It's been one month to the day.
One month since our lives were ripped apart.
One month since the guild disappeared.
And one month since he went missing.
"I'll find you... Kirito."
XXXXXXXXXX
"Mommy, I'm hungry," Yui whimpers, tugging at my hand.
I look down into the dark, pleading eyes of my adoptive daughter. She's so good. Never throws a tantrum or shouts no matter how far we walk or how hungry she is. Sure, she complains and whines but she's a kid, it's what they do, but she never wears my patience thin.
I smile down at her, "We'll be in the next town soon. We can get some food there, OK?"
"Ok, Mommy," she beams.
We come to a cliff side and take in the view of a picturesque town below.
I sigh with relief, "This must be it."
"Is that where we're going, Mommy?"
"You bet. That's Magnolia Town. That's where we're hopefully going to find some people who can help us."
"Can we get food first?"
I cringe as I feel my own stomach start to grumble, "I think that would be best."
"My feet hurt," Yui groans, "Can you carry me, please?"
"Well, since you asked so nicely, I guess I can be your noble steed for the rest of the way," I crouch down so she can climb onto my back, "Just try not to hold onto my neck too tightly."
I hook my arms round her legs and we set off again, our empty stomachs driving us to make it into town at a fast pace, being careful on any downhill slopes. It wouldn't be the first time if I tripped and face-planted in the dirt but I'd rather avoid it.
Magnolia is full of life. Streets lined with merchant stalls selling everything from jewellery and clothes to lacrima crystals for a wealth of purposes.
"Pretty," Yui gasps, pointing to a shiny teal and violet communication crystal, sparkling in the sunlight.
"Do you like it?" The man behind the stall asks, "If you want, I can make you a deal?"
"Oh, no thanks, we're just looking," I say, "Let's get some food, Yui, there's a bakery over there."
"Yay, food!" Yui cheers, flinging her arms in the air and throwing me off-balance.
I stumble backwards before regaining posture.
"Phew!" I breathe.
"Sorry, Mommy."
"It's ok, don't worry, just be careful. I don't wanna fall and hurt you."
I push the door of the bakery open with my knee and the smell of freshly baked bread hits me in a glorious wave.
"Wow!" Yui cries, jumping down from my back and rushing to press her face against the glass shielding the cakes and pastries, "It looks so yummy!"
"You're right," I say, unable to stop my mouth from watering as I stare at the beautifully crafted lemon meringue pies and intricately decorated strawberry cakes. My eyes are definitely too big for my stomach, and my wallet for that matter.
"Good afternoon!" A cheerful voice chimes, pulling me out of my sugary trance, "Can I help you with anything?"
"Oh, yes, please. Could I get...," I stare for a moment. I really should set a good example but..., "a slice of strawberry cake... and, what do you want, Yui?"
"I wanna be like you, Mommy!" Yui says with the sweetest smile on her face.
No one with a heart could turn her down.
"Make that two slices of strawberry cake, please."
The woman behind the counter stares at me for a moment, studying my face before looking down at Yui. I know what she's thinking: I'm too young to have a daughter her age. I wonder for a moment whether she's going to say something before it starts to get awkward but she appears to shake it off and continue with our order. She smiles as we swap money for cake and waves us off as we leave the shop.
"Thank you, Mommy," Yui says, looking up at me with cake crumbs already littering her face.
I place my hand on her head, "Don't expect to have cake for dinner every day. Just this once because you earned it for being so good on our long walk, OK?"
Yui nods at me, taking another big mouthful of cake. Thinking about it, we really have walked a long way. I'm surprised neither of us has dropped to the floor. We've only had short breaks between an often uncomfortable sleep on a makeshift bed of leaves. Not tonight, though. Tonight we'll have a soft, warm bed to sleep in with no worrying about wild animals or the sudden weather changes Fiore sometimes has. I take a bite out of my strawberry cake and, oh god, whoever made this needs an award.
I watch the merchants begin to pack away their stalls for the day as the sun makes its way down to the horizon. Oranges, yellows and pinks splash across the sky and my mind wonders to him. He loved to sit and watch the sun set every day. I wonder if he can see it from wherever he is now.
"Mommy, I'm tired," Yui says, wrapping her arms around me and pulling me from my thoughts.
"Yeah, me too," I say, crouching down, "Hop on and we'll go find a hotel."
Without hesitation, she shoves the last of her cake in her mouth and resumes her piggyback position from earlier. I make my way down the street. We can't afford anything fancy but as long as it has a nice bed we can curl up in, I'm sure Yui doesn't care.
"What about that one?" she asks, pointing to a small inn. It looks so much like any other house that I probably would have missed it.
"Good spot, Yui, let's check it out," I reply, "You'll have to get down though."
Without a word of complaint, she slides off my back and grasps my hand. I slowly open the big wooden door and peek inside. A woman sitting behind a desk looks up and motions me to come in.
"Don't worry, we're open," she says.
We step in, letting the door swing shut behind us. I look around at the simple decor; wooden floors with embroidered rugs, caramel-coloured walls with paintings of different landscapes hung almost uniformly round the room. I approach the desk.
"Hi, I was wondering how much you charge for a single room?" I ask, nervously toying with the wallet in my pocket.
"Well, it's 600j per night but if you book three nights we do a discount price of 1500."
I think for a moment. I hadn't really planned any further than getting to Magnolia and I only have 5000j left. Crap.
"I'll book one night for now," I say, producing the 600j from my wallet.
I need to find some jobs, fast. That's why this has to work. I'll beg to get into this guild if I have to. They're the strongest there is and that's exactly what I need.
"Here you go," the woman hands me a key, "Your room is upstairs and to the right. Enjoy your stay and let me know if there's anything you need."
"Thank you," I bow slightly.
"Thank you!" Yui echoes.
The room is small but cosy. There's a fair-sized bed with enough pillows to stack to the ceiling and set of drawers to store your stuff in, not that we have anything. There's even a small stocked bookshelf and cosy chairs to curl up on. I put my small shoulder bag down on the floor and flop onto the bed.
"This is so soft," I sigh.
Yui jumps onto the bed next to me and I shift so we both have space. She cuddles up to my side and closes her eyes. I stroke her long, black hair, running my fingers through the strands.
"Goodnight, Mommy," she murmurs.
I look down at my beautiful little girl. No, our beautiful little girl. Even in the last month she's been changing. Her abilities are developing more and more every day and she's getting stronger. He should be here with me to watch her grow but someone has prevented that. But I'll find him again, I'll bring him home and we can all be together again.
"Goodnight, Yui."
XXXXXXXXXX
The early morning sunlight shines directly onto my face. I forgot to shut the curtains last night and I'm regretting it so badly right now. I groan and roll over, finding the space where Yui had slept empty. Panicking, I jump up and look around.
"Good morning, Mommy."
Look down on the floor and Yui is laying on her stomach, legs kicking back and forth with her elbows resting either side of a picture book. She smiles up at me.
"Whatcha reading?"
"It's a story about a fairy princess."
"Sounds good."
"I wish I had pretty wings."
"Well, maybe I can make you a set of wings to wear. Would you like that?"
Yui's eyes light up, "Yes, Mommy, thank you!"
"I can't make them just yet though, we need to get all the important stuff done first, like finding a proper place to stay," I tell her.
She nods vigorously. I know I could have suggested wind magic to create the illusion of flying but allowing a seven-year old, especially a talented one, use that kind of magic, would end in a mess. No, I'll stick to dealing with what she has now.
"Mommy, I'm hungry."
"Ok, let's get some breakfast and head to that guild hall!" I beam.
"Yay!"
"Shh," I cover her mouth, "It's still really early so we have to be quiet. We don't want to wake anyone up."
"Sorry, Mommy," she whispers into my hand.
I gather my things and put everything back how we found it when we arrived.
XXXXXXXXXX
In under half an hour we manage to get breakfast from the bakery, something substantial this time, and walk through town to our destination. The building before us looks more like a castle than a guild hall. At least three storeys high with battlements on the second and third and a huge bell tower on the top. Lit torches line the battlement walls and at each corner stands a pillar sporting small banners with the magic council emblem on them. Smack bang in the centre of the entire exterior is a giant, orange embroidered banner with the resident guild mark on it. I look up at the huge, arched gate above me to see the words that confirm I'm in the right place.
FAIRY TAIL
"It's so big!" Yui cries.
"If it wasn't for the sign I would have thought some sort of royalty lived here, not wizards," I say to myself.
"Come on, Mommy, let's go inside!" Yui grabs my hand.
I let her pull me all the way to the big, wooden double door. I place my hand against it and give it a testing nudge. Definitely not locked. I push forward. The inside looks even bigger than the outside, if that's possible. Tables, chairs and benches take up most of the open hall and the rest is filled by a long bar lined with tall stools. The whole place is empty except for two young women, one sitting at the back, brown hair sprawled across the table top as she snoozes and a young woman with shining silver hair standing behind the bar, drying severely over-sized tankards. She looks up as we approach.
"Good morning," she smiles, "Can I get you something?"
The question catches me off-guard. Why didn't she ask who I was or why I'm in a guild hall I don't belong to?
"Do you have juice?" Yui asks.
"Yui, don't you think you should ask me first? I am the one with the money," I remind her.
"Don't worry, the first one is free," the woman says, a smile still plastered on her face.
This is crazy. Is this really the guild hall? I've never had a reception like this. Maybe she's new and doesn't know I'm not a member. But then, how would she know it's the first drink I'll have here?
"Are you sure?" I ask cautiously.
"Of course."
Does that smile ever fall off her face?
Yui hops up onto a barstool and I seat myself beside her. To be honest, I could really do with some caffeine. I'm still tired from our journey.
"Thank you," I say as she pushes a freshly brewed coffee across to me.
"No problem. I'm Mira, by the way," the barmaid says.
"I'm Asuna and this is Yui," I place my hand on my daughters head.
"What a cute name! Are you sisters?"
"Uh, no, she's actually my daughter."
I watch Mira's face, expecting a surprised or negative reaction but it never comes.
"How cute!" she beams, "So what brings you both to Fairy Tail?"
Wow, she didn't even twitch at my statement. For once I don't feel like a spectacle of confusion. I stare at her, caught up in amazement. I must have been staring for a while because Yui pipes up and answers for me.
"Me and Mommy want to join so we can get strong and find Daddy."
"Oh, is he lost?" Mira asks.
"Uh, Yui," I start, reaching into my bag and producing a pad of paper and pencils, "Why don't you sit on that table and draw me something pretty?"
"Ok, Mommy!" she takes the items and skips over to one of the benches.
"Sorry, I don't like to talk about this in front of her," I sigh.
"That's ok, what happened?"
"I don't know how far word has got round but every town I've been to so far has heard about it. Do you know a guild called Knight's Blood?"
"Yes, I have. They were a new guild, right? I heard they got destroyed by Laughing Coffin. Apparently there were only a few survivors and there's still people missing, including their guild master."
"Well, you're looking at two survivors right now."
Mira claps her hands over her mouth. I look down at my hands, not able to look at her. I get the same look every time and I hate it. The horror-filled expression with wide eyes and a paled face.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," she gasps.
"Please, I've had enough sympathy to last me ten lifetimes and I don't want anymore," I say as sincerely as possible, "It's not that I don't appreciate it but I find it creates a negative air that Yui picks up on. She's dealt with too much already."
"I can only imagine," Mira utters, "She mentioned finding her father. Is he one of the people that went missing?"
"Yes, and like she said, we intend to find him. Unfortunately, I can't do it on my own. I refuse to put Yui at risk by finding the dark guild and attempting to carry out a rescue mission alone knowing I'm nowhere near strong enough to even take on one member. I mean," I hesitate as my voice starts to tremble and I start to shake.
Mira places her soft, pale hands over mine, curling her slender fingers round my own. I jump at the contact and look up into her sparkling blue eyes.
"If help is what you need, there are plenty of people in Fairy Tail who will be more than willing to give you that."
The terrible urge to cry is chased away by my surprise. How can she be so sure?
"Mommy, look!" Yui cries, shoving a piece of paper at me.
I take it and look at the drawing. In neat stick figures are three characters: one with long brown hair wearing a grey dress, one with short spiky, black hair wearing a black coat and a smaller one with long, black hair wearing a pale pink dress. In big green letter across the top is the title 'Mommy, Daddy and Me'.
"That's great, Yui," I smile, marvelling at how good her handwriting has gotten, "We'll frame it and hang it up somewhere when we get our own place."
"Quite the little artist you've got there," Mira says, "We have a member who uses art-based magic. He can make his drawings come to life."
"Wow! Mommy, I wanna learn to do that too!"
"Uh, I think we should stick to what you've got already before we try anything else, OK?" I say, laughing nervously.
"Ok," she sighs, looking at her feet, "I'm going to draw something else!"
She rushes back to her seat, taking to the paper with renewed vigour.
"So, if you don't have your own place yet. Where are you two staying?" Mira asks.
"We haven't actually found anywhere in our price range that we can stay in long-term but I'm hoping if we make the cut to get into Fairy Tail, I can get enough jobs to pay for a small apartment."
"Oh, you don't have to worry, there isn't any tests you have to pass to get into our guild. You just need to have a good heart and pure intentions. Doesn't matter if you're strong or weak, old or young, we always have space."
"This place gets better with everything you say. Sounds almost too good to be true and I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't sitting here."
"If you don't mind me asking, how much do you actually have to live on?"
I hesitate. Do I lie? Do I brush it off? Or do I...
"Not much," the words leave my mouth before I can finish thinking.
"Hmm," Mira places a finger on her lower lip, looking thoughtful.
Before she can say anything, a large group of people enter the hall, chattering loudly amongst themselves.
"But Luce, we just got back," a pink-haired boy groans, louder than all the others, "I don't wanna go on another job straight away."
"Well, if you hadn't destroyed an entire building, we wouldn't have had our pay-out cut. I don't have enough for rent and none of the jobs on the board are easy enough to be solo missions," a pretty, blonde-haired girl walking beside him angrily snaps back.
"Well... ugh, fine, we'll pick one later," he replies, rolling his eyes.
"Thank you," she says, breaking off from the group and taking a seat at the bar close to me.
"Morning, Lucy," Mira's smile has returned to her face, "Have fun on your mission?"
"Yeah, it was a blast," she sighs, laying her face on the bar.
"Strawberry milkshake it is then," Mira replies, moving away.
I turn to glance at the young man again. He destroyed a building? Maybe he's the fire mage we heard about a few towns ago, the one that knock down all those. By the sound of it, it's a regular occurrence.
"Mommy, I did another one!" Yui beams, holding up an equally as artistic stick figure drawing as the last. This time there's a woman in a maroon dress with long grey hair standing behind a single brown line. Above her is the word 'Meera'.
"That's a really good one, Yui, are you gunna show Mira?"
"It's for you," she says, reaching up to place it on the bar and slide it across to the barmaid.
"Oh wow!" Mira exclaims with seemingly genuine enthusiasm, "Thank you."
"It's meant to be you."
"You know what, I think it's so good I'm going to stick this on the wall."
Yui's face becomes picture perfect. The wonder and happiness in her eyes rivals anything I've seen over the past few weeks. It fills me with a joy I haven't felt in a while. That special smile of hers, the one reserved for only the greatest of moments, is one of the things that keeps Kirito and me going. I've been here for less than an hour and I already feel this is the best place we've ever found. Yui holds my hand and rests her head against my arm.
"Well, she's adorable," the blonde girl says, lifting her head off bar.
"Isn't she just?" Mira replies, pressing the picture to the back wall of the bar, giving it pride of place above the tower of neatly stacked glasses, "That smile could just melt your heart. I bet that's a rare gem, right, Asuna?"
"It sure is," I say, still basking in the warm, fuzzy feeling it left me in.
"Are you guys new to the guild, I've never seen you before."
"Sort of. We haven't officially joined yet but we're hoping to. I'm Asuna and this is my daughter, Yui."
"I'm Lucy. So, what kind of magic do you use?"
"ALRIGHT THAT'S IT, YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME, ICE PRINCESS?" a voice behind yells.
"YOU BET I DO, FLAME BRAIN!" another shouts in response.
"Oh, great," Lucy groans, laying her head back down on the counter, "Like we didn't get enough destruction in this week already."
"BRING IT!"
"Just another day at the guild," Mira chuckles.
"NO!" a voice screeches, followed by a loud crash.