IT. IS. DONE! Just as I promised! Here's the final and closing chapter!

Forgotten Mission

Chapter 20 – What Family Means

Her father had taught her about what it meant to be responsible for one's mistakes. The Entelexeia had taught her about the scars of the world. Her friends had taught her to set aside personal reasons for the sake of others. For most of her life, however, she had always thought that family only meant someone sharing the same blood. The recent experience had her realize how her father lived in his remaining memories had shown her what family truly meant.

Sharing different blood didn't mean that the person would never be called a family. She knew when she sensed the warmth of a family as she recalled the memories of her parents and Rita's parents sharing a house and a goal. The system of the world had turned everything around, but her father had never stopped hoping that Rey would go back to the correct path. It was a sad fate, but someone already told her that it was the job for their guild to help those victimized by the flawed system.

It was her job as well, as a member of the guild Brave Vesperia. Her resolve was clear and that she would return to her duties, as soon as she was finished with her old promise. A promise which had to be pushed back over and over again for her own selfish reasons of finding out her forgotten mission. While it didn't last long, it was enough to satisfy the two people she had promised.

Judith had just finished paying her respects in front of her father's grave, which was decorated with a different fresh bouquet of flowers. Instead of the usual myosotis flowers, the flowers where white and yellow with each of them having six petals. Two people behind her had stopped praying as well, with one of them giving the Krytian a sad smile.

"I wish we could've traveled more, but unfortunately I have to resume my duties in the castle and Rita needs to return to her research as well," the princess looked over at the mage with a slight look of disappointment on her face, "But… you're still needed to travel every once and then even after settling in the castle…"

"W-What's with that look?" Rita asked nervously, "It's not like I'm going to be away for good!"

The flustered mage's response had always made her chuckle, no matter what it was about. It would be a while until they could see each other again now that their little trip had ended and they had to go back to their daily lives. Ba'ul and her would drop them off at Zaphias before the two of them moved on to their next location.

"By the way, what are you going to head off to next?" the mage's question had surprised the Krytian as she wasn't the type of person to be openly concerned about others. The amused stare coming from her had made Rita realize what she had subconsciously said and quickly turned away in embarrassment, "N-Not like I'm concerned about it or anything!"

"Of course not," Judith responded with a teasing smile, which had annoyed the mage even more, "I believe the answer to that question is quite obvious already."

"Then…" Estelle's face brightened up, "Are you going back to the guild?"

The Krytian gave her a nod, "Of course. I'm still a member of Brave Vesperia and I still need to have Patty do the usual checkup on Fiertia in case we need it for our next job."

"Then what are we waiting out here for anyway?" Rita impatiently asked, "I need to get back to work before any of those incompetent mages destroy anything else in the laboratory!"

"Yes, let us be on our way," Estelle and Rita had already gone ahead, with Judith slowly following behind them.

The Krytian stopped for a moment, looking back at the grave for the last time before she left. A sad smile formed on her face before she continued her walk down the mountains.

'Thank you for everything you've shown me even after your passing. I now have a new resolve to stay alongside them.'

"How is it? I can pay you a big amount if it's what you want!"

Karol was cornered by the old man standing on the other side of his desk, looking at him expectantly as the old man leaned in far enough that Karol was almost leaning against the wall behind him. He tried giving out gestures to Yuri as he and Repede sat by the table in the middle of the room, but the swordsman simply shrugged in response. The final decision was supposed to be his as the guild leader, after all, but he couldn't just take it right away.

"U-Um…" the young leader slowly rose from his seat just to give himself some space from the old man, "So… you need someone to pick up your goods from Capua Torim and deliver them to Heliord?"

"Yes!" the old man nodded frantically, "Please! My family's store depends on it! I need them to be delivered by tomorrow!"

"That won't do," the young leader and the old man turned to Yuri as he got up from his seat, "That's a pretty long walk from the port to Heliord. No human can walk that fast especially when carrying a lot of stuff with them-"

"Ba'ul can carry everything at once and go between the two places in a matter of hours."

Yuri and Karol turned towards the door, seeing their familiar comrade walking into the room, "Judith! You're back!"

The swordsman watched in surprise as she walked past him, "I'm surprised to see you here after a while, Judy."

"I didn't say anything about leaving the guild, did I?" Judith gave him a look before he responded with a smile.

"Right. Good to see you back in action," Yuri returned his gaze back to his guild leader, "We don't really have any other reason to decline another emergency delivery job, right Boss?"

"Yeah," Karol responded with a nod and turned to Judith, "So you'll take the job, right?"

The Krytian gave him a nod, "Yes. I accept this task in the name of the brightest star in the sky-Brave Vesperia!"

The old man looked excited as he was leading Judith out to brief the job further, but the Krytian took a detour as she grabbed the swordsman's arm. He stared at her in confusion, but he was forcefully dragged out of the room without a word, "H-Hey! What are you doing?!"

"You're coming too, of course," she responded without turning to face him for even a second, but a smirk had formed on her face, "I still owe someone something…"

"Did you say something?" her whispers weren't heard by the swordsman, but the question didn't stop him from struggling as Judith had kept him in a tight armlock, "Still, I have things to do back in the headquarters! Those red-head twins are going to arrive soon and I need to-"

"Then we'll only have to finish the job quick, right? We can have an entire guild gathering moment later tonight if everyone is available," the Krytian suggested as she released the armlock, leaving once she had done so.

"Alright, that's fine by me."

Karol watched as two of his guild members left the building, leaving him alone with a slightly tired-looking Repede lying under the table in front of him, "What happened between those two anyway?"

"Woof!"

The young leader looked down at the tired dog when he heard his bark, "Do you know something, Repede?"

The canine simply responded with an annoyed growl and a yawn before he curled up under the table. Karol gave him a stare for a moment as he was napping, though knowing that Yuri was the only one who could understand Repede. He sat back on his desk with a long sigh, getting a moment of peace in the building once more, until the door slammed open with loud voices coming from outside.

"I'm first!"

"Shut up, dreck! Nobody is having this dumb race with you!"

"Says someone after knowing that he loses!"

Karol let out another sigh as he covered his face with his hands while trying to ignore the loud bickering at the door, "Please come back soon, Yuri… I can't handle these two on my own…"

An entire guild gathering. The thought lingered in her mind as she and Yuri headed off for the job. She had denied it before, but the events months prior had changed her mind. Her father was her family, and now that family had grown to include her friends and her guildmates as well.

For long she had only considered Ba'ul to be the only one she had left in her life, but not anymore. She wasn't alone and her father's old memory had taught her one more thing: the true meaning of family.

"Can I ask you a question, Rey?"

"Huh?" a brunette mage took off his goggles and directed his attention away from the metal objects and the documents on the desk in front of him to the older Krytian behind him, "What is it, Hermes? I'm kinda busy here."

"Just a moment of your time, if that's okay," Hermes took a seat on his own desk while holding a book in his hand, "What do you think about me and my wife? To be exact, whom do you think we are to you?"

"W-Wait, what kind of question is that?!" Rey quickly slid his goggles back down, once again returning his attention towards the metal objects on his desk, "Stop bothering me for those kinds of questions!"

"I mean," the Krytian started once more, "I have a wife as my family, but you've lived here on your own all these years before Commandant Alexei introduced me to you. Don't you feel lonely living on your own here?"

The mage stopped tinkering with the metal objects and lowered his head slowly as he whispered, "No… not really…"

"You… you're like a family to me too, you know."

"Nonsense!" the metal objects fell on the desk with clanging sounds as the mage slammed his hands on his desk, "We're not even related at all! How can we be a family anyway?!"

"Blood isn't everything. It's the memories that counts," Hermes spoke up softly, "We've been working together for years, before I even meet my wife here. We've spent our time together doing things most families do that I'm starting to think of you as my own brother."

Rey paused for a moment before replying hesitantly, "What if I don't think the same? My research is everything to me."

"That's a lie," Hermes let out a smile before gently patting the mage's shoulder, "If you don't care about me at all, you would've kicked me out when I told you that I was getting married instead of letting both of stay in your house."

"W-Whatever!" clanging sounds drowned his voice as he tried going back to work, though with the topic of family being brought up, another thought had lingered in his mind, "H-Hey, Hermes?"

"Yes?"

"What if… just if, that when both of us have our own children someday, would they be a family too?" the mage's voice was soft as he avoided the Krytian's surprised gaze.

"Well, I suppose they will… no, they will be like a family. I can be sure that either Judas or Judith will be good friends to your child," Hermes responded confidently, "Maybe they can work together like us to make a better world for the future."

"What, are you naming your kids before you even have one?" Rey sarcastically asked, "That's just dumb."

"You'll understand someday when you've settled down, little brother," Hermes closed the book in his hand, putting it on Rey's desk, "Just remember that we'll always be a family as long as those memories are there."

"S-Shut up!"

Hermes let out a laugh as he walked out of their shared study, looking back at the diligent mage left behind.

'A family doesn't always have to involve being related by blood. It's the memories that actually counts.'

Final day of 2019 and the last chapter is up! A change of flowers again and the flowers here are called 'daffodil', which have the meaning 'rebirth' and 'new beginning'. Nageeg concept not really needed here anymore, just a bit more of the memories from it at the end. I'm taking the names Judas and Judith from the same name meaning both for both genders as Hermes' unnamed wife here hasn't conceived Judy yet.

Anyways, that's the end of the story! Thank you for the support from both here and AO3 and I'll be back next year for more in Tales fandom!