…Yep, this is it, guys. The final chapter of Runaways. I've finally completed a chapter fic for once in my life, and I've ended it on the most heartwarming ending possible.
This was a story arc for two of my characters, Charlotte and Eladriel. This was part of their past, and you can read more of them in the A Summoner's Duty universe.
Summary: Charlotte could never forget Eladriel. He was everything to her: her best friend, her older brother, her world. She could never tell her new family about her emotions and how much she missed him, but soon she finds out that she didn't have to when Sara's best friend finds a certain light natural five star.
"Alright, boys and girls!" Her Summoner, Sara, clapped. Charlotte looked up. Her umbrella was open, and although she was over half a foot taller, she was still incredibly short.
"Today we're going to be trying to farm Giants' Keep, preferably B7." Charlotte smiled at her. She was always brutally honest about how bad at Summoner's War she was; over six years of playing and she couldn't even do Giants' Keep B7, nor had she fused Veromos, but she was working on it. It was always nice to see her enthusiasm, though. If he were here, he would say that Sara reminded him of –
No.
It's never good to dwell on the past. She snapped out of her thoughts as the team was led to the portal. A breeze fluttered by the islands, and some of Frigate's feathers were blown off and carried away in the wind. Chloe was to her right. She was like the mother that she never had, and was the closest to her since her summoning.
She was always the first to notice her drifting off, just thinking about her time together with Eladriel, but she knew that if she didn't want to say anything, it was her choice. There were multiple times she almost told Chloe about her past, but knew that if she did everything would crumble away. That didn't matter, though.
It was her first time being brought to battle, as Sara didn't want to use her until she had been awakened, runed and even made into her first six-star. She was honored that she had been the first monster that Sara had six-starred, but she honestly felt she didn't deserve that much love and attention.
The pure white rocks in B6 of Giants' Keep greeted the team, the golems in front of them. Charlotte went last, after Frigate, Chloe, Platy and finally Su. Her eyes closed as her arms extended, letting her magic flow through her. Suddenly she was having memories of her and Eladriel together, and his smile lingered in her mind.
As Eladriel closed his eyes, he saw golems, in a dungeon of ivory and cream-colored stones. He saw a kind woman with red hair, as she healed the most injured of her teammates, a pirate with dark hair and raven-like feathers and a woman with her black hair tied up in a high ponytail, blue whip in hand. A mermaid was next to the Epikion Priest, trident in hand and red hair covering one eye, and in the middle of this team was *Charlotte.* She needed his help, that much he knew.
"L-look at that!" Sara extended her arm out. Everyone except Charlotte looked up, as she was busy concentrating on all of her memories of their time together. It was Eladriel, and as he zipped above their heads on the ceiling, he targeted the middle golem, Groggo, but his attack spread to the other two golems by Groggo's side.
"I-it's an archangel!" Su gasped. The wind changed and swirled around everyone, and a wind storm had been kicked up, ripping pieces of rock and pebbles off of the golems and throwing it far away. None seemed to hit any of the team as they watched in awe, though. His final attack drove his sword into the last remaining golem, Groggo, before he suddenly disappeared. Eladriel's eyes opened and he was back where he was originally, unsure of what he had seen and done was just a figment of his imagination.
Charlotte's arms lowered and her eyes opened. All the golems in the area were dead. She was their major damage dealer, and had the best runes of the whole team, Despair and Blade. Her mind flashed back, just for a split second, about the prying of Eladriel's runes out of his slots. On her wrists, though, both symbols were orange, instead of white, and the band around her wrist that was yellow during her time with her old Summoner had become purple. Everyone started lightly applauding, before they carried on to floor four of the dungeon. As she watched Charlotte bring her ivory-colored teddy bear, Crème, to life, one button eye blue and the other covered by an eyepatch, Sara shook her head at her team.
"I really need an AoE healer…" She said to herself. Su broke out into a fit of fake coughing, spluttering out "Belladeon" Sara glared at her.
"Just because you're my first non-predetermined four star doesn't mean you can be snarky; I have a Belladeon, thank you."
"Then why is she not on this team?"
"Would you rather I replaced you with Belladeon?" She snapped back. Sara had since forgotten the day that she had met the two, but Charlotte never forgot. While the two were in their little argument, she felt him out there in the world. Her head started to spin from fear all of a sudden, as she realized that Eladriel was running from something. Chloe asked what was wrong. She snapped out of it and said nothing, she was fine.
The team went on, Charlotte just doing her part, until they faced the giant. Even though Chloe had shielded everyone, they all used up their invincibility buff, leaving Charlotte last. She called for her teddy, and it snarled before tearing at the giant, a strange poison coating its teeth that could put a weaker enemy to sleep. After a few more attacks from the entire team, it was defeated. A wooden chest, adorned with gold, dropped in front of them and Chloe went to open it. A slot-4, 5-star Legendary Energy rune laid in front of them, with HP% as the main stat.
"Looks like we found us a new Chloe rune!" Sara picked up the stone and examined it in the light.
"Alright, let's go again!" Charlotte smiled for no reason, and the battle against the golems began once more, leaving her wishing that Eladriel were there. Somewhere out there, she knew that he was looking for her.
Somewhere out there, warmth spread from the tips of Eladriel's wings down to his fingertips, and he knew that, wherever Charlotte was, she was in a happy and loving home.
"Whatcha doin'?" Yeonhong looked up at Sara after she stormed into the dining room one morning and started grabbing the salt shaker.
"About to salt summon." The girl sighed.
"Who got what this time?" Through a mouthful of salt, Sara replied.
"Best friend got Artamiel." Her sister, Chasun, looked up from her cup of tea, hazel eyes wide.
"Duuuude! You're best friends with the owner of the king of kings?!" She nodded.
"But luckily for me, I have a Mystical Scroll, so my salt can only be amplified even further as I get trash." The quiet sound of a summoning happened. No one was looking at her, which was why they didn't see her eyes widen as lightning flashed across her screen. She was silent for a few seconds, deciding whether to laugh or spray the salt out and scream in excitement. She chose the latter, which caused everyone in the room, Chloe, Orion, Yeonhong, Lushen and Chasun, to flinch and start freaking out a little.
Charlotte awoke from the corner a few seconds before Sara screamed, as the most intense feeling she had ever experienced rushed through her. All at once, Eladriel was afraid, proud and happy, the three emotions of his that she could feel. She almost threw up from how dizzy she had become, but at the same time the warmth that blossomed in her heart had never been so comforting and her fingers twitched as a chill rushed through her bones.
She never stopped her habit of sleeping in the corner of a room or building, but she would sometimes wake up and find herself in the bed that was in her room. She always slept with Eladriel protecting her; she would be curled up in his lap and he would wrap his wings around the both of them as a shield of sorts.
Charlotte had been dreaming of him again, of his smile, his laugh, and how he would read *The Hobbit* under trees to her. The particular memory she had pulled out of her mind was when she was just five and Eladriel nine. It was murky, and some of the details were blurred out, but she always had the major actions forever embedded in her mind.
"Wow!" She smiled, looking up at the cherry blossom tree. Their old Summoner had a beautiful garden, but they were never allowed in it. The two, of course, would sneak in when she and her daughter were gone and spend time together. This was their first time entering the garden. Eladriel looked up from his book to see the little girl pointing up at the tree.
"It's beautiful, is it not, Charlotte?" Ever since a young age he had been fascinated with nature and literature.
"It's the prettiest thing in the world!" Without even thinking, Eladriel closed his book and flew up towards the tree, where he picked a fat, pink cherry blossom, tinged with red. He floated down and tied it into one of her pigtails.
"For the prettiest girl in the world." He smiled at her. Her whole face lit up, and she hugged him. He hugged her back, a warm feeling blooming inside of him, like one of the cherry blossoms.
She had woken up as the memory ended, and her mind snapped back to reality. It didn't sound like a scream of fear, so she was less awake than she would've been otherwise. Charlotte stood up and opened her umbrella, walking sleepily into the dining room to figure out what was happening. Thankfully, Yeonhong clued her in as soon as she saw the girl.
"Okayokayokay so Sara's best friend just got an Artamiel so she poured salt into her mouth and did a salt summon and do you know what she got?!" Charlotte shook her head.
"An Eladriel, Charlotte!" Her heart stopped at the sound of his name. It was only a one in a million chance that they would both be summoned into the same household again, but one in a million was better than nothing.
"I'm sending him to the house right now!" Charlotte glanced out the window, where she saw the archangel suddenly floating above the driveway. She paused and turned her head all the way towards the window, instead of just letting her eyes dart towards it. He seemed mostly confused, but he saw Charlotte, looking at him. He, too, froze, and an expression of hope washed across his face.
It must be… She mouthed something to him, and his expression of hope grew into true joy.
"Do not listen to the lies of a dead man." It was their phrase, what they had used all those years ago when the police, or worse, Isabelle and Velajuel, were onto them.
"Charlotte?" Yeonhong mumbled. She looked back at the girl before breaking out into a run towards the front door.
"Hey! Charlotte!" Her words had fallen on deaf ears, though, as Charlotte didn't care to stick around. Eladriel had started running, too, hoping that the girl he had seen was the sister he had abandoned all those years ago. He had played along, let Isabelle and Velajuel return them to his old Summoner, but as soon as he could, he broke free again and spent years searching for her.
She wasn't even sure who opened the door, but frankly, she didn't care. Time seemed to slow around her as she leaped up and into Eladriel's arms. After years of missing a part of her, she suddenly felt whole again, just from feeling Eladriel's presence; warm, caring and protective. They held each other for what felt like hours, until Charlotte whispered one thing into his ear as her Summoner came out to see what happened:
"Welcome home, Brother."