Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Casma POV:
I was having a pleasant dream about nothing in particular. It was just a nice dream nothing extreme going on. I was lying in a grass field that just felt perfect, nothing to bother me and nothing to worry about. Then I saw some sort of mana beast walk over to me in a nonthreatening manner. Once it reached me it started to nudge me, as if telling me to get up. I tried to ignore it but it started to try harder. I rolled over a bit hoping that it would stop. That was when tragedy struck.
I was knocked back into reality as I felt a pair of knees sink into my stomach. I lurched up as I tried but failed to suck in any air. I was sitting gasping for air until the weight was removed. When I was finally able to catch my breath, I looked around the room to find the source. My sister was standing at my doorway laughing. I narrowed my eyes at her till she pointed at the girl next to my bed. Standing there stifling a laugh was a girl with grayish brown hair. I sighed already guessing what had happened.
Through Tess's laughing she said, "That's how I've come to wake your brother up. Apparently, violence works well with those two."
"Thank you for teaching me this Tess." She smiled brightly at her.
"What happened to make you both so close?" And to make her attitude do a 180 from yesterday, I thought.
"Tess came to my room last night and wanted to talk for a bit since most of yesterday she had to talk with all the adults." She said smiling.
"I'm guessing you took it upon yourself to teach her how you would wake up Art, and now you have another little violent devil to wake me up?" I deadpan the both of them.
"HEY, I am not a violent devil!" Eleanor exclaimed furrowing her brows and putting her hands on her hips. She might've been a little more frightening if it weren't for the puffed-up cheeks she had, making her look almost like a squirrel. This thought almost made me laugh as in the future she would end up bonded to a bear.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I hope you will accept my apology, Lady Eleanor," I said, still sitting in bed but bowing and holding my hand out to her.
"Ellie." That was all she said.
"Ellie?" I questioned her already knowing what she meant. I looked over at my sister who hadn't moved an inch from the doorway watching us interact intently.
"Call me Ellie." She pinched my side and ran out of the room. I put a hand to my side, not entirely from the pain, but from the fact that she had pinched me.
"Yeah she screwed that part up, but I do see what Grandpa was saying now." She said as she was getting ready to leave the room.
"What do you mean?" I asked as I wasn't understanding what she was getting at.
"That we might have to get ready for another talk about an engagement and marriage." She said smirking. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at the door.
"I'm not like you and Art. I don't plan on anything like that any time soon." Tess dodged the pillow by stepping out of the room. She poked her head back into the room.
"I don't think that decision is solely on you. She might end up getting other ideas." With that being said she shut my door before I could say anything.
I thought back to yesterday at what Grampa said. I knew he only thought about that because of how I acted, but no one truly understood my reasoning. I got up and got clothes laid out on my bed and then headed to the bathroom. I was in the shower thinking about the plan that had popped up in my head. If I do make Reynolds think that someone might take his daughter, especially me who will eventually be able to defeat him, he might try harder to improve himself. If he does then that would help prevent him from dying in the war.
If I make sure that Art also doesn't leave the Wall then he'll be able to prevent that Flamesworth bastard from changing the plans. It all shouldn't matter though. If things go my way, we shouldn't have to worry about any attacks anytime soon. If I can disrupt their plans in the Beast Glades enough, I should be able to stop them from invading until the time Cynthia was expecting. I can't be sure though, but I think their plans were sped up because the experiments in the dungeons were going extremely well.
I turned the water off and stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. Wrapping the towel around me and leaving the bathroom I went and got dressed. All this thinking isn't going to help until I start taking steps to prevent the war. The continent needs time, time it doesn't have, but I believe I can buy us that time. Worse comes to worse, there's a Scythe I could make contact with that would be willing to help.
I grabbed my bag that I had packed with mostly unadorned clothes and anything that I thought I would need. Walking out my door I looked back in my room one last time. I know I'll be back to see it but I don't know when I'll come back. I closed my door and made my way to the front of the castle. As I opened the door I could see everyone already there and behind them was a single carriage. As I made my way up to everyone I could see Art rotating his ankle.
"I guess Sis twisted your ankle again?" I asked as I got closer. They turned to see me and smiled.
"Yeah, harder than usual though." He chuckled, "At least you don't have to deal with that."
"I wouldn't say that. I received quite the wake-up call this morning as well." I said looking at Ellie, as she hid behind Tess with a grin.
"What did she do to you?" Art asked looking towards Tess.
"Not her, the one hiding behind her." All Eyes turned towards Ellie as she looked off into the air not meeting anyone's eyes. Everyone was laughing at her antics.
"Okay well then what did she do?"
"She jumped on top of me digging her knees into my stomach." Art laughed but everyone else had a look of disbelief, other than Tess of course. Alice was about to say something when I interrupted her, "You laugh but Tess was the one who told her how she wakes you up, and then, taught her how to use violence to wake me up." At that comment, Mom turned toward her and held a stern gaze with Tess.
"Well be talking about this after they leave." Tess looked at me like I had thrown her to the wolves. I just turned and pretended to whistle, "Cas," Mom walked over to me. Her face softened after what she said to Tess. The smile she had was filled with love. It was a smile that only a mother could make and it made me happy that it was directed to me, "Promise me you will behave and you will contact us as much as possible." She asked, holding my cheeks in her hands.
"I will." A small smile formed on my lips.
"Okay," She wrapped her arms around my small body and brought me into a tight hug, "I love you and please remember that while you're gone, also, please remember to keep in contact while you're away."
"I will, Mom," She released me but only enough so that her hands rested on my shoulders, "I'll miss you all, but know I'll be back sooner than you think. After all, we do live longer than most others." This time I tried to put on a smile that would relieve her of some stress, but she's a mom, so that stress will never truly be relieved.
"Honey, I think that's enough any longer and it'll be nighttime before they leave," Dad said, even though the sun had more or less just risen. He walked over and put his hand on her shoulder and she let go of me taking a few steps back.
"Okay," She looked over at Art, "Now you, I know eventually you'll be back to see Tess at some point. Please take care of yourself and don't do anything stupid."
"The brat can handle himself trust me on that and I trust that he'll keep an eye on little Cas while he's with them," Grampa said as he now too took a step forward so that my family was lined up in front of me.
"I will, but seeing as he's awakened I'll help him get to a point to where he can also take care of himself." Art said looking at Grampa.
They all smiled as the Leywins said their goodbyes and slowly made their way to the carriage. I followed behind but kept a few steps back so that I would be the last one in. As everyone climbed in. I turned back one last time, to my family. The only true family I had in both lives. I waved to them as I got in and sat at the closest window to the castle.
Both of Art's parents sat across from us on the back side, while we kids sat on the front. I sat next to the window closest to the castle with Ellie in between Art and me. I looked out the window still waving as they waved back. I could see the glint from tears in Mom's eyes, Dad consoling her, Grama with a smirk, and Tess looking at us with a smile.
The carriage lurched forward as the mana beast started pulling us. I stopped waving as we got farther and farther away till I couldn't see them anymore. I stopped and looked down at my hands which were now resting in my lap. No one said anything letting the silence fill the air. The only sound that was coming was from raindrops, like the sky was crying at the future king leaving, but that wasn't it my hands had water running down them. To be more specific, it was tears. I wiped my eyes not fully realizing why I was crying.
This never happened before, even in my past life. Even when my family would be taken to the hospital I never cried, it was a common thing to see for me, so why did this affect me so much? I wiped and wiped but it wouldn't stop. The more I tried the more that came. I couldn't understand these feelings. It took someone pulling me into a hug and a hand being placed on my shoulder to bring me back.
Ellie had her arms wrapped around me squeezing me as tightly as she could. The hand came from Alice as her face held an empathetic look. Once I saw her face it hit me harder than I thought it would. The Eraliths had become my family, and at some point, that was how I saw them without realizing it. I had grown attached to them. I let the last of the tears fall.
"It'll be fine Casma. You will see them again," Alice said as her hand held my shoulder just a bit firmer trying to get her message across.
"If it helps, you can look at us like family," Ellie said burying her head into my shoulder.
"I'm sorry if I made you all worry," I patted Ellie's hair, messing it up slightly, "I'm afraid I can't do that quite yet. I just left my family and even though Tess and Art are engaged, I can't help but only see them as my family, at least for now." I smiled at her as I removed my hand and she looked up at me. Her eyes were watery from crying herself.
I chuckled as I raised my hand to wipe her tears away, "Why are you crying?"
"I don't know it hurt to see you cry, and the next thing I knew, I was crying as well." The tears stopped as she saw my face. I could feel two gazes burning into me but I ignored them for now. Art and Reynolds would have more than enough time to protect her later. Right now though, she was like a light that showed the path forward. A path for me to walk down without my family. A path toward a future where this family could have the time that they have now. Alice being worried about another parent's kid or her own. Reynolds fighting off his daughter's potential boyfriends, Ellie has the chance to grow up without having this so-called hero of a brother, whom everyone would put expectations on her. Most importantly though Arthur, he could have the life he deserved. One where his family is safe and he can have relationships with those close to him without worrying about someone threatening him or those close to him.
I tore my eyes away from her and looked out the window as we left Zestier. I don't know when I'll be back, but when I do I know that I will have set in motion plans for what's to come. Hopefully, I'll be coming back stronger. With Arthur's help though that shouldn't be a problem. The only thing I need to focus on is my plans. Art will have a lot of work to do in the coming years. I laughed internally at this, making the main character do all the work only seemed appropriate.
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A/N: Next chapter will be a decent one with Casma finally getting a hint at some power and also Art starting the first part of Casma's plans. Look forward to what abilities Casma will gain, but did you really think the carriage ride back would go smoothly?
This is about TBATE, expect the unexpected. *Maniacal laughter*
Thanks for Reading!!!
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