Mercy *Obi x OC* (COMPLETE)

True Faith

True Faith - Lotte Kestner (New Order)

Obi leads me through the field and a patch of trees toward our home village. He hasn't let go of my hand for even a moment ever since our kiss and admitting that we love each other. I'm okay with this. It feels nice. Since remembering everything, my unease about my feelings for him has disappeared. I love him even after our time apart. I've never really believed in fate and things of that nature but I don't think I can deny that something must have been at work to reunite us by chance in a field after eight years apart.

"What are you thinking about?" He asks me as we stop at the edge of the treeline.

"Whether or not I believe in fate."

"What's the verdict?"

"I'm still not sure, but I think after what happened in our lives, something was pushing us back together after all that time."

"Whatever it is, I'm happy that it helped us. Now, are you ready to see our old village?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

Obi and I wander through the village together and I can vaguely recognize a few faces but I remember everything else. I know the buildings and streets and I can picture some of the hell Obi and I raised as children. As we walk, he points out different places and tells me different things that I missed after I was taken. Sadly it seems the most exciting things were a young unmarried couple having a kid and a floral shop he stole flowers from for my birthday one year had burned down. Seems about right for a small place like this. No one seems to recognize us and most everyone leaves us alone, save for the market sellers trying to push their goods. I missed the normal day-to-day life, though when Obi and I were here, we dreamed of escaping and being free to do whatever we wanted. In a way, that was true, but he was the only one free until now. I'm free now and can do anything I want. I look over from the small fountain in the center of the village to see a woman with long blonde hair walking toward us with a young boy with the same colored hair but it's unruly like he'd been playing hard. Tears spring to my eyes and I find myself unable to move.

"Mother..."

"I'm sorry Els. If you want, we can just leave now or we can go say hi. I know she misses you."

"I-I don't know."

Mother looks up briefly and spots us but her eyes pass over us before focusing on something else. She didn't recognize us. She stops short and she looks back at us before her eyes widen. Okay, maybe she did recognize us after all. Now what do I do? I squeeze Obi's hand for comfort and hopes that he'll help me figure out what I need to do about this but he isn't helping me. She's only a few feet away from me for the first time in so, so long but now I can't do anything but stand there and stare like she'd disappear if I even twitched a finger.

"Elydia?" Mother finally speaks and I find myself nodding in response.

My nod seems to break her from the shock and in a split second I'm wrapped tightly in a hug. I feel Obi's hand gently release mine and despite the small surge of unease because I no longer have him beside me, I find myself hugging my mother back. She's crying on me and I can feel tears threatening to spill over in my own.

"Where were you? You're alive! What happened? Oh my baby is back!" Mother wails but I can't get myself to answer her without breaking so I just hold her tighter. I hear Obi take a step backward and I feel Mother move to look up at him. "Is that- Len? Did you have something to do with this after all? You took her away from me that night and I never saw her again. Did you hide her away somewhere?"

She releases me and starts to move toward him but I step in her way again and take his hand.

"It's not his fault. He didn't do this Mother." I finally speak. "He's the one that saved me."

"I-I don't understand."

"If you don't mind, Ms. Morrell, Elydia and I can explain it further in private, if she's okay with that." Obi offers quietly, his eyes moving around the increasing foot traffic as lunch time approaches.

Mother glares at him for a moment before nodding and sighing. "Alright Theomas, let's go home, shall we?"

I refocus my attention on the little boy I'd seen with her and remember that Obi told me I had a brother. He's adorable and I can easily tell he looks just like Father must have as a child. I'm sure he's terribly confused, especially since I was gone before he was born.

Obi, Mother, Theomas, and I are in my childhood home now, us adults settled around the kitchen table while he plays in the other room. I'm sure things will possibly be explained to him in time, but we all need to wrap our heads around it before bringing a child into it. Mother gets up and busies herself with the kettle with obviously trembling hands. I glance over at Obi before getting up and pulling out cups and tea leaves. The cabinet arrangement hasn't changed since I left it seems. Once tea is made and brought to the table, she starts to get up to fuss with something else but I catch her arm and she sits back down with a quiet apology. She'd always do this when nervous, working through the energy by focusing on something else.

"So, what happened Elydia?" She asks finally.

"Well, as I'm sure you found out, Len and I left that night to marry in the next town over in hopes you wouldn't send me away. After the ceremony, he stepped away with the priest and I was abducted from the cathedral by a man named Threil. He kept me drugged enough over the years that my memories were mostly suppressed and if I started to remember or doubted him in some way, he upped the dosage until he could manipulate me again. That's why I never made it out or back home." I start to explain vaguely before quickly running out of information. I still don't fully remember what happened to lead up to me being with Obi again.

"What does Len have to do with this now?" She asks quietly. "How did he find you if he had nothing to do with it?"

"After I left home," Obi starts in my place. "I picked up random side jobs and traveled from town to town for work. I was in the middle of traveling to a different village when I decided to rest in a field. Apparently something happened where Elydia tried to escape him and ended up tripping over me in the field. I didn't recognize her but I chose to help her since she was obviously scared and injured. I took her somewhere safe and treated her injuries and as time went on I realized she was withdrawing and felt like I knew her but when I came back from getting medicine for her, he'd found and taken her back. It took a while but she finally came back to the field but didn't remember me. I tried to make her remember but she went back to him when he called for her. I found a cottage a few hours of searching later and discovered his body outside and found her injured inside. I took her with me and helped her through the drug withdrawals and injuries and once the drugs faded she started to remember more and more. I brought her to the field we hung out in as children today to see if more would come back and we believe she remembers most everything now."