Fen was dumbfounded. Since when could his comrade sense the energy of the people around him? Even he could only sense their energy when he was extremely close or touching the person, but Erik could simply see the energy?
No, he wasn't jealous... Okay, maybe he was a little bit, but he was more curious than envious about this mysterious change in his energy. Was it somehow related to the Dragon's memory? Or was there something else going on that he didn't know about?
Dozens of different reasons appeared in his head for the cause of the change, but the only one that stuck was the 'death' that he had experienced.
"Can you explain more?" Fen asked.
"Uhh. Sure." Erik responded, never taking his eyes off the threatening Raisen who looked ready to throw down with the two of them at any moment.
"Now that I'm closer, I can tell that it's not your energy that's darker. It's as if there's a secondary energy signal within yours, if that makes sense? I don't know how to explain it..."
"How long have you been able to see energy signatures?" Raisen cut in.
"Only recently, I gained an insight during my training. I haven't gotten the chance to tell you guys though, but I was going to. It's cool, right?"
"Yeah..."
Fen responded half-heartedly, his mind zoning out of the conversation as he sunk deeper in thought. He would have to experiment around with his energy in order to distinguish the two energy signatures. Although he didn't want to invest the time to raise his sensory skills to a high enough level to see the energy signatures, he might have to if continuous experiments didn't allow him to sense his own energy along with this mystery energy.
"So, what favor did you want to ask me anyways?"
"Oh, I just wanted to know if you wanted to fight sometime."
Fen blinked. The question came a little out of left field, but hey, why squander the opportunity for more combat experience? Every little bit counted.
After chatting for a bit, the youths left the Training Hall to do what they originally had planned that day, with Raisen staying to continue playing with his interface.
****
Having originally gone to see Raisen about how to manipulate magical energy, his plans for the day were completely swapped with the experimentation with the mysterious energy circulating around him.
There was no way that he could leave it alone without learning about it. Experimenting might show Fen the way to remove this suffocating feeling from his head, which had been plaguing him ever since he experienced 'death' within the Dragon's memories. Even if it meant that he would have to expend some precious time until the Task, he had to remove this pain. He couldn't bare to think about fighting with this feeling clouding his logic and thinking abilities.
But, having already started experimenting, he was at a loss.
He tried manipulating his Vital energy around him, circulating it around his body, and even ejecting it to even feel a sliver of this energy, but no matter what he did, the energy remained elusive. He had gotten close a few times, but in the end the energy always escaped him.
Fen threw himself to the floor of their personal Training Hall, frustrated. He couldn't train with this feeling, leaving him no option but to attempt to find a solution to rid him of this energy. But doing so proved to be harder than he originally thought...
At this rate, he would be left powerless during the Task.
He needed help in order to figure this problem out, but who could he ask? Raisen would be willing, but the old man wouldn't be able to help him even if he asked. None of his Squad mates would be able to help him either, so Fen didn't want to ask them, and Erik was the only one who could see the mystery energy, but he was even more clueless than Fen himself!
The only lead that he had on the energy was the Dragon's memories, but from what he could remember, the Lesser Dragon never experienced this either, which meant that the energy had been around only after Fen exited the memory. It had to be related to experiencing 'death', but what good did knowing that do?
There was one person left who might be able to help him, but that lousy God wasn't willing to show himself.
"Dammit, the one time I need you Dey, you're nowhere to be found!"
"..."
No response. Typical.
Fen got up from the personal Training Hall floor, staring at the white room in defeat. Nothing he was doing was working, so he could only move on. His original plan of tackling another Scenario was impossible while he was like this, so he needed something else to do while he thought about how to deal with this mysterious energy.
Not that he had wasted a good couple of hours trying to gain any lead on the energy, he might as well try to sense magical energy. No point in not trying, right? He had to stop crying over spilt milk, although he was pretty sure he was using the phrase wrong.
So, of course, the first thing Fen brought near him in order to start his practice to sense magical energy was of course, Amelia. She was the only Mage he felt comfortable enough with to ask for help, and she also owed him a favor. He guessed that being blown up did have it's benefits... Nope, after giving it a second thought, he'd rather just ask if he could avoid getting blown up.
"Hahaha, you rejected my offer to learn magic earlier, and yet here we are..." Amelia said with a smirk.
"You gonna help me or not?"
"Tsk, you're no fun."
Amelia cross her arms, putting on a slightly interested face before asking Fen for confirmation.
"So, you just need me to create a flame?"
Amelia looked at him for confirmation.
"Yep. As large as you can make one without spending too much energy so that you can sustain it for some time."
Pop!
A flame the size of Fen's hand popped into existence just in front of him, while Amelia took a seat on the pristine white floor of their personal Training Hall. Creating and sustaining the flame didn't cost her too much energy, so she had no reason to decline when she had nothing else to do.
Well, she could've declined, but that'd be pointless and would only waste a little bit of his time. There were lots of Mages in the Foundation, he could just ask any of them. She had to admit that him asking her first before any other Mages was a little flattering, even if he went to his instructor first.
Now that the flame was in front of him, Fen crouched down low so he was at eye-level with it, focusing his senses. Unlike with the mysterious energy mixed in with his regular energy signature, Fen could slightly feel the presence of the flame.
But, he was always able to feel magical energy that others produced. In his first spar with Amelia, he had charged towards her near the end of the spar because his instincts warned him against the accumulation of magical energy near him.
"Hey."
"What?" Fen said, a little annoyed.
Just as Fen started to stretch his senses towards himself to feel his own magical energy using the flame as comparison, Amelia started to say something on the floor, breaking his concentration. He hadn't brought her here to make conversation, he was genuinely trying to get work done!
"Why do you work so hard?" Ignorant to Fen's inner thoughts, she continued talking.
'Hmm? Isn't this just the normal amount of effort considering the circumstances?' Fen didn't think he was doing anything special, but to the others who hadn't experienced the terribleness of the Program, maybe he was working a little hard?
"Why shouldn't I be working hard? There's only a couple more days left until the Task, and I want to see my family again."
"Oh, so that's why..."
"What, do you not want to go back home?"
"...maybe. It's a little... complicated, I guess?"
That much talking completely destroyed all of Fen's focus, so he decided to just talk and hope that she'd finish soon. With an outstretched hand, he grabbed the flame in front of him, extinguishing it by isolating it from oxygen. It tinged his hand, but the pain didn't last long before he healed.
"How's it complicated? They're your family, they've always been there for you. How can you not want to go back to them?"
Amelia scoffed.
"We must have had very different families then. Mine has never 'been there' for me. It's always been about their problems and not what I had to deal with. I spent most of high school living at my friends' houses. And when I did live with them, it wasn't a happy time."
"Hmm?"
What she said rang a bell inside his memory, what Raisen had told him earlier. 'Everyone had their reason to survive in the Opfer, and mine's my family. But not everybody wanted to go back home, or something like that.' Fen hadn't understood that at the time, but could this be what the old man was talking about?
Fen was only exposed to two different families during his life, his own and Miko's, both of which were very kind and loving. Because of how Fen grew up, without friends to talk to and share with, he experienced life ignorant about the others kids problems. He was aware that abusive families existed because of the internet, but because he had never once seen or experienced it he was able to subconsciously ignore it.
Did both Fen and Amelia live harsh lives? There was no correct answer to that question because of the infinite number of ways you could measure hardship. Fen was alone all of his life, dependent on his family for companionship, while Amelia was the opposite. She was social, if a little mean at times, but she had no home life to speak of.
"What, don't tell me you never fought with your parents before?" She scoffed.
He nodded his head, "Of course. Whenever my dad rolled on the floor in my bedroom," Amelia had a nonplussed look on her face, "I usually chased him out."
"*Scoff*, not that kind of fight. You've never been yelled at by your family before? Wanted to run away? Ever asked to stay at a friend's place because you didn't want to stay home? You've never spent weekends with your friends, treasuring the time you were away from home, knowing that being happy was only going to make your parent's even more mad?" Her voice started to tremble at the end, nearly breaking before she finished speaking.
Fen blinked. He knew the signs of a girl about to burst into tears, the slight tremble in her voice was all the evidence he needed to recognize it.
"I've never had to do that."
'But, I never had anybody who I could call a friend,' Fen thought, not saying it aloud in the case that it would just further push her into tears.
"Hahaa, *Sniff*, you're lucky then."
"..."
Was he lucky? From what Amelia was saying, he was fortunate enough to have been born into a loving family. But everything else...
The pair stood in silence again, with Fen politely looking away as the light reflected on the trails of tears running down Amelia's face. The best thing he could do for her was to stay there, in his experience. When faced with a problem he was unable to solve, it was better to simply be there for someone else more often than not.
It seemed that every time the two of them were alone, she always burst into tears. Wait, it wasn't his fault, right?
"*Sniffle*, I'm sorry, I'm usually more composed than this, haha..." After a few minutes, Amelia calmed down enough to speak again.
"It's alright. Probably." Staying like this didn't make Fen uncomfortable anyways, he had experienced enough crying sessions to understand that the best thing to do was not to embarrass her.
"Do you want me to hug you?"
Amelia froze. She looked at him suspiciously, but Fen's eyes were clear and pure. She doubled checked to make sure that he had no other ulterior motives, before deciding to ask him instead.
"Why are you offering something like that?"
"You calmed down last time after I did... that." He was telling the truth, she did bury her head in his chest after she broke down from thinking that she killed him with her explosion magic.
"...fine."
The two of them were still sitting on the floor, and combined with the massive amount of awkwardness that she felt, she was a little uncomfortable with the situation. But, after laying her red-haired head on his chest and listening to his steady heartbeat, Amelia slowly started to relax.
At the same time, Fen was having a little headache.
'Forgive me Miko, I swear I'm loyal to you. If anyone's to blame, it's you! You told me to make friends but you never shared with me the secret how to, so here I am.' Although his heartbeat remained calm, his mind was worried and terrified that Miko somehow knew that he was soothing another woman. He had no doubt in his mind that if she knew what he was doing, she'd find a way to come and kick his ass.
For the rest of the time that she remained on his chest, the mantra 'I'm loyal to Miko', kept playing in his head like a lifeline.
'Hah, jeez. Why is it that the most aggressive one is also the easiest to become friendly with?' Fen was talking about why he was getting so much closer to Amelia and not Gray or Qin, who were arguable the best options of friends. Maybe there was something wrong with him, only letting him befriend the crazy ones...
"Are you alright now?"
"..."
"Amelia?"
"...*Snore*"
There's no way... right? That'd just be stupid.
Just to be extra sure, he gently placed his hands on her shoulders and rocked her. Just a little bit, not even enough to hurt her, but just enough for a lucid person to notice.
Still no response. Very suspicious... Fen turned his head to see Amelia's face, which was conveniently buried in his chest, and was very shocked to discover that the girl was asleep! How selfish! He could barely catch a wink last night, and now he was forced to deal with this sleeping girl!
[Hehe, bad time?] A familiar and annoying voice appeared in Fen's mind.
"Every damn-" A spew of curses 'accidentally' slipped from his mouth.
[Keep it down! You don't want to wake the girl up, right? On another note, you should've told me you had a girlfriend!]
Fen glared at the now-visible black energy apparition that popped into existence just in front of him and Amelia. He was about to start yelling profanities again, but Amelia started to shuffle around in his arms.
"Hngg."
'...wait a minute, wasn't sound like, really cute?? The fuck? What does she think I am?! When did I turn into some free bed for use?!!' Fen, to say the least, wasn't flustered as much as he was pissed off.
Dey started laughing maniacally as he watched the storm of emotions flash across Fen's face before he finally restrained himself and started speaking back to him mentally.
[I do have a girlfriend, but this girl isn't her. Mine's much more pretty and perfect.]
[Woah boy, cheating? That's not okay. You have to stay loya-]
[Shut up. I know. It's complicated.] Fen's annoyance was starting to grow by the second. [And I don't need your opinion about my girlfriend and what I'm doing right now, there's complicated circumstances.]
[Uhuh. I'm sure there are.]
[But there really are!]
[Alright, I believe you. I'm just messing with you.] Dey said mentally, still with that smug expression on his non-existent facial features.
[So, I heard that you were looking for me?]
{You're damn right I was looking for you,] Fen said, somehow managing to sound threatening even to the God in front of him. [I need your help. You must be old right?]
[...I take great offense to that assumption, but yes, I am.]
[I meant it to sound insulting. In your many, many years of living,] Dey's black energy body flickered as his rage increased, [have you seen what this mystery energy signature around me? Do you know what it is? It's taking a lot of my concentration.]
[What energy signature-] Dey floated closer to him before stopping suddenly, freezing in place. Then, his voice within the mental link increased to a thunder. [Where did you get the Death Mark?!]
Instantly, the black energy God's face was inches away from his own, so much so that Fen almost completely forgot about Amelia who was still sleeping in his arms. Somehow the girl still slept, oblivious to what was happening around her.