I've never felt this nervous in either of my lives.
If anyone from my old life heard of this they'd be laughing at me.
Me, who has outdueled some of the strongest fighters. Me, who has kept the king safe through multiple assassination attempts. Me, who has stared at the jaws of death hundreds of times yet came out alive all but one time.
That same me is nervous of meeting my parents after four years.
So I asked my brother if he was the same.
"You nervous?"
"Absolutely"
At least I'm not the only one.
"Same here."
And then we knocked together.
A dull yet resounding sound of metal clanging on metal followed.
I could hear footsteps and a sound which surprisingly was that of a child's, "Coming~"
The door opened to reveal a little girl accompanied by a maid who looked at us curiously. I guess its not everyday two 8 year old kids come at a nobles manor.
"Ahem, I am Fayden Leywin, this is my brother Arthur Leywin, it's a pleasure to meet you. We were notified that our family is currently residing here. Can we speak to them?" I introduce us.
Before the maid could respond an oh so familiar voice spoke in the background, "Eleanor Leywin! There you are! You have got to stop going to the front door everytime someone..." my mother stopped mid way and dropped a bowl of food.
Eleanor Leywin. My sister? Looking closer I see she has dazzling brown eyes and light ashen brown hair, much like my own, tied in two pigtails.
Turning my gaze away from her I looked towards mom and spoke, "Hey mom, we're back."
She ran towards us at a speed on par with Gramps, fell on her knees, embracing us in a death grip, afraid we might disappear again.
At this moment the dam broke. I let my tears flow through my eyes like small rivers, and a wide smile framed my face.
"You're both alive! I knew the voices were you! You're back home now my babies!" That's the most she could make out before turning into a bawling mess.
I couldn't blame her, not while all I could do was cry silently on her shoulder.
I hadn't cried like this in a long time. Not since the incident.
Seeing mom like this our sister walked to us and patted her back trying to comfort her, " Mama, there there, don't cwy."
But after seeing that she was unsuccessful she also started crying.
"Arthur! Fayden!" A voice came from behind us, craning my neck backwars I saw my father, drenched in sweat sprinting towards us.
He slid on his knees hugging us, almost toppling us over.
"My sons! Look how much you've grown! You're finally back!" He put us in a headlock under his arms.
This continued on with my mother still weeping uncontrollably along with my sister while me and Art had silly grins on our faces and Father patting our heads.
After a few moments we finally settled down.
We sat on a couch with me and Arthur sitting on either side and Mom between us. Dad sat on a chair facing us and Eleanor sitting on another couch to the side.
"Are you alright now? You ate three times a day right? You slept dressed warmly everyday right? Oh my babies, look how you've grown." My mother said with tears still escaping her eyes.
She pulled us in another hug and placed a gentle kiss on our temples, "I'm so glad that both of you are back."
Zeke had come out by now and was observing the three unfamiliar people in the room along with Sylvie.
Who?
Family, they're family. The auburn haired woman is my mother while the ashen brown haired man is my father and the little girl is my sister.
Okay
Judging from how he and Sylvie started playing Arthur must've said something similar to her.
Dad was also looking at the two beasts with curiosity but didn't question it. Looking at us his gaze softened and he kept shaking his head, repeating again and again how big we've gotten. Must be a bittersweet feeling knowing that your sons have grown so much and you weren't there with them.
"Ellie, say hi to your big brothers, they had to stay away from us for a while but they will stay with us from now." My mother gently nudged my sister.
"Bruhders?" She said tilting her head a little.
"Yes, the ones in the stories mama and papa told you before bedtime."
Hearing that her eyes started sparkling making me wonder what kind of stories they had told her.
"Hewo big bruhder Art, big bruhder Fay." She said waving her hands at us.
I think my heart melted at that moment.
At that moment I swore I'd keep her safe, that I would not fail my family another time.
"Hello Eleanor, its nice to meet you." My brother said shaking her hands
"Hey little sister, nice to finally meet you." I said patting her head instead.
"My sons, we were devastated after what happened and hardly believed it when you talked to us in our minds. How did you two survive the fall?" My father asked us.
Me and Art looked at each other and nodded. We had already decided just how much information we would withdraw, like being saved by mana beasts, receiving beast wills, and an artifact as a weapon in my case.
"Fayden, you mentioned some sort of problem in your mana cores that prevented your return. What about that? Are you cured?" My mother asked concern visible on her face and voice.
"Its fine, we're cured. Apparently our early awakening lead to our mana cores becoming unstable and resulting in frequent pain in our cores. Fortunately there was an elder there who knew how to cure it and agreed to help us since we brought their princess back safely." I reassured them.
She sighed in relief and patted our heads again.
"So what's the story behind these two." My father asked pointing towards Zeke and Sylvie.
"When we were traveling we came across two mana beasts fighting, probably for territory, they seemed to be equal in strength and ended up killing each other. We went to check up on them when Arthur found a stone, which he later realized was an egg, and I found a new born cub hidden in the shadow of the beast which came out once he was dead." I explained to them.
"I named her Sylvie and Fay named him Zeke. Say hi to them." Arthur said their names which I had forgotten to mention.
Arthur picked Sylvie up in his arms to which she purred like a kitten while Zeke jumped into my lap and yipped happily.
While not exactly a lie it left a sour aftertaste in my mouth.
"So what happened while we were away?" I asked them since all I knew was that they stayed in Xyrus now and Dad took a new job.
So Dad explained just what had happened during these 4 years. Mom chimed in saying, "The Helstea family had gone on a trip and would be arriving today, I imagine they would be quite surprised to see you."
Looking closer at my parents I saw mother had lost a bit of weight and that she was paler than before, probably due to the grief of "losing" us, sorry mom. My father though was much more built now and had a beard making him look more rustic than before.
"So Dad, what color is your mana core now." Arthur asked.
With a confident grin and chest puffed out he spoke, "Your old man broke through the light red stage a few years ago and now is a dark orange mage."
Impressive, for the average mage that didn't attend school usually got stuck in the light red stage and if lucky the dark orange, so by that standards my father was doing pretty good.
Leaning forward he spoke again, "I bet you only asked to brag yourself, so lets hear it then. What stage are you."
Smirking at each other we spoke, "Light red"
Dad who was already leaning forward fell down in surprise and even my mother let out a gasp of surprise.
"L-Light red, Holy shit!" He exclaimed.
"Shet!" said my sister laughing at my father falling.
"That's nice and good honey but what did I say about cursing in front of Ellie." My Mother reprimanded Dad.
"Sorry, Sorry. Don't listen to what your Dad just said Ellie." He said before turning to us.
"They still are the same geniuses they were before. Come on. Lets spar!"