Weak To Fire

9

Mereoleona woke up early. It had been a few weeks since she had come here and she usually got up early in the morning for her training, but never this early. This was early even by her own standards. She wasn't quite sure what had woken her. She didn't wake up naturally, that much was clear. She was still tired as fuck. Mereoleona groaned and sat up in her hammock. It was still dark. What the hell had woken her up? She grabbed her boots and put them on, wondering whether there was something she had overlooked here, something that was wrong and that's why she had woken up. But she didn't really notice anything out of place, nothing at all.

It was weird. Mereoleona knew that sometimes people just woke up randomly, but she knew herself well enough to know that this wasn't random. Something had woken her up and she needed to know what it was. What if it was something dangerous? What if something was going on and she needed to wake up for it? What if someone or something was around that shouldn't be? Was something up with Y/N, maybe? Could anything even happen to water spirits?

Mereoleona just realised that she barely had any idea how water spirits worked. Sure, she knew a few basics, whatever came up whenever she was talking to Y/N and a few bits and bobs that she had picked up from what people were saying, but that wasn't a whole lot. If there was ever some sort of emergency, she'd have no idea how to help Y/N. Somehow that thought hurt more than anything, that she wouldn't be able to help Y/N or protect her if anything should happen.

She knew she'd have to fix that. She knew that she'd have to somehow learn anything she could learn about water spirits, no matter how much time it was going to take, no matter how hard it might be. She had to know what to do in case something went wrong. She'd have to ask Y/N loads of questions. After all, Y/N had been asking her about her family and about her life in the capital (not that she had much of a life there, since she spent most of the year somewhere secluded).

Thinking about it, she felt a little rude for never asking any questions. Y/N had mentioned that she had been living in this particular lake for a few years by now, so Mereoleona had never really thought that there was much to tell for her. But it was still kind of rude to just assume that Y/N had no life. She had been mentioning trips to other places and to the capital, as well. She had been alive for probably over a thousand years! Of course she'd have something to tell. Mereoleona really felt kind of stupid about all this right now. But first she had to figure out what had woken her.

She didn't have to search for a long time. A face popped up next to her, almost scaring the life out of her, and there was the face of the Wizard King's assistant. What was his name again? Marx or something? Either way, it didn't matter. He was always irritatingly busy and on top of everything and he always had everything done prim and proper and it was just annoying to Mereoleona. Maybe she wished that sometimes she could live her life as organised as this, but she knew that just wasn't her style whatsoever. Plus, she was organised enough to survive.

"Mereoleona? I'm sorry to disturb you like this, but this is really important." he said. Mereoleona sat back down in her hammock, a little annoyed that her sleep was interrupted for this. What the hell could be so damn important all of a sudden? She couldn't think of anything that would necessitate contacting her with magic in the middle of the night while she wasn't even in the capital.

"What is it? And I swear, if this isn't important..."

"It's about your brother. Fuegoleon, he..." Marx started, seemingly unsure of how to proceed. Mereoleona blinked and sat up straight. Fueggy? What was wrong with Fueggy? Did anything happen to him? Normally, he could hold his own pretty well... But for someone to contact her like this in the middle of the night... Now she was getting a little bit worried. What if this was actually important?

"What about Fueggy?" she wanted to know. Marx took a deep breath.

"There's been an attack on the capital. We could stop the attack, but Fuegoleon is... he has been injured and is currently in a coma. He's being treated, but... we think you should see him. And we need someone to lead the Crimson Lions while we investigate this attack and since Captain Fuegoleon can't do it..."

"You want me to take over for him? You want me to play captain for the Crimson Lions?" Mereoleona asked.

"Basically." Marx replied. Of course. Of course they didn't just want to tell her that her younger brother needed her, that she should get back to the capital to be with her family, but they needed something from her. Well, either way, she would have gone back. The minute she heard that something had happened to Fueggy she knew she was going to go back home to make sure he was okay.

Her and Fuegoleon had their differences from time to time, that much was clear, but she still loved her brother a lot. And if anything happened to him she'd go and make sure everything would be fine immediately. There was no other option. Mereoleona would expect the same from him, if anything ever happened to her. Not that she would ever let anything happen to her, that was.

"Right. I'll get going immediately. I'll see Fuegoleon first, however. After that I'll meet with you to discuss me taking over for him temporarily." she replied and continued putting on her shoes. She had no time to waste.

"Of course. We'll meet you at the medical ward where he is currently." Marx told her and disappeared again. Mereoleona sighed loudly, before rubbing her eyes to wake herself up a little more. She stretched and then finished putting on her boots. She'd have to leave the hammock here, no time to pack that all up. And Y/N... Well, she was probably asleep somewhere in her lake and Mereoleona didn't want to wake her up. She also didn't have time to lose. Explaining what was going on to Y/N would take time away from her that she could be with Fuegoleon.

Anyway, if everything was going to be alright, then she'd be back soon enough to explain the situation. If things were incredibly bad, then Mereo would regret not having been there sooner. So there was really no winning here. She just had to go right now and hope that Y/N would understand why she had suddenly disappeared if she ever got the chance to explain herself. She sure hoped that she would.

Mereoleona gathered up whatever clothes she had hanging over tree branches and stuffed them in her backpack, before grabbing her broom. She looked back at the lake one last time, wondering whether Y/N could feel that something was up or not. She was probably way too exhausted, anyway. Of course, she had told her that water spirits didn't need to sleep, but that they could be in trance. Mereoleona just assumed that she was in her trance. They had been training together all day and Y/N had looked exhausted at the end of the day, so it made sense for her not to notice anything.

Mereoleona almost wished that she would notice that something was off and that she would get out here and talk to her and Mereo would be able to explain everything before she just left without a word, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Y/N wasn't coming up from her lake and Mereo had to get going soon, especially since she didn't know exactly what Fueggy's condition was.

"Bye, Y/N. I hope I'll be back soon." Mereoleona said, before getting on her broom and floating up in the air to make her way back to the capital. She had to hurry and hope that Fueggy was okay. But she wasn't too hopeful from the way Marx had sounded. She really hoped that she wouldn't be too late, if there was even anything that she'd be able to do. She had no idea what she was working with yet...

And she hoped that she'd be able to return to this particular patch of forest soon. Y/N would be so pissed to find that she had left in the middle of the night without leaving as much as a message. And Mereoleona felt bad about it, but this was an emergency. Surely Y/N would understand.