Chương 124: Chapter 119 – The Ivy Reunion

Chelsea"No really Maggie. Thank you so much for the dress. I love love love it. I can tell your heart and soul went into it." Chelsea held the dress carefully while Maggie stood in front of her with tears gathering in her eyes. The fabric felt too fine for the sort of morning Chelsea had been having. Maggie had made something beautiful anyway.

"Are you sure you won't stay in Junstruce one more day?" Maggie said with a quivering lip.

"We would love to have both you and Lady Freya at our tea social."

"Next time we're in town. I promise," Chelsea said. She looked between Maggie and her mother.

"Alright, we're off!" Chelsea said, releasing her wings. The two took to the skies. Freya used some ability that formed stationary ethereal wings behind her, hovering about eight inches away from her back. They didn't flap the way Chelsea's did. Their plan was to follow the route Ivy was most likely to take. Chelsea had confirmed with the Merchant Guild that there were no known teleportation points along the way.

On foot, the trip to Leaf Village was supposed to take roughly two months, and Adriane had confirmed Ivy had about a three week head start. From the maps Chelsea could find, she estimated the entire journey was somewhere near two thousand miles. She would be more than happy to fly Ivy the rest of the way, though she had to admit she wasn't looking forward to seeing her as much as she wanted to. She still didn't know what she'd say. The first day was more fun than she expected.

It was only the two of them flying mile after mile, but Freya made a game out of it almost immediately. She kept drifting too close and bumping the membrane of Chelsea's wings just enough to spill the air from them. Chelsea would drop twenty or thirty feet before catching herself, usually while shouting something rude enough to make Freya laugh. Chelsea retaliated by stealing one of Freya's shoes and dropping it. She was pretty sure Freya didn't actually have to retrieve it, but the goddess played along every time.

She would sigh with great offense, dive after the shoe, return it to her foot. The first night, they found a small village that was wary of them at first. That was fair. A giant woman and a white demon arriving after sunset would have made most people cautious. When Chelsea offered four gold for a night's stay at the local inn, the caution became hospitality with admirable speed. Freya remained respectful of Chelsea's space, and they kept the evening quiet.

They ate, rested, and took a room with enough space that Chelsea didn't feel trapped. She still kept her armor on. She still woke twice with her hand gripping her shield. Freya noticed both times and said nothing. By the second day, the sameness of the journey started getting to Chelsea. Below them was just road, trees and open fields. The plan was for Freya to watch for Ivy within her area of influence, though this early in the journey Chelsea doubted they would find her. Chelsea did find something else.

A giant wood bear moved through a stretch of forest below them, its bark-covered body shifting between the trees. Chelsea circled once, then slowed. She wanted to try something. One of her flight titles had been bothering her. The conditions were close enough that she couldn't stop thinking about it once the idea appeared. She pulled her spear from her pouch and rose until she was around one hundred feet above the creature. Freya hovered nearby, watching with interest. Chelsea let the air spill from her wings.

She dropped with the spear aimed for the creature's head. The impact cracked through the clearing, and her spear punched deep into the wood bear's skull. The creature collapsed beneath her, instantly, dead. Title upgraded: The Bird of Prey (major). Chelsea quickly looked it over. The title now gave six skill levels to Flight instead of three. Totally worth it. That was all the faster she could fly now. She stowed her spear, launched herself back into the air, and the two took off again. They didn't take breaks.

Chelsea could eat on the go, which was convenient for travel and unfortunate for Freya. Even the goddess wasn't a fan of watching her eat, and Chelsea found that hilarious enough to make a show of it until Freya threatened to turn her upside down in the sky. An hour after dusk, they approached a town larger than the previous village. They had passed settlements every few hours, but this one had proper walls, a gate, and enough lanterns to make the roads glow faintly from above.

"Chels!" Freya called through the wind. Chelsea slowed and looked over.

"Ivy is in that town ahead," Freya explained. Chelsea's heart dropped. All at once, the fun of the last two days vanished beneath a wave of nerves. She looked toward the town, then toward the road leading into it, and suddenly the distance seemed much too short. She headed for the ground. Upon landing, she sat down on a rock and rubbed her face with both hands.

"C'mon Chelsea," she mumbled.

"You can do this." Freya landed beside her and squatted down.

"We don't have to do anything this evening," Freya said quietly.

"She still has a solid two thirds left on her trip."

"Thanks," Chelsea said.

"But I have to do this. I don't procrastinate. It isn't going to make it any easier." She took a deep breath, slapped both of her knees, and stood.

"Let's go." She felt as though she might be sick. They took to the air again and headed for the town. The two stopped at the gate, where Chelsea flashed her merchant card as identification and paid the tax for both of them to enter. The guard gave them directions to the best inn in town, and Chelsea thanked him politely.

"Let's get a room first," Chelsea said. They followed the main road toward the inn. The town was quiet but not asleep, with lamplight glowing from windows and the smell of cooked onions drifting from somewhere nearby. When they could see the inn, Freya spoke up.

"Uh. Ivy is inside. We should probably not head…"

"No," Chelsea interrupted.

"Let's rip off the bandaid." She started across the square toward the cute little inn before she could lose her nerve. The door opened with a warm spill of light, sound, and food smells. The innkeeper gasped at the sight of Chelsea in the doorway, though Chelsea barely noticed. Her eyes moved across the dining area at once, searching table by table, face by face. No elf. Chelsea's pulse thudded hard in her throat.

"Where is she?"

"She's in a room upstairs bu…"

"Can I help you Miss?" the innkeeper interrupted. Chelsea didn't look at her for long. Her hand had already gone to her pouch, and a moment later she pulled out a handful of gold coins and placed them on the counter. The innkeeper stared at the payment, startled enough that whatever warning or question she'd been preparing seemed to leave her entirely.

"Meeting a friend." Chelsea headed for the stairs without paying the woman any more attention. The dining room quieted behind her. She could feel the eyes on her back, but none of that mattered anymore. The wood beneath her boots creaked with each step, and the sounds from upstairs grew clearer as she climbed. A floorboard. A muffled voice. A small burst of laughter from somewhere down the hall. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Chelsea looked back at Freya.

Freya wore a worried expression, but she lifted one hand and pointed toward a specific door. Chelsea turned toward it. Every step felt too loud. Her thoughts had gone strangely calm. She'd spent the last two days imagining what she'd say when she found Ivy. She'd pictured anger followed by crying. Chelsea wasn't above begging. She knocked politely. There it was on the other side. The voice she'd missed so terribly for months.

"One moment, I'll be right there." A couple of giggles followed. Chelsea looked back at Freya with a confused look on her face. The latch clicked and the door opened. Ivy stood there, holding a blanket around herself, hair loose and face still soft with whatever moment Chelsea had interrupted. Behind her, in the bed, sat a woman Chelsea didn't recognize. The woman was half-hidden beneath other covers, bare shoulders visible as she pulled the blanket higher.

"Chelsea!?" Ivy exclaimed. The name was slightly slurred and the blush in Ivy's ears gave away her telltale sign that she was at least slightly drunk. For one heartbeat, joy crossed Ivy's face. It vanished almost instantly. Rage replaced it.

"Why are you here!?" Chelsea looked at her. The anger coming from her should've hurt. Maybe it did. Maybe everything was simply too much at once, and her mind had shut down.

"I uh… I came to find you." Her voice came out flat. Then, in the same dead and emotionless tone, she explained what she'd come to say.

"I didn't kill your brother. Bea did. Your brother and his crew set a trap to torture and murder me in front of you. Bea got wind of it and killed them first. I thought you should know. I'm glad you've moved on. You deserve happiness." Chelsea turned around and nodded to Freya. Freya sighted and nodded back. They started down the stairs. Chelsea didn't look back. They made it to the bottom of the stairs. Chelsea crossed to the counter and curtsied to the innkeeper.

"My apologies for any disturbance we've caused. Have a wonderful evening." The innkeeper didn't seem to know what to do with that. She and Freya exited the inn and stopped outside in the cool evening air. The town square had gone quieter than it had been when they entered, and lanternlight flickered against the street stones. Chelsea stood there with her hands at her sides and stared at nothing.

"How are you doing?" Freya asked.

"Weirdly, better than I probably should," she explained.

"You were trying to warn me weren't you?"

"Yeah," Freya sighed.

"Sorry."

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"I needed to see that."

"It's not over," Freya quickly added. The inn door opened behind them.

"Chels." Ivy's voice hit her back harder than Chelsea expected. She turned around. Ivy had dressed quickly and poorly, with her clothes not quite settled and her hair still loose around her shoulders. She was crying now. Chelsea desperately wanted to approach her, tell her it was fine, and smooth the hurt away because that was what some desperate part of her still wanted to do. But it wasn't fine. Ivy had thought the worst of her.

Ivy had removed her from the account, left the manor, believed Chelsea had killed her brother, and then moved on. Chelsea stared back at her.

"I…" Ivy held up her hands in defeat at not knowing what to say.

"I didn't know."

"I have been curious," Chelsea replied somewhat coldly.

"When was it exactly that you thought I had time to hunt down, torture, dismember, kill, and butcher seven people? Was it between the orphanage construction projects and teaching anyone who wanted to learn to read? You really thought the worst of me and decided to write me out of your life."

"Chels," Ivy said, sobbing.

"No. No! Don't call me that. Only friends and family get to call me that. I hope she brings you joy. Goodbye Ivy." Chelsea released her wings. One hard flap launched her upward, and another carried her over the square. She didn't look back. She couldn't. The town dropped away beneath her, the inn shrinking behind her with every beat of her wings. She flew as fast as she could to get away from the woman she'd once loved more than life itself. Ivy It didn't make sense. None of it made sense. Why did she come back?

Why now? Why on this night of all nights? Ivy sat down on the step of the inn, leaned against the railing post, and sobbed. The square was quiet around her, but not quiet enough. Behind the room upstairs still existed complete with the stranger she'd pulled close because grief and anger had hollowed her out. Chelsea was gone. The massive woman who'd come with her walked over and sat down beside Ivy on the step. Ivy didn't look at her. The last thing she wanted was to talk to this random woman.

She didn't know who she was. She didn't remember her from when all of the Valkyr had been in the manor, and there weren't many people in the world Ivy could miss by accident. The woman was too large.

"I'm going to tell you what Chelsea has been up to. The parts that probably didn't make it into her letters. For the last five months I've watched Chelsea complete the strangest ritual. I'm sure they explained what the servicer golems are?" Ivy remembered. Her throat hurt too much to answer, so she nodded.

"Chelsea only ever used hers for one purpose. Every morning she would strip off whatever clothes she put on it the previous day then put on the dirty robes Adriane would send that smelled like you. She would have it hug her." Ivy squeezed her eyes shut. Why was she telling her this? She didn't want to picture Chelsea alone in Valhalla with a lifeless golem wearing her old clothes because that was the closest thing she had.

"She would have it hug her at every opportunity. She never used it once for its intended purpose. She would talk about you nonstop. Ivy this. Ivy that. It was driving Passion crazy." The name landed between them. Passion. Ivy wiped at her face with the heel of her hand, but the tears kept coming.

"Why is she here?" Ivy was finally able to say through sobs.

"And not Valhalla?"

"Chelsea has had a rough week," the woman said.

"What the fuck does that mean? Who even are you?" Ivy yelled through a cry.

"I'm Freya. And let me explain exactly why we're not in Valhalla. A week ago Chelsea was made to go into battle where her bloodlust kicked in. It messed her up really bad. She massacred over six thousand people." Ivy looked at Freya in horror. Chelsea had been hurting and trapped in some battlefield with that hunger in her head, and Ivy hadn't been there. She'd been walking away from Junstruce. Ivy had created this elaborate story in her head.

Chelsea had her brother and his friends killed, then to wash her hands of it, sent money to her father. When in reality, in retrospect, she just sent money to her father because she's Chelsea. Freya let out a laugh, though it sounded anything but humorous.

"The next day she went to one of those kingdoms and bought all of their orphanages and set them up for remodel. Then filled their bank accounts with more gold than they'd see in ten years." That sounded like Chelsea. That sounded so much like Chelsea that Ivy folded in on itself. She hadn't changed. Chelsea had killed people and then tried to pay the world back by saving children she'd never meet.

She'd made something awful happen and then thrown everything she had at the closest good thing she could reach because that was how Chelsea moved through the world. Not with hand free of bloodshed but always trying to do better. Freya let out a deep sigh.

"That night, Passion got drunk while the two were celebrating Passion passing a merchant's exam. She nearly assaulted Chelsea… sexually."

"What!?" Ivy yelled with eyes as big as saucers. The words didn't make sense at first. Passion. The Valkyr. The one Chelsea had written about. The one who was supposed to be her pair, her companion, someone who stayed near her because that was how Valhalla worked. Nearly assaulted… Chelsea. Ivy's hands curled against her knees. Freya continued, and her voice stayed controlled in a way that made it worse.

"I brought her to the manor in hopes that being in her own home would help her. She found out a few days later that she was suspected of those murders and was banned from the adventurer's guild. She solved the case in minutes and decided to fly to you to inform you of the misunderstanding." Ivy stared down at the steps. Her Chelsea had been going through all of this, and Ivy had been out here making herself feel better by getting touched by some woman whose name she barely knew.

She had thought she was angry and grieving.

"I have to ask," Freya said.

"Did you really think she killed them?" Ivy nodded. She hated herself for it, but she nodded.

"I did. Chelsea hated my brother and his crew for the things they did to me before she met me. If there was one person in this world with a reason to kill them. It was Chelsea. It's more surprising, finding out she didn't."

"And you were actually mad at her about it? If she had done it, I mean."

"I asked her not to hurt him. To me it looked like she went behind my back and took petty revenge."

"That and whatever was going on up there in the inn… was worth walking away from Chelsea?" It wasn't. It wasn't worth it. Ivy had been throwing a fit. She'd was feeling hurt, so she'd wanted Chelsea to hurt too. Ivy wanted desperately to do something that proved she could move on, that she wasn't sitting alone in a room reading letters from someone who might have lied to her.

She knew Chelsea would be gone for three years, so she'd told herself she'd travel home, relay the news, stay for a year, and then return to Junstruce when she was ready. The girl? She was just some random girl she'd met in town. The first person she'd let touch her in five months. Ivy looked at Freya and shook her head.

"No." Her voice failed her. She cleared her throat and added.

"It wasn't worth it." Freya stared at her. She stared hard enough that Ivy had to look away.

"Everyday," Freya sighed.

"She talked about how amazing you are. Every single day. And I just… I don't see it." Freya reached into a satchel at her hip and pulled out a card. She held it out for Ivy to take.

"I know Chelsea will end up regretting the words she said to you tonight. This will get you to Valhalla. No promises though on how she will react." Ivy stared at the card. It looked far too small for what it was. A piece of access to the place Chelsea had been taken. A way forward. Just a chance to stand where Chelsea had stood and maybe say the things she should've said before everything got this bad. Ivy took it. Freya stood.

She simply looked down at Ivy for one more moment, then wordlessly took flight and vanished into the night after the girl Ivy had hurt. Ivy remained on the inn step with the card in her hand. Three weeks. Before tonight, she'd still had anger. She'd still had the story she'd built around herself, the one where Chelsea had betrayed her and Ivy was allowed to do whatever she needed to survive it. Now that story was gone, and the quiet it left behind was unbearable. She had nothing now. No.

She had her father and Leaf Village. There was also the knowledge that Chelsea had loved her every single day Ivy had spent doubting her. Ivy Leaf. The girl who'd had the world in her hands and dropped it off a cliff. Chelsea"You talked to her?" Chelsea asked, standing at the edge of a pond.

"I did," Freya replied. The pond was quiet except for the small movements of water against the stones. Chelsea kept her arms wrapped around herself.

"I feel bad. She lost her brother. He was a scumbag but he was still her brother." Freya remained quiet.

"I mean, who was that girl? Seems like she moved on to me." Chelsea kicked a rock into the water. It skipped once, then sank.

"Guess I'm supposed to too." She grabbed onto her horns in frustration and stared down at the pond as if it had personally failed to provide answers.

"I just didn't expect it to go like this." The admission came out smaller than she wanted. She'd imagined a lot of versions of finding Ivy. Angry versions. Tearful versions. She hadn't imagined the door opening that way. She hadn't imagined Ivy's face shifting from joy to rage while someone else sat in the bed behind her. That image had been burned into Chelsea's mind. She turned to Freya.

"Sorry, being pretty shitty company right now."

"No, you're entitled to your feelings." Chelsea let out a breath through her nose and looked away. Part of her wanted to fly back to the inn, apologize for everything, and ask if they could start the conversation again before the door opened. Another part wanted to never see her again.

"But who was the girl? Is that what she wanted the whole time? Someone who looked nothing like me?" Her hands dropped to her sides.

"Nevermind. So where do we stay tonight? I'm fine sleeping right here. Unless you want to head back and find a different inn. Oh, if we find a wider open area we could sleep on Bradford." Freya looked across the pond, then back toward Chelsea.

"Let's get you back to your bed. I'm still a god," she laughed. Chelsea blinked.

"Oh. Oh yeah." Chelsea rubbed at her face with both hands.

"Right. Spooky god magic."