"I can't believe how huge the Castle grounds are." said Annie as she sounded a little out of breath from all the walking. She, Matt and Ollie were currently walking back to the Castle from their hike.
When Ollie had first suggested the hike, she had thought that maybe it would be at most thirty minutes, who knew that it would be over three hours. The Castle was definitely way bigger than they saw on first glance.
"Yes, the grounds are very, very huge. When I was younger I wondered how our family ended up getting all this land." said Ollie as he chuckled.
"You have no idea, the Castle back in the Vampire realms is bigger than this, if I'm not mistaken I think that we have a whole forest and lake on our land alone." said Matt as he laughed.
"Yes, that's true." said Annie as she and Ollie laughed.
"But I'm just surprised here because from afar it looks like the Castle is not that big." said Annie.
"Yes, that's probably because we are surrounded by mountains so most of the land is underground like I showed you." said Ollie as he explained.
"Actually, we didn't even finish with the entire tour, there's still about four more places you are yet to see." said Ollie as Annie looked at him in disbelief.
"No way, we can see those places later, look at the time, it's already getting dark and we told Maddie that we would be back in time for dinner." said Annie as she shook her head.
"I know, and that's why I agree with you, that can wait. I am sure that Maddie's probably wondering where we are right now." said Ollie.
"That she is, she must have been so lonely being all alone. I'm going to go find her." said Annie as she rushed away leaving Matt and Ollie as they walked together.
"Annie really cares about Maddie doesn't she?" asked Ollie with a smile.
"Yes she does, they are almost like sisters... even closer than that." said Matt as he smiled.
"And what about you?" asked Ollie.
"Don't get me wrong I love Maddie a lot, but she can be quite stubborn and I've learnt over the years that you need to stand your ground with her or else, she'll force you into things you don't want to do, but despite that, she's just like my sister as well. I would do anything for her, same with Annie." said Matt as he smiled.
"I can see that." said Ollie as he smiled.
"So dude, I was wondering if you would like for us to train together sometime?" asked Ollie as he looked at Matt.
"Sure, when?" asked Matt as he smiled.
"I don't know, you can choose. I usually like training early in the morning, but that might be way too early for you." said Ollie as he smiled.
"Then how about this evening before we go to bed?" asked Matt as he smiled.
"This evening? But aren't you tired from all the conveying and walking?" asked Ollie as Matt shook his head and chuckled.
"Not at all, the perks of being part vampire." said Matt as Ollie laughed.
"Yes, I actually forgot about that, so in the evening it is." replied Ollie as he and Matt laughed.
...
"Maddie!!" called Annie excitedly as Maddie just happened to walk down the stairs as she entered into the castle.
"Annie!!" replied Maddie with the same enthusiasm as Annie rushed to her and gave her a big tight hug.
"I can see that you missed me." said Maddie as she chuckled while Annie hugged her.
"I did, the hike was a bit boring without you." said Annie as she broke their hug.
"Aww that's so sweet, but did you at least have fun?" asked Maddie as Annie nodded.
"I did have fun, but not as much as I would if you were there. The castle grounds are so huge and beautiful, we didn't even finish the tour since it was already getting dark." said Annie.
"Oh really, well that sounds nice." replied Maddie as she smiled.
"It was, anyway how are you? How did it feel being here alone?" asked Annie.
"Well I'm good, and I have to admit that it was really boring being here alone, but on the bright side I got to eat cookies, and very delicious cookies for that matter." said Maddie as Annie giggled.
"I knew that you would be bored and lonely here alone." said Annie.
"Yes... I have to admit that I would have preferred to go with you guys, but don't tell the boys that, especially that blondie." said Maddie as Annie laughed and shook her head while Matt and Ollie walked through the front door.
"Hi Maddie, did you enjoy your time alone?" asked Ollie as he smiled at her and she scoffed.
"Yes I did, very much so, but you on the other hand did not stick to your words, I mean just look at the time, and you said that you would be back before dinner." said Maddie as Matt shook his head, they had barely just returned and Maddie was already being annoying.
"I don't think that's important Maddie. Come on it's late and I'm sure that we are all hungry." said Matt as he walked past Maddie. He didn't want this to escalate into another one of Maddie's arguments.
"Matt's right, come on I'm starving." said Annie as she hooked her hand with Maddie's and dragged her along with her so the quiet atmosphere could remain.
Ollie just laughed as he shook his head and followed after them. He sincerely loved having all of them here, and that included Maddie as well.
...
The sound of the clanking of swords could be heard in the distance. The moon was shining alone in the dark night's sky.
"You've actually gotten better at this." said Ollie as he laughed while he and Matt sparred.
"I won't say that I haven't been practicing." replied Matt as their blades clashed once more.
"I can see that, but there's no way that you are beating me." said Ollie with a smile as without warning he performed a little twirl that caught Matt off guard as before he knew it Ollie was right behind him and he used his foot to trip Matt.
Matt fell over as Ollie pointed his sword right at him.
"That was a dirty trick you know." said Matt as he heaved.
"Which one the twirl or me knocking you off your feet?" asked Ollie as he heaved as well.
"You knocking my off my feet, that felt like something Maddie would do." said Matt as Ollie chuckled and stretched out his hand to help him up.
"Well let's just say that I learnt a few tricks from her. Sorry dude, I didn't mean to offend you, it's all in good fun." said Ollie as he helped Matt up.
"I know, just don't complain next time if I use the same move." said Matt as Ollie laughed.
"Of course, of course." he replied.
"I think that's enough training for tonight." said Ollie as Matt nodded as they both dropped their swords on the ground.
"So should we go to bed now?" asked Matt as Ollie shook his head.
"No, I think we should cool off out here for a while first." said Ollie as he sat down on the ground.
"Well okay." said Matt as he sat down beside him and there was a comfortable silence between them for a while.
"So how do you feel?" asked Ollie suddenly.
"About what?" asked Matt as he turned to look at Ollie.
"I mean about everything that's going on, and getting into Artovan and all that." said Ollie.
"Oh well... I feel good..." replied Matt casually leaving Ollie unsatisfied with his answer.
"Really?" asked Ollie as Matt nodded.
"Mhmmm..." replied Matt.
"Well your answer was just... vague that's all." said Ollie as Matt sighed.
"Come on dude, you can trust me, tell me the truth." said Ollie as Matt looked at him.
"I don't want to bore you that's all." said Matt.
"You won't bore me, I asked you a question and I really am concerned that's why I asked." said Ollie as Matt sighed.
"You can trust me." said Ollie with a smile as Matt smiled.
"I know I can dude." said Matt as he smiled.
"Then let me ask again, how do you feel about everything going on?" asked Ollie.
"Well if I'm being honest dude I feel sort of weird... about everything." said Matt.
"Weird how? As in weird good or weird bad?" asked Ollie.
"Weird bad." said Matt.
"But why?" asked Ollie as he started to get worried.
"I... I don't know dude... it's probably because of a stupid reason." said Matt casually as he shrugged.
"No it's not, if you feel bad then there has to be a really serious reason why you feel that way." said Ollie.
"I honestly don't know because it's kind of stupid." said Matt.
"Dude, nothing is stupid, especially when it comes to how you feel about a certain situation so tell me what's wrong." said Ollie seriously.
"Alright, I guess you're right about that." said Matt as Ollie nodded.
"Of course I am, so go on, I'm here to listen to you and not to judge you. You don't have to be worried that I'll judge you." said Ollie sincerely.
"I know that you won't do that dude, I trust you enough to know by now that when I talk to you, I can speak in confidence that things spoken between us are kept confidential, and are only to be revealed if it absolutely needs to be, so it's not that I don't trust you, far from it." said Matt with smile.
"Thank you for trusting in me so much Matt." said Ollie as he smiled, he liked that he and Matt had this very deep understanding between them. It was almost like they were as close as brothers, or at least he thought so.
"Don't mention it Ollie, now you want me to be honest about my feelings, then I will be honest." said Matt.
"I don't know... I just feel a bit out of sorts with everything that is going on." said Matt as he sighed.
"How do you mean?" asked Ollie with a frown.
"Well I don't know, I just feel a little bit unhappy, especially with this going to Artrovan thing, I know that we haven't gotten our results yet, but I have a feeling that we'll be fine there, but I can't help but feel sad." said Matt.
"Why?" asked Ollie.
"I just feel like I'm tagging along, I have no purpose of my own, I'm always just following Annie." said Matt seriously.
"What? No you're not dude, that's not true at all." said Ollie instantly.
"Oh but it is, you don't know how true it is." replied Matt.
"What makes you think so?" asked Ollie in worry.
"Nothing makes me think so, it's just that, it's the truth.. the undeniable truth. It's the truth, long before we met you, that's just how things have been. I've always been the tagalong" said Matt as Ollie shook his head.
"Annie's always had something to focus on, something to work towards to, something important to work on and handle. She's always had the hardest life out of any of us, she literally had the fate of the whole realm hung on her shoulders." said Matt.
"So that's is? That is not enough reason to suddenly be doubting yourself. Yes Annie has had a hard life, but you act as if you've not been there to help her out, both you and Maddie have." said Ollie.
"That's exactly my point, and I guess that's what makes me feel a little depressed. The fact that I have no drive, I'm always just following after her." said Matt.
"No you're not" said Ollie seriously.
"Yes I am Ollie, you don't understand." said Matt seriously.
"Even before we ever came to the witch realm it's been like that. The only reason I came here in the first place was because I was following Annie. It hurts to think about but it's true. Even Maddie was far off better than me, she had a valid reason to be there. She had just run away from home, she declared herself an orphan with no father or mother, so she had no choice than to run, she had a drive and that was to escape, mine was just to tagalong." said Matt sadly.
"But you did that because Annie's your friend, you wanted to support her, and there's no point of comparing yourself to Maddie, you both have two different lives. Maddie had no choice, you had a choice. Maddie was alone, you have a family that loves you and cares about you so much." said Ollie.
"That's the thing, that's the other thing that makes me feel so sad. My family is over there in another realm and I left them to be here... it's like I have nothing better to do, and dit's true." said Matt as Ollie shook his head.
"Are you saying this because you feel homesick?" asked Ollie as Matt shook his head.
"Not at all Ollie, I'm saying this because I have been thinking about this for a while, and it's best to get back to reality." said Matt.
"The only reason I wanted to go to Artrovan is because of Annie. She was so excited to go and I didn't want her to be alone. I always support her and I love doing that, she's my very good friend, but as for me, it doesn't really matter if I go to Artrovan or return to Sunset village, it's all the same, that's why I'm saying that I have no drive, I have no reason to do the things I do except for when they concern Annie." said matt as he sighed sadly.
"What you're telling me are the signs of a good friends brother, which you are. Do you know how many people would like to have a considerate, thoughtful friend like you?" asked Ollie as Matt smiled sadly.
"I love being a good friend it makes me happy, what makes me sad though is that I'm always in Annie's shadow, I don't do my own things, go my own way." said Matt.
"The only other thing that people know about me is that I'm the hybrid, the half witch, half vampire. Even my own sister was made Queen in my stead while I'm just stuck with a lousy powerless title. If that doesn't show you how irrelevant I am outside anything that concerns Annie, I don't know what will. It's not that I hate Annie, no, I could not hate her, it's just that I hate myself for not being able to make something out of my life." said Matt as Ollie could promise you that this was the worst case of sadness he had seen in a while.
He was seriously concerned and he was trying to find the right words to cheer Matt up.
"Matt that's not true at all, you are very relevant. We all care about you, every single one of us, and I'm sure that if you told Annie all of this she would assure you that you are far from just being in her shadow." said Ollie.
"And bringing up the fact that Evie is Queen, you need to think about it when you feel better. You know that if you were declared King as your birthright, you wouldn't have been able to go on adventures with us, we would miss you terrible, Annie especially would and I'm sure that you would miss us terribly as well." said Ollie.
If you were King, there would be so many official duties that you have to prioritize and carry out and trust me it's not as fun as it sounds, I have experience." said Ollie as he laughed and Matt smiled.
"At that time you understood the implications of having such a great responsibility to bear and you accepted it. That's why I'm sure that right now it's just the sadness talking, you don't really want to be King, not that you are not qualified to be, but your nature is more easy going. You could totally do anything you set your mind to, but ask yourself if being King is something you wanted, something you saw yourself doing in the future." said Ollie.
"Because let me be honest with you, if I had a choice, if I wasn't the only heir, if I didn't have this huge responsibility of honouring my parents, especially my father on my shoulder, then I would not want to be King, I would prefer to travel the world, let the sky be my guide. Being put in a place of power is a lot of responsibility, do you want that?" asked Ollie as Matt shook his head.
"Honestly no, but I would have loved to make that decision for myself. I wasn't given a choice, my grandfather just told me that he knew I would not like to be King, and while that is true, it's saddening that I couldn't have decided on that myself." said Matt.
"But you're right, I don't want to be King." said Matt.
"I am glad that you are being honest with yourself about that." said Ollie.
"Even if you changed your mind I don't think that Evie would give up the throne so easily." joked Ollie as Matt laughed.
"You're definitely right about that, she won't even consider it." said Matt with a laugh.
"So I guess that decision wasn't wrong, but I'm not worried about that, I'm more worried about things moving forward, about the future." said Matt.
"I'm kind of scared that I won't have a place anywhere sooner or later." said Matt.
"Don't say that Matt, that's not true, you are always welcome back home and here especially, don't even think about it. We need you, we all need you." said Ollie.
"Yes, but I'm not that important. Azazel's gone, never to return again, our lives have returned back to normal, what happens after Artrovan? What happens after we finish high school? We can't just keep on living in this secluded bubble, life goes on and we are going to be adults soon." said Matt as Ollie was silent knowing that Matt was right.