15 Fear, Truth and Yearning

The sun had long ago set as Axel and Olivia sat face to face inside her tent. Both sat in silence while waiting for the other to talk.

Honestly, Axel really didn't want to talk about his identity. It's not that it was hard for him. All he'd have to say was, ' My name is Icarus Avalon, Third Prince to the Avalon family.' and that would be that.

However, for his and Icarus's revenge, he needed every moment to get stronger, at least strong enough to protect himself and his friends. Revealing himself could prove fatal if word got out.

While Axel was sitting and debating, Olivia looked over at him with a dazed expression. She could tell that he was going through alot of inner termoil.

With her ability, she saw that a storm was raging inside him. She was about to say something when she felt a throbbing pain in her chest. Her vision swayed before focusing on the problem.

A sword stabbed her through the heart.

She could feel it digging through her, tearing her insides to shreds. Suddenly, the silhouette of a man appeared before her. She felt something forcefully dragging her head up, only to be greeted by the silhouette grinning. The sword inside her suddenly burst into flames, turning her heart to cinders.

She could feel deep pain, regret and relief coming from inside her before losing conscious. However, right after she passed out, she came back to reality, only to find Axel in front her, still debating.

While in shock, Olivia reached her hand out and placed it above Axel's heart. Tears began flowing down her face as she muttered, "…How did you survive?"

Axel noticed her acting weird and was about to ask her what's wrong when Olivia suddenly placed her hand on his chest and spoke. As time slowly passed by, Axel noticed that he began to shudder. His heart rate shot up while tears began gathering in his eyes. He didn't know why but he became afraid, so very afraid.

That's when he finally realised, he's extremely afraid of dying again. Because he has the memories of both himself and Icarus, he remembers how both of them died.

While it may be normal to be afraid of death, it's different after you've experienced 'death'. He was afraid of the cold, endless abyss. The fact that nothing existed there, only yourself.

The fear of death quickly took hold of him as he began hyperventilating. The world slowly spun as he curled into a ball. Everything started to become dim when he felt a hand hold his own. Everything stopped as he looked up and saw Olivia.

She held his hand in a vice-grip while tears spilled down her gorgeous face. She reached her other hand towards him, signalling with her eyes to grab it. Axel could feel the warmth from her hand and desired more. Grabbing her other hand, Axel slowly pulled her into an embrace.

Nothing sexual, he only desired the warmth from her while Olivia desired the same. The two kept hugging when Axel said, "…My old name is Icarus Avalon. My father hired an assassin to kill me and I died." Taking a deep breath, he continued, "However, that's when 'I' appeared. I died in my world and was reincarnated into Icarus's dying body. Luckily, when I did reincarnate, it fixed his body or I would have died again. When I finally got the jist of the situation, I decided to live as 'Axel' and bury my old names."

Olivia snuggled closer and whispered, "Can you tell me 'your' name, please?"

With a sigh, Axel hugged her tighter and said, "…Evan, my name was Evan Nightingale."

Olivia looked him in the eyes from inside his embrace and said, "It's a nice name but I like my Axel better."

With a wry smile, he and Olivia continued to embrace while chatting about their lives. Olivia talked about school life and her friends while Axel talked about his world and his family.

Suddenly, Axel looked at Olivia with a questioning glance and said, "Olivia, why are you ok with the fact that I reincarnated into this body?"

Olivia sleepily yawned and said, "It's actually not impossible for people to reincarnate. However, it's never heard of for someone to reincarnate into someone else's body, it's always been infants or artifically bodies. Plus, while this world is separated into different dimensions, people don't believe other worlds exist, me included."

"Then why?.." Said Axel.

Suddenly, Olivia hugged tighter and said, "Because my ability tells me your not lying."

The pair began feeling tired and decided to sleep together. They released each other and began making arrangements. Olivia opened her sleeping bag and lay it across the ground while Axel went and grabbed his sleeping bag so they could use it as a blanket.

Leaving her tent, Axel went and talked to Stella about where she would be sleeping. She told him that she would be fine with staying on watch. However, when Axel turned to leave, Stella smirked at him before closing her eyes.

Walking inside the tent, what welcomed him was a semi-nude Olivia. She smiled at him and signalled him to come closer. Axel gulped and walked closer to her. He tried to say something but the words kept getting stuck inside him. Olivia only smile and said, "Get changed, you idiot."

Axel shyly took off his clothes, revealing his black briefs. Olivia noticed a significantly large bulge in his underwear and muttered, "…I don't think it would fit."

Olivia lay in the make-shift bed and said, "Axel, come sleep."

However, Axel had a feeling he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.