It's taken me a while but I'm finally ready for the dungeon! I can't wait to show Finn, I hope he lets me go tomorrow. Right as Loki and I arrived at Finn's office we hear Riveria shout from behind the door.
"Then the infant dragon that attacked Hanabi was smuggled out by Evilus!?"
Huh? Then it was Evilus that killed mama and papa? No the monster did, but it was only there because of Evilus... No. It was my fault. If I was stronger they would still be alive. If I was stronger they wouldn't have died protecting me. But, it was monsters and Evilus that killed them too... I don't understand. Why did they have to die?
They took my parents away. Unforgiveable. The monsters, Evilus, and me. I'll kill them, all of them. I won't let them take away anyone else's mama and papa, I'll get stronger and I'll kill them all.
There is no reason to wait. I know what I have to do, all that's left is to see it through. With this in mind I reach out and slowly open the door. I walk over to Finn and hand him my status sheet "Tomorrow... Please." I then turn and leave. There's no time to waste, I must get stronger... Now.
I can't help but sigh as Hanabi closes the door behind her. A kid shouldn't have eyes like that. It seems she has made up her mind, I just hope she doesn't get too reckless. Looking up I see a very upset Loki, a very guilty looking Riveria, and Gareth looking just as tired as I am.
"What the hell is going on." Loki demands, it's rare to see her genuinely upset but it's easy to see why. "A group of ours came across a group from Evilus attempting to smuggle out several minotaur from the dungeon." Loki deflates with a sigh and just says "Shit."
"Our people managed to take out all of the minotaur as well as the members of Evilus. They also managed to keep one alive long enough to extract some information, apparently this smuggling has been going on for some time now. The guild must have already known, I can't think of any other reason they would directly issue the quest for the infant dragon to us." I continued.
Loki's eyes open from their usual squint and she asks "You don't think Ouranos knew Hanabi would be there, do you?" This makes me pause and think the question over for a minute, after a few seconds I look back up and say "Possible, but very unlikely. Even Ouranos isn't all knowing, at least not in the mortal world. He definitely knows a lot more than he lets on, but I think Hanabi was just unfortunate. Until we took her in she was just the child of a small poor family, I doubt even her parents knew about her spirit blood." This makes Loki and Gareth nod, though Riveria still looks very upset with herself.
"So mama put two and two together and shouted huh." Loki comments trying to get Riveria to snap out of her thoughts, though it doesn't seem to have worked. The jade haired elf didn't even snap at Loki for calling her mama.
Seeing our resident mama isn't going to, I sigh for what feels like the thousandth time today and say "I'll go find Hanabi, she's a smart kid, but still a kid. Don't want her to run off."
As I arrive at Hanabi's room I knock but there's no response. Finding it unlocked I walk in... only to find it empty. Not good, my thumb is starting to ache a bit too. Whenever that happens it means something bad is going to happen. Rushing from her room to check the common rooms and cafeteria, asking whoever I find if they've seen the young fox girl.
Starting to panic a little I tell everyone I see to split up and look for her, I really hope she hasn't run off to the dungeon. Forget the dungeon with Evilus running around even the city isn't safe, definitely not for such a young child.
A few hours have passed and the sun has gone down, still no one has found her. I even sent some people to check the first few floors of the dungeon, but it's like she's just vanished. As I'm making my way back to the office I see a light coming from a corner of the training grounds. Wondering who could be training when I asked everyone to look for Hanabi, I go to check it out.
Arriving at the training grounds I head to where I saw the light come from, turning the corner to check behind the armory I find the fox everyone has spent the whole evening looking for. But that's not all I find, the ground and the wall of the armory are scorched black. Hanabi is drenched in sweat, and there's blood dripping down her hands to the ground.
"Hanabi!" I called out to her but she didn't respond, instead raising her sword for yet another practice swing. I rushed over to her and pried the katana out of her hands. "Hanabi, you're hurting yourself! Everyone has been looking all over for you, come on. Lets get your hands treated." when I grab her wrist to drag her away she doesn't move. Looking up I'm shocked at what I see. Her Bright golden eyes have dimmed, she usually has a blank face but now it looks different. She is still expressionless, but her eyes are steady. She looks resolved.
As I'm about to start talking to her again something I didn't expect happens, she shouted "I can't! I need to get stronger now! I need to kill them, all of them! The monsters and Evilus!" Hanabi, the red haired fox girl who rarely talks, Yelled.
As I'm standing there wide eyed, I'm surprised yet again as Hanabi starts to collapse. I rush to catch her, shouting must have drained the last of her energy.