Amelia walked through a hallway with blinding white lights shining off of pristine walls.
"I'm still amazed nobody has complained about the lights." She complained as she stared up at them, her right eye twitching.
She could feel the heat the longer it went on as she stared at the light. Maybe I should add them to have an automatic adjustment to the surroundings. She gripped her shirt and fan her own body with it.
"You're a bit dramatic." Aeon's voice chimed in.
She looked towards him as she continued to fan herself, "Ah. You're he-"
With a large grin on his face, he placed his hand on her head. Amelia's movement stopped immediately as her gaze gradually turned into a glare the longer his hand remained static on her head. He did eventually start moving it and ruffling her hair like a child. Her gaze softened in response to the gentle smile on his face.
"I question your… uh.."
She went to speak but not a single word left her lips. Amelia could see Aeon struggled to muffle his laughter, his hand ruffling her hair. Her right eye starts twitching again yet there is a faint blush on her face.
"Stop it." She swats his hand away and brushes her hair to fix it.
His muffled laughter bursts out as he starts high-pitched wheezing. She slaps his shoulder although he is still laughing really loudly. She glares at him and the blush becomes more apparent on her face. Under the lights it accentuated the red on her cheeks.
"Be a little serious will you?" Annoyance apparent in her tone.
He shrugs and thoroughly ruffles her hair one last time. He pulls his hand back right before she swats it away from her head, like an embarrassed child being caressed. Aeon hums in delight with a grin that is bright enough to entrance Amelia for a second or two. Her hands reach for his face as he continues to grin.
His lips never flatter yet his eyes couldn't help themselves.
It never fails to amaze him how small her hands are compared to his, although that was normal for him under most circumstances given his height. Maybe it was because of how she presents herself and their perception of her that made an impact on him. Even his first impression of her isn't that far off from what she actually is.
Time and time again, he questions the validity of those thoughts.
His hands inch closer to hers as they rest comfortably on his cheeks. Even if her hands were small they no doubt had quite the power on him. Amelia could see the faint shade of pink on his cheeks as it rests there much longer than he anticipated.
"You-"
His 'daydream' is abruptly ended by the force of Amelia's fingers pinching his cheeks. The pain caused him to hold onto her wrists instead, gently pleading for her to let go.
A smirk present on her lips, "I thought I asked you to be more serious, Mr Aeon Alchemilla."
"I would if you just let me go."
She lets him go and his hands rub his cheeks.
"Dammit that hurt more than I thought. I'm surprised that you let go so easily." He whined.
Amelia crosses her arms as his eyes dart to anywhere else but in front of him. He still nervously moved his hands but she noticed he wasn't feeling quite as panicked. She avoided staring into his eyes but from the way he reacted she could tell what he's feeling.
"You never cease to amaze me how you question my actions as though it's the first time you've seen it."
He was motionless as his eyes instead lowered themselves to the ground. Looking to her feet instead of her face.
"I know. You also know why I feel that way too. But I just can't help it."
Even if his gaze isn't facing her own, he could feel the lingering thoughts in his head as her gaze falls on him. The feel of it changes after a second in a way that makes him know that she intentionally wanted him to feel it.
"Your idiosyncrasies flatter your own characteristics though don't mesh along when considered what you're working for."
Those words make his eyes meet hers.
"Amelia. Could you... Phrase it normally, please?"
She crosses her arms, "I would appreciate it more if you purposely didn't sound so staggered."
'Who told me to fight fire with fire again? Ah yeah, Zarnia. I should remember to not take every word of hers so seriously from time to time.' Aeon sighs internally.
From the corner of her eye she could see a pair of purple wolf ears peeking out from the corner. By the way it twitched when she noticed it, it's listening in their conversation. She lets out a loud sigh and rolls her eyes at the sight of it. It doesn't slip from him as he recognises it as a common occurrence to a certain someone.
"I'll be taking my leave then…"
She nods her head, "Alright. I'll see around then."
As Amelia turns around to face the owner of the pair of busybody ears, Aeon takes a step forward and places his head on hers. Though it's not directly above her head, instead his lips made contact with her hair.
A light kiss.
She was going to say something to the pair of ears, was. Her mouth gaps open as she stands there stunned. There is heat creeping up from her ears to her face, she curses internally when she notices the ears seemingly twitch in excitement. A hearty laugh comes out from the bottom of his heart as he steps away.
"Well, I'll see you soon too~"
The light-hearted tone has always caught her off guard due to it appearing at the oddest moment, at least to the bystanders who know nothing of their relationship. She stands there for a solid minute while the only remains of Aeon is the faint kiss that she could still feel.
"Look at you~ So cute!" The owner of the ears have shown themselves.
A woman with purple wolf ears and equally as purple wavy hair. Visibly she is not much shorter than Amelia but she leans down as if she's way taller. She hops towards Amelia with a large grin on her face, one that resembles an overly excited child.
Amelia clears her throat before speaking, "Still as childish as ever."
"Are you sure that I~ am the childish one~?"
She momentarily pauses and holds Amelia's cheeks in her hands.
"Look at you with your puppy cru--"
Getting interrupted isn't a nice thing. However, getting interrupted by a strong jab to the gut is rather rude all things considered, intensely painful even. Zarnia's hand let go of them and instead opted to protect herself as a kind of instinct. Even so, Amelia's fist still made contact with it before she could soften the blow.
The blush faints while Zarnia starts holding her abdomen in pain. Her ears flatten on her head while her tail that was wagging is now touching the ground.
"That h.. hurts.. Amelia…"
She sighs, "You knew that was going to happen."
She has tears in her eyes and covers her face with her hands, the overhangs of her sleeves covering the rest of her chin down. She is still hunched over as the pain hasn't faded.
"You're so cruel…"
Amelia's eyes squinch while she sighs rather lightly compared to the blow she gave Zarnia. Her hands eventually come back down revealing her face once again, although it is as clear as day that she didn't shed a tear there is an obvious pained expression on her. She pouts while placing a hand around her waist.
"You also know how to really position your punch, don't you?"
She could tell that Amelia was eyeing to slug her in the gut specifically just above the black belt that made it look like a part of the dress. Her eyes locked onto her hands as soon as she felt like Amelia was going to make a move. Which seems all too normal to her to have such a fast and concentrated reaction even in a short frame of time.
"You also feel it coming from a mile away, you should've not done what you did.
"'Makes sense' But I will not stop at the chance to tease you."
"Ugh, masochist much?" Amelia said it in a disgusted tone.
That line made them both just stare blankly at each other. Amelia seems to have realised something that Zarnia is thinking of as well. The pain subsides once their thoughts align. Another blush once again creeps up in her mind and her entire body reacts.
Her ears stand up as her tail starts wagging frantically with her hands matching the rhythm of them. Her mouth opens yet no words come out of it, instead it's a ramble that is mostly incoherent. Amelia can only make out a few of the words from the mumbling.
"N-no it's not… it's.. It is.. Not what.. Uwaahhhhh.. What… no no no …"
Amelia places a hand on her head while her entire body is still panicking, "Don't worry about it okay? I'm not interested and it's not my place anyways."
"BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT??"
Her body grinds to a halt as Amelia turns around not before having a small smirk on her face. She raises her right hand up and gives Zarnia a lazy wave with her other hand now tucked in the pockets. Zarnia stands completely still as her brain continues to recollect what she heard and Amelia's reaction.
People start crossing by the hallway; some decide to simply pass by her and go about their day; some casually greet her. The expression on their faces heavily implied that they were curious of what could have left the executioner so stunned.
Until Diane crossed the hallway carrying a large amount of paperwork.
"Um… Miss Zarnia?" She stands in front of the now slightly recovered Zarnia.
She jolts up as her name is being called out, "Ah yes. What do you need, Diane?"
"Have you been standing here for long? It seems like so to me anyways."
Zarnia awkwardly laughed it off. Diane understood what she meant from it and gave a slight nod in response to it.
"There is in fact some work for you to do. Although I do need your help to find that particular document."
She quickly nods her head and grabs the stack of paperwork and places it on the ground. Diane guides her through finding the document that she is currently assigned to. Her eyes don't move away from Zarnia's hand that are hurriedly looking for it. Diane's smile doesn't fade as she stands there watching over her.
"Found it!" Zarnia's eyes light up when she pulls it from the pile.
"Ahahahah that's good. Hope you have a nice day." She bows at Zarnia before she walks away.
Zarnia's footsteps are careless at first before they become firm and serious with her usual demeanor of jumping and hopping around completely gone. There was still a lack of seriousness from her usually childish footsteps that was often associated with her.
"She is an interesting person after all." Diane softly sighed.
She picks up the paperwork from the ground and carries it to the office.
The door to the office is adorned with golden flowers and vines. The flowers itself seem unique as it's a combination of wisteria, anemone and daffodil. They blended into the walls just like every other office, dorms and storage in the entire place. Some days Diane wonders why the entire place is painted in bright white.
She pushes open the door with her arm while firmly holding the paperwork in her hands. It was silent enough that she could hear Amelia's pen over the papers. She places the stack of paperwork on Amelia's table. Diane leans over enough that she could see another large stack of paperwork that she gave her an hour ago while she's out.
Diane bows to her before speaking, "Are you done with that all?"
Her eyes are drawn to the afternoon sun that shines through the only window in the office. The warm glow shines itself down on Amelia which gives her a gentle aura.
"Yep. The usual ones on the ground." Amelia remarked while continuing to work on her documents.
Diane pushes out a lock of her wavy white hair out of the way, earning her a slight chuckle from Amelia. That unchanging polite smile appears on her face once again, this time feeling a bit more genuine from the other one earlier.
"You've arranged the bookshelves?"
The office shared the same shade of white along with the marbled flooring as the outside hallways. It was much smaller than it appeared. The office wasn't very heavily decorated and had little furniture. It had two dark long wooden desks that were separated by two bookshelves that aligned on the corner of the wall. There was also a standing clock beside the door.
Both filled with books of different kinds, with a few that stood out among them.
"I got a bit bored and my hands wanted to do something real quick. So I rearranged it actually."
The books used to be arranged based on importance and according to category. Amelia rearranged it by something that Diane couldn't tell exactly. It might look a bit random since the heights are still all over the place but there are some that are placed strategically.
"Should we ask for a cabinet space to place some of your papers here instead?"
Diane's tone remains neutral while looking towards the corner of the room.
"Maybe. But most of them are classified so I would rather not."
Amelia is still buried in papers, intently concentrated on finishing it all. Diane takes out a notebook out of her brown wool jacket that reaches her waist. She clears her throat while flipping open it and placing the white pen on the top of it. Her writing is clean and the majority of it is in point form.
"There were a total of three meetings up to this point. The first one was a full report from all fronts of the Divisions from their respective leaders. The second one was a preparation plan on raiding one of the cult's bases as per your request. The third one was about your current progress on the investigation of the cult's ringleader."
Amelia scoffs lightly at the word, "Ringleader be giving him too much credit. He is just like them with the only difference being that he has a lot more credible backing."
Diane nods her head, "I will tell them to refrain from calling him ringleader then."
She raises her head up for the first time since Diane walked into the room. Her hand placed the paper onto the growing pile on the ground while the other hand waved her hand along with the pen.
"I will refrain from telling those bastards what to do. They have the inability to listen to others aside from their inner circle. Particularly anything I say."
Diane reacts by lightly sighing as she is accustomed to the tense atmosphere when they just stand in the same space. This is exactly why I get a little tense when I want to bring them up, she thinks internally.
Amelia scoffs again, "Well then, give me a rundown of the first two. And the last one, just leave it be. Unless there is something useful aside from what they think of me."
She flips through some pages of the notebook to see what she has written down about the last one. Aside from the agreed upon meeting date and purpose of it, not much else was written down. Diane looks over her own notes and collects her thoughts on it.
'Let's not mention anything about it. I don't think she'd be pleased with what they said.'
"From the first meeting The reports were all handed in by their leaders and/or vice leaders as some were absent from the meeting due to work. They are all general reports about different status of research, investigations, experiments and documentation. For last month's workload, the only Divisions that finished up are the Field Investigation Division (F.I.D), Physical Documentation Division (P.D.D) and Species Research & Medical Species Research Division (S.R. M.R.D). With the rest having to miss a week of workload as new tasks are given to by either other Divisions or The Council as priority tasks."
Amelia nods and tells her to continue with her report.
"There are new reports that the General Investigation & Supervision Division (G.I.S.D) has given that gives an insight into the current task you're assigned to. Although I didn't receive the physical documentation of it since The Council is withholding it."
Amelia places the last one on the pile and her desk was cleared of paperwork. With it being high enough that it reaches her waist. She shakes her head when she hears Diane finishing up the summary of the first meeting.
"Did they tell you why they withheld it?" She asked as she rubbed her temples.
Diane's shoulders tenses up as she shakes her head, "No. They only told me that they are withholding it."
"When is the next meeting with The Council?"
She flips back to a page that has all of the meetings scheduled written down with some blank spaces for emergency or urgent meetings that are mentioned 30 minutes beforehand.
"None for the rest of the week."
Amelia's annoyed expression resurfaced and was even more annoyed than when she was teased by Zarnia. She stopped and decided to shrug instead. An amused smile once again appears on Diane's face. She quickly noticed and commented about it.
"I'm glad you find amusement in that." She said in an extremely sarcastic tone.
Diane denied it, "Not exactly so. You could say I just find the conflict that you two have is very interesting to watch unfold."
"Huh. Really?" She places her chin on her right palm.
She replies to her with a light chuckle that is ambiguous in its tone and feel. Amelia raises a brow at it but decides to let it be. Life with a little spice in it makes it less boring huh? She raises her free hand that gestures Diane to keep talking.
"From the second meeting Marine has agreed upon the raids that will be conducted on their bases. They have already laid out a basic plan on how it all will go down. The finalising process will be done with the G.I.S.D's leader Marcus along with whichever team participating in said raid. It will be submitted on Saturday for confirmation."
"It's coming along well then I assume?"
"Yes. From what they showed me during our meeting, the plan seems to have a high percentage of working out. There are also backup plans in place in case the plan fails."
She looks up, "Is Sei going to join in?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
She looks back at her and nods, "Ask them to include him. They could add his underlings if they want to, however he must present no matter what."
Diane nods in affirmation and writes down a special note on the same page that summarised the meeting. "I'll be sure to tell them when we meet again."
"Nothing else then?"
"That's about all of what happened right up until now. Though I believe that there isn't any left for the day."
She gets up from her seat, "Alright. I'm going out for a bit."
Diane bows to her, "I'll be leaving the upcoming paperworks on your table."
Amelia walks around the desk and stretches her arm. Diane bows once again with a smile. She gives Diane the same lazy wave she gave Zarnia earlier in the day though there is a difference in feeling.
"Have a good day, Miss Amelia."
She rises when she hears the door close behind her. Her smile becomes more genuine once Amelia leaves.
"This won't be as easy as it all seems to be. Even I need to be acutely aware of that."
She walked to her own desk and started working on her own paperwork as she and Amelia met the deadline by the end of the day. The office has once again become silent, only filled with Diane's hum and the sound of her pen on the papers.
She enjoyed solitarily working on it with a gentle and soft smile. She continued to hum a tune that only she knew. It kept the calm ambience that the light and humming brought, her shoulders relaxed and she entered a concentrated state.
The hallways were never quiet even if there was nobody talking.Their footsteps continued to produce white noise. They didn't have much time to hold conversations as is and walking from one floor to another was tiresome enough.
Here, it is much different as there never are any absences of life and history to it.
Smoke came from out of each stall with the scent of the delicacies being prepared or grilled. The aroma filled the air, whether it will be a strong pungent stench that struck the nose or a faint fragrance of herbs that masked it instead, it definitely belongs here.
Amelia walked among travelers and residents alike, ditching her coat that reached her waist and rolled up her long sleeves. She tied her hair up into a ponytail to combat the heat from the humid atmosphere.
The market was primarily focused on selling different foods and goods.
"This is really crowded eh?" She notes.
She spots the stall she came here for. There is a line from it, which must be pretty popular with all ages alike. She became annoyed with it but she still decided to line up to buy some food. Her eyes wandered and she stomped impatiently.
Some people stared towards her as she gave off an increasingly overwhelming aura.
She pays them no mind. There were multiple thoughts that raced through her head in order to keep her entertained. Despite this, it didn't take long for her to reach her turn.
"5 chocolate breads. Also two of whatever sweets you recommend."
The vendor hadn't asked what she wanted when she replied to him. He blinks for a few seconds before picking himself back up and grabs what she asked for. He became nervous after noticing Amelia glaring at him.
"There you go. It will be one-"
She placed the exact amount on the counter and walked away.
Amelia struggled to leave the market after it became more crowded than she expected. She takes out one of the chocolate bread and takes a small bite out of it. There is still a lingering of that annoyance though she feels a lot more calm.
"Not bad. I thought Andrata's food suggestions were going to be bad." She mumbles while taking another bite out of the bread.
She begins walking and starts having an enjoyable stroll around the city. It's not urbanised however there are shadows of development here and there. Some buildings are being refurbished while others are being completely torn down.
There are apartments but they aren't high-rises.
The streets are narrow considering the amount of well-known hotspots here. People are always talking to someone or are just walking by themselves. Some of the stores are painted with graffiti which gives a kind of unique identity to the area.
She turns down a corner to a back alley that connects to another street that is still part of the town. There wasn't anything interesting to note about it aside from the lack of people in the alleyways of the town.
Someone will be smart enough to take advantage of it.
"Hmm?" She takes another bite of the bread.
There are faint remains of something in the alleyway. She almost reaches the end of it when she feels something there. Nothing that reeked of blood or even the remains of a pained soul. She turns around and walks through the alleyway again.
Her instincts tell her to be on guard. At any moment anyone could have had the jump on her, that is if they even actually had the chance to. She could feel the faint remains of magic lurking on the shadows of the alleyway.
It was bleak enough for her to miss a faint black haze coming from the dark.
"So they have been here."
Her free hand reaches out to the black haze. It formed a mind of its own and wrapped itself around her fingers, the shade mirroring the shadows of the alleyway that hid it in the first place.
"This isn't what I think it is. Well, it's not exactly what I thought it was but close enough."
She blew on the haze with a breath of frost. Amelia moved her fingers and the ice crumbled into vapour with no remains of the black haze. She reached her hand out again to see if there is any left.
"Nothing. It must've been here for a while then."
Her fingers curled up as a strong incredibly familiar sensation hit her. She closed her eyes and visualised that feeling again, that the black haze gave her when it tried to ensnare her.
"Puppetry. Emotion puppetry to be more exact."
She concluded as she opened her eyes and relaxed them. She takes another look at the surrounding buildings before walking out of the alleyway. The afternoon glow makes her skin look soft but her stern gaze said otherwise as she stared towards the sunset.
"If you all continue to persist, you will die together. The ideal scenario you have is nothing but a fruitless dream. I can say that I admire your dedication."
She held her head up high as she maintained her gaze. Her gentle smile was gone, only her deadly serious expression remained.
There was a dominating presence to her eyes.
"And there will always be the ones disrupting that present balance. Even in the names of the people they were supposed to fight for, knowing deep inside their hearts that they were only lying for the sake of a false sense of justice."
A cloaked figure appears right in front of her, walking through the crowd as if he's invisible.Their face was exposed, it was not as if its proportions were off. However, it gave off the impression that it was stolen and being worn by another. The person's hand held a small dagger as they thrusted it forward with a strong momentum.
"Unfortunately for you, I can't die that easily."
A blinding light stunned them as a sword swiftly approached their neck giving them no time to react as it was about to decapitate them. They quickly side stepped while turning their body away from it, being nearly sliced in the process.
"Not very high ranking are you? Your reaction speed is a bit slow." Amelia spins her sword.
They stood still and quiet.
"Couldn't you think of a better plan than attempting a lousy execution of a Goddess?"
Obviously, the crowd was disrupted and many fled for their lives. Those that remained decided to film the entire incident despite the attempts of being dragged away by others; While several notified the authorities.
The entire situation didn't bother either Amelia or the assailant. Instead, he let out a manic laugh.
"AAHHAHAHAHAHA! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I CAME HERE WITH A PLAN LIKE THAT?!"
Her lips curl into a small smirk, "Ah~ So you're that kind of person eh?"
They become more alarmed when they see a ball of black matter floating above his palm. It resembled the one that Amelia saw earlier in the alleyway. She let go of her sword and it crumbled like ice before turning into nothing. Her hands comfortably in her pockets as she takes interest in what he will be showing her.
"JUST FOR HURTING HIM. YOU'RE GOING THROUGH A LOT OF PAIN TODAY!"
Even if he is still on such an adrenaline high, there is something inside of him that fears the woman standing up with her head held high.
"If you make such a declaration, then don't fail me now."
Her smirk grows wider as everyone around them runs for it since there is a heavy feeling of malice in the air. No one was willing to risk their life to witness the confrontation play out. The street fell quiet as ominous winds blew.
The winds left him feeling unsettled.
Her smile implying that he had no chance to defeat her. Her head might have come back down to face him yet she is the one controlling every aspect here.
For once, that feeling reaches deep inside her gaze.
"Entertain me to the best of your ability, you clown of a man."