Distant.

That's the only thing that is running through my mind as I finally slip through my only defence. Stepping past the solitary trees, I traverse through the underbrush as I now stand only a few feet away but still; it is not enough.

It's as if I'm facing a battle within myself. My Kitsune, an integral part of me weary to get closer to the ragtag group, unsure of what calamity they could unleash on me. But on the other hand, it's as if I can't control my own legs. Each step towards the group simply not enough.

Every fibre of my being want's to get closer than ever.

It's unnerving because I simply cannot figure out why.

"Would you like to grab somethings for the journey back to Tenebris?" The King speaks up, the olde name for the Walled City ringing through my mind, a place I've only been to a handful of times.

That was before when I had a loving family and my mother didn't try to get rid of me. Of course little nine year old me got my sweet revenge when I subtly fed her poison.

Unfortunately she survived the attack. Even got strogner than before.

The thought of the strange woman has me huffing in disgruntlement.

Crossing my arms, my eyes flicker over to my little furry companion before meeting the dark eyes of the King once more.

"No thank you. I have all I need."

King Malleus stares me down for a few seconds, his cold and stony facade putting me on edge but I maintain my ground. He could kill me right on this very spot but it's not like it would phase me.

For starters, I'll be dead so it's not as if I'll be missing anything. Secondly, my companion would die with me and he gives less fucks than I do which is saying something. Lastly, I guess while my last dying breath leaves me, I'll probably ponder over a few intricate details.

How I'll miss my best friend that always seems to be on death's bed. How I'd like for my mother to be on that bed with my cold hands wrapped around her flimsy clammy little neck.

Maybe even how I've never gotten to eat what I desire most.

Hmm.

It's funny how one has so many regrets.

"Does she have a few screws loose?" A voice speaks up, luring me out of my thoughts.

My eyes move away from their dead staring of the King and over to the young boyish man beside him. His soft chocolate brown hair and deep brown eyes are full of innocence and intrigue and I can already tell I'll be liking this person.

"A few?" I pipe up, my voice a stark contrast to the cautious tone I maintained a short while ago. Now it's drab and monotonous, causing the young man to shuffle uneasily.

"I think we'll get along just fine. I'm Ezra," He speaks after a moment's of nervous silence.

"I'm Althea. It's a pleasure to meet you all. Especially since I know why you're all here."

My upbeat voice earns me a few confusing stares from the other men. Even the King's seems slightly perturbed but my attention isn't on any of them.

"Who's that?" I murmur ever so softly, my Kitsune rubbing against my leg but equally as enthralled by the stranger who doesn't meet my eyes.

Something tells me that I want to rip his darned cloak off and feast my eyes on what lays below.

He's probably not stark naked.

Much to my despair.

Oh the tough life of a sexually frustrated and reclusive witch.

"Who's who?" Naive Ezra speaks up, looking over his shoulder. I follow the man's gaze, eager to catch any glimpse of what might lay beneath the heavy cloak only to find damp and downtrodden moss where he once stood.

"Don't worry about him."

The tight tone of the King but lack of proper answer has my gut clenching almost as if in anticipation. With a shrewd look at our ruler, I already find him focused on me, his eyes prying into me as he tilts his head to the side slowly as if in thought.

Ezra looks confused as he looks between the two of us, a tight frown marring his lips before his eyebrows raise and a grin lights his face.
"Oh! You must mean-"

"Come along everyone. We should be heading back now."

The King cutting Ezra off has me frowning in suspicion, my brows furrowed low as I give the man a once over.

Why is he so keen on keeping the simplest of things from me?

Pulling my lips into a wide smile, my teeth flash white against my skin as I leave the man confused.

This just makes everything all the more exciting!

Rubbing my hands together, I pat my little foxy freind on the head before setting forth. I don't glance back at Ezra, the King nor their two silent bodyguards and instead, go forward with intrigue.

Even my Kistune joins the hunt, his black wet nose pointed low against the ground as he sniffs out our missing friend.

Where oh where did he disappear too?

******

Every step forward has my hands clenching just a little tighter, my foot stomping just a little harder and my replies getting even more short and clipped.

My Kitsune trots along with me, aware of my foul mood as he twitches his nose almost as if he's thoroughly amused by fuming temper.

The little wretch.

"How much farther till we get there?" I grumble out to no one in particular. My voice carries through the otherwise silent forest. I'm sure everyone can pick up on my quickly worsening mood.

"I think now is a good time to stop for the night? It'll only be a short walk before we reach the town."

A huff escapes my lips as I glance from Ezra to King Malleus, the latter too busy glaring the former down to notice my shrewd stare on them.

The slow drizzle of rain that I find ever so infuriating cascades all around us. The thorn like rain is something I've always found annoying since it's no proper onslaught of rain but not completely dry either.

It's a rather infuriating inbetween.

"We won't stay the night. It's only a few more miles so we walk through the night. However, we should take a break," The King announces instead.

The words make me smile as I catch the men starting to hunke down for their short break. King Malleus sits in a perch under a tree, only achieving short solitary peace as Ezra joins him in the next few seconds. The two guards sit spread out, not entirely relaxed as their brawny eyes scour our surroundings for a threat.

Placing my hands on my hips, I ignore the prying stares from a few of the men and focus on my familiar who peers up at me.

'Where is he?'

I receive a blank stare from my familiar, the fox not eager to trapeze around in the dense forest on the off chance of finding that cloaked man. I maintain my stoic facade, wanting my Kitsune to know how serious I am about this.

He really does not give a shit, does he?

Without further ado, my no nonsense face turns into a pouty one. The pleading in my eyes clear as day.

The sly grin that threatens to break is pushed back as I see the furry little creature huff in indignation before scurrying along forward, nose to the ground and trying to seek out the man I've been concentrating on ever since I realised who was here.

There's something about that man and I'm going to figure out what.

Once I'm certain everyone's settled down and not paying much attention to me, I follow after my Kitsune who is still within sight but determined to help me.

Wandering over to the edge of the little cove we've made ourselves, I wait for someone to call out to me and tell me to stop but no one even breathes a little deeper than necessary. With a glance left and right, I skittle forward till the bushy tail of my fox rubs against the folds of my dress.

I frown when I come up blank. My perusal of the scenery in front of me showing no trace of the man I was lurking after.
"Are you playing games with me?" I ask somewhat discontended.

Is my own familiar double timing me?

A short chirping sound deep from the throat of my fox has me looking around in puzzlement. The tone letting me know my fox is offended that I would even assume something like that about him.

Where the hell is he then?

A slight nudge against my calf has me changing my peripherals direction as I skim the trees and dark shrubbery in front of me.

Where did h-

There!

Almost as if one is being consumed entirely by the forest, there stands someone shrouded in the dark as if he belongs to it. In a slight clearing of the trees, I manage to catch a glimpse of the mysterious man. I wouldn't have even caught sight of him with the way he stands so still.

One can't even see the raising and falling of his chest. The only way I managed to see him was thanks to the gentle breeze that flits passed him and over to me, the wind ruffling the endsof his cloak and giving away where he stands.

"Hellooo!"

That is certainly one way to get someone's attention.

No answer.

Blinking rapidly a few times, I make sure my eyes are indeed seeing what's in front of me and my imagination isn't conjuring up the image of the person.

"Not to asume much of oneself since I don't particularly know you but are you ignoring me?"

The long palpitating silence begins to tick away with each second and I can feel annoyance coursing through me. With each pregnant pause, I feel myself growing more and more frustrated.

Once again my hands clench into fists and a deep frown mars my face.

With a huff similar to that of my fox, my feet dig into the loose muggy soil, soft squelches reaching my ears from the ground below me. It only takes a few steps before I stand directly behind him.

The man still hasn't moved. His stance is erect and doesn't sway even slightly in the cold breeze. Here I am shivering a mile a minute due to the cold drizzle and icey mist swirling around us but he doesn't even tremble slightly.

"You're quite rude, aren't you?"

Once again my words fall on deaf ears, no part of the man acknowledging that I've spoken to him.

It's almost as if my frustration disappears into thin air. The lack of response igniting a need to gain this man's attention.

"Great! I like it."

Inching a step forward, I hesitate momentarily as I ponder over whether or not to touch the man. My hands itch at my sides, my nerves on end as a desperate need overcomes me, almost as if something is calling out to me to touch him.

At the same time, my moral conscious blares alarmingly in my head; warning me to not touch someone without their consent.

I glance over at my familiar, wanting some sort of advice considering he seems to be the saner one of us two.

A discreet flicker of his ears has me getting a resounding no. My frown grows deeper, etching into the planes of my face but I let up.

With a soft sigh, I give one last longing look towards the man who stands a few feet away from me, not giving a care in the world that I'm trying to talk to him.

What is wrong with him?

What's wrong with me that he isn't giving me the time of day?

I'm a great person to talk to.

"I guess I'll see you around then," I mumble, trying to keep the weird sorrow out of my voice.

With one last long look, I turn away from the man and follow after my fox who begins a slow trot back towards the main camp. Looking around at the forest around me, I feel the atmosphere mirroring the turmoil inside me.

Unfortunately it's not as poetic as I'd like to think. Instead, I feel as cold, wet and depressed as the mulch I put my light footed shoes on.

My Kitsune overtakes me and heads further into the camp where the King and that weird little boy are sat, resting.

Hurrying after the little furry creature, I don't see the particular patch of wet moss that's slimey and slippery to the touch. One step forward and I find myself being thrown to the ground.

I barely have time to throw my hands out in front of me to brace my fall, a rookie mistake that something I as a healer should know. I barely have time to let out a gasp before my fall is broken.

A slight stinging sensation meets my ears and I wait for the wet thwack of my body hitting the cold muddy ground.

It takes a few seconds of dawning realisation to understand the fact that I'm not face first in the mud, eating gritty soil between my teeth. Much to my pleasant surprise, I'm halfway suspended in midair.

My upper body is thrown forward, a few inches off of the mud but my feet still on the ground, halfway spread from how I nearly fell.

What the heck is happening?

It's not as if I can control time and have momentarily suspended myself to stop me from falling.

Gathering the courage, I peek one eye open and glance around me. My suspicouns are confirmed at how close I was to face planting the soil in front of me.

My arms are still spread out in front of me, still poised to break my fall in case I end up toppling forward.

It's only then that I realise where the slight momentary sting came from. The once harsh grip on my upper torso now slackens and I find myself being pushed upright.

Blinking slow deliberate blinks, I look down at my torso only to see an arm wound around me, black leather gloves adorning large hands. Once again, mild irritation flares up within me, one part of me wanting to touch the skin on his hand.
A weird scenario I never thought I'd find myself in.

Maybe I have a hand fetish?

Trailing my eyes up from the hand wrapped around my waist, I follow the arm up attached to the body that stands next to mine. Instead of the warmth I was expecting, I still feel the cold breeze all around me as if no one is standing right beside me.

With keen eyes, I trail over the cloaked man in front of me only to turn up short. The damned cloak does a great freaking job of hiding everything from view.

How dare it?

Although from such a vantage point, I can now see the bulk that sits comfortably under the large cloak. No matter how much I narrow my eyes, my vision does me poorly and fails me since I can't catch even a trace of skin underneath all that black cloth.

Glancing from the hidden yet firm body, I trail my stare from his arm and over the expanse of what I assume to be his chest. I briefly took note of how tall the man is aswell, much taller than I am as he stands a head or so taller than me.

With an alarmingly keen sense of touch, I notice the way the man steps away from me, arm recoiling as if I'm scalding hot and he's burning himself.

"Uh, thanks?" My voice comes out more of a question rather than anything else, confusion overtaking me as to the sudden change of events.

I'm not surprised when I get no response, instead the man pushes himself a few steps back with his held low, refusing to meet my preying gaze.

"Can I ask what your name is?" My words are soft and wistful but apparently something in it catches the man off guard.

My breath gets stuck in my throat as all the air gets knocked out of my lungs. I feel as if I've fallen all over again but this time actually struck the ground.

In the midst of getting caught off guard, the man lifts his head almost as a knee jerk reaction. I wish I could glimpse what his face looks like but I'm rewarded more than enough at the sight before me.

Dark grey eyes.

I can see nothing under the hood other than grey discerning eyes.

My tongue grows dry and all the words that were about to spill from me, halt on the tip of my tongue.

I don't think I've ever been left speechless.

"I-uh-eym-"

I don't even get a whole syllable out before the man turns away. I don't think it would be a great exaggeration to say he moves like the wind since within the blink of an eye, the man has disappeared once again.

Blending into the shadows and finding home in them once more.

I stand there for a good few seconds, trying to process everything that just occurred. I'm more than captivated by the hooded figure that was just in front of me mere moments ago.

With a shake of my head, I try to clear any thoughts muddying my mind.

It's a good thing I don't take things to heart so easily.

******

AN: Hello everybody! I know. A chapter that's out later than usual but on the bright side, it's longer than usual and we have a 'meet cute'! Although I'm not sure if you'd consider this a meet cute but it's something that I enjoyed writing hehe.

Question: How would you like to meet your soulmate? Something like bumping into them or some extravagant romantic meeting?

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