Arriving in front of the door, they all stopped.

The sisters were waiting outside the room as they didn't know what to say to her.

"Since we can't all go in there, I want Amelia and Karteira with me. Florian, I'll speak with you once we know more about her mental state."

"Sure. I don't know how to deal with children like her, so I'll leave it in your hands."

Orion sarcastically smiled at him.

'I don't know how to deal with it either. Don't hope for much.'

His thinking was simple. He would enter, ask a few question, then leave. Amelia and Karteira would then act as motherly figures, and help the girl in lightening her burden.

"Dramia, Drania."

They stared into his eyes.

"Relax."

Drania smiled, while Dramia looked away.

"May, you can either rest downstairs, or return to your own house to rest."

"Sure, thanks."

She nodded, before walking downstairs alone.

With that said, he opened the door of the room the girl was resting in.

He held the door for the girls to walk in, and closed it behind him.

The first thing he saw was the girl sitting her back on the bed's head, while eating the soup that had cooled down by now.

She looked at them one by one, before returning to her soup.

'Her eyes...'

Orion, Amelia, and even Karteira noticed how dark her eyes were.

'That gaze, I don't never seen one like this before. Is that the one of someone who lost their emotions?'

He didn't know. Someone else's spirit was something impossible to decipher.

Karteira sat on a chair in the right side of the bed, followed by Amelia. Orion sat down near the left side, alone.

Her eyes followed Orion. Just him. She ignored the two women on the other side, and stared at him with the spoon in her mouth.

'Strange. Is it because I am a man?'

He thought that she had a fear of men, as Julian most likely tortured her a lot, but to his surprise, that wasn't the case, because what she did next surprised everyone.

She extended her left hand toward him.

'Huh?'

Watching her hand lifted in the air while she continued to ate, he didn't understand. This wasn't how he was expecting things to go.

But he couldn't let her like this.

'What does she want? Why me?'

The more he pondered on that, the less it made sense. So, he let his instinct take over.

'Forget about reason right now. It's a child. I don't need to be that cautious around her.'

Though, he stayed alerted in case she made a sudden movement.

He did what felt the most natural. He took her hand between his.

Feeling the heat she felt while asleep, she realized it wasn't just a dream. The man next to her really healed her, and stayed a long time at her side, warming the little bit of senses she still had.

A very imperceptible smile formed on the corner of her mouth, that even her was unaware of.

With her hand carefully held in Orion's, she finished her soup in silence.

...

Orion removed the finished plate off of her lap, and finally began to talk.

"Was it good?"

She nodded.

"Hmm."

'Good, she still understand us, and she answered.'

"We could've heated it for you. Was that alright to eat it cold?"

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Amelia carefully picked her words carefully.

"I-It was... better than what I-I had until now."

Just hearing that made the three of them grit their teeth. They did their best not to make it apparent on their face and actions.

"Then, if you liked this, you better prepare yourself. She cooks very warm and delicious meals."

With a smile, Karteira pointed at Amelia making the girl look at them for the first time.

"You two, let's start with introductions."

"Oh! Oops."

An apologetic expression on her face, Karteira switched mood.

"I'm Karteira, a fairy."

The girl's face looked interest for the first time, but it was very faint. Karteira noticed her brows moving up, so she continued.

"Look."

She moved her scorpion tail that was hidden behind her toward her.

"Don't touch the stinger, it could hurt you."

With her index finger, she touched the tail. It was harder than she thought.

"I'm Amelia. As my friend said before, I like cooking. But I'm sorry, I'm a human. I don't have anything like her."

She nodded.

"T-Thank you... for the soup."

"You are welcome."

Karteira removed her tail with a smile when the girl looked at Orion. Amelia, glad to hear that she was behaving like a good child, was also smiling.

"I'm Orion. I'm like my fairy friend over there. I'm special."

"Special?"

She tilted her head, as he didn't look different from her.

"Yes, I have both angel and demon blood in me."

Her mouth opened in an 'O' shape, but she didn't really understand. Either fairy, or other factions, she knew none of them. She was simply curious.

"You don't have to think too much on it. Just know that we are not planning on hurting you."

"Y-You won't?"

"Of course we won't. You don't have to think of that when talking to us."

Her gaze fell on her hands.

"Am I n-not a bother?"

"How so?"

Orion smiled at her.

"What's your name?"

The girl lifted her head and looked at him with a darkness he thought would absorb him.

"I don't have one."

"D-Dad always called me 'trash', and mother called me 'bitch'."

This time, anger was impossible to contain on their faces. The girl's eyes observed every single details of anger on Orion's face, and thought it looked different from the anger she was subjected to before.

It wasn't directed at her, and she felt it. She glanced at Amelia, and noticed her hands gripping her thighs, then at Karteira, who had her tail move up and down.

"We can't have that."

Calming his furry, he tried to forget about what she said.

"If you don't have a name, then we will give you one. One that will make you proud to have it."

"Proud?"

He nodded.

"Yes. My name is Orion, right?"

"Orion... yes."

The little girl registered his name into her brain.

"It is a gift my parents gave me. I am very proud of having it."

"You might think it weird to receive a name from strangers, but I don't want to call you names. I would even refuse to call you by those words."

His fist clenched, and he whispered.

"Who dares call a child 'trash', or even 'bitch'! What have she done to you?"

He thought of Julian's face as he ripped his head off of his body with his last attack. That brought some solace to his feelings.

"Me? A name?"

She pointed at herself, not expecting much.

"Yes. Give me a moment."

Orion began to think, leaving the whole room in an uncomfortable silence as he looked at the girl.

'She's young, so she might want a cute name? I don't know. I have never thought of having a child myself, so maybe that's why I don't know.'

He remembered the girl's appearance.

'There's nothing about her that strikes a particular name. But...'

Her eyes. There was something in her eyes that reminded Orion of something.

'what? What is this resemblance?'

His brain worked overdrive, until the answer flashed in his mind, and the girl's name with it.

"Stella."

The three women blinked after hearing him burst out a name so quickly.

"S-Stella? My name?"

After nodding, Orion explained why he chose that name.

"Your eyes... I'll be frank with you, are those of someone who lost their will to live."

Amelia instantly reacted and stood up from her chair.

"Orion!"

He glanced at Amelia to make her sit back.

'Don't do that to her!'

The girl looked lost. She didn't understand what he said, but somehow, she knew it was serious.

"But somewhere inside those eyes, I saw a spark. A strong and beautiful spark of light inside the darkness."

"Like a star in the night sky."

She remembered seeing the stars through the barred windows. How one day, she hoped to see them outside.

Orion opened his hand, and in his palm, a void sphere appeared, catching the girl's attention completely.

"You still want to do stuff, do you? You want to play? To live?"

Captivated by the starry element, she nodded instinctively, before breaking eye contact with the sphere, and switching to Orion.

"I-I do."

"You are free now. You have a name. And you have a place to live in. Heal your body first, eat well, and then we'll show you around."

Standing up from his chair, he made the void element vanish, and walked to the door.

"Talk with them if you want. Ask anything you want. Money is not a problem."

He looked at Amelia and Karteira.

"If she needs anything, come speak to me. I'll go buy whatever she wants."

"Aren't you a wonderful father?"

With a shrug, he closed the door behind him.

'Dad?'

The little girl, now having adopted the first name 'Stella', began to think of Orion as a father figure.

'He is kinder.'

'Stella. Stella. Stella.'

"Stella."

Her thought leaked out of her mouth.

"Yes, that's your name, Stella."

She looked at the women at her side who were smiling warmly at her. The only woman she knew was her mother, but she never saw anything but disdain on her face.

"Stella."

Repeating her name again, a genuine smile appeared on her face, taking the women by surprise.

'Geez. Orion, you missed it.'

...

Orion explained the mental state of Stella to the ones downstairs.

"That bad, huh? I knew something was going on when I rescued her, but to think she was basically a punching bag for Julian and his wife..."

Florian felt as strong as Orion on this matter.

"That's the gist of it. I'll go rest for an hour or so, too much happened in a single day."

He looked at his pocket watch, indicating 10PM.

'We haven't ate dinner yet. Well, I'll wait for Amelia.'

Not particularly hungry, he left the room and stepped in the corridor, toward the stairs.

'Tiohr-nam, then the lamias, and another event with Tiohr-nam. That took all morning.'

He placed his right foot on the last step, and heard both Amelia and Karteira talking to Stella.

'May's matter, the elemental realm, and the construction of the second project. All afternoon and a bit of the night.'

Opening the door to his room, he entered.

'And then, Stella. That took an hour, maybe.'

Orion removed his coat, and changed his clothes to something more casual.

Sitting on his bed, he looked at the hourglass on the nightstand.

"!"

His eyes opened wide as he grabbed the item with haste.

"That's impossible! We had more than three months before the seal was broken!"

Alerting the girls next door, they ran to his room and opened the door.

"Orion? Why are you shooting like that?"

He showed the hourglass to the girls.

"There's only... three weeks... before Elliot is returning."

Half dazed by the sudden discovery, Orion fell in despair.