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“Heh… Growing tired, brother? Or are you simply so weak that you can’t even stand against me for more than a mere moment?”
Garroth took another step back, putting a little more distance between himself and Zane. He hated to admit it, but his younger brother was certainly putting up a good fight. Not enough to make him worry, but just enough that he valued the occasional moment to catch his breath.
A glint of sadistic pleasure flickered in Zane’s narrowed eyes. “Face it. Your friends have abandoned you, and we’re stuck here together.” The excitement wavered for a split second, revealing a glimmer of fear only to immediately disappear again. “They’re not coming back, and I have an eternity to figure out just how badly I can hurt you before you die, Garroth.”
Exhaling slowly, Garroth shut his eyes as he attempted to steel himself. He knew for certain that Lord Aphmau and the others were working hard to find and free him. He just needed to stay strong and hold out until they found a way to reach him again. It could be minutes, or hours, or days; but one thing was certain. He was not going to die here.
Garroth opened his eyes, and found himself in a familiar, but altogether different setting. A far cry from the gilded and deific cathedral-like halls of Irene’s dimension, the young knight found himself standing on a grassy knoll floating amidst a stark void, with but a single large oak looming above him.
“Ah, this must be another one of Lord Aphmau’s dreams. A reprieve then,” he thought to himself with a contented sigh.
The last had only come a short while ago, but when it came to the heated battle against his brother, Garroth was more than happy to take a moment’s rest whenever he could.
“My lord?” Garroth said aloud, rounding the tree, “I’m right over he-”
His voice caught in his throat, as he was faced by not his lord as he had expected, but by someone else entirely. Instead of Aphmau, Laurance stood there, with a confused expression on his face.
Although he wasn’t sure what his oldest friend was doing standing there, Garroth could immediately tell that his fellow knight was dreaming just as Aphmau would normally be. Laurance stood barefoot in the grass, wearing modest and well-worn clothes fit only for sleeping in.
“Who’s there?” asked Laurance as he turned around, coming face-to-face with Garroth. With wide eyes, the brunet’s mouth opened, as if to say something more. But when no words came out, he closed it again, an expression of shock still clear on his face.
Garroth wasn’t sure what to say either. He certainly wasn’t expecting Laurance to be there. The last two times it was Lord Aphmau who had come to him in her dreams, and he had thought it had something to do with her connection to the goddess; but now he wasn’t sure what to think.
“You… You have no idea how good it is to see you again,” said Garroth with a tired sigh, a small smile appearing on his lips. His best friend was still a welcome sight for sore eyes.
Laurance’s eyes went wider upon hearing that. His gaze wandered around, confusion clear on his face. First to the white void that surrounded them, then to the ground that they stood on. Then to the tree that loomed above them both, until his eyes finally came to rest back on Garroth. A flash of recognition seemed to cross his face, and shock gave way to elation.
“Garroth! It’s really you!” Before the battle-weary knight could even respond, Laurance practically tackled his old friend with an overjoyed embrace. Garroth was surprised, not expecting such a reaction. Faster he could return the hug, Laurance stepped back again, holding Garroth by the shoulders at arm’s length, looking him up and down.
“When Aphmau told me about seeing you in a dream, I wasn’t sure if I believed her! But here you are, just like she said! On an island in the sky, with a single oak tree... Goddess, it’s so good to see you again!”
Laurance blinked twice, his toothy grin suddenly falling from his face as skepticism replaced his excitement. “This is really you, right? I’m not just dreaming this?”
Garroth nodded, his smile ever so slightly brighter at the exuberant greeting he had just received. “We are in a dream, but this is definitely the real me, I promise.”
Smile quickly returning to his face, Laurance nodded happily, giving Garroth a few more experimental pats and squeezes of the shoulder, as if he expected his friend to vanish into smoke at any moment.
“You have no idea how glad I am to hear that,” said Laurance as he pulled Garroth into another hug. This time, the blond-haired knight was able to reciprocate, wrapping his arms around his friend and giving an appreciative pat on his back.
Although it seemed like only a minute or two for him since he had last seen his friends, Garroth had no idea how long it had been outside of Irene’s dimension since Aphmau and the others left him with Zane. Judging by Laurance’s reaction, it had been a long time indeed since he had seen him.
“Can… Can I ask you something?”
Laurance’s voice snapped Garroth out of his contemplation. He attempted to step away from his friend to look him in the eye, but when he received resistance, he gave pause.
“Of course.” He said matter-of-factly, before quickly adding, “Is something wrong?”
Laurance didn’t answer right away. Instead, he hugged Garroth tighter before finally asking, “Why aren’t you angry with me?”
The question caught him off-guard. Feeling more confused than anything, Garroth said, “Why ever would I be angry at you?”
Finally Laurance let go of him, pushing away slightly harder than he perhaps should have. Garroth stared on, baffled at his friend’s behavior.
Laurance turned away, covering his face with a hand and letting out a weak laugh. “What do you mean, why? Why wouldn’t you? I- we abandoned you there. We left you behind. With Zane. We left you to die, Garroth.”
Garroth blinked twice at that, his brother’s words echoing in his mind. With furrowed brow and dour frown, he struggled to find the proper words to answer that. “Laurance… You didn’t leave me behind. I chose to stay. I know you’re coming back for me.”
Laurance spun around to face him now, and Garroth was shocked to see his friend’s normally relaxed and glowing expression was now replaced with a face wracked with guilt and sadness. Tear-streaks ran down his cheeks, and his hands were balled into tight fists; his knuckles white and his nails digging into his palms.
Garroth lifted a hand, wanting to help in some way, but being at a complete loss. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Laurance so completely distraught. More than anything, he couldn’t believe that all of this was for him.
“Days became weeks, and weeks became months… And we haven’t gotten any closer to finding a way to bring you home!” With each word, Laurance’s voice grew louder and more pained, betraying the frustration that he had been bottling up all that time. “We’ve done and seen so much since we lost you, and none of it mattered because none of it brought you back to us!”
Garroth looked on in despair as his friend completely unwound in front of him. If he had known that Laurance would be hurt this badly by his decision… He may have tried something, anything else.
He took a tentative step forward, and then another. Slowly, Garroth moved closer to Laurance until he was within reach, and then he took the younger knight’s cheek in his hand, lifting his face so that their eyes would finally meet again. At his touch, the tension seemed to dissipate from Laurance’s body, with his hands unfurling and his shoulders going loose.
“I was afraid...” said Laurance, his voice barely a whisper now, “Afraid that I wouldn’t ever see you again.”
The frown fell from Garroth’s face, replaced with a sincere smile. “And I never doubted for even a second that we would meet again.”
When it looked almost like Laurance was about to protest again, Garroth tipped his friend’s head forward, giving him a gentle headbutt. He closed his eyes but didn’t lower his smile as he spoke.
“Stop. Whatever you’re about to say, stop. I am not angry at you, or Lord Aphmau, or any of you. I stayed behind because I trusted you would come and find me again. Whether it took you a day or a hundred years, I knew that you would come back for me… And I knew that I would be waiting.”
Garroth opened his eyes again, looking at Laurance. The younger knight still had traces of tears on his face, but he had stopped crying. His eyes still carried a twinge of guilt, however.
He looked down at the ground before saying, “I stole a kiss from Aphmau. I- I thought you should know.”
Garroth raised an eyebrow at that, before chuckling. “As did I. I suppose we’re even in that regard.”
Laurance looked back up at him. “It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have… With you stuck in the Irene Dimension…” His voice trailed off again.
“Stop,” repeated Garroth as he wiped a stray tear off of Laurance’s cheek with his thumb, “It doesn’t matter right now. I’m still just glad to see you again.”
It was Laurance’s turn to frown now, as though a disconcerting thought had crossed his mind and was currently outstaying its welcome. He stepped away, gently brushing away Garroth’s hand as he moved. The older knight was about to interject, but stopped when he saw the small smirk appear on Laurance’s face.
“You know, when I kissed Aphmau, I had a lot on my mind. It was in the middle of some crazy werewolf wedding and emotions were high, and I’d be lying if I said that part of the reason I kissed her wasn’t to get back at you. She told me you kissed her, you know.”
The older knight’s expression became a mote darker upon hearing that, but Laurance continued, still grinning. “What’s funny is that even weeks after the fact, I kept on thinking about how you had kissed her first. I wasn’t really sure why it kept coming back to my mind, but you know what I realized this morning? I kissed the lips that kissed yours.”
Garroth was taken aback by that, blinking several times to process it. “I suppose that’s true. Like an indirect kiss?”
Laurance laughed aloud, his previous gloom nowhere in sight. “That’s what I thought! And the funniest part of it all is that when I realized that, it reminded me of a conversation I had with her a while back.”
He stopped to study Garroth’s expression, as though he were weighing whether or not to finish his thought. Finally, with a toothy grin, he said, “When she told me how you stole that kiss from her, I joked that you might be happy enough to kiss me too, if I ever got to see you here.”
The statement caught Garroth off-guard, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at it. It was, after all, a funny joke. When he did though, he also saw that Laurance’s smile became a little bit less bright. A diminishment that would have been imperceivable to anyone else, but to someone who had known him for as long as Garroth had, the subtle change was clear.
Cautiously, he asked, “Did… You want me to kiss you, Laurance?” He was careful not to sound accusational, only curious; which he was, more than anything else.
The younger knight’s eyes lit back up again just before he quickly looked away in an attempt to hide his excitement. Running a hand through his hair in an attempt to feign casualness, he said, “I… Well, I won’t lie, it’s definitely come to mind once or twice before.”
Garroth stepped forward again, which made Laurance try to take a step away, only for him to walk backwards into the large oak that towered over them both. He looked up in surprise, and when he looked back, his friend was now close enough to touch; his expression unreadable.
“I did say I was happy to see you, didn’t I?” Garroth’s tone was low, simultaneously giving an air of utmost seriousness, as well as a touch of provocation.
Laurance opened his mouth to speak, but found that no words came forth. His mind was blank, save for the thought of how dry his lips felt.
Garroth took one more step forward, placing a hand on the tree to support himself, and to box Laurance in. He had seen his friend use tactics like these in the past, and there was a certain irony to turning them against him… As well as a certain appeal that was clear in the shimmering blue eyes of the man pinned against the tree.
“You don’t need to do this if you don’t want to, Garroth.” Even as flushed as his face was, Laurance’s voice was still steady. He sounded earnest, but also… hopeful.
In response, Garroth brought his face close enough to Laurnace’s that he could feel just how fast his best friend was currently breathing as the hot air breezed against his lips.
But then he stopped short.
Garroth considered if this really was what he wanted. Was he really about to throw away years of devotion to his lord for this? Toss aside feelings that he was certain in during a bout of passion that could very well be as fleeting as a candle’s flame? He wasn’t sure what he felt for Laurance at that moment. Was he simply getting caught up in the moment? Was he about to make a mistake?
A heartbeat passed. A pair of turquoise eyes as deep as the sea met a pair as blue as the sky above. Memories of jokes told, challenges overcome, and battles fought together flashed through his mind as a second beat passed, each marked with a bond unlike any other in his life. A third beat did not pass before Garroth made his choice.
Closing his eyes, Garroth pressed his lips to Laurance’s; firm but not forceful. With deliberation beyond that which he had shown to even Aphmau before. That kiss was born of desperation and zeal. This was something else, though. Garroth wondered for an instant if, perhaps, this feeling was what love really was like.
A bell began to toll, shattering the moment with its reverberations. The two men pulled apart from each other, eyes wide with surprise.
The shock on Laurnace’s face turned to fear. “Please don’t leave me like this. Not now.”
Garroth’s expression melted away to contentment as he placed a gentle hand on his dearest friend’s cheek. “This isn’t the end. I know you’ll find me again. I trust you.”
Laurance pulled Garroth into one last hug, squeezing tightly. As he returned the embrace, Laurance whispered in his ear. “We’ll find you. I promise. I lo-”
And then Garroth blinked, and he was in front of Zane once again.
“What’s with that look, brother? Life flashing before your eyes?” Zane’s taunt proved ineffective as Garroth tightened the grip on his sword.
With a slight grimace, the blond knight replied flatly. “No. I was just thinking of all the things I have to look forward to when I escape this place.”
Zane gave a manic laugh as he prepared to strike. “You have nothing to look forward to except pain and dea-” The younger Ro’Meave paused, his eyes narrowing in confusion before widening with shock and horror in equal measure. His deafening shout of outrage echoed throughout the great cathedral that they stood in, and further beyond into the greater void of the Irene Dimension.
“IS THAT A BONER?”