Key:
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"Speaking, or in-text quote"
'Thoughts'
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Year 16 AL, Who is She?
Micaela slowly arose from slumber, her head somewhat foggy from the lengthy amount of sleep she just had. The blonde blinked her tired eyes repeatedly before realizing that she was currently sitting up and propped against her pillows. Looking down at her lap, she saw an open book lying in her hands. Micaela sighed, 'Must've fallen asleep while reading...' She thought, before raising her haze up to her bedroom window. Her face formed a light grimace when she found that the sun outside was bright and shining.
'...Great, slept in again, too.' The ex-Seraph internally complained as she reached over and placed the book on her nightstand. Micaela then pushed her bright green blanketing off before swinging her legs off to the side, her bare feet meeting the wooden floor below. Then, slowly and carefully, the blonde woman began rising from her bed.
Micaela flinched as just that small amount of effort caused her legs to wobble, spurring her to grab for the waist-high wooden cane she had resting against her bedside table. The Fallen Angel was able to steady herself and slipped on the emerald slippers she had on the floor before her. Wobbling somewhat, Micaela crossed her bedroom to glance outside into Enrika. She saw as various Elves mulled around their daily duties, 'Business as usual, it seems.' She thought with a bit of relief.
Of course, they had little trouble without her supervision, but Micaela still worried from time to time.
Satisfied with her findings, the ex-Seraph turned to start her "morning" when she suddenly felt something fierce erupt from beyond the entrance of Enrika. Whipping around to look back out the window again, Micaela found that many of the Elves had felt the same situation, the Monsters all having started to nervously look amongst themselves. The reason?
The burst of power had unmistakenly been Holy Magic.
'Has Ilias actually found this place after all these years?' She wondered, the thought causing great dread to afflict her. Micaela paused, taking a moment to feel for the power, to see if it was a presence she could recognize. Depending on what Angelic presence it was, the situation could quickly become treacherous. However, once she reached out and felt the Magic, she recoiled.
'...Lucifina!?' For a moment, Micaela thought that somehow her sister had broken out of the Sealed Sinner's Prison and flown to Enrika, but upon closer inspection, she found that this was not the case. 'No, this is not Lucifina. But it's very similar...' Micaela gasped, '...Could that really be...'
Micaela turned, shuffling a bit quicker to reach her bedroom door. Her heart raced, a great amount of anxiety now gripping her. The Fallen Angel had a feeling that this day would come and had prepared for it extensively, but she was absolutely not prepared for how anxious it would make her feel.
No matter how she felt, very soon, Micaela would be having a very belated family reunion with her nephew Luka.
She placed a hand on the doorknob before flinching and looking down at her particular attire. Micaela turned around with a huff, moving for her closet.
After all, it wouldn't be very becoming of her to reunite with Luka while wearing her intimates...
As the Former Seraph of Enrika prepared herself for the upcoming meeting, Luka continued his march towards the town in question with swift and purposeful steps.
Usually, the purple-haired boy would be attempting some sort of light conversation or maybe even stopping to take note of the flora and fauna around him, but not now. Not when his mind was homing in on this village. Luka could feel something off in the distance, drawing him like a moth to flame. Ever since feeling it, he had been going straight for it, even as the dirt path disappeared into the forest. Alice had been following in silence, watching the boy trudge on.
The odd pair finally broke through a line of trees, which opened up into a small field of tall emerald grass. Luka slowed to a stop upon seeing the concealed section of grassland.
His pale blue eyes scanned the field, the grass coming up nearly to his knees. 'This place...' He thought, taking in the sight with a widening gaze. '...Even this regular field of grass seems so familiar. How can that be?' Strangely enough, he could see the young face of the sealed Lona for a quick second, but the image disappeared as quickly as it came.
Luka pressed forward through the grass, his desire to find this hidden village growing by the second. The two kept on, reaching the middle of the field within a couple of minutes as Luka led the charge. At the midpoint, the duo reached a tall tree standing high above the grass below. Its branches hung low, almost touching the ground. Luka stopped once getting within a certain distance, his pale blue eyes locking onto the landmark as if in a trance.
"Is there... something special about this tree?" Alice asked, peering at the boy from his side as he looked at it with a strange amount of intense interest. She would've teased him about it if he didn't seem so serious all of a sudden.
"No... Well, maybe..." His eyes scanned all over the tree, searching it for some sort of clue. "...I don't know, let's keep going."
Alice watched from behind as the young Hero speed-walked ahead, unable to ignore how much more persistent the boy was getting. Even if it wasn't of much personal importance to her, she did wonder what it was that was causing him to become so enthralled with this place. After a couple minutes more worth of walking, they found their village.
"Th-There it is!" Luka exclaimed, pointing to a gap in a collection of trees up ahead. Indeed, there did seem to be few buildings up ahead. Curiously enough, the buildings all had a very different design compared to the rest of the places the two had visited on the Ilias Continent. However, Alice recognized the workmanship.
'Peculiar...' She thought, eyeing the buildings with a curious golden-eyed gaze as she shifted into her Human disguise. '...Those look as if they were built by Elves.' Just after the thought came to her, she was suddenly hit with multiple Monster presences at once. But just as they appeared, they vanished as if being concealed by something.
"...So that's how it is, then? Now those Dark Elves being here make more sense." She thought out loud, causing Luka to peer at her over his shoulder. He opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but the question never had time to leave his mouth as one of the building's doors opened.
Luka turned his gaze forward and froze in place as a woman walked out of the door, slowly pacing out into the sunlight before coming to a stop as her eyes met his.
She had very long flowing blonde hair, the length of it falling well below her waist. She was dressed in an intricate green dress embroidered with elegant gold trim. The young Hero spied a waist-high wooden walking cane at her side, implying that she had a bit of trouble with walking. However, the one thing that held Luka's attention the most was her face. There was no doubt, no question, he knew her face. It took him a moment to realize why, but when it did, it hit him like a brick wall.
Despite this woman's slightly different colored hair, despite her somewhat paler eyes, and despite how sharp her features were, Luka recognized with a very sharp gasp that this woman looked eerily like his Mother.
He mind's eye was practically burning the image of his dead Mother's smiling face over this woman's. There were differences, but it was clear as day to him. Luka shook his head, trying to force away the tears that started to build at the corner of his eyes from the unexpected splash of resemblance. He had forgotten just how much he had missed her.
Luka took a small step forward, as something deep within his mind began to unlock...
"A-Alright, just give us a holler when you two are done!" Luka's Father called out, ushering the young boy out a door before closing it shut. He chuckled nervously, mumbling something to himself.
The nearly-four-year-old raised his tiny hand up, holding it open expectantly. His Father lowered his hand, allowing the boy to latch onto his large fingers tightly. Luka gazed up at his Father with a look of curiosity, to which the man gave the boy a reassuring smile.
"Haha, don't worry Luka! Your Mother will have lunch done in a little while. There's just been a... a..." They looked back upon hearing the sound of a window being thrown open, dark smoke beginning to filter out. From inside, shouts could be heard.
"Lucifina, wh-what are you DOING!?" A woman screamed out, her terror echoing through the clearing.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry! I d-don't know how the fire started, I only looked away for a second, I swear!" Luka's Mother replied, her own terror resounding from the house.
His Father made a very strange and concerned-sounding groan, spurring the young boy to frown. Noticing this, the older man quickly waved off the clearly disastrous undertaking behind them. "...Eh, d-don't worry now, Luka! I-I'm sure that lunch will be ready very soon!"
They walked away from the house in a hurry, coming to the small field of grass standing before the entrance of the village.
Luka's Father gave a satisfied smile, gesturing to the field with his free hand. "Now, this seems fine. Right, my boy?" Luka nodded as his Father released his hand and walked over to the side of the field. He leaned over and picked up a tiny stick, something closer to a twig, and handed it to Luka.
"Here, Luka. This will be your walking-stick!" The small purple-haired boy took the stick in his left hand, holding it tightly as his Father continued with a raised finger, "Now make sure to have these when you travel, they're good for walking and, if needed, whacking!"
Luka silently tilted his head, not sure why he would need to whack anything. His Father straightened his stance, walking into the field with Luka following close behind. They came upon a tree in the middle of the small grasslands, its top casting a long shadow across the ground.
"There it is, perfect!" The purple-haired man said as he walked over to the tree, sitting down on the ground and reclining against it. "Yuuup, this seems like a perfect place to relax for a little bit." He closed his eyes once a light breeze blew through, his mouth letting out a loud hum in response to the sensation.
Luka broke from the vision, realizing that the tree in his memory was the same one he and Alice had passed by before finding Enrika.
The purple-haired boy found himself surprised as he realized he had crossed a quarter of the distance between himself and this woman without even being aware of it. He looked at the woman once more, noticing that she stood still in front of the house she came from, an apprehensive look on her face as he approached.
Luka started moving forward again, his mind buzzing at the sight of her.
Luka had to talk to her. He had to know who she was.
His brain was screaming at him now as it recognized that the presence he had been drawn to this whole time, was her.
"MARCELLUS!" A voice yelled out, the same one that had been panicking with his Mother earlier.
His Father gave a great snort as he jerked awake, his legs kicking at the air in front of him as the yell woke him up. "Uh-Huh, what!?" He exclaimed, looking all around in a tired haze. He stood up, pushing off the tree as he ascended. Luka looked at his Father in alarm before looking back in front of him. He frowned as something scampered away in the tall grass.
"Marcellus, I need your help!" The voice called again, spurring him to look towards the shouting woman.
The woman looked strangely like his Mother, but her face was a bit sharper and more intense. Her blue eyes were bright, their expression being worried as she reached the pair. Her speed caused her long blonde hair to flow behind her in waves, a movement that caught the boy's somewhat easily distractable attention.
"What is it, is something wrong?" His Father asked, trying to pretend that he hadn't just been dozing off. If the woman noticed, she didn't mention it.
"It's Lucifina, she's requested that you... er..." She paused, trying to find the right words to explain the situation. "...Help UN-burn the soup."
He became bewildered at the statement, "She... She burnt the soup... Again? HOW!?"
The woman put a hand to her face, "I-I don't know! But when I tried to help it just got worse."
Luka's Father gave a loud sigh as he pulled on his collar, "Alright, but you gotta watch Luka. I have to get there before it's too late!" The man started sprinting across the field, much to the woman's chagrin.
"Marcellus!" She yelled, watching him disappear away.
"Thanks, Micaela!" He called back, ignoring her cry.
Luka watched the woman he now knew as Micaela groan, her disposition showing that clearly something had gone terribly wrong with his Mother's cooking. Micaela turned to him, pausing as if she had just noticed him.
"Ah... erm... Hello, Luka." She greeted a bit awkwardly. The boy silently waved, not really sure how to feel about this woman. He didn't really know much about her other than that her name was Micaela. Although she seemed to be nice enough.
For a moment, Micaela and Luka just watched each other, neither seeming quite what do with themselves. Luka stabbed lightly at the ground with his stick, trying to do anything but simply stand in silence. Micaela followed his movements, seeing that the boy at some point had scribbled his name in the dirt. "Ah, you know how to spell your name?" She asked, to which he quietly nodded. The blonde woman smiled, "That's very good, Luka!"
The purple-haired boy smiled back, but again said nothing to her. With effectively nothing else to talk about, the two quickly fell back into silence.
Eventually, Micaela beckoned him with a hand. "Well, let's get going, then." She turned around and began walking back to where his Father had sped off to. "Hopefully by the time we get there, your Father would have at least gotten the soup into an edible state."
Luka froze as she walked away, anxiety rushing through him. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out as his tongue was seemingly stuck just like any other time he tried to speak. The blonde-haired woman did not notice his trouble, however, and continued on.
That was until he finally found his voice.
"Micaela!" Luka squeaked out, his tiny call making the woman spin around to look at the four-year-old. He gave her a pleading look, his left hand furiously clenching and unclenching. The woman's bright blue eyes widened in realization as she took long strides to reach him.
She lowered a hand to his, to which the boy firmly grasped it. He immediately felt more at ease, looking up at the woman with a small smile. Micaela paused, a smile of her own coming to her face.
Unbeknownst to Micaela, her name had been the first Luka had ever said.
Micaela used her cane to finally push herself forward, driven with purpose towards her nephew. There had been no mistaking it when she opened the door. His purple hair, his pale blue eyes. Even if his appearance didn't give it away, the Holy Magic radiating off of him in waves sure did.
It was something to be a bit concerned about, but that could wait for later. This day had been a long time coming, and she was ready to meet her nephew once more. Now, nothing could ruin this. Now, she could finally-
"Micaela."
The Former First Seraph stopped dead in her tracks, the all-too-familiar voice causing her to lock up in intense dread. 'No, no that can't be. How?'
"Micaaaelaaa... Come on, I know you can hear me."
The Fallen Angel tried to keep a straight face as Ilias's voice droned in her head but she felt as if her intestines were being ripped out.
"How did you find me, Ilias?"
Micaela couldn't understand how this could be. Her masking spells had kept her and, by extension Enrika, safe from Ilias for decades now. How could the Goddess have found her?
"Oh, I didn't do the finding. That would all be thanks to my adorable little Prophet here!"
Micaela's face twitched at the realization. 'Of course, she must've followed him like a beacon. Damn it, this can't be happening!' She heard Ilias's amused chuckle echoing in her mind.
"Don't panic, my dear ex-Daughter. I will allot you some relief: I can't actually pinpoint where you are at, I can only sense you enough through him to communicate like this..."
Micaela felt the breath she had been holding fly out of her lungs, the waves of stress that had been hitting her thankfully going away.
"...I can see Luka just fine, but everything around him has been blurry for a while time now. I suppose that I could figure out where this damned village of yours is with what little I DO know, but I have bigger things on my plate than your awful little encampment right now."
Micaela's face strained against itself, the former Seraph trying to keep her anger hidden as the Goddess continued. Luka, none the wiser, had reached the halfway point between him and his now distressed Aunt.
"What do you want, Ilias?"
Micaela shuddered as the Goddess's tone turned cold, her next words coming out clear as a threat.
"All I want to do is give to you a very stern warning."
The ex-Seraph grimaced, not sure what to expect.
"And? What is it?"
Ilias snickered at Micaela, an awful and mocking sound.
"Touchy, aren't we?"
The Fallen Angel was losing her patience, finally snapping at the Goddess.
"Just spit it out, already!"
Luka was getting closer, his steady pace bringing him to the last quarter of the distance between the two. Micaela felt her anxiety skyrocket at Ilias's purposeful stalling.
"You see, my dear ex-Daughter, I'm a tad bit worried about my precious Luka here..."
Micaela gritted her teeth at how possessive Ilias sounded when talking about her approaching nephew.
"...I fear that outside forces, like yourself, may try and sway his heart away from my Light. As you probably could guess, that just isn't something I can allow. So, I need him to remain as pure and free of corruption as possible..."
Luka was close enough now that Micaela was able to take in all of his features with much more clarity. His shoulder-length purple hair waved a tad around his face, but his pale blue eyes remained locked on her. There was a desperation in them, something calling out for an answer.
"...And so, I have to order that you be careful with what you say to him here. Especially with anything having to do with me or with his current quest to kill the Monster Lord. In fact, it would be good if you refrain from talking about any of these things AT ALL with him."
Micaela shook, anger filling her mind. She had to force herself to keep this from showing on her face, as Luka was very close now.
"And why should I? Luka is my sister's son and by extension, my nephew, my family. You can not dictate what I say to him."
The Goddess paused for a moment, but she replied after a moment, a sinister edge to her voice.
"...And are you prepared for what may happen to him because of your actions?"
Micaela felt as if an iron claw had locked around her heart.
"Are you threatening Luka!?"
Her question was met quickly by Ilias's enraged reply.
"If you value his safety, then you will keep your opinions to yourself! I will NOT tolerate his views of me being twisted, not when he is my last chance..."
Micaela paused, noting Ilias's particular phrasing. 'Last chance... What does she mean by that?'
"...Now, as I said, watch your words VERY carefully around my Prophet. I will be paying VERY close attention."
Ilias, seemingly content to leave it at that, saying nothing more to Micaela. The Former First Seraph stood in the falling out of the conversation, her mind a mess after Goddess of Light's threat towards her nephew. That anger was quickly offset, however, as the boy at the center of that conversation quietly spoke up and forced the Fallen Angel to take notice of him.
"Micaela."
She looked down at Luka, her blue eyes going wide at his utterance of her name. She had nearly forgotten that he was even approaching, but in her stupor, he had walked right up to her. 'He remembers me after all this time...' The Former Seraph thought, her heart swelling just a bit at the thought.
"Yes, it is me, Luka." Micaela answered.
The purple-haired boy kept his eyes locked on her, the pools of pale blue swirling with emotion. He opened his mouth, his tone somewhat embarrassed. "W-Well, who exactly are you? I know your face and your name, but that's all I remember..." Micaela made to respond, however...
"Oh, and do try to be as inexplicit with him as possible. I don't want you to be too familiar with Luka. After all, he doesn't really NEED to know that you're his Aunt right now, if ever. Consider that as extra added-on punishment for your sins against me."
Micaela's body clenched up, her heart thundering in her chest as her outrage grew. "I... knew your parents very well. We were good friends." She settled on this lie, fighting down the bitter taste in her mouth from having to deny her nephew the unadulterated truth. Luka's face fell, Micaela's answer obviously not having been what he was looking for.
"A-Ah, I-I thought that you were..." The boy bit his tongue, stopping himself before he said too much. "... Eh, nevermind... I just wanted to know why I recognized you and this village so strongly. I-I just knew I had been here before..."
Micaela nodded, "Well, I'm impressed that you remembered my name." She smiled down at him, remembering when he had been so much younger. "You were just a toddler when we first met, quite the adorable one at that..." Her comment brought a blush to Luka's cheeks, the boy having to avert his gaze for the first time since seeing her.
"You're being too familiar, Micaela! Remember, my Prophet's schedule is a busy one. I need him to get back on his mission soon."
Micaela felt herself grow weary, bouncing between alation towards Luka and bitterness towards Ilias so quickly was really beginning to grind her down mentally. The Former Seraph looked down at Luka and asked, "Would you like to come in for a moment? I'd like to sit down with you for some tea, if nothing more."
Luka nodded strongly, a wide smile coming to his face. "I'd like that..." He grimaced a bit, remembering something. "...Eh, wait, give me a moment." Luka turned, calling back over his shoulder. "Hey, Alice! Do you mind if we stay around for u u you goa little while?"
Micaela furrowed her eyebrows as she followed his gaze, her bright blue eyes landing on a tall girl standing a dozen meters behind Luka. The ex-Seraph had only a moment to think about how strange it was that she had never sensed this person's presence before quickly becoming shocked by the woman's appearance.
"Sure, I guess. But there better be actual food involved!" The girl now known as Alice yelled, stomping forward towards the two impatiently.
The Fallen Angel could not hide the surprise on her face as she took in how unusual this girl looked to her. From the horribly skimpy clothing that showed an egregious amount of her curves to the tattoos that covered the left half of her body, it was definitely not what Micaela expected to see from someone traveling with her nephew.
'What is someone like her doing with Luka!?' Micaela thought, the complete polarity of the pair's appearance becoming clear as Alice stood right next to the much shorter Luka.
Luka smiled nervously at Alice, wringing his fingers together. "W-Well I'm sure that something can be figured out..." He jerked, looking towards his Aunt with a bit of apprehension. "Th-That is, if Micaela doesn't mind."
"I don't..." Micaela quickly replied, eyeing Alice from the corner of her eye. The Fallen Angel began to have a growing suspicion of something being off with the girl, something very off. Nevertheless, Micaela invited them in. "...Come in, I insist."
The trio made for Micaela's house, a very unforgettable meeting about to occur.
The small group was now inside Micaela's kitchen, a startlingly elegant one compared to what Luka was used to. Inside were multiple hutches of fine China along her walls, and the blonde woman's stove was a large and intricate metal appliance. Luka hummed as he stood by the furnace, watching the pot of tea lightly whistling on top.
All of the boy's stuff, including his bag, Angel Halo, and his gloves had all been left by Micaela's front door, as he did not wish to carry all that stuff around while visitng his "family friend".
Micaela had wanted to start the tea for the three, but Luka had insisted on doing it himself even though she was the host, and they were her guests. The dynamic was a bit odd, but that wasn't the main issue she was having at the moment. Now, her biggest reservation about the set-up was the fact that this left her and Luka's "traveling partner" Alice to be the sole occupants of Micaela's dining room table.
To say that the air between the two was tense wasn't completely accurate, but it wasn't quite inaccurate. The atmosphere in the room just wasn't quite pleasant despite Micaela's attempt at being hospitable. On the table between them, was a small plate of strawberry scones that Micaela had pulled out for the small group to snack on.
So far, they had gone untouched.
The Former Seraph herself was sitting quite still in her seat, unable to allow herself to relax as she sat there across from Alice. Micaela fidgeted in her seat as the seconds seemed to stretch on forever. She tried not to stare, but it was awfully difficult considering the very strange girl she was sitting with.
'Just who is she?' Micaela thought to herself, lightly using her sensing abilities to prod at Alice. There was a very subtle remnant of some Dark Magic surrounding her, but it wasn't a malicious presence. In fact, it was only just as prominent as some of the Elves in Enrika were. 'Maybe she's a Human who specializes in Dark Magic? It isn't unheard of, though it can be dangerous. Even so, though, there's something more here, something I'm missing...'
"Do you want a hint?"
Micaela hardened her jaw at Ilias's butting-in.
"Not from you."
Alice leaned back in her seat as Micaela fought her internal battle, appearing as if she'd rather be anywhere else. Her golden eyes were peering over at Luka, who was working diligently to prepare tea for everyone. The disguised Lamia was trying very hard not to be on edge, but even in her Human disguise, she could feel an odd energy coming off of this Micaela woman. It was similar to the aura she had felt coming off of Luka earlier, which made it all the more bizarre.
Even worse the blonde woman was not-so-subtly scrutinizing Alice, her blue eyes seeming to not be quite fond of what she was looking at. Alice felt herself grow irritated, something that was not helped by the very eerie energy the woman had been giving off since she appeared before the two.
"Are you gonna just stare at me like that, or are you gonna actually say something?" Alice asked, becoming increasingly annoyed at Micaela's staring. The older woman recoiled slightly at the blunt question, a bit embarrassed to have been caught staring while lost in her own thoughts.
"My apologies, I just can't help but wonder how you and Luka met." Micaela said half-truthfully. Alice scoffed and replied, "What's it matter to you?"
The ex-Seraph frowned at the rebuttal but was stopped from prodding further as Luka called out to answer. "We met just outside of Ilias Village, right before I started on my quest!" Alice shot a dissatisfied look at the unknowing boy while Micaela mulled over the answer, still not entirely convinced that this was the entire truth. 'I can't say that I think he's lying, but why would someone with her particular look be around Ilias Village for? I doubt they'd even allow her in...'
Micaela put that question to the back of her mind as she turned to look at her purple-haired nephew. "Is that right? How long have you two been traveling for?" She asked, spurring the boy to turn and face the two. "She's been traveling with me for just a couple days." Luka said with a smile, "It was a bit rocky at first, but we've done pretty good so far, I think."
Micaela tilted her head at his answer, 'Just a couple days?' She thought, 'So he hardly even knows her.' The Former Seraph wasn't trying to be too suspicious of the girl, but she had a growing feeling that there was something awfully strange about this Alice character.
Luka started pouring cups of the now-finished tea and came rounding over to the table. He handed both women their cups before sitting in the seat on the side adjacent to the two. Micaela held her cup aloft in both hands, the steam rising past her face in long thin tendrils. She took a small tentative sip of the liquid as Luka left to retrieve his own cup...
...And had to do a double-take at the tea in her hands.
'Wow...' She stared down at the tea in amazement. The drink was much sweeter than she had expected. '...How can someone inheriting the cooking skills of Lucifina make tea this well?' She looked up to Luka, who had just returned and was now watching with great interest. The young Hero smiled, satisfaction evident on his face upon seeing her surprised look. Micaela couldn't help but smirk, "I see why you insisted on brewing this, Luka. I'm very impressed by the quality."
The boy blushed again, looking down at his own cup that he held in his currently ungloved hands. "Well, I don't want to brag. But I try my best." Micaela followed his gaze, eyeing the small silver band on his left pointer finger. 'Huh...' She thought, '...Isn't that, Lucifina's ring?'
Alice, who had already downed her first cup, watched the interaction with a glare. The white-haired woman quickly held her empty cup expectantly, "Oi, I need a refill." Luka looked at her with widened eyes, a bit startled by the sudden proclamation. Quickly recovering, he took the cup from her hand. "Here," He said, sliding his own towards her. "You can have mine."
Micaela frowned at the interaction, not taking Alice's rude behavior very lightly. She watched as Luka rose from his seat, leaving to fill the empty cup for himself. The ex-Seraph watched Alice closely, the disguised Lamia keeping her own eyes on Luka while she started to drink once again.
"You could be a bit more polite about it," Micaela said, bringing Alice's attention to her. "Especially since he was the one to make this tea for us." Alice's golden eyes narrowed at the blonde, evidently not caring for the older woman's criticism. Micaela lifted up her cup to her lips to indulge in another sip.
"A WHORE like her can only be so cordial."
Micaela nearly choked on her tea, her lungs violently coughing out the liquid that had gone down her windpipe because of Ilias's wildly out-of-pocket remark. Luka immediately rushed to her side, his pale blue eyes looking worried as the ex-Seraph tried to compose herself.
"Are you alright, Micaela!?" He asked, tentatively putting a hand on her back. The Fallen Angel covered her mouth with a hand, holding back her coughing fit as best as she could. "I-I'm fine, Luka. Just - erhm! - had a bit of an accident."
Alice snickered from across the table, unable to hide her laughter at the ex-Seraph's expense. "Can't keep your tea down, huh?" Alice asked mockingly, unaware that she was inadvertently part of the reason for the accident.
Micaela couldn't hide her glare as she eventually righted herself, placing her cup on the table. But before she could retort, Luka stepped in.
"Alice, that wasn't very nice. Micaela could've gotten hurt, you know." The young boy's telling-off had little effect, only causing the disguised Lamia to shrug. Luka frowned at his friend's behavior as he sat down in his chair, obviously not happy at how this situation was playing out.
A silence fell upon the room, the three occupants merely enjoying the tea that Luka had brewed up. Even the boy himself, being by far the calmest of the three at the moment, was uneasy as he began to notice how unfriendly Micaela and Alice were behaving towards each other. Luka sat cross-legged in his wooden chair, quietly wracking his brain for a way to approach the unstable situation.
The young Hero carefully reached out and grabbed one of the strawberry scones presented on the table, biting into it with vigor, 'Hmmm, not bad, but it's missing something...' He thought to himself. Alice, upon seeing Luka try own of the pastry biscuits, took one for herself. She bit into it carefully, an immediate displeasure coming to her face.
Micaela looked to Luka as he chewed, a bit of concern on her face. "Do you... like it?" She asked, causing the boy to smile. "Y-Yeah, I think it's-"
"Awful." Alice butted in, letting her partially-eaten scone drop onto the table. Both Micaela and Luka's eyes snapped to the disguised Lamia, who seemed intent on causing a scene now.
"A-Alice, it was not awful..." Luka looked to Micaela with an apologetic gaze. "...I'm s-sorry, Micaela. Alice really shouldn't be saying such things like that." The Former Seraph, for her part, seemed unaffected by the blatant insult as Luka apologized to her. She waved him off, "It is fine, Luka. Evidently, you can not please everyone."
Alice huffed, but stayed silent, opting to start sipping on her tea again. Micaela did likewise, though she kept an eye on Alice as she did, lowering her now empty cup and placing it on the table. Luka frowned, taking a sip of his own drink before noticing the blonde woman's empty drink.
He placed his own cup down as he offered, "Here, let me refill your cup." The Fallen Angel watched in mild surprise as he took her cup without an answer and left the table to refill it. Her gaze stayed on him as he grabbed the handle of the kettle with his left hand and cradled the spout with his right.
Micaela heard Alice behind her grumble something under her breath, but she couldn't focus on that at the moment, as something more interesting caught her attention...
As Luka refilled Micaela's cup, she sensed his Holy Magic fluctuate just a tad bit. She focused harder, noticing how a very faint glow radiated from his left hand. 'Wait, is he...' She blinked repeatedly, noticing how his Holy Power seemed to flow into the drink. '...Is he infusing his Magic into the tea?'
Micaela didn't know how to even take this information. Certainly, as long as Luka didn't know about his Angelic Powers, he couldn't possibly be doing such a thing on purpose. 'It may be that his Magic is just that unstable...' She paused, taking something else into consideration. '...Or perhaps his powers may never have been properly sealed in the first place.'
The ex-Seraph had never even considered the possibility. If this was so, then Micaela had to find out. But figuring this out while keeping the boy in the dark about it was going to be difficult...
"This is becoming especially dull, Micaela. You should start wrapping this up soon."
...Especially with the dear Goddess practically breathing down her shoulder.
Luka came to Micaela's side, placing her cup down in front of her. She smiled, stopping the boy from walking away with a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Luka. You're a fine young gentleman." The purple-haired boy's cheeks flushed at Micaela's compliment, "Th-Thank you..." Luka stuttered in response, rushing back to his seat in a hurry.
Alice noticed the gesture with oddly troubled eyes, her body coiling up at the physical contact specifically. She bit her lip in an attempt to keep herself from looking into the gesture too much.
However, this did little to quell her growing vexation.
Luka had just finished his first cup of tea when Alice made her will known once more. "Luka." The boy let out a small hum, looking at his traveling partner in question. "Are you just about ready to leave? I'm getting bored with this little tea party, and you need to get on with your quest."
The young Hero looked down at his cup with a great deal of hesitation, "Well... I suppose that you're right. We do need to move on soon, huh?" Micaela stiffened at the duo's words, not quite ready to let her nephew leave yet. However...
"For once I can agree with that awful girl. It's time for you to send my Prophet off, Micaela."
The Fallen Angel gritted her teeth, thinking of any way to delay the inevitable.
"Just give me a few more minutes, I..."
Reasoning with Ilias was nearly impossible, so Micaela would have to use Ilias's own biases against her.
"...I want to help Luka with something. So that he can be better protected from Monsters."
Ilias paused, taking Micaela's words into consideration before giving her answer.
"So be it... but make it swift. Luka's been there long enough."
Micaela didn't hesitate to take action. She rose from her seat as Luka and Alice did, raising her voice as she looked at the boy. "Before you leave, Luka. Do you mind if we could speak... alone?" The boy, for his part, looked to Micaela in surprise. Alice, however, became much more suspicious.
"Why exactly would you need to do that?" Alice nearly hissed in question, her displeasure practically clawing out. Micaela didn't back down, meeting her gaze as Luka looked on in confusion. "It has to be private because..." The hand Micaela had on her cane twitched a bit as she hurriedly conjured up an excuse. "...Because what I want to show him is one of my family's techniques. So it needs to be well-guarded."
"Really?" Luka asked, immediately perking up at Micaela's words, but this explanation seemed to make a certain disguised Monster Lord even more suspicious.
"I've never heard of Humans having family techniques." The disguised Lamia crossed her arms as her glare intensified. "Either way, I can't see how it could be very impressive or helpful." Micaela kept herself calm despite Alice's dismissive words. Luka turned and looked at Alice with wide eyes, seeming to disagree with his traveling partner. "But anything helps, doesn't it? As long as it helps to make me a better Hero!"
Micaela was able to ignore Alice's very obvious insult, finding it much more interesting to watch as the odd pair stared at each other for a moment, a silent battle of wills going on between them. Luka looked up to Alice with near puppy-dog-level begging, while Alice looked down with an unimpressed scowl on her face. Micaela was sure that the taller girl would complain about the idea once more, but that did not happen.
To Micaela's surprise, Alice relented.
The white-haired girl sighed, drumming her fingers on her arm. "Fine, just be quick about it, so we can leave already..." Alice paused, most of the irritation disappearing from her face. "... But you'll owe me for this."
The onlooking Seraph blinked at the sight, suddenly seeing quite clearly how this dynamic worked. Micaela couldn't help but smirk at her own realization, 'It seems that Luka inherited Marcellus's charm. Though in more of an innocent endearing manner rather than his Father's sly mischievousness.' A brief but biting pang of sadness hit her upon thinking of Marcellus, 'If only he had gotten to see that for himself, I'm sure he'd be proud...'
Micaela sighed, unable to rid herself of that particular regret.
"Hey, Micaela, are you alright?" The sound of her nephew's voice took her away from those somber thoughts. She found the boy standing before her, a concerned look in his gaze. The ex-Seraph offered a nod, "Oh, I'm fine, I just caught up in my own head for a moment." She moved to grab her cane and used the handicap to push herself towards her staircase.
"Follow me." She said over her shoulder. Luka followed, eyeing the woman's handicap with worried interest. Meanwhile, Alice watched them both, a frown settling on her face.
The Aunt and Nephew pair arrived at the older woman's bedroom, a destination that the young Hero was finding himself growing nervous about. Not to say that he necessarily expected anything of that nature to happen, but since he had no clue of his relation to this woman, it was a source of worry for him...
...Especially since the last time he was in this type of predicament, he had found himself forced to become intimate with what was essentially a stranger.
However, he shoved those worries aside, 'That's just ridiculous! I mean, who could have that type of attraction to someone they knew of as a young child? That'd just be... disturbing...' Luka thought, blissfully unaware of how many could currently be classified under such an upsetting statistic.
Once they entered Micaela's bedroom, the young Hero right from the start how pristine the room was. It was simple yet held an elegance to it that matched the woman quite well. From the long flowing emerald draperies to the matching throw rug with gold trim...
...And the bright green bed covering...
...Luka didn't have to guess what the woman's favorite color might be.
The purple-haired boy's eyes were drawn to a small bedside table standing between the bed and the doorway, a small blue book sitting on top. There was a bookmark in the middle of the pages, signifying that Micaela had been reading it. Luka craned his neck ever so slightly, peering down to read the title, when-
"H-Hey!" Micaela rushed over, slapping a hand over the book. Just as fast, she ripped open the drawer of the table and shoved the book inside. The boy recoiled back, his wide eyes meeting Micaela's suddenly red face. "That's... private." The woman said nothing more, and her flush drained from her face with an even more impressive speed than her movements had been.
Luka bowed his head with a touch of shame, "S-Sorry. I didn't mean to snoop..." The boy apologized, though the sentiment didn't help in alleviating his embarrassment.
"It's fine... Just don't do it again... ever." Micaela said slowly while stepping away from the bedside table. "Now, I will teach you my family's technique." She said pointedly once more as she moved to close the bright emerald curtains hanging around her windows. She then stood in the middle of the room before Luka, beckoning him to step closer.
"Now this..." Micaela said as Luka got within a meter of the woman, "...Is a primarily defensive spell but you'll find that good defense will be needed for your journey."
The Fallen Angel subtly poured more power into her masking spell, intent on keeping her power usage as undetectable as possible, especially to the suspicious girl downstairs.
Luka's subconscious could feel the rise in Magic in the air, the sensation feeling like a calming fog around him. He furrowed his brows for a moment, 'That's weird, it almost reminds me of... Heaven...'
Micaela folded her hands together as if to pray, and the feeling of her aura grew stronger as the Former Seraph's Magic continued to intensify. A small bead of sweat came to her brow, the woman not having been to use so much Magic for a long time now. 'Damn, I'm getting rusty...' She lamented as she felt her dress and hair start to float and billow around her. Luka watched on in awe, as Micaela opened her mouth to utter:
"Shield of Heaven."
Instantly, a translucent golden dome surrounded Micaela, the entire length of the barrier extending a meter around her. Luka stood shocked before Micaela, his pale blue eyes shining at the sight before him. "Wow..." He whispered.
"Like I said, Shield of Heaven is a defensive technique. It serves as a barrier between you and everything outside of it." Micaela nodded at him, "The more Magic you pour into it, the stronger it'll become. Though I'd advise not to stress-test it too much, or else you'll wear yourself out. That, and the barrier works both ways. No attacks go in or out."
The Fallen Angel dropped her hands, the shield dropping with the movement. Slowly, the Magic that had filled the air began to dissipate. Micaela stepped towards him slowly, "It isn't infallible, but it will help keep you safe from an opponent that packs a particularly hard punch, especially if you don't think you can evade them otherwise."
Luka shuddered, the image of Granberia filling his mind as a very stern reminder that there were Monsters stronger and faster than him.
"Y-Yeah, I get what you mean." He stuttered out.
Micaela nodded at him again, "Now, you try. Mirror my movements and gather your Magic together." Luka did so quickly, shuffling to stabilize his stance and fold his hands together. He breathed steadily as he called upon his Magic, feeling something similar to when he prepared Demon Decapitation. The air thickened again, this time with Luka's own Magic.
Micaela silently observed as Luka's Magic started to collect in the air around him, but unlike the calmness of the Fallen Angel's Magic, there was something more erratic about Luka's. Micaela looked on with a growing worry as the boy's aura flittered and crackled in the air. The blonde-haired woman frowned as Luka grimaced, his left arm developing a noticeable twitch.
'His powers definitely seem to be more chaotic...' She mused, '...I wonder if that's because he's only part Angel.' Then, Luka repeated Micaela's words.
"Shield of Heaven."
Micaela jumped as a dome of bright white translucent light surrounded Luka. Her blue eyes looked over his attempt at the spell, her worry turning into full-blown anxiety now. Because, while he had performed the spell correctly...
...The effects did not look very safe.
His barrier was very walls of his dome were vibrating, almost as if they would fall apart at any moment. At random, tiny streams of white light would flare out and curve away from the barrier before falling right back toward the dome. The inside seemed even worse, as random sparks of energy started to shoot through the inside. Micaela jerked back as one shot at the wall of the dome and reflected back to fly past Luka, who was beginning to look very strained.
"H-H-Hey M-Micaela..." Luka hissed out, his voice wavering. "...I-Is this technique s-suppose to hurt?" The Fallen Angel locked onto the boy upon hearing his startling question.
She took a step forward, a great amount of concern now filling her mind. "No, no, it is not. Luka, release the barrier!" The purple-haired Hero did so immediately, the dome vanishing as the Light scattered around into the air. As soon as he had dropped the shield, he cradled his left arm tight to his body. Micaela rushed to his side, "Here, come sit down."
The Fallen Angel pulled her nephew to her bed, sitting him down on the edge. Luka shook in her grasp as he stifled his own moans of pain. Micaela looked him over, a great deal of guilt now hitting her as the technique she showed him was backfiring on the boy. "Here," She said, lightly grabbing for his left arm. "Let me see it."
Luka gingerly held the arm out for Micaela, who very quickly was able to make a very startling discovery as she pulled back his sleeve.
The skin of Luka's arm was a deep red and felt hot to the touch, so much so that Micaela had nearly had to pull back upon first touching it. She looked up and down the limb in worry, noticing that a good deal of Magic was shooting up and down the arm.
Looking down at Luka's hand, she found that it seemed to be the area where much of the chaotic nature of his Holy Magic was emanating from. And from there, most of the destabilized Magic seemed to congregate at his left pointer finger. Micaela refocused her eyes on the finger, noticing the silver band that seemed to glow with his Angelic Power.
'All of his Magic is centered around Lucifina's ring? But why...' The Former Seraph's eyes widened, finally realizing the true nature of the ring once she realized that Magic was both running to it and away from it.. '...Unless this is what's supposed to be sealing his powers!' She gently ran her hand down his arm, before pulling his hand up to her face. Luka seemed to be in a daze, only halfway aware of what Micaela was doing.
The Former Seraph inspected the ring closely, seeing that a significant crack had been forming in its side. 'This must be why his Magic is so unbalanced, the seal may not be working correctly...' Micaela glanced up to Luka, who was looking much worse for wear, his forehead clammy with sweat and his eyes unfocused. The ex-Angel felt a twinge of guilt at the display, but quickly pushed away the feeling. '...It's better that he has this reaction here, if I hadn't caught this than his powers would've become a more dangerous issue later on.'
"I may be able to fix this," Micaela said as she began removing the ring from his finger, "After that, you shouldn't have so much issue with using Magic." Luka raised a brow at the act, not understanding what she meant. But the poor boy couldn't muster the energy to prod into the older woman's actions. She successfully removed the ring, before lightly guiding the boy to lie down on her bed.
"Rest for a moment, while I fix this..." Micaela said, helping the boy to rest his head on her bright green sheets and pillows. Luka gave no resistance, his head feeling like it was full of fog as the strange fever-like affliction that had a hold of him was reaching a fever pitch.
Micaela heard him moan as she stepped away, a sound that wrenched her heart all the more. But she couldn't go comfort him now, she needed to fix the ring.
"What are you up to, Micaela?"
The Fallen Angel sighed at Ilias's continuous prodding, before offering what, in her mind, should be the obvious answer.
"Fixing Luka's seal. The one Lucifina gave to him seems to not be sufficient for his needs."
Ilias gave an annoyed sigh.
"I suppose I can allow for that, but... Hmm?"
It seemed as if Ilias was going to continue, but something seemed to stop her from complaining at the constant stalling on Micaela's end.
"Oh... that's quite interesting..."
Ilias's comment caused Micaela's face to scrunch up, but she opted to ignore the Goddess's strange behavior as she sat down at the desk in her room, placing the ring in front of her. Idly, she felt how Luka's aura began to fill the room. It felt all the more erratic as it was now free to move around without the seal, something that only made Micaela all the more worried.
Meanwhile, while his Aunt worked fervently to fix the ring, Luka lay in her bed in a daze. His entire body felt like it was burning up, almost as if he was lying outside in the sun. His eyelids flicked, suddenly feeling very heavy. 'It was just one spell, did really take that much out of me?' He thought before he eventually allowed his eyelids to shut.
He remained still on the bed and allowed the soreness and burning to simply be, as he couldn't muster much strength to move much. Luka lay there with his eyes closed, merely listening to his own breathing. From time to time, he could hear Micaela mutter something, but she sounded so far away now...
...Luka's eyebrows narrowed as he slowly became aware of something, or rather, a sensation going off in his head.
In his mind, Luka could begin to hear a dull humming noise. He focused on this sound, listening very closely to the very peculiar noise. As he listened more carefully, he found that it wasn't just a single humming noise, but actually a whole conglomeration of many different-pitched hums that went off by themselves. The boy listened curiously as one hum would go off, and then another different-sounding hum would sound off right after. So many of these different hums sang out at the same time, making it hard to tell the difference between them. But he had no doubt that they were moving in response to each other.
'Huh, it's like they're communicating...' He thought off-handedly before he started to listen closer to the noise in his head.
The purple-haired boy's Magic began to come back to him as he focused on the humming, and he eventually could tell how they vibrated differently from each other. Some were quick and sporadic, while others were long and melodious. Many of them were light and high-pitched, but some were heavy and lower in tone. Without necessarily meaning to, Luka started to reach out to these sensations with his Magic, which caused the way he perceived the noises to change.
The humming became clearer in Luka's head, making it to where he could register different noises within the hums themselves. More and more, he began to feel as if this wasn't just some idle noise. It felt more intelligent than that, more sentient. It had to be with how intricate it was flowing and reacting.
Suddenly, some instinctual movement was spurred on by his increasing use of his Holy Magic. Luka, with his eyes still closed, slowly folded his hands together on his chest. The power flowing through the air around him converged back even quicker and strengthened his connection to the humming. The various sounds grew louder in his head as he reached out to them, almost as if they were replying to him.
Now, instead of just humming, it sounded like muffled speech. He still couldn't quite understand it, but he was getting close.
At the back of his somewhat fevered mind, Luka felt as though he might be messing with something he ought not to, but his innocent curiosity was getting the best of him. And so, he went to reach out to the sound again. This time, with his mind as well as his Magic. And so, he called out to the void.
"Hello."
All at once, the humming, the talking, whatever it was...
...It stopped.
Without even realizing it, Luka had just called out to the entirety of Heaven.
I'll admit, this chapter was a tad bit difficult for me to write this time around. Had to do a bit more mulling on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. So apologies if it seems a bit all over the place or if anyone seems out of character.
I definitely wanted Luka and Micaela to have more time together, but it also just made sense to have Ilias butt in and put restrictions on the visit as she wouldn't want Micaela influencing him too much.
I also wanted for there to be a good deal of tension between Micaela and Alice for the simple reason that both of them, despite being in their mutual "powered-down" disguises, could subconsciously tell what each other's true nature was. So if they're hostility seems somewhat strange, just keep in mind that Angels and Monsters both naturally have a good deal of contempt in each other.
Guest: Oh I get that, which is why I'm trying to have a lot more go on between them here.
chronotimeguard: I can say that I did not have anything including Lona before, but that was a conscious choice as his particular memories with her were when he was so young, that he wouldn't even consciously remember them. I only alluded to it here, but I will expand on that a little bit later.
espioll: Humans can use dark magic to an extent. I can't remember the specific reasoning given in the games but here in Jeremiad, the reason is because Human souls are still impure (Gray) which makes them closer and more alike to the Darkness in Monster souls than with the Light in Angel Souls.
Luka will be using more Holy Magic, yes. And while Micaela will be able to successfully help with that, it won't stop the side effects from rearing up once again. So corrosion will be affecting him much sooner. In fact, it already has to an extent, as that is why he's been having pain in his left arm.
Guest: There will be a lot of delving into this as I write more and more about him here. Fair warning, a lot of it will be completely made up on my part. But I plan to have his "moral compass" if you will, a bit skewed. He's not a bad person, per say, but let's just say that he didn't have very proper guidance as a youth.
