Familiar Fire

Chapter Eleven

Aurora's head spun when she sat up the next morning. She felt like she had a terrible hangover and for a few minutes, she couldn't remember anything that happened the day before. Once it came back to her, it felt like it was all just a fever dream. She couldn't tell what was real and what she made up. She carefully climbed out of bed and got dressed in the same outfit that she discovered the day prior. It made her feel more herself in a way that she couldn't understand.

She walked downstairs carefully, still feeling ill. She had concluded that everything that happened last night was a strange nightmare. She didn't wake up with a stab wound and Elizabeth was never a maternal figure to her. Once Aurora reached the bottom of the stairs, what little color remained in her face faded. The second her eyes landed on Elizabeth, she knew it wasn't all a fever dream, it was the truth. The redhead refused to make eye contact with the girl and sat beside Ban at the bar, hoping his height would hide her. Ban looked down at her in worry but she gave a weak smile, signifying she was alright.

"Hey Cap'n. Where are we headed now?"

"Did you get a new lead on one of our members?"

"Escanor or Merlin?"

"Nope." The blonde said, before turning around to face his comrades. "We're going to infiltrate Liones, and get the sword back!"

"Sword...you mean that sword with a dragon handle that was stolen from you?" Meliodas looked at Aurora with a pleading look but looked back to his friends when he realized she didn't understand the significance of the blade.

"We can't let them have it. We only have five members for now, but that should be enough for a mission of this magnitude. You'll come with me, right?"

"That sounds like a chore, I'll pass."

"It was Captain's fault that it was stolen in the first place..."

"You must take responsibility for yourself." Meliodas pouted but before he could go over to Elizabeth, she threw a mug at him without turning to look at him. It bounced off of his head before continuing on to the wall, going straight through it. Everyone turned to look at the hole in the wall then back to Aurora. The redhead just stared at the hole in pure and utter shock. She never knew she was this strong. She assumed the rest of her memories would be back soon if her strength was back too. Meliodas just shrugged as if it were completely normal then began to speak.

"The sword...no, the dragon handle that was stolen from me...is a fragment of a ritual relic. 'The Coffin of Eternal Darkness.'" Aurora's eyes widened. She didn't understand why it made shivers run down her spine but it did. An ominous feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. Aurora quickly ran out of the room with a hand pressed tightly against her mouth. She returned a few minutes later, looking slightly green. Hawk was screaming about a seal making Aurora wince due to her new headache.

"Come to think of it, why are they after Aurora, Elizabeth, and the sword?" A frown spread across Meliodas's face. She could tell that he was hiding something. Aurora let out a sigh, walking towards the door to step outside for some fresh air. She dug her heels into the ground when someone teleported right in front of her. She quickly turned to make eye contact with Meliodas. She tried to push Elizabeth out of the way but it was too late. The mage was already teleporting them away.

The two girls landed harshly against the stone floor. Aurora looked around and instantly knew they were in a dungeon somewhere, her guess, Liones. She stood up and walked away from Elizabeth, trying to find a way out of the room. She didn't dare to look in Elizabeth's direction. She felt terrible about it but every time Elizabeth looked back at her as if she were nothing more than a good friend she felt like she was going to break. There was a time when Elizabeth was the glue that held all of the pieces of her life together and now, she was just a sixteen-year-old who barely knew her. She ignored Elizabeth's comments as she tried to find an exit to the cell.