Travel The Distance

Chapter 18

Shoto left my room shortly after we made our agreement. He had to return to his room to get ready for the day, plus he had been assigned with serving duty for the day so he had to be there to serve any early risers who may have been in the dining hall.

The exchanging of our farewells was slightly awkward, as it should be since we had woken up naked in the same bed and had just agreed that we were nothing more than friends for the time being. Icyhot waved goodbye to me awkwardly as he slipped out of the door of my room. I returned the wave with a pained smile before I fell back on my bed and started up at the deep blood red canopy above me.

As my thoughts and emotions swirled around me, I felt Ground Zero emerge from my chest and settle comfortably in my mind. I closed my eyes and muttered a prayer to the gods before I engaged my temperamental dragon in conversation. I knew that the dickhead was going to be fucking smug and I was proven correct as soon as he spoke.

"What did I tell you, hmm? I bet you feel fantastic right now since you're letting your destined in. Even if you're not fucking right now, you will be in due time. You're not in pain anymore, are you?" Ground Zero chuckled smugly in my mind.

"The only reason I don't feel any pain anymore is that you've stopped being a dickhead. You and I both know I would have given in eventually. Tch. We won't be fucking anytime soon either. You're not fucking deaf so you know what we both said. I swear you only hear the things you want to hear." I huffed, crossing my arms and glaring at the fabric above me.

"Yeah, yeah. Just you wait, I know that you two will be closer than you intend to be." Ground Zero scoffed before he retreated into my soul and did whatever the fuck he did down there. Honestly, I have no idea what Ground Zero did whilst he wasn't occupying the forefront of my mind.

I dismissed my curiosity in favour of rolling out of bed and shuffling over to my bathroom so that I could wash away the previous night's sweat, alcohol and scents. I filled the bath with scalding hot water which soothed my tense muscles. The steam, which filled the air and made the mirror leaning against the wall fog up, cleared my head and soothed my raging emotions. Why did life and love have to be so fucking complicated?

I swooped into the dining hall like the dramatic son of a bitch I am. My cape flowed behind me as I walked through the grand mahogany doors of the room and made my way to the head seat of the table. It couldn't be clearer that the seat at the head of the table was mine. It was taller than the rest of the seat at the table and the fabric on the chair was red instead of the orange fabric of all the other chairs.

I fell into the chair without grace and stared around the room. I saw several servants stood around the room. Some of them conversed quietly between themselves, seeing no need to rush forwards and serve me if I wouldn't accept food until my tribe turned up. It was a tradition of sorts that the tribe eat every meal together. Eating out meals together was a habit we had preserved after moving into the castle. As children, the entire tribe would come together to eat together, no matter what was happening. It was something we had maintained as we travelled around the Endeavour Kingdom and would continue to keep up until the day we were all decaying in the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several familiar heads of hair slipping into the room. I looked up from the book I was reading to see Icyhot and Deku standing side by side against the wall, talking in subdued voices. As if sensing my gaze, Icyhot's head turned around to look at me. A minute, hardly discernable, smile graced his lips before he turned around to resume his conversation with Brocolli Boy. Just seeing Shoto made me feel lighter and all-around better about myself and the day.

It wasn't long until the rest of my tribe started filtering into the room. First was Hanta, who looked half asleep. Then Fumikage and Tsu came in hand in hand. Soon after, Eijiro and Mina skipped in together, shit-eating grins on their faces for some reason or another. Kyoka came in only a minute after talking happily to the newly bonded couple.