Ben finally opens his eyes after a month of basking in sunlight every day. It is faster than Porlyusica's prediction that he'll wake up in 2 or 3 months. Well, that prediction was made on the 2nd day after his sunlight treatment started.
The prediction isn't accurate because Porlyusica doesn't know the amount of solar energy that Ben's body absorbed. Its amount was very low at first because his body was damaged a lot. But as his body gets better, the amount increases and hastened his healing.
"BEN!" shouts Bella happily as she jumps on Ben's body.
"Hmm? Bella? What happens? Why are you so excited?" asks Ben confusedly.
"It's because you have slept for too long," says Mira with tears in her eyes.
"Slept? What do you mean?" asks Ben.
"What's the last thing that you remember, Ben?" asks Porlyusica.
Ben tries to recall his last memory and finally remembers it. He widens his eyes and gets alerted before looking around for danger. The last thing he remembers is when he used his last bits of power to protect Mira & Bella from Acnologia's attack.
"Where's Acnologia? Where's everyone?" asks Ben panicky.
"Calm down, Ben. It's over, he has gone," says Mira while hugging Ben.
"Really? Then everyone is saved?" asks Ben hopefully.
"That's....," Mira can't continue her word.
Ben widens his eyes and his body trembles as his heart beats very hard. He immediately jumps out of his bed and leaves the room. Then he runs everywhere, checking every room that he finds as he runs.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! WENDY! CARLA! WHERE ARE YOU? COME OUT RIGHT NOW! THIS IS NOT FUNNY. I WON'T GET MAD IF YOU COME OUT NOW. I WILL BUY ANYTHING YOU WANT, SO COME OUT!" shouts Ben angrily.
He keeps shouting and calling his 2 sisters while calling his guildmates a few times too. But none of them respond even after Ben checks every room and gets out of the treehouse. He doesn't give up and runs around the forest to search for them.
Mira & Bella are chasing him while telling him to stop, but he doesn't listen. The last thing he wants to know is losing his family again. So he is in denial and still hopes that Wendy & Carla are fine as he runs around to search for them.
Slowly, his angry tone turns into a begging plea as tears flow from his eyes. "Please! Wendy, Carla, please just come out. I will do anything you want, so just answer me, I beg you. I'll take you to any festival that we haven't attended, we'll go on vacation anywhere you want, I'll even take you on my journey, so please come out, please."
Mira & Bella cry as they see Ben's strong back slumped down weakly as he cries & says, "Please, don't leave me."
The girls hug Ben from behind as he cries harder & louder. He had never cried this hard in his whole life because now he feels his whole world collapse. It's the 3rd time he lost his family members through misfortune like this, so it really breaks his heart.
Mira & Bella understand what Ben feels and they also cry hard on his back. They pour all their emotions through their tears & cry. The 3 of them have just lost their most important thing in the world, after all.
Porlyusica just watches the 3 from afar without saying anything. She can't do anything except watch them and make sure they don't do anything reckless. As their elder, she has the responsibility to watch over them.
"This must be very hard for you, so you can cry as hard as possible. But you need to move on after this, don't get stuck in the past because of your grief & sadness. If you can get past this, then you will be a lot stronger," mutters Porlyusica while standing behind a tree.
Ben, Mira, & Bella cry for a long time until their tears won't come out anymore. They sniffle and Ben just looks down sadly without saying anything. Mira & Bella are in better complexion because it's been more than a month since they knew everything while Ben has just known it.
The girls just sit there silently to give Ben time to sort his emotions. He just stays silent while looking down with his head between his knees. His face is expressionless and his eyes are blank as if his mind isn't there.
Ben thinks of why this thing keeps happening to him. He has trained to grow stronger and he has become stronger than most Mages. But his strength is still not enough and he lost some precious people again.
"Ben, let's go back. It's almost night," says Mira.
Bella also nudges Ben's shirt but he doesn't respond to them. He just stays silent and doesn't move from his position at all. It makes the 2 really sad to see Ben like this. The pain in his heart must be very great to put him in this state.
They don't have any choice but to take Ben back to the treehouse forcefully. He doesn't resist though and just lets them carry him back. They put him on his bed and he still doesn't move as they laid him there.
Then just like what Mira did on the first days after knowing the truth, Ben doesn't want to eat anything. But he doesn't lock himself and will still swallow the food if they feed him. The problem is he still has his blank expression and never responds to anything they say even after 5 days.
"It's been 5 days and he is still like that. It really breaks my heart to see him like this. Can't we do something?" asks Mira while she eats dinner together with Porlyusica & Bella.
"Help Ben," says Bella while looking at Porlyusica hopefully.
"Sigh, it's difficult. Even I don't know what should we do. It will be better if he wants to talk, but he just stays silent for 5 days. His body might be here but his mind isn't. Helping someone who doesn't even listen is a very difficult thing to do," says Porlyusica.
"Then what should we do? We can't let him stay like this forever," says Mira.
"I know, but it's not that easy. If we at least know what he thinks or wants, then maybe we can think of a way to help him," says Porlyusica.
"What he wants, is it? The only thing that I can think of is he wants to know that Wendy & Carla are fine," says Mira.
"Giving him false hope isn't a good thing to do. It's better to know the painful truth rather than a happy lie. Nothing good will come out of it," says Porlyusica.
"But I can't think of anything else," says Mira.
"Let's try to ask him at least. We haven't tried it, so we don't know if it'll work or not," says Porlyusica.
Mira thinks for a while and says, "Alright. We need to try it at least."
They go to Ben's room after finishing their dinner while carrying Ben's food too. Mira feeds him slowly while Bella is holding his hand with concern. Then after he finishes his meal, Mira finally asks for it.
"Ben, everything that happened also really broke my heart. But seeing you like this breaks my heart even further. Bella is also very sad seeing you like this, so please come back," says Mira.
Ben is still silent, so Mira continues, "At the very least, please say something to us. Please tell us what you want to do so that we can help you. Don't make us even sadder than we already have."
Ben doesn't say anything but they still wait. They almost give up and leave when they hear Ben whispers something. They can't hear it clearly, so Mira gets closer to Ben and sees that his face isn't blank anymore although he still looks very sad.
"...land. Let's go to Tenrou Island. I want to make sure of it myself," whispers Ben.
Mira is surprised, but she also wants to go there again to make sure of it. So she supports Ben's wish and tells Porlyusica about it. Bella agrees and wants to join them, making Porlyusica can't disagree.
Porlyusica then says, "Alright, but I will join you too. I'm worried that you will do something that endangers yourselves."
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