Disclaimer: I don't claim this game.
He was doing it again. Standing out here like a buffoon, almost asking for a cold as soon as it ended, which was the usual result, but he wasn't concerned, he never was and didn't plan to start now.
He was standing outside of Castle Aquaria in the rain, which he secretly hoped for each time he came here. This had only started recently, after he was no longer treated as an enemy here when the war had been settled. Well, almost not treated as an enemy.
It figured that this was the only place that it rained frequently on the whole continent. It was probably the only thing he liked about Aquaria. Don't get him wrong, he was very loyal to his kingdom, but the continued below freezing weather wasn't a merit.
What made worse was that he didn't even understand his odd fascination with the rain. It wasn't the hackneyed feeling of having troubles or sins or something else being washed away by the pure drops. It was more like…the skies were crying for him, only him.
Or maybe the feeling that somewhere else someone was crying, feeling as dreadful, or maybe even more so than he did himself. Something that sounded mildly like a chuckle erupted in the back of his throat. Maybe what they said was true, he was just a sadist at heart.
It wasn't his fault that seeing other people screaming in agony or beg for their lives made him feel better. No one told them to act like miserable whelps when he passed by or brandished his sword or threatened them. Well he did remember telling some defeated opponents that he would spare them if they bowed down.
Never once had he spared anyone timorous enough to grovel.
No one had any consideration for him. He hadn't always been a monster, heartless, 'Albel the Wicked'. He just saw the world and people for what they were. No one bothered to see into him, and that's just the way he wanted it…right?
He had figured out what rain did to him, it made him think. He mostly preferred action and didn't dwell in the past, it was what made him strong, what let him hide emotions. But it also made him remember things he had kept in the back of his mind, what made him feel…depressed.
"Albel?" a feminine voice sounded from a distance. It was hard to see from the mist created by the drizzle. Somebody was approaching him from the castle, whoever it was he turned away from them.
"Albel, why are you standing out here in the rain, you're going to catch pneumonia or something," it was obvious it was from the voice and needless care that it was that bothersome girl Sophia. He would have turned to glare and said something spiteful, but he wasn't feeling too up to it.
There was a moment of silence before his hand was suddenly grabbed and something was daintily pushed into it, which he held on to instinctively. He turned to swipe at her, but she was already running into the castle with a sleeve over her head.
He growled slightly before he noticed something. The rain had stopped. He looked, but instead of cloudy skies, he vision was assaulted by a figure with cat ears, a bow, and overly large eyes connected to some sort of barrier on top of a stick.
Whatever it was must have been how she had come out, and she had foolishly risked her own health for him. Just to help him.
She was shielding him…from the rain.
A simple burst of...?