Chapter 14: The Squad

The couple slowly approached Emily.

The woman was absolutely stunning. She is probably two heads taller than Emily and everything about her was just perfect. Her hair was pale blonde and her eyes were purple in colour, an eye colour that Emily had never seen a human possessed. Frightening, but also elegant on a whole.

However, the man next to her looked menacing. He was much taller than Jai, in fact, he will probably make Jai look shorter than he actually was. His hair was till his broad shoulders and the colour of his hair is just like hers... black. His body was huge and as he approached Emily, he clearly dwarfed her.

Finally, they were just in front of her.

Before she could say anything, the woman pulled her in for a hug. "My child." She called out softly.

That phrase just shot her heart.

"Mom...?" Emily breathed out in her quivering voice. She was uncertain if that woman was indeed her mother, but yet she felt as if she already knew the answer.

The woman released her and looked straight into her eyes. She could already tell the woman was already about to break into tears, which she could only assume as tears of joy. "Yes, Emily?"

This is her Mother.

Patricia had always provided lots of love and care for her. So much that she swore that she didn't really bother much about her birth parents. But, somehow, now knowing that her parents were just in front of her, she couldn't help but to feel happy.

Tears just filled Emily's eyes. She couldn't help but to cry. Seeing that, her mother started crying as well while saying, "I was hoping everyday to see you and now that you're here, I'm really happy." Emily was pulled in for a second hug.

Those words just shattered her heart. She always thought that her parents were heartless people, but now that she met them, she was filled with guilt.

"Look, this was supposed to be a happy day. So, you two should stop crying." The man behind them stated. Her mom let go of her and replied, "Well, I can't help it. Anderson, you should say hi to our Daughter, since she already here."

The man approached her with a serious look on his face, "Hi, I'm you Father... If you haven't figure that out." He said it in a very monotonous voice.

Emily stood there awkwardly for a moment as she wiped her tears, before she saying, "Um... Hi, dad."

The word 'dad' made the man flustered but he quickly regained his composure.

So, this is her... Father.

They stood there in silence. Awkward silence.

"You are hopeless, aren't you?" Her mom sighed, "You can't stop talking about her a few minutes ago, and now she's right in front of you, you just can't say anything."

Her mom walked towards her and grabbed both her hands, "Sorry, he's a really hopeless, awkward and antisocial man. Forgive him, okay?" Those words just dragged his ego down, but sadly it was pretty much the truth.

Afterwards, they had breakfast together with the others. That was one great feast, everything just tasted so good. Except there fact that she didn't know what cutlery to use. There many different ones, which she can only grouped them together into three groups and labelled them as forks, spoons and knives.

Just as they are eating, Mary remembered, "Oh yes, Emily. I almost forgot, here you go." She passed Emily a thick book.

"What's this?" Emily asked while scrutinising at it as if she is observing a rare fossil of some kind.

"Well, as the Princess, you need to pick some people to really work under you. They will be the one who you will be fighting with in the future. Choose wisely though, they will be with you forever. For a start you should pick eight." Mary gave the book a light tap before she continued, "In this book, it contains the information there are insanely stronge espers, mages, summoners, warriors, assassi--"

Emily did not want intercepted her explanation but she did. "Wait, what?! Mages? Espers? Summoners? Aren't those supposed to be in fantasy?"

"Well yeah, to humans on Earth they are supposed to be in fantasy. However, no one said that they don't exist here." Mary grinned playfully, "Almost everyone here possessed a supernatural ability."

Emily had no idea how to respond, because all these things are too much for her to process. "WHAT?!"

"No. Way." She blurted out, partially still in disbelief.

"I know it's hard to take in, so you can take you time. With that being said, you should pick a couple of people to protect you at the very least." Mary replied.

"Protect me? From what?" This time she felt more worried than confused. "Um... Everything?" Mary gave an not-so-assuring answer.

The queen took a napkin and delicately wiped her mouth. "Well, Mary partially right. Since you're back in Fiore, there's no doubt that the news of your arrival will attract many people." She paused and looked at Emily directly in the eye, "Some of them might even hunt you down and capture you, for their own benefits."

Emily was stunned. "Well... Maybe being the Princess of this place isn't such a great idea."

"You don't have to worry, this is why we want you to pick a couple of people to protect you temporarily, until you know how to protect yourself. Afterwards, they will just be your comrades who you will be fighting with." The queen assured with a smile.

Learning how to protect herself? As in, learning how to be in combat? The last time she checked, she didn't have any talent for that. Also, supernatural abilities? What? The only ability she has is to scare other away using her 'supernatural' and 'ever-so-majestic' black hair.

"Erm... I don't think I have any talent for that kind of stuff. So, I think I'm not up for the task." Emily admitted with her head hanging slightly.

There was a few seconds of silence before it was broken by Lavi's loud burp. "Ah, that was satisfying." He said to himself before speaking directly to Emily. "What are you talking about? Remember yesterday when I told you only 'special' people can see that translucent wall? I wasn't lying, that is a invisible barrier. It's placed around the headquarters so that it will be invisible to humans. This is also why there weren't any news on that huge ass building, even though it was clearly right there. Since you can see it, this means that you're probably not a human being. To back that up, both his and her majesty possessed supernatural abilities that are known to be ridiculously strong. So, there's no doubt that you will have an ability of some sort. We just don't know what is it yet, don't give up that easily."

That surprised Emily, she didn't know how Lavi could motivate someone like that. After hearing that, she felt like her mood has lighten up. "Thanks, Lavi."

Upon hearing that, his lips curved up to form a grin, "Don't mention it."

"Alright then, I just need to pick eight people, right?" Emily asked to clarify.

Mary replied with a nod.

"Okay, can I pick people whom are not in this book?" Emily asked again.

"Well, you can do that. This book just have people we recommend." The queen answered her question while retaining her gentle smile.

"Then I've decided." She proclaimed with a satisfied smile as she gently pushed the book away, "I'll pick Jai, Anna, Beck, Ben, Mary, Ethan and Lavi."

Everyone at the table looked at her as if she's speaking gibberish. "That's seven, right? Well, as for the last one..." She tapped her chin with one of her fingers repeatedly before the coming to a conclusion.

At this moment, she remembered a particular someone.

"Yukiko."