Lightning

-4- 「Tortuous Vendetta」

Rena sat in Storm's room that evening, the two silent. Rena had been silent for a few hours, thinking. They had already moved her father's corpse and the crowd outside the courtyard had dispersed. Celeste retired to her room the moment she was able to, after forcing the public to leave the courtyard. The guards had stood watch over the doors and such, and the earlier incident was treated like a public execution. Nanao, Naisyn, Nixanya and Angel had gone to their rooms, not daring to make any contact with Celeste.

Rena sighed softly.

"I'm leaving," she said, standing up.

She didn't look her best, at all. The girl looked exhausted and depressed.

"Leaving where, Rena? Where exactly can you even go?" he asked, the girl looking at him, shaking her head.

"Not home. I'm leaving this place. This dimension. I'm going to where you're from. Plain and simple," she said blatantly.

Storm stood up, in surprise.

"Okay, wait. You do realize, that we know nothing about where I'm from, right? I want to be able to see you. We're friends. What am I supposed to do?" he replied, Rena looking at him.

"You left me behind, without saying anything for three years, to train or whatever, but I didn't say anything! Why can you leave but I can't?" she said to him, reminding him of those events from years ago.

"That's...look. Celeste won't notice if you go now, then. We could meet up sometime..." he said, pondering to himself.

"Storm," she said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Huh? What?" he quickly asked, as he still wasn't used to a serious-acting Rena.

"Come with me," she said to him, full on serious.

"What!?" he yelled in confusion and surprise. "Nononono. Wait. Hold on. Pause for a minute. How do we get back if we want to come back?" he asked her, attempting to get her back into sense.

"Storm. She killed my dad. Outright, no reason. I'm not sticking around to be next. My dad always told me if anything happened to him, to take that ring. I dunno why, but I'm going to get it and I'm going to leave. I'll give you a few hours to reconsider. Call me if you do change your mind," she said to him as he stared in shock.

"You're actually serious..." he said, shaking his head a bit.

"You don't need to come. I'd be asking you to choose between a friend and family. That's not a choice that I'd put on you. I just...I can't be here anymore, so I'm leaving. I'm going to take a crystal, and I'm not coming back," she said to him, opening his window, prepared to leave.

"I'll be going to the eastern port, by the way, if you do decide to show up. Go to the gift shop near the port, alright?" she said to him.