Chapter 10: New Feelings Arise

I remembered we had a mission to take down the Black Dragon Gang, but, after fighting a 3-headed dragon, I needed a break. Joe took us to his POH and told me he was going to practice Paco's flying, and Karan was busy making Extreme Potions. I was resting by the window when I realized something. I barely knew Joe and Karan. Sure, they both saved my life, but I'm not one to trust anyone so easily.

"So…what's up?" I asked Karan.

"Making some high-end potions for us. The Black Dragon Gang is not gonna go down easy, these will give us a major boost." Karan replied.

" "High-end potions"? What do you mean?"

"Potions packed with extremely potent ingredients. I'll show you."

She set the current potion she was working on down and dug into her inventory, and pulled out an herb and a potion I immediately recognized.

"That's a Super Strength potion." I said, pointing at the vial.

"Mhm! Do you delve in the art of Herblore as well?"

"Well, I usually just buy potions…I used Super Strength potions a lot when I killed monsters."

"That's expensive, though. You can gather all of the raw ingredients yourself!"

"I'm not much of a skiller…you were going to show me something?"

"Oh, right. Sorry."

She took the herb and dropped it in the potion. She mixed it together in a fancy way I have never seen before, and soon the herb dissolved into the potion.

"Don't you use a vial of water for that?"

"Drink a dose," Karan extended the potion over to me, "trust me, it won't bite." Karan smiles as I take the potion.

The potion had a delicious mint punch to it. Suddenly, I felt a rush, a wave of energy pulse from my chest, the energy then concentrating itself in my arms and legs. I felt a very strong desire to push my muscles way past their limits.

"What…what is this?" I strained, clenching my fists.

"It's called an Extreme Strength potion. It's much more potent than a Super Strength potion." Karan replied, looking concerned.

"There's so much energy pulsing through my muscles!...I can't…"

I couldn't hold it anymore. If I had known that potion would affect my strength, I would have never drank it. I stood up, and let out a huge scream, like a barbarian.

"RAAAAAAAAARRRRGGH!"

"Ch-chase? Wh-what's happening to you? S-stop, that's not funny! You're scaring me!"

"Get away from me! GET AWAY! I could hurt…you…RAAAARRRGGH!"

I screamed and stomped toward Karan, my biceps pulsing with power. If she had been Joe I would have snapped her in half. I picked her up and threw her behind me, in a power-blinded rage. She flew through the air, hitting the ground hard, tumbling and rolling until she hit the wall. Karan was dazed, but was going to be fine. She struggled to get to her feet.

"Chase? What's happening? I'm…I'm so sorry! Is this my fault?" Karan yelled, tears in her eyes.

"RAAAAAAAARRRRGGGH!" I screamed, punching deep holes in the wall.

Karan crawled into a corner, quietly sobbing. She was terrified. What happened to her friend? This quiet guy who always kept to himself is all of a sudden on a rampage. And hurting her. What happened to Chase?

"RAAA-…rrgh? Ungh…" I heard a faint noise, and looked over to see Karan, crying.

Karan, thinking I was still out of control, immediately flattened herself in her corner. Absolute terror was on her face.

"No! Chase! P-please! It's me, Karan! What's happened to you? Please don't kill meeee!" she cried, tears rolling down her face.

All the energy immediately drained out of my limbs and dissipated. The only thing I got from the years of being bullied as a child was the ability to feel extreme empathy.

"Karan! I…are you ok? I am so sorry! It was the potion…well, not your potion, the nature of the potion itself, I…" I stammered, feeling extreme sorrow.

I ran over to Karan. She curled into a ball. I knew what happened, and I hated myself for it.

"Karan…I am SO sorry. I can explain…oh my gods, you're bleeding!"

I rushed over to her inventory and found her medic supplies. I pulled out some bandages and went back to Karan. I started putting bandages on her arm, and she looks up.

"Chase, I-"

"No Karan. Shh. It's gonna be ok. You're gonna be ok." I reassured myself, putting bandages and tissue wraps on her.

I placed my hand gently under her chin, and found her lip was cut and a gash on her forehead. I wrapped a cloth around her head, and held another piece of cloth to the cut on her lip.

"Um, Chase-"

"Shh. I can't hold the cloth to this cut if you're talking."

Karan relaxed, laying her legs flat on the floor. Holding the cloth to her lip, I ripped a small piece off and dried the tears off of her face. She was starting to look better. We sat beside each other for a few minutes, waiting for her lip to stop bleeding. I took the cloth off after a couple minutes went by, and saw the bleeding had stopped.

"Umm, can I talk now?" Karan asked.

"I'm sorry, I understand if you want to leave." I said as I hung my head.

"No, I was trying to tell you I don't need all these bandages and stuff. I was just going to cast Heal Other on a mirror. When it reflects off of a mirror, it's power doubles, which would have left me fully recovered."

"…Oh. Um, sorry. I just, I felt so bad because…and I just…I'm stupid."

"It's ok," Karan smiled, "it was still really sweet of you. Thank you."

I sat there, staring at my knees. Karan walked over to a mirror and casted Heal Other at it, causing it to bounce back at her. She was completely healed, and she removed her bandages. She walked back over beside me and sat down.

"Are you ok?" Karan asked.

"I'll be fine, I just want you to be ok. "

"I'm fine. What…happened to you?"

"It happens when my Strength is boosted. I lose my grip on reality. My mind becomes primitive, and I go berserk. The only reason I didn't try to rip you in half was because of something called "barbarian instinct". I don't even remember anything when it happens. I only knew it happened because I saw how beat up you were and how terrified you looked."

"But why does it happen?"

"My great, great grandfather was a fierce barbarian. My dad says we've had barbarian instinct in our bloodline for ages. This happened to my dad, too, but…not even close to as bad as I get."

"I'm sorry…I should have told you what the potion was."

"No, Karan. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I'm a monster."

"You are not a monster! The guy who just helped me a few minutes ago is certainly not a monster! A monster wouldn't blindly take care of me like that without caring about anyone else, even himself."

"That same guy just threw you into a wall."

"Chase, you couldn't help it. That…thing you turned into, that wasn't Chase. I saw your eyes before you grabbed me. It was just empty rage. But when I look into your eyes now…"

I turned my head over to her.

"You put up a tough front, but deep down, you care deeply about your friends and the ones you love."

I turned my body away from her.

"Chase? You're hurting inside, aren't you?"

She sat on her knees and turned towards me.

"Chase?"

Karan looked over my shoulder to reveal a read coming down my cheek.

"Oh, Chase! Don't cry!"

Karan got up and walked in front of me, sitting on her knees again.

"Chase…it's not good for you to bottle things up like this. I know what the Black Dragon Gang did to your family. Express your feelings to someone, let it out!"

Karan wiped the tear away, and gently grabbed my head and tilted it up towards her, then brings her hands down to grip my wrists. She grins, and says,

"Tell me how you're feeling."

I open my mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. I had never had a friend, much less anyone who cared. There was nothing to be said. 20 years of built up emotion, and Karan just yanked out the cork keeping it in the bottle. I started to sob.

"There you go, you need this so badly." Karan cooed.

Karan pulls me into her arms, and I bawl into shoulder. This was such a new feeling. Every single tear, every single breath, I felt an immense weight that I never noticed slump off of me. I had always expressed my emotions through anger. It was all I knew.

"I'm here, it's gonna be ok, Chase. I'm here as long as you need it." She cooed, hugging me tighter.

"So, I heard a bunch of banging and screaming about 20 minutes ago, I just got the energy to get up and check it out, what's all the – WOAH." Chili Bob said as he trotted in the room.

Karan whips her head over at him and glares, mouthing the words "GET OUT" several times.

"Alrighty then. Glad I got up for this." Chili Bob said sarcastically, as he walked backwards out of the room.

"What was that?" I said into Karan's shoulder.

"Nothing, I'm just saying things to comfort you."

I thought nothing of it and continued to cry. I must've cried for an hour, at least. Half way into it the floor was so uncomfortable we went over to a bed and sat on the edge of it. Soon I was sharing my whole, awful childhood with Karan. Eventually I calmed down.

"Feeling better?" Karan asked, just as caring as she was when it all started.

"Yeah…a lot better actually." I replied, wiping my eyes and releasing her from the hug.

"Have you really been bottling this up your whole life?"

"Yes…I've never had friends to talk to or parents to comfort me."

"You're such a sweet, caring person…I'm so sorry you've had to go through all that. We'll always be friends, ok?" Karan smiled and placed her hand on top of mine.

"You're the nicest girl I've ever met. You're so caring and thoughtful." I said, blushing.

"Aww thanks!" Karan smiled and blushed.

"All the girls at school would call me boring and ugly and stuff…"

"Those are some weird girls. You are very handsome, Chase."

"That means a lot, coming from you."

"Why does it mean more coming from me?"

"Because you're really pretty Karan. So when you compliment my looks…"

I stopped looking at my feet and saw Karan looking at me. I stared at her too. Her face became really red, which only made me blush more. We stared into each other's eyes, forgetting to blink. I could feel her hand tighten on the top of mine. This was strange. I felt a friendly care for her like I do for Joe, but the care I felt for her was…amplified, almost. A kind of care you feel for a parent, or a sibling. But it was…still so different from that. Like it had its own special place, and you can feel it filling an emptiness you didn't even know existed. The feeling of discovering this empty spot in your heart, on top of the feeling of that emptiness being slowly filled. Cooties all of a sudden don't seem so bad.

I turned my hand so that Karan's fingers and my fingers interlocked with each other. Karan looked at our hands, and then me, and smiled. And for the first time in weeks, I smiled too. I scooted closer so that our bodies were touching each other. My stomach was plump full of butterflies, my heart raced. Then I noticed Karan had stopped smiling.

"Karan? Are you ok?" I said with a shaky voice.

"Chase…you are so sweet, and nice, and I would definitely do this if I could, but…"

"But what?"

Karan scooted away and pulled her hand away.

"…I'm already seeing someone."

Bam. I felt the butterflies in my stomach turn into bricks of lead, and slam down. I swear I felt my heart drop out of my chest.

"I…oh. I'm sorry."

"I do like you Chase, but…I've been with this guy for almost a year now. I really want to stay best friends though. Don't make me choose, please?"

"No, it's fine. Don't be sorry."

Karan hugged me, and said "Thanks, Chase. It'll be better for us to stay best friends, you'll see. You're an awesome guy, you'll find someone. I promise." Karan smiled.

"Thanks." I said, disappointment obvious in my voice.

Karan frowned, and said "I'm sorry for leading you on. I'm here if you want to talk."

"I'll be fine." I said as I got up and walked out.

"Crap…I shouldn't have gotten so close with him. I should have known he was vulnerable to this type of thing right now…I hope he'll be ok. Gods, I'm an awful person!" Karan said to herself, while her eyes started watering.

I walked through the parlour to get to the other guest bedroom, and I passed Chili Bob, who was laying by the fireplace.

"Chase! What's up?" Chili Bob said, jumping to his feet.

"Nothing." I said flatly, not breaking my stride to the bedroom.

Chili Bob followed me, and said "I thought you'd be happy, you just found a mate!...That is was you two did right?"

"What? No! We're just friends."

"Don't you want to be her mate?"

"It's complicated. You're a kitten anyways, what do you know about…mating? Especially with humans." I said as we arrived in my bedroom, sitting on the bed.

"Ouch. Dude, you just insulted me. You think I haven't ever gotten any pootay?"

"Well…you're a kitten…"

"You're killin' me, smalls! Look, just tell Karan you want her to be your mate!"

"Human relationships are much more complicated than that. She's seeing someone already anyways."

"Ohhhhhh. –That's- why you're grumpy. Plenty of other cats to share yarn with, dude."

"I just want to sleep, alright?"

Chili Bob sat there while I got under the covers, and once I was settled, he hopped up and laid by my head.

"Open the covers, I'll sleep too."

I opened the covers and Chili Bob curled up. I laid the cover down and pet him. He started purring.

"Comfy?" I asked.

"Cats broadcast to the whole world when we're happy, you know the answer to that." Chili Bob responded.

"Alright."

"Hey. Come on. She's not worth it, dude."

I didn't reply. I no longer had any sadness or loneliness to bottle up. That empty bottle started to fill with something else.

It was heartbreak.

And now, a word from your author!

I got to thinking that, even when playing RuneScape, it's not all about the combat situations. I think if I added a little romance to the story, it'd help add a sense of depth, and give the reader more reason to root for our protagonists, as well as provide more cliffhangers. Don't worry, it's still going to be an action-packed book with some jokes along the way. I added Chili Bob in the chapter later to make the chapter a little less serious.

Sorry I was gone so long too! I'll be honest – I kind of forgot I was writing a book. =P