Author's POV
Suddenly an arrow flew near Nora almost touching her but she was quick enough to dodge and it only gave a small cut on her cheek. All the others seemed to have gone into shock but recovered quickly. The enemy had started attacking the area they were in. It looked like they were in an open field but they weren't so far from the town market and some of the enemy soldiers seemed to have sneaked in to the town and started attacking with the arrows. Kael and others didn't know what other weapons the enemy possessed so they couldn't plan out a strategy to fight them yet.
"What is going on and where the hell are the palace guards and soldiers?" Irene reacted first, stepping forward and making a protective stance while covering the others. She didn't say it but her eyes screamed "you have to go through me first before getting to them". Nora also recovered from the shock quickly and Kael made a protective gesture towards her. "Everyone....protect Nora at all costs, it seems they know she's a princess and are targeting her specifically" Kael shouted so everyone could hear him. "He is right We will be fine since we have our abilities but Nora doesn't have hers yet so we can't afford to get her hurt" Irene added agreeing to kael. Everyone even the kids made a circle around Nora protecting her from any other upcoming potential attacks and there were few but they were easy to dodge and take care of because of their abilities. Lucien caught one of the arrows and looked them over carefully. He examined them for a while and his eyes widened in realization. "These are poisoned" He shouted so everyone could hear him. Kael and Irene didn't seem that surprised since they were expecting it. It is very common to use poisoned arrows during wars so there was nothing to be surprised about but the concerning thing was Nora got poisoned from one of the arrows earlier and they had to get her treated as soon as possible. "I'm gonna get you all to the bar, take care of her there and I'll take care of these people here" Kael said looking towards them and Irene had a disapproving look on her face but Kael gave a firm glance towards her saying there's no room to argue hence Irene gave up on arguing further on that matter and nodded in defeat. Nora seemed to be losing consciousness slowly so they couldn't delay it any further.
In the next few moments they all were in the bar again. The same place most of them met Nora for the first time and on her second visit she was on verge of dying. Nora was lying on the bar counter at the end of the hall. Eugene being a healer checked her condition which did not seem to be getting any better. "It seems her consciousness is torn between here and the void" Eugene said making everyone have a look of worry on ther faces. "The void?" Irene asked in disbelief. "But we enter the void when we're about to change timelines" Lucien added sounding perplexed. "Does that mean she's about to.... die and shift timelines?" Iris asked in a worried tone. "No Eugene wont let that happen" Lucien added reassuring Iris but truth to be told even he didn't know what was going to happen. Nora was the reason they all came to this timeline and they thought they'd have time to bond with her as companions and she would learn more about them and learn to manage her abilities but nothing goes as expected.
"The poison is not fatal and can be healed easily but the thing is if Nora chooses to stay in the void or move on to a different timeline then the one who will wake up in this body would be actual princess Brigitte not Nora." Eugene explained to everyone and the reactions weren't positive just like he expected. "Can we do anything to bring her back?" Irene asked in a worried tone. "this sounds cliche but maybe talk to her and convince her to come back and if she can listen to you all then she might actually decide to come back" Eugene said in a defeated tone while working on healing her. "I have neutralised the poison but can not guarantee who will be waking up in this body" That was all Eugene said before moving away from her body.
Irene sat next to Nora. Iris and Lucien were surrounding Irene and Nora where as Dylan hadn't said anything so far, he just seemed sad and didn't know how to react or what to do so he just sat a little further away. "Hey so Nora, how are you?" Irene said awkwardly and lucien held back a laugh and said "great question, she's definitely not almost dying" sarcastically. If looks could kill Lucien would be six feet under the ground from the look Irene was giving him. "You got any better idea how to do this?" Irene asked him but he didn't seem to have a response to that. "No but it definitely does not work like that" He added in his defence. "And I'm the teenager here?" Iris added shaking her head. "Let me handle this" Iris took Nora's hand and started talking to her. "Ms. Nora we may have only known each other for a few days... Well more like just a day but I feel like we could all really make a good team and become close friends if you give us a chance" Iris said a little awkwardly not sure if she's saying anything wrong. " We may seem like a bunch of idiots at time but trust me we are much more than that and if you do give us a chance I promise we will not make you regret this" Iris finished saying what she wanted to say and turned around to see the look on Lucien and Irene's faces and they both seemed stunned. "What? Did I say anything wrong?" Iris asked in confusion "that was....." Irene opened her mouth to say something but before she could finish Lucien finished the sentence for her "amazing.... I think we should also try something like that" Lucien added looking at Irene and she nodded in return. Irene began talking again this time but with much more seriousness and pouring her feelings this time. "Well Nora.....You know I understand that you are kind of older than me in experience and age but for some reason I feel protective towards you like an elder sister so if you wouldn't mind giving me a chance then I would love to be your elder sister" Irene finished her part awkwardly not expecting anything and it was kind of embarrassing for her to say stuff like that in front of others. She looked the other way embarrassingly but only Iris seemed to have noticed that. "Well if you're being the elder sister then I would love to be a younger brother to her since I am infact younger than her and would love to have an elder sister like her" Lucien said, his sentence directed towards Irene but before Irene could respond someone interrupted them.
"No I'm the younger brother" It was Dylan. They didn't notice when Dylan came so close to them. He was pouting in embarrassment and seemed extremely adorable after acting all distant and nonchalant towards Nora. he was finally showing that he cared about her too. Irene and Lucien chuckled seeing him and acknowledging how adorable he was. "We can both be the younger brothers you know" Lucien added while ruffling Dylan's hair. "Whatever" Dylan said still a little embarrassed. "What about older brother then?" Eugene asked from distance. He was still there behind the bar counter cleaning things up and observing everything going on "I could be the older one then" He said casually. There wasn't a hint of embarrassment on his face. He said that in complete seriousness and owning up to his statement.
"Wouldn't you be more like a father figure to her?" Lucien said taunting Eugene and pissing him off in the process. "Listen here you-" Eugene started shouting in anger but was cut off by someone. "Can you all stop this circus for one minute?" It was Kael
who interrupted them in a cold voice and they all seemed to have come to a halt after noticing his presence. No one noticed him coming so they all were surpised by his presence but no one was surprised that he was already done dealing with the people who attacked Nora.."We were just trying to communicate with Nora so she can wake up soon" Irene said trying to explain what was going on. "Maybe you can try it too" Lucien added trying to convince him to do the same. Kael didn't say anything to that and simply walked over to where Nora was lying. He didn't say anything but just looked at her for a few seconds and did something that shocked everyone. He started pinching her cheeks hard. "You can wake up now. Evasdropping on other's conversation while they're worried about you isn't nice" He pinched her cheeks harder after finishing the sentence and she got up with a stinging pain while rubbing her cheeks "Hey that wasn't nice" Everyone seemed shocked seeing her awake but their expressions were immediately replaced by relief. "Neither is evasdropping" Kael added and took a seat next to the bar counter. "I wasn't evasdropping, they were talking to me and about me so they wanted me to hear, right guys?" She asked looking towards everyone and suddenly they all seemed embarrassed of the things they said. "Well yeah I guess" Irene added awkwardly. "How are you now?" That question coming from Kael surprised Nora. She didn't think he'd even ask her that.
"Well I was in the void for a while and thought about moving on to the next timeline but then I remembered I still have to learn a lot of things from you guys and if I move on to another timeline, lord knows how long I'll have to wait for you all to come visit me in that timeline so I came back. And as for the body, I think it's fine now" Nora explainend and kael just nodded his head in understanding.
"But there is something I still have to tell you"
"What is it?" Kael asked Indifferently
"I met Brigitte"