The Shadows (1/3)

I DO NOT OWN EMINENCE IN SHADOW, HOWEVER I DO OWN ANY OF THE ARTS SHOWN IN THESE FICS.Viewer Discretion : This Special Chapter contains immense amounts of angst and suffering to the point it feels it's a suffering-porn. (THE SHADOWS) Chapters are a point of plot for the characters and there will be no more chapters like this in the future, it is only this once that we have such scenery. You may not like this special chapter because of it, you have been warned.--------------------------------------------------------Special Chapter 7 : The Shadows (1/3)-----------------------------------------------------A cold wind brushed by her golden forelocks as Alpha stood near a railing, leaning on it and sighing. The light sounds of footsteps came from behind her as Epsilon positioned herself next to her.The co-founder of Shadow Garden looked dejected, depressed even. Simply looking into the distance and sighing to herself. She was in deep thought, despite their upcoming last mission.Even with Epsilon next to her, she continued looking far off into the night sky.Epsilon waited, the silence continued on for a while.After ten minutes, neither did anything.Alpha didn't say anything, nor did Epsilon. However the latter simply sighed to herself, preparing to ask her blonde friend's... Troubles."It's pretty cold up here, isn't it?" Epsilon asked, but it was more of a way to strike up a conversation, slowly building her way up before confronting Alpha."Mhm.""This is our last mission against the Cult.""True..""Alexia Midgar and Rose Orianna requested to join on this mission, why didn't you allow them?""...They had other duties.""It won't be long until we get to Oshiana.""...True..""...""..."Epsilon sighed. Seeing that kicking around the bush wouldn't exactly get her any far, she simply decided to be blunt."Wanna tell me what's wrong? You've been awfully quiet for the past few days, it's making the rest of us worried." Epsilon asked worriedly.Usually, if asked with something like this. Their co-founder/Leading member would immediately right herself up, being the perfect and graceful, Alpha, Second-in-command of Shadow. However, the blonde elf did not do any of that and remained lost in her thoughts."It's nothing.. Just some distracting thoughts." Alpha absentmindedly responded. 'Distracting thoughts my ass.' Epsilon sighed again, she turned to see Beta and Gamma a good distance away from them. Both equally wore worried faces.Why was their usually upright and perfect Head-in-command looking as if she'd just lost a date with Shadow-sama? Well that's because she did! A few weeks ago Shadow-sama had decided to travel off to Goddess knows where only he would know, straight up left when Alpha asked him out on a date.Their suspicions were that he was already en route to deal with the last remaining cult members, which was confirmed just an hour ago.How? By using the Long-distance communication artifact or what No.712 calls a 'Phone'.' Ohhh but Epsilonnnn, doesn't the phone have a range limittt??? ' Shush! That would be because they were actually a day or two worth of travel away from Oshiana! The range was enough for it to reach their signalAlpha had done some wordplay with Zeta when she contacted her, the Blonde elf said that the rest of Shadow Garden – Or to be specific, how many members they could bring with them – would arrive in a few weeks by sea travel. But she never said that they were going to use the large transportation airships (Plural, they had three Airships with them, she and the rest of the shades were currently at the first and leading one) made by Eta with the help of Lord Shadow's knowledge to travel to Oshiana. Yes they would have taken weeks to get to Oshiana by ship travel, but that was different to Airships, which could get them to Oshiana in just a few mere days.Alpha had intentionally left that part out because of Zeta. Oh, their so dear cat-therianthrope sister shade, being reckless once more. They knew the cat-girl would try to deal with the last vestiges of the Cult in an act of trying to either redeem herself or flesh out the Cult in revenge.If Alpha said that they'd arrive by Airship and in just a few days, Zeta would undoubtedly do something reckless to finish things by herself, but by telling her that they'd arrive weeks beforehand she would be more methodical with her approach. You never know when these cult bastards have something up their sleeves.Okay, she was getting off topic. Point is, they received some... Pressing concerns regarding their beloved leader. First, he was already in Oshiana(Sasuga shadow-sama) however he was currently disguised as John Smith – An information that almost all of Shadow Garden is unaware of, encountering him when he's currently disguised as John Smith would raise some concerns among their ranks. He clearly had a plan of some sorts or reason as to why he had decided to go back to being John Smith once more, fortunately not to betray them again.Second thing to note, who was the one to have sent them this information while they were en route to Oshiana? Well, you could thank the local Snow Fox who had decided to accompany for this last raid against the Cult, Yukime of the White Tower.Just like Mitsugoshi, the Snow Fox Corporation was going international as well for business related agendas. Marketing for example, it just so happened that two of her main-subordinates, who were named 'Natsu' and 'Kana' were there to expand on some marketing.The therianthropes obviously kept in contact with one another despite the long distance from the Lawless City – Via notes or personally, by at least one of their members, though this time with the use of the 'Phone' to make communications faster, since they weren't that far from Oshiana now – The beastkin named 'Natsu' reported that their opponent this time around was a man named 'Belmo Ontrippofz', apparently the bastard had gone inactive way before the creation of Shadow Garden. Allowing him to slip by their radar, until now of course. Another was that this 'Belmo' had been transporting parts for some pet project that they currently don't have any information about, other than the fact one of them involved the Blood Queen as the target.Ah, yes. There it is, the most concerning part of this information – Which she wanted to doubt was entirely true. This Natsu had claimed she was able to eavesdrop on Zeta and Shadow/John Smith, the thought was laughable, comedic even – The White-fox Yukime shared this sentiment so Lord Shadow must have seen this coming way and used Natsu as a means of communication, without Zeta knowing probably, he's probably there to keep her in check, that or deal with the cult himself... Actually it might already be gone by the time they arrived there.Oh well, back to the Blood Queen. According to the beastkin, Zeta was visibly rattled and shaking when she talked about the Blood Queen, honestly the rest of the information just now was just taken into account, but the thought of Zeta being shaken about something regarding the Blood Queen had garnered their attention – She still doubted this information mind you, but it was pressing nonetheless.Apparently when Zeta told Shadow something about the Blood Queen, she talked about how he had something in-hand or was related to the Blood Queen herself, then when she got to the part where Belmo was planning on doing something with what he had a hand with, their Lord immediately became enraged, though hidden, it still scared the shit out of Natsu..Okay see, THAT was what concerned them the most, which also got Alpha sulking around. What the hell did the Blood Queen have on Lord Shadow that he would become so pissed off and have Zeta shaking when she talked about it.That got Alpha sulking, because clearly their Lord was still keeping secrets away from them. Well, he obviously had a lot of secrets hidden with him but that wasn't the point.The point is did something happen between the Blood Queen and Lord Shadow all those years ago?Well, they'll probably find out when they arrive at Oshiana.Best of luck to the Blood Queen she supposed, because even from here, she could tell that Alpha wasn't just sulking. Hell, she was pissed off, the 'Jealous' kind of pissed off.And when that happens? She's usually right about it, women's intuition and all that.Well... Hopefully she's wrong this time around, she's probably just misunderstanding it. Her Lord Shadow and the Blood Queen probably just had some kind of plan or truce, just per usual.Hopefully.Hoooopeefullyyy.......Well, her turn to try to talk to Alpha is already done. She'll just leave it to Beta or Gamma, for now, what she needs is some sleep.This trip to Oshiana is taking too damn long ++--------------------++"Well, this is certainly annoying." Rand Omadolcnte, or otherwise known as 'Rando' noted, staring at a handful of books perfectly organized inside a bookshelf.The noble boy furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance, his gaze currently placed at an annoyingly empty spot where a book should be. It wasn't really anything drastic or something, it's just annoying to see everything so perfectly organized just to see a spot missing something it should have.With that said.What kind of fiend could have taken his 'Stall Wars' Book? That was a new rerelease too. The famous Natsume Kafka having rewritten parts of the story to fill in missing plot holes such as how does Palpakin keep building these ungodly sized super-weapons without anyone noticing, how did the Galaxy forget the Jedi in just a few years and so forth. So far the content it had was a chef's kiss, as great as the original story was, it was irritating when you had mind-boggling questions that were obviously gonna be left unanswered.Oh and, it's original name 'Star it's a trap Wars' was scrapped due to being too long and was renamed to the one we know now as 'Stall Wars'. A great move really, the name really fits like a glove.But enough being a critic, what the boy wanted to know right now, was how in the blazing hells did his book disappear? The one he had was the second volume, having read the first volume from Remilya after Ms. Vlodquinn – The elegant and goofy mother had insisted for her to be called 'Ms.' instead of 'Mrs.' for whatever reason – bought her the first volume. Last he heard, his friend was complaining about not being able to buy the second volume....Of course, who was he kidding? Remilya obviously took it the last she visited, would it kill her to ask instead of trying to act like 'Kaito Kid' and stealing his stuff? Yes, she does return them but it would take weeks for her to do so as she would forget it. To top it off, the girl would simply laugh it off as 'Borrowing his stuff' before putting on a witch's hat she bought from somewhere and screaming 'DAZE' whenever he requested for his things to be returned.Rando sighed."Well, I guess I'll be cut off from finishing the second volume for quite some time..-"He cut himself off when he heard a shuffling noise, he tilted his head suspiciously, looking at where the source of the sound came from. He narrowed his eyes and slowly walked towards where the shuffling had come from, since the Library's lights were currently turned off – His mother would spank his rear if she found out he was still awake in the middle of the night after they had come back from the Festival's opening an hour ago, because of this he turned off the lights to avoid being found. – He had a directional lantern called a 'Flashlight' from Mitsugoshi, which was many times brighter than a candle-lit lantern, Goddess-bless those people for their incredible works.Angling the light towards a gap between bookshelves, assuming that the sound had come from the gap by listening to it, another sound of shuffling came from the aforementioned gap. He gripped his flashlight and strolled forward, listening carefully at the strange muffled sounds followed by a sound of... Sobbing?...Nope.Almost immediately, his heels spun around towards the library's exit. 'Nope, forgive me for my utmost unbefitting language as a noble, but politely, fuck this I'm out.' His stroll slowly transitioned to a jog as sweat dropped from his poker but inwardly terrified face, but before he could even get closer to the exit, he heard the sounds of sobbing and sniffing once more, this time, clearer than before. Awfully sounding like Remilya whenever she cried.He paused on his feet and turned, his eyes locked on the spot where the sobbing came.He immediately pondered his choices.First, he didn't believe in ghosts but he dared not try to find out now if it was real, he'd read enough books to know the tell-tale signs of a ghost trying to turn you into a Horror-novel main character. So there was a chance that this was an actual ghost imitating Remilya's voice to make him lower his guard.As for the second one, this may very well be just his mind playing tricks on him after arriving back home tired from the Festival, but there was ALSO a chance of this being Remilya, he knows his best friend would come to him to cry or complain sometimes.With all that in mind, what in his father's great name should he do? Come on Rando, you're the son of a duke in the process of assuming the position of heir when the time comes, you can't just back down from this...Besides, ghosts aren't real.. Right?Definitely, they were superficial at best. Nothing but fiction created by the great minds of humanity to bring some form of entertainment.Not because they were based on real, actual things. NopeHaha... Shit.He's gonna regret this isn't he? That or he dies."..Oh to hell with it!" The boy silently cursed, pacing towards the source of the sound with his flashlight.Nervously braving himself, he neared towards the gap and put on his bravest face.Cutting close to the corner, he yelled out a war cry that came from his soul."In the name of Soul Society, turn yourself in! You haunting-fiend of a ghost!" He arrived at the spot and pointed his flashlight at the fiendish ghost that would likely be the cause of his death for his foolish choices, his eyes finding itself eye to eye with the ghost.Well that's terrifying, the ghost had assumed the appearance of his friend and was currently huddled against the bookshelf's sides, eyes red from what looks like hours of crying.Wait...That's not a ghost..Said 'ghost' was startled. Bright-red glowing eyes(Which was honestly terrifying from his perspective, her eyes were unnaturally bright in the dark) reminiscent of a nocturnal animal stared back at him, her crying interrupted by the blonde boy.They stared at one another, the deafening silence filling the dark library, they remained still for a good minute, not a single one of them making a single movement.Rando liked to think himself as a gentleman, brave and courageous, so to say that he screamed like a little girl after Remilya suddenly screamed and startled him would be a lie.. Or so he wished.He definitely, DEFINITELY did not scream like a little girl."EAAAAAAAAH-!" Remilya shrieked."AIEEEEEE-" Rando did the same.It didn't take longer than a moment for Remilya's fist to become intimate with Rando's face out of instinct. ++--------------------++"I'm sorry!" Remilya apologized profusely after punching Rando in the face, the noble boy reassured her that it was fine."It's fine, neither of us were expecting that." Rando massaged his nose, giving her a flat look. "Still, isn't it kind of un-ladylike of you to suddenly lash out, fist literally armed.""I-it's not my fault you scared me, I thought you were a ghost.""I'm pretty sure I should be the one saying that, it's not exactly common to hear someone CRYING inside a dark and quiet library." Rando huffed, crossing his arms."Least of all, I was expecting a ghost, not a Gorillya-tan."Remilya sniffed and smiled at him, before narrowing her eyes. "Huh?! Who are you calling Gorilla?! You girly-scream!"Rando balked."Girly-scream? What kind of nicknaming is that?! And I didn't scream like a girl! Slanders!""You did!""No I didn't!"Immediately growing tired of the exchange, she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Yes! You! Did!""I! Did! Not! " Rando grabbed her wrists and looked at her, countering her with each punctuation.They locked gazes, a small tension looming over the two.Before they suddenly gave out warcries, or well, what was intended to be one. It instead sounded more like a bunch of glorified birds dying."RAHHHHH-""HAAAAAA-"They continued their intellectual exchange of words for a few seconds before they eventually stopped and gasped for breath.They locked gazes again, before they started giggling.Rando stopped giggling and smiled at his friend. "Finally stopped crying? Remilya-tan? Hitting another noble is a grave offense, you know?" The last part being a joke.Remilya also stopped giggling, realizing she wasn't crying as bad as before. A few sniffles and small sobs were still there though.Rando internally howled in his success of enlightening her saddened state."Y-Yeah, thank you.. Rando-kun." She wiped a tear away and smiled."Anything for a friend."There was a reason he and Remilya stuck together as friends, it wasn't just because they were 'Nobles' or of the similar scale. No, it was because they were honest with each other. Remilya may be strange and maybe a bit too over dramatic sometimes but he liked the fact she didn't care about a person's social standing – Although she acted like a 'noble' or what was an attempt of being one, Remilya never saw someone for their status and class like he had been taught by his tutors. Not that there was some kind of segregation or inequality between the rich and poor in Oshiana, there were still a few differences between Commoners and Nobles. Such as areas where only nobles were allowed or noble-exclusive services.Remilya cared none of that, the girl would literally go to lesser areas and invite their other friends, ignorant of the dangers of going alone in such places – Not that it would be a problem for her. He vividly remembers her dragging him out to 'play' one time, he immediately hauled ass when he found out her idea of 'playing' that time was to intimidate burglars and gangsters with a paper bag with eyes attached to her witch hat.Ms. Elizabeth was rightfully upset when she found out what Remilya did, so to say the girl was grounded from ever doing that again. She was never allowed to venture off by herself again after that.That said...Why was his friend I'm his house? In the middle of the night and crying all by herself?Looking at her, she's also wearing a black-red dress with a few golden accents. She must have recently been at the Festival.Surely Ms. Vlodquinn is searching for her now"Ne... Remilya-tan." Rando softly called out."Yeah?" Remilya regarded him with a questioning gaze."Did something happen?"Remilya froze.Just like that, her downcast mood that he'd managed to appease came back.She recovered moments later as she put on a face. A feat she discovered and learn thanks to her mama- ...Well, from the mother who had just called her an 'Accident'Her brain filtered out the 'Happy' part the moment she heard her mother call her an accident.Not like it hurt hearing that or anything...Her eyes glinted, a slight watering covering her eyes."N-Nothing.. I hurt my knee trying to get here," She tried to avert the conversation from leading to that topic. "To borrow.. Some books, you know?"Dealite her attempt at hiding her pain, Rando noticed her tearful state and Immediately took out his handkerchief – Something a noble must always have in their person at all times – and held it out for her. Remilya's eyes darted back and forth at the handkerchief and her friend."We both know that's not the case, Remilya-tan," Rando sent her a knowing look, "You wanna tell me what happened..?"The six year old's gloomy state lessened at her friend's offer, but chose to decline as she shook her head."No. It's something stupid. Go away." Remilya says, sitting down back to her spot.Rando sighed and sat next to her, "Remilya-tan you do realize this is where is live.""This part of the library?" Remilya quipped while tucking her knees in and hugging them."No, the mansion we're currently in," His eyes landed on his friend. "Remilya, it's just me." You can be honest with me, we're friends. Went unsaid, he didn't need to. Remilya for all the silly and eccentricity she is, was smarter than him despite being a year younger (She's recently turned 6 for crying out loud, he's 7 pushing 8 years old how is she smarter than him educationally?!), she'd know what he meant.Remilya had the look of someone pondering, it took a few more seconds for her to finally decide. She slumped and leaned on the bookshelf."Mama... called me an accident." Remilya stated, weakly.Rando flinched. 'That's... not what I expected. ' He'd expected it to be some case of her being upset after being scolded or scraping her knee, but it seems neither was true as Remilya had just dropped a bombshell.Ms. Vlodquinn said that? It almost sounded ridiculous. The woman was the most gushy and kindest woman he'd ever met to the point he wanted to call her Auntie for how caring and attentive she was."A-Are you sure you're not misunderstanding it?" Rando balked. "I've seen how protective and caring your mother is of you, surely there's more behind it..?""No..." Remilya shook her head. "I overheard Mama saying how she wanted to keep me from meeting Papa... I stayed until she got to the 'Accident' part... Turns out I'm nothing more than a drunk haggle."Rando closed his eyes and grit his teeth. Reaching a hand out to her back and drawing circles. This prompted Remilya to continue on, eyes glittering from tears."I-I asked her If I could meet Papa... All she had to do was say no, she didn't have to say all of that.."Rando opened his eyes and looked away, cursing himself for not being able to do more other than comfort his friend. Hearing the fickle situation from Remilya as she continued to rant in the background, it almost felt surreal, the festival had just started a few hours ago. A time and event where people were supposed to be happy and celebrating, not having fallouts.He didn't have any other idea on what else to do, his mother was the one experienced with things like these-Wait! That's it! His mother could help his friend, she and Ms. Vlodquinn were good friends after all, maybe she could force the mother-daughter duo into counseling? Weird as it was, considering Remilya was just five- Excuse me, six years old, but they probably need this both to fix the meltdown of their relationship. He also doubted Ms. Mary(Remilya's Aunt, he just realized they barely interacted.) would just standby.He felt guilty and helpless for having to ask of his mother to help out, but what else could he do? This was as far his assistance could go.All he had to do now was convince his mother, which shouldn't be too hard.Well, not too hard to request some aid for Remilya's situation. But definitely not the same for his sorry ass about to receive a day's worth of ass-beating from his mother for staying up so late and sneaking into the library.As if on cue, multiple footsteps reverberated just about where the entrance to the library would be. A second later, the lights to the library opened, his mother and a maid came barreling in, his death- Oops, his mother looked tense with a... Frying pan?No, he wasn't hallucinating, she had a frying pan of all things, even the maid beside her – Anita, who's name if he remembered correctly – had an intimidating spatula, some kind of substance dripping from the tip.What the hell?The Duchess-Maid duo were both in aprons, Rando noted.Were they cooking something before they went here?His screaming contest probably prompted the two to come here, likely worried for him... Goddess, he's not gonna make it out of this scolding isn't he..?No wait, nevermind that. Why were they here instead of the guards..? Him screaming could instigate other conclusions such as him being kidnapped, and they went here with kitchen tools?!Lelaine paused on her steps alongside Anita after seeing her son sitting next to a huddled Remilya.Frowning, she strode forward, stopping just about a few steps away from them.Rando met gazes with his mother and nodded, a silent message being passed between the two.Lelaine's eyes landed on Remilya, who had settled into crying silently. Her frown slowly degraded into a soft motherly look, a grasp on the situation she immediately assessed.Sending over a quick look to Anita, she gestured for her to pamper up the already cleaned living room, and most importantly, the kitchen. No one must ever know the kinds of horror they've accidentally created.Anita soon left the library with a quick bow, both the frying pan and spatula in her hands – To get rid of the evidence, what they had tried to cook was definitely NOT a curry.Lelaine returned her gaze back to the children, she crouched down in front of Remilya and rested a hand over her head.Rando observed from the side, never leaving Remilya's side."Little Remilya..? It's me, Auntie Lelaine."Remilya flinched, removing her face from her crossed arms."Auntie Lelaynee?" ++--------------------++She was cooking with Anita in the kitchen when they suddenly heard Rando's scream. Their peaceful session of cooking interrupted, their attempts to recreate the 'Spicy Curry' – Which ended horribly – sold at the restaurants during the Festival's grand opening gone forgotten in favor of running to her son's rescue, frying pan in hand, Anita just behind her with a spatula.Why was she cooking a commoner's food in the middle of the night alongside her trusted Maid? Well, there was a criminally unrecognized and underrated lack of curry nowadays, whereas other nobles saw it as trash, she saw it as delicacy.How did their attempts go so horribly which ended up creating a weird violet substance? That will go unsaid. For someone like her reputation as a good mother and wife, you'd think such a feat like cooking curry would be simple, but noooo!She didn't actually know how to cook, scrambled eggs were literally the summit of her capability. Then how come her fellow mothers looked for tips and advice from her you ask? Well, all she quite literally did was slap a book to their faces and they came up with that conclusion, not her fault. Hmph.Hence her difficulties at cooking curry, but she had an image to uphold, the time where she would be forced to cook in front of other mothers would inevitably come and she'd be damned if she let herself be embarrassed by her lack of skills.But enough about that, her son's safety came first.When she and Anita arrived at the Library she held her breath, hoping that her son had not been hurt in any way.Thankfully, there was no thief or kidnapper in sight. She didn't exactly know how to fight, running here instead of coming to the guards was more of a thoughtless impulse.That said, her son was safe when she arrived... But uh, there seems to be another variable present at the time.Seeing her son and her friend's daughter sitting together in the library was unexpected. What's more unexpected was to see said son comforting the crying girl, when she first saw them sitting together her first instinct was to literally grab the scenery-capturing device called the 'Camera' and frame the damn picture into the walls.But that line of thought was immediately extinguished by Remilya's pitiful state, that wasn't the cry of a child who got scolded or wounded. That was the saddening cry of a child who had just gone through some emotional strain.Her heart as a mother ached, even more as a wife and a friend after finding out her friend. Elizabeth, of all people, had called her daughter an 'accident'What kind of outrageous move was that?!She wanted to ask if the girl was simply misunderstanding it, a slip of the tongue or misheard words.Unfortunately, it wasn't.Truly outrageous this day was.What's more outrageous was for Elizabeth to say such a thing, the woman was literally the most eager and clumsy woman she'd ever met! Her dedication to becoming a good mother was already admirable for the lengths she would go just to be the perfect mother for her daughter.Even so as a wife, despite the fact she kept avoiding questions about her husband. Or rather, her partner, who's been rather absent from Remilya's entire life – From Remilya's story, it appears that Elizabeth and whomever her partner was, both got drunk at the former's attempts at wooing the man.It finally made sense why Elizabeth insisted for her to be referred to as 'Ms.' instead of 'Mrs.'For all her wrong doings, Lelaine still respected her, Elizabeth still decided to learn how to be a proper wife even without the presence of her partner, admirable as it sounded, it was still wrong to conceive a child with someone and deprive them of the little one's childhood.Right now, the poor girl sat next to her on a couch. The living room was clean and bright thanks to Anita's quick work, her son sat across the table on another couch while Anita stood behind him.The tears had stopped but the young girl never left her embrace, likely looking for some comfort from someone.Hugs helped with sad children, that's something Lelaine knew and was familiar with.She sighed.Lelaine lowered her gaze to the little girl cuddled to her mid-waist. "Remilya, we should get you back to your mother. I'm sure she's worried by now."Predictably, Remilya shook her head. "She doesn't want me anymore... I'm just an accident."Lelaine sighed again, this was going to be a pain. Surely Elizabeth never meant it like that, she loved Remilya too much for that.The little girl must have probably misinterpreted, just like most children would misinterpret something because they hyper fixated on something else.Lelaine rested her chin on top of Remilya, cradling the six year old, "Remilya, you are likely misunderstanding it. Your mother would never dislike you.""But she-""Shh." Lelaine cut her protest off, "Let me finish."Lelaine gently pulled Remilya away to face her."Let me repeat, your mother would never dislike you. You are everything to her, she herself has told me that, and her actions have spoken louder than her words before." She wiped a tear away from Remilya's face with her thumb. "But do take it into consideration that your mother is not perfect, I do not know what has transpired in her past, why she wanted to keep you for herself, but based on your story... it's clear that she's lost something dear to her before, something very, VERY dear to her, that's likely the reason for her actions. It's likely the very same reason she wanted to keep you close, she didn't want to lose you."Remilya lowered her gaze, before she looked at Lelaine with the same teary eyed expression. "But she called me an accident.""Does that mean she hates you? Dislike you? No right? It may seem harsh of her to... call you that , even if she hadn't meant it. She showered you with love, cared for you, took care of you. Would you call that as not wanting you..?" Two hands rested upon Remilya's shoulders. "Little Remilya, everyone makes mistakes. Including your mother, she mperely made one slip up, don't let it ruin your relationship with her. You must treasure it dearly, you don't want to lose something dear to you, right?" Lose something important to you like your mother once did. went unsaid, even if Lelaine avoided saying it, Remilya already knew what she meant.Remilya nodded her head, of course she didn't want that.Deep inside, she still loved her.She didn't want to hate her, while in return she was scared she hated her, who was an 'accident'Besides..Her auntie Lelaynee was right, her mother showered her with love, there was no hate there, she cared for her everyday, tolerated her mistakes, taught her and many others things.Her mother–...Her mama was still her mama, s-she still loved her. She never wanted to run from her, same goes for her friends and Aunties.It just... Hurt being called an 'accident', a year ago she wouldn't have understood what it meant, but continuous reading of books allowed for new knowledge – It insinuated a lot of things, like her papa not wanting her... Which was probably clear by now, she remembered her mentioning about him not being aware of her existence.She wasn't sure about her papa though, she didn't know what to think of him. All she's ever known about him came from her mama.Which... Was not that much, she could count on both hands all the things mama told her about him that wasn't repetitive.She didn't need to know that her papa was easily teased. (According to her, it was quite an easy task to do, just include gold in the conversation.) Or that he was really strong.What she wanted to know is what kind of person he was.That's probably why she felt so frustrated other than the whole 'accident' part, to be denied meeting her father.Lelaine ran a hand through Remilya's hair and smiled, the silence proving as an indicator on her progress at counseling the girl. "Don't you think it wouldn't be fair if you didn't give your mother a chance, it's not too late you know? Don't waste what you have, it's not easy to get back something you've lost."That was true, though the only experience Remilya could compare to that was when one of her friends stopped being her 'friend', she did not like that feeling one bit.If she was only a friend and the pain was already that much then, the thought of losing her mama because she got frustrated about being called an 'accident' then...No, Don't cross that line of thought, she didn't want that at all. Auntie Lelaynee was right, she overreacted and ran off without hearing out her mama, she felt stupid for that, but hey what was she supposed to say about it? She's six, not seventeen."It seems you've made up your mind." Lelaine commented, easily seeing through her.Remilya nodded weakly, before she paused to wipe the last of her tears away. "Mhm.. But I'm not ready yet.. Mm' tired, not prepared.."Lelaine only giggled, she couldn't blame the red haired girl, she'd probably been crying for a while now. "I suppose so, would you like to stay with us for the time being until you're ready?""I-Is it fine..?""Of course!" Lelaine claimed happily. "You're practically my own niece now, besides, it's the middle of the night and going outside wouldn't be a good idea right now.. I'll have Anita prepare you a room so you can sleep in for the night, until a certain boy who stayed up after I told him to sleep early."Rando gulped nervously across the table."But I'll lessen his punishment for doing his best to comfort you.""Thank you.. Auntie Lelaynee.""Anytime-" Before Lelaine could finish, the door to the living room opened to reveal a well dressed man, wearing a suit befitting of a noble, a dirty blonde color was the color that compelled his hair.Rando straightened his back, the man who had just entered the room was his father"Oh, Nicholas! Guess who's staying... for the night..?" Lelaine happily called out to her beloved husband, but soon trailed off when she noticed his... uncharacteristically tense and nervous complexion.That was strange, her husband was normally jovial and a cheery kind of person.. The only times he would be this nervous was when something terrible happened or when that man was present- Oh.. Oh shit.As if to confirm her fears, another well-dressed man in military uniform entered the room, giving Nicholas a shoulder check as he passed by. It went unnoticed by the two younger audience members in the room while Anita straight up excused herself.Lelaine tensed up, growing nervously worried.. Worried for the one she currently had in her arms."Greetings house of Omadolcnte, I've come to visit once more." The man, or rather, Belmo greeted with a smile that looked rather friendly... way too friendly.Rando frowned at his parents' reaction at the strange man, but kept quiet to avoid any altercation or any reasons for his mother to whoop his ass. Remilya on the other hand simply cocked her head to one side in confusion, not sensing the tense atmosphere.Belmo's eyes not so subtly landed on Remilya, which caused Lelaine to tense up even more. Shit, she almost forgot that her family was.. Taken hostage by this man's influence two years ago, he didn't particularly threaten or cause harm to them in any way, but his presence was unbearably suffocating.However, what he did was always ask for information regarding the Vlodquinn family. One time before, Nicholas had once declined his requests – Which felt like more of an order – and the man threatened their son's untimely death if they didn't follow his whims.Telling Elizabeth directly about it was a no go too, she didn't know why Belmo was intrigued with Elizabeth but there was definitely a reason for it, her own suspicions was because she was an elf... Why else would Elizabeth have those sharp long ears? Belmo was probably looking to sell her or something worse.Of course, she did try to warn Elizabeth about it secretly previously at the festival.But that wasn't her current issue right now, this timing was truly hellish. Belmo just had to arrive when Remilya was present at their house. She doesn't regret being friends with the Vlodquinn family even if it put her own at risk, Elizabeth was a kind and true to her heart person. She'll be damned if she lets Remilya fall into his hands.But what could she do..? The man had control over the entire kingdom."Oh? It seems you had guests over, Nicholas." Belmo said, giving Nicholas a side-eye to which the man looked away from.Belmo returned his gaze to Remilya and lowered himself to match her eye-level. "Greetings Little Lady, I'm Belmo Ontrippofz. A friend of the Omadolcnte family."Belmo reached out a hand to Remilya, the girl processed the information and concluded that this man must be an important noble, she quickly got off from Lelaine and brushed herself, giving him a bow and introducing herself. "U-Uh, I'm Remilya Vlodquinn, it is very nice to meet you."She would have shaken his hand to be more presentable and respectful if not for her instincts telling her that this man was not to be trusted.Belmo frowned at being rejected but simply shrugged it off. "Likewise, I didn't know they would have a visitor today.""I'm-""-We invited her here." Lelaine interrupted her before she could say anything. "It's the festival, so I thought it would be... Appropriate to invite a friend of my son.""Ah, is that so?" Belmo looked at her eyes, as if he was looking straight at her soul. Lelaine couldn't help but be afraid under his gaze. Nicholas clenched his fist so tightly blood started seeping out in the sidelines, agonizing at the fact he couldn't do anything but watch as Belmo silently intimated his wife.Rando narrowed his eyes, his eyes darting from his mother to his father, the latter hiding his bleeding hand.Belmo pulled his sights away from Lelaine, the woman immediately slumped and released a breath she was holding. Remilya, being the daughter of her father, was still oblivious to what was happening."Nicholas." Belmo called out to the man behind him, just like his wife, the man tensed up. Silently grinding his teeth together in fury. "I remember suggesting a small business collaboration a while back, you still haven't given me your answer."And with that, Lelaine scrunched up, Nicholas' eyes widened in alarm. There it was, one of the signals Belmo had once told them to follow if he were to say the keywords. That meant he was going to initiate whatever plan he was doing.To Remilya and Rando, they simply heard it as something related to politics and nobles. In contrast to Lelaine and Nicholas.What they heard was "What will be your choice? The death of your family or follow my orders."They didn't exactly know the details of whatever he was planning, but it involved inviting the Vlodquinn family to a province, an island which could classify as a small kingdom but was instead regarded as Oshiana's Province named Okeanos.It was about half a day's worth of travel by ship, but the sights were something worth seeing. Something she thought wouldn't be so pleasing to the eyes if this man had set his eyes on that island."So what do you say, Old friend? You could bring a few guests to Okeanos." Belmo's eyes briefly landed on Remilya, before returning back to Nicholas.Nicholas fought in internal war within his mind, the safety of his family or dooming one little girl they considered family. Even if he fought back against Belmo, he wouldn't be able to do anything, he already found out that this man controlled Oshiana from the shadows, what the hell was he supposed to do?Lelaine silently begged her wife not to do it, to not put Remilya in danger, she was just a little girl!Their eyes met, for a brief moment, Lelaine thought he was going to decline as he lowered his head.Sadly, as tortuous as it is to make the decision. Nicholas chose to protect his wife and son. "Fine.""Nichol-""We'll go to Okeanos... Remilya, would you like to come as a guest? I'd invite your mother too but she's not present right now.. And It will only be for a day." Nicholas grit out in silent agony. Lelaine felt betrayed."E-Eh? Okeanos!? The Province?! Is it fine?!" Remilya beamed at that, Okeanos was popular to younger audiences after all. Boasting in its beautiful sight-seeing tourist spots and its popular local food. "I-I don't really think i can see mama right now... so maybe a day wouldn't hurt?" she mumbled to herself."Indeed, considering our business there would be nothing more than just a few talks with the local economy, Nicholas did once say he wanted to bring more people there rather than just the two of us, it would be rather wasteful after all." Nicholas bit his lip on the sideline as Belmo said this.Lelaine inwardly grimaced. Shit, Of course Remilya wouldn't see the obvious snake-paled face of this goddamn monster, her husband couldn't do anything and so did she. Her son looked like he had his own suspicions but kept quiet, smart boy, maybe she could use this..?Either way, she hopes Elizabeth will somehow understand her very poorly prepared and roughed out plan. If Elizabeth was indeed an elf she must have at least the power to fight them back right? If only to save Remilya and maybe her son too. "No problem, even I would be furious if someone spoke Ill of my beloved husband." She said before secretly slipping Elizabeth a small folded piece of paper. If she remembered to read it, Elizabeth's problem with Remilya might have washed out that paper out of her thoughts by now.Goddess, she prayed that Elizabeth has something that can deal with this man. Her family was already involved in it, she's done all she could."Capital! Nicholas, I believe we have to go prepare for our trip, you might want to help your wife and son with that." Belmo cheerfully said. His cheery tone felt so damn plastic it was suffocating."Y-Yes.." Nicholas wilted inside.Remilya stayed oblivious with her zero-awareness and inability to read the room, while Rando furrowed his brows. He'll have to keep an eye on that creepy guy, his way of talking gave him the creeps.. ++--------------------++The trip to Okeanos took longer than she'd expected, what was half a day's worth of travel by ship took a little longer than she'd like to admit. But hey, it wasn't so bad, Afternoon had only just hit with its bright sun rays and it was already so damn hot.They left immediately for Okeanos a good few hours ago when it had been dark, middle of the night even, so arriving here in the afternoon made sense.Her feet touched down on the artistically built and modeled port of Okeanos, and stretched. Rando stepped down from the ship's stairs and stretched too, now dressed in a jacket-like vest with a scarf, why a scarf? She didn't know but it did look good despite Okeanos' hot temperature.The adults themselves soon stepped off the ship and did their own things. Meh, she didn't like adult talk and stuff. It did make her feel guilty that she went up and hitched a ride to Okeanos after what had just happened with her Mama.The only reason she came here was because she wanted something to serve as distraction while she mentally prepared herself to talk to her Mama again.She Immediately ran off to the Okeanos' portside town to sightsee, Rando just behind her with his hands in his pockets. She was careful on her steps to make sure dirt and sand didn't get into her dress, considering she had just come from the Festival.Speaking of the Festival, since yesterday was the Grand Opening for the Oshiana Festival, people were just as rowdy and busy here. Though, less in population compared to Oshiana's crowds of people.Her eyes gleamed with excitement when she saw the local food and toys – Even the books! She can even see a few of Natsume-sensei's works from here! Oh how she's going to enjoy this small trip...Oh and before that.As if sensing a dreadful premonition, Rando immediately stepped away from the railing he was leaning on and watched as Remilya threw up like hell to the gorgeous sea. He couldn't help but cover his mouth in disgust."W-What the hell?, Remilya-tan did you really have to specifically run to the spot where i was leaning on!? The portside had so many other options to throw up! Why my general direction!?" Rando snapped, pointing fingers at her.Remilya weakly raised her arm in apology. "S-Sowwy.. R-Remilya-tan is not available right now...", her friend simply shook his head in embarrassment, likely from the few locals looking at them with innocent smiles.Rando took this time to sneak a peek at his parents and that man, for the rest of the trip his father and mother had been uncharacteristically quiet and nervous.Something was obviously amiss, and it all came from that man.Tch."Whatcha' thinking about?" Rando's soul nearly left his body when Remilya startled him again with her usual sneaky tactics."I told you to stop doing that! How did you recover so fast!?""Don't know what you mean." Remilya shrugged, giving him a thoughtless shrug.Great, she's doing that thing where she becomes an airhead without realizing it. Fucking hell...But hey, at least she's back to being the cheerful girl he knew. A crying and saddened Remilya was something he never wished to see again."Ne, wanna go around the town and sight see?" Remilya ran up to him, giving him the 'Innocent but airheaded' Remilya-smile.Or what he liked to call the 'Puppy-eyes'"No, we can't just go around without any supervision, Remilya-tan." Rando reasoned.Remilya pouted, "Aww... Can't you let me off this time? I really need a distraction..." She closed her eyes, before looking at him with her.. 'Puppy-eyes'."Please..?" Aughhhh! It's too bright! Do not falter soldier! You must persist against this... This...!Remilya tried again."Please...?" His defenses weakend, the shining red sun that was her eyes flashed him.I... Must.. Resist!"Rando-kun..?" Her voice weakened, soft even. ++--------------------++'Fuck, shit.' He couldn't resist it. 'I've failed! I repeat, we've failed once more to resist the puppy eyes!' How tragic, the fall of a noble's son."It's so beautiful!" Remilya gleefully enjoyed the view of the province, true enough, it was actually beautiful with nature being more prominent, less buildings and all that.Well, if it makes her happy. He might as well go along with it.The red-haired girl was currently zooming in from store to store, her eyes gleaming with excitement at the new unique products she's never seen before.You know, sometimes he wondered. Was Remilya a prodigy of some kind? No he wasn't referring to her ability to quickly learn.But rather in the field of magic, because dear Goddess, the girl could MOVE if she wanted to.He's never seen her use magic of any kind of before, nor shown the capacity to properly use it. Everything she's done was all physical prowess like jumping from wall to wall to scale a building. So maybe it's an elf thing?Well, it kind of feels embarrassing that he's the older one, a male one at that and yet many times weaker.Genetic advantages are unfair, Boohoo.Rando sighed, he followed after Remilya for what felt like an hour, which was exhausting given her unnatural speed and excitable attitude."Speaking of which, what time is it now?" Rando wondered, he didn't have his watch with him right now so he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Feeling thirsty, he saw a small food stall that served cool beverages for the cost of a few copper coins, he dug into his pockets and went to the stall to get himself a drink.As beautiful as Okeanos was, it was actually pretty hot during the afternoon compared to Oshiana's perfectly accumulated temperature. He looked at the seller who had a watch strapped onto his arm. Welp, he might as well ask now that he's here."Mister, can I ask what the time is?" The man then told him the time, which was 2:21 PM, they arrived here exactly at 1:30 – The ship had a clock – so that meant he's actually spent half an hour with Remilya running around.They should probably go back, his mother wouldn't take too kindly with him missing for about 50 minutes, his ass whooping for sneaking out at the library was put on hold, angering her would only increase the chances of her exacting her punishments for him. Nuh-uh, hell no.He got off a wall he was leaning on. Finishing his drink, he made sure to throw it into a trash can, nature needed to be taken care of after all.Now that he's refreshed, both mind and body.Time to deal with Remilya and drag her back-His thoughts paused when he heard the whistling of air, as if something was coming closer to him.Out of self preservation and instinct someone his age shouldn't normally have – Which stemmed from spending time with Remilya – He cocked his head to the side.Just in time to dodge a plastic blunted toy knife that embedded Itself to the wall, a plastic toy that looks like it would break if a three year old bent it too much was fucking planted to the wall, near his fucking face. 'A t-toy? That's no toy, that's a weapon of destruction dear goddess-' Rando's jaw slacked open, a small whimper coming out of him.His head hesitantly tilted towards where the toy knife had come from.There he saw the threatening figure of his friend. Posing as if she was a damn novel character, Remilya wryly smiled when his eyes landed on her."So what do you thin-""-REMILYA WHAT THE HELL?!" Rando immediately snapped, merely comedic and with no hostility. "That could have hurt me really bad!""What are you talking about Rando-kun? It's just a toy." Remilya shrugged innocently."'Just a toy' my rear! Toys don't embed themselves into the wall after being thrown!" He pointed to the toy knife next to him. "No wait! Where did you even get it?! You didn't steal from a local did you?""Of course not, I bought it with my money, in here. See?" She pointed to a satchel bag she most definitely did not have before coming here."Remilya." Rando said, his tone flat. "Where did you get that bag..?""Bought it with my money.""And where did said money come from?""Pocket money.""Pocket money from whom.""Mama.""...""...""So you made me buy you a stack of drinks while we were on the ship... When you could have bought it by yourself..?" He slowly said, annoyed.Remilya raised a finger to say something, but refrained anyway. "I forgot."...Deep breaths Rando, deep breaths.Remember, she's not annoying you intentionally.. Only with her airheaded tendencies.He'll let her off with this one, it was just a few drinks he bought her, and one toy knife nearly giving him a black eye."Your Stall War privileges will be taken away for three weeks." Okay, screw it he's not letting that one go.Remilya visibly panicked, she may have his second volume, but she most definitely did not have his limited early release third volume of the series."W-Wait, isn't that going too far?""Nope.""It was just a few drinks!""A few drinks that I had to buy with my own money, you took my second volume, and threw a toy knife at me.""B-But.."Heh, he might not be able to get back on her physically(He'd never do it), but never said he couldn't beat her using mind games."Face it Remilya, I have the high ground now, the consequences of your diddling will cause you three weeks of boredom.""T-Thats..." Remilya stammered, was it going too far? Not really, since all he did was prevent her from reading her favorite book for three days immediately AFTER she told him she threw a toy knife at him and told him she had had money.Take my book again without asking now will you? Heh.He saw Remilya shaking in what seems to be a mixture of betrayal and shock.Heh, victory. He managed to pacify her without exhausting himself, all there's left to do is get back to mother and the others-BAM! His victory monologue was cut off by another toy knife suddenly flying past him.His eyes widened, not expecting another toy knife from Remilya."Ahh.. Right, I'm really sorry that I made you buy me those drinks, I should have remembered I had money with me that time.." Remilya mumbled, she was currently hunched forward not allowing him to see her expression."Uh?" Crap, did he make her upset?Remilya giggled lightly, she said something under her breath but he couldn't hear it. Something along the lines of "You fell for it... now I can make that reference."What???Did he just get tricked by Remilya? If so then how? All he could think of is either she's saying it for the sake of it or she was waiting for him to do something that will allow her to do something justifiably.And when she does the latter, it's solely for the purpose of acting out something... Oh."It seems you've finally realized it, But it's too late! You've given me an excuse to finally use these!" She laughed wildly, she dug both of her hands in her satchel and brought out a shit-ton of blunt toy knives. "Ever since I saw these toy knives hanging by that toy store, my urge to make that one reference has been killing me! The act of throwing knives at someone!"She displayed them and posed, holding the toy knives by their end. "So what will you do now?! JORANDO KUJO?!"Okay first, how many toy knives did that store have in stock for Remilya to buy so much?Second, she actually tricked him by having him act as a catalyst for her to do her act, and why is her eyes glowing red?! Is it normal for her pupils to resemble a cat's!?Third and last, who the hell is Jorando?!The first thing that came out of his mouth was "WHO THE HELL IS JORANDO?!" after processing the fact that Remilya IS doing this for the sake of another reference.He then proceeded to dodge an array of toy knives – which were all thrown with mild intensity now, thankfully. – and started running towards where his family would be.If Remilya was no doubt going to chase him, he'll at least kill two birds with one at one by luring her there.But first, he needed to survive her onslaught."GAAAHHHHHH-" Rando screamed while running away."WRYYAAAAAA-" Remilya howled, hot on his tails.The locals nearby that had been watching them only smiled at the childish display of two kids.Was Remilya being too excessive? As much as it pained Rando to admit. This wasn't really excessive by their standards, trying to survive Remilya is just another day in his life. CHAPTER END