53 Did we have to break in?

Flying through the sky once again, Lyra this time listened and flew at a much slower speed, making it a lot less terrifying. This time, I was able to enjoy the view instead of clinging for my life. 

However, when Lyra's old home came into view, I had sudden flashbacks to what happened that night in my previous attempt. My body trembled as the vivid image of Raja holding Lyra by the head and burning her alive repeated in my mind. 

"Saki, are you okay? Your shaking like crazy?" Lyra felt my trembles, which caused me to snap back to reality. I looked at Lyra's face in hopes of it calming me down and it did. Seeing her alive and well made the trauma go away. There is no need to remember it when it doesn't even matter anymore. 

"Yeah, I'm fine now."

Lyra wasn't entirely convinced and looked like she wanted to ask more, but she stopped herself from saying anything. Instead, she held me tighter and didn't ask me any more questions. 

'Maybe I should tell her about the apple.' A part of me wanted to confess the powerful apple I got my hands on, but I still felt I should keep it a secret for now. 

'Hmmm, I might never use it again so perhaps it's best to leave it. No need to complicate life even further or make Lyra worry.' Ultimately, I found no real reason to tell Lyra yet, as if I told her, she might go and hunt Raja, which would just get her killed. 

I mean, I could omit that part, but no doubt she would want to know what truly happens and her lie-detecting skills are off the charts.

"We are going down." Lyra then suddenly began to descend towards the roof of the mansion. It gave me a little scare, but I snuggled myself into Lyra's neck to brace myself. 

Gently landing on the roof, Lyra propped me up on my feet and my first question was, why?

"Can't we have just walked through the front door?" I knew she wanted to leave rather subtly, but I felt like this was all the more suspicious. 

"Wellll, my parents have probably noticed that I just transferred all my money out of my account so I want to avoid any of the mansion staff as much as possible." Lyra awkwardly chuckled, as I swear she said they wouldn't notice, but here we are breaking into her parent's house. 

"Don't worry about it, I will only be here for a few minutes. Just stay up here while I put everything into this bag." Lyra pulled out a sack from her skirt pocket, which had a rune on the bottom of it. I instantly assumed it was some kind of bottomless bag. 

"How much can that even hold?" I was curious about the limit since it's either infinite or there are different levels of space. 

"This one is a medium-sized one, so I could fit my whole bedroom if I wanted." Lyra shrugged and walked towards the edge of the roof. 

"Just know my room only has so much space." I hoped she wouldn't bring everything, but maybe it isn't a bad idea. Her bed was really comfortable when I slept in it, but I don't know if my roof is even high enough for it to fit the overhead frame. 

"I know, I know. Now sit tight and be ready for a fast takeoff." Lyra hopped off the side of the building, presumably on a small balcony leading to her room. 

*SMASH* 

Not even 5 seconds later, the sound of glass shattering echoed out and I gave the biggest sigh I think I've ever done. Yelling began to emerge from within the mansion, as well as some just in the garden below. 

I had sat down so they wouldn't be able to see me, but I was kind of worried this would backfire. I thought we were sneaking in, not just blatantly smashing a window and yoinking all of her stuff. 

"Just please let this not be a mistake and cause her parents to send a manhunt for her." Once again, my thoughts turned back to that night and suddenly my anxiety began to peak as this might be a trigger for it. 

Even though I haven't made contact with Raja, Lyra's parents certainly already knew of him, so what is stopping him from being sent again because of Lyra's actions? The only hope I had for it not being the case is that since she is leaving home, they won't bother and just never accept her back. 

'It's fine, I have the apple if I am desperate. Don't freak yourself out over nothing that has happened yet.' While I was in my small mental spiral, Lyra flew out of her room with a slightly bigger sack in her hands. 

She quickly locked her eyes on my position and thanks to the position I was in, she was able to sweep me up in a princess carry easily. I raised my arms preemptively, knowing she was going to fly straight at me and that it was not going to be a smooth fly. 

Flying straight into me, I latched onto Lyra and held on as tight as I could. She then flew straight up into the sky and once we were past the clouds, out of sight of any pursuers, Lyra stabilised herself.

She headed in the direction of my house… I think? My face was still buried in her neck, praying that this wouldn't cause a chain reaction of events. 

"You can look now. I doubt they would chase me, especially once they find out it is me." Lyra nuzzled her head into my fox ears, clearly copping a feel despite just breaking into her own home. 

"How can you be so relaxed? Also, stop that! It's ticklish." Lyra didn't stop, almost causing me to push her involuntarily. 

"Hmmmm, probably because I don't care? I would have destroyed the whole mansion if I could be bothered, but that'll cause more problems than I need to." Lyra reluctantly pulled away, but we were very high up in the sky, so it was probably best not to tempt fate and avoid plunging to our deaths. 

"Still though, did you have to break in? I feel like we could have avoided the whole flying away thing like we just did a crime." There were many questions I had about the rationale behind her actions, but here we are.

"Come on, it's more exciting this way. Plus, we don't want to be late for dinner, do we?" Lyra let a cheeky giggle as we were running out of time. The sun was going to set soon, so no doubt dinner was going to be ready by the time we got back. 

"F-fine as long as we don't get in trouble because of this." I knew I was stressed because of the past, but maybe I shouldn't be so worried after all.

"I promise." 

*

<Saki's home> 

Landing gently in front of my house, we had successfully returned safely and in time for dinner. I'm sure my Mother would have been fine if we were late, but I didn't want Lyra to leave any bad impressions, especially since she is moving in.

"Home, sweet home." Lyra stretched out her body and wings, already comfortable that this was her new home. 

"I hope it isn't too much of a downgrade." 

"Trust me, this beats living with my damned parents and siblings." There was a tone of relief in Lyra's voice, as if she finally escaped her jail cell. 

"Well, as long as you're happy." Ultimately, that's what it came down to. If Lyra wasn't smiling, then it would feel like I was doing something wrong. 

'Maybe that's why I am such a pushover.'

"Alright, enough loitering. Let's head inside." Lyra was eager to get settled and I couldn't blame her. There was an undeniable excitement building within me and I hope this will last forever. 

***

<General POV> 

In a dark alley somewhere within the city, Raja was meeting with a male half-cat.

*SMACK*

"Come on man, you said you would have the information tonight?" Raja had punched the half-cat directly in the face, knocking them to the ground. The half-cat certainly wasn't a fighter since they had a very fragile frame. Raja was triple his size in muscles, making it impossible for the half-cat to do anything against him.

"I-I know, but there was a sudden change and I was called off from gathering any more information." The voice was weak, but he quickly spoke while praying he wouldn't get hit again.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?!" Raja picked him up by the collar, demanding more clarification. 

"They no longer had the desire to kill her. I do not know why I was just doing my job." The half-cat struggled to breathe and speak, but he still managed to get the words out, hoping they would calm Raja.

"Fucking useless, I may as well just kill them for cancelling my job." Raja let go of the half-cat and punched the concrete wall next to him, causing a crack to form through it. 

"That's the Owlvil family. I highly recommend you don't." While the half-cat caught his breath, he tried to advise Raja, but that would turn out to be a terrible decision. 

"I would watch your mouth, Rev." A ball of flame engulfed his hand, threatening to do something he had perhaps done in another timeline.