No Place For Me | [boyxboy]

CHAPTER 19

When Rue closed his hand, the portal disappeared, but the saddened expression on Roxas's face lingered in his mind that Rue couldn't move for a while after. Rue felt guilty for upsetting Roxas and wished he thought his words through before speaking. Rue can only speak for his experience over the last four years; he had no clue what those years were like for Roxas.

           When Rue finally collected his soul that had scattered, he looked around the room before he walked over to the bed. Rue laid his bag, bow, Roxas sword on the before going into his pocket to take out the glove he had shared the other with Harlow. He stared at it sadly for a long time before resting the glove on the pillow. Times like this Rue wished his mom was around to hold him and tell him that everything would be okay.

            When Rue's hands were free of holding things, he walked over to the window across from the bed and when he touched the glass, the glass disappeared, and the cool evening breeze rushed in, startling him. When he stepped away, the glass returned. Rue wasn't sure why he was so surprised by this, but he was. This place was not like the inn at all.

           As he look down from the ledge he guessed he was about two stories from the ground. There was a garden below his window that he was sure of its beauty and so he couldn't wait to see the different colors when touched by daylight. Beyond the garden, down a stretch of green fields in the distance was a forest.

            When Rue first saw the orange and white trees of Nulta, he really did feel like he had fallen into a colorful storybook. Now when he saw strange trees, he didn't think anything unnatural about them.

           Rue thought the trees before him were equally as beautiful as those in Nulta. The leaves were green, but the tree itself were white and had a blue hue to them like glaciers. There were a few places in Aangula he remembered from his studies that had these trees. It never once occurred to him that one of those places would be Roxas's backyard. They were surreal to look at; they reflected the night sky where they glowed a soft light.

           With the little energy Rue had left, he touched the wall to examine the structure. As he scanned, the place grew in size that Rue was convinced it was a castle. It had different buildings that were connected by bridges, far larger than the town he stayed in with the Arlets. Rue wondered where Roxas had brought him, Rue trusted Roxas when he said he wouldn't bring him to the royal capital, so where was this place?

           For a long time, Rue had dreamt of seeing the place where the clouds, mountains, and waterfalls met. From what he could see so far, this place was beautiful, but he saw so little that it was unclear if this was even it.

              Roxas was truthful when he said no one was allowed in this area. Of all the connected structures, the area where Rue was, he couldn't pick up on anyone's heat signature. The other parts of the castle were filled with armed guards and servants moving about, even while Roxas was not around.

             When Rue's energy ran out, and he couldn't see further, the adrenaline that kept him from feeling the pain pulsing through his body faded as if his painkillers had subsided.

           When Rue felt drips roll down his back, Rue knew it wasn't sweat. Rue took a deep breath and untied the string to the coat Harlow had given him, his eyes watered as he struggled to take the layer off. When Rue finally did, Rue was down to see his blood had soaked through it. Rue wanted to blame Roxas for reopening the wound but also knew in his heart that if Roxas had known he was injured, he wouldn't have shoved him. Rue took a deep breath, ignored the waves of pain that struck him like a needles as he grabbed his bag, and walked towards the door that from his scan he saw a loo.