I DO NOT OWN EMINENCE IN SHADOW, HOWEVER I DO OWN ANY OF THE ARTS SHOWN IN THESE FICS.
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Chapter 1 : The Red Flower and the Black Flower.
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"We're here."
The rhythmic sounds of horse shoes coming to a stop came to her ears. She looked through the right-side window of the carriage she was currently in and gleefully enjoyed a view she had never seen before.
The Castle's garden yard didn't even come close to what she was currently witnessing, the surrounding trees on the left of the carriage contrasted to the open flowery fields, making a beautiful artistic split between the forest and the fields.
Her little sister seemed hesitant to do the same, so she encouraged her to do the same as there was no fault in it, they were on a small vacation, she should enjoy it.
Her little sister's face grew the same exact reaction she had after seeing the beautiful view that was on the other side of this window.
"Enjoying the view, Iris? Alexia?" Her father asked of them, seemingly excited for their reaction.
"It's wonderful Dad!" Iris joyfully answered her father, Alexia shyly did the same by just nodding, she swore she'll make her little sister be more relaxed on this vacation.
The carriage door was unlocked as a Dark Knight opened it for them, Klaus gestured for his daughters to step off the carriage and enjoy the view outside.
Iris was more than happy to do so, immediately running towards the beautiful scenery she had observed from the carriage.
Her strides came to a halt as she lowered her small hands, brushing off the beautiful flowers of this garden-like field.
"This.. This is so incredible." The Ten years old gasped as she took in the full beauty of the open field, turning around and saw her little sister standing just outside the carriage, seemingly unsure of what to do.
Iris smiled at her awkward six-year-old sister and ran up to her. She startled the white-haired toddler by suddenly holding her left hand and dragging her to the field.
"Come one Alexia! There's no need to be so reserved, enjoy the view!" Iris enthusiastically said to her younger sister, she still had that awkward look on her face, before she smiled and nodded.
"Umu." Alexia muttered.
"That's the spirit!" Iris happily chirped, lifting her sister by surprise and swinging her around.
Klaus smiled from the sidelines, signaling his friend and driver, Artu, to continue heading to the village they were supposedly heading to.
The village was called 'Luminous Fields' for its vibrant and colorful flowery fields spanning across a hundred yards, while the village itself was next to the forest.
The reason he was here with his daughters and not in the castle was because little Iris was turning Eleven in the next two days, he wanted his heir and elder daughter to take a break from all the lessons and sword-training she was receiving as straining herself wouldn't do anything good, not to mention spoiling her childhood.
This village was his wife's favorite go to whenever she wanted to relax, after confiding with his wife that he wanted to show Iris something special for her upcoming eleventh birthday, she suggested that he brought those two here for a two day break before they go back to the main kingdom and celebrate Iris's birthday..
And hopefully help with whatever issues his youngest daughter was having, little Alexia had always been more reserved and always trying to catch up to her older sister when she didn't have to as she was only a child for now.
The greedy and narcissistic words of the nobles in the kingdom may have brought down his youngest daughter's spirit given how she's constantly mocked by the nobles for not being a prodigal as her older Sister, but that didn't mean she was lacking in anything, seriously, if only political disputes and problems didn't exist he would have given those bastards hell. She was only six years old for crying out loud and they're already expecting a prodigy they could use and a new political way to get to the throne.
There's no he's letting his daughters be betrothed to such bastards.
Thankfully his Eldest daughter seemed to be enjoying this, probably overjoyed at being able to enjoy two days of just relaxing. She was obsessed with training sometimes so he was afraid she'll ignore this vacation.
Seeing his daughters freely felt elating for him, if possible he'd like to go visit here every year with his family, his wife was the one dealing with all the paperwork back at the castle, he could still remember the threat she gave him if their daughters didn't get to rest in this vacation.
Women are scary.
Seeing that his daughters will probably be occupied for the time being, he'll just head on to the village to set up a place for them to sleep.
"Iris! When you're done playing with your sister, come to the village alright?" He called out to his Eldest, the young girl perked up and nodded before she swung her sister again.
. . .
"See? It's not so bad Alexia." Iris gave her sister a pet on the head, the little girl only pouted but enjoyed it anyway.
"It's nice that we finally got some time to relax, everything in the castle is too arduous, nonstop lectures and lessons everywhere.." Iris sighed, she knew that it was her duty as the heir to the throne to learn all of it, but it can be tiring if that was all she did everyday.
The vacation was welcome to her, considering her birthday was just in two days, she would enjoy this small vacation to its fullest.. Though, she wished her little sister wouldn't be so restrained, those damn nobles comparing Alexia to her all the time when she's just six years old..
Well, she wouldn't have to worry about any of that here!
"Alexia! Come and look at this." Iris called for the little girl, Alexia ran up to her sister and looked at the flower Iris was pointing at. The flower was beautiful, but there was something else ther caught her attention.
"A bee..?" Alexia observed in awe.
"Mhm, did you know that bees are attracted to flowers? They pollinate by using flowers." Iris told her sister while she was looking at the bee.
Iris stood up and looked around the field, the garden-like flower field had multiple colors varying from white, red, yellow, violet and blue.
But there was one flower that stood out the most, it was a little far from where she stood, but for some reason it attracted her, as if the flower was telling her to come to it.
She unconsciously walked forward through the flowery path, her eyes fixated at the beautiful flower, each step she took brought her closer to the flower. Finally she got a closer look when it was at arms reach.
A vibrant violet flower with black stems, the sunlight only magnified how beautiful the strange flower was, being the only one to stand out in a colorful environment.
It almost looked as if it was glowing, a luminous tint of violet illuminating alone.
It was beautiful.
"So.. Beautiful.." Iris uttered, too mesmerized, not even realizing her mouth had even spoken. Inwardly, Iris wondered how such a flower came to be, she didn't know any existing flower that had an description or appearance like this, granted, she wasn't a floriculturist so she wouldn't know if such a flower was already recorded before.
She reached out a hand, clasping it into a dist and using her index finger to slightly brush off the violet flower. Suddenly purple-ish dark sparks came to life for a brief moment, it was so small you could barely see it. However, Iris's eyes widened, she immediately pulled her hand away examining it for any burns.. But instead found no burn marks, there wasn't even any pain..
"Was I hallucinating..?"
For some reason she felt as if her body became slightly lighter, and free of any stress.
"Nature can be mesmerizing, to an extent where you could be hallucinating on how beautiful it is." A voice suddenly came from somewhere, her hand immediately went into the grip of her sword, her eyes darting around for where the voice came from.
"Who was that!? Show yourself!" She fell into a sword stance, preparing for any sort of attack or trickery as she saw no one else in the flower field other than her younger sister who was too busy watching the bees.
"Sheesh, calm down.. Can't a guy sleep in peace?" The voice spoke again, seemingly tired. She finally pinpointed where the source of the voice came from and looked towards its direction, she was confused when she saw no one in there, however her confusion was answered when she saw a mop of black hair laying on the ground, not too far from the violet flower.
Her eyes narrowed, she slowly walked around the violet flower and got a closer look of who the mop of black hair belonged to.
Her eyes were greeted by the sight of a young boy laying down peacefully among the sea of flowers with his hands acting as a Impromptu pillow.
He looked as if he had no worries in the world, unbelievably relaxed and peaceful.
"Who.. Are you?" Unnerved, she pondered how she could have possibly not noticed him. This kid was probably a low-rank noble judging from his clothes, but how did he get here..? Did he sneak up on her..?
Or you know, he was already here way before her and was just appreciating the easy to breathe-in and colorful soft environment. Iris wanted to hit her head for being stupid.
"Suddenly asking me that after you unsheathed your sword on me, rude." The black haired kid spoke once more and never once did open his eyes.
Iris flushed in embarrassment, just realizing she had just pulled a sword on an innocent kid. "Sorry, I didn't expect someone to be here.."
"You should next time." The young boy snarked without hostility, still in his paradise of dreams.
Iris sheathed back her sword, seemingly off put by the boy's nonchalance. She's.. Never had someone snark back to her before. So it was kind of strange to her.
"Right, my apologies.. Who are you? What are you doing here?" Iris questioned the boy, usually nobles wouldn't let their children go outside of their house, both out of security and tradition.
"Just some random stylish bandit slayer.. Or nah, that doesn't sound cool enough.." The boy muttered to himself, confusing Iris even further
Stylish bandit slayer? What kind of title is that.. Pfft, was he messing with her?
Though seriously, what?
"What?"
"What?" They parroted each other.
The boy cleared his throat, and made a redo. "I'm just a simple boy enjoying his life, nothing more, nothing less." The boy clenched his fist under his head, victoriously cheering.
"That doesn't answer my question." Iris deadpanned, he was clearly messing with her with his attempt at being wise. What kid would even do that..? Now that she realized, he looked around six years old, the same age as her little sister, though that was only a guess of hers.
"Good, I probably will not anyways, now gimme a break and lemme sleep." The six year old quipped at her.
"That's pretty rude. Weren't you the one suddenly talking to me with your wise words." Iris snarked back with sarcasm on the last bit of her sentence.
"True, I thought you were someone decent enough to be enjoying the view, though that's probably not the case since you acted more like a wild animal." The boy threw a spit roast towards Iris, who was immediately offended by his words.
"I-wait you! Did you just call-" Iris stuttered.
"Yup, I did, now leave me alone." The boy didn't even bat an eye to her, not registering she existed other than conversing with her.
Iris raised an eyebrow as a tick threatened to pulse on her forehead, this boy and his attitude, she barely interacted with people her age or lower other than the heirs of their respective parents, this kind of attitude without the sweet and coated in lies was definitely new to her.
"Don't you know who I am..?" Iris asked, she didn't think she would ever use the 'I have a status' card on someone because it would make her sound like some obnoxious brat, but she wanted to get back at this boy's insult on her.
However the boy never moved from his spot or even opened his eyes.
"Glad I don't, you sound annoying." The boy snarked once more, completely uncaring of who she was.
Iris was never one to flaunt her status or who she was, but as a ten year old turning eleven soon, childish tendencies can still take over despite how mature one is.
"You- I'm the literal princess of Midgar!" She brought her arms in the air, trying to make a point.
"That's cool, but could you find something real quick for me? You should be able to find it in your palm." The black-haired boy smirked, readjusting his arms better.
Iris tilted her head, she was confused as to what he was referring to, she had a feeling she was falling for some kind of scheme but did it anyway. She looked at both of her palms and saw nothing there.
"What are you on about, there's nothing here?"
"Oh there's nothing? I was asking you if you would be so kind as to tell me where I put my 'care for your opinion or status', but seeing there was nothing there, well.." The boy stopped, Iris took a few moments to realize what he was talking about.
"You-"
"Well, princess of idiots, since I can't find where I put my 'care' was, you might as well take your leave." The boy shot at her, literally smoothly sliding a ride attitude that she had never experienced before. "That and I quite literally didn't ask for your opinion, try finding someone that asked instead."
She stood there flabbergasted, no.. None has ever talked to her like that before.
"...No one has talked to me like that before."
"Too bad I was the first one, oh the misfortune of the world."
Yeah no, she can't take this, her face began to redden in both embarrassment and anger of being so casually insulted.
This amount of sarcasm and way of talking was getting to her!
She clenched her fist, wanting to smack the boy, but no. She was better than that, she wouldn't let her amateurish actions get the better of her, she was the heir and princess of Midgar, she was a prodigy with the sword! She will not fall for his-
"Someone hear that? I think I can hear the tears of a crybaby behind me."
Okay, fuck it.
She opened her fist and tried to catch his sleeping face with an open palm, when Alexia suddenly called out to her, snapping out of her actions.
"Iris? What are you doing over there? Father told us to go now." Alexia questioned as she walked towards her sister who was in the distance.
Iris immediately covered up her actions by turning around and facing Alexia.
"N-Nothing! Just admiring the view! Hahaha..." She faked her laugh at the end, scratching her cheek with a finger while sending a glaring side-eye to the boy lying on the flower bed.
"Aww, shucks, thanks for the compliment, I know I'm quite the view but I don't like you that way." There he goes again, with his snarky lines SOMEHOW getting on her nerves.
She grit her teeth furiously, a tick now growing on her forehead. "I'll get you back for this, you better be here when I come back." She gritted out before walking away towards her sister, the Midgar sisters slowly disappeared back on the road headed towards the village.
"Better take me to dinner first, heh." The boy said, finally opening one of his eyes.
"Shit, I might have compromised my Mob persona."
++--------------------++
' Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official, I completely fucked up. ' Cid monologued, realizing just now how terrible of an idea coming to this outing was.
A little recap, the rest of his family – Mostly Claire and his Mother – Wanted to enjoy Floravilla's beautiful fields, expressing that the two wanted some time to relax.
True to the village's name, it was indeed an unnaturally large field of flowers, Cid found the place an amazing spot for a future Eminence roleplay where be would lead the Main Character here, talk to them in the middle of the night as the moon shone down, and disappear as he delivers a shivering one liner.
Though there WAS something off about this flower field, according to the legends this place had – Which was not surprising, it was a given that something so unique had some lore to it – The flower field was used as a graveyard for a powerful dragon that had somehow died despite of their immortality, it used this field as it's deathbed and now there was countless flowers growing on it.
Naturally, he decided to investigate this on his own, completely intrigued by something he could use for his roleplay. At first he found nothing, until he finally found something that was kinda off. The flowers siphoned magic, yeah these things do be taking the Plantera route.. Or was that something else, meh, he forgot.
Obviously he started to mess around with each individual flower, spending a few hours speed blitzing around for differences in the flowers, eventually he did find one that turned out to be a great conductor for magic, he experimented a little with it then Bam, it became a violet black flower. He wanted to see what would happen if he poured more of his magic onto it, so he did, after that the flower became vibrant and started glowing faintly, for some reason getting close to it made him high.
Yeah, a flower from his own magic made him high, he wasn't sure why but it was kinda awesome, he didn't like the feeling of being high though. He wanted to get rid of the flower but found himself getting sleepier by the second; by the time he came to his senses, he had just verbally abused the so-called Princess of Midgar.
Fortunately, he never told her his name when he was unbelievably high, otherwise his Mob Persona would have been more compromised. He sighed before pushing himself off the plain-green ground, he noticed that he had probably slept for more than a few hours, Claire and the others are probably pissed at him for being gone for so long.
"Shit.. I'm definitely upping my poison resistance after this, what kind of Eminence would get drugged or be poisoned.
Suddenly sending his own magic from behind him, he turned around to see the violet-black flower he created slowly turning back to its normal state, its colors slowly turning back to white.
"NOOOO! My Eminence in Flower! You were taken away from this world way too early despite the fact you were a pain In my ass for making me high!" Cid cried at the unfairness of the world, his totally badass looking flower became a normie again!
Feeling slightly cringed out from grieving for a literal flower, he patted his clothes and tilted to the direction of the village, but not before noticing a single strand of magic, HIS magic, coming from the flower. His eyes followed where the string was connected to and found that it was in the direction of the village.
"Hoh?" He mused, this was unexpected and new, he could sense that it was definitely his magic that was connecting the flower and to something else in the village, but for some reason it looks quite divisible without pouring magic into his eyes...
Meaning no one can see one other than people skilled enough to enhance their eyes using magic.
Yeah, he'll definitely come back here a few times, it was interesting to see new things after all. That and find out why he got high from just being the now late black-flower.
Using a burst of magic into his feet, he disappeared, becoming a blur and running towards the village and careful as to not trample any flowers, his footsteps gracefully dancing on the gaps between each flower.
"This place would be a good place to train for footwork, yep, definitely adding this to one of my favorite spots." Cid said as he finally got out of the flower field, reappearing on a nearby alleyway and coming back to his temporary home where Claire and his parents were.
His ass in line for an ass-whooping, the consequences of his multiple hours of his lack of presence.
++--------------------++
Her birthday was only a day away now, she would have been ecstatic and brimming with joy if not for something that was bothering her, she looked at the tips of her right index finger and saw the same violet hue sparking back to life, for some reason, her body became lighter and WAY stronger than before after touching that flower, she discovered so after this morning, accidentally cutting through a whole tree with just a spoon.
It was a good thing she was in the forest-side at that time, otherwise some people could have gotten hurt by accident, she was unnerved by this so she came back to the flower field and tried to find the violet-black flower, for some reason it was gone now.
She suspected it had something to do with the black-haired boy from yesterday, she tried searching for him but couldn't find him anywhere, for now she want back to the forest with an excuse of relaxing to her father, this weird power up she gained proved easy to control, all she had to do was make sure her magic didn't go overboard and she would be able to control her strength.
That didn't mean she didn't have her insecurities about it though, it could be some kind of curse for all she could know.
She stood in the middle of the forest where there was a patch of clearing where the trees didn't grow into, she brought her sword to her side and swung, continuing her daily routine even if it was her vacation. She was more worried and interested about this violet magic thingy than her birthday right now.
Soon she would need to go back to their temporary shelter, suddenly she caught wind of something rustling around the bushes.. Though it was quite far... Did her sense of hearing also get enhanced..?
She brought her sword on guard, approaching the source of the sound, she walked through multiple trees before eventually hearing something else, a voice, not just say voice. A voice that irritated her yesterday and was searching for the owner of it today.
She ran up to one of the trees after getting close enough, there she caught sight of the same boy in the middle of another clearing.
He was currently sitting in a meditation pose, a sword in front of him as he concentrated on something.
Iris observed quitely, wondering what he was doing with a sword in front of him, she was sure nobles don't train their children until the age of 8... Where did he even get that sword?
Eventually the boy opened his eyes and picked up the sword, he took a simple fencing stance, readjusting his foot better and relaxing his body.
Iris's attention was fully onto him now, his form was.. Perfect, despite being so young, she trained everyday with the same style and yet his was so simple but perfect..
Suddenly the boy took a step forward and swung his sword in an arc faster than Iris could follow, a brief swirl of wind picked up from just the swing of his sword, indicating that there was one hell of a force behind their swing.
"W-Whoa." She couldn't help but utter in awe, her opinion of the boy grew from suspiciously annoying to mysterious and powerful,
'How is he so strong..? He's probably just somewhere the same age as Alexia and yet.. '
The boy – Who she just realized had never learned his name yesterday – kept repeating the same steps of taking a stance, swinging gracefully and following up with another. He continued this for how long she didn't know, she was too mesmerized to care, it only worsened when he switched out of Bushin to something more simpler. The moment he switched to this extraordinary yet so simple style he had never moved from his spot.
She gripped her own sword tightly, watching him made her heart clench, there was some heat to it too for unknown reasons she couldn't understand. She felt jealous and hateful, jealous of how he's so talented.. But then snapped herself out of such thoughts, the foreign feelings of jealousy and hatred being new to her.
' I wonder.. Can I just be as good as him..?' she unconsciously stepped out of her hiding to get a better look at his steps, not realizing she was practically in plain sight.
"I think that's about enough training for today, I still have that weird magic string to investigate.." Cid finished up his training, he turned around to return to the village and immediately froze when he saw Iris looking at him in awe and admiration.
Looks like fate just answered his questions of where his string was connected to.
++--------------------++
'AYO, what the fuck.' Cid cursed internally, it was official, his luck was ass.
How come he didn't notice or sensed her behind him?! How long was she there? How much did she see? Is his Mob Persona and dreams just fucked up now?
' Do I have to commit to my inner bri'sh and start shanking 'er? ' He joked, totally not expecting the princess from yesterday to find him. Nah, he can't just shank her, she wasn't a 'bad' guy nor was she an enemy, though she WAS a threat to his Cid Persona, besides all of those he can't just shank a princess, that would cause some suspicion.
For now, he'd have to put his bullshitting skills and Mob-Fu to test. He couldn't use this as a way to do his first act as an Eminence when the girl in front of him was a literal princess.
' Burriingg ittt Princess, my deadass finna run your fades .'
"You know you could at least say something rather than looking at me as if I'm some sort of clown." Shit! He meant to say something else, better roll with it anyhow since he's already said it.
"W-Wuzza?" Iris stuttered.
"Girl, I don't speak Bratanese." Cid continued on with his action, it would be too suspicious if his attitude from yesterday when he was high suddenly changed, he would have to put his bullshitting here to the max.
"What?" Iris stuttered confusingly, though not understanding what he said she felt offended somehow.
"I said, what are you doing here? Are you stalking me? Damn girl, you're creepy as hell if that's the case." Pulling out Mob-Fu : Annoying-smartass-background-character.
"W-What?! That should be my line! What are you doing here?!" Iris blushed in anger.
"Oh nothing, just enjoying the beauty of the world as I take a piss, would be a shame if someone suddenly snuck up on me and proceeded to observe me from afar like a predator." Cid mentally cringed, knowing that his Mob Persona was fucked to an extent. He would be lying if the effects of the black-flower drug thingy hadn't completely disappeared.
' I might as well roll with this, if I can't be the mob that no one remembers, I'll just be the Mob with a rude attitude that everybody forgets as time goes on in anime, my plans to be an Eminence in Shadow is already in danger when it still hasn't even begun. '
"I- You! I'm a princess! Not a stalker." Iris claimed, ever the too easily teased princess.
"Sure.. Princess of Stalkers.".
"Princess of Stalkers?!"
"What? Don't like the name? I mean we can workshop it but it would cost you some gold."
Okay, her opinion of him dropped again. He's so damn smug and sarcastic! How can someone be so capable at getting under her skin?!
"You know you still haven't answered my question."
"Well! If you must know, I was training!"
"Training to be a stalker..?" "NO-!"
"Honestly I should be concerned by now, what would your majesty find interesting in me for her to personally stalk on me-"
"NO! I am NOT a stalker!" Iris screamed out of frustration, growing upset with the black-haired boy.
"Sure sure.. You're- Hmm?" Cid stopped whatever he was going to say when he sensed something odd about the Princess, secretly enhancing his eyes using his magic she bickered in the background, he saw the same divisble string connected to her index finger, the small pulse in her finger slowly spreading throughout her body.
He started at his own hand, the hue of magic reacting to Iris's own while she didn't even notice it.
' Hoh..? '
"-Besides! Your fencing skills are subpar at best, not like they're good or anything! Why is a kid like you even wielding one?" Iris continued on her rant, a red tint growing on her cheeks.
The girl didn't know why she was bickering so much, ranting on some random boy whom she'd just met twice.
"Ah, a tsundere." Cid deadpanned, clearly done with this shit as his Mob role-playing fantasies were probably cooked now.
"Wha- Hey! Where are you going?!" Iris yelled at him when she saw him start to leave.
"Trying to move away from the source of an annoying loud noise, you know, the usual. Considering that the annoying voice seems to be coming from your spot." Cid sheathed his sword, putting his hands on his pockets and walking away.
"Wait!" The Ten years old ran up to him, stopping in front of him and blocking his way.
Cid's left eye twitched ever so slightly, Iris was able to see it despite being so unnoticeable.
"What now?" Cid's newly discovered pain-the-ass-O'meter slowly being filled up by the dreadful Iris gauge.
She looked at him straight in the eyes, sharpening her gaze upon his black irises.
"How did you get so good?" She asked.
"Not sure what you mean." Cid faked, clearly trying to hide the fact that he had great strength unfit for a mob and a six year old.
"You were generating so much force from just your swings! Even I c an't do that yet! Your form is unbelievably perfect too!" Iris yelled, in wonder of how the boy in front of her can do something so amazing at a young age.
"Again, not sure what you mean, I was just swinging my sword around." Cid, not wanting to doom his future plans as a Mob any further, tried to get away.
He walked forward again only for Iris to block his way, both hands on her hips.
"Can you stop dodging my question?"
"Will you stop getting In my way?"
Iris narrowed her eyes intimidatingly, the ten years old not being used to this kind of attitude and treatment towards her caused her to be confused on the inside, clearly used to everyone paying attention to her all the time and praising her, because of this she's unintentionally being more bratty and obnoxious than usual.
Seeing she had little progress on getting the answer out of him, she thought of an Idea.
"Fine.. I'll let you go.."
"Finally-" "But only if you beat me in a spar first!"
Cid paused on her words, a spar? Dude, if he did that he would single handedly clap her back crying to her dear papa. Clearly not wanting to do the spar, he quickly brainstormed a way out of this, since she was being stubborn, being rude or an ass to her wouldn't work, it would also be a detriment to his 'Cid is an average Joe Mob' Idea. Disappearing using his currently in testing Serious Dash™ would likely garner unwanted attention, his performance was already unbefitting of a Mob much less a six year old, what would that say If the Princess of Midgar revealed the existence of someone doing such feats at a young age... Not that they would believe her, she's a kid.. Proooobablyyyy.
Scratch that, she's a princess, they would likely believe her.
'Damn, bullshitting my way out of this wouldn't work either, kids are stubborn after all, she'll probably cry about it and go to her dad crying about it if I don't comply .'
Kids for a lack of word, are fucking annoying sometimes, You could tell them 'not to do something' and they would continue to do it either way, they barely listen.
And if the Princess of Midgar is acting like this, oh boy.
'But there might be a way to exploit this.. '
Cid cut away from his brainstorming and looked back to Iris, his gaze now brimming with determination.
Determination to get this girl off his ass.
He smiled wryly, his black pupils landing on the red-head.
"Fine."
Iris looked shocked for a moment, smudging her ears with her palms before returning her gaze to him. "Wut?"
" I said I'll spar with you."
Finally! The red-head cheered happily at her unexpectedly easy attempt at making the boy spar with her, she thought she would have to deal with his annoying complex way of talking just to convince him.
"Yes-" She was about to throw her hands into the sky if not for Cid cutting her off.
"BUT! Only if you accept to these terms."
Iris tilted her head, narrowed her eyes and frowned.
"Terms? It better not be something shady."
Pffttt, Cid snorted.
"Why would it be shady, I'm not like you who would spy on boys younger than her."
Iris grit her teeth in annoyance, a tick on her forehead. "I'm not a-"
"Anyhow, my terms is if I beat you , you will leave me alone, and if you somehow beat me, I will answer your questions.. Well.. Not that it would be much of a spar, cuz I'll beat you . "
'Beat me..? '
The words rang out in her head, a disgusting feeling budding inside her upon hearing his words, what did he mean beat her? Beat.. Her?
She's won against adult dark knights, hailed as a prodigy and considered the strongest in her generation.
She never liked the attention or the praise but.. There was this ugly feeling of pride and unacceptable.
His words felt wrong to her.
Cid raised an eyebrow, sensing her sudden change in demeanor.
"Beat me ..? How would you beat me?" Iris asked with an incredulous expression, almost finding the notion of him beating her insanity.
' How would you, a six year old who has no achievement or name for himself, five years below in experience compared to mine, beat ME?! ' She wanted to scream out at him, just because his form was so perfect and breathtaking didn't goddess-damn mean that he could beat her.
" The audacity ." Iris seethed out under her breath.
Cid merely huffed, completely unfazed by her sudden hostile stance.
Observe, as this is what happens when children get exposed to unhealthy amounts of expectations and praise.
This is common knowledge as they imitate, copy anything they see and hear. And children tend to grow based on their environment.
This is a prime example of that.
A prodigious princess always seen upon with expectations and pressure by high standing individuals in society, forced to grow and embrace her role, fed with nothing but praise and admiration often blinds one from the real world, and could later on be a detriment to her personality in the future.
Fortunately, this little squabble between the two will forever change our red-headed princess, either for the better or for the worse.
Well.. That's in the future, let's see what kind of reaction our bratty princess will make shall we?
Iris's expression turned murderous. Her magic growing more erratic. His eyes widened, for a moment Cid was able to see a familiar violet string made out of HIS magic connected to her right index finger.
"You think.. You can beat me?" Iris practically hissed, her magic slowly becoming visible, the red complexion of her magic mixed with violet somewhere near her right hand.
he lowered his head slightly, his bangs shadowing over his eyes.
"Amusing.. Not only she has my magic inside her, it's refining her own efficiency with magic, her sudden emotional strain is also making her stronger.." Cid muttered under his breath, Iris's magic pressure grew stronger, her red colored magic now seeping out of her body akin to a steam coming out of a burning hot flame.
"What? " Iris hissed again, though more confused because she couldn't hear what Cid muttered.
Inside the Chuuni's head, he was silently ecstatic.
'And this character formula, judging from her sudden reaction from when I said my terms.. This is.. THIS IS! ' Cid took a deep breath, his demeanor becoming cold outside, but deep inside, he was screaming like a child getting what he wanted for christmas.
'She's exactly the heroic-antagonist character trope in shows! The one where they think they're doing the right thing but in reality they're doing more harm to everyone around them than helping! ' Cid quickly gave his situation more thought and attention, an opportunity rising for him.
'It might even go like this if I play my cards right, a fallen from grace Hero having a past with the Eminence in Shadow, when she gets in the hero's way a mysterious enigmatic man who lurks in the shadows suddenly comes to stop her, and when the climax happens a revelation will happen. She'd go like "Y-You're from that time when we were kids" Or "This whole time.. It was you!" And then the final battle will begin.'
He concentrated, maximizing his thought process for this very moment, a single second outside was a whole minute for his thought process, causing everything in his perception to look slow as hundreds of ideas and thoughts came to his head.
' I need to do this right if I want something to be set in stone for my future role as the Eminence in Shadow, I'll have to humble and beat her here without revealing my name or leaving anything that would trace back to my identity as a mob, if i pull it off perfectly, her reaction after I beat her up should be along the lines of "I'll never forget this" Or "Mark my words, I'll get back at you!" something like that I guess. '
After Cid formulated his plans, he prepared to execute them.
Beneath his currently shadowed eyes he smiled smugly, turned around and gave her the most annoying and brattiest side-eye he could muster.
"Yupp.. Easily." His eyes glowed for an instant, wearing the smuggiest expression he could perform.
It had the desired effect Cid wanted as Iris's magic bursted out of her form, completely enveloping the girl in a fine-crimson flame aura. The girl looked down right murderous as her magic spasmed in and out.
She withdrew her sword from its sheath and adapted the Bushin Sword Stance.
"Fine! You think you can beat me?! I'll show you!" She screamed out loud. "As the princess of Midgar and heir to the throne, I will defeat you in this fight!
' I thought this was a spar but okay .' He shrugged inwardly. Cid merely adapted his simple fencing form, drew a deep breath and smiled, trying to formulate a series of words that would likely anger the princess in the future.
"En Garde." Iris didn't understand what he said, nor did she have the time to understand it as the Eminence Wannabe dashed forward with a simple well-controlled horizontal slice.
Iris barely blocked the attack with the side of her blade, she stood her ground from the force of his attack and retaliated with a roundhouse kick, to which Cid easily dodged from.
Seeing that she was painfully open, Cid decided to introduce Iris to a new friend, his boot, right on her face.
Her head blew to the side, before she pulled back and sent a flurry of slashes towards his way, Cid promptly blocked all of them with ease, weaving through the open gaps of her attack and sneaking a knuckle sandwich to her stomach.
Iris gasped heavily and instinctively lowered a hand to her stomach, before she was suddenly ragdolled by Cid performing a disrespectful backhand towards her.
She briefly recovered back out of pure stubbornness and was instead slapped again. She tried to get back at him once again with a sword slash, only for her face to eat the palm of an open hand.
Cid continued his 'Whack-a-bitch' treatment on Iris until she eventually stumbled on her legs, using her sword as a crutch to support herself from fainting.
"So, is that all?" Cid said condescendingly.
Iris grit her teeth, her face starting to swell from the consecutive bitch-slaps. Her fury grew stronger with each second.
She took a hoarse breath and screamed like a banshee. "YOU!"
Her foot dug deep in the earth, her magic enhancing her very being, she launched a suicidal lunge towards the future Eminence in shadow who in return simply tap his blade onto hers and redirected it's trajectory.
"Too reckless." Cid used the flat side of his sword to bonk her head, causing the girl to yelp.
She recovered her bearings quickly and tried to pulverize Cid with her fist, he caught it effortlessly and backhanded her.
"Too slow, too weak." She persisted through her dizzy perception and swiped her sword at him, just like her previous attempts it failed to reach him.
"Too naive." Another attack slapped away.
"Too predictable." Her sneak attack failed.
"Too sloppy." A sword strike with her all might was blocked effortlessly.
"Too many movements wasted." The leg sweep she sent at him after crouching down was met with the flat side of a sword.
"And lastly, too lacking in control." She was sent flying after she blocked a blow from him.
Iris didn't know what to make of this sensation she was feeling inside her heart, a feeling that she wanted to release out of anger and frustration.
Frustration of no matter what she did, she couldn't reach him, she couldn't harm him, she couldn't even touch him.
Angry that this boy mocked her, humiliated her, toyed with her, a princess who's supposed to be the next heir to her kingdom, a perfect role model to her younger sister and the prodigy of the Midgars.
She felt even more frustrated as she got up, no matter how much force she exerted, it didn't do anything. No matter how fast she went, she was overwhelmed with a greater speed. No technique or skill worked, she was simply outmatched by a boy who was younger than her.
Her anger became wrath when she saw him wiggling his finger back and forth, taunting her to attack him.
"Is this all the princess of Midgar could do? If so, color me disappointed, I had my hopes too high thinking you were somewhat of a challenge, turns out I was wrong to do so, failure."
The feeling of being mocked and humiliated added up to her fury, so what if she wasn't as good as he was?! She had duties as the Princess, always doing this and that and never any time for herself, she always spent her time perfecting everything she could so that her people wouldn't be disappointed in her.
So that they could expect the next ruler to be dependable and befitting of the position. So they could have a peace of mind, peace of mind that their leader is someone who's always there for them, to lead them, to protect them, to guide them.
To rule for them.
..
He didn't understand any of that, how could he.. How could he say such things..
He doesn't even know her, and in return she doesn't know him.. So why.. Why do his words hurt so much?
All she wanted to be is a simple girl who loved her family, an older sister to her younger and a daughter to her parents. Not someone shackled by the responsibilities of an entire kingdom.
She fell on her knees, Cid looked at her current state, he rested a hand on his hip and snorted, a stoic expression on his face.
' That's it, my future Fallen Hero! Let your character arc begin early , just a little bit more push! If I want my whole Eminence in Shadow shtick to be set in stone, I need a rival that will be my obstacle in the future! ' Cid internalized, completely hyper focused on his goal to be the Eminence in Shadow, not even realizing that he's going too farm
'She'll just probably throw a tantrum and cry for a little bit before going to her parents, then later on remember this as her worst bullying and make it her motivation to be a hero or something. ' Cid summarized, thinking his plan was perfect.
Unfortunately, as this was not the same Cid we are used to and Shadow does not exist yet as Stylish Bandit Slayer still exists. He miscalculated on his choices, not having the same amount of bullshit his future self did, and simply rushed things without thinking. ¹
"I guess the Future Princess is just a disappointment , I pity your people if their next ruler is someone who's unbefitting of the throne, how did you even end up as the heir.."
Snap.
Something snapped.
Something snapped inside Iris, she didn't know what it was, nor did she dare try to ponder what It was. The words thrown at her snapped something, all these emotions welled up.
These negative emotions briddled inside her, mixing together to form an ugly existence of pure hatred.
She didn't like this feeling, not one bit.
Iris stabbed her sword to the ground, letting loose of her swelling emotions as her magic exploded in a crimson light, in her chest, a corrupted web-like pattern erupted and climbed through her skin, reaching to her collar bones.
"That's it, become a hero whose motivations come from- Eh?" Cid paused on his sentence when felt something change in Iris.
Iris, In her rage, didn't even notice the pain or the mark of possession, or the fact it was growing at a rapid rate.
Cid on the other hand, did notice the change, he narrowed his eyes in confusion, not expecting something like this to happen.
' Possession? Isn't that the same thing I healed my Sis from? ' Cid wondered in confusion, still unaware of the cause of possession other than being capable of healing it.
He would just heal it later on after this, but first, he's interested on Iris's change.
A single droplet of tear hit the ground..
Then...
Iris exploded, and rematerialized in front of Cid, her sword already swinging down on him. He concentrated a little bit of his magic and ran them through his body.
"Oh?" He didn't expect the sudden change in her strength, causing him to flinch a little bit from the force of her strike.
" YOU ." One word, a single word from Iris carried so much negative emotion, her unstable state grew with each passing second, hastening the growth of the demonic flesh in her chest.
Lightning-shaped magic with a crimson complexity bursted through from Iris continuously as she applied pressure on Cid.
"Who are you to say those things?! Who are you to judge me?!" She screamed in anger, ignoring the flesh on her chest as her magic became a dark-red hue. "DON'T SOUND AS IF YOU KNOW I AM!" The ground beneath Cid shattered, prompting him to jump away, Iris jumped towards him in pursuit.
"I don't need to know you, your personality is all I needed to judge-"
"You know nothing about me! I spent my whole life practicing and perfecting everything just to be worthy of being called the heir!" She ignored his speech and blitzed a punch through his guard, Cid didn't expect it to hit him straight in the face, he was blown away to the ground creating a small trail. "Doing everything just so I could meet their expectations! Their anticipation! Their hopes! Their stupid standards! And THEIR STUPID GODDAMN GREED FOR POWER!" She slammed to the ground and slammed her blade against him. Once more he was blown away, crashing through a tree and being imprinted in the middle of another.
He whistled in interest, completely unharmed by her attacks, instinctively using magic to strengthen the areas she struck.
It didn't take long for her to suddenly reappear in front of him and pound him with her fist. "I don't have time to enjoy things for myself because I have to get lectures! I can't even play with my sister without being criticized or scolded!"
Her fist caught his face, she stabbed her sword to the tree trunk with his shirt, locking him to the tree. She brought her other hand and clenched it in pure anger, the possession already reaching her shoulders. "I can't bond with my parents because they have duties! I can't relax! I can't play! I can't enjoy myself! ALL BECAUSE OF A STUPID ROYAL TASK!"
She continued to send a barrage of punches in his way, all of them landing in several parts of his body. Unbeknownst to her, her hits have become weaker than before that Cid didn't even have to use magic to tank them.
Her tears continuously flowing without stop
"And you! Who even are you to say I'm not worthy?! That I'm a disappointment!? THAT I'M A FAILURE?!" Her assault continued without stopping, before she pulled back her right arm to a whole different kingdom before introducing Cid to it.
The tree exploded, causing it to fall down as Cid went through the tree, landing on his legs, mostly unharmed other than his damaged clothes.
"What else would I conclude from a Princess who's already bawling like a-" A fist improved itself on his cheek, okay, is she not even gonna let him get In a single line?!
Crack!
'Hmm? ' Cid snapped out of his compliance when he heard something break, he ran a quick scan throughout his body and found nothing broken.
Instead he looked at Iris, her possession already at a terrible state, his onyx-orbs landed on her left hand, twisted with a broken bone sticking out.
"Oh, damn." Cid couldn't help but feel a little guilty from her injury, starting to feel bad he tried to lower down his methods of Fallenheronizing her. "Well, at least you've got some redeeming qualiti-'' His mouth ate a boot, leather in quality just as he liked them. Wait no! That's rude as hell!
"Okay, you gotta stop hitting me when I'm... doing my speech.." His words died out, eyes slowly widening.
He was about to complain when he finally got a good look on Iris, when she was launching a relentless assault on him he simply took it, training his efficiency with magic thinking this was just her way of throwing a tantrum, the possession being just an annoyance that could be removed later.
He didn't really take note of much of what she said during her pursuit of him, after all who would listen to a kid bawling and crying..
But then.. He saw her expression. Iris cried with the saddest and painful look he'd had ever seen, he's never seen that look before..
He would just mostly see the usual basic expressions people had, bandits never had a look like this one, considering they were ways donning that classic angry/intimidating kind of bandit look, he tried to remember anything expression or look that reminded him of it... But there was none, he's never seen someone crying so painfully, not out of physical strain or grief, it was just pure sadness and frustration. Frustration that was both directed and not directed at him he realized.
"I never wanted any of this! You think I, the so-called princess of Midgar, wanted any of these?! I just wanted to be with my father and mother! To be with my younger sister! To bond with them! To spend time with them! But instead I'm shackled by these stupid expectations and Royal duty I didn't even ask for!" She sobbed heavily, putting a hand on her chest while looking at Cid. The damp of tears already broke a long while ago.
Cid watched and listened, finally brought out of his fantasies in a rare occurrence as someone cried in pure genuine sadness and frustration in front of him.
" I can't even have a dream of my own because I was already forced to have one! To follow a path that I alone would choose and not something chosen to me by duty..!" Her voice weakened, taking small breaths within gaps of her sobbing.
"A-And yet..!" She sobbed, trying to weep her tears away, she stood there for a few seconds doing nothing but wipe her tears away to no avail. "And yet you're calling me a disappointment, a failure, a weakling.. I don't even know who you are.." Iris bit her teeth to try and lessen her crying, "You're c-criticizing me, s-saying all these things when y-you don't even know what I have to go through."
She opened her tear-filled eyes, looking at Cid with the most pitiful and questioning look ever. Something in his chest clenched.
"Who are you to say that when you don't even know what I have to go through.. Someone like you could probably dream freely...? ' Her voice sounded so fragile and weak.
The gripping guilt feeling grew stronger inside Cid, he knew of these emotions, but he didn't know it, from his previous life and even now he barely felt any other emotion other than determination in pursuit of his goals, so that made him unaware of any other emotions than that.
The closest he can relate to her right now was his frustration when he couldn't get magic before he reincarnated.. And that was just frustration all in all.
But this.. Was different.
Cid would have applauded her for her top-tier acting because even HE could feel the emotions.. But that was it, this wasn't roleplay or acting... This was true genuine emotion from a kid, he realized.
In his pursuit of his goals, he made a point of scrapping anything that didn't align with his goals, forgetting them and disregarding them, anything to achieve his goals of being an Eminence in Shadow. Because of that, unconsciously disregards the people around him too, and even now, he was planning on literally manipulating a 10 Year old girl – If his guess was right. – To be a future menace in the future just so he could have fun.
Oh fuck.
That was pretty fucked up he just realized, messed up as hell too. He was manipulating a 10 year old girl like he would on an adult, forgetting that she was a literal child, not an adult.
And a princess that had a lot of burdens too! Of course she was going to break rather than what he expected her to do.
Her tantrum just now was a broken damp of emotions locked up behind her mental psyche, broken by his idiocy.
He would do a lot of things just to reach his goals, but if it included like this, then that was completely wrong and messed up, and didn't even align with his goal of being an Eminence in Shadow he realized. ²
He wasn't going to be an Eminence if he continued on like this, instead he would just end up like some dickhead lying to others and manipulating them.
While being a manipulator pulling the strings in secret was an eminence in the shadows on its own right, he didn't like that.
And here he goes again, his mind going to somewhere shitheaded instead of doing something about the mess he made in front of him.
' Fuck, I messed up didn't I? '
While his existential crisis was happening, The violet hue of his magic that was in her finger took dominance over Iris for a moment and enveloping her, turning from violet to a new shade of scarlet. The new bright red color of her magic closes back inside her, erasing the possession and curing it on its own. Not only healing her, but also adding up her strength, bringing her level close to the current Cid.
Cid didn't even notice this as he was too busy thinking.
Iris continued to cry heavily, her left arm still twisted with a sharp broken bone sticking out, making it difficult for her to wipe her tears away on her left side.
"Uh, hey.. Shit, I don't know what to do.." Iris opened one of her tired reddened eyes from crying, she looked at Cid who had let go of his sword and was reaching out a hand to her. "I'm.. Really sorry about that, I guess."
Iris flinched back from him, her hands covering most of her face other than her eyes.
' Yep, totally traumatized and hurt, great fucking job dude. We're one hell of a bastard because of this. '
Taking the cautious and careful way, he apologized to her, attempting to calm her down.
"I uh.. Didn't mean any of what I said back there, I was just trying to rile you up.." Well.. Attempted to apologize, he wasn't good with emotions like this.
Iris only backed away, her back hitting a tree before she fell down on her legs, she pulled her knees to her and cried silently.
Cid took a deep breath. "Fuck, I think I'm just making it worse." He muttered.
Not knowing what else to do, he just sat on the opposite side of the tree Iris had her back on.
He stayed there for who knows how long, not moving a single inch as he waited for Iris to stop sobbing, he knew leaving her would do more damage than just letting her be, a companion near her would at least sooth her to an extent.
He was probably there for more than an hour he guessed, his parents and Claire would probably kick his ass by the time he came back... Meh, wasn't really much compared to this, the Princess was his priority right now.
After a few dozen minutes, or probably more than that. Iris had finally calmed down, her left arm falling limp, the broken and twisted arm already healed by Cid a while ago while she was crying.
"Hey.." Iris called out to him, her eyes reddened by her crying.
"Yeah?" Cid answered, leaning his head on the tree.
"You're a liar." She wasn't wrong, he already established that by himself.
"I know."
"You said you didn't mean those things you said... you lied about that didn't you."
"...Yeah." Technically he did since he was manipulating her, trying to piss her off.
"You're a terrible person."
"..I know." His heart clenched in guilt.
"I hate you."
"I know." Why wouldn't she, after what he did.
"You're a bastard." He knows.
"I know."
"This was supposed to be my vacation because my birthday is tomorrow."
"I'm sorry." Huh, well.. He didn't know that.
"You're lying, you're not sorry." ...She wasn't wrong, maybe throwing all other emotions would prove to be a detriment rather than aiding him in achieving his goals.
"..."
"..."
They stayed quiet for a while, watching as leaves fell down from their branches.
"Hey." Iris called out to him again.
"Yeah?"
"..."
"..."
"What's your name?"
Cid's eyes darted to the side, as if looking at her Incredulously.
"Why ask?" He dared try to question, even though he already knew the answer to that.
To jail his ass .
"Because I don't even know who you are, we only met yesterday and you've already brought me this low." That was true, Cid didn't know her name himself since their encounter was so damn short.
"..."
"..Aren't you going to tell me?"
"..No." He still had his dreams to pursue, it would be annoying if he had a kingdom on his ass.
"You're a coward."
"..."
"..."
Finally deciding on an option, he complied, he deserved this one, and if he was going to have an annoyance after him even after becoming an Eminence then.. He'll just accept it, since he deserves it whole and all. He'll just have to make up a new identity if 'Cid Kagenou' was to be executed or something, but he'll definitely make sure his new family won't get involved.
"Cid." He introduced himself.
"Iris." The princess did the same to his surprise, not expecting her to respond so quickly.
"..."
"..."
"Hey.. Cid."
"Yeah?"
"Can you stay here with me for a while..?"
Cid pondered on why she would want him to be around her especially after what he did, but since the girl requested for it..
"Sure.."
They stayed there until afternoon, doing nothing but staying by each other's side.
++--------------------++
Two days had passed, and to his surprise, there were no Guards or Knights ordered by the Royal Family to execute his ass, the only execution he got was Claire beating the shit out of him for being gone for so long.
He remembered that yesterday was Iris's birthday, and was her last day.
He still felt bad about what he did so he was spending his time trying to reorganize his line of plans, something preferably free of repeating what he did with the girl.
There was still that thing with the black-flower and his magic string thingy with Iris, it flew out of his mind when he attempted to calm the girl yesterday, when he came back to the field the flower he made had completely dried out and died, there wasn't even any trace of his magic left including the magic string.
He theorized it had something to do with Iri, considering he felt his magic be absorbed by Iris and unconsciously healed herself while he was having an existential crisis.
He didn't know what to feel about that because like.. Wasn't that robbery? To just steal a good amount of his magic and make it hers was borderline robbery dude, but he wasn't gonna say shit after what he did, so it's probably fair.
Another day passed, and to his surprise again, the Red-headed princess was back at the place they first fought on, specifically on the tree they sat together in too!
Cid appeared behind a tree and walked towards his respective position, opposite to Iris's side on the tree.
If she noticed him, she didn't say anything.
They just both sat there enjoying the view, Cid was about to ask why she wasn't bringing up the things he did when spoke up first.
"I convinced my dad to let me extend my vacation for a whole week." Her voice was still weak to an extent. Her mind flashed back to the small conversation she had with her father.
...
"Extend your vacation for another whole week..?" Klaus questioned, while he loved his daughters and wanted nothing more to let her do so, she still had duties, and his wife would kick his ass if they were gone for too long.
Iris silently nodded.
Klaus pinched the top of his nose. "Iris, my dear, I would have extended it to a whole month.. But you still have lectures and training to-"
"Let me handle my lectures and training.." Iris lowered gaze, cutting him off.
Klaus blinked, not expecting this daughter to speak over him, ever since the day before her birthday, Iris had suddenly changed. Much to his ire and worry he couldn't do anything about it, and was afraid the Cult might have something to do with it.
"Iris.. My dear, did something happen?"
Iris shook her head weakly.
"No father.. I simply found a new friend who would be far helpful to me.." Klaus blinked, before gasping.
A friend?! His daughter.. Finally made a friend-! Wait no, daddy instincts later, he needed to know more.
"And this new friend of yours caused you to be in this state..? Who is he, what's his name? Did he do something to you?! " His voice became a little louder with each word.
Iris simply smiled innocently, with genuine assurance. "Not at all father, I'm just.. Adjusting to having a friend who's a little below my sge.. Who's not only stronger but treats me differently."
She knew talking about Cid could bring attention to him, she had a feeling the boy wouldn't want unnecessary attention so she'll have to fabricate things a bit.
"Stronger? Differently?" There was someone stronger than Iris? And they were nearly the same age..? "What did you mean treat you differently? You're not doing something inappropriate with them aren't you?!"
Iris shook again. "He's incredibly skilled with the sword despite being so young.. And I've already learned a lot from him. So please father, can you extend it?"
Klaus wanted to ask who this boy was judging by the fact she said 'He.' But refused to do so as his daughter gave him the terrifyingly effective puppy eyes.
He didn't last long and Immediately it extended to a whole week.
Alexia stood by the door unknowingly to the both, spying and listening on her sister.
...
"Huh.. Okay, but why?" He was kinda grateful she didn't reveal him though.
"Because of you."
Because of him? Why?
"Why?"
"Just cause.. Also I'm gonna keep finding you every now and then to spar."
What.
"..Why??"
"Because you did this, you're making me feel this way I can't understand." Iris answered.
"Bro, what does that have to do with me-"
"So I'm gonna keep visiting you every now and then, spar with you and hang out with you.. We're friends now, resistance is futile." Iris smiled on her side.
"Bro what?!"
' Didn't I literally just traumatize and hurt her yesterday? The fuck is going on, I'm confused now.'
"Take responsibility."
"Take RESPONSIBILITY FOR WHAT!" Cid screamed in confusion on his side of the tree, Iris giggled weakly.
The reality check that Cid gave him forced her to mature mentally, she was still terribly hurt by his words from yesterday..
But she was also grateful for them, because of that she realized she wasn't perfect, she still had room to grow, grow as a person that is with an idiot who didn't even give one shit about insulting and humiliating her.
Was it confusing to understand? Yes it was, but she was glad nonetheless.
At least she made a new friend whom she could finally be herself, Iris. Not Iris Midgar The Princess.
Though, there was this weird feeling in her chest she couldn't understand, but she felt like she would understand it more if she spent time with her new Friend.
A feeling that she didn't mind, not one of hatred, being forced to meet an expectation or anything.
It was a feeling that was blissful.
She hoped to know more about it as she spent time with her new friend.
May this little Red Flower grow more than what she is in the future.