Beneath The Surface

Act 20 - Over my dead body will I work with the fucking Void!

Normal text
Thinking
Onomatopoeia

Astaroth's POV
"You called me mom."

Kaisa froze in the middle of stretching. Astaroth glanced at her in amusement. Scarlet soon coloured her cheeks, all the way to her ears. She was looking down in embarrassment, kicking the pebbles on the ground absent-mindedly. Like a deer caught in headlights. Or in this case, a rabbit. How adorable~ Makes the whole sleepless night so worth it.

"I-I did?"

"Yeah. You even pinched my hand blue-black," Astaroth complained, pointing to her palm, "well, Grandfather had already healed it. But still, you did bruise it."

The flushed rabbit immediately panicked, "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to. Sorry for disturbing you. I—"

"Why?"

Astaroth hurriedly added, "And don't give me the rubbish reason that I looked like your mother. I don't."

There was a long silence before Kaisa murmured, her voice barely a whisper, "I... My mom used to do this..."

"Do what?"

The rabbit tapped her own head, "Pat my head whenever I have a nightmare."

"Used to?" Astaroth probed.

The woman gave a wry smile, looking down at her feet, "She can't anymore... She's dead."

... Shit!

She had accidentally opened a can of worms. The air was stiff with tension. Kaisa seemed immersed in her own sob story while Astaroth stood dumbfounded. Things were at a stalemate. Obviously, the socially-awkward instructor wouldn't be the one to ease the awkward atmosphere. This heavy responsibility naturally fell on Astaroth. And yet, she was wailing miserably in her heart. It's so uncomfortable and downright embarrassing! This was why she hated heart-to-heart talks!

Astaroth stared at her wordlessly before trying to lighten the heavy mood in her own awkward way, "And your father?"

In her head, the geezer was facepalming itself, scolding her angrily.

*Stupid girl! That's not how you get traumatised people to open up!*

How else am I supposed to diagnose the problem if I don't get her to tell me???

*You-You dumb wood block!*

Astaroth wasn't given the chance to defend herself when a small voice piped up, "I... don't know where he is..."

The woman might be smiling faintly, but her eyes didn't radiate happiness.

Fortunately, the wistful rabbit didn't leave Astaroth hanging, "We were separated when all that shit happened..."

Shit?

"Does it have something to do with your adaptability in the dark?"

She had always thought having this strange ability was unfounded. Who would even choose to live in complete darkness??? That's utter madness. Unless their names started with 'Astaroth' and ended with 'Astaroth', no one would have this odd fascination with the void.

She nodded dumbly, "They died in a rift... All of them... because of me..."

"Care to share?" Astaroth asked tentatively.

Ignoring the raspy sigh of exasperation in her head, she focused on the fragile rabbit.

"I don't think it's that interesting of a story..." Kaisa's voice trailed off.

"Well, I'm interested. Anyway, we have time until we find Rek'Sai," Astaroth said while following down a random tunnel.

It took a while for the tough cookie to crack. But eventually, she started talking. Or more like the instructor already needed a quiet listener to trauma dump. Anything to get it off her chest.