AN: Short chapter, I said. It's just dialogue, I said. It will only take me a week, I said. But you all know how the song comes and goes.
I Rewrote this thing at least 5 times, the reasons below.
In other news, finally managed to add Tsubaki's tag to the story summary.
Chapter 30
To say this last month had been eventful was an understatement.
Between the whole thing with the Soma Familia, her pub being damaged twice in less than a week, and subsequently being assaulted by Bete Loga of all people… Ryuu Lion couldn't help but inwardly sigh, having taken into account all of the events that took place in the span of a month.
She had gone to check on her friends and the rest of the Hostess staff in the Soma Familia HQ after being separated from Drake by Tsubaki. The usual suspects of the Hostess seemed to be fine, even if the few frostbitten wounds they got from being near Bete weren't healing… the same could not be said about Mia. Her whole chest remained purple and frostbitten, to the point everyone could tell she was having problems breathing.
Luckily, they got a visit from a Doctor that very same night.
Flashback
"That should do it," Jude said, retracting his glowing hands away from the Dwarf. "Please, try to breathe in and out as you normally do."
Mia sat on the bed she had been laying on since she arrived; feeling nothing but relief as she did as she was told. "Damn… all of a sudden I even feel ten years younger just from this."
A snort caught her attention. "Ten years she says, yet she looks exactly the same."
"The years clearly were never on her side nya~"
A vein popped off Mia's forehead as her head snapped towards Lunor and Chloe; both laying on different beds inside the same room as Mia along with Anya, who was sleeping despite her state; although many could see she had been crying before falling asleep seeing how swollen her cheeks were.
"Looks like a couple of people would enjoy a lot of extra work at the Hostess."
Lunor flinched for a moment, only to wave off the threat with a nervous laugh. "Come on, Mama! Even with the great and handsome Doctor over here, the place is a mess thanks to Vanargand. There's a hole that goes through the main hall all the way to the backyard, making the kitchen unusable for a while. It will take a while before we can-"
"I wouldn't worry about that," Jude suddenly said, moving to Lunor to heal her frostbitten wounds. "Drake and Tsubaki should be there at the moment seeing to the damage and what they can do about it."
Ryuu narrowed her eyes. "He should be resting," her statement made Jude sigh before moving to Chloe. Clearly, Jude knew the state Drake was in.
"All of us are aware of it… but he felt responsible for what happened."
"Bah!" Mia exclaimed. "As far as I am aware, he warned Loki Familia of whatever it is that caused all of this. He doesn't need to torture himself with the messes of others."
"Try telling him that. Then again, none of us are in a position of patronizing him for self-guilt."
Ryuu got it; most likely all of them had been in a similar position in the past. But even so, at the very least Tsubaki could have tried to dissuade him and force him to take some rest.
"Hopefully, things will be calm for a while… damn it." Jude cursed, realizing he just jinxed it, something the rest of the Brotherhood started to mock him for. "Anyway, all of you should be fine to return to the Hostess tomorrow." He said before finally moving on to the sleeping Anya. "You got off easy thanks to your status. I am afraid I can't say the same for the rest of the staff, or even the Soma Familia members that were close to Bete."
Mia frowned, realizing what the Blind Wolf meant. "I noticed as we came here. With the exception of Soma; everyone else seemed to have shaken chills, even their skins started to become a little bit pale… I thought I was just hallucinating due to my own wounds, but it seems that's not the case."
Ryuu's eyes widened. "Syr. She was also-"
"Don't worry about her," Mia said suddenly, diverging her gaze from anyone. "She didn't seem affected."
"True that nya~." Chloe gave her thoughts. "She was as noisy as ever, nya~."
Ryuu sighed in relief, while Jude narrowed his eyes behind his bandana before making sure Anya was fully healed. "Having said that… I am going to check on the rest." He smiled. "The rest of you should be able to move normally with some well-deserved rest tonight."
Lunor and Chloe groaned; the fact that Mia was giving each her best impression of the grin of a Cheshire cat didn't make it any better.
"Having said that, I formally give all of you a good night."
"Thanks, Doctor." They all said, some more begrudgingly than others as Jude left the room; followed by Ryuu.
They started to walk away, with the Elf tailing him close behind him.
"I may be blind, but I know when someone is looking straight at me… is there something you might need from me, Miss Lion?"
'Plenty' she thought, both stopping before Jude turned around to address her. "… I don't expect you to explain to me in detail the many incongruencies I seem to have regarding all of this," by that, she means the fact that a God Drake seemingly killed in the past was back in the mortal world so soon, or the fact that said God now wanted to protect Orario despite Drake saying he hated mortals. "What Adam said about his God… Can they be trusted with that statement?"
There was a low growl coming out of the young Wolf. "Your guess is as good as mine. Sadly, Adam didn't seem to be lying."
"And your thoughts regarding this?" One thing was Drake choosing to believe in Adam due to his supposed lying detection skill. But it was different from someone who has dealt with Adam and his God in the past.
"Hmm… considering that Ratatosk is the reason I have to use this," Ryuu kept his stoic face as Jude graced the bandana. "It would be a lie if I said my answer wasn't biased… But I can tell you; Ratatosk was more than willing to erase all mortal life back home… Neither I nor the rest can imagine a reason for the sudden change of heart."
"… No different from Evilus Gods, then." She scowled, almost showing an ugly side of hers before realizing she thought that out loud.
"… I wouldn't be so sure about that part…" Ryuu raised an eyebrow, especially since it seemed as if Jude suddenly focused on something else; ignoring everything around him before he suddenly snapped back to reality.
"Speaking of questions…" he suddenly said. "I seem to recall Flynn telling me you were able to fight the effects of the Apathy Grimm before he arrived… I was wondering, was it perhaps thanks to a skill you may have?"
Her mind went back to a few hours ago; recalling her whole ordeal with Loki Familia as only she was able to stand up and fight when the Apathy were present. But it all when south when Adam's ally, Lett interfered by taking away her-
Her eyes widened in realization. "I don't have such a Skill," she said, pushing back the thought of wanting to ask more about the new species of Monsters that Drake and the rest of his brothers seemed to be familiar with. "However, I started to feel the effects of the Apathy soon after I was separated from my weapons." She gestured at Alf's Lumina attached to her hip.
"Your weapon?" Jude asked, making Ryuu mentally scold herself as she recalled his disability.
"My Alf Lumina; a wooden sword made out of a piece of the Holy Tree my Family is supposed to protect." Ryuu didn't notice it, but Jude seemed to tense as she gave her explanation.
"… I am sorry… did you just say Holy Tr-"
"Doctor Jude."
Jude's train of thought stopped. Both looked at the source of the voice to see Lili standing at the end of the hall; her skin pale, her whole body trembling. This made Jude remember completely forget their conversation before remembering what he was planning on doing after treating Mia and the rest.
"Sorry, Miss Lion, We will speak of this later."
Their interaction wasn't long.
But looking back at it, she understood why Lili admired the blind Werewolf. Prioritizing the well-being of a patient before anything else…Not something others would do, without hesitation.
Suffice it to say, she dropped the subject soon after he left. Deciding it was better to talk with Drake directly. But the opportunity never came, as the next morning Mia's jaw dropped seeing the inside of the Hostess completely fixed; and full of customers.
FLASHBACK
"You can't be serious," Lunor commented.
They stood at the entrance of the Hostess; full like any other morning a little after nine. They had decided to arrive a little later seeing it was impossible to repair the damage the inside of the Hostess suffered… they were wrong.
There were not only patrons to be found inside, but they were also eating.
They thought that maybe Drake was cooking on his own; the idea was quickly discarded when they saw the blonde with a notepad, taking orders and pretty much doing everything else he would normally do.
"I am sorry, are you done eating? Yes? Then kindly move your fat asses off your seats and do something productive other than gossiping; some people are trying to earn a living here, and I need that table."
Had it not been for the reputation he had already set in the Hostess, and the permissions Mia had given him when he started working here; the patrons would have complained. They still did at the beginning, of course, but a simple glare was enough to shut them up.
The blonde proceeded to quickly clean the table; not noticing Mia and the rest. "I will be with you in a moment, please take a seat and wait." He said, mistaking them for clients before going into the kitchen.
"Please, don't tell me he's doing both jobs," Mia said in horror as Ryuu watched him go; her eyes glued to his left arm, now back in place. But even so, even if she couldn't directly see it due to his long-sleeved shirt, he should be resting and not forcing himself to do the work of the whole staff. Her eyes narrowed, noticing a familiar Half-Dwarf sitting in front of the counter; sniffing a cup of hot coffee with delight, only to stop as she felt them approaching her.
"About time you lot showed up." Tsubaki turned around, resting her arms on the counter as they noticed the bags under her eye; she had clearly pulled off an all-nighter, no doubt lending her help in fixing the place up.
"I appreciate you helping with the repairs," Mia said, giving a slight bow of the head in appreciation from the older Dwarf. "Please, tell me how much everything costs. So I can charge Loki Familia for the damages."
The Captain of the Hephaestus Familia waved her hand. "Don't worry about it. You can ask Drake yourself when he's done with his 'shift'"
Mia narrowed her eyes, seeing how the blonde came out of the back with five trays; one in each hand, one on each arm, and finally the last one on the top of his head.
"… Damn," Lunor commented, seeing how much ease he served several tables with ease. "… I know we are not the best in the business… but this is just making us look bad."
"… Why did you let him open like this?" Mia suddenly asked, seeing Drake was now taking the order from another table.
Tsubaki snorted. "Oh, they were going to close the place a little before eight until he decided to make a challenge out of this."
Mia raised an eyebrow. "Challenge? You telling me this whole thing about cooking and serving by himself is some sort of stupid challenge?" She snorted. "You expect me to believe that? Especially for Mister dark and brooding over there? Hah!"
"Funny enough, I thought the same thing. But I was quite surprised how easily he can get into stupid bullshit if one of his brothers is present."
"The hell's that supposed to-"
"Hey! The order for table Seven is gonna get cold, you dumb fuck!" an unfamiliar voice came from the kitchen.
"I am going at my own pace, girl face!" Drake shouted back.
"That sounds like weakness to me!"
The only staff members looked back at Tsubaki again with raised eyebrows. "I never said the challenge was for Drake alone," she made a motion with her head at the back of the Hostess. "Go on and check for yourself."
They did as told, walking into the back while hearing several utensils being used… seemingly at the same time.
"… Ok… even I have to say this is bullshit." Mia thought out loud, seeing a black blur moving through the kitchen, leaving in his trail Sakura petals as he washed the dishes, sliced ingredients, cooked, and prepared several plates, all at the same time.
"Oh-" the blur suddenly stopped, revealing a long-haired man wearing a black sleeveless shirt and pants and an apron. "It's you guys… damn it, I bet cash none of you would end up showing today." Yuri Lowell rubbed the side of his head with his right arm; letting everyone see the tattoo of the number three on the back of his palm.
Mia was about to say something, only to step out of the way as they heard Drake approaching them. "I have two number nines for table three, a number six and seven for table two, and two number forty-fives with cheese for table seven." He said, placing the dirty plates on the sink.
Yuri gave a humorous smile "You sure none of them-"
"No. No one asked for an extra dip; now move it." Drake said as he took more trays with himself; again, not noticing Mia or the others while Yuri gave a mocking salute. The Third Guardian looked at the staff. "I wouldn't even bother to take him off his workaholic trance, just start working and he will notice you… probably." He said, before he became a blur again; going through the kitchen while doing multiple tasks at an incredible speed.
"He's faster than my brother, nya~" Mia snorted at Anya's remark.
"And far more competent," the Dwarf thought out loud before standing in front of her waitresses. "Go change, and start tending to the patrons outside." She turned around at Yuri. "Did you or Drake do the usual cleaning?"
Yuri didn't stop as he replied. "Everything but the bathrooms."
"Not I/ Not I nya~/ Not I nya~/ Not- *sigh*" everyone but Ryuu managed to say, making the Elf take up bathroom duty once more.
"You know what you have to do, now move it!" Mia clapped again, making each of the waitresses disperse. She turned around looking at Yuri's work with ease as he kept leaving more petals in his way.
"… How does a business oportuni-"
"Nope," Yuri replied instantly, making Mia sigh.
"It was worth a try."
Suffice it to say, it was nice for things to have returned to normal; or at least to what was considered normal in the Hostess.
Not to mention, in the past few days, she and the rest got to meet the rest of Drake's brotherhood.
Each helped the pub in some way or form while the rest of the staff was out of commission.
And even though the whole staff was now back and running, they still came by to help one at a time. Now it was no exception… although this was not what she… or anyone expected.
"Dude… why are deliveries in a ship called cargo? But in a car, they are called shipment?"
Drake Aurion sighed as he handed a wet plate to the person next to him. "And here we go with the bullshit. I know you are bored, but could you please not-"
"If one teacher can't teach all subjects, why is a student expected to master all subjects?"
"Bullshit it is, then," Drake said as he handed another wet plate to the person in question; who quickly dried them up with a towel before putting it with the rest.
"Are oranges called oranges because oranges are orange? Or is orange named orange, because oranges are orange?"
"Fucking hate the fact that it actually makes sense." They finished the dishes and then proceeded to put them in their place as the unusual exchange continued.
"Bro, the youngest picture of you is also the oldest picture of you."
"Why the fuck did you have to be born before me? Why?"
"If we had watermelon, shouldn't we also have firemelon, earthmelon, and airmelon-"
"Don't you fucking there-"
"The Elemelons!"
There was a clear groan coming from Drake; all while the kitchen staff and some of the waitresses kept watching the whole thing with piqued interest.
"… he has a point nya~ also, what is a car nya~?"
Ryuu sighed at Anya's antics; definitely not thinking the same thing despite how stupid it sounded.
Lloyd J. Aurion Irving.
The one other person that shared Drake's name; the one that held the tattoo of the number one, and the one that Drake seemed to idolize the most… totally not what everyone was expecting.
The brunette had bowed as he presented himself in the early morning; forcing Drake to bow as well while apologizing for his younger brother's behavior. Of course, they started to bicker at that moment. Surprisingly, despite how different they were, everyone could notice how well they worked together as they went through the whole place; not knowing they were doing the rest of the staff's work without realizing it.
"Look at that shit… it is infuriating as it is amazing, really." Mia thought out loud.
"And you pay almost nothing to one, and the other one is pretty much-doing charity work; what a taskmaster, Mama."
Mia Grande twitched at Lunor's remark. "Ok, all of you; just because most of your work was done by these two doesn't give you the right to laze off; move it!"
"It's not fair!" Syr Flova exclaimed as many of the staff left the kitchen. "I still have more of my work ahead of me." She pouted. "If only there were some hard-working gentlemen who would lend this poor damsel a hand…"
Both Aurion brothers stopped for a moment before looking at each other.
"… Did you hear something?"
"… Probably wasn't anything important. Anyway, mind going into the whole thing with the elemelons? You might be up to something."
Syr's smile twitched while the kitchen staff tried to hold their laughter, to little success.
"Wow, they really don't like you nya~!"
"That is because those two have no sense of chivalry!" Syr replied, poking Lloyd's and Drake's cheeks as she stood between them.
"Careful Syr. You should know what they say about poking animals," Ryuu Lion gently grabbed her friend before pulling her back; just in the nick of time to avoid her fingers being bitten by both brothers. "They bite."
"Damn, first interaction with her and I am already on her shit list." Lloyd slumped down, earning rolling eyes from his brother.
"She's an Elf; it's only normal she would look down on poor mortals as animals," Drake said with a tired tone as Lloyd snapped.
"Oh! I see!" Lloyd made a mocking bow. "Forgive me my impertinence, great high elevated being!"
Ryuu twitched, the fact that every single member of the kitchen staff did the same only added more to this mockery.
"Now you know how I feel," Syr commented as they left the kitchen; ignoring the brothers' high-five.
"At least things seem to be livelier around… I wonder why we have only seen one of them at the time, though."
Something clicked in her mind. "… That's not the only weird thing…" Syr raised an eyebrow. "They also seem to disappear in the middle of everything."
She recalled the Soma incident; she had left Drake with Zelos to confront Soma, but he wasn't in sight when she and Lili arrived at Soma's office.
And just like that time; Drake arrived alone from dealing with Adam when seemingly Flynn had gone there to assist him… but Drake returned alone.
"I am not saying they are not reliable… it's just-!" Ryuu's eyes widened, instantly moving in front of Syr as she took a stance while staring at the exit to the backyard… there was no one in sight.
"Ryuu?" Syr asked worried, seeing it wasn't often the Elf showed that angered look to her. "What is it? There's nothing there."
"… what do you want?" Ryuu asked in a low voice, already having a good idea who the person hiding right next to the entrance was; even if they had only met twice before this, there were only a few people that could leave such a strong impression.
"… Definitely not you. I was expecting Drake to notice my presence first, but now I remember his mind happens to wander off when dealing with Lloyd's shenanigans." He lazily waved off his hand around the corner of the exit. "Guess I will approach him later."
"What about after closing hours, Adam?" Lloyd Aurion suddenly suggested, placing his elbow on Ryuu's head while his hand served to place his chin. "Seems the most appropriate time to do something mischievous, like picking fights or trying to kill someone."
"Oh, fuck off, Lloyd," Adam Taurus replied, still not showing his face at the entrance; although he did proceed to flip off the older Aurion. "I am not here for that, and you know it."
Ryuu looked at Lloyd, mostly with the intent of looking annoyed due to being used as a piece of furniture to support him, but she didn't have the guts to do it; his red glowing eyes and stern face were completely opposite from the smiling buffoon she had seen until now.
"Still-" she looked to the side, just as she felt another elbow on her shoulder. "After closing hours seems fine to me." Drake Aurion said as he pretty much adopted the same position as his brother using her shoulder. "It's not like I am gonna fight in the place I live."
"… Fair enough," Adam retrieved his hand. "See you tonight, then."
And just like that, his whole presence was gone.
"… I hope you know what you are doing."
"… Gotta start from somewhere… besides, this is our chance to clear out some doubts," Drake replied, both Aurion brothers still using Ryuu as a support table.
"Is he a friend of yours?"
Both sighed in exasperation at Syr's interruption as they got away from Ryuu.
"Don't bother, you are not his type." Surprisingly, it was Drake of all people who said that.
"A-ah! Why would you assume I was interested in his relationship status!?"
Everyone deadpanned, even Ryuu knowing her friend's antics.
"… I am gonna go buy something," Drake suddenly addressed Ryuu before tapping his brother's shoulder; indicating him to follow.
"Actually… I kind of have an appointment." Lloyd said plainly, earning confusion from Drake seeing the brunette had literally nothing to do in this world.
"What exactly?" Drake crossed his arms; tapping his finger impatiently, waiting to see what bullshit he was going to come up with.
"Well…" Lloyd rubbed the side of his head; clearly trying to figure out what to say. "… A parent-teacher conference?" he shrugged, leaving Drake with a twitching eyebrow while Ryuu and Syr just raised theirs.
"The hell are you on about now?" Drake asked as he already felt exhausted. "And with who even?"
"Here you go!" Lloyd voiced loudly as he served a drink behind the counter at the Hostess. "Drake is the one who knows how to mix drinks, so I am not sure it turned out ok."
"Aren't you all supposed to have shared memory?" Tsubaki snorted as she took the glass.
"But muscle memory is a whole different thing altogether… that, and I am terrible at following instructions."
Tsubaki took the shot, feeling a satisfying burn run down her throat as she slammed the glass on the counter. "Gods, thank Hephaestus I am a half-Dwarf!" she sighed before looking at Lloyd. "… So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked, recalling finding a note next to her bed the morning after the last night Drake stayed at Tsubaki's place.
"Also, couldn't you find a better way to pass that message to me?"
Lloyd shrugged. "Meh, I just thought about it at the moment and decided to go for it."
"Geez, Drake might be brutally honest, but you are way too straightforward." She sighed. "… this is about that promise I had him take, isn't it?"
His smile faded as he nodded.
"I am not taking it back." She replied, her finger playing with the tip of her glass. "I know you all want him to live a normal life. But things and threats are not going to stop coming to him; I just told him to treat any and all threats with extreme prejudice."
"Nice way of oversimplifying things." He sighed; recalling her exact words to Drake. "I… We are not asking you to take it back."
"… You aren't?" Tsubaki blinked perplexedly as Lloyd nodded. "Damn… here I had a whole speech prepared to make all of you feel like dicks… serve me another one." She said, sighing in relief despite what she said.
"Why the hell do you think we would do that?" he asked amused.
"Excuse me," she gestured at herself. "Hot onee-san asking younger guy for something rather questionable!? The only thing missing there is for someone to misinterpret and say I manipulated him."
Lloyd deadpanned. "Really? Onee-san?" he snorted. "I told Drake we were having a parent-teacher conference; kind of ironic."
Tsubaki took her shot before addressing him. "Wait… why the hell am I the parent!?"
"Because I have years of dealing with that problem child-"
'Hypocrisy at its finest.' Every Guardian commented.
"So stop interrupting me and let me impart my wisdom with you."
She nodded excitedly, clearly mocking him on some lever.
"… We discussed among ourselves about your request without Drake's knowledge. We argued for a while with the pros and cons… in the end, we reached the very same conclusion you just said a few minutes ago… even though we know in the long run the way Drake does things… which is why I am gonna have to step in with Loki Familia sooner or later."
She raised an eyebrow. "After what Drake did? Do you really think they would be that stupid to directly or indirectly try something?"
Lloyd gave a bittersweet smile. "That's the thing about stupid people; they don't learn." Tsubaki now understood he included himself in there. "Especially with that dumbass that has tried to kill Drake twice without a clear reason… not to mention that putrid wind of hers."
She raised an eyebrow at the last part; she knew Lloyd meant Ais Wallenstein. Drake had made it clear the girl was not okay in the head, to which she had replied with a 'no shit'. He had asked her with little care once what she thought of her.
'That girl is like a sword; without proper care, it will eventually break.'
The fact that she said it like that made Drake understand two things. One, being compared to a weapon meant that the girl had only one thing in mind; killing, most likely Monsters unless she showed that behavior to everyone. Two, that mentality of hers had been an issue for years, and it seemed as if it was unchecked.
'Either psychologists don't exist here, or someone simply didn't think of getting the girl some much-needed help.' That had been Drake's reasoning at the moment. But even so, he never addressed what he meant by 'putrid wind'.
"The same could be said about Freya… but I don't know whether to simply consider her a horny idiot or not." Lloyd sighed. "I honestly don't think talking alone will be enough with that one." He shook his head. "I am going off-topic… Tsubaki… do you have any idea as to the power you have over Drake?"
She scowled. "Why do I feel this isn't a jab about my 'manipulation' joke earlier?" Sadly, Tsubaki saw some logic behind this. Her latest request pretty much consists of Drake turning into a killing machine if necessary, and he accepted with too much ease. At first, she thought nothing of it; being glad that he simply accepted… but now, she was worried about why he accepted so easily.
"Before you say anything; none of us think you are that kind of person. But still, do you see the need to warn you of this now?"
She looked a little bit intrigued. "If you are saying this," she leaned closer. "It means something similar has happened in the past."
Lloyd sighed. "… Remember how he told you that sometimes he just had the urge to act on his own accord if something bothered him?" Those weren't the exact words Drake had used, but yes, she did remember; right before the whole Aeshma massacre happened.
"I could dissuade him from acting like that."
'If we are calling 'dissuading' starting a fight on the spot, yes, let's go with that.' Lloyd ignored Yuri's snort.
"I mean, yes, things got a little rough every time; but I was able to dissuade him in the end!" Tsubaki mentally snorted, figuring out there was an internal debate between the brothers. But something bothered her.
"Wait… only you? What about the rest?"
Lloyd scowled as his eye twitched.
"Zelos, Yuri, and Luke would go along with Drake's idea; if anything, they even made things worse." He sighed. "Jude was the youngest, and since he was a full pacifist at the time… all he could do was get a hold of his leg with no real result." Tsubaki felt ashamed of herself for imagining a small Werewolf doing the same; she definitely wasn't laughing at Jude. "Flynn and Guy could restrain him on some occasions… but the idea of the act still lingered in his mind."
"Were the actions justified?"
"Yeah, but that's not the point." Tsubaki deadpanned, but still saw the point of what Lloyd was going for.
"At the time, the worst things Drake could do to someone went from breaking a hand to making someone need a whole new dental plan…" he leaned closer to the counter; whispering, with a very dark expression as he positioned his head next to hers. "All that changed when Collette died."
'Collette… their sister.' At this point, she stayed still; not daring to see the look on Lloyd's face.
"It happened during Christmas; a social event in the Kingdom of Atlas." She remembered pompous bastards, elitists, etc. "A group of White Fang members invaded the damn thing…" he took a deep breath, retrieving his head before turning around with crossed arms.
Clearly, he didn't want her to see his expression. Unfortunately, her Level Five senses managed to catch the reflection of one of the bottles that were on the other side of the counter. His red eyes full of life seemed like ponds of red dark blood, and his bland expression as he spoke didn't make it better… It honestly scared her.
"The number of casualties for the White Fang reached a little over sixty-five… and the number of dead hostages was of a mere one."
She didn't dare to do anything… because she knew the meaning behind those words… Tsubaki knew who the only casualty was.
"I won't go into detail on how everything happened…"
There wasn't any need to.
If she was right, Collette had been the first casualty… it was bloodshed right after that.
Lloyd sighed. "The only one that wasn't present at the time was Jude… but the rest of us sat outside while being treated. None of us were really wounded… but being stained with blood easily made the medics think it was our own blood… and then it happened." Tsubaki noted a change in his voice; anger is so well hidden that only the tension in his throat gave him away.
"A man by the name of Jacques Schnee started blabbering. Calling the whole thing a tragedy, a crime against the Kingdom of Atlas; using Collette's name and death as propaganda to instigate more hate towards the Faunus kind and increase his image." He sighed.
"A thought came to me at the time… why did it have to be her?... Why her of all people?... Why her out of all these self-centered bastards?... Why her and not that blabbering buffoon mocking her life and memory?... Without realizing it, I uttered words that at the time would certainly make me a fucking hypocrite… 'I want you to die.'"
He looked at the ceiling, taking in a deep breath before turning around. They didn't stare at each other; rather, both stared at the empty glass on the table.
"At the time, all Drake could do was go in and out of the shadows; along with using it as storage. But the moment I said those words, I saw my brother's shadow moving towards Jacques Schnee like a snake crawling on the snow… my eyes moved to the right, seeing my brother looking at him with no emotion in his eyes… but I could tell where… whom he was staring at."
The man known as Jacques Schnee suddenly grabbed his own throat, falling on his knees as he screamed; or better said, tried to scream seeing as nothing came out of his mouth.
But what he heard were the screams of everyone around him as his face started to turn blue, making everyone panic as only his daughters remained at their side; their shouts doing nothing to aid their suffering father.
Meanwhile, a young Lloyd Aurion watched with widened eyes from afar, seeing how his brother's shadow took the shape of a snake before it started to strangle Jacques' shadow; making the real one suffer the consequences of that attack.
He looked at his brother. It seemed as if Drake was in a trance as his eyes glowed with an ominous purple.
"Father! Please! You have to breathe!" The eldest Schnee daughter shouted, making Lloyd partially snap back into reality… and yet, he didn't stop Drake for some reason.
He wanted to move, but couldn't. No, there wasn't anything binding him.
He just didn't move… didn't want to move.
So, as the screams of those from afar continued, Lloyd Aurion came to realize the words he had said not even a minute ago. He wanted this to happen… and he didn't move because of that very reason echoing deep within him, subconsciously… but he didn't want his brother to taint his hands anymore tonight.
'Move.' He told himself, feeling his own hands twitch as he started to grit his teeth. 'Move!' his hands moved, shaking his brother after getting a hold of his clothes; trying to break him out of his trance with no result.
"Stop," Lloyd's eyes started to water as he embraced his brother. "Please stop!" By this point, the rest of his friends noticed what was going on; Zelos was the first who noticed Drake's shadow extending towards Jacques, connecting the dots in an instant before he clenched his fist; guiding it straight towards Drake's face as his brother held him.
"… Zelos broke his own hand simply from how much strength he used." Lloyd sighed for a moment, by this point Tsubaki had gathered her courage to look at Lloyd's expression; it was absolutely miserable. "Drake knew what he had done… but we didn't say anything about it. But I could tell he would have been more than eager to continue… we had a fight soon after Collette's funeral. He wanted to go to the island of Menagerie; the 'Kingdom of the Faunus', and home of the White Fang and take revenge on them."
"You were opposed…" Tsubaki stated, in a rather controlled accusatory tone.
"The White Fang had claimed that the party responsible for the incident was a rogue cell. This was the truth, so anyone going for the whole organization would have been seen as bad in the eyes of the whole Faunus, risking another War. And as Nobles, that was something we could not afford."
"That's the bullshit answer… and the actual one?"
Lloyd tightened the grip on his own arms. "Because I didn't want my brother to kill anyone else."
She wanted to snort, but didn't out of respect.
"We discussed, we fought, I won… and then grabbed him by the collar and shouted at him as I had never done before… I managed to dissuade him again… and at that moment I realized just how much power I had over him…" he pinched the bridge between his eyes. "I just didn't want him to kill everyone else… for my sake or not."
Tsubaki mentally nodded. Somehow agreeing with him, recalling things were different in their World. Here, even young children could turn into killers if the circumstances called for it; Lili was the perfect example of it. But them… their whole World seemed to be against the Grimm back then, so situations like those should not be considered normal.
"… Wait… when you say 'for my sake'-"
He nodded. "I held back a little despite how angry I was at the White Fang," he snorted. "My guess is that my stupid sense of Justice at the time made me subconsciously restrain myself… although it wasn't enough. The Faunus I attacked was losing a lot of blood… they would have died eventually…" he frowned, didn't say a single word more; but she understood it.
Tsubaki understood the full picture now. Lloyd's accidental 'command' towards Jacques Schnee might have been an accident, but Drake still acted regardless; not only because it seemed like something Lloyd wished, but mainly because Drake didn't want his brother to dirty his hands… just like he did with those Faunus that Lloyd had wounded.
"… Why us?" Tsubaki asked after a moment. Going through everything she just heard before voicing her thoughts. "I knew he was a little obsessive with making sure all of you did good and protecting you all… but what is the similarity between you and me that he would be like this?"
"Oh, that's easy." His smile finally returned. "I met this scared kid in an alley once. He was so scared that he even feared his own shadow…" he smiled fondly, almost forgetting everything he had discussed until now. "Even if Fate made us meet that night, I have never regretted extending my hand to him that rainy night. And you-"
She snorted, placing her elbow on the counter as her forehead rested on her hand. "I met this edge lord that didn't trust anyone; he closed himself off, convinced that he was something that shouldn't exist in this world, and then tried to push me away… all I did was tell him everything was going to be ok."
Lloyd laughed. "You did more than that."
Tsubaki sighed. "We became his Heroes."
"Nope, worse; We became his Hope." For some reason, that term just fit better to her. "The others also enter in the category… but you, Tsubaki Collbrande, are the only real Hope he has in this world."
"… all of a sudden I no longer have the urge of making onee-san jokes."
Lloyd snorted. "Give it some time…"
She rubbed the side of her head, finally understanding how much influence she could have on him; a person that was by all means a deity in everything but his own self-acceptance. "Fuck my life." Both snorted, seeing she pretty much did something Drake would do in this case of scenarios.
"Anything else I should be aware of besides having 'Lloyd Privileges'?"
Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Great, you are also calling it that." Tsubaki got the message. Apparently, the rest of the brotherhood agreed to it. "But now that you mention it, there are 'Zelos Privileges'."
'Oh, you mother fucker.' Zelos commented.
"Oh?" she looked rather intrigued.
"Drake will pretty much play the role of wingman in any kind of scenario if you asked for it-"
"I also recall hitting him the very next day for making me help him with a trick from the playbook." Their heads snapped to the center of the Pub. "Please, tell me whatever the fuck this is it's over." Drake Aurion stated, holding a carton bag seeing he could not use the shadows due to being far from it while Lloyd used it.
"Well…" Lloyd started, trying not to think about all they talked about. but Tsubaki beat him to it.
"Do you think this should have been an Onee-san-teacher conference instead of a parent-teacher conference?"
The Blacksmith was met with silence before Drake shook his head slowly. "I know a trick question when I see one; no right answers at all."
Her eye twitched. "Dick." She sighed as she stood up, gently placing her palm on his shoulder before heading her way. "See ya later, you two." She said, giving Drake a soft smile before heading out.
"So… what did you-"
"Stop thinking," Drake said instantly as he looked at the entrance of the Hostess as if Tsubaki was still there. "Whatever it was that you spoke with her; put it in the back of your mind and lock it… I don't want to know what you two spoke while I was gone."
Lloyd smiled softly. No, this wasn't Drake being jealous about Tsubaki spending time with him. Drake most likely felt something negative about Tsubaki the moment she touched him. And if he had to guess, what Drake felt was most likely Guilt.
"… Done."
Drake sighed, just as Lloyd took the bag from his brother; like a small child checking the contents to see if their parents brought them something.
"Sorry, there are no happy meals in that bag."
"But I wanted a toy!" Lloyd said with watered eyes before Drake took back the bag.
"Keep wanting, bitch." Drake snorted as they started to walk to the back, but something stopped them.
"MIA! I came to apologize."
Drake had only heard her voice once; but sadly, it wasn't enough to make him forget such an obnoxious… individual.
"… Hello true level," The Goddess Loki twitched as Drake turned around to address her; noticing she was accompanied by Riveria. "How's your plain life treating you?"
"You are banned from the Hostess, Loki." Mia Grande scowled at the Goddess, sending a slight glare to the patrons so they minded their own business. "Or is it that I wasn't clear enough the last time you were here?"
"Mia, Mia, Mia," The Goddess waved her hand in a sign of defense. "Can't we just let bygones be bygones? Forgive and forget?"
"Huh," Drake looked at Mia. "Aren't Gods supposed to be ever living and known for holding grudges during their immortal lives?"
"That they are." Mia's scowled remained as Loki sent Drake a dirty eye.
"You stay out of this, blondie!" she pointed at him. "I came here to have a word with you any- arg!" the Goddess was silenced, being softly hit by the staff of one Riveria Ljos Alf.
"I told you to behave, Loki." The High Elf said.
"My apologies," Riveria inclined her head slightly. "We did come here to talk regarding the damages done to the Pub by Bete." Her eyes moved to Drake. "But there is also some matter we can no longer ignore."
Drake really tried his best to not roll his eyes; he failed. "In order to have a conversation, all of the parties involved must agree beforehand. Something I obviously refuse to do unless you want to start yet another altercation," he sighed. "I don't need another empty apology nor do I have the obligation to answer anything you-"
"Let's talk." Drake's words died in his mouth. Drake's and Mia's heads moved robotically as they stared at a smiling Lloyd.
"… Sorry kid, but this is a matter between my Familia and him alone."
His smile remained. "Oh, but if this is a Familia matter, then I have every right to interfere on my brother's behalf."
"Brother!?" Loki exclaimed as Riveria noticed the number one tattoo on the back of Lloyd's right hand. "Maybe if it were that other blonde that helped my Children! But You two don't even look alike!"
"And yet we share the same last name," Lloyd commented before sighing. "Sorry to break it to you; but regardless of what you want, you will be dealing with me."
"Excuse me for a moment," Drake pulled his brother by the ear to the back of the Hostess. "What the actual fuck, Lloyd?"
"A little more and you would have actually ripped my ear off…" Lloyd sighed before narrowing his eyes at the glare Drake was giving him. "I am gonna put a halt to all of this before your patience runs out."
Drake's eye kept twitching; his patience had certainly been worn out by his brother's action. "And you know the reason why I haven't dealt with Pennywise's fucking circus; the same applies to Freya."
"Forgive me if my memory fails me; but didn't you say the same about the Huntsman academies back home?"
Drake narrowed his eyes. "I did; that's why I- WE – made preparations beforehand so they wouldn't be needed anymore."
"And at this rate, 'preparations' will also be made for these guys if we don't make it clear you are to be left alone."
"And you expect me to believe you will accomplish that by just talking?" Drake snorted. "Let me remind you; I am the serious Aurion."
Lloyd feigned offense by the remark. "I can be serious too! Also, if anything you are the messier one." Drake flipped him off before Lloyd placed his hand over Drake's shoulder. "Let your big brother handle this, will ya?"
Drake felt a slight pressure on his shoulder before sighing; accepting his brother's proposal.
"Would you please relax?" Lloyd patted Drake's shoulder. "I have dealt with sixty-six cases in the past; a talk with these people should be no big deal." He said before returning to the pub; leaving Drake with a thinking expression on his face.
'… Sixty-six cases… when the hell did he take over those many trials?' Zelos asked, recalling Lloyd had studied law for a while to understand how the judicial system worked. '… The only trial he took part in was Blake Belladonna's trial.'
Guy snorted as he looked at Yuri. 'And we all remember that shit was fixed thanks to a certain someone.'
Yuri gave a gracious bow. 'Good to know my death was worth something… back to the topic at hand… sixty-six cases…'
Everyone thought hard at what Lloyd had said, only for Drake to facepalm a while later. "Son of a-" he ran his hand through his face as he narrowed his eyes. "That's the total number of cases of the sum of all the trials of every Ace Attorney game."
There was a collective silence before some of them started to laugh.
"Origin fucking dammit, Lloyd."
"… I know we are banned and all. But we could at least get something to drink!" Loki exclaimed after Lloyd sat on the other side of the table with a half drank a bottle of Soma's root beer.
"Nope." He pointed at the wall near the entrance of the pub. "You were even added to the plate that states the rules of the place."
Loki looked back narrowing her eyes, looking at the after-mentioned plate. She read the first one 'The staff of the establishment may and will use force if any of the patrons decide to harm the Pub or its staff in any way.' She was familiar with that one, as she did with the rest. But the last two caught her eyes.
'The mean blonde with green eyes may treat all patrons as he desires if he considers it necessary. Note: He gets paid less for this.', and 'The Hostess of Fertility reserves the right to give service of any kind to any member of Loki Familia. Note: Especially the Goddess.'
"… The second to last one makes it sound as if your relative treated the patrons poorly." Riveria stated, having read the plate as well.
"He does." Every single patron currently in the Hostess replied.
"Between those that take an eternity to order out of spite, those that waste time, those that refuse to pay for any stupid reason, those that make too much noise, Karens, etc, etc, etc." Lloyd sighed. "Suffice to say, the 'client is always right.' doesn't really apply if said people behave like dicks… his patience is also a problem, though…" He moved his bottle; adjusting the angle to see his brother's reflection while he remained behind the counter; his eye twitching.
"Anyway…" Lloyd's demeanor changed; crossing his arms and legs.
"…" Riveria pushed back a sense of déjà vu Lloyd started to exude before looking at Loki, who groaned as she looked at Lloyd. "Come on, Loki; just like you practiced."
The Goddess sighed before giving a slight bow with her head. "… I wish to thank your brother and his friend for helping my Familia the other day."
Riveria narrowed her eyes at the Goddess. "And?"
"And I am sorry for every past transgression my Familia may have done to your brother."
Lloyd remained stoic. He could tell the Goddess meant her words, but he could also tell she still held a grudge about the whole thing.
"We know that an apology alone will not suffice for your relative; let alone anything we can offer." Riveria's posture became tense. "But even so, although we are certainly in no place to ask, there are some matters that need to be addressed."
'Oh shit, here we go again.' Zelos commented sarcastically.
"… You are right, it isn't enough. And honestly, it isn't gonna be enough.." Lloyd stated nonchalantly before his eye narrowed. "Your Familia has not just tried to antagonize my brother in the past, but also tried to kill him while he wasn't paying attention twice by that murder doll." Riveria internally flinched; secretly being thankful that they were speaking in a low voice; even though those with enhanced hearing might hear them.
"Hey! Don't you dare to disrespect my Ais-tan!" Loki exclaimed, knowing full well she had pretty much called her 'doll' in the past. "She has been through a lot."
"So has named any random orphan kid in the world living in the streets starving." Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "Neither you nor your child are the center of the universe, Goddess." Loki groaned, preparing to argue for the lack of respect being shown to her. "I don't care what she's been through, nor do I care what kind of power you think you hold."
"Is that a threat, boy?" Loki opened her eyes. She was angry, but even so, she couldn't help but show her usual smile in that situation. However, Riveria ruined her fun seeing the High Elf made slight pressure on her shoulder with her hand.
"Oi, Oi, Oi! That hurts, Mama." Crocodile tears started to roll down Loki's eyes.
"We are aware that Ais has discriminately attacked your brother twice, both with the clear intention of taking his life. But please understand there's a reason for her behavior."
Lloyd fought the urge to twitch. "Do pray to tell, your Highness; what kind of holier than thou reason is there to want to kill someone at mere sight?"
Riveria maintained her composure and ignored the verbal jab; seeing the child she had helped raise was pretty much called a psychopath.
"Ais… she has had a troubled past."
The Guardians did their best to not roll their eyes.
"Her Family was killed by the One-Eyed Black Dragon," Riveria eyed Drake. "Since then, all she could ever think about is getting stronger in hopes to defeat the Monster one day. She was not driven, but obsessed with her task; to the point, she didn't care for her well-being despite how much damage she inflicted on herself due to her actions." Riveria mentally sighed, maintaining her royal behavior on the outside. "We gave her a home, and education, a place to call home. But deep down, her hatred for that thing never died down." She looked at Drake behind the counter, clearly listening to the whole thing from afar. "And for some reason, your brother reminds her of it."
Lloyd just stared for a moment before pinching the bridge between his eyes. "I know this might be very hard for you but please try to follow me," Lloyd had no shame in hiding his sarcasm. "One is a Dragon with the power of destroying a kingdom with a swing of its tail," he pointed back at Drake. "That's a salty blonde."
He could feel Drake making an imaginary hole in the back of his head, but he still continued.
"One is a giant ass Monster that supposedly is so big that it even goes above the clouds." Back at Drake. "That's an average-sized, salty blonde."
Drake had no shame in flipping off his brother.
"One is an entity that has been alive for Gods knows how long." Back at Drake. "That's my fucking brother."
He clapped his hands together and then pointed at them. "Do you see where I am going with this? Or do you need me to use play-doh to explain it?"
The High Elf finally twitched, not liking being compared to an ignorant child… she mentally groaned, realizing what she just called Ais.
"But sadly, this goes beyond simple understanding for her," Lloyd sighed, relaxing his body for a moment. "That girl is suffering from both PTSD and Survivors Guilt; what you just said a moment ago just confirmed it."
They all actually knew about it from the first time Drake crossed eyes with Ais. But neither he nor the rest cared about that at the moment. Honestly, the only reason they were putting the effort now was to prevent things from escalating.
"And yet, despite all the education and life you gave her… I can't help but ask, why didn't you seek professional help for her? I can understand if your Goddess completely overlooked her antics-"
"Hey!"
"But what about you?" He ignored Loki and focused on Riveria. "Why didn't you?"
The grip on her staff tightened. "I thought that time and a good environment would help her heal. It seemed like it was working…" she didn't want to say the next part, not wanting to be antagonistic, but Lloyd got the gist of it.
"Until she met my brother." He sighed. "You can put a bandage on a wound, but it's not gonna do much if you don't disinfect it. Time will only leave an ugly crust."
"I am aware of it." Riveria started to become a little irritated, seeing as the brunette in front of her kept saying redundant and obvious statements. But she hated the mere fact he was right in everything he said.
She couldn't help but compare the way Ais grew up since she joined the Familia with how she grew up.
Despite their circumstances, both had to grow up with a burden; Riveria's being that she was born as the heir of the whole Elven Race, a destiny being set in stone for her just like every lesson given to her, or every single act she performed while being her father's successor. Although that all changed when she decided to become an Adventurer, it was only a temporary change of place; the throne and crown still awaited her return.
But now that she thought about it… she couldn't help but think that her act of temporarily leaving the crown was no different from Ais' sudden change of behavior. Both had gone on through their lives as time went on until there was a breaking point. For Riveria, it was merely the thought of wanting something more than the crown… for Ais had been meeting Drake.
In the end, they were not so different.
Maybe she had thought that Ais' mentality would get better with time and accept her new life. But in the end, it resulted in a massive drawback due to Ais meeting Drake Aurion; reminding her of the one thing that ruined her life.
Riveria didn't have any experience in being a mother.
And now that she thought about it, maybe the same applied to her own mother seeing how tutors, teachers, and such taught her how to be a Ruler above all else. She didn't take that approach when raising Ais, knowing it wouldn't do her any good. She had asked for advice, but that didn't change the fact she didn't have any experience in the field, nor did it change the fact that she failed in the end.
"Good," her train of thought suddenly stopped the moment Lloyd's voice reached her. "Looks like you figured out something if that face means anything." He tapped his fingers a few times before taking his beer. "Well… this was a productive conversation; you 'apologized', you know you have to do something regarding your murderous airhead." He stood up. "I think there's nothing more to be addressed."
"Objection!"
'…'
"…"
'Are you fucking shitting me right now?'
'Well… we were talking about Ace Attorney earlier.' Flynn replied to Luke as everyone saw the Goddess Loki on her feet; extending her finger at him.
"My Children also got affected by all of this-"
"Overruled! That happened because of your own stupidity."
Lloyd's counterargument went ignored as he sat back down. "The Twins are a mess; one is in a catatonic state while the other one is becoming depressed because of the former state, and my Captain has secluded himself in his office so no one sees that scowl of his."
"What? Braver can't tolerate some criticism with a side of realism?" He scowled. "Walk it off."
"And then there was a bloody divine artifact that started to mess with them; messing with their minds and showing nightmares of things that never happened."
Lloyd sighed, recalling his own experience when they managed to acquire a sealed Centurion.
"The nightmares you experienced were made with your inner-most thoughts at the core; perhaps something you were currently going through, a trauma from your past, dreadful memory, or even things that bothered you on a subconscious level."
He didn't like them, nor did he have any obligation to explain this, but he decided to, seeing he could at least relate to them in this.
Riveria's eye twitched. She recalled many tragic things that happened while being an Adventurer; the loss of friends, innocent lives, and so on… and yet her nightmares were about being forced to be the Queen of the Elven race with no saying in the matter while also being forced to marry and secure their future with an unwanted marriage and child.
"Talking from experience?" Loki snorted, making Lloyd go back into his memories.
"Yeah… for us it was really varied. Some Guy dreamed every night how his whole family was being massacred while he was locked in a chimney; buried under the body of his relatives while being set on fire, only being able to scream in agony as everything around him burned. There was also a young Doctor, whose hands were stained with blood as a trail of corpses laid on his path; each an individual he failed to save. And then there was the oldest of two siblings, forced to kill his own brother due to a dispute between two deities…" Lloyd sighed, taking a sip from his beer. Just like Drake, he couldn't get drunk due to his blessing, but he really needed something to wipe out the sour taste in his mouth.
"As for why Bete, it was because he was the most stubborn."
Loki deadpanned. "No shit… wait… " she started to think back to Bete's usual behavior. The Werewolf with an arrogant attitude, hiding his own feelings close to his heart and refusing to accept the reality in front of him; resulting in his usual fits of anger…
"He rejected the nightmare…" Riveria reached the same conclusion. "To the point, he was actually able to go against it."
Lloyd nodded. "Sadly, since he's so hot-tempered, he was also easily manipulatable; the fact that he held a grudge towards Drake just made it easier."
Riveria eyed Loki; The Goddess had noticed it too, seeing her eyes had that certain mischievousness in them.
"You say that as if those Divine Artifacts were sentient." Her lips twitched upward, thinking the brunette had slipped out something he shouldn't… but in reality-
"… I thought it was obvious by now." Loki mentally slammed her face on the table at Lloyd's blunt statement; the fact that he rubbed the side of his head with an awkward laugh didn't make her feel any better.
"Leaving what happened to our Familia aside; you have to understand that we cannot overlook the existence of these Divine Artifacts; the threats they pose in general could be detrimental to Orario."
"At least you sound more honest than Finn." He sighed, adjusting the angle of his bottle to see his brother's reflection; narrowing his eyes to watch what he said. "I am afraid this is our problem alone, and we will be dealing with it accordingly as we may see fit."
Loki tapped her finger with a scowl. "I still don't get why you think you have the upper hand here. We are dealing with things out of the mortal realm, and your group seems to have a history with them and the group collecting them. And let's not forget your dear little brother over there allowed said group to escape out of the kindness of his heart." She smiled. "For all we know, all of you could be in cahoots with one another now. So, pray tell; what did that cloaked guy say to your brother to let them off the hook?"
Lloyd sighed, changing his posture as he placed his elbow on the table before resting his chin on his hand. For a moment, this made Loki think that maybe Lloyd's change of demeanor meant that she finally got the upper ground.
"He said all he was doing was to 'save Orario.'"
Loki deadpanned, noticing a slight twitch in Lloyd's eye. It wasn't that she finally got the upper ground, it was the fact that she could tell the brunette felt annoyed by the fact it was such a stupid excuse.
"And he believed him!?" Riveria didn't waste a moment in telling Loki to keep her voice down.
"He was telling the truth," he shrugged. "We will be dealing with him eventually to find out what's going on."
'Seeing how even we are out of the loop on this one.' He mentally said as Loki shook her head calmly.
"Nope. Again, you are in no position in deciding anything for yourselves seeing how bad things can turn out." Her eyes opened slowly. "Unless you think we should involve the Guild."
Lloyd's eyes narrowed.
Involving the Guild meant not only involving Ganesha as Law Enforcers but pretty much every Familia in Orario against them if it was necessary… and yet, all Lloyd did was snort.
"You know what," he gave a half smirk. "I am gonna call your bluff. Go for it."
Loki's smile faded in an instant. Because her Familia would most likely get into the same problem.
The Guild had ordered not to go to the Great Fall when the whole set of floors was behaving strangely; that was going against the Guild's orders.
They acquired the Divine Artifact and kept it to themselves without notifying the Guild; which was holding information from them.
The Artifact interacted with Bete and made him a menace to everyone in the city; assaulting the Hostess and even Rivira.
Those three infractions originated from a single choice of wanting to know what was going on.
"Sure, it may or may not be a mutually assured destruction; so why don't we take the gamble?" Lloyd asked as his smirk endured, just as Loki started to give an even bigger smile than before.
'Gods above, give me patience.' The High Elf thought.
She knew Loki wouldn't do it, not wanting to put her Familia in a bad light. But that nasty smile that only appeared when she was thrilled about something never sat well with Riveria.
"It's a good thing you are not speaking with Drake right now; he would definitely punch that nasty smile off your face."
The Goddess almost twitched, not detecting a single lie in his words.
"Who? Poor old me?" she snorted. "I think I can start seeing the resemblance between you two now; none of you seems to respect your betters?"
Loki felt a small chill running down her spine for a moment.
"My betters? By that you mean Gods?" His smirk was still there, but his red eyes had gained some coldness that didn't sit well with the High Elf. But Loki decided to keep poking the sleeping tiger in front of her.
"Who else? Is it because of that thing about a God wanting to take over your body?" she rolled her eyes. "Get over it, judging all of us because of one single Deity; kind of racist."
His smile faded, and he didn't need to look at the reflection on the bottle to know Drake also had the same expression as him.
"Let's see… besides her, there's also the piece of shit that wanted to destroy every mortal life in my homeland because he hated our kind, and let's not forget about the two so-called almighty Gods that actually managed to wipe out nearly Ninety-Seven percent of it."
Riveria narrowed her eyes. "That is absurd. Every corner of the World would have heard of some Gods wanting to achieve such a thing."
"And yet-" Riveria's eyes darted towards Loki, her smile also fading as she stared at him with intrigue. "I can't detect any lies at all. But what Riveria said holds, we would have heard about it."
He shrugged. "And yet it happened. The last event happened centuries ago; but you know how we mortals are, we never forget." For the first time, Loki didn't have any smart-ass comments to make. "Suffice to say, our people stopped relying on Deities, to the point we almost forgot about them for a very long time."
Partially true; it was more like the remaining Spirits had been imprisoned Four Thousand Years ago. People then simply stopped mentioning them as the generations passed.
"It wasn't until only recently that they started to get involved again. Even so, they don't really have any power over people."
"That is some blasphemous shit you spout." He smiled happily.
"Isn't it great?" Now he was just being spiteful. "Our society managed to advance so much through the years without any divine help. Society, Economy, Transportation, Technology, you name it." He snorted. "We even managed to develop a single vast network of information that anyone with a device of our creation can access, to either view or publish any kind of thing." He looked dejected for a moment as he turned to the side. "Sadly, most of it is full of footage of very explicit content; like individuals simply rubbing each other very intimately."
'Still can't believe only 4% of the internet is porn.' Luke thought.
'Still can't believe people find animated people arousing. I seem to recall something about an android's rear.'
'To each their own... also, 2B's ass is a national treasure' Guy's remark made Jude shake his head in disapproval.
Meanwhile, Lloyd could hear Flynn sigh. 'And let's not forget things that would make it into this cursed generation... like incest is wincest.'
Multiple Groans were heard.
'Fucking 4chan man' Lloyd maintained his poker face as Guy said the last part.
Riveria's ears twitched as they turned red.
She had become a little too engrossed the moment he started to talk about his people's achievements, only to be caught completely by surprise the moment he came up with that subject.
"Could I have access to one of those devices? For research of course." The Goddess said with a serious tone; intertwining her hands before adopting a thinking pose.
'Why am I not surprised?' She pinched the bridge above her nose before continuing.
"If your homeland is so developed and advanced, why leave it?" She asked with a clear urge to move on with the conversation. However, that only managed to gain a glare from Lloyd.
"… I will answer… but first, let me ask you; why did you decide to come here? To this city, to live the life you are living right now?"
The High Elf narrowed her eyes, not seeing no damage to answer his question; but she didn't see the reason behind it, either.
"… Because I wanted to experience the World after living in isolation for so long." She was summarizing it a lot, but it was still a valid answer.
"Me?" Loki leaned back on her chair with an almost mad grin. "For the thrill of course. Things back in Tenkai were too boring for my liking."
His eyes seemed to narrow further with Loki's answer. "… We didn't come here on a self-discovery quest." He suddenly started to say, his glare never leaving Loki. "We didn't come here for fame, riches, or any kind of recognition of being some kind of Hero," neither member of Loki Familia needed to know that was a jab directed at a certain Pallum. "We certainly didn't come here seeking some sort of Adventure… We came here because We were forced to."
Back behind the counter, Drake adopted a face of contemplation. Because he knew every time Lloyd said 'We', he meant him.
Loki raised an eyebrow. She was about to ask more about it, but Lloyd beat her to it.
"Don't bother, because we have no idea either. The most likable suspect might be the Deity that gave us our bless-"
"Can we please refrain from mentioning that piece of shit?" Drake said all the way from the counter. "Last thing I need is things suddenly becoming weird."
Lloyd deadpanned as he looked over his shoulder. "Says the guy cursing his name every time he can."
Lloyd ignored Drake's glare as he focused back on Loki Familia, who looked confused at the whole exchange.
"You say all of that, and again; no lies from your words." Loki raised an eyebrow. "But what about the Divine Artifacts and the Group collecting them?"
"Honestly, we are surprised about that too. Because last we heard of him, that guy had been killed." Lloyd said nonchalantly.
"Heard? Not see? How can you believe such testimony without proof?" Riveria asked, opting to be logical about Lloyd's statements seeing Loki wasn't detecting a single lie out of him; thinking it was probably hiding the facts behind his words.
"Simple," he gestured back at his brother. "He ran his blade through that guy's chest and saw him die; we even confirmed his statement."
"… That doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't it?" Loki suddenly eyed her Child. "Whatever it is going on, one or more Gods may be involved. One might have simply given up their time in the Mortal Realm just to bring that guy back." She rubbed down on her chin. "The only question would be which God did the deed, and when did this happen?"
'… Lloyd.' Flynn started, with a tone of warning in his voice. Because if Lloyd were to say Adam's death happened around one and a half years ago, Loki would be able to connect the dots about the first shift of power in the Dungeon that happened around that time, and then connect it to the second one; around the time Drake arrived in this world.
'I know, just let me cook.'
'You have cooked enough. Turn off the stove before you are forced to eat what you cooked.' This time, it was Guy that intervened, making Lloyd narrow his eyes.
'You blondes are no fun.'
"We honestly didn't want to get involved in anything big when we arrived in this city, but it looks like Fate had other plans for us," Lloyd replied as he prepared to stand up, but Riveria beat him to it.
"Wait,"
'Fuck my life.' Lloyd used his brother's 'favorite' words.
"There are still a lot of things we need to speak about," Riveria said, a smile shifting on her face. "Despite our bad start, and given the circumstances; We think this might be a good starting point for us to start working toget-"
"No," Lloyd replied in a heartbeat.
"Hey, I was against this," Loki said with crossed arms and an obvious scowl. "But all of us came to an agreement it was best to bury all bad blood between us in order to solve this problem."
Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "You are telling me Finn and the rest of your Familia simply agreed to that with no ulterior motive that may or may not be bad for our side?" he said looking at Riveria, raising his palm at Loki to silence her-
"Yes."
Because Drake could not tell if a Deity was lying or not.
'D?'
'She's lying.' Drake replied as he focused on Riveria's serious face. Not a single twitch or involuntary body movement was made; it would have been a perfect lie.
Working together while one side used the opportunity to get more information about the other; keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Not the first time it has happened, and it wouldn't be the last. Suffice to say, the other party could also do the same. But there was just one tiny thing-
"What can you, Loki Familia, offer us that we might need?" Lloyd suddenly asked, not giving them time to answer. "Nothing. Money; we are fine."
Every Guardian snorted; Drake still had plenty of money from his first exchange done with Tsubaki's help; and he had yet to exchange the ones in the shadows that had been accumulating since his first official dive to the Dungeon. Not to mention, Loki Familia still had to pay for the damages done in the Pub and Rivira and whatever the Guild decides to implement on them for what happened. And let's not forget the subject of equipment, seeing as the price for those was just stupid.
"Someone important backing us? We are doing fine by ourselves." He didn't consider Hephaestus, because in the end, she was only giving Drake a job, and the whole relationship between them was a secret.
"Prestige? Pass, We decided to start an easy life before the past started to knock on our door."
Riveria frowned as he continued, seeing the reason behind his words.
"Do you think you can topple this problem all alone on your own? Are you really that full of yourself?"
"We need to see what's his intention. If it is something that may endanger Orario, we will act. We already did once, and you can be damn sure we can do it again. Besides, let's be honest about something," he stared at Riveria with crossed arms. "Leaving contributions aside, what else can you do? Because I seem to recall Flynn and Drake saying how bad the situation was for you before the former arrived to help you."
Riveria's jaw tensed recalling the Monsters Flynn had called Grimm.
"That's not fair; they were dealing against a new species!" Loki shouted, realizing she got the attention of some patrons in the process before gritting her teeth.
"That is a child's excuse, and you know it." Lloyd took a deep breath. "As I said, there's nothing you can offer to the table that we might consider useful." He focused on the Goddess. "Besides, how do you expect us to work together when you still have to deal with your murder doll? And I am pretty sure Braver hates Drake's guts." He sighed. "Let's be real, there's no snowball chance in hell this is gonna work in any way."
'Let me remind you Celsius has already frozen hell over more than one. Snowballs roll just as fine in there.'
Lloyd mentally rolled his eyes at Yuri's mention of the Spirit of Ice; she had quite the temper despite her element.
"Boy… you are really making this difficult," Loki rubbed the side of her head in annoyance. "Had you all accepted, we could at least try to keep things civil between our Familias; that includes my dear Ais-tan and Finn." Her eyes opened. "This way things will only be tense between our Familias. Who knows," her smile spread. "Things might turn so bad we might end up in a War Game."
Lloyd narrowed his eyes, taking into account those two specific Adventurers from Loki Familia… No. The whole Familia as a whole.
Suffice it to say, his patient had reached his limit. "Do you know why we haven't done any real retaliation to you or that over-conceited Diva?" Loki didn't need to think hard to know whom he was talking about; remembering Drake also had runnings with Freya Familia. "It's because just like Hephaestus or Ganesha; you're all pillars that maintain this city together. And We are not nearly as self-centered as You or Her to want to be on top of this city; only because we would have to fill those holes ourselves."
Loki rolled her eyes, knowing full well why she was being called out now. "Again, with the Zeus and Hera Familia thing." She sighed in annoyance. "… Your words make me believe you truly believe you can take me and the whore down with ease." Her eyes narrowed, but Lloyd just ignored her.
"Right now, We live in a society-"
'Oh! I am loving the course this conversation is taking.'
Lloyd ignored Zelos' laugh as he continued. "-in which you and your whole Familia are metaphorically on top." Loki's eye twitched, not knowing if that was a jab about Freya Familia being the stronger between the two. "But here's the thing, we don't live by that normalcy you have set for yourself; with no one below you to take you out of your comfort zone."
Loki felt a sense of dread invade her as she noticed his red eyes start to glow; a feeling of dread that felt like she was in front of a predator threatening its prey… but the scariest part was the fact that how calm his voice was.
"We don't play by those rules. And if there's something I have learned from all of this, it will explode in both of our faces if we leave something like this scale up even more."
Loki's smile trembled. "Oh, another threat?"
"Threat, promise, advice, warning; call it whatever helps you sleep at night, but if there's another incident that happens because of your Familia," her smile broke, feeling a heavy pressure on her the moment his words were chosen. "The Light of [Judgment] shall fall as rain upon those impure souls who crawl in the world."
She couldn't explain it. But his words put her into a trance that wiped off whatever fun had remained until now. Not even the calls of Riveria seemed to break her off the trance.
This feeling, his words. She couldn't put it into words, but she could summarize it all into one simple feeling.
Fear
Fear of what might happen to her Familia if they would actually face each other.
She was no longer thinking about fun and games despite being on the losing side since the beginning of the conversation.
Because the image… the vision of her Familia being wiped out by a bright light from the Heavens couldn't stop playing in her mind. It was as if a dreadful sense of Déjà vu invaded her every thought.
"And just like you did with Zeus and Hera Familia; people will accept the changes after the events have come to pass. They will accept them just as they did all those years ago. And by the end of it, all people will say whenever someone asks about Loki Familia will be 'And they were never heard from again…'"
Silence took over.
Letting the words sink into the very deep of Loki's subconscious. She would usually laugh at these kinds of threats. But something about the words that he uttered before kept bothering her, to the point the Trickster Goddess could no longer consider this fun.
"… We're leaving." Loki suddenly stated, standing up from the table while Riveria looked on with shocked eyes before looking at Lloyd; his face remaining stoic.
"I hope you actually make sure she listens this time."
The High Elf scowled before leaving to chase her Goddess, leaving Lloyd alone before heading back behind the counter. Drake didn't say anything for a while, and just focused on cleaning some glasses before handing them to Lloyd. "Saves me the time of actually doing something with them… is what I would like to say."
Lloyd nodded, knowing stubbornness might as well be a disease for some people. "At least we can expect them to actually do something about that girl."
Both sighed as they continued working.
"Gonna leave that for later," his eye narrowed. "I still have to deal with someone else tonight."
Adam Taurus stepped into the Hostess Of Fertility a little past midnight.
His eyes narrowed behind his shaders as he focused on the counter. Rather, he focused on the person sitting in front of it; munching on some food if his ears heard right.
He stepped forward, stopping right behind Drake before deciding to sit one seat away from the blonde.
"… Seriously?" The Bull Faunus asked, seeing a plate full of Burgers.
"Lloyd went on in his brainstorming nonsense ramblings today." He replied, finishing a hamburger before taking another one. "He started saying, 'why is it that people from the East call Hamburger a meat in a steak and the other Kingdoms not?' His nonsense made me realize I hadn't had a good Hamburger in a while," his eye twitched. "Especially since people here consider the damn thing a bum in a grill with cheese on top. I mean, I would understand if this were the Far East, but it isn't."
"So you decided to make your own?" Adam's tone held clear amusement.
"With fries," he sighed. "The only thing missing is-" his words died down after Adam placed something on the table. Drake's eyes widened in genuine surprise, they even watered for a moment as he stared at a six-pack of red colored cans.
"Consider this a peace offering."
Whatever positive emotions were going through Drake's head faded in an instant as his eye twitched.
"Peace offering? These are mine!" He replied in a low annoyed voice before focusing on Adam. "Son of a- even what you are wearing is mine."
His black shirt, pants, and even the shadders he was wearing now were all his. All but the footwear, those were Yuri's.
"One and a Half Years, Aurion. We were surprised Tenebrae had access to the Shadows, and even more that your stuff was there. We didn't think meeting you again would ever happen, so we took them; get over it already."
His eye twitched, going from one of the cans before noticing they were hot. He looked at Adam, both of them glaring at the other before the Bull Faunus placed his finger on them to freeze them.
*tssSSS kr-POP*
He prepared to take a sip, only to stop for a moment to notice the Member of the White Fang looking straight at the plate of Burgers; he could feel the intensity in his eyes.
"…" The blonde moved the plate to the empty spot between the two. "My own fucking peace offering."
Adam didn't say anything, opting to just take the burger. "No pickles?"
"Obviously…" Drake replied before taking a sip of his cold Coke, while Adam took a bite of his food; both groaned in delight after savoring their treats.
"My blessing makes it so I don't need to eat food," Adam pretty much started thinking out loud. "And there isn't much food in the Dungeon. Not to mention that the only edible thing you had in the Shadows were sweets."
There was also the fact that Lett and the other Xenos ate stones, something he clearly didn't do.
"Not my fault that you don't have a sweet tooth. Also, you could have always gotten food in the city." Drake replied, pretty much finishing the first can in one go before going for the second one.
"As I said, my blessing makes it so I don't need to do it. Time was also another factor, seeing as I was kept busy a lot thanks to the Xenos."
Drake raised an eyebrow for a moment at the term he just heard. "The… people you are with at the moment?" He asked, choosing his words wisely.
"Aye." Adam replied between bites before finishing his food, preparing to go for another one. "Do you have-"
"Here." A small shadow was created on the center of the table before a bottle of beer came out of it.
Adam narrowed his eyes at the label. "… Soma's root beer… seriously?"
"Zelos and the Captain of Soma Familia are brainstorming with the name, don't bitch about it." The Faunus shrugged before opening. "Doesn't your blessing also prevent you from getting intoxicated?"
"I still enjoy the flavor… there truly are some mortal things one can't let go of, huh?" For Adam Taurus, this was probably the most mortal and relaxing thing he had done since he arrived in this World… and it was a little depressing seeing whom he was speaking with. "… What do you want to know?" the words that came out of his mouth were foreign to the people of this World.
Drake stopped mid-drink for a moment before actually taking it. "Just fill in the blanks," Adam nodded. "You and Ratatosk arrived in this World a little over One and a Half years ago."
Adam nodded. "My Lord was already fully conscious when I woke up. We didn't know where and what brought us to this place, only that there was an entity watching over us; with clear negative intent."
"Whomever it is in the bottom of the Dungeon." The Faunus hummed in agreement. "And his Centurions?"
Adam continued eating, clearly identifying the disdain in Drake's voice whenever it came to Ratatosk. "Tenebrae was already with him when I woke up."
Drake took slower sips as he absorbed everything Adam told him. How both he and the Great Spirit Ratatosk went up through the Dungeon floors fending off Monsters before the latter used his authority as the former Lord of Monsters.
"I have been confused about that," Confused was an understatement, because the main plan back in Remnant was ripping off his domains; especially the one that connected him to the World Tree.
"And I can guess why, all right." Adam snorted as he finished his beer, tapping his finger on the counter.
"… Seriously?" the blonde dropped his seriousness for a moment.
"I brought you a six-pack, and you only gave me one beer; ever heard of equivalent exchange? Also, aren't you supposed to be a waiter here?"
Drake twitched, heavily overlooking Adam's comment before taking another beer of the Shadows. "Let's not forget that those were mine to begin with… So, you were saying about his Domains."
"We will get there in a moment…" he snorted. "If anything, you might either be relieved or triggered… or both."
The Faunus could hear a faint spark of electricity coming off Drake.
"Easy… let's just focus on one thing at a time." Adam went down memory lane. "As you can figure out, what my Lord did trigger was the first shift of Power in the Dungeon; to the point, we had free use of the first floors. Of course, that action itself gathered too much-unwanted attention."
"The Gods of this World."
"Correct. My Lord could detect that there were many signatures of… 'Divine' origin on the surface while we were in the Dungeon."
"Both of you knew it was only a matter of time before someone went to investigate what was happening." Drake ignored the comment about the Divinity of the Gods of this World. They probably reached the same conclusion as he and the rest of the Brotherhood reached when he met Loki and Hephaestus.
"Luckily, another group found us first."
'The Xenos.' Drake concluded.
"Contrary to the other Monsters; these ones didn't have red eyes, they were also somehow equipped; some of them even had clothes." He snorted. "I recall preparing myself to battle despite knowing their hesitation… do you know what happened ne-"
"They bowed," Drake replied with an edge in his voice.
"… You really take the fun out of things, you know that? And it is me saying this." Tapped his fingers on the counter again, asking for another beer. "How did you-"
"Even if they are intelligent, the World still considers them a type of Monsters," his glare narrowed. "It's only natural they instinctively show reverence to their lord. And how else would they know if Ratatosk didn't have his domain over Monsters."
They glared at each other for a moment before Drake made a motion with his head; telling him to keep going.
"… They were kind. They didn't even know why they were bowing or even why they started to call him Lord, only that it felt right at the moment. We took the chance to learn about this World."
"I guess the information you got from them was fairly limited."
Adam snorted. "As much as Monsters in a Dungeon can get… but they actually knew a lot about the surface. Care to guess why?"
"Ouranos and Ganesha," Drake concluded easily. He already knew there was some sort of connection between those two and Ratatosk. It was natural to think that those Familia had some sort of connection with one another even before Ratatosk arrived. Adam's question just made it easier to connect all of the dots regarding the Xenos and those two Deities.
"Ouranos wants to introduce the Xenos to society," Adam scowled. "You can already guess how that would go."
People fear what they don't understand; just like they could not easily accept something beyond their common knowledge. Monsters with logic and reasoning just fit the bill in every aspect, making them hate them and rendering them unable to accept those intelligent Monsters.
"You related to them, didn't you?"
Adam didn't have a problem with nodding instantly. The discrimination of Faunus might have not been as bad most of the time as it was a horde of people wanting to see someone die, but it was still pretty bad.
"Remember Shakti?" Adam asked suddenly, making the blonde remember the blunette he almost scared for life. "She was the one that came leading a Familia Ganesha party… had it not been for Lett and the rest, I would have most likely killed her."
Drake understood. They didn't have a plan at the time and decided to keep a low profile until they had a solid plan…, and he couldn't imagine Ratatosk taking orders from a mortal… although the same could be said about Drake regarding everyone that thought they deserved reverence.
In all honesty, he couldn't help but think about a certain Blacksmith at the time and how similar his circumstances were to Adam's and Ratatosk's. Had it not been for Tsubaki's understanding and honesty about his situation, he would have most likely acted the same or even worse than Ratatosk could have.
"Achoo."
"Ignore her." Drake said, making another beer appear for Adam before he could even ask for another one.
"We used one of the scrolls you kept in the Shadows to establish contact between Ouranos, Ganesha, and My Lord."
"Guess it was because Ratatosk would have lost the authority he had managed to obtain in the Dungeon." Adam nodded. "I see… how did that meeting go?"
Adam groaned, recalling the God Ganesha kept repeating his name in every sentence. "Pretty sure you would have the urge to kill Ganesha after five minutes of talking with him."
The blonde raised an eyebrow, seeing as the only description he got from God was from Hephaestus; calling him insufferable.
"We came out clean with the fact of not being from this plane of existence. Ganesha was shocked, to say the least; he had never heard of something like this happening in the past…" Adam narrowed his eyes. "… But Ouranos… he seemed tense for a moment, stating something like this had already happened in the past."
Drake raised an eyebrow.
"He never went into detail… but I could tell by how his hands trembled that he didn't want to talk about; so we didn't pressure nor did we care." Adam sighed. "Despite not going much into detail about how we came into this World or what we did before in Remnant; We agreed to assist them and the Xenos in exchange for their support, and in exchange, we would help them in keeping the Dungeon in check; which was something that Ouranos appreciated the most, seeing he wouldn't have to pray as much to the damn thing to keep it somewhat pacified while we also helped with problems in Orario in secret."
"And that brings us to the second point of this meeting… you claimed Ratatosk wanted to keep Orario safe," his eyes started to glow for a moment. "Even if you were telling the truth, I can hardly believe that from the piece of shit that wanted to end all mortal life in Remnant."
Adam looked up at the ceiling for a moment.
"Be honest with me… what was your first thought of this city when you first reached the surface?"
Memories of his first day on the surface came back rushing to him. Remnant was by no means a hellhole, but it still had its deficits. Before their fight with Ratatosk, the planet was in a state of dying because of the exploitation of Dust: there was also the racism of the Faunus kind, something he could relate to Adam besides their hate towards a certain someone.
But Orario… even if it was technologically delayed in many areas, it didn't have any of the after-mentioned factors.
"Your expression says it all…" Adam said before Drake could even muster a single word. "Leaving the Monsters aside, this World isn't half bad. Maybe it was My Lord's influence as a Spirit of Nature as well as the desire to protect the Xenos due to his domains, but he decided to help this World in the end."
Drake narrowed his eyes, seeing the logic in his words. The fact that Mortals in this World were delayed in their advances and were not exploiting the planet was a really massive bonus. If he had to point out the reason for this, was because of the very Gods of this World influencing their way of thought. Things like 'Go and explore the Dungeon', 'This is the way to do things', etc. The people were pretty much following their Divine will in a sense, stopping them from really thinking on their own.
"And what if things change?"
There was a very deathly silence in the air because Drake could already tell Ratatosk's decisions would be detrimental to Mortal life if the planet started to degrade.
"… I suppose we will fall into old habits, them." Adam calmly replied before both took a drink from their drinks. "Now… as for the issue with the domains," he eyed Drake. "… Why don't you check your domains?"
Drake scowled. "And risk me triggering them? Pass, also what does that have to do with Ratatosk's domains?"
Adam sighed. "Humor me," Drake narrowed his eyes before sighing and closing his eyes. "Also… try to stay calm." Adam's warning went to deaf ears, as Drake had already entered his Soulscape.
"Things are going way too fucking smoothly for my liking." Zelos commented as he and the rest walked to the giant tree behind their council table.
"Are we seriously considering working with them? Because let me remind you, you are not the only one with grudges towards Ratatosk." Yuri commented as he eyed Jude's covered eyes for a moment.
"Don't have to tell me," the 'Mountains' in the distance growled loudly. "I am trying to be calm about the whole fucking thing," Drake replied with a scowl. "Let's get this over with first before we reach a conclusion." They all stood in front of the tree with Drake giving a few steps forwards before taking a deep breath with closed eyes.
"Jude, make sure to stop me if I accidentally trigger my domains."
The youngest Guardian nodded before walking before Drake, placing his hand on his shoulder. "… All clear."
Drake mentally nodded before his Aura flared a little; a mix of black and green was clearly visible.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Guardians saw how the tree started to glow intensively with a bright green before Symbols started to appear one after another.
"There's Despair," Lloyd commented as they saw a black symbol consisting of an inverted tower on top of a sun.
"Hope," a green tower under the moon.
"Darkness" a black Yin Symbol.
"Light" a green Yang Symbol.
"Balance" The Symbol of Libra sign, carrying a black and green flame in each hand.
Lloyd narrowed his eyes as he saw the symbol of a scowling face made of black fire, bound by chains. "Revenge."
"Aaaaaand, the Moon." Yuri commented, seeing a full green moon radiating intensely. "Ok, done, all Seven. Wonder what the hell was horny trying to make… see…"
Drake's ears twitched a little, catching the surprise and disbelief in Yuri's voice; something the Third Guardian rarely showed; this gave Drake a bad feeling.
"… What?" he asked, but nobody answered for a moment.
"Drake…" Jude commented, even if he wasn't using his eyes, the Wolf Faunus could tell what was going on. "I need you to be calm."
Drake opened his eyes and looked up, his eyes widened in complete shock and trepidation. He saw his Domains, moving in a circle in front of the tree… but below them, there was another circle; consisting of the Domains he had supposedly stripped away from Ratatosk… all in order to give to someone else for the sake of Remnant.
"… No," he muttered in Koine. He instantly placed his elbow on the counter to rest his forehead on the palm of his hand. "No, no, no." he kept muttering, gripping his hair in frustration while gritting his teeth while his brothers' words went to deaf ears.
"Kind of refreshing seeing you like th-." Adam his words died down, feeling not one but the edges of several blades around his whole body. "… Really?" There were no blades there, but Adam knew that he only needed to look at his own Shadow to see he was pretty much surrounded by them.
"Do you have any idea what this means?"
Adam's lips curled upward a little; changing back to the other language as a reminder to watch out for his words. "Stripping Ratatosk Domains so there was no way for him to regenerate and fade completely, all of this to strip his connection to Remnants World tree so another one could be born, with you as its core. Of course, you would have to give away the Domain over Nature, otherwise, the new World Tree would die without someone properly taking care of it."
Drake moved his hand slightly.
"Oh, it's been a while since I saw that look."
His hair and sclera had turned black, but his green pupils seemed to lack all color in them, to the point it almost seemed as if Adam was staring at an endless void of Despair as it gave him an inhumane vibe; the fact that Drake was looking at him with so much sudden calm and indifference made Adam fight every urge to stand on guard.
"Makes me wonder if someone else is here, doesn't it?"
Drake didn't reply, and simply stared for a moment before sighing; his eyes and hair returning to normal.
"Fucking out with it." Adam simply raised an eyebrow as he felt the shadow blades around him disappear. "You wouldn't come here unharmed and alone just to trigger me, so you clearly know something I don't. Stop fucking trying to trigger me."
Adam snorted. "We were confused as well, you know? When we arrived, My Lord noticed that his domains were there, although he didn't have full access to them at the time. Had he had full access, he would have been able to completely overwrite the Dungeons' authority."
Drake hated to admit it, but had Ratatosk had full control over his Domains, he would have been able to collect all his Centurions with ease. But at least that would explain as to why he didn't sense them while they were fully dormant.
"But it all changed one fateful day two months ago." The blonde didn't need to think hard to understand Adam meant his arrival in this World. The Bull Faunus snapped his fingers, "Like this, we started to lose parts of the Dungeon, forcing us to pull back some Floors while the entity at the bottom managed to siphon My Lord's energy, does that sound familiar to you?"
It did; the abnormal Goliath that the Dungeon spawned. "I seem to recall the Dungeon started to siphon energy again after Tsubaki and I killed the abnormal Goliath." He snorted with a scowl in realization. "I fucking saved Ratatosk from the Dungeon sucking him dry."
To Drake, this little bit of information left a very horrible taste in his mouth.
"Wording… but yes."
"And here I thought it was my anger that made that bitch stop, but it turns out it was Ratatosk domains."
"Oh no." Adam quickly interrupted him. "It was your rage all right. I would have felt the use of My Lord's domains if you did. As a matter of fact, you haven't tapped into them."
"And people say I should check my anger issues." He could see his brothers rolling their eyes. "But that still doesn't explain what might be happening in Remnant."
Adam narrowed his eyes at the counter. "Do you recall where Remnant is located?"
"The Center of all, according to Origin."
The Bull nodded. "Soon after you appeared, it was no doubt that the Domains recognized you as their legitimate owner. My Lord believes that's the reason behind his defeat against you."
"So the universe does keep tabs, good to know." There was no humor coming off his voice.
"It's actually far more complicated than that… imagine all of the World arranged like a hierarchy network with Remnant in the center. Now, think about each as a shared system " Drake's eyes started to widen after a moment. "Naturally, since it's a hierarchy-"
"- It would be normal for all of those in higher echelons to have rights over the lower ones." Adam nodded, seeing as Drake reached the conclusion on his own. "… I do not only fucking have Admin rights over Ratatosk's Domains, but those Domains were given to me back the moment I entered this world."
"… Sure, let's go with that," Adam deadpanned as he took another drink; he honestly had never been that good with technology. "Yes, My Lord's Domains given to you are specifically for this World; given to you as its rightful owner. Therefore-"
"The respective Domains in Remnant should be there as well, with their respective owner…" he sighed in relief. "Fuck."
"That still doesn't answer the question of who sacrificed their life to become the core of the World Tree."
Drake's relief turned into a scowl. "Oh fuck you. I have tried not to think about that since I arrived here, you fuck."
The Faunus shrugged. "So… now that, that is out of the bag… here comes our propos-"
"No."
Adam's eye twitched before turning his head at him. "At least let me finish, damn it."
'That's what she said.' Zelos commented, almost making Drake spit his drink.
'As inopportune as always.' He turned to the Faunus. "I don't want to be a fucking part of whatever it is you have going on with Ganesha and Ouranos. But I am willing to help you out with collecting the Centurions, under a few conditions."
Adam sighed. "Let me guess, one of them being unconditionally possession of the Centurion of Light?"
Drake nodded, figuring out Ratatosk most likely knew his way of thinking, and warned Adam about it. As for the blonde, he wasn't an idiot; of course, he would secure the one Centurion that could give him an absolute disadvantage against Ratatosk.
"And the other one?"
"A Contract between the Great Spirit Ratatosk and me; The Spirit of Balance."
Adam's eyes widened, clearly not expecting that one seeing Drake didn't want to have any sort of contact with his Divinity.
"Did you really expect me to let you both power up just like that? Get real." Adam sighed, before waving his hand to keep going.
"I want my things back." Adam opened his mouth, but Drake beat him to it. "And I mean EVERYTHING."
Adam scowled. "You are a fucking item-hoarding bastard, you know that? Can you please just lend us some things to use?"
"You had one fucking year and a half free of charge, bitch."
They discussed for a good couple of minutes before finally reaching an agreement on that subject, among other things.
"… dealing with you is stressful, you know that?" Adam asked, finally speaking Koine after so long.
"Says the guy that was obsessed with his Ex."
Both sighed.
"So, how long are you going to make them stay hidden?" The Faunus said in a louder voice.
"I didn't even ask them to hide. But I suppose it was expected from a perverted Elf." He swore he could hear some small laughs. "Come out already, we know you have been there since the beginning."
Tsubaki Collbrande stepped out from the entrance to the back of the pub, accompanied by Mia, and Anya. "I meant, everyone." He looked at the stairs from the second floor to see Ryuu, Lunor, Chloe, and Syr peeking.
"So, whose bloody idea was this?" No one hesitated in pointing at Ryuu, who twitched in return.
"So much for camaraderie." Adam commented amusedly.
"Nah, everyone in the world just loves to mess with her." he ignored her glare and focused on Tsubaki. "So?"
"Elf here came to me soon after I left, saying horny over there was planning to pay you a visit today."
Adam groaned. "I really hate being called that."
"Hate to break it to you, but she came up with it on her own."
Tsubaki cleared her throat. "As I was saying, I told Mia; who apparently knew of the whole thing thanks to a certain gossiper-"
"I was just worried for my dear co-worker, that's all." Syr pouted, not noticing Adam narrowing his eyes at her for a moment.
"And then I asked the three stooges to help me out in case shit broke out," Mia concluded, as always knowing the most minimal information and not wanting to know the story between Drake and Adam, only that a fight could break out at any moment. "Be honest with me, did you know we were here because someone couldn't keep quiet?" The Dwarf looked at Tsubaki, who simply walked next to the blonde to poke him in his ribs.
"Hey, you know what they say, if you sneeze it's because someone's thinking about you." She gave him a sly look. "You were thinking about me, weren't you?"
"Great, a female Zelos Wilder." Adam thought out loud.
Drake's eye twitched before someone else got his attention. "The hell are you looking at me like that?"
"All of this fucking time I have been stuck in restocking because of you," Lunor scowled. "And all of this time you could store things away in your Shadows!"
"Oh Really!?" Mia asked, clearly not knowing about it.
He knew Lunor and her group were looking directly at them, but Mia had been limited to only listening from the kitchen.
"…" he looked at Ryuu. "You didn't tell them."
Ryuu didn't reply for a moment before the corner of her lip curled up. "… They never asked."
"Oh, no shit you were being so smug!" Lunor pointed at Drake. "You will be helping me with re-stocking!"
The fact that Drake just shrugged made her growl in silence.
"Makes me wonder what else you can do nya~?"
"Oh, I can tell," Adam smirked smugly.
"Don't you fucking dare-" Drake's words died down, seeing how a certain redhead wrapping his arm around Adam, making him freeze due to being caught off guard.
"Now, now, Horny. Don't go on spilling people's secrets like that." Everyone's eyes widened as Zelos Wilder suddenly walked next to Adam. "Taurus."
"Wilder." Everyone could feel the tension between the two. "Was wondering if any of you would appear at any moment. Surprised none of you decided to take part in the dialogue."
"Adam, buddy! We have been here since the beginning, you know that." Zelos cheerfully said as he playfully slapped Adam on the cheek; his eyes suddenly narrowing in a dangerous fashion. "I am the only one out of all of us because I have less reason to kill you."
The Adventurers tensed, feeling an Aura of killing intent coming out of Zelos while he gave a sly smile. "Say, how are your horns? I seem to notice they grew back again."
Adam only stated for a moment before returning the smile back. "How's your sister?"
Drake narrowed his eyes at the two, ready to separate them, but someone beat him to it.
"Enough." Zelos and Adam shivered for a moment as they stared at Mia Grande. "Whatever it is there's between you two, do it outside; I am tired enough as it is." Mia said before she walked to the counter to see what Drake had cooked.
"Tch," Both redheads connected before they separated from each other.
"I was leaving anyway," Adam said, taking something out of his pocket before tossing it to Drake, whose eyes widened at a black rectangular object in his hands. "Before I forget," Adam suddenly turned around before reaching the exit of the pub. "My Lord and I made a bet when we found out you were here."
"See! We're not the only ones making bets regarding your life." Everyone gave Zelos a stink eye before Adam continued.
"Which Familia has pissed you the most? Freya or Loki?" Mia froze for a moment before eyeing Syr, who was smiling with a tilt of her head. Meanwhile, Drake focused on the object Adam gave him, so Zelos answered for him.
"The clown has two strikes. The whore in the tower has one out and two strikes. You do the math. Honestly looking forward to the next out, we are gonna scar her fucking face instead of just breaking her windows." Syr flinched at Zelos' words.
"..." Adam stared outside for a moment, his eyes narrowing as they glowed behind his shaders. "... Hey…"
"Ignore them." Drake suddenly stated, knowing there were various members of the Freya Familia surrounding the place; his eyes subtly looking at Syr for a moment. "Those Simps have nothing better to do." Adam hummed, stepping out of their line of sight after leaving the pub.
Mia breathed internally, hating every second of the info given to her.
"Adam… " everyone looked at Drake. "How the hell do I have coverage?"
Tsubaki raised an eyebrow seeing Drake extending the object; Drake had expanded it to reveal a mirror-like screen, showing up moving images with the touch of his fingers.
"Holy shit, is that a scroll?" Tsubaki's question went unanswered while Adam raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'how do I have coverage?' it's because…" his eyes opened slightly behind his shaders. "… You know what? I will explain on another occasion."
"…" Zelos just watched with narrowed eyes as Adam finally left, only to then focus on Drake. "… is that-"
"Yeah… I always kept the damn thing in the Shadows, so I am not really surprised." He ignored the fact that all of the waitresses circled around him, watching as he suddenly started to go through some images; some of them with Drake and even Zelos in them.
"Wait… can you take pictures with this?" Lunor asked, making the rest with the exception of Ryuu glint.
"Of course, they would only focus on that." Zelos' comment earned him a glare.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lunor asked with a scowl, only to be ignored as Drake went to sit again in front of the counter next to Mia, who was tasting some of the food he had prepared.
"Why does this taste so good? It's just a lot of ingredients between pieces of bread. Why haven't you taught this to May?"
"Because I like this place too much to turn it into a fast-food restaurant." Mia raised an eyebrow at the blonde, shrugging before heading back to her room with her shovel over her shoulder. "Make sure to clean this mess."
"Sure thing Shovel Knight," Drake said without thinking, making Mia look at him and then tilt her head back and forth; she actually liked the sound of that.
"Definitely better than Demi Ymir." The Dwarf thought out loud.
Ryuu approached him. "I will help you out."
Drake shook his head. "Don't worry, there are some things I need to think over; not to mention I am still kind of hung-" he stopped mid-sentence as he heard the distinctive sound of munching. He looked over his shoulder to see not just Tsubaki, but also Zelos eating what was left of his food.
"… What?" Tsubaki asked, noticing his twitching stare.
"…" he sighed in defeat, looking over at the Elf one final time. "As I said, leave it to me."
"Is that all?" Syr suddenly asked with another pout. "Not even a thank you to either of us for keeping an eye on you?"
His eyes narrowed for a moment before walking straight to Ryuu, only to suddenly embrace her; making Tsubaki and Zelos shocked by their food.
"Thank you so much for looking after me."
Despite the massive blush on her face, the Elf managed to maintain her stoicism. "You are doing this to spite Syr, aren't you?" She whispered in his ear.
"Oh, look who's learning. But come on, both of us know you are also enjoying this." Her mask twitched for a moment, only for Drake to gently let go of her. "There we go, a proper thank you."
"Good, now me!" The gray-haired waitress spread her hands, only to receive a blank stare.
"The hell do I look like to you? A hugging machine?" Drake turned around, waving her off as he sat between Tsubaki and Zelos; completely ignoring the 'tears' coming out of Syr's eyes while a still embarrassed Ryuu gently pushed her up; knowing full well this was just a tantrum, or more likely to embarrassed to say anything about it.
"… don't you fucking come bitching at us for your raising flags decisions."
The blonde simply flipped off his best friend before Tsubaki addressed him. "So… what did you speak to him about?" She saw as Drake and Adam made it clear they didn't want anyone but them to hear them.
But even so, she could tell when the argument got heated, even to the point she even felt something sinister for a moment. She wasn't gonna question him, knowing that was most likely Drake; it was natural to be worried about him.
"… I will tell you later… right now, I just want to stop thinking." He just kept staring at the Scroll, swiping picture after picture. She looked at Zelos, who shook his head and mouthed a 'later'.
"… Is there any picture in there in which you aren't scowling?" Drake twitched as he stopped in a picture with most of his brothers.
"That's a smirk, I mean an actual fucking smile; like a normal person." The blonde rolled his eyes as he kept swiping.
"Just skip to the last one. Pretty that's the only picture where I remember you honestly smiling." Zelos' comment was silently acknowledged.
Tsubaki narrowed her eye, watching closely at every picture he went through. Some with his brothers when they were younger, along with a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes that was most likely his sister. She noticed there was a gap in their ages, figuring out that was around the time Lloyd was supposed to be 'dead'. There were others more recent of Drake with two men that resembled him; one with green bright hair and the other one with blonde long hair. She just stared silently, seeing how he finally reached the final picture.
It seemed as if they were in front of a bar, with Drake wearing a smooth bartender suit along with Lloyd and Zelos, while the rest sat in front of the counter.
"We took this a day before we faced Ratatosk." Contrary to the image of a smiling Drake, the person she was seeing now made the best attempt to mimic the gesture; but all he got was a bit more melancholic.
The Drake in the picture was honestly happy, despite knowing his plan would work out; resulting in his imminent death. But that was because the result would have been worth it, and in the end; the people he was making the sacrifice for would be fine, and he wouldn't have to worry about them. So he took the liberty of smiling without any burden with the people he cherished the most. But now that he was here, at this very moment, he couldn't help but wonder if everyone was fine.
She watched Zelos glare, making a gesture with his eyes at the device. It took her a hot second to figure out what he wanted.
"Ok then," Drake raised an eyebrow before taking the scroll and handing it to Zelos, who stood up before walking back a little. "Too many pictures in that thing, and not a single one with me," she forced him to turn around before brushing her hair to the side. "So, smile."
Drake simply sighed, moving his lips upwards a little, making Zelos narrow his eyes before subtly looking at Tsubaki.
"You are not smiling." The Blacksmith suddenly said, figuring out what Zelos was signaling her.
"You have a bloody eyepatch on your left eye, and you are sitting to my right. You can't fucking tell if I am smiling or not; which I am by the way."
"… nah, don't believe you." Her left hand moved upward. "Let me help you with that."
"Wait, don't you dare- argh!" she pinched his cheek to stretch it, full force with the effects of 'Dragon Slayer' doing its thing as he felt every bit of it.
"Now you're smi- ouch! You assho- ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
"Two can play this game, you bitch." Drake replied as he did the same thing to Tsubaki, making Zelos smirk as he raised his scroll.
"Ok… say 'Fuck!'"
They did if only out of the pain each was making the other go through. But even so, even if it was not the smile Tsubaki or even the rest of the Guardians wanted to see… at least it wasn't a sad one.
Zelos narrowed his eyes with a smile as the other two continued pinching the other, watching at a somehow forced, yet friendly smile between the two.
He and the rest hoped things would be calm for a while… because now it was their turn to be the realists… and they knew things would only get complicated eventually… they could only Hope Drake wasn't gonna be alone when that time comes; in whatever form or shape it might come.
AN:
-So, this chapter was meant to show some interactions between the rest of the Brotherhood at the Hostess, but by the time I had only added 3 out of the 7, I was already at 10K words and I wasn't even on the most important part of the chapter, so I discarded most of them; I'll probably add them in omakes later down the path.
-Loki's talk was another thing that I had to rewrite. I tried to go the pacifist route at first seeing Lloyd's the one doing the talking… but it was too dull for my liking, so peace was never an option.
-' And they were never heard from again…' This was the "Game Over" screen for most of the Tales Of games, I thought it would be a nice reference
-Next comes an interlude that officially closes the Volume.
-Here's a small omake of Zelos working on the Hostess:
"Ok, ok, ok, I have another one," A large group of Adventurers sat around a table while others stood around it. "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish; I am breaking up with you bitch."
Ryuu Lion could only stare with a blank expression as the words reached her ears, devoid of any hope for the mortal kind as she saw the Adventurers laughing at the jokes one Zelos Wilder said.
They were still a little understaffed after what Bete Loga did, and Mia had asked Drake to try and contact Yuri, but the blonde had said his brother was 'indisposed'; the fact that he said this with quotation marks while rolling his eyes made Mia's eye twitch.
This was bad because they were getting a lot of patrons today. That's where Zelos came in out of nowhere; as usual. He claimed that he could keep the patrons entertained for a while while the kitchen staff did their part.
On the plus side, he was honoring his word seeing how all the Adventurers, mainly the male ones, seemed to be entertained… which brought her to the negative ones, his jokes were too crude for her liking.
"I meant what I said, I said what I meant; we are broken up one hundred percent!"
"… I can't find the humor in his jokes."
Drake, who had been watching the whole thing on the sidelines shrugged. "Not unexpected. You are too serious, and I have enough of his BS that I am just used to this."
"Now that's depressing." She stated, wondering if perhaps it was only the rhymes in his jokes. All of this is because she could not fathom the idea of breakups being funny.
"Hello, there little mister! I'm fucking your sister."
'Definitely the rhymes.' She thought, shaking her head once more before moving ahead with her work.
"Ok, ok, let's move on to something different," Ryuu felt a chill run down her back. Her eyes quickly moved towards Zelos, just the nick of time to see his eyes on her. Her eyes widened, recalling how exactly the people from Drake's land view Elves.
"Did you know that Elves are attention-seeking creatures?"
Everyone seemed interested yet humored at his statement. "The hell do you mean man? They are so stuck up and sour, you might as well just stay away from them."
"My friend, in a couple of seconds you will see what I me- ACK!" Ryuu Lion suddenly appeared behind him, wrapping her arm around his neck to put him in a lock before starting to drag him to the back of the pub "See! Take a look at our kind Elf willing to demonstrate all by herself!"
The laughs started again, all while Drake just saw Zelos asking for help before they disappeared. "You reap what you sow."
"Wait, not the face, not the face!"
Everyone winced as they swore they heard something breaking.
"Damn… Elves are weird, man."
Murmurs of agreement continued, all while Drake rubbed his face and Mia just laughed at the whole thing.
