Finn was laughing while feeding Sophie some food. They were enjoying their evening, as Lusha and Erelith were also spending time with each other.
All of them were focused on their partners so much that nobody noticed that Fae was missing.
'Something is wrong, Finn.'
But Finn was suddenly forced to stop the hand that was holding food and was nearing Sophie's mouth because he heard Loki's voice.
He frowned and put the food down.
'What? Is this one of your jokes again?'
'Not this time. I feel extreme unrest from the nature around you. It's like the gods that are watching you are… grieving.'
Loki's voice was devoid of any sarcasm or joy, and he sounded more serious than ever before.
Finn tilted his head in confusion, trying to think of a reason as to why the gods would grieve.
'Maybe they are jealous that I have kissed Sophie.'
He confidently smiled, but Loki didn't share his happiness.
'No. I feel them getting rowdier. If they were talking to you loudly before, they are screaming at you right now, but I can't hear what they are saying because the five gods you had met had blocked your communication with the other gods.'
Unknown to both Finn and Loki, the gods that had spectated Finn's entire journey so far had fallen in love with Fae's cute innocence, and since they could see what was happening to her right now, they wanted to alert Finn, but to no avail.
Sophie noticed how Finn kept changing his expression, so she touched his shoulder in worry.
"What's wrong, Finn?"
He also wasn't sure what was wrong, so he looked at Sophie.
"Do you see anything unusual around you? Anything?"
Finn asked her and started looking around.
Sophie also looked around a bit and then turned to look at him.
"Fae is missing, but I think that she went to the bathroom or to get a snack, right?"
'When Sophie talked to you about Fae, the gods screamed at you like they were trying to tear your ears off!'
Hearing Loki, Finn quickly stood up and started looking around in worry.
He kept turning his head, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't find Fae.
"Something is wrong!"
So he grabbed Erelith's shoulder, shocking him.
"What?"
"Fae is missing, and I feel like something might have happened to her!"
"Huh?"
Erelith's and Lusha's expressions turned grave, and they also started looking around, but the adorable silver-haired girl that always stood out in the crowd was nowhere to be seen.
"How sure are you that something bad happened to Fae?!"
Erelith grabbed Finn's shoulders in worry.
"Something had happened to her without a doubt."
Knowing that Loki was not joking, Finn nodded with a frown.
"Where is she then!?"
Erelith started shaking with Finn because he was scared of what might have happened to his daughter now that they had finally gotten to meet again.
"I don't kn-"
[The Goddess of Stars, Asteria, tells you that the princess is drowning in the river near the northern bridge and begs you to go save her.]
While he was midsentence, Finn's eyes registered a new system message, making them widen and his pupils shrink.
Without a moment's hesitation, he pushed Erelith away and rushed towards the northern part of the city.
There was a crowd in front of him, and he was scared that they would slow him down, so he jumped inside the crowd and used his ring, changing into a large bird and throwing his clothes into his inventory.
WHOOSH
With a loud flap of his wings, he left the crowd and started flying straight towards the bridge.
Erelith saw Finn's expression and how he didn't hesitate to start running. And although he lost him when he saw him enter the crowd, he knew he ran north.
So, he quickly ordered the guards around him to immediately start searching the northern part of the city and find Fae.
Finn wasn't very familiar with flying as a bird, and the speed at which he flew made him feel like his arms were being torn off, but he ignored the pain and sped up.
He didn't care about the pain he was feeling. All he wished for at that moment was that he would be able to make it in time and to be able to see Fae's smile again.
Arriving above the bridge, Finn circled the river, but he couldn't see Fae anywhere, so he tried flying down the stream of the river to see if he could find her.
But looking around, he still couldn't see her, and the more time he had lost, the more rushed he felt.
He was starting to feel his heart beating out of his chest as his eyes kept scanning the river.
'Where are you… Come on… Come on… Please don't tell me I am late… I can't be late…'
Finn wanted to turn around and search around the bridge again when he suddenly saw something silver in color on the bottom of the river.
So he instantly folded his wings and nosedived toward it.
SWOOSH
When he was about to hit the water surface, he changed into himself and dove down.
Kicking his legs, he kept diving deeper and deeper until he finally reached Fae.
She had her eyes closed, and Finn's heart skipped a beat in fear, thinking that he was already late.
Quickly grabbing her, he used all his strength to swim upward, and when he broke through the surface, he swam to the shore.
The river was calm, and since Finn knew how to swim, he had no problem getting there.
Placing Fae on one of the stone platforms that were along the river, he first placed his ear on her chest to check her heartbeat.
"…"
Silence.
Her chest was extremely cold, and he didn't hear anything.
The cute girl who was like a little sister to him and would always make him smile was now unmovingly lying in Finn's arms.
Tears started welling up in his eyes.
His heart was in so much pain that he had to clench his teeth to calm down.
Refusing to give up, though, he decided to try resuscitating her.
Finn placed his palms on top of each other and then placed them on Fae's chest.
He started pressing down on her chest in a stable rhythm, but no matter how much he compressed her chest, he still couldn't feel her heartbeat.
"Wake up... please... wake up... I can't lose you, Fae... please..."
Seeing that it wasn't working, he stopped and tilted her head up. He then squeezed her nose shut and decided to try mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Finn blew air into her throat and then compressed her chest to massage her heart and lungs.
He did this about ten times until he finally felt movement.
So, Finn blew air inside Fae again, and she finally woke up, coughing out all the water that she had breathed in.
"*Cough* *Cough*"
He quickly helped her cough to the side so that she didn't choke on the water she coughed out, and when she was done, she weakly opened her tired eyes.
Seeing her breathe and move meant that she was still alive, and Finn felt like a heavy rock had dropped from his heart.
His body, which was running on adrenaline, had finally relaxed, and he suddenly felt the sharp pangs of pain in his arms from the fast flying he had done earlier.
Fae looked extremely exhausted, but Finn was just happy that she was still alive, and he had the ring that enabled him to make it in time.
If he didn't have the ring and was forced to run or he decided to check the bridge one more time, he knew that Fae wouldn't make it.
"Big… Brother…"
With her tired eyes, she saw the blurry image of Finn, who had tears streaming down his face.
"Yes, Fae, you are okay now. You are okay."
He had a relieved smile on his face as he looked at her.
"Is this… heaven…?"
Fae was still a little out of it, and Finn chuckled at her question. Well, it was more like a chortle because his nose was stuffed from all the crying he had done.
"No Fae. We are both alive. Asteria told me about you, and I rushed to save you."
Finn told the tired Fae what he knew, and she remembered praying to Asteria before she lost consciousness.
"I see… I am going to sleep…"
As soon as she finished talking, Fae fell asleep in Finn's arms.
Finn then wore his clothes again, but he took off his suit to cover Fae's shivering body and keep her warm.
Now that he had some time, he waited a few seconds for his arms to stop hurting, and when he felt that the pain wasn't as bad as before, he picked Fae up in a princess carry and carried her up the stairs.
---
The city was currently in an uproar after the young princess disappeared, and the one who was most hurt by it all was Lusha.
She kept blaming herself for not looking after Fae because if she had cared to take a look every now and then, none of this would have happened.
Erelith was also clenching his teeth in fear.
He kept shouting orders and expanding the search because he only knew that Fae had gotten lost in the northern part of the city and didn't know where she was.
Sophie tried to message Finn, but he wasn't answering, so she comforted Lusha instead.
"Sir!"
Suddenly one of the guards ran up to Erelith, and Lusha looked at him, thinking that they had found Fae.
"We found this near the river, sir."
The guard handed Erelith Fae's little shoes, which she had taken off before she slipped into the river.
Erelith took those small white shoes with his trembling hands and looked down at the ground with empty eyes.
His silver hair was ruffled up from the constant running around, and his silver bangs covered his blue, lifeless eyes.
He knew what it meant that they found the shoes near the river, and he knew that it was too late for Fae now.
"NOOO! MY BABY!"
When Lusha heard the guard, she started crying and screaming into Sophie's embrace even harder.
And Sophie, who had gotten a new, adorable little sister only a few days ago, was now devastated to hear that she was gone.
"SIR!"
Erelith was woken up from his dazed state by another guard's shout, and when he looked over, he saw Finn carrying Fae while being escorted by multiple guards.
Lusha immediately got up, and together with Sophie and Erelith, they all ran towards Finn.
"H- How is she?"
Noticing her closed eyes, Lusha asked Finn in worry, but he calmly replied with a smile.
"She is okay. She is just sleeping right now. But she did swallow a lot of water, so you should take her to the doctor."
Lusha's eyes brightened up, and a smile appeared on her face that was stained with tears.
She then hugged Fae and Finn as tears started leaving her eyes again, but this time they were tears of joy.
After going through an emotional roller coaster tonight, Lusha was exhausted but at the same time extremely happy that Fae was alive.
"Thank you… Thank you…"
Erelith, who was still holding Fae's tiny shoes, also felt his eyes become wet, and he hugged Finn as well.
Sophie didn't want to crowd Fae, so she stood next to Finn with a smile.
After almost losing their daughter twice now, Erelith and Lusha kept thanking Finn, which made Fae wake up.
"…Mom? Why are you crying?"
Fae asked with a soft voice, and it made Lusha smile.
"It's because I am happy to see that my little angel is okay."
She hugged Fae, and while they were hugging, Finn received another system message from Goddess Asteria.
[The Goddess of Stars, Asteria, thanks you for saving the future queen of elves during her Starry Night Festival.]
[The Goddess of Stars, Asteria, will show you her gratitude by accepting your lover as her champion and treating her with the utmost care.]
When Finn finished reading the message, he looked at Sophie, whose eyes first moved around like she was reading something, and then they widened in surprise.