CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

"Please forgive my sibling." Thalia just sighed and approached Ericka at her seat.

Ericka just looked at her, and she saw the swelling on her cheek. She let her emotions out again earlier. Thalia gave Ericka a band-aid.

"I didn't mean to, Ericka." She apologized for the slap she had given her.

Ericka just sighed and shook her head at her. "Please excuse what I said; your brother was right that I shouldn't judge what's happening now." 

Thalia saw that she was about to cry. "I let my emotions take over; I didn't think about what would happen; I was just too unprepared for the situation," she paused when her tears fell.

"I believed I was completely ready to confront the truth, but I realized I wasn't. I acted like a brat; I was just too hurt by what happened to Jasmin." She said to her.

Thalia understood Ericka; she understood the feeling of being powerless in a situation you know is going to happen.

She just sighed.

"Don't take to heart what my brother said; he really talks like that." 

This made her laugh. "You just inherited it from your brother, Thalia." She smiled bitterly at their conversation.

"I'll leave you for a moment." Gerald just smiled at them.

She just nodded. 

Sitting quietly beside Ericka, she heard her older brother suggest that they should first calm down the tension on both sides to prevent any arguments.

"Are you angry with Charles?" was the only question she asked Ericka.

She turned to her. "I'm angry at everyone. I would rather not be insincere with you, but that's how I truly feel currently, Thalia." The look she shot her ignited.

She just nodded. She wanted to understand Ericka as much as she could, so she gave herself the chance to get to know her better.

Suddenly, tears streamed down her face. "But what can I do? My anger toward you, that's my defense mechanism, because I'm afraid to accept the whole truth. I blame the Fuego. Why—why is this happening to us?" Ericka said, clenching his fist.

Thalia observed that Chesca appeared sad at that moment.

"Are you also frustrated with Chesca? Do you wish they had just come to harm at the hands of her father? That you wish we had never met back then to avoid what happened to your friend?" 

"Yes! I'm really, really angry!" She buried her face in her palm. "I yearn for Chesca's death; I yearn for the return of that moment."

She just sighed and understood that anger.

"I felt the same way about my older sister, Jenny, and my older brother, Felix, when we found out we had abilities. I blamed them back then for not doing anything when our parents died," she said to her companion.

"I can't see the future, Ericka. It depends on the situation. I wasn't born to see that; all I know is that I'm just traveling through the past, like you. But I know you also see the premonition that my sister always talks about." Thalia just sighed.

"Like you, I blame them; my heart and mind say that if I only had that ability, I would stop what is happening." Thalia just clenched her fists.

"But I learned that you can't stop a fate that will happen; you can only heal from it. When my cousins died, I also blamed them back then. I was such a terrible sibling." Thalia just laughed at that.

"But they still accepted me back then. I understood who should be blamed, the root and cause of everything that brought us here today. I understood you, Ericka." Thalia gently tapped Ericka's shoulder.

"I apologize if I don't share your strength, Thalia. Despite the events hurting you, you remain here, prepared to embrace the truth you hear; you are growing brave. I'm sorry, Thalia."

"I'm not brave, Ericka, but deep down, I'm afraid of what else I might discover; I don't know if my young mind can handle it." Thalia said while looking at Ericka.

"Since we're here, let's be friendly so you can be with them. Someday, I know you will understand that too. My brother says, Don't rush into something." 

"Chesca, do you have something to say?" She turned to Chesca in a chair.

Thalia saw her look surprised. Her sister was right; even if her name changed, she was still her friend, and that wouldn't change even if her identity or name changed.

Chesca quickly approached them. They were suddenly surprised when she hugged them. She felt her hand and her whole body trembling; she noticed that tears were falling then.

She heard Chesca was softly sobbing then, and even though Chesca didn't say it to her, she blamed herself.

"I'm sorry if I lived. I'm sorry if I didn't tell the truth."

"I'm also afraid of what might happen, so I avoid talking to Thalia; I'm also afraid that I might be the reason you all perish." 

She was surprised by what she was saying. "I'm sorry if the Fuego runs in my blood; it's the reason why—why our loved ones are disappearing. Forgive me." Chesca hugged them tightly.

Without a word, Ericka hugged Chesca, who was also quietly crying at that moment. She looked at her brother then.

She even saw him smile at her. She knew that the two would be fine after the crying because she knew they would face the fate that awaited them.

She had a premonition; she saw Tricia and Isabel walking in the dense forest, and she knew they were being searched for. She closed her eyes to block out the vision she was currently experiencing.

Am I seeing the present? She questioned in her mind.

Suddenly, she felt a headache coming on.

The two noticed that.

"Are you okay?" Chesca asked, immediately wiping her tears and sniffing as she was worried about her.

Ericka also stared at her. Ericka suddenly held her hand, and the three of them traveled together then.

She saw the two of them, and indeed they saw their paths cross with Isabel. She said that they were also on vacation.

When they returned, she stared at her brother, and her headache worsened.

"W—what was that?" Ericka asked her.

"I—I don't know." She could only shake her head.

"I guess your visitor is already waiting for you?" her brother said.

She swallowed hard, and then she exchanged glances with Ericka and Chesca. The danger she feared would loom when their paths crossed.