[Third Person's PoV]
Gamma was walking back to her main office, humming happily and lost in thought.
'Although Lord Husband doesn't say it, I can see that he doesn't really trust me to hold baby Celeste... None of them do,' Gamma thought with a pout. 'I wouldn't drop her. I admit I'm a bit clumsy, but not so much that I would drop—'
"Waaaaah!" Gamma cried out as she tripped on nothing, her arms flailing. As if in slow motion, she saw a knife enhanced by magic slice through her witch hat, splitting it in half as it floated to the ground.
Gamma heard someone click their tongue. "Tsk, she's quick. Lucky."
But Gamma didn't care about that or the fact that she detected more intruders. She stared at her witch hat with a lifeless look in her eyes. "My hat," she faintly mumbled as she pushed herself up into a sitting position from flat on the ground.
With shaky hands, she reached out and held the two pieces in her hands.
The person who threw the knife was hanging upside down from the ceiling, holding two more knives and preparing to throw them. Dressed in dark clothes that covered his mouth and nose, he left only his eyes and the rest of his head exposed.
Others then appeared, crashing through the windows with a loud shattering noise, each looking like a professionally trained assassin.
A single tear ran down Gamma's cheek as she held the hat close to her.
Just as the person above was about to throw the daggers and the others prepared to attack, they all felt it.
Bloodlust.
Bloodlust like they had never felt before. Everyone started to sweat and gasp for air as Gamma slowly stood up, still looking down at her ripped witch hat. It held a lot of sentimental value to her, as it was a gift from her husband, the man she treasured most in the world.
When she was at her lowest and felt useless, he gave her that hat as reassurance. It was the first truly personal gift Cid had given her.
Gamma stood like a woman possessed. When she looked back at the intruders, they felt a shiver down their spines. Her face was devoid of emotion, and her dragon eyes, coupled with the single tear staining her cheek, made for a terrifying contrast.
Gamma extended a hand. "What are you lowlifes still standing there for… Kneel down," she coldly commanded while making a swiping motion with her hand.
The man hanging upside down, the cause of Gamma's emotional distress, came crashing down, embedding himself in the tiles. The others weren't faring any better. Their faces were pressed against the floor, unable to move as they felt the gravity around them multiply, causing them to grunt and groan as they tried to lift themselves but couldn't.
Gamma made another swiping motion, but this time she motioned upwards, causing the attackers' bodies to move without their command. They flew up, embedding themselves against the ceiling. Gamma repeated the motion, sending their bodies crashing against the floor and ceiling repeatedly. Blood stained the surfaces as their bodies were battered by her relentless control.
With cold, uncaring eyes, Gamma watched the brutal display, her focus shifting solely to the one who had thrown the knives earlier. While the others lay unconscious on the floor, she willed the perpetrator closer. She placed him on the ground, glaring at his unconscious figure with disdain.
Gamma pointed two fingers from each hand towards his sides, small purple balls of gravity forming at the tips. She fired them slowly, watching as his skin twisted and tore apart, the balls digging towards his liver.
The man's eyes snapped open, and he let out an excruciating scream, clutching his sides. "AAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHH PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! IT HURTS!"
The pain was so overwhelming that it forced him in and out of consciousness, an endless cycle of agony. Gamma watched with hidden glee as he writhed, feeling as though the weight of the world was crushing his liver. He vomited from the pain, causing Gamma to smirk, but the smirk disappeared as she felt a presence behind her.
With quivering lips, she turned to see Cid standing there, concern in his eyes. "What's wrong?"
Those two words opened the floodgates Gamma had been holding back. She plopped to the ground, tears rolling down her face as she began to sob. Her words were incomprehensible, but her actions were not. She pointed to the dead bodies and then lifted up her broken hat. Holding a piece of the hat in each hand, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, creating a heartbreaking scene that Cid couldn't bear to see.
With a small sigh and a loving expression, Cid knelt down, kissed her forehead, and picked her up in a princess carry. "Let's go, my little big baby," he teased, trying to lighten her mood.
Gamma wrapped her arms around Cid's neck, her head pressed against his. She let out little sniffles as Cid walked towards her private office. As he walked away, his shadow extended back, revealing purple glowing eyes as he gave his command.
'Don't let their souls escape… they made my wife cry… they don't deserve the mercy of the afterlife… Make my Shadow Dimension into their own personal hell and teach them the errors of their ways.'
'As you command, my lord,' they answered in unison, their tones serious before closing their eyes and shrinking back to normal size.
As Cid entered Gamma's office, he sat down in her main chair, placing Gamma on his lap. He held her gently, comforting her as she continued to cry, her broken hat pieces clutched tightly in her hands.
Cid motioned for her to hand him the pieces, which she did. As they rested in his hand, he used his magic abilities to slowly fix them, returning the hat to its original state.
Cid then held her chin and gently turned her tear-stained face towards him. He placed the witch hat back on her head and gave her a light peck on the nose.
"There, my little witch is now back to her beautiful self," he teased.
Gamma blushed and pulled the hat down to cover her face, but the charming smile on her lips was unmistakable.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Cid made her look at him once more and started to wipe her tears with his thumb.
"I get that the hat means a lot to you, Gamma, I truly do, but I don't want to see my little wife crying like that again, got it?" Cid said with a small, loving smile.
Gamma shook her head. "It wasn't entirely about the hat. Yes, the hat being destroyed was a big part of it, but… Before it was destroyed, I was thinking about how you nor anyone else seemed to trust me holding baby Celeste. And when I was thinking that, I ended up tripping again—"
"Phttt," Cid covered his mouth and looked away.
Gamma looked at Cid, pouting, her cheeks a bit inflated.
"I'm sorry, but even you have to admit it was a bit comical," Cid said with a teasing smirk.
Gamma let out a little chuckle. "I guess you're right…"
Her chuckling turned into a sad smile as she continued, "Then as I was thinking that, I ended up tripping, and my hat got destroyed because of it. I immediately asked myself, what if that was Celeste in my hand at that time?"
Gamma held her arms, a frightened look in her eyes. "As you know, this hat is something I hold dear, and I let it get destroyed. What if it was Celeste I was holding… I—I… I don't even want to think about it."
Cid wrapped his arms around Gamma in a comforting embrace and kissed the side of her head. "My cute little clumsy elf, please don't think about that. You're only tormenting yourself. Plus, I know for a fact you wouldn't have let that happen to her. You underestimate yourself too much. Yes, you're clumsy to the point it's almost unbelievable, but you would never put someone in danger. That I can guarantee."
Gamma rested her head on Cid's shoulder and let out a sigh as her tensed shoulders relaxed. She gave Cid a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you… Thank you for having such faith in me…"
Cid turned towards her and smiled with a playful scoff. "I'm your husband. If I don't have faith in you, then who will?"
Gamma let out a little giggle before smiling brightly and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you… Thank you for being my husband."
Cid chuckled and returned her hug. "I love you as well, and thank you for being my clumsy little wife."
I'm going to die alone bro. I can't believe my own chapter made feel depressed :(
[Third Person's PoV]
After Cid finished comforting Gamma, they both let out a sigh as they detected more people coming their way with killing intent.
Cid looked towards Gamma teasingly, "Looks like someone really wants you dead… Luna~" he said, using Gamma's alias.
Gamma started to pout and grew angry, "Those idiots, how dare they disrupt my time with my husband."
Cid looked at Gamma in amusement, "You can send the other members to take care of it, you know."
Gamma let out a sigh and shook her head, "As much as I would like to, I can't grow lazy and push everything up to them. They're already making sure the shipment towards nearby cities are protected and aren't attacked. And since I'm their boss, I need to set an example."
She gave Cid a kiss on the cheeks as she stood up, then ran her fingers across the rim of her witch hat as she looked back towards him and smiled, "Plus I'm in a good mood right now."
She reached out her hand, and from her shadow, her broom slowly appeared. Once the broom was in place, she jumped and sat down on it in one go, but as her butt landed on the pole, she rolled off and landed back on the ground while rolling for a bit.
When she stopped rolling, she had her butt in the air as her witch hat slid a bit forward, covering her face.
"Ouchie," she muttered as she stood up, dusted herself off, and looked a bit embarrassed as she walked towards the broom and carefully sat back on it.
She couldn't look at Cid in the eyes as she heard him snickering, so she pointed towards the window and waved her hand, causing the window to swing open.
She lowered her hat to hide her face and slowly flew out the window.
Cid shook his head in amusement until he heard Yukihime sending him a message.
'My lord Yukime wants to have a word with you about the things you two were previously discussing.'
'I'll be right there,' Cid replied.
He then checked his surroundings to see if anyone was paying attention to him. When he saw that there wasn't, he surrounded himself in his shadow, and when it popped out, Cid appeared as his other Persona: Merlin.
"Looks like this is a job for Merlin…" Cid smirked as he sank into his shadow while holding onto his top hat and cane.
…
Lawless Town: White Tower:
Yukime was waiting for Shadow while looking at the tray in front of her until she saw a smoke screen appear in front of her.
She wasn't surprised by the smoke and just smiled, but as the smoke screen cleared, there was no one there, and when she looked back at the tray, she saw that it was now empty.
"I see you finished designing and printing the counterfeit bills."
Yukime wasn't even surprised anymore and turned towards the voice, she saw Merlin holding a stack of bills in each hand.
"So what do you think? Did I make any mistakes?"
Merlin waved the stack in his left hand, "Not bad, it looks close to the original."
Yukime gave Merlin a weary smile, "But you were still able to tell…"
"Ink is a bit larger in this one, and the symbol is off by a centimeter, while the quality of the paper in this one is coarser."
Yukime took both stacks and began to examine them closely. After a while, she let out a sigh, "You're right…" she muttered deprecatingly.
"Luckily for you, these things are only noticeable because I'm me. If it was someone else, they wouldn't have even given it a second glance."
"So are these acceptable?" Yukime once again asked.
Merlin's earlier smile disappeared as he started to pressure Yukime, "What do you think?" He asked with a monotone voice and a straight face, his mana, which was a beautiful silver color, expelling out of him.
Yukime started to sweat, 'What could it be… did I do something wrong… did I make a mistake somewhere… No… maybe he's testing me,' she thought, her mind racing to come up with a solution.
She gulped as she prepared herself to answer, "I believe it's acceptable!" She answered.
The pressure vanished like it didn't even exist in the first place while Merlin returned to smiling. He nodded his head towards her, "Good, always be certain, uncertainty is a silent killer after all."
Yukime nodded her head in understanding and let out a sigh of relief, 'Thankfully, it was only a test, and I managed to pass it.'
"You can already begin the distribution," Merlin ordered.
To which Yukime nodded her head in response, "Then I leave the protection of the source in your hands."
…
at the Merchant Union:
Gettan was looking out the window with his hands behind his back, "What do you mean none of the numbers returned last night?"
He asked his brown-haired chubby informant, "None of them reported back, my lord, we fear they have already been disposed of. We aren't able to get in contact with them either."
Gettan clicked his tongue upon hearing this, 'How can this be, they're highly skilled assassins of the cult, nothing should have stopped them. I even had to bother asking for favors, and it still came to this.'
"My lord, we suffered too many losses. Whether it was the Mercenaries, The Clovers, or the other hires, I'm afraid we can't waste any more; otherwise, it would be detrimental for us."
"Well, go and gather some intel for us, Garter!" Gettan barked.
Garter jolted in fear, "Yes, lord Gettan," he managed to squeak out as he rushed out of the room, realizing that Gettan was only getting angrier by the second.
"I see, so that's why the cult thinks of them as a dangerous existence… but it matters not, I already have a plan in mind."
Gettan reached into his pockets and pulled out bills belonging to the Merchant Union.
"These counterfeit bills will cause the trust to collapse. I have already transferred our funds to a safe location. The only one that would suffer would be Mitsugoshi… they're now like rats trapped in the cult's cage. Hahahaha!" He laughed to himself with an arrogant smirk.
…
Nightingale: Royal Castle:
"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!" Cid cried out as he held Celeste in a hug and rubbed his cheeks against hers.
Claire and Alexia held Cid's shoulders as they tried to pull him off Celeste, "Let me take Celeste with me, please!!!" He begged, "I promise I'll conceal her properly so no one would notice her!"
"BRINGING A BABY TO SCHOOL IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Both Claire and Alexia shouted as Aurora looked at the scene in amusement.
While Celeste was laughing happily with all the attention she was getting.
"Can't I take paternity leave or something!? Let me spend time with my little girl," Cid continued begging.
"Oh, I know I can send a shadow clone in my place!" Cid said excitedly.
"HELL NO!" Both Alexia and Claire shouted.
"But why!?"
"If we have to suffer, so do you!" They both said in sync.
"You can both suffer alone for all I care!" Cid said, not wanting to be pried off Celeste and giving her kisses on the cheeks, which caused her to release loud baby giggles.
"Please, Aurora, do something," Claire said, giving Aurora a pleading look.
Aurora let out a sigh and walked towards Cid. She cuffed a hand by his ear and whispered something in his ear.
Cid immediately stopped, put Celeste in Aurora's arm, kissed her forehead, and walked ahead. He stopped, looked towards Claire and Alexia in confusion, "Well? What are you two waiting for? An invitation? We have class to get to."
Alexia looked towards Aurora in confusion, "What did you whisper that got him that motivated?" She wondered in awe.
Aurora blushed a bit, "I promised to wear a bunny outfit the next time we do the deed."
Claire and Alexia looked at Aurora with a straight face and let out a sigh before they both shook their heads in disappointment and followed after Cid.
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