Alitia: Welcome to Millenia

XLV: A Heroine's Vow

"Glad to see you haven't lost your motherly touch, Zylph," Minerva murmured, a small smirk on her face despite her exhaustion.

Zylphia smiled and reached out one hand to take Minerva's, fingers wrapping around the other woman's palm effortlessly in a matter of seconds. "I'm glad to see you're still alive," Zylphia told her, being equally as sarcastic and snarky even with the grim situation. "You worried us all sick, you know."

Minerva attempted to push herself into an upright position, but she wound up being pushed back against the bed by Sophia. Surprisingly, Minerva didn't fight back against the motion, and she let herself fall into the pillows behind her. "I didn't mean to do anything like that..." Minerva paused, glancing around the room once more. "Where's Altina?"

"She'll be here soon. She's going to Sacred Heart right now, but she'll be coming back here as soon as she's finished there," Tanith assured her. "Don't worry about her. She's safe."

Minerva sighed in relief, closing her eyes and letting her head drop to one side. "Do you need me to be conscious for anything?" she asked, a slight playful bite lurking in her tone.

"No. Go back to sleep," Zylphia instructed. It was much more an order than it was a suggestion.

However, it was also an order Minerva wanted to follow, so she let the tension in her body slip away as she fell asleep. Her chest rose and fell gently, and a few seconds later, she was out like a light.

Tanith looked up at Zylphia with a small smile before throwing her arms around the older woman. Tanith tried to say something, but she ultimately found that words were failing her.

However, Zylphia didn't need to hear anything from Tanith. She understood what her adopted daughter was saying without a word needing to be spoken, so she instead just chose to enjoy their embrace while it lasted.

~~~~~

Luce and Sylvia had been hiding behind their tree for what felt like hours.

Luce had gotten a little something done while they were waiting for their other friends to arrive. The two of them couldn't storm Sacred Heart alone, so all they could do was wait... But waiting wasn't always a particularly bad thing.

After all, any witches that got too close were able to be dragged back to the side of the light. Luce was able to stick one hand out from behind the tree to hit them in the arm, and while it left Luce with a wicked burn, it ended the possession, which was all she could really ask for at that moment.

Sylvia was able to heal her back up after the fact, meaning neither one of them was too horribly hurt as they waited for their companions to come. They were unharmed and saving witches, which was the optimal situation given where they were.

However, there was another side to this coin. The burns were often severe enough to knock the witch on the receiving end unconscious, meaning there were twelve or so witches asleep among the greenery. There wasn't enough room for the witches to all stay behind the tree Luce and Sylvia had chosen, so Sylvia cast a small disguise spell to keep them from being noticed. None of the possessed witches had noticed it yet, meaning the spell was working well enough, even if it was on the sloppier end due to Sylvia's perpetual exhaustion.

When a nearby portal started to open, Luce and Sylvia just about jumped out of their skin. However, they relaxed when they realized they recognized the pattern of the dimensional rift as being a spell cast by Anneliese. The two of them still fell onto each other in surprise, hearts pounding quickly from surprise.

"Relax," Altina said firmly once she walked through the portal. She was followed by Helena, Carys, and S.M. with Anneliese taking up the rear of the line. "You're going to be fine. We're just here to help you get out of this."