There was a voice.


    A new voice.


    It was speaking like how the bigger people used to before they became scary. All nice and warm feeling.


    None of them spoke to her like that anymore. Now they just yelled.


    The door never opened and no one else was in her box, so it was probably another voice in her head. There had been a lot of those lately.


    “…isten to me. I’m trying to help. When the alarms go-“


    She just laid back down and closed her eyes. The voices wanted to help her, but none of them were real. She held her precious sisters to her little chest and took comfort in the only thing that was real.


    BOOOM*


    Her little world shook and boomed. The lights went out, and the voice was shouting, but she couldn’t hear it over the thundering of her own heart.


    Big Boss shook her little shoulders and shouted, “Snotty! Pay! Attention!”


    Snotty focused on her fearless leader with wide, frightened eyes.


    “Your sisters will help you, but you must be brave. Move swiftly, my little Boogie Nose.” Big Boss said with soft affection as she playfully poked her youngest sister on the nose.


    It was Silent that wrapped her shivering body in a warm embrace and melted into the darkness. Panicked screams of the scary big people passed them by from all directions, but they just kept moving quietly towards where the voice had said to go. At least that’s what Snotty assumed. She wanted to be brave, but the best she could do was stay quiet as she clutched onto her sister for comfort. Through halls and passages, through vents and drains, the twists and turns of their journey had Snot’s little head spinning.


    The first time Snotty experienced the vastness of the outside, she was lost in wonder. If Silent wasn’t the one who was carrying her, she knew she would have been caught like a dummy right there from being too mesmerized by all the space.


    When the scary big people started chasing them, Roar made a scary face to chase them all away. When even Giggle became too tired to carry Snot any farther, she ran on her own two bare feet. The cuts and scrapes she got on the rocky ground didn’t bother her, but not knowing her destination did.


    The voice didn’t say where to go from there and all her sisters were too tired to help her anymore. She was exhausted and hungry, and it was cold and dark. Her life in the box had always been brightly lit, so darkness was foreign and frightening. Especially one that stretched out so far and wide where big scary things were probably hiding to eat her.


    Wrapped in her little blanket, she rested in a place she thought she could hide for a while. That’s when a monster found her and came to eat her. She tried to be brave like her sister Roar, but she was too tired to even be scared.


    The monster stepped closer and closer and Snot tried, she really did, but her little arms were so heavy, and her throat too tired and dry to roar.


    Then there was something that smelled wonderful. Then taste wonderful. Then felt wonderful.


    As darkness took her, Snot wished with all her might that this wouldn’t be the last time she opened her eyes. She wanted to taste that again.


    —


    Something wonderful had granted her wish, Snot thought as she looked at all the pretty colorful soft things she was lying on and up at all the blue and white fluffiness above her that stretched out in all directions past the tall white and gray jagged looking things. It was a vastness that she could see, unlike the darkness, and it didn’t scare her. It was like a dream.


    A warm wind rustled the colorful soft things around her and it came with wonderful scents that threatened to overpower her with loveliness. She lay back, her heart settled in soft comfort, and closed her eyes. She’d never felt so warm before.


    Maybe the monster got her? Perhaps this was where her sisters all went when they disappeared? Oh, that would be nice, she thought, a soothing drowsiness starting to whisk her away with her permission. She didn’t even mind the large, warm hand that moved her hair away from her face. It was gentle and made her feel safe, a new feeling. It was really nice. She held her sisters close and sighed.


    —


    Jun smiled as he watched the little one settle herself back into the flowerbed, now cleansed of all the filth with a purification rune and looking so small and sweet. He’d been afraid of her fearful reaction upon waking and was amused by how easily she’d accepted her new reality as she clutched onto the dirty sheets of paper that wouldn’t leave her little fists, even when unconscious. Or maybe she thought she was still sleeping.


    “I’m sorry to have troubled you with this Lady Cynth, but I didn’t know who else to call.” Jun said to the elf seated next to him within the mountain valley that was his current Domain, none of the previous flirtation visible as she seriously analyzed her new patient.


    “Nonsense, Elder Jun. Saving an innocent life is never a trifling matter. Especially a poor child like this.” She reassured her remarkable junior. She couldn’t hide her discomfort, though.


    “Lady Cynth,” Jun hesitated to ask. Jun wanted desperately for the child to be well, but when a demigod that had spent countless ages battling demonic forces looks sick to her stomach during her examination…. Well, that couldn’t be good, right?


    He was still hesitating when Lady Cynth waved her delicate ivory fingers over the child’s body while muttering in a language that sounded like clicks and whistles. Speckles of green light settled first on the child’s forehead, then the rest of her face and to her feet.


    The girl glowed.


    First in a gentle white light.


    But then there were small flashes.


    Then there were many.


    Soon her body was just flashing rapidly. Continuously. For minutes. Jun really didn’t like how Lady Cynth gasped in horror at the light show, especially when she began to tear up.


    After a few more minutes, the flashing stopped and Lady Cynth lowered her trembling hand and sat back down rather weakly. She took a deep and slow breath and her weariness turned into rage. Despite not being directed at him, the tremendous pressure weighed down Jun’s spiritual body like a mountain. If this hadn’t been within his own personal domain, he’d be dead. Mortals couldn’t survive the wrath of demigods.


    “Keck!” That didn’t mean it didn’t affect him. Some internal bleeding, nothing too serious.


    Seeing her junior cough up a fountain of blood finally woke her from her burst of immaturity. Thankfully, she still had her protective instincts to protect her little sleeping ward. If only they had extended to her junior….


    She was embarrassed about losing herself despite her…maturity. It was inexcusable for someone of her status for sure and the Stupid Gorilla would never let her hear the end of it if he knew.


    Shyly glancing at her junior that was wiping blood from his face, she blushed as she wondered if she should just kill him.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    No. Of course not. Don’t be silly. Maybe.


    Jun didn’t know why the blushing elf was giving him such dangerous vibes. Instinct drove him to change the subject. He felt his life depended on it.


    “Cough, cough, cough. L-Lady Cynth. Is the child alright?”


    Jun repressed, showing any signs of relief when the feelings of crisis faded as the Lady looked down at the child. The caring, motherly facade returned.


    “You’re world has many problems Elder Jun.” She said, not answering his question directly. Jun wanted to feel bad about this, but there were so many things wrong with it already, as she was already aware. The world’s spirit dying and ending all life or the premature invasion of the Second Wave that may be premeditated by the highest echelons of man… what was another problem.


    “Someone in your world is committing the evil of playing with the souls of innocents.”


    “Oh, that’s not good,” Jun blurted in shock. He had no idea what that meant, but that seemed like a really bad problem.


    Lady Cynth softened at his innocence but remained stern as she unraveled what evil deeds had been committed upon this poor thing’s soul.


    Jun listened with increasing horror and dread. He found it difficult to repress the bile that threatened to spew all over the talking elf in front of him. He desperately wanted for her to be joking. She wasn’t.


    —


    Jun sat on the bed of flowers, one hand protectively caressed the hair of the sleeping child that lay before him on a glowing magical formation while he looked up at the sky, deep in thought. Every time he tried to take his hand back, her sleeping face would start to frown and look panicked until he put it back so there he was.


    It had been two hours since Lady Cynth had left after erecting a healing formation that would nourish her body and stabilize her soul. Already, the sunken cheeks and dark circles had faded by half and her skinny figure now only looked a little emaciated.


    The sky within the valley was constantly changing chaotically. One moment it was blue with white clouds and in another it was yellow with purple clouds shaped like donuts right before it switched to green with red and pink clouds that stretched out like ribbons. In this space where Jun decided most things, he was its god, and this god could not decide the sky, mainly because he wasn’t really thinking about it.


    This newest shock to his little heart wasn’t any less than the one he got when he first came to this place and proclaimed its owner the week prior. His eyes were opened on both counts, but for two different worlds. One was wondrous and the other a great evil, both with infinite potential.


    Jun was shocked perhaps more than he really should be, because he had been very confident in his understanding of the depths of evil the human heart could reach, only to now learn that he’d never known what true evil looked like. Having seen it, his emotions were in chaos as the sky reflected.


    His thoughts tumbled down one wild conspiracy after another that would explain the existence of this little girl, and they all made his stomach squirm. It was impossible to not think about the child that was lost to him. The family they could have been.


    The sky was dark with ominous clouds that flashed with silent lightning. The wind’s howls were muted and the heavy rain restricted to only fall down to the level of drenching Jun’s face, disappearing from existence before it could disturb the still comfortably sleeping girl, unaware of the unnaturally quiet tempest that raged right above her.


    But perhaps because she could sense the unrest behind the hand caressing her hair or he just wasn’t doing it right anymore, she started to squirm awake.


    The sky was blue and clear and all signs of rain gone and Jun’s eyes were dry if only a little red. He watched patiently as the little thing brought her free hand to her face and began rubbing her eyes awake as she sat up. Soon she was blinking and observing the world with eyes that a child should have.


    Filled with wonder and curiosity.


    She seemed to process Jun’s presence and looked at him with a bit of caution that soon relaxed into an innocent smile. Jun smiled too.


    Jun could still see the caution, but there was something hopeful that overshadowed her obvious timidity. She was such a little thing, no bigger than a four-year-old, but now that Jun could see her, he could see intelligence that suggested her older than she appeared.


    “Hi sweetie. How do you feel?” Jun asked gently, deciding to start slow.


    Startled by the question, she curled into herself a bit shyly and held her pages protectively to her chest.


    “I’m not Sweetie, I’m Snotty.” She mumbled so quietly that if Jun was a normal man, he’d have missed it.


    “Is Snotty your name?” Jun asked, wondering how she gained such a silly moniker.


    “That’s what my sisters call me.” She said a little more boldly.


    “Oh, what are your sisters called?” Jun asked, realizing too late how insensitive that question could be.


    “My sisters are right here!” She proclaimed, almost proudly, as she waved her pages.


    “That’s wonderful!” Jun theatrically exclaimed, trying to match her energy, which earned him his first giggle. It sounded like little bells that warmed his heart. More than he wanted answers, he wanted her to smile.


    “This is my sister Rawr!” she smiled widely as she waved a familiar black squiggle. “She’s always loud to scare away the big people, but it only works sometimes.”


    “This is my sister Silent. We’ve never heard her voice.” She said, excited like any child is to share something they love, as she almost shoved the drawing of white with red eyes into his face.


    “This is Giggle. She has the best giggle.” She giggled as she looked at a drawing that looked like pink cotton candy.


    “And this is Boss. She was named by the big people. She was the nicest.” The little thing smiled fondly as she caressed the page with a smiling yellow sun.


    While before his talk with Lady Cynth, he’d have taken the child’s claims as the imaginative ramblings of a toddler, but now he knew that there may be more to it than a child and her imaginary friends.


    “And why do they call you Snotty?” Jun asked curiously.


    She squirmed a bit in embarrassment as she muttered, “Cause I cry the most.”


    He tried not to laugh at how cute she was and settled with a smile instead. She grinned shyly in return.


    “Well, Snotty is a wonderful nickname, but everyone needs a real name, too. For instance, my name is Jun and I have a whole bunch of different nicknames my friends call me. How do you feel about getting a real name?”


    If Jun had any doubts before, they all evaporated when the child started hopping with excitement.


    “I get a real name?!” She almost screamed.


    “Yup!”


    “Yay!”


    They laughed together, Jun surprised how excited she’d become.


    “Snotty is gonna be a Big Sister! Yay! Snotty gets to sleep in a bed!” she exclaimed, lost in her childlike joy as Jun’s heart dropped.


    “Sweetie, what do you mean about ‘big sisters’ sleeping in beds?” Jun tried asking but panicked as all the joy drained from the little girl’s face. Moisture was pooling in sorrowful little green eyes as she asked, like the end of the world were upon her.


    “Snotty doesn’t get a bed?”


    “Of course you do! The biggest! Fluffiest! Funnest bed of all!” Jun exclaimed hurriedly. He looked down at his little valley and waved his hand.


    Before Snotty’s big tearful gaze, a giant pink fluffy bed the size of a small field, covered in mountains of cute stuffed animals in all shapes and sizes, some that easily towered over them both, came into being.


    Jun sat wearily as the little thing excitedly ran down the small slope and cannon balled into the center of her new kingdom.


    He wasn’t sure how that conversation had twisted the way it did, but he was at least glad it led to this special scene. Giggles and laughter echoed in the valley, and at least in this moment, there was only joy.


    After a few more giant leaps and great hops, the little girl came skipping back up the hill with a broad toothy smile and hugged Jun’s seated knees.


    “What’s my name?” She finally asked the question closest to her heart, her giant, innocent green eyes glistening with hopeful anticipation.


    Jun looked back and thought for a moment and asked softly, “How about Ella?”


    “Ella! Ella~ Ella!” She sang out, tasting it on her tongue, deciding that she loved it.


    “I’m glad you like it. It was my mother’s name.” Jun said with a small smile.


    “What’s a mother?” Ella asked innocently, breaking his heart anew.


    “Well, everyone comes from a mommy and daddy. They are the ones that love and protect you until you become big and strong.” Jun tried.


    “But Ella doesn’t have a mommy and daddy. Ella only has her sisters!” Ella exclaimed. Shocked about these people, she was supposed to have. Her sisters were gonna freak.


    “Sometimes we lose our first mommy and daddy. I did too.”


    “You did too?” Ella asked quietly, almost a whisper.


    “Mmhm.” Jun nodded. “But if we’re lucky, we can find new ones. I did,” He said, thinking of Mary and Juan.


    Ella scrunched up her little face and thought hard for a moment before looking up into Jun’s eyes and asked innocently, “Does that mean you’ll be my new daddy?”


    “Would you like me to be?” Jun asked curiously.


    “MMHMM!” Ella nodded vigorously, absolutely excited. She had never felt so safe before. For the troubled child that had only ever known suffering, it was intoxicating.


    Seeing her little head about to shake off, Jun laughed and saw a bit of himself in her and saw the opportunity he had to give her what he had lucked out on. He hugged his new daughter to his chest and said, “You are a gift, Ella. Thank you for coming into my life.”


    Jun felt her little arms clutch onto him like her life depended on it and felt her tremble. Gently patting her back, he swayed her for a bit before lifting her up after feeling a tap.


    “They are still sleeping right now, but when they wake up, can we all play here together?” a red eyed Ella asked another question dear to her heart, obviously afraid of rejection.


    “Of course you can, sweetheart. This is your home now, too.” He answered. Really, how was anyone to say no to those eyes? Anyway, where else was she to go? Jun had long determined to take responsibility for the life he’d saved and provide her a life of abundance and joy.


    Jun wouldn’t admit it, even to himself, but when he made the resolution, it was made easy because the feelings of fatherhood that he’d developed and been forced to lock away had found an outlet in his protectiveness for the little girl.


    All he wanted to do was to be what the child needed. Once that thought came to be, he realized he was not adequate for the task. What did he know about taking care of a mentally and emotionally traumatized child?


    Thankfully, he knew someone that did and communication was long overdue.