The Metaphorical Key Book II- Forge the Path

Chapter XII

tbh not a whole lot happens in this chapter (there's some set-up for the next few chapters plus a not plot but character relevant conversation, but hopefully you'll all find this a nice, fluffy break from the train wreck of emotion that the last eleven chapters have been. next chapter: back to the train wreck. 

The young woman, who eventually stated that she went by the name of Rosie, separated from their small group shortly after they arrived back in Italon.

"So," Kayden began, swinging his foot out in front of them and shoveling snow out of the way with his toe, hissing when it melted through the material and soaked his sock.

"Where do we go from here?"

Dulcie turned to face him with owl-like eyes, biting her lower lip and wringing her hands, looking around as though she expected to find the answer sitting in a snowbank.

"I... uh... dunno."

Kayden sighed, his shoulders sagging.
"What's close to Italon? They can't be too far from here, can they?"

Dulcie shook her head.

"No. I guess not. I don't spend a whole lot of time in Italon, you;'re the one who lives here - I'll ask you, what's close to Italon?"
"I live on a mountain! I don't exactly get out much!"

Dulcie cackled, smiling brightly, her eyes nearly as bright as the pristine snow on the ground.

She cleared her throat as a tall, gangly man gave her an odd look, but despite the fact that she'd likely already weirded the poor man out, she grabbed his sleeve and gave it a tug.

"What do you want?'

"'Scuse me, could you give me a list of cities, that're, hmm, eighty kilometres away? Any direction?"

"Chodel to the south. Paido to the west. Baimid to the east, and Yuvell to the south."

"Thank you!"

Dulcie turned to face Kayden with pursed lips.

"Maybe we could try Chodel first? The temperature's nice there, I'm not super inclined to stay in this cold for much longer."

Kayden rolled his eyes.

"Weakling."

"You wouldn't last a day somewhere hot!"

"Hmm. You're right. I've never been to Chodel, but I've heard it's nice. But why would they be in Chodel? That's the last place they be - only place left untouched."

"Right. Yeah, you're right. Baimid is crawling with Catago, right? We could try there?'

Kayden nodded.
"And you'll be alright in the frigid cold of ten below?"
"Oh, shut up."

---

"...So," Aiden started, as they laid there, Will's old cloak stretched thin over them. It didn't offer a whole lot of protection form the chilly October air, but it was better than nothing, even though it slipped off what little it covered whenever he moved even a little, as he was on the leftmost side of the makeshift blanket, Will on the right, and Pollux in the centre. (Will had insisted with a warm smile. Pollux had stuttered out a thank you and offered to switch the next night so it'd be fair. The two kept making eyes at each other and Aiden was overcome with the urge to drop them off at a cafe and come back whenever they fessed up.)

He didn't get to finish his sentence, because Pollux suddenly deemed it acceptable to scream like a banshee and whack him upside the head.

"Pollux? You alright?"

"Uh, yeah. Go back to sleep, Will."

"Mm. You're warm, right? I'm not hogging too much of the... blanket... thing... cloak... I'm very tired."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Will nodded, content, and flopped back to the ground.

"Anyways," Aiden continued, rolling away so Pollux couldn't reach him. The cloak slipped off his shoulder, but he didn't mind all that much, seeing as it barely did anything anyways.

"I don't know Will all that well, but it seems to be mutual, don't it?"

"Shut."

"I'm not going to 'shut' until you get off your ass and admit it."

Pollux sputtered for a minute, but eventually found the words.
"You're a pain in my ass, you know that?"
"Love you too."

Pollux groaned.
"So. Be honest with me - don't lie to protect my feelings or anything, got it?"
"Hm?"
"Do you think - do you think it's too soon?"

Aiden cocked his head to the side.
'What do you mean by that?"

"Curtis didn't... die all that long ago. And I don't even know Will that well. I dunno, I feel like I'm moving on too quickly."

Aiden sighed, his shoulders drooping.
"I think moving on is a good thing," he said. "I should've asked a team to get the files, I shouldn't have gone in the first place. I guess... part of me thought that it had to me. Because otherwise it didn't mean the same thing. I told myself it'd just be better, that somehow I could twist it around so that I could excuse running off to Italon. Because I think... deep down I didn't want to move on. I wanted to be in Italon, his birthplace, because then I could pretend that he wasn't dead. I could read his file and pretend he wasn't dead. I didn't move on, and where did it get us?"

Pollux sighed.

"Two hundred fifty kilometres away from home, with no way back - Chodel isn't hooked up to the trains, after all. They don't want the Catago to come in that easily."

"That worked out well."

Pollux laughed darkly.
"I'm glad we met Will, though."

"Yeah, me too."

Aiden paused.

"As for the second part of your question... we haven't known him for that long, no. But you can't control your emotions. If you want to know him as a friend first, then please, do what you think will work out best. I didn't mean to pressure you, I'm sorry. But it's not... wrong to like him."

Pollux sighed, rolling around to face Will.

"I suppose you're right."

Aiden grinned.

"Am I ever wrong?"
"Well, yes. Most of the time, actually."

Aiden rolled back over to the cloak/blanket. Pollux edged over a bit closer to Will, allowing Aiden to have more of it.

"I'm sure that was a hard choice to make."

"Aiden, I swear, I'm going to stab you in the throat."

"No need to get physical."

Pollux cuffed him upside the head.

"How's that for physical?"

The two boys laughed heartily, freeing and a welcome relief from the stress of the past weeks, like water washing away the mess, left behind on a beach after a long day. They fell asleep beneath the stars, finally at peace with themselves and the world.