Scarlet

Hours pass in silence with Aria just casually sleeping throughout the entire thing. And several times throughout this period I’ve felt the urge to just go downstairs and fight something. But my common sense holds me back. Just barely.

I sigh at that thought.

Then the building starts shaking.

That’s not a good sign.

My terminal buzzes, making me look down at it from the blood moon I was just staring at in front of the window.

[Reinforcements have arrived. Cipher, Sylver, and Infernal Predator are at the base of the building now. Hold out till then.]

Okay, guess it is a good sign then.

I smile, only to look over and see Aria having woken up as she begins stretching on the chair. But just seconds later, she gets a panicked look in her eye and starts looking around in a hurry.

The look fades away again though after she sees me, following which she jumps from the chair and runs over to me, grabbing my sleeve once she reaches me.

I raise a brow at that.

Aria doesn’t say anything. Just keeps holding onto my sleeve.

So I don’t say anything either, returning my gaze to the blood moon outside.

This was a rather good day after all for me. At least in terms of advancement.

I feel a little conflicted about reaching Class II in the near-ish future. Because despite knowing that I’ll be losing more of my human genes by doing it, I still can’t wait. There’s just a constant feeling of excitement running through me. A feeling of pride at reaching the first advancement.

“Those are your instincts as a blood lycan,” Tar explains what I already know, having vanished at some point.

That’s not really what bothers me. What bothers me is that it’s not what bothers me.

“Huh?” Tar asks, his voice in my mind expressing just how confused my statement made him.

It’s that my instincts are making it so it doesn’t bother me that is bothering me.

“Oh,” he mutters, then offhandedly mentions, “you know, these instincts aren’t exactly a new thing. They were only drawn out after you awakened. You would’ve still been against losing your humanity if you would’ve actually cared about something like that at some point before awakening.”

I blink in surprise at that.

Really?

“Yes,” Tar states with absolute certainty. “Your instincts are part of who you are. They’re literally in your blood. Doesn’t matter if they were enhanced after you awakened or not. And even without your instincts, I’m pretty sure a lot of this pride is just from you as well.” He pauses for a second and adds, “It’s really not like you to fret over things like this anyways.”

Hmm. Guess he has a point.

I’m not really the type to stress over small little psychological dilemmas like that. So why did I in the first place?

I feel myself relaxing slightly, which Aria seems to notice but doesn’t say anything about.

Next up on my to do plan. Once the Fracture is cleared, grill Allen about who that woman was.

It doesn’t take long before the power comes back and the bunker door opens, the core finally having been shattered. And at that point, I’m just sitting down on the chair with Aria sitting next to me, sleeping on my lap. So I get a rather large surprise when the director in charge of the station that was interviewing me sees us and immediately rushes over with absolute shock and fright on his face, his eyes never leaving Aria.

“Miss Knight! You were out here all this time?!” director Schwartz practically shouts as the small man rushes over, stopping to bow towards the girl in my lap who is currently starting to wake up due to his very shouting. “I so very deeply apologize for any trouble it may have caused you!!” He then looks up at me as if only just now realizing I’m here as he adds, “And you as well, miss Asger.”

My mouth parts open slightly, but I don’t get the chance to say anything as the director immediately shouts at someone, “Go find Gerald! I need to talk to him immediately about the emergency power issue in the building!” He then turns back to Aria and bows his head once more, saying, “We can’t express how deeply sorry we are about this. Allow us to compensate you for your trouble!”

Holy fucking shit, this guy is going way overboard in placating a child who is currently just rubbing the sleep from her eyes after sleeping on my lap…

He does remember that she’s just a nine or ten year old kid, right?

Actually, come to think of it, I never really tried to figure out who she was. Was too busy fighting and worrying about the demons on the other floors all this time to think about it.

After several seconds of silence that had built up, the various people behind the director staying silent and stiff, Aria finally mutters, “I doubt father would care about this, so please stop bothering me.” Then she just grabs my sleeve rather tightly, drawing almost everyone’s eyes to it in the process.

“Then what about you miss Asger?” the director for some reason switches his manner of treating me after seeing Aria’s treatment of me. But before he can continue, the door to the room opens and the man I was very much hoping would hurry up as he leisurely walked through the hall of the floor walks in wearing his full magi-tech armor, startling everyone here.

Well, everyone except Aria, who just starts leaning on me, seemingly almost nodding off again.

Poor girl really is tired.

“Cipher!” the director and several others exclaim in shock, the man shooting to his feet in the process. But Allen just ignores him and walks over to me before glancing at Aria with a raised brow.

I just shrug.

“I don’t know what I should comment on first,” Allen mutters, sounding rather tired. “The fact that you ended up in another ridiculous situation in a Fracture. The fact that you’re actually letting someone touch you without appearing very uncomfortable.” He pauses while crossing his arms and looking at Aria. “Or the fact that you have the Blue Knight of Humanity's daughter – who is also known for disliking physical contact – practically clinging to you while falling asleep.”

My jaw drops open. Then I turn to look at Aria, only to be greeted by the sight of her eyes closing as her head falls down to my chest and then back to my lap again.

Blue’s daughter?