CHAPTER 65: REUNION

***

After answering the man, Noctis continued walking towards the back of the village. Closer to the forest as the evening went darker and darker.

Thinking back to it, he had a faint impression of the man that had spoken up, coincidentally.

Not anything pleasant but as one of the assailants from his recently uncovered memories.

He himself didn’t show any reaction, it was too far removed from the current him, but from the change in the facial contour of the assailant, it seemed it wasn’t mutual.

If he had seen his face and remembered the incident, it could explain why he didn’t look very joyed from the discovery.

While moving steadily he noticed from the corner of his eyes, the expression of terror slowly spreading from the man that had asked, to the whole group sitting together.

The curiosity that had gradually become caution now featured a malicious distaste.

The assailant spoke to the man in hushed voices as the group kept staring at his back.

Noctis had to take his eyes away from them as their expressions started juxtapositioning in his vision to the people from his memories.

Terrified, hateful, yet cautioned as if looking at a demon from hell.

Shaking his head side to side he forced away the thoughts, thinking he was still being influenced by the emotions of his younger self from his memories.

Soon he had completely left the vision of the gathered men as he approached his isolated home.

His steps slowed down the closer and closer he went, eventually stopping entirely before the door of the small hut.

Truth be known, none of what had happened was of his volition.

In a series of events, he had fallen lower and lower in the stepwell starting from a single haphazard decision borne out of his novel excitement.

But to say the situation would be any different had it not happened... would be a lie.

He has been avoiding her since he could remember waking up in this world, either consciously or unconsciously; by virtue of chance or choosing.

The step required that he faced this reality.

Noctis took deep breaths as he gathered up his resolve.

He had gone over this. He knew not how to eliminate this problem in the future, unfortunate and frustrating as it was, but knew that the right way forward could not make do without the next step.

Convincing his reason where his heart trepidated, Noctis took his arms and knocked on the door.

A moment passed in silence. He knocked again.

Another still moment passed. As he was about to knock again, he heard a faint voice,

"Who?"

The voice made his mouth dry and back sweaty.

It came cracked, hollowed, feeble; as if a creature disturbed in its eternal silence, coming from the depths of a frozen cave.

Noctis forced a gulp of saliva down his throat, moisturizing its dried landscape to force some syllable out of himself.

"M-mother."

.

.

.

Just as he had started to think his voice hadn’t reached her, sounds of rummaging through sheets and thick blankets and hurried footsteps tapping on the cold floor came to his ears.

Soon, with a loud bang the door of the hut swung open as a woman with a head full of white hair and reddish eyes came into view.

The moment the old woman saw the youthful face staring at her, her eyes started glistening, pouring giant tears one after another as she stood there, unblinking.

Noctis meanwhile felt his breathing quickening as he noticed the old woman’s condition.

In the time span he hadn’t seen her, it seemed like she had aged another decade or so.

Her hair mixed with grey and black was wholly grey now, looking as lifeless as her eyes a moment before. Her eyes had black patches around it making it look hollow with the slightly sunken cheeks.

One look at her sickly body told him just how terribly worried she must have been during all this time.

Seeing the tears pouring continuously, his own eyes started glistening as faint moonlight started filtering out the tree in their yard.

Noctis opened his mouth to say something, but he soon found himself tightly bound in a warm embrace, his face covered between the arms of the old woman.

"You are fine. Thank the heavens, you’re fine."

"Please forgive me, mother."

Elle shook her head slightly while still embracing Noctis in a tight hold.

"I forgive you dear. You’re fine. That is all that matters."

Forgiven so easily; the only thing that had occupied him till now left him again at a loss, berating himself all the more at his incompetent self.

Even after minutes, her embrace continued as she sobbed her heart out on his shoulders.

The cold air blew past their bodies.

Noctis was warm owing to his cloak and the embrace covering his small body, but he knew Elle couldn’t afford to be like this, as such he said,

"Mother, it’s cold. Let’s go in."

It worked well as she immediately stopped and hurriedly pulled both of them inside, although as consequence he was covered in three layers of shawls from head to toe like a cocoon.

Finally Elle took a moment to assess his whole body after getting her overflowing emotion in check.

Her observation mirrored Noctis’ in a peculiar way.

He grew faster than his supposed time gone; looking much taller and sharper in just a few months of absence.

Although his face still resembled a kid at best in early teens, he looked much older than his supposed age.

His hairs had grown past his shoulders as they turned more pristine white.

Coupled with his deep ocean eyes and healthy pink and slightly silver complexion, her worries for him were laid to rest as she cupped his face in her hands.

"You look beautiful dear."

A teardrop from Noctis’ eyes finally fell onto the floor, trailing down his face.

He closed his eyes as he looked down, ashamed.

"I’ve been selfish, mother."

"Don’t be silly dear. This all started because I failed as a mother. You have every right to be selfish."

Tears soon came back to her eyes as she started moving around the place in order to prepare for him to eat.

Noctis understood that no matter how he phrased it, her mother wouldn’t allow him any blame.

Which only made it harder and harder for him to get any closure through dialogue.

Shaking his head in a last lament, Noctis allowed himself some care and take the process step by step.