"I'm fine," Helios says, taking deep breaths to steady himself.
"Are you sure about that?" Sara asks, her tone laced with concern as she looks him over.
"You two have gotten a lot closer lately," Ray comments, his eyes darting to their hands, which are tightly clasped together.
Sara immediately lets go of Helios's hand, her cheeks flushing slightly, while Helios glares sharply at Ray.
"Don't mind me. I'm just saying what I see," Ray says, raising his hands in defense. "But seriously, it's good to have you back," he adds with a genuine smile, looking at Helios.
Helios smiles back, the tension easing slightly.
"Now I don't have to do your paperwork anymore," Ray continues, his voice shifting to a cheerful tone as he looks between Sara and Helios.
"The only reason this guy missed me is because he didn't want to do the work," Helios thinks, the smile fading from his face.
"Human... I can finally talk to you," a voice echoes inside Helios's mind.
"You've been missing for a long time," Helios thinks back.
"That is not important. The important thing is that your ability, 'Nightmare Creature Summon,' has evolved. Come to my realm. Bye," Circlet says, his voice slowly fading away.
"Wait, we haven't finished talking yet!" Helios tries to say mentally, but there is no reply from the artefact.
"Leader? Why do you look like you're daydreaming?" Seer asks, tilting her head as she looks at him.
"Nothing. I was just talking to my artefact," Helios says with a sigh.
"I forgot you can do that... Can I research how artefacts are able to communicate?" Ray asks, leaning forward and looking intensely at Helios.
"No," Helios answers flatly.
"Well... unless you agree to do my paperwork," Helios adds after a moment.
"Yeah, no. Whoever is writing these reports needs to be fired," Ray says, looking away with a look of disgust. "They ramble on about the most useless things, and then when you finally get to the bottom line to find out what's actually happening, you discover one of the secret rooms has exploded!" Ray complains, his voice rising in frustration.
"We have secret rooms?" Helios asks, looking interested.
"Of course we have secret rooms. Where do you think some of those floating doors lead to?" Rio says, floating lazily nearby. "And before you ask... those secret rooms are where we keep the Clone Artefacts," Ray clarifies.
"We can clone artefacts?" Helios asks, sounding confused.
Suddenly, someone knocks on the door.
"Come in," Helios calls out, looking toward the entrance as Nova walks in.
"It's been a long time, Leader, hasn't it?" Nova says, his black eyes staring at Helios from beneath his fox mask.
"Can you guys give me and Nova a moment alone?" Helios asks.
Everyone except Nova leaves the room and closes the door behind them.
"So, what do you want to ask? It can't be that important that you had to send everyone away," Nova says casually.
"You know exactly what I want to say... 001," Helios says, his voice turning ice-cold as he stands up from his chair.
"What are you talking about?" Nova asks, tilting his head as Helios begins walking toward him.
"You are a member of P.O.C., and you never bothered to tell me," Helios says, stopping right in front of him and adjusting one of his gloves.
"P.O.C.? Never heard of the organisation before," Nova says, trying to keep his voice cheerful and innocent.
Helios suddenly raises his hand and slaps him hard across the face. Nova's fox mask tilts slightly from the force of the blow.
"What do you think they are talking about in there?" Riku asks from outside the door, sounding interested.
"None of your business," Seer whispers, pressing her ear against the door.
"What do you mean none of my business? You're the one leaning on the door trying to listen!" Riku snaps at her in a low voice.
Sara remains quiet, standing apart from them, looking worried.
"Are you going to talk now?" Helios asks, looking down at Nova.
"It seems like the training you got from those three really helped you improve," Nova says, his voice calm despite the situation.
"So you admit you are a member of P.O.C.?" Helios presses.
"A former member of P.O.C.," Nova corrects him.
Outside the walls of the Blackthorn organisation, thunder rumbles loudly, and it begins to pour with rain.
"Why did you join P.O.C. in the first place?" Helios asks, his tone still cold as he puts his glove back into place.
"Well... it's a long story, and it started when Sara was born. My mother died giving birth to her," Nova says, taking a deep breath. "My father started to hate us after that day. Ever since, no matter how many times Sara tried to get his attention or his love, I was the only one she had," Nova continues, his voice softening.
"Until that day... when my father came home from work. He was depressed and thought his life was useless. He took a gun and shot himself. Sara saw it all when she came running to give him a birthday gift," Nova says, his voice trembling slightly.
"As his body was falling, he knocked over an oil lamp. The house caught fire. When I tried to save Sara..." Nova stops talking and reaches up, removing his artefact mask to reveal his face. A large burn mark, mostly healed but still visible, stretched across his skin, and the corner of his mouth was bleeding slightly from Helios's slap.
"Why don't you heal the mark? You are a Seeker, aren't you?" Helios asks, his voice becoming calmer.
"Because I look just like my father. And I don't want to remind her of that man every time she looks at me," Nova says, a look of deep sadness crossing his face.
"That still doesn't answer my question," Helios says, trying to keep his voice stern, though a hint of emotion slips through.
"I joined P.O.C. because the Royal Family was looking for new recruits, and they always chose children without families. It was the only chance I had of getting resources to give Sara a normal life. But in the process... I forgot that she didn't care about that. She only cared that she had no one but me," Nova explains, putting his mask back on to hide his face.
"One last question," Helios says, letting out a long sigh.
"I feel bad now. If it was someone I didn't know, it would have been fine... but these guys are almost like a second family to me," Helios thinks to himself.
"Do you know where the King took Luna?" Helios asks.
"No. He only told me where to find Sara. He never told me anything about your sister," Nova answers honestly.
"You can go. Tell the others they can go home early," Helios says, signalling for Nova to leave.
Nova opens the door and steps out into the hallway.
"What did you and the Leader talk about in there?" Riku asks immediately, stepping forward.
"Nothing important," Nova says, his voice instantly becoming cheerful and relaxed again as if nothing happened. "The Leader also said we can all go home early today."
"Sounds like the Leader is in a good mood," Rio says, floating in the air on his artefact pillow. "I can finally get some more sleep," he adds, floating away.
"Are we sure that guy won't get brain damage from sleeping too much?" Seer asks, pointing at Rio's floating figure.
"I don't think you can get brain damage from sleeping," Ray says, walking away with his hands in the pockets of his white lab coat.
"Aren't you leaving, Sara?" Seer asks, looking at Sara, who was still standing near the office door.
"Maybe later," Sara says, forcing a smile as she opens the door to Helios's office and walks inside.
"What did he tell you?" Sara asks Helios as thunder rumbles again outside.
"It's raining so hard..." Rio comments as he floats out through the portal leading back to the main base.
"Prince Nefertari, the King said you should return to Solariis before the war officially starts," a voice says to Rio from the shadows.
"Tell him to go kill himself," Rio says, his voice suddenly sounding filled with anger.
"As you wish, my Prince," the voice replies before the figure vanishes into thin air.