How long had it been since Zaude? Since the great apathea had crashed on top of Alexei? ...Since his disappearance?
She remembered. Every single day for six months, she remembered. She seen his body go over the side, but not how. Every night, she was forced to relive the events that happened. She couldn't count how many times she cried her eyes to red bits thinking about him. Sitting in her home in Aspio, she thought back to her adventures with him.
She knew about her feelings. She believed them too.
She loved him.
Rita Mordio shuffled though her papers at her lab. She was developing new ideas for destroying the Adephagos, on how to save the world. All day and all night, she worked through formulas and experiments.
She had to keep going. For his sake, too. She wouldn't let his memory be for nothing. Yuri Lowell will be proud of her.
On a particular day, though, something was off. She felt distracted, unable to concentrate, like something was calling her.
"Rita!" Yeah, just like that.
"Rita!" Wait. Was something actually calling her?
"RITA MORDIO, CAN YOU HEAR ME!?" Gyaaa! Too loud. Wait, who was that?
Rita looked over to her doorway to find that Estelle had been there calling her name. "Estelle? What's wrong?" Estelle had a look of shock on her face, like she had seen a ghost.
"Rita, I heard there was a person with long, black hair and a black tunic in the hospital at Heliord! Judith and I are going, are you coming?"
Rita's eyes widened. She had visited many hospitals looking for Yuri, but none held any results. This time, though, she felt something was different. Like he was calling her to him."Yeah, I'm coming. Give me a sec to pack." She wanted to be prepared in case it was him.
Rita got ready in no time. If it meant she might see Yuri again, she would construct a tower in a day to find him in a cloud. As she and Estelle climbed in the Fiertia under Ba'ul, Judith was standing in the deck, welcoming her friends. "Rita, it's good to see you. Have you grown?" Judith said with a smile.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Now let's get going already!" Rita hurried.
"Oh my, quite eager are we? Is there a chance you've been missing a certain person?" Judith teased.
"S-shut up! Tell him to get going!" Rita stammered, pointing to Ba'ul.
"Hee hee. As you wish." Judith put her hand up to her head, communicating to Ba'ul, her flying Entelexia dragon friend. With a deep roar, Ba'ul understood, and they were off. It felt like hours, but in all truth, it was hardly 30 minutes and they were there. Rita couldn't get out of the ship fast enough. As soon as her feet touched solid ground, she bolted off toward Heliord's hospital.
"Rita, wait for us!" Estelle said to Rita, but by now Rita was a blur, running as fast as she could. In no time, Rita was at the hospital, standing in front of the doors. Her heart was pounding. Was he behind those doors? Or was this just another wild goose chase? She'd been let down before, but this time... It felt safe. Something drew her inside as she opened up the doors. The first thing she eyes was the chairs in the waiting room. Then, the receptionist. As she walked toward the receptionist, Estelle and Judith walked through the doors.
"Rita, I asked you to wait for us!" Estelle pouted. "We find him together, we're all wanting to see him."
Rita slowed her mind down. 'She's right,' she thought, 'they want to see him just as bad. Gotta calm down.' Rita breathed strongly a few times. "Ok. You're right. It was selfish of me."
"We all hope he's here." Judith smiled. "Even though you seem the most eager." Her smile became teasing, almost like she suspected Rita might like Yuri.
"W-what are you talking about!? I just want to find him and beat him for scaring Estelle so badly!" Rita yelled. "Come on, let's find him." As she turned and talked to the receptionist, Judith whispered to Estelle: "She's practically oozing excitement."
