Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 41: Sworn Brothers

It felt much warmer outside than it had upon his arrival into the mountains. It wasn't so frigid that he wouldn't be able to trek it out until he got into a warmer climate. As long as he didn't go to sleep, he could probably make it.

It was only for a little while, but it was nice being here, he silently noted, slipping on his boots with shaking hands. It was nice seeing what a real family is like.

Once he was dressed, Xaphile sighed and got back to his feet before walking outside, carefully closing the door behind him.

Then, he took his hood off for the first time and began to walk, keeping his head lowered and his eyes trained on the ground.

Jabbing his fingers into his armpits, he started his trek away from the small cluster of buildings, dead set on leaving them behind.

"Where are you going? Don't tell me you're trying to leave in the middle of the night."

Xaphile froze in his tracks at the sound of Vrael's voice, jerking his hood up with a flash and hunching his shoulders.

"Sorry... I've decided to leave since the weather's cleared up," he said, slowly shaking his head back and forth and praying the boy hadn't seen. "I can't stay. I appreciate everything your family has done for me, but I just can't stay here."

He didn't turn around.

Silence came from behind him.

Bur then...

"Tell me, 'Phil,'" the halfling finally drawled. "Are you leaving because you're really a demon?"

Xaphile's heart stopped and terror made his mind go blank.

He stood there, momentarily frozen with fear... then slowly turned around with his vision quivering, suddenly so scared that he couldn't think.

He stared straight into Vrael's cold brown irises, but the half-elf's face was dark.

"No," Xaphile whispered, voice coming out high and thin. "I'm n-not a demon."

Vrael's brows furrowed, marring his already-frightening expression. Xaphile shivered when he slowly advanced.

"Don't lie to me..." he snorted, leaning down and clutching the front of his shirt. "I'll only ask you one more time. Are... you... a demon?"

Xaphile tried to choke out a response, but he couldn't make his throat work.

Deep down, he knew that no matter what he said, Vrael wouldn't believe him. He wasn't a demon, but people kept mistaking him as one because of his freakish appearance.

When the halfling lifted his other hand and tried to grab his hood, the surreal cloud of terror he was experiencing literally shocked his gut like an electric zap.

He instantly jerked away, but tripped over a wooden stump half-buried in the snow and ended up falling on his back, but to his horror, the hood fell off anyway and exposed his horns, making the white-haired boy stiffen in total surprise.

"I'm really not a demon!" he cried, fearfully covering his horns with his hands. He wanted to run, but his trembling wouldn't stop enough for him to get up; he felt as though his limbs had turned to stone. "I'm not a demon!"

But it was too late... he could tell by the threatening shift in Vrael's eyes that he didn't believe it.

Suicidal though he was, he didn't want to be tortured again.

His heart hammered against his chest when Vrael squatted down beside him, but the world turned oddly grey when the boy gripped his wrist and jerked it away. His brown eyes locked on the horn sticking out of his head.