Reuniting

“It’s not fair. I didn’t even get to try to help. I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Ivy sobs quietly as we hold each other. I don’t respond. I can’t. I don’t know how we’re all supposed to move forward after this. We’re all a mess. In an act of desperation, I called both Elsa and Belle and told them what happened. I didn’t know what else to do, and I feel like we need all the help we can get.

And having to tell Ivy is heartbreaking. I can feel it through our connection. In addition to all her grief, the waves of guilt are coming through strong. She’s our healer. If she had have been there, maybe she could have done something. At least, that’s how she’s feeling. Whether or not she could have doesn’t really matter. We’ll never know.

I stroke her hair as she cries into my shoulder. I feel like I’m all cried out myself at this point. I feel hollow. Like a void has opened up in my heart. The scenery around us isn’t comforting to me anymore. Everything feels wrong. My home doesn’t feel like home without Mia around. I almost start crying again at the thought of going to bed without her.

Elsa and Belle are both on their way here. Elsa started to cry too when I told her what happened. It turns out Elsa developed feelings for Mia, and had only realised a couple of days ago, when they spent the morning together. She was absolutely devastated to hear the news, and listening to the poor girl break down over the phone was it’s own kind of heartbreaking.

Other than calling the two of them, I have no idea what else we can do. Everything feels like it’s fallen apart around us. My guild, my family, is a mess. Mathias is way stronger than I could have even thought. He knows how to find us in the mundane world.

I’m still fairly confident that he couldn’t break into our Kingdom barrier, but that just means that we’re effectively trapped here. Best case, we hole up in here until we can get strong enough to beat him. And somehow deal with the grief of losing our girlfriend the meantime. A light in our lives, gone.

I feel a vibration in my pocket and do my best to ignore it. I don’t want to answer any phone calls right now. Then I realise that I need to in case Elsa or Belle need anything else, so I begrudgingly get my phone out of my pocket. My heart skips a beat when I see who’s calling. It’s Mia.

I press the answer button and hold the phone up to my ear. “Hello?” I ask shakily. “Gem? Gem I fucked up, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry…” Mia’s voice comes from the other end. My heart leaps. “Mia! How are you alive? Oh my Gaia we thought-” I **** up, my heart pounding in my chest. My guildmates are staring at me, wide eyed. I put the phone on speaker and hold it out for all of us to hear.

“No I-” Cough cough “-got away. I’m in the mundane world. I need help…please, I know you’re probably upset, but-” I cut her off, my hands shaking, my mind racing. “Mia shh, it’s okay I promise.” I look around at everybody. The looks of hope on their faces tell me everything I need to know. “Babygirl w-we’re just glad you’re okay. Let’s get you home.” I say.

Ivy snatches the phone from my grasp. “Don’t you ever worry us like that again, you hear?” She says, her sobs no less intense, but now filled with relief. Mia coughs again. “I won’t. I promise.” She says, her voice cracking. “I need you gals to hurry though. I got stabbed, the mundane protection from it won’t last forever.” She says. I take the phone back from Ivy, my mind racing. “Elsa and Belle are on their way already. We’ll coordinate with them to get you here safely.” I promise. “Please hurry.” Mia croaks.

Scanning through the call options on the emergency phone quickly, I find the add call button and dial Elsa first. The fateweaver sobs with relief when she hears Mia’s voice, promising she’ll be there soon. I dial Belle too, and although she’s much less teary, she promises the same.

What follows is a nail biting exercise in coordination between the four of us. I have absolutely no idea if Mathias is still out there waiting for us. Internally I curse the limitation that I can only exit my Kingdom where I enter from. I’m also just grateful to have somewhere safe from Mathias. Theoretically, even if he is waiting for us, the only way he can stop any of us from escaping is by pulling people away from me.

I’m praying to Gaia that that’s not going to happen.

Mia’s condition is worsening by the minute. She reports that she’s starting to see blood soak through her top. It’s only a small amount, but it’s enough to be worrying. She needs to come back to us. The stab wound was a vicious one, and the fact that she was stabbed with her own sword makes it worse. I still remember the dark stains spreading out on the road from Mia’s mangled chest. That’s not something I’ll be able to forget any time soon.

While Belle and Elsa race to get to our location in the mundane, Mia does her best to fly back to the area herself. The risk of being seen at this time of night is not a high one, but Mia still does her best to stick to dark areas. It’s slow going for her; the more her wound reopens, the less she can use her powers. And the more she strains herself, the more she risks tearing her wound back open herself.

There’s a tension in the air the entire time, the apprehension and anxiety of trying to get Mia back. And knowing I can’t help until the end of the process is really hard. All of my guildmates are crowded around the phone now, listening to the coordination happen. The minutes tick by, with Belle, Mia and Elsa relaying their locations to one another. Skylar is on standby to do her best to cloak the two of us, when we exit the barrier to retrieve them.

As per my instructions, when Mia arrives back at the site of the ambush, she hides out of sight, around a corner and in the dark. She reports seeing nobody there, which is a good sign for now. Belle arrives soon after, and the two of them hunker down to wait for Elsa, who is a critical part of the plan. She’s the only one with the power to potentially keep Mathias and his gang in a separate barrier.

A few more tense minutes of waiting, and Elsa pulls up in her car on the next street over, then rushes out to meet Mia and Belle. Mia’s wound is bleeding heavily now. She’s starting to feel a little faint from blood loss. We have minutes left. Elsa meets up with the other two and they start carefully walking towards the ambush site. My near perfect memory lets me direct them to the exact spot.

The entire time they walk, they’re all on guard. Belle in case she needs to fight, and Elsa straining her senses to detect if there are any barriers around. Thankfully, Elsa reports a negative. There aren’t any active barriers around that Mathias could be hiding in. Once they reach the exact spot, and confirm that they have, I signal to Skylar. Ivy stands by, ready to heal Mia.

I give a countdown, and pull Skylar and I out of the barrier. She cloaks us as soon as we’re there, and in a fraction of a second, I take in the sight of my still alive girlfriend, and Elsa and Belle each holding an arm around her. I pull us all back into the Kingdom immediately.

Mia collapses to the ground, and Ivy is working her magic, stopping the gushing flow of blood coming from Mia’s now fully reopened wound. Ivy mends the wound and I breathe a sigh of relief as my first love begins to smile at the sight of us. Tears well up in my eyes and I embrace her. She holds me tightly, sobbing into my shoulders.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” I cry. I pull back and rest my forehead against hers. “It was just a flesh wound.” Mia says, a small smile on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Don’t you ever rush in like that again!” Skylar scolds, hugging Mia tightly as I move back to make room for her. “W-what s-she said…” Paige stutters, following Skylar, her hands shaking a little.

Mia sighs. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have…” “Shhh, it’s okay.” Skylar interrupts her. “You’re okay now. That’s what matters.” The shadow mage says softly. Mia closes her eyes and rests her head against Skylar’s chest. Paige clutches Mia’s hand tightly in hers, as if needing to reassure herself that Mia is okay. Mia squeezes gently, and Paige returns the gesture.

The others stand around us, a few steps back to give us space. Elsa has tears in her eyes and is hugging herself and swaying softly. Olivia is avoiding Belle, while Belle is watching the scene unfold with an unreadable expression on her face. Emma and Lena are holding each other tightly, looking relieved themselves.

When Ivy has finished the healing and Mia has confirmed that she feels okay again, we help her to her feet. Paige and Skylar walk Mia to the castle while I stay back to talk to Belle and Elsa. “Thank you both so much for your help. We have spare bedrooms if you wanna stay the night. We need all the help we can get.” I confess.

Belle shifts uncomfortably. “We didn’t do much.” She says, her voice projecting uncertainty. “You helped get my girlfriend back alive. I’ll be forever grateful for that.” I reply. The redhead looks away, her expression again unreadable. “Thank you.” She says.

“I’ll stay. It’s really late, I don’t want to drive home. And….I’m just glad Mia’s alive…” Elsa trails off, looking at the ground. “Can I hug you?” I ask her, and she nods. I pull her into my arms. “I’m glad she’s alive too. Thank you.” I tell the fateweaver. “I guess I’ll stay too. I wouldn’t think Olivia would be too keen to have me around.” Belle says. I wave it away. “We’ll sort that out later.” I reply, turning to lead the two of them to the castle.

When I get inside, my girlfriends have unanimously decided to pull a bunch of mattresses into the living room to have a slumber party type thing. I smile at that. I think we all need it. Lena and Emma elect to join us sleeping in the living room, and a cuddle pile has already formed with Mia at its centre. I help Elsa, Olivia and Belle into the spare bedrooms around the castle before coming back downstairs and changing into my pajamas with the click of a button. We all need rest and cuddles.