A/N: New chapter! I kinda posted this one earlier since I was in a hurry and just a couple of days later I'm writing these notes. Either way, I hope you enjoy! This is one of my favorite chapters up until now!"

Cold... that was a memory worth forgetting.

It was October or maybe December. It was snowing, and that was a horrible day. A young Shion and a teenage Toshiro were in front an improvised grave. There, they buried a puppy they had taken care for four months.

The two found him with his dead mother in an abandoned building and did everything they could to make sure he survived, but it was clear when autumn began that the cub would not make it. The little one started sneezing a lot and became sicker and sicker until he couldn't take it anymore.

Toshiro, who was fourteen years old at the time, cried nonstop, unable to contain his sobs and with warm tears slowly falling down his face. While little Shion just watched the grave with a cold gaze.

"W-w-why did he have to die? We gave him so much love and took care of him." The older child muttered between sobs, with the violet-haired boy just looking to the side, frustrated.

"Come on, kids, the little pup wouldn't want you to be sad. Even though his life was short, you gave him more love than he could have received if you never found him." Soon, Father Santiago arrived to console the boys, with both looking at him. "You should be proud that you did your best and happy that now the little pup will rest in peace in heaven."

"I-I-I think you're right, Father Santiago." The boy sobbed once more before wiping away his tears, still sniffling.

"Liar." Little Shion snorted. "There is no such thing as heaven."

The geezer crossed his arms with an expression that said he already had this conversation with the child. "Oh yeah? And how do you know it doesn't exist?"

"Because I know." To a child, this seemed like a convincing argument.

"Well, I know it exists. And, even if it doesn't exist, I prefer to believe that it does."

"Why, Father Santiago?" The man stroked Toshiro's head, showing him a huge smile. Full of hope.

"Well, life would be boring if it ended in death, and even if it's the case, why question or admit it? You two are still going to live for long time. Why spend every day afraid of tomorrow? Or even wondering what will happen when you die? It won't solve anything. Do not you think?" Toshiro nodded; Shion just looked away. "Anyway, shall we go home?"

"Yes!" The teenager followed the geezer towards the car till he noticed that Shion wasn't coming. "Shi-chan?"

"I'm going to stay for a while longer. I'll go home later."

"It's dangerous to walk around alone, Shion. If you want to stay a little longer, we'll stay in the car, but you won't be heading alone. Okay?" No response, yet the two just took that as a yes and headed towards the car.

And amidst the falling snow and the sound of birds, the violet-haired boy was alone with his thoughts. Looking at the grave with a penetrating gaze, which began to tremble. Just as his lip curled and his hands tightened his grip on his coat. That's when tears began to run down the youngster's face.

"S-s-sorry, for not healing you, puppy... if I were a true magus, I could have healed you." The sobs echoed through the place, with no one to hear him, with no one to comfort him, but that was what Shion chose, wanting to appear strong for his family.

That's why he would endure the pain. Alone. Or maybe not? Suddenly, a shiver came to Shion. The boy looked back, scared, and saw a being that wasn't human. It looked like a dark jellyfish and was almost like a shadow.

At that sight, the child blinked his eyes in confusion, with tears still running down his face, with a single doubt in mind.

"W-w-who are you?"

The mud spreads quickly and takes over the entire building before it starts to leak out, so Shion always needed to be quick. Solving a mud pit is like a dungeon in a video game. The difference is that you don't just go down to get to the last floor.

And, even though he knew he had to get to the last floor and defeat the boss, it wasn't as simple as going down the stairs. No, every floor is just an illusion at this point. The real dungeon is something almost outside of reality, which has entry through the physical world. Like a reality marble.

Something Shion didn't know in detail what it was, but he heard Santiago muttering about it once, saying that was what the mud pit looked like on the inside. In other words, the las floor could be the fifth floor, yet going up to the fifth floor could take you to the third and so on.

And it wasn't like that before. In the beginning the mud only affected underground areas, but recently, it seems that it has learned how to make this work harder than it already was.

But the basics are that on each floor, there are monsters made of mud that protect the path to the last floor. Then is the boss and a heart, which is the origin of all the mud in the place. The magi call them core, but Shion adopted the Church's denomination because it sounded cooler.

The ground floor was flooded with mud. This building used to be a hotel, so it seemed like there would more mud monsters than usual. As there's always more in places once inhabited.

Before moving forward, Shion looked around, making sure that no enemy was lurking or hiding in the mud of the place.

As soon as he felt safe about his surroundings, he crouched and touched the ground with his right arm. Uttering the words that engraved in his mind in a scream.

"Trace On!"

And it was as if his senses spread throughout the building through his magical circuits. He could see the exact location of the heart. Unfortunately for Shion, he couldn't sense any mud monsters through the analysis. In other words, he would have to go in blindly.

"It's going to be another one of those days… okay. It's cleaning time! Let's hurry up and mock the one who sent those golems, shadow!" And so, the shadow extended beyond the arm, now also being a sword, with one of the ends like a blade, as thin as paper.

Now, with everything ready, Shion ran to the stairs, going up to the next floor. And, as predicted, he ended up in a space even more dominated by mud, which didn't seem to make sense with the structure of the building.

This floor looked like a parking lot but without any cars. The pillars supporting the structure were full of mud and red bags that looked like beehives. And the ceiling was covered in veins that were transporting something.

A typical scenario for a mud pit, even if the progression to that point had been too quick. Before, the places seemed so clean until you reached the second to last floor, but now it was as dirty as the last.

Soon, several mud monsters appeared. Some took on a humanoid shape, others were more animalistic, and some were even giant. So far, nothing new. That's what Shion thought, at least until he looked near the stairs and saw the carcasses of the defeated golems.

And, to his surprise, the mud filled the broken spaces, and they took control of those carcasses, even carrying weapons that must have belonged to those golems. "You've got to be kidding me!"

Now, his job had become slightly more complicated because of it. But he had no choice but to press forward. Therefore, he charged towards the first mud monster, a simple humanoid. As expected, the moment his shadow blade made contact with its body, the monster's mud and whole body was absorbed by the blade.

He didn't know why, but whenever the shadow meets the mud, it absorbs it. While Shion has an immunity to the effects of the mud. So, they're the perfect duo. Of course, defeating the giants and the other monster variations needed a few more hits, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What really made it difficult were these monsters created from the golems' carcasses. As now, they not only had protection, but also weapons.

"If you can't help, don't get in the way! Sometimes, it's better if you don't participate!" He snorted before heading towards the armored monsters. Luckily, the shadow still cut through them without a problem, but that extra layer was annoying.

And then there were the weapons, so he needed to be careful since he wasn't immune to blades. So much so that while dealing with one of them, Shion managed to pierce the area that was the possessed golem's torso, but it grabbed the boy with its arms, preventing him from moving away.

Even worse, someone else was already behind him with a halberd ready to turn him into a kebab. That is, if the shadow didn't spread and formed a shield, breaking the halberd in two. "Thanks, shadow! I can always count on you!"

Soon after, the boy kicked the possessed golem, managing to push it away from him. It was time to continue the slicing of every monster that appeared in his path. And to ensure that this didn't happen again, he kept the shield to avoid being grabbed by the golems and to make furious tackles.

"That's better! I know you can't understand, but you're about to get the most amazing ass whooping ever known to a mud monster!"

Exhausted. That's how Shion felt after running so much. The boy had just run away from that strange being that looked like a shadow. And because he was in such panic, didn't think straight and went in the opposite direction to Santiago's car. At first, he felt curious about that creature, but when he heard strange whispers in his ears, his gut feeling told him it was better to just run away.

But now they were in a forest he didn't know, with no one who could help him, lost, and with the snow slowing him down. Not to mention the feeling of his body burning while at the same time becoming cold in seconds.

I can't stop... I need to find the geezer... and Toshiro. His breath was short. Not even his thoughts turned into words. And then he felt a shiver, the same shiver as before. When he looked back, there was the shadow. Standing there and looking at him. Menacingly!

Of course, it was difficult to know if that thing was looking at him, but something told him it was. The next step was to run away again, not knowing exactly where he was going or what to do. Could he hide from that? He would get tired at some point, and then would be caught. There must be a way to get back to Santiago's car. That if the geezer wasn't already looking for Shion.

However, his path ended when stepped out of the trees and came face to face with a cliff. The little boy tried to change his trajectory, but his foot was already off the ground, making it impossible to return. As he fell to certain death, he managed to grab onto a root that happened to be there, prolonging his lifespan for a few seconds.

It seems like things have gotten worse. "GEEZER! TOSHIRO! SOMEONE HELP ME!" He whimpered nonstop, truly desperate.

It was at such a moment that Shion thought about the puppy again. Maybe that's what he felt. The fear of knowing he had no way out. That no one will come and save you. His crying got louder. Being so young and having to go through this was too cruel.

The root he was holding also proved to be a false hope as he felt it giving way under the weight very slowly. Also, the boy's hands were slipping. "HELP! PLEASE!" His throat already hurt from screaming.

And then, the root broke. Shion let out a brief scream, going into shock, thinking if heaven really existed and if he would go there when he died. Now he understood what Santiago meant by preferring to believe that there really was something beyond death. Because only then can you come to terms with such fate.

But for the little boy with violet hair, it was useless. He didn't believe in heaven, so this was simply the end. Where there was nothing beyond the darkness. It broke him inside, with tears coming to his eyes and a second scream coming out as a way of releasing his remaining will to live.

This scream was interrupted by the sound of the earth moving. From it came that shadow, using its tentacles to grab the child and pull him towards it. Saving him and keeping him safe, then it climbed that cliff to the top, where the shadow gently placed Shion on the ground, with the little boy falling to his knees and breathing heavily at the thought of having almost died.

"Y-y-you saved me." These words managed to come out of his mouth, feeling his throat scratching a lot because of the screams. However, this discomfort soon went away with one of the shadow's tentacles passing over his head as if it were petting him.

It was at that moment Shion looked at that faceless creature of a strange shape and saw it not as a threat but as a friend.

And from that day forward, they promised they would always be together.

After an arduous process of going through the various floors and killing monsters, giving that dungeon feeling because of the enemies repeating themselves, he finally reached the last floor.

This work was not easy, but it was worth it. After all, this is something only Shion could do. Of course, the priests could face the monsters and drive them away, but they could never destroy them like Shion and the shadow did.

Furthermore, one wrong move and the priests would begin to be corrupted by the mud. Because of the high risk that one touch could put you out of combat, young Emiya was the only one who could solve this problem.

It was as if the priests only had one life, and he had extra lives, in case this was a game. And based on this analogy, it wasn't a good idea to let the monsters hurt him. After all, some kind of corruption could still occur, no matter how immune he was.

That's why he wanted to finish this quickly, also so he could rest. However, upon reaching the top floor, the boss hadn't appeared yet, which was strange. The last time he went to solve a mud pit, the boss was a mud monster in the shape of a cyclops, where the eye was the heart of the entire pit.

Did I make a mistake along the way? It would be a problem if the mud pit had found a way to fool his Trace On. Speaking of which, it was funny how he still didn't know for sure what this spell worked for other than analyzing things.

That was the only trace of his past besides that dream, his name, and that house. When he asked Santiago, he couldn't say if this was a real spell. In the end, the two assumed it was something involving analysis, and that was what Shion had focused on until now.

He wanted to learn the same type of magecraft that person, but having only two words as a base was a problem. In any case, it was useful for figuring out which way to go in the mud pits.

And while Shion was thinking about it, the boss appeared. Remains of golems were coming together into a single point, creating a sword and a body for the final monster of this pit. But a shiver told Shion that something was wrong. This stance... is different from the others I've fought against.

The other golems didn't even look like warriors, just machines that swung their weapons. With no idea what they were doing. The boy knew this because he was trained by the geezer so that he could defend himself and fight while inside the mud pits. That's why he distinguished an amateur from a professional. That's the right word for golems, amateurs with better strength, endurance, and focus than any human.

But this one? It's different. Maybe because it's the boss, but its position seemed more like a knight, exuding a powerful aura. All the other bosses had this aura, of course, but this one is different. Shion just knows it is.

The creature began to walk menacingly, with the mud cleaner having a hunch that a sword fight was out of the question. That's why he made the shadow change shape and was now a spear, using it along the shield.

The two advanced towards each other. As expected, this boss had great skill with a sword, Shion had a difficult time dodging the attack and few chances to retaliate, which he ended up wasting. The two came into contact very soon. As expected, this boss had great skill with a sword, and Shion had a difficult time dodging the attacks. With few chances to retaliate, which he ended up wasting.

Even when he struck some blows, it was useless, as this mud monster was thicker. The shadow couldn't absorb everything because of that, and it wasn't something that happened often, even against giant mud monsters.

While both exchanged blows, with the monster hitting home almost all the time, which caused cuts in the young man's legs, arms, and torso, the monster managed to grab Shion by the arm.

Then threw him against the ground, gasping for air as the monster threatened to cut his arm with its sword. But like last time, the shadow wouldn't let that happen. It wrapped itself around his arm, bouncing off the sword.

Shion took the opportunity to strike the creature's head with the spear, making the plate on its face fly off. "Suck it, you monster!" This victory was short-lived, as the boy was shocked to see that, among the mud, there was almost a piece of a human face.

Its skin was pale like porcelain, and its eye was slightly red, with a yellow iris. Fortunately, even though the boy was shocked, the shadow still moved and pierced the mud being's chest, which screamed in pain and threw Shion away.

And that was another reason for shock. After all, mud monsters make noises like bubbles, and none of them can scream or roar. But the surprises didn't end there because as Shon saw the monster writhing in pain, it began to growl. "Augh...! Urrahh...! Sheeaarr! Shiiiroouuuh! Shiirrough!"

Did it say... Shirou?

"Shirou Emiya?" A young Shion asked, looking at some papers with a photo of a young man with red hair. "Is that my papa?" His question was directed to Santiago, who seemed uncertain and just shrugged.

"Honestly? I don't know. He is certainly too young to be a father, but his family has no living relatives, and we only learned about him because of the house registered in his family name, which is the same as yours." The priest took a chocolate bar and divided it into two, handing the other half to Shion. "With my investigation and the fact that there is a barrier in the house, it is easy to conclude that the Emiyas are a family of magus."

"A family of magus..."

"If you want, we can try to find more people related to this Shirou Emiya and..."

"Nah, I'm good." The violet-haired boy said, with the priest arching an eyebrow, unable to decipher his expression. "As long as I keep the house, it's fine."

"Don't you think we could find someone related to your father?"

"Maybe, but I prefer to stay with you and Toshiro. You are my family now." And meeting these other people wouldn't give him a father or a mother, so he preferred not to meddle in other people's lives. Much less because they couldn't even believe that he was the son of this Shirou Emiya.

"Awww, so you consider us family, huh? You are so cute." The old man said, squeezing the little boy's cheek.

"Let go of me, geezer!"

"ARRGGGGGGHHHHHH!" The scream of pain woke Shion from his daydreaming. When he noticed the mud knight was coming towards him, he took advantage of the break of posture to unbalance the creature and pierce its chest with the spear, causing silence to reign on that floor for a few minutes. "Shi... rou..."

Again, the monster spoke that name. The violet-haired boy didn't understand why the first mud monster he met that could talk was uttering his supposedly late father's name. Someone he has never met. But that didn't matter, as the creature's body crumbled into the mud.

"Trace Off." This was the spell he invented to undo the mud pit. Based on Trace On, analyzing and spreading its influence over matter and using the concept of the decomposition of matter. As the mud was all interconnected, it was as if he had taken down an entire network.

Still, when he came into contact with it, different sensations came to his mind, it was as if he had dipped his arm into all the bad vibes of the world. However, fortunately, he was already used to it, while others could go crazy just by feeling something like that.

Especially with what would come next. Because with the help of the shadow, all the mud began to concentrate in one place. In Shion's palm. All of it concentrated and compressed into a small black sphere in the boy's hand.

"I always hate this part..." He mumbled, sighing heavily and swallowing the sphere. Some would say he is crazy, but because of the same unknown reason that made him able to handle mud, he was also able to digest it. And that was the only way to get rid of it permanently.

Of course, it tasted horribly. Think of the analogy of dipping your arm into every kind of bad feeling you might have, but now think about it affecting your taste buds. Strangely, it's like eating coffee candy. Black coffee candy. Dipped in vinegar. And involved in land. With a little shit on top of it. All of this has gone through millions of years of rot.

That's why Shion preferred not to do this work so early. It completely ruined his appetite for lunch. However, after swallowing this sphere, strange memories came to him, which never happened before.

They were visions of someone's life... a sword, a castle, knights, memories that seemed beautiful but were stained with blood and mud. In the middle of all this, there was a girl, beautiful as a princess, even with a crown on her head. And the last memory she had was the feeling of having a sword going through her chest.

This made Shion hold his chest, breathing heavily. He never had an experience like this during the other times he swallowed the mud. "Geez, the hell are these bad vibes? Get out of me." Now, around him, the mud slowly disappeared, crumbling into dust and leaving only the cherry tree roots, which blossomed and seemed untouched by the corruption in that building.

Although, the strangest thing was that the roots themselves soon returned to the earth as if they no longer had a purpose. Which made sense. The roots always appeared in places where the mud would appear. With the mud disappearing, now there was no point in them staying there.

Even though the fact that they came back on their own was strange, was it a natural reaction, or was there something beyond that? Shion put that aside and walked towards the stairs.

It was time to get out of here.

"Tired?" Asked the geezer, sitting next to Shion and Toshiro, with the two young people drinking the coffee the priest brought. It was still hot since the time spent in a mud pit differs from the time in the outside world. His response was just a headshake. "With how much you complained about the time you woke up; I thought you would be more tired."

"It's one thing to complain about waking up early. One thing has nothing to do with the other." Shion said back, shrugging. "Although the only difficult part of this work is the end. Other than that, it's good for exercising."

"You don't need to pretend you like doing this, Shin-chan." Toshiro laughed, stroking his hand on the young man's head, who snorted at the nickname and leaned his head back to escape the older boy.

"Don't call me Shin-chan, Toshiro! I'm not a child anymore!" He grumbled, pushing Toshiro's hand away from him. "And I'm not pretending to like it. I'm just used to it at this point. Plus, it's not like there's no entertainment in the middle of it all."

"Like what?" And as if the universe was answering Toshiro's question, the three heard the hurried footsteps of a man with orange hair and purple eyes. From his expression, it was obvious how furious he was when he got close to the golems, who were waiting for him.

"What happened to you guys?!" The man asked, approaching the golems and holding one of the heads of a broken golem. "Explain yourselves!"

"All ME-493 units were neutralized by the mud, Master Frain." Said one of the golems in its robotic tone. "Their circuits began to malfunction as soon they came into contact with one of the creatures."

"Say what?! I did several tests with them and the mud! Their armor was supposed to prevent the mud from reaching the circuits!" With every word the man said, he became angrier, meanwhile Shion watched with a mocking smile.

And it would have been good if it stayed there because the boy got up and started walking towards the one who should be the creator of the golems. He could hear Santiago calling him softly, but in the end, gave up. While Toshiro accompanied him, not interrupting his path, but knowing that he should impose himself if the boy was going to bother the magus.

"Hey man, are you the magus who made these golems?"

"Huh? Who are you, brat?" If Shion was going to mock this magus, then now he felt like humiliating him after being called a brat, which made Toshiro a little desperate, forcing him to intervene.

"Mister Roche Frain, this is the mud cleaner, Shion Emiya. The one who solved the mud pits for seven years now." This surprised the man, arching his eyebrows and looking intently at the violet-haired boy.

"And even?" The man crossed his arms, puffing out his chest and trying to compose himself after shouting at the golems. "And what would you like discuss, mud cleaner?"

"I just wanted to compliment you on how cool your golems look." Toshiro felt a sense of calm wash over him, and Roche felt a sense of pride. However, his next sentence was less kind. "But please don't bring them around anymore. Especially just to abandon them for the mud to use against me. If you can't help, then please don't get in the way."

And there it is. The sass, the insolence, and the arrogance that Shion always carried with him. It could even be fun in small doses, but in this case, it came out as if he was trying to humiliate the magus.

"Oh yeah? You must think you're s special just because you can play in the mud while real magi are overworking to try and solve this problem."

"And we appreciate your effort." The young priest tried to soften the situation, but the violet-haired boy didn't leave it there.

"Indeed, but if you left everything to me, things would be a lot easier, that's all I'm saying."

"Is that so? And aren't things easy for you because you are the one causing the mud to appear?" A serious accusation, and this already made most of the crowd around curious about the discussion. "Besides, why don't you go to the source of the mud and eliminate it if you're that good?"

It was already becoming problematic, and several people, whether magi or priests, were already approaching to pay more attention to the situation.

"What did you say, you little shit?! Are you accusing me for real?!"

"Let's take it easy!" Toshiro asked, worried. Things were getting out of control. "Mister Frain, I understand your frustration that your golems didn't work, and that Shion's words weren't the kindest. But I guarantee that if he could get to the source of the problem, he would have done so by now. This is an effort between the Clock Tower, the Church, and Shion himself."

"That's another thing. After all, who does this brat work for? The Church? The Clock Tower? Or is he a freelancer?"

"I don't work for anyone! This isn't even my job! I don't get paid for this! I only do this to get rid of the mud because people like you can't even touch it without fainting!" Shion growled, wanting to attack Roche, but Toshiro stopped him.

"You say that as if the people here owe you something."

"I help people here while you play with dolls! In fact, the mud was using your stupid golems to attack me! That's why I say, if you can't help, don't get in the way!"

"Okay, okay. The debate is over." Father Santiago said, sighing heavily and placing himself between the two. "Shion, you shouldn't provoke people like that. Mr. Frain worked hard to make his golems work. And Mr. Frain, I understand your concerns, but accusing the person who is solving the problem will not improve the situation. Shion works hard for everyone to live in peace here. Now, everyone, go to your corner, please."

And they did. The two took one last look at each other and turned their backs, walking off. At least until Roche speaks. "Mud freak."

This completely unleashed Shion's anger, who quickly turned around, and before anyone could stop him, he threw a sharp kick between Roche Frain's legs, with him letting out an agonizing scream of pain before falling to the ground.

"Well damn, sorry, man, my leg slipped on mud." Shion said, with a wicked smile on his face, which showed his sharp teeth, then continued to kick Roche's pelvis again. "Get up, dammit! Come on, weren't you a real magus?! Can't the great magi of the Clock Tower take a kick in the balls?!"

"Shion!" Toshiro shouted, taking the boy by the shoulders and pulling him away from Roche.

"I'm like Cristiano fucking Ronaldo! I see a ball, and I start to kick it! You must be Neymar's biggest fan, huh? Can't get off the ground!" The boy growled, still managing to give the magus another kick in the balls, who let out a very high-pitched scream with each blow he received.

"B-b-bastard..." Roche muttered while the remaining golems saw that and immediately activated. Their eyes turned red, and blades appeared in their hands, heading towards Shion and Toshiro.

However, before two of the three golems could reach the young man, Santiago grabbed their heads and crushed them just by closing them. The third and last one was broken down by a kick from Toshiro, who placed himself in front of Shion.

"I apologize immensely, Mr. Frain. I'll be sure to lecture him later and make him write "I shouldn't kick other people's balls" over a thousand times." Santiago said, sighing heavily and helping Roche to get up. "And I will also make sure the Church compensates for the golems we destroyed."

"D-do you think that's enough to… huh?" When the magus noticed, his pelvis was no longer hurting. He felt as if he hadn't been hit at all. "But what...? It doesn't hurt anymore?"

"Oh, it seems that you have excellent resistance. That's admirable! Well, if you don't mind, I would like to have a moment to discuss with Shion about his actions. Again, sorry about that, and I hope you have better luck with your next endeavors."

Roche found this whole situation strange, but decided to accept the geezer's suggestion and snapped his fingers, making two other golems appear and collect the carcasses of the three that were destroyed.

Shion received a hard look from Santiago, and the young man lowered his head, knowing he had crossed the line, letting go of Toshiro and walking away, being accompanied by the geezer.

"Are you crazy? What was your idea of doing this? Even more so in front of everyone?"

"The son of a bitch called me a mud freak, I lost it." At least he recognized that he had gotten out of control. "I will not be educated by someone who has arrived today and made my job even more difficult."

"Maybe you really needed those extra hours of sleep..." Of course, Santiago wanted to say that he was grumpy, which irritated Shion even more, who crossed his arms and looked to the side. "... look, Shion, I won't always be here to break up your fights. You need to know who you want to fight with and who you shouldn't fight with."

"Do you think I couldn't take out that guy and his golems?"

"Of course not. You would probably mop the floor with him. The problem is that you would show too much and make people afraid. Is that what you want?" There was no answer to that question. "That's what I thought. Look, everyone knows that you help without asking for anything. You are a good boy. But your ego and the need to show you are superior makes others think you are a delinquent."

"And? What does it matter what others think? I don't need others to suck my balls. As long as those I care about know the truth, everyone else can go to hell." And with that said, Shion turned his back and continued his way, being watched by Santiago, with Toshiro approaching.

"Dad..."

"It's okay, son. I just wish he would let us help a little more."

"Well, I'm going now. I have some classes to teach, don't want Miss Fujimura to bite my ear off for coming late to work." Santiago just nodded at what Toshiro said, seeing him go in the opposite direction.

And without anyone knowing, a young little girl with pale skin, crimson eyes, and long white hair watched them across the street with a smile on her face.

"My, my, it seems that big brother's son is a bit rebellious. I feel that our encounter is going to be fun."

A/N: What a cliffhanger, huh? Well, you'll know what happens Tuesday! And after that... well, the chapters will take a bit more since these are the ones I've already wrote lol