Fox Ball

Our quest began right when the sun was coming up. We had spent the whole night wrapped around each other on the beach, holding each other through our demons and nightmares. I had never felt so close to someone emotionally in such a short amount of time. Well, Talia isn’t included in this because she is just a friend. Rather, I never thought I would fall in love with someone, but Rose just made it so easy. She made all the bad things disappear. For the first time since arriving on this island, I actually felt glad for ending up here. Talia was right. I do still have family here. The pang in my chest was less painful this time, but it was still obvious. I would never ‘get over’ my brother’s death, just as I won’t my parent’s, but being with Rose made things easier. I simply couldn’t wait to finish this whole Peter thing and go home with her.

She gave me a short kiss on the lips, then the nose, and finally the forehead when we woke up. I felt like a giddy schoolgirl with their first crush. Or rather what I thought that would feel like since I had never felt that before. “Alright my sweet. So there are several things we need. Luckily we can find them all in the Forbidden Forest and should be back by sundown.”

I nodded in agreement, not really paying attention as I just watched her lips move. She seemed to have figured out what I was doing because she gave me a playful tap on the shoulder. “Pay attention. We have to do this quickly because we don’t know if Peter is watching that clearing still. We need to be in and out as quickly as we can. You’re cute though.”

I felt all aflutter. It kind of scared me a little bit because I had never felt this carefree before in my life. It felt like I was a completely different person and I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad. I don’t like the thought of being someone different with one individual, but being around her was so easy. Being this person was so easy. It was almost like she had cast a spell on me. I just wasn’t sure if I would be okay with that or not.

“What do we need?”

“We need pine wood, chrysanthemum, and pearl from the beach. Like I said, it shouldn’t be too long. Just in and out and done. Then we can get my brother and make a move on Peter.”

The thought of getting revenge filled me with a giddy rage, something that I had never felt before in my life. I never thought I would experience a type of anger that made me happy at the same time. I also never thought I would get retribution on the killer that murdered my parents in cold blood. I will make him pay for his crimes against my family and Rose. I refuse to let that premonition come to fruition.

We got dressed in some clean clothing that was brought from Calvanaire by Talia earlier in the week. This time, I wore a dark green, tight dress that still managed to billow in the wind. Rose donned a dark red pantsuit that suited her more than anything else I had ever seen her wear. “You look hot,” was all that I could say.

She chuckled in delight, “well same to you princess.” I couldn’t help the blush that quickly overtook me at the nickname. I could see Rose making fun of me in her eyes, but at this moment, I couldn’t care less.

We made our way up the hill towards the peak of the Ruins, the spot in which we will teleport over to the Forbidden Forest. Once we reached it, we both glanced at each other, the empty burlap sacks hanging at our waists, and then at each other once more. Rose placed her hand in mine, giving it a tight squeeze before we started focusing our energy towards where we wanted to go.

In a flash of light that was more for flourish than anything, we disappeared from the Ruins.

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We arrived at the clearing within a few seconds, the jolt always making me a little nauseous when we land. For once, I was able to land exactly where I wanted to. “You look for chrysanthemums since I have absolutely no idea what they look like and I’ll go grab some pine from the forest.”

At Rose’s nod of acquiescence, I started out toward the trees. They looked a lot less ominous in the daylight, the branches glittering a deep green, almost mimicking the color of my dress. I found a pile near the tree line of perfectly pristine sticks. I quickly gathered those into my arms and dropped them into my burlap sack. I ventured deeper into the woods, the sound of rustling from my partner no longer penetrating my ears. I had a short pang of worry, but knew that Rose would be able to take care of herself if anything did happen.

I spent about an hour in the forest, the later we were out, the more ominous the trees began to look. When I heard a low growl that resembled that of a Grendate, I decided that we had enough sticks to perform the transport. I started making my way back toward the clearing, sending calming thoughts toward the feline that had stopped growling and started purring…loudly.

Once I breached the tree line, I was able to make out the vague shape of Rose in the distance. She was hunched down, gathering flowers by the edge of the far east side of the forest. I decided to join her. Better two sets of hands than one. I started walking over, the day quickly leaving us, the sun about three-quarters of the way through the sky. I always wondered about that. The days seem to fly by when we were busy, or rather, the days just seem to fly by. The night seems to last a lot longer here than the day, at least from my own personal experience from this island thus far.

Right before I reached her, I heard a faint whisper dance through the wind. I couldn’t fully make out what the sound was nor what it said, but it sounded familiar. I just couldn’t place it.

I shook my head, ignoring the whisper for the time being, and placed my hand on Rose’s shoulder. She screamed in fright, turning towards me and firing a blast of power through her hands. I was launched back several feet, pile-driving through the bonfire and creating a rain of burnt branches and ash falling through the sky. I groaned in pain, the force of the blast hammering in my chest. “Ow.” The sound of my voice was breathless.

Rose immediately shot up and ran over to me, the sound of crunching sticks under her hurried footsteps. “I am so so sorry babe. I shouldn’t have done that.”

The term of endearment filled me with a warmth that extinguished the pain and helped bring my breath back to normal as I breathed in her scent. Oddly enough, she smelt of roses; a mixture of yellow and black roses. I got an idea from that. “It’s okay my little bumble bee. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you.” I smirked at her, a simple kind of joy filling me.

I watched the flush fill her face at my own little term. That was exactly what I wanted. She stumbled over her words a few times, making my grin larger. “Shut up. You’re rude.” She finally settled on, averting her gaze to the side.

I could only roll my eyes at her. “I got all my stuff. Are you done?”

She nodded in affirmation, shifting her gaze over to my face in something akin to awe.

“Wanna get out of here?”

She nodded once again, moving over to the side and reaching a hand down to help me up. Once I placed my hand in her palm, she barely had to exert any force to pull me up. “At least you’re light.”

I only rolled my eyes, letting her take my hand in a strong grip and leading me to the center of the clearing. We both made a flourish with our hands and just as darkness started to consume me, I heard the familiar faint whisper again, only this time I could make out the words. “Olivia…help me…”