The Return of Molly

Part 7 ~ A Message

A rented, old cart made its way down the familiar road and the mood within it was a rather solemn one. Caduceus was driving while Fjord, Jester, and Beau road on separate horses. Nott was sitting next to Caleb in the cart who was flipping through a few pages of a well-read book, his mind wandering. Yasha was also in the cart, keeping her intense eyes forward as they scanned the horizon.

"So... this dream of yours, Caduceus..." Beaus asked, bringing her horse closer to the cart. "You think something grew on his grave?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you all the details... but the Wildmother wanted to tell me something and I'm not too certain if I should share it until I know what it means," Caduceus explained simply.

"How long until we get there?" Yasha demanded, her eyes staying glued on the horizon.

"Probably a day or so," Fjord called back.

"A day?... Come on, man, it's almost been a week." Beau scowled, "If he came back, who knows how fucking far he could've gotten. How will we find him?"

"If he's even alive," Caleb reminded them all.

Another somber silence descended on them and they all fidgeted.

"We must prepare ourselves for the possibility that Caduceus's dream meant something else... or was just a dream," Caleb muttered, closing his eyes and trying not to let his heart grow heavy.

"The Wildmother may just be telling me that something grew on his grave, either way, I figured it would be best for all of us to go on a trip and see," Caduceus smiled.

"It's alright! Road trips are fun~" Jester grinned.

Nott looked to Caleb and smiled before putting a hand on his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

They took the night's rest leaving Caleb and Nott up for the first watch. Fjord and Yasha up on second, and Jester with Beau on third. When Yasha's shift was over, she lay down and closed her eyes, trying not to think or consider Molly being alive.

Everything in her wanted her old friend to be alive, but there were too many fears she had. What if they found him and he was Lucien? What if they found him and... he didn't remember her. What if... what if he was never coming back?

She fell into a restless sleep as she tried to push those possibilities to the back of her mind.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself in that familiar nightmare of a battlefield. The corpses of all those she had known and cared for strewn on the earth with their blood on her hands. She looked over it in cold familiarity when a warmth suddenly shone from behind her. She turned to see a break in the cloud cover, where a ray of sun broke through and shone on a familiar grave. The snow-dusted cloak was hung up on the stake, flapping in the wind. 

Slowly, Yasha approached it, her heart aching with all of these nightmares strung together. As she approached, the wind blew more viciously, making the cloak flap and dance in the wind wildly, when suddenly, the cloak blew off of the stake it had so long been affixed to. It tumbled in the wind until suddenly it was fit around a familiar form. Someone had just appeared in the cloak, someone familiar.

Yasha's eyes widened and her breath hitched.

His back was to her but it was undeniably him, donned in his colorful cloak, his many different baubles hanging from his horns.