Chapter 161: Chapter 161

"You are up way too early, little sister..." Ripping her eyes from the tranquil scene of the forest being illuminated by the first rays of the sun, the scene was breathtaking but just like every day, she could help but find nothing rather than disappointment in it...

Dawn was supposed to bring light, warmth, hope...but it wasn't bringing her any, nor was it bringing her sister back to her.

"Please tell me you haven't been awake all night!" Narrowing his eyes worriedly, Henry strode inside the room to reach the patio where his sister was standing, a sad look on her face nullifying the smile she tried to wear for his sake.

"I was just...a little anxious about today." Frowning at his sister's tired voice, Henry couldn't help but worry about his sister and her wellbeing during the upcoming journey she had insisted on taking...

"You don't have to go, Nara, it doesn't have to be you, we can always send someone else..." Feeling the warmth and gentleness in her brother's caress to her cheek, Nara couldn't help but smile. fondly before placing her hand on his, squeezing it lightly to subside the worries she had about what the future held to all of them...

"We have already talked about this, Henry, it has to be me otherwise this alliance would never work the way we want it to..." Looking back at the rising sun, Nara breathed in the morning air, asserting her situation and the task she knew herself to be the only one who could carry...

It has been months since her disappearance, both of their disappearance, her little sister and the man she once loved, and since that night...nothing has ever been the same.

It wasn't until later that Nara accepted what everyone else did, that her sister was probably never going to come back, nor was the shadows lord, something happened to them, the same thing that changed the world and its map for good, revealing lands beyond the dead ones where they thought was the end of everything…

Thinking back about that night, Nara swallowed bitterly, blaming herself for the millionth time for not stopping her little sister when she came to say her last words, she just stood at the patio like the useless creature she knew herself to be and watched as her sister left to her death, since that night, Nara had stood at the same patio, waiting, hoping, and promising herself to not be a spectator, to stop her sister from leaving if she ever came back, which she never did.

Her sister was dead, Nara blinked back the tears, not wanting her brother to see them, Sara died and with her death their world was reborn...

"I know...but" Henry sighed before looking at the horizon, the weights on his shoulders growing, he was the king of the world, after Eren's disappearance, the responsibility of lording over the shadows empire and fire lands fell on him and his wife, Rima, who was struggling with her pregnancy as she closed to her labor, leaving him all alone to deal with the everything on his own, a weight so heavy that almost crushed him until his sister stepped in to lift some of it, "We don't know what is out there, Nara, we don't even know what those creatures are like, or what are they capable of, and to risk sending you to them, you of all people?"

"We made the same mistake before, Brother, and it cost us so much.." smiling sweetly, Nara tried to speak confidently, an image of Sara popping in her head, "We cannot hide in our castles while there are possible threats at our doors, we cannot wait in the blue until our people are attacked, nor do we have to presume the worst, this is what we learned from our alliance with the demons."

"It is too risky, Nara, and..." swallowing the heavy lump that gathered on his throat, Henry tightened his hands on the railings, "I don't want to...I can't lose another person..."

"You won't, Henry, don't worry, I will just represent you in Lord Edjer's meeting and express our desire to form a beneficial alliance, from what I understood, they are as befuddled as us about the new changes in the world, they too didn't know about our existence until the darkness on the deadlands was lifted, and he was the one to ask for a friendly meeting in the first place..."

"You make it sound so easy, little sister, did you forget how the man showed up on our borders?" Frowning, Henry recalled the scene of the massive beast that landed on the edges of the shadows empire, it was bigger than anything he has ever seen, with wings so large that could scatter an army with a single swing, golden like the sun rays, and the man riding it, with his large chest naked and covered in scars, he was larger than any man he ever saw, with eyes as golden as his beast's wings.

"To be honest...I think Lord Eren's demonic form was more intimidating.." Chuckling softly, Nara softly touched her brother's shoulder to make him look at her, enough so both saw the feelings they both carried...

They missed them, Eren and Sara, and while he didn't say much, Nara knew how to hurt her elder brother was to lose not only his youngest sister but his best friend, and then having to worry about his sick beloved and his upcoming heir, and then this...

"I have made a promise to myself, Henry, that I will no longer be this...useless, I will not stand by the sides and watch as everything Sara had fought so hard for crumble to dust, I will not let the peace we sacrificed so much for be destroyed by our passiveness, I will not let my only family be crushed under all of this weight while I watch, I will not let all the things she taught me go to waste, and I will not allow any harm to fall upon our people, I will be in the front lines just like the princess our nation deserves..."

"You have grown so much, little sister, it feels as if I am looking at our mother...and..."

"And Sara..." Finally allowing her tears to slip free, Nara threw herself in her brother's arms, hugging him so hard as if the mere words of what she intended to be consumed her, reminding her that her desires took more than just brave decisions to be realized, but the strength she knew she didn't have …

Yet...

"I am afraid..." Whispering softly, Nara felt her brother's comforting palm on her head, caressing her gently, "I wish she was still here..." And I hate myself for being the reason that she isn't...

"I miss her too.." as a single tear slid down his cheek, Henry looked up to the sky, the beauty of the stars reminding him of a dark man and an illuminating girl, somewhere far away, hopefully together, weird and weirder...

"Just promise me that you will be safe and careful..." nodding at his words, Nara tried to shake away the fear while thinking back about the man she was meant to meet and negotiate with, she only saw a glimpse of him, but it was enough for his image to be graved on her mind, he looked so haughty, powerful, and unapproachable…

She hated him already.

"Did you decide what gifts are you taking with you to express our willfulness to a treaty?"

"I did..." Raising her eyes with a smile, a genuine one for the first time during the night, Nara answered...

"A jasmine sapling"

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"You are hurt again!" Eren turned around to meet the pouty face of the little girl standing few steps away from him, her pure eyes glittery with tears as she looked at him with an innocent pain, pain to see him beaten and bruised once again.

"You promised you will not fight again!" Stomping her little foot on the ground, Sara pouted more at the reckless boy who was her best friend, and something else, something she was too young to understand, all she knew was that she hated to see him in pain, and the several scratched on his face, arms, and knees looked more than painful, "You broke your promise!"

Sighing, Eren stood up from his crouching position as he finished tending to his bleeding scratches, there was only little in the world that he could care for, and the little girl's tears were on top of that list.

For a ten years kid, Eren was bigger than his peers, a little taller and much angrier, his mother always scolded him for being too aggressive with his classmates and supposedly friends, not knowing the real reason why he always found himself punching them in the faces...

It was all for this one little girl who was half his size.

Walking towards her with a frown, Eren took in her shaky state, her white dress was sullied which meant that she fell or was pushed, again, something that made his anger steer inside his chest all over again.

It has been a daily play for the bullies of his school to torment the little girl since she moved into their town with her father, she was no ordinary with her silver hair and strikingly beautiful eyes, ones that were so pure and large, like an ocean of crystal water reflecting sunlight, and while the other kids thought of her as a freak, a ghost, he couldn't help but be captured by her beauty and frailness.

It felt bigger than him, the attraction he had towards her, something he never understood as he didn't care about much, definitely not damsels in distress, but with her, he was thrown out of his element, and every fiber in his body urged him to protect her...

She was like...his princess...

And for her, he kept getting on fight after fight, punishing those who bullied her and made her cry, and making sure to teach them what awaited them if they dared hurt her again.

"And you promised not to cry again, my little lady..." Taunting her, Eren looked down at Sara, unable to stop the warmth that spread in his chest as he saw her eyes cast downwards as her cheeks flushed pink.

"I was crying because you are hurt!"

"And I am hurt because you are crying, the more tears you shed the more pain I am in!" Faking a wronged expression, Eren barely held back his smile as he saw her wiping her tears urgently before smiling like the innocent princess she was, something that filled him with strange pride to know that he was the only one able to make her smile like that.

"Does it hurt?" Reaching out for his face, Sara caressed Eren's cheeks gently, careful not to put any pressure on her touch, only for her small palm to be engulfed in his as he pressed it more to his cheek...

"There, this helps with the pain..."

"Then I will always do that, I will always heal you whenever you are hurt!" Shouting happily, Sara's eyes illuminated, capturing the little boy's heart with her pureness.

"That is a promise then, always." Seeing her nod several times, Eren wondered if Sara understood the meaning of always, and how he wanted to keep her by his side forever...

"Now tell me, did anyone push you?"

Seeing her shake her head, Eren was about to push the question, but the look in her eyes told him that she wasn't lying, not that she ever lied to him.

"I heard some girls whispering, saying that you got in a fight again, they said it was because of me, and I came here running but I tripped and fell!" Sara whispered the last part, feeling guilty about how clumsy she was.

"I am fine, my little lady, and you should stop caring for what others say."

"I don't care about them, not anymore, I did want to be their friend before so they could stop calling me mean names, but now, I have you, I don't need them..."

"And I will always be with you and protect you from them, from anyone..."

"Always?"

"Always and forever..."