Lita
Chapter 29
Goodbye

"….Goodbye."

Elena sat up so quickly she felt a dizziness overwhelm her. As she sat on the tent floor, holding her head and waiting for the dizziness to pass, those words repeated themselves. She had heard Ryudo say that to Tio, when she was too tired to open her eyes.

Ryudo wasn't like that. He doesn't say goodbye for a moment, not even if he wasn't seeing you for a long period of time!

But it wasn't that one goodbye that had her scared. Everyone that came to see him for the last two weeks was farewelled from the tent with a goodbye. But that was not all…

…When she was going to sleep last night he said goodbye. Maybe she was overthinking it. Maybe he meant good night. She turned to look at his empty blankets and her fears soared. She lunged for her compact mirror. She was in such a fluster her fingers were trembling as she opened it and looked into Millenia's worried eyes.

"His gone isn't he."

"Millenia he has only just recovered enough to travel! We told him we don't care about what happened!" Elena's voice rose as tears threatened to fall.

Millenia's gaze looked down. When Elena went to sleep she came out to talk with Ryudo. He seemed normal, maybe even a little happier. She had asked him about his sudden urge to say goodbye to everyone and he went silent.
"I have only been asleep for 30 minutes. He can't have gone far. May I?"

"Of course Millenia. Bring that idiot back." Elena said with a nod.

Tio walked up to the tent with Lita in tow when Millenia rushed out, black wings fully open as she soared into the sky.

Tio and Lita looked up at her with surprised wide eyes as their hair swayed around them by the force of the wind from Millenia's wings. "MILLENIA! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Tio called out.

Millenia looked down as if only just noticing her friends. "FIND THAT IDIOT BEFORE I BURN HIM!" She snapped before flying away. Tio knelt down and looked into Lita's eyes, "Wait here for Ryudo. Okay?" Lita nodded before watching Tio run off.

For a few more moments the young girl stared at the sky where Millenia was last seen. She was silent, allowing her hair to catch the cool breeze as her ears strained to hear the familiar flap of wings. Instead she heard someone breathing.

Her nose wrinkled as she tried to decide where that sound was coming from. Was it the tent? She ran in and looked around. Nope. No one there. But she could hear that breathing.

She turned on her heels and ran out the tent before taking a sharp turn and running around to the back of the tent and there, with his arms folded behind his head, was Ryudo asleep.

With a large smile she ran full pelt for him and flopped right on his stomach; scaring the poor Geohound half to death as the wind was forced out of his body.

"KITTEN? WHAT THE HELL….."

"Mister Ryu! Millenia wants to burn you up!" She happily exclaimed as she sat up on his stomach. Ryudo fell back onto his back as he groaned, "What did I do this time?!"

"Why is mister Ryu sleeping on the ground?" the small girl curiously questioned

"RYUDO is sleeping on the ground because he is sick of seeing the tent walls. Two weeks would even drive you crazy Kitten." Ryudo said as he soaked up the sun and enjoyed the cool breeze.

"LITA." She said as she leaned back against Ryudo's raised knees. Ryudo smirked as he enjoyed seeing her as her usual self.

When he had first woken up he was scared. He remembered the image of Elena's arms covering her eyes as her tears slipped from under them. He was scared she would be that serious silent girl he had first met. When Tio first brought her in to see him she was silent and tears threatened to fall. He felt like all his fears had come true…she was scared of him. But then she hugged him and asked if mister Ryu was still sore. He watched as her tears slowly dried and she sat there, rewrapping bandages for Tio as she happily exclaimed how good she was at looking after her friends.

This moment, as he lay on the ground and the young girl slowly drifted to sleep as she sat on his stomach and leaned back on his raised knees, this moment was when those fears fully disappeared. She wasn't scared of him.

His fears about how Yuki would see him also had him fearful, but she appeared before Lita and with a relieved smile on her face she fell to her knees next to him, plopping Kori on his lap before hugging him. She whispered soothing words in his ear. Words like
'it's not your fault.'
'your friends and your village will always be here.'
'Defeat Judus so that Gatta can wake up and apologise.'
And then he got to hold Kori in his arms. The small baby smiled as it touched his nose and Ryudo smiled. He felt like crying and silently thanked the baby.

Now only two fears remained. The first was if he would hurt Elena again, or any of his friends. The second was if when Roan came to join them today….would it be a replay of his battle with Gatta?

"RYUDO!" Millenia's voice made him cringe.

Make that three fears remained. The third….Millenia's fire or worse…her dragon zap.

He opened his eyes to see Millenia floating down to him, he gasped as she landed heavily on his chest. The force caused him to kick his legs slightly, surprising Lita as she was pushed forward falling against Millenia's back and wings.

"Oh miss Milly. I found him!"

Millenia thanked the small girl yet her glare was firmly aimed at the man beneath her. After a moment she leaned forward so her head was next to him and whispered, "Don't scare us. What on earth are you doing here?"

He smiled as he relaxed again and looked at the sky "the tent bores me. This scenery is much more likeable." Millenia sat up and looked down at him, "I can make it better!" She said as she poked out her tongue. Ryudo raised an eyebrow before the wings of Granas glowed as her wings engulfed her and Elena appeared. Ryudo nearly bit his tongue in shock as Lita giggled at the sensation of Millenia's body changing next to her.

Ryudo now faced Elena's worried eyes. "DID YOU RUN?! DID YOU REALLY RUN AGAIN?!"

"NO! I just stepped out to get some fresh air! Geeze there is no trust anymore." He snapped.

Okay so he did think of running. He had said goodbye just in case one of his fears was met. He would have said goodbye and run away so he wouldn't have to deal facing Lita being scared of him and Yuki hating him.

An embarrassed squeal finally made Ryudo realise exactly how they were seated and the red face of Elena was just priceless. She couldn't even move because Lita had wrapped her arms firmly around her waist as she giggled.

"What exactly is going on here?" Tio asked as she placed a hand on her hip. This only caused the songstress to go even redder as she tried to squirm free. Ryudo couldn't take it anymore; it was bad enough when Millenia sat on him but Elena! He sat up and pretended not to care that the two girls fell off of him. He also pretended not to notice the flash of Elena's Lolita bloomers as she fell backwards. That was a lot harder.

Tio defused all the embarrassment with three simple words… "Are you ready?"

Fear two was about to be faced. Ryudo gulped as he slowly nodded his head.


Yuki ruffled Roan's hair as she smiled. "Are you ready your highness?"

"Not really." Roan replied. He dreaded this day. The day they find out if even sealed parts of Valmar and Granas will come out and fight. Not even Centeria was sure this would work. He looked down the winding road at his friends. He was relieved to see Ryudo well on his way to a full recovery. It was even a bit of a relief to see Ryudo nervous as well. At least he wasn't the only one feeling this way.

"Miss Yuki… I am scared I will hurt someone." He said as he took a deep breath. Yuki took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Then I will hold your hand until we find out. If you feel you will hurt someone, that you can't control it, say my name and I will pull you away."

Roan Nodded and finally took a single step. He felt weird. A weird urge and again that fear rose within him. This urge isn't normal…

It was a long journey down. The whole time Roan and Ryudo did not break eye contact. Ryudo fidgeted as Millenia held his hand, ready to fly him away if she had to.
Roan felt sorry for Yuki who still refused to let his hand go no matter how sweaty it got.

Finally Roan stood before Ryudo. He held Yuki's hand so tightly his hand trembled and her fingers went white, but she did not cringe or make a sound. She calmly stood there and allowed it.

Ryudo smiled and patted Roan's head "Not so bad right?"

Roan's grip loosened as he smiled, tears in the corners of his eyes as he nodded, a choked "No…I'm fine" escaped his throat. Ryudo's fringe covered his eyes as he fought back the tears of relief "Lollypop lane kid. Lollypop lane."

Fear two of the two fears that remained was resolved.