Alex was alone in Meteli. Hayden had gone to Brightport only a day before. She didn't have to worry about any of his lord duties. Those were taken care of by his head guard, and Alex knew little to nothing when it came to business with the village. While she was able to do mostly what she pleased, Alex was still kept under a watchful eye from Hayden's head guard. He worried greatly about her. Because of this, Alex remained in Meteli until her father would return.
Phoenix Drop visited her early that morning. Alex had been cleaning when there was a knock on the front door. She opened it to reveal both Laurance and Aphmau. It felt weird, she thought, that Laurance would be knocking on a place he once called him. Regardless of this, she shrugged off the feeling.
"Laurance? Lady Aphmau. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Alex asks, acknowledging the two standing in her doorway. She opens the door more for them to come in, and offers them tea, but it's declined. "Daddy is in Brightport. Can I leave a message?"
Laurance holds his hand up in a dismissive state. "No, no. This visit isn't one of those. I simply had a question. Have you seen Castor?"
"The Chicken Shaman? Why could you possibly wish to see him? Do you have his money?"
"Is he wrecking havoc?"
Alex shakes her head. "Laurance, what is going on? What could you possibly want with him?"
"Don't worry about it," Laurance says. "We should go. Thank you for answering."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
A short period of time passes. Alex was left to her own thoughts, finding Laurance's visit to be foolish. She never did like Castor very much. She found him to be rather annoying, and she couldn't stand how he would refer to chicken as "his people." Amongst this, she also didn't understand why her brother had gotten along with him as well as he did. When Castor was near, she would be far.
It was evening by this time. Alex had been sitting down, reading by candlelight. Besides her brother and Aphmau, she didn't have much human interaction. So when there was one more knock on the door, Alex was quick to answer it.
"Laurance, I–Garroth?"
The blonde's mouth dropped in surprise. She hadn't expected to see Garroth at her doorstep. She certainly didn't expect to see Garroth in Meteli. Sudden panic hit her. Garroth should've been in Phoenix Drop, so she didn't understand why he was with her.
"What's going on? Is something wrong?"
"There's been an accident," Garroth says, nerves lacing his voice. "It's Laurance."
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Alex felt sick when she saw Laurance laying motionless in front of her. A small parade of people surrounded his bedside. She looked around at each face, feeling a bit of anger when she saw Aphmau.
"What happened?" She asks.
"Castor was in the Nether, and we went to go save him," Aphmau starts. Alex picked up on the nervous quiver that was in her voice. "So we could get out, Laurance. . . stayed behind."
Alex's voice was hardly audible. "You left my brother in the Nether to save the fucking Chicken Shaman?" A breathy chuckle releases from her lips, but it isn't one of amusement. Anger boils within her as she looks to her brother. He remained unconscious. Alex goes to speak once more, elevating the volume of her voice. "And did you go back for him? How did he get out?"
Cadenza rises from her hair and goes to comfort her sister. When she tries to rest her hand on her back, Alex swats at her to prevent being touched. She couldn't bear to look in Aphmau's direction, but she felt like she couldn't leave Laurance alone anymore.
"Alex, we've done everything we possibly could," Cadenza says. She was always the voice of reason. It just depended on the receiving party if they listened or not. "You can sit with me while we wait for him to wake up. There's not much we can do until then."
"I don't know how you can support this, Cadenza. They just left him in the Nether."
"Al?" Laurance shuffles from the bed. Alex turns her head towards Laurance, rushing towards his side. "Is that you?"
"I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright?"
There's silence in the room. The tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Laurance turns his head in the direction of where his sister's voice came from, but his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"I-I can't see. . ." He mumbles. His head turns to the other side. There's a sense of panic within him, and he tries to sit up. Laurance is guided back down by Garroth, but Laurance tries to fight him. It was then Alex takes notice of how beat up Laurance was. His clothes were torn and tattered, and he was dirtied. The panic spreads to Laurance's tone. "I-I can't see. I can't see, Alex, I can't see."
Alex turns her head towards Cadenza. Cadenza's eyes are filled with tears as she stands back, frozen. Her hand covered her mouth, afraid she'd get sick. Zoey comes towards Laurance, and Garroth guides Alex back towards Cadenza.
"Laurance," Zoey starts. "What happened to you in the Nether?"
