Unplanned Return [Hiatus]

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Shinku threw open the door to his room, stepped in, slammed it behind him and fell to his knees in the middle of the room with tears streaming down his face. The entire situation was sickening and he could not stand it. Everyone kept telling him the same thing and probably thought it was his fault. It wasn't, he had tried his hardest and it still meant nothing. He had failed everyone in their eyes and it pained him incredibly.
He needed to be alone. No one was going to help him, and just being near his family was causing him pain. He needed to get away. He slowly stood up and looked onto his desk where his paper with the Flonyardian alphabet sat beside Palladion. Princess Millifiori had sent it to him a few weeks prior to make the next summoning in a few months during their fall vacations go more smoothly, but being that there was no Flogna force on Earth, it just sat there as an ordinary ring.
Shinku walked over to and sat down at his desk, taking Palladion and putting it on his finger before talking out his phone and slowly typing in the forty two digit number to contact Ricotta.
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"This is odd," Éclair stated as she, Princess Millifiori and Ricotta rode in the Princess' carriage as Yukikaze had volunteered to drive.
The princess looked confused at the statement Éclair had made. "Why do you say that Éclair?"
"Because it is. Shinku wasn't supposed to be able to come again until the fall, so why did he suddenly ask to be summoned now?"
"I'm not sure, but he sounded a little odd." Ricotta interjected as she looked out the carriages window seeing a pink bolt falling from the sky. "Ah, he's coming in now!"
"Yuki, will we get there in time?" Éclair quickly asked.
"No problem," replied Yuki as she snapped the reins picking up speed until they got to the bottom of the summoning fonts' stairs. All of them quickly got out of the carriage as Shinku landed on the font with a small burst of light.
"Shall we go with you to meet him?" Ricotta asked happily, hoping for the obvious answer.
"Of course, I'm sure he'll be looking forward to-,"Princess Millifiori began before being interrupted by the familiar sound of Tornader's roaring jet. The four of them looked up just in time to be completely confused. Shinku catapulted off of the summoning font on top of Tornader and kept on flying, in the opposite direction, towards the forests nearby. In a matter of moments he had landed in the forest and was gone from their sight, leaving them all very confused.
"Um. What just happened? Why did Shinku run off into the forest?" Ricotta asked to no one in particular.
"I'm not sure, but let's chase him!" Yukikaze stated as she jumped off the floating island down a chain of them into the forest followed by Éclair and then Ricotta and the princess.
They all ran through the forest, just in sight of each other and kept looking for him to no avail. After almost an hour of searching the four of them converged on a small clearing and caught their breaths. "This is ridiculous, just how far did he run?" Ricotta said as she heavily breathed while she and the princess sat down on the grass.
"I know. We're actually getting close to areas where the land's protection is thin too." Yukikaze stated as she stood and looked into the forest around them.
Éclair walked over and stood beside her. "What do you think we should do then ,Yuki?"
Yukikaze sighed to herself. "I'm not really sure. I know Shinku can protect himself as he has Palladion on him. But trying to explain that he ran away will be a little difficult. We can't go much farther or it will be too dangerous as well."
"So you think we should head back then?" asked Éclair.
"Yeah, it will be too dangerous for us to continue without our weapons and armour. And we need to get the Princess back before everyone goes nuts."
"True. Let's get going then."
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Despite their best efforts at keeping it under wraps, within little less than an hour the entire castle was abuzz with the news that their hero had appeared then ran off into the far southern forests for unknown reasons. The Princess had become as frantic as the ministers had, though for different reasons, and would have mobilized the entire army to find him if the ministers had not stopped her. Instead a contingent of five soldiers and a squad of knights had been sent to canvass the southern forests safest regions, leaving everyone on edge. By this time, Éclair herself had found a quiet spot on the castle's walls and was sitting down thinking to herself when her brother came by.
"Worried about the hero?" Lorrain asked his sister.
Éclair, who had not noticed him walk over, almost jumped out of her skin before falling backwards, catching herself before hitting the ground and flipping onto her feet. She only realized who had spoken when she looked up a moment later " Oh bro, I didn't realize you were here. Sorry."
"It's no problem, that flip was quite good though. Your training has paid off quite well."
"Of course, I have to be ready for the next war. Did you need to talk to me?"
"Yes, are you worried about the hero?"
Why- of, of course not. Why would I be worried about him?"
"Then why are you up here sulking on the highest wall?"
"I'm- I'm just, thinking. Wondering why he's doing what he is."
"You're trying to figure out why he would come here on such a moment and then run off without saying even a word to his friends?"
"Yeah I guess so. It's not like I'm worrying about him or anything though."
"I see." said Lorrain as he stepped up beside his sister who was now looking out over the countryside. "You have a lot of vacation time left, correct?'
"Um yes, why?"
"Go find him."
"Huh?"
"The hero is not about to be found by anyone ordered to find him. The only way he's going to be found is if one person who truly wants to find him goes alone to do so. I'll cover for your work so you can look for him without worry."
"I, it's not like I care you know, besides where would I even start?" Éclair exclaimed in denial.
"You will have to figure that out. But it is likely if you talk to someone they may know what caused him to act so cold. I believe that you can find him; you're probably the only one who can. Will you?"
Éclair turned her head away from her brother and continued looking out at the countryside before steeling herself. "I'll find him. I'll find him and make him tell me what's eating him!" Éclair proudly stated.
Her brother smiled and turned around, walking slowly away. "All right then, I shall deal with things here for you so you can go."
Éclair watched her brother leave and then looked out to the countryside again. She needed more information on why he could be acting in the way he was. No one in Biscotti could probably tell, but she knew one person who might. Gaul Gallete. Considering that the two of them thought the other their rival it seemed like a good idea. And Leo had said she was free to come by and talk about anything. May as well ask her too.