Aiki offered a weak laugh. "Yeah… I feel bad for worrying everyone so much. Obviously there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it, but…" Eiji hit their arm. "You could try not pissing off the kid with the teleportation power, for starters. He got suspended because you went missing because of him." "Well, he didn't have to teleport me to some random forest god knows where it was! I would've died out there with my hypoglycemia and stuff."
"And you were incredibly lucky that Saul and I found you," Farah filled in gently. "I was lucky I found you," she added with a smile and a knowing wink. She put her hand against the wall to stabilize herself, and when she looked over, she realized her hand was making contact with the door. Quickly, she flinched away from it like it burned her.
"Aha… yeah. I was a goner without you guys." Not noticing Farah's reaction, Aiki opened their bedroom door and headed out with Eiji, still bickering with him. Eiji looked relieved that Aiki was okay, though, and Aiki couldn't be more glad to be back home where things were normal.
Slowly, Farah followed. She now was able to completely understand Aiki's uncertainty in Alfea. While she felt safe in Aiki and Eiji's house, that did not mean that she didn't still feel uncertain. She found herself worrying about Saul, Ben, and Luna. Even Andreas. Rosalind was a zealot, and she would stop at nothing to achieve her goals. Farah knew her plans well after spending even a short amount of time in her head. Rosalind didn't hide much of anything since she'd always assumed no one would be able to enter her mind, but Farah did. And what she saw was terrifying.
Eiji led the three of them into the kitchen, where their parents looked up and immediately dropped what they were holding upon seeing Aiki. Aiki seemed to take after their mother in appearance; she had their wispy blonde hair and longer ears, and she had pink irises like Eiji. Eiji took after his father with matching dark hair, but took his pinker features and eye color from his mother, while Aiki had taken their father's blue eyes.
"Oh my god! Aiki!" Their mother ran over and hugged them tightly, crying into their shoulder. She was several inches shorter than him, and was easily the shortest person in the room. His father, the tallest by a few inches at least, was calling the police to let them know that Aiki had turned up. "Where have you been? Oh, my baby!" Their mother wailed. Aiki laughed weakly and hugged her back, holding back tears as well. "I'm fine, mom… just had some… uh… interdimensional troubles, so to speak. This is Farah. She's from the Otherworld, and she's currently stuck here." Aiki's mother looked up at Farah, clearly noticing her for the first time. "Oh! U-Um… it's nice to meet you, dear. Are you hungry? We've got plenty of food for everyone."
Farah watched their reunion, and while she was overjoyed for Aiki, her mind kept taking her back to the last expression she saw on Saul's face. She shook herself out of her daze when she heard Aiki mention her name. Suddenly, in the presence of a caring maternal figure, Farah felt small. "Hello," she greeted quietly. "Um… what kind of food do you have, ma'am?"
Aiki's mother looked over to see what was on the stove. "Hm… I think Hijiri is making Tonkatsu. It's a pork dish; I hope you're not vegetarian… not that being vegetarian is bad! We just don't have anything prepared other than rice that would suit that diet at the moment." She laughed, still seeming a bit frazzled from Aiki's sudden appearance. "I'm sure we could sort something out for you, though."
"I'm not vegetarian," Farah replied. A soft smile decorated her face as she thought of plants and, therefore, Ben. The smile faded slowly when she remembered Ben was a nonexistent gateway away. "Thank you, you're too kind."
"Alright! Food should be ready soon, so just sit tight and we'll make plates for everyone. Do you need a drink?" She asked, smiling softly. Aiki couldn't help but smile as well, comforted by his mother's presence after being without his family in the Otherworld for a while.
"Just water will be fine," Farah answered. "Thank you, ma'am." It was typically very unusual for Farah to act this way, but given the non-normal circumstances, it seemed fair to assume her reactions would be a bit different than normal.
Aiki's mother nodded and brought Farah a glass of water before going to help her husband make the food. Aiki and Eiji seemed to relax, smiling gently at each other as things started returning to normal. Aiki was even looking forward to going back to school the next day, if only to tear into the kid that sent him to that forest. Although, they supposed they would have to wait until he wasn't suspended. He looked over to Farah with a thoughtful hum. "How are you doing?" They asked softly.
Farah watched the reunited family go about their motions happily. She tried – desperately tried – to put on a happy face like the rest of them, but each time, the forced smile fell off her lips only moments after it appeared. Then the dreaded question. Aiki finally asked it. She shook her head slowly. "I… I can't think of anything but Saul. And Ben, too. Don't get me wrong," she added quickly, "I'm really very happy for you, but…" Farah trailed off, not trusting herself to continue.
Aiki nodded a bit and ushered Farah over to a chair so they could sit next to her. "I-I get it… I'm sure you know that. It's hard, especially leaving right before what's bound to be a conflict because you don't know if they're okay. I was super stressed because my family didn't know where I went, so I know I was causing them more distress by being trapped for longer… b-but I promise you we'll do everything in our power to get you back, and I'm sure everyone on your side will do the same."
Farah smiled weakly. "Oh, I know. Thank you," she replied. The look on Saul's face was horribly burned into her mind. It tormented her, but what terrified her, even more, was her knowledge of Saul. In almost any given situation, she could tell what he was going to do or say before even he performed the action. She could practically see him facing off against Rosalind out of pure rage, and Farah knew Saul was no match for Rosalind. Neither was Luna. Few fairies in the Otherworld were as capable with magic as Rosalind was. Farah was one of two fairies who were actually capable of overpowering Rosalind, and with Farah out of the way… Farah shivered. Rosalind could get away with more than she ever had been able to before. And it was all Farah's fault for being so careless.
Aiki sighed softly, fidgeting with their hands a bit. "Honestly, I don't know what to tell you… we're really going to have to rely on your side for this one, to be honest. I've never heard of anyone in our world with the ability to travel between dimensions. Teleportation, sure, but that can't get you back to the Otherworld. We'll do some research and look around, but… we really have to depend on Saul and Ben and Luna."
Farah nodded, and suddenly she remembered her phone in her jacket. "Oh God," she whispered and slipped the device out of the jacket pocket and stared at the black screen. This was it. Her way home. Her way back to Saul. She unlocked the device and scrolled through her contacts until she saw Saul's name. "Oh God," she whispered again.
Aiki watched Farah curiously, trying to figure out what she was doing. They eyed her phone, tilting their head to the side a bit. "Ah, um… if you're planning on trying to text them, I don't think it'll work. I wasn't able to contact my family interdimensionally."
Farah's brow creased in confusion. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Did you try?" Still, she clutched the device tightly in her hand. There was a 50/50 chance of it working, and even if it didn't work the way she wanted it to, it might still prove to be a valuable asset in some other way.
"Yes, I tried… nothing went through. Crashed my phone a couple of times because it didn't know what was going on." Aiki laughed weakly, scratching behind his ears a bit. "I mean, you're welcome to try, but… don't get your hopes up too much for it to actually work."
Farah frowned worriedly. "I might as well try," she murmured, half to herself. Quickly, she typed out a message to Saul.
Farah Dowling to Saul Silva ❤️
Darling, are you there?
She tapped the send button, and the little bubble popped up as if it had been sent, but the word "Delivered" never appeared. Her heart began to race. "No," she moaned quietly with a shake of her head.
"Alright…" Aiki sighed and got to their feet, stretching a bit. Eventually, his mother came back over to talk to them. "Dear? Lunch is ready now. How much would you like?" She asked Farah. The twins went over and served themselves some food.
Again, Farah seemed to almost shy away from the motherly figure. It hadn't been a one-time thing. "Ah, any small amount is fine," she replied, shifting around in her seat. "And you can call me Farah."
"Alright, Farah." Aiki's mother replied softly, fixing Farah a plate and bringing it over to her. Eiji and Aiki sat down at the table and started eating, both seeming very eager and hungry. Aiki hadn't really eaten much in the way of full meals in the Otherworld.
Farah offered a genuine smile for the gracious act. "Thank you, ma'am," she said softly as she slowly began to eat. It tasted good. Like home. But not her home.
Eiji and Aiki both got second helpings of food. Their mother always joked that the two of them would eat them out of house and home, but she didn't really mind. She was glad to have them around, and glad to have Aiki back. "Are you still hungry, Farah?" She asked. "You can have more if you'd like."