"Why did we stop here, Mom?" Gwyneth questioned, the hairs in the nape of her neck erecting like needles when a flock of black and bat-like birds rocketed somewhere in the forest. They had stopped in the station closest to the border of the Empire and the Wasteland; the Rantha Mountains.
After watching the train disappear form the eastern horizon, Guinevere kneels down to the little dark-haired girl's height and grabs hold of her shoulders, having her face her directly. "Whatever happens, Gwyneth, I will always love you, okay?" She pursed her lips into a quivering smile.
"A-Are you going somewhere?" Gwyneth asked, confused. "Are you gonna leave Dad and I, again, Mom?" Tears soon welled up in her eyes.
"Gwyneth, our family is falling apart," Guinevere said, biting her lip as she could taste the salt of her own tears. "I need to fix it and I know how to do it."
"How will you fix it, though?"
Guinevere stands back up straight, looking ahead of the forest. Heaving a heavy sigh, she wipes her cheeks with the back of her shaking hands.
"Let's go, Gwyneth."
"But you haven't answered my question-"
"It will be answered once we get there."
"Get there? To where?"
"Home... where it all started."
- - -
"Mom, I'm scared," Gwyneth whimpered as they were now walking through an uneven path inside the abandoned Naturan village. "I can feel dark magic hiding inside these houses."
Right when she said that, a loud bang explodes in front of them when a cottage wall falls to the ground on its own. By reflex, Guinevere pulls her daughter close, chuckling. "I thought you weren't afraid of anything?"
"I didn't said I was strong in the first place. Alucard did!" Realizing what she just blurt out, Gwyneth cuts their eye contact and frowns. "I'm sorry for reminding you of his death."
"It's okay. It doesn't matter anymore. It... won't." Guinevere replied.
They stopped when they get to the cottage. Guinevere swings the door open and the metal hinges turned out to have lost their purpose. "Gwyneth, look out!" Gwyneth was about to walk into the face of danger. Hearing her mother shout, she ducks and hear the wooden door flew across the room and being slammed against the stone wall. "Are you all right?"
"Hmm," was all Gwyneth could say. "Mom, I don't want to stay in the dark anymore. Tell me why we're in this scary place, please?"
"But I don't want to hurt you, love-"
"I'm already hurting about not knowing what's going on!" She yells, making her mother look away with downcast eyes. "You're leaving Dad for good, aren't you? You divorced him, is that it?"
"No, Gwyneth, it's not that," the redhead's tone was but a whisper that Gwyneth had to wince and take a step closer. Running her hand up and down her arm, Guinevere looks at her daughter pleadingly. "Listen, darling, I am I'm trying to make things right here, and for things to- to be right, I have to restart everything."
"You mean you're going to go back in time?"
"Yes." Guinevere breathed.
Gwyneth breaks down into another batch of tears. Unexpectedly she runs over to her mother and wraps her arms around her in for a hug. Guinevere felt motherly warmth spread out of her chest. At this moment, there was no sadness, no regrets, no negative emotions. Being a mother to Granger's child will always be the best part of her life.
If only she didn't have to alter it. But what was there to live for anymore? Her husband had been sentenced to live his whole life in prison with no chance given from the court of seeing his family again, no chance of being able to see his child graduate, no chance of seeing his daughter grow up into a lovely and brilliant woman like her mother used to be, no chance of living life as he used to. It was game over for him, and for the rest of his loved ones as well, Guinevere was always aware of this ever since she woke up.
Forcing herself to pull Gwyneth away, Guinevere sniffed and shouts at the top of her lungs. "Cresta, let me see you!"
A strong gush of air comes out of nowhere and from all direction of the house, coming from the shattered windows and the holes on the large roof.
A translucent woman stood in the doorway leading towards the kitchen of the cottage. She wore clothes made of animal fur and dyed wool and on her face was a straight white smile. She looked more real than the last time Guinevere saw her.
"Is this my grandchild?" Cresta gasped, looking at Gwyneth. She leans down and reaches her arm, wanting to run her fingers in the little girl's long and luscious dark brown hair. Having never seen a ghost nor spirit up close, Gwyneth dodges and runs away to safety behind her mother.
"Yes, she is," Guinevere answered. "Her name is Gwyneth. Gwyneth, this is your grandmother, Cresta. Don't be shy. Say hi to her, my love."
"No, I don't want to. She's a ghost!"
"I am pained," Cresta exaggerated. "Anyhow, why have you summoned me, Guinevere? Is my son doing fine?"
Guinevere shakes her head and places her palm against her chest, telling herself this wasn't the right time to be emotional. She needed to focus on the task at hand if she were to fix everything. Even though her mind was already made up, the rest of her held doubts, but in this kind of situation, optimism was key.
Cresta flattens her gaze, curious. "What seems to be the problem, dear child?"
"Granger is in prison."
"Oh?"
"Cresta, I don't want to continue living a life without him. He's my everything and and, a lot has happened over the course of months which has broken my family forever."
"And let me guess, you want me to send you back in time again?"
"Yes, please. You're the only one who can help me save my family. I know you can."
"The last time I helped you time travel, dear, you were brought into the wrong universe, which I greatly apologize. I know it must have brought you great agony, to think that you will never go back home..."
"But I don't have a home anymore for he's been taken away from me, f-forever."
Lovingly so, Gwyneth interlaces their hands together.
"And what if I fail you for the second time?" Cresta said.
"I am not afraid to do everything over and over again. I'll repeat the same hardships. I'll repeat seeing him walk through the door for the last time. I'll repeat going back here. If it's what it takes for me to make things right, I'll do it and I bid my life to it."
"Very well," Cresta finally said. "Have any last words to say to your daughter, Guinevere?"
"Gwyneth," Guinevere said, cupping Gwyneth's dollish face. "You were the best thing that ever happened to your father and I and I hope I'll get too see you once again, where your father and I won't be apart anymore. Where we will be a happy and complete family, always."
"I love you, Mom."
Feeling completely overwhelmed by what her daughter had uttered, Guinevere drops to her knees and hugs her daughter tightly.
"I love you too, my love."