*EDIT* WHOOOPS. Forgot to title the chapter....

Whoo, this is a bit early but who cares! We visit the rest of Seto's friends who arrive in Duhita finally! Yay, and I know that by the end of this chapter all you guys will nonstop ship things, because that is what you'll do.

I should be used to it, but ugh I'm not. Also, I know the quote is the same one I used in CH4 for Destiny Calls, but it fits nicely for both chapters.

Also! Go check out Alzakz she just made an amazing Fanart for Falling to rise with Jerome and Mitch angrily calling each other names! Thank you once again.

And if anyone else makes fanart for me, please tell me I'd love to see it, and I'll do my best to shout you out!

Also, anyone else notice how it has become a thing to call Mitch princess? I love how that is now a small little thing for my small little book XD

~~~~~

Grasping Fate

Chapter 2

"Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness"

Seto and Tyler were tangled on the floor of the carriage as the carriage bumped and rocked along while racing down the streets of Neim. It was difficult for the both of them to sit upright with the hectic movement but as soon as they managed to, Tyler immediately spoke.

"Seto! Are you ok?!"

"Am I ok! Tyler you were surrounded on all sides by soldiers, are you hurt anywhere!" Seto panicked.

"I'm fine," Tyler assured him, "But if you're ok and I'm ok can you explain to me what's going on. Like, where the nether did you get a carriage and who is that chick--"

"My name is Alesa, thank you!"

"Err, Alesa, right... But who is she?" Tyler corrected.

"I met Alesa after we ran into a bit of trouble earlier, she ended up helping me afterwards and now we are here," Seto recalled quickly.

At that moment a sword stuck its way into the wall of the carriage just narrowly missing Tyler, "Oh! What the holy nether!" Tyler stood up in the small space and pulled out his sword, "Seto, get up, we're gonna have to fight in here."

"R-right!" Seto didn't have a sword but he did have his staff, He pulled that out and both he and Tyler faced opposite door.

"Girl with fire hair--"

"Alesa, remember!"

"Right, Alesa, we'll do our best back here, just make sure you just keep driving!"

"That's what I'm doing."

When Seto looked outside, the color from his face almost drained completely. It looked like a small army, though that was an exaggeration, it felt like the right thing to say. There were just so many soldiers chasing after them, and the Vragan border was still a ways off now that they were no longer in the capital.

"Come back here!" One soldier surged forward on his horse and with his sword swung for Seto's face. Seto barely dodge back into the carriage when the sword embedded itself into the wood and was ripped out of the soldiers hands. Seto sighed.

Tyler seemed to be doing better, actually putting up a fight. Another soldier made their way to Seto's side, but this time Seto was ready. With his staff out he blocked the next attack, and with all his meager might, he pushed the soldier off his horse. Seto knew the relief in his heart would be short lived if he did not focus now.

It went like this for several minutes but it felt like hours before the the breezy warm of Neim was replaced with the freezing cold of Vragan. They made it into the kingdom. Seto looked back to see the soldiers had stopped chasing them, and their forms were only getting smaller in the distance.

"Sir, do we follow them?" One soldier spoke up as Seto's group disappeared into the snowy kingdom.

"No, they'll die soon enough in this weather..."

Seto and Tyler sat back in relief only for them to be literally tossed around the inside of the carriage. There was screaming and shouting before all that could be heard was the whistling winds of Vragan.

~~~~~

On the following day, a ship makes it's way to the shore of a forested kingdom. Aboard that ship is little less that 80 people all of which had come from the neighboring kingdom of Eflido.

"Mitch! Where's the best place to steer this ship toward?" Jordan yelled up by the stern of the ship.

"A little more south and you'll be good!" Mitch waved in the general direction as he leaned out over the bow of the ship.

The ship was steered towards that direction and when the anchor was dropped and a boardwalk was placed, people filed off the boat in happy content. Though it was a pretty large boat, it was still a little too small for that many people. Tensions were a little high due to the small space on the boat. But it was refreshing to finally be off it.

"Oh man!" Adam shouted and stretched, "That felt like it took an eternity to get here!"

"It was only a week..." Ian mumbled before stretching as he also walked off the ship.

"Smells fresh..." Jerome said.

"What?" Adam turned to look at him as he came down the boat.

"Nothing."

"Hey Cap!" A pink-haired man came down the boat carrying more than 10 sheets of rolled up parchment almost as long as him, "Where do you want these papers?"

"Ah! Hey, Kyle, I need those!" Jason ran down the boardwalk to catch up to Kyle who was following Jordan around the shore. Mitch was also with Jordan.

"Haha!" Adam laughed, "Hey! I wonder how Seto and Tyler are doing? Ever since Wag told us they headed to Vragan instead I miss the little guy. He always had this silly timidness to him."

"You act like he's dead!" Jerome huffed.

"He's fine! And he's not dead, you just interpreted it that way!" Adam defended.

"Whatever..." Jerome grumbled and walked away. By now, while the three of them were talking there was almost no one on the boat any longer.

"Man, have you noticed that Jerome has been really grumpy lately?" Adam stated to Ian, but Ian didn't answer and Adam looked at Ian funny before saying, "Hey Ian, you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ian said, he removed his glasses and squinted his eyes, not that it would make a difference with his sight, but he did so to clean off his glasses.

"Hey, Adam! Ian! Do you mind helping me with the boxes up here?" Adam turned to see Jason had returned to the boat, carrying a huge stack of rolled up papers in his arms, likely what he got back from Kyle, "Mitch said this area would belong to us and said that the best idea would be to get everything off the boat and start constructing our base."

"Jason, we can help." Jason's three younger sibling came by next to him.

"Thank you, but the boxes are heavy, I'm sure Kyle or Wag will need help, ask them."

"Ok!" Ava smiled and grabbed Venir's hand and raced down the boardwalk with Glen chasing after them.

"Hey! Be careful!" Jason shouted after them and wobbled on the boardwalk. If Adam wasn't there in time, Jason would've fallen in the shallow waters and likely injured himself, "Ah, thanks."

"No problem, which boxes do you want us to carry?"

"These ones," Jason pointed with his foot to a few boxes by the sides of the boat.

"Roger that!" Adam slapped a goofy grin on followed by laughter from both him and Jason. Jason clambered down the walk, Adam hefted up two boxes, and Ian did the same. Jason took the lead with cheery steps in his heavy metal boots that thumped, thumped, thumped on the grassy ground.

Adam and Ian trailed a little ways behind, "So....."

"No Adam, I'm fine."

"What! How'd you know I was going to say anything like that?!"

"Because you always do the same thing whenever you're trying to get into my business. You start by saying 'so' in a slow and exaggerated tone."

"I do not!" Adam defended himself, "And besides, you know you can talk to me. We've been together for what, 4 or 5--"

"Six."

"Right, six years and you've come a long way from the mean, scary guy you used to be."

"Don't lie Adam, you know I haven't changed."

"..." Adam paused then said, "While it's true you still lack the ability to trust others as you trust me and your sister that you tell me about often , you've definitely changed. Little by little you're a bit more sociable."

Ian sighed, "What do you want me tell you?"

Adam had on another toothy grin, "Well, what's been on your mind lately? A lot has happened since you know.. Your run in with your younger brother... Iv...Ick... What was his name?"

Ian scoffed, "Does it really matter?"

"Well do you think it does?" Adam returned and Ian didn't answer. As the two of them quietly walked an unsettling silence enveloped the both of them until Adam spoke up, "I'm sorry."

"What for."

"I know I can act like a huge idiot sometimes--" Ian snorted, "No, no, no, hear me out."

"I know I'm an idiot, and I know I do reckless things and I make a lot of promises. I failed Seto in protecting his family, but before that, I failed you. I promised you six years ago you'd have a lasting home, and now because of me you've lost it."

"...," Ian said nothing as they walked.

"And...I know because of that... you haven't heard from your sister in a long time. You used to write to her every week, but now you can't, at least not with the way things are. And because of me, you've lost the only connection to your--"

"It's fine Adam."

"No! It's not fine, because of who I am and how I act, I don't think about everyone else all at once. I didn't incorporate how you would feel if I helped Seto out and something like this happened. I didn't incorporate your life when I threw my title away. And..." Adam stopped walking. The two boxes in his arms shielded his faces from Ian's view as he stopped to look back at Adam, "And I know that because of me you may never get your life back.

Adam looked up from the ground as he heard something dropped and then Ian curse loudly, "Ahh! My boxes!" Jason rushed over to grab the spilled contents though most had stayed in the box and landed on Ian's feet when he dropped them. Ian rushed over to Adam and grabbed Adam's hair.

"Ahh!" Adam screamed and Ian shook his head roughly. Adam tried his best to not drop his boxes though one did fall.

"You idiot. Quit that sappy talk right now."

"Ahhh!" Adam still screamed, but a hint of a smile could be seen coming, because he knew what was going on.

"It doesn't matter what happened, it happened in the past, and there is no use dwelling on it. You want to make it up so badly, focus on what we set out to do. To help that idiot dragon kid for Seto, and f*ck! You should know this already," Ian, though trying his best to keep a straight but angry face, had the smallest...SMALLest of smiles. A sign only Adam could see.

"And as your friend and advisor I'm with you to the end, so quit acting like an idiot, we both know you'll do this until the day we die," Ian stopped wrestling with Adam's head who just laughed. Though they had made quite a scene, they were used to it, since it happened all the time in the army. And people never stopped staring, especially knowing Ian as the scary guy who managed all the rules. Ian stood back and sighed before brushing a hand through his hair, "That is why I signed up for this high maintenance job," Ian muttered under his breath. Jason's eyes flicked from Adam to Ian and back to Adam.

"Are you two going to help with the boxes you all dropped," Jason deadpanned in the middle of the friendship moment.

"Whoops!" Adam crouched down and set the only box still in his arms down before picking up the spilled contents up from the other box with Ian.

As they did so Adam said a quick, "Though you did sign up for the job for a completely different reas--"

"Shut up and help me pick up this stuff," Ian smacked Adam on the back of the head who just laughed it off.

"Awww, thanks pal!"

~~~~~

Awww, don't you guys just hate Ian just a little less now that you know he has a little tiny heart?

Again, if you make fanart please tell me! I wanna see all your art.

Funny thing just happened, I told my mom that I'm posting a new chapter and she got all excited. and I'm like 'you're acting like you read the book' and she is like 'I'm just excited for your readers' XD like what? Ok XD

Anyways, I really liked this week's chapter. It was cool and heartwarming. For the next few chapters we'll be following the rebels, and mainly Mitch and Jerome. Because yes, FRIENDship stuff is gonna happen soon. That is all I'm going to say.

~WrittenDarkness