Fan Fiction ❯ Family Inheritance: The Sapphire Blade ❯ Chapter 4

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Almost two weeks had passed. The trio made their way through the forest, encountering only a small amount of trouble -- like a few soldiers from the South intercepting them, or some animals irritated about strangers in their territory.
Each of the situations were handled as rationally as possible. The soldiers were fooled that they were just normal travelers, carrying weapons only for protection. For the animals, they had to throw some food away for a distraction while they ran away. Aiden wasn’t too keen on killing anymore, unless it was Kale, he didn’t want any of that tension with Brin again.
They were now only a day away from South City. The castle would be somewhere in the city, but they knew it wouldn’t be too easy to get in… The day was drawing to a close, they found a clearing in the woods where they could actually see the sky. They set up a fire and rolled out their sleeping bags on the ground, it’d be a nice change to sleep under the stars for once.
After they ate some food, the laid down to go to sleep as the fire still crackled with life, hopefully it would fend off any wild animals. Kilik fell asleep pretty fast, like always, but Aiden and Brin stayed awake to gaze at the star filled sky above them.
“Aiden, how are you planning to get into the South Castle?” Brin asked, still staring at the sky.
“With strategy.” Aiden replied with a smile as he also continued to gaze at the sky above.
“What’s your strategy then?”
“You’ll see when the time comes, I don’t really feel like explaining it right now. Besides, I’m not even sure everything will go to plan…”
“What if it all fails, and we get captured or something?”
“I don’t know, just stop thinking of what can go wrong, I’ll mostly make up stuff as I go.” Aiden sat up, looked at Brin and smiled, but she only returned a half hearted smile, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…”
“That’s not the answer you normally give me. You haven’t talked to me much this whole trip, tell me what’s bothering you, you’ve always told me before. Or is this still about me killing that stalker two weeks ago?” He said with slight annoyance.
Brin sat up and folded her arms around her knees. She looked at the ground as she started to talk, “No, I don’t care that you killed that man, I understand why you did it, and I admire you for not killing those soldiers or animals. It’s just that… I’m scared…”
“Scared of what? Of Kale? You don’t have to be afraid of him, the old man said I could beat him, and I believe I can too.”
“But you can’t be for sure, you’ve never even seen Kale, what if he’s stronger than you? What if he… kills you?” Brin looked like she was about to cry. Aiden sighed before answering.
“I’m the only one that can defeat him, if I die, then there’s no hope for the land.” Aiden moved closer to Brin and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at his face, “But I’m telling you this now, you have to trust me, and you have to believe in me. You’ve always given me most of my courage, now I need you by my side more than ever.”
Brin’s eyes were starting to fill with tears, and she quickly looked away, “I’m sorry, I haven’t been very helpful lately. I just can’t stop thinking about all the things that could go wrong, I don’t want to lose you.”
“And you won’t, I already told you I can defeat Kale, I just need you and Kilik behind me all the way. And who says you haven’t been helpful? You’ve carried that backpack all this way, that was really helpful.” He chuckled. Brin let out a small laugh, making Aiden happy to finally see her smile. But it didn’t last long, she obviously started thinking again.
“I keep having dreams.” She said.
“About what?”
“About you…”
“What happens in your dreams?” He didn’t get an immediate reply, Brin hesitated for a few seconds to wipe her eyes, making it look like she was just itching them.
“Several things… Most of the time… you die, and I’m left all alone.” She paused to look at Aiden again, “I know you’re telling me that it’ll all be okay, but my dreams constantly remind me of what could happen.”
Aiden didn’t say anything, he already said everything he could, but Brin still thought he might die. He would love to tell her how he felt right now, he would love for her to feel the same, and he would love to run away together to somewhere far away, and let someone else deal with Kale.
But he couldn’t. He’s the hero, he has to destroy Kale. And he couldn’t tell Brin how he feels because he’s not sure what she would say, and it could ruin their friendship. Aiden needs her friendship more than anything in the world, without it, he wouldn’t have the courage to face Kale.
Aiden’s thoughts were lost as Brin buried her face into his chest, and his arms closed around her without him knowing. He’s never hugged her like this before, but it felt right. And after a minute, Brin seemed to be calming down.
“I have to tell you something.” Aiden said as he placed his hands on her shoulders and hoisted her up to look into her eyes, “In case something does go wrong, I don’t want to have any regrets.” He was going to tell her, he didn’t care, he wanted her to know. If she didn’t feel the same way, then hopefully she would still remain his friend. “I… love you.” She was obviously shocked by his words, her eyes were beginning to fill with tears again. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship though, so--” He tried to add, but Brin quickly flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Aiden was surprised, this was way more of a response than he would have expected, he definitely liked it. After the kiss, he hugged her again to comfort her as she said, “I love you too… I have for a long time. I never said anything because I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same.”