I DO NOT OWN EMINENCE IN SHADOW, NOR DO I EARN ANY MONEY FROM THESE.

I only own the art I make

A/N : This was supposed to release last thursday, but due to some important quizzes, followed by the original chapter that had 8k words being deleted, and finally with me, being scratched by a cat that may or may not have rabies (Which was last Friday) and had to go on a multi-days of going every to get anti-rabies and tetanus shot(which i got yesterday) ultimately lead up to this huge delay.

The Anti-rabies wasn't that bad but the Tetanus shot literally rendered me unable to move my arms for a day, so drawing the illustration wasn't possible. Hell, I even finished this by enduring it.

My life literally had a timer for some time there, but hey, at least I'm goods now.

/—/

Chapter 8 : Strangest Meeting (Part 2/2 )

/—/

' Goddamn, kid is straight up ferocious. ' Cid thought. She'd been ferociously glaring at him nonstop even after he brought her back to Elizabeth's house. Straight up probably melting him in her mind with those red eyes of hers, like damn. Chill down kid, you're supposed to be my daughter.

Was this from his side or Elizabeth's? The Blood Queen had never shown to have such a bratty gremlin energy nor was she someone so aggressive, and he wasn't either. If anything, she acts too much like Claire… Oh hell, it's probably from his side of the bloodline cause she's got Claire's ferocity!

After he brought her lot back to Elizabeth's homely abode, Cid thought he'd at least get to play a bit more when his daughter suddenly brought down a whole ass bomb on him.

Like, woah, woah. That's one hell of a lore drop even for him, too many details a pain in the ass to remember and plot that he didn't wanna miss out on. And from the gist of it, it was this :

Elizabeth got stabbed in the heart with a silver dagger? Oh sheesh, and apparently his daughter said that she's now dead because of it.

That's weird because no matter how you look at it, he could still sense her signature. Albeit wwwaaayyy too fizzled out, he confirmed she's still alive after turning towards the direction he last sensed her. Not to mention, someone like Elizabeth wouldn't die so easily considering she was a level above Alpha, and like, damn that'd ruin the plot if she died and he wasn't on the scene - Though weird as he'll admit, it does kind of piss him off that someone just stabbed Elizabeth - Also, speaking of her fizzled out Magic. It seems to be slowly being suppressed.

Well, Now that he knew what happened, there was one question that came to mind.

What the hell did Belmo want? And what was the story here?

Because this whole final spy mission thing from Zeta correlates with Remilya's story a little too well . Did all of this come from a script or something? Did Zeta know about Elizabeth and Remilya beforehand?

Or was something else going on here…?

His mind gathered it all, processing each information and forming a jargon of shit to make the most asinine thing ever. The thing with this Belmo dude, Zeta's spy mission, Remilya and Elizabeth.

His money… And…

His money again… And lastly his money once more.

He came to one conclusion, Zeta had always been a girl of adventure and liked to give him things. She must've somehow found out about this Belmo(Who was he again…?) planning to steal His- Ahem, Elizabeth's money. Went on to tell him through what he liked the most, a plot.

An improv spy story at that one! With a good bunch of preparations as well!?

Well, he'll be DAMNED .

Now ain't that a good friend, going as far for all of this.

Or so he thought? Cause this might be a bit more of a serious case of robbery – Who would do such a thing!? – Involving Elizabeth and his recently revealed daughter. Because for some reason, he has a deep connection with his daughter and could clearly sense the fluctuations of her emotions swirling like a storm. Her miniscule and drained out magic trying to erupt into a fiery fire of destruction as she tells him her tale.

He was always up for an exciting story here and there but seeing his 'daughter' so worked up felt so weirdly uncomfortable, hey, at least that's a sign of him caring.

Hmm.. Zeta, Blemu or whatever his name is, Elizabeth and Remilya.

In the end, Cid sighed. He came to his own conclusion, then forgot about it the moment he realized it was actually a pain in the ass to think about all of it. Instead, he'll do what he does best when planning doesn't go well.

Ball it.

/—/

Remilya curled down next to her Best Friend, Rando, who hadn't woken up yet despite being 'healed' by John Smith. After she had explained everything to him with great hesitance, buckled and told him every last bit of detail that happened in the Manor or whatever.

This was practically another nosy dive or die situation as she wasn't completely sure if she could trust the man, she felt him to be trustworthy, her instincts, every last bit of her feelings told her he was to be trusted. But her mind had doubts, not after what Belmo did to her Mama. Perhaps it was unfair to be mean and pouty towards the man in the suit, but she still couldn't help it, she'd just gone through something horrible and that made her wanna vomit even thinking about it.

There were so many what-ifs running through her mind, made up scenarios of what could have been done instead of what actually happened. Something akin to a coping mechanism, she wished to have done something to change what had already transpired, or what could have changed.

She looked at her unconscious best friend and the state he'd been put to. She wasn't sure how long it would be till he woke up as she was no expert in any sort of field, The John Smith guy told her that Rando would wake up eventually, not too late but not too soon.

If only, she hadn't run to his house. They wouldn't have been involved with what happened in the Manor, if only she didn't run away from her mama back then… Then, would she still be…?

Remilya shook her head, removing that line of thought from her head. The cryptic masked man told her that her Mama was still definitely alive, alive but unconscious. As fake as that sounded, she wanted to cling to that hope. She wanted to desperately hang on to that belief that her Mama is still alive, if only maybe to keep herself from breaking.

On that note, who even was her Mama? Her Auntie was very secretive about that part when she'd always ask so she didn't know much about her Mama, she had her own silly conspiracies and theories but, what she heard back at the Manor…

"Blood Queen!"

It was nearly intelligible, but she could vaguely remember having heard her Mama be called that. Did her Mama have some kind of past?

Ugh, trying to remember anything from a few hours ago hurt her head immensely. But the title her Mama was called brought up some questions she wanted answered.

' I don't know if I had a proper conversation with Mama about that because of this headache… Makes things hard to remember. ' she thought inwardly. She sighed, no point in mulling too much into that, her Auntie taught her before that it's better to think of a solution rather than the problem — A conversation that happened once because if a small incident.

Wait, speaking of her Auntie-

"You've had a rough time, Young Mistress."

—Soft rough hands settled down on her hair, patting her gently as she was suddenly startled. When she looked, tired red eyes akin to her looked back, her eyes widened.

"Auntie Mary!" Remilya joyfully beamed, behind her was Mary who had only recently woken up, giving Remilya an exhausted smile.

"Young Mistress.." Mary opened her arms just in time to catch the scarlet vampire to come flying at her, she struggled a little from the force of impact but managed to endure it, not even a second later her ragged clothes were already drenched from tears. Mary grimaced, already having an idea of what had transpired, felt intense hatred for Belmo Ontrippofz and regret at her slowness. She returned back a tight and caring hug to her niece, gently patting the girl's head and comforting her.

"I'm glad you're safe, Did you grow a few inches..?" Mary spoke softly, Remilya mumbled some incoherent wail about her Ladyship and how she shouldn't have ran, Mary ignored those and simply carried the girl to the couch and let her cry for as long as she wanted, they were all at fault here, no one was to blame. Even if she wanted to curse herself for being too slow to help.

The girl later then fell asleep crying into her arms, Mary ran her hands through Remilya's crimson long hair as she muled about everything.

She'd woken up somewhere in the middle of Remilya's explanation of everything, but didn't have the stamina to get up until now. She felt her magic reserves be completely filled to the brim, but that didn't do anything for her fatigue and stamina which was both drained from straining her magic as much as she could just to fly all the way from that accursed manor to her.

Mary thought of Elizabeth, she grit her teeth as she remembered what had become of her Ladyship. Such disrespect and vile actions, that man had certainly done. Going as far as to traumatize her young mistress.

There was no doubt that her Ladyship is currently on a deep slumber just like before, a simple silver dagger to her heart is all but a deep slumber to her, not a permanent death.

If that dagger were to be removed she'd no doubt awaken in a furious awakening. Hopefully this time in control. The problem was how, the deranged cultist was a formidable fighter way beyond her capabilities, and the tricks of a vampire probably won't do well against someone who had time to prepare for it… Maybe if she received some extra help?

Her eyes landed on Remilya's unconscious dear friend, Rando, who was on the opposite couch. Her eyes scrutinized the boy and clicked her tongue.

' Even the boy was involved.. To this extent' Mary thought, she already noticed the subtle transition of the boy into a vampire before and paid no mind to it until she got them to safety, however, now that she looked. The boy was completely fine, way too healthy even. His magic reserves even increase multiple folds, it's as if he'd suddenly received a boost from somewhere and completely stabilized his vampirism.

But how?

The question came to her mind, the boy would no doubt be of great help but she abhorred the idea of making a child go to a life or death situation to assist her, nor will she involve the young mistress again, but the question remains as to who helped Rando to the point of multiplying his strength…?

There was only one man who could have done this.

Her eyes slowly darted to the masked agent leaning on the wall nearby. She didn't even see him appear in the room, despite her instincts he was still able to sneak past her. The man in question raised his head up and met Mary's red eyes, he kept his silence and simply stared at her.

On any other occasion, she would have been alerted by the presence of an unknown individual suddenly sneaking past her, even in their house unannounced. However, she found no need to as she already came to a conclusion as to who this mysterious person was.

The man opened his mouth to say something, however he was interrupted by Mary who closed her eyes and bowed her head to him, politely smiling and giving her respect.

"It seems we've met again Sir Shadow, I do not know if you remember but we've encountered one another before at the red moon. " Mary's voice was stern, serious as she could be at the moment, while staying respectful and sounding too non-aggressive. Shadow — who she presumed to be disguised at the moment — gawked for a moment, but she did not see this and continued. "The possibility of this happening has already crossed my mind once, and I'm not surprised for it to actually happen—"

"Eh? Wait what—"

"—And I must apologize for the disorganized appearance. Sir Shadow, there has been a lot happening lately, I'm sure you already know. " She figured of course, she was already awake in the midst of Remilya's retelling of what happened, every context was already there.

Though, Mary could have sworn she heard the man be startled, but that image was quickly extinguished as she thought that was ridiculous for a man of his caliber. "I already know it's you, no one could have performed such a feat such as stabilizing vampirism, I won't ask why you didn't completely cure him but, why now Sir Shadow? Why appear now?"

Mary opened her eyes and faced the man. "Perhaps this may be unfair of me because there might have been some delays on your end, but wouldn't someone of your caliber be able to tell what was going on miles away the moment Lady Elizabeth engaged in combat?"

"Uh—"

"No, no need to tell me." Mary shook her head, interrupting John Smith once more. "I'm sure you had your own problems to deal with, but please, do not shun away Lady Elizabeth for keeping Remilya's birth for so long, she had her reasons." Mary looked down, eyes resting on Remilya's form. Her hands ran through her soft crimson hair.

"I suppose that's enough from me." Mary sighed. Her eyes bored back to John Smith/Shadow. "My apologies for that, I needed to get all of that out the moment I saw you Sir Shadow."

She gently raised Remilya and set her down on the couch, letting the girl sleep idly. The vampiric maid then stood up and walked towards him, stopping a head away from him. "By Lady Elizabeth's tales, is it safe to assume you've already formulated a plan to deal with Belmo Ontrippofz and save her?"

And just as she expected, he didn't speak. Talking to such a man with such an attitude was a stupid idea, she thought. However, the bridled fury she's currently suppressing under masterful patience had clouded her rationality by a bit, causing her attitude to be so stern.

'" A man of few words when he's serious ", is what Lady Elizabeth said. I suppose she wasn't exaggerating .' Not that she doubted her Lady of course.

Shadow- John Smith then crossed his arms, before removing his mask and looking straight at her. Mary's eyes widened when he did this, such a nonchalant reveal of his face and yet he gave no damn about it.

"Y-Your mask." Her eyes examined those similar red eyes of his to theirs — To that of Lady Elizabeth, the Young mistress then herself. — and felt herself tense just from the intense gaze of the man, she hoped internally that she didn't just offend the man by having such an attitude towards him, nor because of her Lady Elizabeth hiding Remilya away from him.

Then finally, he spoke. "I have no qualms with anyone whatsoever, so worry not. And naturally, I already have a plan in mind. My lack of presence before was due to some circumstances I will not speak of."

Mary let out a sigh of relief from hearing that.

"However—"

Mary froze midway.

"I'd like to bring my… Daughter with me, if only to get to know her better." Shadow ordered…? No, it was more like a request.

Bring Remilya with him? But why though? Was she a part of his plans? No, that can't be it. Was him removing his mask and revealing his face a sign of trust…? Does he mean to trust Remilya to him?

Mary pondered about it deeply, there were some advantages to this proposition. For one, Remilya would be the safest child In the world if she were to be under his watch, not only that, it would let Remilya get to know her father as well..

The cons however.. Is that she didn't know if he'd bring her into battle, surely not right? She'd heard how considerate and caring he was as a person from Lady Elizabeth and wouldn't likely force a traumatized child into fights. And with a man of his level, no such dead weights would count as one as he's even stronger than Lady Elizabeth.

She COULD just let him rescue Lady Elizabeth by himself, but that wouldn't guarantee Remilya's safety, as well as Rando's with her. She's definitely recovered her strength, but she wasn't confident in protecting two people at once from another ambush.

What if instead, she watched over Rando and helped in some way that wouldn't get in his way, while he cares for Remilya?

Mary thought on it, and gambled on it.

"Sir Shadow, if… If I were to leave her in your care, would you please leave her out of any form of combat? She's already traumatized as it is, I don't want her innocence to disappear as it is." She gave him a determined look.

The man in question smirked. His deep voice suddenly became a bit, just slightly lighter as he answered her. "The thought never crossed my mind, so don't worry."

/—/

His ass was lying, he actually thought about it just to see how good his daughter was. But later extinguished that line if thought since his daughter was uh… having some kinda anime typa trauma.

Honestly that's just more lore for her but hey, it did sound wrong to get her into fights at her age — Even though he was already beefing with people at that age. — eh, whatever. He didn't want to be a dick so he'll keep her out of trouble. He just wanted to flex in front of the kid and fix whatever broken image he'd fumbled before.

Speaking of fumble, holyyy sheet. Was interrupting and ignoring him in a monologue a thing nowadays? This same girl who remembered to spit out badass lines just interrupted him twice, he just went with the flow because of the constant intervention. Like, he even had to remove his mask just to see the audacity of the girl.

Rude, he'd say. Dick move even.

' But uh, yeah. Operation save Elizabeth is officially a go now, Yeyy… '

After their little conversation, Mary went off to change into her classic vampire hunting outfit and smartened it up. He didn't even pay attention to most of what she'd been saying before, but he did get the gist of it. They gotta go rescue Elizabeth or somethin.

Like a damsel.

Oh wait damn, this is actually perfect. He'd get to flex in front of his daughter and all that, show her how cool he really was. For now he'd keep the mask and whole John Smith shtick so he can save the Shadow fit later as a surprise.

"When are you going to proceed with your plans, Sir Shadow? And is it possible if I may be of any help?" Mary then walked up to him in her vampire hunting clothes, her same determined look still remaining.

Uh shit, what should he say? He barely processed what she was yapping before and only went with the flow, it would be hella cringe if he fumbled again like he did with Remilya.

Hmm.. Zeta already had the role of a spy going around and doing random stuff in the shadows — Which was supposed to be his role by the way, but now he's here stuck on a quest to save Elizabeth.

Hey wait, that might actually work as time to stall for him to think of something.

He turned to face her, and created a blob of slime, the blog slowly turned into a crystalline. A vibrant violet hue mixed into its color. He handed her the construct much to her confusion.

"That will serve as an item for calling in signals." He explained, with Mary nodding. "It'll flare up violet once I transfer my magic there, once it does. Come to my side as I'll give you the next step of my plan. And If it does glow red, it means to initiate what I've told you to do."

The crystalline then became a hand bracelet of some sort, followed by yellow and black accents around it. The appearance of it was something akin to a hand support if more than anything.

Mary nodded, seemingly buying his stalling for time. "I see, then I'll make sure to live up to them then. Though, may I ask if there's something you had in mind for the Young Mistress." Her eyes traveled to Remilya as she asked.

"Naturally, reunite her with her Mother." He answered, that was pretty much the end goal here.

"I see, then. Also, as to when are you leaving to save Lady Elizabeth, when is it..?" Mary reminded him.

Right, he hadn't answered that one yet.

He stepped forward to grab Remilya and took her without warning in a bridal carry, Mary raised an eyebrow at his actions.

The girl didn't wake up due to his somewhat gentle carrying on her and faced Mary. "The earlier we go now, the better."

"—Wait!"

And just like that, he disappeared without warning. Leaving Mary shocked at the display of speed, it's as if he wasn't even there to begin with. She had her hand reached out, lowering them back once he disappeared.

"...I wished to ask if he could have let her sleep a little bit longer."

/—/

Okay, he didn't have a plan in mind and just disappeared without knowing where Elizabeth could actually be. His daughter was sleeping soundly in his arms as he sailed through the air, air resistance be damned as he used his magic to shield her away from the brisk gale.

That kept her from an incredibly rude awakening, Cid knew the girl needed energy to function later in the day, and would likely need a lot of rest for mental fatigue.

See? He wasn't a terrible person, only sometimes. Heh.

He even healed and restored his daughter's health and strength, maybe even boosting her up a little.

Just a little, he didn't want her to be reliant on someone else's power. The best kind of power to have after all is the one that came from your hard work. No bullshit potential or power abusing jumps.

Anyway, he needed clues if he wanted to find Elizabeth and revive her or whatever. What trace of her signature before was already gone by the time he left the house, that meant she's completely slumbering now — Presumably. — and his first stop for clues was the Island Elizabeth went ham on, and likely where he could skip everything and find her here. Directly below him was the beach Elizabeth had committed Hiroshima on — presumably an explosive burst of magic from what he can tell, massive traces of her magic still remaining in the air above.

Just as expected, she's strong as hell because this level of magic at it's peak was somewhere close to his first variation of "I AM ATOMIC", not as strong but it's somewhere in there. Though, it's weird he didn't sense this scale of attack way earlier, probably because of how distracted he was.

He did have a habit of being carried away, that or it's the annoying ass itchy bite mark from Elizabeth that distracted him.

While pondering, Cid couldn't help but look down at the crater in the sea and beachside left by Elizabeth.

"Hmmmm…" Sus.

Definitely sus.

Hmm.. Strange kind of sus, for some reason his instincts for the Holy Copyright Disclaimer under the Section of 107 of the copyright act 1976 is tingling. It's as if someone just committed a heinous crime of plagiarism.

Eh, whatever.

He descended down to the island and took a look around, especially around the beach and inside the Manor with Remilya still with him — Who was still asleep — He immediately took note of multiple things with his insane magic sensory capabilities. A lotta people here are dead, straight up cooked, Elizabeth's handiwork was obviously everywhere judging by the brutal deaths by being cut in pieces, as graceful as she moved, her scythe brought one hell of a slice to anything it comes across.

Then there was another trace, someone weaker who he couldn't recognize. Though it did have the feeling of being a little zappy , the weak kind of zappy.

Another thing was the ocean itself, he forgot to mention, was also embroiled with a shit ton of magic that wasn't from Elizabeth's attacks.

That was pretty much all there is to it. Elizabeth wasn't here nor was the Beemo guy, any traces left by Elizabeth was all but faded away now or being covered by the remains of her rampage.

He could just use that one variant of his Atomic Series to instantly find them, but that would rid of all the fun. Also waste his opportunity to act cool in front of his daughter.

While running around the surrounding area of the Manor, he felt Remilya moving in his arms. He paused his extreme usage of speed and looked at her shuffling around.

' Uh, oh. She's waking up so soon?! Wait, would it trigger an immediate flashback If she wakes up in here? '

Probably, he'd seen it a lot in reference medias back in his world where the protagonists would have this flashbacks upon seeing something remotely familiar to a memory.

Then hands get thrown, for how cliche they are, he liked them somewhat, because it gave him inspiration for other kinds of things.

Plus, those kinds of scenes were always fire. But this time, he'd have to abstain from his fantasies a little. It would be a real bad image if he brought his newly met daughter to a place of great trauma, he didn't want her freaking out after all.

Taking his thoughts of being a decent person this time into consideration, Cid immediately moved at extremely fast speeds via 'Serious Dash' away from the manor without shaking Remilya too much.

He stopped somewhere in the middle of the Island's forest where there was a vast clearing, trees were still prominent, but not that much. He also noted how green this forest was, probably because of it being generally some sort of a tourist place or a province.

Flinching from Remilya's sudden movements, Cid saw her promptly waking up now. He immediately went on his stupid mode and gently lowered her to the grass, with the help of his speed, he quickly set up an improv scene by throwing a bunch of chicken feathers he plucked somewhere from Okeanos and threw them high in the air, making sure they're dispersed and falling slowly in the same direction using his magic.

And with the help of his strings, he made a web-like structure high above the ground, high but not too high to be unheard when he speaks. After that, he stood in the middle of it, making sure he was aligned with the moon.

Okay this time, buncha badass appearance setup is checked. He's gonna make sure to cook well, if only for the sake of looking cool in front of his daughter.

/—/

Tiredness and fatigue were the first few things she felt upon waking up, the tired kind if mentally, not physically. She felt her body to be healthier and wwwaaayyy lighter than it should be, as well as her magic be more.. Potent? She wasn't the best in controlling magic, that was a fact, however she could tell something had just bolstered her already boosted strength.

She didn't know what to feel about that, her strength had just jumped in levels in just a single day, if she was this strong before that incident happened then everything would have been fine. Why couldn't she just have this kind of power earlier…

Remilya grunted as she pushed herself into a sitting position, confused as to why the couch felt solid — assuming that her Aunt Mary waking up wasn't a dream and feeling the soft touch for their couch to be fabricated by her mind. Remilya opened her eyes, and immediately had her eyes wide as plates when saw she was no longer at her house.

She was now in an open field inside a forest.

That was wrong, really wrong because she knew well she went back to their house. Along with that John Smith guy.

"A-Auntie?! Rando?" Remilya began darting her head around, hoping for them to be there, she felt fear creeping up once more at the thought of something might have happened in her short sleep.

Did the John Smith guy do this?!

Suddenly, her nose perked up at the same strange scent of the man. Idly, she slowly raised her head up to find where the source was coming from.

And here, was an example of the wrong time to fangirl over something.

Cool.

That was the only word that came to mind when she saw the scene before her. John Smith, the guy from before, was seemingly floating above the trees, suspended by the same strings she saw from before. White feathers gently rained down as if they came from the heavens, the moonlight perfectly giving silhouette to him.

It just… screams Eminence in every way, it looks so cool.

Just as reminiscent of the first time he appeared… Which was, literally not even that long ago.

Which she just realized she was wasting time being distracted, something that she knew always had a consequence. Remilya shook her head, cleansing the distraction from her mind and growling at him.

"Hey! What happened?! Where's my Auntie? Where's Rando!" The man looked down at her, again , just like the first time he appeared. "Why are we in a forest?!"

She expected the man to be silent again and not respond, but to her surprise, he responded quite quickly.

"So you've awakened." He lowered himself using his strings and landed on the ground with regal grace, his foot making almost not even a single market on the green earth. "Settle down your nerves, I have merely requested your 'Aunt' to bring you with me for a quest."

Remilya furrowed her small brows. "What..?" She said, in a confused tone.

Auntie did what?

"To clear your confusion, I'm bringing you with me to rescue your Mother." The man said with no hesitation, causing her even more confusion.

"Hah?" Okay, so first this guy says her Auntie let her be taken away by him to some random location. Then the same guy says he's bringing her with him to rescue her mama.

What the heck was even going on?! Everything is going on way too fast!

"Stop, stop, stoppu! Just, pause for a second!" She yelped, running up to him and pointing an index finger to his annoying poker face covered by a mask. "You, who I've met in less than a day, want to help me get my Mama back?"

"No, I'm bringing you to rescue her back." He rectified.

"That's the same exact thing!"

"It technically isn't, I'm bringing you with me. Not helping you ." He argued.

"That doesn't make sense!" She threw her hands in the air in exasperation. "You're just arguing something that doesn't make sense at this point!"

He looked slightly offended. "Child, what I'm saying is simple. I am not helping you, I'm merely bringing you with me to rescue your mother."

"And that!" Remilya fired back. "Doesn't make sense! It's literally the same thing!

She lowered them and looked at him with a serious expression.

John Smith titled his head and met her eyes.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He remained indifferent.

She took in a breath and gave him a worried look. "A-Are you actually an.. Idiot."

John Smith shook.

"I mean, why would you even insist on having it be different..? I'd get it if it was ego but it feels like trying too hard.."

He twitched.

"And where did even these feathers come from? Did you throw them in the air? You did, didn't you? I can smell your scent in them."

He twitched, then turned around before putting a hand on his chest.

' Uh, oh .' Remilya feared she might have offended him in some way. She swore she heard a very muffled "A super elite agent doesn't need help.." Coming from the man, but she simply played it off as her ears being ringy.

Not too soon, the man simply sighed. His incredibly heavy atmosphere disappeared as his voice somewhat lightened. "Look, do you truly wish to save your mother or not?"

Her glare softened when she heard the man's tone be somewhat genuine. There were just, so many things going on, too many things to process at this point.

Some background on her mama she didn't even know, this guy who her mama never even mentioned before, in her diary nor her funny stories, Auntie Mary presumably trusting him enough to let her be taken.

That Deranged Researcher, monikers and stuff she didn't even know, all at the span of a single day.

"I just… Don't know what's going on anymore." She mumbled weakly, turning away from him. "Just a day ago, everything was normal. Then suddenly everything went boom because of some guy. Now there's all these things I don't even have a context with.. Heck, I don't even remember being so fluent before."

It was honestly stressful, thinking about all of it. Before she could even spiral down again and break like before, she felt rough yet soft hands rest on her head. Her eyes widened, prompting her to look up from the man's strange sudden gesture.

"Then, simply know in time." He smirked. "That's what makes being young a prime time to be active, you've got enough time. Oh, that and a good time to start training I guess. " She heard him mumble that last part.

"You've already taken a dive at trusting me enough to tell me of everything that has happened to you, simply do it again and see where it goes." When he took his hand off, she felt a little sad and disappointed. There was definitely some kind of connection she had with him. "So, are we going to keep arguing about no error I made or are we going to save your mother together? "

Together, huh.

She looked at him and pondered deeply. What was truly his relation to her Mama? Why did have that scent with him, and why did he feel so reassuring?

Just like everything that had been going on, which made no sense to her. He also made no sense.

Truth be told, she felt terrified. Scared even, at what might happen if she fully trusted a guy she barely knew, her Aunt's judgment was something she always trusted because of how good they were. She always had that intuition with her, but her auntie trusted him enough to let him take her away — A part of her mind told her he might just be lying and took her by force to trick her, alas, she digressed.

If Auntie who was powerful in her own right was completely thrashed to the point of exhaustion against someone like that Bastard, and she herself wasn't skilled enough to fight someone of his level. Then what chance did they have to save her Mama?

Can she really trust this guy?

Could she…?

She looked deeper in herself.

She closed her eyes, then opened them. Her mouth opened to say something, but closed.

'Hesitance is defeat '

Then, she finally decided.

"...Right!"

Maybe she'll try it, like her auntie does.

Let her intuition and instinct deal with it.

/—/

Omake : Still kind if idiotic (Canon)

"I still think you might be an idiot though." Remilya deadpanned.

Cid felt another tinge at his heart and patience when she said that. Normally he'd never minded insults from anyone, but for some reason, her power of FACTS AND LOGIC actually wounded his feelings.

He just wanted to impress her damn it.

But in a classic turn of how Tsunderes operate, she turned the other way and mumbled something. "But you do look cool."

Cid perked up, feeling a warmth in bis heart upon hearing the simple words.

Okay that... Wasn't too bad, he supposed.

/—/

THANK YOU FOR READING!

A/N 2 : If you noticed Remilya being somewhat different, hints had been scattered around somewhere in the chapter. Of course, there's an explanation for that. Cid is only like this around Remilya, so don't worry about him being too OOC with the canon cast, the rest of the Damsel Arc will ultimately focus on Remilya and Cid.

Next Update : Path of Void

Alongside a new Honkai Impact 3rd Story, it's a slice of life/comedy based on our Finality Tuna.

/—/

If you wish to support me and my story making shenanigans despite my terrible schedule, go to my scuffed pat-reon.

I promise to upload every week or two now because of this.

Pat reon . com (slash) lanceron2Writes