House of Amarin

Lia was back in the Misfits tower, sitting on her bed, leaning against multiple fluffy, big pillows while watching the first snowfall from her window. The Academy's nurses and healing mages quickly realigned her leg and fixed all of her injuries, but to avoid complications, she was told to rest for at least a few days. She was surprisingly silent while she was treated, and she rarely spoke, even when she was brought back to the tower.

"Lia?" Koa's voice came, her head sticking in from behind the door.

"Mh?" She turned towards her, wearing bandages around her body that were soaked in Ceiline's concoction to soothe any pains that may flare up. Even if magic had healed her bones, the mind might occasionally think it is broken until it adjusts.

"How are you?" She whispered, walking in, sitting on her bed, and gently caressing her face.

"Feeling weird." She answered honestly. "Weak… I know my leg is fixed, but I still feel as if it is broken, and it is hard to move around. But that will pass."

"..." Koa couldn't say anything, so she just nestled up against her, pulling Lia's face to her chest and continuing to caress her face.

"Hehe… I'm fine!" She giggled, which made Koa hug her even stronger… but she wasn't lying. She was truly fine. Her thoughts looked absent, and her expressions troubled not because of her defeat but because of Simbad's words uttered in their fight. She couldn't help but repeat them over and over in her head, falling into deep thoughts every time. "How's the rest?"

"Restless. Especially Aurora and Sion. They are planning something but would not tell me. Ceiline is fine; she is trying to keep an eye on Raufon and Keily because they also want to do something. I also don't know what because they were gone as soon as you were brought back! Geez! I can't believe that it looks like I am the adult among us sisters! Huh!"

"Hehehe~ You are!" Lia grinned at her, "What about the rest of the Misfits?"

"Well, they are also agitated, but they started working extra hard because of it. Our name received a bit of a chip to it now, but oh well! Not a big deal! The weirdest thing was not that…."

"Mh? What?" Lia looked up at her, confused.

"I went to see Lauron. Before even reaching him, he sent a message that he heard, looked at the records, and had a talk with that fuckface. But that is it."

"Koa!" Lia grumbled but with a grin, "Don't call him that!"

"You are too forgiving! He almost crippled you! Your spine was cracked!"

"But it is all good now!" Lia insisted.

"Yeah, you are still confined to bed for the next two to four days! I will come, feed you, bathe you! I am moving into your room; until then, Keily will swap with me! No questions asked!"

"Ooookaaaaay!" Lia nodded, yawning a little. Koa gave her a big kiss on the forehead before leaving, letting her rest. As soon as Lia was left alone, her somber expression returned, turning her mismatched eyes at the snowfall.

She was going over what happened in their fight, and even without the System's recording, she remembered every move they made. She replayed it multiple times, coming to the same conclusion: there was no way for her to win. Simbad was simply too strong. He was going to have an Honorary, meaning he was at the 5th Tier, a Speciali. Even with her fire, it was stupid to try and beat him.

"How strong would Olivia have been if she wasn't looking down on us? Or being hyperfocused on hurting me?" she murmured, but then she furrowed her eyebrows. "Simbad was not surprised by my fire. Olivia didn't know how to react." As she thought about it, her eyes traveled from the falling snowflakes to her hand, moving her fingers, summoning a tiny, blue flame before it dissipated. "He knew about it… from where?"

Leaning back on the pillows, she closed her eyes, thinking through everything once again. The fact that Simbad remained composed throughout their fight… his words to her. She wanted to call Lauron but ultimately decided against it and went to sleep, hearing Simbad's voice in her dreams. When she woke a few hours later, it was from a nightmare. She was leading the Misfits into a dungeon, finding ancient treasures and a weapon against the Undead. Yet when they tried bringing it out, they were surrounded by dozens of Undead. They were captured, one by one. Koadriana was turned into a flashy blob, birthing abominations. Aurora was transformed into a monster, sent to kill her brothers. Keily and Raufon became mindless husks, while Ceiline was made to turn a horde of animals into zombies. Only Sion resisted, but in the end, he was dismembered alive before Lia was also turned into one of them and then sent back to kill her own mother and father.

"Lia?" Koa woke next to her, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"K-koa?" Lia asked, her voice faltering, shaky, and she realized that tears were rolling down her face.

"Shh… It is fine… I am here!" Koa whispered as soon as she noticed her terrible look, holding her head, pulling Lia close immediately, "It was just a dream… it is okay… That jerk…"

"It was… Undead…” Lia sobbed, hugging back, "I led you into the Undead… everyone died… because of me…."

"Huh?" Koa flinched, thinking Lia was having a nightmare because of what Simbad did to her… but Undead? Where did they come from? "Undead?" She asked, noticing that Lia's temperature was slowly rising, probably a start of a fever.

"Um…" Lia nodded, rubbing her head against Koa's chest.

"Well… there are no Undeads here! So rest assured! Also, I don't think you would lead us to the Undead… Weeell... you are an Amarin, and so am I... So yeah, that could happen, now that I think about it! Anyway, if we come across any Undead, they should be the one who is afraid, not us!"

"..." Lia didn't say anything, just hugging her, making a vow inside that she would do better and not let it happen. "Koa…"

"Hm?"

"Tomorrow, call everyone here. Okay?

"Mh? Sure, but… why? You have a plan against that dickhead?"

"No." She shook her head, slowly letting go, sitting up with a wince, feeling her body to be in slight pain. "We could only beat him in a group battle. Us against him… and unlike Olivia, he is much more calculative. Maybe even stronger? I can't tell…."

"So what? We have numbers!"

"And you expect him to accept a one vs. six, not counting Ceiline?"

"Err… maybe! He may be really confident now that he beat you!" Koa said, pursing her lips.

"He won't be… Not if I am right."

"About what?"

"Nevermind!"

"Geez… I see; you are already better, huh?" Koa giggled, pulling on her cheeks, then she let go with a yelp. "You are burning!"

"Huh? Am I?" Lia asked, trying to feel it, but she couldn't notice anything bizarre.

"You have an extraordinarily high fever!" She summoned water immediately, wiping Lia's forehead, and watched it as it turned into white smoke. "This… This is not natural."

"I feel fine," Lia answered, confused.

"I was the same when I advanced…." Koa murmured, looking at Lia with amazement. This kind of heat was not because of her injury; it was her tribulation as fire was ravaging her body, burning away all impurities within. Yet Lia didn't even notice it was flaring up.

"Am I advancing?" She asked, getting excited, "Um… I can't tell… it is a bit hot in here, but… I feel fine! Mostly!"

"Tsk… for me, it was as if fire was running through my veins! I wanted to die!" Koa grumbled, seeing her taking it so effortlessly. "Geez! You are something! Jumping tiers like nothing, already becoming an Adepti! Huh! You are something!"

"Well… for a long time, when meditating, I was feeling like that. That is why I was stuck!" Lia tilted her head, sticking out her tongue, "Hehehe, I am going to be a Magi Adepti!"

"Now you can modify your plans accordingly~ Fufufufu~"

"Not really." Lia said calmly, "Just call everyone here tomorrow. I will explain."

…
….
……

When everyone was in the room the next day, Lia looked at them with a smile. Her face was blushed as she was still going through her tribulation, reaching the 4th Tier. Yet she didn't even feel it. All those years of trying to meditate and being unable to advance because her mana turned into lava in her body made it a breeze to get through the first tribulation.

"Stop everything you cooked up, and you were planning against Simbad," Lia said flatly, mainly looking at Aurora.

"We ain't planning anything!" Raufon said, crossing his arms, receiving Lia's flat glaze.

"It is true, Boss!" Keily nodded.

"Sure." Lia rolled her eyes, "If you do something, I'll kick you out!" She added, and her voice was firm, and they realized she wasn't joking. "You two, too!" She turned back to Aurora and Sion. "Stop whatever you want to do!"

"..." Aurora raised her hand, wanting to sign something, but then she just lowered it, watching her sister's eyes.

"I am serious!" Lia repeated again. "He did nothing wrong."

"Yeah, sure!" Sion argued, looking at the bandaged body of Lia, "If not for the healing magic, you would be in bed for years."

"And that would have been my fault!" Lia sighed, "If you want to blame somebody, blame me for challenging him when he was two tiers above me!"

"I do blame you, too." Aurora wrote, finding her words, "But I blame him more. He could have beaten you without torturing you."

"And I would have thought I would get him the next time." Lia countered, "I'm fine. The bandages are now soaked in Koa's water, cooling me."

"Cooling you?" Aurora signed then understanding dawned on her face.

"Teehee~!" Lia showed double V-signs with her fingers as everyone realized what was happening. "Anyway! I am not angry or anything, and, as your leader, I ORDER you all to stop any silly revenge plot!"

"I agree," Ceiline said, remaining silent so far. "Even if we gang up on him and beat him… that would not look good on us."

"We can take a loss! I can also take it!" Lia stood up, climbing out of bed, wearing a loose, white pajama. "Especially if it was because I acted stupidly! Tell everyone to return to their normal missions and continue as they were before! I lost. It happens! We won't pursue a matter, and that is all!"

"But…" Raufon and Keily said simultaneously, clearly indignant about what happened to her, to Aurora, and to Sion, wanting to teach Simbad a lesson.

"If you want to fight, expect some other groups challenging us now!" Lia smiled, showing her white teeth. "I bet there are some who will think now is the time. I thought a lot about what happened and remembered my Forefather's words; "Every lost battle is a lesson. I lost a lot when growing up, yet learning from them, I made it so I lose less and less." She said in a deeper voice before giggling, "And I think I learned a lot! Now… I'm hungry!" She clapped, slowly drawing a soft smile onto Aurora's face, who nodded towards Sion, signaling to drop whatever they were planning.

"But we already gathered the manure…." Raufon grumbled.

"The what?" Ceiline gawked as everyone turned to the two.

"We looked up where he lives." Keily explained, playing with his fingers, "We bought manure and planned to smear it against his house's walls and drop it on its roof…."

"Pft! Nyahahaha!" Lia laughed out loudly, her eyes twinkling, showing a thumbs up. "Nice! Don't do it! But nice!"

"I get that Keily is a kid, but…." Aurora wrote, watching Raufon, who just lowered his head, yet Sion was mouthing 'Great idea' towards them.

"Haaahh… I'll take it off you!" Ceiline moaned, rubbing her forehead, "I am in need of it anyway. "How much do you have?"

"A ton." They said in tandem, almost making Ceiline fall over.

"Well," Koa spoke up, who was silent so far, letting Lia talk, watching her constantly, holding a warm smile, "We can open up our own garden if we must. Your lab is getting small, no?" She switched topics, walking beside Ceiline, "We can start growing those new plants you mentioned~!"

"I guess…" Ceiline moaned, letting herself be led out of Lia's room.

"Come, you two too!" Koa said to the boys, "Help me make some food for breakfast, and then we can start building the garden! Keily can melt the snow, Raufon; you will upturn and soften the earth!"

"O-okay!" Keily and Raufon said at once, as not just them but everyone followed Koa to the ground floor in a much better mood than before.