Chapter 37: The Loveshroom.

"Chariot, stop! This is a bad idea!" Alcor is practically yelling on my ear. "You heard Croix, you have to be patient with her!"

"I've been patient!" I yell back. "It's already been three days since we visited Woodward, and she's barely spoken a word to me since!"

"But maybe she just needs a little more time to…" He trails off when he notices we've arrived at our destination; the laboratory where we usually brew potions. There, Enid and Anaid are already waiting for me.

"Hi girls!" I exclaim enthusiastically.

"Shhhh!" They both shush me.

"We have to be quiet, remember? We aren't supposed to be here this late." Anaid reminds me.

"Oh… right." I rub the back of my neck sheepishly, lowering my tone of voice.

"Did you bring everything I asked for?" Enid asks as she opens the laboratory's door and lets us in.

"Yeah." I nod, reaching inside my pocket and extracting the ingredients to put them in the nearest table. "The Loveshroom, some Mandrake leaves, a golden snail, feathers of a divine cat, the fangs of a lizard and… a Minotaur's horn!" I exclaim happily. "That was everything, right?"

"Seriously? You can remember the ingredients for a love potion, but not for an invisibility one?" Alcor chastises me.

"When it comes to exams my brain just… stops working." I explain.

"Besides, it's not a love potion." Enid adds, closing the door behind her. "It's a love-rekindling potion. It's completely different."

"The only difference is the mushroom you use. And honestly? They are so similar I wonder if you've got the correct one." Alcor argues.

"I think I can distinguish a Loveshroom from a Lovestool, thank you very much." Enid rolls her eyes. "Now… Anaid, can you go make guard outside? And Chariot, please, tell your crow to stay quiet."

I purse my lips at her request but decide to comply. Alcor is being too loud and he obviously won't be of much help in this situation, so as much as I prefer him to be free and do as he wishes, I raise the shiny rod and nudge him towards it.

"Come on Alcor, time to sleep." I say.

"But Chariot…" He starts protesting, but I quickly cut him off.

"You're my familiar, aren't you? You have to obey me."

"I'll be pestering you through our bond." He grumbles angrily before disappearing inside the rod.

I've already blocked you! I answer telepathically. Though… I don't really have any idea of how to actually do that.

"So… what's the difference?" I ask as I light a fire under the cauldron.

"Huh?" Enid looks at me, confused.

"Between a Loveshroom and a Lovestool." I clarify.

"Oh!" She exclaims before looking down to the ingredients on the table. "Well… the Loveshroom has white lamella, and the Lovestool has pink lamella."

"I see…" I nod as I pick up our mushroom and look under its cap to examine the lamella. It's not like I don't trust Enid, but… she isn't exactly an expert when it comes to mushrooms. "This one has pink lamella though." I comment, realizing my fears were well-founded.

"Yes, which means it's a Loveshroom." Enid nods as she starts pouring the Mandrake leaves into the cauldron.

"But you just said the Lovestool has pink lamella!" I protest.

"No. I'm pretty sure I said that's the Loveshroom." She shakes her head, sounding sure of herself, which makes me question my own hearing. Maybe I was the one who got confused?

"But…" I try to protest once again.

"Look, we could delay this for another day and go search information at the library." She cuts me off, sounding exasperated. "Or you could just trust me and give the potion to Croix first thing in the morning."

"Uhm…" I bit my lip, considering my options.

Alcor, what's the difference between a Loveshroom and a Lovestool? I ask telepathically.

You told me to stay quiet, so I'm not telling you anything. He answers, obviously having had his pride hurt.

Alcor, please. I'm sorry, okay? Just tell me, please. I practically beg as I send him a mental image of a pouting puppy in order to make him tell me.

Fine. He sighs. I just know that the main difference is the color of their lamella. I don't know which shroom has which specific color.

Gee, thanks. We'd already stablished that. I deadpan, before turning to look at Enid once again, having already made up my mind. Granted, I know I'm not making the right choice, but we're already here and it took me a lot of effort to steal those ingredients. May as well use them.

"Well… Alcor wasn't of much help, and I really don't want to wait one more day to solve this, so... Whatever, let's just make this potion!"


We spent quite some time making the love-rekindling potion, and by 'we' I obviously mean just Enid because, as bad as she is at magical pharmaceutics, I'm even worse. We still don't know if it'll work though; I'll have to test it. Granted, it's a pink color, like the recipe said, though it ended up being more of an intense pink than a bit rosy, but… I guess that'll do.

Now, the only problem is to make Croix drink it.

I decided to grab a glass of lemonade from the cafeteria, pour the potion in it (thankfully I can just say it's pink lemonade) and then bring it to Croix. It wouldn't be suspicious; I do often bring her food and drinks in an effort to make her eat something other than instant ramen.

Okay, so now I've poured myself a glass of lemonade. The only thing that's left to do now is…

"Chariot." I hear a very familiar voice calling me from behind, startling me to the point I end up dropping the vial of pink liquid on the lemonade jar. Of course I quickly extract it, but it's too late; the whole lemonade has already turned pink. "Chariot, what's wrong?" Croix asks, prompting me to turn around and hide the empty vial behind my back.

"N-nothing! Nothing." I say, smiling in reassurance, but my heartbeat quickens and my palms get sweaty; a sign of my growing nervousness. And going by Croix's unimpressed face, I guess she isn't buying it.

"What did you do now?" She sighs.

"Why do you assume I did something?" I question indignantly.

"Well… didn't you?" She smirks, crossing her arms over her chest. And, well, I know I'm a terrible liar, so I decide it's better to change the subject.

"Is there a reason you are here instead of at your lab? Or did you simply run out of ramen?" I manage to make a smirk of my own, though I'm pretty sure it ends up looking more like a nervous smile.

"Both, I guess." She shrugs. "Tomorrow I'll go buy some more ramen, but I also wanted to… I don't know..." She deviates her gaze and purses her lips, letting her arms fall to her sides "... Talk to you? I guess?"

"Does that mean you're finally ready to tell me about whatever was bothering you?" I ask hopefully. Maybe I won't have to use the potion after all!

"No." She quickly answers, frowning as if the sole thought disturbs her. "But… I guess I missed you somewhat, and I thought we could catch up or something." She adds, forcing a smile to appear on her face but still refusing to look at me.

"I see…" I can't keep the disappointment from expressing in my voice. But hey, she's opening up a bit now! Maybe I really don't need the potion and I should just be more patient… nah, knowing Croix and how uptight she's about her personal life and her feelings, I would probably revive the seven words and obtain the Grand Triskelion way before she even tells me half of it, so…

"Hey! Do you want some lemonade?" I ask, already pouring a glass for her. "It's very… refreshing." I add, forcing a smile in order to appear as innocent as possible as I offer her the glass of pink liquid. Croix just takes a look at it and raises an eyebrow.

"It's pink." She comments, obviously surprised.

"Have you ever heard of pink lemonade?" I counter.

"Yeah, but this shade is too… well… pink." She argues, still not taking the glass.

"Maybe they used too many pink lemons?" I giggle nervously, trying to alleviate her suspicions.

"Are you trying to give me a love potion?" She chuckles, a hint of fear appearing on her voice, as well as some other emotion I can't quite decipher.

"Why would I give you a love potion?" I ask, wondering how on Earth she came up with that idea.

Her laughter is instantly cut off when she hears my question, and she frowns and purses her lips before practically tearing the grass from my grip in one swift motion.

"Yes, you're right." She agrees, sounding oddly upset. "It's not like you could ever fall in love with me or anything." Her whole demeanor is grim and somewhat angry as she speaks before bringing the glass to her lips and downing the beverage in just one go. Then she puts the glass on the table and wipes her lips with the back of her hand.

"Well… that tasted pink." She chuckles unnaturally, obviously trying to lighten up the mood and failing miserably.

"Do you feel any different?" I ask, impatient to find out if it worked. "Do you maybe want to share your secrets with me now?"

"Should I?" She questions. "What, did you put a truth potion in it?"

A truth potion? Wait that would have been a better and more useful option! But then again, I would have had to read a ton of books in order to find the recipe, and that would have taken me ages!

"Nope! It's just plain, normal, lemonade." I assure her.

"Right." I squirm under her disbelieving gaze, my eyes darting around in an effort to find something to deviate the topic of conversation, but before I can come up with anything, I feel a pair of arms enveloping my waist as someone hugs me from behind.

"Chariot, my dear and beloved friend!" I hear Karen's voice practically on my ear. Yet, the actual words, as well as the (dare I say?) seductive tone she uses, make me question my own sanity. "Where have you been? You didn't come to our room last night." I try to get away from her, but her grip around me just tightens, and I feel a heated blush creeping up my neck and into my cheeks.

"K-Karen." I practically squeak, still unable to get away from her.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I hear Anaid's voice before I turn to see her grab my hand and tug on it to try and liberate me from Karen. Great! Help has arrived! "She's mine!" Wait, what?

"You traitor! I thought we had agreed not to fall for each other's crushes!" Enid's voice comes from the other side and she promptly starts tugging at my other hand.

Wait, crushes? What the hell is going on?!

"Back off, I saw her first!" Karen interrupts them, pressing herself a little closer to me, until I can very distinctively feel two rather soft mounds against my back. I can positively say that I'm feeling so lightheaded I'm seconds away from fainting. Must be because I can't remember how to breathe.

"Karen, no! Please love me!" Amelia's desperate voice is heard from somewhere behind me, presumably as she tries to pull Karen away from me.

"But Amelia, you're my true love! We should be together!" The voice of someone I barely know is heard from somewhere just out of my sight.

That's when I notice that, all around me, chaos has erupted in the cafeteria. Practically everyone is making passionate love confessions or fighting against each other for someone, and there's even a girl fixated on a goblin! But how? Could this have been because of my potion?

"Chariot!" Croix's angry voice is heard over the crowd, and my gaze snaps back at my friend who is now surrounded by quite a few girls, all throwing compliments at her but still keeping their distance, no doubt intimidated by my friend's hostile expression. "Did you put a love potion in that lemonade?!" She asks accusatorily, jerking away when one of her admirers tries to touch her.

"Uhm… maybe?" I answer sheepishly, only to flinch when the twins resume their tug-war, only more aggressively. "Do you know if the Loveshroom is the one with pink lamella? Or is that the Lovestool?" At my question, Croix face-palms herself.

"Chariot, you idiot!" She cries in desperation, running her hand through her bags. "We need to get out of here before this gets out of control."

"It's already out of control." I point out, but still try to get away from my friends, only for them to cling to me like ivy.

"Well then, let's get out of here before I start killing people!" Croix answers, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the bolder of her fans, which are starting to invade her personal space. Judging by her dangerous expression, I assume she's serious.

"Wait!" I panic. "I'll fix this!"

As quickly as possible, I free my right hand using all the strength I've cultivated with all these months of training, and then I get my wand out of my sash, chanting the spell.

"Vega varulus!" As soon as I feel the familiar rush of raw physical power, I use it to get out of my friends' grip with a single (and rather impressive) jump that carries me almost all the way to the ceiling. As I land, I don't waste a second before taking Croix and carrying her bridal-style to the window, which I shatter with a simple "Murowa!" before getting out and jumping some more in order to reach the celling and then running to the Astronomy Tower, the top of which I reach with a couple more of jumps. Then, I just have to pull the lever to open the wooden door and drop into Croix's lab from above.

As soon as I'm sure we're alone in our secret lair, I end the spell and let go of Croix… though she practically drops to the ground as soon as I do so, since it looks like her legs are trembling like jelly. Huh. She really isn't used to all that speed and jumps, is she?

"Are you alright?" I ask, extending my hand to her in order to help her up. However, she backs away and gets up on her own, putting quite some distance between us and avoiding eye-contact at all costs. It's like her evasive attitude of lately just got amplified.

"Of course not! You just carried me through half the school!" She spats, hugging herself tightly and starting to tremble uncontrollably.

"Croix?" I ask concerned as I take a hesitant step in her direction, only for her to hastily take three steps back in turn.

"Stay away, Chariot!" She pleads, hiding her face between her hands. "This was already difficult enough before you gave me a stupid love potion!" Her words come out muffled by her hands, but I can still distinguish how desperate she sounds. My heart twists painfully as I recognize my friend's distress, and I feel an urge to come to her side, despite her words.

"Croix, please, let me help you." I say softly, approaching her as she backs up until she's pressed against the wall with nowhere to go. Her hands fall from her face, but she just clenches her fists and shuts her eyes tight.

"Chariot… don't." She pleads once more, but I still get closer, wanting to alleviate her pain at any cost, and knowing I can't do that if she keeps pushing me away. As I come to a stop in front of her, I notice her whole face is red, like I've never seen before, and I worry she might be sick.

"You don't look well…" I muse, placing my hand on her forehead. "Huh, you're so red, but it doesn't seem like you have a fev…" Before I can finish what I was trying to say, I'm cut off by Croix taking my shoulders with her hands and pushing me against the wall, reversing our positions. I only have time to gasp, however, as she then presses herself against me, so that now every inch of our bodies is touching.

"C-Croix?" I choke out, feeling myself blush as I become very aware of the lack of space between us. I look at her eyes, trying to decipher what's gotten into her, and I see her pupils being dilated to the point that the usual teal color has now become a thin line. She's also panting heavily, and her face has an expression that can only be described as raw, desperate want.

"I'm sorry, my Cherry." She husks out, her face inching closer to me, so now I can feel her breath against my lips. "I can't hold myself back any longer."

And before I can do anything except trying not to faint because of our sheer proximity, she leans forward, capturing my lips between hers.

My breath hitches and my heart starts doing summersaults inside my chest, to the point I fear it'll just burst out and do a happy dance. Then, I start feeling a tingling sensation spreading through my whole body, but it's distinctively pleasant, like when you drink hot chocolate in a good night and it warms you from the inside out.

I never would have imagined that simply having someone's lips pressed against yours, caressing them so insistently and passionately, could feel like… well, like this. Honestly, I never thought about how my first kiss would be like, but… whatever expectations I may have had, this is infinitely better.

And yet the moment is broken when Croix presses her knee between my thighs and moans my name against my lips before proceeding to sensually kiss my neck, leaving a trail of saliva all over it. Which makes panic and discomfort to stand out over all the pleasurable sensations.

That's when my head clears enough for me to remember… this isn't Croix. It's the love potion! She would never do something like this, right? Her actions are too desperate, too eager, too impulsive. No matter how good it feels, it isn't what she wants. And what kind of friend would I be if I just kept allowing this to continue? Not to mention, I'm so confused I don't even know if I want this anymore.

"Croix…" I say, my voice trembling either because of desire or fear. Or a weird combination of both. "I-I think we should stop." I gently try to push her away, but her hands quickly grab mine and pin them against the wall.

"Why? Aren't you enjoying this, Cherry?" She asks mischievously, her gaze appearing even more suggestive, if possible.

"This isn't you!" I try to reason, despite my brain being mostly mush right now. "The… the love potion…"

"Oh, my sweet, innocent Cherry." She coos, shaking her head. "You don't get it, do you?"

"G-get what?" I squirm under her downright predatory gaze, but it just seems to amuse her as she chuckles before leaning in to whisper on my ear, so close that her breath tickles me.

"I've been feeling this way about you for a long time." She confesses. "But it became overwhelming only recently. That's why I tried to avoid you, to forget about these useless emotions." She pauses, only to bite gently my earlobe before continuing. And I'm too dumbfounded by both her actions and her words to even think of doing or saying anything. "But as you can see, it didn't work. All thanks to your useless little potion."

Part of me recognizes that what she's saying makes a lot of sense, and would explain her strange behavior. But I also reason that the potion must be responsible for making her say such things, whether they're true or not. And... I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest, perhaps a little disappointed? But also relieved, if that makes sense. I'm not sure about anything anymore.

"Croix, wait." I protest once more.

She's now holding down both of my hands using only one of hers, while the other starts caressing my cheek as she kisses me once more, but then… her hand descends a little more, to my neck and further, with a clear goal in mind.

I'm still conscious enough to realize I need to make this stop.

"Croix, stop!" I yell, pushing her away with as much strength I dare to use without hurting her. Thankfully, my friend isn't precisely strong, and it's enough to make her stumble backwards and give me enough room to breathe.

I can only bear to look at her hurt gaze for a moment before practically bolting away, overwhelmed by everything that's happened in the last few minutes, and cursing myself for getting into this mess in the first place.


A/N: Well, look at that! Seems like Chariot can't ignore Croix's feelings any longer XD. Sorry for having make you wait so long, but I hope you liked it nontheless, and that you leave a review/favorite/follow if you did. See you in two weeks!

Btw, if you want to see a drawing I made for this chapter, check out my Tumblr or Instagram. I'm TaniaHylian in both.

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.