Aftermath

"Alrighty, you both get dressed. I'm closing up the shop." Alan's boss shouted across the room.

"Alright!" both Alan and Maria shouted in unison.

The silver moonlight shined through the skylights of the building. One by one, all the key lights were being shut off, leaving one overhead light lit above the main hub of the workshop. Alan and Maria both yawned in unison and made their way toward the back to change out of their sweaty, sawdusty clothes. Alan, as tired as he is, completely forgot that he now has a female co-worker. Without giving it a second thought, she began to undress.

"So now you aren't afraid," Maria gave Alan a devilish grin. "Or maybe it was because you knew the boss was outside watching?"

Alan backed away, slightly startled by her comment. "I wasn't afraid. I was just caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a new employee in this worn-down shop." Alan then looked at Maria, who was currently in the middle of changing. "And since we are co-workers, might as well get used to each other's presence." Maria chuckled and resumed changing.

"I may be used to changing in front of others, but you are a bit too direct about it."

Alan scratched his head. "That didn't come out right. Sorry." Alan then stood up and grabbed his stuff. "Hurry up. I'll walk you to the station." Maria cheerfully nodded and Alan made his way out of the room.

Alan walked to the break room and brought a coffee from the vending machine. Upon opening, a revolting smell came from the can, but he chugged it down anyway. "Blah! Coffee is a horrible thing," he openly vented. Opening one eye to the sounds of echoing footsteps.

"Then why are you drinking it?" Alan's boss stared at him with a concerned look.

"Because I have things to do tonight."

"Boy, it's 11 o'clock."

"I'm aware, but you can't be talking, Mr. Sawyer." Alan deadpanned.

"The clubs I go to are for work-related endeavors, lad," Sawyer said while getting a coffee from himself.

"Sure sure." Alan threw his can in the trash and turned his head towards the sound of an opening door.

Maria walked out of the room dressed in a rose-colored blouse and a black skirt. She noticed Alan staring at her in confusion and blushed. "T-this is my school uniform…" she said sheepishly while twirling the ends of her hair.

"A uniform huh," Alan said. "Despite you being a tomboy, the outfit looks pretty cute on you." Alan held his hands in front of him and pretended to take a picture.

"Pfff" Sawyer spit out his coffee in surprise. "Since when you were nice enough to compliment girls? You normally treat them like shit." Sawyer then took another look at Maria and smirked.

"Or maybe tomboys are your thing."

"For starters, I only treat assholes like shit." Alan stared at Sawyer, who kept smiling. "Two, she's nice, so why wouldn't I respond in kind? And last, no!"

Sawyer let out a loud laugh. "Relax kid, it was a joke." After Sawyer calmed down from laughing, he patted Alan on the shoulder. "Soon you'll realize the beauty in the female body. Maybe you'll be like me and-"

"Sorry, but I'm not gonna be a masochist like you." Sawyer chuckled, which just caused Alan to grow more irritated. "Whatever, Maria let's go."

"Right," Maria said with a smile, as she was amused by their little banter.

The two made their way out of the shop after saying their goodbyes to Sawyer. However, on their walk to the train station, something felt off to Alan. Maria noticed Alan behaving rather suspiciously and tried to break the tense mood that lingers around them.

"You're not planning on attacking me now, are you?" She said in a flirtatious tone. Alan snorted and faced her.

"In your dreams," Alan immediately responded.

"Too fast!" Maria pouted.

"Sorry, but I'd rather not get involved with a co-worker like that-"

After saying that, Alan noticed a flash of light and instinctively responded by calling his mist and drawing his blade to deflect the oncoming object. Within a brief instant, he felt something zip through his clothing.

The crimson mist surprised Maria and so did the large blade that just appeared out of nowhere. Seeing that something was off, Maria tried to assume a fighting stance. However, before she could even act, the hilt of a blade bashed against the back of her head, knocking her out instantly.

Alan saw a cloaked figure next to the unconscious girl and charged at it, but suddenly stopped as the figure placed a dagger next to his throat. "Relax Alan," the figure said. "She's only asleep." Alan lowered his weapon as the figure did the same.

"Who are you?" Alan asked, watching the figure's movements.

The figure took off their hood with his only visible arm. The cloaked man appeared to be Apollo, but to Alan, something seemed completely off. "It's been a while, Alan, more like two days, but you get the gist." The man placed his dagger away and pulled out a ticket from his cloak. "An amusement park ticket. Sorry if you had plans to go with this girl, but I want to ask you to go with Renne instead. She's a good girl at heart, so I'm sure you'll have no problem with that."

Apollo smiled as he tucked the ticket back from where he stood it.

Alan stared at Apollo as compared to two days ago. He looked completely different. He had lost his charmed look and his left arm. His eyes were filled with emptiness as if he was waiting to die but couldn't because of an important mission.

"That was random. But more importantly, what the hell happened to you, Apollo?"

Apollo turned to the boy. "A failure happened, that's what."

"What do you mean?"

"We got played by that damn professor," Apollo paused and took a breath. "Shortly after your battle with him, we were ordered to destroy a laboratory of his in the Northern District-"

'Was it that same laboratory?' Alan thought to himself.

"-but, destroying that lab was a grave mistake for us." Apollo took off his shirt and showed Alan a strange black marking. "That laboratory was being used to house a weaponized form of corruption that normally only affects natural nanomass wielders. However, this form was modified to affect us embedded users rather than natural nano wielders."

"Wait, I thought I was his target in that lab-" Time froze. "Huh?" Alan looked around.

"I'll fill you in later about it," Chronos said. "For now, gather information on what happened. I sense that the balance of the world has been shifted completely. In the worst way possible at that."

Time resumed. "What was that?" Apollo tilted his head.

"Nothing, please continue." Apollo glared at Alan. Alan stood his ground and Apollo shook his head.

"Anyway, after we destroyed the lab, about 70% of us fell victim to the weaponized corruption and began attacking everyone around them. Luckily, the 30% of us who didn't get consumed fled, only by chance though." He took his right hand and placed it on the stub that used to be his left arm. "The reason that I'm telling you this is because Ouroboros is currently divided right now. The ones who are not consumed are currently in hiding, while the consumed are out there rampaging, following the last few orders they were told and killing those who they once knew."

"Wait, then you mean-"

"Yes, you, Evangela, and Renne are all in grave danger. The corruption," Apollo bit his bottom lip, "consumed Arthur. And his primary target is both you and Renne."

"I understand me, but why Renne?"

"Simple. Renne and Arthur have known each other for the past five years, so they have a connection. But because corruption feeds on the user's desire, he may be targeting her for one or two reasons: the first being he wants to kill her for nearly filling the void that his wife had left him, and the other is that she is connected to you now."

"Either way, he wants to target her."

"Correct."

Alan took a moment to process this information. He looked down at the pendant around his neck and noticed that it was still a crimson color. "So I don't need to take action yet," he said to himself. "But I can assume that this pendant will awaken if someone related to his whole situation gets killed, or at least, I hope that's the case."

"Anyway, I did my part," Apollo summoned a red mist around him. "I'm only helping you because you're quite interesting. Just remember that Ouroboros isn't on your side. We are just on standby until further notice. Even knowing that, please protect Renne. She doesn't belong in this world of killers. I know you can save her before she dives too deep into our world."

Apollo and his red mist faded away, leaving only Alan and Maria alone in the dark. Alan quietly lifted Maria onto his back and carried her to the station, unknowing that she had regained consciousness halfway through their conversion.