Your P.O.V.
"Beat ya! You have to go get lunch!" I yell in Xander's face. He pouts but I can see he's holding back a smile.
"Fine. I'll be back in about an hour." The auburn haired boy jogs off back into the woods, leaving me by myself.
I fall backwards, out of breath from sprinting to the building. My (H/C) hair sprawls out behind me. It's such a nice day. I stare at the clouds, picking out shapes for a few minutes.
I turn my head to the right, gazing at the foundations of what used to be homes. Then, my head goes back to the left to look at the forest in which Xander had disappeared into ten minutes ago. Wow, I get bored easily. He did say he'd be back in an hour, right? I should be finished exploring by then. Yeah. I'll be back in time for food.
I stand up and brush the grass and bugs off my clothes. The village looks pretty big from here. Maybe if I could get a better view... I look over at the tree closest to me, which is a pine tree. It's gotta be at least twenty feet tall, maybe even thirty. I gulp at the thought of plummeting down from that height, and that idea gets tossed right out the window.
Sticking with the safe side of my mind, I march into the seemingly endless sea of foundations and crumbled brick.
<3<3<3<3Time Skip<3<3<3<3
"Words are born into air, then quickly fade out in the wind," I sing to myself softly. I've known this lullaby forever, but I honestly can't remember where I learned it. "But they find their way inside you, where they live on forever more..."
I step over a cracked cauldron humming the parts I've forgotten. The notes float out on the breeze, probably not going to be thought of again for a while. "You can see just how much you've grown, how strong you are..."
I finish a lyric and my foot goes through the ground, causing me to lose my balance and tumble down something hard, bringing a chunk of the cauldron with me.
"Ah! Crap!" I hiss in pain and grab my leg, which is twisted in a strange position on my left. The piece of iron hits me in the back, knocking the wind out of me. "Hah...ow..." I give the ground that I fell through a dirty look, only to find it's not ground at all, but a now broken trapdoor, and I'm sitting at the bottom of a staircase.
A few windows are scattered here and there, some sunlight streaming in. It's still pretty dark though. I examine my leg, which doesn't seem to be broken. Actually, with all I've done to myself, I'm really not surprised it's fine...almost. I untwist my leg and stand up slowly. Okay, no blood and no bones sticking out of my body like last time. Okay, we're fine!
I wince as I take a step and light my fists in lunar energy to light up the room. It doesn't work as good as Sting's probably would, but it sure is better than nothing. Instead of an empty room like I expect, it appears to be a furnished basement. Sure, it's pretty outdated, but wow!
Start music (try to play it again after it stops so you can get the full effect while you read. :))
"Woah..." I let go of the light on one fist as I limp through the furniture. There's a small set of chairs and a table, a kitchenette and a fireplace. The only things that really interest me though, are the double bassinet, and the desk.
The bassinet is really nothing special; a pale green ribbon circles the white material. It looks just about big enough to hold two average sized babies. I run my hand along the ribbon, feeling its smooth texture. I'm just about to go look at the desk, but I notice a mobile with three dragons hanging from a delicate frame that looks like it would break if I flicked it. One dragon is purple, one is light blue and one is gold.
The desk is something completely different though. The oak wood gleams against the purple light of the lunar energy, despite the dust, and the clutter is spread out evenly through the surface. There are intricate swirl designs on the sides of it and the legs have leaves carved into them.
I take a deep breath in and blow all the dust off the top. Sitting down in the wicker chair in front of it, I start going through the clutter. I don't think anyone would mind, after all, it's obvious no one's lived here for decades, centuries even.
There's some normal stuff there: a light pen, some notebooks, a baby toy, a few books...the only thing I don't recognize is this lacrima. It's not like any one I've ever seen. It's a blunt gold, and looks pretty dull. I wonder if it does anything. While fiddling with it, I accidentally tap something which causes a menu to project into the air.
There are two options; record and view recordings. I tap my index finger on the right side of the lacrima, selecting the "view recordings" option. Before anything starts playing, a screen pops up with the words "recordings: 863" on it.
Then, she appears. A girl who's gotta be my age, maybe a year or two younger. The weird thing is, though, is that she looks like she could be my twin. Not fraternal, like Xander and I obviously would be, but identical. Almost exactly, except for the fact that her (H/C) hair is tied into twin braids which start at the front of her head and end at her hips.
"Is this even working? It better. I paid five hundred jewel for this thing..." she mumbles to herself. Her voice is perky, and her cheeks are dusted with a light rose color. "Oh, wait!" She gasps in excitement, then jumps up from the chair she's sitting in and runs over to a boy I didn't even notice in the background, his back facing the lacrima. "Amaren, look! It works!"
"That's great, Venus." The boy says in monotone. I think I heard her say his name is Amaren?
"...will you make a video with me?" The girl who's name I think is Venus asks.
"No. Please let me work on this."
"Oh, c'mon! Just one?" She begs. "Please?"
"Fine," Amaren stops what he's doing and turns to face the lacrima. He looks like Xander, but not as much as Venus looks like me. He has Xander's hair color, but his eyes don't tilt upwards slightly like his do. Instead, they just stay in a straight line, and the color is a light gold. "So...what do we do?"
"Well, this is the first video, so I guess we introduce ourselves," Venus shrugs. "I'm Venus, and I use memory magic!"
"Do I really have to do this? This is stupid." He rolls his eyes.
"Yes! For me?" She makes puppy eyes at the boy sitting next to her.
"Fine. I'm Amaren, and I use mirror magic. Now what do we do?"
"Well, why don't we just talk about life? We're in a guild called Black Star, and we take missions and stuff. Amaren here is actually the master's son!" Venus seems really happy about everything.
"Did they really need to know that? Who's gonna watch this, anyway?" Amaren asks.
Venus shrugs and grins, her soft (E/C) eyes closing as she shows her perfectly straight teeth. "I don't know. Hey, maybe we'll watch this when we're older! That'd be cool."
"Whatever. I'm getting back to work."
"Oh, fine then. Be that way." Venus waves at the lacrima, then reaches over and the screen goes black.
"Was that...?" I can't even finish my sentence. I'm ninety percent sure those were my parents, but...I don't know. I'm gonna watch a few more.
After about one hundred videos with them talking about nothing in particular, one of them gets interesting.
"Amaren, do another one! Please?" Venus isn't in the shot of the lacrima, but I can hear her voice.
"No, Venus. I need to finish this." He sounds angry at her.
"What happened?" Her voice goes sympathetic.
"I said, I need to finish this!" With that, a slap echoes through the room. There's a pause, and then I hear a sniffle.
"F-fine." Then, Venus appears in the view of the camera. She's a bit older in this one, maybe twenty three, or twenty four. There's a bruise already starting to form on her cheek where Amaren slapped her. The recording goes black.
I watch another, and another and another, until I come to a video where Venus looks about twenty five. She's crying.
"U-um...Amaren isn't going..." She wipes away a stray tear. "Amaren isn't going to be on these videos anymore. That's all I wanted to say." The video stops.
Another one.
"I'm pregnant. Amaren knows, and he wants to do something to the child. Something to do with dragons, I don't know. But, I can't stay here. He's going insane. Before, he was just brooding, now his temper is rising. I can't deal with it. I'm going to a small village a while away. I'm taking someone I've never shown on camera before, he wanted to come along, too. That's everything right now."
Just two more.
"Hello! I'm back again!" Venus seems so much happier now. "And guess what? I had twins!" The woman turns the lacrima to show a baby boy with a few streaks of dark red hair laying on the table. I look behind me, then back at the video. Tears gather in my eyes, because I'm in the room with that table.
"I haven't decided on a name yet. I'll figure it out." Venus smiles brightly. A man with sandy blond hair enters and picks up the baby, who I'm pretty sure is Xander. He hands her her son, and she places him on her hip.
Then, an infant with a giant tuft of (H/C) on top of her head is placed on the table. She looks at her mother, then her mother's friend, then at the camera. Her little brows furrow, and her (E/C) eyes sparkle with curiosity about the world.
I stare at the projection as tears roll off my face. That baby is me. I remember this exact scene from the flashback I had in the guildhall. It feels like forever ago, but it's only about four months now. I saw this. It was blurry, but she was there, he was there, and so was Xander. Everything matches up.
"Okay! I just wanted to show the children on camera because they're so adorable! That's it! Bye!" Venus waves, then turns off the lacrima.
I don't know if I have the strength to watch the last one. Come on, (Y/N). It's just one more. Slowly, I tap the play button. Something I never would have expected comes up.
Venus is crying hysterically, holding me in a (F/C) blanket. At first, I can't tell why she's sad, but then I see it: Fire. Fire, everywhere outside the windows. Not just that, but people cloaked in black, with a weird mark on the cloak hood. It sort of looks like a guild mark, but I'm not so sure because I can't see that well.
"H-he found us...A-amaren. He's dangerous, b-but I still l-love him...If anyone w-watches this, please make s-sure my babies are safe...p-please. I love you; Xander, (Y/N).
A loud thumping noise sounds at the door in the video, and Venus does something to the camera. Then, it goes black.
I'm numb. I can't do anything. Instead of getting up, and going back to Xander, I lay down and cry myself to sleep.