Alitia: Hellfire and Blizzard

XVIII: Tracing Shadows

The next morning was a shock to everyone. 

After the battle against the mystery stalker, Sophia was pulled off to the infirmary to be looked over for any injuries. Her wounds were thankfully minimal, but Zylphia and Michaela still wanted her to stay with them until they were confident everything would be alright. Zylphia, meanwhile, sent out a distress signal to all of the professors so they could start to look around for Cerise as soon as they heard of what was going on. They all knew already that they wouldn't be finding Cerise until after they were able to get a better idea of who they were dealing with. Cerise was gone, and they had already figured it out. 

Sophia felt like her world was ending. It shouldn't have ended the way it had. She should have been there to make sure Cerise was alright. She should have done everything she could to defend her girlfriend. Cerise had been put in danger because of someone following her around, and Sophia should have been able to help her out of it. That was what friends were there for... But she had fallen short. Cerise had been taken in by the person who had been stalking her, and now, none of them knew where she was. 

When the morning came, the news of Cerise's capture spread like wildfire. Tanith was the first one to wake up after what Sophia could only assume was a particularly bad night of horrible dreams. Tanith had always struggled with them, but she never explained what they were about. Either way, she had told everyone the truth about what had happened with Cerise in the middle of the night, and from there, they rushed to the infirmary to talk to Sophia about how it had ended. 

Sophia didn't want to talk to any of them. She knew she couldn't avoid them for too much longer than she already had, but shew didn't care. She didn't think she would ever be strong enough to look them in the eyes and say that she had failed Cerise. She should have done a better job of handling the battle. If Sophia had just been a little bit stronger, then maybe she would have been able to keep Cerise safe. It felt like all she could really ask for... But there was no point in yearning for it now, was there? Sophia had failed. Of course she had. The person who had attacked her and Cerise the night before was still at large, and no one knew where to start when it came to searching for them. Not even Cerise knew much about the person who had been stalking her, and Sophia had already heard everything Cerise was aware of. The person had been following her around for a while now, and it had all come to a point when the kidnapping happened. 

Luce threw the door open when the group arrived, and Sophia flinched away from the noise. She was on the verge of breaking down into tears again even though she already knew she didn't have time for that. She needed to breathe. She was going to be fine... But how could she be alright when she didn't know where to find Cerise? How could she set all of this right? How could anyone fix this? What in the world was her problem? 

If Sophia was being honest with herself, she hadn't felt this hopeless since she thought she was going to have to drop out of Alitia to go back to Fortunia for the rest of her life. Back then, her father and brother had been making her miserable, constantly hounding her into doing what they wanted. Sophia had tried to fight them however she could, but she knew it wasn't going to end as well as she would have liked. She had been able to get away from them though. They were gone now. Sophia had been the one to kill them, as a matter of fact. They were dead, but the current situation would not be so easily resolved simply if someone was killed. Sophia had to wait around until the truth revealed itself so she could get Cerise back... But what if the kidnapper never came back? What if Cerise was simply doomed to live on her own forever? Was she even still alive at all?

No, Sophia couldn't think like that. Cerise was strong. She had survived the hatred of countless people back on Igni. She knew how to handle herself. Sophia just needed to believe that she would be able to take care of herself until the rest of the group was able to come by and help her. Sophia didn't know how she was supposed to keep her head on straight when she was so scared, but she owed it to Cerise to try. She needed to do something to help her girlfriend. What if staying at Alitia and knowing that there was still hope was the best thing she could do? That didn't feel all that helpful, but it wasn't as if she could do much more than that.