CHAPTER 365: She Would Surely Return To Us

"So tell me, how did things unfold after I was taken?" Saphira asked when all of them calmed down and each decided to have some refreshments.

Despite everyone telling her to rest, she argues that she is already completely fine, thanks to Lily or Nathalia.

"Well, Nathalia explained things to us."

(Flashback)

"When I was about to be completely enveloped by the darkness and pulled along. I wished hard that I won't be pulled along or something like that. And my desire turned to half reality."

Nathalia looked at all of them, "My soul separated into two souls. One was taken to the dark world and the other combined with the light ability. Back then it was but a fire. But when half of my soul combined with it, it started having its consciousness and becoming the guardian of the light ability."

"So you are also the first light ability user? Is that what you are saying?" Drake slowly asked.

Nathalia nodded her head, "I was the gifted one then. Too gifted where I ended up going far ahead of my friends."

There was melancholy in her eyes as she spoke of it.

"Made wrong decisions leading to me being left all on my own. Or so I thought. These are things I learned while watching you guys."

"Then the other half you were talking about a while ago was your real body with half of your soul?" Willow was the one who asked next.

"Yes."

"Is it because of your soul splitting into two that you have forgotten all about this important information?" Nixon questioned.

"Yes, that is also the reason I came up with."

"So you are saying that Saphira needs to fight while looking for you in the dark world? Then how will you connect with that person? Simply Saphira meeting her?"

Nathalia sighed while shaking her head, "Saphira needed to let her regain her desire to fight the darkness. Because at this moment, I couldn't feel her at all. Meaning...."

She trailed off.

"Meaning she had given up on fighting and either was already dead or that she is already one of the residents of the dark world."

Hunter finished her words, his tone serious, almost cold. One could say that he was truly controlling himself at the moment.

Nathalia looked away, because he was right. If her other half was still fighting, then now that she had remembered everything, she would have felt her. But she did not.

Which only means one thing.

Her other half has indeed given up in fighting.

"Don't look too down."

She looked back at Hunter, he was no longer leaning on the wall. He was now facing her and somehow even his anger has dissipated a lot.

"If that is all she needed to do in order to come back to us. Then..."

Hunter smirked, "...she would surely return to us."

"Your... confidence in her..."

Somehow, even up to this point, she couldn't help but be shocked at the bond between these people. She was, after all, someone who had turned her back on her friends.

She knew now, she was the one who created the wall back then.

The wall that caused her to feel so lonely.

"Even up to this point you are still speaking with uncertainty? When you are the one who has been witnessing everything about her first hand."

Hunter was truly angry a while ago because of the suddenness of things but after calming down, he also became clear headed.

After some more thoughts and hearing a few things from Nathalia, he regained his confidence that Saphira will be fine.

He simply wished that she could hold up until then.

"Finding that person could be connected to her luck. But getting that person to rethink her life is something she can do just fine. She had been doing it all along after all."

Nathalia couldn't help but to agree with the second half of his words.

She had seen Saphira make people change their minds and hearts towards her. Not by persuading them with words alone but instead by simply being her and continuously upholding her own justice.

"But I think Saphira has this aura where people will be pulled to her with her simply being there," Ridge couldn't help but to comment.

And the others simply agreed.

"I see. Then we shall believe in her."

(End of Flashback)

"I am glad that even Lily has found her own peace through us."

Saphira could tell through their story that Nathalia had completely realized what she lacked in the past.

"Then I suppose while waiting, you all just trained?" she then asked.

She can feel the strength in them is much more different than it was before she was pulled into the dark world.

"Having nothing to do and knowing that there are thousands and thousands of demonic beasts in there. We can only train," Ridge shrugged.

"Nathalia did tell us that we will focus on rescue and running. But we don't want to risk anything. If ever things won't go the way we planned, then we would fight with you so we needed to be stronger," Nixon followed.

"And once again we were amazed at how you truly were able to reconnect with Nathalia over there," Willow commented afterwards.

Saphira smiled, "Despite giving up. She herself actually couldn't leave those who followed her in becoming the light ability user. Because despite it being discouraging words, I can actually feel the fact that she didn't wish for them to suffer more. By telling them to give up, especially when it was near impossible to actually get out of such a place. It was easier for them to have peace."

"That's a bit twisted to call care, don't you think so?" Stormie couldn't help but to comment.

Saphira smiled, "Yes. But being there. That is the best care you could give another person who was suddenly sucked into such a place, made to fight without end."

"Will they be fine?" Nixon said.

Saphira shook her head, "Since she is no longer alone. The person who wished to be with her and be her support is now there with her. They can surely fight more and I have this feeling that they will be fine."

"Is it the one who made Qirin into an accompanying beast?" Hunter asked her.

She took a deep breath before looking at Hunter and sighing in contentment, "Yes, that is why I suppose all puzzles have been completed."

"Can we really finally relax?" Stormie asked with uncertainty.

"Yes, we can. We can finally truly retire," Saphira giggled.

"Are you really alright even after what you experienced there?" Drake asked while there was a tinge of worry in his voice.

The others also had a look of worry on their eyes as they looked at her.

Saphira looked at him, "Yes, I am. It was quite scary at first but after actually reuniting Nathalia with him. I felt like I really was supposed to be pulled there. Because it is us who are in this present time."

"Us?" Willow asked.

"Yes. This group. The bond that we all share was completely different from the bonds the others before us. The trust, the confidence, the care, everything was totally different. And that is what made me think that indeed, with all this considered, despite being pulled there, I will surely have a chance of getting out."

"The bond," Willow muttered.

A few years ago, when they all reunited after being separated for eight years. This word wouldn't have mattered to them.

Instead they will laugh it off saying that they hated one another, what kind of bond will they have? A bond that wishes for the other to get hurt?

But now, all of them felt the same way as Saphira after she had spoken these words.

Their bond transcended blood relations.

The time they spent together.

The time they fought with one another, argued over what to do.

The time they cried over the loss of others, of the fact that they felt it unfair that they are made to fight nonstop.

The time they laughed and got injured, the time they all almost died.

Everything gave their group a bond far different than what others have.

"It was all because we were able to confront everything and face one another properly that we were able to create this bond that we all have now," Stormie lamented.

"Suddenly I want a hug from all of you," Saphira suggested.

It both shocked and brought humor to the others.

"Then shall we?" Nixon grinned.

The seven of them stood up and extended their arms to wrap it to the one beside them.

Thinking about it, when was the last time that their group did this?

A group hug filled with gratefulness that the other was still alive and well.

"I really am glad I was born in this time despite everything we have faced," Ridge commented, gaining a smile from the others.

Because all of them felt the same.

Meeting and fighting with one another, they would never exchange such experiences with anyone else.