-Break-

Throughout the next few days, the girl named Elia joined our workshop and started to be employed by my father. In the short period I had been gone it seems Ivana, Gheorghe, Wadim and even my father had grown attached to her. My father even started to make dinner for the first time in years.

As I prepare to leave, Gheorghe asks, “Iancu why don’t you join all of us for dinner.”

“I’m good.”

“Bu-.”

“I SAID I’M FUCKING GOOD!!!” Turning my head to face Gheorghe who stands in between me and the dining room door I see that everyone is staring at me except my father. So I run out the door.

Seeing all of them smiling and having fun made the sick feeling inside me much worse, so I had to run, I had to escape once again. So, I stole more of our food and went back to the 6th platform.

-Break-

As I leave the building, I wave goodbye to Morrigan, and the rest of the kids inside, shouting “SEE YOU LATER!”

“Bye, bye Iancu!!” They shout back at me.

Walking away, I mutter, “How cute they are.”

“I concur.”

Turning my head to the side, I see Elia standing beside me in an incredibly fancy outfit, which causes me to scream, “AHHH!” And fall to the ground.

“For someone who acts so tough, you scare quite easily.”

“How the hell did you find me?”

“Your special awareness is lower than the devil’s place in this world. For someone with enhanced senses, I find it quite pathetic how easy you are to tail.”

“Well let’s see how easy I am to tail now.”

Standing up, I activate my legacy on my foot, then I how away whilst increasing the reaction force of my kick which makes me move faster.

I proceeded to manoeuvre through the buildings and the strange gravity fields of the sixth platform Ichnaea, until I reached a far enough distance. Stopping I say to myself, “This place is my playground, no way you’re going to find me.”

“What took you so long.”

In front of me, I see Elia sitting down, which causes me to jump back and shout, “AHHH!”

“Looks like I got you twice.”

Shocked, I say, “How the hell did you get here before me, no human could have gotten here before me, especially in that giant puffy skirt and those restrictive clothes.”

“You really are overdramatic; I simply used the odd gravitational fields of Ichnaea to get here. And as you know, unlike all the other platforms Ichnaea is a mess so the gravity around here is also messed up as well, some parts are stronger, some are weaker, by using all those differing fields I was able to accelerate getting to you. Simple calculation.”

“BULLSHIT. The gravity around Ichnaea is incredibly volatile, most people can’t understand them, and I even struggle with my legacy, so there is no way someone who is new to Elpída could understand. And more than that how would you know where I would end up?”

“I have been here since you first arrived hours ago, and I guessed upon seeing based on your emotional instability that you would run away. Knowing how violate Ichnaea is I had guessed you probably would have specific paths you use to get through it. So, I looked around for those paths, and calculated where you would stop if you ran away. Then I simply did trial and error on each of the gravity fields around those paths to see if there was a way to reach the end point before you did.”

“Still there is no way all those paths had gravity fields that would allow you to be faster than me.”

“You're exactly right, of you’re 6 paths only 2 had ways for me to outspeed you. So, to try and increase the chances of you going on one of those two paths I position myself directly opposite one of those 2 paths because knowing you’re aversion to me I guessed that you would more than likely run away from me.”

Standing up she opens her parasol and says, “Now a gentleman would escort a lady like me back to our house.”

Hearing her speak is pissing me off, so I walk past her and say, “Don’t talk to me, I am not some puppet who you can control.”

“I see this must be what my peers call, trying to be cool or I believe people say trying to be badass. But in all honesty, you fail quite heavily at it.”

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Her words cause me to stop in my tracks. “I believe the logical reason people do such things pretending to be stronger and cooler than they are since if they are able to fool people they can earn respect, admiration, and fear they wouldn’t be able to attain otherwise. You lack the confidence to attain those things naturally so you use deceit to pretend you have them.”

As she speaks, I start to feel slightly embarrassed.

“But in your case, it is quite unsuccessful. You’re clothes and attitude try to evoke such a feeling but in all honesty, it makes you come off as rude, disobedient, and foolish. You really haven’t lived a life that explains why you act that way, so you just come off as a brat with too much time on his hands.”

The embarrassment is getting so bad my face is turning red.

“Not to mention upon seeing someone you dislike like me, instead of doing the courageous thing of facing me head on you ran away like a coward.”

I feel like I am about to die!!!!

“Wouldn’t it have been more badass to simply ignore me, which would have shown how little I mattered to you, increasing your cool factor whilst also dealing a sufficient amount of mental damage to me due to the known fact that being ignored is worse than being hated.”

Her words click in my head, and I whisper, “I am going to do that.”

Φ Just like that fall into my trap. Smiling I say, “And wouldn’t the most badass thing possible be actually doing my request but doing it on your own terms thereby giving you control of this situation entirely.”

Turning to face me, Iancu says in his cool guy voice, “Follow me home if you want, but don’t expect me to talk.”

How easy.

-Break-

Φ Walking in front of her I keep quiet and try to keep my cool but her never-ending questions are really starting to annoy me.

“So, do you lust for the blood of young maidens? If so, I better be careful. Also, does the blood of humans taste different? Is there some hierarchy within each of our blood types? It is quite rude to not answer a lady's question.”

Gritting my teeth, I continue to walk forward.

“Your dad is really talkative, is it because you’re a half-vampire that you are so quiet, I guess a dham like you? Well, that is an incorrect classification of you, since all you guys are nightmares. Now what did they call the children of a nightmare and a normal person again? Anata, no Ananata, matamata.”

“Anathematized!!!” I shout.

Giggling she says, “Looks like I got you to talk.”

Realize what happened I cover my mouth, then swing my arm saying, “Go away.”

As I swing my arm, I hit her and send her to the edge of the roof. Surprised I run towards her.

Standing over her body collapsed on the ground, I bring my arms near her and say, “I thought you would dodge.”

Suddenly she grabs me and throws me off the edge of the building. Looking towards the edge of the building as I fall, I see her waving and saying, “Bye-bye.”

That bitch!!!

Using my legacy, I remove gravity around me and then climb up to the top of the building. When I reach it, I see her sitting on the roof, where she says, “That was 0.2 seconds slower than I thought you would arrive.”

Staring at her I say, “Was that some sort of revenge for hitting you?”

“No, it is just that I thought falling off a building of this height would have awoken some sense within you, regarding the way you treat your father.”

Angered, I glare at her and say, “You know nothing about my family, so mind your own fucking busi-.”

Walking towards me, she says, “7 years ago your mother ran into a burning building because there was a chance the daughter of a man named Samual; Cana was still in the building. She failed and was burnt to a grotesque crisp.

Since her funeral, probably because of the explosion in the castle you decided to inherit your mother's will and started acting like her. To which your grieving father disapproved because it was almost as if you were trying to abandon him as well.”

“I wasn’t trying to abando-.”

Getting right in front of my face she continue and says, “Due to this rift in ideologies and immense lack of communication between the both of you, your relationship collapsed and your father selfishly stopped caring for you to protect his own heart then locked himself away.

But since I have arrived, you’re father has started returning to normal which has caused you to lash out even more because the idea of any female getting close to your father causes a certain idea to pop into your head; that your mother will be replaced.”

Shocked, I say, “You stalker.”

Pulling back, she says, “I can’t help but be observant, call it a blessing.”

Turning around, I say, “Still that doesn’t mean you can involve yourself in my business.”

“Well, I’m feeling pretty involved. So, to rectify this situation which my presence has made worse, I would like to ask you to come to family dinner tonight.”

Walking away, I say, “Why the fuck would I possibly go to that?"

“Simple. Because your dad is cooking.”

Immediately my mouth starts to water as all the memories of my father's heavenly cooking flash through my mind.

Walking up to me, she says, “I have had a taste of his food in the recent days and I can say that the god has truly bestowed a miracle onto his hands, and considering that you haven’t had his cooking in years I am sure you must long for it. So come on home Iancu.”

Wiping my lips, I say, “Not a chance,” while turning my head away.

As I walk away, she says behind me, “Well if you want to be like that, I guess I will seduce your dad.”

Stopping, I say, “WHAT!!”

“I did awaken your father back to his former self, I am sure given time and dedication, I can turn the master-student bond we have into one of true love.”

Composing myself, I say, “You’re not my father-type little princess, so you're just full of shit.”

With a smile, she says, “You say that, but deep in the corner of your mind it is this possibility that you have been scared of isn’t it? So, I promise you when I become your father's wife I will destroy all memorabilia attached to your mother and completely wipe her existence from your father's mind.”

“You act like a princess, but you really are just a bitch. Slyly trying to blackmail me like this you whore.”

“I hate all forms of poise and deception. I believe all people should be upfront with what they want, so if this has come across as me being sly I apologize.”

Walking up directly in front of me, she says, “So let me be as clear as possible, do what I ask or else. This isn’t blackmail, it is a promise.”

Sighing, I say, “Ok then.”

“What a sublime response,” she says elegantly.

Looking at her, I say, “What the hell did my father do to you over the days I was gone.”

Blushing she says, “He made me into a real woman.”

“STOP IT YOU BITCH!!!!!!!”

With her parasol, she smacks me on the back of my head and says, “Watch your language. Now let’s be off.”