"Haha, at least pretend to be looking forward to spending some time with your de facto parents."

'Ah, that's Daz's voice. He must've come to pick up Rose too. I kinda just came on habit. I should have assumed he'd do it himself since he set up this dinner,' Vanessa thought in good faith as she scratched the back of her neck.

She rounded the corner to meet up with him and Rose when she heard something a bit surprising.

"I would if Vanessa wasn't going to be there just to stress me out."

The young girl was stared up at Daz's face so she hadn't seen Vanessa immediately. The king had certainly noticed her though.

"Oh," was all Vanessa could think to say immediately. 'That... That was unexpectedly hurtful. I... never knew she got stressed out around me. I kinda thought it was the opposite...'

"Uh... Hi?" Vanessa greeted in an unsure manner with a bit of an awkward laugh.

Daz sighed. He reached around Rose's head only to flick her right in the glabella. "See, Rose? This is what happens when you say stupid shit just to piss me off when you don't mean it. Say sorry to Vanessa. She's clearly been upset by your stupidity."

"Ah, uh, t-that's not needed!" Vanessa tried to plead.

Daz smiled at her wryly. "Trust me. Just look at this little monster. She's panicking like crazy."

"I-I'm not panicking," Rose protested.

The high king heaved another heavy sigh. "And now she's lying. She was just trying to rile me up since she wanted to sleep after playing her VR game but boring old me decided to have a dinner party."

He stepped away from Rose's wheelchair and said, "Please, you push her. If I'm forced to I'll tip her out of the damned thing for being so insensitive with her mean-spirited jokes." Daz then turned to Rose. "And you, apologise."

"... I'm sorry, Vanessa... I really didn't mean it. Not in a bad way. I, uh..." she then mumbled a few words that Vanessa couldn't quite make out.

From the grin on Daz's lips though, she guessed he knew what she had said.

"Louder. You're usually never one to soften your tone, so don't start now, you little brat," Daz demanded coldly.

Rose shot him a glare before taking in a deep breath and saying, "... I love spending time with you, Van."

Honestly, just hearing those short words dispelled all the pain constricting Vanessa's chest just seconds ago.

She beamed a smile and practically skipped over to Rose, taking control of her wheelchair. "Aw, you're sweet. I love spending time with you too. That's why I was down when you said that. Your brother's right, though. Jokes aren't funny when you're being mean. You know that."

"Sorry, Van. Long day at work and he was getting under my skin. I, uh, said the first thing that came to my mind that might rile him up," Rose confessed.

"I forgive you. You're still just a kid under the big old brain of yours, after all," Vanessa giggled.

Rose cracked a forced smile. "Right, yeah, just a kid..."

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Mu slowly opened his eyes when an unannounced guest trespassed into his private home in Shúzuì.

"Good evening, Crusher. I have to say, I was not expecting an intrusion from you. Usually, only Daz does such a thing since he doesn't like to bother my employees with additional work," Mu said as he wore a welcoming smile.

The massive woman - easily a metre taller than himself - shrugged. "Figured it'd be faster to just show myself in. You do counselling shit now, right?"

Mu nodded. "In a sense, yes. I can see the suffering, loneliness and fear in others. I can also draw out these emotions and help alleviate them. Is that why you've come to see me tonight? To lift some mental burdens?"

Crusher nodded before she sat down and mimicked his cross-legged pose. She was barely any shorter than him if he were standing, he noticed.

'Truly a large woman. It has been some time since I last witnessed her 20-metre tall version, though... I wouldn't be averse to fighting her, Ember to Ember,' he thought in passing.

The Titan clawed at her cheek as she said, "Couldn't do my semester goal." She laughed at herself before continuing, "I didn't even pay the fine, Mu. I felt I deserved to be carted off to be a slave to the system for bein' such a fuckin' failure. Daz paid my fine. Bastard didn't even mention it. I was just another one of the 8,000 he 'saved'."

Her laugh deepened as if she found her words increasingly hilarious. "All I got was that same message to keep it hush-hush as every other one of those sorry cunts did."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"That, I could deal with," she said. "Maybe he was just tryin' to not poke at my pride. Maybe he was just too busy to care. Whatever. What I can't handle is the fuckin' system. Do you have any idea how badly it spat in my face?"

Mu's expression remained serene as he answered, "It gave you an identical goal, didn't it? You have to naturally evolve just as it demanded of you in the first semester."

Crusher bellowed in laughter. "Fuck, you are good! I knew this was a good idea. I owe Barbarossa for recommending you. Yeah, it did."

She reached to a pouch at her waist a pulled out a fruit that contained colours Mu had never seen before. Well, outside of the time he had seen her and Daz purchase this fruit.

"If I just suck this little fucker down I'll evolve instantly. What a fuckin' slap in the tits, right? I need to do it naturally. This ain't naturally," she said with a big sigh before she tucked the tantalizingly tempting fruit back into her pouch.

"So, what I'm here for, pal, is answers. What the fuck should I do?" Crusher asked. "I don't give a fuck about this Truthian shit. I don't give a fuck about Daz. I don't give a fuck about Embers. I just want to evolve. I just want some peace of mind."

"But your loyalty to Daz is incredibly high. He's stated as such," Mu countered.

Crusher shrugged. "I've not got any plans to go turncoat. I just don't care. The guy's done right by me on all accounts so why would I not be loyal?"

Mu nodded faintly. "I see, I see... May I?" he asked as he reached out a hand.

"Ah, I've seen this shit. You need to touch my head, right? I'll just lie down instead of sitting. Being a tall fucker ain't all perks, sadly," Crusher laughed.

Mu smiled. "I can't imagine it is."

Once the Titan was in a more comfortable position for his arm, Mu began drawing out her suffering, fears and loneliness.

"Now, let's talk through each of your concerns one at a time shall we? I will go for as long as my Embers allow me," Mu said in a kind tone.

"Whatever you say, Nostradamus," Crusher replied, giving his reason to pause.

"Ah, I see. You and your nicknames, yes?" Mu questioned.

"Haha, man you're a calm fucker. Yeah. Nostradamus, a soothsayer of sorts. That's what you are," Crusher explained with a big brin on her lips.

"I'll take your word for it, Crusher," Mu responded before saying, "Now, first, let's tackle your overbearing pride that quite literally has threatened your entire existence..."

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"Hi, Idris," Ellie said as she sat on her knees.

She was in the newly constructed and sadly, widely used cemetery of Fort Home.

In front of her lay the tombstone to her first ever boyfriend, Idris Sy.

Tears streamed down her face. "Why... We had barely known each other for a few months... but why... why does it hurt just as much as it did with Dad and Sarah?"

She brought her hands up to her face and just sobbed into them, unsure of what to do and where to go.

A few minutes passed before she reigned in her grief. She then slowly reached out a hand and stroked Idris' tombstone with care and affection. "I'll get them for this. I already took down three more. Counting the two I got during the attack, only another 132,451 are left to settle the score. The full score."

She laughed self-deprecatingly. "They don't even have that many priests though do they?"

She truly did feel lost. Ellie had a purpose but it was one filled with hate and pain. It honestly scared her how she had acted when Daz gave her the opportunity to kill those three Truthians.

However, in the midst of her thoughts, something suddenly pushed at her shoulder. She snapped her head around only to find an old Mexican man staring at her.

In his hand was a box of tissues. He gestured with his head for her to take them.

She glanced between the man and the grave he was in front of - the one next to Idris's. "You too?"

He nodded as he used his hand to wave in every direction of the cemetery before bringing it to point to his own heart.

Ellie frowned. "Can you not speak?"

He nodded before shaking the tissue box to bring attention back to it.

She smiled weakly and took it from him. "The system could heal that for you. I used to be deaf but the system cleared that right up when Daz bought the whole 'talk to the system mentally' thing for me."

The man reached into his jacket's pocket only to bring out a small flip notebook.

He pulled out the pen jammed in its bindings then wrote a message for her. Once he was done, he passed her the notepad.

Ellie wore a strange look on her face but she still gave him the courtesy of reading whatever he was trying to communicate to her.

'I'm Master Sorola. Thank you for the concern but I have accepted my disability as a part of myself. I just wanted to let you know that you aren't alone in your pain. I, too am suffering in the wake of the attack. If you need someone to talk to who's a great listener and isn't very skilled in interrupting, I'm here for you. One survivor to another.'

Ellie almost immediately rejected the man's offer but her words got caught in her throat.

She thought about what Daz had said. Maybe she could earn an Ember if she learned how to use her tumultuous emotions in a more constructive manner?

Maybe talking to someone would help. "Uh, sure. I'm Ellie. Ellie Richie."

----------------------------------------

"I say, Leston, you know, ignoring the doom and gloom, everyone's very motivated to fix up the city. Have you noticed that?"

"Yeah, I have. I've also noticed that you're sipping on tea and munching on biscuits while I'm over here measuring out how long these beams need to be. Some help wouldn't go unappreciated."

"Ah, I'm sure it wouldn't."

"..."

"..."

"... Are you going to help me then?"

"What? Come now, Leston. Don't be such a fool! I'm too old to be doing anything like that."

"You're a soldier, Sten! Physical labour is your bread and butter!"

"Ahhh, bread and butter... Remember when we used to make sandwiches in Gertrude? We're lucky she survived the attack, in truth. It's a shame about my golf course, though. No taste, those barbaric Truthians."

"Those sandwiches were delicious... Hey, don't go off-topic. I really could use a hand here."

"Well, Leston, you're in luck my boy! You've got two of them! I can't believe it took you so many years to discover such a simple fact of life."

"Yeah, would you look at that. You're right. I'm suddenly very tempted to use my newly discovered hands to beat some sense into a stupid old man."

"Come now, Leston. Don't be so small of the mind. Now, where's my measuring tape?"

"Of course it takes the threat of violence to get you to stop sipping on your tea and munching on your biscuits..."

"Well, that or a streaking fairy, my boy, that or a streaking fairy. Did I ever tell you about that time I and your moth-"

"You will shut your mouth right now Sten or risk losing your tongue!"

"Such an impulsive lad. Some things truly never change..."