"Amy~" Amelia, who had been enjoying her free time reading outside, felt a sudden warm breeze as her partner appeared next to her. "Whatcha been up to?"
She simply held her book up higher, "I was hoping to finish it today."
"Oh, what's this one about?"
"Evil spirits have plagued the holy forest and the fairy king must fight alongside human warriors to save his homeland." Amelia blushed slightly, "It's pretty cliché isn't it?"
"A little. But if it's good, then it's good, right?" Olive smiled brightly at her as usual which caused Amelia to smile back. "I did kinda wanna talk to you about something though, Amy."
"Wh-what is it?" She had never seen Olive be serious outside of combat and grew concerned.
"The tattoo on your back-"
"Th-that's nothing really- I just thought it'd be kinda cool is all," Amelia knew this wasn't going to be an easy talk and stood up, ready to run when she needed to.
"Don't worry~" Olive chuckled, glad that she was right, and stood on her toes to wrap her arms over Amelia's shoulders. "I won't tell anyone~"
"Th-thank you…" She couldn't help but relax at her partner's innocent reassuring tone.
"You should probably know about my family then though…"
"Huh, why?"
"I've seen your emblem before."
"What, how?"
"Seven years ago my father went on a mission with my aunt and cousin to either capture or exterminate a large team of bandits." Olive stepped back and held her weapon by the blade so that Amelia could see the symbol on it's hilt. Just above the small hole threaded with green string was an engraving that resembled a shurikan. "It was the Braz Clan that wiped out the Crayne Bandits. He brought home a scrap of fabric stitched with the same mark as your tattoo."
"I…" How was Amelia supposed to respond to that? The first person she had begun to feel close to after that tragedy turns out to be the cause of it. She couldn't decide if she wanted to run away or punch Olive in the face.
"I'm sorry, I just thought you should know." Olive disappeared with the wind.
"I thought you were going to get Amelia," Riliane said noticing only one new set of footsteps next to her.
"She wanted to read instead," Olive shrugged her shoulders and continued walking alongside Riliane and Xanthic.
"I thought she'd be into this kind of thing…" Xanthic mumbled showing slight concern.
"Well she is kinda strange," Olive said nonchalantly making the others stop and look at each other.
Riliane chuckled, "I guess our whole team is full of weirdos."
"Ri-right," Xanthic laughed uneasily with her.
"You guys think I'm weird too?" Olive seemed legitimately confused.
"Of course," Riliane admitted.
"Why's that?" She pouted.
"Hmm… Because I can't figure out which part of you is real?"
"What~ I'm not like Owen, silly, all of me is real."
"Obviously I can tell that much, I meant personality wise. You're always like, well, you and you never really seem to take training seriously, but in actual combat you're like a completely different person." Riliane explained carefully, refraining herself from comparing Olive's strange personality to Xanthic's split one.
"The heart muddles the mind and slows the body, so one must fight without mercy," Olive recited her family's teachings to them.
"Um… No offense Olive, but your family sounds really scary…"
"Don't worry, they are." She chuckled. Spinning on her toes Olive faced down the hallway and pointed, "Anyway~ Onward to the theatre!"
Amelia was still standing in the spot that Olive had left her at. "The Braz Clan…" She mumbled to herself. The shuriken marking, had she seen it before? Trying to think back to when she was ten Amelia forced herself to remember the faces of all the people she lost that night.
...
It had been a peaceful fall day, just like any other. The leaves were beautiful combinations of reds and yellows, they fell to the ground in graceful swirls. There weren't even any plans for the day, so everyone was helping around camp with chores. Tarps and cloaks were drying on ropes tied between the trees, distant animal calls could be heard from those out hunting for dinner, others were polishing weapons and patching up clothes. A little Amelia stayed by the side of her adoptive father, Wallace, and tried her best to help him organise the loot from the band of thieves' last raid. Everything was as it normally was, no one would have expected things to go so wrong. The horn signalling intruders sounded and startled everyone, but they were even more concerned by it being cut short. Wallace acted quickly with Amelia as his priority. He wrapped a light brown cloth around her, in addition to a black and silver scarf, and picked the small girl up. Finding a large basket he put the ten-year old inside, "Wait here for me. Don't move and don't make a sound." Wallace fit the wicker lid on top and Amelia could hear him run out.
She was scared, but also wanted to fight alongside those she thought of as her family. Her father would be upset if she disobeyed him though, so she stayed put. It felt like an eternity of yelling to her and she was about to get out when she could hear somebody coming closer. It must have been one of the attackers as they were rummaging through the things in the tent. Were they being attacked by another group of bandits? It should have been a short fight then, Amelia thought. But her next one was panic. Her basket shook slightly as hands grabbed it. Not a few seconds later the lid was pulled off and she briefly saw a woman with burgundy hair and bright red eyes, the rest of her face was covered by a teal scarf. The fear in her body prevented Amelia from thinking about what she was doing. The brown cloth she had been wrapped with jumped up on it's own and surrounded the woman giving her the opportunity to run away. She ran out hugged her father as soon as she found him. Wallace jumped from the sudden touch, "A-Amelia!?" He looked around frantically before picking her up and running. Suddenly stopping he raised his knife which collided with a katana. A man with long hair and eyes both the colour of fresh blood stared the two down. The majority of his expression was covered by an armoured mask. After a moment of stillness the man quickly maneuvered around the pair and tore off the part of Wallace's coat with his emblem. With his back turned to them they could clearly see the large shuriken imprinted on his back.
"I suggest you hurry if you want them to believe me." The man said cooly before walking back towards the camp and his comrades. Wallace forced his anger and pride away to protect Amelia. He ran as instructed to. Deep into Forever Falls Forest. Where he would live the rest of his life with Amelia until he passed from sickness.
...
Was it really only three people that did all that? And that man, with the blood red features, was Olive's father? Did he let them go because he had daughters of his own? Would her and Wallace have died then and there if it wasn't for Olive and her sister being born? If it had been either of the others?
These thoughts made Amelia stagger backwards. She held her head and sat down. With so many thoughts swirling around in her mind she couldn't focus on any of them properly. Her state of confusion somehow made the time fly by, she had no idea when the sun had begun setting. It was nearly dark now and Amelia still couldn't come up with any answers of her own. The gentle breeze that came startled her, "Amy?"
"O-Olive… I-"
"You should come back for dinner, Xan and Lainy are getting worried about you."
"You um… your-" Amelia looked at the ground. "Th-the fabric you mentioned…" A small piece of green fabric with a white embroidered crane was lowered into her view. The shade of green was exactly the same as she remembered. She looked up to meet Olive's eyes, they were the same blood red as her father and aunt, "Wh-when did you..?"
"We went into Vale today to see a play and I left to get that from home. I thought you might want it."
"I…" She cautiously reached up to grab the fabric. Studying the crane pattern again she held it tightly to her chest, "Th-thank you…"
"You shouldn't."
"Olive, will you… Will you tell your father something for me?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Could you thank him?
"Thank him?" Olive repeated with surprise. "Why would you-"
"Because… We were going to be attacked by huntsmen someday," For whatever reason Olive being there gave Amelia the rationality she needed, "And if it had been anyone else, then I'd have died that day too. And I never would have been able to meet his amazing daughter…"
"What do you mean?"
"Um… You told me one time about how ruthless your father is about fighting, but he let me and my father go. I… I think it was because he thought of you and Roschelle when he saw me…"
"Hmm…" Olive thought about that possibility for a moment before deciding, "Nope. Rule one, "Never allow your kin to dull your blade." There must have been some other reason if he really did just let you go."
"Oh…" Amelia only just realised how difficult it must have been for Olive, especially since she said her mother wasn't very different.
Olive giggled suddenly and held her hand out to help Amelia up, "Maybe he could just tell how awesome you'd be and wanted you to have the chance to help people instead of steal from them."
"M-maybe…" She carefully took Olive's hand and was pulled to her feet. The two girls began walking back to their dorm, "So what are we having tonight?"
"Huh? I don't know," Olive shrugged overdramatically. "Xan and Lainey said they'd take care of it tonight."
"C-can either of them cook?"
"Hmm… Probably not~" They laughed together and took half-hearted bets on where they'd have to get from the school's cafeteria.
