"Hm…? Wait—"
"Is that?"
Do they not recognize me…? I felt one by one everyone staring at me. Every nerve in my body tingled, it felt as if an electrical shock streamed through it.
"That's yukina!" Allisa yelled, she darted towards me with open arms. "It's Yukina!"
"Huh? That's-"
Before I could react Allisa clung to me. She nearly cut my own breath off with her gigantic hug. We were literally together not too long ago!
"Yukina! You're okay?!" She kept squeezing me tighter, and tighter. I could feel her shake, then her voice breaking. Before I knew it, another person clung to me.
"Thank the gods you're awake!" It was Melinda, she held even tighter and Allisa.. Hey you two, time out! I need to breathe! Even though I seemed to change physically, they recognized me.
I'm sorry for worrying you two… I returned their embrace; thankfully my arms were longer so I could wrap them both in a hug. "I'm sorry for worrying you guys."
"You should be, silly…" Melinda proclaimed in a hushed tone. "You pushed yourself whilst relying not much on others!"
"I could've help- helped…"
"I'm sorry…"
Sometime later, they stopped sobbing, and released their grips on me. Allisa's eyes were red, alongside Melinda's; however, they both had beaming smiles on their faces.
"You really worried us, y'know…?" Melinda said, her eyes widening whilst looking up at me. "Y-you got taller…?"
I nodded my head, scratched my chin and looked away from her. I still don't get how I grew through that evolution explanation.
At least Shen's skill in teaching is still the same.. Pretty horrible that is.
Melinda's mouth twitched when she looked at a certain area.
"Yeah- yeah… Shen said it was related to evolution?" I tilted my head towards Shen. Although, she said it was my body preparing to evolve.
"Evolution?"
"I still… don't understand it completely…"
Shen waved her hand at us, and Allisa and Melinda furrowed their eyebrows.
"Just don't get too big alright?"
"Alright…" I replied, feeling my face become warm. Her words had multiple meanings, I could hear it. Mainly see her eyeing my chest with an angry look.
"Good, good. James! Get your butt over here!" Melinda yelled aggressively, she raised her hand to force James over. Which he did, but he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Do you not recognize our daughter?"
"... I know she's Yukina…" James muttered. He seemed rather stiff, and… for some reason distant.
What's with him? Did- did I piss him off? I had an expectation for him to hug me. But he seems so off.
"You gonna hug her or what? You seemed worried about her the entire trip."
"...Do you want me to hug you?" James asked me, but I couldn't say anything before he stumbled into me.
"Go on, it's pretty obvious." Shen said in a bored manner.
Why's he acting so weird?
James wrapped his arms around me, and said something that warmed my heart. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"...I'm happy to be back…" If I had a tail it would probably be wagging. Fortunately, I didn't. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
"Don't worry about it…"
Once again, my adopted family group hugged me. By the time it was over, I was light headed due to oxygen not entering my brain. Where did Allisa get this much strength.
"That's-"
Eventually, one by one everyone ran to give me a hug. Jin was the first and unexpected one; when he was done, he forcefully released a chop to my head and gave me a slight scolding.
Alas… did Verd's family come. Sage pulled me with her stubbed arm— her attitude was different and much softer this time around. She even had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
Whilst her kids were next; her daughter had me kneel down so she could dangle her body around my neck. As for her son… he just wrangled my legs and called it good.
Lastly, Verd yanked me into one; I could hear him thank me multiple times. His voice broke, and I could hear tears of joy.
I don't know why, but he kept going… It took so long but my ears grew tired of it. I didn't do anything special. I didn't save sage from getting hurt.
She still lost her arm and hand— I'm sure Shen could heal them but… still. I couldn't save her from this suffering. Although… she doesn't seem to be suffering. She isn't struggling.
Honestly I wanted to ask Verd if she's sane, because that woman is quite terrifying.
"Yukina, thank you… seriously." Verd said, releasing me moments later. "I can't thank you enough."
"..."
It wasn't before long, but he thanked me one last time and left.
…Shaun… The last person to me… it was him. He was holding the bracelet that held her ashes, and I can see he put a string to hold her bloodied ring. He looked… like he hasn't slept for days.
For… some reason my heart ached seeing him. It was starting to race and I could feel myself shaking. Is… is he going to hate me for not saving her?
With each step getting closer to me, things started to blur around me. I couldn't stop my mind from yelling at me— it kept blaming me for not saving her. I couldn't save Vivienna, I was too slow.
Was Shaun going to hate me? Will he blame me? What's he going to do? He wasn't looking relieved like the others— he was looking at me with a frown.
Yet— he kept getting closer… he was right in front of me. His eyes were red… like he was crying for days— the bags under his eyes were so deep.
"I'm-" I couldn't help what was roaring in my mind. "I'm sorry- I couldn't-"
Shaun— he cut my breath off— I couldn't see what happened— He held me to his body– his chin rested on my head. He held my head with one hand and the other was around my back.
"You don't need to apologize." Shaun mumbled, he held me tighter. "It wasn't your fault."
"I couldn't… save her…"
I could feel something well in my eyes— and the world began to blur even more. Something warm rolled down my face as I tried to speak more…
"I couldn't save her— I'm, I'm so sorry… I'm sorry-"
"Sh… it's okay— it's okay Yukina." His voice was so soft. "You had your hands full…"
"..."
He held me close, not saying a word. It was long, a long time before he spoke again; it was…. Something I wouldn't expect.
"Thank you. Thank you for keeping her memories…" His voice was shuddering, but he kept going— going… "Thank you for keeping her ring, and cremating her…"
"..."
I couldn't find the words in my stomach. The warm tears in my eyes continued to race down my face. I felt my chest ache as I cried in his arms. We were… like this for so long, it felt like my tear ducts dried.
"Thank you for saving Allisa, Cram and Assil Thank you for coming back to us."
"..." I couldn't come up with anything. He eventually separated his arms; he had a smile on his face now, but I can see the grief in his eyes.
"Please don't blame yourself… for Vivienna's passing…" Shaun quietly said to me. "You're okay, and they're okay too. I need you, Allisa, Assil and Cram too."
I slowly nodded my head, and nothing else could come up my throat.