Authors note:

My thanks to Kazorashi for his review, I respond to every one of them but I can't with anonymous ones, so this will have to suffice.

Chapter Five: Campfire stories.

The fire crackled, sparks flew up and filled the nights sky before extinguishing themselves in the cold night, only to be replaced by more sparks flying up. An endless cycle – or at least until the fire ran out of wood to burn.

The blue haired boy was sitting on the toolbox, which is – ironically – filled with tools. Tyrell always carries it in his bag and they use the tools inside for a variety of purposes, usually an improvised one too. Since some time it had been the unspoken rule that it'd serve as the chair for whomever was on watch duty, so Tyrell always put it outside near the campfire once all they'd go to sleep.

He was sitting there, poking the fire every now and then with a stick to push away the charcoal and open up the wood beneath keep it burning, occasionally glancing around for anything suspicious though it was more of a formality to do so than that it had any practical use, a monster could sneak up on the camp from three different sides so he had to rely on sounds in order to be alerted.
Luckily most monsters, be they goblins or skeletons, seemed to keep their distance from the campfire. All the more reason to keep it lit.

He hadn't been able to sleep. Tyrell kept turning and twisting, trying to find the sweet spot that would grant him rest. Next to him lay Matthew on his back, arms all over the place, barely moving in contrast to himself. In sleeping, Tyrell and Matthew were odd opposites despite their life long friendship. Where Tyrell sometimes has trouble falling asleep and always wakes up early, Matthew is a ravening sleeping beast. The moment Matthew would hit the bed was when he was asleep and he would always sleep till noon if it was up to him.

The young Mars adept turned again in the tent. Even he should have been able to fall asleep quickly bat after everything that had happened, but it was as if his mind was forcefully preventing it. Every time he tried to think over what had happened he saw Karis in front of him clear as day – crying. Every time he tried to think of what could have happened, of how Matthew could have died if they had missed each other, he heard her scream in his ear drums, deafening all other sounds from existence. And whenever he tried to put it out of his head, Matthew hugging her would appear in front of him, the back of his friend's head and her face clearly visible. Her eyes were filled with shock at first, mouth wide open, before she seemed to let out all her emotions. She'd hug him back, putting her chin on his shoulder, tears rolling down her face, her hair which was usually so well done now a mess...

Her hair was always so beautiful but right then...

His face slowly flared up. Her hair was beautiful, she was beautiful. He had thought so for a long time. With a smile he repeated the words in his mind, no long twisting and turning in his bed. "She's always been beautiful." And he didn't mean only her hair. Everything about her just kept striking him as perfect. He'd fallen for her all over, again. He had been adamant about not letting it happen once more but his attempts had been foiled by pretty much everything about her. How could he not fall in love? He knew it would cause trouble with the others, Matthew in particular, but he was sure that he could tell her about what he felt for her sooner or later. He figured he'd even manage before crossing that mountain.

He'd tell her he likes her again, she'll tell him the same thing back, that she takes back what she said before. His mind drifted off into various details, but he knew one thing for certain: He'd have to confess to her, because he now knew for certain what he felt.

"Maybe I should... go -now- and... talk to her..." His mind suggested. He knew it was in the middle of the night and she'd have the last shift too. He'd be waking her up once more than necessary, for all he knew she could get extremely mad at him over it.

"Only for a bit." The amorous side of his brain battled for control against his conscious, trying to persuade him into doing it. He tried to push them away, listen to his consciousness as it screamed against the very foundations of the idea. I'd be stupid, he'd be interrupting her sleep, she'd scold him for it. But after he'd gone so far as to confirm that he loved her once more, he knew he'd never fall asleep anymore unless he actually went and did something – anything.

Slowly the fire adept got up out of his sleeping-bag and put on a shirt, jacket, pants and boots, making sure not to disturb Matthew – though he doubted anything would wake him at this hour – and made his way to the tent's door flap. It was only as he was already lifting it and stepping out that he remembered that Rief was on watch. Rief would be sitting right -there-, next to the fire.
It was too late to go back, Rief already turned towards him with a questioning look. He tried to think of a solution, of some way to get out. Rief would question him without doubt, what would he say?

So there he stood, and there he sat. Both looking at each other, silent as the night surrounding them.

Rief was the first to say something, like he always is. I was sooner than he'd have liked him to. "Okay, I know you're an early bird but this is ridiculous." Rief joked. Tyrell couldn't help but sigh in relief, at the very least he hadn't asked him straight about what was going on.

"Ye-Yeah. I couldn't sleep just now." he responded a few seconds later. Better to use the joke to his advantage and buy some time to figure out what he'd do. He had a few options: He could say he's going to take a walk, he could just turn around like an ass (Though that would inevitably result in questions being asked much later), or he could sit down next to Rief and talk to him. Suddenly he realized, if anyone, Rief would be the one to talk to in this horrible situation. He's the only one in the dark and the only one whom would be likely to support him. Either through talking or actually helping him.

Before he could finish his thoughts though, Rief continued on with a question.
"Bad dreams?"

"Sort of. I was thinking about something." the Mars adept quickly responded. He had just cornered himself, now Rief would be expecting him to explain it and if he refused it would come over oddly, causing all sorts of problems over time. And just like Tyrell thought he would, Rief responded as such.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked. Now it was his move again, what would he say? That he was thinking about last nights dinner? That would make he look like an even bigger glutton. In fact, he couldn't think of any other alternatives whatsoever, he was a glutton after all, he trained a lot so he had to eat a lot too.
All he could do was stumble with umm's and uhhhh's as he bought himself the time he needed.

After a few moments, he could see the impatience growing on Riefs face – he was running out of time and options... So he finally dropped the flap behind him as he moved over to Rief and sat down next to him on the grass next to the ever so warm camp fire. He couldn't think of anything else to do, it was too sudden to think of excuses. He was acting way too obvious to ever hope to hide it too. "That bad?" Rief asked, eyes locked on the fire which he kept poking with a stick, apparently amusing himself with it.

"You know..." He started. Rief turned his head from the fire, eying Tyrell whom was being surprisingly timid about simply talking. "There's more behind me and Karis and Matthew than... Than you know about... And it's, well, confusing me. I don't know what to do and I can't ask anyone else about this. It's not like I planned talking about it to you... I didn't even figure you'd be out here but I am now anyway." He said, carefully picking his every word from the massive amount of options. He had to pull this off carefully. Tell him too much at once and he'll be confused, possibly asking Karis or Matthew further about it. Tell him too little and it would be a waste of time AND he would ask Karis and Matthew sooner or later without fail to get the rest of the details.

"Wait, you mean you can't talk to Matthew about this but you can to me?" Rief responded perceptively. "Oh now this is a great one... I thought you still didn't trust me all that much." Indeed this was true, after all, Matthew was related to all of this – it would be just outright awkward to bring it up. He decided against telling him that the latter had nothing to do with it though and that it wasn't a sudden increase in friendship.

"Yeah... I know. It's just- Alright, look. It's not that easy, it's not like 'I hate forests because...' or 'Cold food is the worst, because', it's much more complicated. Way too complicated. And I don't know what exactly to do about it" Tyrell said, avoiding the his gaze whilst he rambled on. He knew he was just beating around the bush and he knew that he would be asked about the real problem the moment he stopped. Still, he used this opportunity to set his mind straight.

"Then start at the beginning, where it started. That would work right?" The youngest person in the group had again proven his worth, by all means he was right like he usually was. Tyrell was well aware of this.
"Well, alright... The beginning. Let's see..."

It was a very nice day in May, the sun was bright and crisp with but a bare few clouds in the sky. The wind blew mostly warm air in, traded for the occasional colder northern breeze. More clouds were further to the east, but the area had been almost void of any wind and the clouds had been moving at an almost irritatingly slow rate. It was clear that this weather would continue like this for a few days yet.

He had been lying in the grass all day, what better a way to relax for a Mars adept than to lie in the sun and bath in it's warmth.
He was the oldest of the three with fourteen years on the clock. He'd only just turned fourteen though so it didn't feel like it at all.

For four months it had been going on now. It had taken a January snow-in with both their parents and Matthew stuck outside on a trip to town for it to happen.
It started with the irony that they'd run out of firewood for the fireplace inside the house and the reserves were well outside the building. Not just that, it'd be wet too due to all the snow covering it.
He had had some training back then as well, but his actual control over the flames he created still lacked a great deal in expertise. Unwilling to burn the cabin down to the ground along with them in a fiery blaze, he'd decided against the idea of using his elemental power. All the two of them could do was wait until either the sun rose again and the snow blocking their path mostly smelted away or until their parents and Matthew would save them.

He didn't really remember what happened back then after that point... Just that they ended up sharing blankets for extra warmth on her request. He didn't know exactly why at that point yet. Until they shared a kiss under the shimmering light of a weak lantern at any rate. All other details were but fuzzy to him.
That right there had been their declaration of love so long ago, at the time it felt blissful. Enough so that the words didn't even seem needed to be said.
At that point his memory ran out however and Karis had kept insisting nothing more happened than one more, longer, kiss and some snuggling and had demanded he kept it a secret from Matthew and their parents.

In the past four months, they'd been sharing that affection on intervals, talking and kissing out of sight, even from the Djinni's in fear that they might tell on them.

It felt weird and misplaced, to keep this a secret from his best friend and their parents, and even from the townsfolk down the mountainside. But he had done so for the past few months, entirely oblivious to the loyalties that this has made him pick, so there was no going back anymore.

He was lying in the grass, eyes closed as the grass' leaves grazed past his face. True relaxation as the few clouds that covered the skies danced by, shifting shapes and casually moving across the heaven's sky. Yet all around him it was a ruckus.

They both turned their heads at the same time towards the rustling. It was Matthew, standing fully clothed in the opening of the tent. With an otherwise amusing sheepish look he eyed them both up and down, curious why both he and Tyrell were up and sitting there.

This was bad, if Matthew heard that conversation then he wouldn't forgive him for it for a long time. But for some reason he just stood there, as if expecting them to tell him all about what they were just talking about. Like he didn't even want to have to ask. The Mars Adept turned his head to Rief whom in return rolled his eyes and made the saving first move.
"Hey Matthew." he said hesitantly whilst slowly turning to face Matthew again. "Is it... time for a shift change already?" "Yeah. Or we could just pack and move right now? Seeing as you're both up and at it." Matthew joked in response, not showing the slightest hint that he's angry or even uncomfortable. "But really, why -are- you both up? I can understand if you exchanged shifts, sure, but one of you should be resting for tomorrow."
"Y-yeah. Sorry, that'd me. I couldn't sleep." Tyrell spoke as he stood up and dusted off the back of his pants. He turned to face Matthew, attempting to seem as normal as possible.

He frowned, Tyrell was acting weird, but then again it was in the middle of the night and he wasn't able to sleep so for all he knew he was imagining things. In a vain attempt, he tried rubbed the drowsiness out of his eyes with his hands but he only managed to cause his eyes to water. He shrugged it off though since it was much too dark even with the fire to see any detail as small as that on somebody's face.
He nodded at Tyrell before continuing."Right. Well, you both should get some rest, I'll take over watch now." "Thanks. Try to stay awake Matthew." Rief said, getting up as well and without further ado went straight for his tent, not even minding any possible response.

"I'll go back to bed as well then." He said, passing Matthew towards the tent a moment later.
"Hey, what were you talking about, if you don't mind me asking?"
He froze. He was -so- close to getting away, seemingly without him knowing and -now- he was asking? "I- Nothing, just some talk about the road ahead." He responded, attempting to seem sincere. He had figured that if he was still acting like that whilst Rief was already back in his tent he must really not have heard the conversation, or at least not enough to connect the dots.

The Mars Adept walked back into their tent to go to sleep, which he had left with such a strong conviction, only to be turned away by not gaining anything and only complicating the situation further with the involvement of Rief.

Ending notes: Apparrently, people still read this despite the fact that I'm not getting reviews (I got favorited) so here's a little update!

I am very freaking busy. Know how all those people whoms work you love so very much are ALWAYS way too busy to actually do it? Well there. It's not a lie, or a farce, which is the same thing.
I originally figured to myself "No way in hell is chapter six coming out in April...". Well, I was right. I tend to be since I don't randomly yell things. Either way, I'm worrying for May now as well... I will have only the final week of May free from school.- Actually, scrap that. I won't. Exams will last two weeks. Yeah. Six is not coming out in May, sorry!

As a little teaser, it has fighting. Not the kind of "I am strong!" "Lul no, THIS is strong" "Fuck! I need to have friendship!" "Zomg why are you stronger" fight which I hate in all it's glorious disaster. No, this will have some real moves however, the limitations of writing whilst remaining interesting are there so I can't depict ever clash of a sword or the smallest details of each psynergy use for you guys.
But don't worry, I'll make it work.

Burning question, when will I get it done? Well, I have the basic line outs of the chapter and whats coming in the next 4 or so. I would say +- 15th of June, but don't hold me to it o.o'

I wanted to make this a larger update but screw it, I'm tired and I'd probably write something half arsed.

Rawr!