Chapter 76 - Reunion

“Brothers…are you telling me that those two scary dragons, they’re her family?!”

I wasn’t sure if I heard her right, did she just call those two ferocious monsters her brothers? I had to clean my ears just to make sure that I heard her correctly. Even then, I still refused to believe it.

Alice held out her hands to the sides, assuming a defensive position over us from the oncoming attack of the crimson dragon.

The immense build-up of scarlet flames faded to nothing and its fang-filled jaw closed again with nothing but air to fill its mouth.

The smaller blue dragon seemed to have the same response, its ravaging roars stopped in an instant. The large yellow fangs that it bared at Mister Ed and his guild were put away, locked behind the lips of its scaly mouth.

Suddenly the Hollow fell quiet, I’m sure for the same reason I couldn't say anything. It felt as though everyone was waiting for an answer—to what the hell just happened?!

The crimson Dragon lowered its head down to her, bringing the dragon and Alice to eye level. Their gazes met, even though the dragon's eye was almost twice as large as her body. Its eyes carried no scorn or evil, at least none that I could see. My heart reacted to the look it gave her, it was compassionate.

It felt like an apology, a visual one that shone through the dragon's tough exterior and connected to her through his stare. It felt as though it had been searching, that it never gave up, not for a single second.

I couldn't believe it but I was starting to believe her. Those two dragons might have been her brothers.

I didn’t realise it until after it happened but my mouth was hanging wide open, I was in awe watching the two of them. I turned away and set my sights on the blue dragon who displayed similar eyes. It was still a little agitated from being pressed against the wall by Mister Ed and his guild, I could tell that much from its posture.

My doubt was erased about what I heard, how else could those expressions be explained? Those were her brothers, her family.

Which brought me to my next question.

“So why did they attack us?”

Hearing my question, Arga jumped in with a similarly irritated tone.

“That’s what I’d like to know too.”

I was happy to see she was alright, I was afraid that maybe that blast from before would have seriously hurt them. I looked behind her but Veldor wasn’t anywhere close, when I asked she simply pointed back to Mister Ed.

Headed towards the bottom of the hill was Veldor, he joined the ranks of his fellow guild mates and ran up to his idol.

My head sunk into an open palm as I shook it in disapproval.

“Of course he went back to him…it’s not like we’re in the middle of something over here too.”

“So what are we doin’ about that?” Arga with a finger pointed towards Alice.

I was wondering the same thing myself. It was everything we were working towards, wasn’t it? If they really were her brothers then we achieved our mission, we got them back together.

The crimson dragon and Alice were still locked in an intense stare when suddenly she broke, her lips were the first to move.

“Brother…it’s really you right? I’m not dreaming am I?”

My body instinctively leaned forward. How could I not, she just asked that dragon a question. Which could only mean that it was about to reply to her—it was about to talk?! It wasn’t a crazy thought though, I mean she was a dragon herself and spoke. Why would that have been any different?

I wasn’t alone, everyone else was just as curious as I was. All eyes were locked on them. The fierce battle from a few moments ago had shifted into an open play with the heartfelt climax only seconds away.

The dragon’s majestic expression remained stern, while its emerald eyes poured out a lively glow. Just as I thought that was all that would be, the creature let out a sound.

“Yes. We’ve come for you, Alice.”

A deep voice escaped its mouth, he had a stern yet clear tone that sent chills throughout my body. It was a voice fitting for such a majestic creature—a dragon.

There it went—my mouth hung open slightly at the few words that it spoke. I thought I had been used to it by then but apparently not.

Alice wasted no time, she leapt forward into a wide hug and attached herself to the dragon's nose. Her body was so small in comparison that it looked kind of like she was a stain on the large creature's face that it forgot to wipe off.

Her tears flowed uncontrollably and began sobbing against her brother's face as she hugged him tightly.

A large commotion enlarged behind us, around the blue dragon. Heaven’s Gate was on edge as the dragon pinned to the wall spread out its wings. It was clear to all of them what was coming next, none of them wanted to wait for that to happen.

Spears and weapons of all different shapes pointed up at the creature—which caused its fangs to return. It looked like the fighting was about to start up again but the adventurers were the first to step down.

One sign of Ed’s hand in the air and they stood down, he was letting the dragon go.

The blue dragon set off into the air and raced over me, it flew with a swift jet-like takeoff that headed straight towards them. The dragon stopped beating its wings before it hit the ground and crashed into the dirt with a massive tumble. It would have been more accurate to say it fell out of the sky than landed.

Alice fell from the crimson dragon's face and landed on her feet, the sudden impact shook her up a bit but she was happy to see the smaller dragon too.

“I see you’re still as excited as ever, brother!” Alice greeted.

The blue dragon responded with a toothy grin, it was a little unsettling seeing a dragon smile like that.

“You bet! How can I not be when I found my sister is still alive—this is a time to celebrate!” His voice sounded much younger than the crimson dragons did.

He sounded around my age, if not a little younger. It matched the energy he gave very well, bouncy and energetic in every way.

Alice gave her brother a quaint smirk in response. “Brothers, I'm so glad to see you both. I was afraid that…”

The crimson dragon stepped in to clear away her fears and nudged her gently with his nose. He looked down on her with consoling eyes as the little girl beneath his gaze looked up with teary eyes.

“We would never leave you. I’m sorry that we separated in the first place.”

His warm words seemed to have a powerful effect on her, she was left blushing. Alice looked the happiest I had ever seen her. The expression on her face could only have been described as utter bliss.

That look on her face was precious, one that I wanted to protect at any cost.

It only took one sentence to clear that expression away.

The crimson dragon’s eyes turned serious, his wing wrapped around her and drew her closer towards him. “Now that we’ve been reunited, it’s time to leave Alice.”

Wait…what?