Speech = ``...´´
Thoughts = [... }
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When she had first come to lay eyes on the human girl she had been riddled with a myriad of questions.
Who was she? Why was she under that rubble...? What had been done to her? And why her master had come straight to find her and bring her up from what would have been her unmarked grave had they arrived any later.
She didn't know…
Reaper had not shared his insights with her, nor she had decided to question his actions. All she knew was that he had saved another life that had been in peril. Holding carefully her little body to avoid any more damage to be incur. Healing her wounds, and giving her a place to rest until she woke up. Even as going as far to take in the appearance of a young boy of her age to greet her back into the waking world instead of his truer, albeit...more scary form.
Another good, courageous deed from the selfless soul that her master was. It made her feel pride to had dedicate her life to his cause. Though it had led to some questions to pop here and there.
Why a human..? Why indeed….
Could it be that her master was a human too and merely chose it out of comfort? Did he look like that albeit older behind his ebony iron mask..? Or was it merely to chose the same race Rose was so that she felt more familiar with it and by proxy more soothed by it..?
The answer had to be one of them…, or the three of them. It was hard to know. The attempt to try to peer through her masters plans or intentions was a dauntless task.
What she knew was that his chosen form held an air of mystery and mystique within him that was hard not to notice. True, she had not seen humans before in her village given their secluded nature, and those she had when she tried to run for her life were those filthy and soulless monsters that had made deaf ears to her plight and enslaved her.
Looking back at the jet black hair that fell over his shoulders like a cascade of that emulated a starless sky, a stark contrast with her golden mane. The way those silver eyes glinted like the bright outlines that the sun created when it threaten to roll up from its slumber in each dawn…
It felt strange, old yet new...
A feeling that the bandits turned slavers nor Rose had been able to elate from her. In fact, in comparison they appeared dull and uninteresting.
Characters of a page instead of real, breathing people with their own feelings and beliefs.
Simple, crude tools in the hands of a master crafter, rather than anything else that they had been, were or could be…
Something that should not have made any sense given the fact that she knew they were actual, all too real people, with a small.., weary voice speaking to her about it at the back of her mind while she was almost lost in her observations for what could only be considered trans-human.
So why…
Why did Rose did not see that? Why could she not?
As far as she knew, it didn't make sense..
She had thought at first that she was merely good at keeping her composure, but given her reaction and her demeanour during those first ten minutes spoke otherwise. In fact, Rose was like an open book. Wearing her emotions and thoughts over her sleeve.
She was happy if not gleeful of their presence, yes…, but it seemed to do more with her own taste in literature being now reflected in reality and not something more ethereal in the air. Like a child presented with their favourite toys, not caring whether they started talking or moving on their own.
There had been also awe in those eyes of gold she had, but it was not one fixated in the aura warped around him, but rather in the polite and kind demeanour of her master R-Koldarrd she corrected herself in mid thought, remembering that it would do her well to place the labels her master had uttered to differentiate between each face he showed.
Still, none of that would have mattered in the long run.
Like a candle in the middle of a dark room, something that was rather noticeable to be sure…, but something that would be consumed its own hunger and vanish in time with no concern to her.
It was the way Rose addressed him and acted around him that made her feel something else than zeal and the calmness she had started to develop inside her. An ache that had now become a thorn, stuck between her ribs...
Something that she knew should not be prideful to feel…, but one she did nonetheless.
The way she spoke to him so calmly and so easily, the way she held his hand with her own while she walked alongside him, sharing tales and things she liked that had no further use than to fill the empty air between them with the sound of her own voice while Koldarrd listened attentively.
It made her feel a bit left-out…, a bitter taste in her mouth that refused to abate.
And with less and less desires to speak with the girl except when strictly necessary and with no desire to interrupt Koldarrd she merely watched from afar.
….
….
That had been then, before she started to hear the traces of her tale and match it with the words left unsaid of what she had seen and sensed back into that ruin of a house.
The blood…
The bodies…
And the utter desolation...
She sighed. In the end she had come to a certain conclusion; Rose was young, high spirited and perhaps even sweet….but she was hopelessly naive.
Like she had once been…
Perhaps that was the thing that had struck her wrong, if Rose knew the truth...would that smile falter? Would those golden eyes that glimmered with hope and curiosity about the world dim and lose their lustre?
She did not know why, but the mere thought filled her with dread and sadness…
Still, naive or not... she knew that she was not weak. Not at all…, it took some strength to held onto ones own belief after having passed for such a traumatic experience, to shrug it off and go on like nothing happened.
To always offer a welcome hand to anyone willing to grab it.
…
She truly was a sweet, foolish girl….
And though she still felt those thoughts and emotions still stir up inside, she had concluded she had been...awfully childish. What sort of blade would she be to her master if she was lost in such needless one sided grudge?
Not one that she could rely on. And so she had to be better…
So lost in thought that she was, that it was only when the door to the house they had just entered closed behind her that she realized that they had not prepared any sort of meal for the occasion.
``What was that..?
The voice of her master echoed in the room, but it was no longer coming from before her...where Koldarrd had been before, but rather everywhere and nowhere around her at the same time as the young boy had evaporated from thin air.
Leaving her alone inside the building.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not hear anything that was not her..as if she had just entered into a void.
``Master Koldarrd?´´
``What. Was. That..?´´
The question repeated itself again. Parroting each and every word that had been uttered before, with the same tone and the same speed given to each syllable.
And yet she knew that there was now an imperative command behind it. She would have been willing to answer…, but she did not know what he meant.
``I am sorry, Koldarrd for my ignorance, but I don't know what you mean..´´
She believed she heard a scoff turned into a growl in the distance.
``You have called yourself as Alpha...´´
``Yes..´´
``You had not informed me of such intention prior to your revelation.., do you deny it..?´´
Ah, so it was that...
``It was in the spurt of the moment, my Lord. I admit that I may not have planned it well in advance, but when the moment came I thought it was a rather fitting name to give so that Rose would not be sceptical to our approach..´´
It wasn't a lie…
It wasn't the whole truth either though.
``And one that also holds a more personal meaning to you, isn't it..?´´
She bit her lip, not in apprehension..but rather to quell down the way her body attempted to betray her by heating up. Still, she should have known that someone like him would have known the very same instance those words were uttered.
``Yes...´´
A moment of silence stretched between the two, leaving just that eerie emptiness to remain in place. She took a step forward, leaving footprints over the dust filled floor.
``What about your former name? Do you resent it..?´´
She shook her head. ``No, not at all..I merely saw that I had no need for it…´´
She almost felt as if a pair of eyes were bearing down on her skull.
``Is that so? Why..?´´
Why? The answer should have been simple enough to answer…, but when you had too many reasons to "why" it appeared to grow more and more in difficulty
Her people had rejected her…
Her mother had abandon her…
Her name...was a tie to that old life she had once held. Did she resent it? No, but it made her remember of what she had lost..
Perhaps..once the cult was destroyed, when she righted the wrongs they had committed and the world was lead by the sane and compassionate instead of the madly obsessed could she take on that name and bear it with pride. Or not..
But right now it was not that time.
``A lot has happened, my Lord. I can not go on claiming to be the same girl I was…and even if I wanted, the world would not bend sorely for my whims´´
She paused, holding her breath as she closed her eyes. By the time she open them again she was met with Koldarrds form standing before her.
His face was covered with a stoic mask, but she could tell there was no animosity brewing inside. But rather a sense of understanding.
``So you decided to create a new chapter in your life.., one empty and bereft of the taint of the past´´
``Yes..´´
His eyes squinted for a moment, lines creasing that youthful face as those ponds of silver stared back into her own. Cold, yet warm...and trying to peer into her soul.
Before she knew it he had already moved past her.
``I see.., then it would have to do.´´
``Koldarrd?´´
``As much as an annoyance that change in the script was...you had your reasons. I can make use of them nonetheless. You have also started taking a hold of your reins...nothing of that is bad´´
He turned around once more, folding his arms below his chest.
``I did not ask for your opinion before, now I do so. What are your thoughts on Rose?´´
``She is a rather interesting individual..´´
His nose wriggle for a brief moment, yet his lips started to widen with the slightest of upwards streaks.
``That I have already gathered., but that is not what I asked..´´
``She is...-she has an interesting point of view of life. To believe in others and offering an open hand to those around you is rather noble and worthwhile ideal to chase after for someone so young´´
She said, taking short notice that her words had managed to rose an eye brown from him.
``You seem to be rather taken by it…, what changed? ´´
``Perhaps, I thought her foolish at first..but thinking for it for a while perhaps I was just a bit to haste in my judgement.´´
``We all are…, what are you going to do with that?´´
``I think I would rather play it safe. Observe how things play out, no doubt Rose is harmless as she is but I am curious to what your plans with her are..´´
She really was curious about that. Not that she had anything against saving a life in need of assistance, but in which schemes did her master placed the young princess?
He didn't reply right away, allowing his hands to fall limp to his sides before he nodded at her, yet his mind clearly somewhere else as the look of his face warped into something she couldn't yet get a good grasp on.
``I see...´´
``Be that is may, I do agree with your assessment Koldarrd. The world is too unpredictable and terrible for one to just wander on and expect everyone else with good intentions. Had I known that those men would not help me when I was turning but rather sold me out I would have not approached them..´´
She almost swore that she had imagined, but she was sure Koldarrd had pursed his lips in that moment.
``At least someone that gets it…´´
``What do you mean, master?´´
He shook his head, turning around as he waved a hand absent-minded towards her.
``Nothing that matters right now...we are going back. We have spent enough time as it is...Rose may start wondering what is taking us so damn long´´
Oh...right, Rose.
...
...
Her eyes opened wide as realization struck. Oh no! Rose! With all these she had forgotten she was still waiting in the middle of the village. He was right, they needed to hurry.
But just as they were about to leave the premises of the empty building did she remember what had been their excuse to go there to begin with.
``But master...´´
``Yes…?´´
``What about the meal we were meant to search for? What are we going to tell Ros-´´
Before she could even finish that sentence a pot of food literally pop out into existence.
….
She had forgotten he could do that.
``There…, anything else..? No? Good..´´
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A/N
Here is another chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Review if you like though to be honest, I don't know if the page has bogged down because I have received no updates in certain aspects of the story.
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I think that Alpha is the kind of girl to be a little defensive of those she cares for (getting angry at Delta for challenging her position as the second in command, scolding heavily at Delta for breaking a cup that Cid in canon gifted to her), but not one that allows those things to alter her and derail her for long like Epsilon would.
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See you next time :)