女神归来的夏天

~~~(Location: Working on the false identities, Elven Kingdom)~~~

~~~(Time: 3:17 PM)~~~

The lack of sound is rattling me a little bit. Helda hasn\'t spoken. All she\'s done is ask if she can sit with me. I assume she\'s trying to find the right words. I\'m not going to force her to talk. I wouldn\'t do that even if we were on good terms. "Where do you suppose you\'ll go after we\'re done..." She\'s giving it a shot, and that means I should too.

I stop working on the false identities and give my adoptive sister my full attention turning to her. This is the first time since Manni that she\'s not acting like I\'m vermin. "I don\'t know, Helda... Most of my life is left behind me at this point... All I can really say is I\'m looking forward to the future..." She nods her head slowly and smiles awkwardly.

We used to be able to talk to each other all the time, and now there is hope for that again. "What about you, Helda? I know that you have plans for adventures after the Elven Kingdom is free from oppression." She looks at me, and her eyes are filled with sadness. I don\'t know what\'s brought all this on, and I don\'t know how to really respond.

The last time I saw Helda like this was the moment Manni told her he was dying. "I\'m sorry, Teri... I shouldn\'t have reacted the way I did... It wasn\'t your fault... I\'ve been a real bitch lately... There are too many things for me to apologize for..." Wow... This is not what I expected to happen. Helda is stubborn when it comes to admitting she was wrong about something.

I can tell that Melimora has a problem with her and if Helda is apologizing to me. She\'s going to do the same for Melimora. "I\'m sorry too, Helda... I could\'ve been better in the way I reacted to you. I choose to be mad and angry with you too..." She turns her head down, and her chin starts to quiver. Tears well in the corner of her eyes. On the edge of falling.

All I can do is reach over and wrap her in my arms. She reciprocates instantly. She gently lets her weeps out, and it\'s hard to hear her. I\'ll never hate Helda, and I\'ll always care about her. "I\'m glad that you came here, Helda... I don\'t ever want to be mad at you, and I don\'t want you to be mad at me." I try hard not to cry, but my own tears start to fall.

Helda was always there for me growing up. Even until the very day that she left, she tried to always find a way to help Manni or me. "God, I don\'t even know why you forgive me, Teri..." I\'m glad she\'s using my nickname again, which means we\'re really back to the way we used to be. She hugs me tighter as I rub my hand up and down her back to help calm her.

She\'s not the only one that\'s made mistakes, and forgiving our loved ones for the things they\'ve done wrong to us is important. If we didn\'t forgive, then everyone would be alone. "Of course, I\'d forgive you, Helda... You\'re too important to me... You\'re all the family I have left now..." We both start crying harder after my words...

While Helda has Leila and Melimora, I don\'t have anyone. Manni is gone now, and I thought I\'d lose Helda too... Now that I know I\'m not losing her, it\'s making my life that much better. I won\'t walk this life without someone to care about me and I about them. "There is so much more to apologize for, and I need to say that I\'m sorry for leaving you and Manni..." She doesn\'t need to be sorry about that...

When she had to flee when we were younger, that was because of the royal family coming after her. She\'s marked as a terrorist now, and I understood why she needed to leave. Away from us was the safest she could make us... "I know, Helda... There is nothing to be sorry about... Life happens, and things get hard..." My choked words come through my sobbing.

We\'re both in the same condition here. I can\'t remember the last time we cried together in grief like this. Supporting each other. Last time we were beating each other up. Our crying echoes around the empty woods that we find ourselves in, and before long, we hear approaching footsteps. We both look, and Melimora is staring at us.

An eyebrow raised in confusion, and Helda quickly stands up. Making her way over to Melimora. Wrapping her in a hug too. Melimora\'s shocked face tells me that Helda doing this with her rare. Seeing her cry is probably more so... "Uhh... What\'s gotten into you, Helda? You don\'t act like this..." The nervous edge is palpable. Melimora needs an apology from Helda too...

Helda cries on her shoulder, hugging her tighter as she lets out the pain she\'s buried. "I\'m sorry for never taking you into consideration, Meli... I understand now why you want to leave me... I never treated you the way I should\'ve... I see that now... My pride blinded me... I\'m so sorry..." Melimora doesn\'t know how to react... The first thing she does is raise her arms and hug back.

Melimora doesn\'t cry, but she looks like she\'s on the verge of crying... "So you finally figured it out... I\'m glad that you did... Now I can stop being upset at you..." Her voice starts to crack, and she chokes her coming cry back down. Helda pulls away and dries her tears. Melimora does the same. This is something that I didn\'t think I\'d ever get to see...

Helda reconciling with the people she cares about most isn\'t what I expected this evening. While we\'re getting so close to Greshina too. "You\'re my sister, Meli... I want you to know that... You\'re my little sister, and I love you..." Those are the words that crack the weakening armor of Melimora\'s emotions. Tears fall freely, and the cracked armor completely breaks.

~~~(POV: Cera Adamo)~~~

~~~(Location: Campfire, Elven Kingdom)~~~

~~~(Time: 3:26 PM)~~~

From the distant cries in the forest, progress is being made. Seems my talk with Helda did more good than I thought it would. "What did you say to her?" Leila knows Melimora, Helda, and Terox more than any of us here, and she finds what I did somewhat improbable. It had a low chance of working, but all I wanted her to do was think.

That\'s when the most change occurs in someone. It\'s when they think. Thinking is just another form of changing your mind, and that\'s not a bad thing. That\'s how things change. "All I did was help her take a step back and look at everything... But in a more indirect way..." My wording was used in a more subtle way than what I just described.

Leila just shakes her head in disbelief, and Freskra proceeds to laugh. She\'s the cousin of Helda and the only blood family she has left in this world. "Say what you what, but the only way that Helda changes her mind is if she\'s convinced that she was wrong." Hey, miracles happen every day. Everyone has a good chuckle at her response.

Those three will probably need a little while, so we might be here longer than we want to be. We\'re already so close to Greshina, but sacrificing a little more time for them is fair. I know when to stop and let others deal with their problems before moving again.

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A/N: Below this line, I\'ll be keeping Cera\'s player information. That way, I won\'t have to place it into the story above anymore. It takes about 180 words up.

[Slayer (Zern) Lvl.196]

[Exp: 40/100%]

[Title: The Son of Arch-Angel Michael (Hidden)]

[Stats] [Strength - 7095][Endurance - 7045][Dexterity - 7215][Speed - 8240][Focus - 19,660]

[Mana aura control: 6/100%]

[Health: 76,560,000,000/76,560,000,000] [Mana: 216,600,000,000/216,600,000,000]

[Stat Points: 50] [Armor rating: 500]

[Inventory] [Dice of Wayland (Divine)] [Hardened Tree sap Armor (Very Rare)] [The Witness (Legendary Sword)] [Fenrir\'s Whistle (Divine)] [Sally\'s Dresses 5x] [Camping gear] [Food Rations 3x] [Dried meat 3x] [Fishing poles 2x] [Fish 8x] [Festival Garbs 2x]

[Passive Perks]

[Inheritor of the Sword] [Son of Heaven] [Slayer of Evil] [Holy Willow Trees Savior] [Finder of Legends] [The Divine who has Legend] [Destined for Greatness] [Dungeon Diver] [An Overachiever]

[Active Skills]

[Heavens light Lvl.59 325/5900] [Protected by Heaven Lvl.59 225/5900] [Slash Lvl..77 4600/130000] [Parry Lvl.53 80/5300] [Double Strike N/A] [Kingslayer N/A] [Raging Machine N/A] [Winged Glory] [Angelic Flight] [Divine Pressure Exertion] [Divinity Pulse] [Controled Fun]