...I don't know what happened. Everyone stay healthy.

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Chapter 12: Capel

"We can help," Raiden said as he quickly followed Karol and Paul.

Karol stopped by his office and pulled his large bag over his head before placing a hand on Raiden's shoulder. "I know and I appreciate that. But Kev Moc is dangerous. The monsters there aren't like the ones you fought on the road here," Karol told him.

Raiden instantly felt angry. Just a moment ago Karol was explaining to them about what would cause the war. He wasn't treating them like children. Now they were being treated like kids again. He didn't want to sit around and wait for the adults. Not again.

Karol saw this and quickly said, "I need someone here in case Tamara comes back and to make sure the other girls don't join their older sister. Besides, if anyone of you got hurt, I shudder to think what Estelle and Rita would do to me."

"Stay," Paul snapped as he rushed out.

Karol nodded in agreement before he rushed out to look for his daughter.

Raiden just stared at the door that Karol and Paul left out of. Was that all he was supposed to do, just wait? He was so tired of that of doing that. The whole purpose of this journey was to finally do something.

"We're still going, right?" Elena said after a moment of silence.

"Of course," Raiden said in agreement. Despite what Karol and Paul said, he was going to help look for Tamara. He just wished the adults could rely on them to at least help.

Rune let out a tired sigh. "Of course," he muttered. But he was standing pretty straight. Probably because his mother wouldn't hear about this. There was no way Uncle Karol would tell Rita that her son went into a dangerous forest.

"Wait, they told us not to," Matthias started to say. "They even said there were monsters that might be too dangerous for us."

"Not very knightly of you to ignore helping a little girl in trouble," Elena commented.

"V-very well," Matthias quickly said and even walked with Elena toward the door.

Raiden wanted to say that he'd have more respect for Matthias if he didn't play into Elena's hand. But he decided not to say anything. They were all in agreement to go after all.

Raiden looked back and saw the two youngest Capel girls looking at them. He knew it wasn't the best to just leave them here alone. But he was sure they wouldn't just follow them. Raiden was pretty sure they behaved more than Tamara if he was remembering correctly.

Raiden walked over them and the youngest one quickly said, "You all are going to look for sissy?"

"Yeah, can you two stay here and wait for us to return?" Raiden asked them.

"Sure, but I don't get why everyone is freaking out about Tammy," the middle one said. "She'll be fine."

Raiden remembered having that same kind of mindset with his father when he was her age. She must think her parents were undefeated. And it looked like Tamara was among them. "Uncle Karol is just being a dad," Raiden told them. "He just worries. We'll all come back in no time."

The youngest was easily convinced and tugged at her sister to go back into the kitchen to finish eating. They at least seemed like wouldn't wonder off.

As they were all starting to leave, Raiden could hear Captain give a warning bark. He must have thought they shouldn't either. But the old dog wouldn't be able to follow them.

/~/~/

Skit: Kev Moc's Ecosystem

Rune: We need to be careful. The monsters here are much more aggressive than the ones on the road.

Raiden: Why's that?

Rune: When this forest mutated to be overgrown like this so did the monsters. At the time, the monsters got aer sick that made them mutate into larger and more aggressive monsters. The ones that were left passed those traits off to the next generation.

Matthias: So magic, magitech, and old blastia. Now you're a monster expert? I wouldn't have thought you'd be so well rounded at your age.

Rune: I can't take all the credit for this. My mother makes me write reports on subjects I find boring or scary whenever Raiden and I get in trouble.

Elena: Haven't you written so many papers that you could publish your own book on the ecosystems of monsters?

Rune looking depressed: Yeah, but I don't want my primary research to be monster based.

Matthias: Homework as punishment. I suppose for a parent, it's like killing two birds with one stone. But you don't strike me as a trouble maker to have warrant that much punishment.

Rune looks over at Raiden.

Raiden: C-come on, some of the things we got in trouble for was also your ideas. Like that time you wanted to study the old blastia old lady Crystal kept but she wouldn't even let you take a look at it.

Rune: But you didn't have to have us break into her house after telling her that her cat was stuck in a tree.

Matthias: Exactly how much trouble have you caused?

Elena: He could write a book about how much trouble he's been in.

/~/~/

It was surprising that the guards would let them pass without so much a glance. Of course they might have a more difficult time coming back in the city. Maybe if they found Tamara first then it wouldn't be too bad. Raiden was even convinced that if they do happen to run into Uncle Karol they would still end up helping because Karol would not waste the time to bring them back to the city or trust them to go back on their own.

So either way they would be in the woods of Kev Moc to look for the young child. Of course now that they were in the overgrown forest, Raiden saw that it would be more difficult looking for a little girl. It was a shame they didn't have anything of Tamara's so Sable could sniff her out. The vegetation in this area had mutated to grow so large in their parents' youth. Raiden remembered the stories his mom told. But this was actually the first time he got to venture into this oversized forest. His dad had always said when he got bigger they would fight some monsters in Kev Moc together.

Raiden placed his hand on the sword's hilt. His father's sword. He even looked down at his wrist to see the blastia that his father once wore. He gave a small smile. At least in this way we're still doing it together.

"You okay?" Elena suddenly asked.

It was enough to bring Raiden out of his thoughts and quickly nodded. "Yeah. Just reminiscing," he told her.

His sister just shrugged and walked on with Sable by her side.

"So where in the world should we even start?" Rune asked looking a bit down already.

"We'll just have to keep going in and call her name. That's the standard to looking for lost children," Matthias offered.

"I doubt Tamara would recognize our voices," Elena pointed out. "Besides, you all sound like creeps, why would she answer to you?"

"Excuse me, who exactly sounds like a creep?" Matthias snapped.

Raiden ignored them. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on ends. He quickly turned around but only saw the vegetation. He could have sworn that something was watching them. It couldn't have been a monster. It would just attack them. His next thought was more terrifying. Was it that clown Henry? He easily could have followed them and wanted to finish what he started.

"Come, on, we need to get moving," Raiden quickly said as he took the lead. The best thing would be to head back into town. But he didn't want to return without knowing that Tamara was okay. So the next thing was to keep moving. "We'll just keep our ears open. Surely an elven year old would make a lot of noise."

As overgrown as the forest was, there were a few clear paths. A lot of the paths involved walking on giant roots. It was growing dark, and there were several glowing plants. Rune added to this by using a spell that gave them a light source above their heads. It almost seemed like they were in another world.

They were high in a tree and Raiden looked down. The glowing plants made it easy to see the monsters below. But the plants themselves looked like they belonged in one of the fairy tales his mother read them.

"What's wrong Sable?" Raiden suddenly heard his sister say. He wasn't sure how, but he had missed hearing the dogs low warning growls.

Raiden put his hand on one of the sword's hilt. Rune quickly moved behind them and Raiden could hear him clap his hands together with the jingling of his charms. At the very least, the two of them know how to fight monsters together.

"What? What is it?" Matthias asked sounding startled.

Raiden shushed him and he could now clearly hear a buzzing. It was clear it there was an insect monster hiding in the branches. He wasn't sure why it was taking it's time to attack them, so Raiden took a few steps forward. However, when he did, the monster flew out of the brush. It was a large flying beetle that had a large horn on its head.

Thankfully he was quick enough to pivot out of the way to avoid its horn. He was just about to send out an arte while it had its back to him, when he noticed that Rune lost his foot. He must have been startled and moved back. Only there wasn't any place for his feet to land.

Rune was falling backwards to the forest floor below. Raiden couldn't even hear Rune's cries because he was shouting his name. Running to his friend, Raiden quickly cut down the monster bug. But he wasn't able to get to him in time.

He was only in time to see Rune disappearing in the brush underneath. They may have been high up, but surely it wasn't high enough to…

Raiden didn't finish the thought and was started to jump down. But Matthias stopped him by wrapping his arms around him.

"What is wrong with you?" Matthias demanded.

"Rune's down there," Raiden snap. "What if he's hurt?"

"You're just going to hurt yourself," Matthias told him.

"I'm not going to heal an idiot that jumps like that," Elena said plainly and she stepped toward the edge. "It won't matter to me. So we'll meet up further in the forest." And with that she stepped off.

Both Raiden and Matthias couldn't get any words out fast enough or move toward her. "Elena," Raiden shouted.

An agonizing minute passed before he heard Elena shouted back, "We're fine, go on."

Though he couldn't see them, it was a relief to hear his sister's voice. He was still very worried. But Elena wouldn't lie about their situation. So he just needed to hurry and find them.

"Come on Matthias," Raiden urged.

"Now we're looking for more people," he said dishearten. "How are we going to find them?"

Raiden glanced over a Sable. The dog looked impatient to get moving. Raiden had to admit that the dog was smarter than he thought. "They'll be easier to find."

/~/~/

"What do you mean you let them go to Dahngrest?" Rita snapped at Flynn. Estelle could see there was nothing she could do or say to calm her.

Although Estelle felt the same sickening feeling hearing that the kids, or to be more precise, Raiden and, surprisingly, Matthias snuck past the checkpoint in Heilord according to the knights Lady Scifo sent to retrieve her son.

"You know very well that Raiden would have gone even if I had told him to go home," Flynn said calmly. "At least this way they'd be encouraged to stay on the main, safer, roads rather than sneaking around to get where they want."

"If they're going to Dahngrest then it shouldn't be too much of an issue," Estelle offered. They sent Paul to get them. She was sure they would go to Karol. And if they were with Brave Vesperia, they were safe.

Estelle had replayed her last interaction with Raiden. She knew her son was up to something. It wasn't until Paul confirmed it for her. Raiden had overheard their talk about Yuri. Both Raiden and Elena deserved answers, but Estelle wasn't the who could provide them. The only thing she had regret over was that Raiden or Elena felt like they couldn't confide in her.

Rita relaxed slightly. She knew that the kids would be a safe in the guild city as any other place.

But that didn't work with Lady Lynne Scifo. "I can't believe what I'm hearing," she snapped. She was very pretty and dressed as a noble. Her skin was very fair and even had lovely blond hair. "They're going to the guild city. The very one that we're on the verge of war with. How dare you say my son will be safe there."

"Your own knights reported that Matthias was with Raiden and the others," Flynn tried to calm his wife down. "If he's with Raiden, I have every confidence that Matthias is perfectly safe in Dahngrest."

Estelle was happy to hear that about Raiden. He was a trouble maker, she couldn't deny that. But just like his father, he would do everything to protect those in front of him. That was what made her proud of him despite all the times she'd gone to his school or had to ground him.

"These are children," Lynne Scifo spat. "I don't trust children to protect my son. And what if the guilds find out who he is? What if they capture him? What would you do then?"

"Lady Scifo," Estelle tried to reassure. "I vouch for Karol and his guild. I'll even vouch for a few other guilds. Our children are in good hands. Paul will bring them back. So please don't worry until there is something to worry about."

"Your words mean nothing to me," Lynne snapped.

"That's enough," Flynn said sternly to her. "We've done all we can. We can't very well send a bunch of knights to the guild territory. Tensions are high enough and that may put Matthias in danger if we announce that he's a noble."

Lady Scifo was shaking her head in disbelief. "That's all you seem to care about."

Flynn went on. "Matthias went on his own will. He wasn't kidnapped or threatened. He left on his own."

She didn't seem to want to hear it. "If you won't do anything to get our son back, then I will," Lynne stated in a threatening manner as she stormed out of the room.

After she slammed the door behind her, Flynn fell into a chair and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Charming as ever," Rita muttered.

"Rita," Estelle said more out of habit. Rita has said much worse about Flynn's wife to Flynn directly.

"She worries about Matthias for the both of us," Flynn commented.

"Are you worried about him?" Estelle asked. Flynn stressed about enough things. She knew the kind of stress a child could add to that.

"Just that I've played a big part in sheltering him," Flynn admitted. "He's barely traveled outside the city."

"Look, the mage and scientist can still pass the boarder with much hassle because of the treaty to improve magitech," Rita said off handedly. "I could met them and make sure they get their asses back here."

Flynn chuckled at that. He was probably picturing the way Rita would get them back to the city. "No, I'm sure Karol and Paul will have them back soon enough. Besides, I do think this will be good for Matthias. I should have done more with the boy."

Just then a knight entered and stood at attention. "Sir Scifo," he said ready to give a report.

"We'll excuse ourselves," Estelle said with a nod to her old friend. Then she took Rita's arm to get her to leave.

"Don't work yourself up too much," Rita called back as they left.

Now that it was just the two of them in the hall, Rita let out a frustrated sound. "Those brats, when I get my hands on them…"

Estelle actually laughed a bit at her friend, which made Rita give her an annoyed look. "Should we really be surprised though? Runes the same age you were and I was even more sheltered than Matthias when we went on a dangerous journey with Yuri." Estelle sat down on a bench and couldn't help but smile as she thought about the past fondly.

"Things were different then," Rita said shaking her head. "Most of use didn't have people worrying about us."

"That's true. But we were traveling in the same political rocky relations and the monsters were worse than they ever were." Yes, war may be close, but the world in in balance and Ratatosk was able to maintain the monsters. People didn't fear them like they did. Veal had sent them reports on Ratatosk's being.

Estelle would always worry about her children. But she knew they would be safe on Tolbyccia. If they were to travel to Ilyccia though…Nothing would stop Estelle from going after them.

Yuri, you're still looking after them. Right? Estelle wondered as she looked out at the window.

/~/~/

"I'm pretty sure we've past this tree before," Matthias said.

"It's a tree," Raiden replied. An hour probably hadn't passed, but Raiden couldn't believe he would miss having Rune as a traveling partner in a creepy place. Matthias may not be as jumpy, but he was sure paranoid about weird things. Raiden was certain they would find the others despite Sable only whimpering every now and then. She hadn't found the scent yet.

"Look maybe we jumped into this without having a plan," Matthias started to say.

"I know, but a little girl is in danger," Raiden argued. "If we wasted time Tamara might get hurt."

"But instead we're separated," Matthias argued calmly. "No matter how much of a talented healer Elena is, she and Rune are probably still hurt pretty bad."

Raiden had to bite his tongue. Yes he was kicking himself that they got separated and that Rune fell. But Raiden knew they would be fine. He hadn't seen an injury his sister couldn't heal yet. He couldn't tell Matthias that though.

"I'll admit that we probably could have taken a few minutes to come up with a better plan," Raiden went ahead to admit. "But I don't see how that would have helped. It's not like doing that would guarantee we'd find Tamara any faster."

Almost as soon as he said that, they could hear someone running toward them from the brush. "I've got you now vial monster," a young voice shouted. It was followed by a little girl jumping out with large mallet. She landed not far from where Sable had been before she retreated behind Raiden and slamming the weapon on the ground. "Huh, where did the monster go?" The girl said once she realized she didn't hit anything. She was short with long, brown, baggy shorts and shirt with pink girly flowery design on it. Her hair was in pigtails but it looked like if she didn't her hair would be wild and sticking up. Lastly she had an oversized purple bag over her shoulder.

"What do you mean monster?" Matthias said sounding startled. He jumped at about the same time as the young girl did. "There wasn't a monster here."

The little girl tilted her head with a look of confusion. "But it was. I saw it. It was big and floating and had a big ugly face."

"I see that you're still seeing things, huh Tammy," Raiden commented. It had been a few years, but Raiden remembered Tamara always imagined seeing things when she was smaller. Her mother always said she had an over active imagination.

"I do not see things," Tamara started to pout and stomping her feet. "It was really here."

Matthias was rubbing his head, not quite following, said, "Well at least we've found her."

"Now we need to just find the others," Raiden said. Although he knew that it was pure luck that they ran into Tamara. "Tammy, do remember who I am, right?"

"Of course I know who you are," the little girl said. "You're Yuri's kid. You look just like him. But why are you here?" Tamara probably did know Yuri better. She saw him more than Raiden and whenever he did he didn't play with her much. She was so little at the time that the job fell on Elena. Although Elena always complained because Tamara had way too much energy and all Elena wanted to do was read. Maybe Raiden should have played with Tamara when they younger.

"Your father is out here looking for you," Matthias then

Tamara looked only slightly disappointed. "Man, I was hopping I'd find the monster by then," she complained.

"You're a child," Matthias declared matter of factly. "Did you really think you could fight a monster all by yourself?"

"I'm twelve," Tamara said standing her ground and looking at Matthias like he just insulted her. "Daddy was no older than I was when he started his own guild and was fighting monsters and bad guys."

"Exactly how much training have you had?" Matthias asked.

Raiden was about to tell him that he shouldn't argue with a child. One it didn't look to knightly. And two Raiden was sure Tamara would win on sheer willpower and stubbornness.

But it was just then that they heard and explosion. Raiden had fought monsters with Rune enough to recognize it as one of his bigger spells. He was both relieved that Rune was well enough to cast a high-level spell and worried for what would cause him to use it.

Sable was even barking toward the direction of the explosion. That only made Raiden lead toward the worried side. "Come on," Raiden said, nudging Tamara to follow. Thankfully Tamara wasn't rebellious as Elena, so she followed without any resistance.

Sable ran ahead of them and was barking like crazy. Raiden couldn't tell if she had found Elena's scent or if she was just going toward the danger. They had to climb over fallen trees. Somehow they managed to not lose track of the dog.

Soon they came upon an open spot with a lot of large bug monsters. In the middle wasn't only Elena and Rune, but Uncle Karol and Paul.

They weren't struggling. It only looked like they had to get rid of all the nuisances. That didn't stop Raiden from jumping in and cutting down the monsters to reach the others. Matthias was doing the same with his staff.

Karol and Paul noticed them, but didn't say anything as they were trying to get rid of the monsters as quick as possible. Rune was too busy casting his next spell to say anything. Elena did stop to pet Sable who was rejoiced to rejoin her master.

Raiden and Matthias didn't make much of a difference. They would have beaten back all the monsters themselves.

Karol dropped his weapon and ran to Tamara. He grabbed both of her arms and was looking hysterical. "Tamara, what the hell were you thinking coming out here by yourself?"

Tamara had that pout again. "Come on, I'm old enough to fight monsters just like you and mommy. I totally could have beaten by myself."

Karol just groaned. "Why do you girls take after your mother more?"

Raiden couldn't help but smile. It looked like Karol wasn't very good at disciplining. Raiden wouldn't have taken that tone with his mother, or father, and definitely not to Aunt Rita.

Just then Raiden felt a hand on top of his head. It was Paul and it wasn't the affectional kind. He was slightly squeezing his head and Raiden could feel his frustration. "You kids are just determined to make my life more difficult," he muttered angrily.

But Raiden couldn't help smiling. He had never gotten a chance to fight with Uncle Karol. And with his father's swords, it was like he had also gotten the chance to fight with him. So whatever punishment he would get, he'd gladly accept.