On That Day

"Aero?" Bell asked, seeing Aero staring into the empty space.

She knew that Aero was reading his private screen or so it seemed like that but Aero's expression wasn't one of reading. It was more of seeing.

Aero did not answer Bell's call. Instead, a lone, single tear dropped down from his eyes. His irises contracted to the point it was hard to notice them.

Aero was in shock. A little bit surprised, a little bit of denial. But what he was feeling most was… sadness.

"Aero, you okay?!" Bell grabbed his shoulder. "Did you get emotional thinking that you have finally joined our group?" She tried to lighten his mood a little bit.

"Sorry, Bell…" Aero croaked with a lifeless voice.

"What are you even sorry for?" Bell kneeled down to Aero's eyes level.

"It… it was all my fault…" Aero sobbed as he lost strength in his knees. Bell promptly supported Aero with her embrace.

Master who could see what Aero was thinking, or what he was seeing in his mind, signaled to the other.

The guests, which consisted of Phil, Lily and Clem, silently made their exit without speaking even a word. Even the two retainers excused themselves. Just from a glance they could tell how much the air had changed around Aero. They knew Aero needed some space right now to speak his mind out.

Seeing that everyone had tacitly given Aero and her their needed space, she helped Aero to the chair. Aero felt himself weak. He could not summon the strength from his body, his movement sluggish and… shaking.

After both of them had taken their seats, Bell started caressing Aero's head and softly said, "It's not your fault. None of these were."

Although she did not know the details, there was only one thing that could shake Aero to such a degree. His memories. They have returned it seemed.

"No… Bell… y-you don't understand…" Aero started to heave. This time he felt like his chest tightened. Something was clenching on his heart as he gripped his chest in pain. His vision blurred out in between reality and fragments of his memories.

Bell immediately grabbed Aero's hands and looked into his eyes. Every breath took Aero a lot of effort and the pain was clear on his face.

"Master!" she shouted, asking Master for his assistance.

A second later, Aero's head dropped and Bell supported them. She slowly laid his head on the table before giving Master a concerned, questioning look.

"I wouldn't say it is not something serious. Just yesterday, he struggled because fragments of his memories kept nagging him and I had to result to the same thing," Master explained as he explained about the fast sleeping boy.

"Unfortunately, dreams are not my domain. But rest assured Izzy, the Lady had given her full support to the child," Master brushed the bangs covering Aero's eyes.

Since Master had confirmed that Aero was not in immediate danger, Bell asked, "You see what happened, right? Did you see his memories?"

Master only gave a short nod and before Bell could asked Master for details, he interjected, "But I think it is better if you hear from Aero himself. He needed someone who could relate to his surprise and be there to support him. I have no intention of hiding this information but know that you are the only family he has left now."

Without waiting for Bell's response, Master said one last thing, "Isn't he your precious little brother? You should be there to support him when he needs it the most," and he flashed away, disappeared like the passing wind, leaving the aunt and nephew pair alone.

Bell could not refute what Master had said. All of them were true. She was the only pillar Aero had left. While that may be the case for Aero, the same could not be said for Bell.

She had many friends, contact and connections here. She knew many people and some of them even grew up together with her. For Aero who was raised in the desolate 5th world, he did not have this kind of connection. The only connection he had was his family and now she was what he had left.

'How could you leave your child behind, brother?' Bell clenched his teeth. 'If the Emperor could not handle this threat, then how am I supposed to deal with it?'

Bell knew that something bad must have happened. That was why she preferred if Aero did not have to recount the events of that day. She had hoped that Master would share the information with her. Then, she did have to ask the boy about his bitter memories.

Bell sighed lightly. She gently lifted Aero and carried him in a princess carry to his room.

'How light… It must have been hard living in that world…' Bell muttered to no one in particular.

Just from Aero's current weight alone, she could imagine how tough the life in that world was. She could feel the struggle Aero had gone through just to survive.

For Bell and her team, it had been ten days. Ten days of pressure to complete the mission as fast as possible. But for Aero, it had been one month. Slow paced life, one month is neither too short nor too long.

Some may like a slow paced life where they can relax and do whatever they want with the time they have. But it was a whole different story if that slow life was filled with torment and discrimination.

Master had already told her about the time dilation in The Mine. He had warned Bell of the possible experience her nephew would have gone through when he was done rescuing him.

So without any time to spare, Master quickly went out to start the rescue mission. It took him quite some time to open the door to The Mine and by the time he had done with all the challenges to get to the other side, it was already the ninth day.

Master said he will tell the stories at a later time since both Bell and him had things to settle before they had any spare time to chat.

Bell gently laid Aero on the bed and tucked him in. Her movement was gentle and soundless. She was afraid that any loud noises would wake up the peacefully sleeping boy and he had to endure the pain in his waking time.

After tucking the boy in, Bell took a chair and sat beside the bed. She reached out to the boy's hand and gently clasped it in hers. She caressed the boy's hand and whispered, "I'm here now…"

It would be a lie if she said she wasn't exhausted from her mission. But sitting here, watching over her nephew sleeping brought her more relief than her own sleep. That was how much that boy was loved by her aunt.

Bell watched over Aero, until at some point in time, she also joined Aero to the Lalaland. She carried along her worries of her nephew in her dreams. Fortunately, she dreamed of a good one. She dreamed about one of those moments she spent with Aero during the boy's toddler years.

Bell slept with a smile on her face. When she woke up, she wished that that dream would never end. For her, those moments were among the most precious times of her life.

She did not know if she could be what she was today without the support of this little nephew of hers. And for that she was thankful. She was thankful to be blessed with such an inspiring nephew such as Aero.

While Bell reminisced of the good times in her dreams, Aero dreamt of the opposite. He dreamed of the memories he had just got back. And those memories were not a sweet one.

Far from that, these memories reminded him of his own weaknesses and shortcomings.

Like his dream the previous day, he was in a cave-like structure. His surroundings were dark except for the little ores here in there on the walls. The center of the cave opening was the brightest, now with two shining ores.

One little hazel ore and another a chunk of a bigger red one. He had already seen the hazel one before. This time his body moved to the new red ore.

Once he was in front of it, he peered into the ore and saw what he was meant to see. The only difference was, this ore did not have fragmented memories that he could not understand.

Far from that, this ore showed a full scene of a memory. Aero watched the memory as it unfolded like a story being told to him.

In it, he saw the story that happened on that day…