*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 3 - Something's Wrong!

*Ruth Watson POV - Atania*

I sat on the ground and removed my helmet, wiping my brow with the heel of my gloved hand. The fight had lasted two weeks, and we were all exhausted after having to rely on red Energy potions to keep us going. I looked over to Rhianna as she walked across the battlefield, checking that the soldiers from the Orders side were definitly dead, her sword, Spineripper, glowing a deep red. She pushed her hand through her very short, boyish hair as she searched.
I sighed and hung my head. This had been the worst battle we had fought in for the past ten years I have been with FREE. I had never experienced such huge losses and bloodshed before. The Order's member had given everything they had at us, and it had been terrifying to witness.
When we first arrived and saw three kids, barely even eighteen and unarmed, being beaten up and tortured, just for the sheer fun of it. It had made my blood boil to such a point, I could only see red and went ballistic. I had never fought like that before. The battles we had attended before were on a much smaller scale, sticking to small towns within Realms or a certain building, so I had mainly focused on getting the people in danger out of harms way to a safe point close by. But this had been the entire Realm, every town and village in the whole Realm was under sttack. Us doppelgängers had specifically chosen to come to a village called Alzicante, because it was there that Tiana, the leader of the Order of Verdicts and Rebecca's worst enemy, was rumoured to be and it was also near to where our fifth doppelgänger  lived, Raquel.
I let out another sigh and got back to my feet, groaning as I stretched myself up. I knew that Darren, my fiance, was fighting in another town, but I had no idea if he was ok or not. I needed to find out. I looked at my watch and spun the dial on the left to find Asuna's name before pressing it to call her.
"Watson?" I heard her answer straight away.
"Asuna, have you got an update on the other towns, specifically Grondon? That was the town Darren was sent to. All is finished at Wacchica and Alzicante." I said, my voice cracking as I spoke from all the screaming I had been doing the past couple of weeks.
"Yes, they won. They're finishing up now, just like you are. Darren has already called to check you were all ok."
I sighed with relief. "Thanks, Asuna."
"Any time, Watson." She said as she disconnected the line.
I looked around my surroundings, trying to find something that I could be helping with, when I saw a familiar face.
"Moreno!" I called out and ran to her.
"Oh, Watson!" She cried out as I got closer. "Thank goodness you're ok!"
"What are you doing here?" I stared at her wearing her old Swindmore armour, holding the blue hilt sword and cocked my eyebrow at her.
"I live here, Watson. This is actually my home village." She smiled widely. "You'll never guess who I saw when I got back, though!"
"Who?" I smirked, after ten years of living around Natalia, I had gotten used to the quirky ways Atanians spoke and acted.
"The fifth knight!" She whispered dramatically, her already large eyes widening.
"You better not have told her anything, Clemency!" Came Rebecca's stern voice. I twisted my head and saw Rebecca storming towards us, her sword glowing red and she was glaring at Moreno with a livid expression. Natalia was right behind her, jogging to keep up, looking very scared at her wife's behaviour.
"What makes you think I have said anything?!" Moreno quipped, folding her arms.
Rebecca reached us and clamped her hand around Moreno's throat, her teeth bared and her eyes wide.
"What the fuck, Rebecca?" I cried out, grabbing her arm.
"Rebecca, please! She hasn't done anything!" Natalia screamed at her, trying to pull her away from Moreno.
"Where is she?!" Rebecca snarled, tightening her grip on Moreno's throat, making her gasp for air and claw at Rebecca's hand.
"Let her go!" I shouted at Rebecca and yanked her arm away, stepping in front of her to hold her back as she tried to continue hurting her.
"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU TOLD HER?!" Rebecca bellowed over my shoulder, fighting against me.
Moreno was coughing, kneeling on the floor and clutching at her throat, trying to breathe. "I... Haven't... Told her... Anything!"
"Rebecca, she's telling the truth!" Natalia begged her wife, her face pleading and she was close to tears.
"Then where is she?" Rebecca snarled, stalling slightly when she realised she was upsetting Natalia.
"I gave her and her friends Portal Bracelets... They will have been sent to somewhere safe..." Moreno grimaced as she looked Rebecca in the eye.
Rebecca froze. "You-You gave her a Portal Bracelet?" She murmured quietly, almost falling backwards from shock, meaning I had to grab her to keep her standing.
"I had to keep her safe, didn't I?! I had no idea when you were going to turn up!" Moreno started to shout, defensively. Natalia hugged her, trying to soothe her and calm her down.
Rebecca fell to her knees. "You gave her a Portal Bracelet?" She repeated, horror etched across her face with her arms hanging by her sides.
"Rebecca, why are you reacting like this? She's gone to somewhere safe now, right? We'll just find her and it'll be ok!" I tried to assure Rebecca, my hands on her shoulders but Rebecca slowly shook her head.
"Portal Bracelets are extremely difficult to trace... It can take ages to find someone. We can try a tracking potion but that will only work if the tracked has used a portal at least once before we track their most recent Portal route. Raquel has never left Atania apart from this one time."
"That's why we couldn't track her parents when they went missing, either. They had never left Atania before." Moreno nodded, sadly. "I-I'm so sorry, Rebecca. I didn't realise that at the time, I just needed to ensure they were safe."
Rebecca's eyes moved to Moreno, but it didn't look like she was seeing her. She appeared to be lost in her thoughts with her mouth gaping open.
I placed my hand on her shoulder and looked at Natalia. She wore a similar expression to Rebecca, but her's wasn't as severe.
"Where could it have taken her?" I asked gently, trying not to trigger Rebecca's anger again.
"Anywhere. Because she doesn't know how to use it, it could have taken her anywhere." Natalia said, slowly, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Even Deathea..." Rebecca whispered distantly.
My heart skipped a beat but Moreno shook her head.
"I set it to take them to a safe Realm. So it would have only taken them to six of the Realms that are classified as safe." She murmured quickly. "So Rulid, Astrovia and Deathea are the Realms it would have avoided."
"Well, that's good, isn't it?" I said, forcing my voice to sound cheerful. "They're going to be in a safe Realm."
"It is still a Realm that the Order could reach and find her before us..." Rebecca muttered, clenching her eyes shut before getting up. "You!" She pointed at Moreno. "You are coming back with us until we find her!"
She looked at Natalia for a moment, her face falling with guilt, before turning and walking away towards Rhianna who was standing watching, her hands on her hips.
I hung my head for a second before walking to Natalia and Moreno, helping them to their feet, giving them both a small smile of encouragement. Natalia sniffed and threw her arms around my neck, sobbing silently.
"Ruth, please..." She whispered between her crying. "Talk to her... She listens to you."
I pulled back and nodded at her. "I'll try."