Disclaimer: I do not own Grand Chase or the story that this is affiliated with so please, have a nice day^^.
Arme Opens Up
Eryx invited them all to join him for Elven Dessert Bread and herbal tea in celebration of them all (mainly Lire) learning their new weapons. When they arrived, however, there was a package from the Violet Guild to Arme that had been redirected to the port by the Knight Master due to the word "Urgent" engraved into the stone gift box so customary of the guild. Atop the box was a letter with the Violet Guild seal emblazoned upon it. Eryx handed the box to Arme gently; fearful of what might be inside. The quintet went inside to eat the savory treat. Arme's spirits dampened ever so slightly and the only one who seemed to notice was Ryan. He sat closer to her, but made no comment on the sudden shift in her behavior. If he were to draw attention to it there would be a sudden interest in Arme by everyone and that was definitely not something that would coax her out of her shell. Besides, it would be disrespectful to the host knowing how expensive Elven Dessert Bread was to buy or how difficult to create. Sugary, leafy goodness was being distributed and they both knew better than to spoil it for the rest of them. Still, knowing this did nothing to satiate her curiosity so Arme, against all logic, opened the letter.
To be opened in private. I thought these would help you with your white magic seal training. Also, your mother would have wanted you to have these if ever discovered.
Stay Safe,
Grandpa
Arme's fingers began to itch with anticipation. She couldn't wait to open them, yet it would be rude to leave. Ryan sensed this conflict and instantly began to radiate warmth as comfort. Much to Arme's delight, they stayed the night with Eryx, giving her plenty of time to safely open her box in private. When it became dark, Arme took firewood, the package, and escaped to the forest. Little did she know, she was being followed.
Arme lit the fire and sat on the ground. Trembling, she opened the box unsure of what she might find. She looked inside to discover… a soft blanket. Wrapped in it were a scrap book and a few baby toys. Arme's eyes lit up with recognition and then became laden with tears as she felt the pangs of sorrow she'd been storing for safe keeping. She sat the toys on to the ground after inspecting them and lifted the scrapbook out of the blanket. She appeared calm on the outside but inside her heart was breaking into fragments of her former self. She flipped through the scrapbook to find pictures of a woman and male who she recognized as her mother and father. It outlined her life from the time it was created to the time it was born and finally to the time where it was dashed to pieces. The woman had dark brown hair the color of chocolate and deep green eyes the color of the darkest forest that projected safety and love while the male had icy light blue eyes that emanated the true essence of ferocity and gentleness with jet black hair. She saw many pictures of herself and either one of her parents, sometimes with both. The very last photo was one of her grandfather and the three of them. All were happy faced but the smile did not reach her grandfather's eyes. Arme closed the book and noticed a note that had fallen out of the scrapbook. It was apparently from her mother. Arme confusedly put the book down by the other items and picked the note up.
Arme-
I hope that the way this book finds you is not in fear. I hope you are safe and as happy as you can be. I hope you are still as pure as when everything changed and that everyone involved has been brought to justice. I realize that both of these desires are naive but I can hope, right? Just know that I love you with all my heart and that I will be with you even in death. I have to go now so that I may finish sealing everything before it's too late and that this makes it to you. If you ever question the path you have chosen, know that I'll be there to guide you home and back to the light.
For eternity
Mommy
Upon reading her mother's pet name, Arme could not contain the pain anymore. She crumpled the note and threw it to the ground, just short of the flames. The tears fell freely and voice jerked around as her muscles contracted out of physical and emotional pain. Her head fell to her now pulled in legs and she pulled the back strands of her hair causing pressure upon her neck to stop the convulsing. During this somewhat dramatically painful display, her observer Elesis came from the shadows, plucked the note from the ground, read it, and suddenly all pieces came together. Things that came up in missions and made no sense until now created an extremely obvious key to Arme's behaviors. Elesis' permanently hardened face softened upon this new found knowledge and she came to rest beside the weeping lass. Arme looked up shocked and embarrassed that she'd been caught. Elesis said nothing and pulled her close into a hug. Arme paused for a moment and then returned it while continuing to cry. Knowing this was the first time where crying was allowed she bawled harder than ever. Elesis' face returned to normal and she stroked Arme's hair in a comforting fashion; something her own mother used to do before… and in a flash the memories were gone. Not pursuing these thoughts, she looked down at her distressed comrade who seemed to be calming down slightly. She realized that this couldn't have been a spur of the moment. This was a girl who'd seen years of heartache bottled up until this trigger lit up the fuel inside of that jar. Having been awoke from the commotion Lire and Ryan both came rushing into the scene. Arme had fallen asleep in Elesis' embrace and was now sleeping somewhat peacefully, if a little fevered. Elesis picked up the surprisingly light-weighted Arme and handed her to Ryan as she gathered the keepsakes of her infant hood.
Arme woke up mildly fevered and completely exhausted. Ryan was sitting watching her face as she awoke. He appeared quite concerned at the flush of her face and caressed it for a moment before realizing what he'd done.
"How are you feeling?" Ryan asked with masked worry in his eyes.
Arme paused and wondered how she should answer. She didn't want to cause him alarm, yet she didn't want to lie and say she felt fine. She chose the latter because it's easier to assuage anger than fear.
"I feel fine," she lied terribly and it showed through his face. She attempted to sit up but found herself too weak to sit by herself. Ryan's suspicions of her falsity were confirmed by her potential collapsing.
Ryan ignored the fact that she'd just lied directly to his face and supported her upon sitting up. He sat on the edge of her bed and inspected her thoroughly for injury. "Why did you go out to train so late at night alone? You must have used every last ounce of mana in your body to fight those monsters off. You're lucky Elesis found you when she did or you'd be horribly injured, if not dead,"
He frowned at that last part obviously displaying his displeasure at the thought of her leaving this world. Arme froze for a minute as she realized Elesis attempted to save her some face from the previous night.
"Those shrieks you heard were Arme's screams of terror right before she passed out. Luckilly she took out a good number and I was able to defeat the rest without help. I wasn't sure where I was so I just started a fire and had her lay here. I figured that the cold, hard, ground was not the best place for her to be," Elesis explained hiding the fact that Arme had just spent the past 30 minutes crying onto her.
"If that was so, why are you drenched down your front with liquid?" Lire asked having her suspicions.
Elesis was taken off guard and looked down for a moment before answering. "I was fighting lots of monsters, Arme is extremely warm, and the fire is hot. Of course I'm going to be wet Lire." Elesis didn't care what Lire thought, she knew that it'd be ok if Lire knew about the tear session. Still, Ryan knowing about it might inspire feelings undesirable to Arme so Elesis shot Lire a warning glare to not persecute her further. Lire took the hint and left the subject alone.
Arme made a mental note to thank her for her sacrifice. She had no idea her knuckle head "Leader" would be so considerate of her feelings.
'Maybe there's another side to her,' Arme thought to herself. Ryan's worried attempt to get her attention brought her out of her thoughts.
"Arme!" Ryan shouted with an exasperated look on his face, "Are you there?"
Arme blushed adding more color to her flushed cheeks, "Yes I am. Did you stay with me all night?" she asked noticing the blanket he had just placed over her. That's when she noticed she was shaking.
It was Ryan's turn to blush now, "Yeah. We were all pretty worried. She was up with me until about 3 hours ago when she passed out."
"You look like you're about to fall yourself," Arme commented disapprovingly.
"No I'm fine," The orange haired druid retorted lightly, "I had to stay up for much longer periods of time during my stay at Eryuell island…" He trailed off at this point looking away. The room fell into an awkward silence until he stood up abruptly and smiled.
"Do you need anything?"
"Not now, what time are we leaving?" Arme asked as she attempted to get up by herself.
Her ever paranoid guardian pushed her back down again with widened eyes.
"We all decided we should stay here one more day and allow you to recover more," Ryan explained briefly. Arme looked at him incredulously and then noticed that he was right. He barely had to exert any force to push her back down again.
"Just go back to sleep," Ryan cooed persuasively, "We'll be leaving tomorrow sometime in the day."
Arme sighed. Sleeping sounded really good right then. She tried to speak in response, but her throat was so dry, all that came out was a croak. Ryan heard this and went to get her something to drink. By the time he came back, however, she was already asleep.
A/N: wonders if she should have written more, decides that this is good enough. any more would be too much Well I hope you liked the fic ;) plz review. I'm working on another one called "Lass Loves Cherry Pie" =D
Lurve
Willow3