After hearing Aphmau worriedly explain her plan to Dante and me last night, it's satisfying that today's meeting had unanimous agreeance on the idea of the Phoenix Alliance being brought back. Of course, Cadenza not fully agreeing to join until her guards and the council of her village also approved made perfect sense, but it didn't do much to simmer down my general joy of the development.

Cadenza and Aphmau decided they'd head to New Metelli in the morning, meaning I would have to wake up early to prepare to travel Ru'aun for the first time in 15 years. There was no telling how much the region had changed over the course of that time, but it had to be quite a bit if there was the 'new' settlement of New Metelli. Then again, I've seen firsthand how quickly the region can change and how villages that were once bright and lively could very quickly become a shadow of it's former glory, like O'Khasis after Zane became High Priest. Like many, many villages after they were touched with the darkness that followed High Priest Zane Ro'Meave...

After Aphmau's excellent speech with the proposal of remaking the Phoenix Alliance, everyone was practically jumping out of their clothes in excitement over the idea still. They were practically having their own side conversations about it and I was off on my own to the side, trying to calm my own excitement for the hellish morning I would be having in some hours. That plan, however, was fizzled when I felt Aphmau grab my hand and drag me towards Cadenza and Laurance.

Cadenza more than happily begins talking about her hopes for the journey back, mentioning how her royal council will more than likely agree to the idea and her doggy, Crumbs. Her talking, doesn't last for long before Aphmau politely excuses us and snatches Laurance away, a somewhat bewildered and confused look in his eyes as we're both lead to a private area away from the others. That private area was just in front of the ladder leading up to the guard tower, which was luckily empty due to the recent meeting we all sat through to discuss Aphmau's Phoenix Alliance idea.

She's muttering to herself as she does lead us there and it's almost enough to worry me that maybe Aph's finally gone off the rails and would be taking our lives in cold blooded murder, but then she stops and turns to us with a bit of a nervous look in her eyes, "There's an idea I wanted to talk to you both about"

"Go for it" I respond, even if it may mean dying in the worst place to go out. Like, who wants to haunt the Phoenix Drop guard tower in the afterlife?

"So I've been thinking... And I brought you here mostly because Emmalyn's up there and she told me not to use my powers, but..." She hesitates with her words, taking a deep breath before she spouts the rest to us in a singular, nervous breath, "I was thinking of going back to the portal and trying to see if maybe... Maybe we could get Garroth out of there"

"Aphmau..."

"I-I mean, I know I don't remember exactly where the path to the portal is, but... I mean, I don't know... I just... I just thought it was an idea that maybe we could try a-and... And we would go right now" By the end of her suggestion, her confidence is a combination of that of a deflated balloon and a soaring eagle. There's a hopeful twinkle in her auburn eyes that could also be just as easily be said to be the glistening of tears in her eyes, "What do you guys think?"

Laurance and I give one another a glance and there's a look in his eyes that I know all too well. It's a glossy glint that only appears when he's about to cave to his simpery and go through with whatever Aphmau wanted, dragging me into the mix by outnumbering me. This wouldn't be a problem if it were anything non-magicks related, because I'm an agent of chaos dammit, but a portal to the Irene Dimension was really pushing it.
I send him enough of a hard stare for him to pick up on me saying no, but-

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Are you confident in yourself to open the portal?" Laurance asks after a beat of silent conversation, prodding just a little before he inevitably caves to her wants. Like a Simp-

"I mean, I have the relic. Obviously you know that... I should be able to open it, right? If it's Irene's relic and it's her dimension, that just makes sense!" Aphmau's tone grows frustrated as her explanation continues, an obvious emotional charge emanating from her. Her mind's already made up, which can be a scary thing if you don't catch her right now.

"Yes, it makes sense, but that doesn't mean that you're prepared to open the portal again, relic or not" I gently remind her, softly gripping her shoulder and meeting her caramel eyes, "Are you confident in opening it while using a power you realized you had on accident?"

Contemplation fills her eyes as she thinks on it, her irritation calming. Her response is small and honest, but the fire of hope continues to burn in her still, "I'm not confident, but if it were either of you or Dante or anyone else that I care about, I'd at least try..."

"I understand," Her answer is enough for Laurance as a small smile graces his features, "Well then, shall we head for the portal?"

I find myself shrugging with a small, knowing grin, meeting Laurance's stare with a small roll of my eyes. There's no use fighting it when they both have such strong determination shining in their irises like thousands of stars in the night sky, "Might as well before it gets even later in the night, right?"

"Let's. I don't think anyone will notice we're missing. There's so many people up there..." Aphmau states, glancing up at the ladder to ensure no one was really look out for us.

"We should still try to be quick. Everyone will start to notice your absence after too long" I remind, ensuring I have some form of weaponry on my person's before we head out.

"Right. Let's get going..."

We follow Aphmau's lead towards the village gates. She's still very nervous and still very hopeful all the same, that familiar glint in her caramel eyes that I've seen so many times.
Throughout the walk there, she reminded us that she wanted the trip and all of... the portal wielding... to stay between us and only us.

Of course, keeping the whole situation between as few people as possible is probably for the best. If more people plausibly found out about Aphmau's magicks and her connection to Irene, she'd be poked and prodded without shame and people from all over would be in her face to experience any form of Irene related miracles, even if they have to use force to receive it.

I'm hopeful the walk there won't be too bad, for all of our sakes. Then again, I'm reminded how horrible Aph is at not being suspicious. She literally awkwardly smiled at Alexis as we made our way past Phoenix Drop's walls and out into the wild, her rushed words in passing sounding so forced and trying that it made me cringe.

"Hi. Hellooooo, just going for an evening strollll," Aphmau gives an off-handed wave as she passes, her horrible attempt at a posh tone nauseating at best. She walks slowly past her, attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible. She doesn't even send Alexis a glance, her face strained and voice slightly wavering. It's so unbearable that me and Laurance send a grimace in each other's direction as we follow behind her.

You'd think she would have caught on to how to act like nothing bad is happening when everything is happening with how often we've had to do it up to this point, but not everyone can learn from experience. My eyes roll so hard at the display that they almost hurt. Aphmau takes a running start after we're just a little ways away, dropping her obnoxiously obvious act as soon as she's a few feet away.

"Is she following us?" She takes a glance behind her, turning back and releasing just a bit of the tension in her posture, "No, she's not. Okay..."

At one point, mid talking, Aphmau runs into a bee. It's buzzing spooks the hell out of her, her screeching hushed and strained as she quickly leaps up to get away from the black and yellow, buzzing offender. Laurance, like the Casanova in shining armor that he is, goes after it with his sword, slaying the beast as I comfort Aphmau after the attack.

"Got it" Is what he calls back after he takes out the deviant, adding a point to mankind in its tally against the evil bees.

Aphmau is rambling nervously after, laughing out in a mervous-awkward garble and her nerves pretty shot after the encounter. It's not enough to stop her trek, but I'm pretty sure another bee attack might cause her to wrap the endeavor up sooner with how dark it was.

She calms after a while, her focus fully returning to the mission at hand. She takes a small moment to stop and breathe, closing her eyes to realign herself to being back in the zone. I take a step back to give her some space, giving her a small nod once she opens her eyes again. She breathes out again once more, nodding to herself before she begins taking steps again, "Alright, let's start running there. The sooner we get there, the better.

I just hope this is a good idea..."
~~~~~~~~~

Coming further into the woods, we travel along an all too familiar path. Unfortunately, it's a little harder to traverse through, the trees and mushrooms all too similar and blending the path together, making it hard to traverse.

After an incident involving a black cat and Laurance almost murdering it (which me and Aphmau are quick to stop because holy shit, Laurance, you can't just fucking murder things), we finally come across just what we're looking for. Aphmau's ecstatic at the sight, jumping up and down before she runs at it, practically shouting, "I found it, it's over here!"

It's very much broken, an opening settled between the white material the borders are made of. Even in its sad condition, the portal is still just as enchanting as the first time we ran through it. This time, however, I get a moment to take in its sight and admire it. Unless I faint again or something, but I highly doubt that-

Aphmau, as she says she will, puts her sword back in its sheath (which she took out sometime during our forest trekking after another bee attacked her-) and inspects the portal. She pokes and prods for a few beats before officially trying anything.

"Hmm... Uhhh, maybe if I walk through it, this'll work..." She gives it a try, stepping through the very obviously not powered up portal, "No... nothing. Hmmm... Maybe if I walk backwards through it?"

'Geez, maybe I should have sat this one out for real...' I pull my bow from its confines, grabbing one of my arrows and setting it into position in case of needing to attack. I turn away from Aphmau's attempts to get it open, for my own sanity, and instead focus more on keeping an eye out for any intruders on the scene.

All there is is fucking trees and mushrooms... And that cat that Laurance almost killed...

Yeah, that becomes boring relatively quickly and I turn back in time to see Aphmau inching around the portal on the ground. I grimace and turn back around. Black cats are less... whatever this is

"Open sesame! ...Please?" Laurance sounds from behind me, his foot steps moving away from me and in the direction of the oversized man-made monument of natural, magickal resources.

Seriously, what makes them think that's going to open it? Who in their right mind-

I pace around the now defunct nether portal in avid frustration, my fingers rubbing at my face to ease the agitation. It makes me regret throwing that book, "Nether Portals and How to Work Them", out, but who knew I would need it a few hours from then as opposed to cursing myself over it five years from now?

I huff, swallowing my pride as I try walking through the very obviously closed portal again, a bit of my sanity chipping away when my mind chides me for doing it at least 5 times now.

However, that reminder doesn't stop me from walking through it backwards, backwards and bumping into the Shadow Knight in question as he steps out of the now super hot entryway. Luckily, he's steady enough that we don't fall backwards into the burning pit that is the nether, his hands gripping me firmly and holding me up from my plausible, clumsy doom. Emerald green eyes stare down into my (e/c) ones, a hint of worry flashing through them before a fond smile makes way to his lips, "(Y/n), don't tell me you're falling for me again"

Okay, yeah, no, nevermind. Totally understand, me too. All the agreement things, maybe they're on to something-

"I...I just need utter concentration..." Aphmau takes a deep breath, reaching her hands out towards the portal. A few sparkles fly from her palms, floating to the monument before us. The portal sparkles back in response, a few sparkles popping around the upper corners of the magical, white stone, "I-It's working? It's working. Guys, it's working! I think it might be opening!!!"

"Aphmau?" Aphmau's eyes dilate and shine as she walks forward towards the portal, it's opening also having a dim light slowly become more and more bright as the seconds pass. I begin to take small steps towards her, quickly throwing down my weapon in the process, "Aphmau, what are you doing?"

She leaves one hand outreached as she inches towards the barrier, "S-Should I..."

"Aphmau, wait-" A big force of bright, white light pushes out of the portal, shoving Aphmau back and into my arms. I steady my feet as I hold on to her firmly, my eyes closing a little in an attempt to shield them from the intensity of the portal.

The force is enough to knock Aphmau out of consciousness, the portal now back to its dormant state and somehow even more mystical than before. Laurance and I both look over her, checking for any flesh wounds. Instead of obvious injury markings, half of Aphmau's upper body is covered in a black and purple substance. Laurance makes eye contact with me, the two of us sending one another a knowing nod.

Laurance takes her off my hands, managing to hold her close to his chest and ensuring she's comfortable. I pick my bow and arrows back up, getting them settled on my person before leading the way back.

"Hey, isn't home the other way?"

"Huh? Wait, FU-"
~~~~~~~

The walk back was silent, filled with more lingering questions than answers. We moved quickly, ignoring all questions from the others when we finally get to the guard tower and set Aphmau down on one of the beds set up there. Zoey is close behind us, fiddling around with the health potions on her belt as she takes in Aphmau's condition.

As she gets to work in healing her, I take a pacing Laurance out for a breather. He's antsy, probably out of the concern that maybe this whole Aphmau passing out thing may become a reoccurring theme. It's for the best, really, so he's in a different headspace when Zoey and Emmalyn hop on our asses later on for letting her talk us into it. Yeah, he's definitely going to need it when I pin all the blame for us going along with it on him.

"Did you know that was going to happen?" He finally speaks up after some more pacing, stopping in front of the tree I'm leaned against. His brows are furrowed, lips scrunched into a confused frown as he stares me down. The scene is almost familiar to a few chapters ago when he made out with me against this very tree...

Maybe we should start having private meetings in a different spot...

Wait a minute-

"What? Why would you even ask me that?!" My posture changes as I push off of the tree, planting my feet into the ground.

"Why else?" He's a little more than willing to square back, stepping a little closer to me with his arms crossed, "You've been hiding things all this time, like that Shadow Knight guy, and seem to be the only one that might have an ounce of a clue about what's happening to Aphmau. Is it that much out of the realm of possibility that maybe you have an idea as to what's happening? Maybe even planned this?"

"Oh, yeah! I totally planned for Aphmau to try to open the portal and pass out from overexertion, especially after that whole questioning if she really felt comfortable going into that whole scenario and even tried to stop her from stepping close to it!" There was a knot in my chest as I snapped back at him, my face warm with white, hot anger, "Maybe try a different approach when you want to accuse me of sending the very woman I vowed to protect to her doom!"

Laurence is silent after my response, the tension around us too heavy to be cut. He takes a moment to look me up and down, his baby blue eyes calculating and judging. Eventually, they come back to make contact with mine, "It's hard to trust anything you say when you can't even be honest about your relationship with Zane..."

"Technically, Zane can't marry you. He's already married to someone else..." I speak up as Aphmau voices her concerns of Zane's proposal. Everyone gives me a questioning look, but I try to ignore them as I continue, "His wife is very much alive and they haven't exactly gotten a proper divorce. I'm sure that's what he's expecting, but if it means getting you out of an unloving and unwanted marriage, I can face the past for a few moments"

"(Y/n)-"

"You dare defy your husband? You dare hold a weapon against your husband?-"

"You're not my husband! And don't you EVER call yourself that title EVER AGAIN-"

"Whatever I don't tell you, is for all of our protection. It's not your place to question what I do and don't share..." I respond in a low voice, letting my guard down and turning my gaze to the ground. My clenched fists squeeze at the air between my flesh, my feet moving on their own to get away from this whole situation.

Zane's eyes are cold as they stare down at me, a cocky grin more than likely staining his lips behind the mask covering his lower face. His words cut through me like daggers as he more than happily delivers the news, "I told you to stay away from my brother, didn't I? Now his blood lays on your hands"

The paper in my grip crumbles between my fingers, stained with tears and growing rips. The fate of a brother was scrawled across in ink, the broken pieces of my heart printed with it. It's almost too much to bare

"You're a fucking monster!"

"I just did what I had to do to ensure nothing came between my plans, even if that included taking out that disgraceful result of an unfair," He walks past my hunched over form to our bedroom door, his footsteps heavier than they usually sound, "I suggest you clean yourself up and smile through this...

Or I'll find another way to get what I need from you"
~~~~~~~~

Getting to sleep had been a bit of a struggle after my conversation with Laurence, but I eventually found a way to. My dreams were plagued with past memories, leaving me even more restless than usual. This doesn't hold me back from still waking early enough for our departure to Meteli, my weapons and supplies at the ready.

Levin and Malachi insure to see us off, wishing us luck on our journey and reassuring that they'll continue to work on bettering Phoenix Drop in our absence. I'm a traumatic response to initially losing their mother the last time she left on an adventure without them, they hopefully ask that she'll return after her trip, and Aphmau is quick to tell them she will. It's cute, even if it's just a promise to ease their hearts. For their sake.

Before we depart, Nekoette nervously runs up to us in a hurried manner. She runs right past Aphmau, Laurence, and I, throwing an apple at the masked stranger before running away from him to Aphmau. She's out of breath, her cheeks rosy and chest heaving. Her explanation is cute, her admiration after he swooped in and saved her from the bandits pushing her actions of kindness towards the man.

The man in question has been with us for awhile, standing off to the side and being mostly to himself. I figured he stuck around after being trapped with us all that time due to him not having anywhere else to go, especially with his very edgy vibe he gave off. It's apparent that something happened to him in the past, otherwise he wouldn't give off the vibe that middle schoolers try to achieve: Dark and mysterious.

Sure do hope he doesn't become the dark and mysterious bad boy that Aphmau ends up getting pregnant by or anything. That just wouldn't make sense, y'know? But I digress-

We immediately head out on our journey after that, saying our last goodbyes and setting on our way.

"I can't believe this is really Meteli after all these years..." We make a stop by Old Meteli, a city of ruins filled with decades of past memories that have been left to rot. It's an obvious bandits nest, but it sprouts beautiful flowers that Old Meteli was always known for, one of the last surviving signs of what once transpired, "It must be so hard for Laurence and Cadenza..."

Aphmau and I stand off to the side as Cadenza and Laurence pick flowers for their father's grave, the others of us going off to explore what remains of the old town. I've kept my distance from Laurence for most of the trip, but I'm willing to offer my support and my shoulder for my friend, even if things are a little shaky again. Things have been really up and down since we came out of the Irene Dimension altogether, "I couldn't imagine what they must be going through, even if they're both tough..."

I could very much imagine what they're going through, especially when thoughts of my old village and what it might have become in my absence fill my mind. Especially now, in a village of ruins, my heart worries for my old home and just what has happened to it in the many, many years I've been away. The only difference between that and where we currently are is... Is that I can never return to Carsistle.

"DID SOMEONE SAY LAURENCE?!" A voice booms from over yonder, an overwhelming presence being known as it makes its trek over one of the destroyed paths of Old Meteli. A top the cliff, a result of erosion, stood a very, very unfortunately familiar face; a man proudly dawning a chicken suit and a very scraggly beard, "WHERE IS HIS STUPID, STUPID FACE?!"

"Oh no... Ohh. Ohhh noo. Nooooooooo"

"Fucking hell..."

There in all his chicken glory stood the Chicken Shaman, a man that somehow transcends time and space and has somehow not aged in the slightest in 15 years...

A/n: Yoooo. It's Ya girl, uhhhh skinny penis-
*Ahem* Long time no write. And by long time, I mean probably a year? Maybe some months? Who's keeping track? Hahaha, I'm sure not.
Anyway, yo, what is up? I actually had a little fun writing this one and I know I'm definitely going to have fun with the next one, because hello?! It's the Chicken Shaman! Anyway, hope you enjoyed it and we're finally getting to where I last left off with this whole shebang! Woo-hoo!

Alright, see ya next chapter (whenever that issss)
MCI Out, Peace 😋