Reason to Live

Emilia looked up in confusion. It was as if a ghost emerged out of nowhere just to spook her. Her eyes remained fixed on Ed for a while before she came to the realization of what was going on.

"Edward?!" Her eyes jumped up once she realized who was in front of her. Surprise and a bit of hope could be heard in her astonished voice.

"I thought you forgot about me for a moment." Ed laughed while making his way inside the cell. In one swift motion of his sword, the reinforced bars were cut down to many pieces. He looked at Emilia and realized that she changed during these two years.

Her golden hair fluttered in the air due to Ed's attack. Her eyes were turquoise, and her skin was snow white, befitting a person living in a snowy environment. Her nose was small and pointy. She looked to be 1.65 meters tall. She was full of cuts and bruises due to fighting before being captured. Her cheek was red due to both blood and her natural blush. Currently, Ed couldn't help but think that she was a fragile piece of glass, about to break due to pressure.

"What are you here for?" Emilia asked him with a bit of hostility in her voice. Ed didn't know why she used such a tone but didn't mind it at all.

"To save you." Ed smiled at her.

"Then I'm sorry to waste your time, but you can go back now." Her answer came as a surprise to him. Obviously, it wasn't a joke and Ed didn't feel like treating it as one.

"As soon as I get my mother's body back, I'll join her." Emilia assumed that Ed would know what happened to her and her mother. She had both her hands chained to the wall, so Ed broke her out of them.

"And how were you going to do that if I didn't come here?" Ed decided to ignore the last part of her earlier sentence; however, he couldn't get it out of his mind. Emilia stood up while rubbing her wrists. Red marks were left there as the cuffs were too tight.

"I would have come up with something," Emilia spoke to Ed while making her way outside. She was free again and would return to her mission.

"So where do you think your mother is?" Ed followed after her, as he adamant about protecting her. It would be a stupid thing if he were to let the one he was supposed to protect, die.

"Like I said return to your kingdom." Emilia wasn't having any of it. She turned back to face Ed and pointed south, indicating the route he should be taking.

"I can't do that. We came here to save you, not for sightseeing." Ed looked at her without flinching. He was getting annoyed by her desperate attempt at trying to kill herself.

"Why would you even do that?! Who asked you?!" Emilia started screaming, attracting the attention of some of the guards who were looking for Ed.

"No one asked me. And why do I need a reason to come save you?!" Before the guards could reach them, Ed released an especially powerful wave of Conqueror's Haki. It was enough to affect the whole castle grounds.

"Go back!" Seeing that she was not getting in Ed's head, she screamed at him and continued climbing the stairs upwards. But, her hand was caught by Ed causing Emilia to turn back and look at him.

"What are you so afraid of, that you don't want me here?" Ed could tell what she was thinking but chose to ask her directly. Emilia realized this and bit hard on her teeth. She then looked at Ed in a forced smile and spoke.

"Nothing, so just go back." Her pathetic attempt at reassuring Ed had the opposite effect. He became a little angry and caught her by the shoulders.

"Who are you trying to fool? For what reason are you doing this?! Are you trying to throw away the life your mother gave just for revenge?!" Once Ed said the last sentence, the eyes of Emilia burned in anger.

"Who said I want to throw my life away? What do you know about my life?!" She's flung Ed's arms away and continued speaking or more accurately shouting.

"From when I was small, my father was murdered. My mother didn't act because my uncle, a high ranking noble, was the one who did it. If she killed him, this country would have collapsed! I had two other siblings who were killed once they stepped outside the castle grounds. All of these incidents were because of my uncle." As Emilia was remembering the incidents, tears filled her eyes. The tears overflowed and her face became flooded. Ed remembered that the first time he met her; she was almost killed by bandits due to her guards abandoning her. 'As I thought, those weren't bandits.' Ed thought to himself.

"And do you know who my uncle is? It's Norris' father. And he was killed by his own son. I thought they wouldn't bother us anymore, and I and my mother would be able to live peacefully. But then, my mother was killed by Blood sect, and it was at Norris' demand." Emilia choked on her own tears before continuing to speak. "I'm now left with no one in the world. I'm all alone! I have no reason to live anymore." Once Ed heard those words, a certain line popped up in his mind.

"No one was born to be alone in this world!" Emilia stopped and looked at him while he continued speaking. "You have me; you have us, don't you?" Ed looked at her directly while asking. But, Emilia started crying and screaming even harder.

"It's exactly because you guys exist that I want to die!" Ed was surprised again by her claim.

"I've already lost all my family. You should know how it feels to lose important people to you!" Emilia knew about the incident back in Scale kingdom. "I'm afraid I'll end up losing you too!" Emilia cried even harder. It was obvious that she cared greatly about the friends she had made. But Ed thought that her thinking process was foolish.

"You want to die, so you wouldn't lose us?! You know the pain of losing the important ones to you, and yet you want us to feel that when you go ahead and kill yourself?!" Ed was shouting at her once again. "You're not making any sense! If you're afraid, then let me tell you this. I won't die, and I won't let anyone die! If this kingdom is the one that caused you to lose your family, then abandon it! If you have no reason to live, then come with me and find it a new one!" Ed extended his hand towards Emilia. Although he was lower than her in the stairs, it seemed that was letting his hand down from a much higher place.