210 Memories Of Rhapsody (1/2)
”Ava...”
Everyone came closer, with Alicia offering me her hand. ”He... He's still alive. I can save him for you. It was just that his Aegis mutated from him forcing other Aegis into his own body, but he isn't dead, just frozen in time.”
”...”
”He gambled on a chance that you'll not lose yourself again if he took away your power, Ava. Taking some of your Aegis prevents that no doubt. It will take some time for me to make a cure or something to convert his Aegis back to normal, but—”
I took Alicia's hand and with my eyes still filled with tears, I begged her. Incessantly, I begged her to save Hope.
My revenge didn't matter if Alicia could save him, and in fact, I already threw it away a long time ago. I wanted to kill Alicia because she hurt Hope back then, but... at times like these, my feelings were not the least bit important.
Alicia looked at me with warm, gentle eyes— the same ones that the 'old' Alicia used to do, back when she became 'my mother'.
”Alicia! Please, please save him!”
I thought she proposed such a thing like saving Hope because she had ulterior motives, but I was wrong. For one year after I last saw her, Alicia's heart didn't have that rebarbative malice anymore. Her heart was filled with the blinding light of resolve and a new purpose she'd found for herself.
”I will save him. You have my word,” Alicia said resolutely.
”Thank you, Alicia...” I never thought those words would leave my mouth, ever.
”Hmm?”
”What is it, Sofeea?”
Everyone looked at the flas.h.i.+ng Hologram Bracelet wrapping her left wrist. Before Sofeea managed to press the b.u.t.ton, Klaus's hologram popped into existence.
Huh...? Next to him in the hologram were two girls I hadn't met before. To his right was a red-haired little girl with strange metal-like armor piece attached to her left arm. Her hair was quite long and it covered her face.
To Klaus's left was a girl wearing the standard dark blue C.U military uniform. She was taller than me, about 166 cm, and her raven black hair was short.
”That fortress is falling down!” said Klaus. ”Get the eff out of there!”
”Tsk!”
Alicia went over the controls near Amathelia's chamber and expertly maneuver her fingers to take over, trying her best to pull the flying fortress Leah back up. After a few seconds, she shook her head and looked at us.
”Guys! It's no good! With Amathelia's down, I can only hope to land this thing at sea. Amathelia was the one who used her Aegis to float this fortress, to begin with.”
”Just do it!” said Derrick.
Alicia didn't wait any longer and controlled the fortress herself. It swayed— tilting sideways before its colossal vessel landed roughly near the sh.o.r.e of Bulgaria. Sofeea urged everyone to head back to Klaus's Teria airs.h.i.+p (which I just found out that they even had one on standby outside). So, we did just that. Since Hope's body was encased in his golden Aegis crystals, Sofeea teleported him herself.
”Ava!”
”...h.e.l.lo, nice to meet you, Sis Ava.”
Julia and Ernestine introduced themselves and greeted me, in that order. I was briefed with bits of details about what happened— mostly after when I went berserk. It turned out all those people back at camp didn't die.
To prove it, Klaus led us all to the infirmary in that airs.h.i.+p— where Maltyie, Qara, Lily, Khenbish, Odval were all there, awake and completely healed.
”Avaaaa!” I didn't notice Erhi at first and then she just hugged me out of the blue, crying. They expressed their relief that I was safe and sound. But, I knew what I had to do. Shortly after, I apologized to them wholeheartedly, over and over, about my incompetence in protecting those I cared about and having the very same wonderful people to worry about me.
As for what happened to Amathelia, Sofeea told everyone about it, and a search would be conducted inside Leah, the flying fortress. Alicia though, she...
”I committed so many sins. I wasn't there for my own daughter... I'm... truly a horrible person.”
Alicia said those words as she looked at all of us in the infirmary. She insisted on a severe punishment, but before that could be done, I had made her promised me.
”I will save Hope Domitius no matter what. After what happened in Mansel Island, what I did to him, it's unforgivable. And I'm not looking for forgiveness. I just want to do things right... starting from now.”
”Can Lily use her Aegis to do it...?” asked Odval.
”She's in a coma right now. And, her Aegis will work no doubt. But the sh.e.l.l trapping Hope will just regenerate, instantly I believe,” said Klaus at the infirmary's door. Alicia turned and nodded at his statement.
”But! We'll never truly know until Lily wakes up.”
”...”
Silence. Klaus's words were hard cold truth. Right then, Lily was the only one I could rely on to save Hope from his mutating Aegis, and until she woke up, we could only do so much on our own.
”...”
”I'll do it right now if you want,” said a woman's voice.