“I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were-”

“-That was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.”

He was serious, so was the atmosphere. From her soft smile she seemed happy about his reaction. She walked over to the rocks he was on and sat down next to him.

“My name’s Aqua. What’s yours?”

“I'm Ray.”

“Ray, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet ya, Aqua.”

“I haven't seen you around here before, a traveller?”

“Just passing through.”

“Where to?”

“No where in mind really, I’ve been wandering around for the past few years you see.”

“Why’s that?”.

“I used to have a purpose. Now, I’m not so sure.”

“Same here, I’m lost with what to do…”

“What happened? I can hear you out if nothing else, it's good to get things off your chest.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ll listen to my story?”

“Of course.”

“...Ever since my father… No, before that… My parents and I were always happy, always showing they loved me, every day was fun. But when my mother was killed in front of our eyes it was never the same… After that I never had a place to call home.”

“So what have you been doing since then?”

“Well, just trying to survive like everyone else. Right now all I can do is sing, sing my feelings away.”

“Are you happy living like this?”

An empty smile emerged from her face.

“I wish.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

She looked like she was about to shed tears but said into her hands-

“-I don't know what I’m supposed to do…”

The sun now was beyond the horizon. Ray then took off his cloak and put it around her.

“You’re gonna get a cold if you stay out here this late.”

The golden axe on his back was shimmering in the moonlight. Ray turned around to leave but-

“-Wait!”

Aqua had wiped her tears off and grabbed him by the corner of his shirt.

“That equipment… Are you an adventurer?”

Determination lit up her eyes as she got closer. Face to face.

“Can you… Help, please.”

“...That was…. I don’t know if I can anymore.”

“I have to find out what happened to me, and find my… sisters.”

“Why would you want my help?”

“No one else will… When my father was killed me and my… sisters-”

“What are?-”

“-I was a prisoner of the demons…”

“I…”

“When our father was killed trying to get us out of there… We went our separate ways as we didn’t know what to do... If I can find them…”

“I’ll do it.”

With no hesitation from him, Aqua was stunned for a second.

“Why would you help someone like me?”

“Let’s just say it’s to atone for something that may be my fault.”

“Well, thank you, Ray. I’ll be back!”

She ran off and disappeared into the city lights. He looked back, but to no avail.

“This is probably going to be a while.”

He decided to just sit back and wait in a small alcove, it’s not like he had somewhere to be. The stars above were shining down on him now.

“Some things never change…”

With his eyes now closed, he felt something soft behind his head. His senses could tell it wasn't threatening though, if anything, it was fully good natured. A tune he heard what felt like years ago came back to him. Nostalgia. He was going to put his all into tomorrow… The landscape was darkness ablaze, a girl with siren ears and an obscured face smiled at him. While desperately grasping at the air, the girl disappeared in front of him.

“Meru…”

He let out a whisper. When Ray opened his eyes, it was sunrise, he saw Aqua was asleep above him. She had fallen asleep, with him on her lap. Ray stood up and stretched for a moment when he heard a faint yawn behind him.

“Mhhmm…”

“Morning.”

She rubbed her eyes as they slowly widened at him.

“It wasn’t… a dream?”

“That’s what I should be saying.”

They each laughed.

“So what’s the plan?”

“From my sisters, I think I know where they roughly would be.”

“How can you be sure?”

An innocent smirk rose on her face.

“I know what I would do if I were them… The smartest one of us would know what to do, Roxy. She’s curious by nature, it wouldn’t surprise me if she knew exactly what happened to us.”

“Hmm… but how would you know roughly where she is?”

“With her personality, there’s only one place. The tech city, Alcard, the place with the furthest magi-tech advancements in central human territory.”