my next life as a villainess, all routes lead to doom x fem!oc [Book 2]

A dream or a vision?

The next day was the same. Everyone paired up and roamed around some towns in search of Keith. This time, it was Maria and Kiana who were paired together, along with the teddy bear. They walked around asking multiple people, chatting a bit with each other and even checking some alleyways. Unfortunately to everyone's dismay, not a single clue was found, just like yesterday. Kiana and the others decided to meet back at lunch time to eat at a restaurant. While some of them were eating and chatting, Kiana and Catarina decided to write a letter to their other friends waiting for them to come back safely. 

Catarina did most of the writing while Kiana gave her ideas. Kiana was about to tell Catarina to write about accidentally hiding in Geordo's closet but Geordo quickly stuffed a macaroon to her mouth, which she happily ate. After that they continued on searching and asking people, before going back to the lodging house to rest for another night. Not long after they ate, the girls went to their room and chatted a bit, even playing some card games that Larna brought, before finally going to bed. Kiana saw Larna got up from her bed and going outside when almost all of them were asleep, but decided not to question it and go back to sleeping. 

But she found herself in an old and dark room..

She looked around in confusion before her eyes stopped at her own brother sitting against a wall and looking down, deep in thought. "Oh my god, Keith! Where have you been?! and where even are we!?-" She yelled while running to hug him, only to pass through him like a ghost. "Wha-what.." She nervously said while turning around, before trying to cup his cheeks, which also failed. "Huh..could this be a vision..?" She said while looking at the state her brother was in. His hair was a mess, he was wearing dishevelled clothes, he looked like he was beaten up by someone, and he was cuffed. "Oh Keith..what have you been through..?" She said, sitting in front of him while trying not to cry. 

He looked at his cuffs, before trying to break them by pulling his hands apart. To his dismay, it didn't work at all. He groaned in frustration while ruffling his flexan hair in a fit of anger. After a few seconds of silence of Kiana trying to make him look up t her, the door behind her opened, causing light to shine into the dark room. "How are you feeling?" Kiana immediately stiffened when she heard the familiar voice. As soon as she did, Keith also looked up with furrowed brows and clenched his jaws. Kiana didn't need to turn around to know that it was the same girl that poisoned her on her birthday, after hearing that voice as a loud ringing in her ear from her dream. 

"Look at you, seems like you're still doing fine. Ordinary people would've gone crazy from being kept here and tortured for days~"The girl said after giggling, making Kiana clench her jaw and fists so that she wouldn't lash out on her after finding out that she tortured her brother. "No wonder you're the successor of the Claes family! Or maybe it's because you're used to it since you were a kid?" Kiana's fists were going whiter and whiter from how tight she was clenching them. "What are you aiming to do?" She unconsciously let go of her fists by a bit when hearing Keith's voice that she longed for. 

"Thomas asked me to! He wants you to fall.." The girl replied back, making Kiana confused. "Thomas..? Who's that-" Kiana said out loud, only to get cut off by Keith. "What are you saying?" Keith said back. "He wants you to go from being a noble all the way to the bottom. But..Thomas said he can't wait anymore! Apparently, he had enough of how your eyes shone, no matter how much pain you're in~ " At this, Kiana stood up in a fit of rage. "Hey! Who.is.Thomas!? Tell me who the hell that is you manipulator!!" Kiana shouted at the girl while pointing at her, who paid no attention to Kiana. 

"That's why, Keith Claes...you will be my test subject!" The girl said, before Kiana tried to slap her hand away from Keith's face after letting out a yell. To her dismay, her hand just goes through the girl's hand. "Test..subject?" Keith said, which the girl replied. "That's right! For my dark magic experiment." She said while standing up, making both Kiana and Keith gasp in shock. "I always wanted to try this, but my test subjects always gets broken. But with your strong mental fortitude, it should be perfect." The girl said, making Kiana rage even more. "Don't you dare get closer to my brother." Kiana said as Keith backed up against the wall a bit.

"It's okay! your body won't get broken..It'll only affect your mind. Your beautiful body will be left as it is. That's why, don't worry!" The girl said while lifting her hand up, before a purple flame appeared on her hand, followed by the whole room lighting up in a purple ritual marking. The girl started laughing like crazy, as Keith's face shifted into a horrified one. Kiana quickly kneeled down in front of him while trying to shake his shoulders. "KEITH!? NO KEITH STAY WITH ME!! FIGHT HER, DON'T LET HER GET YOU ALRIGHT? WE'LL COME SAVE YOU KEITH! KEITH?!!" Kiana screamed while water started subconsciously engulfing her body, as well as her tears to start streaming down her face, before she screamed his name one last time...

and woke up.

She woke up sweating and gasping for air, along with tears still streaming down her face, before calming down a bit. She slowly sat up and looked around, noticing that the other girls were still sleeping peacefully. She sighed before slipping off of her bed and deciding to go on a walk outside to clear her mind. Kiana put on a white cardigan and her slippers before quietly walking out to the garden outside. Upon reaching the garden, she regretted not putting on a thicker coat since it was a lot colder than the inside. Kiana was about to go back inside before a voice called out to her from behind.

"Kiana? How come you're awake this early?" She turned around and saw Geordo in a simple night wear. "Oh..good morning Geordo." Kiana replied with a small smile while he walked forward to her. "Good morning Kiana." He replied while returning the smile. "Um..actually, I woke up because of a dream, well it's more of a vision, most likely." She said, confusing Geordo. "A..vision?" He said while tilting his head. "It was Keith..he was kidnapped and being tortured by the same black magic user that poisoned me at my birthday. Apparently he's her new 'test subject'. If we don't find him soon, something might..trigger in him..!" Kiana said, getting teary eyed again. 

Geordo stared at her for a minute, before engulfing her in a hug, which startled her. "Cry it all out, I know you need to.." He said, which immediately triggered Kiana's last straw to not burst out her feelings. She immediately hugged him back tightly while crying out loud, finally letting her tears out. He continuously caressed her hair as she held on to him and let her emotions out, not caring if his clothes would end up stained from her tears. After a few minutes, Kiana let go of Geordo while sniffling, which made Geordo immediately see her puffy eyes and red nose. "Sorry for that..you probably think I'm pathetic-" She said while trying to wipe her leftover tears quickly, only for Geordo to grab her hands. 

"You? Kiana Claes? Pathetic? Of course not. You're the strongest person I've ever met, both emotionally and physically, but everyone needs to let it out sometimes. And when you need to, I'll always be here. Don't rub your eyes like that it's only going to get more puffy.." Geordo said while letting go of Kiana's hands, before cupping her cheeks and gently wiping her tears off. "I hate seeing you cry like this, but I would never refuse you if you wanted me to comfort you." He said, before removing his hands. 

Kiana was still silent at Geordo's words, processing them one by one. "Come on, let's get you inside. It's cold out here." He said while taking her hand, before gently pulling her in the lodging house. They went to the lounge area and seated there, deciding to accompany each other in the early morning. Geordo ordered two cups of tea and omelettes for the two of them as breakfast. The meals soon arrived and they started eating while talking even more of Kiana's vision. She explained everything she saw to Geordo, who listened carefully. 

After a while they finished eating but continued chatting, not noticing the others coming down from their rooms, before Catarina poked Kiana's cheek. Kiana and Geordo both turned to the side and saw the others laughing at them. "What were you guys discussing and why were you up so early?" Larna asked them, making Geordo and Kiana look at each other, before Kiana decided to tell them as well. By the time she finished telling them everything, all of them were anxious and uneasy, finally knowing that they were going up against a dark magic user who have been torturing Keith for the past days.