So this is somewhat of a prologue to 'A Morning I Never Imagined'. This has a small second chapter-ish part coming right up, as soon as I'm not too lazy.

I stared at the piece of paper in front of me and fought the impulse to tear it into a million pieces. Why would anyone do something like this? Why would my own friends do this to me? I looked up from it to make sure they were joking, to make sure he was joking. "You can't be serious about this!" I exclaimed, slamming a hand down onto the table. "I will not!"

From the corner of my rosemary eyes, I could see Aiyannah flinch. Guilt was slowly building up inside me for making her feel uncomfortable, but I just had to push it down to make room for my rage. I couldn't completely say Aiyannah was innocent though. She also had something to do with this. "Chris, calm down," my best friend said in a soft voice, but calming down was not really part of flow of things right now.

"You really expect me to calm down when you shove this into my face?" I angrily asked as I picked up the slip of paper and showed it to them. It was a ticket. A fucking ticket back to Iria.

"If you'd just let us-"

"Shut your mouth Granat!" I cut in. "For all I know, you talked Aya into this."

Granat's ears suddenly drooped down, his gaze falling to the floor. It was obvious that I hurt him and it placed another pound of guilt over my shoulders. Why was I always friends with the sensitive people?

"You're right," Granat said with a nod of his head, "but we both admit that you need this."

"Chris," Aya began as a hand reached up to twirl her hair. It was a habit of hers when she was unsure or nervous about something. "You never kept any secrets from me and by the way you tell me stories from Filia, you seemed to miss those times."

I rolled my eyes. "I was a kid for crying out loud Aya," I muttered. "I missed how everything was simple and fine back then." My gaze then fell to Granat. "Remember? All that mattered was having fun while staying out of trouble. But then what happened Granat?"

"The war," he quietly replied. "Granites and I…" I gritted my teeth at the sound of his name. That fucking son of a bitch. He could go die and rot in hell for all I care. He was an ingrate, a self-absorbed, insensitive ingrate. "We both enlisted in the war. Each family had to present one male member to fight in the war. In our case, I volunteered and Granites tagged along."

Aya turned to me and I could tell she was searching for an explanation as to why Granat's twin did that. "It's the whole big-brother-complex he has," I explained off handedly. "'I won't let you get yourself killed,' he said." A small smirk appeared on Granat's face and I hated the fact that I knew why he was smirking. I fought the urge to bury my face in humiliation. Thankfully, Granat was not one to talk when it wasn't needed.

"That's Granites for you," he chuckled, shaking his head. "But we've gotten off topic. You have to go back there to make things right."

I huffed. "Why are you trying so hard to fix me and Granites?" I blurted out. "It's not like you'd get anything out of it." Crossing my arms, I looked at the people in my living room. Well, it was Aiyannah's living room, but I lived with her. I practically paid half the house and did half the repair work when we bought it. Aya's expression changed again. She knew something I didn't, causing me to narrow my eyes at her.

Granat, noticing the discomfort I was giving my friend, turned to Aya. "Would it be alright if I borrowed Chris for a while? We'll just be taking a… walk." The human nodded slowly.

"It's cold outside," Aiyannah whispered. "I'll bring down Chris' coat for her." The silver-haired mage went up the stairs a little too quickly and stumbled on the way up several times.

We didn't speak to each other while Aiyannah was searching for my coat. I could tell that Granat was trying, but I wouldn't let him. I felt betrayed. He was my childhood friend, one of the dearest friends I'd ever have. Neither time nor distance had ruined our friendship and it pained me to think that he was actually doing this to me, to us. He was putting our relationship on the line right here and now.

Aya soon came back, almost falling down the stairs, I might add. She hastily handed me my coat and practically shoved me and Granat out of the house. Aiyannah hated confrontations, especially inside her home.

Being the gentleman that he was, Granat offered his arm but I rudely turned away and began walking towards the watchtower. I could hear him sigh, but I also heard him follow right behind me.

"Look, I'm sorry if I upset you but-"

"If?" I repeated, furious. "What do you mean 'if'? Does my face not show how angry I am right now? Is my voice not loud enough to let you know that I am more than mad at you at this very moment? Granat, for Irinid's sake, if you didn't have any manners, I bet you would've just drugged me and sent me back to Filia in a crate with a card saying 'For Granites!' Granat-"

Strong, warm arms wrapped around my form, cutting my rant short. "Granat, this does not change anything. A simple hug and sorry won't make me feel better."

"He's too proud to say it, but he misses you," he suddenly said in a quiet voice that caught me off guard. He was too sincere that I didn't have the heart to call him a liar and various other colorful words. "Granites sent me a letter once, asking me how you were when I told him I had found you. He asked if you were well, if you had a place to stay, if you had been eating right. He's worried and before I found you, I was too." He slowly let go of me and I took the chance to get some distance between us as quickly as possible.

"The both of you sound like overprotective brothers," I muttered as I slowed my pace. We finally stopped at the small island in the middle of the lake that connected the two bridges leading from Emain Macha to Sen Mag Plains.

"We might be, but you had left a few days after Granites came back to Filia and I hadn't heard of or from you ever since the War," he calmly explained. It was evident that he was relieved that I was finally speaking at a normal volume. "I just want you to go there and say what you have to say. After that, you're free to choose whatever you want to do."

I narrowed my eyes at him. I was guilty of not contacting him, but it was his fault for joining the Expeditionary Force without my knowing. How on earth was I supposed to contact him? But Granat was truly like a brother to me and I couldn't just let that go. And even if he was putting our friendship in jeopardy with all the things he was doing, I wasn't going to do any more to hasten the collapse of our relationship. Thus, I would swallow my pride and concede. "Just this once," I murmured.

A relieved smile appeared on the man's face. He knew he had won this battle. "Yes, just this once," he reassured me. "And then you can go back here to Uladh, to Emain Macha, and continue with your life like nothing happened."

"And all I need to do is go to Filia and have a decent 'chat' with that brother of yours?"

He nodded.

"Nothing more?"

He nodded again. "No more, no less."

I took a deep breath. "No more, no less."