A Breakdown

Currently, inside the room that Edith, Vito, and Cyrus were in, the three children were in denial. The representative of their planet, NO! Terra Vian, the guy they sat down with and saw enter a stream of light who was supposed to be off fighting in a tournament right now had just walked into the room as if it was no big deal.

The first of the three to react was Edith, "What are you doing here!?" she shouted. 

She could not believe it, did not believe it. She didn't want to believe it. She was angry and devastated to see him here. It would have been better if she never came back than he never left at all.

Edith had always grown up as a tomboy for most of her life. She helped her father to fix cars and the like so she ended up growing more muscles than kids of her age would have. This in turn made it so that most boys would avoid her or completely see her as a guy altogether because they didn't like the idea of a girl being capable of pinning them down to the floor. 

She also used to wear more masculine clothes back then due to her father's rigid fashion sense.

She's never had a relationship before, at least not a proper one. Her 1 most embarrassing relationship was with a guy who thought she was a femboy and broke up with her when he found out the truth. (This was years ago.) So when it came down to it, she was inexperienced with expressing romantic feelings properly.

Luckily her father who loved her deeply didn't care about what people said and only wanted her to be happy. But being a single father means that as she grows up, it will only get harder and harder to understand her. He could not always advise her in the way that a mother could have. So she needed to rely on herself to get out of her comfort zone and attain certain goals.

Years of being single had an effect on her, but after being chosen to go and defend the earth had suppressed all of these thoughts. Yes, she was worried that she might not get to experience a meaningful relationship in time but this was much more important to her than that. That was until she wasn't chosen.

But she had an idea. It was a silly one but it meant a lot to her. "What if she kissed Terra?' He was going to go out to space and may never return so more likely than not he would have accepted the kiss from her. Plus it would be like a fairy tale where a princess and a prince would act out a scene where they would never meet each other again.

It took a lot, truly a lot of courage for her to take a leap of faith and do something like this. In a way, it was something she wanted more than him. And the one bright side was, she would never have to feel the embarrassment of seeing his face again.

That was until 5 seconds ago. She wanted to punch his face, maybe scream in a hole and die. She couldn't face him. Not now at least. She was still vulnerable for she had never done something like that before. So for now all she could do was release her frustrations in the most human way possible. Anger.

"Weren't you supposed to be off-world fighting!!? What are you doing here? Are you scared of dying, huh? Then I'll kill you right now!". She said in what was similar to a dog going feral.

Cyrus grabs her two arms and holds her together in place while she still tries to swing at Terra. She would rather have him dead than live to see his face right now, but she definitely didn't feel that way. It was more that she wanted to take it out on herself for being so foolish as to believe she was in a fairy tale in the first place but instead of self-harm she would hit Terra instead.

Alex sees the scene and for once he is not sure why she would go this far to hurt him. They were sitting next to each other just 2 hours ago. 'Did he say something to make her mad? Maybe something he forgot to say? Women are strange sometimes. And I thought Sasha was difficult.'

Of course, he knew how to calm her down. "There is some pizza on the table that is by the fireplace past these halls. Homemade by Sasha. I would like for us to sit down and finish this conversation over there. If you don't mind," Alex said.

He remembered Sasha telling him how Edith tends to eat when she is upset. So he believes that this will calm her down. And it somewhat did as when she heard this she stopped struggling and then proceeded to ask Cyrus to let her go.

She walked to the door where Terra had his hands up in surrender and she took one glance at him before walking away. She then went to the man who was a little passed Terra and said, "You, take me there. Please." She tried to sound as polite as possible and not demanding towards the end. He smiled hesitantly and said, "Of course, young lady," and began leading the way.

Soon the others followed right after her, there was a silent laugh between them as to what had just happened. It was one of worry but a few chuckles were made nonetheless.

One by one they walked out to the new room. Everyone had left except two individuals. One who stayed by her chair and another who only moved so as to close the door to the room.

"That girl is quite the handful and lively as a matter of fact. She reminds me of a friend of mine." Ariel said to the only other person in the room listening to her. "So, you wanted to talk to me in private? How bold of you. Most boys don't get half as close as you are doing right now. Almost commendable-"

"Your name, isn't Ariel, is it?" Cyrus asked.

Ariel fell silent and then put on her smile as usual and answered, "You are almost scary with how perceptive you are. How'd you figure it out? Do tell me, I am curios."

"There is a way people respond when they hear their name called, almost like they are tired of hearing it. It's like they've been trained to physically respond to it too. You on the other had acted like the name is new. Like it is one you are still getting used to. So tell me, fake name?" He asked.

She claps her hands in cheer. "Not fake, nickname. I prefer my nickname over my real one. And this clapping is for you. I know how much you delight in applause. Dear Cyrus. would you be interested in hearing my real one?" She winked at him playfully.

"No need. I know who you are, and what you've done, Ariel. I have heard about you before, in a story and I find it hard to believe that someone like you is working with Alex. You are true parallels." he comments.

"Well, opposites attractive sweetheart. So it shouldn't be so surprising to see us so close together. You of all people should be able to understand that people do~change. I know a little about you just like you know a little about me." She retrieves a fan from her drawer and begins swinging it towards her face. The same drawer that has a gun.

Cyrus sees how she is acting like she doesn't have a care in the world. He would rather not be in the same room as her. But he has a question that needs answering.

"One question," he says.

"Go on, don't keep a lady waiting~" she replies.

"What is your actual goal? It doesn't make sense to me that you would come and test us."

Hearing these words she didn't reply in her playful manner as usual but her tone portrayed one of apathy. "To be honest me and Alex aren't as close as you'd think. I am actually much closer to his servant Sasha. She is my best friend after all. But we are close enough for him to tell me that a child was chosen to go as our representative."

"I thought he was a madman. Sending a child? Seriously? Was it a joke? I doubted him so badly until he showed him to me. And when I saw him, I was disappointed. This isn't a game, this whole planet, and people's lives are at stake. The stakes have never been higher."

"If it was up to me, I would have killed all of you and gone myself."

These words struck out to Cyrus. It was the way she was so nonchalant about getting rid of people's lives. Like they meant nothing to her and they did. It was her eyes, her body posture. Everything was telling him that she meant those words. But there was a slight nudge as if only a small portion of her was in denial about it.

But the way she was now, she would surely carry out such a task. With efficiency.

"Then why haven't you?" When Cyrus said these words he was slightly hesitant and shaking. He has been through a lot but even he is just a child. Still, he tried to remain composed.

Not paying much mind to the child lest she would have commented to him about it, she went on, "That is two questions now." And she put another smile on her face and went back to talking normally.

"Alex would have stopped me. He is the only person I see as superior to me. I wouldn't even get in the same room with you guys if he wasn't sure that I would be of no threat to you. Plus there is also the fact that I wasn't chosen. I don't have the symbol." She said as she lifted her sleeves a little higher to show her shoulder and a little more.

She also did this to try to get a little reaction from him seeing as how collected he was during their entire conversation but unfortunately, she got none.

'Is he disinterested?' she thought to herself but unbeknownst to her, if she had paid more attention earlier she would have seen a reaction except it would have been one of fear from her speech.

"Anyways like I said, I wasn't chosen, so even if I killed one of you, another one who has the mark would be chosen." she finished.

Then Cyrus' eyes lit up when he heard that. He thought, 'Wait, is that true? Someone else can still be chosen?'

Unfortunately for him, Ariel noticed this, and when he had brought his attention back to her she had been silently smiling and watching him consider this aspect.

"Oh! Did Alex not tell you? Silly me~ I guess now you know. But that is our silly little dirty secret. If you kill Terra. Another representative will take his place. But if he passes it to you before he dies, you take his place instead. But you can only do this before he leaves, otherwise it's too late." She said as she was getting off her chair.

"Take your time to consider this possibility Cyrus and what it could mean for you," She was now face to face with him, she brought her mouth to his ear while hugging him and said, "I am rooting for you, Cyrus."

She then pushed him aside lightly and said, "Now let us leave. I worry that girl might finish the food."

She walked out of the room as Cyrus stood there in the center of the room for a moment.

"I can become the representative?" he asked himself softly.

****

*I would like to put this out there that the reason for Ariel acting childish at times is due to the influence of her best friend Sasha.

Sasha has an effect on people where they act more childish the longer they spend time with her. It is quite severe that even Minty who is mostly reserved can't help but banter with her.

Henceforth Ariel acts like that sometimes.

Also, Sasha was originally called Sasa but it was changed due to a unanimous decision.