Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)
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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
"I'm sorry but the lightning did, things... I've never seen anything like this before. The flesh won't heal no matter what I try," Airmids timid voice quietly reaches Riveria.
The High Elf was currently sitting up in a hospital bed in Babel, the evening sun barely visible through the windows of her room as the doctor gives her the bad news.
Beneath her hospital gown, the left side of her body was still scarred with the lightning pattern all the way to her neck.
As if the thin rivers of flesh had been cut out, impossible to heal, memories and scars that can never fade from her body.
Her entire left arm was bandaged from shoulder to fingertips, sparing her the sight of what rests beneath.
"Are...are you sure?" Riveria's shaky voice asked. Staring down at her lap, her thoughts crashing together, the expectations of the crown weighing her down more now than it had ever since she left her forest.
"I'm sorry Lady Riveria, I tried everything, the flesh simply won't heal..." Airmid said with sadness in her voice.
"I'm supposed to be perfect Airmid, whatever you need, I'll get it for you, please," the future queen begged. A queen begged, the queen of the Elves begged, desperation as she'd never felt outside of the dungeon.
"I'm sorry..." was all Airmid could say, she'd tried everything, nothing worked.
---Yang's Apartment...
Hearing a knock on his door, Yang lazily rises from his couch, just settling in after his meeting and level up to get a day of rest, only to be interrupted barely 10 minutes later.
"I'm coming!" he calls out, quickly walking to his door and opening it, "he---"
His words are cut off as Lefiya Viridis lunges forward and wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug and pressing her face into his chest.
"Uhh..." he was completely thrown off-guard. How did she get here, why was she here, why is she hugging him, questions raged on in his mind as he hesitantly returned the hug.
"Finn told me you saved her," the girl mumbles out quickly.
"Ahh, that makes sense..." she releases him, opting to look up so their eyes meet as she takes a step back.
"Thank you!" she gives him a deep bow.
"Well I couldn't just let her die, don't mention it ok," he tries to get the girl to calm down, not enjoying the formalities of this encounter.
"Not just for that..."
"I don't recall doing anything else to get thanked for, why?"
"You, you helped me, remember, I figured out what you meant..." she straightens to give him a thankful look.
"Ahh...that."
"You pushed me away so I wouldn't feel guilty for Elfy, thank you," she gives him another quick bow.
"Mhm, I hope you aren't hoping for us to be romantic again," he immediately gets to the point, not liking where this might be going.
"Oh...no, we... I don't think I could be with this version of you," she explains.
"This version?"
"Before you had your memories back, you were a lot nicer."
"Naive."
"But nicer, now you're...too different, sorry."
"No apology needed, plus if you liked me still, no offense but your familia is too much baggage..." he awkwardly rubs his neck seeing her slightly confused.
"Hmm, I... don't get it, um, I should go right?"
"Yeah, bye Lefiya," he gives her a gentle smile.
"Bye Yang," she bows one last time before walking down the hallway, hearing his door shut softly behind her.
"How the fuck did she get past our guards, this is the high smith floor for our familia isn't it..." he questions to himself while returning to his relaxing lazy afternoon.
Minutes later, walking through the streets of Orario, Gareth and Lefiya accompany Riveria as she slowly and carefully takes labored steps on the stone road toward Twilight Manor.
Wearing a loose and comfortable green dress and using her staff to support her weight more than usual, the High Elf still has bandages on her left arm and around her neck to hide her injuries from everyone, to hide them from herself.
Taking in the sights of Ganesha familia moving timber from within the dungeon toward the guild, she feels the breeze on her skin, biting at her as winter is about to begin.
"We didn't miss the first snowfall," she muses, looking toward the overcast sky.
"Aye, seven weeks in the dungeon, thought we'd miss it for sure," Gareth says.
"That means the goddess festival is soon right, maybe we can go Lady Riveria?" Lefiya asks, always eager to spend time with her idol.
"Of course, as long as I feel better by then," the woman forced a small smile for the girl.
Arriving at Twilight Manor soon after, the three executives immediately find themselves walking toward the meeting room where everyone else awaits them.
"Sorry Lefiya," Gareth stops them before they knock on the door, "I think it's best you don't attend this meeting, it's a bit...sensitive," he gives her a pleading smile.
"O-oh, ok, you can count on me to make sure everyone out here is ok!" she gives him a deep bow before scurrying off to bother the other adventurers in their familia.
"Thank you," Riveria says, her voice tired as it reaches him.
"You sure you ready for this, you can sit this meeting out you know, we rather you rest than be here," the Dwarf pleads.
"You know I can't do that, it's my duty as vice-captain to attend, besides..." she gives him a sad look, "I basically raised that girl, this is on me..." she says, entering the room before he can mount a defense.
Riveria immediately saw all the executives and her goddess at their usual seats as she entered the room. The atmosphere was tense, as if they were waiting for a signal to start fighting.
From the looks the Amazon twins and Bete were giving Ais, that's exactly what they wanted to do right now.
She didn't miss that Finn sat between the twins, a hand holding Tione's hand and his other hand on Tiona's leg, most likely to keep them off of Ais.
Bete was glaring with more venom than she'd seen never before, especially considering who it was aimed at.
Walking over and taking a single seat as Gareth takes the other, all eyes now fell onto Ais as Loki sat beside her.
"What did you decide Finn?" The Elf doesn't even bother to greet anyone, she just wants to get to business then get some rest.
"Now that everyone is here, I can get to that. Loki won't let me expel her."
He was immediately met with yelling and shouting from the twins and Bete.
"That's Bullshit, she was gonna get us killed!" The wolf shouts.
"We can't trust her!" Tiona adds.
Tione was unconsciously crushing Finn's hand as best she could, her bare feet digging into the stone floor as she curled her toes and grits her teeth, the only thing stopping her from tackling Ais right now was her beloved Finn.
"ENOUGH!" Loki silences them all, "consider this a selfish act from your goddess, now let Finn finish," the amazons and Bete glare at their goddess before shifting their focus back to Ais.
"Thank you," Finn gives Loki a small nod, "since we can't kick her out or demote because since that would affect morale and raise red flags, Ais will be grounded to this castle until further notice, if any of you would like to leave the familia I completely understand, I only ask that you keep this information to yourselves," he pleads.
"She almost gets us killed and you give her a slap on the wrist!" Bete argues.
"This is unfair, if anyone else did what she did you'd kick us out!" Tione speaks up, pointing a finger at Loki.
"This isn't right!" Tiona says.
"I can't expel her so this is the best I can do with my hands this tied up, I'm sorry, but as far as I can tell, unless we have a serious emergency, it'll be maybe a year until her punishment is lifted...at the very least. She won't be fighting until we can trust her again," Finn's words silence the room.
Everyone knows how adamant Ais is about becoming stronger, this was akin to locking her in hell. A punishment they weren't against considering what she did.
"I-I'm sorry," the girl finally spoke, her voice soft and cracking as she stands up and bows to her allies, begging for forgiveness.
"Cut the crap, nobody here cares about words after what you did!" Bete tears her apology apart.
"Sorry for what?" Riveria finally spoke, all eyes immediately moved toward her, all but Ais who kept staring at her feet. "Sorry that we got hurt, or sorry that it wasn't worth it for you. If you got to level 6 from that would you still be sorry Ais?"
The Elf's voice was angry, her brows furrowed as she showed her fangs. Her words cut deeper than anything Ais had experienced.
"I...I'm sorry," the girl could only repeat herself, not even sure how to respond to the woman's questions.
"No Ais, I'm sorry," everyone gave Riveria a strange look, not sure where this was going," you only did this because I failed," she rises from her seat and begins walking toward the door, "I should have raised you better than this, I failed as a mother," the woman says, quickly leaving the room before anyone could notice her watery eyes.
Everyone was stunned by her words, Ais crumpled back into her seat staring at her lap as silent tears fell, ignored by her fellow executives and goddess.
"Finn," her small voice called out, "I, would like to resign from Loki familia," she finally found the courage to say.
None of their expressions softened in the least, only Loki reacted as she gently reached around Ais and pulled her into a gentle hug, "don't go so far Ais, we can get past this just give everyone some time," the girls' tears didn't stop after hearing Loki's words.
"It's not that simple," Finn spoke up, "if you're hoping to get out of the one-year punishment by joining another familia that won't work, see I can't just let you pull stunts like this no matter where you go because then people can get hurt. If you're here I can keep you in check but if you leave and people don't know that makes you too dangerous, I'd have to let the guild know about this Ais. No familia will let you join after that, I promise this isn't to spite you, I just can't let people get hurt because of this..."
His words were completely true. He wouldn't be able to call himself a hero if he knowingly let people get hurt. It's his duty to report her if she gets out of his control, and she'd never get another Falna from any sane god assuming the guild doesn't blacklist her.
For this, they normally wouldn't take action, but the rules are different for first-class adventurers, if you're willing to risk the lives of other first-class adventurers like that then the guild WILL stop you, they can't afford to lose mankinds' strongest soldiers due to one person's selfishness after all.
"I see," was all Ais could say, she was stuck. She had to stay here and face the guilt of what she'd done.
"You can go to your room now Ais, unofficially, you're no longer an executive, you don't need to attend these meetings anymore," Finn says.
The girl silently and lifelessly gets up and shuffles out of the room, not sure what to do from here.
"That's it?" Bete growls out, "if you think I'm ever gonna be on a team with her you're crazy," he says.
"Yeah!"
"Agreed," the amazons said.
"We've got AT LEAST a year to sort this out, if any of you want to quit I'll give you a glowing recommendation," Loki says, trying to lighten to mood a bit but only earning glares from her children.
Hours after the meeting, Riveria was walking down from her room on one of the highest floors of the castle after taking a private bath and having a nap.
She was hungry, dinner was well underway and she couldn't afford to miss it.
Wearing her usual mage attire and leaving her staff in her room she walks without her bandages, the restricting cloth not needed as the soreness was long gone from her wounds.
Walking down the stairs to the cafeteria, she could see the cloudy night sky through the windows, more beautiful than any painting as the moon hides behind Babel.
With a small smile on her face she enters the dining hall, taking a quick glance around she notices Ais's usual seat beside Lefiya empty, seems she was fortunate enough to miss the girl.
Seeing her at the entrance, one of the elves at her usual table eagerly waves at her and calls her over to her seat, a plate had already been made for her. The Elves of their familia tend to eat together at one table, always eager to spend time with the princess of their race.
Returning the Elf girls' gentle smile Riveria quickly walks over.
"Lady Riveria, we're glad you're ok," a similar greeting reached her as she approached her seat.
"Thank you," she says, giving a gentle wave with her left hand.
The entire table freezes.
Her high-level senses allow her to see the emotions shift as if in slow motion.
Happiness, excitement at seeing the princess in good health.
Surprise takes over their features for a moment as their eyes widen.
Their faces wrinkle as they recoil in their seats.
DISGUST.
They looked as if they were seconds from running away, as if she were a monster.
"Wh---" Riveria's confusion was short-lived as she follows their eyes, all the way to her raised left hand.
The lightning pattern scars, like rivers of flesh exposing muscle beneath didn't stop on her body, it ran all the way down to the fingertips on her left hand, small patches of flesh were also black, no larger than a coin from the mix of crackling strange lightning and being frozen for so long before they could reattach it, the cells had been completely killed.
Shame and embarrassment flood her mind as she drops her hand to her side and immediately rushes to leave the room, ignoring her growling stomach. The judging and disgusted eyes of her kin occupy her entire mind.
As everyone ate their meals happily in the dining hall below, Riveria stood in front of her full body mirror in her room. Completely naked as she traces the scars all across her body, small singular tears, heavy with sadness and hopelessness race down her face.
"I...I was perfect, the perfect princess, the perfect Elf... now I'm, this..." she mutters to herself, staring at the THING in her mirror as it gazes back at her with disgust and hate.
Elves were expected to be perfect, royalty like her that much further above the others, any imperfection could make her ineligible for her title and position, she was done.
She failed as a mother.
Failed as an Elf.
And now, she'd never get to be a queen...
END CHAPTER---
Heavy chapter, she's still my best girl tho. #RiveriaBestWaifu #RiveriaSupremecy #DungeonMilf
Ais is in deep crap...
Back to Yang next chapter.