The idea of both my brother and best friend being gone pains me, despite the anger that wavers in the air regarding Vylad's confession. A knock at the door results in my jolting awake, stumbling down the stairs groggily.
A mop of blond stares down at me when I open the door. My lip waivers when it drops open, unable to swallow the lump of saliva sitting at the back of my throat. His eyes are warm staring down at me, smiling somehow warmer than his blue orbs.
"Garroth?" I whisper, unable to turn up my volume. My voice shakes, disbelief taking hold of me. "How–But you–"
His chuckle is deep and breathy. A smile secretly creeps onto my face, blush appearing alongside it. I feel warm and bubbly inside, a sensation I didn't expect to return so soon after the last time I felt it.
His arms are quick to snatch around my waist. His embrace is warm, and my height increases due to rolling onto the tip of my toes for maximum height. I nearly cling onto him for dear life, afraid I'll lose him again if I blink. Garroth's hold feels just as desperate as mine. Perhaps my presence reminds him that he's out.
That he's free.
And maybe. . . maybe if he lets go, he'll find he's in the Irene Dimension, and it was a cruel joke.
Our touch lingers a little while longer before he pulls from me. Eyes locked on my figure. I don't move. I'm still far too shocked, knowing he's alive and standing in front of me. I felt his touch. I felt his heat. He's not a figment of my imagination.
"Garroth, how did you–?"
"Don't mind how I got out," he says, voice laced with pure happiness. "I'm out, aren't I? I saw the others. Laurance told me you were here. . . He was with Vylad. My baby brother is. . . alive."
His smile twitches slightly, the newly found information toying with him. I hide my excitement, unaware that the two males had returned from wherever they had gone off too. There was slightly anger about their disappearance, but happiness nonetheless that they came back.
Laurance always comes back.
Absentmindedly, I place my hand on his cheek. He in return leans into my touch, surprising me. I have never paid as much attention to Garroth as I find myself to be doing at this moment.
The sunlight shining in from the windows and past him in the door frame cause his hair to shine like honey. I never noticed just how different his eyes were from Laurance's. His eyes are darker, reminding me of the water of the ocean, but they shine just as bright. Perhaps brighter than Laurance's ever have. I wasn't aware of how defined his jawline was, or how the hardness was contradicted by the gentleness of his gaze. His eyebrows are hardly visible, but noticeable if you try hard enough to spot them. The tan of his skin doesn't look fake against the blond of his hair. His hair falls perfectly into place, despite what appears to be each follicle fighting to be either straight or curled.
"I can't believe you're here. I knew you would come back. . . but it all feels so unreal," I say, backing into my house and heading towards the fireplace. "Here, let me start this, and you stand in front of it. You'll get a chill. Then I'll change."
He places his hand on top of mine, preventing me from doing as I said. I look up at him, surprised. "I'll do it," he says. "Just focus on dressing yourself. You're the one who is likely going to get a chill from how you're dressed."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
It's not often that I step into the spotlight. Frankly, I never thought of myself as the main character. Cadenza is a lord. A leader. Laurance is the most interesting and extroverted out of all of us. He's the main character. Not me.
So standing in the background doesn't hurt me. Garroth is in his own small welcome party. He stands in the center of a circle while old friends flock around him like wild birds. His eyes glisten from excitement, already forgetting about my presence when all eyes are directed on him.
Vylad's hand on my shoulder causes me to look away from the group, nodding my head when he motions for a walk together. The beginning is silent, just like it always starts off as. The further we venture from the others, the more words pour out between us.
"Where did you two go?" I ask, each step I take in the pathway he creates. Vylad leads the way, careful of where he is at all times.
He glances back at me, but is quick to look forward again. "It doesn't matter where we went. We're back now, aren't we? And Laurance appears to feel better."
"Why does everybody keep saying that?" I sound desperate, confused on why those words have been spoken to me yet again today. The interactions happened within a matter of mere hours.
He stops, turning towards me. His head hangs low, shaking it. "Alex, it's time to wake up."
"What?"
"Wake up, Alex."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
"Al, wake up."
With a burst, I'm quick to wake up. Thinking it's Garroth, my eyes blink when a cloud of dark hair fills the picture with what should be blond. I'm quick to look around, but I'm met with disappointment.
"It was just a dream," I mutter, disappointed.
Kandi looks at me, confused. "What?"
"Don't mind that. . . Why did you wake me up?"
