Chapter XXV: Apology Accepted

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Aphmau, Laurance and Arabella followed Travis back to his hideout. It was in an area secluded from the village of the Enki Warrior Tribe. His hideout was like a small house--nothing fancy, but enough to make someone feel at home.

As Travis let them into his hideout, he went to the other side of the room to manage some things. Aphmau, Laurance and Arabella began to talk.

"Well," started Aphmau, "he seems nice enough. What do you two think?"

In Arabella's opinion, Travis was hot. Not nearly as hot as Laurance (of course), but still hot. Arabella thought she was turning into Donna, so she shook herself and returned to the conversation. "He seems pretty okay to me."

Laurance shook his head. "Aphmau, I don't trust this guy."

Aphmau smirked. "Are you jealous in particular because he tried to kiss me?"

"Yes!" Laurance retorted. "Do you not understand what he tried to do to you? He was manipulating you and you were falling for it! That was not smart of you."

Aphmau bit her lip. "I'll admit, I let my guard down. At that moment, I was sincerely thinking of Dmitri and Nekoette. If one kiss could've had us back on course to Phoenix Drop, then I would've taken that chance."

Laurance sighed. "Look, I understand how you feel. However, no one wants you to make a rash decision. I understand you want to get the kids home to their parents safe, but we can find another way to do it. You don't have to put yourself up as a martyr."

She was about to say something, but then she stopped herself and began to joke. "Well, what if I wanted to kiss him?"

Laurance became flustered, and even Arabella had to crack a smile at that. "I--I--Uh... Err... I--I mean you c--can kiss whoever you want," he stammered, "b--but why would you want to kiss him?"

"Well, he's a hottie." Aphmau fanned her face. Arabella could vouch for that.

The incident with Arabella along with Aphmau's joke was apparently crossing the line for Laurance, pissing him off. "Okay, now I know you're joking with me, but look at him! I mean, sure, he's--I don't believe you for one second! You are completely pulling my leg and I'm letting you beat me with it! You know what? Kiss him! See if I care! Hmph!"

On that note, he stormed out of the hideout.

"Laurance, it was just a joke!" Aphmau called out after him, but Arabella stopped her from going after him.

"He'll be fine, Aphmau," she reassured her. After they both went back into the hideout, Arabella bit her lip. "U--Umm, if you don't mind, can I talk to you about something?"

"What is it?" asked Aphmau.

"It's about what happened back at the ship before we crashed," explained Arabella. "I'm honestly sorry for what I did. I wasn't even consciously doing that. I thought I was destroying those monsters in my head. I really had no idea I was actually attacking someone, much less you. I'm so--"

"It's alright, Arabella," said Aphmau gently, once again proving her benevolence. "I know that you of all people would never do something like that."

Guilt rose up Arabella's throat, remembering her conversation with Laurance earlier.

"I guess I should thank Aphmau for not letting a psychotic mass murderer of werewolves rip my head off!" Arabella had screamed.

"That was your fault!" Laurance had retaliated. "That was your fault, and you know it!"

"Besides," continued Aphmau, snapping Arabella back to reality, "I trust your word. When you came up to me, wielding you battle-axe, your eyes were pure red, just like a Shadow Knight's. You also kept talking to yourself, repeatedly telling someone to 'stop it'. By that time, I realised what was going on. I know none of it was your fault."

Arabella focused her gaze on the floor. "Thanks, Aphmau."

Aphmau looked towards the door Laurance had slammed shut. "I just wish Laurance understood, too."

Arabella sighed, before walking over to the other side of the room. Travis approached Aphmau. "Wow, that wannabe boyfriend of yours is a hothead, huh?"

"I should apologise to him," said Aphmau, sighing. "I keep forgetting things have changed between us."

"Shame." Travis continued pacing around her. "Let me guess; he's gotten feelings for you or vice-versa?"

"Something like that," Aphmau was saying, before she shook her head. "Wait, why do you care? What business is it of yours?"

Travis shrugged. "Just curious. I've been living in these mountains for years and I get lonely. In fact, you're the first human being I've spoken to, well, in a while. Most humans I speak to are either imps disguised as humans who I'm trying to kill because they want to kill me, or imps who have taken a human form and want to try and live a normal human life. Granted, imps are very socially awkward, so I don't count them as humans, even though they try to be."

"What exactly are imps?" asked Aphmau.

"Imps?" Travis raised an eyebrow. "Well, there are two kinds of imps: ones that are made from nature, and then there are the other kinds of imps--the ones that are created by the Demon Warlock himself. Those imps are his minions and are usually loyal to him. Imps can only take forms of humans that they've already seen, so you might see the same person twice on this island. I know a few imps, but they're weird. Very weird."

"Imp-teresting," said Arabella. Both Travis and Aphmau shot her a look. Arabella only shrugged.

They returned to their conversation. "Why do you live up on this mountain alone?" asked Aphmau.

As the two of them carried out their conversation, Arabella only gazed at the glittering stars out of the window. She used to do that with Caspian all the time. Well, that was until she killed him. She even realised she had often done that with Laurance since before the time jump in Irene's Dimension.

"I mean," Travis was saying to Aphmau, "if anything, it shows I'm a guy who can commit." He took her hand.

"Keep it PG in here," said Arabella from across the room.

Aphmau pulled Travis's hand off of hers. "Thanks for taking interest in me, but I'm from the Ru'aun region, and it'd never work out."

"Wait," said Travis abruptly, "you're from the Ru'aun region? That means... do you have any connection with Irene?"

They continued talking about something and then about the Enki Ruins, before Travis asked, "So, what do you say? Want to go on an adventure with me?"

"Sure!" Aphmau looked over at Arabella, but before she could ask her, Arabella already replied.

"No worries," said Arabella. "You two can go do that, and I'll just look for Laurance."

Travis nodded, turning to Aphmau. "Let's go."

As Travis and Aphmau set off to the Enki Ruins, Arabella headed towards the direction Laurance fled to, trying to find him.

~•~

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm trying not to use too much of the dialogue from the series because that gets kind of boring, but I can assure you, the next few chapters will be mainly related to Arabella.

I think I'll be able to catch up to the series, since I don't think I'll be writing much during the episodes where Aphmau was in the thieves' guild, so that's a good thing, I guess?

Anyway, I'll see more about that later. Bye!

--(Gr)ace



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