A Wild Search

Kies made his way back to the mansion through the alleyway. The debris had been cleared away during the fight and Kies had no trouble finding his way back. Kies carefully opened the door to the mansion and quietly slipped inside. He didn't want anyone to see him in his current state, especially Nina. His clothes were in tatters and he didn't want to have to explain it or worry them.

Kies struggled to walk upright. Shortly after the ghost had entered his body, he lost consciousness and had no idea what happened afterward. He woke and found himself in the middle of the plaza and could only guess how intense the battle was based on how destroyed the place was. He quickly fled into the alleyways before anyone came to avoid questioning because he really didn't know how to explain what happened when he wasn't even conscious for most of it.

Kies walked up the stairs to his room to change his clothes and as he made it to the second floor, he saw that the bag next to Nina's room was knocked over. Kies suddenly remembered why he went back out in the first place. He ran over to Nina's room, the floor creaking under his heavy steps, and knocked on the door. There was no response. He then said, "Sorry," as he opened the door in case Nina was inside. Kies saw that the room was empty and turned to hurry over to his room, almost tripping over the tipped bag while doing so.

Kies checked his room and saw that there was no one in there either. He turned around and headed back down the stairs. Halfway down, he slipped and rolled down the rest of the steps. He groaned in pain, holding the sides of his stomach, and continued outside the mansion. He opened the door and the moment he stepped foot outside, he saw something fly by. He froze and backed up to the inside of the mansion while keeping his eyes in front of him. He scanned the surroundings and then he saw it. It was transparent and clear and floating right in front of him.

It was the ghost from before. No, it was more than one ghost, there were several of them flying around the mansion. The one in front of Kies flew up to him and he reflexively brought his arms up to block it in case it was going to attack him. The ghost stopped just in front of him and said something to Kies that he couldn't understand. It spoke in a strange language, just like the other ghost before.

After realizing that the ghost wasn't hostile, Kies brought down his arms and asked, "What are you? I can't understand what you're saying."

"Kies, is that you?" came a voice from behind him.

The ghosts upon hearing the voice instantly flew off and disappeared from sight. Kies turned around to see a woman with long brown hair and blue eyes. She looked like an older version of Nina. Next to her was a maid.

"Oh, hi Mrs. Trevan." Kies bowed and then asked, "Why are you up, aren't you sick?" The two women stared wide-eyed at Kies. "Is there something wrong?" he asked. Kies looked down at himself. "Oh..." He had forgotten that his clothes were destroyed.

"I won't ask about what happened, but I am guessing that is the reason why Nina was-." Mrs. Trevan told him.

"Do you know where she is?!" Kies suddenly shouted out, interrupting her.

"I believe she went back outside," the maid said.

"Thank you," said Kies and he turned around and was just about to run outside but before he could take a step, he was stopped by Nina's mother.

"Stay here, Nina will eventually come back. If you leave, it'll just make it harder for you two to find each other. Also, I think it's better for you to get cleaned up before she comes home," Mrs. Trevan suggested.

"Ah yes, sorry." As much as Kies wanted to run back out to search for her, what Mrs. Trevan said made sense. Two people searching for each other will only make it harder for them to find each other. Kies went back upstairs to get a change of clothes and then went to take a bath.

***

After Siegfried finished escorting Nina to the place, he told her, "Sorry Miss Trevan, but I won't be able to help you look for him. Although I'm sure that someone else had already done so, I need to report what happened to the king."

"No, it's alright. You already helped me enough." Nina thanked Siegfried and he rode off. She then began to scan through the crowd for Kies. Everyone was lined up to give the knights their identities which made things a lot easier for her. As Nina reached about halfway through the line she started to feel her hope slip away. 'Please, please, let Kies be in there,' she begged.

Nina reached the end of the line and she felt her heart drop. Kies wasn't in it. One of the knights patrolling the area saw Nina and went up to her and asked, "What's wrong, little lady?"

"I'm trying to find someone but he doesn't seem to be here."

"Why don't you try going to their home? We already finished identifying some of the people and sent them back," the knight suggested. "Though I don't really recommend it with how dangerous it is right now, you look really concerned so I guess you should."

Nina felt her hope rekindle and thanked the knight for telling her.

"No problem, little lady. Do you need someone to escort you?" the knight offered.

"No thank you." Nina thanked the knight again and then started running back to the mansion. Her feet were sore from all the walking and running but she didn't let that stop her from getting back to the mansion as quickly as possible. The sun had almost completely set now. The streets were dark and it was a little hard to see. The only thing that guided her home was her last bit of hope that Kies was there.

***

Kies leaned on one of the gates of the mansion, waiting for Nina. He was tempted to run outside and search for her again and it took all his willpower to stop himself from doing so.

A few minutes passed as he was waiting and a light suddenly flashed by his eyes. Kies blinked and then looked around confusingly and found himself face to face with a ghost. Kies was startled by its sudden appearance and jumped back. The ghost followed and flew the same distance that he jumped and opened its mouth to speak. This time it wasn't in a strange language and Kies understood what it was saying perfectly.

"Hello there. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but we don't have much time."

---

Grammar errors, story errors, other errors, and advice, email flightless05@gmail.com

Thanks!