Children of the Brush

"Where are we going," Le Fay asked curiously.

Arthur wished he had an answer for his sister. 

Wished he had a better plan than to get excommunicated by stealing the family sword, thereby preventing his marriage so he could be with Elaine.

Wished his sister hadn't gotten caught up in his mess because he and her mentor had fallen in love.

But Arthur didn't have an answer besides that one, so he simply smiled at the young girl, squeezing her hand, and lied to her face.

"Don't worry, I have it all figured out," Arthur said with complete (false) confidence. "We'll lie low for a bit and let the heat die down."

"Kay," Le Fay agreed cheerfully, utterly oblivious to Arthur's internal turmoil.

He didn't have a plan. All his contacts and connections were attached to the Pendragon family. All he had was Collbrande, his tea set, and a vague idea of where to find the lost Excalibur.

They wouldn't have any trouble getting by, thanks to Le Fay's magic and Collbrande's ability to teleport through space, but as for what to do exactly?

Arthur was at a loss.

So, one could imagine his surprise when he noticed a dark-haired woman waving them down.

At first, Arthur had believed she was gesturing to someone else, as the streets of Leon were decently packed at this time of day, and nobody should know who they were since he had teleported them to a random city in France.

But Arthur tensed up when the young woman met his eyes and gave a feline smile.

"Is that who we're here to meet?" Le Fay asked curiously. "Who's she?"

Arthur had no idea, but he couldn't sense her presence at all.

Was she an agent of the family? She didn't look like one in the revealing garb she wore. It looked Asian, rather than anything the servants usually wore, and it certainly wasn't designed to blend in.

Arthur tensed as she approached. She wasn't moving quickly, but her every action spoke of confidence.

"You must be Arthur and Le Fay Pendragon, nyaa," the woman greeted with a grin. "Eren told me to come to pick you up. Said you needed a place to stay for a while."

Arthur had no idea who 'Eren' or this woman was, but as soon as she made the slightest move, Collbrande would cut her down.

Unaware of her brother's tenseness, Le Fay simply greeted the older woman.

"Who are you?" She asked brightly. "And where are we going?"

"I'm Kuroka," the woman puffed out her chest in pride as a pair of black cat ears appeared on her head and two cat tails swished behind her. "And this beautiful Onee-sama is here to bring you two home. Come on, Eren promised to have cookies ready when we got there."

It was, surprisingly, Le Fay who identified the woman first.

The young witch stepped back quickly, half hiding behind her brother as she levelled her wand at Kuroka.

"You're Black Cat Kuroka! A Stray Devil!"

Arthur had Collbrande ready in an instant, poised to cut off the woman's head.

Arthur might not recognize the name Kuroka, but he had heard of the Black Cat. Every faction kept tabs on the powerful rogues of the others, either for defence or potential recruitment.

And a master of Senjutsu, who had managed to kill her King and escape the Underworld when it tried to hunt her down, was definitely worth keeping tabs on.

"Nyahahahahaha," the nekoshou giggled as her body shimmered, disappearing from in front of them. An illusion! When had she put it up? Was that why he couldn't sense her? "None of that. Nyasty thing, that sword. Especially for poor little Onee-sama."

Collbrande could cut through anything, even space... but Arthur had never tried cutting an illusion before. Would cutting space disrupt it? Or would it leave him open for a counterattack?

Arthur placed himself in front of his sister as the Stray's voice echoed around them from everywhere and nowhere.

"What do you want with us?" Arthur asked with a charming smile, discreetly gesturing for his sister to continue to look for the devil. 

Despite her young age, she was a prodigy of magic like few others and, of the two of them, had the best chance of finding the Black Cat. As soon as he knew where she was hiding, Collbrande would have her head.

"To bring you home~" the voice purred in his ear, but Arthur was controlled enough not to flinch or even move from the distraction. "Pooey, you're no fun."

"I'm afraid we'll have to decline your invitation," Arthur said genially, eyes scanning the area. At some point, all the human traffic had left. Another illusion? Or a barrier? "We are occupied at the moment. If you will be so kind as to tell us what you wish us for, we can consider it and return to this conversation at a later time."

"Are you sure~" Kuroka teased, voice dancing on the air. "I can promise you a safe place to live. Strong enemies to train against. Help finding Excalibur Ruler. Access to magic you wouldn't learn with Golden Dawn. The best cookies in the world. Two of the greatest familiars a witch could ever ask for~ Even your ancestors would be jealous of this opportunity, nyahahahaha."

"You seem to know quite a bit about us," Arthur said, his tone remaining polite despite how worried he was becoming. Had someone been following him? How else would they know about Ruler? "But I am afraid I will still need to decline. Deals with devils and all that, you understand."

"Not a deal with me, nyaa," Kuroka chuckled, reappearing where she had initially been on the street only a few moments ago. Arthur still couldn't sense her presence, so he kept his eyes on a swivel in case this was another illusion. "A deal with my partner. My partner who can see the future."

"Impossible," Le Fay denied before Arthur could say anything. "Only one being has ever been confirmed to have clairvoyance. Other gods just have limited omniscience. Does he have Sephiroth Grail or Telos Karma? Both have had users in the past fake the ability, but it was never actual foresight."

"Nope," Kuroka said with a casual laugh. "The real deal. It's how he knew where to send me to meet you."

"Then he'd know we will not be joining you," Arthur said, his smile just as gentlemanly as ever. "I trust he will not be disappointed."

"See, he told me I'd need to convince you," Kuroka's smile gained a bit more teeth. "Said you wouldn't agree until he promised to reunite you with Elaine."

Collbrande flashed, and the illusion dissolved.

"Apologies," Arthur said, genial smile still in place. "A stray twitch. Now, what were you saying about my sister's tutor?"

"Nyahahahahaha," Kuroka's laughter resounded, and she sauntered out of a side alley. "That all she is, nyaa? A bit much for a twitch."

Arthur's mind raced a mile a minute. They had been discreet, almost past the bounds of paranoia, thanks to the Pendragon's rules on marriage and bloodlines. How had they been discovered?

"Arthur?" Le Fay asked, curiosity budding in her young voice. Then she shook her head and refocused. "That's the real her. I'm sure."

"Of course I'm real," Kuroka said, a magic circle appearing below her feet. Le Fay's whisper of 'teleportation' alerted him to what it did. "I've said all I've needed to to get you interested, didn't I? And if you don't like the offer, you can always use that sword to leave. Nothing to lose, everything to gain."

For a long moment, nobody said anything as both girls looked at Arthur.

Damned if the Stray wasn't right. If there was a threat to Elaine or even someone who would tell the Pendragons about their affair, he needed to deal with it. And since they had just left, he had nowhere to put Le Fay that he trusted her to be safe without him.

Arthur grabbed his sister's hand, held Collbrande in the other, and stepped into the teleportation circle under the smiling eyes of the Stray Devil.

Whatever the descendants of King Arthur had expected to be on the other side of the teleportation, the reality was vastly different.

Instead of some lavish mansion filled with servants, a secret base rigged with traps, or a menacing magical laboratory, the siblings and their cat companion found themselves in front of a cottage in the middle of nowhere.

That wasn't hyperbole.

They were in a long, wide valley between two bare mountain ranges, and Arthur felt his ears pop from the elevation change. There was no one and nothing for kilometres in any direction except for fields, a few cops of trees, and mountains.

The only sign of habitation was the lone wood building, small enough to contain only four or five rooms.

Kuroka, uncaring for her guests' confusion, sauntered up to the door and opened it without knocking.

"Eren! I'm back! Are the cookies ready?"

"They came out of the oven a few minutes ago," a boy's voice responded without emotional inflection. "Arthur, Le Fay, come in."

Sharing a look filled with warning with his sister and not letting go of his sword, Arthur stepped into the cabin.

It was... cozy. Bare and functional, with simple furniture and appliances, but definitely had the marks of being lived despite being very clean.

It was also occupied.

Two boys sat at a table surrounded by six chairs, watching the new arrivals with interest. One was young, only a few years older than Le Fay and felt like a devil to Arthur's senses, while the other was some sort of monkey hybrid, maybe a Yokai, that Arthur couldn't sense.

Their catnapper had pulled a third boy, also only a few years older than Le Fay, into her arms and was squishing him against her chest. Around them, some sort of white bone-like material flowed, holding a pan and cleaning up the kitchen.

"A Holy Sword user and a magician," the young devil at the table said as he eyed the siblings with crossed arms. "Are they worthy of joining my team?"

A piece of the white material flew from the kitchen and smacked into the boy's forehead the second he finished talking.

"Ha," the monkey laughed as the boy rubbed his forehead. Turning to the still-wary siblings, he waved casually. "Don't mind Vali. He's a bit of a brat to those he doesn't know. I'm Bikou. You've met Kuroka, sorry about that, and that's Eren."

"Charmed," Arthur smiled but didn't release his hold on his sister or his weapon. "To what do we owe this... invitation?"

While this group was nowhere near the worst possibility, both in numbers, race, or power, it still didn't answer the question of what they wanted with him in his sister or how they knew about him and Elaine.

"I needed you," Eren said simply, not reacting to Kuroka carrying him to a seat at the table and sitting down with him on her lap.

"Whatever for? I am afraid that we are no longer welcome within the Pendragon estate or Golden Dawn. We will not be of much use." 

Arthur didn't let himself be distracted. They wanted something from him and they had him at a disadvantage. He needed to remain calm, or he'd fall even further behind.

"You two are the last members of a team I am putting together," Eren said, slipping from Kuroka's arms. 

She pouted, but her displeasure was short-lived as a tray of fresh cookies was laid on the table. Everyone dug in with relish.

"Who is this team? What is its goal? And why should we join you?"

Arthur asked the questions rapid-fire, trying to gain more information. And keep Le Fay from reaching for a cookie.

They did smell really good.

"You can have some," Eren said to the girl. "I still have thirty-seven attempts to go before they are perfect and five more after that to make them that way every time. These are alright, though."

"Alright, he says," Kuroka muttered through a mouthful of cookies. "These are already better than the Naberius' chefs. Shirone will love these." Both boys at the table nodded.

"Even if I know the recipe, I have to practice for my body to move properly," Eren answered. "Just like Senjutsu. And stop making a mess."

Kuroka stuck out her tongue at the boy, getting crumbs everywhere.

Le Fay looked at her brother and, still seeing no threat and trusting her to check for poison, Arthur gave her a tiny nod. 

Her smile lit up the room as she reached for a cookie, remaining within arms reach of Arthur just in case. That smile melted into one of gooey bliss as she took her first bite.

Judging that she was fine for the moment, Arthur refocused on the boy in front of him. The way he talked, so emotionless yet confident, was putting him on edge.

"You didn't answer my questions."

Arthur didn't notice that when Le Fay reached for her fourth cookie, she found a folded note under the treat.

"I can see the future," Eren said plainly. "Soon, I will contact and take control of a faction of hero descendants and reincarnations. They will have multiple Longinus users among them. Using them as a base, I will create an organization made up of multiple factions, each dissatisfied with the Peace Treaty that will be signed between the angels, fallen, and devils in a few years. I will throw them against each other, weakening every supernatural faction in the world."

That was... a lot. Also completely unbelievable.

"Nobody can see the future," Arthur said with complete confidence. Anyone with that kind of ability would be world-famous.

"I can," Eren replied without any outward dissatisfaction at being doubted. "Because I come from beyond the Dimensional Gap, from a world where the rules are different."

Ah. That's what this was.

Arthur finally got it. The boy was delusional, like many boys his age were, and his power, whatever that white material was, had fed into that delusion. He had found a group of similarly young and deluded people willing to play along with him.

Arthur couldn't even really blame him, as he had been like that at one point as well. Who hadn't believed themselves to be the reincarnation of King Arthur, destined to recreate Camelot?

Thankfully, Le Fay was too young to remember her older brother going around 'knighting' all the servants... or that they played along with his fantasies.

Still, just because it was understandable didn't mean he wanted his sister or himself anywhere near someone who lived in their own delusions.

For now, he needed to find out how they knew about Elaine, plug that leak, and then they could leave.

"And why do you need me or my sister?" Arthur asked with his usual charming smile. Then, almost as if he were speaking an afterthought, he continued. "And why did you promise to reunite me with Elaine? She is my sister's tutor, not mine."

"I need you all because there will be missions I cannot trust to the Chaos Brigade," Eren said simply. "Watching Ophis, for example. Or working against certain factions secretly so they don't become too powerful."

Ophis? The Oroborous Dragon!? One of the Divine Duo?

Arthur's instinctual fear must have shown on his face because Eren 'reassured' him.

"I will deal with Ophis. That's what the cookies are for." What. "And I knew about Elaine because of this conversation we are having now."

"So, you saw me ask about Elaine in the future and used it to bring me to you, so I would ask about it?" Arthur said doubtfully. He was ignoring the Ophis topic for the moment, for his peace of mind, if nothing else. Nobody wanted to be in the same country as one of the Dragon Gods, let alone in the same room. "You will pardon me, I am sure, if I find that unlikely."

"Ask your sister."

For a quick moment, Arthur felt a flash of fear, and his head snapped toward Le Fay.

She was fine, but her eyes were wide in shock. They darted between him and a piece of paper in her hands.

The three others at the table had remained silent, but they were all grinning at Arthur.

Le Fay, eyes still wide and not saying a word, handed Arthur the paper.

There, in tight rows of words to fit on the page, was the exact conversation he had just had with Eren.

Word for word.

It even included the gestures and expressions Arthur had been making as they talked!

"Hahahahaha!" Bikou laughed loudly, and Kuroka giggled. The devil boy, Vali, just smirked. "You were right. Seeing it happen to someone else is hilarious."

"What sort of trick is this?" Arthur asked suspiciously, crumpling the paper in his hand.

"No trick," Eren said, stepping forward. 

Arthur instinctively raised Collbrande to face the younger boy, but Eren didn't even blink.

Instead, he stepped forward again, and the Holy Sword bit into his shoulder effortlessly. Blood flowed freely.

Holy Light hurt everyone, even angels and humans. Eren just grit his teeth in pain and stepped forward again, driving the sword deeper into his shoulder.

His companions just watched, not doing anything, as the boy mutilated himself on one of the strongest swords in the world.

"This world respects strength," Eren bit out through clenched teeth. "No matter what I do, no matter what tricks I use, nobody believes me unless I prove I have power."

Eren reached out a hand and a haze of Ki surrounded it.

He grabbed the blade of Collbrande, the same one that was cutting into him, and yanked it upward, tearing a large hole through his shoulder and sending blood splattering.

By coincidence or design, not a drop landed near the table.

Arthur, stunned by the self-mutilation, watched in horrified confusion as Eren held up his completely undamaged hand. His shoulder steamed, and it was completely healed in the blink of an eye and a haze of Ki.

Only the blood splatter proved there had been a wound at all.

"You tell me to not make a mess, and look what you do," Kuroka pouted playfully at Eren, but he ignored her.

"I won't make your choices for you," Eren said, looking from Arthur to the equally stunned Le Fay. "I just promise that if you follow me, I will give you the chance to reunite with Elaine. Everything Kuroka promised came from me."

"You..." Arthur's affable smile had fallen. "What is it you want, exactly? Why do all this?"

"There is a specific future I want," Eren said simply. "I need you two to help me get there. To do that, I will go against the entire world."

"Enough of the talking!" Vali suddenly said, standing up and smashing his hands on the table with a 'BANG.'

Of course, all the cookies had been eaten by that point. Vali wouldn't risk any falling on the floor.

Everybody flinched at the noise except for Eren, but Vali didn't care. His grin was excited and filled with childish fervour.

"You, Holy Sword wielder," he said, pointing at Arthur. "Let's fight."

Kuroka groaned, Bikou laughed, and Le Fay finished her last cookie.

"True camaraderie will be forged on the battlefield," Vali declared passionately. "Only then can the descendants of King Arthur and Lucifer become brothers in arms!"

Arthur... wasn't sure he understood what was going on anymore.

"He means he wants to fight you to see if you're worthy of joining his team," Kuroka explained with a roll of her eyes.

"Is... Isn't he in charge," Le Fay asked nervously, pointing at Eren.

"Yes," Eren said simply.

"Only until I defeat you!" Vali declared with a growl.

"Vali will lead the team," Eren continued as if he hadn't heard the young devil. "But that is years away. For now, go out into the valley to practice with Vali. Don't worry. Kuroka and I are protecting it with Senjutsu, and Bikou will clean it up after you. Go all out."

Eren turned, a ribbon of the white material bringing a mop to his hand, and he started cleaning up the blood.

"What's stopping us from leaving?" Arthur asked suspiciously, still trying to grasp what, exactly, was going on.

Except for Vali. He was pretty sure the boy was just as delusional as he had thought Eren to be.

"Nothing," Eren answered, dipping his mop in the water. "I never force anyone to do anything. You can leave and I won't do anything to you. But you won't. Le Fay is too curious about how my powers work, and you want me to fulfil my promises."

"Will you?"

"I will. Go play with Vali. Bikou will want a turn afterward."

Arthur still wasn't sure he believed the boy, but he'd ride it out for now, not dropping his guard.

That and the looks he was getting from the devil and yokai boys ignited his competitive spirit.

"Wait," Kuroka said, sitting up from where she was lounging in her chair and stopping anyone from moving. Except for Eren. He kept mopping. "Did you just recruit another battle maniac?"

"Le Fay is a magic maniac," Eren 'answered,' not looking at the nekoshou. "I'll be working with her on ironing out my long-term plan."

"Don't you already know what it will be?" Le Fay asked, leaning forward with interest.

"Yes," Eren said. "But only because you come up with it. So I need to make sure you do. Don't worry, there's no rush. This valley will be our home for a while."

"Don't ignore my question, nyaa!" Kuroka demanded. "What type of mad team are you building here?"

"One that will fight anyone and anything," Eren said, wringing out the bloody mop.

"Come on," Bikou tugged on Arthur's arm, trying to lead him out the door. "When Kuroka decides to play with Eren, we should be somewhere else, or she'll drag us in."

Arthur resisted long enough to share a look with his sister. He trusted her well enough, but these were strangers. If anything happened, her first order of business was to escape.

"We're having noodles tonight," Vali yelled as white and blue wings burst from his back. He took off into the valley's far edge before anyone could respond.

"Was that-"

"Divine Dividing," Bikou nodded with a laugh, tapping his staff on his shoulder. "Vali Lucifer is the generation's White Dragon Emperor. And I'm the grandson of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. Kuroka is an SS-class Stray Devil, and you are the natural Holy Sword wielder of Collebrand. Le Fay's some sort of magic prodigy, right?" Bikou rubbed his hands together in excitement. "This is gonna be great."

"And Eren," Arthur asked. "What's he?"

"I'm human," Eren said, poking his head out of the door. "Tell Vali we're not having noodles for dinner again, no matter how much he begs."

"Gocha," Bikou nodded. "Will you be coming out? If we're gonna be a team, we're gonna need to practice fighting someone together."

"After dinner," Eren said, reentering the house. "The sheets for their beds are dry, and I need to finish making up their rooms."

"...Is he really human?"

"So he says," the monkey Yokai shrugged, uncaring. "He says his powers just work differently than ours because they are from another world."

"What can he do," Arthur asked warily. "He mentioned Senjutsu. Besides that and his supposed future sight, anything else?"

Bikou just laughed ominously.

********

"We don't have much time before someone notices my illusions," Kuroka told Vali's team as she met them on the roof of the Hyoudou Residence.

If her voice was lacking its usual seductive charm, well... It was only understandable.

She had just learned that the love of her life had been responsible for the death of a billion and a half people and that his entire life had been a long series of nightmares, one after the other, leading to his 'suicide by lover.'

Kuroka could be pardoned for not being in a very seductive mood.

"...What are we going to do," Arthur asked, his face lacking its charming smile.

"What we said we would," Vali answered, crossing his arms and leaning against the roof. "We're going to protect Ophis, try and stop Eren, and if that fails, we'll fight him."

"You can't beat him," Le Fay said despondently. "You've tried for years, and even at your best, before Eren got any power up, you never came close."

"I wasn't there," Fenrir rumbled a growl. "I will aid in tearing this Titan to shreds."

"That's not what we mean," Bikou gave their newest member a wan smile. "Yes, Eren is strong. But without this plan, he doesn't break the Top Ten. Yet Hades and Indra listen to him. That's because Eren doesn't lose. If he can't win a fight, he's always in a situation where something will happen to ensure he wins. You heard that Mikasa woman. He planned his own decapitation. That's what seeing the future means. He's never wrong. Even when he's hurt, it's just to further his plan."

No. That was wrong. That's not how Eren's ability worked at all. Eren simply chose a future and walked toward it. He could win, he could lose, he could even die. The only guarantee was that the future would turn out as he willed it at the moment of his death.

They were just living in a world where the ending Eren was walking toward required a mythos of invincibility.

"Who says we can't beat him," Vali grinned cooly. "For all we know, he planned to have us go against him so we could be the ones to beat him in the end."

"...You think he's doing it again," Arthur nodded. "Using us like he used the scouts last time. We fight him, clearing our names by being the ones to beat him."

"Or we could be the 'Zeke' of the story," Vali shrugged. "Maniupalated till the end. Or we could be the Yeagerists, soldiers he sent to die. It doesn't matter."

"Of course, it matters," Arthur disagreed sadly. "I will not let Le Fay die as a martyr to a cause I am not even certain of. We joined Eren because he made us promises. Promises he hasn't kept. Kuroka's has been fulfilled, but ours? We're still waiting."

"I have not forgotten his promise," Vali grimaced. "But that's why it doesn't matter. I never depended on him to fulfill it alone. Neither did you. We might have joined him for them, but that's not why we stayed with him. You know that."

Arthur didn't answer.

"The way I see it," Vali's grin returned. "The future Eren saw will happen one way or the other. We have no way of knowing if he lied, if we're going to die, or if the world is going to end once he gets Malacoda. To be honest, I'd forgotten this feeling. Will I win? Will I lose?"

"You just want to fight him again," Le Fay pouted.

"We are talking about a possible battle for the entire Underworld, maybe even the whole world," Vali said, clenching his fists in eagerness. "We could all die standing against Eren. You can't tell me you're not excited."

Kuroka didn't need to be a master of Senjutsu to notice how Bikou stood a bit straighter or how Arthur's hand twitched to his swords.

Battle maniacs, the lot of them.

Still, Kuroka had known these fools for years. She could read under the lines.

They might not know the specifics of what Eren planned to do with all that power besides a vague 'destroy the Underworld' type goal, but it wouldn't be small.

These thugs might be battle-crazy idiots, but they were not the types who could let something like The Rumbling happen.

They were all for fighting gods, heroes, dragons, and even destroying most of the Pillar houses of the Underworld, but none of these boys would allow something like a genocide on the helpless to pass before their eyes.

Not that they would ever say it.

It wouldn't be 'cool.'

Still, she couldn't waste any more time up here. Right now, the Satan and fallen angel Governor were no doubt keeping a careful watch on the temporary rooms Vali's teams were given.

Kuroka was good, but she had no confidence in keeping their secret rendevous hidden for long against those old monsters.

"Why didn't you tell them Eren can use the Founder," Kuroka asked plainly, not beating around the bush. "That's what you were talking about in that barrier, right? You told the full story, removing his ability to see the future. Why not explain everything?"

"Why didn't you tell them," Bikou asked back, though his tone was teasing rather than harsh.

Kuroka just looked at Vali.

"...When I found Eren on that bench, we talked for a bit," Vali answered. "One thing he insisted on is that if any of the leaders of the three factions learn of his abilities, he will fail. I'm pretty sure it's because of that Mikasa woman. She'd find out if they did."

"Then we should tell them," Fenrir said.

"But the last thing he told me was that I could tell them if I wanted," Vali continued soberly. "Even if it meant he failed. Because he wouldn't be fighting for a future where his friends weren't free to stand against him if they thought they needed to."

Nobody said anything.

"Maybe he saw us fighting him," Vali sighed. "Maybe I am being manipulated and doing what he wants to ensure the future that he wants. It doesn't matter. He hasn't betrayed me yet, and I can't see the future like he can. So what matters is my choice, here and now. I will fight Eren. But I will not betray him."

Kuroka thought about Vali's words as she snuck back toward her room.

After everything she had learned tonight, she felt utterly exhausted, yet her mind continued to go in circles.

Eren was smiling at the end. How? Why?

What was the truth? What was the lie? Was his plan as destructive as The Rumbling? Eren had let slip that it would be worse than it, but if so, why was he smiling?

Eren had been right, though. She hadn't understood at the time. She would never have understood if not for the bit- Mikasa.

Even now, Kuroka was struggling to understand.

Kuroka honestly didn't think she'd be getting any sleep that night.

But a surprise was waiting outside her door.

Shirone stood in the hall in her sleeping clothes. Her hand was half raised as if to knock on the door, but it was frozen and not moving.

As Kuroka watched, Shirone lowered her arm and turned to leave without knocking.

Kuroka let her illusion fall.

"Shironyaa," she purred softly to not alert the others in nearby rooms. Koneko jumped anyway. "What are you doing here?"

"...Couldn't sleep," the younger girl muttered, looking away as her face flushed slightly. "Akeno is with Rias."

Kuroka repressed the urge to grab her sister in a tight hug at the cuteness overload. It was best not to push things too far too quickly. Already, Shirone had been more affectionate with her tonight than she could have ever hoped for so soon after their reunion.

Then again, listening to Eren's past like that had probably affected her just like everyone else.

"...Would you like to sleep with Onee-sama?" Kuroka asked softly, opening her door so the younger girl could enter by herself if she wanted.

Shirone looked torn, biting her lip.

Kuroka didn't press her. Eren had been right.

All Kuroka could do was work towards forgiveness.

It was up to Shirone to give it.

Eventually, Shirone gave the tiniest of nods.

Kuroka smiled, even when they climbed into bed together, and Shirone sleepily muttered, 'Just for tonight.'

Weirdly enough, despite their trouble falling asleep before, both fell asleep quickly after that.

It could be the emotional exhaustion, the late time of night, or a mixture of factors.

A significant part of it was undoubtedly the familiar arms, warm bodies, and nostalgic smells of long-separated sisters reunited, if only for a moment of shared comfort and mutual support.