Ayooo, this chapter seems longer but idk. Sorry it took so long, school's been hard on me and I had writers block. But have a great time reading this while I try and get the most out of the creative boom I just got.
When I woke up, I didn't know what to do. For the first time in weeks, I had things to do. Should I call Zavier, or check up on Sophie and Dex. I got up and put on a white long flowing tunic with a green overcoat and black tights underneath. I picked up my Imparter and looked at it. This would be the first time in days I would call Zavier. I didn't know what to say if I called. Thankfully, before I could call a knock sounded at my door. I threw my Imparter on my bed before saying she could come in. Sumria peeked her head into my room and exclaimed, "Miss June, I have come here to ask you for your help," My head perked up at the sound of her voice. "Sumria, what happened?" She messed with her clothes and said, "One of our gnomes has gone missing,". "What!" I burst out, "How are you saying that so calmly!". She looked back up at my face and said, "We know the general direction he should be in but I'm afraid the search party can't go shouting for him. There is something in the woods that can be deadly to anyone, mostly gnomes though," I took a deep breath, looks like I knew what I was doing today. "And Miss June?" Sumria's voice turned shy as she asked, "we need all the help we can get. So can you ask your friend for help?" I must've looked confused because she added, "The older one with black hair, the boy. Zavier, I think." Oh. I don't know what face I'm making but it must've been weird to have Sumria say, "I thought you were friends?". I glance quickly at the Imparter on my bed. "We are friends, I just haven't talked to him in awhile. I don't know if he'll say yes,". Her face falls a little before lighting up a bit and she exclaims, "Don't worry! It's fine because we have you. Now you might want to suit up because of the dangers that lurk in the forest," I feel my eyes bug out, "Suit up?". Sumria took my hand and led me to a room at the end of the hallway, that I hadn't thought to explore till now.
Opening the door I see the walls covered in an assortment of things. Clothes, statues, books, crates, and weapons. My eyes widened at all the weapons as we got closer. What really draws my eyes is a box wrapped in golden vines. I go over and open it and a sharp gasp comes out of my mouth when I see a gorgeous pair of daggers sitting inside. The hilt was black and had golden vines wrapped around where the blade met the hilt. "Beautiful," Sumria's whisper shook me out of the trance I was in. "Definitely," I whisper back. Sumria holds up two sheaths along with two holsters. "Which one?" she asks with a smug look on her face. In fifteen minutes I'm right on the trees's edge and with two daggers sheathed on my thighs. Another pair in my boots, but they are lighter and easier to throw. I give Sumria a look, "Are you sure about this?" She nods her head slightly while saying "Just be back here by dark or else you might get lost," I nod my head and start my long walk towards a missing gnome.
I don't know how long I've been walking, minutes, or hours? After a while of walking and seeing nothing I had pulled out my knives and started to twirl them. Surprisingly, twirling them was smooth, it came naturally from my years of training. Everything looked the same, trees, bushes, and sometimes moss. As I walked by a particularly large tree I heard a snap to my left. With my hearing I could tell they were getting closer to me second by second. I glanced around for a place to hide, finally choosing to climb the tree and wait to jump on whatever was coming my way. My hands were wrapped close around my daggers. Seeing it come into view, the rest was a blur as I jumped on top of whatever came into my line of sight. A groan came from underneath me and I finally saw who I had jumped on. Zavier.
"What the he-Wha-June?" Zavier's eyes met with mine, all I saw was surprise. I mentally facepalmed myself at not seeing who I had jumped on. "Uh, hey," I forced out. A small smile crept onto my face and I suddenly realized how close we were. I could feel his breath on my skin, and my hair dangled on his face. I quickly got up and looked away, the blush crawling up on my skin. I heard him stand up and he dusted himself off. Then I looked at him again, "What are you doing here?". He blinked a few times before answering, "You called my Imparter and you didn't answer me, so I came over,". I blinked at him this time before remembering, "Oh! That was most likely Sumria. I left my Imparter on my bed, but that still doesn't fully answer my question," He quickly looked away and rubbed the back of his neck, "I-uh- thought you were in trouble and Sumria pointed towards the forest. And uh, here I am," I opened my mouth then closed it. Zavier cleared his throat. "What's with the daggers?" I looked down and realized I was still holding my daggers in my hand. I cleared my throat, "Sumria gave these to me. They're so I can protect myself," I put them back in their sheaths. He looked confused, "From the wild beast in the woods," His eyes widened. "She didn't tell you about it! Of course she didn't tell you about it," I dragged a hand down my face. "I mean we'll obviously have to stick together to find the missing gnome," his face once again got wrinkles between his eyebrows, "there's a missing gnome and we have to find her but, we can't be in these woods past sunset or else the beast might get us." I finished.
"Wow." That's all? I raised my eyebrows. "But, um," he grabbed his hands in front of him, "are you okay to do this?" I leaned forward, "What?", Zavier gulped and gripped his hands tighter, "You know with all the Sophie and Dex things still going on," I furrowed my brows. I mean sure they were with Elwin, but at least they were alive. I gasped suddenly, "You don't know." He took a step closer to me, "What don't I know?" I threw my hand over my mouth, "Ok, but you can't tell anyone," He nodded his head, "They're alive. Sophie and Dex are alive!" I exclaimed. His eyes grew dark, "June I told you this already. They're not coming back. You have to let them go." I chuckled what he was saying. "No, you don't understand. They were kidnapped and Sophie light-leaped Dex to the Four Seasons Tree, and Fitz, Keefe, Biana, and I got her back. She's faded though, but she's alive. I wasn't wrong!" His eyes grew wide and suddenly I didn't know what to do. The once comfortable silence between us was unbearably tense. He suddenly swept me up into a giant hug. I started to giggle at his show of excitement, and as he suddenly spun us around, my giggles turned into full on loud laughter. My laughter mixed into his and once he stopped spinning, he and I just stayed in that hug for the longest time. "I'm happy for you. It was hard to see you that way." he whispered into my ear. I hugged him tighter knowing what he meant. Then a crack sounded to my right. I froze. "Did you hear that?" I whispered, slowly I felt him nod. Shoot. I must've not noticed whatever it was's footsteps as it got closer because of my laughter. And maybe because of how loud your heart is. I tried to block out that intrusive thought. "We need to get up that tree and stay quiet," Again, I felt him nod. We slowly pulled apart from each other, not that eager to make noise. I signaled him to start climbing and I took out my knives and I moved into a fighting stance. Thunk! I whirled around to see Zavier pointing at me to get up the tree. I rolled my eyes at his frankness to get me to turn around. I quickly scampered up the tree and sat in a crouch next to Zavier. I looked at him and we made eye contact and with determination in our eyes we waited for anything to come into our sights.
HOLD UP HOLD UP. IT"S BEEN A YEAR! It's been a year and two days since I first published the first chapter of this story. Thank you so so much for all the love on this story. You don't know how much it means to me. I thank every single one of you for all the love you've given this story. And we are almost at 1k views and I am thankful for that too. I love every single person who reads my story and I can't believe it actually got this much love. Much love and thanks, (and maybe some new chapters sooner than this time)
-Cresent