Hiya! Sorry for a long update. This chapter is by far, the lengthiest. Its more than 13k words. TWT I was joining these three chapter into one since I wanted to advance the story plot in the next chapter. I'll probably do the same with the next one too! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: KHR characters are not mine! Only the OCs!
Chapter 7: A Quick Turn Of Events to My Life!
"I can't believe you slept through all that ruckus."
"It's not my fault that it was boring. I can't believe we went to Sid's house just to study. I thought we were going to play."
"That's because they need our help for their exams, big bro. Big sis also did tell us to go spend our time with our friends once in a while." The blonde haired boy shivered in cold and snuggled into his scarf for warmth. "Well, I did most of the job though. You just slept through all the fun times we just had."
"ACHOO!" The black haired boy sneezed loudly, getting cold due to not wearing the scarf properly. His scarf was hanging around his shoulders loosely. They stopped in their tracks as the younger brother went in front of him to adjust the scarf.
"Sid, you and the others was chatting nonsense like having crush and all. I'm not interested on all those stuff." He muttered a small thank you to his little brother when he finished wrapping the scarf around his neck.
"This is why big sis likes to tease you all the time. You're just too funny to be with sometimes, big bro." The blond haired boy giggled at his brother for his 'cool' personality. The black haired boy just hmphed, sulking from often being made fun of by his siblings.
The boys were walking back to their house through a small road leading uphill. They lived in a big and large house which was on a hill with their parents and a big sister. The house was isolated from the town which was under the hill. People rarely come by to their house because it was a bit far even for the neighbours who were living downhill. Their parents liked the view from the hill when they first came into the town they were in. It was also the place where they first met each other and fell in love. That is why they build their house on the hill that was memorable for them.
"Why is today snowing so hard? I hate this weather.." The black haired boy complained while looking up to the snowy sky. A snowflake fell onto one of his eyelids. He wiped it off and used his hands to rub against his arms as he shivered.
"Hey, maybe if tomorrow isn't snowing this hard, we could ask big sis if she wants to build a snowman together." The younger boy suggested to his big brother. Recently, his big sister was feeling upset from not able to play outside due to the snowy weather. With this plenty snow, at least she could have fun in making few snowmans.
"Yeah. Good idea." They continued their way up to their house, leaving their footprints trailing along behind them on the snowy road.
When they arrived at their house, they were surprised to see that their grandfather and a lot of people, who were mostly in suits, were there. They saw cars everywhere near their house gates and when they saw an ambulance van of their famiglia, their face went pale at the sight of it.
They ran towards their grandfather who was right at the entrance, with his back facing them. He was giving out orders to the people in suits, distributing the workload. The boys was covered in cold sweat as they approached him.
"Grandpa! What happen?!"
"Please tell us!"
The grandfather turned behind at the sound of their voice with a shocked face and then it changed into a sad expression. "Boys.. Where have you been?"
"What's with all these people and the ambulance van?! Did Anna or Mama or Papa got hurt?!" The blond haired asked with a terrified look on his face.
"Gramps, don't just stay quiet! Tell us! What happened?" They asked again in panic, worrying about their family. They grabbed hold of their grandfather's sleeves, waiting for his reply. It was rare enough for their grandfather's sudden visit, but to bring the famiglia to the house was concerning for them. These had never happened to them before.
"Listen." The grandfather squatted to face them on an eye level. He held their hands each in his. "Don't panic when you hear these. Your… " He paused for a while, searching better words to deliver them the news. "Your parents…. Has passed away." It took a full minute for the boys to fully understand his words.
"Wha…." The blond haired boy dropped his body on the ground, shocked. "That's… a…. lie, right?"
The black haired boy was also so shocked that he didn't even moved a muscle. "T-they were just fine… before we.. left.."
"Don't worry, boys. You grandfather is here. Your grandfather is going to take care of you now." The elderly man put his hand firmly on their shoulder, trying to give his condolences to the boys who lost their parents by consoling them. He pulled them in for an embrace.
Their world went dark and dim even after hearing it. Everything that their grandfather said went to deaf ears. Their world was in a slow motion and started to go black like an abyss as their heart was heavy with grief. It was hard to believe their parents died just like that while they were gone.
The boys then remembered someone, pulling themselves out from their grandfather's hug. "Wha- what about big sis?! Is she okay?" The blond haired boy asked, feeling distressed as it is.
"Don't tell me she's…. dead, too…" The black haired boy who was broken hearted by the news of his parents' death, did not want to believe if his sister too, died.
"No, she's not dead. She's still alive." Upon hearing their grandfather saying that, the boys' eyes filled with hope.
"Then, is she hurt?!"
"Where is she?!"
"No." The grandfather shook his head. "Go to the ambulance's van. My assistant is there. He was the last one to talk to her." He said, pointing to the ambulance's van that was by the gates.
The boys sprinted to the ambulance's van right after their grandfather finished his sentence and left him there. Giving out a sigh, the elder continued in handling the coverage of the place. He was trying to keep out the news reporters and covering the whole incident as he did not want his famiglia's name known to outsider in order to protect the alchemists from danger.
As they reached to the ambulance van, they could not find their big sister. They only saw their grandfather's assistant who was fidgeting and searching for something as his eyes was all over the place. The assistant was a twenty-five years old man with a tall physique in a black suit. He has long brown hair and wore a thin-rimmed glasses.
"Hey!" The black haired boy called to the assistant. The said man turned around and looked down at the boys. "Rio, where is my sister?" He asked the older man with a glare.
"Ah, young master Lucian and young master Lucius. Good evening." The older man was smiling sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
"Where is my sister?!" The black haired boy asked the second time with a higher voice, getting impatient and upset.
"Big bro, don't be so hasty. Good evening, Rio. We would like to see our sister immediately." The blonde haired boy said with a grim voice as he was devastated and wanted to see his big sister's face as soon as he can.
"Well, the young lady is currently…." The older man paused, unable to find his words. He glanced over at the garage nervously.
"Urgh!" The black haired boy grunted and pulled his little brother's arm as he was unable to wait for the man to end his sentence. They hurriedly dashed towards the garage but halted when they managed to peek at the scene in the living room of their house as they passed by. The people in white attire who were wearing mask was moving the bloody furnitures outside and cleaning the bloodstains on the floor, leaving the front door wide open.
"What.." The living room was bloody and messy. Everything was out of the place for them to see.
Looking at the front porch, they saw two bodies that was covered in white cloth over them lying down on the floor as they were about to be transferred into the ambulance van.
"Ma..ma?"
"P-papa?"
The boys casted a brief look when the people in white attire carried the bodies towards the ambulance van, only to see the bodies had the same familiar clothes that they saw their parents were wearing in the morning.
"MAMA! PAPA!" Both of them screamed in anguish as they stumbled, trying to get to their parents. The people in suits noticed and told the people in the white attire to let them be for a while. "No….." There they were, the boys cried and sobbing beside their parents' bodies who were looking peaceful in their deathbed.
"Nooo!"
"WAAAHHHHHHHHHH"
…
Hearing that sorrow cry, an albino girl came out from the garage where she had wept, and staggering towards the front of the house. But when she saw two boys crying their heart out in grief by the ambulance van, she halted her steps. She turned to the way she came from and walked a few steps away before having her back against the wall. She lets her warm breath escaped from her lips as she gazed up to the snowy sky.
…
*Lucianna's P.O.V*
Few months later,
"Faster!"
"Dodge it!"
"You're being too slow!"
I panted. "Hah… hah.."
"What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and dodge it!" My trainer, Thomas shouted at me as a cannon ball headed straight towards me in fast speed.
"Wait! I-" I quickly dodged the cannon ball to my left." Don't think I can handle this any longer." I panted and asked my trainer for a break time, catching my breath as I bend my body with my hands on my knees.
"Pathetic. Five minutes."
I nodded, giving a thumbs-up and went to the bench in the training room. I took out my bottle out from my bag and drank my water. "Phew!" Gulping on water and keeping myself hydrating, I sighed in relief. I closed the bottle with its cap and sat down on the bench.
"Damn, so much for being a child." I complained as I massaged my sore shoulders from the training.
The Alkaev training room was in a huge grey metal dome, much like the Vongola training room in the future arc. Though this training room has much more of harsh training equipments than Vongola's, that I am pretty sure is too barbaric for normal humans. But what could I do? This famiglia is solely raising me up to be a weapon anyway regardless if I asked them to not make me to. This is definitely violating human rights.
It has been a few months ever since the death of my parents. I am currently being trained as a weapon in one of the Alkaev branch in Italy and thus, separated from my brothers while they are being trained to be the successors to the Alkaev famiglia in the main headquarters. As to why I am being trained as a weapon, is to keep me away from my brothers' lives and since I am unworthy to the eyes of my gramps, the only useful thing left for me to do is to contribute to the family as a military soldier, to serve the famiglia till the bitter end. This is the decision my gramps had made after he saw the scene inside of the garage during the family… tragedy. Hence, here I am, stuck in this hellhole.
Everyone here thinks I'm a murderer and a juvenile due to my gramps' harsh treatment. They are even taking care of me using such bad words and they hurt me with every chance they get. This is a child abuse, I say! I could sue them but I am unable to do so. I need to prevent making troubles for the famiglia in order to make my brothers' lives easier. And also, if I get kicked out from this place, who knows where I'll be. I would not be able to find Nichi too. He did ask me to save him after all.
That said, as for my brothers' relationship with me, it has become distant ever since the family tragedy. They probably hate me now but I did not regret my decision I made that day. I kept telling myself it was for their own good, just to get rid of my guilty feelings. But how selfish could I be? I am not sure the answer to that question.
Goddammit. My gramps made my life much harder. Did I ever do anything to him in my past life? Not that I know of since he is only in this world. What the heck. Why does he even do this to me? That I cannot comprehend. I was not even allowed to attend my parents' funeral and was immediately locked down in here. I do not know when was the last time I went outside of this place. In conclusion, I hate him so much now.
"OI! Break time is over!"
'Shit. I don't want to this to end.' I cried deep inside.
"Okay."
'But I also don't want punishments.' I sighed dejectedly as I walked to the center of the training room with low enthusiasm.
My trainer, Thomas has a stern face with a beard and a bulky body like a military man. He has grey eyes and red hair. A gangster is what I thought at my first sight of him. He was observing me from the training control room, where you can manually manage the settings or switch out the training equipments from afar.
"Your brothers are much more advanced than this level you're doing right now. You're so weak compared to your younger siblings." He said through the microphone in the room, belittling me.
'Duh, it's because they are prodigies unlike me.'
He gave out a loud sigh, hinting his disappointment for me and it had echoed throughout the entire training room. It made my ears bleed from even hearing the raspy sigh.
"We're gonna start the next phase now. He clicked a button in front of him, adding a new function for the cannons in the room.
The mechanical cannons began to fired its engines up as it is quite different from the normal cannons. It started to move its compartments by taking out shields each on its side to repel the never ending cannon balls back at me, and started to move clockwise around the room, swiftly. There were a total of six mechanical cannons in the training room.
'Whadya know? It increased its difficulty by hella lot. As expected of an alchemist family. Too much advanced technologies. Although this is probably for a bad cause.' In a neutral stance, I bent my body slightly and focused on my footwork, preparing myself in order to dodge the endless cannon balls.
Thomas was a part of the Modern Italian Elite Units before he was hired by my gramps. He had made me increase my strength and agility by doing heavy weightlifting, acrobatics and forced me to run the field until I fainted out of exhaustion for the first two month I was here. Then, he taught me a mixture of blended techniques from Judo, Karate, Fencing, Wu-Shu, Savate, Full-contact Kickboxing and Muay Thai. It was used in his unit to create a military system but had no name. Aside from that, he gave me lessons on how to use weaponries and had me fully understand each of its functions by that same week he taught me.
Even though, I was a small and fragile child, he had no mercy on me. I was forced to learn and memorize all of the teachings or I'll get 10 whippings for every mistake I do. I did get quite a physique build from all those training but you can see I have dark eye bags due to lack of rest. Before I knew it, I got used to this treatment.
"Whoa!" I almost tripped out of surprise when my trainer threw me a pistol and a rapier at me. Of course, with trained reflexes, I was able to catch them in my hands. Those were the only weapons that I am best at using out of the other weapons.
The pistol was a semi-automatic pistol and it was fitting for me as it is smaller compared to the other options my trainer gave me. The other guns were simply to big for me to carry. Meanwhile, the rapier is lighter than most and fast, making it easy for me to handle than the rest.
"Let's begin." My trainer, Thomas said, clicking another button. I could hear the cannons were being loaded up. Alarmed, I began to wield the weapons I was given.
'In this place, I can die at anytime without anyone even caring.'
A cannonball was fired from a mechanical cannon towards me. I sidestepped to the right, evading it but hearing the other cannons fired one by one, I used my rapier to push the incoming cannon another way. I used Muay Thai footwork to deliberately dodge a few more cannonballs while using my rapier and pistol to attack the weak points of the mechanical cannons that was the nearest. The cannonballs that I had dodged or pushed away was reflected back towards me.
"Tsk!" I clicked my tongue as I barely broke two of the mechanical cannons that was coincidentally closed by with each other as it rotated to a spot. The cannonballs kept on increasing in number, making the space in the center smaller and smaller.
'There's still four more!' I tried to finish breaking the other cannons as soon as I could since the cannonballs was not slowing down. It was hard for me to catch up with the fast moving mechanical cannons while dodging the cannonballs.
…
As time passed by with me endlessly blocking and attacking, I had gotten tired and started to slow down. I only had two more mechanical cannon. "Ha… Ha…. Ha….." My breathing became ragged and beads of sweat starting to roll from my forehead. My body became sore when I got hit by the cannonballs a few times.
Out of the sudden, I became dizzy and dazed in front of me. I saw a shadow of a cannonball coming towards me but when I tried to move, my leg gave out on me.
"Dammit!"
Hurriedly, I used my gun and rapier to shield me as the cannonball hit me, only to be knocked backwards. "Haa… Ahh…." I breathed heavily, lying on the floor in fatigue when my trainer turned off the mechanical cannons.
"You barely managed to go through this phase. You weren't even able to finish it." His voice was pure disappointment. "No matter, we'll continue this in the next session. Go to the library. Ms. Silva is there. Your learning lessons will be at the library today."
I nodded weakly, trying to regain my composure back. I got up and slowly walked towards the bench, sitting down on it. I took out a small towel to wipe off my sweat and drank another bottle that I prepared beforehand. I shut my eyes for a few minutes to rest.
"Urgh… So tired…." I complained to myself, only to feel demotivated to go through with my day. "I had low stamina to begin with, dammit."
By the time I opened my eyes, no one was there. Packing my stuff into my bag, I went out from the training room and exited out to the hallway. I finished my water on the way to the library and threw it into the rubbish bin that was outside of the library.
'My god, this place is huge. Luckily, this place shades me from the sun.' Although, it did not help when I had overheard my trainer once saying that he going to train me to withstand the sun sooner or later, not caring that I was an albino.
When I first arrived in this branch, the whole building was grey in colour both outside and inside. It gave me a dull impression. This branch was solely made as a place for testing experiments they have done and for me now to be trained under heavy supervisions. I was not allowed to go outside without permission or I would be punished.
When I arrived into the library, I saw Ms. Silva standing at the usual place. There was a blackboard, a table and a chair in the middle of the library. 'Ah~ A homeroom just for me.'
Ms. Silva is a tall and strict woman. She has blue eyes and brown hair which was always in a bun. Then again, everyone here is strict. There is no difference between all these adults at all.
"You're late." I gulped. I nervously replied while coming towards the table.
"Yeah, the training a bit tough so-"
"Shut your yap. Sit down. We're going to continue our lesson from the last time."She cut me in my mid-sentence, scowling at me.
'Dammit, am I always going to be looked down like this?' I sighed while sweatdropping. 'Just be patient.' I proceed to pull the chair and sit on it.
We began our lesson on learning different languages. They said it would easier to send me for an international mission if I were to know different languages.
After a few hours, we were done with our French language lesson.
"Good, we have finish learning how to speak French. Dismissed. We will learn-"
"Oh~ Oh~ can we learn Japanese next?" I asked her, curiously with my eye shining bright, filled with hope. I have to prepare beforehand like I did in my past life with Italian language if I were to meet with KHR characters soon.
"I was going to say Japanese before you interrupted me RUDELY." She glared at me, with a whip on her hand.
"Oh. Sorry."
The lady hmphed and went away, living me all alone in the lone library. I just stared at her as she walked away. After she left, I cheered myself, my hands up in the air and putting my legs on top of the table while slightly having my chair leaning back. Now, I have known five languages which are English, Italian, Russian, German and French. 'Yay~! Next we'll learn Japanese. Oh yay, BANZAI! NIPON~!' Cue the big waves behind me.
'The French lesson was so hard. These lessons are so fast paced. I barely got them all but I will get by with constant practice.' I looked out to the library's window and saw that it was already evening. Last time I checked, my schedule after study lessons is just to go back to my room. I shrugged my shoulders and got up.
…
My room is on the seventh floor in the building. It is a pretty simple room. The interior is grey just like the whole building. There is a bed, a closet, a coffee table, a sofa, a bathroom and a shelf for self study. Simple, is it not?
After I finished taking a long warm bath, I went to open the closet and took out my pajamas. Seeing a bright red, I glanced on my mother's furry red scarf that I left hanging inside the closet.
"…." I touched the scarf and snuggled to it, remembering the flowery scent of my mother. I remembered that I had cried while washing the bloody stains I got on it. It had either disappeared or mixed in with its red. I hope it is not the latter. I then, shut the door to the closet and headed to bed.
"Good night, Mama, Papa."
…..
Three years later,
…
"What the hell is wrong with you!"
"Big sis…. You have changed…"
"Why.. did you think so…? I don't understand…"
Leaving their last words, they left me with my grandfather who was waiting for them in the car. I was left alone in the snowy weather, looking at their backs as they walked away.
'Ah, is it because I am a monster after all?'
…
The light of the morning dawn shone on my face, making me open my eyes groggily. I could smell the spring flowers the moment I woke up. "Haaa!" I yawned and covered my mouth as I sat up and stretched my body, following my usual exercise routine.
Once I'm done, I dozed off, not realizing that I'm in the bathroom already. Scratching my head, I brushed my teeth and gurgled before spitting it into the sink. After I took a quick shower, I took out my hairbrush from the cupboard and combed my crazy unbelievable messy long hair that was on my waist level. Staring at the mirror, I noticed that my uneven bangs that I have cut before was still too long to even cover my flower eye.
I shrugged my shoulders, dried and tied my hair up into a high ponytail, not caring about the flower eye anymore. Everyone in this branch know about it anyway. I hummed as I came out from my bathroom and walked to my closet. I changed into a black baggy pants, a white t-shirt and a black jacket.
While I am now eight years old, I still do not have fashionable attire. 'Dang.' I sadly commented on my wardrobe. I looked at the red scarf for a while before heading out from my room.
My days have always been the same. Each day consists of trainings and lessons. I now already learnt more than eight languages which are French, English, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, Italian, Mandarin and Korean. When we learn about subjects that they teach in the school, I could answer it, surprisingly. My teacher was surprised too. Pfft~ you should see Ms. Silva's face that time. Should I remind you, I am more than eighteen years old in mind.
My training? It was hard and my body is constantly always in pain afterwards but I began to improve in all sorts of way. My trainer had taught me about strategies too these days. I have gotten better in both combat and agility now with the trainings everyday and had increased my stamina by a lot more now too~ OH! The funny thing is every morning after my training sessions, my body is good as new. I don't feel any pain as I am used to it and had adapted to my rough lifestyle.
….
Wielding a semi-automatic pistol and a rapier, I began the same phase that I went through three years ago but with an increase on the mechanical cannons to a fifteen. It increased by three mechanical cannons each year.
"Begin!" My trainer pushed the button to start the mechanical cannons' engines. They started to rotate clockwise while firing the cannon towards me.
I started out in a defense stance and focused solely only in dodging and pushing the cannons to the side. When it was repelled back to me, making the number of the cannonballs rise in number, I bend my knees in order to get the momentum as I increased my speed. Once I was swiftly enough, I shot off from the ground and executed a somersault as I landed on the nearest cannonball.
'Hehe! You did not say I could not do this!' I smirked at my trainer who had his mouth gaped wide in surprised at my actions. I did not do this before as I was going to surprise him once I am used to this training specifically. He did say this is the maximum amount of mechanical amount he could put into this course.
'Now I don't have to worry about getting hit by the cannonballs!' I focused back on the training and skipped from one cannonball to another while I aimed for the mechanical cannons. I thrust my rapier at its weak point and shot a bullet to the nearest cannon, having two mechanical cannons to break at the same time. When my pistol ran out of bullets, I changed its magazine with a new one with of the magazines that was hanging on a belt at my waist.
With the pace I was having, I managed to break almost all the mechanical cannons until an announcement rang into the room.
'ATTENTION! ATTENTION! Every activity is to be dismissed for today. Please come to the main hall. The Homunculus experiment is about to begin. I repeat-'
My trainer immediately put a stop into the training and turned off the remaining mechanical cannons. I fell off from a cannonball as it went back into a mechanical cannon.
"WAH!" A loud thump was made from the sound of my bum hitting on the floor. "HEY! That was uncalled for!" I yelled at my trainer, Thomas, who was looking excited as he dashed to the exit of the training.
"We continue this in the next session! Go back to your room and stay there till further notice!" He shouted at me when he turned the knob to the door and left, leaving me alone on the floor in the room.
"What the heck.." Taking in a minute, I got up and wiped my butt from possibly any dust. 'Homunculus experiment?' I recalled the announcement I heard few minutes ago. 'Isn't associated with the Philosopher Stone? Might be worth to check it out. Who knows if Nichi is actually here now, right in the same building as I am.' I grinned wide as I gleefully laughed. 'Hehe! An opputunity to escape!'
Thus I disobeyed my trainer's instructions and went back to my room. I changed into my brown hoodie jacket and wore a pair of black sunglasses. 'Now, I looked like a shady guy.' I laughed at my own reflection in the mirror.
I have to wear a hoodie jacket since the main hall is in another building which means I have to walk under the sunlight. Last session was one of my training to endure the sunlight and to increase my resistance to it, as I'm an albino. That was my only flaw, being an albino. It was a hell for me. I got fever a few times after that from overworking myself. That said, I also had to take care of myself when I am sick since they are all to busy to handle me. How inhumane can these adults be?
I moved out from the building I was in and headed towards the main hall. Even going and having the trees' shadows covering me had still made me dizzy. I groaned all the way to the main hall. "Finally!" I sighed in relief when I entered the main hall from the entrance.
The main hall is like a huge ball room. Except there was no glitters, only grey, imprinted with technologies everywhere and grey. Opss, did I say that twice? Sorry, being in this place for so long and seeing the color grey often, it makes me gone crazy. I tried to blend in with the large crowd in the room who were hustling and bustling, trying to see what was happening.
In the center was a stage and there were televisions on the wall for the crowd to see if they were not able to see what was on the stage. On a closer look, I saw that in the center of the stage was a red stone in a clear crystal pillar surrounded by four large human-sized crystal sphere. The spheres have one door each. I also noticed that my gramps and my brother was there along with a few scientists. They were sitting on the expensive chairs that was prepared for them at the corner while the scientist was doing some things with their laptop and for the big display in front of us.
Talking about my brothers, I had seen them a few times before, but at this point, what is the use? We were practically strangers now. I was forbidden to see them and when we accidentally did at this branch, we passed by each other, not even sparing a single glance. I had to steeled my heart as I ignored them. They probably did too. I am just happy that they are doing well now.
Sometimes, they are at this branch in overseeing experiments in this branch with my gramps guiding them. They had gotten taller and more handsome each time I see them. Not that I am jealous or anything. I am also growing. It is just that my chest's growth is coming a little late. My brothers have this aura of charisma that attracted a lot of people, including me, of course. Not that I would say it to them. Perfections was written all over them. I heard rumors that they make a world record in almost everything in the mafia world. Like I said, they are prodigies after all.
'Oh my god, what is that?' My sunglasses were pretty dark so I had to take them off. Don't worry. I'm pretty far behind and I covered half of my face with my long bangs in order to hide my left flower-eye like always since do not have an eyepatch.
I looked at my brothers. They were pretty calm in their demeanor. My younger brother was smiling, making a small chat with a scientist beside him while my other brother was just observing with what the scientists was doing. Sure, I did feel guilt tripped with the sight of them. All I could do is to feign ignorance around them.
I tried to find another topic to distract me from the guilt of my brothers when I looked fixedly at the red stone which was in the center of the display. 'It's so pretty…' The appearance of the red stone made me lose my words as it drawn me with the feeling of familiarity. It felt like the longing of one. Cliché. I could make a poem but too bad for me, I have no taste in making poems. That is what Ms. Silvia concluded of me from my lessons.
After some time, the scientists gave my gramps, the head of the famiglia a nod. He nodded back in reply as he went to stand in front of us, the audience, preparing himself.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today, I called everyone here is to tell you all that our experiment to make homunculus with the Philosopher Stone has been a success. Unfortunately, as you all know, the first one had died after a few minutes. But now, our scientists have finally managed to improve the system so let us all just hope that this experiment would go well. I am also announcing this as a ceremony to give my grandsons two homunculus each to aid their training to be my successor. Please give a round of applause to my brilliant grandsons who played a big role and have made a critical breakthrough in this project!" The audience shouted in excitement, clapping their hands. My brothers stood up and bowed at the crowd, smiling. They had the posture of confidence. They got back into their seat.
'God, the shine in their teeth. Damn.' I covered my eye from the light of their brilliance. My grandfather went back to his seat and commanded the scientists to activate the system.
'That's Nichi?' I shifted my attention back to the red stone. Suddenly, my left flower eye and my heart started to hurt as they begin to activate the system. Starting to sweat, I clenched my fist against my chest. I hacked a cough while trying to breath normally.
"Ay…re…nne.." A voice called out my name, quietly almost like the wind's breeze.
'Nichi?'
"Ayre…nne.." Then, the static voice went faint.
"Nichi?! Is it really him?" In discomfort, I tiptoed my feet in hopes to see the red stone clearer instead watching from the television at the wall.
My flower eye started to feel more pain and my heart started to beat faster. "Ghh!" I grunted, taking a step backwards. Retreating, I wobbled further back from the audience so they would not notice me acting funny.
I had my back against the wall for support in the corner as I was dizzy from these sudden pain. I coughed lightly and observed the system to be fully activated.
When the system finished heating up, electrics generated from the crystal pillar electrified Philosopher Stone that was inside of it and as a result, the stone shone shining brighter than before. The red stone illuminated brilliant red energy to the crystal spheres. The light dazzled us audience until we could not see anything at all. I shielded my eyes with my hands from being blinded by the light.
"Don't worry. This is just for a while." My grandfather's voice calmed the audience.
"Ha… Ha…" I began to pant heavily due my pain just aches more and more, watching light slowly getting dimmer. When our eyes were able to adjust itself, we saw four humanoid bodies formed in the spheres one each. The electric currents generated from the crystal pillar change its direction into the crystal spheres instead. It made their organs to start working. Their heart began to beat as shown in the display in front of the spheres. After silence gone by, the crowd cheered loudly, seeing the miracle happening right before their eyes.
The scientist in charge nodded to the grandfather as he turned off the electric currents. My grandfather stood up once more and spoke to the crowd.
"The ceremony has completed! Behold! The homunculus we have created with the use of the Philosopher Stone!"
'Oh gosh, this is like a freaky cult.' I snickered at my gramps' declaration. The scientist scurried along to get clothing for the homunculus. Then, they went in front of the spheres and opened the door. They supported and carried the homunculus out from the spheres. One of them had tripped and fell on the floor. All of them had opened their eyes and looked around, still dazed as they were instructed to wear the clothing brought to them. The four homunculus obediently followed and wore it piece by piece. They were androgynous in their physique but had distinct facial features. Two of them looked like female while the other two looked like males. The female homunculus wore white simple dress while the male homunculus wore black shirt and pants.
"These homunculus have been generated to be the same age as my grandsons for them to be able to communicate well with each other. They also have the capability to grow as well once they have adapted to outside world." My gramps said, calling out my brothers to him.
They whispered something we all couldn't hear. My pain was slowing fade away. I started to stood up properly, away from the wall. "But as of now, we are unable to make more homunculus since we need to avoid the Philosopher Stone from being shattered due to overusing its power. We will conduct another one in the future.
Lulu went to a female homunculus who has black hair and yellow eyes and a male homunculus who has violet hair and blue eyes. Meanwhile, Lucy went to a female homunculus who has pink hair and grey eyes and a male homunculus who has red hair and green eyes.
"The two homunculus that my grandsons chosen will be his aid in helping him to be my true successor. I hope all of you will give a helping hand on my grandsons. Please take care them." He said as he bowed humbly. I scoffed at his actions with hate. The audience applauded their hands for them. I joined in clapping as well to blend in. It seems that Lulu called the girl, Vivian and the boy, Dante while Lucy called the girl, Serena and Alfredo. They nodded upon their new name, still absentminded. Behind the crowd, everyone was chattering and muttering about the great success. They were so happy since they made an achievement in the history of the alchemists.
"Ayrenne.. help me…"
"Nichi?" Alerted, I heard the voice once more, gazing at the red stone.
"Finally, I can reach you. Now is your chance. Please hurry and grab me." The voice sounded clearer from before.
"Now?" I asked in a low tone, confused of what was happening.
"Don't worry. I'll try my best to make this into your favor. Nothing bad will happen."
"Nichi, is that really you? Can you hear me?"
"Yes and yes, hurry. I'm currently using my powers here."
"Oh my god, finally! I have found you!" I got myself in an area where it was not many people and stretched my body. "I have been waiting for this moment to get out from this hell!" Then, I skipped back a few steps. "Fuu~ Nichi, you sure nothing will happen? This is quite a turn of events for me."
"I am telling you that everything will be in your favor. Meaning it will go your way no matter what happens. Trust me."
"Well, here goes nothing!" I smirked, putting back my sunglasses on and started to dash through the audience. I jumped as high as I can and to my surprise, it was higher than I have expected. Landing on the stage, I received surprised gasps and startled faces. My family was looking at me, astonished. The homunculus was too blur to understand anything and the scientists shocked themselves in place. Everyone is actually.
Then I realized. "Shit. Nichi."
"What is wrong?"
"I don't have a weapon to break you out of there." I sweatdropped on my own mistake.
"Not a problem." Suddenly, a familiar training rapier projected itself in my hand. 'Uh. The heck?'
"Just hurry."
Not waiting another second, I used the rapier to smash the pillar. The people including my family was trying to stop me but there was an invisible shield surrounding a few meters away from me.
"HEY! STOP THAT PERSON!" After a few hits on it, the pillar crumbled into pieces as my grandfather shouted at me. He still does not know who I am. I guess I was well disguised. I grabbed hold of the red stone and smiled at my brothers before I ran away. The security guards began to act but was unable to get closed to with me due to the invisible shield. Being the smart person I am, I took this chance and dashed straight out from the main hall.
'This is going to be a goodbye, Lulu, Lucy.' They stared at me dumbfounded, still stoned in their place while the people around them began to panicked.
"Catch him!"
'And they think I'm a boy. Do I really not have a feminine body? Seriously? Goddammit.' I gritted my teeth in annoyance while running back towards my room. Now, I know you guys may think I am an idiot for running to my room instead of getting the hell out from this place. That is because I need to take something first from my room.
After few minutes, I reached into my room. The security guards who were chasing after me got lost in the hallway because I asked Nichi to do something to make the security guards lost track of me. He had used illusions to change their perception. I opened my closet in hurry and took out my red scarf along with my wallet before heading back out from my room.
They were going to find out I am missing and suspect me later anyway so I will just be open about my disappearance. I threw away my sunglasses and wore my scarf inside of my hoodie jacket instead, not caring of covering my identity.
As the door to my room closed shut behind me, I heard footsteps coming closer to my direction. My room is at the end of the hallway so it was the closest to the window.
"Tch!"
"Ayrenne, do you trust me?"
I looked down to the red stone I was holding before, tilting my head. "Yeah, why do you ask?"
"Do exactly what I'm telling you to do. Jump over the window."
"Huh?! Are you crazy?! It's the seventh floor and we're on the top of a hill! Above a forest! I am not suicidal! I just got this life for god's sake!"
My trainer, Thomas, for some reason appeared in front of me with the security guards and when he saw that I was holding the red stone, his face turned red in anger. " You ungrateful little-"
'Well, what a bad luck. I guess I don't have a choice.'
When my trainer came closer to me, I smiled to him. "Hehe, this is why you should have not trained me in the first place. Your plans just get backfired, you stupid adults!" Then, I proceed to do suicide by jumping through the window. My trainer was opened his eyes wide in surprise and ran towards me to try stopping me but he was too late. I already jumped out of the window. "Bye-bi~~!"
.
.
.
Just kidding, I am not that crazy to die in my second life. But I am panicking though.
"What should I do?! Am I going to die again?!" I shrieked in my mid-fall.
"Calm down-"
"Easy for you to say!"
"Use your wings."
"Huh?! What in the world are you talking about!?"
"Use your wings. Open your wings and fly."
"Last time I checked, I don't have wings, dammit!" I cursed all the words I know out, feeling frightened when I saw the ground was getting closer.
"You do have! You have died once which means your body is superficial like one of a fallen angel!"
'EHH~! What is with that logic?' I tried to calm down and seeing I'm only ten meters from the ground. I gulped and shut my eyes tight. 'To hell it all!' I used all of my focus on my back, giving my all. That is when I felt tremendous pain of needles poking on my back.
"I guess it cannot be helped. I am going to help on heightening your senses in your wings since you are in desperate need.'
'He's helping? Ow.. OW!'
*PSSHHHT*
Out of the sudden, a pair of black wing bursted out from my back as I felt intense throbbing pain from my back skin tearing apart. My blood from my back splattered everywhere on the ground. Trying to withstand the pain, I clumsily forced myself on doing a few wing flaps before landing safely on the ground and dropped on my knees.
"OW OW OW! THE PAIN." I cried with tears in my eyes. The burning sensation on my back was paralyzing me, making me scared to move even in the slightest.
"I did try to help but it was not much. Sorry."
"Never mind. I'm fine." I sobbed as I stood up properly, swaying. When I moved my body, the wound at my back stinged me like hell. I felt like I could faint from the pain anytime soon but I had to move on since I am not in the clear yet. I looked up to the window where I had jumped but my trainer was not in sight.
'Maybe he's scared that I have died?... NAH, he's too cruel to be like that.'
"We need to find a place to hide, just in case if that guy called a search party."
"Okay." I nodded, grimacing in pain.
"For now, we have to keep away your wings. It will be weighing you down later on. Try imagining the wings to be gone from your body. Like before, when you did not even know you could do it." I managed to withdrew my wings like how Nichi instructed me too. Afterwards, I staggered in the woods, almost tripping over my feet sometimes. My clothes strongly smelled like the iron scent of blood as my back was dirtied with deep red liquid.
"Dang, those wings of mine is going to make me die of blood loss." I said, my eye started to give out on me. I wheezed, trying to keep my eyes wide open.
"I think there's a cave nearby, maybe we could rest there."
"You think?" I asked in disbelief. "I'm almost dying here!" I sniffled as anxiety was hitting me hard.
'Alright, I have scanned the area and I know there is definitely one nearby.' He affirmed the location of a cave and gave me instructions on getting there. I sighed and followed his directions to find the said cave. When we found it, I shrieked in happiness.
"Awessooome~! You are like the Google Maps! Kyahahaha~" I skipped towards inside the cave and sat my tired body down.
"Ow!" I hissed in pain. "Aww man, the pain is soo annoying." I grumbled, taking my hoodie jacket off. I saw my hoodie jacket was bloody and has two big holes on it. Possibly from the wings earlier.
"You mean it is hurting you."'
"Yes. Nichi. It indeed is." I said while folding my hoodie jacket and put it on my side.
'….' Out of the sudden, Nichi glowed bright red and I had shut my eye in his brilliance. Once the light gotten dimmer, I opened my eyes and noticed that my pain has gone away. I touched my back and in my surprise there were no wounds.
"What the-?"
"As long as you have me, you do not have to worry about anything now since you have saved me." I gasped in amazement on Nichi's magnificent power.
"Thank you! That really helped! No wonder the alchemists fight and sought for you." I smiled in gratitude, looking at the forest outside of the the cave to see if there were anyone following us. I put Nichi on my lap, finally able to take a breather.
"So how have you been? I see that you have grown quite a bit." After a long silence awkwardness, he started the conversation with a small gentle voice. I laughed at his comment before replying him.
"I have been well before my family.. tragedy happened." I paused, not continuing as I was thinking of my parents, feeling a little blue. "Now, I guess, I am still living regardless of my circumstances. How about you?"
"Time goes fast when you are an immortal. I had been overgoing through experiments all these years. I might had overworked a bit."
"Immortal, huh? I feel bad for you for having going through all that." I hold up the red stone to my eye level as I am making conversation. "I want to ask million questions right now since we're back together."
"Go ahead." I pondered over my first questions, tapping my lip while looking outside.
"Okay~ Firstly, if I'm going to use my wings again, will it hurt like just now?"
"Nope. It is only at the first time. And here I thought you would ask about your body first."
I then remembered the most important question in my life that I was supposed to ask him when we meet in this world. "Oh! Now that you mention it! Do tell me. What is with my body?" I asked curiously, feeling silly for forgetting it.
"It is the closest body in this famiglia available that I could choose. This way, it will be easier for you to save me."
"Huh. So what with the tattoo and the eye? My brothers only have the tattoo." I pointed and touched my flower eye softly. "It wasn't fair to have this appearance y'know? Everyone was scared of me except for my family." I pouted, complaining to him for the unfairness.
"The tattoo was actually like a temporary guardian, an ouroboros, that will save you three in my presence, in case of any emergency. Your brothers have it too for protection since the three of you are triplets. Ouroboros are my humble friends. Meanwhile, your flower eye is a physical medium that shows you are being connected to me by sharing a magic link, which unfortunately cannot be seen by a naked eye. I am sorry for troubling you with the appearance but I could not help about it. I forgot to mention to you that some of my powers will completely turn yours after a few hours."
"Oh~~ I am starting to get it." I nodded while still trying to imprint the information in me. "Ehh~ What kind of power will I get?" I asked him, feeling excited from the news.
"I will tell you as we go on."
"Muuuu.. Stingy!" I sulked, puffing up my cheeks.
"Also, …I'm sorry about your family loss."
I was stunned to how he knew. My face turned serious as I asked. "How did-"
"Like I told you. We are actually connected but only these past few years our connection has been somehow severed due to the constant experimentations done on me. I did get to know about you through some of your memories shared to me but I could not get it all of them. There was a time three years ago, where I almost managed to get to you but was cut off."
"Oh. Then just now, during the homunculus ceremony, I was hurting so much. Why? Is it because we're connected?"
'The ceremony. Truth to be told, creating homunculus is not easy. It requires a lot of mana. I was hurting myself because I was not well prepared for it as I had overused my mana from the previous experimentations. So yes, you were affected too. Again, I apologize for the pain I caused.'
"I see, is it only me who can listen to you?" I tilted my head. "I mean, is there not anyone else who can hear your voice here?"
"Unfortunately, it is only you who can hear me since I had brought you from another world. I tried communicating with all the scientist who had interacted with me before but to no avail." His voice sounded sad. Maybe he had hopes to have been saved by someone other than me to put him out from misery.
"You must have always been in pain. I guess the two of us did not have it easy, huh?" I put him back down on my lap as I stretched my body, feeling energized than before. It was the first time I felt hopeful in these past few years.
"Well! Since I am one step away from freedom, we should get going!" I stood up and wrapped my hoodie jacket around my waist. "Also, Nichi?"
"Yes?"
"You don't have to be formal. I have been noticing you were too formal with me."
"I guess it is just my way of speaking. Does it bother you?"
"Hmmm, not really~" I laughed and he joined in as well. His voice reminded me of my brother when he was young. It always in small high pitched voice with a gentle tone. When I exited the cave, I stood in silence.
.
.
.
.
.
"…..?"
Silence.
"OH SHIT! NOW WHAT THE HELL AM I GONNA DO~! I DON'T HAVE ANYONE OUTSIDE OF MY FAMILY? MY WALLET IS NOT ENOUGH FOR ME TO SURVIVE OUTSIDE!" I cried out loud, panicking and walking back and forth.
"Calm down, Ayrenne. Don't panic. And more importantly don't swear. You're still a child."
"Yeah, but technically I have a.. wait-" I lifted my fingers to start counting. "eighteen plus eight is twenty-six. So I have a twenty-six years old mind in my head. THEREFORE, I AM NOT A KID." I hmphed until I came to realization. "But at this point, I am going to be an old lady in my mind!" I gasped upon this fact.
Nichi sighed. "Yes, you're right but if someone sees you now, would they not think you are being weird?"
"I'm already weird to begin with." I squatted down and hugged my knees to my chest, putting my head between my knees and my chest, crying deep inside.
'Sorry.' Nichi stayed quiet after that.
"AH! But that aside, what we're gonna do? I am still at loss here!" Panic started to rush back into my mind as I took out my wallet, doing calculations in my brain for how long I could survive in the outside world. The result for my chances to live outside are equal to none with my current wallet. Tears threatened to fell from my eyes as I see dusts aside from the money I have which was not much in my wallet.
The people from the branch never really give me that much of money since I was just a free soldier in their eyes. "Hehehehe." 'Jokes on them, I am running away.' I giggled at the thought of this until Nichi snapped me out from my thoughts.
"I just scanned the area again just now and I think we are in deep trouble."
"E-EH?! W-WHY?" I exclaimed only to be hushed by Nichi.
"The alchemist family is in the area. They are searching for you. By listening in on their conversation, I think your grandfather does not believe your trainer who is saying you are dead after jumping. It is most likely because he is aware of me and knows that I have favored you. What a smart man, but it is a shame that he is an evil man. You should be careful of your grandfather."
"Stop praising, even if you didn't tell me, I always keep my guard against that old man. Now, help me find a way to escape from this forest." I told him as I was thinking of something.
"Nichi?"
"Hmm?"
"Is it possible for you to change my appearance?"
"Yes."
"Then, can you please help me?"
*Third Person P.O.V*
Few minutes later.
"The boss asked us to search this whole forest for a GIRL?"
"No can do. Orders are orders."
"Thomas said that girl jumped off from the building right? The girl must be dead by now. How are we gonna find a dead person in these woods?" The people in suits sighed all together, feeling troubled.
One of them came back from scouting the place where the girl had jumped, only to bring bad news. "She's not there." All of them had their heads down in a dejected manner.
"But there's a rumor that if you find the girl, you'll get promoted and received a lot amount of gold." One person from the group said, trying to motivate his coworkers.
"Seriously?!"
"Find HER!"
"YEAH!" The group of the man in the suits fired up and searched once more with fire in their eyes.
Behind the scene, two boys came out from their hiding. A pair of twins, one with blonde hair and black hair. "The security sucks. We need to change that."
"I agree. But is it okay to left our.. partners behind?" The blonde haired boy agreed and asked his brother as he was referring to their homunculus.
"The scientists still have to do a checkup so let them be. They can't move much in that condition."
"Did big sis really stole the Philosopher Stone?"
"You know that was her."
"But isn't weird? We couldn't move when that happened and big sis can't possibly have done that invisible shield." The blond haired boy was in disbelief, no matter how he thought this through.
"The trainer said he saw Anna hold the stone."
"We can't just believe him!"
"Her room was empty."
"She could just go to the bathroom!"
"They searched for her in the building and there was no trace of her. Even her wallet was missing. She must had planned this. Are we done with this debate?" The black haired boy sighed and patted his little brother's hair when he went silent.
"I hope she is okay.." The younger boy muttered, gaining empathy from his big brother.
"Me too. Grandpa said that if she has the Philosopher Stone, she couldn't die that easily. That stone has many powers that we don't know or how many it has and hell anyone who has it can be powerful. Anna might be someone that stone favored since that shield around her was protecting only her."
"I'm worried about big sis." The younger brother said. The older one just looked at the group of man in suits.
"C'mon, let's go back. Grandpa and the others are waiting for us."
Meanwhile..
"Is she here?!"
"No."
"GIRL! COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!"
"Aie~!" A girl fell out from her hiding spot. The people in the area quickly looked to the direction where the girl came from.
What they saw was a black short haired girl with red eyes. She wore black jacket and black baggy pants.
"Who are you?" One of the guy asked her, alerted.
"I-I'm just a passerby… I got separated from my family.. We were having picnic." Her teary doe eyes made the group feel guilty for making her cry. The girl stood in front of them and she almost breaking down into tears, looking very innocent.
"She looked like the girl's age…" One of them holds up a picture to compare her and the girl in the picture. "But the girl is an albino.. So she can't be her.." The others nodded in agreement with the guy who was holding the picture.
"Kid, the town is that way." One of them showed the direction to the town for the girl by pointing to their left. "You go straight and follow the main road. You should able to find the main road easily once you're out from these woods."
The girl bowed numerous times. She smiled happily and said thank you to them, melting their heart. Seeing the girl walked away, the people returned to the branch, feeling disappointed. As the small girl headed down the road, she grinned widely.
*Lucianna's P.O.V*
I laughed out loud while patting my stomach. " They're such idiots. Hahaha~! My acting is soo good too~~ Luckily, they didn't see my ripped clothes. Ahhh~ My stomach hurts now." I wiped away a tear in my eyes from the laughter.
Nichi sighed. "I have to agree with that. Had they checked your clothes, you would be busted. Your clothes should have been the same like before because I could not change it due to my exhaustion of power"
"Man, our disguise is flawless~ " I hummed in delight. "You think you can keep up this illusion for a long time?" I asked Nichi, curiously. I had hoped to continue my disguise. I am pretty sure the Alkaev famiglia's lackeys should be searching downtown as well.
"I do not think so."
"Oh right, it was just temporarily since you don't have much mana left."
"Although you have the ability to do so. You can do strong illusions now. By now, at least 45% of my powers have transferred to you. It should be easy for you to do it."
"Eh~"
'I will undo my illusions. Try to make your own illusion. Change your appearance. Focus on your imagination.'
"I'll try." Once my appearance returned back to normal, I relaxed myself and imagine on what I want to be. I closed my eyes and felt a tinge of ticklishness on my body.
When I opened my eyes, I became Ciel from Kuroshitsuji. "OOHH~" I was very much amused with my brand new costume. Then I imagined a mirror and one appeared in front of me, floating. "OOOOHHHHHH~!" I grasped the rim of the mirror closely and stare at my reflection. My eye was shining in excitement.
"AWESOME~~" I touched my cheeks and it was soft like how I imagine Ciel's would be. It was as if I was cosplaying as him at this very moment.
"Uh.. what did you do, Ayrenne?"
"Oh, I imagine myself to be this character from an anime and it really happened~" I spinned around, checking my overall outfit. " I look so cool~ I wish I could take a selfie now- Oh!" I imagined my old camera from my childhood and took a picture of myself.
A flash snapped as I took one. I checked the gallery and it was pretty good one if I say so myself. "…." Curious, I tried checking the gallery. Unfortunately for me, my memory was hazy and I could not remember the pictures I have taken of my family, the pictures in the gallery was blurred. Only my selfie was a clear picture. I could not be helped, I guess I was too distressed about my parents' death until I was not able to picture our happy memories together.
"It's getting dark now." Nichi reminded me when the camera in my hands and the mirror vanished into thin air. I stared up to the orange sky, it was already sunset by the time I reached the main road.
"Ah~" I closed my eyes and when opened them again, I returned into my normal self. The only difference is my flower eye into a normal one in order to conceal my weird looks. I summoned a small mirror to check myself.
"There~! Is it okay?" I asked Nichi, patting my dry cheeks. I sighed. 'Yup, this is me. My untaken care of skin.'
"You look nice."
I giggled at him, having the small mirror to be disspelled. "You sounded so monotone. By the way, you can just call me Anna, y'know?"
"I possibly prefer to call you Ayrenne since I have gotten used to it, is that fine for you?"
"Suit yourself then!" Along the way to the town, I made a small chat with Nichi., familiarizing myself with Nichi. I tucked him inside of my chestpocket as I continued my journey.
In the town.
My eyes were shining, glittering or even shimmering. I felt a huge excitement as I see the lively town that was decorated with beautiful night lamps everywhere. "OH MY GOD~ I haven't seen a town for three years now!" I shouted out loud in the main street of the town, making other people look at me. "Opps, sorry~!" I bowed my head in an apologetic manner, gleefully smiling.
"Why are you so excited? I don't understand."
"Ah. I guess you don't know. After the incident, I was locked in that branch building. I never went out from the place, not even once!" I pouted and puffed my cheeks. "Damn those inhumane adults!" I curse the people back at the branch.
"I'm sorry."
"It's fine really. At least now, I am free!" I went on sightseeing around at the town. I stopped at a street and saw people setting up their shops in preparation of a bazaar.
"They looked busy for the bazaar."Nichi commented, looking through my flower eye that has been disguised. "Luckily, my connection with your eye has became stronger now that I am close with you."
"That's good!" I smiled, feeling happy for him. The day was getting darker and turned into night time. The road started to lightened up by the streetlights.
"Ayrenne."
"Hm?"
"Maybe we should not only rely on the illusion." Nichi suggested to me in a serious tone.
"What do you mean?" I whispered in order to avoid people staring at me and thinking I am crazy for talking to myself.
"There are people who can see through illusions and supernatural being such am I. We might accidentally uncover ourselves to those people and therefore we might risk ourselves. Your grandfather can easily find us if that happens." He gave me a lengthy explaination. It did make sense to me and I agreed to him.
"So you're saying to make myself like another person by not using illusion."
"Yes, it is just a mere precaution."
"Okay then~ I could get a hair cut. My hair was getting longer. Then I realized. "But if I changed back to my normal looks for a hair cut, I still can't hide my eye." I touched my left eye, unconsciously, troubled by it.
"It was my fault that your eye appeared that way so I will take responsibility of this." Nichi emited a red glow which made a small red bead with a black feather came out from Nichi. It came out as a hairband. I tried to hide the glow behind a stall so no one can see it.
"Nichi~! Next time, tell me before you do something like this!" I said, my heart was beating so ever fast. "Is this a hairband?" I took it out from him, holding it to my eye level.
"I'm sorry about that. Yes, that is a bead with the power to solely conceal your flower eye without you doing anything to it. You just have to wear it close with you flower eye. Like tie it on your hair."
"Hmm… then, let's have a try." I went to an alleyway and undo my illusion self. My flower eye came out in a poof! I tied my bangs up using the hairband bead. I looked down at the water puddle under me and saw my reflection. My flower eye was no longer a flower it was and changed into a real eye. Its red color matches with my other eye.
Then I peeked out from the alleyway. I was a bit on alert as I do not want to get caught by the alchemists' famiglia who I have been evading when I saw them in this town. I saw a pair of scissors at a nearby stall. The owner was busy handling his customers so I sneaked close to his stall and took the scissors hurriedly, returning back to the alleyway.
"Phew~ That was easy."
"Ayrenne, is it not called stealing?"
"I'll give it back to him later. I'm borrowing it to cut my hair." I squatted down against the wall and mad e a mirror out of illusion.
SNIP..SNAP..SNIP…SNAP..
It only took few minutes. I cut my hair into shoulder length. It was not symmetrical but it was okay. At least it is to me.
I walked back out on the main road, feeling confident. 'My eye is okay, my hair is okay and my tattoo has been concealed by my red scarf.' Whistling, I walked passed by the stall where I borrowed the scissors and swiftly returned the scissor before skipping away.
"Ah!" I paused in my steps in the middle of the road.
"What is wrong?"
'That reminds me! I need to buy new clothes.' My jacket is still in bloodied state because of my wings. I looked around nearby shops for clothes. Weirdly, no one really cares about my clothes state, maybe they had thought I was playing with red paint?
'They judge me because of my age and my petite stature, aren't they?! How rude.' I put my hand over my head as I walked through another shady alleyway that had a sign saying Betty's Boutique. The shop was quite hidden and was hard to find, if not for the sign at the main street. "OH! What beautiful clothes those are." I awed at the display of the shop which had mannequins wearing stylish and gorgeous outfit. Those mannequins had looked as if they were models, not plastics. I only had passed down clothes given by the female alchemists from my branch and almost all of them were old-fashioned. I did not have trending clothing suit for my age. I did live with some boring and strict people.
"Oh right. I have to remind you to not interfere with the story plot much. Our existence here has shaken the world balance a bit. It is for the best if we do not disrupt the plot. I know you like this world but to the very least, you can be closer to the characters..' My bright face became sullen upon hearing what Nichi said. He realized my sad mood and continued. 'But it does not mean that you could not meet or interact with the characters. You can but I suggest to not interact during the plot. If that's possible."
"I CAN DO THAT~! Thank you, Nichi~!" I was so happy that I took out Nichi out of my pocket and gave it a peck.
"It tickles!" He laughed at me. "It's fine. You helped me plenty. I should do the same, right?" His baby boyish voice had always touched my heart.
"Let's go in~" I put him back into my pocket and entered the shop after I prepared myself. The store had a large space inside. The interior was well decorated with golden furnitures and flashy clothing for men, women and children. There was a extravagant chandelier in the middle of the shop. Mannequins were arranged in a straight line for each sections.
There was a woman inside of the shop, writing receipts on her notebook by the counter. She was a middle age tall woman who had blond curly hair, green eyes and freckles. I assumed she is Betty as she is the only one in the shop.
"Hi~~! Welcome,welcome~! I'm Betty, the owner of this shop." And I was right. She smiled at me as she welcomed me cheerfully, clapping her hands together.
"Uh, yeah, hi! I'm.. Lucianna. I'm just looking for new clothes."
"Oh~ Please come this way. I'll bring you to the children's section." I was about to retort to her but realized that I am a child and thus obediently followed her. She brought me further from the entrance into a children's section at the back of the store. She paused for a while before turning behind and watching me from head to toe. Then, she beamed at me and continued walking. Puzzled, I also continued to follow her again from behind.
"You must have been into a fight."
"Huh?" I stunned from hearing her said that. Was my clothing that obvious? How come the people outside did not tell me anything? I pondered these questions myself.
"Those clothes. They're a bit ripped and the jacket has a lot of blood. Are you okay?" Once we were in front in the children's section, she faced and asked me with a concerned face.
"It was a cat fight. I'm good. Thanks for asking." I sheepishly smiled while scratching the back of my head, embarrassed.
"I see~ That's geat! Well, here we are." She showed me into a room filled with the clothes of my size. "You can choose your clothes. Take your time." I did not move and so did she as I was waiting for her to leave me be. There was an awkward silence until she smiled and nodded, She walked back to the counter, giving me time for me to choose my own outfit.
'Huh. She's nice and considerate.' I thought to myself as I started to browse through the section.
Ten minutes later.
I'm still choosing. When I glanced at the woman by the counter, I saw Betty is still smiling at me, watching me from afar. It was a bit awkward I admit. I turned my face at her and she continued smiling at me. I smiled awkwardly back at her. Then I went back on choosing my outfit.
I decided to try on a simple red dress that price seemed to be within my budget. After I tried it on, it fits me perfectly so I decided to buy it. The dress was until my knee length. It had black laces on the waist and it has long sleeves.
"Why not other pretty dresses?" I heard Nichi asking me.
"I can afford this price. The others.. are a bit expensive for me." I sweatdropped whenever I gave a look at their price tags. They were actually cheap but my wallet did not have that much of cash.
"I could produce gold-"
"Thanks but no thanks. We would want to avoid attention, remember? And besides I like this dress!" I gave my dress a twirl and exited the changing room.
"That's a pretty stone~!" Suddenly, Betty popped up behind me, staring at Nichi who I held after I changed into the red dress.
"Uwah!" Startled, I looked down at Nichi and back to her. "Yeah, it is pretty.."
'Did I talk loudly?' I questioned myself, wondering how much she had heard.
She nodded as if she made up her mind. "It's a nice stone. If you want, I can make it into a necklace or any other accessories~!"
I was fidgeting with my fingers, decinding on what to do with her sudden offer. "Ummm…"
"You should accept her offer. This way, other people can think me as an accessory. I'm sure the changing process won't hurt me."
I thought for a while then I nodded. Betty's eyes were shimmering. "Okay then~ C'mon, let's go to the cashier for that dress first."
"Oh, okay."
So we went to the cashier and I paid for the dress. She gave me a bright smile with her teeth showing
.
"Thank you for your purchase~! Now, for the red stone. It should just take a while to change the stone into an accessory. Look around until I finish this. Feel free to eat the muffins there." She pointed to the muffins on the cashier table. "I just baked them recently! Have a taste!" She said, leaving me as she disappeared into the back of the shop.
I was in the room, all alone with the cashier box, the muffins and a bunch of hats at a nearby shelf. I went to see the hats and noticed that all of them have quite unique fashion. There was one fedora that I was greatly interested in. It was checkered black-dark red style, decorated with a golden black rose and a reddish white long fur at side of the fedora. My eyes were shining looking at the fedora.
"It's soo cool~" I was admiring the view of that fedora. I giggled when I remembered that Reborn too, wore a fedora.
Ching~
The front door bell chimes indicating that someone just entered the shop. Betty who was in another room shouted 'Welcome! Please wait for a while~'
'Someone actually managed to find this shop from a shady alleyway?' Curious, I peeked out from the shelf to see who just came in. I was shocked to see that person coming in and almost knocked back the shelf.
Guess who did I see? That's right. It was Superbi Squalo.
A/N: How was it~~? It was long wasn't? XDD Gonne have to leave you here! The next chapter will be in the next three or four days. By the way, I am looking for a beta reader who is interested in my story! Please pm me if you are interested. My writing is a full of mistakes. Sometimes I had to read it thrice and still have tons of grammar mistakes. Please leave a review! X3 Have a nice day!