「 Morgan's Pov. 」
Stepping back into the manor, I gave a light stretch, allowing all the knots and stress to flow out of me from the past day's work.
My plan to insert myself into the Animusphere family had been a resounding success; however, I had underestimated the size of the branch families. This had unfortunately forced me to spend an entire day running around and scaring all of my 'new family' members, as everyone needed to know me, or at least have an impression of me.
Amelia hadn't expected me to be so thorough, so she had to leave early on, as she had other things to do. That was a shame, but alas, neither Alistair nor I had expected this to drag on for longer than a night, so it was understandable for her to leave early on.
Fun as the experience was, it quickly lost its charm after the reactions became stale, so I contented myself with inserting memories of cruel and nonsensical experiments I had performed when I was at my worst. It sped things up, and terrified them, so it did what was needed, allowing me to create my 'image'.
Now, if anyone snooped around for information on 'Vivian', my 'family' would have a naturally terrified reaction, and have actual memories of me, and reason to fear me, which is in line with the backstory I gave Rosalind.
All of that combined would make my fake background indistinguishable from reality. And while none of the Animusphere see me as their own, nor do they believe my true name is Vivian, all of them are tied up in so many Geass Contracts that they wouldn't be able to breathe if I told them so, meaning my secret is as safe as can be.
Ending my little stretch, I vanished my veil before continuing into the manor. I had unfortunately taken too long, and had likely missed dinner, unless Alistair suddenly chose to have it around eight o'clock.
It was late enough that Sakura was likely asleep, but too early for Alistair, Amelia or Altrouge to have retired for the evening.
Meaning they were likely still in the office.
As I was slowly making my way towards Alistair's office, I became surprised upon seeing Amelia standing in the middle of the hall, patiently waiting for me.
As our eyes met, a small tired smile found its way onto her face, before she started walking towards me. "Morgan," she greeted with a tired edge lacing her voice.
Raising a brow, I returned the courtesy with a small nod. "Amelia," I returned neutrally. "What can I do for you?"
Her smile only became more tired looking, before slightly shaking her head. "I don't need anything, but I'd ask you to persuade Alistair to leave his office," she said tiredly.
Blinking in surprise, I gave her a confused look. "Why?" I asked with some confusion. "I'd agree if the clock read 11 o'clock, but from my own experience, it is normal for a monarch, or a competent noble, to work into the late hours of the night to get their job done," I explained.
Amelia gave a small nod to my explanation before speaking. "I'd agree with you, if it weren't for the fact that he hasn't slept since the flight two days ago."
Her words made my gaze on her intensify. "What do you mean he hasn't slept?" I asked harshly.
Amelia had left early from our 'outing' yesterday, to continue her duties as Alistair's assistant, meaning she should have done something about it last night.
Amelia only gave a sigh at my pointed question. "He said he was going to go over something before going to bed, but after checking the golems' daily log this morning, I noticed that they worked through the night, sending food to his office every couple of hours," she explained.
Her answer made me give a light frown. "Have you tried getting him to leave?" I asked, causing her to nod.
"I asked him to take the day off after dinner, but he said he'd leave once he finished what he was currently doing," she responded with a twinge of disappointment. "I even asked Altrouge for help half an hour ago… but she hasn't left the office since."
Frowning slightly, I gave her a nod. "I see," I said with a hint of disappointment. "I'll see what I can do," I assured Amelia, causing her to look a bit more relieved.
"Thank you, Morgan," she said, before walking past me.
Inhaling a deep breath, I easily bridged the remaining few steps to Alistair's office, before entering it, not even bothering to knock on the door.
The second I entered the room, I let out an involuntary gasp.
The air…
I… I had never felt something like this before.
The room was charged to the brim… no, it was drenched in Mystery… to such an extent that it outright surpassed the amount of Mystery during the twilight years of the Age of Gods in Britain during my time.
"Morgan?"
The sound of Alistair's voice caused me to snap out of my sudden gaze, and lock onto him. He sat behind his desk, with Cath lazily draped over his shoulders, as he patiently looked at me.
There were slight bags under his eyes, and his posture was slightly slumped, but neither of those caught my attention, as he was somehow spewing out Mystery to an absurd extent.
I didn't even notice as I all but teleported in front of him, causing Alistair to give me a confused look at my odd behavior.
"How are you doing this?" I asked impatiently, while waving my hand in his direction.
The question seemed to catch Alistair off guard, before he gave a low chuckle. "Ah, sorry, but I forgot to mention that I learnt how to do this between the time the Grail exploded, and after our battle with Gilgamesh," he deflected, causing me to narrow my eyes at him.
It was… understandable that he had forgotten to mention it, if he 'picked this up' within that time-frame, as I have purposely neglected to ask what happened during Rosalind's last moments to give him some space… but I asked a question, not the reason behind him not telling me… which leads me to believe that he is purposefully dragging his feet on answering…
"You are forgiven," I replied calmly, before crossing my arms. "Now, tell me, how are you doing something that is by all accounts impossible?"
The slight twitch in the corner of his lips all but confirmed my guess that he had done something stupid, or incredibly reckless to pull this off.
"Do you recall what my Origins are?" he asked with a slight tremor to his voice
Raising a brow, I answered. "Yes, they were Mystery and Un—"
No… He didn't…
My face must have given it away, as Alistair didn't dare meet my eyes.
"You ideo—"
"You didn't make enough Rune stones, and I couldn't make them naturally, so I improvised," he cut me off, and I almost recoiled at the contents of the information he gave.
He hadn't done one reckless thing, no, he had done two reckless things.
For one, stimulating your origin like this… 'terribly reckless' doesn't even begin to cover how stupid the idea was.
The fact that he was not some amalgamation of Mystery, or some sort of living 'magical' tumor, constantly growing larger with each integrated Mystery he generated, was practically a miracle in itself. But for all we know, he just hasn't felt the consequences yet.
And his other 'stroke of genius', he had somehow learnt a single Fae rune without melting his brain… I myself only dared to learn any when my Phantasmal blood outweighed my human blood by a lot, and even then, I learnt it with utmost caution.
Fae runes follow Fae rules, meaning they have certain requirements, or 'sacrifices' to be given to learn each one, as a 'fair trade' for the knowledge or use of the rune. The runes themselves would reject being used or learned without it… but Alistair had either bypassed the requirements, or paid using something else… and I hope to all that's good that he didn't pay, as the Fae trades never favor the one offering the transaction.
Uncrossing my arms, I pressed a hand on the desk while giving him a pointed look. "Turn it off, we need to see if there are any negative eff—"
"No!" came the distressed, but slightly slurred voice of Altrouge.
Blinking in surprise, I turned to look at the direction of the voice, only to see Altrouge sprawled on the coffee table like a drunkard, with half a wine glass full of blood next to her.
… I had somehow not noticed her, nor the slight smell of blood in the room… but I think my lapse of judgement could be excused given what was happening.
Her hair was slightly splayed over the table, and she looked disheveled, though she was still cognizant enough to shakily point a finger at me.
"Don't you dare turn that shit off!" she spat with a slight slur.
Looking at her, I gave a slow and confused blink.
Was she drunk? High? Neither made sense, especially given her constitution, but they were the only ones that made sense.
"What happened to her?" I asked Alistair, not bothering to address the vampire, given her apparent lack of motor control.
"She wasn't that bad when she first came in," he replied, cueing me to look at him. Alistair was gently scratching Cath's chin while looking at Altrouge with some amusement. "She enjoyed the feeling of the room, and after some begging, I gave her some of my blood, and she's been tuckered out like that ever since."
Looking back at the mosquito, I gave her a disappointed look. "Your opinion has been noted, and disregarded with prejudice," I commented coolly, before turning back to face Alistair.
"Turn it off, we don't know if the extensive stimulation of your Origin will have negative effects on you," I stated, earning a small whine from the annoying child behind me.
Alistair gave a slightly cramped smile at my demand. "I'd rather not, especially since I am doing this to relax and unwind, and without it I feel really uncomfortable," he argued, causing me to give him a disapproving frown.
"Turn. It. Off," I bit out, causing Alistair to sigh, though I could feel him stop the generation of Mysteries. I didn't want to be the 'fun police', I think that's what they call it, but there are so many unknowns, meaning for all we know, what he is currently doing might be slowly killing him.
Alistair looked a bit more disgruntled, but the look quickly washed off him, and he graced me with a small smile. "Now, how was your trip?" he asked patiently, clearly trying his best to steer the conversation away from the former topic of his reckless experimentation of his Origins.
"It was fruitful, I'm fairly sure that I managed to—"
"Turn it back on!" screeched the semi-lucid vampire, causing my brow to twitch. Looking at Alistair, I raised a finger. "A moment please."
Not waiting for a response, I turned around and moved up to the flailing vampire, who looked more like a child throwing a tantrum. "Bring it back!" she yelled imperiously, and I felt whatever smidge of respect or awe I had for the little girl being squashed with prejudice.
Not caring for her state, I picked up the glass of Alistair's blood, and shoved the rim of the glass into her mouth, before tipping the glass up.
And like some drug-starved junkie, she automatically drank it all, making sure not a single drop went to waste.
Moving the glass from her face, I watched as she fully collapsed on the table, completely and utterly knocked out.
Placing the glass back down next to her, I returned to stand in front of Alistair. "Sorry for the wait," I said dismissively. "But back on topic, yes, I was successful, and I believe that my 'identity' will hold up to any level of scrutiny that the Moonlit-World can throw at it."
Smiling, Alistair nodded. "That's good," he said with clear approval. "I suppose your trip to Germany should be scheduled soon then," he added, causing me to nod.
"True, I should get hold of the Einzberns as quickly as possible," I affirmed. "With the Church being so heavily involved, I wouldn't be surprised if the Director actually got involved with this, rather than staying cooped up in the Department of Lore."
That comment seemed to make Alistair become a bit more pensive. "He's as old as Kaleidoscope, and seeing as the two were fellow disciples of Solomon, it wouldn't surprise me if Zelretch informed him of our schemes," he stated.
"While that is a concern, I believe we can—" I cut myself off as a small glimmering cut in space appeared in front of Alistair, followed by a small slip of paper falling out of the slit before sealing itself up.
Alistair seemed very unsurprised as he plucked the piece of paper out from the air. "I suppose he really can hear it every time I say his name aloud," he mused aloud, before scribbling something on the page.
A beat passed, and Alistair raised his brow. "Never mind, he wrote that he is just constantly 'observing' me," he said with a twinge of unease, an unease which I quickly found myself mirroring as well.
Before I could say anything to that concerning comment, Alistair's brows rose even further. "It would seem he is content in just observing, and won't inform others of our plans, nor our activities," he said with an undertone of skepticism.
Suddenly his brow started to twitch. "He even wishes us good luck in our endeavors," he added with mild confusion, though there was an undertone of amusement to his words, before the paper blew up into a pile of confetti.
…
Well that happened.
The Kaleidoscope is unpredictable at the best of times, so it was for the best to not look too much into his actions. Though it made me slightly more calm that he seemed to give his tacit approval, as without it life would have gotten a whole lot harder.
Though, if Altrouge hadn't mentioned the fact that Alistair and Kaleidoscope had made contact with one another, I'd be panicking a whole lot more than I already internally was.
There was a minute of silence between the two of us, before Alistair spoke. "Well… how about you go to Germany tomorrow? It should ensure that we can intercept any messages between sympathizers, and ensure that nothing goes awry."
Nodding slowly, I showed my agreement. "That suits me just fine," I agreed.
Smiling, he started dialing a number on the landline. "Good, then I shall arrange for a flight tomorrow morning," he stated, before giving a slight shooing motion. "If there is nothing else, please go and rest, as you've had a long day already."
At his words, I finally recalled something, causing me to gently press a finger on the hook switch, ending the call before it could start.
I came here to do something, but the constant curveballs Alistair had thrown at me had distracted me from my goal in coming here.
"You need to sleep," I stated, and I could see some annoyance creep onto Alistair's face.
Alistair gave a dismissive huff, before he angled his body toward the phone again. "Morgan, I've got work to finish. If I don't—"
"You've been working non-stop since we got here," I cut in. "I understand that you have a lot on your plate, but you'll burn out at this rate," I argued firmly.
Alistair didn't respond right away, choosing instead to stare at me unblinkingly for a few moments before answering. "Burnout isn't the problem, as without me working overtime, Britain might literally fall apart. I am simply too far behind in terms of current affairs, to the point where I can't address a lot of the country's issues, meaning that I simply can't take a break."
I exhaled sharply, folding my arms across my chest while letting go of the phone's hook switch. "You're not a machine, Alistair. You need sleep," I said crisply with a shrug. "If you don't get rest, you'll be too tired, and might even miss a few problems or exacerbate them due to careless, and preventable, mistakes."
He looked at me, and the tension in his jaw was obvious. "And you think I'll be able to sleep knowing there are over fifteen critical problems in my lap? Do you think I'll be getting any sleep thinking of how to fix the growing unemployment issues, or the fact that we are facing a small recession, which has increased the levels of crime throughout the Isles?"
I didn't blink. "And do you think this will all be fixed overnight?" I asked, before I let my voice drop to show how important this was. "I know this has just been dropped on you, but as I have dealt with similar issues before, and I can tell you, it will take days, if not weeks, for things to improve."
His mouth opened like he wanted to argue, but nothing came out. So I kept going, not giving him the chance.
"I know you think you have to do everything yourself. That it's all on your shoulders. But if you keep going like this, you'll break. And then where will we be?" I paused, letting the silence stretch just long enough to press the point in deeper. "You told me to go rest, remember? Because I've had a long day. What about you, Alistair? How long has your day been?"
His eyes flickered, and it was clear that I was finally getting somewhere.
He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face with clear annoyance. "Alright," he muttered in a low voice. "But I need to finish this first," he stated, before his hand moved to the phone again. "I'll call and book your flight, then I'll go to bed."
I watched him for a moment, making sure he wasn't just giving me lip service, before nodding once. "Good. But after that, you're done for the night."
He gave a slight nod before dialing a number on the phone again, and this time I didn't intervene. Instead I walked towards the door, before fixing him with an impatient look. "I'll be waiting for you in our room, if you aren't there, or close by in ten minutes, I'll pull something drastic," I stated, earning a grunt of understanding from the man, before waving me off.
Smiling, I gave a slight wave before exiting the room, and moving to our own room.
Tomorrow was going to be an… interesting day, so I'd need all the rest I could get. And what better rest was there than sleeping next to someone you cared for.
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A/N
Welcome back, my reader Overlords, please add this to your library and give me some comments, stones and reviews, as it would be much appreciated.
Short chapter, I know, but alas, I am writing this during my exam crunch, which is also why I delayed, as I worked into the early hours of the morning thanks to my professor mentioning a part of the curriculum was 'useful' to go over once more, despite the fact that he said that it wouldn't be on the exam in the beginning of the semester… and having had the test, I can confirm that that stuff was on it… Fucking Bastard, made me study into the early hours for an entire week.
Anyways… Yes, the next chapter will have a bit more spice, as in we are going to Germany! Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt!
Poor Homunculi don't know what is about to hit them.
Regardless, the next chapter will have a whole lot more substance, along with some other stuff, so look forward to that, and take heed that the next won't be as short, due to my next exams being in a few weeks!
Now, any questions? I'd love to hear from you all regardless, and if not, then have a great day, and good luck to those entering Exam Season like myself!
Hop onto my Discord Server, I'd love to have a chat: [https://discord.gg/HAPhryp5M2](https://discord.gg/HAPhryp5M2)
Now, hand over those Power Stones, can't you see they are lonely when not used? Give them to me, and allow them to socialize, it's for their best... I swear...