Chapter Twelve: Search

I spend all day circling and weaving through the sky, desperately searching for any sign of my friend. Being in my natural form strengthens my senses, causing me to feel a slight nausea, but not as bad as when I tried to connect to the earth. Soon I'm able to shake off the feeling, if only a little. I make sure to stay out of the view of the Alchemy Club during my search. Ending up as one of their experiments is the last thing I want.

I release a sigh of disappointment when the sun falls and return to Laura and Carmilla's dorm room. I touch down on the windowsill and see the Kirsch is in the room. Perry is asleep on Laura's bed and Carmilla is flipping through the tome. Looking around, I glide towards the kitchen area and hide behind a mug.

"No." Kirsch denies.

"Yes." Laura tells him.

"No."

"Yes."

"Dude, no, okay? Will's my bro. He came with me to SJ's memorial. Which was really sad." He takes a sip from the mug in his hand.

"Kirsch, I'm sorry."

The boy shrugs. "Memorial's nice, though. There's, like, a little rock with her name on it. I bring her flowers sometimes. Pink ones. She liked pink stuff."

"That's sweet." Laura nods.

"And look, I get it. You guys are trying to help me because you think I'm dumb."

"No!"

"Alright, you think I'm not good at math or science or English or whatever. But…I know bros. And Zetas? We walk through fire for each other. And even if Will is a vampire, he's a Zeta first." He takes another sip.

Carmilla looks away from the tome. "Doesn't work that way, beefcake."

"Well listen, out of the two of you, my man Will never tried to bite me." He says strongly, in defense of his friend.

"Just do me a favor, okay? Just be careful around him." Laura warns. "I was not kidding when I said he tried to kill me."

"Okay. Yeah. And hey, if you're not too busy fighting evil, maybe you would come to the post-midterm bash on Friday? We're wrapping the goat in bacon this year."

"Yum." Laura says, not quite sure what to do with that information.

Kirsch sets the mug down and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. Laura sighs when he's gone.

Carmilla sets the book aside. "You can send a dude to college, but you can't make him think."

Laura chuckles. "Must be nice sometimes, though. To be normal. Or oblivious. Nothing to worry about except the midterm bash and whether the person you like's gonna be there." She shakes her head. "That must sound so stupid to you. You've been to, what? A zillion dances."

Carmilla sits up. "Yeah, but most of the time I was bait in a supernatural con game."

I look between the two and decide to stay in my hiding spot, not wanting to interrupt their private moment. Well, not that private. I'm pretty sure the camera is still on.

"So, you can't remember what kids did for kicks back in 1698?" Laura asks.

"Ah, it wasn't much different. We drank a lot and danced like fools. Waltzing was fun. It had a frisson scandal back then."

"How is waltzing scandalous?"

"Well…" she offers her hand to Laura and they both stand up, pushing the chair close to the desk. "Partners were face to face." She pulls Laura into her arms. "Chest to chest." She leads them through a few small steps and spins Laura. "All of that, um, whirling." She pulls the girl back to her, keeping their fingers intertwined. "In 1698 it may as well have been sex."

"So you had some fun after all."

Carmilla lets their hands drop and turns away. "Eh, once or twice." She turns back in time to see Laura release a yawn. "Why don't you just take mine," she gestures to her bed. "I'll curl up on the floor."

Laura shakes her head. "No! I couldn't make you…"

"Vampiric constitution trumps lower back pain." She goes into the bathroom.

"Thanks." Laura says, plopping onto the bed when the bathroom door closes. "Worst. Crush. Ever." She face-plants onto the bed.

I take that moment to hop onto back board/bookshelf of the bed. "I don't know. I think you complement each other very well."

The blonde gasps, shooting up and looking around the room. "Who said that?"

"Down here." I call her attention to me. Laura finally spots my on the shelf. I leap off of it, shifting into my human form.

"Trinity!" she gasps. "How long have you been there?"

"I came around the time when Kirsch refused to believe the Will is a vampire. I didn't interrupt after that because you seemed quite…content with the moment between you and Carmilla."

Laura blushes and awkwardly tries to explain it away. "What? That? T-that was nothing. We were just…she was just…" she huffs and gives up. "Is it that obvious?"

"Only when you look at her." I state with a small smile.

Laura groans and wipes a hand over her face. "Moving on; I guess the search for Lafontaine didn't go well?"

The comment sobers my teasing attitude. "No. I covered as much ground as I could without being spotted."

Laura briefly lays a hand on my arm. "At least you tried. We'll keep searching until we find them. Until then I think it's best if we all get some rest."

I nod. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow; hopefully we'll be able to make some progress." I turn and make my way to the door, opening it. "Goodnight."

"'night." She waves.

I close the door behind me and walk the very short distance to my dorm. By the time I'm showered and ready for bed, a knock sound on my door. I look at the door with pursed lips in confusion. As far as I know Laura, Carmilla, and Perry had already retired for the night, so who could be knocking at this hour. I open the door and my eyes widen in surprise.

Mia stands in front of me, nervously shifting from foot to foot. "…Hi." She finally says.

"Hello." I greet. "W-what are you doing here? I thought you didn't wish to see me."

"I know I said I needed some time, and I did. I've been doing a lot of thinking…I mean a lot…and the more I thought about you, the more I missed you. I think" she shakes her head. "…no, I know that I'm finally ready to talk. About you, about me…about us." She sighs. "You have every right to say no, and tell me to leave-"

"Please come in." I interrupt her, stepping back to allow her into the room.

"Really?" she asks.

I nod my head. "Please come in." Mia sighs in relief and steps into the room, letting me shut the door behind her. I take a seat on my bed. "Would you like to sit?"

Mia shakes her head as she paces back and forth. "No, I need to say what I need to while I can." She stops and looks at me. "Look, I said I needed some space from you and I did, but the whole time I couldn't stop thinking about you and surprisingly enough, it wasn't because of the whole 'being a fairy' thing." She sighs and begins pacing again. "Actually that only lasted for a couple of days before it was pushed to the back of my mind because I kept wondering how you were doing, if you were okay, would you even speak to me again after I sent you away. I wasn't ready to talk and I don't know anyone on campus who knows you well enough to the point that I can ask about you, so I started watching all your friends' videos to see if you'll be in them again." She stops once more. "I saw what you went through and I realized why you kept bailing in the middle of our hangouts…or dates; did you want them to be dates?" I go to answer but she shakes her head and continues on. "Anyway I feel like a total jerk for being mad at you for leaving when you were just helping your friends; and not like helping with homework, but trying to figure out how to save people. On top of that, one of your friends got attacked while you were with me. If it wasn't for me, you could've been there to help her."

"Mia-"

"And then you saved me from that giant mushroom and went out of your way to help others. Now another friend of yours is missing and instead of being worried about the girls disappearing and magic, and fairies; all I can think about is how glad I am that it wasn't you and-"

"Mia." I interrupt her rant. "I help my friends in any way I can, but I don't wish to hurt you while I do so. You feel guilty because of the things that happened while I was with you, but you seem to forget that it was my choice to turn off my phone. Looking back on it, maybe that wasn't the best thing to do, but Laura was safe because Carmilla was there to protect her. And honestly, I wouldn't take it back if I can because I was able to be closer to you. As for needing space from me, I'd just confirmed that everything you thought were myths is real. No matter how weird this University has been, it's one thing to hear about it and another to see it with your own eyes. I don't hold your needing space from me to process against you. Whether you accept me or not, you're my mate and the most important thing to me is your safety and happiness. If that meant you choosing to no longer be my friend, it would be painful, but I would do as you wished."

"That's another thing." Mia finally takes a seat beside me, looking into my eyes. "All these thoughts I've been having; is it because I'm your mate? I know you said that this never happened between a fae and a human, but maybe it's just latent and instantaneous like it usually is?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I guess it's something we'll never know unless it happens again."

"But when?" she asked. "You told me that fae are immortal. What does that mean for me? I don't feel any different. I don't think anything has changed. What happens when I eventually grow old and die?"

My heart lurched at her question. Usually when one's mate were to die before them, they had two options; one was to continue on with their life, but living as a shell of the person they once were, a half-life now that the one person who completed them is gone, lost in thoughts of what could've been. This is not a choice that has been made by many. The second option is considered more merciful; a fae can request to be reunited with their mate by joining them in death, meeting them in the afterlife. The duty of a Joiner is not an easy one. Not only are they responsible for marrying the mates and tying them together for eternity, they are also responsible for taking the lives of those who wish to join their fallen loves.

"No one is truly immortal; at least not on this plane of existence. Everything is meant to come to an end, only some take a bit longer than others. Even me."

"How?"

"Because of balance. Everything has a weakness, though some may be hard to find. The weakness of the fae happens to be iron. It can harm us in ways that other weapons can't. A little can make us sick. Too much of it can lead to our death. I'm not invulnerable to other beings stronger than I am. I'm just a little difficult to kill for some. And since peace is something my people strive for, I don't see anything like that happening soon."

"So basically we'll have to play it by ear." Mia says.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't know where this is going to go or what's going to happen, but I do know that I'll never forgive myself if I let this pass by without even trying."

"What do you mean?" I ask, trying to calm the pounding in my heart in an effort to not get my hopes up.

Mia looks into my eyes and leans in, softly brushing her lips against mine, sending my heart skyrocketing. Neither of us pushes to deepen it, but stay together for a few seconds, the confirmation is enough. Mia pulls away but not far. "It means that I wanna to try. I wanna be with you."

I beam at her. She's accepted me. I can't believe she accepted me. "I will do all I can to ensure your happiness."

"A relationship is a two way street. It's not just about me. From now on I want to be with you. I want to help you with what you're trying to do for the school."

I shake my head. "Mia-"

"I know it's dangerous, even more so now that your friend is missing, but how can you expect me to sit on the sidelines worried that something may happen to you? If I were in your position, you would choose to stay by my side and you know."

I reluctantly nod, knowing that I would never let Mia face anything like this alone. "Okay." I relent.

We continue talking for some time, eventually finding ourselves lying side by side. Mia checks her phone and her eyes widen. "I can't believe that it's so late. I didn't even notice that we were talking for so long."

"Feel free to stay if you want." I offer.

She looks at me, studying my expression. "Really?"

I nod. "Really."

"Okay." She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you mind if I charge my phone?"

"Sure." I point to the wall near my desk. "My charger is right over there."

Thanks she smiles and gets up from the bed, accidentally dropping her phone in the process. "Oh." She crouches and reaches under the bed where her phone bounced to. She tilts her head and pulls out the water skin as well as her phone, the liquid shaking as she holds it up. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you drink out of bottles before. Is this something from home?"

I delicately take the water skin from her. "You could say that. My Grandmother gave this to me once I told her what was going on." I look at the sack. "This is filled with healing water from the Northern Water Kingdom. Its properties are useful for healing grievous injuries and can even bring one back from the brink of death. She also gave me the sword I used to cut down the mushrooms," I showed her my crystal ring. "It transforms once I send of pulse of power through it."

"Can you tell me more? About your life I mean."

"Of course." I tell her. Mia plugs her phone in and rejoins me on the bed. I spend the rest of the night explaining to her my youth, this time without withholding anything in an effort to make me seem human. I don't know how long we stayed up but we eventually drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each other's arms.