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// 4 
// Story: Phoenix in Another World 
// by Cheer 
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“Deep breaths Maria, deep breaths,” Maria muttered to herself. Her little sister Belle had just willingly told her she’d broken her rules. She’d gone out into the woods. At night.

Belle gulped and twiddled her thumbs as Maria continued to take deep breaths. “I’m really sorry Maria… I know you didn’t want me to go out but I was telling the truth! There really was some kind of explosion out there!” She exclaimed.

Maria, finally relaxed and knelt down to her sister. She gently ran her hand through Belle’s hair before taking one last deep breath “Belle.”

“Y-yes?” 

“You’re grounded,” Maria said simply before she stood up, “I’ll ask the guild to send a team out to investigate, but you are very, very grounded. Not only did you break two of my rules, but you went and broke them at the same time, in the worst combination humanly possible. You went into the forest at night. I’ve told you so many times that there are monsters in there. What would I do if something happened to you?” 

Her sister’s tone made Belle flinch. Maria was a worry wart, sure, but she was right. Anything could have happened. If she’d left earlier she could have been caught in that explosion. She sniffed and wiped the tears that’d begun rolling down her cheeks as she thought of what could have been. “I- I’m sorry…” She said with another sniff

Maria sighed as she swept her sister up in a hug and gently petted her hair down, “There, there. Maria’s here.”