Micaela was worried.

Well, that wasn't really anything new. Being the mayor of a town full of monsters was stressful at the best of times. Add an actual serial killer into the mix, and her human child? Then it got even messier. Micaela didn't mind Alex being there, of course. He was a good kid, if a bit foulmouthed. But at the same time, his presence in the village brought a few issues.

Not to say most of the monsters there wanted to mess with him. Just the opposite, actually. Most of the girls there were rather concerned for the boy. Mostly because of his mother. Which… Yeah. Micaela couldn't really fault them for that. Even she had her doubts about Yuri's ability to raise him sometimes. The only thing that kept her from separating them was the clear love they had for each other.

Of course "love" didn't make the boy's bruises any less visible. Micaela had told Yuri to tone it down a bit, but it clearly hadn't been enough. The people of the village thought he was being abused. When she tried to explain that Yuri was just teaching them to fight, their response was to point out that he was way too young. Which… was true. But Alex seemed happy with it. And if he genuinely enjoyed it, she didn't think it was fair to him to prevent it.

Other aspects of his education were being neglected, however. And that was an issue. Alex might've been incredibly smart for his age (he was even able to read, for Ilias' sake!), but there was always more to learn. But Yuri didn't see the point in that. She just wanted to make sure Alex could kill whatever came his way. And she didn't care that such a solution realistically wasn't feasible.

Again, Micaela very much doubted Yuri's ability to be a parent sometimes.

But, she had other things on her plate to worry about. Like trying to figure out where the fuck Alex had come from. Because the last name 'Smith' wasn't exactly uncommon. In fact, there were more than a hundred in Iliasburg alone. So that was a total wash. And he wasn't exactly keen on sharing his past, either, which was another issue. It was also more than a little concerning. Just what happened to the boy to make him so tight-lipped about his backstory?

He didn't necessarily seem abused, but at the same time… there was something wrong with him. The way he talked and acted… it reminded her more of an adult. His eyes just didn't hold that shine of childhood innocence. It was quite bizarre.

But then again, there was something incredibly childlike about the way he latched onto Yuri. How, after less than a year, he looked at her with nothing but the love one would have for a mother. No, there was no mistaking it. He was a child. Had to have been.

Unfortunately, she couldn't spend too much time thinking about Alex. She had a whole village to run, after all. There were invoices to look at, incident reports to read over, and about a half-dozen other types of paperwork she needed to look through. Quite frankly, she wasn't sure how long she could keep doing this. But she'd been going strong for years now, so that was something, at least.

"I should really hire a secretary…" Micaela muttered to herself, tiredly eyeing the stack of paper on her desk. She never would employ someone, however. The fallen angel just didn't trust anyone in the village to do that sort of work. Not that they'd be malicious, of course. Most of the monsters in Enrika were quite nice. It's just… most of them weren't that bright.

She needed a break. Yeah, that sounded nice to her. Just a few minutes away from her desk. Away from that paper monolith that had taken up residence in her office. Any more time spent with it, and she was sure she'd become some kind of cultist to a god of bureaucracy.

So, slowly, she stood up from her desk, and calmly walked towards the door. Letting out a sigh of relief as she opened it, Micaela smiled as she felt the warm breeze of the day drift lazily by her. It really was a nice day out. Much too good to waste by sitting around a musty office for hours.

Idly, she wondered what Yuri and Alex were off doing. She hoped they weren't training, since the elf woman had apparently given the boy quite the beating yesterday. If he was hurt as bad as the reports some spying villagers had given her hinted at, then he needed rest.

...Perhaps she did need to give Yuri another talk about things. Clearly, the first one hadn't worked.

"Micaela!" An urgent voice called, snapping the disguised seraph out of her thoughts. "I-I need to talk to you! It's important!"

Pausing, she turned to the source of the noise, spotting a familiar blonde-haired guard. Lindsay, her name was. It'd taken Micaela a moment to remember. She admittedly didn't know all the guards that well, since she was usually too busy to talk with them on matters that weren't related to security.

"Yes? What's the matter, Lindsay?" Micaela asked the woman, adopting a serious expression.

The woman paused to take a breath, having clearly run all the way there. She wheezed, and steadied herself against the seraph's house. Micaela let her have a moment, seeing as she was quite winded. Eventually though, the woman opened her mouth to speak.

"Y-You need to get that kid the hell away from Yuri!" She said, her voice caught between terrified and furious. It was enough to give Micaela pause. "I tailed her and the kid out to the woods. She-"

Micaela interrupted her with a hand on the shoulder, gently pulling her towards the door of her house. "Let's discuss this inside." The fallen angel gently said, internally sighing as she prepared to deal with another mess Yuri had caused.

Lindsay nodded, quickly walking into the house. Micaela walked in behind her, shutting the door. Stepping behind her desk, the ancient woman pulled out a piece of paper in order to log the guard's complaints.

She was not prepared for what the woman had to say.

I was awoken by a loud thud that echoed through the wall, accompanied by angry shouting. It startled me pretty bad, to the point where my first instinct was to fling myself away from the noise as quickly as I could manage. And all that resulted in was me flopping down onto the floor, groaning as my tired muscles kindly reminded me that they were still very angry.

Blinking slowly, I rolled onto my back, staring confusedly up at the ceiling. My head ached with a dull throb, and the memories of earlier were somewhat jumbled. It took a moment for me to remember just what had happened, given my somewhat disoriented state. When everything clicked back into place within my mind however, my stomach immediately began to tie itself into knots. The tears came back almost instantly, and I was half-tempted to just curl into a ball and die.

The memory of the blade sinking into that man was almost enough to make me hurl. I could still feel the sensation. The sickening squelch of it sliding in… and the sudden jolt as it slammed into bone. Hearing his muffled screams as he died in agony… It was all too much. I tried to block out the memories, but they kept swirling around in my head like a vortex of pain.

More shouting interrupted my moment of horror, however. It sounded serious enough to be worrying, so I put aside the nasty thoughts as best I could, and dragged myself to my feet. Softly plodding along the wooden floor of my room, I swiftly pushed the door open, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

What I saw gave me pause.

Yuri was pressed against the wall, her attacker pinning her by the throat. Normally, I'd have jumped in then and there, except for the fact that the person holding her was Micaela. The fallen angel looked enraged, scowling at Yuri with an anger so hot that it could've melted steel.

"You damned fool!" She shouted into my mother's face, not having noticed me yet. "Forcing your boy to kill someone like that… Despicable!"

Ah… So that's what this was about. Truthfully, I wasn't really sure if I wanted to intervene. I was… unfathomably angry at Yuri. Just thinking about that blade sliding into the man's flesh… it sickened me. My stomach roiled in discontent just from the memory alone.

Even if he had deserved such an end… why did she force me to do it? Even if I had the mind of an adult, she didn't know that. She genuinely thinks she just made a 5 or 6 year-old stab someone. And even if she knew the truth, forcing anyone to kill someone else is fucked up beyond all measure.

But… even so. I loved her. And I hated that I did. Because I knew I would forgive her. I knew she'd get away with this. I didn't want to let this go. But I had to.

Sometimes I really wished the slime had gotten me.

"Alright, alright! Break it up! Both of you!" I yelled loudly, stomping between them. Both froze when they saw me, unsure of what to do. Micaela looked almost pitying, while Yuri seemed more ashamed. I had to push down a bit of sadistic satisfaction when I beheld that little detail. She was right to feel ashamed, but I could bask in that later.

Micaela abruptly let go of Yuri, allowing the elf to slide to the floor. There was a harsh, red outline all around her throat. And, now that I noticed it, there were several welts around her arms and face. Looking at Micaela, I noticed that she had her own set of marks as well, though they were much less noticeable... They'd clearly been fighting for a minute or two before I woke up.

"Alex, come with me." The disguised seraph said abruptly, snatching my wrist in her hand. "I'm going to take you someplace safe."

She started to drag me towards the door, pausing only briefly when she noticed my resistance. She turned back to say something, but Yuri slammed into her before she could, knocking the fallen angel away from me.

"You're not taking my son anywhere!" The elf woman snarled, putting herself between me and Micaela. "Now get the fuck out of my house!"

Cursing, I pushed between them, slamming my hands into their stomachs and pushing. They barely even noticed my attempts to break them up. Micaela gently pushed me out of the way before turning and socking Yuri in the jaw, the force sending her to the ground.

Then, before I could put myself between her and Yuri, Micaela snatched me up like I weighed nothing. Which, I suppose made sense, since I was only 6 or so. I struggled hard against her, thrashing and writhing against her grip. But she didn't budge. She didn't even acknowledge my struggles, acting as if nothing was amiss as she turned and walked out the door.

"Damn it! Micaela! Put me down right this instant!" I growled, still trying to wriggle out of her grasp. "I swear when I get away I'm going to make your life miserable!"

The disguised seraph paused briefly, glancing at me with a concerned look. Sighing, she shook her head, and continued walking, carrying me to her house.

"Alex… what Yuri made you do wasn't okay." She said, struggling to find the words. "It was bad. Very bad." She spoke to me gently, as if I was a small child in need of comforting. It was almost insulting, but I knew she didn't mean anything by it. After all, I was in the body of a child. She might've seen me as a little different from most kids (I didn't exactly act like one most of the time.), but despite my oddities, she saw me as a child first and foremost.

Of course, that made things… a little more difficult here. Since she saw me as a kid, she was much more likely to dismiss what I had to say. She already had her mind made up, and anything I said was probably going to be ignored.

"I know that!" I growled, trying nonetheless. "I'm pissed at her, but this won't solve anything! Let's talk this out like reasonable people!" I continued to squirm in her grip, becoming increasingly frustrated as she refused to put me down.

"You… clearly haven't processed what she did." The fallen angel muttered sadly, shaking my head. "I apologize, but I can't allow you to stay with her after that. You'll understand when you're older."

I felt my eye twitch at being so easily dismissed. I'd already known it would happen, but still. It hurt to just be completely ignored like that. She wasn't ignorant to my frustration, either. She was actively not paying attention. That really pissed me off.

The thought of being separated from Yuri was another thing that added to my anger, twisting and writhing in my stomach like a great river of magma. I loved Yuri. That woman was basically my mom at this point. Sure, she'd… made me do something terrible. But I could forgive that. I couldn't forgive someone trying to take me from her!

So, with a head full of steam, and a severe lack of critical thinking, I did the first thing that came to mind. Raising my hand suddenly, I backhanded Micaela in the face, slapping her hard enough for the sound to echo throughout the village.

The seraph came to a dead stop, dropping me suddenly like a sack of bricks. On her face was a mixture of shock and indignance, that was slowly giving way to frustration. Slowly, she touched a hand to her cheek, which showed no signs of damage despite the fact that I slapped her with all my might.

"You… You dare?" She growled, looking at me with anger. "You dare slap me?! I'm trying to help you, foolish child!" The woman rose her hand as if to strike me, but then paused, letting out a sigh. Slowly, she let it fall to her side, shaking her head.

"Alex… I'm trying to help you." She said eventually, forcing her tone to be neutral. "I know that you love Yuri, but it's clear that she's unfit to be your guardian."

I shook my head simply, staring up at her with a determined look. Crossing my arms, I stood up straight, trying to look at least a little more respectable. I probably failed miserably, but whatever. I had to at least try and show her that I meant business.

"You do not get to decide that." I stated firmly, acting as stern as I possibly could. "What she did… Was fucking horrible. I know that. But I love her. And I won't let anyone take me from her."

Micaela stared at me for a moment, giving me a hard look. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, as if trying (and failing) to find the right words. Eventually, she sighed, shaking her head slowly. She went to reach out for me, but I stepped back, glaring angrily at her.

"Alex…" She muttered, a pained expression on her face. "I… I can't just let this continue. What Yuri's done to you… it's too far. She's clearly not fit to be a parent."

I growled, balling my fists in anger. Micaela was being a stubborn bitch, but that was fine. I could be stubborn too. And I could get away with it since she thought I was just a kid. So when she reached for me a second time, I smacked her hand away, much to her ire.

"I don't give a damn if it's too far. If you think she overstepped herself, let's all talk it out. I'm sure she won't do it again." I said, though in my mind, I wasn't quite sure if that was true. Despite the fact that I was defending Yuri in this situation, her actions were still reprehensible. I definitely had some things to say to her. But that was private. And I wouldn't have Micaela sticking her nose where it didn't belong.

The fallen angel froze once more, looking as if she didn't quite know what to say. She just stared into my eyes for a long time, a frown growing on her face. I stared right back, too angry and stubborn to let her win even this small victory.

"...Goddess above, why are you making this so difficult?" She groaned eventually, shaking her head. "Fine. I'll talk it out with Yuri. But this is the only time, alright. I cannot allow her to do it again."

Rolling my eyes, I nodded, accepting her terms. I'd also be upset if Yuri made me… do that again. Just thinking about it even for a second made me shiver in disgust. That man had not deserved such a death. Even if he was such a piece of shit.

So after that, we made our way back to the house, ready to talk it out with Yuri. She however, was still unconscious on the floor. Micaela didn't even have the decency to pretend she felt bad.

We waited about twenty minutes for her to get up. And when she did, she was more than a little confused. And angry. Very angry. Angry enough that it took us a minute to calm her down. I had to tell her that Micaela wasn't taking me at least 4 times before she relented. And even when she did finally give in, Yuri still sat with her muscles tense, ready to grab me and flee from the fallen seraph. Which, I figured probably wouldn't work, but honestly what even would?

Then came the conversation. Which, honestly, that's probably not a good word to even use in this context. Because it wasn't a conversation. It was a series of stern, thinly-veiled threats that the old angel hissed at Yuri, promising separation and worse if she ever pulled something like that again. Yuri didn't seem afraid necessarily, but I could tell she was tense. It seemed that even she had some idea of how powerful Micaela was. That, or she just had good instincts. Hard to say.

I held my tongue until the blonde woman left, wanting my own words to be for Yuri's ears only. As soon as the fallen angel stepped out of the door and closed it behind her, my head swiveled over to the elf.

"We need to talk." I said evenly, despite the anger I felt. "Micaela gave you the business about it, but she's not me, so I figure I should add my own two cents." Looking over at her, I frowned when I noticed how she winced under my gaze. Her expression was pained, and there was a deep frown on her face. It kind of hurt for a second to see her like that. I felt a twinge of guilt in my heart for making her feel bad, but I pushed it down as best I could. I didn't need to be feeling bad for her. Not right now, anyways. She needed to know how bad it hurt me.

"Yuri… That was the worst thing anyone has ever done to me." I continued, trying (and failing) to keep my voice even. "Even if you had raped me out in those woods, it would've been better than what you actually did. At least then my mind would've been so fried by Critical Ecstasy that I wouldn't even be able to think."

Yuri looked appalled by my words, almost gagging as her mind conjured up the image. It was actually pretty funny to see, honestly. If I had been in any other situation, I'd have laughed. But unfortunately, I wasn't quite feeling the levity at that moment. I was fighting back tears trying to talk to her, and I'd only just begun.

"A-Alex, don't talk like that!" She said, her eyes wide. "I-I'd never do anything like that to you! What I did was… horrible. I admit that. But you have to understand, you need to know how-"

"How what?! How to kill someone?!" I cut her off loudly, my voice hovering somewhere between horror and rage. "You think I need to know how to murder?! Why?! What on earth is wrong with you?!" I balled my hands into fists, feeling the tears finally spill onto my face. My ribcage was tight, sick with disgust and anger.

The elf's eyes clenched shut, and I could tell she was trying to hold herself back from crying. Her mouth opened and closed, and I had no idea if she was going to argue or sob. After a couple moments of being in this emotional-in-between-state, she took in a gulp of air, and let out a sigh. Going still for a few seconds, she opened her eyes again, and looked at me, now much calmer.

"Alex… I'm sorry I had to do that to you." She said after a moment, her voice much more flat than it was before. Still, I could hear a hint of shame in her words. "But I need you to understand. The world is cruel. Horrible. Populated by monsters that will see you as nothing more than a potential slave, or their next meal. You won't survive unless you don't hesitate in ending whatever threat comes your way."

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as I took in her words, processing the idiocy that I just heard. She wanted me to kill because… the world was cruel? This was her method of toughening me up?! Forcing me to viciously stab some poor bastard to death?! Making me listen to his muffled screams of agony as the blade punched through his body, jolting my entire frame every time?!

I felt rage bubble up within me as I glared at her. Not only had she put me through so much shit, but for such a dumb reason as well! And what was even worse was the fact that she genuinely didn't do this out of malice! She still believed she was doing the right thing! She apologized for being forced to do it! The cunt didn't even feel bad!

"You… You stupid bitch!" I shouted at her, my voice cracking from the sheer volume. "If anyone in this hellscape of a world is cruel, it's you! You forced me to murder someone! To stab them over and over as they shrieked and bled! You forced me to go through all that, and what did it even accomplish?! That's right, NOTHING! I'm not stronger for it, physically or emotionally! In fact, I've never felt worse in my life!"

She seemed to shrink in on herself as I berated her, looking more and more ashamed as I kept yelling. But I wasn't done. Even if it hurt to see her like that, I had to get this out. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I bottled this up.

"What you did was barbaric! Horrible! So vile that I didn't even think it was something you'd come up with! You're a fucking sadist! Worse than any monster I could think of!" I screamed at her, feeling hot, wet tears stream down my cheeks. Even just talking about it made my stomach churn. The memory of his screams echoed through my mind, a cacophony so piercing that I felt as if I'd been stabbed. My hands shook as I recalled the scene against my will, my very memories mutinying against me by going over the horror yet again. I could practically feel every jolt of the blade as it struck bone. I could smell the thick scent of the red, stirring up a horror and revulsion that was intensely rivaled by desire. And that desire made all of the negative emotions so much worse.

"I…" I struggled with words, feeling my heart beat out of my chest. Looking down at my shaking hands, I sucked in a breath of horror as my vision flickered, seeing gore and viscera splattered all over them. Blinking in disbelief, the sight suddenly disappeared when I opened my eyes again. My hands were completely clean. But now that I'd seen that vision, I could practically feel the cracked, dry blood on my hands.

"A-Alex?" I could hear Yuri's voice, but it seemed muffled. There was a sharp ringing in my ears, creating a wall of sound that blocked anything from the outside world. Unfortunately, it did nothing to drown out what was happening inside. Over and over again, I heard that man's screams echo in my mind. The electric scent of the red sent goosebumps down my spine, all while my vision continued to flicker.

Taking in short, gasping breaths, I let out a wheeze of terror as things changed before my very eyes. Spatters of blood winked in and out of existence, briefly bathing the room in a harsh red spray. I could see lumps of pulped flesh, made up of torn limbs, cracked bones, and rent muscle. They were gone less than a second later.

Overtaken with fear, I felt my legs begin to move on their own. Throwing the door open, I sprinted outside, desperate to escape this nightmare.

But how can you run from a hallucination? How can you run from your own mind? I didn't know, and I was so out of my mind with fear and horror at that point that I didn't really care. I was just going to keep running no matter what. Logic had ceased to have meaning. I was running on instinct, like a scared animal.

I sprinted through the village, still tormented by the different sights. I'd see an elf woman standing on her porch one moment, and then the next I'd see her gasping for air, her throat torn open and spurting blood. Everywhere I looked was covered with gore one instant, and then clean the next. A dark elf smiled one moment, and then the very next she was writhing on the ground, clutching at the intestine sticking out of her slashed gut. A fraction of a second later, she was fine again.

The sights got worse and worse, alternating reality with a hell of agonized screams and tangled limbs. A vast display of excessive violence and suffering, of mountains of flesh and rivers of blood. A place that even the most wicked and arrogant wouldn't dare tread.

But I was there. And I saw it all. I smelled it all. That damnable scent was more real than ever. It filled my mind with horror and my body with desire. I could hear my stomach growl as I took in the hallucinations, sending me further into despair.

I wasn't sure where my legs were carrying me. I couldn't even tell where I was anymore. The flashes were becoming frequent enough that I saw the actual world less and less, until it seemed as if reality itself was a lie.

Suddenly, I felt something grab ahold of me, its strong yet gentle grip keeping me from moving. I thrashed against it, still feeling that all-encompassing need to run. But it was no use. I was trapped in a pair of arms that allowed no movement. I refused too look at them, terrified of what I'd see.

Suddenly, one of the arms slipped away, and I felt a cool hand press against my forehead. It would've been comforting, had it not seemingly been bleeding from about 5 different oozing wounds.

Unable to do anything else, I let out a scream, pouring every negative emotion out into one piercing shriek. All of my horror, terror, disgust and anguish went in to it, as I mindlessly thrashed about in the arms of whatever was holding me.

And then suddenly, the hand touching my face thrummed with power, disrupting the illusions in such a way that it appeared like a ripple. As if I were looking into a body of water, and someone had just dropped a rock on it. For a brief moment, the world appeared normal again.

Something in my mind railed against this change, and the horrors brought themselves back on again, the world becoming even worse than it was before. Now even the plants themselves looked wrong, covered in sinewy leaves, and bleeding from various different cracks in their stalks made of bone. The sky was tinted red, and seemed to roil and writhe, constantly distorting.

The hunger immediately became so much worse. My stomach let out a noise more akin to a roar than a growl. Perhaps it was like the roar of a predator, declaring its bloody intent. I felt myself salivating, my body defying the commands of my mind. My nerves burned with need. Every single cell of my being cried out in ravenous starvation, desiring that sweet, succulent red. If not for the arms holding me in place, I'd have tried to take a bite out of an imaginary flesh mound.

The hand on my head throbbed again, this time with much more intensity. It felt unnaturally warm, and when I wrenched my head away to look at it, I saw that it was glowing. More than that, it looked entirely normal. No cuts… No splattered blood. Nothing.

It latched back onto my head, pulsing with some strange energy I'd never felt before. It shook my entire being, and soothed the negative emotions, kicking the fear, disgust, hunger, and just about everything else to the curb. I felt… content. Happy, even. In the grasp of whatever was holding me, I felt safe. And after all that had just happened, I certainly wasn't going to squander that feeling.

Slowly, the world around me began to morph and change again, the blood and viscera giving way to grass, shrubs, and trees. Breathing a shaking, unbelieving sigh of relief, I looked around, almost moved to tears by how beautiful the world looked. I'd never appreciated it before. Never once stopped to marvel at the mere existence of greenery. But now I was. Now that I was free from that hell, I could see the beauty of the leaves and branches.

Of course, I could also now see just what was holding me. Micaela was stood in the forest, cradling me against her chest. There was a strange, almost ethereal glow around her, which I could almost instantly tell was some kind of magic. It felt… good. It was hard to describe, but the most important part was that it was warm. Warm and sweet.

When the woman realized I was no longer screaming or struggling, she allowed the magic to dissipate from her form. I almost groaned in disappointment as the feeling was taken away from me, but I didn't. Now that I had my faculties back, I was rather embarrassed, and thus didn't really want to say much.

"...You alright, Alex?" She asked eventually, her voice filled with concern. "You ran past me on the road. You looked terrified…"

I winced, the memory of what had just happened still fresh in my mind. Part of me was worried that even thinking about it would cause the visions to come back, but mercifully they didn't. And now, on top of that horror, I felt rather worried that I might've just looked insane to everyone I passed by.

"I uh… I think I'm good now." I said, not quite sure of the words I was saying. "B-Better off, at least."

She nodded, certainly unable to deny that point. I'm pretty sure I'd been actually catatonic in her arms beforehand, so any semblance of coherency was a marked improvement.

"Do you… want to talk about what happened?" She asked, uncertain. It was clear that she wasn't exactly comfortable with the situation either. She was still holding me though, so I guess she wasn't that uncomfortable.

I thought about her question for about a second, before shaking my head, making my displeasure at the idea of speaking rather clear. Honestly, I think I'd be happy never talking about what just happened. Whatever the fuck it might have been.

Micaela, blessedly, seemed more than fine with that, if her silence was any indication. Slowly, she began to walk back to the village, still carrying me in her arms.

It was only much later, when I was tucked in bed for the night, that I thought to question just what the hell that magical glow was.

...Oh well. A bit late for that.

Micaela sighed as she finally sat back down behind her desk. The day had been a long one, and she was nowhere near done with her responsibilities. But things had been hectic enough that, for once, she didn't mind a little boring paperwork. Boring was good right now. She just had to finish up on some more important stuff first.

As she laid out a blank sheet of paper, she found herself reminiscing on the day, idly thinking about what had happened. Walking home from her talk with Yuri, she'd seen Alex sprint by, eyes wide with terror. Instinctively, she'd followed, chasing him deep into the woods. She called out after him several times, but he didn't even seem to hear her. It was disturbing to see.

And then, when she'd finally gotten her hands on him… he screamed. It was one of the worst sounds she'd ever heard, blood-curdling and awful. She'd been in actual battles, and never heard such an anguished cry. Just thinking about it sickened her. No child should ever make a noise like that.

Without even thinking of the potential consequences, she used a bit of her angelic magic to calm him. To soothe whatever had so horribly affected him. Using a spell to see what was wrong with him, she found that, for some strange reason, the energy inside his body was going haywire. It seemed to spike randomly, rather than flowing evenly through him. So she used hers to try and regulate it somewhat, like how she'd seen some mages use electricity to regulate the beat of a problematic heart. Except, unlike that scenario, this hadn't been physical whatsoever. It was in that esoteric realm of magic, a place where even someone such as her didn't have a full grasp on the concept.

Anyways, after she'd fixed… whatever the hell that was, she brought him back to Yuri, told her to keep an eye on him, and then left.

She really needed to put some research into that. Whatever was happening to him was not normal. Whatever he was running from… whatever he saw… It must have been terrible. He hadn't shared anything, and the look in his eyes told her he didn't want to. So something was definitely off. More off than it had been earlier, somehow.

Thinking about how the day had started brought her back to the task at hand. Reaching into her desk, she pulled out her quill, and an inkwell.

Shaking her head, she regretted that she had to lie to the boy. He wouldn't have accepted the truth of the matter, and quite frankly it would've been dangerous for his mother to go on a rampage trying to get him back. And while she could take on Yuri, doing such a thing would put even more of a spotlight on her, and she'd already risked her cover once today!

But no, she was not allowing them to stay together. Yuri's actions were intolerable. After today, she couldn't continue to let things go on as they were. She was unfit as a mother, and as a person. The boy didn't deserve to have such things forced upon him. He didn't deserve to have such a horrible guardian.

So Micaela would make sure he'd get a better one.

Putting her inked quill to the paper, the fallen seraph began to write.

'To Lucretia, Queen of the Harpies,"

A/N: Funny cliffhanger moment.

Anyways, my stories might slow down for a while soon. I won't stop of course, but some life stuff is gonna happen and it's gonna get in the way of stuff. You know how it is.