The desk is something completely different though. The oak wood gleams against the purple light of the lunar energy, despite the dust, and the clutter is spread out evenly through the surface. There are intricate swirl designs on the sides of it and the legs have leaves carved into them.

I take a deep breath in and blow all the dust off the top. Sitting down in the wicker chair in front of it, I start going through the clutter. I don't think anyone would mind, after all, it's obvious no one's lived here for decades, centuries even.

There's some normal stuff there: a light pen, some notebooks, a baby toy, a few books...the only thing I don't recognize is this lacrima. It's not like any one I've ever seen. It's a blunt gold, and looks pretty dull. I wonder if it does anything. While fiddling with it, I accidentally tap something which causes a menu to project into the air.

There are two options; record and view recordings. I tap my index finger on the right side of the lacrima, selecting the "view recordings" option. Before anything starts playing, a screen pops up with the words "recordings: 863" on it.

Then, she appears. A girl who's gotta be my age, maybe a year or two younger. The weird thing is, though, is that she looks like she could be my twin. Not fraternal, like Xander and I obviously would be, but identical. Almost exactly, except for the fact that her (H/C) hair is tied into twin braids which start at the front of her head and end at her hips.

"Is this even working? It better. I paid five hundred jewel for this thing..." she mumbles to herself. Her voice is perky, and her cheeks are dusted with a light rose color. "Oh, wait!" She gasps in excitement, then jumps up from the chair she's sitting in and runs over to a boy I didn't even notice in  the background, his back facing the lacrima. "Amaren, look! It works!"

"That's great, Venus." The boy says in monotone. I think I heard her say his name is Amaren?

"...will you make a video with me?" The girl who's name I think is Venus asks.

"No. Please let me work on this."

"Oh, c'mon! Just one?" She begs. "Please?"

"Fine," Amaren stops what he's doing and turns to face the lacrima. He looks like Xander, but not as much as Venus looks like me. He has Xander's hair color, but his eyes don't tilt upwards slightly like his do. Instead, they just stay in a straight line, and the color is a light gold. "So...what do we do?"

"Well, this is the first video, so I guess we introduce ourselves," Venus shrugs. "I'm Venus, and I use memory magic!"

"Do I really have to do this? This is stupid." He rolls his eyes.

"Yes! For me?" She makes puppy eyes at the boy sitting next to her.

"Fine. I'm Amaren, and I use mirror magic. Now what do we do?"

"Well, why don't we just talk about life? We're in a guild called Black Star, and we take missions and stuff. Amaren here is actually the master's son!" Venus seems really happy about everything.

"Did they really need to know that? Who's gonna watch this, anyway?" Amaren asks.

Venus shrugs and grins, her soft (E/C) eyes closing as she shows her perfectly straight teeth. "I don't know. Hey, maybe we'll watch this when we're older! That'd be cool."

"Whatever. I'm getting back to work."

"Oh, fine then. Be that way." Venus waves at the lacrima, then reaches over and the screen goes black.

"Was that...?" I can't even finish my sentence. I'm ninety percent sure those were my parents, but...I don't know. I'm gonna watch a few more.

After about one hundred videos with them talking about nothing in particular, one of them gets interesting.

"Amaren, do another one! Please?" Venus isn't in the shot of the lacrima, but I can hear her voice.

"No, Venus. I need to finish this." He sounds angry at her.

"What happened?" Her voice goes sympathetic.

"I said, I need to finish this!" With that, a slap echoes through the room. There's a pause, and then I hear a sniffle.

"F-fine." Then, Venus appears in the view of the camera. She's a bit older in this one, maybe twenty three, or twenty four. There's a bruise already starting to form on her cheek where Amaren slapped her. The recording goes black.

I watch another, and another and another, until I come to a video where Venus looks about twenty five. She's crying.

"U-um...Amaren isn't going..." She wipes away a stray tear. "Amaren isn't going to be on these videos anymore. That's all I wanted to say." The video stops.

Another one.

"I'm pregnant. Amaren knows, and he wants to do something to the child. Something to do with dragons, I don't know. But, I can't stay here. He's going insane. Before, he was just brooding, now his temper is rising. I can't deal with it. I'm going to a small village a while away. I'm taking someone I've never shown on camera before, he wanted to come along, too. That's everything right now."

Just two more.

"Hello! I'm back again!" Venus seems so much happier now. "And guess what? I had twins!" The woman turns the lacrima to show a baby boy with a few streaks of dark red hair laying on the table. I look behind me, then back at the video. Tears gather in my eyes, because I'm in the room with that table.

"I haven't decided on a name yet. I'll figure it out." Venus smiles brightly. A man with sandy blond hair enters and picks up the baby, who I'm pretty sure is Xander. He hands her her son, and she places him on her hip.

Then, an infant with a giant tuft of (H/C) on top of her head is placed on the table. She looks at her mother, then her mother's friend, then at the camera. Her little brows furrow, and her (E/C) eyes sparkle with curiosity about the world.

I stare at the projection as tears roll off my face. That baby is me. I remember this exact scene from the flashback I had in the guildhall. It feels like forever ago, but it's only about four months now. I saw this. It was blurry, but she was there, he was there, and so was Xander. Everything matches up.

"Okay! I just wanted to show the children on camera because they're so adorable! That's it! Bye!" Venus waves, then turns off the lacrima.

I don't know if I have the strength to watch the last one. Come on, (Y/N). It's just one more. Slowly, I tap the play button. Something I never would have expected comes up.

Venus is crying hysterically, holding me in a (F/C) blanket. At first, I can't tell why she's sad, but then I see it: Fire. Fire, everywhere outside the windows. Not just that, but people cloaked in black, with a weird mark on the cloak hood. It sort of looks like a guild mark, but I'm not so sure because I can't see that well.

"H-he found us...A-amaren. He's dangerous, b-but I still l-love him...If anyone w-watches this, please make s-sure my babies are safe...p-please. I love you; Xander, (Y/N).

A loud thumping noise sounds at the door in the video, and Venus does something to the camera. Then, it goes black.

I'm numb. I can't do anything. Instead of getting up, and going back to Xander, I lay down and cry myself to sleep.

The Dragon I Loved; A Sting x Reader FanfictionWhere stories live. Discover now