Mission 01: "HomeComing"

"You finally answered, Allesky!" Said a voice from the phone call that a lady in her black leather jacket listened to upon pressing the phone over her shoulders not verily near her ear.

Allesky Zerclaire. This is her name that resounded the family of which bore her and raised her but now had caused her to flee just so she could save herself to not receive any more physical pain and suffering, most specifically, from the person of whom is speaking to her at the moment.

She furrowed her brows with the echo of the word of her name as she tightened her grip on the strap of her pack bag with her right hand. She had filled it with all she deemed was her necessity to bring with her that made it somewhat heavier than intended.

She fixed it over her shoulder then surged through the crowd proceeding to the outside of the airport distinctively moving her own pace with a vibe of a modern day gangster queen but not necessarily taking much of anybody's attention.

She was poised, delicate, and of natural beauty with a pair of rounded blue eyes she had constructively hidden behind dark-veiled glasses. Her cherry blossom lips showcasing pleasantness and fearsomeness at the same time remained shut without utter reply to the ongoing call. Her vibrant, silky hair danced with the wind that graced her elegant presence as she walked onwards.

"Hello? Do you hear me clearly, young lady? Or are you playing deaf again even in this phone call?" Asks the same gruesome voice of a man who is relatively her father.

"Tsk~ And who would want to answer such a tone of questioning?" Allesky repulsively replied with a tone of annoyance and the irking of her head sideways unable to bear the familiar yet unfamiliar pestering voice of the man, her father, whom over the years used to be as sweet as the Nutella spread that had been his way of spoiling the young lady but is not therefore the same anymore.

Out of the pressing crowds on the sidewalk just a few meters from the vicinity of the airport from which she had gone out, Allesky threaded her way unfocused as she stepped onto the pedestrian crossing but was immediately pulled back to the sides of the road that saved even the bangs of her hair from being caught up to that ten-wheeler truck that maneuvered before her unexpectedly.

She was just so caught up with the presence of the voice speaking from her phone that she failed to give more important attention of her surrounding as well as not looking directly at the bright red light from the pedestrian signal light across the pedestrian crossing that led to that untimely accident if ever that arm didn't appear out of nowhere.

Allesky halted herself when she was back on the sides of the crossing being released from the saving arm that she caught not for it blended in with the strangers around her.

"You, rebellious girl~! I should have sent you first to Schidtz to have you learn your lesson if only you haven't fled back to that country~! You come back here right now or you'll never hear from me again, you understand??" Says the same voice of Allesky's father, more louder and intimidating as before leaving a haughty image in her mind that befits how condescending of a man her father is.

Allesky nonchalantly lowered her arm and away from her ear not letting the audible statements that came afterwards to be heard more for she chose to end the call along with her steps when it was time to cross the pedestrian lane and the once condensing crowd made their way to the other side. It was a short walk to cross that lane but the repressed bitterness that reignited in Allesky's emotion left her walking as if on a twisting black hole sucking up her vision to see the atrocious vintage image of her father she has longed to delete in her memory. The span of time there is to cross that lane was an action not only for her to reach that other side of the road but it was more of a certainty that, finally, Allesky had succeeded to fly her way across the blue waters safely landing on her mother's home country, Elcielo, and totally away from the grasp of her father's influence. It was her greatest escape yet and the thought of which made her breathe anew upon stepping on the next stone block on the other side of the road.

The atmosphere of the new environment left little impression on Allesky as she slowly delved into her earlier years recollecting the big difference that had become of the place for it was already more than the fingers of her hands when she last visited the welcoming country.

She continued to press forward spotting a garbage bin by the outside of a certain building where she simply dropped her phone after resetting it and only keeping the memory card of it that she left and headed to ride a taxi to bring her to a mall. There she selected to buy a new phone and spent some more minutes to cool herself off her earlier inner temper.

After she had gone out when it was already time to leave, she passed by a certain ice cream vendor by the next road block who stood before her way and enticed her to afford the cold delicacy. Being in a state of a hurry, she gave no attention to the man who only stepped aside and let her leave.

However, it was also at that time that Allesky could go a little further that a couple of children clothed in their poor, stinking garbs passed her by and halted their pace before the same man and glanced back and forth with the desiring appearance on their faces to get a taste of what's in that ice cream container.

"Hey, mister~ Could we ask for one cone?"

The voice of the older boy, a fit for a seven year old, spoke so softly sounding to be convincing to the vendor and he even stretched out his feeble arm being bruised apparently and as if soaked in the mud that dried as a skin covering for his thin feature.

Next to him, a little girl stood stiffly, being held by his left hand and was far more malnourished as she appears with her current physique. She was short, of a fainter, dark complexion, clothed in that oversized shirt that seemed to have long been unwashed and was tattered invariably. She was also wearing a single slipper made from recycled bottles and straws of which the other pair has gone missing.

Pity for the state of these two children, Allesky could not just take her leave without any notice for them so she halted her pace putting on a plain expression upon adjusting her black eyewear and pulling out a bill of some value from the hidden pockets of her black leather jacket. She walked back to that ice cream stand and placed the bill on the container which caught the attention of the man who even had a second look at her.

"Two orders of these flavors on the large cones and one of this flavor on bread. Requesting to be quick, mister..." Was the direct statement of Allesky.

The man upon hearing her request, granted a slight smile before scooping out the order on two big cones and a bread.

Allesky pretended to have been looking so mindlessly around her when the boy lowered his arm and stepped apart from her dragging carefully his little sister as if instinctively isolating their presence from the young lady herself.

Noticing this action, Allesky got a better sight and keenness of her surroundings where it dawned on her that there was a clear distinction of classes and societal state in this place.

The clear distinction of those who fall on the lowest step of the societal class ladder and those of higher value and state. It was nothing new so as to surprise her because she had been much aware of this instance back in Armonia but she wasn't that prepared to have another kind of encounter of this kind of environment in this country just yet.

"Here as a traveller or an inhabitant, are you, Miss?" It was the kind remark of the man who finishes scooping the ice cream on cones and packing them neatly giving them to Allesky.

Allesky didn't bother a sweat to answer but only took the ice cream cones and turned to give those to the two children who were surely just waiting for their turn.

It was unexpected for her kindness that she received an unconvinced look from the young boy with the younger girl next to him in contrast with a beaming smile.

"Take them before they melt away. You wouldn't enjoy them if that happened..." Says Allesky revealing her eyes by slightly adjusting her black eyewear following it with a sweet smile that formed her cherry blossom lips and a charming wink that left a cute impression on the two kids.

Without any more hesitations, the boy received the treat and also her sister to whom Allesky left a message for them to be good kids onwards.

She took her own delicacy in that bread and left after receiving her change not having another moment to look back and proceeded to the bus stop to have her trip to the seaport where her sail would next be heading to the province.

On that trip by sea, Allesky recollected her encounter with those two children being reminded of her self back in her confinement in her father's dwelling place in Armonia.

It was way back when her father and mother last argued over a matter that wasn't even resolved. She, being the subject and the pure reason for that argument, was left bruised and sulking in a corner of their house with her tattered clothes and tears straining from her swollen eyes.

With this unwanted recollection, Allesky was once again enraged in her bitter agony about his father and the fang by which left its mark in her sole being having taken one important soul that was devoured by his father's wrath.

After an hour and a half more, Allesky sighted the island of her grandfather's province where her next ride was in a van until she finally had to stand in front of the mansion's gate.

It was big and utterly luxurious being enclosed with stone walls, painted with a modern pastel hue of aqua blue and pistachio tints. The gate was as tall as the stone wall fence that secured the vicinity of the mansion and its metal bars were coated in silver with the handles imprinted with solid letters, bold and golden, there were the letters A and O.

From the spaces of the bars of the silver gate, the young lady peeked through to get a glimpse of the mansion that stood there as if a relic of such a history of her earlier years having been of much refinement of its structures than what she could remember.

It's her late grandfather's mansion and none resides at the present except at times that it is being visited by the gardener who had long served the late owner himself so as he could continue to tend to the garden and its verdant plants and flowers. But, at the moment, there was no one to expect nor were there any voices that would have kindled a warm welcome for the young lady so she unlocked the silver gate hearing it to cause a sound of the squeaking iron against its post as she entered it carefully more like a stranger in another's house.

She strolled on the cobbled pathway going round the fountain before she set afoot on the entrance door of the mansion having been in sweet memoirs of the time brought past where she had been coming through in and out with the merriment of her mother holding her little arms along with the delightful company of her grandfather.

Coming back was never in her plans nor did she have it perceived beforehand as she was held as a captive in her father's care days before today. But after she received that handwritten letter a few weeks ago, this momentous reality that she finally stood on this same doorstep of her late grandfather's mansion kept all her worries sealed away.

Allesky found her refuge. Her true and final solace~

As she was still tending to her bittersweet emotions at the moment, there was this unexpected feature of a face that popped up to her line of sight, she being a person of whom she did not even in her dreams foreseen.

The untimely persona, surprised and panicked, mustered up her courage to greet Allesky with her stuttering voice out of her nervousness and opened the door to welcome her in with that plastered, inconsistent smile that more likely displayed her little to none of the professional manner that which her fixed uniform indicated.

"Ma- mademoiselle Allesky! Ah~ I- It's... Oh, I mean, welcome back and please co- come in..."

Fairly not impressed with the unexpected welcome, Allesky hesitated to raise any more interaction with the young maiden who only lowered her head when the young lady entered and went upstairs to fill in the vacancy of a certain room down the hall of the second floor and which was just parallel to the mansion's library room.

With the kind of response the young maiden received, she held in her disappointment reexamining her outfit from the frills of her maid uniform to the unfinished makeup she just put on and the ties of her hair that was half undone.

She was the daughter of the late Master's head maid who took the responsibility of taking her mother's place in order that she might recover from her bed of sickness.

And now, after being faced with the presence of the Great Master's granddaughter, she followed her through to escort Allesky to her designated room of the mansion, one that has been long unoccupied for a reason to be exposed at a later time.

***

Allesky Zerclaire - 18

▶AerixielDaiminse◀

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