Another long chapter update is finally here! The story is almost at end of the second arc and the final arc should be a short one, so I'm trying to finish this up by the end of this month before dividing my time for extra training and do original writing. I just hope that this nasty cough of mine doesn't get in the way!
Wishes, Dreams, and Memories
Chapter 27 – Family
"Lest. Pico. Can I talk to you for a bit?" Frey suddenly asked, prompting the two to stop in their tracks.
"Me too?" Pico looked at the female Earthmate in confusion.
Frey gave her a nod and looked at both of them, "I guess you two know what I'm going to ask, especially after knowing what happened to Amber and Dylas."
"Don't worry," Lest replied with a serious look, "We're going to fight Dolly in her monster form, so you don't have to worry about me hesitating to fight."
"Same here," Pico nodded in agreement, "My dark magic might not work well here, but I'll do my best!"
"That's good, because we're running out of time," Frey looked at the clouds of dark energy on the ceiling, "The corrupted rune level is getting higher and higher."
"Let's go then," Pico and Frey nodded before the three of them started running, only stopping once they found themselves in a room made of mossy rocks.
The room's interior was different from the cave as the walls looked like it was made of concrete blocks. Some broken rock pillars were scattered around the room, making it more like ruins. The corrupted runes had formed thin dark fog in the room, turning down the visibility in the room.
"Are we… still in the cave?" Pico asked as she looked around the room, "It feels so different in here."
"Maybe not," Frey replied as she looked around cautiously, "But I have a bad feeling about this place."
"You are finally here," a familiar voice echoed in the room.
"Huh? That voice…" Lest recognized the voice and looked around for the source.
"Dolly? Is that you?" Pico asked in excitement.
"Yes," the voice replied as a familiar figure walked closer to them, revealing to be their lost family member, "I am right here."
"D-Dolly? Is that… is that really you?" Lest approached her in disbelief, but stopped when he saw her glowing red eyes.
"Yes, I am your 'Dolly'," the figure swung her hand and talismans came flying towards Lest. The Earthmate stood frozen in place, letting one of them to scratch his cheek, "I am your Dolly by looks, but not by my mind."
"Are you the one controlling her body?" Frey asked while pointing her spear at her.
"It seems like there is a much clever Earthmate than this woman's husband," the figure replied with a glare, "And please, just call me Marionetta."
"If a fight's what you want," Frey held on to her spear angrily, "then that's what you're going to get! Nobody is allowed to hurt my dear brother!"
Marionetta simply shrugged and shook her head, "Are you certain that those two are ready for one?"
Frey looked at Lest and Pico, who was clearly hesitant in fighting, "W-What is it? Why don't you have your weapons ready?"
There was a short silence before Lest answered, "I… can't… I can't hurt her…"
"Yeah," Pico nodded in agreement, "Even though she isn't Dolly, I can't fight her when she looks just like her…"
Frey lowered her head before stepping in front of the hesitant fighters, "Fine, be like that. Just stand there and don't do anything," Frey looked at Marionetta with an angry glare, "I'll handle her myself."
An angry fighting yell broke the silence in the room as Frey charged in with her spear, only to have Marionetta swiftly dodge the attack by moving to the side. The monster in disguise sent out a barrage of dark balls to knock Frey back before she threw more talismans at her. The flying scraps of paper managed to be sent all over the room from Frey's spear spinning, just in time before they could hit her.
Switching her spear to her left hand, Frey charged in once more with her fist straight at the monster's face. Marionetta effortlessly caught the Earthmate's fist her hand before slightly moving Frey out of her way. The blunt side of Frey's spear managed to be blocked easily before another barrage of dark balls knocked the female Earthmate back and towards the ground.
Lest silently watched his sister fighting on her own, but he could see that her style of fighting was out of her usual rhythm. It was the main reason why her attacks could easily be dodged and blocked by the monster. Her visible anger had blinded her awareness, making the female Earthmate completely vulnerable to counter attacks.
"HAAAA!" Frey slammed her hammer to try and squash Marionetta, only missing its target and created a small crater on the ground instead.
Just then, Lest felt like something had stabbed him in the chest, "Ugh…"
"Lest?" Pico looked at the Earthmate in confusion, "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine, it's just…" Lest kept on holding his chest where he felt the pain moments ago, "It's just that there's a strange feeling that something stabbed me…"
Pico looked at the hurting Earthmate, but found no wounds anywhere on him other than the ones he got from the previous battles, "Other than the injuries from those two fights, I don't see anything wrong."
"Stop!" an angry yell coming from Frey had gained the attention of the two, "Stop hurting my brother! Snap out of it!"
The words echoed within Lest's mind, feeling as if he had heard similar words many years before. His mind tried digging through the old memories as he tried remembering when and where he had heard the words before. Images of boys hitting him with sticks and branches suddenly came into him along with echoes of laughter, but the next thing he heard in his head was the words he had been looking for.
"Stop hurting him! He is my dear brother!"
Frey was sitting on the ground, watching as Marionetta approached her with a levitating rock behind her. She braced herself as the monster sent the rock flying towards her, only to notice that the impact never actually came. She opened her eyes to see Lest standing in front of her, holding the hammer she had left planted on the crater, with dozens of rock pieces surrounding him.
"I want to repay the favor," Lest spoke up without turning his head around, "I felt wanting to do this for many years and waited for the chance to show itself."
"Lest…" Frey stared at him in disbelief as he slowly lifted the hammer and swung the heavy weapon, knocking Marionetta to the side.
Lest turned to look at Frey with a frown, "Sorry, I… I can't help much when she looks just like my wife."
Frey continued to stare at him before letting out a sigh and smiled, "That's okay," Frey slowly rose to her feet, "I got carried away and forced you into this, but that's more or less the only option I have."
"What's the plan now?" Lest asked as he noticed that Marionetta was still down, "I don't think I can attack her like that when I can clearly see her face."
"I'll distract her," Frey replied while having her spear back into her right hand, "I'll tell you when and where to strike with your eyes closed, you don't have to worry about visibly hurting her."
"Got it," Lest nodded in understanding before he noticed a spot of light coming from the place where he had hit her before, "Wait, is that…?" The light had quickly consumed the whole room before Lest could finish his sentence.
"So," a woman with curly pink hair looked down on Pico and a girl who looked like a younger version of Dolce, "Who put those eggs in your father's hat?" the young Dolce pointed at Pico, who looked at her mother innocently, "Can you explain yourself, young lady?"
"What eggs?" Pico asked innocently, "I don't remember putting eggs anywhere but the fridge, right Dolly?"
The young Dolce turned to glare at Pico, "I-It was your idea!"
"But hiding Mom's knitting among Dad's magic stuff is your idea!" Pico gave her rebuttal, which only made the older woman more annoyed.
"Girls," the woman spoke up sternly, "Stop fighting and go to your room," the woman turned to Dolce, "As for you Dolly, no dessert for you for a week."
Dolce looked at her mother with her in disappointment, "Yes, Mom…"
'It was… Dolly's dream…' Lest thought as he noticed that Marionetta was slowly getting up, "Frey, she's getting up."
"Huh, this isn't how it's supposed to turn out," Marionetta went back to her feet while watching the two Earthmates with a glare, "I suppose using my full power is next to be done in order to destroy you."
The monster's body was engulfed by dark energy before it transformed into its true form, a puppet-like monster. Dark fog started getting thicker in the room, making Frey fall to her knees while panting. Rocks and broken pillars started levitating and in a moment, the objects had completely surrounded the Earthmates.
Lest had his dual blades ready, but his target of attack had disappeared in the thick fog. Just then, a small pebble came towards his chest in high speed but he was able to block it with one of his swords. The fog soon became a bit thinner and enabled Lest to see a bit clearer, only to have him realize that a bunch of swords was sent at him.
The hazel-haired Earthmate jumped out of the way only to bump into his sister, who was still panting heavily, "Frey, are you okay?"
"I…" Frey spoke up between her panting, "I can't… breathe… too much… darkness…"
"Hang in there!" Lest called out, before pushing her out from an incoming flying rock.
The dark fog had narrowed his area of vision, which forced Lest to rely on his other senses to dodge the incoming attacks. Lest raised his hand and blocked a series of kicks coming from the monster just in time, before he took the opportunity to strike with his sword. He pushed the monster away and the foggy room was soon covered in bright light.
"Did you two get into another argument again?" the familiar voice echoed throughout an old castle building as the wind dragon looked down at the young woman in front of her.
Dolce turned her eyes from the worried dragon god, "So? It's not like you can do anything to help."
Ventuswill let out a chuckle, "Perhaps not," the wind dragon lowered her head to Dolce's level, "These arguments usually don't last longer than a few hours, correct?"
Dolce stayed silent for a moment before letting out a smile, "Yes, that's true."
"Besides, even families can get into arguments as well," Ventuswill added, "Pico is a part of your family too, isn't she?"
"Yes, but…" Dolce nodded, but a frown on her face was visible from Ventuswill's sight, "No, never mind."
Ventuswill looked at her, seeing that Dolce wasn't telling her the whole story, "It's fine if you don't want to say it, but let me just tell you one thing," Dolce looked up at the dragon, "You've done what you can to make her feel like she's a part of your family. Given enough time, she would see for herself that family isn't always connected by blood."
"Venti…" Dolce looked at Ventuswill in disbelief, feeling as if the dragon had just read her mind, "How did you…?"
Ventuswill let out a laugh, "It's a secret!"
Dolce let out a smile, "Seriously…"
The vision disappeared, and Lest was ready to counter or attack with his dual blades. The fog had started to disappear and his area of vision was enough to check his surrounding completely. Even so, he could see that the monster was nowhere to be found. Little did he notice that the puppet monster was hovering right above his head, ready for a sneak attack.
Marionetta dropped itself on top of Lest, but a dark ball was there to push the monster away from him. Lest noticed that the monster was knocked away from above his head and turned to find the location of his savior, finding Pico a few meters away from him, "Pico…?"
"I'm sorry, Dolly," the ghost whispered, "Please… don't make me hurt you again…"
The monster quickly got up and charged at Pico, only to be knocked away by a water laser spell. Frey, who was clutching her chest on one hand, had fired the spell just in time before she forced herself to stand firmly, "Sorry to burden you two."
"No problem," Lest switched his dual blades for a short sword and a shield, "Come on, this battle isn't over yet!"
Frey gave Lest a nod, before charging at Marionetta along with him. A wooden box was sent at the Earthmates as they got closer, but Lest was too late to move out of the way and got trapped in the box. Frey, who noticed that her brother was in danger, kept on charging at the monster and kicked it back, using the force from the kick to send herself back to where the box was.
Frey hit the box with her hammer, destroying it to pieces, but also sending Lest flying to the side. The male Earthmate wasn't too injured that he could kick himself and went back to where the monster was with his sword ready. The sword met a few others as Marionetta had sent a few flying at him, but they were easily blocked as Lest closed the distance between them.
A single powerful slash was enough to knock the puppet monster to the side. Along with the dark energy which had started pouring out, a spot of light was also visible before it covered the whole room once again.
"What are you making this time?" Ventuswill asked, looking at the knitting woman beside her.
"Dolly said that she was going to make me-" The ghost girl beside Dolce was the first to answer, before a talisman sealed her mouth shut.
"You say too much," Dolce continued with her knitting, gaining the dragon's interest.
"Hey, how about you make me something next time?" Ventuswill offered, but her offer met a blank stare from the woman, "W-What?"
Dolce let out a sigh, "If I'm going to make you something, I need extra materials to do so. I doubt you can get what I need in your current condition."
"Hey!" Ventuswill spread her wings in pride, "These wings can take me anywhere I need! Never underestimate the power of the Native Dragons!"
"Except you can't leave town," Dolce shot the dragon's argument with ease without taking her eyes of her craft.
"Y-Yeah, but I have a workaround for that!" Ventuswill desperately tried to defend her argument, but another look at Dolce's eyes told her that the woman was right.
Pico, who had recovered from the talisman attack, let out a laugh, "That's my Dolly! You can't win an argument with milady!"
"That includes you too, Pico," Dolce didn't turn her eyes away to look at the embarrassed Pico, until she suddenly stopped her knitting completely and looked at the dragon in worry, "By the way, are you feeling okay?"
"Huh?" Ventuswill looked at her nervously, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure," Dolce replied, "I felt like I need to ask you that question."
Ventuswill looked at her silently before letting out a sigh, "I'm just a little tired lately, but that isn't a big problem."
"I see," Dolce was still unconvinced, but she knew that she wouldn't get anything out of her even if she pressed the issue even further.
An angry growl echoed in the room as it slightly shook, prompting Lest and Frey to be ready for more powerful attacks aimed at them. Lest was ready with his short sword and shield while Frey was ready with her hammer and gloves. Pico, on the other hand, stayed a bit farther from the battle area and provided emergency support in case of another surprise attack.
Rocks and pillars started levitating once more, but they were all moving quickly in order to have them hit the Earthmates randomly. The two Earthmates stood back-to-back with Frey destroying the rocks and pillars coming at them using her hammer and Lest blocked the smaller pebbles with his shield.
Seeing as the rocks couldn't scratch them, Marionetta decided to bury them alive with a bunch of dolls. Pico had destroyed some of the dolls using her dark balls, leaving the pieces of the dolls completely harmless to the Earthmates. With their vision covered by the destroyed dolls' stuffing, the monster could easily grab the two of them and throw them across the room.
Frey was quick enough to react and grabbed Lest, pushing him back towards the monster with his sword ready. The angered monster couldn't react fast enough at the incoming Earthmate, letting another slash to connect with its body. Frey managed to land safely a few steps away from the wall while Lest had landed safely on the other side of the room, with the defeated monster lying on the ground. The monster turned back into Dolce, who was still unconscious, before they were all covered in bright light once more.
Dolce stood in front of two people, with one being Pico and the other one was a woman with short dark green hair. The woman saw the determination on Dolce's eyes before speaking up, "I take it your decision is final?"
Dolce nodded, "Yes."
"What about your parents?" The woman asked once more.
Dolce turned to look at Pico, who looked like she was about to cry, "I've told them. They were against it at first, but they finally let me do it."
"Isn't there another way, Dolly?" Pico asked sadly, "Ven is my friend too, so I can do it in your place!"
Dolce turned to look at the woman, who nodded in agreement, "True, only those who have strong bonds with her can be turned into a Guardian. But, it only applies to humans only."
"You're a ghost, Pico," Dolce added, "You can't be a Guardian. It must be me," Dolce turned to look at the woman, "I'm ready."
"Before that, let me ask you one final question," the woman spoke up, "That dragon is your best friend, but is she worth very much to you to sacrifice your remaining time with your family?"
"That's a silly question," Dolce let out a sad smile, "Venti is my family too. I'm doing this to save my family as well."
Seeing as her persuasion wouldn't change Dolce's mind, the woman nodded, "Very well. I shall grant you your wish and I shall promise you that my family will find a way to save her."
"Uh…" the female Guardian was slowly waking up on Lest's lap, with Frey and Pico also watching, "This is…?"
"DOLLY!" Pico had tackled the barely conscious woman, "I missed you so much, Dolly!"
Lest slowly helped Dolce to sit up, "How are you feeling?"
There was a short pause before Dolce replied, "Fine, I guess…" Dolce looked at him from the corner of her eye before turning away, "I'm sorry…"
Lest let out a smile before pulling her into a hug, "Don't worry, I forgive you."
"No," Dolce slightly pushed herself away from the hug, "I left you and I hurt you. I don't deserve this…"
"Dolly," Lest called out calmly, "Please, just look at me," the Guardian reluctantly did as she was told and saw that her husband was smiling at her, "I'm fine, so don't be so hard on yourself."
Dolce noticed the scratch on Lest's cheek and let out a chuckle, "No, sweetie. You're not all fine," Lest looked at her in confusion as she took out a band aid and applied it on his scar, "There, now you're fine."
"Thanks," Lest helped Dolce to her feet before taking out a black top hat, "Here, I believe this is yours."
Dolce took the hat and put it back on her head, "This was a gift from Dad. Thank you for keeping it safe."
Frey coughed and got the attention of the couple, "Sorry to bother you two, but I think we should get going now."
"Right," Lest responded with a nod before turning back to Dolce, "I'll be back, Dolly. Stay here, okay?"
Dolce nodded in understanding before Pico went to her side, "I'm staying here with Dolly, so I hope you won't get in too much trouble when I'm not around!"
"We won't," Lest replied before walking towards Frey, "Come on, let's go."
Dolce and Pico saw the two Earthmates left the room before their mind went white with a familiar figure standing in front of them.
"It's you again," Dolce spoke up to the puppet-like monster in front of her.
"Yes," the monster spoke up softly, "For that, I apologize."
"A simple apologize isn't enough to fix everything! You've hurt not just Dolly but-" Pico was stopped in the middle of her ranting when Dolce put a hand in front of her.
"I believe you have your reasons," Dolce spoke up calmly, "so tell us why you did it."
"My apologies," the monster apologized, "Monsters like me are very sensitive to the changes within runes, so the corruption easily got the better of us. Other than that…"
"There's more?" Dolce pressed further, "Tell us what you know."
"That other woman… I sensed similar rune energy as the one running within us," Marionetta continued, "yet I sensed no evil intent within her."
"I understand," Dolce's voice had turned into a whisper as she looked at the monster, "Now what are you planning to do?"
The puppet monster shook its head, "Nothing else which would be considered harmful to this world. In other words, I shall leave this world and back towards the forest," the monster's body was slowly disappearing, "Human… no, Dolce. I shall bid you farewell."
The two females watched as the monster disappeared in front of them, leaving the two of them in the empty space.
"Farewell, Marionetta…"