The next day Sunless was back at the academy and it turns out if the 2nd in the ranking suddenly being gone for the weekend is kind of a big thing, and now even more ridiculous rumors spread about him…
Some were saying he was a government spy, others that he was an experiment of the perfect Awakened cyborg (that's just Sci-fi) and even some saying he was a nightmare creature!
'I mean, how? It's not like I have anything inherently different than anyone else!'
He stopped and thought a little.
'Okay, I may have two soul cores but still!'
As he was lost in his thoughts while walking through the corridor, he ended up bumping into someone.
"Damn, sorry!"
"It's okay, I didn't see you either."
"..."
"..."
"Caster?"
"Sunless?"
He was already up? I punched him so hard it cracked the floor. How resilient are you? Sure there was still an injury on his face but it's healing pretty fast.
"Oh… I didn't know you were back."
His voice showed genuine surprise.
"I just got back."
It was awkward, Sunny was speaking to what was technically his enemy that he knocked out three days ago.
"So… What do you want me to do?"
Caster asked. But Sunny got confused.
"What?"
"I owe you a favour, for fighting me, remember?"
'Oh… Right.'
With everything that had happened, he had forgotten about the favour. But still, if there's anything Sunless could give Caster, is that he seemed like a man of his word.
"It's probably not gonna happen… But if we end up in the same zone in the Dream Realm, could you… Have my back, like, help each other?"
Caster looked surprised, like he was a crazy person.
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, I am from Song and you are from Valor, I just don't want that to impede us in the Dream Realm."
If he is going to drop at a Death Zone, Sunless did not want to deal with domain drama while fighting for his life.
Caster gave a look of comprehension.
"Oh, sure, I can do that, honestly I didn't even consider it, I guess I was just too focused on other things.."
Sunless chuckled.
"Yeah… That happens… Well, no hard feelings for me beating you right?"
Caster smiled and said in a sarcastic voice.
"Absolutely not, if I am going to beat you I have to keep the grudge."
Both chuckled at the interaction.
"Well, I have to go now, see you around, mysterious legacy."
"Back at you great scion."
Both went their separate ways.
'Maybe it's not so hard to make friends.'
Cassie, Caster… Maybe even Nephis…
Could he make a cohort like this?
"..."
If he could convince Caster to not kill Nephis that is…
But as he was thinking, someone else talked to him.
"So you talked to Caster?"
Seriously, again?
It was Nephis.
"Yes I did, what is the problem?"
She stared at Sunless with an unreadable expression.
"You know what the problem is."
He sighed, of course… The problem is that Caster's mission is to kill Nephis.
"Is this what you wanted to talk about? If that is also my mission?"
"Yes."
She answered in a monotone voice.
"Then no, I don't have a mission to kill you. If anything, I disagree with the whole idea of what happened to you and your Clan."
Nephis expression changed subtly.
"What do you mean?"
The boy sight his flaw made him answer
"I mean that something is wrong with the whole story… I just don't know what…"
She stared at him thoroughly.
"Then you better figure it out. For both of our sakes."
She got out of the corridor, leaving Sunless alone.
'Both our sakes. Huh…'
—
The weeks went by normally, he kept talking to Cassie every day for breakfast and lunch, sometimes even with Caster. Once in a while, they had a spar to train their abilities, none using their aspects, Sunny won all of the time.
Nephis… She kept her distance, but still talked to him. Of course, in monotone, short conversations but whatever.
It was his last day here, tomorrow he was going to the Dream Realm. But he had to do one last thing before going there.
Entering the mess hall, he went to Cassie to say his goodbyes.
"Hey Cass…"
"Hey Sunny… You are going right?"
He had already told people, but he still wanted to say goodbye.
"Yeah… I hope we see each other."
Her face got dark.
"I very much doubt that…"
She was still like that… And who could blame her? Her damn flaw made it almost impossible to fight.
He reached out and touched her shoulder.
"You are stronger than you think, don't give up."
She smiled.
"Thank you Sunny…"
"No problem… See you Cassie."
As he turned to get out, Caster appeared, smirking.
"You better not die, bastard, I still need to beat you."
"Then don't fall behind, arrogant scion."
A smirk appeared on Sunny's face too.
As he was about to leave, Nephis was waiting. She didn't say anything.
"See you around Nephis…"
He stopped and completed.
"I'm sorry, for your father."
With that, he got out of the building, but he could still hear her response.
"Don't apologize for something you didn't do."
—
It was really dark in the PTV, Sunless was in the back seat, nervously shifting, not being able to stand still.
"Seriously, you faced Awakened Monsters, Demons and even a Tyrant and now you are nervous?"
"Not helping Rev!"
Revel was beside him, for that reason the windows did not let any light through, but that didn't matter for them, the siblings could see in the dark and the driver, Marcus, had a memory that allowed him to see through the windows, so it was barely an inconvenience.
"Why are you here anyway? It will really hurt you coming with me. You do know you have to go outside right?"
"Yeah, yeah, everyone wanted to come, but I am way more composed than the others, besides, it's not like I will die."
That was a lie, Bin was more emotionally composed than Revel, still, Sunny knew that Revel wanted to talk with Rain's adoptive parents ever since she discovered that they left Sunless and took Rain…
She needed to.
Soon enough, they were there.
"Ok… Here we go."
He got out of the PTV, he was wearing formal attire, all black of course. Maybe Rain would believe him if he looked presentable.
Walking to the house, he could not help but admire the simple, but great house. Sometimes the simpler things were better than the grand.
He stood in front of the door, trying to create courage.
Then he knocked on the door.