Laurence POV:

As soon as Aphmau finished talking to me, I noticed a ship heading in our direction. My mood brightened as I took note of how far away it actually was. It would arrive by morning from my estimate. I smiled off at it and thanked Aphmau for the help. "Yeah... maybe you're right." It wasn't mandatory that we sleep, but I had been completely exhausted from everything that had happened. Not just physically but mentally as well.

~oOo~

I woke up in a start and slid to the bottom of the ladder, rushing down to their docking area. Aphmau was right behind, no doubt wanting to see Malachi. I was like a kid outside a candy store waiting until it opened in 5 minutes. My legs reacted to go faster down the many stairs and turns, getting more excited and nervous by the minute. The boats plank was still let down for the passengers that hadn't got off.

Dante had informed me last night how no one on board knew we were here yet, so this could be a really pleasant surprise. I just hope they aren't stressed from their trip and everything went well. A woman with  h/c dreadlocks and a man with a green scarf around the bottom of his face were talking to Levin. They were having a conversation about the trade. "He acted as if he had never seen a woman swear befo--"

The lady took in a sharp breath and froze in her tracks as she looked over from me to Aphmau, who had just run up behind Levin. With wide e/c eyes she put both of her hands over her mouth. She was breathtaking. As beautiful as she had been before, plus some. The woman then hit Levin upside the head looking upset. "Oww! What was that for?!"

"Why the hell wasn't the first thing that you told me be that they were back?! After all I've done for your spoiled ass and this be the th-thanks I g-get??!" She was trying to be angry but couldn't even do that as tears were streaming out of her eyes. ".....Y/n???" I went forward and enclosed her into a hug, lifting and spinning her around. "Oh my god, let me down Laurence now!" She was still crying but was laughing through it.

I did as Y/n told me and fully took her in. Her hair now in tight dreadlock that went to her chest. She had (grew it out/cut it) since I last saw her. Y/n had a sleeveless black tank top showing well toned forearms that definitely took some time to get. Very baggy green camouflage pants were worn by her, having deep looking pockets all around. She had on the same black combat boots as before but were now real worn down.

The last thing I saw was the light brown belt with many holders for who knows how many things(She knows). Y/n wiped her face while smiling and looking us over again. "Haha, Levin I'm not mad at you anymore." He mumbled out a loud 'Thank Irene' and went over to Aphmau, since she too had been rammed into by her son. Y/n cupped her hands on my face still smiling brightly.

"It's so good to see you guys again!" I gave one back before holding onto her own hands. "Does this mean that you've fallen for me yet?" She snickered and took them out of my grasp before flicking me on the forehead. "I'm too old for you now." I shrugged my shoulders still taking in her very image. "Age doesn't matter to me."

Y/n walked next to where Aphmau was, waiting for when Malachi would be done so she could have her turn. "You're a pedophile you know that right?" There is the Y/n I knew. Not all sappy and giving into mushy moments. Aphmau was let to breath when Y/n tackled her once more. The two girls fell on the floor laughing with each other before Aphmau was pulled away(yet again) to speak with Malachi in private.

We were left to talk on our own for at least an hour. "What did you do when we left?" I was following after her as she walking in the direction of her house. "....I pretty much just stayed here with Dante. Everything was in shambles and people were leaving left and right. Soon those who did stay, were attacked by bandits. Dante and I were the only real guards left and we had to defend everybody.

    "I searched around with Dante for the first year until the search was called off. I had to pretend for everyone else's sake that you guys were dead. It was rough man we held a funeral for everyone, and then Zoey took the boys away to the Yggdrasil forest for a...while. Everything was slowly going to hell."

I then asked her about the start of the settlement as we began climbing the roots of the tree from the outside. Someone had set a rope up to make it easier. "There were too many bandits getting in from to many different places....And then Zoey came back with Levin & Malachi. We couldn't have all the kids living in a place so dangerous. We chose to condense the land we were using to this space.

   "Those left helped but we had to take from the environment and the original wall to be able to built what we have now. Come on." Y/n was standing on a steady set of ground but we were still high up enough on the outside of the tree, where you can get hurt if you fell. Where we were perched had many vines surrounded it. A few actually looked hooked into the ground though.

   She grabbed one of them and tugged on it twice. Our platform was being lifted up into the many leaves and branches surrounding the trunk and base. I almost fell down but Y/n grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me back up with a smirk on her face. "You need me to install a rail for ya Laurence?" My pride was just a little bit bruised from that since she hadn't even flinched. "Ha ha, I'm perfectly fine thanks."

    Going all the way up, it was dark but many holes from sunlight were shining through all around. The same vine that Y/n tugged on was tied to the side. Probably to remember later. She pressed into a divot right next to it and sporadic glowing lights turned on all over the place. "Woah. You make all this??" It was amazing! The leaves on the floor looked to be molded together as the floor.

   There weren't any walls just a lot of space as it curved around and went higher up as the tree did. "Of course I did. I wasn't limiting myself to live in a basement like Zoey, haha!" Zoey lives in a basement? She signaled my confusion. "Er-- not exactly. She just lives underneath the house Levin and Malachi share. There is a trap door and ladder to get to her from there." Weird.

    We were just walking around now. It was a comfortable setting silence between us. There was room to house a few more people up here, but they wouldn't be getting any privacy any time soon. "So... got a boyfriend that I need to worry about?" She had sat down and was spinning around in a chair. "Oh, drop dead! Like my broke ass could afford one of those! No I'm not in a relationship. But like I said before, I'm too old for you."

    She stuck her tongue out at me like a child. I chuckled and sat in one across from her. "You sure don't act like it." I took note of a table close by that had many different trinkets on it. I could make out a few pictures of a kid. Too blurry to tell who though. "I've been taking care of toddlers for 15 years. And yes, they are still toddlers. Why would I act more mature when I got a full time job as a 20 year old?" I guess she's right.

    Her, Levin & Malachi do seem close as far as I could tell. "I saw a lot of your vandalism around the place. What's all that about?" She blinked before laughing. "I forgot about some of that. Well, I used to go on trades by myself. The two boys used to pretend they forgot who I was whenever I came back and it used to piss me off. So I put Y/n was here, in a lot of different places. Including their room."

She actually seemed really proud of herself for doing that. 'So that's what changed. Y/n's gotten a lot more confident in herself.' We were quiet again for a minute before she looked in the sun's direction. "It's getting late so we should be getting back. I don't think Logan, Kyle or Alexis has talked to you yet. It's good to see you again, Weirdo."

1538 words.