[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Heart Kingdom Outskirts]
[Virelheim Mountain Village]
The armor was altered quite drastically, yet it still fit snugly. Mikoto stood before the tall mirror propped against the wall of Raven's clothing store, tilting his head slightly as he adjusted the gauntlet straps. The black-plated armor gleamed faintly under the lamplight, the changes subtle but noticeable—the gauntlets and sabatons had been reshaped into thicker, heavier pieces, reinforcing his small frame, almost drowning it out. Traces of a darker, pinkish-purple hue edged the pauldrons and crept along the arm guards, making faint patterns. Beneath it all, a light grayish-purple tailcoat peeked through.
"I must say," Raven mused from where she leaned against her worktable, a cloth still dangling from her fingers, "I'm rather proud of this one. Fits you better than I expected. You wear it well, love." Her eyes flickered with an appraising gleam, though her smile betrayed that she was still adjusting to the fact that the figure in front of her—delicate, small, and beautiful in ways that could easily be mistaken for feminine—was indeed a boy.
"Thanks," Mikoto murmured, his gaze locked on his reflection as he tugged once more at the gauntlet. "This was finished faster than I thought it would be. One day isn't much time at all." His voice was almost distracted. The armor looked different, but not different enough—it still carried the same ominous undertone, though at least it no longer resembled the armor of the Heart Kingdom soldiers quite so closely.
"No trouble at all," Raven replied, her grin widening as she straightened. "Like I told you before, having you around Andrew is more than enough payment."
Mikoto's gaze flicked sideways toward the store's entrance. He noticed, for the first time, that Andrew wasn't here. The boy's chatter would have no doubt filled the room if Mikoto dropped by. He could only assume Andrew was off somewhere with his goblin companions.
"You're really fine with that?" Mikoto asked after a pause. "No payment at all? I don't carry Eor on me, but I'd figure out something. A favor, at least. You went out of your way for this."
Raven waved her hand, dismissive. "I meant it. No coin, no favors. Just keep an eye on my boy when he's running around out there. That's worth more to me than any stack of Eor."
"Right…" Mikoto exhaled, letting the silence sit for a moment before he looked back at her reflection in the mirror. "Then… could I ask you something?"
Her brows lifted. "Go ahead."
"You all worship a Goddess here," he began carefully. "Iofiel. What is she… the Goddess of, exactly?"
"Oh?" Raven leaned back against the table again, curious. "You're interested in our faith now?" Her tone was light, but her eyes were sharp, weighing the intent behind his question. "Well… how do I put this? It'd be easier to tell you what she doesn't oversee. To us, she is the one true Goddess, the mother of all. Wealth, fertility, love, strength, guidance—those, and more besides."
Mikoto let his lashes lower slightly, hiding the faint flicker of thought behind his eyes. ("Hm. A lot of those domains are already taken in what was it called? Uhorus. Guess here, in this universe, they fall under her instead. Makes sense. Different realms, different rulers over the same concepts.")
"Thanks," he murmured before continuing. "Another question. Andrew mentioned once that most of what you have here—books, things like that—comes from trade. That's with the big cities, right?"
"Yeah." Raven's answer was accompanied by a weary sigh. "Being on the outskirts, we survive off trade routes. Crops, livestock, all of it is hard to grow here—nearly impossible, given how barren the land is. So we barter. Always have."
Mikoto's gaze drifted, catching on the polished shelves that lined her shop. "What about places like this?" he asked. "Shops like yours, or the other ones on the third platform. They look… higher quality than I'd expect for a village this far out."
"That's because I didn't start here." Raven smiled softly. "I came from the Heart Kingdom's capital. I had some savings, enough Eor to get the store started here without scraping by. It wasn't luck, just… timing."
"You really left the capital for a place like this?" Mikoto asked, incredulous. His red eyes slid toward her, faintly narrowed. "Doesn't seem logical."
"Logical, maybe not. Necessary, yes." Her tone softened, tinged with something bittersweet. "Is it so surprising? The city was grand, beautiful, safe—but it felt suffocating. Stuffy. Like every step I took was watched. And Andrew's father…" She trailed off, her lips thinning before she shook her head. "That's the past. Doesn't matter now."
Mikoto raised a brow faintly at the choice of word but didn't press. She continued instead, her voice growing warmer.
"This place may be bleak, but it has room to breathe. Gerard leads well. People rely on one another here. And Andrew… well, he's thriving. He even made two friends—three, if I count you." Her eyes softened at that, her smile both proud and gentle.
"You care a lot about him," Mikoto noted, his voice soft.
"Of course I do," she said without hesitation. Her smile widened, radiant in its sincerity. "He's my baby. Always will be, even if he's already ten and thinks he's grown." She laughed lightly, her tone carrying both pride and amusement.
Mikoto's gaze lingered on that smile. It was warm, tender, full of a kind of love that needed no words. That expression—it was familiar. Too familiar.
His chest tightened before he could stop it. That look, that care, reminded him of her. His mother.
And just like that, a pit formed in his stomach. He swallowed hard, trying to shove it down, but the weight only grew heavier. He had a way back home now, one thread of possibility dangling just out of reach, but to pull it meant others would pay the price.
His mother. His sister. So close. So far.
It was cruel. A joke, played at his expense. A bad comedy.
-----------------
[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Heart Kingdom Outskirts]
[Virelheim Mountain Village]
"What a pain…" The words slipped from Mikoto's lips in a tired exhale as he stepped out of Raven's store. The muted clink of his heavier gauntlets sounding faintly as he walked out onto the broad, crowded platform.
The marketplace was alive already. Merchants shouted half-heartedly about their wares, women carried baskets of grain and jars of water, and children ran between stalls with laughter that rang too loudly for a world cracking beneath calamity. People passed him by, their gazes catching for only a moment on his unusual figure—his delicate frame swallowed by the ominous armor—before they dismissed him and continued with their errands.
It was all so fast. So normal. Almost aggressively mundane.
If not for the endless destruction at the edges of this realm, the looming ruin that stalked them all, you might almost believe this was simply a village untouched by the chaos. A place where lives ticked on, indifferent and uninterrupted.
("In the grand scheme of things, I guess their lives are just as insignificant as that.") Mikoto thought, his red eyes narrowing faintly. ("Struggles, dreams, worries—it's all erased in an instant once calamity swallows them. And yet here they are, living like they'll have a future.")
He shook his head lightly, as though trying to dislodge the thought, his tailcoat brushing against his sabatons as he moved.
"Hey, Mikoto!"
The shout cracked through the air, shrill and familiar. His expression flattened instantly. He turned his head with visible reluctance, and sure enough, there she was: Arabella, the goblin child, standing with her hands on her hips and a self-satisfied smirk plastered on her face. Behind her hovered Meryl, quieter, her ever-present sniffles punctuating the air as she tugged at the hem of her dress and tried not to let her nose drip.
Mikoto's eye twitched. "And here I thought this day wasn't going to be a pain in the ass."
"Hey, don't be so rude!" Arabella shot back, stamping her foot, the confidence in her tone bigger than her frame. "We took time out of our very important day to come see you, you know!"
Mikoto lifted a brow, unimpressed, watching as their gazes slid toward his armor. Arabella leaned in with narrowed eyes, tilting her head as though trying to piece together what she was seeing.
"And what's with that?" she asked bluntly. "You look like some storybook bad guy. Like, the kind that steals the princess and laughs a lot."
Meryl sniffed loudly, wiping her sleeve across her nose. "I think it's nice. I like the purple. But…" She tilted her head, peering up at him innocently. "Shouldn't you make it more girly?"
Mikoto let out a long, exasperated sigh, his shoulders sagging slightly beneath the pauldrons. "Still a guy," he muttered flatly. "Doesn't matter. What are you two even doing here? Shouldn't you be bothering Gretel, or hell, even Shuten? At least they deserve it."
"Hey! We're still not brats!" Arabella barked, cheeks puffing with indignation.
Meryl, ignoring Arabella's dramatics, sniffed again and gave the actual explanation. "Miss Gretel and Miss Shuten said they were going scouting… for something." Her voice dipped uncertainly, but her eyes flicked up at him with earnestness. "They told us you'd look after us for the day."
("Thought I told them I was keeping an eye on the Heart Kingdom situation.") Mikoto rubbed at the bridge of his nose. ("Gretel's getting restless again. Figures. Well, if Shuten's with her, then it should be fine. That woman's strong enough.")
He lowered his hand, lips pressing thin. "…So she shoved you onto me. Swell." He glanced around. "Where's the third one?"
"He said he was running errands," Meryl answered with another wet sniff.
"Who cares about him," Arabella cut in before Mikoto could respond, scowling. "I'm bored." She planted her hands firmly on her hips. "Hey, Mikoto, play with us."
Mikoto slowly turned his gaze toward her, his flat stare carrying more weight than any words. "…That ain't any way to ask for something, stupid brat."
Arabella's cheeks flushed crimson. "I'm still not a brat!" she snapped, stomping her foot again, her shrill voice rising.
Before she could continue her screeching, Meryl interjected softly, tugging at Mikoto's gauntlet as though to pull him down to her level. "I have a chess set," she said, eyes round, voice quiet but hopeful. "Do you play, Mikoto?"
He blinked once, surprised, before lowering his gaze. "…I only know the rules. But I'm not any good."
Meryl's eyes lit up, bright in a way that almost disarmed him. "Great! Then we can play!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking with excitement.
Mikoto's lips parted as though to refuse, the word hovering on the tip of his tongue. But then he looked at them—the way Meryl's face glowed with anticipation despite her runny nose, the way Arabella was already pretending not to care while clearly invested in his answer. They were looking at him expectantly, like this tiny, ordinary moment mattered more than anything else in the world.
He sighed, a soft, resigned exhale that carried a weight deeper than mere annoyance. "Fine," he muttered, voice lacking its usual bite. "Lead the way."
Arabella smirked triumphantly, hiding her relief behind a haughty flick of her hair.
Mikoto followed. ("Strange,") he thought, watching the way their small frames darted ahead of him. ("Something this insignificant… and they look so happy about it. Even Arabella, who probably doesn't even care about chess. She just wants to be there.")
Kids were odd. But perhaps that oddness was what made them precious.