Never Leave Me; A Garmau Fanfic

Chapter Twenty Four- The Warning

Garroth's POV
The carriage went through the gates of O'Khasis and stopped in front of the castle. It looks the same as it always did. I saw mom at the bottom of the steps, waiting for us. I couldn't help but smile. I hated dad and Zane, but I loved mom. I got out of the carriage and mom ran over to me and hugged me.
"Oh, Gar Gar! I've missed you so much! How are you?" She asked me, pulling away.
"Fine." I said. I really didn't feel like talking.
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. I know it must be hard for you to leave your village and come back home. I wanted you to stay there but of course, your father had different plans." She said. I looked away. I felt Zane nudge me with his elbow and I looked up. Dad was there, looking at me. I didn't smile when I saw him.
"Father." I said.
"Son." He replied. I hated him, more than I hated Zane.
"You know why I wanted you home, don't you?" He asked. I nodded.
"Well, there's been a slight change in plans. The daughter of Scaleswind, Nicole, has gone missing and her father is searching for her. Once we find her, I'll set up the preparations for the wedding. That is all." He turned around and walked back to the castle, followed by 4 bodyguards.
"Nicole? Does he mean the Nicole who's in Phoenix Drop?" I wondered. Mom motioned me to follow her and she brought me back to my old room. I sat down on my bed, my head in my hands. She came over and sat down next to me and wrapped her arms around me.
"I'm so sorry, Sweetie. I wish there was something I could do. I want you to go back to your village. You look like it means a lot to you." She said. I nodded. She soon left and I was alone.

"I don't want to be here." I thought to myself. "I just want to go home."

Aphmau's POV
It's been about a week since Garroth left and everything was pretty normal around Phoenix Drop. I left my house after eating breakfast and saw Donna and Logan. I smiled at them as I passed and continued walking through the village, saying hi to the people I passed. I saw Laurance and Dante coming out of the guard station and I approached them.
"Hey guys." I said and they smiled at me.
"Good morning, Aphmau. How are you?" Laurance asked.
"I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I replied.
"Anything planned today?" Dante asked.
"Um, I don't have anything in mind." I said. I left them a few minutes later to check on the rest of the village.

About an hour later, I heard a small explosion. I saw Dante run up to me.
"Dante! What happened?" I asked him.
"Shadow Knights just appeared out of nowhere. They threw something and it made an explosion. They then threw a potion and.... it hit Malachi. Zoey rushed him and Levin back to your house and Zoey is trying to find out what happened." He explained. I became very worried.
"Is he ok? What about Levin?" I asked him.
"Levin is fine. They were separated when the potion was thrown. Malachi is unconscious and well, he looks different. I think you should see for yourself. We don't know if it's bad or not yet. Come on, I'll take you there. Laurance is already there." We went over to my house and ran up to the boys' room. Levin was next to Malachi's bed and Malachi was on the bed. Dante was right, he did look different. His body had color, not just the bluish color that he was. His face, arms, and legs looked pale and his clothes were bluish-greenish. Laurance was at the back of the room but approached us as we came in.
"He's human." He said. I looked at him.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"The potion." Zoey looked at us and continued. "Whatever it was, it turned Malachi human again. We don't know if this is a good or bad thing yet. He may still be a 6 year old when he wakes up, or he could be over 900 and just die the second he wakes up. We can't know until he does."
I nodded and looked at Malachi. Levin was holding his hand and I went over to him.
"Mama? Brother feels real now. What happen?" He asked.
"I don't know, Levin. Just let him sleep for now. Can you stay inside today? I don't want you going back out, ok?" I asked him and he smiled at me.
"Ok. Levin stay and take care of brother." I smiled.
"Thank you, Levin." I kissed the top of his head. "I love you."
"Love you, Mama." He said. I got up and the guys followed me downstairs. I sat down at the dining table and motioned for them to do the same. They each sat on either side of me.
"He'll be fine. I'm sure of it." Laurance assured me.
"Yeah, of course he will. This is probably just a blessing in disguise." Dante said.
"Yeah, hopefully." I said.
"I bet Zane is behind this. He told us he would leave us alone if Garroth went with him. Why would he keep that promise? Why did we believe him? Everything is just falling apart." Laurance said. I knew he was probably right. Why would Zane keep that promise? It was stupid of us to believe him. I didn't even notice I was starting to cry until Laurance put an arm around me, trying to comfort me.
"I'm sorry. Everything that's happened so far must be so hard for you. First Garroth and now this?! I wish Zane never came to Phoenix Drop. He ruins everything." He said, taking his arm off me. Suddenly, Dale came through the door, holding a piece of paper.
"Lord Aphmau. We found this note while looking at the explosion. I think you should see it. He handed the paper to me.

Dear Aphmau,
I know you are upset about what happened and I apologize for that, but you have something, or rather, someone we want. Nicole is the daughter of Scaleswind and we know you have been holding her captive. Probably to threaten us into giving Garroth back. Well, I'm sorry, but that won't work. Now, until you bring Nicole to O'Khasis, unharmed and peacefully, we will stop attacking Phoenix Drop. You have 3 days.
                                 -Zane

I put the note on the table so Laurance and Dante could read it. Once they were done, they both looked at me.
"What do we do?" Laurance asked me.
"I don't know. I don't want Phoenix Drop to be attacked. But I also don't want to force Nicole to go to O'Khasis. She probably ran away the same reason Garroth did. To get out of the marriage." I said. They both agreed.
"Maybe we should talk to Nicole? If we told her what's going on, maybe we can get her to convince her father and O'Khasis to stop attacking us." Dante suggested.
"It's the only thing we've got right now so why not?" I said. We all got up and headed out the door, going to see Nicole.