DDLC: Element Guardians! (Sayonika + Natsyuri)

Chapter Twenty: Who We Are

After making our way and hesitantly following Mrs. Smith into the forest, another small clearing is made. The trees circle around a spot with tall grass and a picnic table. Which already seems to have some papers and books on top of the wooden surface.

Mrs. Smith took a seat on the bench in front of us, as all four of us across from her. We silently waited for to say something, but all she did was stare.

Finally she shakes her head, like being pulled out of a trance. "Apologies, I'm not used to seeing you. You four must have a lot of questions."

Slowly, I nod. "Yeah, we do."

"Well then, start off easy on me, will you?" She asks, laughing.

I nod, and glance at the three others. They seem to be at a loss of words, so I start my first question. "Um, on this piece of paper we got, it said you were a prophet."

Mrs. Smith nodded. "I indeed am. I've been trained my whole life to know when I am receiving a special vision in my dreams. That is how I knew about you four."

"Did the vision say anything else?" Sayori asked curiously.

"Well," A small smirk and a gleam of her eyes made me slightly nervous. "Do you want to know who you really are?"

"You're the one who tells people about their life secrets?" Natsuki questioned, surprised.

"Yes, I am." Mrs. Smith smiles. "But let's get to this later. I'll leave your answer to the very end Sayori. And to answer your question Monika, I am."

Hearing our names after not introducing ourselves feels slightly strange. I can't help but slightly smile.

"Actually, would you girls like any tea?" The older woman asked.

"Yes, thank you very much!" I nod in appreciation, and immediately, a small white and gold glass cup of warm tea is toppled in front of me, nearly falling over.

I notice one have appeared in front of each girl, along with Mrs. Smith herself.

"You can use magic?" Sayori gasps in surprise.

"Well yes, I'm a witch." Mrs. Smith spoke, gently rubbing her fingers on the cup. "Don't let me stop you, enjoy."

I was hesitant about taking an offer from a strange old woman, but it would be rude for me not to. So, slightly clumsily, (As we hadn't ever had to hold such fancy and proper tea cups before,) I gently lift the cup to my lips, blow on the warm drink, and take a small sip.

I end up taking a larger sip this time. It's really good!

"Wah!" Sayori let her cup re-stand on the table as she sticks out her tongue. "Hot! Hot!"

"You're supposed to blow on it first, you moron!" Natsuki scolded, not using the cups handle as she holds the tea cup.

"I didn't think it would be hot!" Sayori whined, soon taking her cup and furiously blowing on it.

Being next to her I laugh, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, you don't want to make it too cold."

Finally Sayori began to hesitantly raise the cup to her lips and drink out of it. She smiled and placed the cup down.

"Much better." She sighs, laughing.

I laugh, but my eyes land on Mrs. Smith, who is smiling in amusement while starring at us. Why is she always starring at us?

"May I ask another question?" I ask, cringing as I realized I did just ask a question.

Mrs. Smith luckily doesn't joke about it and nods. "Of course."

"At the ceremony, why whenever us four stepped on the stone circle, that blue light would always shine brighter?" I ask, nods of curious agreement from Natsuki and Sayori.

"Yeah!" Natsuki exclaims. "And what the heck did you make us drink?"

"Well, what I made everyone drink is a special potion that is made of a certain magic essence.  It basically triggers your body to release more magic energy, thus allowing you to become a witch." She explained.

She then locked eyes with me. "And Monika, I suppose we can talk about that now, as I've gathered enough information to know that the prophecy was true."

"Prophecy?" I ask. "What do you mean?"

"As a little girl, I was told that I would meet four very important people, and it would be my job to educate them so they may do what they needed. I worked hard, and after years of dedicating myself, a vision told me I must come and train here, to look for the four. And so I did."

Mrs. Smith continued. "I have waited for the signs to show, and now I know full well that you four are who I have been looking for."

"Us?" Natsuki asks. "What makes you say that?"

"And why are we special?" Sayori asked, tilting her head.

"Well, the first sign was the amount of energy and aura that responded to you as you walked towards me."

"Aura and pure energy?" I repeat. "So that's what that blue light was."

"The second was your.. Incident in the classroom." She smiled slyly as we glanced off to the side, slightly embarrassed.

"And the third was your personalities."

"Hold on!" Natsuki said. "How do you know our personalities, we just met! And why does this matter?"

Mrs. Smith blinked, her golden glowing stare now in contention. "It was the way you were drinking your tea."

I can tell the four of us are either concerned for the old lady, or ready to laugh. I'm a bit of both. We hold it in though, and urge her to continue.

"Natsuki, you held your cup differently then the usual, taking more in your first try. You like to act before you think, making rash decisions mostly based off emotion. You don't care what other people necessarily think about yourself, but you do when it's about your friends." She then turned to face Sayori.

"Sayori, you are a sweet girl with a sad past. Your attempt to fit in is betraying you, and your clumsy nature makes you fun and want to make everyone have a good time, and you dislike conflict. Unfortunately, you will let others walk through you, but you remain calm and looking like you are content, but really, you bottle things up."

"Yuri, you are a calm and collective thinker, you think before you act, considerate of others around you who you may affect. Because of this, you tend to act proper and polite, but also over think a lot of your decisions. You will stay quiet, but it's usually because of your thoughts rummaging a mile a minute. A small thought or action can quickly lead into something big when it's really not."

"And Monika," She locks eyes with me, and I maintain is sturdily. "You are strong willed and steady, a natural leader. Because of this, you are expected great things that you may or not be able to reach, so you always push yourself to your limits. When necessary, you will act before you think, but you will usually make sure your actions are correct, and that they will affect you in a positive way. You are protective of the ones you love, looking out for them. Yet, because you are expected of great things, you might push people down to reach the top, either you realize it or not."

Silence. Why did her words feel so true? Who was she?

"Wow." Natsuki was the first one to speak. "You got all that from watching us drink tea?"

"Of course." Mrs. Smith says.

"But what does that help with?" Sayori asked quietly, her eyes widened.

"It helps prove that you four are part of the prophecy. A prophecy where great hero's rise to fight the upcoming evil." Mrs. Smith explains, her eyes glowing even brighter now.

"But it also shows, because of this, you four are the guardians of the four natural elements. The Element Guardians."

Confused, shocked, broken, destroyed. That's what we were. Not much has changed since then. But..

Element Guardians, huh? That has a nice ring to it.