it weird that I feel like a father towards Levin and Malachi? Like I have this emotion that I think only a father would feel.” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau shook her head as she got into her bed “It’s not weird, you helped me raise those boys and I see how you would feel as if you are their father.” Aphmau answered. 

Laurance went quiet for a moment before asking a serious question “Now that you’re back… are you going to take back your lordship?” 

Aphmau turned her attention towards Laurance once more, she had confusion on her face “No, no I would never do that to him.” She began explaining why she thought Levin should keep his lordship “I mean his father… his father used to be the old old Lord of this village before things went south. He’s supposed to be the Lord of this village.” 

Laurance nodded “Even if you aren’t the Lord of this village… I will always protect you.” 

“Thank you, Laurance, now we should probably go to sleep before Dante yells at us for missing our bedtime.” Aphmau joked.

Laurance barked out a laugh.

Chapter Text

Aphmau sat on her bed talking to Laurance, Emmalyn and Kenmur were still reading the books that they collected from Emmalyn’s house to retake notes and make sure that the most important books were still with her, Katelyn was busy looking out one of the many windowless windows while sipping tea, and the strange was sitting on a strange part of the tree that was high up while playing with his sword. It was early in the morning and Aphmau had nothing to do so she just sat and talked to Laurance about everything that was going on. They wondered what happened to O’Khasis and the Jury of Nine after Zane’s disappearance, did they break off and are doing their own thing or are they still together but under a new leader. While talking to Laurance she felt a strange feeling in her leg, like there was a bump. There was something in a pocket that she had on her leg, when she took it out her heart almost stopped. It was Dante’s communication amulet that he gave her during the war when she thought he was working for O’Khasis when it was really Brian who was working for O’Khasis. She had completely forgotten about it but as she held it in her hand memories came back, Dante had gone fifteen long years without his communication amulet that he used when he got scared or panicked… she had taken it from him and never given it back. 

When she was about to tell Laurance about the amulet Levin came from the entrance of the tree to get Aphmau for something “Hey would you mind following me so I can show you something?” He asked. 

“Oh yeah sure, what are you going to show me?” She asked as she got out of the cot she was in and went over to Levin. 

“It’s a surprise!” Levin answered, he grabbed Aphmau’s hand and made her follow him as they went down the tree. Aphmau followed Levin out of the tree, wrapping the amulet around her hand waiting to spot Dante and give it to him but for some strange reason he wasn’t anywhere, she could see. Malachi was signing to Kitten and Belladonna who were holding what looked to be streamers and balloons. Levin dragged her out of the settlement and in the direction of the plaza where instead of stopping in the broken-down place he continued, bringing Aphmau in the direction of the stairs that led up to Aphmau’s house. It warmed her heart that someone would keep her house in such amazing condition for no reason, there was no reason to keep her house this way but someone did. 

Levin opened the door to Aphmau’s old house and her heart stopped, the entire house was dark and empty. A draft moved through the entire house as Aphmau entered it, it felt like a ghost was breathing up her spine. 

“When you left… when we came back everything was making its way towards ruins and it broke me and Malachi’s hearts. From that day the two of us restored your house. We finished it a little over a year ago when I gained my lordship of this village. What do you think?” Levin asked, letting Aphmau explore while he was talking. 

Aphmau turned around to face her son “Why? Why would you do this… for me?” 

“It was our way of keeping you alive… keeping you here,” Levin explained. 

Aphmau looked around her surroundings before her eyes settled back to Levin’s, she hugged her son tightly “Levin, I want you to know that you were supposed to be the Lord of Phoenix Drop from the start.” Aphmau said. 

Levin raised his eyebrow in confusion “What do you mean?”

Aphmau pulled back “Your father… your father was the original Lord of this village before I came along. He had died due to a fire caused by Shadow Knights and the village was in chaos, when I came along I slowly started helping the place and restoring it and the people started referring to me as the Lord.” Aphmau explained. 

“Oh wow.” Levin was left speechless “What about… what about my mother? What were their names?” 

Aphmau smiled softly “Your mother’s name was Matilda, she was an elf,  and your father’s name was Malik.” Aphmau answered “I met Matilda, she was a very nice woman and cared for you so much that she let me keep you out of your own safety… I don’t know where she is right now and the worst thing I can think of is that she’s… she’s dead.” 

Levin nodded “Were they good people?” 

“Well Matilda was sweet to me but… I can’t say much about Malik, I don’t think the people of the village liked him very much.” Aphmau answered. 

“Well… at least my mother was good. Thank you for letting me keep this position, I really like being Lord of Phoenix Drop whether it be big or small.” Levin said. 

Aphmau smiled brightly “That’s my boy.”

Itsuki was playing in the field outside of Kiki’s broken-down barn. She was grabbing flowers and collecting them to make a flower crown for her mom and dad, little did she know someone in the shadows was watching her. Someone who wanted to do bad things to this little meif’wa girl that was doing nothing but collecting flowers for the people she loved. 

“Itsuki sā, afumau o odoroka senakereba narimasen.” A male voice came from the far side alerting the man watching the little girl, the man walked back into the shadows and made sure that the blue-haired man that went over to the little girl didn’t see him. He would have to wait to catch his prize. 

Levin was dragging Aphmau back to the settlement to show her something, her hand was covering her eyes so she didn’t see anything she wasn’t supposed to. She suspected it had something to do with the balloons and streamers that she saw before she left for her house but she didn’t want to say anything to make Levin happier about surprising his mother. 

Levin placed his hands on Aphmau’s shoulders, making her stop, she heard a chorus of shushing and whispering until it was completely quiet besides the rustling of the trees. Levin told her she could open her eyes and she did as told, everyone popped up from under tables, walls, or chairs and cheered loudly the word ‘Surprise!’ Even Laurance was in on it which probably meant that he was told last minute while she was with Levin. 

Her mouth was agape as she stared at everything, streamers were hung from tree to tree and building to building, balloons were all over the place, and there was a large table in the back that held loads of foods and sweets probably made from Nana. 

“Levin! What is all this?” She asked.

Levin had a huge smile on his face “We wanted to do something special for you and for everyone that came back! I could see that it was hard to settle in from your face, we just wanted to make it a little easier.” 

Aphmau’s heart melted “Thank you, that’s so sweet.” She looked towards everyone, the music started playing, people were starting to make small talk, and the food was being eaten. Malachi came over and hugged his mother tightly. 

“ I love you. ” He signed, she knew he signed that from simple context clues. She hoped that Levin and him would have some time to help her learn RSL.

The boys split ways and Aphmau went over to Laurance who was standing by himself at the table with food, cutting himself some cake “So, how are you feeling?” She asked. 

“Hm?” Laurance asked turning around “About the party? I like it, Malachi just kinda came up to me and pushed my head under a table with Katelyn and Alexis which was pretty funny.” 

Aphmau laughed “Wow okay but no, did you talk to Dante like I suggested? Did it feel better to talk to him?” 

Laurance made an ‘o’ shape with his face “That’s what you meant, well… it felt a little better talking to him and all. No offense of course but I think it was easier to talk to him than it was to you, I mean like he’s my brother. It was nice.” 

Aphmau smiled softly “That’s good, that’s good. So I’m not sure if I told you this but back before we went in the portal, I’m pretty sure like when Meteli came over and we had that meeting, Dante gave me something significant to him and I still have it.” She showed him the broken communication amulet that she wrapped around her hand “Do you think I should give it to him?” 

“What type of question is that!?” Laurance laughed “Yes of course you should give him it, go, go!” Laurance shooed Aphmau off. She rolled her eyes and slapped the man’s hand away from her playfully, heading over to Nana and Dante who were watching over Itsuki while also talking to each other. 

Nana noticed Aphmau and squealed happily “Do you like it Aphmau? I already have a few of the cakes saved up but I had to make the rest really quickly!” 

“I love it Kawaii~Chan, it’s perfect!” Aphmau complimented the meif’wa’s handy work.

“Everyone really bent over backward to get this set up in such a short period of time,” Dante said. 

Aphmau laughed “I still can’t believe they would do this for us, it’s so sweet.” 

“I think the best part is this is the first time the settlement has had a party in so long!” Nana mentioned, “It’s really nice to see everyone having a good time.” 

Aphmau messed with the amulet wrapped around her hand as she looked at the party, everyone was dancing, drinking, eating, talking, playing stupid party games. The entire place was filled with happiness and it made Aphmau's heart sore. She looked back at Dante, she didn’t know what would happen when she gave the amulet back to him, would he cry, would the party be ruined, would he not accept it? She didn’t want to ruin the sparkle that Dante had in his eyes with this amulet, but maybe because it had meant so much to him his reaction wouldn’t be so bad. “Dante I… can I give you something?” Aphmau asked as she slowly unwrapped the amulet from her hand, making sure it was out of Dante’s eyesight. 

“Hm? Oh sure, what is it?” He asked. 

“Close your eyes,” Aphmau instructed. 

Dante nodded and closed his eyes. Aphmau placed the amulet around the head guard’s neck, Nana stood there in confusion. After Aphmau placed the amulet around Dante’s neck she pulled back and instructed him to open his eyes, when he did he looked down at his neck and went completely silent. His face dropped and you could tell the sparkle he had in his eyes was gone, he gently put the amulet in his hand and stared at it as he started tearing up. He looked up at Aphmau with red eyes. 

“Thank you.” He whimpered before hugging Aphmau tightly “Thank you so much.” Tears fell from his cheeks onto Aphmau’s shoulder.

“I found it… I found it in my pocket.” Aphmau sniffled “I had completely forgotten that I took it from you. I'm so sorry.”

Dante only hugged the woman tighter “I don’t care, thank you, just thank you so much.” 

They stayed like that for a little bit, just hugging each other tightly while Dante cried into Aphmau's shoulder.  Even when he pulled back he was still crying softly, Nana put their arm around their husband in comfort. He apologized for his behavior and wiped his eyes, thanking Aphmau one more time before trying to continue the normal conversation. To help make the conversation more ‘normal’ Nana started talking about how they would gladly make Aphmau some new clothes so she didn’t have to wear the same busted outfit that she was wearing right now, they also told Aphmau that Logan must’ve had some clothes that he was selling since he’s merchant brand has expanded in the past fifteen years. Dante excused himself for a minute so he could be alone, in that time Aphmau walked away from the couple since Nana said that she should talk to the other people in the village and not just them. 

Aphmau and Kitten caught up with Belladonna and Zoey, asking them about their marriage, how everything has been. Aphmau wanted to ask them about the whole timeline thing but she really thought that if she did her brain would explode. She laughed at Kenmur trying to teach Levin, Malachi, and Kyle what he called ‘the wave’ which she assumed was him just lying down on the floor trying to get up like an old man. Donna trying to teach Logan how to dance made Katelyn almost break the serious character that she already fronted because of how bad Logan was dancing, the stranger was nowhere to be seen, and Emmalyn was out playing with either Rollo or Lello Aphmau couldn’t remember. 

It wasn’t until towards the middle of the party when things started going wrong. First Rollo ran into the open gates of the settlement, panting and in a panicked state. When Dante went over to the kid to see what was wrong everyone learned that Itsuki had been taken by a group of bandits while playing hide’n’seek. Dante ran into the forest without hesitation and ignoring the protest of Aphmau and Nana, Aphmau quickly ran after the man with only a small dagger to her name. 

They ran through the village, out the old gates, into the deep forest, and past the empty portal that brought Aphmau back from the Irene dimension. Dante somehow knew where the bandits were, giving Aphmau the idea that there was a reason they had a wall around the settlement.  Aphmau trailed behind since she was in no condition to fight as Dante stormed towards a small campsite filled with bandits. 

Dante whipped out his ruby red katanas and slit a man’s throat with them, it looked like he snapped his neck. All the campers gasped in shock and Itsuki, who was tied up and had a cloth gag around her mouth, screamed in fear. Dante was about to go for another bandit when an arrow went through his chest, he screamed out in agony as he fell to the ground, clutching the area around the arrow hole. Aphmau gasped and went to find the archer who shot Dante, at the same time another bandit took out their sword and was ready to execute Dante right in front of his daughter until the stranger appeared right next to the bandit, blocking their sword with his big purple one. The stranger smirked before whipping his sword back, making the bandit drop his sword, and cutting the bandit’s face open. Aphmau found the bandit and threw her dagger at him, luckily the hilt of the dagger only hit it not the pointy end of the dagger but the bandit was knocked out. The rest of the bandits that were there ran away from the campsite deeper into the woods but Aphmau and the stranger were too occupied with Itsuki and Dante to care. 

The stranger quickly untied Itsuki and handed her to Aphmau as he picked up the bleeding guard. They ran back towards the settlement, the stranger hadn’t taken the arrow out yet but had wrapped a piece of his pants around the hole so he could block off the blood from flowing out. Aphmau comforted the little meif’wa girl as they ran, she was screaming and crying for her daddy while Aphmau and the man could do nothing.

When they got back to the settlement they sort of ruined the party, they laid Dante out on one of the tables, and Donna and Logan got ready to start treating the man. Everyone else got Donna and Logan their items to fix Dante but also just stared in horror as Itsuki’s screams and Dante’s moaning filled the air. Nana stood by their husband and held his hand as Logan cut the arrowhead from Dante’s chest and then pulling the other half of the arrow from his back, filing the area with a deep guttural scream of pain. Part of the arrow has broken in Dante’s body and from what Donna could see with this strange eyeball looking this that she was holding, the wooden stick was too close to any organs for them to successfully take it out without seriously injuring Dante. 

“Donna you have to do something, please!” Nana cried. 

Dante shook his head, he lazily placed his hand on Nana's chest “Yelling… isn’t going to help… anata.” Dante whispered.

Tears fell from Nana’s eyes as they bit their lip “Anata…”

The guard turned his head towards Aphmau “Aph…” 

Aphmau moved towards the man, bringing her hand to the man’s chest, near the wound. “Everything is going to be okay, you know that right?” 

Dante let out a small laugh “Thank you… for the… the amulet.” He smiled softly “Thank you for… for… for bringing him back… back to me.” 

Tears fell from Aphmau’s eyes and her hand slithered towards Dante’s wounds, her hands were like they were filled with pins and needles and her veins turned a bright light purple. The light went to the tips of her fingers and transferred to Dante’s wound, unbeknownst to Aphmau Dante’s wound was closing up and the wooden stick piece was slowly disappearing into nothing but air. Dante’s breathing was getting back to normal and his eyes were opening up, life was coming back to his face. 

Aphmau quickly pulled back when she realized what in the world was happening, not that she didn’t want to help Dante but… she didn’t know what was happening. Dante slowly sat up on the table, his eyes were wide with shock. 

“What the…?” Levin said quietly as Aphmau backed up. 

“I don’t feel pain I-I-I… what?” He looked up at Aphmau “What did you do?” 

“I don’t… I don’t-” Aphmau stumbled back “I don’t… know.” She whispered before falling against the table behind her and sliding to the floor. 

“Aphmau!” Laurance called out 

Aphmau woke up in a daze, her head was pounding like someone was trying to get out and everything was so bright. She was laying down in the cot that she woke up in this morning, no one was around her but Zoey, Kitten, and Belladonna. It was always them wasn’t it, they always seemed to make their way into Aphmau’s life even when she was unconscious, it was like her life revolved around them, without them she would be nothing, without them she wouldn’t be here, she probably wouldn't exist. They always seemed to be right there , always watching, always taking care. Aphmau’s heart began pounding as she remembered Dante, what happened to Dante? Was he okay? Had he died? The girls’ attention turned towards the woman who had just woken up, they looked worried and had fear in their eyes. 

They were saying something but it echoed into Aphmau’s mind, their mouths were moving but Aphmau couldn’t hear anything but far echos, was she talking? They were acting like she was talking but she couldn’t tell that she was talking. Was she yelling, was that why they looked so scared? Was she even in her own body, she was looking at her body from a different perspective, from the outside. When her head turned and stared in front of her only then did she hear what the ladies were saying, the echoes were no more and she could hear the fear coming from her own voice as she asked about Dante and cried if he was okay. Only then did she feel the pressure in her head come back, the blood drained from her brain, and her eyes roll back. She passed out again. 

When she woke up for the second time she was still in a daze and her head still hurt but when the ladies started talking to her there was no echo, she didn’t feel as if she was looking at her body instead of being in it. They were asking her how she was, if she was okay, what was going on but all she could think of at the moment was Dante. 

“Where is… where is Dante?” Her body felt strange like it wasn’t hers. 

“Dante is fine, he’s with the others downstairs,” Zoey answered as Belladonna and Kitten sat nervously, checking Aphmau for any bumps or bruising she got from her passing out. They pulled at her eyelids making and looked down her throat, it was like Aphmau was at a doctor's visit.

“What happened?” Aphmau asked as Kitten placed a hand on Aphmau’s forehead and told her sister to get tea and the others. 

Zoey laughed softly, she was holding Aphmau’s hand “We should be asking you that. Dante was almost about to die from blood loss when you somehow healed him to perfect health. You just put your hand near the wound and it went away.” 

“Like a mother’s kiss to a child’s cut knee. It was insane.” Belladonna added, “Dante’s been beating himself over the whole ordeal, they think you’re dead.” 

“What!? No, am I?” Aphmau’s mind was racing. 

Zoey shook her head “No, no, for all I know you are still among the land of the living.” Zoey’s face went serious “Aphmau what did you do to heal Dante?”

“I-I…” She stopped. My powers she thought, she had almost completely forgotten about them but they were still in her body, her markings that were engraved all along her body like the tree branch looking one that sprouted from her nose bridge to her hairline. She knew she could make people and things calm down, fall to sleep, give them peace but she didn’t know that she could heal people. She remembered Hayden, how she brought his terrifying corpse back to life after his throat being slit but his ex-head guard Gale, she didn’t know how she could forget. Then at last she remembered the war, things were blurry of course but she remembered her body being so full of power… energy, it was crazy. The spear that she held in her hands to drive through her enemies, her eyes glowing white and her hair floating upwards, her white-colored blood whenever people cut her and how it turned back to red when the power and energy drained from her body. She did have powers but she couldn’t control them, like how she healed Dante, she didn’t know what she was doing, she couldn’t control it.

“My powers.” Aphmau finally answered “Did I tell you guys about the powers that I have? The way I can calm people down, how I brought Hayden back to life… what I did during the war.”

Both the ladies by Aphmau’s side nodded their heads. 

“I remember you telling us about Hayden, and how you’ve always had small powers like things but… I don’t know what happened during the war.” Zoey said. 

“I don’t know either.” Belladonna agreed “I mean like in a sense I do but… just explain it to Zoey.” 

Aphmau nodded and turned her attention back towards the elf lady “During the war I… I got these strange powers, a glowing spear, I could make groups of soldiers fall to their feet and knock themselves out… I felt like… like a god almost.” 

Belladonna choked on her own spit and quickly excused herself from the conversation but not before kissing Zoey on the head, leaving Aphmau and Zoey extremely confused. Belladonna left so quickly that Aphmau didn’t have time to ask questions.

“This is so confusing.” Zoey admitted “I don’t understand, you can calm people down, raise the dead, and completely heal people…. It makes no sense whatsoever.” 

As soon as Zoey went quiet Kitten rose from the staircase holding a silver tea tray and with Laurance, Katelyn, Emmalyn, Kenmur, and the stranger behind her. The stranger didn’t seem to be concerned with Aphmau though, he went over to the edge of the living area and began climbing the branches. Laurance went over and hugged his Lord softly, making sure not to hurt her if there was a possibility, Kitten set the tea tray down to the table across from Aphmau that she had eaten at the night before with everyone she came back with. 

Kitten came over with a cup of tea and handed it to Aphmau, quietly asking her sister-in-law about Belladonna and why she seemed so worried as everyone began talking to Aphmau about what had happened. 

“Aph, what you did for Dante was incredible.” Laurance praised “I’ve never seen such amazing healing magicks.” 

“I do have to agree.” Katelyn said “I mean it’s a little overboard if I’m being honest, you not only healed his inside wounds but you somehow got the wooden stick out of his body and healed his flesh. It’s impressive.” 

“It was like a combination of healing magicks. I have never seen a normal healing magicks user heal everything that was wrong with their patenting.” Kenmur added. 

“Yeah, you guys have a point there. Aph I never knew you had magicks… have you been hiding this from us all this time?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau’s chest seized up, she looked at Kitten to tell her what to do since Zoey had left the living area to go check on her wife. Kitten bit her lip as she looked at the people in front of Aphmau, she nodded softly giving Aphmau the hint that she needed to tell them now. Aphmau sighed and looked back at everyone “I uh… I’ve had these magicks for a while now, I think Emmalyn may be the only one to remember this I’m not sure but… when I left for Bright Port to discuss matters these markings showed up all over my body. After that, I began experiencing things that I would say are things magick users experience.” 

“I remember seeing you with those markings and wondering  if I had been seeing things, you didn’t look like that when I first met you.” Laurance said, “Why were you hiding this?” 

Aphmau shrugged “I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want to alarm anyone if my powers could be dangerous.” 

“Maybe this has something to do with the strange relic thing that she absorbed in the Irene Dimension.” The stranger yelled from the other side of the tree. 

Katelyn clapped her hands and pointed at the stranger “YOU’RE RIGHT!” she called out “She absorbed what I’m assuming was the relic that Zane was trying to get his slimy hands on!” she was acting totally out of character. Aphmau also finally had time to appreciate the beauty that was Katelyn Alarie, her light blue hair intimated the sky above them, her spiky golden nose ring that had dried blood on it shined like the sun, her skin was soft like a cloud. Aphmau’s heart raced every time she made eye contact with the woman, it wasn’t good. 

“What do you mean ‘relic thing’ from the Irene Dimension?” Emmalyn looked as if she had seen a ghost. Kitten stayed silent to avoid any questions on what happened with her in the Irene Dimension. 

“Zane had always been searching for a ‘relic’ and I assume that he found it in the Irene Dimension, he had attacked us shortly after the relic was absorbed into Aphmau’s being so we didn’t get a moment to ‘awe’ over the event,” Katelyn answered. 

“About when Zane fought us, Kitten, what the fuck were you doing?” Laurance asked. 

Kitten’s face went red “Yeah know, when someone is quiet that means they don’t want people talking to them.” 

“You’re right, if you are a defensive magicks user then you are a very special kind. Like Aphmau… are you sure the ‘relic’ didn’t absorb into Kitten as well?” Kenmur asked. 

“Kitten’s always been like this.” Aphmau defended the meif’wa but this resulted in Kitten slapping the woman’s arm and giving her a stare of death. ‘What?’ she mouthed. 

Kitten rolled her eyes and downed the rest of her hot tea “Can I be excused for a moment?” She didn’t wait for an answer before marching her way past Laurance and Katelyn and over to the staircase where she quickly went down. Katelyn looked at the staircase in wonder and followed the meif’wa down it. 

“A relic from Irene’s Dimension… relic… Irene…. Irene’s relic… Irene’s relic from Irene’s Dimension… relic…” Emmalyn muttered nonsense before she gasped loudly “YOU ABSORBED IRENE’S RELIC! You need to tell me everything right now, everyone else leave! I need to study this magnificent woman chosen by Irene!” 

“What!?” Aphmau yelled in shock. 

Kenmur began slowly walking away from the scene and over to the other side of the tree, Laurance kissed Aphmau's hand and whispered to her that he’d make sure that Emmalyn wouldn’t poke and prod her too hard. 

Aphmau understood how Emmalyn didn’t know half the things that happened in the Irene Dimension since she and Kenmur stayed back to soothe the panicked Kitten. She explained to Emmalyn everything that happened, dulling down Kitten’s part of the story so Emmalyn didn’t ask any questions, Aphmau didn’t know how everyone kinda brushed past Kitten’s whole panic attack and cool powers that she had but if it means that Kitten’s secret was safe then she didn’t care. 

Emmalyn inspected Aphmau’s markings to see if she could make them do anything “Do you have any idea what this means?” Emmalyn asked after Aphmau finished explaining. 

Aphmau shook her head “I was kinda hoping you would answer that question.” 

“Oh right, well these are all theories of mine but… I believe you are directly related to Lady Irene. I’m not sure how, but you must be for the relic to react that way to you.” Aphmau stayed quiet for Emmalyn to elaborate more on what she meant “Well from what we’ve seen there are two different types of relics, the ones that are actual historical relics that have survived the earlier times and just things that have magical properties to them, like the Irene relic and the relic that formed when that crystal chunk from the Zonaralian and a piece of Alexis’ amulet formed together to create that brooch. I assume that with things like the Irene relic it’s kinda like inheritance because I mean there were so many different reincarnations of the divine warriors beside Irene so maybe possibly those reincarnations were like… children of the Divine in some way? I’m not exactly sure but it would make sense for the Divine’s relics to be bloodline related like how some children who have powers have those powers because their parents do.” 

“Do you think Zane knew this?” Aphmau asked, “I mean he was trying to get the relic as well, do you think he’s related to Irene as well?” 

Emmalyn shrugged “If I’m being completely honest, I don’t know. This is all a theory of mine so I could be completely wrong and maybe the relic just goes to whoever it wants, guessing that the relic is a sentient being that can choose things.” 

“If Irene was around over nine hundred years ago then why am I so special? I mean Levin is a descendant of Irene, I just have powers. I mean for all we know Levin could have the same powers.” Aphmau asked. 

Emmalynn grabbed Aphmau by her shoulders “You. Have. Irene’s. Relic.” She stared into Aphmau’s eyes with intimidation “She’s only told a few people and sadly one person whispered to another but now we know that Irene had a relic that gave her godly powers. She was one of the few people who managed to master more than just one type of magicks, the other people were most likely enthralling witches of the other Divines who are just as powerful as Irene but for some reason, people put Irene to such this high standard maybe because she basically healed the world from all chaos caused by The King but-”

“You’re rambling,” Aphmau said to make Emmalyn shut up, she didn’t want to be rude but she really wasn’t in the mood for so much talking. “Also, doesn't everyone have magick and they can learn it at any time? Why are there so few people who learned many different types of magick?” Aphmau asked. 

“That is a good question!” Belladonna said as she rose up from the staircase “But first I have to ask how are you doing?” she walked over to Aphmau after her quick leave from her a while ago before everyone arrived. 

“I”m fine, Emmalyn is bombarding me with questions and I feel as if I’m going to explode,” Aphmau answered, slightly joking. 

“What?” Emmalyn asked “I thought that it was a ninety-nine percent chance that if a parent has powers then a child has power and most adults today have some type of magicks. You usually discover your magicks around thirty to forty right?” 

Belladonna shook her head “I mean you are right, most of the time if a parent has magicks then has a child that child will inherit magicks but it’s not actually a ninety-nine percent change, it’s actually a fifty percent chance. It’s like a game of heads or tails.” 

“But a book that I read said that in all the villages that he visited almost more than sixty percent of the adults in that village had magicks. I’ve seen multiple scholars praise his works.”  Emmalyn defended her case. 

“Who was the book by?” 

“Leon Mark,” Emmalyn answered the Kharagosa. 

“Oh my, I would assume you knew what he really did for that book where he discussed magicks he only went to around ten villages when there are over a million village in Ru’aun along and if he was talking about in general that’s like probably a little over a billion villages that he’s saying have an adult magicks user population of sixty percent when really the true amount would probably be around point four percent,” Belladonna explained. 

“Oh wow.” Emmalyn said, “I totally didn’t know that, wow and to say that I’ve been basing all my theories on his work.” 

“Well, you aren’t exactly wrong.” Belladonna sympathized “There this other book about magicks it’s called The Secret World of Magick users where Anthony Eret talks about the history of magicks, the first magicks users, where magicks comes from it’s very interesting. Anthony Eret had a baby girl who had magicks but they and their wife were not magick users-” 

“Do you think one of them cheated?” Aphmau cringed. 

Belladonna laughed “No, no one cheated, I think if they did Anthony wouldn’t put this in their book but because they had a magick user child, who discovered their magicks around the age of four when she kept seeing Anthony’s wife’s dead grandma, they had to raise their child a certain way. Anthony decided to apply this to other children to see if their way of teaching a child how to use their magicks would make other children’s magicks show, their investigation proved that no everyone has the ability to learn magicks because only six percent of the children showed signs of having magicks while the other four percent showed no signs and never showed signs in their life as they grew up.” Belladonna explained. 

“Did they test multiple children on only that small group?” Emmalyn asked. 

“He studied this for over two years if I’m correct.” Belladonna answered, “I’m not all into science and that stuff and investigations I mostly like strategizing but it’s fun to learn these things sometimes.” 

“It really is!” Emmalyn said with excited eyes “So were other scholars able to use Anthony’s findings and do their own investigation because that’s really all that matters.” 

Belladonna nodded her head as she picked up the tea tray “Yeah, over around ten years I think more and more people used Anthony’s techniques and found out if their own children had powers or not or even if they had powers or not.”

“Well, the more you know I guess… So does that mean that I’m possibly related to Irene?” Aphmau asked.

“Possibly.” Belladonna answered “But for now I strongly advise you to not use your magicks at any cost. Because you know, sometimes things aren’t supposed to happen.” Belladonna slightly talked through her teeth as she stared deathly down at Aphmau. 

Was Dante suppose to die!? Aphmau's mind immediately went to, she didn’t want to say anything but she knew that was what she was meaning. “Yeah okay, I’ll try not to.” 

“Good, now I have to go clean stuff. Rest easy Aphmau.” Belladonna said as she walked away. 

“You too!” Aphmau responded as she got out of the cot she was in, flipping the blanket off of her and throwing her legs to the side. She was still a little woozy but she could walk which was all that mattered to her at the moment. Her body was sore all over and she just wanted to get out of these stupid clothes that she was always in, she wanted to go and ask someone for some new clothes today so she didn’t have to wear this constant reminder of what happened. As she walked slowly, trying to cause as little to no pain as possible, she looked down at the markings in her hands. 

Why her ? She asked Why was I chosen to carry this burden of Irene’s magicks. She didn’t even know if it was true that she carried Irene’s magicks and if so why were the ‘symptoms’ so early? She would’ve expected her marking to come after absorbing the relic but she got them MONTHS before, it was strange to her. Was this the universe’s way of telling her that she was more than just Irene’s relic, she had more magicks than she imagined? A hand on her arm snapped her out of her thoughts, Laurance was standing right next to her with worry on his face. 

“Are you okay?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau nodded “Yeah just a little… distant with all this stuff.” 

“So I didn’t get everything that she said… she was kinda confusing.” Laurance itched his neck in nervousness. 

Aphmau laughed “It’s fine, she uh… she said that I might have a connection to Lady Irene.” 

Laurance’s eyes went wide “Really!? That’s great!” He pushed Aphmau’s hair behind her ear, his eyes were so soft when they made contact with hers “I always knew you were a goddess.” 

Aphmau slapped the guard's hand away and rolled her eyes “I should’ve known you were going to say that!” Laurance was simply laughing as Aphmau started walking away from the guard “I can’t tell you anything huh?” 

Their conversation was interrupted by the stranger popping in out of nowhere “We need to fix that bandit problem.”

Aphmau and Laurance both jumped when the man spoke unprompted and without a sound before. 

“Dear Irene! Where do you come from!?” Aphmau asked. 

The stranger pointed to the hole in the floor that led to the staircase in the middle of the tree “The staircase but nevermind that, this place has supposedly been dealing with these bandits for years now. They grave robbed a dead wyvern and have been stealing things from the original village.” 

“They stole from Ungrth?” Laurance asked “Holy Irene…” 

“Yes, so we should do something to help them. I mean I don’t know any of them but if they have the confidence to kidnap a poor little girl what else will they do.” The stranger answered. 

“That’s lovely of you but I’m not sure Levin would like that. I mean he does so much for this village and I reassured him just today that I wouldn’t take the Lord position from him. I’m afraid that he’ll think I’m trying to steal it from him by helping with this.” Aphmau said, “I mean I want to help them.” 

“Aph this is something big we can do. Don’t you feel a little helpless since we’ve gotten back I mean… maybe not you but I’ve just been feeling like a dead horse and I want to do something about it.” Laurance said. 

“What do you mean? You aren’t a dead horse.” Aphmau said. 

“I know you may think of me as someone useful but I’ve done nothing-” 

Aphmau cut off Laurance “It’s barely been two days since we came back, of course, you’re going to feel a little useless.” She sighed and looked between the two men before thinking of the village. Maybe they could take it back, maybe this could be the start of rebuilding an actual village for Levin to rule over. “Yeah, yeah we should do this,” Aphmau said. 

“Yes!” Laurance cheered, getting the attention of Katelyn, Emmalyn, and Kenmur “Aph this is going to be great and we can even surprise Levin with it afterward.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “So what are we going to be doing exactly? The only thing that I can think of that would help reduce the bandit problem is possibly… rebuild the wall?” 

The stranger tilted his head “I was thinking something like killing all the bandits we can find but that’s a better option if you want to be friendly.” 

Laurance and Aphmau stared at the stranger in complete horror. “What is wrong with you?” Aphmau asked, “Like what in the world is wrong with you.” 

The stranger shrugged “I’m not sure but, KATE-LYN!” The stranger yelled at the woman. She snapped her head towards the group and walked over. 

“What is going on?” She asked, “I heard something about dealing with the bandit situation but nothing else.” She said. She had a slight cover of worry over her face when she looked at Aphmau. 

“We’re thinking of rebuilding the wall!” Laurance answered, the excitement was obvious in his voice “Do you wanna help?” 

Katelyn thought for a moment before a lightbulb went off in her eyes and she started digging through the pockets she had in her armor before she pulled out a brown pouch that jingled. “I know that just concrete and wood won’t help so I can go out and find and get stronger materials from them like possible clay to make bricks and whatnot.” 

“What’s that?” Aphmau asked, pointing to the pouch in Katelyn’s hand.

“The money that I got from giving you guys that armor oh so long ago. I never used it because I knew that deep down it belonged to the village.” Katelyn said. 

“How long do you think that’ll take?” Aphmau asked, “We can’t leave this wall in shambles forever.”

“Oh I know, I’m not sure how long it’ll take but hopefully no longer than a week. For now, you guys can possibly use rocks or concrete that’s in the village, I’m sure they have some.” Katelyn answered, shoving the pouch back in her pocket for safekeeping. 

“I found some tree logs in a stack right next to the forest bordering the beach.” The stranger answered, “We can use those as some type of base.” 

Laurance nodded “Okay well I guess we should get going, I’ll see if Kitten, Belladonna, and Zoey want to join since they always want to help with everything.” Laurance joked. 

Aphmau let out a weak laugh “They think it’s like their job.” 

“I mean technically it was their job to help you with your kids,” Laurance said as the group began to walk down the stairs of the treehouse. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “Yeah but it’s been like forever, I don’t see how they have to help with everything.” 

“Sometimes people feel better if they help everyone, like how Mr. man over here doesn’t like to help anyone and that makes him feel better.” Katelyn nudged the stranger. 

“Okay whatever, you’re lucky you can’t see my eyes or I’d totally be giving you death eyes right now.” The stranger threatened. 

“Why do you wear that bandana anyway?” Aphmau asked, she never really took a minute to question why the stranger’s eyes were always covered with a red bandana. Even when he fought Zane he didn’t even take it off. 

The stranger shrugged “It makes me more focused, and I don’t like anyone seeing my face.” 

“I bet you are just so pretty.” Laurance fluttered his eyelashes. 

The entire group laughed. It felt nice to laugh after the seriousness that happened today, even if they had a small party it was quickly ruined which just brought back the stiff nature that swept through the village. 

The group walked into the settlement and split off to go get materials, The stranger and Katelyn offered to go get materials, Laurance would go get the three other ladies that were always with them, and Aphmau told them that she wanted to go check up on Dante and Itsuki to see if they were okay. No one objected to Aphmau's request. She walked towards the house that Nana  and Dante owned as the rest of the group split off, she looked down at the pink and blue flowers littered in the grass at the foot of the house. She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer, Nana was the one to quickly answer the knock and opened the door for Aphmau. 

“Oh, Aphmau! How are you doing?” Nana asked, inviting Aphmau into the house. 

“I’m good! Still a little woozy if I’m being honest though.” Aphmau answered, she looked around the house, Nana was seemingly the only one there. 

“Oh, Dante and Itsuki are upstairs resting. I don't care if he’s feeling a hundred percent, I just don’t want to let either of them outside right now. I'm sincerely grateful to you for saving my loved ones.” Nana responded they held Aphmau’s hand. 

“It wasn’t just me though, my uh… my friend was there as well.” Aphmau didn’t exactly know what the stranger was to her, maybe a friend, maybe an acquaintance, who knew.

“Oh, what’s their name?” Nana asked, letting go of Aphmau’s hand to get back to the food that they were making. 

“Oh, I uh… he doesn't want us to know his name.” Aphmau answered, “Likes to keep his identity a secret.”  

Nana raised an eyebrow at Aphmau’s response “Hm, strange. Well, I’m happy he saved my husband and daughter’s life, now I think they will be very happy to see you.” Nana nodded their head towards the second floor. 

“Oh right!” Aphmau remembered and headed to the second floor which looked to only hold the bedroom part of the house. She went through the only open door in the hallway and found Dante and Itsuki sitting on the bed playing with what looked like tiny maids before turning into actual maids, Aphmau wondered what happened to Nana’s maids and why she snapped at Itsuki for mentioning it. 

Aphmau knocked on the door getting the attention of the two occupants of the bedroom, Dante motioned for her to come in so she did. She sat down on the bed next to the father and daughter. 

“Aph I seriously cannot thank you enough for saving me and Itsuki,” Dante said, placing his hand on Aphmau’s. 

Itsuki piped up “I can’t either! You guys were so cool, what is that guy's name that saved me and daddy?”

“Oh um… he hasn’t really told anyone his name yet, he likes to keep his identity a secret. I just kinda call him the stranger or ‘man’.” Aphmau shrugged. 

“Really?” Dante asked in confusion “I don’t know if I feel totally comfortable with that but… he saved our lives and I’m entirely grateful for that I guess I have to let it slide.” 

“Has this been the first kidnapping here?” Aphmau asked. 

Dante nodded, his mood turned sour “It was on the one day that we allowed ourselves to let go of our guard too. I can’t imagine how stressed Levin must be, he’s been trying to get aid from other villages but since we’re such a small community who can barely defend against the constant barrage of bandits not many people see us as a ‘worthy profit’ to invest in.”

“Maybe things will change,” Aphmau said. 

Dante shrugged “Who knows. For now, we’ll probably just have to increase patrol.” 

Aphmau shrugged and got up from the bed “Well it was nice talking to you, hope Kawaii~Chan ungrounds you soon.” Aphmau joked as she walked out of the room. 

“Me too,” Dante said before Aphmau left.

When Aphmau got outside the couple’s house it looked as if everyone else in the group was done with their ‘mission’ and were heading back into the middle of the settlement as some sort of regrouping to make sure everyone had everything they needed. Katelyn told everyone that all she needed was to pack the common essentials before heading out because she knows where the settlement keeps their horses so the bandits don’t steal them. The stranger handed Aphmau some of the materials they needed to build the base for the rebuilding of the wall before they headed out, Laurance had grabbed Kitten and Belladonna but not Zoey because she was doing things with magick and no one wanted to bother her.  

Katelyn split off from the group halfway into their walk to go get the horse that she needed to begin her journey to whatever village was near which didn’t look like any. 

When they got to the wall they set down all their materials and got to work. In the end, it took them almost four days to fix all the holes in the wall, fix some of the actual whole walls, and get the gate of the wall working like it was supposed to in the first place. The worst part about the whole thing is that it took Katelyn almost a week to come back to the settlement and the entire time everyone was worrying for her and wondering if something had happened to her.

Chapter Text

Aphmau sat at a table with Emmalyn and Kenmur as they tried to figure out more stuff about relics and Irene. They weren’t getting anything though and it was obviously starting to frustrate Emmalyn. 

The librarian groaned “I’m not finding anything useful that could help us. This is so frustrating not learning anything new in the presence of Lady- Aphmau!” 

Aphmau snickered “Yeah, how dare you, Emmalyn?” She joked. Kenmur rolled his eyes. 

Emmalyn went silent with her eyes wide before she burst out “Oh my Irene, I’m so sorry! Please forgive me I swear I’ll find out what exactly you are or what you absorbed! Please don’t be upset with me!” 

It shocked Aphmau a little to see the woman in such distress. She placed her hand on top of the other’s “Emmalyn it’s okay! I was just joking, it was all for fun!” Aphmau consoled the woman. 

The woman’s chest stopped moving so fast and her breathing was so fast when she realized the words that Aphmau had said “Oh I… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to react that way. It's just Irene means a lot to me and I would never want to see her disappointed in me even if it’s you.” 

“It’s okay, I don’t see Irene the same way you do but if she’s important to you like that I won’t joke around like that,” Aphmau said, a slight tap on her shoulder got her attention turned away from Emmalyn and now towards Malachi. 

“ Mom, can we talk? ” Malachi asked. 

“Do you want to talk?” Aphmau asked. 

“ Yes. ” He answered. 

“Oh yeah, what’s up?” Aphmau asked, turning in her chair to focus on Malachi. 

“ It’s private, ” Malachi said. Aphmau made an ‘o’ face and stood up, excusing herself from Emmalyn and Kenmur. He took her over near Levin and his house, in the past week that Aphmau had been staying here she had learned a good bit of RSL and could understand Malachi a little bit better. 

“ Levin is beating himself up over almost losing Dante. ” Malachi signed “ I feel like you should talk to him. ” 

“What do I talk to him about though? I can only say so much to him that it will impact him. I mean, people don’t really listen to their mothers, it's a way of life.” Aphmau asked.

“ Lord stuff. ” He answered “ He’s never had advice from a Lord on how to be a Lord. Tell him how to handle situations like this. ” 

It took Aphmau a minute to comprehend everything Malachi said but she got it in the end. She looked over at the house next to her, she looked back at her son and nodded “Yeah okay I can talk to him. I love you.” 

“ Thank you, I love you too, ” Malachi said before Aphmau walked away and entered the unlocked house. Zoey and Belladonna were sitting on the couch looking frustrated while Zoey read a book. She wasn’t sure why Levin was still upset over the Dante situation, it was a week ago and she would’ve assumed that he’d gotten over it by now but it looked like he hadn't. 

Zoey turned her head and a small smile grew on her face “Hey Aph, how are you?” 

“Hello, Aphmau.” Belladonna greeted “I’m guessing Malachi made you come over here to talk to Levin or something like that.” 

“Yeah.” Aphmau laughed “He’s a little worried for him.” 

“I am as well.” Zoey agreed “I shouldn’t  have let him be Lord at such a young age.” 

“Zoey, this was Levin’s choice to become Lord.” Aphmau said, “Even if you did say no I don’t think that would’ve changed anything.” 

“True, well Levin is upstairs probably sulking. I have a strong feeling you can make him feel better.” Zoey said. 

Aphmau nodded and walked up the staircase in front of her that went to the bedroom part of the house. She knocked on the door that was labeled “LEVIN” and waited for the blonde hair and blue-eyed son to answer. 

Levin opened the door and a confused expression washed over his face “Mom?” Levin asked, “What are you doing here?” 

“Malachi asked me to come over here and talk to you, he’s worried,” Aphmau said as she entered Levin’s room and sat at his desk. 

“He shouldn’t worry about me, that just makes me worry about not worrying so no one has to worry about me-” 

“Levin, honey.” Aphmau stopped her son from rambling too much “Can I talk to you about something semi-serious.” 

Levin sat down on his bed “Yeah what’s up?” 

“I want to talk to you about what being a Lord means,” Aphmau told him what she was doing here. 

“Oh.” 

“I want you to ask me any question you have about what being a Lord is like. I just want you to know that I was only a Lord for a little less than two years, I’m new to this stuff as well.” Aphmau said. She didn’t want Levin to feel nervous to ask for help about this type of stuff.

Levin nodded and fidgeted with his hands for a bit before asking his first questions “Is it normal for Lords to go through hard decisions like rationing food and stuff like that?”

Aphmau nodded “Of course, I had to make a lot of hard personal decisions as Lord for the better of my people. I can remember the time when I kept telling Garroth I needed to go to the ‘underworld’ so I could save Laurance but in the end, I never went because Garroth persuaded me that I needed to stay alive for Phoenix Drop.” Aphmau answered, “I remember when I had to decide how much taxes would be and how that would affect my villagers and how they would view me, every Lord goes through that.” 

Levin nodded, taking in everything that Aphmau said “It’s nice to know that every Lord goes through that type of stuff.” He looked down at his hands before asking his next questions “Are we allowed to be… sad in front of our citizens?” 

This one made Aphmau hesitant to answer because she didn’t want to sugar coat it but she also didn’t want to scare the poor boy “Sometimes, to the people that we are really close to and sometimes even that’s hard. We need to look strong for our people and I know it sucks but you can’t really show sadness if you want to appear brave, I remember many times when I just wanted to burst out crying in front of people like Zoey, Dale, Garroth, or even Dante but I didn’t because I knew I had to stay strong and make them believe that everything was gonna be okay.” 

Levin nodded “That kinda sucks.” He laughed. 

Aphmau agreed “It’s not amazing to always be strong.” 

“We have to keep smiling for others…. I think this might be the hardest one but do we allow others to care for us as we do them?” Levin asked.

Aphmau nodded “Of course.” She had no hesitation in her answer “You want to do everything on your own but you can’t, you need to ask for help whenever things get too hard. I hung out with my friends a lot because of this, being Lord is an exhausting job and you can make it easier by just hanging out with friends.”

Levin sighed “I wished the Phoenix Alliance still existed… maybe that way we could get help with materials and stuff.” 

“What!?” Aphmau said in shock “Did the Phoenix Alliance disband or something?” 

“Oh, right you don’t know!” Levin called out “So, shortly after you disappeared the Phoenix Alliance was active for a few months however it fell apart because Belladonna was in no shape to lead it. She had to worry about her wife, us, Kitten, you guys, when we came back she was worrying for weeks about something concerning time, I’m not really sure if I’m being honest. She cried to us for weeks and weeks about how disappointed she was that she let something that you created disband, it was the first time anyone had really ever seen her cry besides Zoey who had been with her since forever so everyone was shocked beside her, she was so disappointed in herself and it was terrible to see her like that.” 

“Oh my Irene, that’s terrible.” Aphmau’s heart clenched for Belladonna who seemed like such a strong woman who never showed any real emotion, she wished she never had to go through that. 

“I know right, I wish it was still around so there was a way I could help my people more. I’d toss aside my pride just to make sure everyone here was happy.” Levin said. 

A lightbulb went off in Aphmau’s head as she remembered the wall that she and her gang had built to protect the settlement more and to start rebuilding the original Phoenix Drop. “I need to show you something.” 

“Oh! Surprise!” Levin said excitedly and got up to follow his mother. She led him out the house, out the settlement, through the ruins of Phoenix Drop, and then when they got close to the wall Aphmau told her son to place his hands over his eyes as she took his hand and dragged him the rest of the way. When she stopped in front of the wall she walked away and told him to open his eyes, when he let his hand fall from his eyes it took him a minute to process what he was seeing. When he did realize what he was standing in front of, he gasped loudly as Aphmau stood in front of him with her arms wide and a big smile on her face. 

“We rebuilt it! What do you think?” Aphmau asked, moving closer to her son. 

He began tearing up “You really didn’t need to do this.” 

Aphmau hugged her son “Hey don’t cry, don’t cry. We just wanted to protect the village more, now it’s only temporary I feel like Katelyn should be coming back soon with stronger materials.” 

“You really didn’t have to do this.” He cried into his mother’s shoulder “Thank you so much mom, seriously.” 

“Of course honey, I would do anything to help this village. I still need to show Malachi so we can go back and make him cry as well.” Aphmau joked. 

Levin laughed but his laughter quickly faded as he looked over Aphmau’s shoulder “I think someone’s at the gates.” Levin nodded his head towards the gate. 

Aphmau turned around and saw Katelyn and a woman very similar to the fiery head dark-skinned woman that kissed her one time after turning her back into a human after being a red chicken for so long. Katelyn had new clothes that looked so much more comfortable than anything Aphmau had ever seen her wear and three large burlap bags, the woman next to her had the same thing but her outfit was much more armor-like. 

Aphmau quickly pulled the lever to open the metal gate that blocked the women from the ruins of the village, she ran back to the middle to see the women and the fiery-headed woman slid off her horse and ran to hug attack Aphmau. 

The woman pulled back and put her hands on the sides of Aphmau’s face “Gods I remember that face anywhere, especially with those clothes I made dear Irene do you never change clothes!?” 

Aphmau laughed and put her hands on the woman’s hands “I’m so happy to see you Cadenza!” 

“Are you shocked to see me?” She asked, pulling away and showing herself off in all her glory “I still need to know what the fuck happened to you all those years ago! Where the fuck did you go!” She had a beautiful puffy white undersuit with big black bulky armor pieces that were on her shoulders, hands, chest down to her waist that flared out like a skirt, and down to her legs that covered black boots. There were brown strings tied above her elbows to make sure that nothing was too puffy. 

“It’s such a long story, what I want to know is why are you here?” Aphmau asked the woman. Her hair which resembled fire was in beautiful knots all over her head that were separated into almost trapezoid shapes. 

“Well, Miss. Katelyn over here all the way to New Meteli in search of stronger materials for a wall.” Cadenza motioned behind her with the multiple burlap bags “When I heard that you were back I wanted to go with her immediately and now we are here!” 

“Huh, well do you want us to show you where we live and stuff like that?” Aphmau asked. 

“I would love to!” Cadenza jumped up and down “So where is it?” 

Aphmau, Katelyn, and Levin led Cadenza and her horse all the way down to the settlement, while walking her face was in complete disbelief as she looked upon the ruins of the place she used to call home. Her face only brightened up a little bit when they got to the settlement, to know that everyone was safe and living together, to know that there were still a handful of people living in the village she used to love. 

When she entered the settlements she gasped and halted to a stop, Levin and Aphmau aided Katelyn in getting the burlap bags off the horses and bringing them to a safer area, ignoring Cadenza slightly. She stood still as she watched her adopted brother talk to the little boy that thought of him as a father. 

“Laurance?” She said loud enough for the man to hear. He turned around and his eyes snapped in surprise. 

“Cadenza? Cadenza!” He ran towards his sister and hugged her tightly, almost knocking the pair over. Two cried into each other’s shoulders as they fell to the ground to hold each other tighter. 

She held her brother’s face as more tears streamed down his face “Gods you don’t look different.” She laughed as she caressed Laurance’s face. 

“You look so different.” He tapped the shoulder armor piece. 

“I mean I kinda had to if I wanted to be Lord of Meteli.” Cadenza informed as she sat up. 

“Lord of Meteli!?” Laurance yelled loudly, sitting up to look at his sister better “No way! You are not!” He lightly slapped his sister's shoulder. 

Cadenza laughed “Yeah! Didn’t expect that to happen right? Especially with me running away from home and all but uh… Laurance you… you know what that means right?” 

Laurance furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before they softened and more tears fell down his face “Hayden’s… he’s gone?” 

Cadenza nodded “It was peaceful though, no foul play was detected and he passed in his sleep.” 

A hand went to his mouth as he remembered all the moments he had with Hayden even if that wasn’t even his dad “I… I can’t believe that. Oh dear Irene I can’t believe that, he made so many people happy.” 

“He did, he was so nice to you and me, caring for us even if he didn’t adopt you.” Her face softened at the sight of the distressed Laurance “He’s in a good place now though” 

Laurance nodded and wiped his tears. He looked into his sister’s eyes “I missed you so much, it’s stupid how much I’ve missed you and I wasn’t even gone for long.” 

“Not gone for long?” She repeated in confusion “What in the world do you mean? You disappeared for fifteen years and now you're saying that you weren’t gone for long!?”

“Well, I guess Aphmau hasn’t explained it to you yet. I wouldn’t blame her, she probably thought you looked like a trash can with that armor.” 

She gasped and punched her brother in the arm, knocking him back as he rubbed his arm in pain where she had hit him “Same old Laurance, huh!” She quickly stood in a huff, Laurance struggling to get up with the pain in his arm. Laurance rolled his eyes and followed Cadenza as they began to bicker with each other, she went over to Aphmau who was talking to Levin and Malachi about what she wanted to do with the wall which Malachi was excited to hear about. 

Aphmau turned her head “Oh wow looks like you too became acquainted.” Aphmau laughed. 

Cadenza rolled her eyes “He called me a trash can because of my armor.” 

Malachi snorted which made Levin quickly slap his brother. Aphmau smiled at Cadenza and Laurance “I’m glad you guys are getting together nicely.” 

“Yeah I’m glad too, now you need to tell me what happened during those fifteen years.” Cadenza demanded. 

“Oh right, yeah let’s go inside so we can get comfortable.” Aphmau pointed to Levin and Malachi’s house. 

Cadenza sat on the couch in disbelief, Aphmau had finished explaining everything that had happened to Aphmau and her group for the fifteen-year time period. Everyone left the girls alone to talk about what had happened, they figured that since they were so close it was better to leave them alone, also Laurance wanted to talk to Dante about something and everyone else had to go see what they wanted to do with the wall.

“That is freaky like that is insane!” Cadenza finally said after long awkward silence “So since like a minute there is a year here, if you get Garroth back this year then He’ll barely have any time to get hurt by Zane.” 

“Huh, I never really thought about that. Well, now that we’re done with my story I want to know what you’ve been doing these past few years.” Aphmau said. 

Cadenza giggled “Well, lots actually. The people of Meteli stayed in Phoenix drop for I think two years before most of us took up the offer to go to Scaleswind since our old village yeah know… burned to the ground. Afraid that Meteli was about to become a myth from the lack of population I told my father that we should take action and find a new place to settle, that’s where we found New Meteli! Once we settled we grew lots, it was the biggest population boom Meteli has ever seen, then after a few years Hayden passed away and I became the new Lord of Meteli, Sterling is still the head guard of Meteli but now under my rule, also I found out I’m a lesbian.” 

“Oh wow, that’s hm… a lot of news,” Aphmau said. 

Cadenza laughed “Yeah I know right! I would’ve gladly helped Levin and Malachi at any point but I guess we were too far north for them to reach us without the risk of the settlement being in danger.” 

“Well you’re here right now and just gave us our building blocks to taking back Phoenix Drop and that means everything.” Aphmau comforted the woman. 

“Yeah, that’s true…. Oh! You must be wondering what happened to Cookie, well basically what happened was after you disappeared I took her in and she got to live such a long and beautiful life before passing away in her sleep like my father. She had a beautiful litter of puppies with them showing a lot like the father who was a husky. I gave away most of the litter but kept one boy and named him Crumb.” 

Aphmau’s mouth was agape “I thought they had all died oh my Irene! That’s amazing, do you know where the others are?” 

Cadenza nodded “Thorgi, Puma, Jiggy, and Phoenix are all with Kiki last I heard. She is in Scaleswind with her daughter Leona. Now I’ve talked your ear off enough I-” 

Cadenza was cut off by the sound of the door opening and Dante walked through into the house, he stopped when he spotted Cadenza and a soft smile grew on his face “Cadenza, wow. How have you been.” 

“I’ve been great?” Cadenza was facing the guard “You don’t look too bad yourself.” 

Dante rolled his eyes “You know you’re lying, who knew being a father would take so much out of you.” 

“Oh yeah, Aphmau told me about that! I’m so ready to see your little girl and play with her hair, I bet she’s just such a cutie!” 

Dante laughed “Have you heard anything from Nicole?” 

Cadenza shook her head “I haven’t talked to her in years, it’s funny, I thought you and Nicole would’ve-” 

Dante shook his head “I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention Nicole and I like that.” 

“Oh! Oh okay yeah, that’s cool, cool, cool. Uh, well I should get going and punch Laurance and fuck him up and then play with your little girl!” Cadenza jumped over the couch and quickly left the house leaving Dante and Aphmau in the awkward air. 

“Cadenza’s as energetic as ever.” Dante pointed out. 

Aphmau laughed “I know right, god she barely looks any different. Did Levin tell me what we did by the way?” 

Dante nodded “They actually took me with them to see it, Malachi cried like a baby it was so sweet. Thank you so much really.”

Aphmau nodded and bit her lip “I think I want to get the Phoenix Alliance back together.” 

Dante stood still and froze while he fully processed what Aphmau just said “Holy shit, are you being serious right now?” 

Aphmau nodded “I think it’s the best thing and I really want this to happen.” 

“Well you shouldn’t be telling me, you really should be telling Belladonna,” Dante said, everything was in a rush to Aphmau and she thought she was talking fast. 

“Belladonna? OH! Do you think she’ll accept and want to be the leader of the alliance again?” She asked.

“I mean there is only one way we can find out, I think she’s outside,” Dante said. 

Aphmau quickly got off the couch and followed Dante quickly as he led her to Belladonna who was currently talking to Cadenza and greeting her to the settlement. Aphmau’s heart was beating a million times a second. Aphmau tapped on her friend’s shoulder and took a quick breather before she started talking again. 

“What’s up you look like you’re about to have a heart attack,” Belladonna said.

Aphmau took a deep breath “Would you be willing to be the leader of the Phoenix Alliance again.” 

Belladonna’s eyes widened “Excuse me? What?” 

“I want the Phoenix Alliance back but I won’t do it if you don’t want to do it, you are seriously the only one I trust with this job.” Determination was embedded in Aphmau’s eyes, her hands were softly grabbing onto the Kharagosa’s. 

“It’s been… it’s been so long since I did anything like that I… I’m not sure.” She looked towards anyone in reassurance, telling her what to do, she didn’t exactly know. 

“You still have all those strategies flying around in your head?” Aphmau asked. 

Belladonna nodded “They never stopped.” 

“So are you willing to lead this alliance?” Aphmau asked one more time. 

Belladonna took a deep shaky breath, her eyes were teary and if she didn’t wipe them now she would’ve burst into tears “Yes, yes I’ll be the stupid leader of this alliance.” She laughed and Aphmau started cheering and clapping her hands. 

“Wait we’re bringing back the Phoenix Alliance?” Laurance asked, he appeared behind Aphmau “It disbanded?” 

Belladonna nodded “Yeah, it was too much for me to handle it with my entire family being gone. Aphmau, do you want to have a meeting on this?” 

“Right now? Uh yeah, I think that would be great.” Aphmau answered “Gods, am I vibrating? I feel like I’m vibrating.” 

Dante placed his hand on the woman’s shoulder and shook his head “Nope, but I suggest that we plan what we’re going to say at this meeting before we actually have it. Belladonna, I assume you are going to do most of the talking so you’re going to have to figure out what in the world you’re going to say.” 

“Hold up, what is happening?” Cadenza asked, completely and utterly confused about the whole situation with everything going so fast. 

“We’re bringing back the Phoenix Alliance with Belladonna as our leader once again,” Laurance said in the simplest way possible. 

“Oh wow, that’s a big deal. How are you guys even going to do that?” Cadenza asked. 

“That’s what we’re going to have to figure out, also where do you want to have this meeting and who are we having it with?” Belladonna asked Aphmau. 

“Well I assume may be either in the tree or just down here and I’m thinking, Dante, Kitten and Zoey, Malachi and Levin, and everyone I came back with unless we want to include everyone but I don’t think we have to,” Aphmau answered. 

“I think it would be pretty useless to include everyone, not that everyone isn’t important but we can tell like the ‘important’ people first and then tell people like Donna or Nana what we’re going just casually I bet,” Belladonna said. 

Dante nodded “Well I’ll start setting that up, I’ll probably just do it in the tree so we can get away from anything, you two start talking about the meeting and such.” Dante said as he hopped on his feet and ran away from the ladies and Laurance. 

Laurance nodded “Well,” He grabbed his sister’s hand “I guess I’ll take her, and then we can regroup when the meeting starts.” He dragged Cadenza away from the ladies to let them start throwing out ideas on how they can rebuild the Phoenix Alliance.

After around twenty minutes of idea storming and thinking of what she wanted to do to rebuild the alliance, Belladonna finally wanted to tell it in front of everyone. Aphmau and she went up to the tree where everyone else was and prepared to present what they wanted to say.

Belladonna stood in front of her friends, some strangers, and some family. She took a deep breath before presenting her idea “I recently had a conversation with Aphmau and… I want to reform the Phoenix Alliance, to make it bigger and stronger than it ever was before. Now that I am once again the leader of the Phoenix Alliance I feel like my leadership skills can come in handy, not just for one village, but for all of them. Leading an alliance requires more than I could ever imagine, I didn’t get the chance to lead the alliance as much as I wanted to before I decided to renounce my position, unofficially might I add. I feel guilty that the first and last thing this alliance ever did was help me and I could never return the favor, I feel selfish and I’m going to change it.” She took a somewhat shaky breath “ We plan on traveling the region and beyond to make peace between villages and bring them together united even if they don’t join our alliance they’ll know that someone out there can help them. I don’t want anyone feeling left out of this like this settlement sadly was. This journey will be a long one but it will also serve as a triple purpose, I want to reform the alliance, get Aphmau to learn more about Irene and who she may or may not be, and… see faces that we haven’t seen in a while. Are you with me?” 

“Of course.” 

“Obviously.” 

“Yes! I’m so happy about this honey!” 

“ I think Levin speaks for all of us on this matter. This is amazing. ” Malachi signed. 

“I hope to the gods above that I don’t sound rude but… what qualifies you to be a leader of this alliance?” Cadenza asked. 

“I was thinking the same thing.” Katelyn agreed “I mean why would you renounce your positions as the leader and then just take it back up again.” 

Belladonna huffed “I lived in Phoenix Drop for four years after the war trying to get the village to the place it used to be and giving aid to the other villages that were affected but with the population being so low and my entire family missing I couldn’t deal with all that stress. When I left Phoenix Drop I ‘renounced’ my position as the alliance leader, leaving to go find my wife and the kids that I take care of, when we came back for two years then left again, and then came back after two years I took care of this new settlement for around six years and taught Levin most of the ropes of being Lord.” 

“Oh, dear Irene you are way more than qualified.” Cadenza said in shock. 

“I'm sorry for breathing your air dear god,” Katelyn said.

“So Cadenza, are you willing to join the alliance?” Aphmau asked, her smile beaming brightly. 

“Well of…” She gasped “Oh no! Oh, I feel so bad!” 

“What?” Laurance asked, “What’s wrong?” 

Cadenza sighed in regret “I would absolutely love to join the Phoenix Alliance but sadly I have a council who help me decide on things for my village. While I can make decisions on my own I still need to see if these decisions will be good for my people or not.” 

“That’s understandable.” Laurance said, “What if the first place we travel to is Meteli so we can be there when your council tells us to fuck off.” 

Kitten snorted “I guess we need to wake up bright and early so we can be grumpy and tell them to fuck off as well.” 

Katelyn groaned “I do not want to do another week-long trip.” 

“It’s really going to be a week to get there?” Kitten asked, “I thought you just had bad luck.” 

“Well it didn’t take me a week to get there because then it would’ve been a two-week-long trip, it really took my three days to get there and then four-ish days to get back because I took an extra day to sleep,” Katelyn explained. 

“So I guess it’s going to just take three days to get there because we’re… we’re not coming back here for a while,” Aphmau said sadly. 

“ Really? ” Malachi signed “ You just got here though. ” 

“What? You’ve only been here a week and you’re already leaving? That’s not fair.” Levin said. 

“I know, I know.” Aphmau went over to her boys “But if I want to help Phoenix Drop we have to do this, like Belladonna said, this trip is going to be a long one and we won’t be coming back for a while.” Aphmau explained that she had her hands on both their shoulders.

“ We’ll miss you .” Malachi signed. 

“I’ll miss you guys too but I won’t be gone gone , I’ll be helping from afar if you need it. Maybe if we find more stuff than we need we can send it to you.” Aphmau said. 

“What? Oh no, you seriously don’t need to do that, please just send the minimal amount of extra stuff you find.” Levin quickly said. 

Aphmau sighed “If you tell us to stop we will, like I said I’ll be just helping from afar, I expect you guys to do most of the working.” 

Levin and Malachi nodded “ Let’s not get sentimental now, we need to save that for tomorrow. ” Malach signed as he realized the sad atmosphere in the room. 

“I do need to ask, will it be okay if we stop by old Meteli before we start our journey to New Meteli? I would like to visit that place as I haven’t in a while.” Cadenza asked. 

“Oh! I would love to do that, I wonder what it’s turned into.” Laurance agreed. 

“So we’re leaving in the morning?” The stranger asked “First to old Meteli, then to New Meteli, then what? What’s our plan after that?” 

“We go wherever we want.” Belladonna answered, “Now I suggest that everyone get rest and we can tell everyone else in the morning, if you are going to leave with us I suggest that you figure that out now so we don’t have to do any last-minute packing.” Everyone took that as a sign to start mingling among themselves while also getting ready for the trip ahead and bed, Aphmau was mostly staring at the beautiful sight that was Belladonna and Zoey as she embraced each other and held onto each other’s forearms while talking to each other so softly. She had never seen two people who were madly in love with each other that it was soft and adorable every time you looked, it was like a warm lap was shining over them every time they talked or hung onto each other. Aphmau wondered what it was like to love someone as much as they did, to be so in love that you can’t help but melt when you touch your partner. 

Aphmau's love thoughts were interrupted by Laurance who was smiling his stupid cassanova smile that made Aphmau want to punch his arm and then hug him “Hi.” She said. 

“Sup, Katelyn sadly took my sister away from me so I went to the only other lady I knew.” He joked. 

Aphmau laughed and looked over Laurence's shoulder, Katelyn was leaning against the tree while talking to Cadenza, they looked like total opposites; it was insane. Katelyn had icy blue hair, pale snowy skin, and a harsh face while Cadenza had hair that looked like it was on fire the entire time, dark skin literally resembling the midnight sky, and a soft dainty face that made her always look like a princess even if she was wearing harsh armor. Katelyn looked like she was really enjoying herself for the first time while talking to Cadenza, it warmed Aphmau’s heart. 

“So how are you doing?” Laurance asked, “How’s everything going?” 

“Well, I’m going to miss Levin and Malachi and everyone else here but… how are you? You always ask me how I’m doing and after the whole Irene Dimension I feel bad for not really asking those questions.” Aphmau answered. 

“Hey look, it’s okay. If I’m being totally honest I’m a little scared, I think we’ll be fine in the long run but… what if this whole plan backfires and we just end up nowhere? What if while we were gone O’Khasis took control of everything and we have to have a war all over again because we won’t submit to them. It’s just a lot to think about and I think I’m psyching myself out.” Laurance explained. 

“I mean Cadenza is considering joining us so maybe that means that not every village is ruled by O’Khasis and with the whole O’Khasis ordeal, if Zane was missing for fifteen years along with their prized son that they just found out was alive then maybe O’Khasis is just in ruins,” Aphmau said. 

“Possibly, it’s still a scary thing to think about.” Laurance scratched his neck. 

“True… Hey, while I was talking to Cadenza she mentioned something about how since only a minute in the Irene Dimension is a year here then if we get Garroth back in this year Zane might not have enough time to injure or harm Garroth.” Aphmau mentioned.

“And?” 

“I was thinking that maybe we uh… we could try and… and get him back by opening the portal.” Aphmau was whispering to make sure no one else heard her. 

“Open the portal?” Laurance whispered in shock “Are you serious? Are you even confident enough in your powers?” 

Aphmau shrugged “I’m not totally confident but I want to try.” 

Laurance thought for a moment before smiling softly “Then let’s go ahead, I’ll be with you the entire way.” 

Aphmau smiled brightly, took Laurance’s hand, and set off for the portal. It took them a while to find the portal since the forest was so stupidly dense and everything was starting to get dark since it was already around seven or eight at night. They were surprised that no one set off to follow them since there weren’t a lot of people in the treehouse and someone ought to notice that they were missing but the entire time that they walked through the forest they heard no extra footsteps which both worried them and made them happy. When they finally got to the portal the air was still, the forest was quiet for once, and the atmosphere made Aphmau’s spine shiver. Goosebumps were all along Aphmau’s body as she walked around the portal. 

“So what do we do?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau shrugged “Maybe we just walked through it?” She answered as she walked through the empty portal, her eyes squeezed shut. Nothing happened. “Maybe we walk back through it?” she said more quietly as she did the same thing but just backward.

“Please?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and shrugged “It wouldn’t hurt, please open?” 

Nothing happened. 

Aphmau sighed “What if I just concentrate? Like complete silence and just think really hard about the portal opening?” Aphmau asked. 

Laurance nodded “Yeah that could work, I’ll just be here if anything goes wrong.” Laurance patted Aphmau’s back. 

Aphmau nodded and clasped her hands together, she went quiet as she concentrated really hard on opening the portal in front of her. She imagined opening doors, opening cellar doors, seeing Garroth turn around and smile at Aphmau while Zane lay dead on the floor. She remembered all the nice and fun times she had with Garroth back in Phoenix Drop, back before she was thrown into the future, back before he went quiet and pretended to be sick, back when he was her friend, her right-hand guard, her Garroth. A tingling feeling in her hands made her open her eyes, the portal was sparkling like it had glitter all over it and was making a soft humming sound. Aphmau gasped and started hitting Laurance’s shoulder out of excitement. 

“Laurance! Laurence! Do you think it’s opening?” Aphmau asked. 

“I don’t know! I don’t know!” Laurance responded. 

Aphmau slowly inched herself forward towards the portal, reaching her hand out as she got closer. Strong intense energy was coming from the portal. It made Aphmau’s stomach sick, her markings were glowing purple and she could feel the energy throughout her body, it was amazing. When she was about to put her hand through the portal she flew back and had a seething pain all over her face and the right side of her body, the pain was so intense that she completely passed out from it and laid on the grass with Laurance calling out to her. 

Aphmau woke up with Emmalyn and Belladonna yelling in her face. Katelyn and Kitten were trying to calm Zoey down in the background but their voices were muffled and Aphmau couldn’t hear them clearing, she could only hear the loud voices of Emmalyn and Belladonna and her heart pounding against her head.  When she looked down at the right side of her body where all the pain was there were scars all along her body, she could see it clearly since she was only in a sports bra and sweatpants. The skin was lumpy and rigid, it looked molted and was pink, her skin looked like it was paused in the middle of melting itself. Her markings had melted into the skin instead of looking like separate things, they moved up and down her skin, and in some places, it looked as if lightning had struck her. 

“DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT KIND OF DANGER YOU COULD HAVE BEEN IN!?” Emmalyn yelled at Aphmau. 

“WHAT THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU ABOUT MESSING WITH DIMENSIONS!?” Belladonna yelled into Aphmau’s right ear. 

“LADY IRENE MIGHT’VE BEEN GOD-LIKE BUT EVEN GODS CAN DIE! YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR POWER AND YOU’RE ALREADY TRYING TO OPEN UP DIMENSIONAL PORTALS!?” Emmalyn’s yelling was higher pitched and was giving Aphmau more of a headache than Belladonna was. Aphmau couldn’t even get a word out before one of the ladies was yelling again.

“THE REALM BARRIER IS SO DANGEROUS EVEN FOR A GODDESS!” Belladonna yelled before Aphmau shot up. 

“Will you guys shut the fuck up!?” She screamed, breathing heavily with her heart beating rapidly “Will you guys shut up!” 

“Aphmau just because you have Irene’s relic doesn’t mean that you can start messing with dimensions and things like that.” Belladonna scolded.

“I get it! It was stupid! You guys don’t have to scream into my ears though because of it! What the fuck is wrong with you people?” Aphmau hissed as she wobbled up “I don’t give a shit about anything right now okay? I’m not in the mood to be screamed at, I’m taking a breather.” 

“Aphmau you are so lucky that I thought of pouring the water from Irene’s statue onto your scars, that purple shit that is no longer on your body could’ve killed you. I get it, it sucks to not have something in your head work out but-” Belladonna was interrupted by Aphmau.

“Why the fuck were you yelling at me though? There was no reason for that.” Aphmau had never cursed so much in one day, she especially didn’t expect to be cursing at Belladonna of all people. 

“Because we were worried for you Aph, we thought that you died. I’ve read about people being torn limb from limb trying to open dimensional portals and rifts like that.”  Emmalyn explained. 

“I’ve seen people being torn limb from limb because they tried to open portals like that,” Belladonna added. 

Aphmau sighed, maybe all the yelling was making her angry, or maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t open the portal, maybe she was just in a bad mood for no reason… she didn’t know. She pursed her lips and left Belladonna and Emmalyn without another word, ignoring Kitten, Katelyn, and Zoey completely. She just wanted to blow some steam off before going to bed and waking up in the morning to head off to New Meteli and the very long journey ahead of her. 

Cadenza exited the treehouse to find her brother standing outside rocking on his feet “Laurance?” Cadenza asked as she stood next to him. 

Laurance snapped out his daze and looked at his sister “Yeah? What’s up?” 

“Are you and… are you and Aphmau a thing ?” She asked, twisting her middle and index finger together. 

“What!? No, why would you ask that? Did she say anything?” Laurance joked, nudging his shoulder against the woman. 

Cadenza rolled her eyes and pushed the man-child off of her. “You’ve been there for her since forever, even now. From the way that Emmalyn and Belladonna were yelling to that poor woman about how dangerous that ‘realm barrier’ thing is you could’ve been hurt.” 

“I’m her guard, I’m always there to protect her.” Laurance explained, “I’m always there with her.” 

“She’s no longer a lord though?” 

“Doesn’t matter.” 

“Laurance. You need to stop playing this nice guy route with her, you love her and she’s known about it since forever! Why hasn’t she given you a chance?” Cadenza asked, “You’ve made her smile in her darkest of moments, it’s not fair that she’s trying so hard to save Garroth and wouldn’t do the same for you and you sacrificed yourself in the underworld.” 

“Excuse me?”  A voice hissed behind the siblings. 

Cadenza whipped around and her heart dropped. Aphmau was standing at the entrance of the treehouse looking absolutely shocked, Cadenza felt Laurance’s hand on her arm in protection. 

“Aphmau, how much… how much did you hear?” Cadenza asked.

“Enough to know that you don’t know jack-shit! You don’t know anything I went through to try and save Laurance, I cried day and night worrying about him, I pleaded to Garroth for so long to let me go to Hell to try and save him but I had to be there for my village I had to protect my village and make sure they were eating. You don’t know how much I cried when I barely even KNEW HIM!” Aphmau screamed, moving closer and closer to Cadenza. 

“Aphmau I’m so sorry I didn’t mean it as anything bad-” Cadenza almost tripped over a rock that was behind her as she moved backward. 

“I’m trying my hardest to get Garroth back because I am not doing that again! I am not crying and crying till I vomit over Garroth because he’s going to be with me, he’s going to be here! It’s not my fault Laurance sacrificed himself and I wished he didn’t so I wouldn’t have to worry about anything that has happened in my life after that!” Tears were flying out of Aphmau’s eyes and through the blurriness of her sight she could see that Laurance was holding back tears, maybe because he too missed Garroth so much it hurt or that he just hear for the first time that Aphmau wished she was dead so she didn’t have to deal with all this shit that happened to her.

“Aph, stop.” Laurance’s voice broke in the middle of his demand as she pushed Aphmau back slightly, his cheeks were red and his nose was getting puffy. 

“Aphmau I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” Cadenza pleaded, she didn’t want Aphmau to hate her especially after just meeting again after fifteen years. Cadenza could feel tears start coming out of her eyes as she stared at Laurance as his back faced the hysterical Aphmau and his shoulders started softly shaking as soft whimper noises came from him. A pit in Cadenza’s stomach filled with guilt only got bigger as the two began crying in each other’s arms, what was she thinking, talking about that stuff without really knowing 

“Do you think that because we missed fifteen years we had to carry fifteen years of baggage?” Laurance asked.

Aphmau softly laughed through her tears “Probably, I don’t think I’ve cried this much in one week.” 

“Me neither.” Laurance laughed. 

Cadenza wiped her tears quickly and left the two alone to do what they wanted, Why was I so stupid? I didn’t mean to be rude, I was just speaking my opinion? Maybe I shouldn’t speak my opinion anymore, what if I listened to Gale more? Maybe Gale was right though, his racist sexist self… maybe he was right. Cadenza thought as she walked away from her brother and best friend, after fifteen years of straight missing them both you’ve already made them hate you after what? A few hours of the meeting you again?

In the morning Aphmau got up earlier than everyone else, well earlier than everyone else excluding the stranger who seemed to never sleep even in the middle of the night when Aphmau went to go get water. She got some new clothes from Donna and Logan and decided to try them on, it was simple brown high waisted pants with a white button-down shirt with pieces of leather that could be wrapped around Aphmau’s arms and legs for more protection which Aphmau obviously did, she also wore some brown boots that Malachi had given her as a gift. She even buckled a leather sheath around her waist and placed her sword inside the Dante had given her, he said that he always kept the sword in case she ever came back and since she was now back he had gifted it to her. She was surprised the sword was in such good condition but Dante had informed her that he made sure to take care of it every day and make sure that it never rusted or bent. She made sure to pack all of her things last night after all the fighting so she quickly made sure that she herself was packed and everyone else, she decided to bring along a book with RSL in it because what else could she do on the trip besides learning more RSL. She learned quickly after last night that almost her entire right side of her body was like her arm, her face was surprisingly the least damaged but it still had the lumpy lighting looking scars coming up from the next going up into her hairline. After making sure that everyone was packed she made her way down the treehouse with her bags and went to go find a horse that she would saddle up and use while on their trip. Dante informed that they didn’t have enough horses for all of them to use so even though there were going to be nine people coming along with them they could only get two horses, they technically had three because of Cadenza’s horse and if they didn’t push the horses too hard they could fit two people on each other if they wanted to so that just left three people to walk behind them. Once everyone got ready they met up at the Phoenix Drop gates for a final goodbye. 

Aphmau hugged Malachi and Levin one last time before pulling away “Everything is going to be okay I promise you, okay?” Aphmau told the boys. 

“ I know .” Malachi signed as he wiped his tears. 

“It’s weird seeing you leave like this, usually we’re the ones that are supposed to be leaving for long trips.” Levin joked. 

   Aphmau laughed and rolled her eyes “I’m going to miss you guys a lot, it was nice being with my sons again.” 

It was nice seeing my mom again after fifteen years.” Levin said. 

“ I hope you have the safest and best trip in the world trying to get the Phoenix Alliance back .” Aphmau didn’t know a lot of what Malachi said but she saw the word ‘safe’ and ‘best’ so she assumed he was talking about the trip. 

“Well, I hope-” 

“OW!” The strange groaned. Aphmau turned her attention to the man, he had his hands on his head and a red apple at his feet with Itsuki standing in front of him in shock. Everyone kinda froze as they watched the stranger stand up straight, pick up the apple, all while radiating anger.

“I am so sorry!” Itsuki apologized with fear in her voice “I didn’t mean to hit you at all!!”

The stranger said nothing as he crouched down to get equal height to the little girl. He bit into the apple and smiled “Nice throw kid.” He said before ruffling up the little girl’s hair and walking away.  

“What just… happened?” Levin asked as Dante rushed over to his daughter to see what in the world just happened. 

“Well uh… we uh… I hope that you guys have a nice time rebuilding Phoenix Drop and we should probably get going.” Aphmau said. 

“Okay, I love you and I’ll miss you.” 

“ Love you so much. ” Malachi and Levin hugged Aphmau one more time before she pulled away and went over to the other people in her group to start their journey. She already said goodbye to Zoey and Dante but she decided to say goodbye to them one more time before she got on her horse with Kitten and the group set off to Old Meteli, the group was herself, Kitten, Cadenza, Belladonna, Katelyn, Laurance, Emmalyn, Kenmur, and the stranger. Dante, Zoey, Levin, and Malachi would be staying back for obvious reason the reason why Kitten and Belladonna were coming with the group is that Belladonna was the leader of the Phoenix Alliance and Aphmau wanted everyone from the past to be on this journey, and Kitten thought that since she hadn’t contributed to the village in such a long time she, therefore, had no ‘true’ place there. 

It took them most of the day to get to the Old Meteli but the trip there was filled with laughter and cheeriness. Cadenza had apologized for saying that Aphmau hadn’t tried getting Laurance back from hell without knowing anything and Aphmau apologized for getting so worked for nothing, she really was just in a terrible mood from not being able to open the portal. Belladonna helped Aphmau learned RSL and taught her a lot of different phrases and started to help her on how to not be so wordy when signing, the stranger was talking more and looked like he was actually having a fun time, Cadenza and Katelyn got closer with a lurking Laurance in the background who was a little suspicious of Katelyn’s motives with his sister, and Emmalyn and Kenmur were just doing their own thing like reading books and talking about the scientific theory. When they got to Old Meteli their only real goal there was for Laurance and Cadenza to visit their old home after the devastating fire that happened right before the war of Phoenix Drop, Aphmau was still in shock that it was 1552 already and no cool ‘technology’ had been invented yet when Aphmau specifically pointed that out during the trip Belladonna explained that for a good few decades there was a massive dark age where nothing was being invented, written down, thought of, and people were generally depressed. These decades a lot of plagues and viruses popped out of nowhere so that didn’t help the invention of things so basically these few decades were just a big renewable of the world where lots of people died and then new people came along so of course there weren’t going to be ‘technology’ around.

Aphmau stood behind Laurance and Cadenza who just finished planting flowers in the middle of the ruins of Old Meteli, the flowers were red like the ones that Cadenza always used to turn into flower crowns and like the color she turned when Castor turned her into a chicken. Aphmau wondered what happened to Castor after all these years, maybe he was living in New Meteli and finally was sane again because he got help, or maybe he had died because his illness got too much of him.  

“Laurance, are you ready to leave?” Cadenza asked as the soft sound of clucking got louder.

“Did someone say, Laurance!?” A man said as he got into the view of the group “Where is his stupid stupid face?” 

“Oh no, oh no no no,” Aphmau said while shaking her head.

Chapter Text

Castor gasped as he and his group of chickens went towards the group “Laurance!? It’s been so long since I’ve last seen you!” 

Cadenza was shaking her head and muttering “Nope, nope nope.” while walking away. 

“Was that Cadenza?” Castor asked before quickly brushing it off “Whatever, Laurance my best friend! It has been too long since I’ve seen your stupid face, let’s see how long it has been.” The man began counting on his fingers trying to remember all the years that Laurance has been gone. His eyes were dilated, his hair had grown down to his shoulders and was braided on the sides, he wore puffy yellow pants that crunched up at the ankles and hips, a simple shirt with a cloak of white feathers covering it that went down to the man’s knees, and he still had his red bandana but this time it was hung around his neck. A small part of Aphmau’s heart ached for the poor man who looked like he had been alone all these years, Laurance was feeling the same way from how he looked and hugged Castor. 

“How are you doing buddy?” Laurance asked. 

“I”m doing amazing! Taking care of my chickens, living my own life, doing what… what I- Excuse me are you who I think you are?” Castor asked, pointing a finger at Aphmau. 

“Oh dear god,” Aphmau muttered. 

Castor gasped “You’re that terrible chicken house builder! You think I wouldn’t have recognized you with that stupid ponytail of yours?” Kitten had actually forced Aphmau into letting her put her hair into a braided ponytail after noticing how hot Aphmau was getting with her stupidly long and thick black hair. 

“I was kinda hoping you would’ve forgotten,” Aphmau admitted. 

Castor acted like he was offended. “Why would I forget the woman who saved my people?” 

“What?” Laurance and Aphmau both asked.

“You see, it turns out those ugly gross houses were miraculously and unexpectedly saved by some of my people from the flood of guards that attacked Meteli those fifteen years ago. You are a hero, terrible chicken house builder. We are even planning on building a statue of you out of molten feather-like my cloak!” The man flapped his arms up and down to show off his coat. 

“Then shouldn’t she be called something other than ‘terrible chicken house builder? …. Like her name?” Laurance asked. 

“Your… your name is not terrible chicken house builder?” Castor asked, tilting his head.

Aphmau shook her head “I swear I’ve told you it before but I guess you’ve never asked, my name is Aphmau Shalashaska.” 

Castor’s eyes widened at the name “Aph… Aphmau… Shala... Aphmau Shalala?” 

Laurance snorted and quickly turned around to have deniability. Aphmau pursed her lips and sighed “No, close but no. It’s Sha-la-sha-ka. You don’t have to really pronounce the ‘ska’.” Aphmau pronounced slower. 

“Shalashala?” Castor tried again.

Aphmau shook her head “Replaced the last ‘la’ that you did with a ‘ka’.” She instructed. 

Castor took a deep breath and tried for the third time “Shalashaska?” 

Aphmau and Laurance cheered and clapped their hands at Castor “There you go!” Aphmau said. 

“Castor, why are you still here in Old Meteli anyway?” Laurance asked, “I mean it’s abandoned, why don’t you live in New Meteli with Cadenza?” 

“Well you see, I did live in New Meteli I was getting something called ‘help’ but I realized that since no one was in the old Meteli the land was free to rule! I decided to come back and claim this village as the new Chicken Village!” Castor explained. 

“Oh wow, do you still live in your old house?” Laurance asked. 

Castor shook his head and shivered “No, it was taken by the infamous ‘Horse Shaman’. You see, I and my people are at war right now with the Horse Shaman, and his stupid people moved into my old place and he is the stupidest and ugliest shaman EVER!” 

“So you’ve been fighting with this Horse Shaman since when?” Aphmau asked. 

“What? No, we just go over there and throw eggs at his house sometimes.” Castor explained. 

“Then how in the world are you in ‘war’ with him then if he’s done nothing to provoke you?” Aphmau asked. 

“Uh uh… I… wait! What are you two doing in my village anyway? Here to spy for the Horse Shaman?” Castor eyed them suspiciously. 

“We are making a pit stop on our journey to ‘restart’ the Phoenix Alliance,” Laurance said, Aphmau slapped the guard in the arm and stared at him in disappointment. 

“Oh, really? Could I join this alliance?” Castor asked. 

“Um, uhh… do you want to check with your people first? I mean this all really depends on if they want to join or not.” Aphmau asked. 

“True!” Castor turned around and began talking to his people for a bit before turning back around “They want it.” 

Laurance slapped his hand over his eyes and Aphmau groaned. Aphmau turned to her guard “Uh, can I speak to you for a moment? We should discuss all of this.” 

“Yeah totally, we can go uh… over to that tree right there we’ll just be talking about… things.” Laurance pointed over to a tree next to a burned-down building covered in vine. Aphmau nodded her head and the two rushed over there, leaving Castor to talk to his chicken people. 

Aphmau slapped Laurance’s arm as soon as they were out of earshot “What is wrong with you? Why would you tell him anything about the alliance?” She asked. 

Laurence rubbed his arm “Stop hitting me and I don’t know! It was just a spur-of-the-moment type thing but like Aph… he was getting help and I bet that he still needs it so maybe this alliance could help him.” 

Aphmau sighed “That is true, I mean he obviously deserves from how much he’s helped us in the past, whether it is stupid or not.” 

“He’s also very strong in his shaman magicks, he could help us now if we wanted,” Laurence added. 

“So we’re actually going to let him join?” Aphmau asked. 

“I mean if you want to,” Laurance answered. 

“I feel like we should really talk to Belladonna about this,” Aphmau said. 

“Well we can tell him that he can join, we’ll tell Belladonna after, and if she says no we just never mention it to him again if we ever run into him,” Laurance said. 

Aphmau took a deep breath and nodded “Okay that sounds fine let’s do this thing.” The two shook hands and went back over to Castor who turned around at just the right time. 

“Aye! So, what is up?” Castor did finger guns. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “So you can join the alliance, we’ll have to talk it over with the leader but overall I bet you’re going to join.” 

The man gasped and clapped his hand, punching his fist into the air “Yes! Let’s go!” 

Laurance laughed “Well we gotta get going Castor, it was really nice seeing you again.” Laurance hugged the Chicken Shaman. 

The man’s face softened up as he embraced Laurance into his arms “It was nice seeing you too stupid Laurance.” 

Laurance pulled back and nodded, walking away from the man. Aphmau smiled at the man before shaking his hand “It’s going to be fun working with you Castor, I’m glad to see you’re doing better.” 

“I’m glad to see you don’t have a job as a chicken house builder,” Castor said. 

“Okay, that’s it. Bye.” Aphmau said coldly before following in Laurance’s footsteps and walking away. Laurance was wiping his eyes and sniffing while walking away, Aphmau didn’t know if it was allergies or if Laurance was actually crying but she stayed close to him either way. Cadenza and the rest of the group were standing around waiting for Laurance and Aphmau to stop talking to Castor, Laurance split off to go tell Belladonna of what happened and Aphmau went over Cadenza to scold her for leaving them. The group was just waiting at the end of the path that went to Meteli from Phoenix Drop to other villages, it was surprising that Castor didn’t already see them and head over, Aphmau guesses that he was too busy trying to rebuild old Meteli into the infamous ‘Chicken Village’. 

“Hey don’t yell at me!” Cadenza defended herself “How was I supposed to know that he reverted into his old ways, we were trying to get him help and it was working surprisingly, I guess it was just working temporarily.” 

Aphmau shrugged “I don’t mind it was nice to see him, it’s been a while and I was already wondering how he was doing.” 

Cadenza nodded “He was such a father-esc figure to me, Laurance, and… and Sasha and we meant the world to him even before he went crazy. It was nice to see him too but I just haven’t seen him in forever and it was kinda overwhelming if I was honest.” 

“Well, if you do join the alliance you might have to deal with him more than you like.” Laurance said as he went over to his sister and Aphmau “Belladonna just approved his joining I guess.” 

“He’ll be good and he needs help!” Belladonna called out with a big smile on her face, she knew what she was doing. 

Cadenza burst out laughing “Are you kidding me? That’s amazing but I guess you’re here to help anyone no matter their mental state. But I do suggest that you guys don’t mention Castor when you guys are trying to recruit villages because uh… uh he’s Castor.” 

“Yeah I don’t think I was going to mention him anyway, I love the dude but I don’t want people running away from us when they find out a crazy Chicken Shaman is a part of our alliance.” Aphmau agreed. 

Cadenza laughed “Okay well we should get ready for this week-long trip to Meteli.” Cadenza said nonchalantly.

“A week?!” Aphmau said in shock “But Katelyn said that she made it there in like three days?” 

“Well I mean we have three people walking with us so we have to go a little slower and because we took this small break that’s cost us most of the day it’s probably going to take us a week to get there.” Cadenza explained. 

“Didn't Castor mention something about a Horse Shaman? Or are we completely glossing over that?” Laurance asked. 

“I’ll go!” Kitten volunteered and shot up. 

“I guess I’ll go to see who this Horse Shaman is, I’m guessing they're just back at Castor’s old home so you guys stay here, and once we come back with horses we’ll head off. Deal?” Aphmau asked the group. 

“Yeah, that’s cool.” Cadenza and Laurance agreed. 

“Please dear God, don’t take too long I just want to goooo.” Katelyn groaned. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes as she hopped on her feet and ran over to Kitten who was already making her way to Castor’s old house which she strangely knew. The path to Castor’s house was the same but there was just more overgrowth in the way that made the pair have to go in a different direction. 

When they got to Castor’s old home it was pretty much the same but now there was a stable next to the house that held over a dozen large horses. Feeding one of the horses was a small person with short blonde hair, a plaid shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. 

“Um excuse me,” Kitten said towards the person “are you the Horse Shaman?” 

The person turned around, they had a very androgynous face with a slight beard and their eyes were bright blue “Hm? The Horse Shaman? Oh no, that’s my husband, HON-EY!” The personal called out, they had a white bandage over the side of their head that was shaved and their left eye was squinting but not their right. Aphmau was absolutely hypnotized by their brown skin glowing in the setting sun. 

A man came out of the house with black curly hair, light skin, an unbuttoned shirt, and cargo pants with no shoes. From the voice and the curly black hair, Aphmau and Kitten almost immediately recognized who came out of that house. 

“Brenden!?” Kitten and Aphmau both yelled incredulously. 

Brenden froze on the steps of the house “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He said with a smile. The three ran towards each other and collided with a tight hug, Brenden was the first to pull back so he could take a good look at the two women “Dear Menphia, you guys haven’t aged a day!” 

Aphmau laughed “That’s very sweet of you Brenden um… things happened and now we’re here.” 

“Well if you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine I’m just so happy to see you two.” Brenden’s eyes were watery. 

“Wait so, you’re the Horse Shaman?” Kitten asked. 

“The Horse Shaman?What- ohhh.” Brenden drew out and stared at the person feeding the horses who were now biting at their lip. He sighed “No, I’m not the ‘Horse Shaman’ I’m a horse breeder though. I’m guessing my husband, Rowan, told you that I was the so-called ‘Horse Shaman’?”

The person feeding the horses snorted “I mean they asked.” 

Brenden rolled his eyes “I got that stupid title because some nim-wit named the Chicken Shaman gave me that name after seeing my horses. I mean it keeps people away from my home because of the reputation that Chicken Shaman guy gives Shamans.” 

“Wait, you have a husband!?” Aphmau said, surprise on her face. 

“Oh yeah!” Brenden motioned for Rowan to come over to the group “This is my husband Rowan.” 

“Hi.” The man shook both Kitten and Aphmau’s hands “The name’s Rowan, I’ve been married to Brenden for a few years now and you can refer to me using they/them or he/him.” 

“Oh um, which one do you prefer?” Kitten asked. 

“Either one is completely fine,” Rowan answered.

“Well I’m so happy for you two but we have a little problem on our hands.” Aphmau began explaining their situation and how they needed two or three more horses for their group to be able to make it to Meteli in under three days. 

“Ahh, well you can obviously use our horses but please ask you to only take the ones with the label 'Training Horse’ on their stable fence and once you guys are done with them it would mean the world to me if you brought them back to me,” Brenden said.

“Oh of course totally, mind I ask what’s up with the bandage on your head?” Aphmau asked Rowan. 

“Oh, one of the horses decided to be a little bitch and knock me off of them while we were riding and I hit my head against a rock, I’m totally fine though,” Rowan explained. 

Kitten and Aphmau both cringed, imagining hitting their head against a rock made Aphmau feel extremely uncomfortable. They talked for a bit more, Aphmau and Kitten explaining in simple details what had happened and why they were gone for fifteen years and then also explained the plan for the Phoenix Alliance which Brenden was more than happy to hear about; he even volunteered to help with horses if they ever needed any. After it was the ladies' show and tell Brenden started explaining his position and why he goes under the genius ‘Horse Shaman’. He explained that he just wanted to have a simple life and with the title that he had no bandits would attack or harm his family, when Aphmau asked about how Zoey said that he lived in Phoenix Drop he explained that on some occasions he went over there to visit but he didn’t tell anyone about his home here because he didn’t want people finding out about where he lived where they then attracted other people and then bandits were to find out where they were. 

Aphmau and Kitten finally chose three horses that they wanted, they decided that having fewer people on the horses would be better for the horses in the long run. After choosing the horses they said goodbye to Brenden and Rowan and headed back to the group with the three new horses. When they got back everyone quickly saddled up and followed Katelyn and Cadenza as they led the group through a three-day journey to New Meteli where hopefully they would have their second alliance member in the Phoenix Alliance. 

Aphmau was more than ecstatic learning that Brenden had a husband now, he was always so obsessed with girls, and whenever Aphmau brought up the idea of letting go of this toxic masculinity that he held so close to his heart maybe the girl would actually start liking up, guess he finally did it and found someone who truly loved him for his true self. Belladonna during the trip loosened up more and told Aphmau about what happened to the Phoenix Alliance after she had left, Aphmau didn’t want to tell the poor Kharagosa that she already knew from Levin telling her so she just let the woman explain her situation. She was so happy she chose Belladonna to be the leader of the Phoenix Alliance, with how smart Belladonna was she knew that she would take the alliance to great and amazing places that Aphmau would’ve never been able to take it to. The decision to make Belladonna the leader was simply a spur of the moment thing, Belladonna brought up the idea of the Phoenix Drop wall for the war and the guard towers and she always mentioned having war strategies spiraling around her head so Aphmau just assumed that she would be perfect for the job. 

They only slept once during the three-day trip because Cadenza said they were close enough to New Meteli that sleeping for a bit wouldn’t cost them another day but besides that, they went through the night. At the end of the second day of riding, they entered a beautiful mountain valley and Cadenza began explaining that they moved to this mountain range because originally there was a lot of animal life and water so they moved there thinking it would be a great place to prosper but sadly they’ve already gone through famine and their water had been tainted more than once. But besides that their land was absolutely beautiful and lots of people came to visit just to see the beautiful skies and the mountains which was always a plus since more visitors meant more possible citizens. 

It was around the end of the day when they came across this stone arch tunnel, Cadenza led the group through it saying that this led to New Meteli. The tunnel was covered in flowers and vines and beautiful colors, it looked like a rainbow. When they exited the tunnel they were met with what seemed like a totally different planet, the sky was blue and the clouds were straight-up white, the color pallet of the village was browns, grays, dark greens, and beiges it was so beautiful. All the houses looked to be two stories and even with the amount of people Cadenza claimed to be in New Meteli there was a lot of space. The trees around the village were tall and large, towering over the village and casting large shadows that made some parts of the village seem like night. There were parts of the village that went down to a second level because of the unevenness of the land but it somehow made the place even more pretty.

Cadenza showed the group to the farm where they could keep the horses until they had another way to explore the great outdoors. Cadenza ran down the stairs that led to the farm to get back with the group of people she just rode with. 

“So, this is New Meteli!” she said happily. 

“Did you guys build this all from scratch?” The stranger asked, everyone was still in complete awe over the beauty. 

Cadenza nodded “We sure did! Under my father’s rule of course but I had the houses remodeled a little so they could be more ‘stylized’.” 

“It looked absolutely gorgeous,” Laurance said what everyone was thinking. 

“Thank you, I’ve put a lot of love and energy into making this place the best it can be. Now that it’s getting late I would like for all of you to get cleaned up please.”  Cadenza said. 

“Hm, why? I’m fine like this.” Kenmur said. 

“Are you kidding me? We’ve been riding for three days non-stop with only one break and even with that, we slept in the dirt . I’m not letting any of you go anywhere without taking some sort of shower or bath or anything like that, and please tell me you people packed more than one outfit.” 

Everyone said yes. 

“But, where are we staying?” Aphmau asked, “Are we going to be staying in the same place?” 

“I can have the ladies stay with me in my home and if the guys want you can either stay in my home or the hotel down the street.” Cadenza answered. 

“I don’t mind where I stay, I just want to sleep.” Laurance weakly laughed. 

“Same.” Kenmur and the stranger agreed.

“When are we having the meeting?” Belladonna asked. 

“Well, obviously not today so maybe tomorrow evening.” Cadenza answered, “Or whenever you want to tomorrow.” 

“Tomorrow evening is fine!” Belladonna said with a smile “So I guess we should go and get ready to bed, Cadenza we’ll follow you.” 

Cadenza nodded “Boys, I’ll get my head guard to take you to the hotel because I would feel a little more comfortable if I didn’t have boys in my sleeping quarters.” 

“Of course.” Kenmur nodded. 

“I wouldn’t want boys watching me sleep either.” The stranger said. 

“Who said anything about them watching me?” Cadenza said with a fearful face. 

The stranger held back a laugh with Laurance standing next to him biting his lip to hold back a laugh as well. Cadenza rolled her eyes and told the ladies to follow her to her house which was gigantic. The ladies sat in the house’s living room waiting for Cadenza as she got her head guard and to take the boys to the hotel down the street. The house had a foyer, a study on the right, if you went straight through the foyer on the right you would find a living room which the ladies were in, on the left you would find a dining room, going past the dining room and the living room you would find the family room on the right that led to the second floor and the backward, and finally, on the left leading to the dining room, you would find the kitchen. The girls were so insanely in love with the house and were so shocked to find that this house was insanely big. They didn’t go up the second floor because they wanted to wait for Cadenza to get back for her to finally show off her own house. After Cadenza came back they had a small dinner, Cadenza showed off the second floor of her house, she gave some of the ladies, like Emmalyn and Kitten who had forgotten sleepwear, sleepwear, and finally, everyone got ready for bed. Before Aphmau was about to go up to the room she was sleeping in, Cadenza stopped her and told her to wait for her name because she had a surprise. 

“Aphmau!” Cadenza said with a drawn-out sing-song. “I’d like you to meet someone!” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and laughed, going to the family room and walking up the polished wooden stairs to go to whatever room that Cadenza was in. She was wearing a satin tank top with satin ruffled shorts that were a light purple that Donna had gifted her since she said that she didn’t fit into them anymore after her multiple pregnancies. Aphmau walked into Katelyn and Cadenza’s shared room and gasped, there was a medium-sized husky and german shepherd mix sitting at Cadenza’s feet with a pastel pink color with the tag name “Crumb”. Aphmau went on her knees and started petting the dog and scratching it all over, she looked into the dog’s eyes and almost started crying. 

“He has Cookie’s eyes,” Aphmau said, looking up at the redhead. 

Cadenza agreed “He really does, I think out of all the dogs he looks the most like his mama.” 

Aphmau looked into the dog’s eyes one more time before looking back up at Cadenza “Did Cookie live a good life? Like was she happy all the time?” 

Cadenza nodded, her voice broke a little as she explained Cookie’s life that she had after Aphmau disappeared. “I made sure to take great care of her and treat her like the lady she was. Don’t worry about the others, by the way, I know Kiki is probably taking really great care of them. Maybe next time you see Brenden you should ask him how Kiki’s doing, I mean they are siblings, after all, maybe he’s kept in contact with her.” 

“I didn’t think of asking him about Kiki.” Aphmau laughed and stood up “Well I hope you have a goodnight, and we’re having that meeting tomorrow right?” 

Cadenza nodded “Goodnight Aphmau.” 

Aphmau walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and walked down the hallway to open the door to her shared room with Emmalyn. Emmalyn was tying her hair up when Aphmau walked in “Cadenza told me that New Meteli has a rather extensive library. Cadenza is a good Lord to be so open about knowing more about the world, most Lords like having their citizens in this tiny little bubble.” 

“Well, that’s good.” Aphmau said as she began brushing her damp hair for the fiftieth time that day “Are you and Kenmur going to go there tomorrow to try and find something about Irene.” 

Emmalyn nodded “And the other Divines hopefully, there is a little history on them so not everyone knows about them. We’re going to try and read every book we haven’t read already.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and got into her bed “Try not to get suffocated in all those books, what if your head doesn’t have enough room for all that knowledge.” 

Emmalyn laughed “Hopefully Kenmur starts remembering more things then.”

Aphmau laughed before pulling the covers to her shoulders, Emmalyn turning off the lights, and the two of them going to bed the comfortable beds the Cadenza had in her house. 

Aphmau gasped awake, she thought pressure was being applied to her chest but when she looked down nothing was there. The sky was so bright and blue but somehow purple and stars were mixed in with it like the night sky was slowly seeping into the morning sky. It was like Aphmau was on some strange island, as she looked around her the only thing she was the blue and purple sky and the green grass below her but when she looked ahead of her she stared at this beautiful gigantic tree that reminded her of the treehouse that Levin and Malachi had before she left. She went over to the tree, the grass and flowers tickling the bottom of her feet she progressed forward. She reached out to the tree, the rough bark lightly touching her fingers made her feel something familiar. 

Footsteps behind her made her jump “Who's there!?” She said, getting ready to punch someone. 

Garroth came out from behind the tree with his sword ready to attack but when he saw Aphmau he faltered, his mouth was agape and he froze. Aphmau stood there in complete shock as tears started falling from her eyes. 

“Garroth?” Her voice broke as she looked at her right-hand guard, he looked the same as when she left him but not as tall. 

“Aphmau?” He whispered before dropping his sword on the ground, the two ran and hugged each other tightly bringing both of them to the ground. Aphmau sobbed into the man’s shoulder, he rubbed her back as tears came out of his eyes just as strong. 

“I thought you were Zane, I’m so happy you aren’t Zane… you aren’t Zane.” He whispered to Aphmau as she hiccuped from her tears. 

“This can’t be real.” She pulled back, bringing her hands to the sides of the man’s face. Her face was snotty and her eyes were red but she didn’t care about her appearance at this moment “This has to be some kind of cruel cruel dream.”

Garroth went quiet, putting his gloved right hand into the back of Aphmau’s hair. Aphmau got goosebumps when she felt his hand against the back of her hair “If this is a dream then I…. Can I kiss you?” He whispered. 

Aphmau’s body felt weak as she let out a barely comprehensible ‘yes’. She almost broke down when she felt Garroth’s soft lips against hers, his hand barely gripped her hair but it still felt nice and the goosebumps were still all along her body. He didn’t seem to mind the burn marks all along the right side of her body and that almost made her cry as Garroth put his other hand on the right side of her face with all the burns and didn’t even mind. Their faces were both still wet and hot with their tears, she could feel the wetness on Garroth’s face against hers. Aphmau pulled back to breathe, they were both softly gasping for air, they stared into each other’s dilated eyes. 

“I...I have no idea what’s happening but at least I got the chance to do that, even if this is a dream.” Garroth said.

“Garroth you… you said…. Before I left you said that you loved me I… so much has happened I-I don’t know.” Aphmau did love Garroth, she loved him more than life itself but she also loved Laurance more than life itself, she also had no way to get Garroth back from the Irene dimension. “I-I do love you, it's just… I-I-I  don’t know how to, my heart it's just… so confusing.”

“Hey,” Garroth wiped a tear from Aphmau’s cheek “it’s okay. I don’t expect you to return the feelings that I have for you if your love is true elsewhere. I know about you and Laurance and I feel terrible for doing this behind his back.” 

“Laurance and I?” Aphmau asked “What do you mean?” She could still feel the tears coming down her face like she could see the tears falling down Garroth but they weren’t as bad after the kiss. 

A small smile grew on Garroth’s face “I know you two have something special, I… I saw you two kissing in the woods.” 

“Wh-what?” Aphmau asked, “Garroth I’ve-”

“I don’t need you to explain yourself, it’s okay, I’ve come to terms with it. I just need you to know that I’ve loved you since the day that I met you, since the day we built that stupid dinky boat together.” 

“You remember that?” Aphmau asked. 

“Why wouldn’t I?” 

A loud church bell rang through this world that Aphmau and Garroth inhabited, it made both of them jump. The world seemed to fade right in front of Aphmau’s eyes, the land at the edge of this strange island began breaking off and the sky started turning a blackish purple with the stars only getting bigger. The only thing that stayed the same was the tree that Aphmau and Garroth were sitting by. 

“What is that?” Aphmau was fearful of what this meant. 

“Is the moment over?” Garroth asked, staring into Aphmau’s eyes. The last thing she saw before she gasped awake in the room she fell asleep with was Garroth’s beautiful blue eyes that reminded her of the sky outside. 

She woke up with a terrible headache and pressure on her chest but when she looked down at her chest like last time she saw nothing. Emmalyn was pacing back and forth in front of the door to the room Aphmau and she were in, Aphmau strugglingly sat up on the bed, leaning against her arm as she rubbed her eyes “Emmalyn? What are you doing?” Aphmau asked groggily. 

Emmalyn snapped her head at Aphmau, she could almost hear the librarian’s heartbeat as she began screaming at her “Are you kidding me!?” she snapped “Where the fuck were you!?” 

Aphmau raised her eyebrow in confusion “What do you mean?” 

“What do I mean? What do I mean she says.” Emmalyn began hysterically laughing to herself “You were gone! I woke up and you were not in bed, you weren’t anywhere in the house! Literally, everyone is out looking for you, where did you even come from!? I’ve been here this whole time waiting just in case you came back and now you’re in bed all COMFY!?” 

“Emmalyn please, can you not scream right now? I have a headache.” Aphmau informed, rubbing her temple with her free hand. 

Emmalyn took a deep breath “Can you please just explain where in the world you went.” 

“I uh… I guess I was dreaming? I was in this weird island world thing and the sky was purple and blue with stars and clouds and there was this tree.” Aphmau began explaining all that happened in her dream, how everything felt so real, how she saw Garroth, how she kissed Garroth, and how right before she woke up the loud church bell rang throughout the world. 

“Do you think that this dream had something to do with you disappearing?” Emmalyn asked. 

Aphmau shrugged “I’m not sure what exactly to think about it.” 

“Aphmau, you could’ve been with the actual Garroth Ro’meave. I’ve never heard anything like this before, though some scholars have documented things that might be attributed to this but not exactly this.” Emmalyn said she was semi talking to herself semi talking to Aphmau.  

“I don’t even know how I got there first of all so I don’t know how I could’ve met the real Garroth,” Aphmau added. 

“Well, I’m going to delve deeper into the subject of dream sequences and people who can see dreams and the possible future. I’m gonna go to the library with Kenmur and see if I can find anything like this, I’ll try and find Cadenza to let her know you’re safe. Stay here if  you don’t feel well.” Emmalyn said as she began walking out of the room. 

“Was planning on doing that anyway,” Aphmau said as her goodbye to Emmalyn as she exited out the door. Emmalyn looked slightly like an old lady which made Aphmau laugh to herself in bed as she awaited Cadenza.  

After a couple of minutes of just playing with her hands and staring at the ceiling Aphmau’s door bust open with the fiery redhead holding the doorknob. She rushed over to Aphmau and hugged the woman tightly making it hard to breathe. “Gods forfend I thought we lost you, you scared me to death!” Cadenza whispered as she hugged Aphmau. 

Aphmau had to tap Cadenza on the shoulder to make her stop hugging her so tightly and pull away ‘I didn’t mean to scare you or anything I still don’t know what exactly happened.” 

“I know, I know I was just worried. I didn’t want to lose you for another fifteen years again.” Cadenza said as she fixed Aphmau’s hair. 

“I’m sorry, I hope I didn’t scare anyone too much.” Aphmau smiled softly and awkwardly. 

“I thought you were taken captive by bandits somehow so I have half my guard squad looking for you, I guess I’ll have to send someone to retrieve everyone since they are out looking for you. Belladonna said it was okay if we postpone the meeting to tonight if you aren’t feeling amazing, you are the person who made her the leader anyway. I can make breakfast for you in a bit or if you want to you can make it yourself I don’t really care I just want to make sure you’re alright.” Cadenza said, she was talking fast and her hands were vibrating. 

“Thank you Cadenza, you are the sweetest person I know, truly. I promise I’ll never leave like that again, I hope I never leave like that again.” Aphmau corrected herself. 

Cadenza laughed, she softly sniffled “Well you get changed and all that jazz, I’ll be outside having a talk with my guards on what we should do with you.”

Aphmau nodded “I’m just gonna… chill for a bit.” 

Cadenza softly nodded and walked out of the room while wiping her eyes. Aphmau almost fell asleep one more time but she decided to finally just get up and look around her room, she brushed out her hair with her fingers before finding one of her brushes and just brushing her hair out for a few minutes while choosing what outfit she wanted to wear for the day. She was going to wear a white tank top with a light peach ankle-length skirt that wrapped around itself and left a small window that showed her feet, she also had a sheer purple scarf that she wanted to wrap around her waist as some type of belt. She wondered if Cadenza was still in love with fashion like she used to be when she lived in Phoenix Drop. When looking around the room she even found Cadenza’s old sewing machine in the closet with a bunch of other trinkets like snow globes and different scented candles. Cadenza was wearing the same outfit she wore when she first saw Aphmau, or maybe it was a different color armor? All she saw the puffy undershirt that Cadenza first wore when Aphmau saw her. 

After a few minutes of just waiting out her headache her door burst open with Laurance standing where the door was, he rushed over to Aphmau and hugged her tightly. 

“Everyone else is outside, we were so worried.” Laurance caressed Aphmau’s hair. 

“I know, I know, I know.” Aphmau comforted “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” 

Laurance pulled away “Cadenza and Emmalyn already told me everything. Kitten and Belladonna have nothing to say on the subject, Emmalyn and Kenmur are already in the Meteli library trying to figure the universe out, Katelyn is with Cadenza who is outside, and no one really knows where the stranger is.” Laurance informed. 

“How do you feel though?” Aphmau asked. 

“I don’t think Garroth would do something like that so out of the blue, even if he liked you for so long.” Laurance answered, “I know Emmalyn says that it's real but it's just… unlikely.”

“Well I mean I did actually go somewhere else if my body really wasn’t in my bed, do you think that someone is going to have to watch over me?” Aphmau asked. 

Laurance shrugged “I really don’t know. It would be the safest option though.” He looked down at Aphmau’s outfit and his face immediately went red “HOLY IRENE I’M SO SORRY!” He covered his eyes and backed up. 

Aphmau laughed “Oh it’s okay! It’s okay!” 

“No, it is not! I will be leaving you to get dressed and I’m going to go kill myself.” Laurance said as he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and laughed to herself as she began to get dressed and brush her teeth, her usual bathroom routine. She put on her shoes, placed her sword in her sheath, and set out for the day. Outside of the house Cadenza was arguing with Laurance about someone watching over Aphmau with Katelyn and another guard standing on the sidelines. The other guard that Aphmau didn’t recognize looked calm and quiet as they stared at Laurance with longing eyes, they wore a yellow undershirt with silver chainmail and silver armor with golden flower patterns everywhere, the only thing that wasn’t yellow or silver was the guard’s boots which when to their knees and were brown. They had olive tan skin, cyan eyes, and long black dreads that were shaved on the sides. 

“I can’t watch Aphmau, I need to get my beauty sleep. I care about her but I just can’t.” Cadenza argued. 

“Oh yeah sure ‘beauty sleep’, don’t act like I didn’t hear you and Katelyn talking all night last night,” Laurance said. 

Cadenza gasped “When were you in my house!?” 

“I don’t need to tell you anything!” Laurance yelled. 

Cadenza sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose “Why don’t you just dress like a girl and then you can watch over her.” 

“I’M NOT DRESSING LIKE A GIRL!” Laurance yelled “And anyway I would be way hotter than you and all your fucking potential with Katelyn would be LOST by ME! Right guard dude?” Laurance pointed at the Meteli guard standing next to Cadenza. Laurance was just wearing a simple button-up shirt with brown pants and brown boots with brown leather or gauze wrapped around his hands and forearms. 

The guard stuttered “I-I guess I don’t…. Uh, I don’t really know.” 

Laurance rolled his eyes and continued to argue with his sister. Aphmau sneakily went over to the Meteli guard, she tapped on the guard’s shoulder to get his attention and waved “Hello, um how are you?” 

“Me? Oh I’m fine, are you new to the village.” The guard asked. 

Aphmau nodded “I am one of Cadenza’s friends.” 

“Oh! Well hello there, my name is Zack Rossi, my pronouns are he/him and I am the head guard here in ‘New’ Meteli. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with, but at the moment I’m a little preoccupied with making sure that Cadenza’s brother doesn’t start a fight with her. Welcome to New Meteli by the way.” The guard nicely said, his mouth was covered with a sand-colored mask so Aphmau didn’t really know if he was smiling or not but his voice told her he was. He had long straight black hair that went down to the ends of his neck and teal colored eyes. His skin was very pale, like his guard uniform was stopping him from experiencing sunlight. 

Aphmau thanked the man, told him her name and her pronouns as well, and then went over to Katelyn. She was happy that something like telling someone your pronouns seemed so normal now, she wondered how Kawaii~Chan felt when things like that started getting normalized. Aphmau tapped on the woman’s shoulder, she didn’t want Cadenza or Laurance to drag her into the argument so she made sure to be as quiet as possible “Hey.” She whispered. 

Katelyn looked over her shoulder at Aphmau “Oh hey, if you don’t mind I could be the one to watch over her.” 

“Oh that would be greatly appreciated, thank you.” Aphmau said, “You really don’t have to do that though.” 

Katelyn shrugged “It’s not a problem. I’m interested to see what happens and how exactly you get there if you do it again of course. I understand your magicks are not predictable right now so it may or may not happen again. We’ll have to see, I suppose.” 

Aphmau nodded “Hopefully I get to see Garroth again.” 

Katelyn raised her eyebrow before nodding her head in agreement “Hopefully. Could I ask you a question by the way?” She asked. 

“Sure!” 

“Emmalyn and Cadenza told us that you kissed Garroth in your ‘dream’. Did it feel real?” Katelyn asked. 

Aphmau bit her lip and nodded “It’s like it was actually happening.” 

“Interesting. I don’t know Garroth as well as you and Laurance do, all I know is that he is Zane’s older brother and allowed himself to betray you. It makes me wonder what could drive a man to betray someone he decides to kiss later” Katelyn shrugged “Were you and Garroth a thing?” 

Aphmau shook her head “We weren’t, he said he loved me and… I don’t know if I love him back romantically or platonically, I deal with that a lot.” 

“You do? How so?” Katelyn asked, finally turning around to face Aphmau completely. 

“Well, it’s a little private I guess but Laurance has always said that he loves me and I do believe him and I love him too but… I don’t know how I love him exactly. Do I love him because he protects me as a guard or do I love him because he makes me feel warm when he laughs.” Aphmau answered. 

“Hm, I dealt with that when I was in my teenage years. A strange thing that love is.” Katelyn added. 

Aphmau laughed “Yeah. Now could I ask you something?” Aphmau asked. 

“You entertained my silly question, so what’s on your mind?” Katelyn asked. 

Aphmau took a deep breath, she had been thinking about this during her time in the Phoenix Drop settlement and during the trip to New Meteli but she wasn’t sure if it was something that she really wanted to do or something that could actually help them “Do you think we should make some sort of new village or new settlement?” Aphmau asked. 

Katelyn shrugged “If you’re asking me if you should be Lord again, I don’t know anything about that or you as I only knew for a few months and most of those months were me just stalking you in my ship. If you’re talking about making some type of home base I think that would actually be a good idea, I assume that we’ll be traveling around for years and years, region to region, so it would be nice to come back to a place to just chill. If you’re worried about your sons that's really not my position to talk about.” 

Aphmau nodded “Thanks, I’m gonna think about it more and talk to Belladonna before I decide anything.” 

“Sounds like a good idea.” Katelyn nodded. 

Aphmau snapped her fingers and left the woman to make sure that no fights ignited between Cadenza and Laurance. She didn’t know exactly where the New Meteli library was and she didn’t want to bother Zack again because he was busy with the Zvahl siblings so she went up to the nearest guard and started asking him where the library was. The guard she walked up to had the same armor as Zack, gold and grey with a white cassock covering most of the armor. They also looked like Zack as well but their skin was much paler and they had pure black eyes, they also didn’t have a mask on their face. The first thing Aphmau noticed was not the guard’s void black eyes but the guard’s nose, it was narrow and straight, Aphmau always admired different nose shapes instead of the basic European ones that circled the Phoenix Drop village back when she was Lord. She got the guard’s attention. 

“Eh? What do you-” The guard grumble “OH SHIT! I apologize for addressing you so abruptly! Had I seen you before you got my attention then I would’ve addressed you the way you deserve to be addressed!” 

Aphmau raised one eyebrow “Which is?” 

“Well, that’s a good question! I’m not sure how I would address such a beautiful goddess such as yourself.” The guard winked, they had very sharp teeth, not anything dramatic but it was definitely noticeable. 

Aphmau sighed and rolled her eyes “Okay chill out Laurance I’ll ask someone else.” She began walking away when the guard apologized profusely and took back what he said. 

“I’m sorry, that was stupid I know I shouldn’t have said that!” Aphmau sighed once more and turned back around, giving the guard one more chance to introduce himself “My name is Vincent Andrews, I’m second in command here in ‘New’ Meteli uh… Oh! My pronouns are he/they and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” The guard smiled. Was this a new thing that was going on with guards? They had to tell you their pronouns before really speaking to you? If so Aphmau didn't really mind it. 

Aphmau smiled back “it’s a pleasure to meet you as well.” She told Vincent her name and pronouns “I’m just looking to see where the library is.” 

“Ah the library, love that place, well you’ll just take a right down here, continue straight, and turn right again and you should see a big building with the word ‘LIBRARY’ above the door. You’re allowed to read as many books as you want, however, Lord Cadenza is very strict about people taking them elsewhere. We once had a bandit come in and take a very specific book about the bloodline of the King and burn it in the street.” Vincent answered. 

“I guess some people just don’t like things that could help better society,” Aphmau added. 

Vincent shrugged “Guess not. Now is there anything else I can help you with?” 

Aphmau shook her head “I’m good thank you.” 

Vincent nodded “Glad to help, if there is anything I can help you with please let me know. If you happen to come across Lord Cadenza could not tell her about the whole… me hitting on your thing? She hasn’t been in the greatest mood this morning since her friend went missing, she’s safe now though from what I’ve been told but I just don’t want to cause her any more stress.” 

Aphmau held back a giggle that the guard didn’t know that she was Aphmau but she went along with it anyway. She thanked the man for his service and went on her way to the library while walking she came across Belladonna and the stranger who was simply taking and enjoying each other’s company, it was a bit funny to Aphmau that the two people who were closed off the most and the most ‘mature’ would be confined in each other. 

Before she turned right and walked into this little shopping plaza that held the library she saw a beautiful wheat field with a little house and a terrified-looking woman at the edge. Aphmau’s curiosity got the best of her and she made her way to the wheat field. The soft sounds of hissing and meowing coming from the house-made Aphmau suspect that this poor little lady had a cat problem. 

“Hello!” Aphmau waved at the lady “How are you?” 

“Oh, I’m good! I just had a little rat problem but this lovely meif’wa volunteered to help me!” The lady answered. 

“Oh so is that the meowing and hissing that’s in your house?” Aphmau asked. 

The woman nodded “I don’t know exactly what she’s doing in there.” 

“I GOT THEM!” Kitten yelled. 

The two women turned their heads and both yelled out of shock, grabbing onto each other a bit. Kitten had a handful of dead rats and a large dead rat hanging out of her mouth, her eyes were dilated and she looked like she was in the middle of an adrenaline rush. 

“What are you doing!? Get that thing out of your mouth!” Aphmau yelled, swatting at the rat in Kitten’s mouth. 

Kitten let the rat fall out of her mouth “Okay gods! I don’t have anywhere to throw this out.” 

“Um, there are a bunch of waste bins over there if you want to throw it out over there.” The little lady pointed at a building that was close to the library that Aphmau wanted to go to originally. Aphmau and Kitten thanked the lady before Aphmau dragged Kitten away to throw out the dead rats. 

Aphmau and Kitten ran into a guard about the height of Aphmau but just a little taller with blonde hair and grey-ish eyes. He looked panicky and apologized profusely for running into the pair. 

“Hey, it’s okay we’re just trying to find the waste bins I guess?” Aphmau said, “Do you know where those are?” 

“Oh yes!” He pointed to a couple of wooden bins just to Kitten and Aphmau’s right. 

Kitten slapped Aphmau’s arm “You really just couldn’t just look to your right?” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “I’m sorry were you looking?” 

Kitten scoffed and went over to the bins and poured out the dead rats in her arms. Aphmau began talking to the guard, she learned that his name was Adonis, he used he/him pronouns, he was the leading soldier on the negotiation team, and that he was very sorry for bumping into the girls. 

“Okay well, I’m gonna head out and try to get lost in the woods!” Kitten said before sprinting off into the mountain valley. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “I’m sorry for her she’s insane.” 

“Oh, it’s fine! Would you like me to help you with anything else?” Adonis asked. 

Aphmau shook her head “I’m good, it was nice talking to you!” She said as she walked away. 

“It was nice talking to you as well!” Cloud waved goodbye. 

Aphmau turned around and finally went towards the library which was her original destination. She ran down the shopping plaza and finally found the library which was bigger than she expected. Aphmau opened the door, which rung a little bell that cheered Aphmau up a bit, and went over to the librarian sitting at the check-out desk while reading a hefty book.

Aphmau waved her hand “Hello!” She whispered, “Um I’m looking for a girl with black glasses, blonde hair, kinda dresses like an old lady.” 

“Oh yes! She’s upstairs in the deity section with her boyfriend.” The Librarian answered. 

“I-uh… okay thank you!” Aphmau waved goodbye, quietly giggling to herself about the fact that this poor woman thought that Emmalyn and Kenmur were dating. She walked up the stairs that were direct to her write and looked up to see if there were signs that showed what books were on what shelf, luckily there were! She took a right and headed straight for the deity section where she found Emmalyn and Kenmur sitting on the floor reading books, their legs were entangled with each other. 

Aphmau held back a laugh at the sight, they weren’t exactly helping their ‘single’ case “Hey.” She whispered. 

Emmalyn turned her head and a smile appeared on her face “Hello! We sadly haven’t found anything.” 

Aphmau nodded “It’s fine, I’m just worried about how that librarian downstairs said that Kenmur was your boyfriend…” 

“WHAT!?” Emmalyn and Kenmur both yelled out of shock. 

“Shh!” Aphmau put a finger to her lips at the two “What is wrong with you two you are in a library !” 

Kenmur’s face got red and he shoved it in a book, Emmalyn just rolled her eyes “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I and Kenmur are not in a relationship; she must’ve made an assumption.” 

“Hm, well tell me if you guys find anything,” Aphmau said. 

“We will,” Emmalyn said before returning to her book, untangling her legs from Kenmur’s. 

Aphmau spent the short time she had just looking out into the mountain valley and finally getting herself some breakfast which she should’ve got way earlier into her short trip to the library but she totally forgot. The cold air of North Ru’aun felt nice against her face, it especially felt nice on the underside of her head that her hair always covered. She wondered why she never got a haircut, she also wondered why in the world her hair was so long, she wondered if it had anything to do with the fifteen minutes in the Irene dimension and then coming out unexpectedly. Maybe when Irene went in that dimension to wait until the next big event or something like that she had to prepare herself so she wouldn’t be faced with strange and drastic changes like her hair growing the amount that it would in fifteen years in fifteen minutes, Aphmau didn’t know so she was just spitballing to herself. She loved her hair more than anything but sometimes it would get too much to handle, maybe it was her heritage? Maybe it was because she was Hispanic? She didn’t exactly know, she remembered Laurance talking about his relatives who were also Aztec and how he was the first of many children to have light brown hair instead of dark hair and how he was the first of many children to have curly hair instead of straight hair. He had the same dark tan skin as his relatives so that didn’t separate him much, it was just the hair that made his family admire him and think that he was a ‘child of great things' because he was ‘different’... he never believed it though. Maybe that was why Aphmau had such thick black hair and tan skin, maybe that’s why in the back of her mind she knew the Spanish translation to English words. She never knew anything about her heritage or culture or anything like that, she just woke up one day in a forest and during those few years that she was awake and ‘alive’ she started remembering more and more things but she never remembered how she got in that forest. That was the one thing that made her pick at her brain and want to know more, maybe it was as level and she just hadn’t gotten to the level, or maybe it was because she just wasn’t supposed to know how she got in the forest. She wanted to find out one day but if she died without truly known how she ended up there… she wouldn’t really mind. 

She was so into thought that she didn’t even realize that Belladonna was right behind her telling her that the meeting was starting. 

“APHMAU!” Belladonna yelled. 

Aphmau jumped and turned her head “What!?” 

“The meeting is starting!” She snapped. 

“Well, how was I supposed to know!?” Aphmau argued as she stood up. 

“I was literally telling you about FIVE MINUTES AGO!” Belladonna yelled as Aphmau began to follow her to the meeting. 

“You were not talking to me five minutes ago, you were here like a minute ago!” Aphmau said. 

“Then were you just ignoring me!?” Belladonna snapped. 

“I WAS DAYDREAMING!” Aphmau snapped back. 

Belladonna rolled her eyes and shrugged off the argument, resuming normal conversation with Aphmau and telling her where the meeting was going to be held and what she was going to talk about. Belladonna said that if Aphmau had anything to say she should tell it to her now since she already planned what she was going to say, Aphmau refused to say that she didn’t want to ‘ruin’ Belladonna’s big moment. Belladonna opened the door to Cadenza’s house, letting Aphmau inside, and then leading her to the living room where Aphmau almost screamed. 

“Ulrich!” She gasped “Oh my Irene Sterling!” She was so shocked to see both Ulrich and Sterling in the same room, they looked so different but they had aged amazingly. Ulrich still had his fatherly face but he was now wearing commoner clothes and his hair was grey, Sterling was wearing a guard uniform like Zack’s and co had darker hair with silver streaks. They both migrated towards Aphmau and hugged her tightly. 

“Dear gods, you don’t look a day over 20!” Ulrich laughed. 

“You don’t even know the half of it.” Aphmau joked.

“It’s so good seeing you Aphmau! We already met with Belladonna and everyone else a few minutes ago, I almost burst into tears.” Sterling added, signing with cos hands. 

“Oh, I totally forgot you were deaf!” Aphmau apologized, trying her best to sign what she said. 

“Oh, it’s fine!” Sterling said, “I can read everyone’s lips just fine but then again signing does help.” 

“My son, Malachi, actually used RSL because he’s mute,” Aphmau added. 

“Oh really?” Sterling asked, “That’s really cool!”   

“It was so nice seeing Kenmur once again, we heard about what happened with that strange dimension. Belladonna told us.” Ulrich told Aphmau. Ulrich also signed what he said to make sure Sterling knew what he was saying.  

“I bet Kenmur really missed you.” Aphmau guessed. 

Ulrich shrugged “He was more confused on how I got so old.” 

Aphmau softly gasped “You don’t look old, you both actually look amazing.” 

“Aww, you’re just saying that.  I’m not the head guard I used to be fifteen years ago.” Sterling protested. 

“So are you guys both on this New Meteli Council?” Aphmau asked.

The two nodded “Belladonna has my ‘yes’ on us joining the alliance.” Ulrich said.

“Same here, I know how good of a leader Belladonna was during the War of Phoenix Drop. I know she’ll be a good one now.” Sterling agreed. 

“That’s very sweet of you both.” Belladonna said, “I thank you for agreeing to join us, I’ll be sure that if New Meteli does join Phoenix Alliance I’ll treat it with the utmost respect.” Belladonna signed and said.  

“Have you not been respecting it already?” Sterling asked. 

“That’s not what I meant.” 

Sterling barked out a laugh and slapped Belladonna’s arm lightly “I knew that! Just pulling your leg, I believe you’ll lead this alliance into greatness.” 

“Holy shit…” Aphmau heard whispers behind Ulrich and Sterling, surprisingly no one else heard the whisper or maybe they ignored it. Aphmau wasn’t sure. She looked behind the guards to see Zack and Vincent sitting next to each other on the V-shaped couch that Cadenza had. Aphmau excused herself and went over to the two men. 

“Small world, huh?” Aphmau said. 

“Small world indeed!” Zack agreed “If I knew you were the ex-lord of Phoenix Drop and the right-hand woman to the leader of the Phoenix Alliance I would have paid more mind to you. I do appreciate your modest behavior and I’m excited to hear more about this alliance of Belladonna’s.” Zack said.

‘Right-hand woman to the leader of the Phoenix Alliance’? Aphmau thought in her head Strange, I wonder if Belladonna told them that, or are they just assuming?

“I’m so sorry for hitting on you.” Vincent whispered, “I’m so sorry, I thought you were just a normal villager.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “It’s cool, I just hope that my beauty won’t make you automatically give me a ‘yes’.” 

Vincent shook his head “I care more about my village than any other woman.” 

“Hm, you are and Laurance has very different views.” Aphmau joked. 

“Ha!” Belladonna barked “The fact that Laurance would let Phoenix Drop burn if it meant you would be with him.” 

Aphmau and Belladonna laughed at the kharagosa’s joke. Cadenza called out that the meeting was beginning and that everyone should shut up besides Belladonna and Aphmau. 

Belladonna was the main speaker, with some points and add-ons from Aphmau, Ulrich, and Sterling. Vincent and Zack acted like totally different people during Belladonna’s speech, they both turned very serious and looked like they were paying close attention to every little word that Belladonna said, this naturally made Belladonna very nervous as her hands started shaking a bit and she stuttered over a few words. Aphmau just whispered to her that she was okay and that these boys are probably just staring at her boobs and she went back to her calm and collected self. Ulrich, Sterling, and Cadenza were trying to hide their smiles but the glow that they raided as they listened to Belladonna was more than obvious, Sterling was more than happy to tell Vincent and Zack the amazing fight that Belladonna put up when the walls started breaking down and Ulrich was more than happy to explain the kindness and hospitality that Aphmau and Belladonna had showed Meteli when they showed up at their village out of nowhere because O’Khasis had burned down their village. Zack and Vincent’s faces didn’t change throughout the entire speech. 

When Belladonna was finally done with her speech Cadenza stepped up to the plate and took over. 

“So know that we know what the Phoenix Alliance entails, are we all agreed to join? Yea or Nay?” Cadenza asked with a smile on her face. 

“Yea,” Ulrich said. 

“Yea.” Sterling signed and said. 

“Nay,” Zack said, his eyes avoiding contact with the very shocked and surprised Sterling and Ulrich. 

“Undecided,” Vincent answered. 

Cadenza sighed “Why did I see this coming? Zack, please present your rebuttal to joining.” 

Zack pushed up his sand-colored mask “Let’s get one thing straight Cadenza, this is New Meteli, not Old Meteli. I can see why the guard of Old Meteli would be in favor of joining, however, I feel that changing things the way they are will open us up to be more vulnerable than we are now.” Zack lectured. 

“I fail to see how the mentality of Old and New Meteli even matter, Mr. Zack Rossi. From what I heard from your Lord, you need our help. Like it or not you are not safe here where you are, you’ve had a troublesome number of bandits around your village, you’ve gone through a famine, and you’ve even had your water tainted. Thankfully you survived… but the question is how long will you survive? Having outside help like an alliance will make your chances of survival much greater.” Belladonna stressed, she scared Aphmau a little with the way she so calmly threatened but not threatened Zack. 

“Oh wow, you’ve really thought about this haven’t you?” Zack asked in shock. 

“I’ve been making possible outcomes of your village for the past twenty-four hours.” Belladonna smiled a toothy grin. 

“I’m sorry, the two viewpoints given here are just… I need some time to think about all of this. If I’m being honest Cadenza, I know you like to butter us up with food and beautiful girls-” He winked at Belladonna with a smile, she shot up her hand with her wedding ring and his smile quickly faded “however this isn’t something we can decide on in a day. Maybe yes for the people who once knew Mrs. Belladonna Luke and Miss. Aphmau Shalashaska but for Zack and myself…. I’m sorry, we just need to think about this.” 

Cadenza nodded “I understand. I do want both of you to have an answer in the morning though, understood?” 

Zack and Vincent both nodded “Of course.”

“Maybe you’ll win my vote with more beautiful ladies and cheese.” Vincent winked. 

“I will fucking murder you, Vincent.” Cadenza threatened. 

“Cheese?” Ulrich questioned. 

A man with dark red eyes and tan skin stood in front of a broken portal that he once used to get into the overworld. He wore Shadow Knight armor that radiated darkness and loneliness, the black and red colors glowing off of him. In his hand he held a vial of blood, a large vial of blood which he used to spread around the inside of the portal, he placed a black flower in the middle of the portal where he then started whispering and muttering words that wouldn’t make sense to any mortal ears. As he spoke in tongues the portal started glowing a dark purple until the entire area of the portal was a sheer glowing purple that raided darkness like the man’s armor.

He smirked and walked through the portal with no hesitation.

Chapter Text

Belladonna sat on Cadenza’s couch staring into the crackling fireplace. She was worried about the whole Phoenix Alliance, it was strange to her. None of this was supposed to happen, she was never supposed to stay in this mortal world for too long but here she is fifteen years later being the leader of the Phoenix Alliance once again. She wondered how the titans up above thought of her, getting attached to this mortal plane, these mortal people… they probably thought she was weak. She wished Kitten hadn’t fucked up, maybe if she didn’t fuck up the timeline then maybe she would’ve been home by now, but now she’s here having to fix tiny little things so the titans above don’t rain fire on the world that she loved. Titans have lived amongst the mortals for centuries now but you’re never supposed to tell that what you are, Belladonna and Kitten fucked up by telling Aphmau what they were, who they were… maybe if Belladonna never showed her true self that one time when Laurance came back then maybe none of this would’ve happened. 

She and Kitten were very different somehow, they were raised the same, lived practically the same life but… Kitten was weak. Kitten would tell anyone who she is if it meant that none of her friends wouldn’t get hurt. She could somewhat sympathize with her sister, it was hard being a titan of time, knowing what’s going to happen in the future and having to keep those secrets to yourself… knowing all the terrible things happening right now as we speak and not being able to help anyone. Knowing the true intentions of people, knowing what people are planning, knowing that your home is about to be attacked yet if you tell anyone, anyone, at all you’d ruin everything, and the chance of not only you but everyone you know dying skyrockets. 

“Fun dinner huh?” Cadenza asked, walking into the room. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, Sterling is a real bitch.” Belladonna laughed.         

Cadenza sighed “You’re worried about us not joining the Phoenix Alliance, aren’t you?” 

“What? No, no just thinking.” Belladonna answered. 

“Belladonna, you can’t lie to me. I can see it in your face, plus you barely even touched your food." Cadenza said, moving closer to the woman. 

Belladonna licked her lips “Okay yeah, I’m a little worried. I don’t want this whole alliance to be a big bust and I do want to protect and help your village… I’m just worried about all of this.” 

“Bella, you have nothing to worry about, I’m a hundred percent sure Meteli will be joining the Phoenix Alliance. My new guards just… well, they need time to think about it. I’m sure Vincent and Zack are going to consult Adonis. Those three guys are my top guards here in Meteli, they’re very close.” Cadenza explained. 

“How long have they been with you?” Belladonna asked. 

“Well, they’ve been in Meteli for about seven-ish years and have been my guards around four to five years. They’re all wonderful, Vincent is a massive jackass but he’s sweet and means well truly. Zack is very straightforward and sly and Adonis well he’s shy and reserved… he’s very panicky but he’s super smart. They have Meteli’s best interest in mind.” Cadenza responded. 

“If you trust them it’ll make my process of trusting them a little easier-” A blood-curdling scream cut Belladonna off and made her grab her bunny ears in pain to block out the sound. 

“What was that!?” Cadenza jumped. 

The two ran out of the home out into the village where almost a dozen guards were fighting off ghostly-looking figures who were screaming their hearts out. Belladonna closed her eyes for a quick second to take in all the information her brain was getting about everything happening at the moment. All of them were black and white with wispy clouds of grey as their legs, their eyes were glowing yellow and black oil dripped from their body. Zack and Vincent were trying to fight off the demons when Adonis and  Laurance busting out of nowhere to drive a sword through three of their heads, Cadenza seriously thought that Belladonna had passed out because she wasn’t answering anything while she was trying to figure out what was going on. 

“Aye! You two get cadenza to safety, we’ll hold off these things!” Adonis yelled at Zack and Vincent. 

Zack looked like he was about to have a heart attack “These are-” 

“Shadow Souls!” Belladonna yelled, snapping her eyes open and flicking her hand to have a sword appear in her hand. 

“How do you know that!?” Vincent asked. 

“Why is a portal to hell OPEN!?” Laurance screamed and pulled his sword out of one of the Shadow Souls “Who OPENED A PORTAL!?” 

“What does that mean!?” Zack asked. 

A pair of hands grabbed Cadenza’s waist and pulled her away from the fight, Cadenza turned her head to see Katelyn holding her.

“What are you doing here!?” Belladonna asked. 

“Trying to protect my- Cadenza!” Katelyn answered. 

“Why are these things so strong!?” Zack asked, fighting against a couple of the Shadow Souls. 

“They’ve been channeling their power in hell for way too long!” Belladonna yelled, fighting against a couple with Vincent to protect Cadenza. 

“Will you guys just PLEASE get Cadenza to safety!?” Adonis yelled once more.

A group of Shadow Souls pushed past Vincent and Belladonna, she knew what was going to happen so she purposely tripped Vincent when he went to protect Cadenza. Katelyn was ripped from the redhead and thrown against the building next to her before the Shadow Souls grabbed the screaming Cadenza and dragged her into the forest. 

“Are you KIDDING ME!?” Katelyn yelled, running after the demons. 

Belladonna rolled her eyes as she, Vincent, and Adonis ran after the blue-haired woman. They stood at the edge of a hill, looking out to see where they had taken Cadenza. Belladonna knew where exactly they had taken Cadenza so she let them look around to figure everything out, if they said something or did something wrong she would just be there to slightly turn them in the right direction because from what she knew from Kitten, everyone was going to stay alive for the time being so she knew that Cadenza wasn’t about to die right now. 

“Adonis, you search the right side of the forest with Belladonna, and me and Lady Katelyn will take the left,” Vincent ordered. 

“Who said I was going with you?” Katelyn asked. 

“Katelyn, if you are alone during this you are most likely going to die . We don’t know what exactly those things can do.” Belladonna warned. 

“Okay well, we need to find Cadenza before they do anything with her,” Katelyn said. 

“They’ll probably try and expand the portal,” Vincent said. 

“How?” Adonis asked. 

“She’s a medium right? She could focus the portal energy to expand it and allow Shadow Knights to escape.” Belladonna guessed. 

Vincent nodded. 

“But it’s been years since we’ve even heard anything about the underworld or Shadow Knights in general.” Adonis pointed out. Belladonna and Katelyn looked at each other, they knew that somehow they had something to do with this. 

“Well that obviously doesn’t matter, someone opened it and we need to get Cadenza to safety. Now Katelyn, come with me, take care of Adonis for me?” Vincent asked Belladonna as he and Katelyn started running away. 

“I  will!” Belladonna waved goodbye. She turned towards Adonis “Are ready?” 

“Uh, yeah don’t you want to know who I am?” Adonis asked.

“Your name is Adonis, my name is Belladonna. There we know each other now.” She extended her hand to have Adonis shake. 

The guard flinched back “I’m sorry I-I can’t… touch… women.” 

Belladonna knew why Adonis couldn’t touch women or why he didn’t like women near him so she didn’t want to press further “We need to find Cadenza, let’s go.” 

“Okay!” Adonis followed Belladonna down the hill. She found out fairly quickly that Adonis was very much a ‘yes man’. He followed Belladonna’s every step and if she asked a question about where they should go he asked her he would do what she wanted to do, she couldn’t make every decision because she wanted Adonis to make one wrong turn so everything didn’t go perfectly, everything couldn’t go perfectly or a set of domino events would fall and make someone end up dying. He did end up making a wrong turn and putting them deeper into the forest but he almost had a complete panic attack so Belladonna just accepted her fate and led the poor guard the entire way to a campsite with two dead bandits laying on the floor. Blood was splattered everywhere and the tent that they were staying in was broken and fell on itself. The bandit’s faces were terribly mutilated and their bodies were twisted in horrifying ways. Adonis almost threw up from the amount of blood but he was able to tell Belladonna that the bodies were fresh. She knew where exactly the Shadow Souls were coming from. She rubbed her eyes and grabbed Adonis’ hand and dragged him to where the Shadow Souls were now, Cadenza was on a black and white altar passed out while the Shadow Souls were dancing around her. 

  It didn’t take them long to get to the ritual site but Adonis held Belladonna back behind a tree. 

“We need a plan,” Adonis whispered. 

“Well, you don’t like touching women so… would you want to attack and I can get Cadenza?” Belladonna asked. 

Adonis shook his head “I couldn’t ever take those things one on one.” 

“You seemed so confident earlier though?” Belladonna asked. 

“Well, I was with someone, Laurance to be exact,” Adonis answered. 

“So you want to get Cadenza and I can attack? What about the whole touching women thing?” Belladonna asked. 

“I know Cadenza won’t do anything. I’ve known her for too long for her to have evil intentions with me.” Adonis answered. 

“Okay well, I’ll distract and attack and you go around the side or something and get Cadenza away from there okay?” Belladonna confirmed the plan. 

Adonis nodded “Yeah, that’s cool.” 

“Okay…. GO!” Belladonna turned into a bunny and ran towards the Shadow Souls. Adonis was caught off guard but quickly ran to the side to enter the side of the ritual area. Once Belladonna was in the middle of the Shadow Souls she turned back into her normal form and started to attack all of them. She killed most of them before Adonis grabbed the passed-out Cadenza off the altar and ran off with her into the mountains heading towards the village. 

Belladonna thought all of them were gone until her hair was snatched and pulled down to the ground, the screaming of the demon made her ears want to bleed. Belladonna couldn’t move her arms as the demon stood over her, they opened their mouth and started moving their head closer to Belladonna. 

A sword drove itself through the Shadow Souls’ head making it scream out in pain before disintegrating into the air. Belladonna quickly stood up, breathing heavily while rubbing her rabbit ears trying to soothe the pain. 

“You’re a fool to take on those Shadow Souls alone.” A man said to the left of Belladonna. 

She turned her head, Vincent was walking towards her to grab his sword. His eyes were glowing red and he was emitting darkness and loneliness that made Belladonna feel sick, he smelled like the blood which was the weirdest thing to her. 

“You’re a Shadow Knight, huh?” She asked, she found this out last night when she was sleeping. 

Vincent nodded “Now, is Cadenza safe?” he asked. 

“Yeah, Adonis took her to the village I hope.” 

“Good, these things are not something you should be fighting alone,” Vincent said, putting his sword in his sheath. 

Belladonna sighed “I can take care of myself thank you very much.” 

“I bet you can.” He winked. 

She held up her hand “Still married dude, I am still married.”  

Vincent nodded with a dramatic frown “I forgot sorry.” 

“How can you forget that someone is married?” Belladonna asked as the two walked towards the ritual site. 

Vincent shrugged “I don’t know, you just don’t look married.”

“How is a married person supposed to look?” 

“I-”

“Answer carefully, your life depends on it.” 

Vincent pursed his lips before changing the subject “We need to break the portal, do you have anything to do that with?” 

Belladonna looked at the portal, more really inspected it. She found a crack in the framing of the portal and placed her hands on top of each other on top onto the crack, she pushed quickly and hard onto the crack making the crack bigger and spread more out into the rest of the frame giving her the ability to punched the framing of the altar and it all crumbled at the pair's feet. 

Vincent shrugged “Huh, I mean that’s one way to do it.”

“Where do you think Cadenza is? Do you guys have a hospital or something?” Belladonna asked. 

“Yeah we do, Adonis probably took her there. I told Katelyn to go back to the village because I saw Adonis running away with Cadenza in his arms.” Vincent answered. 

“Okay, then I suggest we go there,” Belladonna said. 

Katelyn, Vincent, Adonis, Zack, Belladonna, Aphmau, and Laurance were all sitting in chairs waiting for a doctor to come out of the room Cadenza was in to tell them any type of news, good or not.

Kitten was still asleep, Emmalyn and Kenmur were already at the library researching mediums, Shadow Souls, and the underworld, and the stranger was absolutely nowhere to be seen. 

“I just want to know what exactly were those demons that attacked our village.” Zack was the first one to speak after everyone entered the hospital. 

“Well, I want to know how the fuck Vincent here knows about Shadow Souls,” Laurance said. 

“Why don’t you care that Belladonna knows huh?” Vincent asked. 

“Because I know Belladonna, she’s basically a scholar with the knowledge she knows but the only other people that know what Shadow Souls are, are-” 

“Shadow Knights.” Vincent cut Laurance off. “Well guess what your suspicions are right, I’m a Shadow Knight. I know you are one too.”  

Laurance scrunched up his face “I knew there was something off about you, I didn’t want to say anything in front of Cadenza.” 

Zack put his hand out towards Laurance in a ‘stop’ motion “Calm down. He’s managed to gain full control of himself and he hasn’t caused any issues since I’ve known him.” He was sitting in between the two and he really did not want to be in the middle of this. 

“Explain the eyes, hm? Shadow Knights get those eyes when we kill the person most valuable to us, guess you didn’t want to hide anything huh?” Laurance asked. 

“Didn’t Sasha kill her lord? Her eyes are purple.” Aphmau pointed out.

“Shadow Knights can hide it if they want, to not draw attention,” Laurance answered. 

Vincent sighed “I killed my previous lord to obtain these eyes long before you were born. Explain yours.” 

“I phased through realms and was blind once. You?”  

“Vincent you seriously don’t have to talk about it-” 

Laurance cut off Zack “No I want to hear this.” 

“Look kid, I have my immortality, I’m not ashamed to say that. The lord I killed to get it deserved it. He was a horrible person, to his people and killed innocent people. You best know your place before you start talking you, premature Shadow Knight-” Laurance pushed Zack’s head down and climbed behind him at lightning speed to smash Vincent’s head into the wall while shocking him viciously.

Everyone quickly stood up to stare at the scene and try and stop anything if it went wrong besides Zack who froze in his spot as Laurance’s leg was still on him. 

“Don’t test me. I will rip you to shreds … I know exactly the kind of scum you are. I also know you made a move on my lady.” Laurance’s face was threateningly close to Vincent’s. 

Aphmau slightly cringed, she didn’t know why Laurance was so mad but now she especially regretted telling him her first interaction with Vincent. 

Vincent let out a small huff of a laugh, Laurance was gripping so hard onto his neck it was hard for him to talk “If she’s your woman then where’s her ring? I don’t see one, she’s free game…” He smirked “you fucking demon.” 

Laurance threw up his fist “I WILL FUCKING-” his fist was caught by a rough calloused hand. He turned his head, Katelyn was standing there holding Laurance’s fist back with a face of anger. 

“Outside. Now.” Katelyn ordered.

“Excuse me?” Laurance asked, letting his fist fall. 

“If Vincent were a bad guy wouldn’t we know by now?” She asked. 

Laurance looked around, everyone was staring in fear at Vincent’s now bleeding head and Laurance's horrifying grip on the man’s neck. Zack looked like he was about to cry from how shocked he was. Laurance looked back at Vincent, his breathing was becoming slower and the paleness in his face was slowly turning a light blue. Laurance sighed and let go of Vincent’s neck letting him breathe, he got off of Zack’s back and stood in front of Katelyn. 

“You know just because you're an ex-Jury of Nine doesn’t mean anything to me.” He snapped. 

“Just because you are a Shadow Knight doesn't me shit to me. Now outside.” Katelyn clapped back, turning around and walking away. 

Zack stood up and brushed himself off “I’ll come to explain Vincent’s story if that’s okay?” He asked his friend. 

Vincent nodded, rubbing his neck and touching his head lightly. 

Zack nodded, and lightly pushed Laurance’s shoulder to get him to follow Katelyn and him. Everything was quiet as Zack and Laurance walked out the hallway and out of the hospital to find Katelyn waiting for them. Vincent stood up with the help of Aphmau, she looked at the back of his head to see the damage that Laurance had done, it wasn’t as bad as she expected but he was bleeding. His neck was a light red which was obviously going to happen from how hard Laurance was choking him. 

“You guys got one hotheaded Shadow Knight there,” Vincent told the ladies. 

“He went through a lot.” Aphmau said, “He doesn’t really like to be reminded of the pain he went through.” 

“Also with the realm phasing and the blindness, he also had a few friends in the underworld that he knew. He has very strong willpower, I truly think that he went through the worst of it.” Belladonna added, she remembered having a dream one night and seeing what exactly Laurance went through. It was up there on the most disgusting things she had ever seen, the torture and pain that he went through made her skin crawl every time she remembered it, the amount of blood and screaming and just gross shit was insane. 

“You think I know that? I went through the same torture he did a long time ago.” Vincent answered. 

“Maybe… maybe,” Belladonna muttered to herself, trying to hold back the vomit in her mouth from remembering what happened to Laurance. She wasn’t surprised when she saw Laurance crying every single night after coming back when he snapped at Aphmau, why he closed himself off about it… why would you ever want to talk about something like that. 

“Would you mind telling the story?” Aphmau asked, “You obviously don’t have to.” Aphmau’s arms were no longer around Vincent’s. 

Vincent shrugged “I mean Zack is probably out there telling the same thing so it doesn’t really matter…. I became a Shadow Knight over a hundred years ago. Back then I was serving a Lord who was very questionable however, he was my brother. He had his quirks about him in the fact that he always thought of himself, one day he was kidnapped and tossed into the underworld by our rival lord.  I went in to get him and we were successful in his recuse, however… I was quickly killed and taken into the depths of the underworld where I became a Shadow Knight. 

Some years later, I managed to break free from Hell and return to this mortal world. When I returned my brother had become a glutton, a selfish man far different from the brother I once knew. He declared war on any village he could and made examples of women and children to get villages on his side. I was ashamed of him. So, I chose to end his reign of terror and bring peace to the land. Since I still felt close to them, this action granted me my immortality. I don’t know why I didn’t go insane after gaining this power… I just didn’t. I’ve been like this ever since and have yet to lose control of myself.” 

Belladonna and Aphmau were silent, taking in everything that Vincent said. Belladonna was the first one to speak after the whole story. 

“That’s… I’m sorry.” Belladonna said. 

Vincent shrugged “It was so long ago it barely phases me now, I’m happy with my decision and I’m not ashamed of it.” 

“That’s just insane. But thank you for being vulnerable and telling us that.” Aphmau told the man “It’s very comforting to know you trust us.” 

Vincent nodded “And Belladonna, Zack, and I were talking… we have decided to agree to join the Phoenix Alliance. Especially since those Shadow Souls have risen.” Vincent shivered. 

“What are those things anyway? I was asleep during this whole thing so I wasn’t able to tell what they were.” Aphmau asked. 

“They are the demonic and non-physical forms of Shadow Knights after they themselves have died. Shadow Knights go through three stages: premature, mature, and Shadow Souls after the Shadow Soul dies then that Shadow Knight is gone forever and can’t be messed with again. Of course, the Shadow Soul can possess people to find a host but they were really just there to cause chaos. They are the first monsters to escape from Hell once it’s been open which means A. a portal to hell has been opened and B. those Shadow Souls are looking for bodies to possess to gain back their physical form.” Belladonna explained. 

“Holy Irene! How do we stop these things?” Aphmau asked in fear, she didn’t want the first village to join their alliance to be overcome with demon things. 

“Unless we can locate the portal to Hell that was open, we have no way of stopping it. Me and Belladonna found one but there could be many letting these things into our world. We just have to build out village defenses as best we can and not allow anyone to travel alone at night. We set a curfew for people to be in their homes. The Shadow doesn’t particularly like light but will stand it just to get a body and they are stronger if they are facing only one opponent, more than one and they’ll have a difficult time.” Vincent explained “We also probably aren’t the only village that was attacked. I better start preparing the guards for how to fight these things.”

While fighting the Shadow Souls Belladonna knew that the guards in Phoenix Drop were fighting the Shadow Souls as well… Aphmau didn’t know that. 

“Wait, what?” Her heart rate skyrocketed. “ More villages were attacked!?” 

“I mean most likely. These things can find their way through the world very fast.” Vincent answered. 

Aphmau gasped “My boys.” She whispered before sprinting out of the hospital, Belladonna called out after the woman and ran after her. 

     Vincent stood alone in the hospital hallway sighing to himself and going to sit in one of the chairs along the wall to wait for the doctor that was going to tell him if Cadenza was okay or not. 

Belladonna grabbed Aphmau’s hand and jerked her back just as she was about to open the hospital door. Aphmau turned towards Belladonna with an angry face. 

“What are you doing!? I need to go to Phoenix Drop!” Aphmau yelled

“No you don’t, it took us three days to get here and it will take you three days to get back.” Belladonna lectured. 

“Belladonna please, I’ll ride through the night and try to get there as fast as I can. Please I just need to go.” Aphmau pleaded. 

“Did you not listen to Vincent at all!? It’s a bad thing to go out at night and I don’t want to risk you getting hurt or worse killed !” Belladonna snapped. 

Aphmau looked into Belladonna’s eyes “Please…” She whispered. 

Belladonna thought for a moment, she usually would never do this, usually, she wasn’t so weak-minded, usually, she would turn this down but… she couldn’t. She knew what was happening in Phoenix Drop right now, everyone was safe and sound, having a meeting about what the fuck just happened to them, nothing wrong but she knew that Aphmau didn’t know that. She couldn’t tell Aphmau that but she also couldn’t tell Aphmau that she couldn’t tell her something, it would just be a big mess. She knew that if she held Aphmau back and forced her not to go then she would be mad at her and probably never listen to her again so… she told her. 

“There’s a shortcut to get to Phoenix Drop through the woods, I will not be letting you go alone so I will be guiding this trip,” Belladonna instructed. 

Aphmau’s eyes lit up “Are you being serious?” 

“Dead.” 

Aphmau cheered “Thank you!” She screeched before quickly dragging Belladonna out of the hospital and to the stables where they had kept their horses. Belladonna and Aphmau quickly got on their desired horse and set out to Phoenix Drop through the shortcut Belladonna was talking about. 

Belladonna didn’t stop at all or take any breaks during the five hours ride which both of them were falling asleep on. Belladonna hadn’t slept at all and Aphmau had only slept a little so by the time they were both at the gates of Phoenix Drop they were basically falling asleep. They slide to a stop at the gates. 

“Hello!” Belladonna called out “Is anyone there!?” 

Alexis rushed to the edge of the watchtower “What are you guys doing here? We weren’t expecting you back for a few days! Hold on!” Alexis yelled down. The guard ran down and opened the gate for Belladonna and Kitten to go through. 

Belladonna and Aphmau rode into the village and stopped once more to speak to Alexis who looked more than worried. 

“Where is everyone else? Are you guys okay?” She asked. 

“We’re fine!” Aphmau answered, “Is everyone here okay?” 

Alexis nodded “Yeah but we had an issue with some demon ghost outside of the gate earlier, be we made quick work of them. Thank goodness the walls were here or we might have been overwhelmed by them.” She answered. 

 “Knew it.” Belladonna muttered, “What did they look like?” 

“Scary. They had bright yellow eyes and were dripping… oil. They were definitely made out of something dark from the unnatural feeling that they emitted. They never made it past the wall though.” Alexis shivered. 

“I need to speak with Levin and Malachi,” Aphmau told Alexis. 

“They’re at their place having a meeting about the whole ordeal right now with Dante. I’m sure they’ll be glad to see you. I’ll escort you if you want, Kyle is up on watch right now so I have a few minutes to spare.” Alexis said. 

“Then let’s go.” Belladonna smiled. 

Alexis guided Belladonna and Aphmau to the settlement that everyone was staying in. She knew that she didn’t need to escort them but she said that it made her feel safer about everything because she didn’t want to risk the chance of one of those Shadow Souls somehow finding their way into the village and then attacking Belladonna and Aphmau. 

Alexis offered to take their horse and put it in their small stable for the time being while Belladonna and Aphmau stayed in the village for the time being. 

When Belladonna and Aphmau were walking to Levin and Malachi’s house they bumped into Dante. 

Dante gasped “Holy shit! Why are you guys here!?” He asked in shock. 

“We’re fine, we’re fine! Are you okay though?” Aphmau asked while hugging Dante tightly. 

Dante pulled back “I’m perfectly fine.” Dante shook his head “I’m sorry I’m just a little shocked to see you too if I’m being honest. Where are the others?” Dante asked. 

“We came alone after we were attacked in New Meteli,” Aphmau answered. 

“ Attacked !?” Dante yelled. 

“We were attacked by what we’re hoping is the same things that you got attacked by,” Belladonna responded to Dante’s shock. 

“Those demonic creatures?” Dante confirmed Belladonna and Aphmau’s suspicions “Do you guys know what those are?”

Belladonna then went on to explain what the Shadow Souls were and how they worked.

“We managed to find and destroy their source thankfully but there might be more around,” Dante told the ladies. “This is so much worse than I thought, do you think it could be Zane?” 

Belladonna cringed as she felt Aphmau’s heart shatter “Zane is still in the Irene Dimension… with Garroth.” 

“Oh right.” Dante cringed as well at his mistake “I totally forgot I’m so sorry.” He looked down in shame. 

“It’s fine, really,” Aphmau reassured. 

“I know you can protect yourself and all but can you please stay with Laurance? He’s the only leading guard that has actually stayed with you, I know that I am no longer your guard but now your sons but… I still feel like I have a duty to you. I just don’t want your life in danger, I went without you for fifteen years I don’t want you to go missing permanently.” Dante held Aphmau’s hand. 

Aphmau smiled softly “I’ll try my hardest not to kill myself.” Aphmau joked. 

Dante laughed “You are my sister, remember that. You’ve always been like family to me when I lost mine and… just please don’t forget about me.” 

“I would never,” Aphmau answered quickly, she knew the troubles Dante had with people forgetting him… she never wanted him to feel that way because of her.

“Good.” Dante let go of her hands “Now I need to go see my partner and daughter. I know they must be worried sick about me after what happened tonight and I just want to hold them right now. You should do the same with Levin and Malachi.” 

“Goodnight Dante,” Aphmau said her goodbyes. 

“Have a nice night Dante.” Belladonna waved goodbye. Belladonna then told Aphmau that she was going to find Zoey who was most likely in the tree and that she could talk to Levin and Malachi herself, she knew that Aphmau probably needed help with Malachi translation but she wanted Aphmau to figure that for herself so she could learn more.

Aphmau and Belladonna split up, Aphmau heading to the house, and Belladonna heading to the large tree that took up most of the settlement. Aphmau opened the door and spotted Malachi sitting on the couch rubbing his temples out of frustration. 

Aphmau made herself visible and went over to Malachi to hug him tightly. He asked her what he was doing here so late and she quickly answered. 

“ So those things are called Shadow Souls? What do these people want by letting these things into our world? They’ll only end up releasing the Shadow Lord. ” Malachi signed angrily. 

Aphmau pointed her finger “That’s exactly what they want to do, the more bodies and chaos they have the more power the Shadow Lord gets.”

“ That’s stupid. ” 

Aphmau laughed “Yeah it is. How did you guys manage to stop the Shadow Souls?” She asked. 

“ It was mostly the wall, we would’ve completely been killed if we didn’t have that if I’m honest. We were able to pick them off one by one with arrows, it got to the point where we were able to get out into the open and find where they were coming from, ” Malachi explained. 

“Oh wow, back in Meteli it wasn’t too terrible but from what I heard from Belladonna and Katelyn there were dozens,” Aphmau said.

Malachi nodded and looked at the time “ Oh, I need to go do something with Kyle that we do every morning. Love you, mom. ” Malachi hugged his mother. 

“Okay, don’t be gross!” Aphmau fake scolded her son. 

Malachi rolled his eyes before exiting the house with Aphmau laughing. Aphmau went up the stairs to see if Levin was in his room, she walked down the hallway and quietly entered the room with the word “Levin” on it. Levin was asleep on his bed under the covers looking ever so calm. She softly walked over to the boy, making sure she didn’t step on any creaks on the floor so she didn’t bother the beautiful boy in front of her. 

His face was scrunched up, he seemed as if he was having trouble sleeping. Aphmau looked around the room, trying to find anything that would possibly soothe him, the music box that she had been gifted such a long time ago caught her eyes. It sat on Levin’s shelf, a thin layer of dust was covering the box making her hands slightly dirty when she touched it. She opened the box and brought it over to Levin’s bed, turning the crank ever so softly to not wake Levin up. She set the box down and let go of the crank, the soft sound of lullaby music filled the room, it was almost on command that Levin’s face softened up and he began softly snoring. 

Aphmau yawned, the music box always made her sleepy, she sat down against the wall that the bed frame was on and closed her eyes. She forgot about all her troubles and just let her ears fill with the sounds of the music box and her heartbeat. 

Aphmau woke up to soft tapping on her shoulder, she was surprised when she opened her eyes that she wasn’t back in that strange dream with Garroth. Instead, Alexis was crouching in front of her with a soft smile with her hand on the woman’s shoulder. 

Aphmau grumbled and rubbed her eyes “Hello, Alexis… where am I?” 

Alexis giggled “You’re in Levin’s room, you and Belladonna came here last night and you then fell asleep in Levin’s room. He wanted to put you in his bed but he also didn’t want to bother you so he put a blanket on you.” She lazily pointed to the quilted blanket laying on Aphmau’s legs since she shook it off her shoulder.   

“Oh okay.” Aphmau sat up straight “So what are you doing here?” She asked. 

“Malachi called me over to see if I could watch over you and I came up here now because I wanted to tell you breakfast is done.” Alexis smiled and held out her hand for Aphmau to grab. 

Without saying another word Aphmau grabbed Alexis’ hand where she then pulled her up to stand up straight. Aphmau and Alexis walked out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen where a plate of food with a cup of coffee was placed on the dining table. The sun was shining brightly into the kitchen where bits of dust could be seen floating about, from the clock on the wall to the side of her it looked like it was close to mid-day which made sense from how she stayed up for most of the night. Alexis apologized for the semi-burnt eggs since she doesn’t really do housework. 

“Oh no, it’s fine!” Aphmau brushed it off “As long as it’s edible!” She said, taking a bit from the food. 

Alexis smiled “Thank you, I hope I can learn to cook better for my crush.” Alexis said.

Aphmau gasped and Alexis’ eyes widened as she slapped a hand over her mouth “You need to tell me.” Aphmau demanded. 

“Did I just say that out… loouudd?” Alexis asked in complete shock, her hand still over her mouth. 

“You need to tell me who, right now.” Aphmau turned towards Alexis with a smile. 

Alexis gasped and fanned her face with her hands “WHAT NO!? I COULD NEVER! FORGET I SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!” Her face was a bright red and she covered her face. 

Aphmau waved her hands “Okay, okay, okay you don’t have to talk about it. Just know that I’m here to talk if you need to.” Aphmau went back to eating her food. 

Alexis looked through her fingers to look at Aphmau who was acting as nothing had happened, her face was still bright red as she slowly lowered her hands from her face. She took a deep breath and quickly sat down in a chair next to Aphmau. 

“Okay, I need to talk about this!” She yelled, slamming her hands down in excitement scaring Aphmau “I’m not going to tell you who but I will just tell you that they’re someone in town, obviously, they are handsome, thoughtful, and just ugh! My heart just wants to explode thinking about them!” 

Aphmau squealed and flapped her hands in excitement “Well, do you talk to them, or have you talked to them?” 

Alexis nodded violently “Of course! I talk to them every day but I always put my feelings aside so I can do my guard duties… It's like putting up a front. It’s only when I have a moment to myself that I start thinking all lovey-dovey about them.” She went quiet for a moment “Have you ever felt this way about someone? If you do… how do you deal with it?” 

Aphmau’s mouth went agape as she thought about the two men in her life that played tug-of-war with her heart. It wasn’t the moments by herself that got her thinking about them it was the moments alone with them that got her thinking about her feelings towards them. The day that she confessed her feelings to Laurance they were alone, the first time she felt actual romantic love with Garroth was when they were alone building that stupid boat for her to sail into Bright Port. She had to be alone with someone to know that she truly loved them, when she had a crush on Donna she had small moments where she was alone with the older woman… Those were times when Aphmau’s heart was fast and her face got red. 

Aphmau softly laughed “Uh… you should tell me once you find the answer.” 

Alexis giggled, there was a certain sparkle in her eye that Aphmau remembered Donna having when she was with Logan… this girl was truly in love. “Can I come to talk to you when I need advice? Maybe that will help me build up the courage to tell you who I like and then maybe, maybe - I can take a step forward and tell them!” 

“Of course! You can always talk to me, whenever and wherever.” Aphmau told the girl. 

Alexis nodded “Thank you. Now’s I’ll let you eat in peace while I got clean up the kitchen so Levin and Malachi don’t murder me for making a mess.” She joked while getting out of the chair. 

Aphmau finished the rest of her food with Alexis cleaning the kitchen in the background. She kinda drifted off into space while she sat at the empty kitchen table, trying to remember everything that happened last night since she was so tired everything was a little blurry. After she finished her breakfast and put the plate and cup in the dishwasher, she set out and spotted the stranger sitting under a tree with Itsuki, Rollo, and Lello sitting around him. Donna was at the well pressing flowers for some reason. The stranger was nowhere to be found last night at New Meteli so maybe he ran away to Phoenix Drop but that would be that he somehow found the shortcut that Belladonna had shown Aphmau, or that could mean that everyone else was also at Phoenix Drop now because in that short period of time everyone had come back. 

She went over to Donna to see what she was doing first, she didn’t want to bother the stranger right now even though she was really eager to know if everyone was back. Donna was happy to see Aphmau but also confused about why she was here, Aphmau just explained a quick summary of everything that happened last night. Donna told Aphmau that she was pressing flowers because she wanted to make a cool plate that would need pressed down flowers to make it flat which Aphmau thought was cool. 

“You know, I was a little wary of that man the children call ‘Mister’ at first but he’s been such a kind help. He even gave me advice on pressing flowers which I thought was neat.” Donna said. 

Aphmau nodded “He’s very closed off though, doesn’t really talk to anyone in our group.” 

“He’s still a hunk.”

Aphmau gasped “You can’t even see his face!?” 

“Why do I have to see his face to know the dude's a hunk?” Donna asked. 

“You have a husband!” 

“So?” 

Aphmau stood up and shook her head with disappointment “I don’t know why I talk to you sometimes.” 

“I don’t know why you’ve always believed that just because I’m married I can’t see other people’s attractiveness.” Donna retaliated.  

Aphmau walked away while waving her hands goodbye “I’m not talking to you!” All Donna did was bark out a laugh as Aphmau stepped next to the stranger who was holding a plastic teacup with imaginary tea in it. 

The man looked up at Aphmau “What are you doing here?” 

“I came here with Belladonna last night to check on everyone. What are you doing here?” She asked, crossing her arms. 

“I left Meteli when those fiends attacked.” 

“So you abandoned us?” Aphmau’s arms fell, she was a little hurt at the fact that he so quickly left them. 

“Well, it sounds like you did the same thing.” The man responded. 

“I came here to check on people and everyone kinda knows where I am.” Aphmau rebutted. 

“I did the same, I came here to see if the children were okay. I did not leave because I was a coward. I was simply thinking ahead of everyone else.” The stranger had just a monotone voice that everything he said sounded like he was a complete ass.

“Oh.” Aphmau’s spirits lifted a bit, it was nice to know that the stranger somewhat cared about them “That’s very sweet, thank you.” 

“It wasn’t for you but, your welcome.” The man turned back to his fake tea party he was having with all the kids. Rollo and Lello looked up at the stranger with such awe, Aphmau could tell that they were dreaming of becoming him when they were older from the admiration in their eyes. Itsuki on the other hand just acted like this guy was no big deal, a family friend, another little kid that she had been playing with since forever, and that made Aphmau laugh to herself that someone as cute and adorable as Itsuki would befriend the mysterious and scary stranger. 

Aphmau looked out towards the settlement gates, she wondered where Levin, Malachi, and Dante were and wondered if they were doing something with the potential portal to hell that was letting the Shadow Souls into their realm. Malachi did tell her that they had destroyed their source but they also thought that they were most likely more, she knew that they were probably going to find that other portal. She decided to go out on her own and try and find another portal or maybe catch up with the boys, she had this feeling in her stomach that she was supposed to go out today but she didn’t exactly know why. Maybe she was secretly physic and this was her body’s way of telling her that she’ll find the person who lit the portal out there in the woods and then she can question them and ask them why they would do that. 

As she walked through the ruins of the village a random thought of Zenix popped into her head, what if Zenix was the one that lit those portals. She hadn’t heard anything from Zenix from anyone else in the village so for all she knew that poor boy could be dead… she remembered when she mentioned Sasha around Laurance last night she got this disgusting feeling in her stomach like when she met with a portal to hell for the first time. It was such a strange concept to her that there could be such a range of Shadow Knights, from the calm and collected ones who don’t let their terrible past define them and the ones who were practically insane and indulged in their terrible past only making their future worse… Vincent and Zenix. The moment where she found out that Zenix had betrayed her was such a clear memory in her head like she could relive it over and over again and it would never fade… she sometimes wished that memory would fade. She never liked laying away at night, staring into the ceiling, and remembering how Zenix tried to kill her for trying to rescue Lord Burt, she hoped that Lord Burt was doing okay. She really hoped that all her old lord friends were doing well, Burt, Luke, Borya… they were all pretty old though so she wouldn’t be so surprised if she found out they were dead, Hayden was dead after all and she acted surprised and hurt but deep down she knew once she found out she was fifteen years into the future that he was most likely dead. 

She was barely into the outside forest at this point, barely skimming the surface when the sound of whimpering made her snap her head towards the sound. She slowly moved towards the whimpering which slowly turned into barking which piqued Aphmau’s interest even more. When she turned a semi-corner she stood in front of a dead dog’s corpse with blood pooling all around it with a little brown puppy whimpering and barking at the dead body. Aphmau gasped as her heart immediately shattered into a million pieces as she stared at the horrific sight.  She slowly went over to the puppy, putting her hand out for the poor baby to sniff and get used to so it wouldn’t bite Aphmau. It was hesitant at first, growling at the woman’s hand but slowly softened up and let the woman gently pet the fluffy black dog. Aphmau carefully picked the dog up and cradled it in her arms, blood was caked onto its fur in some places which told Aphmau that it had most likely been there when its parent died. She didn’t know what type of dog it was but all she knew was it was very fluffy, it was black, and it was slightly chubby. 

She crouched down and moved the fur around the older dog’s neck, finding a white collar with a heart-shaped tag attached to it reading: 

Luna ❤

Owner: Nathan Louis

At this moment she wished so hard that she knew a Nathan Louis but sadly no one came to mind. 

Aphmau looked down at the little puppy in her arms “I’ll keep you safe.” She whispered while standing up “I’ll keep you safe and make a proper burial for your mom.” 

As she walked out of the forest and back to the village a silver-haired woman with bright purple eyes and burn scars all over her body watched her from behind the trees, carving random symbols into the tree with her sharp nails.

Aphmau came home with the puppy, finding dog food from Logan and his merchant shop, and found out that the baby was a baby girl. Donna told her that her new little puppy looked like a Newfoundland dog which grew up to be 100 to 120 pounds since it’s a female. She still didn’t have a name for the puppy but she was just happy that she could have a dog again. 

Alexis came by the house to see the puppy, Alexis asked if Aphmau was keeping the dog, Aphmau said yes and her reasoning behind that was because back when she had all her other dogs she was so happy and she felt less alone in lonely situations… she just wants to never feel alone again like she has in the past few days since finding out she knew nothing about herself. Alexis just smiled and said that was a wonderful thing, she then asked Aphmau the name that she wanted to give the dog…. Aphmau was stumped, she wanted to give the dog a name relating to her mother but she also wanted it to be unique, she thought of Celestia or Celestial as a name but she felt that would be too generic as a name. She thought about the name Sappho who was a writer of mostly lesbian love, she thought of the name Anteros who was a minor divine of love but in the end, she realized that most of the names had to do with love so she finally settled on the name Amada which was the feminine Spanish name of love. 

When Aphmau told Alexis the name she didn’t really know what to think of it first, she thought the name was beautiful but that’s all she really knew what to say. She might’ve been too starstruck by the puppy to answer. Aphmau remembered how she promised that she would give that poor mother a proper burial instead of leaving her body to rot in the woods. Aphmau asked Alexis to watch over the puppy which she obviously agreed to and Aphmau went off to get supplies. She grabbed a shovel, a hammer, nails, a wooden sign that Logan had, and a black paint marker to write on the sign. It made her a little worried that this dog was most likely killed due to Shadow Souls so the knowledge of that with the little sounds that echoed through the forest didn’t help her anxiety. 

When she saw the dog’s dead body her heart just broke for a second time. She quickly wiped her eyes since she didn’t want to cry over a dog she didn’t even know. She laid out all of her stuff on the ground in front of her and started digging out the grave. The smell of the corpse started clogging up her nose and floating around the area as flies started making their home on the dog’s body. She was trying to stay calm during the whole ordeal but her heart was beating so fast there was no calming down. 

After carefully pushing the dog in the grave that she made and filled the hole she wrote on the wooden sign the dog’s name, her owner, her day of death, and how she was a great mother before stabbing the sign into the ground and standing at the foot of the grave. Even though she didn’t even know Luna for as long as Nathan probably did she still cried a little, knowing that if Nathan is still alive he’ll never know that his dog Luna was taken too soon. 

The air quickly turned cold and Aphmau’s skin was covered in goosebumps, a stick snapped to her right making her jump. She snatched her dagger from her boot and threw it in the direction of the sound, everything was such a blur she didn’t even know what she hit but when she went to go grab her dagger it was covered in black ash. She knew deep in her soul that a Shadow Soul had just tried to kill her, she made sure to check her surroundings once she picked up the dagger. Nothing was in her immediate sight but that didn’t allow her to put her guard down since it was strange that a ‘ghost’ was able to make a stick snap but they were also able to hurt people so Aphmau didn’t know if she still had something to worry about. 

When she turned to her right once more to see if she was safe she froze, in the tree in front of her stood the woman known as Sasha Abbot. She looked the same from when Aphmau last saw her all that time ago, she specifically remembered when she found out Sasha tried to murder her. Her blood boiled as the woman stood there so… calm .  

“You bitch.” Aphmau muttered before charging at Sasha. 

The Shadow Knight yelped and drew her own sword, the two clashed with a clank . Aphmau pushed her against a tree, grabbing the sword, and pulled his down and out of Sasha’s hand-making her own hand bleed from grabbing the blade of the sword but Aphmau didn’t care. She held her dagger to the woman’s throat with such anger. 

“Dear Shad!” Sasha wheezed “You’re a little feisty after all these years, huh?” 

“What are you doing here.” 

Sasha rolled her eyes “It isn’t obvious? A portal has opened and pandemonium will soon start as the beautiful Shadow Souls search out bodies and the Shadow Knights start killing more.” 

“Did you…?” Aphmau was questioning if Sasha sicked a Shadow Soul on Aphmau and if she killed Luna the dog. 

Sasha smirked “I killed the dog, I didn’t know about the Shadow Soul attacking you though.” 

“You son of a bitch!” Aphmau pressed the dagger closer to the woman’s throat making her suck in if she wanted to live a little longer. 

“What’s with the yelling!?” 

“You tried to kill me once! You tried to infiltrate my village! And now you killed an innocent dog!” Aphmau 

Sasha barked out a small laugh “You found out about that?” She was referring to the attempted murder and the potential betrayal “Look, that was a long time ago. I’ve changed.” 

“You killed a dog.” 

“I’ve changed.” 

Aphmau just wanted to slice the woman’s throat from how much pain she had caused Laurance and Kenmur for believing that they left her to die when that wasn’t the truth at all. She wanted to kill this woman so bad but she also wanted to see her squirm for as long as she could. 

“I don’t believe you.” Aphmau snapped. 

Sasha smiled lazily, she let out a breath and let her throat press against the dagger’s blade. The blade started cutting into the woman’s throat. Aphmau quickly got concerned and asked her what she was doing, without taking the blade off her neck. 

“Take me. I will do anything and everything to prove I’m on your side right now.” She gasped for breath “I have things I need to speak to you about.” 

Aphmau let the blade off Sasha’s neck but she just pulled his back “Kill me, do it, please. I want you to believe me.”

She continued to press down further and further. Aphmau snatched the blade away in concern, Sasha only stood there wheezing and gasping with a smile on her face, she wanted this and it was the strangest thing Aphmau had ever been apart of. 

Aphmau was breathing heavily “Why were you doing that!?” 

Sasha wheezed “I need your help. I just need your help, so please take me to wherever you keep prisoners and I’ll comply.”  

Aphmau stood there in complete shock not knowing what exactly to do. She didn’t know whether she should trust Sasha or kill her before she could gasp for another breath. She wanted to believe so hard that Sasha was telling the truth but it was the Shadow Knight part of Sasha that was holding Aphmau back, it was Sasha's past that was holding Aphmau back from trusting her. She took a deep breath and put her dagger back in her boot, not bothering to wipe off the blood, she put her hands out in front of her. 

“Fine, if you try anything, and I mean anything , I will murder you in cold blood.” 

Sasha nodded while wiping the blood off her neck “Of course. I wouldn’t expect any less.” 

Sasha followed Aphmau as she grabbed her stuff and followed her all the way back to the gates of the village. 

When Kyle asked Aphmau who was walking with her Aphmau simply responded with ‘a friend’, Kyle didn’t ask any more questions so Sasha and Aphmau walked through the streets of Phoenix Drop with ease. It wasn’t until they started approaching the old guard station that Aphmau’s anxiety hiked up a bit, she didn’t know how run down the old guard station was but she hoped that it was still okay to hold people in, if not then she had to bring Sasha into the settlement and she didn’t feel entirely comfortable doing that. When Aphmau stood in front of the guard station Sasha cautiously asked her what she was doing but Aphmau just ignored Sasha, she grabbed the woman’s hand and dragged Sasha into the old building. 

Surprisingly there were still jail cells and a ring of keys on the wall, Aphmau didn’t know if the keys were new or old but she didn’t care. She opened up one of the least broken down jail cells, threw Sasha in it, closed the door and grabbed the ring of keys, and locked the jail cell. She didn’t want to deal with the girl right now and she just wanted to play with her new puppy Amada. She informed Sasha that she would be leaving her in the cell for the rest of the night which Sasha was strangely okay with, after telling the Shadow Knight Aphmau exited the building and walked all the way back to the village to continue her day like normal. 

Aphmau woke up bright and early the next morning just to interrogate Sasha or if Sasha was truly telling the truth, to have a conversation with Sasha. She didn’t really tell anyone where she was going or who she was talking to because she didn’t want any fear to rise that a Shadow Knight had already exited the portal which meant that essentially the first wave of Hell was done and the second wave of Hell is just starting which would obviously scare a few people and Aphmau didn’t want that. She didn’t even tell Dante what she was doing, all she said was that she was going on a walk with her new dog, and of course, she brought her dog because right now it was the only thing keeping her from running to Sasha’s jail cell and cracking her head open and feeding the brain to the wolves in the wilderness.

She got a collar and leash for Amada but not a tag which Aphmau didn’t mind because she actually wanted to tell everyone her dog’s name instead of just looking and never having to ask her. She had a cup of coffee in her hand and she was ready to face Sasha and her the possible murder attempt that she would commit on Aphmau if things went wrong. 

She entered the building and noticed Sasha sitting in the cell fiddling with her fingers, she looked like a normal girl for once, a girl who had a normal life, a normal past, who didn’t have evil intentions with everything she did, who just wanted to see her fiance and best friend again. Aphmau always knew that the Shadow Knights had such a terrible history but it hurt even more when you saw the little parts of the Shadow Knights that showed who they really used to be before they died. 

“Hello!” Aphmau greeted with a smile. She took a sip of her coffee before placing it down on the floor next to the jail cell. 

“Oh hello.” Sasha returned, looking at Aphmau. A soft smile was spread across her face “It was pretty lonely last night.” 

Aphmau nodded, unbuckling Amada’s leash from the collar to let the puppy roam free “I bet it was… did you get a good sleep?” 

“Hm? Oh no, I didn’t sleep.” 

Aphmau raised her eyebrows in confusion but she just shrugged it off, Shadow Knights weren’t normal people why would they do normal people things. Aphmau went and stood in front of the jail cell “So… you want to talk to me?” 

Sasha nodded “How’s your son?” Sasha asked “The blonde one.” 

“He’s good but I don’t see how that matters.” 

“He’s just so grown up, for so long we wanted his stupid fucking ass. He’s in Lady Irene’s bloodline and his blood… dear gods, the number of powerful potions we could’ve made with all that Irene blood.” 

A chill grew up Aphmau’s spin, the air was still and Aphmau wanted to throw up. How could someone think that way, how could someone be so cruel that they would want to kill a child, someone who wasn’t even a legal adult yet?

“What is wrong with you?” Aphmau asked, “What is the fuck is wrong with you?” 

Sasha just laughed, picking at the burn marks on her skin “Chill, chill, I don’t want to take his blood right now . I’m here to talk because I want you to help stop what’s going on in Hell.” 

Aphmau shook her head and put her head in her hands “God why the fuck should I believe you?” 

“Hear me out…. A few days ago almost all of the portals to hell started glowing, we don't know why, we don’t know what happened, all we know is that after a little over fifteen years of being stuck in the dreaded place, we had hope. We could continue where we left off before in our mission to revive the Shadow Lord. Then he… then Zenix came out.” Sasha explained, she shivered with fear when she spouted Zenix’s name from her mouth. 

“Zenix!?” Aphmau had been thinking about Zenix the other day so Sasha’s whole reasoning for talking to her was because Zenix, made her feel like some sort of physic. 

Sasha nodded, she made herself a little more comfortable in the uncomfortable jail cell “He had amassed a power so patent, so massive that he was able to overwhelm so many Shadow Knights. He… He like… absorbed them or something.” Sasha’s voice had so much fear in it that Aphmau started to feel scared like Zenix was about to bust through the door “He was completely insane, gone even. Just before he could get to me I fled, a coward move I know but when you’ve just seen half of your friends get ruthlessly murdered by someone so insane I just… I couldn't take it. I have no idea why he would murder his fellow Shadow Knights but he did… I wasn’t too shocked though I mean… the last time we heard of him he had eaten his entire Shadow Knight patrol.” 

“Why are you telling me this? How could I help someone like… like that ?” Aphmau asked, she truly didn’t know. She couldn’t just make Zenix believe in friendship again and convince him to stop killing everyone, from what she was hearing Zenix was long gone past the point of redemption and the pain that put on her heart was so immense. 

“I want to stop him, I don’t know how but I thought of you when I thought of someone stopping him. And I know deep down you really want to kill me but you would be a complete and utter fool , this entire thing is going to affect the world in ways I can’t even imagine.” She took a shaky breath “I may be a Shadow Knight but there are people in Hell that I truly care about… that, dare I say, love .” 

“I just… I don’t know how I could-” 

“Sasha!” A voice rang through the entire building, both the ladies snap their heads toward the voice. Laurance was frozen at the entrance of the building, his eyes were glossy and he looked so distraught. 

Sasha’s eyes widened but she kept quiet as Laurance practically had a small breakdown. 

“Why are you here? What are you doing here, I… you can’t... “ He sniffled, he was tearing up. 

Sasha’s face was a mix of sadness and disgust, Aphmau didn’t know if both or just one was for Laurance but she didn’t say a word, just muttering words that Aphmau couldn’t understand to herself. 

The door opened again to show Kenmur, he pushed Laurance aside to stare at the woman who was supposedly his dead fiance. 

This is when Sasha broke, Aphmau always knew that Sasha thought that everyone who went with her to rescue possibly either Castor or their old lord Joh had left her to die and hadn’t even tried to help. Aphmau was pretty sure she had never told Laurance about this, she didn't know if she should. How would you tell someone something so devastating like that? 

Sasha began cursing the boys out, calling them traitors, how she never loved Kenmur, how she wished she never had mentored Laurance, and how she wished he could rot and burn in the lake of lava just as she did. While all this yelling from Sasha was happening, Kenmur was having a mental breakdown over the fact that he never knew that Sasha was back, that she had to be fake because the real Sasha had died, died in Hell in the lava lakes surrounding the fortress that held the Shadow Lord. 

Aphmau was not only shocked by Kenmur having a mental breakdown and Sasha’s screaming but the fact that both Kenmur and Laurance were in Phoenix Drop when she had sworn she left them back in New Meteli. She quickly picked up Amada and began to push Laurance and Kenmur out of the building, she forgot about her coffee cup because all she cared about was getting everyone to calm down. She closed the door to the guard station, leaving Sasha alone with her screaming and Kenmur to fall on the floor rocking back and forth questioning his own sanity. Laurance wasn’t as bad but he was still pretty distraught about the fact that Sasha was back and the things that Sasha had said about him. No one was near to help them so the only thing Aphmau could do was tell them that they need to go to the settlement if they wanted to go anything done and calm down, since Laurance was a little less hysteric he and Aphmau helped drag Kenmur to the settlement where Laurance brought Kenmur to the tree where everyone else was while Aphmau got stopped by Dante wondering what was going on. 

She quickly explained everything that had happened since she met up with Sasha which she will say was a bit overwhelming for the old man but he got it sooner or later after Aphmau finished her summary of everything. 

“I remember Laurance telling me and Garroth about her, she’s done some pretty horrible things.” Dante said uncomfortably “Do you think she really wants to help us? I mean even after the whole fiasco that just happened.” 

Aphmau shrugged “I’m not sure, I mean she seemed willing but I think she’s just got some things wrong with her that made her react to Laurance and Kenmur like that.” 

Dante nodded, raking a hand through his hair. For the first time, Aphmau finally saw some grey streaks in the man's hair which was a little surprising as he was only in his 30s… it was probably the stress of everything that’s happened in his life for the past fifteen years. “Well, I just suggest that you go up there, tell everyone that you're okay because they were really worried about you and Belladonna, and then maybe talk to Laurance about this whole ordeal.” 

“ Everyone is here?” Aphmau asked, “How did they all get here?”

Dante shrugged “I think they just started riding as soon as you left but they didn’t get here as quickly which probably means that you guys took a different route.” 

Aphmau let out a small laugh “Yeah we did, we just wanted to get there as fast as we could…. I’m gonna head up, stay safe okay?” 

“I will.” 

Aphmau made her short journey up to the tree with Amada, where she climbed up the staircase and was met with basically everyone in her group that went to New Meteli besides Cadenza who Aphmau assumed was still in New Meteli. They all scolded her and told her that she and Belladonna shouldn’t have just left like that without telling anyone and that they were all really scared of what was going on and why they just left. They also awed over her new puppy and she let them hold and play with Amada while Aphmau went over to Laurance. Kenmur was being consoled by Emmalyn and Kitten so Aphmau didn’t have to deal with that but she did have to deal with Laurance and telling him everything that had happened when she first met Sasha after the time jump. 

She took Laurance over to the side for a little privacy, as she told Laurance of the whole situation he was kinda frozen, stuck in one place not sure how to take what Sasha was implying or just straight up telling them. After she was done telling him what Sasha had told her he took a deep breath, raking his hands through his hair. 

“Well if she is telling the truth then this is not something to take lightly, especially if she’s telling the truth about Zenix murdering a ton of Shadow Knights.” He said awkwardly. 

“I just don’t know why he would kill so many, why he would eat his entire patrol, why he would kill people he knew…. It just doesn’t make sense.” Aphmau added. 

Laurance nodded “I wonder if he’s trying to single-handedly revive the Shadow Lord or possibly get revenge for the pain that those assholes caused him.” 

“Do you know what exactly happened with him?” 

Laurance shook his head “I don’t know what made him flip the switch in his head and what made him go insane, he was always an odd character when I was down there so maybe he’s always been like that?” He shrugged “He and Gene had like a leader rivalry, when it was well known that Zenix had killed his patrol members Gene declared him as a threat to our mission, he banished him without even seeing him for a second time after he entered the overworld.” 

Aphmau sighed “So do you think it’s worth keeping Sasha? I mean she can be very violent and she was after Levin’s life once so it makes me uneasy knowing that she could break out.” 

“Yeah… I do think that if she is willing to cooperate with us then yes, we should keep her but I do think we should find a way to make sure that she doesn’t hurt anyone while she’s here.”

Ideas raced through Aphmau’s head, she looked around her surroundings to see if anything would spark an idea. She spotted Zoey and a lightbulb went off in her head “Barrier magicks! Zoey, she could help us and hopefully but like a barrier around the guard station so that Sasha specifically can’t leave.” 

Laurance smiled “That’s good! That’s good! Can we bring her over here?” 

Aphmau shrugged “I wouldn’t see why not.” 

Laurance called Zoey over to where they were bringing Kitten with her because Kitten just wanted to see what they were talking about. Aphmau explained the whole situation to her with Kitten in the background adding some extra dialogue while holding Amada. 

“Oh wow, that’s… that’s a lot to deal with. Uh yeah, I could put a barrier around the guard station while also isolating Sasha, I’ll just need around five glow flowers and two strands of her hair.” Zoey paused before sighing and rolling her eyes “I totally forgot, I’ve run out of glow flowers and they are very important to the potency of this spell.” 

“Well, I can get them for you.” Aphmau volunteered. 

“Really? Thank you Aph, they only sprout for a limited period of time at night and you need a fae to kinda… bless the flower but faes can only really be caught with fairy bread which is something that not a lot of people make-” 

“Wait!” Kitten called out and dug through her pockets taking out a small plastic bag of colorful bread with rainbow sprinkles. “I have fairy bread! This kind lady gave it to me after I killed the rats in her house.” 

“She gave her fairy bread? When?” Aphmau asked in confusion as she had been there when Kitten killed those rats. 

“Oh like a little before the meeting you guys had, she wanted to thank me. So what do you need this for?” Kitten asked handing the baggie to Aphmau. 

“So you’ll need to set a trap, fees really like pretty things so get a box that looks pretty and set up just a normal trap that will trap them in that box. After you trap them you need them to bless a flower called Lily of the Valley because then they will turn into glow flowers.” Zoey explained after Aphmau put the baggie in her pocket, she still had her pajamas on but this one was a different set that had a more casual look to it. 

“Do you have a Lily of the Valley?” Aphmau asked. 

Zoey thought for a second before nodding “Yeah, why?” 

“Well maybe I can let Amada smell the flower and she’ll lead me in the direction with her snout!” Aphmau suggested, “Is that a good idea?” 

“I mean that’s a brilliant idea but Amada is still a puppy, you can try of course.” 

Aphmau nodded and carefully took the dog from Kitten’s arms. Zoey and Aphmau confirmed the plan and they split their separate ways afterward, Aphmau said a quick goodbye to everyone and started leaving the tree to head to Levin and Malachi’s house where Zoey stayed. Laurance followed behind Aphmau and told her to stop halfway through the walk to make her turn around and look at him. He took a deep breath before hugging Aphmau tightly, Aphmau was taken aback as the man snuggled a bit into her shoulder. 

“Don’t scare me like that again okay?” He asked quietly. 

Aphmau nodded. 

“I was really scared.” He pulled away and fixed Aphmau’s hair “I love you, so much.” 

Aphmau softly smiled “I love you too…. I should… I should go now.” 

The guard nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets as Aphmau finished the walk down the stairs. 

Aphmau’s heart was beating so fast she could hear it banging in her ears, her face was definitely red, and her hands were shaking. Amada knew something was wrong but she didn’t exactly know what to do besides snuggling up in Aphmau’s arms. Aphmau didn’t know why Laurance’s hug felt so… different? It was a different kind of hug and she felt a different kind of way after this hug, Laurance had hugged her a million times before but it had never felt like this . She took a few deep breaths but that wasn’t helping her nerves at all, if she was being honest she just wanted to stay in Laurence's arms forever… just staging there not worrying about anything. Her skin tingled where Laurance had wrapped his arms around her, the crook in her neck felt hot as she imagined Laurance's head there. She was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t feel anything but tingles on her skin, she couldn’t even feel the air blowing past her, she could barely feel her hand as she raked it through her hair in frustration. All she heard was her heartbeat as she walked all the way to Levin and Malachi’s house, why was she feeling this way, why was this happening? Everything was so loud.

She quickly got the box that Zoey was talking about and the Lily of the Valley out of Zoey’s room which was in a downstairs area that Aphmau hadn’t found at first and took her a quick minute to find. After getting what she needed she went all the way outside of the gates of Phoenix Drop and let Amada get a good sniff of the flower before ever so delicately put it in her pocket. Amada took a second before she started barking in the direction that Aphmau needed to go to find more Lily of the Valley flowers. The entire trip Aphmau couldn’t stop thinking about Laurance, his soft voice, his hair, his eyes, his skin, his hands… Aphmau wanted to hold his hands so badly and just touch his hands. Her face was so hot, she was so hot, her hands shook with anxiety as the blush only got worse as the image of Laurance in her head got closer and closer, his lips looked so soft with the adorable cupid bow that his top lip had. Luckily Amada’s bark was loud enough to let Aphmau hear her through the blood pumping Aphmau’s ears. 

Amada led Aphmau to a riverside where flowers that looked like the ones in Aphmau’s pocket were all over the place. Aphmau ignored the fact that there was warm light making the place a bit brighter when the sky above her was slowly getting darker, she also ignored the crackling of a fire that would indicate someone was here. Aphmau began setting up the trap and placing the old fairy bread in the trap when Amada started barking again, this time she was barking behind Aphmau. 

“Honey, I’ve already got the flowers you don’t need to lead me to more flowers,” Aphmau explained. 

“I don’t think she’s barking at the flowers.” 

Aphmau whipped around, the stranger was sitting in a type of camping area with a campfire in front of him. Aphmau almost screamed out of shock but she just gasped loudly “Dear Irene!” She yelled, “What are you doing here!?” 

“What are you doing here?” He replied. 

“I’m doing something with… flowers ” She pointed to the flowers in front of her “Do you live here or something?” 

The stranger nodded. 

“Why? You’re so alone.” 

“I like being alone. Now, what are you doing with those flowers?”   

“I’m trying to get glow flowers, Zoey needs them for a barrier spell she’s doing,” Aphmau explained. 

“Oh, with the fae and all that? I heard about that ritual but I’ve never seen it in action, I’ve also never seen a fae.” The stranger answered. 

“Could I stay here so you can watch it happen and see a fae for the first time?” Aphmau asked. 

The stranger took a deep breath before nodding slowly. Aphmau finished the trap and then grabbed Amada to go sit next to the stranger while they waited to catch a fae. 

After a few minutes of silence Aphmau finally spoke to the man. 

“How come you don’t speak a ton?” 

“You should only speak when spoken to.” The man answered. 

Aphmau nodded “So did you choose the camp near these flowers or?” 

The man went quiet, uncomfortably quiet, before sighing “My deceased wife was named Lily.” Even under his red mask, Aphmau could see his sad eyes. 

“I’m so sorry, I bet she was as beautiful as the flower.” Aphmau apologized. 

The man cracked a small smile “When I asked her out I gave her a Lily of the Valley.”  

Aphmau’s heart melted at the sight of the man’s smile, it was strange and irregular as only the side of his mouth perked up, his teeth were also scarily sharp. “You enjoy talking about her, huh?” 

“Hm?” 

“You smiled.” 

“It’s just a nice memory I have.” The man answered. 

“That’s the first time you’ve ever really told anyone about yourself.” 

“I keep to myself.” 

“Why? You’ve lost so much yet you don’t talk to anyone, how do you deal with it?” Aphmau was in disbelief over this man’s coping mechanisms. 

“Being alone helps, my thoughts keep my company.” The man answered.

“I could never do that, I would be thinking about how I could’ve saved them, helped them, how I could’ve done anything in my power to make sure that what happened didn’t happen.” 

The man sat there in silence, waiting for the moment for Aphmau to realize what Aphmau just said was very insensitive.

Aphmau’s eyes widened “Oh my Irene, I’m so sorry. I was just saying that I would’ve never been able to do that I didn’t think.” 

“Hm, yeah you didn’t. I think about that a lot, it goes through my mind every day. Talking about it won’t change what happened though, no one needs to go through what I go through every day. No one needs to know me.” The man explained. 

“I’d like to know you, to become friends,” Aphmau replied. 

“Why?” 

“No one deserves to be that alone, to be stuck in this void of  yourself.” 

The man went quiet, he took a shaky breath in and out. He lowered his hood and grabbed his red bandana that covered his eyes, he brought it down to his neck showing Aphmau his brown teary eyes, Aphmau was taken aback a bit but she knew that if she reacted a little too much he would probably retreat into his void. 

His eyes were teary as he said his name “My name… my name is Aaron… Aaron Lycan.” He nodded “My name is Aaron.” 

Aphmau smiled “Aaron is a very good name, I like it.” The conversation was cut off but the sound of something snapping. The two whipped their head to the side and saw the box that Aphmau had put the fairy bread in was now glowing a light pink. Aphmau gasped and quickly slid over to the box, inside the box was a brown little person with green bushy hair like a tree and pink flowers in their hair. They wore no clothes from what Aphmau saw but they were covered in a veil of pink, they were eating the fairy bread that Aphmau had put in it. Aphmau didn’t know exactly how to make the fae bless the flowers to make them turn into glow flowers but Aaron quickly told her that she just had to take the flowers and law them on top of the box where the fae will then touch them through the glass and turn them into glow flowers. Aphmau did as instructed and the Lily of the Valley flowers quickly transformed into glowing daisies which Aphmau thought was cool. 

She said her thanks to Aaron and they traded goodbyes. Aphmau let the fae go with the fairy bread, grabbed everything she needed, and headed back to the village. 

Since it was almost night Aphmau had to go to Zoey’s room in Levin and Malachi’s how to give her the glow flowers and the box back. Zoey was thankful and told Aphmau that she would get started on the spelling plan as quickly as she could so she could do it early in the morning since she still needed to go to bed. Aphmau said goodnight to Belladonna and Zoey who were sleeping in the same room like a normal married couple and made her way over to the tree where her travel group was staying besides Cadenza who seemed to be staying in New Meteli after Vincent and Zack agreed to let New Meteli join the alliance, Kitten had said that Cadenza had made it official and told her to tell Belladonna that they were apart of the Phoenix Alliance which Belladonna was obviously happy about. She felt a little bad for Katelyn, Cadenza and her seemed really close in the short days that they stayed there and Aphmau knew that Katelyn was hurting a bit from her distance from everyone. 

Laurance and the others had brought back Belladonna and Aphmau’s stuff so she could finally change out of her old clothes and get new ones because she was not staying in the old same pajamas forever. Before she went to sleep she got a little pillow from their box of extra pillows that Dante had given the group when they first got here and used it as a little doggie bed for Amadas to lay on if she didn’t want to sleep with Aphmau. Aphmau understood dogs from having so many back in her lordship days, they were very quick in their mood changes and some would change from Aphmau’s bed to outside, to Aphamau’s bed to outside like it was a loop they were stuck in at night. She wished everyone a good night's sleep and drifted off to bed. 

Aphmau was sitting with Garroth against the large tree that seemed to be the only significant part of this empty island realm. Aphmau had her right leg over Garroth’s left leg as she spent the last twenty minutes telling him everything that had happened since they got off the Irene portal, she didn’t waste time telling him the small details because she didn’t know how much time they had in this strange world that they were in. Throughout Aphmau’s rambles, Garroth sat and listened, sometimes turning his head to look down at Aphmau with sparkles in his eyes like he was captivated by her words even when they were so simple. Aphmau’s head leaned against his shoulder and every time she realized that she wouldn’t move her head, her face only got red which she knew Garroth could see. It was like when Laurance hugged her but instead of her skin tingling after he hugged her and only where he hugged her, the tingling was everywhere, on her hands, her face, her lips, her thoughts even… it was bad. She truly wished she could stay like this forever and ever until she died. She hoped that she felt this content when she met her demise… maybe she would see Garroth.

After her word spillage, Garroth sat there in silence for a few moments before saying anything “It’s hard to believe fifteen years have gone by in the overworld.” 

Aphmau nodded “I’m sorry to talk your ear off about everything but… so much has happened in what seems like so little time.” 

“Do you think it will be long before I make it out of the Irene Dimension?” Garroth asked, turning his head towards Aphmau to look at her. 

Aphmau did the same “That depends, are you real or are you just someone in my dream?” 

Garroth scrunched up his eyebrows in thought “I feel real? I guess?” He sighed “After our last encounter I went back into the Irene Dimension in the same place I was before, staring across from Zane with our sword in hand, and when I was about to move I… I saw a flash of white and I was here again.” 

“What do you think is causing this?” 

Garroth shrugged “I don’t know, sometimes I think that you're a dream or maybe I’m just being punished by the things I should’ve done. I feel like I should've taken more time to know you more as a person rather than just protecting you as my lord. In a way, I’m a little jealous of Laurance, he was able to befriend you and make you laugh like that one time in the guard tower when you two were fighting over that table.” 

Aphmau held back a snort “Gods I remember that, I’m not sure who won that fight exactly.” She laughed. 

“I wish I had the chance to create fond memories like that with you. I wasn’t sure how to approach you so I just acted as your guard.” Garroth added, his voice was sad. 

“We’ve had fond moments together, the dance that we had at Donna’s wedding, that time that we built that boat, and that time that you and I played with Levin and Malachi in the treehouse. We’ve had plenty of fond moments.” Aphmau rebutted. 

Garroth huffed out a laugh “Yeah but those moments we weren’t alone… I wanted to be alone with you.” 

Aphmau’s breath cut, she didn’t know what to say to that. Garroth has made her pretty breathless with these visits “Well… we’re alone now, aren’t we?” 

“Eh, I mean yes but I fear that this is all a dream. You say you can only come here when you are asleep, like a dream. But even then… I’m sure you don’t come here every time you sleep.” 

Aphmau sighed and grabbed the guard’s hand ever so lightly “Just enjoy this time for what it is, if it is a dream or not our minds are still allowing us to have this time together.” Aphmau thought for a second “I propose this, from now on we don’t dwell or talk about the past. When I come here I'll tell you about what’s been happening and we can talk about that, alright?” She asked, turning to Garroth as she proposed this idea. 

Garroth thought for a minute, nodding his head from side to side lightly before finally agreeing on the idea “Sounds like a plan.” 

Aphmau “So… what do you want to talk about?” Aphmau laughed awkwardly. 

Garroth chuckled “Was he good-looking?” Garroth asked.

“What!? Who?” 

“That stranger you talked about, what was his name… Aaron?” 

“What!? I don’t know? Why would you ask me that question, you literally could’ve asked me anything else!” Aphmau’s face got pink. 

Garroth’s chuckled, it was soft and teasing “I’m just curious, no harm.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and sighed “He was handsome-”

“More so than me?” 

Aphmau gasped and slapped the guard while he laughed maniacally “You are so rude, I, don’t you. I never liked you, you were always my least favorite.”  

Garroth clapped his hands “I just wanted to see your reaction! You look cute flustered.” He winked. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “You’re such a jerk.” 

Garroth just laughed, he faded in quietness. Furrowing his eyebrows a bit “You know, I was being serious when I said you need to find someone who deserves you. Don’t wait to give me chance just because I said I-” 

“Hey,” Aphmau put her hand on the man’s face “didn’t we just get done with talking about things in the past?” 

A loud bell rang through the world making Aphmau and Garroth jump in their seats, Aphmau knew what this meant. She would be waking up soon back in her treehouse and hopefully, Zoey would be ready to do the barrier spell or she already did it. Garroth smiled softly and kissed Aphmau’s forehead before everything turned white and she gasped awake, staring at the tree leaves of the treehouse. 

It was early morning, so early that the sun had barely risen over the horizon yet but people were still up. Laurance was putting on small amounts of armor that he could just slide over his body and Katelyn was drinking tea while looking out of a window. Aphmau grabbed her bag without saying anything and changed in the far corner of the treehouse, Laurance respected her privacy and didn’t turn around until she tapped on his shoulder. She asked him if he wanted to go with her and see Zoey put up the barrier for the guard station and he obviously agreed to go, the two walked down out of the tree and over to Levin and Malachi’s house where Zoey and Belladonna were exiting the house. Aphmau told them that they were ready to leave and they went off to the guard station, Belladonna was just there because she wanted to be with her wife which Aphmau thought was cute. She always wanted a relationship like Belladonna’s and Zoey’s which was nice. 

The spell or ritual that Zoey did was very strange to Aphmau as she’s never seen Zoey do her barrier magic before. She put the five glow flowers around the border of the guard station while stomping into the dirt with her boots, everytime she stomped on the ground her boots and the floor beneath her would glow. Soon when she made a full circle she backed up to look at the entire building and started muttering to herself while making symbols with her hands, when she was finished she blew air towards the building and made a pushing motion with her hands at the building. A barrier of sheer golden glow appeared around the building and immediately vanished. 

Zoey turned around with a smile, proud of her good work. “That should do it!” She put her hands on her hips. 

“How long will it last?” Laurance asked. 

“It should last for around a month or so, after that, I’ll either have to reinforce it with another potent spell or break it down and recreate a new one. As long as no one gives Sasha the means to create a counterspell, then it should be perfectly stable.” Zoey explained. 

“Should I have gathered some more glow flowers?” Aphmau asked. 

Zoey shook her head “Glow flowers don’t last long unless you are an expert botanist or a nature magicks user which I am not either so they would only last a few hours in my hands. We’ll just have to go look for another forest fae and repeat the process before the spell lets up.” 

“Thank you so much, Zoey.” Aphmau smiled. 

“There’s no need to thank me. I’m just doing my part to protect Phoenix Drop, even if it’s not as much.” 

“What!? It’s more than enough.” Belladonna argued, wrapping her arm around her wife’s shoulders. 

Zoey huffed out a laugh “Thank you, honey. Well, I guess we’ll leave you two alone to speak with Sasha since I know you guys want to talk to her.” 

Aphmau nodded “Zoey thank you so much for this, you’re doing us a huge favor, never think that you’re not doing enough.” 

“Sasha is a very powerful woman, I think if we didn’t have that barrier and she got mad she would have escaped at the speed of light.” Laurance complimented the woman. 

Zoey smiled softly “Thank you, that’s very nice of you. Have a nice day guys.” Zoey and Belladonna said their goodbyes and walked away from the guard station leaving Aphmau and Laurance to deal with Sasha alone. 

When Zoey and Belladonna were out of earshot Laurance tapped Aphmau’s shoulder to get her attention. “How are you feeling this morning?” He asked. 

Aphmau shrugged “I’m good.” 

“How was Garroth?” 

“Huh? How did you know I saw him?” Aphmau knew that Laurance was up already when she got up but she didn’t know that he was watching over her. 

“Your body disappeared last night while you slept,” Laurance answered. 

“You were watching me?” 

Laurance nodded “A good guard always sleeps with one eye open.” He seemed a bit tired so Aphmau knew that he wasn’t just keeping one eye open “Did he kiss you again?” 

Aphmau stammered, she didn’t know how to answer such a bold question… who knew that she would have to deal with that from both of the guys she was in love with. “We just… we just talked about what's been going on and he might’ve kissed my forehead.” 

“Hm, I caught you off guard huh?” He crossed his arms and smirked. 

“You always catch me off guard.” She smiled softly. She explained to Laurance what she and Garroth talked about, leaving out the more personal details for obvious reasons.  

“Heh, well it seems he’s getting more confident which is good - that is if it’s the real Garroth. I have no doubt it’s him though, the way you say he talked sounds like him….  Man, you think if I got to visit them in that dream realm he'd be so happy he’d kiss me too?” Laurance joked, posing to make himself seem more flattering. 

Aphmau laughed “Yes, Garroth is deathly in love with you. He talks about her all the time and how he wishes he could kiss you and love you and all that.” 

Laurance barked out a laugh “Of course he’d want to kiss me! I mean like who wouldn’t want to kiss this hunk of man?” He kissed his own hand like it was a dainty lady’s hand he was kissing. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “On second thought I lied, Garroth hates your guts.”

“Pfftt, not true. Fake.” 

“It’s not fake, he told me himself. ‘I hate Laurance so much it’s crazy.’” Aphmau mocked Garroth’s accent that he had. 

“Prove it,” Laurance said as he started walking into the guard station. 

“How can I prove it? It was in a dream?” 

“Dreams are fake, not real so that means whatever Garroth said was fake.” 

“I hate you.” Aphmau deadpanned, making her way over to Sasha’s cell. Aphmau was all awake now that she and Laurance had been joking around but her awakeness clashed with Sasha's tired attitude. 

“Good morning Sasha.” Laurance greeted kindly. 

“Hmph, I see you brought this dipshit.” Sasha stared coldly at the man she once called a friend. 

“Ouch,” Laurance muttered. 

Aphmau sighed “I want to talk about Gene, I know Dante would appreciate it if we learned something more about his brother.” 

“Gene has a brother in the overworld? I wasn’t aware of this.” Sasha pointed out in confusion. 

“Of course you wouldn’t be aware of that, all you did for him was be his fucking puppy.” Laurance snapped “I did not enjoy the noises coming from your room.” 

Sasha snorted “Yeah, you’ll never make pretty little Aphmau sound like that though.” 

“Oh.” 

Laurance’s face went red and flipped Sasha off. Sasha laughed at the man’s humility and Aphmau’s shocked face at what she said. 

“He was very powerful in the underworld and was proclaimed the ‘leader’ by basically everyone. He helped me see who Laurance and Kenmur truly were to me… traitors.” Sasha hissed the word ‘traitor’ like it was venom dripping out of her mouth. Aphmau knew that Laurance wanted to say something but he squeezed his fist to the point where Aphmau thought they were going to bleed and bit his tongue. “He was the best Shadow Knight there could be, he was cold and cruel. Laurance over here is soft and weak, that’s the difference between domesticated Shadow Knights and true Shadow Knights.” 

Aphmau nodded, she acted like she was glad she got that pointless information “What about the Shadow Lord, with all the information I know about the underworld I surprisingly don’t know a lot about him.” 

“Ahh, the gracious Lord of Shadows yes…. Do you know of The War of the Magi ?” Sasha asked. 

Aphmau had a familiar sense of that name deep in her bones, she knew that she knew things the other people didn’t like that one time she especially remembers reading a book called Le Saint Divine about the Divine Warriors and learning a lot about them but it went missing on the day and everyone seemingly forgot about it. She never knew where that book went or how everyone forgot about it, maybe Belladonna and Kitten had something to do with that. So maybe this War of the Magi was something she read in that book but now she’s forgotten about it like everyone else. She shook her head, that was the easiest answer to give even though it was the most confusing question for her. 

Sasha hummed “I would be surprised if you did know of it. It is a war that has sadly been lost to time in the overworld. I’m pretty sure the books were burned that talked about it - to prevent things from repeating… fools… burning their only source of answers.” 

“Answers?” 

Sasha cleared her throat and sat up straight “Allow me to tell you about the Shadow Lord and the War of the Magi. More than four thousand years ago, our Lord had arisen from the depths of Hell, from its dark shallow bit that lurks in the deep darks of our terrible world. He found a place in the overworld, a place his mortal body was once outcast by his fellow man. Now twisted and bent by the will of his hatred and the torture and cultivation of hell - he had become an all-powerful being. 

Once in the Overworld, he sought to rule overall. Of course, the mortal Kings at the time were not to stand for such a threat and went to war with our lord of Shadow and his army. The war continued for a century until… until they appeared.” her body shivered at the mention of ‘they’. 

Aphmau tilted her head, she stayed quiet for Sasha to continue but she wondered why Sasha didn’t just say who appeared. 

“The Divine Warrior, those fuckers showed up…. Shad, Esmund, Enki, Irene, Menphia, and Kul’Zake… their stupid asses fucked everything up! They all rule over a region if you weren’t aware but with Ru’aun three Divines rule over this fucked up place, Irene Shad, and Kul’Zak, the rest rule over the others. All the Divine are equally or even more powerful than your lovely Irene, they just saw her as a god… they didn’t know who the real god was. 

Those wretched beings were able to rise against the Shadow Lord and with their power combined, destroyed his physical form and sent his essence back to Hell from where he came as well as his armies. But you see, the Shadow Lord isn’t just one entity, not just one being, he is a realm, a WORLD!” 

“Wait…” 

“Yes! The Shadow Lord is Hell, he is it! Through trial and tribulation, Hell finally got to make an entity of its own and possess a poor helpless soul that was lonely and was labeled a ‘villain’ by his home, exiled for helping them in their greatest time of need. As his entity was ripped to shreds he’s gotten more people on his side, people who see the truth, and every day his grows stronger and stronger with the praise that we give him. I mean eons and eons ago he even got himself a host… temporary though as it fused with his real body… it fused with the realm itself.” Sasha cleared her throat “Anyways, the so called ‘Divine’ scattered his power and ‘essence’ all around the world, some put it into the weapons, books, ancient objects, and even places but they were to never be messed as bringing them together would bring him together.” 

“Okay so… how does this tie into Zenix and what our objective is? I mean like there’s gotta be something that ties this all together, right?” Aphmau asked, somewhat getting tired of Sasha’s history lesson. 

“As Shadow Knights, we seek to revive the Shadow Lord and make him the rightful ruler by either sacrificing things, making his armies stronger or even trying to find the relics that have his power in them. Zenix, I fear, might be trying to do this alone.” Sasha’s gritted her teeth together “And if he is that mad and if he is that insane to attempt this… the Shadow Lord will have a physical form, but with the combined mind of Zenix and not all of his followers…. He… He can’t do this! HE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE AND TAINT ALL THE WORK WE HAVE DONE ALL THESE YEARS!” 

“Sasha calm down,” Aphmau demanded, putting her hand out to see if her calming powers worked after consuming the Irene relic. 

“Calm down? You want me to calm down?” Sasha’s eyes turned void black “NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PAIN I WENT TO THROUGH TO OBTAIN THIS BODY BACK TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL AND NOW TO HAVE IT ALL RUINED BY SOME CHILD WHO THINK HE KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO SUFFER THIS MUCH! HOW DARE HE TRY TO CORRUPT THE MIND OF OUR LORD OF SHADOW WITH HIS! HE IS NOT WORTHY AND HE WILL PAY BY MY HANDS I WANT HIM GONE! I WANT HIM DEAD !” Sasha gasped, her eyes turning purple again before she passed out against the concrete. Hitting her head against the floor making both Aphmau and Laurance jump. 

Aphmau whipped around, she had a face of regret “I’m so sorry, I just… I didn’t know she was going to go out so… violently.” 

“I think she might’ve gone out more violently if you didn’t stop her.” Laurance comforted Aphmau, patting her on the shoulder while staring at Sasha in pain. “Shadows Knights have this where when they get angry they can make really strong negative energy around them and those Shadow Souls attract to negative energy.”

“So uh… what do we uh… what do we do now?” Aphmau asked. “I mean we got the information we needed, and if it’s true that books have been burned containing information on the Shadow Lord and this War of the Magi then we should go to bigger villages or cities in this region to see if we can find any remains or anything that could help us.” 

“We could go to Scaleswind.” Laurance suggested, “That’s the biggest city I know of.” 

“Well we’ll need a boat or something to get there and we’ll need to prepare food and clothes and things like that. We already have a lot of stuff from our trip to New Meteli but I know that we’ll need more.” 

“Definitely, we can also use this to get Scaleswind on the Phoenix Alliance so we should have a meeting with Belladonna along with Levin and Malachi.” Laurance agreed. “We’ll also need to tell everyone else in our group about what we’re doing and if we can get a boat we need to know if they want to join us.” 

Aphmau turned around, Sasha was still passed out against the floor. Aphmau felt bad for pushing Sasha so hard and making her so forcefully pass out. “What do we do for her?” 

Laurance looked at Sasha with sad eyes, he sighed “We should leave the cell open, she should get to know that she can’t leave here and I don’t want her cramped up in that cell all the time.” 

Aphmau agreed and went over to get the keys, she picked them up and unlocked the cell making sure to carefully open the metal door so it didn’t squeak and possibly wake Sasha but with how hard she hit the ground Aphmau didn’t think that was going to happen anytime soon.    

 The two quietly exited the guard station, making sure not to make any noise just in case Sasha did wake up against all odds. They quickly made their way back to the village, running as fast as they could and laughing the entire way, they felt free as they ran the short distance. The wind ran through their hair as Laurance started running back to look at Aphmau better which made her laugh harder, she almost tripped because she wasn’t paying attention but she quickly regained her balance again and they slid into the settlement. The sun was only barely half done being over the horizon but Aphmau and Laurance still stormed into the house scaring Belladonna and Zoey and the barely awake Levin and Malachi. Laurance and Aphmau informed everyone of what they wanted to and that they wanted to leave for Scaleswind. 

Laurance and Aphmau let Malachi and Levin wake up a little bit more before they had the meeting by talking to Belladonna about what they wanted to do and the reason they wanted to leave for Scaleswind. Aphmau didn’t really need to have an intense meeting with Levin and Malachi; she just wanted to possibly get their help and make sure that they were going to be okay with her leaving once again after being back in Phoenix Drop for such little time.  Belladonna completely agreed with what they wanted to do and said that with such a big city on their side they can get much more villages, Belladonna was also okay with this trip being about Aphmau and defeating the Shadow Lord, she thought that it could really help them in the future from what Kitten says. 

After waking up a little bit more Malachi and Levin sat on the couch drinking their tea with Belladonna and Zoey standing behind them. Laurance and Aphmau informed them of their plan and how Aphmau just wanted to make sure that this was okay with them. 

“ Mom, of course, this is okay. If you think this is the best course of action for you to take then you have our full support. ” Malachi signed. 

“I agree, there’s not much you can do with your powers until you know about them. Also if Sasha really believes this Zenix person is out to control the Shadow Lord there must be someplace out there that has some kind of information on the Divine Warriors and the War. “ Levin added.

“We need to know how to defeat the Shadow Lord if Sasha’s prediction comes true. If we stay here and do nothing we’re basically digging our own graves.” Laurance explained. Everyone agreed with that. 

“Me and Malachi will prepare you a ship for you guys to make the first portion of your trip,” Levin said. “It’s the least we can do.” 

“That’d be great, please don’t go overboard though we just need a few things to let us survive hopefully a few weeks,” Aphmau warned. 

“ Of course, we should start making arrangements right away- ” Malachi got cut off by Belladonna telling him to hold on.

“How many people are coming with us, I don’t think everyone really wants to come with us for this long trip,” Belladonna asked. 

“Oh right, well how many people do you think are going to come with us?” Laurance asked. 

Belladonna nodded her head from side to side, thinking “Kitten, Katelyn, and Me.” She answered “The stranger, Emmalyn, and Kenmur have their own agendas with taking care of the village and each other. You should still ask though.” 

Malachi nodded “ Well we’ll prepare eight bags of food for a few weeks and then give them to the people coming, if everyone doesn’t come then we’ll have some bags left which will be good for us. We only have two boats, one of them being the O’Khasis ship that we sailed away in fifteen years ago… you guys can take that. ” 

“Really? You don’t have to do that.” Aphmau didn’t want Malachi and Levin to give them too much stuff and a ship that big for such little people was way too much. 

“ It’s the least we can do, we don’t need it any way we don’t use it a lot, ” Malachi answered, not backing down away from giving Aphmau the O’Khasis ship. 

Laurance put his hand on Aphmau's shoulder and whispered into her ear making the hair on the back of her neck stand up “Just let them do this, they want to help their mom.” 

Aphmau sighed “Fine we’ll take the ship. Now that we’ve kinda confirmed our trip I suggest that we go ask everyone else in our group if they will join us.” The meeting faded to an end and Aphmau and Laurance said a quick goodbye to everyone before exiting the house. They agreed that they should also tell everyone else goodbye since they probably weren’t coming back for a while like their original plan back when they headed to New Meteli. That originally was supposed to be where their journey started but sadly they had to come back to Phoenix Drop because of the Shadow Souls. 

Aphmau looked around the village as she and Laurance walked out of the house, Aaron was laying down on one of the giant roots of the tree that created an arch to the pathway towards the tree, Logan was reading a book while sitting at his merchant booth, Kawaii~Chan was in the kitchen washing her hands and look down at the flowers outside the window above the sink, and the children of the village were playing tag and running around the entire place. Aphmau’s heart melted as the sun cast a warm glow around everyone at the time turned eight am. Everything was so nice and soft to her, everyone looked so peaceful and calm… she hoped that it stayed that way forever… she knew that it was going to stay that way forever because if it didn’t she didn’t know what she would do. Phoenix Drop couldn’t go through another war, another fight, any more deaths or stress. 

Aphmau and Laurance agreed to separate and ask everyone who was going to join them and who wasn’t. This is when Aphmau accidentally said Aaron’s name.

“Aaron? Who's Aaron?” Laurance furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

“I- … oh no.” Aphmau slapped a hand over her mouth “I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” She whispered. 

“Who is that though?” Laurance asked, even more, confused than before. 

Aphmau sucked in a breath “The stranger.” 

It took a second for Laurance to process what Aphmau said. He gasped “No way!” He yelled “No way!” 

“Don’t say anything! Please dear god don’t say anything.” Aphmau pleaded “I really don’t want him knowing that I told you, he only told me and I don’t want him mad at me.” 

“I won’t, I won’t, I won’t.” Laurance nodded, putting his hands up in defeat “ … Do you know what he looks like?” 

Aphmau clicked her tongue, debating whether or not she tells Laurance that she saw the man’s face. She caved “Yeah, he took off his mask and showed me his face.” 

Laurance gasped again “Was he hot?” 

Aphmau slapped his arm in embarrassment “He was attractive.” She answered, advertising her guise. 

“Well don’t mystery boy okay? Last time I did that he ended up in the Irene Dimension.” 

“What?’ 

“Hm?” 

The two stood and stared at each other in silence, they awkwardly split away from each other still staring at each other. Aphmau went over to Logan while Laurance headed straight towards Aaron, hopefully, he wouldn’t tell the man anything. Aphmau finally split her gaze when she arrived at Logan’s merchant booth, it looked the same that it did when Aphmau was Lord. 

“Sup kid.” Logan deadpanned “What do you want.” 

“You know, I’m not that younger than you.” Aphmau leaned on the booth. 

Logan looked up at Aphmau with a ‘are you serious’ face on “Kid, I’m in my early fifties for all I know you are still in your twenties.” 

Aphmau's mouth was agape “You’re in your early fifties?” She wheezed. 

 Logan rolled his eyes “Look, do you want something?” 

Aphmau tried to ignore the fact that Logan was in his fifties and told him that she was going to leave for Scaleswind and that this was starting their big trip to travel around the region. 

Logan listened to Aphmau, his face not changing one bit. All he did was nod when Aphmau was done was telling him her short farewell. 

“Scaleswind is big, big for a lot of reasons, one of them trading…. I was going to give this to you last time you went on a trip but I got nervous and you left before I could give it to you so… just head to me and Donna’s house and tell Donna that I told you that you can have my present now.” Logan simply said, going back to his book. 

“Why don’t you just give it to me yourself?” 

“Because I don’t have it genius.” Logan scoffed. 

“Okay, Jerkface.” Aphmau rolled her eyes. 

Logan laughed, she faded into quietness “I’m gonna miss you, you know?” 

Aphmau smiled softly “I’m gonna miss you too.” 

He turned his head slightly “Be safe okay? You’re like my daughter.” 

Aphmau’s heart melted, broke almost from how sweet Logan was. She almost started crying “I will, I promise.” She said, “I’m gonna go see Donna now okay?” 

Logan nodded and went back to his book leaving Aphmau to do what she wanted. 

Laurance was walking away from Aaron and going into Dante and Nana’s house as Aphmau went over to Donna’s. Donna was sitting in the rocking chair breastfeeding her baby girl Luca. She was looking out to the ocean with dreamy eyes as the sun rose. Aphmau waved and alerted Donna of her presence before heading over just in case Donna wanted to cover herself. She did not. 

“Hiya darlin’!” Donna smiled “How are you doing?” 

“I’m good, I needed to tell you something.” Aphmau just wanted to get right into it so she didn’t have to deal with the sadness.  Aphmau told Donna that she was leaving for Scaleswind and probably not going to come back for a long while. 

“Oh wow, well be safe and all. Oh! Bring any cute guys you mean on your way back here, I want to see the look of jealousy on Logan’s face.” Donna laughed maliciously. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes but laughed along with Donna “You’re never gonna change, huh?” 

“Never.” 

“Heh, well Logan also said that he had a present for me and that I need to take it for this trip.” 

Donna thought for a moment before she remembered “Oh right, yeah it’s upstairs on the second floor. It’s on a shelf with a note saying ‘For Aphmau’ on it. You can go up there and get it; there’s a door leading outside, so you leave quicker since our house is pushed up against a hill.” 

“Okay, thanks, Donna. Have a good one.” 

“You two!” 

Aphmau said goodbye to baby and Donna before walking into the house in front of her. She found the stairs and went up to the second floor which seemed to just be a gigantic study of some sort. While she looked for the note that said ‘For Aphmau’ she found a little Irene statue that looked strangely familiar to the one that Emmalyn had before the time jump, maybe it was the same one and Donna took it so that bandits wouldn’t come and take it. It did mean a lot to Emmalyn so maybe Donna did do that. 

She found the note that said ‘For Aphmau’ and it was on a shelf like Donna said but Donna hadn’t mentioned anything about it being attached to an old-looking duffle bag that wasn’t that big but it looked heavy… and it was. She almost toppled over when she took the bag off the shelf, her curiosity was through the roof as she put the bag on the floor and squatted to open it. When she opened it she was absolutely baffled by the amount of money that was in this bag, she had only learned about how Ru’aun had changed its money system only a week ago or so when she was staying in Phoenix drop, they had changed it to paper money instead of coins because it was easier to manage and they could put different values on the money instead of having three different values of coins. Logan had somehow gotten a lot of this new paper money and it shocked Aphmau to her core. She wondered if Donna knew about the money in this bag, she wondered how much money Donna had. 

Aphmau took a deep breath, zipped up the duffle bag, and exited out of the second floor like Donna had suggested she do. When she walked out she acted as if nothing had happened and that she wasn’t carrying around a hundred or even millions of money in her hands. She wanted to go see Nana and Dante next and then she would go see Alexis and Kyle who were currently guarding the settlement gate and then she would talk to the kids and if so she would say goodbye to Aaron. As she walked to Dante and Nana’s how Alexis was speaking to Yip, her face was a light pink and she was smiling all happily. Aphmau had a small suspicion that Yip was Alexsis’ crush but she didn’t want to assume anything. 

Nana noticed Aphmau heading to the door so they quickly went over and opened it to greet her with a big smile. “Kon'nichiwa! I heard that you were leaving for Scaleswind, I am sad, but I understand that you need to find yourself!” Nana invited Aphmau in. 

“Thank you Nana, I’m glad you understand. I’m going to miss you a lot.” Aphmau smiled at the meif’wa. 

“I"m going to miss you too Aphmau, that’s why they're giving you this!” Nana took something from her counter and handed it to the woman. It was a purple box that made heavy noise when Nana moved it from the counter over to Aphmau. Aphmau cautiously took the box and held it in her arms as she opened the box, she let a small gasp escape her lips. Inside the box were what looked to be crystal roses, cookies, a large round plush bunny, and a chain necklace with a little angel charm attached to it. Everything was beautifully arranged and Aphmau was genuinely surprised how Nana got all this on such short notice, so she asked her. 

“Oh, I was going to give that to you anyway because I was just so happy that you were back but now that you’re leaving I thought it was better to give it to you now.” Kawaii~Chan answered, “Do you like it?” 

“Of course I like it Nana!” Aphmau went in for a hug from her friend, she hugged the meif’wa tightly as her eyes started tearing up. She didn’t want to leave anyone here because she loved them too much but she knew that this is what she had to do if she wanted to do as many things as possible for the village, herself, and possibly the world if Sasha’s predictions were right. 

“I know that you also want to see Dante so I'll just save myself the tears and tell you to go now, okay? He’s downstairs in the training room, it’s on the right.” Nana said while pulling away. 

Aphmau closed the gift box “Thank you Nana, I don’t want to cry and make everyone sad so that’s a good call. Love you girl.” Aphmau said as she went down the spiral staircase that headed both up-down. 

“Bye-bye!” Nana went back to doing what she did in the kitchen. 

Aphmau went into the first room on the right which is what Aphmau was assuming Nana was talking about and found Dante practicing with his katanas while Laurance talked to him, more like argued with him over something that Aphmau had no context for. 

“Look, if I need to give this to her then I will Dante, but bringing up memories from the past will only make it worse-” 

“Hey boys!” Aphmau called out, making Dante stop training and Laurance stop talking.  

“Ah, are you ready to head out Aph? Aar- The stranger said that he isn’t going, I don’t know about Katelyn, Kitten, Emmalyn, or Kenmur though.” Laurance asked. 

“I can ask them no worries, I still want to say goodbye to the kids, Yip, and Alexis, and Kyle though so can we wait a bit more?” She asked. 

“Oh yeah sure, I’ll leave you two alone. See you Aph.” Laurance winked goodbye at the woman and said goodbye to Dante as he exited the room and Aphmau moved towards Dante.

He threw his katanas to the side, he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. He wore normal civilian clothes so Aphmau assumed that he was off duty for today. He smiled sadly at the woman he used to guard. 

“I heard you’re going to Scaleswind. I’m gonna miss you.” 

“I’m going to miss you two… what were you and Laurance talking about?” Aphmau asked, slightly worried about what their argument was about. 

Dante shook his head “It was nothing, just casual bickering.” 

“But-” 

“Hey, remember to be safe okay?” He placed his hand on Aphmau’s shoulder. 

Aphmau knew that Dante was just going to ignore Aphmau and her question so she decided to let it die and move on “I can’t promise everything.” She joked “But I’ll try my best.” 

“You better.” Dante laughed “Now I need to get back to murdering this dummy so… take care okay?” 

Aphmau smiled softly and nodded “Of course, love you, Dante.” 

“Love you too Aph.” Dante snatched his Katanas as Aphmau walked out of the room and closed the door to let the man be. 

She exited the house, saying one last goodbye to Nana before she went over to Alexis, Yip, and Kyle to say goodbye. It was pretty much like every other goodbye conversation that she had and Yip even gave her a parting gift which was a moon charm he had in his pocket that he didn’t need anymore but would help Aphmau if she ever came across some werewolves that wanted to absolutely murder Aphmau and her group. Kyle and Alexis wished her a good trip and she went on to her next person. She went over to the tree to see Katelyn, Kitten, Emmalyn, and Kenmur. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Levin and Malachi putting a few crates aboard a massive ship that shook her to her core from the memories that it gave her. She came across Katelyn coming down the treehouse stairs because she was actually heading to the boat after she saw it, when Aphmau asked her if she was going to be joining them on their trip to Scaleswind she happily agreed to come. Katelyn informed Aphmau that Kitten, Emmalyn, and Kenmur were up in the tree as she passed by Aphmau and continued down the stairs. 

Up in the tree, Kenmur was passed out on a bed, Emmalyn was reading a book, and Kitten was balancing on the fencing of the tree. Aphmau went to Emmalyn first since she knew that Kitten was going to come with them but she didn’t know about Emmalyn because of what Belladonna said. 

“Oh… I… I know Kenmur can make his own decisions but I don’t think we’re going to come with you guys.” Emmalyn answered softly. 

“What?” 

Emmalyn bit her lip “Aph, I didn’t know that Kenmur was once engaged or that… or that the person he was engaged to be that woman… Sasha.” 

“I still don’t understand why you aren’t coming with us,” Aphmau questioned. 

“Aph, I really want to help you on your journey and I want to discover the secrets of Lady Irene, I want to help but…” She seemed incredibly sad. “I think I love him.” 

Aphmau gasped, she stammered as she tried to find words to describe how she was feeling.  “What!?” 

She sucked in a breath “Right now I want to be with him, he’s going through a tough time with Sasha and all that. I just want to be with him, to help mend his heart.” 

Aphmau knew that she shouldn’t push Emmalyn but she really wanted to make her come with them on their trip but… she knew better. Aphmau sighed softly “Okay, that’s fine. If you want to be with Kenmur, be with Kenmur I’m not going to stop you.” 

“Thank you, and if you find any books  that you need me to decipher, send a messenger if you can find one.” Emmalyn smiled brightly. 

Aphmau nodded “Take care Emmalyn and get your man!” Aphmau snapped her fingers as she walked away from the librarian. 

“Aphmau!” Emmalyn scolded. 

Aphmau went over to Kitten, turning around to face the acrobatic meif’wa. She sighed and slumped over, three out of her eight people weren’t coming along on the trip so really only five people were coming on the trip which didn’t make Aphmau feel amazing. 

Not looking away from the fencing Kitten asked Aphmau if she was okay. 

Aphmau shrugged “Three people out of our group aren’t coming along with us and that’s not amazing.” 

“Hm, where are we going?” Kitten asked. 

“Scaleswind.” 

Kitten sucked in a breath, jumping down from the fencing “I’m gonna come, I don’t think that should’ve been a question.” 

Aphmau stood up while smiling brightly “Really!?” 

“Of course! I mean I’m like your guardian angel of course I have to come.” Kitten grabbed Aphmau’s hand “Now where are we going?” 

Aphmau hugged her boys on the dock that led to her ship with everyone on it that was coming, along with Amada, Aphmau’s new dog. Laurance and Kitten stood behind her waiting for her to say the word for them to sail off. 

Aphmau pulled away from her boys, tears in all of their eyes. 

“You boys be safe okay?” Aphmau put her hands on the boy’s faces. 

“You be safe!” Levin said back, holding his mother’s hand “I’m going to miss you so much.” 

“ I’ll make sure everyone is safe, hopefully, you make sure everyone else is safe on your side .” Malachi signed. 

Aphmau smiled and let her hands fall to her sides, she took a deep breath “Take care okay?” 

“Of course.” 

“Okay.” 

Aphmau turned around, drying her eyes quickly “Are you guys ready to sail off into the unknown?” She asked Laurance and Kitten. 

“I sure hope so.” Laurance sighed as the three of them got on the ship.

Kitten barked out a laugh and ran towards the helm of the ship where she took her position as ‘captain’. Everyone else on the top of the ship waved goodbye to Levin and Malachi as they sailed off to Scaleswind.

Chapter Text

They had been sailing for a couple of hours, a long couple of hours, it was such a long couple of hours that Aphmau was convinced that it was more like three years. Aphmau hadn’t been on a ship or boat in what felt like so long so she suspected that was causing her boredom. 

Aphmau was sitting on the ship, dangling her head over the side to look at the ocean. In the far distance, she spotted a tiny island that filled her with a strange sense of familiarness, but maybe it wasn’t so strange. It was a small little island with small blobs all over it and with, what looked to be, two-story house cottage house. Aphmau stood up and told Kitten to stop at the island so she could check it out and see if it was the same crazy cat lady island that she went to and was scarred for life. 

Kitten made a quick stop at the small island and Aphmau immediately recognized the island filled with cats. Of course, there weren’t as many cats as there was last time Aphmau was here but it was still a shockingly amount of cats on this poor island. 

Laurance volunteered to come with Aphmau and the two climbed down the rope ladder to the sandy beach below where Laurance almost ate the sand. Aphmau and everyone on the ship held back a laugh to save Laurance from the embarrassment but it was already embarrassing to begin with. Belladonna told them to be safe and that they should eat on the boat if they're hungry, Aphmau thought it was weird that she said that but she just brushed it off as motherly advice.  

The two walked over to the stairs of the house when they were stopped by the sound of a door opening above them and a female voice yelling at them. 

“Who dares disturb the island of the fierce feline warrior Michi, nya ~!?” 

“What!?” Laurance and Aphmau both said in confusion. 

The meif’wa in question was on the second-story balcony looking down at Aphmau and Laurance. She seemed small and harmless, with the attitude of an angry puppy, she was very bubbly and her high-pitched voice added to that. She had long straight lilac purple hair with yellow-ish green eyes, and she had light brown skin that glowed like honey in the sunlight. Her cat ears were a light gray with black stripes like a tiger, her tail was the same way with the light gray coating and the black stripes making her look like a grey tiger. She had black tiger stripes on her jawline that went up to her face, black stripes that curved on the outside of her forearms, and black stripes on her shoulders. 

“Uh… we’re just here to see-” Aphmau got cut off. 

“Slaver of werewolves of all shapes and sizes!” The meif’wa wore a white and black shoulderless crop top, high waisted black shorts that looked like bathing suit bottoms, see-through white and gray gloves that stopped right below her shoulder, black boots, knee eyes gray, and white socks that had a garter belt attaching itself to the black shorts. Her claws were sharp and her eyes looked dangerous despite her bubbly personality. 

“Damn,” Laurance whispered. 

“Laurance!”

“Sorry.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “I’m sorry, we’re here because-” 

“Champion of chaos and calamity!” Michi cut her off again. 

Aphmau just stood there in shock before hesitantly saying again why she was here only for her to be cut off again making her snap out of anger “Hey! Stop cutting me off and let me talk!” 

The meif’wa scrunched up in fear and went quiet. 

“Thank you, we’re here because I remember someone leaving here and I was wondering if she still lived here. I’m just here with my guard, my three other friends, and my puppy. I’m not trying to start anything here.” Aphmau explained. 

The meif’wa girl gasped “Nya~, did you say puppy?” 

Aphmau nodded. 

The girl squealed “I love puppies! Is it like a werewolf or just a normal dog-dog?” 

“Just a normal dog, it’s a Newfoundland dog so it’s very fluffy. We’re not sure how old she is though.” Aphmau answered. 

The girl squealed once again “You guys can come in for tea and stuff and I can see your puppy! Wait for a second while I open the door!” Michi rushed away from the balcony to go open the front door. 

Laurance turned towards Aphmau after staring at the balcony in disbelief for a few seconds “Well… she’s no Urla, maybe she’s okay?” 

Aphmau scrunched up her face a bit “We still don’t know her, we don’t know her motives or anything. Who knows maybe she wants to kidnap us and take us away to some castle to marry a prince.” 

Laurance snorted “Yeah well if that does happen we know who the prince is choosing.” He pointed to himself as he turned on his heels towards the boat. 

“As if, he’d totally choose me, I’m the better option.” Aphmau flipped her hair jokingly as she passed by Laurance.   

“I mean if the prince was me of course I’d choose you.” He winked. 

Aphmau fake gagged. They went over to the boat and got Amada and Katelyn since she said that she would rather die then stay on this stupid boat for another minute, Kitten and Belladonna volunteered to stay on the boat to make sure that they don’t somehow get robbed. Belladonna once again reminded Aphmau and the group that if they were hungry to eat on the boat, Kitten encouraged this as well. 

Katelyn, Aphmau, Laurance, and Amada made it just in time for Michi to open the front door with a plate of cookies in her hand. Katelyn and Laurance took a cookie while Aphmau quietly refused, she then allowed Amada to freely roam the house while cats stared at the little puppy like it was about to kill them all. 

Laurance and Katelyn went into the kitchen to do their own thing while Aphmau and Michi sat on Michi’s living room couch while having tea and light snacks that Aphmau continued to refuse. 

Aphmau took a sip of her tea while Michi set her tea down “It’s been forever since I’ve had guests over! I'm so glad you guys joined me for tea.” The meif’wa smiled brightly. 

“Well thank you for your hospitality. The last woman that lived here fifteen years ago would’ve never done this for me, she was bitch.” 

Michi sighed and looked down in sadness “I’m guessing you're talking about Urla, Urla was my ma… my mother.” 

Aphmau’s mouth was agape in shock “Holy Irene I’m so sorry, I didn’t know I was just saying that from my experiences with her.” 

“It’s okay, I suppose that I was the only special one.” 

The gears in Aphmau’s head were turning as she tried to figure out how Urla was the mother of Michi “So… are you related to Donna?” 

Michi shook her head “Donna was Urla’s biological daughter, I am Urla’s adoptive daughter. It’s really a long story of how I got here.” 

Aphmau made herself comfortable “We have time.” She took a sip of her tea. 

“Really? I haven’t spoken to anyone in a long time about myself, nya~.” She looked down at Aphmau’s half-empty teacup “Oh, you're almost empty. Here are some more.” She began pouring more tea into the cup, Aphmau wanted to refuse but Michi was already pouring and Aphmau was too nice to say anything. 

Aphmau looked at Michi’s cat ears and her meif’wa features, she wondered since Michi lived pretty close to Phoenix Drop she wondered if Michi knew Nana, they must’ve run into each other once, it wasn’t rude to ask was it? “Michi, do you know a meif’wa named Nana?” 

“Hm? What!? No, do you think just because we are both are meif’wa we know each other?! Not all meif’wa are related, genius!” Michi scolded. 

“What no! I was just asking because you live pretty close to my friend who also just happens to be a meif’wa. I wasn’t implying anything I’m so sorry.” Aphmau apologized. 

Michi let out a deep breath “I’m sorry, it’s just so many non-creatures always think that I’m related to someone just because me and that person are meif’wa. Not a lot of meif’wa live in the Ru’aun region because most of us stay in the Tu’La region where we’re from so the comparing and stuff happens a lot.” 

“Oh I didn’t know that, I’m so sorry. I didn’t even know that meif'wa came from Tu’La.”

“Do you know anything about creatures and where they come from?” 

Aphmau shook her head. 

“Well get ready for a history lesson, the most common creature here in Ru’aun is the Lu’pine also known as ‘werewolves’. Those Lu’pine also originated here in Ru’aun from many many years of curses and evolution. Meif’was originate in the region called Tu’La, where most people there are either latino or Asian. Meif’wa and Lu’pine don’t get along that well like cats and dogs so we tend to stay in our regions but some of us were either born here from immigrant parents or are immigrants ourselves.” Michi explained. 

“Oh wow, I didn’t know any of that.” Aphmau drank her tea “Also I’m so sorry if I made her feel like I was comparing you, I can assure you that I was not.”

Michi shrugged “It’s okay. Well going back to me now, I came to this region around ten-ish years ago, my parents had sadly passed away and bad things happened in my life that I don’t want to talk about but all you have to know is that I ran away. I was hiding in this region in my cat form when I stumbled upon this small little island, I got ganged up on by a pack of wolves but a sweet little old lady came and saved me. Next thing I know I’m in a soft bed with a warm blanket around me and because she was so sweet and kind to me I decided to reveal myself to her, and instead of her rejecting me she cried and said that Irene had answered her prayers and gave her the perfect daughter. From then on she claimed me as her daughter and I did everything I could to show how grateful I was for her, I even rebuilt her house…. Then… but then two years she passed away.”  

“I’m so sorry, I bet she was a great mother to you.” Aphmau rubbed the girl’s shoulder in comfort. Aphmau remembered how she had been such a terrible person to Logan and Donna and how she disowned her own daughter for marrying a werewolf. Aphmau remembers punching that old lady in the face. 

Michi smiled softly, she looked down at Aphmau’s hands and then to the plate of cookies next to her. “It’s fine, I’ve tried to carry on her work… like baking cookies. Here, have one.” Michi grabbed a cookie and handed it to Aphmau. 

She knew that Belladonna said that if she was hungry she should eat on the boat but she didn’t see what harm a little cookie could do to her. She took the cookie and ate it, the thing was absolutely terrible, it was bitter and had a strange acidic taste to it. She shook it off to not be mean to Michi and just pretended like she was full and placed the half-eaten cookie in her lap. 

“So now that we’ve gone over my story, what’s yours?” Michi asked, smiling maliciously. 

“Oh well…” Aphmau explained in a small detail that she used to be the Lord of a successful village, started an alliance but passed the leadership on to her friend and that she’s a pretty good fighter. 

“Wow, so you’re a real warrior yourself, huh?” Michi said right before Laurance caught her attention as he went over to Michi’s bookcase and began looking at all the books in search of something as Katelyn laughed in the background “Is that human male your lover by any chance, nya~” She whispered.

“Oh, Laurance?” Aphmau shook her head “He’s very close to me but I wouldn’t consider ourselves together.” 

Michi nodded “So… you wouldn’t mind if another woman came by and snatched him up would you?” 

Aphmau thought for a second, she would feel a little weird that someone else would be with Laurance but if Laurance wanted to be with someone else he could do whatever he wanted “I wouldn’t mind, he’s his own man.” 

“Good.” She snapped her fingers “Hey pretty boy!” She called over. 

Laurance turned around hesitantly with furrowed eyebrows “Me?” he mouthed. 

Michi nodded “Which one is the cuter one?” She pointed between herself and Aphmau, Aphmau’s mouth dropped in shock. 

“Out of the three of us?” Laurance asked, “Me of course, I’m gorgeous.” 

Aphmau stifled a laugh while Michi got up and went over to the now standing Laurance, she grazed her hands against Laurance’s neck “Come one, meif’wa are much cuter than regular girls.” 

“Excuse me?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau stood up in worry, not sure what Michi was going to do next. She grabbed Laurance’s hand tightly. 

“Don’t you want to make her jealous with me?” She purred while Laurance jerked his hand back. 

“Will you please… please… get-” 

“Aphmau?” Katelyn wheezed which was followed by a loud THUD!  

Aphmau and Laurance both jumped and yelled out of fear. Laurance took a wheezy breath before falling against Mich and then on the floor just like Katelyn. 

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Aphmau screamed, trying to back away from Michi as she moved towards the woman. 

“This took way too long.” She snatched Aphmau’s wrists. Everything was getting dizzy and Aphmau couldn’t breathe. Her vision got foggy right before everything went black. 

Kitten and Belladonna were laying down on the ship floor under the scorching sun with Amada next to them just… waiting

Kitten didn’t lift her head as she asked Belladonna a question “Where are they now?” 

Belladonna yawned “Somewhere in hell, Michi is probably making them hell travel.” 

“Oohh, hell traveling. She’s smart.” Kitten awed. 

“Yeah, so when do we have to worry about them and start heading to them?” Belladonna asked. 

Kitten went quiet for a moment before answering “I think in about an hour or so, maybe two. We start heading over when Aphmau meets Queen Ylva.” 

Belladonna awed “Ylva’s a sweet woman- OH SHIT!” 

“What!?” Kitten shot up. Amada barked from the loud noise. 

Belladonna “Dante just punched Aaron in the face by accident.” 

Kitten snorted out a laugh which made Belladonna start laughing and soon the pair were in a fit of laughter. 

Aphmau woke up with a splitting headache, it was so bad that she actually believed for a second that her head was bleeding. Thankfully she did not find a wound of any blood but she did find cat ears on her head, which made her start freaking out. At first, she thought she was hallucinating but then she found out that also had a tail, it was a great surprise that she didn’t pass out again. She was in a jail cell with a plate of food, a bowl of water, and a small cot as a bed but Aphmau had woken up on the floor. She was stripped of all her clothes and was left with her bra and underwear which didn't protect her at all from the cold air around her. She had none of her stuff and she had nothing to defend herself, to her right there was another cell holding Katelyn who looked to be in the same situation she was in. 

“Katelyn? Katelyn!” Aphmau grabbed onto the iron bars and faced the woman who turned into a meif’wa with blue ears and a tail. 

Katelyn grabbed on the bars to face Aphmau “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine! How are you?” 

“I’m good, my head hurts but I’m fine.” 

“That’s good…. What happened?” 

Katelyn groaned “That little meif’wa bitch used some kind of sleeping serum on us or something, it must’ve been in the tea and food.”

Aphmau groaned out of frustration “Are you kidding me?! No wonder she never drank the tea!” 

Katelyn gasped “What do you think happened to Belladonna and Kitten?” 

Aphmau thought for a second, she knew that Belladonna and Kitten were both titans of time and probably knew that they would be kidnapped and so they didn’t even try to stop Michi but Katelyn didn’t know that. Aphmau just said that she bet that they were fine and were trying to find them right now. The sound of a door creaking open made Aphmau and Katelyn shut up and snap their heads towards the sounds which were right outside of their cells. 

A large werewolf came out from the entrance of the doorway, they smirked when they saw Katelyn and Aphmau making both women feel incredibly uncomfortable. The werewolf walked into the gap between the two cells and turned their head slowly to get a good look at both women. 

“That Michi wasn’t lying when she had two to pick from, huh?” The werewolf growled. 

Aphmau cringed while Katelyn started screaming her head off “I demand to know where we are! You better let me and my Aphmau go or else I’m going to fucking murder you!” 

“My Aphmau?” 

The werewolf huffed “Really? What is a poor little kitty going to do to me?” They laughed “I’m not sure if you noticed but you're behind bars and completely unarmed.” 

“Oh I don’t need weapons.” Katelyn hissed. 

The werewolf shook his head “This one’s too feisty for the Prince.” The werewolf turned its head back to Aphmau “This one on the other hand looks good. Much cuter than Michi herself.” 

“You disgust me.” Aphmau gagged “I’m not your fucking toy to goggle at.” 

“Jeesh! Are all meif’wa this hostile?” The werewolf cringed. They rolled their eyes “Meh, you’ll fit in perfectly to our society. I’ll take you upstairs to get you ready and presented to the king.” 

Aphmau backed herself against the wall “You aren’t touching me unless you are letting us go free.” 

The werewolf rolled their eyes once more “Look, if it were up to me I’d let you go but it’s not up to me. If you keep complaining, the king will kill your friend over okay, kapeesh?” 

Aphmau stood there in shock, as the werewolf acted like what they said was normal and went over to Aphmau’s cell. 

“I’m sorry but I have to knock you out so you don’t think of escaping.” 

“What!? No!” She yelled, tripping over the small cot that was supposed to be her bed. The last thing she saw before everything went black once against was the werewolf’s furry fist right in front of her face. 

Aphmau woke up once again with another splitting headache. She wished that when she checked her head for cat ears they weren’t there anymore but they were still there along with some crusted blood on the back of her head from probably hitting the wall when the werewolf punched her, she wished that she was in a dream… but she was not. Instead of being in a dream, she was in a very fancy room with fancy bedsheets, a fancy chandelier, fancy everything really. Yet with everything being fancy she was still in just her underwear and bra which made her incredibly uncomfortable when a strange beautiful woman walked into the room. 

Aphmau grabbed the blankets and covered herself as she moved to the far edge of the bed, the woman stayed quiet as Aphmau threatened her. 

“I swear to Irene if you come any closer I will rip your head off!” Aphmau sapped. 

The woman had blonde werewolf ears and a bushy blonde tail coming out of her backside. Her eyes were tired and sad like her mouth which looked to be in a natural frown, she was sweet and her voice was calming but calming enough to make Aphmau stop freaking out “I haven’t seen a meif’wa in so long… you are truly a beautiful species.” 

Aphmau’s breathing was frantic “Please don’t hurt me, I didn’t want any of this.” 

“Oh, sweetheart I’m not here to hurt you. I bet you’ve been through some horrible things already…. My name is Queen Ylva of the Regra poderosa Wolf Tribe.” She had long blonde hair that went down to her knees, light gray eyes, and brown skin. The dress that she wore was so long that the ends layed down on the floor and covered her feet, it was red with black trimming and shoulderless. 

“Why am I here?” Aphmau asked, not putting down her guard for a second. 

“You are going to marry my son.” 

“What!? No! I’m not going to be forced into marriage! Isn’t this like illegal or something!?” Aphmau asked frantically. 

Ylva shook her head “I’m afraid not sweetheart but please do not fret, I was forced to marry my husband when I was your age and now I’m in a happy marriage.” She smiled softly. 

“Fuck off.” Aphmau snapped “Guess what I’m not you! I’m not going to marry your son.” 

The woman sighed “If I could let you go I would but The South Eastern Werewolf monarchy has been around for centuries and we’ve all accepted this way of marriage.” 

Aphmau’s brain searched for any way to prove that she was not a meif’wa and that she wasn’t supposed to be here. She shot out of the bed when she remembered that she had Irene’s relic and that these ears were somehow put on her. Ylva looked afraid at the suddenness of Aphmau’s movements and thought that she was about to escape. 

“Look! I’m not a meif’wa, I have Irene’s relic in me and this other meif’wa named Michi put these cat ears on me somehow.” Aphmau pleaded “I promise to you I’m not supposed to be here.” 

“That’s a bold claim my darling. Can you prove what you say?” 

Aphmau realized that she could not prove her claim, she had no idea how to take these stupid cat ears off and she coudln’t control her powers. What she said was useless. She shook her head in defeat. 

“Then your claim holds no ground here. Come, let’s get you dressed to meet the King and my son, the prince.” Ylva went to grab Aphmau’s hand but she jerked back. 

Her head was thinking of million ideas a second for ways to get out of this situation. She gasped “Wait! The Southern Wolf Tribe, you must know them! I’m friends with their alpha, Bodolf, can you contact him somehow? He can prove who I really am which is not a meif’wa.” 

Ylva sighed, she did that a lot “I’m sorry sweetheart but Bodolf has passed away. The leadership of that tribe has fallen into Lowell’s hands.” 

“I know Lowell as well! I’m best friends with him, I’m friends with everyone in that tribe!” 

“I’ll do what I can but… but we are currently at war with the Southern Wolf Tribe,” Ylva answered sadly. 

Aphmau groaned “Is all you people know is war?! I mean this is ridiculous!”

“Werewolves are very stubborn creatures with terrible anger issues, it’s all in our genetics. I’ll send out a messenger bird to seek out Lowell but chances are he won’t receive it.” 

Aphmau put the heels of her palms on her eyes as tears came about. She was so frustrated that no one believed her, she just wished her stupid powers would work when she wanted them to. They used to work on command but now it felt like everything reset. She wasn’t crying out of sadness she was crying out frustration and she didn’t know which one was worse.  

Ylva softly grabbed Aphmau’s wrist and pulled hands down from her eyes “Dry your eyes my dear princess, you’ll learn to love your new Prince. Follow me, now.” 

Aphmau stopped fighting and let the woman lead her to a bathroom with only a vanity mirror and a bath. It was really putting the word bath room to work. Ylva told Aphmau to get undressed and get the bath ready while she went out and got an outfit for Aphmau that she believed would fit, Aphmau did as told. The worst thing she had done was stop fighting, she was weak now, she was defeated… it was a terrible feeling. It took a while for Ylva to come back with an outfit for Aphmau to wear which Aphmau could’ve used that time to escape but she knew that it would be useless, she had no way to get Katelyn out of her cell, there were guards at every turn, and she didn’t even know where she was.

Once Aphmau was done cleaning herself up Ylva handed her a towel and told her to step out of the bathtub so she could brush her hair and put makeup on her. Aphmau did as told and sat on a stool in front of the vanity mirror, Aphmau had a black eye, cuts on the side of her face, and there seemed to be a cut across her nose. 

What did Michi do to me? Aphmau thought as Ylva began pushing out her long black thick hair. 

“I just don’t understand why you chose a meif’wa. If it’s a monarchy aren’t you guys supposed to stay in the same species?” Aphmau asked out of general confusion. 

“We received a prophecy from the lunar goddess, Lune, that if our tribe’s Kingdom wants to grow and prosper a child born of Meif’wa and Lu’pine blood must be the next heir to the throne. Therefore my husband put a bounty for any who could bring back a female Meif’wa who had exceptional traits.” Ylva explained. 

“What about Michi? She’s a Meif’wa isn’t she?” 

Ylva scrunched her face up in disgust and shook her head “She is a rotten one, I’ll tell you that. Why she kicked and screamed when I tried to bathe her, she acted like a self-absorbed brat. My husband despised her but he was willing to have her marry the Prince if it meant the prophecy would be fulfilled. However, Michi made a deal with my husband. In exchange for her freedom, she would find more female meif’wa with better personality traits for the King to pick as a suitor for our son. If she failed within 2 months we’d go after her for lying…. Her two months are actually up tomorrow, I was worried she wasn’t going to be able to deliver more meif’wa but now you’re here my little princess.” 

Aphmau had a warm feeling in her chest when Ylva called her ‘princess’, she felt like she had a mother for once “Why do you keep calling me your princess?”

Ylva sighed “I’ve always wanted a daughter cub, so since you're marrying my son you are the closest thing to my daughter.”

“What if I don’t want to marry him?” Aphmau asked without hesitation. 

“Then at least I had the chance to pretend like I had a daughter. Either way, it still makes me smile and I can help you at the same time, I am a mother after all. All young ones are my cubs.” 

“That’s very sweet of you.” Aphmau sat there as Ylva moved on to do Aphmau’s makeup, something Aphmau herself had never done before. Aphmau let out a small sigh “I just have to ask, why do you guys have a monarchy? Isn’t that the whole reason we now have villages because monarchies were evil?” 

“Well that was for the humans, their monarchy was evil because they elected an evil, power-hungry person. We operate in our own ways, werewolves have always had a king, or a leader, or an alpha, who is believed to speak with the Lunar Goddess. We choose personally to have a monarchy because it keeps the other wolf tribes around here in balance, though you’ll notice we choose to flaunt our monarchy status by having a giant castle as opposed to the traditional, yet primitive wolf village. It’s a personal preference.” Ylva explained. Ylva finished up Aphmau’s makeup, very subtle hints of blush, lipstick, and eyeshadow to make everything look natural, and handed Aphmau a white poofy dress. She also gave Aphmau back her bra and underwear so she could fully get dressed and so she wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable in the dress that resembled a wedding dress, the white shoes and white socks that Ylva handed her didn’t make the situation better. Aphmau’s outfit made her heart drop down to her stomach, she was not ready to possibly get married to someone she didn’t even know. Tears came to her eyes as she began to imagine herself in a wedding dress, so young, not knowing who she was truly in love with, and she was in a wedding dress… a version of a wedding dress. 

“How do you like it?” Ylva whispered, putting her hands on Aphmau’s shoulders. 

Aphmau looked in the mirror with disgust and fear “It’s… it’s gorgeous… I wonder how Laur-” Aphmau’s heart dropped once more “Oh dear Irene Laurance, I completely forgot about him!” 

“Oh no…” Ylva backed up to look at Aphmau with sad eyes as she began to panic “Don’t tell me Laurance is your lover?” 

“He means the world to me and I just completely forgot about him!” She yelled “I need to know if he’s okay, I need to know what Michi did to him! Gods, I’m so stupid.” She put her hands over her eyes. 

Ylva peeled Aphmau’s hands away from her eyes “My darling please, you must forget about him.” 

“I’m not about to forget about him!” Aphmau ripped her hands away from the queen as tears fell from her eyes “You don’t understand, he’s my best friend. I need to know where he is, where you put him!” 

“Darling if you mention anything of your lover to the King he will most certainly have him sought out and executed.” Ylva said softly “You need to let him go right now, for the sake of your friend down there in the dungeons.” 

Aphmau’s breathing was heavy, there was nothing to do, she was backed up against a wall. She quickly wiped her tears and sucked in a breath “I hate this… I hate this so much. I hate you, I hate this castle, I hate the king, I hate your son-” 

“I know, I know sweetheart but you can’t do anything to stop this. For this Laurance and your friend down in the dungeons, do not continue to love him…. Do not do anything to upset the king.” 

“Will you take care of them, treat them nicely?” Aphmau was in a whirlwind of emotions, switching from one to another… it was overwhelming even for her. 

“I will have my ladies-in-waiting make sure your friend is well fed and taken care of.” Ylva answered “Now come with me to the throne room.” 

Aphmau followed out of defeat as Queen Ylva led her to the large throne room. She kept her head down, her hands to herself, and stayed in line as she passed through dozens of hallways, turned a dozen corners, and went down about a dozen stairs. Her heart was out of her body the time they had reached the throne room from pure fear and defeat as she processed everything that was happening. 

The throne room was large, with a gold and quartz throne, a red carpet leading from the throne to two large wooden doors that Aphmau suspected to be the exit, a large chandelier hung from the middle of the floor lighting everything up. Hints of gold were everywhere in the room, on the floor, the walls, even the stairs leading to the throne room had hints of gold. 

The King, even with being a werewolf, showed no signs of being a werewolf and neither did his sier. It seemed that the men of this tribe or kingdom didn’t show their werewolf traits but the women did, but then again all around Aphmau were fully transformed werewolves so maybe it was a personal preference thing.  The king had brown bushy hair, a fairly large nose, olive skin, lots of body hair. He wore normal-looking clothing and a large red scarf around his arms and behind his back with a blue and gold crown that wrapped around the sides of his head but not the front with golden leaves at the end. 

Aphmau stood in front of the king, his aid, and Ylva with a blank face of distaste. She took a deep breath, waiting for the worst to come. 

“Will you look at this one.” The king smiled “Mino, who is she?” 

“Michi has stated that she’s skilled in combat, was the founder of an alliance, and was a lord to a very successful village.” The king’s aid answered. 

“That little bitch.” Aphmau muttered under her breath, she knew she shouldn’t have trusted Michi with anything. 

“Is this true meif’wa?” The king asked. 

“I have a name y’know? It’s Aphamu.” She learned not to say her last name in situations like this. 

“Oh! You have a personality, don’t you? Not too feisty and at least you're not annoying like that Michi, yeesh!” The king thought to himself as he studied Aphmau “I can see you making beautiful sons in the future.” 

“What?” Aphmau asked in shock “Okay this bullshit, look you can’t just talk to me like I’m a toy ready to be bought. I'm a person, I have a life, you can’t just talk to me like that.” 

Ylva, The King, and the king’s aid all stood there in shock at what Aphmau had just said. Ylva was sure that Aphmau was dead, The King was in disbelief that someone would talk to him like that, and the king’s aid was just… there. 

“Your friends.” Ylva mouthed, trying to get Aphmau to potentially backtrack on what she said. 

Aphmau stared Ylva down, in regret and anger. She really wanted to lash out and yell at this pathetic excuse for a king but she knew that if she did Katelyn and Laurance would probably get killed. Aphmau closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just a little nervous. It’s not every day you see a werewolf king.” Aphmau apologized. 

The King huffed out a laugh “I like you, everyone should have a bit of personality in their lives. Mino, I absolutely approve of this one to marry my son. Take her to his chambers and make sure magic happens.” 

“Of course sir, please follow me Aphmeow.” The king’s aid snapped his fingers and three werewolves surrounded Aphmau, grabbing her arms and picking her up. 

She gasped “Excuse me!? Let me go! You are not taking me anywhere! Also, my name is Aphmau!” 

Aphmau yelled and thrashed her arms and legs while ‘Mino’ led Aphmau and the werewolves to the prince’s chamber. Even though all her struggles nothing happened, all her yelling and thrashing was in the end, for nothing. She threw her into a room and slammed the door behind them, she banged on the door and pleaded for them to let her go and that she wasn’t a real meif’wa. 

“So you’re the meif’wa suitor my father has picked for me.” Aphmau gasped and whipped around at the voice. 

“You’re not exactly what I imagined.” The prince said softly, he looked young, very young, too young for Aphmau. Not in a weird way but in a ‘he’s probably eighteen and Aphmau is twenty-eight’ way. 

“And you’re young.” Aphmau said the prince moved closer to her “If you come any closer to me I swear to Irene I bash your head in.” Aphmau was in a very violent state right now with her being violated twice in what seemed like one day. 

“Okay, okay I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to leave or feel like I actually love you, I don’t.” The prince apologized. 

“Okay good, I wouldn’t want the son of an insane man to be in love with me. Gods this is so stupid!” She groaned and put her hands in her hair “This is so stupid, I shouldn’t even be here. I don’t want to marry you, I don't want to be forced into this.” 

“I know, I don’t want to be forced into this either. I wish I could run away from all of this, I’m sorry if my father did anything to make you feel uncomfortable.” 

“Uncomfortable? I was knocked out twice today and then told that I needed to marry a man I didn’t even know or my friends would be killed. So yeah your father kinda made me uncomfortable.” Aphmau sighed. 

“Well, I feel like since we’re getting married we should know each other.” He stepped back and put his hand out “My name is Fenrir, Prince of the Regra poderosa Tribe. You?”

“My name is Aphmau, that’s all you're getting.” Aphmau let the man’s hand hang there while she stared angrily at him. 

“Tck,” he put his hand down “I understand. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now and ever since my father heard of the meif’wa and lu’pine prophecy he’s been on a power trip and is trying to assert his authority in every way, shape, and form he can.” 

“Well he needs to be stopped, I’m sorry you’re in the same situation.” Aphmau sympathized with Fenrir, she didn’t want to be entirely rude to someone who was in the same position as her.

Fenrir nodded “My father is holding my best friend in the dungeon. He said he’ll set her free once we are married… if I refuse this then… then he’ll kill her too.” 

“Oh dear gods, that’s terrible I’m so sorry.” 

“Yeah, and it’s worse that she’s the person that I actually love.” Fenrir ran his fingers through his hair “I know it’s cheesy but she was the first one to accept me after I came out.” 

“That’s very sweet.” Aphmau awed “I’m glad you’ve found the one for you, I wasn’t expecting you to be the prince to sweep me off my feet so I’m kinda glad.” 

The boy smiled softly “Do you have any allies that you can call to aid us? We could get help from an outside source.” 

“All my stuff was taken, I woke up with nothing and the only other source that I can think of is in a war with you guys.” Aphmau answered “Also I have no idea where my other friends are but hopefully they are trying to find me.” 

“Darn, I guess we can’t do anything but sit and wait.” 

“Wait for the wedding?” 

Fenrir nodded “It’s in two days.” 

“What!?” Aphmau stuttered “This is insane holy shit.” 

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either. I know this is a strange time but I suggest that we both get some sleep.” Behind Fenrir was a small balcony that showed the dark abyss that was the sky. “You can take my bed and I can sleep on the floor, if anyone comes in I’ll just say that I fell out of bed or something.” 

“Really? You don’t have to do that.” Aphmau said. 

“I want to, you are the guest here and I feel like that will make both of us comfortable. I know that this is going to be really awkward for the both of us but if being awkward means that both of our loved ones are safe I’d be awkward any day.” Fenrir answered. 

Aphmau nodded “I understand.”

“And for what it’s worth, in a non-creepy way - you are very pretty.” Fenrir complimented her. 

“Thank you.” 

Aphmau and Fenrir headed to bed with Fenrir laying on the carpeted floor and Aphmau sleeping on the silk sheeted bed. She was just tired and wanted this to be all over with, hopefully when she woke up she would be back on the ship and heading towards the crazy cat lady’s island so she can warn everyone of what might happen. 

“Your majesty come quick!” 

Aphmau woke up to the sound of Mino opening the door and yelling at Fenrir to come to follow him. Aphmau woke up groggily and rubbed her eyes to adjust to the sunlight peeking in through the balcony and the trees. 

“You fell out of bed, are you okay your majesty?” Mino asked. 

“Hm?” Fenrir sat up “Oh yeah I’m fine, what’s going on?” 

“Michi has brought forth your meif’wa finance’s lover!” Mino smiled brightly “The King is ordering you to execute him at once.” 

“What!?” Aphmau and Fenrir both said in shock for two different reasons, Aphmau was surprised that Laurance was found and Fenrirs was surprised that he had to kill someone. 

“Quickly we need to get your best execution suit on!” Mino rushed to Fenrir’s closet. 

Fenrir turned his head to Aphmau and went on his knees “I won’t let this happen to your lover.” He whispered, “I’ll find us a way to get out of this.” 

“What are you going to do?” Aphmau whispered back “You can’t just defy your father’s orders, he’ll kill you .” 

“I’ll just make it up when I get there, maybe I can say that I want to hold it off for the wedding for like… a wedding sacrifice.” Fenrir shrugged. 

“That is… morbid.” 

“We are in a very morbid situation right now.” 

“True.”

Mino came over to them with a very expensive looking outfit in his hands “Sir, would you like to dress in this?” 

Fenrir looked at the outfit with nervousness, he looked back at Aphmau who nodded her head yes. Fenrir shrugged and took the outfit, Mino said that Aphmau could just stay in what she was already in since they didn’t have any other clothes for her. Fenrir got changed with impressive speed and took Aphmau’s hand while Mino led them to wherever Laurance was. 

Mino had led Fenrir and Aphmau to the throne room where Ylva, the King, Michi, and Laurance were all standing. Fenrir and Aphmau stayed on the stairs as Mino headed down to stand by the king, Laurance looked beaten up and as if he had all the energy drained out of him. He, like Aphmau, had cat ears and a tail but his were a light orange with white splotches everywhere. Aphmau gasped when she saw him, the only other time she had seen him in such a state like this was when he escaped Hell which… that was hell this was a little meif’wa brat.

 “So Michi, why are you here once again with another meif’wa that we do not need.” The King asked. 

“Well, I heard from a little birdy that your son is going to marry one of the meif’wa I brought you, nya~! This male meif’wa here is her lover, I do not need for him since he didn’t want to have fun with me at all!” She crossed her arms in anger. 

“Well, there’s not a lot to have ‘fun’ with,” Laurance mumbled. 

Michi gasped “You little bitch! There’s a reason I fucking-” She took a deep breath “I brought him here because it would be such a shame if he was allowed to roam around. What if he got ideas to be with your son’s fiance behind his back!” 

“I’ve already sent for the Prince to execute him. When I saw a male I figured this was going to be the case. Good work Michi. Now take your payment and get out of my face.” The king hissed, side glancing Aphmau and Fenrir on the staircase. 

Michi purred before turning on her heels and being handed a small box with Laurance yelling at her that he would kill her once he got out of this situation for what he did to them. She exited the castle with her middle finger towards Laurance and transformed into a cat to run away. 

The King rolled his eyes and massaged his temples “Tell me, meif’wa-” 

“I’m not a meif’wa. I’m a human. Now you better let me and my friends go before I-”

“Do not speak out of line now.” The King sighed “Let me ask you… are you truly the lover of the female meif’wa Aphmau?” 

“Lover?” Laurance thought before shaking his head “No, I am only her guard… nothing else.” 

“Well she’s waiting upon those stairs, why don’t you tell her that?” The King smirked wickedly. 

Laurance looked to his right to see Aphmau there, he smiled softly. She smiled back. He took a deep breath and licked his lips as his eyes got glossy “Aphmau I-” 

“I’ve seen enough!” The King yelled, “Fenrir come and commence the beheading!” 

“What!?” Laurance stammered “You didn’t even let me finish!” 

“You can’t fool me, I saw that look in your eye. Even if you aren’t her lover, you are a threat to their relationship, I will not have this. Let the execution begin!”

“Fenrir!” Aphmau snapped. 

“What can I do!?” He whispered. 

“Something!” 

Fenrir grabbed Aphmau’s hand and the two went down the stairs and stood next to Laurance. His hands were tied behind his back but he still went to reach for Aphmau which made her heartbreak. 

“Father, I uh… I would like to commence the beheading of this male meif’wa on me and Aphmau’s wedding.” Fenrir stammered for an answer. 

“Wedding!?” Laurance said, shocked. 

“Under what reasoning?” The King asked. 

“Well, we are getting married under the full moon are we not? Wouldn’t the Lunar Goddess appreciate a… a sacrifice?”

“Hm…. That’s a brilliant idea Fenrir! Very well, we will commence this execution after the wedding. Guards, toss this male meif’wa in the dungeon! This gathering is dismissed. Return to your quarters' son.” The king flicked his hands and two werewolves went to grab Laurance. 

Laurance yelled at the king as the werewolves took him away, Fenrir’s grip on Aphmau’s hand tightened as he mouthed ‘sorry’ to her. She sucked in a breath and let go of the man’s hand to go back to his room, Fenrir followed behind her. 

Aphmau could hear Laurance’s struggle even from the hallway to Fenrir’s room which was heartbreaking to hear. Aphmau’s blood was cold from the yelling and the struggling. 

Fenrir closed the door behind them “I’m sorry, I am so sorry what my father has done and has become .”

“Don’t beat yourself up over something you can’t control.” Aphmau said, sitting on the small couch that he had in his room “At least you bought Laurance some more time.” 

“I know it’s just… I feel so bad.” He sat down next to Aphmau. 

“Yeah, I would to, to see my father become such a terrible person.” She sighed “I can’t stop you from blaming yourself, I'm just gonna say it’s not the right thing to do. If you didn’t go out of your way to say ‘hey dad you should become corrupt’ then you really have no part in his madness.” 

“I guess you're right, I just feel so useless.” 

Aphmau nodded “It’s a terrible feeling isn’t it?” 

Fenrir nodded. 

“My uh… my head guard dealt with things like that. Feeling like he wasn’t doing enough to protect the place he loved, feeling like he wasn’t doing enough to protect me .” Aphmau raked her hands through her hair. 

“Well he’s your head guard, isn’t that like a very special position?” 

Aphmau nodded “But he still felt weak, felt small. My village had a war between another very powerful village and he sided with the opposing village… from what he’s told me he regrets it dearly, he blamed it on his self-consciousness.”  

“Why did he side with this in the first place?” Fenrir asked, sitting up since he was intrigued with the story. 

Aphmau shrugged “I’ve never gotten a clear explanation, from what I can guess he sided with them because he thought I was with my best friend. You see my head guard had loved for a very long time and seeing me be with another man kinda… broke him. He felt like I had betrayed him.” 

“Did you?” 

“No! I don’t even recall what he’s talking about but I don’t think he knows that.” 

“Well, how did he deal with his self-consciousness and the feeling of being useless?”  Fenrir was asking this as advice for himself. 

“Encouragement, once he looked out on the work that he had done over the years and saw the smile on people’s faces that he had done something, something good.”  Aphmau turned her head to Fenrir “You did something good, you are trying your hardest to do something good. My head guard still felt useless sometimes but he at least knew that he had done something good once.” 

Fenrir’s eyes were tearing up “I did something good.” 

“Yeah. You’ve done a lot of good things, staying in line so your friend can get released, buying my friend more time, making sure that our fake relationship looks real. You’ve done a lot of good whether you know it or not.” Aphmau smiled softly. 

Fenrir sniffled “Thank you.” 

“Everything is going to turn out fine and no one is going to die. We just need a plan.” Aphmau said “Is there a way that we could ‘attack’ the king?” 

Fenrir shook his head and dried his eyes “He had guards around him twenty-four/seven, there is no way we could find some way to kill him or even threaten him without a sword being at our necks in the next ten seconds.” He sighed “We literally can’t do anything without our loved ones suffering the consequences.” 

Aphmau groaned “This is so stupid.” 

“I know, I just wish that… wait-” Fenrir clapped his hands “Abbey!” 

“What about her?” 

“Abbey is a mercenary, she doesn’t stay in one village, but the last place she visited was Scaleswind. Maybe she can help us, she has many connections in so many places!” He laughed out of excitement “I’m going to need you to go see her in the dungeon and talk with her to see if she has any ideas on how we can stop this.”

“Me? Why can’t you go talk to her? She's your crush!” Aphmau asked, assuming that was the girl Fenrir had talked about yesterday. 

“Exactly! My father doesn’t allow me to enter the dungeon because I tried to get her out once but my father doesn’t know you so he might not think much of it. My mother might be able to take you to the dungeon under the guise that you just want to say hi to your other friend, you might be able to get to Abbey’s cell.” 

“Your mother is very complicit to your father, are you sure she would do this?” Aphmau asked, unsure of Fenrir’s mother’s position in all of this. 

“My mother is complicated because she loved my father, she wishes that he would go back to the loving man he once was so I bet she’ll help us,” Fenrir answered. 

“Okay, even if I get into the dungeon, what do I ask Abby?” 

“Ask her if she has any connections we can use to get out of this, Scaleswind or not. Tell her about the wedding and how I’m sorry I put her in that situation… I really love her.” 

“Awww, that’s so sweet.” Aphmau’s heart melted “I’m sure that she’ll possibly… maybe get with you after all this. You can be the prince to sweep her off her feet.” 

Fenrir laughed “Thank you Aphmau, now I’m going to get Ylva and you can wait here. Hopefully she can get you in the dungeon.” Fenrir thanked her one more time before exiting the room as quickly and as stealthily as he could leaving Aphmau alone in the room. 

It didn’t take long for Fenrir to come back into the room running, Ylva showed up a few seconds later walking like the elegant lady she was. They told Aphmau that Ylva had told the guards guarding the dungeon to do something else and they only had a few minutes for Aphmau to get into the dungeon without anyone seeing or suspecting. Aphmau agreed and followed Ylva to the dungeon room, leaving Fenrir in the room alone to do what he wanted. Ylva told Aphmau that she only had enough time to talk to one person, whether that be Abby or Aphmau’s two other’s friends that were up for her to decide but she could only talk to one. Abby was in the first cellar, Aphmau’s blue-haired friend was the third, and Aphmau’s other friend was in the fourth cell. 

Aphmau knew that she had to talk to Abby but deep down she really just wanted to talk to Katelyn and Laurance, she knew that she would be risking everything by doing that but she just wanted to see if they were okay. She went with the plan anyway and when they got to the dungeon Aphmau headed down and went to the first cell to speak to this Abby. She had to go down a set of ladders before she got to Abby’s actual cell, which was bigger than the cell Aphmau had woken up in yesterday. 

She walked over the cell alerting Abby of her presence and making her turn her head, she raised her eyebrows in confusion and walked over to the Aphmau “Who are you?” 

Aphmau explained who she was, why she was here, what was going on, and why Aphmau needed her. 

“Oh, well I knew about Fenrir getting married, those guards are loud as fuck when they whisper.” She laughed “But yeah I have a way to get out of this place, if the King is being as oppressive as to make his own son marry someone he doesn’t know then we can seek the aid of the Lord of Scaleswind.” 

“The Lord of Scaleswind!?” 

Abby nodded “Nicole Von Rosenburg. She’s a good friend of mine, I’m positive she would help.” 

Aphmau gasped at that name “I know here! I know Nicole! She used to be a really good friend of mine and she used to live in my village!” 

“Wait…” Abby slammed her hand over her mouth “Are you Aphmau Shalashaska!? Nicole had literally told me so much about you and how you disappeared fifteen years ago and how you practically saved her from a forced marriage and all that.” 

Aphmau nodded “How is she doing, is she good a lord?” 

“Oh she’s the best lord anyone could ever ask for-” Abby’s eyes widened in fear, she heard something that Aphmau couldn’t “Someone’s coming. There is a tavern near here that you need to go to, there will be a barkeep there with a chain necklace with an emerald in the middle, once you meet him to tell him ‘The Wind Scales South East Wolves’ he’ll know what it means.”

“Got it, thank you so much.” 

“No problem, by the way, my name is Abby the Golden Heart.” 

Aphmau’s heart dropped, like a hit in the head she started remembering the kind soul that was Jeffory, the man who used a cane but still fought a good fight, the man who let Aphmau and Kitten go, the man who was murdered by Zane. Aphmau’s throat tightened “Jeffory?” She whispered before two large furry paws wrapped around Aphmau’s arms and she was dragged away from Abby. Abby backed away from the cell door and acted like she didn’t know the woman yelling at her. 

Ylva got the guard to let her go and told them that she didn’t know how Aphmau got into the dungeon in the first place but she would be the one to do the punishment which just meant dragging Aphmau away and slightly scolding her for not looking at the time which Aphmau rebutted with that there were not clocked in the dungeon and Ylva had never told her a specific time.  Aphmau told Ylva what she needed to do and Ylva agreed to help her but under the condition that after this Aphmau and Fenrir were on their own because she could do nothing more without people being suspicious. Two guards who were on Ylva’s side escorted Aphmau and the Queen to the tavern that Abby was talking of, surprisingly Ylva knew exactly what tavern Abby was talking about.  Once again Aphmau was informed that she had a limited amount of time to do what she needed to do before people got worried and suspicions grew. 

Aphmau entered the tavern which was filled with laughter, singing, and overall loudness. The smell of booze made its way into Aphmau’s nose making her eyes water. She moved over to the bar and immediately spotted the barkeep with the chain necklace that had an emerald in the middle, she politely called him over and asked him for a drink. 

“Okay little meif’wa, will that be all?” The barkeep asked with a smile. 

“Oh no,” Aphmau shook her head as she leaned in “the wind scales south east wolves.” 

The man’s eyes widened before resuming back to normal, he nodded and acted as Aphmau had just said she wanted fries “The will blow fast as it can I’m sure, mother nature is tricky with these kinds of things. Now you will no longer have to pay, the drinks on the house.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Be safe… I mean it.” The barkeep said before turning around and tapping on his coworker’s shoulder and whispering something to him. The barkeep that Aphmau had talked to turned around to face a corner and lifted his necklace to his fact…. It was a communication amulet. The barkeep’s coworker made Aphmau’s drink and handed it to her with a smile, she slumped over and began drinking the alcohol, she usually didn’t drink but today was a special case. When she looked out the window she could see Ylva staring her down, Aphmau didn’t care, this was the first time this week that she just… didn’t care. She sat there at the bar sipping away at her drink, soon everything faded away and it was just Aphmau sitting at a bar by herself. It was nice. 

Aphmau just finished explaining everything that had happened in the past two days, she sat against a part of the tree with Garroth across from her, their legs once again tangled in each other. 

“Aph… I’m so sorry.” He held Aphmau’s hand. 

“I have no idea what to do.” She sniffled “What if Nicole doesn’t come? I don’t even think we can count on Lowell at this point. I can’t find a way to do anything at this point and I just… I just don’t want Laurance to die.” 

“Aph, everything is going to be fine. You are going to find a way out of this I promise.” Garroth held onto her hand, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb “You always find your way out of situations like this.” 

“But what if I can’t this time? What if my luck has finally come to an end?” 

“Your luck will never end my lady, you are an extraordinary woman who can do everything and anything she wants. And if you can’t find a way out of this I know Laurance will, he is smart and quick on his feet. I always felt like an old man around him.” 

Aphmau laughed and sniffled once more “You aren’t?” 

Garroth rolled his eyes “Very funny, making fun of the grandpa are we?” 

Aphmau laughed harder and her face got brighter, it lifted Garroth’s heart to see her happy once more. “Look,” He started, “you and Laurance need to be there for each other. I feel wrong saying this because I know that you can take care of yourself but it would make me feel better to know that Laurance is protecting you in my absence. One way or another, whether it be divine intervention or not, everyone is going to get out of this alive.” 

Aphmau sighed “I’m trying to think of something.” She looked up at him and said, “I miss you.” 

He smiled softly “I miss you too, now are we going to talk about those cat ears?” 

Aphmau laughed before a loud church bell rang through the world. Aphmau’s heart sank as her vision got blurry and everything got white, she held Garroth’s hand as pressure started lowering on Aphmau’s chest and everything disappeared. She gasped awake staring at the red canopy of the bed she slept in last night. 

She softly groaned and dragged her hands down her face, she raked her hands through her hair and sat up. Fenrir was pacing back in front of his couch with a worried expression. 

“Fenrir?” Aphmau said quietly. 

Fenrir snapped his head, his eyes were wide and his face was angry “Are you kidding me!?” He snapped when walking towards Aphmau “Where were you?” 

“Hm?” Aphmau didn’t know what Fenrir was talking about but it quickly clicked in Aphmau’s head “Oh, I’m so sorry. Uh sometimes when I dream my body goes to another realm it’s weird I know, I can’t control it.” Aphmau apologized. 

Fenrir sighed “I thought you decided to forget everyone we’re trying to save and just leave on your own.” 

“Gods, I would never do that! I mean yeah I bet it would be easy for me but I’m not just gonna let everyone die.” Aphmau said, rubbing her eyes and swinging her legs out of the bed. 

“I mean I would’ve done the same thing since the wedding is today.” 

“The wedding is today!?” 

“I thought you knew!” 

“I’ve been in a state of shock these past two days, keeping track of time hasn’t really been my main priority!” Aphmau snapped back. 

Fenrir groaned and walked back over to the couch again to pace out his worries “We don’t have that much time and I haven’t heard from anyone that could help us…. I don’t think we’re gonna be able to get out of this without being married.” 

Aphmau put her head in her hands, all these work for nothing, all these stress… for nothing! It was all pointless. She looked up at the worried Fenrir “Am I that bad of a fiance?” She joked, trying to lift their moods a little for this terrible day. 

Fenrir looked at Aphmau like she just said a slur “Are you kidding me?” He asked. 

Aphmau put her hands up in defense “Sorry, just trying to make you laugh.” She said walking over to the Prince. 

Fenrir huffed out a laugh “Dears gods you scared me for a second. I thought you might have fallen for my devilish good looks.” He winked. 

Aphmau slapped Fenrir’s arm with a smile “As if!” 

“Ow! What the fuck was that for?” He rubbed his arm in pain.

“So sorry, the wink caught me off guard and my hand slipped,” Aphmau smirked. 

“How does that even happen!?” He shook his hands. 

“Aw did I hurt the little baby?” She fluttered her eyelashes and held her hands together. 

He rolled his eyes “Pfft, in your dreams lady. You really think I could be taken down by you?”

“Yeah.” 

“Abby hits me way harder when I fake flirt with her.” He smiled. 

“Oh is that a threat mister?” Aphmau asked, “Cause it sounds like a threat.” 

“If you take it as a threat it may be a threat.” 

“Ohh! This is a challenge right now.” 

“I challenge you to not snore so loudly in your sleep.” He smugly smiled. 

Aphmau gasped “I snore!? Are you kidding me right now?” 

Fenrir was about to say something else when the door opened to see Mino smiling like a mad man, Aphmau turned around to see the king’s aid. 

“Aren’t you two just the cutest little things!” Mino squealed “I knew you two would get along if we locked you in this room together!” He clapped his hands. 

“Oh yes, we’re just so madly in love with each other.” Aphmau fakes a smile as she looked at Fenrir with angry eyes. 

“Yeah, I um… I like your… breathing?” He raised his eyebrow at his own statement. 

“Oh and I like the way you… blink.” Aphmau didn’t want to look at Mino as she held back a laugh. 

“You see, we’re so madly in love with each other that I was complimenting her snoring just before you walked in.” Fenrir smiled, turning his head menacingly at Aphmau “It’s like a majestic dying goat.” 

Aphmau gasped softly “You little bitch.” She whispered. She turned to Mino “Oh Mino you don’t understand how in love with Fenrir I am, this man’s double chin will be the death of me.” 

“Okay, I do not have a double chin.” Fenrir protested. 

“Oh yes, you do.” Aphmau said, tapping the underside of Fenrir’s chin “It’s right there honey. I guess I can only see your perfections.” 

Fenrir leaned in “Are you just insulting me now?” 

“You started it bitch.” She whispered back. 

Mino squealed once more “Look at you two! You are just too cute! Now I hate to ruin this beautiful moment but I have to have the beautiful bride follow me to get ready for her big day. We have to get you dressed, your makeup done, and you have to rehearse a bit. I’ll let you say your goodbyes though so when you are ready just follow me outside.” Mino smiled before exiting the room but not closing the door. 

Fenrir whispered over to her “I think I’ve all hope of us getting out of this.” 

“Not with that attitude we aren’t.” Aphmau whispered back “I assume that we aren’t going to be able to see each other until we’re both at the aisle so just think of anything and everything you can. Even if it’s crazy.” 

Fenrir nodded “Do you think I’ll ever be with Abby?” 

“Of course I do, you will soon marry her and not me.” Aphmau looked out the door and then back to Fenrir, speaking in her normal voice “Okay, well I have to go get ready honey. Be safe.” 

“Be safe,” Fenrir said before Aphmau walked out of the room to follow Mino to whatever he was going to make her do. 

Getting her fitted took a while, rehearing took another long while, and now she was just sitting in a dressing room waiting for someone to come in and dress her and do her makeup. During the entire thing her heart sank lower and lower as she began to lose hope, she was starting to feel like Fenrir which was a little hypocritical of her. 

She sat in the large dressed room slouching down and looking at herself in the large mirror. Her face didn’t feel like her’s, her eyelashes, her mouth, her eyes… they didn’t feel like her’s. She wondered how she would feel with wedding makeup on her, she had been to one wedding already and was actually one of the bridesmaids. She remembered calming Donna down when she was thinking of not marrying Logan, she remembered putting all her feelings for Donna aside and understanding that she could never be the woman in front of her, she remembered telling Donna that if she was really happy with Logan she should marry him, she remembered crying that night. She wished she could marry someone that she really loved and not someone like Fenrir, she had nothing against Fenrir it’s just he wasn’t the person she loved. Who she wanted to be with. As she stared into the mirror more and more her throat got tighter and her eyes were being filled with water. She couldn’t believe that she was in this position, this situation, she never in a million years thought this is where she would end up. 

She picked up her legs and held them close to her chest, trying to feel a little bit of security in this moment. She couldn’t exactly describe the feelings going on in her head but all she knew was that she didn’t want to do this at all. 

The sound of a door opening made her jump a little, she had gotten so in her head she forgot sounds were a thing. She turned her head and saw Ylva making her way towards Aphmau. 

“Hello, pretty lady.” Ylva smiled and went over to Aphmau’s seat “Were you able to find someone to help you?” 

Aphmau shook her head, she didn’t want to speak in fear that she would be too loud, it felt nice not to speak for once. 

“I’m sorry darling. I really wish I could do more but the wedding is in a few hours.” Ylva said sadly “I’ve gotten no intel from Lowell so I don’t think he’ll be your knight in shining armor.” 

“How did you deal with it?” Aphmau asked “Being forced into a marriage and all.” 

“Well, we both obviously didn’t want to do it but it was the tradition at the time. We are actually the only wolf tribe to continue this type of practice.” She took a breath “My husband was a good man, a loving man. He’s become twisted and insane. I truly just want things to go back to the way they were.” 

“Do you think that I’ll ever be able to love Fenrir?” 

Ylva shrugged “Possibly, I mean I learned to love Alo and he learned to love me.” She ran her fingers through Aphmau’s hair in comfort “Now would you like anything to eat? Drink? Read?” 

She had lost her appetite in the last two hours so she wasn’t hungry and she had a glass of water a few minutes ago “Um, something to read would be nice. Could it be something about Lady Irene preferably?” 

“Of course darling. I’ll head to the library and see what I can find.” She took her hand out from Aphmau’s hair “In the meantime, my ladies-in-waiting will be tending to you for the wedding alright?” 

Aphmau nodded. 

Ylva said goodbye and left Aphmau alone once again to contemplate her life while staring at the mirror in front of her. 

The ladies-in-waiting came into the room not long after Ylva left. They immediately started doing Aphmau’s makeup and hair and getting her dressed. They gave her a more natural makeup style, they put her hair in a bun which surprised her from how much hair she had on her head, and they gave her a little veil that tucked into the part where her bun met her head. The dress was beautiful, it was white with peachy undertones and had puffy see-through sleeves that were tied off at the write but flared out a bit. The dress was tighter on the abdomen like a corset but went puffed out when it reached her mid-abdomen, it was so sturdy that Aphmau was pretty sure she could put a glass of water where the dress puffed out and it wouldn’t fall. It fell all the way to the floor and trailed behind her, she had a large ribbon as a belt that tied into a bow in the back. The bouquet that they gave her was all purple flowers which made Aphmau feel a little nice inside but that ruined when one of the ladies-in-waiting told her that she was so jealous that she was marrying the prince. 

Aphmau stood in front of the mirror staring at herself, she didn’t know who she was looking at. This was a completely different person. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying but she knew it was going to come anyway, she knew the tears would start flooding in and she could do nothing to stop it. The pain in her chest rose as her anxiety grew, she just wanted to wake up from this terrible nightmare. She took a deep breath as Ylva entered the room once again but now holding a book.

Aphmau turned around, Ylva smiled at her. 

“Don’t you look pretty?” Ylva asked as Aphmau went over to her. 

A tear rolled down Aphmau’s cheek, Ylva's heart broke and she wiped the tear from Aphmau’s cheek “Please don’t cry.” She said softly.

“I’m crying?” Aphmau asked, “I didn’t know.” 

“A tear rolled down your cheek.” 

“Oh.” Aphmau looked down and sniffled, she pointed at the book “You found one about Irene?” 

“Oh yes!” Ylva took her hand off Aphmau and handed her the book, it was titled ‘ O amor de uma deusa ’ which meant “The Love of a Goddess” in Portuguese according to Ylva. “Ironically it’s about Irene’s love life.” 

“Oh, funny.” Aphmau faked a laugh and took the book, it felt like it was about to fall apart in her hands. 

“Well, I’ll leave you be. Mino will be coming in to get you soon, it’s almost time.” Ylva said, “I’m sorry there’s nothing more I can do.” 

“It’s okay.” 

Ylva opened her mouth like she was about to say something more but she just closed her mouth and nodded, she snapped her fingers and her ladies-in-waiting followed her out the door. Aphmau sighed and walked back over to her chair in front of the mirror. The book looked to be dated about eight-hundred years ago, it showed it from how brittle it was in Aphmau’s hands. This seemed to be the seventh book in a series titled ‘ A Scholar’s Travels ’.

In my previous book I’ve covered many different aspects of Lady Irene. However, there are a few topics I have yet to touch on. Really there are so many fascinating things about her that seven books don’t even begin to scratch the surface! I might have to make multiple books about the same topic, only more so expanding on them. In any case, this book will go over my recent finding of Irene’s love life. It’s not much at the moment but I’m still investigating more into it. Honestly it’s not a subject I’m particularly suave in. I feel like Irene’s love life should be kept personal, but at the same time if I don’t document it then who will?… Maybe more people than I think really… love is after all that makes the world go round, har! Enough of my witty humor… Irene was known to have many possible suitors. In her travels, she came across many people who took interest in her, mostly mortals. However I have uncovered a clue that proves she might have been romantically involved with a fellow Divine Warrior! 

I knew that already Aphmau thought She was with Esmund… right? Maybe I’m wrong…. Do I really know who she ended up with? She continued reading the book. 

In the ruins of a lost village, I found painted scriptures that showed images of what looks like Irene being held in the arms of a being of power however the image of the potential love interest was scratched out, not just on that scripture parchment but a few others as well! It was almost as if someone despised the images of the two together and tried to remove it… well, they were successful, I can’t tell who the person is! Could it be Shad, Esmund, Menphia!? It’s too interesting to not look further into!

But wait… what if it’s a being of power we have no record of? That wouldn’t be good for my research notes now would it?

Aphmau reading was interrupted by Mino clapping his hands and appearing behind Aphmau scaring her. 

“Dear Irene Mino! Don’t scare me like that!” She scolded. 

“I’m so sorry miss I thought you heard me call your name, I guess you were too into your book.” Mino apologized. 

Aphmau closed the book and took a deep breath “It’s time isn’t it?” 

Mino nodded “Oh and I have some fantastic news for you! The King was kind enough to allow your Laurance to attend the wedding! Unfortunately we cannot allow your other friend or Fenrir’s Abby to attend, but Laurance was a special case! Of course, he's going to be restrained for obvious reasons but how perfect is it that he gets to see you getting married before he dies! At least he’ll know you’re happy!” 

“Right… happy.” Aphmau sniffled “Can we just get this over with?” 

“Of course!” Mino clapped his hands “Will the beautiful bride follow me?” 

Aphmau nodded and stood up, grabbing her bouquet and following Mino as he led her to her ‘doom’. 

Chapter Text

There were rows and rows of people in white chairs looking at Aphmau as she walked down the white carpeted aisle. Her cat ears twitched as her anxiety grew. Her dress trailed behind her as she walked forward and her grip on the bouquet in her hands was so tight her hands started hurting. The King and Fenrir were both looking at Aphmau with two different expressions but they were both flaunting their werewolf side. They were outside with the night sky being a beautiful black void with tiny pinpoint stars and a gigantic moon casting a spotlight on the altar at the end of the aisle. There was a flower arch over the altar which was beautiful but Aphmau was too worried about the fact that she was about to be married.

Laurance was sitting in the front row on the right side with his hands tied to the back of the chair. Mino was sitting next to him and a few werewolf guards were standing behind him, ready for whatever he had stocked. He was emitting such an evil feeling it made Aphmau sick.

“I’m so sorry,” Aphmau whispered as she passed by Laurance. This wedding had such a somber feeling it was surprising if anyone was smiling. 

Aphmau stood in front of Fenrir “I’m so sorry.” She whispered, “I couldn’t think of anything, I feel so bad.” 

“It’s fine.” He mouthed “We’re okay.” 

“Gathered here under the glow of our Lunar Goddess, we come together to celebrate a love like no other.” The King announced. Aphmau was pretty sure that no goddess would approve of this.

“Two different creature tribes together for the first time in history, uniting to bring prosperity to our land!” The King turned to his son “Fenrir, son of the moon… do you take this beautiful flower of the sun, Aphmau, to be your wife?” 

Fenrir looked at Aphmau with sad eyes, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath “I do.” 

The king turned to Aphmau “Flower of the sun, do you take this son of the moon, Fenrir, to be your husband?” 

Aphmau looked at Laurance, he was gritting his teeth and looking at Mino with eyes that could kill. She took a deep breath and turned her attention back to Fenrir “I d-” 

Laurance yelled out in anger and a flash of red consumed his being, making Aphmau close her eyes from how bright the flash was. When she opened them back up Fenrir had dragged her to the far right away from the altar to protect her, Laurance was standing in full Shadow Knight armor and was around nine feet tall with a red glow around him. He had Mino’s body and the body of a few werewolf guards around him on the floor as he stood there with his sword in hand, he had blood all over him and was breathing heavily, his eyes were bloody red which shook Aphmau to her core when she got a glimpse of them. His sword was dripping blood from the bodies around him. 

“I won’t let you do this to her!” His voice shook the castle and everyone in it “Not without going through me first!” 

“What!?” The King gasped “He’s a Shadow Knight!? You fool attack him!” 

A few werewolf guards went to attack Laurance but he just killed them with a simple cut through the torso, the others when going to attack the Shadow Knight just got kicked or punched away into a wall or the floor. Laurance snapped his head towards the King, the King backed away in fear as the Shadow Knight progressed for him. The King pleaded for his survival but Laurance didn’t succumb to his begging. He brought his sword above his head before bringing it down onto the middle of the King’s head, cutting it straight through the middle of his face before taking it out and kicking him off the balcony. Everyone screamed in terror as Laurance turned around slowly to face everyone else, some people made a run for the exit while others stood there in fear.

Laurance took a good look at everyone in front of him, Fenrir and Aphmau cowering in the corner afraid that they were going to be the next ones to have their lives taken by Laurance. Ylva stood in front of her ladies-in-waiting to protect them from the crazed man, everyone else was either crying along or hugging someone while crying. A part of Laurance told him to keep going, make sure that there were no survivors, make sure that the entire balcony was a pool of blood when he was done, get his immortality, kill Aphmau. As he looked around his heart began to crack and break, he didn’t want to hurt these people, he knew that they were good people, not all of them deserved to die but… it would be so easy to just kill them all. He took off his helmet and let both his sword and helmet drop to the floor as tears fell from his eyes, he missed his dad, he missed Cadenza… why couldn’t he just have died when he sacrificed himself to save Aphmau and Castor, why couldn’t he just have died? 

He dropped down to his knees as he stopped glowing and his eyes went back to the normal dark red that they were after he gained his vision back. He tried to wipe the blood off his face but there always seemed to be more and more blood. It was just useless to try and get it off. He sat down on his legs and looked up at the sky, gasping for air as the crying got more violent, and more tears streamed down his face. This wasn’t the Laurance he knew, this wasn’t the Laurance he wanted to know, the Laurance he knew would protect people and not senselessly kill them. The Laurance he knew would only kill the villains, no one else… but maybe he was the villain he could finally get rid of this life, maybe if he was the villain someone like Laurance would kill him. Yeah… maybe he should be the villain. 

He grabbed the sword to his right and went to go position it to his stomach but someone screamed and snatched the sword out of his hands. The person grabbed his face as they yelled at him. 

“You are not doing this!” Aphmau screamed at the man “You are not doing this!” 

“Aph?” Laurance whispered “Please.” 

“No, no, no.” She cried “I need you alive, I need you with me, I need to protect you and you need to protect me.” 

“Let me be the villain.” He whimpered. 

“Bullshit, you are not the villain and never will be. You are Laurance, a good man, a good friend, a good guard.” She made the man look at her, her tearful gross self. “And you are not dying on me.”

“I don’t want to live like this, I don’t want to think like this.” 

“I know, I know and I don’t know how to make that stop but all I know is that ending it is not the answer.” She cried “I know it seems easy and I know it seems like everything will go away and be fine but you can’t…. I need you.” 

He looked down at Aphmau and went to her level “You need me?” He asked. 

She nodded “So many people need you, Dante, Malachi, so many people.” 

“You need me?” 

“Yeah, I need you a lot.” She took a deep breath as she looked at the man in front of her, he meant so much to her that it was insane. She didn’t know how to make him know that she needed and cared for him so she said the only thing that came to her head “I need to kiss you.” 

Before words escaped Laurance’s lips he went in to kiss the woman he had loved for so long. He took off his gloves as quickly as he could so he could feel Aphmau through his hands, he felt her through his cheeks, his nose, his scalp, his neck, his mouth. Gods, the feeling that arose when Aphmau’s lips connected to his, was like it was always meant to be, it was beautiful. It was like fireworks were going off and Aphmau and Laurance were the only beings left alive. 

She cried as she gripped the man’s hair in her hands, he was so warm, he was so safe, Aphmau could spend the rest of her life in this moment, it was such an amazing feeling. It was insane to her that she had now kissed both of the men that she was so dearly in love with, she couldn’t deal with it. 

Laurance was the one to pull back to allow both of them some air. Laurance swept the hair out of Aphmau’s face “I’m sorry.” 

“It’s okay, you’re okay, we’re okay.” 

“We’re okay.” Laurance agreed “I’m so sorry.” He apologized once more. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Aphmau wiped the tears from the man’s eyes “You have nothing to be sorry for, you’re okay.”

Laurance’s armor started fading away and he shrunk back to his normal height. He was in the clothes he was in before he turned and the darkness that emitted off him was no more. He still was a meif’wa just like Aphmau. 

She ran her fingers through his hair “I missed you.” 

“I missed myself.” 

A door slammed “SHOWS OVER BOYS!” 

Aphmau and Laurance snapped their heads towards the staircase up to the door, Belladonna, Kitten, Katelyn, and Abby were all standing there out of breath. 

“Katelyn? Abby!?” 

“What are you guys doing here?” Laurance asked, standing up and bringing Aphmau with him. 

“Getting you out of here genius!” Kitten yelled.

A tap on her shoulder made Aphmau jump, she turned around to see Ylva standing there with a look of worry on her face. “Are you both okay?” 

“ I’m fine.” 

“That’s good, do your friends have a plan out of here?” 

“How are you so calm!?” Aphmau asked, “Your husband just died!” 

“Sorry about that, by the way.” Laurance apologized awkwardly.

“Call me cold if you will but with my husband gone many more lives will have been spared than what was taken here. Fenrir is probably going to go on rampage so I suggest getting out of here now.” She advised, “Now there is a secret exit in the dungeon in cell four on the wall, use it before the guards from outside swarm the castle.” 

“Thank you so much, Ylva.” Aphmau said. 

“I’m sorry about your aid!” Laurance said before the pair ran towards Belladonna and the group. 

Belladonna quickly explained everything that happened on their trip here and how they found them. According to them they found Michi and basically threatened her to tell them where you guys were, it took them a little over a day to get here because they ‘hell traveled’ which Aphmau had no idea what that meant but she believed them, and now they are here running with Aphmau. Also, Kitten was Amada in her bag, she was safe. 

Aphmau told Belladonna and Kitten that there was a secret exit in the fourth cell which Kitten already knew about, Belladonna quickly hit her in the arm for saying that as that kinda exposed what she was. 

They made it to the dungeon with a few inconveniences that Kitten and Belladonna took care of and headed down into the cell area where they entered the fourth cell and quickly found the exit that was behind a wall. They ran and ran for hours until they were in the middle of the forest and Laurance collapsed on the forest floor. Aphmau’s wedding dress was caked on with dirt, mud, other liquids, and blood splatters from the massacre that Laurance committed. 

They all kinda fell to the floor and just took a breather, they had been running for a while so it was justified. Kitten handed Amada to Aphmau and Aphmau’s heart began to rise, everything had been so bad today she just wanted to be with her dog. 

Belladonna and Kitten laid down next to Aphmau and explained what really happened. They knew that Michi was going to kidnap them but if Michi didn’t kidnap them nothing major would change so that’s why Belladonna was so admit that everyone ate on the boat if they wanted food because Michi’s food had Rohypnol in it which was basically a kidnapping drug after Michi drugged the group Kitten and Belladonna waited about two-ish hours until they were supposed to head to the castle so the ‘timeline’ would be correct, sadly Kitten goes tired and said ‘fuck it’ and teleported Belladonna, Amada, and her to the castle because in actuality the trip to the castle would’ve taken them little over than a week. Supposedly as a Titan, you can just… teleport to places which made Aphmau a little mad that they never told her but also they could never use it around anyone to make sure nothing terrible happened. 

Aphmau was the only one allowed to know this for obvious reasons. 

Abby was the first one to speak up to the entire group “Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!?” 

Aphmau felt like since she was the 'main character’ in all of this that she was obligated to tell Abby everything, which she did. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Abby said after hearing the story “I thought that I was just taken prisoner because I refused to be the King’s mercenary but gods… that much worse.” 

“Fenrir is fine.” Laurance called out “Just wanted to let you know since you guys seem pretty close.” 

“I can’t take part in this.” Abby looked in fear at everyone like they were about to kill her “I can’t be in your guys’ little party, I-I can’t. I’m leaving. This is something I cannot have on my hands.”

“What!?” 

“Look, I thank you all sincerely for saving me, I really do. However, I cannot have this on my hands, even if I wasn’t directly responsible, I am associated with you. I will not let this get in the way of my revenge.” She started walking backward “If we meet again just know that you’ve got a friend to rely on. I need to leave.” She said before running off. 

Aphmau gasped “What the fuck!? Abby, I know your dad! Jeffory! I know him, I-I knew him!” Aphmau's attempts at Abby staying were useless as she ran deeper into the forest. Aphmau’s throat was so raw from the cold air going into her throat that she really didn’t feel like yelling anymore. 

“Jeffory?” Katelyn whimpered “Did you just say Jeffory? Like Jeffory the Golden Heart?” 

Aphmau turned to Katelyn “Oh yeah, uh… Jeffory is Abby’s dad.” 

Katelyn’s eyes went wide “Are you kidding me!? I know her! I- ugh!” She groaned and stood up “I knew she looked familiar and I allowed her to leave!? You allowed her to leave!? Why?” 

“Well, I couldn’t really stop her!” Aphmau yelled, “Were you not paying attention!?” 

“Dear Irene, did you even think about telling me that she was Jeffory’s daughter?” 

“I haven’t seen you in like two days! I’ve actually had no time to tell you about her!” 

“Bullshit! You could’ve told me about her while we were running!” 

“Oh really? Did you just want me to stop running and be like ‘Oh hey, while we’re running for our lives I just wanted to tell you that’s Jeffory’s daughter you're running with’, huh?” Aphmau stood up. 

“Yeah actually!” Katelyn rolled her eyes “I have to go find her! Abby!” Katelyn ran after the mercenary. 

“Wait, Katelyn!” Aphmau yelled after the woman as she ran away, Aphmau sighed. She turned back to Belladonna and Kitten and also saw that Laurance was no longer in his collapsed position but gone. Kitten noticed Aphmau’s worry and looked behind her. 

“Oh shit.” Kitten said nonchalantly “Uh, should we go look for him?” 

“I’ll go left, Aph you go right, Kitten stays here if you want.” Belladonna stood up and headed past Aphmau, while Aphmau handed Amada to Kitten and went in the direction Laurance’s body was .  

It took her almost twenty minutes to find where Laurance was, he was by a pond with his legs in the water and looking down at his reflection. Aphmau could feel that he was in a sensitive moment right now; she quietly removed her flats, went over to the pond, and sat next to Laurance. 

They sat there in silence for a while, just feeling the cool water against their feet and taking in the fresh air that the pond made so much fresher. Everything around the pond was so pretty, from the vines, the flowers, the trees, the lily pads, it was all so relaxing for Aphmau who felt like everything was going too fast. 

Laurance was the one to speak up. 

“Am I a monster?”

“What? No, no you’re not and you’ll never be.” Aphmau turned her head towards the man. 

“You’re only saying that because you want to wish it were not true, but it is. This is the reality of me.” 

“No it is not, you may be a Shadow Knight but that does not make you a monster. You are a good man.” 

“Did you kiss the Shadow Knight Laurance or the good guy Laurance?” 

“What type of-” 

 “You kissed someone, and up until this point you’ve never been open about love, especially your love towards that person. Right now I’m not even sure if you kissed me or them.” He turned towards Aphmau “I thought it was a dream and I still don’t think that it actually happened.” 

“I kissed you . I kiss a guy named Laurance but if it helps you to think that I kissed someone else then… go for it.” She held his hand “I didn’t kiss you to show that you need me I kissed you to show that I need you , and that whether or not you're a Shadow Knight I wanted you to know that I need you.” 

Laurance sucked in a breath, he bit his lip as tears brimmed his eyes “I love you.” He said bluntly “But I can’t, I can’t love you in the way that I want to because I know someone that possibly loves you even more.” 

Aphmau shook her head in confusion, in the moment she wasn’t really thinking of anyone else that could love her. 

“My first trip to Phoenix Drop, on the last day, Garroth had come up to me just as I was departing. He had made a mention that I should not act so ‘ungentlemanlike around you which basically meant he didn’t want me to flirt with you. I told him right then and there that I had every intention of taking your heart and sweeping you off your feet and when I said that he… he told me of his feelings for you as well.” 

“He did?” 

“Yeah, I had asked him why he didn’t just take you for himself and he said he didn’t know how and that he was too anxious to come up to you and ask you a question like that. I told him that I would give him some time but when I came back if he wasn’t with you then you were mine.” He laughed to himself “I then ended up becoming a part of Phoenix Drop myself. Garroth and I grew closer as friends and even called each other ‘brother’ along with Dante. I told Garroth many times that he needed to tell you how he felt, heck I even went as far as trying to help him.” 

“Why?” She asked, her throat was getting tighter and tears were brimming her eyes. 

“Why not? I respect and care for him as my friend. I value the people I care about even if their values hurt me sometimes.” He fully turned to Aphmau, his hand slowly went to her face to hold it “I just… I want you Aph and I know that it would hurt Garroth so much but I just… Aph?” 

She bit her lip as tears fell from her eyes “I’m such a terrible person.” She gasped. “I’m such a terrible terrible person.” 

“What? Why what’s wrong?” 

“I know you were talking about your problems and I don’t want to switch it onto me-” 

“Hey, no, it’s fine, I trade it off to you. I talked and now it’s your turn.” 

Aphmau sniffled “I just… I love you, I really do but I also love Garroth and I love him so much. I love both of you so much that it literally drives me insane because I don’t know who I’m supposed to choose or if I’m even supposed to choose and reject both of you or what if I’m supposed to be with both of you? Also I’m still wondering if I like girls, what if I’m supposed to end up with a beautiful woman, or what if I’m just insane and thinking way too deep into my friendships with people.” She took a deep breath “I kissed both you and Garroth and it was so nice, but it only made me more confused on who I want to be with. And the worst part is that I still don’t even know if I love you guys platonically or romantically.” 

Laurance nodded “Yeah I can see how that would be frustrating. I didn’t even know you were dealing with that. I'm so sorry.” 

“Don’t be, don’t be I mean I was the one that kissed you and if I was going to totally freak out about it then I shouldn’t have kissed you.” She sniffled, tears still running down her face. 

“Hey, I’ve never really actually asked you out I guess so why not I propose that we get Garroth out of the Irene Dimension this year somehow, and when he does I’ll tell him that I won’t hold back anymore and that if he doesn’t make you his first then I will. But if you still haven’t decided yet, that’s fine.” He smiled softly “You okay with that?” 

Aphmau nodded “Yeah, yeah that sounds fi-” 

Laurance lifted a finger to Aphmau’s mouth. His head was turned and his eyes were wide, he looked like a dog when something rustled in the bushes. He slowly stood up and shook his legs off before walking away leaving Aphmau even more confused. She stood up and shook off her legs, getting tired of the dress and simply ripping most of it off leaving it just at her knees, she followed behind Laurance who was now sneaking towards where he heard the sound. 

He motioned Aphmau to stop as he moved closer to wherever the sound that he heard came from, Aphmau waited for some time for a signal to know that she could continue following him before she heard the sound of someone being punched which was very frightening for her. She ran over to where she presumed Laurance got punched, his unconscious body was at the foot of a very tall woman who was wearing a red hijab. 

“HOLY SHIT! YOU DON’T JUST DO THAT TO SOMEONE MAN!” The woman yelled “DEAR IRENE!” The woman hopped on her feet in either excitement or the fact that she was having an adrenaline rush. She looked up and froze. 

Aphmau knew that voice and hijab anywhere “Nicole?” 

“Please tell me this isn’t a dream.” She walked over Laurance’s body “I just realized you have cat years… this is a dream.” 

Aphmau went and lightly pinched the woman “It’s isn’t a dream.” 

Nicole’s eyes widened “AHHHHH!” She squealed as she jumped up and down “It’s you it’s really you! I never thought I’d see you again! I swear that dude I just punched looked exactly like Laurance!”

“It’s because it is.” Aphmau laughed. 

Nicole snorted “Oh dear Irene I just knocked out Laurance.” She sighed “Oh it’s so good to see you Aph.” 

“It’s so good to see you too! I assume you want to know where I’ve been for the past fifteen years?” 

“I mean I would love to but I have to save a comrade who issued out a distress call.” 

“Oh, I’m assuming you’re talking about Abby right?” Nicole nodded and Aphmau explained that Abby called the distress call for them and that Abby was now safe but she had run off and that everyone else was safe as well too. 

“Okay that’s good, I was looking forward to a rescue mission but that’s good too. Now I have a caravan that I came in like a mile back so if you want to get everyone we can load up Laurance and head to Scaleswind.” 

Aphmau sucked in a breath “How long is it going to take?” 

“A little over three days, I was already close here so it didn’t take me that long to head over here.” Nicole explained. 

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” Aphmau nodded “I’ll go get everyone and you can get Laurance right?” 

Nicole laughed “I mean I punched him it’s kinda an obli-” She froze, she whipped her head to look past Aphmau’s shoulder and furrowed her eyebrows “Do you hear that?” 

“Dear Irene, what is it with all these noises?” Aphmau whispered. 

Nicole carefully walked past an annoyed Aphmau to check out what the sound was, Aphmau ignored it and went over to Laurance’s unconscious body and lifted him from his armpits. The sound of someone being punched once again made Aphmau frightened and she turned around, Katelyn was standing over Nicole’s knocked out body with Kitten standing next to her with a face of shock. 

“KATELYN!” Kitten and Aphmau both yelled, making the woman roll her eyes. 

“What!? I thought it was a bandit or something! How was I supposed to know it was… someone?” 

“Nicole Von Rosenburg, the Lord of Scaleswind.” Aphmau corrected. 

“I just knocked out the Lord of Scaleswind?” Katelyn wheezed. 

Kitten nodded “Smart move kitty cat.” 

“I'll fucking kill you.” Katelyn threatened with her gauntlets which she now had on. 

“Yo!” Aphmau called out and pointed at Katelyn’s gauntlets “You could’ve killed her with those things!”

“I only kill people if I want to kill them okay, these gauntlets are mind activated.” Katelyn snapped. 

“We still have to carry Nicole back to her own caravan and explain to her guards why some strangers have an unconscious Lord of Scaleswind in their arms.” Aphmau scolded. 

“Pfft, everything will be fine.” Katelyn brushed off “... hopefully.” 

 “Hopefully!?” 

They were able to get Laurance and Nicole onto the caravan without any struggle and were able to explain their situation without getting immediately murdered by Nicole’s guards. There were clothes in the caravan so Aphmau was able to change out of that restricting wedding dress, she also got to change shoes which was nice because that entire run from the castle her feet were not being supported at all by those stupid flats she was wearing. Katelyn informed Aphmau that sadly all their shit was burned but the only reason Katelyn’s gauntlets didn’t burn was that they were blessed from a fireward and literally couldn’t burn, this sent Aphmau into a small spiral because that meant that the sword was gone, the sword that Dante had kept after she left and the sword that Dante had practically entrusted her with even though it was hers. So right now the only person that had a physical weapon was Katelyn because Sadly Belladonna and Kitten didn’t take their physical weapons and they only had their magicks which was not at all that great. Nicole and Laurance woke up in the middle of the first day to Scaleswind and were very confused about where they were and why they were there. Kitten was the one to explain everything because everyone else just didn’t want to. The second day wasn’t eventful either, Nicole just talks to them a bit, they stopped for food and then went back on the road, sleeping for most of the day and just relaxing, and the only reason why the third day was eventful was that they were finally getting closer to Scaleswind and the group could finally see what a Scaleswind under Nicole looked like. They finally got to Scaleswind around nine-ish pm and Aphmau wanted to appreciate the beauty that was Scaleswind but she was just too tired for all of that. The walls around Scaleswind seemed to be expanding which meant that Scaleswind was taking more land, the area was filled with the sounds of happy people which confirmed the fact that Nicole was an amazing Lord, everything was so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, everything just fit together so perfectly. After getting to Nicole’s mansion finally they all split off into the guest rooms that Nicole showed them to and passed out, worrying about what they would do tomorrow. 

Weirdly, Kitten and Belladonna had Aphmau, Katelyn, and Laurance’s things that they brought onto the boat with them even though when they came to the castle to rescue them they had nothing in their hands. All Kitten said about the matter was that she felt bad which got Aphmau to assume that somehow Kitten and Belladonna took the stuff from the boat with their divine powers so Aphmau didn’t want to press further in the situation to protect Belladonna and Kitten’s identity because Aphmau knew they didn’t really like talking about it. Katelyn and Laurance didn’t think much of it and just thanked the pair for getting their stuff. 

Aphmau stood, leaning on her balcony looking over the city that was Scaleswind. The cool air against her face made her feel calm and relaxed, something she needs for the past few days her heart has been beating extra fast and she didn’t know why, maybe it was everything that happened, her confusion over her love life, or just stupid shit that she didn’t know. 

“YOU LITTLE BITCH!” 

“KATELYN!” 

“YOU CAN’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!” 

Aphmau’s door slammed open and a boy with light purple hair and wearing what looked to be a traditional judogi outfit which Aphmau knew about from Brenden and Kiki talking about being Asian. He was holding both of Katelyn’s gauntlets which were way too big for his little hands. 

“What is going on!?” Aphmau yelled. 

“This little brat took my weapons!” Katelyn snapped. 

“They’re not yours, dumb lady they’re my mom's!” The kid shouted. 

“Dmitri!” Nicole snapped “Don’t talk like that!” 

“Did you just call me dumb!?” Katelyn kicked the little boy’s legs under himself making him fall on his side, she snatched up her gauntlets and stared at the little boy with daggers. 

“Dear Irene Katelyn! He’s just a boy!” Nicole went over to the sniffing boy and picked up him “What was with you, honey?” 

“She took your stuff! She’s got weapons just like yours!” Dmitri cried. 

“You should learn to ask if it’s even my stuff in the first place. Now, will you apologize to Katelyn for taking her stuff?” Nicole asked. 

“She kicked me!” 

Nicole sighed and turned her head “Katelyn, will you please apologize to my son for kicking him?” 

“I’m sorry for kicking you, next time don’t take my stuff.” 

Nicole turned to her son with pursed lips, Dmitri sniffled “Sorry…” He mumbled. 

“With less attitude this time mister.”

He sighed “I’m sorry Miss. Katelyn for taking your weapons which I thought were my moms.” 

“Hmph, it’s fine just don’t do it again.” Katelyn fixed the gauntlets onto her person and fixed her tied-up hair. 

Nicole smirked, “alan 'uriduk 'an tujri eshr lifat hawl alsaalat.” She told her son in a different language [Now I want you to do ten laps around the halls.]

The boy gasped “madha!? la!” [What!? No!]

“'ana asif , hdha lays lilanqasha. sa'uetik shyyana litaewidih , hsnana?” [I'm sorry, well, this is not up for discussion. I'll give you something to make up for it, okay?]

“hal yumkinuni ela alaql faeal dhlk mae nyk? raja'?” [Can I at least do it with nick? Please?]

Nicole thought for a moment before nodding “hsnana , lkn adhhab lilnawm baed dhlk , adhhab alan lilrakdi. 'ahbabik.” [Okay, but go to sleep after that, now go jogging. I love you.]

“wa'ana ahbuk 'ayda!” The boy said before running off out of the room. [I love you too]

Aphmau stood in confusion and shock at the two women in front of her “What was that?” She asked. 

“The arabic or everything?” Nicole asked. 

“Both.” 

“Dmitri stole Katelyn’s weapons thinking they were mine, we chased him around a bit, ended up here, and I just told him to go run ten laps since he deserves it for being a brat.” She smiled and turned to Katelyn “You can go back in your room now I’m so sorry for waking you up.” 

“Oh don’t be, I love some early morning action.” Katelyn laughed before heading out of the room and saying her quick goodbyes. 

Nicole’s laughter faded as she turned her attention back to Aphmau “He’s a little firecracker that boy, my dad says he’s too much like me.” 

The puzzle pieces in Aphmau’s mind clicked “Oh is he your son?” She asked. 

She nodded with a smile “He’s the best thing to ever happen to me and the worst thing to ever happen to my body.” She lightly slapped her lower abdomen. 

Aphmau sucked in a breath “I could never imagine giving birth that sounds like a nightmare.” 

“It was, so terrible, so much blood.” Nicole seemed as if she was having flashbacks to a terrible time in her life. 

“Eh, I’m sorry. So who’s the father?” Aphmau asked, excited to hear about Nicole’s life after the fifteen-year time jump. 

Nicole’s smile faded “Yeah uh… he died… he died before Dmitri was born.” She nodded and bit her tongue “I don’t really like talking about it.” 

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry for your loss. I bet you’ve been a great mom to Dmitri even with that setback.” Aphmau apologized. 

“Thank you Aph, that's very sweet of you. I’m going to go see how breakfast is going because I sure know that you would want that before anything else. After we eat you and I are going to sit down and talk about everything that’s happened and where the fuck you got those cat ears and just… where you were and all it okay? Make yourself at home during that time okay?” 

Aphmau nodded “Will do captain.” Aphmau saluted Nicole. 

The hijabi rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, sticking her tongue out at Aphmau before closing the door. 

Aphmau didn’t do much after Nicole left, she just sat on the floor of the balcony and looked through the bars out into Scaleswind like she was doing before the disturbance of Katelyn and Dmitri. She wondered how Nicole was going to react to the Phoenix Alliance and if she would join, Aphmau knew Nicole but like Cadenza she might have a council that doesn’t know Aphmau which would be worrying. Belladonna was a good negotiator though so Aphmau wasn’t too worried if they had to go in front of a council.  

After a couple of minutes of just sitting around taking in, the fresh air Aphmau went downstairs to see if breakfast was ready, which it was as Nicole was putting the food on the plates around the dining table as Belladonna and Laurance talked to each other and Kitten and Katelyn were nowhere to be seen. Amada was already eating in a little dog bowl that Nicole had prepared. Aphmau sat down next to Belladonna because she figured that would be less embarrassing with all the shit going on between her and Laurance. After giving out all the food Nicole gave herself some food and went right into conversation with everyone on what was going on in their lives and why it happened. Aphmau was the main one to explain everything with Belladonna coming in to talk about the Phoenix Alliance which intrigued Nicole a lot and Laurance coming in to explain the whole Shadow Knight situation with Zenix, the Shadow Lord, and Sasha. Kitten and Katelyn came down mid-way into the story and simply sat and listened to Aphmau as she went about everything that’s happened since they got back, Kitten was the one to explain the whole Irene Dimension situation because Aphmau had brushed over that entire thing.

“Holy shit.” Nicole said in shock after being silent for a while, Aphmau had thought for a second she had scared the poor girl off “You guys have been through a lot.” 

Everyone kinda awkwardly laughed because obviously some of the stuff that they went through wasn’t the greatest. 

“I can’t even imagine how- … you know what, you probably hear that a lot from everyone. I’m just glad you guys are safe - out of all this it’s still so insane that you went all Shadow Knight, that’s just… insane. How did you like… get out of that?” Nicole asked Laurance. 

“Well, I kinda… even though in that mentality, in that state, I’m a psychopath and I believe that I could do anything there was a part of me that told me that even though they were all putting Aphmau through this terrible marriage they didn’t all deserve to die. I kinda just fought with myself for a quick minute until I just… collapsed.” He’s face was emotionless throughout the explanation, it was heartbreaking to see him like that. 

“Yeah and then I had this epic fight with him and I kinda just punched the Shadow Knight out of him,” Aphmau added. 

Nicole snorted “Really? We should really spare some time.” 

“Bring it.” 

Nicole looked shocked “Okay fuck it let’s fucking go!” She hopped up but froze immediately “Goddammit!” She kicked the air slightly and sat back down. 

“What?” Aphmau laughed. 

“I tell Dmitri that we can’t brawl in the house unless it’s self-defense. I hate having to set examples.” Nicole sighed “But did you really have to fight Laurance?”

Aphmau laughed and shook her head “No I didn’t have to fight Laurance, Laurance did the whole calming down all on his own.” 

“She helped a bit when she kissed him,” Kitten added. 

Aphmau choked on her drink. 

Nicole gasped “So are you two like…?” She intertwined her two fingers and smirked. 

“No sadly, she doesn’t care for me enough.” Laurance joked. 

Aphmau gasped “Rude!” 

“Could you not take it anymore by looking at him? The hot guy who suddenly turned into a bad boy because his woman was going to marry another man!?” She fake gasped “I bet you liked smooching Laurance!” 

“Nicole!” Aphmau scolded “What is wrong with you!?”

“Nah, Nah, Nah, nah see here’s how I imagine it: Full moon, the wedding taking place, Laurance objects but the audience doesn’t agree with him so he kills them, then you're just like ‘Laurance take me!’, and then-” She began to make kissing noises and putting her hands on her body making everyone laugh.

“Oh, that’s totally what happened.” Laurance pointed out “To the ‘T’!” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “Is that how you got with Dmitri’s dad?” 

“Uh yeah duh, I was just such a badass that he fell in love with me.” Her laugh faded a bit. 

“Sorry,” Aphmau whispered while everyone else laughed. 

“It’s fine.” She shrugged “I’m just happy to make you smile.” She winked. 

Aphmau nodded. 

Nicole clapped her hands “I just remembered something!” She had everyone’s attention “Kiki! She definitely needs to know about you guys!” 

Almost everyone gasped “Kiki!?” 

“What is she doing here?” Belladonna asked, “I haven’t heard from her in ages!” 

“She lives here with her daughter Leona, which I’m sure you guys will be excited to see, she isn’t in town at the moment though but she’ll be back in a think two or three days? I’m not exactly sure but, she makes the best cakes ever so it will totally be worth the wait. Dmitri just cannot get enough of them but of course, he has to be good before he gets any, I swear that kid is going through a rebellious phase lately.” 

“I mean he’s cute,” Katelyn added. 

“And you never grew out of yours I see.” Kitten pointed out. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” Nicole rolled her eyes “Oh! By the way Belladonna, Scaleswind is totally in to join the Phoenix Alliance.”

Now it was Belladonna's time to choke on her drink “What!?” She asked. 

“Yeah! I mean an alliance sounds perfect considering Scaleswind would be a major powerhouse - I know you’ll run the alliance well and I trust you.” 

“Don’t you need to speak with your council first?” Belladonna asked. 

Nicole shook her head “I have advisors, not a council. I can make these kinds of decisions on my own.” 

“Oh wow, well it’ll be great to have you on our team.” The kharagosa smiled. 

“Thank you! So now that we’ve all caught up I need to go do some Lord stuff and go to a meeting. I’ll leave you guys be to do whatever you want, if Dmitri is a little shit call me and you fuck up my house I’ll kill you.” She picked up the rest of her food and shoved it into her mouth before putting her plate in the sink with everyone laughing. She squinted her eyes at everyone before walking out of the room and closing the door. 

After everyone finished eating, Aphmau said that she wanted to go find a library to see if she could find anything that could help them in this time, Katelyn offered to help and they set off to find a library in this massive house. They got lost for like ten minutes before someone came up to them asking if they were okay and after hearing that they were lost, led them to the library. 

The library was so big Aphmau was confident that they would get lost and never find their way out again. They didn’t really know what exactly they were looking for but anything could help really, how to get rid of a meif’wa curse, how to find out you're a divine being, how to kill a Shadow Lord, anything would help. 

“You know I wasn’t expecting this place to be so big!” Katelyn called out as the pair searched for books. 

“Me neither!” Aphmau yelled back “I don’t even know where to start!” 

“I don’t even know how this place is organized! We really should’ve asked someone!” 

“Where are you right now!” 

“The magicks section! I”m trying to find something about curses so we can get these stupid cat ears off!” 

“Hey! They aren’t stupid!” 

“No one is going to take me seriously!”

“So? You’re basically insulting all Meif’wa by saying that!” Aphmau scolded, trying to find where Katelyn was “And I have a meif’wa friend.” Aphmau had gotten two books which she thought would help them, one was titled “ Emperor Lords ” and “ Drevniye sekrety ” which meant ‘Ancient Secrets’ in Russian. There were books littered all over the ground in disregard of their fragile state. Aphmau picked them up on her way to Katelyn and put them on random desks and tables she found. 

Katelyn was getting more frustrated as time went on, even with Aphmau’s help she still couldn’t find anything that could help them and then she snapped. She punched a spot on the brick wall and it opened like a reverse cabinet making both women freeze. Katelyn slowly extracted her fist from the newly found cubby and turned to Aphmau, inside the cubby was a green box. 

Aphmau slightly shrugged and Katelyn slowly turned back around and took the green box. There was an unlocked latch on the box that Katelyn flipped up and opened the box. Inside the box was a faux leather journal. Katelyn looked up at Aphmau. 

“Should I?” 

“I mean if you want to.” 

Katelyn picked up the journal and put the box down on the floor, she opened the journal and a short gasp escaped her mouth. 

“What? What is it?” 

Katelyn looked up at Aphmau once more “It’s Nicole’s diary, about like her last few months in Phoenix Drop.”

“Oh, we shouldn’t look at that. It’s personal.” 

“I mean yeah but what’s the harm in looking?” 

“Everything. Do you not have any morals?” 

Katelyn shrugged “I lost my morals when I became a Jury of Nine.” She flipped through the pages of the book with Aphmau turning her back towards Katelyn but still listening. “Oh, ‘Dante and I kissed today. He said he wants to be with me. I don’t like blushing but it’s sometimes nice.’ Ooh, so they were a thing!” Katelyn looked up for a seal of approval to keep going. 

Aphmau’s heard was slightly turned toward her “If you keep reading we have to forget this was ever here, okay?” 

“Gotcha!” she flipped a couple pages closer to the end of the book “Okay, ‘I returned to the safehold today, Levin and Malachi are growing up so fast, Aphmau would be proud of them. It’s been about six months since I’ve been here. Since Dante and I… yeah. Anyway, I saw him today, I ran up to him and hugged him. He hugged me back. He complimented me on the dress that I wore. I don’t like to wear dresses really but given the situation, they’re just more comfortable. He looked as handsome as ever, he said I gained weight, jerk. I can’t train, which sucks. I had asked him if he wanted to talk and catch up and he invited me to his house. Nana was there and it was in that manner I found out that they were together now… she is three months pregnant… with his child.’ Holy shit.” 

“Is there more?” 

“Yeah… ‘I didn’t say as long as I intended to. Nana looked so happy with Dante and I could tell he was happy with her. I just told both of them that I was now becoming the Lord of Scales and he didn’t have to worry about me anymore. I didn’t even think he would get with someone else, I mean yes, the breakup was very bad but… he’s already engaged to Nana so soon and now I… I shouldn’t have been so stubborn. I guess I’ll have to do this by myself - I was the reason we broke up after all. I still love him, but this is the path I am choosing. Nana is my friend, she deserves to be happy as does Dante - they will have a beautiful family together, I’m sure. It hurts a lot, but I feel this is for the best… not just for myself but for-’ It's smudged out sorry, uh ‘Goodbye Dante and Nana. I’ll always love you two.’ That’s it.” 

The two stood there in silence as Katelyn closed the book and picked up the box to put the journal back in the book. 

“We really shouldn’t have read that,” Aphmau said. 

“Yeah, we really shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.” Katelyn relatched the box and put it back in the cubby, and closed the door “I shouldn't have done that.” 

“Don’t be sorry, I didn’t stop you.” Aphmau said, “But we are to never speak of this again right?” 

Katelyn nodded and the two just left the library with no remorse. They didn’t really do anything for the rest of the day but when Nicole asked them what they did while she was gone they awkwardly looked at each other before saying nothing which Nicole was obviously suspicious of but just shrugged it off because it wasn’t her business. 

The following day however was a little more eventful, it started with Aphmau waking up in the middle of the day from Dmitri knocking on her door and telling her that his mom needed her at the gates because someone was there that knew her. Aphmau groggily got up, changed her clothes, and got ready for the day before heading out to the gates of Scaleswind which she vaguely remembered where they were because she was very tired when they entered Scaleswind. 

After walking all the way there and stopping for a quick second to get food she finally arrived at the gates to see Aaron leaning against the wall looking like he was sleeping. Aphmau gasped which woke the man, he scoffed.

“Are you a meif’wa now, what’s all this?” He asked, shaking his head. 

“Why are you here!?” 

“I got a small note from a bird telling me to head to Scaleswind, I went in the direction you guys went in, found a house, saw a portal to hell, went through it, found another portal like a mile south, went through that portal, ended up in the middle of the road and got here.” 

“Dear Irene, did you hit any bumps in the road or something?” 

“I had to fight like one or two shadow things but besides that the ride here was pretty neat.” 

“Ride?” 

Aaron cocked his head to the side to motion for Aphmau to look, she moved over to the side to see Nicole talking to this old man in front of a wagon with a woman sobbing on the side over a child’s body. Everyone there seemed to be a meif’wa which Aphmau thought was interesting. 

“I am incredibly sorry for your loss, you are all welcome here and I’ll make some funeral arrangements for you baby boy. I am so sorry.” Aphmau overheard Nicole say. Aphmau softly gasped and left Aaron to go over to the woman and her child, the pay respects.

The boy looked to be around eight which was even more heartbreaking, he raided a warm temperature which told Aphmau that he had only passed a while ago. She went over to the boy and put her hand on the mother’s back and her other hand next to the boy’s, she remembered that one very fever dreamish time when she saw a dead Hayden but then somehow revived him after she tripped. It was a very strange moment for her. Another strange moment for her would be this moment because as soon as she thought about that Hayden moment her hand jolted out a string of purple light that entered the little boy through his stomach like a worm. Aphmau gasped and jolted her hand back in fear of what she did to the poor boy. The life in the boy’s face and body slowly returned and he awoke into a coughing fit. The woman cried and immediately hugged her baby boy who looked very confused, Aphmau on the other hand thought she was about to pass out from how woozy she was but thankfully a kind refugee held onto her to make sure she didn’t fall. 

Everyone around Aphmau was in shock at what she had done, the refugee was yelling something to hear that she couldn’t hear, the mother of the child was sobbing from what it looked like, and the child was just sitting there in a daze. Aphmau was snatched away by Nicole who looked like a mix of angry and scared. 

“What the fuck was that!?” 

“What?” Aphmau said “I-I-I… I don’t know what’s going on.” 

“Well, you obviously do because you just used your fucking powers or some shit!” 

“I-I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even know what was happening.”

“Well did you have to do a miracle in front of people we don’t even know!?” 

Aphmau was so dazed she didn’t know half of what Nicole was saying “I- … why are you worked up about this?” 

Nicole took a quick breather before turning back to Aphmau “I’m worried about what they are going to think, yes it’s been over a decade since you left but some people still aren’t accepting of the whole magicks thing. They could think that you’re some demon trying to steal their child’s life force or something.” 

“Didn’t she just bring their child back to the living? I seriously don't see the negatives in any of this.” Aaron added.

“HOW!? YOU CAN’T JUST BRING-” She shut herself up to calm herself down once again, she clicked her tongue “Aph, please dear mother of Irene just go in my house while I deal with this. I don’t mean to yell but I’m a little freaked out over the whole necromancer deal you have going on okay?” 

Aphmau nodded tiredly “Yeah okay, could I have some help walking there, I think I’m gonna pass out.” 

“Oh yeah,” Aaron said before taking Aphmau's arm. Nicole made a guard go with the pair to make sure that Aphmau didn’t die or something, Aphmau couldn’t tell if Nicole didn’t care about her or that she was too scared to care about her. Either way, it still hurt Aphmau’s heart a little that she just sent Aphmau off to go back to the house even though she just got there. The walk back to Nicole’s house made Aphmau so much more exhausted than she already was from bringing that child back to life which was weird because she believed that she had pretty good endurance. She was so drained of everything that even walking was difficult for her, Aaron was pretty good at keeping her upright though which was nice. Every time he felt her slipping or about to fall over he jolted her upright again and wrapped his arm around her shoulder only for it to fall and the cycle repeat.    

Once she got back she explained the whole ordeal to Kitten and Katelyn in the living room who, only one of them, was in shock of the thing. Katelyn couldn’t comprehend someone coming back from the dead and Kitten remembered Aphmau telling her, Belladonna, and Zoey of the Hayden incident so she knew of Aphmau’s life powers already. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Katelyn said with her mouth agape. 

“Do you guys know if Irene had like… life giving powers or something? Maybe this is the cause of the relic?” Aphmau asked, playing with her hands in nervousness. 

“Well, remember that one time?” Kitten pointed out “You didn’t have the relic then and that dude was like… gone.” 

“True but… I’ve never been able to do that before besides that one time.” 

“Have you come across any more dead bodies?” 

“ … No…” 

“Exactly.” 

“Wait you’ve done this before!?” Katelyn asked. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Aphmau brushed it aside. 

“How can I just brush it aside? You basically just said that you resurrected a dead body before, that’s insane Aphamu!” 

“Well, I don’t really feel like talking about it right now. I still don’t understand who I am and I don’t want to worry about that.” 

“You’re worrying about it now though?” 

Aphmau hit the table they were sitting at“Can we just drop it? New subject I shouldn’t have said anything.” 

The girls were silent, scared that Aphmau, a sweet kind person, just raised her voice at them. It felt like a mother yelling at them. 

Aphmau sighed “Is Laurance awake?” 

“Not that I know of, and that was twenty minutes ago.” Kitten answered, “I think he’s still a little meh over the whole Shadow Knight thing.” 

“He seemed fine yesterday?” Katelyn pointed out. 

“Yeah, but that was yesterday.” 

“True.” 

Without saying anything Aphmau stood up and left the girls to go check up on Laurance, seeing if he was okay after the whole thing. Katelyn was right though, he did seem fine yesterday but maybe that changed? Aphmau wasn’t exactly aware of Laurance’s mental state so maybe he was just putting on a front yesterday to make everyone think he was okay but now he couldn’t hold that mask on for any longer. She ran her fingers through her hair, she had totally forgotten about her cat ears and was a little spooked when she felt them on her head, for some reason she had also forgotten about her tail even though it was always somehow in front of her face. 

As she walked through the hallways of the giant mansion everything seemed so quiet, distant. It was unnatural the way everything was feeling, it made Aphmau have goosebumps all over her body. She wondered, after all of this, would she go back to Phoenix Drop? She knew that it would be a very long trip but would it really be worth it? She kept on saying that she was going to leave Phoenix Drop for a while and not come back for long periods of time but the first time she said that she came running back, was this just going to be a repeat of last time, or was she actually going to venture out instead of going back into her safe little bubble. She wanted to push herself but what if that wasn’t good for her? What if she was supposed to go back into her little haven, relax, and then go onto her next adventure which would probably only last about an hour with how these other trips were going. 

She rolled her eyes at herself and was about to open Laurance’s door when she was slammed against the wall with something blocking her airway. She gasped and noticed Laurance was the culprit of her lack of air. 

Laurence jumped when he realized it was her and pulled his arm away from Aphmau, immediately going right into a hug and apologizing repeatedly for doing that. 

“It’s fine! It’s fine!” She laughed and slightly pushed him off of her “Don’t worry, I should’ve been paying attention.” 

“No, I should’ve been paying attention and realized it was you.” 

“Okay, let’s just say that we are both sorry and not sorry, ‘kay?” Aphmau compromised. 

Laurance pretended like he was intensely thinking before laughing and agreeing “Yeah that’s okay. Did I sleep in through the entire day?” 

Aphmau shrugged “I mean I think I slept in for most of the morning and then got woken up and now we’re here so I don’t think so?” 

Laurance laughed “That’s good, that’s good.” 

“How are you feeling?” Aphmau asked. 

“Meh.” 

“Is there any way that it can be better?” 

“Hmm…. Kiss me.” 

Aphmau slapped his arm “I hate you.” 

Laurance cackled out a laugh while Aphmau slowly started laughing with him. Sadly their wholesome moment together was quickly ruined by Nicole who told Aphmau that someone wanted to speak with her after the whole resurrecting thing, which Aphmau hadn’t told Laurance about yet, Aphmau agreed to talk to the person. Nicole said that Laurance could go into the dining hall and have whatever he wanted before Aphmau and her said goodbye to the man.

Nicole led Aphmau to another room in Nicole’s giant house to meet with a meif’wa refugee who seemed very young but also mature at the same time. They looked similar to Michi with the purple hair, purple cat ears, and tail, black tiger stripes, it slightly alarmed Aphmau. 

“Nǐ hǎo!” The meif’wa greeted “So you must be the woman who resurrected that dead child?” [hello] 

Aphmau stuttered “I mean… yes?” 

The meif’wa laughed “I mean that’s what you’re known for in my group-”

“I thought I said to those who witnessed the event to not mention anything to anyone?” Nicole asked. 

“I mean you did but you can’t always stop a few words from getting out of people’s mouths. Especially with what happened today.” The meif’wa turned their attention back to Aphmau “And with that extraordinary person being a meif’wa like my group you especially can’t stop talking from happening. Tell me, did you come to Scaleswind to seek refuge here from the tyrannical rule of the king of Havas?” 

“I’m actually not a real meif’wa.” Aphmau then explained her situation and how she got to be a meif’wa in the first place. 

“Um, does that meif’wa you speak of, Michi, have features like mine?” 

“Oh yeah she actually does, it’s actually frighteningly similar.” 

“Oh dear Lune, that must be my twin sister Michi.” They sucked in a breath “I had no idea she was still alive, I was certain she had died from a vicious dog fight but I guess not. I am so sorry for the pain and suffering that she has caused you and I understand how that might change your image of me but I hope you can understand that I am not like my sister in any sort.”

“I can tell you’re a nice person, I don’t think you would do something like that.” Aphmau smiled softly. 

“Thank you, my name is Mikai Hǎowán. I am the leader of a group of rebels and refugees. We come from the region of Tu’La - a region that has been under the rule of a tyrannical King. However, he is a King who used his words to sway people into believing they are not oppressed. He will work with villages promising riches and glory however all he does is use the villages for their resources until they are useless to him.” 

“Oh my Irene, I am so sorry. That sounds absolutely terrible, I’m glad you and your group are safe now.” Aphmau comforted the meif’wa. 

“Thank you, I have heard of an alliance that you are in or lead-in? The Phoenix Alliance.” The man asked. 

“Oh no, I don’t lead it whatsoever. That’s my friend Belladonna Luke who leads it, she is absolutely an amazing leader.” Aphmau corrected “But yes it is called the Phoenix Alliance.” 

“Ah okay, well I guess I will have to ask this Belladonna this question but I think it would be the best for my group if we joined said Phoenix Alliance. I understand that we are not a village but a group of people but will do our best to aid you in your time of need and I feel as if my people really need the help of an alliance right now.” Mikai asked, practically begged. 

“I uh…” Aphmau couldn’t just turn down these helpless people who probably had nothing to their name but like Mikai said, they weren’t a village. Aphmau wasn’t sure what Belladonna’s rules were right now with the whole alliance thing and whether or not single people could join but she would have to ask on that “I put in a good word for you.” 

The meif’wa smiled softly “Thank you, me and my people will try and find a way to get that curse off of you but I don’t know anything about curses so I don’t feel like I’ll be much help in that department. But thank you so much, truly-” 

“LADY NICOLE!” 

Aphmau and Nicole snapped their heads towards an out-of-breath guard who was running in their direction. 

“LADY NICOLE!” The guard repeated, “Those blasted demons are at our gates again and in bigger numbers.” 

Nicole didn’t waste a second to follow the guard out of the mansion at lighting speed. Aphmau yelled to the people in her group to come to the gates because she had a strange suspicion she knew what these ‘blasted demons’ were. The people who were at Aphmau’s side immediately as she ran were Aaron and Laurance while the others came a little later into Aphmau’s run towards the gate.

The people in the city seemed to be in a panic over what was happening at the gate. People were screaming, others were crying, but most of the ones that Aphmau saw were calm while running away. In the distance Aphmau could hear high pitched crying that reminded most of the group of the Shadow Souls that they had encountered when visiting New Meteli. Aphmau had been given a sword by Kitten right before they slid to where Nicole was standing in disbelief at the number of Shadow Souls behind the city’s gates. It didn’t have the same feeling that her last sword did but Aphmau couldn’t be picky right now. 

There were dozens, possibly hundreds of Shadow Souls screaming and crying to possess a body to use. They were straight out of a nightmare with their bright yellow eyes, blood dripping everywhere, the black haze that covered them like a veil, and the fact that they looked to be dripping oil. Aphmau’s stomach twisted when she almost looked one in the eyes. 

Kitten had gotten her claws out and along with Belladonna they were ready to bring out their magicks and start fighting, Katelyn and Aaron already had their designated weapons with his purple sword and her fire gauntlets, and Aphmau had her new sword which had a pretty little peach handkerchief tied to the handle. Laurance was the only one that didn’t have a weapon and he was the one that looked the most scared besides Nicole who looked as if she was in a PTSD-filled flashback. 

“Are you kidding me!?” 

“Why are there so many!?” 

“How often has this been happening!?” Aaron asked. 

“Well obviously enough to make them appear in this big of an army!” Belladonna snapped. 

Aphmau gasped “Mikai! Did you already bring the refugee’s in?” 

“We brought in a few but not all of them, I mean there were like three wagons filled with people!” Nicole yelled. 

“What if I…?” 

“You seriously can’t be thinking of turning.” Kitten said, “Are you kidding me?” 

“I mean it would help wouldn’t it?” 

The guards of Scaleswind were trying their best to shoot down the enemies and get the gate from breaking down from the force of the Shadow Souls. Others were escorting villagers away from the gates but most of them were gone anyway. 

“No, it would not help whatsoever! You’re only going to get yourself killed!” Kitten answered.

“You don’t know that. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Laurance shrugged. 

“If whatever you’re gonna do is going to weaken this group of demons then please do it!” Nicole interrupted the conversation. 

“Laurance don’t,” Kitten advised. 

Laurance looked at Kitten one last time before turning his attention to the gate. He closed his eyes and concentrated on turning into a Shadow Knight, he was taking long-drawn-out breaths through his nose and out his mouth. The group watched in amazement as his body slowly changed, he got taller, he got buffer, red and black Shadow Knight armor slowly formed around his body, and the energy around him and that emitted off of him was just sickening and dark. After he was finally transformed he was breathing heavily and seemed like if he was pushed the wrong way he would kill everyone. He was just imitating a very intimidating aura that seemed to make even Aaron a little uncomfortable. 

Laurance instructed the guards to open the gate and with the extra approval of Nicole, the guards opened the large gate. 

Laurance and Aphmau were the first ones out to the fight, then Katelyn and Aaron, and then Kitten and Belladonna who were mostly the backup defenses. Nicole was also helping and Aphmau was very impressed with her fighting skills with her fist.

Every time Aphmau sliced through a Shadow Soul they screamed and exploded into a cloud of dust, Aphmau’s ears were definitely bleeding by how much screaming and crying there was in such a small area. The sword that Aphmau was using was lightweight and easy to use so her arms didn’t get as tired as they usually would with her old sword but then again she would have to use her old sword a lot for her arms to get tired but still she was a little glad that she wasn’t using such a heavy sword. She hadn’t fought in a very long time so it was nice to use her body in this way again, she remembered being all angelic when she was fighting in the war before the time jump so it was nice to feel like that again even if she wasn’t using her powers. It wasn’t until half of the Shadow Knights were through when everything went south. 

Out of nowhere there was a scream louder than any other scream Aphmau, or anyone in her group, had heard during this battle. Everyone snapped their heads towards the sound, Laurance’s face was held between two ghostly Shadow Souls hands. His helmet seemed to be ripped off his head and was bleeding profusely, his eyes that were usually a dark red were now a bright glowing red. The Shadow Souls hands were seething into the man’s skin like hot metal to snow but Laurance wasn’t even making a noise, he was so hypnotized in the Shadow Soul’s eyes. Everything seemed to freeze. Everyone stood in awe and fear as the Shadow Soul released its hands from the Shadow Knight’s face, Laurance slowly stood up straight and turned around to face Kitten, he took a deep breath before kicking the meif’wa so hard she crashed against the Scaleswind walls. Everyone gasped and immediately went and started attacking the Shadow Knight to detain him. Belladonna and Aaron were the ones to take down Laurance the most but Aarron was the one to deliver the final blow that knocked the man out and caused some serious injuries. The most obvious wound was one wrapped around the man’s left shoulder. 

Aphmau just stood in shock as she watched Laurance bleed out in front of her; it was only when Katelyn snatched her away from a potential Shadow Soul attack when she came back to reality and started helping. Aphmau grabbed the man’s legs, Aaron grabbed the man’s arms, and Belladonna was the one to start patching the man up. Katelyn slid over and threw Kitten over her shoulder as everyone ran back inside the gates to let Nicole and her guards finish the Shadow Souls off. 

They brought Laurance to the nearest hospital since they couldn’t waste time bringing him back to Nicole’s. They set Laurance up in a hospital room and because Kitten wasn’t too injured she just got an ice pack for her back which Katelyn helped her use. Laurance transformed back into the old regular Laurance once they entered the hospital as he meant to, they didn’t explain much to the doctors other than that their friend was hurt because it wouldn’t look too good if the guy that injured him was also standing right next to him. Laurance had burned handprint marks on the sides of his face from the Shadow Soul that didn’t look like they were going away anytime soon, they slightly resembled Aphmau’s burn marks on the right side of her body… slightly. They were darker than Laurance’s normal tan skin and looked like dried melted taffy which was a terrifying thing to imagine. Aphmau, Aaron, and Belladonna were escorted out of the room so the doctors could do their job. 

Aphmau laid on the hospital floor with Kitten who was laying on her stomach while everyone else either stood or sat down in a chair provided to them. 

Aphmau dragged her hands down her face and groaned “What did you do to him?” She asked Aaron. 

He shrugged “I slashed him, enough to draw him back obviously, well… I thought it would be enough to trigger his defense reflexes but he didn’t even move, nor flinched for that matter. Which is concerning.” 

“Well, there’s also the other concerning bit that he just… betrayed all of us for a quick second there.” Katelyn added, “I mean look at poor Kitten.” 

“Oh yeah how are you feeling there?” Belladonna crouched down. 

“My back feels broken.” Kitten groaned. 

Belladonna cringed and just rubbed the ice back on the meif’wa back more. 

“Back on track, Laurance was obviously going to kill all of us if I didn’t do this whether or not you like it. You, especially, were an easy target for him to kill you as he serves as a Lord.” Aaron explained like a parent telling off a child “Laurance was no longer there in that body.” 

“Laurance would never hurt me.” Aphmau didn’t bother to look at the blindfolded man, she kept her eyes on the white ceiling ahead of her. 

“Yeah maybe your Laurance would never hurt you but that wasn’t your Laurance.” Aaron told off “You are allowing your love for him to cloud your already terrible judgment of that man. Are you so selfish to say that you would rather Laurance strike you down than for me to interfere - even if it means killing him?” 

“I never said that!” Aphmau shot up “Also the only way he could get killed is if you killed him.” 

“Aph, I…. ” Belladonna entered into the conversation “That wasn’t Laurance and you know that. Like Aaron said your Laurance was no longer there. If you let Laurance kill you your Laurance would die and the new and approved Shadow Knight Laurance would take his place.” 

“He would probably kill himself knowing he killed you in a blind rage,” Aaron added. 

Aphmau just laid back down “I don’t want him hurt.” 

“Gods you are so fucking stupid,” Aaron muttered and walked away. 

“Aph, you need to think of not yourself but the people around you. I can’t do this job as an alliance leader if you aren’t there to help me even if it’s just standing next to me while I present a speech okay? You have two sons who would probably drop everything they're working on once they find out you’re dead. You have Emmalyn and Kenmur who would probably die knowing that the potential new body of Irene died.” Belladonna explained. 

“I know it’s just…. Why did he have to be so harsh.” 

“From what he said I don’t think he meant to. He probably thought Laurance was going to fight back so he went way harder than he should’ve, I don’t think he purposefully meant to hurt Laurance.” 

“Why does it have to be like this?” 

Belladonna shrugged “Life is cruel in its ways.” 

“Did you know?” Aphmau whispered. 

Belladonna shook her head “I didn’t know this was going to happen.” She whispered back.

Aphmau turned her head towards Kitten “Did you know?” 

Kitten flipped her head towards Aphmau “Possibly.” 

“I hate you.” 

“I know.” 

A doctor came out of Laurance’s room after around twenty minutes of radio silence. The group had split off with Katelyn, Kitten, and Aphmau staying behind and Aaron and Belladonna leaving the building to go help Nicole who entered the hospital right before the doctor came out of the room. The doctors said that Laurance had woken up and requested the appearance of an ‘Aphmau’ to his room, Aphmau stood up and the doctor invited her inside. 

Inside the hospital room Laurance laid in a bed with stitches all over his arms and a massive gauze over his left shoulder, he had what the doctor’s called an ‘IV bag’ attached from a tube coming out of the middle of his left arm and was wearing new clothes that the doctors called a ‘hospital gown’.  When he spotted Aphmau he softly smiled and tried to sit up but fell back down into the bed. 

Aphmau went over and sat in a chair next to the bed, holding Laurance’s hand as the doctor that invited Aphmau in, left the room. 

“Do you remember anything that happened?” She asked. 

“Not really, everything’s a little foggy.” 

“Oh okay, well do you remember the Shadow Souls?” 

He nodded “I remember everything before I guess I turned into a Shadow Knight.”

Aphmau explained from after Laurance turned, and up to where they were now. Laurance’s face was emotionless while he listened. 

“So… Kitten and everyone that I hurt are okay?” He asked. 

“Yeah, you didn’t really hurt anyone majorly besides Kitten though. Belladonna and Aaron might be a bit bruised but I wouldn’t know.” 

“But they're okay?” 

“Yeah, they’re fine.” 

“So is that terrible pain in my shoulder from Aaron or Belladonna?” He laughed.

Aphmau laughed as well “I’m pretty sure it was Aaron, does it feel bad bad ?” 

He nodded. Aphmau wanted to believe that she still had her pre-Irene relic powers so she softly placed her hand on Laurance’s shoulder and concentrated on calming him down, numbing the pain, possibly taking the pain away from him. 

“Is this like something from your Irene powers?” 

Aphmau shook her head “I’ve had this power for a while now. It’s been a secret thing to me and three other people.” 

“Like how long?” 

“A little while after you turned into a Shadow Knight I’m pretty sure. I had woken up with these marks all on me.” She motioned her head towards her marks “And I’ve just had powers like making people sleep and calm down and feel their emotions and stuff like that since then.” She pulled her hand away from the man’s shoulder and his eyes were dilated now and looked tired. 

He went quiet “So I guess I was being a little cocky with my transformation huh? I shouldn’t have allowed myself to feel that confident in myself.” Laurance averted eye contact. 

“I mean feeling confident is a good thing right?” 

“Yeah but I got cocky and probably almost got everyone killed. By turning into a Shadow Knight I was fueling my own anger and a Shadow Knight’s anger can fuel Shadow Souls which led to one of them kinda taking over my body and then I guess I betrayed you guys.”

“Well then don’t turn into a Shadow Knight, voluntarily then?” Aphmau didn’t know how to respond to him “I’m just saying last time from what I know you didn’t mean to turn into a Shadow Knight but your anger did make you turn but this time you turned not your anger.”

“Yeah, that would be a smart thing to do.” He huffed out a laugh. 

“I know that I can’t be the savior of everyone and this might sound selfish, but I don’t want to be the savior of everyone but I want you to be safe. I want to be there for you and make sure you’re okay, I don’t want to be the one to save you from these moments and I’m glad I’m not but I do want you to get better at controlling your emotions whether that be therapy or-” Aphmau was cut off by Laurance’s soft lips touching her forehead and then pulling away seconds later. 

“You were getting panicky.” 

“You didn’t have to kiss me though.” Her face was getting hot. 

“I know, I kinda just wanted to.” He carefully put a piece of hair in Aphmau’s face behind her hair “Don’t worry about me, I know you want to but I don’t want you to worry for me okay? I’m gonna be fine even if I don’t say anything just know that I’m gonna be fine.” 

“Promise?” She held out her pinky. 

He hung his head and laughed before interlocking his pinky with her’s “Promise.” They both dropped their hands but Laurance also dropped down in the bed once again.

“ ‘Kay, I don’t want you to push yourself so I’m gonna leave you so you can rest.” 

He nodded “Go, go, I don’t want to keep your obviously more important matters waiting.” 

She rolled her eyes as she stood up “You’re stupid.” 

“You’re short.” 

“Below the belt.” She gasped. 

“You’re below me!” He laughed and flipped her off. 

She gagged at him and walked out of the room to meet face to face with the hijabi Nicole. She gasped and backed up against the door in fear, hitting her head. 

“MOTHER OF IRENE NICOLE!” She yelled, “YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO SOMEONE!” 

Nicole laughed and backed away, Kitten and Katelyn were still on the floor of the hospital. Even though it had been fifteen long years Nicole still wore her bright red hijab and for some reason that made Aphmau feel really nice inside. Aphmau had assumed that the Shadow Souls had been taken care of so she didn’t feel the need to ask. 

“Hey just so you know, don’t hold back from anything okay? Don’t make excuses to not do something and don’t wait, because one day you’re gonna find out that the one you made wait moved on and you’re going to question every day why’d you make them wait.” 

“What are you…?” 

“The way he looks at you and touches you. He’s obviously in love with you.” She pointed at the door behind Aphmau.

Aphmau looked back into the glass window in the door, Laurance was sleeping peacefully. She turned back “I knew that already, I just have a lot on my plate right now.” 

“Understandable!” Nicole smiled brightly and quickly wiped her eyes which Aphmau didn’t even notice as teary “Now, somehow, under weird circumstances, we have found nothing on whatever is going on with your meif’wa curse.” 

“What!? How? Scaleswind is so big, how is there nothing on what’s up with us?” 

Nicole shrugged “From what we’ve found there’s nothing, I mean we’ve collected some books obviously that seem close to what you have but it’s always off by like one thing.” 

Aphmau groaned and dragged her hands down her face “What about Irene stuff and Hell stuff, things about the Shadow Lord, do you have anything about that?” 

“Oh yeah, we have a whole stack of books for you when you guys are ready to leave.” 

“That’s good, also I don’t want to push anything but we may need a boat because Kitten and Belladonna never said where they last put the boat,” Aphmau asked awkwardly.

“That’s fine! I’ll send a few sailors out with you so if you do find your boat you can take that one and the sailors can take that ship back to us!” Nicole clapped her hands “But before that whole ordeal I need to show you something!” Nicole snatched Aphmau’s hand and dragged her out of the hospital, not letting her have time to say goodbye to Kitten or Katelyn. 

Aphmau was thrown outside of the building by Nicole and then almost brought down by someone hugging her and screaming their head off. Aphmau had to balance herself to make sure she didn’t fall but she knew that her ears were most definitely bleeding from how high-pitched the screaming was, they were jumping up and down as well so everything was like she was on a different planet from how fast things were going. The person pulled back and Aphmau finally got a good look at the person who had attacked her. 

“Kiki!?” Aphmau gasped. 

The woman squealed and jumped up and down in a circle, she was so energetic and radiated such happy energy that the world seemed brighter where she stood. Her red hair was in a long french braid with a bow at the end, she was wearing an adorable long peachy dress with a white button-up shirt underneath. She had forgotten how even though Brenden was black, his and Kiki’s Asian features matched up perfectly making them look almost identical. 

The woman was crying “Me and Leona got back from our trip a little while ago and Nicole said that you were here and I saw you and I just- AHHHHHH!!” She squealed once more in happiness. 

Aphmau hugged the woman once again to make sure that she wasn’t having a fever dream of some sort and this was actually happening “I’ve missed you so much!! How are you doing?” 

“Oh, I’ve been doing great! Nicole kinda gave me a summary of why you went missing for those fifteen years so I’m not gonna bother you with asking that question!” She laughed ‘Ki-ki-ki’, it almost transported Aphmau back all the way to when she met the woman and had told her that was her nickname because of her ‘ki-ki-ki’ laugh. “I still can’t believe you look the same, like the same.” 

Aphmau laughed “Yeah, magick is a funny thing.” She could feel tears start to come out of her eyes. 

KIki gasped and clapped her hands “Speaking of aging, I want you to meet someone!” She squealed “Leona! Qua đây một chút được không?” she said while turning her head to Aphmau to face a little girl far in the back next to a store. [Can you come over here for a bit?]

A girl with long black hair in a ponytail, pale-pinkish skin, and grey bird wings twice the size of the little girl’s body turned her head towards the woman “Gì?! Tôi đang làm gì đó!” [What?! I'm doing something!]

“Qua đây!” Kiki snapped. [Come here!]

The girl rolled her eyes and looked like she was about to roll into a ball before proceeding to turn into a small little blackbird and flew over to Aphmau and Kiki. Once she got to her destination she rolled forward once more and turned back into the long black-haired girl. Aphmau stood in shock at the whole presentation. 

“What was that?” Aphmau stammered, struggling to get even a word out of her mouth.

Kiki giggled “This is Leona Nguyen, she is a Người Avian, also known as an Avian human. She basically part bird part human and can turn whatever body part she wants into a bird but she’s still working on doing separate body parts right now.” 

“Wait so… this is Leona, like the Leona born from a pendant Leona?” Aphmau asked with a slight smile. 

Kiki nodded “She’s my little girl!” Kiki turned to Leona “You probably don’t remember Aphmau but she used to be mommy’s friend when you were a baby!” 

Leona held her hand out “It’s so nice to meet you! Kiki talks to the sun and moon of you!” She was smiling gleefully, she had a cleft lip that made them part of her lip under her left nostril point upwards unnaturally. 

“Oh well, you are so pretty.” She reminded Aphmau so much of Zane it was insane, disgusting almost. She really wanted to punch this girl’s face because of how she looked which was terrible . “I’m so glad I get to meet an older Leona!” 

Leona laughed, she had her mother’s laugh “You are very pretty as well! I love your hair!” 

“Aw, thank you.” 

“I hate to cut introductions short, I really do, but Leona could you go to the carriage and make sure that the animals make it to the barn safely? I’ll come to join you after I’m done talking to Aphmau okay?” 

“Yeah, that’s cool!” Leona smiled. 

“Oh and don’t squawk at the animals, last time you did that you scared the chicken half to death.” 

“Pfft, I’ll try my hardest not to.” She laughed as she skipped away. 

“Leona!” Kiki yelled but her efforts were useless “Dear Menphia that girl is something else.” She huffed out a laugh. 

Aphmau laughed as well “I’m still in shock over her being an… what’s it called?”

“Người Avian”

“Người Avian?” Aphmau pronounced it slightly wrong. 

“Close enough.” Kiki giggled. 

“I didn’t even know those existed. I’ve only known of meif’wa, werewolves, and kharagosas.” 

“Oh yeah I didn’t know what was up with her either. She started ‘transforming’ when she was really young and I took her to the doctor to see if something was wrong. Turns out the reason why people don’t know about Người Avian is that they are super rare, You’ll only find them in designated spots for them and usually, there are very few because of their rarity people want to ya know… ” she made a slicing motion across her throat. 

“Oh no, but she’s safe being in such a crowded area?” Aphmau asked, “Aren’t you afraid that someone might catch her or something?” 

“Of course, I’m always afraid of that but I can’t let that hold back my baby girl from having what’s considered a ‘normal’ childhood. I mean There’s always a potential chance that you might get kidnapped but that doesn’t stop you from coming out to Scaleswind does it?” 

Aphmau shook her head “I guess you’re right. Wow, you must be like the luckiest person in the world.” She laughed “I mean not only do you have a daughter born from a super old relic pendant thing but she’s also a Người Avian, I mean that’s like insane.” 

“I know right! It’s just so crazy everytime I think about it and I thank the gods all the time for her. Gods I just love her so much!” She giggled. 

Aphmau’s heart melted “Now, I know you might not want to answer this but have you found out who the father is yet? I mean with the whole female blood male blood thing what do you think?” 

Kiki’s mood turned a little sad, she shrugged “I don’t know truthfully, I know you’re probably gonna yell at me but I hope that the father’s Zane. I know you think he’s a bad person-” 

“Kiki, he is a bad person.” 

She acted like Aphmau had never said anything “I know you think he’s a bad person but I really do hope that he’s Leona’s father, but I know that I’ll never truly know.” 

“I don’t understand how you can’t see that he’s a bad person. I mean he could literally murder someone in front of you and you would still think that he’s done nothing wrong.” 

Kiki shrugged “I know my Zane, he’s not a bad guy.” 

Aphmau wanted to scream at Kiki so loud and tell her that ‘her’ Zane was currently fighting his brother in the Irene dimension after trying to consume a relic and possibly be a god. She took a deep breath and decided against that though “I’m not arguing with this because I know we’ll get nowhere so… I’m happy to see you Kiki.” 

The woman smiled “I’m happy to see you as well.” She turned her head to find something before turning back to Aphmau “Now I would love to stay and talk more but I have animals to attend to. I’ll come by Nicole’s later tonight and we can have the best dinner you’ve ever had.” 

“Oh bet, I’ll see if your famous cakes live up to their reputation.” 

Kiki giggled “Oh they’ll live up to their reputation all right. Love you Aphmau Tạm biệt!” She waved goodbye and ran off, saying goodbye to Nicole as well. [Goodbye!] 

Aphmau waved goodbye to the woman and stayed in her spot until she could only see Kiki as a tiny spec in the large city that was Scaleswind. Nicole came up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

Aphmau turned her head to look at the woman before turning her head to look back at where Kiki was “I hope she’s doing good.”

“Oh, she’s great.” Nicole smiled “Great kisser.” 

“What!?” 

Nicole burst out laughing, she held her stomach in pain as she almost fell over from how hard she was laughing. Aphmau slapped the woman’s arm and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms in annoyance. 

“I hate you so much.” Aphmau pouted. 

Nicole snorted “I know.” 

Aphmau rolled her as when Nicole began composing herself. She wiped her eyes dry of tears and stood up straight while laughing softly still. She turned to Aphmau once she was finally calmed down and not dying from laughter. 

  “So, what are your plans now that most of the stuff that you came over here for is accomplished? I mean you got Irene books and got us on your alliance, I’m pretty sure you set out for nothing more.” 

Aphmau nodded “I don’t know what I want to do exactly, I’m thinking of going back to Phoenix Drop but I’m not sure I should.” 

“Hey, if you decided to leave just know that there’s a lovely ship waiting for you to go to Phoenix Drop, okay?” Nicole rubbed the woman’s shoulder. 

Aphmau nodded “Okay, I don’t want to keep you guys waiting so I’ll probably think about it later tonight or early tomorrow” 

“Don’t sweat it, girl! Also please dear god, do not tell my son about going to Phoenix Drop.” Nicole laughed and rubbed her hands together. 

“Why not?” 

“Just… just don’t.” 

Aphmau snapped her fingers “Gotcha!”

Sadly Dmitri did end up finding out because when Aphmau was talking about it to Belladonna and Kitten Dmitri overheard and brought it up over dinner resulting in a chase between Nicole and Dmitri. 

Nothing else happened that night besides dinner with Kiki and Leona, she got a few side glances from Nicole when she was talking to Laurance but she brushed them aside and everything was good. She hoped to see Garroth that night but she was still unsure of what these trips meant, where they truly random, or was so subconsciously controlling her visits so she could see Garroth when she was having a tough time. She didn’t think she was having a tough time right now, maybe with her self-consciousness of going back to Phoenix Drop, her relationship with Laurance, her powers, the whole werewolf situation… maybe she was going through a tough time. It was really hard for her to sleep that night, ever since the wedding her sleeping schedule had been all messed up, the nightmares and flashbacks to that night made Aphmau’s skin crawl. There was so much blood, so many body parts, organs, bones, just… Laurance he… he was so terrifying and in that moment Aphmau generally thought that she was going to die. Sometimes she had dreams where she was in the King’s position and she was the one dying, the one getting her head split open, the one who fell down the balcony onto the cold grass under the night sky. She genuinely wishes sometimes that she didn’t kiss Laurance, that in reality only made things so much worse for her… it was really a spur of the moment type thing, she just wanted him to not kill himself and the only thing she could think of was reassuring him that she loved him but… was that really the right thing to do? Maybe it was the hysteria of the moment, maybe that’s why she kissed him… the hysteria. 

She struggled to be near or to talk to Laurance after the wedding, yeah she did joke with him but she still didn’t feel entirely safe with him… was that wrong? Did it felt wrong? It felt mean, rude like she was discriminating against him just because he was a Shadow Knight. Why did it feel wrong for her to feel this way?   

While she was brushing her teeth the next morning she had made up her mind, it pained her and made her feel unreliable but she decided that they were going back to Phoenix Drop. She backed her decision up with that their main reason for heading to Scaleswind was to find information on Irene and the Shadow Lord, they got that, also Aphmau seriously did not want to be a meifwa forever and if Scaleswind, the biggest village ever, didn’t have anything that could help them then there might be a very small chance that Phoenix Drop had something to help them. And Nicole did say that they found some books relating to their curse but nothing exactly so maybe someone at Phoenix Drop could help with that. They also got new people in their alliance with Scaleswind being one and the Mikai’s group being the other, Belladonna did accept Mikai’s group into the alliance which Aphmau was very happy to hear about after she told the kharagosa about them to ‘put in a good word’.  She told Nicole about her plan to leave and Nicole answered that she'll have everything ready in a few hours, Aphmau then told everyone else about it and then hung out with Kiki for the rest of the day. 

Kiki stood in front of a door leading to her backyard “Are you ready to see them?” 

Aphmau’s heart was beating faster with anxiety “What if they don’t like me?” 

“Of course they’re gonna like you!” Kiki whined, “I mean they’re parents liked you why wouldn’t they?” 

Aphmau bit her lip but clapped her hands to hype herself and up “Okay whatever, let’s do this!” 

Kiki squealed “That’s my girl!” Kiki opened the glass door and Aphmau walked out, her heart was overwhelmed by the amount of cuteness there was in a single backyard. There were about a dozen puppies, all different breeds that barely resemble Aphmau’s old dogs. There were beagle mixes, St. Bernard mixes, dalmatian mixes, and corgi mixes. Aphmau sat down in the grass and let the puppies come to her, Kiki followed in suit. They played around in the puppies for a bit before Kiki explained all the dog mixes. 

Kiki as a St. Bernard mix and a dalmatian mix on her while she laid down in the grass “Let me give you the rundown by the way since there are so many.” She took a quick breath “The Dalmatians are descendants of Jiggy’s, the Begals are Phoenix and the St. Bernards are Puma’s, and the Corgis are Thorgi’s!” 

Aphmau gasped “No way! That's so convenient!” Aphmau laughed.

“I know right! I didn’t even plan it for it to be that way but Thorgi just ended up liking a stray corgi and it was a match made in heaven.” She giggled. 

“Yeah, no shit! I still find it really funny that Thorgi isn’t even a corgi but a domestic wolf just named Thorgi.” She raked her hands through her hair “Gods that’s funny how he ended up with a corgi.”   

Kiki giggled but her mood quickly dropped and sat up, moving the puppies off of her “Uh… speaking of Thorgi I feel like you should see him.” 

Aphmau’s eyes snapped wide “He’s alive!? How?” 

Kiki shrugged as Aphmau sat up and took the puppies off of her “He’s just been pulling through. Do you want to go see him?” 

“Of course I want to go see him!” Aphmau answered and shot up, pulling Kiki up and motioning her to walk forward so she could follow her to wherever Thorgi was. Kiki explained that he has changed a bit since Aphmau left and that he was very fragile so Aphmau had to be careful with him.

Aphmau followed Kiki up the stairs of her house, walking down the second floor before walking up to another staircase into what Aphmau assumed was an attic. There, in the right corner of the attic, was an old gray and white wolf with a purple collar. Aphmau almost broke down when she spotted him, he looked so fragile like he was glass and if Aphmau handled him wrong he would crack into a million pieces. She lowered herself as she got closer to the wolf, she crawled over the dog and moved his head onto her lap as she pressed her back against the wall. Kiki stood there with a soft smile and glossy eyes. Thorgi had a soft smile on his face, his eyes were bright and happy and even though he looked so depressing his eyes seemed so happy to see Aphmau. Aphmau whispered loving words to Thorgi as tears started coming down her cheeks. 

“Do you want me to leave?” Kiki asked. 

Aphmau ignored Kiki as she continued petting her dog, his life was being held on by a thread and Aphmau knew that he would be leaving this mortal plane very soon. She knew the best thing to do, as she raked her hands softly through Thorig’s fur she concentrated on making him really calm… very calm. His heartbeat was slowing down under Aphmau’s hand, even though she knew this was the best option for him it didn’t stop the tears or her heartbreaking even more. Once the light in his eyes began to leave Aphmau to let her hands stop and leaned down to hug the dog carefully, his heart slowed down to a stop as his fur got soaked in tears. Kiki watched the scene unfold and was crying with Aphmau, when Aphmau looked up at Kiki the redhead went over to the woman and hugged her tightly for comfort. 

Once Aphmau’s sobbing had calmed down a bit she slowly moved Thorig’s head off her lap with the help of Kiki, Kiki wrapped the dog in the blanket that it was already in and escorted Aphmau out of the attic and into the second floor. Without the help of Aphmau, Kiki brought Thorig’s body down from the attic and with Aphmau following behind her she brought the body down to her backyard. She continued walking with the dead body until she reached the edge of the woods behind Kiki’s house where a row of gravestones laid. They were the rest of Aphmau’s dogs, Cookie, Phoenix, Jiggy, Puma, … and now Thorgi. Kiki laid the covered body down next to Puma’s grave and turned to Aphmau to tell her that she could pay her respects and that she would get the gravestone ready as soon as she could. 

The woman went over to the grave, she took a deep breath before paying her respects to the dead body. She turned around before she started crying again and the two of them walked back into Kiki’s house. Aphmau sat at Kiki’s living room couch while she went and got tea, Kitten stopped by to tell Aphmau that Nicole got everything ready and they were leaving in an hour before quickly leaving. Kiki came back with a tray of tea and made Aphmau a cup for her to drink her worries away. 

“I didn’t think he was going to pass in your arms. I’m so sorry.”  Kiki apologized.

“Don’t be, I… it’s fine.” Aphmau didn’t want to say she was the reason he passed “I’m glad I saw him.” 

Kiki nodded before something caught her eye and a small smile came to her lips. She stood up from the table and moved a few feet forward before coming back with an almost adult Corgi Wolf mix  in her hands “I don’t know if this will cheer you up but, this is Dua. She’s the oldest out of her little and was a major daddy’s girl to Thorgi. You can keep her if you like.” Kiki offered her to Aphmau. 

Aphmau put her teacup down and put her arms out to hold Dua, she was so soft and sweet to Aphmau. Her eyes were full of love and the way she snuggled up to Aphmau made the woman’s heart melt. 

“It looks like she likes you.” 

Aphmau laughed and started petting the dog “You’re allowing me to keep her?” 

Kiki nodded. 

Aphmau looked down at the dog then back up at Kiki, she hoped that if she did keep Dua that she would get along with Amada. Aphmau shrugged “Sure why not.” She smiled. 

Kiki clapped her hands in cheeriness “She likes you! It looks like the circle of life goes on!” She sighed softly “I’m glad you’re alive, for a really long time I was almost positive you had died.” 

Aphmau nodded “I would’ve assumed that…. Why did you move to Scaleswind? I remember the old Lord of Scaleswind saying that my villagers could move there while they repaired the village… is that what you did?” 

Kiki shook her head “Things just started to feel like they were crumbling around me. I wanted Leona to be safe, even more so after I found out she was a Người Avian! After Leona’s second birthday I decided to go take up Lord Borya’s offer to live here. Lucinda said it would be a better place for me to raise her as well. I’m sorry, I hope you don’t think I abandoned everyone… I just needed to do what I felt was best for Leona and my animals.” 

“I don’t think that you abandoned anyone, you’re fine. I think a lot of people would’ve done the same thing if they were in your position. But I do want to ask about Lucinda, what’s up with her?” 

Kiki shrugged as she took a sip of her tea “She came to visit me a few years ago to see how Leona and I were doing but I haven’t seen her since then…. Nor has Nicole for that matter… I’m really worried about her but then again she has always been able to take care of herself. I’ve gone a few years without seeing her and then she suddenly pops up out of the blue! She’s an odd one, but she’s such a wonderful person.” 

“She really was, I miss her a lot.” Aphmau looked up at the clock in Kiki’s house “Hey do you have a leash for Dua? I think I should get going to the docks, which I need directions to, because Kitten came in earlier and said that we were going to be leaving.” 

“Oh yeah of course!” Kiki downed the rest of her tea before getting up and running to go get Aphmau a white leash and collar. Aphmau let Dua off of her lap and stood up, downing the rest of her tea to go meet Kiki in the middle with the leash and collar. 

After getting her the leash and collar Kiki went and called over for her daughter to go show Aphmau where the docks were since she had some business to attend to and couldn’t go show Aphmau herself. Aphmau put the collar around Dua’s neck and attached the leash to it before hugging Kiki goodbye and thanking her for such a good time, Kiki gave her a goodbye muffin and sent the pair off. Leona walked by Aphmau’s side as she directed her towards the docks through the large city of Scaleswind, while walking through Scaleswind Leona dropped some heavy news on Aphmau. 

“Hey, not to scare you or anything but… you and your friends are kinda… wanted?” 

Aphmau choked on her own spit “Excuse me? What!?” She stammered. 

“Yeah uh… a lot of creatures of talking about how the Regra poderosa tribe’s king was murder and his son, a Prince named Fenrir, has become the new King and he’s… he’s very angry. He’s looking for people that look a lot like you and your friends.” 

“But how? Fenrir was totally on my side the entire time, I mean he even agreed that his father was a major jackwagon!” Aphmau groaned in frustration. 

Leona held back a soft laugh about the insult of Fenrir “Yeah, I mean I guess you guys did in a sense totally murder his dad in the most horrific way possible so I can see why he would be mad. Uh, but also werewolves have always had tempers that they can’t always control so that might be another reason he totally wants your guys’ heads.” Leona dug for something in her pocket, taking out a small burlap pouch “I wanted to give this to you earlier but I didn’t know where to bring this whole situation up but this is Chili powder, wolfs and animals like that absolutely hate anything chili related because it fucks with their senses and stuff. Just carry those around you and you should be fine.” 

Leona handed Aphmau the pouch for Aphmau to stuff in her pocket since her bag was with her friends. “Thank you, Leona, that’s very kind of you. Hopefully, I don’t come in contact with any pirate werewolves but if I do, I’ll have this.” 

The Người Avian laughed “Eh, you never know. Ru’aun is a very strange place, but if you ever come back to Scaleswind I bet the search for you and your friend will not be off so while you're in Scaleswind I suggest keeping that on your person at all times.” 

“Will do, and do I just open the bag and they smell and like… die?” 

Leona laughed once more, she was a very laughable girl “Yeah kinda, just open the pouch and they’ll like totally back away from you giving you time to either fight them off or run.”

Aphmau nodded and they presumed normal conversation as they made their way towards the docks. Aphmau hoped that during their possibly two-week-long trip she could see Garroth, she missed him and hoped he was doing all right. The fact that Garroth even thought of siding with Zane still itched her brain in a way she couldn’t understand, she wanted to ask him about it but she worried it would bring up some bad memories… she wondered how in love someone would have to be for when their heart is broken they completely betray the person they loved. She knew Garroth regretted it deeply and understood that even if she did fall in love with another person that doesn’t he should go on a rampage but she still wanted him to apologize and actually genuinely apologize with no excuses no reasoning… just wanted him to say sorry. Sorry for completely fucking them over, and she knew that the sole reason for betraying Aphmau wasn’t because she had broken his heart… she hoped that wasn’t the sole reason. 

She was so lost in thought she didn’t even realize that Leona had guided Aphmau all the way to the docks where she could see all her friends in the distance on a boat with Nicole talking to them from the docks. Aphmau thanked Leona for the amazing trip and waved goodbye as the girl transformed into a blackbird and flew away. Aphmau stood in awe for a second but shook it off quickly and went to go meet with her friends. 

Laurance was nowhere to be seen but Nicole promised that he was on the ship, Belladonna and Kitten were messing around and fighting each other, and Aaron was complaining to Katelyn how his trip over here was practically useless and all he did was fuck Laurance up, they were also playing with Amada. 

“You know you’re always welcomed back here, I’d love for things to be as they once were again but my duty remains here with my people. I am their Lord after all.” Nicole said as Aphmau guided Dua into the ship. 

“I get it, I don’t care.” Aphmau brushed it off “You’re fine okay, I’m just glad I got to see you.” 

Nicole smiled sincerely “I’ll come to visit you whenever I can… outside of Phoenix Drop. Oh! Maybe I can get in touch with Cadenza and we can meet in New Meteli for a big sleepover or something!” She laughed “Menphia knows that girl is head over heels with sleepovers.” 

“That’d be nice! I haven’t seen Cadenza in a while and how we left off wasn’t exactly as… formal as I wanted it to be.” 

Nicole snapped her fingers “I’ll have it arranged then, once I find out when we can do it I’ll send you a message.” She clapped her hands “Now I’ve loaded up the boat with all the supplies you’ll need and all the crew you’ll need so you guys can survive a possible two week trip. I also put a few things in a basket that I think you’ll like.” 

“Awww, thank you, Nicole. If you went overboard with anything I’m coming back here and killing you.” Aphmau threatened. 

Nicole barked out a laugh and adjusted her red hijab “I didn’t… I hope I didn’t.” She cringed “But anyways, safe travels to everyone in your group and tell Laurance thank you for the gift from the guard in Phoenix Drop even though I do not need it.” 

Aphmau raised her eyebrow in confusion but Nicole just held her hand up. 

“Don’t ask.” 

“Gotcha.”
 

“Now leave, leave! I’m sure you have a long trip ahead of you.” 

“Please don’t jinx us,” Aphmau whined as she got on the ship and waved goodbye to Nicole. Once she got on the ship everyone yelled and waved goodbye to Nicole and the city of Scaleswind before the captain of the ship sailed off for Phoenix Drop. They were hoping to find their other ship somewhere near that crazy cat island but if they didn’t they would’ve just lost a boat because everyone was pretty sure they weren’t going to be able to keep this one. 

Luckily it wasn’t a two-week-long trip but it was a week-long trip and a half which was actually worse . Laurance and her didn’t talk much for the trip and she didn’t sleep a lot during the trip for multiple reasons, the nightmares, the ship rocking, the sounds of the waves hitting against the boat making her slightly paranoid of everything, and the fact that she was sleeping right next to Laurance and it was making her again, slightly paranoid. When digging through the things that Nicole had given them Aphmau had found the basket Nicole was talking about, inside was a very cold and small box that had chocolate strawberries in it and a note that read: “For you and Laurance to enjoy.” She didn’t eat the chocolate strawberries with Laurance but she did eat them by herself. As she ate the strawberries she kept seeing flashes of the wedding night, of Laurance, it was just a loop at this point that was forever stuck in her head with slightly different variations. Sometimes she was in the King’s position, others she was in Laurance’s position, but most of the time it was just a repeat of that night. She never said anything but sometimes she would look in a mirror or look down at herself and just see blood splatters all over her body from that night. She cursed at herself when she remembered the kiss, she justified it by saying she wanted to show him she couldn’t risk him dying… she didn’t want him to die, but the kiss wasn’t appropriate at all. Maybe if she got a redo of that night she would’ve just hugged him because she didn’t want him to feel bad about killing the King but she also didn’t want to make that moment very… romantic. Was it romantic? Maybe in a weird point of view, it was romantic but at face value when Aphmau looked at it… the kiss was terrible. She had nightmares of kissing Laurance and then stabbing her in the stomach… but she did enjoy that kiss a little, which was a terrible thing to think seeing as he had just killed people but it did make her feel a bit happy.

When Laurance was around her she didn’t flinch or whatever, She just turned her head or turned her focus on something else but deep down she was screaming for him to just… leave. She felt bad for feeling this way towards Laurance, she just felt bad in general. Laurance was her friend, her ‘crush’ and she’s so afraid of him, and it didn’t help that she was mad at herself for practically giving Laurance a second chance and telling him 'it was all okay’ after he murdered someone. Yes, that person was ‘bad’ and ‘cruel’ but… he also killed others, and… he didn’t have to be so gruesome with the kill. Was she justified in anything she was thinking right now? Was this an okay way to think? If she was being completely honest with herself she just wanted to forget everything in her life and disappear… which when she thought about it… seemed pretty depressing. As she thought about it more she was pretty confident that she had PTSD and she wouldn’t blame Laurance if he had it as well as he was the one doing all the killing and the one who almost killed themselves so maybe he was feeling the same way as her… maybe she could talk to him about all of this but maybe that wasn’t for the best. She didn’t talk about her assumed PTSD to anyone else because she didn’t want to bother anyone with her rambling and feelings she wasn’t even sure she totally felt. 

While on the trip they found out that some of their food kept going missing which led Kitten to assume that there was a rat problem, which deeply offended the captain of the ship. Weirdly, everywhere that Kitten looked and checked there were no rats or animals to be found besides Amada and Dua. Belladonna mentioned to Aphmau that she knew why all their food was missing but refused to tell for ‘timeline reasons’. Aphmau just brushed her off and ate the food that they had, luckily no dog food was stolen because Aphmau had two semi-big dogs that did indeed need to be fed. Besides Aphmau intrusive thoughts and PTSD flashbacks and the fact that some of their food was going missing, the trip was going fine. No one got into fights and the fights that they did get into were only teases or training, the only person that didn’t really seem fine was Laurance who started becoming very distant to everyone, even when Aaron tried to get close to him and offer him training he simply brushed the guy off and stayed in his room. Aphmau did take up Aaron’s training offer because she hadn’t trained and while… she got completely embarrassed. Practically everyone was laughing at her as she writhed on the floor in pain with Aaron’s sword at her head, ever since then she started training every day with him. He was very surprised that she had fought in a war and won which deeply offended her and she jokingly didn’t talk to the man for a day. 

She grew very close with the people she had time jumped with, of course sadly Emmalyn and Kenmur weren’t there but that didn’t stop Aphmau from growing close with people like Aaron, Katelyn, and relearning things about Belladonna and Kitten. She got a little happier knowing that these were the people she was going to be traveling the world with.

Chapter Text

They had luckily found their ship floating in the middle of the ocean close to Phoenix Drop so the Scaleswind crew went over to the ship as close as they could, and made sure there were ways for Aphmau and her group to get on whether that be grappling hooks or just simply wooden planks. They got on the ship with Amada and Dua and were given all their stuff along with all the stuff that Nicole had gifted them, once they were finally settled on their ship the Scaleswind crew said goodbye and the two groups sailed off to their respective destinations. Another weird thing that happened to them, one of the crates that Nicole had sent them felt a little heavier but everyone kinda brushed it off and just decided that they hadn’t noticed the heaviness when carrying it the first time.  

They got to Phoenix Drop a little while after in the middle of a hot day. Laurance was the first one off with no word of anything, then Belladonna and Kitten, Katelyn, and Aaron got off with Aphmau and her two dogs. 

Levin and Malachi caught word of their arrival from Alexis and headed right over to see them. Levin was the first one to notice the cat's ears and gasped loudly when he did, Malachi was a little late to notice but when he did he choked and started coughing. 

Levin patted his brother’s back as Aphmau walked out of the ship with Katelyn and Aarron trailing behind her with the dogs. “MOM!” He said while laughing “What’s with the ears!?” 

Aphmau and Katelyn sighed, Katelyn hung her head in shame “It’s a long story.” Aphmau groaned “But to get to the point we were cursed.”

“ What!? ” Malachi signed, Aphmau was able to learn more RSL while at Scaleswind which was nice “ Cursed!? I’ll get Nana to see if she can help you! ” Malachi signed before taking Levin’s hand off his back and running away to go get Nana. Malachi had already taught Aphmau all of Phoenix Drop’s residents ‘sign names’. 

Levin rolled his eyes as he moved in to hug his mom “He didn’t even hug you yet.” He said sadly. 

Aphmau laughed and hugged her son tightly “I missed you guys and I bet he’ll hug me when he comes back.” 

Levin nodded while pulling away “So you guys aren’t in any pain with those things?” 

Katelyn shook her head “They feel like nothing honestly, it’s like they could be clothes or something but we can’t take them off.” 

“Dang, does it suck?” 

“It feels humiliating.” 

“It’s fine.”  

Levin held back a laugh “I see you two have very different opinions on this.” 

The pitter-patter of feet interrupted what Aphmau was going to say and everyone turned their shoulders to see where the sound was coming from. 

A small purple-haired child came running from the boat with the brightest smile Aphmau had ever seen. He ran down to the docks and jumped up and down as it hit Aphmau who this child was. 

“DMITRI!?” Aaron, Katelyn, and Aphmau all screamed. 

“I’M HERE SUCKERS!” Dmitri exclaimed in happiness as he jumped up and down. 

“That’s why our food was missing!” Aaron yelled and groaned “Cuz this little brat!” 

“Your mom is going to kill you and me !” Aphmau stomped her foot down “What the fuck are you doing here!?” 

“Okay, my mom can’t kill me if she doesn’t know where I am-”

“Your mother is definitely knowing as soon as possible.” 

Dmitri groaned “What!” He whined “I’ve never been to Phoenix Drop before but I’ve been to every other place! Can I at least stay here for a day?”

“Are you kidding me?” Aphmau asked. 

“Well Aph, it did take a little over a week for us to get here. He’s gonna have to stay here while Nicole gets the message which might take a few days and then comes over here which who knows, might take two weeks!” Katelyn negotiated “I don’t like the kid but we can’t just kick him out for who knows what.” 

Aphmau pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed “Fine! Okay, but we are telling your mother as soon as I get pen and paper, also you’re gonna have to behave.” 

Dmitri stood straight and saluted Aphmau “Right on, ma'am!” He giggled. 

Aphmau sighed “You’re welcome.” 

The sound of muttering Japanese alerted Aphmau that Nana was coming to see what was up with their curse, the woman turned her head, Nana was muttering to themself with Malachi and Itsuki following behind. Like Aphmau predicted, Malachi ran past Nana and hugged Aphmau tightly, apologizing for not hugging her before and telling her how much he missed her. 

When Nana lifted their head they gasped and went down to Dmitri’s level “Aren’t you just the cutest little kid!” They squealed and squished Dmitri’s face together, their pale hands contrasting with the kid's dark skin. 

Dmitri gagged and squirmed his way out of Nana’s hands “Who are you!?”

“Who’s the kid? ” Malachi signed, raising his eyebrows. 

“I was thinking the same thing but everything was going too fast for me to ask.” Levin agreed, slightly hitting his brother in the shoulder to show that he was thinking the same thing. 

“I feel like that’s been happening lately.” Aaron pointed out “Like nature hasn’t figured itself out yet.” 

Itsuki was softly jumping up and down at the sight of the boy “Can we keep him, mommy?” She asked, “Can he be my Onii~Chan?” 

“He’s not a pet.” Katelyn laughed. 

“What‘s an ‘Onii~Chan’?” Dimitri said with slight disgust “That sounds gross.” 

“It just means older brother in Japanese.” Nana corrected “It’s nothing bad, now I know I'm here to look at this meif’wa curse but this kid is just so cute! He has hair like Dante!” They giggled. 

“Like mine!” Nekoette~Tan pointed out while still jumping up and down. 

“ It’s actually more on the purple side. ” Malachi signed while tapping his foot to get people’s attention. 

“I guess so.” Nana tilted their head to see the hair at a better angle “It’s still an unnatural color like Dante's.” 

“Is no one wondering who these kid’s parents are?” Levin asked. 

Aphmau laughed “Oh right, he’s Nicole’s.” 

“NICOLE’S!?” Nana and Levin snapped. 

“Well I mean we haven’t had contact with Nicole since forever ago so it’s entirely possible that she had a kid during these fifteen years. ” Malachi guessed. 

“So this is…” Nana’s sentence faltered. 

“Who's the lucky guy?” Levin asked

Dmitri let out a small frown “My father died before I was born.” 

Nekoette~Tan ‘awed’ “That sounds horrible, I’m so sorry.” 

“How old are you Dmitri?” Nana asked. 

“Six.” 

Itsuki gasped loudly and jumped up and down “Mommy! Mommy! He’s my age! Can I play with him? Can I please play with him?”

Nana bit her cheek and turned to Levin and Malachi “Boys, where is Dante?”

“I think he just left for patrol around Phoenix Drop.” Levin answered, “I’m not sure when he’ll be back.” 

Nana nodded and lifted themself from the ground, when they turned to Aphmau and Katelyn they jumped “Hōrīshitto! Anata wa meifuwadesu!!?” They yelled and grabbed Aphmau’s head so the meif’wa could look at Aphmau’s mief’wa features better. [HOLY SHIT! You're a meif'wa!]

Malachi sighed “Nana that’s the reason I brought you here. ” He signed, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh right!” Nana snapped their fingers near Aphmau’s cat ears, igniting a ringing sound to blast through Aphmau’s eardrums and making her flinch in pain. “Well, these are for sure real and not fakes.” 

“There can be fake meif’wa ears?” Aaron asked. 

“There can be fake anything!” Nana pointed out “Now come here real quick.” They went over to Katelyn and did the same thing to her ears and she acted the same way that Aphmau did. 

“Hey!” Katelyn yelled. 

“Why’d you do that?” Aphmau asked. 

“Well I needed to know if they were fakes or not, I know how to curse fake cat ears onto someone but I'm not that skilled on how to make real cat ears appear on someone.” Nana looked down and wrapped her hand around Aphmau’s always moving tail “along with a real cat tail.” They looked over to Katelyn and noticed the same thing. 

Levin and Malachi helped as the group took the rest of their stuff out of the boat and onto the docks, they weren’t exactly sure where to put all the stuff that Nicole had given them but they did take some things to the tree while they just left the rest on the docks to deal with later. Nana took Katelyn and Aphmau to their house so they could inspect the ears longer, Laurance was probably in the tree doing his own things and Aphmau didn’t want to bother him so Aphmau just told Nana that Laurance had the same problem as them. Katelyn and Aphmau told Nana what exactly had happened to them and why they were cursed with these new meif’wa features. 

“So, are you from the Tu’La region?” Aphmau asked, “Michi told us that ninety-eight percent of meif’wa come from that region.” Aphmau and Katelyn were both sitting in what Nana called her ‘Magic Room’.  

Nana nodded as they flipped through books and took ingredients off the shelves “I used to be part of a meif’wa tribe until they decided to open a maid cafe in Ru’aun because I finally wanted something to do with my life. A few across some villages, then O’Khasis for a few years, then the one that Aphmau found when she was making her way towards Scaleswind the first time!” Nana sighed sadly “I don't have time for maid cafes anymore though, they remind me of a strange time in life.” 

“Well I mean your ‘maid’ cafe was just naked girls.” Aphmau laughed. 

“Still a maid cafe.” They said before turning around and leaning against the counter they were working on “So Mikai's older sister did this to you, huh?” 

“You know Mikai?” 

“Of course I do! He used to be a really good friend of mine back in Tu’La, the world is pretty small after all.” They laughed. 

“Huh, well yeah I met Mikai in Scaleswind. He was in a refugee group running from Tu’La because the King of Havas turned into a tyrant of some sort.” Aphmau explained Mikai’s situation from what she remembered. 

“The King of Havas has always been a nasty tyrant.” They said cruelly before turning back around to their work “But I know his influence would never reach us here, probably why Mikai was moving over to Ru’aun. Now, I have to ask you about Dmitri.” 

“What about him?” Katelyn asked, “We kinda explained his whole deal already, the brat.” 

“He looks a lot like Dante, doesn’t he?”

The girls shrugged “I didn’t really notice.” 

“Yeah, same.” 

“Did Nicole tell you his father’s name?” 

Aphmau shook her head “No, after I asked her about his father she got all sentimental and didn’t really answer any other questions about him.” 

The Meif'wa went silent, the only sound in the room was the pages of the books flipping as Nana’s hands moved over them and the sounds of herbs, liquids, and powders being mixed. The tension in the room was very apparent as Nana’s movements got sharper and more aggressive till she put her hands up above the books and sighed softly. 

“You know Itsuki has always wanted an older brother, but the boys in town are younger than her so she’s always looked up to Levin and Malachi~Sama. I'm glad Dmitri’s here, he’ll be nice to Itsuki.” 

“Are you okay?” Aphmau asked softly. 

Nana turned around with a soft smile on their face “I'm fine, you guys can do what you want for now while they look some things up.” 

Katelyn groaned loudly “This is so unbelievably humiliating!” 

Nana raised their eyebrow in confusion “What is? The meif’wa features or the fact that you practically just called my species ‘humiliating’?” 

“That’s not what I meant.” 

“Oh really? Cause that just sounded a lot like you calling my species humiliating.” The meif’wa snapped “So tell me what exactly is humiliating about this whole situation.” 

“I won’t be respected like this, I’ll be looked at as a fool, I have been looked at like a fool. I’ve been taken advantage of while looking like this and it’s just so pathetic.” 

Nana pursed her lips “You know you’re a real bitch.” 

Aphmau choked on her spit and Katelyn looked at her with wide eyes, they had both never heard Nana curse before. 

“Yes, Nana can tell you’ve been through a lot but you can’t blame that on being a meif’wa. You really shouldn’t blame whatever happened to you on anything! Just because this one experience happened to you while being a meif’wa doesn’t mean the entire species is like that, I know deep down that’s what you were meaning. Because if you think about it for a second you would realize you just called me pathetic, a fool, unrespectable, and humiliating, and if you think about it even deeper then you would realize that you just called all meif'wa that! But maybe your little human brain can’t comprehend the microaggressions that you just commit against the meif’wa species.” 

Katlyn’s mouth was left agape “Nana I never intended for it to seem like I was… being… speciest against you.”  

“Well, you did.” Nana snapped “I've been belittled too many times because they are a meif’wa just for you to say this and think nothing of it.” 

“I’m sorry, I truly am.” 

“Hm, it’s still not okay that you thought and said that. I honestly think it would be best for you if you just left and went to get some rest.” Nana said their final word before turning back around. 

Aphmau was more than willing to get out of this situation but Katelyn was hesitant since she didn’t want Nana thinking that she meant to offend her, she didn’t even know that what she was saying was offensive. Katelyn was left alone on Nana’s doorstep as Aphmau ran off somewhere else. 

Aphmau went up inside the tree, she wanted to speak with Laurance even though she was afraid of him, she wanted to see if he was okay although she had nightmares of him killing her. When she reached the treehouse part of the tree she froze still, Laurance was sitting on one of the outside branches of the tree looking out the horizon. Aphmau made her way over the guard slowly and quietly to not alert the man. It was a bit difficult to get to the branch that Laurance was on but once she got on it was much easier to get over to the man, Aphmau knew he already knew she was there but he didn’t even turn his head to check. 

Aphmau slid down to a sitting position with her legs dangling off the branch like Laurance’s. Her throat was already getting tight which signaled her that she was going to start crying, she was annoyed at this since she just wanted to address their situation without crying. 

“I think I have PTSD from that night.” Aphmau was the first one to say anything, not even turning to talk to Laurance. 

“I think I do too.” 

“I have nightmares of you killing people… and me.” 

“Same.” 

“You scared me, Laurance.” 

“I scared myself.” 

Aphmau’s eyes were getting teary and it was harder for her to hold back the tears. Laurance’s face was emotionless as he talked to Aphmau. 

“I don’t want to be scared of you, you’re my friend.” 

“I’m scared of myself Aph, I don’t think you can be friends with someone scared of themself.” 

“Yeah but….” She let out a shaky breath “I regret kissing you.” 

“Why?” 

“I feel like it made everything worse. I just didn’t want you to kill yourself but I think kissing you wasn’t the best way to show that.” 

“I can see that.” 

Aphmau turned to Laurance for the first time during their conversation “Do you want to talk about anything? I feel like I don’t talk to you about yourself a lot and I have this bad feeling deep down.” 

He shrugged and still didn’t look at Aphmau “I feel like my head is fighting with itself, I’m trying to tell myself that not everyone in the world deserves to die, and even if they do they shouldn’t but I’m also telling myself that I should kill everyone here and have no remorse. I remember everything that happened to me in Hell, I remember the feeling of my eyes losing sight, I remember everything and I wish I didn’t. I think that if I killed myself everything would be fine again and maybe I wouldn’t have to deal with all the shit I’m going through.” 

Aphmau didn’t say anything, she just listened to Laurance as he vented to her about his troubles and his fears. He talked about wanting to gain his immortality but also not wanting to kill Aphmau, about Hell calling out to him and trying to get in his head but no one else hears anything so he just looks and feels crazy, about death and how he thought that if he just died all his worries would melt away. By the end of his big vent, his eyes were teary and he was about to start crying. Aphmau just sat there and listened to him, she only held his hand when she saw that things were getting bad for him and his shoulders started softly shaking. 

“I’m sorry.” She said softly “I don’t think I can say anything to make your situation better but I’m just… I’m so sorry.” 

He tried to dry his tears but they just kept coming “Thanks, I’m just… I’m just scared.” 

She nodded “I would be too… I’ve only experienced a little of what you’re going through and I’m already freaking out but you’ve been through so much. You are so so strong.” 

He nodded “Thank you.” 

“You’re my best best friend that I love to a strange amount. I can't lose you yet because if I lose you who’s gonna be my knight in shining armor.” 

He laughed for the first time during this conversation which brightened Aphmau’s heart so much “I’m always gonna be your knight in shining armor even if you don’t want me to.” He sniffled softly. He liked talking to Aphmau, he hadn’t done it in so long and it honestly made a nice feeling bubble in his chest. 

Her smile was so bright “You are always gonna be my savior.” She giggled “And I’m always gonna be there for you okay? Talk to me whenever.”

“I have Dante to talk to, I don’t need you.” 

Aphmau gasped “How dare you! You are so mean!” 

He laughed “I know! I know! That’s my whole thing, I’m a demon, I’m mean.” He yelled loudly.

Aphmau was laughing so hard she almost fell back off the branch but Laurance put his hand on her back and said that they should probably head inside so no one died. Laurance helped her as they made their way back into the tree so if one of them fell the other would follow, luckily it was a little easier to walk on the tree again since she already did once. 

Aphmau found a pen and paper to write on and with some small suggestions from Laurance she wrote a letter to Nicole about Dmitri stowing away on their ship and coming to Phoenix Drop. They didn’t do much for the rest of the day, just hanging out and trying to strengthen their relationship again. The rest of the day felt pretty chill too, nothing exciting happened and everyone just seemed to be taking it fairly slow. Everything was peaceful and quiet in the safehold inside Phoenix Drop. 

The next day Aphmau woke up a bit late, but not in the middle of the day, more like it was around nine am when she woke up. She was able to catch Nana and Donna setting up a small breakfast table for the group since it seemed the majority of them were still asleep. Emma and Kenmur were nowhere to be seen so Aphmau assumed that they were already up and got breakfast before all of them which Aphmau found strange that they didn’t want to say hi to Aphmau after not seeing her the other day. 

Aphmau grabbed a plate after helping Nana and Donna a bit and waited around for everyone else to wake up which wasn’t a long wait at all. The only people sleeping still were Kitten and Laurance while everyone else was just not paying attention and only figured out the breakfast table was there a few minutes after it was set up.

Kitten went up and quickly took the last croissant before Katelyn grabbed it. 

Katelyn gasped “You bitch!” She snapped. 

Kitten giggled as she bit into the croissant “Look, you snooze you lose.” 

“You woke up after me!” Katelyn yelled, her cat striking upwards. 

Kitten laughed again “You snooze you lose!” She repeated, skipping away from the woman. 

Katelyn groaned and stomped her foot, Aphmau went over and waved a piece of toast in her face “Come on Katelyn, don’t be a grumpy pants.” 

“I never liked you.” the woman laughed. 

“You love me,” Aphmau said in a sing-song. 

Katelyn smiled and laughed happily, taking the toast from Aphmau’s hands and pouting as she bit into it “It’s not a croissant.” 

“Pfft, you’re so picky.” 

Katelyn shrugged “Meh, I mean what would you choose, a croissant or a piece of toast.” 

“Eggs.” 

“That wasn’t an option.” 

“So?”

Katelyn groaned and continued to eat the piece of toast while Aphmau softly laughed and put her empty plate back on the table with the other plates that people had eaten off of. 

“I’ve never seen you so… joke-able.” Aphmau pointed out. 

Katelyn shrugged as stared at the other people in the treehouse “Don’t get used to it, the last time I let my guard down and decided to do something I wanted to do… Jeffory died.” 

“You and Jeffory were really close right?” 

Katelyn nodded “He was way too nice to be in the Jury of Nine, maybe if I wasn’t sick that week he wouldn’t have been assigned to Pikoro and wouldn’t have died.” 

“I’m sorry about that by the way, I never knew that taking the lords was gonna result in Jeffory’s death.”

“It's fine, I saw that maybe things would’ve changed but… I think no matter what happened Zane was planning on killing Jeffory after all of this. Again, he was too nice.” Katelyn took a cup of orange juice off the table and began drinking. 

“What about Abby? What happened to her.” 

“Nothing much, I told her who I was, she said she wanted nothing to do with me, she said that she was planning her ‘revenge’, and then she left before I could tell her anything about Zane.” Katelyn explained, “She carried gold weapons like her father, it was cute.” 

“Do you think that you and Jeffory could ever… date? If things changed of course.” 

Katelyn shook her head and smiled softly “No, no, I love that dude I really do but I’m uh… I’m a lesbian actually.” 

“Oh. I did not… know that.” 

“Yeah, uh, I don’t think anyone did.” 

“Have you always known this?” 

“I found out a couple of years ago, our time.” She laughed “Yeah most people don’t guess that about me but I’ve made out with about every woman in the Jury of Nine so…” She shrugged. 

“Huh, sounds exciting.” 

“It really is.” She turned to Aphmau with a concerned face “Are you feeling okay by the way? Your voice sounds a bit scratchy.” 

Aphmau massaged her throat for a second before shaking her head “I’m fine.”

Katelyn nodded “Okay, just making sure. You should probably go to Zoey or something to see if she has anything to help you just in case.” 

“Yeah, I think that’s the best-case scenario. Well, I’ll hopefully see you later Lady Katelyn.” Aphmau jokingly bowed down to the woman as she exited the treehouse. She quickly grabbed the letter she had made last night so she could tell either Malachi or Levin that she was ready to send out a letter to Nicole.  

Katelyn cringed “Oh dear gods never call me that again.”

Aphmau laughed as she exited out of the treehouse down the stairs. There were stairs on the outside of the treehouse that she went down, they were there since Aphmau and her group got here in Phoenix Drop but she had never used them because she didn’t know where they went but she learned that they just went near Donna’s house which would be a good excuse to see the lovely lady Donna. 

Rollo and Lello were trying to play a form of checkers but they were just throwing the pieces at each other, Donna was washing clothes with Luca sleeping on the rollable baby crib next to her. When Aphmau went over Donna treated her like nothing was wrong so Aphmau intentionally mentioned her cat ears which Donna just shrugged at, she said that she had to deal with almost all her children and Logan turning into animals so she didn’t really care about the new meif’wa Aphmau. Aphmau mentioned her possible sickness and Donna went and grabbed a little white pill and a small cup of shiny liquid, she said that it would help Aphmau’s throat but not her possible sickness. Aphmau took it and was immediately overwhelmed by the contrasting taste, the pill was bitter but the liquid was sweet which was a very strange combination to Aphmau. Donna noticed the letter in her hand and said that Logan was out in his merchant booth with a messenger bird that he was going to send out today, if Aphmau wanted to send that message to Nicole she better do it now. Aphmau thanked her and ran off to the middle of the settlement. 

Donna was true in her word and Logan was sitting at his booth with Malachi sitting on the outside reading some papers. Aphmau went over with her letter in hand hoping that Logan would let her use the messenger bird.

Aphmau froze in front of the booth.

“You like?” Logan wiggled his eyebrows. 

“It's a hawk.” 

The man shrugged and sat up “It can still carry letters… like the one you have in your hand.” Logan pointed to the letter in Aphmau’s hand. 

Malachi turned “ Is that the letter for Nicole? ” He asked. 

Aphmau nodded “Yeah, I wanted to know if you could send this bird to Scaleswind? I need this letter to go to Nicole so she knows that Dmitri is in Phoenix Drop.” 

Logan shrugged and took the letter from Aphmau's hand and looked at a tag on the bird's wing “It goes to, blah, blah, blah… Scaleswind there!” He attached the letter to a little satchel that the bird was carrying “It should get there in a few days, most likely two.” 

Aphmau clapped her hands “That’s good!”

Logan laughed and shook his head. 

“What?” She asked. 

He pointed at Aphmau’s head “Cat ears, did you end up in trouble again?” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and groaned, leaning against the merchant booth “Please do not get me started.” 

Logan barked out a laugh “You’ve always been, little miss trouble, huh?” He clapped his hands “The gods of fate really have it out for you.” 

“Tell me about it.” 

Malachi stomped his foot to get Aphmau's attention and began signing “ We’ve fortified the walls a bunch but we’re not done and we’re working on re-doing the plaza as well! Oh, and Kenmur and Emmalyn are talking with Sasha currently with Alexis guarding them! ” 

“That’s so good Malachi! I’m so proud of you guys, seriously. You’ve been working so hard and I can’t wait to see what you guys do with Phoenix Drop next!” She clapped her hands in joy “And I guess I should go see Emmalyn and Kenmur, huh?” 

“ If you want to, I was just mentioning them! Oh and it would mean the world to me if you checked out the plaza, we’ve been working really hard on it. ” 

“You don’t have to ask me twice, I was already planning on heading over there once I heard you guys had started working on it.” 

Malachi smiled under his scarf “ Have fun with Emmalyn and Kenmur! ” 

Logan waved goodbye “Try not to get into any more trouble while walking over to the guard station, ‘kay.” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Logan as she walked away from the boys, not forgetting to say bye to Malachi as well. As she walked away, the last thing she spotted before being almost trampled was Dante walking into the settlement after his shift of patrol. 

The kids ran past Aphmau to go talk to Dante like he was some famous person. 

Nekoette~Tan’s tail waved in the air as she jump-hugged her father and wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her cheek. 

“Hi, honey!” Dante picked up his little girl and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t come home last night. I had a night shift.” 

“It’s okay! Meet my new friend Dmitri~Sama!” Nekoette~Tan pointed at the purple-haired boy. 

“Dmitri, huh?” His eyebrows furrowed “Well it’s nice to meet you, Dmitri…?” He was trying to get Dmitri’s last name. 

“Von Rosenburg.” 

“Von… um well, my name is Dante Zhou, I’m Itsuki's father.” 

“But she’s a meif’wa and you’re a human.” 

Dante laughed “I know it’s a little complicated, just go with it okay?” 

“Okay!” Dmitri smiled brightly, Aphmau walked over to the group to just observe. 

“Oto-san, did you know that Dmitri is the heir to the throne of Scaleswind?” Itsuki asked with glee. 

Dante’s face drained of all color as Nana walked out of their house with a stern face, of course, the color draining out of Dmitri’s face wasn’t about Nana’s face rather it was because the only way Dmitri could be the heir to the throne was if Nicole had a child. 

“Anata,” Nana said in a stern voice “can I see you inside the house for a bit?” Their hands were on their hips. 

Dante slowly put Itsuki down “Is uh… is something wrong?” He stammered from the shock of learning this news about Dmitri, a random kid he just met. 

“Depends.” 

“Am I in trouble?” He scratched his neck in nervousness. 

“Depends.” 

Dante bit his lip “Please don’t yell at me too loud, I get scared easily.” 

Aphmau held back a laugh as the man shot her a look of pure anger. She patted the old man’s back “Praying for you Dante.” 

He snatched his shoulder away and sneakily flipped her off before walking towards Nana in fear of what he was possibly going to be in trouble for. 

Aphmau said hi to Dmitri and Nekoette~Tan before finally heading out to the guard station. She had changed into an outfit Nicole had given her before getting breakfast and it was perfect for the arriving cold weather as they got into the winter seasons. She was wearing a long-sleeve black turtleneck under a normal shirt that was tucked into beige cargo pants, her black combat boots had the cargo pants hanging over them because they add some extra warmth, her tangled thick hair was lying all the way against her lower back which also gave her some warmth for her back. Even though she had gotten a lot of clothes from Donna and Nana, Nicole had given her, and everyone in her group, almost a full closet worth of clothes which were so generous of her and made Aphmau so thankful. She knew that Nicole was going to be a great lord for Scaleswind. 

Aphmau was about to take a turn for the guard station when someone called her name from a distance. She stopped in her tracks and did one-eighty to see Dante running after her. 

The guard stopped in front of the woman and took a deep breath “Is Dmitri really Nicole’s son?” 

“Yeah, I’m surprised that no one here knew,” Aphmau answered, shoving her hands in her pocket. 

“No one has had contact with her a long while…. Who… who is she with?” 

“Why?” 

“Just tell me.” 

Aphmau sighed “She never said, all she said was that he died before Dmitri was born.” 

“Oh, I’m glad Nana brought me into the house to tell me this, I would’ve cried knowing that was truly Nicole’s son.” He looked down in shame “Is she good by the way? Like is she in good health?” 

Aphmau nodded “She’s good, she misses everyone but she said that she has a role to fill as the Lord of Scaleswind. She was really happy to see us.” 

He smiled softly “That’s good, do you think that she’s gonna come to Phoenix Drop?” 

Aphmau shrugged “Not really sure, I mean hopefully, she’ll be the one to pick up her son but I would understand if she didn’t.” 

“Well, I guess Dmitri is staying with me and Nana until Nicole comes, sorry for interrupting your walk.” 

“Don’t be sorry! It’s all cool, I would rather have you interrupt my walk than have you worry about Nicole and her kid.” Aphmau smiled “Now I want to go see Emmalyn and Kenmur so have a nice day.” 

“Have a nice day Aph.” Dante waved goodbye as the two turned around and walked away in different directions. 

Aphmau continued to the guard station where she found Alexis standing outside, the girl’s guard armor reminded Aphmau that both Katelyn and Laurance probably needed new armor that fit their needs better. 

She said hello to Alexis and entered the run-down guard station. Emmalyn sat at a table with a dozen books with her while Sasha and Kenmur were nowhere to be seen.  She assumed that they were somewhere upstairs since they weren’t in the cell and that’s really the only other place they would be. 

“Hello, Aphmau!” Emmalyn put her book down to hug the woman “How was your guys’ trip?” 

Aphmau leaned her heads towards the woman “Not that great.” 

Emmalyn laughed and pushed Aphmau’s head away “Was it exciting at least.” 

Aphmau shrugged “Might’ve gained some PTSD from it so yeah.” 

Aphmau looked a bit worried but brushed it off like Aphmau had “Well, Cadenza sent me a few more books on Irene and I got those books that Nicole sent us on Irene so hopefully I can look over them with Kenmur tonight…” her sentence faltered and she bit her lip. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Kenmur’s still in complete awe of Sasha. One minute he doesn’t want anything to do with her, the next he’s fawning over her. It hurts a little but I also understand that he’s going through a lot right now.” 

“I bet everything will be fine Emmalyn, I mean of course he’s gonna be confusing, it’s a confusing situation.” 

“I know, I know. It’s just… it kinda hurts to see your crush with someone else.” 

The first thought that went through her head was ‘Garroth’. Garroth had somehow seen Aphmau and Laurance kiss and that’s what broke him, that’s what made him betray Phoenix Drop because the two people he trusted more than anything betrayed him… he betrayed them for revenge… not because he was jealous or because he was petty. He was getting his revenge for lying to him. 

Emmalyn snapped her out of her frozen state and began talking to her about the things she found in her books and the things she took note of. They spent a couple of minutes together talking about the books Emmalyn was reading until Aphmau remembered that Malachi wanted her to check out the plaza. Aphmau said a quick goodbye to Emmalyn and told her to say to Kenmur for her before heading out of the guard station and going over to the plaza which she skipped earlier in her walk for some reason. 

She still remembered the path she always took to get to the plaza. She missed heading to the plaza every day with one of her dogs and talking to her friends there. She sometimes imagined that the Irene stuff never happened, that yes they did go into the Irene Dimension but they didn’t time jump… maybe she could be the lord she always wanted to be if they didn’t time jump. Was she even meant to be the lord she wanted to be? Levin was already a ten times better lord than she ever could be, if they did move and made a type of capital for the Phoenix Alliance would she be the lord of it, or would Belladonna, or maybe someone else if Belladonna didn’t want to take on that responsibility. 

When Aphmau entered the plaza she was taken aback, she didn’t expect the plaza to be so well done. The merchant booths that used to be there were no more and instead, the entire plaza was empty, the cracks in the ground were filled, the entire floor was swept and there was no sign of dirt beside the caked-on grime that got there from fifteen years of not being taken care of, there were beautiful plants and flowers all around the perimeter of the plaza, and there seemed to be a small pattern on the ground starting at the top of the plaza. Aphmau was really impressed by all the work that was being done to the plaza and in the village in general. She knew that they weren’t done with the wall but she was still very glad about all the work they were doing without her, she was really looking forward to where Malachi and Levin were going to take Phoenix Drop next. 

As she walked around the empty plaza she began thinking about her time as lord, did she really want to be a possible goddess as well as the lord of an alliance capital? The reason why she gave the job of alliance leader to Belladonna was of course because Aphmau thought Belladonna was very qualified for the job but because she already had the stress of being lord and she didn’t want to add more stress onto herself. The big question would be if she wanted to become a lord again, was she fit to fill that role or should it be given to someone else? She stared at the marking on her hands, maybe being a lord was too much for her. She tried shrugging it off and headed back towards the settlement to continue her day as usual. 

She leaned against Garroth’s shoulder as he processed everything she told him. She had explained almost everything important to him and in his defense, a lot of important stuff had happened so it was taking him a minute to collect his thoughts. Everything around them was just perfect, the temperature, the weather, the sky, the smells, everything… it was making Aphmau believe that this was all just a dream and none of it was truly real. If it was all a dream it was a very cruel thing for the gods or the Titans to do to her, why would they make her see Garroth and miss him all over again just to make it not real, just to make all the conversations she had with him ‘not real’.

“So you have a crush on him… but you’re scared of him?” He asked. 

“I don’t think I’m scared of him as Laurance but… like his Shadow Knight form, the things he could do, the things he did.” 

“You’re scared of his possible actions.” 

“I guess.” She shrugged, she wasn’t actually sure of what she was feeling, what it was called. She was in this weird state of being happy and feeling ‘normal’ and then she zones out for a quick second and everything just comes back, she didn’t even know if that was considered PTSD “Did you ever have to deal with things like… like PTSD?” 

He took a deep breath and ran his finger through his hair “Not as severe as what Laurance has or the severity you have but I do have what like a form of trauma I’d like to say. I went through some things as a child, a teenager, the things I saw, heard, had to do. I had nightmares and panic attacks almost every night, it got a little better as I got older and moved to Phoenix Drop but… I still had those terrible moments and episodes sometimes.” 

“I never knew, I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be, no one knew.” 

“Oh.” She was a bit stumped, how come she had never noticed that about Garroth. Even with Garroth just saying that no one knew she still felt mad at herself for not even questioning anything “So how did you deal with it? Like how did you try and get better?” 

“I talked, talked about it to my mirror, to my journal, before Phoenix Drop I talked about it to my friends, therapist, my teachers. If you don’t talk all those feelings and emotions get shoved up inside you and just stay there, and as time goes on that little bubble inside you grows. It will grow and grow and grow until you can’t take it anymore and you start considering the extreme.” 

“Did Laurance talk to you?” 

He smiled softly “Yeah, he talked to me a lot about the things he went through in hell. He talked about a lot of things to me, sometimes I would wake him up for patrol and he would be curled up in his bed sobbing, I’d stay there for hours and hours just listening to him.”

“Did you ever talk to Laurance?” 

He shook his head “Laurance was the turnout of a guard who didn’t listen to the ‘lessons’ the other guards taught on how to be masculine. He wasn’t afraid to show his emotions even if it was hard for him to do so…. I on the other hand grew up with those lessons on how to be masculine. I never ignited any conversations about my feelings, my own therapist had to fight with me to get anything out.” He let out a shaky breath “Laurance tried and tried and tried to get me to talk about myself, my feelings, my emotions but I just… I just wouldn’t. I was a closed bottle to everyone else but myself.”

The silence between them was absolutely    

“I never… I never talked to either of you about your problems.” Her throat was getting tight “I learned probably a little over a month ago that Laurance still dealt with the things that happened in Hell, I never listened to you guys or asked if you were okay. I always made it about me.”

“I mean I wasn’t the greatest either with Laurance, when he came out of Hell blind and tortured I wanted to ask him about Zenix. I should’ve read the room.” 

“Why do you two like me? How do you two like me? I’m the most inconsiderate person to have a crush on, I never asked you guys if you were okay, I never talked to Laurance about the things he went through.” He sucked in a quick breath “I’m a terrible friend.” 

Garroth hugged the woman tightly as small tears ran from his eyes, he rubbed the woman’s shoulder and kissed the top of her head, almost getting poked in the eye from her cat ear. He pulled away and softly turned her head to look at him. 

“Do you want to hear about my problems, just let me talk?” 

“If that would help you, I just want to be there for you.” 

“Okay,” he nodded his head and took his hand off her chin “so what do you want to hear about?” 

He softly huffed out a laugh “Um, why was losing Zenix such a detrimental thing to you? I mean, of course, I felt betrayed by him but he was just your apprentice and you were his mentor, why did you act like it was the worst thing in the entire world?” 

He softly smiled and turned his head to look at the empty world before him “I took on the ‘fatherly’ role at a very young age being the oldest out of three kids. Yes we did have parents and yes they were great but they were royals, they didn’t always have time for their kids so I took on that role. After I had run away I had a hole in my heart that formed when I ran away from my two younger brothers, well at that time my younger brother .” he cleared his throat as his eyes got glossy remembering his deceased brother “When I came across this scared teenager who looked beaten all to hell my ‘fatherly’ instincts kicked in and I cared for him like a son. He filled a hole that my brothers had left, it would be cruel to say I used him as comfort but… in a way I did. I always wished that I had never met him because I would find out later that he had a role in the death of the Lord I protected.”

“Oh, I was always confused about who killed the old Lord.” 

“Well, you must know some more information than me because all I know was that Zenix killed the lord and burned his house down.” 

“Do you remember the old Lord and his family at all?” 

“Vaguely, I remember that him and his wife were dicks.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah, a lot of people when we found out Levin was the son of the old Lord figured that his wife had an affair with me which is entirely wrong because I hated them both. Uh, the old Lord used to sexually harass Donna and I had to get on him a ton about it, when I told his wife about his harassment towards Donna she did nothing. She didn’t divorce him, take the kids away, or give him up to the authorities, she just said ‘okay’ and went on with her day. A week later she started to make me feel uncomfortable, I had to be with Donna twenty-four seven to make sure nothing happened to her and I would get really paranoid whenever I saw the old Lord and his wife.” 

“I always knew that Donna felt uncomfortable talking about him or whenever he was mentioned. I didn’t know why though.” 

“Yeah, he was a terrible person, and even though I was his guard and had to protect him I was a little happy that he disappeared.” 

“Oh wow.” 

“Now can I ask you a question?” 

“Sure.” 

He looked down at Aphmau’s lips before looking back up at her eyes “Do you know which one you like better? Me or Laurance?” 

“I’m still unsure if I really have a crush on you two, I may just love you because we’re so close.” 

He nodded “Love is a confusing thing.” 

“Yeah, tell me about it.” 

The church bell rang through the world scaring Aphmau into grabbing onto Garroth’s arm for some sort of protection. They both turned their head towards each other, staring into each other’s eyes before Aphmau’s vision went blurry and white and she gasped awake staring at the bushy leafy roof that was the treehouse. 

She sighed deeply and lifted herself to sit up, Katelyn was helping Laurance get back into a chair that was seated next to Aphmau’s cot. 

Katelyn jumped a little when she noticed Aphmau right there “Oh dear gods I was not expecting you to be up dear gods you scared me.” She laughed and leaned against the sleeping man. 

“What happened?” 

“Oh, last night Laurance noticed that you were gone from your bed and assumed that you were off in your dream world so he offered to watch over you. Poor guy fell asleep on the job and then fell on the floor, and now you’re up.” 

“Oh, well that’s sweet of you.” 

“Meh, is it?” 

Aphmau laughed “No, it’s the meanest thing you could’ve done. You should’ve left him on the floor.” 

Katelyn smiled “I know right. Well, there’s breakfast on the table that you can have but I need to get back to reading the books on curses that Nicole gave us.” 

“Okay well have fun with that. I’m going to do something today.” 

“Sounds good, be safe.” 

“You too.” 

Katelyn walked away from Aphmau and went back to her little station in the treehouse. Aphmau looked over at Laurance, his cat ears and tail were relaxed as she slept peacefully in the chair he was in, surprisingly he wasn’t awake from him falling off the chair. 

Since the wedding she’s had terrible nightmares so it was nice to take a break from that and see Garroth for once, she missed seeing him. She was glad she got to listen to him and talk to him, she really did think of herself as a bad friend for never talking to Laurance or Garroth about those types of things, it was astonishing that they even liked her. 

She put her hair up in a ponytail and swung herself out of bed, she made a beeline towards the breakfast table and took some quick food before heading out of the tree. On her way out of the tree, she ran into Malachi who was looking down in self-thought. 

“ Oh! Mom, I was just coming up to see you! Levin wants to talk to you privately. ” 

“About what?” 

Malachi shrugged “ Didn’t tell me but if it was about the village I would know since we are both very open about those types of things. Most likely something personal. ” 

“Okay,” She took a bite out of her toast “hopefully he still loves me.” 

Malachi smiled under his scarf before shrugging “ I mean… ” 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “Where does he want to talk?” 

“ I think somewhere near the docks. ” 

“Okay thanks, love you, sweetheart.” She said and walked past the man but not before kissing him on the forehead in a motherly gesture. She ate the rest of her toast and downed the rest of her drink as she walked down the outside staircase of the tree, saying a quick hello while walking to the docks and getting ready for the talk she was about to have with Levin. Her anxiety was a little high because she had honestly no idea what he was going to talk to her about. 

He was standing on the docks, he was so mature and just so much older than Aphmau could ever have imagined. It pained her a little every time she looked at him and remembered very quickly that he was no longer his little babbling baby. 

She took a deep breath before walking over to Levin with a small pep in her step, trying to hide the fact that her entire body was vibrating with anxiety.

“Levin honey, how are you doing today?” She smiled brightly and her hair swished side to side as she bounced to a stop. 

“I’m doing just fine… Aphmau.” 

Her heart paused when he called her by her name, her actual name. “What’s with the name change? Are you disowning me as your mom?” She tried to make a joke out of the very tense situation. 

“What? No, no, no, no! I would never, you are the best mom someone could ever ask for, seriously!” He defended himself “I just… I just want to be your equal. I understand that I’m your son and I always will respect you in that regard but if I’m going to be in your alliance… I don’t want anyone thinking that you’re giving us special treatment or something.” 

“I’m not giving you special treatment though. We haven’t even truly started the alliance so there really isn’t really a way to give you special treatment.” 

“Yeah, but when the alliance gets made. If people know me as your son and not your equal they may think that the Phoenix Alliance is giving Phoenix Drop special treatment.” He sighed heavily “I just want to call you Aphmau to feel like your equal.” 

Aphmau’s heart ached as she finally succumbed to the reality that her baby boy was growing up, he was grown up. She smiled softly and held the boy’s hands “I understand, if you feel calling me ‘Aphmau’ instead of ‘mom’ is the right thing to do then please do it. I don’t want you feeling bad or guilty because people see me as your mother and not your equal.” 

“Thank you for being so understanding, I was really scared you were going to be sad or some other emotion that would make me feel bad.” He laughed nervously. 

Aphmau giggled at her son’s weird explanation“No, I would never. I would never be ‘disappointed’ about something that you thought was genuinely right or for the best.”

“Thank you, that’s just really comforting to hear.” 

“Of course, now is that all you wanted to talk about, or is there more?” Aphmau asked, she had a slight feeling in her stomach that this wasn’t the only reason Levin wanted to talk to Aphmau, the feeling in the air was way too strange for this to be the end of the conversation. 

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot so I’m glad you brought it up.” He went straight back to looking nervous “I heard you having a conversation with Zoey about how you wanted a place of your own. Do you want to move back into your old house?” 

Aphmau’s breath hitched “Oh wow, I wasn’t aware anyone could hear us.” Aphmau had been thinking of this very while now, moving away and somewhat starting over with helping the Phoenix Alliance as her main adjective. She had talked it over with Belladonna many times before but she was never sure if Aphmau wanted to go through with it, it seemed like a small thing at face value but when you were in Aphmau’s shoes it was so much bigger than anything else. “Uh yeah, I kinda wanted to move away, focus on the Phoenix Alliance more and try and I guess figure myself out. Somewhat like a capital, I’m not sure if I would be the one to be the ‘lord’ of it but I do know that I want to move.” 

“Oh wow,” Levin’s face saddened a bit but he tried to hide it from his mom so she didn’t regret her possible decision. “I wasn’t expecting that. I think a capital would be good for the alliance, to have a place where people can retreat to as a safe space. It would be a good thing to look forward to with everything happening right now with Hell and the Shadow Lord and-” Levin faltered and turned his eyes, squinting his eyes as Aphmau followed his movements. 

In the distance was a small boat with a single person inside sailing it. The boat was getting closer and closer to the docks every second Aphmau and Levin stared at it in confusion. 

“Is that Nicole?” Aphmau questioned. 

“Did she even get your letter?”

“If she did she has a very fast boat.”

Levin and Aphmau just stood on the docks as the boat approached the docks, Aphmau said a little ‘YES!’ in her head when her prediction of it being Nicole turned out to be right. The weird thing that Aphmau noticed was that Nicole was alone. The Lord of Scaleswind was alone on a boat where anything could happen. It seemed as if she came over in a rush like she found out Dmitri was gone before she even got Aphmau’s letter. 

Nicole jumped onto the docks and grabbed Aphmau by her shoulders, dragging her away from Levin. 

“WHERE IS DMITRI!?” The woman yelled into Aphmau’s face. 

Aphmau was in such shock at the whole situation that she didn’t answer in time and Nicole started yelling at her again. 

“WHERE IS MY WONDERFUL SON THAT I’M GOING TO MURDER FOR DEFYING HIS MOTHER!” 

“Lord Nicole please calm down.” Levin softly said, placing his hand on Nicole’s shoulder and slightly pulling on it only for his hand to be jerked off and Nicole to snap at him. Levin retreated in fear and decided to let Aphmau deal with the angry woman. 

Nicole snapped her head back to Aphmau “WHERE IS MY SON!” 

“Holy shit Nicole! Stop yelling!” Aphmau screamed and pushed the lady off her “You can’t just barge in here and start yelling at people!” 

“Oh I’m sorry, I haven’t seen my son in OVER A WEEK!” Nicole snapped. “I don’t feel like 'being calm’ right now!” 

“Yeah, but you didn’t just have to yell at everyone!” 

“Just tell me where my son is!” 

“He’s with Nana and Dante!” 

Nicole’s words got stuck in her throat when she processed what Aphmau had just said. Her eyes were wide and her face was drained of all color “What?” 

“He’s with Nana and Dante. Pretty sure he’s been there since we got back which was like a day ago.” 

“How did you get here so quick?” Levin asked someone, diverting the conversation into something else. 

“I didn’t just get here today, I’ve been sailing for like a week now. I’ve never been so stressed in my entire life.” Nicole answered. Aphmau knew that Nicole was probably very worried for her son but Aphmau still didn’t think that Nicole was justified to be snapping and yelling at everyone. 

“Oh wow, when did you realize he was gone?” Levin asked. 

“Dmitri usually goes off on his own, bringing a guard with him and I let him because I know he’ll be safe but when I found out that none of my guards were missing and none of them had seen my son then I started freaking out. I set off without another word and with no one.” Nicole was a little softer in her tone this time, maybe sensing the anger in her own voice. 

“Why are you so freaked out over Dante and Nana having Dimitri?”  

“I’m not…. Has Dante seen Dmitri yet?” 

“Yeah, he has actually, why?” 

Nicole went quiet, thinking to herself in obvious panic. She backed up from Aphmau and stared at the floor, darting her eyes from side to side like she was making a plan out in her mind or thinking of possible scenarios of things like they were happening right in front of her. Nicole wasn’t bothered to flip the loose part of her hijab over her shoulder as it was already pretty secure on her head. 

“Can you just go get him?” Nicole’s voice was weak “Please?” 

“Yeah, yeah I can do that. Just stay here, okay?” Nicole nodded as Aphmau ran into the main part of the safehold, she was worried at the way Nicole and turned all emotional all of a sudden, and Aphmau knew it wasn’t the best thing to just leave Levin but she hoped he could give some comfort to Nicole. 

Aphmau roughly slid to a stop right in front of Nana's house, almost falling over but she quickly regained her balance. She jogged to Nana’s door and knocked on the hardwood, waiting impatiently for someone to open the door. 

Nana opened the door with a soft smile “Hello Aphmau! Itsuki and I were just trying to make apple pie, would you like to join us?” 

Aphmau shook her head “I’m sorry Nana but I’m actually looking for Dmitri. Do you happen to know where he is?” 

“Oh yes! He’s downstairs in the combat room with Dante.” Nana exclaimed happily. 

“Oh thank you so much!” Aphmau stepped a foot in the house before pausing and remembering her manner “May I go get him?” 

Nana giggled “Of course, go right in.” Nana moved to the side and Aphmau raced down the staircase down to the third floor that held all of their extra rooms that Nana and Dante used for things like weapon practice, or magick practice.

She walked down the hallway till she found the room with not only the most commotion but also the one that said ‘COMBAT ROOM’. She opened the door and her heart stopped for a second, Dante was holding Dmitri’s wrists as the little boy held on tightly to Dante’s first set of Katanas, the ones she had met Dante with. They were bigger than the boy’s entire body because they were obviously designed for someone much bigger than the little boy. It looked like Dante was holding a younger version of him but with light brown skin and purplish hair, it was almost like Dante had a little clone of himself. 

Then it hit Aphmau, it hit her like a full force brick to the face…. Dmitri was Dante’s kid, it was such an obvious thing that it was looked over. Nicole had red hair, Dante had blue hair, Dmitri has purple hair, Nicole is Arabic with brown skin and Dante is Asain with monolid eyes, Dmitri had light brown skin and monolid eyes. No wonder Nicole was so panicky about Dmitri seeing or meeting Dante, Nicole didn’t want Dante to know about the kid she had with him. 

Aphmau let out a quick breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding, it seemed like an entire entirety that she was staring at the boy and Dante but it was really just a few seconds. Dante was talking about how Dmitri can’t let Nana know that he’s letting him touch these things when Aphmau coughed to alert them of her presence. 

Dante snapped around “Aph! How are you doing today?” He had a soft smile on his face, the smile lines on the corner of his eyes slightly poking out. 

“I’m… I’m good.” She stammered a bit, quite taken aback from the revelation she just had “Uh, Nicole’s here actually.” 

“Huh!?” Dante gasped. 

“Yeah, she’s here and she wanted me to go get Dmitri for her since she… she didn’t want to get him herself.” Aphmau bit softly on the tip of her finger nervously. 

“Why did she want to get him herself?” 

Aphmau shrugged “Beats me.” She knew exactly why “Maybe she’s just… sick?” 

“Bullshit!” Dante snapped “That’s total and complete bullshit! Why the fuck is she hiding like a coward instead of facing that man that’s she’s been ignoring for the past six years for no reason!” Dante continued to mutter to himself angrily as she stormed past Aphmau out of the room and up to the main floor, obviously going over to speak to Nicole. 

Aphmau turned her attention to the very confused little boy holding two rusty but fairly clean, steel Katanas “Uh… your mom is here.” 

“Oh cool! Can I go see her?” 

Aphmau between the door where Dante was just a second ago and the kid in front of her, clicking her tongue as she thought “I-” She sighed “I’m gonna say not right now because I think she might have an argument awaiting her.” 

“Oh…” The kid seemed a bit sad. “Can I still practice with my katanas?” 

Aphmau stared at the katanas for a second before shrugging “Do you what you want but try to not kill yourself, ‘kay?”    

“I promise!” The kid exclaimed eagerly before Aphmau left the room without another glance, not wanting to risk seeing the kid chop his hand off and be scared even more. 

She almost forgot for a quick second that Dante was totally about to yell Nicole’s face off and possibly get into a physical fight with the woman he used to date before Nana. Aphmau groaned quietly to herself before she bounced on her feet to get a bit of momentum and sprinted off back to the docks to find Nicole and Dante, hoping to god that she wouldn’t be left alone with them like she had left Levin.  

She slid to a stop when she reached the part of the docks where Levin, Dante, and Nicole were. Nicole and Dante were already arguing when Aphmau got there and crashed into Levin making a slight diversion in Dante’s and Nicole’s conversation as they looked over to see if the pair were okay but quickly went back to their argument like they were before Aphmau came.

“I’ve been busy with my own life Dante!” Nicole screamed as she stayed in her boat, away from the blue-haired man. 

“Oh really? So hiding away in your boat when you saw me isn’t avoiding me?” Dante asked with anger in his eyes “That’s bullshit Nicole and you know that!” 

“Can’t you just leave!? Leave me alone!” 

“No! I’m not leaving you alone after you left me alone for SEVEN - FUCKING - YEARS Nicole!” Dante screamed. 

  “Why can’t you just listen!? You’ve never listened, not once in your life have you ever listened!” 

“Because I want to know why you left me! Why did you leave me alone? Ignore me? I want to be your friend again Nicole, I want to be someone close to you again but you’re not letting me.” 

“We can’t though! We can never have what we once had! I wish I could never see you again, I wish I could never look into your eyes again, Dante!” Nicole snapped. 

Dante’s breathing was loud and his chest was moving up and down fairly quickly. He still had fire in his eyes but his demeanor had changed and he looked more sad “Nicole please, please just talk to me. You know you have a beautiful son, he is mischievous just like you.” 

Nicole hiccupped from her tears “I hate you.” 

“He’s gonna make a great fighter, maybe even better than me.”

Nicole bit her lip as tears streamed down her face, Dante’s eyes only now getting teary. “You are so unbelievably stupid.” She hissed “Why would I want to look at you when I’ve looked at you for the past six years!” 

“What?” 

Aphmau hadn’t even noticed Katelyn standing right next to her and Levin so when she gasped softly to add to the drama effect Aphmau jumped out of her skin and slapped Katelyn hard. 

“Dear gods Katelyn!” Aphmau whispered, not wanting to ruin the moment “You fucking scared me!” 

“Sorry, just wanted to enjoy the show!” 

“You are so stupid.” 

Aphmau had almost missed Nicole telling Dante the big news of why she was so distraught, she caught just the middle of her sentence. 

“ -DANTE, DMITRI IS YOU FUCKING SON!” The Muslim woman yelled loudly, snapping around to face the father of her child with angry tears streaming down her face. 

Dante stood in there in complete shock, Levin, Aphmau, and Katelyn stood on the sidelines like awkward bystanders.  

“Wait… wait…. How!? When!?” Dante was oblivious. 

Nicole took a minute to try and calm herself down, to take a breath in this very stressful situation that she was in “I… I found out when I left for Scaleswind those years ago…. I found out I was pregnant and I came back three months later to find out you had moved on with Nana and… and she had moved on with you. You guys were friends yeah but… I could see the way you two looked at each other.” 

“Why couldn’t you have told me though? You wouldn’t have been ruining anything, we weren’t even together yet!” 

“How was I supposed to tell you, who had moved on, that you had a child!? That I loved you two!” Nicole gasped and slapped her hand over her mouth. 

Dante was taken aback in confusion “Two?” 

Tears came out of Nicole’s eyes like two waterfalls as her voice broke “I… I loved… I wanted Nana… I loved both… I loved both of you.” 

“Both of us.” Dante repeated “Both of us.” 

Nicole just nodded as she broke down in sobs and Aphmau’s heart couldn’t take it anymore, she raced over to Nicole, jumping in her boat and holding the woman tightly as she slowly collapsed to the ground in sobs. 

Dante just stood there in complete shock at all the new information he had learned “I have a son and you like both of us… I have a son… son…” He kept muttering to himself as Katelyn went over there and grabbed his arm, dragging him away from the sobbing lady to make sure that there weren’t any future conflict but Katelyn knew that more stuff would happen between the ex-couple. They were not just going to leave this whole situation with this confusing ass conversation. 

Katelyn took Dante over near the safehold so he could go back to his house but he just shook his head quickly while tears fell from his eyes and he ripped his arm away from Katelyn’s grip and sprinted off into the abandoned village of Phoenix Drop. Aphmau stayed with Nicole till she practically begged for the woman to leave her alone, Aphmau didn’t want to leave Nicole until she was totally ready to be alone because she didn’t just want to leave her in this sad sobbing mess. Aphmau took Levin and walked away from the docks, heading into the middle of the safehold where Katelyn stood there in complete confusion as she stared at the opened gates of the safehold. 

Aphmau assumed that she had been there for a minute or two because Aphmau didn’t leave until Katelyn and Dante were totally gone from her sight and then she stayed a little while longer. 

Levin said that he appreciated his mom for understanding that he wanted to call her ‘Aphmau’ now before saying his goodbyes and parting ways with the woman who stood at Katelyn’s side, wondering what the meif’wa cursed woman was doing. 

“What are you doing?” Aphmau asked. 

“I don’t know,” Katelyn said quietly. 

“That was something to experience, huh?” 

“Yeah, I honestly don’t know what just happened. Dante just kinda left without a word.” 

“Where he’d go?” 

Katelyn shrugged “Not sure.” 

The two stood there in silence, enjoying the other's company as they stared at the gates of the safehold in curiosity. It was rare that Aphmau just froze voluntarily, she was always moving, she always had to move because if she didn’t something bad would happen. Aphmau wasn’t exactly sure what type of bad thing would happen but something bad would happen so while she stood in the middle of the safehold with Katelyn she had an underlying panic as she didn’t know what was going to happen in this time period of pausing. 

Everything was quiet besides Aphmau and Katelyn’s breathing, Aphmau had never found breathing so beautiful until she looked at Katelyn and found her lips slightly parted and her chest moving up and down as she exhaled and inhaled slowly. Katelyn stood in a trance of the path in front of her that Dante had run off on while Aphmau stood in a trance of Katelyn’s beauty that she had never gotten to appreciate although they had been friends for a while. 

Aphmau finally found the courage to speak up after a few minutes of standing still and doing nothing “Do you think I should go chase after Dante? See if he’s okay?” 

Katelyn shook her head “Nah, this is something that they have to settle between themselves without any outsiders help.” 

“But… I’m his friend… shouldn’t I at least be there for him?” 

“If you get involved it will only make things more complicated than they already are. I was once you in this situation between my two friends when I was younger, I stayed out of it and now they’re married… well I hope they’re still married.” Katelyn looked down in sadness, it sucked whenever reality hit for the time jump group and they realized that things that happened before the time jump most definitely changed after. 

“I bet they're still married.” 

“Yeah.” 

They went silent, the silence was so strange for Aphmau to experience. 

“I feel like I should go after Dante, help him with this whole thing.” 

“But, isn’t that more of a Lord situation? To settle out disputes?” 

Aphmau thought for a second, she didn’t want to be taking over Levin’s job and she had already done enough for them so maybe Levin did need to settle this on his own. She quickly changed her mind and shook her head “Nope, this is more of a friend matter than a village matter. Dante is my friend and so I need to help him.” 

Katelyn shrugged “Go wild girl, you’re only asking for drama.” 

“And you’re only asking to be boring.” 

“I’d rather be boring than risk a friendship.” Katelyn answered as she turned on her heels in the direction of the tree “I’ll see you when your ass gets kicked.” 

Aphmau scoffed at the woman and made her way out of the safehold, taking herself out of this weird silent trance that she was in that felt weird but also felt pretty nice for once. She didn’t know exactly where Dante was so she scoured most of the village for Dante until she found him in one of the abandoned guard towers that were still slightly standing so it wasn’t totally unsafe to go in. She had found him because she quickly went in to check if he was there and the sound of faint sniffling perked her senses. 

She found Dante on the second floor after she did some risky climbing to get there. He was semi-curled up and sitting next to a wooden pillar with an engraving on it that Aphmau couldn’t read from the terrible handiwork. 

“Dante?” She said in a whisper, a very soft whisper. 

Dante turned his head “Oh… hey Aph.” He said in a whisper “What are you doing here?” 

Aphmau went over and sat next to the distraught man “Wanted to comfort my friend, wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

“But… aren’t I a bad person? I toyed with the emotions of two of my friends.” Dante sniffled. 

“Toyed? I wouldn’t say ‘toyed’, you really didn’t do anything. From what I hear Nicole had left you alone and you started obtaining feelings for Nana, that’s not toying with that’s just moving on.” 

“But doesn’t it sound like I used them for comfort?” 

“Did you?” Aphmau asked, she was taking it slow with Dante because she knew that he was going through something right now and probably didn’t want to deal with another person who he cared deeply for yelling at him. 

Dante took a minute to answer, contemplating his morals “I think… maybe in the beginning but then I… I started actually like them. They were there for me when Nicole wasn’t, and I mean I had small feelings for Nana in the beginning of us meeting so I bet our relationship would’ve happened one way or another.”

“So It went, Nana, Nicole, Nana?” 

Dante nodded “I think I liked both of them at the same time, I went for Nicole because I thought I had the most realistic chance with her after I figured that me and Nana wouldn’t mash with our different lifestyles. Deep down I’m pretty sure I still had feelings for Nana but she had left and there was no real way of seeing if I really did so I stayed with the person who made me happy.” 

“Why did you guys break up?” 

Dante sucked in a shaky breath “She left.” He shrugged “Her dad came, said they were at war with a rival village and she was needed. I didn’t want to leave Phoenix Drop but I also didn’t want her to leave, when I told her this I just… snapped. I told her I didn’t care if she left, that she could go fuck herself because she didn’t care about me and wanted, she basically said the same thing to me. I gave her a black eye and she gave me a busted lip… that day we both yelled at each other in anger that we never loved each other. If I’m being, I’d never been more in love with her that day and I honest to god had no idea why I snapped like that… maybe I have anger issues.”

“Possibly.” Aphmau didn’t have much to add to the conversation and she didn’t want to make it any worse than it already was. 

“Six years,” Dante said out of the blues after a few minutes of silence. 

“What?” 

“I wasn’t in my son’s life for six fucking years.” 

Aphmau wanted to say that she hadn’t seen both of her sons for fifteen years and hadn’t seen even a second of them growing up but she knew that it would be rude and definitely self-centered if she did. All she did was hug Dante tightly and listen to him as he vented about Nicole and how he in a way, abandoned his son. 

Out of nowhere the sound of the wood creaking alerted Aphmau to tear her attention from the crying Dante to the entrance of which she came out of a while ago and found Dante. The tower creaked on its own but this sounded more ‘man made’. 

Aphmau immediately knew who it was when she saw the tiniest bit of red fabric peeking out of the entrance hole. Nicole’s head popped up a second later with a look of worry all over her face despite looking like she had been crying for the past century. 

“I should leave,” Aphmau whispered to Dante when he noticed Nicole there. 

“No,” Dante answered. 

Aphmau wanted to leave, really badly but she sat on the floor still as Dante stood up to meet with Nicole who stared at the man with a blank but worried face. 

The ex-couple stood in the broken-down guard town in silence as Aphmau sat on the floor as an awkward bystander. The tension between them was insane, they wanted to reach out to each other, hug each other but they just couldn’t… they couldn’t for different reasons or the same reasons… Aphmau wasn’t sure. Aphmau was good at knowing people’s emotions, she was an empath, but she couldn’t always tell people’s exact emotions especially when she was in this very weird and confusing time in her life. Confusing… that was the first time she had ever said that her life was confusing even after jumping through time fifteen years into the future… she never considered her life ‘confusing’. Confusing was also a good word to use with her feelings, she wasn’t sure if she was feeling every emotion at once or no emotion at all, would she ever find out? Who knew, not her. 

Aphmau’s thoughts were cut short by Nicole speaking up. 

“I never wanted to leave you.” She had heard their conversation “I just didn’t want you to be torn about my be and Phoenix Drop.” 

“You should’ve… you should’ve convinced me to leave Phoenix Drop and come with you.” Dante said softly, his voice was hoarse from the crying “I would’ve left in a heartbeat.” 

“No you wouldn’t have… don’t lie to yourself, Dante.” Nicole said stubbornly “I don’t get why you moved on though.” 

Dante shrugged “I had liked Nana as well and when you were gone when you left me for your village she was there. My feelings for her slowly came back and soon enough I was… I was with her.” 

“I didn’t tell you about Dmitri because I didn’t want to ruin your chance with Nana, they're a sweet person.” A small smile crept up on Nicole’s face “You know it’s funny, you liked me and Nana at the same time and I liked you and Nana at the same time.” 

Dante let out a small laugh “Why didn’t we just all get together?” 

Nicole's eyes snapped wide “Do you-?” 

Dante got where she was going with this “I mean-” 

“Cause I do.” 

“You do?”

“Yeah, for a while now.” 

“I mean it’s always been there for me.” 

“So would you?” 

“If Nana is up to it.” 

“Would you mind?” 

“Not really… not that I would think.” 

“Holy shit!” Aphmau snapped “Where is this conversation going!? One second you guys are crying in each other’s arms and the next you guys are thinking of having a threesome, make up your mind!” 

“Aphmau!” Nicole yelled at her as her and Dante’s faces when bright red. 

“I mean am I wrong!? Dear Irene, settle out your problems before you guys discuss what you’re gonna do in the bedroom.” 

Dante bit his lip “Okay, okay I’m sorry for snapping at you and saying I didn’t care and that I didn’t love you, I was just mad for some reason. I do love you, I have loved you, I wish I was there for Dmitri and I feel terrible that I wasn’t. I moved on because I also like Nana and she was the light in the darkness that you had left.” 

Nicole giggled “Understandable. I also didn’t mean to say those mean things about you and to you, I was just mad at the whole situation and I didn’t want to leave you but I also didn’t want you to be torn apart by two things you care about deeply. I ignored you because I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t want to risk anything which is unlike me but I just wanted to stay safe in this situation.” 

“Understandable as well.” Dante laughed. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes “Okay now you guys can fuck, can I at least get out of the tower first?” 

“Aphmau!” 

“What the fuck.” Dante laughed and fell to his knees as he gasped for air from how hard he was laughing. 

“What is going on!?” A high-pitched voice asked from the entrance hole making everyone freeze up in fear. 

Nana poked their head out of the hole and stared at everyone in the tower with confusion. 

Aphmau’s groan turned into a soft laugh as she put her head in her hands in shame of what was going on. Dante was laughing too hard to explain anything so Nicole was the one to explain what had just happened with a bright red face.

“Oh, I knew Nicole was pregnant and in love with Dante.” 

“ WHAT!? ” Everyone screamed and the entire mood of the room changed. Dante got off his hands and knees to stand up straight with a face of shock staring into his partner’s eyes, Nicole stood there with her mouth agape and fear in her eyes, and Aphmau sat there on the floor with her mouth agape and a slight smile on her face. 

This is too good to be true holy shit Aphmau thought as the scene laid out in front of her like some sort of play. 

“Are you kidding me?” The meif’wa asked “I just didn’t think that baby bump was from Dante since you had been gone for a while. When I saw Dimitri and found out his age I put two and two together.” 

“I wanted to tell you but-” 

“Don’t worry! I'm just glad that they know now, they wouldn’t have been mad even if you did tell Dante all those years ago. I know that Dante loves me and Itsuki… that’s all that matters.” 

“So… you guys gonna tell them or what?” Aphmau asked Dante and Nicole with a smug smile. 

Nicole stared at her with deadly intentions while Dante just snorted out a laugh “Uh… honey, me and Nicole were thinking about… things and realized that we still sorta kinda like each other.” 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, but we obviously wouldn’t act on those small feelings without your permission.” Dante held his partner’s hand. 

“Do you still love me?” 

“Of course honey, yes, yes! I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving you, you are the best thing to happen in my life but… I also might like Nicole.” Dante rubbed his partner’s hand with his thumbs “If you are uncomfortable with us possibly acting on our feelings I would never do it, I would never want you to feel uncomfortable.” 

“Like a polyamorous relationship?” Nana asked. 

“I guess.” 

Nana stood in thought for a moment, wondering the pros and cons of this type of relationship, wondering how they’ll make it work, wondering how the relationship will work in general “I could work on it, see how it feels to be in that type of relationship. I don't exactly have feelings for Nicole~Chan but that could change over time if the we get closer and things like that.” 

Aphmau realized her job was done and while Nana, Dante, and Nicole were all hugging and talking out their feelings Aphmau snuck away to not intrude anymore on their conversation. Aphmau had felt semi-uncomfortable being there in the first place while they talked about everything so it was a relief when she hopped off the staircase onto the nature-filled wooden floor. As she focused her attention on what was in front of her she jumped when Belladonna came into her view out of nowhere. 

Belladonna softly laughed at the woman’s jumpiness and apologized for scaring her. Belladonna asked the woman to walk with her and Aphmau gladly accepted, she had nothing else to do today so why not walk with Belladonna who she hadn’t talked to a lot since she got back from the Irene Dimension. They mostly walked in silence as they wandered the abandoned village mindlessly with the rare occasion of small talk about boring things like the weather.

Belladonna had stopped right in front of the wall that the safehold had seriously been improving, Aphmau was more than proud of everyone there. Aphmau stopped at the kharagosa’s side and turned her head towards the much taller woman. Aphmau noticed the scar on the woman’s face, it was such a small detail that Aphmau looked over it a lot but when you got to just stare in silence at the woman you started to notice it and how it deformed her face a bit. The wedding ring on Belladonna’s left hand glimmered without the sun casting light on it, the love that she had between Zoey was so beautiful that it was hard to imagine Zoey and the Titan not being together. 

Belladonna turned around and sat on the ground with her back facing the wall and leaning her head back on the stone wall, Aphmau followed in suit and sat on the cold grassy floor but instead sat in front of the woman instead of at her side. 

“How are you feeling?” Belladonna asked, she sounded like a mother. 

Aphmau didn’t want to lie to Belladonna, she would probably find out anyway if she did “Weird, I got hit with this really weird attitude today where I kinda just… I don't care.” 

“Hm, you think it might be because of the PTSD?” 

Aphmau shrugged “Possibly, the only thing that my PTSD has really affected is my sleep so maybe.” 

“Hm…” She went silent for a minute, Aphmau could hear the rustle of the trees and the small chirping of the wildlife in Belladonna’s talking absence. “You wanna leave here and go find somewhere to make the home of the Phoenix Alliance, huh?” 

“Yeah, I think it would do a lot of good but obviously as you are the alliance leader I wouldn’t confirm anything without your permission.” 

The corner of Belladonna’s mouth curled up “Hm, I like that though, I think it could do a lot of good as well.” 

A smile was brought to Aphmau’s face “Good! I’m just not sure when we should leave, I don’t want to leave Levin or Malachi but I also don’t want to stay here and ‘baby them’.” She sighed “I just… very conflicted.” 

“It’s fine, you don’t have to stress about it. If we leave, Levin and Malachi will be able to not feel as if they are depending on you and for you, we can start figuring out what you are exactly about Irene and you can start restarting your life after the time jump.” Belladonna explained, “I think the best thing for us to do honestly is to leave, leave to somewhere.” 

“But when?” 

Belladonna shrugged “Whenever a good time for departure arises, we should obviously start planning now and then get all our supplies so I’m thinking we should be ready in a few days but if you want to wait a little longer to spend time with everyone fine. I’ve spent fifteen years with these fuckers all I need to do is hang out with Zoey and I’m good.”  

Aphmau laughed “I think maybe a week? Would a week be good?” 

“A week sounds fine.” 

The two went silent, they didn’t need to end their conversation in the normal way they just both shut up and laid on the ground and let the sounds of nature absorb them. Aphmau didn’t know if Belladonna was doing this with her so she didn’t feel alone or she as well had these strange feelings that Aphmau was having but Aphmau didn’t care because the only thing on her mind was the sound of nature moving through one ear and out the other. She had to turn to her side since she was hurting her cat tail that was being pressed against the hard floor, sometimes she had totally forgotten that Laurance, her, and Katelyn all had meif’wa features now because they were such small changes in her life that she honestly wouldn’t mind staying like this since it didn’t change anything within her.

Chapter Text

Like Aphmau and Belladonna planned, they prepared all their stuff in a few days and then said their goodbyes for the last few days until the end of the week where they got on their boat and got ready to sail off. 

She and Laurance spoke to Zoey about the portal, they feared that if they tried to get Garroth out of the Irene Dimension Zane would just follow them, and then the world would have to deal with the malicious man that was Zane Ro’meave. They already had to deal with the fear of Zenix resurrecting the Shadow Lord and the fact that the ‘King’ that Mikai was talking about when they first met so they didn’t think that it would be a good idea to bring Zane into the fray. As they were finishing everything that they needed off while on the boat Zoey came by and told them that she caved and handed Aphmau a notebook that included all her notes on her trials and errors while trying to open the portal. She highly doubted that they were going to be able to open the portal without sacrificing some type of life force but she didn’t want to see Aphmau so sad about not being able to open the portal. 

Aphmau also briefly talked to Laurance about what she told Garroth about where she and Laurance were at the moment, he was happy that she told Garroth so he wasn’t completely in the dark. That’s really where they left it, they were ready to leave and the only person that Aphmau had to say goodbye to was Levin and Malachi, she had already said goodbye to Emmalyn and Kenmur since they weren’t coming with them and rather staying at Phoenix Drop to do their own things. Dua and Amada were also coming along since they were Aphmau’s dogs and she wanted to bring them to her possible new home. 

Levin and Malachi pulled away after hugging Aphmau for what seemed like forever. 

“ I’m gonna miss you .” Malachi signed “ But I know you’ll do great things .” 

Aphmau smiled softly “I’ll miss you too, and thank you. I know that you two will do great things with Phoenix Drop.” She put her hand on the sides of Levin and Malachi’s faces “You guys are the best lords I have seen in a long time.” 

“Thank you, mom, please be safe on your trip.” 

“I will, I want you two to be safe as well.”

“ We will. ” 

“I promise we will be the safest people ever.” 

Aphmau laughed softly, her laugh fading into a soft smile as her heart clenched from how much she would miss Levin and Malachi. She hugged the boys one more time before saying her goodbyes and leaving to go on the boat with everyone else that was coming with her. Her eyes were teary and her heart hurt as she got into the cabin below and closed the room that she had chosen, she was leaving her boys that she had cared for so badly. She tried to look strong, act like everything was fine but as soon as Belladonna started quietly crying because she was going to miss Zoey Aphmau broke and cried with the woman, and soon everyone was crying as they sailed away. The only people who weren’t crying were Katelyn and Aaron for they had no one to miss or to love, They sat in the corner awkwardly while talking to each other.

They sailed off into the horizon, leaving all their worries behind and hopefully starting anew. Aphmau hoped that she would actually keep her ‘promise’ and not show up at Phoenix Drop a week after leaving, she knew deep down that she wouldn’t be able to fulfill it though but she decided that she would cross that bridge when they got to it. She had no idea how long they were going to be out on the sea for but since Levin and Malachi hadn’t prepared them for a long trip Aphmau hoped they wouldn’t be out for long. Belladonna’s basic plan was to sail out for a few days while looking for a nice place to settle and once they found a place suiting the vision Belladonna had they would stop there and stay there for hopefully forever… but that last part most likely wasn’t going to happen seeing Aphmau’s recent track record with leaving. 

Kitten was always the designated driver of the ship, but Laurance got to control the ship for a few minutes and almost got them killed which very quickly got them out of their very sad depressing moment that they were in. After a few moments of awkward silence, they all started cracking jokes and talking like normal friends who totally weren’t all traumatized at one or more point in their lives. Most if not all the jokes were about Laurance’s terrible driving skills which he got very defensive of which only made Aphmau poke fun at him harder, the funniest part to Aphmau was that sometime during the night when everyone was lightly drinking the conversation/jokes got highly sexual and everyone started laughing even more and were making the funniest sexual jokes that Aphmau would forever remember. 

During their first entire day at sea, Katelyn had mentioned how some of her clothes went missing and how she heard unusual creeks in the wood at night, Aaron and Aphmau raced around the ship to make sure that no kids were stowed on board and luckily found no kids. They brushed it off by saying that Katelyn probably misplaced some clothes and that the creeks were just the ship being a ship that made noises. They joked that it was a ghost coming their way to terrorize them which didn’t sit well with Laurance since he was deathly paranoid of somehow summoning a Shadow Soul so they quickly dropped the joke. 

During their entire second day at sea, Aphmau had started reading the notebook that Zoey had written during her trials on trying to open the portal that in a way saved Aphmau and her friends but most likely getting murdered by Zane.  That was all Aphmau did for the day, read, everyone else didn’t do much either. It was a hot sunny day and sweat was pouring out of everyone which in result made everyone very miserable and it would be valid that they didn’t want to do anything. 

The third day was somewhat like the first but with the first half of the day being made up of light drinking and hilarious bits and jokes that made everyone rolling on the floor at the end of it all. It was also the day that everything went wrong sadly, Aphmau was trying to calm herself and get down from her laughing high, and reading during her night shift of making sure no pirates came aboard and killed everyone seemed to be the only way to do it. Everyone was asleep and the only light she had was the full moon and the stars and the only sounds she heard were the creaking of the ship and the waves crashing against the ship, it was peaceful as her head buzzed and she barely understood any of the words she was reading. She would have to read it again some other day because right now was not the time to go all in to this and decipher every small detail in this heavily detailed book. 

Her brain seemed to only get fuzzier as she read on but she continued to read and continued to try and understand everything that was in this book. The part that she was reading read: 

“Tonight is the night where I find out if all my hard work will pay off. I went through a whole month of curating these items into essences so they would be potent enough to open the realm barrier. My only fear is that if this backfires… I will die - that’s a risk I’m willing to take, not just for Aphmau but for Levin and Malachi as well. I still remember the day that Belladonna told me what had happened, I could even sense the aura from where they vanished after Bella showed me. I don’t know where they are but I know that if I keep this up… I’ll find out. To whoever finds this book, if you find this without me giving it to you then I have most likely passed but, if the words ‘success’ is at the end then these methods have proven viable. Just remember, as I had mentioned before… this method is only possible with the ingredients of eternal life. You must recognize that by doing this, you give that up and even if you are not successful you can still lose that and more. Be careful of what you wish for - Zoey Taltatheil Luke.” 

Aphmau flipped the page, the ink on this page was more smudge and the handwriting was more messy, like the person writing the book was excited. She continued to read: 

“My methods have proven successful ! However, I can feel the life slowly fade from my body. It is not a nice feeling at all. I have about seventy more years to live… what an experience this has been.” 

She stared at the last page for a moment, a moment that felt entirely too long but for some reason, she couldn’t tear her eyes off the page. There was literally no way that they could reopen the portal without someone possibly dying or giving up their immortality like Zoey… someone was gonna die if they opened the portal no matter what they did. She knew that Kitten and Belladonna were sweet and would want to help them like this but they couldn’t… it was most likely against the rules of the universe to do something major that could affect the future or affect the ‘timeline’ that they were in. Also, Aphmau didn’t think that even if they did something major to the ‘timeline’, like how Kitten kicked Belladonna out of the rip to the Irene Dimension, Aphmau was confident that Belladonna and Kitten wouldn’t want to give up their immortality that being a Titan granted them. 

“Aphmau?” Her name was whispered into the darkness. 

She flinched and swung her legs off the wheel of the ship and looked around in the darkness under the moonlight “Hello?” She asked, fear wrapping itself in her voice. 

Silence incased the ship as Aphmau’s anxiety grew, awaiting the worse to come out of something saying her name. She slowly lowered the finished notebook down on the ground before standing up out of the chair she was in, eyes wide as she jerked her head at any tiny sound she heard.

Laurance’s cat ears popped out of nowhere which were quickly followed by Laurance’s head but Aphmau had already screamed out of the suddenness of the cat ears popping up that she didn’t even notice it was Laurance. 

“Oh, my Irene Aph!” Laurance jumped when Aphmau screamed but immediately apologized “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” Laurance hugged Aphmau tightly as she softly hyperventilated. 

“Why would you do that!” She screamed and slapped his arm, pushing him away just enough to look at him better “Why did you think that was a good idea!?” 

“I’m sorry! I really am! I didn’t think I was gonna scare you. I'm sorry, it was dark and I was just trying to get to the helm. I'm so sorry!” He apologized over and over again until Aphmau had to intervene because they were getting nowhere with this. 

“It’s fine! Just- dear gods- don’t ever do that again, you scared the living shit out of me!” Aphmau ran her fingers through her hair as she let out a soft laugh “I mean like seriously dude!” 

“I’m sorry.” He laughed “I just wanted to tell you that your shift for Nightwatch is overdue and it was actually my time to watch like twenty minutes ago.” 

“Oh, shit really? My head feels fuzzy and I’ve just been reading the book that Zoey gave me.” She picked the notebook off of the floor next to the chair she was on “These notes are just so insane and it tells so much yet so little about to open the Irene portal. I’ll have to go over it again since I’m pretty buzzed right now and can’t comprehend things correctly but basically the gist of it is that someone is gonna die if we do this. Someone needs to sacrifice themself.” 

“Seriously? I know that Zoey really didn’t want us trying it because there was a high probability that it could kill us but there seriously isn’t any other way?” Laurance asked, eyebrows furrowing in worry. 

Aphmau nodded “Deadly serious. I guess since Irene was the only one that was allowed and suppose to open it you literally have to sacrifice yourself if you're gonna open it yourself.” Aphmau sighed “And I wouldn’t be a skeptic of it either, I mean I might be part Irene or something that stupid portal ripped me apart!” She shrugged her right shoulder, motioning towards the right side of her body where her body was severely burned from trying to open the portal.

“I wish I could sacrifice my immortality like Zoey but… you know.” 

“Yeah, I do.” She agreed quietly “This just sucks so much like I wish we could just open it and get Garroth out without having to worry about this type of shit.” 

“Yeah.” Laurance ran his fingers through his hair and averted eye contact with Aphmau “So you should get some rest now, I mean you’ve been up for a while now.” 

Aphmau nodded “That sounds like a good idea…. How have… how have you been doing?” She asked awkwardly. 

“Oh, I'm doing, meh. Don’t really want to get into it right now, not the best time.” 

“Yeah, that’s… understandable.” 

The two stood there in awkward silence as the ship rocked side to side while the soft breeze moved the ship in a random direction where they hoped to find new land. 

Aphmau let out a sigh to break the painful silence “I’m gonna… I’m gonna go now-” Aphmau wasn’t able to finish her sentence since a loud crack of thunder rang throughout the ocean and lightning almost hit their ship. Aphmau and Laurance flinched at the loud sound and their eyes immediately became fixated on the large gray cloud ahead of them that was slowly forming into some type of tornado that was most definitely heading their way. 

The awkwardness that encased both Laurance and Aphmau was now replaced with adrenaline as their fighting instincts kicked in and they immediately began trying to get safe and out of the way of the tornado. Aphmau ran to the wheel of the ship and started redirecting it as Laurance ran down to the lower cabinet of the ship to warn everyone of what was happening upon the deck. Belladonna and Kitten were the most shocked and scared out of the group, everyone else was of course very scared that they were going to be going headfirst into a tornado but Kitten and Belladonna were the jumpiest and their vibes were all messed up. The two Titans kept mumbling to one another with wide eyes and shaking hands, it looked like the two were between being very angry and yelling at each other or being very scared and crying with each other. 

Belladonna disappeared below the ship with Kitten and Katelyn helped out with trying to steer the ship. Laurance and Aaron were making sure that the ship stayed intact as the waves crashed harder and harder against the ship, slowly breaking down the wood that the ship was made out of. Then the rain came and all hell broke loose. 

The entire ship was slippery from the rain and bodies were sliding everywhere with the harsh conditions. Aphmau had fallen into the side barriers over six times before she finally got her footing and stood right in front of the ship wheel, Katelyn and Kitten were having an even harder time but Aphmau sadly couldn’t help them because she had bigger problems to deal with, the tornado was following them . Every time the ship turned the tornado turned with it, it was actively trying to get them and it was terrifying. The rain wasn’t something calm that you would wish for when you were lonely - no - this rain was something murderous like it had a vengeance against everyone on this ship. The thunder and lightning wasn’t helping either inching closer and closer to the ship, catching a small part of the ship on fire only for it to be put out immediately with the rain. Katelyn was practically choking on the rain as it poured down on them, it just wouldn’t stop and every time she gasped to take a breath more rain would fill her mouth and the fact that her wet hair would get caught in her throat as well wasn’t helping her case. Laurance struggled to stay on two feet and the next time that Aphmau looked over to see him and Aaron working he was pushed up against the barrier of the ship on the floor with a face of pain and anguish as Aaron tried pulling him upwards. The rain slapped everyone in the face and about every twenty seconds a gigantic wave would hit everyone like a brick to the face and everyone on the top deck would be knocked away and they would have to reset all their hard work of getting stable. They were all bleeding in one way or another, from getting hit by the random ocean objects, from getting thrashed around like a ragdoll, or just the rain slowly turning into ice from the harsh condition and hitting them with the force of a hundred men. 

Blood was starting to mix with water as the minutes went on, as the rain poured down, and as the tornado got faster. Aphmau’s arms were starting to hurt and she knew that she wasn’t going to be able to control the ship wheel any longer without her passing out from all the blood she was losing. Kitten had made her way down to the main deck and was now helping Laurance and Aaron secure everything on the boat and make sure nothing caught on fire or broke in half. Katelyn was still by Aphmau’s side and was still trying to help her control the ship, pressing herself against Aphmau’s back and putting her hands on her to copy her movements but to just add a little more strength. Her hands were slippery with water and blood and she couldn’t get her stance entirely stable but neither could Aphmau or anyone else on the ship. 

The only thing Aphmau could hear besides the waves was her heart pounding in her ears, getting louder and louder as her fear grew, as the threat of death became more plausible, and as the amount of blood seeping out of her body got larger.  

And then Aphmau blacked out.

She woke up to bright light and a splitting headache, she was laying down on some random couch and had a warm blanket over her but that didn’t stop her body from immediately getting goosebumps as soon as she sat up, and she had two dogs sleeping in the space where her legs bent and squeezed behind her back. The cold air tickled her body and she shivered, not helping her headache at all. She sat up, careful to not disturb the dogs, and looked around as she softly touched the main point of irritation on her head, on the side of her head her fingers grazed against crusty blood and a large bump with what felt like a wire going in and out of her skin… she had stitches. Around her were broken pieces of furniture, items were thrown around the deck, other items were charred to a crisp, and some of the ship itself had massive holes and burn marks on it. The land outside of the ship was covered in a thick blanket of snow, everything was covered in white, the trees, the bushes, everything. It was like Aphmau hadn’t woken up yet and she was still in some dreamland. The worst thing about this strange dreamland was that everything was so cold . She was afraid to move and have more skin exposed for the cold wind to freeze and make her get even more goosebumps than she had before. She crossed her arms and rubbed them with her hands to try and get even the faintest feeling of being warm as the cold air consumed her in this strange land. There was only one time she had been in a place cold as this, back when she had to save Logan from the Ventos fortes Tribe… back when she first met Dante. She forgot the feeling of shock when you could see your breath in the cold air when you sighed or just talked. 

She looked around one more time, to make sure that everything was real and look at the people around her as well. Aaron, Laurance, and Belladonna were all huddled together with angry expressions like they were arguing, about what? Aphmau had no idea, she hadn’t focused enough to listen in on their conversation. Katelyn was outside of the ship, barely in Aphmau’s view, she was holding a map in her hand and trying to read it while the cold wind slapped hard against her face making it hard to read. Kitten actually appeared right behind Aphmau and scared her half to death but she was the one to explain everything to Aphmau so she couldn’t be too mad. 

According to Kitten, after Aphmau had been knocked out things just went all to hell. Aaron almost got impaled like three times, Katelyn’s entire hand cut open when she went to grab something to stabilize herself and ended up grabbing something that just obliterated her hand but luckily it was still attached to her wrist just… very fucked up, Laurance had passed out as well when a large stray pieces of wood flew right into the man’s shoulder and he passed out from blood loss, Kitten had taken steer of the ship after Aphmau had passed out and Katelyn’s hand got fucked up and the meif’wa almost got decapitated when a large wave crashed against them and pieces of the ship went flying and one of them almost sliced right through Kitten’s head but she just barely dodged it… and then they crashed on this land that popped out of nowhere not even a minutes later. Belladonna was the only one that wasn’t injured at all during the entire fiasco, well Belladonna, two little kids that had snuck onto the ship, and the two dogs sleeping squeeze against Aphmau’s body. Itsuki and Dimtri had snuck onto their ship and were hiding in the barrels in the very back of the ship where there was a low probability of anyone finding them… Belladonna was the only one to know that they were on the ship since she was the Titan of present time. When the storm started Belladonna was the one to protect the kids and keep them safe, alongside the dogs who Belladonna knew Aphmau would sob over if they were hurt in even the slightest. 

The weirdest part of this whole situation and the most terrifying in Kitten and Belladonna’s opinion is that the storm wasn’t supposed to happen, Kitten never saw a storm coming at them in the future and Belladonna never saw a storm forming when they were at sea. That storm wasn’t supposed to be there. A more terrifying thing for both Belladonna and Kitten was that their powers weren’t working, specifically, their time powers weren’t working, the ones that gave Kitten the ability to see into the future and the ones that gave Belladonna to see everything that was happening at present they were in. This meant that something possibly stronger than the first beings of the universe was blocking Kitten and Belladonna’s powers or something of their same kind was blocking their powers, either way, something was blocking their powers and that wasn’t good… at all. 

Katelyn grumbled as she stomped on the ship and gasped when she noticed Aphmau was awake and went in for a dive to hug the injured woman. 

“Oh, dear gods I thought you had died!” Katelyn hugged the woman tightly making her slightly wince in pain from all her muscles being very sore. 

Katelyn’s words alerted everyone to turn towards Aphmau on the couch, they gasped and did the same as Katelyn, diving toward compasses the woman, hugging her tightly, and thanking the gods that Aphmau wasn’t dead. 

Aphmau thanked them for their sincerity and asked them what was going on as she just woke up. “I have no idea what happened or what is happening.” 

“Well, this island isn’t mapped anywhere on the map that we have which basically means we’re in the middle of nowhere,” Katelyn said with frustration in her voice. 

“Well, what about compasses? Can we figure out where we went with a compass?” Aphmau asked. 

“Already tried.” Aaron deadpanned “We found two, one of them was smashed and the other one was busted. It just kept… going insane.” 

Belladonna snapped her head towards Aaron “You didn’t tell me that.” 

“Didn’t think it was important.” 

“Didn’t- WHAT!?” 

At that moment right as Belladonna was going to go off on Aaron two little kids ran out of somewhere in the boat spooking all the adults who had totally forgotten that there were children on the boat. 

Dimitri slid to a stop in front of the adults and grabbed Itsuki as she almost toppled over when she tried to copy her older half-brother. 

Laurance lightly slapped Belladonna’s arm “Did you leave them alone!?” 

“Well, you forgot that I left them alone!” She hissed back at the Shadow Knight. 

“You know your mom is gonna kill you right?” Aphmau asked the little boy “Like she’s actually going to murder you, same for you as well Itsuki !” 

“What’s going on with Nicole, Nana, and Dante by the way?” Katelyn asked, “Like are they together or?” 

“Ew!” Itsuki gagged “Why would my mom and dad be with Miss. Nicole~Sama? They are married and being married is supposed to be between two people, not three !” 

“Aren’t you like six?” Laurance asked. 

“So no one told you guys?” Aaron asked, “Did any of your parents tell you anything about what’s happening with your family?” 

“Well my mom told me something about Mr. Dante but I kinda forgot what she said so… no.” Dimitri shrugged.  

The adults looked awkwardly between each other as the children looked at them like they were crazy, which Aphmau wouldn’t put past them, they all looked pretty deranged with their injuries. 

“I don’t think it’s our place to say anything.” Aaron wheezed softly. 

“Say what?” Dmitri asked. 

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” Belladonna snapped. 

“Ouch, you’re mean you know that right?” The little boy asked the kharagosa. 

“I don’t work well with children.” 

“Didn’t you say that you wanted-” 

“Shut up.” Belladonna cut her sister off before she could say anything more. 

Katelyn clicked her tongue to cut the awkward silence that consumed the ship and its passengers. 

“So,” Katelyn drew out and somewhat snapped her head to the children “you do know that we’re lost right now?” She asked. 

“I heard Belladonna~Sama talking about it earlier!” Itsuki giggled “We know!” 

“Aren’t you a smart-ass?” Katelyn asked which resulted in Laurance slapping her shoulder and her yelping in pain “What the fuck dude!?” 

“You don’t call a kid a smart-ass!” 

“Well if I see a smart-ass I’m gonna call it what it is!” She argued. 

“What’s a smart-ass?” Itsuki asked, half the adults on the ship barked out with laughter while the other half were frozen in bewilderment that this sweet little meif’wa girl just cussed right in front of them. 

“My mom calls me that sometimes,” Dimitri added. 

“I wouldn’t blame her!” Kitten said through her laughter.

Dimitri gasped and stomped his foot on the ground, crossing his arms as he pouted “That’s not nice! None of you are nice!” Dimitri took Itsuki’s hand while everyone was still laughing “We’re gonna go on an adventure now since you guys are mean!” 

Before anyone got to object Dimitri and Itsuki sprinted off the boat and into the uncharted lands making everyone jump from how fast everything was happening. Kitten jumped over both Aphmau and the couch and ran after the two children, Aphmau and Laurance following behind her. The dogs had just been woken up and did not look like they wanted anything to do with the chase. The world around Aphmau spun as she ran side by side with Laurance, she had just woken up from being hit in the head and bleeding out, she was in no shape to start sprinting into the cold winter land but she did it anyway. 

She had never focused on Laurance or Katelyn when she woke up but as she ran on Laurance’s right she could see how their bandages wrapped all over the man’s shoulder restricting him from moving his arm a bunch. The bandages were lightly stained with red from the blood seeping from his body into the white bandages, hopefully, this island or they themselves had some more medical supplies that would be able to clean them up better, Aphmau knew that because of the shipwreck they definitely didn’t have all of their medical supplies. 

The snow was hard to run against, every step she took she was only brought more down to the ground. Her legs were getting colder and colder as she kept running, the snow was working against the group as they tried to cash after the children who for some reason didn’t want adult supervision at all. Their outfits were not made for the cold conditions and it didn’t help how Aphmau still had a light layer of water on her making her even colder. 

Both her and Laurance ran into Kitten’s back as she unexpectedly stopped in the middle of their path. Aphmau almost fell in the snow but Laurance quickly grabbed her, hurting his shoulder in the process but he bit it back as he pulled Aphmau upwards to get her standing up straight. She collected herself and apologized to Laurance quietly for making him hurt his shoulder even more but he brushed it off. Kitten was staring at something right in front of her with wide eyes and fear in her eyes, her mouth was slightly agape with what looked like fog coming out of her mouth and nose every time she exhaled. Aphmau and Laurance looked over the meif’wa’s shoulder and their hearts stopped as they stared at the scene in front of them.  

Dimitri and Itsuki were cornered against a tree with about five armed men standing around them with spears being pointed at the children who were on the edge of tears. The men were in large winter outfits, the outlining of their hoods were thick fur, they wore thick scarfs that made their necks look ten times bigger and covered the bottom of their faces to only show their eyes which were white with the snowfall, they had belts all along their waist with different items like potions, weapons, rope, food, just a bunch of things that would help them in long points of travel. They made Aphmau feel colder as she reflected upon her own outfit which again, was not made for this type of weather.  

Aphmau and Laurance’s parental instincts kicked in and they stormed past Kitten to confront the men. Aphmau grabbed one of the men’s shoulders and whipped him around to face her, Laurance ran in the middle of the men and covered the kids to protect them. Kitten stayed backed, watching from afar and only interfere when things got really bad.  

The man flinched when he saw Aphmau, she had the face of a thousand angry mothers and she was staring right into the man’s eyes. 

“The fuck do you think you’re doing with these kids!?” Aphmau spat. 

“Are you their mother?” The man asked, quivering under Aphmau’s grip. 

“I’m a guardian looking over them, but why the fuck would that matter? You’re pointing weapons at children !” 

“Ma’am I’m so sorry we thought they were imps in disguise. My sincerest apologies.” The man slightly turned his head but kept an eye on Aphmau because he thought she was about to kill him. He snapped his fingers and said something in a different language that Aphmau didn’t understand “Mænd, våben nede, de er bare børn.” The man said to his men and they immediately put their weapons down and away on their belts.  [Men, guns down, they're just kids.]

Aphmau released her grip on the man but not her look “Now who are you?” While she said this Laurance picked up Dimitri and Itsuki in his arms and comforted them while they cried in his shoulders, the Shadow Knight gave the men dirty looks as he walked out of the middle of their circle. 

The man took a shaky breath “My name is Asmund, son of Eirik. I am the leader of the proud Enki Warrior Tribe.” The man answered with fear in his voice. 

Aphmau didn’t show any emotion in her answer “My name is Aphmau, right-hand woman to the Phoenix Alliance. This is my friend Laurance, my guard.” Aphmau had learned from Garroth and Dale that you don’t say your last name to someone you have no idea of. 

Asmund nodded and took another shaky breath “May I… may I ask what brings you to our island?”

Aphmau’s expression changed, it was softer and more curious “Oh actually, we uh… we just kinda crashed here. Shipwreck and all that.” 

“Oh, so you’ve fallen victim to the cursed sea?” The man’s face was filled with empathy.

Aphmau scrunched her face in confusion “Wh-What do you mean?” She had lost all the anger that she once had. 

“I would love to speak more on this subject back at my village, but only if that’s okay with you. All I’m saying is that it’s not safe to be out in the woods for long periods of time.” 

Aphmau looked back at Laurance and Kitten who were staring at Aphmau and the man with worry in their eyes, Aphmau could tell that Laurance didn’t trust the men and Aphmau didn’t really either but what were they going to do. They were stranded on a foreign island with little food and medical supplies, along with outfits that were not fit for the climate on the weather, they weren’t going to survive on their own no matter how hard they tried. There was a fifty percent chance that this man is just a kind man and wants to help Aphmau and inform her of what this island entails and there is also a fifty percent chance that as soon as Aphmau is out of earshot the men will kill her in an instant. 

Aphmau could practically see the word ‘NO’ printed all over Laurance’s face but she softly bit her lip and turned back around with a smile “I’ll go with you, I would like to bring someone with me though if that’s okay?”

Asmund smiled softly like Aphmau and nodded his head “Of course, are you bringing in your friend over there?” The man motioned towards Laurance who was holding two softly crying children.  

Aphmau shook her head “No, I’m actually going to bring my friend who is the leader of the alliance I’m apart of. I think she may have some slight knowledge on whatever this ‘cursed sea’ is and will help explain it.”  

“Oh, you have more people with you?” Asmund asked. 

“Yes we do, three more actually all at the crash site. Behind me is my friend Kitten, she’s with us as well.” Aphmau slightly tilted over so Kitten could wave hello with a shivering body.  

The man waved hello back before returning his attention towards Aphmau “Well why don’t I just head over there then? It would be much easier than you have to grab your friend, head back here, go to my village, and then head back.” The man suggested “Of course only if you feel comfortable letting me know where you reside, I know that we didn’t start at the best of terms and I’m sorry for that. I truly didn’t know that those were actual children.” 

“Yeah, you’re going to have to explain those ‘imp’ things that you said as well as the cursed-” A cold breeze whisked past Aphmau making her skin littered with goosebumps and shiver as it tickled her skin. The children did the same and snuggled up closer to Laurance who held them tighter. 

The man laughed “You are not prepared for this type of weather are you?” 

Aphmau nodded her head as her teeth lightly clattered together. 

“Hm, I’m assuming that the rest of your group isn’t dressed for this climate either? Am I correct?” 

Aphmau nodded again “Do you or any of your men have clothes to spare for us? I’m sure that no one in my group will mind wearing the same outfit multiple times.” 

“Oh no don’t worry, my and my partner have lots of old outfits that we don’t use anymore or don’t fit us. Would you like to have them?” 

“Yes please!” Laurance called out through his chattering teeth as Aphmau agreed with him while rubbing her hands against her arms to create some warmth. 

Asmund laughed and turned to one of his men “Ahak, gå til Helen og fortæl dem, at vi har fundet nogle mennesker, der tager tøjet. Bring tøjet her bagefter.” [Ahak, go to Helen and tell them we've found some people taking the clothes. Bring the clothes here afterwards.]

The man nodded “Ja Hr!” He said before running off. [Yes sir!]

Asmund continued to stare at his men as he continued to get orders “Resten af jer, bliv her og vent på mig. Hvis jeg ikke kommer tilbage om to timer, er jeg død, og jeg vil have, at I alle finder ud af, hvor disse mennesker er, og dræber dem.” [The rest of you, stay here and wait for me. If I do not return in two hours, I'm dead, and I want you all to find out where these people are and kill them. ]

“Sir, ja sir!” The men said in unison before Asmund turned back around to greet Aphmau and Laurance with a gigantic smile. [Sir, yes sir!]

“So we’re good now?” She asked.

Asmund nodded “Yes, we can go now if you want.” 

Aphmau nodded and turned on her heels to face Kitten who was standing in the snow with her arms crossed, she got the signal in Aphmau’s eyes and immediately hopped on her feet before running back to the ship to warn everyone of this strange man named Asmund coming to see them. Laurance took his position besides Aphmau as they walked back to the ship, the kids had calmed down, but they were still a little shaken up after a group of men threatened them with large weapons, Aphmau and Laurance were still mad at Asmund and his men for that but they had to put it past them if they wanted to get anywhere on this island. Aphmau hoped that they would be able to get the winter clothes sooner than later because she really didn’t want to spend another minute in this climate with the outfit she was wearing and she was pretty sure everyone else in their group would agree with her. 

She ran her fingers through her knotted hair and let out a breath she was aware she was holding as they pushed through the snow towards their crashed ship. She was feeling so overwhelmed and she just wanted a second to stop, to pause, to do nothing, and let the weight of the word that she had been holding on her shoulders dissipate as her body began feeling numb and she finally felt free. She held back the bubble in her throat that made her want to scream, if she opened her mouth she would just let out this guttural scream that would sound like she was being murdered. She kept her mouth shut in case she messed up and let out the yell on accident, she couldn’t let anyone know she was feeling this way and she already messed up when she told Laurance and when Belladonna asked her how she was feeling. She just didn’t want anyone to worry about her, she was the only one that was allowed to worry about herself no one else… they had other problems. 

There laid the crashed ship with Belladonna, Katelyn, Aaron, and Kitten standing at the ready at the ‘entrance’ of the ship which was really just a massive hole that purposed as a way in and out of the ship. The dogs that Aphmau owned, Amada and Due also stood guard besides Katelyn and Aaron, looking strangely angry like they had sense everyone else’s mood and copied it. The trip had felt so quick but it quickly hit Aphmau that she had been staring at the ocean the entire time and time didn’t matter as her mind filled with soft buzzing sounds like flies were running around her brain as she rotted from the inside out from her emotions. For a quick second, she wished that she didn’t wake up from being knocked out. 

Aphmau and Laurance moved to their respective sides for Asmund to move forward and shake Belladonna’s extended hand. 

“Hej!” Belladonna exclaimed in a foreign language as she shook the foreign man’s hand “I assume your Asmund?” 

Asmund nodded “You would be correct! And who might you be?” 

“Belladonna Luke, leader of the Phoenix Alliance.” 

“Ah, is this the friend that you wanted to bring along Aphmau?” Asmund asked, letting his hand fall from his handshake with Belladonna. 

Aphmau nodded “She’s very smart and I thought that she might have a little knowledge of whatever is going on here.” 

“Yeah there is some obvious magick shit going on here, you gonna explain it?” Belladonna asked as Katelyn took the sniffling children away from Laurance and took them into the ship with Kitten. 

Asmund laughed “Yes of course, is there a place we can get comfortable?” Asmund softly cringed when he looked past Belladonna to see the wreck that their ship was in “If there is one?” 

Belladonna sighed “Yeah uh, we’re kinda in the worse condition right now so I suggest we just lean up against a wall and talk.” 

“Already doing that!” Aaron commented as he leaned against the ‘entrance’ of the ship. 

“Of course.” 

Everyone got situated against a wall as Asmund prepared to tell everyone what this island entailed. Katelyn put the kids to sleep in the small room that they had, even though Laurance and her were on weird terms Laurance wrapped his arm around Aphmau to get her and himself warmer, Kitten laid against Belladonna as the Kharagosa leaned on a wall next to Laurance and Aphmau, and Aaron stayed where he stood before. 

Asmund clapped his hands together as he got ready to tell his story “Now I have to say, it’s rare to see meif’wa in this region, especially four meif’was!” Asmund commented, his soft laughter ringing throughout his words. 

“We’re in a new region?!” Someone asked but their words were drowned out by Katelyn, Laurance, and Aphmau softly cringing at the remembrance of being a meif’wa.

“Oh, funny story actually.” Katelyn said bitterly “We’re not actually meif’was and we’re also not from Tu’La or anything like that.” 

“Oh?” Asmund said in a questioning tone with his eyebrows raised “I’m guessing it’s a very adventurous story.” 

Laurance looked down at his feet while Katelyn and Aphmau scrunched their noses up in disgust as flashes of their time in Fenrir’s castle blazed through their minds. Laurance tried hard not to remember anything, everything was fuzzy from that night and it hurt to remember it sometimes. 

Asmund clicked his tongue “I understand, some adventures aren’t the greatest. I will say this, never tell someone from a new region that you are not from this region, it makes you look weak-” 

Aaron and Katelyn both scoffed before looking at each other slyly with softly smiles, everyone really ignored it but they knew it had to with being a Jury of Nine. 

“But I… I trust you, people.” Asmund continued after looking at the pair in confusion for a split second “You all seem very kind at heart especially with how Aphmau here protected those children.” 

“You look angry .” Kitten pointed out, cuddling closer to Belladonna as her cat ears shook from the cold. 

“Well, I was! These two brats run off and then a group of men are pointing weapons at them for no reason! I was aggravated.” Aphmau made her defense. She didn’t mean to talk because she could still feel the bubble of anger in her throat but she shut her mouth quickly when she felt it move upward.  

“And that is justified, I completely understand and I would’ve done the same thing.” Asmund agreed with the woman, a slight hint of fear in his voice like he was afraid Aphmau was going to snap at him. “Now this ‘Ru’aun’ region that you speak of has sadly not been mapped yet for us, we have the Enki followers have been around for a very long time but we’ve only started mapping region a couple of hundred years ago and it’s not easy when you have a cursed sea at your docks.” 

Everyone spit a collective group of curses, groans, and headbanging as they wished they had never sailed off in that moment. They were stranded on a foreign island, the two Titans in the group who were supposed to know everything knew nothing, they were supposedly in a new region, AND they had nothing to survive off of unless Asmund gave them some supplies and a place to stay. Aphmau’s mind wandered to the icy shores that her gaze had been stuck on when they were walking back to the ship, for a split second, the tiniest second she thought of just running to the ocean and letting the freezing waves engulf her and she would never have to deal with any of this again. 

“There’s gotta be a way like there’s gotta be some fucking way to get back on whatever course we were on-” Aaron paused after his sentence “Did we- Did we even have a course we were on in the first place.” 

“It definitely wasn’t this course,” Belladonna said bitterly, remembering that she had no idea that this strange tornado was going to strike them out of nowhere and send them flying to another region. 

Asmund sucked in a quick breath, averting eye contact with everyone as he commented a suggestion of what they could do “I don’t suggest this, actually I would never suggest this but you could ask the Demon Warlock.” 

“Okay.” Aaron snapped and walked away from this conversation “This is STUPID!” He yelled and went out into the snow. 

Everyone looked at Asmund like he was the stupidest person on the planet, which at the moment everyone thought that he totally was. Katelyn dragged herself down to sit on the floor of the ship, the coldness of the ship slightly shocking her but it wasn’t something she couldn’t handle. 

“Can you… explain why in the world we would go to someone named… the Demon Warlock ?” Laurance asked, obvious annoyance and anger in his eyes “Can you just explain why that would ever sound like a good idea.” 

“I know, I know, it sounds stupid I know. I would say that you stay far away from him, our tribe has been at odds with him for what seems like forever. He is a powerful being, he’s the reason for these imps that litter this land, they do his sinful bidding so he doesn’t have to get his hands dirty.” Asmund scoffed. 

“Yeah, but why should we go and look for him?” Laurance reiterated his question. 

“Because he’s an all-powerful being, he’s been trying to control his island for some time now. If anyone can help you get to Ru’aun it would be him, he will accept knowledge and items of value as a bribe - I wouldn’t even be suggesting this if this weren’t a possible option. I do advise to not approach him unarms, but then again do not allow him to know you are armed either.” Asmund suggested. 

“Now how would we go about finding this dude?” Kitten asked, her voice riddled with bitterness, Belladonna had her head turned away from the conversation but it was obvious she had anger in her eyes. 

“Well my people have never been able to locate his base but we have been able to ‘draw’ him out. You’ll have to just wander the island by oneself, unaccompanied by anyone.” 

“Why?” Kitten asked. 

“His minions prey on those who are alone and only show up under such circumstances. I would advise having a rendezvous point where you all can run to should you find him and are overwhelmed by his forces.” 

“This sounds like more trouble than it’s worth. At this rate, we should just steal a boat and wander the seas.” Katelyn spat, tightening her ponytail that had way too many knots in it. 

“We were hit by a ‘cursed sea’ you dumbass.” Belladonna hissed “If we wander the seas we’ll probably just end up back here, this Demon Warlock you speak of is probably also controlling it. Making sure that no one can leave so his presence is even more threatening, so he has control over everyone, they’re all stuck.” 

“How did you know that?” Asmund asked, “How did you know that the Demon Warlock controls the cursed sea.” 

“It was a hunch.” Everyone could tell that Kitten and Belladonna were obviously set off by this Demon Warlock dude but no one commented on it in fear that they would only get angrier. 

“He sounds weak, a coward if he has to take this kind of precaution.” Katelyn huffed.     

“A coward he is.” Asmund agreed “But he is intelligent and conniving. You better not be trying to make our struggles seem like idle threats… we’ve been fighting this man for years, forbidden” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound that way I was simply insulting the man I didn’t mean to insult you or your tribe as well.” 

“Hm, well your friend Belladonna is correct, if you were to sail out without the correct navigation or direction you will only end up back here. Unless you get lucky but getting here is rare. Now I hope that the clothes that I asked for are back at the spot we were once at so Aphmau would like to accompany me while I go back to get the clothes?” Asmund asked.  

Aphmau nodded “Of course, I mean I asked for the clothes in the first place so why wouldn’t I come.” She unwrapped herself from Laurance’s hold to stand next to Asmund, the cold air immediately nipping at her skin. 

“Is that all we have to know about the Demon Warlock and this island?” Katelyn asked.

Asmund nodded “Yes, that is just the basic knowledge you’ll need to survive. You people are more than welcome to stay at my village for now.” 

“We’ll stay here for tonight.” Kitten’s words were stronger than everyone else’s soft yes’s. She gave everyone small death stares for them to shut up.

 “Okay well, Stay safe everyone I’ll be back in a second!” Aphmau waved goodbye as Asmund and her walked away from the boat to get the clothes that Asmund had offered them. 

“Don’t get murdered!” Kitten called out as everyone else yelled out their goodbye. 

Aphmau dazed away as the concept of time melted away from her mind. Time seemed to pass by so quickly but so slow like she was in this weird dimension of time that made no sense but made complete sense at the same time. It was almost like she could physically feel the energy and life draining out of her as the cold air and snow overtook her body was the only thing she could seriously feel. 

Aphmau and Asmund went back to the spot where Asmund and his men had held up Itsuki and Dimtri and found a single guard standing in the snow holding multiple full leather backpacks. Aphmau quickly looked through the bags, simply unlatching the top and every bag was filled to the brim with clothes. Aphmau took the bags and thanked Asmund for the charity, Asmund accepted the thank you, and he and his guard said their goodbyes as they walked into the snowy forest back to what Aphmau assumed was Asmund’s village.

Aphmau stood still in the snow as the heavy bags pressed into her skin, causing pain on her arms and shoulders. The dry air was cruel against her throat and lungs and every inhale felt like her skin was being ripped off, the cold poked and prodded at her uncovered skin and flew under the covered skin to make even those patches have goosebumps. Her mind wandered down to the snow littered with boot tracks, dirt, rocks, and other nature items that didn’t make the snow as pure white as Aphmau had imagined. The image of just falling into the snow and letting it consume her ran through her mind as her mind slowly drifted away, but surely turned off and soon the lights in her eyes and heart would shut off too and she would be left there… a shell of the woman she wished she was. 

She headed back to the ship and distributed the bags to everyone so they could change. They all found the outfits and clothes that would be the most comfortable and would fit them the most, after getting their outfits they all split up into their own little spaces to get changed. Kitten was the one to pick out Dimitri and Itsuki’s outfits so she had to wake them up and deal with the grumpy children.

The cold air nipped at Aphmau’s skin and body as she slowly and painstakingly took off her clothes to exchange them for the new clothes. She wore a slightly itchy but warm brown gypsy top, a pair of dark grey sweatpants, a black cape, black gloves that were lined with fur, a dark grey scarf that was also lined with fur, and black snow boots. She took out her ponytail as carefully as she could without ripping chunks of her hair out but she did end up with a good-sized ball of hair in her hand which she just let fall to the ground so she didn’t have to worry about it. 

She looked at the locked door that separated the room she was in and the outside world, she considered just staying in the room and not doing anything else but stare at the ceiling and let her thoughts consume her. It took the sides of her mind to fight a little while she stared at the door dazed off from the world to finally put one foot in front of the other and unlock the door so she could go out in the cold but fresh air. 

Everyone but Kitten and the kids were out in the middle of the broken boat talking to each other, mainly about what Asmund had been talking about. They were all dressed in their own winter wear, large coats, scarfs, gloves, snow boots, the usual winter wear outfits that you would find  but they were modified to fit everyone’s style which Aphmau found nice. 

She went and sat next to Belladonna, Aphmau guessed that someone had found a blanket somewhere on the boat and everyone was using it to sit on so they didn’t have to sit on the actual boat or this blanket could’ve just came out of nowhere Aphmau didn’t know. Amada and Dua snuggled up to Aphmau once they noticed her sitting down next to Belladonna, Aphmau was more than happy to run her fingers through their hair and pet them lovingly.

“So let’s just get this clear,” Laurance said as Aphmau sat down. “We can’t leave this island because we’ll just end up here again and the only way the only way to try and get out is to talk to this Demon Warlock dude. This is honestly more trouble than it’s worth.” 

“It stupid.” Aaron commented, “But contacting this Demon dude is a way smarter option than just wandering the sea and possibly dying.” 

“Yeah, but we can also die from this Demon Warlock.” Katelyn pointed out. 

“Not if we’re smart about it,” Aaron said back. 

Aphmau leaned over and whispered to Belladonna “Do you know anything about this Demon Warlock?” 

Belladonna nodded “I have my suspicions.” 

“Who do you think it might be?” 

Belladonna hesitated before answering “Pluton.” 

Aphmau scrunched her face in confusion “Like the planet?” 

“Yes.” 

The cogs in Aphmau’s turned until a lightbulb stuck in her head and her face dropped in shock “You mean… ?” 

“Yep.” 

“That the planets are,” 

“Yep.” 

“Titans.” 

“Yes, the planets are the first Titans, the Titans of time are second generation. Kitten and I are second-generation Titans.” 

“Oh wow.” 

“I’m just worried about the kids.” Aphmau heard Katelyn say as her ears refocused on the conversation that Aaron, Laurance, and Katelyn were having.

“Well naturally, I mean this Demon Warlock dude supposedly ‘controls the island’ I’m sure if he finds out we have kids with us he’ll most definitely use them as blackmail if we don’t do something he likes.” Laurance ran his fingers through his hair. 

Aphmau thought quickly, what could they do to get in contact with the Demon Warlock. Her mind worked fast, it was tiring but rewarding in the end “I might have a plan.” Aphmau said out of nowhere. 

Everyone turned to her “And it is?” Aaron asked as Kitten, Dimtri, and Itsuki came out of the bottom of the ship.  

“Three of us can go on our own to wander around as Asmund said, we don’t have three dogs so someone will have to go just all alone but the other two people can go with either Amada or Dua. If one of us gets overwhelmed we can just… scream possibly or if someone with a dog gets overwhelmed the dog can just run and go find the others.” 

“What about the kids?” Katelyn asked. 

“Someone stayed back like I said: only three of us have to go, not all of us. The other three can stay back and watch the kids.” Aphmau answered. 

“I wanna go!” Kitten called out “I wanna go wander the forest.” 

“I’ll go too,” Belladonna called out which shocked Aphmau. Belladonna wasn’t one to engage in important things like these, Kitten as well. Their role as Titans of Time gave them an unfair advantage to certain things and if they involved themselves in things they weren’t supposed to be involved in things could go very wrong, but then again their powers were blocked so they had no idea if they were supposed to be in events or not. 

They were probably going with their guts, that’s why Aphmau went with hers and decided that she should join the Titans as well “I’ll be the third member then.” Aphmau volunteered. 

“You sure?” Laurance asked in a comforting tone. 

“I’m sure.” She responded.  

Aaron clapped his hands “Well then that settles it, you guys go out with Amada and Dua and we’ll stay back to watch the kids.” 

“Wait what if the Demon Warlock comes after us?” Laurance asked, “I mean like how will you guys know that we need help.” 

Everyone went silent, trying to figure out what they could do if the ‘babysitters’ got overwhelmed by the Demon Warlock’s forces if things went south. That’s when Kitten’s eyes lit up like a light bulb and she hit Belladonna’s shoulder in excitement. 

“Dog whistles!” She exclaimed “We can make dog whistles for us all and if we require help we’ll just whistle really loudly and you guys will know we’ll need help. I’m sure that the dogs can help you find the third person as well if we need help.” 

“I like that,” Katelyn answered, everyone agreed. 

“Okay so when are we going to do this? Right now? In a week? Tomorrow?” Aphmau asked, “We can stay on this island forever.” 

“I say tomorrow.” Belladonna answered “We’ll settle in for the rest of today, find food, water, all that jazz, and just rest for today while we heal our wounds. Tomorrow hopefully the whistles will be ready and we can set out for the small adventure we’ll have.” 

“Okay then, let’s get settled then.” Laurance smiled and hopped up with everyone else following him.

Katelyn and Laurance went out to try and find food in the wild while Aaron and Aphmau went to scavenge any food they found in the boat. They also scavenged for any other materials that would help them in surviving, blankets, pillows, weapons, cleaning essentials, and toiletries. They decided that the best option was to not sleep in the boat but make tents in the snow, it was less of a chance of the boat collapsing on them and possibly killing them. 

They hung out for the rest of the nights in their little tents, making dog whistles and trying to survive. Aphmau ended up healing both Katelyn and Laurance’s wounds with her healing powers which surprisingly still worked even though Kitten and Belladonna’s powers had been blocked. 

The next morning they got up early - early and ready. Kitten and Laurance distributed the dog whistles before Belladonna, Kitten, and Aphmau got ready to head out and wander the island alone. Belladonna took Dua and Aphmau took Amada, Kitten didn’t really need a dog since she was a meif’wa and Katelyn did ask if Aphmau really needed a dog because she was a meif’wa as well but they just said that Aphmau wasn’t a ‘natural’ meif’wa so it was just an extra precaution. The girls set off in three directions, ‘north’, ‘northeast’, and ‘east’ none of them knew if those were really the directions since none of them had compasses. 

Aphmau walked for what seemed like hours, she wished that the Demon Warlock would just show himself so she could have an excuse to head back to her tents. Amada was the only thing that was keeping her going, the dog in the snow was the most adorable thing Aphmau had ever seen, Amada kept nudging her owner to keep going even though the poor dog had no idea what they were doing. 

Around the time where Aphmau was certain that if she went any longer she would kill herself she set up a small campsite in the hills with some sticks she set on fire from the small thing of flint and steel that Aaron had given her. Amada positioned herself in Aphmau’s lap which gave Aphmau another layer of warmth which she did not need but she greatly appreciated. Aphmau stared deep into the embers of the fire as in the far distance the beautiful sun that hung in the sky was slowly lowered down into the sea that was encased in darkness. 

Her entire body was numb, but not from the cold winter air. She lost her thought in the fire as everything around drifted away, as she let herself go into the unknown, as she felt the hand of darkness and defeated clasp onto her shoulder and pull her away from everything she once knew. Everything she once loved. 

Amada had no idea what was going on, she laid content and happy in Aphmau’s lap as her owner was finally letting herself drift away, letting the void control her body. Let herself become numb without a fight. 

Aphmau wasn’t even aware that she was slowly starting to stand up, even that being a difficult task to do. She wasn’t aware that she was putting one foot in front of the other as soft tears started raining from her eyes. She wasn’t aware how long it had been, how the stars had come up and lit up the night sky to remind her of a time when she was happy when she was like… this . 

She stopped in the snow. How long had I been walking ? She asked herself, thinking was hard, it was using energy she no longer had Why? Why do I feel this way? Tears were no longer just raining out of her eyes but pouring, her silent sobs filled the vacuum that was space as she let her knees buckle and her body slowly fall to the ground where she laid in the snow. It clogged her ear, got in the ear, snowflakes fell on her eyelashes, her lips, everything was becoming cold like stone in an abandoned building. 

Why do I feel this way? Why am I numb? Why don’t I care? Why don’t I know? Do I want a future? Do I have a future? I didn’t think I needed a future, didn’t think I was going to have one.  

So much was happening at once, everything was going so fast but so slow. Was anything even real to her anymore, was anything real in general? Would she wake up back in Phoenix Drop with Garroth softly shaking her shoulder as he warned her that Donna and Logan were currently in a fight and that she probably shouldn’t go to the plaza? Would she wake up with him by her side? 

With him. 

She wanted to be with him. 

But who was ‘him’ to her? Laurance? Garroth? Maybe it was someone else like Katelyn, Katelyn was nice, soft, kind, sweet, pretty. Katelyn could be ‘him’. 

But no, Aphmau wanted him . Needed him . But who was him ? Would she ever find out? Would she ever discover who he was? Was it Garroth? It had to be Garroth right? She was going to close her eyes and then wake up in that strange island world that only other resident was Garroth. I couldn’t be Laurance, he had caused her enough trouble… but it also couldn’t be Garroth, he fucked everything up didn’t he? Why couldn’t he just have stayed home and not gone to the wedding, yes it was the best time in her life but Dear Irene Garroth why did you have to leave? 

Laurance too! Laurance as well! Why couldn’t he just control his emotions? Why was Aphmau so important to him? Why did he have to sacrifice himself? He didn’t have to, he didn’t have to play the hero but he did…. They always do… they always play hero. 

Aphmau was playing hero. 

Levin and Malachi were playing hero. 

Katelyn, Aaron, Kitten, Belladonna, Zoey, EVERYONE! EVERYONE IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE PLAYING HERO NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO BECAUSE THAT’S ALL THEY KNOW. 

“That’s all they know,” Aphmau muttered before her eyelashes fluttered close for the last time that day and she went to sleep, she only went to sleep. She wouldn’t die now, couldn’t, it wasn’t time. It would never be time. 

Chapter Text

Aphmau’s eyes fluttered open to a sunny sky with light and fluffy clouds with a gorgeous blue background. The sunlight beamed through the spaces in the tree branches and tree leaves that hung high above her head, she laid softly against someone’s lap as they ran their fingers through her hair in a kind gesture. As her eyes got used to the sunny sky she turned her head so she could see the culprit of whoever was messing with her hair and whose lap she was laying her head-on. 

It wasn’t Garroth was but someone who looked strangely familiar to Garroth, like a doppelganger that had a few things wrong. His hair was curlier, his lips were a little ‘bigger’, his nose was slightly different, but he did have Garroth’s eyes. The eyes that always reminded Aphmau of the sky so she no longer had to go outside. He felt the same as Garroth but he seemed calmer, more at peace with himself than Garroth was which was… it was a nice vibe to feel something that made Aphmau calmer as well. 

The man smiled softly as he and Aphmau made eye contact, Aphmau immediately knew the man’s name like she had been friends with him since the beginning of time. 

“Esmund.” She whispered, it was like she was unsure but sure of her answer at the same time. 

The man smiled even more “There we go.” He said with such content “I was waiting for you to say that.” 

“How do I know you?” She never moved her head off Esmund’s lap. 

“Well, you are a reincarnation of Irene are you not?” Esmund asked, “Or do you not know that yet?” 

“I thought I just had her powers.” 

Esmund sucked in a breath as he realized his mistake but simply shrugged “I mean it’s too late to fix my mistake so yeah… you’re a reincarnation of Irene.” 

“But how do I know you?” Aphmau was simply unfazed by the fact that she was a reincarnation of Irene, the woman that was considered a goddess and had an entire religion centering around her.

“Well not a lot of people know this but Esmund and Irene were close, very close actually. So close in fact where they considered themselves in love with one another, so close that they even had kids together who would then go on to become great warriors across the different regions.” Esmund explained with love and happiness in his eyes as he talked about his lover “Now you aren’t exactly Irene but you will have her memories, her powers, and right now you just took her place in my lap. I hope that when you are gone by true love will come back into my arms.” 

“When did… when did Irene die?” 

“Oh… a long while ago, on her own, it was her choice and no one was there to stop her anyway. She took her life as a realization that this was truly the end of her story and no one was there to close her book so she did it herself. She ended up here with me not so long after but somehow she also stayed behind, enough of her stayed behind to form you…. Her first reincarnation.” 

“I’m her first reincarnation?” 

The blond man nodded his head, his curls bouncing on his forehead “Yes of course! Irene was the first of us ‘gods’ and since she was the first and the most powerful she was given the amazing curse of immortality. A special type of immortality where only another ‘god’ could kill her and no one else… Shad came close… Shad came really close but not close enough. We, on the other hand, the other ‘gods’ weren’t given that beautiful curse but we did have the ability to reincarnate ourselves so we chose whoever we sought was fit, and bam! We are now back with of course little tweaks like personality changes, look changes, speech patterns but it didn’t mean we aren't there anymore. As time progressed our reincarnates would regain our memories, our powers, they would become the new us.”

“Is that what’s going to happen with me?” 

“Hopefully. I mean, of course, it’s not going to happen if you kill yourself before you start learning anything.” 

It was a slap to the face “I… I wasn’t trying to-” 

“No, no, no… I understand why I mean dear Titans you have been through so much and if I were you I think the whole Laurance situation would be the last straw as well. I understand why you want to, why you’re feeling this way, why you're doing the things you are doing and you can take this suggestion and throw it out the window but… you need to continue.” He caressed Aphmau’s cheek “It may seem like your story is coming to a close and it may seem like you're reaching the final chapters but you are only getting to the beginning. You have so much ahead of you and you need to see it, experience it, you need to let the book continue writing.” 

“But it’s… it’s so hard.” Aphmau let out barely a whisper as her throat clenched. 

“I know, but you are strong, you may have no energy but even if you have point five percent of your energy that’s still energy that you can use to gain back your energy. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to be difficult but it’s going to be worth it… it’s going to be so incredibly worth it.” 

Aphmau took a deep breath, the air was so clear here, so… pretty, who knew that air could be pretty but it was definitely pretty wherever this place was. She didn’t feel like herself, she didn’t feel… human. Like she had ascended humanity and was no longer tied down to the shackles that were mortality. 

She let out a sigh “Will I… will I ever stop feeling this way?” 

Esmund nodded “Of course, you just have to fight through it. Laurance is fighting through it as well but it’s just a little harder for him, you both are going to get through this… Enki told me so even though he’s not supposed to.” Esmund smiled softly “I haven’t seen that little elf dork in awhile I miss him.” 

“Enki is a Divine Warrior, right? Do they have a reincarnation as well?” Aphmau asked, hearing Esmund sound so happy while talking about their friends made Aphmau happy as well. It was like hearing your best friend ramble about something they were really interested in. 

Esmund nodded “Yeah Enki has a reincarnation… you’re actually going to meet them very soon.” Esmund lifted his hand like he was about to karate chop something. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Very soon,” Esmund said right before quickly bringing his hand down to almost hit Aphmau's face but right as his hand was about to hit her face Aphmau gasped awake to see a sword centimeters above her face. 

She grabbed the sword with her gloved hands and roundhouse kicked the person holding the sword, as her foot made contact with the person’s face she pulled the sword out of their hands and threw it behind her making it slide under the snow. 

The person got smacked to the floor and she quickly straddled the attacker, pressing her knee against their jugular and quickly unsheathing a dagger she had been gifted by Belladonna and placing it against the attacker’s open mouth so she would be able to press down and cut open the person’s mouth even more. She was breathing heavy, her mind clouded with images of the wedding night, of that night but she didn’t let the attacker go, she stayed still with her knee pressed against their jugular and her dagger against their mouth as she choked past a PTSD filled sob. 

The attacker that Aphmau had pinned to the ground had long pure white hair, almost as white as the snow if the snow wasn’t so dirty, some parts of their hair were braided to either keep it out of their face or for style reasons, they had beads, rope, thread, and different types of pretty attributes tied into or onto their hair as well. They had dark beige skin with pinkish undertones, their nose was very straight and prominent, their eyes were slightly almond-shaped, they had thin lips, and Aphmau had to give it to the man that if she wasn’t having a panic attack right now she would’ve thought the attacker was actually very pretty but she was having a panic attack. 

The culprit laid in the snow with a terrified expression, as someone had never taken them down this easily so Aphmau tried her best to speak through her panic attack. 

“Who the fuck are you?” She asked through her gasps of air. 

The attacker darted their eyes between the dagger in their mouth and Aphmau who was holding the dagger until Aphmau got the hint and raised the dagger from their mouth put just moved it so the pointy end of their dagger was now replacing her knee and her knee was now on their chest. 

“I didn’t know Imps were this strong.” The attacker snapped before spitting into Aphmau’s face.  

She shut her eyes as the spit landed on the bridge of her nose. She carefully opened her eyes as she wiped her face on her shoulder, not moving her knee or dagger, she wanted to curl up in a ball and cry but with how this dude was acting if she showed any amount of vulnerability he would probably kill her “I’m not a fucking Imp.” She hissed out “What is with everyone on this island thinking that new people are Imps?!” 

“Why should I believe you?” 

Aphmau hesitated, she didn’t really have anything to make the man believe that she wasn’t a Imp but there was also nothing that could prove she was. She pressed her dagger closer to the man’s throat so it would be harder for him to breathe normally, as she thought of anything that would help her in this situation her eyes scanned over a crusty blood wound on the man’s shoulder. She then remembered that her healing powers were getting much stronger and she could now basically control them at will. 

“I can heal your wound, let me heal your wound.” 

“Why should I?” 

“Holy shit just let me!” She snapped before putting her free hand on the man’s wound and concentrating very hard on healing this man’s wound. 

The dried blood that covered the wound melted under Aphmau’s hand, the muscle and skin tissue that had been cut moved under Aphmau’s hand causing the other muscles near the wound to twitch slightly. The tissue and muscles moved back together, they melted into each other until it was as if nothing had happened. The man’s newly fixed wound was warm, so entirely warm, the blood that had melted made Aphmau’s hand wet and slimy and she could feel everything under the man’s skin and the skin itself moving in unison as it fixed itself under Aphmau’s influence. Once everything in the man’s body stopped moving she slowly pulled her hand away from the bare skin, she wondered how the man survived and continued to live with a wound that deep and so exposed to the cold weather. 

The attacker had fear in their eyes as Aphmau wiped the sticky blood onto her pant leg to get it off her hand. His breathing was fast and it looked like he was about to have a panic attack. 

“What the fuck are you?”

“I don’t know,” Aphmau admitted, she remembered having a dream about this man that seemed so familiar to her but she couldn’t describe his face and how he told her something about being Irene… was she Irene? Like not just someone who was a host for her relic was she the actual Irene or maybe a version of the goddess? The dream was starting to get fuzzy and she got slightly frustrated with herself.  “I’m something powerful I’m pretty sure.”

“Well if you seriously aren’t an Imp and you're just like something powerful then I suggest that you get off this island before the Demon Warlock finds you.” The attacker suggested to Aphmau as his eyes were still wide with fear and shock over what Aphmau did with his wound. 

“Well that’s actually my plan, I need the Demon Warlock so me and my friends can get off this fucking island.” Aphmau rolled her eyes. 

“Wait, did you come here because of the cursed sea? A mysterious storm?” 

“Yes, I feel like that would be obvious.” 

“Well, then he already knows you're here, congratulations.” The attacker said with an unenthusiastic voice. 

“What? How?” Aphmau asked, slightly loosening her grip on her dagger. 

“If you get off me I might-” 

“I’m not getting off you. Explain.” She regained thought of her hand and held the dagger once again at the man’s throat. 

The attacker gasped and put their hand up in a defensive pose since their other once was stuck behind their back after Aphmau sat on him “I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!” He whimpered which caused Aphmau to roll her eyes. 

“Just tell me what you mean.” She said coldly. 

The man nodded “The people of this island believe that the cursed sea is an event that occurs at random… it’s not though. Most people who come from the cursed sea are suggested to go to the Demon Warlock, Asmund isn’t trying to set you up or anything, it's just anyone that’s a ‘foreigner’ that goes to the Demon Warlock has not come back… they seriously think that their helping.” 

“Oh wow, that’s terrible.” Aphmau said with sadness and fear in her voice “So they're just blind to the truth?” 

The attacker nodded “They’ve never visited him themselves so that is the truth for them, the Demon Warlock helps travelers who come from the cursed sea back home. But no, those people are picked out and because Asmund and his people are fools, suggested to go to the Demon Warlock, and… well you can guess what happens.” 

“Wow.” Aphmau didn’t even shudder, she just had a PTSD-filled panic attack not even a few minutes ago that she was still trying to get over because of a night filled with blood, she can imagine what the Demon Warlock was doing with these people. “So does he like… consume people’s power.” She didn't know why she was having this conversation, she should be curled up in a ball right now trying to let her vision become red. Her chest was tight but for some reason, she acted as if nothing was wrong, why?

“Basically yeah, no one is touched by the cursed sea unless he wants them to be.” The attacker explained, “I can only imagine you and your friends are here because of your power.” 

Because of my powers, Belladonna, and Kitten’s Aphmau thought Maybe even Laurance’s too… we’re all a mess Dear fucking Irene.  

Aphmau rubbed her eyes with her free hand, yes the attacker and her were talking like friends but she still didn’t trust them. She didn’t trust anyone on this island. “So since we can’t fucking see the Demon Warlock without him stealing my powers how can we get off this fucking island, hm?” 

Something sparkled in the attacker’s eyes, something that made Aphmau feel extremely uncomfortable “You’ll kiss me.” 

“Excuse me!?” Aphmau gasped “The fuck do I have to do?” 

“Look, if I wouldn’t be joking about this. My lips have been touched by a siren who has a certain kind of magic that can free you from this island.” The attacker sighed “I’m sorry, if there was another way out of this I would tell you immediately… you seem like a nice woman.”

The dagger faltered against the man’s throat, Aphmau gave up, at this point, it would be kinda pointless to keep up this defensive attitude since that man had seemed nice enough. She un-straddled the man and landed in the snow with a thud! as the cold snow met contact with her legs and ass. She shivered as the man let out a deep wheeze since all the weight that was on his chest was suddenly released and he was able to breathe normally now. 

“I’m really sorry, I don’t want this to seem weird. I just want to help you.” The man said as they sat up to face Aphmau. 

She sighed “It’s fine I guess, I mean it’s better than dying to the hands of the Demon Warlock.” She made her voice all deep and scary-sounding to add the effect to the strange man’s name. 

The man let out a soft chuckle as he shook his head at Aphmau’s attempt to make the situation light-hearted. He slowly moved closer to Aphmau until his hand was on hers and their legs were almost touching. 

“Do you just want to do it now?” 

Aphmau shrugged “Yeah… I guess…” She couldn’t believe that she was still calming down from a panic attack and now she was about to make out with some random dude she found in the forest that tried killing her minutes earlier. She hates this so much. 

She stopped the attacker right before his nose brushed her, she stuck her hand up between the two mouths like a wall. 

“I’m sorry it’s just… I don’t even know your name.” 

“Oh right.” The man realized and leaned back a bit “My name’s Travis Valkrum.” 

Full name, huh? Aphmau thought Fuck it why not. “Aphmau Shalashaska.” 

The two shook hands with soft smiles before getting back into the intimate moment through awkward means. After shaking hands Travis took the hand that he was holding and softly placed it into the snow as he took his other hand and placed it on Aphmau’s neck to rub her jaw with his thumb in such a loving and succeeding way that would usually make anyone’s stomach flutter but… Aphmau wasn’t really feeling any emotions like ‘love’ right now. 

Right before Travis’ lips reached contact with Aphmau’s something cold and wet was smacked against not only Aphmau’s face but the back of Travis’ head as well. The two flinched out of their positions and whipped their heads around to see what the fuck had hit them in the face and who the fuck threw the thing that hit them. 

Aphmau wiped her face off and came to the realization that Travis and her had been hit by snowballs, and as soon as she came to that realization two very familiar and comforting voices came from the woods that surrounded them. A smile was brought to Aphmau’s face when the two female voices hit her ears. 

Kitten and Belladonna strutted out of the woods with their eyes trained on Travis. Their eyes were filled with fury as they made their way to stand in front of Travis who looked at the ladies with subtle fear in his eyes. 

“Well hello, loverboy.” Kitten greeted with a terrifying smile “The fuck you think you’re doing to our girl?” 

“Your girl?” Travis asked, “I don’t see any wedding ring on her.” 

Belladonna let out a small bark of laughter “Doesn’t give you the right to put your hands on her.” 

“No Bella I- … I was gonna let him kiss me cause I guess that’s the only way to get off this island,” Aphmau said with a small voice, Kitten and Belladonna seemed mad and she fears they would get even madder if she spoke. Aphmau had never called Belladonna a nickname and for all, she remembered she had never heard anyone call Belladonna a nickname but in that moment it just felt… right. Like they were close enough why not just make their relationship closer.

Belladonna’s features were soft when looking at Aphmau but when she snapped her attention back to Travis they turned sharp and angry again “Oh so you wanna die as well?” 

“What!?” Travis screamed, “No, no I do not want to die I just… look man I just wanted to kiss a pretty girl I haven’t seen someone my age in so long.” Travis gave up with a sigh and shrugged his shoulders down. 

“There it is.” Kitten snapped her fingers “They always come crumbling when their life is threatened.” 

“So you lied !?” Aphmau yelled and hit the man’s arm making him wince “I was about to kiss you to get off this island you prick!” 

“I just wanted to kiss a pretty girl!” Travis repeated but more defensive this time “But like… like you guys are in serious trouble though.” He sighed as he got serious. 

“How so?” 

“It’s not safe out here and I don’t mean this in a weird way or anything but we should really go to my hideout.” He looked at all the ladies and said, “I’m serious.” 

The girls looked between themselves before Aphmau spoke up. 

“I can’t trust you- we can’t trust you but… it’s either you or the Demon Warlock and from what I’m hearing about the Demon Warlock I don’t think we should choose him.” 

Aphmau, Kitten, and Belladonna all followed Travis as he led them to his little hideout/house thing. The girl stayed a bit behind in case Travis decided to turn on them and they needed to run, it was just a precaution since literally none of them trusted the man yet after what he did. 

They had to traverse the mountains a bit before reaching a fenced-off area which Aphmau assumed was Travis’ living area. Travis went and pushed on a certain part of this fenced/walled-off area and out came an entrance to whatever this living area was. Travis held open the wall for the ladies to go through and once they were through he took back his position of being the leader of the group. They walked across a wooden bridge that was suspended dozens of feet above the air, they walked down a long staircase that had a slight downward left turn before letting them onto a snowy gravel path that led to a cozy little wooden cabin that Travis opened for the ladies to go in. 

Travis went in and started getting out teacups, a teapot, tea, and started heating the stove to boil water that was inside the teapot. Kitten and Belladonna made themselves at home without having to be told but Aphmau just stood awkwardly near them, nervous about being in this stranger’s house that tried to kill her.  

“I don’t trust him.” Whispered Kitten, she kept her eyes trained on the man as he moved around in his kitchen. 

“I think we can all agree on that.” Aphmau said softly as she leaned against the wall behind her “He tried to make me kiss him because he supposedly had ‘siren powers’ to let us off this island.” 

“About that, why the fuck would you ever kiss a stranger?” Belladonna asked, “For a war hero you aren’t exactly the smartest.” 

“Okay look, I was thinking of getting off the island for the kids. I just to make sure they’re safe and to make sure we get back on course to just mind some land to settle on that no one else has colonized. I just want to stick to my promise.” 

“Promise?” 

Aphmau turned to Kitten and looked at her like she was stupid before realizing that this was a promise she had made with herself and no one else “Oh yeah I kinda made a promise to myself to not come back to Phoenix Dro after this trip because every time we go away and tell everyone that we won’t be back for a long while we just… we just end up right back there and get nowhere.” She explained, she picked at her hand and looked down at her feet. She wasn’t feeling herself at all today after what had happened but that strange dream she had lifted her spirits a little bit, she had to fight through this and all she had to remind herself was that she was stronger than she thought. 

“Hm.” Kitten nodded “By the way, I know this isn’t really the time but, how are you?” 

Aphmau snapped her head towards the woman “What?” 

“How are you?” she repeated “I know you haven’t been feeling the best so how are you right now? Any better?” 

It was like Kitten had read Aphmau’s mind, maybe she was gaining her powers back and she just wasn’t telling anybody or maybe Kitten was just really good at being a friend. 

“Uh, there’s like a feeling in me that’s saying I shouldn’t say this but I had a really weird dream last night.” 

“Oh?” Belladonna raised her eyebrow “I had a dream about a raccoon kissing me like two nights ago.” 

Aphmau snorted out a laugh “No, no, not that type of dream more like… I’m pretty sure I was visited by someone?” It sounded like she was questioning herself and she well might’ve been, as she tried to search for bits of her dream to explain to the two Titans her memory of the dream became blurry “All I really remember is me sitting under a tree, someone who’s face I can’t explain talking to me, and that someone telling me something about fighting through this because I’m stronger than what I think and how I’m something, Irene.” 

“What are you fighting through?” Kitten asked. 

It was like Aphmau was going through a therapy session, she really hadn’t prepared to answer all these questions about how she was feeling “Uh, I think I might’ve only told Laurance this but I think I might have like… depression or PTSD of some sort.” 

“Well I mean that’s understandable seeing how much shit you’ve gone through.” Kitten huffed. 

“It is?” 

“Of course, why wouldn’t it be?” 

A weight was lifted off Aphmau’s shoulders, a weight she wasn’t aware she was there. When those words escaped Kitten’s lips into Aphmau’s ears the locks that had been placed on Aphmau’s brain to weigh her down and make her think that she shouldn’t be feeling this way melted away and made their way into her eyes, she held back bursting into tears. Not even clouds were on Aphmau’s shoulders, not even oxygen, nothing was weighing on her and somehow she wasn’t even aware, she wasn’t even conscious that something was weighing on her in the first place. Her body had been switched with Atlas’ but she thought she was in control the entire time, but hopefully, just hoping she wouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security and driven into holding the world on her shoulders again. She was allowed to feel this way, allowed to feel this sadness, no one was telling her she couldn't, she was the only one controlling herself, she was manipulating herself into thinking that she couldn’t be sad about this or have PTSD…. Was this healing?

“I think I’m about to cry,” Aphmau said out of nowhere.

“What?” 

“Huh?” 

Just as Aphmau was going to break down crying Travis came over with a tray of teacups and a filled teapot reminding Aphmau that she wasn’t alone with Belladonna and Kitten and rather in the house of someone she didn’t know. 

He set down the tray and looked at the ladies in a worried manner “So, do you guys want to know anything about this island?” 

Kitten quickly took the attention away from Aphmau “Yes, what are these imps exactly? Asmund was able to answer us a little bit but not what they were exactly .” 

“Oh okay yeah, I can answer that.” Travis raked a hand through his white hair “Well first there are two kinds of imps, ones that are made by just nature and reproduction and the other half that are made by the Demon Warlock and are just… darkness. There are a few ones that go rogue and just try to live normal lives but most if not all are loyal to the Demon Warlock. The bad thing though, imps can only take the form of humans or things they’ve already seen so it’s common for you to see two of the same person.” 

“Oh wow, with the rouge Imps, do you know any of them?” Kitten asked. 

“Yeah, but they don’t really know how to act like humans… they’re weird.” 

Belladonna poured herself a cup of tea “Is the Demon Warlock the reason you live in this mountain all alone? You seem like a real fighter.” She asked as she started sipping on her tea. 

“Oh yeah, so the Demon Warlock is only really known in the Gal’ruk region but only really control this island-” 

“Wait Gal’ruk?” Belladonna almost spit out her tea. 

“Yes, why?” 

“Holy shit!” She laughed “I was not expecting us to get that far!” 

“My Dear Irene, Gal’ruk the region of Enki, the region of knowledge and books,” Kitten said her wood like a storyteller saying the beginning of a tale. 

“Some people actually believe that my mother was a descendant of Enki themself. She was actually the one to keep the Demon Warlock at bay and protect this island from his bastard ways.” Travis explained, pouring a cup of tea for himself and grabbing himself a chair so he could sit with the ladies “the Demon Warlock wasn’t just known for this island, he would actually terrorize other islands in the Gal’ruk region but my mother actually managed to seal him off into this island but with the coast of her own life. I was her successor and I take up the job of protecting this island from the Demon Warlock as she did for many other islands… that’s why the people of this island don’t see him as a major threat… they don’t know his true power since I’ve been protecting them.” 

The room was silent for a second as Aphmau thought about and processed what Travis just explained to them. 

“But… isn’t that a bit cruel?” Aphmau asked catching Travis a bit off guard “I mean like you’re preventing the people from knowing of the Demon Warlock’s true power, his true nature. They are ignorant of the peril that they are always in.” 

“You may see it like that but… without me or my mother, this island and many others would be gone and forgotten with the only evidence of life being the people’s corpses and blood. If it means that these people are happy I’m fine with them being ignorant.” 

“So this whole Enki tribe thing… was Enki like a prominent figure on this island or is it just a Gal’ruk thing?” Belladonna asked, moving from one topic to the next. 

“I mean Gal’ruk is the region of Enki but yes Enki was very prominent on this island. They actually have some ruins on this island that are rumored to only be allowed to open by another Divine. This was Enki’s home as Irene’s home was Scaleswind.” 

Kitten snapped her fingers “I remember that!” She called out “I knew that Enki was born on an island but I’m never sure which one.” 

“I mean Gal’ruk is home to a lot of islands so I wouldn’t blame you.” 

Aphmau had been looking down at her hands and contemplating as soon as Travis said that only a Divine could open the ruins that Enki left behind. If that strangely familiar man in her dream was telling the truth… she was a reincarnation of Irene and therefore technically a Divine. 

“Wait, Travis how old are you?” Kitten asked.   

“I’m forty-three.” 

Kitten and Belladonna’s eyes snapped wide and they made small gasping sounds, trying not to act like they knew something but failing at it. 

“Wasn’t uh… didn’t Enki?” Kitten cut herself off as she slightly made her voice into a whisper. 

“Yep,” Belladonna answered with no change in facial expression. 

“What? Was Enki the same age as me or something?” Travis asked with an oblivious smile. 

Aphmau turned her attention away from her hands and at the three people sitting at the table right next to her “I think I… what if I’m able to open the ruins?” 

Everyone turned their heads towards the woman, Travis with a much more confused face than Belladonna and Kitten. 

“Are you like connected to one of the Divine?” Travis asked.

Aphmau awkwardly smiled “Something like that yeah but… do you guys think that I could open the ruins? Learn some new information.” 

“I mean if you want to.” Belladonna answered, “Only if you think you’re ready for the knowledge you may or may not know.” 

Kitten gasped “What if we find a way off this stupid island through those ruins!” 

“That’d be good yeah!” Aphmau’s mood was lifted “Travis, do you know where the ruins are?” She asked, turning her attention to the white-haired man.  

“Well duh but I’ve got to confirm something,” The three ladies looked at him in anticipation, he was giving them the cliffhanger of a lifetime “Are we going on an adventure?” 

Aphmau groaned and Belladonna rolled her eyes, the two thinking that Travis was going to lay down some heavy information on them. Kitten on the other hand was laughing her ass off over Travis’ stupid joke. Travis laughed and grabbed his sword and coat from where he left them near his door.  Kitten and Belladonna pushed themselves up out of their chairs and towards the front door with Aphmau following behind them, a small smile on her face after the atmosphere that had been created lifted her mood. Before Travis was about to open the front door so they could leave he snapped around and ran up his stairs, disappearing from the ladies' sight and leaving them in a cloud of confusion. He came back not so later holding three bracelets with a milky-colored crystal tied in the ropes of the bracelets. 

He held his hand out for the ladies to take the bracelets as he explained that if they ever ran into a friendly imp without him there or if they were just separated in general they could show the imp the bracelet and they would know that the ladies were cool. Belladonna, Kitten, and Aphmau took the bracelets and slid them down their wrists. After they put the bracelets on they were set and Travis once again was the leader of the group as they traversed the mountains.

The cold air prickled at Aphmau’s lungs and raised goosebumps on her skin. Even with the layers upon layers of fabric she had on the freezing weather still seemed to freeze her body. Icicles had formed on the fur bits of her coats from rubbing against the ice and getting wet, her hair was so cold she could’ve sworn that it was frozen solid. Kitten and Belladonna weren’t doing too hot either… literally. Travis was the only one who seemed as if the climate didn’t bother him one bit but Aphmau wouldn’t put it past him, she had no idea how long he had lived here on this island so she was no person to judge. They were in what seemed like an icy cavern that freaked Aphmau because of the tall ice walls and snow at her knees, she was afraid that she would get stuck in the snow as the walls crashed down upon her… she didn’t like she ‘adventure’ whatsoever and regretted even suggesting the idea. 

They were traveling through the mountains and icy land for hours, there was a small inkling of doubt that Travis had no idea where these ruins were and were just trying to get Aphmau, Kitten, and Belladonna as far away as he possibly could so he could kill them and no one would know. 

Travis walked on the ice, through the snow, and over the rocks, like it was nothing, Aphmau was generally impressed with his knowledge of the land and how he seemed as if he was totally confident with what he was doing. Even though Aphmau used to be lord of Phoenix Drop she didn’t think that could ever be as confident with the land as Travis was with this island. 

It was almost as if it was planned but as soon as the moon shined directly onto the group Travis stopped in front of them causing Kitten to almost crash into Travis, Belladonna to crash into Kitten, and for Aphmau to crash into Belladonna. Travis stabbed his heel in the ground to stop because they had reached what looked like a giant door with fancy patterns that made it look like some Vikings had come along and decided that this door would be a good place to practice their woodworking. Once the ladies situated themselves again after crashing into one another Aphmau stepped forward to take leadership of the group. 

She didn’t ask anyone for any suggestions or advice. She just did what her gut told her to do and her gut was telling her to slightly push on the gigantic doors that blended into the side of the snow and ice-covered mountains they were at the base of. She let out a small breath which she could see due to the freezing temperatures and let the pads of her gloved fingers press against the door, it was wooden even though Aphmau expected it to be made of ice, but as she thought about it she didn’t know how that would work, but the wood was cold, so it made up for the lack of ice it was made out of. 

Nothing felt different when she touched the door, she was just opening a normal door, maybe she was actually a reincarnation of Irene because she assumed that someone would definitely feel something when they tried to open the door. All she felt was coldness, empty and dark coldness that consumed her body but that could honestly just be a mix of her depression and the weather biting her in the ass if she was honest. 

The two gigantic doors creaked open after she pushed on them and it released a great cold wind that made everyone shiver, even Travis. Maybe that was the thing that Aphmau was supposed to feel but then again everyone felt it so it probably wasn’t some magic thing that happened, the room that was behind the doors was probably just really cold. Stood in front of them was a gigantic cave with stalactites and stalagmites made of not only rock but ice as well. The cavern was only lit up with the occasional lantern but the area was still insanely dark. 

The group pushed forward and huddled close together as they tried to explore the gigantic cavern that was held behind those gigantic doors that took Aphmau’s breath away every time she looked at them. The doors held such wise knowledge and powers that not even Aphmau could comprehend but all she knew was that the doors know things Aphmau couldn’t even begin to know. 

As they made their way deeper inside the cavern the goosebumps on Aphmau’s skin got tighter, she found it impressive but annoying how persistent the climate was with getting people cold and making their experience on this blasted island just miserable in so many unbelievable ways. 

After searching for what felt like hours but in reality was only about thirty minutes they found another pair of doors that looked more secret than the other ones that opened up to the cavern that they were in. Aphmau once again moved to the front of the group and hesitantly placed her hand on the door, this time instead of cold wood it was cold smooth stone that could be mistaken for ice if you weren’t looking directly at it. The only design that was on the doors were three lifted rectangles in the middle of the two doors that gave the door a little three-dimensional feeling. Something different about this time when she placed her hand on the doors was that it didn’t open as soon as she pushed on it like that last pair of doors, this time she put both of her hands on the door. 

Her body and mind were filled with a wave of regret and depression of someone she seemed to once know, a wave of heartbreak and guilt, a wave of sobbing and screams that echoed through her ears and banging against the hard bones of her skull, a wave of an empty soul who wished death and horror upon everything even themself. She held back the gasps and sobs that banged against her throat and eyes so no one would think that something was wrong and worry about her. 

She pushed against the two stone doors quickly while pushing herself back away from the door at the same time. Her chest heaved as the doors slowly opened, unlike the other pair of doors these were much more uninviting. 

Behind the doors was a large and long hallway leading to a small room with what Aphmau thought was a floating book, she wasn’t sure since the hallways were so long. Vines hung from the ceiling and the place and it looked like stereotypical ruins you’d read about in a book, torches lined the walls to lit up the place and even though it looked like this place hadn’t been touched in centuries the torches were still somehow lit. There were cracks in the stones that made the hallway, small holes that could break someone’s ankles, and water that dripped from the ceiling onto small icy puddles because just everything in this cavern was cold as all hell. 

Like they did before, they started exploring the new place. They walked down the hallway huddled together and being aware of everything around them so if anything surprised them they would be ready. They pushed vines away from their faces and warned anyone if they were about to step into an ankle-breaking-hole, everything about the long hallway was ominous and scary. Whispers caressed Aphmau’s ears and empty gusts of winds fiddled with her already icy eyelashes. 

Aphmau’s assumptions were right with whatever was in the small room that was at the end of the hallway, a book floated above a stone and marble lectern that had gold in the cracks of it. A small moat surrounded the platform the lectern was on which was connected to the hallway with a small wooden bridge. A small buzzing noise encaptured the entire room but to Aphmau it sounded more like a very faint whisper. Aphmau swore that the vines in the room had small sparkles hanging off of them that lit the room up even more. 

It was unspoken but everyone knew to stay back as Aphmau crossed the bridge and made her way to the floating book. With delicate hands and gentle fingers, she opened the book which didn’t even look like it had aged or had been weathered down by nature. 

When she opened the book she was taken about by how the abundance of whispers came together to make one beautifully loud voice. 

“Irene? Is that really you?” the voice asked with softness and confusion “I never thought you’d come back to my island… in fact, I never thought I’d see you again. I miss you, I really do and I wish we could go back to who we once were but I guess… I guess the ladies of fate wouldn’t really like that.” The book sounded human, like this wasn’t a voice in Aphmau’s head reading the words to her; it was someone else entirely reading to her. 

The book let out a small laugh “I guess it's now or never, right?” The voice took a deep breath “I knew what would happen to Shad… I helped him, and if I’m sincere I don’t… I don’t regret it. This is such a difficult thing to admit and I know that but I’ve been in love with Shad for so utterly long and what happened to him broke my heart, how the darkness in his powers overtook him and the only way I knew how to help him was to… was… I helped him go deeper into the darkness.” 

Why would you help him? Aphmau thought I thought you said you’d never betray me but here you are telling me that you betrayed me and that you help the one man that I said you couldn’t help. 

“I know Irene, I know I betrayed you but I didn’t know how else to help the love of my life… a love that could never love me back.” 

So you knew that he’d gain all that power?

“Shad was a strong man, a leader, wherever he was he could gain power so I put him in the once place that would give him ultimate power… Hell. Hell is a living and breathing place and with the help of Shad’s already overwhelming power he could… he could touch the stars and be a part of the Titans we worshiped.” The book’s voice was weak and filled with regret “I’m so sorry Irene… I never wanted to choose sides. I just wanted to help the ones I love and I loved Shad along with you and the other Divines, I did help you guys didn’t I?” 

You still betrayed me.

“I know… I regret that I really do but I don’t regret helping Shad and I know that’s just putting salt in the wound but I just needed to get this off my chest.” The voice fell silent and a hand came to Aphmau’s cheek. She looked up out of habit and saw the face of a god… the face of Enki the Keeper. 

Their face was stained with tears, their hair in a knotty, raggedy, matted mess that some people would find attractive but in that moment Aphmau just saw it as sad. Their skin was dark with highlights of a rust-red color, their eyes were filled with regret and sadness as they looked deep into Aphmau’s soul and heart, piercing their way into Aphmau’s brain making herself sad by just looking at the person in front of her. They were in a normal snow/winter outfit but with books hanging off a chain which was wrapped/hanging off their waist, they large dual-handed sword strapped diagonally to their back, daggers strapped to their thighs, and halos made of words hovering around their wrists and ankles.

“Enki?” Aphmau barely let out a whisper, her voice taken straight from her vocal cords, you could consider her silent from how quiet and broken she spoke. 

“I’m sorry lovely, Kul’Zak said I have nothing to apologize for but… but I needed to tell this to you.” 

“Lovely,” Aphmau repeated, she knew who Enki was, she remembered the two calling each other lovely and then laughing, calling each other lovely as one-handed the other tea, calling each other lovely as one healed the other wounds, calling each other lovely. 

“Your reincarnation is just as beautiful as you were. I miss you my lovely.” 

“APHMAU!” Travis screamed, punching Aphmau in the shoulder and getting her out of the weird daze she was in. 

Aphmau shook her head in confusion “Wh-What? Why are you yelling at me?” She swiped Travis’ hands off of her shoulders. 

“I’ve been calling your name for like a couple of minutes now dude!” Travis scolded “You were like staring off into the distance and mumbling nonsense!” 

Aphmau turned her head, Kitten and Belladonna both looked like they wanted to start crying, Kitten was softly grabbing onto Belladonna as she was biting her lip to hold back her tears. Aphmau wondered if Kitten and Belladonna had heard whatever this book had told her, she was still in a state of shock over what the book had said to her and what she had said back… how did she even remember who Enki was or how they called each other ‘lovely’ or the fact that he betrayed her for some guy named Shad… what type of name is Shad any way?

“I-I… sorry I didn’t know I wasn’t responding.” 

“I mean it's fine but holy shit dude, you scared the shit out of me.” Travis ran his hand through his hair as he sighed. “So did you learn anything new?” 

Aphmau shook her head “No, not it’s nothing important so I guess we can go.” 

“That’d be good, yeah.” Kitten sniffled “We can go.” 

Aphmau wanted to say something but she decided not to since it seemed like the two ladies were already hurting enough. Kitten and Belladonna walked in the front with Aphmau and Travis walking in the back, they were pretty much silent as they traveled back through the cavern, back through the icy ravine, and back through the mountains to make their way to Travis’ home. 

Aaron sat with Laurance in their tent close to a fire that Katelyn had built for them, it was late and Aphmau, Kitten, and Belladonna hadn't come back from their trip yet and it was worrying everyone. Aaron was the only one who finally spoke up about it and left Laurance to go try and find the ladies. 

He shoved on another winter coat since in the middle of the night the island just decided to get colder and freeze everything and everyone to death because it saw it as fun. He flipped the hood over his head and started exploring the snow plain for the three ladies that had volunteered to go find the Demon Warlock. 

The more he searched the more it became abundantly clear that the ladies were nowhere to be found, he didn’t know what happened but if it was anything to do with the Demon Warlock he frankly didn’t want to know what happened. 

He wanted to head back to the campsite to tell everyone that Belladonna, Kitten, and Aphmau were nowhere to be found but as he turned around to head back he realized that he was lost, the white snow and blue ice was starting to blend and he had no idea where he was and where he had gone. 

In the distance unannounced to Aaron stood a small orange imp with bright yellow eyes that could pierce into anyone’s soul. They stared at Aaron with malicious intent and when the masked man finally walked away from where the imp was staying the imp closed their eyes and let the image of Aaron consume their mind. Their body slowly changed and morphed to be an exact copy of the man named Aaron. 

Once they were happy with the results the imp shook their shoulders and went to go find the campsite that Aaron was currently looking for. 

Chapter Text

Aphmau, Kitten, Belladonna, and Travis walked on an unknown path to the girls but a slightly known path to Travis. He had told them that he didn’t like taking the same path home all the time since it was dangerous for the imps to know your travel patterns and be able to track you and attack you. 

It was like Aphmau’s legs were being weighed down with anchors as she walked further into the woods, further down the path that Travis had memorized by heart. She was so incredibly tired, she just wanted to fall on the floor and go to sleep. 

A thought so strange, so insignificant it even confused herself when it first popped into her head… until she thought about it. She gasped and grabbed the nearest arm next to her which was sadly Kitten who yelped at the pain of Aphmau’s nail’s digging into her skin “Where the fuck are my dogs!?” 

“Aphmau!?” Belladonna scolded. 

“Hey! Don’t worry! Do not worry !” Kitten yelled, everyone was frozen in their place, shocked at the fact that Aphmau’s dogs completely slipped their minds “Amada is at Travis’ house and I sent Dua back to the ship, Dua is with everyone else while Amada is at Travis’. No one worry.” 

“I did see you bring a dog into the house. I just didn't register it.” Travis commented.

Aphmau groaned and dragged her hands down her face “Dear Irene I’m such a terrible dog owner.” 

“No! Don’t say that!” Kitten whined, “We’ve been through some shit today, specifically you so don’t blame yourself.”  

“What the fuck is that?” Belladonna asked, pointing up towards the mountains. 

They were switching the conversation so fast Aphmau swore she got whiplash. They had all snapped their heads to look in the direction that Belladonna was pointing at to get more of a hint on why her face was in the slight distress it was showing. 

In the distance, over the mountains and in the direction of the boat that Aphmau and her friends had used to crash on this island, was a large cloud of smoke circling upwards into the night sky. At first, it didn’t strike any worry in the group, just confusion on why in the world would there be smoke coming from the mountains, were they secretly volcanos, was someone smoking a very large cigar or cigarette, was there a very large campfire? Everyone was really tired from their trip so you couldn’t really blame them for their thinking process being a little slower than normal. 

“Wait…” Aphmau tilted her head as the cogs in her head started turning “That’s coming from… why is that coming from the direction of the boat?” 

Everyone turned to each other with wide and worried eyes. 

“You wouldn't think… ?” Kitten asked everyone. 

Just as Kitten said that they could hear the faintest of faint explosions that all made their hearts stop and force their bodies to start moving without control or permission towards the boat. 

Icy winds stabbed at Aphmau’s eyes, effectively drying her eyes and making unprompted tears flow from them at the same time. Icicles formed in her lungs as sharp winds were breathed in making her throat dry and raw as she ran over and through the mountains with Travis, Kitten, and Belladonna all by her side. She was somehow hot and cold at the same time, her skin burning and wanting to take off the bulky winter clothes she had on but she was also freezing to death and all she wanted to do was get inside a campfire to get warm again. She didn’t know how difficult it was to run in such freezing climates. 

They were much closer to the boat’s area than they expected, Aphmau was honestly willing to run a good hour or two to even start seeing a sliver of the boat but no they actually got there in thirty minutes or less. 

The boat was in flames, everything around it was in flames, the snow was even on fire which Aphmau did even know was possible seeing as she hadn’t really experienced snow before. Aaron was the only conscious person that the group saw once the boat became visible to them. He was carrying limp Katelyn against his hip and a limp Laurance over his shoulder, all of them had gushing wounds and slashes all over their bodies… like they had been through a war.   

“AARON!” Aphmau yelled, her throat in so much raw pain it was surprising she could even talk at all. Aaron flinched and accidentally let Laurance’s body slip over his shoulder which made him flinch again and drop Katelyn. The group ran towards Aaron and the bodies to see what exactly had happened to everyone, everything was going so fast but Aphmau was trying her hardest to keep up. Dua was there as well, close to Aaron’s body but as soon as the dog saw Aphmau she ran through the snow to nudge against the woman’s body. Aphmau slightly leaned down to pet and love the dog but she kept forward. 

Katelyn was surprisingly awake, whether it was due to the impact of hitting the ground or if she had been awake the entire time, Aphmau didn’t know. She pushed herself to lay on her back so she could look at Aphmau. She was missing one of her gauntlets but as soon as Aphmau was about to point out that Kitten already had the other weapon in her hand, ready to hand it back to Katelyn. 

The woman’s face was mangled, she already had a lot of scars from her previous adventures but these new wounds intersected those already existing scars. Her cat ears that rested atop of her head like they were naturally a part of her had cuts and burnt spots all over them, one of the ears even had blood inside the ear. Everything on her body was red, red smeared against her skin, red was coming out of her skin, red was rubbed into her clothes, red was leaking into other parts of her body, red was everywhere. 

Aphmau’s heart was pacing, getting louder, getting larger, it was beating against her ribcage, against her lungs, against the small layer of skin that was keeping everything in check, soon it would be bursting out of her chest and fall to the floor and a bloody heap. Her head spun as she stared deeper into the red that consumed Katelyn’s body, her throat got tight, her eyes got filled with salty tears, she fell back and squirmed away from the body that was trying to talk to her. She didn’t know why but Katelyn’s bloody had so effectively reminded her of the werewolf king that Laurance had killed, if Katelyn just had another gash, just one more wound, just a little redder then maybe she would actually resemble the man that Laurance had killed all that time ago. 

“Aph?” Katelyn called out with worry, reaching out for the woman but all Aphmau did was crawl farther back. 

“No.” She whimpered and shook her head. Belladonna went over to Aphmau and wrapped her hands around her shoulders, helping her calm down. Dua tried to calm Aphmau down by trying to get into the woman’s lap but Aphmau was so far gone from calm that no dog could help her. 

“I’m so sorry.” Katelyn let out as Aaron kneeled to help her back up. Once she realized that Aaron was the one trying to help her she smacked his hand away, fury and angry embedded in her eyes “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” She hissed. 

“I don't know what happened but I did nothing to those kids.” Aaron snapped at the woman. 

“What did happen?” Kitten asked. You would think that everyone was handling the situation calmly, talking normally but in reality, they were all yelling at each other, everyone was moving quickly, and no one could have a moment of peace. It was hell. 

“Aaron came up from below the decks with a sword to Dmitri’s neck.” Katelyn spit, staring daggers into Aaron “Before Laurance and I could do anything we were bombarded with little imp creatures that… they took the kids.” Katelyn’s eyes widened with realization. “After that, they… fuck after that the leader, Aaron-” 

“I’m not the leader of those devil creatures! I don’t know how or why that thing looked like me!” 

“It’s the imps.” Travis commented, “Imps do that, they can take the appearance of people they see and clone it.” 

“They can’t see his face though, how can you clone someone and not see their face?” Katelyn asked.

“Behind that imp’s bandana is probably a black void, anything they can’t see they fill in with voids.” 

“What happened after, did the leader want anything?” Kitten asked, getting them back on track. Laurance was still passed out in the snow, bleeding from everywhere. 

“He wanted the one with ‘healing’ powers to go to a pillar in the forest… unarmed and alone.” Katelyn turned towards Aphmau, sympathy, and sadness riddled the woman’s eyes “Aph… they want to see you.” 

Aphmau’s body shook, from the cold or the panic attack, she wasn’t sure. She hated, she did, she didn’t like the way she was feeling and she especially didn’t like how she couldn’t act normal when she saw blood or wounds or anything like that. She was a warrior, she’s supposed to act like blood and wounds are normal things and things you can just brush off, why, why did she hate this so much? The original Irene would be so insanely disappointed in her, shaking and at the point of tears all from two unconscious bodies bleeding profusely, Irene would laugh in her face if she saw her. That man in her dream, who the more she thought about the more the dream got fuzzy, was wrong. He was so wrong it was laughable, if Aphmau had the capability to laugh she would. How can someone like her be a reincarnation of Irene?

Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay. Just take deep breaths. Everything will be okay, just take deep breaths. You’re okay  

Irene? Aphmau thought. 

“What?” Aphmau was able to mutter out, Dua looked up at her with happiness that her owner was finally talking once again. 

“The imps they… The Demon Warlock he… he wants to see you, at a pillar in the woods.” Katelyn repeated, pursing her lips, sympathy consuming her face. 

Aphmau let out a shaky breath, running a shaky hand through Dua’s fur “They have the kids right?” Aaron and Katelyn nodded “Then I need to go after them.” She hated how heroic she acted sometimes. 

“Oh fuck no!” Travis rolled his eyes, staring at Aphmau with angry confusion “Are you kidding me right now? It’s such an obvious trap it’s stupid! He’s gonna steal your power, find a way to escape his imprisonment, and not only endanger everyone on this island but everyone in the world ! Do you wanna be responsible for the end of the world!?” 

“No!” She screamed “No I don’t want to be responsible for that Travis! I actually don’t want to do anything right now, if I’m being honest I kinda wanna kill myself right now!” 

“What?” 

“Aph…” 

Aphmau bit back tears “I don’t want to do anything, I’d let those kids die in a heartbeat if it meant I could die as well if I could rest for one moment, one second if I could wash away in the void of history but I can’t! I can’t let those kids die because there are people that care for them, that would die for them! I can’t die because there are people who care for me, strangely enough, they do. I can’t die right now, sadly, but I can’t, not yet at least.” Esmund, was reiterating the words that Esmund had spoken to her “I need to live, I don’t know why but I do. I’m going to save those kids, I’m going to make sure the Demon Warlock doesn’t escape, and I’m going to leave this fucking island.” Every pause she took she would take one more step to stand up all the way and brush the snow off her body. 

“You’re irrational, you’re insane.” Travis snapped. 

“Shut up.” She said, unamused. She knew she sounded rude but she wasn’t in the mood to care. 

“Do you even know where this pillar is?” 

“I do.” Kitten answered with shame and shyness. 

“I thought you said- ya know… it was blocked.” Aphmau tilted her head towards Kitten. 

“It was, like twenty minutes ago it started working. I have no idea why, that demon dude might want me to see everything so I can show you the way.”

Oh, this is most definitely a trap. Aphmau thought. 

Aaron piped up “What are you guys talking about?” 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“I feel like I should though.” 

Kitten ignored the man “Do you want me to come with you or just point you in the direction?” 

“He said to go alone,” Travis commented, he looked angry, and really he had every right to be. Aphmau was putting everything he had worked for in danger if she did this, really he had no reason to help them out. 

“Guess I’ll be pointing you in the right direction.” Everything was so weird, everything felt off and wrong and Aphmau just wanted to sleep everything away. Kitten went quiet for a second before telling Aphmau the exact direction she had to go in to reach the strange pillar that the imps told her to go to. If she got through this she could just get the kids and hopefully never have to worry about this stupid island again. 

After hearing the directions Aphmau said a quick goodbye to everyone, telling them they needed to heal and rest and she would use her powers if she had the time. She took a quick look at Aaron before heading off, just a small glance, he didn’t have his bandana on and was staring back at Aphmau. She smiled softly before running.

 She ran back through the snow, following the directions that Kitten had given her, her throat was raw, her eyes were dry, and she went through the whole process of being hot and cold at the same time. She hated running through the snow with an insane passion, like insane. 

Unlike the trip from the mountains to the ship, this trip was much longer, Aphmau had lost track of time once she hit the third icy lake, why were there so many lakes, there were so many mountains, so much snow. It wouldn’t surprise Aphmau if by the time they got off the island her entire body temperature had changed and snow was now mixed in with her lungs and blood. She had been running for so long she was convinced that multiple days had passed and gone and everyone she loved was dead now. 

She gasped her way to a pine tree covered in snow, the tree was different, different from the rest for some reason. She put her back against the tree trunk and took a breath to catch her breath, to calm down, to process everything. Her hands were tingling- scratch that- everything was tingling, it was like electricity was coursing through her veins. She stretched her arms above her head like a cat, looking through the branches of the tree. At the top of the tree was bright like the sun, shining down on Aphmau although it was basically the middle of the night. She raised her eyebrow in confusion and walked in front of the tree to see the glowing light better. 

She stared at the light in confusion, mumbled and incoherent words spouted out from the light, words Aphmau couldn’t understand, words that probably weren’t real.  The light was absorbing everything, shining on everything, making everything in its way glow in such unexplainable beauty. There was such a strong desire to reach out and touch it, to let her hands absorb and be washed over with the warmth that hopefully came from the light. She caved. 

She reached out, she was freezing herself off in this weather and the possibility of getting warmer would make her do anything. It was too late when she realized something was wrong. 

“No-” 

The speed of light was not able to compete against how fast Aphmau’s vision went dark and how fast she snapped back into a totally different dimension, reality, she didn’t know. Everything around her was black, black floors the sizzled around her feet like just used charcoal, mountains of black towered over her with purple rocks that let out strange dust particles, the sky was black… so… so black that it surprised her that she could see anything at all, and in front of her… a black podium with two helpless and sleeping kids smack dab in the middle. She didn’t know what the black stuff was made out of, magic? Rocks? A floor covered in ash? She didn’t know, all she knew was that he struck fear into her heart, fear that touched her soul, fear that traveled through her veins and into her brain.  

On the podium of black, lava flowed from the sides and into a small moat surrounding the podium, successfully trapping the children and making it impossible for Aphmau to grab the kids unless she wanted to be burned alive. 

She was kneeling, hands pressed deep into the ground below her, she wasn’t paying attention but once her brain realized that her hands were on the ground it sent the signal of burning straight to her hands making her jerk them back in pain. She waved her hands in pain, the gloves she wore had now been seared with small holes in them exposing red and already blistering skin. 

“Fuck.” She mumbled in a shaky voice. Why was everything so hot? She asked herself, her body heating up, she started slowly taking off the layers and layers of clothes she had on. Everything is so hot.  

This is what it felt like in hell, all she knew was hot when she was in Hell, warmth, too much warmth to be comfortable. 

“Fuck.” She repeated in a more shaky and desperate tone as she tore off the layers “No, no, no, no I’m not back there.” She softly cried to herself, trying her hardest to hold the sobs back. It was so hot that the tears that were supposed to fall to the floor dried immediately on her face once they were out of her eyes. “Please.” She pleaded. 

A clawed hand grabbed Aphmau’s chin, jerking it up to look at the tall figure before her - the tall demon before her. A demon, a demon with goat legs, a demon with goat legs who had a mix of black and purple skin, a demon who looked very pretty at first glance but the more you inspected their features they turned ugly and cruel-looking, a demon who Aphmau knew had to be the Demon Warlock. 

She knew her skin had to be burning off, but why wasn’t it? When she made slight glances at her body with the restriction she had there were no signs of blisters or burning skin… was all it in her mind? Was it because she knew she was in Hell? Was she in Hell? 

The Demon Warlock sucked their teeth and shook Aphmau’s hand softly “Tck, tck, tck…” The demon straightened Aphmau’s face to look directly at him “You aren’t in hell silly, you're in somewhere much worse.” 

“Why is it so hot?” Her mouth got dry the moment she opened her mouth.

“I like it that way, fits me better.” The demon smiled cruelly at Aphmau, whipping his hand away from her chin jerking her jaw, she gasped in pain. “You’re a fool to come alone, you understand that right?” 

A strange feeling in Aphmau’s stomach told her she wasn’t entirely alone “I just want my kids back.” She was too scared to fight, guess she knew her response when it came to danger. “I just want them back, please just give them back.” 

“Huh, so you do know your place? I knew I didn’t make this pocket dimension for nothing, can’t you feel my power circulating through you, draining everything you love about yourself.” 

She hated herself, so she found what he said ironic. 

“I have to know though, how did someone like you obtain this type of power? Did you just come into this power? I would assume so since I could feel it miles away from this pathetic ass island.” The Demon Warlock towered over Aphmau, it's lower half uncomfortably in Aphmau’s face. 

If she didn’t tell she knew he would go for the kids, it's common sense. Also, he could read thoughts most likely or she just had said that she was in Hell without realizing she said it out loud but… but the most likely chance was that this Demon Warlock could read her thoughts. She couldn’t lie even if she tried. 

She took a shaky breath, ignoring the feeling of panic and anger bubbling up inside her to answer to Demon Warlock most calmly and simply she could “I’m the reincarnation of Irene, a Divine Warrior if you will.”  She didn’t feel like a Divine Warrior, she wanted to trust Esmund though… she was remembering him more. 

“Irene… no…. We would’ve known right? We would’ve been able to sense Irene making a reincarnation for herself would we not?” It was confusing whether or not the demon was talking to Aphmau, himself, or a mix of the both “But if you are really Irene… if you are really Irene then you must be the most idiotic fools I’ve ever met. Surrender your power to me.”

Or the kids, Aphmau didn’t need them to finish their sentence. She knew the demon’s bargaining deals since it was so painstakingly obvious. She didn’t want to, she knew what would happen if she did give him her power, for some reason she would risk it all for those stupid kids. 

“I... “ she averted eye contact, eyebrows furrowing in slight anger “Fine.” She submitted hesitantly. 

The Demon Warlock looked shocked, something like this had never happened before, he was taken aback. “Are…. You’re being serious?” 

Aphmau nodded. 

The demon let out a bark of a laugh “You’re, wow !” They ran their fingers through their hair in disbelief “You must be the stupidest person I have ever met! Do you even know who I am!?” 

“You’re the Demon Warlock, are you not?” 

The demon rolled their eyes and let out a small laugh of disapproval “That’s not who I really am. Do you know me ?” 

Aphmau looked around herself in confusion, shaking her head no but not saying anything. Her throat was so dry so didn’t want to talk a lot, hurting her more than the heat hurt her skin. 

The demon smiled wickedly “My name is Mercure, one of the original Titans, the titan of fire, heat, pain, ya know… normal things.” He flicked his hands in a pose to show himself off “I thought you knew that though, seeing as I’m the one that created Enki and made their relic.”

“ You ?” Aphmau asked with the most confused face that can be put on a person “How could a Demon Warlock make someone like Enki - also what do you mean you gave them their relic?” 

Mercure laughed, “You know nothing about the divine, do you? You’re just pathetic, along with the other reincarnations of your friends and the originals even! None of you would be here without us and yet no one - NO ONE - knows who we are! I’m sick of it!” 

“Is this what this is? Revenge? This is all just because you’re jealous?” 

“It’s not jealousy! It’s unfair!” Mercure yelled, “It doesn’t make any sense.” 

“You’re so stupid!” 

“You could’ve told Enki that!” 

“Why?” 

“ ‘Cause he trusted me enough to believe I wouldn’t kill him.” 

“I-” Aphmau choked on her sentence, why did hearing that hurt so badly? She didn’t know Enki, yet her heart had just been openly stabbed with this information. Was that why Enki was on this island? Because Mercure killed him and his soul was now trapped on the island? It hurt to think of it that way, even more, the fact that Enki can never leave this hellscape. 

Along with the heat, the panic from everything feeling like a flashback, the sudden lack of motivation she got, she was done with everything and just wanted the kids back. She was pissed off with everything.  “You bitch.” She said without her consent. 

She spun on her knees into a standing position, arms acting like windmills as she turned. A white blinding light covered her body as something foreign grew out of her body and something familiar formed in her hand. She formed into something slightly familiar, something she hadn’t formed into in a while. Her hair was no longer dragging her head down, white light grew from her eyes, and her entire body was lighter. She had kicked her leg up as she turned, just missing the titan as he dogged her leg, fear, and confusion written on their face. 

“Wh- What!?” Mercure backed away, towards the children. 

“You really thought you could just say that and consequences would not come your way?” Aphmau only had slight control of her body, she didn’t know what was going on and she didn’t know who was talking for her “You really thought that there would be nothing to happen to you after you say that!?”

“Where did this confidence come from?” He asked, teasing almost. 

Aphmau let out a small laugh “It’s always been here, baby.” She smiled widely “It’s just a little hard to get through, reincarnations and all.” 

The titan’s face dropped “You don’t… no…” 

“Nice you meet you again mother fucker!” She twirled the glowing and crystal spear in her hand, taking it into both of her hands she leaped forward and drove it through Mercure’s body. Unlike Shadow Knights, Mercure’s body released actual blood that might’ve calmed her down a bit and told her that yes in fact she was not in hell… just something close to it.

White blood poured from the wound that Aphmau had made with her spear, the titan in front of her looked at her with shock and fear, he lazily held a hand close to the wound as his knee buckled, he fell to the floor with the spear still through their body. 

Mercure stared up at Aphmau, the realization of everything slowly setting into her “It was nice to meet you again.” They smiled, their mouth bloody with white blood “You can have your kids back.” 

Aphmau’s lip trembled, her grip loosened from the spear in her hands. Her entire body began to shake as she processed what she just did, she had been possessed or some shit and then stabbed a man, a TITAN! Her breath hitched, her chest got tight, and she hated herself most of all for feeling this way. 

“Wait, wait, what?” She had totally zoned out and hadn’t caught what Mercure had told her. 

“Take the kids.” They coughed blood “I got what I wanted and I no longer need to cause you any trouble.” Mercure went silent and all the lava surrounding the sleeping children dissipated into the air. 

“Wh- What, wait, where… how are we? Where?” Aphmau paused, the crystal spear disappearing from inside Mercure’s body and only leaving a hole showing organs with white blood pouring out of it. She took a deep breath and recollected herself “How are we going to be able to leave?” 

“Why don’t you figure it out for yourself?” Mercure asked, his body slowly dissipating into a dust cloud that flew upwards by the wind “You’re a Divine Warrior, I believe in you.” They smiled cruelly, venom dripping from their words as Aphmau watched in fear as the Titan turned into dust. 

Aphmau’s hair slowly descended her back, her eyes slowly stopped glowing, and her body no longer felt light. She was still breathing in quick succession but she pulled through it and hopped over to the children which she swept off the black podium and into her arms. She held Dimitri and Itsuki close to her body, they were somehow sleeping soundly against her body. Her heart was beating so loudly in her ear she was sure that the kids would wake up and hear it. 

She looked around, sad-looking and fear-induced imps ran around the place, screaming and crying for their master which Aphmau just killed. There was no clear sign of exit, the entire pocket dimension was just dark, shadows couldn’t even be seen with the light source of lava being eradicated. The panic in her body rose, her breathing quickened and shortened, her head got dizzy, her stomach churned, she didn’t want to be stuck here forever. 

God, why did she have to be such a hero? 

Aaron stood outside a pine tree, a pine tree that had a glowing light at the tip. Light rays washed over Aaron, creating a painting-esc scene that you would see in a museum. 

Red and black magic swarmed Aaron’s fist as he concentrated on his energy, staring daggers into the glowing light atop the tree. The ground beneath his feet slowly turning black, cracks opening up like spider webs and opening up holes filled with nothing but black voids. Aaron twirled her hand in an upwards motion before slamming both his fist onto the ground, the red and black energy spreading out into a fifty-foot radius, the tree that Aaron had been staring went through the multiple stages of wilting and slowly decaying its way into the ground. The glowing light atop the tree grew brighter and brighter as the tree decayed into the ground. Black clouds of magic emitted from Aaron's body as he stayed on the ground and dug his fist deeper and deeper into the snowy ground. 

Aaron took a deep breath, staying kneeling in the snow but lifting his fist so they parallel to his shoulders. He looked up at the glowing light once more before bringing his fist down into the ground with so much force the ground below him rippled like the ocean. For harsher and darker vines and clouds of red and black magic covered the ground in a fifty-foot radius of Aaron, the glowing light shined as bright as the sun once the magic hit the decayed tree it was atop of. Aaron’s bandana that was wrapped around his eyes made for some protection against the glowing light that wanted to blind everything in its past. Aaron covered his eyes for extra protection against the light as it continued to shine brighter than any star in the sky. 

When everything went back to normal it wasn’t a nice and gentle dim of the light, it was harsh and sharp and there was no way to get your eyes used to see everything normally again. 

Aaron slowly let his hand fall from his eyes, squinting under his bandana. Aaron starred in front of him, Aphmau sat on the ground with Dimitri and Itsuki in her arms looking as if she just saw a ghost… well, probably something much worse than a ghost. 

Aphmau’s face was pale and her chest was moving quickly as her panicked breathing increased. 

“What the fuck !?” Aphmau screamed at Aaron “How the fuck did you do that?” 

Aaron was still kneeling in the snow, he lifted his fist off the ground and looked at his hands. Everything around him was wilted or decaying “I… I don’t know.” He breathily said “I don’t know but are the… are the kids safe? Are you safe?” 

“We are not just going to glass over that!” 

“But we are!” Aaron snapped back, standing to his feet “Are you okay, and what happened in there.” 

“I don’t want to talk about it right now.” Aaron stepped over and took Dimitri from Aphmau’s arms before helping her stand up. “Some fucked up shit happened.” 

“That’s fine, you don’t have to talk about it.” 

“How long was I gone for?” 

Aphmau shook his head from side to side, trying to remember “Like a good couple of hours. Travis went back to his house to get Amada by the way so you don’t have to worry. Oh, and Katelyn and Laurance are fine.” Aphmau started following Aaron as he walked away “They’re passed out and in a lot of pain but they’re fine now.” 

“I feel terrible for not being able to help them.” A cold breeze tickled Aphmau’s skin and she remembered that she had shed her winter clothes back in the strange pocket dimension. She took a quick look behind but found no clothes near the tree where she had landed. Aphmau wanted to cry, she did feel bad for not being able to have enough time to heal Katelyn and Laurance but her body showed no sign of that. 

“We’re going to the Enki Warrior Tribe by the way. Didn’t know if you wanted to know.” Aaron sniffled, the cold weather making his nose runny. 

“I was going to ask that so thank you.” 

The silence was deafening, awkward, and terrible. Aphmau wanted to physically cringe at how awkward everything was, she wished she could talk about something to change the subject and make the awkward air a little less awkward but the only thing on her mind was that stupid fucking Demon Warlock, or Mercure the Titan of bullshit. She was angry, angry at everything, angry at everyone and anything. She was angry about the kids getting kidnapped, angry about Mercure, angry she killed him, angry she didn’t have a way out, and she was angry at the fact that Aaron wouldn’t tell her how he got her out of there. Everything around them was dying and depressing, Aphmau had an inkling of a thought that Aaron might’ve had something to do with it. She had no evidence, she just had a gut feeling. Aaron was a mysterious guy, a guy Aphmau wished could be her friend but also a guy she was deathly terrified of. 

The kids still hadn’t woken up as the pair walked with them in their arms. Itsuki and Dimtri laid silently against Aaron and Aphmau’s chest, it was worrying seeing as Aphmau had terrible experiences with children in comas but she hoped it was nothing like what happened to Alexis…. Alexis… Phoenix Drop, Aphmau Phoenix Drop she did but something in her was glad that she hadn’t gone back yet, something in her felt free to a certain extent that she hadn’t thought about Phoenix Drop in so long…. Maybe she was finally moving on, moving on from a life that she once lived and finally moving on to a new one… was this what healing was? It couldn’t be because she had a panic attack in Mercure’s pocket dimension not that long ago, healing wasn’t always a linear line but she didn’t know there were going to be so many inclines and declines in this stupid line of healing. 

Any hopes of Aaron and Aphmau’s conversation rekindling were lost, they walked in silence and kept their thoughts to themselves. 

Katelyn, Itsuki, and Dimitri were all lying asleep in cots on the third floor of Asmund’s house. Laurance had woken up but was still injured, he was using a cane to help get him around. 

Asmund, Travis, Kitten, Belladonna, Aaron, and Laurance were all sitting around a dining room table in Asmund’s house as Aphmau shakily and nervously told them what had happened while confronting the Demon Warlock. She left out some details, like her having a panic attack, the fact that ‘Demon Warlock’ wasn’t actually the monster's name yet it was Mercure and he was a titan, and how she turned into Irene… well she somewhat left that part out. 

She had Amada and Dua at her feet, sleeping soundly as if nothing had happened. Aphmau was glad that at least someone in this house was calm. 

After explaining what had happened, Aphmau had left the house to go outside and take a breather. Amada and Dua followed at her side as she leaned against the cold stone fences bordering the path that led outside Asmund’s house to more parts of the tribe and the docks. Luckily she had gotten new clothes so she wasn’t freezing when the cold weather hit her skin.

She crossed her arms and leaned against the stone fence and looked out into the horizon, the moonlight shining on the ocean in front of her. Her nerves were calmed down, she no longer felt as if she was going to throw up but her mind was still racing as quickly as ever. She didn’t feel clean, the white blood not visible on her body but still on her conscience, no matter how hard she rubbed or wiped she could never feel clean. The blood on her hands, the blood on her mind, her body, her heart, was piling up and soon the layers would become more visible to the human eye and she could no longer hide the things she’s done or seen. The cloth she was using to wipe the blood off of her would soon be too soaked up with blood to be used anymore. 

She stared emptily at her breath as it flew from her mouth into the open air, everything felt numb, nothing felt real, like she was in some twisted dream. Like a nightmare. 

A door creaked opened behind Aphmau, she ignored it and thought of it like nothing before a hand lightly tapped her shoulder. 

It was Laurance, using a cane to stand up, one of his legs wrapped up in gauze after what happened. 

“I didn’t know if you wanted to be alone but I just wanted to ask if you were okay.” His cat tail hanging low by his ankles. 

“Are you?” 

Laurance huffed a laugh, running his fingers through his hair “I don’t know.” 

“I’m fucked.” 

“Oh.” 

They were silent and the air between them was thick, awkward. 

“We’re gonna get through this.” Aphmau spoke up “I don’t know how or when but one day we aren’t going to be so messed up. One day we aren’t going to be scared to be friends.” 

“How do you know that?” 

Aphmau shrugged “I had a dream.” 

“With him?”

Aphmau shook her head “Not him exactly, I haven’t seen him in a while though.” 

“I miss him.” 

“Same.” Aphmau scratched her head “Do you think that any of this would’ve happened if Garroth didn’t betray us?” 

“Maybe, or maybe this all would’ve happened much later down the line.” 

“Hm.” 

Once again silence as the wind whistles through the trees, into open windows, the cold air making its way into both of their lungs.  

“I’ll leave you if you want… just wanted to check up on you.” 

“You can do what you want, Laurance.” Aphmau smiled softly “Thank you for checking up on me though.” 

Laurance nodded and softly grabbed Aphmau’s hand, deep in her brain she had a spike of anxiety from the foreign gesture… her and Laurance hadn’t been the same since the wedding and she wasn’t really used to him touching her, especially in such a ‘romantic’ way. He bowed down and softly killed Aphmau’s hand in a kind and gentle gesture. 

“Have a nice night, Lady Aphmau.” 

She rolled her eyes as the man walked back into the house “I hate you!” She called out. 

“I know!” He laughed before entering the house and closing the door behind himself. 

She thought that after that she would get some peace again where she would rethink her entire existence and have a fun little existential crisis, and then she heard Asmund laughing and she moved over to a window looking into the man’s house. 

Asmund and Travis stood opposite each other, Asmund looking amused at the conversation Travis and him were having while Travis looked pissed as all hell. 

“I have been!” Travis snapped “I have been keeping him at bay while your people have been living in peace, not knowing the full effects of his true power!” 

Aphmau guessed Travis was finally telling Asmund the truth. 

“Look, I understand you wanted to live the same life as your mother Travis, but you’ll end up just like her if you don’t stop playing these games…. My village takes care of itself without your help. We don’t need you.” 

Aphmau sucked in a breath at Asmund’s response, Travis looked absolutely heartbroken and Aphmau’s heart stung for him. 

“Go fuck yourself Asmund, you don’t even know an inkling of the real danger he brings. Just because his physical form is gone doesn’t mean he is gone forever. You are done!” Travis spit in Asmund’s face before storming out the door that Aphmau was next to. 

She moved to the side and clenched her teeth in hopes of not be seen by Travis as he stormed down the snowy stone path. She looked through the window once more, Asmund was wiping spit off his face with his gloved hand, his face looked so angry and pissed that Aphmau didn’t even want to risk talking to him. 

She turned her head and looked towards where Travis had gone, he had gone a long way down the path and was now leaning against the stone fence staring at his now visible breath just as Aphmau had been doing not too long ago. She saw how broken Travis looked when Asmund said he wasn’t needed and she could tell that Travis didn't feel that well from that. She decided to take a deep breath and go talk to Travis to see if he was okay. 

Aphmau wrapped her jacket tighter around and walked towards the lonely man who was being softly lit up by the moon. He was talking to himself and his warm breath was clouding around him. She made sure not to make any sound while walking up to Travis to disturb him but she did copy what Laurance had done and softly tapped Travis’ shoulder to get his attention. 

Travis turned around “Oh hey, you saw that argument didn’t you?” 

Aphmau shrugged “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t. What if I just wanted to check up on you, you did look pretty down.” 

He laughed softly “Oh yeah cause you just do that.” 

“You haven’t known me for that long, you can’t say anything about me.” 

“No, you’re right, you’re right it’s just… for the time I’ve known you I didn’t know you were an empathetic person.” 

“Really?” Aphmau tilted her head in confusion “I swear it’s pretty obvious.” 

Travis shrugged “Maybe things change.” 

Things had changed… a lot “Yeah maybe.” Aphmau moved to stand next to Travis and lean against the stone fence with him. They stood there in comfortable silence, staring at the moon as it controlled the soft lapping of the ocean waves. 

“Asmund shouldn’t have said that to you.” Aphmau said, breathing deeply and letting her warm visible breath float up into the air “You are needed Travis, very needed. Asmund is just an ignorant fool like you had said.” 

“You were right though,” Travis commented. 

“About what?” 

“This village never learned the true danger about the Demon Warlock, they never learned the truth because my mother and I were being too protective. We were keeping the truth from them and I see our wrongs, at least now the Demon Warlock will only attack with minimum since its physical form is gone.” 

“Oh… I still don’t know how I just got rid of his physical form, I swear I killed him.” 

Travis laughed softly and shook his head “From what you described, you only did a quarter of what you’re supposed to do to kill something like the Demon Warlock. You have to go through a whole ass process to kill something as powerful as them.” 

“Oh, I mean that kinda makes sense.” 

Silence washed over them again, all that was heard was the soft breathing from the two of them and the sounds of the ocean that filled the air no matter how noisy or silent it was. 

Travis was a good kid, Travis is a good kid. Aphmau wouldn’t mind if he actually became friends with Aphmau and her group despite the shit he pulled when she first met him… he was alright in her book. 

“I want to come with you, wherever you’re going. I have a ship that can probably fit everyone with you and since the Demon Warlock doesn’t have as much power as he used to the seas aren’t cursed anymore. We can leave this island, we can go tomorrow and leave and never come back.” 

Aphmau turned to Travis “Seriously? Do you want to come with us? Be with our fucked up group of misfits?”

“Any day of the week, baby.” Travis smiled widely and looked at Aphmau “I’d love it actually.” 

A smile curled at Aphmau’s lips “Sure, why not.” 

“I’d also like to be a guard for the Phoenix Alliance if that’s okay?” 

Aphmau swayed her head from side to side as she thought “You talked to Belladonna right?” 

Travis nodded. 

“I can’t see why you couldn’t, you’d have to train though.” 

“Of course, I would gladly be a guard in training rather than nothing at all.” 

Aphmau nodded and held her hand out “Well then welcome to the Phoenix Alliance, we are more than happy to have you a part of our cause.” 

Travis shook Aphmau’s hand “Thank you for taking me in.” 

Aphmau let her hand fall from Travis’ and she went back to looking at the moon, a soft smile plastered on her face. Travis leaned on the fence next to her, the two enjoying the silence. They didn’t do much but enjoy the sounds of the waves ricocheting in their ears. Aphmau ran her fingers through her hair, taking in a deep breath. Calmness washed over her and her mind fell into thoughts of no worry. 

She stayed outside until the cold air began to pick at her skin and pain her eyes, drying out her throat and lungs, and freezing her brain. Travis had already left a while ago, the cold getting to him and him not wanting to stay at Asmund’s anymore. She bundled herself up with the copious amounts of jackets she was wearing and headed back into the now dark house since all the lighting was out now and the only source of lighting was the moon, which was having a hard time going into the house. She made her way upstairs where the housing area was, quietly snuck into one of the rooms, and went to sleep on a random bed that was on the floor. 

Her mind wasn’t silent but it was much quieter than before, it was nice… this was nice. 

Chapter Text

Aphmau gasped awake, she was on that weird ass island again but instead of waking up in someone’s lap she woke up standing up, staring at the large tree that Garroth and her would meet in her dreams. Her feet glued to the ground, this wasn’t a nice dream like others she’s had with Garroth this was painful and her chest tightened, her throat tighten, as tears filled her eyes were vision became swarmed was red as in the background she could see the mangled face of Zane. 

He was just staring at her, staring into her soul, staring at her with his messed up mouth, messed up eye, his face that was so beautifully horrific to look at and not horrific because it’s mangled, horrific because it was Zane’s, it was Zane’s mangled face. The mangled face of a priest who was to be the speaker of the gods, and when you think of a speaker of the gods, you don’t think of a psychotic mangled faced man who tried to kill you. All of this was happening, all while the air left Aphmau’s lungs with every passing second. Garroth sat under the tree with someone who looked similar to Aphmau - not identical - similar to Aphmau’s face in his lap. He looked confused but at peace… he looked like what Aphmau felt when she was in Esmund’s lap…. 

Was this what happened when she was with Esmund… was Garroth with Irene? 

But Zane was still staring at her, and her chest kept getting tighter, and somehow her vision had gotten so red it had turned black. 

She gasped awake in the bed she passed out in last night. Sweat drenched her body and bed, her breathing was jagged, her vision was blurry with tears. A hand on her shoulder spooked her, and she almost fell off the bed. 

She snapped her head towards the disembodied hand to find Laurance with his face mixed with emotions of worry and concern. 

“What the fuck!?” she screamed and whipped Laurance’s hand off her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Are you okay? I just wanted to check if you were okay.” Laurance put his hands up in defense. “Your body was gone.” 

Aphmau sat scrunched up on the farther corner away from Laurance, panting and staring at him with fearful eyes. 

She smacked her hands on her face and rubbed them up and down her face to wake herself up. She groaned, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have reacted that way… I’m sorry I-… I had a bad dream….” 

“Don’t apologize for that. I shouldn’t have been in your room.” He didn’t look all there. 

Aphmau’s entire body was shaking, her hands an obvious sign of that. Holding them out to look at them, the vibration of her hands was clear as day. She held them close to her chest. “I’m sorry.” She repeated, she didn’t want to look at Laurance and it might’ve seemed like he didn’t want to look at her either. “I’m sorry.” 

Laurance nodded, both knowing this was going nowhere if they kept apologizing to each other. “I’ll leave you be okay? Call me if you need anything… I hope you’re okay.” 

Aphmau wanted so badly to hug Laurance, for him to tell her everything was going to be okay, but when she looked up at the man she considered a friend, she didn’t see him. She saw Laurance that split a man’s head open and murdered innocents right in front of her eyes… she saw the man that made her hostage wedding turn into a red wedding. That wasn’t the Laurance she wanted to hug. 

She put her hands back on her face, breathing deeply into them. They somehow smelt like the cold and they were cold but the warm air from her nose was ‘defrosting’ them. She pressed her palms gently into her eyes to calm herself down. She just wanted to stop seeing Zane’s stupid face. 

Zane was messed up. In more ways than one, and from what Aphmau knew of the things Zane had gone through, she wanted to feel sympathy for him; she wanted to feel bad for him, but she just couldn’t. No matter how many sad things she knew about him, they could always be compared with some fucked shit that he had done. 

Aphmau took her hands off her face and looked down at herself. She was still in the clothes she had on last night. She did not know where her other clothes were. The crash probably destroyed them. Her breathing was still rough, but at least the threat of throwing up was gone now. She took a few deep breaths before throwing the blanket off her body and getting off the cot bed she was on. Her body shook as the cold air washed over it, goosebumps littered her skin. She intentionally shook her body, running her hands through her knotted hair and going over to the door of the room she was in. She wanted to check in on Katelyn and see if she was okay after everything had happened. 

Laurance was nowhere to be seen, even though he had only left her room around ten-ish minutes ago. She went to check in the room that she remembered Katelyn was originally in, but only found Itsuki and Dimitri in their respective beds with no Katelyn. She wandered the freezing house that had never experienced the construct of warmth. Looking for Katelyn, who Aphmau thought had left the house until she backtracked and found her leaning against the balcony on the second floor. She looked tired; the life drained out of her, dazing sadly into the blue-ish gray sky. 

Aphmau sighed softly and made her way over to Katelyn, who didn’t react to the woman moving to stand beside her. The cold was even more prominent over here, making Aphmau regret wanting to check up on Katelyn.

“Hey…” Aphmau said quietly, “How are you?” 

“My body hurts, but my body always hurts.” Katelyn sighed, “That Travis dude is a real prick face.” 

“Why?”

“Flirted with me.” 

“Dear Irene.” Aphmau softly laughed, “I’ll talk to him, don’t worry.” 

“Hm…” 

“Do you wanna talk about yesterday?” 

“Fuck no.” 

“I heard that talking-”

“I’m not talking about it.” Katelyn snapped.

“Okay, I won’t ask, don’t worry.” Aphmau stayed in her spot next to Katelyn. The silence getting thicker and distant between them somehow getting larger even without either of them moving. 

Katelyn sniffled. Aphmau didn’t want to push, so all she did was slowly inch her hand closer to Katelyn’s until she was actually holding the woman’s hand. After Aphmau started rubbing the woman’s knuckles gently with her thumb is when Katelyn broke. 

“Fuck, they used him.” She whimpered. “They used that dick Jeffory against me.” 

“What do you mean?” Aphmau asked, moving to rub Katelyn’s shoulder. 

“One of those dick imps shape-shifted to look like Jeffory. I was doing fine, I was taking them down and then that happened and I-… I turned into that fucking seventeen-year-old girl who confided in Jeffory about her sexuality.” Aphmau said nothing. She just let Katelyn cry and vent as much as she wanted, and… she didn’t really know what to say. “I thought he was real. For some fucking reason, I thought he was actually there in front of me even though I could see that imp shape-shift into him! How did they even know to shape-shift into him?! They don’t even know me. It makes no sense. I’ve never been here before with Jeffory!” 

“Do you think when Jeffory might’ve said something about you on this island? I mean, we already know he’s been here because imps can only transform into things they’ve seen.” 

“Why though? Why would he say anything about me?” 

“If you think that’s not it, then there’s always a chance that it was the Demon Warlock. I mean… he’s an all knowing being, a demon. He could’ve looked through your brain or something.”

Katelyn let her head fall into her hands, groaning loudly, “I shouldn’t have let him go to Pikoro.”
“What?” 

“If I never let him go to Pikoro, he never would’ve died, and I wouldn’t be feeling this way. I wouldn’t be feeling this way about someone shape-shifting into him. I’ve sparred with him so many times I could’ve killed that fucking imp, but I didn’t!”

“Katelyn, it’s not your fault that he’s dead.” Aphmau comforted the crying woman. “You held no part in his last words, Katelyn. Please don’t blame yourself.” 

“I was sick the day Zane was issuing out assignments and mine was to go to Pikoro. Jeffory noticed I was sick and refused for me to go. I fought him tooth and nail for him to back off, but he didn’t and he got the assignment and he went to Pikoro where he disobeyed orders and he ended up dying because of that.” 

“You still can’t blame yourself for that!” Aphmau argued. “The person who should you’d be blaming for his death is probably me, Kitten, and Zane for Irene’s sake! Kitten and I were the reasons he got in trouble. He let us go because we guilt tripped him. Zane was the one that delivered the final blow okay. You weren’t the reason for his actual death, okay?” 

“I still feel like it!” she groaned loudly, more tears coming out of her eyes. She didn’t cry like Aphmau, she cried more angrily… more bottled up emotions coming out, Aphmau guessed. “Should I just let everything out? I mean, hell, I’ve already told you fucking regret Jeffory’s death.” 

“Katelyn, just tell me things that you want to tell me.” Aphmau did not know what was going on. All she knew was that Katelyn needed to be comforted right now.

Katelyn’s breathing became faster. She was edging the title of hyperventilating. “Well, I’m a fucking lesbian for one. The only person I’ve ever told was Jeffory, and now he’s dead. I don’t care if this is selfish, but I hate Zane for taking my Jury of Nine powers away. I wanna know what happened to the Jury of Nine, I wanna know where they went, how they are, who they are… I wanna know.” She turned to Aphmau, her face red and stained with tears. “Promise me that during this trip - however long - promise me we’ll go to O’Khasis, promise me we’ll go see the Jury of Nine.” 

Aphmau opened her mouth to answer Katelyn but remembered that in order to get Dimitri and Itsuki safe to their parents they would have to go back to Phoenix Drop “Sure.” Aphmau said unenthusiastically, “Sure, we can go to O’Khasis during this trip.” 

“Thank you.” Katelyn’s voice broke, and more tears came. “Fuck.” She hissed and wiped her eyes. “I hate this. I don’t know why I said anything.” 

“Hey, I’m… I’m glad you did.” Aphmau put her hands on Katelyn’s shoulders “Everything is going to be okay, you are going to get over this. This is just a bump and an endless road that we have ahead of us.”

“That was so stupid.” Katelyn laughed, “I hate you.” 

“I know.” Aphmau caressed the woman’s face. 

“Guys!” Belladonna called out. 

Katelyn and Aphmau both jumped out of their previous positions to snap their heads towards the woman. 

“The kids are awake, Asmund and the Enki tribe are a part of the Phoenix Alliance, and Travis is setting up a ship for us.” Belladonna laid out all the information on them. “I say we leave now.” 

“Yeah, that’s cool.” Katelyn said quickly, wiping her tears.

“I-… I don’t like Asmund.” Aphmau protested as Katelyn went walking over to Belladonna. She went over to the woman. “Uh, according to Travis, he’s a major jerk.” 

“Oh, well, uh let’s just not invite him to meetings and if we end up making a place for the alliance we won’t tell him where it is.” Belladonna countered. 

“Yeah but…” 

“Aph, it’s my decision if people join.” 

“I know.” Aphmau said sadly, rubbing her eyes, “I know.” She repeated. 

“Okay well I’ll see you at the ship, it’s pretty big so you’ll be able to see it.” Belladonna gave Aphmau a comforting nod before walking out of the room connected to the balcony Aphmau was on. Katelyn left with a sniffle. 

Aphmau stood on the balcony alone. Everything felt off about today, but that was understandable. Some fucked up shit had happened while they were at this island, so it would make sense of why Belladonna wanted to leave so early.

Aphmau sighed tiredly, dragging her hands down her face. The whole thing that just happened with Katelyn shook her. She didn’t understand why some people bottled up their emotions so much that when they cried it seemed unnatural. But then, again who is she to talk? She’s only really told one person who doesn’t have titan mind reading powers about her whole Red Wedding PTSD thing, which the more she thought about it, the more she didn’t want to be conscious anymore. 

She turned around, looking once again over the balcony into the horizon of trees. All she could see was Zane’s face, the one she saw in her dream, the one that cursed her soul and told her to go kill herself, the one that was so beautiful but Aphmau could never appreciate it from everything Zane had done with that face. She took a deep breath before turning on her heels and making her way out of the room to go meet with everyone on the ship that Travis was talking about last night. She honestly didn’t think he would keep his promise, but here he was, telling everyone else that he had a ship ready for them. Slowly but surely, her standard for Travis was getting higher and higher. 

She walked through the mostly empty house. Everything that they had brought with them was most likely already on the ship. Hopefully, her dogs were there with everyone. Asmund and his wife were the only ones as Aphmau walked out of the home. She said her goodbyes.  

She found the ship pretty quickly, and Belladonna wasn’t lying when she said it was pretty big. She shoved her hands in her pockets and ran in the direction she saw the ship at. Her assumption was right. Everyone was on the ship already. Katelyn and Belladonna were walking to the group just a few feet ahead of Aphmau, showing that Aphmau wasn’t entirely too late. 

Dimitri and Itsuki were on the ship playing with Amada and Dua as Travis and Kitten set the sails and got the final touches done. Aaron and Laurance stood side by side, talking to each other as old friends while Belladonna leaned in to Katelyn to most likely ask her if she was okay. 

Aphmau took a deep breath before heading over to the ship, walking the bridge that was connecting the dock to the ship where she called out Travis and Kitten, telling them they need to go to Phoenix Drop to give Dimitri and Itsuki back to their parents and possibly break the news of the potential polyamorous relationship that was happening between their parents.

“Oh, okay cool, I can find that place.” Travis said, digging a little book out of his pocket and opening it. The book transformed into a much larger book that looked much older and much more creepy, with ancient languages scratched into the leather of the book. 

“Did you have that book the entire time?” Aphmau asked, a little concerned with why Travis had a navigation book, yet no one could get off this island. 

Travis looked panicked. “Oh uh, it’s uh-… I got it off the Demon Warlock a few years ago and, uh- it can only navigate the seas when they aren’t cursed.” 

“Oh… that makes sense, yeah.” Aphmau said, “How’d you get it off the Demon Warlock?” 

“Oh, uh… I had a… fight… with him?” Travis was unsure of himself, questioning his own truth, or supposedly the truth that he was telling Aphmau and Kitten. Aphmau observed Kitten. She was staring at Travis down with skeptical eyes, judging him with every word that came out of his mouth. Aphmau could tell that Kitten didn’t trust Travis. 

“Oh okay, strange thing to get out of a fight, but okay.” 

Travis nodded and awkwardly walked away from Aphmau, going to the head of the ship to read his navigation book. Kitten starred Travis down, burning fictional lasers in the back of his head before snapping her head back to Aphmau. 

“I don’t like Travis.” 

“I could tell.” 

“He isn’t telling the truth.” 

“What is ‘the truth?’”

“I know he isn’t all human, don’t know what he is though. I can only assume from inference and all that.” 

“Couldn’t you ask Belladonna? She’s the Titan of Present Time, right? Wouldn’t it make sense for her to know what’s going on with Travis?” 

“Well, I can look forward in time and I still don’t know what he is.” Kitten argued, “I don’t think Belladonna could see either, I thought that… you know maybe Passé, but you know…” Kitten’s sentence faltered and she looked down at the ground, scrunching her nose to try not to cry. 

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be, it’s been like… three or four years in my time, I think. Without the fifteen years I think we lost her like three years ago… I could be wrong, though.” 

“Time is a strange thing. Sometimes I forget how long I was Lord of Phoenix Drop for. It seems like a large blur sometimes.” 

Kitten laughed, “Yeah… that was a strange year.” 

Silence settled between the both of them, comfortable silence, comforting silence. 

“I miss her.” 

“I know, losing someone you love sucks dick.” Aphmau would know, Aphmau would know a lot. 

“It sucks being a Titan stuck on Earth.” 

“You’re stuck?” 

“Yeah, Belladonna and I have a mission to do. For now, we’re stuck here.” 

“I didn’t know this.” 

Kitten looked up at Aphmau, opened her mouth to say something before closing it and walking away with her head down back to the sails where she was working. Aphmau stood there, following Kitten as she walked away with confused emotions playing on Aphmau’s face. Aphmau looked down at the ship floor, wondering what Kitten meant by saying that Belladonna and her had a mission on Earth, what was the mission and why hadn’t they completed it yet? 

Before Aphmau could wonder anymore, Travis came out of nowhere, almost jumping straight off the boat to tell everyone that they were ready to set sail. According to Laurance, they had gotten all new things for the week that they were going to on the sea given to them by the oh so grateful villagers that lived in the Enki Tribe. They already had everything in the crates down in the ship, so they were prepared to set off and go to Phoenix Drop. 

Kitten slid down the wooden pole attached to the sail to go to the head of the ship where Travis and Aaron went to pull up the anchor while everyone else sat around the ship getting ready to go. Once the anchor pulled up Kitten signified, they were leaving and everyone mentally waved goodbye to that hellscape of an island that hopefully they would never have to visit again but with Aphmau’s track record of promising to not go places that was un-fucking-likely. 

During the week at sea not a lot of things happened, they learned more about Travis, who he was, why he was such a flirt, his life on the island, things like that and along with learning more about Travis Kitten and Belladonna became more untrustworthy of the man. Aphmau couldn’t see it though, she saw nothing different about him, anything non-human that would set off alarms, but Kitten and Belladonna could see every minor flaw… it made Aphmau wonder what they saw in her. They knew he wasn’t human; they just didn’t know what non-human thing he was. According to both of the Titans, the Divine Warrior Enki was a big thing on this island. This was their island, as this was their region. Supposedly, while Enki was doing their thing on this island they had a kid… both Kitten and Belladonna believe that this child is Travis, is there any evidence? No. Who would the father be? No idea. Is there even a father? A mother? No fucking clue. All they knew was that something was up with this dude. 

Probably the second saddest story that they had heard about Travis was why he was such a flirt. He had literally no one on that island, no one besides his mother, but after she died he had no one. No one to love and no one to love him back. He became starved for any type of love, unhealthy or not, he would try to get with anyone if it meant that he could believe they loved him and he could make himself believe he loved them back. Travis found comfort in the Divine Warrior Enki for their openness to many lovers. They were one of the major patrons of love besides Menphia, which Aphmau stifled a laugh at. She didn’t know why but the thought of the Divine Warrior Menphia being a patron of love made her laugh… but was it her laughing or was it Irene laughing. Travis didn’t mean to appear as a creep, he was just touch starved for any type of love. 

Katelyn ended up coming out the next day to everyone, holding back tears and snapping at everyone. 

“I’m literally married to a woman, Katelyn.” Belladonna said that day, “Why the fuck are you crying?” 

“Katelyn, I’m trans, you don’t have to worry about us not accepting you.” Aaron agreed with Belladonna’s statement.  

“Okay, I’m sorry that this is emotional for me god dammit!” Katelyn snapped “I’ve told no one before, just let me cry you fuckers!” 

Katelyn was then showed with hugs and praises of how proud everyone was that she came out as a lesbian. Travis joked it was a shame he no longer had a chance with her, which earned him a swift knee to the dick. Everyone laughed as he fell to the floor in pain, with Laurance crouching down and comforting the now broken man. 

They wondered if it would be right to tell Itsuki and Dimitri about their parents. According to Dimitri, their parents have said something to them but since they’re so young they didn’t understand everything they said. Aaron finally shut down the discussion by saying that they aren’t the kids’ parents and it would only be right for the parents of the kids to tell them what’s going on.

And that made sense. 

Laurance and Aphmau mostly stayed the same, not really talking to each other unless needed. After the nightmare that Aphmau had, she didn’t really adore talking to Laurance, and it sucked because usually she could bear with it, but she could no longer see Laurance. She could only see the man that terrified her on her hostage wedding day. And yeah, while he saved her and everyone else taken hostage that night, he still murdered people in front of her. It made her think every day why she was still friends with him and she hated to think that. She hated to hate him, but he just scared the shit out of her. Fear rose into her body every time he sat next to her. What if something ticked him off and he turned and instead of stopping and pausing when he was about to kill everyone, he just went and did it? She would lie awake at night, staring lasers into the wooden ceiling, internalizing the rocking of the ship that made her bed move around, hating her every living moment and wanting to close her eyes and just never wake up. But she couldn’t do that, she needed to open her eyes back up again and heal and realize that Laurance wasn’t just a Shadow Knight; he was so much more.

She turned to her side. Laurance was sleeping in his right next to her. He looked peaceful, sleeping, no wrinkles, no thoughts behind his closed eyes, no anger. He looked the way he did when Aphmau first met him. 

He looked happy. 

Aphmau, with a shaky hand, gently swept Laurance’s hair out of his sleeping face. She remembered - just for a moment - she remembered why she had fallen in love with him. 

Maybe the week that they were on sea traveling to Phoenix Drop was a week of getting to know each other and growing closer. Maybe that week of traveling was the best week Aphmau had in a while. That week could be a week where Aphmau could focus on herself instead of focusing on an alliance, the people she didn’t want to be in alliance, the inevitable fight she will have to take against something she doesn’t know yet, the village she used to rule over. 

Maybe this was the start of something good. 

They pulled into the Phoenix Drop’s docks in the middle of a shining sunny day that made the top of the ship warm and made everyone boiling from wearing such heavy clothing. They had changed some of their clothing, like cutting off certain aspects to make the outfits not so for the winter and more for the hotter air that surrounded Phoenix Drop, but the material they made the clothing of was still very thick. 

After anchoring the ship and putting up a bridge to get from the ship to the docks safely, Dimitri and Itsuki shot off the boat into Dante’s open arms. Tears were streaming down his face as he hugged the kids tightly. 

“You scared the shit out of me.” Dante cried as he kissed both of the children’s foreheads, Dimitri trying to squirm his way out of the man’s clutch. Showing obvious discomfort in being treated like this with someone he didn’t know. 

“I’m sorry papa, I promise I’m so sorry!” Itsuki cried “We just wanted to go on an adventure!” 

Dante pulled away and held the children’s faces to have them looking at him. “Both of you are in deep trouble for running off like that, okay?” 

“Don’t you mean Itsuki?” 

“No, you as well, Dimitri. Both of you…. But I’m glad both of you are back safely.” Dante went in for another hug, which Dimitri really despised, and pushed away from the man to get out of his grasp. 

Aphmau walked down the bridge. “Where are Nana and Nicole?” 

Dante looked up at Aphmau, standing up and walking towards her. “They’re both at Scaleswind to see if the kids went there. But I have to ask Aphmau,” he sniffled and looked down at Aphmau with deadly eyes “why the fuck were my children in that fucking boat WITH YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE!? WHY DID IT TAKE YOU GUYS SO LONG TO GET BACK!?” 

“Look okay, it wasn’t our fault. Shit happened with some Demon Warlock dude, our ship crashed, and it’s not my fucking fault on why your kids stowed away on my ship, okay? Don’t fucking blame me for you childs’ antics.” 

Dante sighed and opened his mouth to say something before Dimitri snarled: 

“I’m not your child.” 

The two adults snapped their attention to Dimitri. 

“What?” Dante asked. 

“I’m not your child. You said ‘why were my children in that boat’. I’m not your child. I’m my mother’s.” 

“Right, sorry about that.” Dante looked defeated. 

Laurance put a hand on Dante’s shoulder, appearing out of nowhere. “Do you want me to take the kids to your house?” He whispered. 

“Yeah, that would be good, thanks.” 

“No problem.” Laurance patted the guard’s shoulder before walking past to go walk with the children towards Dante’s. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, it’s just been- everything has been really stressful.” 

“I get that, but don’t blame me.” 

“I’m not, I’m not I promise…. Do you… fuck- do you wanna talk about this? Explain your entire story at the tree?” 

“That would be fine, but for the time being could you help us unpack the ship?” 

Dante looked over Aphmau’s shoulder. “How do you have a ship but supposedly crashed the one you sailed off in?” 

“The white hair dude,” Aphmau pointed her thumb at Travis, “had a ship that we could use.” 

“And his name is?” 

“Travis.” 

Dante clicked his tongue. “Nice. Okay, I’ll help.” 

And then for the next two hours Dante helped Kitten, Katelyn, Aaron, Travis, Aphmau, and Belladonna get all the supplies that they brought onto the ship into the large treehouse that they were staying in.

Dante and Aphmau sat in the kitchen of Dante’s house. They were originally going to talk about everything in the treehouse, but decided it would be easier to just talk about it in Dante’s house so they could look over the kids and all that. 

They sat across from each other at Dante’s dinner table, Dante pouring himself tea as Aphmau drank hers. She had explained everything that had happened on their brief trip to Dante to explain her side of the story. Dante apologized for his outburst and they went back to normal. Acting as if nothing had happened. 

“It would be so much different if it were just Itsuki, but… Irene- I feel so terrible that he doesn’t understand or, I guess- didn’t comprehend what Nicole was trying to say. I just wanna hug him and tell him I’m sorry for not knowing, but he doesn’t even like me enough for me to have a one on one with him and tell him that.” Dante complained.

“Why don’t you just tell him?” Aphmau asked, “I’m sure he won’t hate you.” 

“But he will. He already doesn’t like me. He hates me. Imagine hating a person and then finding out that person who you hate is your father!” 

“Yeah but, c’mon Dante. You can’t hide it from him forever.” Aphmau sipped her tea “I mean like, if you, Nicole, and Nana are all going to be together, you need to tell him.”

Dante ran a hand through his blue hair, sighing with annoyance. “I just don’t know how. I just don’t know how to tell him that. This is the first time I have gone through this situation. No one has ever gone through this type of thing before! I’m… I’m scared.” 

“I understand, but you need to do this. You need to tell him. Just get it over with it.” 

“I’m not telling him now!” Dante yelled. 

“Look, I mean just rip the bandaid off!”

“You’re insane!”

“I’m the only smart one in this conversation!”

“That is false and you know it!” 

“Why are you guys so loud?” Asked Itsuki. Dante and Aphmau snapped their attention over Itsuki’s voice, where they found Itsuki and Dimitri standing over by the entrance to the kitchen. 

“Oh, honey… Dimitri…” Dante turned in his seat. “What are you guys doing here?” 

“You guys were yelling, so we wanted to check out what was going on!” Itsuki exclaimed. 

“My mom yells so much louder.” Dimitri commented. 

“I bet she does.” Dante laughed, “Your mother would yell at me a lot when she lived in Phoenix Drop.” 

Aphmau kicked Dante’s legs, him giving her a death stare, but she looked away like she had done nothing wrong and sipped her tea. Dante sat in his chair silently, the children staring at him before he stood up and turned towards them. Going on one knee and motioning for them to come forward. 

“I think that it’s time for me to come clean to you both.” Dante started “Now this is very hard for me because… because I’ve never had to deal with this type of thing and I’m not really sure on how to go about it.” 

“Are you pregnant?!” Dimitri guessed. 

Dante and Aphmau both snorted back a laugh while Itsuki scolded the boy, “Boys can’t have babies, Dimitri!”

“Oh right…” 

“No, no, I’m-” Dante cut himself off with his laughter “I’m sorry. Oh dears gods, no Dimitri I’m not pregnant but I uh… I am a father of a child… a father to two children rather than just one.” 

Itsuki gasped loudly, “IS MOMMY PREGNANT?” 

Dante laughed once more “No my hanii, mommy is not pregnant rather… gods I just-” Dante pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about the right words. Aphmau sat in her chair drinking her tea with a soft smile on her face. This was a cute sight to see… she hoped Dimitri didn’t hate Dante too much and either way, it made little sense for Dimitri to hate him. He should be happy he now knows who his father is.

Dante took a deep breath before tilting his head up again to look at the children once more “I’m just gonna go right out and say it, Dimitri,” He looked into the little boy’s eyes “I’m your father.” 

Dimitri looked dumbstruck, like he didn’t know what Dante said, as if he didn’t understand the English language. “Your… excuse me?” 

“I’m your father. Me and your mother were in a relationship a very long time ago and I… things happened and I’m your father.” 

Once Itsuki processed the information given, she started squealing and jumping up and down madly. “Nanite kotoda! Saigo ni watashiniha kyōdai ga imasu! Papa, watashiniha kyōdai ga imasu!” [Oh my God! Finally I have a brother!!! Daddy, I have a brother!] Itsuki squealed, hugging Dimitri tightly and shaking him around. His face was a mixture of anger and confusion he didn’t understand. 

“Wh-… Why? Why now? Why did you wait so long?” For such a young child, he was very intelligent with his emotions and feelings. “You had so long to tell me and you wait till now!?” 

“Well, Dimitri, understand that… I didn’t know. I didn’t know I was your father. I only found out recently.” Tears were flowing out of Dimitri’s eyes and there was nothing Dante could do to stop it. “Look Dimitri, if I had known sooner in your life I would’ve told you. I promise I would’ve.” 

Tears streamed down the little boy’s brown skin. “I- I-” He hiccuped so much he wasn’t able to get his words out “I can’t, no, no, I don’t believe you! I can’t believe you! I could never believe you! My mom wouldn’t lie to me! My mom would tell me the truth!” He pushed away from Dante, motioning towards the door “I- I can’t, no, no, no, NO!” Dimitri ran out of the kitchen and out of the house, guessing from that very loud door open. It sounded as if Dimitri had slammed his small body into the door to get it to open. 

Dante and Aphmau shot up from their sitting/kneeling positions. Itsuki looked in the direction that Dimitri went with teary eyes. 

Dante stepped forward to run after the boy, but a tight grip on his arm stopped him. 

“Don’t.” was what Aphmau said to her friend, pull him back “Don’t. He probably doesn’t want to see you right now. I’ll go after him.” 

“Does he not like me as a sister?” Itsuki looked up at her father. 

“No, no, no, sweetie.” Dante went back on his knees to hug his daughter “No, he just… he just doesn’t like me.” 

Aphmau let her hand fall from Dante’s shoulder where it slid up to be when he kneeled down. She nodded at the man and his started before running out of the pastel house to find the boy that had run off. 

Travis stood by the gates of the temporary Phoenix Drop, looking very confused. Aphmau pulled up next to him to ask him what he was looking at, hoping that it was Dimtri and she was right. Travis volunteered to show her the path that he had taken and the two started running in the supposed direction that Dimtri had run off in. 

They ran through the dark forest that had become Phoenix Drop. The large trees that grew about everywhere in the abandoned village still blocked out a fair amount of the sun that would’ve rather let Travis and Aphmau see much clearer when searching for this boy whose only indicator was the light colored jumpsuit he wore and his slightly light purple hair. 

Aphmau followed Travis all the way into the abandoned barn that Kiki used to own when she lived in Phoenix Drop. The place brought so many memories back to Aphmau it was overwhelming. 

The two found Dimitri curled up at the base of an enormous tree that was growing in the middle of the barn. Travis put his hand on Aphmau’s shoulder to hold her back. 

“Don’t.” Is all he said, mirroring the actions that Aphmau had done to Dante minutes before. “Don’t, let me talk to him. I know how to deal with the whole ‘dad’ talk.” Travis said, slightly pushing Aphmau away as he walked forward to the curled up crying child who laid under the cool shade of the tree. Aphmau had told Travis about Dante being Dimitri’s father while they ran for the child. 

Aphmau stared in confusion as Travis crouched down to get to Dimitri’s level. 

Travis tapped the kid’s shoulder, spooking him a little but making sure that the kid knew he wouldn’t hurt him…. He was just there to talk to the little boy, to make sure he was okay. 

Dimitri was defensive at first, snapping at Travis and hissing at him to go away, saying that Travis wasn’t wanted, and that Dimitri was fine. 

“I’m sure you’re fine, but it’s always good to talk…. Especially with your dad.” 

“I don’t have a dad!” Dimitri snapped, sniffling and turning even further away from Travis. Aphmau was sure that the man was just making everything worse. 

“Oh, will you shut up with that?” The made Dimitri shut up real quick with how chill Travis was being with him, treating him like an old friend “You have a father okay, a dad, a dad that wants to be in your life, a dad that wants to love you, a dad that wants you to love him. Appreciate that shit. Not everyone gets to have that.” 

“But why now? Why is he in my life now? Why couldn’t he have been in my life earlier? Was I bad?” 

Travis snorted a laugh. “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re a naturally bad kid, but I don’t think that’s why your dad wasn’t in your life. He just didn’t know you existed, wasn’t his fault your mom didn’t tell him. She probably didn’t tell you or your dad to protect not only yourself, but both of you. It’s difficult the whole dad thing.” Travis stared off into the distance. “Your dad will be a million times better than mine. I’ve never really met my dad and the times I have he’s tried killing me so.” 

Dimitri held down a laugh. 

“You can laugh.” Travis smiled. 

Dimitri burst into laughter, his tears of sadness quickly becoming tears of joy and laughter. A small smile formed on Aphmau’s face as she stood from a distance. She never knew Travis was so good with kids… you learn something new every day, huh? 

Travis messed up the kid’s hair. “I can’t change your mind right now, kiddo, but I want you to know that if someone cares about you, give them a chance. It’s better to love and have the potential to be loved back than to shut off completely. You’ll just become miserable forever.” 

A frown pulled at Dimitri’s lips as he nodded at Travis’ words. 

“I know.” The kid sulked. 

“Good, now you don’t have to apologize to Dante right away but I’ll say… at least do it sometime today, okay kid?” 

Dimitri nodded. 

Travis ruffled the kid’s hair one more time. “Be nice to yourself. See you hopefully soon.” Travis sat up and walked his way back over to Aphmau, who was wearing a soft and impressed smile on her face. 

“Didn’t know you were so great with kids.” She huffed as the two began walking out of the barn and back to the little Phoenix Drop retreat. 

Travis shook his head. “I’m not good with kids.” 

Aphmau laughed, “Then what was that?”

Travis shrugged. “I could kinda relate to him! The dad thing and all.” 

“I just think you’re good with kids.” 

“I’m not good with kids.” He repeated himself. 

Aphmau rolled her eyes. “Okay, believe what you wanna believe.” 

“I will.” Travis said very matter-of-factly. 

“Good!” Aphmau laughed. 

“Good!” The two giggled their way back through the gate that led to the settlement. 

Time passed in the settlement, the sun was melting into the horizon, people were retreating into their homes, and Dimitri still had not come back home. 

Dante sat patiently in a chair in the middle of the gates to the settlement, legs crossed and arms resting on his knees, waiting for his son to come home. 

It seemed pointless. 

Dimitri wasn’t coming back.

He probably-

“Dante?” The voice of Dimitri echoed in Dante’s ears. He perked up and caught the eyes of his son… his son. 

Tears brimmed Dante’s eyes as a smile crept onto his face. “Hey kid.” He breathed. 

Dimitri ran towards Dante, jumping into his arms and hanging around his neck in a tight hug that almost sent Dante backwards. The two held each other tightly, tears absorbing into each other’s clothes as they hugged out their feelings. 

Dante picked Dimitri up, the child letting his head fall onto Dante’s shoulder as the rope of sleepiness finally tugging at his brain. Dante took Dimitri to his house to tuck him into the spare bed he had been using for Dimitri when the kid first arrived. He kissed the kid goodnight, lingering only a while longer to see the peaceful state the kid was in. Tears threatened to spill as Dante looked at the sight of his two children… his two children. He didn’t care if Dimitri vowed to never call him dad, at least there was some unspoken truth that Dimitri was finally his son. 

Dante wiped the tears from his eyes before exiting the room and going to his own bedroom, his lonely bedroom, as the women that he loved were not home, looking for Dimitri and Itsuki. He got ready for bed and finally let the ocean of tiredness wash over him as he got in bed. 

This was nice… really nice. 

Chapter Text

Aphmau was lying in a guest bed inside of Levin and Malachi’s house. She didn’t know what time it was; the curtains were closed; she didn’t know if anyone else in the village was up. She slept alone - tried to sleep. Her mind wasn’t all there. 

She decided to not sleep in the tree house because something felt… off. Like there was a different vibe about everything, a bad one at that, and she was only at ease when she entered her sons’ house. 

She had stayed up, arms crossed, eyes glued to the ceiling as she thought about herself… for once in her life. Everything was so strange, everything felt so off. Some things happened too fast and others happened too slow, some things happened with no consequences and others she thought about months after the events. She felt wrong about herself. Who was she really? Was that Esmund dude to be trusted? Was she really the reincarnation of Irene? Why the fuck was she here in the first place? Why had she woken up in the forest with no memory of her life beforehand? 

FUCK! 

Aphmau dragged her hands down her face. She just wanted to stop… stop, what exactly? She didn’t know… all she wanted was to stop. 

“Aph? Are you decent?” The voice of Dante called out for her from downstairs. 

Aphmau sat up and looked down at her appearance, just normal pajamas because Donna had lent them some clothes after hearing about what had happened with their ship and basically everything that they owned. Hopefully, when they finally left, Phoenix Drop Aphmau could have clothes and not lose them immediately after. 

“Yeah, I’m good!” Aphmau called down, running fingers through her hair to act as a substitute brush since she was too tired to look for her actual one. 

Down the hall from Aphmau’s room, stairs squeaked, “Could I come up and talk to you for a second?” 

“Yeah, you don’t have to ask dude, just come up here.” 

The floorboards of the house moved under Dante’s boots as he made his way over to the room Aphmau’s voice was coming from, opening the door slowly just as another precaution to make sure Aphmau was okay with him coming in. 

“Hey.” She greeted him with a smile. 

“Hi.” The guard moved over to sit next to her bed. “How are you?” 

“Tired… exhausted, yeah.” 

A small laugh escaped Dante’s lips. “I can expect that from you for a couple of days. Did you sleep at all on that island?” 

Aphmau went silent, thinking because she wasn’t even sure if she slept on that island. She shrugged. “If I did, it probably wasn’t anything good.” 

Dante nodded at that. The room was in a strange silence where both of them wanted to talk but neither of them said anything. Everything was just a blur at this point. She wanted to retire, but she knew she couldn’t. She was barely scratching the surface of what she needed to do. 

“How are you and Dimitri?” 

Dante’s face brightened up. “We’re good, yeah we’re good. He hasn’t called me dad yet, but I couldn't care less. I’m just glad… I’m just glad he doesn’t hate me or resent me anymore. If that’s all I can get from him, that’s all I want.” 

Aphmau nodded. Dante was such a sweet man, a good father. Aphmau wished she could have Dante as a parent, but then again, she could have parents, she just… wouldn’t know who they were or are. 

“That’s nice. What’s going on with Nana and Nicole? You said they were at Scaleswind, right?” 

Dante nodded. “Yeah, I sent them a letter so hopefully they get it soon and can come home sooner.” 

“Okay, now what is up with you, Nana, and Nicole?” 

Dante let out a small sigh once he realized what Aphmau was asking “We’re fine, we discussed everything and hopefully we can all tell Dimitri and Itsuki about us sooner than later.” 

“So you guys are all together?” 

Dante nodded. “I think it’s what Nana calls a ‘polyamorous relationship’, but I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We’re just all in a relationship together.” 

“Huh, sounds… fun.” A smile widened on Aphmau’s lips, Dante pushing into her shoulder as he scoffed. 

“Shut up, you’re so annoying.” 

“I know, I know…” The room fell silent again for a moment before Aphmau picked the conversation back up “I wanted to ask, where are Levin and Malachi and Zoey? I haven’t seen them like… at all since we’ve been back.” 

Dante ran a hand through his hair, swaying his head side to side like he was weighing two options. He sighed “I shouldn’t tell you cause Levin didn’t want me to tell you but… Levin, Malachi, and Zoey all went to Bright Port for some trade negotiations.” 

“Bright Port!? That place is still running?” Aphmau’s eyes were wide. It felt like a lifetime ago since she had been to the village Bright Port. 

Dante nodded, a smile on his face. “For all I know, Bright Port is still bright as ever.” 

“Dear Irene… well I’m, I’m glad but… wait what are Levin, Malachi, and Zoey even talking to Bright Port about?” 

“Another thing I shouldn’t tell you, but I should. Levin had this idea while you were away to create a tri-village alliance between New Meteli, Phoenix Drop, and Bright Port. It would be an alliance within Phoenix Alliance - of course, serving and treating all equally. Levin just thought it would be a good way to see all three villages prosper by helping each other out. He went to Bright Port to propose this idea.” 

Aphmau nodded, taking in a breath. It stung that Levin didn’t tell her anything about this idea, but she got it. Levin didn’t want to live in the grip and shadow of his mother and that was understandable. They already had a conversation about that whole deal, so it would be pointless to go back into it. Aphmau was hurt, but she would get over it. 

“And I should really keep my mouth shut, but since we’re already on the subject I-… I’m worried about them. Levin, Malachi, and Zoey.” Worry and guilt was written all over the father’s face, he really thought of everyone as his kid, huh?

“Why? What’s going on with them? I thought it was just negotiations.” 

“Exactly! It was just supposed to be negotiations, but they’ve been… they’ve been gone for a while.” 

“How long is ‘a while’?” 

“Like a week or two.” 

“You don’t think Bright Port has anything to do with it… right?” 

Dante shrugged. “I don’t want to think that they have anything to do with it! No one has really traded with them for all we know, but Logan says that nothing had really changed there.” 

“Logan isn’t really something you should trust about that subject. He probably didn’t care enough to look.” Aphmau was getting louder and snappier, she was stressed, she had just spent over a week recovering from being crashed up on an island and now there was a probability that something bad happened to her two sons and best friend. 

“I know Aph! I-” Dante cut himself off, looking at Aphmau in curiosity, she could see the gears in his head turning “I… you have every right to hate me but what if… what if you look for them in Bright Port.” 

“Dante.”

“I mean I couldn’t go because I have Dimitri and Itsuki-” 

“Dante.” 

“And they are your sons, so it would make sense for you to go-” 

“Dante!” Aphmau snapped, finally catching Dante’s attention “Dante I… I just came off an adventure where I thought I was gonna die due to myself, an adventure where two kids almost died because of some strange Demon Warlock, an adventure where I-… Dante…” 

“I know if you don’t want to go, it was just a suggestion. I know how much they mean to you and- it’s okay.” 

“I’ll go.” Aphmau shrugged. 

Dante’s eyes filled with hope. “Seriously?” 

“Yeah…” She rubbed her eyes, still tired from not sleeping that well. She didn’t want to go, but something inside her told her she should. She had to. It was her role, and you know, maybe it would help her get out of this strange ditch she was in. Recovery was not a linear path and sometimes you needed a little harder of a push to get back on track. “I can go, I want to go alone though…” 

“Really? 

Aphmau nodded. “It would be too much to bring everyone. It’s just a simple check to see if Levin, Malachi, and Zoey are okay. I don’t need… I don’t need an entire army to come with me.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I mean like- did you tell anyone else of your concerns?” 

Dante shook his head “I was going to tell Laurance, but I thought telling you was more important, seeing as Levin and Malachi are you kids and Zoey is your best friend.”

“Okay, okay, I assume Levin wouldn’t want to find out I was checking on him because we were worried?” Dante nodded. She hummed as she thought of an excuse for why she would check up on Levin and Malachi. “I can go over to Bright Port to just see how they’re doing. I haven’t been there in so long, so why wouldn’t I go see a village I used to have an alliance with?” 

Dante’s face brightened. “Good idea, always a quick thinker you are.” He said. “Also, because of your whole crashed ship fiasco, I gave you some more weapons and more clothes, just in case you need them.” 

Aphmau smiled kindly. “Thank you Dante, you’re too kind.” She had some clothes. She remembered when she first got into the new Phoenix Drop Levin had stored a bunch of clothes for her in his closet. 

Dante pulled Aphmau in by her neck and kissed her forehead softly, the two embracing each other for a moment before giving each other their own space. They hadn’t been able to spend some good quality time with each other in a while… 15 year too long. Dante snapped his fingers and pointed towards the open guest door that she was in. “I’m gonna go do my rounds. Please be safe, Aphmau. There is a boat by the old dock.” 

She nodded her head. “Will do old man.”

Dante rolled his eyes as he left the guest room, closing the door oh so gently despite no one else being in the house. Aphmau let out a sigh once the guard left. It was strange seeing someone who used to be younger than her now be so much older… strange for a lot of reasons. 

Aphmau stretched for a second before getting changed into new clothes. She will never ever get used to these stupid new cat appendages that Michi cursed her to have. She really wondered when they would disappear. 

She made her way downstairs, said hello to her dogs and fed them their doggy food before grabbing the dagger Dante had given her and slid it into her sheath. Was she able to conjure up weapons with her powers… yes. Did she trust her powers to work all the time? No, so of course she was going to bring something extra to defend herself. She voted against bringing her dogs. She didn’t feel like dragging them into this trip that was probably going to end up longer than necessary. 

Just as she was about to leave, she noticed some papers that presumably Levin or Malachi had left. She picked up the papers and stuffed them into her back before heading out the door, saying one more quick goodbye to Dua and Amada. 

Once she exited the house, she could see everyone mingling about and enjoying their relaxation time. She wasn’t exactly sure when they were going to set off again for new land, but after what had happened, she guessed it wouldn’t be soon. She could see Donna and Logan having nice quality couple time near the washing well. It was nice to see them be all lovey-dovey since Aphmau remembered the boy crazy woman that Donna used to be and now… well, now she was just in love. Love was a very strange thing to Aphmau, a strange and confusing emotion she’ll never really get used to having. 

Without saying hello or goodbye to anyone she snuck off to the old dock of Phoenix Drop that used to be bustling with trade ships, now all that sat there was a small dinky one that reminded Aphmau of the one she built with Garroth all those years ago. 

Aphmau gave one last look to her beautiful but decayed village and prayed to the seven that she would get home soon before setting off to a village she used to know. 

She got there sometime around 6. It was amazing. She still remembered the way to the old Bright Port village since she technically hadn’t been there in forever. Logan had said that the place hadn’t changed all that much, but once again, you can’t really trust him to notice things, so Aphmau had really no idea what Bright Port was going to look like once she arrived at the dock. So far, everything had appeared the same, but you never judge a book by its cover. 

A man with blonde hair and a slight stubble started walking down the dock’s stairs as Aphmau struggled to stand atop the dock without falling in the water. He wore your average brown pants with a tucked in long sleeve tunic that showed a little of his chest. The only thing that really stood out was his incredibly sharp and bright white teeth and his jacket with a shiny little golden flower on… actually, it was Bright Port’s official flower, a carnation. 

“Excuse me,” the man asked as Aphmau finally got her footing. "Have we met before?” 

Aphmau looked the man up and down. He was much younger than Aphmau and while he had that manly body structure; he had a nice baby face. “Oh no I… I don’t think we have.” 

He hummed, “You just… look quite familiar, I suppose. I don’t know who you remind me of, but you sure as hell remind me of someone.” 

Aphmau raised an eyebrow. “Were you waiting for me?” She had wondered why this man was on the stairs anyway, so maybe he was confusing her with a merchant he was trading with. 

“Oh no, I was for a ship to come in.” he made a quick glance over Aphmau’s shoulder, definitely not a ship. “But your face is really bothering me. I’m so sorry. Could I ask for your name? That might spark a memory.” 

“My name is Aphmau.” Aphmau couldn’t place it either, but this man’s face was also familiar to her. Maybe she saw him in the background on one of her trips. 

The man’s face widened all together, and he looked Aphmau up and down “Oh you’ve got to be joking me!” He laughed “Aphmau? Oh my Irene, I haven’t seen you… I haven’t seen you in forever this is…” He noticed the woman’s confused face and enlightened her. “Aphmau, I’m John, Visher’s son.” 

All the memories came rushing back like a flash flood. “HOLY SHIT!” she yelled with joy. “John?! Holy Irene, you’re all grown up! When I last saw you, you were just a little guy! Holy mother of gods!” 

“Yeah! I’ve grown a bit since you left- wherever you left to…” John made clear eye contact with Aphmau’s cat ears. “Exactly where have you been?” 

Aphmau sighed, “Long story.” She rolled her eyes. “But I was wondering if I could talk to the Lord of Bright Port? I need to discuss some matters with him.” 

“Oh, the Lord huh?” John looked around like he was searching for someone before turning around like he had found whatever it was. “Oh, right it’s me.” He said with a bright and big grin on his face. 

Aphmau gasped with a smile just as big “You’ve got to be kidding me! Oh, that’s great. I’m so proud of you!” 

“Thank you, thank you.” He bowed his head. “But what did you come here for? The Phoenix Drop negotiations ship left a while ago with Levin and his small crew.” 

“They did?” John nodded. “Were there any signs of a struggle or…?” 

The Lord shook his head. “Not that I was aware of. Everything seemed fine. They mentioned going off course a bit to deal with some personal issues, but if you think it’s something to be worried about, I’ll go send out my guards to see if something went amidst.” 

“Oh, thank you so much. That would mean the world to me. According to my head guard, they haven’t been home in over a week so we’re just naturally worried.” 

“Of course, I understand your worry.” He looked behind him in the village's direction. “I’ll go talk with my men, see if they’ve seen anything of that sort but for now you can make yourself home in my lovely Bright Port Village.” John smiled “I would love to talk to you sometimes about Lowell and all that but I should get going.” 

“Right, go do your Lord business. I sure know how hellish that job can be.” 

“Yes, you can.” John let out a hearty laugh resembling something of his late father’s before heading off up the stairs. 

This whole time thing that had happened to Aphmau and her friends was crazy. It was absolutely insane to her that some kid like John, who was just this little kid could now be the lord of an entire village. It’s even crazier to her that someone like Levin is doing village negotiations now and now, still playing with toy blocks and pulling at her dogs’ hair. And Lowell, gods she hadn’t even thought of the wolf village when she returned, she hoped that time had been good to their beautiful community. 

If she was right, there was a path to the Floração tribe if she followed the cliff that held Bright Port. She wondered if Lowell would still be in that little tribe, or perhaps they moved. Hopefully, they hadn’t. 

She carefully climbed and treaded along the edge of Bright Port’s cliff. She remembered so long ago when she had to do this to escape O’Khasis guards with Nicole. What a fun time her life used to be. Now, instead of doing adventures where she almost dies and makes friends, she just gains more trauma. 

There were some slips and trips along the way and a lot of small minor cuts she would have to bandage up later, but she climbed the rest of the way and was finally on (true) solid ground. The smell of pine and grass filled her nose. She missed the wolf tribe dearly. They had always been so kind to her and were always there for her in times of need. She hoped that the Titans of Time had been kind to her old friends. 

Aphmau couldn’t really see the Floração tribe through the thick forest that she was going through. She didn’t remember the forest to the wolf tribe being so… overgrown. She knew it was a forest and of course forests grow, but there was always a clear path to the tribe. Aphmau could no longer see that path. 

A sickening feeling grew in her stomach. 

She quickly moved through more of the forest as the void in her stomach grew. Something bad had happened. Aphmau could just feel it. 

The wind hit her face, and she could breathe the fresh air again. She was outside. She looked down at the village before her and her heart dropped to the floor. 

Chapter Text

Huts that had been used to house happy little wolf families decayed and filled with overgrowth. Gardens that once held beautiful food and fed many were flooding with weeds and overgrown grass. This was not the wolf tribe she had learned to love… this was a wasteland. 

Something in her memory struck her mind, a lighting bolt coursed through her body and her head snapped towards a certain cave holding a certain magical portal. 

She slid down the slight hill she was on and made a beeline towards the wolf cave that held the portal to Hell. She would’ve expected her stomach to drop and her knees to buckle like they had all those years ago when she first encountered the portal room, but she just felt the same. 

The portal was bigger, still emitting those disgusting feelings that filled Aphmau’s senses, but now there wilted vines and dying flowers surrounding the horrific portal. Something in her was telling her to use her powers to close the portal. Maybe this was the reason these stupid Shadow Souls were coming about. If she closed the portal, then the Shadow Souls would be stuck in Hell with no way to escape. 

Aphmau slowly moved closer to the portal, taking deep breaths and concentrating on closing the portal. The markings that appeared on her body that one day in Bright Port began glowing a light purple, she closed her eyes. Her body got lighter, she took another step towards the portal. She imagined shattering a glass window and suddenly- 

The sound of something shattering spooked Aphmau so much she tripped and fell on the decaying staircase. When she opened her eyes, the Portal was empty. There was no glow coming from the portal that allowed someone to cross through the dimensions. Aphmau stared in shock. She had actually done it; she had actually closed the portal. 

Aphmau looked down at her hands. The glow from her markings was fading, but she could still feel a pulse of electricity. Despite not knowing everything about her powers, she had her moments of control sometimes. 

Smiling to herself, she quickly got back on her feet and made her way out of the cave. She would have to tell John later that this portal was here so it could be destroyed. Aphmau had read up on Hell a long time ago when Laurance had been stuck and she knew that while destroying the portal would temporarily shut off all entrances, you need to take it down completely to entirely shut it off. 

Her heels dug into the ground when her eyes spotted a man inside the main wolf cave, the one where wolves like Khira and Boldolf would stay and prepare plans for the tribe’s future. The man was tending to his own business and was acting as if he hadn’t heard the loud crash sound coming from the cave with the portal to hell. Aphmau placed her hand on her opened sheath and made her way towards the wolf den, making sure not to make any sudden moves or slightly loud noises in case the man could actually hear and just was in his own world. 

She stopped just outside the cave, spotting a wire that connected to the walls of the cave, up to the ceiling, and towards a bell that was in front of the man’s face. The cave was dimly lit, the only actual light source was from the sun directing its rays into the entrance of the cave, everything else was a dark shadow. Plant life grew on all the walls and the floor of the cave, it was soft and squishy when Aphmau stepped on it. No one had tended to it in a while. Aphmau put two and two together, the most probable answer was the man taking shelter in this den is blind. Aphmau set the contraption off to alert the man of her presence. 

The man jerked around and immediately made eye contact with Aphmau, grabbing a wooden dagger from the workbench behind him and pointing towards the woman. The man had long shaggy brown hair, white blind eyes, a brown shirt with darker brown pants that had straps and pockets all along its sides overfilling with things like little trinkets to weeds and herbs, and the main focal point of his outfit was this bright and dark green scarf that wrapped around his neck and stopped around his hips. He had darker skin than Aphmau, either he had a certain ethnic background or the sun was just really getting to him. 

“Hi!” Aphmau exclaimed. “I’m not here to hurt you, I promise!” 

“Wh- What do you want?” His hands were shaking with the wooden knife in his hands. He looked like a kicked puppy. 

“I just wanted to know what happened to the Floração tribe.” Aphmau turned her head to see the ruins one more time. “I used to be good friends with the people who used to live here. I was just wondering what had happened to them.” 

His voice was shaky as he moved away from the bench and closer to Aphmau. She was a little shocked he could keep such good eye contact with her despite being… blind. “I know nothing about this former tribe. If I could help you, I would.” 

Aphmau sighed “It’s fine I-” 

“May I ask your name?” He had lowered the dagger but he still had a steady grip on it. 

“Oh, it’s Aphmau.” 

The man dropped the knife in shock, covering his mouth with his hands and backing away. “No… I thought you had died…” 

“Do… Do you know me? I but I don’t think I recognize you.” 

“I wouldn’t blame you. My appearance has changed over the years.” His hands found his scarf. “You might recognize me more with this.” He pulled the scarf up over his mouth and nose, only leaving his scarily white eyes staring at Aphmau. 

She backed away a little as she realized who she was talking to, the first man she had ever met, the person she had always wanted to meet. “It’s you…” 

He let the scarf fall, a smile curled at his lips. “I never got to formally introduce myself. My name is Vlyad.” He took a couple of steps forward, holding out his hand for Aphmau to take. 

She shook the man’s hand with pleasure. “I have so many questions for you.” 

“Can I ask you one first?” 

“Oh, of course.” It was so strange to Aphmau that she was finally talking to him, the man that haunted her dreams, the man that she had longed to meet, the man that she worshiped like a god because she believed he had all the answers. Here he was, her god, standing in front of her with a goofy-looking grin.    

“I dropped a baby at your doorstep many years ago, his name was Levin, I believe…” So that’s how a baby ended up on her doormat that one morning. “I was wondering if time had been kind to him.” 

Aphmau nodded, but then remembered the man was blind. “Time has been kind to him, very kind.” She smiled to herself. “He’s actually the Lord of Phoenix Drop now.” 

Vylad smiled as well. “His birthright, that’s nice to know… I assume he never reunited with Matilda?” 

“No, she actually told me to keep him far away from her for his safety.” 

“That woman is brave.” Aphmau silently agreed. “I assume your guards are now under his authority?” 

There was a small pit in Aphmau’s stomach. “No, only one of my guards is under his authority.” 

“Garroth? I knew how close he was to that kid.” 

Aphmau recognized the name Vylad, it was familiar to her, but she didn’t know exactly why. Maybe Garroth had told her about someone named Vylad. That would make sense, since this man supposedly knew Garroth. Aphmau didn’t trust him though. She didn’t trust the fact that out of everyone; he knew Garroth’s name. 

“No,” This was twisted but Aphmau needed to know, “Garroth is actually gone… he’s no longer with us.” She made it seem as if he had died. 

Vylad froze, everything about him had stopped. He backed up and fell against a rock that had been seemingly carved into a seat, his hands found his heart as he hyperventilated. Aphmau watched in slight horror and fascination as the man cried, crying harder than Aphmau had ever seen in her life. It was coming out in rough raw screams as he fell to the ground. 

Aphmau decided that she had seen enough and dived to the ground to help the man. “Did… Did you know him?” 

Through Vylad sobs he answered, “Y-Yes… He was- He was my older brother!” He drew out his sentence in an agonizing scream. His body started weighing down on Aphmau, as did her guilt for lying to this poor man. She immediately remembered who he was. He was the younger brother of Garroth and Zane who had mysteriously died.

Aphmau picked up the man and hugged him tightly. “I’m so, so sorry!” She apologized “I lied! He’s alive, he’s very much alive! I didn’t know who you were, so I lied. I’m so sorry!” 

Vylad’s crying didn’t stop, but his breathing slowly returned to normal as he forced himself to calm down. “He’s alive? He’s really alive?” His hands now searched for Aphmau’s face, placing them on the sides where he could cup her jaw. 

“Yes, yes, he’s alive.” 

“Where- Where is he?” 

Aphmau hesitated on this one. “I’m not sure…” she answered quietly. “In a dimension… one we called the Irene Dimension.” 

Vylad’s eyes no longer met hers, instead they pointed towards her lap. “How?” 

“Your brother Zane, it’s this long and complicated story, but in the end… It was Zane. It’s Zane’s fault, all his.” She elected to ignore the fact that Garroth was the one who helped Zane bring them all to the Irene Dimension. In with that added viewpoint, it was still the middle child of the Ro’meave’s fault. 

Vylad sucked in and let out a deep breath, and then did it again, and then one more time as his back straightened and his hands fell from Aphmau’s face. “That makes sense.” His voice was much calmer now, his hands messily wiped his wet face and glossy eyes. “That makes sense.” 

Aphmau no longer held the man, just sat on the floor in front of him. There was something on her mind, something she knew was probably rude to ask but she had to ask it anyway. “Garroth and Zane both told me they’re younger brother had-” 

“Died? Yes, I’m supposed to be dead right now. My body should be in a grave, yet it’s not.” He sniffled. “I am a Shadow Knight. I know Laurance is one too, so I doubt you’re scared.” 

“The least bit.” 

He nodded. “I’m the half brother of Garroth and Zane. Our mother had an affair when our father was in a dark pit of his life.” Vylad explained, he was very meticulous with his words. He definitely spoke like a Ro’meave. “Garroth had always treated me like a real brother while Zane had just ignored me. Zane was always in his own world though… worshiping Irene through morally wrong methods.” 

Aphmau agreed with that. Worshiping Irene in a morally wrong way definitely sounded like Zane. She racked through her memory but she remembered when she first met Matilda and she told her that a Shadow Knight had helped her get to safety with the Levin, Aphmau now finally knew who that Shadow Knight was. 

Speaking of Shadow Knights, “By the way, I just sealed that portal over there. There’s been this weird occurrence of Shadow Souls trying to attack my village and a village I’m allied with, so I decided it would be best to close it.” 

Vylad backed up. “Excuse me?” 

“I just sealed-” 

“You can’t- WHAT!?” The man jolted up, quickly grabbing a long cane with a wheel at the end. “You cannot just seal up a portal to hell that easily.” He started running towards the cave, making Aphmau quickly get up off the floor and chase after him. Aphmau hadn’t met many blind people, but she could guess that blind people couldn’t run as fast as Vylad just did. 

Aphmau slid into the cave with the portal. Vylad was down on his knees in front of the portal, which had expanded so you could only see the glowing purple of the entrance of the portal. Obsidian was growing like vines on the floor, ceiling, and walls of the cave. Aphmau brought a hand to her mouth. 

She thought she was fixing the problem. She really thought she was doing something good for once but obviously not. 

“I’m… I’m so sorry I thought I was doing something good I’m-” She could feel the tears brimming her eyes, her guilt was piling up like bricks. 

Vylad slowly turned his head, his eyes had changed from a milky white to a gorgeous green with hints of red flakes in them. He was crying because he could see. The portal to hell was allowing him to see. 

“You look much different from when I first saw you.” He stood up, Aphmau noticed the red flakes in his eyes getting bigger. You couldn’t avoid his eyes, they were so gorgeous, definitely a Ro’meave. 

“A lot has… a lot has happened since you first saw me.” The portal was putting her in a trance, so she didn’t notice Vylad coming closer to her and his eye color fading away. 

“I know.” He turned back to face the portal. “I know you tried to do something good, but… you can only seal a portal like this from the inside and opened from the outside… Irene is a cruel woman.” 

“Is anything going to happen? Did I make it worse?” 

Vylad shook his hand, his now there was only a faint memory of his green and red eyes as a white cloud drowned his beautiful eyes “It just means if the Shadow Lord was at his full power he could escape but obviously,” He gestured a hand towards the vacant portal “that will not happen.” 

“You also have bigger problems, like Zenix.” 

Vylad looked at her strangely. 

“We have Sasha, she told us.” Vylad nodded. 

“Chaos runs rampant in Hell, you’d think that would be normal, but no, we’re actually vaguely organized for such a damned place.” A smile formed on his lips, it was kinda funny the thought of Hell being organized. “One time, it got so bad that they released the prisoners to fight. I took that as my chance to leave.” He took in and let out a deep breath, the purple glow of the purple shining on his face so similar to Zane’s “And now I’m done.” 

“What?” Aphmau asked “How can you be ‘done’?” 

“I’ve guarded this portal for 13 years… for 13 years I’ve been without my eyesight and nothing has happened. I wait day and night for someone to come out, for someone to kill me, for me to kill someone, but nothing.” Another breath. “They know who is outside this portal, and they don’t want to mess with it.” 

Aphmau wasn’t sure if Vylad was talking about himself or another being that the Shadow Knights feared. Aphmau didn’t think that Vylad looked all that threatening, but then again, you can’t judge books by its cover. 

“What will you do now since you’re relieving yourself of your duties?” The bricks on her shoulders were getting heavier. If she just kept breathing she wouldn’t pass out, but she didn’t trust herself - didn’t trust her powers. 

He turned towards her. He was taller than her, everyone was, but he was far shorter than Garroth and Zane. “I would appreciate it if you allowed me to accompany you.” 

Aphmau turned to the man. Despite the man not being like Garroth, not even looking like him, it was comforting to have another Ro’meave by her side. She knew he was a Shadow Knight, but she knew Shadow Knights. She knew that not all of them were cruel and twisted. “I’d love for you to join me.” 

He smiled, much bigger this time to show his sharp teeth. “I’m glad I might even help get Garroth out of the Irene Dimension.” He shrugged, “I might just be a burden though.” 

Aphmau let out a laugh. “I doubt it! I have some business to attend to so you can go gather your things and join me at the docks if that’s alright to you.” 

“Of course, I suggest you tell the Lord of Bright Port about this portal so they are aware.” 

Aphmau nodded. “I’m headed there, so that’s good.” 

The two began walking out of the cave. Vylad seemed like a nice man and Aphmau was glad to have him by her side. She felt like it was her younger days of being a Lord, collecting friends and making alliances as she visited different places. It was comforting almost. 

The duo said their goodbyes and let each other go to their own devices. Once she was out of ear reach, she let out a sigh, the bricks of her exhausting her breaking her and it was getting tiring. 

She ran the rest of the way back to Bright Port, pushing through her exhaustion because she knew John was looking for her since she had practically ran off without a word to where she was going. The surrounding scenery was beautiful. It made up for the burning pain she was going through as her body tried to tell her to stop running. She couldn’t wait for Levin to make Phoenix Drop look as gorgeous as Bright Port. 

Levin? 

LEVIN!

She crashed into someone and almost fell to the ground if the person she ran into hadn’t grabbed her arm and pulled her up. 

“Aphmau? Holy Irene, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” John looked very panicked. Sweat was dripping down his forehead and his eyes were bugging out. 

She apologized for disappearing. “But there’s actually a portal to Hell in the Wolf Tribe that has gotten a little out of hand, and I suggest you take some of your guards there to guard or do something about it.” 

John groaned. He sounded like Aphmau when she was just getting used to being Lord and was forced to do stuff all the time. Being Lord was a long and tiring process and she knew how John felt. “I’ll do something about that later but Aphmau,” He got serious, “we found Lord Levin’s ship crashed against the shore.” 

Aphmau’s heart dropped. 

“What.” 

“My guards just informed me of this as I was trying to find you.” He shook his hand, a bracelet wrapped around his wrist with a purple gem nestled in the leather. It looked similar to a bracelet Aphmau used to have to contact Garroth. 

“Take me there now. Where are they?” John turned on his heels and started running in a diagonal direction, not towards Bright Port but more towards the cliff the village was sitting on top of. John informed her that sadly they hadn’t found bodies near the ship yet, which could be good or bad news depending on how she took it. Aphmau took it as good news. No bodies meant no one had died yet. 

She had to take a couple of breaks during the run to catch her breath before running even faster to catch up with John. She preferred this because she didn’t want the Lord worrying about her. Aphmau knew herself, hopefully in a few minutes she’d be much better. 

The two slid down a hill onto a sandy beach. If you looked to the side and in the distance you could see the faintest image of the beautiful village of Bright Port. In front of Aphmau sat a crashed and broken ship. It definitely looked like a Phoenix Drop ship. It reminded her of the crashed ship that landed them on that Island of Enki in the Gal’ruk region. Shivers went down her back. She didn’t enjoy remembering that time of her life, that horrible time in her life. 

She was getting better, though. 

Chapter Text

Guards surrounded the ruined ship, taking pictures with new technology Aphmau hadn’t seen before. A piece of paper came out of the top of the invention. The guard placed the paper in a satchel he was carrying before taking another one of the ship but at a different angle. 

John had left her to go talk to some other guards that were investigating the sands beneath them, looking for any kind of evidence. Aphmau walked up to the guard taking pictures. 

“Have you found anything pertaining to Lord Levin and his crew?” 

The guard turned to her. “Yes, we’ve actually found quite a lot of evidence for such a mysterious case.” He dug through his satchel before taking out a piece of paper and a long green scarf that was bundled up. Aphmau immediately recognized it as Malachi’s. 

Aphmau took the evidence from the guard, throwing the scar around her neck and shoulder and inspecting the paper that the guard had given her. It had a picture of what seemed to be a clump of silky purple hair. This sparked something in Aphmau’s memory, the only person she knew to have silky straight purple hair was… 

“Michi…” 

“Who?” the guard politely asked. 

“Michi Hǎowán.” She remembered that last name from a man claiming to be Michi’s brother, Mikai Hǎowán “She’s a criminal who drugs people and sells them off. She’s the reason I’ve become a Meif’wa.” Her purple cat ears twitched. 

“Oh my- I will tell John and start a search for this Michi woman. Would you be willing to give me a description of her?” 

Aphmau described the cruel woman to the guard, her hair, her tiger-like stripes, her yellowish-green almond eyes, and her high-pitched voice. The guard wrote all of those things down before thanking her. 

Before the guard could head off, she stopped him and asked him a question. “May I ask sir, what is that?” She pointed towards the object in his hands. She also politely handed him the picture of the clump of hair. 

“OH!” He smiled. “It’s a camera! The first of its kind!” He seemed strangely happy about this invention. “They only started producing them last year, isn’t it great!” 

Aphmau chuckled at the man’s excitement. “Yes, yes, it is. Now tell everyone of this Michi woman and-”

“Aphmau is it?” Asked a woman with long red hair and a bright shiny guard uniform, she was definitely new. 

“Yes, what is it?” 

The guard pointed towards a strange variation in the sand, it was deeper than the normal ground level the sand was on and looked darker. It was in a diagonal line towards more of the beach. If you squint your eyes you could see a bush where the line stopped. 

“That bush that you see moved like it was hiding something, possibly a small sailing raft where the assailant could’ve taken Levin, Malachi, and their caretaker, Zoey. Whoever kidnapped them though, was smart. The bodies they dragged over to the raft hid their tracks.” 

Aphmau bit her thumb, in front of her and to her right she could see a concerned-looking John staring daggers into the bush. She could tell he looked guilty, guilty that something like this had happened under his watch and for so long.  

“Well… if that’s the case… I should head back to Phoenix Drop.” He declared, getting the attention of John “I need to inform Levin and Malachi’s people that this has happened and start a search for them.” She took a step and placed her hand on John’s arm. “And John, don’t blame yourself for this. You couldn’t have stopped it. The gods don’t always help us.” Aphmau had learned that the hard way. 

John let out a breath. “Thank you.” He mouthed, “You may take one of our horses so you can get to the docks easier. I wish to see you soon, Aphmau.” 

“Under better circumstances.” 

“Much better circumstances.” 

Aphmau gave the boy turned man one last smile before choosing a horse and riding off to Bright Port. 

She kissed the horse and thanked it for its service before rushing down to the docks where Vylad was waiting for her. Aphmau didn’t want to say hello, she just grabbed the mast of the ship and spun inside. The boat rocked for a bit as Aphmau pulled up the anchor. 

“I really hope that’s you, Aphmau.” 

“Yep!” she exclaimed. “We’re heading to Phoenix Drop.” 

“Oh wow! Do you need my help?” 

She fixed the sails as quickly as she could before placing her hands on the steering wheel. “Nope!” She yelled before setting off to her village.

On the boat they two of them talked, she explained her situation, why she had been gone for so long, why she had cat ears, all the stuff that she had to repeat thousands of times to every new person who she met (which weirdly hadn’t been as much as she expected.) 

“Can I ask you a question?” 

Vylad nodded “Shoot.” 

“Do you… remember when you died? Garroth talked of you like you had died too soon.” 

The man let out a chuckled. “Yeah, I died way too soon, even too soon for me and I’m the dead one.” He laughed, but Aphmau stayed silent, finding the subject much too morbid to laugh at. “I died… had to be around my fifteenth birthday.” 

“Wow…” Aphmau’s jaw dropped. “I’m so sorry.” 

He shrugged. “It’s fine. I’ve gotten over it now. But yeah, it was my fifteenth birthday, I was going to sleep and then BAM! These two sharp things were driven into my eyes.” It explained why he was blind. “I didn’t make any noise, but I did quickly pass out from the pain. I woke up in Hell.” 

“Was Gene already there when you woke up?” 

“No, I think I died a little before him.” 

“Wow.” 

“Yeah, we didn’t get along great. I had been a Shadow Knight because I wanted to be reborn. I just didn’t know it would turn me into a bloodthirsty minion for a big douche bag.” That had made Aphmau laugh. Whenever anyone talked about the Shadow Lord it was always in hushed tones, but here was Vylad, cursing the man out. 

“So I’m a little rusty on my Shadow Knight history, but… when the body is supposed to decompose, that’s how Shadow Knights… grow?” 

“Yes! So if our bodies were still in the mortal world and if they decomposed, that decomposing is how us Shadow Knights age.” 

“Oh wow, so how old are you now?” Aphmau could see Phoenix Drop in the distance.

“I just turned 20 last week.” 

Aphmau gasped and slapped Vylad’s arm. “Happy Birthday Vylad! We’ll have to throw a small party.” 

“No, no, I couldn’t ask that of you.” 

“You aren’t asking me, I’m telling you.” 

Vylad put his hands up. “Whatever you say, Aphmau.” The two laughed. “I hope this isn’t intrusive but… how old are you?” 

Aphmau sucked in a breath. She barely paid attention to how old she was. “I think I might be 28? Sometime around there.” 

“Do you know when your birthday is?” 

“No, I just associate it with my lord-ship anniversary.” 

The man hummed, “Well, we’ll have to figure out when your birthday is so we can throw a party.” 

“Sounds like a deal.” Their boat hit against the sand of Phoenix Drop’s beach. She remembered how they’re used to be a dock here. The ocean destroyed it, she guessed. She helped Vylad get all of his things out of the boat, but noticed that the man needed no help getting himself out of the boat. Aphmau understood Vylad was just a normal man, but he couldn’t see. Aphmau couldn’t imagine being blind, but she could see herself in Vylad. 

He walked beside her as they walked through the forest that consumed Phoenix Drop. Dante was there to meet them when they finally got to the gate. 

Dante let out a sigh of relief “Oh my Irene, I was wondering where you went- who’s this?” 

“This is Vylad, a friend, but we found some information.” Aphmau explained to the guard what John had found of Levin’s crash site as they walked towards the Lord’s house. She quietly told Vylad he could roam around if he pleased. 

Dante opened the door for the two of them. “So that Michi girl took them, but where?” 

“I was guessing the crazy cat lady island, but that might be too obvious. She might not be working for that werewolf monarchy anymore.” Aphmau clung to the scarf around her neck, praying to Irene - herself, maybe - that Levin and Malachi would be okay. She hadn’t really seen Malachi without his scarf on, so either this meant there was a serious struggle or Malach might’ve taken it off for evidence if people found their ship. She took out the papers in her bag and placed them on the coffee table in front of her. 

Dante gasped and snatched the papers up. “I’ve been looking for these!” He told her “Levin and Malachi wrote reports on nearby villages that we could talk to for trade,” He searched through the papers quickly “I know a lot of these villages are crawling with criminals so Michi could’ve taken them to one of these villages.” 

“Why would she go to a highly populated area like a village?” 

“She escaped in a small raft, right?” 

Aphmau nodded. “A small raft can’t get you very far. If she’s familiar with one of these villages like…” He hit an area of the paper with a smile “Nahakra Village, she could go there.” 

“Nahakra Village?” 

Dante nodded. “Nahakra is home of one of the most extensive mafias you’ve ever known. And it’s close.” 

“Bright Port close?” 

Dante swayed his head from side-to-side. “A little further, like a mile or two further than Old Meteli, but just in the opposite direction.” 

“So instead of going to the right, we’d go left?” 

“Exactly.” 

Aphmau leaned against the kitchen counter, biting her lip and letting her thoughts run rampant through her head. She had finally come to terms that it was going to be awhile until she found a home for the Phoenix Alliance, it would be awhile until she could roam free from the nest that was Phoenix Drop so in that time while she waited… why not be young again and have fun.

She looked up at Dante, her eyes gleaming with a look Dante hadn’t seen since she disappeared fifteen years ago. “I’ll go get everyone who wants to come and we can set off.” 

Dante smiled. He was older now, much older than Aphmau, which was weird but she was getting used to it. His smile made the lines around his mouth and the crow’s feet around his eyes more visible. “I missed you…” He breathed. 

Aphmau was beaming. 

Vylad stood on the tree trunks that held the old uniforms of Dante, Laurance, and Garroth. He was letting himself feel the different textures of Garroth’s uniform. He felt Garroth. 

“Vylad?” 

The man didn’t turn his head. There was no point. He knew who was talking to him. “It’s been a long time.” 

Laurance went silent as he made his way to sit next to the Shadow Knight. When he did, he spoke again, spoke to someone he used to know. “How long have you been out?” 

“13 years.” 

“How long have you been blind?” 

“… 13 years.” 

Laurance nodded. “Hell has changed, according to Sasha.” 

“That it has.” Vylad gathered some of the chain mail on Garroth’s uniform and scrunched it up into his fist. 

Laurance let out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry,” He let out, his voice cracked like shattering glass. “I’m sorry I didn’t help you. Everything happened so fast when Ungrth broke the realm barrier and found me… next thing I know I’m a Medic House in Phoenix Drop.” 

Vylad stayed silent. 

“I know I told you I was going to help you… I feel terrible that I wasn’t able to fulfill that promise.” 

“I don’t care.” Vylad said bluntly, rudely, “I didn’t know you, you barely knew me.” 

“You saved the Overworld from Gene’s plane with your actions and I commend you for-” 

“What happened to Garroth?” 

“What?” 

This time Vylad turned around to face the man. He couldn’t see him but he could hear him, hear and smell an outline of the only man that used to talk to him while imprisoned in hell. “What happened to Garroth? Did he stay a noble young man his father wanted?” 

“Oh, um… Garroth stayed noble, stayed strong.” Laurance remembered why they were fifteen years into the future now. “He sacrificed himself to save Aphmau… to save all of us.” 

Vylad hummed before wiping his eyes. “Do you miss him?” 

“Every day.” 

“We’ll save him, I know that for sure.” 

Aphmau interrupted Laurance and Vylad’s conversation by climbing up the stairs of the treehouse. She called after Laurance and the man walked over. 

“Hi.” she said, poking her head through the entrance. 

Laurance crouched down. “Hi, what do you need?” 

Aphmau explained what they were doing, and why she hadn’t called Laurance in for the meeting because Belladonna had told her to leave him alone while he talked to Vylad. 

Laurance “Okay, so are we heading out now?” 

She shook her head. “No, no, no. Tomorrow though, we still need to pack and choose the best ship, but I just wanted to warn you.” She looked over the guard’s shoulder and saw Vylad, his attention was back to his older brother’s guard uniform. “Can I ask you something?” She whispered. 

“Yeah,” He slid down to the floor and went on the staircase, following Aphmau until they were in a semi-secluded place. “What’s up?” 

She took a deep breath. “I was talking with Vylad and I know how Shadow Knight’s work and…” She hesitated. “Did you die in Hell?” 

This shocked Laurance a little. He remembered that conversation he had with Aphmau had Ungrth’s robbed grave and realized that they never really talked about his Shadow Knight origins. He could see Aphmau actively regretting her question, but Laurance couldn’t blame her for being curious “Yeah.” he said quietly, “Yeah I was.” 

She bit her lip “H-… How?” 

Laurance nodded as he thought of the best way to put this without triggering anything in himself “When you escape I fought, bravely might I add, but I fought and fought and then…” He made a squishy sound effect with his mouth “I felt something split my brain in two.” Aphmau immediately got what he was getting at. 

“But it’s healed now, right? I remember seeing Sasha and she had these burn marks all over her body, but it seemed healed.” 

“Oh yeah, it’s healed!” He said in a positive tone, “It feels weird, but,” He bowed his head for Aphmau to see. It looked like a part in his hair, but no, it was a giant slash mark that laid in the middle of his head. It had this red hint to it like it was sunburnt. He stood to his full height again. “So? Do I still look handsome?” 

Aphmau laughed, “Gods, you’re so stupid.” 

Laurance shrugged. “I had to lighten the mood somehow. So, do you want me to help you with the packing?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Aphmau snapped back into reality “All of my clothes are up there in the tree but you can come with me to ask some Donna or Nana if they have some extra clothes for us because we damn well need it.” 

“We need too much clothes because we keep tearing ours.” 

Aphmau cringed, “Yeah… it’s getting annoying.” 

“Very annoying.” 

The two laughed again for a bit before heading off to do their packing. The group got their ship all packed and ready for the morning before heading off to bed. Aphmau sadly had no dream of Garroth. She hadn’t had a dream in a while and it set her off a bit. She just went to bed and then woke up when the sun was shining through the trees of the treehouse. 

The next morning, Aphmau and Laurance introduced Vylad to the group before they said their goodbyes and went onto the ship to head off to Nahakra Village. Aphmau was able to grab the music box from Levin’s room right before leaving though, she thought it might be useful in finding Levin. Maybe she could play the music and he could hear it and find her and then everything would be fine again. 

Aphmau stood above a hatch in the ship floor that led to where most of their rooms were. Katelyn popped up out of the hatch with a smile. “No stowaway kids aboard!” 

Aphmau let out a sigh of relief. She could hear that everyone else did the same. “Thank Irene! I was so worried. I’m glad Dante got his kids under control.” 

Katelyn nodded and took a seat on one of the bolted down couches. “Yeah, I cannot deal with kids again.” She shook her head and stuck out her tongue in disgust. Aphmau laughed at her reaction and sat down next to the lady. 

Katelyn turned her head to face Aphmau, “Can I ask you something by the way?” 

“What’s up?” 

“Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving?” Katelyn asked, “Dante told us not to worry, but we obviously did.” 

“Oh uh,” Aphmau thought it was a funny thing to get worried over. She wasn’t even gone that long. “I just wanted to go on my own for once, I don’t get to do that as often as I used to. Oh and you know, I don’t want you guys to think I’m depending on you or anything.” 

Katelyn raised her eyebrow “Aph… we choose to come with you.” She said clearly, “I mean we’re guards after all, we chose to be your guards and we’re choosing to protect you.” 

“I’m not!” Kitten exclaimed, quickly being hit in the stomach by Belladonna who told her to shut up. The two of them were at the back of the ship, steering them in the right direction. 

Aphmau laughed but then realized what Katelyn said, “Guard? I don’t remember making you my guard.” 

Katelyn’s face went red, “Oh- I just… I didn’t… I was- I assumed that since I’ve stuck by you for so long I became your guard.” 

“I mean you can.” Aphmau put her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I just didn’t want to tie you down because I assumed you had your own plan to head home to O’Khasis and all that.” 

Katelyn gently shook her head. “I’ve never considered O’Khasis my home. I only moved there when I was recruited for the Jury of Nine. I’d like to visit O’Khasis again, but that was never my home.” 

Aphmau hummed, understanding what Katelyn meant. “How were you recruited for the Jury of Nine?” 

“Oh well, it’s a long and tedious process but Zane’s Jury of Nine rule began when he turned 18, I believe? So I had only been part of the Jury of Nine for maybe 5 years before I met you.” She explained, “But usually you would choose whoever was at the top of the list at one of these very prestigious guard academies. Each region has 1, and I was at the top of one of those lists. Zane, though… Zane began twisting the rules… He began hiring mercenaries and anyone who was corruptible or had a need for power. Only 3 of us are actual guards, the rest are psychos.” 

“So, I’m guessing you had a need for power?” 

“No, no,” Katelyn laughed. “I was corruptible.” She said with a sad tone in her voice, “Zane found out I had 4 younger brothers…” Her words drifted off, it dazed her out of the conversation. 

“Do you think you’re ever going to find them? It could be a cool adventure.” 

Katelyn stayed silent. It seemed like the entire ship had gotten silent and there were only a couple people on this ship so it was worrying, Aphmau could only hear the ocean crashing against the ship. 

The ex Jury of Nine member stood from her place next to Aphmau and walked through a door in front of them that gave another way to the crew’s rooms. Aphmau knew she had hit a nerve. Next time she wouldn’t ask about her brothers or, better yet, mention them. 

Before Aphmau had a moment to sulk about her pleasant conversation turned bad with Katelyn, Laurance took the fake Meif’wa’s seat. 

“Hey hot stuff, you come here often?” He snapped his fingers and winked at her. 

“Oh my Irene Laurance!” She groaned, “You’re insufferable. 

He barked out a laugh before getting serious, “But really, like Katelyn was saying, we’re choosing to do all of this. I promise.” 

She rolled her eyes. “I know it’s just… sometimes I wonder what would happen if Garroth had never found me in those woods. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this predicament right now.” A sigh escaped her lips. “Maybe I would’ve just found a chicken and started a chicken village outside of Phoenix Drop. 

Laurance took Aphmau’s hand with a soft chuckle. “Then I would just have to turn into a chicken to find you. This might be rude, but the world is going to do its own thing with or without you. If not you, then maybe some other gorgeous girl would’ve swept me off my feet. Our world isn’t perfect. That fact is obvious, so by doing something, you’re actively changing this world, and that’s more than many people can say.” 

Aphmau sighed and laid her head against Laurance’s shoulder. “Thank you…” she whispered. 

“Anytime, my love.” She ignored the name that Laurance had called her. He hadn’t done it in so long Aphmau thought it was okay if he had a little pass.

“Aphmau!” Travis walked through the door of the captain’s quarters, spooking both Aphmau and Laurance off of each other. “Can I talk to you for a second?” 

“Yeah, everyone wants to talk to me today.” She laughed. 

Travis made Laurance scoot over so Travis could sit next to Aphmau. “So we’re going to be there in an hour or maybe even less-” Everyone cheered. “O’Khasis is incredibly close to Nahakra though.” 

Aphmau processed that information. “And why is that important? I’ve barely heard of O’Khasis since I’ve gotten back. They can’t still be that bad, right?” 

“According to Dante they’re still very active, just not as active as they used to be 15 years ago.” That made sense. “Dante just wanted me to warn you and everyone else. I hear you have a history with them.” 

A shiver went up Aphmau’s spin. She sure as hell had a history with O’Khasis. Before she could say these things, the boat rocked violently and everyone screamed. Flashbacks to that cursed sea plagued everyone’s minds. 

“Not again!” Aphmau screamed, but thankfully Kitten was able to get everything under control. They all paused for a moment to collect themselves and pray to Irene that their ship would never crash again… never. 

Chapter Text

The group strolled their ship into the docks of Nahakra Village, a beautiful village with a prosperous land you could see from the ship deck that Aphmau and everyone else were on. The sky was blue with barely any clouds, Aphmau considered it a perfect day. Nahakra was made of stone and concrete from what she could see, a nice gray color with some green covering the entire village. There were some small shops scattered about and if you looked far enough, a large forest that took over the horizon. 

Belladonna, Kitten, and Travis were all helping get the ship ready for docking while everyone else got their stuff ready to get off. Aphmau had brought her dogs, Amada and Dua, so she had to make sure that they were all okay to get off the ship as well. 

As Aphmau was bringing Dua and Amada out of their cage she could see two guard looking men walk their way towards the ship. One of them was covered in head to two guard armor. It was all silver with dull yellow accents as their undergarments, gloves, and their helmets. The man who stood next to the fully cladded guard had everything but his helmet. 

“Belladonna!” Aphmau called the Kharagosa. She was up on the mainmast trying to try up the sails with Travis. “I think these guys wanna talk to you!” 

Belladonna slid down the pole with ease, wiping her hands off before coming to the edge of the ramp that Kitten had pulled out so it was easier for them to walk to the dock. Aphmau held her dogs close to her body. 

“Hello.” Belladonna said politely “My name is Belladonna Luke, I am the leader of the Phoenix Alliance.” She held out her hand. 

The man had gray hair in the style of a mullet and a matching gray mustache, he hesitantly shook Belladonna’s hand “My name is James, heard guard here at Nahakra.” He let go of the woman’s hand and looked her up and down “May I ask, does the Phoenix Alliance have anything to do with Phoenix Drop?” 

“Oh! We-” Aphmau’s elbow jabbed Belladonna in the side “have no connections to that village. But! They are in our alliance and Bright Port, New Meteili, The Enki Tribe of the Gal’Ruk region, oh and Scaleswind.” 

“Oh? So you think you’re important?” James looked rough, he had faint scars all over his face and an already mean look. “I’ll just have you know we’ve never heard of this alliance before, so you won’t be treated any differently than everyone else in our village.” 

Belladonna looked offended, but she quickly recovered. “I understand. I was simply introducing myself for future reference but don’t worry, the time when we’ll ask you to join our alliance… will never come about.” 

Laurance, who stood behind Belladonna and Aphmau, snorted. Aphmau gave him a dirty look before asking for her bag. 

James gave Belladonna the same look of offendedness that she had before nodding his head. “Duly noted.” He said sharply, “Now we are going to have to run an inspection on your vessel. We do this to every ship that comes unprompted to our village, so think nothing of it.” 

“I wasn’t going to.” 

“Well!” Laurance interjected, grabbing Aphmau’s arm and dragging her with him. “Me and Aphmau are going to head into town, so you play nice.” He winked at Belladonna before walking away with Aphmau and her dogs. 

They stopped in front of a fish shop when Laurance leaned in to talk to her. “She was going to kill him if I said nothing.” 

“That would’ve been funny though.” 

Laurance smiled, “It would’ve been.” He looked around. “Now I’m gonna go find some place to stay, you can do whatever but remember what I told you.” 

“Be tough and don’t let anyone give you shit.” Travis and Laurance had given a brief lesson to Aphmau on how to be naturally bitchy since she had to be on her guard while in the home of a popular mafia. 

“That’s right, now be safe.” 

“You too!” 

Laurance did a little hop before jogging his way into the village. Aphmau looked into the window of the fish shop. An old lonely looking man sat behind the counter of the shop looking bored out of his mind. Aphmau wanted to be nice, so she went inside. Since she was vegan she didn’t think she would ever eat fish, but maybe he had something for her dogs or some equipment she could use.

A bell above the door rang, alerting the old man that someone had come and his entire demeanor changed. 

“Ah! Hello! You must be a part of that little gang who just got here, right?” 

Aphmau nodded and leaned against the counter. Her dogs looked around the shop in some type of awe. 

“I hope James isn’t giving you too much trouble! He’s been having a pretty rough time with having to give up his head guard position and all that.” 

Aphmau raised an eyebrow and slid closer to the old man signaling she wanted to know more. The old man let out a hearty laugh. “Oh, why the hell not?” He asked her before pulling a stool to sit on. “So Jame is the head guard for our Lord Syrus. He’s been head guard since Syrus’s father was the Lord, so this job is very important to him. He’s having to give it up though, because he can’t keep up with the thieves and mafia members that run rampant through these streets.” 

“Does he have any kids that could take up his position?” Aphmau could see that if your kid took up your old job, it wouldn’t be as hurtful… like how Levin took up hers. 

The old man shook his head “Sadly no, you see James and our old Lord they…” He motioned for Aphmau to lean in closer so she did “They loved the same woman.” Aphmau let out an exaggerated gasp. 

“No!” 

“I know! But that beautiful chose Rick, our old Lord, instead of James. What was even worse was that little lady was a guard just like James, but she didn’t choose him. He spent much more time with her… next to myself of course.” He laughed again. Aphmau had to laugh alongside the man, it was contagious. 

The old man then melted. “Oh, it’s been so nice talking to someone again. Barely anyone does it since I’m just a crazy old man.” He pulled out what seemed to be a jar with brown liquid in it label ‘Root Beer,’ “Take this as my thanks.” He handed the jar to Aphmau. 

“Oh no, I couldn’t. I just loved listening to you.” She tried to refuse but the man insisted. The man’s eyes darted over the counter and he spotted Aphmau’s dogs. 

“And you have dogs? You should’ve just told me!” He grabbed another thing from his side of the counter and handed it to Aphmau’s two dogs. It resembled dog treats but in the shape of bones. 

Aphmau thanked the man. “Can I get your name? We always need a fisherman in an alliance.” 

The old man smiled. “The name’s Paul.” 

Aphmau nodded, “You know… I knew a Paul.” That was true. When she first got to be Lord, she met a man named Paul who was a merchant and friend to Visher… a man who died too soon. 

“Oh? Well, Paul’s a common name. What’s your lass? Maybe I know one of you.” 

She knew very well that her name was not common “Aphmau.” 

The man’s face dropped and Aphmau knew she had found that merchant. “I used to know an Aphmau.” 

Aphmau thought she was about to cry, but she just smiled instead. She held out her hand for the man to shake. “It’s nice seeing you again, Paul.” 

“And you too, Aphmau.” 

Aphmau left without a word. She unscrewed the cap of the jar and started drinking the root beer out of it as she walked around the village. Her dogs seemed contempt with the wide open space that the village gave them.

She was about to finish the jar when someone bumped into her, making her spill the rest on her shirt. Aphmau turned to see a person cloaked in all black walking away from her. She finally got to use the lessons that Travis and Laurance gave her to use. 

“Hey asshole! Watch where you’re going next time!” Aphmau scoffed and screwed the cap back onto the jar and placed it into her bag… and then she thought. 

She searched around for a while before gasping. Her music box wasn’t in her bag. “Girls get the others!” She told Amada and Dua, dropping their leashes and allowing them to run back to the ship as she chased down the thief. 

She chased her through most of the village. Aphmau cried for help but no one was listening to her. Aphmau finally caught her though when she cornered her in front of a random stone pillar. 

The person turned to face Aphmau. They had bright purple eyes and bright blonde hair with a mask that covered the lower half of their face. “Will you fuck off?!” she snapped. 

Aphmau snapped back put placing her arms on either side of the thief and getting real close to her face “Give me back my fucking music box.” 

“I’m not doing anything for you!” 

Aphmau kneed her in the crotch. “Give me back my music box.” Aphmau noticed a bag that the thief had around their shoulder and aimed for it but the person pushed her away. 

The person screamed and cried for help like she was the one being robbed. “Will you shut up!? Aphmau asked and kicked the thief in the stomach but instead of the person hitting a solid wall, the wall pushed back, making the both of them fall down a long staircase as the door closed behind them. 

They tumbled down the stairs, brushing every part of their body as they made it down to what seemed like a cave system. It reminded Aphmau of Nicole. 

The thief and Aphmau got up just as quickly as they fell, Aphmau chasing and threatening the thief as the other ran for their life. The pickpocket tried to turn a corner to throw off Aphmau but she was on her tail. They found themselves cornered once again. The thief turned around in fear.

Aphmau laughed and took out a dagger from her sheath. These were the times were she really missed her sword, something like this wasn’t as threatening as she hoped. 

“You. Little miss…?” 

“Amber.” The thief said quietly. 

“Little miss Amber, you stole something of mine and I would very much appreciate it if you gave it back.” 

Amber looked around her. There was nowhere to go so the next best thing she thought to do… cry. Tears streamed down Amber’s cheeks as she realized she probably wasn’t getting out of this alive. 

“Hey- Hey can… can you stop-” She was getting annoyed. Aphmau was bringing out all her pent up anger with this poor girl. She groaned as the girl wouldn’t stop crying and kicked her against the rocks. “Can you stop fucking crying!?” 

Amber gasped and looked up at Aphmau with teary eyes. “I think you broke my rib!” 

“Good! Now give me back my music box!” 

“No!” Amber cried “I can’t! I really need to get into the Nahakra mafia and the boss recently wanted a music box, so I need to give this to her!” 

“Why in the world would you ever want to do that? They’re criminals!” 

“Gorgeous criminals!” Amber cried, “I aspire to be the apprentice of the boss one day and I need this music box to get in!” 

“That music box belongs-” Aphmau cut herself off as she realized something. This mafia could be of some use to her quest to find her sons and Zoey. This was why they were even here in Nahakra in the first place, to meet the criminals. 

“Get up.” Aphmau demanded.

“What?”

“I said get up.” 

“I have a broken-“ 

“I break more than just a rib if you don’t get up.” 

Amber looked up at her in fear. Aphmau watched as the girl struggled to stand up to her full height, which wasn’t even that taller than Aphmau, maybe an inch or two taller. She was curled up on one side because of her ribs, but Aphmau didn’t really care; her loved ones always came first. 

She held the dagger to Amber’s chin to make her look at her. The hood of Amber’s cloak had fallen to show that her hair was much longer than Aphmau expected. “Look, Amber. I need that music box, but I also need information.” Aphmau thought for a second. “You’re going to get me into the mafia and then we’ll do whatever we need to do to get that music box back. If I don’t get that music box back, I will make you choke on your own hair.” 

“F-Fine.” Amber stuttered. “You can join me, but you have to follow me to the entrance and you have to go alone. I know they’re already gonna give me shit for bringing along another person.” 

“Well then, let’s go.” Aphmau moved to the side and pushed Amber past her, motioning for the girl to move. 

They stayed silent for their walk through the cave system that brought them out into the woods. Aphmau really didn’t want to trust this girl, but the way she burst out in tears really pulled at Aphmau’s heart strings and she didn’t want to do anymore damage. 

She took a jacket and Malachi’s scarf out of her bag since the winds that flew through the trees were making her cold. 

They reached a little clearing in the woods. Amber stood in front of a hill that looked a little too neat. 

Amber turned around and politely pulled Aphmau’s scarf above the lower half of her face. “You gotta look like a criminal.” She shrugged before taking a crystal out of her pocket and drawing something onto the hill. 

Aphmau looked down at her clothes. She could be mistaken for a criminal. She wasn’t wearing anything too fancy, just brown pants, a purple cloth dress with some fun designs on it and a belt that made her waist more defined. Her boots were a little worse for wear, but that could add to her criminal persona. People could see her as rough. Her jacket though covered up most of her clothes since it was puffy and her scarf being so long also covered up her body so really she just looked like a puffy shape than a person. 

The hill opened up like a door for Aphmau and Amber could walk through. The injured woman turned around and motioned Aphmau to follow. For someone who just got their ass kicked, she seemed thrilled. Maybe Aphmau was being sent into a trap but she ignored her gut and walked down a large stone staircase into the dark. 

They emerged back into the light, but artificial light caused by lamps and lanterns scattered around the cave they were in. It looked like a large oval with a low ceiling from what Aphmau could see. In the center of the oval was a circle of water that had water coming down from the ceiling into it. A man stood at the entrance of the large cave. He was giving Amber a dirty look as they stopped in front of him.  

“Amber…” the man groaned. “Didn’t we tell you to stop coming here until you were ready to be serious?” 

She gasped but quickly regretted with her broken rib. Aphmau could’ve healed her, but she chose not to. “I am serious Kalzul, I’m as serious as everyone else here!” She argued, digging through her bag to take out Aphmau’s music box. “I stole this from a peasant girl!” 

“Bitch.” Aphmau muttered to herself and gave Amber a dirty look. It seemed as if no one liked this Amber girl. 

“Amber.” 

“Please!” the girl begged. “Me and my friend just want to take the thieves test, that’s all we want okay?” 

Aphmau was tired of this so she stomped her foot down to get the man named Kalzul’s attention. “Hey buddy, can just go see the boss, you dense piece of shit?” 

Both Amber and Kalzul’s jaws dropped. Amber looked more scared than Kalzul, he looked impressed more than anything. 

He scoffed, “I like you.” He said with a smile, “You can head in.”  

Amber squealed, “Thank you!” She jumped up and down before snatching Aphmau’s hand, dragging her around the oval cave. That Kalzul dude was right, Amber’s infatuation with this Boss character wasn’t letting her be a serious thief. 

Amber led her over to a dark dead end in the cave. She flipped up something on the wall before pressing a certain number of buttons and the dead end opened up into a door. They walked through a pitch-black hallway until they were once again met with warm lantern light. This cave looked exactly like the one they were just in, but there was a bridge going over the pool of water and it was more lively on this side. Maybe that side was just a fake for where all the real criminals hung out. Aphmau thought that was strange, why would criminals want to hang out?” 

Amber stopped outside a fancy-looking door. She patted down her hair and outfit, wincing slightly when she hit her ribs. Aphmau didn’t feel bad for her, it was like someone was taking the wheel on Aphmau’s emotions and decided that she wouldn’t care about this woman. 

Amber took another deep breath, taking one last look at Aphmau before opening the door. Aphmau followed in. The room looked like a giant bar, red leather couches pressed up against the wall, a large bar with alcohol bottles Aphmau hadn’t even heard of on the other wall, paintings of family members and random people hung on the walls all around them. On the floor lay a bearskin that was fashioned into a rug while its brother was being worn by the extremely tall woman grazing her finger down a bookshelf like she was searching for something. 

“Hi Boss.” Amber said nervously. 

Aphmau could see the woman roll their eyes and turn around. They were tall, like their head brushed up against the ceiling of the room, tall. Aphmau could see why Amber was so infatuated with this woman, she was gorgeous, her pale skin was reminiscent of the moon which contrasted with her dark blue hair that was curled and pinned up at the top while the rest of her hair was curly and flowing down her shoulders down to her back. She had a more square face with full lips and half-lidded eyes which made her annoyed all the time. “Amber.” Her voice was low and seductive. “I thought I told you to not come back here unless you roughed up.” 

“I have a broken rib.” Amber confessed. 

The Boss raised an eyebrow before poking the area where Amber hunched over the most. The girl hissed in pain. After looking impressed for a moment, the boss went back to her resting face. “Why are you bothering me in the first place?” She asked as she sat down, placing her bearskin jacket on the chair to her side showing off a black silk dress that only went down to her thighs with black pumps with red bottoms at her feet. 

Amber’s face reddened and she winded up the music box. “I got you this, Boss.” Amber set the box down on a desk next to them and the music started pouring out of the box. Aphmau had to turn her head so she wouldn’t cry. There was a tiny painting of her, Levin, and Malachi taped to the mirror of the music box. 

The Boss’s face changed entirely, as they let the music flow through their ears. They turned their head to see Aphmau standing there. “Amber, who’s your friend?” 

“Oh! That’s Aphmau. They want to join the Nahakra mafia as well!” 

The Boss hummed, “Can you be a doll and leave us be?” 

“Yes ma’am.” Amber scurried off through the door, leaving Aphmau and the Boss alone in her club styled room. Aphmau had to force herself to turn towards the woman. She knew that if she saw even a bit of the music box, she’d start crying. 

“So… Aphmāo-” 

“Nope.” Aphmau stopped her. “Not how it’s pronounced. Aph-mau is how and Amber just said it so really you’re just being an ass.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, and before we start this conversation, I don’t care that you’re supposed to be the rough and tough leader of this place. I just want information on a bitch named Michi. I don’t want to join your mafia, I don’t want to do any of that. I just want my family back.” 

The Boss pouted her lips at Aphmau, standing up to her full height to lean against the desk in front of Aphmau, blocking the view of the music box “Aphmau, you can’t just storm into this place and start demanding things, that’s not how we work here.” Her smile was that of a hungry wolf’s “You can join my mafia, go be in the trials, and I’ll tell you as much information as you need.” 

“I don’t want to be a thief though.” 

“But you get an ally! And who doesn’t want that nowadays?” The Boss asked, “Now you can tell Amber that the trials will be in two hours. I can’t wait to see you there.” 

Aphmau scoffed, “Go fuck yourself.” She said as she left the room to go tell Amber the news. 

Amber was ecstatic when she heard the news. Immediately going to train Aphmau on how to be a skilled thief, Aphmau quickly found out that she hadn’t made it past the first trial. Aphmau had told Amber multiple times to cut her but the girl just shied away and called Aphmau weird. All Aphmau was trying to do was see if Amber was all talk, which apparently she was. 

Aphmau also found that Amber was a complete pushover. The Boss came out to ask Amber to get her some wine like a servant and instead of standing up for herself; her knees just buckled and did what they ordered. Aphmau asked what the Boss’s deal was and all she said was that Amber was a viability for being so stupid, but she was a nice to have around for getting information, Aphmau wondered if Amber knew anything about Michi but the Boss shut that down. 

“She knows nothing about Michi.” The woman said once she saw Aphmau’s wondering face, “All she knows is that a Meif’wa came around here recently, nothing else.” 

But that was something, that was something to Aphmau. It told her that all of this wasn’t for nothing; she was actually getting somewhere. 

When Amber came back with the wine, the Boss grabbed the bottle, looked at it, and then threw it into the pool of water with the complaint that it wasn’t the wine she wanted. After that she dragged Aphmau and Amber (along with a couple of other wannabe thieves) to a space in the woods near the outskirts of the village, on another hill. Aphmau noticed an enormous mountain in the middle of the woods. It was terrible that such a beautiful village with such a beautiful view had a closet filled with skeletons. 

The Boss stood in front of the small group, her black pumps being exchanged for black combat boots. There was a devilish smirk to her lips as her eyes surveyed the group in front of her, a group filled with pathetic worms in her mind. 

“Alright!” She clapped her hands. “We have quite the group here! Your first trial to get into the Nahakra mafia is to steal something from Nahakra. Simple right? Wrong!” Her voice spooked everyone in the group. “Steal something that could be compared to the worth of… a human life and I’ll be happy.” Her teeth shined in the bright sun that poured down onto the group. Aphmau could feel herself sweating beneath the layers of clothes she was in. 

Aphmau wondered if the trial was really about killing someone. She couldn’t compare nothing to a human life. Nothing physical, at least. 

“Now, you have till sundown and then we’ll all meet back at base.” The Boss bowed her body but kept her eyes staring at everyone. “Now get going, maggots.” 

Aphmau shook her nerves off before jogging to the village down the hill that they were on. She adjusted her clothing, taking off her jacket and stuffing it into the bag that she still had on her back. She would keep her scarf on to keep her identity hidden, but she was just way too hot. 

When Aphmau touched the pavement of the village a lightbulb went off in her head. If she found one of her friends she’d be able to explain what had happened to her and ask them if they had anything worth a human life. She strolled around the village trying to find her friends that she came here with. She wondered if they were out looking for her back in the woods but then that wouldn’t be following the rules, but do thieves really follow rules? So why- 

Aphmau stopped and took a breath. This was all getting to her head. She knew that Laurance and Katelyn would definitely be in the village trying to help find Levin or maybe even Aphmau. Aaron, Vylad, and Travis were a different story, while Kitten and Belladonna could be anywhere. She wondered who was taking care of her dogs. 

Speaking of dogs, Belladonna was talking to a salesman while proudly flashing a gorgeous piece of jewelry on her wrist right in front of Aphmau and holding her two dogs on leash… but wait- when did Belladonna wear anything besides her wedding ring? 

Aphmau slid over to the woman and leaned into her. “When did you wear jewelry?” She whispered. The dogs started giving out little yips that their owner was back. Aphmau wanted so badly to pet them but she needed to keep her cover. 

Belladonna lifted her hand to show off the piece. It was a wrist cuff made of many jewels and gems. “Oh this? I only had to kill someone to get it, as did the owner before this, and the owner before that, and the owner-” 

“I get it.” This wrist cuff was worth a human life, multiple actually “Why are you wearing it though?” 

“A little birdy told me you were in trouble…” 

Aphmau had totally forgotten that Belladonna was the Titan of present time, Le Présent, of course there she knew about the whole mafia thing. Aphmau sighed. “I’m so in love with you.” 

“Everyone is.” Belladonna said confidently, “Should I tell everyone what’s going on or…?” 

“No, they’ll all get worried and try to find me and that would just mess everything up, okay?” Belladonna nodded. “I can tell them after… do tell them I’m safe though.” 

“Of course, now you should get going.” 

Aphmau nodded and took her dagger out of her sheath, hey she needed this to look believable in case the Boss asked questions. 

In one quick motion she stabbed Belladonna in the thigh and grabbed the cuff off of the woman’s wrist before running off through the village. Hearing Belladonna’s cries of pain made Aphmau’s heart clench, but it had to be done for this to be believable. 

Aphmau ran through the village and back where she had come from, but right when she was about to enter the woods again she spotted something in the corner of her eye. She slowed down and moved in closer to see exactly what was happening. 

Amber was getting beaten by Travis, who was accusing her of trying to steal from him. Obviously Amber had and obviously it hadn’t gone well. 

Aphmau bit her lip. On one hand, she didn’t give two shits about Amber. On the other, she really didn’t want to see this poor girl get beaten to hell for just trying to impress someone. Aphmau’s sympathetic side was taking over… she was going to regret this. 

She took out the glass jar that Paul had given her and ran up to Travis, hitting him in the face with the jar so Aphmau could pull Amber away from the scene and the two of them could make it back to the base. The last thing she saw of Travis was his body on the floor with blood seeping through his head from hitting the concrete, and Aphmau really hoped that she didn’t just kill him. 

Amber was crying the entire time they ran, complaining that she was hurting and that they needed to stop, but Aphmau ignored her and continued running through the trees and green landscape. Finally, they made a stop at a clearing but only because Amber’s whining was making Aphmau’s ears bleed. 

“Here.” Aphmau grabbed Amber’s shoulder and pulled her in so Aphmau could place her hand on Amber’s stomach, where she concentrated on healing the woman. In a quick minute, all of Amber’s wounds and bruises healed… at least her healing powers were consistent. Amber opened her mouth but Aphmau hushed her. “Don’t. Don’t ask, say nothing. I just want to know if you have something of actual value.” Aphmau knew the rules of the game, but right now she wanted to know if saving Amber was really worth it. 

It took the thief a second to process what had just happened, but then her face lit up. “Yeah! So I got these weird crystal things that’s supposedly worth like $150 million and got pretty cool information that there’s treasure hidden beneath the houses of the mystical Falcon-Claw.” 

Clapping behind them got the duo to snap their heads towards the sound. The Boss was walking up to them with a big bright smile that radiated the intentions of a psychopath. 

“That is good information Amber, but sadly Falcon-Claw is cursed and you’d have to be a madman to go into there. Years ago, the Lord of that village slaughtered everyone. Now it’s a ghost town for Mother Nature to reclaim.” The Boss explained “But that little fun fact aside I’m proud of you two, despite the little entanglement that happened you both stole things valuable to me… you did that right Aphmau?” 

Aphmau held up the cuff, and there was a sparkle in the Boss’s eye. 

“Good.” Her words dripped like venom. “You two get to go onto the next trial!” 

“Which is?” Aphmau was done with the woman and the way she talked, like she was talking to children. 

“Stealing from O’Khasis.” 

Chapter Text

Aphmau sat at the edge of the small pond of water, sipping some beer she bought from the mafia’s bar. It had been a couple of hours since they returned and she hadn’t moved from this spot. She was contemplating her life as she stared at her reflection in the water. The Boss had informed Amber and her that the second trial would be them stealing from O’Khasis… fucking O’Khasis. Aphmau imagined visiting peacefully, she imagined visiting O’Khasis when she wanted to visit the city-village. This was just some cruel joke and Aphmau wondered if she should even go on with this. She knew damn well that the risk of her dying or being caught during this trial was much higher. Travis told her on the boat that O’Khasis wasn’t as active as it was 15 years ago but it was still active. It hadn’t died down. It hadn’t wasted away into the books of time; it was still there. Aphmau had known O’Khasis to be this authoritative village and 15 years wasn’t enough time to change that style of ruling. 

She took a deep breath. This was for Levin and Malachi, this was for Zoey, she had to do this to get them all back safe and sound. Everything that she was doing right now was all for them, if her morals got fucked up because of this, it would all be worth it because they would be safely back in her arms. 

Aphmau took another sip when something bumped against her shoulder. Her cat ears and tail twitched, making her feel weird which excited a noise from whatever bumped against her shoulder. She turned to head to find the Boss looking down at her with a scroll of paper in her hand. 

“This is your assignment. You have 24 hours so… tomorrow at 2 you should be back here with your target.” 

“What?” Aphmau hesitantly took the scroll of paper “Assignment? Are we not meeting up again?” 

The Boss made pouty lips. “Aww do you need-” 

“Don’t speak to me like I’m a child, you bitch.” 

“Oh right, I can’t mess with you because you think you’re so respectable.” The woman scoffed. “But yes, it’s your assignment. The trials aren’t all going to be the same, you know? The last game was more to weed out the weak while this one is to show if you’re really up to this.” 

“All I want is information.” 

“I heard that you’re up to it.” She gave Aphmau a condescending look. “Now I suggest you read that and go.” 

The Boss began walking away but Aphmau jumped to her feet to ask her question, “Why are you letting Amber continue despite me helping her.” 

The pale woman turned around slowly, her lips formed into a slow, dangerous smile and with the happiest tones ever she said, “I like to see her struggle.” Before turning around and heading to her room. 

That look sent shivers down Aphmau’s spin. She hated that woman with everything in her being, but once again: She was doing this all for her family. Aphmau sighed and turned on her heels to head outside the home of the most notorious mafia. 

While walking, she unwrapped the scroll of paper which was tied close with a cute little blue ribbon. The color matched the Boss’s hair. Inside, the paper read: 

TARGET NAME: Ivern Everir

SHORT DESCRIPTION: White complexion, brown shaggy hair, 58 years old, 5’11, usually seen wearing a white shirt with a yellow button-up shirt with flowers over it. 

OCCUPATION: A merchant who sells crystals infused with magicks. 

TARGET: You need to steal Ivern’s most valuable crystal, the Aragonite.  

Aphmau rolled her eyes and rolled the scroll back up before putting it in her bag. It always had to be valuable items, it couldn’t just be like an orange, it always had to be something that people would kill for. 

The sun hit Aphmau. She immediately started sweating. She pulled down the scarf that sat around her face so she wouldn’t die of a heat stroke; Aphmau had worn a breezy outfit because she knew it was going to be hot, but now she was in all these layers and it was making her burn up in the sun. 

In front of her was Amber singing quietly to herself as she jumped up on top of her horse… She was definitely going to get killed in O’Khasis. 

Aphmau didn’t know where O’Khasis is, so she opted to roam to the village of Nahakra to find Belladonna or maybe even Vylad so she would know what direction to start in. While roaming the village, she was lucky enough to find a map shop, something Aphmau had never heard of. Usually maps are a personal item that you keep to yourself but times were changing of course. 

Right before she was going to enter the store she spotted Laurance sitting on a bench with his head in his hands while Travis rubbed his back. There was a giant bandage wrapped around Travis’s head and Aphmau cringed internally. She felt terrible when she saw Laurance lift his head and find that he was crying with his eyes bloodshot. Aphmau hadn’t even been gone that long, but it obviously had taken a toll on Laurance… Belladonna had told them that she was okay, right? 

She shook off her regret. While she had 24 hours, she imagined going to O’Khasis would take a long time. Aphmau entered the store and found that no one was running it, it was more like a small library. The owner of this shop must’ve trusted the people of Nahakra a little too much because there was a small sign by the entrance of the door that read “If taking a map, please leave $5 at the counter.”

Aphmau looked at the counter and saw a good stack of $5 bills. Guess there were some good people in this village… people like Paul… 

She started looking through the shop. Each map had a little cubby with a label attached to it that described what the map in the cubby was. She looked through the cubbies for a moment before finding the map she needed and taking it out of its little home, setting it down on a table in the middle of the shop, she started inspecting it. 

The map showed the island that they were on and where Nahakra and O’Khasis were located. The mountain that Aphmau had seen when the Boss was telling them about their first trial was actually the only thing separating Nahakra and O’Khasis, along with a small village called Falcon-Claw that was supposedly haunted. Aphmau would have to cut through Falcon-Claw to get to O’Khasis, so Aphmau would get to find out if that place was haunted or not. 

Aphmau decided she didn’t need the map, so she rolled it up and placed it back in the cubby before heading out of the map shop and on her way to steal a horse. 

It took her a whole 5 hours to reach the abandoned village of Falcon-Claw. Aphmau could only see the top half of the sun when she arrived and if she squinted, she could see the faint shape of the moon watching over her. 

The air chilled immediately when she entered the village. Everything stood still. Buildings that once stood strong were now crumbling, houses that once held laughing families were now dusting away, the earth swallowed whole paths that allowed people to find their way. 

Aphmau rode her horse in awe as she trotted through the vacant village… it reminded her of Phoenix Drop, almost. A Phoenix Drop that no one tried to help save, a Phoenix Drop that didn’t survive the war. 

A Phoenix Drop if Aphmau hadn’t swooped into save it. 

There was a house at the edge of the village- well, the remains of one. Aphmau looked inside the house from a distance and saw a man standing in the middle of it, facing away from her. Aphmau’s curiosity got the best of her and she hopped down from her horse, tying it up to a post before heading over to the man. 

The ground made no noise as she walked over it, no wind blew through her hair, and no heat came from the sun. The only sound that she heard in the entire village was the sound of a man crying. 

When Aphmau’s foot stepped inside the decayed wood of the house’s entrance, the man’s hand flicked out red energy with black swirls in it which took over the entire town. Aphmau fell to her knees as a disturbing and disgusting feeling grew in her stomach. It was as if she was looking at a portal to Hell for the first time. 

Her mind swarmed with images of cheerful people, bright smiles, loud laughing, a smiling woman with a happy husband and a fortunate son… but not forever. 

A little boy walked into the opened door house with an amulet, purple and green. It was beautiful. The mother turned around and asked the child where he had gotten the thing before taking it out of the child’s hands… She was just worried about his safety. As soon as the woman had put her hands on the amulet, screams filled the village as its people started melting away into the ground. The mother and wife watched in horror as the skin and bones of her husband and child melted as if they were being burned alive until they were just a bloody puddle seeping into the wooden floor of the house. 

The man raced throughout his village, screaming in horror as he saw pools and pools of blood around his village. It was a massacre. 

At the gates of his village stood young 18-year-old Zane Ro’meave. He was wearing a white cassock with a white chasuble over that had a black cross sewn across the entire thing. He wasn’t wearing his signature mask, instead his face was fully visible so the man could see the pure joy that Zane was having as he laughed hysterically at the horrors that happened at Falcon-Claw. Zane was laughing and smiling so hard it seemed as if his already disfigured and scarred mouth would rip open to great even more scarring. 

Aphmau snapped back to reality to find Aaron standing in front of her. Tears ran down both of their cheeks but Aaron’s were ones of revenge and anger. 

“Why was it me?” He asked, “Why did it have to be me?” 

Aphmau didn’t know what to say. She remembered Aaron telling her this story but… but seeing it was a whole original experience. 

“Why did I have to touch it? Why did it have to be me, Aphmau? Why?” 

Aphmau just looked up at him. 

“You have Irene’s powers, right? Aren’t you supposed to have all the answers!” His voice was raising. 

Aphmau slowly stood to her feet. She recognized him. 

“You were supposed to help me!” He yelled, his eyes had a hint of red in them. “Why didn’t you help me!” 

“I didn’t know!” She cried, “I don’t know everything, Aaron!” 

His crying was becoming stronger. “Why did Zane do this?” 

“I do not know.” 

“You’re supposed to know.” 

“I don’t know everything, Aaron.” 

“I’m gonna kill him.” He said out of nowhere, “I’m gonna kill him and then once I do, I’ll kill myself.” 

Aphmau’s heart dropped. “Excuse me?”

“Once I squeezed the life out of Zane… I’ll kill myself. I’ve done what I needed to do… I’ll be done.” 

“You can’t just… Aaron, you can’t just leave like that. You’re making revenge be the thing your life rotates around? Not trying to move on or start a better life, but revenge?” Aphmau was confused on how a person could do something like that. She remembered when she was first asking Dante to be her guard and he told her upfront that if there was a chance to kill Gene but it meant abandoning Aphmau, he would take it, but this… this was different. Dante hadn’t made his life around the idea of killing his older brother, Aaron was. 

“I don’t need to move on.” 

“But you can.” She said simply. 

Aaron stood there in silence, holding his red bandana tightly in his hands. 

“You can choose to move on. You wouldn’t be forgetting them, you’d just be living your life in how they have always wanted you to live.” 

Aaron scoffed. “You know nothing about losing the people you love.” 

“I know about losing someone that I love.” She could hear his voice so distinctly in her head, his laugh, his kind words, the way he almost never called her Aphmau but ‘my lady’, she could hear him so clearly. 

“He’s still alive.” 

“And so are they… they’re still alive as long as they stay in your memory.” She took a step forward but he took a step back. “Aaron, you’re allowed to live.” 

She could see that the tears were starting again in his eyes but before she could see him cry again, he turned around and Aphmau took that as a sign of defeat. 

Aphmau didn’t know Aaron. She barely talked to him and she hadn’t talked to him for a while. Ever since they crashed on that island and returned home, things haven’t been the same and Aphmau didn’t know why. She wanted to get close to the man, tell him he was wanted - needed - cared for by everyone in the group, but she didn’t know how to do it. Aaron was a naturally closed off man and Aphmau didn’t have the right set of tools to open his door. She hoped that while Aaron had turned his back to Aphmau; he hadn’t turned his back to her words. She hoped that while Aaron stood in that decaying house; he reflected upon himself and really took in the words that Aphmau told him. 

The power though… that power that exerted from Aaron’s hands that she had only seen come from him one other time reminded her of a man she used to know… or rather a man Irene used to know. Now and then, she would remember that dream she had with Esmund, the dream where he - Irene’s lover - told her she was the first reincarnation of Irene. How Aaron yelled at her, his eyes, the red and black energy… it was all too familiar to just be some strange déjà vu that she was having. But before she could think anymore on the matter, she was outside the O’Khasis gates and the moon was shining down on her and her horse. 

Aphmau quickly pulled up her scarf around her nose and mouth before hopping off her horse. “Hello!” She greeted them. “I was wondering if you could tell me the time.” 

The O’Khasis guard looked down at his wrist, which had a gold band wrapped around it with a circle plate in the middle that looked to have a tiny clock. Another thing that Aphmau was unfamiliar with back in her time. “It’s 11 pm ma’am. What are you doing here so late at night?” 

“Oh wow,” Aphmau knew it was the night, but she hadn’t expected it to be that late. How did she spend 4 hours on the trial to O’Khasis not even noticing? “I just need to do trade with a merchant here.” 

The two O’Khasis guards looked at each other before bursting out into loud-boisterous laughter. Aphmau was confused about what was going on. Did she misspeak? She didn’t get the joke. 

One guard had to take his helmet off to wipe his eyes of tears, he was laughing so hard. “Oh my Irene!” He exclaimed. “We all know that your kind is too stupid to trade with someone from O’Khasis!” 

“My- oh…” Aphmau suddenly remembered that she had cat ears and tail attached to her body. She didn’t look ‘human’ to everyone she came in contact with, she looked like a Meif’wa. That probably hurt more than the guard making fun of her for being a girl, that he was judging her for being a Meif’wa. Aphmau stood her ground. “I’ll have you know, my species are incredibly smart when given the right resources!” She remembered Nana and how insanely genius the Meif’wa was in architectural design and magicks. 

The guards laughed even more. “As if!” 

Aphmau’s face was feverish with embarrassment. She knew these guards would just keep laughing at her face, so she went with the best option in her head and left. She couldn’t turn back and head back to Nahakra empty handed - no - she was going to get into O’Khasis the way a thief would: sneaking in. 

Aphmau tied her horse up to a tree and started looking around the enormous wall that surrounded O’Khasis; it was so much more threatening than she could ever imagine it to be. Eventually she found a large sewer system, but before stepping foot she remembered that if those guards were anything like the people inside, she would immediately be caught because of her new appendages. Her tail was already pretty hidden in her dress, so her ears were the key problem. She took off Malachi’s scarf and fashioned it so it would go over her cat ears and face at the same time. She had seen Nicole put on her hijab a few times in the past, so Aphmau just made the scarf into a type of hijab. 

After that she grabbed her jacket out of her bag and wrapped it behind her waist so the jacket part could cover the design of her dress. Then she set off. 

The scarf around her nose made it difficult to smell, but in Aphmau’s case, that was a good thing, because if she knew anything, she knew that sewer tunnels were disgusting. But on the bright side, she only walked for about 20 minutes before she was back into fresh air. She squeezed through the metal bars that closed off the tunnel for the public and now she was standing in the emphasis city-village, O’Khasis.

Chapter Text

O’Khasis was so much bigger, gigantic, it was insane how huge this place was. Aphmau had been wandering around the village for a while to get a taste of what was going on and she still hadn’t reached the end of the village. It was insane! And the crazier part was that she knew there was more than just one O’Khasis village, just like Scaleswind. The home of Scaleswind was a small one, it was definitely smaller than this (only by a little) but the thing that made Scaleswind the major powerhouse of Ru’aun was the fact that it was everywhere. While staying with Nicole Aphmau had found out that Scaleswind had a ton of areas in Ru’aun and different regions that were all controlled by the city-village - actually according to Nicole she was negotiating with some of her council members and judges that Scaleswind would turn into a state. A state was a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government. Like a village, but much - much bigger. If she could turn Scaleswind into a state, all the little villages that she controlled would no longer just be little individual villages, they would be Scaleswind. 

That terrified Aphmau. 

As she walked through the village she had heard some words thrown around like ‘empire.’ ‘Scaleswind isn’t a state, it’s an empire.’ ‘O’Khasis is just the same.’ ‘They’re all getting too greedy.’ That made Aphmau feel off, she trusted Nicole and trusted that the woman wouldn’t turn into some greedy lord who makes their subjects do all the work but… with the things that Aphmau was hearing she was worrying about what Nicole was becoming… about what Phoenix Drop would have to do to keep up. 

And then it hit her. She couldn’t keep wandering around this village trying to find this Ivern dude. She would have to eavesdrop on people’s conversation and see what type of information they would give her. So she started doing that. She began walking slower and with her cat ears it was much easier to hear things than before, of course they were a little obstructed with the scarf but she could still hear things she wouldn’t have heard before. 

“I miss the Lord’s sons so much.” 

This made Aphmau stop in her tracks, she hurried to a wall and stayed quiet as she listened to a conversation between a man and a merchant. 

“Do you think they’ve proclaimed they’re dead yet? Garte and Lady Zianna can’t keep holding onto hope forever, it’s been 15 years.” 

“They had proclaimed Vylad dead for a while now-“ 

“Pssh, I’m not talking about him- may Irene rest his soul- I’m talking about the older ones.” 

“Oooh, they were the people’s favorite. You can’t just tell the public their favorite priest and heir to the throne are dead. That wouldn’t go well.” 

The man hummed “yes but… nevermind. Do you know how Lady Zianna is doing? There has been brief word from her lately.” 

“The maids say she keeps to her chambers, only coming out to kiss her husband goodnight while he stays in his study planning his siege of the region.” 

The man groaned. “Why can’t he just give it up? O’Khasis is already so big we don’t need another war between us and Scaleswind.” 

The merchant agreed, “But… the world is changing while Garte is not.” 

Garte… Aphmau knew him, well not directly, but she knew who he was. He was the Lord of O’Khasis and Garroth and Zane’s father. Zianna must’ve been their mother. While this conversation held no information on Ivern, it held information useful to the prosperity of her village. 

Aphmau turned to leave.

A giant explosion erupted in the enormous building next to her and screaming flooded the streets. She ran out to go see what was happening, but the ground shook beneath her with explosions. People were running and pushing past others as they ran from armed guards who definitely weren’t from O’Khasis. O’Khasis guards had a certain design to them, a red cross down their chest that signified their allegiance to Lady Irene… these guards did not have that. 

Instead of the red cross Aphmau had grown to hate, these guards had blue clothes that wrapped around their shoulders and then wrapped around their waist to make a type of long loincloth that brushed against their calves. These guards were more uniform than the village that they were invading… and much bloodier. 

Aphmau made a run for it, she told herself that she would do anything to keep her sons and Zoey back but this was something important, something important that Aphmau had to tell the people of Nahakra… that included the mafia. She sprinted back to the sewer gate, ran through the muddy and disgusting water, untied her horse, and she was on her way. She didn’t know how long the trip was, but the moon and stars were fading away and as the glow of the sun came up from the sides of the mountain that separate Nahakra and O’Khasis. 

She skidded to a stop in front of the entrance of the mafia base… which was left open. She sprinted inside. Everything was open as people ran around trying to put things in boxes or take things for themselves. While running to the Boss’s room, Aphmau spotted Amber on the ground as someone else tended to a wound in her stomach. 

Aphmau was about to offer her services, but then she heard her name being called by the woman she wanted to talk to. 

“Aphmau!” she yelled. “Meif’wa girl, come here!” 

Aphmau walked over to the Boss to see what she needed to tell her. The woman dragged her by her arm into the club style room and slammed the door shut. 

“You. Are you from the Tu’La region?” 

Aphmau remembered those guards. “What? You’re gonna make fun of me or something?” 

“No? No! I wouldn’t! That’s not my thing. I’m not fucking ailurophobe. I need to know if you’re from Tu’La because Tu’La is currently invading O’Khasis!” She yelled.

“So you know?”

“Of course I know! Amber came in here 10 minutes ago screaming her head off about ships bearing the crest of Tu’La!” 

“I’m not Tu’La, I’m from this region. I’m not even a real Meif’wa, but I know that this has probably been in the works for a long time.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I went to visit Scaleswind for some business I was doing. I met refugees there who were trying to escape the oppressive rule of the Tu’La king.” 

The Boss dragged her hands down her face. “This is so annoying.” She complained, “But thank you, you’ve definitely earned some of my respect, Aphmau. Michi was here recently, as you know. She tried to sell us 3 people, I can only assume that you’re looking for those 3 people.” 

“Did you buy them?” 

The Boss shook her head in disgust. “I’m not a slave type person. All she told us was that she was going to New Meteli to get business there.” 

Aphmau let out a sigh of relief. If Michi was in New Meteli still Cadenza could find that bitch and recognize Levin, Malachi, and Zoey.

Something then nudged into Aphmau’s hands, it was her music box. Aphmau gasped, “What? How did you know this was mine?” 

“Amber told me… I like you so I’m giving it back to you.” 

“Amber was doing all of this while bleeding out?” 

The Boss rolled her eyes. “I tried to kick her out and then she told me about the music box and… look, I’m not a good person, but I’m not one to take personal items.” She took Aphmau’s hand and placed it atop the box. “I can always find another music box to help me sleep.” 

Aphmau smiled underneath her scarf. “Thank you… what’s your name?” 

The Boss raised an eyebrow. “Are we allies?” 

“Of course.” 

“Virginia Clair.” The woman said with a smile.

“I will speak highly of you to my friends.” Aphmau said as she started backing up towards the door. 

“Not too high, I hope.” 

“Never.” 

And Aphmau ran. 

She ripped off her scarf and stuffed it in her bag along with the music box. On her way out, she saw Amber trying to stand up with someone’s help and Aphmau wished her best. Despite being incredibly annoying, she basically led Aphmau to the whole point of why she was in Nahakra and Aphmau couldn’t be more grateful. 

Aphmau climbed up on her horse and whipped the reigns, the wind blew harshly against her face as her horse ran through the woods towards Nahakra where’d she’d be able to warn her friends of the impending doom and get out of there if Tu’La hadn’t already started invading the neighboring O’Khasis village. 

The horse slid onto the concrete that created the paths for Nahakra, as Aphmau rode through the village calling out for her friends she noticed everyone packed into the town square as the head guard James told them of the Tu’La ship heading to their docks and how they just got a message on the invasion on O’Khasis… Aphmau had to act fast. 

She eventually spotted her group. They were all outside the village’s cathedral and arguing with each other. Aphmau got off her horse and ran towards them, Laurance was the first one to notice her and slammed in her with a hug. Everyone started yelling at Aphmau and how they were worried sick, why had she been gone for so long and why was she only returning around 4 am!? Laurance was especially yelling at her, questioning why Belladonna had come back to the group with a stab wound and news that Aphmau was doing fine, Aphmau avoided that question.

Aphmau understood their panic and worry, but there were more important matters at hand “Guys!” She snapped, “I get it you’re angry, but there is something so much bigger happening!” 

“What more could happen!?” Katelyn yelled. 

“O’Khasis is being invaded!” Everyone’s faces dropped. Belladonna and Kitten looked at each other in pure fear.

“What-” 

“Oh dear Enki…” Travi’s hand went to the bandaged side of his head. “That’s why my ship was taken.” 

“They took your ship?” Aaron asked. “Why in the world was it taken!?” Aphmau was glad that Aaron was already with them and not still in Falcon-Claw; she wondered if he had taken her advice. 

“Tu’La came from the docks of O’Khasis and they’re probably coming to the docks of this one.” Aphmau informed them. 

Travis jumped in. “No one is going to leave… they took my ship because it would be useless having it.” 

Laurance put a hand to his face in frustration. “That’s why you brought all our bags… mother of Irene-” 

“Wait, where’s Vylad?” Aphmau had been looking around the group. Travis, Kitten, Belladonna, Aaron, Katelyn, and Laurance were all here… but where was Vylad? She hoped to everything good in the world that he wasn’t in O’Khasis. 

The others in the group started looking around and realizing that Vylad was nowhere to be seen. Aphmau knew she had to go find him if no one else was going to. 

Aphmau started backing away. “You all can start thinking of ideas of escaping not through water while I go find Vylad.” 

“What? No!” Laurance argued, “You’re not leaving us again!” He was following Aphmau as she increased her speed to her horse, which had walked a little-bit away from where she had left it. 

“Laurance, I promise I will be back as soon as possible but- but I can’t lose him again.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Aphmau remembered a man running away from her body in the middle of the woods, she remembered Vylad staring at her as she called for his help before passing out and later being found by Garroth and Zenix… she remembered her beginning “I won’t lose him.” Was all Aphmau said before getting on her horse again and searching the village for a man cloaked in green and brown and had the name Vylad. 

She rode around the village for a minute before smelling burning wood, which made her head turn. Vylad was holding a ton of maps and throwing them into a fire that burned before him. After successfully burning the group of maps he went back into the map shop for more. Aphmau lazily tied her horse to a post and ran inside the shop. 

“Vylad! What the fuck are you doing!?” 

He turned around with a couple of maps in his arms, “Saving the people I love.” He said before pushing past Aphmau and throwing more maps into the fire. “These maps contain routes to places like Phoenix Drop, New Meteli, and Bright Port. With me burning them, the Tu’La army is at a slight disadvantage on where to go next in their conquest.”

“How do you know that?” 

“Kitten told me.” He said simply, but Aphmau believed there was a more complex reason to that. 

She wondered… had- had Kitten told him? “Do you know?” She asked without context. 

Vylad stopped and furrowed his brow. “Do I know what?” 

“That… you know…?” Did he know Kitten was a Titan? 

“Aphmau, I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re implying but if you won’t help I suggest you leave me be.” His finger ran over the label above a cubby holding a map, when he moved his finger Aphmau saw little raised bumps underneath the title of what the map was. She wondered if that was how blind people read things, with little raised dots.

She shook her head. “Actually Vylad, you need to come with us. Tu’La is right at the docks and we’re trapped on this island.” 

Vylad pulled out a map from another cubby that had to label ‘Ru’aun’ “We’re not on an island.” He said with a smirk and rolled out the map on the table.

Another thing Aphmau wondered was if Vylad’s other senses had improved since he lost his sight. Aphmau had never met a blind person before so she had a lot of curiosity surrounding it. She would have to ask Vylad some questions when they were in a safer area. 

His fingers grazed the map until he stopped at a certain area. “Is this Nahakra?” Aphmau looked down at the map. 

“Yes? It’s most definitely an island, Vylad.” Water surrounded the three villages she had visited. There was no getting out of this place without a boat. 

His finger moved side to side from New Meteli to Nahakra. “But it isn’t, you see. This area that connects New Meteli to the Island of O’Khasis isn’t water… It’s a forest.” 

“A forest? Then why didn’t they draw that? Is this map old?”

“No, it’s not old at all, it’s very new, actually. It’s just this forest has never been drawn out before because there was no need to draw out this forest. It’s the Sacred Forest, a forest home to elves and other creatures of nature, a forest that no unnatural mortal would step in unless they wanted to face death itself.” 

Aphmau remembered Zoey talking about the Sacred Forest once, it used to be her home. 

“It’s never been drawn out because most map makers aren’t creatures of nature and if you lived in the Sacred Forest, you definitely aren’t leaving, so why have a map that shows you a way out of the forest.” 

“That makes sense… but then, wouldn’t that mean New Meteli is in the Sacred Forest?” 

Vylad nodded his head “In Hell I overheard Cadenza had to have a meeting with the Council of Elves before building the village and it took them a while for them to have permission since it would mean more people visiting the forest.” 

“Huh, but then there’s another thing Vylad, we aren’t creatures of nature.” 

“You are Irene, are you not?” 

Aphmau sighed. “Was Irene a creature of nature?” She definitely knew what the answer was going to be. 

“She was so in tune with nature that the forest practically bent to her will. It was amazing.” He smiled and rolled up the map, tying it with a piece of rope Vylad had in his pocket. “So now that we know where we’re going and I’ve done my duty to protect Ru’aun as much as I can, we may leave.” 

Aphmau looked around her, Vylad had burned almost everything on the shelves. It impressed her with how fast the man worked… she definitely needed to ask him some questions.  

Aphmau watched as Vylad took his cane and she led him towards her horse where the two of them met up back at the Cathedral. Laurance was the only one left. He was holding two horses by their reins and there was no sign of their luggage. 

“Laurance! What happened? Where is everyone?” 

“They left towards a forest that Aaron had pointed out while he was wandering the island. I guess it isn’t an island after all.” Laurance backed one horse up to be parallel to Aphmau’s so Vylad could get on it easier. 

Aphmau had just been talking about that forest with Vylad, but she hesitated. The Sacred Forest was a scary thing for people who weren’t from it and she knew if Laurance was aware of what forest they were heading into, he never would’ve allowed them to press onward so… she shut her mouth and told Laurance they were ready to leave. 

Katelyn ended up telling the group anyway about the Forest they were currently in. Laurance got really tense when Katelyn told him, but there was no use in turning back. They were already in too deep. 

“I’m still so confused about how O’Khasis fell…” Travis said. “While on the island of Enki, I had read so much about the village that held the biggest church for Irene. Isn’t O’Khasis supposed to be this all powerful village?” 

“It should be.” Katelyn answered, “For a long time it was competing with Scaleswind for domination, but… but I haven’t been there in a while, so I do not know whose ruling it and what they’ve done to the village.” 

“Garte is still running things.” Aphmau cut in. She had been aimlessly staring into the depths of the forest while petting both of her dogs. They were going to have to light something on fire to keep a light close to them. The deeper the forest got, the darker it got since the trees were so bushy and blocked out the sunlight. 

Katelyn scoffed, “Of course he still is… how old is he now?” 

“Garte is going to die fighting Tu’La. He’s never been one to give up his position easily.” Vylad told them, “Despite this, Zane was always the one intended to be the king despite Garroth being the heir.” 

“Is that why Zane was always at the head of things? Commanding armies and such?” Laurance asked.

Vylad nodded. “Zane was putting on a show while Garte was running production.” 

Aphmau was trying to concentrate on finding their way out of this forest and to Meteli. Vylad had said that Irene could bend this forest to her will… she was Irene, was she not? That question kept ringing in her brain as she wished harder and harder for the ability to navigate these woods. She was Irene, so why couldn’t she act like it? She was Irene, so why couldn’t she control her power? If she was Irene, why the fuck wasn’t she able to navigate these god damn woods!

“Aphmau!” Laurance yelled at her, bringing her out of the spiral she was in. “Aphmau, are you even paying attention?” 

She shook her head to make it clear. “I’m I was just… I was trying to do something.” She looked down at the ground, ashamed. 

“We need to find a plan to get out of here and you’re just frolicking in the field!” Katelyn scolded the woman, “We are in the middle of an invasion, Aphmau. What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Can you get off my ass!?” Aphmau snapped. “I’m just as stressed as you! Maybe even more! Can you just let me do what I need to do, holy fuck!” Aphmau put her dogs in this little basket connected to the side of her horse before tapping the horse with her foot and started trotting away as her friends called for her.

She didn’t know why she was getting so angry. Maybe it was because she had gotten no sleep, maybe it was the forest, she didn’t know. She was still feeling strange about what Vylad had asked her, maybe that’s why she was so pissed, she shouldn’t have been though. Aphmau willingly told Vylad on the boat about the whole Irene Dimension fiasco and how she now had Irene’s powers, he just misspoke when asking her that question. No one knew about her being the reincarnation, no one but Belladonna and Kitten because, of course they knew. 

She heard horse's footsteps and turned around to see Aaron riding his horse right beside her, she stopped her horse. 

“You okay?” He asked as he stopped his horse as well. “You kinda blew up back there.”

Aphmau took a deep breath, taking in the rich air that was in this forest, the smell of the trees and the flowers that grew on them. “I’m fine.” She breathed out, “Just stressed.” 

He nodded. “I started feeling that way when I first got my powers…” 

“What?”

“You know what happened at the Enki Island? Yeah, that was… I don’t know what that was, but ever since then I’ve been messing with my powers and I’m really stressed out about it. He placed his hands in front of himself and flexed them. “I feel like I’m a mistake.” 

She looked down at her own hands which were tightly gripping the reins of her horse. She wondered if when Irene became Irene she got the same markings as Aphmau. Was Aphmau always a reincarnation? She wasn’t exactly sure how reincarnations worked. 

“I get that.” She whispered. 

Aaron took one of Aphmau’s hands into his and looked up at her, the bandana around his eyes was slightly see through and she could see his big brown eyes “We’re not though, we have these powers for a reason, we are this way for a reason.” He let go of Aphmau’s hand. “One day we’ll be skilled, one day we’ll know how to use these things.” 

Aphmau nodded “One day.” Something was ringing in her ear, so she turned her head. In front of her was a deep dark forest, but her brain was showing a path of some sort. It was a color just lighter than the dark grass, but Aphmau could definitely see it. 

Aaron looked in the direction she was looking in. “I think I know where that leads to.” He said with uncertainty. 

Aphmau turned her head. “What do you mean?” Could he see the path as well?

“I remember these trees. The opposite direction takes you to Falcon-Claw. If you keep going, you get to a large clearing where the branches of the trees form a circle and the sun is able to shine beautifully.  

“You’ve gone there before?” 

Aaron nodded. “With my son… Aaron…” 

Aphmau’s mouth was in an ‘o’ shape as she realized something. Aaron was the wife in the memory. She remembered a quick comment he made about being trans, but it had never come into conversation again so she never thought of it. Aaron had taken his son’s and was making it into his own. It was poetic. 

Aphmau turned around to see Laurance looking at her with sad eyes as the group talked amongst themselves, trying to figure out a plan. “Guys!” Aphmau yelled at the group to get their attention. “Come over here. Aaron’s leading us somewhere!” 

Aaron patted her leg as a silent ‘You’ll be okay.’ before they followed him into the darkness.

Chapter Text

While riding to the clearing Aphmau had made it to the back of the group with Laurance, they rode side by side in relative silence until Laurance eventually broke it. 

“Are you okay?” He kept his face forward, like he was afraid to make eye contact with his former Lord.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” She said in a cheery tone to make it extra convincing, “Just a little stressed, you know! It’s like the Phoenix Drop War is happening all over again on a much bigger scale.” That part wasn’t a lie. When she heard the first explosion in O’Khasis she got memories of when Brian opened the gate and exposed himself as the spy. 

Laurance nodded. “I’ve read in some books that people call it the Battle of Phoenix.” 

“Much cooler.” 

They went silent again. The sound of nature and hooves stomping on the ground filled Aphmau’s ears until once again Laurance broke the silence. 

“I was worried… you never snap like that and then you had this weird conversation with Aaron…” 

“I’m just going through some stuff and Aaron can understand my feelings-” 

“Why can’t I?” 

Aphmau and Laurance were making eye contact. Both of their horses had stopped, but the group didn’t notice.

“What?” 

“Why can’t I understand what you’re going through?” He looked sad, as if tears were going to stream out of his eyes. 

“Laurance…” She didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t ask Aaron to talk to me, he just came up.” 

He still looked devastated. “I’m always here for you, Aph-” 

“I know. I just need to do things on my own sometimes.” 

He nodded “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” she tapped the side of her horse, “never be sorry.” Aphmau galloped away from Laurance to catch up with the group. He stayed there for a moment to watch Aphmau ride away from him. He shouldn’t be jealous of Aaron but- no, he wasn’t allowed to be jealous. Not after that. 

They had been in the forest for half an hour, but it felt like years. Vylad, Travis, and Katelyn were trying to find a path out of the forest with the map that Vylad had picked up but there were no paths to be found since the map had shown this part of the forest to be an ocean. Aaron and Laurance were on what seemed like their 30th lap around the forest, yet they were getting nowhere. Aphmau was laying in the middle of the clearing, soaking up the sun, it felt refreshing. Belladonna and Kitten laid beside her trying to teach her how to meditate, they were really trying to help her navigate the forest.

“And just clear everything in your head, it’s okay if you get distracted, but make sure you bring it back to serenity.” 

“And when everything is clear, you want to imagine the forest-” 

“I can barely imagine the size of O’Khasis and you want me to imagine this forest?” 

Belladonna groaned, “Just imagine the area of the forest that we’re in, okay?” She settled back into her comfort zone. “And when you’re seeing the top of the trees, you need to part them with your fingers toward Meteli and we’ll have our path.” 

Aphmau let out a deep breath and followed what the two ladies were telling her. She began clearing her head of all the stress she had gotten in the past couple of hours and imagined a calm ocean at the beaches of Phoenix Drop. She stayed in that little ocean world for a while more until the feeling of air rushed up around her body and she started levitating. The surrounding scenery changed, instead of staring at an ocean she was staring down into a large abundance of green, houses filled a tiny bald part of the land, and a long gray bath that disappeared beneath the trees. She found her Me- 

“Aphmau?” Garroth’s voice was faint in her ears. “It’s not good to stay out so late. The beach makes the air cold.”

Her body slammed back onto the ground and she woke up with a loud groan of pain. Aphmau jolted up and let out a yell of frustration before slamming her head into her hands. 

“Why can’t I just do it!?” Her hands muffled her frustration. 

Kitten and Belladonna sat up to comfort the angry woman, not exactly knowing what to say or how to help. 

“You know,” Kitten started, “You were never supposed to have that dream with Esmund.” 

Aphmau sniffled, raising her head slightly to look at Kitten “What?” 

Kitten looked at Belladonna and then back to Aphmau “We control your dreams and… well that dream with Esmund wasn’t supposed to happen.” 

“So,” Aphmau paused, thinking to herself to understand what Kitten was telling her, “I wasn’t supposed to find out I’m Irene?” 

Kitten shook her head “You weren’t supposed to find out a for a while now.” 

Aphmau lifted her head more to look down at her hands which were wet with tears. “I wasn’t supposed to find out.” She took in a shaky breath. “And O’Khasis being invaded wasn’t supposed to happen either…” 

The two ladies hesitated on this one. Their fear wasn’t subtle enough and Aphmau had seen it. 

“Yeah.” Kitten said quietly “Not at least for 100 years at least…” 

“Before you guys left, Tu’La was just a third world region it- it wasn’t at all the type of region to invade others.” 

“Holy Shit…” Aphmau let out “When you said the timeline messed up, I wasn’t expecting wars starting and people finding out valuable information- wait, was Aaron supposed to have powers?” 

“Oh yeah.” Kittens assured her, “That was always supposed to happen.” 

“Okay…” Aphmau was trying to piece things together, what was the point of Kitten and Belladonna telling her this in the first place “I’m not supposed to be Irene right now.” 

Both of the ladies shook their heads. 

“You just have to be you right now. You’re not supposed to be Irene until like 8 months from now.” This got Kitten a little slap on the arm, too far with the information. 

Aphmau sighed and let out a small smile. “That’s good to hear. I don’t have to live up to any expectations yet.” 

“Yeah, you have a long time to mature your powers and understand what’s going on before anything important happens.” Belladonna told her, continuing to rub her back in comfort. 

“Can I ask though… why haven’t you guys just… fixed the timeline yet?” 

They both grimaced at this. Obviously, there was something stopping them from fixing it. 

“Well, if we tried to fix it, then something else would happen and then something else would happen because of that and then if we tried to fix that- we’d just be stuck in a loop.” Belladonna informed her, “We wanted to erase your memory, but then there’s the possibility that we never would’ve made it off that island.” 

“Oh wow, you guys have a really complex job.” 

“Just wait Aph,” Kitten patted the woman’s shoulder. “Irene had a tough job, too.” 

Aphmau groaned in a joking manner and the two other ladies laughed. Aphmau had read books on Irene and the things she had to sacrifice and do to protect this Earth was… terrifying. 

Aphmau was about to say something more when she saw an old-looking man crawling on his hands and knees towards the clearing. His voice was dry and raspy as he called out for help. 

Kitten and Belladonna placed their hands on Aphmau to stop her from moving up but she swatted them away. This entire trip she had been mean and angry towards people and she was done. She wanted to be kind to someone for one and help them out, this man obviously needed help. Aphmau slowly stood up and stalked towards the man to figure out what exactly he was saying. 

“Water…” He was calling out “Water…” 

“Oh!” Aphmau turned back. “Does anyone have water?” 

Katelyn looked up from the map she was working on to dig into one of her suitcases until she brought out a jar of water in a leather pouch. Aphmau held out her hands so Katelyn threw it over to her and Aphmau raced back to the dehydrated man. 

She uncapped the jar and allowed the man to drink the water. It drank what seemed like half the bottle before shoving it back into Aphmau’s hands. 

He took a couple deep breaths before jumping to his feet and exclaimed a loud ‘WOOHOO’! Aphmau was put back since seconds ago he was just dying to thirst. 

He looked down at Aphmau for a couple of seconds before letting out the highest pitch scream Aphmau had ever heard and running away back into the forest. Aphmau looked behind her to see the rest of the group staring at her in confusion. 

She pointed her thumb in the man's direction before sprinting off despite the protest of her friends. The old man that she was chasing through the woods didn’t seem like some crazy old man other than his wildly curly hair that was going in every which direction. Maybe the full suit that he was wearing was also kinda weird, but maybe he was running from O’Khasis and didn’t have time to change. If Aphmau had time to change she wouldn’t have stayed in this frilly dress for the past two days. 

The man eventually slowed to a stop, not because he wanted to know why Aphmau was chasing him, but because he was out of breath. He heard Aphmau’s footsteps and spun around, holding up what seemed to be a stick as his defense. 

“Please! Don’t hurt! I have a weapon!” 

“What? No, no, I wouldn’t hurt you!” Aphmau told him. “I just wanted to know why you screamed at me.” She laughed. She really wished she had brought a torch or something because while the sun was spilling in through the cracks in the large blanket of leaves, it was still incredibly dark. 

“You look like a ghoul!” 

Aphmau shook her head in confusion. She wasn’t wearing her scarf or her jacket; she was just in a dress with boots. “How… How do I look like a ghoul?” 

“I do not know!” He threw the stick in the darkness and held his hand out for her to shake. “My name is Chad G. Augustine Au’Leopold the III and I am a scientist!” 

Aphmau hesitantly shook the man’s hand. “Chad, how long have you been in this forest?” 

“A week!” 

“Makes sense.” Aphmau had no idea what a ‘scientist’ was, so she was just going to ignore that part of his introduction. “What have you been doing in this forest, exactly?” 

“Conducting experiments young lady!” He exclaimed. Chad had light brown skin with crazy curly brown hair and a brown mustache that covered his top lip almost entirely. His brown suit was covered head to two in grass, leaves, and other things you would find from this forest. But at least he seemed happy. 

“Experiments?” Aphmau asked. Kenmur had once said that he was a scientist… right? Aphmau wondered how Kenmur and Emmalyn were doing… she hadn’t seen them in a while. 

“Yes! Experiments! Observations!” He cried, getting really close to Aphmau’s face “Did you know that if you keep running straight you’ll end up back where you started, if you run straight and then take a right you’ll end up at a lake, and if you run straight then backwards you’ll end up outside the forest! Isn’t it wonderful!?” 

“Are you trying to find somewhere?” 

“No! I’m just trying to find out the mysteries of this amazing forest! It seems like the clearing you were at is the start of the strange magick that makes this forest.”

“Huh, well me and my friends are trying to find a way to the village New Meteli. Do you have any experiments on where that could be?” 

Chad thought for a moment, tapping his foot on the soft grassy ground before taking a leather-bound book out of his pocket and searching through it. “No!” He proclaimed as he slammed the book shut and shoved it back in his pocket. “But! We can try to look for it!” 

Aphmau really didn’t want to be alone with this crazy man, but he was the best shot that they had at finding a way to Meteli- really, he was their best shot at finding any type of civilization. 

Aphmau’s thoughts cut in half when she heard faint barking and snapped around to the sound. A small wolf-corgi mix was running full speed towards Aphmau and Chad. It would frighten any sane person when seeing a dog charging towards them, but Aphmau was more than grateful to see Dua her dog. 

Chad screamed a bit but instantly shut up when he saw Aphmau pick up the little dog and start cuddling it. 

“So! Do you want to find a way to Meteli?” 

Aphmau looked up from her dog, looking back to where Dua came from before looking towards Chad again. 

“You know what… fuck it why not? I wanna explore.” 

That was a mistake, seeing as the next 30 minutes of Aphmau’s life were spent making sure Dua didn’t run off to any place while following a lunatic through woods shrouded in darkness. 

After a while they finally took a break when Chad got distracted and wanted to inspect a large tree they were standing next to, it was like the treehouse that was back in Phoenix Drop. 

Chad slammed his hand down onto the tree with no evidence of pain. “My! What a fine specimen of a tree. Too bad it isn’t a Yggdrasil!” 

“Yggdrasil? Why would it be a Yggdrasil tree?” 

The man raised an eyebrow. “Why the Sacred Forest is the home of the Yggdrasil forest.” 

Aphmau sighed. Maybe she phrased her question wrong, “I know that, but why do you care?” 

“Oh! Because it’s every inventor’s dream to see the type of technology that lies there! Many have claimed that Yggdrasil is centuries ahead of us, which is just fascinating!” 

Aphmau put her hand up for Chad to pause. “Wait- What’s an inventor?” 

“An inventor is a person who has invented a particular process or device or someone who wants to invent things as an occupation! I’m the latter!” 

“Hm… is the new camera made by an inventor?” 

“The camera! Oh my, what a wonderful invention! I’m actually a distant cousin of the man who made it! Joseph Nicéphore Niépce!” 

Aphmau didn’t believe that for a second, but before she could proclaim her disbelief, Chad was climbing the tree they were standing next to. Dua barked like a madman towards the scientist, “Chad!? What the fuck are you doing!?” 

“Observation!” He cried before gasping loudly. “Gee Whiz!” 

“What!?” 

“There’s a house over there! We shall head over!” Chad jumped down from the tree, once again with no sign of pain. Aphmau didn’t have time to react unless she wanted to get lost without Chad, so she quickly went to follow the man. 

Aphmau ran down a donut shaped hill which in the middle slid down to a cottage which Chad had already gotten to. She ran over to Chad with Dua barking and seconds away from biting the man when Aphmau tripped on the gravel path. 

Large, tree-like creatures appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the trio. Aphmau screamed and held Dua close to her body, but Chad was in awe of the creature. 

“So you fear humans and dogs, but not tree creatures!” Aphmau screamed. 

“No! These things are fascinating! They must be familiars!” 

“Familiars!? Why would they be familiars?!” Aphmau knew what a familiar was, she had met an owl one with the name of Bigglesworth. A thought popped into Aphmau’s head: Could this be Lucinda’s new home after 15 years? 

“I’ve met a forest witch before and they’re familiar was just like this!” 

“You met a witch before?” Aphmau was skeptical. 

“Yes! Many!” Chad went back to inspecting the gigantic creatures. 

A loud laugh came from outside the circle. “What type of witch would let some loud mouth like you meet them?” Out came a small woman who was about the height of Aphmau. She had long gray hair with orange highlights that was put in two long braids down the side of her head. The woman had deep wrinkles all over her body which competed with her golden brown complexion, her all white outfit also competed with her skin as the sun shined brightly on the snowy colored dress that had fringe all over it. “Now who do you think you are to step into my area of the forest.” 

Aphmau slowly got to her feet and set Dua down as Chad introduced himself. This woman seemed oddly familiar to her. 

“Pleasure to meet you witch lady! Chad G. Augustine Au’Leopold the III!” 

“You are so proud of your name.” Aphmau slyly commented before saying her name, “Aphmau Shalashaska. Who are you?” 

“My name is Hyria Galilahi, keeper of this forest and now I need to figure out what I should do with you.” 

“Okay look, we never meant to find your house. We‘re just really trying to figure out how to get across this forest to New Meteli.” 

Hyria gave Aphmau a look before cackling loudly. 

“What are you even laughing at?” Aphmau asked. “I didn’t even say anything funny.” 

“Maybe she’s remembering something from her youth!” Chad said, getting close to Aphmau’s personal space. “I do that sometimes! Which reminds me of a funny joke my childhood friend said once!” Chad began chuckling. 

“What!?” Hyria asked “No, you old coot! I’m not that senile yet! I just found what you said funny because your statement is impossible.” The old witch informed them, “Only very few people have I allowed to pass through this forest and out of that few, only 3 have been able to find my cottage.” 

“So you’re the one making this forest impossible to navigate?” Aphmau was still huffy at the fact she couldn’t live up to Irene’s expectations. 

Hyria hummed, “Of course I am!” She was proud of this. “I’ve been the keeper of this forest long before you and your little mad scientist friend here were even born. Now, because you’ve found my home, I need to make an example out of you.” 

“Example?” 

“She’s going to injure us but she’s framing it in an innocent way so we don’t know.” 

“I know that!” Aphmau snapped. “But why? If you’re a keeper of this forest, don’t you also want to protect people! By hurting people, you’re only making a long list of people who despise you!” 

Hyria looked like she had never heard this argument before. “I don’t care. I despise people.” 

“You’re a person too, dumbass!” Dua barked at the woman in agreement with Aphmau’s statement. 

Hyria looked extremely offended at this and put her hand in front of Aphmau’s face. “I’ve heard enough!” She yelled “Familiars!” 

Aphmau groaned, they had just stumbled upon this house and now they were being killed for it!? How does that even work? “You are so not the keeper of this forest! Someone who loves this earth wouldn’t be spiteful against the people who come from it! I should know! I’ve met someone who comes from this forest and she loves everyone!” 

Hyria darted her eyes towards Aphmau and saw someone she wasn’t sure she was ever going to see again. Something suddenly sent the old woman back to a time where she lost one of her greatest friends. 

Hyria was staring at the back of the woman holding a necklace with a red cross on it, a symbol of her. 

“Hyria,” the woman said, a voice calm and kind that matched her personality. “I must go now. I can not remain here any longer.” Hyria could feel herself crying, oh why did she have to become so attached to this poor woman 

“Please… Please Irene, you can’t leave me…” 

The woman was obviously hesitant. “I know, but I need to do this. A part of me lives here, in this world, in the forest we created.” 

“So you can’t leave it.” 

“That’s why I have to leave it.” Hyria was silent. “I believe that the protector of that forest is you.” 

The old witch was brought into present time where her familiars were advancing on the trio of strangers. “Stop!” She commanded them and took a step towards Aphmau as she took a step back. She was practically identical to the woman she used to know… this couldn’t be a reincarnation this… this had to be a resurrection. 

“Don’t touch me.” Aphmau snapped, Dua standing in front of her and growling at the witch. 

“No, I…” Hyria didn’t know what to say. Was this truly Irene, or was this just someone who looked like her? “I misjudged you… you are now our honored guest!” She snapped her fingers. The large familiars disappeared only to reappear again but as a straight line against the front wall of the witch’s house. 

Aphmau let out a small laugh. “You really are senile, aren’t you? First you try to kill us and now we’re honored guests?” 

Chad scoffed. “People may change their mind!” 

“Not that drastic!” Aphmau argued. “You can’t just be all nice after that! Actions have repercussions, you know that, right?” 

“You won’t hurt me.” 

“Bitch?” Aphmau turned to her with crazy eyes.

Hyria only shook her head and said, “You trust me too much.” Before walking to her front door “Now join me for tea.” 

Aphmau didn’t know what to think of this woman, she was confident and brash in ways that Aphmau almost respected. Hyria was familiar to her in a way Aphmau couldn’t explain. She wanted to hate the woman for talking to her the way she did, but… she just couldn’t. 

She turned around. Chad was already by the familiar’s sides and annoying them like he was before. She thought if it was better that Chad stayed outside, then go into Hyria’s house. She had questions and didn’t want Chad annoying both of them, so she walked with Dua into the old witch’s home. 

Dua kept close to Aphmau’s body as the two of them found their way to Hyria’s kitchen, which was directly next to the front door. It seemed as if the kitchen/dining area took up the entire first floor, while the second floor was the living area of the house. Because of that, the witch’s kitchen was gigantic, Aphmau had never seen a bigger kitchen. Maybe Nicole’s Scaleswind mansion kitchen could compete, but Aphmau had never seen it so she couldn’t comment. 

The old witch was pouring tea into two teacups when Aphmau and her dog walked in. Hyria smiled. “Have some tea.” 

Aphmau reached for one teacup, but remembered Michi and paused. “This tea doesn’t have poison in it, right?” 

Hyria let out a small laugh. “You’re wise to assume that, but no.” She set the tea tray down on a dining table near the windows. “I’ll take a sip myself.” Hyria lifted the other teacup and drank some of the warm, slightly brown colored water.  

She watched with a powerful gaze as Hyria moved the cup from her lips and sat back down on the chair. Aphmau thought it was a good sign that Hyria hadn't passed out yet. She sat down at the table and hesitantly took a sip of the tea. It was amazing, probably the best thing that Aphmau had ever let run over her taste buds. It had a sweet taste that reminded her of flowers, like she was drinking flowers. 

“Oh my Irene,” Aphmau said with a smile. “What is this?” 

“Jasmine tea… you’re favorite.” 

“It is now! This is amazing, this is my favorite drink ever. I’m never drinking anything else.” 

“Well, you’re very welcome, it’s been a while since I’ve had company over… I suppose I’ve gotten a little too lonely over the years.” 

Aphmau felt sorry for the woman. Maybe she was just scared and she didn’t know what to do with these strange people at her door, so she did the first thing that came to mind. 

“I understand. I mean, ‘keeper of the forest’ sounds a little lonely.” Aphmau said in a lighthearted manner, but it seemed more rude than nice. “But I don’t get who someone can be the ‘keeper of the forest’, you can’t own a forest.” 

Hyria gave her a look. “When you plant every tree sapling by sapling, you very much well can.” 

Aphmau’s jaw dropped. “Holy Irene… so you’re…?” 

“Old.” 

The two women laughed. It was so easy to bond with Hyria, even though Aphmau knew nothing of her. When the witch smiled it reminded Aphmau of someone, not someone she didn’t know but someone she knew. Also, the orange highlight in the old woman’s hair didn’t help. “I’m sorry this is very random, but… you look a lot like my friend Lucinda.” 

“Lucinda?” The woman’s eyes went sad. “Oh my… Lucinda’s my daughter.” 

And suddenly it made sense to why this woman’s name was Galilahi. “Do you know how she’s doing now? I haven’t seen her in forever!” 

Hyria looked down at her tea. “I’m sorry, but… I haven’t seen her in over 32 years.” 

“Oh… I’m so sorry, I had no-” 

“Don’t be sorry, she left because she wanted to and I’m in no place to tell her to come back home.” Hyria said, “She’s a child prodigy, though. That was actually the year she left… when I told her she was a child prodigy at 10 years old.” 

It was extremely disheartening to find out that Lucinda had a poor relationship with both of her parents. Aphmau never knew her parents. She didn’t even know if she had parents, so maybe that’s what Lucinda felt like? That was probably even sadder than not knowing your parents at all, having such a terrible relationship with them you didn’t even think of them as the people who made you? That had to hurt and yet… Aphmau barely talked to Lucinda about that kind of stuff. Maybe that was something new she could do, talk to her friends about more of their lives than hers. 

“Speaking of witches and things of that!” Hyria broke Aphmau out of her little daze. “Why haven’t you gotten those curses off your body yet?” 

“Hm?” 

“You cat ears and tail. They are not your birthright.” 

It was impressive how Hyria knew that. “Oh yeah! Actually, these things were cursed upon me by the reason we’re trying to get to New Meteli in the first place, a Meif’wa named Michi.” 

“And why haven’t you gotten them off?”

Aphmau felt a little embarrassed at this. “I don’t really know how? Like I have magicks, but I can’t use them properly for the life of me. I can’t control them.” 

Hyria hummed, “Would you like me to get them off for you?” 

Aphmau gasped, “You could do that?” The witch nodded. “Then yes! Yes, of course I would like that- Oh! But you would have to make two other remedies since I have two other friends who were cursed just like me!” 

The witch stood up from the table, downing the rest of her tea. “Then I will be back in 3 minutes.” She walked away from Aphmau with a smile, exiting the kitchen and presumably walking up the stairs that were directing in front of the front door. 

Aphmau took her time as she finished the rest of her tea. It was strange that the witch told her it was her favorite, although Aphmau had never tasted this type of tea before… maybe she misspoke. There was a lot of misspeaking these past two days and Aphmau didn’t like it. 

The tea made her feel more awake. She hadn’t slept in 11 hours and if the time on Hyria’s clock read right and it was really 5 am. Once they found their way to Meteli, Aphmau knew damn well she would pass out as soon as she hugged Cadenza. She didn’t want that to happen because she wanted to look for her children and Zoey, but… Aphmau knew her body. 

CKSH!

The woman and her dog both let out screams of terror as Chad’s body slid down the wall opposite to the window Aphmau was sitting at. It was slightly embarrassing that Dua and her had similar screams but she elected to ignore that in favor of finding out how the fuck Chad was throwing through Hyria’s window and was now hopping right back up again with no once of pain going through his body. 

Chad was very resilient. 

“Whew! Those familiars know how to pack a punch!” The scientist massaged the sides of his jaw. 

“Chad, why don’t you have some tea and stop messing with those poor poor creatures.” Aphmau honestly felt more bad for the familiars than she did Chad. 

“No! I just figured out that they dislike it when you snap twigs in front of them!” Chad stopped “Maybe they’re related somehow… Do you think Hyria grows these creatures from the spirit realm or do you think they just come out like this?” 

“I don’t know! Just- Chad, have some tea!”

Chad walked over the dining table. “No! Tea is for the trees!” He said before walking out the broken window back out to mess with the familiars. 

Aphmau sighed, she really did not want Hyria backing out on helping them because Chad was annoying her familiars. Aphmau grabbed Dua so the dog wouldn’t get hurt on the broken glass and walked out the broken window. Her dress got some rips, but Aphmau had more clothes that she could change into if she really wanted to. 

Her jaw dropped at the scene that stood before her. All the familiars that were once lined up against the wall were now turned into one giant familiar whose head almost reached above the trees of the forest which was terrifying. 

Dua jumped from Aphmau’s arms and went to bark at the giant creature like the little dog was going to scare it away, it was the thought that counted. 

“Chad!” Aphmau screamed. “What did you do!?” 

“I have no idea! I suppose I’ve been messing with them enough that they’ve gotten so angry to turn into one giant familiar!” 

“So why are you continuing to mess with it!?” Aphmau really wanted to take her dog away from this giant thing, but she didn’t want to get close to it and it possibly knock her through the window as it did to Chad. She wasn’t sure she was as resilient. 

“It’s not going to hurt me!” 

“How do you know that!?” 

“Because! It can only do what it’s witch commands it to do. It has no free will!” Chad punched the leg of the creature. “See! It may try to scare me off by throwing me around, but it won’t kill me! It can’t!” 

“Chad, I swear to Irene! Just move away from the creature!” 

“NO!” He yelled “I’m doing science!” 

“What the fuck is science!?” 

A laugh erupted from behind them. Hyria was walking from her door with a satchel that made clinking noises as she walked. “You’re right, Mr. Chad G. Augustine Au’Leopold the III, familiars can’t hurt people unless commanded to.” 

“See!” Chad said and punched the leg of the familiar again while Dua was still barking at it. 

“However, I am linked to them spiritually and I can tell how annoyed they are with you.” 

Aphmau swiftly grabbed Dua away from the beast and began apologizing to Hyria about Chad’s behavior. “I only met him today. He’s been nothing but crazy, but he means well I assure you-” 

“Craziness is the only way we can evolve into the next era!” 

“Oh my Irene.” Aphmau cringed, watching in horror as Chad began annoying the familiar with puns and jokes. 

“It’s alright my dear,” Hyria said with a laugh. “I’ve experienced much crazier people. Now close your eyes.” In one motion, the witch uncapped an empty beer bottle and jerked it in front of Aphmau’s face so a bunch of what looked to be glitter sprayed all over Aphmau’s body, head-to-toe. 

Her head and lower back started feeling extremely weird, as if she was being tickled. Her nose was even worse, maybe it was because she was a Meif’wa, but her nose felt extremely sensitive to the glitter. Even though she tried to hold it back, she ended up sneezing loudly which made her head and body stop tickling. 

She hesitantly opened her eyes to see Hyria with a bright smile on her face, holding a little purple marble in between her fingers… Did Aphmau sneeze that out?

Aphmau touched her head and her back with her hands. There were no longer cat ears and a cat tail attached to her body. The curse broke. Aphmau let out a cheer of laughter. 

“Thank you so much, Hyria! This is amazing! I can’t believe Meif’wa’s live like that, being able to hear everything oh my Irene!” 

“You’re very much welcome! Now this little marble here will let you have the ability to switch back if you need it. Just place it in your mouth and crush it with your teeth.” Aphmau looked skeptical… Was it not a marble? “Don’t worry, it may have a hard exterior, but it feels gummy on the inside.” She handed Aphmau the satchel and the marble. 

“Why would I need to be a Meif’wa again?” 

“Well, if the forest tells me correctly, looking as if you’re from the Tu’La region might help you in the future.” 

Aphmau nodded “Once again thank you so much Hyria, this means the world to us.” Aphmau put the marble inside one of her dress pockets and looked into the satchel, there were 6 other empty beer bottles with glitter inside of all of them. Aphmau assumed it was for when they wanted to get out of their Meif’wa form after switching back. 

“You don’t have to thank me. I’m simply doing my duty as a keeper of this forest.” Hyria snapped her fingers and a tiny little fairy appeared by her head. “This fairy will guide you to your friends and then to the village of New Meteli.” 

“Hyria, you’re too kind.” Aphmau said as the fairy moved from Hyria's head to the outskirts of the woman’s home. Chad was in immediate awe of the fairy, forgetting the giant familiar and instead choosing to poke and prod at this little mythical creature in front of them. 

“I am, aren’t I… heh…” Hyria then made eye contact with Aphmau “But, you have people who need you and in time you’ll learn that those people are more important than any feeling you may have.”

Aphmau could tell this was coming from a sensitive place in Hyria’s heart, the sudden eye contact, the way her voice changed to be much more calming and kind. Aphmau wanted to ask what this woman meant but maybe she would find out in due time. 

“Oh, and if you ever want to come back to this forest just wait on the outskirts and a fairy will come guide your way.” 

“Thank you really, I don’t think I can-” Aphmau went to pet her dog, but there was nothing in her arms. She snapped her head to where the fairy had been floating to see Chad and Dua chasing after the poor little fairy. “OH NO! I’m so sorry, Hyria I have to go but it was great meeting you!” Aphmau raced off after the man and her dog. 

“It was nice meeting you too!” Hyria watched as Aphmau raced after the trio. “Again…”

 They spent the next 30 minutes chasing this fairy through the forest and in that time Aphmau found out that a fairy’s gender depended on their wingspan (this fairy was a girl because its wings were small), guide fairies differ from wild fairies because if you stop moving a guide fairy will stop moving while a wild fairy will continue going, and Chad could burst out of his shirt he was so strong (he then failed to do this). 

After learning that fun tidbit of information, Aphmau was able to grab Dua’s leash and finally get her controllable until they started chasing the fairy again, where they finally found Aphmau’s group. 

Laurance groaned when he saw Aphmau. “You have got to stop running away like that.” He hugged Aphmau who hugged him back tightly. 

Before Aphmau was about to tell them she found a cure for their Meif’wa appendages, Chad got really close to Katelyn and started asking her questions about her blue hair color. 

“Would you like to find out why you have such a natural-unnatural hair color?” 

“I was born with it?” Katelyn said, confused, “I have no idea, but I don’t really care.” 

“We should all care about our genetics- our roots! Or rather… your roots!” 

“Who even are you?” 

“My name is Chad G. Augustine Au’Leopold the III!” 

“Holy Shit Chad, you don’t need to say your full name every time!” Aphmau complained, she didn’t know how this old man had this much energy. 

“Yes, I do! Now, young lady, would you like to know why your hair is this way?” He asked, pulling the ends of Katelyn’s ponytail, which prompted her to slap him in the face. Everyone yelled at either Katelyn or Chad, but really none of them needed to worry since all Chad did was shake his head and he was right back up on his feet again. 

Everyone stood their shock. Usually, if Katelyn punched or slapped you, you’d be writhing on the floor in pain.

“What the fuck even are you…?” Katelyn asked in awe. 

“I am Chad-” 

“Okay, I’m done. Guys, look at my head.” Aphmau pointed to her cat ear-less head. 

Katelyn and Laurance both gasped in shock. 

“No fucking way!”

“Aphmau, how did this happen?” 

“I was meaning to get to this but then Chad happened and- nevermind,” Aphmau explained how she found a witch and she helped Aphmau get rid of the curse and how she gave her more remedies to fix Laurance and Katelyn. She also quickly explained the fairy that no one seemed to notice yet. “So all I need you guys to do is stand close together and when your nose starts tickling, be sure to sneeze.” Aphmau felt the purple marble in her dress pocket. 

They were able to only use one bottle to get rid of both Katelyn and Laurance’s appendages. They both sneezed and two marble sized balls popped out from the cloud of glitter surrounding them, Aphmau grabbed the marbles, one of them being blue and the other orange. She told the duo their purpose and then stuffed them in her pocket for safekeeping. 

“Oh, thank Menphia those things are off,” Katelyn was ecstatic. “They were so overwhelming and I could just feel them on my body the entire time and I hated it.”

“I just didn’t like being able to feel everything all the time.” Laurance shook his head in disgust. 

“Well, now that’s over with, I’m going to take my evening nap!” Chad fell back onto the grass like a piece of wood falling to the ground. 

“Can we just leave him?” Travis asked. “He’s getting on my nerves.” 

“No,” Belladonna said, and picked the sleeping man to throw him on her shoulder. “That would be cruel. He trusts us.” 

“He’s not going on my horse.” Laurance said. 

“I never said he was.” Belladonna tied him onto her horse. “Now, are we ready to go?” 

“Yes, please.”

Chapter Text

Laurance’s horse was parallel to Aphmau’s as she explained her entire trip with Chad and how she was introduced to Lucinda’s mom, Hyria. The more she talked to Laurance about Hyria, the more the witch’s mannerisms became familiar to Aphmau. She reminded Aphmau much of her daughter, Lucinda. Lucinda had helped him when they got captured by the Ventos fortes Tribe for no real reason besides she wanted to be nice, maybe it was because Kitten was in their group but nevertheless Lucinda had continued to be kind to them and even help them in the War of Phoenix. At least they now knew where Lucinda got that from. 

The rest of the group staggered about as they all followed the fairy, but Laurance stayed by Aphmau’s side. She wasn’t really sure why he was so determined but she chalked it up to Laurance being a little insecure that she hadn’t been coming to him for everything and rather others like Chad, Belladonna, and Aaron. Aphmau didn’t mind; she enjoyed Laurance’s company. It’s just sometimes he wasn’t always there. 

It took them an hour or maybe even more to reach Meteli and Aphmau was done. The tea that Hyria had given her had finally worn off and because of that, Aphmau felt like the personification of death. When they finally got to the village Aphmau took her two dogs out of the basket they were in and started walking around to find Cadenza. The others were off putting their horses away in the public stables and putting their luggage away in the nearest hotel, so Aphmau didn’t have to worry about any of that. 

Cadenza was talking to one of her guard’s Zack before hearing footsteps behind her and turning around. Cadenza saw Aphmau and squealed with excitement before running up and tackling the woman with a hug. 

“Aphmau! Oh my Irene! I am the luckiest lady ever!” Cadenza shook the woman as she continued to hug her tightly. “What is the reason for this unprompt visit?” 

Cadenza’s roughness with Aphmau was able to wake her up to explain to the redhead what was going on. Cadenza listened intently as Aphmau told her what had happened to Levin, Malachi, and Zoey and even though this was supposed to be something very serious, Aphmau just couldn’t look past how beautiful Cadenza was. It had been a while since she had seen the fiery redhead and she missed it. 

“Oh no, I’m so sorry, Aphmau but no, I haven’t seen them or really any of them.” 

Aphmau sighed. “Would you have any idea on where these bandit camps are?” 

“If we did, I can assure you we would’ve done something about it sooner. But don’t fret, Meteli will not rest until we find Lord Levin. I’ll send out my missing person’s division to find them.” 

“Thank you so much Cadenza, speaking of rest: I haven’t slept in the past 12 hours-” 

“Say no more!” Cadenza snapped her fingers. “You can sleep at my house for however long you want. You must have had a long trip.” 

“You don’t know half of it.” Aphmau laughed. 

While walking to Cadenza’s house, Aphmau saw Vincent talking to an annoyed looking Laurance. She wondered if everything was okay. 

“Your power has increased since we last met.” 

Laurance stayed silent. He suddenly wasn’t in the mood to talk to this dude who knew everything about being a Shadow Knight. The nerve. 

“You’re trying hard to suppress Laurance, but we both know that will not work. You need to learn to not fight against it, but rather flow with it.” Vincent had changed little since they last saw him, he looked a little older but his body had decayed long ago so it was going to take much longer for his body to grow at a normal rate “In your darkest moments fighting against yourself will only come back and bite you.” 

“Did I ask for your advice, Vincent?” Laurance snapped. 

“No, but you obviously need it.” 

Laurance didn’t need this guy’s advice. He was doing just fine on his own… Did Vylad ever struggle like this? Vylad seemed like a pretty normal guy, no evidence of being a Shadow Knight unless he told you but… but Laurance was just radiating Shadow Knight energy. He still didn’t need Vincent’s help. 

“You’re a guard. Shadow Knights who can’t control themselves should not be around people… you know this.” 

Laurance didn’t know why he was still standing and letting this jerk talk to him. “We have people to find.” He pushed back the Shadow Knight and went on his own way to start and find Malachi, Levin, and Zoey. 

Aphmau woke up staring at the wooden ceiling of one of Cadenza’s guest rooms. The clock read 6pm which told Aphmau she had slept for 12 hours. She had been laying in the bed for a couple minutes now because she hadn’t met him. It was annoying. She really needed help right now, and Garroth had yet to come to her side and help her figure things out. Aphmau had thought that by continuing to lie in the bed and not do anything her body might’ve fallen asleep and she could’ve seen Garroth, but her body was incapable of sleeping right. 

She finally realized that she wasn’t going to fall asleep, so she finally got up. One of Aphmau’s outfits that she had brought was slung over a chair sitting at a vanity and there was a fresh pot of coffee waiting for Aphmau on said vanity. She got herself a cup of coffee and headed to the bathroom, where she took a shower and got changed. As soon as the water hit her hair and body, she felt immediately refreshed. Who knew a change of clothes and some hair washing could make you feel better? She tied her hair up to get out of her face and then walked outside Cadenza’s house where she was promptly bumped into by a fleeing woman. 

“What’s going on?” Aphmau asked the incredibly frightened woman. 

“The- The monsters! They’re ba-back!” 

It took Aphmau a second, but she remembered the Shadow Souls that terrorized Meteli the last time they visited this village. A horrific thought popped into Aphmau’s head… what if the Shadow Souls were now terrorizing her sons and Zoey? 

Aphmau took off from Cadenza’s house, stealing a rapier sword from a nearby guard and quickly apologizing for it. She ran deep into the forest, calling out for her stolen loved ones as she kept a lookout for the Shadow Souls. Didn’t they block these guys off from the Overworld? Why were they here again? 

Aphmau skidded to a stop. A few feet in front of her was a giant tree with Michi pressed against it as two Shadow Souls advanced her. A fiery anger burst inside of Aphmau and everything she told herself about wanted to be kind and calm, completely washed away as Michi entered her memory again. 

She held her sword out and ran at the two monsters, slicing them both in half, which got her a pile of dust and ear bleeding screams. Michi was about to run away but Aphmau didn’t let that happen, she kicked the Meif’wa down and pressed her sword up against her neck. 

“Don’t. Even. Think about it.” 

“Aphmau?” A voice asked “What are- oh.”

Laurance was standing behind her, holding his green sword in his hands. 

Michi had a small smile on her face. “Oh, hey! You broke my curse! Congra-“ 

Aphmau kicked her again. “Where did you take my sons!” 

Michi groaned in pain, “What?” 

“You know what! Where did you take them?” 

“Why are you hurting me!?” She had curled up in a ball from Aphmau kicking her. “I did nothing wrong!” 

Aphmau let out a bark of laughter. “You did nothing wrong? You did nothing wrong? Oh please! Spare me the begging and tell me where Lord Levin, Malachi, and Zoey are?” 

“I sold them to bandits around Meteli!” Michi cried. “Just please don’t kick me anymore, it hurts!” 

“Good!” Aphmau said and tilted the Meif’wa’s head with the tip of her sword. “Now, where is that bandit camp?” 

“I don’t know!” 

Aphmau dabbed the sword deeper into Michi’s neck. 

“I’m sorry! I’ll show you! I’ll show you!” Michi cried.

Aphmau turned to Laurance whose eyes were permanently wide with shock. “Do you have anything to tie her with?” 

“Uh- yeah, yeah, I uh…” Laurance searched around in his pockets until bringing out some rope. Aphmau snatched it from the man and flipped Michi over to tie her hands behind her back. 

After tying her up, Aphmau picked the woman up. “You’re gonna show us where that bandit camp is or so help me gods-“ 

“Okay! Just please, no hitting!” 

Michi began walking with Aphmau holding her rope tied hands together while Laurance reluctantly followed. 

They walked for a while in silence. Laurance was a little too scared to talk, while Aphmau was too angry. It was funny how quickly she had changed after seeing Michi… frightening, really. 

Michi tripped on the grass and fell to her knees, letting out a huff as she hunched over. 

Aphmau gave her a look. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“I’m tired!” 

“And?” 

“I don’t wanna walk anymore! I’m tired!” Michi’s clothes were tattered in rips that didn’t look intentional. Aphmau could only wonder what she’s been through. 

“You should’ve thought about that before kidnapping my sons!” Aphmau kicked her back. “Now get up and start walking!” 

“Aph, c’mon…” 

“No! I don’t care if she’s tired. She deserves it!” 

Sounds of whimpering and sniffling started coming from Michi in quick gasps of air. Aphmau rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t fall for this girl’s pity party. Aphmau went to grab the rope but noticed blood coming from Michi’s back… maybe the Shadow Souls had done more damage than Aphmau realized. The cat girl fell back onto the floor after Aphmau picked her up.

“Aph please! The girl is obviously in pain. Let her rest for a second!” 

Aphmau gave Laurance a look, “Why should I care?” 

“You should care because the Aphmau that I know would care.” 

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not all rainbows and sunshine.” 

“I know that, and I’m not saying you can’t be mean and cruel like this but… Aph look I know you- like I really know you and I know that you’re a pacifist, that this,” he motioned towards the beaten Meif’wa “I know you would despise someone doing this to someone else.” 

“She took my kids’ Laurance! Am I not allowed to be mean?” 

“You are! Just not in this way!” He told her, “Aph, you doing a really pathetic move here, she’s tied and up and incapacitated. This isn’t a fair fight.” 

Aphmau realized something. She realized that by kicking Michi while she was already down is something Michi would do… it’s actually something she’s done twice now. First to Aphmau and now to her loved ones. 

“Oh…” Aphmau said softly.

“Yeah, I don’t want you to become someone like her. I’m not saying you can’t be mad at her, but… dial it down a bit, okay?” 

Aphmau sighed. Perhaps she was being a little too cruel. If she ever became Lord again, she hoped she wouldn’t turn into someone like Lord Garte or even the King of Tu’La. “Fine- MICHI!” 

Michi had gotten back on her feet and tried to run away from them, but Laurance kicked and swiped her legs from underneath her, making her fall completely to the ground with a loud whine. 

Laurance massaged his temples as he pressed his foot deeper into the arch of the Meif’wa’s back. “You know, I’m really regretting what I told you.” He pointed towards Aphmau. 

Aphmau let out a genuine laugh, not one of hysterics, but a real genuine laugh… It was nice to laugh again. She picked Michi back up, and the trio resumed walking again, making sure to not let Michi go or trick them this time. 

“You know,” Laurance started, “I think after we get Malachi, Levin, and Zoey we just take a week, maybe 2 weeks off, to hang out and recharge. We’ve been on too many adventures right now.” 

“That sounds like a good plan.” 

The sky was turning a soft orange-purple ombré, and the moon was becoming more vibrant. Michi sat on the ground against a tree while Aphmau and Laurance surveyed the bandit camp from afar. It was a sizable camp, tents and sleeping bags littered a steep part of a mountain near Meteli. At almost the top of the mountain was a neatly made arch to a cave entrance, they assumed that’s where the bandit’s primary source of business went down, that’s also where the jail cells were according to Michi. 

They knew that Michi just couldn’t waltz right in and ask for the prisoners back, so they had to sneak. 

Laurance told Aphmau that he should be the one to distract the bandits while Aphmau goes and gets her loved ones back.

“What if you get overwhelmed?” She asked, “What if something bad happens?” Laurance and Aphmau both knew what she was implying.

“Aph, you care about them the most. You should be the one getting them back.” He told her, “And don’t worry about me. I have everything under control.” 

Laurance blew Aphmau a kiss before heading off through the woods. Aphmau sighed as she watched the man run away before moving through the trees a bit to get a better view of the camp. There weren’t a lot of bandits there, but there was always a possibility there were more hiding. She watched with a knot in her stomach as Laurance appeared at the end of the bandit camp with a bunch of rocks in his hands.

“HEY FUCKERS!” He yelled loudly before shooting the rocks at the bandits as if they were baseballs. The bandits shot up from their tents and sleeping bags to chase the guard, leaving the camp empty for Aphmau to sneak into. 

She prayed to Irene that Laurance would be okay before walking through the camp, staying fairly hidden behind crates and large tents. The gravel path she walked on was unsteady, making her slip a few times, but she could recover and make her way to the main hideout of the bandits. 

It was a large circular cave with a circular table sitting in the middle. Right across from the entrance and the end of the cave stood an enormous statue of a familiar person, Aphmau. Maybe she had seen her in a painting once, but her face was just so recognizable to Aphmau. 

She was standing tall with a spear in her left hand and a human heart in the other. The heart was the only thing painted on the statue as the rest of it left a marble white. She had long Egyptian style clothes that covered most of her body besides her head, which was left almost untouched by the years unlike everything else. Her face was deadly, sly but big eyes, big pursed lips that formed a small smile, and arched eyebrows that made her look angry despite the calm posture of the rest of the statue. Her hair stood with three large, filled arches, one on top and two on either side, with a bunch of bubble braids falling down to her elbows.

Aphmau wondered if it was another Divine Warrior. She had seen statues of Irene and status of Esmund before, but she had never seen this type of statue before. But there was another question, why would a group of bandits worship a Divine Warrior? 

She ignored her own question and got back to the task at hand, finding her kids and Zoey. The only entrance that was open was on the right side of the cave, so she opted to go in that direction. Reading her rapier sword, she stalked towards the entrance. She really hoped that this wasn’t going to be some ambush of some sort and her kids would actually be here. It had actually been quite a while since she used a sword, so it was nice to use such an easy one (at least to her). 

The new room had jail cells on either wall and was only lit up by one swaying side to side in the middle of the ceiling. Aphmau didn’t hear any noise coming from the cells, but still pressed forward. 

“Mom?” a weak voice asked, and she snapped her attention to the cell on her left where Levin and Malachi sat on the ground, beaten with dried blood all over their body and their clothes tattered and ripped to bits. 

“Boys!” She pressed herself against the open window of the cell, trying to reach for her sons, who painfully crawled over to her and grabbed her hands. She pulled them to their feet with painful noises coming from both of them. 

“Aphmau?” 

Zoey was on the other side of the room. Aphmau dashed to her and pulled her to her feet. She was just as bruised and bloody. “Mother of the gods, what did they do to you?” 

Zoey shook her head. “Nothing… we had… a rough trip here…” 

Aphmau let out a pathetic excuse for a laugh. “I can see that.” 

“The keys are up on the wall there.” Levin said, pointing to the end of the hallway which had 2 rows with three little hooks to hang 6 keys on. Aphmau quickly went over to the keys and started asking herself which one could unlock the cells. There was a key with a red handkerchief on it that looked special and promising, so she picked that one. 

“Tch, tch, tch,” a voice kissed the inside of their teeth. “Put that key back, okay?” 

Aphmau carefully hung the key back up and slowly turned around. There in front of her stood a man with a half a skull mask standing in front of another bandit (who was extremely tall) and a beaten Michi. The man’s mask looked as if he had cut a skull’s lower jaw off and then used the rest of the skull as a hat. His clothes were all gray except for his brown belt and large black trench coat that barely swept the floor of the hallway. 

“Hello.” He said with a devilish grin. “Can I ask what you’re doing in my camp?”

“These people,” Aphmau gestured towards Levin, Malachi, and Zoey, “were stolen from me. I would very much appreciate it if I got them back.” 

The man’s smile didn’t fade. “You’re hilarious if you think you’re just going to waltz right out of here with them without giving me anything in return. I’m a businessman first, you know?” 

“I have nothing on me and I won’t give you anything. I’m not negotiating with a thief.”

“You hurt me.” 

“I don’t care. I’ve been through hell to get these people back and I’m not letting some washed up thief keep them from me.” 

“HA!” The man’s eyes were wide. “What a mouth you have!” He paused. “Take her.” 

The other bandit started walking towards her. Aphmau backed up into a wall with nothing but a flimsy rapier sword to help her, but she knew by the size of this other bandit that it wouldn’t do anything. Her loved ones were locked up and soon enough, she was going to be as well. She also had no idea where the fuck Laurance was. There was a part of her that believed him to be dead. Her thoughts were running wild as the bandit crept closer and closer to her, she could hear the yells and discouragements from her sons and Zoey telling the leader to stop and let Aphmau go, it broke her heart seeing them cry out for her and telling her to leave them behind. 

She would never leave them behind, though. 

Not like…

Not like she did the others. 

She could never leave them behind like she left the others. They all trusted her and loved her, and she left. Why did she leave? She was happy; she had a family. Why was her book ending there? Why couldn’t it have gone on? Why did she have to end her story there?

Why did she leave them?

WHY?

A bomb of bright light erupted from Aphmau, causing everyone to turn their eyes away unless they wanted burned corneas. The large bandit was pushed to the ground and slid all the way to the feet of the leader bandit. 

Out from the light came a furious Aphmau with some very godly features. Her hair was floating and her eyes had turned a bright white. All the markings that were carved into her skin were glowing purple, which cast a gorgeous purple and white light on everyone in the room. Wings that were floating above her back were made from fluffy clouds, but were just as intimidating. The power she radiated was something similar to that of the statue standing outside the room. 

And for a moment, the statue remembered her best friend. 

And for a moment, Aphmau remembered hers. 

“You aren’t not taking me!” Aphmau yelled. “You are letting me and my loved ones go or I will rip through you like paper!” She was sick of being taken prisoner, sick of being taken advantage of, sick of everything that had happened since Nahakra. 

The leader was breathing heavily and looked Aphmau up and down before falling to one of his knees and bowing his head. Aphmau was confused by the man’s actions. She was sure that he was going to attack her like she thought he would. Instead, he pulled the other bandit up to his knees and Michi down to hers. 

“Oh merciless divine, we are so sorry for disrespecting you!” The man exclaimed, “I did not know who you really were! You may take your friends and leave. We are so sorry!” 

Aphmau stared at the bandit in confusion. Her sword dropped to the ground and she carefully took a step forward, skeptical that this could be some trick. “What are you saying?” 

The man took off his skull mask to show a black dyed buzz-cut and tattoos all over his face. “You must be related to the divine, are you not? If you are, please tell me if it is Menphia the fury. I follow her practice like no other.” 

Aphmau just stood there in shock, her body pulsating with an energy she still wasn’t used to. Was this what it was like for Irene? Did she have people bowing to her at every chance they got? Once she showed her true self, did all of her enemies cower because they were in the presence of a goddess? 

“I live and breathe the Divine Warriors, specifically Menphia, but it is okay if you are not her. I respect all the Divine and this feeling that I am getting from you… you must be a Divine.” 

“Why are you doing all of this?”

“Because I want to be forgiven. I want to make this up to you, my god.” The leader begged, “Please let us make this up to you.” 

Aphmau didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t refuse the man, but she felt weird accepting the man's request. He had just commanded one of his bandits to capture her and now he was on his knees begging to her? How was Aphmau supposed to know if this was truly a trick or not? Something deep within her whispered to her subconscious and her brain moved her hand above the man’s hand without her doing. She then felt a powerful surge of regret coursing through her body. She knew the man meant it. 

Aphmau let out a breath. The energy in her was calming down to a soft buzz. “Just make this right.” 

The leader tilted his head to look up at her with such a devoted look on his face it both comforted Aphmau and creeped her out. “Anything for you.” 

In a matter of 20 minutes, Aphmau and all her friends were in a carriage and being driven to the outskirts of Meteli where the Leader, Trall, was planning on dropping them off. Aphmau sat in the middle of her two sons as she held them close. Zoey ended up passing out on Laurance’s shoulder and Michi was in another carriage with Trall. Aphmau held onto her sons like she was going to lose them again, and she wasn’t going to let that happen. They felt so fragile in her arms; she wanted to squeeze them tight to let them know she wasn’t going anywhere, but the thought of shattering them scared her. They were like ceramic pots. Everything around them was dangerous to them and Aphmau was trying her best to protect them, but they were cracking, anyway. She wondered how much they cracked while she was away, how much they went through while they thought she had left them because she didn’t love them, how much they had to learn without her help. Aphmau really began regretting this whole mother job that she had. If she was never a mother to these two kids, she wouldn’t be experiencing these emotions.

Laurance noticed how Aphmau was on the brink of crying, so he gently tapped his foot with hers, getting the woman’s attention. “I love you.” He mouthed and gave her a wink. 

She rolled her eyes and pretended to gag, which prompted Laurance to pretend as if he got punched in the gut. Aphmau let out a small giggle, sniffling and going back into her own world, but this time with a smile.

He hoped he had done the right thing. 

They arrived at Meteli in less than 15 minutes. Aphmau had never been in one of these carriage things, so its speed very impressed her. Maybe it was the fact that it was being pulled by two horses rather than the usual one. Levin, Malachi, and Zoey were all taken into the hospital to get their wounds looked at while Michi was being taken into custody by the Meteli guards. Aphmau stayed behind to talk to Trall and thank him for being so kind to them. 

Trall bowed his head in thanks. “Really, you don’t have to thank us. I was simply being a devotee of a goddess I worship.” 

“But I do. I haven’t received such hospitality from a stranger in a while, so I thank you.” She said with a smile. 

The man let out a nervous laugh. “You shouldn’t be thanking me at all. After all, the life that I live would be something the gods scorn at-” 

Aphmau placed her hand on the man’s shoulder. “No god is going to judge you for unfortunate circumstances.” 

Trall looked at her with kind eyes. “Thank you. I’ll try to set my life in the right direction, but for now, I will survive.” He bowed his head again. “It has been an honor meeting you, my lady.” 

Aphmau gave the man one last smile. “And it’s been an honor meeting you.” 

The bandit got into his carriage and let his drivers take him away. Really, Aphmau should’ve told Cadenza where these bandits were located, but Aphmau had high spirits that Trall would see the right way, eventually. Like how Virginia was an absolutely terrible person, but something inside Aphmau told her she was trying to be good, that she was trying to do the right thing, so Aphmau didn’t say a word. 

Zoey, Levin, and Malachi all knocked out on Cadenza’s couches after being tended to their injuries. Everyone knew the beds were more comfortable, but no one had the heart to wake them up. Aphmau had heard faint conversations from the trio about her strange angle form she took when the bandits tried taking her. Aphmau made no comment. 

When she kissed her boys goodnight, she noticed a faint scar line running across Malachi’s throat, end to end. The pirates had slit Malachi’s throat, is what Dante said. They were able to save him but his vocal cords suffered the most. Aphmau couldn’t imagine not being there in that moment with her sons, especially Malachi. The poor kid had already died once, he was probably terrified out of his mind to die again. She would have to remember to give him his scarf back. 

It was around 8 when Aphmau finally made her way to the hotel that everyone was staying at; she was sharing a room with Laurance and Katelyn, Kitten and Belladonna shared a room, Aaron and Travis shared a room, and Vylad chose to be alone. Aphmau hoped Vylad would be a fresh addition to their group. She hadn’t talked to him in a while since they visited Nahakra, but she just hoped that he felt welcomed because he was welcomed. 

Laurance had told her that he was hesitant to talk to Vylad after what had happened between them. It scared him to be reminded of his time in Hell, but Aphmau encouraged him to make friends with the man. Laurance had yet to. 

Over all, the trip from Nahakra to Meteli took 3 days but the way everyone’s bodies ached made the trip feel like 3 months. Aphmau was more than happy if they took a month off rather than just a week or two. She loved adventuring, but… this was too much. 

Aphmau tucked herself under the covers and turned to face her guard Laurance who was already knocked out sleeping. 

She closed her eyes and hoped to see him again. 

Chapter Text

Aphmau hadn’t been able to sleep, so she had climbed her way onto the roof of the hotel and was looking above all the trees as the sun started waking up. She had stolen a muffin from the hotel’s food court and was having breakfast with the Titan Kunoku, throwing some into a nearby fire pit to give him some of her muffin. She wondered if he would like it. 

She had tried seeing Garroth again, but there was no hope. Had something bad had happened inside the Irene Dimension and that was why she hadn’t seen him in a while? It had been 6 months or more since they got out of the Irene Dimension. It hadn’t even been an entire year, so it would be impossible for Garroth to get hurt… it hadn’t even been a minute where he was. Or maybe Garroth and Zane were incredibly fast and killing each other at speeds unknown to man. But she hoped he was okay, that eventually she’d see him again and be able to tell him everything, and be able to hug him again. 

“Hello.”

Aphmau let out a yelp and dropped some of her muffin when she spun around to see who scared her. “Travis!” She scolded, “What are you doing here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing.” 

“… I woke up…” 

“So did I. I wake really early.” Travis said, taking a seat next to Aphmau. “Back on the island, I would sometimes wake up at 4 am to do things.” 

Aphmau gave him a look. “You’re insane.” 

“I’m just young.” Travis flexed his muscles. Aphmau took offense to that and slapped his arm 

“I’m younger than you.” 

“Not really! You’d be like in your forties if you didn’t time travel.”

She just rolled her eyes and took the last bite of her blueberry muffins. She remembered when Lucinda had made her pumpkin bread infused with magicks… could you do the same to muffins?   

“Can I ask you why you’re really up here, though? I heard sniffling before I scared you.” Travis kept his eyes trained on the horizon, just like Aphmau. 

Travis had been with them long enough that Aphmau believed she could trust him and tell him information like this that was personal to Aphmau. She began explaining to him that unfortunately they had to leave her right-hand guard, Garroth, in the Irene Dimension. He had sacrificed himself for everyone to escape, which Aphmau could never be more grateful for. She told Travis about her dreams and how recently she hadn’t been able to meet the guard. 

Travis stayed silent for a while. Aphmau wasn’t sure if it was because he was thinking of a response or Aphmau had dumped too much information on the poor man. 

“It’s because you’ve grown.” 

“What?” 

“You’re telling me he comes to you in your time of need, but you’ve grown since the last time you met with him, which means that you don’t need to see him right now.” He told her, “Kidnapping is no big deal to you anymore because you’ve already been through that. When the next new terrible thing comes about, then yeah, you’ll be able to see him again, I bet.” 

Aphmau let out a huff. “I don’t think I’ve grown.” 

“Well, I haven’t known you as long as Garroth as but I bet you have. You’ve gone from a random woman people appointed as Lord to a leader that people tell stories of.” 

“What? You’ve read about me in books?” 

“Yeah, I did! There was this one book made by this random scholar who wrote about different wars and the effects it had on villages. He talked about the Phoenix Drop War and how the Lord Aphmau Shalashaska led everyone to victory before breaking the hearts of many by disappearing.” Aphmau felt tears pricking her eyes. “He spoke of you in such a high light I wondered if I would ever get to meet someone as cool as that, someone who told Scaleswind and O’Khasis to suck her dick when they were at their peak.” 

Aphmau laughed loudly. “I wouldn’t put it like that.” 

“I would!” Travis defended himself. “You told the two powerhouses of villages to stick it up the ass! I could never do that and I’ve fought demons!” 

She never really thought of the positive impact Aphmau had on other people. That could be the reason that Nahakra guard James asked her if their alliance had any affiliation with Phoenix Drop. She had told Belladonna no for their safety, but it could’ve been because Nahakra idolized Phoenix Drop for their confidence against O’Khasis.

“But seriously, Aphmau, I’m sure you’ll see him again when you need him most.” 

“Thank you, Travis.” 

He patted Aphmau’s back before hopping to his feet. “We’re gonna be getting ready to leave in an hour so… take it easy, okay?”

She saluted him. “Will do.” 

The sun was warm on her face as more of it peaked up from the tree line. The golden orange color cloaked her in a comforting warmth she hadn’t felt in a while. It was always sweltering heat or freezing cold. She never got to have a temperature that hugged her gently as this one did. The Titan Kunoku was a kind one. People thought of him as mean because he burned their eyes and skin or made their meats rotten, but it was only because they weren’t aware he had no control. He stood there all alone in the sky, shining as brightly as he could, yet people still ridiculed and criticized him even though he was doing his best. 

Aphmau exhaled long and deeply, letting go of all the stress she had accumulated over the days before standing on her feet and headed down the hotel roof. 

They threw Michi into a carriage similar to that of the one Trall had put her and her friends in, except this one had metal bars blocking the windows. According to Cadenza, carriages were finally popping up on their end of Ru’aun after being made 5 years ago. She had said that they were made for merchants who didn’t have traveling booths or couldn’t carry all of their stuff in a couple of bags. Aphmau was more than grateful for these new items and asked Cadenza if they could borrow one so Phoenix Drop could copy the design and travel faster. 

“I’ve spoken to Levin in private and I would like you to know that Meteli is finally a part of Levin’s tri-village alliance.”  

Aphmau let out a sigh. This whole tri-village alliance was the start of this total fiasco. “Oh thank gods, I feel like I would’ve let Michi kidnap you if you didn’t join.” 

Cadenza barked out a loud laugh “As if! Vincent and Zack have been much more open to being friends with Phoenix Drop after you guys made your first visit here.” 

“That’s good. I know that the Phoenix Alliance has done nothing major, but we’re just starting and-” 

“It’s okay, Aph! You don’t have to worry about any of that stuff, okay?” Cadenza comforted her worries “I trust you and I trust that once you get your footing somewhere, the Phoenix Alliance will become the alliance we always wished it would be.” 

“I just don’t want you to lose hope in us.”

“I would never. Belladonna is an amazing woman and I know she’ll bring Meteli into greatness.” Cadenza said “You know Levin said the same thing to me when he asked me to join.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“He asked me to not lose hope in him, in Phoenix Drop… I know that village has been through a lot.” 

Aphmau nodded, remembering all the things that had happened while she was Lord and imaging everything terrible that could’ve happened while she was gone. “Maybe too much.” 

“Lords and leaders get into messy situations like this all the time. We’re prone to that kind of thing.” Aphmau looked over to Levin and Malachi, who were speaking with Belladonna. “It’s a burden, but it’s something we need to triumph over, even if we need him.” 

Aphmau looked back at Cadenza. “Where’s this sudden motivation coming from? That sounds like a quote from a book.” 

The Lord laughed. “Oh, it’s just something Hayden and Joh used to say to me and Laurance when we were kids.” 

“Joh and Hayden were friends?” 

“Husbands.” 

“What!?”

“You didn’t know!?” 

“No one told me!” 

The two ladies burst out in a fit of giggles. It suddenly made sense to why Aphmau had never seen Hayden with his wife or a girlfriend of that sort. 

“Holy shit, that is new information!” Aphmau laughed, wiping a happy tear from her eye. “I never knew.”

“Well, I mean you weren’t Metelian so I wouldn’t judge you, but damn! Laurance seriously never told you?” 

“I never really talked about Meteli with him. I mean, it would come up in a few conversations, but it was never the main topic.” 

“Huh, you’ll have to ask him then. Meteli Laurance was a completely different dude than he is now.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah!” 

“Aphmau!” Aaron called for her. Everyone was getting into their driver or carriage seats or on their horses if there wasn’t enough room. “We’re heading out! Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, I’m ready!” Aphmau gave Cadenza a hug. “I’m gonna miss you.” 

“You are always welcome here. I’ll have to fashion another guest room in my house.” 

Aphmau laughed, hesitating before hugging the woman again and finally finding her seat in the carriage. Their luggage was strapped to the top of the carriage, since they had little room inside the vehicle. 

It took a day to reach Phoenix Drop. Laurance would always try to keep up with the carriage and poke his head into the window, but as soon as he got close enough, the carriage went a little faster to put him behind. Aaron and Travis were the reasons for the carriage going faster, which resulted in Laurance throwing a bunch of branches at them while they were driving. Luckily, no one got hurt. When they arrived at the gates, Levin and Malachi looked out the windows only to bolt out of the carriage and tackle their head guard in a hug that almost brought them all down to the ground. Everyone else was stuck with slowly getting their luggage off the vehicle and pulling Michi out of the guarded carriage until they could finally say hello to their home. 

Malachi pulled away fist, his scarf was given back to him the morning that they left Meteli. “Are you crying Dante? Don’t tell us you missed us that much?” 

Dante waved his hand at the boy. “What? No! I think dust just got into my eye.” He began wiping his eyes. “Probably from Levin.” 

“What? I’m not dusty!” 

“You so are.” 

Dante shrugged. “I gotta believe Malachi on this one. When was the last time you showered?” 

“Malachi!” 

“I just want Dante to know the truth.” 

“I showered!” Levin’s face was bright red. 

“Hey now, don’t lie to me, young man.”

“You mean smelly man!” Malachi quickly signed before sprinting off with Levin chasing after him. 

Aphmau walked up to Dante, carrying her suitcase and backpack. “They didn’t even hug me like that when they woke up.” She laughed. Of course she was a little jealous, but she could blame them. Technically, Dante had been there for them more than she ever could. 

“Weren’t they just kidnapped?” Dante asked, wiping a tear from his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah they were.” 

“And yet they still have a smile on their faces… reminds you of someone, doesn’t it?”

Aphmau sucked in a breath. “I regret smiling when times were tough.” Dante gave her a look. “What? I have too many wrinkles now.” She pushed up the skin on her face. 

The guard rolled his eyes. “I think you look beautiful, Aphmau.” 

“Oop- don’t let Nana hear that. They might think you have another kid.” 

Dante punched Aphmau in the gut, leaving her hunched over and in pain. 

They all made their way back into the Phoenix Drop settlement, passing by some projects that looked finished, like some of the guard towers, some old houses, and even some old shops like the older bakery that Molly and Emma used to run. Levin and Malachi went on their own in the woods to hang out and relax after everything. Most of everyone in Aphmau’s group fell asleep immediately when they reached the tree house while Aphmau stayed up to hangout with everyone and see the new things they’ve finished while they were gone. 

Donna told Aphmau that they would have to throw a party for the group for returning but Aphmau refused. They didn’t need a party, they just needed sleep. 

The mother shrugged. “Whatever you say. Oh! Emmalyn wants to talk to you, but I have no idea where she is.” 

“Oh okay! I’ll just wander around and hopefully I can find her.” Aphmau said with a smile, saying a quick goodbye to Donna before heading out of the settlement. 

The paths around the village were much neater, the trees and bushes were now being clipped and tamed, which made the village look less like a wild mess and more like the original picture of Phoenix Drop. By now, 2 out of the 4 guard towers were built, which Aphmau thought represented Phoenix Drop as a whole at the moment. A little less than half of the buildings and homes that made Phoenix Drop such a prosperous place were built, and they only needed the other half done before they could really start making things pretty. Aphmau felt like she was the old Lord again, doing her rounds in the village, saying hi to her people and hanging out with her friends. Except this time she wasn’t saying hi to anyone and both of her dogs were sleeping at Levin and Malachi’s house, they had a tough trip as well. Nana was over near the cul-de-sacs, fixing up the houses and making new ones with their maid dolls, who came to life with the power of necromancy. Vylad was over by Kiki’s barn just laying in the grass and letting the sun hit his face, Travis was close by under a tree doing the same thing except he was letting the cool wind breeze through his hair. The change in their trip was so drastic, not even 2 days ago Aphmau was running from Tu’La guards as they invaded O’Khasis. That was something Aphmau was worried about. She would try to ignore it, she was going to have to tell Levin eventually that O’Khasis was invaded and Tu’La was now a threat they had to look after. Aphmau then took a U-turn and made her way into the plaza, where she saw Kenmur sitting at one of the merchant booths reading a book. 

“Hey Kenmur!” Aphmau greeted the man. “Would you have any idea on where Emmalyn is? I was told I should speak to her.” 

Kenmur put his book down. “She’s by the Lady Irene statue, of course.” He had a big, bright smile on his face. Aphmau hadn’t seen Kenmur in a while, so maybe it was because he was happy to see her…? “She has something really important to tell you.” 

“Okay…? I’ll go see her.” 

The plaza was in the middle of the village, far from any of the woods, so Aphmau would have to walk closer to the beach to find the path to the Irene Statue. She remembered when they first put that statue up and it granted so much fortune to them, Aphmau wasn’t sure if he continued to give the village fortune or if it was a pretty face to look at. 

Emmalyn was sitting on her knees, looking down at her intertwined hands, speaking to herself softly in front of the Irene statue. 

“Hey Emmalyn!” Aphmau called out, and the woman turned around. “I’m supposed to talk to you?” 

Emmalyn had a big smile on her face as she stood up. “Yes! Yes, you’re supposed to talk to me.” She grabbed Aphmau’s hands and pulled her closer to her and the Irene statue. 

“Okay? Is everything okay?” 

“Everything is fantastic, Aphmau!” Emmalyn’s smile never died down. “I know that our friendship has come a long way since we first met.” 

Aphmau wanted to roll her eyes and say, ‘yeah it did.’ When she was first in the village, Emmalyn hated her guts because she was staying in her library, but now they were best friends. 

“And even though you’re the second person I’ve told, I want you to know I had every intention of telling you first but Donna-“ 

“Emmalyn.” Aphmau cut off her rambling. “What’s going on?” 

The librarian was practically vibrating with excitement. “Me and Kenmur are getting married!” 

Aphmau let go of Emmalyn’s hands as she screamed loudly, her voice echoing through the trees, making all the birds leave their homes. She was pretty sure Scaleswind could’ve heard her. 

“WHAT!?” Aphmau cried “Emmalyn! What!” 

“I know!” Emmalyn screamed as well. “Never in a million years would I have thought I was going to get married, but here we are!” 

“How did this even happen? Oh, this is so quick!” 

“Me and Kenmur have just always had a type of chemistry with each other and… well, even though Sasha came into the mix, that didn’t stop Kenmur from asking me if I wanted to marry him! Which I obviously said yes to!” 

“Holy Irene Emmalyn! I’m so happy for you guys!” Aphmau hugged the woman. “I’m guessing I’m gonna have to plan this one like Donna’s?” 

Emmalyn cringed as Aphmau pulled away. “I don’t wanna ask that if you but… yes. I have no idea how to plan a wedding, but I will try to help in every way I can!” 

“Do you want the wedding to be soon?” 

Emmalyn shook her head. “You can take your time on it, don’t worry. I mean, we’re not on a time limit.” 

“That is true okay…” Aphmau thought to herself. She didn’t want it to be like Donna’s wedding and how it took months to get everything ready so Aphmau would have to be organized this time to make sure everything goes perfectly “I can get started planning now and I’ll come to you whenever I need help okay?” 

Emmalyn nodded. “Deal. Now I wanna tell everyone else.” She bit her lip in nervousness. 

Aphmau motioned her hands towards the path down. “Then let’s go tell everyone else.” 

The moment the three of them walked into the settlement, Donna screamed so loud everyone was pretty sure they were deaf. Emmalyn didn’t even have enough time to open her mouth before Donna told everyone what was going on, which made everyone scream their heads off. Aphmau was sure that they had just alerted the entire Tu’La region where they were. 

Travis, Vylad, and Nana all rushed into the settlement, thinking something bad was happening. Emmalyn said quickly, “I’m getting married.” Making Nana push the two men to the ground before tackling Emmalyn to the ground with a hug. 

It was bizarre to Aphmau. They hadn’t seen the nerd duo in so long she wasn’t even aware that they were trying to pursue a relationship. It was also bizarre to her they were getting married so quick, Aphmau had read books on marriage and found out that followers of Irene would wait a couple years in the ‘engagement stage’ before moving on to be completely married. They do this so they can see if Irene allows the partner and to see if the partner is really the right one for them. But this? This wasn’t what Aphmau expected. This was so fast, but at least Emmalyn and Kenmur seemed happy. 

It wasn’t until nightfall when Aphmau finally had time to write her list of things that needed to get done for this wedding. She had a slight idea of who she wanted to help with each task, but then she came across one problem: she needed a priest. The last wedding she planned and had in Phoenix Drop technically ended up with baby Alexis getting turned into a shadow knight, so right now Aphmau was not trusting any priests. She knew where to get the cake, the food, and she had an idea of where to get the furniture and dresses. 

Aphmau was sitting up in the middle of the tree house, where the base of the tree stuck through the middle of the living area. She had hung a single lantern hanging on a branch to light up the area she was in. She was writing in Zoey’s journal, documenting her journey on bringing Aphmau’s group back from the Irene Dimension. Aphmau had read the notes before on the trip that crashed them on the Enki island. It was kinda nice to see her thought process but also devastating seeing how desperate she was to get them back.

She wasn’t that she hadn’t been able to sleep, she just didn’t want to. She was too focused on Emmalyn’s wedding to sleep. 

“Aphmau?” Katelyn’s voice popped out of nowhere, startling the poor woman. 

“Katelyn! What are you doing here?” 

“I could-“ 

“You could ask me the same thing, yeah, yeah whatever. Just get up here.” 

Katelyn laughed as she got situated in the tree branches across from Aphmau. They were both in uncomfortable but strangely comfortable positions as they tried to stay still on the branches. 

“So, can I ask what you’re writing?” 

“Wedding planning.” 

“Ooh, what do you have planned?” 

Aphmau tilted her head side-to-side. “Actually, could I ask a favor from you?” 

“Sure, what’s up?” 

“I wanna ask Cadenza if she can make the dresses for the wedding because she did that for Donna’s, but I don’t wanna force someone to go all the way back there after we just came back-“ 

“I’ll do it.” 

“You will?” 

“Yeah, I like Cadenza, so why not?” Katelyn shrugged, “And besides that, I like weddings.” 

“Really? I don’t take you as that kind of person.” 

Katelyn took a deep breath, as if she was calming herself down before saying this “I was the photographer for Jeffory’s engagement party for his boyfriend.” 

Aphmau could see how Katelyn’s eyes were getting glossy with tears, and she scooted a little closer. “No way. Was it fun?” 

“Oh, it was so fun.” She smiled. “He had already had Abbey by this time and she was so sweet and played with the camera the entire time.” 

“Well, I hope this party is just as fun as that one.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, I bet it will.” 

Katelyn eventually convinced Aphmau to go to sleep despite the woman’s protests. She didn’t have to do everything tonight, and she had technically finished the planning stage of this wedding, so she could go to sleep. 

Dresses

Katelyn had agreed to head out to Meteli and ask Cadenza if she would have enough free time to make a couple of dresses for Emmalyn’s wedding. Aphmau felt a little bad for making her ride all the way to Meteli after just getting back, so she said the least she could do was hangout with Katelyn until they reached the gate of the village. She remembered how Katelyn and Cadenza were with each other when they first visited Meteli, so Aphmau hoped that if Katelyn was asking this request, Cadenza would be more persuaded. 

She was turning around to head back into the village when Laurance popped out of nowhere, right next to her side.

“Aph.” 

Aphmau flinched a bit, but she quickly recovered. Why did people have a thing for appearing out of nowhere? “Oh, yeah?”

“I was at Ungrth’s grave, and I was wondering… where do you think Raven and those other Wyverns went?” They had both continued walking “Because I went to go check up on their little cave thing and… there’s no one.” 

Aphmau had completely forgotten about Raven. She knew Wyverns aged differently than humans, so she wondered how he looked now. The last time she saw him, he was this little thing you could carry in your arms. “Maybe somewhere more prosperous?” She asked, “I know they like jewels and shiny and this,” Aphmau gestured towards the very dull-looking Phoenix Drop, “doesn’t look like a place to home jewels and gems.” 

“Good point. Now, do you need any help with the wedding?” 

She thought to herself, wondering what Laurance could do to help them with the wedding- “Oh my Irene, I totally forgot! We need flower girls and ring bearers!” 

He snapped his fingers and stopped. “I have the perfect idea of two little kids who would be perfect for that job.” 

“Oh, who?” 

“Dimitri and Nekoette~Chan! I saw them while I was walking to Ungrth’s grave.” 

“What?! Why is Dimitri still here?” 

“Don’t worry! According to Dante, Nicole left Dimitri here for only a month or two, so he could experience what it was like living with his father and sister.” 

Aphmau’s heart melted. “Aww, Nicole is such a sweetheart.” 

“She really is, but I’ll go get those kids and also teach them something new!” Laurance did a small hop before running across the bridge and heading to wherever those two mischief kids were.

Cake + Food

Aphmau now had one crossed off her list, so all she needed was to get everything else crossed off. She was on her way to Nana when Emmalyn stopped her and told her she had already asked the Meif’wa and she said yes. Emmalyn then expressed her worry that this wedding was causing Aphmau too much stress after an already stressful trip that just ended for Aphmau’s group. Aphmau told her not to worry though, from the looks on both Katelyn and Laurance’s faces when they asked if they could help with the wedding, she knew that this would be relaxing for them… well as relaxing as planning a wedding can be. 

Talking to Emmalyn reminded Aphmau of something. They probably just needed more than a wedding cake in order for this wedding to be fulfilling for the guest. Belladonna, Kitten, and Zoey were more than excited to cater for the party when she asked, so that was no worry. Aphmau was pretty sure that the two titans were cheating or at least time traveled because when Aphmau walked into her house to see if there was anything she could use for the wedding, she found a large metal box that had a soft buzzing sound coming from it. When she asked the two ladies about it, Belladonna promptly slapped her sister upside the head and asked her what was wrong with her. Aphmau just turned around and acted as if she never saw the weird object. 

Furniture

Logan was hanging out in the plaza, hanging up lights to make the area prettier and watching over as his two kids, Rollo and Lello, ran around the place with their wolf ears and tails bouncing around. 

“Old man!” Aphmau called out, making Logan turn. “I need you!” 

He rolled his eyes as he came over to her. “For what?”

She leaned against his merchant booth. “Do you know where we could get chairs and tables for the wedding?” 

He copied Aphmau’s movement and leaned against the booth. “I was thinking of heading out tomorrow because I know of a trading company that deals particularly in weddings.” 

“Oh, really?” 

“Yeah, we found them for Dante and Nana’s wedding.” 

“That’s nice. I want you to bring Malachi and Vylad with you.” She told him, “Malachi really enjoys going out on trips and Vylad has been alone this entire time.” 

Logan groaned. “You’re pairing me up with the mute guy and the blind dude?”

“Yes.” 

“Aren’t you just a doll.” 

“I know, now do you know any priests?” 

“Aphmau… do I look like a religious man?” 

“Hey,” she put her hands up in defense, “I don’t judge.” 

“No, I don’t know any priests, not personally at least. I know that New Meteli and Bright Port both have churches, so we could steal a priest from there if you want.” 

Aphmau chuckled, “I don’t want you to steal a priest, Logan-” 

“I WAS A PRIEST!” 

Aphmau and Logan both let out yells of fright when Chad screamed in both of their ears. Aphmau thought her ears were bleeding, and she swore there was a slight ringing in the air. Logan was clutching his chest like his heart could hear the scream. 

“Holy Irene! I am too old to be scared like that anymore!” Logan yelled. 

Aphmau turned around to see who the culprit was and saw Chad bouncing on his toes with a bright smile on his face. “Of course it’s you.” She deadpanned. 

“I was once a priest in my prime years, but I found something much more exciting: Science!” 

She gave him a skeptical look. “You’ll be the priest for Emmalyn and Kenmur’s wedding? Do you even know them?” 

“I know Kenmur! Him and I had an amazing talk about science!” 

“Of course you did.” Aphmau muttered and rolled her eyes. “But you’d be the priest?” 

“I’d be honored to be the priest of this gorgeous wedding! I’m sure I can pick up a book or seven by the end of this month and be ready in no time!” 

“Okay!” Aphmau backed away as the man got closer to her face with each word that he said. She just hoped he wouldn’t be like this when the actual wedding came. She believed the man had manners… hopefully. 

Chad had a giant smile on his face as he booked it off away from the village to catch up on how to officiate a wedding. Aphmau thought it was sweet how happy he was to do this, even though he was a little ‘crazy’. 

She turned to Logan, who was biting back a laugh. “I swear to god if he ends up like Zane I’m killing myself.” 

Logan laughed so hard Aphmau thought he was throwing up a lung. 

Venu

According to Levin, Emmalyn and Kenmur wanted the wedding to happen on the cliff that the Irene statue was on. Aphmau wasn’t sure if it could be done, but Yip, Levin, Alexis, and Kyle agreed to help level out the land so that there could be enough room for everyone. Aphmau trusted they could do the right thing, but she was worried about the statue. She hoped that with them leveling out the land, nothing bad would happen to the statue, for both her and Emmalyn’s sake. 

Malachi, Vylad, and Logan ended up leaving the same day that Cadenza and Katelyn came back. Logan told Aphmau that the trip should be only two weeks, so then Aphmau told them that if they weren’t back in two weeks, she would hurt them. Vylad asked Aphmau if she was ever going to bring up the Tu’La invasion. Aphmau had been thinking about it the entire time, but the wedding had been her primary focus, so she had it in the back of her mind. But when she had her small moments of silence, that image of O’Khasis being invaded found its way back in her head, and it frightened her. She promised Vylad she would tell everyone soon so they could prepare, but he looked skeptical. 

Cadenza had come back with a few outfits already made, which was good since more and more days were passing and the wedding was getting closer. Emmalyn and Kenmur had never made a specific date on when they wanted their wedding to be, so everyone silently agreed it would be in a month. 

The two Zvhal siblings had a sweet reunion before Cadenza dragged her brother into the old library to help her set up and get ready to measure everyone for their suits or dresses. Cadenza had chosen the old library because Kiki’s barn hadn’t been built yet, so this was the biggest building they had in Phoenix Drop at the moment. The outfits that she had brought fit Laurance, Kyle, Yip, and Aaron, as well as herself, Donna, and Nana. Everyone looked a little worried when Cadenza said that she had 11 or more outfits to make, but she painted it as no big deal. 

Aphmau was talking about the wedding with Nana when Katelyn came over to the two ladies to see what was up. Nana asked if Katelyn wanted to help them make the sweets for the wedding and before Katelyn could tell the Meif’wa that she didn’t know how to bake, the blue-haired lady was dragged into the pastel pink house with no remorse. 

Aaron and Travis started helping with leveling out the cliff and making the plaza prettier with the limited supplies they had before Logan arrived with more decorations. 

While everyone was working to make sure that this wedding was nothing less than perfect, Emmalyn and Kenmur were off being a couple. Aphmau usually would’ve been a little peeved that they weren’t even attempting to help, but when she saw the two of them laying on the shore together, Aphmau couldn’t help but leave them alone. She saw how happy they were and got jealous of their love, wanting that for herself before her name was called and she realized what her duty was right now. 

To help people. 

Sasha stood on the second floor of the guard station-turned-jail. According to Dante, she had been behaving well so she could have her own room. She knew the truth, though. Michi and her would’ve killed each other if they were in the same cell, so they moved her. She appreciated the lying though. 

The Shadow Knight had overheard talk as people passed by her prison. There was a wedding happening, but not just any wedding. 

Kenmur’s wedding. 

She remembered the ring that Kenmur had so gently placed on her finger when he asked her to be his. How sweet and kind his voice was… she wondered if he was the same with that Emmalyn girl. Sasha looked down at her hand, it had burn scars and cooled melted skin that made her look disfigured. Kenmur would’ve never asked her to be his if she always looked like this. 

But Gene loved her. He did. He might punch, slap, kick, and scream at her, but he loved her more than you could love anything else. As she ran a shaky hand through her hair, she could feel the phantom patches of hair that he had ripped out of her head for being stupid, but he was doing it for a reason, to teach her a lesson. She was a better woman because of Gene, and she only hoped that he would get her out of this cruel and undeserving place. 

But why did she care in the first place about this whole wedding? Kenmur had never loved her and will never love her again. All that crying that he did when he found out she was alive was just a stupid ruse, a game he played. 

Would Gene ever marry her?

Chapter Text

Aphmau was putting the finishing touches on the archway that would stand above as Emmalyn and Kenmur got married. They had gotten the furniture a week ago, got the leveling done for the cliff a couple days ago, and now they could put these things to good use. 

The venue looked absolutely gorgeous. The trees were littered with fancy lights and flowers; the chairs had ribbons tied to them, and the walkway was a gorgeous milky white that led to the platform where Emmalyn, Kenmur, and Chad would stand. The layout was in the vaguest shape of a triangle where the Irene statue was the tip and the chairs at the back were spread out further than the platform. Yip, Levin, Alexis, and Kyle were also able to turn the Irene statue 180 degrees to face the audience rather than the horizon. 

Aphmau placed the last flowers in the wedding arch and walked back a bit to get a different perspective on her work. She thought it looked pretty neat. The flowers were a mix of the bride and groom’s favorites, which they were extremely lucky to find. 

“Aph!” 

She turned around. Levin was standing close to her with black pants, black shoes, and a white button-up shirt. His suit was slung around his arm. “Levin,” she smiled. “What’s up?” 

“Cadenza just wanted me to tell you that the wedding is starting in an hour.” 

Aphmau gasped, time had completely escaped her. “I totally forgot. Thank you.” She paused, “And don’t you look handsome.” She went over to the boy and pinched his cheeks. He blushed and squirmed out of her touch.

“Mom…” He whined. “I feel out of place. I haven’t worn a suit in so long.” 

She giggled. “Well, you look great. Do you ever think you’re going to get married?” 

Levin’s face went a bright shade of red. “I- I don’t know! I don’t- I mean I have so much- Do I even like someone? I have- I mean I’m so young.” 

Aphmau put a hand on her son’s shoulder. “I was just messing with you, Levin. When I was a lord, love was the last thing on my mind.” 

“Really? Because Laurance tells a very different story.” 

“Laurance is a maniac.” 

The blond boy laughed. The suit he was wearing made him look much older than Aphmau liked. She just wanted her baby boy back… she wondered how Malachi looked if he had on his suit. 

“Well, I’m going to get my dress from Cadenza.” She started walking away. “Don’t roll around in the mud, okay?”

Levin gave her a goofy smile. “I’ll try not to.” 

The mother had a pep in her step as she walked down the hill leading to the cliff. Areas of the hill that were too steep for high heels were replaced with wooden stairs to help the girls get to the ceremony. Aphmau hadn’t worn high heels in so long she thanked Alexis for suggesting the stairs that Yip then built with a smile, working with watchful eyes on his body. 

The plaza was just as beautiful as everything else. Flowers, ribbons, and lights littered the booths surrounding the mosaic of different colored glass and rocks embedded into the ground. Candles with ribbons tied to them were placed on the merchant booths to add more ambiance, which worked because in the middle of the plaza Donna and Logan were swaying side-to-side, holding each other tightly. 

It filled Aphmau’s heart with joy. The air was filled with love today, and Aphmau couldn’t be happier. She wondered where Laurance was. 

Cadenza in the library dancing away with Katelyn to nothing but the sounds of rustling trees. They looked like complete opposites, the sun and moon that fit perfectly with each other. Cadenza’s dark skinned hand lazily holding onto Katelyn’s pale one as the woman swayed her hips and kicked her legs out a bit to nothing but the sounds of woodland creatures. There were a couple of areas in the broken library that were covered with opaque separators, Aphmau assumed that’s where the people got changed. 

“Cadenza!” Aphmau exclaimed, getting the woman’s attention. “I’ve come for my dress.” She stomped on the ground and put her hands out in a dramatic gesture. 

Cadenza already had a dress on, one that was a light blue and showed her neck and shoulders and had long puffy sleeves that cinched at her wrist, as well as having a long flowing skirt that stopped around her knees. Katelyn, on the other hand, was wearing a pantsuit with the jacket open that was the same color as Cadenza’s dress. 

“Aphmau!” Cadenza said with a smile and spun away to a rack of dresses. She took one off the rack and slung it around her arm before coming to Aphmau. “I remember your love for purple, so don’t worry.” She handed the dress over. “You can go change over there.” She pointed towards a corner of the library that was being secluded by a separator. 

Aphmau thanked her before going over and changing. The dress with a light purple color, it showed her neck and shoulders with short puffy sleeves. The dress had a small ribbon at the chest that made it better fitting and was slightly cinched at the waist. It was flowy and had an outer layer of transparent purple fabric that flowed with the soft wind circulating through the building. The dress ended a little below her knees, similar to Cadenza’s dress length.

A loud squeal of excitement made Aphmau jolt out of the corner to see if anything was wrong. In front of her stood Cadenza and Katelyn fawning over a woman in a long white wedding dress with a large white bow tied in the back and transparent long sleeves. 

Emmalyn turned around. She had tears in her eyes when her face came into view. Aphmau rushed by her side with a gentle hug, being careful around the gorgeous dress. 

The bride had to take her glasses off she was crying so much which prompted Aphmau to cradle the woman’s face “Oh Emmalyn…” She whispered “You look gorgeous.” 

“I don’t feel it.” 

“Well, you do. Everyone out there is going to break their necks looking at you.” 

Emmalyn let out a weak laugh, her eyes stalking over the overgrown building. “Remember when Garroth shoved you into my house without even asking me first?”

“Yeah,” Aphmau laughed. “Yeah, I do.” She wiped the tears from Emmalyn’s eyes and led her to a vanity that Cadenza had set up to help with makeup and hair. The two dancing women had left the bride and maid of honor to talk alone before the wedding. Cadenza had seen Aphmau calm down Donna before her wedding and knew that this was going to be a private moment between the two women. 

There was a sniffle. “I can’t believe I’m getting married.” 

“I can’t believe I’m being a maid of honor for the second time.” This made Emmalyn laugh. Aphmau began doing the woman’s hair. She imagined Emmalyn’s long hair would do nicely in a low bun.

“I’m sorry I’ve paused our research on Irene. I wanted to help you but there-” 

“Don’t worry about that, please. I don’t mind, it’s your wedding.” Aphmau brushed out the blonde hair in front of her. “You’re supposed to relax.” 

A silence washed over them as the sky grew into a soft purple and Aphmau continued doing Emmalyn’s hair. She wouldn’t be able to do anything special with her hair, but with how much she would have to do, she didn’t really want to. 

“Thank you.” Emmalyn whispered quietly, so quietly it took Aphmau a second to understand what she had said. 

Aphmau stood parallel to Laurance, the man of honor to Kenmur. She was holding a bouquet of azaleas, which were Emmalyn’s favorite flower. Chad and Kenmur were standing in between the man and maid of honor. Chad had changed his all brown suit for some holy robes that Malachi had picked up on their trading trip. It was a little embarrassing that Aphmau was still shorter than most people here in heels. 

First to walk down the aisle were Dimitri, in a little suit with a purple bowtie and holding a pillow with two rings on, and Itsuki, who was in a cute blue dress and throwing pink flower petals similar to the ones Aphmau was holding. Dimitri handed the pillow over to Chad, who held the gold wedding bands in a way that showed them off. 

Finally, Emmalyn came down the aisle. She looked as beautiful as ever. Her glasses were a little foggy with her tears and her legs were shaking, but despite all that, she looked gorgeous. Kenmur’s face made Aphmau believe he was going to cry. 

The groom grabbed his soon-to-be wife’s hand and helped her get onto the platform, where he then grabbed her other hand gently and Chad started talking. 

“Dearly beloved,” He said, and Aphmau hoped to Irene he wouldn’t mess this up. “We are gathered here today to join in unity these two souls who have traversed beyond themselves to become one!” He looked at the Lady Irene statue for a second as he continued, “The love they share shall be bonded together here on this day, witnessed here by family and friends and by her, Lady Irene.” Chad gave the two lovers the wedding bands. 

“Kenmur, do you take Emmalyn to be your darling wife?” 

“Yes, I do.” And Kenmur slid the little band onto Emmalyn’s left hand.

“And do you, Emmalyn, take Kenmur in this union to be your dashing husband?” 

Emmalyn turned around, Aphmau smiled gently towards her. Urging the woman to say yes. 

She turned back around to face her husband-to-be. “Yes, I do.” She said with a smile and slid the wedding band onto Kenmur’s left hand.  

Chad clapped like a giddy child. “Yay! Now I pronounce you Husband and Wife! You may kiss the bride!” 

Everyone cheered as Emmalyn and Kenmur grabbed each other, slamming their lips together and holding each other tight. 

The crowd led themselves over the large plaza where the dark sky made the lights and candles shine even brighter than before. People were grabbing plates and eating or dancing to the music that Logan, Malachi, and Levin started playing. Aphmau and Laurance had been two of the people to just grab food and sit at one table that Donna and Logan had decorated. Emmalyn and Kenmur found themselves on the dance floor proclaiming their love in the strangest dance moves Aphmau had ever seen.

Laurance ate grilled meat on a stick that Belladonna had made. It was ‘Greek’ according to her, which was some new group of people that were taking over some part of Gal’Ruk. He turned around, smiling when his eyes laid on Emmalyn and Kenmur. 

“They’re beautiful.” He said with his mouth full, “Don’t you think so.” 

Aphmau laughed at the guard she was sitting next to. “Yeah, almost as beautiful as you right now.” 

Laurance rolled his eyes, chewing the handful of food he had just shoved in his mouth. 

“This was really fun.” Aphmau added, “Despite your piggish behavior.”  

“I’m hungry!” Laurance argued. “Don’t blame me for the food being good!” 

“No, no, I’m not blaming you, but… you could be cleaner.” 

“But you love me anyway.” 

“Even though I shouldn’t.” 

“No, you definitely should.” They both laughed a little before Laurance got quiet and looked softly into Aphmau’s eyes. “I’m glad you took it easy.” He placed his hand on top of hers. “I know it’s longer than I said-” 

“Don’t be sorry. I enjoyed this break.” She smiled, “Even though it was a little long.” 

He smiled back. “And I don’t mean to ruin the mood but… O’Khasis.” 

Aphmau knew that this was coming, she knew what next he was going to say, but she beat him to it “I’ll tell Levin, Malachi, and Cadenza in the morning.” Laurance whispered an apology, “I just wanted to feel happy for a moment.” She looked down at her hands, all in one moment she had remembered the last wedding she had gone to and who was sitting by her side at that last wedding. 

Her throat got tight and her eyes started stinging, but she didn’t want to ruin the night. Laurance was about to utter another apology when Vylad came into the picture and forcefully ripped Laurance’s attention away from his lady. 

“Vylad.” He said with a smile as the blind man sat down. He looked great in the suit he was in. 

“Laurance, how are you enjoying this evening?” 

Aphmau sat on the edge of the beach, cradling her knees close to her chest as tears streamed from her eyes. The sea water was getting her dress wet, but she could care less. Her sobs were swallowed by the sounds of the waves, which comforted her that no one could hear her. 

She missed him so much, so much more than she wanted to. It hurt her so much that he couldn’t be here with her right now. Hold her hand, make her laugh, protect her as Zane interrupted their moment. She could remember that day so vividly, so clearly, she could feel a phantom of Garroth sitting right next to her. 

“Are you alright?” 

Aphmau flinched and turned to see Aaron walking up to her. “I heard you crying.” He said. 

She wiped her eyes and nose. “I’m fine, just need to get my feelings out.” 

Aaron took a seat next to the woman, stretching his legs out and allowing his dress pants to get all wet. He had no shoes or socks… Aphmau wondered how long he had been down here. 

“I get that.” Aphmau continued looking out at the horizon, the moon shining so beautifully on her. She could almost see Garroth’s bright blue eyes and joyful smile. “I had to leave because Emmalyn and Kenmur reminded me too much of me and my husband’s wedding.” 

“Oh… I’m sorry…” 

“Don’t be, it was just unfortunate that Kenmur’s favorite flower is Lily of the Valley… that was his favorite.” 

She sniffled. “I don’t I ever found out what Garroth’s favorite flower was. He might’ve like hydrangeas since they’re blue.” 

“Blue is his favorite color?” 

Aphmau nodded. Garroth liked everything blue. Maybe it was egotism because of his blue eyes, or maybe it was just a coincidence. 

“Red is mine.” 

“I can tell.” Aphmau gave a quick look at the bandana wrapped around Aaron’s eyes to block his identity. 

A silence washed over them. The waves sounded like drums in Aphmau’s ears as the stinging in her eyes started again. She bit her lips, trying to stop the crying, but it was no use. The tears spilled out of her eyes like water spilling out from a waterfall. 

Aaron turned his head. “I can leave.” He suggested. Aphmau just nodded. Aaron rubbed the woman’s shoulder before getting to his feet and walking up the stairs that led to the beach. Aphmau took this time alone to let go of her knees and let her feet get washed over by the icy waves. She closed her eyes and laid back against the sand. Only when she closed her eyes could she see her guard. 

Aphmau and Belladonna had a meeting with her sons and Cadenza the next morning. They sat in Levin and Malachi’s living room. Levin, Malachi, Cadenza, and her head guard, Zach all sat on the couch as Belladonna informed them of the impending doom that was Tu’La. Aphmau also explained to them she never meant to cause them harm by keeping this from them. She just wanted everyone to be happy and not worry about anything. She knew it was wrong, but… this wedding was probably the best thing that had happened to them in a while, especially after her sons had been kidnapped. 

She felt so terribly ashamed of herself for keeping this from the people that needed to hear it the most. Everyone in the living room stayed silent, processing the information that Belladonna had just told them, their faces reading a mix of shock and fear, something Aphmau had expected to see. She stood up there, in front of everyone, swaying softly and messing with her hands as anxiety riddled her mind. 

She felt terrible. 

“O’Khasis…” Cadenza said softly “is being invaded by a region that 15-years-ago was crumbling.” The fire in her quiet voice was apparent. 

“Yes.” Aphmau responded, “It’s crazy, I know, but this is what’s happening.” 

“I’m still confused about how Tu’La has a king?” Levin said. “I mean, weren’t those outlawed?” 

“In Ru’aun.” Malachi signed. “The Divine Warriors made a call to action where one man could not rule over the entire Ru’aun region. Every other region has free rein for a monarchy.” 

The air was thick as they wondered what all of this meant for them. What did this mean for Phoenix Drop? 

Cadenza spoke again. Her guard, Zach, stayed silent during this entire meeting so far. Aphmau wondered if Zach was silently regretting letting New Meteli join the Phoenix Alliance. “O’Khasis is close to Phoenix Drop… could Tu’La go to us next?” 

Belladonna shrugged. “There’s a possibility. They’ve yet to come to us, so I’d say we just prepare.” 

“Prepare for war.” Levin’s voice was small and sad. He sounded like when Aphmau realized she had to prepare for a war against both O’Khasis and Scaleswind. 

“Yes.” 

Levin looked up at his mother, a small smile on his lips. “My second year as lord and I’m already preparing for war. I’m really getting the whole experience.” 

Aphmau and Cadenza both laughed. Cadenza looked like she was on the brink of tears as she laughed, her big smile contradicting her worried eyes. Aphmau was expecting outbursts, yelling, furious claims that Aphmau was being selfish for not telling anyone, but instead of that, she got quietness and unknowing tears. 

“O’Khasis being invaded is scary…” Zach didn’t make eye contact with anyone. “Like really scary.” 

“I know, but this doesn’t have to be the end of the world.” Aphmau informed them. “It’s been a month and like I said, they haven’t come to Phoenix Drop yet. That could mean O’Khasis defeated them or-” 

“Or they’re going to the next powerhouse of Ru’aun like Scaleswind.” Zach cut in. 

“Why are they going to Ru’aun in the first place?” Levin then asked. He was honestly asking the important questions out of all of them. 

“We are a very important region-” 

“Okay!” Aphmau snapped. “I get this is scary, but we have to think for a moment, ignore everything and just focus on making sure we’re safe.” Everyone shut up after that, looking down at the floor like they were ashamed. “Someone needs to tell Scaleswind. I’m planning on heading to Pikoro, so when I cut through Bright Port I can tell Lord John.” 

“Why are you going to Pikoro?” Malachi asked.

 “I wasn’t aware of this.” Belladonna turned towards her friend, the same confused face that Malachi had. 

“I’m going to Pikoro to find my friend Lucinda. I believe she could be helpful in the Phoenix Alliance.” 

“Oh okay, are you planning on leaving today?” 

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to speak to the group.” By group Aphmau meant Aaron, Katelyn, Laurance, Kitten, Belladonna and Travis since she damn well Emmalyn and Kenmur would not come since they had just gotten married. 

“I won’t be able to come.” Belladonna said, “I’ll have to help the Phoenix Drop prepare.” 

“Okay, that’s fine. I wasn’t thinking of bringing a bunch of people since that would take away resources from Phoenix Drop.” 

“So I’ll go back to New Meteli and give the message to my guards and council that we have a possible threat.” 

“That would be the best course of action. You don’t want to scare anyone.” Belladonna responded. No matter how calmly and subtly someone could say O’Khasis was invaded, people were going to be scared. It was O’Khasis for crying out loud, the second biggest powerhouse in the Ru’aun region, a place like that doesn’t just get invaded, and so easily. Aphmau could remember how quickly the guards had stormed the village. The blue on their uniforms was burned into her brain.

Levin sighed. “We’ll have to go find someone to go to Scaleswind then.” 

Aphmau looked out the house’s window and she could see Chad annoying Katelyn while the blue-haired woman tried her best to ignore him. Aphmau thought her plan through. If they were to get everything they needed right now, they could head to Bright Port and then sleep there if needed. They could then head to Pikoro as early as possible. If she remembered correctly, getting to Pikoro took them two weeks if they started in Bright Port.  

They ended the meeting with somber faces and Aphmau headed out to ask her friends if they wanted to join her on her trip to Pikoro to see if Lucinda or Pikoro itself would join in on their Phoenix Alliance. Out of her group, Katelyn and Vylad were the only ones who wouldn’t be coming on their trip, Katelyn told Aphmau that she could be the messenger to Scaleswind and that going there would give her a chance to reunite with Abby… Jeffory’s daughter. Vylad wouldn’t be coming because he saw it as his duty to protect Phoenix Drop, the village he had watched for so long. 

 Laurance said he had to join since he was a guard of Aphmau’s, Travis said he had to join as well because he was a guard of the Phoenix Alliance, Aaron wanted to join because he enjoyed traveling, and Kitten was joining because she wanted to see Lucinda again. In private, Kitten informed Aphmau that she was slightly frightened for Pikoro as she couldn’t see anything from it, just a cloud of ice and snow covering the once blossoming village. That weirded Aphmau out because last she remembered Pikoro wasn’t covered in snow at all, yes it was near a snowy area which was the Ventos fortes tribe but the village itself was warm. And on the most useless information, Chad politely and ‘importantly’ told Aphmau that he wouldn’t be joining because he needed to work on an invention of his. Aphmau told him she was sad he wouldn’t be coming along, but really she couldn’t be happier. She did not want that dude coming along with them and annoying them the entire trip. 

All the other trips that they had gone on resulted in the settlement having enough for a 2 week trip and little more if things ever went sideways. The group packed all their belongings and set out to head to Bright Port in the afternoon. Aphmau told the group to pack winter clothes since they were going to have to pass the Ventos fortes tribe which was covered in snow. She didn’t tell them of what Kitten saw, but that was part of the reason she told them to pack winter clothes, in case Pikoro was as cold as Kitten described it. While packing the ship that they were going to be using, Aphmau noticed more than once that Laurance would just freeze and daze off into the horizon. She always asked him if something was wrong, but he would just brush her off and say everything was fine. It was becoming useless to ask him, and she eventually gave up. 

Cadenza and Zach left the same time that Aphmau and her crew were supposed to leave, so they were able to say goodbye to red-head and her head guard before setting off to the shining Bright Port. 

The moon was shining above them when they got to Bright Port. Most of them were falling asleep and were violently awoken when the ship hit against the docks. Having a meeting with Lord John was the last thing on Aphmau’s mind as they searched through the dark village, trying to find a hotel that was free enough to fit all 5 of them. They were able to find a hotel and sleep in moderate comfort. Aphmau woke up multiple times through the night, but she never woke up to a beautiful purple sky and a prettier man sitting next to a tree in front of her. Her 4th time awake was her last as she stayed up. The sun was already peeking in through the blinds so she could get up with no one questioning her. 

Lord John was very understanding of the situation and why Levin and Malachi weren’t the ones to tell him of the potential war. He was appreciative that Aphmau told him, he even spoke of some of his fears to Aphmau. He vowed he would change Bright Port, change the wars, but this… this was something that could break his vow. 

“Sometimes that happens.” Aphmau told him. “Sometimes unexpected things happen. Lords aren’t there to stop the inevitable but to be there to heal and help when the inevitable happens.” 

He smiled at her with fond eyes, eyes that reminded Aphmau of that little kid that asked her to save his little wolf friend named Lowell. He told Aphmau that she was free to take any of their resources on their trip to Pikoro, which Aphmau thanked him graciously for. 

The first stop they made was at the Floração tribe, only because Aphmau wanted to check up on the portal to Hell that she had accidentally made worse. Walking through the decaying village made her heart sad. It made her painfully wonder where her old friends were and if they were okay, wherever they were. 

Laurance stopped her right before she entered the cave. Travis walked ahead of her. 

“Yeah?” she asked. He avoided eye contact with her and looked uncomfortable to a degree. “Is everything okay?” She lowered her voice in case this was a private matter. 

He pulled her away from the cave. “I just need to ask something of you.” He took a deep breath. “Shadow Knights feed off of each other, the same way that Shadow Souls do… Whenever I talk to Vincent, I’m enraged by his presence because I am feeding off him… Vincent does not feed off me.” 

“Wouldn’t that be a good thing, though?” She looked off to her side to see Kitten and Aaron playfully arguing with each other. “Wouldn’t that mean you aren’t really a Shadow Knight, and isn’t that a good thing?” 

“It would be but… but when we were in Meteli, Vincent had told me I’m stronger in a physical sense but not in a mental sense. I’m fighting a fight I’m doomed to lose if I keep my life like this… if I continue being a ‘fake’ Shadow Knight.” 

“Laurance, what are you asking me?” 

Aphmau thought he was going to cry from how distraught he looked while talking to her. “I need to learn how to control the Shadow Knight in me. I need to learn how to control me. By doing that, I’ll become stronger mentally and I won’t be such a risk anymore.” 

“Laurance…” She suspected what he was asking her… and it scared her. 

“I need to turn… I need to turn in order to control myself.” he told her. “I need to or more people will die and I can’t let that happen.” 

Flashes of her red wedding appeared in front of her, flashes of red covered her eyes. She was no longer in an adventurous outfit but in a wedding dress covered in dripping red. Laurance was no longer the kind soul he was but a large 10ft demon with blood dripping from his face. She could see the king, she could see his body crawling toward her with his head split in half and his broken body after falling several feet down to the ground. 

Aphmau squeezed her eyes shut. She was not there. Laurance would not kill her. No one was going to die. She was alive and well. 

She opened her eyes. Laurance was kind, sweet, amazing. He was not the evil man Aphmau had met at that wedding. Yeah, maybe that was a part of him, but that was not him, not the man she knew. Aphmau’s hand was shaking as she pressed it to Laurance’s cheek. 

“Sure.” 

His eyes widened. “Sure?” 

Aphmau nodded, letting her hand fall to grab his. “I ask one thing,” He nodded. “Only change if it’s necessary. I don’t want you turning out of anger, but out of your own will… okay?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, of course, that’s fine. That was my plan.” Laurance was much happier. His eyes were no longer drooping to the floor, but shining brightly as he looked at Aphmau. 

She smiled, a soft and barely noticeable smile, but she smiled at him. Aphmau didn’t want Laurance thinking she feared him again. She didn’t want to break their friendship when they were already doing so well. “I’m going to check on the portal, okay? You can wait with Kitten and Aaron.” 

“Will do so!” He saluted and hopped away with a big smile, something Aphmau would hope would come naturally to her soon when talking with Laurance. 

She turned back over to the cave, taking a deep breath before heading in. The feeling of disgust ran through her body, but nothing she couldn’t handle. 

Travis was standing in front of the portal as if he was soaking up the energy coming from it. Later on, she would call herself stupid for not noticing it, but Travis was much taller than he was before, and he was getting taller. Something she did notice was the weird stumps coming out of his head and claws sprouting from his fingers. 

“Travis?” Aphmau whispered “Are you okay?” 

He turned around, his mouth was ripping open into a smile that showed his jaw bones and his eyes were fading into a white murky color with red swimming in them like the ocean “Oh yeah I’m fine!” his bones made a slight clacking noise with his word he pronounced. 

Aphmau starred in horror. “Travis… What the fuck…” It was a surprise that anything came from her throat. Her heart was beating a million miles per hour as Travis got more and more frightening. 

Travis looked down, confused why Aphmau was so scared of him. He noticed his body contortions and made a face like the realization of what was happening to him was some joke. “Hold up,” He said and turned around, shaking his head and body for a minute before hopping back around with a bright smile. “Do I look better?” 

Aphmau was still in a horrified trance, despite the man’s normal appearance. “Travis…” 

He sighed, sadness taking over his body. “I know, I probably should’ve told you from the beginning, but I wanted you to judge me for me… not that…” 

It suddenly clicked in Aphmau. All the memories that she had of Travis came rushing back to her and everything clicked. “Are you the son of the Demon Warlock? Like the Demon Warlock? Like Mercure the Titan?” 

Travis nodded slowly. “Yeaah… I get it if you want to abandon me, kill me… I’ll understand.” 

“What? No.” Aphmau finally shook off her terror “I’m not leaving you, Travis.” 

“You’re not?” 

“No, why would I?” 

“Because I’m the son of a dude who tried to kill you and your friends… and I’m a demon.” 

She shrugged. “You’re better than him, though. You’ve proven to be better than him.” 

Travis smiled, “Thank you.” He said, “Thank you.” 

She took a step forward. Travis turned back towards the portal where his fingers turned into claws once again. “So I can assume the portal is making you change?” 

“Oh yeah, bad energy and everything really makes demons thrive.” 

“Hm.” 

“And I can assume that you’re the one who did this?” He turned toward her with a sly smile. “Why else would you want to visit this portal?” 

She sucked in a breath, cringing to herself, “I didn’t mean to. I just thought I was helping.” 

“I think Enki had a lot of books on how to close portals to hell like this, even some entries that taught you how to close it from the outside, but that always included a lot more risks than closing it from the inside.” He paused. “A lot more blood.” 

Aphmau shook her head in disgust. She would just hope that John and his guards are keeping a watchful eye on this thing. She turned to Travis. “You think we should head back now?” 

“Can you do anything to fix this portal?” 

She shook her head. 

“Then yeah, we can go.” 

Travis walked in front of Aphmau as they made their way out of the cave. Aphmau keeping her eye on it until the last minute, where the stone hallway blocked her view from the horrific portal.

Aaron, Laurance, and Kitten were already on their horses when they reached the sun-filled lands of the abandoned wolf tribe, they weren’t in there for long were they? Aphmau and Travis got on their horses and the group set off south-east to Pikoro. 

Chapter Text

After 2 days of non-stop riding, they took a break and set up a tent in the snowy lands that covered the Ventos fortes territory. After another 3 days, they took another break. During this second break, Aphmau wondered if Malachi’s castle had disappeared or maybe they took another way, but the castle that Aphmau had found the little ghost boy was nowhere to be seen. Aphmau wasn’t weirded out by the snowy lands just yet since she distinctly remembered Malachi’s castle being shrouded in snow but as they traveled further and further and even passed by the land where the Ventos fortes tribe used to thrive and there was still snow, that was when Aphmau was getting worried. 

When they passed by the Ventos fortes tribe, Aphmau finally spoke her worried out loud. She had had a small and private talk with Kitten about these strange changes to the Eastern lands but Kitten told her that not even she knew, Kitten had tried to look at what was going on but without her sister Passe there they could never really know what was going on. All Kitten said was that they were heading in the right direction.

“I’m not sure we’re going the right way.” Aphmau said as their horses threaded through the snow. 

“We are.” Aaron said before the other 2 men in their group could express their worry. “I used to roam around these areas… mother nature must’ve been cruel to this place.” 

Aphmau let out a small laugh. “I met you here.” 

He sighed. “Yeah, yeah you did.”

“You were shirtless.” She giggled. 

“You were what!?” Laurance exclaimed. “How could you be shirtless in weather like this!?” 

Aaron groaned. “I used to take ice baths! They’re good for your muscles, okay! It’s not my fault she decided to almost get killed in the middle of my bath!” 

“I had not decided to, asshole! I was ambushed!” 

“Because you weren’t paying attention!” 

“Are we at least heading the right way?” Travis broke in. “It would be useless if we’ve been riding for 12 days just to be heading in the wrong direction.” 

“We’re heading in the right direction.” Aaron said again, “Maybe this is a side-effect of not being in this world for 15 years.” 

Aphmau hummed in content, looking back to see Kitten keeping her head down and avoiding looking at everyone. She was ashamed. Aphmau remembered when Kitten broke down in tears after the fiasco that went down in Malachi’s castle. She had never seen Belladonna break down like that… Aphmau wondered if Kitten hated being a Titan of time. 

  After another 2 whole days of riding, they spotted a small campsite where a couple of people were staying, small tents scattered around a large wooden cabin with smoke coming from its chimney. Laurance suggested that him and Aphmau just go up since a group of 5 might be threatening to a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Aphmau and Laurance hopped off their horses and slid down a small hill to the flat land the cabin was on. 

They grabbed a woman’s attention who looked fairly young to be living out in the middle of nowhere like this. 

“Travelers!” she exclaimed with a smile. “What can I help you with?” The woman had long caramel brown hair with some of it tied up with a bow. A thick blue long sleeve dress covered her body with the addition of furry boots, gloves, and a cape to cover her up even more. 

“We just need somewhere to sleep - somewhere to be safe.” 

She clapped her hands. “Well, you are most definitely safe here! We have guest rooms in my home, but if you have tents, you are more than welcome to sleep out here, although I wouldn’t suggest it.” She leaned in like it was a secret. “The weather is cruel tonight.” 

“Wonderful.” Laurance said, “How many rooms do you have?” 

The hostess raised a brow. “Is two not enough?” 

Aphmau and Laurance both leaned away to see the 3 others that were accompanying them on the trip to Pikoro. The woman sucked in a breath. 

“Oh dear, I’m not sure we have that many open rooms-” 

“Oh, don’t worry, we’re more than happy to stay out tonight. We’ve been through much rougher conditions.” Aphmau reassured the woman. 

“Then you are more than welcome to stay. Make yourself at home. My name is Isabell if you need me and dinner will be served shortly!” She fluttered her fingers as a goodbye before skipping away from the duo. 

The group got settled fairly quickly before the residents of this campsite were called in for dinner, which comprised some warm stew that Isabella called ‘The Three Sister Stew’. It was Native Ru’aun culture Aphmau wasn’t aware of, of course Isabella didn’t look all that native with her fair skin and light brown hair but you can’t always judge a book by its cover. 

They bunched their tents up into one big tent so they could keep an iota of warmth in this cold climate. Aphmau found that the closer that they were getting to Pikoro, the colder the climate got. The small fire that burned in the middle of their large tent circle could not only act as a nightlight in the darkness that now surrounded this campsite when all the lamps went off, but also as an insulator for heat, which they very much needed. 

Aphmau slept next to Laurance, watching as he peacefully drifted off into unconsciousness. She couldn’t imagine someone who looked so sweet could do such terrible acts against mankind. 

For the first time in a very long time, Aphmau had a dream. It wasn’t of any significance and she wasn’t with Garroth, but she was rather in the middle of this tundra wasteland that supposedly inhabited the village of Pikoro. A man covered in snow-wear sat in the middle of a small clearing. The snow he was sitting on melted around him. Small sniffles could be heard from the man as his body shook. 

Aphmau stepped forward, and a hooded figure appeared in front of the shaking man. The freezing man looked up and let out a whimper of fear. 

“I don’t want to hurt her.” He whispered, “I don’t want to do that.” 

“Oh but Ivan,” The voice was far too familiar for Aphmau, “you need to prove yourself worthy.” 

“I am worthy-” 

“Not to her.” The sobbing man shut up. “Do you really think she respects you? Do you think anyone in Pikoro respects you?” The man said nothing as his shaking body got worse. “Oh please sweet Ivan, please do tell me. Do you think anyone respects you?” 

It hit Aphmau, whose voice was echoing in her head. 

“Zenix?” 

The surrounding scenery changed, fires bloomed, demons ran rampant, the air scorched any living being that was brave and enter the realm of insanity and torture. 

Hell. 

A man cloaked in black leaned against a railing, looking up at the red bleeding sky that was Hell. Aphmau was too frightened to move. 

The man turned his head and showed the face of the first person to betray Aphmau, the first person who Aphmau vowed to never forgive. Gene. 

He looked somber, sad, broken in a way Aphmau didn’t know was possible. “You’ll lose in the end.” He said, turning his head back to the screaming sky. “We all do.” 

Aphmau flinched away from Aaron shaking her shoulder. He longer had the red bandana wrapped around his eyes, he rather had it tied around his neck to form a loose collar. She wanted to say something but also didn’t want to draw attention to the new change. Perhaps Aaron wanted this transition to happen seamlessly without words. 

“Are you okay?” The morning sky was shining through the tent’s doorway. Aaron was keeping it open as he crouched next to Aphmau. 

Around her, the tent was empty. She was the last one to wake. “I’m fine.” She rubbed her eyes free of sleep. “Just dreams.” 

“Your body didn’t disappear.” 

“Normal dreams.” 

He hummed, letting out a sigh of content. “Well, Isabell is serving breakfast if you wanna get up and eat something.” 

Aphmau hadn’t changed last night since there was no need and no want for her bare body to get whipped by the cold. “That sounds fine, yeah.” She pulled her sleeping bag off of her and crawled out of the tent with Aaron. 

The sky was a gorgeous blue and the clouds were pure white. The snow glistened with sparkles from the sun shining upon it. Guests that took residence at this campsite were talking happily with each other as they ate from paper plates. Aphmau went over to a little table that Isabell had set up. She was standing next to it with what seemed to be her partner while eating the same food at the table. Aphmau grabbed two of what Isabell called ‘Frybread’ and covered them both in powdered sugar. And they tasted amazing. 

While eating, Aphmau remembered they had somewhere to be and they couldn’t just spend the rest of their days in this lovely settlement. 

“Isabell.” 

“Yes, dear?” 

“Could I ask you if you have any idea where Pikoro is? Or perhaps a witch named Lucinda?” 

Isabell’s face dropped and her eyes darted over to her partner, who wasn’t paying any attention. With no warning, the hostess grabbed Aphmau’s arm and dragged her behind the wooden cabin. They really were out in the middle of nowhere from how many trees surrounded this little house. Aphmau could’ve snapped at the woman for so forcefully dragging her away to where she almost dropped her food, but there was obviously a reason for this secrecy. 

Isabell seemed incredibly nervous, her fidgeting fingers displayed that. “Now I’m not exactly sure where Pikoro is because I haven’t been there in a long while.” Her voice was quiet and unsteady. “But I know vague knowledge of a witch that roams these lands. I don’t know of a witch under the name of Lucinda, though.” 

“That’s fine.” Aphmau chewed the last piece of fry bread. “Could you describe this witch to me, anyway?” 

“They call her the White Witch. She has bright orange hair and an all white dress that blends in with the snow covering these lands.” Isabell explained “It’s said she’s the protector of women since when women go missing they are always brought back to their families or their homes in a matter of days but it’s not said the same for men who get lost in the snow.” 

Bright orange hair definitely sounded like Lucinda, if anything that might’ve been her defining feature, if not her beauty. “Do you know where she lives?” 

Isabell shook her head sadly. “You always encounter her in the woods when you’re in pain or lost. My grandmother Mira even met her once when she was lost. I wouldn’t suggest it but… you could go out into the woods and fake an injury to see her.” 

Aphmau looked out to the snowy plains behind the house. The trees were tall and thick, and it would be easy to get lost when everything looked the same shade of sparkling white. Aphmau thanked Isabell for her information and thanked her for the hospitality she had given her friends. Isabell just blushed and brushed it off as nothing. 

Her group had circled together and were talking happily with each other, joking, teasing, and speaking of funny anecdotes of their wild lives. Aaron was in the middle of explaining his first meeting with Aphmau when she came over to tell everyone her plan on hopefully finding Lucinda. 

Everyone was on board. Laurance was hesitant to say yes but ultimately caved in when he looked into his lady’s eyes. Despite his cheerful smile and joking manner, he definitely had something going on. Aphmau didn’t know what, but she just wished that he talked to her instead of avoiding her. While finding out how to solve things on your own was important, Aphmau just wanted to be there for the man she cared about. She hung out so much with Laurance, yet she knew nothing about him.

The cold air nipped at any available skin Aphmau had shown. In her hands, she held a small pouch of chili powder that would hopefully ward off any angry werewolves or beasts that wanted to eat a (seemingly) helpless woman in the middle of the woods. She was more than happy to have remembered the powder. Turns out it had stayed at the bottom of her suitcase the entire time since her trip to Scaleswind, and she had just never noticed. 

The sun was glowing in the light blue sky. The snow sparkled but didn’t melt despite the sun’s hard effort to turn the ground into water. There was so much snow Aphmau couldn’t even feel the heat of the sun despite it being the middle of the day. 

There was a rustle in the trees and Aphmau stopped, clutching the chili powder in her hand. Pikoro wasn’t near any place like the Regra poderosa tribe, which had kidnapped Aphmau and her friends, but there was always a possibility that they were an extensive empire that controlled a large part of the south-eastern region of Ru’aun. 

She continued walking but heard more rustling and stopped again, holding the chili powder close to her chest and squeezing her eyes shut. Sounds in the snow that were loud and harsh but slow told her that something was moving toward her. 

Then she heard sniffing and a gag. 

“You!” The beat cried and Aphmau shot her eyes open. It was a werewolf, one that looked similar to the Regra poderosa tribe wolves. “You are the whore! The whore that broke free from her marriage.” 

“I am not a whore!” Aphmau spit at the wolf. More wolves emerged from the tree and her confidence wavered, but her voice did not. “You don’t get to speak to me that way!” 

“We do when you killed our king!” one wolf hissed. “We can do a lot worse than just spit cruel names.” 

“The only name you will be spitting will be the name of your god when I am done with you.” A warm and comforting feeling spread through Aphmau as the smooth voice moved through the trees of the forest. 

The wolves turned to see who dared speak to them while they were threatening this harmless girl, and Aphmau’s heart fluttered. The wolves didn’t look all that scared, but they should’ve been. 

Lucinda stood on the snow in nothing less than a power stance. She wore a white dress with fur boots that covered her remaining skin. Her neck line and wrists were lined with a large ring of white fur and the one thing that wasn’t white on her outfit was her golden tassels that swayed slightly because of the soft breeze that danced around them. Her orange hair was bright as ever and hung down freely to her butt. Some small parts of her hair were braided and wrapped with either beads or twins to add variety. 

“I will ask you this once as protector of this forest and the lives of women.” She twirled the staff in her hand so the business end was pointing at the wolves. The staff looked like Lucinda had ripped it straight off a tree. The only unnatural thing about it was the purple feather tied around the curved top and floating crystal that seemed to be connected to the crescent moon top of the staff. “Leave. This. Forest.” 

The wolves did nothing. A few even let out a huff like this woman had the audacity to tell them what to do. 

“You will not do as I say?” 

“Why would we ever listen to you, little girl?” A smile crept up on Aphmau’s face. The energy that Lucinda radiated was pure confidence. Lucinda was not a little girl, she was a woman. She was a whore. 

“You will not do as I say?” Lucinda repeated. 

The wolves looked at each other as if to say, ‘is she serious?’

“No, we will not do as you say.” 

Lucinda twirled her staff again, the end hovering just above the snow. “Then pray.” The moment the end of the staff hit the snow, the werewolves painfully and slowly turned to snow. Their agonizing screams echoed and bounced off the trees of the forest. Snow fell to the ground in heaps as their screams shook the earth. Birds flew from their homes and animals scattered. 

Aphmau was shocked by the gruesome nature of what was happening. When the first wolf screamed for mercy, she covered her ears and crouched down in the snow until it all stopped. She was sure that her ears were bleeding from how loud the screams were, but when she pulled her hands away, nothing was there. It was horrific, Aphmau had never seen Lucinda do that before… but 15 years might’ve changed a person… maybe she was no longer the Lucinda that Aphmau remembered. 

When Aphmau looked away from the petrified werewolf bodies and looked at the witch who did this, she was met with wide and shocked eyes. Petrified, just like the wolves. 

Lucinda’s grip on her staff grew tighter, as did her throat. Her eyes swarmed with tears. “No… no, this is some trick…” 

Aphmau stood up, a smile creeping up on her face. She shook her head. “I’m here, I’m really here.” 

A small cry broke through Lucinda before the witch ran full force at her old friend and attacked her with a tight hug. The witch cried into thick black hair as Aphmau clung to her, reassuring her she would never leave like that again. 

Other than the small cry session, Lucinda was ecstatic to see Aphmau again. Unlike Aphmau’s other friends that she had reunited with, Lucinda informed her that while she was curious about what exactly happened that day 15 years ago, she knew Aphmau hadn’t just gone missing. She had tried telling everyone that there was definitely something otherworldly afoot, but no one was listening to her and eventually… she had to give up. The witch felt unshakable guilt for leaving Phoenix Drop in the state that it was in, but Lucinda had dreams she wanted to accomplish, and Aphmau was understanding. 

Aphmau told the witch of what they were doing here, that she needed to speak to Lucinda, and where they were staying. Lucinda’s eyebrows raised, turns out she was actually heading to the camp that Aphmau was staying at for business reasons. Aphmau didn’t ask what those business reasons were. Lucinda then told her that when everything was settled, they could head back to Pikoro, which was only a mile or two away where Lucinda could really talk instead of just standing in the snow. 

So, they walked back to the camp. Mid-way, they met with Travis and Aaron, who were chosen by the other 2 in their group to go see if Aphmau was still alive, which obviously she was. They introduced themselves to the native witch, where Travis and Lucinda hit it off quickly. He stole her attention for the rest of the walk while Aphmau and Aaron stared in astonishment at what was happening. 

The camp was strangely quiet when they approached it. The air around the campsite grew thin and dark gray clouds had taken the sun’s place over the house and tents scattered about. Aphmau could only assume the worst. 

Laurance was standing over Isabell’s partner, his now red armored boot pressing down on the man’s chest. He was wearing his winter clothes but with dark red fiery armor pieces on his shoulders, elbows, and lower legs. His sword was no longer a steel gray but a dark red that emitting nothing but darkness and sickness, held the sword up to the man’s throat, which explained why there was no screaming. The guard’s eyes were bloodshot, and he was panting. Isabell had fallen in the snow and showed no sign of getting up. 

Everyone gasped when they turned to the corner to see the murderous sight. Aphmau held the group back as they all got into an offensive position to attack Laurance. She wouldn’t allow that. 

Laurance’s eyes were filled with fury when his head snapped to face her. “He hurt her!” She didn’t even have to ask. 

“Okay…” She hesitantly took a step. She wondered if it was her partner’s fault Isabell was on the floor or if it was Laurance’s. “I’m mainly concerned about what you’re doing.” 

“I’m protecting Isabell! I’m protecting this camp!” 

Everyone looked scared shitless. “Laurance… do they look protected?” 

Laurance looked around. The campers were hiding behind their tents, hesitantly peaking their heads out like they might be next to Laurance’s rampage. Behind him, Isabell was still in the snow, her dress soaking up the ice. Her face read something of pure fear as Laurance and her met eyes. The tears falling down her cheeks were freezing from the cold. 

The guard looked back at Aphmau. 

“Do they look protected?” She asked again. “Did you transform out of your own will or out of anger?” 

He looked down at the man he was pressing his foot on. There was steam coming from his foot, telling him that the heat from his boot was searing into the man’s skin. Laurance looked back at Aphmau. 

“Laurance… don’t do this.” 

He slowly took his foot off the man and moved the sword away. Isabell’s partner let out a loud sigh and turned around into the snow to cool his chest off. Laurance let his sword fall to the ground and a loud ring came out as the fire of the sword and coolness of the snow collided.

Laurance turned to Isabell, reaching out his hand for her to take, but she did nothing but stare at him in fear. 

“Thanks.” Lucinda said and pointed her staff at the victim of Laurance’s anger. In a matter of seconds and an ear bleeding agonizing scream later, the man was encased in stone just like the werewolves in the forest. His face of pain and fear stared at the group, since he had rolled over in pain. 

Everyone started asking Lucinda what was wrong with her and why she did that, but the witch did not answer to anybody. She simply reached her hand out to Isabell and said. 

“I’m here to take you home, darling.” 

“What?” Everyone asked. 

Lucinda looked at Aphmau and her group, eyeing Laurance strangely. “I’m here for a reason. I told you this, Aphmau.” 

“Yeah, but… why are you here for her?” 

Isabell was now on her feet and kept her eyes on the snow. “You probably think I was kidnapped.” She spoke softly to Lucinda. 

The witch turned to the scared lady. “Well, are you not?”

Isabell hesitantly answered. “Not really…” Everyone stared at her, waiting for an answer. “I ran away with him, but he changed… he changed and I couldn’t leave.” 

Lucinda caressed the woman’s face. “No one should have to go through that darling-”

“But he wasn’t a wicked man!” Isabell jerked herself away from Lucinda. “He doesn’t deserve this!” She gestured towards her partner’s frozen body. 

Laurance gave her a look. “He most definitely deserves this! He hit you!” 

“He’s also a criminal and a murder, Isabell!” Lucinda informed her. “He most definitely deserves this!” repeating what Laurance had just said. 

Isabell went quiet at this, looking down at her feet and gripping her hands. Lucinda opened her mouth but said nothing, sighing sadly before going over to the petrified body and drawing a circle around him with the end of her staff. 

“So are we going to Pikoro?” Travis asked. 

Lucinda turned to them. “Yeah, of course, I just need to get this guy situated so when we’re back at Pikoro, I can teleport him.” She smiled and then darted her eyes to Laurance who was still emitting a dark energy and had all his fiery Shadow Knight armor still on and his eyes bloodshot. “It’s obvious though, you guys have some things to deal with before we head out.” 

Laurance avoided eye contact with everyone. Aphmau’s heart broke and she told everyone to get ready as she spoke with Laurance. As she tenderly held her friend’s hand to talk with him out of everyone’s sight, she noticed Kitten standing completely still near some of the campers’ tents. Her eyes were the only thing moving as Lucinda moved across the snow. It was a little funny seeing the woman so star-struck. Obviously, there was going to be some awkwardness between the Meif’wa and the witch, but this was just funny. 

Aphmau took her guard to the side of the Cabin, in the shadows where they couldn’t be seen by the residents of their area. 

“Laurance-” she started, but was cut off. 

“I know, I know, I know.” He held his hands to his face and slid down the side of the cabin. “I don’t know what happened… I got angry and transformed and I know I shouldn’t have, but I did.” 

Aphmau slid down beside Laurance as he vented. Stroking his shoulder as tears began streaming down his cheeks. 

“I feel terrible. I feel so disgustingly terrible about everything.” He hiccuped, “It felt terrible shifting into that mindset and especially everyone’s faces I- oh, Aphmau it’s so terrible.” 

“I really didn’t mean to.” He continued. “I didn’t mean to and I want to apologize, apologize to everyone about how I’ve been acting but I-… I don’t know why I can’t handle anger like a normal person.” 

“Well, you’re not normal, Laurance.” He turned towards her. “I don’t know what you want me to say… you’re not normal and that’s something you’ll have to deal with.” 

“I don’t know how to deal with it, though.” He crossed his arms around his knees and rested his head on them. “I don’t know how to live like this.” 

Aphmau continued to rub her friend’s back. She didn’t know what Laurance was going through, she had no idea what type of advice could help or hurt Laurance. She didn’t know what she could do. “Just… focus.” She murmured. Aphmau remembered the advice that Kitten and Belladonna had given to her when she was trying to figure out how to navigate the sacred forest.

He gave her a look but said nothing. 

“That seems stupid, I know. But you just need to focus. Focus on nothing but everything at the same time.” She moved around to hold Laurance’s hands and look him in his eyes. “Just focus.” 

Laurance stayed silent, staring at Aphmau a little longer. He was afraid that if he closed his eyes, he would be back in that bastard place, and he didn’t want to go back there. He didn’t want to leave her. 

Laurance closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths. Not once did his grip on Aphmau falter. His hands continued to stay in hers and that’s how they sat as Laurance focused on calming himself down. And for the first time in a while, Laurance felt at peace. He felt secure in himself. 

Aphmau was beaming when Laurance opened his eyes. He looked down at himself and the armor was gone and from the strong eye contact Aphmau was giving him, his eyes were better.

“Do you think you’re ready to head to Pikoro?” 

Laurance nodded, “Yeah, I’m ready.” 

When they got back to their group, everyone was ready to set off for Pikoro. According to Lucinda, it wasn’t that far away. A friend of Isabell’s had taken control of the campsite while she was gone and her partner was detained for his evil-doings. From the look of things, everyone seemed to get really well with Lucinda. She was a naturally extroverted person and the shine coming from her was magnetic. Even Laurance, who was ashamed she had seen him in his Shadow Knight form, was happily talking to her. The only person who seemed on edge about the witch was Kitten, which was ironic to a point. 

She was actively avoiding the woman, making sure to not make eye contact and when she wanted to speak her opinion on their conversation they were having, she would tell it to someone like Laurance or Travis, but never her ex-lover. Lucinda seemed a little on edge too about the Meif’wa, but she was much better at hiding it. Aphmau tried talking to Kitten about what was going on but she simply brushed it off as she was tired and just wanted to get to Pikoro. Usually Kitten wasn’t that bad at lying, but today seemed to be an exception.

Chapter Text

The ride to Pikoro was fairly short. They ended up in the frozen village before noon. They parked their horses in a public stable and went off to find a hotel for the group to stay at. Lucinda told them they could do what they wanted while she settled the whole kidnapping situation that was between Isabell and her fiance (according to Isabell). 

The group slept for the other half of their day, finding a hotel room and throwing their stuff without care before crashing down onto their hard beds and passing out. Their rooms were all connected with a bathroom, so technically, they were all sleeping in the same room. This made it easy for Lucinda to wake them up all at once when she wanted to take them out for dinner. 

Dinner was splendid. Lucinda treated them to the best restaurant in Pikoro, which was a restaurant she helped make. They all ate great food while the gang explained where they had been for the past 15 years (excluding Travis). 

Lucinda was shocked, intensely listening to everyone as they told their own view of the story. Now and then she would sneak a look from Kitten, but other than that, no genuine conversation started between the two. Aphmau would’ve thought they would’ve been excited to see one another after all this time, but obviously not. Eventually Lucinda opened up and started talking about her life during this 15 year time period, and a lot of the things that the witch said were not something that Aphmau was expecting. 

Like, the first thing they found out was that Lucinda wasn’t the Lord of Pikoro.

“Huh!?” Aphmau exclaimed, “But isn’t it your birthright?” 

Lucinda sheepishly smiled. “Yeah, it is, but… I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t be Lord, that wasn’t for me.” She explained as everyone sipped their drinks. “I even tried it out for a couple of months, but I’m not really someone who can lead.” 

“But you’re so confident.” Laurance added, Aphmau agreed. 

Lucinda cringed, taking a sip from her drink. “I’m not a leader, though. I can teach, but I’m not a Lord.” A smile crept onto her face. “And that is why my apprentice is the Lord of Pikoro.” 

“What!?” Everyone exclaimed. 

The witch let out a cackle. “Yep! Her name is Hailey. She’s 20, she became my apprentice 6-ish years ago, and became Lord 4-ish years ago.” 

Everyone was wowed. Hailey was only 16 when she first became Lord, similar to Levin and Malachi. And she was only 14 when she became Lucinda’s apprentice. It was impressive. 

For the first time in that conversation, Kitten spoke up to Lucinda. “So… any love interest?” She was staring at Lucinda with nothing but disdain. Aphmau was expecting tight hugs and tearful kisses from the two, but that’s the exact opposite of what she got. It was unsettling to a point. 

No one paid attention to Kitten’s looks, or that Lucinda seemed incredibly uncomfortable, they only turned into little children when hearing that Lucinda might’ve had a lover. 

Lucinda laughed nervously. Aphmau looked at her friend with worry. “Maybe.” Her smile was painful. “Maybe one, a boyfriend named Ivan.” The witch refused eye contact with anyone, sadly stirring her drink. 

“You have to tell us now!” Laurance said. “You can’t just leave us like that.” 

“Oh, it’s not that important-” 

“Love is always important!” Travis said. “Now tell us! I need to know if he’s like me so I can know if I have a chance with you.” Aaron and Laurance both smacked the man’s arms, causing him to yelp in pain. 

Lucinda spit out a laugh. “Okay, okay, I spill.” She took a deep breath. “His name was Ivan. He was a warlock, so we were already a perfect match. I met him 2 years or so after moving to Pikoro, so he helped me a lot with ruling over this place.” Her attitude got a little sad after she finished explaining who he was. “I was with him for 6 years before we broke up. We actually broke up last year.” 

Kitten’s rude demeanor immediately changed. She reached her hand out to touch the witch’s. “Oh Lucinda, I’m so sorry.” The woman gave her a soft, sad smile. “If it’s not too much to ask… how did you guys end things? I hope it was on a good note.” 

“It’s not, don’t worry.” She gave off another uncomfortable laugh. Kitten no longer looked at her ex-lover with jealousy, but more with empathy and sadness for the witch. “It’s kinda a long story.” 

“We have all the time in the world.” Aphmau told her. “You don’t have to rush.” 

Lucinda looked up at Aphmau with sad eyes. It reminded her so much of when Lucinda reunited with her father. “Well… We had been dating for 2 years when a bandit group came in and attacked the village.” She sniffled and looked down at her drink. “We had been fighting for a while when one of my spells missed, or something, and instead of hitting a bandit, I hit… I hit him.” The mood dropped at their table. Smiles and happy eyes were replaced with frowns and sympathetic looks. “Before he died, I put a curse on him so he would become part of this land. For 4 long years he protected this village and got it blossoming until Hailey became my apprentice… She informed me that Ivan was lying to me, holding information, that he-” 

“Was a part of the Jury of Nine?” Aaron cut in. 

Lucinda looked at him with shock. “How do you know that?”

“I used to work with him.” He said, and everyone was suddenly reminded of Aaron’s past. “Me and him never really got along. He was too… insane for me.” 

A small smile found its way on Lucinda’s lips as she remembered her old boyfriend. “Yeah, but me and him got into a fight about it and we broke up.” 

Aphmau gasped as it all came together. “Is that why Pikoro is covered in snow right now? Because you and Ivan got into a fight?” 

Lucinda sucked in a breath. “Yeah.” She drew out in awkwardness. “Hailey and I have tried contacting him so many times, but it never works.” 

“You guys got in that bad of a fight?” Kitten asked. 

The witch nodded. “It was bad.” 

“Wow, I can’t imagine breaking up with you over that.” 

Lucinda looked at her ex-lover with sad eyes. She was about to say something when a guard burst into the restaurant and came up to the group. 

“Lucinda! Lucinda!” The voice echoed through the restaurant, everyone jumped in their seats. 

Lucinda asked the guard what was wrong. “A woman and child have gone missing in the woods near the apple orchard.” He exclaimed. 

Lucinda’s eyes went wide, and she shot up from the table. “What!? Where is their family!?”  

“We’re talking to them right now in the station! They claim a large wind came before the mother and child were taken.” 

Aphmau could see Lucinda’s stomach drop. Something in the woman told her this was Lucinda’s ex’s fault. 

Lucinda snapped her head towards everyone. “Anyone who’s with me by the time I exit through that door is coming with me.” 

Everyone shot up out of their seats and ran with Lucinda out of the restaurant. They followed Lucinda as they ran through the thick snow; the wind whipping their skin, and the cold freezing their lungs. Aphmau was confused on how there could be an apple orchard in such freezing weather, but witchcraft was always a plausible answer when Lucinda was around.

They continued running through the snow for a while. Lucinda’s staff glowed through the dark night, which helped light their way. Laurance was also glowing. While running, he turned into his Shadow Knight form and his red armor and red sword was glowing in the dark and emitting a heat that kept the group warm. Aphmau only hoped Laurance had turned because he wanted to. 

A scream from Aaron erupted out of nowhere and the group turned around to see Aaron encased in ice from his waist down. Laurance tried to get Aaron out of the ice chunk by slicing it with his sword, but as soon as his sword contacted the ice, Laurance’s arms and lower half were encased in another ice chunk similar to Aaron’s. Everyone backed away from the men in fear that they would be next to be frozen in ice. 

A woman laughed, and the quartet turned around to see a random woman standing in the snow with red liquid circling her body. “Oh, this is a turn up!” She exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting so many people!” 

“Ivan?” Aphmau questioned. This is not what she imagined him to look like. The person standing in front of them looked like a mother, not an evil warlock. 

The woman smiled brightly. “Indeed!” 

Lucinda twirled her staff and pointed it at Ivan. “Where are the mother and child?”

He pretended to think. “Well, the mother is right here,” he gestured towards his body, “and the child… well, she’s somewhere around here.” 

“Holy shit, did you kill the mom!?” Kitten asked. She turned towards Lucinda. “You dated this dude?” 

“This is not the time right now, Kitten.” 

“He probably did since he works in blood magicks.” Aaron called out. “What else could you call that stuff circling his hands?” 

“Blood magicks?” Travis asked. “Damn, and I thought Laurance was the bad guy here.” 

“What the fuck, man?” 

Travis just shrugged at the Shadow Knight. 

“Lucinda, you dated this guy?” Aphmau asked, repeating the same thing Kitten asked. 

“Yes, I did! It is not the time to discuss whether my decision to fall in love with this man was wrong.” The witch snapped, turning her attention back to Ivan. “I’m just worried about where the child is, Ivan.” 

He pouted. “You’re not worried about the mother.” 

“I obviously don’t have to be.” 

She took a step forward, but he raised his finger to tell her to stop. “Oh, but wait… what did you say her name was again?” He pointed towards the Meif’wa. 

Lucinda stuttered, “It’s not the time.” 

“Oh, but I think it is.” His smile was wicked. “I would feel much more young and athletic in that body than this one.” 

Kitten took a step back and whipped her claws out. “My body is not up for sale, dickface.”

Lucinda took a step in front of the catgirl. “Ivan, please.” 

His face suddenly turned sour. “What? Would you not love me more if I was her?” He stomped the ground and Kitten screamed loudly. 

Ice had sprouted from the ground and trapped Kitten’s legs. She had more upper body movement than Laurance and Aaron, but she was still stuck in place. Lucinda, Aphmau, and Travis screamed, jumping back from the ice, which meant that they were sadly closer to Ivan. 

Aphmau took a few moments to concentrate on herself as Lucinda and Ivan yelled at each other. She had no weapons on her person, so she was trying to conjure up a weapon of sorts. Travis nudged her shoulder. 

“You can take my sword.” He whispered.  

“No, I need to do this.” 

“Why?” 

“I wanna be in control.” Aphmau’s hand jerked and a flowing white sword appeared in her hand. She silently cheered to herself. 

Lucinda stomped her foot on the ground, snapping Travis and Aphmau’s attention from themselves and to the witch and warlock. “For crying out loud! I don’t see why we need to have this conversation anymore! We’ve had a million times.” 

“We need to have it again because you obviously aren’t thinking!”

“I am thinking! I’m thinking that this is redundant!” 

“Lucinda! It’s me or them!” 

Lucinda gave him a look of confusion. “What?” 

“Me or them.” He repeated. “Pikoro doesn’t like me, it’s either Pikoro or me.” 

“Don’t say that. Pikoro likes you-” 

“No, it doesn’t! It most definitely doesn’t Luci!” He argued, “Why else do you think Hailey told you that!?” 

“Because you’re a psychopath!” Laurance called out. “You’re just lucky Hailey didn’t tell her earlier!” 

Ivan jerked his hand towards the Shadow Knight and a piece of ice covered Laurance’s lips. 

“Were you ever going to tell me?” Lucinda asked. “Seriously, were you ever?” 

Ivan went quiet. Everyone went quiet. 

Lucinda shook her head sadly, looking down at the snow with disappointment. 

“I would’ve.” Ivan said quietly. Lucinda looked up. “I would’ve if you hadn’t reminded me of her.” He jabbed his finger toward Kitten. “If you weren’t so obsessed with her.” 

“I’m done.” Was all Lucinda said before smacking Ivan in the face with her staff. The two magick users began fighting, which gave Aphmau and Travis the signal to help the Lucinda out. 

Ivan was amazing. He was fighting off 3 people and the only person who really seemed to give him a tough time was Lucinda. The bad part about Ivan being a blood magicks user was you couldn’t hurt him. The liquid that circled around him was his blood, it was his weapon. He used it to defend, to attack, and if you cut him or sliced him or stabbed him, you were only adding to his weapon. Aphmau eventually noted this and pulled herself out of the fight. She pulled Travis out as well, she had a plan to get their 3 other group members out of the ice. 

The fight going on between Lucinda and Ivan was mesmerizing. Bright colors flashed throughout the woods. It had become a disco of grunts and groans as the two attacked each other. There seemed to be no skin contact, only their magick weapons were touching, but the both of them seemed to be running out of energy as if they had been punching or cutting the other. It was like they were dancing. If you took away the weapons, placed them in fancy outfits, and put them in a mansion, they looked to be dancing with one another in some sick and twisted way.

It was gorgeous. 

Aphmau pulled her eyes away to tell Travis of her plan. Seeing the two magick users fight reminded her of something, she was a god and Travis was a demon. There had to be something that the two of them could do to let their friends out of these ice prisons. 

“There has to be, right?” Travis asked her. He thought to herself for a moment before his eyes went wide. “Oh wait!” His hands spun, a sparkle of light came from them and suddenly he was holding a book. It was familiar to Aphmau, she had seen it before but she did not know from where. He skimmed through the book for a moment, the pages flipping by themselves before he stopped at a page. His eyes read over the writing quickly, too quickly for Aphmau to see if they had any importance. 

He stopped. 

His head lifted, looking at the fight going on between the ex-lovers and his 3 friends encased in ice. Travis looked into Aphmau’s eyes. It was years before he twirled his hands again and made the book disappear. 

“You found something?” She asked. 

“Yeah.” He breathed. 

“Is it dangerous?” 

Travis hesitated. “Yeah.” 

Aphmau took a deep breath, looking at the fight happening to her left and her friends on her right, before looking back at Travis. “Well, what is it?” 

His breathing was shaky as he explained his plan to Aphmau. It was called a duel candle. One person would read a spell while another person read a completely different spell. The ritual was dangerous because it needed a lot of energy from the two people performing it.

“No.” Kitten said. 

“What?” Aphmau asked the Meif’wa. 

“You are not doing that. I’m not letting you kill yourself.” 

Kitten sounded like a mother scolding her daughter, and the daughter was not having it. “I won’t kill myself Kitten! I won’t kill myself if I focus.” 

“You’re not trained enough.” 

“Then this will be good practice.” 

“This isn’t- Aphmau, you aren’t doing this.” 

“I’m doing this.” 

Kitten opened her mouth to say something spiteful but closed it, closing her eyes as well. She sighed after a year. “If you die… there’s no coming back.” 

Aphmau’s heart shook, but she stood tall. “I know.” 

“And you’re okay with that?” 

Aphmau nodded, the Meif’wa sighed again. She tilted her head towards Travis. 

“Let’s do this.” 

Travis did not look as confident or as radiant as Aphmau did. He looked worried and scared. He took Aphmau’s hands gently and told her to repeat the phrase “Revertimini ad me. Domum redi, accumbe. Angulos e luce ignore. Step in terra.” She was going to be the one to take her friends out of the ice prisons. He didn’t tell her what he was going to be doing. 

Aphmau held tightly to Travis’s hands, she would not let her anxiety control her speech, but she was letting it control her body. She focused deeply on everything, but nothing at all as she recited the Latin phrase. To her left Lucinda and Ivan had stopped their fighting. They were panting and staring deep into each other’s eyes. 

Ivan moved in to attack again, but Lucinda just screamed. She screamed something she didn’t know she was going to scream. Her body had moved faster than her mind and now she was screaming, “I love you!” 

The warlock paused. His face dropped, “What?” His voice was quiet and scared. Lucinda’s words had stabbed him. 

“I-” she stuttered “Oh Ivan, I love you, I love you so much. My angle.” She dropped her staff and moved in to cradle the man’s face. 

He let her. 

“My darling, my love, my everything.” She cried, “I love you, I chose you. I’ll always choose you, you over anything.” 

“Even though I’m an evil man?” Ivan couldn’t even imagine why Lucinda was telling him this, why she was confessing her love to him when he had just tried killing her. “Even though I did so many bad things?” 

“I swear to everything above and everything below that I adore you and need you.” She told him, “I only hope you can say the same thing for me.” 

“Oh, Lucinda…” He let his magick fall, the blood dropping into the snow and bleeding into the ground. The warlock picked up his girlfriend by her waist and spun her around in the snow, kissing her deeply and smiling into their kiss. 

The two held each other tight, pressing foreheads together and giggling like children. 

Lucinda was about to kiss her love again when a large blast pushed them to the ground. Her ears rang with a high-pitched squealing. She heard nothing else but the sound of her own heartbeat and breathing. Her vision was blurry and her body burned. The witch reached for her lover, but instead of a freezing body that sent shivers down her spine; she felt something of warmth. 

Focusing her eyes, she realized what she had touched. No longer was her boyfriend a translucent floating spirit of her ex, but an actual living body. Flesh and blood covered the man’s skeleton, muscles twitched and moved as his body writhed in pain. 

Lucinda crawled towards her love, towards her warlock, and held his writhing body. Whispering spells into his skin to heal the pain of being revived. She didn’t know why this was happening, how this was happening, but she was more than thankful. 

Her smile, that was wide and shining, turned into an immediate frown when she looked at her friends. Aphmau was laying in the snow, passed out and showed no signs of life. Laurance and Kitten were screaming at Travis who was trying to calm the two down. Aaron gently picked up the unconscious woman and snapped at the two yelling fools, telling them they needed to go back and get help for Lucinda’s friend. 

The witch helped her boyfriend stand to his feet and got everyone’s attention. She brought them to her apprentice’s home where they could help Ivan and Aphmau heal and figure out what was wrong with them. Everyone else could deal with Travis down at the jail. 

Aphmau woke with a splitting headache. There was a soft buzzing noise in her ears that made her head split even further. Even the dull lights of the room she was in hurt her. 

She couldn’t remember what exactly happened. She remembered Ivan, telling some plan to Travis, reciting some spell with the demon, and… and well now she was here. It was stupid of her for never asking what spell Travis was reciting. She could assume that it was something to do with Ivan, but she had no idea. It was probably his spell that knocked her out. Kitten was right… she wasn’t ready. 

“Oh!”

Aphmau jumped. There was a short and young looking girl standing next to the bed that Aphmau was on. She had a soft face that was shaped with her long, straight, red hair that ran down to her lower back. There was a thin black line down the middle of her face and a line of red eyeshadow that ran from temple to temple on the sides of her forehead. These two things popped out the most on her tan face. She wore a dress that was like Lucinda’s but black and without all the tassels and beads, she also wore a long scarf with beautiful designs that covered her shoulders and ran down the front of her torso.

“I wasn’t aware you were up.” She spoke softly and gently, like she was afraid to speak any louder. “How long have you been up?” 

Aphmau rubbed her forehead. The girl’s voice was very soothing to her headache. “I just woke up.” 

“Oh, fantastic.” The girl took a small wooden cup from a far off desk and handed it to Aphmau. “You’ll feel better after drinking this. It’s strong though.” 

Aphmau hesitantly took the cup. She didn’t know who this girl was, but a feeling in her gut told her to trust this random nurse. The smell of lavender and lemon attacked her nose when she downed the brown liquid in the cup. The potent smells made every nerve in Aphmau’s body fire, she was washed over with this feeling of pure adrenaline. Her headache was definitely gone. 

The girl smiled when Aphmau handed back the cup. “My name is Hailey, by the way.” 

Aphmau then knew why she trusted this random girl so much. At least she knew two things now. She was safe, and she was in Pikoro. “Lucinda’s apprentice, right? She spoke highly of you.” 

Hailey blushed. “Oh, that’s so kind of her.” She stood there for a second, relishing in the fact that Lucinda had spoken so greatly of her before her eyes darted to the older woman and remembered what was going on. “Do you remember anything that happened before you passed out?” 

“Yeah, I remember everything but a minute or two before I passed out.” Aphmau told her of the things she remembered. “Is everyone safe, by the way? Did we defeat Ivan?” 

Hailey gave her an unsure look as she dug through shelves of jars and books. “You didn’t really defeat him… rather Lucinda and him made up. And yes, everyone is safe… really, you were the only unsafe one in this situation.”

“How so?” 

Hailey turned towards the woman. “You really don’t know what happened?” 

Aphmau shook her head. 

The witch sighed, pulling up a chair and sitting close to Aphmau’s bed. Obviously, something serious had happened because why else was this girl acting like this? If it was a simple case of Aphmau passing out because she worked herself too hard, Hailey wouldn’t be acting like this unless her friends didn’t tell her of what was wrong with Aphmau. 

“Your friends have told me of your powers, your extensive and interesting powers.” Aphmau could only assume what was going on. “You see, whatever spell Travis made you recite… well, Aphmau, it revived Ivan.” 

Her heart dropped. “Excuse me?” 

Hailey nodded. “I understand it might be a little shocking, but from what I’ve heard, you’ve done it before.” 

Aphmau remembered her time in Scaleswind “Yes but only once and this was a boy who had died merely minutes ago this- holy Irene it wasn’t like I revived a ghost!” Aphmau grabbed the hair on her head and scrunched it up, how in the world could she have revived not a body but a spirit? A spirit! A spirit who had been dead for years now! 

“I don’t know what else to tell you. Lucinda and your friends had taken Travis away to question him, and they barely told me anything.” 

“Oh my Irene, is Travis okay?” She could only imagine what dangers happened to Travis. This is exactly what Kitten warned her of and she didn’t listen. Why did she have to be so stubborn? 

“Travis is okay. Like I said, he’s currently being questioned by Lucinda and your friends down at the jail.” Hailey reassured her. “If Travis was truly injured, I doubt they would’ve let him die. Lucinda isn’t that cruel of a person.” 

Travis must’ve known the spell that he was telling Aphmau to repeat. He must’ve known of the dangers of reviving someone, yet he did it anyway. He had made Aphmau revived Ivan despite knowing that he was a bad person, that he had killed a mother, that he had worked for Zane. He still revived him and brought him back to Lucinda. 

Then it hit Aphmau. Kitten warned her that doing a duel spell called for someone’s energy to be drained, that it could kill people. A revival spell would drain Aphmau’s energy even more… had Travis tried to kill her? It would make sense since he’s kin to the Demon Warlock that had tried killing them before, but he had told her he wasn’t like his father, so why would he do this? He had to have done this all knowingly, right? You can’t just mess up on something like that, that’s not something you can just do. 

“Can I go see them?” Aphmau asked the apprentice. She had to go ask him for herself. “Can I go question Travis?” 

Hailey hesitated on this. “Lucinda gave me specific instructions to keep you here until you were okay.” 

“I’m okay.” 

“Are you sure? Your eyes seem a bit dilated.” 

Her vision was a little fuzzy, but it wasn’t anything that could stop her. “I promise you, I’m okay. And if you get in trouble with Lucinda, you have my full permission to put all the blame on me.” 

The witch tilted her side to side before caving in, letting her head fall to her hands. “Go, I’m blind.” 

Aphmau thanked the woman and ran out of the room. This house was foreign to her, since this was definitely not Lucinda’s. She had walked into a hallway with a staircase at the end. She followed her gut and led herself down the stairs which held a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. Relaxing in the living room was a random man with black mullet, eyeliner all around his eyes, a septum piercing, and only some flowing brown pants. His chest was covered in a large scare that resembled an explosion. He looked rather pissed off as he ate some food on a plate, but his posture told Aphmau he was relaxed. 

The man turned his head at the new person in the room and smiled. “Hello, you must be Aphmau.” His voice was scratchy and rough, his eyes were deep red. 

“And you are…?” 

“Ivan Rill, best warlock known to man.” 

Aphmau nodded. There was a small jolt of fear in her heart, but Lucinda and him made up, right? There was no reason to be scared. “Didn’t you kidnap a mother and a child?” Her mouth moved before her brain had a decision on if it was good to say something. 

He tilted his head side-to-side. “I did, yes, but I apologized, so it’s all fine.” 

Aphmau paused. “Did you kill the mother?” 

“I apologized for that too.” he said with a terrifying smile. “You can’t really blame me, I was going through something.” 

That was something only an insane person could say, that they were in the right to kill something because they were struggling? Aphmau wanted to argue with the man but saw no point in it. 

“Oh, and I just want to say thanks for reviving me.” His teeth were only filled with sharp fangs. He was a predator. 

“I didn’t really know I was reviving you.” 

“I still want to say thank you.” He said, “It’s really nice having my body back and all.” 

Aphmau wondered where the mother’s body was, the one that Ivan used to possess. “You’re welcome… I guess.” She awkwardly accepted his thankfulness. She was close to the front door of the house now. “I should get going, though. It was nice meeting you.” 

“You as well.” is what he said before turning his attention back to his food. Only now did Aphmau notice he was eating a raw steak. She bolted out the door to get away from the horrific man. 

It took a few seconds to notice because she was too busy getting away from the warlock but instead of a harsh cold winter slapping her face, a smiling and shining sun kissed her face gently. She shook her head, confused to what in the world was going on. Why wasn’t it cold anymore? And how was the sun out?

“Aph?” Aaron was sitting on the porch of the house. He wore a normal gray shirt with normal gray sweatpants. His face grew an enormous smile and he moved towards the woman. “Aph!” He said with relief and hugged her tightly. This was the first show of affection he had ever given her, and it was extremely foreign. 

She let out a laugh. “Where is this coming from?” While it was strange, it was nice. She hugged him gently. 

“I was worried.” He said, pulling away and going back to his cold nature. “You were knocked out for the night… It’s noon right now.” 

Aphmau cringed to herself. How powerful was that spell? She revived someone, the snow was gone from Pikoro, and she was knocked out until noon of the next day. 

He noticed her confusion and quickly explained questions she could’ve asked. “Lucinda was weirded out as well about the snow, but apparently since Ivan was back, he was no longer cursed to this land, which meant he had no control over it.” That made sense. It was still a little confusing, but it made sense. “And I can take you to the jail.” 

The sun and heat were making her sweat, she had been shed her large winter coat but her long sleeves and thick pants were still trapping in the heat. She rolled up her sleeves and nodded. “That would be nice, yeah. I need to speak with Travis.” 

Aaron led her down the porch stairs and walked with her through the village. People were smiling and loudly laughing all along the walkways. Talking proudly and having no care if anyone heard their conversations, appropriate or not. Who knew some sun and heat could make people so happy? Aphmau wasn’t happy. She was sweaty, the sun was blinding her, and her anxiety was running rampant at the thought that Travis had tried killing her. 

“Where is everyone, by the way?” She asked. “You said that it was the next day… have they been interrogating him since last night?” 

Aaron shook his head as he brought her into a large church. At the head of the church stood a graceful statue of Irene. “They left Travis in the jail last night. When they went to go back a couple of hours ago, I offered to look over you.” He pressed a button on the back wall of the church. 

It rubbed Aphmau the wrong way that they would just leave Travis like that, all alone in a jail cell. She trusted Travis; she trusted he wouldn’t do something terrible like try to kill her. She didn’t think it was right to lie to her, but… it wasn’t something to be locked up for. Travis was a good man.

Chapter Text

Everyone was in much cooler clothes, t-shirts and lightweight pants were all they wore. Except Lucinda, of course, she had to be the extra one and wear a red dress with slits that showed her legs. They had even given Travis some clothes to change into, a poncho type shirt and bell-bottom pants were the things to keep him cool as the hot air circled in and out of the jail. 

Aaron hadn’t followed Aphmau down into the jail, he just told her the directions to go and left her to meet Travis on her own. Aphmau didn’t need him to lead her, she was fully capable of going there on her own. It’s just… maybe she would’ve felt safer if he was by her side, but Laurance, Lucinda, and Kitten were all there and if anything happened, they were going to be the ones to protect her. 

But nothing was going to happen because Travis didn’t mean to kill her, it wasn’t his intention, she knew that. And if it was his intention, well… Aphmau didn’t know what she would do. But that’s besides the point, because he most definitely didn’t do it on purpose. 

The jail that they had been keeping Travis in was eerily familiar to Aphmau. She had been here once years before when she first visited Pikoro. The entire walk she tried to rake through her memories and remember why this underground jail felt so close to her. 

And then she passed by a closed off area of the underground tunnels and paused, a deep sickness washed through her body and her headache had come back. She suddenly remembered what this place was, what it used to be. It was the Pikoro sewer system, the same one that Kitten and her had snuck into, the same one where they fought Jeffory, the same one where they had rescued the Lords of Pikoro and Bright Port. All the memories came rushing back, even memories that weren’t Aphmau’s. It was revolting, and she wished that night had never happened because that night led to Jeffory’s death, and she would always and forever feel guilty. 

She pushed past the room, shoving down the dreadful feeling of guilt and trying to forget about everything she just remembered. And it wasn’t that hard to clear her mind when she walked into the jail area and saw Travis sitting in the corner of the locked up room. Lucinda, Kitten, and Laurance were completely ignoring the man. 

He looked lonely, broken, betrayed by his own self. It was depressing seeing the always cheerful and flirty man be so… depressed. 

The main jail area was split into four sections with pathways that connected everything together. Each corner had a cell that was split in two, so 8 people could be kept prisoner here. Travis was the only one here though, completely alone in the darkness of this barley light underground system. 

Laurance must’ve heard Aphmau’s footsteps because as soon as she walked into the jail area, he turned around and a look of relief washed over his face. He took two steps and was hugging Aphmau tightly by the waist, she wasn’t hesitant to hug back unlike with Aaron’s. The Shadow Knight was so relieved to see the woman alive, he picked her up and squeezed her even tighter. 

Aphmau wheezed out that she couldn’t breathe, and Laurance finally let her go. Kitten and Lucinda were the next ones to hug Aphmau, not as tightly as Laurance, but definitely tight enough for the woman to lose some air in her lungs. 

They were all worried for her and they spoke their concerns and worries to Aphmau, telling her how they thought she had died, that she was going to be severely hurt from this, and how it was a miracle Aphmau was alive and well. Lucinda and Kitten spoke more in depth about this, Kitten couldn’t say everything she wanted to and it was obvious. She would open her mouth only to close it again and ignore eye contact, shameful that she couldn’t speak her mind. 

In hushed tones, they talked about Travis. They had questioned him repeatedly, and he had all given them the same answers. The thing that still made them untrustworthy of the man was that the spell he told Aphmau to recite could’ve killed her. You don’t just almost kill a friend and then brush it off like nothing happened. You can’t do that. 

“We’ve gotten as much as we can’t out of him.” Lucinda said. “You can talk to him and see what you judge of this situation.” 

“I think you guys are overreacting.” 

“Aph, you almost died.” Kitten reiterated. “Seriously. I thought you died.” There was something in Aphmau that told her that Kitten hadn’t seen Aphmau’s future. That meant Kitten was processing everything just like everyone else. There was no seeing into the future that could’ve prepared her for Aphmau almost dying, no she had to deal with it the same way everyone was dealing with it. She couldn’t blame Kitten for being so extremely worried about Aphmau’s fate. 

Aphmau turned to Travis’s jail cell, her heart broke once more. A bunch of spiderweb cracks spread through her heart - her soul - as her eyes met with the glossy ones of Travis. She turned back to her friends. “Do you really think he tried killing me?” 

They stayed quiet, their answer was obvious. 

Aphmau sighed. She didn’t want to believe that, she couldn’t believe that. Travis is a good man. She turned towards the cell and used the keys hanging near the door to go inside. Travis didn’t move from his spot in the corner. Her 3 other friends left the area to leave Aphmau and Travis alone, it was the least they could do. 

She sat down on the cold concrete floor, she couldn’t imagine what Travis had been feeling. She couldn’t imagine being left alone in the dark with her thoughts after almost killing someone. 

“Travis…” She reached for his hand, but he inched further away. He stared daggers into the floor, bloodshot eyes telling Aphmau all she needed to know. “Travis, did you know that spell could’ve killed me?”

He hesitated, his body stuttering before nodding. 

Aphmau let out a shaky breath. “Did you know the spell could’ve killed me?” 

A pause. A subtle nod. 

…

“Did you want me dead?” 

His head shot up. “No!” He was offended that she would even ask that. “I never wanted to kill you. I knew I wouldn’t kill you.” 

“So why didn’t you tell me?” 

“Because I knew you wouldn’t do it!” He had uncurled himself from the ball of sorrows that he was in. “I knew you wouldn’t test yourself if you knew the truth.” 

“Travis, you can’t do that! You can’t just try to kill someone to see if they’ll push themself.” 

“But that’s what you wanted, right? You wanted control, you wanted to see how far you could push yourself.” He argued, “You even told Kitten you didn’t care if you died.” 

“That was obviously a hyperbole!” 

“Still!” 

Aphmau sighed, dragging her hands down her face in exhaustion. “Why?” She asked, “What was the point?” 

He looked at her with big eyes, big teary eyes. He crawled towards her and held her hands in his, holding them tightly as he stared into her. “Don’t you feel it?” He whispered intimately to her. “I know you do. I know you feel whatever this is. It’s something so familiar, yet I can’t put my finger on it. It’s so far away yet so in reach.” He moved his face closer to hers. He smelled of ice. “If I stretched my hand out, I could feel it. I know it.” 

If Laurance saw what was happening, his head would explode. Travis’s face was inches away from Aphmau’s, their breath colliding, hot and cold. Cold hands holding warm ones. If Aphmau looked deep enough into Travis’s eyes, she could see a man, an ancient soul that knew all there was to know. A man who laughed when their friend would trip, a man who fell in love with a dark soul, a man who betrayed but loved her. He loved Aphmau. 

He was so lovely. He was her lovely. 

“We were angels once.” His nose touched hers. “Tell me please, that you remember.” 

She knew what he was talking about, she knew and understood everything that he was saying. It was terrifying. Memories came flooding back, memories that weren’t hers but felt so close. Memories that she could graze if she outstretched her arm. Aphmau knew the feeling that Travis was talking about. Aphmau felt these emotions with Garroth, with Aaron, with Kitten and Belladonna. Something so familiar. Something so far away. 

Something so divine. 

“Travis…” she said softly, their lips brushing against one another. Aphmau knew she was not the man that Travis loved. 

He smiled brightly, tears running down his lips and onto his clothes. “I knew it!” He exclaimed and pushed himself away from her. “I knew it! You knew you wouldn’t die- I knew you wouldn’t die!”

“I could’ve died though-” 

“No, no, you wouldn’t have Aph.” He said with tender eyes, so soft and caring. “You knew you wouldn’t because you aren’t normal.” 

No one here was normal, no one she knew was normal, they all had their little gifts and imperfections that would never make them normal. But that was okay. As long as they embraced their abnormality, they would be fine. 

A soft smile pulled at Aphmau’s lips. “I suppose I did.” She told him. “I guess I knew I wasn’t gonna die.” 

He hugged her tightly, holding her close. She hugged back, soft and hesitant at first, but she gave in and held him even closer. They knew each other much more than they were aware of. 

After a moment of silence between the two, Aphmau let go. She pushed away Travis’s white hair in front of his face and softly kissed him on his forehead, a gesture she remembered doing a million times. 

She got up from the floor, Travis copying her movements. Travis looked past her and Aphmau turned her head. Lucinda was moving towards the cell with a sad look on her face. Aphmau wondered if she had been listening in on their conversation, on their confessions. 

The former Lord walked out of the cell, holding the door open in case Travis wanted to come out as well. She didn’t care if Lucinda protested, there was no reason for Travis to still be in here. He was an innocent man. 

Lucinda stood close to Aphmau, trying to find some privacy despite Travis being right next to them. “What do you think?” 

“He knew I wouldn’t die.” 

“But how? Aphmau, a duel spell along with a revival spell and banishing spell is just… it’s not something that allows you to live.” 

“Lucinda, I’m not gonna die by normal means.” 

“How do you know that?” The witch seemed distressed. “How do you know I won’t lose you again?” Her voice and confidence broke. She covered her eyes with her hand. 

Aphmau rubbed the witch’s forearms, trying to console her the best she could in this awkward situation. “I promise you I won’t leave like that again. I’ll be more careful.” She could see Kitten peeking in from behind the corner. “We’ll be careful.” 

Lucinda sniffled, rubbing her nose. “I know, I know.” She exhaled and looked down at Aphmau, trying to smile to show that she was better. “I just missed you.” 

Aphmau cooed, hugging the woman and allowing her to cry a moment longer. “I missed you too, Lucinda. I did.” 

“Aww,” Travis said as he sauntered out of the cell. “You’re too pretty to cry.” 

Lucinda slowly lifted her head. “Do you want to die?” She asked. 

Travis titled his head like he was weighing his options. “A little yeah.” 

“Oh you son of-” Lucinda pushed past Aphmau and started chasing Travis down the long and dimly lit tunnels. Echoes of laughter filled the place. Aphmau looked at their shrinking images like a disappointed mother. 

Kitten and Laurance appeared by her side with similar looks. 

“She’s gonna kill him.” Laurance said. 

“Oh, most definitely.” Kitten laughed. “Travis is a dead man.” 

Aphmau just laughed and started running down the tunnels, trying to catch up to the witch and the demon, and Kitten and Laurance started chasing her. 

Kitten, later on in the day, confirmed Aphmau’s suspicions that the Titan was unable to see Aphmau’s future. Her powers had been blocked before, like on the Island of the Enki Tribe, but they had never been blocked so randomly before. She understood why her powers had been blocked when trying to Pikoro and that was probably Ivan trying to block all magick away from the place to take control. But Kitten should’ve seen Aphmau’s future. Yet she didn’t. 

Aphmau, later on in the day, had a talk with Lucinda about if she would join the Phoenix Alliance. She informed her that Belladonna was back in Phoenix Drop, preparing defenses against the potential threat that was Tu’La. If not, the kharagosa would’ve been in Aphmau’s place to ask Lucinda this question. The witch was worried, and with reason, of course. Her village had just gotten released from an evil warlock trying to get his girlfriend back, and the people were scared. Yes, they seemed happy because the sun was finally shining again for them, but how long until that honeymoon phase of happiness runs out? How long till they decide Hailey is no longer made to rule? How long until Lucinda will have to step up and help? From some convincing from Aphmau and Hailey herself, Lucinda agreed to join the Phoenix Alliance.

Hailey agreed to join as well. She idolized Aphmau after what she did to help Pikoro and if Belladonna was that, but times 10… well, Pikoro would be in safe hands. 

They stayed another day in Pikoro. Lucinda was willing to move back to Phoenix Drop and it would be easier for all of them if she just summoned a giant to move her house all the way to Phoenix like she had done years ago. That in total would take the entire night so they could just stay the day in Pikoro and then travel in the night. 

While Lucinda was out trying to summon her giant friend, the group traveled to the woods and spared for a bit. They all brought out their weapons, their own powers, and fought until there was only one person standing. 

Kitten and Laurance were currently battling to the death as everyone else had gotten out from either tapping out or getting a little too hurt. Aphmau, Travis, and Aaron were watching in awe as the two others flaunted their strength. 

Aphmau turned to Travis, he was in a lesser version of his demon form (according to Travis). Aphmau had gotten used to this new form of his, but it still scared her a bit. If Travis was terrifying now, how did he look when in his true body? The thought made Aphmau shudder. 

“Travis,” His eyes went to her. “What is a demon exactly? Or rather… What is your type of demon?” She had to choose her words carefully because both of them knew that Travis’s father was not a demon like everyone believed, and Aaron was right next to them. 

“By definition, demons are malevolent spirits who form out of negative thoughts or when a bad person dies and chooses not to become a Shadow knight but my type of demon, well…” He hesitated. “I guess I’ve never really thought about it.” 

“Well, would you think of yourself like your dad?” 

“I-… I’ve never seen myself like my dad.” He told her, his eyes filling with a type of sadness, “And my mom was too good of a person for me to compare myself to her.” 

Aphmau rubbed his shoulder. “I bet your mother would be very proud of the man you’ve become today.” 

“One can only hope so.”

There were two large grunts and Aphmau and Travis looked up to Lucinda standing above a fallen Laurance and Kitten. She stood there with a smug smile on her face as Laurance and Kitten groaned in pain. 

Aaron, Aphmau, and Travis paused for a bit, processing the fact that Lucinda quickly took out two people who had been fighting each other for a good 5 minutes before clapping loudly and enthusiastically. 

Lucinda giggled. “I just came by to tell your guys we’re leaving.” 

Kitten groaned, “You didn’t have to kill us! You just could’ve told us!” 

“I had more fun this way.” 

“Fuck you!” Laurance clutched his chest where he had presumably been hit. 

Time had gone by pretty fast. Aphmau didn’t think they had been sparing for long, but how the sky was becoming an orangish-purple told Aphmau differently. They all got up from the floor (some more painful than others) and followed Lucinda back to her house where a humongous giant stood behind the house. Aphmau could only see the giant’s legs before it disappeared into the clouds. She was transparent and filled with glowing stars that made everything around the witch’s house exceedingly bright. 

Everything they had was already in Lucinda’s house, they had checked, rechecked, and re-rechecked until they were certain they had all their belongings. Lucinda was obviously anxious to leave her home, but when she looked at Aphmau, her worries melted away. 

Aphmau didn’t even notice when the giant picked them up and started carrying them away for Phoenix Drop. She had just looked out the window and the house was several feet in the air and the ground was moving beneath them. 

The group stayed up for a while longer as the giant made the ground of Ru’aun rumble with their steps. While talking, Aphmau accidentally said Aaron's name and instead of the man berating her or hiding away in shame, he just formally introduced himself to everyone for the first time. Aphmau had always expected it to be this big show, but obviously it wasn’t. First, he took off the bandana covering his eyes and now he was telling everyone his name, he was really getting comfortable with everyone. 

When they woke up, their house was being brought down to the ground by the gentle hands of a giant. It took them 2 weeks to get to Pikoro but only 12 hours to get home, magick really was a gift. 

Lucinda blew the giant and kissed and thanked him for his service. Aphmau walked out of the 3 story house and was in shock, it was in the exact same place it was when Lucinda first arrived in the village. It wasn’t just in the exact same place, but in the exact same area, corner to corner. There was yet to be a bridge that connected the random island they were standing on to the mainland of Phoenix Drop so they were going to get their feet wet, but it didn’t matter, Aphmau just appreciated the fact that they were back. 

“Aphmau!?” Dante called out “Aphmau! Holy shit!” The head guard was standing opposite Aphmau on the mainland, a look of awe on his face. 

“Dante!” she exclaimed and rushed over, sliding down the tall island and running through the shallow waters, then climb up the lands of Phoenix Drop where Dante grabbed her hand and helped her the rest of the way. She hugged the guard tightly. “How are you? How was everything while I was gone?” 

“Everything was great! Katelyn went to Scaleswind and informed Nicole of what was going on. She was very understanding.” 

“Oh, that’s great.” Aphmau smiled, her heart squeezing a bit due to the remembrance of why they had exactly gone to Lucinda. “What does she think about the whole ordeal?” 

“She believes it might take a while for Tu’La to attack another village. She doesn’t think O’Khasis will go down without a fight.” 

“And that they invaded another village at the same time.” Aphmau added, “But she’s taking this into consideration and telling her people, right?” 

He tilted his head like he was unsure. “She’s telling her representatives and her council to make them informed of the situation, but according to Katelyn, she’d rather not scare her people with the threat of a war.” 

“I get that… Did John ever contact you about this? I remember telling him, but maybe he wanted to speak to you guys.” 

“Lord John just sent in a letter saying he was aware of the O’Khasis invasion and has taken procedures to protect his people.” 

Aphmau smiled. She was glad that everyone knew what was happening and they were prepared. That made Aphmau’s anxiety calm for a moment. 

“Oh!” Dante perked up again. “There’s someone waiting at the gates for you.” 

She raised an eyebrow. “We just arrived. How can there already be someone waiting for us?” 

The guard shrugged. “She appeared an hour ago and said she wanted to see you. We’re just glad you came back so early, so she didn’t have to wait forever.” 

“Did she say who she was? What she’s here for?” 

“She’s a forest witch named Hyria-”

“What?” 

The two turned to see Lucinda standing behind them, her face blank and eyes wide. 

“There’s a witch asking for Aphmau. Her name is Hyria… do you-” 

“Yes, I know her. Where is she?” Lucinda demanded. 

“At the gate I can-” 

Lucinda shoved past Dante before he could say anything else and stormed her way over to the gate. Aphmau and Dante chased after her, but no amount of protest could stop the woman’s anger. She was like an angry tornado that appeared out of nowhere and destroyed everything in its path, the wildlife that she stepped on seemed to die when her feet stomped deep into the ground. A heavy and gray cloud rolled over in the sky and Lucinda’s huffs of angry breaths were translated into clapping thunder. Aphmau was seriously worried about what Lucinda was going to do to this old woman, but there was nothing she could do to stop. She could put her hands on Lucinda, but she was even more afraid of what would happen if she forced Lucinda to stop. The images of those frozen werewolves and that frozen man were burned into Aphmau’s memory. She knew Lucinda would never hurt her, but… in moments of anger, you never really know. 

In moments of true vulnerability. 

It kinda reminded her of Garroth. 

…

She wondered how he was doing. 

The trio stopped in front of the gate. Hyria stood there with her large tree familiars behind her. The moment she recognized the orange-haired witch in front of her, her face dropped. 

“My child.” 

The witch said nothing, she just charged for the elder witch. Hyria tried blocking her daughter with her staff, but it was no use. Lucinda kicked the staff Hyria was using to block and the older witch fell to the ground with a huff. 

Lucinda let out a choked scream as Aphmau and Dante rushed to Hyria’s side. Lucinda said nothing more, she just turned and stormed away, not giving her mother a second look. Aphmau held Dante back from chasing after the witch, she knew Lucinda was not in the mood to talk right now. 

Aphmau placed her hands gently on Hyria and focused on calming the witch down and numbing her pain. The witch said she was fine and Aphmau and Dante helped her stand. 

“Hyria oh my Irene, I’m so sorry.” Aphmau apologized. “I knew Lucinda had a grim history with you. We tried stopping her, I’m sorry.” 

Hyria waved her apology off. “No need, I’m not hurt. I understand Lucinda’s feelings towards me.” 

Aphmau nodded, letting the woman situate herself before she asked any more questions. “Why are you here, though? Did you know Lucinda was coming back?” 

Hyria shook her head. “I am not here for my child, I am here to visit you.” 

“Visit me?” Aphmau shook her head in confusion. “Why would you have to visit me?” 

The old witch looked just as lost as Aphmau. “The forest told me.” 

Aphmau sighed. She had no idea what that meant. She could only think of bad things like Tu’La had abandoned the water route to Phoenix Drop and went through the forest instead, but Hyria wouldn’t have allowed that, right? 

Dante tapped on Aphmau’s arm to pull her attention away. His raised eyebrows and wide eyes told her he needed to speak with her. 

Aphmau turned back to the witch. “I don’t mean to be rude, but will you excuse me to speak to a friend?” 

“No, no, not at all. I actually need to rest a little. My bones aren’t what they used to be.” She laughed. 

Aphmau let out a sympathetic chuckle. “Would you like me to get someone to guide you to a hotel or-” 

“Do not fret, the trees are much more calming than any room I could be in.” 

Aphmau nodded. “Of course, get all the rest you need, Hyria. I know how strong Lucinda can be.” 

“I do as well.” The witch said sadly. 

Aphmau, with a heavy heart, turned away and let herself be dragged away by the blue-headed guard standing next to her. He pulled her inside the boundaries of Phoenix Drop. 

“Quick question before I ask anything else.” He said after he was done pulling Aphmau away. “Can Hyria be trusted?” 

“What do you mean?” 

His eyes darted to the old woman, who now had her back turned to the gates in order to travel deeper into the forest to relax after being kicked to the ground. “I mean, Lucinda seemed so… hurt by the fact that this woman was here. Should we really trust someone who’s hurt one of our friends?”  

Aphmau sighed. That was a really loaded question, wasn’t it? “I’m not saying we should be all buddy-buddy with her. I know she hurt Lucinda and that is something I will dislike her for, but… She helped me and my group travel through the Sacred Forest.” 

“The Sacred Forest!?” 

Aphmau nodded, she still couldn’t believe it. “The Sacred Forest! She lives in the middle of it, I guess,” she explained. “after stumbling upon her house she helped and that Chad guy get back to the group where she helped us get back to Meteli.” 

Dante seemed conflicted, while that was an extremely nice act… they also didn’t want to hurt Lucinda by becoming friends with this woman. 

“Look,” She held his wrist in a friendly manner. “I don’t wanna trust her either, she’s a complete stranger to me but…” She paused. As her eyes found Hyria’s graying hair, there came a sense of familiarity in her gut. “You’ve just gotta trust me.” 

Dante sighed after a moment of silence, hanging his head in defeat. “I do.” 

A smile came to Aphmau’s lips. “Thank you, Dante. Now I should go and find Lucinda, make sure she’s okay.” 

He nodded. “Sounds like a good idea. I’ll see if Hyria needs anything.” 

Aphmau hugged the man once more before running off to go find her witchy friend.

Chapter Text

Lucinda was sitting on the grass with her knees curled tight to her chest. Her colorful dress with native Ru’aun designs was soaked with her salty tears. She was sitting on the edge of Phoenix Drop, looking out into the ocean as white puffy clouds traveled slowly through the sky. Lucinda thought that after all these years, all this time of being away from her mother, she would’ve gotten over her emotions, but no… No, that wasn’t the case at all. She had happily amended her relationship with her father; it took years; it took a really long time, but she eventually could think of him as her father again rather than some guy who had kicked his 3-year-old daughter out of a village. 

But Hyria… Hyria was a totally different story. A totally different story of loud sobs and thunderous screaming, a story of harsh slaps and tough grips, a story of trying to kill yourself at 9 years old only for your mother to call you a disappointment because you didn’t succeed. She was able to forgive Luke Galilahi, but Hyria Galilahi? Lucinda wasn’t sure if she was ever going to speak to that woman again. 

“And why is a pretty girl like you being all sad?” 

Lucinda turned to see the demon named Travis walking towards her. 

She rolled her eyes. “I would’ve preferred my boyfriend instead of you.” 

Travis let out a laugh as he sat down next to the witch. “He actually asked me to help him find you.” 

“Really?” 

“Really. He pulled me aside and said: ‘Travis, I think something’s up with Lucinda. While she’s gone, do you wanna have life-changing sex?’” Lucinda barked out a laugh. “And of course I said yes. I mean, who wouldn’t say yes to that pretty man?”

Lucinda wiped her eyes. Travis was making her feel better. “Yeah, he’s one gorgeous man.” 

“Would you be willing to share with me?” Travis asked with puppy dog eyes. “I think after he came, he stole my heart.” 

Lucinda sucked in a breath and uncurled her legs, letting them dangle off the edge of the short cliff they were on. “I might get jealous. He could start loving you more than me.” 

Travis started laughing, and soon Lucinda started giggling due to how infectious Travis’s smile was. It was a surprise how this random dude she met could bring her out of such a low. 

“So, am I allowed to ask what’s wrong?” Travis asks. 

The witch rolled her eyes. “Only if you tell me what’s wrong with you first.” 

The half-demon sighed, taking in a deep breath before going into explaining a simplified version of his life story. “I was raised by my mother, my mother was fighting a demon to make sure he didn’t escape and destroy the world, turns out that demon is my dad, my mom dies while cursing the demon onto the island we lived on, and my dad tried killing me every chance he got so he could escape the island.” 

Lucinda’s jaw hung open with shock. “Holy shit dude, all my mom did was abuse me. That’s like… fucked up.” 

“Hey, don’t put yourself down. We all have our problems.” 

“How are you just okay after that? How are you not like…” 

“Dead?” 

Lucinda nodded. 

Travis just shrugged. “I’ve grown used to it. I know it’s really fucked, but that was just my life. Yeah, I cry about it sometimes but… but I’m safe now and that’s all that matters.” He told her, smiling to reassure her he was fine. “Now, what’s up with you?” 

The witch cringed. “I’m not sure it’ll be as cool as you,” Travis laughed. “But my story is: I was born to the witch of the Sacred Forest and a Lord of a village. My mom told me to take me out of the forest so I could live a normal life but the village that my dad ran was very anti-witches so at the age of three my dad kinda… abandoned me so my mom could take care of me and I didn’t hear any contact from him ever since then. My mom then raised me to be the best witch there was… which included a lot of screaming and fighting and punches and kicks and… to put it simply, my mom abused the shit out of me so I could be the best.” Travis inched his hand closer to Lucinda’s as her voice cracked with pain. “I ended up running away at the age of 10 and finding an abandoned cottage near Pikoro where I stayed until Aphmau came in and invited me to Phoenix Drop.” 

“That’s sweet.” 

Lucinda nodded. “Yeah, she’s a sweetheart, always has been and always will be.” She sniffled. “The only good thing my mom ever did was accept me when I came out as trans.” 

Travis gasped. “No way, you’re trans?” 

“Fuck yeah, I am.” The witch had a smug smile on her face. “Have been for thirty-three years, baby.”

“Oh wow, I’m jealous.” 

“Are you?” She was implying a certain type of question that was difficult to ask.

“Nope, I just wish I was comfortable in my skin, like you.” 

She tilted her head side-to-side. “I have my moments.” 

“Even after thirty-three years?” 

“Even after thirty-three years.” 

“Huh.” 

The two sat in silence for a moment, enjoying the cool and calming winds that brushed past their faces. A smile on both of their lips. Lucinda looking down at their hands. Travis’s pinky was settling comfortably atop of hers. It was nice. 

“Hey weird question,” he started. “Do you know of an island that Irene used to live on?” 

“I don’t think so-” 

“Alivia, home of the angel.” 

Lucinda shot up at the sound of her mother’s voice, her heeled boots digging into the soft grass and making her trip before catching her balance. “Oh, fuck off!” She screamed at her mother as Travis stood up to act as a barrier between Lucinda and her mom. 

“Lucinda, where have you been?” Aphmau ran over to the witch. “I’ve been looking- oh…” Aphmau shut up real quick when she saw that Hyria and her daughter were currently having a fiery stare off. 

“Lucinda, darling, I never meant to cause you any harm-” 

“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Lucinda waved her mother off. “You can’t even have a normal conversation with me about it! You had to eavesdrop!” 

“I came over here to talk, but I found you were already talking with someone.” 

“Yeah, someone who’s a much better listener than you.”  

“You never gave me a chance to listen!” 

“You never gave me a chance to speak!” 

“Hyria, I thought you were resting?” Aphmau asked. 

“I was-” 

“She probably lied.” Lucinda hissed. “Always keeping the truth, a backstabbing bitch.” 

Aphmau put her hand on Lucinda’s shoulder to calm her down using her powers, but the witch jerked out of her grip, giving her a nasty death stare. Aphmau backed away in both fear and shock. She had never seen Lucinda this angry, and it frightened her.

“I’m done.” The younger witch said. “I’m done. You guys can reach me when she’s out of this fucking village.” She turned on her heels and started walking away from the older woman. 

“Lucinda, I love you!” 

All Lucinda did was flip the woman off before walking into the forest of Phoenix Drop. 

“What’s all that about?” Travis asked. “What’s the island of an angel?” 

Hyria kept her eyes trained on the path that Lucinda had walked down before sighing and making sure Aphmau and Travis’s attention was on her. “Alivia, island of an angel. It’s rumored to be the home of the leader of the Divine, home to Irene when she started her family.” 

“It’s completely on the other side of Ru’aun, though.” Travis questioned. “If it was really home to Irene, then wouldn’t it have been more populated?” 

“Where did you even learn of his island, Travis?” Aphmau asked. 

“My book, the one I fought for… from my dad…” 

“Oh… why would your dad have written something about an island to Irene?”

Travis shrugged. 

“It wasn’t populated because no one knew about it. That book that has that map to Alivia must’ve been in the hands of one of the Divine before it touched the hands of your father.” Hyria told the man. She turned her attention to Aphmau. “I suggest you visit there.” 

Aphmau shook her head in confusion. There was no familiar sense to name Alivia, so she wondered why Hyria was telling her to go there. “Why? I’ve never heard of that place before. I didn’t even know it existed.” 

“Time brings wonderful things to those who are patient.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense. What importance could this random island have for me?” 

“Time will tell.” 

Aphmau groaned. “I’m sick and tired of time, just tell me!” 

The witch shook her head. “I cannot. The trees call for me. You’ll understand one day.” 

“One day!?” The witch started walking away and Aphmau hopped to chase her. “One day! I don’t wanna find out one day! I’m sick and tired of people not telling me shit!” 

She followed the woman through the village of Phoenix Drop. More and more buildings were getting built, and it was really taking on a new personality than its old decrypted one. Aphmau kept walking even as Hyria passed by the gate of the village, which had small drawings carved into it by the village children. 

“Hyria!” Aphmau hissed. “What is up with you and your cryptic ass messages! It’s literally not that hard to tell me what’s the importance of that island!” They were deep in the forest now, weaving in and out of trees to keep with the old lady. Although the old witch was simply walking, it was getting increasingly difficult to keep up with her. “If you won’t tell me, I just won’t go!” 

Hyria snapped around. “You will understand soon!” 

Aphmau froze, not only because Hyria had snapped at her, but also because of where they were standing. She hadn’t been to this part of the forest; it felt so… wrong. An empty white portal stood behind Hyria, the wind blowing through which made Aphmau’s heartbreak into a million pieces. She wished every night for that portal to be open again, to walk through it and take Garroth’s hand so she could pull him out into their world again. 

Her eyes brimmed with tears, but Hyria didn’t seem to care. “Why are you here?” 

“The trees told-” 

“I don’t give a shit on why you’re here in Phoenix Drop!” Aphmau yelled, a tear rolling down her cheek. “Why are you here!?” 

Hyria turned around and looked at the white framing of the portal, turning back around to see more tears rolling down Aphmau’s cheeks. 

The woman sniffled. “If you won’t tell me about the island… will you at least tell me if the trees say anything about my guard? About Garroth Ro’Meave?” 

Hyria sighed. “I’m sorry dear, the trees are silent on this one.” 

She then walked away from Aphmau and disappeared into the forest. Aphmau didn’t chase after her. There was no point in it anyway, she wasn’t going to get any answers. Aphmau looked at the portal, taking careful steps towards it and placing her hand gently on the cold white framing. Intricate designs ran along the edges of the portal frame. It was gorgeous despite its terrible history. 

She sniffled and leaned her forehead against the framing. “I will wait.” She whispered. “I will wait forever.” 

Aphmau met back up with Travis at the gate. She didn’t mean to meet him there, but Travis was ready to go out into the forest and look for her when she came back. She had spent more than a couple minutes at the portal, trying to collect herself, only to burst out in tears again. 

Travis went to explain the whole Alivia situation that was going on to Aphmau since she was completely out of the loop. Travis had been looking in his little magick book when he had come across a page that was split in two, one half being a map of Ru’aun and showed a path between Ru’aun and an island on its west side, and the other half being a map of the island that other map had a path to. The description of the island said it was the most permanent home Irene had, and it was where she relaxed with her family after taking down Shad. 

So that was the significance to the Island, it was home to Irene. All Hyria had to was say that and they could’ve avoided a lot of fighting, but no, she had to be difficult. No reason why Lucinda didn’t like her.

Aphmau and Travis informed their group about this island and that Hyria wanted Aphmau to visit it. While they were discussing the Island, Belladonna spoke up for the first time since their little ‘meeting’ had started. 

“I would like to start the Phoenix Alliance there.” 

“What?” Aphmau asked. 

“You know how we had always been discussing a new home, a capital for the Phoenix Alliance?” They all nodded. “I would like to start that capital in Alivia. 

And that was that.

For the next month, they began gaining supplies from trading and mentally preparing themselves for the trip. Aphmau ended up telling her boys about their decision the week after they had decided. She had been anxious about telling her boys about this, she had been talking about this day for forever and now that it was coming closer and closer; it started scaring Aphmau a lot more than she wanted it to. 

When she walked into the old Lord’s house, her two sons were waiting for her. They had learned from rumors circulating the old settlement that Aphmau and her group were moving out, so they knew this talk was going to come sooner than later. She held her two sons’ hands as she explained what was going on, how she still loved them, how she would never forget them, how they were always welcome to visit, and how nothing they did had convinced Aphmau to go. By the end of their talk, there were a lot of snotty noses and bloodshot eyes. Aphmau held her boys tight to her, so tight so they couldn’t go away because she was afraid they were. She would always hate herself for not being there for them, for not being able to watch them grow into the fine young men that they were today. Despite the hatred she held for herself, Levin and Malachi had no nasty feelings towards their mom. Aphmau knew that time wasn’t in their favor that day and there was nothing she could’ve done to change that. She still despised herself.

Levin and Malachi were very understanding of everything. They knew this day was going to happen. They would miss her to death, but they knew that this was going to be the best thing for her.

She abandoned her packing duties for the day and hung out with her sons until the sun rose the next morning. 

In the middle of their month-long preparations, they realized their boat wouldn’t be suitable enough for the amount of people that were going to be coming along with them on their trip. There were going to be a possible 11 people on this ship, 9 if some of the unsure people on their list stayed in Phoenix Drop. Ivan was unsure if he wanted to go because for the small time he had been the village he had liked it, Belladonna was unsure because while this was her idea she didn’t like the idea of moving to a new place without her wife Zoey since at the moment Zoey wanted to stay in Phoenix Drop, and Emmalyn and Kenmur couldn’t come because they were off on their honeymoon. Everyone else in Aphmau’s travel group, including Chad (for some reason), would be coming along for the trip no matter what. 

The boat that Levin and Malachi had handed over was their biggest ship, but it wasn’t big enough. Aphmau felt bad because they were willing to sacrifice one of their ships for her, but it wasn’t enough for their group. 

Aphmau groaned to herself. They were going to have to wait another month so they could modify the ship and make it big enough for a possible 13 people. They also needed it to be big because Travis warned them of stories of packed crews going insane because their ship was too small and there were too many of them. They were going to be on the sea for maybe 5 months since they weren’t familiar with the oceans and Aphmau did not want to be packed in like sardines for 5 months. 

She was on the settlement docks and giving the stink eye to their boat. “This is so stupid.” She said to herself. 

A light tap on her shoulder made her turn to see who needed her. Surprisingly, it was Chad. She hadn’t seen him for a while, but he would always give in his contributions to their preparations in the form of helpful little trinkets or money. 

“Oh, Chad!” It was nice to see the crazy man… that was something that never crossed her mind. Chad had been off doing science things and unique experiments to evolve human knowledge… Aphmau had no idea what that meant. 

“Hello Aphmau,” the mustache that covered his top lip was getting bushier with every passing day. “I heard about our little ship problem and I think I might have the solution.”

“Oh? Do show me.” 

Chad bowed his head before spinning on his heels and leading Aphmau to the edge of Phoenix Drop where he treaded the sandy beaches that encompassed the region they were on. Aphmau wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what was in front of them, she just made sure that she kept close to Chad despite his twists and sharp turns he kept making. 

He stopped once they were a far enough distance away from the village. They had passed by one of the guard towers connected to the main gate and now, when Aphmau looked past them, the guard tower was faded in the distance. 

He stopped and turned to face the woman. “I’ve been working on this for a very long time.” He told her with a smile and held her hand. “And I, Chad G. Augistine Au’Leopold III, would love seeing you use it and would mean a lot to an old man like me.” 

Aphmau pouted. “Of course Chad, now what is it?” 

A large smile erupted on his face and he dug around for something in pocket. A tiny golden square with mechanic designs on it, before Aphmau could explain her concerns for how a tiny metal square was going to help them travel across the seas, Chad threw the metal square into the ocean and in the matter of a second a large viking-esc ship appeared out of thin air. It was all mechanical with a golden metal exterior and gears along the keel of the ship. 

Aphmau gasped and gripped on tightly to Chad’s hand in shock. “Chad!” She yelled, “Chad, holy shit! How did you do this?”

“With the power of science!” 

“Oh my Irene.” 

Their boat problem was now solved. With that being solved, Aphmau took the most responsible decision and decided to bring Michi and Sasha along with them to their trip to Alivia. Aphmau saw Michi and Sasha as their responsibility, and while everyone hated the fact that these two villainous girls were coming along with them, they couldn’t argue that Aphmau was right here. 

The day that they planned to leave, Aphmau had woken up a little earlier than everyone, and when she noticed the same had happened to Aaron, she suggested a sparring match between the two. 

Aaron took her to his little hideout, where Aphmau had first learned the man’s name. They put away their weapons, and they were ready to fight hand-to-hand. 

Aphmau was mostly on the defensive, dodging and blocking Aaron's harsh uppercuts and quick punches. She barely practiced hand-to-hand combat since using a sword was the most effective way of battle, so she was, of course, rusty and of course, Aaron was winning. 

Aphmau dodged a punch that landed on the tree next to her, and that’s when she called it quits. She had fallen to the floor trying to dodge the punch, and she wasn’t planning on getting up.

Aaron huffed and started unwrapping the protective gauze around his hands. “You’ve gotta start attacking more.” 

Aphmau stayed laying on the grassy floor, twirling the grass between her fingers. “I don’t attack, I protect.” 

Aaron kept his eyes trained on Aphmau before sighing. “Did Garroth protect?” 

Aphmau hummed, a smiling curling to her lips as she remembered her guard. “Yeah, there was a lot more protecting than attacking with him. He’s so gentle with everything.”

“… He wasn’t gentle with us.” 

Aphmau’s smile turned sour, and she turned her head toward the mysterious man. “I don’t know why you bring that up.” 

“I don’t know why you keep thinking about him.” 

She propped herself up on her elbows, an offended look on her face. “I’m thinking about him because he’s been stuck in that Irene dimension for way too long that I like…. We should’ve gotten him out by now.” 

“Would that really be the best thing?” 

“Why are you being so rude right now?” She asked, standing to her feet. “You are well aware I care for Garroth and I don’t appreciate you speaking about him like that.” 

“I’m just saying, if we get Garroth out of that dimension, there’s a chance Zane comes out as well.” Aphmau’s anger faltered a bit. “Are you prepared to take him on?” 

“If Garroth’s there, I’m sure we’ll be able to bring him down.” 

“Or he’ll just side with his little brother again-” 

“What is up with you right now?” She snapped at him. “Where is all this anger coming from? There’s no need for it.” 

“There is a need. You’re holding yourself back.” He took a step towards her. “You’re keeping yourself anchored to the past. You need to move on.” 

She laughed in his face. “Are you joking? Are you not still obsessed with trying to kill Zane because he took your family?” 

Aaron’s face dropped. “That’s different-” 

“Yeah, it is different.” She said, stepping forward and forcing him to step back. “It’s a lot different! You need to move on, you need to get the life your loved ones would’ve wanted! I can get Garroth back, I can get the life he would’ve wanted me to live with him! You can’t! Don’t project your grief onto me!” 

Travis appeared out of the trees, panting and clutching his chest. “Dear Irene!” he cursed. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” 

Aphmau turned her attention away from Aaron to Travis. “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess we lost track of time.” She smiled to make Travis ignore the yelling he might’ve heard. “Are we leaving?” 

He nodded. “Yeah, everyone’s ready if you wanna get going.” 

Aphmau turned to Aaron. His face read no emotion, and he was staring into the grass. Aphmau knew she had hit a nerve, she had wanted to hit a nerve. Aaron had no right to tell her how she was supposed to feel, he had no right to tell her to forget Garroth. If he hurt her, she was going to hurt him. She turned back to Travis. “Let me just get changed and I’ll be on the boat in second.” 

Travis snapped his fingers. “Sounds cool.” He turned on his heels and started running out into the forest again.

Chapter Text

They left in the morning. Aphmau and Aaron came back to the settlement where they got changed into the clothes that would be suited for the western part of Ru’aun, which was much hotter than the eastern half that Phoenix Drop stood on. Their ship was packed with all the things they needed for their very long trip and they were ready to set off. They didn’t know exactly how long their trip was going to be, Travis said that it could be around 5 or 3 months since they aren’t all that familiar with the oceans, the map that Travis was reading is part illegible to him, and there could be some unexpected things coming up, so really they had no idea how long this trip was going to be they just hoped it wouldn’t be forever. Sasha and Michi were in the ship's hull where the crew didn’t have to watch over them 24/7 because there was no way they could get out of the ship without coming through the top where everyone would see them. Aphmau’s dogs were also coming along for the trip. They wouldn’t have to be stored anywhere since the boat had enough room for the dogs to roam around and they could always sleep with Aphmau if needed. 

They said goodbye to their loved ones and friends in a very somber and sentimental moment since they knew this trip was going to be the trip. This was the trip that they had talked about since they came back. This was going to be the trip where they found their new home. While hugging her sons and wishing them a tearful goodbye, Aphmau could see Belladonna touching foreheads with Zoey in a very loving moment. It warmed Aphmau’s heart. She knew that if someone didn’t drag Belladonna away, then she would’ve stayed, so Aphmau was thankful Kitten came in and to put their goodbye to an end without making it obvious. 

Aphmau’s eyes were filled to the brim with salty tears as she waved goodbye to her friends and family. This was like the Phoenix Drop War all over again, except she was the one leaving. Laurance held her close when her tears finally broke through the dam and she started sobbing, turning her head away so her sons would see what was wrong. 

Their trip started off smoothly and calculated as they figured out what direction they were going in and what other directions they were going to be going in for the rest of the trip. Travis and Lucinda were the main ones reading off the book. Sometimes Ivan would join in if the two other magick users couldn’t figure it out, but usually Lucinda and Travis were fine on their own. Belladonna and Kitten claimed they didn’t know how to read the language in the book, which Aphmau took as a serious lie. 

It wasn’t until a month into their trip when things started getting rocky. 

Aphmau was rubbing Katelyn’s back after the poor girl had vomited her guts out over the side of the ship. She was bawling her eyes out and couldn’t hold herself up because she felt too weak to stand. Turns out Katelyn can withstand things like 1 or 2 week trips on sea, but anything above that was a big no for her. She had been trying to hide it to appear strong, but Aphmau had caught her at a bad time. 

Katelyn lazily hung her head over the ship to calm her sea sickness. She groaned helplessly. 

“Oh Katelyn,” Aphmau cooed as she rubbed her back. “I wish we could do something more. You should’ve said something before we left.” 

“I wanted to be strong!” She cried. 

“You don’t have to be strong in front of us. You can be yourself.” 

“Myself is strong!” She snapped and quickly closed her mouth in fear of throwing up her words. 

Aphmau grimaced and just continued rubbing her friend’s back. Aphmau had really no idea how to help the poor woman besides being there to comfort her while she threw up. 

“I just don’t know why Travis and Lucinda can’t decipher that stupid fucking map!” she cried. 

Aphmau sighed. The two magick users who were supposed to be making their map to Alivia couldn’t make out anything that was on the pages. Ivan even came to help and there was still no progress. 

Aphmau looked around the boat to see if there was anything to help Katelyn with. She could see her dogs running around and having a merry time around the boat. Her eyes made swift contact with Kitten’s before the titan snapped their head away. Aphmau felt like something was off about that interaction. 

“Hey Aaron!” Aphmau called out. They had silently agreed to ignore the fight that they had the month prior. It was a petty fight with petty arguments, it was like siblings fighting for no reason. There was no reason for Aaron to get all angry towards Garroth and there was no reason for Aphmau to dig so deep into Aaron’s personal troubles. “Can you come over here a second?” 

He hopped over to her. When he saw her condition, he grimaced. He had been near the bow of the ship, so he hadn’t gotten a proper look at her yet. “Do I need to get anything for her?” 

“We have nothing for her, I don’t think.” She sadly informed him. “All you have to do is rub her back, okay? I need to go talk to Belladonna and Kitten, so can you do that for me?” 

“Yeah, of course.” He took over Aphmau’s position as she headed up to the wheel of the ship where Belladonna and Kitten were staying. Kitten was the one steering the ship, but Belladonna was attached to her sister’s hip so they always had to be near each other. 

Aphmau walked up to the captain’s deck and Kitten immediately tried running past Aphmau, but the woman just pushed the Meif’wa’s shoulder back to where she was. 

“What’s going on?” Aphmau asked. 

The two titans of time stayed silent. 

She rolled her eyes. “Can you just point us in the right direction?” Aphmau asked, “I know you guys know where this island is.” 

“We’ve told you once, Aphmau, we’ll tell you a hundred-” 

“Can I be honest?” Aphmau shushed the Kharagosa with her hand. “I do not care.”

“That’s fair yeah.” Kitten said shamefully. 

“You already said you can’t fix the timeline, so why not just do whatever?” 

“We still have to follow some rules.” Belladonna said. “We have to follow certain checkpoints.” 

“And one of these checkpoints is us being at sea for five months?” 

Belladonna opened and closed her mouth as she tried to find the words before sputtering out a very harsh statement. “You know we’ve done a lot for you!” 

“Like what!?” 

“We have saved your ass a ton of times!” The Titan snapped. “Kitten fucked up the entire timeline for you!”

“It was really for you, if I’m being honest.” Kitten spoke towards her sister. 

“Will you shut up?” 

“Sorry.” 

“See!” Aphmau exclaimed. “You guys have done nothing!” 

“That’s so not true!” 

“Well then, Kitten has done a lot more stuff than you.” 

Belladonna opened her mouth to say something before shutting it and lowering her shoulders in defeat. She didn’t know what to combat that with. It was true, Kitten had done a lot more stuff for the mortals than Belladonna did, and that was because Belladonna followed the rules. 

Aphmau sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “You don’t have to tell us the answer to getting to Alivia just like… point us in the right direction? Give us a hint, okay, give- give me a hint, okay? Is there anything I need to do?” 

Kitten nudged her sister. “It would be nice. We’ve been going in circles for 3 hours now and it’s getting pretty boring.” 

“And I want Katelyn to stop blowing chunks everywhere. It is getting annoying.” Aphmau continued. 

The titan finally gave in and let out a sigh. “I suppose I could say something…” Aphmau and Kitten leaned forward with excited smiles on their faces. “It’s not all that important, but the person who wrote Travis’s book was friends with Irene, so Irene may or may not be able to read the writing on that page… Whether or not the writing is legible.” 

Aphmau giggled and bounced on her feet before giving Belladonna a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” She ran off before the titan could say anything else. There wasn’t anything else she was going to say, so it was fine.

The two women watched with small smiles on their faces as Aphmau ran off the captain’s deck and down into captain’s quarters, where Travis, Lucinda, and Ivan were all trying to understand the writing of Travis’s book. 

Aphmau knocked on the door with a pep in her step. After 3 hours of going around in circles on this vast beautiful ocean, they would finally be getting somewhere. 

A very frustrated looking Lucinda opened the door. “Yes?”

“I just wanted to see how you guys were doing… So, how are you guys doing?” 

She sighed tiredly. “How do you think?” 

“Not great?” 

The witch shook her head. “Not great.” 

“Well… could I come in and see what you guys are doing?” 

Lucinda shrugged and moved aside to let Aphmau into the room. “If you want to. You’re not gonna see much.” 

In the middle of the room stood a wooden table, and in the middle of that wooden table sat a closed book that had definitely touched the hands of a Divine or some magickal being. It was old and weathered and had cool designs all over it; it was exquisite but creepy at the same time. On one side of the table, closest to the door, Travis was standing there trying to force the book open like it wasn’t his. On the other side was Ivan, staring in pure disbelief. 

“You guys can’t even open the book now?” Aphmau asked, sliding up next to Travis. “I thought you guys were just having trouble reading it!” 

Ivan shook his head as Travis continued to struggle as he tried opening the book with brute force. “We were struggling to read it and I guess it deemed us no longer worthy so it,” He clapped his hands “shut on us.”

“Could… could I try it?” Aphmau sheepishly asked. 

Travis stopped trying to open the book to give Aphmau a look like she was stupid, but then he shrugged. “Eh, why not? Maybe the book likes you.” He slid the book over to her, and she gingerly picked it up. It was heavy yet fragile, like it was crushing Aphmau, but if hit the floor, it would explode into a pile of dust. 

She took a deep breath and held the book so the pages were looking at her and she placed her hands on the cover and back of the book. She raked through the different Divine Warriors. One of them had to have written this book. She could feel it. 

The names took on a vague image in her head, a vague personality, but none of them had written this book. And then she remembered where this book came from. 

Enki was the name that she thought of with a smile on her face and the book popped open. She gasped and dropped the book back onto the table, everyone but her froze in shock at what had happened. Aphmau leaned over to look inside the book. It had opened onto a page with directions to the island of Irene. 

She gasped again, like an excited child. “I got the page!” She exclaimed. “What part are you guys stuck on?”

Travis slid over and looked at the book before pointing to a section that resembled scratches from a chicken. “I do not know what that says. We’ve tried to guess what it says, but it’s only gotten us more lost.” 

Aphmau studied the page for a second, chuckling to herself. Enki never knew how to write neatly. “I think I know what it says.” 

“What!?” 

She turned her head to look at everyone. “Do you guys have a paper or anything?” 

Ivan ran and took a long piece of paper from the counter of the room’s clothes dresser. “This is the map we’ve been drawing to visualize everything.” He placed it down on the wooden table they were working on with an ink pen. “We put it away when we weren’t getting anywhere.” 

Aphmau took the pen and started following the words in the book. “Once you’ve reached the north-east corner of Ru’aun, you’ll continue west until you’ve reached the island of Kamenka. I would suggest taking this a pit stop, but Irene never liked people who were late. You’ll continue west past the island and once you’ve reached the north-western corner of Ru’aun, you’ll want to head south, where you’ll find Alivia, the retirement home to my lovely.” Aphmau drew lines on the paper pointing towards an island that was already drawn on the map, the island of Alivia. “This trip has taken me 3 months, but to someone inexperienced, you may find these months dragging on more and more. All I say is: Prepare.” 

Aphmau let the witches crowd over the map Aphmau had just drawn so they could inspect it. 

“How in the world could you have read it?” Travis asked, turning to look at Aphmau. “I’m the only one who can read it, Lucinda can only read it because she used a spell, you… you just opened it like it was a normal book.” 

Aphmau shrugged, looking back at the book before turning her eyes back to Travis. “I wish I knew… I really wish I did.” 

He just looked at her, opening his mouth to say something before closing it and pursing his lips. Aphmau wondered if Travis knew Enki was the writer of this book. He had only ever said that he got this book from the Demon Warlock, but did he know where the Demon Warlock got it off of? 

Lucinda shot her head up. “This is great!” She exclaimed with a bright smile. “It should’ve been so easy to figure out, but obviously not! And three months? We’ll be there in no time!” She rolled up the map and moved to the other side of the table to squeeze Aphmau tightly. “I have no idea how you did it, but thank you!” she squealed and ran out of the room. 

Aphmau stood there in shock. Everything had happened so fast she wasn’t even able to get a word out. They all turned to look at the creaking door that Lucinda had just escaped out of. “I hope she’s taking that to Belladonna and Kitten.” Aphmau said. 

“Yeah, she probably is.” Ivan answered. 

Aphmau turned to Travis. “Travis, do you know where that book came from?” 

He raised an eyebrow. “The Demon Warlock, you know this.” 

“Yeah, but do you know where he got it off of?” 

Travis was about to answer before pausing and furrowing his brows, looking at the book splayed out on the table in front of them. “Are you… are you saying the Demon Warlock didn’t write this book?” 

Aphmau shrugged. “I might yeah… How this book talks about Irene though, how he calls her ‘my lovely’ I-… I think Enki wrote this book.” 

Travis pulled the book over to himself and started slowly flipping through the pages. 

“You have a book from the Enki?” Ivan asked. “That’s so cool! That’s even cooler than a Demon Warlock! You’re holding a Divine piece of literature right there, dude!” 

“I always thought he had gotten this from my mother.” Travis said. “I guess it wasn’t from my mom.” 

“Or maybe your mom is Enki!” Ivan suggested. “That would be even cooler.” 

“Isn’t Enki a guy, though?” Travis questioned.

“The Divine didn’t really follow strict gender norms, so Enki could’ve been anything.” Aphmau responded.

“Enki could’ve been my mom?” 

They all paused, wondering if that could’ve been the truth. 

Travis shook his head and closed the book. “Nope, no, my mom was cool, but she was no Divine Warrior, nope.” 

They all silently agreed that would be way too much to unpack if Enki was Travis’s mother, so they all ignored it. Katelyn was thrilled that they had found out what was up with the map and that they could finally get going. Everyone else was very grateful as well, but not as happy as Katelyn that they would get on solid land soon. 

The rest of the day didn’t last long for Aphmau, or at least it didn’t seem to last long because before she knew it, the sun was disappearing below the ocean waves and the stars started taking over the sky. She said goodnight to her friends who were staying up and took her dogs and went to bed. 

There was something missing though, something that she wouldn’t realize until the morning when she woke up staring at the ceiling. No island, no purple sky with pretty stars, no comfort, no Garroth. 

It had been practically forever since she had seen her guard and she was getting frustrated. Why couldn’t she just see him? What happened that was preventing her from seeing him? Was there something wrong with her? 

She was sitting up in her bed now. Her dogs had jumped from the bed and were now sleeping on the floor. She felt like ripping her hair out. Sleeping was pointless at this point if she couldn’t see Garroth. It was obsessive; she knew how she sounded but she couldn’t help it. The man she cared for most was stuck in another realm with no way of getting out, and the only way she could know if he was okay was through her dreams. And since Aphmau could not reach him through her dreams, there was no way to know if he was okay or not. She was lost, and it was so frustrating. 

There was a knock on her door and she looked up to see Laurance peeking in. His eyebrows were furrowed in worry from her crazed state. 

“Oh Laurance.” She wiped her tearful eyes. “Is it morning?” 

He nodded, stepping inside. “Is everything alright?” He asked as he gently closed the door to her room. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, I just… I could see you crying so…” 

She sniffled, looking at him for a moment. Laurance differed greatly from Garroth, looks wise but also personality wise. She loved Laurance, she did, and she was glad he was here by her side, but sometimes she wished Garroth was here with a calm attitude instead of Laurance’s quick witted one. He gave her another look of worry, signaling her that if there was anything wrong, she could say something. And the dam broke. 

As soon as Aphmau let out a small sob, Laurance rushed by her side to hold her tightly. He rubbed her back as she mumbled nonsense, her tears soaking into his shirt and her snot spreading everywhere. 

“What’s wrong?” He cooed, “Aphmau, please tell me.” 

She sniffled disgustingly as she lifted her head off his shoulder. “I just… I’m so frustrated!” She exclaimed. “I haven’t seen Garroth in months, Laurance! Months! I have no idea if he’s safe or not, I- I have no idea if he’s dead! I’m totally lost!” 

He sighed, a sad look on his face. “Oh, Aph… I wish I knew how to help.” He whispered. “I do. I really wish I could help, but I don’t know how to help.” 

“I know, I know I just… I really want to see Laurance. I miss him so much. It’s only been a couple of months but gods Laurance… it’s feels like ages.” 

He nodded. “I miss him too Aph, I want to just pull him out. I want to just light that portal up and pull him out, but we can’t… We can’t, and I hate that.” 

She wiped her tears. “Oh my Irene, I haven’t even been thinking about you-” 

“You don’t have to-” 

“No, I’ve ignored you for way too long, Laurance.” She said firmly. “How are you?” 

He stammered. “I don’t know,” he said simply. “I don’t know how I am, I mean… My best friend is off trying to fight his evil brother in another realm and I’m over here sulking because I can’t transform into some evil version of myself. I feel pathetic.” 

She nodded. “I do too… I just want to know how to open that stupid portal.” 

“I’m sure we’ll find out one day, though. We’ve got to find out. There’s always an answer to everything.” 

“If there’s an answer to everything, why haven’t we found it yet?” She asked. 

“Maybe it will be on this new island.” He responded. “It is supposed to be the home of Irene.” 

She shrugged at that, maybe he was right. Maybe on this island this is where they would find their answers… all of them. “There’s gotta be a reason I’m not seeing him, though?” She continued her frustrations. “Travis suggested maybe I see him when I really need him and I really need him right now.” 

“Maybe you need to connect with more. Learn more about him.” 

“How can I learn more about him? He’s not even here!” She was about to say something more, but cut herself off. There was a way that she could learn more about her guard. “Vylad!” She exclaimed. 

“Vylad?” 

“Vylad! He’s Garroth’s brother. I can learn more about Garroth through antidotes!” 

“Vylad is Garroth’s brother!?” 

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You didn’t know this? I thought you guys were talking.” 

Aphmau swore she saw a blush on Laurance’s face as she stuttered. “Why would you think that? What would suggest we were talking? Have you seen us talk before?” 

Aphmau was a little taken aback by his defensiveness over something so small. “Oh, I mean, I’ve seen you guys talk once or twice. I would’ve assumed he told you. You guys seem comfortable.” 

“Did he say that?”

She shook her head. “No, I assumed it.” 

“Oh…” He clicked his tongue. 

She wiped her tears and nose free of tears and snot. “I’ve got to go talk to Vylad!” A smile was now visible on her face as she fixed her hair and hopped out of the bed. 

“You go do that!” Laurance stood off the bed and followed her to the door.

She rushed out of the door and onto the top deck where Vylad was there, looking out onto the horizon, hoping to find something. As soon as she approached him, Chad let out a boisterous yell. 

“LAND!” He screamed and everyone turned their attention towards the sound. On Chad’s side of the ship was a gigantic island with even bigger mountains. There were two gigantic mountains that split the island into two parts. The ship was staring in the valley between those two mountains. 

Aphmau, Ivan, Lucinda, and Travis all gasped and ran up towards the edge of the ship. “Kamenka!” They all exclaimed with bright smiles. 

“Are we stopping here?” Kitten asked. 

“Yes!” they all screamed. 

Kitten laughed as she turned the ship towards the island and parked on the shore. Katelyn helped get the anchor out into the water and everyone hopped off onto the sand. Everyone besides Kitten and Belladonna, who would stay back to watch over Aphmau’s dogs and make sure Sasha and Michi did nothing funny while they were all gone. They also had no reason to stay on this island other than exploring. Aphmau, Ivan, Lucinda, and Travis were excited to see this island because they had heard about it in Travis’s book. 

They agreed to split off into three groups to cover the entire island and explore. Aphmau would go west to climb one mountain, while Lucinda would go east to traverse the other one. Katelyn would explore the valley in search of ginger to aid in her seasickness. She said it helps. 

“Ginger!?” Chad exclaimed once he heard her plan. “Why I need ginger too! I am deathly sick of these seas.” 

They were all walking towards the beginning of the valley where they could split off into their respective groups. 

“You didn’t seem that sick when you were screaming in our ears.” Katelyn snarkily commented.

Chad waved her off. “I’m just good at hiding it!” 

Katelyn turned towards Aphmau as they walked. “How does he-” 

“Don’t.” 

Katelyn scoffed and continued walking. The sun was blazing down on them, but the cool air was combating it, making everything feel equal. Aphmau had never experienced such nice weather. It was the first time she experienced vacation weather. The jungle life around them also made everything feel nice. It added a layer of shade to some parts of their walk. 

“Oh Vylad, you could join our group. I’m going with Aph.” Laurance said as they stopped at their destination. 

“I was thinking of going with Katelyn and Chad.” Vylad responded. His cane helped him traverse the uneven grounds. “I think my calm nature might stop Katelyn from ripping Chad’s head off.” 

“You might not even be able to stop me.” Katelyn shrugged. 

Laurance looked sad, but he shrugged and brushed it off. “That’s fine, I was just suggesting.” 

“I’m obviously going with Ivan.” Lucinda said. 

“And Travis,” Ivan winked towards the white-haired man, “Can join us.” 

Travis’s eyes widened, and he pointed to himself, a smirk pulling at his lips. “I have no idea what that wink means, but I love it.” 

“So I’ll go with Aph.” Aaron commented. “That sounds fine.” 

“What if I don’t want you in my group, huh?” Aphmau teased and poked his arm. 

“Well, I’m coming anyway so, suffer.” 

“Wow!” Laurance laughed as his group started walking west. 

The mountain was beautiful in every way possible. Yes, it was treacherous to climb up, and they all had to take multiple breaks because of the air being thin and not sufficient to fill their gasping lungs, but besides that, it was great. It was grassy and rocky in all the right places as if it was made to be walked on, a natural path on the mountain’s surface that guided them through the large trees covering the grounds. 

Aphmau paused. They had breached the covering of trees and had entered an area with cute flowers and natural wheat growing. The air was cool here, and the sun poured gently on their faces. She looked out at the scenery and smiled at her surroundings. 

“It’s beautiful.” She sighed. 

Aaron stood next to her, looking out into the sky, just like her. “It is… my son would’ve loved this.” 

She turned to him, nudging him softly. “You gotta love it for him.” 

He nodded. There was no smile on his face, there was no sign of happiness on the man’s face, but Aphmau knew. 

A loud scream that erupted behind them snapped the two out of their trance. Aphmau’s heart dropped, and she immediately noticed Laurance was no longer near them. 

Her heart sank even lower. She began searching for her fallen guard with Aaron by her side. Aaron ended up finding him before her. He had fallen into a man-made hole in the mountain’s side, a perfect trap. Laurance was at the bottom of the trap, clutching his leg in pain. 

“Laurance!” she called down to him and he turned his head up. “Laurance, are you okay?” 

He sucked in a breath of pain. “I think I might’ve sprained my ankle! This hole was covered with leaves and other junk!” 

“This isn’t a trap.” Aaron added. “Laurance, is there any way to escape?”

Laurance around his surroundings. Behind him led to a tunnel in the cave he fell into. “Yes!” he called back.  

“This is an entrance that someone was trying to hide.” Aaron continued. 

Aphmau kneeled down. “Laurance, we’re coming down, okay!” 

“What? No!” the guard refused. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

“I won’t hurt myself!” 

“You’re totally going to hurt yourself.” Aaron agreed with Laurance. 

“Well, do you wanna jump down there and catch me?” Aphmau asked Aaron, giving him a look of disinterest. 

He paused, thinking to himself before shrugging and jumping down the hole, using the wall and uneven edges to guide himself down slowly instead of free falling. Aphmau gasped and pulled herself away from the hole as Aaron slid down and landed right next to Laurance’s fallen body. 

Aphmau took a moment to collect herself before leaning her head over the edge of the hole to see Aaron looking up at her with Laurance’s arm slung around his shoulder to hold the man up. 

“It’s safe, don’t worry!” Aaron called to the woman. “Just be careful.” 

Aphmau gripped the rocky edge. The bottom of the hole seemed farther and farther away the more she looked at it. She pushed herself away one more time, taking a deep breath and calming herself before swinging her legs over the edge and copying Aaron. She used her hands and feet to press against the rocky walls and slow down her fall to the bottom, where Laurance and Aaron were waiting for her. Her hands got some cuts in them, but it wasn’t anything to worry about or anything she couldn’t fix. Her knees burned with pain when she dropped to the floor and the solid surface hit her feet, sending a shock through her nerves. 

Once they all got themselves situated, and they fixed Laurance’s sprained ankle as best they could. They headed towards the tunnel in the hole that had the most light, which gave them the most hope that there was something here instead of nothing. 

The tunnel wasn’t that long until it opened up into something magical. It was a large cave with an opening in the far corner, letting in all the sunlight that lit everything up and explained the light that they were seeing in the tunnel. There were jewels and gems littered all over the ground that the sun made sparkle and waterfalls coming from the ceiling that formed tiny ponds that homes fish and amphibious creatures. It was a beautiful sight to see. 

Aphmau looked around in awe and when her eyes settled on a corner of the cave, her jaw dropped open and soon the two others noticed what she was looking at and gasped in shock as well. There was a small group of tiny wyverns all huddled around a rocking crib of some sort. They made clicking sounds with their beaks as the thing in the crib stayed silent. 

Sounds of the wind whooshing took her away from the tiny wyverns to look at the open end of the cave where the sunlight was pouring in. A large wyvern was flying in and when it took notice of Aphmau and her friends, it turned and landed right in front of them. There was nothing distinguishable about this wyvern that made her think this other than a gut feeling, but she was sure that this wyvern was familiar to her in a way. She knew this wyvern. 

The creature chuckled, “Long time no see, mortal one.” 

Aphmau gasped. “Raven?” She whispered, and the dragon nodded its head. She immediately jumped from the tunnel entrance and went to hug the golden beast. He was so much bigger than when she last saw him. He was no longer a little messenger wyvern that Garroth used to send letters. 

She hugged him tightly. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much!” She let go and looked him up and down. He was so much different from the last time she saw him, so much more mature looking. “I hope you’re doing good.” 

“I hope the same for you, human. I’ve missed our encounters as well.” He looked past Aphmau, and she remembered her friends. 

“Oh!” She spun around to fill her confused friends with what was going on. “I know this wyvern! He used to be Garroth’s. His name is Raven.” 

“I know who he is.” Laurance said with some anger in his voice. “He’s the wyvern that kicked Ungrth out.” 

Aphmau’s face saddened, and she turned around. “Do you recognize Laurance?”

“The one with light brown hair? I do.” Said the wyvern. “He is Ungrth’s human, the reason we disgraced him.” 

“I wasn’t aware you could communicate with them.” Laurance added. 

“I didn’t know either.” Aaron agreed. “Have you always been able to do this?” 

“Yeah!” Aphmau answered.

“Are they able to understand us?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau turned, and the wyvern nodded in understanding. “They can understand you, you just can’t understand them.”  

Laurance sighed. “Well, I’ll have you know, wyvern, I am not fond of you for exiling Ungrth. He was your family and what you did to him was disgraceful.” 

“Will you have your human know it was the best for our pack?” 

Aphmau didn’t feel like being the messenger right now, but she translated the message anyway. Laurance rolled his eyes with a huff, not saying anymore. 

She turned around sadly to the wyvern. “I’m sorry. He was very close to Ungrth.” 

“We’re aware. But despite this minor bump, it’s nice to see you again, human. It’s been far too long.” 

“Oh Raven, it’s great to see you as well, I-” her throat tightened, and she remembered something vital to her relationship with this wyvern. “Garroth… I’m so sorry but Garroth isn’t… He isn’t-” 

“There is no need to tell me, human.” Raven cut her off. “I am well aware of Garroth’s conditions, for I am connected with him.” 

“Connected? I thought Wyverns were forbidden to do that. Wasn’t that why you kicked Ungrth out?” 

“Yes, and I regret it every day. I tried not to form such a connection, but I owe him my life and there was nothing to stop that.” 

“Oh… well, are you still connected to Garroth? Can you tell me how he’s doing?” Aphmau’s worries for her old guard would be calmed if Raven was able to tell her something about how he’s doing. 

“He’s alive, he’s alive and breathing.” 

Aphmau sighed with relief. “That’s good to hear. So, how have you been?” 

“I’ve been good, but before we can get into the proper conversation, I must ask, are your friends back there trustworthy?” 

“Oh, of course, yeah.” Aphmau said. She then leaned in and whispered, “Laurance is just a little hurt that you exiled Ungrth all those years ago.” 

“I understand that, with how close those two were, I could’ve only expected the worst feelings to come from him about me and my pack. But now, I must say, fate must favor me because my pack and I have been running out of ideas, for we do not know how humans work.” 

Aphmau raised an eyebrow. “How humans work?” She repeated. “What do you mean?” 

“Me and my pack have come across this human, and it is starving. Please follow me.” 

The Wyvern began leading Aphmau and her friends away from the tunnel entrance and towards the group of tiny wyverns huddled around the wooden crib. Aphmau gasped when she saw what was inside, a small little baby sleeping soundly. It had tan skin and dark brown hair like Aphmau’s and was in only a cloth diaper, which made sense since the baby barely looked 1-years-old. 

“It’s a baby girl.” Raven added before the poor little girl started sniffling and crying. Aphmau was too shocked that there was a baby here to do anything, but Aaron was quick on his feet. Laurance hoped away as Aaron took off his jacket and picked up the baby, wrapping the little girl in his black jacket that he always wore. 

Aaron looked at the baby with adoration and awe before looking up at everyone. “I’m sorry.” He shyly apologized. “She was cold.” 

“How did you even know that?” Laurance asked. He had sat himself down on some of the rock in the cave. 

Aaron shrugged. “I’m good with kids, and this cave isn’t the warmest place ever.”

“I can’t make myself believe that you’re good with kids.” 

Aaron shrugged.  

“I can’t believe there’s a baby here, a whole ass baby!” Aphmau caressed the little girl with her finger as the warmth began calming her down. She turned to her wyvern friend, who was gazing at the child. “How did you come across her?” 

“We found her just the other day.” Raven informed her. “I was circling the island, searching for food, when I came across a shipwreck. When I went to inspect it for any food or anything of value, I found a mother, on her dying breath, handing her baby out to me. This is rare since most humans are afraid of us wyverns, but this woman… she was not.” 

Aphmau felt sorry for this woman, whoever she was. It was terrible that someone so kind was now taken by the gods instead of living her life with her child. What a terrible fate. 

“But I took the child. We’ve been trying to raise her since but, once again, we have no clue how to raise a human child.” 

“There’s a cow over there.” Laurance spoke up. “Maybe we could use that to feed the kid.” 

“We wanted to feed the child through the cow, but that animal was far too afraid of us and we couldn’t get anything done.” Raven said. 

“I can go get some milk. Do the wyverns have any buckets or bottles or…?” Aaron spoke to Aphmau, but he was really trying to talk to Raven.

“We have a bucket near the cow. Hopefully, that will be sufficient.” 

“Raven said that they have a bucket near the cow, so you don’t gotta worry about that.” Aphmau told the man. 

“Okay, so I can go get it and come back with something for the kid to drink. Can you carry her, Aph?” 

“Yeah, of course.” Aaron handed the baby off to Aphmau and she held it close to her body as Aaron went off to deal with the cow. She was precious, this small tiny thing that was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. It had been so long since she cared for a baby, especially one so young, but she immediately got into the hang of it again. Like muscle memory. 

“Are we going to keep the baby?” Laurance asked as he hobbled over to Aphmau, making sure to not put any pressure on his sprained ankle. 

“Keep her? Oh, I don’t know, I mean-” 

“You should.” Raven cut her off. His voice read that of sadness and disappointment. “She deserves to be with people that will take care of her and while I’ve grown attached to her, I cannot ignore the fact that we are not fit to care for her.” 

“Attached? Isn’t that…?” 

“Forbidden? Yes.” Raven nodded. “I am guilty of this, but I only hope that by giving her to you, I can rebalance the fates. Wyverns are never to meddle in the affairs of you mortals. It taunts the fates to have us under your control once again after all that has happened.” 

“So that probably means you can’t join us on our trip to start a sanctuary?” 

The wyvern nodded. “I’m sorry, I wish I could, but wyverns are strong beings and our involvement in human affairs will always give one side an advantage over the other, no matter what the situation is.” 

“Is that… is that why you exiled Ungrth?” Aphmau asked, she didn’t want to ask this in front of Laurance but she had to know. And deep down, Laurance wanted to know as well. 

The wyvern nodded once more. “He took a liking to that brown-haired human, and this bond changed the way Ungrth viewed humanity. We had to exile him for humanity’s sake… and for our kin. If people started noticing our presence in your world… we would be hunted.” 

“But people aren’t like that anymore.” Aphmau argued. “There’s good people in this world that wouldn’t hurt you.” 

“But there will always be bad people, no matter how many good people there are, there will always be a defiler. The war between the wyverns and humans took the world back centuries! When I told Ungrth that his bond with this human was putting us all at risk, he… Well, he tried eating me and at that moment I met Garroth.” 

Aphmau knew this part of the story. She remembered Garroth telling her how he had gotten Raven, but he had always thought it was the mother of Raven’s litter trying to eat him. “And Garroth saved you and you were put in his debt.” 

“Yes. And I wonder now, with all that has happened, I wonder if I’ll be able to repay him.” 

“You will. I promise we’re going to get him back and you’ll be able to repay your debt.” 

Raven nodded. There seemed to be a strange smile forming on the creature’s lips. 

“What should we name her?” Laurance asked, ignoring the question that Aphmau had asked earlier. 

“We have given her the name of: ir svaust confnic de qumado, but that is a draconic name. She should have a name given to her by her own kind, by humans.” 

Aphmau nodded and turned back to the little baby. “I don’t know.” She told Laurance. “I’m sure we’ll figure one out soon enough.” 

That was when Aaron came back holding a small bucket of milk. It wasn’t filled completely, but it was definitely something for the baby to drink. They got the baby situated and awake and started pouring the liquid slowly to the brim of the bucket so the baby could start drinking. 

“Are we going to keep her?” Aaron asked as he held the bucket. 

“I want to, but Raven only mentioned that of a mother. What if the father is somewhere out there on this island looking for his baby?” 

“We can try looking for him when we get back.” Laurance said. “We should probably get going anyway since it’s getting late and the others might be worried about us.” That was true since it was around noon when they reached the island, and then climbing the mountain they were currently in took a couple of hours, and then sun that was pouring into the cave that they were in wasn’t as brightly yellow as it was when they first started their climb. 

“As the elder wyvern of this realm, I shouldn’t be leaving my kin alone for such little things, but I think it’s necessary to help fly you down this mountain, so this little one is safe.” He gestured towards the baby in Aphmau’s arms, who had stopped drinking. 

“I didn’t know you were the elder wyvern. I’m proud of you, Raven.” 

The wyvern nodded with gratitude in its body language. “I thank you. Ever since Ungrth passed, I have been labeled as the official elder wyvern by the fates.” 

“Well, congratulations.” 

Raven thanked her for kindness both towards him and the child. Before they left, some of the tinier wyverns gave them some medical supplies to help heal Laurance’s ankle and gave him crutches to let him stand on his own, it was a sweet gesture for creatures that were supposed to distance themselves from humans. After that, they helped Laurance get onto the back of Raven and the wyvern flew them down to their ship where everyone was talking with one another. They all stood in shock as a wyvern flew down and landed right in front of them with Aphmau, Aaron, Laurance, and a baby riding on its back. They all got off, and that was when Aphmau handed the baby back to Aaron so she could have a private moment alone with Raven. 

“I won’t keep you long. I just want to give something to the little one.” Raven said before kneeling his head down and plucking something from its legs. It was a golden scale, about the size of Aphmau’s hand. It placed it gently into her hand, and she was mesmerized. The sun wasn’t even on the golden scale, yet it was still shimmering. “Give this to the human girl. It’s a symbol of the affection I’ll never be able to give her.” 

Aphmau’s heart clenched. Raven was such a sweet creature. She knew little of Wyverns, but this must’ve been something important, it came from Raven’s own body; it was something to protect himself and yet he was giving it up as a gift to this little baby he had only found the other day. 

“Please, raise her under the words: waph lae sjek wer saurivic di haurach re tomosha ekess dout sepa. If you are truly one of Irene, you will know what this means, dear human.” 

Aphmau had a feeling she knew what the phrase meant, something about living your life the way you wanted to live it, but she wasn’t completely sure. “I will raise her to be the best she can be, I promise you that.” 

He nodded. “Then may the winds guide you home and the fates be kind. I take my leave.” he bowed his head before flapping his wings and taking flight into the sky, returning to his home in the mountains. 

Aphmau turned around to see no one paying attention to the wyvern that was just there, but instead, the baby girl that Aaron had swaddled in his jacket, even Chad, who Aphmau thought would have a heart attack over the wyvern, was paying more attention to the little girl. 

Laurance came up next to her. He had come from the group of people crowding around Aaron. “So, is this kid going to be yours or Aaron’s? Because it really looking like Aaron’s right now.” 

Aphmau laughed. It was sweet to see this side of Aaron, but there was also a side of somberness to it. Aaron had lost his child and now there was a new one he could take care of, really Aphmau wouldn’t mind if Aaron asked to care for it more than Aphmau. She shrugged. “I don’t think it’s anyone’s at the moment. I mean, we just got the poor girl, really everyone is going to help raise her.” 

He nodded. “It’s nice though. You don’t know how great it feels to see an orphan getting so much love. You have no idea how many times I dreamt about someone loving me when I was younger.” 

She took his hand and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. “I love you.” 

He looked up at her with sad eyes. “Thank you.” 

She smiled, and the two appreciated the silence and the soft crashing of the waves as they ate up the shore they were currently on. It seemed like the group had set up a small campsite near their ship so they could get a change of scenery. They had been sleeping on the ship for a month now and it was getting tiring. 

“What did Raven say about Ungrth?” Laurance finally said. “Why did they disown him?” 

Aphmau explained in the nicest and most considerate way what Raven had told her. This was obviously a sensitive subject for Laurance and she didn’t want to be as blunt as the wyvern that had told her this information. His face didn’t change the entire time she spoke. It stayed in this somber, sad look that broke Aphmau’s heart. She knew how close Laurance and Ungrth were and she knew it hurt to hear this kind of information, that Ungrth had risked all of humanity to be friends with Laurance. 

All he did was nod when she finished speaking. They wanted to ask him if he was okay but there was something telling her she wouldn’t get a truthful answer so she shut her mouth and held his hand tighter, letting him know she wasn’t going anywhere as long as he didn’t want her to go. 

They spent the night at the island, huddled together in a small campsite, all trying to take care of this new baby that was put into their arms. Lucinda conjured up some magical milk that could give nutrients to the baby until it could start eating food. Katelyn had successfully found her ginger and Chad wasn’t dead, so Aphmau saw that as good, Lucinda had found anything exciting on this island other than some fascinating plants she took for herself that she could turn into potions if needed. 

They were all talking about the campfire. Vylad was sitting next to Aphmau and when she noticed this, she remembered what she wanted to do when she woke this afternoon. 

“Vylad.” She gained his attention. “Could I ask you a kind of personal question?” 

“Of course.” He smiled. He had taken his scarf off and tied it around his waist to compensate for the hot weather. 

“Okay… what was it like living with Garroth? Or at least what it was like with the Ro’Meaves.” 

Everyone got a soft of quiet when Aphmau asked this question. There was suddenly a lot of pressure on Vylad’s shoulders to answer her question. 

“Oh, wow um…” He stammered. “It was nice, nice in the beginning at least. We were the second most popular royal family, with the Von Rosenburg family being first. Because of this, we were introduced into politics very early in our lives. I mean, Garroth was only ten when our father put into the guard academy and Zane was the same age when he went into studying to be a priest.” 

“What were you put into?” 

“Well, really, I had no options. I was a bastard son. I couldn’t be someone royal, so I chose music.” Vylad said, “My mother, Lady Zianna, was very accepting of this, and let me live out my dreams of becoming a musician. I sadly have none of my instruments now… I could make some though.” 

“That would be wonderful! We could get you some supplies so you can entertain us while we’re sailing the seas to Alivia.” 

Vylad laughed at this, but shook it off. “But you asked about Garroth, so I can tell you about Garroth.” He hummed for a minute as he thought of what to say before snapping his fingers and gaining everyone’s attention again. “I was 7 around this time, Garroth was 17, and coming home for the holidays because the guard academy let him do that. So we’re all getting ready for dinner, getting ready for Garroth and our butler comes in and announces that Garroth is home but also tells us that some girl is with him as well.” Everyone suddenly got very invested in the story. “So we’re all wondering ‘who the fuck is with Garroth’ and here comes big shot Garroth with this tiny little blonde thing wrapped around his arm.” 

“Holy shit!” Laurance exclaimed. “Please tell me her name was Azura!” 

Vylad raised his eyebrow. “How did you know?” 

Aphmau and Laurance screamed in excitement. They had both remembered that time in Pikoro when they had found out that Azura had a crush on Garroth. It was wild when they both found out because Azura, of all people, did not seem like someone who would fall in love so easily. Aphmau wondered where the woman was. She was so sweet to her when she first arrived in Bright Port, but coming back there 15 years later, there was no sign of her. She only hoped that the woman was okay and well. 

The rest of the night, Vylad spoke of stories of the Ro’Meave family and Garroth. It was the first time in a while that the group really felt like a family since they set off. Only once or twice did Vylad get into the sad details like how Garte had treated them, how Garte seemed to get better when Vylad was introduced to the family but when he was around the age of 10, the King did a full 180 and turned back into a greedy, selfish coward who only sought things for himself. Most of the stories, though, were light-hearted and filled with funny moments. It was nice learning so much about Garroth. 

The reason Zane had his bangs covering one of his eyes was because when they were really young, Garroth threw a snowball at Zane without knowing that there was a rock in the snow and ended up gouging the poor kid’s eye out. Garroth was the Ro’Meave to be the most in tune with their Korean heritage and learned a lot of Korean fighting styles, which inspired Vylad to learn a lot of Korean music. Garroth once ate a full onion raw, all the Ro’Meave kids had shellfish allergies and they could blame their mother for that, Garroth used the clean when he stressed which lead to a lot of rooms being rearranged in their castle, and the Ro’Meaves all speak the dead language Akkadian which is super impressive. 

“Wait, when did Garroth fake his death?” Katelyn asked as they were all getting ready for bed. “You never spoke of that.” 

“Oh… right.” Vylad sighed. “I didn’t speak about it because… well, I didn’t know it happened.” 

“What?” Aphmau’s voice ran high as she put her hair up in a bun so it wouldn’t tangle in her sleep. “How could you not know that happened?” 

“Because I believe it happened when I died.” 

The air turned icy. 

“Oh… I’m so sorry.” Katelyn apologized. “I didn’t know when you died.” 

“It’s no problem,” Vylad got himself in his sleeping bag. “I died when I was fifteen.” 

Katelyn nodded. “That makes sense, since he was ten years older than you. Garroth ‘died’ when he was twenty-five.” 

“Oh wow! So that’s really close, yeah I was too busy in Hell.” 

Aaron came up to Aphmau, holding the baby in his arms. “Hey Aph,” he whispered. “Would it be okay if I slept with the kid?” 

“Oh yeah Aaron, you can do whatever you want, okay?” 

“Thanks.” 

Everyone wished each other a goodnight and went to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would promise them a good trip on the seas as they continued to sail for Alivia.

Chapter Text

The next day they were all getting ready to leave, Laurance, Travis, and Vylad were circling the perimeter of the island in search for the baby’s mother and Aphmau was out helping Chad get some ginger since he had been a gentleman and let Katelyn have all the ginger that they found the other day. 

Aaron was sitting on the beach with the baby in his arms. Kitten and Belladonna were sitting next to him as they bathed in the sunlight, as was Lucinda who was meditating rather than tanning, the ship was ready for them to get going so all they needed was everyone to get back so they could start heading off.

“Can I ask you guys something?” Lucinda spoke aloud. 

“Shoot.” Everyone said. 

“I feel kind of… selfish for not doing anything. I’ve been doing nothing these past two days, or at least nothing of serious importance, and it feels weird.” 

“What?” Aaron said in shock. “No, you’re not selfish at all. It’s not selfish to do things for yourself for once.” 

“Totally.” Kitten agreed. “Like the nice thing to do would to help Aphmau and Chad find ginger, but I’m not because I’ve done a lot, and I just want to sit on the beach and relax.” 

“Same for me.” Belladonna agreed. “I should help Aaron with that kid, but I’m not.” 

“Excuse you, ma’am, I don’t need any help.” Aaron said in a sassy voice. “I am very capable of taking care of this kid on my own.” 

“Yet in the middle of the night, you woke Aph up to help you with her.” Lucinda pointed out. 

Aaron huffed. “Look, the baby was crying and Aph is a mother who has probably dealt with crying babies.” 

“Wrong!” Kitten exclaimed. “Levin was a darling to be around!” 

“Oh, come on,” Lucinda rolled her eyes. “He had to be annoying sometimes.” 

“Never.” Belladonna said. “He was always just this sweet little thing. It was great.” 

Aphmau and Chad hopped down from the grassy hill and onto the sandy beach at the same time that Laurance and his small group came back from trying to find the baby’s father. 

Belladonna smiled. “Good, we can finally get moving!” She hopped up. “Katelyn and Ivan are already on the ship, probably pulling their hair out because you guys took so long.” 

“Look, ginger is hard to find!” Aphmau argued. 

“Indeed it is!” Chad agreed. “We had to climb some of those treacherous mountains to find some.” 

“And we need to make sure there is no sign of anyone living on this island besides us.” Laurance argued his side. “We need to make sure we weren’t stealing someone’s baby.” 

“Speaking of baby,” Aphmau said as she slid next to a now standing Aaron. “Have you decided on a name?” 

“Oh, I was thinking you would want to name it.” The man said as they all walked the ramp leading up to the ship where Katelyn and Ivan were waiting for them. 

“It?” 

“The baby.” 

Aphmau giggled. “But no, no, I want you to name her. You’ve been taking care of her the most.” 

They all stopped around the middle of the boat as they waited for Aaron’s answer. Kitten and Belladonna were the only ones to walk away since they needed to get the ship un-anchored and ready to leave this shore to head off to Alivia again. 

He stared at the sleeping baby while he thought, wondering what name would be best to give this beautiful little child. To give his second chance at being the father he always wanted to be. 

“Lillith.” he said after a moment of silence. 

A soft gasp of excitement slipped from Aphmau’s lips and a smile erupted on her face. “That’s a beautiful name!” 

“Where is this name coming from?” Katelyn asked. 

“Me.” Aaron said. “It’s my name.” 

Aphmau didn’t get it at first, scrunching her face up in confusion. It didn’t hit her until Aaron lifted his head to look into her eyes and it suddenly made every amount of sense. “Oh, Aaron…” she tenderly placed her hand on his arm. “That’s so beautiful.” Instead of throwing away his old name and letting it rot, he was giving it a new meaning. He was giving it to someone more worthy of a name like that. 

“I was thinking of a middle name for her as well.” Aaron continued, “A name that she could live up to.” 

“Is it gonna be Lillith Travis?” The demon asked, flipping hair that he did not have. 

Everyone huffed out a laugh. Laurance smacked the man in the arm to tell him to shut up. 

“No, no,” Aaron chuckled. “I want to name her Lillith Garnet.” 

Aphmau paused, her heart rang cold, and she froze. It was a little embarrassing how something so small could make her feel such an abundance of emotions. 

“Is it a good name?” Aaron asked softly, making sure that this was okay with Aphmau. 

She swallowed a lump in her throat, holding back the tears of her longing and grief. “I think it’s a beautiful name.” 

“It’s a jam-packed name, that’s what it is.” Katelyn said. “Lilith Garnet? If she isn’t someone important when she grows up, that name will be for nothing.” 

They all laughed. Kitten called out from the wheel to tell them they’d be setting off now, and they were on their way. 

It was their second month at sea. Lucinda had helped make a potion for sea sickness for both Chad and Katelyn and now the both of them were feeling better than ever. The witch had also conjured up a magic blanket that would keep Lilith warm at all times and keep her secured when things got rocky since they found out she was a little terrified of the waves. It was a sad thing that someone so young could already experience something so traumatic. 

Travis informed them they only had a month left on their trip if their book was telling the truth and Lucinda said that they would never have to make this trip again because once they got settled in the island she could make a portal between Alivia and Phoenix Drop which was more than a relief for everyone to hear. Lucinda wouldn’t be making a portal to Kamenka because she felt those wyverns deserved their privacy. 

As they grew closer to their destination, only a few weeks until they reached the shore, the magick users of the ship began experiencing strange phantom illnesses. They would feel like they need to throw up but never do so, their body would get feverish but they never had a fever, and their stomachs turned even when the waves were calm. No one could explain what it was, but Lucinda made a guess that this island was something powerful, something that they had never felt before, so it was going to feel weird for a bit until they got used to it. 

Aaron was rocking little Lilith near the bow of the ship, hoping her fears would be soothed if she associated the waves with something nice. Aphmau and Lucinda watched from afar. 

“So…” Lucinda clicked her tongue. “What do you think Levin and Malachi are going to think of their new baby sister?” 

Aphmau hadn’t even thought about Levin and Malachi; she had been so absorbed in taking care of Lilith with Aaron. “Oh, I have no idea. I bet they’ll like her. I mean, they can’t not like her.” 

“That is true… what do you think they’ll make of their new ‘dad’?” 

“Dad?” 

“Aaron?” 

Aphmau barked out a laugh, and Lucinda seemed a little shocked. “Aaron? Seriously? He’s more of an uncle than anything. Oh my Irene.” 

“Oh, really?” Lucinda asked. “I’m sorry for assuming then, you guys just seemed so close and have been taking care of Lilith so much.” 

“That’s just called being good parents, Lucinda. That doesn’t mean we’re together.” 

She nodded, a hint of sadness on her face. “I’m sorry it’s just… I never got loving parents, so I just assumed.” 

“Oh, Lucinda…” Aphmau hugged the witch, “you don’t have to apologize, don’t worry.” 

The witch was hesitant at first, but she eventually gave in and hugged Aphmau tightly. 

“I missed you.” She whispered. 

“I missed you too.” 

“Land!” Kitten called and everyone stopped what they were doing. They all immediately went to the edge of the ship where a large island was staring them in the face. It was beautiful and so enormous. The ship was like an ant compared to this land mass. And towards the east end of the island stood a large and beautiful mountain that took Aphmau’s breath away. It was so big that the clouds were cutting off the top half of it, allowing it to be shrouded in mystery that the group would hopefully uncover. 

They all stared in awe as the ship slowed down so they could all observe the island in its glory. Despite the beautiful nature of this island, there was a sickening feelings growing in Aphmau’s stomach. A feeling she hadn’t felt in so long and wished to never feel again. She thought that maybe once they had moved away and started a new era, that feeling would go away forever… but here it was. 

“Is this Alivia?” Laurance asked. 

Aphmau took a deep breath, breathing in all the fresh air that circled around this abandoned island. “Yes.” She whispered. There was a moment of silence, a moment of relief and gratitude, before everyone erupted in cheers. 3 long months had finally led up to something wonderful. Long grueling hours of boredom finally led to their new home, their new start in their lives. 

The ship was quickly docked on shore and the ramp was kicked down to allow everyone off. The wind blew through Aphmau’s hair and for the first time in a really long time; she felt at home. Kitten, Belladonna, and Aaron stayed on the ship while everyone else (excluding the prisoners) got off. Aphmau held onto her dogs with a tight grip so they wouldn’t run away. She would let them soon, but for now they had to stay by her side in case there were any rabid wolves or bears looking for some small dogs to eat. 

The beach was long and went out for miles. Seashells and different earthy artifacts littered the ground and sparkled from the sun overhead. In front of them was a large forest that seemed as if it was breathing as the leaves swayed in the wind and the animals rustled in the branches. 

It was a sight to see. 

“Wow.” Ivan whispered. “This place is gorgeous.”

“Seriously.” Lucinda agreed, hanging on tightly to her boyfriend. “I can’t believe we’re starting our new home here.” 

Then Travis vomited.

Everyone yelled in shock and jumped away from the man. Travis fell down to his knees, holding himself up as much as he could so he wouldn’t face-plant into his sickly green vomit. Aphmau then began feeling something twist and turn in her stomach and she dropped the leashes she was holding. Her dogs thankfully didn’t run away, but they began curling up to her legs in a way to ask what was wrong with their mom.

Lucinda and Ivan were the next ones to feel the sickness that randomly washed over them, and soon Laurance and Vylad were looking pale as well. Katelyn and Chad were the only ones out of their group to not be infected with this illness that came over them like the waves of the ocean. 

“Holy shit!” Katelyn screamed, as she jumped away from the group. “What is wrong with you guys?!” 

“By the gods!” Chad exclaimed and hung close to the warrior lady. “I’ve seen nothing like this!” 

Lucinda held her mouth shut in fear that she would blow chunks similar to Travis. “It’s… It’s that feeling!” She yelled and Aphmau immediately knew what she meant. It was the strange feeling in their stomachs that they had felt while they were sailing, the one that was similar to sea sickness but had an added foreboding, ominous feeling. 

The air grew thick and foggy; the sky shifted from a beautiful blue to a disgusting gray filled with the sorrows of every soul. Clouds filled the air and the screams from the wildlife filled the air as all the magick users groaned in pain and discomfort. Katelyn and Chad watched in horror as their friends grabbed onto their stomach and held back vomit. 

A boisterous and ugly laugh erupted from the skies and the magickal group called for mercy. Katelyn and Chad had no idea what to do. The only thing they could do was call out to their friends back on the ship to come and see if they could help. 

A man appeared in a fury of clouds that landed on the sandy shores of the beach that the group had just landed on. He was laughing with a mixture of screams of victory as his body formed from the clouds into something the group could see. He was muscular and in great shape. His muscles bulged and flexed even while he was standing and doing nothing. His top half was bare to show off his chest muscles and abs, his lower half, though, was covered in a ripped skirt that showed off his right leg below its knee. 

The man let out a moan of relief. The group was finding their footing and balance, to where they could finally stand up. Thankfully, Kitten, Belladonna, and Aaron had come down from the ship and were now ready to help their friends. 

Kitten and Belladonna gasped when they saw the man in front of them. He had a handlebar mustache similar to Chad’s and his hair was so perfect it would be wrong to mess it up. His tan complexion and black hair shined from the glaring sun. 

“You!” Belladonna hissed. “You bastard!” 

“Ah, ah, ah,” The man held out his finger and Belladonna froze in her place. “You’re not allowed to touch me, daddy’s rule.” 

“Fuck Kinoko!” The woman spit. 

The man pouted. “Oh, what would he think of that?” He looked up at the sky. “Poor old man, loved by no one.” 

He rolled his back and flexed his muscles even more. “Oh, it feels good to be back!” he exclaimed. “The fresh air in my air, the sun on my skin? Ugh! Amazing!” 

“Who are you?” Aphmau yelled.

The man turned towards Aphmau. She was currently using Aaron to keep herself upright, but the Demon Warlock’s smile that was made of nightmares was threatening to take her back down. “You’ve met me before. It’s saddening to know you don’t remember me.” 

Aphmau stared at him a little more before a familiar feeling stuck her stomach, like a knife digging into her skin. “No!” she gasped. “No! Not you!” 

“Yes, me!” 

“Aphmau, who is it?” asked Laurance who was helping Vylad stand up who was helping Laurance stand up. 

“It’s the Demon Warlock!” Travis yelled. 

“What the fuck are you guys looking at?” Katelyn had her hands in tight fists. She had left her gauntlets on the ship because how was she supposed to know she was going to need them. 

“The Demon Warlock!?” Lucinda exclaimed before vomiting into the sand, her boyfriend holding her up. 

“Yes! Yes, the Demon Warlock!” The Demon screamed. “I am here and I will bring my rein.” 

“By the gods, what are you all freaked out about?” Chad asked. Katelyn and him were growing frightened for their friends rather than just worried. They wondered if they had all gone insane. 

Ivan whipped his head towards the two confused group members. “You guys aren’t seeing him!?” Lucinda wrapped herself around the warlock and let her head fall onto his shoulder. 

“Well, I can’t see.” Vylad commented. 

“We know that, Vylad!” Everyone yelled. 

“You know I’m really confused about this because I thought I killed him!” Aphmau turned towards Travis. “I killed him!” Travis’s skin was now a grayish color and his face was morphing into something unearthly. 

“Yes!” the half-demon man agreed. “You did! But you only killed his physical form, which is probably why only us magickal people can see him.” 

The Demon Warlock laughed. “Oh… aren’t you a smart one.” He cooed. “My smart boy.” 

“I’m nothing of yours!” Travis spit and took a step forward, but Kitten held him back. It was for his own good. The energy radiating off the muscular man was nothing to mess around with. 

“Why are you even here?” Belladonna, despite being the smartest in their group, took a step forward. “We have done nothing to you and, if anything, we’ve given you what you want.” 

“And I can always just kill you again.” Aphmau twirled her hand and a glowing spear formed from the magick inside of her. 

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, don’t get too cocky, my pretty little saint. You simply caught me off guard.” He pointed at her with a clawed and disgusting hand. “I’ll be much more rough this time.” 

“Like you were all those years ago?” Belladonna questioned. “You seem to forget what happened all those years ago.” 

“You seem to be as well!” He argued. “You’re simply repeating history! Most of these fools don’t even know my name!” 

“Your name is the Demon Warlock!” Laurance exclaimed.

“See!?” the warlock screamed. “You’re all fools! Especially you two!” He gestured towards Kitten and Belladonna. “I thought you were better than this.” 

“We thought so too.” Kitten bit back. “Yet you’ve taken it upon yourself to fuck our mission up! You’re just being annoying at this point.” 

“You’re being ignorant!” 

“Can we just stop this!?” Aphmau screamed, breaking everyone’s focus to look at her. “This is so stupid! We haven’t even done anything to you! You stole our kids, you terrorized our people, you hurt me! Just leave us be for right now, please!” 

The Titan stared at her for a moment, eyeing her suspiciously. 

“Mercure… I know your name.” He seemed thrown off by this, the power that he had was knocked down a level. “Mercure, please spare us for now. Allow us to get our footing once more, please.” 

The Titan took a deep breath, huffing out a cloud of steam from his nostrils. “Fine.” He hissed. “I will leave you be… for now.” There was a smirk on his face as his body contorted into itself and his villainous laugh was as loud as ever. The skies cleared up, the clouds pushed out of the way, and the air returned to its normal thickness and cool feeling. Everyone’s twisted stomached unknotted themselves, and their skin flushed back to their rosy and living color. 

Everyone stood around for a moment, wondering what the fuck had just happened. They stood to their feet and gained back their balance, but their souls and dignity were shaken. Despite that interaction not taking long at all, the moon now hung up in the sky, glowing down onto them and leaving them with this ominous feeling of anxiety in their stomachs. 

They all turned to look at each other, making sure the other was fine and well and that no one had secretly been killed by this… entity of confusion. 

Aphmau turned to her two Titan friends. “Guys… why was he here?” 

They gave her sheepish and embarrassed looks. “We don’t know.” Belladonna said quietly. 

“We really don’t.” Kitten added. 

“Travis.” There was a growl in Laurance’s voice. “What did you mean when you said you’re nothing of him?” His eyes were red and filled with something vicious. He was panting as he took a step towards Travis. 

Travis turned with fear. “I know it sounds bad-” 

“Bad?” Laurance stepped towards him again. “You think that just sounds bad? That sounds like you’re his son!” Laurance stormed towards the half-demon and kicked him down into the sand. Everyone yelled in concern as Laurance pressed his foot down onto Travis’s chest. 

“Laurance!” Travis wheezed. “Please! I’m not like him, I swear!” 

While Laurance hadn’t changed physically, there was definitely something different about him. A new persona had taken over and now he was growling over Travis like a rabid dog. 

Vylad pushed past everyone to get to Laurance. “Calm down.” He wasn’t yelling or demanding anything. It was more like he was suggesting this idea to Laurance, which was strange in this dangerous situation. 

Laurance’s head twitched, but he did not follow Vylad’s suggestion. His foot pressed deeper into Travis’s chest and the man’s lungs got more compressed, air flooded out of him out like a broken dam. 

“Laurance!” Aphmau exclaimed, watching in fear as Travis went back to being pale. She moved over to him and pressed a bare hand to his back, hoping that she could calm him down if she tried hard enough. But Laurance was too angry, too angry for the power of a god and that was frightening. Aphmau jerked back, ripping her hand away and pressing her fingers to her temples to soothe the headache she had just received. 

“Please Laurance!” Travis wheezed again. The pain was getting to him and he was no longer fighting back. “I didn’t want you guys to know! I wanted to show you that I’m better than him!” 

“How can we know that for sure? Why don’t we rip your heart out and see if it’s telling the truth!” 

“NO!” Everyone screamed and took a step forward, but the rolling of Laurance’s back made them all step away in fear once more, everyone except Vylad, who stood confidently in the sand. 

“Laurance Zvahl, you are not like this.” He stated. “You are angry and hurt because Travis lied. That is no cause for murder.” 

“His father almost murdered us.” 

“Is he his father?” 

“He-” 

“Is Travis the Demon Warlock?” 

Laurance went silent. His breathing slowed down, and the foot that was pressing onto Travis was slowly lifted. His head twisted to face Vylad, his eyes were teary and filled with regretful anger. He shook his head. 

“Then follow me to the shore. You need to meditate.” 

Laurance sighed and stepped away from Travis. “Travis I… I’m…” He tried to apologize, but the words weren’t coming out right so he quit and turned away. Following Vylad to the shore with a hunch to his shoulders, he made sure to not to look anyone in the eyes. 

Aphmau helped Travis stand to his feet, keeping hold of the man’s hand to make sure he stayed grounded and knew he was okay. His hand was clammy and gripped on tightly to Aphmau’s, scared to let go. 

“Aphmau, what were you talking about when you said ‘Mercure’?” Katelyn asked. “I thought his name was the Demon Warlock. Is that not what everyone was calling him?” 

“That is what everyone is calling him.” Aphmau reassured her. “It’s just…” She looked towards Belladonna and Kitten who were violently shaking their heads ‘no!’. “It’s just I know a little more than you guys… this might because of the whole… Irene thing.” 

“Hm…” Lucinda hummed. “Mercure might’ve been his name before he gained the reputation of the Demon Warlock. I supposed he might’ve had a life before this whole demon situation.” 

“So, is this something we should be worried about?” Aaron asked. “Is Mercure going to be a threat?” 

“No.” Travis said confidently. “No, he can’t do any actual damage besides move the winds and rustle the trees a bit, maybe make us feel sick. He can’t hurt us.” 

“Speaking of being sick, I think I need to go back to the ship.” Ivan ran a hand through his hair, and Lucinda wrapped a hand around his waist. “I am not feeling well.” 

“Okay, that’s fine.” Aphmau understood. He looked a little paler than normal. “And while you’re there, can you check up on Lilith?” 

“Before we left, I had let her rest in her crib to nap. She might be up now.” Aaron told them. 

Ivan nodded and said bye to the group before heading off back to the ship with Lucinda by his side. The air, while no longer cloudy and suffocating, was thick in tension as the group stood around awkwardly. It was obvious that the only person (not Titan) that trusted Travis was Aphmau, maybe Aaron trusted him, but that was only because he trusted Aphmau. 

“I still can’t believe you’re his son.” Katelyn huffed. “How could anyone fall in love with someone like him?” 

“I never said my mom fell in love with him.” It was obvious what he was implying. 

“May I ask,” Chad butt in. He hadn’t said anything in a while, so Aphmau was a little shocked when he spoke up. “What is going on?” 

Aphmau sighed with a soft smile on her face. Chad always had to be curious, didn’t he? “It’s none of your concern, Chad.” She said sweetly. “Why don’t you go and find us a camp spot more inland? It wouldn’t be the safest option to sleep here on the beach after this.” She grabbed the leashes of her dogs that she had dropped a while ago. Thankfully, they were still by her side. 

“Good idea!” He exclaimed. “I’ll get started on that right away!” 

“And we’ll follow!” Aphmau snapped her fingers and let go of Travis’s hand to follow Chad into the new found woods. Everyone else was hesitant, but eventually gave into the peppy Aphmau and headed into the forest with the duo.

Chapter Text

They built a simple camp not far from the shore. You could still see their ship through the small areas that the trees didn’t cover. They went to bed that night with heavy tension. Aphmau wasn’t even sure Travis went to sleep, but no one went to check. 

Aphmau didn’t have any dreams. She didn’t wake up on an island, she didn’t see a Shadow Knight who betrayed her, a warlock being manipulated, a Demon Warlock who was actually a Titan. She didn’t see any of that. Aphmau let her body drift away to sleep and woke up seconds later with the sun raining down on them and everyone in her group gone. 

She shot up once she realized she was the only one in their tent. Either everyone left on their own will or they were all kidnapped and, for some reason, she was left to tell the tale. 

Her worry must’ve been visible, because Vylad spoke up soon enough to ease her worries. 

“Hi.” Vylad greeted her by swinging down from a tree branch. 

She yelped out of surprise. “Vylad! Holy Irene, you scared me!” He was upside down and his legs were folded around the branch to keep him in the air. 

He cringed. “Sorry.” He curled upwards and grabbed the branch so he could get his legs off the branch and jump down by landing on his feet instead of his head. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” 

She brushed it off. “It’s fine, but… where is everyone?” 

“Exploring.” He put it simply. “Katelyn, Laurance, and Travis are all together climbing that immense mountain which lets Belladonna and Kitten do their magick thing, which is hopefully going to give us a whole layout of the island.” Aphmau wasn’t sure that after last night Laurance, Travis, and Katelyn were the best group to be made, but they were probably already on the mountain which was miles away and Aphmau couldn’t stop them even if she tried. 

“What about Ivan, Lucinda, and Aaron?”

“They’re all on the ship, I believe.” 

Aphmau nodded, looking around their makeshift camp. They couldn’t set up something amazing since they were all tired, and the energy was drained for them after what had happened. “Wait… what about Chad?” 

The man sighed before pointing toward the trees. Aphmau looked at him quizzingly, turning around to face the trees, but saw nothing that resembled a crazy scientist. 

But she wasn’t looking in the right direction. 

“Good morning, Aphmau!” Chad called up from the tree branches, walking on them with surprising accuracy. “I hope you’re having a wonderful morning!”

Aphmau screamed when she saw him. “Chad! What are you doing!?” 

“I am walking on the trees, Aphmau! Isn’t it obvious?” 

“Yes, but- but why!?” 

“Because that fine young blind man taught me how!” 

Aphmau whipped around. “Vylad!” 

“Hey!” He put his hands up in defense. “He asked me how, so I showed him.” 

“You’re blind. How can you even climb trees?” 

“That’s ableist Aph.” 

She sighed, running a hand down her face. “Now he’s going to terrorize people from the trees.” 

Vylad shrugged. “Or he’ll be able to leave everyone alone because he’s too busy walking on the trees.” 

“This new ability has given me a large advantage when exploring this new land!” The scientist said with excitement in his voice. “You have to try it, Aphmau!” 

“Or how about we just walk on the ground and you lead us to whatever you were looking at?” 

“You want to go exploring? You just woke up.” Vylad asked. 

She shrugged. “I’m always up for an adventure.” 

“Of course you are.” He smiled and went to grab his cane from his tent while Chad blabbered about some strange statue he found while walking on the trees. 

“I still don’t understand why you let me sleep in.” Aphmau commented as they began following Chad through the woods, making sure they could always see his shadow in front of them. 

“You needed your rest.” Vylad explained, letting his cane drag across the grassy floor in front of him so he was aware of something that would trip him. “You’ve been through a lot.” 

“So have all of you.” 

“Laurance told us not to wake you. He really did not want us to wake you.” 

Aphmau sighed. “He always thinks of me before anyone else.” 

“Do you think that might be a flaw of his?” 

“A flaw?” She thought for a moment to herself. She remembered when Laurance told her that Garroth’s greatest flaw was he cared too much for people. He would always put people’s opinions above his and he would run in front of a bus for anyone, good or not. Laurance wasn’t really someone who would do that, he knew what he was valued and he would stick by his beliefs no matter what anyone said. He was just in love with Aphmau. Was his flaw being in love? Aphmau didn’t believe that love could be a flaw for someone, but… she couldn’t always be by his side to make him control himself. Maybe he became too dependent on her, then yes, it would be a problem but just caring for her? That couldn’t be a flaw, right?

“I’m not sure.” She said, “I wouldn’t think it’s a flaw, but… I don’t know.” 

Vylad shrugged. “I suppose it wouldn’t be. I’m just trying to figure out why he’s having such a difficult time controlling his emotions.” 

“Well, it’s because he hates being a Shadow Knight.” She explained. “He hates it and he doesn’t want to accept the fact that he is one.” 

“He needs to, though.” 

“Of course he does, but it’s difficult. You should know that, of all people.” 

“I know that. I’m not trying to say it isn’t difficult, I’m just trying to understand him.” He explained. A sigh fell from his mouth. “I know what it’s like to try and control things you can’t. You have some bad episodes and some good episodes.” 

“Do you think he’ll ever get better?” 

“Why? Afraid he might kill everyone?” 

Aphmau paused. She was about to say something to defend her position, but she couldn’t. That was what she was thinking. She was afraid of that possibility. “I guess… yeah, that is what I’m thinking.” 

The man laughed. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him.” 

“I think he knows already.” She said sadly. 

“Of course he does. Every Shadow Knight is afraid of that. At least the ones who live amongst society.” 

“What… What is it like being a Shadow Knight?” 

Vylad went quiet as he thought about Aphmau’s questions. “It’s an urge… an urge that you can never let go of. It’s like a cake.” 

“A cake?” 

He shrugged. “A cake. A cake that you really want to have, but you have no idea if you even want it anymore. A cake where if you had it, everything would finally feel perfect, but you would hate yourself for it. A cake where you aren’t sure if it’s a lie or not.” 

“It’s a temptation.” 

“Yes.” He said. “It’s a temptation. Being a Shadow Knight is like having a cake in front of you and you want to eat it so badly, but you know you can’t… that you shouldn’t because if you do… you’ll be starving an entire village.” 

“Wow… I never knew it was like that.” 

“Laurance doesn’t talk to you about this stuff?” She shook her head. “Well, I don’t judge him. Who wants to bother people about yourself?” 

“Aphmau! Vylad! The statue is over here!” Chad exclaimed and came down from the branches, landing on his feet like a cat landing on all its fours. The two of them were a little shocked at the sudden Chad in front of them. “Follow me! Follow!”

“We’re following!” 

Chad led them through the shadowy forest until they reached the end of the trees that opened up to a large and flower-full field. In the middle of the field stood a large statue that appeared to be in motion. It was a marble statue but with gold accents added to some of the accessories that the statue was holding or wearing. His right arm was behind him and holding a compass that was in mid-sway. Golden feathers flew from the man’s perfectly styled hair. He wore a loose fitting cloth that wrapped around his chest and groin area. 

He was handsome, exceptionally handsome. Even though the marble was white and difficult to see in the sun, his facial features were so deeply seen by Aphmau. His eyebrows were broad and sharp, his nose grew wider as it followed to the tip, on his lips he wore a gleeful smile filled with nothing but joy. And his eyes… oh, his eyes. His left eye was completely normal, kind and sweet, nothing but joyous. His right eye… well, he didn’t have a right eye. Instead of an eye, there was a gaping hole overflowing with gold. The hole was led with a scar that went up to his hairline and down to his jawline. In the nicest words, it was a little terrifying. 

Aphmau walked up to the statue with caution, fear that maybe the statue would come alive and run right off the podium it was on. She looked down, there was a small golden plaque with the label ‘A Friend’. 

“A friend?” Aphmau read what was on the plaque “Who’s the friend?” 

“I do believe that this is Kul’Zak the Wanderer!” Chad exclaimed. “He was one of the Divine!” 

“Kul’Zak.” Vylad said to himself, stepping forward and caressing the marble stone. It was his way of seeing the beauty that was this statue. His hand ran over the plaque, but there were no dots for him to read. 

“Kul’Zak was the god of many things! He was a jack of all trades!” 

“Was he the god of trade?” Vylad humored the scientist. 

“Yes!” Chad exclaimed. “The god of traveling, trade, language, luck, all these fun things that a wanderer like him would need!” 

Vylad kept close to the statue, tracing the lines of muscles and fabric with his fingers. Aphmau just stood and stared in awe at the statue, trying to feel around in her cabinets of memory to see if she could find anything about a Kul’Zak. The only memory she could think of when thinking of this wandering god was… tea. Tea and flowers. Maybe he liked tea and flowers. 

“But there is one thing we are ignoring here!” 

“What are we ignoring?” Aphmau asked. 

“The big question!” 

“What big question?” 

Chad paused, twirling his mustache with his finger. “Perhaps… there isn’t a big question we are ignoring.” 

Aphmau circled around to the back of the statue. On the back of the podium was another golden plaque, but instead of a small phrase, it was a symbol. A symbol that reminded Aphmau of not only a flower but… something else.

She turned her hand over to look at her palms and there it was, the strange scarring that appeared on her body all those years ago. Her palm was the same symbol as the one on the plaque. 

Vylad appeared to her side, still tracing the lines of the statue. “What’s your favorite type of dessert?” He asked her. 

“Oh, um, I really like this one dessert that my friend Kawaii~Chan made once. I think it was called Pears Belle Helene.” 

He shimmed his shoulders. “Sounds delicious.” 

“You know,” she huffed out a small laugh. “I never really expected you to be a sweets person.” 

Vylad laughed a bit, his shoulders shaking as he chuckled. “Yeah, uh… my mom always used to bake for us when we were sad.” 

“Were you sad a lot?” 

He shrugged. “I mean, with Garte, things were never easy.” 

“Oh… I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be. You can’t possibly be sorry for something you couldn’t have stopped.” 

Aphmau was about to say something else when the calling of her name drew her attention away to behind her where Travis was riding on a horse with two other horses traveling behind him. 

“Travis?” She jogged over to his horse where he pulled to a stop, the two other horses stopping as well for Travis to feed them some grain that he had in his pocket. “How in the world did you find us?” 

“Belladonna told us where you were.” he quickly answered. “But I need you to come with me. You can get on one of the horses that I brought for you and Chad. Vylad could ride with me since…” 

“Since I’m blind?” Vylad finished his sentence.

“Yes, because you’re blind.” 

The man laughed as he helped himself onto the horse. “It’s not a bad word. You don’t have to worry about offending me.” 

“Why do we need to follow you, good sir?” Chad asked. 

“Yeah, I was about to ask the same thing, minus the good sir.” Aphmau added, climbing onto her own horse at the same time as Chad. 

“Because we found something fucking wild.” 

That was all he said before he whipped the reins of his horse and spun around to head in the direction that he came from. In the distance, Aphmau could see the enormous mountain that Katelyn, Travis, and Laurance had presumably climbed. She wondered how long it took them to climb that mountain if they could get to somewhere so far away from it. Maybe the horses were helping them travel faster, Aphmau hadn’t even thought about the horses until now. How the fuck did they tame these horses? 

When they reached a stop, they had traversed a small hill that Katelyn and Laurance were waiting for them on. Aphmau walked up to them and they immediately turned around to face whatever exciting thing they had found. 

She then froze. 

At the bottom of the hill that they were on was a large and desecrated city, it spanned out throughout the forest but was cut off by these two large walls that encompassed the sides of the city. The back of the city which led out into the beach surrounding the island and the entrance of the city had no walls holding them off from anything. The area was covered in nothing by gray, gray stone made up everything from the large broken buildings to the cracked walkways. Everything was washed over with gray that made Aphmau’s eyes a little fuzzy. A haunting sense of familiarity came over her like a sickness. It was so strong Aphmau believed she might’ve started crying right then and there if there weren’t people surrounding her. 

She could feel the warmth of a family hugging her, fun parties, seeing your children have their own little unique babies, seeing your life grow old and hanging out at the beach becoming your biggest hobby. Aphmau could see all of that and it made her miss something she had never got to have. 

“What is it?” The words fell from her lips before she could decide if she wanted to say them. 

“An abandoned village?” Katelyn suggested. 

“An abandoned city?” Travis suggested next. 

Chad moved up to where Aphmau was standing. His jaw hung low. “Could… could this be the home of our Lady Matron?” 

“Possibly.” Travis responded. “I mean, this was her home. We’ve yet to find anything home like on this island besides… this.” 

“This looks like a home to you? This looks like it could be its own region!” Katelyn exclaimed. 

“What are you guys looking at?” Vylad asked, stepping next to Chad. “Could you guys describe it?” 

“Oh right,” Aphmau had almost forgotten that Vylad was at a disadvantage here. “It’s this big city, like Scaleswind- you’ve seen Scaleswind right?” 

“Yeah, when I was younger, of course.” 

“Well, it looks like a broken and abandoned Scaleswind and instead of the predominant color being red, it’s all gray.” 

“Gray like stone?” 

“Yep!” 

Vylad hummed. “And you believe that Lady Irene could’ve lived here? Only her in a city the size of Scaleswind?” 

“Maybe her family could’ve lived with her.” Chad commented. “We do know after the banishment of Shad she settled down and gained a family.” 

“Yes, but how big was her family?” Vylad asked. 

“Perhaps all the Divine lived here, but Irene lived here first.” Chad suggested, trying to figure out an answer for this strange place. 

“The Divine and all their lineage.” Aphmau said. “I bet everyone who was ever connected to the Divine got to live here.” 

“But then, when did it get abandoned?” Katelyn asked. “How did everyone agree to just… leave it?” 

That made everyone go quiet. There was no answer to that question because it was something they couldn’t fathom. This entire city was something they couldn’t fathom. Why was it here? What was its use? Was this really the island of Irene? If so, was this entire city for her and her family? All of their questions only had suggestions instead of answers. 

“So… should we go down there?” Aphmau asked. She was fascinated by this city and wanted to go check it out. 

“Of course! We are exploring after all!” Chad exclaimed and slid down the hill. They all yelled at him but there was no stopping that man of science, so instead they quickly slid down the hill to follow him, forgetting about their horses that they needed to ride back to the campsite. 

While running down the hill and to the large city, they had lost Chad. They assumed he had sprinted off and gone into the depths of the city, but there was no way to make sure. They had all screamed and yelled his name and begged for him to come back to the entrance, but there was no use. The man was gone. 

“You know, do we really have to search for him?” Katelyn asked, pouting her lips. “I mean, I know he’s a big help with… things, but c’mon, the dude is annoying.” 

“We have to look for him, Katelyn.” Aphmau responded. “He’s part of our group and I won’t let him get lost in this place.” 

“Seriously, the man is crazy smart and we know damn well we don’t have the amount of brains he has on… anything.” Laurance agreed. “So I say Vylad, Travis, and me all go left and you and Katelyn can go right.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Aphmau smiled. 

“Wait, no, I would very appreciate it if I got to go with the ladies on this one.” Travis argued. “Shadow Knights and demons don’t really mix.” 

“Well, they’re about to.” Katelyn grabbed Aphmau’s hand and started dragging her away. “Bye Travis!” 

“No!” He yelled, but Vylad grabbed his hand and dragged him off in the other direction.

Aphmau was in awe at the place. Even though the buildings were reduced down to rubble and faint outlines of what they used to be, the place was beautiful. Aphmau swore she saw ghostly figures run throughout the city, figures of happy friends reuniting and children running around with radiant smiles and loud laughs, figures of lovers being alone while the moon watched over them with a protecting eye. Figures that Aphmau missed dearly despite never meeting them. 

Katelyn scoffed when they reached a stopping point. “I don’t know why we need him in our group.” 

“Who? Chad? Did we not just say why we need him?” Aphmau asked, looking around the place. “He’s much smarter than anyone else in our group.” 

“No, not him, Travis.” Katelyn corrected the woman. “I don’t know why we need him.”

Aphmau gave Katelyn a look of confusion. “Really? I can list off many reasons. He’s a warrior, he’s lonely, it’s always nice to have more people in our group, he helps around the camp-” 

“He’s the son of an enemy.” 

“Were you not part of the Jury of Nine?” 

“That’s so different.” 

“Oh, it’s so not!” Aphmau entered a broken down building. “You’re both connected to bad people, but you’ve shown that you’re so much more than those people. You’ve both shown that you can be trusted.” 

Katelyn went quiet for a moment before entering the building Aphmau was in. “I don’t know how you do it.”  

“Do what?” 

“Find the good in people. You’re always able to see the good in people and I don’t know how you do it.” They walked through the building with slow footsteps, wondering if Chad could be anywhere around here. “The world is such an uncaring place and after working for the Jury I don’t think I could ever find the good in people again.” 

“You found the good in me, didn’t you?” Aphmau heard strange clicking and thudding noises that gained her attention. She moved closer to the sounds and found that they were coming from a large hole in the overgrown, grassy floor. 

“That’s different.” 

“It’s not.” Aphmau knelt down. “Chad?” She called out, “Chad, are you there?” 

“Miss. Aphmau?” Chad’s voice echoed from the hole and both women let out sighs of relief. 

“Yes, Chad. I’m here. Can you follow my voice?” 

“Why of course I can!” He said before the sound of running steps grew louder and louder until Chad appeared at the entrance of the hole looking up at Aphmau. “Well, hello miss. Aphmau!” 

“Hello Chad.” She giggled. “Are you alright by yourself?” 

“He looks fine.” Katelyn scoffed. 

“Shut it.” 

“Oh yes, I’m just spectacular!” He exclaimed. “You and your friends can go explore this place. There’s no need to worry about me.” 

“Okay Chad, just be safe, okay? And you ever need us, just yell.” 

“Will do so!” Chad said before running back into the tunnels under this place. 

Aphmau stood back up and turned to Katelyn, who was squinting at something in the distance. Aphmau looked in the direction and was taken aback by the scene. What looked to be at the far end of the city stood a behemoth of a church, all covered in stone and dusted with marble and glass purple accents. 

“Oh, wow…” Aphmau sighed. “What is that place?” It gave her a deep pit in her stomach, a feeling of dread. 

“I have no idea… wanna check it out?” Katelyn’s sour mood turned on its head when she suggested to Aphmau to go explore the abandoned church. 

Aphmau shrugged. “Why not?” 

As they walked closer and closer to the church, Aphmau began realizing why this building gave her such a feeling of incomprehensible dread. It reminded her of the Irene Dimension. She could even hear the bells now. She could see Garroth in the middle, fighting Zane in a battle of life or death. She could see where she had first gotten the relic, the relic of Irene… her relic. 

“Aphmau!” Laurance was running up to them with a smile. “Hey Aph!” 

“Laurance!” He snapped her out of the trance that she was in. Aphmau hadn’t even noticed that they approached the entrance of the church. She was too busy burying herself in her memories. “Where’s everyone else?” She asked, as he slowed to a stop next to her and Katelyn. 

“I got separated from them but I told them beforehand that if we ever got lost, to this giant thing.” He gestured towards the church. “Did you guys find Chad?” 

“Yeah.” Katelyn responded. “He said he was fine by himself, so we went to go check out whatever this was.” 

Laurance looked up at the vast structure. “It’s fucking huge.” 

Aphmau agreed. It made her wonder if this was really just an island for Irene and if it wasn’t, how in the world had it been kept a secret for so long? 

“Should we go check it out?” He asked. 

“Most definitely.” Katelyn said before jogging in. Aphmau rolled her eyes at the ecstatic guard before heading inside herself, Laurance walking by her side. 

“It’s crazy that this is the only thing standing.” Laurance said as they walked over pieces of fallen rubble. “You would’ve guessed something this big would’ve been knocked down like everything else.” 

“If this thing was knocked down, then everything else would follow, right?” Aphmau asked. 

“Exactly.” 

“Then that just means that something didn’t knock out these buildings.” 

“But then you gotta ask when this island was abandoned.” He added. “Because then we can know how long this place has been decaying.” 

“But shouldn’t everything decay at the same time if it’s all the same material?” They seemed to reach what looked to be the middle of the church. Katelyn was still inspecting everything like a kid in a candy store.

“Guys!” she yelled, and they looked to see her facing them. “It’s fucking church! It’s probably protected by the power of Irene or some shit!” 

“That’s true.” Aphmau agreed. “Did you find anything cool?” She asked. 

The guard shrugged. “I have no idea! It’s just a bunch of rocks and shit.” 

“Well, maybe those rocks and shit are something cool.” Laurance argued and moved to walk past Aphmau but in a moment quicker than lightning, the floor fell out beneath the two of them and before they could think to do anything, they fell with it.