THE IMMORTAL'S FRIEND

Chapter 17: Reward For A Hero

Mira's POV

"Don't you miss your mom?"

Galen asked while still carrying me on his back. It's been fifteen minutes that passed since he started carrying me, but he walks slowly so we still have not reached our destination.

"Yes, I do miss her. I miss my mom..." I responded to his question.

"Then why are you still not leaving this forest?" he queried again.

"Because I told you that I will help you to find your sister and the celestial keys." I replied.

"I already know what to do so you don't need to help me finish collecting it. You might be missing your mom a lot so you should go back home and see her."

I opened my mouth to say something again, but immediately closed it when I thought of no words to reply to him.

He has a point. Now that he already knows what to do to collect all the celestial keys, there's no need for me to stay here in the forest with him anymore.

But whenever I'm thinking of leaving him, I can't help but feel sad. I can hear a voice of someone inside my mind, telling me that I should stay here because there is a deeper reason why I came here to the forest. Like, from the start, I was destined to go here and meet Galen—the loney vampire who doesn't drink human blood.

I feel like staying here in the forest with him makes me feel safer than staying at the hospital and worrying every single day whether I will die tomorrow or now.

He also helped me to realize a lot of important things in life so I should at least wait until he collected all of the celestial keys before leaving him. We already collected 4 keys so I only have 8 nights to stay beside him. I'm sure my mom can wait for me to come home until then.

"Do you want me to leave already?" I questioned, trying my best not to sound too serious and sad.

It took him only a few seconds to reply.

"Yes."

I got taken aback and frowned. He can't just say that he wanted me to get lost quickly. He should at least sugar coat his answer so it won't make my heart too sad. It's just one word but it made my whole body and mood down.

"I mean no, I don't want you to leave. I actually want you to stay here, Iris." he took back what he said a few minutes ago immediately.

I could feel my eyes grew bigger so I blinked twice. Did he really mean that? Or did he just say that because he realized that telling me "Yes," straightforwardly after asking him if he wanted me to leave, would hurt me more than my sprained foot does?

I wish I could see his reaction right now so I would know if he's serious about what he said or not.

"Your mom might be so worried about you that's why I want you to go back to your home and see her. But I also wanted you to stay here because I don't think I would still have the courage to turn back time if you're not here anymore…"

I felt that he meant to say those words and I somewhat understand him. Turning back time by himself isn't going to be easy because he would bear all of the consequences and punishment he'll going to get for doing it.

If he turns back time, it's not only his time that would go back and change, even the time of millions and billions of people would go back in time. If that much people is involved, it would really be difficult to decide on your own.

He might still be hesitant doing it after he collected all the celestial keys. So having me by his side to tell him and to assure him that it will just be fine—that he's not the only one who's hoping to turn back time and meet someone very dear to us again, then he won't be the only one who's going to feel the guilt and would be the only person who would receive the punishment.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let you turn back the time alone…" I said. "We'll turn back the time together." I added.

Even if I can't look at his face right now, I know that he's smiling because of what I said.

We might not know what would be the consequences and punishment for what we're gonna do, but I guess that would be worth it as long as we'll see the person we are dying to meet once again.

##

The next night, we use mushrooms to summon the fifth celestial key, Cancer The Crab.

After we succeeded in summoning it, we talked about random things under the tree where we could clearly see the reflection of the moonlight by the stream.

I guess we talked for hours until he decided to share the dream he had while sleeping on my lap the other night. It's the dream that he had before he gave me a piggyback last night.

"There's a boy who told me that I am not his family anymore. I can't see his face clearly because it's blurry, but his mouth is visible so I can read what he's telling me. I never had a dream which felt so real before. I guess that dream really happened to me, that it's a part of my memory from the past. But I don't want to believe it because Shira is the only family I have, and I don't have a younger brother so I don't know why that boy told me that." he said.

I got stilled because that also happened to me before. I always dreamt of me running while holding a red hair clip in my hand. The clip isn't mine and I don't know who's the owner of that clip. Inside the dream, I was always crying and breaking down. However, after I met Galen, I never have that dream anymore.

That dream scares me a lot because it felt so real, so I'm thankful that that dream never visits me again.

"Does that dream bother you until now?" I asked him when he didn't speak again.

Although I know that it probably does because he won't share it with me if it doesn't bother him anymore. But I still want to know how much that dream bothers him.

"Yes. It bothers me to the point that I want to know who that boy is and find out the reason why he's mad at me. I want to know why he told me that we are not family anymore. I don't think I could stop thinking about that dream if I won't find the answers to all my questions."

I heaved a deep sigh and moved closer to him before I raised my hand and gently patted his head.

He got frozen when I did it, but his face immediately relaxes as I continue to pat his head.

"I want to tell you to stop thinking about that dream, but I know it won't be easy so I won't tell you to do that now. Instead, I want you to let me help you calm down whenever that dream bothers you… You don't mind me doing that, right?"

He stared at me for a moment before he slowly smiled and nodded his head. I also smiled back.

Seeing his smile is like a reward because it feels like I just accomplished doing something that's hard to do.

I felt like I'm a hero.

"I don't mind you doing it," he replied.

My smile widened even more. I will surely keep and bring that reward with me even after we succeeded in turning back the time.

A smile is a reward for a hero... And from now until the remaining days we have together, I would do everything to protect our smile.