Laurence POV:

    I held Y/n in my arms feeling all the hatred, anger, and abnormal strength leave my systems. She wasn't so short anymore, as my height returned back to normal. My head was hung low as Y/n let go of me. I already missed the safe warmth. "L-laurence..." it sounded like she didn't know what to say. "...don't blame yourself..."

   How can I not blame myself? I don't even think Y/n was convinced that I wasn't slightly to blame here. She took my silence as it was, before going off behind me to converse with someone. 'What have I done?' I looked down and around me. Red pools covering the tiled floors. Deceased bodies everywhere. I felt worse than just sick. Tempted to throw up at how many lives I was capable of taking in less than 5 minutes. My clothes had became more tattered and ripped from the sudden stretch of the fabric.

"Come on, we got to go.." Y/n talked quietly and didn't look at me. She just grabbed my wrist with the her free hand while the other held a jumble of keys. In our tense and silent sprint down the corridors, I noticed the bloody bare prints being left. Becoming less noticeable the more there were. Her spotless dress had been drenched and damaged at the bottom where it dragged on the floor.

Y/n looked to be struggling not to trip over it while pulling me along like a toddler. When we made it to the dungeon, she released her grip before ordering me to get Aphmau and Katelyn out of cell 3. She was getting someone else out of cell 1. We had to use ladders to get down there. "Y/n but what about--" She grunted, having realized the same thing as me.

Ripping off all the way around the material from her calf to her mid thigh. The furrow of ruined lace and ruffles fell to the floor, before Y/n picked it up and wore as a sort of skirt. She didn't say anything else other then to head to cell 4 where a secret passageway was hidden. I felt like scum just watching her have to do that. Y/n was the most upset I've seen her(worse than when Aphmau almost died).

And it was clear at what. I descended into cell 3 to at least to something right. Katelyn had snapped her head in the direction of the ladder with a growl before her and Aphmau gaped upon who came down. "Hurry, there isn't much time to lose!" I used the keys that I was given to open both doors for the girls. They were almost no better than me. Dirty, hair wild but had on nothing but undergarments. Aphmau had on a dress like Y/n's when I first saw her again, though it was covered in dust and stone crumb.

'The nerve of these werewolve--" I shook my head having realized what I thought. They both followed me to our supposed escape route, as we all started looking for the way out. Y/n had come down no sooner than a minute later with a girl looking to be 20 or so(a little younger than us). "I don't know what happened, but you better explain later! Ugh, I don't see anything out of the ordinary."

Katelyn was grumbling to herself while searching the walls while Y/n and Aphmau were looking and feeling around the second bar block. That girl from before yelled out. "Here! I found it, let's get out of here!" She had in fact opened up something next to the ladder. A straight tunnel system leading away. We all followed our, making quick haste of our steps.

It had been a few pounding heartbeats before we were released into the deep forest air. It was dark and cold, but hard to notice over all the adrenaline. None of us stopped running until 10 minutes had passed and we were sure to be far away enough from that retched castle for them to find us. Blood pumping loud against my ears, the actions I had committed were displayed loud against my face.

Aphmau and Y/n were talking with that other lady. I didn't bother to find out what about. Most likely it was just an explanation on what happened. "A-Abby! Abby wait! Jeffery, he was your father! P-please! Come back!" The girl had run off, not turning back once or seeming to hear a word Y/n was saying. Katelyn had then found much interest in what they were saying.

"...Jeffery... as in Jeffery the 'Golden Heart'?" Her response was a hesitant yes. This Abby had turned out to be Jeffery's daughter. Katelyn was livid at the fact that she had looked familiar but not recognizable. How we had just allowed her to leave like that. "She is a mercenary guard for hire, Abby refused to be associated with us after what just happened. She couldn't stay..."

Katelyn cursed at the unwanted justification before sprinting after the green-eyed female. I had closed my own, shaking my head a few times before turning and speed walking in the other direction. I couldn't stay here with them. At the moment that is, there was no way I would just leaves them abandoned either. There was a lake with wheat growing around some of the edges.

I fell to my knees in front of it, frantically splashing my face with water. This dreadful feeling just wouldn't go away but at the same time there was a part of me that enjoyed it. I felt torn in multiple directions with despair. 'I can't take this. I can't take this! ' I stared into the water at my own reflection. My name was being called by two voices, both of which coming from behind me.

"Look at me... I'm a monster..." one sighed while the other stayed quiet. "No... no you aren't, Laurence..." Y/n spoke in a low tone. Trying to comfort but not really knowing how. There was obviously a few paces of distance set which didn't help after noticing. "You're only saying that because you wish it were not true, but it is. There is no hiding from the reality of it and..."

"Stop it... quit saying things to feel bad about yourself and make us think differently of you. They would have murdered you with a clear conscience otherwise. That at least says something about your character..." I guess that was true. Aphmau had bent down with me on the right while Y/n stayed where she was a little back on the the left. Aph held concern in her eyes with a hand on my shoulder. "... I-I guess... that's true but... I just can't..."

I felt completely powerless over my emotions right now. No words could change what I'd done. "Laurence, please just stay calm for me... this is a lot to take in for everyone and I don't want you... changing for the worst." The frown on my face felt etched into my features like it were permanent. "Right... and that's not the Laurence you know is it? The Laurence you kissed?"

Aphmau drew in a sharp breath looked between the two of us. Surprise in her eyes. I guess that little detail hadn't been mentioned in the explanation. Y/n stumbled over her words with a few incoherent sounds before deciding to instead say nothing. I rose up and looked over at her. Her hair was still arranged as perfectly as it was, but I could not say the same about the rest of the attire. Though her gloves seemed to refuse to take damage.

"Take my mind off things. You, kissed me... up until this point... you've never been open about love... you've never shown interest in someone from what I've seen and what you told me. And then...that... magical moment happens... a moment that I swore would be under different circumstances...I...honestly did not see it coming." I saw Y/n swallow, flustered but refusing to break eye contact.

"The woman I love placing her lips on mine... it brought me back. I even swore it was a dream for a moment..." Y/n finally tore her gaze to the ground with knitted brows. For someone a decade and a half older than me, I assumed she would act the same. But here she was with an almost completely flushed face, looking like she did so long ago. "Laurence...even with this unwanted audience,"

That was referring to Aphmau who now seemed so intriguing in where this conversation was going. A small smile befell onto me. "..We should really talk about my feelings towards you..." as much as the hammering in my chest told me otherwise, my smile fell and I interrupted before anything else could be said. "No. Stop. Look at me and hear the words I am about to say to you. I... love you. However, there is someone who is my friend who also has feelings for you... Garroth."

Y/n's faced turned back up to me looking even more conflicted. I hated seeing her like this.

"Near the beginning of my permanent trip to Phoenix Drop, when You and Aphmau left with Kiki to Bright Port. You were gone for a minute before our little scavenger hunt after you guys. The night we left before I went to sleep, he came up to me and made mention that I should not act 'ungentlemanly-like' around you... which meant he didn't want me to flirt with you. This was before my confession, but I had been throwing many hints your ways for a while. I told him right then and there that I had every intention of taking your heart and sweeping you off your feet and... when I said that... he... told me of his feelings for you as well..."

Y/n's expression was so emotional that it was hard to decipher. "He.. did?" She sounded confused that the words left her mouth. "Yes. This conversation had been teased once before but it was then I found out that he felt this way about you some time before I did. I had asked him why he didn't just take you for himself and he said that he didn't know how and was too shy to do it. I couldn't blame him so much since you were a very intimidating figure whom I thought could control time itself for a couple days when we first met."

We both chuckled at the idiocy of it. "I told him that I would give him a time to tell you but if he didn't then you were mine. Obviously, the reaction I got from my confession wasn't the most favorable and I was turned down. That meant an open door for Garroth but also an advantage for myself. We grew closer as friends and even called each other "brother" along with Dante. I told Garroth many times that he needed to tell you how he felt, heck... I even went as far as trying to help him."

I remember Aphmau covering Y/n's ears and singing loudly when I full-on called Garroth out at the Eastern Wolf Tribe. Y/n seemed to recall this as well. "...Why?" Short questions expect such big answers. Though they were in fact supplied. "I respect and care for him as my friend. I value the people I care about... even if their value hurt me sometimes... However, I cannot keep this up anymore... I love you and after that, I want you..."

My intentions were not as bad as that statement sounded, but the reaction was close to priceless. "Laurence..." I turned back around to the lake, the tension had left my face as I kept a small but genuine smile on. "Heh, don't fall for me just yet... though I can't stop you if you have... if I took you now... it would shatter Garroth. Not only would it be such an underhanded thing to do. For someone he calls "brother" to whom he has confided so many times in... to take away the woman he loves after he sacrificed himself to save us..? No. I will not take you...unless, you want me too."

"....I don't know...."

2067 words.

Jesus Christ that conversation sounded wrong XD