SORA

I wake up in the morning with my arm wrapped around Merrick's waist and his face resting against my chest, a soft smile forming on my lips at the sight. Merrick shifts around in his sleep before he looks up at me, his eyes opening slowly to reveal calm brown orbs.

"Good morning," I murmur and Merrick smiles.

"Good morning," Merrick says back.

Merrick shifts and rolls us around so that he's pinning me to the mattress and he grins seductively before he leans in and kisses me lazily. I groan lightly before I kiss him back, one of my hands resting on the small of his back and my other hand carding through his hair at the back of his head.

"Merrick," I whine as he pulls back, "I won't want to get up if you keep it up."

"Isn't that the point?" Merrick wiggles his eyebrows and I laugh as I gently shove him off of me before I kiss his forehead.

"Come on," I say. "We have a mission to do."

"Sora..." Merrick's voice suddenly turns serious. "About that..."

"Hmm?" I hum as I glance over at him, frowning when I notice his unease. "Merrick? What's wrong?"

"I wanted to tell you..." Merrick swallows thickly, his hands fisting the sheets. "The reason I left without telling you was because I knew you'd try and stop me if I did. I left because I wanted to protect you. I knew I had to do something before it was too late. I wanted to find the runestones myself, but Miroslava came to me with a plan, a way that I could help. Naturally, I couldn't refuse if it meant saving you."

"Merrick," I sigh affectionately. "I knew that whatever had happened, you had a good reason. Yeah, I was worried sick, but I didn't doubt that you'd eventually find my way back to me or that I'd find you again."

Merrick tears up a bit before he wraps his arms around my neck in a tight hug and I smile as I wrap my arms around his waist in return.

"I love you, Sora," Merrick sighs.

"I love you too, Merrick," I grin and hug him tighter. "Now, let's get out of this bed before I decide to show you just how much again."

"If that's the case," Merrick purrs. "Why would I ever want to leave?"

As I'm about to reply, the door to the room opens to reveal a less than amused Clea and a certainly amused Gambit.

"Alright, lovebirds. Time to get up," Gambit teases as Clea crosses her arms and raises a brow at the two of us.

"Thanks to you two, I had a hard time focusing on my meditations last night," Clea says with a sigh before the corners of her lips twitch into a smile. "But, nevertheless, I managed."

As Merrick and I climb out of bed and begin to get ready, Clea heads out into the main part of the cabin while Gambit continues to watch from the doorway for a few seconds.

"And, Merrick," Gambit starts, making Merrick glance over at her with raised eyebrows, "it's good to have you back."

Merrick smiles and Gambit smiles in return before she heads off to give the two of us our privacy as we continue to get ready. Once we're both ready, we head out to sit with the others in the main area of the cabin. On the way there, though, I take the time to admire Merrick's new outfit since I was a bit preoccupied last night to do so. As opposed to his old fedora, black jacket and scarlet colored t-shirt, black skinny jeans, necklace, black combat boots, and never ending supply of rings, he now has on a black hoodie with cut off sleeves that has scarlet trim, black ripped jeans, his same pair of boots, a couple rings, and an arm band to be the compliment of mine. While his old look was more put together, this one seems more combat ready and rugged, which...I don't happen to mind at all, not that I minded the other version either though.

Merrick glances over at me and catches me staring him down, smirking at the sight while I roll my eyes and blush before I shove at his shoulder, making him laugh.

"Admiring the merchandise?" He grins.

"Shut up," I laugh, and the others around us don't miss our playful banter.

"Now that we're all here," Gambit starts, her eyes flickering between me and Merrick and the others, "we should address the issue of the runestone, as well as Merrick's return."

"Right," Clea nods and opens up her book as she sits on the couch, resting the book on the thankfully now dry table. "As many know, the runestone of Patience and Wrath was thought to be lost once the previous Wrath was banished from Aria. However, thanks to my abilities as the current oracle, I'm able to locate the runestone if I focus in on it. I can't specifically tell you where it's at, because if that were the case I would have been able to find them all for you, but I can tell you the area it's in."

"What happened to it?" Isabella asks softly, wanting to be mindful of my father.

"Well," Clea sighs, "the runestone was entrusted to a family in one of the only remaining monarchies. Unfortunately, it may be hard to convince the heiress to hand it over."

"Are you saying that a princess owns the current runestone?" Shae raises his eyebrows.

"No," Clea starts. "On the contrary, the woman who owns it is the daughter of a lord. She's the current war strategist for the kingdom."

"War strategist?" Kit raises her eyebrows. "Are you talking about Aurora? They're notoriously known to never lose a single battle, and if they do, it's a rare occurrence. Despite this, they typically don't engage in battle unless they find it necessary. They're essentially like a tiger you don't want to poke with a stick. They're elegant and beautiful from a distance, peaceful if non provoked, but they will fight for their lives, and you better believe they'll be the ones to win."

"That would be the one," Clea sighs.

"Aurora?" Isabella frowns in thought. "Interesting..."

"Isabella, you're able to take us there, right?" Shae asks.

"I can, but I can't get passed the kingdom's magical barrier that's projected by the stone," Isabella frowns. "I can get us close to the front gates, though. But we'll have to have permission to pass through."

"Well, then," Kit sighs and stands up, her fingertips running down her thighs in the process. "It seems we'll just have to ask for permission, won't we?"

"Why do I feel like that's implying the exact opposite?" Shae raises a brow.

"Not necessarily. I'm thinking more of an...older approach," Kit says.

"Older?" Merrick asks warily.

"It'll be just like the movies," Kit grins. "Who's up for an adventure through the mountains?"

"Through the mountains?" Shae raises his eyebrows. "Are we going through Timber to get to Aurora? If that's the case, we might be able to sneak through the barrier by temporarily deactivating it with one of our runestones while hidden from plain sight."

"That's the idea," Kit nods. "So, as for our next matter of business..."

Everyone in the room seems to simultaneously glance over at Merrick, making him laugh sheepishly and rub the back of his neck.

"It's good to have you back, Merrick," Kit starts, "but where exactly were you?"

"I knew that if I didn't try to do something, Sora might have been killed or locked up by Carmin, and I didn't want that to happen. Miroslava then came to me with a plan that she said only I could do, which may have something to do with the fact that Miroslava's family became close with mine over the years," Merrick explains. "She sent me to find her brother, Valentine, and to try and convince him to join us. I did manage to reach Valentine, but he sent me away, saying that while he believed I had changed for the better, I wasn't the one who could convince him. He said he was waiting for someone. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but the fact gave Miroslava some hope that maybe somehow he can be convinced. After that, Miroslava sent me the coordinates of Gambit's cabin, so I came here hoping that at least some of you might still be here."

"Well, at the very least maybe some of the others will have some ground work laid for having Valentine potentially helping us," Sekai says.

"I'm not so sure about that," Gambit frowns and Merrick's gaze goes downcast in agreement.

"Why not?" Sekai frowns, glancing over at Gambit.

"If it involves helping Miroslava, Valentine may want nothing to do with it," Gambit sighs. "The two have an...interesting relationship. Miroslava works to keep the balance in the world and does what Valentine should also be doing, as well as most of his dirty work, and he respects her and her capabilities, but he hasn't loved her in a long time. At least, from what I was told."

"What?" Sekai's eyebrows furrow. "Why not? What made him push her so far away despite keeping her so close?"

"I think..." I start, clearing my throat. "Although it isn't my place to say, it's about their sister's death."

"Whatever the case may be, we should start heading out and hope for the best. We have a long journey ahead of us," Isabella says softly.

"Isabella's right," Clea sighs, and the rest of us agree as well.

"So," Isabella starts as she summons her book, glancing around the room at all of us, "Timber, right?"