The Conquerors Path

A rough atmosphere bloomed within this location, Carmelia looking down at the two, her expression not at all forgiving. The two, Nix and Melvin, looked worse for wear as they held their heads down, the negative emotions running through them getting worse and worse, while Austin just sat there on the log, his expression cold as he looked at all this.

While this happened, Nini looked at it all with shining eyes, her gaze reminiscent of a woman watching a good show. The two mouths on her cheeks trembled, while her four eyes looked at everything with deep, cold eyes, hidden very well.

"You guys will apologize now or you can head yourselves back, choose," Carmelia spoke, her cold voice crushing. The words she spoke crushed the hearts of the two young men, feeling as if all the time they had spent with each other couldn't come close to that one man who keeps avoiding Carmelia. They felt as if they are nothing to her. Of course, once again, everything has its own view, the problem here being the emotions making the two blind to the fact that Carmelia is doing this for them.

A stunning silence fell now, only the sound of the stream flowing being heard. Moments ticked by and once again if it was a normal situation, the two would have given up. But jealousy, as spoken of before, isn't something that lets people make rational decisions when it matters.

"Huh.....why should I apologize to him just because you want to cozy up to him?" Nix suddenly asked, raising his head to meet Carmelia's, who raised her eyebrows in surprise. Looking at Nix's face, she took a step back for a moment. His face showed disdain and anger as he looked at her and spoke again.

"Why should I apologize to that bastard just so you can get close to him?" The question once again hit Carmelia hard, her cold expression faltering for a moment. While Nix spoke of this, Melvin raised his head, his expression mirroring the same one on Nix's, that look hitting the heart of Carmelia hard. But then again, she wasn't one to fall for things like this fast as she asked suddenly.

"What's wrong with the two of you?" A break of her concern falling out and to the two, this only looked like a ploy coming from Carmel because they hit the right spot with Nix's words. This situation only turned their hearts cold. While Carmel and Carmelia, the one that knows these two the best, felt like something was wrong, the expression and actions of these two didn't match the best friends she grew up with.

"Humph....looks like we were right all you care about is cozying up to him, don't you n-" Though before he could finish his words, Melvin was sent flying from the ground, his head hitting against the ground. Within seconds, Nix followed the same fate, the two of them laying on the ground, their heads throbbing. To this, now Austin stood at the side of Carmelia, his gaze looking down at the laying figures of Nix and Melvin as he spoke in a cold tone.

"This was getting boring, I couldn't keep hearing these two yap anymore." While his voice was soft, Austin did 'accidentally' leak a bit of emotions, of course, it being his concern related to Carmel and Carmelia, but he covered it up quickly. Carmelia looked at Austin with wide eyes as she turned towards her best friends, her concern evident in her face as she spoke.

"Austin, I think something is wrong, they aren't usually like this!" To this word of Carmelia's, he looked at her, his face mirroring his confusion as he spoke.

"They look normal to me, and I checked them through the moment they arrived. The two of them don't have anything wrong with them." His words made it such that Carmelia looked at the two with hesitation for a moment, but the concern of her questions still lay on her face to which Austin shook his head.

"Sigh.....you and your lack of understanding, fine let's check to see if they have any issues with them." To his cold answering, Carmelia for a moment had a light smile on her face as she rushed up to the two, the two boys cold and knocked out as she took out an artifact and started to scan them with it. But the result that came back was the same, the two of them are normal. This made Carmelia's eyes widen as she kept trying again and again.

She took up different things yet the result kept coming back as the same, the two of them were normal. To this, with her heart closing and her eyes widening, Carmelia turned to look at Austin, who sat back on the log, shaking his head as he saw her looking at him. On the other side, Nini, having seen enough, stood up from where she sat, her eyes narrowing in amusement as she spoke.

"You still can't understand the reason for their actions?" This question of hers caught Carmelia off guard as she looked at Nini, who clicked her lips as she spoke while shaking her head.

"Sigh.....kids these days, the reason for their actions is all simple, they are jealous."

"Jealous?" Carmelia asked back in surprise to which with a sly smile covering her face Nini spoke.

"C'mon are you going to act as if you don't know that they are in love with you?"

To this question, Carmelia bit her lips, her eyes going to look towards Austin who kept gazing at her in a cold manner as Nini continued.

"Tsk.....c'mon use your brains a bit, these two are risking everything for you, and you only seem to stick to this kid right here. How would these two feel then?"

These sudden words of Nini painting out a picture for Carmelia and Carmel, who kept missing the bigger picture in everything. Her mind clearing up for a moment but even then doubt clouded over Carmelia's and even Carmel's mind as Carmelia tried to speak.

"Bu-But they seem so different, this can't just be of jealousy."

To her narrowing words, Austin looked at her with disappointment, shaking his head as Nini too did the same, the demon looking at Carmelia with pity as she spoke.

"Men hide their true selves from the girl they are trying to impress, it's just the fact that the jealousy clouding over them is bringing out their true character. Don't tell you are also stupid enough to believe the fact that all the time these two were with you they kept showing you their true sides?"

This accusation of Nini making Carmelia bite her lips hard, her mind playing with the information she knows of, while she felt her heart got cold for a moment. The only reason she hasn't let her anger fully cloud her from the moment before was due to the fact that perhaps there is something wrong with the two. But if whatever she is seeing now is their true side and if they meant every word they said, then...then...then....

"Sigh.....let's just continue our travel now; we can decide on your personal crises after healing your sister, Carmelia," the last of his call bringing Carmelia out of her thoughts, her eyes straining towards Nix and Melvin as she shook her head, walking up to the log, taking a seat as she started to lightly nibble on the honey, her face colder as she pushed in all her feelings for now, pressing them all down as she purely focused on the issue at hand.

Seeing this, Austin turned to look out at the fallen boys, silence falling between them with only the sound of Carmelia tasting the honey can be heard. And seeing this, Austin took a larger piece of the honey and placed it into Carmelia's hands who, with surprise, looked at Austin, who didn't face her, he just eating his own share.

The teasing laugh of Nini filling the place as the three sat on the log and ate it piece. Though later into time, the two Nix and Melvin woke up from their 'sleep,' the hit that Austin gave in their heads allowing for their minds to be cleared for a moment, a planned action by Austin such that a perfect scenario might play out.

An awkward silence fell in between the whole place as those two got a small break from those dark emotions, their brains now working well as they directed jumped towards Carmelia, their faces pale and filled with a lot of emotions as they screamed.

"We are sorry!!" The two of them bowing their heads as they did this, the bow being towards Carmelia who looked at her best friends with cold eyes, her mind playing through the first scene to which Melvin spoke.

"I'm sorry I don't know what got over me; it's just I felt like I wasn't myself for the moment."

"It's the same with me too," Nix added, his expression for the worse as Carmelia looked down at the two, her words leaking,

"It's not me who you should be apologizing to."

With this, Austin upped the emotions for a moment, and a display of anger and disdain came to both the boys' faces for a moment, something which Carmelia didn notice, the expressions leading to her holding her hands tight as the two looked towards Austin, barely lowering their heads as they spoke.

"I'm sorry" x2.

To this, Austin inwardly smirked as he thought.

'Looks like the first big crack is created.'