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Ember stood by the tree watching Shawn and Shara exchanging vows. Her heart hurt but was happy seeing the bright smile on Shawn's face. She knew she made the right decision because of how he was smiling so brightly. Her thoughts slowly drifted to Kirei. Ever since her conversation with him, he had been sending her random gifts on her phone. Eternal True Loves, Carousels, High 5s… She could have sworn she had seen all of the different types by now. She felt good about Saturday and looked forward to it.
Looking back out at the congregation witnessing their wedding, she spotted Levi. He didn't look like he had spotted her yet. She twitched her ears feeling conflicted about wanting to be with Kirei but feeling so comfortable talking to Levi about deeper things. Reaching up, she tugged her left ear hard. She didn't like feeling so conflicted. She was sure that she was making the best choice.
"Why are you wearing that expression at an occasion like this?" Kirei thrust a plate of sweets under her nose. "Be happy for them." He waited until she took the plate before putting his hand on her head to mess up her hair. "Enjoy the moment."
Ember sighed and nodded, looking up and back to where Shawn and Shara stood. "How did you spot me? Not many know I like this spot."
"A guess?" Kirei replied in an enigmatic tone. "You're overthinking things."
"I hope that's all it is…"
Time moved fast for Ember. She sighed Saturday was tomorrow. Picking up her phone, she flicked through her contacts until she found Kirei's number. Her fingers flew, she was excited to tomorrow and want to arrange with him the time so she could send the invites out. Her tails flicked happily as she spoke to him on the phone.
"Yeah about that…" His tone changed from flirty and playful to serious. "I don't think I'm right for you. We can't get married."
Ember froze. Her hand shook and she almost dropped her phone. "So you don't want me. I'm not good enough to be married to you?"
"That's not…" Ember was already in tears. Her head and heart racing with memories from her past.
"I hear you loud and clear, Kirei!" She hung up on him and threw her phone across the room. She couldn't take it any more. Her memories about her first spouse, Assassin, plagued her mind. She knew with how she ended the call, Kirei would likely come to her directly to talk to her. So she did the one thing she could think of doing…
She ran.
She ran down the stairs and into the stables where her mount, Tsuki, waited for her. Hopping onto the magical floating moon, she took off into CS City to her favourite hiding spot. It was an old tree by the river. She loved watching the red leaves float lazily from the tree only to drift away. She got off Tsuki and ask it to stay. Looking around, she made sure that no one saw her before she climbed up into the tree to hide amongst the leaves so she could cry in peace.
She didn't want anyone to see her like this…
Krakken paced his bedroom worriedly. No one had seen or heard from Ember since the day before. He knew she wasn't in her room because he had pounded on the door for ages and threatened to enter only to finally do so to find it empty. The only means of contact with her, her phone, laid on the floor against the wall. Taking a deep breath, he sighed. Something must of happened. It wasn't normal for Ember to disappear for a long period of time without someone knowing.
Picking up her phone again, he opened it and sought out two numbers. He knew she was deeply involved with both tengu to varying degrees so if anyone knew where she was it would be them. He quickly called Kirei first. The response was surprising.
"Ember, look I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to upset you I…"
"Stop Kirei, I'm not Ember." Krakken's voice was quick and sharp. He didn't like what he was hearing from Kirei. "I'm calling because she's missing. No one has seen or heard from her yesterday morning. I was hoping you might know."
"She's missing…" Kirei's voice was unreadable. "It's my fault… She asked me yesterday what time we should have our wedding because we had decided to do it today. But I had changed my mind… When I told her she became upset and hung up on me."
"So that's why you were here yesterday," Krakken mused partially to himself. "Not to see if we how were travelling with HiVN's attacks on us, but to see if you could catch Ember to talk to her." He had thought it was odd yesterday since Ember would often update Kirei and vice versa if something was happening that could affect both guilds. There was never a need for Kirei to visit personally.
"Yeah…" Kirei's voice sounded somber. "Let me know how you go. She's a really good friend and I don't want to lose her. I should have told her much sooner that I had changed my mind. I…" His voice changed to almost playful. "I found someone who I've fallen deeply for. I should have told Ember sooner.
"That would have been a good idea given her history…" Krakken sighed. "Thanks Kirei. I'm going to give Levi a call. Maybe he might know where she is.
"No problem… Sorry for causing trouble…" When the call ended Krakken got up and left his room. He needed Ohime's support through this. Not many knew about Ember's past and he wasn't sure if he could carry the burden of trying to find her alone after finding this out. Ember would have ran and hid herself away. Just like the did the first time.
Reaching the Dynamo's floor, he walked up to Ohime's door and knocked on it lightly. He could hear giggles and laughter from inside before Ohime opened the door. Ohime wasn't expecting her spouse to come see her and was surprised at the visit.
"We have a situation and I need you help," Krakken said with a sigh. He looked in to the room and added "All of your help."
Ohime guided him inside and closed the door. "Can't Ember help you?"
"That's part of the problem. Ember is missing," He quickly relayed what he found out from Kirei to them and what he suspected Ember had done in response. He held up her phone and added "We have no means to contact her so where ever she is she will be very upset and very weak by now since its starting to get dark. Unless she's eaten something, it's been almost 2 days since she ran away."
"No…" Shirahime said hands going to her mouth. Aside from Krakken, she had lived with Ember and supported her through her past. She knew more than anyone what was going through Ember's mind right now.
"That…" Ellie looked angry. "How could he do this to her? She was so happy with knowing she was going to get married to him."
"I saw them," Shara whispered. She was still uncertain about being allowed to speak up as she was new. "Her and Kirei at my wedding. They looked so comfortable with each other. I never suspected he would do this to her."
"How can we help?" Hebi asked him. "If we can't contact her to find out where she is, how can we help her?"
"I'm hoping she hasn't left CS City," Krakken replied flicking through her phone to find Levi's number. "I want you girls to start the search. Don't let the rest of the guild know just yet. I'm going to give Levi a call to see if he can help. He has an uncanny ability to get through to her when she's like this. Then Mak and I will also join the search."
"Let's hope that he doesn't hurt her just like Kirei did…" Ellie's voice was dark. "Or his manhood is gone." The girls nodded and headed out leaving Krakken to shiver at the thought of being castrated.
"May the Gods help you Levi…" Krakken said before making the call. He paused in his flicking at another name. "Siegheart…" Krakken sighed. He resolved to call both tengu. He had his reservations about Ember's friendship with Levi.
Levi flew over CS City on his peacock mount. His thoughts reeling over what he had heard from Krakken. Below he could see the girls, Krakken and Mak searching for her on foot. He patted the proud bird before looking around. There had to be something. Anything. Each Moon mount he saw, every Gemini pet he found, he investigated to find out who their owners were. It wasn't until he happened across an unattended Moon mount near an old tree. Directing his peacock to land, he scanned the area.
Hopping down, he gave the bird another pat and a request to stay before he moved closer to the seemingly abandoned Moon. He could hear soft crying nearby but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Coming closer to the tree, he barely managed to place his hand on the tree before he was tackled by something.
"No closer no closer!" Levi stared in surprise at the Gemini pet attempting to hold him down. The dark female was the one who spoke. "My master wants no one closer."
"We fight we fight!" The light male one added. "We won't let you go closer."
"Look at me," Levi said softly to the Gemini startling it. "You know me. You've seen your master talk to me before when she was sad. Won't you let only me go closer?"
The Gemini tilted their heads thinking. They turned to each other while sitting on his stomach. Levi waited knowing that cooperation from the Gemini would be easier than having to keep them at bay.
"Master knows Master sad," The dark one said to the light. "We know master needs friend. But master wants no one."
"Master hurt Master remembering," the light one replied. "Friend may upset further. He doesn't know."
The dark one looked at Levi before looking back at the light one. "Can help. Can help. He wants Master."
The light also looked at him before back to the dark one. "Then we allow? We allow? Master will be angry.
The dark nodded again. "But Master needs. Master needs. He can help her."
The Gemini got off Levi and floated to one side. "We wait. We wait. If you hurt more we attack."
"I understand," Levi said brushing himself off. "I will try my best not to hurt her more." He patted their heads and went to climb the tree. What he saw before him upset him greatly.
Ember laid curled up hidden within the leaves and branches. Her tails tightly wrapped around her body. Her face red and wet from crying. Even now, she was asleep but still crying and softly talking to herself. A repetitive, negative mantra. 'I'm worthless. Discarded. Unwanted.' She was covered in fallen leaves, a testament to how long she had been hiding here.
Levi took out his phone and sent a quick message to Krakken to let him know he found her. He received a thumbs up and a "take care of her" back. Looking up again, he slowly approached her along the branch.
Ember awoke to the feeling of the branch moving. Looking through a gap in her tails, she cried out. "Leave me alone Levi!" Fresh tears flooded down her face. She didn't want to be seen like this. Least of all by him.
"I'm not going anywhere Ember," he perched himself on the branch within arms length of her. "I'm not leaving."
Her tails tightened around her even more blocking his sight of her face. Silence spread between them. Hesitantly, he gently stroked one of her tails, letting her know he was still there. Waiting.
It was a while before Ember said anything. "I guess you know what happened…" her voice was muffled and watery but Levi could hear it just fine. "It happened again. No one finds me worthy of the effort. I must not be spouse material. I'm just used and thrown away."
Levi waited, unsure on how to respond to her. He wanted her to keep talking. If she spoke she might unwind herself so she could talk to him better.
Ember took his silence the wrong way. "You think that way too," In one swift movement, she unwound herself and went to leap from the tree. Levi's hand gripped air as she vanished along with her Moon and pets.
He hit his fist hard against the tree. "Damn it!
***
Siegheart stood scratching his head. 'Ember is so much more trouble than she's worth sometimes…' he thought with a sigh. He had been looking the Bamboo Forest looking for her but really wasn't sure why Krakken had called him. His eyes caught a little yellow whirlwind fly past him and almost topple him over. Reaching out, grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her close to him. Ember struggled trying to fight against him. She couldn't see who had a hold of her but she wanted to hide again.
“Ember…” Siegheart growled softly in her ear. “Again? Why is it always me who finds you? What set you off this time? I thought Kirei and you were getting together soon.”
His voice broke her from the hold her past had on her. She relaxed resting back in his arms, tears still silently falling. “Kirei doesn’t want me. I saw Levi as well not too long ago. He doesn’t want me either.”
Siegheart, a little surprised, replied softly. “Kirei should have said something sooner. He’s fallen in love with Chocolatte.” He saw a wry smile form on Ember’s face. “They were getting close even before the guilds got on the bandwagon about getting you two together.”
“I know…” Ember said softly. “He told me a while back he had his eye on someone. That’s why I said ‘only if he was ok with it’. I’m glad he finally made his move.”
“As for Levi…” Siegheart tilted his head. “He’s a mystery to me.” He tickled her until she was trying to wiggle away from him. He liked teasing her and making her smile, she was easier to handle when she was happy. He knew his next question was going to be a heavy one.
“So what sparked this episode?” His voice was soft. He was well aware Ember had a traumatic history which flavoured a lot of her normal behaviour but didn’t know the details. Part of him didn’t want to know but he also knew talking about it helped her to let go and get better.
"I was remembering my first spouse, Assassin. He was so charming and sweet. Would always shower me with gifts. But all he wanted was a convenient playtoy. Always wanted sex. Nothing more. Didn't want to start a family. Whenever I pushed the topic, he would yell at me. Tell me that I'm not smart enough to look after a baby. That a baby with me would be just as worthless as me. I felt trapped and couldn't see a way out. One day, he gave me his ring and said that he was going to his real spouse overseas. He could handle having to train me anymore because I was a lost cause."
Siegheart paused and tightened his hug. He didn't realize she had been through all of that before he met her and he knew that it just scratching the surface. "Perhaps he wasn't worthy of being with you. But then what about Shawn?"
"I had asked him. I didn't see it before why he never agreed but I understand now. He already has a child, Haidee, with Shara. Now that she's back in the country and they are back together they have already been blessed with another baby." Ember sounded sad but accepting.
They stood in silence for a bit before Siegheart let go of her. “I’m here if you ever want to talk Ember. Try not to run away again.”
Ember gave him a small smile. “Aight Sieg. I’ll try…”
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