Kaiden lowered the artifact and placed it back into Vespera’s waiting hand. She accepted it with the sa composure she’d given it, slipping it back into her coat as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
Only then did Kaiden look down again, tightening his hold on Alice, grounding her without a word, while the corridor beyond remained undisturbed. Paths diverted, futures delayed, and one fragile girl spared a collision she wasn’t ready to survive yet.
That was when Julia parted her lips.
She had been watching in silence with her hands clasped together at her waist, eyes drifting between Kaiden, Vespera, and the girl curled so tightly against him. There was hesitation on her face, the kind born from not knowing whether it was her place to speak at all. But in the end, concern won out.
"U-um..." she began softly. Her gaze settled on the girl in Kaiden’s arms. "...are you Alice? What... what happened?"
Kaiden felt it the mont the question landed. The confusion in Julia’s eyes wasn’t judgntal, just genuinely lost. He glanced down at Alice, still tucked against him, and a small, fond smile curved his lips as understanding clicked into place.
She had stayed with him since the transformation, the mont their bond had crystallized into sothing irrevocable, when Alice beca his Conduit. Julia hadn’t seen the girl since.
Her once dark hair was now split cleanly down the middle, one side retaining its forr shade while the other had turned a brilliant, luminous white. The sa duality marked her eyes; one red as ever, the other pale and radiant. It wasn’t subtle. It wasn’t sothing makeup or lighting could explain away. She looked like sothing out of myth, srizing in a way no costu, no convention spectacle, could ever hope to imitate.
Even if she were to walk into an ani convention with nurous cosplayers, she’d still stand out.
Julia’s confusion was more than justified.
Kaiden smiled gently at her. "She transford a bit," he said easily while stroking Alice’s back. "But she’s still Alice. She’s okay. There’s no need to worry."
Julia blinked, then let out a small, disbelieving breath as she shook her head. "You awakened people really live in a completely different world... That big of a change and you’re saying there’s nothing to worry about?"
Kaiden chuckled under his breath. "You might be onto sothing there."
The mont lingered, soft and warm, until it broke under the weight of a cold tone.
"There is sothing to worry about."
Vespera’s voice cut cleanly through the room.
She was looking directly at Alice, gaze sharp and assessing. Her expression hadn’t changed, but the temperature in the air undeniably had.
"Daughter, why don’t you climb out of your brother’s lap?"
The words were calm. Polite, even.
But they carried authority like a blade.
Alice stiffened the instant the words left Vespera’s mouth.
"No!" she hissed at once, the response sharp and unfiltered. She tightened her grip around Kaiden instead of loosening it, arms locking around his middle as she pressed herself closer. "No. This is my rightful place. I deserve to be comforted. I need to be comforted."
Silence answered her.
Vespera did not repeat herself. She did not raise her voice. She did not even move. But sothing rolled outward from her all the sa, an invisible pressure that made the air feel heavier, denser, like the space itself had decided to pay attention. Alice felt it imdiately, the familiar, overwhelming presence of her mother settling over the room without a single overt gesture.
"..." Vespera said nothing at all.
"I refuse!" Alice declared anyway, louder now, defiant in the face of that wordless authority. She burrowed even closer into Kaiden’s chest, cheek pressed firmly against him as if bolstering her resistance by sheer will. "I’m not moving!"
Vespera’s gaze sharpened even further.
"And I might not even be biologically related to Kai now, so stop judging !" Alice blurted out, the words tumbling over each other in a rush of raw emotion and poorly tid honesty. "I asked for a DNA test already, but it’s taking forever. But you can prepare to disown , too!"
For the first ti since Kaiden entered the room, Vespera closed her eyes.
It was brief. The smallest pause imaginable. But it was unmistakably the expression of a woman processing sothing she absolutely didn’t want to hear.
"?!" Julia let out a sharp, involuntary gasp with one hand flying to her mouth as her eyes widened. She looked between Alice, Vespera, and Kaiden with mounting disbelief, her thoughts screaming that she had sohow wandered into a sitcom without being warned. ’Is this reality?’ was written plainly across her face.
Kaiden, for his part, bit the inside of his cheek. Hard. His shoulders trembled once, just enough to give him away, as he tightened his hold on Alice in what could plausibly be interpreted as comfort rather than the act of restraining laughter.
At least, until Vespera rose from her seat.
The movent was unhurried, deliberate, and final in the way only she could manage.
The room seed to straighten around her as she stood, authority settling into place as naturally as breath.
"I have heard enough," she decreed coolly.
Alice opened her mouth to protest... and vanished.
Literally.
There was a startled yelp, sharp and indignant, as her body dissolved into shadow and light in the span of a heartbeat. The weight in Kaiden’s lap disappeared, replaced by a sudden, very familiar presence hovering just above his head.
A dark halo snapped into existence.
It spun once, wobbled, then steadied itself like a crown that had decided it belonged there.
"Cruel mother!" Alice’s voice rang out from above him, echoing with conduit resonance. The halo flared, pulsing angrily as it bobbed in place.
It was Kaiden’s turn to close his eyes for a mont. This girl was too much.
Julia stared.
The halo tilted sharply toward Vespera, glowing brighter with every word. "You are SUCH a control freak! Stay in your lane! I was being comforted! There’s nothing wrong about a little sister enjoying her big brother’s comforting!"
Vespera’s eyes darkened.
Without hesitation, she reached out.
"Wait!" Alice yelped. "You can’t touch like this! I’m in conduit form!"
"Is that so?"
Vespera’s hand closed around the halo.
Firmly.
"Ow! H-hey! That hurts!" The halo flickered violently, light sputtering as Alice’s voice jumped an octave. "Big brother! Save from this sadist!"
Kaiden slowly turned his head to look at Julia.
Julia looked back at him.
Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. Her soul visibly left her body for a mont as she took in the sight of one of the most feared won in the whole world gripping a glowing, yelling halo out of midair like an unruly object.
"...Is this," Julia whispered faintly, "still normal for you awakened?"
Kaiden gave her a small, helpless smile. The kind people wore when reality had long since stopped asking for consent. "Not really. Sorry about that."
"This woman-" Alice wailed.
"This woman?" Vespera repeated flatly.
Her grip tightened.
The halo scread.
Light collapsed inward with a pop, shadows folding like fabric, and Alice reappeared mid-yelp, feet hitting the floor just long enough for Vespera to seize her by the collar with one iron grip.
"Ow! P-put down!"
Vespera did not put her down.
She turned, already dragging Alice toward the exit with the unstoppable montum of a mother who had reached the end of her patience. Alice flailed, hands grabbing uselessly at the air, heels skidding against the floor.
"Unfair! Tyrant! Emotional suppression is NOT parenting!" Alice protested as she was hauled away. "You can kill a million monsters, but you can’t suppress !"
Vespera did not respond.
"Mother," Kaiden called out after watching them leave for a few seconds. "Wait."
Vespera stopped without turning.
"I have a question."
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