Suddenly Angelina became an Empress(WmmapFanfic)

Chapter 37

   It was hard to honestly believe but we were back. I blinked a few times as I felt the cold droplets of rain that fell on my eyelids and arms. In the distance I saw the palace and the capitol. So far away was it, I felt anxious. 

       "It's raining quite heavily," Athanasia muttered bitterly covering her head with her arms. 

        "Probably because of the world tree," Lucas smiled, "Well, it's not a big deal." 

        "Let's get back quickly then-" I started before slipping on the wet grass and nearly tumbling on the side of the grassy hill we were on. I heard Lucas laugh in the distance. UGh. 

    "Unnie! did you get hurt?" I heard Athansia through the increasing pitter patter of the rain. I patted the mud off of my tattered dress before looking up and smiling. 

    "Yeah! Just a bit disheveled!" I yelled, "Like I said, we should get out of here as soon as possible!" 

      "Good Idea!" Athanasia laughed before sliding down to my level. 

       "Do you guys want to walk the rest of the way?" Lucas yelled. 

       "No way!" Athanasia angrily replied. 

       "Ah-" I patted Athanasia, "You teleport to an inn with lucas. I'll join you later." 

"Did something happen?" Lucas yelled casually. 

     "No. I just have something to do." I responded. 

     Athanasia stared at me vigourously before giving a calm smile, "Alright. I trust you, Unnie. Stay safe." 

     I smiled back, "You too." I gently pushed her bangs back and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. 

     "Stay safe until we meet again." 

     Lucas and Athanasia were gone now. Now it was just me and me alone in the cold rain. I was worried I was going to catch a cold but there was something I needed to do that I hadn't allowed myself to do for a while. 

      Silently, I walked into the woods and found a nice cave. In the cave I lit a fire using my magic and silently, almost as if it never happened, I started crying. 

      A lot of things had happened and yet I held back all my tears and emotions for Athanasia. But alone, I can let it all out. All my fears, my anxiety, my grief, my relief. Nacho said that if I held it in for too long that I'd get bloated. But, now there's no Nacho to say anything like that. There's nothing. 

      Claude too, you know, I actually fell in love with him. There were some moments he was rude and made me annoyed but every time he laughed or smiled or would do something uncharacteristic I'd find solace. Because me too, I was similar to Claude in many ways. The fact that he felt close enough to me to have shared all those different expressions, I felt happy. Maybe I was interested in him for his looks and maybe he was only interested in me because I was strange but in the end, at least I think, we actually loved each other. 

     So when, so when he tried to kill me I- The tears tumbled down. When I lost my friend to him I- the tears wallowed up in my throat and eyes and nose and stomach. 

      "I felt really really hurt." I muttered, closing my eyes and letting all the tears building up fall. 

      I sniffled up and wiped my tears away with my arms. It's okay. It's okay. Nacho is... he might be alive, after all maybe Claude spared him... maybe Claude... I bit my lip, I already knew but I... I kept thinking the opposite out of pure hope. But it's not time to think about it now. I'll confront it when I confront it. 

    I got up and brushed my hair to the side before watching the rain slowly stop. As it stopped, I used a spell to change into a non tattered dress and dye my hair back to it's original color. I smiled and teleported out of the cave. I would be meeting Athy and Lucas, ready to confront Claude and the palace. Or so I thought until my teleportation spell was cut off by a man's hand grabbing my own and stopping my incantation. 

     "You-!" I yelled looking at his face in the sun. Yes, he was just as handsome as his brother. Anastacius! 

        "Hello, my lady~" He said with a wry smile on his face, "I wonder if I may ask where you are going~?" 

       BAstard...! 

     "What are you doing?" I responded calmly, "This can be considered assault to grab a woman's arm without consent." 

     "Hm?" He looked surprised before smiling again, "Oh yes, yes~ I apologize, my lady. I merely wished to stop you to ask a few questions!" He let go of my arm. I glared at him with distaste. 

     "Questions? Are you a knight?" I asked. 

      "A knight?" He looked down at his casual apparel, "Is that what I look like?" 

     "..." I sighed, "I have a right to not answer any questions if you are not a knight." 

     "Oh?" He smirked, "..." 

     I felt like I was being played by him, "I think it's about time I leave." 

     "You're not a registered magic user." Anastacius said smiling, "That's illegal you know~" 

    "Ahem, how would you know whether I'm registered or not?" I asked. 

    "I have my ways," He touched my chin. 

    "..." disgusting. 

     "I'd like to ask you to get away from me now." I said firmly. 

      "..." 

       "Take your hand off of me," I said as I slapped it away. 

      "..." He had a blank expression as if he were looking straight through me. 

      I felt my body tense up, "..." I have a strange feeling that he's going to attack me. I looked at his other hand and saw it was gathering up magic. I flinched and immediately pulled out my pure white sword to counter the sudden magic lashed at me. 

     "If you just got fooled, this would've been much easier, sister in law." He said. Sister in law? 

     I backed away from him and stood, clasping the sword in a defensive position. When it comes to actually fighting humans, I fail because of my lack of sword training but... I trust the pure white sword. It is made, in fact, with the very nature of myself. And I am not someone who loses to some emo black haired version of claude. 

He looked at me absently before raising his arm and conjuring another sword just to properly battle me. 

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