A one-hour journey is all it took and they were at the golden cloud town; it was busy as usual being that it was the biggest town on the outer area.
Luicien and Victoria made their way through the bustling streets, Luicien looked over at Victoria and instantly knew something was off.
She hasn't said a single thing since we got here and her face it looks dead?
"You doing ok there Victoria?".
Victoria jumped out of her skin a little, almost as if she weren't present in the world, but more lost in her own thoughts.
"Yea-".
Before she could say anymore, they both came to a stop as they were outside Victorias parent's house. Victoria got a scared look as she continued to talk.
"It's just you're aware of my family, correct? You know what happened?".
Luicien looked at her slightly confused.
"You mean you're mum? Former captain Mrs Osuna and how she became ill?".
Victoria nodded.
"Yea which is the reason we originally moved here back then. Just try not to be judgemental? Please".
Luicien stared at her for a moment, seeing that she was shaking.
You don't need to be an empath to see how worried she is, but why? I already know what happened.
Luicien pulled her in for a hug, to comfort her.
"Don't worry, you have my word I won't judge".
Victorias shaking subsided.
"Thank you, Luicien".
They untangled their arms, faced the front door and made their way up to it.
A quick knock on it, was followed by some quick footsteps.
A man in his mid 40's answered the door, he had the same colour hair as Victoria but didn't look anything like her, with a bridged type of nose as well as a face that looked like it worked hard. His diamond-like eyes were hard to miss, other than that he had only basic clothes on.
"Victoria! You're here".
He pulled her in for a tight squezze.
"Hi dad, its good to see you too".
Victoria replied awkwardly, not hugging him in return.
The man turned to Luicien while letting go of Victoria.
"And you must be Luicien, Victoria talks about you alot".
Victorias dad said, extending his hand out for a hand shake.
Victoria became a little embrassed.
"DAD!".
Victoria said, as her cheeks started to heat up and go red.
Luicien grabbed his hand firmly.
"Wait she does?".
A smile was forcing itself on Luiciens mouth, but he was trying to fight it down.
"All good things of course and wow what a firm hand grip you have".
Said Victorias dad.
"Thank you, Mr Osuna".
Luicien said while the pride basically gleamed off him.
Victorias dad started to flap his hand around.
"No need for formalities, call me Lance".
Luicien was about to speak but before she could another voice came from in the house.
"Dear, who's at the door".
Victorias dad, Lance looked back.
"It's Victoria, hunny".
The voice spoke again.
"Victorias here??! Let me come to the front door to say hi".
"It's ok mum I'll come to you, stay there".
Said Victoria as she entered the house.
Lance waved his hand, in his own direction as to invite Luicien in.
"Make yourself at home Luicien, I'll fix us up some tea".
He hurried along to what Luicien assumed was the kitchen.
Luicien entered the home, taking off his shoes. Once he had entered the front room, he picked up on a scent of vanilla. It also had sets of places to sit, both holding up to a couple of people, other than that it was of simple design, as the walls were only a white colour.
Victoria was already in a embrace with the women who she called mum. She stood shorter than Victoria, with a long wire going from her nose to an oxygen machine that was noisy, something Luicien had picked up on.
Aside from hair and height these two could be identical.
Luicien thought, as he stared at both Victoria and her mum.
Victorias mum looked toward Luicien.
"You must be Luicien, it's good to finally meet you".
Her voice was very calming to listen to, almost heavenly like.
Luicien became slightly flustered.
"It's truly an honour to meet you Mrs Osuna, I think it's amazing you're a former captain".
He seemed to stutter a bit.
She spoke in a gentle voice.
"Thank you, my name is Dusk, you don't have to be formal around us, as far as we're concerned, you're welcome here."
Lance came back through, announcing tea was ready. Himself and Dusk sat on one set of chairs, while Luicien and Victoria sat on the other, next to each other.
"So, Dusk what was it like being a captain?".
Luicien asked curiously.
She took of sip of tea and then said.
"It was some of the best years, I had a soulless kill count of one hundred and fifty".
Luicien's mouth dropped.
"That's amazing!".
Dusk laughed but without opening her mouth.
"Thank you, unfortunately due to the illness mana poison I'm out of action now".
Luicien looked as if someone had told him the world were going to explode.
"Mana poisoning? What's that?".
"Mana poison is an illness only human mages, to put it into regular human terms it's like asthma but slightly worse. If a person with asthma runs and doesn't have any medication to help, they can't breathe.".
She took a sip tea to help clear her throat.
"Mages with mana poison can't use magic without suffering physically, especially with powerful spells. If they overdo it, well they end up like me. Luckily Victoria doesn't have it as bad, she can use simple spells without anything happening it's only when she uses powerful spells it affects her".
Victorias face darkened, trying to not to let anyone see her expression.
Luicien looked as if someone had slapped him.
Victorias has this illness?! Why didn't she tell me? This explains everything, including the coughing.
"I see".
Is the only thing he was able to say.
The convo moved forward quickly, however the only Luicien could think about was how Victoria had been hiding this from him. The whole visit Victoria remained silent.
A couple of minutes soon turned into hours.
Victorias parents saw them both to the door.
"Thank you for coming and Luicien you're always welcome here".
Said Lance, as he closed the door.
Luicien and Victoria walked to Luiciens motorbike.
"How come you never told me you had mana poisoning before?".
He asked, His voice was a bit quieter than usual.
Victoria didn't answer right away, as she was too scared to answer it seemed.
"I was scared you might judge me or see me as weak".
Luicien put both his hands on both of Victoria's arms.
"Victoria you're the strongest person I know, after all you're a squad leader. Let's make a promise to each other, to always be honest with honest with each other".
Victorias eyes met with Luiciens.
"I promise Luicien, always and forever".