"Friesha, come here... Can you help me for a while?" I heard someone call my name. Who was it?

"Okay mother!.." somebody replied. It was a voice I knew.

I followed the trail of voices. I knew these voices, it was my mother's, and mine. I kept on following until I reached a familiar place. It was my village...

Soon after, more voices were heard coming from random places.

"How dare you live while I died..."

"My son, my son died, why are you alive?.."

"Get back here and die as well....."

"We all died but you... how unfair..."

I covered my ears but the voices were inside my head. It began to hurt until I felt something grabbed my feet. They were hands coming from underneath the ground. More increased until these hands brought me down into the soil which became water. I was drowning as multiple corpses piled up at me. They were all angry, and in despair...

"Ah!" I woke up.

"Finally you're awake!" Felgard was sitting on the ground."You're heavy you know..."

"H-how rude! Calling a lady heavy!!" I mean he could've just left me if I was really that of a nuisance.

I stood up, noticed that I was in a familiar room. It was where I changed clothes, meaning this is the church.

"You're safe now," he looked up closing his eyes. "I carried you all the way here..."

"Oh..."

"....." Felgard was staring at me, anticipating something.

"....." I just looked away. However, I wasn't that cold. "Th-thank-"

"Your welcome," he smiled while rubbing his philtrum.

"I haven't even-, hah... Whatever," I sighed before remembering what's more important. "Oh yeah! What happened to Nicole? Did she get here safely? What about the children? Did Mr. Noore attack? How about-"

"Oi! Oi! Stop right there!" Flegard shouted. "One at a time! One at a time!"

"Nicole?"

"Safe!"

"Children?"

"Safe!"

"Good."

"Oi! What about me?!"

"You're here so obviously you're safe... Seriously, why should I even worry about you?" I crossed my arms and looked away.

"You..." his annoyed eyes furrowed.

"Friesha!" the children began entering the room one at a time. They ran and hugged me.

"H-hey, there's no need for this," I felt flustered, much worse when I saw the airhead smirked at me.

"Friesha!" Nicole came in after them. "You're safe!"

"Nicole!" I stood up and was hugged by her. She was crying. "Hey, why are you crying for?"

"I'm just happy that you're safe," I felt her tears down my shoulders.

* * * * *

"I see," we just finished our conversation inside the room. "So Mr. Noore did attack this place."

"But big brother Felgard fought them all! Hundreds of them!" obviously, Mark over-exaggerated.

"Yep! I did!" and the airhead went along with a prideful grin.

"Seriously you two," Gloria sighed along with Shamili.

"Then? What will you do now Nicole?" I asked.

Before she answered, Nicole told the children to leave the room.

"I will fight," Nicole said with a solemn look. "I won't run away anymore."

"How exactly will you fight?" I asked.

"I still don't know exactly, but I will bring him down," she gripped her fists tight. "Perhaps I should introduce myself to his political enemies. I will support them in any way I can. I will ensure he suffers."

Looking at Nicole, she no longer looked as innocent as she was before. I then began to feel like she might regret this decision of hers in the future. Perhaps I should stop before it's too late. After all, it was I who made her do this. She might get her revenge, but what would come to her after that?

"Nicole-" i was about to tell her something when...

"Everyone!" Dave who came out of the room, suddenly came in. "There's somebody outside!"

Felgard, Nicole, and I looked at each other before standing altogether. We ran down towards the church main hall as fast as we could. We hid under a window and peeked outside.

It was a person in a hooded robe. Judging from the body figure, it looked to be a woman. She was looking around the place peering from window to window. I could tell she was being cautious, not just from us, but whoever might be following her as well. We could not see her face as the darkness of the night helped in concealing it.

"What should we do?" I asked. "We don't know who that might be."

"Should we fight her?" the airhead recommended.

"Of course not," I countered. "Well, not until she attacks us first..."

Nicole seemed to have noticed who she was and immediately stood up and walked towards the church doors. She opened it and stood firm at the woman who noticed her. Nicole had a fir solemn look exactly like how she looked back at the room upstairs. I then grabbed Felgard by the collar and ran behind her.

"Why are you here?" Nicole asked in a somewhat angry tone.

The woman kept quiet until she slowly removed the hood off her head, revealing a beautiful face. She looked more like a noble with her glamorous earrings and soft combed hair.

"You know her?" I asked.

"Yes, I knew her before," Nicole narrowed her eyes. "Even now, before we left my father's mansion..."

"You are, Nicole, right?" the woman asked.

Nicole did not answer and just stared at her.

"You look exactly like your parents," she continued.

"Are you insulting me?!" Nicole went into rage. "Answer me! Why are you here? Do you plan to flaunt your success? Do you want to show off the love you have received? Huh?! Answer me! My father's current wife!! Miss Emeralda?!"

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

So that's her? Come to think of it, back at the mansion, we both heard a child and a mother outside the room where we held the mayor hostage.

"That child..." Nicole lowered her head. "H-he's... He's my..."

"Yes," the woman, Emeralda, answered. "He's our son, Gilbert... Your younger brother..."

Nicole remained still.

"Nicole..." I could only say her name.

"What? Why? What's going on?" the airhead could only ask.

"I'll explain it to you later," I whispered to him.

"So, what do you want?" Nicole asked again. "Are you here to get me? For what I did?"

"Felgard, go back to the kids," I whispered to him. "In case she brought soldiers with her."

"Okay," and he nodded before heading back inside the church.

"Worry not. I lead the soldiers away from here," she explained. "They were headed to this place, but I was able to convince them. Rest assured, I will not let them get you, nor your friends, especially the children."

"Why should I believe you?" Nicole questioned.

"Please, I don't have much time," she sounded begging. "Fredoplh will notice I left his side."

"Fredolph?" I asked.

"Father- the mayor's name," Nicole answered before speaking back to Emeralda. "If so, hurry up and speak, then leave this place!"

"I came here, to plead of you," Emeralda answered. "I know how much you resent your father, and that from the incident tonight, that you want to have your revenge..."

"So?"

The woman in her royal formal attire despite the worn-out robe, knelt down on the ground in a begging position before continuing her plead, "Please, don't do this. For the sake of my child Gilbert..."

I don't know how to react, nor how Nicole might be feeling after what she just heard.

"Gilbert, my son, he loves his father so much... Fredolph too, he loves Gilbert with his whole heart... We are truly happy with one another. So please..."

"Unfair..." I heard Nicole whisper.

"I know I have not a single right to ask of you... Even so please, I beg of you from the bottom of my heart. Don't do anything else to my family, please..." Emeralda began to sob.

"Unfair..." Nicole whispered again.

"I'm very sorry for what happened to you... I don't want more people to hate you. I don't want Gilbert to hate you..."

"Unfair, unfair, unfair..." i could feel Nicole being engulfed in twisted emotions. "Unfair! Unfair! Unfair! Unfair! UNFAIR!!!" Nicole too, began to fill up with tears. "Dear great god Jhurai... This is so unfair..."

The woman begging down the ground kept on weeping. I felt helpless, as I could only clench my fists.

"What about me?' Nicole fell to the ground. "What about what I've been through?.. I finally have the courage, yet now..." She bursted into tears, "What should I do?.."

Nicole had been through a lot of hate, she had been robbed from her right to be happy. Now that she found her peace and happiness, it was about to be robbed away from her again. She finally decided to fight for herself, now this...

"Forgive me, I am truly sorry," Emeralda raised her head and stood up. She walked towards Nicole.

"Don't come near me!!!" Nicole shoved her away. "Please... don't come any closer..."

The mayor's wife, Emeralda could only watch as Nicole wept.

"Leave here," Nicole said to Emeralda. "Go back to your family. I won't do anything anymore..."

"Nicole," I knelt down with her, caressing her back. A moment ago, she was keen on revenge, now...

"Don't worry," Emeralda said. "I will talk with my husband. I will convince him to not harm you nor this place any further. Perhaps I could even have you come stay with us at the-"

"Leave," Nicole coldly said. "Don't make me change my decision. I am the mayor's greatest weakness, and I will not hesitate to use it against him." Her eyes looked serious, "If you get it, then leave..."

The woman could only give a bow before turning away from us. She walked back towards the trail past the trees and down the hill back to town.

"Friesha..." Nicole called. "Friesha..."

I looked at her, and was completely devastated.

Nicole was crying, crying so much, that even snot streamed down her nose. Her innocent face, her gorgeous hair, soft cheeks, and red lips, now messed up in a complete disarray before the sun rose behind her, emitting rays of light which blurred my vision.

I hugged her close, as it was the only thing I could do. It was my fault she wanted revenge. If I did not force her...

"Thank you..." I heard her said to me.

"For what?" and I hugged her tight as I began to cry as well. "You fool... What are you thanking me for?.."

Before the sun could rise further into the sky and embrace us with it's light, the children came running and went ahead first. Not like we needed it anyway...

* * * *

"Like I said!" Felgard exclaimed. "I don't know what happened! Explain it to me Friesha!!"

"It's too bothersome to explain!" I mocked. "Especially to an airhead like you."

A day has passed, and the airhead still hasn't grasped the situation. Ever since Emeralda left, Nicole had been sleeping the entire day. We hadn't had any disturbances too. While Nicole slept, Felgard and I tended to the children, well, all we really did was follow to what Dave and Gloria would tell us to do.

However, I kept on heightening my senses . The mayor's wife may be able to stop the soldiers, but I don't know about those fake mages. I get the feeling they won't stop with just that. The old fake mage back at Milla's manor was overly prideful of himself. It would be best to keep on expecting the worst.

"...Friesha?" a voice had been calling me, I just failed to notice. "Hey, you listening?"

"A-ah! Sorry," I looked and saw Gloria holding a squash she got from the backyard farm they made. "You need help with that?"

"Yes, sorry," she said as she passed on the squash to me. "It's usually Miss Nicole's job to tend to the farm..."

"No worries," I raised my chin up as I walked towards the kitchen. "I will stay here until Nicole wake's up!"

"Hehe," she smiled, before looking down. "Truth is, I noticed miss Nicole to be awake for quite some time now..."

I halted my steps and turned back.

"...Seems like she's still bothered by what happened," Gloria looked worried. "I don't really get what's going on but... I'm sure it's more than just Mr. Noore and this church... But of course, I won't force her to tell us what's going on. I mean, we are still too... young..."

Seeing how mature she felt like, I gave off a sigh and walked towards her, "I'll tell you then."

* * * * *

"I see," Gloria said after I explained everything to her.

"It's hard for her," I looked down, remembering what happened.

Gloria and I were alone outside the church, just where the small farm was.

"But, why are you telling me this?" she asked. "Won't miss Nicole be angry?"

"I'm not staying forever. I need to tell someone about this, so when the time comes when she broods over what happened, someone will be there to give her a hug at least."

She was quiet before facing me with a smile, "Don't worry! I will"

I nodded at her with a smile.

"Although the part about miss Nicole being a boy, everyone knows!"

"What?"

"Miss Friesha! Gloria! Miss Nicole is up!" Dave called from the room above through a window.

* * * * *

"I'm sorry everyone," Nicole gave an apologetic bow. "I've worried you all."

"No worries," I said. "The only thing I worried about was the airhead's mistakes."

"Oi! I wasn't making that much mistakes!" he'll deny of course.

"Friesha, Felgard," Nicole raised her head, revealing her once again innocent face. Her nun veiled did fit her so well. "Thank you so much."

"Hehe," seemed like the airhead had this habit of rubbing his philtrum with his pointy finger.

"Of course!" although I felt helpless that time, I couldn't just shove away Nicole's gratitude. "You humans should be grateful!"

"What will you two do now?" Nicole asked. "Will you be continuing your journey?"

"I will be, but this?" I pointed to the airhead. "He's like a insect bugging me around. You can keep him if you want."

"Insect eh?" Felgard grinned. "Then that's makes you a walking poop for having me follow you."

"What'd you say? You!!! Then that makes you a fly!"

"A fly's fine by me, at least I'm not the stinky one!"

"How about I make you fly!!!"

"My, you're both so close," Nicole giggled.

"No, we're not," I felt annoyed. Oh please, me? Close to this fly?

"Close?" the airhead looked up thinking to himself. What twister could be swirling in his head? "I think we are."

"Hah?! W-what made you say that?!" I shouted.

"I mean, we've been with together for a while now. We're always right next to each other," the airheaded fool reasoned. "Also, every night when it's too cold, I cuddle with you for warmth-"

"AAAHHHHH! What were you doing to me while asleep?! And that's not what being close meant!!"

"That sounds weird, right?" Dave whispered to Shamili.

"Yeah, what does he mean cuddle?" Shamili replied.

"C-could he mean, about dirty stuff?" Mark replied.

Seriously, these children have too wild of an imagination to comprehend the situation.

* * * * *

Facing the wide forest area behind the church, Felgard and I were greeted by a warm breeze.

"They'll be fine," the airhead looked back at the church, now only the roof was visible from downhill. "Right?"

"Who knows," I walked ahead of his slow pace.

"Oi! Wait!" he walked faster.

"I won't, who knows when those two will appear," I said without looking back.

"You're worried they might attack the church," the airhead murmured.

"Humph! Who cares!" I scoffed. "I'll be walking ahead of you."

"Oi! I said wait!"

Seriously, humans just keep on causing me trouble. It would be best to stay away from them.

"Oi!"

Will I ever though?