Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Revelations

Well, I’m lost. Cid thought to himself as he walked along the tunnel.

He could vaguely sense mana being used ahead and slightly to the right of where he was now, so he headed in that direction. Alpha and the others must have already caught up to the kidnappers and were probably fighting them right now.

He didn’t really mind if they took care of all the bandit’s as long as they were thorough honestly, there were basically just trash mobs at this point, but he needed to be the one to rescue Claire. It might be his only chance to interact with her like this, and he needed to drop some vague “It was me all along” style hints.

He usually used bandits as training and free cash, but these guys had crossed a line kidnapping Claire.

If she disappeared or worse died then he’d be the heir to the Kagenou Barony. He’d have to live in the middle of nowhere and he would naturally draw more attention as a minor ruling noble, severely limiting his mob potential. These people would never even think of things like that, they were so selfish and self absorbed.

Deep in thought about how he was going to repay the kidnappers for risking his future like this, he didn’t notice the man running out of a retracting wall. God, he needed a base with moving walls. The guy dressed like a noble, but had clearly just been on the wrong end of a fight.

Definitely the bandit chief.

“You, you knew I was going to escape this way”

“Of course,” Cid lied. “Figuring out which way a cornered rat is going to flee is hardly difficult,” Nailed it.

The bandit chief just drew his sword and started swinging. He had a lot of raw strength and magical ability, and he wasn’t exactly untrained. His technique was, in a word, sloppy. He’d obviously been taught and then improved his strength to the point he could just steam-roll most opponents without proper form, then let his technique slowly degrade over the years.

For whatever reason the guy played along and let him get in some good ad-lib practice, so feeling generous, Cid decided to teach him how he should be fighting in this situation. Logically he wouldn’t be able to use this lesson but since reincarnation existed it wasn’t totally pointless. Potentially.

Then he took a bunch of pills, got massive, and started going apeshit. It was a classic villain bit but Cid couldn’t approve, since he didn't believe in using temporary enhancements to become stronger. Instead, you should just train so you can be stronger at all times. You couldn’t truly be strong if your strength could be stolen as easily as cash.

It had been a pretty fun boss fight, but without an audience there was no point dragging it out any longer, and he finished the man with a simple thrust through the chest.

“You… you might be able to do what I couldn’t,” the man rasped out. "You might be able to survive the darkness, but you must know that the cult of Diabolos already rules this world from the shadows.” His eyes turned glassy “Milia, I...”

“Yes, the darkness poses no threat to me,” Cid replied unthinkingly “And the shadows have always belonged to… wait!, what did you say about a cult?”

He grabbed (possibly) bandit chief’s shoulder and began to shake him, then more roughly but with the same lack of response.

Why did he mention the cult? There’s no reason he should even know the name.

“Come on, if you die what’s poor, err Merial gonna do without you?”

No response came, and then Shadow’s world shattered.

------

Epsilon felt almost giddy as she moved to fetch lord Shadow, the chance to give him good news (the cultists had been slain and Claire had been found almost completely unharmed) was rare. She would admittedly be happier if it was something she’d accomplished alone and they were somewhere more romantic than an enemy base, but she’d recently learned the painful life lesson that you had to make the best of what you had.

When she saw Shadow, she came to an abrupt halt. He stood locked in place over the corpse of the viscount, trembling slightly. She’d never seen him like this. He was always either carefree or effortlessly commanding, and she suddenly realized he hadn’t noticed her approach. No one, not even Alpha or Zeta, had ever managed to sneak up on him as far as she knew.

Is he… Afraid. What could have shaken him so deeply?

“L-Lord Shadow,” she whispered, but he didn’t seem to hear.

“I can’t believe it. How could I not have realized? This will change everything, but it’s not too late yet. I can deal with this if I just… ”

He noticed her then, and his red eyes narrowed on her. She almost stepped back, but managed to stand her ground and say, “W-We’ve found Claire, and the cultists have been disposed of.”

His silent stare dragged on for a few moments, then he nodded and spoke, “Very well. Take me to her.”

……

After Epsilon told Alpha what had happened (alone, so it wouldn’t affect any of the others), she sat in silence with a look of deepest concentration for the next five minutes. Eventually she called Gamma back and began going over all of the information they’d collected over the years, looking for anything they might have missed, along with reviewing everything they had just gathered from the viscount’s base. Clearly their lord had made some important revelation, and just to be thorough they needed to confirm it. Epsilon had been sent out soon to gather the other five shades back to base.

That was several hours ago now, and Epsilon could only sit with the other four shades, eyes downcast and trying not to think of how useless she had been in the last few hours. Delta had been called back from her hunt, Zeta from her scouting mission, Eta from the lab and even Beta from watching over their lord. Whatever had been found required the whole group's immediate attention, everyone seemed to share her unease (except Delta, who just seemed agitated at having to let her prey go).

“We’ve recently discovered something that will change the nature of our mission.” Alpha broke the silence with her usual businesslike efficiency after taking her seat. Epsilon hadn’t even noticed her enter, but she was too dejected to be surprised.

“Previously, we thought that the cult of Diabolos had hidden itself inside the Midgar Kingdom’s Church of Divine Teachings. It seems now that this was only a small faction of the cult known as the Fenrir sect, and that the cult’s true influence is control of the church in every nation, as well as agents among the nobility, military, and major economic institutions.”

That’s impossible. They’d practically control the whole world at that point.

The whole table paled apart from Delta who smiled and said “So we’ve got more prey to hunt now?”

“Ah” Gamma exclaimed, almost falling out of her seat. “We can’t fight an organization that large with eight people Delta, not even with Lord Shadow.”

“If we need more people… ” Delta exclaimed happily “We can just… ”

“No!” Alpha interjected firmly, rejecting Delta’s familiar request to “make” a large pack around Cid and take over the world before she could even say it this time.

“You have the same solution for every problem,” Zeta replied sarcastically “Can’t you think of anything else?”

“We don’t need anything else, it would solve all of our problems if boss-man controlled the world,” Delta replied smugly.

Zeta's expression became thoughtful while the rest of the table including Epsilon looked to an exasperated Alpha waiting for her to shut this down to various degrees of gratitude and disappointment.

“That isn’t an option, we’ve already moved against the cult and they’ll be looking for us, we can’t deal with that and children at the same time, even assuming our lord would agree.” Thankfully they were spared from having to explain again to Delta (and apparently Zeta) that humans were primarily monogamous.

Epsilon struggled to suppress a grin as she thought that her odds of being the one he chose seemed to be rising. Her hard work was paying off, and she’d noticed her lord looking her up and down briefly with an expression of mild curiosity on his face over the past few weeks. More encouragingly, the attention she received was almost exactly in proportion to how much her curves had developed since she'd last seen him.

She was shaken out of a particularly played-out daydream, imagining where those looks might lead when Alpha spoke, her voice calm again “Our lord has already given us the answer. When he wished to fight the cult he recruited us, and now we have to grow the organization while he works alone.”

Beta broke in then “How are we going to make something that rivals the cult? We don’t have anything to build a faction that large.”

Eta spoke up then in, her small tired voice barely audible in the silent room. “Shadow wisdom.”

Gamma looked like she had just figured it out, “Of course. Shadow didn’t just give us power or combat training, but skills we could use to build an organisation and gather intelligence. He must have predicted that something like this would occur and prepared us so we could complete this mission.”

Epsilon was in awe. She’d believed Shadow had been totally blind-sided by the scope of the cult, but even then his preparations were so perfect everything was already in place to deal with them.

Our master truly thinks at a level no one else could fathom. Even if the cult has all the world, they’d be completely outmatched by him alone.

Epsilon felt her heart begin to lift then. Back in the cultists base when she had trailed behind the silent Shadow, she couldn’t do or say anything as she followed the man who had saved her and who she loved. Her own inability to help was the worst part. She had been too stupid to figure out what was wrong, and too cowardly to try and comfort him anyway. He’d seemed so shaken and alone then, and that image of him had refused to leave her mind.

But he wasn’t alone. Shadow Garden would prove their worth to their lord, or die in the attempt.

-------

Cid slumped down in bed, a few hours of pretending to be worried about Claire despite knowing she was fine then the hysteria of her return had left him exhausted. Claire just rushed up to him and hugged him so tightly you’d have thought he’d been the one that was kidnapped. Their parents had been relieved that the golden child of the Kagenou family had been recovered, and they were a little too happy to get out of explaining to the school that the top second year wasn’t coming back after winter break. He didn’t like to judge though, he did a lot of stuff to have people see him a certain way that other people wouldn’t understand so he could kind of relate.

He’d been reeling since his revelation earlier in the day, when he’d found the cult of Diablos might be real. He hadn’t really been paying attention to the cult/bandit leader guy so he’d only really heard the name mentioned. It could have just been something he heard from Alpha and spouted back to Cid.

After careful consideration, the most likely possibility (around 70%) was that the rest of Shadow Garden was trying to prank him. It was way more likely than some fictitious evil organization he made up was real and that he found one of their bases with a missed knife throw.

They’d make the bandits say something like that, wait for him to freak out and then go “Serves you right, you made it up in the first place, I can’t believe you fell for that.” It would admittedly be funny as fuck if he wasn’t the target.

That left around a 30% possibility that the cult of Diabolos was a real organization, but he’d essentially need S-tier luck for that to be true. 

It would be pretty cool if it was true though. 

It would mean his secret organization was actually fighting a shadow war and he really was leading it as the eminence. He needed to keep his hopes down though, getting all excited about this was just what they wanted, and it would be peak cringe if they pulled the rug out from under him while he was like a kid on Christmas eve.

That had led to his second, even greater realization. Since he couldn’t rely on Shadow Garden for information, his first idea was to bump Cid Kagenou up from an NPC to a side character so he could infiltrate the knight orders to gather intel.

He was just considering whether this plan conflicted with his eminence goals when it hit him like a slap in the face.

All great shadowbrokers were side characters.

An eminence in shadow’s skills were determined by how close they could get to the main character unnoticed. When it was a character that only had like two lines of dialogue and you were supposed to guess that it was complete bullshit.

Looking back it was understandable why he hadn’t realized this before. In his past life he didn’t have time for side character commitments like friends, hobbies or a job with training and missions to complete while getting enough sleep to function. In this world he could train with magic while doing almost anything else and he could also get by on three hours of sleep a night using magic, which gave him way more time for training, espionage or action.

With that in mind he got up, looked over at his desk and sighed. It was covered in documents written in ancient runes he had no idea how to read. He could learn any skill he needed to become Shadow, but he had intentionally not learned this so he could better improv with Beta and the others. It was easier to role-play if he could pretend anything was written there, after all. If it turned out it was a prank, it would make their game way more lame. Like watching a magic show after you already knew how the trick was done.

He sat down, forcing his thoughts away from potential retaliation pranks if this was all a joke and began the next step of his training. Learning ancient runes.

I’m going to need to look into this by myself, but how do I get the others to leave me alone long enough without giving away that I’m onto them.

--------

Cid looked out over the rolling plains, completely at peace and mind totally blank. The shades had gathered behind him almost a minute ago but he couldn’t just turn and face them right away. He needed to wait a minimum amount of time (75 seconds) to make it seem like he was making some important consideration that he absolutely had to finish. Finally he turned and steeled himself for the first phase of operation ditch-the-garden.

“My lord, we need to set out on our own for a time.”

What?

“To what end?”

“We need to increase our numbers. If the cult really does control the world then our current forces are insufficient,” Alpha said.

A world domination plotline. It’s not like I dislike the direction but come on, if you’re trying to trick me come up with something more realistic.

Cid mentally deducted 15% from the cult-is-real meter he’d built in his head while he stood in awe of Alpha’s acting skills. Somehow she’d managed to keep her face straight and voice completely deadpan serious as she expanded the backstory to this ridiculous degree.

His silent shock appeared to be noticed as Beta broke in “but we’re not leaving you alone, one of us will remain available to you at all times.”

Zeta casually raised a hand “I’m up first. Let me know whenever you need anything”

Leaving someone behind to watch me, and having it be Zeta who’s specialized in stealth and intelligence work. Clever girl.

“Very well, I’ll soon be setting off for the capital myself soon, perhaps we can meet again there.” Prank or not, there wasn’t much he could do out in the sticks, so he’d need to get there before he turned sixteen and would be enrolled at the royal academy. He had known of a way for some time, but the pain and frustration he would have to endure were so immense he’d kept it in reserve until now.

Excluding Zeta, they all lined up to hug him goodbye and wished him luck, which he had no choice but to repeat back to them. Delta went back to her usual thing of trying to burrow into him, which was interrupted by a hiss from Zeta. While those two got along like cats and dogs, Cid used the distraction to perform EiS technique 13 “Where did he go? We only looked away for a second,” jumping off the wall and camouflaging himself with the slime suit while running away.

Mid run he reflected on his good luck. He’d wanted to get away from the others and dealing with just Zeta would be far easier than getting around all seven, and it had happened without having to do anythi… 

He stopped running and looked down at hands, as if they had done something without him telling them to.

It’s just a coincidence. There’s no way I have S-rank luck.

Chapter Text

The Anti-Romcom Protagonist

“Pr-Princess Alexia, please go out with me!” Cid declared, forcing the pitch of his voice to rise as he bowed and extended his hand forward, just too far away from the silver-haired princes to reach.

It was a perfect amateur love confession. The clearing behind the practice dojo was private but not romantic, and he had rushed straight to the punchline with no build up. His footwork and positioning were also flawlessly mediocre, feet spread out and knees bent as if he was afraid she’d try to tackle him to the ground. In addition, he was certain the distance between him and Alexia was the optimal 184cm exactly. It was impossible not to smile after completing this perfect performance.

Thank god she can’t see my face right now. I just need to wait for her to accept and I can call it mission complete.

His two idiot friends were waiting in the bushes eagerly awaiting his brutal rejection. Sadly for them, this was a battlefield where his defeat was impossible.

As if on queue he heard her say “Alright I accept”

His confidence would have surprised almost everyone, generally speaking there was no way that a princess would start going with some random she had never spoken to before and so his rejection was what should have been guaranteed.

The path to this point had begun almost two years ago when he enacted his move of absolute last resort to get to the capital early. He’d written to Claire that he thought he needed to get stronger quickly (hinting that it was because he wasn’t able to help when she got kidnapped). That plot event has been a really convenient excuse for him to start taking things more seriously with his lessons.

He knew Claire would insist on taking him on as a squire (sort of a dark knight unpaid internship) herself and until that point he had been hoping to be able to get anyone else to do it. He didn’t have any other connections though and needed to move quickly to get ahead of Alpha and the rest of Shadow Garden.

What he hadn’t expected was for her to skip class, catch a carriage all the way home, jump over the walls of the estate and hold him for twenty minutes of happy crying. She was talking for most of it but he barely caught any of the words, something about him being a ‘sweet younger brother’ and ‘waiting for this for years.’

She seriously acted like he wasn’t always playing the hen-pecked younger brother that had to go along with everything she said, and why the hell did she talk about years? She’d left less than two weeks ago.

From there he tried to look into the cult and learn more about the city, although Claire’s mild to moderate torture sessions had significantly limited his time for this. He’d quickly learned to decipher his friends' notes, but they were so complicated you needed to start at the beginning or you would be unable to understand the context of the later entries.

Once he’d actually started at the academy himself, he’d been able to get more breathing room from Claire to investigate, but he still hadn’t had much luck. Most of the last year and a half before and after joining the academy had been spent essentially chasing his tail.

He either found empty buildings that had been apparent cult outposts that were either evacuated or destroyed according to later reports or skipping ahead and looking at “potential” cult locations he had no way to properly investigate without just breaking in and killing everyone. He’d been just on the cusp of giving up when he’d found a new girl called Victoria to recruit and had tried to interrogate a few of the men that had held her captive.

The men said nothing. Not that they didn’t say what he wanted but literally nothing. He’d used knives, fire, magic, thrown one off a roof, put one in a river tied to a boulder twice his size, and then tried just being nice to the last one. Not a god-damn word.

This brought the likelihood of the cult being real back to around 30%, since bandits or hired extras should have given up at that point. Still, without saying anything they could have been part of any secret organization (or they could have just been masochists).

At the church where he’d rescued Victoria he finally got his first lead from the documents the cultists(?) had been looking through. It appeared as though they were planning to kidnap princess Alexia and to be fair, the ransom for that would probably be pretty sweet.

He’d kept an eye on her to see if they’d try to abduct her like the others, initially just to stop it and interrogate the abductors, but then an even better idea came to him. He could let her get kidnapped, let the ransom demand go through, then swoop in to kill the kidnappers and make off with the ransom while everyone wondered about the mysterious third party. It’d be like having your cake and eating it too, a mastermind event that generated funds for more mastermind events.

His two morons assumed he was staring at her for “other reasons” though. So when he lost his bet with them and had to either confess to a girl, or buy them lunch tomorrow he decided to go double or nothing. He would confess to a girl and if she accepted they’d have to get him lunch for a week.

He already knew from his surveillance (it wasn’t stalking if you weren’t the abductor) of the princess that she was looking for a low ranking noble to pretend to go out with in order to block one of her official suitors, and going in as her patsy for this event would be incredible side character set-up. He might have confessed his love even without the potential for free food.

He felt Alexia take his hand as she said, “I’ll be in your care from now on. I hope our relationship goes well.”

In a complete reversal of how it should have worked his face went from a triumphant smile to cautious excitement as he said, “Really! I mean, haven’t a lot of other guys asked you?”.

“Of course I mean it. I’ve been waiting for someone like you for a long time. I’m so glad you wanted to be my boyfriend,” Alexia replied, smiling serenely.

Damn that was good, she didn’t even technically lie there.

Alexia still held his hand, she had had to bend a considerable distance to reach his hand and was now leaning over him “Well, it’s getting late, could I ask you to escort me to my dorm?”

“O-of course.”

He set off hand in hand with the girl who thought she was playing him, but who he was secretly one step ahead of.

Even if this is pointless with the cult, putting someone’s secret plot inside my more secret plot has been on the list for a while.

Po and Skel’s frustrated sobs in the background mildly dampened the atmosphere.

---

“Hey Beta,” Cid called as he walked into his room.

“Lord Shadow!” she exclaimed, a little more loudly than he’d have liked. Eta had done something to mostly soundproof the room, but it wasn’t absolute (not because of any technical limitation, but because a pure void of sound would be surreal to his neighbours). “I’ve got a report from Alpha, she and Zeta are bickering again and want you to settle it. I also wanted to let you know that my new book is this month’s best seller.”

“Nice,” Cid replied distractedly.

I’ll probably just tell Alpha to just let Zeta do whatever she wants.

During his first weeks alone with Zeta she had asked for permission to form her own sub-organization to monitor Shadow Garden itself and research special projects. Alpha hadn’t liked it but apparently Zeta had already identified several cult infiltrators (uncool people) to ban from Shadow Garden and he was curious about her special projects. It was also a secret organization within his secret organization, it required no further justification.

“Lord Shadow, you seem distracted. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Just glad to see you’re all doing well for yourselves.”

It was nice to see the girls he’d raised were all well balanced and had found respectable careers. Beta was a novelist, Eta was a renowned architect, Epsilon had become a musician and Gamma had even started a small business. Alpha, Zeta and Delta were apparently full time fighting the cult (unemployed), but he was sure they would find something eventually and calling them on it now would crush their confidence.

Everything with Alexia had gone exactly to plan but he was just concerned about one potential problem that could emerge, and on that subject...

“Beta, you’ve written romance novels right?”

“Yes. I tried to use everything I know about love to write them,” she said, moving closer to him for some reason. Honestly she had as much experience with this as Po and Skel, but girls were supposed to be better at these things naturally, right?

“I need your advice on a problem I’ve encountered.” She stood to attention immediately.

“I’ve recently acquired a girlfriend at school and-”

“What!” she shrieked in disbelief.

You don’t have to be so shocked about it. I haven’t even said it’s Princess Alexia yet.

Mildly offended and wanting to avoid any more damage to his eardrums he moved away from her and sat at the table as if preparing to read Alpha’s message and replied, “Yes, for reasons I won't get into I’ve had to do this. The only potential problem is that she might drag this out for an unreasonable length of time, so I need a way to ensure this relationship isn’t long term.” Being the guy who dated a princess for a few weeks or a month tops would be fine, but going longer than that would be pushing into main character territory.

Beta calmed herself over the next few seconds and then responded as seriously as he’d ever heard her speak. “Yes, I will definitely, absolutely solve this problem for you as soon as possible my lord. Might I suggest a simple fatal accident as soon as you've finished whatever your plan is? If this girl is bothering you it wouldn’t be any trouble.”

Okay, maybe they’re not that well adjusted, that was way too fast to go to murder.

“That’s a bit much Beta, besides the girl is princess Alexia so the political ramifications-”

“What!” she shrieked in disbelief again. This time he’d been expecting it and was able to cover his ears in time.

“What I was looking for,” he continued, “Was something like an Anti-Romcom protagonist script.”

“Anti-romcom protagonist?” Beta replied, confused.

“Yes. I need a script on ways to act and events I can trigger that will destroy any affection she might have for me and crush any hope of this relationship lasting long term, basically the opposite of what you’d write in one of your books normally.” He figured if he was annoying enough she was guaranteed to drop him as soon as she dealt with Zenon.

“Of course, princess Alexia’s royal blood might make her a prime target for the cult. Your strategy of getting closer to her, while having absolutely minimal romantic interest or contact with her is simply brilliant.”

I totally forgot the royal blood part of our lore. I suppose Beta’s skill in remembering this kind of stuff and being able to work it into new plotlines is why she’s a first rate novelist.

Beta undertook her mission readily, and after a little more small talk he headed off to bed. When he woke up in the morning he found twelve pages of notes on how to act with Alexia. He actually had to use magic to slow his perception of time so he could read them all before he left, musing that this had to take another five percent from the cult meter. It would be strange for her to invest this much time into engineering an exit for his fake romantic relationship if she actually thought that her other work was saving the world.

---

Alexia was used to being stared at and talked about. It had been a part of her life since she was born but even so she could tell when it became more intense, as it had this morning. She’d only told two of her friends about her new “boyfriend” but he’d obviously spread the news himself. She wasn’t upset though, it worked to her advantage and she could show him a little charity. It was probably the first time a girl like her had given him the time of day.

Speaking of the idiot there he is now.

He was eating in the cafeteria, sitting with two guys she had absolutely no knowledge of, which naturally proved they were completely insignificant. Between the lanky blond guy who was trying way too hard to look cool and the bald shorty he somehow managed to look half decent.

She sat at the table next to… Cid (she was 90% sure that was his name) and signalled to the staff to bring her order, smiling her best ‘I’m so lovingly content’ smile.

“Good morning Cid, would you mind if I sat with you and your friends.”

Cid responded with a casual “fine,” while his friends showed her the proper respect as they almost fell over themselves to welcome her.

When her order came Cid asked “Is that a custom order?”

“No, it’s just today’s deluxe meal. I do feel bad about the waste though. I rarely have the appetite to eat it all.” As a princess, she was expected not to eat everything she was served for the sake of appearances, and therefore always ordered more than what she wanted.

“Let me help you with that,” Cid said, as he started digging into her meal.

“This is seriously good. I wish I could afford things like this.” He didn't even finish chewing her food before saying this.

He’s actually stealing my food right in front of me. Was he raised in a barn?

Realizing she couldn’t stop him, she resolved to get as much as she could before the pig cleaned her out. She looked back to the table and began moving items onto her plate so she could safeguard them.

Breakfast continued in this undignified way until, still fairly hungry and almost impressed by Cid’s ravenous speed, it was time for her favourite treat. A small strawberry croissant that had been miraculously spared all this time.

As she reached out to collect it, it vanished. She knew where it was but couldn’t help but look around at him, her face briefly showing the anger she’d been suppressing all this time.

He seemed to notice and she saw a brief flash of satisfaction in his eyes. That didn’t make any sense. As a minor noble, a student of the academy, and especially as her boyfriend, he should be trying anything he could to avoid upsetting her.

Getting angry would essentially be her defeat, so she forced another gentle smile and ruffled his hair “Aww, you’re such a hungry little guy. I bet they never fed you properly out in the country. I’ll be sure to buy you something next time.” That would at least prevent her from starving before the week was out.

“Anyway we have to get to class. I know you obviously wouldn’t want to spend any more time away from me than you absolutely have to, so I asked for you to be moved to Royal Bushin section one with me and the school agreed. I’ll see you there this afternoon.”

---

“I can’t believe you’re still going out with that guy after this morning. I know he’s just a distraction but still!” Millicent told her, holding back a grin

“You don’t have to laugh.” Even if it made her look like a complete pushover and an idiot, she’d at least managed to convince most of the school she was madly in love with Cid Kagenou.

He’d offered to walk her to her next class and she thought he was finally starting to suck up to her like he was supposed to, but no. Instead his foot had tangled with hers as they were exiting the cafeteria and she’d gone tumbling into another table, and found a mixture of jam, apple juice and milk had completely ruined her blouse.

Cid had apologised and was going to bring her to her dorm room, but in this case she’d decided a retreat was required, waving him off and going on her own. Again she thought she saw that brief burst of satisfaction in his eyes.

She looked around at her two closest friends and looked for any tell that might give them away. “Did you tell anyone about this, about why I’m dating him?”

“N-no of course not,” Alisa stammered.

“Nope, didn’t even know you picked someone and went through with it until this morning.” Millicent replied. “It’s bad luck you didn’t ask me beforehand. I would have steered you away from him.”

“Why?” she asked, curiosity rising. Alexia lacked her sister’s talent with a sword, but prided herself on being a good judge of character. Cid had become a strange puzzle for her to solve, as she had no idea what could have motivated him to ask her out just to try and sabotage the relationship

The only guess she had was that he’d figured out her motive for accepting him, but these two were the only ones who knew and she now was certain they hadn’t told anyone.

What the hell is going on here?

“You’ve heard of his sister right, Claire Kagenou?”

“That’s his sister? I thought they were cousins or something.” Claire was one of the natural standouts of the school. Talented, beautiful and very self-assured, she’d been said to be the next Iris of the academy. Alexia hated her despite their minimal interaction.

She was so different to the mediocre Cid she’d assumed they were distant relations at most, despite sharing the same name.

“Yeah, that’s his sister, and she’s… uh…  protective of him. Like scary overprotective. You know that guy Clive in section two of standard Bushin? Claire found out he was trying to bully Cid and went off on him the next time they had a practice duel. She got three weeks of detention for it but didn’t seem to mind at all, and there’s a rumour he deliberately got moved down to section two to get away from her. Total Brocon.”

“She also trains with him before school starts most mornings,” Alisa piped in. As usual she kind of shrank when attention turned to her. “I see them sometimes, going to violin practice”

Alexia groaned. This girl sounded like a problem and didn’t even give her a clue to figure out Cid’s strange behaviour.

Unless Cid was as into Claire as she was into him, and had asked her out expecting rejection so he could follow after her without being called out by his friends. Eww.

---

She didn’t have long to wait to meet Claire Kagenou and it didn’t go as badly as she thought it would. It was considerably worse.

The older girl had almost half a foot on her which was incredibly noticeable when she grabbed her in the hallway and dragged her into an empty classroom. She’d had no choice but to go along with her act about needing “a quick word alone,” mostly just trying to rush through it to get out of Claire’s claw-like grip.

Claire didn’t waste any time setting out her demands “you need to leave my brother alone. Now”

The abruptness of it left her speechless for a moment, but she recovered quickly. “Hello Claire, it’s been some time since we last spoke. I think it was Iris’ farewell party?”

The question seemed to partly remind Claire of who she was speaking to. “Yes, I think it was, but I’m not here to talk about that. The whole school says you’re going out with Cid, but I don’t think you’ve ever spent any time with him. The only thing that makes sense is that you’re using him for something and I don’t like it/”

I need to shut this down, it’s bad enough one of them’s probably figured it out.

“Claire, Cid was the one who asked me out.” This next part was going to be physically painful. “I was so moved by his heartfelt confession I just couldn’t say no. He was just so sincere and thoughtful”

“Oh so you see it too, he’s such a sweet boy. He’s also got such amazing potential as a dark knight, even more than I do,” Claire said lovingly.

My goddess, she actually, genuinely, sincerely believes that.

Mildly more afraid since she had confirmed she was in the presence of a delusional person and wanting to get away as quickly as possible, she replied, “Yes, so I don’t think there’s any need for conflict between us. I’d really like to get to know you better.” Alexia offered a hand, masterfully hiding her displeasure.

Claire considered her hand but didn’t actually take it. It seemed all the Kagenous had none of the manners required to interact with royalty.

“Still, your father still wouldn’t consider him for a royal marriage, even though it’s obviously ridiculous that you’re too good for him.” Alexia could do nothing but internally seethe. “So you’ll obviously have to split-up anyway eventually, and the longer this goes on the more Cid will get hurt, so you should get it over with now. Cid needs someone closer to his own rank that will stick with him long term. Someone who sees how incredible he is and will put in the work to draw out what he could be.”

Alexia couldn’t resist, “Someone more like you then?”

“Yes, someone like me would be perfect for Cid!” Claire replied in the sort of voice one would use when given the answer to a problem that had been frustrating them for years, completely missing the sarcasm. Alexia would later reflect that there was an important life lesson here about not asking questions you didn’t want to know the answer to.

She was saved from having to continue this by the miraculous appearance of Cid himself. He’d taken Claire aside and had a quick whispered argument with her at the back of the classroom. It had ended with Cid storming away, taking her hand and nearly dragging her to Royal Bushin, shooting an angry look back at Claire.

Well that’s another theory down. I’m actually glad I was wrong about that, it would have been far too distasteful to deal with.

This brought her back to the drawing board in terms of why he was trying to get her to dump him. After his introduction to the class Cid was pulled aside by that arrogant faker Zenon. Rather than show he was upset like he obviously was, he obnoxiously pretended to be nice to Cid and the two were chatting like old friends when it clicked. Zenon would have figured out why she was dating Cid straightaway and had no reason not to tell him. Cid, obviously hurt and heartbroken, wanted to get back at her and end their relationship, but politically couldn’t afford to break-up with her himself and so was pushing her to let him go.

She began figuring out her next steps while the class divided into pairs for sparring practice, pulling Cid aside before he could go off on his own. His idiot friends must have known as well, as they were acting far too afraid that morning given her reputation for kindness and generosity. They were weak links and might even give her information about Cid she could use to blackmail him back into line.

She was briefly distracted from her plotting by a sharp pain in her cheek. Cid had fallen over after her last parry and his brief, ballerina-like spin sent his practice blade flying right into her face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he said. The voice was convincing but she could read the satisfaction in his eyes by now.

“It’s nothing, training accidents happen,” she replied sweetly. Knowing that he wanted her to get upset and angry helped her keep calm. Every time she moved past one of his stupid stunts, she was winning. “I just hope you're alright, that was quite a fall.”

The class continued but she kept her focus on her sparring partner properly, dodging his acrobatic and apparently inadvertent attacks until the class ended. She made a point to publicly ask him to meet her on the roof to watch the sunset together at the end of the day, ensuring he couldn’t back out.

--

“Quit acting, you obviously already know,” Alexia practically growled at him.

“What is it that I know exactly?” Years of living in a weird Schrödinger's cult relationship with his friends had allowed him to master bluffing in any circumstance.

“That I only accepted your confession because I wanted to stall instructor Zenon from trying to marry me. It’s completely obvious you’re trying to push me into breaking up with you.”

Beta.

What the fuck.

I was trying to go for mildly annoying and now she’s figured out my exit strategy. This is the last time I take your acting advice.

Putting on his best hurt and offended expression he replied, “Wow, I had no idea. I’m going home. I’d say it’s been fun but I’m obviously not as good a liar as you are.”

If he was going to be outed like this, he was at least going to get something out of it. He’d just have to dig his heels in until she made him an offer.

As expected, she grabbed his arm as he started to stand and pulled him back until he sat beside her again. “I don’t know about that. I mean asking me out because you lost a bet with your friends and wanted free lunch is pretty cold-blooded. I wonder what the other guy’s at school would do if I went to them, crying about how such a horrible boy played with my heart.”

You can’t play with something that doesn’t exist.

“What makes you say that?”

“I talked with your two idiot friends before coming here. They held up for about five seconds before they spilled everything and begged me not to have them executed or have their families titles stripped away.”

It appears Beta isn’t the only one who made an oversight. If I expected those two to be of use in any situation, it’s absolutely my fault.

“You’re going to do what I say, and pretend to be my sweet, loving boyfriend until I tell you to stop. Do you understand me?!”

“Well if you want to continue our relationship how it’s been I obviously have to give up and play along.” He moved a hand near to the bruise on her cheek. “I’m so glad you looked past how clumsy I’ve been today, and how clumsy I’ll obviously be every day until we break up”.

She sighed and pinched her nose.

Checkmate. This is the part where she’ll offer me a vague favour I can call in later. She must be desperate if she's put up with all my crap so far and It’ll be nice to have this card in my pocket going forward.

“I swear, you lower class nobles might as well be dogs for all the civility you have. Well I suppose if you want to train a dog you have to use treats, right?”

She pulled out a 10,000 Zeni coin and held it just out of reach. He knew this because he instinctively moved to grab it as soon as it cleared her pocket.

“You’ll be a good boy and behave right”.

Dammit, this was checkmate. Money making opportunities were scarce in the capital and he’d already blown through all his savings making one small apartment remotely liveable as the Eminence in Shadow. Now the question was should he hold out for a vague favour or accept the cash now?

It wasn’t a real question, he nodded and felt the gold coin pressed into his hand. “You’ll need more than just this though.”

She responded by carelessly tossing five more coins across the ground in front of her. “You can fetch these.”

As he collected the last coin he felt her hand move through his hair “That’s a good puppy. I’ll have you trained in no time.”

Okay she’s messed up. It’s pretty impressive she’s managed to fool everyone into thinking she’s a kind-hearted, demure princess. Maybe I should be taking notes.

“It should go without saying but since it’s you, I’ll say it anyway. You can’t tell anyone about this or where you’re getting this money.”

Cid could only nod again. Besides being humiliated on the ground this was exactly where he wanted to be at the start of this whole thing, so it wasn’t a big deal.

-----

He entered his apartment and once again found Beta sitting at the table writing what looked to be a small novella.

“Lord Shadow,” she exclaimed again. “I’ve been working on our project and I think if you can manage all of this then the princess is certain to break-up with you despite your overwhelming charisma.”

This was going to hurt. He was going to immediately waste all her considerable (yet useless) effort. “Beta, I appreciate your hard work, but I no longer need you to keep working on this.”

“Why, my lord?”

“Alexia and I have come to an… arrangement of sorts. I’ll continue as her boyfriend and she’ll provide something I want in exchange.”

“Mi-might I ask what she’s giving you?”

Obviously it would be completely lame to admit he was broke and got bought out, so he’d just have to use EiS technique 7 “Be vague while truthful to avoid the real answer.”

“I’m sorry Beta, but it’s part of our agreement that I can’t say. I’m certain she would be completely mortified if people found out she had to do it to keep her boyfriend interested.”

Beta gave him a look of shock, disappointment and mild horror.

Damn I said too much, she totally knows I’m broke.

Chapter Text

Can I really do this?

“I’m expensing this,” Cid said, holding his hand out.

“What do you mean?” Cid had some strange ideas about what he should be paid for. Some prankster seemed to have convinced him that when commoners had to buy things for their job or for their boss, they would be compensated. Even as a princess she wasn’t so detached from reality.

“I mean you’re the one who wanted to get ice cream, I shouldn’t have to pay for it.”

“Cid, you ate one of them. Why would I pay you for that?”

“Okay, I’ll just take the money for your's then,” his hand moved slightly closer.

Tired of this, she pushed the dregs of her ice cream towards his face. She missed his mouth only because he tried to dodge so the cone ended up stuck to his nose. The contrast between his deadpan annoyance and how his nose appeared to have tripled in length made her giggle.

When her laughter died down she was finally able to say, “Sorry puppy, but since you’ve had them both now I don’t think I owe you anything.” Cid wisely chose to keep silent.

Trying to keep what remained of his dignity, Cid tossed his new nose extension into the trash, cleaned his face with his jacket sleeve and stood over her. “Think it’s time to get back. The gates’ll shut in an hour.”

A part of her wanted to argue as she rarely went to the lower city and rather liked this spot. Sitting on a bench in the shaded market square, close enough to the fountain that she could make out the small copper coins at the bottom, it was refreshingly cool. She still wasn’t sure if Cid would suddenly spot the coins and dive in after them as if they were drowning.

But he had a point, depending on the tram schedules they could be late if they waited any longer. Not wanting to entirely give in, she held her arm out and waited for Cid to take her hand and pull her up from the bench.

He didn’t hesitate at all, and pulled her up with slightly more force than was strictly necessary. The first time he’d blushed and been as gentle as though he was handling a baby, but now after they had been together for a month you would have thought that was all an act.

Has it really been that long already?

Before starting school her mother had advised her to be unambiguous and decisive when dealing with boys, whether or not she was interested. The advice had been worthwhile as she worked through her unreasonably long list of rejections, and had also proven useful with Cid. At the very least he’d stopped throwing swords at her once all the cards were on the table.

After their first disastrous day as a couple they had managed to settle into a routine. They’d share at least one meal each day, their Royal Bushin class and a couple of others (she hadn’t noticed they shared a third of their classes until he asked her out), as well as a couple of more specific ‘dates’ each week.

After all this time she had realized why he’d been so difficult to work out, he was simultaneously a genius and an idiot.

During their first week together they’d gone to a local museum as part of their history class and their guide had been showing them a portrait of king Ausaur, who had been the king of Midgar 560 years ago. The guide had just been highlighting his connection to her, and she’d been basking in well-deserved attention when he’d loudly asked if Ausaur was the one who kept a servant specifically to wipe the drool off his chin. The guide had sheepishly answered yes while she had to quickly explain to the class how his line ended with his children and one of his cousins, Alexia’s direct ancestor, had taken the throne while ensuring she stepped on Cid’s foot as many times as possible as she paced giving her speech to the class.

He genuinely didn’t seem to understand what he’d done wrong until she explained it in detail. His grades literally couldn’t be any more average if he was trying, so it was strange he’d even known this in the first place, but he was apparently interested in ‘background lowre’. She had refused to humiliate herself asking him what that was and she hadn't been able to find out the meaning herself.

On the other hand, sometimes he’d actually do something so genuinely impressive that left Alexia struggling to not compliment him. A restaurant they had gone to had an artefact marked in ancient runes that covered the room in slowly shifting multicoloured light. She had always wanted to learn, but all of her other courses had left her lacking time for the years of study it would take. Cid had not only been able to read the damn thing perfectly, but said (and she would swear he wasn’t lying) he’d picked it up in six weeks.

His swordsmanship was also another area he excelled in. In terms of pure sword technique he was probably the best in the class excluding Zenon, and that was only because the old creep had almost a decade on the rest of them. She’d learned a lot practising with him, from stretching and preparation to moves and strategy. All that changed when magic came into play though. If there was a size between miniscule and non-existent then that’s what best described his mana reserve, which explained his position in rank seven.

She was still puzzling out how exactly he’d turned out this way by the time they took their seats on the tram when she remembered something she needed to tell him.

“Iris got back from the Velgaltan border yesterday. I know she doesn’t officially arrive until tomorrow, but she wanted some time alone with the family in private. There’s going to be a welcoming party next week and I expect you to stay available.”

Cid considered this for a moment “If she’s just back, why are you out here with me?”

“It’s… complicated. You probably get at least some of it. I mean you’ve got the exact same problem with Claire”.

Cid just looked confused, so she elaborated “Everyone compares me to Iris. I can’t even blame them, it’s a natural thing to do but I always end up on the lacking side. It’s the same sort of thing you have with Claire, she’s in the lead for the academy’s Bushin festival representative and you’re in rank seven.” 

Even if I do think they underrate you a little.

“No, that's not my problem with Claire. She just constantly tries to push me into doing things together and training when I just want to have fun with other stuff.”

“But your sword style,” she said, frustration growing from… somewhere. “You came up with it because you couldn’t compete with her, because by minimising waste you could use the most of your limited strength and at least try to fight with someone more talented than you, even if you’d never win.”

“No, I just liked it because I thought it was the best style in general. I like yours because it’s pretty similar actually.”

“Don’t lie,” she spat at him. People had been complimenting her swordsmanship for years, but it wasn’t until Iris told her that after her defeat that she realized what should have been obvious the whole time. She was mediocre and everyone was patronizing her because of her position. She’d had to just smile and wave away the false praise for almost a year now anytime someone trotted it out.

“Do you really think I care enough to lie?” This was a decent answer. Even with her friends there was always a certain degree of ‘preferential treatment’, an unspoken, unchallenged dominance in the group. Not with Cid though. He played a good part in public but when they were alone he just spouted whatever crap came into his mind.

“Why then?” she asked, actually drawing her sword and levelling it at him in fury.

“Because you obviously put a lot of work into it, because you liked doing it/”

She had no idea how to respond to that and was saved having to answer that question by an attendant opening the door. Feeling the need to get away from him she sheathed her sword, pushed past the open-mouthed attendant and ran.

She barely heard Cid shouting that this wasn’t their stop as the tram began to move again, only sparing a quick glance back to make sure he hadn't gotten off after her. The tram seemed blurry as it moved away.

I’m crying. That idiot actually made me cry without even trying.

She moved towards the academy, trying to keep to the side streets to avoid being seen while she gathered her thoughts. An old, almost forgotten memory flashed through her mind of her and Iris out in the palace gardens working with blunted blades. She already knew her anger wasn’t about Iris and the growing distance between them, or about everyone else thinking she was mediocre. She’d already thought all that through months ago.

It’s about me. I never realized how much I used to love practicing compared to how much I hate it now, how much I wish I could just stop wasting my time and do anything else.

She felt vaguely horrified at the realization of how much she’d changed without noticing, as if someone had stolen that pure joy she’d felt in the past, and she was just now noticing the gaping wound ripping it out had left in her.

She couldn’t figure out where the problem even started. There was Cid, Iris, the rest of the world or even the goddess Beatrix for not giving her the talent to follow through with her dream.

She was so caught up going over and over it she didn’t even notice the three masked men blocking the exit of the alley, until she tried to turn back and found three more waiting behind. There wasn’t even time to draw her sword before everything faded to black.

Shit.

---

“Finally,” Cid muttered watching the scene from the rooftop.

It had been getting close to the point he was considering kidnapping her himself to bait out the cult or Shadow Garden or whoever was going to kidnap her, and if no one came he would just hold a fundraising ransom.

He had successfully established himself as a character over the last month, now he had to move into the background again. The difference between a side character and a main character was that main characters were always in the spotlight, while side characters came and went like the tide.

Meeting the royal family in this situation would also be a major headache he’d like to avoid. He had just jumped off the tram and set off after her, still trying to decide if he should go for it now when the trap had sprung.

The men hadn’t identified themselves, but based on Shadow Garden’s reports it was a majority female organization. He wasn’t actually sure he’d seen a single man’s name in the reports yet, but he couldn’t be the only one, right?

He decided to follow as the ambushers packed Alexia into a plain brown sack, brought a carriage near the alley’s exit and loaded her up. What happened next was torturous to watch.

It was like those levels in stealth games where you have to follow a slow moving target while absolutely nothing interesting or challenging occurred. It was actually worse since in those games the targets usually took a straight path, while these guys were constantly circling around themselves and checking for tails.

More than an hour later after the sun had set and the city was truly dark, they arrived back at their base. It couldn’t have been ten minutes from where they started.

GPS trackers, Eta will be able to do it. Just hang in there. You’ll never have to do this again.

Cid stopped repeating this mantra as Alexia was loaded out of the carriage, bound in magic-suppressing restraints and taken inside the building, which appeared to be a long-deserted warehouse from the outside.

Theoretically he could go in right now and save Alexia, but this presented three problems. Firstly, he would gain more intel if he rescued her after she had been a prisoner there for a day or two. Secondly, if there was going to be a ransom he needed to give it time for the money to come through. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, it wouldn’t solve her problem and she would insist on dragging him around in their charade for the rest of the year.

He was proud of the solution he’d come up with for this. It was so simple, yet so creative he was certain no-one would see through his Machiavellian scheme.

He would frame instructor Zenon as one of the kidnappers.

It was perfect. All he’d have to do is go to Zenon’s house, plant a few items, forge a couple of documents and he’d be out of the running. He probably wouldn’t be convicted on this evidence but Alexia would have an acceptable reason to dismiss him and Cid could exit this stage.

Alexia had shown him Zenon’s house on the way to one of their dates, pointing out how extravagant the mansion was while he acted all modest at school. She’d given him a hard kick to the shin when he pointed out she would say he didn’t have a home fit for a princess if he had a cheap house, but Alexia just hated him on principle. Her main theory was that having no flaws was a massive flaw.

Insane. Totally insane. It’s the same thing with our swordsmanship. She says she hates mine and I just have to take it, but I say I like hers and she goes nuts.

Cid leapt the fence of the mansion and moved swiftly and silently up, scaled up to a second story window, forced it open and crept in. He ended up in a connecting hallway and moved casually through the halls knowing Zenon only stayed here during the weekends or holidays and whatever staff maintained the place would be long gone. He looked through two bedrooms, a bathroom and a supply cupboard until he finally found his study.

As he looked through a few of Zenon’s letters he had to privately admit Alexia may have had a point about him. He had several pictures of her in his drawer, and some of his letters seemed to be from his family trying to push him forward into a royal marriage, talking about how impeccable her bloodline was and that they expected he would be able to easily take her in hand.

Their grammar sucks. That should be take her hand in marriage

Nevertheless it made his job easier. All he had to do was forge another letter saying that they were disappointed in his lack of progress and heard she was interested in another man. Then add a veiled threat about having to take more drastic action and seize the princess themselves soon.

Finally it was time for the crowning jewel, a map of the city with the market he and Alexia visited, the point she was seized, the building she was being held in circled. He circled two other random points just because and folded it up in the back cover of Zenon’s copy of The lives of five kings, from Alexander II to Artos I left lying on his desk.

With the set perfectly constructed for the detective character to find the evidence, Cid backtracked and headed out of the house. When he cleared the wall and started casually walking back to the academy a thought occurred.

Alexia would be waking up soon. While she wouldn’t be seriously hurt she would at least be scared and at worst be experimented on by a demon cult. He could go right now and save her.

Thinking back on all their time together, he wondered if he could really just leave her there and go on ahead with this plan.

Of course I can. The weirder thing is that I even thought of doing that in the first place.

She’d be fine and he was even graciously solving her problems for her without taking any credit.

Cid walked back to the dormitory and slept like a baby that night, thinking about his generosity.

This is our protagonist.

—

“Cid Kagenou. Princess Alexia has gone missing and we believe you were the last person to see her. We’ll need you to come with us and answer some questions,” The knight declared.

Something occurred to Cid at that moment, like a minor flaw in a buildings design that brought the whole thing crashing down.

Thinking about the task of kidnapping Alexia from anyone else’s perspective, the easiest person to frame would be her new politically irrelevant boyfriend.

Shit.

Chapter Text

Set things off

She looked at the boy through the small one-way window into the cell. The physical family resemblance was stronger between him and Claire than between her and Alexia, with his dark hair and red eyes. But Claire was confident and outspoken to the point of impudence while this young man looked completely dejected and defeated strapped to the interrogation chair, making a sharp contrast between the two.

Looking him over, she tried to see why her sister would have chosen this one. He was attractive enough, with a significantly more muscular frame than what had showed through his uniform but that hardly explained it. There were at least twenty other boys in her year who were as good-looking from much better families and with much more talent. From what she’d heard Alexia had rejected thirteen of these hopefuls already.

“What do we have on him again?” she asked, trying to sort out how he fit into this.

“He was seen arguing with the princess on a tram back to the academy, and it had escalated to the point she drew her sword. The attendant swears he didn’t get off after her but he also didn’t see him getting off at any other stop, and their fight was so unusual he was apparently keeping an eye out for him”.

“That’s all, it’s not unlikely the attendant just didn’t notice him leave?” His black hair and average height would have made him difficult to identify in a crowd. As suspicious as the fight was she would have said it was in his favour overall.

“Not exactly” Zenon elaborated. “When we searched his apartment we didn’t find anything to tie him to the kidnapping, but there was almost a million Zeni hidden under his mattress. Given what I know about his family it seems like too much for a second son’s allowance”.

“What’s your opinion?”

“Honestly I don’t think he’s involved. He isn’t strong enough to overpower the princess himself and he has no known associates that could or would have helped him. He might still have some useful information though.”

“Has he said what they were fighting about, or where he got the money?”

“No. He just said it was private and that it was his savings.” Zenon hesitated before proceeding “I’d advise you to let him go while having him tailed. He hasn’t given us anything yet so I don’t think he will unless your willing to do serious damage, and if he is somehow involved it’s probably our best chance to learn something.”

Too slow. Alexia’s out there somewhere and that could take days and not even lead anywhere.

“I’ll go talk to him alone. Maybe he’ll be a little more forthcoming with me”.

She walked into the room, deciding to go for a friendly and casual approach as she looked down at Cid. The cuts and bruises that covered his torso and legs proved the hard way had already been tried.

He seemed slow to realize she was there, then his eyes widened in recognition “Your Highness”.

She waved the title away “This isn’t a formal occasion. You can just call me Iris, okay?”

“Okay Yo-Iris”

“You probably already know why I’m here. Given what we’ve been able to find out there’s no way you were the one to take Alexia since you were still on the tram. There are still a few things we need to go over before you go home though”.

She paused slightly to give him time to process then decided to start at the beginning “How did you and Alexia start going out?”

She caught the nervous look on his face as he replied “I-uh asked her out and she accepted?”

There’s more here.

“Just like that, you hadn’t spent any time with her beforehand?”

Again the nervous look “N-no”

“Did she ever tell you why she accepted?”

His eyes darted around the room as if he was hoping to find some previously unseen way out of the cell then replied in a small voice “She asked me not to say anything, but it was because one of her suitors has been pressuring her. She wanted to annoy him and stall so she could find a way to dismiss him”.

“Who was this candidate?”

He looked at the window and she immediately understood when he turned away and whispered “Zenon”

Well that explains why she went with a nobody no-one would take seriously and why he hasn’t said any of this while Zenon was in the room.

She mover around him, so both she and Cid couldn’t be seen directly through the window to calm him. “Alright, I have a couple of other questions. We found a fairly large sum of money in your apartment, could you tell me where you got it? If it’s not related to this, I wont say anything about it”

“When I found out Alexia only went out with me to piss off Zenon I was...upset. I wanted to break up with her right away so she offered to pay me not to”.

That explains the money, but I’ll need to check with her friends to see if they can confirm it. It’s still just a story even if it does make sense.

“One last thing Cid”. Putting on a warm smile she continued “You seemed to be in a fight with Alexia when you were with her last, could you tell me what it was about?”

He hesitated again “I honestly don’t know, that’s why I haven’t said anything about it. I just said I liked her swordsmanship and she completely freaked out about it”.

Iris was glad she was already smiling, it would have been impossible to make herself after hearing that.

“Oh-well that’s” why was she even going to explain this to a random student “Thank you Cid. I’ll send someone to get your school things and you can go home.” Simultaneously convinced he wasn’t involved and yet closer than ever to hitting him she turned to leave.

“Please wait, has there been any messages from the kidnappers. Like a ransom or demands?”

The concern in his voice made her look him over again and cooled her temper slightly. Apparently even though he was hired he still cared a lot about her sister.

“No, nothing yet.”

---

Cid kept up his dejected walk as he made his way out of the interrogation room, trying his best to imitate a slightly drunk gambler who’d just lost big.

The interrogation had been poggers. He got to cast suspicion on Zenon and fulfil the side-character red-herring part of the mystery. He probably shouldn’t have explained about Alexia’s freak out though. It would have been better if he refused to talk about it and there was still a mystery involving him after the interrogation so he’d still be suspicious. He’d just been kind of curious about why it set her off, but Iris hadn’t let slip what she knew so that idea bombed.

To keep himself from looking to happy he focused on his most recent disappointment, that he seemed completely unable to do vague hint dialogue properly. He’d spent the time alone in his cell going over what he’d said and still couldn’t understand where he was going wrong. This genuinely rendered him mildly afraid as this was a critical part of being the eminence in shadow.

He’d been at his pointless early morning training exercises with Claire that morning when the topic of his love life came up. Claire had been loudly wondering why he was wasting his time with Alexia and warning him not to get too attached since it probably wasn’t going to last. Wanting to see if the last time with Beta had been a fluke he’d given the hint again, explaining that the relationship had certain benefits and he couldn’t say more since Alexia swore him to secrecy about it.

Again he’d got that vaguely horrified and disappointed look as she replied “You’re really growing up aren’t you Cid”.

Dammit all to hell.

“I suppose” Doing things you’d rather not do to be financially secure was one of the major developments everyone went through as they grew up. “Being the heir I’m sure mom and dad will be on you to start doing it yourself soon”.

She sighed “They already have but I haven’t met anyone I’d want to get into that kind of relationship with. It’ll be easy enough to stall them until after I graduate, since I’ll be worth more after I win the Bushin festival”.

It was true that people who did well or won the Bushin festival were highly sought after in various positions but this was still somewhat surprising coming from Claire. “You’re such an overachiever I thought you would just rush in as soon as you could”.

She punched his stomach

“What kind of girl do you think I am”. Looking down at him she seemed to take pity and wrapped him in a hug “Be careful Cid. I just don’t want you to get hurt”.

You just hit me ten seconds ago.

But he dutifully said he would, set off for class and was promptly arrested. He had to give the knights credit for waiting until Claire was out of the picture before taking him in.

Once he gathered his things (most importantly his Zeni) and made his way outside he heard a vaguely familiar voice call his name. It was the student council president and his pick for person with the most main character energy of the entire student body, Rose Orianna. She was incredibly popular with the upper and lower classes of students, had incredible talent as a spellsword and had an image as a refined and caring young noble lady that greatly surpassed Alexia’s.

Cid suppressed a shiver as he imagined how screwed up in the head this one had to be.

“Class president, are you alright?”.

Her left arm was in a sling and a dark purple bruise covered her right cheek.

“Yes I’m perfectly fine. It was just a small duel that got somewhat out of hand” she replied unabashed.

Cid thought this over. The school provided free healing magic except in the cases of unauthorised duels, to punish the participants. Given her reputation and the fact she was still injured it was fairly clear what had happened.

“I’m sorry about Claire. She tried to come in after me didn’t she?”

“Well, yes” Rose replied, blushing slightly. “You’re sister really seems to care about you. Given how emotional she was I thought she might cause a problem with Iris and make the whole situation worse so I stopped her from going in”.

“Thanks” he held out a hand “Do you want me to heal that, I’m pretty good at it”. Healing relied more on control than pure power and since you could tap into the other person’s mana it didn’t break character.

She nodded and he set his hand on her cheek. After a few seconds the bruise faded away and the Rose began to free her arm from the sling.

“It seems I owe you thanks as well” she bowed her head slightly. Straightening she continued “I came here to escort you back to your dormitory. Tensions with the students is quite high at the moment and the teachers have agreed you should take the next few days off to let things settle”.

Yes! Free vacation.

“O-Okay. It’s this way” he said setting off down the road.

They talked intermittently as they set off, while Cid tried not to show he noticed the tail set on him. Despite the fact that they’d never spoken before and he wasn’t that interested Rose was able to keep the conversation going fairly well, asking him about his classes and his home while briefly talking about her own.

When they reached his dorm room he opened the door and stepped inside while Rose waited on the threshold.

“I should be going, I was only given one class off to bring you here.”

“See you. Have a good time”.

Rose stopped as she began to turn away, frowning “You’re not worried about Alexia are you?”

“Not really” the look on her face told him he needed to elaborate “Whoever took her probably wants money or to strong-arm her dad. For that they need her alive and unharmed so she should be fine once this whole thing blows over”.

“I suppose that’s true” Rose replied cautiously beginning to smile “You’re much more calm and optimistic about this than I would have expected. Goodbye Cid Kagenou”.

She departed for real this time and Cid closed the door.

“We’re alone. Come out Alpha”.

----

The space under Cid’s bed was surprisingly clean. Alpha had to hide under here once it was clear the Orianna girl would be accompanying him up here. She was briefly reminded of what must have happened with the last princess he’d brought to this bedroom before quickly putting it out of mind and moving into position.

News of Cid’s arrest had been slow to reach her. Epsilon had just arrived and had spent the last two hours going over her intelligence reports when Beta, no longer able to contain herself explained about Shadow’s new romantic developments.

Epsilon had responded predictably in a complete uproar “I mean clearly you, I mean I, I mean we” she growled face to face with Beta, moving her hand up and down as if trying to present something invisible between their thighs and chests “are better equipped for that sort of thing”.

She completely shut down when Beta suggested Shadow might prefer girls with a more slight figure, the poor girl. She’d be the worst hit if that turned out to be true.

Nu had burst in and shouted that shadow had been arrested. Epsilon had wanted to mount a rescue immediately but she and Beta had realized Cid must have allowed himself to be arrested for some reason they didn’t currently understand.

From there they had investigated the people running the investigation reasoning Cid had allowed this to draw out the cult’s hidden agents who would doubtless want to be involved in the investigation of their own crime. They started from the top, with Alpha herself looking into the most senior investigator (excluding Iris) and striking gold straight away.

There was proof of his plot to kidnap Alexia and which even several locations she could be held in his home. They had confirmed the princess’s presence at the most isolated of these locations and moved to report to Cid as soon as Nu reported his release.

“Were alone. Come out Alpha”.

She crawled out from under the bed with as much dignity and grace as she could.

“You managed to find Zeta’s favourite spot”.

“It seems that’s another opinion we don’t share. It was just the best place to hide when I saw you had company. I was almost worried you’d managed to woo another princess”. She hadn’t managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

Cid shook his head “Beta told you about that huh. I guess we might as well share the fruit of my hard work” He moved to a cabinet, triggered the false back to slide out of sight, pulled out a bottle of wine started and started pouring two glasses.

Thoroughly confused she asked “What does that wine have to do with Alexia?”

Cid responded in a slightly irritated tone “I bought it with the money she paid me to pretend to be her boyfriend, what else?”.

Quickly putting this together with Beta’s exact report about his reluctance to go into detail for the princess’s dignity, she smiled and took the offered glass. The taste was so exquisite she immediately looked down at the bottle to try and read the vintage. From her limited knowledge she thought this would have cost at least 300,000 Zeni.

I suppose he can get everything he wants by himself after all.

“It seems you’re in quite a difficult situation Cid?”. Of course she would be able to help him out of it.

He smirked “Do you really believe that? I’m exactly where I want to be right now”.

Of course he is. It was obvious he’d get ahead of you again. It happens every time.

“A-are you hungry?” she said offering a few sandwiches she had bought for them to share. She could at least be useful that way.

He sat down and devoured the first one in less than a second. As he moved to the second he explained “Alexia has been taken to a warehouse just behind Orchard street and since I’m one of the suspects I’m being tailed. The knights are watching the front and back doors right now. When I slip past them tonight while they think I’m still here and rescue Alexia, I’ll not only deal with the cult but I’ll also make them think it’s impossible for me to be Shadow”.

Stupid, stupid girl.

She thought it had been a mistake on his part, letting Alexia be kidnapped but it made much more sense to allow it to happen and rescue her later. He would be safe as the cult would want to use him as a diversion for as long as possible and Alexia would be safe given their need for her blood. The alibi he would forge right in front of Iris (arguably their greatest obstacle excluding the cult) would be unbreakable.

Shadow didn’t make mistakes, only the people around him did.

“I see. We found out that location by investigating Zenon Griffey. Did you find out the same way?”

“I suppose” he answered hesitantly. “But you should be prepared for the fact that he may simply be another false trail”.

“Now that you mention it there was something suspicious about the map we found to Alexia’s location. It appears the spot she was abducted was marked, but she shouldn’t have been expected there and there’s no reason to mark it after the fact.”

What an idiotic mistake to make.

Cid nodded but said nothing. Alpha sat down opposite him feeling inexplicably tired. She noticed belatedly that Cid was holding the last sandwich.

“Since you’ll be moving in tonight I’ll need to move up my plan to simultaneously strike at the cult’s other holdings in the capital to match. Is there anything I should keep in mind?”

“I’ll be taking care of the warehouse and I’ll give you a distraction and a signal for when to strike”.

She could easily work that into her current plan, and a distraction would let them more easily blindside the enemy.

“What will it be?”

“Just look up and you’ll see it. You probably wont even have to do that.”

Cid finished his sandwich and moved to the window, looking down on the poorly disguised knights that surrounded the building

“You didn’t bring any potato chips did you?”

“Apologies, but no”. If he was still hungry she certainly wasn’t going to bring up the fact he just ate her sandwiches.

“Shame. It would have really set things off”.

He turned away from the window and back to face her.

“Hey Alpha, why would a girl get angry if you said you liked her swordplay?”

“I take it this has to do this the princess?” It would be easier to answer this honestly knowing his only interest in the girl was professional and financial.

“Yeah I said that to her and she flipped out in public, pretty random right?”

“I think” Alpha replied slowly “It might have to do with her sister. She’s always been overshadowed by her and it might be hard for her to think anything she does is worthwhile. She probably thought you were being insincere.”

“Who the hell thinks that way? I was just trying to be nice”

She hesitated a moment, but it would just be too petty to bring up the other girls in Shadow Garden who envied the shades and her in particular. “I do, sometimes” she stood up to face him, it was somehow harder to say just looking at the wall. “You’re strong enough and wise enough to move ahead of us all on your own and we know you don’t really need us, but we still want to help you as much as we can. You saved us from a fate worse than death and gave us completely new lives, you taught us who we are. I know you don’t mean it that way but when you don’t involve us and handle things yourself we feel unreliable, like you can’t trust in us or believe in us”.

She’d just sprung everything she’d been thinking during their nineteen month separation on him out of the blue. She’d been ashamed to face him until she had built the organisation to a suitable level and each time she hit a goal, she considered it wasn’t enough and set out to develop Shadow Garden even more before showing Cid.

Cid just stared at her for a moment and then put a hand on her shoulder “I-do trust you guys, all of you. There have been times where I’ve felt that I couldn’t overcome someone, and that people didn’t believed in me”.

It seemed impossible “You’re not talking about us are you?”

“No... I know you all believe in me”. She could have sworn his voice shifted a fraction higher. She’d forgotten how relaxed he was when it was just the two of them and he didn’t have to act as a ruler. She could feel her eyes beginning to water

They were silent for a moment, with Cid looking at her and her looking into his chest. Cid broke it saying with slightly forced enthusiasm “About the raid tonight, do you want to come with? It’s been ages since we did something just the two of us right?”

She’d have to give command to Gamma but that didn’t matter at all. Right now she would have given command to 626, their newest recruit.

“I-I’d love to”

Her voice was clearly breaking. Who was she kidding, she’d have given the command to Delta if it meant she could go with him right now.

“Cool. I’ll meet you on one of the roofs nearby at midnight.”

Alpha nodded and prepared to leave, not trusting her voice to say anything else when something else leapt up in her mind so alarming it pushed back her swirling emotions.

“Who couldn’t you overcome? I need to warn the others, he could be incredibly dangerous”

“He was a man able to destroy cities and kill hundreds of thousands in an instant” She shuddered “It’s taken me a long time to match his strength, but he’s long dead so you don’t need to worry about him”.

“Who was this man?” maybe Eta would know something about this mysterious destroyer.

“Oppenheimer”.

----

Dammit Alpha, you just had to guilt trip me didn’t you.

The chance of the cult being real had only reached 40% with the lack of ransom demands and he would have almost no opportunity to investigate without looking like a tard if he was wrong with her there but still…

“ I can do it. I’ll be a real shadowbroker, just you wait”.

He still remembered his first childhood. Even then he’d trained himself relentlessly and initially his friends and even his parents had supported him (even though his parents had just been humouring what they thought was a childish flight of fancy). Then one day, one of his more popular friends had said

“ Shadowbroker’s don’t really exist. You’re just embarrassing yourself playing pretend”.

And just like that, his friends didn’t want to hear a word about it. His parents too thought that he it was time for him to let go. They didn’t understand anything.

He realized early on that he would have to do it without their acceptance, and set about pretending like he’d just realized how embarrassing the whole thing was while settling into his NPC role. But he still remembered how it had stung, that he wanted at least a couple of people to confide in and work with as the eminence in shadow.

That was why having Alpha and the others had been so fun at the start. That had soured over the last year and a half as he’d started to consider them as some sort of opposition.

He became the eminence in shadow because he enjoyed it, because he admired the position and thought it would be fun to be one himself. If he thought believing in Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta was the more enjoyable thing, that was obviously what he should do.

If they got him, he’d just have to hold his hands up, say well done and plan his retaliation.

Chapter Text

Math checks out

Cid stood looking over the warehouse waiting for Alpha, doing his best to look stoic and relaxed as his excitement grew.

This was it. The moment he’d waited sixteen long years to achieve, the unveiling of Shadow and Shadow Garden. An amateur eminence would have impatiently revealed himself years ago in some fight with a gang or something but Cid refused to settle for that. He’d trained until his power was unrivalled and waited until a suitable stage presented itself before making his move.

He noticed a small figure in a green cloak running into the main entrance of the facility and wondered if they might be receiving an early warning. He felt a pang of jealousy at the thought there might be a secret tunnel he should be worrying about.

His own escape had been pretty lame in comparison. He’d originally tried to have a secret tunnel dug under his apartment building, but apparently the structure wouldn’t support it.

Why do people even make buildings like that.

Following this he’d designed a less impressive escape option. He’d rented another apartment a floor above and on the opposite side of his building for the last year, and used the window there to jump to a nearby rooftop since his own window was being watched. The ghetto escape tunnel sucked, but it worked so he had to concede that by definition it didn’t suck that much.

The closest thing to a problem had been Claire showing up to check on him, but it was late enough that he could just pretend to be asleep (she of course insisted on having a key and wouldn’t bother knocking). Showing unusual restraint she just tucked his blanket more tightly around him and whispered that everything was going to be okay before leaving.

Cid could finally see Alpha approaching, long blond hair shining in the moonlight as she made her way over. He wondered if it ever got in the way while she was fighting.

Deciding to try and avoid any potential awkwardness from their conversation earlier Cid forced his voice deeper and said “The time is ripe for shadows to engulf the world”

“Indeed. This moonless night belongs to the shadows. To those who hunt from the shadows”.

Cid felt his chest tighten. They grew up so fast.

“How should we proceed my lord.”

“Given their hostage, we should move silently until she’s secure. We can fight through our enemies more freely then”. If they moved Alexia before he could recover her it would be a massive pain to track her down again.

He set off and signalled Alpha to follow him as he made his went to the best entrance he’d found, a second story room with a broken window. The unlit room with it’s cracked walls and rotting broken furniture was doubtless left that way to show how abandoned the building was and how worthless everything inside would be. As a man who knew how to set a scene, he’d have to give this an A+.

The jump was thirty feet into a small opening and as he went in face first he noticed small fragments of glass that would crunch underfoot if he landed normally. He partially liquefied the slime suit as he rolled to his feet to cover the glass and silence any breaks.

As Alpha came in he decided to catch her before she landed in case she wouldn’t be able to manage the silent landing. If she hadn’t improved from the last time he’d seen her, it would be a struggle for her, Epsilon was the only one he’d put money on to first-try this sort of thing. She looked slightly flushed and flustered as he set her down and quickly turned away from him to stalk towards the room’s only exit.

She probably wanted to show off her training or something.

Cid decided to stand back and let her take the lead for a little while. As her superior he should have some idea of her skills and he got wanting to show off.

Besides, none of her new tricks could top his showstopper.

------

Something was happening outside. She was too groggy to make out what was being said so far away but she could hear the panic in those voices and felt herself smile, hope bubbling up in her chest. She looked over to new friend “Can you tell what’s going on”. Her voice sounded hoarse even in her own ears.

The creature looked at her but said nothing. She didn’t think it could talk but she thought it liked being talked to. It looked at her intently when she did and sometimes it nodded or shook it’s head if she asked the right questions. Talking about whatever came into her head had helped her calm down after the panic she felt realizing this wasn’t going to be resolved with a simple ransom demand.

The thing had terrified her at first with it’s dark red skin, angry red eyes and a body that looked grotesquely muscular in some places and withered to a corpse-like state at others. At her best guess she’d been locked with the thing for over a day now and the familiarity combined with the knowledge they were both in the same boat had endeared her to it somewhat.

At the very least it was her favourite of the two new acquaintances she’d made in this room. Blood doctor talked but was one note about her having demons blood, mostly unintelligible and had mood swings like an angry three year old.

Speak of the devil.

He walked in followed by another man, finally raving about something else.

“The knights, the knights are coming. Why? Why? First we lose the labs to those idiots in black and now, but now? You were supposed to handle them you. You” The outrage in his voice was palpable.

The blond man who answered was calm “I don’t know how they found me out so quickly. You can complain later but we need to move to our backup site outside the capital tonight”.

It took her a second to place the place the face and voice “Instructor Zenon?”

“Ah princess” Zenon replied casually “I’d like to talk right now but were on a somewhat rushed schedule.”

She laughed “Yeah. Sounds like Iris is hot on your tail.”

He shrugged “She suspects me for some reason and this place does belong to a business I own. She’ll show up in the next few days I expect but you’ll be long gone by then”.

Alexia smiled “I always thought you were either a total liar or a complete psychopath, but I never thought I’d be right about both”. His slap did little to dampen her mood at knowing she was completely right and seeing his plan beginning to crumble around him. For all of her difficulties with Iris she had complete faith she wouldn’t fail. Hell in some way that might have actually be part of the problem. He’d be on a scaffold before the school semester was over.

“Why are you even doing this?” For as much as she hated him the man appeared to have everything; money, status, even a certain appeal with other girls Alexia had never understood.

“I suppose it’s because I have more ambition than spending my days instructing a bunch of useless, ungrateful brats how to fight. If you mean why you’re here it’s for your blood”. He answered while looking over the doctor’s equipment.

“Again with my blood” she deadpanned “Is this some sort of vampire cult?”. She’d heard doc psycho ranting about being excommunicated from a cult early on.

“Not exactly” he said picking up a syringe filled with a dark yellow fluid. She tried to move away as he approached “Don’t struggle, you’ll only hurt yourself”. Alexia had to concede this and tried to hold herself still (it would only be harder to run or fight injured) as he approached and stuck the needle into her neck “Your blood has… Practical and religious value. This is about immortality.”

Alexia tried to keep her eyes open as he moved to unbind her arms and legs from the magic sealing chains, but her eyelids felt like more and more weight was being added to them every second. By the time she was completely unbound she was in a deep sleep.

----

Alpha had improved during their separation. Dramatically. The rooms facing onto the streets were all empty but further into the interior the spaces were well lit and clearly lived in, with several of the rooms being occupied when they arrived. They were technically empty again by the time they set off for the next one.

Alpha had managed the first room entirely by herself, a sleeping quarters with three young men quickly packing up whatever they thought was valuable. Moving through the room with a calm, serene grace, finishing all three within ten seconds of near perfect silence.

Not wanting to be outdone Cid had moved taken the next room with five people in in, using a mix of ranged attacks and a double kill from above to get max style points. They took it in turns from then on, occasionally working on some difficult setup together until they got to the research centre(?). This had twelve people furiously grouping and packing away documents, their distraction made it relatively easy to take them unawares and clear the room.

He looked over the documents and picked up a few at random then spoke to Alpha “You might want to take some of these”

“Can’t we come back later and retrieve them with a larger team?”

“That won’t be possible” Cid foreshadowed.

Alpha looked over the documents and replied “It seems they know someone is coming for them but I’d guess they’re preparing for the knights and not us. They’ve learned not to waste any time if they find out were onto them. Whoever tipped them off has made our task more difficult though”. Alpha trailed off somewhat unhappily.

Cid being completely responsible for this decided to change the topic “You’ve gotten a lot better since I last saw you. I’m impressed.”

Alpha tucked a few pages into her slime suit and replied as it reformed “Well… yes. Most of the new girls have never seen you fight, so I have to set a good example”.

This floor was entirely clear so they set off still talking to one another “Have you had any luck finding job outside shadow garden?” Cid tried to ask as casually as possible. People could get pretty sensitive about being out of work.

“I’ve actually decided to follow your example for that. I’ll be working as a retail assistant part time as my cover. I can’t really afford anything more anyway given the time it takes to run Shadow Garden. I have no idea how you manage everything while maintaining such a complex disguise”.

It’s quite simple. You do all the work.

“Well if it work’s for you that’s nice. Where are you working?”

“Mitsugoshi” she said, looking at him clearly expecting him to know what store that was. Being entirely disinterested in shop brands but not willing to admit to his ignorance he just smiled and nodded. People generally got whatever message they wanted from that.

The rest of the floor was clear so they were able to talk casually as they looked for the entrance to the underground section of the base they’d heard about as they’d prepared to strike. He filled her in on academy life, Claire’s overbearing training and his job with Alexia. She probably wasn’t used to people complaining to her about their bosses since she was apparently in charge of all of her other friends, which was probably why she ate up his bitching about Alexia.

For her part she talked about how Shadow Garden was doing, about sections where she thought they needed more personnel and occasional ‘misunderstandings’ with Delta. Gamma and Epsilon seemed to be the standouts with Gamma’s business apparently accounting for most of their income and Epsilon becoming a favourite of the imperial court of Velgalta and Orianna’s royal family.

The entrance was hidden behind a bookcase they had already passed during their first sweep of the building. It hadn’t been locked but was almost completely flat against the wall, explaining how they’d missed it earlier. They fell silent as they headed down the stairs conscious that there would be some serious echo off these walls. After a few minutes of moving through the underground tunnels a figure resolved out of the darkness.

It was actually two figures. A blond man he soon recognized as instructor Zenon with Alexia slung over his shoulder. She was clearly unconscious as her head lolled with Zenon’s strides, silvery hair bobbing up and down.

Alpha stepped forward and drew her blade before he could stop her. He decided to join in to present a united front even though it would be kind of lame when Zenon explained he was here as part of the rescue force. This was partly his fault after all.

“Look. A virtuous knight saving a princess, it’s fit for a storybook” Cid spoke dramatically.

Zenon had already halted to look across at them.

“It’s you. The man in black that’s been tearing though the cults outlying positions"

Wait.

Cult wants Alexia + Zenon wants Alexia = Zenon part of cult.

Math checks out.

Thankfully Alpha took over replying while he calculated. “We are those who lurk in the shadows to hunt the shadows. We are Shadow Garden and tonight we shall be your death”.

That strange, clenching feeling in his chest happened again as she finished her monologue and a great roar reverberated through the tunnel. He looked curiously past Zenon then back at him as he set Alexia down and drew his own blade.

“It’s one of the possessed. One of those freaks you fools like to collect” Alpha visibly tensed. “I expect it’ll kill a lot of knights in a rampage before they finally bring it down”.

Seeing an opportunity Cid spoke to Alpha. “Deal with her. This will be a step below easy.”

She nodded and set off, sheathing her sword as she picked up speed. Zenon made a half-hearted attempt to stop her but had to keep his eyes on Cid.

“That’s a shame. The two of you might have made this interesting”. He lunged forward as he was finishing interesting and Cid casually deflected the attack and slammed the older man into a wall.

“Only if she had joined your side”. He moved over to Alexia and looked over her. She seemed paler than normal and needle marks covered her arm. A faint line of drool had reached her chin.

She says she’s not related to Ausaur, but then she does things like this.

He couldn’t help but feel a little bad seeing this. She had technically paid him to keep Zenon away after all and this had still happened to her. Deciding he could at least give her a show he set his hand on her stomach and started rapidly healing her. Not enough that she’d be tempted to fight but enough so she could watch (or run later) as he dismantled Zenon.

On that subject Zenon had recovered himself and had settled into a fighting stance. “I’ve underestimated you. Tell me your name if you have one?”

“I am Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows”. He was kind of repeating Alpha but since Alexia had missed that it felt necessary.

“I am Zenon Grifey and when I present her and you to the order I will be the 12^th knight of the rounds”.

----

Alpha could hear the sound of metal hacking through flesh and pushed herself to run even faster. She turned the corner and saw two green cloaked knights and a young woman in black with scarlet hair fighting against a giant.

The two in green were thrown back, unable or unwilling to enter the fight again while Iris held her ground and attacked, making the girl howl in pain and fury once again.

She doesn’t understand what she’s doing.

The thought didn’t calm her as she moved to attack Iris, doing what all the giants fury couldn’t and sending her flying back. The descendent’s attacked her then, but she easily dodged and managed to put her hand on the girls leg. It’s mana was surging in uncontrolled bursts and it was child’s play to force it into a simple, unusable loop. She fell over paralysed but unhurt.

Iris rose to her feet then and began her own assault. A flurry of furious, rapid strikes that Alpha actually had to put some effort into blocking and dodging. Eventually the onslaught abated and Alpha, untouched, was finally able to speak.

“This is our concern. It has nothing to do with you.”

“The hell it doesn’t. My sister’s been taken and I have no idea who you are or how your involved in this”. Iris briefly looked over at the cell that must have contained the possessed and her sister “That thing, is that her?” Her voice lost some of it’s strength as she finished.

“It’s not her. It’s what you would call one of the possessed. One of the hero’s descendent's”

“Are you from the church? Are you here to kill it?”

Calm, stay calm.

“No, and there’s no need for that”. Alpha replied, keeping her voice impressively level. She set her hand on the girl and began the healing. Slowly she began to shrink, skin paling, joints rounding and eyes shifting back to a cool grey colour. Once she was finished the brown-haired girl would have passed for an ordinary teenager. That’s what she really was Alpha supposed.

“By the goddess” Iris exclaimed.

Alpha turned to Iris and smiled coldly “Your sister is back the way I came but she’s already being attended to. We can fight again or you can go to her. I’m going to take this girl to safety either way.”

Iris hesitated “The one ‘attending’ her is a friend of yours right?”. Alpha nodded “Then are you just going to leave him behind?”

Alpha laughed sincerely at Iris’s indignation as she lifted the young girl up “He doesn’t need my help, believe me.”

---

The fight before her was like nothing Alexia had ever seen before. In tournaments there were always injuries and occasionally a few deaths, but there was still a hesitation in those fights, both participants at least had to try and avoid looking like they were trying to kill each other. That was missing between Shadow and Zenon and the difference was stark.

It had began with a few slow attacks and parries back and forth between them as they tried to figure out the man they were fighting. Over time Zenon’s attacks grew more deliberate, the speed and power behind them increasing as the fight progressed. She knew Zenon was one of the best spellswords she’d ever seen, even if she hated to admit it.

But Shadow was the best spellsword she’d ever seen. If she had faced that combination of attacks she wouldn’t have lasted a minute just trying to defend. Shadow had not only landed a score of small cut’s across his opponent’s body, he had refused to take even a single step away from his starting position between Zenon and Alexia. It was as if a having to make a larger movement was an honour and Shadow was insistent on not giving it to Zenon.

She had noticed something else about Shadow’s style as well, it was remarkably similar to her own technique. She’d noticed him use the exact same move three times, to deflect three very similar attacks from Zenon as his frustration grew and his attacks became less varied. It was pure muscle memory executed exactly the same way each time, a simple move he had practised over and over again and pulled out at the right time to counter his opponent.

It was obviously much better refined than her technique and his control over his mana was so great she couldn’t even sense anything from him. If this man had stood beside Cid on the street and she knew noting else, she would have said Cid had the bigger reserve. That meant she had no idea how large his could be and she was beginning to worry about what would happen once he’d finished with Zenon.

She still couldn’t bring herself to run though. Watching the arrogant, twisted, lying little worm getting stomped on was the most fun she’d had in months.

She heard someone running down the tunnel behind her and struggled to turn around.

Iris was there almost before she could register her approach. As her arms wrapped around her, crying out her name and asking if she was alright, it was as if all the distance between them and everything Alexia though held them apart didn’t matter at all. She could feel tears forming in her own eyes as well. For as confident as she pretended to be it had been a slight possibility that she would have never see her sister again and the thought had terrified her.

Something in the air changed as she answered that she was alright (fine seemed like a stretch) and was being pulled to her feet. It felt like she was on ship’s deck that had just hit a powerful wave. The stone seemed almost to rock as she looked towards the source.

Shadow stood as impassively as ever (it seemed nothing could shake that man) while something loomed over him. It looked almost as if Zenon had merged himself with the creature caged to the wall. He was still recognisably human but twisted and enlarged. The mana radiating off of him was intense, two or three times what he’d been putting out previously and more than she’d ever felt from a single person.

Iris got between her and the fight and slowly started trying to move away but Alexia wanted to see how this ended. Needed to see.

“The ones who can control this power are the ones who’ll rule this world. The knights of rounds”

Shadow chuckled “If you think power comes from without and not from within you don’t understand the word. Even if I gave you all the power in the world you’d still be the same pathetic man you are now.”

Something about the words bothered Alexia as Zenon charged again. The only difference from last time being that shadow had finally stepped forward to pin the injured Zenon to the ground with one foot as he raised his sword.

“I will show you true power. Take this lesson as my final mercy.”

Power started gathering in and around shadow’s blade then. More than she could have imagined. Zenon’s supply suddenly seemed like a cup beside the ocean as the purple light gathered, darkened and coiled around itself. She stopped pulling at Iris and started running with her in pure animal terror.

“I am”

She looked back in spite of herself as she sprinted down the tunnel. The violet light was beautiful.

“Atomic”

---

Gamma was waiting for the signal when the building erupted. The intense light made the city look as if it were midday and not the dead of night, the hue of the light was the only difference she could see.

She’d been told it would be obvious but this was such a display of power it took her breath away. That man truly had no bounds to his skill or power.

Forcing herself to focus she finally spoke “Squads, engage immediately”

A dozen four member teams began to move rapidly across the rooftops as Beta approached “Delta moved out as soon as the light appeared”. Beta looked over at the fading pillar with pure awe.

Trying not to be exasperated at either girl she spoke “Well get after her then, and try to keep her out of trouble”. She bet Epsilon's team on the other side of the city didn’t have to deal with this.

---

Cid stood on the rooftop again waiting for Alpha at their rendezvous, much more calmly than he had a few hours ago. He had a good view of the crater he’d left in the city. Watching as crews of knights looked through the wreckage, escorted civilians to safety and held back the crowd that wanted to go in after loved ones.

Iris and Alexia’s distinctive hair had made them easy to spot as they came out of the wreckage, Iris had moved swiftly to take command and Alexia had stayed beside her, though he couldn’t tell which of them was responsible for that.

“It seems you’ve made quite the impression” Alpha said, probably hoping he would say more. Cid was in a mysterious mood though so simply let the silence drag on for a bit.

“You’ll be the cult’s top priority now. Stopping one of their most promising research projects and killing one of their rising stars isn’t going to go unnoticed”.

Cid smiled warmly at the thought “Yeah. Maybe this time they’ll send someone worth my time”.

Alpha’s mood seems to lift hearing that. “I’ve got to go and so do you I expect but…” she pulled Cid into a hug “It was great working with you again”

“You too” he replied, needing to get away quickly but not wanting to strain his newly rekindled friendship “Maybe I’ll see you at Mitsugoshi sometime”. Not knowing where their headquarters in the capital was this store was his only lead to finding Alpha.

Alpha set off and Cid moved quickly to where he’d stored the night’s prize. EiS technique number 1 “distraction nuke” had worked as flawlessly as always. He’d previously named the technique “Nobody pays attention when the bomb goes off” but now having the power of the atom in hand he could upgrade the name. It was like changing ‘Stylish bandit slayer’ to simply ‘Shadow’. The brief hint of regret at the cringe that was his time as Stylish bandit slayer almost ruined his mood.

He stepped into the room and looked down at instructor Zenon strapped to the chair. The man was terrified but hiding it well enough. Chances like this were rare so he savoured the moment, slowly moving moving his hand up to remove his mask and lower it to reveal his face (it was part of the slime suit and he could have just dispelled it immediately, but that wouldn’t have been as dramatic).

The look on his face was priceless “You. You’re Shadow”.

“Yes. Me.” Cid replied casually. “I have a few questions I need you to answer”

“Why would I do that?” he spat.

Cid, wanting to peak the drama cut the ropes holding Zenon to the chair. “If you want to try running you can do that. I assume you know how that will end though”.

Zenon looked furious, then defeated, then slumped back into the chair “What do you want to know?”

“What’s the cult of Diabolos?”

---

In summary, the cult was in fact a thing. They were trying to gain immortality by resurrecting a demon that almost destroyed the world a thousand years ago, and was primarily a church organisation with holdings in other spheres of power like government and industry.

As awesome as that was it wouldn’t change the next task Cid had to complete. Sighing, he approached Alexia on the rooftop “Get it over with”

“What?” she seemed genuinely confused.

“You’re going to say something about how you were right about Zenon the whole time and I was an idiot to believe him”

His luck might have been S for spectacular, but his ability to read people (highlighted by Zenon and the shades) was apparently S for sucks-ass.

“I was not” she replied insistently. Cid was certain she was lying.

“Okay, we don’t need to talk about that then”.

“No, not after I say that I was right about everything” she smiled demurely

Deciding that was as easily as it could have gone he asked what was expected “So what really happened to you, and do you know anything about that massive explosion?”

Alexia proceeded to explain everything that had happened, leaving out a couple of things like her rough treatment by the doctor and her cellmate who was in Alpha’s care.

“So you don’t know who kidnapped you, or who killed them, or why?” Cid asked as she finished.

“Well..yes. When you put it like is sounds rather unfortunate.”

My god, it’s more beautiful than I ever imagined. I’ve unveiled myself on the world stage and remain a complete enigma while a main character is talking to me about it. Ahhh what a great scene.

He struggled to keep a ‘yeah I’m awesome’ smirk off of his face as Alexia continued on.

“Everything’s settled for now at least. I’ve made it clear to the other students you weren’t involved, so they’ll probably just never talk to you about it”

“Why wouldn’t they ask about it?”

Alexia smiled “Because they were wrong about you. Do you really expect them to want to talk to you about that” She hesitated before continuing.

“About what happened on the tram, I suppose I owe you an explanation for that considering all the trouble it caused you. People have been saying they like my swordplay for a long time and most of them don’t mean it, so I just didn’t believe it. But some people do actually like it and you’re one of them, so thanks I guess.”

“I sort of figured it was something like that.” After Alpha explained it to me.

She blinked in surprise and then blushed, looking down at Cid’s feet before forcing her eyes back upwards.

“I’ve got something I need to ask you?”

“Oh me too” Cid replied. What he was going to ask about wasn’t likely but it was the last loose end in this whole arc.

“Well you can go first, I insist”. She said, still flustered.

“Did you tell anyone I was broke and that you were paying me?”

Alexia shook her head “Cid, I was the one who asked you not to say anything. It would be way worse for me if it got out than it would be for you”

It was what he expected “Yeah. I was just talking to...Claire about you and she figured it out. I was being pretty vague so I don’t get how she knew”.

Alexia looked at him with mild pity “Knowing you whatever you said probably made it completely obvious. What exactly did you say?” Her tone wasn’t angry. It was the sort of voice you would use to correct a child doing something very stupid.

Cid gave a quick summary of what he’d told Beta and Claire and the reaction it had gotten. Alexia was smiling by the end but even with his apparently drunk-blind man ability to read people he could tell this wasn’t a happy smile.

“So… did you figure out what I said wrong”

Alexia stepped forward and smoothly moved her hand to her sword hilt “Oh yes. I can explain that perfectly for you right now.”

The next half hour was a massacre to make any war criminal green with envy. Despite Cid’s overwhelming power, incredible luck, with occasional bouts of critical thinking and planning he was unable to avoid becoming the corpseless murder victim.

Afterwards Alexia dragged him to the infirmary to be healed where the explanation that he tripped and fell was accepted (but not believed) by the school healer and he was sent off to find Claire and ‘explain things’.

Chapter Text

It’s all mine

Iris sighed and called out for her guests to be let in. As happy as she was to see them again it was going to be a difficult conversation.

Marco and Glen were both excellent knights and good friends, despite their differences in age, build and temperament. Glen was a large well-muscled man who was nearing forty with an unaffected confidence while Marco was shorter, more slender, and his cool indifference was much less natural.

He had the skills to back up his performance though and she was certain she could trust both of them.

“Please have a seat. I’m glad to see you both again so soon”.

Both smiled while Marco responded “I didn’t think there was any chance of us seeing you again before our service was up and we came home, but if you can’t go on without us we get it”. Marco never really changed the way he acted around her since they met at the academy, but he was careful not to overstep in public and she had never felt the desire to correct him.

Being back here with him she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at the realization of how long it had been since his fiance disappeared. Nothing had been discovered and she hadn’t even considered the case in years. Marco had been upset at the time but it had been more of a political match and he never seemed bothered about it himself these days.

“What he means is that we know you wouldn’t call us back from our post unless there was something urgent, so we’d like to know the details”. Glen was straight to the point as usual. He seemed incapable of truly relaxing until everything he was tasked with was completed, and had tried to encourage her to take that attitude during the few months he was her commander.

“It concerns the recent attack in the capital. You no doubt saw the damage centred on Orchard street”.

“Yeah, you can see that crater for miles. What the hell happened”.

She gave a brief explanation of what happened, though even between her and Alexia’s account there were still massive gaps in the story.

It was hard to talk about her encounter with the blond elf. She tried to comfort herself with the fact that as an elf she could have had decades on her in terms of training (it was hard to tell how old she had been under her mask, but from what she could see she was under a hundred) but Iris had attacked with everything she had, full of desperation to reach Alexia and her opponent had escaped untouched. Admitting it out loud wasn’t easy but she had a responsibility to let her allies had to know what they were up against.

Describing Shadow was hard for a different reason. The elf had been powerful but ultimately on a level she could understand and fight against even if she couldn’t win. Zenon had been an opponent she respected and after his transformation he would have had a fair chance against her. Shadow had humiliated the man by refusing to even fight seriously, then destroyed a massive section of the city with a single attack.

She had once seen a peasant man lose his master’s horse and he had sent to catch it to avoid having to compensate for the noble’s loss. When she thought about the a fight between her and Shadow the image of that hopeless chase kept unhelpfully coming to mind.

“You’re saying one person did all that damage”. Marco finally broke in.

“We found an artifact looking through the wreckage. It’s unclear whether Shadow used it or not but our preliminary examination suggests it might be used to contain mana.” She held onto a tiny hope that Shadow had used it to augment his strength but Alexia had already spoiled the idea. She hadn’t seen it watching their whole fight and if it had such a powerful effect, why was it left behind.

“Given Zenon’s involvement I can’t trust the regular city guards. I intend to start a new order I’ve named the Crimson Order and I would like you two to serve as my vice-commanders”.

“What exactly would we be doing?” Marco asked.

“We’ll be looking into both the Cult of Diabolos and Shadow Garden. Our objective is to discover what they’re planning, who’s behind it and how to stop them. We’ll also respond to any incidents involving either of these groups to protect the populace.”

Glen spoke up then gently “I appreciate that you can’t walk away from this, but you’re the best fighter out of the three of us. What are you planning for when we eventually encounter this Shadow person ourselves”.

Iris looked him straight in the eyes, determined not to show fear in front of her own soldiers “I’ve increased my training so I should be better prepared next time.” Glen just kept staring at her “and I’ve reached out to an old friend of mine who might be able to help us as well, but even if she agrees it’ll be a few weeks until she arrives. Are you going to join?”

“Like you even need to ask” Marco cheerfully replied. Glen nodded “I agree. Thank you for asking even though you would be within your rights to command us to join.”

Iris felt the weight on her shoulders lessen slightly, with two great recruit and another one potentially coming soon she felt that she was at least making progress.

---

Sadly not all of her recruits were so promising.

Three days later she was sitting with Marco and Glen, having just asked Sherry Barnett (the best artifact researcher she could discreetly approach) to examine the artifact when Alexia dragged Cid Kagenou into the room, apparently very much against his will. He looked just as average as he had before though he was mildly annoyed and embarrassed rather than hopeless this time.

He noticed her then and executed a sloppy bow “Y-your Highness!”. The obvious fear in his voice was another reason this was a terrible idea (she expected his interrogation might complicate things between them if they ever met again) but she had promised Alexia she’d at least let him try out.

“Cid, please have a seat”.

He sat beside Sherry and gave the artifact a curious glance.

“We’ve been looking into the people who took Alexia and have recovered some documents from the facility she was being held in”.

He looked shocked “The one that was blown up?”

“The section Alexia and I were in was mostly undamaged, so we were able to recover some materials from there. We also searched other locations based on information we got from Zenon’s home and have gathered a large amount of encoded documents. My sister’s told me that you’re able to read ancient runes so we’d like your help deciphering some of these”. She gestured to the large stacks of paper on the corner of the table.

She took one off the top and passed it to Cid “Could you tell me what this says?”.

“Okay” He looked down “Demon’s blood, Hero’s blood. I finally have it. Blood, blood, bloo…”

“Thank you” She said, irritated at this waste of time. She didn’t hate the boy but she had looked into him during her last investigation and his grades and fighting skills were average at best. Ancient runes was an incredible difficult subject, more of a collection of languages that had merged and divided over hundreds of years ago among several civilisations which took years of study to master. She just couldn’t imagine Cid would be any help with it.

“I don’t think this is going to work out so…”

Sherry was looking down at the paper and spoke out enthusiastically “That was a really fast translation”.

Alexia, sensing weakness and showing no hesitation as usual piped up “Yeah that sounds like the guy who kidnapped me. I told you he never shut up about my blood”. Her smile told Iris she wasn’t going to have any of her attempts to block Cid from joining.

Iris looked at Alexia seriously, ignoring the others looking at her with amusement “I had assumed that wasn’t exactly literal. Apparently I was mistaken”.

“Are you also a researcher?” Sherry asked

“Uh no. I just learned with a friend”. Cid replied casually

“Why?” It was a strange sort of thing to do with a friend, especially at the age he must have been.

“Well… we kind of liked playing spy so…” he trailed off.

Alexia started guffawing and even Iris struggled to keep a smile off her face.

“Sorry Pu-Cid” she gasped out nearly bent double with glee “But you, as some sort of spy or se-secret agent, it’s just…”

That is a rather funny thought.

Cid was clearly struggling to keep his face blank. The poor boy was probably mortified at being made the butt of a joke in front of a crowd like this.

“So…” Alexia eventually managed, straightening “can he join now”.

She couldn’t really refuse now and she did need someone to look through these documents while Sherry examined the artifact.

“What have you signed me up for now?” Cid asked Alexia, letting his irritation show.

“You didn’t tell him”.

“Well obviously not”. Alexia replied “My sister’s putting together a new order of knight’s called the Crimson Order and I’ve put in a good word for you. You can thank me later”.

“And why would I thank you, does this job pay well or something?”

“No I wouldn’t be paying you, but I would be willing to provide a recommendation if you do good work and that could get you almost any job you want after graduation”.

Alexia stepped up to Cid and whispered something in his ear. He seemed resigned “Alright, I’ll join”.

Iris didn’t especially like being excluded from whatever her sister had said, but she seemed happy so she was willing to let it slide for now. The meeting proceeded much more calmly from there as she gave Cid a brief outline of the cult and shadow garden as well as some documents they had recovered to work through.

Eventually she dismissed everyone else but Cid and spoke to him quietly, sure Alexia would be pressing her ear to the door “Please keep an eye on my sister. She is talented but she’s too eager to prove herself”

“Why let her join this thing at all then?”

“She’s already involved since her kidnapping started the whole investigation. Besides she’d just look into things on her own if I left her out”

Cid nodded in sympathetic understanding.

She held out a silver coloured ticket to Cid “I’m not sure whether you two are still ‘going out’ but there’s an event next week and a ticket was already set aside for you. If you want to you and Alexia can go together”.

Cid took the ticket and looked down at it “I’m not sure I’m…” He seemed to see something on the ticket and shot to attention “I mean yes, I’d love to go with her”.

He headed out of the door and she looked down at her own ticket which read:

Mitsugoshi grand opening

Celebrate the opening of our new headquarters which once opened will officially be largest store in the capital. Designed to meet the fashion, artistic, culinary and appliance needs for the most refined customers.

Please keep your tickets until the end of the event for a free prize draw.

Ticket No: 7

He probably decided as soon as he saw the free prize giveaway. I hope Alexia knows what she’s doing with him.

---

Cid woke up tired, but still happier than he could ever remember feeling.

The revelations over the last few weeks that he was really fighting in the shadows for the fate of the world with a demon cult was good. The fact that Iris and the government had asked him to look over all the information they were collecting with the ability to withhold whatever he wanted was even better. He had already held back information about that Mitsugoshi place Alpha was working at, since they apparently weren’t part of the merchants guild (who apparently funded the cult) and were beginning to usurp a lot of their revenue. Alpha probably chose to work there on principle since it seemed to be one of the few businesses not associated with the cult in any way.

Another amazing development, equal to both of these things had occurred more recently which accounted for his lack of sleep. The cult being real also meant his luck stat must be near the max, and so he’d done what everyone does when they realize they have unnaturally good luck. He checked to see if it worked on the gambling system in this world.

It worked on the gambling system in this world.

His first attempt had been ill-conceived. He’d gone in anonymously using the cash Alexia had given him over the last few months as his opening stake and won big but the casino hadn’t wanted to let him keep his payout so he was accused of cheating and nearly all of his winnings were confiscated. After this he had disguised himself the next night and pretended to be the third son of duke Aldston, who’d never been to the capital before. They hadn’t wanted to accuse such a well connected person so they smiled as he walked away from the robbery.

He cleaned out almost every casino and gambling den he could find, sucking up their money like some sort of industrial strength vacuum. It had actually reminded him that he should add vacuum cleaners to the list of things Eta should make.

After several days of late nights he had netted a nice four billion Zeni in coins and other valuable most of which was stashed in his new high rise apartment. The view looking out onto the central square just beside the royal palace had a really eminence VIP looking down on the clueless masses vibe and he’d been able to decorate the place appropriately as well. It was hard to leave his treasure behind but he had hidden it behind a well locked door in the most well policed part of the city, so it would probably be fine.

He moved into the kitchen of his side character house, mildly disappointed he hadn’t had a single night in his new place. Despite his now immense wealth he couldn’t explain where he got any of it as Cid Kagenou, so he was still on a tight budget while in disguise. It would be weird if he didn’t spend the money Alexia had given him on something, so he could probably splurge a little.

He made himself a quick breakfast and saw a silvery bracelet decorated with small diamonds lying on the table. He must have won it last night and forgotten to leave it with the rest of his hoard. He pocketed it quickly, mentally shaking his head at his carelessness as the door slammed open and Claire walked in, eyes narrowed with hands of hips.

“Hey Sis” Cid responded casually. He didn’t know what he’d done but from experience he knew to play it cool in these situations.

“Hey Sis” It was apparently the wrong thing to say “Don’t you have anything else to say to me?.”

“Uhh” Cid stalled. Having nothing else, bribery was his best bet. He grabbed the bracelet in his pocket and held it out to her “Surprise?”

All at once the rage disappeared and was replaced by a wide smile. She tried it on admiringly “I knew it Cid. I knew you’d never forget my birthday”.

Oh Shit. Thank you S-rank luck.

Between everything else he had forgotten Claire’s birthday was coming up and he still painfully remembered the last time he didn’t get her anything. His ears had rung all night from the screaming and he’d had to agree to weekly visits to the village market with her before she stopped kicking him under the table at every meal.

Now that I think about it, where was my luck then.

Claire’s hug, made awkward since he was still in his chair halted this train of thought. She looked down at her wrist again and kissed his cheek before she began speaking “I’m going to go show my friends, it’s beautiful. We’ll have dinner tonight though. I’ll see you later.”

Cid nodded, silently mourning what would have been an enjoyable training day away from the school turning into cooking for and having dinner with Claire. The gift also accounted for all the money Alexia gave him so he was once again in poverty as Cid, but at least Claire had really liked her gift.

She left the apartment and closed the door almost skipping away. Cid returned to his now cold meal and realized there was no way microwave it warm again.

How the hell did I forget microwaves this long.

---

Alexia looked over Cid and had to concede he’d actually managed to make himself presentable for the event. He wore a dark grey waist coat under a black dinner jacket, and had actually attempted to unscramble the mess that was his hair.

Deciding to be charitable she told him “You actually look nice”.

“Thanks, you do too.” He thought a moment “What do you mean actually?”

She was of course radiant in a dark red dress that brought out her eyes and contrasted sharply with her silver hair. She got it specially for this event, though definitely not specifically for him.

She didn’t want to start a fight so she just shrugged as their carriage stopped to let them out. Cid held our arm and she pressed it to her side as they exited the carriage and entered the massive double doors into the department store.

It seemed huge, almost as large as the royal palace though laid out much differently. They passed stores with mannequins in well tailored clothes, instruments, children’s toys, books, and one store full of what looked like large disks precariously balanced on a table and others she couldn’t really describe as they were herded past to the central area of the mall, apparently there was going to be an opening speech before the stores were properly opened. She was careful not to look shocked and her puppy apparently had the same idea since he kept a straight face to look cool.

They eventually (and it was eventually given the size of the place) reached the centre. It looked like a courtyard and felt like one with natural light streaming in from above, centring on a raised platform in front of a large fountain with stairs leading to floors above at either end.

She was just greeting a couple of school friends while silently wishing she’d brought more comfortable shoes when a woman stepped out onto the platform and made her way to the podium. She’d expected the owner of this place to be fairly old but the elf woman appeared to be a young, tall, dark-haired woman in a black dress she considered slightly too revealing to be tasteful.

“Welcome everyone. I’m Luna Reist, the president of the Mitsugoshi trading company. I’d like to thank you all for attending our grand re-opening. Many of you were customers of our previous location and with your support and patronage we’ve been able to build this…”

She continued on talking about how hard they worked to build all of this and the new innovations they had made peppered with the usual merchant butt-kissing of the nobility. Alexia eventually stopped paying attention and tried to map out the space and see who she recognised in the crowd. Cid had, of course, made a complete ass out of himself by staring slack-jawed at the company president. She brought her heel down on his foot, not as hard as she could have but enough for him to turn his attention back to who it should be focused on.

Eventually the speech concluded and she pulled at Cid to investigate the various stores. It seemed strangely deserted as they walked to the first clothing store she could find. The space was built for thousands and there were less than five hundred people there today for the exclusive opening.

She spent thirty minutes in there trying on dresses before settling on three. She went to another two clothing stores while Cid whined about how there was no point in him being there since he wasn’t going to get anything. She bought him a tie to shut him up.

They passed what looked like a kid’s play area (getting kids to like coming here so they’d bug their parents to come back and keeping them out of their way while they shopped was genius) and they saw another elf leading the children through some sort of learning activity. It seemed like the goal was to make something that could keep an egg safe while it was dropped from the top of one of the kid’s castle. She was amused watching several attempts work and fail while Cid spoiled the mood a bit by staring at the very pretty brown haired elf in a lab coat that was leading the exercise.

She was getting hungry by then anyway and suggested they get a snack. Cid suggested a chocolate store and started eating the complimentary bar he was offered before she could stop him. It didn’t look particularly appealing but Cid insisted it was good so she tried it. She swiftly got them a whole box and they shared it at a small table looking out over a balcony to the floor below.

“So what do you think of the place?” Cid asked. His tone was weirdly smug almost more fitting for the owner than an ordinary student.

“I have to admit I’m impressed. The variety and quality are all excellent. I’m also impressed you’ve been so calm through this. Being from the country I thought you might find this place overwhelming.”

“It’s not that special” he responded coolly

He was obviously lying “You really care about looking cool, don’t you?”.

“Of course. It’s something I consider very important after all.”. Alexia sighed as she realized he was completely serious.

They set off again and walked into a book store where an upcoming author was apparently doing a signing of their hit children’s book “Harold Porter and the sage’s stone”. She was hard pressed to blame Cid when he started staring at this one considering how shamelessly she was sticking out her exposed chest. She disliked this one even more than the others because she acted all shy and humble which was obviously an act. Alexia couldn’t understand why the female half of the room couldn’t see through it.

“Hey Rose, are you a fan of Natsume’s books?” She hoped the answer was no, but once she met the student council president as they were leaving it felt right to ask.

“Oh yes. She’d a master of so many different styles it’s really incredible. Most author’s just stick to one or two but her last book was a gothic horror called ‘Alucard’ and before the drama she wrote before that ‘Hubris and Discrimination’ is probably my favourite book”.

“Wow.” Alexia deadpanned “It’s almost as if they were all written by different people”. If they really were written by different people and the cow signing autographs right now had just ripped them off that would explain a lot of her personality. Alexia made a mental note to see check into that.

“Well I shouldn’t keep you. It’s nice to see you’re doing well Alexia. It’s nice to see you too Cid. It looks like you were right, everything did work in the end”. Rose headed off to get her book signed.

“I didn’t know you knew Rose”. She and the class president generally moved in different circles mostly due to their age difference, but she couldn’t imagine how Cid knew her.

“We met when you got taken. I think she wanted to make sure no-one started anything with me” Cid explained.

They went back downstairs towards the fountain, as Cid explaining the black disks she had seen were something called records and was showing off that he knew something she didn’t when they heard singing over soft piano music.

Does this store just exclusively hire beautiful young elves. How do you even recruit for that specifically, they’re less than a percent of Midgars population.

Despite herself Alexia ended up joining Cid and the rest of the crowd staring at the musician. She seemed younger than the others they’d seen with long teal hair and lively amethyst eyes. Her black dress lined in silver covered her from head to heel but even so Alexia could tell her figure was exactly what any girl would pick if she had the choice.

The music held her attention as much as the woman performing, as an almost unnatural calm fell over her as she listened. As she came to a close the crowd stood motionless for a few seconds before a standing ovation swept through them.

Deciding there was probably going to be even more girls for Cid to gawp at she decided to bite the bullet and pulled him aside “Could you not eye up every pretty girl you see, you’re supposed to be my date.”

“We’re still doing that?” Cid asked. Her expression clearly stated the answer was yes “Why?”

“Well… Zenon’s not exactly the only candidate I want to hold off and I’ve gotten used to having you around. So I’d like to keep our relationship the same if you don’t mind?”

Her first instinct was to try and force him into it but that would just be pathetic. Recent events had forced her to take a closer look at herself and she hadn’t liked everything she saw there, so was trying to be a little nicer, especially with Cid.

“It’s not exactly a hardship is it. Getting free stuff, going to exclusive events and making useful connections”.

“Can I think about it?”

It was the best she was going to get so she agreed and walked over to Iris who’d also been part of the crowd “Wasn’t she incredible. I’ve heard these records and record players have her music on them and can be played at home somehow.”

“Yes, Lady Sylon has agreed to have all of her music published by our company. I can show you to the store right now if you like”. Luna was making her way over to them and Cid started to walk towards her as if entranced.

She was about to pull him back when Luna tripped on nothing and began to fall while Cid leapt forward to hold her up.

“Thank you L-Lord Cid”. She muttered shyly. Being held up like this by a student probably wasn’t part of her ideal business opening.

Luna joined their little group and they had just started walk towards the entrance when a voice called out for Cid.

She couldn’t even be bothered to be irritated as another beautiful elf appeared. This one was blond with bright blue eyes that lit up as she looked at Cid, dressed in a long grey skirt and a black sweater decorated in vine patterns. Alexia tensed as she wrapped Cid in a familiar hug.

“Oh it’s been ages” she exclaimed, taking a step back and looking him up and down appreciatively “You’re taller than me now” she said in mock scolding.

“Hey.. Allison. I guess I am.”

Ha. He had to check her name-tag because he forgot her name.

Feeling slightly better about this development she straightened and introduced herself as his date, which she didn’t seem to mind.

“Cid I’ve got to get someone to fill out a survey for the opening, could you please, please help me with it?”.

Alexia was about to refuse on his behalf when Luna spoke up “Yes, that’s an excellent idea Allison. There are some products aimed specifically towards woman it wouldn’t be appropriate to shop for with Cid present, perhaps we could meet back here in an hour and a half.”

“Great. I’ll definitely have him back on time president” and with that Allison grabbed Cid and began pulling him away. He stupidly offered no resistance as he faded into the distance.

---

It’s mine, it’s all mine. Cid thought as Alpha led him through the off-limits areas where they passed staff rooms and storage areas on their way to the meeting room. The money he’d won over the last few nights was chump change compared to the value of this place, and since it belonged to Shadow Garden, it ultimately belonged to him.

“So everyone’s here?”

“Yes. Even Zeta’s made time in her busy schedule to attend.” Alpha seemed to consider something “She’s been on contact duty with you for the last three days, haven’t you seen her? I assumed the first thing she’d do is go straight to you.”

“Nah. Guess there probably wasn’t a good time for it”.

“Curious. Considering the situation it would be strange if we all disappeared at the same time, so we’ll be taking turns. Epsilon and Beta will report first with Gamma and Eta following. Zeta, Delta and I won’t be missed so we’ll stay for the whole meeting”.

As they approached the doors he could see Epsilon waiting for them, her false curves looking incredibly natural. If he hadn’t known what to look for even he might have been fooled.

“Zeta Beta and Delta are waiting for you inside. Could I have a moment alone with lord Shadow?”

“Of course, just don’t take to long. The schedule will be tight as it is”

Alpha let go of Cid’s arm and headed through the doors.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I wanted to congratulate you on your last victory against the cult. I’m sure you must have worked incredibly hard to develop such a glorious power”.

He had and it was kinda nice to hear someone noticed “You’ve improved as well. I remember when you wouldn’t even sing for any of the others” he gestured to the door “now you’re performing for massive crowds” seems like I missed some major character development.

“Oh that was easy. The trick was to pretend you’re still there and everyone else isn’t. I always feel like I do my best work if you’re watching”

That made a strange kind of sense since Epsilon had been part of Cid’s inspiration for his side character persona. She wasn’t bad in any area but didn’t excel at anything either and she’d been one of the more reserved girls in their group during the early days. It was clear shyness was a flaw she’d left behind a long time ago.

“You put on an excellent show Epsilon”. Even if you are just ripping off other composers.

She started twisting a strand of hair around her finger “Thank you my lord. I’m glad you enjoyed it”

“You can call me Cid when it’s just the two of us”. He was pleased with the mix of Lord Shadow, my lord, master and boss-man with the rest of the group because it sounded dope, but he wanted to make it clear he considered them friends outside of work.

Apparently he was right to suggest this since Epsilon looked inordinately pleased to hear that “Well.. we should probably head inside now” she replied, moving to open the door for him.

Cid had attended several meetings like these before the group broke up but this was the first time he would be taking it seriously. Having a basic understanding of what was going on could only make his performance here better so he felt confident stepping into the room.

Chapter Text

Meet and Greet

The meeting room was so large even the grandiose meeting table seemed undersized in all that space. The large circle of dark marble had light grooves on it’s surface dividing it into eight sections at the edges which became intricate patterns meeting at the centre.

He was about to see his own chair when something wrapped itself around him and his view was obstructed by a large pair of fluffy black ears.

“Boss-man, Delta missed you. It’s been forever”

It had only been two months.

But I suppose that is more than a year in doggie years.

“Yes Delta. I heard from Alpha you were a good girl on your last mission”.

“Yes Yes, Delta cut a building in half and hunted a bunch of guys and Gamma said Delta was a walking nightmare. Then Delta was thinking she should change her codename from “The Tyrant” to “The Walking Nightmare”.

It was a pretty cool codename but he still thought the tyrant worked better in more scenarios

“I’d just stick with what you’ve got” he said moving past her. He scratched her ears as he passed to show he wasn’t mad or anything.

He actually needed to hold onto the table when he saw his throne to maintain composure. It was made of intricately designed black metal with red velvet cushioning and gold detail work around the edges. It was literal gold not just gold coloured and dwarfed the chairs around it significantly.

I need to reward them for this.

He’d been thinking of offering them a reward anyway since not believing them about the cult had been kind of a dick move.

“Master I hope I don’t need to tackle you to show I’m glad to see you again.” Zeta spoke up, leaning back casually in her nice but much less impressive chair.

“There’s no need for that. How are your projects going?” Zeta’s documents were all encrypted so that even if other members of shadow garden saw them they wouldn’t be able to decipher them. Needless to say, he hadn’t got through many of her reports.

“Very well. Eta and I will be showing one of our recent successes when she gets here. I’ve decided on a codename as well, to the rest of Shadow Garden we are CoS”.

CoS sounds more like it stands for something than an actual name. Still given their covert set-up it’s mysterious enough to work.

“Did Claire like the bracelet?”

Weird thing to ask

“Yes she was very pleased”.

“Oh good, it took a while to pick that out. I know how imperative it is for you that we avoid another ‘day of reckoning’. Hope your not losing your touch master, it was a little too easy to sneak in.”

Damn she actually did get him this time. He’d caught her every other time she had tried to sneak up on him over the years, but given how much else was going on and how tired he’d been from all nighters at various casinos over the last week it wasn’t that shocking he hadn’t been noticed her.

I’m not sure this even counts, she only snuck into the room next to mine and left something completely harmless.

He thought Zeta might have been the coolest member of Shadow Garden (excepting himself, naturally). Alpha was the leader and was more calm and collected, and apparently Epsilon was some sort of celebrity but in terms of simple cool-factor Zeta had them both beaten. None of the others would even think of trying to challenge him like this. He still couldn’t admit defeat publicly though.

“You can think that if you like”. Cid spoke with an artificial edge in his voice “But I simply didn’t want to interrupt you while you fetched my gift.” He gave her his best mocking grin and moved up beside her to whisper “After all, I know from experience how much Delta hates interruptions when she plays fetch”.

He pulled the same thing he did with Delta and scratched her ears while he said it. Their never ending desire for that was the only thing those two really did have in common.

Beta stepped up then, slightly agitated “I hope you know I’m always happy to see you my lord.”

Cid didn’t know whether or not to approve of this level of ass-kissing, but eventually decided it could work with the aesthetic. An eminence in shadow steps into the room and his subordinates filled with awe and even a little fear fall over themselves to avoid his wrath. He could roll with it.

He nodded to Beta and moved onto his throne.

---

As Epsilon looked over to Alpha, it was hard for her to reconcile that she had once considered Beta her greatest rival in this group. She was clever, friendly and her figure was as good as any ‘natural’ could hope for but Epsilon had achieved victory over nature long ago and in every other way Beta was surpassed by their leader.

Delta seemed to want a child from him more than a real ‘romantic’ relationship and her ideal outcome was for everyone to get a share. Eta was socially awkward and Epsilon couldn’t tell where her academic interest ended and personal interest began with regards to Shadow and Gamma lacked the confidence to make a real attempt. For Goddess’s sake she was the older than Alpha by almost three years but followed her lead with everything she did.

Zeta would have been real competition and was possibly more obsessed with him than any of the others, but more as a god than as a potential lover and her scouting trips had left her with the least potential one-on-one time with Shadow. Zeta had even promised to support Epsilon in her own pursuit in exchange for sharing all her intel and that was a small price to pay for her support. When she’d asked Zeta why she wasn’t going for it herself she just smiled sadly and said it wasn’t her purpose. It had left Epsilon feeling slightly guilty realizing her own lack of dedication to Shadow Garden’s cause.

She justified it as Shadow had said many times that being true to yourself and not compromising on your ideals was essential in life. By her reckoning that left her and Alpha as the front runners and Epsilon did have one advantage she could use, one thing she understood better than Alpha.

Almost two years ago she had seen Shadow vulnerable and alone and it had taken this for her to realize an obvious truth. For all of his power and knowledge Shadow was just a man, who needed the same support as everyone else.

Maybe not as much naturally, but still.

Alpha might have been the closest to realizing it in their group, but even she still treated him as an infallible demigod most of the time. When the rest of the girls saw the power he unleashed on Zenon they saw a natural phenomenon, Epsilon saw the immense effort and thousands of hours of practice it must have taken to achieve.

She had known for a long time she wasn’t naturally special as she had believed when she was a child, being constantly surrounded by stronger, smarter, and more ‘well rounded’ girls had swiftly and brutally destroyed than notion. When they split up the only skill she had that was better than any of the others was her control over the slime suit and musical talent she was too shy to use.

She decided on being a spy not only to prove her value to the organisation but also to improve her understanding of others, so she could better understand and support her master. It surprised her how quickly she’d taken to it. By the end of the first three months she could casually answer even the most unexpected question and was already playing exclusively for the nobility. By the end of the first year she was moving through royal circles and the hardest task had become trying not to laugh at how obvious all the other infiltrators were being.

That had been around the time when she’d finally realized her greatest competition was Alpha. Alpha was normally very reserved, making it difficult to tell what she was feeling but she’d given herself away as she had delayed reporting to Shadow in fear that she hadn’t achieved enough.

After all the pleasantries were exchanged the meeting proper began.

“Beta, what have you been able to uncover about the Goddess trail and it’s connection to the cult?”

“Yes. As you all know the common story of the goddess trail celebrates the victory of the elf hero Olivier over Diabolos, where she and her followers severed an arm from the demon and sealed it away within the sanctuary, permanently weakening Diabolos and moving events in the hero’s favour for the final battle. Most people believe this is a fairy tale but I’ve gathered multiple pieces of evidence indicating the arm is present somewhere within the sanctuary. Additionally there is a cult facility that’s always in operation, but it seems the true depth of the sanctuary only opens once a year during the goddess’s trail.”

“So we need to time our assault on the day of the goddess trial to maximise the information we can gather. It might also be possible that the spirits themselves could provide information. Understanding the origins of the cult and the heroes is essential” Alpha concluded.

“Yes, but I think the only way to force the sanctuary open from the outside is to challenge and defeat it’s strongest defender Aurora, the witch of calamity”.

That was a dangerous game. Aurora’s legend was mostly forgotten but what was left was terrifying. She’d destroyed nations, slaughtered countess heroes of her age and was said to be impervious to almost every method of attack. There was no way to know what her weakness even was since every version of the legend changed it. Some believed she was even the most powerful entity to ever exist.

“My lord I don’t wish to impose, but you would have the greatest chance of success in this operation, would you undertake this battle”.

Cid had just been reclining on his throne, holding a hand under his chin and looking more regal than any king she had ever seen.

“Naturally. I have never known defeat, Aurora can join the list of others who tried and failed”.

His confidence really was...exhilarating “Of course it will just be a memory of Aurora, so I don’t think she’ll be fighting at her full strength”.

Most of the table relaxed hearing that but Cid actually looked disappointed. Could her master have wanted to fight the witch at her full strength. She supposed with his power he must lack challenging opponents but Epsilon was glad to hear he’d be in less danger.

“Why is Aurora at the sanctuary though? I didn’t think there was any connection between her and Diabolos”.

He’s right, that’s bizarre. If they were alive at the same time and interacted, some legend should have mentioned it.

Zeta looked thoughtful “Well if nothing we’ve found yet mentions it I don’t think we’ll find anything before the trial. Let’s keep it in mind when we investigate.”

“Delta doesn’t understand. If Diabolos and Aurora are both bad guys we should just hunt them both”.

Alpha just ignored this “I think that’s the most we can do at this point, Epsilon could you give your report the state of things in Velgalta?”

Epsilon shifted in her chair so her upper body was more visible before starting. If Shadow was going to be looking at her for a long time she may as well capitalise on it.

“My time in Velgalta lead to several of key discoveries. The first is that there appears to be an assassination plot against emperor Glaedr being backed by the cult. With princess Iris’s victories at the border the emperor has started scaling back payment for the military and it’s senior commanders. He told me personally that he feels if the legions aren’t going to win as many victories they can take less gold. Some of them are taking it poorly”.

“And how does this involve the cult, seems like it’s just another regime change and there’s been five of those in Velgalta over the last two hundred years?” Beta asked sceptically.

“Because” Epsilon explained dryly “The current emperor’s ties to the cult are minimal. I’m sure there are some people in his government that are cult agents but only one of his most senior advisors has ties to them. The man most likely to replace him is General Visimir and he has several family members in the cult. If they help put him on the throne they’ll own him forever”.

“Isn’t there a daughter as well, Valeiria or something?” Zeta asked.

“Yes. She’s a very talented spellsword and supposedly very bright academically, but she’s not very popular.” because she’s a flat, haughty little bitch.

Epsilon was certain that would be the most common description of the Empress-in-waiting in Velgalta if it wasn’t punishable by death.

“If the emperor dies she won’t be able to hold onto the empire for more than a few weeks. The best she could hope for is that Emperor Visimir likes her enough to keep her as a pet rather than killing her.”

Alpha looked like she wanted to speak then but Epsilon continued “I also managed to find an artifact Eta was looking for when the emperor gave me a tour of his private collection. He’s got the oath stone”.

“That rock that forces you to do what you say when you hold it, that’s dumb. Delta doesn’t need a rock to remember her promises.”

The oath stone could solve a lot of Shadow Garden’s recruiting problems. With it they’d be able to force new recruits to swear absolute loyalty, allowing them to lower their recruiting standards and reduce surveillance of the new numbers. Finding it was a massive accomplishment.

“Well, very good Epsilon”. Alpha replied “Find the assassins and we’ll make a plan to take possession of the artifact”.

“I actually have another plan for both”. Epsilon responded casually. Zeta had helped her with it but had agreed to let her take the credit. “I’m almost certain the assassination is going to happen during the festival of crows, the chaos of the festival is the best time for them to get into position and get away once they’re done. If I go myself I can take the artifact and reveal the assassin. If we blame them for the theft we won’t leave any loose ends.”

“I see” Alpha responded “Well this is your operation. Let me know what personnel you’ll need in advance”.

“Actually Alpha, I believe I’ll assist Epsilon in this task personally” Shadow spoke coolly.

This was better than she could have hoped for. She had only expected him to notice her contributions and planning but going on a mission together would be amazing.

“If you feel that’s best” Alpha replied, slightly off-put.

The meeting continued for a few minutes more before she and Beta had to leave, but Cid called out to her and pulled her aside.

“It’s nothing too important, but it's something I think you need to hear” Cid said calmly.

“What is it?” she asked, trying to sound casual

“Borrowed strength isn’t real strength. If you rely on deception for so long your true self will be lost”.

Her blood ran cold. It was finally here. Doomsday. “What do you mean?”

“If you rely on these methods any longer I’m certain you’ll be exposed in the end. You need to make a tough choice now to prevent that outcome”.

She was actually shaking now. Her nightmare had come true “I.. I can’t” she whispered.

“Yes you can. More than that you have to. If you just keep performing the songs I gave you without coming up with any of your own eventually someone will ask you to write one and if you can’t do that, you’ll be ruined.”

Her legs felt weak, if she’d sprinted a miles her heart would be beating more slowly than it was right now. She would live another day.

“I have written a couple of my own songs... but I always knew they weren’t as good as yours. I haven’t even had the chance to play them for you first”.

“Well after the meeting I’ll see if I can come back to your show and you can play them then, okay? What did I always tell you?”

She remembered everything he told her “If you’re afraid of something, don’t let the fear build”.

“That’s it, I’ll see you in about an hour. I better go tell Beta the same thing about her books”.

Still a little shaky she set off to her next performance, realizing she’d need to take another couple of minutes somewhere to completely calm down.

She comforted herself by acknowledging he had at least come to her before Beta.

---

That went pretty well, an origin of the cult event would be helpful and there was no way in hell he was missing a simultaneous heist and assassination mission in a palace. His calendar was filling out with some great events.

Eta and Gamma came in then, he knew it was coming but couldn’t leave his throne to catch her before she fell over.

Who gave her high heels, it’s like giving a seven year old a desert eagle. Well... a seven year old that isn’t me.

He tried to quickly refocus on the meeting before the trauma of that Christmas morning reared it’s head again. To this day he didn’t know if it was Santa or his parents responsibility, but it had been a heartbreaking day.

On that topic, should Eta really have been left to manage those kids.

It wasn’t like she was a bad person (exactly), he actually thought her single minded focus on her goal made her the most like him in all of Shadow Garden but he still remembered when she was fourteen and slipped him some sort of love potion, then when that didn’t work gave him enough poison to put down a dragon.

It had been Alpha’s first time really punishing any of the other members, she was so angry when she heard the first part she couldn’t even get more angry when she heard about the poison. She’d forced Eta to do all of their outside chores for then next three months, with the condition she could only do them when it was raining and without the slime suit for cover.

Gamma eventually righted herself and made it to the table, nose dripping blood and Cid decided to take over for a bit.

“I’m proud of all of the work everyone has done over the last two years, and from what I’ve seen today no one has worked harder than you two. Take this as your reward”

He extended out his hand and let out a powerful burst of healing magic. The energy he was giving out made even Eta look alert while the others were all smiling blissfully. Honestly it was worth it just to deal with Gamma’s nosebleed, this set was precious and he needed to protect it.

“With that said I do also mean to offer a reward to the group as a whole, do you have any requests?”

“Delta wants puppies”.

“You don’t need my permission to get a pet Delta”.

“Delta means...”

Tap, Tap, Tap

Alpha ran her fingers over the table looking intently at Delta, while Delta recoiled back in her chair as if there was a knife millimetres from her nose.

“I don’t think that needs to be considered, after all this is meant to be a reward for all of us”

Delta looked like she wanted to argue more, but just nodded.

Looks like Alpha’s got her well trained.

“Mitsugoshi is planning to open a new seaside resort before the end of the year” Gamma offered. “What if we all went before it opened to the public for a vacation”

“That seems acceptable to me” Alpha concurred.

There was a general round of agreement from the table, even Delta relaxed at the thought of a group vacation. Cid nodded as well, going on vacation with them was as easy a reward as he could have hoped for.

“Can I have...more wisdom?” Eta asked.

Cid spent the next five minutes going over several inventions for her to work on. He obviously couldn’t give them all away, then he’d have nothing to offer. For today he gave her microwaves, vacuum cleaners, sewing machines (he thought they already had something like this but was sure his would better) and most importantly…

“They’re called GPS trackers” Cid explained “They give out a long range signal that’s undetectable without a specialised signal receiver. Then you can trace the signal back to the source to locate things. It’s used to monitor people and objects without needing directly tail them.”

Never again.

Eta looked at him intently, as she always did when he explained something “Does GPS stand for something?”

“Yes it’s Global Positioning System. It’s called that because ideally the system can find something anywhere in the world. These will be an Eta protocol project”. Eta protocol meant it was Shadow Garden exclusive and kept super secret from the rest of the world.

“Before Eta gets carried away, our research and development budget needs to be reduced for a while to cover our expenses opening this store. We took out several loans to speed up our expansion and it will take at least a few months to pay them off and begin funding so many new projects.”

Eta’s face fell hearing Gamma’s logic. She kind of got obsessed with things and when something went wrong she had a tendency to mope for weeks. The look was almost indistinguishable from her normal tired face, but something about it that made Cid try to avoid depressing her whenever possible. Maybe it was because she was the most like him in the group.

“Gamma, if I needed it later how much money could you give me for operations?”

“That’s not easy to say my lord. At best now we could probably provide five billion Zeni, though that will increase massively once were out of debt, and I expect we could provide thirty to fifty billion Zeni by the end of the year.”

“And you wouldn’t need any of that money back?”

Gamma flushed “No my lord. Managing our finances is my responsibility, so if there are necessary expenses I should be the one to cover them”.

Well that made things easy “In that case, I’ve got two billion Zeni I can invest into Eta’s R&D work”. He was sure to say it was an investment and not a gift, since he’d definitely take more money than this back later. It would be more justifiable if he contributed a bit and it still left him with a billion left for emergency expenses.

He made sure to savour the looks of awe that came his way at that revelation.

“Master, you’re the best...I’ll definitely make you something good later”.

“My lord, if I could move your attention onto our current financial position” Gamma stated. Cid nodded to show his assent.

She then went over a lot of financial information Cid found incredibly boring. To put it simply they had a lot of money tied up in new acquisitions and this had left them in significant debt, but they would be able to clear easily over the next few months given their high revenue. Apparently they also owned Tuna king and were setting up their own bank with the objective of making paper money common for the middle classes to improve monetary circulation. He kept carefully still when she lamented that a casino she had a major stake in had recently suffered major losses.

As she concluded she asked “Is there anything you think we should add to our current plan”.

Cid had been thinking about this on and off since he saw Gamma giving the opening speech. Mitsugoshi’s money was his money after all. “I would suggest using a system of credit for the store. You need to encourage people to buy money that can be used exclusively at Mitsugoshi for their purchases but can’t be traded back into Zeni by offering an enticing exchange rate, for example giving people one hundred and ten Mitsugoshi credit for every one hundred Zeni”.

They all stared at him like he had gone mad.

Yes, now someone just needs to ask how my scheme actually makes money and I can explain it like it was obvious the whole time.

“Delta doesn’t get it, if we give people more stuff for less money, then we have less money?”

“Initially yes, but let’s say you go shopping at Mitsugoshi and get 50,000 credit and spend 30,000. That means that you’ve got 20,000 Zeni you can only spend at Mitsugoshi, so you come back and spend more, you see something else you want and end up getting more Mitsugoshi credit and you probably end up with more spare. People are always pulled back to the store to spend what they have left over and they’ll think they’re getting the better end of the deal since you’re technically giving them more than you would if they just used Zeni”.

“That’s...brilliant” Zeta was grinning triumphantly and the rest of the table seemed similarly impressed. Delta’s confusion actually added to the appeal since it meant his plan was so brilliant it was difficult to understand.

He considered recommending that microtransaction thing where you only give people credit in certain bundles and then price all your products so they’re always just short but decided against it. He was the eminence in shadow though, not the villain.

“I would also recommend cutting prices on the record players and raising prices for the records themselves, and using this approach for any other appliance that needs other products to work. Once people are invested into the system they’ll justify spending more to make their purchases worthwhile”.

Gamma bowed her head “I thank you for your advice my lord. I will integrate these ideas into our current plans immediately.”

Cid thought it was Zeta’s turn now so he nodded to her.

“Eta and I have had a breakthrough on one of our research projects, which we can share with the rest of Shadow Garden.” She reached down under the table and casually revealed a small plastic case which contained a several blue pills. Other than the colour change it greatly resembled the cult’s ‘enhancement’ drug.

“We’ve been looking to reverse engineer the cult’s technology to use for ourselves” Zeta explained while Eta was clearly fine just sitting back to watch. “One of their most dangerous weapons are the diabolos drops, which temporarily cause a massive burst of uncontrolled mana in the subject.” Cid did not like where this was going.

“Since relying on being able to take these mid-fight is a problem we decided to do the opposite, creating a drug that would increase a person’s mana capacity slowly and permanently over time” he was interested again (the only reason anyone ever got to take those things was because he let them, mostly just to show he’d win whatever they did). “These pills induce high mana usage in the subject with no practical effect over a few hours, using these before sleep every night leads to an almost 20% increase in mana capacity over time compared to not taking them”.

“These are safe for human’s, beastkin and elves to take?” Alpha asked.

Zeta gestured to Eta “Yes”.

“How do you know that?”

“Experiments” Eta said defiantly “With cultists and bandits”.

He remembered something about Alpha banning Eta from those kinds of experiments (not that she felt any sympathy for their enemies but just felt they shouldn’t rely on the same methods as the cult), apparently working with CoS got around those rules somehow.

Did I approve that?

“Do you support using the cult’s tools like this?” Beta asked nervously,

Honestly Cid felt that reverse engineering your opponents technology and conducting human experiments on their enemies was exactly the kind of cool morally grey shit a secret secret organisation should be doing. It would totally waste Zeta’s cool set up if he was too supportive though. In this scenario the organisation has to be convinced to use the questionable technology and for that he needed to seem reluctant. He did have one point of actual concern he could use for this.

“These pills, there’s no drawback to stopping taking them”.

“No” Eta replied while Zeta elaborated “The increase in mana capacity is permanent...there are no withdrawal effects”.

“The only flaw is that they can only add to natural growth”. Zeta added “They can’t increase someone’s capacity if they’ve reached their limit, or aren’t actively training”.

“Then” He paused dramatically “I have no objections, you may proceed as you wish”.

“Thank you master” Zeta tossed him the case and went on “Production isn’t able to provide these to all of the numbers yet, but we do have enough for the seven shades. They’ll be made available to all of you soon”.

“I’d be interested in knowing more about your current operation master. What’s this I’ve been hearing about you charming a princess?” Zeta almost managed not to give away her amusement as she asked.

He gave a quick run down of the Zenon-Alexia thing, his current position and the members of Iris’s new task force.

“And there’s also Sherry Barnett, she’s a research student looking into an artifact they found in the cult base”.

“What kind of artifact?” Eta asked, suddenly interested again.

“It’s unclear. They suspect it has something to do with mana storage but Sherry hasn’t made much progress yet.”

“Mana storage...can be a problem. Can you steal it for me master?”

Dammit why is she better at the puppy-dog eyes thing than Delta, it makes no sense.

“I don’t think I can. It would be trivial of course but there would be too many questions”.

“Okay”.

If you say that at least look like you mean it.

The ideal thing would be if she could just come and take a look at the artifact herself, he could probably sneak her in easily enough. Then a much better idea came to him.

“Eta how would you like to join me for this operation”.

Her face lit up (as much as it was capable) “Yes, I want that.”

“Since Sherry hasn’t made much progress, if you get Gamma to introduce you to Alexia as a great artificer she’ll probably try to recruit you”. Alexia was desperate to prove herself useful to her sister’s team, it was why she recruited him after all.

Gamma nodded “I can do that once were finished here” she looked at the time and jumped out of her seat “We need to go right…” She fell over again running to the door. Thankfully she wasn’t bleeding again.

---

Alexia anger from the previous day was still simmering as she stepped in to the crimson orders main office. Her first ‘date’ with Cid after her kidnapping and he’d spent half the time indulging his elf fixation, ditched her for more than an hour and then dragged her back to see one of them perform. Iris had been no help, once she heard him say Sylon was debuting a new song she’d almost run back with him.

He’s gonna pay me back for this, I swear.

He did at least have the grace to give her one of the boxes of chocolates he’d won in the prize giveaway. The third place prize was surprisingly substantial, though she’d prefer he hadn’t walked away with three signed books of Natsume Kafka’s.

The day hadn’t been a complete waste of time though. She’d spent most of her saved allowance and regretted none of her purchases, and had managed to prove her value to the Crimson Order again by scouting key talent.

They had decided to keep using the academy as there base (Alexia knew this was probably for her protection) but she was quite proud of the lie she’d told Iris to use. The rest of the school now thought her kidnapping had happened on academy grounds and the new knights served as additional security.

Cid was pouring over papers as usual while Sherry and her father were going over her progress with the artifact to Iris. She thought Glen was giving a guest lecture to the students while Marco was canvassing witnesses from the citizens displaced by Shadow’s attack.

“Our new members are here, should I let them in?” Iris nodded. She expected Cid’s reactions to the new recruits to be hilarious.

First walked in her recruit Erin Lloyd Cartwright. The scientist/architect (/apparently a lot of other stuff) wore a long sleeved white dress which didn’t seem much different from her lab coat from a distance.

“Hey” she muttered groggily “My name is Erin Lloyd Cartwright. Nice to meet you”. As if that had been a herculean effort she slumped down in the chair next to Cid. He looked a little curious but not much else.

Disappointing.

“Ah...Yes” Alexia decided to pick up where Erin had left off. She was responsible for bringing her on after all. “Miss Erin is a famous architect and artificer with multiple papers published in Laugus Scientific Journals, I’m certain she’ll add a lot to our investigation”.

This speech would have been more convincing if Erin didn’t look ready to pass out at any second. She had been told about her sleep disorder but this way worse than she thought it would be.

The next member walked in then and she saw the shock on Cid’s face. Erin too seemed stunned but as a fellow elf she probably knew her by reputation.

Alexia had much the same reaction when she met her sister’s candidate at the school reception. Beatrix was a damn near identical copy of Cid’s friend Allison. She looked a few years older and her hair and eyes were slightly different colours, but other than that those two wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between looking at each other or a mirror.

“Greetings, I’m Beatrix Llanerei. Some of you are probably familiar with me from Bushin festivals, although most of you are too young to remember when I competed. I hope we’ll be able to help each other”. She gave a polite bow to the group.

Lutheran stepped forward and held out a hand “I didn’t know Iris had called a living legend to the school or I would have prepared a proper welcome. I assure you that your victories haven’t been forgotten and wont be for a very long time yet. I won a Bushin festival myself once, but that was a long time ago”. A small coughing fit gripped him then as if to prove his point.

“I wasn’t sure she’d agree to join and I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up” Iris explained.

“I hope it isn’t a problem, but I didn’t come just to help with your investigation” Beatrix added. “I’m looking for my niece. Have you seen an elf that looks like me anywhere?”

Chapter Text

Reunion

Cid had felt it coming for a while, like a great disturbance in the force but he was still unprepared when Beatrix entered the room. It had taken him a couple of seconds to realize Alpha hadn’t decided Eta needed a babysitter and decided to tag along, the resemblance was fucking uncanny.

“I’m looking for my niece. Have you seen an elf that looks like me anywhere?”

Oh shit.

He didn’t need to decide what information to volunteer since Alexia decided to do it for him “You look a lot like Cid’s friend Allison, doesn’t she Cid”.

He was reluctant to agree but the situation demanded it “Yeah, a bit I suppose”.

“A bit” Alexia was incredulous “They could be twins”.

“My niece isn’t called Allison, could you describe this girl for me?” Beatrix asked, clearly trying not to get her hopes up too much.

“Well like you obviously, except her hair’s more blond than silver and her eyes are bright blue” Alexia supplied “She and Cid are old friends. She works at a store called Mitsugoshi”.

“She works at a store” Beatrix muttered unhappily. She seemed to come to attention and focused on Cid along with the rest of the room.

Dammit I’m becoming the centre of attention, someone, anyone save me.

But no one came.

“Can you tell me what you know about her, about where she comes from or who her family is?”.

“I don’t know. She’s never talked about it with me” Cid replied honestly. He knew she came from a noble family in the elven country of Car’veil but she didn’t like talking about her past and he never wanted to deal with it either. Family matters should be dealt with by the family after all.

“Alright” Iris broke in “I’m glad you’ve got a promising lead so quickly but I’d like to give an overview of our objectives and what I want you both” She gestured to Eta who looked mildly bored (which meant she was at least mildly interested since she would be asleep if she was truly bored) “to be doing now”.

Eta gave a tiny nod while Beatrix replied “Certainly” in a tone that implied she wasn’t entirely happy with the change of topic.

He was just spacing out while Iris gave the tutorial explanations when she dropped an H-bomb on him. In fact since he had surpassed the nuke an actual H-bomb would be much less concerning.

You tortured me for a crime I didn’t commit and that’s cool, these things happen. I absolutely cannot forgive you for this though.

“I’m sorry Iris, what did you say?”

“Well… since Shadow Garden appears to be made up of young woman with the exception of it’s leader, we have to assume there’s a reason for that.” she blushed slightly. “The most likely explanation at this point is that Shadow has created the group to form some kind of harem around himself”.

“But..couldn’t there be another explanation” Cid reasoned.

“If you have one I’m willing to hear it” Iris responded casually.

Cid looked over to Eta as if asking for help but she had no reaction to any of this at all, in fact she was smiling as if she was just fine with this total affront to his dignity.

Did you ever consider that Shadow didn’t manage any of the recruiting because he thought his own organisation was a prank his friends were setting up. Have you considered that he still has no idea why it’s only woman even now, have you Iris.

It would be so satisfying to say that but it would break character and destroy his prestige as the eminence is shadow faster than Iris was right now. He had considered this a few times but backed into this desperate corner he finally managed to reach the solution.

“The possessed”.

“What about them?” Glen asked.

“It mostly affects young girls” As far as Cid knew there were only about a dozen recorded cases of possession affecting boys over the last thousand years. “If Shadow’s been rescuing and recruiting from the possessed, it would make sense they’re all woman”. Cid felt doubly relieved to finally have an answer to that and managing to defend his honour.

“Well Marco is looking into what he could find out about possession, what have you found?”

“Well the church maintains it’s absolutely impossible to cure possession” Marco began “and they told me the possessed need to be purified by the church to prevent the spread of the curse, but that’s no different from what they’ve always said. Do you remember Bill Doran from school?”

Iris nodded.

“Well he joined the church executioners and we went out drinking toge-it was important research!” Marco retorted pre-emptively to Iris’s look of disapproval. “He said they’ve had a massive drop in in possession cases, only five in the last two years and apparently they used to average a couple dozen each year in Midgar alone. He was praising the goddess for her mercy but I’ve also heard a few stories about church collection parties going missing. Maybe our man in the shadows is responsible for both”.

Man in the shadows, I like that. If the plot demanded he had to kill one of these guys to raise the stakes, he’d try to pick Marco last.

“Well if we know Shadow Garden will come for the possessed” Iris mused “We can be ready for them when they come”.

“But if Shadow’s going to cure them, shouldn’t we just...let him. I mean those girls haven’t done anything and the church will kill them if no-one intervenes” Alexia broke in.

“If Shadow wants them he can come and explain himself to get them” Iris stated “Or better yet explain how he’s curing them to us and we can do it. If these girls really are his recruits then letting him take them only means we’ll have to fight them later. Besides that if any of them kills more than one person then more people will have died than if we just left them to the church”.

Alexia still looked as if she didn’t agree but chose not to argue further while Eta looked curiously at Cid then, probably wondering why he had given this knowledge to their enemies but Cid refused to turn her way. It was regrettable that they’d have to deal with more security around the possessed girls in future but it was a small price to make it clear Shadow wasn’t a harem protagonist.

“It’s a promising theory and does explain how they’ve gathered so many people with almost no missing persons reports” she nodded approvingly at Cid before turning back to her guests “but I believe we’ve gone off topic, as I was saying this Shadow Garden is an all female organisation except for it’s leader…”

Iris continued as Cid thought out what he had to do. Obviously he needed to reach Alpha and give her a heads up about Beatrix. He also realized they’d need to silence Beatrix somehow if she knew Alpha had ever been possessed.

As the meeting wrapped up he whispered a quick “stall her” to Eta as he got up and headed towards the door, Alexia unhelpfully following behind.

“Where are you going?” she whispered as they cleared the door.

“I gotta go take a shit”. Not the most dignified answer but she definitely wouldn’t follow him.

“Well as nice as that is to think about I need to ask you something. Why didn’t you want to tell Beatrix that Allison’s is obviously her niece?”.

“I don’t know much about it since Allison didn’t talk much about her family, but what she did say wasn’t...encouraging”. Alpha generally had a noble, graceful, slightly reserved bearing. Her response to him asking about her parents and if she ever wanted to go home to them was the first and only time he had ever heard her use a swear word. She’d used all of them along with some words he didn’t know that he assumed were specifically elven obscenities. Considering they hundreds of miles away he’d decided to leave it be, not wanting to poke the bear.

And now the bears right in my face after I tried so hard to ignore it.

“Here I thought it was because of her crush on you”

“Her what?”

“Well she looks at like a dog looks at a juicy bit of meat. I thought you might have been afraid of her parents or Beatrix or something, goddess knows she could beat you in about a second. Are you really telling me you never realized she likes you”.

“I thought you said your dad never let you have a dog”.

“It was a euphemism. She looks at you like you look at my money”.

I bet she thinks she was really polite not to have started with that.

“I was trying to be polite” she continued, exasperated.

There was an obvious reason for it but it wasn’t like he could explain Alpha’s devotion to him was that of a follower to her leader and that there was no romantic component to it. “I don’t know about that. I helped her out of something pretty bad a few years ago and she’s kind of always acted that way with me. I don’t think she actually likes me”.

Alexia moved to say more but he’d finally reached the bathroom “and don’t ask what it was either, it’s none of your business”.

Finally escaping into the bathroom he was about to find an exit and serious dash to Mitsugoshi when Po and Skel called out behind him.

“Hey Cid, it’s been a while. With you spending so much time with the princesses and the other knights we haven’t seen you much”. They were trying (very poorly) to act like they weren’t jealous about this.

“Oh yeah right, well I’ve got to go so…”

“Wait! we need to tell you something. Since you were so busy you forgot we signed you up for the academy tournament next week”.

The academy tournament would have been a good time to set expectations for his fighting skills to the audience, but he just hadn’t had time to plan out a performance and decided to skip it.

“How did you guys sign me up?”

“Well we didn’t actually”. Skel explained “Since Claire’s eighteen now and the heir to your family title she can sign most things on your behalf like your parents”.

That could be really bad.

“So we told her you forgot and she signed you up straight away”.

“Okay thanks”. He’d deal with this later but he really had to go now if he wanted to get ahead of Beatrix. He honestly had no faith in Eta’s stalling skills.

“What do you want?” There was no way they did him this ‘favour’ and rushed to tell him without wanting something.

“What? We’re not after anything” Po declared, feigning offence.

“Okay cool, bye”. 3, 2, 1.

“Wait. If you wanted to pay us back you could give us some of the chocolate you won at Mitsugoshi. We hear it’s pretty popular with the ladies” Skel added as casually as he could.

Of course these two gossips heard about that.

“Fine, whatever. I’ll give you some later but I really need to go now”.

The run to Mitsugoshi was faster than losing his three friends and he soon landed in the back area after leaping through a window.

A brown haired girl rushed over to him “Lord Shadow. Why are you here?”

“I need to speak to Alpha” she just looked confused “Now!”

---

Alpha was reorganising a bookshelf when she heard Beatrix approach. Nothing could ruin the careful layout of Mitsugoshi’s businesses quite so quickly as their customers. It no longer surprised her that the adult books and the children’s section were equally disorganised by the end of the day.

Just get it over with.

“I know you’re there”.

Cid had warned her to expect this so she’d had a few minutes to think out what to say. She’d already gotten emotional and made herself look like an idiot with him, the joy of seeing him quickly turning into frustration at she began to understand why he’d come. Hopefully that meant she could remain maintain her patience for what was likely to be a very aggravating conversation.

“I wasn’t trying to hide” Beatrix spoke simply as she came into view “I just didn’t want to interrupt you. It would be impolite”.

Of course. That was one of the rules, never interrupt.

She still remembered all of her parents exacting lessons on etiquette and proper decorum. For a race that lived much longer and was much less fertile than humans she supposed it was necessary to keep their society functioning but after so long living with humans (and especially beastkin) she could only see it as a slightly pretentious waste of time.

It was an odd thing for her aunt to bring up though. She was always straightforward almost to the point of naivety and despite her fame she was always something of an outcast at the rare ball or dinner she had chosen to attend in Car’veil.

“Well I haven’t been keeping up with my lessons” she replied. When she turned around she saw her aunt was holding her arms out to embrace her but Alpha was in no mood.

“Come with me”. She lead Beatrix to a corner of the store, where no one could listen in without being spotted and crossed her arms before starting “So why are you here?”.

“Well… to see you. I don’t know if you’ve heard about what’s happened back home”.

“That my parents are dead, you mean” Beatrix flinch at the casual way she said it. “I’m aware. I have no interest in going home or claiming my inheritance so it’s all yours now if that’s why you’re here.”

“Do you think I came for money? Bea...”

“That’s not my name anymore” Alpha snapped “It’s Allison Grey.” Cooling slightly she added “Please keep that in mind”.

“Well Allison” Beatrix continued, letting annoyance show in her tone “I don’t know if you remember this but I’ve won plenty of tournaments over the years. I don’t need any more money than I’ve won myself. I came because I care about you, because were family. I’ve been looking for you everywhere I could think to look for the last six years”.

Alpha tried not to feel sympathy for the other woman and was unsuccessful “Well you’ve found me and I’m fine. I’m sorry for the trouble but I don’t wish to have anything to do with my old life and that includes you”.

Unfortunate as that is.

As rarely as she saw her aunt she had once been a favourite of hers. The carefree woman had allowed a rare break from her parents and tutors “Could you please just leave me alone?”.

“No. I’ve searched far too long to just go without any answers. I’ll follow you all day if I have to”.

“I’ll call security”.

“Oh Good”. Beatrix smiled “If you think they’ll give me a good fight that’d be great. It’s been a while since I’ve had a real challenge”.

Alpha sighed. “Fine. There’s a cafe a few stores down. Just let me talk to my manager for a second and we can sit there and get this over with”. This had probably been inevitable from the start. Running wasn’t an option (since it would raise far too many questions about her and Cid) and it looked like Beatrix wasn’t going to give up on her so easily.

It's not a terrible change, honestly.

---

They spoke for the better part of an hour. Mostly Alpha telling some modified stories about her friends and her work while Beatrix filled her in with what she’d been up to during their separation, both carefully avoiding the topic of her parents.

Apparently princess Alexia had been the one to reveal her location to her aunt, it was odd how that girl kept cropping up. All she really knew about her beyond her public persona were a couple of unflattering stories from Cid and a brief comment from Gamma that ‘her confidence in her backside isn’t misplaced’, whatever that was about.

She had hoped Beatrix would leave it alone at until their hour was up and she needed to get back to work, but she had no such luck.

“Allison” she said hesitantly “Can you tell me what you know about your parents? I still have no idea what happened. When I got back all anyone could tell me was that you went missing and a few weeks later your parents were found murdered”.

Missing, that was one word for it. Like they hadn’t known exactly where she was. “I ran away from home” she shrugged non-committally. “I have no idea what happened to mother and father because I was hundreds of miles away when they died”. She had been, but she still knew exactly what had happened to them. She tried not to smile at the irony of how things ended for them.

“Why?”

“Because I realized that they never really cared about me at all. They wanted someone to carry on our name when they died and to make a useful marriage, that’s it. Once I realized that I knew I didn’t owe them a single thing. I never regretted leaving and I haven’t thought about them in years.”

Beatrix looked troubled but clearly had no idea how to respond. She’d left the elven kingdom herself and not just to seek out powerful opponents, but she was still clearly uncomfortable with Alpha’s loathing for the place “I sold off some of my old books, toys and clothes to pay for my passage out of the country. I’m apparently not as smart as I was always told because if I was I would have taken some of mother’s jewellery before I left. Eventually I ran out of money but I made a friend and he let me stay at his house for a while. Then I came to the capital and got this job from Ms Luna and I’ve living by myself ever since”.

Beatrix seized the change of topic gladly “This place is incredible but I always thought you had more ambition than selling clothes and stacking bookshelves. Your… teachers always talked about how bright you were and I remember our sword lessons together. You were at least as good as I was at your age”.

Alpha smiled “I suppose it isn’t what I dreamed of, but the work is easy and it pays well. I suppose my ambition was more of my parents imposition”.

“Well I had an idea about that. I could maybe help you with finding something more… significant to do if you’re willing to accept my help”.

“What is it?”. Whatever she offered probably wouldn’t be worth accepting but she decided to play along.

It took Beatrix a few minutes to go over her plan and answer Alpha’s questions but by the time she’d finished the opportunity she had presented seemed incredibly appealing. Not for the reasons Beatrix thought they were though. The Black Concord meant she’d need a vote to accept her offer and with Epsilon in the capital it would be difficult to pass. Still maybe she was more ambitious than she had previously admitted. At the very least she had no intention of letting this pass her without fighting for it.

“I assume you’re going to accept?”. Beatrix asked

“I will. When do you think will be best to start?”.

“I think you’d need until at least until their next break is over. You’ll need the time to catch up”.

That wouldn’t be an issue. Her skills were already far past what they needed to be for this.

“I know you had some... issues with your parents but I hope you still think of me as family. I’ll help with whatever you need, so just let me know if you have any problems” Beatrix held out a hand to Alpha.

Alpha’s contempt for her parents was still boundless. Her misplaced hatred for Beatrix had evaporated over the last hour. She rose from her chair and held her arms out.

They hugged briefly and Alpha spoke softly “Thanks for coming to see me. Would you be able come by in a couple of days to sort out the details?”

As Beatrix agreed and headed out of the cafe Alpha sighed and schooled herself back to calm. This would require a great deal of planning to work. Thankfully she had a few hours of monotonous work ahead that would give her time to think out the details.

---

Cid was still slightly disconcerted by Beatrix’s presence in the meeting room during his work, she kept an eye on him in particular and wasn’t subtle about it. Alpha’s reaction to her Aunt’s arrival was equally off-putting. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone in Shadow Garden refused him anything but she’d essentially shut down when he asked for more details about her old family life. Well…maybe shut down wasn’t exactly right, she’d asked “must I, my lord?” and he’d said no, not wanting to push over that line and expecting her to answer anyway, but she offered nothing else. All he’d been able to get was that Beatrix apparently could have no idea Alpha had ever been possessed.

Maybe the need for a distraction (in combination with Eta’s presence) was what put the idea for an experiment in his head. Since he knew Eta would be interested he pulled her aside once they finished for lunch. Alexia tagged along but he didn’t really mind. She would probably enjoy this as much as Eta and she’d been unusually...not terrible over the last couple of weeks.

“So my hypothesis” he began explaining as they sat down to eat “Is that luck is a real force in this world, and that certain people have significantly good or bad luck that determines almost every event in their lives”.

“That’s ridiculous” Alexia exclaimed.

“Be quiet. I want to hear his wisdom” Eta broke from her razor-sharp focus on him to snap at Alexia. He continued while Alexia was still off-balance.

“My friends Po and Skel have especially bad luck, especially where woman are concerned. They’ve asked me for chocolates to ask out girls and I’ve agreed to give them some of what I won at Mitsugoshi. If I’m right, not only will they fail but something terrible will happen to each of them”.

“Those two not getting girls wouldn’t prove anything, they’re not popular, talented or good-looking” Alexia added.

“Yes, but chocolate is a rare delicacy even among the nobility. It’s not unlikely that a girl might give a guy she normally wouldn’t consider a chance after he gave her some, even if it’s just to be polite. Besides it’ll probably be way worse than them just getting shot down”.

“I still think this is stupid and besides, aren’t they supposed to be your friends?”

Eta had stopped eating and was taking notes furiously while Cid responded “So you’re saying you don’t want to come with me and watch them fall on their faces?”. It’s not like he could stop them or save them anyway, and discovery required experimentation.

He took her lack of response for the admission of defeat it was.

“Let’s make it interesting, I’ll bet 100,000 Zeni it goes exactly the way I think it will”.

“You don’t have 100,000 Zeni, you spent everything I gave you on Claire. You’re so poor I have to buy you breakfast and lunch every day just to get you to work for Iris”.

“Leave getting the money to me if I lose. Besides, if I’m in debt maybe I’ll have to get a job again”. He looked at her meaningfully.

She got the message “And both of them have to get hurt or something, I win if either of them just get rejected.”

Cid nodded.

“You’re on”.

He headed over to Skel and Po to give them the chocolate. He also told them Alexia and ‘Erin’ were hopeless romantics who would just love to watch them make their confessions. They didn’t really like it but couldn’t say no to him before he gave them the chocolate (and Alexia apparently scared the crap out of them so they were terrified to refuse her). Maybe they were getting smarter?

Skel was up first and managed to find his target, a short but pretty blond girl almost alone in the hallway. While he approached Cid’s group pretended to be talking a little way up the corridor.

“That’s my friend Alisa” Alexia explained “He’s definitely getting shot down. Her parents are apparently pretty close to finalising a betrothal for her”.

Apparently she was behind the times since her betrothed, a seven foot beefcake called Garin (Who he’d given the nickname gorilla Garin) showed up and decided to have a private word outside with Skel about his intentions towards his fiance. Skel’s occasion ladylike shrieks of pain told them how it was going.

Alexia struggled not to smile and give away her sadism in public while Eta muttered “Master...is so wise”. Thankfully Cid was the only one who could hear it.

Po looked mildly afraid but wasn’t truly deterred as they set off for the library. Apparently his girl was in one of the research courses.

“Skel’s problem was that he didn’t do enough research, but I’ve covered all my bases. I know everything about her. Her measurements, what she likes to eat at meals, the ways she goes through the school, what time she goes to sleep and even her favourite bathroom”.

Even Eta looked mildly disturbed as Cid sent Po to his apparently well-deserved punishment “Well that’s really romantic. Good luck”.

“Hey I…”

“Ahhhhh, It’s my stalker. Mr Whitaker please help”.

Po was stopped by the history teacher who took him back to his classroom to have a talk about personal boundaries with the fairer sex. Cid looked to Alexia expecting her to be upset at losing, but instead she just looked amused.

“I’m surprised you’re not more upset at losing”.

“It’s fine. That was definitely 100,000 Zeni worth of entertainment” Alexia explained as she reached into her bag to pay him.

“You were right Ma…Cid. This has...fascinating potential” Eta said dreamily. She then broke character and assumed a slight bow “Thank you… for sharing your wisdom with me”.

Cid tried to straighten her and start her walking “Yeah, fine. Our breaks almost over, we need to get to class and you should go back to the meeting room” He and Alexia had volunteered a free period but needed to get back to class. Iris refused to let them skip a single lesson.

Eta headed off while Alexia held him in place “I need to ask you something, have you decided about our ‘relationship’ yet”.

He had. He was initially going to accept since Alexia had been less of a pain recently and it meant he didn’t have to fake any other relationships to fit in. During his first visit to Mitsugoshi he’d brought up the possibility to Alpha and she’d quickly (and rather insistently) rejected it. Alpha had hastily explained that since Alexia had been able to see through Zenon she might be able to notice something off about him if they spent too much time together alone. He did have to admit she was a fairly good judge of character.

“Well… We can keep going for now and if either of us meets someone else we can just call it off, no hard feelings?” This was the best way he could think of to handle it without pissing her off. She wasn’t unpopular and it wasn’t like she was interested in someone who was unavailable. Ideally (and most likely) she’d meet some other guy and decide she didn’t want him in the way. If not he could just pretend to like someone else himself and give her the slip if he thought she was close to figuring anything out.

Eta came to mind then but he’d like to avoid having to resort to Shadow Garden if possible. The thought of going to the others like “I can’t deal with Alexia, please save me, Waaaah” was just so lame, especially considering they were probably concerned with much more important things than managing his love life.

---

In a very unusual turn of events Claire decided to call off their morning training a few minutes early the following day. “I take it you’ve seen your first opponent in the tournament” she said as she sheathed her practice sword and put it back in the rack.

“Yeah” It was Rose Orianna, which wasn’t a particularly good or bad for him. A quick defeat in the first round meant he couldn’t really establish his strength to the rest of the school, but it did mean he could set it to whatever he wanted (under Rose’s level) later.

“We’re going to have to work really hard if you’re going to beat her”.

He was momentarily speechless “She’s probably the best dark knight in the whole school”. Claire’s eyes narrowed “Obviously excluding you sis”.

“And I know you can beat her or even me if you really tried so come on!” he had no idea where her confidence in him came from. It could be that she somehow sensed that he could beat Rose with his arms and legs tied behind his back but most likely she just thought believing in his potential was what an older sister was supposed to do. No matter how delusional her expectations were.

“We’re going back to our old training schedule, no more days off to work with Alexia and Iris”.

“But I can’t just leave royalty hanging” surely even Claire wouldn’t go that far.

“I’ve already talked to Iris and she agrees your work shouldn’t get in the way of your academic responsibilities, so your mine for the next two weeks”.

With his last hope of getting out of this butchered he tried to salvage the situation “Even if we train a lot more I still don’t think I’ll be able to beat her. I’m gonna get wrecked out there”.

Claire looked at him furiously “No you won’t, I have complete faith in you. Besides everyone knows I’m responsible for training you and if you lose it reflects badly me and our family. Don’t you even think about giving up”.

Cid decided to look over his apparent options:

Option 1-Win: The entire school would know he was the strongest fighter there and he’d destroy his side character persona, but Claire would show mercy.

Option 2-Lose: His character work would remain flawless, but Claire would kill him.

He was boned no matter what he decided.

Chapter Text

Tournament Preparations

“And why exactly should I agree to this?” Epsilon asked innocently

As Alpha had expected Epsilon was dragging her heels, clearly enjoying her newfound power. By the terms of the Black Concord she needed six of seven possible votes to pass her proposal. Beta and Gamma hadn’t made any objection (besides mild regret they couldn’t undertake her role), considering what she was doing right now Eta had no right to refuse and Delta didn’t seem to understand that Alpha was obligated to allow her a free decision. Alpha didn’t feel the need to correct her about it.

That left either Epsilon on Zeta for the final required vote, and with Zeta leaving Epsilon to control her vote while she was absent Epsilon became the end of the road. Waiting for Zeta to return from whatever she was doing would take too long and had no certainty of success. Zeta wasn’t difficult to work with professionally but on a personal level Alpha found her the hardest to predict of her fellow shades.

“Because someone needs to represent Shadow Garden’s interests directly in this field, and I’ve been given the opportunity to do that”.

Epsilon narrowed her eyes as she pretended to look over her perfect nails and think it over. Obviously finding no flaws she turned back and continued the conversation “I agree completely on that point, but I simply don’t think you’re the best choice for it. You’ve got to manage the whole organisation as well, so surely using someone else would be a better user of personnel”.

That was objectively true. If she let Epsilon make a game of this she’d spend the whole day stonewalling. The youngest shadow had never quite broken the habit of playing with her food “What do you want Epsilon?”.

Epsilon put a finger under her lip and put on a cutely thoughtful expression as if she hadn’t decided almost as soon as the subject was explained. To her credit the only way to see through the act was to have a personal knowledge of the other girl, an outside observer would have no way of knowing it wasn’t genuine.

“I’d like to able to make my own approach. If it’s included in the same vote you’ll have both my and Zeta’s backing”.

That wasn’t the worst thing in the world but… “I can’t get you in the way I’m going, and if what were voting for changes I can’t guarantee the approvals I already have”. Beta would be out for a near certainty but if she had all the others her objection would be overruled.

Epsilon giggled “Oh you can leave planning the approach me, I just need it pre-approved. Let me know if you need any help getting the votes we’ll need”. She gave Alpha a brief hug and this time she actually couldn’t tell whether it was sincere or mocking.

Alpha walked away feeling distinctly displeased with what was ostensibly a draw.

---

Cid landed back into Mitsugoshi and waited for the staff to take him to Gamma. The girl who escorted him was the same brown haired, brown eyed girl who had taken him to Alpha last time. He thought her name was…

“Nu, how long have you served Shadow Garden?”.

She seemed nervous, he supposed he had been short with her the last time they spoke “Sixteen months Lord Shadow.” That was pretty soon after they all split up, though since she had her own name and not just a number he supposed that was expected.

“What did you do before joining our organisation?”

She blushed slightly and looked down “I went to school at the Royal Academy. I never really did much of anything”.

“Yeah it can get kinda boring” Cid agreed. “I mean it’s fine when you’ve got something to look forward to but just on it’s own it would be pretty tedious”.

Cid stepped into Gamma’s office and waited while the runner Nu dispatched went to get Gamma from her meeting. When she stepped in she managed to make it all the way from the door to her chair without falling over despite still wearing heels. Cid tried not to be impressed by this.

Maybe it’s a training thing?

“My lord how can I help you today?” Gamma asked in a friendly tone. Cid reached for a blank piece of paper and wrote down the list of items he’d need for his plan. He handed it to Gamma and said “I need you to deliver these items immediately to wherever Eta does experiments here. I also assume there’s a training room I can use with someone”.

“Well-yes but, do you wish me to join you?” she asked hopefully.

That wouldn’t work, not only would Gamma’s ‘fighting style’ be too different from Rose’s (anyone else’s) to be useful but he’d be constantly shown up by the master of falling over and hurting yourself. “Uh-No, I will need someone to help me prepare but it would be best if someone else joined me, is Delta still here?” She’d be great for this, her speed and ferocity were second to none.

“Unfortunately, she’s out hunting and I don’t think she’ll be back until tonight”. Gamma replied, crestfallen “I can recommend Nu, she serves as both my both my personal assistant and bodyguard”.

“That is acceptable” Cid replied. “I’ll be in Eta’s lab for a while, come to the training room in 45 minutes Nu”.

Cid fucked around for the next 45 minutes making up new mixtures of powdered sugar, food colouring and cocoa powder to perfect his fake blood. It had been almost eighteen years since he had first seen the recipe and so some trial and error experimentation was required to get it just right.

He had initially learned this to make his opponents think ‘Guess that guy’s dead, let’s get back to work’ but then get up and break them in half while they were still in shock. A real eminence in shadow wouldn’t need it but in a world without magic he’d had to use cheap tricks to defeat multiple foes. It did also have mob potential but he’d never had to fake a significant injury like this before now.

He brought a bucket and a few of the container packs he had prepared to the training room and met Nu inside, already in her slime suit looking concernedly at his bucket.

I should probably explain this. Even if I am the boss I probably look like a weirdo just carrying a bucket of blood around.

Cid gave a brief overview of his academy tournament predicament and concluded “So I’ve decided on a third option, get so brutally beaten by Rose that the referee steps in and stops the fight”. It was brilliant. Claire might still complain but she wouldn’t kill him if he didn’t technically give up.

Nu looked confused “But my lord, why not simply fake an injury or some similar ploy?”

You poor sweet summer child “Wouldn’t work. She’d see through that in a second and give me a real injury for the trouble”. He had a lot of experience trying to slack off with Claire.

“Couldn’t you just… say no to her? You’re the most powerful dark knight in the world” Nu reasoned.

It seemed some Shadow Wisdom was in order “Shadow is the most powerful dark knight in the world. Cid Kagenou is a middling boy who has to do exactly what his older sister wants him to. Keep this in mind for you own role”. He reached into his pocket for a coin and flipped it before continuing “you are two faces of a coin and one cannot exist without the other”. Damn that sounded deep.

Nu bowed “Of course you are correct, should we begin now?”

Nu began attempting to strike him while he deflected instantly to replicate the feeling of a direct hit, then tried to channel his inner paper bag in a hurricane as he flew around the room, spraying blood everywhere. The first time Nu actually thought she had hit him and rushed over to apologise as he stood up and prepared for the next attack. Gamma came in just as he was adding the final touch to the 48 ^th form ‘Trash mob kite slam’

Seeing him lying bloody on the floor and Nu preparing to strike again she attempted to draw her own weapon and step in front of him but promptly tripped as she moved into position, inspiring the 49 ^th pratfall form in Cid’s mind as he watched.

Sadly it was getting late, so he’d just have to hope that the ref would be satisfied with just 48 injuries. “Well I better get going. I’ve kinda got a date soon, does this place have a shower I can use?”

Nu and Gamma flushed and just then Cid realized exactly what they must be thinking.

Why is he asking that, we’re an all female organisation. Does he really want to go into our bathroom?

Still it was getting late and there shouldn’t be too many people around. It wasn’t like he wanted to go in while anyone else was there, it shouldn’t be that unreasonable.

“Of course, please follow me” Gamma declared loudly and set off

“Oh and I need some casual, kinda cheap clothes. Could you get me some” he threw out to Nu as he set off behind Gamma.

The bathroom was behind a spacious office (he guessed it was Alpha’s given that it was empty and not the office he’d met Gamma in earlier) and like everything in Mitsugoshi it was top of the line. The shower was big enough that he could hold his sword out from the centre and not touch the sides and the bath looked more like a hot tub with space for at least half a dozen people.

Heated floors and towel railing, full length mirror, amazing water pressure. Gamma really does always provide a VIP experience.

It was a shame he couldn’t enjoy this all the time (especially when his underlings did) but it was just one of the many sacrifices that made him the ultimate eminence in shadow.

After changing he stepped out and saw Gamma and Nu waiting for him “If you have a date, why did you want cheap clothing my lord?” Gamma asked “Is there some woman you’re trying to put off again?”

“No, Alexia just said to wear something like this for what she has planned. She wants to meet up near the Collum street tram station so were probably not going anywhere nice”.

Of course she’d lure him in with a nice trip to Mitsugoshi and then hit him with the cheap stuff once he’d agreed to fake date her again. Classic Alexia.

Nu and Gamma looked uneasy “My lord, there have been some incidents there. In the weeks since the Zenon incident fools pretending to be Shadow Garden have begun killing civilians and knights that cross their path in that area. We’ve been investigating but haven’t been able to capture the culprits yet”.

Cid thought this over, an idea quickly forming in his head “Nu, you should follow after me in secret, just in case”.

Alexia had been way nicer to him recently and a possible reason for that was forming in his mind.

Watching him ‘kill’ Zenon might have awakened her murderous desires and she then used Shadow Garden as a patsy to divert suspicion, her aggression lulling as she found this new release. It wasn’t really likely but there was a greater than 0% chance she was going to try and kill him tonight. After all pretending to be nice and luring him to a dangerous part of town was exactly what he would do if he was trying to kill someone in her position. Nu would just have to figure out some way of stopping her without blowing his cover if that happened.

He was just heading for the window again when Gamma asked “Why use that entrance my lord, wouldn’t it be easier to use one of the secret passages?”

Secret passages, One of the?

“Gamma, how many secret passages do we have?”.

“Seven, four hidden amongst the various store-fronts and three in the employee only areas. Eta accounted for all of your lessons when designing these headquarters. I had assumed she would have told you all about it”.

It was probably in some report he hadn’t read. If he saw “Blueprints for store” in his messages he probably would have skipped it.

“Okay, well… I really should get going” Cid replied reluctantly

Well...Alexia could wait a few minutes

---

Cid showed up fifteen minutes late, slightly out of breath but at least dressed to blend in through the lower area of the city and his sword sheathed at the hip.

“You’re late”

“Sorry, got held up with something” he didn’t seem unhappy so whatever held him up must not have been that bad.

“So why are we here?” he asked.

She didn’t want to say it in such a public area so signalled for him to follow her, after a minute she whispered “You’ve heard about the slashers, the ones that are apparently from Shadow Garden”.

“Yeeaah” Cid replied, now clearly nervous.

“Well were here to catch them, if we can prove ourselves then Iris can’t stop us from becoming official members of the crimson order”.

Cid relaxed and muttered something she couldn’t hear.

“Should have known it was her stupid sister issues”

“What did you say?”

“I said do you need me to tell you this is a terrible idea, or do you already know it is?”

“Lets say I already know it is, that way we can skip your whining and bitching about it while we search”. Cid put his hands in his pockets “and try to look like your nervous about being here, it was dangerous before the slashers and if we look too confident they’ll see the trap”.

“Why shouldn’t I just go tell Iris right now?”

“And leave your girlfriend all alone in such a dangerous place, what would everybody think? Besides, you owe me for our last date”

“What did I do?”

“You spent the whole time on your elf fe-fixation”

“I was just surprised there were so many” he replied indignantly. It wasn’t convincing at all.

“And then there’s how you were when Beatrix arrived?”

“That’s because she looks so much like Allison. I haven’t even tried to talk with her once outside work, unlike everyone else”

That was true. Beatrix was unsurprisingly popular with the students when her record of winning every Bushin festival she had ever entered (totalling seven) and her title as ‘goddess of war’ became common knowledge. She’d proven even more popular with the boys due to her...fashion choices. It had calmed down since Iris sent her shopping to get more school appropriate clothes and apparently she and Allison had made a day of it at Mitsugoshi.

“I don’t get really get why guys would try to hit on her, I mean she’s completely out of their league and more than a hundred years old! Wouldn’t that bother you?”

Cid smiled “Yeah Po actually tried that and I don’t think she even registered he existed, probably the best he could have hoped for. As for the other thing, she’s hot. That’s really all that matters to most guys”.

“And the fact that she’s older than their great-grandmothers wouldn’t concern them”.

“No. I mean if I lived to be a hundred and still looked like this” Cid gestured up and down at himself “I’d still be having fun however I wanted. I mean isn’t the whole point of eternal youth that you don’t have to give anything up”.

He was such a child “You really need to grow up sometime”.

He then had the nerve to actually flip her off “Yeah, whatever”. Trying to be nicer or not she couldn’t let this stand. She moved over to give him a swift kick in the balls when a voice called out.

“We are Shadow Garden”

The call came from behind as two men followed after them. She grabbed Cid’s hand and pulled him around the corner to see another black cloaked figure approaching. They were trapped.

“We are Shadow Garden”.

Cid pinched his nose and sighed “No, no you’re not”.

“We are Shadow Garden”.

“Seriously, Shadow Garden is all girls. Do you maybe want to get someone else to do this and try again”

They were drawing their swords as they advanced and Alexia drew hers in kind “We are Shadow Garden”.

Cid was apparently overcome with second hand embarrassment “Can you guys even say anything else. This has got to be the worst frame job I’ve ever seen in my life, that I’ve ever even heard of”.

He was starting to bother her as much as the ambushers “Cid for fucks sakes just draw your sword and start fighting. That isn’t important right now”.

Cid drew his sword and turned his back to her as she faced off against the two from behind. If Cid could just hold off the third one she could knock one or both of these guys down and then help him out. “I’ll accept that as long as we’re agreed this obviously isn’t Shadow Garden”

“Fine, fine”. He got offended over the stupidest things. Even if this was a bad setup that insulted their intelligence (and it most likely was) bickering about in when they were in so much danger showed his priorities were completely messed up.

She started fighting defensively, unsure of the strength of her opponents and not ready to expose her own. There attacks were all competent with a decent amount of force behind them but it felt more like fighting a puppet than a real opponent, as if her enemies didn’t care about her or themselves and were only trying to get through some tiresome chore.

She heard a scuffling sound behind her and took a quick peek behind her check if Cid had been hurt. His feet were on the wall, pushing off and rolling around the attacker behind her, now leaving her surrounded by all three. She almost thought he was going to leave her behind as the man advanced on her apparently thinking the same, but Cid struck a glancing blow from behind that sent a great gout of blood up from his black-clad shoulder.

As Cid drew him away she realized it was a clever plan, she’d be free to use her more wide reaching moves if he was safely out of the way. Their schoolwork primarily focused on one-on-one fighting during their first-year and moved onto more group tactics in the second and third years when the students had better awareness and control of themselves, so neither she or Cid would be particularly good at fighting together.

Reassured by the distant clash of steel on steel she targeted the weaker of her two opponents with a great horizontal slash that took his arm off and cut deeply into his side, marking a great gash in the brick wall beside him as it continued past him. While she was prying her sword out (and trying not to notice how disgusting real battle was) her final opponent scored a stinging cut on her cheek as she twisted away, her blood dripping onto the pavement.

She went on the offensive, trying to come from above and below and each side in an unpredictable pattern, resetting to her starting position between every practised set of attacks. She was beginning to tire when she finally managed to knock the black blade out his hands and was just about to deliver the killing stroke when something latched onto her knees and pulled her down.

How is he still moving. How the hell is he even still alive.

Her second opponent had recovered enough to wrap his last arm around her legs to pull her down and the first was standing over her, driving his blade into her side.

She screamed. Loudly. She’d been hurt in training before, cuts and bruises and once even a broken leg but nothing like this.

She wasn’t getting out. She’d exhausted her magical energy and she was pinned down, an armed enemy in front of her. Not wanting to concede without a fight she wrapped her free hand around the neck of the man holding her down and pressed down as hard as she could, fear and pain and anger driving her until she heard the snap. At least she got one.

The man standing in front of her shuddered then fell over, barely avoiding falling on top of her. She managed to make it partway to her knees which was just enough to see the hole where his eye had been a moment earlier. She turned her head, he had been facing the way Cid had gone so she was expecting to see him or a guard but instead saw another black clad figure.

“Princess Alexia” he chuckled mirthlessly “You seem to keep finding trouble”.

“Shadow”. She relaxed. Dangerous as he was he just saved her and spared her and Iris last time. There was no reason to assume his goals had changed.

He reached down and pulled the blade from her side without warning. She hissed in pain as he put a hand to her side and healed the wound in an instant. She wasn’t surprised she felt better than she had before the fight, even the emotional exhaustion she should have felt from almost dying seemed to have burned away by the violet light.

“Where’s Cid?”

“Do you mean the black haired boy?” she nodded.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s alive, if that’s your concern” he responded casually as he started to move away.

“Wait” she commanded. He turned to her with fury in his eyes “Please?” she offered to calm him down. Even if he didn’t want her dead provoking him was a terrible idea.

“I need to know why you’re fighting, what is it that you intend to do?”

“Do not interfere. The less you know the better things will be”.

“That doesn’t tell me anything. Do you have to be so cryptic and mysterious all the time?”

“Why princess, that’s half the fun” he was openly mocking her now. The idea he had disguised his unrivalled strength and massive organisation just for his own amusement was laughable and they both knew it.

“This battle does not concern you. Keep to your own side of the world. You rule in the light while I hunt in the shadows” and with that he vanished.

She set off after Cid, despite shadow’s words she still needed to check he was okay. She turned the corner and discovered him leaning against a wall, breathing steadily with his eyes closed. There was a little blood on the back of his head but that was all.

She shook him awake “Hu..huh Alexia, where are we?” he seemed to come to himself “Where’s the not-Shadow-Garden guys”. She couldn’t help but smile to hear him put it like that, it was the best way he could have said he was fine.

“They’re dead” she was pleased with how calmly she said it given it was the first time she had taken a life on the battlefield. “What happened to you?”

“I was fighting that guy in black and I was winning” Alexia raised an eyebrow “I really was, but then I got hit on the back of the head and passed out. I thought there was maybe a fourth guy that came late”.

“No, that was probably Shadow”.

Cid looked around, as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive man “Shadow was here?”

“Yes, he killed the rest of the attackers. Although given that your guy seems to have disappeared he probably took that one alive”.

“Did he say anything?”.

“Nothing much. Come on, I’ll heal what I can for that head wound and we’ll just go report back to Iris”.

“Okay” He rose slowly “Can I say I told you so now?”

“What do you mean puppy, the slashers have been dealt with and I even met with Shadow. If anything this night went better than I expected”.

---

Alexia didn’t have to wait long to find out what happened to their third assailant. He was found early in the morning with the words ‘Path of the fool’ carved into his mutilated body. Iris was upset at the general panic this had caused (on top of her fury that she’d gone out to confront the killers with only Cid for backup) but having been nearly killed by the asshole less than twelve hours ago, she was just glad he was no longer unaccounted for.

This would be her last day off before the academy tournament started and she decided not to skip her training with Rose Orianna. She knew she needed to improve even before last night and to do that she had to face challenging opponents and Rose had been looking for someone to practice with who wasn’t participating in the tournament. Alexia had thought about entering but realized she’d just be knocked out in the finals or semi-finals and get all depressed, so it was more productive to train and maybe enter next year.

She met Rose at the dojo and the two chatted briefly while they got ready for practice, Alexia even told her about the slashers while Rose made small talk about her classes and student council work.

They had been working for a few minutes with Alexia primarily on offence while Rose defended when Cid passed by and decided to watch for a couple of minutes. Given how worn out he looked she guessed he just finished a training session with Claire.

She’d just managed to finally knock Rose down when Cid decided to interject “Hey, when Alexia uses that move again you might want to try turning your back-foot a little further out to keep your balance”.

It was hard to tell if the flush on Rose’s cheeks was exertion or Cid’s attempt to correct her in a sword style he had never practised “I can assure you, this is the exact form of Rising Wind I was taught by my instructors”.

“Sure, maybe try it anyway though. I gotta go, see you later”.

“I’d actually try it. I know he can be a little...strange sometimes but he has his moments”.

Rose looked slightly dejected “Alexia, I’m his first opponent in the tournament. I don’t want to doubt him but why would he help me improve my sword technique when he’s already considered a...long-shot in our bout?”.

What a polite way of saying you’re going to decimate him.

“I don’t know. He’s kind of hard to figure out but it couldn’t hurt to try?”

They went through the same sequence again only this time Rose just wobbled at the end rather than completely losing her balance.

“It worked” she said, clearly stunned.

“Like I said, he has his moments”.

Rose looked at her thoughtfully “I’ve heard that many people don’t approve of your relationship with him. If you don’t mind my asking, what is it that drew you to him?”

Hell if she knew. Maybe that he was always honest with her and they both had kind of a mean/sarcastic streak. That wouldn’t do to say though. She had very little idea about Rose Orianna’s true personality, learning more about her had been one of the reason’s she had arranged this session.

Maybe now would be a good time to test her.

“Oh well...” she deliberately looked away and started fiddling with her hair “Since it’s just us princesses, I’ll tell you. We’re only dating for appearances. The truth is I’m...interested in someone else, someone even more unsuitable than Cid. I hope I can trust you to keep this between us”.

It was the perfect trap. Either Rose would keep her secret and Alexia would know she was trustworthy or she’d blab and tell everyone about some secret lover of her’s that didn’t exist and make a fool of herself. Every way this could go would be to her advantage.

“Oh that’s so romantic” Rose breathed out “And Cid’s such a kind man to help you”.

“Well...it’s good for him too. I can get him into nice places and dating me really helped him stand out at school. I swear most people didn’t know he existed until three months ago.”

Including me.

Rose assumed a fighting stance and asked “Are you ready to start again? I’ll go on the attack this time to test your defence”.

---

Cid was shaking with a mixture of nerves and excitement Claire could remember only too well from her first time competing in front of the whole academy. She’d only got to the quarter-finals but that had been an excellent showing from a first year with no great family expectations. She was sure Cid would do just as well or even better today.

“Just kill her. That’s all you have to do, just kill her.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to do that”.

He can be such a killjoy sometimes.

“It’s an expression. I just mean get angry, focus, go right through her”.

Cid still looked nervous so she tried changing her approach, putting her hands on his shoulders to look into his eyes and speaking softly to try and steady him “You can do this. You just have to visualize what you want and work step by step to make it a reality, okay”.

He visibly calmed “Your right. Thanks Claire”.

His two ‘friends’ (though why he hung out with those idiots was beyond her) approached to wish him luck while she stepped away.

“Hey Cid, bad luck on your first draw huh?” the tall one said

“Yeah I guess”

“Well, everyone knows how strong Rose is, I’m sure no-one will look down on you if you lose after the first few hits” the bald one said.

It was the wrong thing to say. She picked them up by the scruff of their necks, hissed that “He isn’t losing to anyone” and tossed them out of the arena entryway onto the dirt outside. It had rained recently so the ground was soft and they probably wouldn’t break anything.

Shame.

She turned back to Cid to try and undo the damage but he had already been called into the arena and she’d have to run to reach the seat Nina was holding for her in time. Looking at him walking calmly forward she was certain he could handle whatever came his way.

She smiled at the thought as she set off for the stands.

Chapter Text

Tournaments and Terrorists

Watching Shadow work through his routine, leaving a crimson trail as he performed what she thought was the ‘scarlet sleigh ride’ Nu reflected that this was one of the most hilarious things she had ever experienced. Watching a fight that was comically one sided, amongst an audience that thought exactly the same thing, only with the combatants reversed.

The crowd’s enthusiasm was had diminished even though it was only the fifth time Cid had been thrown back, the copious blood and his apparently injured state was beginning to worry them. Alexia’s voice was beginning to shake as she commentated the duel while his friends were noticeably worried and kept looking down at their hands to avoid having to look at the fight.

Cid rose to his feet and performed the now customary waving off of the referee and insisted he was still able to fight as he squared off against Rose. When they clashed this time Cid actually managed to score a noticeable hit, getting a jab to the ribs that momentarily winded her. Claire rose up from her seat and started cheering but no one else joined in.

Inevitably, one of Rose’s counter strokes caught his legs and he tumbled over, impressively balanced almost entirely on his neck in the ‘reverse hanged man’ form.

“Dammit Cid, just stay down” Po muttered, clearly worried by the fight below.

She looked around at the crowd again and noticed a look of horror beginning to gradually form among the onlookers as the fight continued. When they looked at this they saw a conformation of their ideas about Cid’s weakness while Nu could only stand in awe of his humility. To allow himself to be beaten like this before thousands due to his commitment to secrecy showed incredible dedication to their cause.

Shadow had been something of a surprise to her, when she’d reported her failure to gain any information from the third child she had captured he’d simply shrugged and said “Yeah that can be pretty rough. Those guys never give anything away”. Coming from noble society she was used to those in charge belittling their subordinates whenever they failed however valid their reasons were. She had done it herself a lifetime ago.

Shadow was simply efficient, working with her, Gamma, and the rest of the shades with a casual attitude. On reflection it wasn’t hard to understand why. His superiority didn’t have to be proven and re-proven, after witnessing his magical power two months prior no one in the organisation would dare challenge him (even disregarding the fanatical loyalty of his closest agents).

So he could afford to be not to put down his subordinates, interact with them like friends rather than servants and put on embarrassing acts like this. In an ironic twist his unchallengeable power had actually brought him closer to those around him rather than forcing him further away.

When Cid rose from his next knockdown Skel whispered “It’s been ninety seconds” to Po in a voice that implied he was close to tears.

Po angrily ripped up the small slip in his hand furiously and looked at Cid “Come on. Why does he have to be so stubborn now! We had half our betting fund on that”.

She couldn’t place the move he was performing now, it was either the sixth or nineteenth form from their practice session. She was a little curious about how Alpha’s mission was going and so looked across to her and Beatrix watching the match. Alpha’s expression was inscrutable while Beatrix was watching the match with interest between bites of her Tuna King sandwich. She was the only person who might see through Cid’s act so Alpha had decided to accompany her to the event to ensure she didn’t. She also apparently had a weakness for Tuna King honey mustard sandwiches which was why Alpha currently had a bag of four sitting at the ready to keep her aunt’s attention elsewhere.

Alpha seemed to sense she was being watched and began looking around the section Nu was sitting in. Nu tensed and turned away even though the chance of being recognised was minimal. Her hair was arranged in a tight bun and she was wearing a pair of large glasses. Her clothes were both drab and baggy, and the whole outfit made her look much older and larger than her dresses usually did. There was no way she would hold up to close inspection but at this distance even Alpha should miss her.

She’d been forbidden from attending and the reason behind that was sitting at the ring-side seats, accompanied by an older man she thought must be Glenn. Marco looked just as he always had. He’d always been confident and acted above-it-all, but it looked much better on a twenty year old man than it had on the gangly teenager she’d been betrothed to.

She’d wondered what it would be like to see him again, testing it as someone feels at a healing injury to assess the damage. She found she didn’t care that much. It would have been nice to meet again and reminisce about old times but it was nothing she couldn’t live without. Her personality had changed so much that for him it would essentially be like meeting a whole different person and his time in the army had probably had a similar, though somewhat reduced effect on him even if it didn’t show at a distance.

Cid was recovering himself for the 18 ^th time and the referee just nodded sadly, clearly done trying to convince the boy to give in anymore though someone else decided to call an end to the spectacle. Claire Kagenou leapt into the arena and held Cid in a pose which brought a poster from Mitsugoshi’s wedding store to mind, though the genders were reversed.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” she wailed to Cid. “Cid concedes” she screamed to Rose, the referee and the audience as she carried him out of the arena and towards the exit.

Nu alone chuckled. If the crowd didn’t think Cid was on deaths door they would have joined in and mocking stories of the event would have followed Cid for years. She had thought the horror of the audience had been a miscalculation on her master’s part, but in the end it all turned out to be part of his grand design. She was beginning to truly appreciate why the shades were in such awe of him.

They could hear an echoing voice from the exit “Put me down! I still have thirty one more moves left to try”.

---

Cid was bored. The tournament was still going on but the school physician had advised him to rest for the next few days. He’d used EiS technique 33 “Blame game” to avoid his lack of injuries raising suspicions, telling the doctor Claire had mostly healed him before he got there and telling Claire the doctor patched him up. He’d let himself get a little bruised during his flips to have something to show if either of them saw, since a complete instant recovery would have been a little much.

He could have just ignored the advice but Claire was spending almost every minute she didn’t have to be competing herself to visit and look after him. She seemed genuinely sorry that he’d been hurt because of her insistence he could win. Practically it wasn’t much of an improvement since it just meant she tied him down even more, but he supposed the thought was nice.

Someone knocked at the door and Cid rose to answer, thankful to finally have something to do. Sherry and Eta were there, the former holding a small gift wrapped bag.

“Hi Cid, are you feeling okay?” Sherry asked

“Yeah, pretty much fine” he replied, waving the two of them in and gesturing for them to take a seat at the table.

“I brought you some cookies I baked. I hope you like them”. Sherry gave him the bag.

Cid grabbed one and took a bite “They’re good. Do you want one?”

Eta shook her head while Sherry responded shyly “Oh no. I tested the recipe a couple of times and I...kind of had to be my own tester.”

That was nice. It was good to see his efforts with Sherry were going somewhere. He’d decided that if he needed a distraction girlfriend Sherry would be a good choice. Kind, loosely tied to the main plot, naive enough to believe whatever bullshit excuses he came up with and apparently a decent cook into the bargain. Truly the ideal (temporary) woman.

It would be nice if he could just ignore having a love interest but since he was posing as a typical teenage boy he needed to pretend to have an interest. It wasn’t like he didn’t ‘prefer’ girls but he’d ideally have left actually choosing a love interest until he was a hundred or something. There were scenarios like explaining his super-secret plan solely to whoever he chose as his partner, but he wanted to exhaust all the bachelor eminence in shadow possibilities first. How could he exchange flirty dialogue with a femme fatale if he had a girlfriend hanging off his shoulder. It would be so...inelegant.

Sherry smiled at him “Besides, I did owe you after you shared the rest of your chocolates with rest of us”. She seemed to struggle with what to say next “I also thought you were really cool when you were fighting Rose, like how you kept getting up over and over again despite your injuries”.

Cid didn’t think there was anything cool about losing, but smiled anyway to not kill the mood, supposing everyone had there own sense of aesthetics. He was just thinking over how to respond when Eta interrupted in a firm voice.

“We should tell him about my breakthrough”.

Eta didn’t like Sherry. He thought some of it was professional as Sherry seemed to be slowing Eta’s progress down at every turn, which wasn’t unexpected. If he was asked who the smartest person in Shadow Garden was, it was Eta. Well it was Eta academically, Alpha tactically, Gamma Organisationally and Zeta in pure cunning, but even so he expected Eta to fly circles around pretty much everyone she met.

On a more personal level she seemed to dislike Cid showing any interest in her, especially after he decided to set up a potential relationship between them. She didn’t try to stop it but seemed always on the verge of doing it, as if some invisible string kept her from leaping between them.

(One of) Eta’s problems was that she always wanted to have his attention focused solely on her, it had even been a problem with the other shades in the first few months after she joined. Alpha had privately suspected this was due to being neglected by her parents when she was younger.

“I found out what the artifact is… it’s the control unit for the Eye of Avarice”.

“The what?” Even if Shadow was meant to know what that was he could ask this with Sherry here without looking stupid.

Sherry ran a hand through her hair and smiled sheepishly “It looks like my theory about the artifact being an individual piece was incorrect, sorry Erin” She nodded to Eta who just stared at her contemptuously. “Well...the Eye of Avarice is an artifact that takes mana in from the people around it, without the control unit it either decays or if it reaches it’s maximum capacity, it explodes. The control unit stabilises the collected mana and let’s whoever holds it access it.”

That could be useful.

“The Eye is being held by the crown artifact protection service. We’ve put in a request to examine them together to confirm it’s identity before we send back the set. Since it’s considered a class three artifact we’ll have to wait at least a week for the request to go through, even with Iris’s name on it”.

Artifacts in class three were considered too dangerous to handle and were immediately confiscated and held by whatever government got a hold of them (they said for storage, but obviously they researched them). Class one artifacts were completely harmless, ranging from devices to help with agriculture to decorative lights and were something anyone could have access to while class two artifacts were controllable, military grade weapons that were mostly held by the army, with a few being held by influential families under licences.

He didn’t think they would send a class three artifact to a school so “Are we sending the control unit anywhere, or is the eye coming to us?”

“We’re sending it to the treasury..in a few days” Eta replied lazily “And CAPS getting the eye from storage”

“And you’re not disappointed you wont get to study it anymore?”

Eta understood the subtext and shook her head “No...I’ve got everything I can from it. I’d like to examine the Eye though” she answered dreamily.

“Well you’ll probably see it when they do the identification check” Cid said cheerfully. He wasn’t going to steal it just to please her. Definitely not.

Probably.

They chatted for a while before they both had to go. Rose and Claire were both easily clearing their way to the finals while Po and Skel had gotten jobs at the food stands to recoup all their betting losses. They apparently blamed him for this even though he had never told them to gamble. Guess they had to blame someone or they would have to see it was their own fault.

Sherry gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a “Get well soon” that set Eta scowling. Deciding he should nip this in the bud he held her back for a quick chat.

“I know you don’t like Sherry and that’s fine, but you need to find some way to hide it or deal with it or someone else will notice”

Eta nodded “As you say master… I’ll deal with her somehow”.

That’s one problem solved.

“About the tournament, I probably should have told you about my plan. Were you worried about me?”

Eta smiled gently “No, it was okay. I’ve worked with a lot of blood before...so I could tell it was fake”.

“That’s nice”

She gave him a quick hug and left, leaving him to wonder what he should do next. Claire would be over in a few minutes to make dinner so the rest of today was shot, but she’d be occupied with the finals tomorrow so he would have most of the day to himself. He felt he should probably go hang out with Delta before she headed back to Alexandria. While she couldn’t help the new recruits with technique (at all) Lambda was using her to chase their newest soldiers to help build their stamina. She wasn’t exactly a dog, but she was enough like one that he would feel she was being neglected if he didn’t play with her once in a while.

---

Even from across the arena Rose could see the hatred in Claire’s eyes. Her expression was so exemplary of the emotion an artist might have used it as a reference for a painting or statue.

Rose could only try to remain calm and prepare herself for the inevitable assault while the referee counted down. Though she understood the source of Claire’s feelings she didn’t truly feel guilt for Cid’s injuries. She had given him as many chances to yield with pride as she could but for some reason she couldn’t understand he had just kept rising up to challenge her again and again. She had wasted a lot of time trying to puzzle out the meaning of that determined look in his eye and the satisfaction that had seemed to emanate from him throughout their duel.

She forced the image out of her mind as the referee cried “Begin” and Claire flew towards her. From what she had seen of the older girl’s fights she had a very straightforward style, relying on simple attacks, parries and dodges to overwhelm her foe, it was vaguely similar to Alexia’s if slightly less graceful. Rising wind used more feints and attacks intended to allow repositioning around the opponent so even if it was unsuccessful you would be in an excellent position for the follow-up attack.

As she blocked the flurry of attacks she reflected it was more like Alexia’s style if an angry animal was trying to follow it through. At certain blocks when she thought Rose was most likely to break Claire smashed their swords together one or two more times, testing to see if she could just bash her way through with raw strength. She was very nearly successful on more than one attempt.

As the speed of Claire’s blows declined over the next few minutes, Rose reasoned it was time to attempt a counterattack. On Claire’s next savage downswing Rose pushed the blade aside with her own then thrust the sword towards Claire while beginning to circle to her left, away from Claire’s descending blade. Claire’s sword attempted to follow her but the swing lost all speed changing direction and was easily avoided while Rose’s thrust left a nasty cut on Claire’s forehead over her left eye. Claire shook her head and growled in frustration.

Rose had accompanied her father hunting a Troll once. Hunting wasn’t a common noble pastime in Orianna but their journey back from Midgar brought her father and his escort to a town that had been ravaged by the monster and he had been unwilling to leave them to their fate (and unwilling to separate from her at the time). The troll’s desperate attempt to break through the line of knights that had trapped it was the closest point of comparison she had for Claire’s next barrage.

The attacks came on again nearly as strongly as at the beginning of the fight if not with more power. Eventually she tried the same downward slash that had caught her last time and Rose could sense the trap she’d laid. Claire probably expected her to try the same thing again and catch her while she moved, so Rose decided to block and not reposition herself.

It was the wrong decision.

Claire had managed to guess her plan as she took Rose’s momentary stillness as an opportunity to tackle her shoulder first while their blades were occupied at their other side. Rose was off balance when the next attack came, a brutal, beautiful arc of steel that sent her own sword crashing into her side accompanied by a cracking sound.

For the second time in three months Claire Kagenou had broken her arm.

The sound of her sword clattering to the ground was like a bell calling the end of the fight as she went sprawling through the dirt.

The crown princess covered in muck, if my father’s court saw this half of them would faint.

She’d fought well and placed highly, it was disappointing she wouldn’t be able to show her skills at the Bushin festival before her father and countrymen to prove sending her to the academy hadn’t been a mistake but there was nothing left to do.

Then the image of the battered, bloody Cid Kagenou pulling himself to his feet flashed through her mind and all at once she finally took his lesson. Just as he had tried to improve her footwork before their duel, he had used their battle to show her the true extent of a warrior’s spirit. Even though she had won the duel, in the contest of wills underlying the battle she most certainly lost. The reason behind him going so far to teach her this still escaped her but she could figure that out later.

How long had she dreamed of becoming the Bushin champion, of her father embracing her before all the nobles that had scoffed at the idea of sending a princess of Orianna to study sword-work. One broken bone and she was ready to let all of it go.

No, it’s not over yet. I can still go on.

She grasped the hilt of her sword with her unbroken right arm and pressed forward as she lifted herself up, hoping the surprise of her continuing the fight might catch her opponent with her guard down. She was in luck as she managed to get a quick jab in at Claire’s ribs before she was ready to defend. Rose had never felt so focused in her life as when she pressed forward, slashing and jabbing and dodging as she went on the offensive. Blocking was out of the question now as Claire’s heavy swings would easily knock her off her feet since she was using her off-hand and couldn’t even use her broken arm to steady herself.

It was a chancy thing, she could have easily lost if she hadn’t predicted most of Claire’s responses correctly but eventually she managed to land a slash at the back of her leg that sent her to one knee.

Rose didn’t repeat Claire’s mistake as she held her sword at the older girl’s shoulder, in position to slash at her throat if it hadn’t been a blunted blade. In this situation the referee would call the match even without the other girl’s surrender.

“Claire Kagenou has been defeated, Rose Orianna wins” Alexia called out as the crowd exploded with cheers and Rose fell to her knees from exhaustion.

I’ll be in the Bushin festival after all, and I owe it to Cid Kagenou.

---

“Boss-man, Delta’s hungry” Delta wailed as she looked at the slowly cooking deer.

“I know that but just wait, you can eat when it’s done” Cid replied waspishly. He glared at her and apparently overdid it as she assumed what he had termed the ‘submission pose’.

“Stop that, I’m not going to hurt you” unless you start trying to eat this before It’s done.

Delta rolled to her feet gracefully and shook the dirt off her back “In the pack, if you upset the pack leader you’d be dead meat if you didn’t beg for forgiveness.”

“Well you’re in Shadow Garden now, not the pack. There’s different rules”

“The rules are dumb though. Delta still thinks boss man should use all our new recruits to make a bunch of strong kids and take over everything”

“I’ve told you three times today, I’m not doing that”

There’s nothing shadowy about that. It’s more like the plot of an H-game.

They had been playing for a couple of hours now and Cid would have to head back as soon as he was done with the deer. Delta’s idea of a good time was pretty much him throwing something, chasing after her to pull it off her, then her chasing him to get it back. He was still the only one who could catch her if she got to full speed so she’d been very enthusiastic.

I guess it’s good she’s easy to please.

Delta looked longingly at their lunch, and Cid was tempted to glare again when an idea struck him.

“Hey Delta, is there anything about the way we do things you think is better than the pack?”.

“Hmm” Delta assumed a look of deepest concentration for a few minutes, successfully distracted from the roasting meat. Eventually she answered in a confused voice “Well...Boss man was nicer to Delta when she was sick than the pack was. Delta understands why the pack did it since being strong is super important…”.

She looked to Cid apparently seeking conformation and he nodded his agreement. As a man who had dedicated years of his life to trying to out damage nukes with punches he was confident he didn’t undervalue raw strength. Delta continued on in a quiet voice “ but Delta still liked it even if it d idn ’t make sense”.

I guess her kill or be killed philosophy conflicts with her canine loyalty.

“Food’s done” he announced to a smiling Delta as he tossed her a large cut of cooked meat.

“Also, cooking sucks because it’s so slow, but it does make the food taste good” Delta added cheerfully.

---

Sherry’s father looked down at her unhappily as she continued working through her notes.

“It seems your time with the princess is over”. A racking cough followed soon after he finished.

“Yes. Erin really was very clever to identify the artifact so quickly”

“What a shame” he smiled ruefully “If you’d have been the one to do it you would have been in good stead for the future”.

She could sense the disappointment under the apparent nonchalance.

“I’m sorry. I tried to stall her as long as I could, but she just kept going. Honestly she slept half the time we were together and then started working again in the middle of the night so I couldn’t keep an eye on her, not to mention she was working during my classes”

Lutheran considered this and nodded “Well it’s done now we...” he coughed again “We need to move quickly. As soon as they examine the eye they have they’ll know it’s a fake. Given my connection to it I’ll be under suspicion and I don’t have the backing I used to” another cough “So I could easily be found out. We’re using the Eye tomorrow. Prepare accordingly”.

“Dad, about the survivors, could you make it so Cid pulls through?”

“Things going that well with him?” He was actually amused this time.

“Well enough. We need a few witnesses anyway and it would be a waste to kill him now”

Cid was an ideal infiltration boyfriend. His (strangely masterful) grasp of ancient runes would give them something in common to justify the relationship and he was simple enough to believe whatever nonsense excuses she would need to come up with. When she had to compliment his horrible showing at the academy tournament he had just eaten it up.

“Very well. I’ll let our agents know but I’ve had to call in members from outside our cell and I’m not sure how...tractable they are”

“Alright, I’ll try to stay close to him for the whole thing. These agents do know the penalty for killing another member of the order right”

Lutheran smiled and put a hand on her shoulder “They do. That they certainly do”.

---

Cid’s first day back at school had been a strange day. Most of the students seemed to be talking about him when he was close but shut up as soon as he got too close.

Did I accidentally cross into MC territory somehow?

But that couldn’t be it. Main character’s might lose a tournament arc but never in the first round. That should have marked him absolutely as not-MC material. The only way he could be considered the winner was that he had technically had the longest fight with Rose, edging out his sister by twenty seconds. She’d tried to cheer him up with that fact when she’d come home yesterday but she was in too dark a mood from her own defeat to really try.

It wasn’t a time trial, stop looking at me.

It was at least starting to calm down by the time he got to math class. Miss Vander stopped their work a couple of minutes early so a few members of the student council could come in and talk about the upcoming elections.

Cid cared about this even less than math so prepared to check out for the lecture when Rose smiled shyly at him and gave him a little wave.

“Dude, the class president totally just waved at me” Skel broke out excitedly.

“Sure” Cid replied deadpan.

“She totally did!”

“I said sure” What the hell was she thinking. If anything she should feel uncomfortable about beating him half to death in front of thousands of witnesses, not friendly.

Maybe it’s some Orianna tradition I don’t know about.

Then they were attacked by terrorists.

Yes. The dream every young boy had while wasting hours learning geometry or geography had actually come true for Cid in this one moment. He could feel his traces of his mana being sucked away and promptly locked down what he would surely need for later. His excitement was slightly diminished when they revealed they were more bad Shadow Garden posers.

“Attacking a school for dark knights. I applaud you for not attacking the defenceless but it was still a mistake” Rose thrust forward in excellent form, but only then seemed to notice she couldn’t use her magic.

Her unreinforced blade shattered on contact and she was about to be cut down when Cid leapt between her and the sword. He could only think one thing as he defended the beautiful maiden behind him with his own body.

How the hell would I explain it to Alpha if I let Rose die. I have no idea how the politics of that would work, but it should be fine if I save her, right?

---

Rose held Cid’s head in her lap as he bled out, only the presence of so many enemies forced her to keep her tears from falling.

Cid had died for her foolishness. She was the student council president and as their leader she should have been the one to protect all of them. Instead she was watching the boy, no the man who had used his own life to save her slowly fade away.

His hand reached up and she grasped it gently.

“You...you have to live” he said softly.

She understood then, understood everything she had failed to understand through all of their previous interactions.

He had loved her passionately from afar for a long time.

He had tried to help her with her swordplay before and during their duel because he had learned how much she prized the art-form, how much she had committed herself to it. He had died to save her because he valued her life more than his and he had helped Alexia with her problem out of sympathy for two lovers who couldn’t be together due to the difference in their stations.

It’s like a story from a ballad back home. One of the ones I stopped believing in years ago.

As she looked down in to his red eyes she could only mourn the kind soul he had been as his gaze began to lose focus. Many boys had told her that they loved her and she had long since learned to distrust all such confessions, but Cid, without ever speaking it aloud had proven his devotion to her undeniably.

“I’m... totally dead” Cid rasped out before his head rolled limply down her knees. She could actually feel her heart break.

She could hear the terrorists arguing quietly, apparently trying to kill her was a bad idea and killing Cid had also been wrong. She didn’t really take any of it in as she gently set Cid down on the floor.

“You’re coming with us, I hope you understand not to resist now”. The hooded man gestured crudely at Cid to demonstrate the point.

The rest of the class was standing horror struck with a couple of the girls and the boy who sat next to Cid teary eyed. She had failed already but Cid’s love and devotion had redoubled her motivation to ensure everyone got out of this unhurt.

“We’ll cooperate. Come on everyone, we need to go with them now” she said calmly.

She would hopefully see these men brought to justice, see them dead before too long but right now resistance was futile. They needed to bide their time and pick their moment later.

---

Cid took a long rattling breath as he came to and lifted himself off the floor. His death scene had been worth an Oscar by his reckoning, it was nice to get a chance to flex his range.

Now he had to decide where to begin in this candyland of a scenario.

Chapter Text

Summertime Terrorist Funsplosion Part 1

The eminence in shadow peered down at the ravaged school, watching groups of shackled students being corralled to the gym while pondering the most important decision he’d have to make for months.

Whether to play this scenario Die Hard style or Predator style.

Die Hard style would mean going back into his Cid persona and helping to fight off the terrorists as one of the students before slipping away and revealing himself as Shadow for the final fight. This had the advantage of improving his side character persona since people would look at him and say “That’s Cid, he did that one little thing during the terrorist attack” but he could miss the boss fight if he couldn’t get away from his own allies in time.

Predator style would mean hunting the hunters from the shadows, picking them off one by one and slowly showing himself more and more to build fear. This would be more immediately satisfying and he’d be able to move more freely but it posed two major problems.

1. It would resolve everything way too fast.

2. Maybe it was just the terrorist knock-off’s version of the suit, but the full black outfits looked terrible in the summer sun.

That made it easy to decide to join the school cast until evening. The Die Hard method would also be less likely to come up again in the future, so it was the appropriate decision from a rarity perspective.

Still, the imbalance of power between the students and the terrorists was a problem, so he should take a few out right now to even things up. He lined up a few shots on a couple of slackers just hanging out in the space between the gym and the cafeteria.

As if we’d just be chatting out in the open mid-operation with enemies around.

He was pretty satisfied with the double kill he managed to land and looked around, trying to decide on his next set of targets.

Now, where to go next?

---

Sherry was sitting with Erin trying her best to look casual since she should have no idea what was about to happen. If there was one positive thing to say about her research partner, it was that she incredibly focused on her work. Indeed, Sherry thought that if she choked to death Erin wouldn’t notice until her head hit the table, at which point she would refuse to look away from her book and tell her to keep quiet while she read.

Her long wait finally ended as an oppressive feeling took hold of the air, cutting into the room like a cold wind. Even Erin detached herself from her book to look down at her hand and attempted to form some magical effect which failed and fizzled out.

It was the first time she’d seen Erin attempt magic but she had always assumed she could, even though it wasn’t required to research magical artifacts it was beneficial to be able to test your own work.

“Something’s happened to our magic” Erin noted to the rest of the room.

Marco and Glenn then tried to use their own magic but had no more luck than Erin. They were discussing what to do next when the door burst open and two black cloaked cultists forced their way through while a red haired man in black with his face uncovered simultaneously smashed his way through the window.

“We are Shadow Garden...no wait it might be Shadow Guardian, let me check”.

He gestured to his two associates who answered in a dead voice “We are Shadow Garden”.

“Fuck, I was right the first time...well, who cares? The name’s Rex and we’re here for that artifact you guys are holding on to. Hand it over and no-one here has to get hurt”. He gave a smile that made it very clear that whatever they did, someone was going to be hurt.

She’d heard from her father that a particularly difficult to handle member was coming, a named child with the nickname ‘the rebel’ due to his disregard for orders but this was so poorly done she was embarrassed to be in the same organisation as him.

Her limited experience in the cult had shown it to be a very…diverse organisation. Zenon and her father both had respected public personas while Rex had no public life to speak of and lived simply for the moments when the cult would let him off the leash to kill. She assumed the knights of rounds were like her father as he had once been a member but she had no way to be sure of that.

She thought even the lowest recruits might have had a more complete view of the organisation since her induction into the cult had been a complete accident. Almost a year ago she’d been planning to spend a night working on a history project to “Assess the legitimacy of the legend of the three heroes and the demon diabolos using historical evidence” but someone had taken most of the relevant books (without the librarian’s knowledge) so she’d got home hours before she was expected back.

It was a sign of how much Lutheran’s illness had progressed that a Bushin champion didn’t notice her presence until after she’d overheard most of his conversation.

“Do you think this is a game?” She was pulled out of her memory by Glenn’s irritated voice. It seemed he and Marco were as unamused by Rex’s performance as she was.

“No, a game would be fun. Once I get this artifact thing I can go wild and kill whoever I want. That’ll be fun” Rex explained in complete seriousness.

Marco and Glenn (wisely in her opinion) stopped trying to reason with him and stood back to back, settling into fighting stances facing opposite ends of the room when the wall to Rex’s right burst apart and Beatrix stepped through the new opening casually.

Oh damn. The one person who could still be a threat in this situation.

She’d been off to lunch and ideally would have been kept out of the way until she and Erin had been taken, ‘forced’ to fix the control unit and then her father would have easily been able to deal with the weakened goddess of war. As it stood right now she just had to hope Rex could handle Beatrix with a handicap since it didn’t look like she intended to let him get away.

It wasn’t my fault. There was nothing I could have done to stop her coming back.

Beatrix pointed her sword at Rex and declared “This one looks strongest so I’ll fight him. You two should deal with the ones by the door. Sherry, Erin, you need to leave”.

Sherry collected the artifact from the drawer and prepared to leave while Erin yawned “Ah...how cruel...to make me run now”.

As much as she would love to leave the other girl behind she couldn’t, since if Beatrix survived she would think of Sherry as the sort of person who would leave a ‘friend’ behind to die.

Sherry grabbed Erin by the arm and almost dragged the stumbling girl to the room’s rightmost door while the clash of steel rang out behind them.

“Sherry...you’re annoying...I can do it myself”.

By the time she got into the corridor Erin was moving steadily under her own power, which gave her a little room to think. If she could just meet another cultist she could ‘surrender’ to them and then get taken exactly where she needed to go. For that she needed noise.

“Erin, where do we go now?” She loudly cried in false hysteria.

Erin just looked bored “Beatrix will win... It’s in her blood. Just stay out of the way… until she’s done”.

“We can’t just wait” she wailed. “We need to do something, what if everyone else is being attacked right now. Cid, Alexia, Iris and the rest of the school”.

Erin yawned again “Alexia and Iris went shopping”.

She was about to yell ‘and what about Cid’ but her racket had achieved it’s desired effect. A cultist was coming up to them, sword raised “We are Shadow Garden”.

“Ah, please don’t kill us. We surrender”. She retreated, holding the artifact out in front of her like a shield. The man recognised her and hesitated, and his distraction ended up being his last mistake.

Speak of the devil.

A sword reached in at the cultists hip and came out just under the shoulder on his opposite side. Behind him stood Cid, his face contorted with fury.

Erin noticed something and stepped up to Cid, for the first time that day looking completely awake as she eyed his stomach and asked “What happened?”.

Sherry edged around her and looked at the same place and gasped despite herself. His shirt was bloody and there was a narrow, distinctly sword shaped cut through the front. He’d obviously been recently healed as the angry red wound underneath was no longer bleeding or limiting his range of motion.

“Nothing much. I just got hurt and had to play dead for a while” Cid responded lazily.

“Thank goodness you’re okay” Sherry said as she wrapped him in a quick hug, gingerly stepping around her dead compatriot and trying to avoid touching his bloody shirt.

“What should do we do now?” Erin asked Cid eagerly.

I just asked you that two minutes ago and you couldn’t care less.

“We’ll move to another room and plan out our next move” Glenn called from up the hall. “We’re clear for now”.

They went down to the floor below, with Cid leading them to the staff room and sitting in an armchair while Glenn and Marco explained the situation.

“So then this guy called Rex showed up and he seemed confused about what to say. He didn’t even seem to know the name of his organisation since he called it Shadow Guardian at one point. Then he said he was trying to get the control unit and that he’d kill whoever he wanted once he had it”.

Cid had been calm up to this point but it seemed he had finally reached his limit. He was clenching the side of his chair muttering “Unforgivable, absolutely unforgivable”. Apparently he cared about everyone in the school much more than she had thought previously if the idea of them being hurt caused this kind of emotional outburst.

Marco swiftly moved the conversation along “Yeah well, Beatrix came in and saved our asses at that point, thanks for that by the way”. He bowed his head slightly to Beatrix before continuing. “She was wiping the floor with him so he leapt back out of the window and once the three of us could focus on the two that were left it wasn’t much of a problem”.

Beatrix looked unhappy with Marco’s description “I would have rather faced them properly one on one but it wouldn’t have made a difference to whether or not I would win” she reasoned “and we need to resolve this quickly to prevent casualties”.

“I wasn’t complaining” Marco looked over to her and Erin “So is what’s causing this the Eye of Avarice?”.

Sherry nodded while Erin shrugged “Probably… It matches the description...but we can’t be sure without seeing it”.

Cid gave them a rundown of what he had seen through the school, though none of it surprised her. The students were being herded to the gym and the cultist were sweeping through the school to try and find any stragglers, though that seemed to be winding down as they found less and less for their effort.

“So why do you think Shadow Garden wants this artifact so much” Beatrix asked

“They’re not Shadow Garden!” Cid exclaimed.

“They do wear the same outfits and have been saying that they’re Shadow Garden. Since they were planning to kill us, why lie about it?” Marco interjected.

“One of them literally didn’t know what they were supposed to be called!” Cid continued furiously “and you might have noticed all of those very masculine Shadow Garden members”.

“He could have just been a battle fanatic that wasn’t interested in the organisation as long as he could cause chaos. If he was an imposter trying to blame Shadow Garden then wouldn’t it make more sense to not fumble the name. Honestly, we only have information from one operation involving Shadow Garden so it’s not like we have a full view of them. It’s possible they’re much larger than we originally thought but only a specific division of women were active during the last incident” Glenn reasoned.

Wow, Rex’s stupidity might actually pay off since no-one would believe he’s that brain-dead.

Cid seemed to stall at these points, but eventually managed to pull out an answer triumphantly “Except for all of the cult documents about Shadow Garden I’ve been translating which mention they’re all female. I’ll bet you anything the real Shadow Garden will show up at some point and start attacking these copycats”.

Why did he have to pick now to be clever.

“The important thing is what we should be doing now” Beatrix broke in firmly.

“These guys don't seem to be trying to keep this quiet so Iris and the rest of the knights probably know the situation by now and I don’t think there’s any point sending someone to tell them” Marco explained.

“If that’s the case then Iris and the others are keeping their distance because of the anti-magic field. Is there anything we can do about that, you used magic before” Glenn looked at Beatrix hopefully but she just shook her head regretfully.

“When ever I try to use magic part of whatever I’m doing is getting drained away, so I’m using more than double the mana I usually would for the same effect. It will be dangerous for me to fight a prolonged battle or against multiple foes with this field up”.

Erin was looking at her hand where a few thin lines of dark red were dancing at her fingertips “Looks like it doesn’t work...if the magic’s too thin. The eye probably can’t detect it because...it’s so minor”.

Everyone was shocked by this and decided to try refining their own magic down that way for a few minutes but no-one was successful apart from Cid, though he explained this was due to his limited supply of magic so the technique was barely any different from his normal usage.

“So we need to take down the field so we can fight back properly and let Iris and the others come through” Marco looked to Erin and Sherry “Can you do anything to help with that?”

“Oh, I think so” Sherry began, a plan starting to form in her mind. “We have the control unit and once it’s attached the eye shouldn’t be able to take in any more mana, but it seems to have been damaged so we’d need our tools from the workshop to start fixing it and then have to find some way of combining it with the eye”.

She had to commend Zenon for his paranoid preparations as they had caused no small amount of grief. The mana gathered in the eye was unusable without the control unit and by stealing it he’d blocked her father’s path back to the knights of rounds without starting an internal conflict since he'd managed it undetected. Lutheran hadn’t known who was behind the theft until Iris returned from Zenon’s base with the artifact. By damaging it he had ensured his safety in the event that her father had discovered his theft and challenged him against the cult’s rules on infighting (he’d be unable to use the mana gathered in the eye against Zenon during the confrontation). By ensuring it was repairable he’d also left a path for himself to use the eye if it ever came into his hands.

“But if Sh…” Cid (and Erin’s) gaze of disapproval sent Glenn on another direction “The attackers want the artifact wouldn’t we be giving them what they want”.

“Well...Yes, but the eye will explode and destroy the whole school if we don’t. If I’m right we have about ten hours left until that happens”

If I don’t get it to father soon, he’s going to die.

What happened to her mother wasn’t Sherry’s fault, as a child there was nothing she could have done. She had always told herself that if she could have done something then she would have and when she learned about Lutheran’s disease and that he needed her help she knew she couldn’t give up even if the price was high. She obviously didn’t want to hurt anyone in the school but she had no real friends to speak of so it wasn’t anything she couldn’t sacrifice to save her father.

If he’d never gotten sick and kept his position in the rounds, then my mother would still be alive. How many times has he told me that.

Everyone had been quiet for a few seconds as they considered her previous words while Erin looked at the artifact, probably beginning to plan out how to begin the repairs.

“I could go and get them” Cid spoke out “It’s not that far and I should be able to go unnoticed”.

“Honestly you might be better off than us if you can still use magic” Glenn said “But it’s too important and too dangerous to go alone, someone else should go with you”.

“Maybe I should go, I know what tools we’ll need” Sherry spoke out hopefully. This plan might go her way but she would be much safer if she could just get away from these people with the artifact and coordinate with her father.

“No offence but I think we should only send people with some combat training” Marco added “Besides, you should be working with Erin to figure out how you’re going to fix that thing”.

“Maybe I should just go alone, It’ll be less easy to find me if I’m by myself” Cid offered.

“I’ll go with him. We’ll be as quick as we can so focus on buying time and escaping if anyone comes before we get back” Beatrix answered.

At least he should be safe with her.

“You should...change your shirt” Erin added casually. Cid and the rest of the group looked curiously and Sherry thought her slowness of speech this time was at least partly due to shyness “The blood...could leave a trail...and if they have any beastkin...they’ll smell it and find you”.

“Eh, I guess I probably should. Could you guys help me find something?”

They were able to find a shirt that would fit Cid before he left and her theory about Erin initially seemed confirmed when she tried to subtly look towards Cid as he went to the corner to change. After Cid left Erin smashed Sherry’s understanding to nothing when she went over to his discarded bloody shirt, looked down at it like it was her firstborn and folded it up to put in the bottom of the bag she had brought with her.

“I’ll clean it...and return it to him later. We should start talking...about how to fix the artifact”. Erin lied unconvincingly when she noticed her, Marco and Glenn staring at her shocked by what they had just witnessed.

If I’d never seen her in the sun I might have thought she was a vampire. Is there some other kind of monster that likes human blood and that’s sleepy all the time, or is this just some creepy obsession she has with Cid?

Sherry would never give up on her father, but if it meant a conflict with this woman she was completely ready to give up on Cid.

---

Cid was slightly apprehensive about having the Beatrix following him around. She had enough mana to push through the barrier for a little while and was one of the most renowned fighters in the world. Not that he thought he couldn’t handle her, but getting things past her might be harder than with an ordinary person.

“So why’d you come” Cid whispered as they crept along the corridor. It would have made more sense to stick with the group as she would have been able to protect more people, and two people were naturally less stealthy than one.

“I saw your fight with Rose with my niece. I got a feeling you had the potential to become a great fighter someday”.

“That… doesn’t make sense. If you think I’m good then why not let me go alone”. Cid responded before quickly adding “Not that I’m not grateful for the help”. A side character like Cid would be scared and thankful to be protected after all. He added a little tremor to his voice and went for a few nervous glances in every direction as they continued on.

“Do you know how Allison reacted to your defeat?”.

“Uh...she was upset?”

“She was completely impassive, she’s always been good at that. The fact she was concealing her emotions at all tells me something”

Cid didn't know how to reply to this so decided to say nothing. Alpha was probably trying not to laugh at the audience for not seeing through his shtick.

“What do you think of her?”

“She’s nice”

“and?”

“Clever”

“and?” she was beginning to sound frustrated.

I guess since she’s missed so much of her life she’s looking for more information. Could you please not drag me into your family drama though?

“She’s a perfectionist, at least when it comes to whatever she’s doing herself. When she’s in charge of other people, and she usually does take charge of whatever group she’s in, she’s a little more forgiving but can get really mad if she thinks you’ve made a mistake you should have noticed. Whenever she does get angry she doesn’t shout or scream but just sort of coldly lays down the law, and she’s loyal. Maybe dedicated would be a better word, either way I don’t think she’d ever give up on a friend even when she’s upset with them”.

That was how she brought the shades together. She was willing to look past a lot of shit in those early days to keep the team together.

Beatrix seemed to get what she wanted out of this as she smiled and followed up with something other than ‘and’.

“She's told me a little about you, about how you found her an abandoned house to stay in and provided for her and her friends. I’m certain she would be upset if you got hurt again, so that’s why I’m here”.

Dammit Alpha, you’re making me sound too heroic.

Well that at least explained why Beatrix had been kept such a close eye on him before the tournament and was following him now.

As he approached the corridor to the lab he sensed someone ahead, but as he got closer he realized it was actually two people. Both had magical power, but the second was much stronger and was concealing themselves much better than the first person was. If they were who he thought they were he needed to ditch Beatrix here.

“I don’t sense anyone down this corridor and this is the only way in, so I think you should stay here. If someone comes then you’ll be better off against more enemies in this narrow space than any of the labs”.

Beatrix considered for a moment “Are you certain there’s no-one there?”

“Absolutely one hundred percent”

Beatrix took a position facing away from the labs and rested her hand on her sword hilt “Okay then I’ll keep watch from here. If there is anyone there yell and I’ll come running”.

---

Nu was waiting for lord Shadow, trying to ignore the frustration that came at not being able to kill the first child hiding just a few feet away. Even fighting at half of her strength through the field she would easily win but she couldn’t do so quietly enough to not draw attention, and the point of coming here had been to establish contact with her master. If any of the others heard a commotion they would stick together more closely and she’d have no chance to talk with him.

She heard him pull the door open and step inside before a voice dripping with arrogance called out “So it’s just a student huh? But if you came to this lab you must have the artifact. Hand it over and you can be one of the lucky ones”.

Her master replied as if he’d been asked for directions “Are you Rex?”

She couldn’t see him, but could tell he was smiling “Yeah, nice to hear my name’s getting around no….” He stopped speaking and she heard a choking noise, as she stepped out of her hiding spot Nu saw Shadow had disarmed him and was holding him by the throat.

“Master, do you wish me to dispose of this vermin?” she would be more than eager to take the task off his hands.

“I surrender” Rex managed to whisper.

“What?” Cid asked dryly

“I give up...Can I...join you guys?” Nu was in her slime suit so he must have figured out they were the real Shadow Garden and he had no chance of escape but their mercy. He was an amusing man.

Cid took on a thoughtful expression.

Is he really going to spare this parasite.

“Okay you can join us, but first you need to answer one question correctly”

Rex managed a little nod “Okay, sure”.

He pointed over to her and then back at himself “What’s our name?”.

Nu was confused by the question but Rex paled and took on a look of intense focus before cautiously offering “Shadow...Gaiden”.

The top half of his head was skittering across the floor before Nu registered Shadow had even moved. Sure enough she had missed his arm moving but it had instantly transitioned into another position holding a slime sword. It was mildly frightening knowing if she wasn’t entirely focused on him and using all of her magic to keep up she couldn’t even follow his speed, and she’d have no chance of matching it in combat. She was too amused by the great joke Shadow had just played with the cultist to care very much.

She let out a little giggle and hastily quieted herself when Shadow looked at her curiously “Apologies master. Watching you play with that named child was highly enjoyable but shouldn’t we have kept him alive for questioning?”. As a named child he might have had useful information and enough of his sanity left to be susceptible to torture.

And as funny as that was it was surely too quick.

Lord Shadow looked at her with an irritated expression and she flinched slightly. He took a few seconds to respond “Did he seem like the type of person someone would give important information to?”

Of course. Even if he was a named child Rex’s reputation was such that he wouldn’t be trusted with any key knowledge. She was foolish to even consider that her master had just grown angry and killed him without any further consideration

“Yes. My apologies for not realizing immediately. Might I ask why you’ve come?”

“The artifact that’s blocking everyone’s magic can be countered with another artifact, but we need tools to fix it which is why I’m here. What’s the situation like on your end?”

“We managed to gather approximately forty agents ready to storm the school whenever we chose to attack. We also have Ladies Beta and Epsilon leading ready to lead the squads and Lady Gamma is co-ordinating the operation from the rear. The shades are unaffected but the rest of our personnel are operating at around fifty percent efficiency in terms of mana usage”.

Cid sat down at one of the desks and put a hand on his chin and looked contemplative “So it’s to our advantage to wait until the field’s down before we move in. I think we’ll be trying that at around sunset so tell Gamma to be ready for that time. She should be able to sense when the field comes down”.

Nu nodded and then Shadow listed off the tools and materials that would be required to fix the artifact and then they both split up to locate them. Thankfully the research students appeared to have given up without a fight and so (one half-brained corpse not withstanding) the room was in good order and it was easy to collect what they needed.

---

There were so many hushed whispers in the gym it was hard to recognise most of it as speech and not just some incessant wind constantly rising and falling through the massive space. Rose tried not to listen in on the closest ones (she’d already overheard a few conversations she was certain the speakers had meant to be private) as she slowly shifted positions, trying to move so gradually she wouldn’t be noticed.

It had taken a while but she she had finally figured out a way to use her magic. If her usual supply was a river then what she held now was a trickle but it was enough for what she had planned. As she moved near to Alisa (a first year she had met in the music club) she gave a quick explanation of what she was doing and slowly levered herself so she could sit back to back with her.

Victor, one of her old fencing instructors had told her that observation was one of the most vital skills a swordsman possessed. His father had been an investigator and could apparently determine the character of almost anyone he met after a few minutes of conversation (this had usually included his story about how his father had easily deduced that the plumber he’d brought to fix his bathroom after a particularly excessive party wasn’t a history tutor as Victor had tried to claim by the callouses on his hands and had promptly grounded him for a month).

Watching the terrorists, trying to see when her moment would come had revealed something to her. She wasn’t the only one who was waiting for something. The rank and file were just standing around, almost aimless except occasionally doing something to keep the students in line while their leader was wearing his impatience openly, by turns pacing and staring down at an object Rose believed to be the source of their magic problem. That man would be a problem even if they had their magic back, a few of his underlings seemed dangerous but he was in another league.

I shouldn’t try to fight him if I can avoid it. If I can get everyone out of this first he’ll be brought down by the knights eventually.

They were waiting for something and that would be the moment to strike, not now when almost all attention was on the students, but later when they either tried to move them or were confronted by the knights. Knowing she shouldn’t move didn’t mean she couldn’t prepare though so she spent the first hour of captivity trying to find some way of accessing her magic, and eventually got enough so that she could try to unbind her arms tied behind her back.

She realised she would be quickly spotted and retied if she cut all the way though so she weakened the rope just enough that it would snap if she put all her strength into pulling it apart. Then she moved from person to person trying to do the same for them. She had first went to the two remaining members of the student council she could see.

Their treasurer Oliver was a lanky, bespectacled boy with black hair that was unkindly known as a teachers pet by the rest of the school, but his respect for the rules didn’t seem to extend to the commands of the terrorists. If anything he was so outraged at the disturbance they’d caused he’d jumped to follow her plan and set off on his own to free more of their captive classmates, although he would be using a jagged scrap of metal she’d managed to pull off one of the few chairs they had been given rather than magic, so his progress would be much slower than hers.

She had hoped for similar help from Roxanne since she was from Cid’s class but she’d refused to hear anything about it. She’d pretended to be in shock and not to hear, but Rose could see the recognition and fear in her eyes. She’d decided to ignore her and hope for the best by keeping her head down.

At least she didn’t get anyone killed.

That brought her thoughts back to Cid where they had often drifted during the slow process of moving around her classmates and loosening their bindings. The more she tried to avoid it the more it seemed to happen.

At first it had just been Cid’s heroic final moments replaying in her mind but something even more painful eventually started to play out in her head. A scenario where all of this never happened and Cid was still alive.

She had imagined her own reaction to Cid’s confession and their first magical date. Cid joining her for lessons (ridiculous since she was in the year above) and spending time with her friends. Going on vacation together.

Eventually the scenario met the inevitable bump in the road that was meeting her father but even that couldn’t fully stop it. Cid worked tirelessly to impress her father and that combined with his gratitude to him for saving her life (somehow that was still included despite simultaneously not happening) and her own pleas would eventually move the king to allow them to be together.

Their journey to the Farleina and their wedding in the most grand cathedral of the capital. The happy cheers of the crowd as they made their way back to the palace to begin their new lives together. The daydream lost clarity when she reached their children and growing old together, but it was no less heartbreaking by its impossibility.

Oh Beatrix, How I wish that future was still possible.

---

Beatrix was mildly relieved when she saw Cid heading back down the corridor. She hadn’t been that worried about him (his fight in the academy tournament had shown he was incredibly resiliant against powerful opponents if nothing else), but with her senses dampened by the environment she was glad to have confirmation that he was fine. It seemed he’d finally started to relax a little as well. You couldn’t stay afraid indefinitely and dangerous experiences like these were what built fortitude in a warrior.

He gave her a little wave and they started skulking back to the staff room after confirming he’d been able to find everything they needed.

The trip back felt much quicker than going out had and they soon arrived to a small but grateful crowd.

Sherry and Erin then started working on the artifact with Cid pitching in as an assistant. Since they said it would take them several hours to complete Beatrix, Marco and Glenn decided to take shifts going out to look for lost students and try to bring them to safely. They only found two, a frightened economics first year named Lucy and a hulking boy called Garin that she was mildly suspicious of. He was at least seven feet tall and very broad, not the sort of person that was easy to overlook but apparently he’d stayed behind after class on clean up duty and been separated from his classmates.

After a few hours she noticed Sherry had moved away from the worktable and was now sitting in the corner fiddling with her skirt nervously. A little curious about what Cid and Erin were talking about she moved closer and honed her hearing on their conversation.

“Modified it...to cause mana overload...similar to possession. Limited output though...might not kill him...needed it not to go boom”.

“Why didn’t you tell Sherry?”

“Sherry just complained...said it wouldn’t work...and to stick to the original idea. It’s annoying to argue...with stupid people”

Cid seemed to hold back his initial response before finally saying “Are you going to try and see the results?”.

“No...simple design...so I know it’ll work. Do you need me...for the mission”

“Nah it’s fine, we’ve got plenty of people. You can take a nap when your done.”

“Thanks M-Cid”. Within a few minutes she set the artifact and her tools down, held two of her fingers up to Cid, said “Vee” and then her head started to droop onto the table.

Cid pulled her out of her chair to effortlessly lift her across the room and set her down on a sofa set against the wall “There, are you comfortable?”

Erin made a sound she thought was agreement along with perhaps the tiniest nod she had ever seen.

It seems Alexia Midgar might not be my niece’s only concern.

The sun was just beginning to wane when Sherry and Cid came over to report the artifact was ready so they needed to decide what they would do next.

“Well we obviously need to add the artifact together with the one Sh-the terrorists have but I’m not sure what the best way of doing that is. We should also try to get a message to Iris to let her know when we’re going to strike”.

Cid spoke up then “What if we all start at sunset. That would let us coordinate the timing pretty easily”.

It was a decent idea and worked within their time limit, so it was quickly agreed upon.

“So who should we sent to Iris?”

“What about sending Cid, Sherry, Erin, Garin and Lucy. The terrorists are watching the entrances but they're positioned to stop entry not prevent escape. They should be able to slip out pretty easily and it would get them to safety” Glenn suggested.

“No I don’t think Erin and I are going anywhere” Cid added.

“Why?” Marco asked

“Well Erin’s been awake and working constantly for a while, so she’s sleeping pretty deeply now. It’s not a good idea to get her up and even if we forced her she couldn’t run, so I’m going to stay behind to make sure she’s okay. Sherry, Lucy and Garin should still go though”.

The odds of him being hurt here while they took on the terrorists at the gym would be minimal, but she’d still prefer it if he left before the action started.

“I don’t think I should leave either. The terrorists might kill one of you if you try to give the artifact to them but they’ve been mostly sparing students. If I take it to them and surrender it then I should be okay”.

She supposed that was true but she’d never thought of Sherry as a very brave person, it seemed even after a hundred years people could still surprise her.

“Are you sure?” Cid asked with obvious concern in his voice.

“Yeah I’ll be okay. Erin’s done most of the work on the artifact so I want to do my part as well”. She looked away from Cid and to the group before continuing “I know you guy’s will have your magic back but once the terrorists have this their leader will be able to use all of the magic stored in the eye. I don’t think even Beatrix will be able to win against him then”.

Beatrix considered this to be likely true, but she’d still probably try fighting him anyway. It had been years since she’d had a one-on-one fight where there was even a possibility of losing so it was far too tempting to refuse. If she needed to call for help later she would.

And if I don’t who will. These students will be in danger until this threat is gone.

She spoke to Marco and Glenn while Cid went to tell Garin and Lucy their parts in the mission. Lucy seemed relieved but Garin seemed upset at being sent away from the fight until Cid appealed to his sense of chivalry, asking him to help Lucy with her escape. Once the field was down Marco and Glenn would go in and start freeing the students (who would be able to help them overpower the terrorists by sheer numbers) while she would initially draw as much attention as she could to buy them time.

Chapter Text

Summertime Terrorist Funsplosion Part 2

The eminence in shadow looked down on the bound students and pondered another critical decision that had come far sooner than he had anticipated. He could use Eta’s artifact to basically kill/cripple the cult leader but that would rob him of the boss fight at the end of the storyline.

Still, the bad guy gets what he wants but it’s a trojan horse expertly placed by the eminence in shadow is a pretty good trope. If I go back to thinking about it on rarity terms again it's the clear winner.

Deciding that he would let the terrorist leader have his artifact Cid waited on the roof for Sherry to make it to the middle of the gym before striking. Slashing through the window and killing the man escorting her so quickly everyone was still looking up at the broken window until his target hit the ground.

“Shadow. You have arrived” Their leader said. A man in full plate armour with an insect like helmet Cid thought looked vaguely familiar from somewhere. Sherry stood frozen beside him while the rest of the school looked on in amazement. The nearest cultists formed a loose circle around him while in the stands rifles pointlessly shifted to aim at him.

Ah, back on centre stage with the same audience as last time. Only difference is I want them to endlessly talk about this after the fact and wonder ‘who is that mysterious man’

“After such an invitation how could I not? I believe you were looking for this” he lifted the man at his feet off the floor slightly to take the control unit out of his hands before throwing it to the cultist on the stage.

“Why would you give this to me?” he asked solemnly.

“It won’t change the outcome of our battle” Cid replied. It was especially nice since it was true, but not in the way the cultist would think (although it would have been true that way as well).

“Heh, you’re arrogant Shadow. I take it your a young man, believe me when I tell you it wont laAAGGH” He had just placed the artifact into the control unit when bright red waves began emanating around him, his scream growing louder and falling away with every pulse of energy that came.

“We are Shadow Garden. We lurk in the shadows and hunt the shadows. It is time the victors of this charade take the stage” Cid pronounced carefully. Shouting would be uncool but he did need to be audible over the guy’s obnoxious screaming. It was delicate balance.

The girls correctly chose that moment to burst in, focusing in on the riflemen in the stands while Cid attended to the sword wielding cultists closer to hand. It took only a few moments before the dozen men that had surrounded him lay dead on the floor.

If there’s one thing an eminence in shadow can’t do alone, it’s flashy group reveals. Even though I don’t need them for this I’m so glad their here. It’s also not bad that they’ll reduce student casualties during the fighting. It’s always good to have more witnesses to how badass we are.

Rose had freed herself and managed to swipe a sword from a cultist he just killed. She started attacking them left and right, furiously forming a path to the exits while few others tried to take up weapons themselves and either follow after her or cut their still bound friends free. She was a bit of a victim of her own success though, while she cleaved through the cultist her allies got stuck in longer battles and trailed well behind her as she was surrounded.

The armoured guy was leaving through one of the gym’s back doors but that was probably okay. This building and the immediate area was surrounded by members of Shadow Garden who were in turn surrounded by members of the knight orders, so given his injury he wasn’t likely to get away.

Once again fearing a geopolitical tongue lashing from Alpha if he let Rose die he stepped in to save her. His last strike was was a true work of art, striking the cultist in the head almost 180 degrees from where Cid was facing.

“Your swordsmanship is beautiful, young princess” Cid told Rose. It honestly might have been too focused on being beautiful.

“Your swordsmanship far exceeds mine. It reminds me of…”

He didn’t care what it reminded her of and spoke over her “You should gather your flock and depart this place. They’re likely to be trampled underfoot if they stay any longer.”

Rose seemed to snap out of a trance and responded “Yes, of course. I’ll take them away now”.

Nu approached him and since the cultist were starting to thin out so he decided to check in with her “We have things handled here sir. The building is completely surrounded and there are no dangerous enemies. All that remains is to finish off their leader. Do you mean to do that yourself?”

He might as well. No cool boss fight, but some dialogue about how he was being played the whole time would cap the night off nicely.

He headed out the backdoor and was deciding where to go next when he heard a girl scream, followed by breaking glass and very loud weeping. Her voice was almost unrecognisable through the sobs but as he approached the vice-principal’s office he finally recognised it as Sherry’s.

“She...She killed him...she had long brown hair and I couldn’t see her face. She said she was from Shadow Garden”.

Killed who, and why is she crying about it.

Cid drew closer and finally caught sight of the scene. Sherry was on the floor clutching the dead body of Lutheran Barnett with tears streaming down her face. Iris was looking down to her from just inside the door. Lutheran had been stabbed in the chest, blood leaking from the wound covering Sherry’s hands and the floor underneath.

Iris began to move closer to Sherry, crouching so she could look the younger girl in the eye as she spoke to her. “Can you tell me anything more about what happened?” she asked gently.

Maybe her plan was to come in from behind to block the cultists escape, but then heard Sherry crying and ran up here the same way I did?

“I.. came to check and see if my father was still here...since he wasn’t at the gym. She was standing in front of him and...just said he had to die and took his sword and...and...” she broke off here, what she had been going to say was obvious. “I saw it and screamed and I...”.

There weren’t many female cultists among the attackers and I’m pretty sure all of them died in the gym. Nu could have done it but she was downstairs with me. Beta and Epsilon don’t match the description and I don’t think any of the numbers could move that fast or control their mana well enough that I wouldn’t have felt it from there. Doesn’t that account for everyone.

But it didn’t. There was one very talented brown haired member of Shadow Garden unaccounted for who might even have had a motive to kill Lutheran.

Eta.

He was so wrapped up in his deductions he didn’t notice Sherry’s eyes fall on him until she wailed and fell back quivering in fear. Iris turned around to face him and tensed, ready to strike if he showed any hostile intentions.

“Shadow, are you responsible for this?” she asked aggressively.

How best to play this. Probably aloof with no real answers.

He chuckled and said “If I said I wasn’t, would you believe me? Let us move to the next stage.”

With that he leapt from the window, let out a massive blast of magic and waited. It looked like he would get a cool boss fight in this arc after all. He just needed to draw in the second player for this two on one to make it interesting.

---

Beatrix had helping with the evacuation from the burning gym when she felt the change in the air and set off. She could feel the man before she saw him, certain that the amount of magical energy she was sensing could only belong someone who had stolen it from hundreds of others. Her breakneck pace running towards him had been one part duty and one part anticipation.

He was standing out in the open completely at ease, sword held almost like a cane between his feet watching her.

“I am Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows. My apologies goddess of war, but we must wait for the last player before we begin the dance”.

He definitely knew I would come, but who else is he waiting for?

As she drew her sword and prepared to defend herself Iris answered her question by barrelling into the courtyard. Her face was flushed from her sprint and contorted in anger.

“Shadow! Stop running and face me!”

He laughed at that, though it was a cold, cruel sort of laugh “Running, why would I need to run? I merely thought this two on one might be slightly more...fair to you both.”

As his mockery would soon break Iris’s composure (assuming it hadn’t already) Beatrix decided to make the first move. Lunging forward in an instant to aim a thrust at his midsection.

“Ah, no calling the start, just a killing blow right out of the gate. At least you understand the position you’re in”.

Shadow had blocked her and looked to begin his own attack when he vanished. She could only guess where he was since everywhere else he could be was empty and brought her sword up behind her head, barely able to hold back Shadow’s strike. She felt a little wave of fear as she realised had he attacked from a lower angle she’d have been run through. Her survival had been at least partly luck.

When he came at her from the right was able to barely dodge the blow but after he vanished again the kick (at least she thought it was a kick) from behind sent her sprawling forward. He moved so stealthily at such high speeds it felt like trying to see a shadow in the pitch black of night.

He’s chosen a very apt name.

As she got to her feet she noticed Iris had moved in to try and cover for her and was faring much worse. He wasn’t bothering with his instant movement technique, merely deflecting each attack and responding to each with a punch or a kick that sent Iris a step back, but not so hard as to put her out of the fight.

He’s toying with us. I’ve never believed I was the strongest in the world but I’d thought only a dragon could outmatch me this badly.

Iris had noticed she was back up and gave her a nod. Beatrix moved in closer ready for whatever Iris was going to do. Iris took another swing at Shadow but dropped her sword at the last second to wrap her arms about his middle and hold him still.

It was the best chance they were going to get. Shadow’s speed was such that if he wasn’t slowed landing an attack on him would be impossible. She rushed forward again, slashing.

Then had to instantly pull back as her blade bit into Iris’s side, Shadow having turned and jumped to position her exactly where his head had been an instant ago. Beatrix sent a more cautious jab around Iris but she was moved in-front of this as well and she had to pull further back before she hurt her own ally again.

He pulled Iris off him and considered her for a moment before looking to Beatrix “You can’t give me a shield and expect me not to use it.” He tossed Iris away and looked her straight in the eyes while the princess was sent spinning back across the grass of the courtyard until she crashed into a bench that halted her momentum. “Try again”.

There was only one thing left to try. Beatrix had sought out strong opponents for years at a time and had therefore practised a technique meant to serve as an ultimate attack. The time required to get into position would give her foe a chance to run, but anyone who forced her to use this technique wouldn’t flee.

She leapt away, rapidly moving up the tallest building that surrounded them before leaping from the top. She then waited until she was almost above shadow then added all of her magical energy to the force of gravity, descending at a speed she had never reached in live combat before.

An impact in her arms like they were being ripped off, a clanging sound fit to wake the dead, a pain in her stomach followed by another at her back was the result. Shadow had blocked and punched her away in while standing his ground.

Rising again she saw the ground around him appeared cracked and indented downwards, and he was flexing his sword arm as if to relieve tension.

“Your swordsmanship is impressive and your supply of magical energy isn’t bad either but you use it terribly. Do you wish to try again?” He raised the sword at her in invitation.

“No, that was all I could offer” she answered before doing something she hadn’t done in over eighty years. She threw her sword down in front of her to land between her and shadow and fell to one knee, bent so low her forehead almost touched the ground. A traditional surrender.

She could hardly remember the words “I now, wholly and without deceit, place my life in your hands”.

“I do not mean to kill you, I only kill my real enemies”.

Iris approached then, thinking better of trying to start the fight again. Her voice close to breaking as she began to confront Shadow. “I know you’ve saved my sister twice now but I still have no idea who you are or what you’re after. Were you behind Lutheran Barnett’s murder and this attack on the academy? If you don’t explain yourself, I’ll need to keep trying to stop you. It’s my duty to the country. Even if I can’t the whole kingdom and eventually the whole world will do the same, so just start talking!”.

He shook his head slightly “Just as a shadow lies between light and dark, we live between good and evil. I simply mean to follow my own path and if the world chooses to become my enemy, I will fight like I always have”. Instead of the casual, mocking confidence he’d shown through the rest of their battle he now sounded regretful, as if lamenting the tragedy contained in these words.

Iris Began to scream “Shadooowww!” and Beatrix raised her head planning to dissuade her young friend from attacking again only to see Shadow was nowhere in sight.

Shadow, just what sort of man are you?

---

Rose tried to steady her breathing and calm herself before entering the makeshift infirmary, grateful for the cool night air after the inferno she’d just escaped. Her heart was still racing from the battle she’d been fighting just a few minutes earlier. Upon realizing the students were escaping the terrorists (unknown participants on both sides of the battle had called themselves Shadow Garden so she had no better name for them) had set fire to the gym with with everyone still inside.

A silver haired elf had swiftly broken through their barricades to let everyone out while a blue haired elf covered for her, using some kind of long-ranged attack to dispatch multiple terrorists simultaneously while the rest their allies fought in smaller battles all through the gym. The knights had been waiting for them, pulling the students to safety and charging in where it was safe to join the fray. Rose herself had prioritized finding injured students and handing them over to the knights waiting outside before going back in multiple times to ensure everyone who could be saved had gotten out.

Her mind kept focusing back to the way they the second group had fought, an entirely novel style that brought back her memories of the Slayer. The man called Shadow most of all.

Could it have been him? Or is it just someone who learned the same style?

It was impossible to say. She’d never been able to find out anything about that school of swordsmanship despite years of searching. What she could do was check in on her friends and see if there was anything she could do to help. With that in mind she stepped into the tent.

“See Claire, I told you I was fine”

It was a voice she thought she would never hear again, was she just imagining it?

“You got stabbed in the stomach Cid, you’re staying overnight like the doctor said before I let you go home”.

Claire’s voice doubled the hope building inside her. She moved forward and pulled back a curtain to see Cid Kagenou lying propped up in a hospital bed with his sister standing watchfully by his side.

“Hey Prez, what’s up?”

She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she ran forward, Claire was so startled that she made no attempt to stop her as she embraced her gallant knight.

“I’m...Thank the goddess you’re okay. I...I thought you…”

“Oh yeah” Cid said sheepishly “Turns out it wasn’t that bad. You can apparently get stabbed wherever you want as long as it misses your vitals and you heal it quickly enough, so I got lucky and pulled through”.

He’s so modest. He’s not even going to bring up the fact I owe him my life. But I just can’t ignore his feelings anymore.

“Excuse me, Claire” she said, her voice regaining composure “I’d like to speak to Cid alone for a minute if you don’t mind”.

Claire looked like she was going to say she minded very much but Cid waved her away and she stomped off to the other side of the tent, eyes still locked on him.

Rose took Cid’s hand and looked deeply into his ruby eyes “Cid, I want you to know that your feelings have reached me.”

“Oh, that’s good” he responded uncertainly.

He still thinks we shouldn’t be together.

She knew what she was going to do next would cause problems, for herself, for Cid and most of all for Alexia but she couldn’t make herself care anymore. Today had been a reminder that life didn’t go on forever and wasting the time you had was a mistake.

“And I want you to know that I return them. Completely”. With that she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Cid’s.

---

What the fuck?

He was now making out with the student council president in the middle of the infirmary tent while everyone looked on.

Why am I making out with the student council president in the middle of the infirmary with everyone looking on?

He was caught off balance in a very delicate situation. In a position like this the best approach was to look at the problem from the beginning and work through it piece by piece.

When could I have tripped the romance flag with her, all I did this time was...save her life...by apparently sacrificing...myself.

Dammit, that’s like the romantic jackpot, of course I tripped the flag. But wait, there’s still Alexia isn’t there? Shouldn’t this still be off limits?

He waited for the kiss to come to a natural conclusion and tried not to notice Claire seething in the corner (he had to wave her off furiously behind Rose’s back to stop her coming over) or the rest of their audience and whispered to Rose “What about Alexia?”

She smiled at this, grinned like he’d just offered her a hundred million zeni “She’s already told me that your relationship was for appearances only. It’s sweet of you to care so much but please try to think of yourself.” she placed a hand gently over the spot he had been stabbed earlier before continuing “I’m certain she can find someone else to take your place in public, but no-one can take your place in my heart”.

Alexiiiaaa.

He was trapped, both figuratively and literally by the person gently pressing him against the bed. Rose was essentially the holy grail of girlfriends in the academy so there was no pretext to refuse her; beautiful, popular, charismatic, talented academically, martially and artistically and as the heir to an entire kingdom she was filthy rich.

Maybe this isn’t such a terrible development Cid thought as Rose leaned back over him to begin another kiss.

---

Beta was sitting at her desk in Mitsugoshi writing up the report of the night’s activities with Epsilon only occasionally speaking up to add some minor detail Beta had missed during the operation. It wasn’t like Epsilon wouldn’t write her own report if she had to but Beta liked the practice and it wasn’t her favourite activity.

“Epsilon, there’s something that happened when we first entered the field I need to ask you about?”

“Okay, what is it?”

“Well, our slime suits all started to liquify when we initially arrived but yours seemed to have another reaction. I don’t want to alarm you but it almost seemed like your breast was...slipping down. Are you okay, do you have any pain in that area?”

Stay calm, you prepared for this.

“W, Well I am the most practised in terms of using the slime suit, so maybe the way I’ve got mine set up defensively caused a different kind of reaction. I’m not sure how to explain what you saw exactly...But anyway that’s not important right now!” she slammed her fist on the desk to decisively end the matter.

“Oh, what is important?” Beat asked curiously, still not convinced.

“It’s about Lord Shadow and princess Alexia”. It was a topic that was certain to catch Beta’s attention.

True to form, Beta scrunched her nose as if someone had just dumped a shovelful of manure onto the desk “What about them?”

“Princess Alexia has been paying for lord Shadow to pretend to love her right” Beta nodded “and Lord Shadow just gave Eta two billion Zeni as research funding” Beta nodded again, comprehension starting to sink in “Well, if she’s paying that much, how much is she getting from him, I mean” she deliberately made her voice as coy as possible as she continued “If it was me I know what I’d want, wouldn’t you?”.

Beta was stammering red faced as she answered “I’m sure Lord shadow just got that money some other way. He wouldn’t...let himself be bought like that, I’m sure of it. I just misunderstood last time”.

“Still...you could check for us to see if that’s where he got the money, I think. Just ask your contacts in the treasury to see if there’s been any unusual withdrawals by Alexia?”.

Beta nodded, starting to cool down but successfully diverted from the previous topic.

Unlikely as it is, it wouldn’t hurt to check.

---

Cid was just consoling himself with the fact that the armoured cultist had gotten away (meaning he had a ‘rematch’ boss fight to look forward to) when the king of Midgar walked into the infirmary flanked by two members of his personal guard. By virtue of his injury he was at least allowed to sit out the customary bowing. He walked through the tent, shaking hands with teachers and congratulating the students on their courage and determination as he made his PR circuit around the wounded.

At least Iris is staying at the palace. It would have been really awkward if she was watching me with Rose.

He needed to sort something out with Alexia, if there was one thing he wanted to avoid at all costs it was relationship drama. Since she broke the deal by blabbing to Rose she obviously didn’t have the right to complain about what happened, but knowing her she’d probably try to unreasonably shift the blame onto him.

King Klaus stopped at Cid’s bed and looked down at him curiously before speaking, quietly enough to not be overheard by the other patients. He wasn’t really a praying man but being stuck to the bed there was nothing else to try.

God, you’ve already saddled me with the most perfect girl in the country, please don’t make this day any worse. I know I got a lot of good stuff earlier, but surely I’ve already paid for that now.

“And I may owe you my greatest thanks of all. I can hardly imagine the diplomatic incident that might have occurred if Rose Orianna had died in the care of our great nation. I may recommend you receive an award for distinguished services to the country”.

Really, I mean really?

“Oh, no sir. I did it for more...personal reasons, so I really couldn’t accept, honourably”. His new relationship with Rose could be good for something at least.

“I see” he smiled knowingly at him. “Well, young love is important. I’m sure you’re aware, but once you leave your school days behind you’ll have to go your separate ways to do your duty.”

Oh I’m counting on it.

“Maybe a school award for special services would be more fitting” he continued. He gave a little chuckle before continuing “I must say I’ve always found you a rather interesting young man”.

“Is that...because of Alexia?”

“A little. She told me and Iris, after Zenon was arrested how she took you on to keep him at a distance but even before that, your adoption by Baron Kagenou was very unusual. Haven’t had a case like it in the last twenty three years I’ve ruled this country”.

My...my what?

Was that even possible. The chances that the king told him that just to fuck with him was pretty minimal. The first thing he could remember was being passed off to Claire in a little bundle of cloth but could anything have preceded that? He didn’t remember his own birth (for which he was incredibly grateful), but had always assumed it had occurred at most a day before his reincarnation. He had probably been too stoked by the discovery of magic to pay proper attention.

A fundamental understanding of cliché dialogue flow prevented him from asking direct questions. If he did then Klaus would just stop talking and leave as quickly as possible, pretending that he didn’t say anything. He needed to prod for more information without letting slip he knew essentially nothing, which had been a speciality of his for a while now.

“In what way was it unusual, your majesty?”

“Well your father’s emigration to Velgalta chasing after fame and fortune was popular gossip back at the time. The fight he had with your father about it was also pretty inspiring to a lot of second sons out there who felt unappreciated in their families, they started saying things like ‘another day like that and I might just Kagenou out of here’” Klaus smiled in reminiscence before becoming more serious.

“Then five years later he and his wife were arrested and put into indentured servitude and you were ransomed back by an imperial legate to his brother, Baron Kagenou. That part of the story isn’t as well known or as popular, and I never told Alexia out of respect for your families privacy. I honestly couldn’t say when the last time a noble was adopted across national borders was, even speaking historically”.

Cid gave a small “I see” then pretended to be dazed for a minute to trigger the ‘You’re tired, I should go’ dialogue option. Internally he was grinning like a lunatic.

“Well...it’s been a long day for you and I imagine you want some rest. I’ll be taking my leave young lord Kagenou”.

A mysterious origin. I might have a mysterious origin so mysterious even I don’t know what it is. What a fucking banger to close out the day.

---

Sherry was playing with Lutheran when the stranger came through the door. As the hooded man drew his sword her mother poked her head into the room to ask Lutheran for help, but Sherry was sitting on his chest, holding his sword just above his heart.

“Not now Lukreia, can’t you see we’re in the middle of a game”. Lutheran gently scolded her and sent her back out to greet the stranger before turning back to her.

“Now Sherry, just press down and everything will be fine”. She wasn’t sure. She was worried he’d get hurt but he was looking at her with such desperate hope in his eyes she couldn’t refuse him. She pressed down as her mother was cut apart in the other room.

He stilled as the blood left him, Sherry tried to rouse him with no success.

Knock

Her mother had dragged herself to the door with her one remaining arm and was looking at Sherry coldly, while the unknown man behind her readied another swing of his longsword.

Knock Knock

“I needed him Sherry, now look. You’ve killed him”. She was going to apologize when the stranger’s blow removed her mother’s remaining arm. Unlike with the last few injuries she had suffered she screamed in agony, Sherry covered her ears and tried to shut her eyes but they wouldn’t close.

The hooded-man prepared his final strike but before he could the knocking sound finally forced her awake and she sat up panting.

It wasn’t real.

Lutheran hadn’t been anywhere near their house when her mother was murdered and Lutheran’s death was…

She had ran to follow her father after the artifact backfired on him. The cultists, the knights and Shadow Garden weren’t targeting her but she was still in danger of a stray sword stroke or bullet as she pelted across the gym to the back entrance.

She suspected where he was going to go and guessed right, she found him lying face up on the ground having clearly just put his armour in it’s hiding spot beneath his desk. The exertion must have exhausted his strength as he wheezed on the floor piteously.

Then another flash of red light racked him and he was groaning in pain. She ran over to him and tried to help him sit up.

“You need to move the desk...back over the hole” he commanded. She rushed to complete the task so she could sit back at his side.

“What happened with the artifact?”

“I think Erin modified it before we brought it over. I’m sorry, I didn’t know” she said through her tears.

Lutheran pointed back over to the door, where the remnants of the eye and it’s control unit lay on the floor with the sword he dropped.

“You need...to finish it. We can’t...be caught here. For...sake”. His speech became softer and more stilted with every word.

He can’t mean the artifact. It’s completely spent and I couldn’t fix it in time. Does he mean…

“No, no father I can’t, I can’t do it, please!”.

“You have to...survival.. all...matt...ow”.

As words began to fail him she unwillingly filled in the missing words.

You have to do this. Your survival is all that matters now.

She moved over, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane as she wrapped her fingers around the hilt of his sword. It was much heavier than she thought it would be as she lifted it up and dragged it back to Lutheran.

His eyes widened and she thought he was trying to say something more but nothing came. She waited for a few more seconds but when footsteps started pounding around the floors below she knew she couldn’t wait any longer. If Lutheran was discovered alive in this state they would both be executed in disgrace. Even if she tried to carry him through the secret passageways the mana he was giving off would be felt by anyone nearby and Shadow would hunt them down.

There’s no other way out.

After failing with the artifact the least she could do was grant her father’s final wish. She stabbed him and screamed out unfeigned grief before pulling the sword out and breaking the glass window with the hilt to create the fake escape route before tossing it aside to hold her father.

As Erin had been significantly to blame for her father’s death she’d thought of her when she described the made-up assassin. She didn’t have much hope Iris would (incorrectly) blame Erin since the girl’s constant lethargy excluded her from being a Shadow Garden member by default.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

Even if she could never say it she was incredibly grateful to whoever this late night visitor was. They had now twice pulled her out of very unpleasant thoughts.

Just stop thinking about it.

She opened the door to see a well dressed man of middling height with a slightly protruding belly and close cropped black hair waiting on the step. She was staying at her mother’s house and not the academy since it was further from the recent incident. Everyone had been very understanding.

Not that it’s helping me sleep. I’m so out of it I didn’t even consider it might have been someone from Shadow Garden.

He bowed his head slightly before introducing himself “Hello Ms Barnett. I’m unsure if your father mentioned me, my name is Crayl.”

She nodded slowly. She had heard of him before, he was something like her father’s assistant in the cult. A second child responsible for the day-to-day management of her fathers property.

“I realize this isn’t an opportune time so I’ll get to business quickly. The cult as an organisation greatly respects familial inheritance, therefore as his adopted daughter you have been granted control of what remains of your father’s assets moving forward”.

He hadn’t even been dead twelve hours “This seems...soon to be talking about inheritance, can’t it wait”.

“I suppose so, but the assets are yours. If I was seen to be hoarding them away from you then...” he gave an uncomfortable smile “It’s best you’re made aware of your rights as soon as possible. If you don’t desire to take your father’s place his agents and capital will be distributed to others in our society”.

“I thought my father used everything he had in the last operation?”

“He wanted to, but naturally none of the intelligence agents were deployed and even a few combat personnel couldn’t be mobilized in time. Some of his money was invested in certain assets that couldn’t be liquidated in time either, so there’s around a billion Zeni at your disposal if you choose to accept it”.

She didn’t know what to think or do. From the way he was talking and how his eyes had lit up this Crayl would happily take everything her father had under the table and she could just move on with her life. Doubtless she would still be considered a collaborator and called on for favours from time to time but she could be mostly free of it all if she gave the inheritance away.

Do I need agents or money for anything.

She thought of Erin then, smiling smugly while her father spasmed on the floor. How Shadow and his agents would have hunted them like dogs if she had tried to pick him up and run him to safety.

Oh yes, I have a use for them.

“Come by at twelve, two days from now with a full accounting of my assets Crayl. I need to know my starting point as soon as possible”.

---

Cid stood by Eta as they prepared to say goodbye to Sherry, looking down at his subordinate with trepidation.

I’ve always known her morals were a little off, but to be able to stand with someone who’s father you calculatedly murdered so casually is really cold.

Her calculation had the apparently been well thought out. With her father gone Sherry had decided to move to Laugus to progress her academic career. It still seemed unnecessary to Cid since Eta was leaving soon until he remembered how upset she’d been whenever he tried to get closer to Sherry.

He wasn’t an idiot. He could easily tell why she wouldn’t want him to fall in love with Sherry.

She was obviously worried he’d settle down (which he would never do) then ditch Shadow Garden. As the ideas guy, the leader and their strongest fighter they would be at a serious disadvantage if he bailed.

“Goodbye Cid. I hope you get on okay” Sherry said as she pulled him into a hug “and watch out for that one” she whispered, indicating Eta.

“Oh believe me, I know” He said dryly.

She turned on Eta then who smiled “I told you...my change to the artifact would work”

Sherry froze for a second before smiling bitterly. Cid was thunderstruck at Eta’s gall to actually insult her at this moment.

“Yeah, I suppose you were. You’ve been to Laugus before haven’t you, maybe you could show me around if you get back there soon?”

“Maybe” Eta said. Her tone and folded arms said no.

“Goodbye you guys. I’ll definitely see you later” and with that she pulled herself into the carriage and set off, giving a little wave before disappearing down the street.

He took Eta back to his apartment unsure of how he was going to approach this.

“It’s a shame about Sherry’s dad isn’t it?”.

“Yeah...it’s sad”

That’s it. That’s all you’re going to say. Do you really think I’m such a simp that I’ll let you get away with murdering someone.

He supposed the first thing he should do is establish he wouldn’t leave Shadow Garden so Rose would be safe in the future. He could have tried to get Alpha to do this but since she benefited just as much from him staying he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t in on it.

“You know, you and I are very alike Eta. We both have things we absolutely can’t live without no matter the price. For you it’s learning new things, and for me it’s running Shadow Garden”.

Eta was looking at him intently while Cid was figuring out how to continue. Eta apparently thought he was finished and held out the bag she’d been carrying to him. “It’s a present...for you”.

Cid considered it cautiously. He had noticed it wasn’t especially girly but Eta had always preferred function over form. It was black suede with a dark red leather handle and looked like a briefcase (though thankfully a little more casual) with a shoulder strap. The opening clasp was a little magnet that needed to be pulled open before you could pull the cover back.

“How’s it work?” he asked. It obviously wasn’t an ordinary bag.

“Put something in” he grabbed a schoolbook from his table and stuck it in the bag.

“Now close it… and pass it here” he handed it back.

Eta pulled the bag open again and showed him the opening, there was nothing inside.

“It’s locked...to your mana signature. So no one...can get what you put inside”.

That was pretty good, but it didn’t look like Eta was done. She passed it back to him and told him to press the opening clasp to the table and run mana through it. He did and the table vanished.

“Space inside...Larger than it should be. Approximately...four cubic meters...difficult to measure exactly. Weight to carry...unaffected. Will bring out...whatever you want when you open it”.

Damn that was pretty large. He could finally loot to his heart’s content without having to worry about the size of his cargo. That said he wasn’t sure he should just let go Lutheran’s murder as she looked up at him clearly expecting praise.

“So, is everyone in Shadow Garden getting one of these?”. He asked to buy himself a little time.

Eta shook her head. “It’s a modified artifact. Locking it to you...and changing shape...were my changes. Space effect...was from the original artifact...a chest we found in Alexandria. Can’t reproduce it”. She said sadly “I call it...the vessel”.

I guess if she’s trying to bribe me for my silence it wouldn’t be simping if I accepted and just ignored the whole Lutheran thing.

He gave her a pat on he shoulder “It’s great. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of use out of this”.

She smiled back at him before looking down depressed “Have to go now… to write report and research findings for Alpha” she yawned before continuing “So tiring”.

Deciding to throw her a bone he started channelling healing magic into her. It took a lot, maybe a little under a fifth of IAA but finally her mild slouch began to straighten and she looked back at him with wide, alert eyes.

“Feel better?” as someone who was in high school for the second time, he understood only too well the soul crushing nature of tedious homework.

She gave him a hug and practically ran around the apartment Delta style before she left for work. It was at this point Cid realized he had literally just given her a pat on the back for murdering an innocent man.

Whatever. If it’s a question of who I care about more, Sherry or Eta, it’s no contest. Besides Lutheran was really old and coughed all the time. How much longer could he possibly have lived?

This is our protagonist.

Chapter Text

What Could Have Been

As Nu looked around the house she tried to picture what it must have been like when her superiors had all lived there. She thought it must have been a little cramped, the three-bedroomed house would have been cozy fit for a family of five. It must have been a stretch for the seven girls (with occasional visits from their master) to use this place as both a home and a base of operations.

That said it was cozy in the more generous use of the term as well, it seemed lived in and well cared for. Lady Delta still slept here often rather than use one of the beds in Alexandria and just sprinted through the mists every morning to report for duty, so a few recruits were always assigned to keep the place well maintained.

Suddenly the distressing thought of Delta or worse Lady Alpha discovering how she had arrived entered her mind. When news of Cid’s ‘attachment’ to Princess Rose reached Mitsugoshi the atmosphere had felt like a recently kicked beehive. Not outwardly angry, but buzzing with agitation. She was fairly certain the only reason Rose and Alexia were alive and unharmed so far was section two of the Black Concord “All of Lord Shadow’s romantic relationships (both within and outside of Shadow Garden) are his own purview. It is forbidden to interfere with such relationships unless directly requested by Lord Shadow.”

The mood grew funereal when Eta calculated the probability of Shadow ending up with two human princesses without selecting for either variable as 1/379,000.

Strange to think I might be more to his taste than any of the shades.

She’d been contacted by Lord Shadow that same night and told to be ready for a super-secret mission in two days time.

So early that morning, with everything she would need neatly packed she met her Lord at Mitsugoshi who took her bag in his (she still wasn’t sure how it fit so easily) and set off. Lord Shadow had been eager to get here and while she wasn’t unathletic, fast paced multi-hour sprints were not her speciality. Eventually growing impatient, he picked her up like a husband about to rush his new-bride to the bedroom and sprinted so fast their surroundings blurred to an indistinguishable mix of brown and green. Even being pressed so close to him hadn’t distracted from the nauseating sensation at the beginning, though she did eventually acclimatise to the transportation method.

As they stepped into the house Shadow began to explain the purpose of their mission here and what he expected her to do.

“And you had no idea this whole time, you never noticed anything?”.

“No, but I wasn’t really paying attention. Between mastering magic and proper bowel control I had my hands full at the time” he considered a moment before hastily adding “So to speak. I mostly tried to tune out my parents and my sister as much as I could”.

Nu probably should have realized that being less than a year old even he wouldn’t have been able recognise anything was wrong, and she smiled at his little joke.

It’s good to know he isn’t disturbed by this too much.

“I expect you to keep everything relating to this mission to yourself”.

“Does that include Ladies Alpha and Gamma?”

“It includes everyone that isn’t me” he said seriously.

”Might I ask why, and why I was chosen for this mission?”

He shrugged “Until I know more, there isn’t much to say. As for why I chose you, it was because your disguise work is on point. I almost didn’t recognize you at the academy festival”

“You knew I was there?” she blurted out. He was so far away, in the middle of putting on a spectacle, and he still saw through my disguise.

“Yeah, you were good, but you did make a mistake and it’s hard to fool a pro. The academy festival’s a sports event for the nobles, by making yourself look all drab you kinda stood out in a way”.

She had considered that, but there hadn’t been a better option. If she’d dressed in noble finery she would have looked too much as she once had “Please don’t tell Lady Alpha, I wasn’t supposed to be there”.

“Why not?”

“Because my old fiance was there, Marco Granger”.

He gave her a curious glance “Oh, he’s nice, I guess?”

“Yes he is”

“Did you go because you missed him?”

She didn’t like the implications of that question, it made it sound as if her commitment to him wasn’t absolute “No, not at all. I just wanted to see your performance live my lord. It was quite different from the stands compared to playing the opponent”.

This would probably be the best time to discuss the incident during their last mission.

“During the last mission, I think Marco recognized me”

Cid’s eyes momentarily widened before asking “How did that happen?”

“I’m not sure, my mask wasn’t displaced at any point, but he called out my real name so I assume he must have recognised me by my hair, or my voice or something else. Most of out time together was at that school so I suppose that might have helped bring me to mind”. If he’d recognised Lord Shadow his death would have been the only correct answer, but she was unsure how they should proceed in this situation. Cid considered for a few seconds before responding

“The church knows you were possessed right, like your name and background?”

She nodded.

“Well then your cover would be blown if he saw you at Mitsugoshi anyway, so nothing’s changed”

She nodded again. That had been her opinion but she knew she wasn’t objective on this issue.

“Well, if you keep my secret I’ll keep yours” he gave her a little nod “You should get ready, I don’t want this to take all day”.

The impulse to take his order literally and start changing right there (just to see how he would react, naturally) flashed through her mind. but that would be pushing her luck. She set off for the bathroom and prepared herself while Shadow patrolled the grounds outside.

---

When Nu announced herself at the front door of the Kagenou manor she was not unrecognisable but noticeably different. She was wearing a long black skirt, a black blazer over a white shirt along with a pair of austere glasses and was carrying a clipboard, completing the picture of a formal public servant. Even her walk had been modified from it’s usually graceful stride to something resembling a march. As Cid looked on from his rooftop perch he had no doubt the Baron would fall for her disguise.

When Cid first heard about his potential new origin he considered just serious dashing to Velgalta, but that would be stupid for a lot of reasons. Firstly he had no idea where in that massive country to begin looking, secondly he was already planning a trip there with Epsilon later in the year, so it would waste time and thirdly he’d look like such a dweeb just running around randomly asking ‘do you know my parents?’ ‘Who are they?’ ‘don’t know, so do you know them?’. Finally, there was a cowardly old bald guy much closer to hand that could give him the information he was looking for.

After she talked to the maid and explained her business was for Baron Kagenou only, it didn’t take long for the familiar bald head to appear in the door-frame.

“Miss Aldherst, please do come in”.

She stepped inside, and was waived over to a table where she set down her clipboard and prepared to take notes.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the nefarious villain Shadow and his recent activities in the capital”.

“Of course. Even the gossips around here talk about him now and my daughter has mentioned him in her letters”. Cid thought he saw the familiar flush of pride that came whenever Claire was mentioned.

I’m infamous even here, sweet.

“Well some of the damage he inflicted damaged some record facilities. Some which related to the adoption of Cid Kagenou” the baron paled and shrank back slightly. “We need you to provide some of the details back to us, so that our records can be complete again”.

He sighed “Very well”.

“Can you give us the names of Cid’s parents?”

“Alastor and Cassandra Kagenou”

“And their current place of residence?”

“The Velgaltan Empire”

“I’m afraid I need somewhere more specific?”

“My apologies, but I truly don’t know anymore than that”.

“Okay, and the reason for the adoption, why he was given up and why you accepted him?”

“That wasn’t needed in the request last time?”

Nu smiled sweetly “I’m afraid the format has become more detailed since you last completed it”.

“Well his parents weren’t able to take care of him, and our reasons for taking him are personal”.

Nu sighed dramatically “Baron Kagenou. My responsibility is to investigate issues on behalf of the crown and to find things other people, our potential enemies, are trying to conceal. To speak frankly, this adoption seems incredibly suspect. Given the connection to Velgalta and our recent conflicts with them we cannot afford to leave any questions unanswered and now you seem to be reluctant to give me any details. I would advise you to answer my questions completely and honestly to avoid any escalation of this investigation”.

“Are you threatening me?” he asked, trying to show backbone he didn’t have.

Nu adopted a look of faux concern and looked at him right in the eyes before continuing “Oh no, not at all sir. I just mean that if the investigation escalated there are costs to cover that you could be held liable for. Not only that but we may need to interview other witnesses, your wife, Cid, Claire” she emphasised the last name specifically “and I wouldn’t want to create a scandal unnecessarily”.

She’s got a bit of a sadistic streak. I might need to warn some poor sap if she starts dating later.

Much like the egg his head resembled, he cracked “What do you want to know?”.

Nu’s smile was what he imagined a spider would look like after convincing a very reluctant fly to come into it’s web.“The whole story, from the beginning, nothing left out”.

His father(?) went on reluctantly “That goes back a long time, back to when me and Alastor were boys growing up together” he looked around the room then, probably remembering some long past time with his brother.

“He heard this old family story, just one of those legends that every family has, you know, like that they descend from gods or heroes, or they built some masterwork, or came up with some revolutionary policy. Our family’s legend is that magic began with the Kagenou’s, and that the most powerful spellsword ever born was a member of our family who lived over a thousand years ago. Nonsense obviously, but my brother took it very seriously”.

The start of magic huh, I guess there are theories that magic wasn’t always in this world, but as long as it doesn’t go anywhere, I don’t really care. I guess it could be a pretty good world-building mystery to unravel slowly as the plot progresses.

His voice seemed to wilt while Nu paid rapt attention to the story “He kept saying that we should try to reclaim our rightful place and how we shouldn’t settle for being nearly the lowest of Midgar’s nobility. He never explained exactly how he would achieve that but I can’t count how many times he asked me for money or old family records. Eventually I had enough and sent him packing. I hoped a little time away would calm him and he’d come back soon enough but I had no such luck”.

“He went to Velgalta and actually managed to convince the emperor to sponsor his mad project, but it seems his imperial majesty’s patience was only slightly better than mine. After all of his failures he and his wife were imprisoned on charges of defrauding the state, and Cid was ransomed back to me. My wife and I were...struggling with having another child after Claire and taking Cid as our own seemed like an easy solution.”

Baron Kagenou’s voice picked up as he continued “He’s a decent son, we were worried about him as a boy but in the last couple of years he’s really come into his own. He’s still got nothing on my Claire. Even after all my brother’s boasting, it was my daughter that came in second at the academy festival and she might have even been Bushin Champion this year if not for getting unlucky. I tell you…”

“Might I return to the topic at hand, you mentioned his wife, what can you tell me about her?”

“Cassandra, she bought into a lot of my brother’s story, the poor girl. She was very clever, but she didn’t always come across that way to others, she was very soft spoken and...seemed very delicate, you might say. She was the third daughter of a landed knight who got into the Midgar academy through a scholarship, she met my brother there and they married just after graduating”.

Damn, there goes my hope of inheriting a vast fortune.

If you thought baron’s were poor and lived out in the sticks, they were royalty stacked against landed knights. Comparatively the average baron had around ten times the wealth and land of a landed knight.

“That leaves just two small matters to attend to. Do you by any chance have a picture of them?”

The baron was quite reasonably confused “Why would you possibly want…”

“If they return to the country they may wish to establish contact with your son. If that occurs we need to be able to identify them to process the claim”.

“There are a couple of wedding photos hidden in the attic, I’ll send a servant to collect them now”.

“There is one more point of concern. When I tried to talk to Cid and Claire about this they didn’t seem to understand my questions, as if they didn’t know about his adoption at all. When I left them, they seemed to think I confused them with someone else, and they seemed so sincere I actually thought I might have been mistaken.” Baron Kagenou paled again “I must ask you why they’ve been kept unaware of all this?”

“Cluh…” he trailed off, he began to shake and dazedly clutched his head

“I’m sorry?” Nu prompted.

He snapped, gesticulating wildly with bulging eyes he practically screamed “Claire!!!. She wanted a little brother since she was two but even so...she became totally obsessed with him as soon as he arrived!. At first I just didn’t want to disappoint her but as she’s grown stronger, I’ve known I’m in for a serious ass-whoppin if she ever finds out!”

He took a deep breath before continuing, even more incensed “That’s not even the worst part. Claire’s the best hope our family’s had in generations, her marriage could massively benefit the Kagenou’s for years to come, but if she found out it was an option she’d probably say something like ‘father, there’s no way Cid can look out for himself or make an appropriate marriage. I’m marrying him myself so I can always be there protect him’”.

***

Two years ago, in a parallel universe where Claire just found out Cid was adopted

Cid was lying in bed, calculating the precise angle he should faceplant at his next fencing lesson when Claire entered the room in a white summer dress.

“Cid, put on your nicest clothes. We need to go to church now” she commanded imperiously.

With trepidation, Cid got dressed and followed Claire into town, all the while playing the part of the timid and unassertive little brother.

The next few hours were occupied with a surprise shotgun wedding, a honeymoon tour around the village, and finally a screaming match between Claire and her parents (who were as of four hours ago now technically Cid’s in-laws).

“Mother, father, there’s no way Cid can take care of himself properly and he isn’t highly ranked enough to make a good marriage. I’ve married him so I can always be by his side to protect him”

***

Yup, he definitely knows his daughter.

“AGHHHH, the stress of it’s driven me bald!” he continued, running a hand through his phantom hair. “But I have a plan. Once Claire gets married she’ll have to continue the family line and that’s my opportunity. I’ll tell her right after the birth, outrun her while she’s weak and exhausted to a prearranged carriage, and then hide out for a few months in the capital. Then when I come back, she’ll have calmed down and I can just act like nothing happened. It’s perfect right?!”

Damn, that’s a good plan. He has a solid understanding of conflict avoidance.

Feeling respect towards Baron Kagenou for the first time in his life he looked on at Nu as she tried to calm his father down from his outburst. Watching what happened next reverted his paternal respect back to it’s usual level below the floor.

“You won’t tell her right!, RIGHT!!!. I answered all your questions so please, PLEEAASSEE”

It took about ten minutes for Nu to rock the baby calm, collect the picture and get back to the house so he could take a look at it.

His biological father looked much like his brother had twenty years ago, except being slightly taller and slimmer. Even though it was a wedding photo he seemed grim, as if the whole thing was a waste of time he’d been talked into.

His mother reminded him (somewhat uncomfortably) of Rose, though that may have just been because he knew very few human blondes. As he looked more closely he saw some other similarities, they had similar heart shaped faces and gentle smile. She at least looked incredibly happy to be there and it was disturbingly similar to how Rose looked any time she caught sight of him.

There were some differences as well, her hair was a red-gold instead of Rose’s honey coloured curls (he was also willing to bet the curls in the photo weren’t natural) and her eyes were a lively green. While not overweight he could see a softness to her that implied she wasn’t a spellsword at all.

He put Eta’s gift to work and stowed the picture where no-one else could find it.

“Come on Nu, I’ll take you back to the capital before I head off to meet the others”.

He held his arms out and she blushed, obviously embarrassed by her lack of speed which necessitated him carrying her back to Mitsugoshi.

Chapter Text

Summer Vacation

Cid breathed a sign of relief when he spotted the sign for Gamma’s new ‘Palreia’ resort, eagerly awaiting a few Alexia-less, Claire-less, and especially Rose-less days.

Summer vacation had started early since the school needed major repairs (and to replace a few teachers who had died trying to defend the students). Most of the academy seemed kind of down and he understood why (fitting in required being able to see like a normie), but to him the whole Funsplosion event had been a magical time.

His new free time had been heavily encroached on by his new girlfriend. Whenever it was possible she clung to him like a barnacle; getting him to join her for sword training, music shows, shopping trips, dinner dates, long walks around the campus and literally anything else she could think of. As the side character Cid Kagenou loved her enough to jump into a sword for her, he had to eagerly accept all of these invitations.

Alexia and Iris had been no help. After her initial fury Alexia realized she would look completely pathetic if she told everyone they were together when Rose kissed him, so she pretended they broke up a week before and she just hadn’t made it public. From the way her friend Millicent looked at him in the corridors now, she definitely knew better.

Iris had claimed to be injured for a while, but according to Alexia she’d been fully healed on the night of the school takeover by the royal physician and was just moping around the palace. He really could have used some more Crimson Order meetings to stall out Rose, without Iris the whole operation just came to a standstill.

The only meeting Iris had recently called did not go well for her.

“I can no longer continue to be a part of this group” Beatrix announced as soon as they were all seated.

“What? Why? You can’t just give up, you’re supposed to be the goddess of war!” Iris cried out.

Beatrix hung her head “I surrendered to Shadow. To my people that means a great many things, but the most important is that I can’t be part of an organisation that’s deliberately moving against him. It would be the height of dishonour”.

“I would have thought the height of dishonour was abandoning your allies when they needed you!”

Beatrix refused to give any ground “I’m sorry, but my people created these rules for a reason. If someone who surrendered to you could just start fighting you again fifty years later, then offers of surrender would just be ignored and there would be no end to conflict. It’s a crucial tradition to keep peace and prevent any wars we do have from becoming bloodbaths”.

“But Shadow doesn’t want peace or anything like that, he just wants to fly around doing whatever he wants and causing chaos wherever he goes”.

Not the most off-base assessment she could have made honestly. She still shouldn’t know that, did I make a mistake somewhere?

“Even so, I cannot continue. My sincerest apologies”. Beatrix bowed, but couldn’t have been any more implacable.

After some more arguing (and some muttered curses from Iris she probably thought were less audible than they were) she sent Beatrix away only for Alexia to call her back.

“So if the cult were to cause another incident, you wouldn’t be opposed to helping us then?”

“No, that wouldn’t be a problem” Beatrix stated calmly before turning back to the exit.

Iris looked peevishly at Alexia before turning to her remaining members “Anyone else want to leave?”

No one spoke for a few seconds until Iris herself changed the subject, struggling not to pop off again. The meeting continued on for a little under an hour as everyone tried to make sense of who was behind what during the academy attack. It was obvious there were multiple factions and Shadow was opposed to the main terrorist force, but the murder of Lutheran Barnett had confused things.

Cid had tried to float the idea that Lutheran had been a member of the cult, it obviously wasn’t true but anything he could do to confuse the investigation w ould be ideal. Just as Beatrix had her code of honour, Cid too had his own principles he couldn’t betray. He’d accepted Eta’s bribe to be her accomplice in the murder, and goddammit he was gonna cover for her as much as humanly possible. Throwing out random crap like that also made people think “that guy’s kinda dumb” which was a great diversion from the fact he was the mastermind who knew everything.

Eta gave no indication she was the murderer and her cool indifference gave him that odd feeling in his chest he could remember from his mission with Alpha. Now that he’d decided to let the murder go, he could admit it had been masterfully done.

Eta hadn’t stayed long though, she was dismissed from the investigation once it was decided the complete eye of avarice was to be destroyed. She was given a small fee, a thanks for her service and was told that if anything else came up that she could help with they would be in touch.

Claire had been… worse than expected. After she heard he got stabbed defending Rose she was furious, and it was all he could do to convince her not to attack Rose the next time she saw her. After that she tried to force Cid to cancel his plans with Rose whenever possible to monopolize his time even more than usual, or accompany him on what would have otherwise been dates with Rose. It did keep Rose from getting too over-the-top with him, but that didn’t make it a pleasant experience. She was combative the entire time.

Of course, why didn’t I see it before. The differences in our personalities make complete sense if Claire’s mother is part beastkin and mine isn’t.

In terms of dealing with Rose, there was one winning strategy. By going out with his new normie friends along with her he could keep Rose at a distance. His contributions to fighting the terrorists, saving Rose and now having dated both academy princesses seemed to make him popular by default. Between Garin the muscle-head, Oliver the stick in the mud and Isaac the...the...guy he cheated off of when he couldn’t be assed to study (that really was his most distinguishing trait) he now had a cliché friend group. He purposefully didn’t invest much attention on Isaac, if he knew character group dynamics one of the two less-distinct ones always had a death flag, and well, Cid obviously wouldn’t be kicking the bucket.

He’d gone out bowling (he still needed to check but was pretty sure it was a Mitsugoshi subsidiary) with them, Rose, and a couple of her friends, all while Skel and Po looked on enviously. He decided that even though he didn’t need them anymore he’d keep hanging out with those two occasionally. If he needed to do something dumb being with them answered every question most people would ask.

On the plus side, Rose seemed unable to refuse him anything and he had moved swiftly to check the limits of this the same way an y young man would . During their trip to Mitsugoshi he lamented all the things he couldn’t afford due to his meagre allowance and Rose just smiled at him, sa ying she’d pay and that he deserved it for being so wonderful. He might have stopped just due to public embarrassment but he was in the middle of an experiment, and his question needed answered. The answer to when her generosity would stop turned out to be when the gold in her purse ran out.

Another silver lining to their relationship was that unlike Alexia, her public persona was totally sincere. During their first breakfast together he’d pushed someone into her (discreetly) and arranged a couple more accidents throughout the day but she took them all in stride, never losing her temper or even cursing the offenders out to him in private. If it was possible to be disturbingly nice, then she absolutely was.

The final one was that in the future, it would be pretty cringe if the eminence in shadow didn’t even know how to kiss a girl, so the experience when they were alone together wasn’t unwelcome. Given all that he decided to keep the relationship going until her father found out and forced them to break up. Any other way of tanking things between them would also draw more attention at this point, so the ‘just roll with it’ strat was a-go.

As he drew in closer he saw that the building wasn’t especially tall, looking more like a very large six-story villa as opposed to a high-rise hotel. As he moved through the main entrance he saw a several outbuildings a few hundred meters from the hotel, one of which was a large stable.

I suppose the normal guests will be arriving by carriage or boat.

The interior was pretty much what he’d expected, as high class as Mitsugoshi but with more classical style of decoration. He walked up to the front desk where he saw Gamma waiting for him.

“Gamma, you’re not working are you? This is supposed to be a vacation”.

“Yes, but as the manager of the resort, I should show you to your accommodations. Naturally you’ve been given the finest room available”.

Yeah these last few days have been hard work, I do deserve to treat myself.

As he followed Gamma into the elevator she began explaining the hotel’s structure to him “Each floor has a different number of rooms, fewer as you go up while size and quality increases. This also allows us to easily track the most important guests for customer service and” she gave him a little wink “surveillance purposes. The first floor is dedicated to our service facilities and communal spaces, things like; staff quarters, kitchens, dining rooms, the library, the bar and other facilities designed to be available to all our guests. The top floor has the presidential suite, your room, along with two penthouse suites. Alpha decided we should draw straws for who gets those as soon as Zeta arrives”

“Is everyone else here?”

“Yes. Everyone else is in the kitchens making dinner. For our private holiday we’ve brought a dozen of the numbers who are going to be assigned here for basic maintenance. They could have cooked for us but Epsilon insisted on making you something and once she started, everyone else had to chip in. Is that all you’ve brought?” She asked the last question indicating his ‘vessel’

“It fits more than you’d think, I’ll be fine”.

As they reached the sixth floor he stepped out of the elevator and followed Gamma across the hall and through the large double doors into the penthouse suite.

“What are the other buildings for?”

He was only half listening to Gamma’s reply as he looked around the room (it was actually several rooms). On his left was a study twice the size of his apartment and a bathroom of about half that size. The main floor was had several sofa’s and tables (with a billiards table and piano in opposing corners) placed to view through the large screen glass doors that lead onto the balcony. The view below showed several terraces overlooking a series of interconnected pools, which were cleverly connected by a series of walkways and bridges dotted with palm trees, beach beds and well kept greenery. Beyond that was the beach and the ocean all lit by the setting sun. Opposite the study and bathroom were two large bedrooms which were kind of underwhelming given the rest of the place.

“We have a duelling hall, a musical theatre, a children’s play-park, a prototype cineyma, several shopping areas and alternative dining locations at present”

This is as perfect as it could possibly be. The furniture, the artwork, the decorations, the view, they’re all befitting an eminence in shadow. The only flaw is that occasionally other people will use it, but even that could be an advantage, putting my lair in such plain view that no one expects it to be the mastermind’s base.

He put his bag down on the bed of the larger bedroom and looked to Gamma “This is incredible. You’ve outdone yourself Gamma”.

“Th-Thank you” she stammered out “But shouldn’t you unpack in the master bedroom upstairs?”

Sure enough there was an almost hidden staircase built just into the edge of the lounge that curved around to another floor, the entire thing was a master bedroom that looked down on the lounge and had another bathroom opposite the stairs. The view through of the pools and ocean from here felt even more magisterial.

“I should go help the others preparing dinner to give you some time to unpack my lord. I’m deeply gladdened you approve of my work”.

There were no words. He went over to Gamma, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and told her “Tell the others there only drawing for one of the penthouse suites”

“What?”

“It’s yours, owners orders” she looked to protest “I insist. You built this place, you should enjoy it properly for a few days”.

She still looked stunned. “I thank you for your generosity master”. She gave him a little curtsey and made her way out of the penthouse.

---

It was hard not to reminisce about old times as Alpha looked on the Shades preparing dinner. What had once been their nightly routine had long since been delegated to the numbers to conserve their time whenever they got back together.

Epsilon had been the best cook in the group since they were children, but hadn’t taken to ordering them around as the head chef until today. As she watched her explain to Delta that the soup needed to be stirred more gently (she’d been stirring so vigorously a few stray droplets were plastering the wall) and instruct Beta that the vegetables needed to be cut much more finely than her current attempt, Alpha smiled.

When did she go from being shy little Epsilon to this girl. It feels like I blinked and missed it.

Zeta had arrived just a few minutes ago, passing her belongings onto one of the maid staff and deciding to set the table and bring the drinks through rather than upset the controlled chaos of the kitchen. Alpha was just checking the dishes in the oven, bringing out everything that was done and rotating those that were still works in progress when Cid made his way down to check how everything was going.

Delta (unavoidably) ran straight to greet him and clamp herself around him (leaving Gamma to stir the soup), which was naturally followed by Zeta going over to scold Delta and make her own greeting.

Epsilon, perhaps sensing that the rest of the group wanted to see their master, declared she and Beta could take care of the rest and sent them through with a cart containing their starters, along with soup and bread to the prepared dining room.

Cid took his seat at the head of the table, while Alpha sat in her natural place at his side and Zeta took the seat opposite her. Eta, Gamma and Delta took their own seats and they all began to eat. Delta and Zeta (ironically) both mostly abstained since there was little meat or fish with the starters which were their natural preferences. Delta took the opportunity to regale their master about all the interesting prey she had hunted , including a truly massive boar that was to be served later while Zeta asked their master questions about his last operation.

Alpha contented herself to sit back and watch for now. Part of her role as the second-in-command was keeping the peace, and she knew the other girls would resent her if she dominated Shadow’s time with the group.

“And no-one noticed you were gone?” Zeta asked

“Nope, the Crimson Order left, the cultists gave up searching for people hours ago, and when the knight’s came they were so distracted by that enigmatic ‘Shadow’ guy they didn’t search the school buildings properly for hours. I did cut it pretty close with Claire though”

“And how did you manage to work in princess Rose in?” Zeta asked with a mock admiration.

“I didn’t really plan on that, but you need to be able to adapt to the situation.” He shrugged his shoulders “These things happen”. For as much wisdom as he had, sometimes he acted like such a boy.

“And what are your plans for her?” Alpha interjected. He’d used his relationship with princess Alexia to great effect last time, while this seemed more accidental (and infuriatingly more genuine on her part) he might work it into another plan of his and if so Shadow Garden needed to prepare accordingly.

“Ah, her father’s coming to the Bushin festival in a few weeks. Everything will come to an end then, just leave it to me”. Epsilon had reported several cultists getting closer to the King Raphael, most notably Duke Doem. Could he be planning to use his new connection to quietly assassinate the Duke? Either way he said he would handle it himself. She would be ready to answer if he called of course but for now she would leave the matter to him.

After a few minutes of conversation Epsilon and Beta moved another cartload of food into the room, setting each dish down on the table in turn before taking their own seats and joining in. Delta took at least half of the roast boar while Zeta had battered fish alongside a new offering developed directly with help from Lord Shadow ‘sushi’.

Cid, much like her aunt, preferred simple foods (unlike all of his other tastes which ran towards extravagance ) and so had more of the small burgers prepared as side dishes than anyone else.

The others tastes were a little more varied, sampling the wide variety of dishes that had been prepared. Alpha herself had a slice of chicken and onion pie, some quiche filled with bacon and mushrooms, a few spring rolls, a couple of slices of spiced garlic bread and some of the sushi (since she would have to sell it at Mitsugoshi, she was somewhat obligated to try it ).

She felt overfull by the time she had finished but didn’t regret it. She could hardly say she was on a relaxing vacation if she began stressing over having one large meal, besides it would have been rude to waste Epsilon’s excellent cooking. That said she’d be wearing her swimsuit for a significant amount of time over the next few days, so it would be wise to exercise more restraint after tonight.

It was therefore with a mix of anticipation and reluctance that she saw Epsilon carry her new creation to the table, a desert in which she had managed to combine chocolate and cake. Cid was just in the middle of regaling them all with the story of his recruitment into the Crimson Order as Epsilon started cutting slices .

“So then I said ‘well… we liked playing spy’ and then Alexia starts laughing and says ‘Sorry Cid, but the idea of you as some kind of secret agent is just ridiculous’”

“No” Beta managed between giggles “that’s…”

“Yep, bent double, trying and failing to hold it in, but that wasn’t even the best part. Iris and the rest of them were all trying not to laugh too, and I was stuck there trying my best to look offended like…” He mimed an expression of deadpan solemnity, as though someone had spit on him in the streets and he was pointedly ignoring it to maintain his dignity. The whole table erupted with laughter and Alpha found herself giggling along.

Epsilon had finished cutting the cake (she noticed some of the pieces were cut roughly, as if the person cutting it was shaking with mirth during the final few cuts) and moved a slice to a plate before setting it before Cid. She then took a small forkful, and leaned across the table to hold it just in front of his face. Cid gently took hold of the fork and forced her fingers off of it before bringing it to his mouth.

“It’s great. You don’t need to feed me though, this is supposed to be your vacation too”.

Epsilon managed to respon d cheerfully “I just wanted to make sure you got the royal treatment, after all…” she then whispered something in his ear before winking at him and moving back to her chair.

Would he like it if I acted like that with him, as if he was the only person in the room ?

As she looked at Beta’s stony expression and Gamma’s poorly concealed longing she realized it didn’t matter. She needed to keep the peace and that meant restraint around Cid.

As they finished the desert (which was certain to be one of their best seller s ) Beta broke the silence, leaning back in her chair contentedly “So should we draw straws for the penthouse rooms?”

Gamma was about to speak before Delta broke in “Delta wants to sleep with boss-man!”

She was about to shut her down when an idea struck her “That’s not a terrible idea”.

The rest of the table looked to her shocked “The presidential suite has three double-king sized beds, if our leader takes one, that means there are two left. If we go two to a bed that means we’d have space for five people in the presidential suite and the other three could stay in the penthouse suites. That way we could stay closer together and it would be easier to find each other in the morning if we’re all on the same floor. It would probably be easier for our caretakers as well, and it’s not as if we haven’t shared more cramped quarters”.

The rest of the table nodded acceptance and turned to Cid who also nodded “Fine, that’s cool with me I guess”.

“We still have to draw straws for who goes to each room” said Epsilon.

“Lord Shadow said I could choose my own room” Gamma blurted out “I’d like to stay in the presidential suite with you if that’s acceptable master” Cid nodded again.

“Fine, but that still leaves three spots open”.

“I think Eta should maybe go somewhere she has her own bed” Cid said, causing Eta’s face to fall. “Sorry, but the whole sleepwalking thing’ll probably upset whoever you would stay with, and you’ll probably want to sleep a lot more than anyone else, so you’d get annoyed when they kept coming in and bothering you”.

“Regrettable...but not illogical”.

That left five still to be placed. Cid prepared some straws and held them out to his shades. She could have leveraged her position to draw first, but let Beta go ahead of her.

Beta managed to land the spot next to Gamma, Zeta drew one of the spare rooms, followed by Epsilon and Delta, who both landed the other bed in Cid’s suite which left her to share with either Zeta or Eta.

A loss, but I essentially didn’t try. Anyway, with all four of them there the chances of anything...untoward happening are almost non-existent.

Delta was saying something to Beta she couldn’t hear but Beta was shaking her head and clutching her straw t o her chest like a lifeline.

“Delta, what are you doing?”

“Delta wants to swap with Beta but she won’t swap. Delta doesn’t want to sleep with Epsilon.”

“Why?” Epsilon said, sounding hurt.

“Delta remembers the last time she shared a room with Epsilon. Delta doesn’t want that to happen again”.

Oh not this again Delta, please.

That had been Epsilon’s worst night, and Alpha counted it among one of hers as well. Beta had trouble sleeping the night through when she first joined but her problem had just been nightmares.

Alpha had taken a room for herself the leader, leaving Beta with Gamma and Epsilon with Delta. The mistake of that vanity made itself felt as she was woken in the middle of the night and ran to their room to find Delta howling in fury while Epsilon huddled in a corner.

As Epsilon was the newest member and at that point the weakest, Delta considered what happened to be a grievous insult and her resulting anger had terrified Epsilon. She’d eventually managed to convince Delta that Epsilon wasn’t trying to disrespect her and Epsilon that Delta wasn’t going to hurt her but they couldn’t sleep in the same room anymore.

She had given Epsilon her room by herself (which was still feasible before Eta and Zeta joined) and she had shared with Delta for then next couple of months. Epsilon had recovered soon enough, getting to grips with her magic and combat lessons, as well as truly making friends with all of the other members rather than just clinging to Cid as she had done before. She’d hoped the whole thing was long done and forgotten.

Instinctively she looked to their master did you day something then that calmed her, as you did when Beta struggled. What was it?

“I..I wouldn’t...you stupid...”. Epsilon wasn’t crying, but tears were threatening to fall from her amethyst eyes.

“Delta” Alpha warned.

“It’s true, Delta isn’t lying, you remember it don’t you. We really shouldn’t...”

“Delta come here” Cid commanded forcefully, walking towards the door out of the kitchen. Ears drooping and tail stock-still, Delta followed.

Zeta tried to comfort Epsilon “What’s this all about? I never knew you used to bunk with Woofy”.

“I want to know too” Eta decided to join in, her natural curiosity was unstoppable, naturally.

Gamma and Beta shared a concerned look, probably remembering the night in question themselves.

Epsilon let out a huff of frustration, then sighed “I wet the bed, alright.”

Zeta started laughing, much to Epsilon’s annoyance “Sorry, it’s not you...but just, I can’t believe you topped that time I woke her up with a bucket of cold water. Remember, it was just after she killed all the targets I had been surveilling for weeks, I was this close” she held her thumb and index finger a centimetre apart “to finding their boss”.

Epsilon calmed down slightly, realizing she wasn’t the butt of the joke “She acts like...like I’m the one that hasn’t grown up, of all people.” she hissed “And she can’t even meet Cid in public, because she can’t even remember not to call him boss-man”.

Alpha tried to calm things down “You know she doesn’t always think about what she says, It’s just her nature”

“Oh, so that’s better” Epsilon rounded on her. “When she says she can’t sleep in the same room as me, she’s being honest!. How is that not just worse”.

“I just meant...she’s not trying to be cruel or upset you. You do know that, don’t pretend you don’t”

Epsilon stilled then, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself and Cid marched with Delta back into the room before things could continue .

“Epsilon, Delta’s sorry about what she said. Can Delta sleepover with you?”

Epsilon considered for a few moments moment before responding “Of course. I’d be happy to”.

Delta wrapped herself around Epsilon in almost the same way she would have with Cid. Zeta was smiling at them until she noticed Alpha watching her, at which point she deliberately shifted to casual indifference.

“So what’s the plan now?” Cid asked casually.

“I thought we could have a tour of the facilities before bed. It would be best if everyone knew the layout for later, no?” Gamma asked. There was a general round of agreement and the group set off after Gamma as she began giving the tour.

---

There was still an energy to the party of five when they arrived at their presidential suite. Their things had been moved into the appropriate rooms after a few words with the numbers before the start of the tour, so they got changed into their pyjamas and then went back into the lounge.

Epsilon had known she would need to swim with everyone on this vacation and so had practised forming a convincing body without needing to hide it under clothes (along with preventing another slip up like what happened at the academy) and had accidentality discovered another potential function of the slime suit while experimenting, but that still needed work. She’d cancelled several shows and hadn’t slept as regularly as normal to complete the work, but the proof was in the pudding when Shadow’s eyes paused at her bust as he looked over at her.

Totally worth it.

Beta had convinced Cid to tell them a story before bed so they all huddled around him on the sofas while he reclined in an armchair.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

The story was pretty good, but she had to admit she would have found easier to focus on if Cid hadn’t been wearing shorts and a short-sleaved top.

Get a hold of yourself, he’s going to be wearing...just trunks...tomorrow...in the water.

That thought didn’t help her engage with the tale at all . By the end Beta had taken copious notes and was pressing Cid for details about the ending.

“And how come they didn’t give Chewbarca a medal at the end with Lann and Huke?”.

“Uh...I’m pretty sure they did. Guess I just forgot to mention that when I was retelling it”. He stood up and turned to the stairs “Good night, see you tomorrow”.

She and Delta said good night to Beta and Gamma and headed to their own room after a quick trip to the bathroom (the fact there was only one was probably going to be an issue at some point but they could all brush their teeth together at least). Epsilon had a fairly lengthy beauty regimen to go through before sleeping and so entered the bed a few minutes after Delta.

“Are you still awake?” she whispered.

“Uh-huh” Delta replied groggily.

She should probably let it go, but she was too curious “What did Cid say to you earlier?”.

---

Delta trailed behind the boss as she thought over what she’d done. She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, but maybe the boss knew better. Even Alpha and Eta weren’t smarter than Boss-man.

“Delta why did you say that about Epsilon?

“Cause it was true”. Boss man wasn’t there, maybe he forgot. She couldn’t remember telling him about it. She was pretty sure Alpha told her not to bring it up right after it happened. She should tell him now so he understood.

“Epsilon was scared of Delta and wet the bed. If we share again it might happen again and Delta doesn’t want that”.

“Delta that was more than five years ago. It isn’t going to happen again”.

“But what if she gets scared again. Epsilon got way better after she stopped sleeping with Delta so what if sharing again makes it worse”.

The boss seemed a lot less annoyed when he heard that “That was right after you met, I’m sure things are different now. Come on, when we go back you’ll need to apologise and ask to share the room with her if you want it”.

“Why?” I won that room next to boss-man fair and square.

“Because people don’t like having embarrassing things from their past dragged out, especially in public. It’s cringe”.

“Boss-man, what’s cringe?”

“Eh, how do I explain this so you’ll understand. It’s like if someone was trying to hunt really weak, injured prey in front of the whole pack then still couldn’t kill it”

Delta shuddered “Boss, that’s so bad. Delta’s so sorry”

---

“It kind of went like that.”

This time Delta did actually make her cry. She threw an arm around her and hugged her from behind.

She could remember being scared of Delta. Not that she had been particularly difficult to scare back then, but watching Delta rip through cultist with that savage grin on her face was terrifying to her in the beginning Her childhood self had been wrong about her, but she couldn’t say the fear had been unreasonable.

She hadn’t thought about that night in a long time, but she could distinctly remember trying to calm herself by asking Delta about her own recruitment into Shadow Garden. Hearing that she didn’t consider Beta much of a threat (who had towered over her in terms of power) and had attacked Alpha hadn’t eased her fears. All she could think before she went finally drifted off to sleep was that she probably wouldn’t make it to the door if she tried to run (all while trying to convince herself there was no need to run).

“Anything wrong?” Delta asked cautiously.

“Nothing. I just realized that between the two of us I might be the stupid one”.

“What’s that mean?”

Epsilon struggled with the next words “I thought you were just being thoughtless when you said you didn’t want to share with me. I never even considered that you might have another reason and I should have”

Her voice was kind a little shaky but she pushed on “It’s just, I was always lagging behind everyone else when I first joined. So sometimes I... I want to win over the others , to prove that I’ ve gotten better and...that I’m not the useless one anymore. S ometimes I feel like I’m fighting against everyone in Shadow Garden to not be in last place ”.

“Epsilon isn’t useless. You’re stronger than Gamma and Eta, smarter than Delta, the best cook, and much less annoying than Zeta”.

“Yeah, but Gamma and Eta are the two smartest, you’re a way better fighter than I am and Zeta’s basically a mini-Alpha. Even though I’ve tried so hard I still might be in dead last overall!”. Delta didn’t respond, she probably didn’t know what to say and that gave Epsilon a second to think.

That’s great, bitch about her when she’s trying to help you, then bitch about how you want to be better than all out other friends, including her, right after. What a great teammate you are Epsilon.

Deciding she needed to cut her pity-party short she tried to change the topic and lighten the mood “It doesn’t matter. I’m definitely not scared of you anymore, so if you bring that night up again I’ll rub itching powder in your tail while you sleep”.

That had been one of Zeta’s old pranks, she couldn’t remember what started it but they’d been deep into one of their regular spats . Between rubbing it against various trees and gnawing on it with her teeth almost all the fur on it had been pulled out. It looked like a tree in midwinter, shrunk by the absence of leaves. Judging by her reaction and how she tried to hide it whenever anyone (especially Cid) was around she thought Delta might just think about her tail fur similarly to how she thought about her figure.

Delta let out a little squeal and even though she couldn’t see it in the dark she was sure Delta had just covered her tail with her hands defensively.

Maybe that was a little too far.

Epsilon decided should let Delta get some sleep and turned away from her, pulling the covers tighter around herself as she said “Goodnight Delta”.

“Goodnight Epsilon”.

Chapter Text

The First Origin

Cid woke up to the sound of knives and forks clinking against plates from the floor below. It took him a second realize where he was and that the girls must be having breakfast downstairs. It was rare for him to wake up naturally, since he normally he practised with magic for most of the night and stuck to the minimum amount of sleep (now two hours and twenty four minutes). Being on vacation he’d given himself have a little break from his routine.

Cid took a quick shower before heading down to grab breakfast. Everyone hailed him as he entered the lounge and he saw Alpha, Zeta and Eta had moved into the room with their own breakfast to eat with everyone.

He took his own order, which had been arranged the night before, and called Gamma and Eta to his side. Cid spent most of his morning explaining what he could remember about trains to them. The others had their own conversations, but he could tell they were keeping one ear on his lecture, while Gamma and Eta took copious notes.

I’ll meet Rose in Lindworm, but I’ll have to take the carriage back with her. A journey that might have been just two hours running is gonna be almost three days, pressed up against her in a hot-box with no-one else around. What a miserable experience.

If he introduced trains into this world he could at least avoid the problem happening again. It didn’t hurt that all of the shades marvelled about how his new idea would revolutionize industry and travel while never getting anywhere close to realizing his true intentions.

“How should we begin the vacation, my lord?” Beta asked Cid after he dumped his empty dish back on the delivery cart.

“I don’t know, what do you guys want to do?”.

“I say we all go swimming. I’m sure we all want to check out the pools and see how ‘everyone’ looks in their swimsuits” Epsilon stated, putting emphasis on the word ‘everyone’ and simultaneously gave a little nod to the group at large.

“Y-yes I think that’s a great idea” Beta agreed enthusiastically.

“I’m fine with that” Zeta added, her casual tone undercut by her vibrating tail.

“Well let’s gather what we’ll need and head to the elevator” Alpha said before she started moving back to her room to get changed.

After running upstairs and changing into his trunks, he shouted to the room behind him “I’m going the fast way” and jumped off the balcony and onto the terrace that overlooked the pools.

The others were not slow in following his example. Delta came first and rushed to clamp herself around him again, which was somehow both more and less comfortable than usual given their lack of clothing.

Beta and Epsilon landed at almost the same time, and they were followed by Gamma who wobbled on the landing, but managed not to slip. Thankfully by the time Alpha and Zeta made it down he’d managed to extricate himself from Delta’s grasp, avoiding starting the day with a row between those two. Eta managed the jump less gracefully than her bosses, but with technically faultless form.

Cid felt his gaze being almost magnetically pulled to Epsilon in her skimpy red bikini, the front of which was held together by a tiny gold link that seemed under a persistent strain not to burst open and release it’s payload. He could only marvel at every curve and contour of her body. It was a perfect ten.

A flawless unification of slime and flesh, so seamless he couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended.

She was blushing and gave him a little wave, then he realized that all of the other girls were looking at him. None of them looked pleased.

Wait, they might be thinking this is a Po and Skel type situation. Do they even know Epsilon’s curves are fake? I’ve never seen her take them off with any of them around.

He’d never actually checked that. Deciding to play it cool, he put a hand under his chin and looked over the rest of the girls in turn, so he could pretend he was assessing them purely on their fashion choices.

Alpha and Zeta wore black, though Alpha’s was very simple and Zeta’s somehow seemed more revealing despite being more elaborate. Beta and Eta went with white, though Beta’s was frillier and Eta was wearing a thin button up fleece over her swimsuit left dangling open. Gamma had gone for a dark blue one piece and Delta was wearing a sporty orange set he was sure she’d picked entirely for ease of movement.

Looking over the girls he thought he figured out why Epsilon might hide her petite figure. These girls were stacked. It was kind of like the shortest guy in a group wearing raised heels to stand a little taller. He’d done that sometimes as Shadow with the slime-suit before joining the Midgar Academy. It was hard to be intimidating below five feet while everyone towered over you, but now he was mostly finished growing he couldn’t justify it. It would be figuratively and literally the height of cringe.

Once he’d given each looked over each of them he could see they were still looking at him intently, though there was much more appreciation rather than accusation in their eyes now. He was the only guy there, so it was natural he’d become the centre of attention for a little while.

Have they ever actually seen this much before. From what I’ve seen, the decency standards of this world are a little stricter than my old world. That could just be among the nobility though.

He heard Eta mutter “amateur” then a flash of light at the periphery of his vision pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned away from Delta to see Eta holding a disposable plastic camera while Beta was frozen still, looking in wonder at Eta. She then looked down at her own hands, which were holding a pencil and the tiny notebook she had been furiously scribbling in, then somehow stowed them both in her swimsuit between the twins.

“Eta, what did you just do?”

“I took a picture. Testing new portable camera...before we put them on sale”.

“and...why did you take a picture of me by myself?”

“For academic purposes. Need to test...in various conditions. Lighting was good there.” she said bashfully.

Dammit, that’s totally a lie. If I end up in in some Shadow Garden calendar as Mr July then...Wait, where I am in the calendar isn’t the issue.

“Eta, if that’s just a test photo then you won’t need to show it to anyone will you?”. He went on when she shook her head “Then keep it to yourself until you’re done, then destroy it. It’s not a good idea to keep proof this vacation ever happened”. She nodded again while Beta refocused her gaze on him, equipped her pencil and notebook, and returned to her frantic note taking.

The look of disappointment in the eyes of the others told Cid he’d just successfully dodged a company calendar spread.

Even if I want the money, there are better ways to get it.

“Delta’s going in the water. Catch me boss-man” and with that Delta dive bombed into the pool and splashed everyone up to their chests.

“To think, you would dare to challenge me here”. Cid whispered dramatically and dived in after her, much more gracefully than her cannonball. He could swim reasonably well, but it wasn’t a speciality of his. Delta might have a chance here.

“Please stop her using magic, you two could force all the water out of the pools” Gamma added as she and the rest of the group started to make their (slower) way into the pool.

He spent more than an hour swimming after Delta through the various pools (sometimes she got out and ran from one to another and he was forced to follow her). Zeta joined in and while there was always some tension between those two, they could play together if the rules were clear (and especially if they could be on opposite teams). When the time came for them to try and catch him it took them longer than it should have to work together and box him in, but all’s well that ends well.

It turned out (without magic in play) Zeta was the best swimmer of the three. He and Delta were both physically stronger, but their wilder movements generated more water resistance with every motion compared to Zeta’s feline grace. Apparently when she went by ship on her scouting missions she dived into the sea to find her dinner more often than not, especially when she was a stow-away (it was more stealthy and saved cash).

Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Epsilon all alternated into the game by turns, giving him and Zeta a brief reprieve and a chance to talk with the others. Eta showed no interest at all in running around, but sat in a pink inflatable ring, sipping from a fruity drink and occasionally pushing herself off the side of the pool with her foot to continue a slow circuit around the largest pool.

As everyone, including Delta, began to lose interest in the pool-tag Gamma suggested they take a seat in one of the more secluded areas while the numbers set up another activity. She seemed a little down about something when Alpha asked “is something wrong Gamma?”

“Not really. I just thought it was a shame we couldn’t have a picture to remember this vacation with. How long will it be before we’re all together again?”

“Gamma, a picture like that would tie every member of Shadow Garden together. If it were discovered our identities would be compromised and the consequences would be catastrophic” Alpha commanded.

“I’d like one as well. I understand why we can’t, but it’s still unfortunate, isn’t it?” Beta broke in.

“Well...I guess if we kept it somewhere really safe, like in Alexandria or something it might be fine”. Cid offered to the group.

Alpha sighed “Why do you have to be so soft on them...it leaves me no choice but to play the villain. Fine, we can have one”.

“If we’re going to have one, why not more. The risk’s the same either way. We should still take at least one ‘now’”. Epsilon reasoned, once again oddly emphasising the word ‘now’ while looking at him and nodding to the rest of the group.

“If we want to get everyone into the picture, we’ll need to call one of the numbers back to take it” Zeta supplied.

He was met with a chorus of “NO!” when he suggested getting changed and dressing before taking the pictures. They must have all figured out what Gamma’s next activity was since they were so dead set on staying in their swimsuits.

It took a couple of minutes to decide where to take the photo, but Gamma and Epsilon eventually decided on the terrace they’d leapt to earlier, so the pools, the beach, and the sea would be in the background. Eta insisted they take three since the development process was still being refined (so there was a chance any one might fail to develop properly) and while Cid was always the centrepiece of the shot, he was by turn flanked by Alpha and Zeta, Beta and Gamma and Eta and Epsilon for each shot. Delta just sort of crouched like she was ready to pounce at the photographer by his legs in every shot.

By the time they got back to the pool Gamma’s activity had been set-up. It was a scavenger hunt for coins the numbers had hidden in the pools and the surrounding area. Cid’s enthusiasm for the game diminished greatly when he realized they were all silver 1,000 Zeni pieces (even if he got them all it probably would have only been 200,000 Zeni), and the depression this fact caused him severely impacted his performance, as he came in behind Alpha, Zeta, Beta and...Gamma. She stuck exclusively to finding coins in the pools and it seemed she could compete in physical activities if you took the possibility of tripping out of the equation.

Once their totals had been amassed they sat at a patio table for lunch while they discussed what to do next. Gamma, Eta and Beta were having their own conversation, in which Beta was insisting the hotel should have it’s own photograph-development facility, while Gamma and Eta reasoned that the necessary chemicals (and resultant smell) were not ideal for the aesthetic of the resort.

“I say we go do something a little more relaxing and check out the shopping district Gamma’s set up”. Epsilon declared while trying to sort her hair back into it’s usual style.

UGGHH Not again.

“I could use some new things for my trip to Lindworm, that’d be great” Beta added (unhelpfully).

“Aww, Delta wants to go hunting”

“Oh come on, we’ve been running around all morning, you owe me something easy. Besides I saw your sock drawer and half of them are full of holes”.

“Those aren’t mine, those are boss-man’s old ones” Delta shouted proudly, like a lawyer pointing to the evidence that proved their client’s innocence. The declaration brought Gamma’s conversation to a sudden stop and focused the entire table’s cold stares onto her “H-he said I could have them”. The death glares shifted to him.

“I never really said she could have them, exactly. I just stopped trying to take them away.”

“And why did you choose to allow this?” Alpha asked him in a voice colder than snow.

“Well, whenever I did try to stop her she just went after my newer clothes. Besides it’s pretty normal for dogs to raid their owners laundry baskets, so I didn’t think it was that strange”. His old Labrador John had been the same way as a puppy. As his truest ally in those days, he couldn’t hold the small annoyance against him and he’d gotten kind of nostalgic when Delta reminded him of it.

Alpha sighed deeply “This is why I say you spoil these girls, you know she isn’t actually a dog, right?”

Cid nodded and she turned to Delta.

“Why did you start stealing his clothes?”

Delta started twiddling her fingers nervously under Alpha’s stern gaze “Um...Delta missed boss-man when he wasn’t around, and having his stuff makes Delta feel better?”

Alpha sighed again, but her expression softened as she continued on diplomatically “We’ll need to discuss this habit of yours later Delta. Could you use any more clothes?” Delta’s ears perked up and her tail began wagging happily, Alpha quickly realized her mistake “New clothes for you to wear?”.

Delta’s enthusiasm waned “Delta supposes so”.

“Well then I think it’s a good idea to go with Epsilon and the others, it’ll be more fun that way than going on your own”.

“Just let her...pick whatever she wants...that’s what I do. Saves my brain cells...for important information” Eta added. She was agreeing to go but Epsilon’s side-eyed glance showed she wasn’t entirely happy with the statement.

“Do we need any of the numbers to sell things to us?” Beta asked

“Why would we need that, it’s our store. We can just take whatever we want” Epsilon added. Cid once again got that rushing ‘they grow up so fast’ feeling of admiration as he saw this shameless mooching of Gamma’s money.

Wait, son of a bitch, that’s my money.

Gamma spoke cautiously while Cid grappled with his conflicted feelings. “I suppose the money would be coming from us anyway. It would be somewhat redundant to pay for our own goods”.

“Epsilon, don’t loot Gamma’s store” Alpha commented dryly.

“I wasn’t going to!” Epsilon said and held her hands up in mock surrender.

“Do you remember how many times you went over budget on infiltration missions buying designer fashion and jewellery? Because I do”.

Epsilon let out a little huff of agitation “You try infiltrating the nobility dressed like Asherella before the fairy-grandmother shows up, why don’t you?”

“You’ve read my children's books?” Beta looked like Christmas had come early.

“Well, yeah. They’re pretty popular right now so I’m expected to know all about them, I guess because we’re both elves. If it was up to me I’d probably have just stuck to the thrillers and romance”.

“Oh I have a new romance story I’m working on right now. It’s about this boy who has to pretend to be in love with this nasty silver haired princess to investigate something while he’s really in love with this understated elven journalist…”

Beta gave a plot synopsis for her new (and thankfully original) book to the rest of the table while lunch was being served. She told them them everything she had so far, up to a plot twist where the two lovers are about to declare their feelings for each other when another princess (this one very stupid and very blond) burst in and derailed everything. Once they were finished with lunch they split up to get changed. Cid pulled Gamma aside to make an excuse to avoid the shopping trip (he’d been shopping with enough girls recently to know he didn’t much care for the exercise).

He disappeared to the roof for a few minutes to avoid any awkward ‘you should totally come with us’ conversations and then started running around the hotel looking for secret passages once he knew the coast was clear. He could have just asked Gamma where they all were, but he’d learned from Mitsugoshi that it was more satisfying if you found them yourself.

After finding an escape tunnel in the supply closet under the first floor stairs and a slide hidden behind a bookcase on the third floor that opened onto a first floor conference room, he went back his room to play some piano for a few minutes before the shades got back. As he stepped in he felt Alpha’s presence on his balcony and shifted directions slightly to see what she was doing. The (obsessively) neat stack of completed paperwork he passed told him she hadn’t just got back.

She was just standing their, hair swaying with the wind as she looked out across the sea. She’d framed herself very well to look like she was in the middle of some profoundly deep contemplation.

He stepped up beside her and leaned against the railing before he spoke “Why aren’t you shopping with the rest of the girls?”

“I’ve expanded my wardrobe fairly recently, so getting more for myself would just be wasteful. Besides, I’m not especially fashionable. In there Epsilon and Gamma will manage the rest of them much better than I would. Why didn’t you go? I’m certain everyone would want...a man’s perspective”

“Between Alexia, Claire and Rose, I don’t think I couldn’t take another round of ‘do I look good in this?’. If Mitsugoshi wasn’t making me so much money I think I’d have burned it to the ground by now.”

Alpha laughed softly which gave Cid time to consider how much of a joke that actually was. It would be more accurate to say he would deploy a small scale nuclear strike on it.

“So did Beatrix tell you she’s quitting the Crimson Order?” Cid asked.

“Yes, she’s planning on applying for a teaching position at the academy, so we’ll all be calling her instructor Beatrix soon”.

“That’ll be nice. I might actually learn something in my fencing lessons” It would only be a little something but that was still an improvement on the norm “How are things going with you two?”

“Very well. She’s been trying to see to the gaps in my education, so I’m prepared for the future” she gave him a wry smile “She does let me handle most of the studying by myself, but it’s difficult to remember exactly how much I’m supposed to know. It’s not too bad though, and I do genuinely enjoy the time I spend with her outside of lessons, like when we went to see the academy tournament together”.

After a short pause she continued. “I should apologise for how I acted when you came to warn me she was coming. It was wrong of me to lose my temper with you like that”.

“It’s no big deal. I was pretty shocked though, I don’t think I’ve seen you that angry before outside of a real battle”. He gave her a chance to speak up but she stayed silent (again)“If you do want to tell me about it, you can if you want” This had been bugging him ever since Beatrix showed up. He supposed both he and Alpha had mysterious pasts he wanted to unravel.

“Are you that curious?” she asked teasingly.

“Yes. I like being the one making mysteries, not being stuck in the dark. Tell you what, if you tell me about it, I’ll tell you a secret about me, something only one other person knows?”

It kind of ruins our dynamic of the Eminence in Shadow and his closest confidant if we’re both keeping secrets from each other. About important stuff. Unimportant things that might make her think I’m cringe are a totally different case.

While Alpha was considering he realised that actually Baron Kagenou and his wife, his own actual parents, the king, the emperor and a few members of their staff’s would also know about his adoption. He would just have to say he meant ‘in shadow garden’ if Alpha called him on it.

“I…” she started “don’t really like talking about it, rather obviously, and it’s all in the past. I don’t think there’s any point”.

Damn. Guess I lost this time.

“But, if I’m still this angry about it, and I find it difficult to talk about it with anyone, even with you, then it must still have some power over me. I don’t like the thought of that” she continued.

Yes.

The slight edge in Alpha’s voice disappeared as she started to speak in a tone as calm as still water.

“My childhood was...unremarkable. My parents were very strict and demanded a great deal of effort in my lessons, but I loved that they cared so much, and seeing their pride whenever I accomplished something made me feel like it was all worth it. Even though most of my time was spent studying, or practicing swordsmanship and magic, or being told when and how to speak on formal occasions, I was somehow mostly happy with my life.”

“Then, like everyone else in Shadow Garden, I started to notice black bruises all over my body. Little ones at first, and I initially thought they were just normal bumps and scrapes, but they never went away and in just a day or two I noticed more of them, and that the ones I already had were expanding.”

“I was somewhat...dumbstruck by it. I kept thinking back to this time I’d snuck out to explore the forest. There was this little bog and I was cutting it close to make it back home unnoticed, so rather than go around the safe way I tried to climb across this log that spanned it. It snapped and I fell in, I didn’t break anything but I remember it being very painful. I crawled out and cried for a few minutes before limping home. I wasn’t well received when I finally made it back.”

“Everything was fine, then a second later I was in pain and covered in filth. When I realized I was possessed it felt like my whole life fell into that bog. I never told my parents, I knew how important it was to them that I was...immaculate. Since I kept it to myself I think I must have understood them a little bit, even at that stage”.

“I pretended to be sick and holed up in my room for a couple of days, just acting like I was tired and weak and kept having to run to the bathroom, hiding myself under the covers as much as I could. I kept holding onto the hope that my illness wasn’t what I knew it was. That I wasn’t going to rot away to nothing or be put down by the church. Then when I woke up on the third day of my isolation I was in so much pain I didn’t care what my parents would do anymore, so I tried to call out for help, to confess myself, but my voice didn’t work. I tried to write down a message, but I couldn’t make the letters go straight”.

She let out a humourless chuckle. “That’s exactly what I thought at the time, what that means is I couldn’t figure out how to write words properly anymore. That might have been the scariest part of the whole thing, until that point anyway, that I could feel my mind wearing away and there was nothing I could do about it”.

“There was a mirror in my room and when I saw myself, I would have thought a monster got in, if it wasn’t exactly where I was supposed to be. I understood someone else might think the same thing and attack me in the halls, so I knocked the door as loudly as I could to get attention and crawled back into bed, and waited for help to come. Eventually my mother came and it went exactly as you’d expect. Screaming, crying, my father being sent for and having the same reaction, it’s what anyone would do in that situation. What came next was the interesting part”.

“My parents couldn’t have it. Possession runs in the blood and they couldn’t have one of the accursed so closely associated to their lineage. They waited a week, while I rotted into something ever more ugly, stupid and wracked with pain until some human traders passed through. They were smugglers my father bought things from to save money on import taxes, and he told them I was some sort of rare, mutant creature they found in the forest. I think the smugglers were planning to put me on display in a carnival or something of that sort, my memories of that time aren’t entirely clear”.

Alpha’s voice continued in that perfectly calm, almost dead voice, but Cid felt his grip on the railing tighten without really meaning to do it.

“So they brought me across the border into Midgar and I ended up in Baron Kagenou’s domain for a while. Then you found me and made me back into a person. My parents told everyone I ran away, but I think one of the staff must have discovered I was possessed and sent a message to the church. However they found out, a team was sent to take me in and found nothing but my parents and a few poorly faked bits of evidence for my escape. The inquisitors thought…” she laughed again, this time sincerely “they thought my parents sent me into hiding for my protection. They arrested them, interrogated them for hours and finally executed them on charges of heresy”.

That was...dark. Like what do you even say to that.

“That’s...appropriate” he offered.

“It is, isn’t it, but for some reason I’m still not satisfied. They died a horrible death, and they were disgraced for hiding me and breaking the treaty between Car’veil and the church, but I think I’m still as angry as I would be if they got away with it. I don’t know why”.

Goddammit, why do I do this to myself.

He’d asked her to tell him this story, and while a ballerina figurine would have envied her unshakable poise, he’d known her long enough to know he couldn’t leave it there.

“I’m not really an expert in this sort of thing, but maybe you needed to settle things with them yourself, or maybe you never really accepted what happened?” It was mostly just based on slogan’s he’d seen on pamphlets at school and a couple of TV psychiatrists.

“What does that mean? Of course I accept it happened, I lived through it didn’t I?” While not angry, there was a hint of agitation in her voice again.

Okay, that seems to have touched a nerve. For this sort of thing I’m pretty sure that means I’m on the right track.

“Well, even if you accepted what happened, do you accept why it happened?”

“Yes, because my parents were a selfish, self-absorbed La-Ru”

There were a couple of options from here. He envisioned them lying written out on a table with Beta standing close behind him. He threw the knife.

“I mean the whole thing, not just the part with your parents. What did you think at the time?”

“I didn’t know why it happened to me, wait, maybe because I was one of the heroes descendents”

“You only found that out when you met me a month later. What did you think before that?”

“I thought...I thought that… what the church said was true. I thought that I was cursed, and that there was something wrong about me”.

Getting closer, getting closer.

“But there wasn’t. You’re as close to perfect as anyone I’ve ever met and something went wrong anyway. You were unlucky”. Sometimes he wished she wasn’t as sharp as she was, it made pretending he knew everything a real pain sometimes.

She flushed, flicking her hair back in agitation “Ultimately, it was because I was one of the heroes descendents!”

Bingo

“So was Beatrix, your mother, and maybe your father too. Almost everyone in Shadow Garden has close relatives who didn’t get the curse. Even if it was decided the day you were born, it would still really just be bad luck that day playing out eleven years later”.

It took her a long time to figure out what to say to that “That’s rather hard to accept, that my life was almost destroyed entirely because of one unfortunate turn I could do nothing to avoid. Rather frightening actually.” She paused and he left her to her thoughts. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence.

“Did you mean what you said? About me being perfect, I mean”.

Oh thank god, a chance to change the topic. I’ve been sitting on this lore drop for a while and it’s coming in clutch right now.

“Do you know what your name means Alpha?” Alpha gave a small shake of her head.

“It’s a letter from an old language. All of the names given to Shadow Garden members come from it, excluding Victoria’s. Yours is the first character, but it has another meaning as well. It came to mean the strongest in a group or the commander, something like what Delta would call a pack-leader. I didn’t know it when I gave it to you, but the name suits you. There’s a reason you’re at the top of Shadow Garden, and that I mostly just leave you do whatever you whatever you want as the second-in-command. It’s because there’s nothing you can’t do if you set your mind to it”.

“Nothing I can’t do?”. Alpha barely whispered the words but he could make them out clearly. She’d been moving closer to him for a little while and now his eyes were just a couple of inches from her sky blue ones. If she were anyone else he’d probably tell them to mind his personal space.

Alpha jumped away as if she’d been slapped when the door to the lounge burst open and the rest of Shadow Garden stepped into the room, laden with bags of new clothes and other Mitsugoshi products.

Beta set her haul down and pulled the sliding glass door open to talk with them. “We finally made it back. It’s a shame you didn’t come Lord Shadow. I’m certain we would have all benefited from your wisdom”.

Fat chance of that.

“I had other things I needed to do”.

“Well, we’re just going to relax for a while before dinner, unless either of you have any requests. After that we’re going to see a movie at the cineyma. It’s an adaptation of my book ‘A Holiday Ballad’”

Cid strained not to remind her it was his (Charles Dickens) story.

Sorry buddy, it’s for a good cause. We really are stopping a demon cult.

“That’s great. Could you please give us a moment Beta?” Alpha asked coolly.

Beta nodded and shrank back before closing the door, sensing the displeasure beneath Alpha’s courteous tone.

“Have you seen a movie before?”

“No. this will be my first time.” she grabbed his arm just as he was about to head back inside. “So tell me, what’s your secret. The one only one person other knows”.

“Oh, I was adopted” He’d been so invested in her story he forgot his own part of the deal. He mentally kicked himself over dropping the reveal so carelessly without the proper dramatic framing.

“How is that possible? You and Claire have a fairly strong family resemblance.”

He gave her a quick run down of what he’d been able to discover (excepting his biological father’s semi-chuuni delusion that he was descended from magic god, if she though he was trying to brag about that he’d look so lame) and his plan to investigate it after the Bushin festival with Epsilon.

“Do you want me to have someone else investigate this immediately. If your busy I can arrange for…”

“No! I need to investigate this myself. It’s a family matter”. He absolutely could not let anyone steal his mysterious origin arc out from under him.

“I understand, I’ll leave this matter to your discretion and join Nu in her silence. It seems we all owe thanks to Baron Kagenou, his cowardice let us avoid the rather unfortunate incident of you marrying Claire” she joked.

“Well, it’s more like I owe him” Cid remarked, then Alpha’s eyes widened slightly “I mean, I guess it would have been more difficult to move around and meet up with you guys, but you’d have been fine”.

“Naturally, I just misspoke. We should get going now, we’ve held up the others for long enough as it is.”

What a dark, tragic backstory. Betrayed by those closest to you and put through abysmal conditions until saved and trained by a mysterious mentor. How luc...

Something about that thought was so repulsive to him he cut it off before it could complete, pushed it forcefully from his mind and stepped back into the lounge.

He was soon distracted as he realized his game of ‘do I look good in this?’ had only been shortened and had a venue change, it had not been entirely cancelled.

---

The movie, Alpha decided, was an enjoyable and well made piece of entertainment. That said, what was happening to her immediate right was grating on her ability to enjoy the feature.

It had started innocently enough, Zeta (who she was sure was acting in Epsilon’s interest) had hesitated in the doorway, blocking everyone behind Epsilon and Shadow from taking their places and allowing her to snag the spot to his right. Alpha deliberately took the place to his left while everyone else settled for seats further away.

Things had been going fine until Cid had whispered that the cinema would be popular as a date spot (which had seemed curious to her given the general impetus not to talk and the constant draw of focus away from the person beside you). Epsilon asked for a demonstration of what he meant at which point Cid gave a very fake yawn, moving his arms over his head and settling one of them around Epsilon’s shoulders as it descended.

Epsilon had giggled, whispered “smoothly done, master” and leaned across her chair to rest her head on his chest. “I get what you mean now. Couples are going to love this”. He’d seemed nonplussed at that, but didn’t make any attempt to shift her off himself. To Alpha’s growing frustration, they hadn’t moved from the position for the last half hour.

A few hours ago she wouldn’t have cared if Epsilon sat on his lap (significantly, anyway), but she’d made a shocking discovery about Shadow in their last conversation that reframed her entire understanding of the conflict.

He had no idea that every girl in this room was in love with him.

He’d always acted that way, but she’d always assumed that he, like her, hid his feelings on the matter from the rest of the group to prevent conflict. When he said only he should be grateful to Baron Kagenou for preventing his marriage to Claire, he’d confirmed that wasn’t the case.

It didn’t seem possible, but she supposed he must have some weakness. It was as if the universe demanded he have some flaw to make him mortal, and his was an inability to determine the feelings of the opposite sex. It was hardly anything compared to his boundless intellect and unbelievable power, but it was the only time she’d ever been completely sure he was mistaken.

That meant he could realize at any time and make a snap decision, and she wasn’t even sure she would be considered. Unlike Epsilon, who would probably mount him on the stage of a packed stadium if it meant she could have him, Alpha had to show restraint as the leader.

That’s not entirely fair. You’ve never liked making a public spectacle of your emotions, leader or not.

Knowing that didn’t mean she was pleased with the situation. A better, (more private) chance would come in a few weeks when she took the place Beatrix had opened up for her. She just had to be patient.

Chapter Text

A Beautiful Friendship

Cid was tempted to keep his eyes shut, but it felt as though the light poking through the curtains was physically jabbing into them, and eventually he could take it no longer. He dragged himself up his pillows and took in the absolute state of his bed. The covers were sprawled as if an animal had been trapped under them and tried to dig up to freedom, the bottom of the bedsheet was stained red from spilled wine and there there was some sort of dark blue string like object sprawled across the floor just past the corner of the bed.

As he positioned himself higher and looked down he could see the object was actually Gamma’s hair, and given the position she was in, it looked like she’d fallen off his bed. Panic beginning to rise in him, Cid pulled up the covers and peeked down to his underwear (the only thing he’d done to get ready for bed the night before had been taking off his pants).

Oh thank god.

He was still on that sigma grindset. His throat was so dry he was tempted to swallow the rest of the half-drained wine glass on the night-stand, but practicing self control, he spent the next minute filtering the alcohol out of his system and resetting his body back to it’s default state.

He got up and put his pants back on before heading downstairs to assess the damage the others had caused. Epsilon was lying on her back, fully dressed and draped over the piano, while Alpha and Beta were nestled into couches, Eta was nowhere to be seen. A couple of pillows were ripped open and an armchair was missing a leg, but everything else was fine. After a quick peek in the lower bedrooms he saw Delta and Zeta cuddled up together.

He heard light footsteps behind him and saw Epsilon had woken up and was walking over to him. She almost started talking before he heald two fingers up to his mouth to shush her. Delta twitched slightly.

We can’t waste this opportunity.

He pointed to the disposable camera on the table, then to Epsilon, then held his hands as if ready to catch a ball. Getting the message she tiptoed over to the table, collected the camera and then tossed it to him.

The flash woke both beastkin girls, but it was already mission accomplished at that point.

They’re never going to live this down.

Last night had been a once in a lifetime event. Beta had lamented that most groups of friends had gotten drunk together at least once, but they never had. Eta had pointed out he couldn’t get drunk due to his poison resistance skill while looking at him mournfully.

“I guess I could drop it for one night, if Eta promises not to drug or poison me”.

Eta expression had actually grown more regretful “Fine. Wouldn’t have worked anyway...too many witnesses”.

After a brief lecture from Alpha about how Eta shouldn’t try to drug/poison any of her allies, they’d had a few drinks and everything went fine initially. Things only really got out of hand after he spent an hour telling Beta about telephones, then lectured Eta on the plot of to kill a mocking bird and the Pokemon anime, he was pretty sure he mixed some elements of both of those stories in the retelling (he was pretty sure the main character of Pokemon wasn’t called Scout, and that the lawyer in to kill a mocking bird didn’t shoot a rabid Suicune, but who really cared, a rose by any other name right?)

Then uhh, Alpha got into an argument with her chair because it was being too loud, Delta and Zeta holed up in Delta’s bedroom to plot world domination (he could have sworn Zeta shouted that Delta was a genius at one point) while Beta was trying to move...something (he couldn’t remember exactly what) across the room. She didn’t seem to realize she could carry it and kept tossing it a few feet, picking it up, then tossing it again.

He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten upstairs, or how everyone else ended up in their current positions, but it wasn’t exactly a mystery.

“Wagh. BOSS-MAN”. Delta cried out “You’re being mean, Delta’s head hurts and the light hurts more”. She shouted at him before remembering the full implications of who she was talking too and shrinking back “I mean…”

“Woofy, please, I’m begging you, stop being so loud” Zeta croaked as she tried to enclose herself more completely with her pillow and covers. “Apologies, Master. Can I have a couple of minutes?”

Cid, feeling more empathetic than usual moved into a position he could easily reach both girls and set his hands on them to begin the healing.

He stepped out to give them a little privacy to get ready and saw Epsilon and Alpha had fully recovered themselves and were not tending to Beta and Eta (she’d curled up under the piano, it seemed). Deciding there was nothing better to do, he climbed back up the stairs and started tending to Gamma.

“L,Lord Shadow, what...what happened”.

“We...maybe took things a little to far last night. You alright now?”

“Yes, I’m fine now, thanks to you” she said as he pulled her back to her feet.

Sad to say, this wasn’t the first (or even the fifth) time he’d pulled Gamma up off the floor this vacation.

While most of the vacation had been spent either with the whole group or a subset of them, he had gotten a little one-on-one time with each of his friends: walking along a nature trail with Alpha, helping Beta with her new story (she wanted to know all the things that annoyed him about Alexia and Rose for inspiration), working on a couple of new (really cool) new slime-suit applications with Epsilon, hunting with Delta, fishing with Zeta and napping on the beach beds with Eta (she said if she couldn’t experiment, it was the best use of her time).

Gamma’s request had been slightly more involved.

“I’ve been invited to a ball at the royal palace and I’m unable to refuse, it could be seen as a slight to the crown and Mitsugoshi isn’t powerful enough to get away with that just yet. If I do go I’ll be expected to dance, and I’m not confident I’ll be able to properly represent Mitsugoshi without getting some more practice”

Gamma accidentality injuring/killing the king or one of his ministers on the dance floor was such a serious threat to Mitsugoshi’s finances, he was able to work up some motivation to try and teach Gamma a physical skill again and took her to the ballroom that afternoon to rehearse.

“Before we begin, there’s one thing you have to do first. Take those off” he had said, pointing to her high-heeled feet. “Why do you even wear those things?”

“They’re fashionable, and as the head of Mitsugoshi I feel I should use the products we’re selling to the public. Besides, I’ll never get used to them if I stop wearing them” Gamma said calmly.

He appreciated her commitment to aesthetics, but if she wanted to improve quickly she needed to use every tool she had on hand. “It’ll hurt a lot less if we step on each others feet without shoes on, and if you want to keep your balance, I’d recommend sticking to flats the night of”. Gamma reluctantly undid the straps of her heels and set them aside while Cid kicked off his own shoes and socks “It’s not like you need the extra height”. She was the tallest of the shades, if you didn’t count Zeta's ears. Either way, she was almost exactly eye level with him without her heels on.

Gamma nodded, then moved to the centre of the hall while Cid set the needle to the record. He took his own place in front of her and set one hand to her shoulder and the other on her hip.

“I’ve taught you most of this before with the others, so it’s not like you’re starting from scratch”. Admittedly, the experience of those lessons was probably why Gamma was nervous about the upcoming public outing. “I think there are a couple of new dances in style now we didn’t go over, but it still shouldn’t take too much time”. Gamma gave him a nervous nod and they starting gliding across the dark-wood floor.

It took much longer than he thought it would. Many...interesting things happened whenever he relaxed his grip, the most common being Gamma either spinning onto the floor or when in combination with taking his eye off her for a second, her ending up out of position halfway across the room. One particular spin resulted in her footprint being left on the ceiling. As always, he wasn’t quite sure how she was managing most of it.

He was a big enough man to admit it would have been really funny if it wasn’t his job to solve the problem.

After a particularly theatrical fall that thankfully didn’t leave her nose bleeding he took her off to the side for a moment. He was seriously tempted to just tell her to wrap her foot in a cast and claim she broke it, but shadowy mentor figures weren’t meant to take easy outs.

“Okay, I’m not entirely sure what’s happening. What do you think the problem is?” Asking Gamma to solve her own problem wasn’t exactly his proudest shadow-sensei moment, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

“I don’t know. It’s just...sometimes I’m looking at you, or planning out my next steps, or trying to use the music to figure out where I should be, and then I’m taking the wrong step, or I’ve already made a mistake”.

“Okay, you might be overthinking this, but I have one idea that might work”.

Gamma essentially had no instinct, which crippled her as a fighter. Dancing used a certain amount of natural instinct or grace, but since dancing was essentially a routine that could be memorized exactly, he could use Gamma’s intelligence to compensate and just have her memorize every step in order along with the exact timings.

It was similar to the “SWISH, SWISH, SWISH” school of swordsmanship he’d taught her. He got her to say that out loud to keep her timing consistent; one swing, one step, one “SWISH”. Alpha said that had reduced her trip chance by almost 70%. Thinking back to that failure still inflicted significant emotional and spiritual damage on him, but giving her anything like a fighting style had been a Helen Keller-esque bit of miracle work, in retrospect.

And so, the “STEP, STEP, STEP” school of dance was formed. One that relied purely on completing a routine by rote, with no consideration paid to her own instincts, the music or her dance partner. It still took a while, but when she was able to get through five songs without a single stumble he figured it was time to call it a day.

“Alright I think we’re done here, if you need any more practice you can ask one of the numbers. Oh, and remember this only works if your partner follows along exactly, so avoid anyone with two left feet”.

“So soon, don’t we have time for one more?”

“Gamma, it’s been almost five hours, it’s dark outside right now” he pointed to the pitch-black window to prove his point.

“Oh” she blurted out “I was having so much fun I didn’t notice”.

Is she secretly a masochist or something, I mean she’s had to clean blood off her nose three times this afternoon. I’m pretty sure it broke after that headstand looking move she pulled off.

“I’m gonna grab dinner. If there’s any dance you think you need help with we could maybe practice for a quick half hour tomorrow”.

She had dragged him back the next day, and got through the whole mini-session with only one tumble onto her backside, which had been triggered by a shrieking noise from outside.

Eta had dissected some local sea monster Delta had dragged to shore, and after finishing her work she had dumped what was left of the carcass in the nearest spot out of sight. This had lead to a somewhat traumatic experience for Epsilon and Beta who had reached up to a high shelf without looking to pull down a guide map (planning on a trip to the small village a few miles down the coast and meeting the locals), only to pull their hands back to find them covered in day old entrails.

They’d ran to Alpha, who then set Eta to cleaning the shelf with a toothbrush. Eta had tried appealing to Zeta to use her special privileges, but Zeta had refused and left Alpha to manage the situation.

Once his final lesson with Gamma was over she thanked him, almost exactly as she was doing now.

“Thank you m-Cid. I don’t think there will be any problems at the ball, thanks to you”.

“The money Mitsugoshi makes is essential to me-us. I appreciate your dedication, working on this in the middle of your vacation”.

“I could hardly call it work, learning this with you has been very enjoyable. I just wish the ball itself would be half as satisfying as the last couple of days have been”

That was just yesterday afternoon. Gamma seemed no more unsteady than usual as they headed downstairs to meet back up with the others. While looking a little worse for wear they were all dressed and at attention when he stepped to the centre of the room.

“Everyone okay?”

They all said some variation of yes (Eta just nodded).

“Then you’ve got an hour to get ready, report to the lobby when preparations are complete”.

He’d decided their last day should be spent on training together, since it was what they used to do whenever they were together in the past.

I should also have some idea of how strong everyone else is now.

Cid headed back upstairs to his own bathroom to take a shower and get changed. Then he most of the next hour flicking through magazines he’d picked up in the lobby. He got a real kick out of the fact that Mitsugoshi was apparently being contracted to rebuild part of the capital he’d IAA’d.

Partly because it was cooler that way and partly because he lost track of time, everyone else was already waiting in their slime suits by the time he got to the lobby.

“Okay, I think we should start with a game of spotter through the hotel to practice evasion and detection, then move onto the beach for combat practice”.

“That seems wise. Sparring will be the most physically demanding task, so it’s best left until the end” Alpha reasoned.

‘Spotter’ was a game he’d made up years ago trying to modify hide-and-seek into a training exercise. Two players were hunters and the rest were prey. The hunters counted at a starting position (the objective), and then had to find the prey players. Once spotted, the prey was considered caught once the hunter got back to the objective and said their name (which was basically having the bell rung by the guards in a stealth mission). The prey were considered safe if they got past the hunters and touched the objective (which trained slipping past guards to reach objective stealthily). If the prey realized they’d been spotted, both parties would mad dash for the objective and it was just a race to see who got there first (which usually favoured the hunter as they were almost always closer).

To make it interesting, he decided to set scores (each objective and capture counted as one point each), and they would play four times to let everyone have a shot of being the hunter. He decided to pair up with Gamma since it was only fair to give himself a handicap and he was for some reason in a Gamma mood. They managed to catch everyone except Zeta. Between his physical skills and Gamma’s knowledge of the complex (and ability to determine the optimal search pattern) they swept the first round despite her clumsiness.

Alpha and Delta were next, and they caught everyone except him. He rushed down to the sea and took a quick dip before hiding in an attempt to hide his scent right at the beginning, but it was pointless (her nose was too strong and located everyone’s hiding spots without issue). He managed to overtake her on the stairs by climbing over the rail and letting go, then quickly grabbing on three floors down and pulling himself up just ahead of her.

Beta and Zeta let him, Alpha and Epsilon pass, while capturing Delta, Gamma and Eta. Neither of them had talents especially useful to the game excepting Zeta’s heightened senses, and experience was making the prey better while the hunters were always new. Zeta might have also been a little salty about Delta’s ‘enthusiastic’ capture of her in the round before, and her resulting tunnel vision might have aided rest of the players.

Finally Epsilon and Eta had the most prey make it to safety, but distinguished themselves as the only team that managed to catch him specifically (along with Gamma). They had prepared a small blockade behind one of the doors he was counting on using to get ahead of them, so they ended up being able to out him. It was a clever use of the environment to win, but he probably shouldn’t have allowed them to mess up the furniture.

That left the score screen looking like:

Cid-7

Alpha-7

Beta-4

Gamma-5

Delta-6

Epsilon-3

Zeta-6

Eta-3

Cid and Alpha being the two winners didn’t surprise anyone, and Eta couldn’t have cared less about losing the game but Epsilon seemed disappointed in herself as they walked down to the beach. Not that she was acting moody, but her good cheer seemed forced as they went. Alpha took charge and started assigning Epsilon to partner with Beta when she spoke up in protest.

“Come on Alpha, I must have fought Beta at least fifty times in these things. Shouldn’t we mix things up a bit. I mean, we’ll get into bad habits if we don’t have practice fighting more than one kind of opponent”.

Alpha seemed mildly amused by Epsilon’s comment “Okay, how would you assign the teams then?”

“You against Zeta and Gamma, Eta against Beta and me against Delta”.

“Epsilon” Alpha warned.

“Why do you want to fight Delta? Is Epsilon still mad?” Delta asked worriedly.

“No, not at all”. Epsilon replied serenely.

Alpha looked to Cid and he shrugged, he was pretty sure she was being legit.

“Very well, since you’re so eager you can go first”.

---

I’m not afraid. I can fail as long as I can try again. I’m not afraid.

Those thoughts kept circling Epsilon’s mind as she walked to the cross that marked her starting position for this practice bout. A large circle had been dug into the sand to mark the bounds of an arena, and the fight would be over when one of them surrendered, got knocked out of the ring, or physically couldn’t continue any longer. Forcing Delta over the line was realistically 90% of her chance to win.

“Why’d you want to fight Delta? You know Delta’s stronger than you right?” Delta called out from her own starting point.

“I know. Believe me. I wouldn’t have wanted to fight you if you weren’t”. Epsilon’s advantages against the stronger, faster, more aggressive and more magically powerful (in terms of capacity, she was the worst in terms of control) were few and she knew it.

“Is this another thing about Epsilon being the stupid one?” Delta asked the insulting question with what she knew was sincere innocence.

“No, it’s because…” She was cut off by Eta’s air-horn blasting into the ring, signalling the start of their battle.

Delta rushed forward, not yet drawing that slab she called a sword and relying instead on her slime coated claws.

Couldn’t just make it easy for me could you.

Delta was holding back. As counter intuitive as it seemed, the best way she could see to win was to have the other girl thoughtlessly charge at her in a blind rage. Which meant her objective at this point was to piss her off.

Hurray for strategy.

She fired off small bursts of concentrated magical energy and started to move back. She retreated in an almost circular motion, following the line of the arena from a few paces away. The first of her advantages was the fact that Delta had no long range attack to counter her barrage.

Delta advanced and steadily drew closer. Even if Epsilon wasn’t back-pedalling she wouldn’t have been able to outrun her opponent. Most of her shots were deflected or dodged but a couple hit their mark and Delta growled in frustration as the projectiles pounded into her.

Inevitably, the point where retreating failed to work was reached, and she had to draw her sword to defend herself. Her next advantage was her greater control over the slime suit.

She tried to throw Delta off balance by quickly changing directions and rushing forwards immediately after her long retreat, but Delta’s instincts were sharp and she swatted the thrust away easily before beginning her own attack.

Epsilon tried to sidestep the blows as much as possible, but the slashing claws came on so fast she had no option but to block a few of the swipes. If she hadn’t been ready for the sheer force used her blade would have flown out of her hands without a doubt. As it was her fingers ached from the strain of keeping a grip on the sword, and it was hard not to wince every time she had to put it between her and Delta. She needed to wait, to let Delta get into a rhythm before attempting the next step.

Almost time.

When Delta next swiped she dropped the sword mid-swing and put her hand onto Delta’s knee. There was a brief flash of light and then she grabbed onto the falling hilt of her blade and prepared for impact. Delta’s strike sent her flying, but she’d positioned herself to not be knocked out of bounds before she’d picked this moment to strike.

Epsilon rolled gracefully to her feet and started firing again. Delta tried to charge, then fell over. Epsilon charged the next shot for when Delta inevitably looked down at her leg and fired. Delta looked down at her knee, which had been locked straight by her own slime suit, then was blasted back by Epsilon’s shot. She’d stumbled, but had not been tossed into the air as Epsilon had a few moments earlier. She was still in the ring.

Not like I really expected that to work, but a quick and easy win would have been nice.

She charged another show and launched it when Delta stopped to rip the rigid slime coating her knee with her teeth. The shot hit, but it was mostly mitigated as Delta held out an arm between her body and the magical bolt. It probably hurt, but didn’t do any critical damage.

When Delta rose to her feet she was snarling furiously, meaning that phase one was finally over.

As Delta charged her this time, instead of trying to dodge any of the shots Epsilon sent her way she just ignored the pain, in too much of a battle frenzy to notice the hits or too frustrated to delay reaching Epsilon for the fractions of seconds it would have taken to evade.

I’m not afraid.

The slab was out now and she was sending viscous two handed blows her way. They wouldn’t be fatal but any one of them would either blast her out of the ring or hurt her too badly to continue.

Probably both, honestly.

Blocking directly was out of the question, so she was either had to evade the strikes or in the worst cases, attempt to parry. She could shift the direction of a blow by a few degrees without stopping the motion of the brutal weapon.

It was hard, but easier than Epsilon had imagined it would be. While Delta was faster and stronger, her wild swings and heavy weapon meant she was partly wasting both qualities. The wasted motion allowed Epsilon’s inferior speed to keep up with the beastkin girl.

If she’d stuck with the claws, I’d be done already.

That being said, Delta also had more stamina and Epsilon was starting to tire already. She’d seen enough of Delta fighting to know she could keep it up for hours, even injured, until the work was done. Even though she would crash and spend the whole next day sleeping and licking her wounds to recover her energy, that particular weakness wouldn’t be any help.

It was time to use her final trick, the one she and Cid had worked on this vacation. She attempted another parry, then pretended to retract her slime sword while wrapping the light around it. While Delta thought she was safe and wound up a heavy overhead smash, Epsilon jabbed forward with the now invisible slime sword as swiftly as a striking snake, right at Delta’s face.

Even if the sword hadn’t been blunted it wouldn’t have been a fatal injury for the other girl, but for perhaps the first time in Epsilon’s life, Delta staggered from one of her sword strikes. Her nose was bleeding, she wasn’t sure if she’d broken it or not.

Epsilon ran back and started firing again, this was the moment and she wouldn’t get a better one. As she reached the edge of the ring she saw Delta had launched herself at her, then Epsilon purposefully fell over to the side. Using the slime suit to make herself invisible as she threw herself to the ground. Delta’s face was flying over her own.

I did it, I…

Something tightened around her translucent forearm and she went spinning in a heap with Delta over the line of the ring, the two knocking against each other again and again as they rolled over and over through the sand, Delta refusing to let go of her opponent.

She was still visibly angry when she came to a stop looming over Epsilon, but when she held up her free hand to indicate surrender Delta calmed down shockingly quickly. She put a hand on Delta’s face and started magically repairing her damaged nose.

I suppose Gamma and Delta should be happy healing this sets it back to it’s normal position.

“Yay, Delta won”.

“Actually, I’d say that was more of a tie. You both went out of the ring at pretty much the same time”. Cid and Alpha had moved over to bring them back to the rest of the group.

“Aww” Delta pouted.

“I think Delta’s right, Lord Shadow. In a real fight she would’ve won” It was regrettable, but not untrue.

“You both would have done things differently in a real fight. Take your draw Epsilon, you earned it.” Alpha settled the matter decisively before continuing “How did you do all of that with the slime suit?”

“It’s my specialty” She tried to respond indifferently, but it was hard as she was panting from exertion and had suddenly become very conscious of the fact she was a sand covered mess. “I thought I’d save trying to teach everyone for later. It would have ruined the trip if I turned it into a slime tutorial”.

Alpha was not happy with that answer, she could be a real killjoy “See that you do. These techniques could be very useful to us in the future. Head back to the seats and have a rest, I’ll be fighting Gamma and Zeta in a minute.” and with that she walked over to the (now barely visible) starting mark.

Cid walked ahead and Delta moved to catch up with him, but Epsilon reached out and pulled her back by her wrist “About what you asked before, I wanted to fight you because I’m not afraid of you”.

Delta smiled at that, then seemed a little concerned “You maybe should be a little...nervous about fighting Delta though. Delta’s still stronger than you”.

“Whatever” she said casually. She was pretty sure she could reach over and slap the other girl right now and not get hurt.

---

Rose was as apprehensive sitting opposite Claire in the small cafe she’d picked for this conversation as she had been standing opposite her in the stadium. It was only natural, Cid and her future with him had become essential things to Rose, so it was unavoidable she’d care deeply about being able to work things out with his sister.

“Thank you for coming. Have you been enjoying your vacation?”

“It’s been alright” Claire responded brusquely. Before the tournament she’d been polite on the few occasions they’d talked but ever since she’d been ill-tempered, and after the attack on the academy she’d become openly combative. She would still try to solve the issue diplomatically.

“I have the impression that you don’t care for me very much, it may just be my own…”

“No, you’re absolutely right about that.” Claire interrupted casually.

“W,Well” The honesty (savagery) of the statement took her back somewhat, but she proceeded regardless, “I know I defeated you in the tournament, but that was a fair duel so I don’t think you should be…”

“It’s not about that. You hurt Cid in the tournament, then he almost died during the terrorist attack saving you, and now you just hold his hand and skip through the corridors with him, like none of that ever happened.”

Don’t get distracted by the thought of skipping through the halls with Cid. You can daydream about that later.

“I know that. I didn’t understand his feelings back then and he was hurt because of it. I feel terrible whenever I think about that, but...that’s why I have to return his feelings. Because he’s such a brave and caring man, he deserves to be happy. I don’t think it’s wrong for me to try and make him happy, and I never will!”.

She hadn’t meant to become so heated. Claire gave her an incredulous look before shaking her head in annoyance “Either way, your father isn’t going to let things stand like this for too long is he? Have you even told him about Cid?”

“No, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I know Cid is an incredible person, and I want the rest of the world, and my father, to see that so I can be with him forever, but I need your help to do that. Please help me Claire”.

Rose bowed her head to the girl sitting across from her, though it was the etiquette equivalent of blasphemy given the differences in their stations.

Claire froze for a second upon hearing that, then she reached across the table and clasped Rose’s hand in both of hers before asking in a tremulous voice.

“What are your five favourite things about Cid?”

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Chapter Text

Shadow vs Shadow Garden

Beta and Eta’s match was finally winding down to Beta’s victory as Epsilon looked on. Their match had dragged for a while, and if Epsilon was being honest, she was bored. Eta would probably be the better fighter if she put in any effort in, but with nothing to motivate her she trudged through the battle half asleep.

Alpha’s match with Zeta and Gamma had been more entertaining, both faster paced and harder fought. In a spectacular (though unsurprising) turn of events, Alpha won. She’d pulled Zeta away from Gamma, then when both girls expected her to circle back on Gamma, she immediately focused on driving Zeta out of the ring so she could deal with Gamma alone. Gamma had tried to run to her teammates aid, but the fact that Gamma was trying to run anywhere meant they’d already lost.

Eta finally fell out of the makeshift arena, falling onto her back in such a comfortable position Epsilon was sure the fall had been at least partly her own design. She spent about a minute there to ‘catch her breath’, then got up to walk back to the rest of the group.

Cid stood up and called “Alright, everyone come here. There’s one last thing before we head back to the hotel”.

Oh no.

It was going to be one of those events.

“It’s time for Shadow vs Shadow Garden. Since we’ll need more space, let’s just use the whole beach and change the rules to falling over counting as a knock out”.

As Epsilon looked over the rest of the team, she could see Eta’s enthusiasm had emerged, her eyes were no longer half-closed, but staring intently at Cid. The rest of the group seemed apprehensive until Alpha assumed command “Understood, Can we have a minute to strategise?”.

There was only determination in her voice, with no hint of the fear that gripped her teammates, and the calm order seemed to settle everyone down a little.

She’s never been the leader just because she’s the strongest, or because she was the first.

“Yeah, it’ll be better that way”. Cid started walking away from them, giving a small backhand wave as he went.

“Eta, why are you so excited about this?” Epsilon whispered as they waited for him to get out of earshot. As useful as the training was, being defeated every time was demoralizing, and usually painful in some way.

“Might learn something...from this battle”. Eta replied.

Harsh, but fair. Beta’s not the most inventive fighter.

Eta’s approach was very similar to their master’s, fastidiously cutting down on all unnecessary movement, though she would describe his approach as efficient while Eta’s was closer to laziness. Alpha’s style was also very close to Shadow’s, though though much more focused on technical perfection. Even in his wasteless style, there was a certain artistic flare, a joy in the process of the battle that perhaps only Delta truly shared. It was odd that the same passion that lead him to master swordplay was in her, an overenthusiasm that left her with no patience for technique.

“Okay. Delta, Beta and I will make up the front line, and we’ll hold him back from reaching the rest of you. Epsilon, Zeta, I want you to try and circle around and strike from where he can’t see you. It isn’t likely to truly go beyond his notice, but we might be able to put more pressure on him in that formation. Eta, I want you to try and use magic to shift the sand around us, try to create small dunes we can try and encircle him in. Gamma, you should stick close to Epsilon and cover her in case Shadow slips past us and tries to take her out”.

It was a fairly routine strategy, hardly different from the last one they’d tried three years ago. Epsilon didn’t think it would work, but she couldn't come up with anything better.

Zeta disagreed “It’s a good strategy, but if we really want any chance against Lord Shadow we need to surprise him.”

Alpha looked at her curiously, silently demanding her to go on “I’m not saying it’s going to work. I’m saying if we want any chance of winning, we need to try it and hope for the best”.

“What did you have in mind?”

“We’ll do what you say to start, but eventually I’ll drop out to cover Epsilon, then you give him a chance to ‘slip past’ you all so he can try and take Epsilon and Gamma out. If he’s not expecting me to be there as well, I might be able to catch him off guard”.

Alpha nodded “I have no objection to that. Let’s get started”

They turned as one to see the unassuming red-eyed, black haired boy that had walked away from them replaced by the cloaked and masked form of Shadow.

Delta’s growled as she charged, but even as the distance between them grew she could tell her heart wasn’t really in it. As much as it was just a training exercise, it went against all of Delta’s instinct to challenge Cid, if for no other reason than that she knew she couldn’t win. Alpha and Beta flanked her, maintaining a stoic silence as they advanced.

Epsilon circled around them all in the opposite direction from Zeta, jogging but not truly running in order to allow Gamma to keep up. The other girl may have had no balance, but her magical capacity was ridiculous enough that she could maybe hold back one of Lord Shadow’s blows (assuming he wasn’t going for the kill). It was more than Epsilon would manage if she needed to fight blade-to-blade with him.

He’d once told Epsilon she was a glass cannon, meaning she was most powerful at range, but had low defences and wouldn’t excel in close quarters combat. She’d been very flattered he’d come up with such a poetic metaphor for her fighting style, rather than simply using a basic description.

She tried to live up to the name as she fired at the shifting form of Shadow as he met the opening attacks of the front line. She was good enough not to hit her own allies, but it did cut down on how many shots she could take. That meant she could completely charge and concentrate the shots, so that they might actually do something if any of them connected.

None of her first three did, though one did come so close to his hand it looked like he was about to seize hold of it. Alpha took the centre position, even though Delta would have been the better in that spot given the size of her weapon. She’d probably done so feeling that it was her responsibility as the leader, or maybe put a little less pressure on Delta.

The blades clashed and spun around him, but he was never hit. His blade was always holding back at least one opposing weapon, and his body always seemed just out of reach of the others. Eta was using a slime construct to start digging small ditches in the sand just behind him. Based on how he was moving, he was probably aware somehow, even though his mask, hood, and the events in front of him should have precluded him from seeing Eta work.

Eventually, Zeta took her chance, deciding against striking from behind, she seemed to appear from nowhere as she she struck out with her chakram, launching herself at Shadow from a crouching position just beside Beta’s legs. Epsilon shot as soon as she noticed Zeta appear and while the timing would have worked out better if she’d shot a half-second earlier, she was still able to land her first shot of the battle and force him back a step.

He began to lose ground now he was facing five simultaneous attackers, slowly moving closer and closer to the hollow of one of Eta’s traps. As the plan was working, Eta moved in from behind to attack herself while the other three pressed in from the front and sides. Zeta had disappeared, waiting for another chance to strike from stealth.

Eta probably thinks the harder we are on him, the more he’ll have to show us.

Eventually Cid was reached the dead centre of the hollow and she thought she could see the ghost of a smile when he launched himself a hundred feet into the air.

Oh no.

This was going to be bad. Instead of trying to shoot at the seemingly inert Cid, she tried to cry out a warning to the others but she was too late. Instead of simply falling, the cloak of his slime suit twisted and rippled, then he hurtled back to the ground in a magical explosion so powerful the sand erupted from under him, throwing everyone who was immediate area around him sprawling.

Alpha managed to keep her feet, though she was stumbling and holding her arms out wide to keep her balance, but Beta was on the ground disqualified and Eta appeared half buried in the sand. She didn’t seem to mind though, and looked at Lord Shadow’s cloak in fascination.

That had been the facet of the slime-suit he’d developed on this vacation. Apparently he’d been inspired fighting Alpha’s aunt and wanted a was to propel himself instantly to the ground for an explosive smash. His idea had been to use the slime suit to rapidly capture and expel air to generate momentum while airborne, and she’d tried to offer as much advice as she could about how to optimize the ability.

He’d not been satisfied with his ‘Descending Darkness’ move when she had last seen it, but it would appear (hopefully with some of her advice) he’d worked out the flaws on his own time.

Leaving the momentarily stunned Alpha and Delta behind, he leapt towards her and Gamma, who valiantly stepped forward to try and match blows with him. After only three collisions of their blades, Gamma was down and Epsilon was left struggling to reach her own weapon in time.

Zeta was on him again. Epsilon hadn’t noticed her despite their close proximity, but the calmness with which Shadow met the attack told her he knew, his sword reached through the hole in one of Zeta’s chakrams then changing shape to hook the weapon before he pulled. Zeta was reeled in like a hooked fish to him, staggering off balance as the pommel of his sword hit her hard in the stomach. She fell over with a grunt of pain.

Zeta’s appearance had given her an idea, if they couldn’t surprise him, they had no chance after all. Instead of drawing her sword, she gathered as much energy as she could for a final magical blast then shot it at him within point blank range. He’d been so busy with Zeta he couldn’t fully avoid the shot, it exploded into his shoulder and even she was knocked a little off balance by the force of the blast, given how close it was.

Unsurprisingly, this was followed by something hitting into her leg just behind her knee and she toppled, fighting the urge to cry out and reach for the wound, instead focusing the last trickle of magic she had into healing the injury. She didn’t even have enough magic left to heal the minor injury completely, but she did ease the pain somewhat.

By the time she could focus back on the fight again, Cid was duelling Alpha alone while Delta had rolled onto her back and was holding her hands out with her knees pulled up to her stomach. She wasn’t sure if Shadow had landed a hit, or if she’d just assumed the position upon seeing where things were going.

Finally, with a burst of superhuman speed, Cid disappeared and reappeared behind Alpha. He must have struck her since she crumpled to the ground but Epsilon wasn’t able to see even a hint of the strike.

He held out a hand to Alpha and helped her up, the game was over, and they had lost. None of them had expected to win, but as their master enjoyed challenging battles, she hoped they’d managed to entertain him, even just a little bit.

---

Zeta’s ears twitched as she woke all at once, hearing someone moving through the corridors and quietly padding down the stairs. Curious about who was up at this hour and why, she slipped out of bed and trailed after them, keeping as much distance as possible to ensure she wasn’t noticed while still close enough to hear the footsteps.

Eventually whoever it was stopped in at the hot springs, and having no other choice but to either poke her head in or go back to bed, she looked in.

“Zeta, what are you doing here?”

It was Lord Shadow. He was seated in men’s section of the baths with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“I heard someone up and decided to check it out. What’re you doing in a bath at this time of night?” by her best guess it was around two AM.

“I kind of like hot springs, but I haven’t had a chance to check this one out the whole time I was here. I just wanted to give it a quick try before we leave in the morning. Sort of figured Delta would be the one to hear me sneak out honestly”

“Oh please, Woofy might have a better sense of smell than I do, but I’m the best set of eyes and ears in Shadow Garden” She pointed to herself confidently to emphasize the point.

“She doesn’t do too badly for herself. I happen to remember this one time she chased my cat up a tree, and it got stuck there for five hours before I was able to come back to sort things out”.

That had been the result of the itching powder thing, as uncomfortable and cold as she’d been in those few hours, she regarded it as being totally worth it, even factoring in the following punishment from Alpha.

“Technically it was trees plural, she brought down the first few trying to knock me off, then I tried get away by jumping from branch to branch when she got sleepy”

“But you couldn’t get away”

She shrugged. “Look, stupid people have stupid strengths. I don’t believe in the goddess, but Delta might be living proof that something gives with one hand and takes with the other. Anyway, is the water any good?”

“Yep, as good as everything else in this place”

“Then I’ll join you for a while” Zeta said, moving over to grab a towel and change out of her pyjamas.

“You know this is isn’t a mixed baths right? There’s a reason I haven’t been able to come here all week”.

She wasn’t going to let him put her off “You do know we own the place right? The normal rules don’t really apply to us”.

“Even so, you should respect the rules of the baths” he replied.

“Seriously, with all the laws we’ve broken, this is what you’re going to lecture me about?”

“Some things are sacred” he intoned solemnly.

She splashed into the bath beside him “Report me to the bath police then”

He muttered something about Eta not being finished with that project, then she hissed in surprise as she felt his hand start to feel through the fur on her tail.

“Sorry, force of habit” he said, pulling his hand away.

She felt her eyes narrow on him slightly as she replied “I was just surprised, I didn’t say stop.”

His hand went back to work and she fought to push down the fluttering feeling in her stomach and the urge to purr in satisfaction. There were maybe a hundred actions she could take from this point to push this the way she really wanted it to go, but what she’d told Epsilon was true, that wasn’t what she was meant for.

The mission has to come first.

“Did you enjoy the vacation? My scouting missions and managing CoS has kept me pretty isolated from everyone, so it’s been nice to have a chance to catch up”.

“Yes, it has been a fun few days” Shadow remarked serenely, before continuing on more seriously “But you must know these good times wont last forever. A storm is coming, a storm of blood, and even I don’t know if we’ll all survive the carnage caused of the maelstrom”

“I know. It’s not as if we can solve all of our problems without taking any risks, but…” she was, as she had been many times in the past, tempted to confess her scheme to him. Tempted to abandon the responsibility for completing the mission, and leaving all of the sins tied to it for him to bear.

It couldn’t be.

Her best chance for that had come years ago, when Shadow Garden had first separated and she’d been left alone with her master. A perfect chance to scheme in secret had fallen right into her lap. She’d almost told come clean then, when the operation was nothing but an idea that refused to leave her mind, but something had changed in her master around that time, and he’d kept his distance from her for the month they were alone together. She’d worried he’d figured out her plot and disapproved, but she eventually discovered it was a change that had occurred in his relationship with all the shades and not just her. Zeta’s best guess was he was trying to help them mature by reducing their reliance on him, as he seemed more friendly now that Shadow Garden had established itself and was achieving things without his direct supervision.

The distance and time had allowed her to realize why telling him was a terrible idea.

Tainting him like that would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise.

She couldn’t have done it now anyway. Confessing to an angry Shadow and taking whatever punishment he’d inevitably have to dole out would have been difficult, but infinitely easier for her than confessing to the contented Cid beside her and wiping away his joy.

“Do you...are you ever tempted by immortality?”

“Yes, absolutely. Do you know a way to become immortal?” Cid asked her seriously.

That’s a better reaction than I was expecting.

“No, I was just curious. I thought you might have been one of those serious ‘life is only precious because it’s finite’ or ‘living forever means leaving everyone else behind’ types.”

“Well...it’s not like I don’t understand the appeal of those guys, but personally, I enjoy my life. If I enjoy it, why wouldn’t I want it to go on for as long as possible?”

She smiled to hear his explanation, it was so simple yet somehow profound “That’s a very simple answer to a complicated question. It’s very like you to cut straight to the heart of the matter”

“What about you, want to join me in Shadow Garden forever?” he asked.

As the last week played out in her mind, the thought that it wouldn’t be so bad just to stay with this group forever crossed her mind.

“That’s certainly appealing, but there are some things I’m willing to give my life for; fighting the cult, and to prevent the things that happened to my family from happening again”. It was as close to honest as she could be with him right now.

The thoughts of playing on the beach with the rest of the shades was overwritten by the image of her last family’s severed heads falling to the sand, the scent of blood mixing with the sea air, and the phantom-feeling of a dead weight in her arms that had once been her brother. The desire to tell Cid anything died and shrivelled to nothing in her chest, just as surely as Lorian’s body must have on that beach after she’d been dragged away in that cage.

Zeta had no doubt she was on the right path.

Chapter Text

Rented Stallion

The hotel Rose had booked for them was nice, nowhere close to the Palreia level of nice he’d been enjoying for the last twelve days, but Cid could still appreciate the sophistication of the place. The light of the sunset shot through the high windows and lit the atrium a bright orange, casting long shadows around the furniture, and especially the large, circular fountain that dominated the centre of the room.

It was so hot he was tempted to briefly dunk his head in the water as he passed the fountain on his way to the front desk, but even in his side character persona he had a minimum level of dignity to maintain. The day had been sweltering, and he’d offered to give Beta a lift using his serious dash (TM) so she could get here on time for her book tour without having to leave the resort early.

He didn’t exactly regret it, but he had noticed she was perceptibly heavier than Nu during the trip. The slight additions to height, hips and bust might have only made her maybe 10-15% heavier, but the distance had been more than double what he’d covered with Nu, and all that time carrying her made him all too aware of every pound.

The extra padding did make it more comfortable on my hands though.

“Hello, I’m looking for Rose Orianna. Can you tell her Cid Kagenou’s here?” he asked the receptionist.

“Of course, sir. I’ll just be a minute. Please take a seat.”

Cid scanned the room for a seat with some shade, then collapsed into it. The leather lining of the armchair was pleasantly cool, though he would probably have preferred a quick dip in the fountain.

After about ten minutes of kicking-back, he was moved completely into shadow when a large, burly man moved between him and the windows.

Is this a service in the hotels of this world? I should probably mention this to Gamma; we might need to ‘borrow’ their ideas. It’s a little wasteful, but very appreciated.

“Excuse me, sir, I need to have a talk with you outside.”

“Uh-no, thank you.” he said calmly. In this kind of place, he probably seemed like he was rich and just going off with some random huge guy was asking to get scammed. He’d spent enough time beating the shit out of (and later killing) criminals to have some idea of how they operated.

The guy put a hand on his wrist and started pulling him up. As always in these situations, the hardest thing was not reacting and winning instantly.

“What’re you doing?” he asked, adding a tiny squeak of nervousness to the question.

“Look, we got a description of Cid Kagenou from Princess Rose, and you’re nowhere close to it. I don’t know who told you about the princess’ standing order, but we’re not playing along with this little prank of yours, kid.”

“Wait, but I am Cid Kagenou. Hey, stop that!”

He was wrenched up from his chair and was being manhandled over to the door when a clear, dignified voice called out in alarm “CID! What are you doing to him? Let him go, RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

Cid felt the hands on him relinquish their hold as the hotel security moved away from him. He wouldn’t have let go any quicker if Cid had become electrified.

“I...well, princess, the receptionist asked me to remove this young man, and I…” He trailed off as Rose’s furious gaze shifted to the woman standing behind the desk. He was so relieved Rose’s focus was no longer directed at him that he forgot to finish his answer.

The woman bowed her head seriously “Princess, I’m deeply sorry for the misunderstanding, but it’s just, given what you’d told us to expect, I...just didn’t connect this young man to the description you provided”.

“How exactly did she describe me?” Cid asked, curious as to how it could be so different from his appearance that they immediately moved to throw him out as an impostor without even checking.

“She said...You were a peerless warrior who had no fear of death. A man of such conviction and passion that you rendered every other man who had ever pursued her to complete irrelevance. A raven-haired, ruby-eyed young man that perfectly exemplified the ideal masculine form”.

As Cid examined his slightly sweaty and dishevelled appearance in the water, he had to concede the hotel staff had done nothing wrong in failing to recognize him.

Rose evidently disagreed, and made her feelings known by pointing to him in exasperation “And that’s exactly who’s here right now, how are you not getting that! Even if you weren’t certain, you should have contacted me to confirm his identity.”

“Again, my apologies, princess, but since we couldn’t be sure what this young man was after, we needed to ensure your safety...”

“Because if anything happened to a princess of Orianna under your roof, you’d never live it down,” Rose continued for her, “and I suppose you’ve somehow forgotten that I’m a dark knight, and can see to my own protection.”

“I can only apologize again Princess.” The desk clerk had assumed the ‘Just calmly repeat yourself’ customer service stance. As Cid had often used a similar style against Claire, he was almost certain it would work. Essentially you forced the discussion to run in pointless circles while appearing to placate your opposition to destroy their patience with the conversation until they gave up. It was a variation of the more general “Oh god, there’s no point talking to them” technique.

Rose didn’t see the snare she’d been caught in, but worked around it regardless. “I notice none of these apologies have been directed to my boyfriend you were just manhandling!”

“Yes, I’m sorry to you as well Lord Kagenou” the receptionist said as she bowed to him while reciting a textbook-example level apology.

“Sorry…” the guard muttered when Rose turned her burning golden glare on him.

“Might I suggest that Lord Kagenou’s service bill be made complimentary for the remainder of his stay, as a token of apology?”

Free stuff, Yes!

If Rose was paying, he’d have to try to moderate himself a little, but if the hotel was footing the bill, he could go totally crazy on room service and get away with it cleanly.

Rose looked like she was going to spoil it, so he took her hand and whispered into her ear, “Let’s just drop it and get on with our trip, alright?”. One of the few redeeming qualities of their relationship was how comically easy it was to get her to do whatever he wanted at all times.

She gave him one of those ‘aren’t you just the sweetest’ smiles that kinda creeped him out and replied “Yes, of course, that’s all that matters.” Her tone was so soft and sweet, it seemed as if a completely different person was speaking compared to how she’d just been castigating the service staff a second ago.

They set off for Rose’s suite of rooms. Cid waited before speaking again, worried he’d set her off against the staff again and ruin his free ride. “So… that description…”

“I know, it wasn’t nearly detailed enough, but we had to shorten it so it could be given to the staff at large since we had no idea when you’d be arriving.”

“Who’s we?” He couldn’t imagine anyone in Rose’s circle that would give him such a glowing appraisal.

The answer to that question crushed him with a hug as soon as he opened the door.

“Hey Claire, didn’t know you were coming for this trip,” he wheezed.

“Oh, Rose invited me…” she began happily, before her voice grew instantly stern “we’ve been waiting all day with no idea when you were going to show up, you need to be more specific about these things with girls, Cid”

It was like some horrible crossover nightmare had suddenly come true. Like he was the human in an alien versus predator movie. Then the terminator showed up out of nowhere to wreck his shit.

“You’re…friends now?”.

“Yes, I’ll admit we got off on the wrong foot, but I’ve come to realize we have a lot in common. I won’t like you living so far away, but I’ve been promised regular trips when you become king-consort of Orianna, me going to Orianna and you coming back to Midgar at least once a year”.

I’m in danger.

“You’ve...really planned things out that far ahead?”

“I know it might seem excessive, but our future together is going to take a lot of work. If we don’t seriously plan for it now, I don’t think we’ll have any chance”. Rose answered determinedly, with no shred of hesitation, while Claire nodded seriously in agreement.

Stay calm. No sudden moves. There’s nothing you can do right now. You’ll be okay.

The only thing he could do right now was try changing the subject and begin his escape plan while pretending to be asleep tonight.

“So, I’ve got my stuff here. Where’s my room?”.

“Oh, it’s up this way.” Rose blushed prettily as she set off. “I hope you’re not disappointed, but my head-maid, well… she’s more like a minder my father assigned to me. She’s been in service with the royal family since before I was born, and she...”

“I believed it would be inappropriate for two young people of your age to sleep in such close quarters, so your bedroom will be on the opposite landing. A pleasure to meet you Lord Kagenou. My name is Marion, and I’ll be attending to you and Princess Rose for the duration of this trip. Might I also add my thanks for your bravery in protecting our young Princess.”

He would have been totally fine if Rose’s room was in Orianna, but tried his best to look mildly disappointed as he nodded to Marion and tried to wave off the old woman’s gratitude.

“There’s no need for that, Cid is a pure, innocent boy” Claire insisted indignantly. “Besides, there’s no way I’m letting Rose get dessert until she pays for the main course.”

“Wait, don’t call my Excalibur dessert?” Cid said, turning in a fury on his sister.

“You call your...Excalibur?” Rose asked, her face growing scarlet. “That’s so cute.”

Cute. It’s the most powerful holy sword in mythology, and you call that cute. I’ll show you cute you…

But he couldn’t. The whole reason this conversation started was because there were two people in close proximity that would object to such a display of power.

“Lord Kagenou, I think I should show you to your room so you can unpack now.”

After a brief reprieve (Cid never thought he’d enjoy pulling stuff out of a bag so much, or be so heartbroken when it was all over), he headed back down to the lounge to face the music. He noticed this room had a piano and decided to make a beeline for it. Orianna was the kingdom of art and culture, so hopefully, he could waste all their time playing music and avoiding any more discussions relating to his divine blade. Marion had sadly left them for the night, probably trusting Claire to keep them decent.

He threw the idea out there and Rose went along with it happily, but Claire began to frown at him.

“I never knew you took piano lessons?”

“Well, it’s not a big deal, is it?”

Even with that reasonable, perfect explanation, Claire still looked very unhappy and continued on in an agitated voice “Why were you so late Cid? It was getting dark out by the time you showed up.”

A brilliant idea came to Cid at that moment. You could almost never stop Claire when she was angry, but it was a much easier task to redirect her fury.

“I got held up in the lobby. The staff didn’t think I looked like the description you and Rose gave them, so they tried to throw me out. Sorry Sis.”

Claire said nothing as Cid started playing the piano, but walked out of the room after five minutes and headed down to the lobby. About an hour later, a concierge came by and gave them the damage report. The security guard who’d been on duty would be off work for the next week until someone could fix his leg to go the right way, and the woman behind the desk had resigned, apparently now stuck with a powerful phobia of hotels and teenage-female-dark knights.

Claire wouldn’t be allowed back to the hotel (Score!), but apparently since Rose hadn’t known she was coming for long enough in advance, she’d always planned to stay at a place a couple of streets down the road due to a lack of bed space here.

“I’m still getting all my expenses covered here, right?”

“Ah, yes sir. Naturally.”

“Then put all the damage Claire caused on my tab.” There was no reason to force his family problems on Rose after all.

If he didn’t need to actually pay for it.

Rose sighed softly before speaking “I’ve grown quite fond of your sister, but I must say, I think she might have some anger issues.”

Yeah, no shit.

“I know, but we should just try and enjoy ourselves as best we can. It’s not like we can do anything about Claire right now anyway.”

Rose was easily distracted from Claire’s rampage as he played the piano with her. She’d often sing along if the song had words she knew, and occasionally, she got out her violin and tried to join in with that as well. Rose was very good with both, if he ever started a band she’d totally be one of his top picks.

He kept them at it for a long time so he could justify going straight to sleep without having to engage in any other activities with Rose before bed, then shot straight to his room as soon as possible. Rather than go to sleep immediately, he escaped out the window and spent the night prowling the city, trying to force the sickening image of himself as a king-consort (wearing in a fur-trimmed red cloak and a dainty adopted royalty crown) out of his mind.

---

Alexia gave a gentle sigh as she sank into the waters of the hot springs. This wasn’t her hotel, but a few silver coins to the attendant at the door convinced him she looked exactly like a guest on the fifth floor and that he couldn’t be sure she wasn’t meant to be there.

Honestly, he should be paying me. How many people are going to show up just because I’m here? If he charges each of them what he got from me, he’ll be set to retire by lunch.

It was the sort of thing Cid might do. It was kind of depressing knowing the only boy she’d ever had even a passing interest in would be more interested in selling tickets than looking himself, but that was just how he was. To be fair, the fact he didn’t blush or stammer around her had actually been part of the appeal.

A black-haired boy around her own age walked in just as she was thinking that. He was an average height, maybe a couple of inches under six feet, but his rippling muscles were...not common at all. It took her a second to connect the figure to her lazy bum of a best friend.

Speak of the devil.

As she looked him over, she was convinced she wasn’t ogling him. It was simply her first time in a mixed gender baths. Objectively speaking, she’d never seen anything like it before, so naturally she’d have an instinctual curiosity about what she was seeing. It was almost academic really. If her eyes stopped at a few points along the way, it was only because it was an unfamiliar sight to her.

The excuse sounded hollow even in her own mind after her eyes made their forth scan up and down.

“Not another one. What’re you doing here Alexia?”

Not the most courteous greeting she could have gotten from a friend, but he’d never had manners. “Bathing, puppy, you ought to try it sometime. I know it’ll be a big change, but I really think it would be good for you.”

Cid began slowly lowering himself into the water. “Okay, hey Alexia, how’re you?” he asked in a deadpan, disinterested voice. “Now why’re you in Lindworm?”

“I’m quite well, thank you. I’m actually here for a couple of reasons. I was invited to see the Goddess trail, and my father’s given me a task to complete for the crown, but I can’t talk about that with you.”

Cid just lay back and stretched out. “That’s nice.”

He just had to act cool. “You’re not even going to ask what it is?”

He was so late in responding she began to think he was ignoring her. “No. I’m just enjoying the bath and the quiet for as long as it lasts. If you can’t talk about it, that’s a-okay with me.”

He was obviously just pretending not to care about the critical responsibility assigned to her by the king. But he did look kind of tired.

“Are you okay? Did you come here with Rose?” she asked in a caring voice that was impressively un-pissed given the second half of the sentence.

“Yeah, fine. Rose is here with me.”

He didn’t seem very happy about that, but why would he…

“You shouldn’t really talk about her with me that much.”

When Cid gave her a curious glance as if to ask why, she spelled it out for him “You do remember breaking up with me for her, don’t you?”.

Cid shot up and answered indignantly. “Yeah, but that’s only because you broke the deal and told her we were only together as an act!”

“Wha…” she was taken aback momentarily. “Hey, don’t get mad at me. Even if I did...spill something small, you basically got everything you wanted, so why are you angry at me?!”

Cid sank down, the fight drained out of him as quick as it had come.

Why would he be upset about...

She heard someone else opening the door to the baths and saw Rose Orianna come over to the pool. She hadn’t quite sorted out her feelings towards the other girl yet. Under most circumstances she’d be furious, but Rose had this...intangible something that made it very hard to truly hate her, though she was still a little ticked off about her dog-napping. For the first time, Alexia had found her bitterness was unequal to the task of hating someone.

“Oh Alexia, how are you? I didn’t know you were coming to the goddess trial.”

“Yes, I’ve been asked to attend as a special guest, I assume you have as well?” Rose nodded “but that’s not the only reason why I’m here. I’ve got some official business to take care of for my father.”

“Oh, that sounds engaging. I’ve just come to attend the event, and well, to spend time with Cid” she said as she lowered herself into the water and locked arms with Cid, who seemed off-put by her clinginess, before looking back at Alexia with a tremulous smile. “I hope you're not upset about that, are you?”

Is she...being serious? I can’t tell whether this is sarcasm or not. It’s a ridiculous question, but at the same time she sounds so sincere.

It was hard to know what the genuine answer to that question was. In most ways her relationship with Cid hadn’t changed at all, other than seeing each other slightly less often. They still worked together, sat together for lunch sometimes, trained together in royal Bushin class, and endlessly sniped sarcastically at each other over pointless things. She honestly didn’t know whether she wanted anything more from him or not, she’d had plenty of chances over the couple of months they were together and hadn’t taken any of them.

Yeah, I was just looking him up and down repeatedly for a health check, like any responsible pet owner would.

Unaddressed denial aside, even if Alexia did think Cid was attractive, it wasn’t like that meant she loved him or anything. Obviously not.

“Of course not. I told you back then I was only with him for convenience, I didn’t have anything serious invested in our relationship, and about that other guy I told you about, forget him. It’s not going to work out between us.”

It really was too much hassle to make a relationship work with an imaginary man. It always left her with all the work to do.

Cid looked at her with curiosity while she gave a hand signal to indicate he shouldn’t speak. Thankfully he still remembered his ‘be quiet’ command and didn’t ask anything.

“Oh, that’s tragic. There’s nothing worse than when a young love meets a premature end, I just couldn’t bear to be apart from Cid now.” Rose looked at Cid like she was trying to swallow him with her eyes. “Cid and I were up all night making sweet music together, and it was just the most magical time.”

Was...that a euphemism. I should probably give her the benefit of the doubt...but...

Cid gave a small nod of conformation, still keeping silent but no longer due to her command.

“That’s nice.”

“Oh it was. Cid’s finger-work is exquisite, it truly felt more like he was reaching right into my soul rather than touching anything physical. We were at it for so long the room next door complained about the noise, and my throat feels a little sore this morning from doing my parts.” Rose smiled at her conspiratorially “Is it bad I don’t feel any regret or guilt at all?”

Alexia’s brain screeched to a halt as the mental images this description created exploded across her mind.

Rose had said all that in the sweetest tone of voice, as if she wasn’t describing something totally vulgar for a noble lady to partake in, in public, while almost naked, specifically to the woman her lover left for her.

What is she thinking!!!

Alexia was going to do the nice thing, not jump to conclusions, and just ignore the fact they were probably on each other like rabbits all night. “N-no, not at all. I hope you two are keeping each other entertained.”

The conversation then shifted to politics, and continued on for more than half an hour. She and Rose were able to make small talk easily enough once the topic changed while Cid said almost nothing and just looked off at the sunrise.

“You know Cid, I expected you in a bath with two beautiful women to ogle us non-stop, but you just keep looking off into the distance.”

“That’s only natural. I can see you two anytime, but the rising sun comes only once each day”.

“Oh you’re such a poet!” Rose exclaimed and pulled Cid’s arm even closer to her middle, completely missing the casual insult addressed to both of them. He didn’t even notice how close his arm now was to Rose’s cleavage.

Why would he when she’s done so much more...

“Besides, I like to avoid looking at other people in the bath, it helps keep us all comfortable. With that in mind, could you stop trying to peek under my towel.”

“Alexia!” Rose said, mortified “What a thing to do. Trying to peep at my beloved’s Excalibur.”

Wait, she has a nickname for his…

Well that settled it. If Alexia had any doubt they were having sex before, it was gone now “Don’t flatter yourself, and aren’t you embarrassed hearing that inchworm called Excalibur?”

Rose was taken aback while Cid just smiled knowingly. “Oh Alexia, you only reveal your naivete with those kinds of comments. To judge a sword by how it sits in the sheath is a mistake only the most clueless amateur would make. I assure you, when this sword is drawn a reckoning will begin, devastation will rain down from the heavens, and chaos shall seize all the lands that attempt to defy it’s power.”

Rose’s eyes seemed to have grown three sizes, while Cid stepped out of the bath and did something with his towel that made it clap against his backside through his legs.

“I’m gonna get changed, see you when you’re done Rose.”

For the next ten minutes, Rose silently glared after Cid with a look somewhere between awe-struck wonder and deep longing, Alexia probably wasn’t much better as she struggled to parse what that speech meant exactly. Then Rose seemed to wake up and realize she was running late, muttered an apology and goodbye to Alexia, then set off to chase after Cid.

Alexia sat in the water for a while longer as something totally unrelated to Cid kept appearing in her mind’s eye. Eventually, she managed to get not-Cid out of her thoughts when a conversation caught her attention, as angry murmur of “Crazy bitch” made it’s way across the wall that separated the bath from public view.

“She just attacked you out of nowhere?”

“Yeah, remember that kid we were supposed to keep an eye out for, Cid Kagenou. Apparently she heard I gave him a hard time or something and snapped. I swear girls from the Midgar academy go hard these days. My leg’s shot until I can see a healer, and the receptionist was completely traumatized and quit, she wouldn’t even go in the front door to grab her things. If you run into that psycho on your shift, just run away dude.”

By the Goddess. Rose is worse than I thought if she’s physically assaulting hotel staff for inconveniencing Cid. Is this...new or has she always been this way?

If she considered Cid’s behaviour towards Rose and everything she knew about him previously, she could put together an idea about the course of events.

Cid wasn’t the type of person to heroically sacrifice himself for someone he didn’t know (Alexia had no faith he’d do it for her if it came to that, even if he would definitely try to save her if it wouldn’t cost his life), so that had probably been an accident on his part, maybe he tried to push her out of the way and was targeted as a result. Following that Rose developed a manic obsession with her saviour, then pressured him into their relationship and started riding him like a rented stallion, leading to his being burned out and feeling trapped with Rose around. Of course he couldn’t complain openly, most people would laugh in his face if he explained his problem was that a princess was too in love with him, or that she was too enthusiastic during their intimate moments.

Despicable, trying to force someone into a relationship for your own convenience.

Cid was in serious trouble. If Rose was willing to injure hotel staff for bothering him with no thought to her reputation, what would she do to the man himself if he tried to leave her and broke her heart.

Still, her affection for Cid seemed problematically sincere, and that meant he was probably safe as long as he made no hasty moves. Cid’s reserved, bordering on cowardly personality should keep him safe in the short term. Alexia would absolutely do everything she could to save him though, he was her friend and she refused to leave him behind.

---

Cid’s mood seemed to have improved as they walked along the packed market streets of Lindworm. His meeting with Alexia had seemed unpleasant from her perspective, but Cid only smiled and said that’s how most of his conversations with Alexia went.

They’d bought a couple of things for their friends at the market, Cid just got a few of the key-chains representing Olivier’s defeat of the demon, while she had to pick things on a more individual level. Sometimes the simplicity of male friendship’s appealed to Rose, she’d have more Cid-time if she could pick out a shawl without trying to figure out how it would compliment her friends’ complexion, hair colour, or what they usually liked to wear.

The only incident of note on their shopping spree was her insistence that they go to the book store where Natsume Kafka was participating in a book signing. The line had stretched all through the store and brought her close to something she hadn’t thought about in years. A collection of signed first edition “Stylish Bandit Slayer” manga. She’d looked at them with longing only to find Cid was looking between her and the collection with a look of horror.

When he whispered to ask if she was interested in those comics, it would have been possible to lie and say she wanted them for Clara or any one of her young male relatives who’s intense desire for the set would be more appropriate than her own.

She couldn’t though. Cid’s honesty was one of the reasons she loved him so much. It was what made him so appealing, what separated Cid from him so much that she became uncontrollably happy whenever he was near. Whenever she even thought about him.

She whispered back a yes and hastily added that she didn’t read them anymore since it was inappropriate. He’d nodded and that was that, the casual conversation they were having did die for a few minutes while she thought over how to proceed. They’d moved on quickly after getting a couple of novels signed and started back through the market streets.

She’d seen a sign for a gondola ride through the canals that weaved through the city. It seemed like such a romantic outing, being alone together on the sunlit water, that she just couldn’t say no to the idea. They’d talked to the salesman and arranged for a boat in half an hour, brought their shopping bags back to the hotel and headed back to the tiny dock to set off.

The boat was old, but freshly painted and looked as if it had been maintained regularly. As they took their seats she was hard pressed to take in the ferryman’s words as they headed out of the side street and down one of the city’s major waterways. Cid’s face was just inches from her own in this position and her knees would have been knocking into his with each swaying motion of the boat if a small wooden divider didn’t separate them.

“Do you think the people from the academy incident were all from the same group or not?” It was probably an out-of-nowhere question to Cid, but being reminded of the slayer brought her questions about Shadow to the forefront of her mind and she wanted to hear his opinion.

“Probably not, but you never know what these hidden organisations want or who they are, do you?”

“Maybe, but I for my part, I definitely think they were different organisations. The initial terrorist group fought with fairly common fighting styles from Midgar and it’s surrounding regions, but the second group’s style didn’t seem familiar to me. I don’t think I know every school of swordplay in the world, but I did search through many of the most famous schools before I started to dedicate myself to rising wind.”

He gave her a questioning look, and she proceeded to explain as much as she could. “I was trying to find out about a swordsman I liked, so I started looking through different martial schools to see if I could recognize his technique, but I wasn’t able to find anything.”

Until I saw Shadow Garden fight.

“Did you come to Midgar to try and find out more about them, or were there just no good Dark Knight academies back home?” Cid’s joke was casual, but hit on something sensitive both for her personally and her nation.

“Yes, actually. It’s true that we do have some schools, only one is meant for the nobility, it’s an old, worn down academy with no great masters to learn from. It’s a place meant for lesser families to send the children they can’t make matches for, and who can’t find any other positions to sustain themselves. My father sent me once, I think he was trying to convince me to give up on learning to fight, but he couldn’t really stop me.” She smiled, thinking back on how far she’d come from that petulant little girl. “That school is hopeless in every sense of the word, the people who go to learn, the people who teach them, they all feel they have no future. It’s a shameful state of affairs.”

“Yeah, I heard Orianna has to use its superior natural resources and agricultural climate to buy military support from other nations and mercenaries, since it has such a mediocre standing army.”

From anyone else that would have been a callous comment, but Cid was obviously trying to make her confront the reality of the situation by being direct (you could tell he didn’t really mean it personally, since it sounded like he was just repeating something someone else had said).

“Yes, they limit their experience of swordplay to those who would do anything for money, then complain it’s a low-brow activity.”

“Did your dad try to stop you from learning?”

“He didn’t forbid it, but I was highly discouraged from taking it up. He always warned me it would be a hard road to take.”

“Don’t take that the wrong way though,” she added quickly “My father is very dear to me, He’s the closest person to me in my family, except maybe my cousin Clara”

“Why’d you even want to learn swordplay? It sounds like it’s just been a hassle for you.”

It has caused me some issues but I’d never willingly give it up, not for anything.

“In Orianna, when you’re young, it’s expected you’ll select an art form and dedicate yourself to it. There’s almost too many options: painting, sculpture, singing, instruments and dance just to name a few, and I tried my hand at them all, but I never felt any special connection to any of them. Then when I was ten, I saw a travelling swordsman and saw the beauty of his technique. As soon as I got home I asked for a sword.”

Cid leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss, momentarily obscuring her view of the water and causing someone to wolf-whistle in the crowd moving around the waterway.

“What was that for?” she asked. Trying for a stern tone of voice and failing miserably.

“I just thought it was cool, how you didn’t give up on your dream even though everyone around you was trying to make you quit. Takes real dedication to do something like that.”

“You think it’s...cool.” It was her turn to lean forward, and the kiss she locked him in couldn’t be described as quick. Deep and passionate perhaps. The crowd gave them many more whistles and shouts of encouragement as their boat bobbed along.

They were words she never thought to hear about her choices, she’d been told she was being foolish and selfish more times than she could count by her mother and some of her father’s more blunt minister’s. In her heart, she had always known she was causing problems for her family, but she still couldn’t stop wanting to emulate the beauty she saw that day. To try and show her father and the rest of her nation the wonderful thing she’d seen.

Once she’d seen how her county had to sell itself to survive, her resolve had sharpened and she’d realized she had the power to turn things around for her nation. If she could win renown for Orianna, perhaps by winning the Bushin festival, she’d become an international mark of pride, and other nobles would seek to follow her example. She’d be able to leverage that to open new schools for dark knights and make a military as proud as any other nation.

Deep down, she knew it wasn’t about that, even though she did sincerely want to solve one of her homeland’s greatest problems. It was simple selfishness, doing what she wanted at the expense of her family’s reputation. The dreams and plans for saving Orianna had only come later, as an attempt to justify her decision.

That was why it meant so much to her to hear someone tell her they understood the somewhat self-serving nature of her passion, but supported it anyway.

He doesn’t just support me passively like father, he thinks it’s impressive. It would have meant the world to hear someone say anything half as approving as “cool” or “dedicated” when I began.

It would have meant the world to Rose then if Cid’s grip on her heart wasn’t already so vice-tight, it bordered on painful whenever they had to separate, regardless of how short the interval was.

Perhaps her relationship with Cid was exactly the same as her feelings for swordplay, something that would doubtless be detrimental for Orianna (at least in the short term), but that she wanted and took regardless.

I really am a selfish girl.

She’d been so lost in thought, and had been kissing Cid for so long, that when his head snapped back away from her she almost fell face first into his lap. Cid looked annoyed and started rubbing the back of his head.

“Sorry, I just got hit by this,” Cid grumbled as he pulled up a tiny chunk of gravel that had landed by his feet, just beside the plank that separated their legs.

“Hey get over here, come to Alexia!” a silver haired young girl called out from the bridge ahead, clapping her hands against her thighs as she called out to Cid, her companion looking at her with concern in her eyes.

Chapter Text

Blood In The Water

“Wait, so you want us to help you rob the church?” Cid asked, trying to appear put-out by the idea that his romantic cruise was about to be replaced with a reckless felony.

The four of them were huddled on a narrow, deserted stretch of waterside pavement, just a minute walk away from the bridge Alexia had clocked him from.

“Yes, and…” Alexia trailed off and gave Rose a quick look before continuing, “I thought you and Rose were getting a little too close for comfort out on the water. I appreciate your...passion for Cid, but please try to keep public perception in mind,” Alexia said, causing Rose to flush slightly and whisper a quick apology into his ear.

Outside of the public setting, that had been fairly standard behaviour from Rose. The only notable difference was what happened just before, in that he was certain that was the first time he’d kissed her and not the reverse. He wasn’t entirely sure what got him to do that; it had just seemed like the right thing at the time, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have to at some point (even Rose might get suspicious if she constantly had to come to him), so it all worked out.

Alexia started up again, forcefully changing the topic. “To get back to the problem, with Archbishop Drake being murdered, my investigation is being completely stonewalled. Even if I get a royal decree to expand the scope of the inquiry, all the evidence would be destroyed by the time I get back.”

“And how do you figure into this?” he asked Beatrix, who hadn’t said anything since her one-word greeting when they first met up.

“Alexia asked me to come here for security, and the goddess trail sounds like a worthy challenge. I haven’t agreed to rob the sacred church, though.”

“Oh, come on, you said you wanted to find out more about Shadow, and our only lead is that he’s fighting the cult. Now we had one, only one lead on the cult, and he dies as soon as we start looking into him. Do you really want to just let it go and leave the evidence behind?” Alexia fumed.

Beatrix answered stoically “No. I’m simply unsure if this decision is worth the risk it poses.”

“Why’re you interested in Shadow?” Cid asked coolly

I’m never gonna get tired of talking about myself while no one knows, it’s pure kino.

More than Alexia’s anger, Beatrix was noticeably effected by the question, looking away embarrassed and flushing slightly as she replied, “Well, his strength is...extraordinary. I’ve truly never seen anything like it. It’s simple curiosity, I suppose.”

He supposed his defeat of her might be embarrassing from her perspective, though he would have said she didn’t do too badly. Relatively speaking.

“And why do you want Cid to help?” Rose broke in, trying to step in front of him protectively, but he held her arm gently to keep her at his side. In a duel Rose would win no contest, but Alexia was an accomplished liar and could swear like a sailor. Whichever way Alexia went, letting Rose take her on would be like letting a hen start a fight with a ravenous dragon.

Alexia decided on option one; lie through her teeth. “Well, he’s just so clever, you know, and I really need people I can rely on for this, people that are really trustworthy.” Rose ate it up while Cid was unconvinced and moved closer to her so he could reply unheard.

“If you’re not going to tell me the real reason, I’m not going to help.”

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to do it, but experience told him he needed to be sure Alexia wasn’t going to try and screw him over.

For some reason, Alexia looked at Rose worriedly, then moved even closer to him to whisper in the ear furthest from her fellow princess, “Because I have no idea where to start with this, and I assumed a lower-class noble who’s such a penny-pincher would know a thing or two about crime and stealing things. Besides, I figured you might need to come up for air, if you know what I mean.” She subtly gestured to Rose for that last part.

“Wow, that was an impressive combination of thoughtful and insulting. I don’t know why I expected anything else, but still, well done,” Cid whispered back.

Rose just looked at them confused before Alexia stepped away and added, “Okay, I’ll sweeten the pot. I’ll pay you one-million Zeni if we pull this off.”

“One-million plus expenses,” Cid replied automatically. Even if it was kind of chump-change compared with what he already had, it was still money. With money, much like power, it didn’t really matter how much of it you had, more was always an improvement.

And it does give me a vital excuse to avoid going through the tunnel of love or whatever the hell Rose had planned next.

“Done,” Alexia agreed immediately.

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” Rose asked him gently.

Oh god, here comes the Claire-style over-protectiveness.

“I really shouldn’t leave Alexia to do this alone…” Cid trailed off in a masterful imitation of reluctance. “You should go find Claire and do something with her while we...”

“Don’t be silly,” Rose cut him off as sharply as she’d ever spoken to him. “I couldn’t let anything happen to you. If you need to do this, I’ll help however I can,” Rose declared as she put an arm around his hip and gently pressed herself against his side.

This created another problem to solve. “I’m not sure Alexia’s got enough to pay another million,” Cid said casually. There was no way in hell he was giving her any of his pay.

“That doesn’t matter. I’m doing this to support you, I’m not interested in being paid,” she replied with a gentle, slightly patronizing smile.

She was such a doll, helping him out with this heist without even asking for a cut. If he could supplement the million with what he would nab at the church...

God-dammit. The main character here is the one who does the actual theft, so I can’t get any more money out of this. Being the planner in the shadows for Alexia while she has no idea of my true intentions is just going to have to be enough.

In his mind’s eye, he pictured himself setting fire to all the priceless church antiques and jewels he was missing out on. Truly, his capacity for self-sacrifice and his dedication to his craft was incredible.

“I suppose if you three are all committed, I should assist as well.” Beatrix turned to Alexia before continuing, “To be clear, I’ll only help if this plan of yours has a chance of succeeding. If I think it’s too risky, I’ll drag you back to Iris and let her settle our disagreement about how to proceed.”

If her sly smile was anything to go by, all Alexia heard was ‘I’m in.’ She then focused back on Cid and gave him an expectant glare “So, as our stand-in master thief, where do you think we should start?”

“You don’t have any ideas, like at all?”

Alexia sighed dramatically. “Cid, I just paid you to do this. At least wait until you actually start planning before getting lazy.”

You haven’t paid me a Zeni yet.

Still, he knew she was good for it, and that she’d try to wring her money’s worth out of him, but still.

Cid took a second to try and remember what he could from his research into proper heist planning back in his original life before replying. “Okay. I should probably go take a look around the church.” He knew Alexia would probably insist on coming with him if she had nothing else to do, but the four of them going together (right before the theft), would be like showing up waving a giant red flag.

“You two should draw a floorplan of wherever what we’re stealing is back at your hotel.” Even if they didn’t need a map, there needed to be a scene where they were all gathered around a map going over the plan; it was like 30% of the fantasy right there, and there was no way he could risk planning it at their hotel. The possibility that Claire might show up despite her ban and ruin his fun was too damn high to risk it.

“It’s a safe, or maybe just the documents inside.”

This is gonna be fun.

---

Dear god, this is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.

Cid was reeling. He didn’t think he’d been in worse shape since that time he bashed his head against a tree for three hours straight before his reincarnation. Every instinct screamed at him to stop doing this to himself as he tirelessly pushed through the pain.

He flicked over to the next page of “The Stylish Bandit Slayer-volume one” and felt another blow land as he read himself (kinda) start yelling, “Who the hell’re you calling ‘so small you can’t see him without a telescope’ whenever he’s more than ten feet away” to some random hooligan who implied he was too short.

Apparently, the tiny man’s (4’9) insecurity about his height was a running gag in this series. Cid felt a fresh wave of nausea as he realized the gag was so overplayed he’d already noticed it before the end of the first volume. If he somehow found the strength to read everything he’d stolen, he still had another four to go.

So far, the best thing about this series was the fact that Beta didn’t write it (he was going to kill ‘Maximilian Bonhurst’ if he ever met the man), and if he was being fair, the art wasn’t bad. He’d managed to make a small detour without Rose on their trip back to Alexia’s hotel to fully plan out the burglary, and he’d been unable to resist swinging by the bookstore to right a terrible wrong.

He’d been haunted by this cursed thing since he’d first seen it, and decided that if he stole the copy he’d seen, he could save one child from the cringe (it wasn’t being a hero, it was not being a monster), but he’d had no idea how bad it would be.

Reaching the limit of his endurance, Cid slid the wretched things back into their hiding spot, held against his back by a few bits of slime, and then ran back to his hotel across the rooftops. Epsilon’s invisibility technique was pretty useful for moving at speed undetected, but did have a pretty serious flaw he hadn’t figured out how to fix yet.

It could only make something invisible if it was covering it, meaning if you wanted to be completely invisible, you’d have to cover your eyes, and would end up completely blind. By only exposing his eyes and serious dashing across the rooftops, he was pretty sure anyone who saw anything would just think it was a bird or something.

He began to panic slightly as he realized he couldn’t find Eta’s vessel (the staff had been cleaning, and had moved the bag somewhere he couldn’t see right now). He was still wondering whether leaving it had been a mistake and whether Rose would even notice if anything disappeared into it, but he’d aired on the side of caution and left it behind for the day.

Kicking himself for that decision now, he spent another fruitless minute searching, then stuffed the accursed objects under his bed, then dashed back to the meeting spot to reunite with Rose. He found Rose already waiting for him and she gave him a pleasant smile as he approached. “Are you feeling okay? You were gone for a little while.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Cid said, holding his stomach as if it were unsettled. “I guess I’m just a little nervous about this whole thing.”

They headed back to Alexia’s hotel to begin planning. It was pretty secure as she and the knights that had accompanied her for the investigation had rented an entire floor. Those knights were now either seeing the Lindworm sights or cowering in their rooms after Alexia blew up at them for not backing her in the attempt to proceed with the investigation.

He felt a rush of excited nerves as he walked across the hall to Alexia’s room. Getting through a theft completely undetected had a real mysterious vibe, like if the archbishop said, “Who on earth could have possibly taken all of my treasured possessions?” and floundered about blaming all the wrong people, it would be a bucket-list item completed. Additionally, a heist was a much classier crime than simple stealing and thus better fitting to the eminence in Shadow.

As he walked to the table Alexia was sitting at, his eyes widened as he took in what lay there.

“What in the hell is that?” Cid asked indignantly as he looked down at their scribbling.

“Our map of the fourth floor,” Beatrix cautiously offered.

“But... you’ve just drawn straight lines without marking where the doors are, you haven’t labelled what any of these rooms are supposed to be, I can’t tell which direction faces the main street, and I can’t even tell where whatever we’re supposed to steal is.”

Beatrix, standing at ease just behind the table, had the grace to look abashed while Alexia took up her pencil and angrily marked an X to the back of one of the largest rooms.

Cid clapped and said, “Well done,” in an overly cheery voice to show her what he thought of that feeble effort. She looked like she wanted to respond with a quick jab of her pencil to his side, but her temper visibly deflated after a quick glance at Rose.

I guess it’s always been that way. She never likes other people figuring out just how fake her kindly, innocent persona is.

It wouldn’t be as much fun if she couldn’t respond, so he would just have to pick this up later. “Could you maybe circle where the doors are and add a title to the rooms or something?”

After a couple of minutes, Alexia was done and he was looking down on a usable, if slightly messy, map of the Lindworm cathedral.

“So what is it we’re actually trying to steal?” Cid asked to start things off.

“Egg-head has a safe at the back of his office, and I’ll bet that’s where he’s keeping the pay dirt. We need to get in there and take whatever he’s hiding.”

“How do you know that’s where he’s keeping his documents? It could just be for valuables,” Cid asked. Establishing the location of the target item was always the first step of heist planning, if he was remembering the steps of “grand larceny for dummies” correctly.

He’d had a hell of a time explaining his bookmark of that webpage to his mother when she found it, but eventually got her to agree that “being able to nab critical items is essential for an eminence in shadow.” He had been proud of winning her over then, and had to fight off a wave of disappointment as he realized, more than twenty years after the fact, she had just been humouring him then, as she always had, so he could focus on Alexia.

“The taunting bastard might as well have told us. He said all of Drake’s belongings had been secured for his next of kin and looked right at the thing when we asked to look over his effects. For another thing, it’s huge and very secure. There’s no reason to put it anywhere else if you had the combination for that thing. It’s about as tall as I am and about half of that wide; it’s mithril plated, and if I had to guess, the plating is about two inches thick.”

“How do you know all this?” Cid asked.

“Royal palaces aren’t exactly the most secure places, there’s always about a hundred people who could get into your room any time you’re not there. I didn’t really like the idea of them stealing my stuff, so I had to get a safe. You know what I mean, right?” she finished off with a little nod to Rose.

Rose flushed. “I actually hadn’t considered that until now. I have to admit...the premise isn’t flawed.”

“Is it built into the wall of the floor?”

“No, it’s just pressed up against the wall.”

That opens up trying to cut in from the back.

“And do you know the combination?”

“No.”

“If I reinforced my sword with magic, I could cut through it if I had enough time, but the noise would probably preclude that plan.”

“And what about the Archbishop, what are his plans for today?”

“He’s at the grounds of the goddess trial, overseeing the preparations with most of his staff this afternoon. He shouldn’t be back until late this evening. I know it’s short notice, but I think today has to be the day.”

So the office will be deserted, but no possibility of getting the combination from him then.

Beatrix said much the same thing and tried to convince them to call time of death on the whole idea, but he hardly heard her. He was taking stock of everything he had on hand, the fragments of a plan coming together in his mind.

---

It would begin with a suitably side-characterish diversion performed by yours truly.

Cid and Rose walked over to the church’s front desk, equipped with nothing more than a hot cup of coffee before Rose spoke to the receptionist “I have an appointment with Archbishop Nelson, could you please tell him Rose Orianna is here”

The nun’s eyes widened by three size’s and the security behind her seemed to take notice of her alarm.

“I’m truly sorry princess” the woman said meekly “But the Archbishop is inspecting the grounds for the upcoming trial. I’m afraid we have no record of any appointment for you.”

Now would come the hard part.

Rose turned on him and started shouting, loudly enough to mask the lack of anger “I can’t believe you’ve done this again!. You told me you’d made the arrangements and now I’m left looking like an utter fool.”

“I... I’m sorry but… I’m sure I sent the letter…”

“A letter, you just ‘sent a letter’ to one of the most powerful men in the church and expected that to be enough, idiot!”

“No, but I thought…” that was the signal. Rose actually closed her eyes for the next part as she gave him a cracking slap across the face. She kind of missed his cheek and mostly got his jaw, but he didn’t really care, the most important thing was that she put enough force into it.

“I’m going to take a walk, and then go back to the carriage. If you somehow gain the competence required to move your arms and legs enough to drive me back to our accommodations, feel free to do so. If not then don’t concern yourself, and consider your services no longer required.” Rose loudly declared before striding away in a fury.

Cid just stood there swaying as if drunk for a few minutes, letting the line behind him grow before the two closest security guards walked over to him “Excuse me sir, other people need to speak to the front desk”.

“Oh, of course” he muttered dazedly, and turned to walk out.

The trip he took was a Gamma-worthy bit of ‘clumsiness’, he collided with the first guard and sent them both sprawling and managed to toss the coffee cup at the second guard on the way to the floor, while loosening the lid to ensure he was covered in the near boiling liquid.

His scream of pain and the tumbling over of the other security guard had the desired effect, as the men by the stairs who prevented access to the upper floors to unescorted guests, rushed over to investigate the trouble.

Amidst the chaos, two dark-haired girls in the dull white robes of church scribes walked casually past the guards to the stairs, as they made their way over to apprehend Cid.

His part had been finished perfectly.

---

Alexia twisted a lock of her now dark-brown hair and focused on it with distaste as she and the now sandy-blonde Beatrix slowly made their way to Archbishop Nelson’s office.

She fought to keep her frustration down, trying to repeat the point Cid had made that “If you’re spotted, it’s better if you’re not as recognizable, and that silver hair of yours stands out way too much”.

That’s why I like it, dumbass.

When she objected, Cid tried to argue that as the organizer, he had final say in things like this, which she just ignored. When Beatrix and Rose pointed out they could be arrested, imprisoned, or cause an international incident, and asked whether she was properly committed to this, she had no choice but to concede the point unhappily.

She’d be able to dye it back to ‘a’ silver colour right after operation, and she didn’t think Nelson or his toadies would notice, but it wouldn’t be the same. It was a shame, but eventually her crown would recover it’s proper glory in a few weeks. She was probably lucky Iris or none of her other friends were here for this, they’d have noticed as soon as they saw her.

At least Rose had gotten her a choice of colours. The black would have probably been the longest to truly fade away and go back to normal, and the red would have made her look way too much like Iris for comfort.

The prop-glasses they were both wearing had also been adopted for the same effect, but she cared much less about that.

She wasn’t able to distract herself from her current situation any longer when she reached the door to Nelson’s office and Beatrix reached out and opened it. She seemed as calm as still water, while Alexia had to fight to keep herself still, and her head held high every time they passed someone in the corridors. Pretending to be a church scribe was really no different to any other lie, but for some reason, perhaps just unfamiliarity with the non-verbal format, she was finding it difficult to keep up. The door hadn’t been locked, probably because anything worth taking was already behind much better protection than the door.

They found the office in the exact condition it had been in when they were politely (though she could tell the old bastard got off on the feeling of power giving her the boot gave him) dismissed six hours ago, but the silence and the absence of the Archbishop gave the place an unsettling air.

She and Beatrix looked behind the safe to find only a thin metallic cable anchored it to the wall, to prevent it from tipping over onto whoever was in front of it. Alexia pulled out a small knife (her sword would have been bulky to sneak in even under the baggy robes) then began sawing her way through the strand, going slowly to limit the noise.

Beatrix headed out into the hall and started pressing her ear to the office doors facing onto the street they’d be making their escape from. On her third attempt, she found an empty one and then tried the handle, but there her luck ran out. Bracing herself, she shouldered into the door, which generated a metallic snapping sound as the deadbolt and latch snapped. Beatrix didn’t even fully open the door, but immediately pulled it shut and ran back into Nelson’s office and closed the door behind her.

Locking their doors whenever they’re out, seems a little paranoid for a church bookkeeper considering the security in this place, unless they’ve got something to hide, of course.

She almost caressed the safe, imagining the look on Nelson’s face when he found out she had his secrets, but was refocused when she heard a conversation start out in the hall.

“What the hell was that?”

“No idea. Sounded like it came from out here, but I can’t see anything it might have been. Do you think it came from downstairs?”

“I don’t know, could have been from outside as well, there’s tourists everywhere and it’s not like they’re ever quiet.”

“Still, it might be best to check downstairs and let security know?”

“You get right on that. I’m probably not getting home until more than an hour after I’m supposed to finish as it is, but if you want to waste your time, feel free.”

The small crowd grumbled, but none of them went down to inform their guards about the noise. It seemed the Goddess festival was putting pressure on everyone in here.

I suppose I’m guilty of that too, making my puppy work hard when he’s supposed to be relaxing.

The workers headed back into their offices, and as soon as the last of them shut themselves away, Beatrix moved over to Alexia as she finally managed to free the safe from the wall.

They slowly, carefully, tipped it over on it’s face, then moved to each end to get a grip.

“Ah Beatrix! this is heavy” Alexia groaned quietly as she struggled to lift her side of the metal coffin.

“I don’t think it’s that bad” her companion replied, her voice still almost monotone despite the fact she was bearing more of the weight and was the one carrying it backwards out of the office.

Alexia considered telling her she was swearing at (or to) the goddess, not speaking to her, but decided against it. The explanation would only make her sound more stupid.

They made it into the office Beatrix had opened and pulled the window wide open, then Beatrix jumped out of it to land on the street below and began to make her way over to the carriage blocking one exit (where Rose was somehow screaming her head off at Cid in a loving tone to get them moving again) to retrieve the rope they’d be using to lower the safe out of the window. Alexia would have made more noise dropping a feather from the window than Beatrix made landing on the street.

The side-street they would lower the safe to led to a central park many of the clergy visited on their breaks (so it wasn’t naturally the most busy road in Lindworm), and Cid had melted the lock of the gate leading their shut to that in advance to block the other end. They’d decided to move at 3:30 so they’d missed the lunch rush, and hoped that it was too late in the day for any deliveries to be made to the service entrance on this side of the building, but even if the odds were stacked on their side it would still be a gamble.

Her instinct would have been to move at nightfall and force the bald bastard to give her the combination at sword-point, but Beatrix had pointed out that if he really was associated with the cult, the four of them could well be outnumbered and killed.

Cid came up with a decent plan for only having a couple of hours to plan it. He really does have the most random talents.

Beatrix tossed up the rope, then jumped up and Alexia grabbed her forearm as it passed just below the windowsill and pulled her back into the office, then the two of them started to prepare the safe for its slow descent.

Alexia managed to keep her groan internal this time as she realised she’d have to pick the safe up from floor level again to move it into the back of the carriage.

---

Rose felt the thrill of excitement beginning to fade away as she stepped outside of the abandoned building to move Alexia’s carriage to a less conspicuous spot. Pretending they’d broken down had felt dangerous to her, just sitting still in the middle of danger, but everyone had given them a wide berth as she’d screamed at Cid to reattach the wheel that had come loose.

Even if it was just an act, I hope I haven’t given him anything to worry about.

The marriage she’s seen the most of, that of her parents, was a constant political exercise of feigned affection, private disinterest, and was occasionally punctuated by outbursts of sincere dislike and dissatisfaction. Rose had always hoped she’d never end up in such a union, and now she had to worry she’d given Cid the idea she’d denigrate him in public and scream at him whenever he displeased her.

He’s never upset me yet. I should still try to be nicer for a little while, and hope he forgets how horrible I was acting back there. I don’t want to scare him off.

They’d managed to get the safe packed into a hole they’d cut into the carriage’s side, before covering the gap and splitting up from Alexia and Beatrix. They had gone to re-dye their hair back to their original colours and try to establish an alibi, while she and Cid moved to a rougher area of the city to stash their payload.

Her heart was just beginning to settle back to it’s usual pace when she heard footsteps approaching from behind. At first she thought it was Alexia, but was spurred into action when she realized there were at least three people. Rose turned sharply and it was a good thing she did, she was sure one of the five hooligans that were facing her down had been considering clubbing her on the back of the head with a bat so chipped, it looked more like a collection of splinters than anything else.

“Hey, your majesty,” he laughed. Her heart skipped again for a split-second, but there was no recognition in his words, only derision. “This is the wrong side of town for someone like you, but I’m sure we could help you find your way back.”

Rose was tempted to reach for her sword, only to realize she didn’t have it on her. “Oh, that’s okay. I’ll be able to find my own way,” Rose said as she reached for the reins.

“Oh please, I insist,” the older boy said, putting his own grip on the reins, closer to the horses than her own hand.

“I must ask you to let that go, and leave me to find my own way,” Rose insisted, feeling the fight coming, but for honours sake trying to avoid it.

“You know what this is, hand over the horses and your bag and we’ll leave you alone. If not, I can’t promise to be so kind.”

It was just like a scene from the stylish bandit slayer issue seven where he fought off a band of outlaws attacking a caravan taking vital medical supplies to a mining town isolated high in the mountains that was ravaged by pestilence. The way she was positioned was exactly how he had been before sending the bandit flying with a justice-punch.

Smiling at the thought and trying to channel her inner slayer, she said, “I thank you for your honesty, it makes this much more dignified,” before hitting him hard in the cheek and sending him scrambling. She was maybe more polite than the slayer had been, but the attack might as well have been a preplanned recreation of the scene.

Unfortunately, his grip on the reins had been more firm than she had thought, and the horses reared and pushed ahead, one unfortunate boy spinning away like a bowling pin that had been clipped by the very edge of the ball, crashing into a bloody heap against the wall.

Without magic, dealing with the other four would be trouble. Using magic would probably summon the authorities attention in a way a simple brawl in a poor part of town sadly wouldn’t. She moved immediately to down the leader who was just staggering back to his feet, breaking his arm with a kick to the back of his elbow so hard, she thought she might have broken a toe.

The biggest one came on next, with a broken bottle in hand but that hardly meant anything. Rose was still holding back after all. One of the others was circling behind her, but he got too close to the water, and so when she threw her bag at his head, he toppled right back into small channel

Thank the goddess the only stuff in there is from the heist. Otherwise all the gifts I bought today would be ruined.

Rose refocused back on the biggest attacker, which posed no difficulty given the fact he was charging her directly. Rather than wait for him to reach her, she took a cue from Alexia, picked up a loose stone at her feet and threw it at his face, stepping forward to attack herself just after impact. He had no training and while he did manage to scrape her cheek with his knuckles at one point, he soon went tumbling, bloody nosed and groaning pitifully after she kicked at the back of his knee.

The last two were cowards to hold back so long, and proved it again by running and diving into the channel to swim away from her, crossing a large, red-black stain spreading through the water as they fled. The red and black hair dye she had bought for Alexia must have burst in the water. The saleswoman had probably oversold her if it covered such a massive area.

She turned back to the big-man who was hobbling away, with at least enough grace to pick up his injured companion as he hobbled his retreat. Feeling proud, she thought about what the slayer had said at the end of his fight.

“Yeah, you better run, or I’ll give you more of what I gave your friends”.

The running footsteps behind her were Alexia and Beatrix this time. She smiled, happy to see them and trying to allay the concern in their eyes.

“Hey Rose, what’s happening?”

“Oh, a couple of hoodlums tried to make off with your carriage,” Rose explained. “There were three more, but I sent the rest of them off that way.” Rose pointed across the water to indicate their method of escape.

Alexia seemed scared, but Rose didn’t think it was that bad “Don’t worry, in the state they were in, there’s no way they’re going to tell anyone about us. I couldn’t let Cid’s big plan fail because of me, could I?”

“N,No Of course not,” Alexia stammered, seeming even more afraid than before.

Perhaps it would be best to get her inside.

---

Goddess save me.

Rose had killed three people today, and didn’t even seem particularly bothered by it.

All that blood in the water.

There was no way it could be anything else. In order to protect Cid and the mission, Rose had killed three people, and almost killed two more. That ‘you better run’ thing was obviously faked for her and Beatrix’s benefit. It didn’t sound like anything Rose, or really any member of the high nobility, would ever say.

All that blood in the water. Losing that much has to kill someone.

It wasn’t like Alexia had never killed anyone, but that had been a cultist who was trying to kill her. Self-defense applied. Even the harshest punishment for a horse-thief would be something like losing a hand, execution would never come into play. Yet Rose had done that three times and was now just whispering to Cid, happy as a clam, while Beatrix brute-forced the safe open.

“So what are you planning to do with the documents you find inside?” Cid asked.

“Use them to arrest Nelson obviously,” she replied dryly.

“Will that work, I mean you stole all this stuff right? Isn’t it, like, inadmissible.”

“If I have it, and I say it’s legitimate, everyone else will fall in line. Besides, the information should hopefully lead to more concrete evidence we can use against the cult.”

“The legal system here sure is something,” Cid commented in a voice that could have been admiring or mocking.

“Got it,” Beatrix stated casually, while a small popping sound, vastly underwhelming given the size of the safe, marked her as correct.

They all rushed to look inside and pull all of the documents out, most of them were coded, though it was telling in and of itself that many of the papers looked similar to those taken from the cult of Diabolos. Cid muttered “No treasure” and backed away, despondent.

That meant all the important messages were in code. She looked at Cid expectantly.

“This is a vacation,” he blurted out.

“I don’t see anyone else here who can do the job.”

“Alexia,” Rose broke in severely. “I appreciate the seriousness of the situation, but Cid and I have already risked our lives to help you retrieve these. It would only be reasonable if we had some time to ourselves.”

Alexia was tempted to keep going, but the thought of her own body drifting under the water, blood leaking to the surface, tempered her tongue.

“Okay. We can wait until after the goddess trail to make the arrest. It would upset the civilians if we had to cancel it anyway, I suppose.”

---

Rose walked out of the building while Alexia and Beatrix started to pack up the documents in companionable silence while Cid just waited, looking at her.

“What is it?”

“When am I getting paid?”

Alexia sighed then reached into her purse. “Okay, a million right?”

“No a million plus expenses,” Cid reminded her forcefully, then tallied up the costs in his head. He’d spent nearly about 40,000 Zeni on supplies and then another 250,000 bribing the guard he’d scalded to not have him arrested. Which brought the total (basically) up to 1.3 million Zeni.

“1.4 Million Zeni in total.” He deserved a bonus for working on a holiday.

Chapter Text

The Second Coming

Cid felt a spring in his step as he and Rose picked a path through the hectic crowd between the carnival stands. The theft had gone flawlessly and Alexia seemed to be getting along fine with Rose, since she let him go with her for this date without really complaining. Fake dating or not, he'd been worried there would be some 'relationship drama' between the two of them that he really didn't want to deal with,

The carnival was just outside of the city, set in a field beside the great lake that fed into Lindworm's labyrinthine canal system. Getting there had taken the better part of an hour after dinner, and the sun had just set as they arrived. The night air and the open layout was refreshingly cool as they took in a brief view of the dark lake, lit by hundreds of torchlight reflections.

Feeling generous, he bought a couple of cotton candy cones from a stall and passed one over to Rose.

It's only like 800 Zeni, and I guess she did help me earn it. I can spend 10,000, maybe 15,000 on her, just to be fair and keep up the act.

"Here, try this."

Rose looked at it quizzically, probably unsure of how to begin eating it, so Cid decided to demonstrate.

She followed his lead and took a delicate bite before slowly walking on to their next activity. A short play about the battle between the demon Diabolos and Olivier, which sadly gave him no new lore. Rose predictably held his hand from the moment they took their seats until they got up to leave, but the brief rest did give Cid time to finish his cotton candy.

Rose immediately turned to the next stand as soon as she heard the call to "Step right up and win amazing prizes." She'd stopped at almost every stand, stall or show they'd passed for the last hour. He supposed she might not have much experience with these kinds of events, being royalty.

Oh dear Jesus, this is basically a rom-com scene. The sheltered rich girl learning how the commoners live while being escorted by her lower-class boyfriend.

Even so, there was no reason to rock the boat right now. The relationship would implode as soon as her dad showed up, even if he did nothing to tank it, so he might as well let her enjoy it while it lasted and have whatever fun he could.

"So you get five of these balls to throw at the targets, the smaller the target, the more points it's worth. At the end of each game, you get to choose a prize depending on how many points you've earned." A pot-bellied carnie was explaining to Rose as Cid caught up. He was standing in front of a large wooden screen, painted to resemble a scarlet demon, with small circular bores cut into the image with brightly coloured numbers listed above each gap. As he looked over the targets and the point totals required to win, he was reminded of an old scam he'd heard about in his original world.

Cid looked over all of the prizes lined up at the flanks of the stand, from the hundred Zeni sweets and coloured dice to the 5000-6000 Zeni stuffed animals that were the grand prize. Rose's eyes were glued to a pale brown dog with black button eyes. After she handed over the 600 Zeni, a very bored-looking ten-year-old with a strong resemblance to the older man left a small tray with five balls just beside Rose, before stepping aside to let her throw.

She needs more than five hundred points for that, and to earn that many, she needs to land the 150-point target at least once.

It was naturally the smallest one, in the centre of the demon's outstretched right claw. Rose didn't make the rookie mistake of trying to go for that hole on her first throw, instead targeting a modest 60 near the demon’s head to acclimatise herself to the weight of the ball. It clipped the side of the painted wooden target, but passed through the hole despite making the entire board shake slightly.

The next two shots were all at the smaller 100-point target, only one of them went through, with Rose making each shot with obvious tension before relaxing slightly, then immediately refocusing on the next throw. Finally, she threw the last two balls at the 150-point target, and Cid focused his eyes on the exact moment of contact. The first went wide and bounced off the wooden frame, while the very last throw...

Called it.

The ball thumped off and rolled to the floor in front of the carnie and his son, and Rose sagged like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

"Bad luck girl, maybe your boyfriend'll take a turn and be able to… Wait! where are you going?"

Cid hopped the fence, passed the lounging game-master's son, picked up the fallen ball, and pressed it directly into the target hole, where it jammed, just a fraction of an inch too large to fit through. The carnie came over to him and Cid whispered a quick command to him.

"Just play along," before continuing more loudly, "Hey, I think this is the wrong ball, it's too big to fit."

He could've told Rose the truth, that they'd just been scammed, but decided against it. Rose, being a generally righteous person, would insist on alerting the guards to have them shut down, and Cid couldn't be bothered to deal with that shit. Additionally, attracting police attention hours after committing a major crime, for any reason, was the third don't do of the "grand larceny for dummies” guide.

"Ah, you're right. Larry, did you mix in your juggling balls into the game stock again. Boy I'll..." he shook his fist at his son with decently faked fury before turning back to Cid. "I'm sorry kid, take any prize you want as an apology from me."

And so, with Rose looking at him like he was the second coming of Christ, he handed her the stuffed toy and quickly walked to another attraction to avoid awkwardness, watching from a distance as a knife thrower skewering fruit to a table, narrowly avoiding the extremities of a pretty young woman strapped to a slowly rotating contraption which moved her in and out of harm’s way.

"You're so amazing. You even knew exactly which prize I wanted," Rose whispered in his ear as she took a place beside him.

He shrugged. "I just saw you looking at it." He was pretty sure anyone with any level of eyesight that was not literally blind would have been able to tell.

She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and gently pressed into him. "I just...feel like I can always count on you to be my hero."

"It was nothing much." He deflected.

"Maybe not, but it's exactly what a hero would do. It's just like that time the…"Rose seemed to brace herself before continuing in a much more timid voice.

"The time the stylish bandit slayer stopped old-man Yodie from cheating at the archery contest," she finished, clearly (and rightfully) embarrassed.

"You, uh, really like that series, huh?" It would be a serious red flag if he'd ever been serious about her. It also didn't make sense, he knew her favourite book was Beta's Pride and Prejudice rip-off, so how could she also love an F-tier shonen manga so much. Surely she should have better taste. She was Royalty, for god's sake.

"I...suppose I should explain that. You've been so honest and kind with me, I probably owe you the truth, even if it is embarrassing."

She took a deep breath and started, rushing slightly. "I actually met the stylish bandit slayer as a girl. I know he's just a story, but he was based on a real person, and that's who I met. I accompanied my father on a state visit to Midgar about nine years ago. We were heading back to Orianna and stopped at a roadside inn, and it was so overcrowded with everyone in my father's retinue I wandered off to a field nearby to get some air. I was completely without protection and was kidnapped before anyone knew what had happened."

She looked at him as if probing for something, and Cid realised this was probably a point where he should appear concerned (which really made no sense, since everything had obviously turned out fine). He quickly furrowed his brow and nodded gravely at her, which prompted her to continue the story.

"I was worried, but I knew I was too valuable to hurt, and so I was more worried about whatever price my father would have to pay for my release than my safety at the time, but then he came. He killed all the kidnappers and cut me free, then pointed me back to the main road."

"He was about my age, I think, but he said 'stylish bandit slayer' like it wasn't his real name, and that along with his mask, made me think he was trying to hide his identity. I had to say something to my father, but I thought that since I owed him my life, I should lie to help keep his secrets. I said he was a really short older guy, and I think that account inspired Bonhurst to start writing the manga. That's why I'm...pretty attached to it, even now that I'm far too old for it and know it's fairly different from the inspiration. He was also the swordsman that inspired me to take up fencing."

I...wait, wasn't that a fox girl or something.

Rose sadly continued too fast for Cid to fully consider whether he had dementia or something. "I, I've never told anyone that before." Rose said, sounding amazed and slightly fearful about that.

He walked up to Rose and wrapped his arms around her in a hug to try and show his appreciation before muttering, "Thanks." Stylish bandit slayer had been his prototype Shadow, but there had been a problem. He hadn't truly understood the language of this world and kept making references to things that didn't exist on old instincts. All in all, the lines he'd come up for himself at that time had been pretty dumpster-tier.

The fact that anyone else who heard the story would have thought it was some old guy, rather than someone his age, made it much less likely anyone would ever connect him to stylish bandit slayer. Rose had unintentionally kicked some dirt over his dark past, and he was definitely grateful.

"I… It's okay. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, I was just so embarrassed."

He let her go a few seconds later, mulling over something that had just occurred to him. He'd always admired shadowbrokers, but could never really pick out a particular one that had stirred up his passion and admiration. To Rose, he was that person. Even if it wasn't exactly the same dream, he'd become an idea that captivated her so completely it had shifted the course of her entire life.

Sweet.

---

Epsilon can be such a fool sometimes.

Sucking up to Alexia was an obvious mistake. While Rose was still attached to Lord Shadow, any attempt made on him was almost certain to fail. Additionally, by observing their relationship up close and in detail, she could learn from the other girl's mistakes (and what she got right, if there was anything) to improve her own chances.

It was like the canary in the coal mine. Admittedly Rose was a very likeable, friendly canary, but Beta would be able to console herself with the thought that she would end up with a more 'appropriate' partner once everything was said and done.

She doesn't even have any clue about his real character, it's a very shallow sort of affection she has for him. In truth, it's actually somewhat sad that she's so totally head over heels for some ridiculous idea she has in her head.

They both stood high in the top box of the goddess trial arena, mingling too far back from their seats to see the challengers enter and exit the sacred ground itself. Most of the other important visitors had done the same and turned their back on the sands, only for the crowd to turn back to their seats excitedly on the rare occasion a challenger was able to summon a hero to fight.

"And Isabella Benedict's character was just so..."

As Rose continued to praise her work, Beta focused on not breaking her glass every time Rose glanced over to Cid's seat in the stands, like he was some precious treasure she was worried might be stolen at any moment, and had to endlessly check was still there. Beta meanwhile, had to pretend as though the most perfect man in the world was not within easy view and keep looking at the other guests because she was better than that. Rose did it again before finishing the sentence.

You're supposed to be pretending he's your put-upon servant. Stop smiling over at him!

Rose had got to walk to the tournament grounds arm in arm with him and even gave him a kiss on the cheek before sending him off to sit in the public stands while she went to the top box with the other VIPs. The most contact Beta had with Lord Shadow was him brushing against her slightly as she made her own way in to drop off a note, explaining that she had to use her publishing connections to ruin Maximillian Bonhurst and make sure he couldn't publish as much as a pamphlet ever again.

That's Lord Shadow for you. I'm in the same industry, and I never even realised that man had a connection to the cult.

She couldn't make a fool of herself and ask exactly what the connection was, so she'd just trust that his response was the most perfect one (which it definitely was) and destroy his reputation and career as soon as possible.

It is a bit of a shame, though. For as childish as it was, there was something endearing about the Stylish Bandit Slayer, though it's hard to explain exactly what.

Rose cut off her string of praise abruptly as the acting Archbishop approached them genially.

"Greetings, Miss Kafka and Princess Rose."

That was about all the attention he gave Beta (in conversation, his eyes would continue to flicker over her every few seconds of the chat) before focusing entirely on Rose. "It's a shame we've never been formally introduced before now. I understand there was an unfortunate incident at my office yesterday, and you tried to see me while I was preparing for the trial."

"Yes, my sincere apologies for causing such a scene," Rose replied, shamefaced. "It seems one of my servants thought an appointment between us had been made. I know this is an odd question, but do you by any chance know a pink-haired elf that would appear around twenty years old that might have reason to mislike you?"

Focusing on the Archbishop to distract herself from the idea of Lord Shadow pretending to be her servant for a time and who she'd kill for that opportunity, she noticed the priest's tiny gulp before replying. "No, I can't say that I do."

"It's the most curious thing. Apparently, this elf appeared dressed as a member of the church and told him that my request for a meeting with you had been accepted. I had thought perhaps she might have been a servant of yours, who was disgruntled for some reason and sought to set us against one another with this paltry ruse. I couldn't imagine any other reason for what happened. Again, I apologise for my lacking conduct." Rose bowed her head slightly as she concluded her apology.

Nelson had gone pale, probably realising exactly who Rose was hinting at. Lord Shadow must have prepared this lie for her to divert suspicion and...protect Rose and Alexia.

It doesn't mean anything. It definitely doesn't mean anything.

"If I may ask, why did you want a meeting with me?"

"It's a personal affair, I don't believe it would be appropriate to discuss here."

"I know just the place, and it's only a moment away. Please follow me, princess."

Without waiting for a reply, Nelson walked away from the mingling crowd and left Rose with little choice but to trail after him. He most likely still had some suspicion about the coincidental nature of Rose's visit and wanted to hear her excuse for being at the church at the time of the burglary.

Beta followed along at a distance, trying to make her pursuit look like a casual movement through the party. Eventually, she was left in a hall outside their meeting room, straining her ears to ignore the noise of the other guests.

"I...Well, I'm in love with a man, and I'm not sure my father will approve of our union. I wanted to know how the church would view such an action, especially if a...conflict around the issue occurred."

Beta's body tensed slightly, but didn't divert attention from the Archbishop's response, hoping he'd (metaphorically) slap Rose right down and wipe that silly delusion out of her head, while also rubbing her nose in the political reality of her situation.

The Archbishop gave a knowing chuckle before responding, "Ah, young love, I see now. Politically, the church couldn't do much to support you, but please know that the goddess and teachings of the church are in your favour, Princess. After all, following the defeat of Diabolos, the heroes married the princesses and great ladies of various nations, despite their own humble origins. If you have a similar passion, we could not in good conscience condemn you for it."

"Ah...I'm so relieved to hear that," Rose exclaimed with genuine relief.

She really needs to get a better grip on reality, that'll never happen. Though a scenario where I'm in her shoes and Shadow and I are marrying against all societal expectations would be pretty satisfying to write.

And so, Beta made a friend and managed to get some inspiration for the Chronicles of Lord Shadow.

---

Beta can be such a fool sometimes.

Sucking up to Rose was an obvious mistake. She might be closer to Lord Shadow right now, but she was always going to be just a temporary imposition to him. To really take the top spot, the better strategy was to ingratiate yourself with someone who wasn’t going anywhere, someone who would be a long-term ally. To that end, Epsilon put on her most ingratiating smile and moved to speak with Princess Alexia.

The Princess gave her a critical look over as she approached. Her red dress was both tasteful (relatively, Cid was here and that necessitated some effort at temptation) and of the highest quality, but the princess's eyes still looked judgingly at the chest.

Ah, seeing that envy on other women's faces never gets old. I probably shouldn’t enjoy it, but it’s just so sweet.

"Princess Alexia, It's nice to meet you. I met your sister a few months ago at the Mitsugoshi opening and saw you there, but we never had the chance to speak."

"No, we never did. I did hear your performance though, and you were wonderful."

"That's very kind of you to say. Are you going to attempt the goddess trial, Princess Alexia?" Epsilon asked. She already knew the answer, but needed to move through the forms of polite conversation.

"No, not this year. Of course I'd like to try it, but I don't believe I'm quite ready for it. I might attempt it next year if I can."

"Hm," Epsilon muttered before continuing, "I must say I think you should just go for it. My old piano teacher always told me that it was alright to fail as many times as you like, as long as you keep trying."

The technique used in Alexia's false friendly smile was excellent, but Epsilon could still see through it. "Perhaps that's the case for you, Miss Sylon, but for the nobility things are somewhat different. Failing before a massive crowd such as this," she paused to gesture around the room to the other guests, "might bring shame to the Midgar family for years. As a loyal daughter, I have to consider such things, and not just my own personal desires, as a woman of more common birth might be able to."

Oh Alexia, what a paragon of virtue you are.

Even if she did kind of have a point, Epsilon still couldn't bring herself to completely agree. "Of course, your responsibilities are much different than mine, but I still think it's a good mindset to hold. Sometimes the fear of failure can hold you back more than any lack of ability."

Alexia considered her for a few seconds before slowly replying, "Yes, I can agree with that. Is that how it was for you? Before you became famous?"

Epsilon shrugged. "There's some truth to that. I was a fairly nervous performer before I learned to deal with large crowds, and my peers at the time were...difficult competition."

Alexia's smile this time was both more sly and more genuine. "Well you're here now, and you're the only elven pianist I've even heard of, so I suppose you won over them in the end."

"I suppose you could say that." It wouldn't be true, but you could say it.

Alexia leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "So, what's your secret? How'd you win?"

Epsilon hadn't won, but she hadn't lost yet either, so the best she could offer was explaining how she'd managed to do as well as she had so far. "I realised having good competition to work against made me better. Fighting to overcome them and nature itself was brutal, but throughout history, intelligent creatures have always prevailed over nature."

Alexia raised a quizzical brow at her. "What's this got to do with nature?"

"W…well, like I said, I wasn't naturally very confident, so I guess overcoming that was like overcoming my nature, you see."

Alexia seemed unconvinced but let the topic go to begin discussing who the favourites were to actually summon a heroic spirit and who among them was most likely to prevail.

I'm getting careless about that. I might be safer now that I can wear things that expose parts of them, but I still can't allow myself to become negligent. There's still so much more these twins have left to achieve.

And so, Epsilon made a friend and managed to protect her greatest secret.

---

Cid, sitting in the general stands of the arena, could only think that this was the most boring gladiator arena style event that could possibly exist.

I mean, I guess if you think of it as a church event, it's not unusual that it'd be boring.

A good ninety percent of the time had been taken up with announcing someone's name, watching them walk into the arena, having nothing happen, then watching them dejectedly walk out of the arena.

Over the last two hours, only five hopefuls had managed to summon anyone, and the battles had been...okay. He'd hoped that being ancient hero ghosts or whatever, that they might have something special up their sleeves, but they were always just standard duels you could see a dozen times a day back at the academy, only slightly more well done.

Would it kill you guys to walk through a wall or something?

His companion wasn't helping his enjoyment of the event either. Claire had somehow scented him out in the stands and was now sitting beside him, engaging him in pointless conversation and holding his arm gently (until he tried to move away, at which point it became vice-like).

The time passed slowly. After another hour of monotony, the sun went down as the event wound down to its last twenty participants after Noe Hapnin failed to call forward any heroes.

"And now we have a very special surprise challenger ready to face the goddess trial. The seven-time winner of the Bushin festival, Beatrix Llanerei, the goddess of war."

The crowd went apeshit as Beatrix walked to the centre of the sands, probably the most calm and collected challenger thus far. Even Cid had to admit he was curious about who she would summon, if nothing else. After a moment, the familiar burst of white light emerged, and a figure emerged from the light.

It was an elf, a female elf that looked…

Seriously, is god just copy-pasting their faces?

She was another Alpha replicant in well-made forest green armour. Focusing in on her, he thought she seemed more childlike than Alpha ever had, the guileless look in her eyes contrasting sharply with Alpha's attentive gaze, even in what was almost the same face. Beatrix was as taken aback as the crowd, so much so that when the spirit (according to the announcer, Altara) struck at her, she was a fraction of a second away from being defeated in the first blow.

The battle was the best he'd seen so far, and maybe it was just having someone he knew fight, but he got kind of into it and cheered her on a little. Sadly, it seemed his side-character cheering skills couldn't change the outcome of duels. While Beatrix was skilled and much more graceful than her, Altara, who fought with the passion of a robot that would rather be doing anything else, had almost faultless technique, and her utilisation and power with magic were far superior to Beatrix's. After a hard-fought fifteen-minute battle, Beatrix went down, and Altera disappeared, with a dissatisfied expression that would have fit her more if she'd lost.

Beatrix was assisted off the field to be healed, then the announcer shouted the name of the next challenger.

Finally, I can go do the boss fight.

He'd been curious to see if Beatrix could summon anyone interesting, and even if it was just in appearance, he supposed he'd got what he wanted. Now, he could finally try to slip away for five minutes and dramatically burst in to summon the witch.

The witch of calamity, huh? Guess she's gotta be pretty strong to have a title like that.

He was struggling to contain his excitement when the next challenger's name was called. "A student hailing from the Midgar Spellsword Academy, Cid Kagenou."

They've got a student from the Midgar Academy fighting here. I wonder if it's anyone I…

It was him. Someone had entered him into this perfect trap of a tournament, where the opponents magically matched skills with the challengers, and the fights went on until one party could not continue. Cid looked at the obvious culprit with hate in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that, it wasn't even my idea to enter you, even though I was the one who signed you up. If you want to be with Rose, you need to prove yourself publicly, and this is a great place to do that, so Rose suggested I enter you. Don't worry, the spirits are matched to your level, so there's nothing too scary to worry about, see," she smiled comfortingly as she listed off the reasons this was an absolute nightmare.

"Come on, if you're scared, I'll walk you to the entrance." Claire declared, not releasing his arm and pulling him out of their seats and towards the stairs. Cid looked up at the VIP box and saw Rose praying under her breath.

There was only one plan that could get him out of this: Code Brown.

"Claire, could you please tell the announcers I'm going to need a minute. I gotta go take a shit."

Claire looked at him piteously before replying. "Okay, but just...don't lose your nerve and run off. I won't forgive you if you don't walk into that arena."

"Don't worry. I'm actually pretty excited to go."

---

Shadow's battle with Aurora had been...intense, for as poorly as that word seemed to fit their contest, she had not been able to think of any better descriptor, even though it must have been at least ten minutes since Shadow emerged victorious. It had seemed almost a dance to begin with, Shadow waiting for Aurora's first move and her gently holding out her hand to him as if in welcome, until the crimson spears had emerged and pursued him across the arena.

As if it were a dance with steps laid out in advance, Shadow had moved within an inch of the attacks, never failing to find the safe spots where a half step wrong would have left him skewered. Then he had attacked only once, and the show had ended. She'd been able to make out the direction he fled and tried to pursue, mostly on instinct, as logically she understood she wouldn't be able to catch up.

But a strange light had appeared in that same direction, moving, stopping, and moving again. Despite the handicap she'd been given, Beatrix had fallen behind by then, but when Shadow stopped out in the open beyond the limits of the city, Beatrix managed to get a distant view of a black-haired man in a white shirt and dark waistcoat, looking at a large rectangle of light over his shoulder, before disappearing again. She looked for the red glow in the distance, which marked her next destination, and continued her pursuit.

The man stopped again, considering the door for the longest period yet, and she heard him begin to mutter something about the door being an "Anywhere door" and it being "clingy" in a voice far softer, higher, and more casual than she was used to hearing from the man.

To think he's already so familiar with the concept of a phantom door that it's nothing but a mild irritation. What sort of vast repository of knowledge must Shadow have.

The pause allowed Beatrix a moment to build her nerve. It was quickly lost when she sensed someone else approaching and she silently took cover behind a nearby bush to avoid being spotted.

"Lord Shadow, your humble servant 426 has arrived. 559 has sent me to ask whether you need any assistance dealing with the unseen door? I would be honoured to accompany you." a soft feminine voice asked sweetly.

"No, that is unnecessary. I can resolve this myself, take your companion and leave this matter in my hands." His voice had gone back to its deep, commanding tone.

Perhaps changing his voice is a part of his disguise.

"Companion, I don't understand? I came here alone to offer my meagre assistance," the woman asked, confused.

Beatrix heard the sound like rustling leaves or rushing water, and then the booming voice called out, "Reveal yourself, or prepare to be cut down."

Beatrix rose to her feet and walked out as gracefully as she could, fighting not to show the mixture of excitement and fear rising in her that she hadn't felt in decades. As she faced Shadow, she saw that both he and the scarlet-haired girl beside him both wore the black suits and masks that defined the members of Shadow Garden.

How did he change clothes so quickly, and where did they come from?

"La...no, you must be Beatrix." The woman replied. Her voice had shifted from an enthusiastic, enrapturing sound to perfect indifference over the course of those six words.

Perhaps they all disguise their voices this way.

"I see. Why have you come? Do you wish to continue our duel?"

"No," she replied, only a half-second faster than she would have to any other, less fatal question.

"Then why? You presume on my mercy, goddess of war. What makes you think I won't simply eliminate you permanently now?"

It had been partly an expectation that he'd honour the same customs she did. Just as it would be dishonourable to attack someone you had yielded to, it would be shameful to attack someone you'd already bested, spared, and who was no longer a threat to you.

It would seem he's no elf.

But there was a greater reason even than that. "I didn't get that impression of you from what I've heard and from what I've seen. You don't seem like the kind of man to kill others with no purpose in mind."

He considered that a moment before brusquely moving on. "That still leaves the question of why you've come to me now?"

"Because…"

I was curious about who you were and how you came to have such strength. About why you fight and who your enemy is. I need to know who that woman I fought was, the one that looked so much like me and Allison.

"I needed to know more…" she finished simply, the answer sounding pitifully incomplete.

Shadow again looked her over, taking the moment to decide on his next course of action.

"I can see her off easily if she's disturbing you, Master. Simply give the word, and I'll…"

"No!" Shadow commanded, forcing his follower to snap to attention. "If she wishes to know more, I will indulge her this time. She can accompany me through the door, while you return to assist the others."

The red-haired girl looked at her master as if he were her father, putting off a promised play date to finish his work. Then she looked at Beatrix as if she were the vilest thing she'd ever encountered before replying stiffly.

"I serve and obey my lord. I wish you good fortune." With that, 426 turned away from them and started moving in the direction of the city, kicking up more of the greenery than Beatrix thought necessary as she sped off.

"Come then," he beckoned while walking up to the door. “You said you wished to know more, and your answers lie behind this gateway."

Hardly daring to believe her luck, she stood behind him as they both passed through the glowing red gateway to arrive in a room of the purest white. The place was disorientating; the floor seemed almost see-through, as though they were standing on air between themselves and the lowest floor, and not the actual surface. Looking left and right, Beatrix could make out no walls or any other boundaries surrounding them.

"Aurora," Shadow declared imperiously. "Why have you summoned me?"

The woman who he'd been obscuring, a violet-haired, violet-eyed human of surpassing beauty in a green and black dress, looked at him with a puzzled expression from her position tied to a cross. "Summoned, I have no memory of doing that."

"Do you deny it?"

"Not exactly. My memories are incomplete, you see. The last thing I remember was fighting you out there, and then waking up back here again. That fight was impressive, considering all the memories I have, I can confidently say you're the strongest person in them."

"Thank you. I'm honoured," Shadow replied, his tone slightly less harsh than it had been a moment before. "I'm afraid we must be off. Farewell, Witch of Calamity." He started walking purposefully away from them both.

The woman, Aurora, flinched upon hearing that name, and Beatrix was compelled to speak out. "Surely we shouldn't just leave her like this?" Aurora flinched again on seeing her, and Beatrix had to wonder if that was due to the spirit that shared her face.

Does she know that woman? Can she tell me who that was?

"We shouldn't interrupt her training, let's move on and leave her to it."

"I'm not training, I'm just trapped here. Please let me down."

Beatrix moved to cut her down, then looked to Shadow for confirmation. After his small nod, Beatrix's sword cut through the straps that attached her to the cross.

"Did you seriously think I'd do that for fun?" Aurora asked him, a slight edge of bitterness in her voice.

"I've used it myself to train, and as a worthy opponent, I thought you might have had the same idea," Shadow replied casually, leaving Beatrix and Aurora both taken aback.

She'd heard an old human legend of a man who gained incredible power after being locked in such a position for several days. Could that be the source of Shadow's power?

Chapter Text

Wasn’t Even Close

“Can you please take your hands off my chest, Princess Alexia?” A melon-chested nobody prattled uselessly at her as she tried to get her bearings after tumbling through the massive red door. Alexia responded brusquely after pulling herself free of the pile made up of her, Rose, Natsume, and Sylon.

“I didn’t grab onto that glob of fat by choice, I assure you Miss Kafka.”

Natsume just sneered at her, and Alexia, believing it to be the most insulting thing she could do at the moment, turned away from her and towards the expectant members of Shadow Garden. She was still a little unsteady after the fall, so much so that she struggled to focus her eyes and saw a flicker of gold just behind the pink-haired leader of this particular band. Then she blinked and it was gone.

What did I just…?

Looking around with perfect clarity, she couldn’t even see anything that was a similar colour (Rose’s hair was a few shades darker and behind her), and concluded it must have been a trick of the…

“What are you doing here?” Victoria asked, considering her and her companions with a look that might have fit a farmer deciding which of his pigs he wanted for supper.

“We were just…” Rose trailed off unhelpfully.

“It was the strangest thing. We were just walking away when a huge door appeared, and before we could stop, we fell in.”

Victoria strode swiftly over to her and used one black-gloved hand to grasp Alexia’s chin and force it up so they were staring eye to eye. Alexia stared back up (Victoria was almost half a foot taller than she was) with as much false calm as she could muster in the face of her cold, disinterested stare.

It’s strange how she can be so expressive through that mask.

She’d seen this woman slay the dark knight Venom, who had once summoned Olivier, with contemptuous ease. Alexia would have bet everything she owned this woman couldn’t hold a candle to Shadow, but something about her made Alexia more nervous than she would’ve been if Shadow was in her place.

“Liar.” Victoria accused sharply.

Alexia scoffed. She hadn’t been trying to pass the lie off as the truth, and the idea that she was actually trying was just so…

The slap hit Alexia’s cheek so hard she almost fell onto her face again, but managed to catch herself with one arm to stop her fall. Rose and Sylon (and to her credit, Natsume) tensed as if readying themselves to step in.

Victoria seemed like she’d like nothing more than to continue the slap-down, but as if an invisible presence compelled her, she held herself back and said, “You are very lucky our master considers you worth more alive than dead.”

“Yeah. I’m feeling really lucky right now,” Alexia hissed, moving upright more slowly than she needed to, so she had a little more time to bring the trembling in her limbs back under control. It was hard to tell whether it was anger or fear that was making it so hard to keep still.

Victoria ignored her and spoke as if all of them were a hundred miles away, not looking at any of them. “Sending you back isn’t a great option, so I suppose you’ll have to join us. Keep out of the way. 426, 379, ensure our visitors are properly escorted.”

In a flash, a masked brown-haired girl appeared beside Alexia, offering her a hand in support.

“Sorry about her, she’s a little...intense,” she whispered conspiratorially.

“No kidding,” Alexia whispered back, inordinately grateful to have an ally that might be of some help should Victoria lose her patience again.

The brute giantess herself had turned away and walked towards a statue of a female dark knight, which projected an indomitable, dignified persona. It took her a while to realize that the statue was an elf, and even longer to realize that it was one she recognized.

“Beatrix, or is that Altara?” Alexia muttered, remembering at the last second the name of the other elf in Beatrix’s mirror match at the trial.

“Wrong, and wrong again. This is Olivier, the great hero who won a great victory over Diabolos on this very spot.”

That’s ridiculous.

She waited for someone to laugh, but no one did. Victoria had removed her mask and lowered her hood while looking at the statue, so when she looked back at the group, her face was plain to see. She was (sadly) gorgeous, even with the listless glare that wandered over the group before settling in on Nelson.

“So it really is you. To think that our Saint would return to us like this,” he said in disbelief.

“That isn’t my name anymore, but yes, it is me. I think it’s been three years since I saw you last, Nelson?”

“I suppose that would be right.” Nelson grimaced before continuing in a false cheery voice, “No pity for your old friends? You cut Venom and the others down without even a hint of hesitation.”

Victoria’s face grew ever so slightly harder. “Don’t give me that drivel. Not only was I cast out to be put down and salvaged like a broken tool, but my old superior Drake was executed as well and for no failing of his own. Don’t pretend to care about sentimentality. This church of yours is a rat’s nest, and I thank Shadow every day that I was fortunate enough to escape it.”

“You think running around with these masked fools makes you any better than you were back then? What a joke. You haven’t changed a bit. You’re the same old fanatic you always were; you just have a new master that’s more foolish and less powerful. Drake and I used to laugh about how easy it was to make you do anything we wanted over drinks sometimes, you know.”

Victoria smiled, and it transformed her face. Gone was the dangerous woman that would kill them without a thought (and with even less regret), and in her place was a fanatic thinking on the cause of their obsession, her rapturous gaze focused on something none of them could see.

“Even if that’s true, what does it matter? I serve a truly divine being now, and what could be a better use of my life than to offer up every part of myself to his service,” she chuckled slightly. “What greater calling could there possibly be?”

Nelson shook his head disbelievingly, and Victoria nodded slowly, piteously at him.

I think she might have been less scary when she was furious.

“You wouldn’t understand. If you stood before him, felt his power, felt it reach inside you and set everything broken right, then better than it had ever been, you might,” she sighed dramatically. “But you never will. You don’t deserve to. If Lord Shadow ever sees you, it will only be in the seconds before you die.”

In an instant, she was stern again. “Now, keep silent unless you have something useful to say, or I might need to disobey my superiors and follow my original plan of cutting your tongue out.”

Nelson stared, silent and furiously at his old work associate(?) while Alexia tried to set the conversation back to what she was interested in. “Can we maybe go back to Olivier being a woman? How does that work? And why does she look so much like Beatrix?”

“Because for centuries now, the cult has tried to cover up the fact that the heroes' descendents and the possessed are one and the same. Because only girls are affected by the curse, changing the heroes from women to men in the stories disguised the root cause of the affliction. This means everyone is much happier to hand over the girls when the church comes calling for experimental material.”

That was...disconcerting to hear. Her family’s history, Rose’s, and many other noble families listed the hero Freya as an ancient ancestor, even if the truth of it in each case wasn’t truly provable after so much time. If what Victoria just said was true, then that would mean she and many others she knew were vulnerable to being afflicted by the curse.

And what does she mean by experimental material?

As if reading her mind, Victoria continued, “We know many of the basics surrounding the cult’s operations and the heroes, much of it I told to my superiors after I was shown the light by Shadow. However, there are some details that need to be investigated and confirmed, and this prison of memories is the ideal place to set our doubts to rest. Come now, and let’s take a look into the past.”

---

Cid walked through the memory tunnel thing with his two companions, revelling in how many levels this dynamic worked. Firstly, he’d joined up with a mysterious evil-calamity witch who was connected to the secrets of this pocket-dimension thing. Secondly, by coming here with Beatrix and Aurora, and not any members of Shadow Garden, he could get ahead of Shadow Garden in terms of lore knowledge and show off with his newly acquired occult wisdom. Finally, since Beatrix knew even less than him and wasn’t even trying to look cool, she asked all of the obvious questions, letting him get the answers (which were mostly nothing) as he maintained a dignified silence.

It was pretty nice that Victoria was such a pushover, if she’d actually commanded number whoever-she-was to join him, the whole operation would have been screwed. He’d actually seen her last night as he spent another evening prowling Lindworm and remembered she once knew a guy called Drake. After a quick chat, it turned out it was the same guy (small world), which gave Cid the great idea of framing Shadow Garden for the theft. Most Eminences in Shadow would only see not being blamed for their own crimes as ideal, but Cid thought on another level. He realized being seen as responsible for things they didn’t actually do made them even more enigmatic and unknowable.

That being said, party composition was about all this event had going for it so far. He thought this whole area might have just been some sort of therapy for Aurora since the only thing they’d seen so far on their journey was one of child Aurora’s memories. It had ended with her slapping herself so hard the world around them cracked.

I guess it might be one of those confronting your inner-demon kind of things.

She’d been a fun fight, so he didn’t really want to start anything with her, but every time Beatrix asked her a question she just gave the same excuse.

“Why are you here?”

“I don’t remember, my memories are incomplete.”

“Do you know that woman who looks like me?”

“I don’t remember. My memories are incomplete.”

“Why are you called the witch of calamity?”

“I don’t remember. My memories are incomplete.”

It was starting to really tick him off. The only important thing she’d said was that to get out of here, they had to get to the centre and blow that shit up. Since important stuff was always at the core of these places, he was cool with going along with this plan.

Eventually, the endless fields of white faded, and they pulled up to a random battlefield chock-full of dead soldiers.

“Ancient warriors. It has been long since you were remembered, and longer yet since you last drew breath. And yet, how you spent your lives has shaped everything we know. Are you satisfied with this result?”

Beatrix and Aurora gave him a ‘Just how deep does your knowledge go’ kind of look that he deeply appreciated before the sound of crying caught their attention.

“Someone needs help,” Beatrix said as she rushed off to investigate, leaving him and Aurora alone.

“Is it you again?” he asked.

“Probably. I was kind of a crybaby when I was younger.”

“This is hardly a place most children would enjoy,” he said, his voice becoming ever so slightly angry as he tried to hold back his envy. He would have loved a childhood like this: mysterious experiments, cursed battlefields, Aurora had won the lottery.

Aurora gave him a sad smile. “Yes, I didn’t really like fighting that much to start with. I remember it made the people around me unhappy when I refused or held back, so I kept pushing myself to keep going so they’d like me more.”

“But you enjoyed our battle before? In the arena.”

“Yes. I don’t know how it happened, but I suppose I must have changed quite a bit from how I used to be.”

“Undeniably,” he said solemnly, and she tensed slightly in response.

The two of them slowly circled a small hill to see another version of child Aurora crying in a small hollow, positioned so the earth blocked out all view of the corpses surrounding her.

Beatrix was standing over her, muttering gently to her, which thankfully saved Cid from having to attempt Shadow childcare.

“It’s just a memory. We have to end it properly for us to proceed.” Following that, Aurora took hold of Beatrix’s sword and shoved it towards her younger self.

Okay, I’m actually not sure if this is therapy or some kind of torture device.

Beatrix grabbed her arm, and they struggled over the sword. “What are you doing?”

“Like I explained before, the only way to leave is to end this memory.”

“What do you mean, end the memory?” Beatrix asked indignantly as she struggled to pull the sword away from both Aurora’s.

“To end the memory, we have to complete it. That means finishing it the same way I remember it ending.” Aurora explained offhandedly.

Beatrix was horrified, but Cid, having purposely let himself get stabbed before, understood her as a kindred spirit, “I take it you were fine because it missed your vitals?”

“I don’t know if I would say fine or if…” Aurora trailed off, staring into space and losing focus on her tussle with Beatrix, who finally got the sword but almost fell over as Aurora’s counterweight disappeared.

“What is this place?...Who are you?”

“I don’t know. I’m saying everything I can remember, honest.” Aurora’s tone was so light and cheerful it was clear she had given up on trying to make the lie believable. Beatrix then looked over to Cid with a pleading expression so similar to Alpha’s that he was almost tempted to explain, until he realized he too had no real idea about what was going on.

“Perhaps you’ll find out as we go further in. You should not have followed me if you didn’t have the appropriate resolve.”

Beatrix managed to collect herself just in time. One of the many corpses around them had risen and had tried to grab her leg and pull her down to the ground, only to have its head split apart for its trouble.

“It would seem the sanctuary is rejecting us.”

Cid drew his sword and gave them the opening line.

“Let it try.”

He’d always wanted to just go crazy on a battlefield, and this seemed like a prime opportunity. Switching regularly between his sword and his hands (to max out style and brutality points), he set about making a circular safe zone around Beatrix and the two Aurora’s. It would have been nice to use magic, but he was still working on getting around the core mana-drain thing. All he’d managed to do so far was harden the magic holding his slime suit in place to avoid a wardrobe malfunction.

“Your companion certainly is...multitalented. Without my magic, I’m unable to do much here, but he’s making quick work of them. It’s like watching an adult being attacked by a swarm of toddlers.”

You could put that a little better.

“That’s ironic coming from you, Witch of Calamity.”

“What is?” she asked coolly. She seemed uncomfortable with the nickname, which was a shame since it was an awesome title.

“Most of this journey has been you abusing your past self.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. I forgot all about that.” She tittered and took a sword from a zombie with its head caved in (thanks to Cid’s foot) and stabbed unimpeded at her child self while he and Beatrix were occupied with the undead horde.

The world shattered again, and they were immediately in a circular sci-fi looking room, with a comically massive door, sealed with even more comically massive chains criss-crossing all over it.

“So, the core is in there,” Cid said. He couldn’t really be sure, but he tried to make it sound more like a statement of fact than a question.

Where else would it be?

“It would appear so, but neither of our swords will be able to cut through all of those chains if we can’t use magic,” Beatrix said.

“Well, if you’re interested.” Aurora broke in casually. “There’s a key right over here.”

---

Rose was horrified. She hadn’t imagined an atrocity like this could exist anywhere in the world, much less at the heart of the divine church where she’d attended happy weddings and the blessings of newborn children all through her life. Even the dignified sorrow of funerals contrasted horribly with the deaths of the many children who had not been fortunate enough to survive the initial experiments, with the torturous lives of the woman who had laid the foundations of the church and been erected into false heroes, and most disturbingly with the abject greed that had fuelled the whole miserable affair.

The terror of this place was otherworldly. Once, she thought she saw half the outline of a blond elven woman, the other half entirely see-through before it disappeared in a flash. Another time, she thought she saw Sylon starting to disappear, as if her legs,hips,and chest were melting like a lit candle before her vision righted and she saw Sylon standing unharmed and insistent that nothing was wrong.

She felt sick, but she didn’t think she could afford to slow down or stop. The others might have been looking to her for support. Alexia took it all with the same noble, slightly disgusted indifference she hoped she was able to maintain, but Natsume and Sylon had stayed deathly quiet throughout, occasionally trembling in fear when some new horror revealed itself.

I need to stay strong, for them at least.

She had given into emotion once before in a situation like this, and it had almost cost Cid’s life. She wished he was here. She tried to imagine that he was nearby and just out of sight occasionally, just to give herself a small measure of courage and comfort.

“And so, we can see the results for themselves,” Victoria was explaining relentlessly, “That man there and this one here are one and the same, except for the lack of hair, of course. What is it that you call that medicine you're holding so delicately over there?”

Nelson clearly intended to keep silent, but a member of Shadow Garden that strongly resembled a wolf twisted his arm back savagely, and he grimaced, making a sharp contrast with the jubilant younger version of himself they were looking at that held up a dark red gemlike object.

“Beads, beads of Diabolos,” he whimpered.

“But there are some flaws… These beads need to be taken regularly to keep the effect going, and…”

“And the Archbishop’s clearly lost all his hair since that time, so hair loss must be another side effect,” Alexia broke in confidently.

A couple of the other girls nodded, most prominently the wolf-girl holding the Archbishop. “Yep, Delta’s a master of spot the difference, and Delta sees…”

She thought Victoria might have said ‘no,’ but it was drowned out by the Archbishop’s own denial.

“NOOOO! It was stress that ruined my hairline. I work with a bunch of idiots who are constantly fighting each other, but somehow, those bastards managed to unite to make me do all the work. It’s like they think because I’m immortal, it’s fine to just put all the responsibility on me.”

Alexia looked abashed. “Uh, right...sorry about that.”

“If our guests are done with pointless, idiotic interruptions, the other flaw is that only very few of these beads can be made each year. How many can you make, Nelson?” Victoria asked.

“Twelve.”

“A perfect match to the number of the knights of rounds, by coincidence.”

“Wait, hold on! Aren’t the knights of rounds the cult’s top members?”

“Yes,” Victoria answered, confused by the question.

“And this guy is one of the cult’s top twelve?” Alexia asked incredulously.

“Yes, I am Nelson the avaricious, and… why are you looking at me like that?” Nelson trailed off as Alexia looked him over as if she thought there was some trap in him but couldn't see exactly where it was.

“Really?”

“Yes, I am…”

“I mean really? Like seriously?” Alexia continued, looking to Victoria for confirmation.

For the first time, Victoria gave her a genuine smile. “Yes, sad to say, this is one of the best they have to offer.”

“You pests are going to…” He tried to move forward, but the wolf-girl Delta impaled him from behind and tossed his body carelessly over the edge of the platform, falling from sight before they heard the splash of him hitting the water below.

“Delta, we still had more to learn from him,” Victoria said levelly.

“Delta’s instincts said it was best to kill him quickly, so Delta did. It was just like when Delta was hunting sharks in the sea,” the wolf said abrasively, clearly unhappy with the attempted scolding.

“Secondly, you might want to check that your prey’s actually dead next time before you throw them away.”

There was a rushing sound, and then Nelson had flown up out of the water, his eyes glowed crimson and his body seemed to swell to a few times its natural size.

The flash of light that followed was so bright Rose could still sense it despite closing and covering her eyes. When she opened them again, they were in a plain white room that seemed to go on forever. Rose and her three companions were arranged behind Victoria and Delta, who were facing off against the Archbishop, who was now back to his usual size.

He began to separate into two, then three, then five. Rose rubbed at her eyes, hoping she was just seeing things again, but when she opened them again, there were ten Nelson’s facing them down.

“As I was saying. I am Nelson the Avaricious, the 11th seat of the Knights of Rounds and the master of this sanctuary. Now that we’re far enough inside, I can give you a proper welcome.”

“Delta,” Victoria said giddily. “The other team can gather what we need, so for now, it’s time to hunt.”

---

Delta was inevitable. Just as the tide was destined to wear down even the largest cliffs and the strongest walls that attempted to contain its fury, so Delta was going to slowly, inevitably empty this room of foes. The long slab of steel Delta swung could no more be stopped than the crashing waves. Each fallen, false copy of Delta’s enemy sent a flood of blood across the floor, dying its harsh bright white to a beautiful crimson sheen, like seawater covering the sand at high tide.

“No technique…” someone was saying, but it was unimportant; nothing else mattered but pushing forward. Growing tired of swinging the blade, Delta left the weapon behind in three wrecked clones, tearing through the next few copies with claws before deciding to use Delta’s teeth to rip out the throat of one unlucky replicant.

There were still more of him as far as Delta could see, as if the last twenty minutes of fighting were nothing more than Delta trying to empty the ocean a cup at a time. Delta’s smile widened at the realization that this hunt was so very far from being over.

It was a gift; there was none greater than to have more easy prey, and this one wasn’t even trying to run, despite the growing stench of fear permeating the chamber. That too, Delta savoured, sweeter even than that of the coppery blood that covered Delta from head to heel. Delta’s slime suit had almost dissolved ages ago, but that didn’t matter in the slightest.

Delta wasn’t cold. Anytime Delta began to feel herself chill, all Delta had to do was rip apart the next enemy and bathe herself in the heat that escaped Delta’s prey when it was ripped open. Stealing their warmth was as easy as stealing their pretended lives.

Delta wasn’t hurt. Anytime Delta was scraped or bashed, it was only a polite sign. A casual beckoning to come forward and attack harder and faster, to draw more and more joy from each beautiful, magical moment.

“...token musclehead…” drifted in Delta’s mind, more pointless than the cawing of a seagull would be to a shark that already had the bird in its jaws.

Delta wasn’t afraid. Elsewhere, Delta had all sorts of things to worry about when completing Delta’s missions, but not here. Things were simple here. There was no need to think. Here, Delta had no flaws and no fear.

A chance shift of position angled Delta’s sight towards Beta and Epsilon, along with the girls that had followed Boss-man’s pack into this strange, wonderful place; Delta saw they were retreating away from the battle as fast as their legs would carry them. The fear in their eyes as they looked back over their shoulder to check if Delta was on their trail was unnecessary. Delta wasn’t going to hurt them, but Delta still saw the wisdom of their terror. It was an acknowledgment of Delta’s power, Delta’s mastery, Delta’s queenship over this battlefield. Their fear was owed to Delta for being the strongest person in this bright new world. Only two people were better than Delta at this, and they were both nowhere in sight.

Delta fought back to the sword and lifted it high before it flashed down, fast and fatal as any lightning strike.

Delta is the storm, and he’s the ships and the fish and the birds that are all dead as soon as they get too close.

The red and white room fell away, and they were back in the dark entryway they had entered through the huge red door. All of Delta’s prey, the ones that were moving and the ones lying on the floor, disappeared, leaving Delta only one more bit of prey to kill. A few other members of Delta’s pack appeared and started whispering to Victoria, but Delta didn’t pay it any mind. Delta was just disappointed they weren’t more enemies.

No, it can’t be over yet. Delta wants lots and lots more hunting.

Nelson said something, and someone came out that caused Delta to hiss in fear and retreat back, then the smell of the thing reached Delta, and Delta’s fury came back twice as hot. It was a fake Lady Alpha. This guy had tried to trick Delta into running away with a fake Lady Alpha!

“Delta, it’s time to go,” Victoria commanded, but Delta still didn’t care. Victoria was weaker than Delta, so Delta should be able to quickly kill this thing if Delta really wanted to.

Delta’s growl rumbled across the room as Delta prepared to pounce at the pretend Alpha. This was a gift, and Delta meant to savour every moment of…

“ Delta !”

AHHH!

The words almost seemed to come from nowhere, but as Delta looked towards where they came from, Delta saw one bright blue eye dangling in the air before it quickly vanished into nothing. Delta knew who must be there. Alpha was using the hiding trick Epsilon had tried to teach them all, though only Alpha and the furball had got it right.