Laurance POV
The guard station is smaller than most, but I guess that's supposed to be expected from a small village like Phoenix Drop. Even if it is small, it still has a pretty decent training area and living quarters upstairs and a pretty sturdy jail area downstairs. Dale was kind enough to give me the tour yesterday, and I'm just going over the place again before they test me.
"Aphmau must trust you a lot, huh? I mean to become her guard at such short notice?" Garroth wanders over to where I am, leaning against the wall while giving a stoic look. Since I've been here all I have gotten from Garroth was statements that sound like the mean nothing, but have a deeper meaning than it means. Does that even make sense? In other words, he's been a pain in the ass about Aphmau and I's relationship.
"Well if she trusted me a lot she would've just made me her guard instead of making me take this test, right." I asks him back, just with as much stoicness he gave me. He glares at me and I smirk, knowing I got him good. "Why don't you put more trust into Lady Aphmau." It wasn't a question when I said it, more of a statement.
"I do." He says, his fist tighten slightly before loosening. He lets his emotions get the best of him. Weakness noted.
"Then stop questioning her. And stop questioning me." I say, finally letting some of my frustrations get out. It's been annoying for the two days I've been here. All I've heard from him are his opinions on my unworthy trust from Aphmau.
"You two stop bickering and get in the ring." Dale says, motioning is over to sparing area. He hands both of us a wooden sword. "Basic sparing, whoever disarms the person first wins."
"You'll lose, I promise you." Garroth says getting in a defensive stance. I get in a stance to, somewhat mocking him while also being serious about it.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Garroth." I smirk back. He growls looking at Dale. He signals begin.
Garroth wasted notice to pounce on me, clashing his sword against mine. I push back, using enough force to knock him off me without knocking myself off balance. His strong, and he knows how to use sword almost perfectly. His grasp on the handle is expertly placed to the point where it would almost be impossible to even nudge it out of place.
"Smart bastard." I mumble under my breathe. Ducking under his slash, I roll to the other side before putting my sword in front of me, both hands on the handle to push against his sword. We both stare at each other, trying to push the swords at each other.
"Why won't you give up." He grunts when I slide my sword from his under his, blocking him off balance. Using this chance, I quickly stand up to put my sword at the back of his neck. He freezes, cursing under his breath because he knows I won.
"A good guard never gives up." I say, grabbing his sword from his hand (with more force than needed) before putting my sword back at my side. "You broke your promise." He growls.
"Nice job, Laurance. I would almost say an easy win. Garroth I expected you to be harder on him." Dale says, a little disappointed in his voice. "Any how there's more testing to be done. You still have hand-to-hand combat and archery to be tested on."
"Give me your best."
Time skip
Hand-to-hand was harder than sparing. Brian is better with his fist then you would think. He socked me a few good times, which is why I'm sitting here with Aphmau with a ice pack to me left eye.
"So Brian managed to hit you hard enough to the point where you get a black eye." Aphmau says, checking my eyes again. "Wow, I never knew he had that much in him." Aph sounded so surprised it made me laugh.
"Yeah he's a lot stronger than he looks." I laugh, remembering the first punch he through at me. It's almost traumatizing. She doesn't laugh with me. It got deathly silent in the room, and I can feel her tense next to me. "What's wrong?" She hides behind her bangs.
"The first time I meet you. Do you remember." She asks. Her voice is so quiet, like she's scared to ask.
"Of course I do Aph. How could I forget." I tell her. She tenses more, before jerking slightly.
"You had a bruise in your eye then, right in the place where it is now." She says, her voice wavering. Her body starts to jerk more, and she starts to cave in on herself.
"What does that have to do with what's wrong right now." I ask her,placing my hand on her back. Her sobbing form has me concerned, because I have never seen her show this much emotion.
"When I saw you my brother had his arm pulled back, ready to strike. In my head all I could think of was, help him. And then he hurt me..." she takes a large breathe before finally looking me in the eyes. Uncontrollable tears fall down her face, and I have to use every ounce of me to not wipe them away.
"I was so scared when they left, because no one ever helped me, but then you did." She says, "and I knew that if they ever found out you helped me, they would hurt you more." She tries to wipe her tears away, but more tears replace them. "The next morning before we left, the beat me because I hadn't come home that night. I never told them about you I always kept you in the back of my mind."
"Aph..." I hug her. I wrap my arms around her and I hold her tightly. She succumbs to the hug and wraps her arms around me just as tight, burying her head into my chest and soaking my shirt with her tears. I didn't care, not while she's in pain. I never knew she held these feeling in for so long.
"I always questioned why you helped me. I mean I was always a lost cause, or at least that's what they told me." She says, trying to hold back her tears. It was fruitless, they still came back fast and furious.
"Do you believe that?" I ask her. The silence was enough to give me an answer. "Aphmau, listen to me. You are not a lost cause. You will never be a lost cause. You are the best thing anyone can ever have."
"Your just saying that to be nice." She says in doubt. I put both my hands on her face and force her to look me in the eyes.
"What I'm saying is the truth. You have the whole village looking out for you, looking for you to lead them. You have me..." I stop myself from saying something I might regret. We haven't known each other long enough. There's no way she'd want to be mine now.
"I have you?" She asks, searchingly eyes for what I was trying to say. I let go of her face, looking anywhere but her. "Laurance-"
There's a knock at the door before a very pink haired cat burst into the room. Her eyes scan the room before they land on Aphmau and I. " Aphmau~Senpai, Kawaii~Chan was wondering if Aphmau~Senpai would-" she stopped when she saw Aph's tear filled face. "Aww, why is Aphmau~Senpai crying?"
"It nothing Kawaii~Chan." She says, wipe my her hands on both sides of her face before giving Kawaii~Chan a smile. "What you were you wondering."
"Oh, is Aphmau~Senpai says she's okay... Kawaii~Chan was wondering is Aphmau~Senpai can give her some extra sugar so Kawaii~Chan can finish her cake." She says all in a mouth full. Does she always talk in third person? Is it hard to always talk in third person?
"Oh, you don't have to make me a birthday cake Kawaii~Chan." Aphmau says. Kawaii~Chan smiles, waving her hand in a way that implies she doesn't mind.
"Aphmau~Senpai deserves it after everything she does for everyone." Kawaii~Chan says. Aphmau nods, and Kawaii~Chan gets the sugar from the cubby. "Oh and Kiki~Sama wanted Kawaii~Chan to tell Aphmau~Senpai that Kiki~Sama will need help tomorrow in the barn." She say, jumping impatiently. If Aphmau's birthday is tomorrow then it would be a surprise party, but the way she worded seemed to trick Aphmau into into thinking it was anything but that.
"Okay Kawaii~Chan, please tell her I'll be there." I watch Kawaii~Chan leave the house, and as she shuts the door it dawns on. It's Aph's birthday tomorrow, and I have no gift for her.
Wow, what a great friend huh?
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I wrote this last night before I went to bed on my phone, so I'm expecting there to be a lot of typo's. Please ignore, I'll edit them someday.
Another Chapter to the loyal one's who stayed, or to the news one's who like it. To them a special thank you.
Don't forget to Like and follow. Commenting isn't bad either. Tell me if you like this remake, with it's flaws and all.
-Kawaii
P.S. not Proofread