Narrator's POV
"Are you certain about that, Ryan?"
"Not entirely..."
Welt frowned a little as he looked at Ryan, the young man had just told him about his meeting with TWO Aeons, Xipe, and Aha, but what seemed to trouble him the most is the fact that Aha was apparently the one who brought Ryan to that universe as an experiment to see if he could turn into an Aeon...which right now seemed to be a success.
"I don't think we can just trust Aha's words clearly" Welt spoke pushing his glasses. "Even though...we can't completely ignore them either..."
"I agree...I don't know if it was really Aha the one behind this, he might have just lied to me, or he could've hide his real reasons, Aha seems like the kind that enjoys chaos...he said something about blowing up the Express before"
"I...Believe I heard the conductor say something about that a few times..." The adult man sighed tiredly before standing up. "Putting Aha's matter aside...do you feel...weird? Anything irregular?"
"No, besides feeling my body a little sore, I don't think there's anything wrong with me, Why?" Ryan asked a little worried while looking up at Welt.
"How...do I put this?"
...
"What will happen to Ryan, Mr.Yang?" Stelle asked a little worried.
Some time before, in Stargazer Navalia, Fu Xuan had arrived and immediately apprehended Kafka, who now had a pair of cuffs on her wrists forcing them behind her back, Stelle had the Unconscious March on her arms and the others surrounded the unconscious Ryan.
"I will be taking him" Fu Xuan spoke up. "I need to interrogate him, a being that completely avoided the Matrix's calculations is to be studied"
"I'm sorry Lady Fu Xuan, but this young man is with us, while he's not a part of the Express, he's our responsibility" Welt decided to speak up first.
The short woman remained silent for a few seconds. "...we'll take both of them to the Alchemy Commission, there, both will receive medical attention"
"Lady Fu Xuan, just take March 7th with you, I will take our companion to Petrichor Inn, he does not need medical attention, he just needs some rest, and when he wakes up, we'll join you" Welt burrowed his brows a little looking down at the woman.
"Do you really think I'd take advantage of the situation to study that guy?" She asked with a little scowl.
"Maybe..."
"You don't have any other motives, do you? After all, he didn't seem to be entirely controlled when he was attacking you..." Fu Xuan crossed her arms over her chest.
"Mr. Yang?" Serval looked at her Senior a little confused.
"I'd never do that, Lady Fu Xuan, It's just the truth, he does not require any medical attention...just rest"
".... Fine, we'll just take that girl, then I will take Kafka for interrogation, I have been notified by the general that you will be requested to be for her interrogation, so please, don't take too long"
"We won't, I promise" the adult man nodded before looking at Stelle and Serval. "Stelle, Serval, lm sorry to ask this of you two, but-"
"No need to worry, Mr. Yang" Serval cut him off with a little smile. "We'll handle everything on our own and keep in contact with you"
"Thank you, I'll be taking Ryan then"
Welt looked down at the unconscious boy and slowly kneeled down to pick him up in his arms.
"Good luck, you two"
...
"You wanted to be sure I wasn't still under Kafka's control?" Ryan took a hand to his chin.
"Not...precisely, I knew you wouldn't be under her control after waking up..." The Adult let out a soft sigh and sat down on the bed beside Ryan. "Tell me, Ryan, what is rhe last thing you remember?"
"I was fighting you while under Kafka's control, after you knocked me out with your cane, I don't remember anything else..."
"...Ryan, let me ask you something " the white-haired looked at him expectantly. "You said you desired to be separated from your nature, from Ace Chevalier...do you even understand how strong that desire is?"
"I...I don't think I understand, Mr Yang..."
"After I knocked you out, we didn't fight Kafka...we continued fighting you..." Welt spoke and Ryan kept himself silent for a few seconds.
"What are you saying Mr.Ya-" he soon stopped and looked to the front of the bed, a single drop of sweat going down his forehead.
Welt saw the boy looked somewhere else and he followed his eyes, seeing an empty spot in front of the bed. "Ryan...are you seeing him right now?"
"Mr.Yang...am I going insane? Because...I-I don't think he should be there..."
Ace Chevalier was standing right in front of the bed, his dead eyes staring directly at Ryan, the while the white-haired boy looked almost completely paralyzed by the sight, after all, there was no way for Ace Chevalier to be right in front of him.
"I feared it might come to this when you told me about your desire Ryan...." Welt let out a small sigh before standing. "Don't look at him, just look at me and breathe in and out slowly"
Ryan simply complied, looking at Welt while steadying his breaths. "Why...why am I seeing him?"
"The desire in one's heart might be stronger than one might realize, some people are able to trick both their mindy and body in certain ways, but you right now...it looks like you're forcing your subconscious, your strong desire to separate yourself from Ace Chevalier, it's happening, and I'm afraid it got to a point where it's not easily reversed, after I knocked you out, Ace Chevalier was the one who continued fighting us..." The adult's brows furrowed a little as he explained what had happened to Ryan. "What you're suffering right now could be called Dissociative Identity Disorder, and while I believe that what you're going through goes beyond that, for now, it's the closest explanation I have"
"How do I deal with it, Mr.Yang?" His breath was already steady, but he still didn't dare look back at where Ace Chevalier was.
"I'm afraid I don't know, while DiD has treatment, your situation might have a deeper meaning, I don't know how to properly treat you...but for the time being, you should rest"
"I understand..." The white-haired let out a small sigh. "I'll join the rest of you as soon as I-"
"No" The Adult cut him off suddenly. "Ryan, I'm sorry but you're not in condition to help us, we don't know when we could trigger Ace Chevalier, the best you could do now is not stress yourself and simply rest until we are done here, after that, we'll go to the Express and look for a way to help you"
"Is there really no way for me to help?"
"No, it'll be for the best if you just rest and relax, stroll around, eat something, if a situation gets out of hand and we need you, I'll let you know, but your main priority should not stress yourself, understood?" He asked and the white-haired boy nodded his head.
"Yes, I understand, Mr.Yang" he finally looked at the end of the bed, not seeing Ace anymore. "...Mr.Yang, when you fought Ace Chevalier...did someone get hurt?"
Welt remained silent for a little while before nodding his head. "March was hurt, she'll soon be fine, I heard that the healers of the Alchemy Commission are very efficient, but just like you, she needs rest"
"I see...I should apologize to her later..."
"Don't blame yourself, Ryan, it was a situation outside of your control, and even if it was Ace, at this point, it'd be accurate to say you two are already separate beings...I haven't told this to the others, they still believe you were all the time under Kafka's control" Welt's phone vibrated and he pulled it out, reading a message from Stelle. "Stelle and Serval told me March woke up, Kafka's interrogation should start in a few hours, I'll be heading to the Divination Commission"
"Could I at least not be kept in the dark about the situation?"
"I'll try to pass on you the information Ryan, thankfully, Petrichor Inn has phone chargers, so I put to charge yours while you slept...since it seems like you keep forgetting"
The white-haired sighed with some embarrassed. "Sorry...I'll try to remember next time"
As a response, Welt simply smiled and walked to the door opening it. "That's okay, you're still new to this universe, you'll eventually get used to this, after this, I'll buy you a pair of headphones, I believe you'll enjoy the music"
With those words, the adult left, leaving Ryan alone in the Inn's room, the white-haired raised an eyebrow at the words, slowly standing up he saw his phone on a table on the other side of the room, he approached and grabbed it.
"This thing...can play music?"
....
Jingliu narrowed her eyes underneath her eye cover, that man with the Cane had already left Petrichor Inn, so now the White-haired boy should be completely alone, and after confirming that, she pulled out her phone.
________________________________________
[Jingliu]
"Luocha, I believe the boy is alone now, should I take him to you too?"
[Luocha]
"I thought you were going to test him first?"
[Jingliu]
"I was going to, but I saw him fight already, he's not as strong as we expected, but his abilities are interesting"
[Luocha]
"I'd advise on being sure about his abilities, he might've not used all his strength, the woman in black clothes said that he has in his possession the power to kill a god"
"Have you managed to see said power?"
[Jingliu]
"I'm not entirely sure, but you're right, I'll test him and see if I can make him draw out that power"
"I'll let you know after I'm done"
[Luocha]
"👍"
________________________________________
It looks like with that last message the healer went back to his own work, and so, Jingliu would move on to hers as she saw the white-haired boy slowly walking out of Petrichor Inn, it hadn't been that long since the man left, so waiting for some time would be wise.
....
Ryan slowly walked out of a restaurant, thankfully the they had already been informed that the Sky-Faring commission was covering all their expenses so he didn't have to worry about paying...though he still felt kind of bad.
"When was the last time I had some proper food?..." He let out a small sigh before starting to walk.
Welt's words echoed in Ryan's head as he wandered, Relax, eat something, stroll around, he also said that he'd probably like this universe's music, he had never seen himself interested in any kind of art, but perhaps music would be a good starting point, but before he could plan out what he'd be doing first, the voice of a woman was directed to him from behind.
"Yeah, I believe now is the right time, young man"
Ryan turned around, and a hand immediately covered his mouth grabbing his face, Jingliu's hand tightly grabbed him, covering his mouth to stop him for letting out even the smallest sound, there were some people nearby, but she made sure to be quick, and in a single blink...She completely dissapeared alongside Ryan.
Jingliu's test had properly begun.
★ ★ ★
A/N:I believe this is officially my shortest Chapter so far, I could've probably done it longer, but I would've had to add some random filler that wouldn't have fit with the rest of the chapter and I prefer to reserve it for other ones, but well, Jingliu just snatched Ryan and he's officially fucked.
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed!