"Firstly-" I clasped my hands together to grasp my team's attention."-I'd like to introduce you all to my parents." My team turned to me expectantly, waiting for me to lead them in the right direction. Instead of leading them deeper into the quarry I directed them upwards to the exit of the mountain, my teammates becoming noticeably more jittery at every creak and crack the steal catwalks made under Lance's weight.

We reached the top of the catwalks just before the newly refurbished service elevator out of the quarry. I directed my team's attention to the crystalline statue of my parents.

"Say hello to John and Corcea Quarian." I could see the hesitant looks on my friend's faces till they read the plaque at the bottom of the statue. "In loving memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the one they loved most." Reading the plaque out loud with tears in my eyes, struggling to keep my voice steady, brought back so many memories, threating to make me break down here and now. At this point, I saw Lance slowly lower himself to one knee with his fist to his chest, soon followed by Medusa and then Rán. I lowered myself with them, kneeling there offering a silent prayer till we were interrupted by the sound of the service elevator opening. A slight shuffling could be heard before the doors slowly slid open

"H..h..hey boss, you're back early, with guests no less," Sandra stated under her breath, close enough that only I could hear. I could hear the embarrassment in her voice.

"You're hiding something in the elevator, aren't you?" I stated still kneeling with my eyes closed.

"Something like that." She scratched at the back of her neck with a nervous laugh.

I smiled, Knowing my poor foreman won't be able to escape what I'm about to do.

I slowly rose to my feet with my eyes still closed, clearing my throat."Thank you all for the touching gesture, but I have someone else for you to meet." I could hear Sandra scurry in an attempt to keep her secret hidden but she was too late. My entire team turned just in time to see Sandra hastily shoving another woman towards the network of catwalks leading down into the quarry, her last effort to hide the other woman being to place herself between us and her.

Sandra was taller than the girl and hid her well, but inadvertently drew attention to herself. She was wearing a gorgeous sparkly, red dress that hung to her mid-thigh and sandals laced up her thighs, her chocolate hair was up in a tight bun which drew attention to an aspect I never paid much mind before, her snow-white rabbit ears sitting atop her head, standing on alert due to the situation she found herself in. She was blushing so vigorously her face shared the same hue as her dress. She was trying to say something but kept stuttering and couldn't form her sentence correctly, the other girl peeking out from her behind her shoulder, revealing raven hair and emerald eyes atop a pale complexion.

My curiosity got the better of me as I finally raised a small starscape to quiet Sandra's nervous ramblings."Mind introducing us to your guest, Head Foreman Sandra Snowshoe." She looked slightly confused at my use of her full name and title, realization creeping up her face as she made eye contact with my teammates.

"Boss... No... Échelle, I want to have an open mind about this. Please?"She asked hesitantly, one arm stretched forward with her palm open while the other arm kept the stranger behind her.

I raised a brow at her strange behaviour, treating me like I'm a threat to this mystery person."Why wouldn't I have an open mind?" I asked flatly.

She sighed heavily, slowly lowering her arm but not dropping it completely."Because it's more than likely you are not going to like who and what I'm about to reveal."

"Listen, nothing short of revealing you've been dating a Schnee is going to make me react in the way you think I'm going to, and I've already seen your friend's black hair so I can confirm she is not one of those devils." Sandra flinched, took a shaky breath and continued.

"You technically already know this person, but I'd like you to meet..." The person stepped out from behind Sandra ever so slightly, but the moment I saw her face I could feel my rage spread through me in an instant, within seconds I've formed a portal, stepped through it and grabbed the woman by her neck, my scaled fingers digging into her skin as I lifted her from her feet despite her size advantage.

"YOU!" I shouted as I stared at the fear in the woman's emerald eyes, wildly looking everywhere as she reeled from the surprise attack."I thought I made it clear that your kind is not welcome here." I said in a low growl as her eyes finally locked on mine. Her look of fear softened becoming closer to... sadness, regret? I couldn't place it but it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I felt Sandra's hands on top of mine, trying and failing to remove my grip from the woman's neck, I whipped my head to the side to look at her, begging for an explanation. What I saw however was a look of sadness, fear and heartbreak, a look I knew all too well. I slowly let go of the woman before me as I stepped back with my hands raised.

"Do you mind introducing your friend to my teammates, Sandra, or should I?" I asked dismissively.

Sandra gave a nervous giggle and scratched at the back of her neck."Everyone, this is...-"

"Litura Shiro, SDC representative assigned to this quarry, and the woman who was tasked with erasing me from existence." I interrupted. "Care to tell me why you are here, Miss Shiro, last I checked our dealings were strictly over the phone since I vowed to never let any member of the SDC ever step foot in MY quarry ever again," I asked with a furrowed brow, closed eyes and crossed arms.

I opened my eyes to study Litura as she stepped out from behind Sandra. She had her long black hair flowing freely down to her mid-back instead of the bun it was in usually, her fringe framing the left side of her face, as usual, drawing attention to her sharp features and eyes comparable to emeralds, she wore a white blouse that exposed her shoulders and a black pencil skirt, black stockings and shoes with the slightest of heel to them, she also had white gloves coming up to her elbows and an emerald pin keeping her fringe out of her eyes, a pin I recognized as one Sandra was working on for some time.

I slapped one scaled hand over my eyes and raised another to stop her from saying anything as realization dawned on me, a previous conversation with my foreman playing in my head.

"Let me guess, you and Sandra have been dating for a couple of months now and today is your birthday dinner?" She looked at me with utter shock but slowly nodded her head.

"How did you know?" Her Mistral accent reminding me that, while a member of the SDC, she wasn't Atlesian.

I simply raised my hand to my head, gesturing to where the pin would be."I caught Sandra working on that pin some months ago in her off time, she said it was a birthday gift to someone she's been stated dating, but refused to comment further." I could feel my smugness radiating of me, everyone still trying to process the entire ordeal.

At the sight of the confused faces around me, I clasped my hands together, drawing everyone's attention."It would seem we have a lot of explaining to do, so if you'd follow me, let's head back to my home and get comfortable." I stated more to my teammates than to Sandra and her date. I don't think this is how anyone thought their Friday night would go.

An* Thank you for reading this chapter, As always any critic is welcome and I'll see ya'll in the next one, whenever it may come out

Edit* fixed some mistakes