Tale Never Told [Completed]

Chapter 14.

Fred turned his head and smiled at Xara, kind of saying that everything was okay. The closer they got to the village, the darker her facial expression became, and her grip on his hand tightened more and more. Not enough to cause him any damage, but very noticeable nevertheless. Romeo didn't look like he had any trouble whatsoever, apart from the fact that now he was being followed by a few small, furry creatures with long and bushy tails.

The man with blue skin, however, felt just more and more happy with every new step, and he had to constantly remind himself of the deal he had made with others. They hadn't agreed to give their powers up, not yet, instead choosing to try and see how the locals would treat them.

While this did seem like a good solution to the problem at the time, now he was becoming more and more unsure about it. Surely Marcus and the others would see right through their little lie? Besides, why did they even have to lie in the first place? He was confident that the people here didn't have any bad intentions, they just wanted to stop another horrible war that was sure to happen sometime soon. If not between the three of them, at least between Xara and Marcus himself.

Still, he had to take a deep breath to calm himself down. It wouldn't help if he got too enthusiastic about the upcoming night, he had to keep his mind clear of all blurry thoughts that could appear in his head with time.

Finally, he moved the last branches aside and walked towards the village. It was so beautiful! The houses were small and colourful, some of them even had different paintings on their sides. The grass was emerald green and it didn't feel like it was mowed. Actually, he got a feeling that it never grew higher than this height. The sky was clear, and only a couple of small, fluffy clouds were moving perfectly slowly. The sun was warm on his skin and as he took a breath, he felt happiness bloom inside him.

"Ugh." Xara growled and pulled on his hand roughly. "Can you be any more annoying?!"

Fred huffed but didn't reply, knowing that it wasn't her who was talking. Her mind was negatively affected by the village, by the people here and by Marcus, so she more than had a right to be grumpy and angry at the whole world. He was also aware that he might be acting like a naive fool, very trusting and far too happy.

"Are you okay?" Romeo asked, looking at his two friends in worry. His eyes were open wide and filled with slight fear. The woman let out a sigh and gave him a smile, ruffling his scarlet curls.

"Yeah, don't worry." She nodded and groaned in exhaustion. "I just feel very angry for no reason, that's all. You feel it too, right?"

She glanced at her older friend, to which he nodded slowly.

"Yeah, but it's not anger for me." He shrugged and had to suppress a stupid smile. "It's stupid happiness, I don't know how to deal with it."

"Whoa." The kid widened his eyes. "It sounds so coo-"

Lhe didn't get to finish, though, because one of the furry creatures had pounced on his leg. Its small claws sank into his skin as it began to swiftly climb higher and higher. Romeo yelped and then laughed childishly, picking the furry creature up and holding it on his palm. It sniffed his fingers and tilted its head to the side, looking at the guy curiously.

Fred and Xara both watched as their friend was attacked by a few more of those creatures, although they didn't cause him any harm. Quite the opposite, really, he seemed to be glowing with glee as their amount grew, regretting only that he didn't have enough hands to stroke them all at the same time.

"There you are!" A voice called behind them and the two older friends immediately turned around, the woman growling as she saw the man with white skin and black eyes approach. "We were worried about you!"