"Sure thing Cas…" He replied with a smile.
Cassie nodded, then raised an eyebrow, "but that doesn't explain why you're going the extra mile for us"
He sighed and spoke calmly.
"If a ball is rolling down a straight predetermined line, and all of a sudden, there's interference, what do you think happens to the ball?"
"It strays off course.." She answered.
"That's right… and if anything happens to that ball along the new course, the fault lies with the interference"
He took a breath.
"Ever since I was aware of the future, I automatically became that interference, and the more I change, the more the ball goes off course, and now the future becomes unknown, and possibly more dangerous… so as it's my fault, I have to take responsibility"
Cassie caressed his hand, "it's not your fault… and we can handle whatever the future holds, together…"
She looked him in the eye.
"So promise me… promise me that you won't ever sacrifice yourself for us"
He smiled softly and held out his pinky finger, she took it with hers, and he declared.
"I promise…"
His words sounded clear and precise, however his other hand behind him, hidden from Cassie's view, had their fingers crossed.
'I'm sorry Cas… I can't make that promise, not when I don't know what the future holds, if I ever begin to lose myself, or if CW pulls something unexpected, I won't hesitate to destroy myself to stop him, this is my last resolve… I'll rather die than be used against my will to cause harm'
He smiled and said to her.
"You too Cas… don't go sacrificing yourself for others"
"Alright… this officially marks our first promise" She smiled.
"So then, tell me more about yourself" He asked.
Cassie started talking, she told him a few things about herself, they talked and chatted fondly, during that period, they also ate the remaining ice cream, and got to know each other better.
By the end of their discussion, he and Cassie were practically inches apart, her head resting on his shoulders, as his hand held hers.
"This really is peaceful, being away from the great clan's problems, being free from the effects of my flaw, and just spending time with you is the best memory I've had since we met at the academy" Cassie said in a soft voice.
He coughed slightly and said in an apologetic tone.
"Yeah… about the academy and the forgotten shore, I'm sorry about how I treated you, I was subconsciously matching your image with the one from the other future…"
"I may not have liked your counterpart, however after coming to know you, it's different now"
Cassie smiled and asked.
"So… you didn't like my counterpart, how about me?"
"It's different now…" he said in a flat voice.
She looked up from his shoulder and asked in a teasing voice.
"Oh~ how's different"
He shot her a deadpan look, then smiled.
"I like this you… tho you really should stop picking up bad habits, first it's cursing from me, now you've even imitated Effie… tsk, tsk, tsk… where has my Cassie gone"
She chuckled and said.
"I thought you wouldn't admit it…"
He raised an eyebrow.
"That's your goal?… pretty plain don't you think?"
"I'm not like Neph, I could tell, since from the forgotten shore" Cassie smiled.
He smiled, "Well Sunny's pretty dense too" then he smiled teasingly.
"You should probably deal with yourself first, you're beet red"
Cassie's eyes widened as she hurriedly turned around, he inched closer and said, his voice low like a whisper.
"Oh~ What's that Cas, you're so red, do you maybe have a fever~"
She coughed lightly and replied.
"I'm fine…"
He let her calm herself, and take calming breaths then after a while, she turned around.
"Thanks again Merlin… We should probably get back now before they think some 'unknown' guy kidnapped Lady Song of the fallen"
He chuckled, "In a few weeks, I won't be unknown anymore…"
"Speaking of… Valor will soon officially announce the addition of Neph and the firekeepers to their ranks" Cassie said.
"I'm guessing Song will do the same too, after all, Merlin joined them too… ah, speaking of that, I have a strange question" He turned to face her.
"What?" She tilted her head.
"You see, the thing is, I kind of split myself into two people, one being Merlin that's currently with Song, and the second being me, or rather the me who came to pick you up" he explained.
"So? What's the problem?" She asked.
"Merlin and I decided to live completely different lives, so, he wanted to ask, whether he had the permission to… cough… ask out… cough… anyone from the Song domain" he completed.
Cassie thought for a moment, then said calmly.
"No"
He nodded.
"I'll tell him then…"
"Huh? Just like that?" Cassie spoke, confused.
"You said no right?" He tilted his head.
She chuckled and said.
"I was just joking, I didn't expect you to accept so easily…"
"So?" He raised an eyebrow.
"It's alright Merlin, he can do whatever he wants, after all, you're living two different lives" then she smiled teasingly "though… why did you decide based on my opinion~"
He rolled his eyes.
"Get up Lady Song of the fallen, I don't want my new identity being associated as a kidnapper"
She smiled and didn't push him further.
"Alright… I guess it's time to go, this was really fun"
"It helped me a lot too" he stood up and helped her up.
She turned to him and asked.
"Because of your flaw?"
"Yeah" he nodded.
"Merlin…" she started "Can you tell me what your flaw is, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, it's just that, we all know each other's flaws in the cohort, even if Sunny hasn't said his, everyone already know what it is… but no one has any idea what your flaw is, we only have speculations"
He tilted his head, then he remembered, he hadn't told them the details of his flaw.
"Ah, about that, my flaw is 'Apathy'... It simply means the stronger I get, the more of my humanity I lose, though that is normal for everyone, in my case, the amount of humanity lost is double or even more"
"I understand…" Cassie nodded "So you just have to experience more human moments to keep it in check right?"
"Yeah…" he nodded.
"That's good to know, we should go on more outings like this, and let's include the whole cohort sometime" She suggested.
"Sure…" he nodded as they started walking.
After a while, they returned to the spirit world, before he dropped her off at the Chainbreaker. He bid her goodbye, then he returned to the Spirit World, then to his soul sea.
As he arrived, he summoned the cloak, and snapped his finger, and the landscape returned to its normal gray fog filled look, with the cloak still on, he thought for a few seconds, then he decided to try something.
He reached into the historical void, then pulled out the projection of Cassie from a few minutes ago, the familiar projection appeared in front of him, its eyes hollow.
Then a second later, the hollow eyes gained light of consciousness, he was slightly surprised, immediately, the projection spoke.
"Merlin? How am I here, but I'm still in the Chainbreaker"
He thought for a moment, then decided to push the thought back as he felt his essence diminishing, he smiled and said.
"Final goodbye…" then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.
Before Cassie's projection could even process what happened, he dismissed the projection with a smug smile. After he dismissed it, he recalled the thoughts he put away, from his understanding, the reason Cassie was able to affect her projection, was probably because her powers worked like a hive mind of some sort, so when he pulled her projection, she was able to connect to the free channel, effectively splitting her consciousness.
'That's cool, I just wanted to take a picture with the projection since I forgot, but who knew it'll work like this….'
He sighed and checked his essence reserves, seeing it was low, he returned to the castle and checked on Silver, seeing her and Ariel at home, he nodded and left his soul sea, before returning to his home.
…
Kido was currently standing outside Lady Cassie's door, she was here to give her report on the status of the tree that stood on the deck of the Chainbreaker, and also on the status of her artificers.
However, after knocking a few times, she still hadn't received an answer, and that was odd, usually, whenever she needed to see Lady Cassie, she would receive a reply even before she had the chance to knock.
But this time, she had received no answer, she was worried, this was the first time this had happened, and the only notable difference between today and other days, was the fact that Lady Cassie had an unknown visitor, Jayson was the name he introduced himself with.
Her mind ran many thoughts concerning what may have happened between the unknown visitor and Lady Cassie, and whatever the case was, it wasn't looking good.
'What if he was an assassin?'
'What if he kidnapped Lady Cassie?'
'What if he used one of his abilities on her?'
She thought of many things, however even with those numerous thoughts, she never once considered that they were romantically involved, after all, that was Lady Cassie, Song of the fallen.
In Valor, and even within the Firekeepers, many have admired her beauty, however none of them had dared sum up the courage to approach her.
Lady Cassie was the second in command of Lady Changing Star, one of the strongest Ascendeds in existence, and not only that, she was part of their cohort of powerful Ascendeds, so no one was that brave to risk their life.
And for that reason, she never considered the romantic aspect of their meeting, after all, that was a nameless ascended, although he was able to arrive unannounced on the Chainbreaker, the fact that he wasn't known was a huge downgrade, and even if he was famous, the legacies of Valor hadn't had any chance, so it would be same with him.
She was leaning heavily to the fact that she had been kidnapped, since he had been able to appear out of thin air, who knew if he could just take Lady Cassie and disappear into thin air too.
She decided to knock once more, and if there was no reply, she would call for others, and they would go search for Lady Cassie.
As she approached the door, just as she was about to knock, she heard the smooth, calm voice of Lady Cassie.
"You can come in Kido"
She heaved a sigh of relief as she opened the door and walked in.
"Excuse me Lady Cassie…"
As she walked in, she was shocked by the sight she was witnessing, Lady Cassie was smiling, and not the polite smile she used to talk to others, this was a more girly smile.
'He's not here…' she silently noted.
As if reading her thoughts, Lady Cassie spoke.
"Jayson has already returned… I'm guessing you're here for the reports"
She nodded and handed over the reports, just as Lady Cassie was about to take it, she immediately flinched, then she heard her mutter a word.
"Jayson?"
She raised an eyebrow as she stared at Lady Cassie, but the latter's eyes seemed to be unfocused as if she wasn't fully here.
The condition only lasted for a few seconds until Lady Cassie seemed to snap out of it, however her condition after was an unforgettable one.
Lady Cassie was red, blushing all the way to her ears, as one of her hands rested on her forehead.
She kept a straight face, even as her thoughts ran another series of thoughts, all pointing to the romantic aspect she had previously ignored earlier.
'That makes sense… First she meets him alone, then she's not able to answer the door, and she's blushing with a girly smile… does that mean…'
She didn't complete the thought as Lady Cassie coughed and interrupted her reverie.
"Thank you for the report… you may leave" Lady Cassie said in a bright voice.
"Alright…" She nodded and left the office as her train of thoughts resumed.
After numerous thoughts, she decided that she couldn't process it all alone, she needed an extra set of thoughts, and so she decided to share her newest discoveries with a few of her trusted friends.
And safe to say, their ideas weren't enough to comprehend it, so a few more trusted friends were called in, and by the end of the week, Lady Cassie's mysterious lover had become the topic of the Firekeepers.
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A/N— I'll upload two chapters for the next five days, then I'll continue as usual...
My schedule's been hectic because of work...
I'll try to drop chapters regularly....
Sorry for the very long Haitus...
This isn't dropped so please don't worry