228 Her ending

Ellie woke up to the sound of someone screaming her name while she was laying in the grass.

"Ellie!!! Ellie!!!"

She opened her eyes to see the blue sky revealing itself from what appeared to be a gigantic curtain of red mist slowly disappearing.

"Ellie!! Ellie, talk to me!!"

The voice kept shouting and the girl started to follow its sound to see who was making so much noise and disturbing her nap.

"Wha- what...?" Ellie muttered.

"Ellie!! Ellie, are you ok!!??"

The girl finally saw who the figure was, a young woman who seemed to be in her early twenties with short messy black hair wearing wooden bracelets and staring at her with teary eyes.

"Aunt... Evie...?" the child whispered.

"Ellie!!!" Evlin cried while she pounced on the girl to lock her in a bear hug.

"Air!! Air!! I can't... Breath!!!" Ellie tried to say while getting suffocated.

"Sorry!! Sorry!" Evlin apologized.

The girl tried to sit on the grass and just stared at the woman for a couple of seconds. She then raised her left hand to touch her aunt's face and pinch her cheeks.

"Is it really you...?" she asked, "you're not Myriad, or a vision of the future, or anything...?? Is it really, really you??"

Evlin grabbed the hand that was caressing her face and began to squeeze it while bawling her eyes out.

"Of course, sweetie!!"

Ellie began to cry as well, "AUNT EVIE!!!"

She pounced on her aunt and started to shower her with tears while trying to make sure she wasn't dreaming again.

"I... I missed you!!! I missed you so much!!"

"I missed you too..." Evlin replied while hugging Ellie back despite feeling her lungs about to pop, "but you're squeezing me too tight!!"

"Sorry!! Sorry!!" Ellie apologized this time.

"They really are alike, aren't they?" a voice commented.

Ellie raised her head and realized that they weren't alone.

Her friends, Joseph and Claire, her team, Lilith, Marcus, and Detra, her allies, Leona, Ashley, Gustav, and Xadi, and every single person who fought on her side in the war, they were all surrounding the two of them with dumb smiles on their faces with some also tearing up as well. Even the two feline monsters, Sphinx and Eclipse, were there as well.

"Wha... What's going on...? What happened??" Ellie asked wondering why everyone was looking at her, which was making her start to blush a little.

"You did it, Ellie!!" Marcus yelled with the widest smile he could reveal.

"I... I did it...?"

Evlin grabbed her shoulder and held her again, "YOU WON!!"

Ellie's eyes started to sparkle as they kept enlarging while even more tears continued to appear.

"I... I won...?"

The demons and monsters had all been slain, the red golems were no more, and all of the spirits had been purged and vanished to the after-life.

All of her enemies had been defeated.

"I WON!!!!" Ellie screamed as she raised her amputated arm to the sky to declare her much struggled victory.

The rest of the army followed her example and did the same with all of them fisting the heavens and screaming "YOU WON!!!!" towards her.

"You saved us..." Evlin whispered while embracing her niece.

Ellie felt like she was dreaming, the first actual comforting dream she's had in ages, and the best part was that it was actually real.

She also saw her aunt reuniting with her old friend, Gustav, and her old sister, Ashley, both crying with joy after finally seeing her again safe and sound after being separated for so long.

"Wait!!" the girl gasped, "where is Mia??"

Everyone started to shift their gaze to one particular direction and when Ellie followed their light of sight, she saw a wide-eyed girl with long black hair tied up in ponytails who seemed to be about the same height as her just tilting her head looking completely lost.

Ellie felt like her heart was about to explode after seeing Mia among her friends.

"After we delivered the finishing blow..." Marcus explained, "your body gave up and you fell unconscious... You really pushed yourself too hard this time."

Detra then came closer to speak next, "and after that... Mia's body separated from your aunt."

Ellie felt like she was missing some context, "why is everyone so calm around her...?"

Gustav stepped forward and tried to clear the situation, "Ellie... Try to read her mind."

Ellie didn't understand but she did as she was told. She stared at Mia and tried to use her telepathy on her.

[What is everyone talking about...? Why do they keep calling me Mia?? Who's this girl?? Where am I?? Why do they keep looking at me like that?? I'm so hungry... ]

Ellie still felt confused, "what... what happened to her...?"

Evlin, Marcus, and Gustav stared at Detra who in response began to speak next, "she was reset..."

"Reset...?" Ellie repeated.

Detra just nodded with her eyes closed, followed by staring at the lost girl that used to be the greatest enemy they ever faced.

"You ended up copying my godly power... And caused Mia to reset to a young kid again... Her memories are all gone and she reverted to the age she was when she first got her blessing... The same way it happened with Marceus..."

"Wait... So..." Ellie finally understood what happened.

"The Mia we all knew... Is gone..." Detra finished.

Part 2

After clearing up the situation, all of those involved in the battle returned to treat their wounds and mourn their fallen comrades.

Many lives were lost in this war, many innocents that sacrificed themselves to make sure the final victory could be obtained.

All of the red mages were teleported back to Evlin's city with no memories of what happened. When Daren woke up, he explained that the last thing he remembered was the dragon attack at Evlin's school, and after that, it felt like he had just woken up from a deep sleep.

The soldiers, mages, and east followers, all were celebrated as heroes after defeating an enemy that caused so much trouble for the civilization for generations.

Many were glaring at Mia behind her back still unsure if it really was ok to just let her walk around freely after what she did, but Marcus soon explained that Elli's power purified her body and expelled the demon that was controlling her, making it seem like Mia was the same as the red mages.

Mia herself was still trying to make sense of the situation. Everyone tried to explain to her in the best way possible trying to avoid causing some kind of damage to the girl's head. They gave her the same explanation and convinced her that the actual Mia was a demon that was trying to take over her body.

"So... I'm not Mia...?" the girl wondered after talking with the group inside the resting room on the temple of the east in the middle of a party celebrating their victory.

It was the middle of the night and everyone was drinking, eating, and cheering while exchanging tales about how they performed in the great war.

They all were gathered and commemorating, even Detra, despite still thinking about how she noticed that once the fight was over, the demon stones had mysteriously vanished with nobody seeing.

The whole group was reunited with many of the mages gazing at them whispering about being able to see the legendary crossbow mage and the living weapon in the same room next to the hero girl that faced the terminal beast.

"No... Don't worry... Mia is gone forever, and is never coming back..." Marcus explained to the kid.

"Then... Who am I...?"

"Ah!!! Can I name her??" both Evlin and Joseph shouted at the same time while raising their hands.

"NO!!!" everyone else replied, afraid of ending up with another 'Chuck' situation.

In the end, it was decided to let the girl herself pick her own name, placing the choice in her own hands.

"Then... How about... Dia?" the girl suggested.

"Dia...?" Evlin repeated.

"It means 'day' in Portuguese... " the girl explained, not really sure how she knew that.

Evlin assumed that she was probably accessing residual knowledge from when Mia used to travel the world searching for Evlin's hometown.

"When I first came to be..." Dia explained while looking out the window, "the first thing I saw was this beautiful sky... a vast blue sky illuminated by the daylight..."

Evlin came closer and patted the girl's head, "I like it! Nice to meet you, Dia!"

The rest of the group also proceeded to greet Dia, which made the girl blush with embarrassment from having so many people looking at her at once.

But beneath that, Evlin could see it. Dia was smiling, a pure honest smile that she could never see in the old Mia. Her first smile after two-hundred years.

Evlin then noticed that Ellie was looking rather grumpy for some reason, which made her wonder if she was still holding a grudge after all that happened.

"Ellie...?" Evlin whispered, "what's wrong?"

Ellie just stared at Dia with her arms crossed, "Detra is the mother of Marcus because she reset him, right?"

Evlin started to sweat, "t- that's right... more or less..."

"Does this mean Dia is my da-"

"Don't!!!!" Evlin interrupted, "Don't finish that sentence!!! Ever..."

"Hihi..." Ellie giggled.

Ellie then started to grin at her aunt, which made her realize that her niece was teasing her on purpose.

"Oh, you little..." her aunt then grabbed her and started to mess up her hair to make it look as much of a bird's nest as her own, "does this mean you don't hold a grudge against her?"

Ellie then pondered about that for a moment, "I used to... But..."

The two then looked at Dia again while she continued to chat with the rest of their friends.

"During the battle... I kept listening to what everyone was thinking at the time... They all were cheering for me... But many were also cursing her... Saying stuff like, I hope she dies, please die, just die, why don't you die... They all really hated her..."

Evlin knew that feeling. She also found herself in a situation where everyone seemed to have turned against her and wanted her dead in the past, more than once even.

Even if these people didn't really mean it, being on the receiving end of this kind of situation is still really traumatic.

"When I heard these things... Even though I didn't want to... I started to feel sorry for her... Thinking... She must be very lonely..." Ellie finished.

Evlin then released her niece after kissing her forehead.

"Being alone will never not suck..." Evlin commented.

"Yeah..." Ellie agreed. She then looked at Lilith who was finally reunited with Daren and Lance, Marcus who was talking with his mother, and Dia who was playing with Joseph and Claire, "I'm glad I was never alone... I was very lucky..."

Evlin placed her niece on her arms and started to caress her amputated limb.

"Does it hurt...?" Evlin said, wondering if her niece wanted her to stop.

"A bit..." Ellie replied, "but I don't mind..."

"You went through a lot... Didn't you...?" Evlin asked.

"So did you..." Ellie responded.

"I'm proud of you... my little hero!"

"I'm proud of you too, my big hero!!"

The two then jumped out when they heard everyone suddenly screaming out of nowhere.

"What!!?? What happened!!??" Evlin asked.

Ashley came closer and explained the situation to them, "Lilith said yes!"

"Yes...? Yes, what??" Ellie wondered.

"She finally accepted Daren's proposal!! They're getting married!!"

"Aaaaahhh!!!" Evlin and Ellie screamed, joining the rest of the group that was now jumping up and down cheering with joy after hearing this news.

Dia didn't know what was going on once again, but everyone was happy so she started to cheer as well.

"Yayy!!! Congrats!!!" she then approached Claire and whispered in her ear, "Who's Daren and Lilith...?"

"Your tale...?" Claire questioned while wondering why Xadi wasn't in his head as usual, quickly assuming he was probably hiding from Ashley again.

"That's right, my lovely lady!!" Joseph replied while poking her nose.

"The f*#@ did you just call me??"

"Yes!! For you see, this is merely the start of my story as a fantasy hero! Soon, I'll be just like a shounen protagonist, and have my own personal harem that will follow me around as I travel to defeat the demon lord!!" Joseph proudly explained.

"... Have you hit your head or something...??" Claire yelled, wondering if this boy had been drinking toilet water and ended up with brain damage.

"Come on!! Every hero needs a harem!! I already have you and Ellie! And now we can add Dia as well! We will have all the tropes of the book! The violent one, the tomboy one, the shy one... and then we will all embark on a journey to find an elf princess- Gaaahhh!!!"

Joseph was about to go on with his delusion when Claire decided to shut him up with an explosion spell that ended up throwing him out of the window.

Dia started to worry if these two were really the best choice to be her first friends and started to sneak away from them.

While she did so, she ended up meeting eyes with Ellie who was still drained and unable to move, and right now was sitting beside her aunt and resting her head on the woman's shoulder.

She felt nervous for a second for some reason, as if she shouldn't be in the same room as these two, but then Evlin extended her hand and offered her to join them.

Dia smiled and proceeded to sit on the other side next to Evlin, who now had two kids leaning their head on her.

Ellie then tried to look at the girl wondering if the old Mia was truly gone forever.

"Hey... How do you feel?"

Dia looked at Ellie and pondered about that as well. At that moment, her stomach began to growl, which helped her to figure out her answer.

"Hungry..." Dia replied while hugging her belly.

Ellie just smiled, feeling like she got a good enough answer, "I see..."

"I'll grab us some food... Be right back!" Evlin stated while moving away and accidentally making Ellie and Dia, who were leaning on her, fall and headbutt each other.

"Ouch!!" x2

"Ah!! Sorry girls!!"

Dia began to rub her head while crying, "ugh!! Is it too late to change my answer...?"

"Aaaahhh!! The pain!!! It never ends!!!" Ellie cried as well.

Evlin was about to move to the kitchen but Marcus appeared in front of her all of sudden.

"Oh! Hey, Marcus!"

"Hey, Evlin..."

He looked at Ellie who was sitting beside Dia and realized that now that she was unable to move, he would never get a better chance than this.

"Can we... Talk... For a bit?"