Chapter 21: Embrace Change

"Okay, so, is there anything about you two gremlins that I should know before we move on to more pressing matters?" Uriel asked, his voice booming in the cramped room despite addressing only Corniellia and Sebastian who both sat before him.

"I have a question," Corniellia said with her hand half-raised in the air as she glanced between the two males in the room, "How exactly did I end up here?"

"What do you mean? Your combat skills were on par with some of our hunters, so the higher-ups thought it best to include you in our ranks," Uriel replied, his arms folded as he swayed his weight to his right leg.

"But I never intended to be-"

"Your combat skills were on par with our hunters, so it was thought best to include you in our ranks," he repeated in a sterner tone, "We aren't cold-hearted, so you don't have to worry about killing too much of your kind. This group is a special one."

"What do you mean by this group is a special group?" Sebastian asked with a raised brow.

"Okay first off, quick thing here, very important. We aren't told everything okay?" Uriel sighed, his hands falling from their folded state as he leaned his weight forward, "So if you want to bombard anyone with questions, do that with the bastards who placed us all in this situation okay? Not me. I'm only relaying the information that I was given. I'm nothing but the messenger."

"Any other questions or is that it?" Uriel asked, looking back and forth between the two. The room sat in silence for a bit as everyone's eyes wandered from person to person, a sigh of contempt leaving the tiny exit that was Uriel's lips, "Good, good. Now, where were we?"

***

"You think the boy is ready to be put on a hunter's team?" Ai asked as he held a lighter up, making an attempt to light the cigarette that was tightly held between his lips. He leaned on a concrete wall, inhaling deeply the moment the cigar was lit, exhaling a puff of smoke to continue his statement, "Especially so quickly after his body was put through such a change?"

"I don't know," Moe said, prancing around the open space that they were in, her shoes crushing dried grass underneath it with each step she took, "I mean, for them to urgently pair them together like that, they must have a plan right?"

"I don't know man, they've been doing a lot of questionable and shady stuff in the past few years," Ai shrugged, staring up at the night sky, "If there's something I do know though, is whatever they're doing, I don't care what it is, but drawing the girl into it all... That's the most messed up shit I've seen in a while."

"And what of the other two?"

"What about them? They seem like regular hunters to me."

"Regular hunters my behind," Moe remarked as she calmed her pacing, coming to a halt, thus allowing for the wind to gently blow her dark hair into her line of sight, "Having a werewolf and Goodfrey's nephew on the same team with both vampiric members of the association? No matter how you look at it, there's something fishy there."

"Or you could just be reading too much into it."

"Shut up! I know I'm right, I know I'm on to something."

"You know, if you didn't turn down your opportunity to be one of the seven, you would've known exactly what they'd be up to."

"The seven is just a bunch of privileged assholes," Moe replied as she rolled her eyes, "Besides if I didn't turn down the opportunity, I wouldn't have been able to raise the boy as well as I have... I at least owe that much to Maki."

"She'd be more than happy with the effort you've put in to raise her son. You beat yourself up way too much," Ai said, pushing himself off the wall and throwing the cigar onto the floor before crushing it underneath his shoes, "He turned out to be a fine specimen of a man if I do say so myself... A tad bit egotistical... And arrogant... And absolutely infuriating to deal with but besides all that... You did well."

"Hoorah, way to make me feel better," Moe replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes once more.

There was a moment of silence as Ai approached Moe, pulling her in slowly to embrace her in a warm and comforting hug.

"You think I did the right thing?... Bringing him into the association?" Moe asked as tears slowly started to swell her eyes, fighting for a way out.

"There was no stopping him. He'd be fighting his ass off to get his revenge one way or the other. You gave him the best means of doing so, now all you can do is watch and protect him."

"Yeah... I guess you're right..."

***

Reinhardt and Thaddeus approached the half-open door together with Reinhardt at the front and Thaddeus seemingly tagging along behind him. He gently pushed the door, allowing it to swing wider and give him a clear image of what would've been transpiring inside the said room. In the room that was made as if it were a large box, sat Sebastian and Corniellia with Uriel standing at the very front, all the mumbled talking that was audible from the outside coming to a halt the moment the two entered the room.

"Tch, this reminds me of my school days," Thaddeus remarked as he walked past Reinhardt who remained by the door, making his way to one of the few vacant chairs in the room, "That being the case, what did I miss teach?"

Uriel shook his head at Thaddeus' statement before glancing over to Reinhardt, "You staying at the door or you gonna come take a seat too?"

As if he was snapped out of a daze, Reinhardt blinked in rapid succession a few times before hastily moving over to a vacant chair behind where Sebastian sat, "My bad, my bad, don't let me hold you guys up."

"Okay, good, now that we're all here. I was just informing the two new recruits here of the vigorous combat exercises that they'll be put through between assignments to keep them in top shape, and just how to go about it without making a fool of themselves, anything you two would like to add?" Uriel asked, using his hand to gesture toward the two, giving them the chance to speak freely.

"Uhm, the only piece of advice I can give is to... think of every situation as if it were a real battle," Thaddeus said, "If you underestimate the simulations, they'll make you regret it... Oh, how you'll regret it." At the end of his final statement, Thaddeus winced as if he were recollecting memories that he'd rather stay forgotten.

"The only thing I can tell you is to have fun," Reinhardt said, "Oh! And when you do get tired of their simulations, you can reach out and fight me whenever. I'm always down for a new sparring partner."

"This is nice and all, but I have a question," Sebastian said, his confusion being audible through his voice, "I get that they admired our combat skills and whatnot, but that still doesn't explain why we're immediately thrown into a team... Don't hunters who graduate have a month or two of solo time before being grouped up with other people?"

"What did I say about the questions?" Uriel asked with a sigh.

"He raises a good point though, but it's okay, I can answer him if you want," Thaddeus said, leaning forward in his seat in an attempt to bring himself closer to Sebastian. He locked eyes with him for a bit before smiling, "It's simple really. My friend Reinhardt and I were paired with you to keep an eye on your every move, seeing that our captain over there won't be able to due to his executive duties. We on the other hand will be spending most of our days with you two, and we would also be the most capable of getting rid of you two easily if you were to pose a problem. That's why you were assigned a team so quickly, and that's why your teammates are yours truly... Any other questions?"