Gambit Of The Living Weapon

"Anything?" She asked with high hopes.

"This is your world... Shouldn"t you know everything about it?" Said East with a frustrated look on her face, still trying to a.n.a.lyze the different locations of the planet earth and discover what Mia did.

"You do know that I spent four years of my life in another world right? Besides... You were the one that locked them up, this is your mess to clean up as well."

"Sigh... Fine... You"re the boss..."

Evlin truly wished she could help honestly, but the truth was, her mind was filled with so much right now that she probably would have a hard time focusing on anything.

Mia had her mother, and from what Ellie told her earlier, probably her sister and brother-in-law as well. She couldn"t stop thinking of what that little brat could be doing to them right now as they waited for her next move. Worst-case-scenario, they all would be dead already.

Evlin dreaded that thought so she tried to a.s.sume the worst had not happened yet.

She decided to leave East work in peace as she kept searching on the internet using words like "six metallic statues" or "Demonic figures appearing out of nowhere", and went to her washroom to clean her face.

After filling both hands with water she splashed her head to calm down a bit and started talking to herself as part of her usual routine to relax. "Everything will be ok... Everything will be ok...".

She then was reminded of Lilith"s early remark from the hospital and took a glance at the mirror to check her own face, and just like before, she had a very angry glare on her eyes.

"Is that really me...?" she asked, almost starting to scare even herself.

Just a few moments ago Ellie"s gentle smile was enough to lift her spirits a bit, but the moment she started to think about Mia again, her body began to change into read-to-kill mode again.

Evlin always had enemies, and many times she imagined herself killing some of them due to how angry they managed to make her. But every time, when the moment of truth would come, she always found a different way.

If it was a demon or a monster, or even a wild dangerous animal, then she would have no problem putting it down. But a person? She could never do it. Even Xadi, who probably managed to anger her more than anyone before Mia, she still simply turned him into a frog to get rid of him. But that definitely wouldn"t work on Mia since she was the one who broke him free in the first place.

Marcus was the second biggest threat she ever faced, but she managed to bring him to her side after managing to give him a change-of-heart. The lad was now one of her closest friends. She really doubted that she could ever be friends with Mia thought.

Finally, there was East. East was probably the biggest case where Evlin considered the idea of having to kill someone. But in the last second, she still couldn"t do it and instead brought her along to her world so she would have no power to harm anyone. Problem was, she then realized that East was now her responsibility and decided to take care of her. She noticed that Daren and Lilith were very displeased on finding out about that development.

And once again, that would not work on Mia as the girl herself had found a way to come into this world and even managed to bring magic with her.

Evlin simply saw no other option. Unless she could somehow lock Mia on the moon and leave her there, the only way to deal with the girl and keep her family safe was by ending her for good.

"..." She watched her own glare once again and realized that there was no other way. For her family, for her world, Mia needed to go, and she was the only one who could do it, or rather, she needed to do it, since just like East, Mia was her responsibility, she came to this world after Evlin after all.

Evlin placed her hand on her heart and started to think about how she was going to need to take someone else"s life if she wanted to find peace.

"I"m sorry mom... I hope you can forgive me for turning you into the mother of a killer..." She said as she tried to reach her mother in spirit.

She then heard a knock on her door.

"Evlin? Evlin are you ok?" It was Daren"s voice, sounding worried.

"Yeah, just a second." She answered and before opening the door, gave one final look at herself.

She then took a deep breath and exited the room.

"What"s up Daren?" She asked while noticing his concerned face.

"East said that... What was it called...? The wi-fi died?"

"Ugh... The damage on the house must have caused something to go wrong with the cables..."

Daren then noticed that she was shaking a bit. "Evlin...? You ok...?"

"Me...? Yeah... Sure, sure... I"m fine... I"m just..."

"Evlin..." Daren then interrupted her before she could continue. "Just say what you wanna say... You don"t need to act strong in front of me..."

Evlin then looked around to confirm Ellie was still resting on Sphinx, unable to see her face, and finally dropped her mask while letting it all out.

"I... I"m not ok Daren!!" She said with tears on her eyes. "I hate this!! I hate this so much!! I never asked for any of this!! I never asked to go to that world, I never asked to meet that girl! I never wanted to bring all this to my family!!"

Evlin then hugged Daren as if trying to find something about her life that wouldn"t start crumbling out of nowhere.

"Why me?? Why always me?? I never did anything wrong!! I just wanted to live my own life without making trouble for anyone! Why do these things keep following me everywhere I go?? How many worlds do I need to travel to if I want to get away from trouble and finally find some peace for myself?"

Daren hugged her back but without knowing what to say. He wished Ashley or Gustav were here. They were the ones that knew Evlin the best and knew how to ease her pain. Even Ria would probably be a better option than him. What could he say to help Evlin?

But then, one thing came to his mind.

"If it wasn"t for you... I would be dead right now Evlin..."

"...?" Evlin raised her crying face and looked at him.

"When we first woke up, we were so ready to just charge into the demon kingdom in an attempt to find a way to kill East. Looking back at it now... That was such a stupidly risky idea with so little chance of success... There were so many things that could have gone wrong and got us all killed..."

"..."

"But then we meet you and Ashley... Almost as if the universe was sending you to us as a way to save us from ourselves... You made the impossible happen and managed to make us all live through all that...You and Ashley saved us, Evlin..."

"..." She continued to stare at him and listening carefully.

"I know it must have been horrible to you... But if you hadn"t been summoned to that world, I wouldn"t be here right now... I would never have lost my curse, freed my friend"s son from an evil G.o.ddess, or got together with Lilith... My son would never exist if it wasn"t for you..."

Evlin"s tears had finally stopped.

"I don"t know if that"s what you wanted to hear... But I don"t think anyone else could have done what you did for me and my friends... You"re our hero, Evlin... So please... Don"t give up now..."

"..." She kept listening as if Daren"s words were blocking the fear that was surrounding her.

"I know we will save your family and beat Mia... I believe in you!"

Evlin then started to cry again and hugged Daren one more time. Her worries were still there haunting her mind, but she started to feel a little safer after being reminded that she wasn"t alone.

She then realized, every time she was about to lose herself, she always had someone by her side to keep her together.

She had her mother when she went through that trauma at school, she had Dalla when her body was broken after coming to another world, she had Ashley when she went on her quest to find a way home, and she had Gustav when she was afraid of Marcus"s declaration of war against her.

Even when she was stuck in the white void due to Xadi"s spell, she still had the G.o.ds by her side to talk to and keep her company.

Evlin then realized why Mia was pus.h.i.+ng her so much to the edge. She couldn"t bear the idea of being alone. More than falling from high places, more than being stuck in a strange dangerous world where she could die at any second, more than never being able to fulfill her dream of becoming a hero to children in need... Evlin was afraid of ending up alone, because no matter how much everyone else said they believed in her, she didn"t believe in herself, and she always felt she would break if left by herself.

"I"m scared Daren!! I"m scared of losing my family!!" She said with a crying low voice, trying her best not to let Ellie listen to her.

Daren grabbed her and looked at Lilith and Marcus gesturing them to come closer.

"Then say what you need to say! Stop trying to do everything by yourself and try to trust us a bit!" Daren said with a strong and decisive tone.

"That"s right Evlin, you always lent us your strength, try to rely on our strength as well!" Said Lilith next with Lance sleeping in her arms.

"We are right here for you! We are not going anywhere until we"ve solved all this!" Finally, Marcus talked next.

Evlin then looked at her friends again, and was reminded of the time she engaged in a conversation with the north G.o.d, and how he mentioned that Evlin needed to stop trying to do everything by herself and remember she had allies she could count on.

She then began to cry one more time and joined her hands to make her request.

"Please!! Help me!!" She begged. "Please help me save my family!!"

Daren, Lilith, and Marcus all placed their hands on her to rea.s.sure help her stop shaking while showing their resolves.

"Of course!!" x 3