We Lack iLacs

Emma was in such a hurry to get away from the international affairs office in Hargeon that she hadn’t even noticed that someone other than Amari had been following her. She had one task left to do before she went off to join the guild her father had told her about, and right now she was going to focus on that rather than the childhood friend she had left behind. The raven haired mage couldn’t even imagine trying to talk to him after all these years, it was just so nerve wracking.

As such she had purchased a first class train ticket and was now on her way to the neutral grounds where she was supposed to pick up some free technology that her father claimed would help her communicate with him while she wasn’t at the estate. She had only been to the neutral grounds a couple times previously and it was not a nice place to say the least.

The moment you stepped into it all magic became useless, including Amari a being of pure ethereal magic. It was somewhat scary knowing she wouldn’t be able to rely on her one and only friend to fight alongside her should something happen, but it’s not like she was going there to seek that sort of thing. She just needed to pick up the iLac her father spoke of.

With a small sigh, Emma would grimace as the train pulled up to the station she required, stepping onto the platform and looking around to get her bearings. It was so quiet in her mind without Amari’s constant commenting on her choices, but she quickly spotted what looked to be a sign for what she was here for. The quicker she got it, the quicker she could get out of this place and be reunited with her bond partner.

Hearing her name called out by the familiar voice from earlier Emma would freeze, knowing full well what was about to happen. She still had no clue as to how to react or what she should say as she felt the nerves that had dwindled down return as butterflies fluttered in her stomach. It seemed he wanted to talk, perhaps she would learn why he had stopped playing with her all those years ago. He had complimented her appearance maybe he had found her ugly when she was younger? Could it be that he had grown into a very superficial man? He had never seemed that way when they had played, he was one of the few that Amari had even introduced themselves to, and helped him to understand why she often seemed to speak to herself. Not once had he seemed to judge her for it before that either.

Despite stopping in her tracks she couldn’t bring herself to turn to face him instead she simply stood still, one of her hands unconsciously moving up to fiddle with the accessory that hung from the choker around her neck. It made her all the more nervous knowing she couldn’t ask Amari for help in the situation, she would have to go this one completely alone.

“W..W...William…?” Emma stuttered in a half question, half statement manner, her emerald eyes darting to the ground so she wouldn’t have to look at his face when he caught up to her. Despite wanting nothing more than to run and hide from him, her feet felt as if they were riveted to the spot as she waited for him to speak.

Emma frowned slightly, her eyebrows creasing just a bit as she thought about what he told her. William’s words were kind but confusing to the young maiden.

“After what happened? My parents just said you didn’t want to play with me anymore.” She stated bluntly a tiny bit of anger in her voice, glancing momentarily at his face before quickly looking back down at the ground. After all he had just vanished on her without explanation and now he was claiming it was because of something to do with his parents? She had always just assumed she had done something that made him not want to talk to her anymore.

“And I ran away because I didn’t think you’d want to talk to me after figuring out who I was back there.” She continued, taking a deep breath to calm herself a bit as she continued to stare down at her feet nervously, finding it difficult not to choke up as she spoke. Once more she found herself wishing Amari was around so she could talk to them about this and help clear her head that was swimming with various thoughts about what his reasons for disappearing on her would be.

Feeling the boy place his hands on her shoulders Emma would instinctively look into his azure eyes and she couldn’t help but think that they were sort of pretty. Then she had always thought that even when she was younger. Hearing what happened between her parents the raven haired mage was shocked, she had never heard anything about this, just that they had gone away and wouldn’t be coming to visit again. Then again, she had never really asked about it more than once, so perhaps she was a little at fault as well. Her thoughts about this were cut short though as he again complimented her causing her to face to mimic his as her cheeks flushed a shade of pale crimson, her emerald eyes quickly averting from his gaze.

“Idiot.” She mumbled quietly, not really sure how to respond to him as all the new information she now possessed crossed her mind. After a few minutes of silence she would finally speak back up again, “So you don’t hate me?” Emma asked, looking back at his face wanting to see the truth, he had never been one for being able to lie well, at least not towards her, and something told her that that was one part of him that hadn’t really changed over the past 5 years, or at least she hoped so.

He already looked so different, now practically towering over her, she had always been the taller one as children, it was strange to have to look up to him now. His features were also quite a lot more distinct, it was no wonder she hadn’t recognised him straight away, he had grown so much. Still, he did seem to have the same sweet and kind personality he had had back then, so that led her to believe they could perhaps be friends again, but she also was afraid of getting her hopes up on the matter.

Emma’s ocean coloured eyes would glisten as William spoke about being friends again, her heart racing as she realised there was a chance to actually be friends again. However, her life was practically already planned out for her and she wasn’t sure if he would be able to just drop everything and join her, things weren’t quite that simple. Still, perhaps there was a small chance and even if they couldn’t be around each other as much as they used to they could still communicate and chat, especially if they both got a device that she was supposed to be picking up.

“Oh!” Emma blurted as she realised she had gotten caught up in the moment, “I’m supposed to be picking up an iLac, did you want to come with me and then we can exchange codes and that way we can keep in touch? A-as friends of course!” She would add, making it obvious she did indeed wish to be friends again as well. She really Hoped he would say yes, there was still a part of her that was worried this whole thing was a massive joke and he was about to laugh and walk away never to talk to her again. A fear that she knew would never really leave her no matter how much time they spent together now.

Afraid her father would find out she had wasted time and would be late to the ship she was supposed to catch to the island of her future home, Emma would point to the store she needed to go into.

“They’re just over there, but then I’m afraid I have to head off, my father wants me to join a magic guild to help build some connections and I don’t want to arrive there later than I should.” She explained, once she was certain William was going to follow she would quickly head inside the store and look around for someone to serve them.

Emma was glad to hear that William was going to get an iLac as well, that would definitely make things simpler, however, his next words caught her off-guard. He too would be joining Dies Irae? Well that was certainly a coincidence she hadn’t seen coming.

“Oh, it seems we have the same destination then. Perhaps we can go there together?” Emma responded with a small smile to his pearly one, completely unaware that his wink had any meaning behind it. While she didn’t seem more than a little cheerful on the outside, inside she was screaming in joy at the fact she would already know someone at the guild before even joining, it would definitely make the transition a little easier. Plus they could travel there together, a part of the journey she wasn’t looking forward to was having to cross the ocean to get the island the guild resided on.

The raven haired mage would quickly move to the counter of the store where she was greeted by a young man probably a few years older than herself and William.

“Good Afternoon, what can I do for you today, pretty miss?” he would ask with a genuine smile.

“My friend and I are each here to pick up one of those new iLacs that you’re giving away.” Emma stated bluntly, straight to the point, ignoring the fact he had called her pretty. That was just how salesmen spoke right? There was no meaning behind such a thing. Glancing down at his name tag she would see his name was Harrison.

“Ah of course! The more testers of our product the better.” He chuckled, quickly glancing in William’s direction before pulling out a couple of cellular phone looking devices from under the counter. “Now to communicate with others you will have to swap Lacrima Identification Codes first, would you like me to show you how? I can link you and your…” He would glance over at William, “Friend up straight away.” He finished asking, putting emphasis on the fact that she had called Will her friend and nothing more. Regardless of Emma’s response he already began preparing to set it up as very few people ever said no.

“That would be splendid.” Emma replied, watching carefully how he did it as he put in the number codes for each iLac into the other.

“Is that everything today, Miss? If you want I can give you my ID code too.” Harrison asked, glancing momentarily at the other young male to judge his reaction before adding, “Just in case you have any problems with it and need help of course.”

“Ah thank you, that would be rather helpful.” Emma would answer, not paying any attention to William at all as she waited for the salesman to add his information into her device as well. Once he was done, Emma would thank him for his service and prepare to leave the store, waiting for William to take his iLac as well.