Elementals

Chapter 41-The Soft Side of A Brute

Chapter 41

•Alex's P.O.V•

Without warning, Keith grabbed my hand and pulled me into the bush. I found myself falling through a tunnel, before tumbling out the other side a few seconds later. I rubbed my head for a bit, mumbling to myself. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in tsome sort of enchanted forest setting. The grass was greener than the grass in the gardens, there were small flowers growing all over the place, and there were small floating lights everywhere. I stared in pure amazement.

"Whoa..." I muttered. I turned to Keith. "What is this place?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I just stumbled upon it on the day of the trials. It doesn't look like anyone else knows about this place...well, except for you." He chuckled. He placed his hand on one of the trees, and his hand emitted a soft glow.

"Is this entire forest under the school?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I dunno, it might be. I never really questioned it." He said. "I just come here when I'm stressed or need some alone time or whenever I need to clear my head, or just think about stuff." He said. He turned to me and took my hand in his.

"Come on. There's something I wanna show you."

With that, he lead me through the trees. I found myself blushing again, still unsure of the reason why. I shoved the thought to the back of my mind and shook my head. Keith lead me to a small clearing with a small fallen log, a few large rocks and a single hollow tree in the center with hanging vines. Somehow, this clearing seemed even more magical than the rest of the forest. The soft lighting from the small floating orbs made it all the more warm and welcoming. Keith let go of my hand and went to sit down against the tree. He pat the dirt next to him, and after a second, I went over to sit by his side.

"This place is beautiful..." I said. "I can see why you always come here."

He looked away, like he had something on his mind. I looked to the ground, feeling the soft grass beneath my hands. The clearing was silent for a bit.

"I'm sorry..." Keith muttered. I looked at him in confusion.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" I asked.

"When we went to get the second half of the scroll. The way I acted towards you...I shouldn't have snapped like that." He said.

"Keith, that happened days ago. And besides, I started it. You shouldn't apologise. Is anything, I should be the one saying sorry to you."

"I known I just- I felt really guilty after all that. And when we saw you crying yesterday, I dunno. I guess I just..."

Keith hugged his knees, avoiding eye contact. I put on a small smile and put my hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I get it. You panicked. But that's in the past. Let's put that behind us, okay?" I said. Keith turned his head to me and smiled. He then looked down at the ground, holding his fist to his chest.

"You wanna know a secret?" He asked softly. I nodded.

"I was bullied a lot during middle school." He said. A look of shock spread across my face.

"You were bullied?"

"Yeah. Apparently, earth elementals are the most common target for kids to pick on. I started getting bullied when I finally learned how to use Animal Instinct for the first time. And, well..."

Keith's ears and tail appeared. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "...let's just say that the other kids didn't take it well."

I stared at Keith sympathetically. I never knew that he'd endured something like that. Suddenly some of his behaviour towards Axel made sense. In fact, his behaviour in general made sense. He was always so protective over everyone and he was always the first to jump to someone's defense. Now I understood why.