Silvia dragged them to the canteen under the guise of a 'team meeting'.
"Silvia." The girl reached her hand out across the table.
Savana shook Silvia's hand, "Savana, nice to meet you." Quickly glancing to her left, at Aranea, she secretly wondered why Silvia ignored her and came straight to her.
"We share a room." Aranea answered the question before the girl had any weird thoughts.
"Oh... Wait, how did you-"
"It's written on your face."
"Oh..."
Silvia looked curiously between the two girls, "You know each other, friends?"
"No."
"You don't gotta be so blunt."
Aranea shrugged her shoulders, "What's wrong with telling the truth?"
Ironic.
"Aha- It's fine Miss Silvia, she didn't say anything rude anyway." Savana somehow ended up being the voice of reason between Aranea and Silvia even though she barely knew the two girls.
"Hear that?" But Aranea only made it worse.
"Miss Aranea!" Shooting up from her chair, she slammed the table with her hands, Savana, was suddenly, no longer the voice of reason.
Silvia decided to copy Aranea's words and throw them back at her, "Hear that?"
Savana felt like a headache was about to burst into her forehead; didn't this Silvia girl bring them here to get to know each other?
So why did it feel like she brought them here to argue instead?!
Feeling the sparks firing across the table, Savana sat back and down while rubbing her forehead, she also had to stay calm otherwise this wouldn't work out.
They were meant to be a Squadron for fighting the Corrupted, bad teamwork will get them killed.
"Okay, so, Miss Aranea, what are you good at?"
Hearing the question, Aranea crossed her arms and began thinking, eventually...
"Ice Magic, Earth Magic, I can use most other Magics to a basic level and I have Magic specialised for searching, and I have a large Mana Reservoir."
Now that the conversation finally felt like it was going back on track, she directed the question to Silvia.
Imitating Aranea, she crossed her arms and began thinking, eventually...
"I'm a Swordmaster, I have an Aura-Swirl and can manipulate Aura very well. You can rely on me to run up to them up close and personal."
Ignoring the obvious passive aggression between the Rank 1 and Rank 2:
"I'm an Assassin, I also have Rogue specialities such as checking for traps, manipulating locks, and doing surveillance. I use Fire Magic."
Once Savana finished speaking, Silvia decided to initiate the next topic, "So, from what I can tell, we've been allocated in Squadrons based on how compatible our skills are. The two from the Symbollia Alliance will probably be a tank of some sort and a support."
"Yeah I guessed so, and by the way, speaking of the Symbollia Alliance, what are they like over there, do you guys know?" Savana lacked a lot of information so she just decided to ask.
Before Silvia could answer her-
"Those things are almost not things, not that there's a difference."
-Aranea continued instigating Silvia.
"Oy."
"Don't call people 'things'."
Her voice was angered this time.
And once again, "My bad, won't happen again." Aranea shrugged it off.
Feeling like the situation was about to become terrible, Savana broke into the mist of hatred slowly building between them.
"Hold on a moment-!"
Silvia looked to Savana, "What's wrong?" All the anger on her face was gone, replaced by a cute smile.
"Eh?"
She looked between Silvia and Aranea.
"Eh~?"
The tension and aggression completely disappeared.
Utterly confused at the weird and out-of-place sequence of events that just kept on happening, Savana sat back down bewildered.
'Are they angry at each other or not?!'
Like Aranea said.
Just like how Savana is unique.
So is Silvia.
Silvia can actively switch between her fun and not-so-fun modes. And when she did so all aggression could come and go.
During their conversation just now, Silvia was hovering in the middle.
But with Savana, an innocent bystander, intervening, she decided to return to her fun mode.
It was very interesting.
And there was also a reason why Aranea was acting like this; a very good reason.
She didn't want the girl to outright hate Aranea to the point of wanting to kill her, but she also didn't want Silvia to like her.
Things will be much easier like that.
---
The girls decided to split up and do their own thing for the week.
Well, it wasn't exactly the 'girls' who decided. It was Savana. She wanted to keep the situation from turning worse so she was planning on monitoring the two for the week.
They shared a room which made it even worse for her...
'How do I fix this problem?'
Savana wasn't fond of dying.
'...Aranea.'
She felt like the answer would lie there.
Silvia was easy to chat with; she wasn't a bad girl. The one who made her mad in the first place was Aranea.
Savana was going to find out as much as she could about this Aranea girl this week.
The more she knew the better.
It would help her figure out what the core issue was.
She first thought about asking Charles Von Sildoret... Probably not a great idea.
Ask Silvia?
Oh.
She could just ask Silvia.
Savana felt like an idiot.
---
The same day, at midnight, Savana called Silvia for a conversation.
Sitting on a bench outside, the fragrant rays of moonlight shone through the ash covering the sky.
"Didn't you want us to have our own time...?"
Savana hurriedly shook her head, "It's not that."
"What's up then?"
Savana warily looked left and right; she was watching out for Aranea, the girl said it herself, she had Magic to do with searching.
God knows what sort of Magic she had.
She tried spreading out her Mana but didn't detect anything, but she doubted she could detect it even if Aranea had used surveillance Magic. That girl was a full-fledged Mage, there's no way she'd be caught by a novice like her.
"You can stop searching, there's no one listening."
"How do you know?"
Silvia grinned, "My special ability."
'Special ability?'
Holding that information in the back of her mind, she got to the point.
"I wanted to ask you then, why are you so hostile with Aranea? You can just play along with her or something you know?"
Silvia had a feeling she was going to ask her this.
"You don't know, do you?"
"I obviously don't, everyone else was clearly avoiding her for some reason."
Silvia shook her head up and down; she could understand why that was the case because of the rumours.
Raising her head, Silvia looked through the ashy clouds at the twin moons.
"Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes."
"You won't be able to defend her anymore if you do."
"I want to know all the same."
Silvia's small smile disappeared.
Then.
She narrated the facts and the rumours.
The eyes and the hair; the facts.
"Devil and Abomination? She's such a being?"
"We can't be sure, it could be some sort of mutation, but to have both mutations at once...? It's suspicious for sure."
"If that's it then-"
"It's not it. There's a lot more."
Silvia's tone grew dark, "And what's next is the bad part."
Savana readied herself.
"12 years ago. At the age of 5-"
'Five?'
"-Aranea is said to have destroyed the eye of a Ducal Family's son and the arm of the other."
"This one is true."
Chills went down Savana's spine, she couldn't even remember what she was like at that age, probably playing with make-shift wooden dolls or something.
"Then, almost 4 years ago now-"
Savana's ears dulled from the end of Silvia's next sentence.
Those same chills transformed into abhorrent disgust.
"The one from four years ago we can't be sure."
But those words didn't help at all. Can't be sure?
That didn't change a thing.
The outcome remained the same.
Whether or not that was the case-
"Do you think she's a monster now?"
"..." Savana felt like she was caught doing something naughty.
"That's why I asked you if you wanted to know. But keep this in mind, until we see her truly commit an atrocious act, we cannot believe the rumours."
"Rumours are rumours for a reason."
Pushing herself off the bench, Silvia stretched her limbs.
"Do with this information as you please. Believe it or not, while rumours are rumours, everything is still based on some sort of truth."
Waving herself off, Silvia left for the dorms, leaving behind a confused and stunned Savana.
But.
After 10 minutes of silence.
After everything had settled.
"...I want more."
A glint of madness flourished in her eyes.
"I need more."
Step...
Stepping into the darkness, her figure flashed with a hint of flames-
But then the flames turned dark.
Flickering black flames sunk into the ground, taking her figure away with it.
[More]
As Aranea stated:
Unique.
-----
Drip...
Drip...
Drip...
Sweat piled down on her bedsheets; her hyperventilating breaths took a while to calm down.
Rubbing her face, Aranea muted her movements with Magic and dragged herself out of the room.
Trudging through the corridor, Aranea could see it.
It whispered its sweet offers.
Threw its olive branch at her feet.
But her feet remained constant; unwavering.
Pushing herself onto the rooftop after a short walk, the cold, ashy breeze froze her sweaty skin.
Fallion and Malta struggled to pierce their rays past the clouds.
Aranea wasn't focused on them though, her eyes trained through the hazy mist, past the mountains and at the Abyss.
Squirm~
Her hair began waving in the wind-
But not in the direction the wind was pushing.
No.
It waved at the Abyss.
As if greeting it.
Witnessing this odd sight, Aranea fished up the memories of the original Aranea and her storyline.
'...everything is progressing smoothly.'
Okay, she's gotta admit that it wasn't as smooth as she hoped.
Some things were definitely slightly skewed.
She just hoped it wouldn't change the outcome too badly.
Walking up to the railing, Aranea leaned her body on it.
She was tempted to cancel
But that wasn't a good idea, certainly not here.
Leaning more and more on the railing, Aranea simply allowed herself to relax. Aranea wasn't worried about falling over either, she wasn't tall enough for that.
Listening in to the whistling winds-
Listening in to the groaning voices-
Listening in to the screaming hordes of ghouls-
Listening in to the cries of thousands-
'...Ah, what a peaceful night.'
The smile on her face was blissful, unperturbed.
Her role was surprisingly easy.
The truth was surprisingly lighthearted.
What a blissful moment.
"Right?"
Listening to their response, she chuckled to herself, "I know~ I know~"
Letting out the widest smile she could muster:
"I'll never forget my role."
"I'll never forget the truth."
Suddenly, she paused.
Then, turning back, she looked to the entrance and exit of the rooftop-
The smile on her face slowly disappeared.
The joy in her eyes slowly disappeared.
Then, tilting her head, she whispered to herself, "Was I seeing things?"