Second person's POV

"You heard it?"
A Gruff with dark green eyes flew as he asked the other company of his who were doing the usual patrolling around their territory. 

"Heard what?"
"I felt like I heard a roar of our kind around the woods..."
"Nah , you think too much there , buddy! There's no way Gruffs would just simply run off our lovely village-"
Before the forest green eyed Gruff finished , a larger , fiercer roar echoed the forest , sending gushes of leaves flying towards the Gruffs. 

"Now , who's laughing now?"
"Alright alright! We will head over to check out alright? Geez some attitude..."
The forest green grumbled under his breath before dashed downwards to land , followed by the dark green one who was still humming with full joy on his victory guess.

The two approached to the cave where appeared to be the source of the sound. With the dark green one nudged forest green by its right front feet , the other one grumbled in annoyance and his company's weakly personality , while have a feet stepped on the ground , forming forest green coloured lightning by his horns before shouted out loud.

"Show yourself! You have been surrounded!"
As the Gruff shouted out loud , a pair of light green eyes shined in the dark before the Gruff walks into the light. On its white fur , there was stains of purple blood as some slowly dripped down from the torn cloth that was hung by his teeth. 

The Gruff roared furiously and it eventually scared the hell out of the two before it had made them set off flying in the skies , even stumbled couple of times by the clouds. Gruff looked at the soonly vanished figures before returned to his hideout in a rushing paces.

"I sincerely apologized!"
"G-Gruff it's alright. You saved me after all."
Rhys raised his hand , claiming that it was alright for him. After all , all Gruff did was just torn part of Rhys's coat and stained it with some cut opened elderberries that was surprisingly found freshly grew up in the humid cave of Gruff's.

Gruff sighed by his earlier actions , seemingly couldn't forgive himself for just shouting straight in Rhys's face. Rhys sighed by his nice attitude , sure he was different than the other Gruffs he encountered earlier. Rhys then stood up from his ground , walking towards the ball of fluff , petting it softly as Gruff jumped a bit before looked at Rhys with his half opened eyes.

"Now Gruff , everything was alright. If you're still feeling bad , I could used your help to find Beast."
Immediately , Gruff jumps up from the ground , sending up a small earthquake eventually , almost letting Rhys loss his dear balance. With the help of Gruff's tail , he was eventually safe from tripping over.

"S-Sorry , but I would help! If that let me feel less guilty! Come on , I know where would she usually be!"
Rhys looked at this hyper excited Gruff and smiled before his mind was startled with Gruff's short talk.

"Right , call me N.B , Gruff was the name of my kind after all."

Rhys's POV

Gru- I mean , N.B , lead me to a place he called , the Sakura Lake , as he claimed that that location was where Beast usually be for copious amounts of times. I was still surprised for the fact N.B knows Beast. Being even more surprised for the fact N.B was 'exiled' by his kind , as he called it.

"N.B?"
"Yeah?"
"Just being curious... Why were you 'exiled' by your kind? I mean , it was fine if you don't tell me."
I said quickly before letting him felt offended as he did mentioned he dislike that experience.

"No , No , it was fine to be spoke out loud anyways..."
N.B said while he have me sat on his back where his winds were folded.

"It was because of a Gruff... A female Gruff..."

"Us Gruff had this tradition on mating a Gruff for generation purposes. If we males doesn't do something with it , it was either bringing shame to your family or yourself.  I mean , it does sound funny when you tell a lady to call out a mating request , " 

"I do have a mate for a choice. But I think she had more better choices than just me. So that's why I decided to 'exile' myself away from society."
N.B said while have his head looked down to the yellow foliage. I feel kinda sad for whatever N.B been through. I mean , in Daemos , mating was a thing in the cycle of life. That's how a kingdom grew.

"Do you actually have your feelings on her faded away? I mean , it might have been some time and you would probably feel-"
"Nonsense!"
He roared out loud which startled me for the moment as he then quickly apologized.

"She was the most amazing Gruff in the village. She's strong , independent , caring and full of leader spirit. Her flying abilities was the top of all soldiers , her roar can scared the hell out of the great spirits of the Megaloceros Giganteus. She was destined to be the future fearless leader of Gruff. Being such amazing person I have ever met in my life ," N.B then looked to the ground with his voice dropped , "I don't think I was perfect to be around her..."

By how N.B describes , I could feel images of Oscar flashing into my head. The smirk I missed and felt flustered for , the touch of her hand , her eyes that shined under the sun behind those round glaoses of hers , her hair that danced along the breeze , her brave and determined heart and soul....

"-hys? Rhys? RHYS!!"
I felt my body moved forward as I fell off from N.B's back and looked up to find N.B looking at me with pure concern of my sudden space out.

"You alright there? You're blushing furiously there."
Blushing? The expression that Ava describes as shyness of thinking a certain person?
All I did was thinking about Oscar-

Ugh , damn.

"Thinking of someone there buddy?"
N.B asked me as he had his back foot on the ground. By his resting position , I did attempted to stand up yet his tail that was wrapped around my waist , leaving me tangled.

"The Lake was 100 steps away , in my footsteps of course. Plus , it was not even dawn yet , we can talk it out."
"But the skies-"
"The darker they get , the closer to day it was in reality."
N.B break it to me as I heaved a sigh of relief. Asch wouldn't be mad for my disappearance after all....

"Sooooo , wanna talk about this special lady in mind?"
"Well... Where should I even start this..."
I sighed before having my mind searching for any small memory pieces around my head.

"She was a flirtatious being after all as my first impression. But within the flirt , there was shyness underneath , " I thought of the night of the lecture as I felt my face heated up , yet giggled softly by her comment of refuse to talk about the night ,

"She was an amazing person with her hands creating amazing pieces of designs of outfits ," I said while thought about those surprisingly matched right outfits she designed , especially that special scent on each and every outfits she sewed on her own, 

"Her brave talk and determined speeches on his majesty amazed me , " I smiled as the scene where Oscar protected me from Asch and even got scarred by him. I have never forgotten that brave smirk of hers when she stood before me , 

"She was a kind , gentle being. Her sometimes arrogant attitude was just a wall of hers to strangers , you'll find that she was the best of all feminine being in the world ," I smiled as images of her screaming at us back those earlier days we first met to that day compared to the day when she legit called me IceBoy , 

"She was such a friend to me."
I smiled with my hand hold against my cheek before noticed N.B with a pout on his face. 

"Did I said something you simply disagree?..."
"After the 15 minutes talk of you talking about this lady of yours and watching you smiling like an idiot , you claimed her as a friend only. Bet she was disappointed , if she had feelings towards you."

'I'm more interested in smart nerdy boys~'

"She was gone after all. I never find someone perfect like her..."
"D-Damn , sorry , I didn't mean to cross the line."
"It's fine , N.B ," I said as I stood up from the ground , "I have tasted the sweetness of this thing humans called 'love'. But , now , I was feeling the bitterness of what humans called 'separation'. She might be alive , or dead."

N.B looked at me before he had my arm rested on his head and looked at me with his green eyes , asked , "What if she was alive or dead?"

"If she's not here anymore , at least I have relief on the fact she was in a better place. If she was still alive , I would look at her chocolate eyes and tell her ," I looked up to dark pink skies , closed my eyes , as I said , 

"I love you."

"There was it , Sakura Lake."
N.B said as I was amazed by what appeared upon my eyes. 

A glowing silver light tree was stood in the middle of the single small island with a river surrounding. The river was sparkling and shimmering , making me misunderstood for the fact the river was covered up with a layer of diamonds while the leaves of the tree was covered with a layer of silver.

N.B jumped over the river with me on his back as he looked away for Beast as what he claimed. 
"Beast? Beast? I have your friend here and he would really need your help to return to the abandoned castle of yours." 
I froze by his statement. I have never told him the fact I have Caucasus as our temporarily base.

"Wait N.B , how did you know- Argh!"
Before I could ask him , Beast appeared with herself hung over upside down. N.B appeared to be joyous to see Beast while she turned to me with her red pupils flickering.

"Beast! You were actually here! I thought Rhys was just bluffing. You wouldn't be here longer than ever!"
Beast turned to N.B before I noticed she smiled under her skull while ruffling on N.B's soft stomach. I was surprised and amazed the fact she smiled , also , her smile was actually sweet...

A growl hummed as I turned to Beast who had the end of her binding cloth tossed into my hand before N.B walked to me with a smile , "Beast will take you home like how she brought you here. She was not going to carry- Ouch!" Beast slapped the Gruff by the head before scoffed by his words. 

"Thanks for the company throughout the day , N.B."
"Anything for a friend! Bye!!!"
N.B roared as I was once again , sent flying in the skies.

"I- ," I spoke to hold Beast from walking away , "I apologized for following you , Beast. It was my fault and wrong for offending your privacy." She glanced at me before stood in front of me , have her hand reached out and ruffled my brown hair.

She then took her leave as I simply have my hand reached out and touched my messed up hair. Her hand... was surprisingly soft as a feather.... I thought back the conversation I had with N.B back before we arrived at Sakura Lake , chuckled , finding surprising for me to admit my true feelings towards not a human or Daemos , but a spirit. A spirit friend actually....