"I am coming with you," Serenity said, but it was clear that her brother was against it.
"No, you can't... all you need to do is stay at school and be a happy little student."
"They were here."
"What??!"
"Craniom people…they were here today." She cut him halfway through and dropped a bomb on him that was clearly unexpected.
"Wait...how the hell do you even know about them?...Isn't their existence supposed to be a secret?" Syrous asked in concern about the authenticity of her words.
"Secret or not, I think that won't be the case soon enough."
"What do you mean?"
Bella asked, after hearing her. Clearly those words didn't come from thin air since she knew about craniom. She won't joke about such matters, she thought, 'But what the hell is her relationship with them, and how did she spot them? ...She's not simple.'
"Tell me what you know, and I'll tell you what I know; both are happy."
"It's not the time for your stubbornness; we still have work to do, and I absolutely cannot take you," Astrum said. He was fixed on his decision; it was like there was no way for him to agree till the silent man spoke again.
"No!...She is coming."
With the words coming from him, nobody made a sound, and she came with them to Astrum's villa. Still, he wasn't convinced, but Serenity wasn't backing down either. He looked helplessly at her when they entered; the worry in his eyes was as clear as the sun, but that didn't go unnoticed by his sister.
"Haah...okay, that's it." Serenity turned around and walked towards her brother, holding his face between both her hands.
"W…what do you want?"
Astrum was clearly surprised by her; she looked him in the eyes for a while before pinching his cheeks and letting go.
"Oww...what was that for?"
"Did you calm down now?"
Astrum realized he worried his beloved sister, and that felt so terrible for him that he apologized right away.
"I...I am sorry...I worried you."
Serenity placed her hand over his hair, saying calmly, "I didn't mean to worry you. I am here only to hear what you know. I won't interfere in your plans, nor do I want to get involved...Don't worry, I won't put myself in danger, okay?"
Seeing his sister like that, smiling brightly at him, he suddenly remembered how they used to be when they were still kids before that incident happened. 'Maybe if that day didn't change her, I wouldn't be that worried right now,' he thought.
But that idea actually gave him a bad feeling. "I need to confirm this." His soft expression turned serious in a second; he removed Serenity's hand and called for Bella.
"Hey...Belladonna, take care of my sister; I need to take a call."
"What?!"
Astrum didn't wait for them and directly went to the second floor to make his call, leaving Bella dumbfounded.
"What the hell happened to him?"
She turned at Syrous with a face asking him to explain, but he walked away, ignoring her. "Is there any food in here? I am starving."
"Motherfucker, I am talking to you."
...
Still no response, so she just turned at Serenity, but she disappeared from her side.
"What do ywhaaaaaat... where the hell did she go?"
She looked at her surroundings to find Serenity already seated on the couch.
"What the hell? At least say something before you move."
Bella was so angry. "I really want to hit that brother and sister duo; they're sitting on my nerves," she said, but Syrous came from behind her, scaring the shit out of her.
"That's a common wish."
"What the hell?"
She jumped from her place in fright.
"Be my guest and try laying a finger on any of them and see if you can survive the next hour."
"No more joking ... I am not that stupid."
The first thought that came to her mind was, 'This brain of mine is not for decorations; just thinking about being hunted down by both Voldemort and Alkana is giving me chills. Even if you give me ten lifetimes, I am never doing it.'
She looked at Syrous carrying snacks and popcorn.
"And where the hell did you get those?...Did you rob the supermarket or something?"
"I didn't...we've been staying here for a week now; I bought these for myself yesterday."
"Eh?!...no wonder you weigh too much to suffocate your opponent."
"I do not."
"I believe you."
Apparently Syrous has a great figure; he's nowhere near the word "fat." It's just that he has a condition related to his special physique; he can't help but eat. His stomach is like a black hole, never satisfied.
Bella grabbed Syrous by the neck and dragged him to the sofa.
"Mr. Hungry Pig, let's find a place to sit till that bastard comes back."
As they sat on the sofa, Bella spotted Serenity staring ahead.
"What is she looking at?"
She looked at the direction she was staring at and only spotted Ash. He moved forward to the chair beside the window right when they entered. "I don't see anything special except for Ash sitting there...but why the hell is she looking that way?" Don't tell me she has a crush on him ....' She wondered as she turned her gaze to face her directly.
Serenity kept staring at him for a while, but Bella disturbed her. "Don't even think about it; he won't look at you. Don't get closer to him. Even for us who have known him for almost ten years, we still feel so far away."
Serenity tilted her head as if not understanding. Facing such a reaction, Bella felt lost.
"Silence is Ash's language; he is a complete mystery even for his family." Syrous said but got ignored; she only stared at Ash without saying anything, confusing both of them. They looked at each other and then at her again.
ash sat all by himself looking outside the window, allowing sunlight to fall gently over his doll like face, he seemed so radient and peaceful in serenity's eyes but painfull, even thought it was their first meeting she felt a strange sense of familiarity , her heart rate increased as she felt the whole world fell into deep silence .
"...strange..."
Just watching that man sitting there was enough to give her emotions she experienced only once when she was a little kid. Those forgotten emotions kept her in a dreamy state till one moment later she asked,
"Who is he?"
"What?..."
Syrous asked, but seeing her gaze is still fixed on Ash, he immediately understood her meaning.
"If you mean Ash, then you can call him our boss."
Bella added to him, "He is the highest rank among us… and I am stopping at that. If you want to know more, ask him yourself."
"No need...I am not interested. All I wanted to know is his name. You keep calling him Ash, but that's not a name," Serenity said.
"Ash really isn't his real name, but even if you ask me, I don't know; nobody knows," Syrous said.
"Nobody knows, huh..." Serenity thought about his words for a while; she seemed to have realized something from what they said. She stood and walked towards him.
She knocked on the table in front of him to draw his attention.
"Can I have a word with you?"
"..."
He just looked at her no sound no movement nothing at all, she thought 'no words hah... i will take it as your permission then'
"Thank you for allowing me to tag along; I owe you one."
"No, you don't...just treat it as me repaying you for helping me earlier."
He just said some words, then he turned back to his usual silence. He didn't even bother to turn her side. Seeing such a reaction wasn't really unexpected, but what he said gave her the idea, 'Can't hold a debt, huh...quite interesting.'
She realized he was wearing gloves on his hands and thought, 'He might be just like me.' This thought passed through her mind, so instead of the usual handshake, she gave him a slight bow. He moved his head and gave her a slight nod. She smiled at him before turning back to the couch to sit down.
Syrous and Bella, who were eating melon seeds on the side, were surprised because the usual him refuses to shake hands, ignores the person, and just walks away with no response, leaving the other party on the verge of breaking down from crying.
When serenity sat down beside them they kept staring at her intensly while eating melons , she didn't say anything and just opened her phone to see what was happening at the cup of glory at the moment just to pass time till her brother comes back
"Oh…are you watching that?...Let me join in."
Bella tried to sit next to Serenity, but the moment she sat beside her, Serenity got up quickly and changed her seat, leaving the dumbfounded Bella on the couch.
"What the hell just happened?"
She saw her sitting on the dining table, so she tried to sit beside her again, but again she changed her seat.
"Fuck you...I don't believe I can't sit beside you."
Bella took it personally and kept following Serenity everywhere, making her change her seat more than five times till she finally couldn't take it anymore, and Syrous was enjoying the show, eating melon seeds.
"Why are you following me?"
"I want to sit beside you."
"Never"
"That was fast. Why?"
"You're so close; I don't like it."
"That hurt you bitch ....things like that shouldn't be said to someone's face "
"Why hurt? ..."
"What?!"
"Aren't you an immortal?... Immortals don't get hurt, right?"
"What immortal?" Syrous, who didn't understand, asked bluntly, but when he saw Bella's expression, he knew right away she was going to kill Serenity.
'This is bad…'
He instinctively pulled from the ground a huge black spear with a bright emerald-like stone on it. A black aura started covering his body as he was ready to strike Bella if she moved, but Serenity was standing there without moving.
'Is that kid crazy?.. Doesn't she feel anything? If she doesn't move, her life is in danger.
Ash, on the other hand, turned at them and calmly said,
"Serenity come sit here"
Ash's voice snapped Bella out of her anger, and Syrous's aura vanished. She watched Serenity move away but couldn't defy Ash, so she just had to swallow her anger. She thought, 'Fuck this shit. How in the world does she know about such a thing?'
"What the hell?"
When she turned around, she saw the melon seeds all over the ground, and Syrous was holding his black spear.
"My melons ...what the hell is wrong with you, Syrous?"
She bent on the ground to collect the seeds; he touched her with his spear a couple of times before feeling relieved and retreating his spear back, but this action angered her even more.
"What the hell are you doing? Bend down and collect the seeds with me, or else..."
When she glared at him, he felt it was the usual Belladonna whom he used to know, even though he still didn't understand what was going on with her, but he had a strong feeling that he's not allowed to interfere, even though he was a little relieved seeing her back to normal.
"On it…"
Both started collecting what was on the ground. Bella was not convinced; she kept glancing at Serenity every ten seconds. She clearly had something to say but was holding back because of Ash.
Serenity actually noticed her but pretended not to; she knew it was not the right time to talk with her yet and just focused on her phone.
Ash, who was watching her every move, also noticed Belladonna staring, and he fell into deep thoughts.
he murmured in a faint voice that nobody seemed to notice him
"They mistook the real prey."
...
On the second floor, Astrum picked up his phone to call his little brother Aries.
Ring-ring! Ring-ring
- Hello!...Who's on the line? -
"....It's me."
-...-
A minute of silence covered the atmosphere between the two of them, a silence neither of them was willing to break.
- Haah...whatever, man...why did you bother remembering your brother?! -
"It's about serenity."
-What?! What happened to her? Is she okay?...Wait!...How the hell did you meet her?! -
"Calm down!...She is alright."
-Fine, that's good...wait!...Then why the hell did you call me if she's okay? -
"Aries, I am asking you, how did she lose her memories before?"
-Why are you asking about this all of a sudden? That was a long time ago...but she is alright, isn't she?. -
"Just tell me what happened again?"
-According to Father, an explosion happened at the shrine when she was trying to awaken her magic; after that, she was stuck in a human form and lost her magical physique and forgot all of us....That incident is long since passed; why bring it up now? -
"..."
- Hey! Are you still on the line? -
"Aries, don't you think there is something wrong about this whole story...?"
-What?! Is there?! I don't think there is something in particular—
"Remember when we were kids, the ice physique serenity had, how she used it?"
-Don't remind me; we used to bicker a lot, and I got frozen more than I could even count. That wasn't a physique; it was more like a magical element specialized in tortureing me...wait! That's not right!?...don't tell me someone dared to hurt her?! -
"Finally caught up ..... If it was really an explosion as our parents said, then there is no way she wouldn't be able to defend herself...they are hiding the truth from us."
- But why?... If something like that really happened, why would they hide it?... I mean, that's our sister, you know, once she's hurt they are the type to retaliate immediately -
"I may have a rough idea about who might've done this, but still we need to confirm .it's still just some wild guess."
-Tell me, what do you need me to do? -
"For now let's use the most direct approach; you ask Father, and I will ask Mother. Let's see if we can get something out of them."
-Roger that...-
"I am sorry to have troubled you with this."
-What troubles...that's our sister here; if someone dared touch her, we would make him wish to die, but can't-