"Rus we have to go" Ansel said desperately to Rus as the thunderstorm kept getting worse.
"Hold on Ansel, the girls are wise. They won't go to the warehouse in this weather, they are probably hiding or resting somewhere" Rus said, burying the last treasure chest. Ruri overheard their conversation and moved closer to them, nodding her head in agreement with Rus.
"Amanda might be a little reckless but I trust Mamock will keep her in cheek" Ansel sighed, walking around with his hands on his forehead.
"Guys, I know. I just have this bad feeling" The other two turned to each other with raised eyebrows and slowly nodded their head.
Rus cleared his throat, drawing Ansel's attention to him "well, you're Ansel. If anything bad was to happen you would have seen it"
"Need I remind you that I can't see everything, especially if it's a thing of choice?" Rus released a deep breath and looked at Ruri; who just shrugged "you know what? I'll just go check on them a
Mamock and Ansel stared wordlessly at a now lifeless Elle, both unable to speak or move. They stood on her bed side with tears streaming down their faces, each silently blaming their self.Ansel wiped away his tears and ran out of the building while Mamock just slumped and sat on the floor, tears still rolling down her face."Where is she!? Amanda!?" Mamock immediately placed her hands on her ears, covering it at the sound of Ruri's voice.Ruri ran into the room but halted at the sight of her friends dead, she choked out a sob before slowly walking to her "Amanda" she called out softly and patted her hair "you can hear me right? Amanda!" She called out louder, this time shaking her body.Rus immediately pulled her away from her as soon as he ran inside, "Ruri, she's.. she's gone" he whispered softly into her ears, trying to keep the tears from falling "we can't do anything about it now"All three of them stayed there with glossy eyes fixed on Elle,
"where am I?" Elle asked looking around the unfamiliar environment. She was surrounded by cherry blossoms in the middle of nowhere with the petals falling softly but never touching the ground."Hello?!" She called out again this time in a louder voice."Hey Elle" a soft voice called out softly to her and she turned around immediately, almost tripping on her own feet at the sight of the girl dressed in a corset gown "I'm sorry, didn't mean to startle you" the girl quickly apologizedElle nodded her head slowly, unable to speak out of shock as she stared at the girl before her. The girl looks almost like her but her hair was less curly, has green eyes instead of her brown ones, shorter and has freckles all over her face."You're beautiful" Elle muttered in amazement, her mouth slightly open as she kept staring at the unknown girl who now has a shy smile all over face."Thank you" Elle nodded, smiling nervously at the girl; who is a complete stranger
"Lay down carefully and slowly," Mamock said as she helped Elle lay on the bed. "Common! I'm fine already, stop acting like this." Elle complained, refusing to lay down. She stared at the four people in her room that were looking at her with worried eyes "look, I'm fine! Nothing hurts, just let me go back to preparing for the festival." "No!" Mamock, Rus and Ruri chorused together. She sighed and laid down on the bed angrily. Mamock stared at her for a while before she sat down beside her on the bed "listen Amanda, the guardian's slash is not just something you recover from, you nearly died!" She exclaimed, holding Elle's face. "Scrap that Mams, she actually died. Whatever happened is still shocking," Rus added. Ruri sighed and sat beside Elle when she noticed nothing they were saying was affecting her, "Amanda, you are human. You tend to take more damages than us and get more affected, so please just rest. We can handle everything by ourselve
"Dinner is ready!" Mamock shouted and before she could say another word, Rus and Ruri ran downstairs in their pyjamas and sat beside each other. "Woah, you both always amaze me at the speed at which you come downstairs for food, but will never do anything to help prepare it." "What can I say? We're amazing like that" Ruri said and bumped first with Rus. Mamock rolled her eyes at them and went back to dishing out the food, Ansel walked into the dining room a minute later "Thanks for cooking Mams" he said with a smile. "My pleasure," she said, while subtly glaring at Ruri and Rus who were busy looking at their plate filled with rice with so much happiness on their face, not bothering to thank her "where's Amanda?" She asked after filling up everyone's plate with food. "I'm here, I'm here," Elle said rushing into the kitchen in a short nightgown, she plopped down beside Ansel giving everyone an apologetic look "I was taking a bath when you announced that
Elle placed her hands on Ansel's chest, making him open his eyes "Umm.. You're.. you are too close" she stuttered out.Ansel immediately took a few steps back from her, embarrassed by what was about to happen "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean..." he apologised but Elle stopped him halfway."It's fine, no apologies needed," she said, forcing a smile on her face.He looked at her for a while before nodding his head stiffly "right, no apologies. Sure""I should go back now," Elle said and ran upstairs, locking her door the moment she entered inside.Ansel stood rooted in the kitchen, staring at the place she was standing a while ago before rushing off to his room."Ahh! What was that?" Elle asked while fanning her face and breathing through her mouth. A smile suddenly light upon her face, "he looked so hottt" she squealed and buried her face in the pillow."I'll be sure to never forget this moment, even tho it will never happen again," she mu
THREE DAYS LATER"I hope you're ready," Ruri asked, stepping into Amanda's room with Mamock behind her. A gasp left her lips and her eyes widened after seeing Elle."You're just waking up?!" Mamock asked in a loud voice, disbelief written all over her face seeing Elle still in her nightwear.Elle rubbed her eyes sleepily and slowly sat up from the bed "why are you guys acting so surprised? you know I never wake up early. And why are you both dressed up?" She asked, lazily running her eyes down their outfits.Ruri stood shocked before slowly turning her head towards Mamock "Did she just ask what I think she just asked?"Mamock nodded stiffly, she rushed to the bed and started checking Elle's temperature "are you okay? Did you damage your brain or something" she asked grabbing Elle's face.Elle stared at her quizzically before pushing her hands away from her face "Mamock I'm fine... What's the deal?" She turned towards Ruri as she asked the qu
A gasp left Elle's lips as she looked around the decorated field. The once open field was covered firmly with leaves from trees that were stationed around the field, leaving it dimly lighted by the fireflies attached to the strings of the leaves. Hundreds of creatures stood all over the field, dressed in beautiful and colourful attire, most of them bobbing their head to the sound of the light drums playing. "This looks like an enchanted forest of beautiful creatures" Elle mumbled in amazement, she was broken out of her trance by the loud and strong voice of Ansel. He stood on the wood stage that Elle hadn't noticed previously as he addressed the crowd "Welcome to the 15th festival!!" He shouted and the crowd hooted in happiness, clapping their hands loudly "It's a happy thing to celebrate the 15th festival gale and heartily after the horrific experience we all went through, and I hope this isn't the last festival we celebrate" Ansel said with a light smile.
"Elle! What just happened?" Ansel asked rushing towards Elle, inspecting her body with wide eyes. "I'm... I'm... " Elle started, her eyes on the fallen branch. She took a deep breath staring at Ansel "what just happened?" He looked at the tree branch with a small smile, then turned towards Elle "We'll talk about this later, let's get back to the party first" Elle nodded with her eyes closed. She opened it back and smiled at Elle "let's go then" Ansel smiled at her and they both walked back into the party. The party was on full blast when they walked back in, the soft beat of the drums has been replaced by a band singing on top of their voices. Various creatures were simply dancing away at the centre of the field, while most stood by the corner drinking and people watching. "Where have you guys been?" Ruri asked in a loud voice, trying to talk over the buzz "come on let's go dance" and without waiting for a reply, she dragged the both of them i