#v:tox2

I wrote this due to my friend being sick. I always imagine that Gaius would be a pain in the ass for anyone but Wingul to take care of when he’s sick. @mochizuke maybe this can help ya feel better. love you <3

Emily sat next to Erston frustrated beyond belief. She had been trying to get him to open again due to what she believed was a reoccurring nightmare. He denied it of course, but that didn’t mean anything. Something was bothering him, and he wouldn’t open to her. It was just them in the apartment, no friends were trying to get them out or to come over.

‘Why is he being so stubborn?’ she pondered at herself as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. Wingul sat in the middle, playing referee when need be. Both had scratches at this point from when they got to close to one another. Both humans were still fuming at this point.

Emily figured if she got up, he’d make a remark and he knew she would do the same. The waiting game was horrendous. How in hell did he expect her to open to them when he refused to do the same. He claimed to have opened a bit, but really, he hadn’t. This topic though, was something she needed him to open about. It bugged him daily and she could see it. You cannot heal if you don’t acknowledge it at the minimum.

“Emily” Erston finally spoke up which prompted her to turn in his direction.

“yes?” She was wary since this was this first time either have spoken in at least the last few hours.

“I propose we go out for dinner. We both need to relax and unwind.” Emily couldn’t really say no to that. Especially after her stomach growled in agreement.

“Alright, let’s go. I’m sure Wingul would like some time to himself.” Erston nodded in agreement as they both prepared to go out.

The man could’ve sworn that he saw the cat sigh when both got up and were at least civil to one another.

While dinner was what they both needed, it didn’t mean Emily was giving up. Not without one hell of a fight. They had gotten text from Jude saying that everyone was meeting up to go do something. It was vague and left both with question as to the motive behind the sudden meet up.

“Well now, this should be fun.” Emily commented as they made their way to the meeting point. Erston nodded in agreement, wondering what could be up. He had a hunch and would be proven right possibly if things happened the way he thought they would.

“Yes, Jude didn’t give details, just to meet up with everyone at a specific location.” Emily had the same thought as Erston and he could read it on her face.

“If it is what we suspect, we go straight home.” They stopped for a moment so that both parties agreed.

“Agreed. I’m tired of them doing this to us.” Erston confessed. That shocked Emily, he told the truth about something? Or maybe he secretly like it and wouldn’t tell her. It still prompted her next question.

“Why do you keep lying to me?” She asked solemnly as she refused to look at him. This made both stop. What prompted that?

“I don’t lie to you, I just don’t tell you everything.” He quickly rebutted but Emily wasn’t having it.

“You lie to me too. Don’t deny it.” Emily’s voice was sharp as she prepared to fight him on this. Erston wasn’t having any of this tonight. First their fight from this afternoon and now this?

“I don’t lie to you. If anything, I’ve told you the most truths.” He tried not to grit his teeth as he spoke to her in a harsh manner. Emily just glared at him.

“Then tell me what has you all in a fury? What events are coming back to you that are making you irritable?” This again, he knew it.

“Nothing, now drop the subject. I don’t talk about the deceased.” He turned from her as he gave her an icy stare plus a cold shoulder. Emily felt her blood begin to boil. Well, he was going to learn the one secret she did manage to keep from him that no one asked about at all as well.

“’Erst you idiot!’” Erston turned to face Emily startled. Had he just heard her correctly?

“’You can’t keep holding everything forever! I wish you would just open up to me about certain things instead of being closed up all the time! I can’t keep doing this! Either open your heart to me or just tell me I’ll be shut out no matter what I do!’” Erston still couldn’t fathom that she was speaking Long Daui.

“’Since when could you speak this tongue?’” He asked her calmly, hoping that she would start to calm down as well. That just made Emily fume further. Their friends started to come near them carefully. They saw the argument brewing and didn’t want to upset Emily any further, nor feel Erston’s wrath.

“Whoa, what do you think is going on?” Alvin asked no one in particular. Jude was concerned.

“From the looks of it, I think Erston might be getting his ass handed to him.” Alvin shook his head.

“Please, the only person who could’ve done that is dead…” Unless Wingul gave this woman permission years ago, but he highly doubted that.

“’I’ve been able to speak it for a long time…but that isn’t the point.’” She knew he was trying to change the subject on her.

“’Who taught you?’” He glared at her, not wanting to believe that Wingul had been the one to teach her.

“’Li Ying.’” His heart dropped. How did this woman know his best friend and right-hand man?

“’When did he teach you?’” Emily was growing frustrated. She knew little about how the war between Exodus and Rieze Maxia affect him, but had been able to piece together what she had been suspecting, she just wanted him to say it.

“’He taught me over the course of many years. I met him when I was fifteen years old. He had been teaching me since then.’” She was fluent in the language and he diction was perfect. Wingul went through painful strides to make sure of this.

“’Who else from the Chameriad did you know?’” Might as well ask. He saw their companions standing off to the side watching the whole thing.

“Since when did Emily know how to speak Long Daui?” Rowan inquired having only joined the group a few moments ago. Alvin looked at him with a grim expression.

“Apparently Wingul taught her.” Rowan wasn’t shocked but started to wonder how Wingul managed to teach her.

“’Stop this! You’re only hurting yourself!’” She was tired of the distraction.

“’Why can’t you admit that not only do you miss them but that you were hurt by their deaths!’” This started to make Erston know what she knew.

“’I wasn’t hurt by their death like the king was.’” Emily’s face went dark at that moment and all Erston could see was a stream of tears flowing down the right cheek.

“’Liar. You were hurt badly by their deaths’” she spat out at him angrily, “’I wish you would quit this game of yours. I’m sorry but they are gone. You need to allow yourself to mourn.’” Erston knew he couldn’t afford that luxury.

“’I don’t believe mourning their deaths is the right thing. They gave their lives so that we could continue’” he was cut off at that point by Emily.

“’You only say that, because you don’t want anyone to see how broken you can truly be. You don’t want anyone to know, that you, King Gaius, are nothing more than a human.’” With that, Emily turned and ran off from everyone. Elle tried to go after her, but Leia stopped her. Erston stood there stunned.

“How…when…” he couldn’t find the words. Jude came over and gave him a small, hopeful smile.

Emily and Leia were looking through some of the books in Orda Palace at Rowan’s request. He needed them to thin out the books so that they could figure out what was needed. To Emily this seemed to be a waste. She understood the need and want to have the libraries filled with accurate books and nothing too heavily biased, but that was the joy of reading history. You got two sides of the story. Though she admitted, as she found a copy of Auj Oule’s history that she once owned, some books needed to go.

“This is so boring” Leia whined a bit as she closed the book in front of her. Emily sighed but smiled at the teen. She should be off doing reporter things, not stuck in a dusty library.

“I know it is. I’m almost done though.” She still wanted to know why she needed company, but Rowan insisted. Maybe Leia was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong again. Who knows.

“Alright.” She picked up the book Emily put to the side for discard.

“Hey, why are you getting rid of this one?” She asked as she held it up.

“That one is trifle with misinformation, the author did it on purpose.” She stated as she finished the last shelf. There, Rowan wasn’t going to be happy, but at least she knew Erston would back her up.

“But I thought you said that history is interesting when two people tell the same story differently.” Emily just smiled.

“That is true, but the problem with that one is even the basics are wrong. It didn’t even list the Outway tribe.” Leia made an ‘oh’ face.

“That is a problem.” Emily nodded.

The two girls picked up all the books for discard and headed out of the library. It killed Emily to throw them away, but to make this place about resources, it need to be done to have reliable resources.

“So then question, why do account of history vary?” Leia had always wondered about that, ever since she was a child in school.

“History often times, is written by the victors. That’s why you will find many books about the same thing. The tedious part is finding the ones that match closely to each other.” She sighed as she thought of the many papers she had written for school. Had it not been for Wingul, she would’ve been lost countless times.

“Oh, so if I write a book about King Gaius and you were to write one, we would probably end up with two different books.” Emily giggled a bit uneasy at that.

“Where did that come from?” She asked as they discarded the books finally. Leia shrugged.

“I dunno, it just sorts of popped in my head. I mean, at some point I want to write one about him. I know him and know about him so yeah. If you were to write it, you would be pretty biased.”

“That is true. You would be too but for different reasons. To me, he’s not only a royal pain in the ass, but he’s also the man who helped bring our world together.” Leia nodded in agreement.

“And I would write it out as a friend whose heart is bigger than people realize.” Emily scoffed at that.

“Seriously? It cannot be that big.” She blushed a bit as she thought to the flirting in his letter. Leia grinned.

“You love him.” Emily’s eyes bugged out at the accusation.

“I do not!” Leia giggled as she watched her friend go frantic.

“Yes, you do, you flirt with him all the time. Alvin told me.” Emily just stood there contemplating killing Alvin.

“It’s not a betrayal if they do kinda need to know….’ She never told anyone about the letters until one slipped from Rowan’s pocket one day. Everyone was acting weird that day too. Emily was just embarrassed as Rowan explained the situation.

“Okay fine I do, happy?” She admitted finally. Leia grinned from ear to ear.

“I knew it! I have a keen sense for getting the truth.” Emily just looked at her friend dumbfounded.

“More like you know how to yank it out of people…” She muttered under her breath, thankful that she didn’t hear her.

“Alright come on, let’s go report to Rowan!” She marched in the direction of Rowans office and Emily fell in behind her.

“Yeah but don’t say anything around Erston please.” Emily pleaded with the young woman. Leia looked at her confused.

“What do you mean?” Emily blushed as she looked at the floor. Leia made the ‘oh’ face again and went grim.

“Alright, I won’t. You’ll figure it out though okay?” She smiled at Emily who in turn just smiled back weakly.

Emily walked through the front door of her apartment, glad to finally be home.

She took a job with Alvin, Leia and Rowan to go defeat a monster that was classified as an Elite monster. It took longer to take it down than they all had thought. She knew Erston should have gone in her place, but they all kept reassuring her that she was much needed since Elize was in school.

“They just needed a healer…and I should have stuck to that.” She leaned against her closed front door and slid down til she was sitting on the floor. She was mentally exhausted as well. She felt like she wasn’t doing enough to help everyone, even if she was the one who gave the killing blow. Then getting the reward was a hassle as well since they had no evidence. Despite there being a carcass in the middle of the Mon Highlands.

“They said nothing about bringing evidence, did they?” It was then her GHS went off. She fished it from her coat pocket and read it. Apparently, they goofed. They did need to bring it back but because of Alvin knowing both Rowan and King Gaius, the person was pressured by his friends to fork it over. Emily didn’t care about it. She let Alvin and Leia split it evenly.

Wingul, her loyal cat and companion came over to her and meowed in greeting. Emily gave a weak smile as she pets her cat.

“You always know when I’m upset don’t you?” She asked as the cat just soaked in the attention he was receiving. It was then that the woman felt herself get pushed forward. Erston poked his head through the doorway once the opening was big enough and saw what was blocking him from entering.

“Oh, sorry Erston!” Emily scrambled to her feet so that her roommate could get through.

“Why were you sitting in front of the door just now?” He asked gently as he took in her body language.

“I’m just tired is all. I kinda almost collapsed right as I came in.” Wingul looked at the man. That told Gaius what he needed to know. She was tired both psychically and mentally.

“Alright. Did you want to go out for dinner?” He asked seeing as he guessed right about her not eating yet. Emily smiled a small smile.

“No, I’ll cook.”

After dinner, Emily retired to her room for a couple of hours while Erston and Wingul sat together on the couch. It was the only time the cat tolerated him. Erston just read a book while waiting for Emily to come back out of the room.

Emily sat at her vanity trying not to cry. Today was just a random bubble burst for her. She missed her home in Fenmont. She missed her old life. She tried to be as quiet as possible though. Erston had a keen sense of knowing when she was upset and didn’t want him to worry. He did that enough.

“Emily?” Erston called for her softly. Wingul sat next to him, wondering if either would be let in. Emily looked at her door. She didn’t lock it so if he really wanted to, he could come in. She hoped he would, but also hoped that he wouldn’t. She heard him sigh though which meant he was coming in.

Erston opened the door slowly, letting the cat in before him.

“Emily, what’s wrong?” He asked as he walked over to her. She looked up at him, her eyes blood shot from crying so much. Wingul jumped up on that vanity and meowed at her.

“Nothing, it’s nothing. Just my stupid brain making me relive things. I’ll be fine.” She got up from her vanity abruptly and tried to walk out. Erston stopped her though. He was getting tired of this bravado that she was having.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” He said before she asked him to move. She sighed in defeat at that.

“Fine, if you want to know, I miss home!” Erston was taken aback by that declaration. She never once talked about her home, not unless it was how she wouldn’t dive into the information they needed.

“You are home.” Where did that come from? Emily was starting to shake, her anger getting the best of her. She felt her brain overload on her.

“No, I’m not! This forsaken city will never be home!” She put her hands on her head as if she was starting to get a migraine. Erston took her into his arms and held her close.

“Home is where your heart is, where you feel safe and warm.” He tilted her head up so that she could look at him better, tears streamed down her face at this rate. “And also loved.” He kissed her forehead lightly before she buried her face into his chest. As she cried, he rubbed her back, letting her get it all out.

“What’s wrong with me?” She sobbed out as she tried to stop, but kept crying the more she tried.

“Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing that is, that cannot be worked on.” She wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that.

“I’m angry one minute and sad the next. I’ll go for days like this or months happy. Don’t get me started on the empty days.” She pulled away from him, taking his hand into hers so that she could lead him to her bed.

“What I mean is that this can be worked on” he tried to explain what he was thinking. “There is nothing really wrong about being like this. You went through a lot in a short amount of time and never had time to recover. You can work on healing now, but probably aren’t sure how to go about it.” Emily listened to her friend as he continued to explain what he was talking about. She just nodded before leaning against him.

“I’m sorry…” He gave her a side hug and smiled a small smile.