CHAPTER 222(No Goodbyes)

Please read the author's notes.

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

---Floor 101 Safe Zone...

Walking through the safe zone Yang ignores everything around him. Blinded to the dried-out coral reef and all the beauty it holds.

Now wearing his full armor with a few scratches from recent fights, he has his visor stored away as they finally get to the starting point for the final leg of their adventure together.

Seeing the tunnel to the deeper floors only a few hundred meters away, a massive archway able to fit even the largest monsters from these floors. The top of the tunnel itself being higher than the outer wall of Orario, at least two-hundred feet tall.

Step after step Yang marches onward toward his goal.

Memories of his family and everything he was torn away from filled his mind and heart. The burning desire and guilt in his chest feels as if it were a stinging pain, trying to burn out of his body.

Allowing it to guide him he continues walking forward, until a hand grabs his shoulder.

"Yang?" Thalie asks, giving him a strange look as he turns to meet her brown eyes.

Snapping out of his clouded state he shakes his head, "yeah?"

"Uh, we need to make camp," she gestures to Welf who was also in his full armor, already making his way toward their plateau in this safe zone.

"Right, right...sorry, just got a bit lost in thought," Yang says as he begins walking toward Welf.

Giving him a concerned look Thalie falls into step behind him as they make their way toward the campsite.

Minutes later The Trifecta find themselves sitting on benches around a table atop the plateau, all raised from the ground with Yang's Earth Magic. With the tent set up, they were enjoying dinner, not eating rations but some preserved packed meals. A treat they could only enjoy a certain distance into the dungeon.

Because time flows normally within his Inventory food can spoil, past this safe zone they had no idea when they'd get a chance to eat something other than ration bars so this was all the meals they made.

Taking a bite out of a stick of salted meat Welf washes it down with some peach juice. "So how much further do you think we have to go?" he asks.

Pushing his empty plate aside Yang takes a sip of his water and mulls over the question for a moment. "Not far, I'm guessing before the next safe zone," he says.

Thalie gives him a curious look. "How do you know that? Did this 'Angel' give you a floor number or something?"

"No, but...I can feel it. I just know it, trust me on this."

"I always trust you," Thalie says.

"What happens when we get there?" Welf asks. "Do we escort her out or what?"

"No I don't think so," Yang says. "I think I just need to free her from...whatever is keeping her locked in place. Then she can open a rift like the one that accidentally pulled us into this world."

"So we get you to her and it's done, you're just gone forever?" Thalie asks with narrowed eyes, not that Yang noticed. He was staring down at the table with a content smile on his face at the idea of leaving.

"Yup, then it's finally over," Yang says. "No more fighting or dungeon or whatever else. Finally home free, finally back with my family," Thalie's stern expression falters at his words. He looks up to see her face completely void of emotions. "I'm just tired...of everything. All the fighting and dreams, constantly feeling like crap, like...this, I want it all done and I'm finally close, I can feel it," he says with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

Thalie doesn't respond, not sure if she had anything pleasant to say to him at the moment.

"What about saying goodbye to everyone?" Welf asks.

Yang turns to him with a confused look. "Hephaestus knows how this ends, and so does Tsubaki. Everyone else you can just tell them I died or something," Yang says.

"Really?" Welf asks with much concern. "What about Freya and Riveria? Don't you want to at least say goodbye in person?"

Yang tenses at the thought. He immediately gets up and begins storing his dishes away. "I definitely don't want to do that. That will only go badly, this is better."

"I think you should atleast tell them face to face, even if it's not the whole truth about you being from another world," Welf says.

Yang sighs. "Just trust me on this, that won't go over well, at all. No goodbyes, this just needs to be done and over with," Yang turns around and begins walking to the tent. "I'm gonna get some sleep. This end of this adventure starts tomorrow."

"Yeah," Welf calls out to him. "We'll get you home, just like we promised," he shoots Thalie a scathing look which she immediately matches.

After Yang enters the tent Welf silently finishes his food, a few minutes later he looks up at Thalie who was patiently waiting.

"He's asleep," she says. Using her Primal Awareness skill and focusing on Yang, making sure he was asleep and unable to listen in on what they were going to say. Even a few dozen meters away they were fairly sure if Yang focuses he can hear them clearly. "Now what the fuck is your problem?"

"Me?" Welf questions. "You're the one asking a million questions. Making him question everything he's doing."

"You're the one just going along with everything even when you don't like it," Thalie whisper-shouts back.

"I'm being supportive, he wants to go home, I'm helping him."

"But you don't even want him to leave," Thalie says.

"None of us want him to leave, but that doesn't matter, this isn't about us. He wants to leave so we should support him."

"This is bullshit, he should stay," Thalie says.

"That's not for us to decide. He helped me with Hephaestus and with Rakia. He helped you with Adrestria and not getting banished from Orario. Now we should atleast help and support him however we can."

Thalie remains quiet for a moment, angrily staring down at the table as if she were trying to burn a hole into it.

"I hate this," she says.

"Yeah, we all do, but it's what we signed up for."

"We should atleast tell him, right?"

"No," Welf says. "He already has enough pressure to deal with. You saw how he was on the way down here, he's always distracted, lost in his own head. He just wants this done."

"This sucks."

"I know."

"What about Freya, how are we supposed to explain this?" Thalie asks.

"Hephaestus said she'll explain it to Freya and Riveria, they may ask questions and we can't lie to a god remember," Welf says.

Thalie passes a hand down her face as she gathers her thoughts. Moving from warm slightly tanned skin to the colder black metal of her mouth and jaw. "When we made that deal to help each other, I expected to be dead by this time. Didn't expect you two to actually have the balls and skills to back up your talk. Definitely didn't expect us to get this far."

"Aren't you glad we surprised you?" Welf asks.

"Well, I've got real friends now...one of which expects me to be ok with the fact that he's leaving forever. And I rescued a kid," Thalie says.

"Adopted Mikoto," Welf corrects her.

"Same thing. Everything is just so different, perfect. And now a piece of it is going...I don't want that. Guess I'm just selfish."

"You're not the only one," Welf says with an understanding smile. "But this isn't about us. I'll check in with Hephaestus, try not to be out here too long, we need to be in top form for whatever the next few floors throw at us."

As Welf gets up and walks toward the tent Thalie just stares out at the dimly lit safe zone. All the massive coral spires rise high above the ground under the pale blue light of the crystal ceiling. The same light that barely reflected in the tears flowing down her face. Unable to keep her warrior bravado up in the face of losing one of her closes friends.

---Riveria's Room, Twilight Manor...

Standing in front of her mirror Riveria looks at herself. Ignoring the scars, long grown used to them, she directs Lefiya over to her side. The girl was slightly older, just a few inches shorter than Riveria now. While Lefiya was wearing full mage robes, Riveria wore just her underwear as she inspects herself in the mirror.

"How much longer do you think before people start to notice?" Riveria asks, passing a hand over the small bump on her belly.

"A month at best," Lefiya says as she stands beside Riveria. "But that's the least of your worries. Our next expedition is in a week, if he finds out you entered the dungeon, or worse...if he runs into you on his way up from their expedition..."

"I know," Riveria sighs. "When Yang asked me to take this next step with him, I expected him to be much laxer, but he's so overbearing."

"Overprotective," Lefiya corrects her. "I think it's cute."

"You aren't the one he's always doting on and keeps treating like a glass doll, I'm still an adventurer," Riveria grumbles.

"A pregnant adventurer," Lefiya says. "Still can't believe I'm gonna have a little sibling. But what's the plan for the expedition?"

"I'm not going," Riveria says rather casually. "I can't risk him knowing I entered the dungeon while pregnant, or worse...me getting hurt."

Lefiya's face turns sour at the thought, "right. So what do we do?"

"We don't do anything," Riveria walks over to her desk and grabs her staff. Still coated in Adamantite and Mythril from The Trifecta vault by lady Hephaestus herself. "You will be taking my place," she holds the staff out for Lefiya to take.

"Wow...are you sure?" Lefiya asks, nervously reaching out to take the instrument.

"Of course, Yang and I have taken the next step after many years, it's about time you get to do the same," Riveria gives her a gentle smile.

Cradling the staff to her chest Lefiya gives her mentor a beaming smile. "So...do you have any names picked out?"

"Hmmm," Riveria looks down and passes a hand over the bump, enjoying the feeling of having everything she's wanted for the past few years. All her dreams finally became a reality within the next few months, "well, I was thinking---"

"HNGH!" Riveria muffled scream is the only sound she hears as she wakes up.

Torn from her bed in the dead of night by a massive hand covering her face, fingers almost wrapped around her skull and applying a painful amount of force.

Her nightgown, thin veils of green and black, barely covering her body, a gift from Freya, or maybe Lefiya...she could hardly tell anymore with how very 'supportive' they've both been.

Normally she'd be concerned about losing her 'honor' in this situation, but she immediately recognizes that this particular man would have no interest in her as a woman.

Feeling herself lifted feet off the ground she punches and kicks with all the strength of a level-6...mage.

Her hands and feet crack, bones fracture against a mountain of pure muscle and power.

With his hand covering her face, leaving only one eye free to look at him with horror and dread in her pupil. Fingers cradling her skull and applying more and more force until he could feel her skull cracking, pained cries unable to be heard. Muffled by his hand crushing her mouth closed.

As she stops fighting, realizing how useless it was, her terrified gaze settles on the stoic expression of Ottar as he keeps her aloft by the single hand wrapped around her skull.

"Lady Freya has grown impatient, she demands results," he says in a bored tone. "She has sent me to deliver a message, 'have his children, or lose the ones you already have,' "

As he finishes speaking he drops her to the floor. Riveria crumples to the floor, still paralyzed by fear, having one of the most powerful men in the world sent after her was not something she'd ever want.

And now her familia isn't safe, her home isn't even safe, she isn't safe.

Watching Ottar silently walk out to the balcony connected to her room she sees his shadow disappear, likely leaping far into the city. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself she walks over to her equipment chest and fishes out an Elixir before moving to stand in front of her body-length mirror.

Taking a look at her face she sees a purple and blue bruise in the shape of a handprint covering most of her face and her broken nose. Opening the Elixir she pours it onto her face and head, seeing the wounds heal as she snaps her nose back into place for it to heal properly.

Feeling a sudden influx of stamina she takes another deep breath to calm down before her eyes linger on her scars, as always. No matter how loved she knows she was, they would always bother her, something she's made peace with.

But what now has her scorn was something else.

Something that's been festering in her thoughts for weeks.

Maybe it was Freya planting ideas in her mind for almost a year.

Maybe it's the dreams she's been having for months.

Maybe it's Lefiya mirroring the voice in her head, telling her to take the risk.

But her perfectly flat and slightly lean stomach seemed so...wrong.

At the back of her head part of her was screaming to be the woman she would occasionally be in her dreams.

"Such a dangerous thought," she mutters before walking back to bed. "I need to have a talk with Yang when he gets back..."

END CHAPTER---

For these next chapters I'm being extra careful with them so some may be delayed like these last two were both a day late. Also, I'm really grasping at straws for chapter titles...222 unique and relevant titles is a lot :/