Previously in Chapter 1:
I looked back and saw the other monster walked. My eyes widened. Its foot stepped on my father.
"DADDY!" I screamed. It was the greatest terror in my life. I cried harder, I sobbed, I screamed, I didn't know what to do that time. That time, I lost all of my happiness.
Amodar ran faster without turning back. Soon he reached a strange vehicle Amodar quickly accelerate the transport. Thanks to the speed of the vehicle we managed to reach the safe line. Amodar stopped the vehicle and put me down from the vehicle.
"We're here Claire. Serah already took the train and right now she probably already out of Bodhum. Take the train and leave Bodhum, okay? There are soldiers who are arranging the evacuation so you'll be safe. Now take the train, okay?" Amodar tried to speak calmly and reassured me with a small smile.
My parents died to protect me. But, if I wasn't there, if I just ran away without came to them, if I just obey them right then. Will they still alive? I felt I was the reason why they died. If I weren't there, maybe they could fight and win, they're great soldiers after all.
Since then, I always feel guilty. I was the reason my parents died.
"It was a whole chaos in the Bodhum. Guardian Corps already tried their best to evacuate as many citizens as possible. They're heading to the Palampolum Station and brought other safer places. A few minutes ago, the last train arrived at Lucis, while the previous train headed to Eden. The-"
"Come on Noctis, we don't have much time. I have to handle those refugees." King Regis turned off the TV and grabbed Noctis arm. They quickly ran to the front door and entered the car.
"Dad, why should I come with you?" Noctis asked.
"You have to deal with the real situation, my son. You have to be able to handle emergency situation later." King Regis buttoned his shirt and looked at Noctis.
"Dad what happened?"
"I'm not sure either. Somehow those monsters from the Wild lands came and destroy everything. There must be something or someone behind it. I don't know what they want, but they are up to something. And they are dangerous." King Regis straightened his seat. Noctis seem to be shocked with that news.
"We're here." the car came to a stop at a crowded place. It was chaos. Some were panic, asking hysterically to any person they met, some were crying, sobbing, even fainted. They're eyes were full of sadness, emptiness. Even it made Noctis felt devastated by looking at them. He got off from the car with his father and headed to a guy at a huge van who held a microphone.
"How's everything going, Cor?" King Regis stood right beside Cor, the guy who held the microphone.
"Bad. Refugees are scattered. They're panic yes of course. They are looking for their family or friends. We barely handle them. We broke them down to 20 groups, 3 of them are the injured one, already taken to nearest hospitals. The other 2 groups were departed by train to Lestallum 10 minutes ago. In 5 minutes we will depart the next train sending 2 groups again to Lestallum." Cor explained.
"And the other groups?" King Regis asked. His face was full of concern.
"The trains just arrived. We'll send 6 groups to Accordo. Squad 1, lead Group 8 and 9 to the first train. Squad 2, lead Group 10 and 11 to the second train. Squad 3, lead Group 12 and 13 to the last train. Go, now!" Cor said through the microphone, then he wrote down to his note. "I'm afraid Lucis is overloaded with the refugees, Yourhigness." Cor said to King Regis.
"What about Insomnia? Depart them to Insomnia." Noctis said.
"Insomnia should be kept away from the refugees. They will bring too much chaos. Insomnia must keep going at their best condition, no hindrance. It's too risky to involve Insomnia." Cor said.
"Any other nations are capable to hold refugees?" King Regis asked.
"Eden is over capacitated. So does Gran Pulse." Cor scanned through his notes.
"Sent them to Midgar. Their King called me and said they can handle 100 more refugees." King Regis said.
"But it's a long way to Midgar, Yourhigness. They'll need more food." Cor said.
"Take the food stock in Insomnia. It's okay. We can restock it easily." King Regis said.
"Okay, I'll call squad 10 to bring back the food supply from Lestallum." Cor quickly snatch his phone from his pocket and call someone.
"Sir, there's a girl who don't want to depart. It's really hard to persuade her. She keeps on crying." One of the soldiers came running to Cor.
"Shove her in." Cor hissed in the mid of his call.
"Where's the girl?" King Regis asked.
"At the train station. She said she doesn't want to go without her family. But there's no train coming anymore." the soldier said.
"Let's meet that girl, Noctis." King Regis held Noctis hand. Then the soldier led their way to the station.
There stood a young girl, probably 6 years old. She wasn't injured, but she's sobbing badly. The girl had a beautiful strawberry pink hair. The hair was so lovely even it is covered with dust in some places.
"Young Lady, may I help you?" King Regis kneeled beside the girl. The girl looked up slowly to see King Regis' face. When she looked up, Noctis held his breath, before him, he saw a pair of beautiful blue eyes, but full of agony, full of tears.
"What's your name sweetheart?" King Regis asked softly.
"It's Serah. Serah Farron. I don't want to go to Midgar without my family. They'll come soon. Please, wait for them." the girl pleaded, she cried harder.
"It's okay Serah. We will wait for your family. Do you have any idea when they depart and which train they're in?" King Regis stroked her head tenderly.
"I, I don't know. My parents fought the monsters, but they said they will go after me with the military. My sister, she, she turned back right after I reached Palumpolum Station. She said she's looking for our parents." Serah started to sob again.
"Okay, it's okay Serah, we will wait for them. First, we have to stop the tears from those beautiful eyes of yours, okay? I will accompany you until they come." King Regis pulled out his handkerchief and wiped Serah's tears.
"Excuse me Yourhigness, I'm sorry but the last train will depart soon to Midgar. What about her?" the soldier asked.
"It's okay. I'll settle down the rest by myself. Let the last train depart." King Regis orders.
"Understood, Youhigness." With that, the soldier bowed and dismissed, continuing his job. After about 10 minutes comforting Serah, a smaller train came. Then, a couple of soldier jumped off from the train, bowed at King Regis. One of them spoke, "We break down the last group into 3 trains in the Luxerion, Yourhigness, since we got the news that Lucis is over capacitated. We send the other two trains to Solheim."
"Good. Send this last train to Midgar." King Regis said. Both of the soldier exchanged look.
"Anything wrong?" King Regis asked.
"Where's my parents? And my sister?" Serah tugged King Regis' hand, crying.
"We have a girl with the same hair color as her in the train." One of the soldier said.
"Claire!" Serah's eyes shine, hearing the news. "Did you see my parents?" Serah looked to the soldiers, her eyes are full of hopes.
"Ehmm, I'm not sure young lady, but this is the last train." The soldier said. With that news, the smile in Serah's face disappeared.
"Well, you say your parents come with the military right? They won't use this train, we just need to wait patiently." King Regis tried to calm her down. "Can you call that girl here?" King Regis soldier nodded. They returned to the train and soon they came back with a girl who held her head down. She seemed to be about at Noctis' age, maybe a little bit younger.
"Claire! Claire!" Serah called her name happily. She ran to her sister and hugged her, but the older girl didn't respond.
"We'll depart to the Midgar now, Yourhigness." The soldiers bowed. King Regis nodded then the train departed.
"Claire, where's mommy? Where's daddy?" Serah let go her hug. But Claire only gritted her teeth. Noctis even could saw her shoulders shook even if she tried to hold it. He quickly understood what she meant and he couldn't help to feel sad too.
"For, forgive me Serah. I, I was, such a-" Claire held her down even more. Noctis could see tears were dripping from her face. Somehow, Noctis' body reacted on his own, he reached for his handkerchief and wiped the tears away from the girl's face. Claire looked up surprisedly, their eyes met. It torn Noctis' heart to see the most beautiful eyes, a pale aqua eyes that's swollen, and redden. That eyes is full of sadness, desperation, and somehow full of emptiness. Noctis gulped, he was speechless, he didn't know how to comfort her, and even he thought there's no way to comfort her. He just stood there, looking into her eyes before suddenly the girl bumped her head to Noctis chest and broke down into cry and screams. Noctis was shocked, he felt like his heart was hit and created a hole. He just kept silent and hugged the girl, stroking her head gently, hoping that it could somehow ease her pain.
The next moment, King Regis took both of the girls to his car, driving to Lucis, to their place. Noctis didn't aware of his surroundings anymore after seeing Claire's cry. Never in his life had he felt this devastated. He felt so useless, before him there were two vulnerable girls and all he could do was nothing. The incident in Bodhum brought grieves to everyone, and by seeing Serah and Claire, it made the grief even felt more real.
King Regis decided to adopt the two girls, making them the princesses of Lucis. Nobody objected his decision, and even more, people were sympathizing towards Claire and Serah. A few days had passed, Serah was still grieving but she could still smile and laugh sometimes, thanks to the King and Queen's warm welcome, soft jokes and affection. However, Noctis hasn't seen Claire since the first day they stayed in the King's residence. She had locked herself inside her room. Nobody was permitted to enter her room. She even left her food untouched during her first day in King Regis' residence.
After a week passed, Noctis can't take it anymore. He came to Claire's room and knocked it.
"Claire, it has been a week. Don't you want to come out and greet other people?" Noctis asked. He waited for an answer but there were only silence.
"Claire, I know you're sad. But, you need some fresh air. Maybe a little walk in the park would help you." Noctis said desperately. Still, there's no answer from Claire. Noctis exhaled slowly. He gathered up all of his courage and knocked the door again. He said loudly, "How could you, disrespected the one who already helped you, my father, my mother. Never even once you respond to them. They're just trying to help you. They're worrying about you. Is this how you express your gratitude?" Noctis panted after saying those words, worrying that it might have worsened the situation. Noctis waited nervously. 20 seconds, still there's no respond. 30 seconds, Noctis started to regret his action. Just when he's about to apologize, the door opened slightly, revealing a pale aqua eyes from the creak. Again, all Noctis saw was emptiness in those eyes. Even worse, he could see eye bags on her face.
"Sorry." Noctis looked down at his foot.
"No, I'm sorry, you're right." Claire said. Her voice was so soft that Noctis barely heard her.
"Ummm, do you mind for a walk at the park?" Noctis asked timidly. He looked back at Claire, but she just averted her gaze downward.
"Sorry." Noctis looked down at his foot again. There was an awkward silence for a whole minute before Noctis cleared his throat.
"Look, Mom and Dad are worrying about you. And so does Serah. We will have a dinner together tonight. There are a few friends of mine who will join. I hope, you can come and greet everyone." Noctis looked at Claire, waiting for her reaction. But she just keeps looking down. "We also can accompany you to see around the Residence, or even Lucis if you want to." Noctis said, trying to persuade her. Hearing this, Claire looked up at Noctis face again. She remained silent for a moment before nodded hesitantly.
"What is it Claire? If you have something on your mind, you can say it to me." Noctis tried to reassure her. She was thinking before she opened the door wider, signaling him to come in.
The room was dark, the air was stuffy. Noctis scanned the room after his eyes adjusted to the darkness. The room was clean and tidy. There were only some wrinkles on the bed sheet, showing that Claire was sitting in the middle of it, leaning to a pillow.
"Does Lucis have military power?" Claire asked from behind.
"What? Military power? Of course." Noctis looked at Claire. He had a questioning looked on his face.
"I'd like to visit it." Claire said. Noctis was dumbfounded but agreed at last.
Finally, Claire came to the dinner, much to everyone relieve. Both the Queen and the King welcomed her, hugging her and kissed her, so does Serah. Her eyes look brighter after Claire came. Noctis introduced her to his friends, Ignis the son of King's advisor, Gladiolus the son of Head of Military and Prompto the son of King's guard. After the dinner, Noctis insisted to take Claire for a walk.
"I'd like to talk to Gladiolus' father." Claire said when they were walking in the park.
"What? Are you really that interested to military?" Noctis surprised.
"I'd like to join it." Claire said. She looked to Noctis' face. There, he can see her eyes were full of determination but what scared him the most is that look. The look of a wild animal that's ready to charge, ready to get revenge.
"Claire," Noctis said.
"That would be my only wish, Noctis." Claire looked directly to Noctis' eyes. Never will he forget the look before him. The look that made him stumbled back and gave up. Maybe now Noctis understood why he was so desperate to help Claire, why he really looked forward to cheer her up. It was all because he wanted to see those pale aqua eyes to shine, to be full of happiness, freed from any look of sorrow. But now, maybe those eyes would never be like that.
Thank you for reading, I'm so sorry for the late update, the site was blocked for a long time.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and I'm looking forward to any review!