Superbia jumped back, clutching at his heart and wincing like every one of her words were bullets. “Do you not care for me anymore?” He turned to Wilfred and leant on his shoulder with an exaggerated wail. “Did you hear her Wilfred? My own daughter doesn’t love me anymore.”

Elaine’s face was now thoroughly red from embarrassment, and would probably stay like that for a year. Even Wilfred and Lola couldn’t escape from being embarrassed.

With the pressure no longer stopping them from moving, Ed and Zara, who had since woken up, turned around and blocked their ears. Pretending to have not seen anything. Ed relaxed slightly. Everything’s going just like I saw. We should be out of here in a few minutes.

The conversation had continued on, with Elaine becoming somehow even more embarrassed, so Ed turned his attention to the pressure around him, and the comforting feeling that was blocking it out. I didn’t feel anything like this when I was looking into the future. I need to be more careful when dealing with powerful people. I can’t get a good sense of their strength when looking through fate. The feeling was entirely different.

At some point in time, Superbia had stopped teasing his daughter and gave Lola a bear hug with a big smile. “How have you been? You’ve been staying out of trouble, I hope.”

“I’ve been doing fine sir.” Lola smiled exasperatedly while jokingly trying to escape from his monstrous hug.

“Why are you being so formal? Just remember, if my daughter ever does anything to upset you, you can always come to me and I’ll sort her right out.”

“Dad!” Elaine shouted, her voice crisp and sharp. “I would never.”

A warm feeling filled the room as they caught up after not having seen each other in so long. Even Wilfred seemed to relax slightly. No matter how embarrassing Superbia’s actions may have been, it still brought a smile to their faces, and filled their hearts with a warm fuzzy feeling.

Even with his back turned, Ed could still sense what was happening through his sensing of vibrations. He smiled as well, happy for them. His senses swept throughout the large throne room, catching on everything and checking everything out in detail.

Since he had nothing better to do in these few minutes, he decided to spend it testing out his new strength. His soul had gotten stronger, and now he could finally sense the vibrations without immediately getting a headache. He could even sense the details of some of the statues and busts decorating the room.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

While he wasn’t sure how things would go if he tried this outside, but at least he now had the confidence and ability to keep his senses flourishing while indoors. He didn’t think he would be able to keep it up forever, the immense load of information would definitely overwhelm him eventually. But he knew he could at least keep it up for a while.

He noticed the outline and shape of two humans in the corner with his vibrational sense. He didn’t even have to think to know that they were the healers Buddie had assigned to them while they were down here. He could sense that they weren’t struggling under the pressure at all and knew that Buddie was probably protecting them.

Does Superbia know that they’re here? It doesn’t seem like it. He scanned Superbia and that group with his senses, drawing in everything he could and even looking back to when he first entered, but couldn’t find anything in the way he acted to suggest that he had noticed them.

The main group continued chatting for a couple minutes while Ed and Zara stood on the sidelines. It’s probably about time for us to say something and leave. He could see Elaine slightly turn her attention to the two of them and knew that it would all be over with soon. They would be able to continue on with their plans for the day and have some fun at the casino.

The conversation continued on, the topic eventually leading towards Ed, so Elaine gestured at him. Superbia looked over and his eyes shone. And suddenly Ed had a very bad feeling. The very next second proved him right, as Superbia disappeared from where he was in the group and practically teleported to right in front of Ed and Zara.

He looked at them with a big smile on his face, and Ed heard a groan escape from Elaine’s lips as she tried to hide her face.

“You must be the person my daughter told me so much about!” He picked Ed up in a tight hug that almost shattered every bone in his body. “Thank you for helping my daughter with that case. I can’t believe people are still daring enough to try and attack my daughter! I heard about how you handled it. If there’s anything you need, just ask.”

Ed was overwhelmed by this friendliness and didn’t know how to respond. He had seen and sensed it all earlier, but Superbia’s cheeriness and friendly nature was suffocating. It was somehow far worse than the pressure he was exuding.

Ed was stunned. And before he could react, Superbia had already put him down and turned his attention to Zara. “And you must be Zara, right? I hope you have been enjoying your stay with us, and I must say you look positively divine in this dress. You’re almost giving me a run for my money.”

Zara was also overwhelmed by the compliment, and was even blushing. “Thank you.”

Superbia had a big smile on his face. “No need to thank me at all, you are fully deserving of the compliment, you two are a perfect couple. How have you been finding your stay with us so far? I know your work can be very stressful, so have you been enjoying yourselves? I know you’ve only got a few days left with us and you’ve probably planned it all out, but if you need a change of plans, just ask and I’ll sort it out.”

His words left Elaine, Wilfred, and Lola a bit confused, but Ed and Zara immediately knew what he meant.

He knows.