TBATE: Your Presence | One Shots

Unravel - Part 3

Alice Leywin:

It had been 2 years since my son had left, or should I say was pushed away. It didn't take too long for us to realize what his presence meant for our lives. A ray of sunshine, a bringer of joy and most importantly, our son.

It felt worse than when he had sacrificed himself to protect me when he was just 4 years old. I had watched his recording over and over again, everytime feeling worse than before for treating him the way I had. It hurt to see him hurting, and over time I realized that it was because deep inside, I always considered him my son, my own flesh and blood.

I wasn't angry at him. No, I was angry at myself. Angry for not noticing the burdens my son was carrying. Angry that I failed to notice all the things he did for us, for Ellie. He was such a lonely boy in his past life who finally had what he always yearned for, a family. But here I was, who showered him with love and cruelly took it away. No person should ever go through the things he has been through, irrespective of their circumstances.

The only traces he showed of his previous life were when he wanted to protect us, and the rest of the time I remember was of raising him like any parent would, their own child. Please Art, my boy, come back to me. To us.

I looked at the ring on my finger that would glow red if his mana levels dropped to dangerous levels. Over these two years, it never went off, and that was the only thing that kept me moving forward. Hopeful that he would return to us and forgive us. Recently the ring glowed green for a moment. Not knowing what it meant, I considered that to be a good sign.

I felt tears well up in my eyes remembering everything. To distract myself, I got up and went out of Helstea Manor which we have been residing in ever since. It was evening as the rays of sun felt warm against the cool weather. Winter had just ended and spring was in full bloom. Ellie was in the garden she was tending to, as she told it gave her a peace of mind in her brother's absence. She hated us at first for what we did to Arthur but soon she was the one comforting us, telling us that she would protect the happiness that her brother had given us.

Honestly I'm blessed to have such wonderful children, who put their family above everything, and here we are, as parents, selfish about trivial things. Rey accepted Arthur sooner than I did, and was distraught that he didn't go after him like Tessia did.

Ellie spotted me and started to walk over to me with something in her hands. She had a sad smile on her face as she approached me.

"Hey Mom, good evening. Here hold this," she said as she gave me something which was like a small puffball on a stick. She had one of those in her hand too.

"What is this Ellie?"

"These," she said as she brought it in front of her face facing away from me, "are dandelions. There's a saying in Xyrus that if you are able to blow away all the seeds on this, your wish will come true. It is supposed to be an indicator of spring to come after a harsh winter, in our...lives," she continued as she took in a deep breath and proceeded to gently blow at the puffball. The seeds started to disperse and soon she was left with a stick with a ball-like object on the stalk. All the seeds were blown away.