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* Illenium - Fractures (feat. Nevve) *

"Jakol?" Raven said as a winged figure landed on the rooftop, next to her. "Have you found anything?"

"No," he shook his head. "Not yet."

Biting her lower lip, she looked at him with watery eyes. "Are you sure? Can I take a look myself?"

*Sigh*

"Trust me, no one wants to see her highness more than I do," he said but Raven instantly disagreed in her mind. She was prepared to do anything for the sake of finding Maya. 

"But from what we can tell so far, she is not within range, otherwise, our devices would have spotted her energy signature." Jakol continued. 

"Oh, also, here," he said, handing her a small device."You said the range doesn\'t matter, correct?"

"Uhm," she nodded as two crimson rings instantly surrounded her majestic golden iresis. Inspecting the device in her hand, she called out to Kayla in her mind.

\'Do you think something like this would work?\' She asked. \'I should be able to tell whenever I sense her mana signature, but this device seems to function in a slightly different way…\'

\'Hm, that\'s correct. This device carries a strong resemblance to the one he provided you with when we first met him, the one that was supposed to test whether Maya was a human or an Akash.\' Kayla said in response while multitasking and making sure the avatars are getting their job done properly.

In addition to the twelve avatars cleansing the city from the still inactive demonic portals, she was also controlling the other two that were following Scott to the EDA headquarters, where the students are supposed to be.

Scott wanted her to meet the students if she was planning on listening to what the EDA was hiding from the public.

\'In addition to recognizing Maya\'s mana signature, this device also scans for anyone who has the Askash blood in them.\' Kayla added.

\'Wait, but isn\'t that stupid? Maya will most likely be human or… I\'m not sure, but not Akash, right?\' Raven seemed confused.

Asking Jakol about it, he shook his head. "On the contrary, once Akash, always Akash. Maybe you haven\'t noticed, but previously, the queen was still carrying the Akash blood in her veins. How do you think we were sure she was the one?"

*Sigh*

"I see," Raven sighed while hugging her knees again and leaning her back against the rooftop railings. It didn\'t take an expert to realize that she was feeling down. "By the way, did you manage to find anything about souls?"

"A lot," Jakol said in a similar expression to hers. "But nothing that explicitly explains the possibility of storing souls inside a living body.

"In most cases, someone might try necromancy or one of its variances, and the intentions would normally be trapping a soul or many into a lifeless body. 

"The process is complicated. From what I\'ve been able to gather, it shows that anything made that way would most likely be a slave to the caster.

"So, unless you serve some unknown master, or you were a soul that has taken control of another\'s body, then I\'m not sure we\'ve found a match yet.

"In addition, the souls trapped that way are bound to fight amongst each other for control over the ownerless body, which also isn\'t the case with you.

"You obviously have no care for the other souls and they\'re not trying to take control in any way, correct?" He finished reporting weeks worth of resear, but at the end he still had no real answers.

"Hm, not quite, I guess." Raven said while staring into the distant azure sky. "But I do remember one time when I was attacked by some rough souls trapped in a cursed weapon." *Sigh* "but that\'s a different matter, so it\'s alright, just keep on looking for answers. However, make sure to prioritize Maya\'s search, ok?"

"Of course, I wouldn\'t be waiting for your permission to do that." He said as he spread his wings, ready to go.

"Oh really? Didn\'t you prioritize fight stupid shadow creatures against rushing to Maya\'s side from the start? Weren\'t you supposed to protect her? Didn\'t you watch her die?" Raven didn\'t look him in the eyes as her mana flared around her.

Yet, Jakol felt his soul screaming in fear as cold sweat rolled down his back.

\'Raven!!!\' Kayla scolded in her mind. 

"Tch," he clicked his tongue while clenching his fists, his fear turning into rage. "I am aware." And with that, he flew into the air before disappearing from sight.

Hugging her knees even tighter and sinking her head in between, she felt bad, but still didn\'t forgive him.

She hasn\'t forgotten nor forgiven anyone about the incident yet, no one. Not the girl responsible for this, not Jakol, not the EDA rankers, not Camilla or Kuru, and definitely not herself.

Although Axane and Maria had technically failed in protecting Maya and baby Rituxi, the two of them had tried their best even though they weren\'t fighters.

Everyone else thought of themselves as fighters and especially the EDA rankers and Jakol. The first was supposed to be an organisation to protect people, and the other was supposed to be Maya\'s guard.

Yet, they all failed. But in her mind, she was the biggest failure as she was Maya\'s everything, yet she wasn\'t able to protect her because she was spending time somewhere else.

The anger welling up inside her soul slowly turned into sadness then despair. She could punish the EDA, she could punish herself, but what good would that do her?

EEEEK!!

The door to the hospital\'s rooftop was suddenly cracked open as the two familiar figures of the siblings emerged from it.

Rushing towards Raven who had a grim expression on her face, light pink hair fluttered in the air as Aella crouched down and wrapped her arms around her.

They didn\'t speak a word for a while as they just stayed like that, sinking into each other\'s warmth.

"Are you better now?" Aella asked in a calm tone.

Looking into her eyes, Raven seemed grateful, but the gesture had only allowed her to open up the pit she had chosen to keep covered until now.

Shaking her head as tears ran down her eyes, Raven found herself crying into Aella\'s shoulder.

"Go guard the doors!" Kayla materialised and ordered Zeru who didn\'t know what else to do in order to help. 

Kayla didn\'t want someone to find Raven in this state, especially not the girls.

Nodding, Zeru didn\'t hesitate to do as ordered.

\'Raven has been trapping her emotions and trying to hide her true feelings from Maria and Axane.\' Kayla thought to herself, watching her tears drip down her chin. \'But in reality, she was now more broken than ever.

\'In front of her close family she played the undefeatable hero, while in front of her enemies she played the cold assassin, but in front of her friend, she can be herself for a few minutes.

\'She can cry, she can complain, and she can remove the weight that has been crushing her chest and preventing her from breathing.

\'Even if just for a few minutes, she can just be her true self. After all, she is but a young broken flower.\'

Before she was aware of it, Kayla had joined the two girls in their hug, as if trying to give them a hand. 

Aside from Aella, Kayla was the one Raven relied heavily upon, as she was the only one knowing her every secret.

Even Tu wasn\'t this close to her. Speaking of which, Tu has been rather focusing more on gathering his powers than communicating with Raven.

Realising how he was almost useless in the last fight, he wanted to prove to himself more than anyone else, that he is worthy of following Raven, supposedly the person who is going to allow him to view the reality of this universe.

***

Minutes passed before poor Raven was able to stop her tears from flowing down her eyes.

After getting some time to get her thoughts, she wiped away her tears and thanked Aella.

"I\'m sorry…" she apologized. "I don\'t know why I did that. I should not have cried like a little baby." 

Even though she meant to say it as a joke, it didn\'t work out as intended and she almost got back to crying. Biting her lower lip, she tried to focus again.

"No, never apologize for this," Aella shook her head, almost scolding her. "I\'m aware that I can\'t imagine what\'s going on through your mind right now, but you have to remember that I basically owe you my life," she said as she grabbed a soul orb from her bag, supposedly from the Erem Tree Raven and Kayla had created.

"You gave me and Zeru both another chance, to live like normal people," she continued. "The least I could do is give you my embrace to cry in, and my shoulder to lean on.

"You can be the hero everyone needs and all, but you don\'t need to hide that whenever we\'re alone, ok? It would mean a lot to me if I was able to help you, you know." She said while patting Raven\'s crimson-purple hair.

Nodding silently, Raven took a deep breath and tired to calm herself down again. 

Looking at her pure expression turning cold, Aella winced in realization of how mentally pressured the girl was.

What scared her the most however, was how she instantly adopted a natural expression and smiled after that. 

Her smile seemed sweet and genuine, yet after what she had just witnessed, Aella knew it was a fake one.

"By the way, me and Zeru have decided that we\'re staying with you from now on," she said, partially trying to change the subject. 

Glancing towards her, Raven shook her head. "I\'m aware of how strong you both are, but my next maneuver is more dangerous than usual. I appreciate the thought though." She smiled again, melting Aella\'s heart.

\'Her act is so good, it\'s as if she has different personalities…\' she thought to herself. \'It is actually so scary.\' Even though she thought that, she could not help but lean closer to her.

Deep inside, Aella wanted to protect this broken soul that was Raven. She wanted her to live happily, the same way she had allowed her and her brother to do.

Deciding to leave them alone, Kayla walked over to Zeru who seemed to be deep in thoughts.