Unova stopped wailing once Sherry let her head along with her body free. She hopped around in happiness and started running in circles, energy surging all over her little fox body. They both stared at her, wondering what was happening now.
"Is she high?" Amelia's eyes squinched at Unova.
Sherry sat down and continued to stare at her, "Hmm… not sure."
Nemu, a grey fox, was sleeping on a coffee table. She did not intend to move anytime soon, despite Unova running circles around it. The sound was usually loud enough to wake someone who was not a heavy sleeper. Amelia instantly sighed as Unova leaped onto the table, shaking Nemu with her paws to wake her up.
Amelia walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. She took out some fruit sandwich and ate it, keeping her eyes on the three.
Nemu still would not budge, though she did knock back Unova until she hit the wall beside the TV. Sherry was a little shocked by it yet she did not look surprised, just some concern for Unova as she was stuck in the hole. She eventually got out of it but she still managed to fall flat on her face. Nemu continued snoring like nothing ever happened.
"Really carefree now aren't you lot?" Amelia sighed as Sherry attempted to calm Unova down.
She took one last bite of her sandwich and walked upstairs, leaving an intensely rowdy Unova to Sherry. The footsteps echoed through the halls as there was not anyone else here. She opened the door to her room, which was made out of ice, like the rest of this place.
Her room was the biggest bedroom here, a master bedroom with a large king-sized bed. There was another room adjacent to the bedroom that was made into a study room. There was a walk-in closet before the large bathroom that had both a shower and a bathtub.
The study room walls and floor were still ice, although there were some bookshelves and cabinets surrounding the study table which was in the middle of the room. There were some hanging lamps that lit up the room.
She snapped her fingers and the paperwork appeared on her desk. She sat down on her desk chair, out of all the papers on her table, a letter caught her eye. It was not properly sealed yet there were no signs of it being opened. A small smile creeped up to her lips as she opened the letter. She leaned back on her chair and read through it.
It did not take her long to read through it all yet it managed to put a soft smile on her lips. She let out a small chuckle and placed the letter into the desk's drawer. That particular top section had nothing but letters, the same handwriting implied that the letters belong to the same sender. She placed it neatly on top of the others, gently closing it while she continued to smile.
She began to do the paperwork, doing them fast to increase her efficiency. The room was silent, too silent. The sounds filling the room were pen scribbling across some papers and the fan spinning. Like usual, she placed the completed paperwork on the ground, the uncompleted ones stayed on the desk.
It persisted for who knew how long, the dark skies did not reveal how much time had passed whilst she worked. She did not seem to care as she still signed and looked over paperwork, not even bothered to look at whoever pushed opened her door. They opened one of the windows, which let the cold winds come inside. Amelia still did not raise up her head, buried in her work.
"Ah… are you seriously going to outright ignore me?" Their voice had a naturally mocking tone to it, especially with their high tone of voice.
She did not reply, which he took as a 'yes'. He chuckled loudly and stood behind her, they were tall enough to cast their shadow over her figure without leaning over. They placed their 'hands' on her cheek and placed some of their weight on her. She was not affected and just continued working like nothing was happening.
"Amelia~ Don't be like this~" They placed their chin on her head.
She placed the last paperwork on the floor, finally deciding to face whoever it was. She was not affected by them at all as she just leaned back on her chair. They stopped placing their chin on her head instead tilting their head slightly and looked down on her. They had a large smirk on their face while doing so.
"Now you're finally giving me some attention~"
She clicked her tongue, "What do you need?"
They were not human, only seemingly human-like. They had long sharp claws; They had a 'face' structure akin to a lupus yet their jaw was deceivingly short; Their body resembled that of an adult human male's; Their eyes have black iris with sharp red pupils. They were clearly not human but it was incredibly hard to pinpoint on what exactly they were.
"You're the one who called out to me, and you're still asking that~? You really are a cheeky brat," He let out another chuckle.
She rolled her eyes, "Ssuureee. Get back on track then."
"I thought we were going there hmm~?" He held his grin as he continued to look down on her.
She began to pry his claws away from her cheeks, "We are now. I assume you're going to give me your cooperation."
"I'll try my absolute best~" He said.
She was still leaning as she began to talk, staring at the opened window, "The raid was planned on September 4th, although it was pushed back due to not having permission from The Council. Now it's September 9th."
His head remained tilted, "Didn't you plan something during the raid?"
"I did. So now we have to push it later, which is a pain to be honest." She scratched her head in irritation.
"What about Cyliam? I thought you were going to deal with him once the entire ordeal is over."
She managed to pry his claws off of her cheeks as she moved to one of the cabinets, she grabbed a thick file and placed it on her desk. The file contained a lot of people that were listed as high priority. She flipped open to his page which included, birth certificate, a university certificate and death certificate.
He placed his arms on her chair and stared at the papers, "Eh~ That's very interesting. I thought that they wouldn't give him that."
"Well, he just disappeared into thin air. I'm not that surprised." She shrugged and stared at the bounty hunt record.
He laughed loudly and shook his head, his mouth opened up as he stared longer at the official teacher certificate picture. His jaw was much larger than most thought as it was large enough to comfortably fit in an adult's head when opened up fully. His teeth were sharp, resembling a purely canine's teeth. Amelia sighed loudly and closed his mouth close with her left hand.
"Relax now, you're in over your head." She closed her eyes and leaned on the chair.
A deep chuckle came out of him, "Sorry~ I'm just incredibly hungry."
"Also, what are you going to do with Cyliam?" He tilted his head.
She took a deep breath before talking, "I let him live the first time around, since originally Marcus's crew thought the one there was someone else instead of Cyliam. Of course they knew about it afterwards but they weren't sure if I had met him or not."
"They trust me to not do anything… rebellious. Even if I did, they won't say anything about it. A good thing about people that stand by you no wonder what." She continued while spinning her pen.
His claws reached over and placed it on the file, "Is Amelia getting soft now~?"
She did not reply to him for quite a moment. The expression on her face was hard to tell, the only way someone would describe it was daydreaming. Her eyes remained close even when he began to grab her cheeks and pinched it, his jaw remained closed by her as she still had not let go. He was fine with it as it seemed.
"Possibly. I just wanted to see this come to an end, a more befitting end. One that is what he wants, not the one that we forced." She finally answered him.
She let go of his jaw and it opened up again, letting out another loud laugh, "So you certainly have gone soft~ How interesting…"
"You would call that soft? It's just freedom of choice, one that you normally would never think of." She finally opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
"So you will redeem him? Or kill him instead?" He placed his jaw close to the side of her head.
"Who knows. Even with what I know, I wonder how it will go."
She began to arrange the paperwork according to who sent them, he disappeared into thin air as she stopped talking.
The cold wind blew in the room, chilling air and complete silence filled the empty space. There was no clock in the study room, but she could tell by the time she finished it was already incredibly late. The sky was so dark that the moon looked more like the lights in the room, or it could have been another one of them.
She walked out of her study room and down the stairs, however she was not going down to the living room, she went down lower and reached the second to last basement; After passing another spiral staircase. She pushed open the wooden door to reveal a massive library with bookshelves as high as one could see.
The shelves could provide a mini rock climbing exercise with how tall and sturdy it was. There were no corners that were empty, every row and column were filled with books. The collections included ancient text, manga, novels, dictionaries of each and every language that existed, comic books, documents etc.The collection itself would impress anyone just walking in, staring at centuries, maybe even millennia old books. Not all of the collection belonged to her, but she still read through it every day.
The library was not the brightest since no one exactly figured out how to light it up. There were lamps surrounding an entire column after a few, which provided enough guidance to tell what was what. They were magically sealed and made sure it would not burn the place down, since the library was entirely made out of wood.
She sat on the sole long table and chair in there, she thought about buying more though no one else but her visited it regularly. It had become a routine to her, coming down to the library and grabbing whatever looked the most interesting; Flipping through pages that either told a story, or were old facts that no one now believed in, staying here until the sun rose up.
She did not bother checking whether it was in a language she understood or had seen before, perhaps venturing directly into the unknown was a habit of hers. She read through it anyways, absorbing the knowledge and words whilst figuring out what it meant and the feelings that the author wrote.
Those thoughts occupied her mind, filling them in with something.
It was silent yet she seemed incredibly comforted by the silence. Her sitting posture did not radiate her usual dominating aura, instead it felt more like a kid sitting on the corner of the library catching up with their favourite comic. Her eyes never once left the page, so engrossed in it that she might not hear anyone calling out to her.
Amelia decided to break the silence since she was the only one here.
"Do you think that anything would've changed if we never met?"
She was talking to herself, choosing to voice out her doubts loudly but with no one giving her a reply. A reply that only she herself knew the answer to, since there was no one else that had looked this far into these things.
"No. Absolutely not. He would've found another way to get what he wanted anyways. He could be quite the persistence brat so long as he had the motive to. Then again… Don't we all?"
Her eyes were glued to the book, but her mind began to wonder. She let out a small sigh, however, it felt more like a breath that she had been holding in for the whole day. She placed her chin on her palm, her train of thought continuing.
"I suppose it wasn't a bad thing knowing him. He was quite the nice, passionate and naive person. Well, he still is now, just pointing it at something he shouldn't have."
She spoke in a feeling nearly foreign to her, a mix of regret and disappointment. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, deciding to withhold reading for now. She slumped on the seat, her body completely relaxed.
"Did he want to live? Surely he did, if not he wouldn't be alive. But did he actually want to be in a position like this? Possibly, he did always dream of being recognised. Why have to sacrifice people for the sake of it?"
For the first time in a while, she had begun to doubt herself.
Her eyes remained close, mind deep in thought. She knew that she was coming up with her own conclusions on why things happened and progressed to this point, even as she already knew the truth of it all. She had seen it with her own eyes, even if he had never known that she had such abilities.
"Now even I am denying it huh..?" She mumbled.
She opened her eyes and stared in front of her, clearly still pondering over what her mind went through.
"I never will understand people who pursue absolute strength, so much so that you would rather lose yourself in it all. Betting present and future, even if the cost of that strength is so much that you could never pay it back. All in pursuit of something you so heavily desired."
She sighed again and continued talking in the same tone she had throughout her monologue.
"Should you die or live for that cost? After all, it's something that you can't ever have again."
A rhetorical question. She knew all too well what awaits those who live here because she was still going through it to this day. Then again, everyone around her would continue to suffer as long as they live.
"Karma awaits those who took something from others. Even in the name of protecting the one you wanted to hold on forever."
She placed the book back to where it belonged, choosing to finish her ponder before she would continue her reading.
"People dying for one man's desire to save himself. And now someone else has to decide whether they will live or die for everything that he has done. Irony at its finest."
A bitter chuckle left her lips as if she was the one having to decide whether or not his life will end.
"We just have to wait then. After all, it won't take long for this whole ordeal to end."
Her mind made a mental image of Cyliam. His body was in a horribly condition, his left arm missing as it was sliced off, his entire body covered in scars of various sizes. Her sword was grazing his neck, threatening to slice it off if he tried to even move. It was rather ridiculous seeing him like that.
Amelia shook her head, "Life sure likes to make me in charge of deciding someone's life or death huh?"
The room fell back into silence as she stopped talking. She stared at the bookshelves as her mind wandered back to the memories she had of Cyliam, especially when they first met each other. All of her monologuing had made her feel nostalgic about the past that was long behind them now.
Amelia, around eight years old.
A small body passed through the crowd, she blended in too well with her surroundings that no one noticed her. Her presence was faint, even for a child who barely talked to others. She sneaked past the teachers and ran down the hall, eventually stopping in front of the library door.
She slowly pushed open the door, making sure that no one was in there at the time. It was Geography class but she decided to skip it. The library was a standard school library, nothing that huge. But to a small 8 year old, it was much larger than she had thought. Frankly, she was incredibly excited about the whole thing despite her very neutral expression.
There were bookshelves after bookshelves, books after books. She was a little dazed by the whole scenery but she still held her excitement. She scanned the entire library for a place to hide, as she was rather small and she could keep her presence faint, so it would be easy to hide herself.
After checking around again to be absolutely sure that there was no one nearby, she picked up a book and began reading immediately. She had grabbed a horror novel without realising, but she was not one to be afraid of horror stories no matter what kind they were. She sat down on a more secluded corner of the library and continued to read.
Amelia had not noticed how much time passed, or that a teacher had walked into the library. The thing that grabbed her attention was someone's footsteps yet it had not belonged to anyone she knew. She quickly closed it and placed it on her chest, peeking out from her spot to see who it was.
"It's the problem child." She heard him from beside her.
She jolted and let the book drop to the ground, shocked to see a person right beside her. The first time in a while that someone had snuck up on her. She was more terrified that someone was right beside her than being caught in the library when she should not have. Her expression died down quickly as she began to inspect the man.
"So I'm a problem eh? Is it massive?" She asked while staring at him.
His expression turned from confusion to amusement in a matter of seconds. He let out a small chuckle and sat down on the ground to meet her eye level. He had spiky-looking red hair with some white locks that were tied-up to a small ponytail. His eyes were orange-colored that resembled the sun.
"Maybe, a lot of teachers are worried about you." He explained softly.
She replied in a confused tone, "Worried? That is another word for 'forced to bother'."
One of his eyebrows rose when he heard what she said. He shook his head and sighed loudly, "You shouldn't be saying that… We are being genuine, you know?"
"We do truly care about all of us students," He placed his hands on his thighs.
She understood why she would be seen as a problem child, especially with the antics she would get up to when her classmates knowing pissed her off. Like, that time when they threw a wooden sword at her head. She simply grabbed it and threw it back to them, though she did miss intentionally.
She stared at him for a moment, studying his expressions. She was doing something she did not intend entirely. He still looked confused but he tried to understand her gaze, especially with the way she was observing him. They went silent for a good moment before Amelia spoke up again. She tilted her head slightly and held her stare.
"You must be a teacher too. What's your name?"
He answered, "I'm Cyliam, a counselor. I also do a lot of different things around the school as well."
She chose to reply, "You must know me already but I'm Amelia. Nice to meet you, Cyliam."
He let out a small sigh, "You should respect your elders. But well, I'll let you pass."
She stared at him and placed her book back where she grabbed it. She got out of her hiding spot and walked to one of the many long tables and chairs. Cyliam followed her along, his expression held an amused curiosity towards her, despite him feeling like he was being led around like a puppy.
She sat on the chair and tilted her head slightly, "Will you not report me to the discipline teacher? Or the headmaster?"
"I would, probably. But I am very curious about you." He chose the seat beside her.
Amelia stared at him for a while before nodding her head, letting him ask whatever it is he wanted. For some reason she trusted him even if they had not talked much at all. She had a feeling about it but she rather think about it later. Then again, she knew that he did not have much ulterior motives for asking.
He spoke in a gentle tone, "Where are your parents?"
She looked confused, "Do your records not have my background?"
He realised that he might have been touching something he should not have. Even so, his curiosity got the best of him but he was consciously wary of the way he walked right into his own trap, and he really did not want her to see him in a negative light. He was walking on eggshells and they were threatening to crack under pressure.
"We do… but your guardian did not give us much. Her name is Skylar, right?"
She stared at him for a moment before speaking, "Yes, Skylar is my guardian. So is Iris, I think."
Cyliam was cut off before he could speak, wanting to dodge the question. However, she beat him to it, "They both passed away 3, 4 years go. If that was what you were thinking, you're right."
He had this complexed expression, she was not sure what to make of it. It felt like a mix of guilt, empathy and sadness. It was a perplexing situation, the first time she had found herself in one. She did not have a way to reply to his emotions, one that she should have. Instead, she spoke in this matter-of-fact tone that threw him off.
"Do you… not miss them?" His eyes looked everywhere else but hers.
"I guess. They were not with me for very long, but I do certainly love them." She replied.
Her tone lacked some fondness, again speaking in the matter-of-fact tone. It was not far off to say that she was near emotionless. She stared at him, observing his reaction and attitude. She noticed everything, from the tone he was holding to the way his fingers moved. Clearly, he was very hesitant to continue.
The air got thick, he was choking due to the atmosphere, one that did not faze her. She was either oblivious to the air or was just ignoring it, possibly both. They did not say another word for however long passed, even if realistically only one minute had gone by. When the air was heavy, time suddenly became an afterthought.
She spoke up first, "I don't speak like an eight year-old. Or at least what you expect from a child that age."
She spoke what was on his mind, yet to her it was plain obvious. The way his body moved or reacted when listening to some of what she was saying told her them. He was doing it subconsciously as he did not realise it. She clicked her tongue and continued staring at him, still having an interest in him.
"I don't like people like you," She stated out of the blue.
Her words knocked him out of his daze, grabbing his attention immediately. He looked more confused than he had been since they first interacted. Her words had no rim or reason yet she was not lying, he could tell it without having her reaffirming his thoughts.
"What do you mean…" He mumbled.
The first time he met her eyes, it did not give him anything concrete. He was trying to work out her character, but she was so far and distant. Amelia could tell that Cyliam had gained an interest as she did with him.
They were very different people, standing on extreme ends. Yet for this time, they stood together.
"He is a lot of Aeon. Well, he was a lot like Aeon." She muttered.
She got up from her seat and picked out a random book that did not require her to climb the shelves. It was an ancient text about Gods and Goddesses, one she had not read before. She slumped on her seat and began reading. Although she had read things alike before, this one felt more different than all those.
Her mind however still had not moved on from pondering, "Ah, I should visit Jeremy."
She remembered the contents of the most recent letter and it was nothing that seriously demanded her attention. But it did mention something she had nearly forgotten about if he had not written her that letter. She had been busy working for these recent times, time feeling like it passed much quicker than usual.
I think you have time to visit mom's grave this year too right? Um… if you are really busy then it's fine, mom will never blame you for missing a year. I do look forward to you being there, we haven't seen each other for months. I hope you're doing fine ^-^.
"Mona's grave…" Her voice trailed off.
She blinked and shook her head, "Aeon didn't know anything about that."
An image of Aeon being angry formed in her head. It was not uncommon for them to get into arguments as they constantly opposed each other's ideas. She saw his eyes filled with frustration, hiding away the disappointment present in his tone. His hands moving around to calm himself, continuing to reason with her that she should not do such things.
Deja vu… It had happened not very long ago.
"I truly wonder, if he knew the circumstances of Mona's death, would he change his view on me?"
She placed the open book on her thighs, staring at the ceiling. Her mind again went to places and made up her own possibilities. She stayed in a pondering state for who knows how long, only thinking about things that might happen. Possibilities… so many possibilities yet no one knew what exactly would happen.
A sound broke through that state, immediately gaining her attention.
The library remained silent again, although the sound alarmed her of something's presence. She looked around and did not see a thing. 'Is it my illusion? But that sounded familiar.' She blinked a few times and placed her guard up, knowing that her intuition was going to be correct this time.
And indeed, she was right.
She felt something touch her leg, so she looked down immediately. And again, nothing was there. She was certain that she had not fallen asleep or that she was hallucinating. That thought did cross her mind, that she was too tired to keep herself up. Yet, she was certain that this was no simple tired illusion or hallucination.
The sound of something dripping, a smell permeated her nose.
She stood up and placed the book back, she walked around the library to ensure that she was not in a dream. She was not sure if it was just her paranoid state running wild, even if it was the case it will not be this slow for her to realise it. The library was not very large, or at least the area she could stand on.
She still smelled it, yet the source of the smell could not be found. No matter where she walked or climbed, it still was strong. She could not tell what it was although it remained familiar to her. She certainly smelled it a lot of times before, despite that she still could not tell what it was exactly.
Something gripped her leg again, this time Amelia was able to see what it was.
The claws reminded her of Asura's, which alarmed her immediately. She did not try to get her leg out of its grasp, noting that the claws will leave deep cuts in it. She kept her guard up, looking around for any form of Asura's presence. Still, a dead woman's heart was finally beating wildly.
Though once she stopped her panicking, now knowing that Asura could not achieve such a thing. She could still feel her soul fully intact, nothing was missing. Meaning that whatever was happening around her, was trying to kill her. The wounds on her leg had begun to bleed as it could not be healed.
Was it beating out of fear? Or was it beating out of surprise? Even she was not sure.
The smell and dripping had only gotten stronger and louder when the claw gripped her leg. Then another one, another one appeared, more and more had begun to surface. She understood that it was not one of his pranks as he could not do something like this without her noticing.
"Why…" A voice echoed through the library.
The voice belonged to a child, unknown whether or not a girl or guy. Her eyes widened as she realised what was happening. She still could not get her leg out of their grasp as they would surely rip her leg off. Her sword appeared beside her, placing her hand on its hilt and preparing to unsheathe it.
Unfortunately, something gripped her wrist tightly, not letting her have the chance to slice the claws.
"You…" She muttered while clenching her teeth.
The same voice echoed again, again and again. The voice changed from one person to a lot of people. They sound childlike, muttering the same word over and over in a desperate state. She knew what was going on, her frustrated yet horrified expression gave her off. She lost her usual mask now that everything was on full display.
They were unpleasant memories. One that she would see every time she slept, a nightmare that would not go away.
Her heart started to beat faster, yet not out of complete fear. It was because someone, or something, was so close to her right now. She knew that she could not die here, absolutely not. She knew what exactly was happening, since she lowered her guard, she could feel it much closer to her own heart.
Amelia began breathing heavily, quickly spiralling down into panic once more. She could not move now even if she wished as their claws grasped too tightly, same with the one on her wrist. She felt someone breathing down her neck as her surroundings changed from the library into The Abyss.
Those nightmares no longer feel fearful, once she was so used to it. However, this was something else entirely. She reached her free hand out to the shadows, knowing all well and clear that there was someone there watching her. Her body felt like it was getting torned up whilst the past clinged onto her soul.
She mumbled between her gasping, "Fox---"
Today was not a good day…
Someone placed their hand on her mouth, muffling her voice and not allowing her to speak. Another hand covered her eyes, though that only added to her panic. Her entire body froze up immediately and her breathing became much more shallow. She closed her eyes as she felt her body being dragged away, retreating her hand.
"Ah~ Now Asura is being soft hmm~?" A man spoke.
His figure was covered in black smoke, only enough to show his body outline. The only thing visible was some of his facial features which were eyes, lips and nose. His eyes were a mix of navy blue and magenta; His head had a pair of short sable-antelope-looking horns; It was not wrong to say that he was well-built.
Asura laughed, "Eh~? If she dies, I will die too."
He was wearing his human skin. He had smooth short black hair, his eyes remained the same and he was less tall than his demon form. He was built but not muscly, he still was taller than most people. He could cover most of her face with his palm alone, nonetheless still clinging onto her physical and spiritual body.
He held her limp body tighter, "Besides, only I can kill her if she asks. So don't try to kill her now alright?"
"I can do whatever I want. She does belong to me." He chuckled and took some steps forward.
Asura took a step back and placed his head close to Amelia's, "Nah~ She's too precious to me for you to kill me now."
The same claws started appearing near them again, he stared at them while holding a maniac smile on his face, which was a usual occurrence. Nevertheless, right now it felt different. The smile on his lips was more concerning than the bottomless insanity usually, same went for his over protective behaviour.
"Would you be nice and hand her over?" Fox extended his hand.
He let out a chuckle, keeping his attention on the claws, "Nope. Come and get her."
The claws climbed closer to Asura and Amelia, yet he was not concerned by it all. He looked around before disappearing, reappearing somewhere else but not out of the Abyss. Fox clapped his hands and something appeared from the ground. They still had the claws yet they looked like humans. Though they have no eyes and crawl instead of walking.
"This is quite terrifying isn't it~?" His tone mocking as he ran.
He looked down at Amelia, who still had shallow breathing. He held her up in a bridal style, his hands no longer covering her eyes. He noticed some tears in her closed eyes, her body started to tremble. She had fully let her guard down, despite them not yet getting out of the place Fox roughly shoved them into.
Out of nowhere, a door appeared near where he could see. The things were still chasing after him, getting faster and faster the more they crawled. They did not make any noise even with how violent and fast they were crawling. Their limbs and body became longer and skinnier, which made them look more like a spider leg monster instead.
He let out a manically loud laugh and reached for the door, quickly closing it before they had the chance to hold the door down.
"See you next time~" Fox waved with a cocky smile.
Both men knew exactly what Fox was implying, even without Amelia being conscious enough to tell him in her mind.
Asura smiled back with his lips and eyes wide, having an excited maniacal aura expressed all over him. Something about it, even with the limp woman in his arms, delighted him down to his shared soul. He turned around and kicked the door close, they were staring at each other one last time, before the next eventually came.
He let out a loud sigh and looked around, realising that they were now in her bedroom. His smile faded as he placed her gently on her bed, being careful not to scare her anymore than before. Her body was still trembling, though it seemed like she was subconsciously suppressing it. Tears were still gathering from her eyes, her breathing became more shallow.
"Too bad I'm not Aeon, so you have to make do with what you can." He chuckled lightly before patting her.
He leaned over, his shadow casted down on her. He held a small smile on his lips as he leaned close to her ear, choosing to whisper instead of talking regularly. He knew what she was going through and was clear on what to do about it. He could even feel the trembling on his own body, yet it did not faze him.
"You really are a cute little child." He chuckled softly again.
He placed his hand on hers, squeezing it lightly as a comfort. "Don't worry, only I am here. Let yourself go a little will ya?"
On cue, she started quietly sobbing. Her body shaking violently as her hand gripped on his, her eyes remained close. He nodded and chuckled softly, not so loud as to alarm her so she would not place her guard up again. Even so, he knew that smiling would be more beneficial to her than if he was not.
He placed his free hand on her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb. "There there…"
His voice was nothing like Aeon's, Asura's voice was opposite of his. He was using a deeper and softer voice. Although his usual speaking tone was high-pitched, nearly higher than an average female's. If she looked at him right now, she would have mocked him for being so soft with her.
He would be happy if she had done so, at least it was better than the situation they were in.
Asura did not care what anyone thought of him, the only one he would listen to was Amelia, despite their general dispute and way of thinking. He would never be soft or caring to others, at least what most thought of his kind. Perhaps living with another person for so long had begun to change him for the better, even if that was only towards one single person.
"What a pathetic child you are. But you're the one I'm stuck with forever," He muttered.
After a while, she calmed down somewhat. Her breathing had returned to normal, her heart rate went back down to its usual rhythm and there were no more tears streaming out of her closed eyes. Her posture was more relaxed as well, still she had not let go of his hand. At least, she was not holding it so tightly that she might break his hand.
He stood there the whole time, making sure she was nearly completely calmed down before deciding that he should return back. He slowly pried her hand away from his, placing the blanket over her body so she would not get cold, despite knowing that because of him, she would not get cold easily.
She was asleep once her body was more relaxed, though he could not help but stare at her.
"And you still say you hate me hmm~? How cute~" His usual maniac smile came back.
He leaned over and placed his face close to her, so close that their foreheads would touch.
"So vulnerable. I wonder what I should do with you~?"
Asura continued to stare, then reaching for her lips. He did it on a whim, perhaps something overcame him. He was very close, just an inch more and he would have kissed her. But he backed away, still holding his usual smile on his lips. He placed his chin on his palm, wondering what he wanted to do.
"If I took your first kiss, I wonder who will threaten to kill me hmm?" He giggled and leaned over again.
This time, he leaned over and brushed her hair to the side, giving him full access to her forehead. He let out another giggle before planting a kiss on her forehead, his smile turning soft again. His lips lingered on longer than he usually would, though he enjoyed it anyways. Especially when the thought of her reaction crossed his mind.
"I'll be watching over you so he won't get you too. Go visit your love in the morning, 'kay?"
Asura disappeared when he took a step back, his body disintegrating into nothing.
Amelia slept soundly until the morning sunlight shone into her room through a rather large window near her bed. The skies were clear and no one had woken up yet. Skies were still painted in dusk, though it was about to change soon.
She sat up and breathed in and out slowly. She shook her head and turned her attention to the light, staring at the slightly opened window and swaying curtains. The light felt like a bother as she had just woken up, the brightness was unwelcomed. Her mind went through what happened a few hours before in the meantime.
"That was… embarrassing…" She muttered with squinched eyes.
It took her mind a moment to realise that Asura might have done something to her. That thought woke her up immediately and tried to remember what she felt during her panic attack. She closed her eyes and remembered where his breath landed. Another mental image forming in her head as she discovered…
It was not a good thing since her face turned bright red immediately.
She placed her hand on her lips and forehead, now not even her cheeks were red, tips of her ears were red as well. She could not hide her blush, then again there was not a need to as nobody was nearby her. She leaned over and hid her face on her blanket, her fingers gripping tightly on it.
"That… little shit…" She mumbled with an embarrassed tone.
She made some embarrassed noises and continued to hide her face there. Up until this point she had never been kissed by Asura before, or ones she was aware of. Technically he had, just never on her lips. Even then, it still hit her badly. She might react much worse if Aeon was the one to kiss her instead, even on the forehead.
A surprisingly teenage girl side of her.
Unova and Sherry caught her reactions. They came up here due to them wanting breakfast and simply could not find her anywhere else in the house. They peeked through the door that swung open slightly and tilted their heads. Certainly befuddled yet very entertained at the sight of their master reacting to something…
"Is… Amelia okay…?" Unova stared at Sherry.
Sherry stared back, "Uhh… maybe? She looked like she's ready to die in a ditch."
While they theorised what happened, Amelia stood up and pushed open the door. She glared at both of them yet the tips of her ears were still red, although Unova and Sherry shrunk under her glare, not willing to say anything about it.
"I will make you breakfast. But first, get the heck out."
They ran downstairs and never looked back, she let out a groan.
"Well, on a new day now… And a horrible morning... I suppose I can visit Aeon afterwards."