Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

Family Time

Chapter 32

Sherry was halfway to the edge of the clearing when she stumbled. Her wounds had been healed, but her exhaustion was creeping back in. When she almost fell, three of the men around her raced to try and catch her. Caius was the closest and managed to stop her from hitting the ground, but both Genesis and Daniel were there a second later. She gave them all a tired smile. "Thanks."

Once she was steady, Caius let her go, and she looked to Genesis. "Thank you. I couldn't focus with my brother in danger."

Genesis didn't get a chance to reply before Daniel was nearly yelling again. "And you think it was easy for me to watch that? Do you have any idea what it felt like for me to see you engulfed in flames? I thought I was watching you die!"

Sherry looked away with a grimace, but she managed to speak. "I know you wanted to help, and you are a capable soldier, but you aren't equipped to handle a magical bird that shoots flames."

He nearly growled at her. "And you are? You barely managed to survive!"

She glared back at him. "I didn't have a choice! If it killed me, it might have disappeared, but it might have gone berserk! It is my eidolon, so it was up to me to deal with it."

Daniel looked like he was about to explode, but Sherry put both her hands up. "Stop, ok? Just for a minute, please."

Her brother looked ready to strangle someone but closed his mouth. Sherry took the opportunity to turn to the rest of the men. When she did, she finally noticed a growing bruise on Genesis' jaw. She grimaced as she realized why it was there. Her voice was low when she spoke. "I'm sorry about that."

He gave her a confused look, but it only lasted a moment before he smirked back. "It will heal soon enough. At least everyone was safe."

Sherry found herself smiling at Genesis and his nonchalant attitude, but she quickly shook it off as she turned to the rest of the group. "Thank you all again, but could my brother and I have a few more moments, please? I doubt anything else will come to out of nowhere and attack us."

Most of the men gave her a nod and headed out of the clearing. Only Genesis and Caius hesitated, but they both saw the look the siblings were exchanging and left as well. Once they were alone, Sherry sighed and turned to her brother. "I don't have any kind of excuse. I don't regret asking for one of them to take you out of the fight. As for everything else, there is nothing I can do but move forward. I still plan on doing what I can to make sure most of the loose ends are taken care of before I'm... gone."

Daniel glared at her. "You can't possibly expect me to accept this so easily!"

Sherry turned her back on him. "I don't expect anything from you. This is outside of the realm of normal reality. All I can do is keep moving forward. I know it's impossible, even though you have seen the proof. All I ask is that you, please, let my last days with you and the girls be as normal as they can be."

There was complete silence between them for several minutes. When Daniel finally spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper. "I'm going to make sure the girls aren't too freaked out by everything." Sherry didn't say anything as he walked away. She simply stood there and let her tears fall.

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It was nearly half an hour later that Sherry finally joined everyone else. She couldn't repress a half-smile when she came in and found the two girls interrogating Zack and Cloud. The two men were taking it fairly well. Zack, in particular, seemed to be enjoying the exchange. She also caught her brother's eyes, but he looked away almost instantly. She had to repress a pang. She understood he was still trying to process everything, but that didn't stop it from hurting. She needed her family now, more than she ever had before.