As the door closed behind Jason, Lina, and Shen, Michael turned to Elena with a smile. "They seem like good people," he said.
Thinking back to how Michael was giving Lina such a hard time, she couldn't match up his actions with those words. "I thought you hated Lina?" she asked with a perplexed expression.
"Hate?" Michael chuckled, his face turning into his trademark grin.
Instantly Elena regretted asking, that guy turned despicable whenever he wore that face. "Forget I even asked," she said hurriedly.
He cleared his throat before continuing, the sly grin not leaving his face. "Don't you think she's pretty? I mean obviously you find Shen attractive, but let's say you were a man."
Elena's face turned bright crimson at Michael's words, she thought she had hidden her affections well enough, but if that idiot could sense it then she was doomed. Her mind started to race from embarrassment, replaying and overthinking the whole interaction.
After a moment of silence, Michael looked over and saw Elena beet red and staring at her feet. Slightly disappointed that she didn't go along with his script, he did what he did best; a monologue.
"Ahem, although she is pretty I could instantly tell that she was too haughty. Women like that are no good, no matter what gifts you bring them, what limbs you sell to feed them…" Michael began to pace around the room, seemingly speaking to himself, yet Elena heard every word.
The red of embarrassment began to turn into the red of anger, as her cheeks and neck became flushed.
"How would a woman notice you or your efforts if her nose is pointed to the sky…" he continued, seemingly oblivious to the ticking time bomb he was circling.
'This playboy… It looks like my earlier assumption of Michael is wrong.' she thought, beginning to crack her knuckles.
Michael felt a shiver down his spine at the cracking sound that pervaded the room. One thing that he prided himself on was his ability to sense danger, this had saved his life on many occasions while picking herbs in the mountains.
He quickly stood in place and decided to finish his monologue, "Which is why I humbled her a little, to give my brother a chance at finding a beauty for a partner," he said, his words getting gradually softer.
Elena's ears perked up at the end of the sentence, her earlier anger seemingly dissipated. "What do you mean? Why would you need to matchmake for your brother?"
Michael sighed sorrowfully, he had yet to tell Elena about his origins nor about Jason in depth. While she already knew about his affliction, they weren't yet close enough to be sharing such personal stories.
Seeing the sorrow painted on Michael's face, Elena hesitated for a moment. She could clearly see the pain etched on his features. Remembering that they had only known each other about a month she spoke up quickly "Ah, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
Seeing the hesitation on her face, Michael smiled softly. 'She really is a good woman.' he thought in his heart.
"It's okay, we're tied together by fate. There's no harm in knowing." he said before gesturing for her to take a seat.
Elena did as she was told, settling into the lounge chair. Michael sat opposite her and took a deep breath, his face serious.
"Jason and I have known each other since we were children, growing up in a small village. Since I can remember we used to play and eat together, along with my little sister Rosa." Saying her name, Michael's face broke into a smile.
Remembering the obedient yet wily little girl who used to follow him and Jason everywhere, scenes of her happy face and her charred corpse, curled up next to his mother began to overlap. Michael's smile turned to anguish and he began to feel a sharp pain in his chest.
Rosa… my little sister. She was Jason's betrothed, even though she was two years younger it was already as if they were married." He took a deep breath, "I-I couldn't save them…" he said in almost a whimper.
Seeing the tumultuous emotions radiating from Michael, Elena almost jumped in panic. Just before she was about to reach over and comfort him he continued with a strained voice, "She… The whole village was murdered." fighting back tears, he tried to finish his story.
"When I came back it was too late, the whole village was soaked in flames. Our families were reduced to nothing but charred remains… I-I buried them outside our old family home." What started off as a calm and soft retelling of events, became an indignant pouring out of his soul.
"I found Jason, H-His legs… they were burned beyond recognition. I didn't know what to do" he stammered before crying out "I couldn't even bury Jason's mother!"
As if a dam had burst, Michael let down his walls and began to cry his eyes out. Although he hid it well, in the end he was just a teenager who lost his whole family not even 2 months ago.
Elena listened silently, before she knew it her face was wet with tears. She could feel the pain and despair gushing out of Michael, drowning her in emotion. Without a word she got up and hugged Michael deeply, like a mother comforting her child after hurting themselves.
He didn't resist and let his emotions spill out, as the saying goes, It was easy to empty the cup, but hard to fill it again.
Archie looked on with sadness, he had underestimated the impact of this trauma to Michael. He felt a little bitter that he could not provide his master with the same comfort that Elena could. Vowing to try better in the future, he let the two have their moment and rushed back to the Flow realm.
A few minutes passed in silence, Michael's sobbing was now reduced to sniffling. They finally separated, and Michael felt embarrassed. Seeing the stain of tears and snot that were on Elena's shoulder had sobered him up in a hurry.
He cleared his throat, "Ahem. Sorry about that" he scratched his head and mumbled.
Elena shook her head, feeling a newfound respect for Michael. Despite his trauma he had lived his life seemingly happy and carefree, if it weren't for tonight she would have been none the wiser.
"I-I'm sorry you had to go through that Michael." She said honestly. Feeling a little guilty at her earlier anger and previous misgivings toward him, she vowed in her heart to not be quick to judge him in future.