Chapter 11
Chapter 11:
Emerria lounged languidly on a divan in a sitting room as if nothing was happening. If anyone had looked in on her, they would have said she was unconcerned and strange. The fact of the matter was that Emerria was deep in thought. Out of sight from anyone watching her, a group of people sat across the room from her and waited for an answer.
Umi asked her again, this time a little more urgently than Hikaru had, since the fate of the world did depend on it. "Eme-chan? Did you truly love him?"
Her voice and question startled Emerria from her reverie. Days of sun filtering through trees as Clef and her walked through the forests of Cefiro and his gentle reprimands as she had learned the art of magic flooded back to her. "Yes..." she began. Days where the touch of his hand on hers would be so gentle, the look in his eyes reflecting her. His face as he had told her that she was beautiful as they had been at the spring before they had left to come here. "I loved him." Remembered faces and half-forgotten moments made her turn her face away from them so they wouldn't see the tear. She truly hated past tense.
"Eme-chan?" She felt Hikaru's hand on her shoulder, warm and comforting. Emerria turned to her, spiting the wobbling tear in her eye. "Eme-chan, do you think he truly loved you?"
A sharp intake of breath all around the room and a small tear falling down a cheek. A sob escaped Emerria's lips and her head ducked. Softly, muffled by the cascade of burgandy hair, the three girls heard her answer. "Yes... I think he did."
Hikaru sighed and hugged her friend. She had seen the strain on Clef's and Emerria's relationship when they had first walked in. He still handled her as a fragile object, too perfect to be true, or as his student, a distance he erected so he wouldn't have to deal with the overwhelming feelings. Sometimes it seemed to the three girls from the other world that even though he was taller and a little wiser since Eme-chan came around, he could still act like a total idiot.
Umi huffed. She knew how her poor friend felt. She had been so blind before she had Ascot. When she and the others had been called to Cefiro the second time, she had looked upon her duty with an new perspective, and she had looked upon Clef in a new light. He wasn't a cranky short old kid, he was a teacher and a leader. After that, she pursued Clef each time they visited Cefiro, but his tart reactions left her feeling.... worthless sometimes. She realized in her heart that Clef wasn't for her, and feeling the warmth that came from Ascot, she turned her feelings towards him.
But that wasn't as important as the question at hand. Clef's fate was uncertain at the moment, and Emerria was the only one with a recent clue to his feelings. If the Magic Knight's theory was true, Emerria's words might be more powerful than any of their magic.
Emerria stood, breaking Umi's reverie. "Hikaru, Umi, Fuu.... We have to bring him back!" Emerria said in her most commanding voice. We have to formulate a plan to get him back!"
All three of the Magic Knights stood behind her. "OF COURSE! We will bring him BACK!
On to Chapter 12
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