Chapter 72 - Jump

"Are you sure it's them?" 

"Positive, Miss Dette. Stored data matches with what we have of them leaving ten minutes ago.'' the head guard of the castle's security team answered confidently while projecting a recording of Von and Lei on the biggest screen of the security's headquarters, leaving in the middle of the night together.

"Why would they suddenly leave without saying anything?" Venedette complained out loud, stressing herself more than she can handle at once so Sir Grand moved closer to her for comfort.

"We'll look for them, don't worry. You should go back to your room and rest. You're stressing yourself too much." Sir Grand said, trying to calm Venedette down but instead of calm, Venedette became even more furious because of what he said.

"How can I not?!" she shouted, removing Sir Grand's hold off of her and walked towards the screen where the image of Von carrying Lei was frozen in front of her, she then let her tears fall silently while recalling the last time she saw him.

Von lied to her, to all of them.. He was probably afraid of the consequences he will face when she comes back so he ran away before they could even talk about it. 

"All I'm saying is that you should calm yourself down first, Venedette. You shouldn't stress yourself too much or else it would be harder for you to look for them."

"How can I calm myself down? Our son ran away, for god's sake, Grandoise!"

"I know, and I will look for him, okay? I promise you, I'll bring them back by tomorrow morning."

"No. I'll help you look for them," Venedette said stubbornly, consecutively having an idea of how to contact them immediately.

"Have you tried texting them?" she said restlessly and opened her Stat-hut to contact either Von and Lei directly.

"No." Sir Grand said and did the same as Venedette, opened his Stat-hut, and contacted Von and Lei but neither of them responded.

"Nothing." Sir Grand said regretfully to Venedette. 

Stat-huts have built-in trackers in them, but only guilds can use them to actually track each other's current locations precisely. The only thing that Venedette and Sir Grand can rely on right now was their knowledge of Von and Lei and the people's sightings of them.

Venedette sighed and closed her eyes to calm herself down after not being able to get in touch with either Von or Lei.

Sir Grandoise, on the other hand, was looking at her with much spite to himself once again. He couldn't believe he let Venedette suffer again under his watch. He can see how much Venedette was breaking inside right now but all he could do was stand beside her and tell her that everything would be fine.

Just recently Gem went missing under his watch and now, after being diagnosed with a panic disorder, Von slipped out of his hold too. 

Just how do they expect Venedette to handle all of these without breaking? Even with him beside her, he was still as useless as a broken record player that Vendette couldn't let go of because of his sentimental value to her. And Von, what the heck was he thinking when he decided to run away from them? 

"Signals say they're staying in a village near the cliffs, Miss Dette." a guard barged in the security room to deliver the news to them immediately.

"Okay, let's move!" the head guard said to his people before following after Venedette and Sir Grand who went ahead of them already.

***

"Are you sure about this Von?" Lei said while standing on the edge of the island, watching Von's silhouette float in front of the orange sun that was slowly rising from the horizon.

"Come on. Trust me." Von said and offered his hand to Lei.

"I don't know if this is really a good idea Von. Haven't you thought about how Miss Dette would feel after finding out that we're actually gone?" Lei said and took Von's hands reluctantly. But instead of jumping with him to the cliffs, Lei's feet were still firm on the ground below him.

"Of course I do. That's exactly the point why I'm doing this. So I'll know if they really care about me or not." Von said and looked down at the empty space below him. "Come on, I'll make sure to land us safely."

"I don't know Von."

"Are you scared?"

"Of course," Lei said honestly. Since he can't fly and Von was still as weak as a stick, he couldn't really trust him to bring him down there safely. "And besides, they're your parents. Of course, they care about you." 

Von looked at Lei bitterly after hearing his remark.

"If you really think that then just stay here. I'll just go on my own." Von said and tried to let go of Lei's hands but Lei wouldn't let him go.

Von knew about Lei's weakness and he can use it quite well. He knew too well about Lei's loyalty to him and his life quest of always protecting him from danger. That was why he could always make Lei follow him through his craziest of ideas and still get away with it because Lei was always there to save him. 

He was there to take the blow for him no matter what.

"What? You won't let go?"

"No," Lei said and shook his head slightly.

"Then jump," Von said before pulling his hands forcefully from Lei, making him stand on the very edge of the island where they decided to jump together this morning.

"Come on," Von said, offering his hands again to Lei but Lei stepped back from him, shaking his head.

"I really don't think this is a good idea, Von," Lei said, once again trying to convince Von to just go back and apologize but the kid was as stubborn as a rock.

"This is your last chance, Lei. Jump."

"I'm sorry Von. I can't let you have your way this time."

"Then goodbye," Von said and finally let go of his flight.