"Celeste! You're awake!" We heard the voice of Mary at the distance, as we ran towards the tent where she was sleeping at.
There, we found the blue haired girl bandaged with leaves in the bed, she was completely paralyzed, resembling some sort of statue, but her eyes were wide open, looking around.
"Ah! W-Where am I?" She asked in surprise, looking around. "Didn't I die?"
"You didn't!" Mary cried, hugging her.
Lucia was there too, using her snake tail to caress Celeste's head.
"M-Mary… Lucia…" Celeste sighed.
"She's really awake!"
An army of children led by Mist ran towards Celeste and then jumped all over her body, making her wither in pain. It seems she was healed now but her body was completely filled with pain, probably overly sensitive because she might still be healing some internal injuries.
"Ouch! Aghh! P-Please stop jumping over me, children!" Celeste cried, but she was tortured by their love. Hugs, kisses, everything fell over her until she gave up. She was completely unable to fight against the love of her little siblings.
"They were all missing you so much…" Mary said, as Lucia nodded.
"Sigh… I've really done so many awful things, the last thing I wanted is looking at you in the face after… everything I did." Celeste sighed.
"Well, well, well. Young girl, you're finally awake, aren't you?"
My mother emerged before Celeste, crossing her arms and acting bossy like always, she looked down at Celeste as the blue haired lad began to tremble in… yes, fear.
"We have been EAGERLY waiting for you to wake up, Celeste." She said. "After all, you really owes us more than you could possibly imagine."
"A-Abababahh…" Celeste began to feel so pressured by my mother's aura that she began to tremble and make a funny noise.
"Hm? Are you scared? I am just the mother of your friend, relax!" Said my mother with intimidating eyes. "We just want the best for you, right?"
My mother looked back at Mary and Lucia, who couldn't notice my mother's dark undertone and nodded happily.
"Yeah! Celeste, Faylen, and everyone else forgave your life and even healed you! They wanted to give you a second chance at life. We are eternally grateful for everything they have done for us and for you… So please act nicely okay? And also say you're sorry, and that you will do your best ton change and become a better person, alright?" Mary was too forgiving, acting like a mother that spoiled her daughter too much. No matter how many things she had done, she couldn't get mad at Celeste.
"Shiii…" Lucia gave out a snake-like noise, trying to make Celeste agree.
"Yeah! You promise to not be evil again?" Mist asked, the other children behind her all looked at Celeste with puppy-like eyes.
"Look, one simply doesn't "promise to not be evil again"…" I sighed, interrupting the whole thing. "That's just… a bit… childish- Ah."
I realized I was only making the children be at the verge of crying, even Mary included.
I guess I'll shut my mouth for now.
People simply doesn't change because they promise they will become different people.
The change is gradual and exhausting, and it requires a lot of willpower… I am still mad with Celeste though, and I am not planning to be all goody-goody with her or anything.
In fact I'm gonna boss her around and force her to do all the chores as a small fragment of the payment she must give to all of us due to everything she owes to us! Yeah, that'll only be a little part of it.
"I…. Sylphy is right though but I guess… Ah, okay, I promise…" Celeste rolled her eyes, saying that just to appease the children's simplistic minds that only thought in black and white.
The children celebrated.
After a bit of this and that, the kids were finally driven away by Mary and Lucia, and we were left with Celeste at long last. My father, mother, Aquarina, Zack, Ninhursag, and I. Arafunn was looking from outside the tent.
"Sylphy I… I know saying that I'm sorry won't make a difference, but I'm sorry." Celeste said.
"Oh?!" I was surprised. "Y-You really said it…"
"She did…" Aquarina said.
"Celeste apologized for real?!" Zack asked.
"W-What? What's so wrong about it?" Celeste asked.
"We thought you would take a while to even recognize your errors." Said my mother. "Judging by everything I've learned from you. You're a girl that hides her feelings and likes to act cocky and rather rude with everyone."
"I…" Celeste sighed. "Do I give off that impression?"
"Yeah." Aquarina said.
"I don't think you give any other impression like… at all."
"Shit am I that flawed?" Sighed Celeste. "Sorry, okay? Sorry… I'm sorry for being such a stupid idiot. I feel like I got shit for brains for a while now. I've been only driven by my stupid traumas and done so many stupid things, so many idiotic things because I always thought I was too deep now to even go back to where I was… I always thought I was too far, and that it wasn't worth to go back and repent."
"A lot of people thinks like you. It is one of the reasons why some of us commits things we never forgive ourselves for…" My mother sighed.
"Yeah…" My father agreed.
"Look, Celeste. We are angered at you, we… we think you can do better though. We are not really absent of our own flaws either." My mother sighed. "I can't really… I don't feel like I really am anybody to judge you."
"Me neither…" My father said. "I think… in the long run we have done worse things."
"Y-You have?" Celeste asked, raising his eyebrows.
"We were fooled, and played like we were toys- no, puppets." Sighed my father.
"When we realized it was too late." My mother said.
"But you're still young, lad." Ninhursag said. "You still got time to change and realize what you've done… and try to improve."