A kinda cliche reincarnation story

chapter 29

Ellio's pov. 14 yrs.

I awoke the next day, sore and aching. At first I didn't remember why I was sleeping on the cold ground, but when I did, I nearly broke down in tears all over again.

I walked out and found a cheap looking restaurant on the edge of the commoners market, i didn't care what I ate, I was just hungry. Thankfully, i had a few coins in my pocket that i was able to pay with.

When my food came, I just ate, I didn't even know what I was eating. Lets just say, i was miserable. I stared off into space, what was wilder doing right now? Is he doing it on his own? How many people did he recruit?

When my spoon scraped the bottom of my bowl, I looked down surprised. Then sighing, I got up to find something else to do.

What should I do? I couldn't go back, not yet.

I was now wandering into the crowds of the street

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I was completely lost in thought and not even paying attention to where I was going when I fell to the ground, feeling someone fall with me.

I looked up, surprised. What I was met with was a kid around my age, a scared and wild look in her eyes and her arm bent in a way it certainly shouldn't be.

They looked like a girl wearing boy's clothes.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked, holding my hand out.

she looked up, as if they hadn't even noticed me there. "Oh... y-yeah" she said as she let me pull them up with her good hand.

"Are you being chased or something?"

The girl swallowed nervously, nodding as she scanned the crowd. "I think so..."

"Follow me." I whispered, pulling her back into the flow of the crowd. She followed hesitantly and I pulled her to the empty building I slept in the night before.

An old man hobbled over to us as we passed ihm, "you kids look hurt, can I help with that?" he said, gesturing to the girl's arm.

"Do you know how to fix it?" I asked, relieved, but still hesitant. I had seen my father do it a couple times for my siblings, but I felt like I'd get something wrong and make it worse.

The old man nodded and said, "not any professional but I've got my fair share of experiences."

And so, with little else choice, we followed the stranger into the falling apart building he had obviously made his home. He pointed to a couple wooden crates and we sat.

The man made a motion to wait and started rummaging through a pile of... stuff. Eventually he came back with a stick and some fabric, but instead of setting the bone like I'd seen my father do, he used magic.

As he held her arm to the stick and tied it, he said, "in my prime I could have made it good as new, but my mana is getting weaker, so this is as much as i can do for you. I'm sorry I can't heal it fully."

Then the girl spoke up, "no it's quite alright. Really, without you we wouldn't even be able to do this much. Thank you."

The old man smiled and said, "Well, you boys stay here, I'm going to get some food. I'll be right back." and with that, he hobbled out the makeshift door of fabric, heading off to wherever he gets food.

I looked to the other person in the room, who was still holding her arm gingerly. But I could see a faint smile on her face.

"You alright? Does it still hurt?" i asked

she smiled a small smile at me and said, "it still hurts, but not nearly as much."

I nodded and then I thought of something, "say, what's your name? I dont think i got it in all the chaos."

At this, they hesitated. ". . . . I . . . my name . . ." their voice was already quiet, but became even more so when they said, "my name is... Ella Lewis"

At this I gasped, "wait, really? Like, the crown princess?"

she nodded and shrank back slightly.

Seeing this, I sighed and said, "sorry, i just didn't expect to see you like this, or be able to meet you at all." I paused, considering my next words, "if . . . if you don't mind me asking, why were you running? and how did you break your arm?"

she sighed and said, "well . . . my . . . my father . . . caught me . . ." she took in a shaky breath as if afraid of the word itself, "crossdressing."

At this, my thoughts automatically went to Wilder's explanations. My face went sad for a moment before I pushed it aside and tried to remember what he had said about crossdressing.

"Ok well, first of all. Whatever your reason was for crossdressing, it's ok. My . . . friend is very passionate and adamant about all that stuff." I told her about what I could remember about crossdressing, such as how you could be not crossdressing at all, just dressing in a way that matched your gender identity.

When i finished what i could remember, which wasn't that much, Ella's face was astounded. "So then what could i be?"

I frowned and said, "I'm sure there's a gender that matches, but I can't remember very many. Wilder could probably help you..." I trailed off, not sure what to say.

"C-can you take me to him?"

I turned to see her face alight with so much hope. Her eyes shone and her smile had grown.

it tore me to pieces. I couldn't go back, not after what I'd done.

I shook my head and looked at my shoes guiltily, "i-im sorry, but . . . i can't go back. I-i broke a promise that meant the world to him . . . I can't stand to see the look . . . on his face . . ." By the end I was just muttering.

Ella slumped back, disappointed but obviously trying to hide it. She had just opened her mouth when the old man came back, his bag at his hip full of what I assumed was food.

His mouth spread in a smile with enough teeth to count at a glance and said, "alrighty kids, time to feast!"