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Bold and italics stand for flashbacks

Chapter 15

You're Not Alone

WILLY'S POV

Finn and I stared at Lisanna, Finn's eyes especially being wide.

"Lisanna are you sure?" I asked. "Maybe Mira is running late or something?"

"No. We know something is wrong," said Lisanna. "Mira always comes home close to around this time."

"Yeah, but she's later than usual. She never takes this long even when she takes a big job."

We both looked at each other, then Finn turned to Lisanna.

"OK. I'll go look for her. She should be somewhere in the forest. You kids try to see if anyone else has seen her."

Finn ran off toward the forest leaving me with Lisanna and Elfman. I wanted to help too, but at the same time, I kinda didn't want to either, considering the fact Mira hasn't exactly been very nice to me. Then someone's hand holding my own. I looked down to find the hand belonged to Lisanna who was looking at me with sad eyes.

"Willy... will you please go help Finn?" she asked.

"Me? But...I..."

"I know that she hasn't been nice to you, but she's a good person."

"Yeah," added Elfman. "Besides you and Finn can cover more ground if there are two of you looking. We can go around the village and ask anyone if they've seen her."

"But..." I stuttered.

"Please, Willy..." begged Lisanna her eyes slightly welling with tears. "Please help us find her..."

I stared at Lisanna right in the eyes. The hesitation I had before completely vanished. I kneeled down and hugged both Elfman and Lisanna.

"OK. I'll go. I'll find help Mira and bring her home. I promise you as your friend."

Lisanna and Elfman hugged back. When we separated, I headed for the direction where Finn went while Lisanna and Elfman went to ask the people if they have seen Mira. I didn't know how much help I would be, but I knew that I had to try. This was for my friends and I wasn't gonna let them down.

NO POV

Finn eventually made his way to the edge of the forest where Mira had gone for her job. He looked around trying to find her as he walked, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Damn it all. I knew this would happen," he thought to himself. "I told that girl not to do these kinds of things on her own. For all I know, she could be hurt somewhere with no one to help her. I've got to find her."

But even Finn knew that this wasn't going to be an easy task, even if he was looking for one person.

"I should have asked one of the kids to help me. Perhaps then the search will be a lot faster." He then shook his head. "No. They're just kids. Besides, I should get Master to help me. She would be the perfect person to ask for help in this situation."

Then he heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Finn! Finn, wait up!"

"What the...?"

He turned around wondering who was calling him. He then saw something coming towards him. He squinted his eyes trying to get a better look at the person coming. At first, I didn't know who it was, but then I knew who it was.

"Willy?!"

WILLY'S POV

As soon as I saw Finn, I ran until I managed to catch up with him. When I stopped, I bent over holding my knees trying to catch my breath.

"Willy, what are you doing here?" demanded Finn. "I thought I told you to help Lisanna and Elfman ask around the village."

I then I looked up at him trying to be as determined as I could.

"I'm coming with you. I wanna help you find Mira."

"No Willy. It's too dangerous," said Finn sternly. "You have to go back to the village. It's safer there."

"Please Finn. Let me help," I begged. "I wanna help find Mira too. Besides I made I promise to Elfman and Lisanna that I would help find her. I wanna keep that promise because they're my friends."

Finn looked at me a little speechless. He stared at for a few seconds or so, then he sighed chuckling a little.

"All right then. Let's go," he said. "But you be careful. Alright?"

I smiled widely and gave him a firm nod. "Right!"

The two of us then went deep into the forest searching for Mira.

"Mira! Where are you? Answer me!"

"Say something! Mira! Hello!"

We both called out to her hoping that she could at least hear us, but the only thing we heard was our voices echoing throughout the forest.

"Darn it," said Finn. "No sign of her anywhere."

"She could be anywhere in this forest," I said. "I hope we can find her."

"We will Willy. We just need to keep looking. This is exactly why I didn't want her to do this."

"What do you mean Finn?" I asked. "She just went on a job right?"

"Yes, but the job she took was a dangerous one," said Finn. "It was just posted this morning. The job was to take care of a disturbance that was somewhere here in the forest. It's a simple job as well as dangerous, but the job itself was high paying. That's why Mira decided to take it. I tried to get her not to take it, but she wouldn't listen to me. Damn it... I should've been more forceful when I was trying to convince her, but I was being considerate. Especially with what happened to her parents."

"Finn please don't blame yourself," I said. "It'll be OK. We'll find her. We just gotta to keep looking."

"You're right. Let's keep looking."

We continued to look all around for Mira calling out to her, but again the only sound we heard was our voices. Then Finn decided that we split up to cover more ground. At first, it seemed a bit out of character for, but I went along with it anyway. Finn went in one direction and I went the other. I walked around past the trees in the forest trying to find Mira, but she was nowhere to be found. To make things worse, it was starting to get late. The sun was already set and it was getting dark.

"I've looked all around for her, but I still can't find her," I thought. "Where could she be? There has to be a way that I can find her."

I wracked my brain trying to come up with an idea. The only thing I got going for me was my dragon slayer magic. It was good for fighting an enemy or healing, but not so good when you were looking for someone. That meant I'd had to find her some other way. Just then I heard something above me. I looked up to see what it was. There was a bird flying over circling around me.

"What is that? Some kind of vulture?" I thought.

Then the bird flew down towards me. As it grew closer I soon knew what bird it was. It was the bird that helped me out before back when I was stuck in the forest before I came to Osia. The green bird-like creature. It drifted down and landed on a branch above me.

"Hey. It's you again," I said. "Never thought I'd see you again."

Then I had an idea. This thing was able to help out before. Maybe it could help me out again. It was worth a shot.

"Excuse me. Birdy thingy. I need some help. You see I'm looking for someone," I said. "She's a sister of two dear friends of mine and they're worried something might have happened to her. Did you happen to see anyone around in the forest recently?"

The green bird creature shook it's head meaning it didn't.

"Well... do you know anyone that can probably help me find her?"

This time the bird squawked and nodded then it took off from its branch circling around me and flying past to my left. Not wanting to be left behind, I followed. As it flew above me, I made sure to keep an eye on it as I walked through the forest. I walked and I kept following the bird creature until I saw it flew past a clearing of the trees and I lost sight of it. I came up to the clearing and tried to look for it.

"Darn it. Where did it go?" I wondered as I passed through the clearing.

I looked around. Then I saw it. It was sitting by a stream drinking some water and also it wasn't alone. Sitting next to him was an old woman. She had long white hair that went to her shoulders. She looked to be very old with some wrinkles on her face, but she looked to have an aura of someone so young. I hid behind a tree not sure what I should do. The old woman stroked the bird creature on its head and it cooed happily.

"Hahaha. You're a spoiled one aren't you Jade?" she chuckled.

Then she saw me. When she saw me, she gave me a kind and warm smile.

"Well hello there young one," she said.

"Hello," I said. "Are that bird's owner?"

"Yes, she is. This is my little friend Jade. She's a longtime friend of mine," she said as she tickled Jade's chin. "So, I heard that you have quite the problem on your hands. Is that true young man?"

"How... how did you know that?" I asked a little surprised. "Did you read my mind?"

The old woman chuckled. "No. Jade told me. She was telling me that you were looking for someone named Mira."

"That's right!" I exclaimed. "But... I can't seem to find her. I asked your friend where she was and she led me to you. You wouldn't have happened to see her would you ma'am?"

The old woman shook her head.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone else here other than you and Jade," she said.

My heart sank in disappointment, but the old woman spoke again.

"But... I can help you find her."

"But how?" I asked. "I've looked everywhere for her and I don't know where else to look."

"Isn't it obvious? You know water magic don't you?" she said. "You can just use your magic to find your friend."

I stared at her surprised by her response.

"Wait... use my magic? What do you mean and how did you know I could use magic?"

"A little birdie told me," smiled the old woman. "Now then to answer your other question, I can use water magic just like you and I happen to know something that can help you find your friend."

"Really?"

"Yes. It should be pretty simple for you to learn," said the old woman. "Come over here and I'll show you."

She patted on the spot next to her motioning me to sit by her. At first, I had no idea what she had in mind, but at this point, I was willing to try anything. If it meant finding Mira for Elfman and Lisanna, anything would help. So I went over to her and sat down beside her.

"Now then," said the old woman. "I want you to put your hand into the water. Then close your eyes and concentrate."

I did what I was told. I dipped my hand into the water until it was below the surface and I closed my eyes.

"Now...let your magic power flow," continued the old woman. "Let the magic flow from your body and into the stream. Let the currents of the water guide you as you search for your friend."

Currents of the water guiding me? For some reason, this reminded me back to when Aquadia was training me. She pretty much said almost the same thing the old woman told me. I focused my magic power and used my sensing magic. In my mind, I saw blue waves of energy traveling down just to my left. This is what I always see whenever I'm sensing for currents. I tried to find anything other the currents I sensed, but I couldn't.

Then I felt something on my hand. I peeked open one eye to see that the old woman had placed her hand on top of mine.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just giving you a helping hand," she said. "Just keep doing what you were doing."

I closed my eyes and resumed using my water sensing. I saw blue waves in my head once again, but this time something was different. The waves of energy were bigger than they were before. Not only that, but I also saw several forms of energy inside them. The floated around in the energy waves as if they were alive. I also saw that there were other balls outside the stream each one different sizes and either sitting still or moving around.

"What...are those things?" I wondered still keeping my eyes shut. "Are they...creatures or some kind?"

"That's exactly right," said the old woman. "Right now you're sensing not just the currents in the water, but also the water in all the animals as well. Fish, animals, and even people too."

"Un...believable."

"Nothing special really. Just a basic spell I know," said the old woman. "You could learn it too if you tried."

I couldn't help but be awed by this. It was crazy, but it was incredible. Now that I thought about it, the forms did look a little like animals. The ones in the stream were small fish and the ones outside were the rabbits, birds, and other animals.

Then I shook my head. Now was not the time for thinking about this. I had to get back to the task at hand. Since the old woman said that I could also sense people, I sensed all around trying to find anything that seemed human-like. For a while, I saw something but big forms of energy and small ones. The big ones I assumed were the big creatures and the small ones were birds and tiny fish.

Then suddenly I saw it. Close to the stream a few feet away was a form, unlike all the others. It wasn't too big or too small. It was pretty much somewhere in between and looked human-like and its glow was a little less bright than the others. It was sitting down away from the stream and was holding its arm like it was in pain. My eyes snapped open and I immediately stood up.

"That's it!" I cried. "That was her! That was definitely Mira!"

"I saw," said the old woman. "From the looks of things she appears to be just a few miles down from the stream from us down west. The water inside her seems to be a little weak and she's also injured."

"I've got to get to her! She needs help!"

I immediately broke into a run heading west. Then I skidded to a halt. I just up and left leaving the old woman in my dust. I felt a little bad for leaving her, so not wanting to be rude I quickly turned back to thank her.

"Hey! Thank you, ma'am! I..."

But there was no one there. The old woman and the bird creature she called Jade disappeared.

"What the... Where did she go?" I wondered looking around.

This was definitely strange. An old woman and a bird don't just disappear into thin air. Then I remembered. I had no time to worry about this. I had to go save Mira. I turned to West and broke into a run not noticing the old woman watching me as I left. She was standing on one of the branches in a tree with Jade on her shoulder looking pleased. Then Jade cawed at her sounding a little worried. The old woman smiled and tickled her chin.

"Now, now. Don't be so worried my friend," she said. "He'll be just fine. All we really need to do for now is watch. Watch and see what happens and see if my gut is right about him."

I ran along the stream praying that Mira would be OK and wasn't hurt too badly. I ran and I ran until I came to a stop to catch my breath. That's when I took a look around at my surroundings. I had walked to a part of the forest I had never seen before. Some trees lied on the ground broken and destroyed and there were also some footprints that littered the ground.

"What the heck happened here?" I wondered.

I carefully made my way through the broken trees looking around for any signs of life. Then I saw the footprints. One set looked like it was made by a human and the other looked like it was made by an animal. Then I had a thought. What if these were Mira's footprints? If they were, she must have gotten into a fight with the disturbance or whatever she was supposed to handle. Suddenly I heard something snap a few feet away from me. My head snapped towards the direction of where I heard the noise.

"Wh-who's there?!"

No one answered. I raised my fists as began to glow with magic power ready to attack whatever was behind the bushes. I slowly walked towards the direction of where I heard the noise. It was coming from behind a tree. I got closer and closer and then before I had a chance to react, something jumped out from the tree and leaped straight at me and tackled me to the ground. I was disoriented as I rolled on the ground with my attacker on top of me. Finally, I stopped rolling and I was flat on my back with my attacker on top of me. I defensively crossed my hands in front of my face to protect myself from being hit. I was about to use my Water Dragon Iron Fist to attack, but the attacker's voice stopped me.

"What the... You?! What are you doing here?!"

The voice was feminine and sounded a little familiar. I looked at my attacker and I was able to see who was on top of me. Although it was a little bit of a surprise. It was none other than Mira.

"Mira?!" I gasped. "You're okay!"

I relieved that Mira was okay, but she, on the other hand, was mad. She got off of me and glared.

"Never mind about me! I asked you what are you doing here?!" she snapped.

"Eep! I was just looking for you!" I said feeling a little flustered. "Finn and the others were getting worried because you didn't come home yet so Finn and I went out to look for you."

"Finn? He's out here? Oh come on," sighed Mira. "And to make things worse, he brought you too. You know what? I don't have time for this. I'm out of here."

She turned on her heel began to walk away. I followed close behind not wanting to lose her. We walked for about a few feet before Mira started to walk faster. I followed in pursuit. She went faster and I went faster. Eventually, she turned around and glared again.

"Hey! Quit following me!"

"Why?"

"Because I said. I don't want some dummy following me around."

"Why are you being so mean?" I said a little upset. "I"m just trying to help you."

"Like I said I don't need your help!" said Mira. "I don't need someone to babysit me, especially a kid like you."

"I'm not a kid!" I said indignantly. "Stop being so mean!"

"I can be as mean as I want to!" yelled Mira. "I don't want your help and I don't want you following me around! So leave me alone!"

She broke into a run darting past a tree. I ran after her close behind. Mira zigged and she zagged with me following close behind. I ran as fast as I could, but Mira grew further and further away from me. Then of all times, I tripped. Something snagged on my foot and caused me to fall slamming my face into the ground. Other than having dirt in my face, I was OK. Unfortunately, because of that little stunt, I lost sight of Mira.

"Oh no! Where'd she go?! That meanie!"

My feelings of being upset were turning into anger and frustration. I mean come on! Of all the times of me to trip on a root, it had to be now. Now because of that, I probably lost Mira for good. I felt so upset, that I wanted to just walk away, but then I remembered. What I promised to Lisanna and Elfman before I left.

I'll find help Mira and bring her home. I promise you as your friend.

Remembering that, I calmed down.

"I can't give up yet," I thought to myself. "I promised that I would find Mira and bring her home and that's what I'm going to do, but... how am I gonna find her? She could be anywhere by now."

I thought and I thought as I looked through the trees and bushes trying to find a clue as to where Mira went. Then I had an idea. I remember that old woman who showed me how to use that spell to find Mira. Maybe I could use it to find her again. I then thought back trying to remember how that spell worked.

"Let's see..." I thought. "I have to touch a body of water... and... what else? Oh yeah! Let my magic power flow into the water."

I looked around trying to find some water. Luckily there was a stream few feet away from my right. I went over to it and kneed down. I dipped my hand into the water and focused as I did before. My magic power flowed through me and went into my hand making it emitting a faint blue light. I tried sensing for anything as I did before, but for some reason, I couldn't. All I could see was darkness and nothing more.

"What's going on? Why can't I sense anything?" I wondered.

I tried again by putting more magic power into my hand, but again nothing happened. I tried again using more power, but again nothing happened. All that did was made me feel tired. I started to grow a little frustrated again.

"Come on! Why can't I do it? I was able to do it before with the..."

Then I remembered. The old woman. She was the reason I was able to do the spell before and sadly she wasn't around to help me this time. I was on my own.

"If I had stayed with her then I wouldn't..." I began to say but I shook my head. "No. I can't give up. I have to keep trying! I promised!"

I put my hand in the water once more braced it with my other hand and I focused every ounce of my magic power in my body on my hand. I didn't know if using it all at once was a good idea, but I had to try. My hand glowed a bright blue as I concentrated giving it everything I had.

"Come on, come on, come on! I can't give up! I have to keep trying! I have to try!"

I didn't see it at the time, but my necklace began glowing as well. In the darkness from where I kept my eyes closed, I saw a ripple of energy. Then I saw the blue waves of energy once more. I could see the stream from where I was standing and all the fishes in that stream. I traveled down the river passing other animals and creatures that I saw in my mind. Then I saw it. The same humanoid glow. It was running past trees and other animals.

"There she is!" I thought. She's just a few miles away from me! I can still catch up!"

I opened my eyes and I stopped using the spell. I was panting and slightly sweating a little. I used up a lot of magic so I needed to recharge. I dunked my head into the water and gulped down as much water as I could. Then when I had enough to drink, I was raring to go.

"I fully recharged again," I sighed with content. "Now I gotta hurry and catch up with Mira. If I don't find her soon, there's no telling what trouble she'll be in."

I ran off towards the direction to where I sensed Mira determined to find her.

NO POV

Mira ran and ran as fast as she could. She had to keep running. Anything to get away from him. There was no way that that kid was gonna drag he out of here. Not without doing what she had to do. She looked back behind her and saw that there was no sign of that boy anywhere. She then stopped running and she leaned against the tree catching her breath.

"Looks like I lost him. Good riddance. Now then... time to finish what I set out to... ah!"

Then, she felt a sharp sting of pain on her right thigh. She pulled up my shorts and saw that she had a big bruise on it.

"Damn it... I guess I got more beat up than I realized," she thought. "In any case, I gotta find it again. I'm not leaving this forest till I do."

She looked up towards the treetops and started thinking about Elfman and Lisanna. Those two were no doubt worried sick about her. That's probably why they got Finn and that kid Willy looking for me.

"Darn it. I told those two not to worry about me," she grumbled. "Haven't they realized by now that I can handle things on my own? I don't need anyone's help in taking care of us. It's our problem. Besides... I don't want anyone else to end up like..."

Then she had a flashback.

It was a bright sunny day. Elfman, Lisanna, and Mira were playing with each other having fun. Then they looked up and they saw two figures walking towards them. A young man and a young woman. Elfman and Lisanna smiled and ran towards the young man and woman while Mira looked on smiling. She then quickly shook the flashback out of her head upon remembering what used to be a happy thought.

"No. Put it out of your head, for now, Mira," she said to herself. "Stay focused and do your job. You're doing this for them. That's why you picked this job. So you can make the money to..."

BOOM! BOOM!

"What the..."

BOOM! BOOM!

The ground then began to shake beneath her feet as a few animals scrambled past her.

BOOM! BOOM!

She then looked at her and saw the source of the sound. It was large and it was beastly and was soon standing before her glaring its white pupiless eyes at her. A large, angry, gorian.

"There you are girlie," it growled. "Took me a while, but I finally found you."

"The feeling's mutual," Mira said bravely. "I've been meaning to find you again. You've been causing a lot of trouble in the forest and I'm here to put a stop to it by kicking your face in!."

The gorian smirked his white eyes glowing.

"You? Stop me? Last time I checked, I was the one who kicked your face in. You sure you wanna brag like that?"

"You just caught me off guard that's all. I'm gonna beat you this time!"

"I'd like to see you try girlie," he sneered. "Besides, I've been meaning to return the favor for your rudeness. Once I'm done with you, you'll be black and blue. Better yet, I think I'll make you my woman."

Mira resisted the urge to shudder in disgust. This gorian was perverted, but he needed to be put in his place and she was gonna be the person to do it.

"Get ready you ape," she spoke taking a stance. "Because I'm gonna give you the beating of your life!"

She ran toward him, jumped up, and swung my leg around giving him a roundhouse kick to his jaw. The gorian grunted as he took the hit taking a step back. Mira then attacked again with a flurry of punches on his face, but the gorian just stood there taking them all like they were nothing.

"That's tickles," he chuckled.

Mira growled as she kept on punching as hard as she could, but the gorian continued to stand there and take the punches until he then pinched her hair lifting her away from his face. Mira then thrashed around trying to break free.

"Let me go you giant stupid ape! Put me down!"

"Put you down? Now, why would I do that? You look pretty cute thrashing around like that," the gorian said.

Mira glared barring her teeth as she thrashed around harder.

"Grrr! Let me go you stupid monkey!" she shrieked in anger. "I swear when I get my hands on you, I'm gonna beat you till you're black send you back to where you came from! You gangly eyed sorry excuse for an animal!"

"Grrrr! You little brat!"

The gorian clearly insulted threw her sending her flying through some bushes before hitting a tree hard. She fell on her side pain rocking throughout my body. She now had cuts and scrapes all over her body and I felt an even bigger pain on her thigh. No doubt that the bruise from before was just made a heck of a lot worse. She tried to get up, but the pain was too much for her. Then I heard the gorian.

"Hey, girlie. What happened to all that bravado?"

Mira slowly looked up glaring at gorian. It was now standing above her smirking.

"I have to get up..." thought Mira. "If I don't, this thing will gonna beat me up some more. Or worse."

"Aww... What's wrong? Can't get up? Here. Let me help you."

The gorian slowly reached towards her ready to torture her some more. She struggled, even more, to try and get up, but her legs wouldn't listen to her and she couldn't move. All she could do was tremble helplessly.

"Aww how cute. You're shaking," cooed the gorian. "Don't worry. Once I'm done, you won't be trembling anymore. You'll be-"

Suddenly from out of nowhere on the gorian's left, a huge jet of water gushed out and blasted him away from Mira sending him tumbling to the ground. Her eyes went wide with shock.

"Who on earth could have done that?" she wondered.

She then turned to where the blast came from and she could not believe who she saw. There running towards her was someone who she last expected to come to her rescue.

WILLY'S POV

After I had unleashed my breath attack, I ran straight to Mira relieved that I made it in the nick of time. From the looks on things, Mira was in rough shape. Her clothes were torn and she had a lot of cuts and scrapes, but she was alive. I lifted her up carrying her on my shoulder.

"Mira are you okay?! Just hang on."

"I'm fine," groaned Mira weakly. "Just leave me alone would you..."

She tried to push me away, but I held on to her tight. I was about to start running and carry her to safety, but then an angry roar stopped me. The gorian was now back on its feet and he looked mad.

"Damn it! Not you again! You're that kid who beat me up before!" he growled.

"Oh man... This isn't good!" I thought. "I can't run away with this guy on my tail. Especially with Mira being injured like this."

"Hey, kid... Leave me..."

I then looked at Mira deeply shocked. "What?!"

"You heard me... I said leave me here," she said. "I told you that I could handle this guy... I'll be fine..."

"Mira! You're not fine! You're hurt!"

"I said I'll be fine! I don't need you to worry about these little scrapes!" Mira continued raising her voice into a yell.

"Those aren't scrapes! You need help!" I yelled back. "Why are you being so stubborn?!"

"Why are you being such a pest?! I told you I don't want your help! I don't need anyone's help OK?!"

"Yes, you do! You're practically beaten up and you can barely stand!"

The gorian who was watching this scene play out in front of him got even madder than before.

"Hey! Don't ignore me and give me back my woman brat! This is between me and her!"

I looked at the gorian and then back at Mira. I carried Mira over to a tree and set her down there. Then I turned over to the gorian standing in front of Mira.

"What are you doing? I told you to leave!" said Mira. "Leave me here and save yourself!"

"That's enough!" I yelled. "Why are you trying to do things are your own?! Are you that desperate be alone? Do you really want your brother and sister to worry about you that much?! Stop being so tough when you obviously need help!"

I stared right at Mira and she went silent looking away.

"Listen, Mira, you need to stop doing things on your own. I understand where you're coming from, but that isn't gonna solve anything. All that's gonna do is make your family worry about you and get you hurt or worse. You can't keep pushing people away if they wanna help you. You can't just keep being alone like this. If you wanna keep pushing me away then fine, but I'm not leaving you."

"Why...? Why are you helping me? After the way I treated you, you should have left! Why!?" cried Mira.

I paused. Then I turned to her and smiled.

"Because I made a promise to your brother and sister. A promise as a friend. I promised them that I would find you and I would bring you home."

Mira's eyes went wide then they slightly began to fill with tears. I turned back to the gorian and glared at it while my hands began to glow with water shrouding them.

"And as for you... Are you the one who did this to her?"

"Yeah. So what if I did?" grunted the gorian.

"Then I'm gonna make you pay for hurting her!" I said clenching my fists.

"Heh! You got lucky the last time we fought kid! This time I'm gonna pay you back!"

The gorian gunned straight for me and swung with his right fist. Water gushed out from the bottom of my feet and shot me into the air.

"WATER DRAGON AQUA JET!"

As I fell my right foot was cloaked in water and I slammed the gorian right on top of his head.

"WATER DRAGON TALON!"

The gorian roared as it held it's head in pain as I landed behind him. The gorian blindly swung around and tried hit me, but I was able to block it by crossing my arms. The gorian tried again, but I dodged the attack and launched another spell. My elbow gushed out with water and I landed a blow right in his gut.

"WATER DRAGON GUSHING ELBOW!"

The gorian coughed as he felt the wind get knocked out of him. He stepped back wheezing and holding his stomach in pain.

"What... the hell...? How... are you this strong? You... weren't like... this before..."

"That's because what you fought was practically a starving to death defenseless kid last time," I said. "This time things are different. Now I'm gonna end this!"

My blue magic circle appeared beneath me and I chuffed out my cheeks filling them with water. Then I unleashed my breath attack one more time.

"WATER DRAGON ROAR!"

A huge blast of water erupted from my mouth and hit right on target at the gorian sending it flying straight into a tree. The gorian lied there dazed and knocked out. I straightened up and let out a breath and then turned to Mira. I walked over to her.

"You OK?" I asked.

Mira stared at me. Then she shook her head as if she was in a daze and looked away.

"I'm fine... thank you," she replied as she tried to get up from where she was sitting. She almost stood up, but then she yelped in pain falling on one knee holding the other.

"Mira!"

I rushed to her side holding her up and then setting her down gently. I looked at her leg and I saw the bruise underneath. She must have gotten injured while she was fighting that gorian earlier.

"Mira. Can you pull up your shorts for me?" I asked.

Mira looked at me and blushed bright red.

"No way! You trying to get a peek at me you pervert?!" she cried.

I rose an eyebrow in confusion.

"A... perv? What are you talking about? I was just gonna heal that bruise on your leg."

"You... can do that?" asked Mira. "You can use healing magic?"

"Yup. Just pull up your shorts where the bruise is and I'll fix it in a minute. Just trust me OK?

Mira was still a little untrusting, but she did as she was told. She pulled up her short and revealed her giant bruise on her thigh. It looked pretty bad, but I'm sure it was nothing I couldn't handle. I held out my hands around her leg and began using the healing spell. The bruise glowed brightly and it slowly began to disappear.

"Whoa... the pain... it's ebbing away..." murmured Mira.

"Listen... your brother and sister told about your parents," I said.

Mira looked up at me a little surprised as I continued to speak.

"When I heard about what happened... I couldn't help but think... what pain you went through. What sorrow. How sad it must have been. I know that feeling all too well. I... I lost my parents too."

"You... you too?" asked Mira. "Seriously?"

"Yes," I continued. "After that, I met my second Mama. She found me when I was alone and took care of me for a couple of years. After that, she disappeared without a trace. I was once again all alone. I eventually made my way here and I ended up at Finn's clinic due to me being starved and dehydrated. While I was there I... guess I was a little bit like you. I didn't want anyone getting involved with my sorrows or my pain, but then... someone told me something. You wanna know what it was?"

"No," said Mira. "What was it?"

"That person told me... we may be going through some tough times and we wanna be alone, but we need someone to be there for us in our times of need. Not just to help us with our problems, but so that we can feel that we're supported, cared for, and loved for during those hard times. I didn't really get it at first, but now I'm starting to understand."

I finally finished healing Mira and I stepped back. Her bruise was completely gone as well as her cuts and scrapes.

"Wow... This is amazing. I'm as good as new!" said Mira.

"Mira?" I said. "Look, I know you probably don't like me, but... I was hoping that... you and I could... be friends?"

Mira looked at me and I looked at her. There was a long silence that seemed to go on for a while. Finally, Mira spoke.

"I'd like that. I'd like that very much. On one condition, however."

"What's that?"

"My sister and my brother trust you and... I want to trust you too. My condition is... that you look out for my brother and sister no matter what and as my friend, you'll help me and I'll help you. Deal?"

She held out her hand smiling. I couldn't help but smile back and grabbed Mira's hand with vigor.

"Deal."

"And... sorry for treating you so bad before," she added sheepishly scratching her cheek.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," I said straightening up. "Can you stand up?"

Mira stood up testing her legs.

"Yes. I feel much better now. I gotta admit your magic really did the trick!"

"That's good. Now then let's get back to the..."

Just then, I felt weak and dizzy which caused me to fall forward. I would have fallen to the ground, but luckily Mira was there to catch me.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

"I'm...fine. I just...used a lot of magic power," I said weakly. "Don't worry."

"Now who's the one being tough? Here. I'll give you a hand."

Mira looped an arm around her shoulder and lent me her support. I looked at Mira and nodded my head in thanks.

"Thank you. I don't suppose you know the way back to Osia do you?"

"Yes. I just so happen to know my way around here. Don't worry. We'll be back to the village in no time."

"Nice. So... what about that?" I asked motioning towards the unconscious gorian.

"I wouldn't worry. He shouldn't be causing any more trouble anytime soon. Until then, let's go home. Our friends and family are probably worried sick."

"Right."

We were about to start walking when we heard a voice.

"Willy! Mira!"

We turned to the source of the voice and we saw someone coming towards us. It was Finn.

"Finn!" we both said.

Finn came running to us and gave us a big bear hug.

"Thank goodness! You're both OK! You had me worried sick! Are you two OK?"

"We're fine Finn," said Mira. "Thanks to Willy here."

I smiled. "It's no big deal. I promised your brother and sister didn't I?"

"Well then now that we found Mira, what do you say we head home? Lisanna and Elfman must be worried sick."

"Sure."

And so with Mira supporting me and Finn in front, the three of us headed home. As we walked by, I happened to see something from the corner of my eye. I looked to my right, but there was no one there.

"That's weird. Did I see someone there? Or did I imagine it?"

"Willy? Are you okay?" asked Finn who happened to see me look. "Did you see something?"

"N-no. Nothing," I said. "I... must have been seeing some stuff."

I looked back one more time before shaking my head.

"Nah... I must be seeing things," I thought as we headed back home.

Whew! That one took forever to get out! Sorry about that! Had some slight laptop problems, but they should be handled now. Anyhoo, feel free to comment, review, or give me some pointers. Hope to see you there for the next chapter!