Special Illusion

Kiana, the cat, and Rex, the lone wolf pup

Kiana Kaslana smiled happily as she found a new seat. What seat? Rex's lap. 

By now, Rex would have openly flirted with her but now, Kiana went on the offensive. She smiled brightly and put his hand on top of her head. 

But what about Rex? 

Error Rex.exe has crashed

Why was she acting so affectionate you ask? Because they managed to patch things up and with Rex no longer having to act like a deranged obsessive man, it was hard for him to act normal. Now, he could only act in muted silence as he willingly stroked her head. Thankfully, it was in the dining room of the Crozzo household, sadly, it was seen by most of their family and friends. 

Who?

Reve, Rita, Bianka, Raven (Rex's teacher in using a bow along with Elysia), Reinhardt with happy Elysia by his side (Who was smiling at how close Rex and Kiana had become), a shocked Rin that slowly smiled, a shocked Kallen and Sakura, a disinterested Mobius, etc. 

The shocker (no pun intended) came from Mei's reaction, she looked relieved. 

"Uhm, Kiana... they're looking," Rex whispered to his childhood friend. 

"Good, let them look," Kiana said, smugness radiating out of her form. "Mine," She said, hissing lightly when Bianka moved close to them as Kiana held the breakfast Rex made protectively. "Only Mei... and Bratnya can share this food." She continued, looking like she was about to vomit at the thought of sharing too much of the divine treat she rarely got to eat with the youngest of her group. 

"Reminds me, of Big sis Kallen and Rein." Said Reve, unknowingly causing a certain someone to sulk and for Rein to shrug and sit on the couch with Elysia following suit by his side. With his position by the armrest, no one else could sit beside him. 

If you were wondering where Rex is located, he is sitting on the floor resting his back on the couch with Kiana sitting cross-legged on his lap. Much to his surprise, Mei sat beside him. 

"Interesting," Suddenly, Reinhardt's dark eyes focused on the trio, and a small smile graced his face, a smile rarely seen by anyone other than Rin, his brothers, and Elysia. 

If you were wondering why they were here, it was because of Reinhardt's birthday and instead of a party, he just asked his brothers to invite their friends while he worked. 

A fact stopped by Elysia and his siblings. And it had an unexpected yet welcome surprise. It reminded him of the fights and falling out he had with Kallen and he swiftly crushed the feelings of loneliness and guilt as he did before. It was already done, no need to bring them back. 

"Rein!" Kiana called out. "Can Rex and I try out the full-Dive VR system?" She asked, too excited to notice the small smile on Reinhardt's face.

For the oldest Crozzo, he remembered the time he babysat the two with Elysia. It was tiring but worth it. The small smile softened his features causing several women to look at him. 

"Of course, I already calibrated them. You can take Bronya and Mei with you, Rex is a boss there." 

"Really?!" Blue eyes sparkled as Kiana looked her childhood friend in the eyes. The said friend could only nod while Mei giggled at the two. She found it more appealing to have Kiana be unburdened while speaking or talking about Rex. She was quite curious about him as she once saw him working on her family car in a certain garage. Unlike the times she saw him flirting with Kiana, there was something else whenever he focused on something. In fact, he did not even notice she was there until he finished. 

Reinhardt just looked pleased with the sight. He could feel the stress leave his body, feeling a weight on his arm, he smiled softly at the sleeping form of his secretary/roommate/probable best friend and covered her with his jacket. 

---

Kiana's VR adventure with Bronya and Mei Ft. Seele

The four girls finally reached the final boss. It was tough and it had a lot of problems, but the journey was fun. 

"Okay, this is the boss, Bratnya, you're our ranged DPS. Seele, you're our support, focus on healing us!" Kiana said as she muttered some calculations, surprising the girls at how she calculated everything in her head in a matter of seconds. 

"It's weird to see Kiana like this," Mei said as she fixed her witch hat.  She was a storm witch with a katana, much to Kiana's delight. 

"Da, Kiana Idiotka being smart is inconceivable," Bronya said as she stared at Kiana, a bit worried that her usually upbeat friend was being cold and calculating like when she killed those monsters from earlier. 

"Well, we haven't encountered Mr. Rex ever since we started," Seele, the group's support/necromancer, said as she held her scythe. 

"That's true," Bronya said as she fixed her automaton. She watched as Kiana formed plans upon plans, the rare genius hidden by her uncaring, happy-go-lucky attitude

"Huh?" Seele suddenly stood up, gathering all attention towards her. "Everyone, the last boss of the clocktower is a partial undead!" 

"Undead?" Kiana said as she changed to her anti-undead weapons. Following her instructions, the group prepared themselves for ten minutes and entered the room. Unlike before, it was a simple room and in the middle was a simple chair with a circular table with five glasses and a bottle of what looked like wine. 

"Rex?" Kiana asked, cautiously approaching the male. 

Rex sat on the chair dressed in an elegant set of clothes resembling the hunter's uniform from bloodborne with one leg crossed over the other. A hat hid the upper part of his face and a red flower was pinned on his white shirt. A pair of sabers were stabbed on the ground by the chair. 

He held a wine glass with half of its contents spilled on the floor. 

"Rex!" Confirming that it was indeed her best friend, Kiana rushed forwards and stopped for a second. Hesitantly, she reached out, only to recoil as Rex held her wrist and pulled her close to the point that one movement would have made them kiss. She could feel his breath on her skin and it made her shiver. 

She could feel herself get pulled once more and she felt his breath on her ear, making her shiver once more. 

"A corpse should be well left alone," His soft voice combined with his tight grip loosening on her wrist made her step back just as Rex dropped the glass bottle and it shattered on impact. "Oh, I know very well. How the secret beckons so sweetly,"

Rex stood up and the girls prepared themselves. "Only an honest death will cure you now," He said as he raised his hand in an X formation as his sabers flew to his hands slowly and when he held them, he brandished them effortlessly as sparks danced in the air. 

"Shall we dance?" 

---

The girls looked at Kiana and were worried. They had logged out of the VR game and now, they stared at their leader and final member. Kiana was frozen with a nosebleed and a bright grin. 

Somewhere, Rex felt a shiver on his spine but filed it away as he saw Fire Moth surrounded a sleeping Reinhardt and Elysia in a cuddle pile.