Eternal Light

Chapter 11: Red

Silence filled the hallways with only their footfalls echoing in their ears, despite being nervous Aline continued to follow him without a fuss knowing that it was better not to say anything. As much as she wanted to ask why she was being told to follow she soon looked at the open spaces through the open windows, Aline's mind at then went to a short sized friend who made her grow sad.

"I hope that he didn't need to go surgery again, it's bad enough I had to fix what that idiot did when he should have repaired the damage Faust the eighth did. How could he have made that mistake?!" Aline berated in anger but kept her composure while Purrlia kept walking beside her with a worried look, recognising that Aline was remembering about the ones who gave her hope before one crushed it by being like the family who had sworn to kill Aline's family without hesitation. The same family whose ancestor had taken her in when she had been injured- the Asakuras. At times Purrlia remained on edge and tried to keep paranoia from being noticed, Matamune despite trying to reason that Hao was not like that would grow sat at how little her trust issues. Not that he could blame her given that the Asakuras had wanted the line dead and for what? Just wondering left the feline on edge but kept it quiet from Hao, the last thing he wanted was his friend and master to be heartbroken that this was the future such a child had to grow up in.

"Don't you get Alia? You are not even a shaman! You're not strong enough and I was just pretending to be your friend! You meant nothing to me at all from the start! Don't you understand that? You're just a weak human who wouldn't survive in my world! You're pathetic if you think I'll just stay friends with someone like you after what happened" Purrlia's mouth twitched as she almost snarled from remembering what that injured boy- Yoh had said. To think even if he didn't know that he would sink so low not only to Morty the boy who had been in a way a bridge to the pair, encouraging them to get along for the human boy's sake and it seemed like he could have been the answer to helping them stop his family from going after Aline and anyone else who was connected to her for good but he ruined things, he destroyed everything for pride and because he thought that pushing them away to keep them 'safe' had been wise. It had been a poor choice and instead of trying to think of a better solution he turned tail and ran like a coward. Not trusting his 'friends' enough to think about what they wanted of felt.

Sensing Purrlia's anger Aline held the startled cat's hand causing her to look at the sad girl who's eyes showed she was just as broken about this as her friend, seeing this Purrlia's eyelids lowered with guilt and resentment. Whether that boy knew now about who Aline was, it was too late to fix things, far too late to right the wrongs. First a cradle snatcher now being called a useless pathetic demon child. Both Aline and Purrlia knew thanks to Matamune about Hao hated the words 'Demon Child' due to his childhood, knowing that even he would take this personally would not end well for anyone. Instead they kept as much about themselves as quiet as possible and only Matamune would know as he vowed to not only keep things a secret but to be there even if Hao couldn't. Despite being in the Asakura household the girls even no still felt some unease given how a few who had left to work at the Emperor's palace would give her distained looks, it wasn't a secret to her that they thought Hao had grown soft for letting her stay or worse unfit to run the household. Aline hearing this had tried to work as hard as she could, even if it means overworking herself which had resulted in Hao telling her to take time off training so she could recover.

"Hao..." Aline now thinking of him felt her heart grow sad, what would happen once she completed her training? She would have to leave right? But then where would it leave him? For the first time disregarding her connection to Yoh, she felt as if there could be some hope. She felt close to this man which was shocking even for her and Purrlia, maybe it was because of her lack of parents and only her uncle and aunt who had been there since she had been given up to be kept safe; but looking at the situation she was in with Hao. Aline could feel a bond that hadn't been there from when they first met start to grow, but she didn't hate it nor feared it. Instead she felt happy for once, she wanted to tell him everything about herself and had a feeling he would listen to her. He would support her which was most likely when he allowed her train but closely with him.