61 Rain

"I know you said that you are leaving, where're you heading off to?" Hemmy was talking to Lera.

"We're heading back home. There is a festival in our home town. We'll be going there for that."

"Sounds exciting. Nervous? We talked about being in crowds, think you can handle that?"

"I don't know…"

"At least keep practicing your breathing technique and like Paroppe told you to let her know if you need any help."

"Yea…"

This was taking place on Friday, three days before they were going back for the Light Festival. They had their session and Lera was saying her goodbye to Hemmy. Though she wasn't all too sure she had to leave. Like Rozaa, she could come back if she had time.

"If I come back, we can still talk right?"

"Of course, just make an appointment first."

"Thank you Hemmy."

"Take care out there Lera."

---

Sunday rolled around and it wasn't the only thing rolling. Right now Ophebo is rolling for an attack on the King. He turned out, was corrupted by a demon. The demon was using his body's blood to create more demons. Most of the court had been taken over and were starting to swarm the players. Taking down the king would remove the demon's influence over everyone, but the king would die.

"So close…"

Everyone watched as his die landed on a nineteen. If only he got that natural twenty for a crit. Though his knives still sink into the flesh of the king. He reels back and for a moment all the others in the room stop moving.

"His life is fading. The demon within the king screams out a wail. You hear the windows shatter and wind and rain flow into the throne room." Since it was raining outside, Thrann used that to immerse everyone at the table.

It was Ayanni's turn.

"We can do it guys, one more push!" Ayanni yelled around the table. "I rush over to him and bash him with my shield onto the ground. I don't want to kill the king if I can, I just want to knock him on the ground."

"You can do that, roll a strength check. I'll give you advantage as he is really weak."

"Sweat!" Urenol cheered.

"Please be something good." Ayanni rolled the die with enough vigor. Everyone watched as it soon came to a stop and it was a two.

"Uh… five?"

"You charge at the king, but the demon sees you. He meets your charge pushing you both back into your same spots. The demon bellows in your face. Saliva and blood hit your shield."

It didn't take long for Urenol to come in fire a beam of holy light to finish off the king.

"The holy light doesn't seem to affect the king, but the demon wails in pain. He is removed from the king's body and burns up in the holy light. Everyone else in the room falls to the ground. Leaving the wind and rain the only sound left in the room."

There were cheers around the table. The fight had gone well. A balance of the dice played out a wonderful end to the story for the original members and Ayanni and Paroppe. Lera got hugged by Paroppe, before she jumped up and started dancing.

"That was amazing, Thrann." Ayanni walked over to him and shook his hand.

"It was nice to have you here. If you come back to Hapho, let me know."

"Of course!"

Lera just sat in her chair awkwardly looking around at the others who started dancing along with Paroppe.

"Why don't you join Lera?" Thrann asked her just before he went over there.

"This is fine for me."

That wasn't the first time she had talked to him, but it was the most she had said to her. From his point of view at least.

---

"Sometimes I wish I had magic, then I wouldn't have to worry about the rain." Carxs was complaining.

"Even if you had magic, rain is still a problem." Ayanni tried to make him feel better, but it didn't work out.

Ayanni was holding Paroppe's hand as they walked across the street. Lera was just behind them listening to their banter. They all had chosen to go to their apartment and stay the night. They had planned this already, even though they had school tomorrow morning. Though spending time with the people who were leaving was necessary.

Bright light, screeching and a loud bang.

---

"Lera!" Paroppe let go of Ayanni's hand and ran over to Lera. She was thrown a distance in front of the truck that was still trying to stop. The slippery rain had caused the truck to miss the stop and run Lera over. Once hit her and knocked her down and then the tires ran her over. There was blood, a lot of blood.

Paroppe started healing Lera, but her magic wasn't strong enough. Ayanni had joined her and failed just the same.

"Lera heal yourself. Listen to me! Heal yourself!" Paroppe screamed into Lera's ear hoping she would understand. "No, this can't be happening. Fix yourself. You can do it."

"What…" Urenol had dropped his umbrella and just slowly walked over.

"Ophebo, please tell me this is just a joke. This isn't real, right? I'm sleeping?" Carxs grabbed him by the shirt. But Ophebo just stared, he couldn't take his eyes off Lera.

Thrann could fell to his knees.

"Let's try together, Paroppe. We need to try again, we can't be stuck here." Ayanni kept pouring his healing magic into Lera's body. "Focus on her head. She needs to heal herself." Paroppe just nodded and put her hands around Lera's head.

"Lera, you need to heal yourself. Can you hear me?"

"Kr…" Lera coughed up some blood trying to speak. "Uukk…" Blood was just draining from her mouth.

"Heal yourself now!"

---

Lear didn't know herself. She wasn't aware of anything really. Just…

"Heal yourself Lera!"

That voice, it was familiar. The sound was too distorted and she couldn't really understand the meaning of those words. It was a mess.

"Lera, can you hear me?"

Lera could hear. Oh, she could understand now.

"Wha…" She tried to speak, but it was difficult.

"Heal yourself Lera!"

'Heal myself?'

Those words, the meaning behind them came to her mind. She listened and in the next moment her body was healed. No wounds.

There was still blood in her lungs that she quickly coughed up. She could feel Ayanni's hands push her on her side and pat out the blood. She realized that getting rid of the blood was a better idea and in the next moment it too was gone from her lungs.

"What… happened?" Lera was exhausted. Even if she healed her brain, she was aware enough to not affect her mind. She never wanted to do that and probably the reason why her mind felt tired.

"I thought I had lost you. I'm so happy you're okay." Paroppe wrapped her arms around Lera tightly.

"I'm glad you're ok." Ayanni leaned back on the ground letting the rain fall on his face. Using magic can wear someone out, but his heart was mostly affected by thinking that if she died they would be stuck here.

'Here…'

Ayanni turned towards Thrann, Ophebo, Urenol and Carxs. They were just staring. Their eyes didn't even blink. All except Thrann who just looked at her.

"Was that you…" He was quiet, very quiet that no one could hear him in the rain.

He looked around to see that there was a group of people surrounding them and the truck.

He moved closer to Lera and Paroppe. "Lera I need you to stop time, right now."

She did without hesitation as her mind was still confused. Once Lera realized that she froze Paroppe and Ayanni too, she unfroze them.

The raindrops were unmoving, the people were frozen. The air was still and they just sat on the ground.

"What do we do?" Paroppe was looking around, not asking anyone in particular.

"I… think it's best if we… Seriously I don't know!" He said 'seriously' like Paroppe, because he honestly didn't know. Everything was happening too fast. They used magic, but this world had none. People were on their phones attempting a call, possibly for help. Their friends were just standing there staring at them, long frozen before the incident.

Lera looked down at her clothes. There was blood, was it hers? It had to be, but was she the only one?

"Paroppe, Ayanni, are either of you injured?" She turned to each of them looking them over. They both had traces of blood on their hands. Actually there was no need to ask her to ask. She made sure any injuries they had sustained were healed and their clothing, hers too, were fresh and clean. "You both are healed as well."

"Thanks…" Paroppe only got that out before she went quiet.

"I think we should go… Oh I don't know. I don't want to say it, but it's probably for the best… I think we should reverse time. Go back to just before we left the shop and make everyone forget this ever happened."

"That sounds like a good idea…" Paroppe's mind just agreed without even paying attention.

"Erase their memories?" Lera wasn't sure about that. Messing with someone's mind was something she never wanted to do to herself, let alone someone else. "We should at least give them a choice."

"Are you going to ask everyone here?" Ayanni was standing now and he gestured around to the bystanders.

"What about them?" Paroppe pointed to Thrann, Ophebo and Urenol.

"It's better for them to forget. Look at them, their faces, they're terrified."

"You're just going to choose that for them? Are you going to make me forget because I was terrified?"

Ayanni wasn't sure how to answer that. He himself didn't want to remember. Seeing Lera's body bleeding out, broken and mangled… No he didn't want to see that, let alone Paroppe. He needed to remember, even if he wanted to forget. This information could be helpful.

So should he force Lera to erase Paroppe's memories of this event? He could do it. Lera was still fragile and Paroppe wouldn't have to be in pain or suffer any nightmares. All he had to do was tell Lera that it was for Paroppe. She would do it and if she made it difficult… guilt was a strong motivator.

He was thinking about it more and more. Lera's body, Paroppe screaming in terror. He couldn't let her be like that.

"Lera-" Ayanni began.

"We should give them a chance to choose. They are our friends at least, they should have the choice. The others, well it wouldn't have happened anyway so I guess that makes sense." Lera didn't want to mess with someone's mind. If at all she wanted to avoid it.

"Lera they are scared. Do you want to put them through that pain? Paroppe was in pain when she saw you." Ayanni was looking back and forth from Lera and Paroppe. "I just misspoke earlier. If we just go back in time, they will forget on their own, because this would have never happened. I don't want Paroppe to be in that kind of pain." He had tears streaming down his face. It would be difficult to tell with the rain, but since time wasn't flowing it didn't matter. Though it was an act, nothing more. If Paroppe just forgot, she would be safe and everything would go back to normal. He saw Paroppe was about to say something. He needed to stop her. He quickly kneeled on the ground and hugged her. "I care for you Paroppe. More than anything in this world, this universe. You keep me safe and grounded. I want to do the same for you. We are doing this for you. Lera, you can let me keep my memories so you won't have to be alone."

If he kept his memories, he could remember this and prevent Paroppe from remembering something painful.

"Ugh…" Paroppe groaned out in confusion as to what Ayanni was doing.

Lera understood what Ayanni meant. She cared for Paroppe as well and just like everyone around here, she didn't want them to have nightmares or be scared because they saw her get hurt. If this never happened, then everyone would be safe, Paroppe included. Lera respected Ayanni's choice to help share in this burden. She could lean on him if something like this ever happened again.

"I'll do it." Lera agreed with Ayanni.

"Don't you dare do anything Lera! This is my choice. I want to keep my memories, no matter how painful they are." She pushed Ayanni off of her, stood up and backed away from him.

"Ayanni was right Paroppe. This doesn't even need to happen. You can forget about it and you'll be happy."

"Then what about you Lera? Are you going to suffer with those memories?" She then turned towards Ayanni. "And you're just assuming what's best for me?"

"We care for you Paroppe. Ayanni said that he was willing to keep his memories so he could help protect you. He didn't need to do that."

"Yes, you're right. He doesn't but he did." She stood and pushed her pointer finger on Ayanni's chest. "What were you doing there? That wasn't you. I've lived with you my whole life Ayanni. I know you better than yourself, what was that?"

"Paroppe… I love you. I want you to be safe."

"I love you too Ayanni. Wanting me to be safe is one thing, but having Lera erase my memories is another."

"Paroppe they're the same. If this never happened, you would never know." Lera tried to explain.

"How many times has that been then Ayanni? Is this the first time that you asked Lera to erase my memories to 'protect me'?" Paroppe ignored Lera.

"This is the first Paroppe. We just want to… I'm sorry. I just thought that… Forcing someone to lose their memories, no matter how painful is wrong. I'm sorry for trying to do that to you Paroppe."

"Lera, we have to…" He closed his mouth. He lost control over Lera. If he just kissed Paroppe, she wouldn't have been able to speak. He might still be able to protect her, but it won't be easy.

"Ayanni what's this about?" Paroppe was confused as to why he wanted to continue this.

"Do you think I want to see you crying when you sleep? Hear your cries as they haunt you? What happened here… It hurt us all. It hurt Lera. It hurt you. It hurt me. I don't want you to be in pain."

"It's my choice Ayanni. Mine. Not you, not Lera. Me and mine alone."

"Paroppe, if Lera just goes back in time, then she can avoid that truck and protect everyone else around too just in case. I can be there to make sure everything is ok. You don't need to burden yourself with this." He went over to Lera. "I can help her and we can protect you. Lera you want to protect Paroppe, right? Just like you protected her from those bandits?"

"I do…"

Before Lera could say anything else or anyone for that matter, Paroppe punched Ayanni in the face.

"Ayanni I don't know why you think you have to protect me like that. Honestly even looking at you right now… I don't know who you are. Do you think so little of me that I became a child to you? Bringing up those bandits here… I made a mistake, I remembered my mistake, I learned from it. I won't let my past hold me back. I am working on a different route to achieve my goals in the future. Don't try to take my choices away from me like that. You don't get to do that to me."

"Paroppe…" Ayanni looked at her as she turned around.

"Lera we used magic in front of them. We don't want to change their whole world because of one accident. Let's go back and be careful when we cross the street. We are the ones who don't belong, so it is on us to remember our mistakes." Paroppe held her hand out to touch a raindrop, before turning back to Lera.

Lera reached down to give a hand to Ayanni who was still staring at Paroppe. He didn't seem to notice her hand.

"Ayanni, let me help you up."

He looked at Lera, then her hand. He grabbed it and she pulled him up to his feet. She grabbed her head with one hand and made time go back to the point where they were leaving the shop.

---

"It's still raining." Urenol held his hand out the door and let the cool water on his hand.

"Ready to go?" Thrann turned to the three people behind him.

"I'm ready, let's go." Paroppe grabbed Lera's hand as they walked out.

"Everything ok Ayanni?" Thrann heard Paroppe's cold voice.

"Yes, everything is fine now." He looked down at his feet.

As the grouped walked to the cross walk, Paroppe told everyone to hurry up and cross the street right away once there was a green signal. A moment later a familiar truck went past the street as it tried to stop at the red light. Nothing really happened other than the truck stopping in the middle of the road. It fixed itself and later driving away.

Something Lera didn't notice until now was that being hit by a truck was another chunk of that feeling gone, just like that. It was still there, much less noticeable than the start. It was good that it was slowly going away.

As they got to the apartment building, Ayanni didn't walk in with them. Lera turned around to see a police officer talking with him. She had seen him walking towards them, but didn't think there was any reason he needed to talk to them, or even Ayanni. She watched the officer wave at the group.

"Did something happen?" Thrann asked Lera for an answer considering the furious Paroppe.

"Something happened, but I'm sure he'll be fine. Let's go up and dry ourselves off." Paroppe answered instead of Lera.

---

"What's wrong kid?" Neven asked Ayanni.

Ayanni didn't know what to say, let alone to the man standing in front of him. They were both out in the rain. He felt like the worst elf in the world. He was the only elf in this world. He laughed.

"Ayanni, what happened?"

"What happened?" Ayanni snapped back at Neven, then he looked away. "A friend of mine was nearly killed. Her limbs were broken, coughing up blood. We got her healed and enough for her to heal herself, but those images won't leave my head. I thought it was better for Paroppe to forget. She treats Lera like a sister, so that pain is going to hurt her even more. It would have been better if she forgot. I can take this burden. I don't want to see her suffer." He looked at Neven. "Do you think that's wrong of me? To make sure she can live happily without worries?"

Neven didn't say anything for a moment, before saying. "Wanting someone to be happy, that you care about, is natural." There was another, shorter, pause before he asked Ayanni a question. "This friend of yours, who was injured, where is she now?"

"Upstairs by now."

"Why don't I come with you?"

"Fine…"

Ayanni didn't care. Nothing really mattered to him. He was leaving tomorrow and he would be done with this place. The only thing he could hope for was that Paroppe wouldn't get nightmares.

The rain was pouring on his umbrella. Neven opened the door to the building and followed Ayanni in and up the elevator.

"That group you were with, those friends of yours?"

"Yea…"

"Is your aunt home?"

"I guess so…" Ayanni was tired. He just wanted a drink. Some wine would go great right now. He wished he was at his home.

"When you go in, could you ask her to come out in the hallway. I would like to talk with her."

"Fine with me."

Neven stayed off to the side of the doorway as Ayanni entered. He saw Paroppe and the other guys around the tv playing games with towels around their hair. They were all in a fresh set of clothing they had left here last time in preparation for this day. He saw that Lera was making tea in the kitchen.

"Lera that officer guy wants to talk to you." He didn't want to worry Paroppe or anything so he made sure to whisper it.

"Me?" She either forgot to whisper or was shocked. Ayanni didn't care. Not even when Paroppe turned his way and then back to the screen where she was beating Carxs.

Ayanni walked over to them and sat off to the side, next to Thrann.

---

Lera poured the cups of tea brought over the cups, poured one for the officer. She left the room, and went outside.

"Hello…?"

"Oh nice to meet you. My name is Neven. I'm an officer with the city of Hapho. Are you Ayanni's aunt?"

"Yes." She remembered Ayanni mentioning that he said she was his aunt. "Would you like some tea?" She held out the cup to him.

"Thank you ma'am."

"My name's Lera… by the way."

"This tea is good Lera. Thank you. I wanted to talk to you about Ayanni." Before he went further there was a loud yell from Paroppe inside claiming that she was the best at the game and no one could beat her. "I can see that you must be busy. I'll be brief then." He looked Lera head on with a straight face. "I met Ayanni a couple weeks ago. He wasn't at school so I thought I'd ask why a kid like him wasn't there. As I got closer I saw he had bruises on his hands. Days later I was coming out of a shop and Ayanni ran into me. An honest mistake, but he was worried. Something was wrong, but before I could ask what happened, he ran away."

"Ayanni…" Lera's mind was still muddled, but what he was saying didn't sound good at all.

"I saw him walking behind you. I thought I could see if everything was fine from the other day. Then I saw his face. It was not a face I was expecting, and not one on a kid. I asked him what happened and he said he saw someone who was hit by a truck. The other things he said… Well I think the boy needs help. I don't know what is going on, but it has affected Ayanni in a negative way. As an officer, I pride myself to try and help anyone I see in trouble. Ayanni just happened to be one that I had constantly noticed."

"I see…" Ayanni had told the officer what happened. Seeing as he cares for Ayanni, should she tell him the truth, so it won't be a problem? They're going to be leaving tomorrow morning, so it doesn't matter.

'I guess that's probably what Ayanni thought too.'

"He's just going through a hard time right now."

"I think this might be more serious than a 'hard time'. I insist that you at least let him talk to a professional."

"I… I will do what I can to help." She was going to leave, so that was all she could say. She planned to help him already, but hearing this… She needed to be better to help Ayanni better.

"If anything else happens, you can call me on this card here." He passed her his business card and the cup of tea

"Thank you for your concern Officer Neven."

"Take care."

---

"Everything alright Lera?" Paroppe was at the door just about to go out.

"I'll tell you about it later. I think we've had enough today." Lera yawned out her reply.

"Let's get you into bed. You've been through a lot today."

"You have too Paroppe."

Paroppe ignored Lera's comment. She told the guys that she was going to sleep with Lera and to have a good night.

---

Morning shined through the window in Paroppe's room. She had the room with the window to the right of the door way. Paroppe woke up to see Lera standing and looking out the window.

"Good morning Lera."

"It seems you slept well last night Paroppe."

Lera had stayed in bed and rested, but she couldn't sleep no matter how tired she was. After Paroppe fell asleep she went over to the window to stare at the stars.

"Considering the day before… I don't even think I had a dream."

"I'm going to warm up breakfast for everyone then."

"I'll get ready in the meantime."

Lera had made food yesterday morning, that she could warm up today before they left. They had planned a party and there were sure to be people who didn't get enough sleep. Lera happened to be one of them, but she didn't party. Either way, the food was made, she just needed to warm it up.

Once the smell permeated throughout the room, everyone started waking up. She passed out bowls and poured the soup in. It wasn't overly complex, but the bread was special. It was a new recipe where she cooked a bunch of complementary vegetables into the bread so it would pair well with the soup.

The reactions from everyone else were what she hoped for. Even trying it herself, she found it was something that she too enjoyed.

At this point the boys were heading off to school. They had cleaned themselves up and taken care of their bodies before leaving. They said one last goodbye.

"It's been fun." Carxs said.

"If you ever visit again, I'll beat you at that game Paroppe." Ophebo's timid nature had fallen ever since he spent time with Ayanni and Paroppe. Though that was just with them since they were new people. He just happened to open and be the person he already was with his friends. Of course it was also a bit competitive.

"Ayanni, please join us again. We could use your shield." Urenol put his hand on Ayanni's shoulder.

"Just be careful I don't burn you." He said it with a smile, but only Paroppe could see it was a fake.

"If we meet again, maybe we could show you our home." Paroppe suggested.

Lera felt the less people who knew about her would be the best. Then again, they were friends like Ayanni, Paroppe and Jev. She would be seeing him again. It was going to be tough to explain that she didn't protect Paroppe and Ayanni.

As the boys left their apartment, it became silent. Smiles turned to frowns or frustration. They both looked similar.

"Let's head back then." Paroppe said, but she was angry and it was easy to hear.

In the next moment they were back in the void room.

"I brought us here first. In a way I want to give you both time to adjust and let you go back to your rooms. If you want to place anything in there before we get back to Suul…" It seemed that those two didn't really care about that. "Alright, then I'll teleport us to Ayanni's house."