It’s…weird, was all Lewis could think. The fact that so many people seemed to care about Simone’s well being. I don’t know if I like it, he said honestly. It was very overwhelming, and made Lewis feel almost claustrophobic. Yet, it was comforting all the same. He wondered if the feeling was supposed to be this way. Comforting, yet smothering.

“You all…are something else,” Lewis said. He looked around, and with a dead serious look in his eyes, said “It’s a shame I’ll have to kill you all.” The room got weirdly quiet, and Lewis looking around, almost confused. Did…did they not get the joke?

Rhenakos merely blinked, and shook his head. “….was…that…?”

Raile had already been shuffling towards the door. Meanwhile, Ayaa had put herself back into a corner, ready to defend herself if need be.

“It…was a joke,” Lewis said finally. “I made…I made a joke…”

Simone held a deadpan look on her face until he told the joke. For a moment, she let it hit the room before she started to laugh hard. She was actually hugging herself because it hurt. Simone was the only one laughing but perhaps she was the only one who got it because she could feel it.

Leilah already was calming down. “Lewis… Since when you make jokes?”

Simone cleared her eyes of some tears and smiled at them all, “We’ve made huge strides together. We did something called a dream dive. Where Lewis met the real me. It activated our resonance…” Her eyes flickered to Rhenakos. “You noticed when we were in Auclair. Lewis has been attempting to make jokes for some time. On and off.”

She patted Lewis on the head. Kali smirked a bit. “Our little Lewis is growing up and becoming a fine ass husband.” Kali slapped Lewis on his back and Simone had the air knocked out of her too. “Oh shit… That affects you both?”

Leilah tilted her head, “I had no idea you two were struggling to adapt.”

“Is it really that obvious?”

“Yes, eventually you’ll learn how to shut certain things off.” Leilah nodded.

“Did your mother tell you that?”

“Yes, but she wasn’t sure when. This is new for her too. She’s never done something like this before.”

“So I’m a science experiment… Oh well… I was aware of that,” Simone blinked a bit and smiled at Lewis.

Rhenakos had been the only one to catch the fact that Lewis had made a joke. Other than Simone, of course, but the fact that she was always in his head might have been a dead giveaway. Though, Lewis knew that Simone had been able to pick up the subtlety in the change of his emotion when he told the jokes. Evidently, she thought they were hysterical.

It took a moment for the rest of the room to calm down from the ‘joke’, but once they did it turned into a conversation about how the resonance worked. It was a whole new type of magic that even the Goddess of Life and Love admitted was a grand experiment. Lewis wasn’t too keen on being a lab rat, but the reality was that Lady Angela had saved them.

“We can put up with a few exams,” Lewis said as he smiled back at Simone.

Raile looked to the side. “Right…a few exams.” There was a tell in his voice, one that spoke of many tortuous examinations. The reality was, that when he asked for the blood of a rosenite, Angela subjected him to far more tests than he would ever have expected. And this was a [i[known process. The merchant couldn’t possibly grasp how much was about to happen to the poor couple sitting across from him. “You have my condolences…”

Lewis cocked his head to the side curiously when Raile said that. “…condolences?” Was this a joke as well? He wasn’t sure, and didn’t know how to take that. In the end, he assumed it had to be. Right? Lady Angela couldn’t be that bad.

Simone took Lewis’s hand and smiled at him as he spoke about the exams. “Yeah, we can put up with a few.”

Leilah was looking at Raile and nodded, “I don’t think you understand what you signed up for.” She wanted to warn them. “My mother’s new husband used to call her the Redheaded Devil. You never knew what you were getting yourself into with her. She’ll be doing examinations on you until you die because she’s never done anything like this before.”

The blood drained from Simone’s face as she looked at Lewis. “But she seems so nice.”

“My mother is very nice but she is also a scientist. It drives her. You saw what she does to Raine. Plucking out her feathers to use them. Again, my stepfather used to hate dealing with her. She is a wild card and her intentions aren’t always as pure as they seem. You can trust her if she gives you her word but… Be wary of what her end game could be for certain people. She likes to make her problems disappear.” There was darkness in her eyes. “What she does to them I’m not sure. It takes a while to actually make her that upset though. My stepfather is a… Well the best way to say it is he is a mob boss from Kurayo. No super good woman would have married a man like that. She looks the other way and he lets her do what she wants.” Leilah finally took a breath.

“We were at their wedding. He threatened everyone if someone so much as thought about ruining the wedding that he would kill us regardless of blood ties.” Kalina spoke.

“Wow, Angela is married to that scary of a man?” Simone blinked.

“They call him the Dark Kaiser for a reason.” Kalina nodded. “Our mother is a good person but even she has… quirks.”

Raile nodded in agreement at all of Leilah’s statements. It was true that the goddess was quite the shady person when she wanted to be. For the most part, Raile’s deal was less scientific and more a “wedding” gift for him, Leilah, and Kalina. So, he more or less lucked out in the end. For Simone and Lewis though, their life had come at a cost.

Lewis shrugged at all of the information. “I was willing to go against one God for the sake of Simone. If she tries to make us disappear, I’ll simply fight back.” That was a threat all his own.

“I doubt she’ll go that far,” Raile said with a nervous laugh. “Your devotion to Simone is more than enough to keep you in her good graces. And her studies will help you in the long run. She wants this to succeed, for both medical and emotional reasons. After all, she created a life.”

Rhenakos smirked, “Does that make her your mother?”

Ayaa was still silent. They were all talking about the gods. It was a Goddess that had destroyed the guild. It was a powerful God who had swayed Lewis’ heart down the path of death. There was still an anger in her own heart over what the Gods had wrought. Lady Angela…Lord Raith…Lady Sironia. They held so much power over the world….

Simone smiled towards Rhenakos, “She’s been trying to get me to call her mother. It’s been a struggle to get her to accept that my mother died a very long time ago so it’s weird for me.” She chuckled a bit. “Angela is fully invested in my happiness. Supposedly she wasn’t sleeping at night to work on the curse. Raine was almost pulling her feathers out trying to get the workaholic to rest.”

Leilah chuckled a bit, “That sounds like her. My brother is always on his toes trying to keep her in check. I won’t lie when I say my mother doesn’t have favorites. She absolutely plays favorites with some of us. My brother Lucian and his twin sister Nerezza are two of them. Lucian is currently the king of the Red Court back home and Nerezza is his adviser. Nerezza is also one of the first ones to give her a grandchild who was attached to mother’s hip. Emmy is a treasure but… she can be a little monster when she wants to be.”

They talked for the better part of the night before Simone and Lewis helped Leilah up to leave. “Thank you for coming to visit us…” It actually wasn’t all that bad… Simone rubbed Aaya’s head of hair and gave her a nice smile. “Thank you for not saying anything.” She whispered to the girl before letting her go.

“I think Simone likes you Aaya. She’s never whispered to us before,” Leilah seemed excited over that. “It’s good for her to have someone other than Lewis. Especially now since they are the same person.”

The night seemed to slip by them, and soon they all realized just how late it was. As the rest of the group started to leave, Lewis couldn’t help but overhear Leilah speaking to Ayaa. He put it in the back of his mind for the time being, and instead focused on Simone as they said their goodbyes. The moment the door shut, Lewis let out a heavy sigh.

“It wasn’t bad,” he said with a half smile. “But it was draining.” He yawned, and stretched. Without waiting for permission, he pulled Simone onto the couch, and laid his head into her lap. Staring up at her, he let out one of the rare, true smiles he had. “We have…friends? We have each other…” It was hard to really wrap his head around, but…

They spent some time like this before heading up to bed. Soon, Lewis felt Simone drift off to sleep. The assassin wasn’t tired yet, though. He looked down at his sleeping wife with a sad smile. They were one. But that meant that Simone might get lonely. Dala wasn’t anywhere near, and she had been her only real friend.

I wonder… Lewis closed his eyes, and held his breath. It was hard to do, but he could feel the resonance split. It was a bit of a struggle to maintain it, but at least on a surface level, his thoughts weren’t being sent directly to Simone. As a test… Simone? Wake up. Usually, that worked. Yet, now, Simone kept sleeping.

So I can temporarily cut the resonance. That’s…useful. Lewis smirked. He had a plan…

With the resonance still cut, LEwis got out of bed and snuck off into Jayou. It wasn’t long before he was standing over a sleeping girl with blond hair. Ayaa.

“Hey. Wake up,” Lewis said with his dull tone.

Ayaa groaned, and opened her eyes. At once, they went wide, and she almost screamed. Lewis put his hand over her mouth, and shook his head.

“Shh. I’m not here to hurt you. I want to talk about….about Simone.”

At once, Ayaa stopped struggling, and Lewis removed his hand.

“W-what about her?” Ayaa asked. Was this it? Was Lewis about to kill her over the woman?

“I…want you to be her friend. And ask her out to do something.” Lewis was dead serious.

Ayaa blinked. “…what? I…that’s…that’s not how friends work, Lewis. You can’t just make someone a friend, and-”

Lewis glared at Ayaa. “You want to change that tone?”

“Shut up and listen,” Ayaa snapped. “It’s hard for me to just ‘be’ her friend…but…I do like her,” she said after a moment. “But she seems sad. And I don’t like that…” The girl looked at Lewis with an almost knowing look. “And I know you don’t either. Despite the way you act all the time. I can’t promise anything, but…I’ll at least see if she wants to get out of the house every so often.”

The assassin thought about it for a moment. “Fine…” He turned and started for the window.

“Lewis,” Ayaa said before he left.

“What?”

“…I don’t like you. In fact. I hate everything you stand for, but…” She paused. “Even you deserve some kind of happiness though…and so does she. So…I promise I’ll try my best.”

Lewis looked back at Ayaa, almost confused. “…thanks…”

Ayaa watched as the assassin disappeared out of the window, and let out a sigh. “Oh…why the hell did I say that!?”

Night turned into morning, and Ayaa left the shop and headed towards the Terrowin residence. It was in a nice part of town, but the girl still saw children who were down and out on their luck playing in the alleys. It hurt her soul, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Instead, she focused on the task at hand.

“Simone?” Ayaa asked as she knocked at the door. “Are you home?” She wondered if Simone would even want to go out. Especially with her.

Simone took her time answering the door but there was clearly someone inside the house from the shuffling of boxes. “Sorry!” The door finally opened to a pristine-looking Simone. She always looked her best. “I was cooking food. Do you want some?” She was eyeing Aaya curiously. She didn’t know much about the blonde-haired woman in front of her. Just that she helped Raile.

Taking one look at Simone and she looked like a regular everyday housewife. The way her hair was tied back, the modest clothing… She didn’t look like the wife of an assassin. “Come in.” Matter of fact, Simone looked… Plain. Her big lively stormy eyes weren’t anything spectacular unless you were Lewis who could notice the vivid blues.

“I was moving boxes and found the box with the poisons. I got my arm pretty good. Lewis is cussing at me to be careful,” Simone was keeping her sleeve down and laughed. “It’s almost healed now though. Perks of not being human anymore I guess.” She paused and looked back at Aaya, "If you are looking for Raile he isn't here. It's just me."

“O-oh, sure…” Ayaa was caught off guard at how casual Simone was acting. And how casual she looked. Even Ayaa, who felt as though she were plain as day, felt more dressed up in her black, a line dress and petticoat. At least, that’s what Ayaa thought. The older she got, though, the more she noticed men staring at her. It almost made her want to shift back into Xeik, but she couldn’t. Not here.

Besides… living as Xeik was too painful.

Ayaa pushed the thoughts back and instead focused on Simone. She stepped inside at the invitation and looked around. It hadn’t even been a full day and already the town house was looking clean and tidied. Simone was a hard worker, indeed.

“Thank you, Simone,” Ayaa said as she noticed the wound on Simone’s arm. “Oh…what happened there?” Without waiting for Simone’s permission, Ayaa lightly took her arm to examine the wound. The girl was far from a specialist when it came to healing, but she knew a few basic spells and treatments. “Here…let me…” Ayaa took a look at the wound. It was a rather potent toxin that had hit her, but Lewis was right…it wasn’t anything dangerous to her. Still…

Ayaa reached into her pack and pulled out a wrap. It didn’t take her long to tend to the minor wound, and smiled. “Even if it heals quickly, it’s still better to take care of the wound.” Ayaa smiled. “I’m not here for Raile. I’m here for you, Simone. Let’s go on a date!” It was weird asking Simone, but when it came down to it, it felt almost natural for her to ask. She wondered how Simone would respond, though…

The moment that the healing magic touching Simone there were sparks of blue magic that jumped at Aaya. It didn’t hurt but it felt warm. There was a calming feeling between the two of them. “Thank you.”

Simone was a bit taken back by Aaya at first and she chuckled. “I would like that. Help me real quick with these last few boxes?” They were personal possessions of hers. Angela had gifted them a portrait from their original wedding. Lewis was looking gloomy and Simone was smiling at him. It made Simone smile. “Where should we hang this?”

To everyone, it would look like Lewis regretted his marriage but that wasn’t it. It was one of the last few days he had had with Simone. “He let me marry him since I was going to die.” She spoke up not wanting Aaya to get confused about the picture. “Lewis was arguing with himself about letting it happen. He had promised me…” She fingered Lewis’s face lovingly and smiled. “It happened for the best I think. Now we are together for the rest of our long lives. Instead of the short lives we had been given. It’s just going to take adjusting to it.”

Once they were unpacked she made a list of everything they would need for the house. Simone was meticulous and kept up to date on everything they would need. “I’m sorry Aaya. This must be so boring for you.”