Angel Monarch

In a room slept a woman and a girl, they were hugging each other for warmth but not of the body, for the soul. The two of them didn't look similar, but a blind person could tell their relationship, a mother and her daughter.

Someone knocked on their door, but neither stirred. There were a couple more knocks, then the door slowly opened. Bea walked in carrying a large try of food and she was about to call for Sera to wake up, but she was already awake.

Sera jumped out of the bed with her sword pointed right at Bea. Her breathing was erratic, like she just woke up from a nightmare. Bea wasn't surprised, she just slowly placed the tray down on the table.

"Good morning to you too." She said sarcastically.

"You could have knocked." Answered Sera, she was a bit angry and annoyed.

Bea laughed at that. "I knocked like a dozen times, you were in too deep of a sleep."

"Oh..." Sera looked away with a blush on her face and dismissed her sword.

Suddenly a noise came from behind her.

"Mom... Mom?" Vicky sounded worried and Sera was already there holding her.

"What is it my little angel?" She said, her voice calm and kind.

"I... I dreamt... I dreamt about hell... When I tried to sleep, but couldn't because..." Vicky was crying and Sera just held her.

"Shh... It's okay... We escaped remember... We are safe here don't we?... Bea will keep both of us safe..." Said Sera while giving Bea a meaningful look.

Bea understood what she meant. "Of course I will protect both of you, but Sera alone is more than enough for that!"

Said Bea smiling, but it quickly turned into a frown. Sera was looking away embarressed and Vicky said.

"I know she can... But Nightmare was still able to do things to her..."

"That's enough!" Shouted Sera a bit louder and angrier, than she planned. Noticing her daughter's reaction of fear, her voice instantly became calmer and warmer. She also began to stroke her hair.

"Those things happened in the past Vicky. Don't bring them up, instead focus on the future. For example I'm hungry what about you?"

Her daughter was sadly too smart for her age and she knew when Sera wants to forcibly change the subject. But she also didn't seem to mind. She smiled and jumped from the bed walking to the table.

She was in one of Bea's shirt, it looked like a nightgown on her. Sera looked towards Bea who tried her hardest to not laugh, this brought a small smile on her lips.

Sera stood as well and invited Bea for breakfast, since it was her room. When all three of them were seated they began eating.

After a while Bea said. "We will have a meeting today, about what route to take to Castleburg. If you feel up for it you can join."

Sera turned and looked at Vicky, she was at an impasse. She didn't want to leave her daughter alone, but also wanted to go to the meeting. Noticing her dilemma, Bea solved it.

"Vicky you are invited as well, do you want to look at maps and plan a way to our new home?"

Her eyes brightened and her explorer spirit ignited.

"Of course, if mom lets me. Mom can we go? Please?" She looked so cute while pleading like this, Sera just couldn't say no.

"Yes, we can." She said placing a kiss on the top of her head. Vicky giggled and went back to eating. At some point she began to hum a song.

"When is it?"

"In a couple hours, I will send Faith for you. Until then you can explore The Bunker, there are lots of cool places to see." Said Bea as she stood. Vicky on the other hand began to look at Sera with her puppy eyes.

"Haa... Fine... we will explore The Bunker..." Said Sera with faked exasperation. Bea laughed as Vicky jumped on Sera, while saying "Thank you" over and over again.

Bea shortly left and Sera began to get Vicky ready for their exploration. There was only one problem, they had no clothes for children this young.

'I thought the millitary was prepared for anything! Why didn't they thought about children.'

In the end there was only one solution right now. Sera took Vicky's hand and tried to transfer her clothing Item. She was very surprised that it worked, since she supposed to lose it when her Watch got detroyed.

'If I can still summon it, that means the Watch had no actual storage. But then where do I dismiss them to and summon them from?'

These thoughts bothered her, but she had no time to think about it. She needed to get a new Watch for herself and to Vicky, but that was only possible when they get to Castleburg.

Vicky summoned the clothing, but it didn't look the same on her as on Sera. For her it was a long skirt reaching her ankles and a long sleeved tunic, which left nothing exposed.

She looked very cute in it and Sera felt a great relief.

'I was scared it would be the same as on me.'

She sighed, then holding Vicky's hand they began to explore. Technically Vicky already explored the whole bunker in soul form, but it was a vastly different experience.

As they walked around laughing and giggling, the people gave them weird looks. Most of the veterans were dead, so they didn't even know who she was. Sadly that didn't last long, some veterans saw her and the news immediately spread, that she was walking around the bunker exploring.

No one came to them or asked them anything, they just watched. It gave Sera the creeps and for Vicky as well.

Sera was about to turn around and start punching people, when a familiar figure appeared from the crowd.

"Queen Seraphine, Princess Victoria! The meeting is about to begin!" Faith said it loud enough for everyone to hear. There was a small smirk on her face, when she saw the people's reactions.

'At least she didn't change, good. That makes her trustworthy.'

"Lead the way." Said Sera summoning her most queenlike voice.

Vicky looked very stunned by the whole scenario, but a grin quickly spread through her face and she asked. "Am I really a Princess?"

Faith looked down at her smiling. "Of course you are! Since your mother is a Queen that makes you a Princess!"

Vicky began jumping around from joy, while she kept shouting "I'm a Princess!". Luckily there was no one nearby, because Sera wouldn't have been able to hold her laughter. Faith just giggled.

Soon they arrived at the conference room. Sera looked around and was reminded to the cost of victory. There were two empty chairs.

With a sigh she went to her chair and sat down, then Vicky jumped onto her lap. She reached and grabbed Sera's hand, she was very good at sensing her mood.

Hellfire walked towards her and bent down a bit. Vicky didn't seemed to mind his closeness. 'She probably explored those cells as well.'

"I don't think we officially met yet, Queen Seraphine! My name is Hellfire as you probably already know... It's good to see you well."

Sera reached out and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you. And don't call me Queen, that goes for all of you. You are my friends not my subjects."

Everyone seemed fine with that, except Faith.

"Can... Uhm... Can I still call you Queen Seraphine?" Asked Faith very shyly. Sera chuckled at her bashfulness.

"Yes you can. But no one else from this room!" Sera was very strict about this. She had enough of her close friends calling her titles.

"Now that we are done with that, lets begin!" Said Bea and everyone's attention went to the map on the wall.

On it was Havel, Castleburg and the El-Ba River connecting the two. There were other larger landmarks and abandoned cities on the way, but they are going to evade those.

"We are currently around 200 kilometers away from Castleburg. On foot this journey will take about two weeks give or take. The route that the Watch suggests is not the best, we would have to go through places similar to Havel. My suggestion is we follow the river, but not too closely, we all now the creatures dwelling in there and other than Will, we severly lack in case of a water fight."

Clockwork finished speaking and they turned silent deep in thought. The silence didn't last long though, because Vicky was a very curious child.

"Mom, why don't we go on those roads? It looks like they lead straight to Castleburg." Sera smiled down at her and answered.

"Because, this map is old. Most of those roads are destroyed already by the wars before the Apocalypse."

Vicky's face became thoughtful as she processed the information. After a while she said.

"I understand! Then we can build boats and go on the water!"

Some of the group began to laugh at her idea, but one murderous look from Sera shut them up. She then turned to her daughter and answered with a smile.

"We don't go near the river, there are a lot of very strong monsters living there. Only Will can go near it, since his transformation is related to it."

This back and forth questionere lasted about an hour. In that time they also decided to follow Clockwork's plan. The were going to leave Havel by tomorrow morning.