Ghost Roots

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr, on the other hand, was quietly embracing his love and sobbing. Once he had started crying, the tears flowed like rain. He thought that he would hold her long past her soul left her body.

"We were supposed to be a family..." he said, lost and empty and cursing cruel Fate.

He didn't notice the glow...

[DragonSong]

Asta continued to plead uselessly, her tears mixing with Zephyr's as they fell on Abigail's cheek. For a long moment, she didn't notice the glow either.

Then it spread, moving from Abigail's core to gradually encase her whole body; a soft, pale green shimmer that suddenly made Asta think--despite everything--of spring shoots, new birth.

"Dad..." she whispered, eyes widening as she sat back. "Dad, look..."

The glow had begun to encompass Zephyr where he held Abigail to his body, creeping over his hands, his chest, spreading out. Then it pulsed, flashed brightly, and Asta threw up a hand to shield her eyes instinctively.

And then:

"...Darlings..."

Asta dropped her hand and gaped.

Abigail stood above them--not the Abigail she had known in life, the empty shell that her father still held, but a younger version, maybe about the same age Asta was herself. The age she would have been when Asta was born, when she first knew Zephyr. She was shimmering at the edges, the faintest tendrils of that green glow connecting her half-translucent form to the halo that now encompassed her body and Zephyr.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr was equally stunned by the sight, looking up at her with perplexed wonder. He followed the connecting tendrils with his eyes and could swear that he--that he could feel her.

"What...? What is this? I--how? This is my essence... Why do you... " He couldn't even bring a complete thought together.

[DragonSong]

Abigail--or rather, this strange after-image of Abigail--smiled and lifted her hand, turning it back and forth in front of her face.

"I had a theory," she murmured, "but it faded after... When I was pregnant, I felt...different. Stronger. More powerful. When I learned what you were, I thought...it was possible that my body had absorbed some of your power while I carried Asta. But after she was born, it...faded."

She laughed quietly and dropped her hand. "It seems I must return to you, my love."

Asta blinked. "Re--return?" she repeated, utterly lost. "What--how--?"

Abigail turned her eyes to her daughter, and her smile softened. "Oh, my dearest girl." She reached out to cup her cheek, and the touch felt half-real, like wind given shape. Asta leaned into it anyway, whimpering quietly.

"I don't know," her mother whispered. She looked to Zephyr, grief and love at war in her bright green eyes. "I don't know...I think--I think part of me has bled into whatever power of yours I absorbed. But I don't know..."

She closed her eyes and shuddered. Her form flickered, becoming briefly more transparent. Asta reached for her instinctively.

"I--I don't think I have...much time," Abigail breathed.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr found himself reaching for his love's ghostly hand. "Only part?" he asked, both hopeful to never truly lose her and fearful for what that meant for the peaceful afterlife she deserved.

He no longer cared how this was happening.

[DragonSong]

Abigail smiled and shook her head at him--she truly didn't know.

"Enough," she said after a moment. "I feel like...me. The most distilled version of me, perhaps. But I think..."

She shuddered again, and when her form flickered, it took longer to come back into focus. "I'm so sorry, my loves," she whispered, cupping Zephyr's cheek in one hand and Asta's in the other. "I don't think I can...hold this form for long...I..."

She closed her eyes as though concentrating, then breathed, "I am with you. I am always with you..."

She faded, her form dissipating into the greenish glow that had surrounded her body. Except...

Except her body was no longer there. For just a moment, where Zephyr had been cradling her form, there was an outline of green light. Then it was shrinking, faster and faster, until it solidified into a stone of bright green jade, about half the size of a human palm.

The stone seemed to tremble, then it leaped, fastening itself to Zephyr's chest, right in the center of his breastbone, as whatever scrap of power Abigail had absorbed, whatever piece of his essence his love for her had instilled and allowed her to carry their child, locked itself back into place in his physical form.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr closed his eyes and floated up as the jewel manifested. His arms jerked back as if he were caught in a great wind. The jewel leaped into him, and he crossed his arms in an empty embrace before floating back down onto his feet.

He smiled lovingly as he opened his eyes, and, for just a moment, Asta could see both of her parents in his eyes. "Oh, my love... I had no idea just how much love one could feel... "

[DragonSong]

Asta was left kneeling in place, staring wide-eyed at the...transformation? Joining?

She didn't know what to call it, but...it was beautiful.

Then, cautiously, she murmured, "D-Dad...?"

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr blinked himself back to the present, his expression growing bittersweet. "Yes, Asta, I'm here. She is too, in a way," he said, running a finger over the jewel on his chest, which he had yet to cover.

[DragonSong]

Asta just stared up at him for a moment longer--then her face crumpled and her breath caught jaggedly in her chest as the shock, relief, and grief of what had just happened caught up with her all at once.

She curled in on herself, sobbing. Her mother was gone--except she wasn't, not really. Not entirely. But...she didn't know what this meant. She didn't know what to think, how to feel.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr rushed to hold her. "Shh. Shh." He rubbed her back gently. "I don't understand this either. But I can feel how much she still loves you... loves us. And she may be weak, but she will gain strength as--" He paused as the full truth hit him. "As part of me."

[DragonSong]

Asta cried harder when he held her, clinging to him and hiding her face against his shoulder.

"Sh-she..." She gulped breathlessly, then wailed, "She pushed me...out of the way..."

She whimpered quietly, trying to pull away from him abruptly. "It w-was my f-f-fault!"

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr held on, tilting her chin up towards him so she could look at him.

"No. If it was anyone's but her family's and that man's, it was mine. If I ha--" He trembled with guilt and anger. "If I had killed him when I had the chance, then she'd still be alive."

[DragonSong]

"She asked you not to," Asta choked out. "She—she said she...didn't want you to do it out of anger. If he died, it needed to be justice."

She glanced at the body of the mage hunter, then quickly away again, gulping air as she struggled to control her sobs.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr was filled with sorrow, not knowing how to comfort her.

If you can hear me, please, he asked the part of Abigail within him, What can I say?

[DragonSong]

The faintest whisper answered: Just hold her. Tell her she isn't alone. That's all you can do...

Asta had devolved to hiccuping little breaths, tears drawing tracks down her cheeks in the dust that had been stirred up from the conflict.

[MadEmperor]

He held her close, drying her tears with his soft shirt. "You aren't alone. I'm with you."

[DragonSong]

It took a little while longer for Asta's weeping to subside enough that she seemed once more properly coherent. She had curled into Zephyr's side, staring vacantly at the glade around them.

"We..." She swallowed thickly. "We should...go. I don't—I can't stay in this place..."

[MadEmperor]

He nodded slowly, helping her to her feet. "I agree. The sooner we leave, the better."

The spirit adjusted his clothing to cover the gem on his chest and walked away with her. Once back on the main road, they proceeded towards Serendipity.


That night, they found a secluded spot hidden from view by large rocks. As long as they didn't start a fire, they shouldn't be bothered. Zephyr became a tiger for Asta to cuddle up against.

"Rest. We should cross the border in the morning."

[DragonSong]

Asta had taken the form of a doe somewhere along the breadth of their trek, and she kept the shape as she settled in next to Zephyr in their makeshift "camp".

...I miss her already, she admitted in quiet beastspeech.