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Chapter 279 - Honey, I'm home
🕑 Added 2021-07-17 13:00:06 +0000 UTCAfter Alex's tackle, Kara, the guild clerk, scolded her for causing another commotion in front of the guild. Then, she led the group to a private room inside the building and asked them to wait there, along with Sevaris and Silah. Dealing with something like adding a new nation to the guild was way out of her league, and it would take some time to find someone to talk to them. In the meantime, Hera and Blue could catch up with Bonnie, Alex, and Helena.
They were all sitting in a meeting room around a large table. Bonnie, Blue, and Helena were on one side, Alex, Hera, and Silah on the other. Sevaris took a chair and placed it in the corner of the room, saying he felt more at ease like that. Alex was still holding Hera's hand and looking at her like a puppy who just saw its owner for the first time in years. Silah noticed that, but her girlfriend didn't. It's been so long since she saw Helena and the girls that she couldn't think about anything else.
"First things first. What's this about us being dead?" Blue asked.
"We… thought you were dead. I mean, after the tremor, we couldn't find any tracks, and we just assumed the catapult sent you two to the abyss," Bonnie was staring at the table while she spoke.
"Ok, but that shouldn't tell you that we were dead. I mean, the bracelets send our vital signals, don't they?" Hera asked.
"They are supposed to do that, sweetie. But it seems like either yours are malfunctioning, or you two were someplace too far away for them to get a signal. Actually, we could get a signal on some rare occasions, I don't know what you did, but there was a place in… wherever you two were that had a good enough reception to send something. Even if it was choppy. About one hour ago, that changed. The signal became strong, and I made everyone come here in hopes that you girls would come back." Helena answered.
Hera took a good look at the mage for the first time. She was still the same Helena she remembered, dark skin with hazel eyes and a smile that could warm any heart, but she didn't look that well. Her skin was oily, and her hair was a mess. There were some big dark bags under her eyes, and she was way too thin. Her arms were basically skin and bone. Helena wasn't particularly superficial, but she always took care of herself, or at least, she used to.
"OK… well, we were two rooms away, and the hidden entrance was in a dungeon, so maybe it makes sense. But I don't know enough about the network we have to say anything about it," Hera sighed.
"Wait. So everyone thinks we are dead?" Blue's eyes were wide.
"Yeah, we even sent some of your belongings to your families," Bonnie nodded.
"Sorry guys, give me a minute. Actually, an hour, maybe two. I don't know," Blue got up with her tablet in hand, already calling her family, and left the room.
Hera considered doing the same, and as much as she wanted to call her dad and grandma, she didn't want to leave Silah and Sevaris alone.
"Ok… then what happened after we 'died'?"
"Well…" Bonnie looked at the other two women that were left behind. After taking a deep breath, she explained the last few months for them. She started by talking about how things went down after they vanished in the dungeon and how she was the one who had to take care of sending all their belongings away and getting everything from Hera's apartment, as well as the paperwork. Then, her job became taking care of Helena and Alex.
"Why did you have to take care of them?"
"Alex broke down, she wouldn't leave her room and then she started training like crazy, and Lena dropped everything, she was always in the guild or in her lab doing something," Bonnie explained.
"I was too busy trying to find you two to do anything else. I don't say this to accuse anyone, but at the time, I felt like I was the only one who didn't give up. I knew you were still alive, sweetie, and I refused to stop until I found you," Helena still had a smile plastered across her face that was making Hera uncomfortable. It was one thing to be happy, another to keep the same expression even when someone was complaining about you.
"But you didn't find them, Lena! They came back on their own. Don't twist this to say that you are the reason they are here," Bonnie gasped.
"Well, we only got here so early because of me. If it wasn't for that, we would have received Hera's message and then come," Helena's expression didn't change.
"Oh, great. You stopped your research completely for months just so we could what? Meet them one hour earlier?" Bonnie yelled.
"Wow, calm down. That's a lot to unpack. Lena, what does she mean you stopped your research?" Hera asked.
"I couldn't worry about some research when you were in danger, Hera. I'm the one who helped you get here. I need to look out for you," Helena kept the smile, but she seemed almost satisfied with herself.
"But you didn't have to stop your entire life because of that!" Bonnie cried.
"It wasn't like you were the one who killed them," Alex mumbled, but spoke the next sentence loud enough for everyone to hear, "You were a bit too obsessed."
"I wasn't the one sleeping 3 hours a day, so I could train," Helena rolled her eyes, breaking the smile for the first time.
"I had to make sure I wasn't going to kill anyone again! And it worked, didn't it? I'm already level 15!" Alex got up from the chair.
"Stop!" Hera yelled, "Alex, sit back down. You two said a lot of things, and I'm not letting you gloss over all that. First, Lena. What the actual fuck? Why did you stop your research for me? According to what Bonnie said, you had every reason to believe that we were dead. Every protocol said that we were gone, and you guys checked everything to confirm it. Yeah, by all accounts, we were dead. Saying we weren't would be like saying that someone survived a plane crash in the middle of the ocean."
"Yet, by that logic, it was like you two were stranded on a desert island. I wasn't wrong," Helena returned to her eerie smile.
"Yes, you were. Because you didn't find us. Look, I'm not trying to be mean or ungrateful here, but just for a moment, think about how I'm feeling. You stopped your research because of me. You put your entire life on a hold and even stopped taking care of yourself, apparently."
"She even stopped taking showers," Bonnie added.
"See! Do you think I would like to know that, not only did I make my friend sad because I died, but I made my mentor give up the one thing she's been working on for years?"
"No… but…"
"No, no buts. You messed up. That's not how things should go down. Here is what is going to happen. After this, you are going back to the Carpon Caverns, get a hotel room, and you are going to relax. Tomorrow, you are going to start your research again. And if I die or vanish again in a similar circumstance, I don't want you to spend months trying to find me. You need to accept that things like this happen. This is life in the MAZE, and you know it better than most."
"I agree, Lena. You let yourself go a bit," Alex nodded. Bonnie just stared at the assassin with an expression of disbelief. She's been asking for her help for months, and now she starts doing something?
"Oh, don't think you are off the hook, miss 'I'll only sleep for three hours a day.' What the hell are you thinking? We need to be in perfect shape to go to a dungeon or to train. Rest is part of that. Also, levels don't mean shit. I know dwarves over level 60 who still mess up. Others like Silah here, who is just level 23, by the way, are much more capable of learning from their mistakes. How do you expect not to put someone else in danger if you are pushing yourself so hard?" Hera huffed.
"I'm… sorry. I just…"
"You just nothing. You felt guilty and took the worst approach to that. Guilty, mind you, for something that wasn't your fault. Blue and I were in a bad position, the kobolds were attacking and the entire situation was a mess," Hera brushed Alex's hand off of her side, "And I bet you didn't even see a shrink after all that."
"I did! Just after the dungeon, I started seeing one."
"Really? And how many sessions did you have before stopping? Because I'm sure you wouldn't be this reckless if you had some professional help."
"... Three," Alex looked away.
Bonnie started laughing. Making everyone in the room stare at her.
"Was that a human joke?" Sevaris asked.
"No, it's not. Sorry. It's just that. I've been the responsible one for so long while trying to deal with these two that I forgot what it was like to have someone by my side," Bonnie wiped out a tear that was forming on her eyes, "I'm really happy you are back, Hera."
Hera smiled, "I'm glad I'm back too. Although I can't complain about what happened," she looked at Silah.
"Can I ask you something now?" the dwarven blacksmith turned to Hera.
"Sure. You can ask anything you want."
"Were you two a thing?" Silah pointed at Alex.
"What? No. Never. She's a friend. A very good friend, but that's all," Hera was caught off guard by the question.
"Oh, so you are childhood friends or something like that? That's why she seems so attached to you?"
"No… It's not because of that," Alex replied, "I… I'm the one that sent Hera to the abyss, to her death, or what I thought was her death… actually I don't know what really happened."
"I guess it's my turn then," Hera told them about what happened after the catapult launched them. She used an excuse that it was Yarnball that showed her the path in the abyss and that she only found the doorway by sheer luck to avoid any mention of the guides. It was the same excuse she gave everyone in Boothudurn, and since the reason was her relic, no one argued about it. Then she told them all about the city, the dungeons, the people, the Sky Ruler, and how she got the hunter role. She didn't mention Blue's legacy since that felt like something the controller should be the one tell of.
After that, Kara appeared and explained that they wouldn't be able to have an ambassador for the new room until the next day, but they would leave the entrance blocked until then. She added that if they wanted, Hera, Blue, Silah, and Sevaris were free to move between the rooms, even with the blockade. Kera also added that Hera and Blue had to go through some paperwork to regain their status as living. That shouldn't take long, since these types of things were not that uncommon. Blue caught the tail end of that conversation, and Hera took a chance to leave the room and call her family.
She thought about calling her grandmother first, but a small part of her was afraid that she would have passed away. Pushing that thought aside, she pulled her father's contact and started the video call. Time went by slowly as the call rang, and after what seemed like an eternity, Eridan's face appeared on the tablet.
"Hey, grumpy bear," Hera smiled and felt the tears coming.
"Goldilocks? Is that really you?" Eridan replied with a shaken voice.
"Yeah, it's me, dad. Sorry for making you worry. Actually, sorry for making you think I died. It's complicated. But I'm ok. I'm alive, and I'm ok."
"Honey…" tears started pouring out from Eridan's face, "Are you coming home? I want to see you."
"I am, but it will still take a few days. There is a lot going on, and… actually, I'm not sure how much I can tell you about it."
"Ok…" Hera could see how that delay saddened her father, "Does that mean you have to go right away?" he asked.
"Not really. I can talk whenever now. I was in a place without the internet during all this time, but now I'm back. Even if I have to go back there, it shouldn't be for more than a day or so at a time," Hera brushed off her tears.
"That's great! Where were you? What happened?"
"Before we get into that. Is grandma ok? I mean, it's been almost a year, and… is she still around?"
"She is. My mother is stronger than I am. After you died… or, I should say went missing, she got really depressed for some time, but after a couple of months, she went back to her dancing lessons and to other activities in the senior center. She kept saying that you wouldn't want her to be sulking in bed all day," Eridan chuckled.
"She's not wrong. So can I call her? I'll call you back right after. I just don't want to wait to let her know I'm back."
"Of course. Actually, tell you what. I'll head there now. That way we can both talk to you, ok? I would ask your mother to come too, but she's in a meeting right now, and it should take some time for her to come back."
"Where is she?"
"She started going to a grief support group after you… you know, and now she helps organize the meetings. There were some… other things, but we can talk about that later."
Hera nodded. She didn't care much about what Stella was doing. She only asked to be polite, "Ok, I'll check what I can tell you about where I was. And I'll come home as soon as I can. I promise."
"Ok, I'll text you as soon as I get to my mother's," before hanging up, Eridan just stared at his daughter's face, "I'm really happy you're still here. I love you so much."
"I love you too, dad," Hera replied with a big smile.
She turned off the tablet and went back to the meeting room. Her eyes were puffy from all the crying, and she knew it would be even worse later. Looking at Blue, Hera noticed that the controller was in the exact same situation. They just shared a glance and started laughing.
"So, do you guys mind catching us up on what happened during all this time?" Hera sat back on her chair and grabbed Silah's hand.
Bonnie sighed with that question, "I don't even know where to start."
##### Author's Note ####
You know. Writing about people 'coming back' from the dead made me question mortality and some stuff.
Then I remembered that I'm immortal, so it's all good.
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Comments
Perizou
Welcome to the party, and well... I'm not going to apologize for making you too curious to wait for the next month since that's kind of the plan =P. Not the cliffs on the end of the month, but people being too excited to wait for the free releases. I'll abstain from commenting about Stella, but we will see/hear about what she was doing during those meetings;
Michael Hughes
I have been reading this story for a week. When I got up to the last chapter on RR I could not wait for the start of a new month to join. I was going to make one comment at the last chapter but even if no one sees this now I just have to say one thing about the mom. You just know that she went to the grief support meetings to garner sympathy and not from any actual grief. She probably makes a show about how good a relationship she had with her daughter.
BeepBoop
Because if there are 6 stats, and EG increases all of them by 1 for a variable cost, then there is no reason to use the skill since the last few times it always cost more then 6. That is, unless I missed something/made an error somewhere. Hence my question.
BeepBoop
Could someone remind me how many stats there are, and how Hera's stat growth skill works?
