Lenaria: The Party Begins CONTINUED

Until Next Time Part 16

Groaning, Evgenia woke up, blinking her heavy eyelids open.

Just as her vision cleared to see a ceiling, the memories of fighting that woman flooded her mind. She gasped, sitting up abruptly.

She was... in a bed?

The bed was not the one at the inn. It was simple,  wooden frame with a soft mattress. The covers were a dark red and a little rough to the touch.

Evgenia was confused. Where was she?

Just then, a sudden movement next to her caught her attention.

Evgenia looked beside her, nearly falling out of the bed in shock as Momoko stirred.

"What the-"

Momoko moved around, her eyes blinking open. The spirit stretched, yawning loudly as she slowly sat up in bed. Her midnight black hair messily trailed down her back, her ears twitching as they started to sense every sound in the room.

Momoko rubbed her eyes, slightly pouting as she looked around slowly. When her face finally met with Evgenia, the spirit smiled eagerly, asking, "Evie! I wasn't expecting you to be here when I woke up! What'd I miss?"

Evgenia, with her mouth agape slightly, stared at Momoko.

The spirit quirked her head, curious as to why Evgenia looked both shocked and confused.

"Is something on my face?" Momoko started, touching her face, squishing her cheeks.

Just then, the door to the room creaked open.

Minerva walked in, dropping towels when she saw the two girls were awake. The knight looked back and forth between them, not knowing which one to look at. Finally, Minerva decided to just run and jump onto the bed, hauling the witch and spirit into a hug.

Evgenia started to stumble over her words, tugging herself away while Momoko giggled.

The witch cursed, pulling away and falling onto the floor.

"Ow," She rubbed her elbows.

That's when she realized, her body felt... okay. She remembered the fight before had taken every ounce of energy out of her. And it resulted in her body in pain. And yet, she felt perfectly fine.

It was like she had just woke up on a normal morning, or afternoon? Evgenia didn't know what time of the day it was to be honest.

Minerva chuckled, wiping away a relieved tear from her eyes, "I'm just so happy you both are okay." Then she pointed a mad finger at Momoko, frowning at the spirit accusingly, "Especially you, Momoko! You've been alseep for like- a couple of days! We all thought you died! Or were dying? We weren't actually sure."

"What's all this noise?" Adva poked their head into the room, Bella walking into it instead. The two noticed Momoko and Evgenia were awake and quickly squealed.

Momoko gasped, leaping out of the bed and bombarding Bella and Adva in a tight hug. Evgenia rolled her eyes at the sight.

"Eve?"

Evgenia looked up from the floor, meeting eyes with Victor.

Victor's shocked face quickly shook, breaking into a withering sea of sadness. The male witch ran to his sister, falling to his knees and engulfing her in a hug.

Evgenia, blinking with confusion, thought about pulling away. But then she realized Victor was crying.

Evgenia let her brother release his cries.

"I was so afraid I lost you!" He cried out, buring his face in her shoulder.

"We're glad you're okay," Minerva said, smiling down at Evgenia from the bed. The knight scooted over, letting Momoko sit next to her with a bright smile.

Momoko was jumping up and down, asking once again, "So, what did I miss? I was asleep for a while."

"Why were you asleep?" Bella wondered, "You made us worry."

Victor pulled away from his sister, chuckling when Evgenia cast a cleaning spell on her shoulder to rid of his tears.

Momoko clapped her hands, excitedly saying, "I had a good idea!" She giggled, not saying anything else.

"Um," Evgenia raised an eyebrow, "What was that good idea?"

"Oh," Momoko giggled again, scratching her head innocently, "Well... Since I now know my home is destroyed, I don't have an unlimited source of magic anymore."

That's right... Momoko isn't immortal anymore.

That also means she can lose energy just like everyone else.

"So," Momoko bounced on the bed, "I had this great idea that I would sleep!"

"Sleep?" Adva asked, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

"Yup! Sleep!" Momoko giggled, for the whatever time is was since she woke up. The spirit grabbed her tail, gently combing her fingers through it, untangling any annoying knots. "By sleeping, I assumed I would have a good amount of magical energy stored inside me. At least big enough to last me for a while, perhaps until the end of the war?"

She was met with silence.

Momoko nervously laughing, "Um, was it a stupid idea?"

"Actually," Evgenia held her chin, shaking her head, "It was a pretty good idea."

"Right?! And now I feel so energized!" She leapted out of the bed, flying around the room with a big smile. Then she stopped, retreated back to her spot next to Minerva. "Anyway, you guys didn't answer my question!"

"Um, nothing much, I think I was probably passed out for a good portion of this week," Evgenia pointed out. "What happened after I... fell unconsious? And where are we?"

The others looked at each other, unsure who should speak.

Minerva cleared her throat, "We're at Sato's."

Evgenia frowned, "Why? I'm pretty sure he knocked me out at the forest-"

"We can trust him," Bella said, casually reaching for Adva's hand and holding it. She rested her head on their shoulder, not knowing the slight blush growing on Adva's face.

"There's actually a lot you missed out on," Victor said.

"Yeah," Minerva said, rubbing the back of her neck, "You might want to sit back for this."