{A Few Days Later}
~Alador POV~
Dad dropped me off at Hexside then left. I sat on the steps and was about to start reading when something jumped on my shoulder. I looked over quickly. It's just Eber.
"Hi, Eber." I said.
He made a sound.
I noticed Darius wasn't with him.
"Where's Darius?" I asked.
He made a sound, fake sneezed, pretended to fall asleep, then jumped up.
"He's got the...fire flu?" I asked confused.
He nodded.
"How did I actually get that right?" I said.
Benjamin Rattington poked his head out of my school bag. He must be looking Ace.
"Ace isn't here today." I told him. "They're with Darius and he's out sick."
Benjamin squeaked that he was disappointed. Then he curled back up in my school bag. I took a cracker from my lunchbox and dropped it in my bag. Benjamin nibbled on the cracker.
{A Couple Hours Later}
Edalyn, Raine, Lilith, and Perry sat at the lunch table with Eber and I.
"Okay, so there's someone in Latissa claiming he's the titan reborn. He's a total loon. We have to check it out." Edalyn said.
"He sounds dangerous. If he's that delusional-" Perry started.
"That's the fun part, Porter!" Raine said.
Eber barked.
"Eber says 'you have no choice but to come'." Raine translated.
"You wanted to be friends with us." Edalyn reminded Perry.
"I know." Perry said.
"You're stuck with us now." Edalyn said.
"Be nice, Eda." Raine said.
"I am being nice, Rainestorm! My kind of nice." Edalyn protested.
Raine blushed at the nickname. Something about Edalyn and Raine since grom has been different. I could be wrong though, probably am.
"You'll get used to the chaos we manage to get ourselves into." I told Perry. "Some dangerous, some not. Most of it illegal. You'll get used to all of it."
"What do you mean 'most of it illegal'?" Perry asked.
"It's as it sounds." I said.
"I don't feel safe..." He muttered under his breath.
Eber snickered.
{Several Hours Later}
"How do we get to Latissa again?" I asked.
"The sewers." Edalyn said.
"Is there another way?" Perry asked.
Eber whimpered as if he didn't like the sewer idea either.
"Flying, obviously." Edalyn answered.
"Let's fly." Lilith said.
Porter, Eber, and I agreed with her.
"You guys are no fun!" Edalyn said.
"Not everyone likes sewers." Raine laughed. "Sewers are kind of gross."
"You're supposed to be on my side!" Edalyn said.
"Eh. Not really." Raine replied as they summoned their staff and flew off towards Latissa.
"Get back here! We're not finished with this conversation!" Edalyn protested as she flew after them on her staff.
"Hurry up!" Lilith snapped at Porter, Eber, and I as she followed her sister.
{Half An Hour Later}
Perry's staff spiraled and he collided with a tree. Then Lilith and I landed normally. Eber flew with me.
"Are you okay?" I asked as Perry managed to escape the branches of the tree.
"Yeah...where'd my-" He started then his staff tumbled down onto head. "Ow! Found it..."
Eber snickered.
"Let's find Edalyn and Raine." Lilith said.
Eber made a sound then pointed. We all looked. Edalyn and Raine were at the edge of the market square.
"That works." I said.
We went over to them. Neither of them were paying attention to who was around and listening. I went to say something to let them know we were behind them but Raine spoke first.
"Just because you're my girlfriend doesn't mean I have to agree with you on everything." Raine said.
...what?
Lilith cleared her throat. Edalyn and Raine whirled around.
"Um...how long have you four been here?" Raine said, wide-eyed.
"Long enough to hear you call Edalyn your girlfriend." Perry said.
"...damnit." Edalyn muttered.
"How long has this been going on?" Lilith asked.
"Since a little after grom." Edalyn admitted.
"Lilith, don't be mad at Edalyn. She wanted to tell you but I was nervous." Raine said.
"I'm not mad. I just wish I knew." Lilith said.
"Can we just get to watching the insane guy trying to convince people he's a titan?" Edalyn said, trying desperately to change the subject.
Lilith sighed and nodded. We walked to find where the delusional guy was.
Eber made a sound.
"Eber, that is...severely inappropriate and none of your business." Raine said to her.
"What did she ask?" I said.
"I'm not repeating it." They said.
Eber snickered.
"Why are you so good at making them uncomfortable?" I asked him.
He shrugged.
{A Few Days Later}
I double checked my abomination was right.
"It's perfect, don't worry so much." Someone said next to me.
"I just-" I started then realized whose voice it was.
I looked over as Darius sat on the steps with Eber on his shoulder.
"You just what?" He asked.
"I just want to make sure it is." I said.
I put the lid on the caldron and sat next to him.
"Eber said you had the fire flu." I said.
"I did. It finally cleared up." Darius said.
"I'm glad you're better." I told him.
"You're not wearing your glasses." He noted.
"I finally got contacts again." I said.
"What a shame." He fake sighed.
I laughed.
"Now, what did I miss?" He asked. "Eber hasn't told me even the smallest detail of what's gone on the past few days."
"Well, we found out Edalyn and Raine have been together for over a month." I answered.
"Oh, really? How shocking." He said sarcastically.
"You knew already?" I asked.
"I figured it out a while ago. Raine's a terrible actor, they're too honest." He said.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "You're supposed to tell me everything!"
"It wasn't my secret to tell." He shrugged.
"Fine." I sighed.
"Now, what else happened?" He asked.
"We tried to see this delusional guy in Latissa. It was a bust though, he got arrested before we even got there. Perry was relieved but the rest of us were disappointed." I said. "Edalyn stole some stuff to get over it but it just got us arrested."
"You got arrested?" Darius said. "No joke?"
"Yeah! They released us pretty quickly." I said. "She didn't steal anything important. Though it was surprisingly her first time being arrested."
"Thought she'd have a record by now." He said.
"We were all surprised she didn't." I said. "Except Lilith but Lilith is her sister. Oh, you should probably know Eber bit someone."
"Eber!" He snapped.
Eber whimpered.
"Who was it?" Darius asked.
"Odalia." I said. "She was harassing me again. Eber noticed I was uncomfortable and bit her."
"I take it back. I'm not mad." He told Eber. "You did a good thing, Eber."
Eber grinned. Darius looked back at me.
"Anything else?" He said.
"Lily and I got detention for mixing potion and abomination magic." I told him. "What we created tried to kill us."
"You definitely deserved detention if it tried to kill you." He laughed.
I laughed too.
"Other than that stuff, nothing super interesting happened." I said.
Benjamin Rattington started poking his head around. Darius laughed and took Ace out. He put them down next to him. Benjamin squeaked with joy before nuzzling Ace.
"Aw." I laughed.
"I think Ben missed you, Ace." Darius said.
Benjamin nodded. Ace used their paw to bap Benjamin's head. Benjamin squeaked and tried to nuzzle Ace's paw. After about a minute, Benjamin gave up on nuzzling the paw and jumped on Ace's back. He nuzzled the top of Ace's head. Ace curled up, causing Benjamin to fall off of them. Benjamin squeaked at Ace and they stared at him. Ace nuzzled Benjamin before letting him climb back on their back. Darius and I laughed as we watched our palismen.