Reunited

(Sorry for being gone for forever life is busy, gosh!! ;) Shoutout @VioletVA and @doggydoggypug for binge-reading , voting and commenting on this whole story, I really appreciate it! I really hope you guys like this chapter cuz I'm really excited about it!!)

*Kim's POV

Things have been pretty crazy lately. I mean, Ein returning, Aaron turning Aphmau, all that drama. But I wasn't at all expecting the information I got when Garroth burst into my house one day. I was just chilling, doing some research and BAM! Broken door, and freaked out Garroth runs through.

"Hey, my door!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry 'bout it, I'll get it fixed. But I have some news!" He panted heavily, he must have run here. 

I don't usually take Garroth too seriously, I mean, I know that sounds rude, but he's usually the joking type. This time though, I saw it throughout his face, he was generally distressed.

"What is it?" I asked sympathetically. 

"Aphmau, she's gone."

"What do you mean? Like she decided to go back home early? Why?"

"No, she went to talk to Rachel like we agreed, but she never made it there. Aaron, Zane and I were looking all last night. We decided to go in when it got too dark, but I was about to go looking again. I wanted to let you know about it before I left," He explained, his bright blue eyes dull and conflicted. I never knew he cared about her so much. 

"Seriously? That's crazy! What are we waiting for, let's go!" I yelled, ushering him out of the doorway. 

"Right," he nodded. 

We walked a couple steps out the door when Garroth's phone starting ringing.

"Hmm, I wonder who this is. I don't know this number, do you?" He quickly showed to phone to me. 

"Nope, but if you want to find out you better answer," I pressed the answer call button.

"Hello?" Garroth said into the phone, "Who is this?"

The person replied, and Garroth must have been very happy to hear from whoever it was. The dullness in his eyes flashed and they lit up, his straight-mouthed expression changed rapidly and he was grinning with delight. 

"Dude, it's been so long! Really, you have a ticket? What the heck, you're here on the island? Why didn't you tell me?" He chuckled. 

They talked for a minute before Garroth ended the call.

"If you don't mind me asking, who was that?" I questioned. 

"It was Laurence! You know him right? Wait, who am I kidding, of course, ya' do. He's here, ah, I'm so excited!" He told me.

"Oh yeah, I totally do know him, I think we had a kind-of date a couple years ago at a party or something?" I remembered. 

"Yeah, yeah! Well, he's waiting at the docks, let's go! And we can keep looking for Aphmau on the way," I saw his smile falter as he mentioned her name, but he quickly covered it up. 

"Of course," I agreed. 

We walked towards the docks and I tried reading Garroth's expression. He looked pretty excited about Laurence being here, but I could tell he was still thinking about Aphmau. Something else seemed to be bothering him too- no, not something... his ears and tail. I could see that he was self-conscious about them, even though I've already seen them multiple times. This is the first time they've actually resembled werewolf ears and tail if I'm being honest. They were a little weird at first, but now that I'm kind of used to it, he looks really cute with them. Hehe~

"Hey, you alright?" I decided to break the silence. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just, lots of stuff going on. Everything happening all at once like this kind of reminds me of the lodge," Garroth shivered involuntarily, as most of us do at the thought of that place.

"It is sort of like that, huh? But I'm trying not to think about it that way. Hey, this is Aphmau and Aaron's house, isn't it?" I pointed out as we walked in front of it.

"Yes, come to think of it, I should probably check how Aaron's doing, I haven't seen him since yesterday," Garroth said.

"Alright, let's go."

We walked up and knocked on the door. No reply. 

"Don't worry I got this," Garroth smiled. I stood in front of the door.

"Nuh, uh uh! That is unnecessary, I am going to save this door," I grumbled. 

"Hey, um, if you're in there Aaron, it's Garroth and Kim. We're coming in if it isn't locked!" I shouted as I opened the door.

"Hmm, it isn't locked, but I don't think he's here," I stated.

We looked around a bit and came to the conclusion that Aaron wasn't home.

"That's weird, he must have gone looking for Aphmau early. I guess we'll catch up with him later," Garroth shrugged.

"Okie-Dokie then," I sighed. 

We continued walking and had some small talk until we got to the docks where Laurence was standing with the luggage. 

"Hey!!" Garroth exclaimed. He ran up to Laurence and they did that weird 'man-hug' people do where they like, pat each other's backs and laugh, you know, that hug? Guys are weird man. (No offense to guys but this is what I see when dudes hug lol)

"It's been forever!" Laurence said, looking over Garroth's shoulder and quickly noticing me, "Oh, hey Kim!"

"Hi, Laurence, nice to see you again!" I smiled. 

"Wow, you look... different!" Laurence noticed. 

"Heh, yeah I decided to try something new," I told him. 

"Well, I like it, you look great."

"Thank you, I appreciate it!" I blushed slightly, though I knew it was just a general compliment, nothing special. 

"So, where is everyone?" Laurence asked. 

"Just doing their own things. Except for..." Garroth tried to tell Laurence about Aphmau, but I knew he probably wasn't going to be able to do it. I covered for him.

"Except for Aphmau. She went to talk to Aaron's mom but never made it there. We've all been looking for her, with no luck." I frowned. 

"WHAT?!" Laurence nearly screamed.

"We haven't seen Aaron all morning either-" I was going to explain the rest when all of a sudden I realized Laurence had practically frozen. He inhaled and then stopped breathing, mouth wide open and his eyes full of shock. 

"Laurence! What is it?" Garroth stepped closer to him but Laurence quickly backed away. I looked around and then quickly realized what had shocked him.

"Garroth, y-you're a werewolf," were the only words Laurence could bear to mutter, 

We sat Laurence on a bench for awhile until he came back to his senses.

"I was too busy being so excited about being here until I took the time to look and realized that you have ears and a tail! I can't believe it took me this long to notice. What the heck? How did that happen?" Laurence questioned us.

"It's a long story..." Garroth said. 

"Yeah, that stupid excuse isn't going to get you out of this. People don't just TURN INTO werewolves Garroth! I'm not dumb! I want answers... please," Laurence begged.

Garroth looked at me, and I understood what he was asking through his eyes. He wanted to know if he should tell Laurence the truth, which would be sharing Aaron's secret, or lie to him, which would be betraying a friend. 

I hesitated for only a second, before nodding, indicating that Laurence deserved to know what was going on. 

"Laurence, have you ever heard the story of the Ultima werewolf?"