Danmachi:a new face

Chapter 56: Fragmented Memories

"Hestia, have they woken up?" 

A young girl walked into my bedroom. She had a red gem on her forehead and her skin had a pale blue hue. Her hair was long and was a deep blue color. On her hands, she had long claws that looked like it could slice right through human flesh. She wore a salamander wool cloak that covered her 'special areas'.

"Uhmm...Hi?" Coco waved awkwardly at the girl.

"Hello!" The girl replied happily.

"So umm...This is Weine, she's a Vouivre. Hope you get along." Hestia chuckled nervously.

"Hello, Weine. Don't worry about us. We're fine, we just got into a bit of trouble. Nothing to worry about." I said through all of the pain that I was going through.

"Are you sure that you're okay? You seemed very...hurt." Weine replied worriedly.

"Yeah, even I want to know what happened." Hesta chimed in.

Both me and Coco looked at each other.

"Just a bar fight." We both said in unison.

"Lies." Rem walked into my room. "We heard everything from Mama Mia."

"So who's this Kaede?" Natsuki appeared from behind Rem.

"Just a friend of ours." I stated as I finally broke down. "Damn...We really messed up. *Cough Chough*" I just looked at the pool of blood on my hand that I had just coughed up.

"Hey, Acro! Are you okay!?" Rem and Natsuki both rushed to my side to see if I was fine.

"I-I'm fine." I replied shakily. "It's just a really deep cut in my stomach." 

My vision went blurry and as I went to touch my face I felt tears streaming down my face.

"A-Acro, are you okay?" Weine said as she tried her best to comfort me.

"I-I'm fine...I've just got a lot on my mind." I said as I patted Weine's head. "Just tell me when dinner's ready. I'll be sleeping in here. Coco, you can sleep here if you want to." I said as I pulled out my tail and began to use it as a body billow.

As I slowly drifted off out of consciousness, all of the memories of what had just happened filled my mind. No matter how hard I tried to get her out of my head, she just kept appearing within my thoughts. 

"Everything is fine..." Those words rung out through my head. The same words that kept repeating in that place at the ruins of Elis.

"Everything is not fine!" I shouted into the darkness.

"Everything is fine." The voice repeated.

"It's not fine!! Why do these things keep happening to me!?"

From the darkness I heard a small giggle. "Everything was fine until you left me. Now you must atone for what you have done."

"NO!! I haven't done anything wrong." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Then tell me what I have done wrong?" 

The darkness was filled with my memories of the past four months. There was one that was more prominent than the others.

"Your little alteration with the Black goliath. You could have saved them much quicker. Yet you sat on the sidelines and supported everyone."

"I couldn't do anything there. I was knocked out of the fight very early due to the effects of the darkness enchantment." I retorted angrily.

"How about this." 

From the darkness I saw myself standing there with a sword out. It was Surtr, it had flames flickering out from the blade. When I looked behind, I saw The whole Hestia Familia standing there in fear.

"Hello...Everyone, Everything will be fine if you just stayed still." The me in the fake memory said in a unsettling tone. 

He raised his sword and with one swing, the whole area was engulfed in flames. There wasn't a single place that wasn't on fire. Then the memory faded away into the darkness.

"W-What. Was. That? That wasn't me."

"Oh, it very was. You were just consumed by the darkness." Another chuckle was heard.

"Acro?"

When I opened my eyes, I saw Weine grabbing onto my arm. Suddenly a huge wave of guilt came over me.

I ripped my arm out of her grasps. "Don't touch me!"

"I-I'm sorry." Tears began welling up in Weine's eyes.

"Acro! Why'd you do that!?" Bell exclaimed as she rushed into my bedroom.

I just sat there, thinking of everything that happened. All the memories of my journey flashed through my mind. "What...Have I become."

"What did you say!?" Bell went in to grab my collar but I just warped behind him.

"Nobody touch me." I said as I wiped a tear away from my face and jumped out the window.

As I fell through the air, my shield appeared and caught me. As I floated in the air, I looked back at the mansion. I thought about what would happen if I jut left them all there with no trace of me.

After about a minute of floating in the air, I eventually got down and warped through the front door.

"Acro, are you okay?"