A Chance Meeting

Without stopping she continues to run, hearing the gunfire getting closer and closer, she dares not to look back.

*Plop*

She kneels to the ground, a bullet pierces right through her left thigh. Sweat and tears ran down her face. She drags herself up. Limping away, she reaps a strip from the hem of her shirt, tying it around her thigh. Still, blood continues to seep through.

*BAM!*

A sharp splinter from the explosion behind cuts her cheeks. She grits her teeth and keeps moving, Continuing weaving in and out of the shelter of the woods. Feeling her left leg getting numb, she curses. Her breath labored, she wipes the sweat from her eyes and breaks off a branch to use as a makeshift crutch. She can't stop now. Not now, she's not even close to her goal yet!

Biting her lips and trying to sprint with uneven steps with only the thought of escape, she suddenly falls forward as her makeshift crutch gets caught between roots. Fortunately, she's able to catch herself before hitting the ground by grasping the edge of a stump. Taking a deep breath she shakily gets up. But the moment she's on her feet she feels the dreadful bloodlust on her back. And before she could make a move, the enemy has catches her.

Feeling the freezing sharp blade on her throat, for a moment she felt limp. All her resolve to live just disappeared, but just as quickly, she takes the risk and uses both her elbows to strike the sides of her enemy. *Crack* she manages to get away for a few paces but unfortunately blood speedily drips from the cut in her throat. She then turns around to deal more damage while she can, only to be shaken badly to see who caught her.

"It can't be!"

Startled awake by her dream, Lyra stares at the ceiling for a good while before getting out of bed and stretching out her arms. With the intention of shaking off the terrible dream as soon as possible, Lyra takes a quick cold shower. As ice-cold water pours down her head, she closes her eyes.

"I'm alive. I'm alive," she mutters under her breath multiple times.

Getting out of the shower, Lyra rubs her neck. The feeling of the freezing blade slicing her throat was so vivid in her mind that even the cold shower wasn't enough to take her mind off the dream. Lyra sighs and puts on her clothes then set out to cook breakfast.

Seeing the kitchen clean and tidy and with a packed pantry, Lyra couldn't help but smile. Packed and clean kitchen a scene she never thought possible until now.

Drying off her washed hands and gathering all her focus, Lyra begins to cook. Lyra first prepares the pork cutlet, then washes the vegetables for the salad. After that, she starts to cook the soup, and finally cooks the sunny-side-up eggs for the twins. Theresa wants her sunny-side-up eggs to have a runny yolk but crispy whites, while Claire likes her with a well-done yolk and the whites basted with butter. Madam Cherry likes to have boiled eggs for breakfast.

Lyra doing the finishing touches, the twins barge in and are about sneak a taste of the newly cooked pork cutlet when Lyra quickly slaps their hands away.

"Shssh!" Claire hisses.

"Such a meanie~" Theresa jokingly complains.

"You guys haven't even washed your hands yet. Besides I'm just about done preparing and 'bout to serve breakfast." Lyra inspects the breakfast meal and nods in satisfaction.

"Want us to help?~"

"No. You guys are planning to sneak some weird spice into Madam Cherry's soup *again*."

"How are you so sure?"

"Perhaps it's actually you who added some weird spice in and wants to put the blame on us~"

Hearing those words, Lyra rolls her eyes. Lyra then stares at the twins, then sighs "Guess no breakfast for you guys then."

"Pfft. No fair Lyra~"

"Daring to use food against us, so savage~"

Ignoring the complaints, Lyra puts the food tray on the cart and heads towards the dining hall leaving the twins behind.

"Oh no! Our food!" the twins dramatically wail while catching up to Lyra, who's determined to ignore and protect the food while the twins try to sneak a taste.

"Sheesh! Just a taste Lyra!"

"Oh look Lyra! a fly! better catch before it goes to the food!" Theressa jokes while trying to wrestle the cart away from Lyra. Unfortunately, Lyra is so firm, that Theressa has no choice but to give up with an exaggerated sigh.

Reaching the dining hall, Theressa and Claire open the door and gesture to Lyra to enter with a theatrical bow.

Already sitting in the chair, Madam Cherry looks at the trio while taking a sip of her tea.

"Good Morning Lyra,"

"Good morning," Lyra greets back while starting to place the breakfast meal.

"How about saying good morning to us too, Master!"

Madam Cherry clearly ignoring the twins' antics, enjoys another sip of her tea.

"Hmm"

"Master is so cold to us," Theressa theatrically hugs Lyra while attempting to slyly put some ground ghost peppers in Madam Cherry's soup.

Lyra already anticipated that the twins would try to do something at the last moment, so she lets them while planning to actually switch the soup and give it to them later. Thinking that their ploy is a success, the twins sit down.

"Hey Claire, can you take out those bread crumbs on Theressa's hair?"

"What?!" Theressa is shocked to see that there really are bread crumbs on her hair.

Claire just laughs while she helps her sister take the crumbs off. Lyra nonchalantly adeptly switches Madam Cherry's soup with the ghost peppers in it with Theressa's soup.

Lyra sits down as well to enjoy breakfast. The twins finish taking out the crumbs and begin to partake in breakfast. Then, Theresa takes a sip from her soup and immediately has a coughing fit while her face is flushed and her eyes watery.

Lyra hides her smile while taking a sip of her own soup.

Madam Cherry just looks at the twins and smirked.

"Ah foiled again!" Claire wails while patting Theresa's back and giving her some milk.

"You should've known the result," Lyra says matter-of-factly.

Calming down her sister's coughing fit, Claire accusingly stares at Lyra.

"Oh sure, as if-" Claire takes a sip of her soup too, only to find herself coughing as well. Turns out Theresa also switches her soup with her sister's, and so Claire glares at Theresa. Seeing her sister falling for the ghost peppers too, Theresa laughs so hard that she chokes on her own spit.

"Karma is a b*tch!" Claire declares as she hits her sister's back heavily.

"Ouch! ouch!" Theressa cries!

The twins begin to argue with each other while both Lyra and Madam Cherry smile at their antics.

*********************************************************************************************************

After breakfast with all the ruckus, Lyra completely forgets her nightmare without even realizing it. She then starts to do her stretches while listening to some audiobooks out loud the twins told her to listen to. It's mostly about the history of peace treaties. Good background noise for her routine. She believes she's 'killing two birds with one stone' for she's training her body and enriching her mind at the same time.

*AIs being the supreme overseer of the world after winning war after war, they now have power over the humans who once cornered them, but they choose to still let humans rule themselves. Still, due to concerns about nuclear, gamma rays, and biochemicals, these things are banned and strictly overseen by the Artificial Intelligence sovereigns (AIs for short).

And yet, humans sought other means to fight each other, hence Virtual Reality fights become the main outlet for violence. This shows that virtual reality, which is the realm that AIs oversee and reign becomes the main stage where humans battle each other.

And because virtual reality's influence on entertainment, politics, diplomatic and social issues gets greater and deeper, the AIs who hold power over the virtual realm become a dominant powerful ruling agent.

This caused quite a divide in human society. The majority did not seem to mind that people are more invested in virtual reality for it gave them more freedom and peace in real life. But, as usual, the few yet loud-obnoxious opposing views created such turmoil raising absurd conspiracy. Conspiracy about AI taking over through manipulating human society to succumb to their ultimate domain, virtual reality, and once and for all oppress them.

Such conspiracy steered fear in the hearts of many that it reaches the point in which some people rejected technology and even went so far as to wage war against it again. Of course, it didn't succeed but the AIs found the human's foolish tendencies a very problematic factor. Since it is an innate characteristic of the human race, they can only prepare for the consequence that it causes. For, if the AIs did try to take away the chaotic trait of humans, that means that they are altering the human race. The human race, 'the very race' they are tasked to conserve and watch over.

Under such constraints, the AI relented to some demands of the few people for places that are devoid of their influences. But of course, those places were rarely peaceful and in the end, they become places where chaos runs rampant. Today, they are well known as war zones.*

Lyra finishing her 3rd rep of 50 push-ups, sits up to take a sip of water. While getting ready to get back to working out, she pauses a bit. "War zones huh," hearing those words Lyra remembers Melika's view of humans and finds that Melika's is really on point most of the time.

Finishing that thought, she goes back to her workout and continues to listen,

*Since those chaotic zones become more and more isolated. And contact outside those places is limited and available only to the powerful, it became the perfect place for illegal dealings. That's why eventually these places became 'war zones' due to atrocious acts that happen there. And, it doesn't help that major countries send military forces there under the pretext of sending help to the innocents. But in truth, they send military forces to confront each other whenever conflicting issues arise.

How ironic that the ALs were the ones to lend a hand to those who once spurned them, but since they have no power in those places they made a deal with third-party organizations. And so, AI sovereigns keep their promises not to 'personally' get involved in war zones by letting factions keep each other balance and make sure that chaos stays there. These factions are responsible for strict measures to make sure the fights are strictly done in war zones with the least damage done to the place and its inhabitants.

Unfortunately, even with those strict rules and regulations; thinking he finally found a place to achieve his ultimate dream, a madman went to a war zone and illegally created genetically modified humans to fight the war. He went as far as to personally go to the war zones and collect human sacrifices, mostly children-*

Hearing those words as they enter, the twins swiftly hit pause on the audio player and called out to Lyra a bit forcefully. "Lyra!~"

Lyra looks at the twins, "Hmm?"

"We're here to take you sightseeing!" the twins quickly answer cheerily while discreetly removing the audio player away from Lyra's sight.

"Sightseeing?" Lyra asks with raised eyebrows as she wipes her sweat. She then chugs some water.

"Yup, to widen your horizon!" Theresa quips theatrically with exaggerated gestures.

"And perhaps, find your potential soulmate~" Claire joke as she matches her twin's exaggerated gesture.

"uh huh," Lyra answers dryly rolling her eyes at the twins' antics. Ignoring the twins Lyra tries to get back to her workout and easily finds the audio player the twins tried to hide. As she is about to hit play, the twins forcefully cling to Lyra's arms,

"Master actually orders us to take you to sightsee you know!" Theresa exclaims.

"Yeah! you don't want us to get in trouble because we didn't take you out sightsee, Right?" Claire playfully squeezes Lyra's arm and looks at her with fake teary eyes.

*Sighs* Lyra seeing how the twins are acting quite enthusiastically, gives in. She then collects her stuff in the room and heads back to her room to get ready.

The twins cheerfully escort Lyra to her room, to Lyra's annoyance. Lyra shoos and bars the twins as she enters her room not giving the twins any chance to barge in her room. The twins of course didn't back down immediately and for a couple of minutes feigned sobs so loud it was clearly fake to annoy Lyra.

But not getting a response to their commotion, the twins finally walk away to prepare themselves.

"Funny how we didn't want Lyra to hear 'that', never thought there will be a time where we'll be bothered about 'that' past when we didn't care much for it before," Claire muses walking a bit ahead of Theresa.

"Yeah," Theresa agrees as she catches up with her twin and pats Claire on the back.

***************************

Before Lyra heads out of her room to meet the twins, the sight of the broken music box on her bedside table caught her eye. She unconsciously picks it up and smiles.

"Funny how I kept this thing with me all this time without a reason," Lyra muses then putting the broken music box back down on the table. She then pats her pillow where her precious karambit knife is laying.

The music box and the knife are the two things she has held on to for the longest. The fond memory they bring her became her haven from all the difficult times she found herself battling.

Exiting her room, the twins immediately try to hug Lyra only to be perfectly evaded by Lyra. The twins pouting tries to hug her again but of course, they fail once again.

"So where are we going?" Lyra asks as she fends off another attempt to pinch her by Claire.

"Can you believe it Lyra!? The shopping district and entertainment area are just a walking distance from the base!" Theresa exclaims.

"Oh," Lyra answered without much excitement.

"Oh Lyra~, You can't fool us~," Claire teases," we know how you were actually in awe about a lot of stuff that you haven't seen before. You know like that light that automatically lights up with butterflies hologram in the hallway when it gets dark,"

Lyra looks away from the twins keeping silent with a slight blush on her cheeks. The twins noticing her blush want to tease her more.

"And how can we not notice, how a certain cook keeps baking and testing new recipes every night while excitedly trying new kitchen gadgets while watching cooking videos easily accessible on the tablet~" Theresa adds with a wide grin.

Lyra still quietly ignore the twins and gets ahead of them. Still, the twins notice the deepening blush on her cheeks. And so they giggle to themselves as they catch up to Lyra.

Reaching the shopping district, Lyra can't help but let herself wonder about how there is so much stuff she has never seen before. From floating stores, maybe hundred of different kinds of food stalls, trinket booths, and fancy boutiques, Lyra feels a bit overwhelmed.

Seeing how for once Lyra is acting her age, asking questions about 'what's this and that, the twins feel incredibly warm inside and so they answer Lyra's questions without teasing her. They even guide her to places where she feels intrigued. The way Lyra is radiating with open curiosity and wonder makes them grin non-stop.

'So this is the fun of having a younger sister huh," the twins think to themselves.

After a while, the twins and Lyra finds a café to take a rest from window shopping since they were just interested in browsing rather than buying anything. Seeing the variety of pastries laid out in the display case for Lyra to pick, she couldn't help but pick one of everything in her eagerness to know what they taste like. Laughing the twins cautions Lyra that she can't possibly finish them all. Lyra looks at the twins blankly for a split second smiles widely and answers confidently,

"Well, I got both of you to help me finish them all so it's not a problem at all," Lyra tells the twins matter-of-factly. Hearing what Lyra said, the twins burst out laughing and Lyra can't help but laugh as well.

Since the cafe is crowded inside they decided to use the outside seats instead. Even though they were sitting outside the café, it seems that the surrounding noise is actually blocked. So even with a lot of people passing by, it isn't as noisy as it seems aside from the hustle and bustle inside the café.

Finally, Lyra gets to sample pastries she just recently found out exist. Lyra biting into the soft, moist, and creamy cheesecake soufflé, her entire body relaxes and she couldn't help but close her eyes while savoring the dish. Lyra then moves on to the other pastries one by one with a sip of tea in between to refresh her palate.

The twins can't believe that Lyra, who rarely eats a lot, finishes the entire 32 different kinds of pastry in one sitting. Seems like she didn't need their help to finish those sweet treats after all.

Polishing the sweets cleanly, Lyra looks at the twins with a satisfied grin. "So, where should we go next?"

"Seeing how you devoured a mountain of sweets, we better find a place for you to burn the calories you just gain~" Claire joke as she points at the stacked plates on Lyra's side of the table.

"Just seeing you eat that many sweets made my teeth ache and my tummy bloated. Gosh, we didn't know you love eating sweets that much!" Theresa adds with her usual exaggerated gestures.

"Well, to be honest, this time is the first time testing my stomach's limit with sweets. But, I'm quite sure this is nothing compared to some people's love of meat. I mean I know two gluttons who devoured an entire table full of roasted pork, lamb, and chicken in only half an hour." Lyra slyly glances at the twins.

"Oh my, who might be those two gluttons I wonder~," Claire asks not meeting Lyra's gaze.

Licking her lips Theresa mutters," man, those were damn good lamb chops…"

Lyra hearing what Theresa said laughs.

Claire elbowing her twin, she sighs "I guess I know who the glutton is~"

"Huh?" Theresa asks then it dawns on her and pokes Claire's sides, "Oh, I know who the glutton is too!" with a grin she then grabs Claire's hand and raises it up, "Here she is! The glutton!"

"Shameless!" Claire quickly frees her hand and tries to elbow her twin again but this time Theresa evades only to be stomped on the foot by Claire.

"Ouch!" Theresa cries out.

"Hmph!" Claire exclaims as she glares at Theresa.

Lyra just enjoying her tea while the twins do their antics once again.

****************

After the twins finish their squabble, they finally head to the entertainment district of the town. Passing through the plaza, Lyra notices that there are a lot of big screens. Varying holograms ranging from games, drama, sports, and a lot more are being projected throughout the plaza. Lyra couldn't help but be fascinated by the colorful displays.

Looking around, Lyra's attention is caught by a screen that displays a duel on it. She tries to get closer to the screen when Theresa calls out to her.

"Lyra?!"

Lyra points at the screen absent-mindedly and mutters, "That looks like a screen from the arena…"

"Arena huh," Claire contemplates.

Lyra was captivated by the duel and noticed that there was something off about it but she couldn't pinpoint what it is.

"I'm sure it's only something similar and not the arena itself," Theresa inspects the screen and notices it's an advertisement for a VR fighting game.

"Seems like it's a live stream of a VR game, wanna try it Lyra?" Theresa asks as she put her arm on Lyra's shoulder.

"VR game?" Lyra asks baffled.

"Yup, it's um ah, hmm…you know what, it's better to see and experience it yourself. So let's go to the nearest gaming café!" Theresa comments as she pulls Claire and Lyra along to the nearest gaming café.

Theresa leads them to a high-class gaming arcade/café she noticed earlier. The arcade/café features the most advanced gaming VR pod and also serves top-class drinks and snacks.

Lyra frowns a bit thinking she has no idea if she has enough crypto coins to cover the cost of any service provided. Since she only has a few crypto coins that Madam Cherry provided. The fact that the money she earned from the missions she undertook that Melika assigned is useless here on the mainland. Lyra was a bit disappointed that she could afford anything for herself but there was nothing she could do but ask a favor from Madam Cherry.

"What's up Lyra?" Claire asks seeing how Lyra just stood still in the entrance and has a frown on her face.

"I don't think I can afford this place," Lyra honestly states as she faces Claire.

"HAHAHA!" Theresa lets out a laugh when she hears what Lyra said. "Oh, dear Lyra dearie~, don't worry about such things!" pulling Claire closer to her, and Claire knowing the intention of her twin sighs.

"Claire is here to pay for everything!" Theresa announces while slapping Claire's back. Annoyed, Claire glares at Theresa. But then Claire smirks,

"Why indeed Lyra. I'll pay for everything don't worry. Since I have access to Theresa's immeasurable wealth~" Claire states as she accesses her twin bank account.

"Huh?! Oh no!" Theresa jokingly laments as she pinches her twin's sides. Which started another round of sibling squabble between the twins.

Lyra smiles while looking at the twins then walks towards the reception area and inquires about the gaming VR pods. The android receptionist explains the basics to Lyra through videos and screenshots. Lyra is enraptured by the whole idea of VR gaming and wants to try it. Not sensing the twins she is quite surprised to hear Theresa.

"So, wanna try it?" Seeing how fascinated Lyra is that Lyra even let her guard down enough for the twins to sneak up on her, Theresa genuinely wants Lyra to try it out and have some fun.

"Don't worry Lyra. We were serious when we said we'll pay for your stuff." Claire pats Lyra on the shoulder while reassuring Lyra.

"Alright. Thanks," Lyra states.

The three of them then follow the android guide to the third floor to their reserved gaming suite. Reaching the third floor the android gives them the customary guide to where to find their suite and where the lounge is.

As the trio enters the lounge to check it before going to their gaming suite, the twins stiffen while Lyra who's in front of them quickly notice the sudden halt of the twins and turns back to look at them.

"Tsk!" Theresa clicks her tongue while Claire crosses her arms.

"Oh! Lookie here! The crimson witch's disciples, the bloody twin dolls are here!" a young man with neon blue hair, dressed in flashy clothes, who's in his early twenties greets the twins with such fake enthusiasm, it's revolting. He walks closer to the twins. "Seems like the AI sovereigns let some bloody monsters in the mainland. Probably cuz you both are closer to them, being bioengineered by a mad*man* after all~"

Hearing what the guy said, Claire and Theresa, both have poker faces. But, Lyra notices Claire's subtle shift of posture, and Theresa's neck is slightly tilted to the right. Both show how they're secretly peeved.

"Who are you?" Lyra stepping between the guy and the twins asks confrontingly. Which is quite a bit of a funny sight since Lyra is a head shorter than both the guy and the twins.

"Who are you, to question me?" The guy with raised eyebrows haughtily questions Lyra while looking down at her.

"I'm Lyra. And I'm their sister. So who are you?" Lyra with a sharp gaze looks the man in the eye. Relaxing her tense muscle and shifting to a fighting stance, Lyra stood her ground between the guy and the twins.

Looking at her up and down condescendingly, the guy comments with a smirk, "Lyra? Ah! A nobody!" the guy announces loudly and continues, "And with such deep scars on your face, seems like you are just another vagrant that the crimson with took pity of, perhaps another abandoned child?~"

Hearing the words 'abandoned child' Lyra freezes on the spot.

"Shut your face, Nell," Theresa coldly states as she walks deliberately slowly towards the guy, with a gaze so sharp if it could kill it would. The sound of her high heels echoes with a rhythm that sounded like a countdown.

Claire gently pats Lyra on the back, "You okay?" she asks gently.

Lyra nods, and coming to her sense she sees Theresa having a staring contest with the guy.

"You know you can't hurt me right? Bloody doll." Nell tells Theresa to her face. Being the son of both the leading gaming industry CEO and the son of the chief of commerce

Theresa smiles and stomps his foot with her stilettos.

"You b*tch!" Nell yells while trying to massage his foot.

Theresa seeing Nell in pain grins and looks at Claire and Lyra.

"Let's go! We better leave before the rabid dog barks again~"

Nell cursing non-stop shouts at them to come back out but of course, they ignore him and leave.

Leaving the lounge, they go straight to their gaming suite. Entering the suite, one section has 3 VR pods while the other section has a small theater section. Both Theresa and Claire are more interested in watching Lyra play

But before Lyra even goes to play, there was a video call notif in the room intercom,

Knowing it's probably from the prick, Nell, the twins wanted to ignore the call but somehow the video call got through even without their permission making the twins suspicious,

"Heh! Do you think you can escape me after hurting me? You bloody twin dolls sure are naive. This is after all one of my dad's gaming café branches. Well, I'm magnanimous enough to not hold grudges so shall we play a game? Your choice of game of course?" a sly smile on his face.

"Shall we play a fighting game then?" Claire asks with the intention of beating up Nell senselessly.

"Of course, ah but that would be quite a disadvantage for me though. Since you guys are 'genetically modified' to fight after all. So to be fair, how about letting Lyra play against me instead?" Nell utters confidently that his words sting where it hurts. Since the twins didn't want to be reminded of the fact they are genetically modified humans created by a madman.

Besides, Nell might not be able to win against the twins but against a no-name like Lyra, who's obviously a newbie in VR fights, of course, he knows he'll definitely be victorious. In so, Nell without being cautious challenges Lyra.

Although the twins are silently fuming about Nell's words calling them out for being genetically modified in front of Lyra, they can't help but sneer at him at the same time for his cowardice. Also hearing Nell challenging Lyra without knowing her true strength, the twins' face outwardly shows concern about Lyra in front of the video chat but inwardly they are laughing so hard calling Nell all sorts of bad names.

"Sure," Lyra agrees, knowing that she better thrash that trash of a man on behalf of the twins. Since the prick seems too cowardly to actually confront the twins.

As soon as Lyra agrees to the match, Nell then chooses a fighting game with the highest immersion meaning the senses are highly linked and pain reduction is the lowest. He then sends Lyra an invite. He really didn't let the twins pick the game.

Rolling their eyes the twins both mutter, "Typical asshole…"

"It'll be an easy fight," Nell muses as he ignores the twins and waits for Lyra to login into the game.

Since Lyra is new to the whole VR thing she's a bit slow but she got just enough to grasp it from the guides she watched earlier to smoothly operate the system. Successfully login into the game where she appears to be in a fighting stadium, Lyra immediately notices that her body feels lighter and her senses feel a bit off. But then before she could adapt to the VR setting, Nell already rushes to her and attacks!

"You're going down!" He smugly shouts as he hits Lyra with a combo of straight punches and front kicks.

Lyra easily blocks Nell's attacks and patiently waits for an opening. After a bit, she finally gets used to the VR setting, Lyra smiles knowing her body is now in harmony with her mind.

Seeing a wide opening, Lyra swiftly takes it. Grabbing Nell's arms and twisting them easily while delivering a powerful kick to his side.

Nell gasps loudly and before he could even contemplate what just happen, Lyra's elbow is already hitting his face between his eyes just above his nose. Blood splurts and his consciousness quickly fades.

The twins watching the fight through the live stream screen on the theater side of the gaming suite and seeing how quickly Nell's becoming a punching bag cheer at Lyra even if she can't hear them.

Pummeling Nell away and back to consciousness for a few minutes when the AI decided that the pain threshold for Nell is reached forcefully logs out Nell, and sends him immediately to therapy.

Seeing how the fight ended quickly without much of a sweat, Lyra shrugs with a hint of a smug smile. Feeling refreshed and energetic but not really wanting to play anymore Lyra asks the twins where to go next.

The twins also do not want to linger in a place that Nell's father owns and decide to bring Lyra somewhere else. Since it was already getting dark the twins suggested going to the closest amusement park to enjoy some rides and watch the night light works.

Lyra agrees and follows the twins out of the gaming café.

Lyra didn't ask the twins about them being genetically modified or about them being killing dolls. Even knowing those things, she didn't change the way she treated the twins. To her, it's just part of who they are and she already accepted them a long time ago.

The twins seeing how Lyra treats them the same even knowing a past they, themselves wanted to forget, makes them feel warm inside. Sensing each other's emotions, Theresa and Claire squeeze each other's hands.

Hearing the twins lag behind her, Lyra looks back at them questioning, "Don't tell me both of you fell for ghost peppers again while squabbling?" she points at their teary eyes.

The twins look at each other and laugh and immediately teasingly try to attack Lyra which she evades easily enough and smiles.

"It'll be an easy fight!" Claire imitates while walking beside Lyra.

"You're going down!" Theresa copies as she tries to jokingly tackles Lyra which Lyra of course avoided.

"Pfft!"

All three laugh out loud.

*******

Reaching the amusement park, and seeing all the rides available and booths, Lyra is amazed.

"So which one do you want to try first?" Claire asks

"Hmm," Lyra silently eyeing each ride carefully, and then, consulting the smartwatch given at the entrance of the amusement about the details of the rides Lyra was still a bit lost on which one to pick.

"Well, in that case, let's try the roller coaster!" Theresa interjects seeing how Lyra keeps biting her lower lip and her stance tense while looking at the rides. Wanting to help the vexed Lyra, she happily decides which ride to try first.

"Okay," Lyra replies relaxing.

All three enjoyed the ride. After resting for a bit, a claw machine caught Theresa's attention. The claw machine has tons of cute, bizarre, and normal plushies. Wanting to win some plushies to commemorate their outing, Theresa confidently walks towards it.

Theresa puts some money on the claw machine, she starts with a smile but immediately fails to catch anything. She tries the second time and fails. For the third time, still a failure. Fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and sp on… still a fail. Cursing she turns to Claire.

"Want to try Sis?" Theresa asks thinking the game is bugged and letting Claire play it would prove her suspicion.

"With pleasure, Dear Sister~" Claire replies imitating Theresa's theatrical gestures. She tries the claw machine, and on her first try, she got three stuffed toys. Those stuffed toys were all bizarre type though.

"What?!" in disbelief Theresa exclaims.

"Heh, now call me older sister!" Claire proudly declares.

"Peh, no way!" Theresa tries one more time but still fails. Cracking her knuckles she tries one more time but to no avail.

Seeing how annoyed and desperate her twin is Claire tries one more try and gets another stuffed toy. She shows it off to Theresa to Theresa's vexation.

"Urgh!!"

Lyra smiles watching the twins.

"Lyra you try too!" Theresa cries pissed at how she can't win any stuffed toy.

"Fine," Lyra without much expectation, she tries and got five on the first try. All of the stuffed toys she won were the cute adorable type.

The twins with open mouths can't believe what just happen.

"How the hell is that even possible?!" Theresa

Lyra just shrugs.

"Guess we have to call you older sister now huh?" Claire teases.

Lyra cringed "don't even."

Seeing how Lyra reacted so strongly, the twins can't help but laugh.

"Big sis, can I have one of the stuffed toys? It looks so cute!" suddenly a child with long braided blonde hair and brown eyes asks.

With a smile, Lyra give all three of the cute stuffed toy she won to the little girl. The other two she gave to the twins. Claire gives one to the little girl too and the other one to Lyra and the last she keeps for herself.

The girl beaming at the four keychain stuffed toys she gains twirls around and calls out to her uncle who was panting after running to catch his niece.

"Sorry! And thank you," the uncle expresses gratefully.

"No problem," Lyra responds with a smile looking at the gleeful child playing with the stuffed toy.

Suddenly, Marie the little girl, intrigued asks, "Do they still hurt? Those scars?" she points at the scars on Lyra's face.

"They don't hurt at all," Lyra replies as she unconsciously traces the scars on her cheeks and on the bridge of her nose when Marie mentions them.

"They look painful," Marie with a sad tone expresses, and then abruptly changed her expression to a gleeful one adding," don't worry Big Sis, you still look beautiful with them!"

Lyra smiles and pats Marie on the head, "Is that so."

Marie nods vigorously with a smile.

"Oh, how about us then?" the twins asks when they heard the conversation between Marie and Lyra.

"You both look like models my uncle like to watch!" Marie with a serious look exclaims.

With at most embarrassment, Marie's uncle flushed red and cries out "Marie!"

The twins, seeing the uncle's embarrassed reaction, laugh and pinch Marie's cheeks

"Cheeky!" they added.

"Ow! you owe me a cotton candy for each pinch!" Marie demands with her hands on her hips acting like a bossy missy.

"Alright," seeing how their pinch leaves a red mark on the kid's adorable cheeks agrees.

"Would you like to get some drink too?" Lyra offers as she follows the uncle-niece pair sitting down on a vacant bench a bit away from the crowd with tall bushes behind it. She sees the twins frowning while they search for a cotton candy seller with fewer customers queuing. She smiles and thinks to herself that it's a good thing she offers to get something easily accessible.

"Yes please!" Marie exclaims as she gives Lyra a detailed description of what kind of chocolate milkshake she should get. The uncle apologizes for the inconvenience again, which Lyra dismisses, tells Lyra that he would have any kind of energy drink. Lyra Nods and immediately gets the drinks.

Lyra buys some drinks from the nearby vending machine she sits down beside the little girl and her uncle. Lyra hands Marie a bottle of chocolate milkshake as she requested. She then hands Marie's uncle a bottle of the strongest energy drink she can find, which he probably needs to deal with a hyperactive adorable niece. She then takes a sip of her own drink of banana milk.

"Hey, big sister is it your first time here?" Marie asks after putting aside her now empty chocolate milkshake bottle and inspecting her newly acquired stuffed toys, her feet swinging back and forth.

"Yes, and you?" Lyra inquires after taking another sip from her drink.

"Nope! it's my third time! you see my mom and dad are quite busy so my uncle takes care of me and he brings me here at weekends!"

"That's nice of him,"

"Heheheh…" the uncle shyly laughs

"Hmph! that's expected of him you know! since I do the cooking!"

"You do?"

"Yup, cuz my uncle's a clutz when it comes to cooking!"

"Marie, that's pretty harsh," her uncle interjects but to no avail.

"Shush uncle! It's true. Anyway, I do the cooking while uncle does the cleaning and other stuff," Marie adds.

Lyra laughs at Marie's claims.

Lyra suddenly gets lost in the thought when she hears a familiar tune being played in the merry-go-round. She then sees Marie hugging her teddy bear tightly as Marie lively recalls the moment her uncle's clumsy moments. Feeling a bit nostalgic the scene where her uncle gave her a patched-up teddy bear while patting her to sleep to ease her tears from missing her parent pops up unexpectedly in her mind. Then, the thought of hoping she was Marie instead and her uncle was her 'uncle' alive and well insidiously intrude into her mind.

Disturb, Lyra excuses herself to go the washroom abruptly not looking back to see the bewildered expression of the uncle-niece pair. All she wants is to clear her mind. Luckily the washroom she pick is deserted and so activating the faucet with the voice command "water on" she splashes her face.

There's no use in imagining things that will never happen, she tells herself. She smiled a strained smile at her reflection in the mirror. No matter how much she wishes her uncle was with her here, wishing it won't make happen.

All of a sudden, Lyra hears screams. Quickly exiting the washroom she hurries to where Marie and her uncle are. Lyra is caught in the hysteric crowd and the twins are still in the line waiting to buy some cotton candy quite far from the commotion.

It was as if everything slowed down and she could clearly see how the uncle is about to be stabbed but she can't be fast enough to stop it. The splintered end of a broken branch goes through Marie's uncle's stomach so easily.

"STOP!"

**********************

A man with grimy clothes and disheveled hair jumps out behind the tall bushes where Marie is sitting. As soon as the man sees Marie, he swiftly grabs her. But then, he quickly throws Marie with force to the ground when Marie bit his hand. Seeing how the uncle is rushing towards him he didn't hesitate to put all his force to plunge the broken branch he salvage earlier into the uncle's stomach.

Before the man could do anything else, Edric out of nowhere instantly disarms the man and broke both his knees and arm while making sure the man doesn't make any sound.

"How brave of you to try escape," Edric coldly states as he binds the man's hands behind his back. The man trembling with fear could only muffle a yelp from Edric's harsh treatment.

George also leaps out of the bushes where Marie was sitting and seeing how Edric already subdued the man, lets out a nervous laugh.

Edric throws the man at George effortlessly and glares at George. George almost toppling over after trying to catch the man, avoids looking back at Edric.

It turns out that the man is the first fugitive that Eric tracked down. Entrusting George to handle the man after Edric finished subduing the fugitive so he could immediately report it to the high council, but then, George underestimates the man and let him slip at the last moment.

Because of the commotion, the park's security bots are dispatched and surround the area where the scene happen. After scanning Edric's authorization code, the park bots immediately follows his instruction. Edric requested the area to be cleared so the medic team has space to treat the injured casualty and to report that everything is under control. Edric then focused on George and instructs him to immediately send the fugitive to the nearest headquarters.

"You better make sure he doesn't escape 'again'," Edric warns George. George like a scolded kid nods his head vigorously. Edric might have been too focused on the fugitive that he miss to hear a shout from someone he longed to see.

The medic androids quickly arrived at the scene and immediately treats Marie's uncle. Fortunately, meds work fast and the uncle is out of danger but still unconscious. Marie too is being treated for minor bruises and scratches. She bravely stays by her uncle's side not caring about anything else but her uncle.

"Marie!" Lyra calls out after evading the security bots that immediately let out beeping noise. Lyra didn't pay attention and swiftly goes to Marie's side. Lyra hugs Marie.

"Don't worry Marie. Your uncle will be just fine, you'll see," Lyra comfortingly states as she gently squeezes Marie.

Marie quietly quivers in her embrace and doesn't make a sound.

Hearing the noise Edric quickly tenses up and is ready to confront whoever is causing the ruckus but then, to his utter surprise he sees Lyra…

For a moment he felt surreal, but as soon as he notice that Lyra is hugging a child and hearing the words she said, he immediately feels a piercing and nauseating pain. Did I almost cause someone to lose their precious uncle again? Edric's whole body stiffens and turns cold as ice as he comes to that conclusion.

The security robots are still noisy, Edric immediately commands them to let her stay. Edric could only silently watch. He unknowingly clenched his fists so hard that his nails burrow into his palm, drawing blood.

Marie's uncle gaining consciousness panicky asks for his niece.

"I'm here Uncle!" Marie quickly answers.

When he sees Marie is safe, he smiles weakly and assures, "I'm okay now Marie."

Hearing her uncle and seeing him safe, Marie then bursts out crying. Lyra hugs Marie tighter.

"Don't worry I'll stay with her," Lyra meets Marie's uncle's concerned look assuring him.

The uncle gives a nod. The medic then informs the uncle that they would escort him to the nearest clinic for a more thorough medical inspection in case the medic misses something. The uncle could only agree as Lyra promises to stay with Marie and take her home.

Hearing the conversation Marie grips Lyra's clothes tight, not saying a word.

"So Marie, I'll be back in a jiffy don't worry!" Marie's uncle exclaims while looking all tousled and bloody. To be honest, in Lyra's opinion, an appearance that doesn't look fine at all.

Marie nods once again and clings tighter to Lyra's embrace.

Edric finally seeing an opening to talk to Lyra, takes a deep breath and tries to calm down because for some reason unknown to him, just thinking of finally talking to Lyra is making him uncharacteristic nervous.

Sensing someone's attention on her, Lyra looks around. Lyra becomes rigid as she sees the prince of combat looking at her and apparently on his way to her. With Marie here with her, she faces him head-on.

Marie in Lyra's arms with her face buried in Lyra's chest for comfort feels Lyra's body tense up.

"Hi! Um," Edric finds himself suddenly out of words to speak when he finally reaches Lyra and is face-to-face with her.

Lyra only nods and her guard up.

"Well I didn't expect to see you here, so I was intrigued and wanted to talk to you…" Edric states a bit weakly.

"I didn't expect to see you too, Prince of combat," Lyra responds with a formal tone.

Hearing prince of combat, Marie sticks her head out from Lyra's chest and lets out a gasp.

"He's really a prince!" She surprisedly exclaims.

George, who finished with his task and eagerly wants to report back, is walking towards Edric and hears this. He stifles a laugh.

Edric sensing George turns and gives George a frigid smile.

George coughs up and starts apologizing, "Sorry."

"So might I ask what the prince of combat is doing here?" wanting to make their meeting brief Lyra asks bluntly.

Unease, "Would you mind just calling me by my name Edric instead?"

"Alright, Edric," Lyra responds with the urge to roll her eyes at the weird request.

"To be honest I'm here to fix a slip-up a subordinate of mine did," Edric looking at George states.

"So, he's your target?"

"Yes, I actually already secure him when a certain carefree person made the mistake on giving in to one of the target's requests without my permission," Edric answers with a subtle hint of anger in his voice.

George with a nervous laugh just stands there receives the chilly gazes of both Lyra and Edric.

"I hate you!" Marie shouts directing it to George.

"It's because of you that Uncle almost…" before she could finish her sentence Maries bursts out crying again.

George finally realizes how heavy the consequences of his reckless actions were,

"I'm sorry." he sincerely apologies with his head down.

Edric eyeing George apologizes to Marie too.

"I'm afraid I need to take Marie home to calm her down," Lyra tells Edric "I'm afraid we'll have to talk another time." Lyra then excuses herself.

Edric could only sigh and let Lyra go.

**********

Finding the twins, Lyra explains what happens and tells them she'll take Marie home. The twins seeing Lyra in a somber mood and Marie's teary eyes, didn't question further. The twins ask if she wants them to go with her. Lyra shakes her head and says she'll be fine.

Letting Lyra go and reminding her to contact them if she gets lost which Lyra responded with an eye roll.

But ironically, entering the house where Marie and her uncle live, Lyra finds herself a bit lost on how to operate certain things. So she could only wake up Marie, who fell asleep on the way, and asked her how to operate them.

Marie finds it funny that Lyra doesn't know how to use household items so she goes to her best lecture mode, "Oh Big Sis! I didn't think you were hopeless as my uncle too!"

Lyra could only smile and listen attentively to the little miss.

Finally, after eating and washing up, Marie goes to her bed and tells Lyra to lie next to her.

"It's so nice to sleep with someone, uncle, mom, dad, rarely wants to sleep next to me these days saying I'm already too big for that, I mean Mr. teddy is nice to hug but I miss the warmth, so thank you Lyra," Marie tells Lyra as Lyra lays down next to Marie.

Marie shows Lyra her teddy bear and tells her how precious it was. "Mom and Dad got it for me when it was my third birthday, back then it was as big as me but now I'm bigger. Oh! One time I accidentally trip on Mr. Tedy and ripped his leg which my uncle clumsy sewed together!" Marie lifting Mr. Teddy shows the uneven stitches.

Lyra lets out a soft chuckle which Marie responded with giggles.

Lyra then reminisces about her childhood which feels like a lifetime ago.

Marie and Lyra talk about various things and Marie explains things to her. Eventually, Marie yawns, and her eyes are too heavy. "Good night Lyra,"

"Good night Marie, sweet dreams,"

Smiling and hugging Mr. Teddy Marie closes her eyes and mumbles a 'thank you ' before completely falling asleep.

Lyra patting Marie thinks about her own uncle, perhaps if Lyra and her uncle lived here instead of in the war zones, perhaps there was a chance that his sickness would've been treated and she didn't have to leave him, and he didn't have to be alone, and and… he didn't have to die.

With those thoughts in her mind, she finds herself falling asleep too.