"We got it," Thomas placed a cold blue lily on the table, "isn't this what we wanted?"
"Did you buy this?" Charla looked at him, half asleep.
Thomas chuckled awkwardly, "Ah, yes, I did. It cost me quite a fortune."
"Whatever, I hope you'll pay me back later," Charla got up and took out a black sphere and handed it over to Thomas. "Pour some mana into it and it'll open up."
"Thank you, I'll never forget this kindness," Thomas bowed down, showing his respect for her choice.
"Yeah, well, give it to him," Charla walked Thomas outside and noticed Finn and Nichole waiting outside. "What are you two doing here?"
"Nothing Miss Charla, we're just here with General," Nichole said.
"Alright, I'm going to sleep," Charla shuts the door behind her as she went in.
"Let's give it to him right now," Finn suggested.
"Now? Won't he be sleeping?" Thomas asked.
"Nah, I'm sure he's fishing right now," Finn mocked the General's comment.
"You brat!"
"Whatever, let's just give it to him tomorrow, by the way, what the hell is a Genderless Transcendent?" Nichole looked at Thomas who looked up whistling to avoid the question.
"Whatever the hell that was?" Finn looked at Thomas, his eyes scanning him.
"Hey, you're the one who told me to say someone cool," Thomas finally retaliated.
"Yes, I said cool, not Genderless Transcendents, what is that?"
_________________________
MISSION COMPLETE
REWARD
UPGRADE TOKEN
"You knew of this?" Daniela peeped into the journal as Martin skimmed through the pages.
The two were seated on a rooftop, close to the building from earlier.
"No, I had no idea it was this bad," Martin's expression darkened while flipping through the contents, "who caused the ruckus?"
"A friend of mine, they were there to steal something from the auction."
"They stole from the auction house, how did they do that?"
"Pretty sure he brought a six-star knight with him."
"Hm," Martin looked into the book, his eyes falling on a specific part in the book, "today I saw them taking C-6 away for the transmutation."
"Transmutation?"
Martin continued reading, "That boy is finally going to see the light since transmutation always has a high chance of failure, he has killed way too many of the caretakers."
"What's he talking about?" Daniela took the book from Martin's hands and turned back to a few previous pages, "there should be something else about C-6 somewhere here."
"There," Martin pointed as Daniela changed the pages slowly, "something about a boy."
"Today they brought in a red haired kid, judging by his clothes, he looks like a noble, I was tasked with feeding him, but he seemed to have lost all sense of longing for life, looking at him was like looking into a corpse."
"A noble? That's odd, they wouldn't kidnap noble children if they want to maintain a low profile, right?"
"That must mean the boy was given to them willingly and seeing how he described the boy as having lost his will to live..."
"Maybe you should stop reading," Martin's eyes twitched at the contents, worrying it might be too much for the little girl.
Daniela continued, "Shit, the boy is a monster, he killed the caretakers who tried to beat him, the sight is still there in my head, the two corpses impaled on ice spikes."
"Maybe you shouldn't read it," Martin grabs the journal away from her hands, "you shouldn't read any further, as an adult I can't let you continue."
"When did Boss get so responsible, sending me to search for it in dangerous places, didn't you feel irresponsible then?"
"I didn't think that you would actually do it, no one in their right mind would, but your friend had good timing, to steal at the day when their security is at the lowest."
"What do you mean?" she tries to pull the book back from him, "what do you mean by that?"
Martin pulls the book away and holds it up, "Well, today was the day they took all the androids for repair, and the guardian knights had some other trouble and left, leaving only a single mage around."
Daniela got up onto his lap as she tried to pull the note back from him, "That means he must have gotten some information beforehand," she struggled as she tried to reach it Martin just kept on pulling it back at the right time.
"Mind telling me who your friend is?" Martin brought the book behind his back. Daniela falls in and wraps her arm around him trying to take it.
"It's a friend from the academy!" she felt the book at her fingertips, "he was.. doing it for his professor," she struggled to hold on to it.
"For his professor," Martin chuckled at her struggling for the book, "what a nice student."
"Yeah, yep that's it, give me the book," Daniela finally let out a gasp.
"Nope, you shouldn't read this," Martin held up the book once more.
"I found it, it's mine," Daniela complained as she tangled around him.
"Nope,"Martin taps the book onto his space ring. It vanishes off in a second.
Daniela seeing it, gives up and lets herself down into him. She falls into him, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. Martin's cheeks flushed red at the sudden closeness, however she seemed oblivious to it, or was she...
I can feel his heart beat, it's beating faster, is he enjoying this? Daniela looked up at him as she slid down, her gaze meeting his yet again.
His breath came out hitched, no matter what kind of life and death situation he's been through, the little girl's gaze, her slight touch felt foreign, unknown, but he couldn't bring himself to complain.
"Do you mind?" Martin looked away awkwardly, he voiced his discomfort, or was it?
"I don't," she lay flat on him, "do you?"
Martin couldn't find the right words, "Maybe..."
"Now give me back my book," Daniela poked on his chest.
"Huep," Martin blurted, his entire face turning red.
Daniela looked down, poking a few more times expecting a similar reaction but Martin seemed to hold on, trying his best not to burst.
After much more poking...
"Please stop, I can't take anymore," he begged, tears overflowing as his voice came out raspy.
"Fine," Daniela turns back and leans on him, "I'll let you go, but I'll need your help with something."
"What is it?" Martin carefully looked down as he caught his breath, feeling her weight on top of him. She's light.
"I need you to drop me off at the academy, oh, wait I forgot to ask, what were you doing here?" she snuggled around, getting comfortable.
"I had some business here, and I heard some stuff about this place, seems I was right, so you want me to drop you off at the academy?"
"Yep."
"How did you get out?"
"The sewers."
...
"Woooo, this is awesome," Daniela yelled, the wind crashing into her skin as they soared through the sky.
Martin held Daniela in his hands, while she let out her hand, enjoying the cold wind. A single red ethereal wing could be seen behind Martin's back, shimmering through the dark night.
"Are these the perks of being a six-star?" Daniela asked.
"It's hard to fly with one wing," Martin stepped on air, propelling himself forward.
"Work harder."
"I'm not your toil slave."
"Hey,, what are you going to do about those people, is that thing still going on?"
"I'm not sure, but I'll let you know," he looked down at her, his cheeks slightly flushing. I've never felt like this for someone, am I...
Daniela's gaze met his, I haven't felt this since...
_________________________
"What are you two doing here?" Jack was welcomed by the sight of two youths sleeping on his front door.
"Five more minutes," Nichole hazily said as she leaned on Finn.
"Is it morning already?" Finn put his hands over Nichole and fell into a deeper sleep.
"Hey," Jack kneeled down, slightly sprinkling some snow on their face, "wake up, it's morning."
"Ah!" Finn wakes up, his screaming waking up Nichole.
"Why do you always yell whenever I wake you up?" Jack chuckled as he went back in, "so what're you two doing here?"
"Yawn," Nichole stretched slightly, "we got something for you, sir."
Finn went back to laying on the cold floor, sprawling his legs across the floor, "Mmh."
"Something for me?" Jack looked back in surprise, "this early in the morning?"
"Actually, we got it for you yesterday, courtesy of General Grumpy, I mean General Thomas,"
"General?" Jack saw Nichole pull out two spheres, on black and another one blue.
"One has medicine for your condition and the other has some stabilizer for the medicine," Nichole half asleep gives it to him.
"For my condition?"
"The General was worried sick for you."
Jack accepts the spheres, and looks at it before pouring some mana into it. Nichole walks off to wash her face, not paying attention as she was still half asleep.
The black sphere in his right hand opened up to reveal a beautiful black Lotus with large petals extending outward, tinted with a few edges of deep red, while the sphere on the left revealed a smaller flower, an icy blue lily.
"Hey, where did you guys get this?" his expression softened knowing someone cares for his wellbeing.
"That's a secret, so you know how to use those?" Nichole wiped her face with her sleeves, which were now dark with water.
"I do... but," Jack's shoulders slumped as he thought of ways to tell her that he didn't need it.
"No buts, you know how hard we worked to get that?"
"The thing is..."
...
"WHAT!??"
"Arrghh," Finn got scared once more. "What now?" he got up, completely awake as he walked in.
"Professor, are you really telling me the truth!?" Nichole spoke loudly in surprise.
"The signs were always there," Jack explained calmly.
"Finn, what do you think a vampire looks like?"
"What's this all of a sudden?"
"Just answer me."
"Pale skin, charming, claws, fangs, black hair, red eyes, is that all?"
Nichole turns to Jack, "You look nothing like that!"
"But vampires don't actually look like that, besides if you look closer I have pale skin," Jack pointed at his hand, showing it to her.
"Pale skin..." Finn muttered mindlessly, "wait, old man are you a vampire!?"
Jack awkwardly scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, about that..."
"No way," Finn's mouth opened wide, "you look nothing like a vampire."
"Have you seen a vampire?" Jack countered.
"No, but stories mention them as seductive and sexy," Finn points at Jack, "you are neither."
Jack grabbed his chest as he fell to the floor, "I'm not sexy..."
"Not the point, how did we miss it?" Nichole shook Finn, "he doesn't need the flowers because he is a vampire."
"Wait, really?"
"Now what? The General's going to get a stroke when he hears this," Nichole sat on one of the chair.
"Do you have fangs?" Finn's eyes gleamed with curiosity.
"I'm not in the mood," Jack sulking at the corner as he shot him a glare.
"It seems you've hurt his feelings," Nichole chuckled.
"Can you hypnotize me, or... or turn into a bat," Finn paused, thinking of a way to tease him, "maybe even turn handsome?"
"..." Jack looked down even more depressed.
"Stop it you idiot," Nichole tapped him on his back, "he looks like he's about to cry."
"But what do we do about the flowers? Should we just return it?" Nichole asked Finn who was poking at a lifeless Jack.
"Maybe or let's give it to the General as a gift when he come here next week," Finn smirked.
"That sounds horrible," Nichole gasped in surprise, before her lips curled up for a smirk, "let's do it."
"I'm not sexy..." Jack muttered under his breath.
"Hey, help me with this old man," Finn waved at Nichole.
"Sir, who cares what this idiot says, your handsome enough," Nichole said, "hey I remember you blushing the first time I said you didn't look old."
"Good memories," Jack replied.
"You bastard," Nichole grabbed a piece of paper and rolled it up before smacking Finn in his head, "look what you did to him."
"Ahh," Finn ran away as Nichole chased him, "it's not my fault he ain't handsome."
"You idiot, I'll kill you."
_________________________