V2Ch171 New Family

I forced a word out of my mouth.

"Fine."

She took a step forward. I placed my hand on her shoulder and held her back, just for a moment.

"If you get hurt, I'm pulling out all the stops and he won't know what hit him."

She smiled.

"How about, I just don't get hurt, then."

She was brimming with confidence. It was refreshing after all the shit I've been through to find her.

Her smile only disappeared when I could no longer see her face as she stepped in front of me.

"Now, no interferences, user. Little elf, ya can use whatever tools ya want. I know I will."

He held a hand up and, one at a time, conjured up several elements.

"Good. I'll use all of my tools then."

*PHEEEEEEEEEEE*

Sophie let out a loud whistle then immediately readied herself for combat. The fight started almost immediately. They rushed at each other. The body thief shoved his hand forward. Before any spark of light could even begin to conjure, Sophie was upsidedown in the air above him. Gleamour left several gashes in his back.

An explosion set off in front of his hand. His off-center stance caused him to lose balance, giving Sophie more openings to cause harm. A quick response from the thief had launched him into the air before gleamour could connect again.

The thief landed and they went at it again.

It was such an amazing thing to see. Sophie was brilliant. If I hadn't already loved her, I would have fallen in love right here. Her body was in amazing shape. She kept out of reach from a magic-user. I had problems of my own against him, even with my powers. She only has her body and experience.

And yet, She's winning.

He can't keep up with her.

The thief pulled out a new spell. A water beam. Sophie kept ahead of the beam and ran behind trees to throw him off target.

Sophie started to charge at him from the front, nimbly dodging the beam with ease. A crooked smile came up on the thief's face. His beam shifted and cut through the trunk of a nearby tree that was already weakened by other spells. Sophie was forced to withdraw because of the falling tree.

She took position behind a larger tree. She looked like she was muttering to herself while the thief was getting closer to her position.

"PHWEEEEE PHWEEEEE PHWEEEEEEEEEE"

She whistled again. What was that for?

"GRRRRAWWGERERE"

A large animal snagged the thief's left hand in its mouth. He turned and started to cast a spell with his right. The spell fizzled out when gleamour made sure his right hand was severed and on the ground. Sophie used the distraction of the animal to turn the situation to her favor.

Funny. The beast she summoned looked familiar. It was large. Easily a few hundred pounds and it had six tails.

"Goby..."

The name came back to me. It was Goby! The tiny multi-tailed fox we found while traveling to the Lizard Lands. That little fox grew so much.

Goby had the body thief's hand pinned tight between his teeth. He can't form any magical energy like that.

"Good boy."

Sophie said as she got close. I walked toward the scene as well.

"NO FAIR! YA CHEATED!"

"You said I could use any tool. Goby is a great tool, Isn't he?"

She patted his head as she said it and all of his tails began to wag.

"I won. So, tell us what you know."

"Bah... Bitch."

He smiled through a sneer.

"I have a job to do. As long as the user exists in this dimension, the special anemone flower used to make the potion of Rage can not regenerate. My master needs this flower for his next experiment. Ya know all about my potion, don't ya, user?"

"The inverse flower?"

"The inverse anemone flower. A potion made from either flower is powerful. What if there were a potion made from both?"

He snickered.

"That's all! Time's up! This body is useless to me now. Goodbye, until next time."

He bit his tongue. Blood quickly started draining from his mouth.

"Sophie. Let's go to Lunula. Maybe he won't find us there. It's massive and..."

His eyes stared at me until the body gave out and stopped breathing.

"What? Why do you want to go there?"

"I don't. I was hoping he was still listening. I'm also hoping he will try searching that massive desert wasteland instead of coming after us. That would give us some alone time."

Goby seemed to know that the danger had passed and dropped the hand. He came up to me and pushed the top of his head into my chest. I leaned down and hugged him.

"Good to see you too, buddy. Been a long time."

"He really remembers you. He isn't too friendly with strangers anymore. After you left and before I joined the elvish military, he was kidnapped and they treated him poorly. By the time I rescued him, he trusted no one but myself."

"Military? Kidnapping? We really need to catch up with each other. I mean, you move like a pro in a fight. I don't think I could beat you with just swords. You are amazing."

She started to blush.

"Oh... Y-you think so?"

"I really do."

I said with a smile.

"Well, we can't help this body. I'll inform the Tian Ret guards once we get back. They can handle the cleanup. We should get back."

"Okay. Lead the way."

Sophie hopped up on Goby and I walked beside the pair.

"Why were you wearing a hood?"

"What? Oh. We have to in Tian Ret. It's not against the law to not have a hood on but, It makes things easier if the locals can't immediately identify us as elves. Our relations between Ula Thyfe and Tian Ret are still a bit strained. We are only just getting used to interacting with each other and constant reminders of our occupation in Tian Ret can stress out the dark elf residents."

"We?"

"Oh. I'm a Capitan of a small regiment of our best soldiers from Ula Thyfe. We've been through thick and thin over the past twenty years. I was just a soldier before that."

"You came a long way, didn't you?"

She looked down at her hands. She held up her left hand, exposing an old scar across her palm.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"HEY!"

Her response was quick and loud.

"That's my line! If I was this strong back when you left that day... Maybe I could have protected you..."

Her voice trailed off.

"You... You didn't have a choice, right? You didn't leave by choice, right?"

"I did technically have a choice, but not in the way you might be thinking. I was torn up inside after realizing how many people had died in the Faelands and the Troll Lands."

I paused. It was time to admit the truth to her from the past. The truth I was afraid of telling her at the time.

"It was my fault. I was fighting the body thief back then. I went haywire after Mary's sister was killed by the body thief. I caused so much damage and pain and death. I thought about disappearing. Saving you from the torment of my sins. I was afraid of what you might think or say. It tormented me to think how we may end up if I went back to you."

"I TOLD YOU!"

Her eyes were tearing up.

"I told you. I'd cry for you. I'd take some of your burdens. I'd be by your side for as long as it takes for you to feel better. I want to be with you."

"I know. And I resolved myself to go back to you. I was going to tell you the truth of what happened and I would let you decide for yourself how to respond. I didn't want to leave you alone without a single word. I thought, what if she did that to me? The thought of you leaving me without a word was a painful one. If you truly loved me the way I always have, then I wouldn't want to cause you that kind of pain."

"So, you were coming back to me?"

"Yes. My goal was to be with you. If my rampage had scared you away from me, then I would have let you go.

But, that wasn't the case.

I was surprised by a band of orcs and morcs. I wasn't in the best state of mind at the time and I took a large injury to the head. That was the last thing I remember on Missing Star. When I woke up, I was in darkness. I was underground in an old forgotten mine. No life around. I had to feel most of my way through.

I fell even further down into some kind of underwater naga lair. I had to fight my way out. I managed to escape and ended up in the northern ocean..."

"Wow. You went through all of that? I had no idea. And... you ended up in the middle of the ocean? Were you near the shore? How did you get to land?"

"Well... Riksa's ship picked me up."

Sophie hopped down and put a firm grip on both of my shoulders.

"Riksa! She found you?"

"Yes, but..."

"But, what?"

"I had no idea she was onboard until after she passed away in her old age and left me a letter."

"No... Lake. I'm sorry. Did you get to see her off?"

"No. She said in her letter that she wanted me to remember her the way she used to be. Before I disappeared."

Sophie buried her face in my chest.

"That sounds like one of the stupid things she would do. Did she at least tell you about your kids?"

"Kids? What? No. We had kids? That's..."

I was so excited at first that it hadn't hit me yet, just how shitty the situation was. I was gone. For almost 60 years. They must be grown and on their own already. I could only hope that I could even find them and say hi. I can't expect them to just let me into their lives like a long-lost friend.