CHAPTER 76: REUNION

***

Losing control of the faculties and operations so basic that one tends to shift them to reflex and subconscious thought might make one unsettled, and understandably so.

At least for a brief period.

Noctis felt the same.

He tried flailing and struggling, all in vain for a good few seconds, like someone who didn’t know how to swim trying to fish themselves out of water they had unknowingly fallen into.

But as stated, it lasted all but a couple seconds as a soft pair of hands picked him up with ease and restricted him in a soft hold.

Not because he adapted that quickly.

No, it was the very instinct that decided when one should fight or flee.

His instinct lulled him into feeling like he had entered a haven made known to him since before he could form a coherent thought.

Feeling the warmth coursing through his heart, Noctis gave up thought and focused on enjoying the essence of it, while simultaneously enjoying the divine music entering his ears.

Time stood still as the faceless being sang the white-haired child to sleep in the dreamscape.

***

"Noctis~

"Noctiiiiiiis~ wake uuuup!~

"Noctis!"

A faint voice sounded in his consciousness as Noctis struggled against waking up.

"Stop it, Taraka. I’m trying to sleep here."

The worried face of the small white creature froze as the melodic language flowed seamlessly from the mouth of the sleeping Noctis.

Along with the white floral creature, the other similar creature present at the scene also looked gobsmacked, albeit for a different reason entirely.

"Did he... Did he just call Elder Sister... He... what did he call her again?"

"Ha~ Elder sister has a name?"

"What nonsense. No elder sister of mine is going to be named by a stranger just about whatever he wants~."

"But... but look at Elder Sister. She looks... surprised~."

"She is surprised at the audacity of the weird kid. Look, she is crying now. We should teach this kid a lesson!"

"B-b-but elder sister looks h-happy..."

Many voices at varying pitches and cadences entered his ears as Noctis got more and more annoyed.

Noctis tried to close his ears with his hands in order to enter the dreamscape again, but before he could do so, a force much greater than the one that had sent him to sleep struck once again straight at his heart.

Waking up with a violent coughing fit, Noctis held his chest in pain as he looked around for water, only to find himself in a lush garden with numerous colourful flowers and creatures all around him.

Noctis somewhat came back to his senses as he remembered the recent course of events.

"What... cough... What just happened?"

"You fell asleep in the middle of our conversation—that’s what happened!"

A childish voice sounded as Noctis looked down at the white flower.

"Right... yeah... Uhh... so who are you?"

Noctis nodded lightly as his memories kicked in, asking instinctively the first thing that came to his mind as he realised he could miraculously understand her now.

A frown appeared on the face of the white flower as she crossed her arms and started floating up towards his face.

"You still want to play, huh? Fine. You leave me no choice~"

As she slowly reached eye level with him, a vine suddenly appeared from the ground, featuring numerous white lilies on its stem, and bound him in a light but firm hold.

"Uh.. Is something wrong Miss?"

The frown deepened at her face as she slowly unfurled her arms, and furiously waved them to the side.

Noctis closed his eyes, expecting a furious wind or some humongous root to impact him but felt nothing.

Instead he felt the vine just extending until it reached to his neck and once around his temple.

As Noctis opened his eyes he noticed numerous flowers blooming around his face, like a ceremonial vase of flowers.

"Just what are you—"

Before he could finish his confused blurb, the flowers around his ears suddenly moved in a way that their soft petals faintly grazed his ears.

A chill ran down his whole body.

"Huh?"

Another flower moved, another petal grazed and another chill courses through his entire body.

"S-stop this pl—"

Two flowers at the same time grazed both his ears at the same time and Noctis suddenly felt like he was back in the depths of the high seas.

For the first time in both his lives, Noctis’ eyes made an expression that would have made subject 42 die of shame.

An expression that borderlined begged for pity with a teary puppy eyes.

Taraka saw the pitiful expression and only smirked before continuing the play.

Thus continued the form of torture that even the facility couldn’t have prepared him for.

A creature the size of the a leaf smiled with a evil grin as an elf whimpered and sobbed pitifully on the garden floor.

.

.

.

"Taraka please stop... I’m dying..."

After a few minutes of torture, Noctis finally said between his whimpers as he laid down, face buried in the grassy floor.

"So you remember now huh?"

"Yes I do... please stop this...;( "

Taraka heard the voice on the verge of breaking into tears and finally relented, saying,

"Don’t joke like that again. It’s been years since I last saw you."

Her own voice got lower, eyes tearing up again as she said with a hint of melancholy.

"I don’t do this on purpose, Taraka. I... I’m really sorry. How have you been?"

Noctis sat back up as he was released and looked at the white flower with a complex expression.

As his senses finally settled, some more memories resurfaced in his mind, reminding him of the identity of the creature.

He could also understand the language fairly well to talk too, but apart from these, the memories before being adopted by his foster mother remained blurry.

Meanwhile, as Noctis asked her the simple question, Taraka, who had been on edge since she had first felt the presence of Noctis in the garden, finally let loose of all the emotions she had been bottling up for years at this point.

Forgetting everything around her, Taraka finally broke into a teary fit, crying her heart out on Noctis’ neck.