Chapter 13: Chapter 12 - An Argument and a Friend

"So will you accept his offer? I think it's a really good idea." Kali asked as Aramis placed another plate on the drying rack. This was most of their uninterrupted conversations happened, at the back of the bakery during his shifts. All he really did was maintenance and cleaning up so it wasn't too bad.

"I don't know, Kali." His reply was short and cold. She noticed it.

"What's the problem? Why are you acting like that?" He put the plate down, feeling the prickly feeling of annoyance spike. He turned to look at her and truly wondered how she had the audacity to ask him that. He couldn't determine whether she was socially inept or if she was just again trying to ignore the bull in the china shop. He was going to find out which it was.

"I think you know exactly what the problem is. You aren't stupid Kali, in fact, you're probably one of the smartest people I've come to know. So what are you hiding from me?" He didn't try to mince words, he got straight to the point. That was just the type of person he was.

"W-what do you mean? I'm not trying to hide anything!"

"Really? Because every time we try and talk about your life, you change the subject. You're hiding something. I want to know why. What's so horrible that you can't tell me? Every question you've asked me, I have answered. You have not done the same for me."

"You wouldn't understand, Aramis. You ask me of my problems, but I don't think you can help me. I...don't think you will."

"If I don't know what it is, how would I ever be able to help you?" His voice lost its harshness and there was a genuine tone that replaced it. Aramis wanted to trust her, he really did. They'd spent so much time together that he'd grown to really like her. That didn't change the fact that he had no idea who she was.

She was quiet for a long moment and Aramis waited. He wasn't going to let this go by, he wanted to solve this problem right here and now.

"I'm afraid once you learn about the kind of person I am, you won't trust me anymore. That you won't want to help me anymore." She whispered and it made Aramis feel kind of shitty but he still didn't know what she meant by that.

He hated it when people did this, why couldn't they just say things how it was? What was she even talking about? Why would he have any reason to just turn his back on her? Whatever she'd done in the past, he was sure he could get over it. Hopefully. But he wouldn't know it until he knew what it was! It was an exasperating paradox that would not be cracked until she just told him the facts, it was that plain and simple!

"JUST TELL ME, KALI, JUST SAY IT!"

"I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO HERE! THAT'S IT!"

"...What?" There was a quiet that settled in the room and now the only sound that could be heard was the tap running. What did she mean by that? She knew what to do? Then why had they been going back and forth for this past week?

"I'm here to save my friend. I don't know what's happened to her but I know she's somewhere here. I can feel her presence but its growing weaker. Once we find her-"

"Who the fuck is we, Kali?" His words cut sharper than any knife and the look on his face was ferocious. This girl had the fucking audacity to hide this from him when he'd been worrying all this time about what they were to do about this situation and then expect him to be there to help her when she needed him? Fuck off.

"Aramis, please, listen to me! I don't know how to get your magic back, Lady Nyx told me nothing about it! But I am going to help you in any way I can, I promise you." She sounded desperate but Aramis was too head-strong to pay her any mind. He'd dumped his apron on the floor and told the old lady he needed a minute to clear his mind. The anger management lessons were coming in handy now, he did have to admit.

"Is that why you were trying to get me to accept Savah's proposal? Did you think that would make up for the fact that I don't have my magic?" Usually, Aramis was quite careful about communicating with Kali. He didn't want other people to think he was crazy ( they already thought he was but this wouldn't help his case ) but right now what the perception of others was the last thing on his mind. He was currently standing in the middle of streets, shouting at the top his lungs at what seemed to be thin air.

"And what's so wrong about that, Aramis? You like Savah and he'll be great as a mentor. You're already strong, stronger than most beings I've ever met in my life. So why are you trying so hard to get back your magic? Lady Nyx told me...that she promised to give you what you wanted. If you haven't gotten your magic back...then is it your magic that you really want, Aramis?" Kali's voice lowered to a near-whisper and her words hit him like an arrow to the chest. His voice caught in his throat. He didn't know what to say.

What did he really want? Was it magic? He had been so sure it had been. Yet again, he wasn't sure anymore. He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"You should've just told me, Kali. Then we wouldn't have wasted so much time for nothing."

"I'm sorry. I...I told you. I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared of losing you as a friend, Aramis. I was scared of losing my friend."

Aramis sighed. Now he just felt like a dickhead. When he first met her, he didn't trust her nor did he care very much about her. This was a relationship built solely on business, they were connected because of a contract they both made to the Goddess of the Night. Now, he wondered how he would feel if he never saw her again. He wouldn't feel good, not at all. When these thoughts ran through his mind, he didn't put up a barrier and he knew Kali could hear them. She smiled and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"Let's head back inside. You still need to wash some dishes."

The rest of the shift went well and with the problem out of the way, the two spent the next few hours talking about Kali's friend. She seemed like an interesting character from Kali's point of view but he wondered how someone from Teras would have found themselves in the Lost. Her friend was a Guardian, one of the many warriors descended from one of the Great Beasts of Teras: the Monarchs. Even Aramis knew of the Monarchs, they were the stories of nightmares and evil that would haunt children if they weren't obedient.

Before Eos came down to this world, the Monarchs ruled this planet with pure might and power. There was little any other could do to stop them. Kali's friend must have been pretty powerful from the looks of it so why was Kali so worried? There wasn't any way someone like that could be in danger, right?

As he threw out the last remains of trash, he finally left after having getting his pay ( it was a hefty slice of cake ). Finally the question that he'd been wanting to ask came out.

"Is your friend...human?" That was his first assumption when Kali first mentioned a friend of hers going missing but the more he thought about it, the less it made sense. Kali had made it clear during one of their conversations that the Priests were practically the only real human creatures in the Lands of Teras.

"Of course not. She's a Griffin."

Now that made his face go pale. "Kali. You're telling me your friend is this Beast of Teras and she's here...in the Lost. She could kill someone out there. Most importantly, if they find her, the Lost will hunt her down Kali!"

Aramis was more understanding than most but there were many who considered anything from Teras enemies to humanity's security. The Lost, the literal State that existed along the Border, no less? The people here would hunt that Beast till it was dead and gone.

He realized he should have put his words more lightly because Kali looked even more worried than she already was.

"She isn't dangerous! She's my friend, why would they ever do something like that? What are we going to do, Aramis? I need her! I can't let her die, I promised I'd-" The nervous rambling would have continued for longer if he did not cut her off right there and then, he knew that much.

"There are a few abandoned farmhouses at the edge of the Townsarea. If a Beast can go unnoticed for this long, it's most likely there. But there's a problem."

Her face fell as soon as she heard his last words.

"What's the problem?"

"I got curfew."

"Then...then we'll have to make this fast."

He grinned. Cory wouldn't mind, would she? He'd deal with the consequences later. Right now, he had a griffin to find. Hopefully, he would be the first because if someone else ended up finding her before him? He'd better get there fast.