5 : Strawberries (Zeo)

"What do you mean that one of us is a Walker?"Elliot asked my sister while tilting his head to his right side. This is one of the few things I have noticed about Elliot. Whenever he is confused or doesn't understand something, he tilts his head slightly towards one side. He looks really cute at that moment. His catty blue eyes looking at you with an amusing frown plastered on his face. But I was trying my best to hold my smile to prevent the situation from getting more uncomfortable for him.

"Walkers, are actually humans that are capable of travelling between parallel realms. Though, as per the book here, they became extinct about five hundred years ago." Millia said keeping down the old book she was holding.

"Your entering in the Elf realm can only explained by the fact that either of you or both of you are Walkers" She futher added. Elliot gave a puzzled look to his friend, Nathan but he just gave a "whatever" type shrugg as a reply.

" Alright, just tell us how to get back to our world.." Elliot declared.

"That's....not something, I can tell you.." Millia told him and he gave his cute frown again. But this time I wasn't able to hold any longer and covered my mouth to prevent anyone from witnessing my stupid grin. Thankfully, no one did.

"Why, is it classified info?" This time Nathan spoke up. "No, it's just that it is not mentioned in this book and I don't have any idea on how this travelling between the realms occur." Millia clarified. Nathan just gave a deep sigh.

"Wait, are there any other realms other than this?" Elliot asked in curiosity.

Millia turned her head to Elliot and looked at him with shrewd eyes, perhaps trying to analyse where this question was coming from but Elliot was as confident as a mountain and didn't back down even a bit.

"Well, there are some other realms other than the Elf and Mortal realm (Earth) like the Angelic Realm, the Demonic Realm and the Chaoitic Realm, which is the actually the emptiness in between the other four realms." She continued. Both Elliot and Nathan were looking at Millia as if they were nursery kids while Millia was their teacher explaining them the wonders of the world. They reminded me of Millia and my smaller version who used to hear our Dad's stories with childish amazement and awe.. Thinking about Dad I really miss him, he hasn't been home for more than two weeks. I wonder when he will return.

"So, can Elliot or me travel to those realms as well?" Nathan asked. Millia gave them a 'Maybe' type shrugg. In reality she was sarcastically copying Nathan's way of replying but he didn't notice.

"I think we should first have dinner, I am really hungry here" I finally interrupted the conversation and my stomach added a testimony to my appeal with its loud growl. Suddenly, all the eyes turned to me. I didn't mind the others but whenever Elliot looked at me directly, it made me a bit shy and conscious about myself. Then, Elliot started laughing loudly and instead of feeling embarrassed about my comment, I felt a bit proud to be able make Elliot laugh. 'What's with this kid?' I asked myself while grinning.

Millia stood up first and went towards the kitchen and I just followed her.

"Should we really let them stay here?" Millia finally asked as we entered the kitchen.

"We can't just leave them! They can be killed! We both know how dangerous this place can be for someone as weak as them." I told her.

"I know, I..just don't have a good feeling about all this... "

"Did you have any visions lately?" I interrogated.

"No....it's just that there had been no Walkers since last five hundred years and then suddenly they come from nowhere, without even realising it they are walking between realms!!!" She almost yelled. She was shaking, her breaths heavy and small.

I put my arms around her. "It's alright, alright..." I said rubbing my arms over her back. Millia sometimes had panic attacks but they were rare. They came whenever she turned angry or anxious. She had this problem from the time she was a child, after she had a vision of a dying child and while trying to save the child she deliberately became the reason of his death. That was the day she realised that her gift of seeing the future was actually a curse in disguise. She can see the future but can never change it. I could try to calm her. Say that everything will be fine but I could never understand her pain, her fear, her curse of knowing!!

Her breath became steadier. She broke free from the hug and went to her choirs and I let her.

We had vegetable stew as dinner. Both Elliot and Nathan seemed to enjoy the dinner but I can't be sure about Millia. She can be sometimes be hard to read. After the dinner Millia brought a bowl of sugared strawberries, freshly picked from our garden for sweet dish. And to my surprise, Elliot enjoyed the strawberries very much. He hastily stuffed his mouth with a handful of strawberries.

"T-th-ey ..are r-e-eally g-ood." He said, his mouth stuffed. And Millia went on laughing seeing Elliot acting like that.

"You can eat slowly, there are a lot of them" She said while laughing.

"Sure!!" Elliot said as he added one more strawberry to his mouth.

It could be hard to tell if she is sad, but she is not good at hiding her genuine happiness. And this time, was one of them.

"So, can you show me where, I 'll be sleeping tonight?" Nathan asked.

"Like last night. In Milla's bed" I said. Nathan's eyes widened.

"Wait!! I slept in a girl's bed last night!!" He exclaimed. I nodded. He thought for a moment.

"But, I will not sleep there tonight...I...will sleep wherever Elliot will sleep.." he then announced.

"As you wish" Millia said before taking the empty bowl and leaving. This means I have to sacrifice my bed for him and Elliot. Shit!! And I had thought that I might get to sleep beside Elliot. Gone was my dream...

So, I took the only place left for me-- the living room couch. The couch was not long enough to let me expand my legs comfortably, so I slept while keeping my legs folded. The next morning, they felt really numb.

Early in the morning, Millia asked me pick some fresh strawberries from our backyard. I can only wonder if the reason was that Elliot had eaten all the strawberries last night after dinner.

While I was picking up the strawberries, Elliot found me and asked me what I was doing. "Picking strawberries for someone who likes them a lot." I had replied and he smiled at me shyly. He came to me.

"Let me help you..." he said as he took the basket of strawberries from my hands and started picking few by himself.

"You know me and my mother used to pick strawberries like this on our father's birthday when I was a kid. He liked them very much...Maybe I have got the affection for strawberries from him." He told me.

"Is your father strict?? Because mine has got horns" I joked.

"Actually, he is no more...he died in an accident when I was six.." He said in a low tone and I regretted making that stupid joke like that. In my case , I never knew my parents, dad had told me that he had found me crying in the forest here.

The pain of being an orphan is bearable when you never knew your real parents but when you know how it feels like to have parents, the memories you made with them, the smiles and tears they gave you, then it turns really hard. That's partly the reason why, I never insisted Dad to look for my biological parents, because even if they are here they can never be my parents. I would rather perfer to believe my sweet lie than to learn the harsh truth.

" I am sorry...." I said.

" No, I okay. Even my memories about him are starting to fade away. And I still have my mother with me." He said cherring up the mood, he probably did it for me, or for himself or for both of us.

Our two baskets were already filled with strawberries by now. We both stood up almost simultaneously and were on our way back when I felt a sudden gust of wind disbalancing me.

[Elemental Magic: Wind style - Reverse Sprit transformation!!]

Soon a vortex of wind and dust formed in front of us. After a moment, a man in his late thirties, dressed in green robes appeared in front of us. He suddenly kneeled in front of us which undeniably surprised me.

"Young master, Zeo. Master Ross has sent me here to give you and young madam, Millia protection. I hope you will accept me under your service.." He declared. I looked at Elliot. He seemed equally equipped with the same wilderness as mine.

"Protection?? From what?" Elliot asked. The man shifted his graze to Elliot and as inevitable as it was, a deep dissatisfaction appeared on his face. But he didn't show of his bubbling emotions in front of me. Well, he was doing his job quite well. But still anyone knowing about the presence of humans or to be precise, Walkers here can sure cause some problem. The man on realising that I too was waiting for his reply, finally answered.

"Young master, the former Terra Clan Leader had been assassinated by someone we believe to be a Soul Manipulator. Even the Hammer of Power has been stolen. The Terra Clan is no more a safe place my lord." He explained.

" Wait! Who is the Clan Leader right now?" I asked.

"Your father, Master Ross young master." He replied shortly.