"I'd like mornings better if they started later."

-Anonymous

AUGUSTINE

It hurts.

Everything hurts.

My head hurts. My chest hurts. My stomach hurts. Everything hurts.

I open my eyes. And it's so fucking bright.

Now my eyes hurt as well.

I try to get up, then freeze as I feel an arm draped around my torso.

What the-?

I whip my head to the right to see the horror of Simba's peaceful sleeping face.

What...Did we do last last night?

Before I can even think, Rachelle bursts into the room with a pot in one hand and a ladle in the other.

"Rise and shine losers!" She bangs the two utensils together. I wince and cover my ears just as Simba shoots up into a sitting position, surveying his surroundings with the most clueless expression I have ever seen on a faerie.

"What the fuck was that for?" I grumble because of the sound of the pan echoing in my head.

I can feel Simba's head turn towards me but I refuse to meet his eyes.

She smiles. She has the audacity to smile after partially destroying my hearing.

"I wanted to make everyone hate me. Anyways, we need Simba here for breakfast. You can go back to sleep."

Simba gulps next to me, "Did we both...?" He gestures to both of us. My cheeks heat up in an instant as my mind registers what he is trying to imply.

Rachelle laughs.

She has the audacity to laugh.

"August set your hair on fire, and then you had a full length conversation about Pride and Prejudice, which by the way, is an excellent book, good choice. Anyway, after that we tried to haul the both of you off to bed but you won't leave each other's side so we just brought you here together. It was very cute."

I almost gag as she says the word 'cute'.

I turn around and make eye contact with Simba's warm brown eyes before launching myself off the bed and away from dude. As far away as possible.

"What a bunch of lightweights," Rachelle laughs, before she leaves to go assault someone else's sense of hearing.

~

I walk into the living room of our little floating guesthouse, and there I see Augustus lounging on one of the enamel coloured couches while talking to a very tired looking Coral.

"Oh lookie here, I have another hungover specimen in front of me," Augustus grins at me before sitting upright and facing both me and Coral

He opens his palm and golden light dances around it, "Give me a compliment and I'll make you both sober."

Heck I'll do anything to take this stupid headache away from me.

"Uh, you have great healing powers," I say, and I'm surprised at how dead I sound on the inside.

He frowns at me, "You have not even seen me demonstrate them, how would you know? Give me an honest compliment."

I grit my teeth as I say, "You have nice eyes."

He smirks, "Why thank you," and then turns to Coral expectantly.

Coral regards him with a blank expression, "You have nice hair."

Augustus smirks even wider, "Dang! I'm getting so much love today! Ain't that right Lia?"

Lia, sitting right beside him, her small frame hidden by his gigantic body, grins widely, "You're a fan favourite."

He makes finger guns at her, "That's why you're my favourite of the lot."

Rey, sitting on one of the couches holds a hand over her heart, "I thought I was, ouch."

Mikaello, sitting beside Rey, slings an arm around her shoulders, "Don't worry I got you."

Sometimes their friendship makes me a little...jealous. I would never admit it of course, but I wish I had a friend like that.

Gus holds his hands out to the both of us, and as I move to take one of them, he pulls his hands back.

"You're so eager to touch me. Everyone is so attracted to me. I love it."

Coral frowns beside him, "Just make the headache go away."

He grabs both our hands and instantly I feel the headache vanish, replaced with a newfound energy. Like I've just awoken from a power nap.

It felt so...rejuvenating.

I've been healed by Earth users several times before, but their magic just makes the pain go away, I still feel the tiredness, the loss of energy, and the never-ending need for a nap.

But, after being healed by Gus, I feel like I can climb up a mountain without taking any breaks.

Coral's eyes are wide as well, "I feel so...good!"

Gus grins, "That's what she said."

That makes Lia whack him with the pillow she was cradling. I give her one of my proud head nods and she beams at me in return, her wide yellow eyes shining bright in the morning light.

Next up, Minakshi, Arbor, Zarren, Kaito and Avalkyra enter the room, each holding two plates of pancakes and eggs.

Minakshi hands me a plate and I thank her as I dig in.

And I think I moan a little as the food touches my tongue. Oh the sweetness of the syrup along with the fluffy pancake and the salty scrambled eggs. It was to die for. Or to kill for.

I could sacrifice a thousand Golden Boys for this kind of food.

I've not had such great food since the semester at Mediocris ended.

Simba waltzes in, holding two plates of breakfast on each arm and serves to anyone who is remaining.

Augustus actually moans beside me, "I have decided I have a new favourite," he says to Simba.

"I don't care who's life is in danger, wherever we are going next, I'm protecting you," Rey says, shovelling her food into her mouth like a chipmunk.

Minakshi then follows that comment with some very garbled words and a few salivary rockets out of her mouth which landed on Zarren beside her at the dining table, and he didn't look very grateful for those.

"The food is good, you have my respect for your cooking," Valerie speaks up from the dining table, pointing her fork at the boy.

A compliment from Valerie?

Now I have seen everything.

Simba visibly turns the darkest shade of red, "Th-Thanks!"

Mikaello who is now sitting beside me, looks down at his hand where there is
gigantic scar, then looks back at the blonde in the silver armor.

"It was not a dream?" He mutters to himself.

Huh?

~

Aurellius showed up at our doorstep way earlier than I thought he would.

He waltzed in without knocking and scared the crap out of Coral whose room was the first one down the hall.

He then came into the living room where all of us were about to finish breakfast and a wide grin broke into his silver lips.

"Come on! No time to waste if you want to save the world! Chop chop!"

I will never understand what is up with the dude. I've stopped questioning it all together.

I hear a collective groan from everyone around me as they were ready to pass into a food coma.

I stand up and go to my room to get the little leather pouch of mine and to freshen up a little before I was dragged out to who knows where.

~

I think it was a great idea to freshen up before going to the Aurae's Hall of Portals, because now, after walking through that cold piece-of-shit white and blue portal, we are now standing in the middle of A FUCKING DESERT.

Everywhere I look, I see sand.  Nothing else. Just sand. My feet are sinking into the sand as I look around. 

And I don't know if it's the aftereffects of walking through the bright lights of the portal, or if the world decided it was time to give me partial-colourblindness, because well...is the sky supposed to look so red?

It's a deep red at the top, fading into violet and blue near the horizon. It would have looked beautiful, if there were no sand everywhere. I think the others are as confused as me. Because they too are looking at the sky with a dumbstruck expression.

And don't get me started on how HOT it is. It's scorching. And my body is supposed to be heat resistant. I have no idea of the pain the others must be feeling right now. It's not still, there are winds blowing around. Very. Hot. Winds. Blowing sand into my eyes, hair and clothes.

Why does the Land of the Aurae feel like paradise all of a sudden?

Aurellius is looking at us through the portal which is still glowing next to us, and I have to hold back from slapping that huge grin off his silvery lips.

"Welcome to the Land of the Blazes. Ah say hello to my friend Pyros, it's been so freaking long since we've had a nice chat about dumb mortals. Toodles!" he then looks at Rey, "Try not to get killed girl! Won't want the wings to die! Oh and he's not gonna be as nice as me so well, give him a good story which he can tell me when we have a cup of tea next time. Later faeries!"

Well wasn't that just a lovely farewell?

"Wait! Where should we go? There's sand everywhere!" Rachelle calls out to him. It's too late though. The portal winks out, leaving us with an endless view of sand behind it.

Looks like we're stranded in the middle of a desert.

I scratch the coin of Gleriana nervously as I look at the others for a solution.

I refuse to die here.

~

Okay sweethearts, guess what, the writer's block ended sooner than I thought it would. I have a clear vision of what I have to do, and oh this place is gonna be so much more interesting than the last one ahhhh I'm excited.

Darkblaze450 JessieZhu I hope y'all read this and approve your OCs brotherhood :)

Next chapter is most likely gonna be lilyinmyheart 's OC Kaito's POV :)