"Lloyd!" He could hear someone crying as they shook him furiously, clearly trying to awaken him.
"Lloyd, please get up." The voice continued to sob, clutching onto his body.
He could barely feel the person, all he could feel was pain. It felt like his body was on fire.
Lloyd let out a low groan as he rolled slightly, using his hands to push himself up, hissing out in pain slightly.
The person who was trying to wake him gently took his hand and led him towards a bed.
They forced him to sit down and he finally recognized Lark.
Her eyes were red and puffy, evidence of her crying.
"Lark?" Lloyd croaked out. "Are you okay?" He questioned.
Lark shook her head and gently clung to his body. A few tears escaping her.
"Lark?" He questioned. "What happened?"
Lark stared into his eyes before whispering out. "She's gone."
Lloyd immediately shot up and forced himself by the crib, pushing Lark aside as he did so.
He stumbled slightly and put his weight on the crib, looking inside of it.
She was gone.
All that was there was blood-soaked sheets.
They attacked sooner. They knew Krystal revealed their plans. They knew they could wait on it.
Lloyd felt like a fool. "No." He whispered out. "I promised nothing bad would happen." He could barely hear his own words.
"You knew?" Lark choked out.
Lloyd froze up. She heard him.
"I..." He trailed off. The damage was already done. There was nothing wrong with being honest. "I knew. All of us knew but you, we were advised to not tell you until a few days because of how tough everything's been on you."
Lark began to cry again. "Did you not trust me?" She shouted at him.
"W-we didnt think you would handle it well." Lloyd stammered out. "We wanted you to be a bit stronger mentally and physically before we told you, because we were told if we told you too soon it might cause some problems in your health.
Lark shook her head slowly and just buried her face in her hands. After a few more tears escaping her she finally sobbed out. "There was nothing we could of done."
Lloyd quietly walked over to her and gently wrapped his arms around his crying wife, pulling her into a tight hug. "What happened?" He asked her. "Were you awake?"
Lark shrugged and whispered. "I only saw the end result. I dont know what happened, I just hope our baby girl will be okay."
Lloyd nodded numbly. "I'll explain everything we knew." He whispered. He only hoped Krystal had enough independence of his own to save his daughter, because they had no trace, no clues, nothing to go off of.
--
"Where should we start to look?" Nya asked Wu, who was staring at nothing.
At the crack of dawn Lark and Lloyd went to the Monastery and told everyone of the terrible news.
"I think we should do small groups." Wu responded. "You all need to watch your own young and we cant bring much attention to yourselves."
"I feel like Lark, Lloyd, Pixal, Zane, and Ronin might be a good group." Skylor suggested.
"Is sending those two wise?" Wu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is not sending them wise?" Misty snapped back.
"Skylor is right. That's a really good group to start with." Cole spoke up. "Lark and Lloyd would go regardless of what. I vote they start in the north side of the city and work their way out into the woods and mountains." He added.
Ronin spoke out lowly. "I'm not done with any kind of cure yet if we do find her." He pointed out. "If we find her, isnt our wish to get a cure in her as soon as possible."
"That's true." Kai sighed. "Who would go to replace Ronin?" He asked.
"I'll contact Cherry." Wu sighed. "These realms are known like the back of their hands, anything different one of the seasons should be able to figure it out quickly."
"Do we have to rely on them so much? We barely know them." Misty asked. "Cant one of us go?"
"The baby will be near Krystal, they can sense his power energy from very far away and track him down, and even if they arent together he can help out." Wu responded crossly. "It's smart to go with them."
Misty grumbled lowly and said. "Well I'm going irregardless."
Cole casted her a worry look that made Lark raise an eyebrow.
"I dont care what you say, I cant sleep at night without helping."
"Youd be helping in other ways back home." Wu and Cole said at the exact same time.
"I'm going." Misty snapped, her mind obviously made up.
"More eyes the better." Lark whispered softly.
Irene nodded solemnly. "It doesnt matter who or how many people go. What matters is you beat them to doing that ritual. Bring attention to yourselves."
Ronin continued on. "They already know you'll be searching for her."
Wu sighed. "I guess you're right. Very well. Misty, you can go."
"Not like you had a choice." She sneered.
"Let's not argue over who's going." Lloyd sighed. "Let's just please work together to find our baby."
Larl pressed her forehead against Lark's shoulder and everyone silently agreed with them.
"Lloyd's right. We shouldnt fight over this." Nya spoke, breaking the silence.
"Kai, Cole, go with the others, everyone else will stay here and watch the kids left here." Misako finally spoke up from where she was. "Please be careful everyone."
Everyone nodded and separated themselves, Irene leaving Ronin's side to follow after Nya, obviously opting to care for the kids.
"Good luck everyone." Skylor whispered.
Lark nodded weakly in response to Skylor, her eyes dim, but with a slight spark of hope buried behind them.
It brought some joy to Skylor that Lark was hopeful, but made her saddened that hope was all they had to their advantage.
--
Thank you to everyone who came follow through on this journey, thank you to all who left reviews and everyone who even considered reading this book!
It's been a wild journey and I hope you guys will stick around for the second book of the series 'A Lost Heart'!
Happy holidays to everyone and I hope to see you in book two, where we'll hopefully get to see the fate of little Juliantha, or maybe not hopefully see the fate of her.