You Only Live Twice

XIII

OLIVIA GROANED, SHE TRIED pushing herself up only to be weighed down by the older boy on top of her back.
"Get off of me." She said flopping her arms down to her sides.

Letting out a sigh after not getting so much as a grunt in reply Olivia pushed herself onto her elbows and turned back to look at Amos.
Currently, the white-haired boy was laying flat on his back on top of her, still as a stick and white as a sheet, his hands covering his face.

"Hey, are you alright?" Olivia asked a little concerned, she will admit that she was a bit aggressive in her...approach to making friends. She hoped she hadn't scared him too bad.

Twisting her body around more to get a better look at him he suddenly exclaimed, "Stop! Are you trying it make me fall?" He said slowly getting quieter throughout his sentence until he was whisper yelling by the end of it.
Now facing her Olivia could see how anxious he was, he was paler than normal and sweat had started to form on his forehead.

"Calm down it's grass, it's not gonna kill you." Olivia said turning back around to face forward resting her head in her hands.
"This is all your fault! If you just stayed away and minded your own business, we wouldn't be in this situation!" He shouted.

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Oh please, if it wasn't for me you'd probably be stuck in that tower for the rest of your life!"

"That sounds just fine to me." He muttered back.

"It sounds great being a no-life loser?" She asked in an exaggerated high pitched tone.

"You ever think maybe the reason you don't have any friends is because you have a horrible personality?" He shot back mocking her voice.

In a swift motion, Olivia flipped around sending Amos flying off her back and onto the space next to her. His face, which had gotten its color back after the brief argument wiped his mind of the predicament they were in, went to a shade matching his hair. He stayed completely still for a second, not daring to move—or barely even breathe—staring shell-shocked at the sky.

"See? You're fine." Olivia said in obvious irritation. Slowly, Amos began moving his fingers along the blades of grass under him, feeling the soft dampness of the Earth. Warm rays of sunshine filtered through leaves and shone on his face.

"Um...yes this..." He took a brief pause and shallowed, "Isn't too bad..." Amos pushed himself up into a sitting position still staring at the sky, he's never noticed just how blue it was.

"Well," Olivia said hopping up onto her feet and dusting herself off. "Since we're already out here, let's explore a bit." She turned to him with a smile, "I saw some ingredients you can get from the forest in your formulas up in the tower, don't we look from some. Not like we have any else to do."

Amos had stood up by now clearing his throat, his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, "Yes I guess that would be adequate. Since we're already out here."

As Olivia continued to tease Amos about his irrational fear as they traveled further into the forest, Amos hummed along not paying too much attention to whatever she was going on about, too absorbed in his surroundings to care.

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THE CHILDREN WALKED WHEREVER their feet would take them, now and then coming across a strange-looking plant or bug, collecting the things on their list, and enjoying the scenery.
After aimlessly wandering around for a few hours they decided to take a break when they came across a clearing.

The space was a perfect circle, encased by trees all around it, decorating the middle was a short hallow tree log laying on the border between the open and the forest moss and mushrooms growing on it, grass occupied by a few flowers, and a tree stump off to the side. Olivia flopped down on a tree for shade and looked up through the leaves.
Listening only to the natural sounds around her in the near distance she could hear a stream flowing and birds chirping.

For a moment Olivia was in total serenity. For just a moment Olivia completely forgot about everything. About her death. About her rebirth. About the novel. About the characters, about 'her' disease, about her 'quest', her family, her past life, her friends, her life. She forgot about it all, at this moment none of it mattered, at this moment she simply just existed.

She was broken out of her moment of peace by the sound of Amos clearing his throat, "Um, I would like to thank you." He said with a serious face, though Olivia could see his ears were a light shade of red. "Even if you were annoying and invasive, if it weren't for your abrasiveness I probably never would've..." He paused and looked to the ground his cheeks reddening, "Gotten the ingredients needed for my experiments."

"Uh-huh." Olivia gave him a look but brushed it off anyway. "Sure, you're welcome." She shrugged.

Looking back up at the sky Olivia realized how late it had gotten, she'd been gone all day the sky had already started to turn reds and yellows.
"Ah! I hadn't even realized how late it got." She stood up and brushed herself off, "I should get going."

Amos nodded, "The castle is just a straight shot that way." He pointed the direction in front of Olivia.
"Well then," She smiled, "See you again soon!" Olivia waved walking off, the boy rolled his eyes.

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SITTING AT THE DINNER TABLE with the Auclairs was always one of the most uncomfortable experiences Olivia has gone through. The air was tense and she was, 9 times out of 10, just plain ignored.

Instead thinking about how amazingly skilled she was. Her relationship with Amos though wasn't exactly friends, they were still comfortable with each other's presence (she thinks). And she'd done that in only two days, she guessed she just had that sort of effect on people. Olivia's ego was immense.

The brunette was broken out of her train of thought as the conversation between her parents caught her attention.

"...staying in the capital?" Her mother, the duchess Genevieve Heidi Auclair, had asked. Olivia had only caught the end of her sentence so she wasn't quite sure what brought this about.

"Yes." Her father let out a long sigh, rubbing his eyes, "It turns out this problem had gotten quite out of hand while I wasn't present. My stay will have to be extended by goddess knows how long."

"Will we have to stay as well?" Duchess Genevieve voiced the same question that was on Olivia's mind though while she was hoping he'd say yes, she wasn't quite sure what her mother's intentions were.

"It is not mandatory, no, but you are welcome if you'd like." He responded.

"I want to stay." Olivia injected almost a little too eagerly.

The duke gave her a side glance, "Very well."

Her parents had continued their conversation but Olivia tuned it all out, this was perfect. Everything was going perfect.

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How conveniently convenient that Olivia's family just so conveniently happens to be staying in the capital longer, exactly where she needs to be. How convenient.

Genuine question, have I already named the Duke and Duchess? I can't remember. That's all thank you for reading, Im actually surprised how by many people have read this. Take care.