Chapter 103: Iris Starts To Bloom

Disclaimer:

There are references to events in past chapters to help with foreshadowing and whatnot. Here they are:

Chapter 1-3, 45, 65, 100

With that said, I hope you enjoy!

"Did you hear the news, you two?"

"About what?"

"Lucas was one of the top three performers in the Magic Knights!"

"Woah, really?"

"Yeah, look at this!"

"Lemme see!"

"Woah!"

The three excited cheers came from three excited people. Jumping up and down in the main room of their house, the ones that supported him were celebrating.

Iris, Melanie, and David were sitting at the table, ready to have some lunch as it was the middle of the day, but then the daily paper round came by, getting the Earth mage's attention and then the rest.

"Woah, this newspaper must be a special edition or something. Feel the quality of this paper". Iris moved the corner of the front page in between her thumb and index finger.

"What are you talking about, who cares about some paper quality? What's really important is… this!" Melanie ran over and snatched the newspaper out of the redhead's hands. She went towards the window and raised her arms so that the sunlight would shine onto the back of the article.

"That's not very nice, Melanie, you should've aske-!" David started to reprimand his daughter but he suddenly gasped as he saw what she was doing.

The sunlight shone on the back of the page and thus illuminated the picture that was on the front cover. On the left of the picture, stood a Magic Knight with ashen-grey hair and a sword in his hand. In the middle, there was a tall mage with a fairy sitting on his shoulder. The one on the right was…

"Lucas! See, this is the main thing, Iris, not the paper quality!" She pouted and furrowed her brow at her friend. "Look how cool he looks there, come on, we have to cut this section out and frame it somewhere around the house!" Melanie rushed to the kitchen with her dad following closely behind.

Iris face-palmed and shook her head as she did so. "Sometimes, I wonder if you guys are too obsessed…".

A few minutes and a lot of noise and commotion later, the picture was framed in the wall of the main room, just opposite the doorway that connected the room with the kitchen. The two who were the most animated were happy and staring whilst the third one was just slightly further back.

"You cut the picture like that and got rid of the other two rookies… Still, I'm happy Lucas has some unwavering support", Iris chuckled to herself.

Melanie turned around, grabbing Iris's attention. "Hey, should we let Matt know?"

"Ooh, good idea. He's not due to be back until tonight so we'll go see him".

The two got ready and left, leaving only David at the table. He smiled but it eventually faded as he dropped his shoulders.

"They were supposed to get lunch ready…".

Iris and Melanie were making their way towards the centre of the town. Away from the little hill that their house was on, the downwards path was scattered with plenty of flowers, pebbles, and the gravel path made a soft, crunchy sound as they stepped on it.

Looking into the distance, you would see that the majority of Hoffvol was on a flat plains area with the huge lake being on one side and the different farmlands being on the other. Buildings like the houses, markets, shops, and the town square sat firmly in the middle with a few being scattered elsewhere.

The two ladies basked under the shine of the warm spring sun. As the yellow-blonde skipped as she progressed, the redhead kept up by picking up the pace to keep up with her.

"Melanie, you're pretty excited, aren't you? You've been chipper since I showed you the newspaper", Iris giggled.

"Any award that Lucas achieves makes me feel proud of him. I mean, you remember how he used to be after that day, right?"

Iris took a deep breath and exhaled. "Yeah, it was tough for all of us, especially him. I can't imagine doing those things to someone you thought of as a son".

Melanie shook her head. "That's where you're wrong, they never thought of little Lucas like that. Well, anyway, he has a real family now and that'll never change!"

Iris put her whole arm around her friend's shoulder, slightly weighing her down. "You say some pretty remarkable things from time to time, don't ya?"

Melanie put her thumb up. "You know that I always wanted a little brother to take care of. Lucas is basically that…". Her voice slowly quietened as she stared off into the distance which caught Iris's attention.

"What's up?"

The two were around halfway to the town and found themselves a small, wooden bench that overlooked the huge lake. Melanie sat on the left with Iris joining her on the right.

"I was going to tell you tonight once we'd go to bed but I can't hold it anymore after all the talk about Lucas", she smiled before fiddling around in the pocket of her light-brown trousers.

Iris tilted her head, confused. "Hm, what could it be? Is it something related to Lucas?"

Eventually, after practically turning both of her pockets inside out, she revealed a small, rusted, brown key. "I finally got permission!"

Iris examined the key but it didn't mean much to her, she didn't know the significance of it at all. "Permission for what? What does this key open?"

"You don't remember? Hm, well, that's a problem… Let's make a quick stop before we get to Matt then".

The next few minutes consisted of the two making their way into town, but instead of turning right at the town square to reach the in-progress medical clinic where Matt was helping build, they went in the opposite direction towards a two-storey schoolhouse that sat in an L-shape.

"Wait, this is…", Iris began to say as she looked up to take in the full view of the building.

Apart from the wooden double doors on the right side of the building, it was made with a layer of stone bricks that went across the bottom third of the walls. Other than that, the rest was built with thick planks of wood and there were also some glass windows on the sides, letting in the shine from the sun.

Just before the yellow-haired individual could speak, the doors flung open and revealed an older woman, around the age of 60. She walked down the few steps just under the doors and looked around for a few seconds before spotting the two.

"Oh, young Melanie, we were expecting you!"

"Uh, what?" Iris looked back and forth between the two, earning no answers from either.

"Oh, shoot, was it today that I started?!" Melanie gasped, bringing her hands to cover her mouth.

"Huh, wh-what, what do you mean?" Iris asked once again.

"You don't remember? We said two weeks today… and that was two weeks ago!" The old woman replied, turning her hands and shrugging.

"Um, what?" Iris said again.

"M-My job is today, ahhh!" Melanie shouted, jumping due to her shock.

"WHAT ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!"

The old woman put her hand on Iris's shoulder which made her calm down quite quickly. She looked into her eyes and the smile she had made the redhead smile back.

"Your friend, Melanie, is the schoolhouse's new teacher", she said as she used her other hand to point.

Melanie stood with her hands pinching the bottom of her checkered brown and white t-shirt, her blushing face looking down towards her brown trousers and black boots, and her fingers and feet fidgeting. "Hehe, I've become a teacher…".

Iris was speechless at first and the next minute or so consisted of the three women entering the building and into one of the rooms on the right of the hallway. Inside, there were a group of young children of different ages sitting in the wooden chairs and facing the large chalkboard on the wall opposite them.

As they saw Melanie come in, most of them jumped out of their seats and raced towards her.

"Hey, hey, it's Mrs Melanie!"

"She was supposed to be here an hour ago!"

Iris looked at their excited faces and then towards her friend. "So, that key was for the schoolhouse, it seems like".

"S-Sorry for being late, y'all", she apologised before turning to Iris. "Yeah, I… work here now". Melanie patted all of the kids' heads and took Iris to the side of the room where they could talk. "I completely forgot it was today, I thought I had another few days", she scratched her cheek.

"Talking about Lucas being a little brother to take care of, you've now got a bunch of other little kids to take care of!" Iris chuckled, rustling the blonde's short hair and looking over her shoulder at all the eager children.

Melanie closed her eyes as she felt her hand on her head. "Sorry for not mentioning it, I wanted to surprise you but, then again, you know how I am - a bit of a clutz!"

"Nah, don't worry about it, I'm happy you know what to do with your life. I've still got to wait a long time until the medical clinic is built…", she sighed.

Melanie put her fingers to her chin as she looked out of the window. In the distance, she saw the building being built and agreed that it would still be a while before it's completed. "Hm, I wonder if you could do something… different, but still related to it?"

"What do you mean?" Iris asked, confused.

"Uh, I mean to sa-!"

"Okay, class is about to start everyone!" The old woman who was by the classroom door clapped her hands together and got everyone's attention. This included the two ladies and the blonde jumped as she heard her voice.

With a strained whisper, she apologised to Iris. "S-Sorry, I'll talk to you later!"

Iris was almost at the medical clinic where her boyfriend, Matthew, would be working. She walked along the gravel path and saw the building site in the near vicinity. The sun was shining quite brightly and as she shielded her eyes from its rays, she pictured Melanie.

"Hm, I wonder if you could do something… different, but still related to it?"

Iris thought about her friend's recent words but couldn't quite make sense of them. Her dream was to be a doctor and things were set in place for her to achieve that goal, yet it would take a long time before she could actually start.

"I want to help people. I've had a knack for Recovery Magic since I was little and I've helped Lucas, as well as other kids around the village here and there. Some of the older townsfolk have come to me to treat some of their wounds as well, but… could I be doing something more?"

As she racked her head around for some ideas, she eventually found herself at the entrance of the building site. In front of her, the open space that was here around the time that Lucas visited was all filled up with the foundations of the clinic firmly in place. Across the area, there were some stone and wooden pillars with a bit of temporary fencing around just to keep up with the safety.

"Matt, you there?" Iris cupped her mouth and shouted. She didn't quite get a response from her boyfriend but she did see a few of the other workers around who gave her a smile and a wave. "It's nice that a few of the townsfolk come to help out. I wish I could make more time to come here. David and Melanie used to come down often when it was only digging to do".

Whilst the 23-year-old was in her own head, she didn't hear the soft footsteps of someone come up behind her. This person raised their arms and put their hands over the Earth mage's eyes, covering them completely.

"Guess who…", the person said rather weirdly. They had masked the sound of their voice by speaking in a deeper tone.

"Hm, the fingers feel quite rough and with how your elbows are resting on my shoulders… It means you're taller than me. Oh, I wonder who it could be, Matt?" Iris blew air out of her nose as she chuckled ever so slightly.

The person let go and Iris turned around to see if her guess was right. A smile slowly etched itself across her face which signalled that she was correct.

Matthew brought her in close and hugged her. He then used his left hand to flick her forehead. "You could've kept the guessing game going, you sussed me out immediately!"

"Ha, well, a random stranger wouldn't come up to me and do something like that. Besides, we've been together for months now, I'd be a bad girlfriend if I didn't recognise your voice, even if you were trying to hide it!" Iris giggled, flicking her boyfriend back on his cheek.

Matthew shook his head but smiled afterwards. He looked to the left and saw a raised bank of grass that he could sit on and turned to Iris. "Hey, want to join me for a bit?"

Iris sat down and next to her, Matthew was wearing a yellow builder's hat that was covered in dirt and grime. It hid his dark-grey, slicked-back hair underneath and he slowly took it off which revealed his green eyes shining against the rays of the brilliant sun overhead.

"It's been a long day, but it's not the evening yet!" Matthew stretched his arms. He opened the bottle of water that he had sitting in his work belt and drank from it. "How come you came down? It wasn't just to see me, right?" He poked with his finger and teased.

"Oh, you wish!" Iris laughed. "It was about Lucas, he came top three out of all of the Magic Knights in the kingdom. They had this festival and the Wizard King praised him in front of everyone. They even wrote an article about it, I left it at home so you can read it when you come tonight", she smiled.

Matthew slouched back, using his arms as support. He looked towards the sky and also smiled. "Wow, that Lucas is something alright!" He then turned to Iris. "Your eyes gleam like stars when you talk about him, did you know that?"

Iris lightly tapped his shoulder with the back of her left hand. "Oh, stop it…", she said before lowering her voice all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked, looking concerned as he furrowed his brow.

"How long will it be before this building finishes?" Iris asked, resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"I can't exactly answer that as we do as much as we can do. Sometimes we work non-stop, but then at times you have to account for fatigue, injuries, the weather, so it's all dependent on other factors. Although, if I had to give you a time, then maybe after a year, I'd say. It's only a few of us working on it now that all the digging and the laying of foundations is done. Our magic helps but we don't have a lot of mana so progress is staggered", he explained. "Why - Are we going too slow for you?" He nudged his girlfriend in her side, repeatedly raising his eyebrows as he teased.

Iris nudged back. "No, no, it's not a complaint", she smiled. "I was just wondering if I could be doing something in the meantime. Something… related to being a doctor", she tried to explain but when she glanced at Matt it looked like he was a bit confused.

She exhaled and then spoke about Melanie. She explained her job and how she's happy with finding something to do with her life.

"Ah, so that's why she wanted to become a teacher at the schoolhouse - her care for Lucas translated into her finding something that she wanted to do", Matt summed up.

"Wow, you explained it better than me", Iris chuckled. "It just made me think of what I can do. I mean, you have your building job that you love, Melanie has hers, Lucas is doing what he's dreamt of doing, and me… Well, I'm not so sure".

Matt nodded, understanding his girlfriend's mentality. "Well, what about you? You can ask anyone about what they think, but you have to remember that it's your decision". He looked towards the building site. "For me, I became a builder because my dad was one. He can't really do anything like that anymore because of his age but it hasn't stopped me from having fun when I work", he turned to Iris once again. "I'd say it's good to do something else during the time you have so that you'll be ready for when the building's built, but what exactly that thing is… I'm not too sure".

The redhead nodded back. "I understand what you're saying, Matt. It would be something related to medicine or doctor work, but… there's not much around in Hoffvol to get me that experience…", she sighed.

Matt scratched his head. "Why don't we sleep on it? Maybe with the new day we'll have some ideas to go through?"

Iris dropped her shoulders but still smiled nonetheless. "Yeah, that's a good idea".

After that, the day progressed quite quickly. Iris had returned to the house and started making dinner by herself now that Melanie was working at the schoolhouse. Things went by quickly, and Melanie revealed her job status to her dad who was over the moon.

"I'll be working most days with the weekend off. Dad… I figured out what I wanted to do!" Melanie said as she sat across the dinner table from David.

"I'm glad, love. You were always great with Lucas when he was little and I know you won't have any problems with the kids at the school", he praised. The Water mage leaned across the table and rustled his daughter's yellow hair.

Matt smiled and pointed his fork at the new teacher. "Just be careful not to mess up in front of them, maybe they'll start to think you're just like them - a kid".

The comment wasn't appreciated by Melanie as she threw a singular green bean at his forehead. "I'll be the best teacher I can be, you just focus on rolling around in the dirt. I mean… everyday you come back, you have filth all over, or… is that just you?"

"Oh, so when you tease me I don't react, but when I tease you a bit for the first time, you essentially call me ugly", Matt shook his head.

"Who said I was teasing? I only tell the truth", she raised her right hand and put the other to her chest.

The two continued their mini-argument throughout dinner whilst Iris and David tried their best to break them up. Although it wasn't much of a success, the two were civil by the end as Matthew left for the night.

A few hours later, the trio were asleep with David in one part of the house whilst Iris and Melanie slept nearby in the living room. The father and daughter duo were fast asleep almost as soon as they hit the sack but Iris was still wide awake.

"Melanie said she'd explain what she meant before we went to sleep, but she nodded off straight away…", she thought as she glanced over at her friend who had some saliva pouring out from her mouth. "I guess being a teacher is quite hard work", she smiled.

The next few consisted of the Earth mage just staring at the ceiling, replaying some of the day's events but focusing on what Melanie and David said to her.

"Hm, I wonder if you could do something… different, but still related to it?"

"Well, what about you? You can ask anyone about what they think, but you have to remember that it's your decision".

She turned to her side and closed her eyes. "The reason I want to become a doctor is because I have a knack for it and I… like to help other people. If I can't do it here for a whole year, then…", it seemed like she was close to an answer but she couldn't quite reach it.

A few minutes passed and she was starting to drift away. Every time her eyelids closed, she began to see an image as she started to dream.

"Is that… a book?" She thought to herself as she yawned. "Why am I… thinking about a boo- Hang on a minute, that book is…!"

The next day arrived and Iris had woken up a few hours ago. Well, it was more the fact that she couldn't really sleep and that's why she was up and about. Still, she went through her normal morning tasks and had some time right before the peak of the afternoon hit.

There was no one else in the house. David had gone to work at one of the nearby farms, Melanie was busy at the schoolhouse, and Matthew was working at the building site. She was alone, but that also meant that she didn't need to tell anyone what she had planned to do.

Iris thought about her dream again. "I'm glad I still remember the dream I had, otherwise I'd have been in a pinch. That book I thought of… it's something I used to have back when I lived…", she paused before she looked at the wall beside the front door.

She grabbed her broomstick that was on the side and exited the house. After closing the door, she started to fly but shook her head as it looked like she didn't really want to do what she was going to do.

"Time to go back… to Missbrauch".

A day where Iris had thought to write a letter to Lucas to start with turned into one where she had to return to the village she had terrible memories of. She clenched her hands and the grip she had on her broomstick tightened.

She remembered a dark room with a lump on the top of a bed, covered by a blanket that was shaking back and forth.

"Little brother, what happen-!" She noticed it. Her eyes examined Lucas's body and it was filled with tons of bruises and cuts as if someone had beaten him up. There were little cuts all over his little face, arms, and legs, as well as bigger ones on his right eye, right leg, right arm, neck and back. As she saw these, something in her lit up and she swore she would get to the bottom of this.

"B-B-Big Sis! Th-they did it! It was th-them!" He wailed and smothered his face into her chest, staining her white blouse with tears.

After Iris decided to escape the church, Lucas had refused citing her dream to become a doctor as the reason. He didn't want to jeopardise her dream because of him.

"No! If you run away, then you w-won't be able to become a d-doctor. You're already 16, you have the chance to get a job soon... I can run away somewhere by myself!" Lucas cried. He really did love his sister and if she had to give up her dream, then he felt selfish about it.

Iris kissed him on the forehead again. "Lucas... I'll gladly give up my dream if it means you'll be safe. I love you, brother". She rustled the crying brother's hair once more as she left the room.

The Earth mage spent the majority of the trip to her former home village replaying that day over and over again. Her face was of pure anger the whole way there, veins straining, sweat falling, hands tightening.

As the trees in the dense forest started to clear and part, Iris saw the small village come into view. The first thing she noticed was the huge lake that was on the eastern side that looked like it went on for hundreds of miles.

"That lake is the same lake in Hoffvol. To think that it essentially connects the two villages is quite something. I remember how Lucas and I used to skip stones across it almost every day".

She looked at the sun in the distance and noted the approximate time. "It's still the morning and I have a bit of time. I'll go visit the spot".

Instead of heading north, she ventured out northeast to a little area close to the glistening water. She flew around in a small circle, slowly lowering her altitude until she felt her light-brown boots touch the grass below her.

Setting the broomstick on the floor, she looked around and remembered all the times she played here with Lucas. She looked towards the lake but then turned around and bent down to examine something.

"Oh, they aren't there anymore…".

FLASHBACK - 10 YEARS AGO:

"Oh, come on, Lucas, you're terrible at this!" A 13-year-old Iris complained to her younger brother.

"Big Sis, you're older than me, of course, you'd be better!" A five-year old Lucas stamped his feet down at the ground.

The two were skipping stones across the lake with Iris being the better one out of the two. As Lucas managed to make his stone bounce twice, Iris could do it five times.

Around the pair of siblings, plenty of flowers were growing. Lucas, annoyed that he couldn't manage to keep up with his sister, stuck out his tongue and walked over to a specific bunch of flowers that piqued his interest.

He gently moved his hand over the flowers' blue petals and smiled as they brushed across his palm. "These blue flowers… I wonder what they're called. I wish I knew more about them".

Iris joined her brother and bent down. "You know, blue is my favourite colour. These flowers are beautiful", she said as her yellow eyes sparkled.

"I didn't know you liked flowers as well", Lucas said.

"Huh? I'm the one that brings you a bunch of different flowers everyday!"

"I thought you brought them because I like them, not because you like them as well!"

Iris flicked her brother's shoulder. "You are stupid sometimes".

As the two kept looking through the different flowers that were around them, they heard the sound of some footsteps running towards them. The first one to look was Iris and she smiled at who she saw.

"There you are! We asked your dad if you wanted to play outside but he seemed a bit busy. Your mum wasn't at home either so we had to go without you!" Iris waved at the little girl who stopped in front of them.

The girl put her hand on her hips and pouted. Her short hair was hidden by a light-blue cap that she was wearing and her eyes shone with the reflection of the sun just overhead.

"I was helping mama out in the garden! If you waited just a few minutes I would've joined you two!" She said quite loudly. Her eyes darted from the future Earth mage to the boy who was still engrossed in his flowers. "Oi, shorty", she said as she softly tapped him with her small boots.

"Ow, what was that for?!" Lucas snapped. As he stood up, he turned around and his annoyed expression disappeared very quickly. At first, he saw the boots that the girl used to kick him with, but then saw the familiar light-blue frock that she wore a lot of the time. "Oh, hello, where were you?"

"I just told you, Lulu, you need to listen more!" The girl blew a raspberry at him.

Lucas flinched and his face went red. "I t-told you n-not to call me that! It's not my name!"

Iris put a hand to his shoulder. "Hm, I call you Little Lucas sometimes, so does Melanie, but you seem to be fine with that".

"That's different, you still use m-my name!" Lucas then turned to the little girl. "How would you like it if I gave you a weird nickname like that?" He argued, still blushing from the rush of embarrassment he felt.

The girl twirled around in place, holding the ends of her frock with her fingers. "I wouldn't mind, we are best friends after all!"

Lucas pointed and jumped. "Wow, you finally admitted that we're best friends! This is going straight into my diary!"

FLASHBACK - END

Iris smiled as she looked at the same area, thinking about the past. Her expression was slowly replaced by a sad one as she realised that it only had one flower left which was quite the difference from all the plentiful bunches.

"We used to have so much fun here. Me, Lucas, Melanie, and…", she thought back and pictured Lucas's best friend in her mind. That image of the girl was slowly replaced by Melanie's as she remembered what she said.

"Why did you tell little Lucas that you don't remember her – the childhood friend?"

She blinked at the lake, and then in the direction of where Hoffvol was. "Is not telling him about her really the right thing to do…?"

Iris thought about what Lucas said in what she just reminisced about and paused. "Wait, his diary! If it's still in the church, then I could get some answers about…", she paused and then shook her head.

The mage then looked back at the houses in Missbrauch, spotting the building that she came to visit. It was sitting in the middle of the village square, towering over the rest with all of its eerie vibes exuding out. The clouds had gathered in the sky, blocking out most of the sunshine so that it couldn't reach the ground.

She shook her head, choosing to think about the church surprisingly enough. "If I'd told the others about coming back here then they probably wouldn't have let me. Urgh, let's just go do this so I can leave quickly…".

Iris took her broomstick and rushed towards the church and landed at its doorstep. She raised her head as she took in the height of the building. A shiver went down her spine as she thought about the fact that she used to eat, sleep, and play inside this building all those years ago.

Behind her, the sound of children playing was all around but these ones were different. The ones that used to play here would've grown up and either become Magic Knights, work on the farms, or became busy with other workings of the village. The ones now were new so they wouldn't recognise Iris at all.

As the Earth mage sought to turn around, a small object hit the side of her leg. She looked down towards the floor and it was a toy ball around the size of her palm.

"Um, sorry, Miss, could you throw that back please?" One kid shouted from a few yards away.

Iris picked it up and smiled. "Sure thing, kiddo", she said before throwing it lightly towards the little boy.

"Haha, thank you!"

That little bit of joy she saw on the kid's face was slowly overpowered by the disgust she felt as she opened the doors of the church. The walls of the building were full of cracks and breakages, much different to when Iris would take care of how it looked over seven years ago. Inside, as she entered, was largely the same but it felt almost cold despite it being the height of spring.

"Hello?" She said quietly before raising her voice slightly to repeat the same thing.

"Yeah, yeah, hello", a familiar voice repeated. An old woman, over the age of 60, appeared from the kitchen. She was fair-skinned but her previous tall stature was no more. She had started to shrink and was now just a bit shorter than Iris.

Iris didn't say anything. Not because she didn't want to but because the old woman recognised her as she got closer. Her purple eyes widened but there was no life in them, it was like she was a shell of her former self.

"Iris…", she said before getting closer.

The Earth mage firmly put her hand in front of her to stop her advancing. "I've just come to… get our stuff from upstairs. I'm not looking to stay, talk, eat, or reminisce, I want to leave quickly".

Iris had firmly put her boundaries up and the head of the church respected them. She stopped walking closer and retreated a few steps back and to the side so that she was out of the way.

"Your stuff is still upstairs. The rooms are locked, so here are the keys…", she said as she pointed to the side of the wall where two, small grey keys were dangling from.

Iris walked across the dirty, red rug that was on the floor and past the rows of dark-brown benches that were facing to the side and towards the raised podium. She took the keys and made her way through the hallway and upstairs.

Once she was out of sight, she quickly opened her old bedroom's door and closed it. Iris, instead of looking through her old stuff, leaned against the wall and placed her hand on her beating chest.

"Okay, breathe… It's fine now, you don't need to talk to her again… Breathe… Breathe…". She stood like this for the next minute or so before she was fine again. Iris wiped her sweat and chose to distract herself by actually doing what she came here to do.

Looking around her old room, everything was still intact. The bed was relatively clean with a bit of dust over the bed frame. The wardrobe and drawers were the same, again with some dust, but that was expected. She went to her bed and bent down to take a locked chest out from underneath.

"There are some clothes and stuff in the wardrobe but they won't even fit me anymore. Besides, those two gifted me whatever is in there and I don't even want to see them. What I really wanted to get back was this…", she said to herself before opening the locked chest. She took a key out from her grimoire satchel that fitted perfectly.

She blew the layer of dust from the top and revealed its contents. There were some playing cards, toy jewellery, and some stuffed animals on one side. Iris didn't pay any attention to them and instead focused on a small book that was on the right.

After picking up the book, she flicked through its pages and skimmed over each diagram and paragraph. "Here it is, that medicinal book I won at the village auction…".

FLASHBACK - 10 YEARS AGO:

"And… the winning bid has come from the little girl over there in the blue dress!"

The 13-year-old Iris accepted the book from the auctioneer and held it close to her chest. "Yay, maybe I can use this to become a doctor!"

The day was starting to end with the overhead sun setting in the west. All around, things were getting dark and this meant that Iris had to return to the church to help prepare dinner. As she walked through the village square, she was stopped by the sound of a man.

"You, little girl!" The man called out to which Iris turned to look.

The man had light-blue hair and green eyes behind his clear glasses. He had the start of a small goatee with hair only only on his chin. He wore a white doctor's coat that was buttoned up and a pair of dark-blue trousers and white boots.

"I see that you're holding the first medicinal book that I've ever written", he pointed at the book that Iris was clutching. "I was shouting your name out after the auction but you were too busy twirling and jumping. I didn't think someone could get so excited because of my book!"

Iris gulped. It wasn't that she was scared but more so shocked at the person who was talking to her. She looked at the front cover of the book that was titled: 'Medicine: Tips & Tricks by Doctor Owen'. The redhead looked to and from the book and the man over what seemed to be like the span of a minute.

"Y-You're Doctor Owen?!"

Owen smiled. "Haha, yes, if you have some time shall we speak about the book?"

Iris nodded immediately without even thinking about it. However, the scenery around her started to change as there were more shadows and less light. Her yellow eyes widened as she realised how late she was getting.

"Argh, I'd love to chat but I have to get home. I'm supposed to help with dinner and if I don't, Mother will get angry!" She ran away, leaving Owen in her wake.

The doctor chuckled to himself. "What an eager young girl. I wonder if I'll ever see again".

FLASHBACK - END

Iris flicked through the old book once more. "I used to read this religiously, maybe I can use the knowledge here to find out what I want to do…". She slowly stood up after pushing the chest back underneath her bed and exited the room.

The next and last room on her agenda was her little brother's that was directly adjacent to hers. This was the one task that she was dreading because she'd be forced to once again live through that one moment all those years ago.

Lucas's old room didn't have anything belonging to Iris, but there was one thing there that she knew she had to retrieve.

"Okay, just get this one thing and leave… quickly", she sighed before putting the key through the hole. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the doorknob but she still managed to open it as her conviction was strong enough.

The room, just like her's, was exactly the same with everything untouched. The only thing different was the layers of dust that had plagued everywhere. She entered with her eyes closed only to open them a short while after as she had braced herself.

Iris shook her head and shivers went through her. She still advanced and reached Lucas's old bed. Bending down to reach underneath, she grabbed the handle of a toy box that had all of his old belongings resting in.

"Toys, toys, more toys… Just how much did he have?" Iris took almost 10 of them out of the box before she unearthed a small diary.

It had a green front and back cover with all sorts of drawings on them both. She opened and flicked through its pages and saw that even the inside of the diary had plenty of his doodles drawn in. Seeing this made Iris smile and she even forgot the sadness she was feeling as all she could picture was her happy younger brother.

Slowly, she returned to the present and she dropped her shoulders. "The reason I wanted to see his diary is because of what I now know… I'm glad I went to the lake first or I wouldn't have remembered his diary". Iris stood up and put the diary in her grimoire satchel that was now starting to overflow with three books in. "I'll look through this when I get back, but… I hope it helps me understand everything", she tightened her fists.

Quickly, she exited the room and didn't look back at it at all. She had enough of the memories it made her relive and she was glad to be leaving the church once and for all. The Earth mage made her way downstairs and saw that the Mother of the building was sitting still on a bench, hands together as she prayed.

"Just ignore her, I don't want to speak to her…". She shook her head at the sight of the old woman as she went to leave, but it wasn't going to be that easy as the person who she tried to ignore called out Iris's name.

"What do you want?" She responded with venom that almost surprised her as she gasped, putting her hand over her mouth.

"Um, h-how is Luc-!"

"Stop, don't you even dare mention his name. You don't get to ask about him, you don't get to know about him, you don't get to even see him!" Iris retorted, venom still apparent in her voice but now she wasn't shocked at herself. She felt it was deserved.

"I understand…", she said softly as she retreated into her already-hollow shell.

"Do you? I mean, do you, really? You abused him for years, and... after I had time to think, I realised that you even abused me as well! The only reason we never realised or called you out for it back then was because… we were kids, we didn't know what you were doing to us! You and Father were the only parents we knew, so we thought it was normal! We had no experience with anyone else, so what else should we have done?! Even so… I was still the lucky one compared to what Lucas went through… I can't even imagine it! You… used the fact that he had Light Magic to further your own interests, didn't you?! I remember your little meetings with that man who would come by every week. At the time, I thought it was just a friend, or something to do with work… but when I look back at it… You were speaking about 'progress' and whatnot. What progress, hm? Something to do with his Light Magic?! What was that man's name, urgh I can't even remember! Is the fact that Lucas unlocked Time Magic something that hindered this… progress, and that's why you beat him so severely?! And don't you dare tell me I'm wrong because what else could it be? Lucas…", she paused to collect her breath. "I so hoped that he wouldn't remember, but he does! When we left - no - when we escaped, do you know the sort of nightmares he had? A child like him would dream of playing, food, friends, anything like that, but the nightmares he suffered through was of you two hitting him, and what he would call 'The Shadows', does that ring a bell?!"

The old woman widened her eyes. "H-How did he know abo-!"

"About them? Gee, I'm not sure, maybe the fact that he lived through the abuse you inflicted on him! What were these 'Shadows' that he dreamt about?"

"Th-they wer-!"

"No, don't even answer me at this point. I've moved on, I hope he has as well. Whatever these Shadows were that he was thinking about do not concern him anymore!" Iris then opened the double doors to leave but right before she did, she turned her head to face the shocked old woman.

"But since you asked, I'll answer. Lucas - He's one of the top performing Magic Knights in the kingdom. I hope you're proud of him".

She shut the door, hard.

A few feet ahead, outside the church, sat Iris on the floor as she leaned against the wall of an abandoned house. She was crying into her arms as she sat curled into a ball.

"I let my anger get the best of me… I shouldn't have given her the time of day, or responded like that, but I… hate what she did to Lucas…!"

A few of the children that she saw earlier were still playing nearby, still having fun and this sight made Iris ease up ever so slightly. She enjoyed seeing people be happy, she enjoyed being happy, and she absolutely hated being upset.

She sat and stared at the kids and watched as they were playing catch with the small ball that hit her before she went into the church. Iris was starting to calm down but that's when she saw something familiar out of the corner of her eye.

It was a man with short, spikey-grey hair and glasses. He was wearing an unbuttoned, white doctor's coat over a light-grey tunic. Dark-blue trousers adorned his lower half with some white boots on his feet.

"Hang on a minute, is that…?" Iris was about to stand up but she heard a scream from a few feet ahead of her. She turned her head quickly to look at the source and was shocked to see what happened.

The boy that she had thrown the ball to earlier had slipped and was laying on the floor with what looked to be a broken arm. His feet were near a puddle by the well that was beside the area they were playing so it seemed like he had slipped badly.

Iris didn't even need to think about what to do, it was like her legs had a mind of their own and they were working in tandem with her brain. She bent her knees and lowered herself to the floor to help treat the kid.

"What's your name?" Iris spoke softly but she wasn't going to be heard due to the pain he was in. Instead of asking again, she put her index and middle finger together, side-by-side, and traced over the ground. "Earth Recovery Magic: Soothing Ground Mass", she said calmly.

A smooth stream of earth broke apart from the ground and followed her fingers like it was flowing water. She put her fingers on the joint where the arm was broken and pressed on it for a few seconds.

The kid's elbow stopped hurting as she did and his panicked screams came to a halt for the moment. He whimpered but he smiled at Iris.

"Th-Thank you, Miss…", he said half-heartedly.

"No problem. Now, can you tell me your name?" She asked once more, now feeling confident.

"It's A-Alex…".

"Hi there, Alex. What I'm going to do now is ask you something - Do you have anyone you can trust?"

"Sure, I do! My parents are the best, I trust them!"

Iris smiled and then turned to a few of his friends who were anxiously waiting. "You two, could you get his parents for me? Tell them it's an emergency and that Alex needs some help".

"Will do!"

Only a maximum of three minutes passed before Alex's parents rushed down. They saw Iris holding her son and they also saw his broken arm which was hanging perpendicular to his elbow.

"Oh, no…", they gasped as they tried not to cry.

"Don't worry, you two, he'll be fine. I just need a bit of help, if that's okay?" Iris asked to which the two nodded. "Could one of you bring me a three-leaf clover and the other a Blue Iris. You can find the clovers growing anywhere near the lake but the Blue Iris is a rarity. Fortunately, I spotted one on the outskirts of the lake, so I'll tell you where you can find it".

Thanks to the Earth mage's directions, the requested items were delivered rather quickly. The clover was the first one to be used and she crushed each individual leaf separately.

"Do you know what they saw about the clovers in this kingdom, Alex?" She asked as she touched the top leaf of the three.

"I-I don't know…", he replied.

"They say that the three leaves of the clover each represent different virtues. The first is Faith, the next is Hope", she explained as she touched the bottom left one. "And the third… represents Love". At this point she had touched each of the three leaves with her index finger, bringing out a small, green light from each leaf.

Iris then brought the Blue Iris close and put the three lights in the middle of the blue petals so that the four would combine together. A few seconds later, the flower started to glow brighter and that's when she crushed it in her hands.

"Earth Recovery Magic: Kingdom's Belief".

The palm of her hand, where she had crushed the glowing blue petals, contained her spell. She gently placed her open palm on Alex's elbow and physically moved the joint so that it would be in its rightful place. Iris waited a few seconds before letting go and Alex started to move his arm once again.

"It d-doesn't hurt? Huh, it doesn't hurt!" Alex had to do a double take and he rotated his arm in a circle, proving that it was as good as new. "Thank you, Miss!" He jumped towards the redhead and gave her a hug.

Alex ran towards his parents and they hugged him but not before thanking the Earth mage for what she did. "Please, can we offer you anything?"

"There's no need. Just tell him to be careful, okay?" Iris smiled before standing up.

She wiped the dirt away from her clothes. "That's all my mana drained. At least I helped him out", she smiled. As she finally cleaned up her dress, she heard someone call for her. She felt a rush of deja vu but she still turned around to see the familiar man that she saw just a few minutes ago.

"I saw how you handled that injury, that was quite something. Where did you learn the method regarding the clovers?" He asked, intrigued as he scratched his hairy chin.

"I… Well, I actually learnt it from you. You're Doctor Owen, aren't you?" Iris asked rather rhetorically as she already recognised him.

Still, he answered but was confused as to how she knew him. "Do I know you?"

"We met once before. The day where I… won this", she brought out the medicinal book, from her satchel, that she won 10 years ago.

Owen was gobsmacked. "I remember you now!" He said as he widened his green eyes. "You… actually read the book!"

Iris giggled as she lightly tapped the front cover. "You've taught me a lot. Most of my knowledge comes from this book. I've always wanted to become a doctor and I'm doing the best I can with what I have".

"That's great, I've always hoped to pass on my knowledge to anyone that's willing to learn", he smiled before raising his finger. "Can I ask you a question, Miss?"

"Just call me Iris, and sure", she nodded.

"That's quite the name there, what a coincidence!" Owen said as he looked at the crushed remnants of the Blue Iris flower on the floor. "This might be rude though I assure you that I don't mean to be, but are you a resident of the Forsaken Realm? I can tell through the techniques that you used that you have a low amount of mana, but… the way you used it, my word, that was amazing!"

The Earth mage didn't know what to say to his excitement but she decided to answer the first part. "Y-Yes I am from here. Not this village but from a different one, I was only visiting".

"Even with a low amount of mana, the precision in which you apply your magic is very interesting…", he mumbled to himself.

Iris sweat-dropped. "Um, can I ask what you're doing here? Don't you work in the Royal Capital?"

Owen corrected his glasses and he stopped mumbling. "My apologies. Yes, I work directly with the Wizard King, but I came to this realm for my own business. See, you used the Blue Iris as part of your magic and I believe that different flowers, similar to the ones you see here, can be used in a range of medicine. I came here to research, but I found something, or rather someone, much more interesting".

The redhead blushed but that was when the doctor posed a question that astonished her.

"Iris, would you like to work alongside me at the Royal Capital?"

The wind blew through Missbrauch as the clouds parted overhead. The sun's rays returned and bounced off her fair skin. Iris's yellow eyes were the same glow as the burning star in the sky and she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"D-Don't you have people much better than me that w-work for you?"

"No one works for me, we work together as a team". He then scratched the back of his head. "Although I just said that, not many people want to work in this business because of the amount of mages that can use Recovery Magic in the nine squads. However, that also means that we're not tied down to any squad and can offer our services to any squad, any mage, any person. I also have one other helper, Cyrus, but he's quite busy now so I don't see him nearly as much as I used to".

Iris's heart was beating fast. "Won't it be a problem for a peasant like me to work with someone like you. Y-You said you work directly with the Wizard King, surely he prefers nobility to be with him!"

Owen shook his head. "The Wizard King isn't like that, he's different to many of the nobles and royals. He likes to see everyone given a fair chance to progress, and that translates to me as well. I see people for what they can do, not for the status that they're born in. That's the reason why I held the auction in this village, I wanted to see if anyone had the drive to be involved in medicine and recovery".

"I… I… I'd love to accept but can I speak to my family first?" Iris spoke quickly, making sure she got every word across.

"Haha, sure, there's no rush, Iris! Although… Hm, I do have to return tonight, so take this…", he said as he brought out a small object with a blue jewel embedded in the middle. "Take this magic item and activate it when you have your answer. I'll send for you right away".

Iris accepted the item and squeezed it in her overflowing satchel. "I promise I won't leave you waiting!" She bowed but Owen put his hands on her shoulders.

"No need for that, Iris! Just remember to have faith in your decision".

After this, the two said goodbye to each other and went their respective ways. Doctor Owen headed in the direction of the capital whilst Iris went towards Hoffvol.

The day was still young with it being just an hour after the height of the afternoon so there was plenty of time to decide on her decision. Iris couldn't quite believe what had just happened even after the two had separated from one another.

"Have I finally found something to do? Have I finally found something that'll help my career?" A lot of questions entered her mind but instead of thinking of an answer right away, she pictured Lucas instead.

"The reason I want to become a doctor was because I'm good with medicine, good with kids, and good with adults, but the thing that truly cemented my dream to become one was that day I saw you… A doctor helps people in need, a doctor saves people in need, but it's usually after the cause of the problem. I… also want to be able to prevent bad things from ever happening to good people. Maybe that's through talking with them, helping them come to an understanding, or just being a shoulder to lean on. I want to… eradicate unhappiness before it manifests into people. A true doctor should be able to help no matter the problem!"

NOTES:

I bet you weren't expecting an Iris-focused chapter!

I wanted to focus a bit on her since she's been relatively non-existent in this fic even though I want her to be important. There hasn't been much opportunity to flesh her out but now I have some leeway in between the manga-canon events.

This chapter had quite a bit of stuff mainly relating to how Iris felt about Lucas and how she felt about her career. There were essentially two parts here and I hope I tackled it well. There will be more to come sometime soon.

The mystery girl made another appearance, hehe…!