"Come on, you sad sad lumps, it's right there, we can see it, we'll rest when we get there," Ross commanded, "So don't fall behind now!"
"Ugh, I can feel my lungs trying to kill me," Auria groaned, "And I think I just peed a little,"
"Walk it off, Crane," Ross replied, "You can get a change of clothes up at the temple, now keep moving,"
Auria groaned but said nothing more and just continued trudging forward. She shifted her feet around but definitely wasn't enthusiastic about it.
"Come on Crane, your dad'll be up there, that's what we came here for, right?" Senwell nudged, "Put your chin up a bit,"
It took a long while, but Auria finally mustered up the energy to keep up with everyone else. The Temple was getting so close! She could smell it!
Upon reaching the Temple, Auria tapped her staff twice on the ground and created a light at the tip of the staff, illuminating the area.
Auria and the gang moved onwards, using the little light they were given to navigate the Temple. Quite a scary scene, if you were scared of the dark.
Eventually, they all came upon a small campfire, it cackled at every movement it made and seemed to lick at an invisible figure that loomed above it.
Auria, against the judgment of her instincts and her peers, walked towards the fire, and upon getting closer, she saw him! His red ponytail and his shaven yet scruffy beard were quite prevalent and his strong jawline was sharp enough to cut diamonds and he was even a bit darker than Auria was. She knew exactly who he was!
Auria dropped her trunk and staff and ran to him, tackle hugging him, "Dad dad dad," Auria sputtered, "I missed you so much! Don't leave my side ever again!"
Edward had fallen on his back and held Auria tightly in his arms, "Hey there, stinkbutt, how're you doing?"
Auria looked to him, teary-eyed and sniffling, but said nothing more, she just cried into his chest for a while longer.
Auria laid asleep in Edward's lap, she had cried herself to sleep. The gang had grouped up around the fire and did their best to break the silence, which was quite difficult with a stranger and a superior sitting around.
"So…" Ross started, "Major General, Mister Fulbar, what brought you two out so far from Central?"
"Just Edward is fine," Edward responded, "I was in Eden what was it… Two weeks ago? Yes, two weeks ago, I came here to find an artifact, though found no luck here, I bumped into the Major General a couple towns from Eden, and she came with me,"
"Well, why'd the Major General follow you?" Ross asked.
"Thought I recognized him, started up a conversation and recognized his name, the father of Auria, so naturally I had to hunt him down," Rockwell said.
Auria had nuzzled up quite close to her father, she was surprisingly attached to him, despite having only really met him just now. It just felt right to her.
"What now?" Nicosia blurted out, "Like… What's our next objective, where do we go from here?"
"Ah well… I have some business to attend to, I can't go along with you all," Edward said, "Too dangerous,"
"But… Crane has been looking for you for so long, and you'll just leave her again? That doesn't sound…" Ross started, but she eventually trailed off.
"It isn't that I don't want to bring her anywhere… It's just too dangerous, and she's still just a child," Edward responded, stroking Auria's hair, "A beautiful blue, just like her mother,"
"Well I… Sir, please excuse me if I come off as harsh, but I've seen her in action, she can handle herself, you should see her…" Ross replied "Besides, she really loves you, you've gotta give her something,"
Edward was silent for a moment but then shook Auria gently, "Little rabbit, it's time to wake up," His usual gruff voice was unnaturally soothing and calm. Very gentle, not something you'd expect from a man like him.
After a few more gentle shakes, Auria opened her eyes and stared blankly at Edward. They had a staring match for a few moments before Edward finally spoke up.
"Little rabbit, I have some very important things to do, I want to take you, but I can't, do you understand?" Edward asked.
"Already? But you've been gone so long already, I don't wanna leave you so soon!" Auria whined.
Edward placed a hand on Auria's cast and, in a flash of light, her arm was healed completely! It was as though it had never been broken! It even felt better than it ever did before.
Auria opened and closed her fist a few times and then began to move her arm around, it felt so nice that she instantly began to undo the cast!
"Woah, dad, how'd you do that? I can't even do that yet!" Auria exclaimed, "Well, not without a real strong transmutation circle!"
Edward smiled, "Sometimes, you offer something that is intangible to others, things that only you can see, only you can feel,"
Edward shifted his legs and pulled something from his jacket pocket, "This is a brooch for you, pin it on your trenchcoat and I'll come back for you in Eden,"
Auria complied, taking the brooch and pinning it to her chest. It was quite good looking, very fashionable, her father had good taste.
"This was your mothers, and now it's yours, I love you with all my heart, and I wouldn't leave you behind if I had any choice," Edward said.
Auria grinned and gave Edward the biggest hug she's ever given, "I love you, dad, we'll have a real good chat whenever you come back,"
Edward smirked and then turned his attention to the rest of the gang, "And thank you all for looking after my daughter, it means so much to me, she's all that I have left,"
Everyone collectively grinned, they did good, reunited a father and daughter, and went on a great adventure along the way. Truly something to be proud of.
Edward patted Auria's back before standing straight up and stretching, "It's best I get going, I once again thank you all, and we will meet again at some point,"
With that, Edward patted Auria's head, gave a reassuring smile, and began to walk off. Of course, Auria would have none of this and began to chase after him, but she was stopped by Ross and Senwell. She understood, of course, he had to leave, but it didn't make the situation any worse, and without her realizing, her eyes filled with tears, the dam had finally burst and they streamed down her face without any signs of stopping.
Auria gulped down her tears as she saw her father walking off. He gave a glance back towards her but said nothing. His face said it all, he was scared. It was the same eyes she had seen before, the eyes of someone who knows they're about to die.
As soon as Edward was in her grasp, he had just fallen through, just like that. Right through her fingers. It felt like a hollow victory. No, it wasn't a feeling, it was a fact. She had finally managed it, but it was taken away in the blink of an eye.
"Dad…" Auria whined, though there was no response this time, just silence. Nobody felt that they should speak up.
Ross reeled Auria in and held her close, "It's alright Crane… He'll be back for you, and you'll be able to spend all the time you want with him,"
Auria sniffled, "You smell like adrenaline and gunpowder… It really suits you, Lieutenant," Auria joked, trying to distract herself.
Ross smirked, "Hell yeah I do, now then," Ross knelt down in front of Auria, "This is nothing, don't cry over something like this, you're stronger than that," She said, wiping Auria's tears away.
"Yeah, Crane, we've been working for years to find him, and we finally did," Senwell spoke up, "And we even got him to promise to come back and find you, I think we won,"
Auria sniffled again, "Yeah, yeah! We won! We did good, we all work pretty well together!"
Without warning, Auria was tackled by Major General Rockwell. She wasn't angry, but she was gushing about how grown up Auria has gotten.
"Oh my gods, you've gotten so grown up, that's so responsible of you, oh my gods, Auria, that's amazing!" Rockwell exclaimed.
"General… You're choking me, can't breathe," Auria complained, "Might pass out…"
Auria made a swift recovery. Being strangled half to death by the Major General wasn't exactly something she was happy about, especially knowing that now she wouldn't be able to get out of her sight.
"Major General," Ross said, giving a salute, "What should we do next?"
Rockwell gave a serious thinking face before she spoke, she looked like she had something important to suggest, "I have no idea, but we should all get back to Central," Rockwell smiled, "That includes you, Crane, you aren't sneaking off again this time!"
"Goddammit…" Auria murmured, "Alright, alright, fine, I won't sneak off this time, let's just get going…"
Auria grabbed her trunk and staff, "Oh, and that little witch that was with us, where's she gone off to?"
"She said something about picking flowers for her master and that we shouldn't wait up for her," Senwell said.
"Ah, that's a shame, she was kinda growing on me," Auria replied, "Oh well, can't win them all,"
"Don't make any moves on her, please," Senwell sighed.
"I wasn't gonna! Besides, I don't go for witches, they aren't my type," Auria joked, "You should know better than to think that, Grenadier!"
Auria tapped her staff twice on the ground and created a light just at the tip of her staff. She then began to march off, not really waiting at all for everyone else to be finished.
"Last one out needs to pop the Grenadier's back pimples!" Auria yelled out before bolting towards the exit!
Senwell and Ross facepalmed before joining up with everyone else to leave. They were the furthest back.
"She's sure energetic," Ross said.
"Tell me about it, when she was younger, she was even worse, but at least her sense of humor is still intact," Senwell responded.
"You really fit the big brother identity to a tee, good for you, Grenadier, though I'm not sure how I'd feel about having a younger sister like that,"
"Speak for yourself, Ross," Senwell smirked, "Being a surrogate brother to her has its perks, besides, have you ever seen her smile? I'd trade anything to keep her smiling forever,"
Senwell was silent for a moment before speaking again, "Besides, you fit the role of a big sister to her quite well, even if you've only known her for a short time, she's pretty fond of you,"
"Yeah yeah, whatever…" Ross murmured.
At long last, the two were at the entrance, everyone else had already grouped up outside and were messing around, laughing and joking. Ross looked to Senwell and hopped out of the entrance and out onto the grass, "Pop your own back pimples," She joked.
"Lieutenant!" Auria exclaimed as she ran to her and hugged her. Auria's trunk whipped around and hit the Lieutenant in the back, which hurt quite a bit. Having a thirty-pound trunk hit you like that was bound to hurt.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here… The Major General is getting all clingy again and I think the Sergeant is gonna get uncomfortable again…" Auria whispered to Ross.
Ross giggled, "Alright, let's go save him,"