Searching for Ghosts--The Ro'meave Sister, Book 2 [MCD Fanfic] ✔︎

I

"Hey, Cassie!" I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"Jasper!" I cry, running towards him and wrapping my arms around him. He does the same.

"I-I thought you were dead," I say. "I watched you die."

Jasper stiffens. "Shh, my dear. Just hug me."

"Okay." My arms tighten around him.

We sink to the grass, still hugging.

"Cassie," he begins.

"Yes?"

He doesn't say anything. Instead, he taps my armor. "Tap tap tap."

"Jasper?" I ask.

"Tap... tap... tap..."

I jolt awake, feeling the pitter-patter of rain on my armor. "Just a dream," I murmur.

I wipe the rainwater of my face. It's cold and dreary out. What I wouldn't do for some sun.

Luckily, the rain masks my scent, and I can go hunting. I load and arrow and trudge through the forest. I've been doing this same routine for weeks, and I'm getting bored.

"Cassandra D'englo!"

Who is that? I raise my bow in alarm. They don't know my last name is Ro'meave.

"Cassie!"

I lower my bow upon seeing the figure. Her purple hair glistens in the rain.

It's Azlynn.

"Azlynn!" I yell, racing up to her. I wrap my arms around her in a tight hug.

"Whoa!" she says. "Back off, okay?"

I smile. She still has her sass, if anything.

"What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

She shrugs. "You left all of a sudden. You didn't tell anyone. So, Matthew forced me—"

"You came on your own accord," I conclude.

"Course I did, dumbass. Anyways, Matthew allowed me to come. We weren't finding anything together, so we split. I came across the village of Phoenix Drop. Their lord's really sweet. She told me you'd vanished upon a guard's arrival. She told me to look for you in the Sacred Forest. At first, I thought it was a suicide mission, but I dunno. I had a weird feeling... or whatever. I thought you actually knew your way around, considering you'd used it to get to Phoenix Drop. But..." She reddens a little.

"You got lost," I say with a laugh. "Amateur."

"S-shut up! I don't know how you got through, frankly, I don't care. All I want is to get out of this goddamn forest. And now that you're here, I guess we need to go together." She fiddles with the hilt of her sword.

"Aww~!" I say happily. "You actually have feelings?"

"Idiot," she says, turning around. I could've sworn she blushed.

"Well then," I say. "Let's get to a dry place, and we can talk."
««»»
We search for hours for some sort of cave, large tree, or anything, but it's useless. There's nothing.

"Ugh," Azlynn mumbles. "I hate rain. Can't we just sit for a little?"

"Stop complaining," I say. "I'm sure there's a village around her somewhere."

She groans. "Maybe we'll find it in the next few millennia. Come on!"

"You sound like a kid!" I say. I turn around to face her angrily, but spot a trail of smoke coming from somewhere.

"Look! Smoke!" I cry, pointing eagerly.

"Who sounds like a kid?" she comments.

"I don't care about that! Smoke!"

She sighs and turns around. "Smoke!" she exclaims happily.

"Let's go!" I say. We race through the rain, dodging trees and mud puddles.

When we finally reach the smoke, I see it's coming from a cave. But... there's a barrier blocking the entrance.

"Magicks?!" Azlynn cries. "Crap!" She bangs on the barrier. "Let us in! It's raining! I have Cassie the An—mmph!"

She stops talking as I cover her mouth with my hand. "Shut up," I say in a low whisper. "There could be O'khasians in there."

She removes my hand. "Right."

"Maybe I could break the barrier with some sort of spell..." I've broken Hyria's barriers before. If I could only remember the spell...

"Screw it..." Azlynn mutters. "We're coming in!"

"Azlynn, you can't, there's a barrier!" I say, but see a purple light, mirroring her hair, shoot from her hands. The barrier falls.

She uses... magick?

"Come on," she says. "You're lucky I have a knack for anti-magicks."

Anti-magicks. I remember Hyria teaching me about those when I was younger. A type of advanced gift that could deactivate almost any form of magick without reciting a spell.

I'm stunned for a second, but follow her in. She takes out her sword, pointing it in front of her. I load an arrow.

The place is huge. It's vacant, which is good for us. There's a large pond in the middle, and a bridge connecting all the sides. Mysterious tunnels dot the cavern.

"Bandit hideout," Azlynn mutters with disgust.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"I've seen the layout before. When the bandits were invading Falconclaw. We had to disband them all." She glances around. "It's vacant, for all we know. Bandits are annoying, but they're pretty weak for the most part. We could take this group on."

My heart races a little. Am I scared?

"I'm going to go outside for a bit," I say. "I want to get a good look at the surroundings." Actually, I don't feel comfortable in this place and I want to leave.

I walk out. The rain has stopped, but it's still drizzling a little.

I peer over to see we're atop a mountain. Wow... the altitude barely changed.

When my eyes adjust to the distance, I can barely believe my eyes.

It's a village, but warships surround it.

I ship Mikayuu so much ugh

xxx,
vylad