Are Those Tears?

Mavislin quickly rushed over to the Corrupted One, catching her brother before he could smack his head on the grass.

"Sorry, dear brother. It was only necessary to get to him."

"Everything... Hurts... Make pain fly away... Pain, pain, pain... Fly away..." mumbled Benjamin, as if he was a babbling toddler.

The female Valkyrie choked back her tears as she embraced her brother in a loving hug. A sudden flash flew by my vision. Though it was fast, I could grasp what the image was depicting. Two babies in an oversized crib looked the same but had different lengths and colors of hair.

Both were smiling and holding the same toy, a stuffed snake, while hugging each other. A wave of sadness loomed over me as I watched the sister Valkyrie singing a small song to her twin brother.

"Bad dreams, bad dreams, go away. Good dreams, good dreams, here to stay..." sang Mavislin as Benjamin faded into black ash.

When the body had fully dispersed into the air, Mavislin collapsed onto her knees while sobbing silently. Sobs turned to wails, and soon she was punching the ground in anger and sadness, cursing in a language that was unfamiliar to me.

I saw Ysabeau flying towards the Valkyrie, quickly hugging the girl to stop her from damaging her fists.

The portal seemed to shake as the Time Mage in the vision started running towards Mavislin. Then, a bright light blinded us, and the Valkyrie had turned into a sleeping toddler in Ysabeau's arms.

"She used quite a bit of her powers, so let her rest for the night. I'm sure the Old Chapel has prepared her old crib," whispered Ysabeau, passing the whimpering child to Raiyen.

The vision moved downwards to get a better look at the baby Valkyrie.

"Old Man Pond would need time to recover since Mavislin did use her powers on him, so we don't have to worry about him for now," said Z, remaining off-screen.

"It doesn't matter if we are safe for now. I won't give that guy any time to recover after what he has done to my Valkyrie. Then, I will show him what it means to piss me off," growled Raiyen as the sleeping girl snuggled closer.

With that last speech, the portal closed, leaving me emotionally drained and wrecked. Then, finally, Raiyen figured out that the memory had ended and turned to face me. But Bryan was the first one to react after seeing my face.

Tomoe tackled Raiyen onto the ground, with the former trying to strangle the latter.

"What did you do to her, you fiend?!" yelled Tomoe, claws digging into the Time Mage's neck.

"I didn't do anything! It's not my fault that the memory was so sad..."

I slowly touched my cheeks to find them wet and sticky. After realizing that I was crying, I quickly wiped them with my shirt and made Tomoe let go of his Master. Bryan was offering me an apple so I would stop crying.

Hang on a minute... I'm not sad yet. But, yes, the memory was depressing, and all but my emotions should be neutral. So why am I tearing up? Oh no... Vania, do a scan now!

"Notice. Starting scan of the area..."

Suddenly, Duncan started coughing and wheezing while Bryan's eyes began to turn red. What the hell is going on?! Whatever it is, we must get out since it damaged Duncan.

"Everyone pack and leave now! We're under attack!" I yelled, summoning my full body armor to stop the tears.

Tomoe grabbed the kid, and Raiyen glitched out with Bryan. I dashed out and back onto the path, sprinting after the boys. Meanwhile, Vania continued scanning the area for Hostiles.

"Notice. Scan has been extended."

My mind was whirling as I tried to figure out what was causing the problems. Could it be that Old Man Pond's Aura was affected this time? No... That wouldn't explain why only some of us were affected. An odorless and colorless gas, potent enough to induce cough and teary eyes...

I wish I had paid better attention to Chemistry class instead of reading Manga.

Hang on... I remembered reading about two people investigating a forest in Germany before one of them started tearing up from nowhere. Don't tell me that it was Mustard Gas?! This period in history shouldn't have access to such a thing. But then again, this place is a different realm.

Nevermind, it looks like we've stopped.

"What's-" I asked before closing my mouth.

Okay... The scene before me was like a waking nightmare. A small army of adult dolls was marching toward us. All of my nightmares have come true... And it seems that Tomoe is more terrified than me as he quickly hid behind his Master.