Chapter 12

                                    

                                          
Just a reminder that this is back in the present, after "Z" had used a butt load of forever potions lol.
                          
-Ein's POV
                          
He opens his eyes to find that he was outside, Aaron sitting next to him, looking confused. "What happened?" Ein asks him.
                          
"I don't remember.. but I think I know how to get back; there's foot prints here, though just barely." They follow them back and find the lodge again.
                          
-Lucinda's POV
                          
Lucinda, Kim, and Garroth had been searching the woods for where that man may have taken Aphmau, but returned empty handed. They return to see Kawaii-Chan practically crashing into them, Zane a little ways behind.
                          
"Guys!" Kawaii-Chan says "Guess who Zane-kun and I just found! We were about to go find you and tell you."
                          
"Who did you find..?" Lucinda asks; they were currently missing two people and she and Zane were on the lookout for a third (Aka Aphmau, Aaron, and Ein).
                          
"Aaron-kun!" Kawaii-Chan replies.
                          
"And Ein, may I add." Zane says.
                          
"Ein!?" Kim says, immediately looking around for him "Is he going to attack us again?"
                          
"Don't mention that-!" Zane hurriedly says, explaining the situation. "Both their eyes are green, and they both don't remember anything Ein has done that was bad."
                          
"So we have a potential killer and we can't do anything about it?" Garroth says, confused.
                          
"I don't know what happened, and obviously they can't tell us. Don't make him suspicious that we don't trust him; in his current memory we are his friends, Garroth."
                          
"Then- Then that means Aphmau probably has a forever potion on her as well by now.." Lucinda says, trailing off into thought.
                          
"What do we do?" Kim says, looking between Lucinda and Zane.
                          
"I think we should listen to Zane-kun." Kawaii-Chan says, "It's easier to pretend he's our friend than try and convince him of the truth, right?" Or at least that's how I was told it was last time."
                          
"If the forever potion sets, their eyes will return to normal." Lucinda says, beginning to ramble her thoughts "Aaron has been missing for two days until now, so we don't know how long he's had the forever potion, nor what kind it is quite yet. If they both have one it's probably the same or similar right?"
                          
"So we pretend that this is normal while trying to reverse it, all while trying to find Aphmau. That's easy!" Garroth says, immediately back tracking "Wait, no, that's not easy at all..."
                          
"Why do you all look so worried? Is something wrong?" Aaron says, finding and walking over to them.
                          
"Oh! Hello again, Aaron-kun!" Kawaii-Chan greets.
                          
"Aphmau's missing." Garroth says, deciding they'd leave out half of their worries.
                          
"What? Why didn't I know about this!?"
                          
"Calm down, Aaron. It's only been a few hours. She might have only gone outside for a bit but didn't tell anyone?" Kim suggests, trying to be helpful.
                          
"You're probably right. If she doesn't turn up, I'm finding her."
                          
"Right," Lucinda says "So Aaron.., what the heck were yoh and Ein doing this whole time?"
                          
"I don't actually know.., I think we both fell asleep or something?" 
                          
Zane grumbles something to himself "This is useless. I'm going to go find the root of our problem." Zane says, knowing at least Lucinda and Kawaii-Chan knew what he aas talking about. He wanders off, leaving the others confused.
                          
-Aaron's POV
                          
"Hey, Ein?" Aaron says upon finding him
                          
"Huh?"
                          
"Is it just me or are the others acting weird? And Aph isn't even here, she would never go off alone."
                          
"I've noticed it too. Kim looked terrified when she saw me?" Ein says sounding confused himself. 
                          
"Something must have happened while we were gone then. But what?"
                          
"I don't know."
                          
-
                          
Later that day Aaron and Ein were sitting on the steps of the lodge outside. They weren't talking, and the only noises were coming from behind them, inside the building.
                          
Aaron's tail had been slowly swishing back and forth for a while, and it completely distracted Ein from his thoughts.
                          
"Hey, Aaron?" Ein says after a while, "Can I.., touch your ears?"
                          
"Oh-, s-sure, if you want to.." Aaron replies, slightly flushing red at the sudden proposal.
                          
Ein reaches his hand up and pets his ears, Aaron leaning into him. They stayed like this for a while.
                          
That was, until someone else came along.
                          
-Kim's POV
                          
Kim had said she wanted to go look for Aphmau again, but didn't want to (and really shouldn't) do it alone. So Garroth decided to go look with her.
                          
He opens the door and stops dead, staring at the other two who were already out there. Kim pushes her head past Garroth ro see why he stopped, "AAAH! Everything's getting weird, what's happening!?" She says, in reference to how Ein had been petting Aaron's ears when she and Garroth had barely gotten outside.
                          
Now I'm kinda stuck. I have no idea where I want this to go; the only thing I'm certain of is there needs to be more on what's happened with Aphmau. Bleh, this is hard