ⓟⓐⓘⓝ ⓐⓝⓓ ⓜⓘⓢⓔⓡⓨ
"Earlier, you-called me Rae. Is that my name? You know me?" The frail girl braved herself to ask the unfamiliar people while holding a warm milk in her hands, their faces, she couldn't pinpoint it but something in her heart said she had seen them before but she couldn't really tell where and when since she had been trapped in that abyss for a while now. Their eyes were gentle, almost making her give in but she knew better not to trust strangers easily. Sure they saved her, but it's better to be on guard since she was powerless.
A long braided hair woman nodded. "Yes, your name is Rae King-" She looked at others who were kinda down to know she didn't have any memory about them. After all, Rae King was someone who changed them and saved them before. She was their light to grow closer as a family in the guild. Minerva figured it's better to not tell her everything at the moment, it might worsen her health. They could do that slowly and from her perceptive, Rae hadn't trusted them fully yet and Rae was wounded more than just physically.
Rae slowly processed what she just said. "Rae King-I'm Rae King." She then remembered the face of petite pink haired girl. She could remember her face clearly, that little girl was crying when she saw her. And the pain inside her eyes was undeniably overwhelming. She wondered if they had any clue about the girl. "A pink haired little girl-I think her name is Haruka? Do you somehow know her?" It's like she just dropped a bomb on them once she spoke the name, making her feel bad. Did she make a mistake?
"Did I do-something wrong?" Rae instantly shuffled on the bed and backed away, afraid if they were going to scold her. Yukino quickly shook her head to stop her from apologizing, just what had happened to her that made her became like this? Her voice told Rae that she didn't need to worry and afraid of them. They were once friends and Rae softened her face, the frown on her forehead faded and Sting couldn't handle this. The Dragon Slayer paced back and forth, clenching his teeth, if he ever found the one who made her like this, he swore they would never see the light again.
Rogue strictly told him to stay put as he was scaring her. "Rae-san, Haruka-how should I say this-she's your daughter."
I have a daughter? She curled into a ball and closed her eyes for a moment once she rested her forehead on the back of her hand. Soreno noted the movement and roughly shoved the boys to chase them out of the room. Rae might need times to be alone for a moment and Yukino told her that if she needed anything, she just had to call them. Rae nodded, catching the concern on Sting's face. "Sting-kun-thank you." His eyes blinked at the name, his nose scrunching a little but he had a soft smile on his face. "Thank you for-everything, all of you."
"Anytime, Rae-chan."
The girls waved her goodbyes and she found herself sitting in the quite spacious room alone. Her head leaned back against the headboard behind and her hand was raised up to her dull silver eyes. The black insignia on the back of her hand stared back at her, she had seen this mark on them as well. Did that mean they were her family? I have a home? Were they coming for me? Her head began to hurt whenever she tried to think more about it. It's like there was something blocking her memories. Earlier, she witnessed them using some kind of magic to fight the fire creature, did sorcery exist in this world?
"Do I even have magic?" She asked herself, her hand moved a little bit as if she was trying to do magic. However, she felt really bad for troubling Sting and his friends, and them. They had gone so much trouble to save her even though she didn't recognize them. "Guess I don't have one." A hopeless sigh was let out and she had her hand rubbed her face anxiously. She had a daughter, what did that mean? Was she married? There's a lot things in her head now and she had a feeling that she won't be able to find the answers if she stayed still in the room.
"The ring-" How could she forget about that. Her silver eyes began to panic as she searched for her ring on the bed. She didn't know why but ever since she woke up in the abyss, that ring was already on her finger and it seemed it was perhaps meaningful to past her. That ring, it kept her sane through every torture she had faced before. Even if she's on the brink of death, the ring constantly reminded her to hold on. It's like there was a female voice telling her to keep holding on.
Rae threw the duvet off her and struggled weakly to stand on her own feet which seemed not inhuman of her to feel strange about her body. Currently she was wearing a long white dress and her hands held onto the wall, she took a few baby steps, everything was hurting but she braved herself. Suddenly, her hand accidentally knocked out the flowers on the table but as if there was a sharp reflex she never knew she had in her fragile body, her other hand shot outward quickly to catch it. Her eyes widened at her almost inhumane movement and she failed to regain her balance.
The girl crashed on the floor but luckily, it didn't alarm the others. Rae breathed out heavily, staring at her hand as if it was some kind of weird creature. Her body ache from the fall but she didn't pay attention to it. "What just-happened?" Her face held an unbelievable look. She suppressed a sigh, wishing she could unravel all the questions at that moment. Rae tried to get up once again, using all of the strength left in her weak body to stand up and she took a look of her in the mirror.
"This is me?" Rae can see her appearance clearer now. She touched her pale white face. Her face to her eyes was all the weakness a human can possess. Her features, her empty silver eyes that held nothing but dull which were screaming pain and misery too much. Her sunken cheeks were not beautiful but she guessed she looked a little bit better than before. Her hair, it was long and somehow the color of its golden warmed and soothed her heart. At the very least, her hair shone brighter than her fading smile.
The bruises on her body were mostly healed which she was really grateful. She took off her dress. There were quite big scars on her chest and stomach. A frown appeared on her face. She looked uglier with them. "No, I shouldn't be sad-Yukino-kun and Minerva-san had done their best to heal them." Still, she was insecure about her body. It's like she could break easily within one snap. Her age, she must be around early twenties, perhaps 21? She was not really sure but was not that really young to be a mother to a 13 or 14 years old girl?
"How did I end up there?"
∆∆∆
"Damn it! We almost got her back!" Natsu shouted in anger. They had promised Master, they would bring her home but they clearly failed.
Happy frowned and felt really bad for not doing anything to help her, Rae was injured really bad and he should have reacted faster. Everyone should have. Ares rubbed his face, they had reached back in Magnolia but they couldn't just head back to the guild empty-handed. The whole guild was waiting for her. Her family was waiting. "Where can we find her now? We don't even know if Surtur has her with him or he has taken her somewhere else now. I can't trace her with magic since she doesn't have one."
"How did that happen?" Artemis thought. "We all know Her Majesty is really powerful and now she's suddenly lost her power. Did someone steal from her?" Haruka shook her head. There's no way there's someone stealing her magics, her mother was really strong and their body can't handle her power for sure. It will eat their body alive. Artemis nodded, that's what she thought but it might be possible for it to happen if they concealed it to prevent it from growing stronger.
"Now what should we do? Nee-san badly wounded, her stomach was ripped open-" Lucy began to tear up and her hand covered her mouth, leaning into Poseidon who had his arms around her. He didn't say anything to her, after all, all she needed was someone to lean on. Lucy couldn't imagine what had her sister gone through, Rae must have been so afraid to stay in that place for a long time. Her heart crashed whenever she saw her sister's crying face in her head. She can't believe that she was not strong enough to save her.
Jellal finally lost his strength and his body crashed down on the ground, startling everyone there, including Gray who had been staring at him for a while now. Then, slowly his body trembled and soon they heard his cries. Haruka hugged Bella closer to her chest as Jellal seemed to be very hopeless, she started to cry as well when he was crying. His face-it's only natural to cry when you felt hopeless but the sight of him breaking down once again tugged everyone's heart.
"Jellal-san-papa, don't cry-" Haruka hiccuped, her eyes glazed in tears. He only cried harder when she called him papa, she had accidentally slipped that out for a few times before and he was happy to be recognized as her father but now, that word hurt him really bad. He failed to save her. Even after he had her in his arms earlier, she slipped from his reach again. It's all over again. He didn't deserve to be called her father. Jellal put a hand over his face and Haruka sobbed even more, she couldn't stand to see him like that.
"I'm sorry, I failed to save her. I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"
Gray finally snapped. "That's it!"
"Gray!" Erza screamed his name.
The Ice Mage had punched Jellal on the face and his hand yanked Jellal's collar, his cold eyes glared at him. "Shut up! You're sorry, you're sorry-I'm sick of hearing that! If you really love her then, trust her! Believe in her! She is alive and we will find her! Stop crying you pathetic! Stop being weak, you damn it-"
Ciel tried to pull him away from Jellal but he just tightened his grip on Jellal's neck. "Gray, calm down!"
"Get away from me!" The shirtless guy shoved him away and looked at Jellal in the eyes. "Listen here you idiot! Stop saying you're sorry! It's not your fault! It's our faults too alright?! All of us had the chance to save her but that girl-" He chuckled darkly, saying about Rae loved playing hide and seek too much. She must have been laughing at them for being too reckless and idiots right now. "So stop sniffling like a puppy and grow up! Sobbing here won't do anything! If you really love her then you stand up now and be a man!"
Jellal was thrown to the ground and Haruka ran to him. He almost looked lifeless. She pulled him into her embrace and gently stroked his hair, reminding him of her mother. Rae had always comforted him like that whenever he had his nightmares about his past. "It's going to be alright-we are going to find her-together papa. Together-she will be coming home with us soon. Don't cry-you're going to make me cry too." Her small sniffles kept interrupting her sentences and Jellal eventually was snapped out of it.
"I'm sorry, Haruka." Jellal hugged her close and tightly, making everyone teared up at the sight, except for Ares who was annoyed at Gray for being 'heroic'.
Ares then decided that they should spilt up into three groups which Wendy questioned his choice. "I don't think Surtur would keep her in the Underworld, it's too risky for him since Zeus, our knight would catch onto him. She's in this world and the curse that binds me and her together is triggered right now, which means she's here-" He saw their faces lighted up. But he didn't actually know where she was since the traces of her were pretty weak. "Let's give everyone a week to find her, and meet up at the guild after that."
Carla sighed. "But where do we need to find her? We don't even have a lead or anything on her?"
"The fact that there are traces of her in this world means the aura of her existence is growing stronger. We might be able to find her in a few days even if they are weak. And there are three possibilities that Surtur might send her away to." Poseidon listed those three locations that were connected to Surtur's hideout and each group had the three demon spirits with them. "If you ever manage to find her, Ares, Artemis and I will send a signal to each other and we can meet up at the guild. We have approximately 34% of success to find her-"
"Leave it to Poseidon being the brain one."
Poseidon rolled his eyes at Ares. "But you have to be aware of Surtur's men, I doubt he will easily let us go. Demons can fake their appearance and there's one way to know if one is a demon or not. You have to pluck one of their hair, if it turns into some kind of weird creature then you're in a fight. I'm sure all of you can handle them with ease. Especially if you have us around." He shrugged his shoulders and they parted into three groups which Lucy, Natsu and Haruka went with him.
Ares teamed up with Erza, Ciel and Jellal while Gray and Wendy went with Artemis. Before they went to each other's way, Haruka held Jellal's hand and reminded him to be careful. "You too, Haruka. Mama will come home soon, right?" Jellal smiled softly, ruffling her pink hair after kissing her knuckles. The little girl nodded happily and ran to Lucy, leaving him staring at her back sadly. How could he act weak in front of her? He should have been stronger but he couldn't help it, the thought of losing her again scared him so much.
"Oi, stop blaming yourself, geez." Gray had his hands in his pockets.
Jellal nodded. "Thank you for earlier, Gray."
"Tch, don't mind it. I was just thinking about Haruka. You scared her."
21/4/21
who do you think will find Rae first?