Where Home Is


1.

"Our time is over. Finished. It's what you always wanted, wasn't it? You always told me you wanted to go back home… Back to your world."

Her eyes continued to look up at the ceiling as her face was painted in tears. The minutes seemed like hours. Caroline couldn't move off the bed.

"Isn't it time for you to accept reality and go back to where you belong, Caroline?"

His voice rang in her head. She looked around this new world to try and find a way back home, away from all the strangeness of this place. Once she realized the end of the line was coming… she didn't want to leave.

"You want to go after Giacomo for revenge, I want to find a way back home. Once I'm done with this crazy place, I want nothing more to do with this world. Got it?"

She wanted her old room again. To see her friends and walk the hallways of her school. She wanted to see her father. She just about had everything in her grasp… but then she realized she grew attached to all of them.

Gibari was the engine of the group, the one who made sure everyone stuck together. Her own father was never around, since he was always at work with his law firm ever since her mother passed. The fisherman told Caroline everything was going to be alright. He was the only father figure around for her.

"If you need anything… I'm always here."

Savyna showed her the bigger picture. To face reality head on and not burry herself in self pity.

Mizuti found the fun in everything. When Caroline had her head stuck in going back home all this time, Mizuti thrived in learning everything around her.

Lyude…

He was the one who showed her to say no. To stand up on your own two feet instead of watching the world burn. He never doubted her… and she loved him for it. If she left them… a part of her would always be with Lyude.

Already, she was attached to this world… and it was too late to get out of it. She never asked to be a Guardian Spirit. She didn't ask to come to this world.

"You mustn't give up on him, Caroline…" Xelha breathed. "I know it hurts more to hope and it hurts more to care, but you have to promise me you won't stop caring. I know he cares about you, Caroline… He still does."

Kalas lied to them. Lied to her. After everything they've been through together, how could he say those things to her in the lava caves?

Guardian Spirits had the power to sway the fate of the world? She didn't have anything in her that was heroic. What was so special about her?

She loved him. He lost Georg and Fee. She lost her mother. She thought she knew him. Was everything a lie?

"You've changed."

"I… I have?" She blinked.

"When it was just us back in Cebalrai, you were stubborn as a pow, I thought we'd never get along… but you've really started to open up. I know how hard everything's been for you, but I'm glad that you're still holding on after all this time."

A genuine smile was on his face when he looked at her. "I'm proud of you."

This was a side of Kalas that she rarely saw. For once, he said something that wasn't lathered in sarcasm. She smiled. After being lonely for so long, she and Kalas somehow came together. Out of all the people in the world, Caroline was glad it was him.