Hours had passed since the conversation about how Eunbin's parents were alive and well. It was now nighttime, and even though the stars were barely visible in the polluted air of NQSC, they were still beautiful to look at.
Jessandra leaned forward with an eager expression, her dark eyes reflecting in the moonlight as they all sat close to each other in chairs in their backyard while a bonfire quietly burned in front of them.
"Tell me, Eunbin, how did you two meet?"
Eunbin smiled at her mother's question and leaned back in her chair, a distant yet happy expression on her beautiful face.
"We met at his emporium, specifically the cafe part of the emporium. I wanted to commission a memory, and we began discussing the details. Then, as soon as I know, one of his assistants comes out of the kitchen and tells him she is going to sleep. It was only then that we realized we had talked all day."
Jessandra cooed at the answer.
"That's adorable, a meet-cute at a cafe, it's straight out of a romance novel!"
Eunbin gave her a look.
"Mother!"
Kain joined in and laughed while wiggling his eyebrows.
"Alright, alright, we should get to bed anyway, you two have fun, oh, and Sunless, make sure you wear-"
Eunbin interrupted him with a shout.
"Father!"
The older man laughed at his daughter's embarrassment and went into the house.
If it were in the past, then Sunny would have been embarrassed, but he spent so much time around Effie that her parents' teasing didn't affect him.
Sunny stared in amusement and brought the plastic cup to his lips, took a sip of wine, then put it down with a smile.
"So how does it feel to have your parents back?"
His friend let out a sigh at his question and looked away, smiling, partially because of embarrassment.
"It still doesn't feel real, it's like I'm in a dream and I'll wake up any moment. I can't believe they're back.
Eunbin met his gaze, and her smile softened.
"But if it is a dream, then I hope I don't wake up, I'm really glad to be here.
'Huh? Hey Gloomy, why did she look at me when she said that last part?'
His shadow silently shook in rage before letting out a mute sigh and shaking his head in disappointment as if he was saying.
'You idiot, you can figure out ancient runes from a dead language with absolutely no problems, but you're as intelligent as a rock when it comes to women. How can you be so smart yet so stupid?'
Sunny ignored his shadow and answered Eunbin with a smile of his own.
"Well, if you want to wake up, I have a companion for that."
Apparently, he said the wrong thing because Eunbin's expression slightly twisted as she looked at the fire again.
She asked in a perfectly even tone, looking at him again with a neutral expression.
"Hmm, do you now? Is your companion the 'Divine Being' you mentioned earlier today? Was she a princess who had problems expressing her feelings in general?"
Princess? Did…did Eunbin think he was talking about Nephis?!
[Wait… wait! Is she jealous?!]
Cassie answered, her tone full of amusement,
[You're a bit late on the uptake, Sunny,]
[Shut the hell up!]
Sunny asked in an even tone and sipped his wine in an attempt to hold back his laughter.
"Yes, I do, no it isn't, and no she didn't, Eunbin, I have to ask, are you jealous?"
The Enchantress, meanwhile, choked on her wine and nearly spat it out, and shot him a dirty look.
"Of course not, I'm only making an observation based on what you've told me so far, that's all. As a princess, being jealous is childish and completely beneath me.
Eunbin quickly changed subjects with a totally not rushed tone.
Anyway, speaking of Princesses,"
Sunny propped his hand under his chin on the armrest of the lawn chair and smiled at her.
"Oh?"
Eunbin rolled her eyes.
"Don't look at me like that,"
Sunny's smile widened,
"Like what?"
Eunbin curled her lips into a pout at his question,
"You know what,"
Sunny shook his head and chuckled.
"Anyway, I'm more curious about why you brought it up in the first place, hm?"
His smile turned mischievous as he knew he hit the nail on the head.
He watched in amusement as Eunbin froze in place, opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again, before she composed herself and cleared her throat.
Eunbin replied in a nonchalant tone and shrugged, making the wine slosh around in the cup.
"Ah, well, the thought just happened to cross my mind, that's all, nothing more to it,"
Sunny stared at her for a long time before nodding, looking completely unconvinced.
"Uh-huh, anyway, what were you going to say about princesses?"
"Remember how I told you how Morgan was friends with my sisters and me as children?"
Sunny nodded,
"Yeah, I remember,"
Eunbin looked at the fire with a wistful expression.
"Well, during that time, I stayed in Bastion for a while and had a wonderful time there; it just reminds me of how much has changed since then."
That was news to Sunny,
He nodded numbly,
"Yeah, it has."
Eunbin bumped her shoulder into his with a smile, but didn't move away, and Sunny didn't bother to either.
"Well, I guess it's not all that bad considering I met you,"
"You guess? What do you mean, you guess? Am I really that bad to be around?"
"No, but I can't speak for other people, specifically Nightingale, you make that poor man suffer endlessly with your ridiculous yet somehow always true stories. He can never have a moment of peace around you."
Sunny gave her a lopsided smile,
"It's a requirement that I torment Kai every time I meet him; the people demand it."
Before Eunbin could ask what he meant, Sunny quickly changed subjects.
"Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I was put to sleep by a horse and fought it to the death through countless nightmares before the dreams shattered and I met the horse in real life, then kicked him out a window and broke his spine?"
Eunbin didn't answer for a while as she gave him a long, unamused stare, then slowly shook her head as she let out a long sigh.
"No, you didn't. And don't think you're going to get out of what you previously said,"
Sunny completely ignored her statement and asked.
"Do you want to?"
Eunbin's lips twisted into a smile.
"Of course I do,"
***
Mordret stared in the mirror, looking at his reflection with a blank expression. He had been listening to everything from the moment Song Eunbin opened the door and found out her birth parents were there, to when they talked about the years they spent in Mirage City.
He lost interest when they moved outside into the cool night and began making a fire.
The most crucial piece of information to him was that the last remaining fragment over the past fifteen years had helped Jessandra and Kain escape from that place, and then he chose to stay there.
It was the only sensible thing the imbecile had ever done in his life.
Unfortunately, he could not see their faces as they had no reflections in their home aside from the small mirror, and he had just gotten back from a scouting mission for Ki Song.
So, he had to listen to their conversation from a reflection outside.
The entire conversation did not sit well with Mordret. With the information Sunless had just been given and his intelligence, it was only a matter of time before the young man figured out his flaw.
But it was fine so long as Mordret didn't lose his edge and give away anything; if push came to shove, then he could always hide the remaining fragment in the mirror realm.
Suddenly, a husky voice spoke from behind him, and the reflection of a beautiful woman with exotic gray skin came into view, close to his back. Seishan wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her chin on his shoulder.
"Something is troubling you,"
Mordret blinked a few times, then smiled,
"I haven't exactly bothered to hide it, Seishan,"
Despite his claiming to be obsessed with his goal to kill his father, to do anything else, let alone have a relationship, he had allowed Seishan to worm her way into him.
What started as a few flings developed into something that Mordret didn't think would be possible for a creature like him.
How could a woman like this care for him while his own father couldn't?
Why did that wretch he called a father give him away to that foul creature anyway?
He had tried to understand his father's thought process for the past twenty years, until he reached one conclusion.
His father didn't care about Mordret in the first place, or anything for that matter.
He didn't care about his sister, Morgan, who Mordret would eventually kill.
He didn't care about his own wife, aka Mordret's and Morgan's mother. Someone whom Mordret barely got to know as a child before she died after giving birth to his sister.
The man didn't even shed a tear.
His father didn't even care about that old fool, Jest.
Mordret suppressed a scoff.
'And people had the nerve to call me emotionless.'
But none of that mattered to Mordret anymore; he would have his revenge, and he didn't care who he killed to be able to achieve his goal.
Well…maybe he would care if he could feel remorse and sadness, but he couldn't, not anymore.
If he didn't achieve his goal, then all of the citizens in Clan Valor would become Mordret as compensation for his failure.
But to kill his father and eventually the abomination as well, he would need to become a supreme being naturally, and Mordret had thought of countless ways, yet he doubted any of them would work.
His first and most often thought of way of going about it was to force his remaining fragment to kill Mordret to become completely whole again.
Mordret glanced at Seishan, who had moved away from him and to his bed, where she sat at the edge, looking at him curiously as she allowed him to think.
Mordret allowed a small smile to grace his lips, then walked over and sat down beside her. Once he was there, Seishan immediately leaned her head on his shoulder.
Mordret put his head on hers, then wrapped his arm around her waist and resumed his thoughts.
Still, despite thinking about it often, Mordret always found himself discarding this idea, as he had constantly poked holes in it. He didn't know what would become of him if he became a flawless being. Holes like:
Would he grow stronger, or would he just stay the same?
How would he act towards Sunless?
Would they become friends?
Would Mordret still be hell-bent on getting his revenge on his father, or would he forgive him and thoroughly look past it?
Would all the things Mordret had done come back full force and make him cry for the first time in over twenty years if he could feel remorse again?
There were too many unknowns to take such a risk.
Mordret glanced outside and repressed a sigh.
It was only a month until the full moon, and then they would go to the mirror maze and hopefully find whatever Sunless and the blind witch had spent the past months looking for.
Suddenly, Seishan's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
"You want to say what's on your mind?"
Mordret pleasantly smiled as he lied through his teeth.
"Hm? Oh, nothing much, I just think things are going to be exciting soon, my dear Seishan.
Seishan smiled at his words and lifted her head to look at him as she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, things are going to be exciting soon. You're sure you want to go ice skating as a date?"
Mordret's smile wavered as he nodded.
He despised skating.
"Of course,"
They still had another year and a half, perhaps two years of peace before the war on Godgrave started.
Still, who said Mordret couldn't have a little fun while plotting the murder of his own father, sister, and possibly his former Clan?
The next chapter will be out this week :)