Kaiden reached along his Dungeon-Master bond for confirmation, and the signature resolved warm and familiar. The dungeon only registered that signal for those he had claid as his. A blonde, quietly capable household figure who had absolutely no business being within a hundred kiloters of this place right now.
’No...’
...
The Skyfiends carried them across the cavern in under a minute. The evolved forms were another thing entirely from the dog-sized hunters they had used for traversal, broad-winged and horse-backed, the ridge along their spines built to seat a rider without complaint. Kaiden slid down from his mount’s shoulder the mont its talons hit the Safe Zone’s stone.
Alexandra was making her way up the incline toward the Abyssal Cavern pathway, and she was making it work on pure stubbornness and leg power.
Two canvas duffels slung from her shoulders, the straps digging into her thin maid uniform. A third bag clutched under her right arm. A fourth one hooked over her left elbow. A woven basket balanced against her hip, covered with a cloth. Two more bags at her feet behind her, recently dropped for a breather, their contents suspicious enough to imply pots, ladles, and actual kitchen tools.
Her hair had co loose from its usual neat state, while her cheeks were flushed from exertion.
"Alex!"
Alice broke away from the group before anyone else had registered the scene, her dark halo form dissolving into her normal shape as her boots hit the ground.
"Let help!"
"Alice..." Alexandra exhaled, relief washing across her whole face. "Thank you."
Alice was already yanking one of the duffels off her shoulder. Kaiden closed the rest of the distance at a walk, lifted the basket from her hip and the bag from under her arm in a single smooth motion, then shouldered the straps of a third bag she hadn’t even managed to drop.
Alexandra let out a long, audible sigh. Her shoulders dropped half an inch. She pressed a hand to her lower back and gave both of them a small, embarrassed smile.
"Thank you guys."
"Alex, why are you here?"
Alexandra blinked up at him.
Then, with open bewildernt:
"Why... am I here?"
Her brow furrowed.
"This is my ho too... Kai, you told so yourself. That I was part of the household."
Her blue eyes widened.
"...Have you decided otherwise?"
The tears started in the next breath, her expression opening into a raw panic.
"...Am I a bother?"
Kaiden’s silence lasted half a second.
"No, of course not... But this place is about to be attacked by a monster the world has never seen before. Within a few hours, this will be the most dangerous place on the continent. That’s why I’m asking."
Alexandra looked up at him.
The tears didn’t leave her eyes. But a quiet steel arrived with them.
"I know all that, of course. I might not be a genius, but even I understand that much."
She said it quietly. Then again, firr.
"That’s why I’m here. My friends are going to fight for their lives and their freedom. They’re going to need all the support they can get. Who knows how long this will last? A day, a week, maybe months..."
She straightened her spine and both hands found her hips. The caretaker-who-does-not-negotiate energy clicked into place across her entire posture.
"Who will cook your als?"
Kaiden blinked.
"Who will wash your laundry? Who will make sure you all co back to a ho instead of a tomb full of dust and blood?" Her chin lifted with genuine offense at the very idea. "The abyssal creatures?"
Alice’s grip had gone still on the duffel.
"No," Alexandra answered her own question, and there was pride in it, territorial and quiet. "It will be ."
Kaiden stared at her.
"Alex, this is an extraordinary situation. We can do without warm als for a bit."
Alice straightened beside them, a flicker of stubbornness crossing her eyes.
"Yeah! You taught how to cook. I can do it! I’ve gotten really good!"
Alexandra’s head turned sharply toward Alice and her expression was that of utmost seriousness.
"No. Absolutely not."
"But-"
"You’re going to be fighting too, Alice. You’re going to be just as tired as the rest. More, even." Alexandra’s hand ca up and smoothed a loose strand of hair behind Alice’s ear with absent-minded fondness. "If I know one thing about you, it’s that you will go above and beyond to protect your loved ones."
Alice’s mouth had opened.
It stayed open.
Then closed.
Her pout arrived a second later, full and unmistakable.
"...Hmph."
Aria had been watching the whole exchange with her gaze steady, and when Alice’s hmph settled into the silence, she finally joined in.
"Kai."
Her voice was soft, but there was an edge of affectionate correction under it.
"Alexandra is an adult woman who is capable of making her own decisions about her own life. You accepted my choice to risk my life for our shared goals. You accepted Luna’s, Calypso’s, Bastet’s, and Nyx’s. Why should Alexa be treated differently?"
"Especially," Bastet added, joining the conversation with a soft purr, her tail giving one slow, elegant sweep across the stone floor as she did, "because she is not rely ’an adult woman.’"
Her chin lifted with regal authority.
"She is the maid of Valhalla’s Sinners. The one and only. She alone manages the needs of a household this size and this quirky, which if anyone cares to rember includes five won with combat appetites and, I must reluctantly admit, high maintenance requirents, one S-tier teenage girl who is just as problematic to take care of if not more, and one man who..."
Her lips trembled as she tried to find the right words before her eyes narrowed and her tail swished, "Well, you don’t need too much. But that doesn’t change that if not for our amazing maid’s talent and her effort, we would require three full-ti attendants to do what she alone accomplishes daily."
"And it’s more than just caretaking she brings!" Alice joined in. "She’s our friend, not servant. Her presence makes happier!"
Alexandra’s flush went pink as she listened to her friends sing her praises and nodded along with absolute conviction.
"...That’s correct."
Kaiden looked at her dryly then pinched the bridge of his nose.
He looked down at Alice.
Alice had gone from concerned to hopeful in the span of about three seconds. Her hands were gripping the duffel strap with both fists now. Her eyes were enormous.
"Big brother. I want her to stay!"
"Alice-"
"We’ll just kill every single monster that cos into the dungeon and make sure she is protected at all tis!"
Kaiden stared down at his little sister’s face.
Then he looked at Alexandra.
The maid who had, over the course of the last few months, quietly carved a spot in his heart as surely as she’d carved one out in the hearts of every woman standing around him. Further proof of it was in Aria - the Yandere Princess herself, just now standing up for the idea of a pretty blonde maid sharing their ho through a siege instead of hissing her away from the entrance.
Together with Alice, Alexandra was looking up at him with big, begging puppy eyes. Her lower lip was very softly caught between her teeth. Her flush was still high on her cheeks.
It was a devastating look.
Kaiden exhaled.
"...Fine."
Alexandra broke into the brightest grin Kaiden had seen from her in months.
"Yes!" Alice squealed, dropped her duffel to the stone, and launched herself at Alexandra in a hug that nearly knocked the maid off her feet. Alexandra caught her and laughed into her hair, and the two of them held on to each other for a long mont, Alice’s arms wrapped tight around Alexandra’s waist, Alexandra’s cheek pressed to the top of Alice’s head.
"It would have been so weird if I had to spend this whole thing alone!" Alice declared into her shoulder. "Stupid big brother goes off to bed all his won every night, and I would’ve been stuck hanging out with Scarlet and Mom the entire evening. The HORROR!!! Now I get to hang out with Alex instead!"
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