"You can't say much different about me?" I sounded so shocked, even though I tried not to.
"Well, I mean, yeah... You hid so much from us in the beginning. You still continue to hide things, even if you do have good reasons, what's stopping you from hiding something about yourself 'just because you can'?"
I paused before answering. "Everything I hide is for very important reasons. Most of what I hide is because I need to in order to let Irene properly remember everything." I pushed the hostility in my tone away to the best of my abilities. But in my focus to keep from sounding hostile, I forgot something I see as equally important. "Err... Aphmau, not Irene." I rubbed my left hand on the back of my neck and faced away from Laurence.
"Y/N..." He whispered. "You didn't do anything wrong by calling her Irene."
"I know that... It just... It just feels wrong. That over there," I motioned to Aphmau standing next to Garroth at the wheel. "that isn't Irene anymore. That is Aphmau. Irene is gone."
"I wouldn't necessarily say she's gone..."
Time Skip (Narrator's POV)
Y/N sat on the top-most deck, looking out at the sea as it reflected the setting sun. This was the 6th nightfall that had befallen the group after they left from Pheonix Drop, including the ones on the island from before. The ship always seemed to be bustling since they invited Travis with; not a dull moment or a quiet place. Y/N was lucky to find a place with peace and quiet: just her and her thoughts. Well... and her baby.
"You seem deep in thought," Katelyn said as she sat beside the E/C-eyed woman. "What's on your mind?"
Y/N turned to face her, thoughts brushed away. "Shouldn't you be resting down below? Ya know... since you get seasick..."
"Well, I mean I should..." Katelyn smiled softly, looking a little pale. "But Travis is down below pestering Lucinda. And I would be a fool if I did not come up here for peace and quiet."
"A fool would be an understatement when speaking of Travis."
"Oh?" The bluenette raised an eyebrow.
The H/C-haired woman faced the ocean again. "He can be on the noisier side and definitely doesn't know boundaries. But I think part of the problem is who he is and how he was treated on that island. He was kept away from the others, shunned because they didn't believe or trust him. So I think he has a hard time interacting with other humans sometimes."
Katelyn nodded in understanding. She got the same impression from Y/N sometimes. Y/N, being so different and shut off, seemed to still be trying to get a grip on the customs of others. "I've been meaning to ask you..."
Here we go... Y/N thought. She got a sense of deja vu from this whole situation.
"Why are covering your face with shadows still?" Katelyn asked, purely out of curiosity.
Oh... That's easy to answer. "Well, it was to protect me from the imps on the island. They have never known my face and therefore cannot impersonate it. But now it's because I don't want Travis to know. There isn't enough trust between us yet."
Katelyn nodded, unaware she was doing so. She was suddenly feeling quite unwell and she got up and rushed to the other side of the boat. Y/N waved Katelyn off as she reluctantly returned to the lower cabins on the boat, hoping to rest.
Time Skip (Back to Your POV)
It was quite a surprise to everyone on board, except for me, when we reached a mountainous island. "Is this the island you were talking about?" Aphmau stepped up next to me.
Unfortunately, I was feeling rather nauseous this morning and it was a bit of a pain to stand with the others and not seem sick. "No. But this island is a good place to stop, rest, and get supplies."
Eventually, we all got off the ship, either jumping or with help from Lucinda's magic, and ended up on the sandy beach shore. The guys were setting up a little camp, Lucinda was trying to summon platforms from the ship to the beach, Katelyn and Aphmau were discussing a plan of action, and I was just watching the waves. It was peaceful. "What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing much, Katelyn. I'm really just watching the waves. They're relaxing and help me remain calm."
"Well the rest of us are going to sleep soon, seeing as the sun is setting." I nodded and she walked away.
Lucinda walked over to me not long after. "You need to sleep. I can tell that you were going to offer to stay up and guard but you can leave that to the boys." She brought her voice down to a whisper, "You have a baby on the way anyway."
I shook my head. "I'll be fine..."
"No. You're going to go to sleep. If you don't I'll tell everyone your secret." She crossed her arms and leaned on her left hip.
"Fine!" I huffed, standing up. "I'll sleep. But only because you said you would tell everyone."
Aphmau, Katelyn, Lucinda, and I all shared the little covering the boys had set up. The guys, on the other hand, needed to have separate ones. Laurence and Garroth shared one, very spaced apart though. And Travis took another small one we had. Aaron stayed up taking the first watch and when it wasn't his turn, he would sleep next to a nearby tree.
Time Skip
The sun rose and slowly awoke me. I was the only one awake, not even one of the guys was up. I sat up slowly, as to not trigger my nausea and repeated the same slow process for standing. After I managed to stand, I stretched just before my nausea hit me all at once.
After being sick in a nearby bush, I walked back over to the beach and sat down. I slipped off my shoes and set my feet in the water. The water lapped up and hit my legs, which made me shiver a little bit. I took a deep breath in and sighed. Sleep came relatively easily last night; however, it wasn't the most comfortable, being on the ground and all.
I looked down and smiled before putting a hand on my stomach. 3 months... you are officially 3 months old little one. It was an earth-shattering thought. It's been 3 months since Zane took me. And not even that since I killed him. So much has happened in such little time. I mean, give me a bit more time (up to a month), and I'll begin showing this little sweetheart.
My stomach rumbled, which startled me a little. "I'm hungry?" I mumbled. Well, I don't have food; I'm going to have to wait for the others or go out and find some myself. But since I don't really feel like hunting and making a campfire, I'll just wait.
It wasn't very long before the others all got up. It was the boys first and then the girls. I guess they were just a bit more exhausted. Both groups were as equally as surprised to see me already up. When the others boarded the ship, Lucinda approached me slowly and sat down next to me by the water. "Did you actually sleep, or were you up all night?"
"I slept," I answered plainly. "It's just that I'm always up as soon as the sun rises. I guess it became a habit after my brother came into existence."
Lucinda sighed and watched the others bring a few boxes down. "That's not a very healthy habit to have... especially right now."
I brought my voice down low. "I know that. But I don't think it'll be something I can break anytime soon."
After a bit longer, Aphmau called us over to eat. She pulled out several loaves of bread from the top-most crate. They were passed around and we all ate happily.
Time Skip (Narrator's POV)
After the group was done eating, they began to discuss what they wanted to do for the day they had to take a break. The general consensus was that they should go exploring. But since not everyone wanted to explore, the group split in two. Lucinda, Katelyn, and Travis stayed behind to re-load the ship and watch over their camp. The remaining 5, Aaron, Aphmau, Garroth, Laurence, and Y/N, all went off towards the mountains. Speaking of Y/N, after they were a good distance away from base camp, and she was absolutely sure no one was following them, Y/N removed her shadows. She felt no need to keep them on around people who already know what she looks like.
It wasn't long before they found something. Well more like Laurence found something... "AH!" Aaron, Aphmau, Garroth, and Y/N all looked at each other. "Dammit! I fell in a hole!" Laurence called back up to the group.
Garroth and Aaron looked away, widely smiling. Y/N doubled over, almost crying from laughing, her E/C eyes tightly squeezed shut. "We can see that," Aphmau snarkily replied. "Is anything down there that can possibly help you get out?"
"Not that I can see. Though there does appear to be a much wider opening way off to the side over there." The boy in the cave responded.
"Well then..." The H/C-haired girl began, straightening herself up and running her hand through her hair. "I guess we'll just have to come down and join you!" She jumped down midway through her sentence, gracefully landing on her feet.
"Y/N!" Aphmau called out.
Y/N looked back up, placing her hands on her hips. "What?"
The 3 at the top shook their heads before jumping down, Aphmau having gotten help down by Garroth. The five of them walked farther into the cave, which definitely got increasingly more open. Right at the opening to the widest part of the tunnels, the group stopped to try and decide what their plan of action should be.
There was a familiar chatter that caught Y/N's attention. She turned to see wyverns. Royal golden wyverns at that. "Hmmm..." She furrowed her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes in thinking.
"Y/N? What are you doing?" She hadn't even realized she was walking away until Garroth drew attention to it.
"Are those..?" The black-haired lord trailed off.
Y/N nodded continuing to walk over to the creatures. "Wyverns."
When she got close enough, the largest wyvern moved in front of her, protecting the smaller wyverns. "Get back you revolting human." The wyvern screeched.
"I can understand you, ya know." Y/N knelt down to the wyvern's height, putting her hands on her knees.
The wyvern seemed off-put. "You can speak wyvern? How is that possible only..." He trailed off looking down.
"Aphmau!" Y/N called over. She walked over cautiously and then smiled.
"Raven?! Is that you? You've grown quite big!"
"Yes indeed. I am quite pleased to see you. Now can either of you please explain why this human can speak wyvern?" Raven inquired.
(Your POV)
The guys walked over, curious as to what we're doing. Laurence took a step back and turned away, Garroth seemed as surprised as Aphmau was, and Aaron didn't really show much emotion at all, not that I would've been able to tell with his bandanna over his eyes. Aphmau and I glanced at each other, unsure how to explain this. "Well, you remember how you thought I was related to Irene?" The golden wyvern raised his snout as a way of showing her remembered. "I am actually Irene. And this here would be Y/N. She was close to me a really long time ago."
"Y/N?" Raven repeated my name. "You're that sorceress that saved our packs mother eons ago..." He nuzzled my hand.
Aphmau looked at me in surprise. "You what?"
I nodded. "You can explain this situation to the guys. I'll continue speaking with Raven."
"Raven?" Garroth asked. "He's my wyvern companion."
Aphmau turned around and started to explain the whole situation to the guys. "So Raven, you wyverns seem to be guarding something. What are you protecting?"
"Well, I'm glad that it was you and Irene that we ran into. We have no idea how humans work and we can't care for it on our own."
"What are you talking about?" I tilted my head slightly.
"I can sense that you are of child and so I know it will be safe in your hands." Raven moved out of the way and revealed a little baby sleeping on a bed of hay. It was bundled in a white cloth which indicates another human in the area. "Could you possibly take this small human off our hands?"
I stood up and straightened myself out. "You need me to take this child?" I asked slowly.
"A child?!" Aphmau, Garroth, and Laurence exclaimed. Aaron leaned back against the wall of the cave; he seemed to be surprised.