Edited by: Priapus, Marethyu, Mike God of Lore

As I position each material appropriately in the blood-drawn magic circle, I back off and triple-check everything. Divine Ice metal, Manasteel, Stardust, a few other magical ingredients and metals, and finally, one of, if not the most important components… The heart of a Leviathan.

I'm finally fucking using it for something. The heart I had punched out of me during my fight with Fenrir that's been stuck in my inventory since then now has a use. Initially, I thought about making potions with it, but I decided against it. Not to toot my own horn here, but it's a legendary-tier material.

I mean, yeah, I can always just extract my heart again, but fuck that. It was unpleasant the first time, and I doubt it'd be different the second or third time. I'd rather not go through that ever again.

Anyway, the armor.

I don't know what kind of monstrosity I'm about to make or the consequences if I fail this, but I made sure that everything was perfect. Although the chances are kind of slim, I sure hope this doesn't blow up on me. But I'm pretty confident it won't.

Also, if it does blow up, it should be pretty safe since I'm in my underground base, far enough away from Vale and any other town that the worst that could happen is causing a weak earthquake.

…I think. The massive explosion of magic might end up drawing a lot of Grimm here, but I can handle that. Assuming the initial blast doesn't vaporize me. But it won't. I'm confident in myself and my skill in Golemcrafting.

I glance at the life-fiber uniform on the table behind me. Then I can deal with him. I'm pretty certain he's sentient, so I'm impressed that he could stay put until now. Fooling Ruby, who has been wearing him almost the entire time, isn't easy.

"Gwyn," I call out my familiar, who materializes beside me and barks. "Get ready to take off with Senketsu if things get dangerous."

He responds with a worried whine.

"It'll be fine, buddy. Just preparing for a worst-case scenario." I pet him gently. "I'm gonna activate the ritual now, okay?"

He barks affirmatively and backs off once I approach the circle, putting a hand on it. Once I expel my mana into it, I feel the magic circle suddenly absorbing all of my magic at once, making me widen my eyes.

For a moment, I'm unable to move, watching the drain go from MP to HP. The ritual shines slightly when my HP reaches the half point, by which I've pulled myself forcefully away from it, grunting in pain.

"What the hell?!" I flinch, feeling a stinging sensation throughout my body for a split second. The circle doesn't even sound as the glow dies down quickly. "Jesus, how much mana does it want?"

Fuck me, that actually hurt.

That's more than 20k MP, drained in an instant. I thought adding as much Manasteel as I did would have helped with the immense mana requirement, but apparently not. Shit, what the hell am I supposed to do with this now? I won't be able to drink pots fast enough to be able to keep up with it. In hindsight, this is obvious. Of course, a powerful creation like this will need a lot of mana to make.

I sit down and flip through my notes and other guides, looking for a solution. I need this armor for the dungeon. I'm not going to take any chances with a challenge that can possibly disable some parts of my system.

I remove the magic orb from my inventory while looking for more solutions. Observe tells me a single orb can hold up to 1,000,000 MP before going unstable. Will that be enough? If a bit over twenty thousand points were devoured in an instant, then maybe I'll need more.

As I analyze the research notes and guides, I find something interesting—an entry I've yet to reach in a book called Arcanus Smithing. The first few pages explain how Manasteel is made, which I've already read, but near the end, there's a chapter titled 'Terrasteel'.

"Huh…" I read through it quickly. "Essentially, upgraded Manasteel."

A kilogram of Terrasteel is more than a hundred times more powerful than a kilogram of its predecessor. To make it is also a lot harder, though. It doesn't just need a huge amount of Manasteel, but also a powerful magical crystal – which I already have, thankfully – and… starlight?

I flip through the page and continue reading. The light of stars can be converted into celestial power, which can charge many artifacts and create new types of materials I've never heard of before. This sounds simple enough.

…Though, how am I supposed to do this in Remnant? The stars in this universe do not align like what I'm seeing in these graphs and pictures. Sure, each constellation gives a slightly different variant of Terrasteel, but that doesn't mean it'll work here.

Do the stars in this universe even hold the same level of magical power? I don't know. I don't think so, either. Teralos is a world where magic is literally in everything. Remnant only has Dust and Grimm. As far as I'm aware, there aren't any powerful magical artifacts or anything like that.

Besides, you know, the relics. But those are the only artifacts that exist. And one of them is almost entirely useless.

I guess I'll have to go to Teralos to do this. I can try using the magic orb to make the armor, but Terrasteel would make the armor way more potent as a side bonus. Luckily, I'm going with Yang to finish a dungeon once she wakes up, so I can do that there. I'm sure it would be fun to do it with her.

I'm going to need a lot of materials to set it up properly. I am extremely fascinated, though. Alright. I will delay making the armor until I've studied astral magic and gotten myself some Terrasteel.

So until Yang wakes up, this leaves me with Ruby's request…

I sigh and store everything in my inventory. My notes, the books, and all the ingredients are lying around, but I leave the orb of magic and instead put it on a table.

"Alright, Gwyn. Change of plans." I say, petting him. "I want you to take this orb with you as you go around killing Grimm. This will do its job accordingly and absorb the magic left by the Grimm dying. Sounds simple, right?"

He barks obediently and takes the orb in his mouth, running off to look for Grimm. The orb needs one million points of MP to completely fill up, but with how fast he's moving, he might be finished in a day or two. Besides, he'd be wiping out nearby Grimm herds, so two birds with one stone.

"Good boy." I snort, glancing at Senketsu. "You can stop pretending now."

He doesn't respond. Or move.

"I know what a life fiber is," I add. "I know you're alive."

Though, admittedly, I'm not sure he could understand me. After all, originally, the show he was from was Japanese, wasn't it? I don't know how to speak that language.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I promise. "I just wanna talk, alright?"

There is nothing but pure silence for a few seconds, prompting me to sigh. I know what Ruby wanted me to do, but I don't know how to do that. Life fibers aren't magical— they're fucking aliens. I think I can come up with something if I do enough hands-on research, but this guy isn't a Grimm or an object. I don't want my experiments to end up hurting him in the process.

So, the only way I can conceivably do something to change how life fibers work without hurting the dude is to get his help. If he helps me understand, then I can probably figure out a way to fix Ruby's problem with Senketsu relatively easily.

I pause as I see Senketsu move after a moment, getting up and looking at me suspiciously. I think. I can't tell.

"Oh." I blink. I honestly didn't expect it to be this easy. "So, uh, can you understand me? Raise your… arm? Raise your sleeve if yes."

Senketsu does just that, making me smile. Okay, good.

"Right, that's great. I may not be able to hear you since, you know, no life fiber DNA." I shrug. "But at least there isn't a language barrier to worry about."

He just looks at me. I can't exactly tell what he's feeling. He's suspicious, but that's about it.

"Though, I'm not sure how you're supposed to communicate with me properly." I hum. "Can you write English?"

He raises a sleeve again. This is really convenient.

"Good. Here." I pull out a chalk from my inventory and throw it to him. "The floor is yours."

Senketsu doesn't move for a moment before jumping off the table and writing something on the smooth stone floor. He backs off to let me read what he wrote.

'How do you know?'

"Know what? Everything?" I raise a brow before he raises an arm. "That's… really complicated. You can say that I'm knowledgeable about other universes."

Kind of. My memory is pretty foggy, so I might get a few things wrong here and there.

He writes another question after a pause.

'How am I here?'

"I snapped one of these in half—" I take out a Gacha Token and break it, making a bowler appear out of thin air. "And you showed up. These things have a habit of snatching practically anything from anywhere, including different worlds."

…This looks like Roman's hat.

"Anyway, I have a question of my own," I say, throwing the hat away. "What is the last thing you remember before showing up here?"

Senketsu pauses for a moment, wipes off the question, and writes an answer. I take a nearby chair and sit down as he finishes, and once I read it, I feel pretty relieved.

'Dying.'

I sense a funny theme here, but I digress. At least I didn't snatch him away from Ryuko during a fight or something. That would not have been nice for my conscience. If anything, I inadvertently saved his life.

"Right. Well, I'm glad you're still alive." I snort. "I know how it feels getting a second chance."

'You too?'

"Yup," I confirm. "Dunno how I died, though. I barely remember anything, to be honest."

Senketsu pauses again, then writes me another question.

'What now?'

"Well, first of all, I wanted to thank you." I give him a smile. "Ruby would've died like a million times without your help. You had no obligation or reason to actually lend her your power, but you still did anyway. I owe you."

I see him visibly relaxing at that, getting less suspicious at my heartfelt gratitude. I mean it. Sure, I was lucky getting him from a gacha, but the fact that he made the active choice to help was still really nice of him.

'I had no reason not to. Though, it's weird. She doesn't have Life Fiber DNA and I don't have hers. I shouldn't have been able to help even if I wanted to.'

"Yeah, I dunno how that was possible." Probably system mechanics, though. The goddess did something to make this work even though it shouldn't.

However, if I were to make a wild guess, he would also be very limited in that regard. If Ruby had life fiber DNA and/or if Senketsu had hers, she would've been way stronger than even me, assuming she could unleash Senketsu's full potential.

Or I'm overestimating it. I dunno. I don't know what the system meant when it said he'd 'bond' with the first person who would wear the uniform, but I don't know what that fully implies yet.

"Anyway, you probably know why you're here," I add. "I know how you guys work; the more revealing the outfit is, the stronger the wearer becomes, but I'm sure I can find a loophole. Magic is a very nifty thing."

'How can I help?'

I pause as I see him write that. I didn't expect him to be cooperative, considering his earlier suspicions.

"Well, for now, I need to find a way to mix magic with life fiber," I respond. "Which could be the hardest step. Once that's done, the rest should be easy enough. Think you can spare a thread sample?"

Firstly, I need to figure out how to communicate with him properly. Waiting for him to write every response down is a pain in the ass. Making a machine that can do that should be pretty straightforward.

Before Senketsu gives his response, my scroll vibrates in my pocket, prompting me to take it out to see a message from Yang. Several of them stating the exact same thing. As the spam of messages continues, I feel my heart dropping to my stomach.

Yang: HELP

Yang: HELLP

Yang: HELPP

Yang: HEL

"We'll continue this later. It's an emergency. Gotta go." I say before abruptly leaving the base, flying over to Patch as fast as I physically can.

I don't know what the hell is going on, but please be okay.

The flight there doesn't take too long, and I arrive in a short few minutes. I burst through the door right after I land next to the house, startling Taiyang, who is cooking something in the kitchen. In shock, the older man gives me an odd look.

I don't know what's happening here. Even from a distance, I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary, and I don't care what Salem does, but she shouldn't be able to avoid my senses like this now that I'm suspecting her of doing something like this.

The fact that Yang is still messaging me should be evidence of that. She's still in Patch, or at least somewhere in Vale. In fact, I can still sense great fear in her room, even though I hear nothing there. It's dead quiet. What the fuck is going on?

Is this some kind of trap? No, it feels too disorganized and chaotic to be one. Unless that's the idea? I don't know, and I'm not risking it. If Yang really is in danger, then I have no time to think about stupid shit like this. I need to make sure she's okay.

"Reid? What's wrong?"

I don't even answer the man before I head to his daughter's room, open the door, and see no one there. I look around the room before a random canary starts flying toward me and chirping at me furiously. I can still sense her fear. She's here, but I don't see her anywhere. What the fuck?

The windows are closed, there are no signs of struggle, and as far as I can tell, no magical residue left by a possible battle, so Salem or any of her grunts couldn't have been here. Hell, Taiyang doesn't look like he's noticed anything, either. What happened? Where's Yang?

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. Where's your daughter?"

Where the hell did she run off to?

I ignore the annoying bird as I spot her scroll there on the drawer next to her bed, the direct messages with me opened.

"What the hell?" I grab her scroll, then wince as the bird starts pecking me in the cheek. "Hey, stop that. What's wrong with you?"

I freeze as I feel the familiar essence of this bird once I look at it properly. It continues chirping at me loudly, flying around me as if trying to tell me something. But I've already figured it out, connecting the dots pretty quickly.

I make sure by using Observe anyway.

Name: Yang Xiao-Long

Title: Sunny Dragon

Age: 17

Race: Human/Shapeshifter [Avian]

Level: 167

HP: 13,400

MP: 30,000

AP: 32,500

STR: 376

VIT: 256

DEX: 294

INT: 175

WIS: 150

CHA: 170

LUK: 150

There's no fucking way.

"Yang?"

The bird chirps once again, making me sigh deeply. Tai, who quickly pieces it together as well, starts chortling at the outlandish situation. This, of course, pisses her off as she continues to cry out angrily.

Her messages scared the hell out of me. I get why she sounded all panicky, but I really expected the worst—especially knowing that Salem is aware of the girls having magic. Thinking she might've struck now had my balls in my throat for sure. Jesus.

Thank god it's nothing too bad. Fuck me, that was way too stressful for my poor heart.

"Oh man, this is precious." Tai pulls out his scroll and takes a picture of her. "Qrow's gonna love this~"

At least now I know the side effects of what happened back there with Raven aren't lethal. Honestly, I should've expected something like this, as wild as it is. Her mom had some shapeshifting abilities, so this power transferring over to Yang does make sense to an extent.

Still in her bird form, Yang tries to peck the scroll out of her dad's hands, who chuckles at her attempts as he moves it out of the way. Though her anger is very noticeable, I can feel immense distress from her as well.

"Yang, relax; this isn't permanent," I say, trying to calm her down. "Focus. Concentrate on your magic and use your imagination to turn yourself back into a human. And no, I'm not being vague. That's literally how shapeshifting works."

Yang, tired from flapping her tiny wings, lands on her bed and stays still for a moment, listening to my advice. Eventually, in a puff of smoke, she turns back into her normal self, clothes and all. She blinks a few times, and the first thing she does is grab her boobs.

She must be feeling better.

"Oh thank god." She sighs in relief. "I thought I'd be stuck eating worms or seeds my whole life. What the hell was that about?"

"Well, I don't know, but what I do know is that I'm sending these pictures to Ruby and Qrow," Tai says. "This is too funny."

"You're such a jerk, Dad." Yang scowls. "You didn't even try to help me."

"Well, what was I supposed to do? I'm no wizard like your boyfriend here." He snorts. He does make a valid point. "Anyway, I'm gonna be in the kitchen if you need me. Hopefully, the pancakes aren't burnt by now…"

With that, Tai leaves us alone now that the situation isn't as dire as it seemed.

"Yeah, right, whatever." She huffs before turning to look at me, knowing she couldn't argue with that. "What was that? I didn't know I could do that."

"Me neither, but to summarize what I've already theorized, Raven accidentally shared her shapeshifting powers with you," I explain. "Honestly, if anything, this proves that her waking up wasn't a coincidence. Your magic probably had something to do with it."

"Me?"

"Yup. Since she's your biological mother, and since being spiritually related is a thing, you probably unconsciously tried to restore her essence. It didn't work, obviously, but it did wake her up." I add. "And in that process, what happened is that you either 'took' something from her, or Raven inadvertently 'gave' you something. That being shapeshifting since she could do the same."

Though, what I find really interesting here is that whenever I bring up Qrow or Raven's stat pages, the race section just shows 'human'. But Yang's had changed into something new. Why? What caused this? What's the difference between them?

The best I can think of is that Yang's magic is hers, while Raven and Qrow have Ozpin's magic. The Maiden's powers, as well as shapeshifting into a raven and crow respectively, aren't some innate ability. It's practically a blessing from Oz.

However, Yang's magic isn't a 'blessing' from me, not in that same sense at least. Yang has her own mana core, and she can improve her powers with practice. In contrast, Ozpin's Maiden/shapeshifting magic is static. It isn't something that can be enhanced by anyone else other than him. They're fundamentally different.

This is very interesting. Yang may have accidentally forced magic into her very DNA. She's now ironically closer to me in genetic makeup than other humans. Is that a good or bad thing? Typically good. She's more in tune with her magic and can probably improve it much faster than before.

Hell, her MP went from 25k to 30k. That in itself is incredible.

Though, I'll probably have to do some check-ups to see if my theory is true.

"I… I see." Yang says, accepting this pretty quickly. "I can turn into a bird now. Wow. Okay."

"Cool, right?"

"I don't know. I guess?" She looks at me strangely. "Why are you being so casual about this?"

"I mean, it's basically a new Semblance for you. Isn't that exciting?"

"That's one way to look at it." She sighs, though she doesn't seem to be against the idea of transforming into a bird. Just a little shocked, I assume.

After a moment, I sit down next to her.

"Feeling any better?" I ask, holding her hand. "You know, after the thing with Raven."

"I mean, maybe?" She answers, unsure. "I feel a little weirded out right now more than anything."

"That tracks. If I knew I could transform into a bird, I'd feel pretty weird about myself."

I could turn into a fish, technically, but that's different. Definitely.

"Yeah, imagine waking up like that, too. That was terrifying." She snorts and then smiles. "...Though all things considered, I guess I feel better with you around."

"Aw, stop it, you'll make me blush."

"It's true." She giggles, leaning her head on my shoulder. "And… I'm sorry about back there."

"Huh? Why? What are you apologizing for?"

"You know, when I started yelling at you? Before Raven woke up." Yang shifts timidly. "I just… I didn't mean any of it, Reid. You only wanted to help me, and I blew up on you, saying all of those horrible things. You didn't deserve that."

"It's fine. I knew you didn't mean it. It didn't bother me." I wave it off. "I'm just glad you're doing better now."

"Ruby has a way with words sometimes. That dork." The blond says fondly.

"She's something special, alright." I agree. "Anyway, a bit random, but are you up for an adventure?"

Yang blinks.

"Sheesh, Reid. Dad is still home." She smirks. "Didn't know you were into that type of stuff~"

"I mean a literal adventure, Yang," I respond, a little amused. That did come out weird. "I wanna take you somewhere really cool."

"Huh. A date?" She hums. "That sounds great. Sure, I'm down. At lunch?"

"I'm thinking right now, actually. Until midnight." I reply. "Trust me, you're gonna love it."

Probably. So far with dungeon diving with the girls, its been giving me good places, and with Yang loving any kind of adventure anyway, this shouldn't be all that bad either. I did prepare for this and already found a rare tier dungeon, got the key and everything too. I just hope it's not a cave or an actual dungeon/tomb theme. A creepy dungeon doesn't sound like a good place to relax.

"Wow, I didn't know you missed me that much." She giggles. "Spending the whole day together sounds really nice."

"That's a yes, then?"

"Obviously. You think I'd pass on the chance to have you all for myself for an entire day?" Yang winks at me. "Though, I kinda wanna get something to eat first. I feel like I haven't had anything for days."

"Breakfast sounds nice right now. I haven't eaten anything myself."

"Oh boy, then you're gonna love this." She says, getting off the bed and taking my hand to lead me out. "Dad's pancakes are to die for."

I can still sense the same depressing feeling she had after her confrontation with Raven, but I can also clearly tell that she does feel a lot better now that she had some sleep, plus her conversation with Ruby.

I'm a lot more confident in Ruby's plan now than I was. Not to say I didn't believe in it before, but it's nice to be sure. A dungeon adventure will probably help Yang a lot. I just hope we're fortunate enough to get something right up her alley.

Goddess, I know you've done a lot for me already, but please let me have this too.

– Yang –

"You know, when you said somewhere cool…" She started, getting off Reid's bike. "I didn't expect that."

She pointed at the blue wormhole looking thing that was on the edge of a cliff south of Vale. Yang didn't know what the hell she was staring at, but she was sure it was something related to Reid's confusing magic mumbo jumbo.

"Okay, so this is something I've already shown Ruby, Weiss, and Blake." He answers. "I'll explain it once we're there."

"Huh…" Yang crossed her arms. "So it is a wormhole…"

Reid then took out a small blue pearl from his pocket, throwing it at said wormhole, which swallowed the thing. In the next few seconds, the thing glowed brightly, and a door of the same color was constructed.

Yang still had no idea what was happening, but followed Reid until he stopped right before the door, turned around with a serious frown, and scanned their surroundings. She followed his line of sight curiously, not finding anything, which only served to confuse her.

"You seeing anything?"

"Just making sure we're alone." He said ominously as he put a hand on the handle. "Alright, let's go."

Reid opened the door and walked through, with Yang following suit. For a moment, the light was too bright for her to see what was inside, and once that died down, her eyes widened in awe at the beautiful scenery before her.

They were within the confines of a great, wide, and lush canyon larger than anything she had ever seen in her life. Tall stone peaks nearly obscured the skies above them. Next to them was a running river with crystal clear water pouring down from a waterfall in the distance.

Yang walked around, mesmerized by this place. There were massive Dust crystals lodged on the walls of the canyon, glowing flowers that looked too magical to be from Remnant, and types of fish she had never seen before swimming in the river. What was this place? It looked like nothing she had seen or heard.

"Thank you, Goddess…" She heard her boyfriend whisper to himself. "I owe you."

"Where are we?" Yang questioned.

"Different world," Reid answered, prompting her to look at him. "It's where I… come from, technically."

"Huh. So you were from a different world all along." Yang muttered, then paused. "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense."

"That's it?" Reid raised an eyebrow. "I thought you'd be more surprised."

"I mean, I've seen you do way crazier shit." She shrugged. "So this is where you wanted to take me, huh?"

"Yeah, I thought taking some time off in a literal other universe might help." He admitted. "Plus, I know you love a good adventure."

Yang felt her heart flutter at how thoughtful he was being to her. Granted, they were similar in that regard. Both enjoyed the thrilling experiences like this a lot, but knowing that this was all for her sake made her feel happy.

As well as a little guilty that she had him taking care of her like this. She'd spent most of her life taking care of herself as well as Ruby, so someone doing the same who wasn't her father made her feel really weird.

She remembered her breakdown in front of her baby sister, and it made her feel even worse. As freeing and satisfying as it had been pouring her feelings like that, in a way, Yang felt like she'd failed Ruby. But there's no denying that it had felt good.

But perhaps it wasn't wrong to rely on Ruby. Her sister had grown up and had become a real hero. She wasn't a child anymore. Treating her like she was wasn't fair to her.

Overall, Yang felt better about herself. She still felt a pit in her stomach and a lump in her throat every time she thought about Raven, but it wasn't as bad anymore. The fact that she could forget about it for a period of time was progress.

"It certainly sets the mood." Yang grinned. "Though, how are we supposed to go back?"

"Don't worry about that. I have it all figured out." He told her. "Let's just enjoy ourselves for now."

And maybe… maybe it was fine relying on him, too, right?After all, harem notwithstanding, they were dating, and being taken care of by her boyfriend always sounded pleasant to Yang. As embarrassing as it was to admit even to herself, she had always daydreamed about having a loving partner take care of her needs and wants.

At the same time, it was her responsibility to take care of him when the time called for it. Because for as much as he tried to hide it, what she'd said back then had hurt him.

Regardless, this was not the time to ponder such things. Reid was right; they should enjoy their time here. She couldn't let her guilt and those depressing thoughts ruin their date for her. Not when she had Reid for herself. And for the entire day? She wasn't wasting it.

"Right, right." She said. "So what's the plan?"

"Right, so I thought we could just fly to the top over there." Reid pointed at the highest peak in the area. "But you know what? Why not climb it instead? We have the entire day, and it's not like a fall from that height is going to hurt us."

"Ooooh, that sounds fun~" Yang agreed. "Ah, man, I can't remember the last time I went hiking. Not to gloat, but I'm really good at it."

"Really?"

"Yup. Dad and I used to go on hiking trips during summer break." She responded. "Was one of my favorite hobbies back then."

"And Ruby?"

"Not her thing. She'd stay at home alone playing video games or with Uncle Qrow if he was around."

"Classic Ruby." He chuckled. "This is convenient, though. I've never actually climbed anything myself, so I'll be relying on you."

Suddenly, the proposition felt a LOT more tempting than it already was. Yang teaching Reid? Oh, she had something huge to brag about once they were back to Remnant. Besides the bird thing. Yang admittedly needed a little more time to accept that.

"Hell yeah, leave it to me." She said confidently. "C'mon, let's go find a place where we can start."

"Sure, but be careful," Reid responded, following her. "There are dragons around. We don't wanna piss them off."

"There are WHAT?!"

This was going to be one hell of a date.

– Titania –

"What?" She blinked. "Why? Can't you do that yourself?"

"Yeah, but like…" Ruby shifted in her place, looking awkward. "It's pretty late…"

"So?"

"I don't wanna go out alone at this hour. Dad told me not to, anyway," She said, looking at her with pleading eyes. "Pretty please?"

It was late. Nearly three in the morning, in fact. Titania herself had a habit of staying up late and only needing a few hours of sleep since that's what she was used to, but she didn't know what Ruby was doing here at that hour.

It was a regular boring day; it had been that way ever since Reid had returned with his gaggle of haremettes. Nothing had really changed. It was the same old, with the big guy busy with his business, his girls training, and Titania herself walking around the mansion bored out of her mind.

Kind of. She'd spent quite a bit of time hanging out with Ruby, who seemed comfortable with her to an annoying degree, but Titania endured it. She didn't want to piss her off, nor did she want to piss off Reid. Both of them could individually beat her ass harder than Cinder ever could.

"I thought you said something about not leaving the house ever again?" Titania smirked.

"Well, yeah, but I'm out of snacks." She admitted nervously. "And a new volume of a comic I'm reading dropped earlier tonight. Plus, everyone is too busy to answer my calls right now."

"So you want me to do it for you?"

"Um, actually, I was thinking we could go together?" Ruby offered. "There's barely anyone in the store right now so…"

"Hmm…" Titania thought about it for a moment. "I don't think your boyfriend would be happy about me leaving the mansion without his permission. I'm technically a prisoner, you know."

"It's fiiiine. I'm sure Reid would understand." The younger girl rolled her eyes. "Also, it's not like we're gonna spend the whole morning there."

"I dunno."

"Oh, come on! Pretty please?" Ruby begged. "I'll pay for anything you want."

"Anything?"

"Anything!" She nodded confidently. "I have a lot of money in my account after killing that Titan. I'm pretty rich~"

Titania leaned against the wall and hummed in thought again. Leaving the mansion for the first time in who knows how long did sound nice. This place was nice and all, but staying in one place for this long was boring.

"Fine. But if I get in trouble of this—"

"You won't, I promise." Ruby grinned, suddenly hugging her. "Thanks, Tania! Let's go now before they close!"

"Whatever." Titania pushed her off, still not used to her being so close. "Let me change first. I can't go out in this stupid maid dress."

"Aww, but you look cute in it."

"Shut up."

Titania was quickly starting to regret her choice, but oh well. As long as she could leave the mansion for once, tolerating this twerp was worth it. And no offense, but her palate for snacks was that of a five-year-old high on sugar. All of it was just sweets.

It's a quick trip there and back. She doubted Reid would even notice, seeing how busy he was.

What was the worst that could happen?

More content in my pat re on if you're interested. A certain dungeon is being challenged. wink wink nudge nudge