𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝕱𝖆𝖑𝖘𝖊 𝕲𝖔𝖉 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙
***
From the place where I was once before, I looked below me where my feet rose and I could see my reflection having been able to wear that dress, torn on each part, having these brown and grayish hues around, a place I could consider so old and cold.
An area that doesn't have the faintest glow of light, and with each step that I take, I create these ripples around, distorting the image that I have of myself every step that I take, leads me back to the images of where I was once a young lady.
The smile that I had once, the eyes that I longed for Caliere to notice me, the warmth that I continued to have until they faded away through his merciless voice.
Everything brought me back where I should have belonged, a continued drowning experience that I couldn't help but make myself deep within the abyss.
As each step I took, was each torn up soul could make me see.
Wishing me to go back to that place where I could have been, a warmth that wasn't only focused on himself and a desperate cry for a new beginning, a light that was never there, and images of the people I had begun to care about.
Please...
As my feet began tired to the endless journey in this prism, I knelt to feel the coldness, the ice-shattering moment where every little thing that I put my hands on would break as if disappearing like a black fog in front of me.
The vagueness of the surroundings must have been caught by the continuous spring of water from my eyes.
And yet, when I tried to put both of my hands together, the coldness was slowly disappearing being replaced by this mighty glow, and before I knew it, the voices of the people I cared for and missed, began to invade my ears.
Thinking that everything wasn't only wishful thinking.
That perhaps, even one person was waiting for me to go back...
That perhaps, the warmth that I never realized wasn't just around but within my soul.
Perhaps, I could make a change not only for myself but also for the people that I wanted to protect and love.
And now that my thoughts couldn't get any more foggier, I outstretched my hands enough to capture that glimpse of light bringing me back to a place I once wished would be my salvation.
A dazzling, captivating sunset, within this flowery meadow and windy area, that I could see these figures, smiling toward me with their open palmed hands reaching out to me
"Vestia, come on, there's no time to dazzle around. You know you owe me your promise, right?"
"Henry, would you shut up and let me take Vestia's hands?" Claudius interjected and the two argued.
Chuckles escaped my mouth and Celna was already gripping my arms with a few chuckles of her own as well
"Don't mind them Lady Vestia, because right now, I got you and you will never be lost..."
"Oh, you're not alone, Celna, I also got Vestia for my own as well," but the two seemed to bicker and I could only sigh.
As I turned beside me I saw Anna with Sir Francis smiling and chuckling while waving at us. I could immediately see how they were looking at me with those eyes as if I meant the whole world to them
"Go back to where you belong, Milady"
"You know that we will always have your backs"
"We will never let our promise be broken, even if it would cost us our lives. We will keep that promise to you, no matter what," as if they were all looking at me and saying those exact words, in the blink of an eye, golden mist enveloped the place.
Before I could even speak, with the hands that reached the impossible light, I felt these hands also reaching mine with their warmth and unknowingly, the corners of my lips were already curling up with these vagueness around.
Not caused by the coldness but this time, it was caused by the never-ending light
"Remember, Vestia, no matter how time changes people, we will always keep our promise, because that's what friends are for," Henry's voice overlapped around and when I opened my eyes, I couldn't help but gasp.
I looked around and I saw Jer on the other side making a bonfire, and it was still indeed a night. I grabbed his coat trying to keep me warm from the night's shivering wind and put it on while I tried to stand but I almost stumbled if it weren't for the tree behind me.
"You're still exhausted so you might have some rest..." I heard Jer's voice but I couldn't help narrowing my eyes.
The wind gets even chillier than before and I felt as if we weren't in the same place as before.
"Jer, what happened while I was out?" I asked him and sat beside him from the bonfire he was making and I could only hear him sigh.
His gazes which were full of dust made their way towards me. I could see my reflection from his eyes but there wasn't enough to make it clearer.
He closed his eyes for a moment stopped what he was doing and initiated to face me.
"It had already been four hours since you fainted," he paused but now he was already looking at the night sky, but my gaze remained with him.
"After you fainted, there was a light of glow that appeared from the scattered dust the creature created. It was then that a scroll was embedded from it and they light-handed it over to me"
"Have you seen what it was or know what I might it?" I asked
And he descended his gaze toward my eyes.
He nodded but silence overwhelmed afterward.
I waited for him to speak but it seemed as if he couldn't so I sighed and was about to talk to him if it weren't for him finally opening his mouth and speaking of the words that might have made my eyes go wide again.
This time, it was accompanied by my mouth.
"The scroll was the information about the experiment conducted on the Belfore East and who were the responsible people around. But the names in there weren't the real ones they were embedded with aliases and possibly we might never know who they were"
"How did the creature know and acquire such valuable information"
"....I guess, before he ran away, he was still in his right mind to claim those to help his fellow peers but when he was already corrupted within the mind, that's where he used to roam around and kill beasts to be his prey"
"How did you know all of this?!" I asked him with eyes that became as wide as the silver orb attached from the cloak of the night.
I heard him sigh and lean from the wood he had created, he must have been working on the tent earlier to have shelter from the cold or if it may rain.
"If you were left with no choice but to live and look for someone to help you, even if the body changes and the mind would get to be altered, there were still some thoughts embedded in your subconscious mind that would always correct the previous mistake... and Lady Vestia, you knew it," he paused and looked directly to my soul
"You knew how it was too hard to keep up with your thoughts even if you wanted to die, because the look on your face that day, says it all..." I couldn't help but gasp.
But what he said was way more terrifying than anything making every body of my hair rose.
And I still don't get what Jer meant by what I knew and when I decided to ask him, we heard another shout but this time, it was different because the shout was similar to the beasts lurking around.
"Stay behind me, Lady Vestia," he said because when I blinked, he was already right in front of me with both hands on either side and I could see how the blade in his deathrock would kill any being by a simple slice.
Narrowing my eyes, I sighed.
"You know what, I could handle myself, Jer, it's not like I'm still a Renaze or Theron," I said but only shouts from the beasts lurking around invaded what he might have said as his words.
"Then at least, be someone that couldn't burden your partner, Lady Vestia," then I guess, the silly side of Jer got overwhelmed because the moment I landed my eyes on him, a smile crept its way to my lips.
"Don't you say that when I could even defeat more than half of what your deathrock could do, Jer," and in that moment, I saw something from him that he wasn't able to show?
In the cloak of the night, bathed with silver lights ahead, I saw his smile covered in this golden mist.
"Then don't just stand there, Lady Vestia, you know we still have a lot of companies..." It sure was a very long night for the days that we've been here, but when I thought it a second thought, I knew that it wasn't all for nothing at all.
Just like that, I sighed after some eternity that had passed.
Since I guess I'd just won the deal I'd made with Jer who was still heaving long breaths with his deathrock embedded in the mud.
"I guess I just won the deal, Jer? But for now, where is that scroll?"
"You might have, but I'll give it to you later because right now, I just discovered something that might help us"
"Don't tell me——"