Origins[Completed]

Chapter 55: Honest Feelings

[Delta Zone - Mist Forest]

[Tay-ki]

I noticed something was off.

I had known that something was off but I still chose to ignore my intuition and continue to fight in that ambush.

Then I saw the snake. By the time I had reacted I was already too late. The snake had gotten the both of them.

Fueled by rage I smashed my fist into the ground altering the structure to change the ground into a pitfall. All the enemies we were fighting sank to the bottom where they most likely suffocated.

All of it had, the ambush, the capture, the battle had only lasted five minutes. Five freeaking minutes!

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!" I smashed my fist into the ground continuously. I had used up a lot of magical energy so going after them would be suicide.

But I didn't care.

I needed to save my best friend. He needed me now more than ever.

"Tay-ki!" I hear someone call from behind me. At the same to I had felt a hand on my shoulder.

"What?!" I turned around. My voice sounded harsher than I had expected.

The one who touched my shoulder was Tiara. She stared at me wide eyed but then gave me an assertive look.

"You need to calm down, Tay-ki," she said in an assertive tone. It only succeeded in aggravating me.

"'Calm down'? Calm down? Why would I want to do that?" I felt my voice get louder the more I spoke. "Hakio, my best friend is in danger! In fact, why are none of you worried at all? I thought that we were not only a team, but we cared about one another? Or do you not care about him at -"

Slap!

It had happened so fast and was so strong that I had staggered back a bit. My cheek was burning from being slapped so hard.

The culprit was Tiara. Her face was red from anger and tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"He's my friend of course I care about him!" She yelled. Her voice came through painfully clear and her feelings came through as well. "Of course I care about him, but I also know and trust him enough to believe that he won't die from this. Not here, not now."

The glare she gave me gave me a pained feeling in my chest.

"So don't you ever question that again."

I stood there silently.

I could not argue. I could not disagree. I could not question. I could not lie.

Tiara saw my guilty expression and immediately averted her gaze.

"... I'm sorry," she mumbled then walked away.

"..." I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind.

She was absolutely right. I've known Hakio longer than anyone else, but it feels like I've known him the least. I can't just believe that he will be fine.

I noticed that something was wrong by his attitude and demeanour. I noticed that something was wrong with this ambush. I noticed and did not do anything to stop it.

The pain in my chest and the lump in my throat are not going away.

"Ah." I understood. All of this is my fault. I was horrible friend for not being able to protect my friend.