Familiar Fire

Chapter Seven

Aurora walked rather slowly, trying to stay out of sight. She also had to remind herself not to push herself because her head was just starting to feel better. She walked in the direction Meliodas, Ban and King went. She figured she was going in the right direction when she could hear the distant hum of a crowd cheering. She pulled the dark cloak tighter around herself, hoping no one would notice her distinctive red hair. Sure, a lot of people had red hair but one look at her hair and sparkling blue eyes, almost anyone would know her identity. Her face was on wanted posters all over Brittania.

As she continued walking, she got a strange feeling that someone was watching her. She quickened her pace and tried to ignore the feeling, thinking it was just in her head. When she heard the soft sound of something landing close to her, she couldn't ignore the feeling. She walked towards where the sound had come from cautiously. As she peered around a tree, she gasped when her eyes fell on a large stingray-looking creature with razor-sharp teeth. She stumbled back, in shock, tripping and falling over a rock behind her. Once she hit the ground, she looked up and saw the Holy Knight from the Necropolis, Guila. Aurora quickly scooted away before standing up, trying to distance herself from the knight. As she kept backing up, she felt someone harshly wrap their arms around her. She fought against their grasp until she felt a blade pressed to her throat and she stilled.

"Is this what has become of the legendary Aurora? It's like she's nothing more than a scared little kid." Aurora looked back at the Holy Knight. She looked about the same age as Guila and had light purple hair.

"I wouldn't underestimate her, Jericho. You know what she was once capable of."

"She looks so weak and defenseless out here without her bodyguards. It's hard to believe she's the key to anything."

"What do you want from me? Here to freeze me in ice for another ten years?" The knights laughed darkly. "My friends are going to find me, you do realize that, don't you?" Aurora asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

"After everything you've done, that's a brave assumption."

"Everything I've done? I don't-"

"Of course you don't know what I'm talking about. You lost your memories. You forget about the amount of people your friends have killed. You forget about all of the people you have killed, two of which being your own flesh and blood. What were their names again, Guila? Cecile and Adrian?" Aurora froze, her blood ran cold. Was she really the reason she didn't have any family left? Her parents died trying to protect her and her siblings. Her entire family died and it truly was her fault.

"Come on, let's just lock her up already." Aurora felt a large wave come from a crystal in Guila's hand, hitting her, trying to retreat back into the crystal, trying to take her with it. She didn't even bother to fight it. Why should she? Maybe it was for the best that she was locked away. She hadn't been able to hurt anyone for the past ten years, maybe it was for the best that she was locked away until she finally passed. At least that way, she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

Coldness swept over her skin. It was the only thing she could pick up on. It was the only sense she had left. It was as if all of her other senses had been stripped away. This was what she feared death was like; cold and dark. It drowned out any sense of time. For all Aurora knew, she could have been in the crystal for just a moment or millennium.

Even as the crystal shattered around her and light flooded her vision, she still felt like she was drowning in the darkness. It's as if it was a seed that had taken root in her, continuing to grow and would coil around every piece of light she had inside of her. Why did she deserve to live after she killed her family? In her mind, she didn't. She didn't know how she would continue on.