Gaia awoke early the next day with her bonds in excitement. Antonio was especially excited and nervous. It was his day to show off and compete in the name of his mother or "Queen." He needed to do good today or Gaia would be disappointed in him. Or at least that's how he was thinking due to his nerves. Being an ant, he never really slept. He just entered torpor which is similar to hibernation rather than actual basic sleep. Which meant he didn't usually dream, but he had last night.

He dreamt of the tournament and failing to do well in it. He dreamt that he failed and lost the tournament on his first spell. He dreamt of Gaia looking at him like she didn't need him, and that he was useless. A failure to be left behind. He awoke from his torpor with a start which was odd, since he'd never done so before today. Gaia was worried but let him decide what and when to say things. He was the youngest of her bonds and still learning to express himself, so she held him once he was up and spoke.

"Are you alright Antonio?" She asked knowing something was wrong, especially when he didn't even seem to look at her.

There was no response for a minute before he finally spoke. "I'm fine. Just nervous." Antonio replied back, lying.

His response was matter of fact and honest. Like he was really alright. Like he hadn't just dreamt what he had, but he forgot that Gaia could sense his feelings, even if faintly, through their bond. He felt a surge of worry, sadness and a bit of hurt from her through it as well and realized. He'd just lied to her for the first time. He'd just lied to Gaia, to her face while she was only worried about him. Like he couldn't trust her

He felt shame and guilt flooded through him as he realized what he'd done. Gaia just nodded and set him down. Antonio felt lost when his legs touched the sheet and wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't. He just kept seeing the sadness and hurt he'd caused on her face and his words got caught in his mandibles.

"Alright. Let's get ready for the day! We have a tournament to compete in today!" Gaia said with forced cheer as she woke up her other bonds.

As soon as they woke up, they realized something was wrong but didn't know why. The only one to know was Liv who'd been awake the whole time. Being a golem, she never needed sleep and just did what she wanted while everyone slept, which usually consisted of her creating items or smaller golems with her Creation skill.

Gaia got up and went to find her friends to get ready for the day, leaving her bonds in the room alone. This wasn't something she usually did, so they were now even more worried. Shadow and Malachite didn't know what was going on, just that they could feel the turmoil Gaia was in. The main thing they registered from her emotions was the hurt and sadness.

"What happened? Did Mom have a bad dream?" Shadow asked her siblings.

"Seems deeper than dream. Seen mom after bad dream. Not the same." Malachite replied.

Antonio was just silent, unable to bring himself to speak and admit he was the cause. He felt horrible knowing it was his fault she felt that way. Knowing it was because he'd lied to her. That he'd not trusted her enough to tell her what was wrong and to not abandon him after seeing his nightmare, which he realized it was.

"He lied to mom. She noticed him startle awake and she was worried. He just told her he was nervous, like he'd forgotten she can sense our emotions." Liv explained bluntly gesturing to Antonio.

"Did you apologize at least? You know she'll forgive you. She wont won't make you talk about something of you don't want to." Malachite asked.

"Apologize and say not talk now. She'll understand. Loves us! Will wait for you to talk." Shadow added.

"She understands you don't want to talk about it. Whatever it is. Just apologize for lying to her. Then you can talk when you're comfortable. She'll wait for you to talk. Even if she'll worry about you until you do. Now, we'll go find her. You sit and think about what's actually wrong." Liv stated as she climbed on Malachite's back and the three left the room.

Antonio sat where he was, unmoving, as their words sunk in. He could still feel the hurt and sadness in Gaia from their bond, but it felt faint like there was an invisible wall between them now. Like he was looking through a window to see, and everything was muffled and muted. He wasn't sure if the unnatural feeling was his fault or from Gaia's side. Just that it felt wrong, and he had no idea how to fix it.

Antonio was alone for around an hour as the other three talked to Gaia. It was close to the end of that hour that Gaia came back into the room. He could still feel the hurt from her, but it had lessened, likely due to a mixture of the other bonds and Fergus' efforts to help calm her. Antonio stilled when she entered the room and neither spoke nor moved until Gaia did.

"So, what's actually wrong? Please be honest with me." Gaia asked quietly.

Antonio heard how much she worried in her voice and spoke honestly. "Nightmare. You abandoned me. Left alone, after failing in the tournament. I wasn't needed." He quietly explained sadly and guiltily through their bond.

Gaia stilled for a moment hearing this and nearly started crying. She laid down so her head was right beside him. "I'd never abandon you or anyone else. At least not willingly. You are my family and irreplaceable. I don't care about winning the tournaments. At least I don't care about winning. I just want to have fun, not dominate them. I just want to show you guys off as the wonderful and powerful creatures you are. As my children. I'm always proud of you all, and ready to praise you for who you are to anyone." She explained.

He stilled for a minute letting the words sink in and probably would have cried if he had the ability to. His body relaxed and he moved closer to lean against her. He wasn't soft like the others, but he leaned against her and essentially nuzzled her as his antennae tapped on her cheek furiously in apology. "Sorry. For lying." He got out through the bond as his emotions roiled between shame, guilt and hope.

Gaia was quiet as she felt him against her cheek, but she relaxed hearing the apology and how sincere he was about it. After around five minutes of just laying there and Antonio apologizing and nuzzling her, she spoke again as she scooped him up. "Don't lie again. I'm always here for you guys and you all are my children. I don't know what I'd do without you four. I'll always listen to you, just don't lie again, it hurts thinking you can't trust me."

Antonio stilled for a moment before replying. "Okay, mom."

Gaia just pulled him closer and kissed his head before putting him on her shoulder. He felt the weird blockage in the link disappear and he relaxed slightly. Then he realized the others were in the doorway and stilled again. They'd listened, and he was worried they'd be angry with him. Gaia just tapped him on the head, as a slight admonishment for lying, and slight reminder that they care just as much.

"Is Mom okay? Are you two okay now?" Malachite asked hesitantly.

"They look okay! Antonio is on mama's shoulder! Look, see! They're okay now!" Shadow cried enthusiastically before rubbing against Gaia's legs in a circle.

"They're okay, Mal. It looks like Antonio realized and apologized. It wasn't a major problem as far as I could tell. Just a kid doing something without meaning to." Liv stated bluntly.

"Antonio? Mom?" Malachite asked hopefully.

Antonio hesitated, still feeling guilty for lying and beating himself up about it. Gaia was the one to answer. "We're alright Malachite. Come here." She said.

Malachite ran to her and jumped before shrinking and she caught him in her hands as Liv crawled up to her head. "I don't like it when we fight." Malachite said as he snuggled into Gaia's arms.

"I don't either, big guy. I don't either." Gaia said to him as she pat his head.

"Sorry." Antonio said again after a bit.

"It's alright, just don't do it again. She whispered to him.

They sat like that for a while, all of them just cuddling and comforting each other before Gaia decided it was time to go eat. She'd also sensed Fergus and the others outside the room peeking in to make sure everything was going alright. She giggled slightly at it as Liv noticed them too. They all left the room and found her three companions standing outside after scrambling to look like they'd not been spying.

"Oh, well hi there you guys! What could you possibly be doing out here?" She asked with a voice that was sickeningly sweet.

"We were just passing by. We heard you and noticed the door was open, so we peeked in to check on you guys. You'd told us about what happened, so we wanted to check how it was going." Fergus replied honestly, knowing he would only be in for it if he lied.

Gaia turned her head towards him and leaned closer. "Fine, I can't get mad when you openly told the truth." She said with a playful pout.

"No, he just knew what he was in for if he'd lied to you." Stephanie quietly said from behind him.

Griff just laughed as Gaia did the same. Fergus was standing stunned at Stephanie's statement, since he couldn't refute it. Gaia just laughed harder as she sensed him standing stock still. After everyone but Fergus had gotten the giggles and laughter under control, they all went down to eat. They had breakfast with everyone and headed towards the Colosseum. It was the day of the Magic Tournament and Gaia was to participate. Or rather Antonio was to participate under her name.

They walked to the Colosseum as they talked about the upcoming tournament. Gaia didn't know anything about her competition, only that they all used magic and that they would be judged based on three main criteria. How the training dummies reacted, how the spells affected the dummies and overall damage. There was a smaller score for showmanship since many spells were skills that activated with little audible or visual effects.

They reached the colosseum and Gaia entered before waiting for a guide. She had all of her bonds except Antonio in their tattoos so Antonio could access their mana if he needed to. When no one came, she tried to find someone to guide her where to go. She found someone nearly twenty minutes later after using her mana shaping to search a much larger area. The worker wondered why they were being asked where to go.

"There are signs saying where the participants are supposed to go, just follow those." The man stated.

"Um, how am I supposed to do that?" Gaia asked.

"Open your eyes and look." The man replied angrily before looking at her, then his words died on his tongue.

"Did no one inform the workers of a blind contestant? Or were you just slacking off thinking it was fine, because why would a blind person enter a magic tournament that required hitting distant targets?" Gaia asked, voice annoyed and hard. This hadn't happened often because she was rarely by herself, but seemed to almost every time she was.

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The man just stayed quiet but got up and started leading Gaia where she needed to go. When she was in the waiting room, the man spoke again. "I'll send someone to guide you to and from the arena as well." Then he ran for it.

Gaia was annoyed but ignored him. At least he finally did his job. She was getting really tired of how the world made everything very hard for a blind person, but it'd been that way since the beginning, so she just slumped. She waited and waited. She only heard the contestants being announced but sensed nothing. She sat in the room and waited until someone came and knocked on the door. She opened the door to find someone standing there.

"Are you Miss Gaia?" The man asked.

"Um, yes, I am. Who are you?"

"I am Jeralt, miss. I am here to guide you to the arena. We are ready and waiting for you. We did not realize that the room did not have an indicator for someone such as yourself." He stated with a bow.

"Well, thanks. How long has everyone been waiting for me?"

"Around thirty minutes now. We found the worker who guided you to this room and he panicked after realizing he never let us know. Thus, we are back to the present. Now, if you follow me, I will guide you to the arena." Jeralt stated as he led her to the arena.

Gaia followed closely behind, and they soon arrived at the arena. She walked straight out and approached the training dummies. She could sense them thanks to the strength of their enchantments and how saturated the mana was in the colosseum. She walked back a bit before stopping and moving her head towards the judges like she was looking at them.

They all murmured to each other before deciding to just continue like normal. The first judge stood and spoke. "Use a ranged single target spell." They ordered and Antonio walked down her arm as she raised it. He was perched on the back of her hand and he did so. He used his Phantasmal spike skill to fire a spike into the dummies. The one that was struck started moving funny as it imagined pain radiating from the struck area.

It writhed for a bit before going completely still. A moment later it was levitated and floated off to wherever it was going. The empty space shone for a moment before the mana disappeared with a pop. Suddenly there was another training dummy where the first had originally been.

"Now, use the spell in quick succession. Hit all of the targets as quickly as possible." The judge announced.

When they said go, Antonio fired off three rapid fire shots of his Phantasmal Spike skill that each hit the mark. They landed and the dummies all started writhing like they were in pain. They were soon taken off before three more appeared.

"Now demonstrate another skill, not one that is an area of effect." They announced and Antonio listened.

He fired off three Psychic Stings in rapid succession and the dummies dropped to the floor as they writhed in pain. This time it seemed more intense by the jerky and erratic movements they made. The dummies struggled for half the time the last one's did before going limp. They all floated off and five more appeared where the three had been. They heard the judge speak again.

"Now, use your area of effect spell." The man called.

She was already moving forward as she heard that call. As soon as she was within ten feet of all of them, a dome appeared and covered everything inside. It was semi-transparent and covered everything like it was even passing through the ground creating a sphere around her.

The only things that could be seen from the audience seating and the judges are the semi-clear dome and the dummies lying on the floor twitching erratically. They were unable to grip anything and flailed wildly. Their flailing changed as the imagined pain seemed to radiate from random areas along their forms.

When the judge announced his next words, everyone was watching Gaia as she walked back to the pit's entrance and was led back to her waiting room.

"That is all. Thank you for participating. We will call the winners out again, please remain in the room until called or dismissed." He called.

Gaia just went back to her room and waited with Antonio who was nervous about how he did. He thought he'd done well, but the judges were all stone faced. He couldn't tell if he'd surprised, impressed, or disappointed them. All he knew was that they were done, they needed to head back to the room. The following wait was horrible. Gaia couldn't watch the other contestants, so she was stuck just listening, since her aura was being confined within the room. Around three hours later she heard a knock on her door.

"Hello?" She asked.

"You've been placed in the top three Miss Gaia. Please follow me to the arena for your prize and recognition." Jerald said with a bow before leading her to the pit's entrance again.

She walked out to the sound of cheering. It was loud, hurt her ears and was slightly obnoxious, but she couldn't help but smile. She, or rather Antonio, had done enough to make at least the top three according to Jerald. So, they'd already won in her book. She stood there with Antonio on her shoulder and waited for the other three participants to arrive. Once they were there, the pedestal's arose underneath each participant. This time Gaia was third place.

Antonio had impressed the judges greatly, but his attacks were damage over time and thus not as important as pure damage spells. It was unfortunate, but Gaia understood. The pure damage spells were flashier with their effects while Antonio's magic just had things writhing on the ground in pain. One was flashy, the other looked disturbing but one couldn't overlook the potential of it. Thus, she'd been awarded third place. She was sad it was all under her name, but Antonio seemed happy with that. He'd been worried that he hadn't done well enough to place high, but Gaia continuously helped him relax. Now he was bobbing side to side on her shoulder happily.

"Good job Antonio. We got third place! You did wonderfully." She said with a gentle pat on his raised head.

"I did well! We got third place! I did good!" She heard him repeat over and over.

"You did great little guy." She repeated as she stroked his carapace, relaxing.

"Now what did we win for third place?" She asked as she saw the podium appear holding something.

The podium held something, and Gaia nearly laughed when she sensed what it was. It was a hat, a small one but it was extremely magical. She immediately gave it to Antonio who proceeded to wear it, even though it was nearly twice his size. When he went to put it on his head, it shrunk to match his size and fit ridiculously well with his trench coat. When she poked at him now, she could only imagine an old detective with his trench coat and hat.

It was adorable and seemed like it would be a minor thing until much later that night. She ignored the hat knowing Griff would study it that evening and have it ready to give back before everyone woke up. She would let him while Antonio slept so they could determine whatever effects the hat had.

After the pedestals and podiums disappeared, Gaia just landed on the ground as Malachite appeared and used his telekinesis on her to lower her slowly and softly. She relaxed in the throne-like seat on his shell, and he carried her out. They reached the others who were waiting outside the Colosseum happily.

"Third place! Congrats Gaia, Antonio!" Fergus called as he hugged her and patted Antonio.

"Great job you two. I hope you weren't too bored sitting in the room." Stephanie stated.

"Fantastic spell work." Griff said as Antonio crawled onto his arm to talk about magic.

"I'm just glad it turned out alright. I was worried when the judges were stock still and emotionless, from what Antonio told me." Gaia stated.

"Ah, that's just an illusion, the judges give a silent judgement. They're still professional underneath them, but they help to keep the audience and participants on their toes." Fergus explained.

"So, what are we doing for the rest of the day? My tournament's done, I know it's around early to mid-afternoon so it's up to you guys. Shall we go celebrate or do something else?" Gaia asked.

"Let's go eat. I want to celebrate and there aren't anymore tournaments that any of us are in tonight. Let's find Flora, the Baron and everyone else. They said they'd be here." Griff stated then heard a voice from nearby.

"Miss us already?" Titania asked as everyone walked towards them.

"Great job Gaia and Antonio. You both did great." The Baron added.

"Wonderful! Now, shall we go get some food? I'm famished after only eating the food at the colosseum." Cayna, the baroness, stated.

Everyone moved away from the colosseum together patting Gaia on the back and patting Antonio's head gently. The little Agony Ant was ecstatic that he'd done well and exceeded her expectations. She'd never planned to win, let alone reach the top three. She was just as ecstatic by it, in no small part due to the small hat resting on Antonio's head. It looked adorable and great on him with the trench coat.

They went to a restaurant and swiftly ordered a literal mountain of food, but knowing it would all be gone thanks to the increased metabolism due to their higher ranked bodies. They ate and relaxed. Gaia fed her bonds their own meals which she'd ordered or let them have a taste of different meals to try.

By the time they were done eating it had already gotten dark outside, so they paid and left to head back to the mansion. They all settled down and relaxed for the evening as Griff started to inspect the hat Antonio had received for getting third place.

He inspected it for a long time and looked a bit stumped. He eventually gave it back and it shrunk back down when Antonio put it on his head. Griff looked at it with unabashed curiosity.

"I don't know what all of its functions are, at least based off the runes and magic I know. I'll need to look into older magics just to be safe. It appears to be a simple hat with a size enchantment that detects the size of a head when it's on one. It also has some basic defensive and durability enchantments to keep it from getting damaged. The last enchantment I could understand were the dwarven runes along the edge. They're a basic repair function using ambient mana to fix it. Once again, I don't know if it has any other functions." Griff explained.

Stephanie perked at the mention of dwarven runes, and she checked the hat herself. She concluded it indeed did have a self repair function but the other spells or enchantments they didn't know so it would take a while to find them, assuming the spells weren't lost.

After Stephanie checked the hat too, Gaia called an end to the studying of the hat. Antonio had earned and liked it, so she left it to him. He wore it the rest of the night and seemed to strut around with it like he'd earned a trophy, which it technically was one. Gaia was just happy to see him excited and proud to have done well.

As the night got later and the celebrations died down everyone started talking about their own things. Flora relaxed and started talking about their plans, what they wanted to do going forward and how excited they were to see Fauna fight in the upcoming tournaments. The Baron and baroness were likewise excited for the fighting too. Freya seemed the most excited because she'd never actually seen them fight, just seeing them when they returned from the fights.

Everyone was ready for the upcoming tournaments and looking forward to how they'd play out. Everyone eventually drifted off, whether to go to sleep or just think for a bit before bed. Gaia found herself alone in her room with her bonds around her. She spoke to them as they sat there, partly to just talk and partly to tell them some things she thought they should know.

"I love you guys. Never forget that. I couldn't be happier here, I have you guys, good friends, a wonderful boyfriend, and I enjoy doing everything here. But I miss earth. That's the world I'm from, if I've never told you the name of it. I love it here, but I miss my family there. I want to see them again but haven't really thought about them in nearly a year. Is that terrible of me? And I don't think I've even told you guys about your other family members. Those that don't know you exist or that I'm likely even alive. So let me tell you about them tonight." She started.

"You all know our current family. The one made from our party and our close friends. Well, there's also my own family back on earth. That's the world I'm originally from. My family there consisted of my mom, dad, my brother and sister as well as their spouses and my niece and nephew. There were or are some very close friends I called family too." She continued, taking her blindfold off as some undyed tears shimmered in her eyes.

"I miss all of them. How I'd see my mom and sister's family every week. How I'd call my dad and brother to talk to them. How I'd just exist as I was. Now, I don't even know what's going on back there or what they think happened to me. I don't know if they think I'm dead, missing, or what. Granted I haven't really had the luxury to worry about these things before now, but it hurts my heart thinking that they believe me dead." She said stopping occasionally to take deep breaths.

"If I go back, would they even believe me if I told them who I was? Or would they write me off as someone using the name of their dead family member to get something? Or will I be forgotten? I think that's what really scares me. Them forgetting me. Im going to try and find a way back to earth. I want to see them again and more importantly, I want my new family to meet them. The ones who helped turn me into the person I am today. The ones that I care about and want to protect, even as I'm here fighting and growing in another world. I want to show them how I've grown and how I've changed. Not just physically but mentally because I'm a better person now than I was then, I think." She finished.

"I think I'll tell you more about them another day. I just want to remember the good memories for tonight. Not the missing, not the changing but telling you some of the little but important memories I have. Like when my niece first hugged me, going to my siblings band concerts and soccer games. The times I sang in the car with my mom and dad. Just these silly memories that I will never forget. I want you all to know about them." Gaia finished before she started telling them about her memories with her family and friends.

She talked about them late into the night as she cuddled with her bonds. Letting her tears fall and burn as she did so. She loved her family and missed them even if she wasn't sure what was happening to them or what they thought had happened to her. Even when she was in a completely different world and didn't have much time to worry about them. Her bonds listened intently to her about this family she wanted them to meet some day. They wanted it too, to meet these people she talked about so fondly and with occasional annoyance. That's what family was and something she missed. Her companions are her family, but nothing could keep her from missing the family that raised her. She drifted off to sleep with her bonds as they cuddled and slept peacefully. Dreaming of her family and the good memories.

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