Chapter 35: Stone Hearted Vine

Boo's POV

When Mother said she will give Alexander a gift, I became overjoyed. I was so happy when all the people dear to me were getting along.

"Mother, that's..." My joy quickly turned into fear, as I saw what gift my Mother gave Alexander.

"Shhh, Boo. It's for your own good." Mother tried to calm me down, but how could I stay calm when Alexander's heart now contained 'Stone Hearted Vine'.

(No, it can't be happening..) "Why would you do it, Mother? You know what will happen to Alexander when 'Stone Hearted Vine' matures in him. He..He will be as good as dead." I felt myself being at the brink of tears.

"I know, my daughter...But this is the only way to secure your future with that man. He won't be able to hurt you when that vine grows in his heart." I could feel my Mother's care in her words, but I couldn't accept what she just did to Alexander.

"This man is the one that saved my life moments ago, and he is my friend." While saying that, I remembered the conversation me and Mother had just now. "You said yourself that I'm his wife now. You said it means more that a friend. Maybe I don't know what wife is, but from Alexander's reaction I know it means a lot. Especially to him."

"Boo, listen.." Mother tried to stop me, but I didn't let her.

"How can I be his wife and let him turn into a stone statue? Tell me, Mother! How?! How can I let his soul be trapped in his soon to be stone body for eternity? I don't accept it, I just don't." I felt how Mother used nature around me to calm me down, but even the gentle wind that fell on me wasn't enough to extinguish the fire burning in my chest.

"He will still be there... Just not how he is now. Will it really matter if he turns into a stone statue without his will?"

"Are you serious? You want my friend to die in front of my eyes...Again." I could hardly control my tears, as I started to recall how my friends died in the hands of those monsters.

I put my head down and whispered. "It can't happen. Not again."

"Boo." My name was all my Mother could say to me.

"I made my decision, Mother. I will save Alexander. I won't let you do that to him" I raised my head up, while couple of vines began moving around me.

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Alexander's POV

After regaining my senses, I saw Boo with her head down and noticed the wind starting to move faster. It was strong enough to break some of the weaker tree branches around us.

"What's happening here?" I tried to ask either Boo, or Gaia for the answer, but the only thing I got in return was apperance of Boo's vines. They were the same ones that she used to attack me in her trance.

I saw how they slowly moved in my direction, with Boo finally raising her head.

"I will save you, Alexander." I heard determination coming from her words.

"Save me from what? I know Gaia doesn't like me, but you don't need to save me from her. I can deal with it myself." I gave her a confident smirk, but her reaction wasn't what I expected.

(Why does she have a sad smile?)

"I won't let any of my friends be hurt in front of me again." When Boo said those words, something inside me awake.

And it didn't take long for me to notice what it was. (Why would nature magic act up all of the sudden?)

Not only did it awaken, it also created the same vines Boo did. The only difference between them was their color, as mine were darker.

"Boo, was it you?" I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't Gaia's work this time.

"Mhm." It was clear by her short answer, that she didn't want to explain her actions.

She reached her open hand out, while looking me deep in the eyes. I didn't know how, but I unconsciously knew what she wanted me to do.

I did the same gesture she did, making our palms touch each other. I felt warmth emitting from our hands, now becoming one and soon we entangled our fingers together. It was like we became one.

With this I also discovered that I could feel what Boo was feeling, and see what her thoughts were.

LIke I suspected, she was full on innocence and care for the world. But in this ocean of positivity, I found a storm. (No. This can't be.)

"Boo, you can't do that. You will die." I made my grip tighter, showing Boo I disagree with what she wanted to do.

"Sorry, Alexander, but...I made my decision." When she spoke those words, Boo showed me a bright smile filled with tears flowing down her face.

I felt how one vine slowly crawled up my leg, heading up my body, to our entangled fingers. "No, stop. You fucking vine, stop." I also saw how Boo's vine did the same thing on her body.

I tried to use my magic in last attempt at stopping Boo's plan, but I had no control over nature magic in me, it had its own life.

I could only see how those vines made their way to their destination, when I felt something being ripped out from my heart.

"AAAAAAAA!" I screamed in pain, with sweat appearing on my back, as this thing moved inside me.

"Boo, you can still stop this. Please, don't it. I don't want to see you end like this." While speaking, tears covered my face.

"I can't. I don't want to see you die because of me. It already happened too many times to my friends because of of my inability to do anything. And I'm your wife, right? A special friend, this is what Mother called it." Even if her final moments, Boo only cared about saving her friend for the first time. She still didn't remember that she was the one who saved me from the Goliath.

"No!" I shook my head. "I won't let it happen, Boo. You already saved me once, even if you don't remember it. Now is my turn."

I gathered all my mana in my arm, creating lightning around it and making blood vessels rip apart in it. I did it to create a layer of protection from the vine that was heading there.

It prevented this vine from moving to its goal, making me feel relived. But it didn't last long, as I saw green energy emerging from the vine, healing my arm and making it lose its electric layer of protection.

I turned furious at this sight and created a new layer electricity. It made my blood vessels rip apart again, but the pain from those injuries was nothing in comparision to the thought of Boo dying. (I already experienced it once. I don't want to live trough it again.)

"Alexander! What are you doing? I made my decision, I will save you." Boo became distressed when she saw how I hurt myself while trying to prevent her plan from occurring.

"And I made mine. I won't let my future wife die in front of me." I hardly muttered this sentence, with the pain filling my whole brain, leaving nothing else, but determination to save Boo.

"AAAAA!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, while I created new layers of electricity time and time again.

"Stop! Just let me save you." Vine on Boo's side already made its way to our fingers.

"Nooo!" I gritted my teeth, feeling how hard it was to control my mana any longer.

[Resistance J+ -> I]

When I saw my resistance improve, I thought it will give me a new strength to continue sending out lightning, but it had the exact oposite effect. Suddenly, my mana stopped working all together, letting the vine crawl its way to our fingers.

When it got there, it aproached Boo's vine and like our fingers, they entangled themselves together. They created a spiral which soon was about to recive its third and final part, as the thing inside me also made its way there.

I focused my gaze on Boo and sadly said. "Please. Tell me it can be stopped still."

"It can't. It couldn't be stopped from the moment I decided to do it." Boo replied to me with the same tone.

"So my attempt was pathetic?"

"NO! It showed to me your care, even if it meant your death. In my final moments, it means more to me than anything else."

"It still wasn't enough to save you, Boo...It wasn't enough." I could hardly speak at this point.

And before Boo could say anything more, I noticed the thing from inside of me made its way to our vines. It took a spot on their tips, making three spikes grow out of them.

"I said it once, but I will say it again. I will do anything to save you from dying. I didn't want to call you my wife before, but your actions proved to me that you deserve nothing less, Boo. I want to teach you what this word truly means and make you my wife for real." I looked deeply into Boo's eyes, pouring my heart out.

And just when Boo wanted to answer to my words, she shifted her gaze at our entalged fingers.

"Alexander, look."

I didn't know what Boo wanted me to look at, but I decided to follow her gaze.

When I looked at the vines, I saw how the three spikes disappeared and how a heart shaped symbol replaced their previous spot. It almost looked like a new entire plant grew out of them.