A new problem part 2

"Hey! Don't you dare wander off again!" I heard the voice of Brown Hair call out as I realized I was looking at the 3rd new thing I saw in the last 10 minutes.

"What? I can't help it if everything looks cool," I raised my hand to the side, pointing at a skewer stand lined up in a collection of others.

"It's just the Market!" Brown Hair looked at me frustrated at my antics.

"Oh, so that's what it was," I shrugged, ignoring her annoyed expression and jogging up to the two girls, 'Well, at least I didn't have to wait for my brain to tell me,' I thought knowing that when I-(I thought of the black veins and the nightmares)-if I get this whole thing under control then I would have to read up more in the library.

"Can't rely on memories popping up after all..." I mumbled out, not noticing the weird looks I got from both of them as we continued walking, eventually walking into a large plaza filled with a crowd of people that took up at least a fifth of the plaza space and a large building towering above everyone in the plaza walkway, sitting in the middle of the area.

"Good, now that we're here, we can go our separate ways," Brown Hair huffed as she grabbed Green Hair's hand and started rushing off, I stared dazedly at the library and its large double-doored entrance.

"Finally made it to the library... wait what did she say?" I tore my eyes away from the library and looked around, seeing no hint of them in the crowded area.

"Where'd they go?" Unable to find them I started to walk towards the crowd thinking that they might be there only to stop and realize what I was doing.

"Why do I need to find them?" I shook my head and focused back on my goal.

"Just have to find where that Head Library guy is," I nodded to myself quickly before I started turning back to the library which was unfortunately stopped when I felt a hand larger than my own grab my shoulder.

"Rival, I finally found you!" A loud voice with a familiar fake quality that sounded much cheerier boomed as I turned around to see Josh standing tall in front of me with a smile.

'Is this the guy from before?' I looked at him, bewildered and slightly panicked by his sudden appearance as he smiled, which was a stark difference from his previous tough guy act.

"I've come to return that punch you threw," He lifted his fist like he was holding a sword before he took on a new tone of voice that sounded like before but like he was talking to an old friend.

'-but why does it still sound like he's ACTING?!' I groaned, seeing a look of confusion forming on Josh's face as he dropped that voice and went back to his more cheery fake one which now had a more nervous lilt to it.

"Rival, am I not worthy of returning your punch yet?" I snapped out of my thoughts as soon as I heard that.

Realizing what he asked I quickly responded, "Uh, yeees?" I answered unconvincingly hoping his odd social skills would make it easier to convince him to leave me alone but sadly that only made his expression turn suspicious.

'Shoot, he's not buying it,' I looked into Josh's eyes as he looked at me.

'What do I do!' I glanced around quickly, noticing he was alone.

"Oh uh, why are you alone?" I pointed out behind him in a jerky, panicked motion, banking on his loud behavior to sidetrack him into a monologue about his group.

"Ah yes, my group," Josh suddenly squeezed his fist dramatically, shutting his eyes before kneeling as my face turned to a deadpan.

'I know that I should be expecting this, but I still can't believe someone acts like this...' I nodded along as he started dramatically 'proclaiming' his tale which had now attracted a few people in the crowd nearby.

"-and then my sister told me to drop my stoic facade, but I couldn't just leave it unfinished, so now I'm here to fulfill the last part of the role," I stopped as I heard the last part.

"So it was acting!" I yelled out only to cover my mouth as I noticed Josh and the gathering smaller crowd of people start to look at me.

"Ah, so you noticed my acting! Good eye!" He jumped up from his kneeling position and grabbed me by both shoulders.

"I hoped that no one would see through it with my family's brilliant acting skills, but it seems my friend made it too obvious," He shook his head with a sad smile as I looked at him strangely.

'All of you were obvious!' I screamed in my head as I felt my frustration build up from the lack of common sense in this conversation before his grip on my shoulder tightened.

"Though, even if it was a bout of acting... I gotta finish my role for this to be done," I flinched as his voice shifted back into the tough guy persona from before, realizing what he meant, I quickly glanced up to his eyes to see them take on the same feeling as the rest of him.

"H-hey, I'm sorry for before," I raised my hands placatingly as I backed away towards the gathered crowd.

"I don't even know why I hit you, so could we just call off whatever this is?" Josh shook his head as he started to approach faster.

"Sorry man, gotta finish what you start you know?" he shrugged as his new demeanor seemed to finish setting into place in a new way that was completely different from his previous shoddy acting.

'I-is this guy serious?' I thought, feeling a sense of deja vu, knowing that I said the same words before but realizing how different it was then.

'I-I need to get out of here, I'm not letting this guy punch me!' I watched him get closer as my heart tensed at the thought of getting hit by a demon that looked to be almost twice my shrimpy size.

'I'm not shri- whatever just need to make a chance to run,' I looked around as Josh got closer looking for anything while he stepped within reached ng distance of me, raising his fist slowly with a grin.

'Come on!' I glanced around even more frantically as he drew back his fist and- 'There!' I spotted a larger hooded green demon who was standing around in the crowd, looking on with excitement as he waited for Josh to throw a punch.

"-and role comple- hey, get back here!" I ducked under the larger kid as he punched and ran towards the green demon who now that I looked at him seemed to have a weird-shaped chin that looked kind of like a butt.

"Huh, why are you-" I ignored butt chins words as I stopped in front of him and turned around in anticipation of Josh catching up only to see him on me already with his fist raised.

"Shoot!" I ducked, feeling rushed as I just barely moved out of the way of his fist before it collided in the stomach of ol' Butt chin which seemed to do the trick in pissing him off.

'Good I can go-' I clumsily dropped to the ground as another fist came my way in the span of another few seconds.

'Come on, I just got him to hit Butt Chin so why-' I was interrupted yet again as Butt Chin finally tackled Josh.

'-didn't he… well at least it worked, now to get going,' I turned around quickly, ignoring the sound of the word Rival being yelled out as I ran into the larger crowd, squeezing through the demons packed together.

"-and that's why you can't bring abomination colored dips in the library," I heard a voice say as I finally made it to the inner circle of the crowd where I now saw the Head Librarian floating on a large whispy platform just through the gap of space between the two demons in front of me.

'Yes, I made it!' I felt overjoyed as I pushed through the final obstacle keeping me from talking to the Head Librarian only to see something that made me hesitate.

'Is that… Raine?' I froze, registering the blue-haired man in front of me, and felt my mind race with all kinds of possibilities for why he could be out here before Raine finally spotted me.

"So Whispers, we have heard about your- is there something wrong?" The news reporter looked at Raine who now had a stern look on his face like he could have been annoyed or angry, seeing this my body tensed in surprise somehow knowing what his intentions were for me.

'I can't go back to the house yet, I've got to talk to-,' I stopped that train of thought as I saw Raine heading towards me, '-ugh dang it, I'll have to find some other chance to talk to him!' I groaned, refocusing as I turned and ran away into the most confusing place to find someone… the library.

**********

"So Willow… Why the heck are we in the library!" I stared at my best friend with the most incredulous look I could muster.

"I mean Malphas, THE Malphas, head librarian of BonesBorough Library is just outside and we're in here looking at books we can see at ANY TIME!" Getting more heated in my speech I inched closer to her as she looked through a book I couldn't see.

"Are you even listening, Willow!" I dragged my hands down my face before she stopped mid-turn of a page as she turned her head back to me with a completely calm look.

"Calm down, I know what I'm doing," Willow gave a reassuring smile as I returned it with an unsure frown.

"And what is it that you're doing?" I asked uncertainly, my lips tightening with uncertainty.

"Studying up on the library's rules while we wait to ambush Malphas," I looked at her, my anxiety suddenly dispersing under the surprise I felt at Willow's plan.

"When did you think of that?" I saw Willow grin nervously as she shrunk back at the question.

"Uh- heh, while we were uh walking here?" Willow shrugged nervously as I felt disbelief blanket my mind, going from surprise about what I thought was a well-thought-out plan to incredulity about her decision to go with a last-minute plan.

"You know what? I'm going outside to talk to Malphas," I began to turn towards the entrance of the library only to feel a hand grip onto my arm.

"Wait! Can you please just go with my plan?" I glanced back to see the pleading smile on Willow's face as held my wrist before I sighed.

"Look Willow, I know you thought this was a good idea on the surface, but you didn't plan it just like those other times when you said you knew what you were doing and ended up causing trouble for both of us," I saw the frown deepen on Willow's face as I paused.

"So please let's just go out there and-" I felt something bash into me as I toppled over.

"Ahhh!" I saw Willow's eyes widen in surprise as I fell but it wasn't the way I was expecting.

"Is that- oh shoot!" is all I heard before I fell towards the floor but thankfully halting as Willow caught me and whoever or whatever ran into me, filling me with relief and a sudden annoyance as I looked to see who ran into me.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" I looked at the demon who ran into me only to feel the annoyance die and give way to more surprise as I saw the blue-haired kid from earlier.

"Shoot sorry-" He stopped as his eyes opened and he saw our faces.

"Brown hair? Green hair?" He questioned with the dumb nicknames he gave us, which was the same as me calling him Blue Hair to his face.

"Oh, Hi um… Blue Hair?" I facepalmed as she spoke, 'Are you serious Willow?' I internally blushed before getting back up.

"Uh hey guys, fancy meeting you here," He scratched the back of his head as he looked around nervously for some reason.

"It's not fancy meeting anyone here!" I interrupted as I saw him flinch back, "Why were you running, this is a library for Titan's sake!" He looked even more awkward now as he gave me an apologetic look from him.

"Sorry I just had to- shoot!" before Williw or I could react, Blue Hair grabbed us and pulled the two of us into the kid's corner area before hiding behind a wall with what looked to be a panicked expression as a pair of footsteps passed by us.

I stood there in disbelief for a second as the footsteps faded before I turned to Blue Hair with even more annoyance.

"What the heck was that!" I threw my arms up into the air as I stepped closer to Blue Hair.

"Whoa, sorry it was a knee-jerk reaction," He explained, something that seemed infuriating about the way he acted.

"Knee-jerk reaction? How is grabbing someone a knee-jerk reaction?!" He flinched back before I sighed.

"Can you just explain what that was about?" I asked, trying to keep my voice calm when I realized how worked up I was.

"Well, I'm kind of trying to avoid someone right now…" He practically mumbled as I felt my lips tightening into a frown before sighing again.

"Ok, so you're running away from someone, who?" Blue hair clammed up at that, making my eyebrows raise in curiosity.

"It's no one important, just someone who takes care of me," His lips parted into an awkward smile as he looked at both of us.

"So your parent?" Willow simplified as Blue hair tensed a tiny bit more than he had before.

"What? No, just some guy…" Blue hair waved his hand dismissively before I processed what he meant.

"You're running from your dad?!" I felt surprised hearing that not because it was his parent but due to our similar situation.

"Wait, you're here without your parents too…Well without them knowing?" I facepalmed, groaning as Willow revealed something that we were supposed to keep secret.

"Willoooowww," I saw my best friend flinch back as she heard me, realizing what she'd just said she gave me an apologetic look.

"You're here without your parents?" Blue hair looked at us oddly as he stated more than asked his question only to cut us off before we could say anything.

"-and no he isn't exactly my dad per se, he's…" He messed with his hands as he answered Willow's question, lingering on the last part like he wasn't overcomplicating a simple question.

'Ugh, this kid is so- ugh!' I stepped forward as he kept hesitating.

"Well, I'll keep calling him your dad since he's… you know," I gestured to the archway leading to the rest of the library.

"-your dad?" Blue hair groaned, seeming irritated yet reluctant to correct since he still didn't have an answer for me or Willow.

"But he's not- you know what? It doesn't matter," He sighed before shaking his head like it would fling the thought from his head.

"Yeah it doesn't because it's not our problem since we're going now," I grabbed Willow's hand only for her to give me a hesitant look.

"Wait, Amity we shouldn't just…" I scowled as I knew what she was going to say.

'Not this again,' I turned back as Willow started to try and convince me to help Blue Hair but just before she could I heard Blue Hair speak.

"Why couldn't talking to that Head Librarian guy be easier?" He sighed before I looked at him with surprise.

"You're here to see Malphas?!" I exclaimed as he flinched back with confusion.

**********

I flinched back as Brown Hair yelled something I didn't quite catch, 'I mean I've been pretty distracted this whole conversation,' I thought back to the question Brown Hair asked as I remembered my flight to the Emperor's Castle.

'I did call him dad, but it wasn't…' I sighed internally, '…I don't know, a spur-of-the-moment thing?' I felt conflicted as I thought that, but wasn't it? I shook my head again.

'No time to think about that you're talking to other demons,' I looked up to see Brown hair still looking at me with surprise.

"Uh, what was that?" I looked at her with what I hoped wasn't a stupid look. "I didn't hear what you said," I saw her face change and I almost instantly got the answer to my previous question.

"What do you mean, you 'didn't catch that'?" Brown hair stepped forward again as I stepped back.

"I was pretty clear, you said you were looking for the head librarian," Brown hair pointed to the sliver of the crowd outside the distant window of the library.

"-That's Malphas, so are you here to see him?" my eyes widened with realization as Brown Hair said that before I nodded.

"Oh uh, yeah I am here to see Malphas," I paused as I thought about how to phrase the next part, remembering what happened this morning when I woke up.

"I… need some answers about something important," Brown hair gave me a strange look before I saw Green hair give me the same look in the corner of my eye before stepping forward and looking at Brown hair.

"H-hey, since he wants to meet Malphas then why don't we just help him?" Green hair seemed to suggest surprisingly but thinking back to before when they helped me.

'Wasn't she the one helping me then too?' I suddenly felt a bit grateful realizing that she was pretty nice to be trying to help me.

'Maybe I should pay the favor back?' I pondered on that question as I turned my eyes to the ground.

"Fine, but don't come crying to me when he gets us in trouble!" I jumped as I heard that and looked up quickly to see Brown Hair turning away from Green Hair, who looked awkward but seemed to ignore that as she looked over at me.

"So I managed to convince my friend, and she agreed to help you since we all want to talk to the same person," We both looked over at Brown hair before looking back at each other.

"Well, sort of agreed, but it doesn't make that much of a difference," Green hair waved her hand dismissively as she said that, trying to look confident despite her awkward smile.

"Thanks," I nodded to her, "I'll pay you back somehow if I can," Willow's smile eased at my words, and looked at her curiously.

"So what do we do?" Willow's smile widened a bit more at that.

"My plan is this, we'll wait in here and intercept him through…"

**********

"Where is he?" I growled in frustration as I looked around the library for Az.

"I saw him running through here a few minutes ago, where could he be?" I looked around once again only to see a dispersing crowd who made way for the floating figure of Malphas.

"Oh? Whispers is that you?" Malphas tilted his head in curiosity as he stared down at me from his tome platform.

"You look troubled, is there something you need help with?" I processed his words as I focused on my face, realizing the concern and frustration written over it.

"O-oh well, I- yes I need some help, if you could tell me where my son Azure is?" I saw Malphas's eyes glow brighter for a second after I finished speaking before a look of concern then intrigue and finally a smile came to his face.

"Follow me," is all he said before floating off to where I vaguely remembered the Forbidden Stacks were located causing my worry to spike at the idea that jumped to my mind.

'Please Titan, don't let Az do something stupid,' I began walking, following after Malphas, silently hoping that I was overthinking it as I thought I heard a laugh come from Malphas.

**********

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as I stood in front of a giant door that gave off an ominous magical aura that rolled off in deep purple waves.

"Yes, Malphas always comes here when he needs to get into the Forbidden Stacks," Green hair assured me only for another ethereal deep purple wave to pass over me, quenching any positive impact that gave me as she continued.

"-So all we need to do is wait for him to get here and if your dad runs into us, Amity and I-" I froze at the name as a familiar shifting I knew surfaced.

"Wait, what did you say?" I turned to my right as Green hair looked at me confused.

"What do you mean? The plan or what Amity and I are going to do?" I felt the shifting again with more intensity as I stumbled a bit, leaning against the door before it seemed to give way to an empty stairwell.

"Shi-ooooot!" I flailed my arms as the last thing I saw before tumbling down was the surprised faces of the two girls who had been helping me up until now.

**********

Pain, pain was all I felt as I tumbled for the next few minutes with increasing velocity, "Ow," my shoulder hit a stair, "Ow," my knee smacked into another step, "OW!" my right arm bent oddly as I hit another step just before I thudded to the bottom of the nightmare that was those steps and adrenaline flooded my system completely.

'Ok Azure, just get up and walk back the way you came, easy right?' I placed my hand on the floor not feeling the ache in my arm until a sharp pain shot through the entirety of it only dulled by the adrenaline that flooded in on the way down.

"Fuuuu-!" I stopped as I saw a deep purple haze of magic surround me that soon seemed to press on me with what felt like thousands of eyes observing something that was beyond my reach, freezing me in place both in mind and body as I felt the purple haze of magic leak into my skin.

'What is this?' Images started forming in my mind as the magic kept pouring in, images of something pitch black like the blood that crawled in my veins, images of this thing hidden away in a cave on the edge of a snowy place, images that were all hazy.

'Where?' I was stopped again as I saw another hazy image this time with a black and white cloak obscuring something I didn't know of yet and a blurry creature similar to the thing I saw before though with what felt like less thought before I broke out of what I now understood was a vision, gasping for air as my body untensed.

"Wh-what was th-" I felt something wet leaking from my nose and as I lifted my hand to touch it, I saw my fingers were red.

Seeing this, I felt a chill go down my spine, and with a newfound motivation, I quickly stood up with the help of my other undamaged arm only to feel another wave of pain when I put pressure on my left leg.

"Shit!" I finally cursed as I realized I hurt another one of my limbs.

"-but I can't stay down here," I imagined what I'd be like after a few more of those visions, laying on the ground catatonic, I shook my head.

'No, I can't let that happen,' so I took a step forward, feeling the pain of my hurt leg and the pressure of the surrounding magic, ignoring it as I hobbled to the stairs and started walking, using the wall and my only good arm to relieve the weight on my injured leg.

"Shit, shit, shit, not again!" I felt another vision coming on as I lowered myself to a stair before my muscles tensed and I witnessed the figure of a blurry child with a nightcap floating around in a familiar yet strange land before I gasped for air, coming out of the vision and seeing more blood that now trailed down to my shirt.

"Gotta get up!" I stood again with a bit of effort before I felt lightheaded just barely catching myself as I leaned backwards.

"O-ok, let's go," I took a step as I placed my injured leg on the next step up and then quickly copied the same action with my other leg, causing a jolt of pain through my injured knee.

"Gghhh," I stopped myself from letting go of the wall and holding my leg, knowing what would happen if I did, waiting a few seconds before repeating the same process again and again for what felt like an hour before I heard the sound of voices echoing through the stairway and the figure of a blue-haired man pick me up while I fought off another vision.

"R-Robed man, creature," I tried to explain only to feel the next vision try to overtake me as I passed out.

**********

Branches, infinite and ever-expanding stretched across the cosmos as an insignificant azure seed sat on one of the infinitesimal patches of it, infinitesimally smaller than even it, but a pitch-black existence floated just on the edge, bigger than the seed visually but seemingly closer in significance than any other seed on that patch could be which seemed to satisfy the existence as it tried to infringe on the azure seeds self, trying to twist it into a sapling that fit the existence, but the more it did, the more it tried to resist, squirming, writhing to stop it, but without control, it could not control or even expel the existence, it was…

**********

"Ahhh!" I jumped up from a hard surface as my eyes opened glancing and then right within less than a second, seeing nothing like the existence and the seed… 'Wait, what seed? What existence?' I felt something fading from my head as I questioned my mind once again.

"What was I dreaming?" I tried to focus, but something in my mind told me that I shouldn't know and shouldn't try to remember.

'Wh-whatever, so where am I?' I glanced around once again as I finally took in the room instead of panicking, seeing I was in an empty room with what looked to be a plain table, chairs, and a countertop on the side where a floating man-.

'Wait, floating man,' I looked closer to see a familiar-looking person who I now realized was the demon I was looking for.

"Malphas!" The Head Librarian's head raised slightly at my words before slowly turning to meet my gaze.

"Ah, you're awake child, good, good," He nodded his head slowly, floating over at what would be a casual amble for most but on his platform it felt smoother, more relaxed like the world would wait on him.

'Wait is that?' while looking at the platform I noticed something familiar, something that had just made me trip out.

"Purple magic," I backed up not wanting it coming anywhere near my skin.

"Purple?" I saw Malphas stop as he questioned what I said, looking down at me inquisitively for a moment before his glowing eyes relaxed in the next, and with a knowing smile, he continued forward much to my dismay.

"Hey, don't come any closer!" I pushed myself back with my legs until my back hit a wall.

'Shoot!' I stood up and looked for the door only to stop as I questioned how I could stand or even push myself against the wall before I gazed down to see my leg was completely fine and looking to my right arm, so was it.

"Wait, how are my-?" I was interrupted in my reflection as I felt a hand land on my shoulder.

"Child…" I turned to see the glowing eyes of Malphas gazing into me, freezing in dread as his grip tightened.

'This is it,' I clenched my jaw and waited for the purple magic to flood in and kill-

"…come work in my library," I paused at that and opened my eyes.

"Come again?" I looked at him confused, not expecting what he had said, or the lack of purple magic touching as I looked down to see it staying contained within the platform despite a few wisps passing near me.

"I said come work in my library," I looked back up at him even more confused.

"Wait why?" I saw the smile on his face turn to a grin.

"So I can teach you of course!" Malphas gave a close-eyed laugh as he said that, confusing me even more.

"Why would you be teaching me?" He paused for a second before laughing again.

"Hey, my question isn't funny!" I felt annoyance surface as he kept laughing, but eventually after a minute of irritating laughter, he stopped and cleared his throat.

"Look, young witch, you are odd are you not?" I felt my eyebrows knit together at that before he put his hands up placatingly.

"-and no I do not mean that as an insult," Malphas clarified as he pointed down to his floating platform.

"You can see something, something that only someone who has trained in Oracle Magic could see and not without a ritual or a decent amount of experience," The Head Librarian explained.

"Oracle Magic? What is that and what does it have to do with the purple magic?" I felt my face shifting from annoyed to confused, which seemed to be very common.

'Well, I guess it would being an amnesiac and all,' I focused back on Malphas who had just let go of my shoulder, seeming sure I wouldn't run away.

"Well, it is what I am using to float right now and as for how it relates to your sight," He rose a tiny bit from his slump as he continued to talk.

"You may have an inborn gift to see and interact with magic that even most advanced demons and witches can not," I paused at that, processing what he said.

"So I'm sensitive to magic energy?" I simplified or at least tried to as he shook his head.

"You might be, but as far as I've seen you seem to have only reacted to Oracle magic so far but even that is quite amazing since an attunement at this level in one magic field is abnormal," He shook his head as he tried to sound serious despite a glimmer that seemed to be present in his glowing eyes.

"Ok, so you want to teach me something, why?" I quirked my eyebrow at him before continuing.

"Also why would I have to work if all you want to do is teach me, Seems kind of inefficient?" Malphas shook his head again.

"Because despite how it might seem, I am busy and could not spend all my time teaching you, so to make up for that, I would have you help in duties throughout this library as an assistant to make back any time that may be consumed teaching you," I felt my confused look shift back to annoyed as I thought about it.

"That may make sense, but here's an important question," The Head Librarian leaned back down in interest as I paused.

"Why do you think I would do that?" I saw another smile come to his face as he looked me in the eyes.

"Well, you came here for a reason correct?" My silence persisted for a few seconds as I processed his words and thought back to the black veins.

"How did you know?!" I saw his smile fall before he facepalmed, saying something like 'kids these days'.

"It's because of Oracle magic," He turned back and placed a finger on my forehead.

"Which kids like you should be learning about with how sensitive to it you seem to be," He lifted himself back up and squinted at me.

"I mean you're what, 8 years old?" I looked at him annoyed as I took a few seconds to remember how old I was

"I'm 7 years old," I crossed my arms as he looked at me oddly.

"Really? Guess I'm not as sharp as I thought I was," Malphas stroked his beard as he looked up to the ceiling.

"Guess that's what being a hermit for a few centuries does to you," He chuckled, turning back to me as I looked him wide-eyed.

"Centuries!" I exclaimed, making him chuckle a bit more.

"Yes, I have been the keeper of forbidden tomes and journals only for half a century, but I have been doing this for much longer than the Emperor himself has been ruling," I gaped at him as he ruffled my hair.

"So now that we have that out of the way," He outstretched his hand to me, "Do you wish to learn how to control your magic and defend your soul?" I raised my hand hesitantly, stopping only for a second before taking his hand.

"Ok, I'll learn from you," I shook his hand, and then as suddenly as the serious atmosphere appeared, it disappeared just as quickly with Malphas letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Are you sure you aren't older? You sure don't act your age," Malphas leaned closer to me again, scanning me like it would reveal some new secret.

"Yes, I'm sure," I confirmed, ignoring his proximity as I remembered where I was.

"So um, sir?" I saw Malphas focus back on me as I spoke.

"What happened to the others, you know, the two kids-?" He stopped me there as he leaned in closer again.

"Your friends are fine, they just got in trouble for sneaking out and as for your parent," Malphas floated to the door and opened it to reveal Raine standing on the other side.

"Oh, hey..." I shrunk back as I saw the look Raine gave me before he started walking towards me.

"Azure," Raine stopped in front of me and glared down as I flinched back at his voice, remembering what I did and all the thoughts of what ifs I had if he found out about the thing's blood in my body.

"H-hi Raine," I meekly raised my hand into a small wave before seeing Raine's face deflate suddenly and reach down to wrap his arms around me, catching me by surprise.

"I'm glad you're ok," I heard as the images of the what-ifs I had thought up faded just as quickly as they came and I hugged back.

'Maybe, I don't have to worry that much...' I felt comforted by the thought, but I knew deep down just from the faded visions that lingered that it wouldn't be that easy for me.

"Az?" I looked up at Raine with a curious glance.

"Yeah?" I focused seriously on him.

"How about I make that Beast stew again?" I thought back to his first attempt and smiled.

"Eh, maybe?" I answered before Raine laughed and stood, placing me on his shoulders.

"Then let's go," Raine exclaimed excitedly only for my eyes to widen as I tapped on Raine's head for him to stop.

"Huh, what is it Az?" I put up my finger as if to say wait a second.

"Hey Malphas, when do I start work?" Malphas seemed to jump as he broke from his reverie.

"Oh, you can start next week at noon, is that ok with you, Whispers?" Malphas turned to Raine as he nodded.

"Sure, I'll bring him here then," Raine turned back to the door as I waved at Malphas.

"Now, let's get going, the stew's not going to cook itself!" Raine exclaimed as he started towards the house and I started on the path to my goal.