Chapter Text
As the sun dawned the night took over. The moon and stars were that night even brighter and more beautiful than the other days. Or so a certain girl thought.
She was sitting by an opened window admiring the stars and trying to find constellations which she knew so well. Her father told her stories about each constellation and she loved them. Of course some were a bit more... morbid, but that only made the stories more interesting.
The girl's grey-blue eyes widened as she saw a falling star. She was too amazed by the sight to actually wish something. She giggled at her luck and a big smile made its way on her tanned face. Few of her golden brown strands of hair fell into her vision so she put them behind her ears. She didn't have long hair, it was falling just to her shoulders. Even though she didn't realise it, she looked pretty cute in her in her cyan dress with ruffles.
Suddenly a yell rang through the mansion. She frowned at the sound of it, but wasn't surprised. She knew that it was her parents. They had always been arguing but lately it was just getting worse.
She walked over to her bed and grabbed her stuffed animal. It was a purple griffon called Sir Sneakygrin. She couldn't remember when she got it, but she knew that it was a gift from her uncle Elwin.
She held it tight to her chest as she left her room to talk to her parents. She was tired of their never-ending fighting and they had to know it.
When she walked to the door behind which her parents were arguing, her self confidence faded a little bit away. So instead of going there, she sat down and leaned to the door to listen. Even though they were loud, she couldn't understand most of it because they were yelling over each other. The few words she caught didn't make sense to her, until she heard a short sentence, "I'M DONE WITH YOU!" Her eyebrows furrowed as she didn't fully understood the meaning of what her mother yelled, but the sudden silence scared her. More than the previous yelling.
"What?" she heard her father's faint whisper.
"I can't do this anymore," her mother sighed, "We're arguing all the time and I'm tired of it. I can't even remember when was the last time that we were together, happy."
There was a long pause, too long for the girl's liking. It was broken by her father's question, which shattered the four years old girl's heart, "Do you want to fill a Match Fail?"
"Yes," her mother answered without any doubts, "I understand if you want some month to mentally prepare for the process. I know that we will be going against the whole matchmaking system and people won't like it, but this can't go on."
"I know. Just give me a week. I will be at my place, so we wouldn't bother each other," her father said.
And like that, the girl's family broke. She suppressed a sob as she scooted quickly away from the door. As she did, it opened and her father left the room. He looked lost in his thoughts and didn't even noticed the girl's presence. When he was too far away from her, she stood up and as quietly as she could at the moment she left the hall.
When she entered her room and closed the door behind her, she leaned on it and sobbed. She was desperately squeezing Sir Sneakygrin as she tried to comprehend what just happened. She couldn't. The image was just too terrifying. However she knew that she couldn't stand being alone with Sir Sneakygrin. She needed someone to be with her.
She shakily took her imparter and hailed a certain someone, who was always able to make her feel better.
After few long minutes, the person actually answered, "Elysha? Why are you awake this late?" When the girl heard uncle Elwin's familiar sleepy voice, she couldn't help but sob again. "Huh? What's wrong? Elysha, take a deep breath... exactly. Now, could you tell me what happened?"
"They're gonna fill a Match Fail," she mumbled, but Elwin could hear it nonetheless.
"And who?" he asked again. He still wasn't sure what she was talking about. Mythologies? Nightmare? Or...
"Mom and dad," she whispered.
Elwin's eyes widened. He had no idea that something like this would happen. However he didn't got a chance to wonder about it, as the young girl sobbed again. And as she was there alone he realised that neither of the adults knew, that their child knew.
"Don't worry, I will come for you within seconds. Just wait there, okay?" he waited until she nodded and only then he hanged up. He quickly got out of the bed, threw some coat over him, not bothering about his pyjamas with dinosaurs and light leaped to Charmvalley
He hurried through the halls but stopped when he heard a very familiar voice, "Elwin?" He turned around and saw his sister. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled into a simple braid, her grey-blue eyes had some detached glint in them and she hadn't changed into pyjamas yet, so she wore blue dress that reminded him of ocean waves, but she looked fine... too fine considering what was her whole family going through. Or rather that shatters of the family. "What are you doing here?" the woman asked, clueless about her daughter's heartbreak.
"Elysha told me about your Match Fail," the older man answered coldly. He knew that he shouldn't be angry at his sister but he was too concerned for the little girl to care at the moment.
As Sherlie heard the words her eyes widened and her lip started to tremble. She felt so sorry that her little girl found out that way. But it was too late. And she knew that there was no way that she could help her with soothing the pain. "Could she please stay at your place," she whispered her question.
"What?" Elwin furrowed his eyebrows confused. He didn't expect that kind of reaction from her.
"Please," Sherlie stared into Elwin's eyes as hers own glistened, "Can you take care of her until I and Kastyn fill the Match Fail papers?"
Elwin's eyes warmed a little bit at his sister's thoughtfulness and nodded. As he did Sherlie wished him a good night and left him so he could finally go to little Elysha.
He found her on the floor squeezing Sir Sneakygrin as tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked up to Elwin and let him embrace her in a hug. They've stayed like that for few minutes until Elysha stopped sobbing as Elwin whispered words of assuring to her ear. He waited until she pulled away from the hug and when she did so, he said, "I have an idea. How about you pack your things and stay with me?" When he saw the girl's frown he quickly added, "Only for few days. It will be like a sleepover!"
The girl thought about it. She didn't want to leave her parents. She loved them even thought they hated each other. But did they still loved her? Wouldn't she be just a reminder of something bad?
With these thoughts running through her head she nodded quietly. Elwin gave her a reassuring smile and helped her pack the few things she would need into a bag.
...
Elysha was sitting by the window in her room waiting for her father to show up. Yes, she indeed had her own room in Splendor Plains now. It wasn't as big as her old room, but she loved it anyway. There was literally evey colour of the rainbow and some more, like turquoise and indigo. There was also a ton of pillows and plushies, even though Sir Sneakygrin would always hold a special place in her heart.
The girl could hear a knock on the door so she perked her head and called, "Come in."
She expected Elwin to appear, but instead of him there was her father.
"DAD?!" she yelled in surprise as her eyes glinted with tears. She quickly stood up and ran to him to embrace him in a hug. Kastyn hugged her back and for few moments they just enjoyed each other's presence.
It's been over a month since the night incident and Kastyn Ilios with Sherlie, now Heslege again filled the Match Fail papers. They had both agreed to not meet Elysha until the whole process was over. However they had hailed her few times to not let her feel alone.
It didn't really work. Sure, they had both assured the girl, that nothing was her fault and that they both still loved her, but that didn't prevent her from feeling left behind, alone. Sure, Elwin tried to keep her entertained so she wouldn't overthink the whole situation, but she knew, that her home was gone. Shattered into pieces that she couldn't put together.
"So are you ready to meet your uncle and aunt with cousins?" Kastyn asked as he pulled away.
Kastyn wanted to take Elysha to Sunglow to meet his brother Xenon and his family. He knew that she needed a family to grow up with, a happy one. He knew that it wouldn't completely replace what she lost, but it could help at least a little bit, right? Also Elwin and Sherlie had both agreed to this, so why not give it a shot?
They held their hands as they light leaped to Sunglow. When they looked around, they saw a man waiting for them. He was by few inches shorter than Kastyn, but besides their eye color they looked almost identical. Shorter man's eyes were azure blue and Kastyn's cerulean.
"Elysha," Kastyn looked at his daughter, "this is your uncle Xenon. Will you say hi?"
"Hi," Elysha greeted quietly as she glanced up at his eyes.
"Hello," Xenon smiled widely at her in hopes to make her feel more welcomed, "I'm glad that I can finally meet you. And I'm sure that my kids would also like to do so. What do you think?"
She nodded. She didn't feel like doing anything else. Both men gave each other a little concerned look without the girl noticing. Nonetheless they both let her to the garden, if you could call it that. Suntower was located on a small island and there was nothing else but the crystal tower and its property.
Outside Elysha saw two kids. They were older than her, the brown haired boy was seven years old and the blonde girl was eleven. The kids also noticed the trio and gave them curious looks.
"Taryn, Jaysen," Xenon called out, "This is Elysha. She's your cousin, so please, make her feel welcomed." And with those words the two men left the kids on their own. Elysha felt sad at the sight of her dad leaving again. But she didn't have a chance to think about it as Jaysen spoke.
"Who is your favourite god?" Jaysen asked immediately, "If you're our cousin than you have to know about greek mythologies."
"I like Athena," she replied confidentially. Afterall, she knew some greek stories.
"Well, I like Dionysus, but Athena is also cool," the boy nodded with a smile.
"But it's so obvious that Aphrodite is the best," the blondie rolled her eyes at the younger ones. After that statement the siblings started to argue over which god is better. But it didn't end there and they started to compere every single god they knew to others. Elysha knowing quite a lot about this topic joined the argument until all three of them ended yelling with each other, mocking gods they didn't like and laughing. And after so long Elysha completely forgot about her parents and just enjoyed her new found cousins.
All of that saw three adults looking from a window of living room. Kastyn couldn't stop smiling as he saw his daughter so happy again.
"It really looks like it could work out," a blond woman stated surprised. When she saw the quiet little girl firstly, she was afraid that her temperamental kids would be too much to handle for her.
"Then it's settled," Xenon smiled at his brother, "she will be able to come whenever she wants and we will make her a room here-"
"Only if she wants," Lynette interrupted her husband, "She's welcomed here, but she will have her room here only if she wants."
"Of course," Kastyn agreed, "I wasn't planning to use you as a replacement. She will always have a place in my home, Sherlie's, Elwin's and hopefully also yours. And where she will want to stay and for how long, that will be her decision."