It was a dream.

I knew it was.

But at the same time, I did not want to get out—to wake up from this false reality. Any wherewithal I had previously to resurface back was thrown away almost immediately when I saw those two in front of me.

"Daddy...? Mommy...?"

It was at broad daylight and we were in our beloved kitchen. Trudging and traipsing, Mommy and Daddy were cleaning the house as best as they could.

Daddy pushed the kitchen table back to its place after Mommy had swept the floor underneath. She then flitted to sweep any dust settled in at a small niche hewn out at the white wall. Daddy wiped away the sweat beading down his forehead before he looked at me—standing still amid all the cleaning. After a few moments, he put up a warm smile.

"Ava, can you get the dustpan for me?" said Mommy who already moved to clean the living room.

"Okay!"

My feet took off and I jogged away to our house's backdoor.

"Urghh..."

For some reason, the wooden door was a tad bit too high for me to reach. Strange.

I jumped a few times—up and down—up and down—but not a finger brushed against the doorknob. Frustrated, my round cheeks pouted. I then cast a sweeping glance at the small space I was in and my eyes fell on a worn-out wooden chair.

"Ugggh... Ughhh..."

My dainty arms pulled the chair as hard as it could, and slowly, albeit it only moved half a meter from every few pulls, I managed to drag the chair where I wanted it to. Once I had positioned the chair in front of the door, my hands went over the seat and then I dragged myself up. My feet dangled wildly as I pushed my upper body upward and forward.

"I... can do this on my own... without anyone's help... Huff..."

I took a few deep breaths as my body sprawled over the seat. It took a minute, but I finally got back up and stood on the chair. The whole thing was barely standing, so being impetuous would only lead to me falling. Carefully, I steadied myself as the chair creaked.

"Okay. I just need to jump."

I lowered my body with both hands above my head.

"One, two..."

My right foot shifted slightly forward.

"Three!"

I leaped upward and in the next moment, my hands grabbed onto the doorknob just before my body hit the door. Then, I heard a heart-stopping crash behind me and turned to look over my shoulders.

"...Oh no."

The wooden chair had fallen down, its top rail cracked. While ignoring the sight, I twisted the doorknob open as my hands hung onto it, and the door creaked open slowly.

I dropped down to the floor and hurriedly got out to the backyard. My eyes swept a look across the withered grasses and the shabby wooden fence, and finally, a delightful squeal escaped my mouth when I saw a red dustpan near the old shed.

"I knew you're here. But... hmmmmm. Now, how do I explain the broken chair to Mommy...?" I said with the dustpan in my hands.

"Ava! Where's the dustpan?" shouted Mommy from inside.

"R-Right here!"

I rushed back inside the house carrying the dustpan, almost a hurtle. When I turned around a corner, my foot tripped over something and I fell down face first.

"Ow...... Hic..."

With my knees bent in a W sitting position, I started to sob as my hands rubbed at the tears streaking down my cheeks.

"Ava!"

Daddy went over to my side and crouched, his large hand pulled me into a gentle hug.

"Are you okay? What happened? I heard a crash just now so I thought I'll go check, and here you're on the floor," asked Daddy as he patted my head, trying to assuage my emotions.

"I-I fell..."

Daddy looked behind me and stretched his hand to pick up a glass bottle on the floor.

"What is this doing here?"

Daddy put away the bottle and carried me in his arms.

"Daddy... I broke that chair at the back," I said.

"Ah, so that's what I heard... Well, don't let it bother you, okay? I've been meaning to throw that old chair anyway."

He tried to put me down on the sofa but I kept my arms wrapped around his neck, not wanting to let go.

"Daddy... Carry me! Like how you used to back then," I said.

He chuckled at my request before Mommy came in from the front door and saw both of us. She sighed at the sight.

"Dear, she's not a five-year-old anymore," she said.

"She fell, Alicia," said Daddy, tilting his chin at the glass bottle he had picked up before, "That bottle was lying on the floor and she fell because of that."

Seeing that, Mommy's pupils dilated and she scratched her head. I could tell she was upset. When Mommy rubbed her arm or scratched her head like so, it meant that she was troubled with something. It had become a recent habit of her aside from drinking a certain beverage she bought every weekend.

"Is that a sod—"

"No! It's not what you're thinking," interjected Mommy, "It's some soda I bought when it went on sale on the market. I-I didn't know I have one around left."

"...I was trying to say soda, actually. Just put it away upstairs, Alicia. You don't have to hide things like this from me. I won't get mad. I mean, when you were not around, I, um, secretly bought a steak..."

"...A steak just for you?"

"Y-Yes. I-I mean, last month, we have a bit of cash to spend so I thought it won't hurt to indulge myself in... eh-hem... a bit of luxury. Haha... But hey! I met John that one night after work and he kept prodding me about it and I can't help myself. So... yeah..."

Mommy giggled from Daddy's excuse and poked at him, as Daddy tried his best to hide his embarrassment.

"...Ah, Ava. You fell because of that bottle, huh?"

Mommy lowered her head and kissed my cheek.

"M-Mommy! The dustpan is in the kitchen..."

"Alright. Thank you."

Her slender fingers brushed over her dark short bob. She went over to the kitchen, grabbed the dustpan, and started to sweep the dust and litters into its small trapezium-shaped pail.

"They're outside already?" asked Daddy to Mommy.

"Yeah. I'm sure they would love to meet Ava."

"...Me?"

Having heard this, Daddy proceeded towards the front door with me in his arms.

"Ava, there's someone I want you to meet. Though, you had met it already," said Daddy with an exultant smile.

"One of Daddy's friends?" I said, my head tilted slightly to my right.

"Haha. I'm sure you know this one."

Daddy put me down and then pulled the door open. Blinding sunlight pinpricked through the gap before it spilled over once the door was opened fully. I covered my face with one arm until the sunlight abated to the point where my green eyes caught the sight of a dark, tall silhouette approaching me.

"Ava, do you remember it?" asked Daddy as he looked at the silhouette.

"Who...? Who's that, Daddy?" I said, tugging at Daddy's shirt.

"It's your nightmare."

A red tendril sprouted from the black silhouette and pierced my stomach.

"Gakhh!"

The next second, a myriad of tendrils appeared from the silhouette's back and it circled me, slowly repleting my vision with darkness with its numbers.

"Daddy! Daddy!!" I cried as my hands clawed at the tendrils trapping me away from my beloved Daddy.

"I'm sorry, Ava, for everything. I'm so... so sorry," were the words I heard Daddy said as tears fell from his eyes—before everything was engulfed in black mud.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

I jerked up and flailed my hands as I screamed my lungs out.

"Daddy! Daddy!! Don't leave me!"

My mouth gaped as I took in deep breaths. Once I calmed down after a few minutes, I found out that I was in a rose-red queen size bed. I realized afterward, instead of Daddy, a medallion-colored wall greeted me at my right.

"..."

The tattered white dress I wore before was replaced with a loosely flowing dark floral maxi dress. It was a long-sleeved maxi dress, though, I did not find the sleeves a hindrance to my movement. They were quite loose and seemed to be cut from high-quality textiles.

"...I never thought I would wear one for the life of me," my thought came out.

Gently, I touched my dark hair styled into a woven ponytail.

"..."

The girl with the black shawl over her head. She dressed me and styled my hair like this before I went to sleep. Ayesha was her name—if I was not mistaken—she pulled two thick strands each from the left and right side of my hair and tied it into a small ponytail.

I looked around as my hands pulled at the comfy blanket.

Aside from a study table, a rainbow chair, and a framed picture of a kitten nailed onto the wall, nothing much popped out to me.

"...Ava?"

Ayesha walked into the room with a harrowed look and then hastened to my side.

"I heard a scream. What happened to ʼānisa?" asked Ayesha.

The amethyst veil covering her hair draped over her shoulders neatly and flowed downwards until her hips. Ayesha's floor-length sable black dress wrinkled slightly as she wiped the sweat on my forehead.

When Ayesha tried to grab some food for me, I insisted on not wanting any.

"You haven't had dinner, Ava," said Ayesha softly, "Are you sure you aren't hungry?"

To make a point that I did not want to eat, I shook my head a few times and shrunk myself into the corner of my bed. Seeing me like this, Ayesha put a finger at her chin, perhaps thinking of an appropriate approach to cajole me into eating dinner.

"If you excuse me," she said.

Ayesha walked out of the room, and not more than five minutes later, she came back with two trays of food. I looked at her as she placed one of them on the study table.

"Forgive me, ʼānisa. I'll eat my dinner here," she said.

She dragged a small ankle-height table, put her own food tray on it, sat down on the floor, and ate.

There were three plates arranged—one with a fried chicken breast, another with presumably a sardine sandwich, and the third plate was filled with green beans. From the smell wafted over in my direction, the glass of warm drink she had was undeniably a hot chocolate.

I never ate a chicken before, so seeing the chicken breast up close enticed me.

A small drool trickled down my mouth when Ayesha picked up the chicken breast and took a modest bite. Sizzling, hot juice poured out of the white meat when she took a second bite and I could not help but gulp as I watched her.

She glanced at me for a moment. But, I managed to look away in time before she caught me staring.

"The chicken will get cold if you don't eat it now," said Ayesha before she continued eating.

"...Ughh... Umm... Er..."

Every furtive glance I gave at Ayesha, she looked back at me, and I looked away immediately. She did not remind me of my food tray again. Because of this, I kept looking at the study table where my mind naturally began to picture a scene where I actually ate the chicken, savoring its taste, and drank the hot chocolate.

"..."

Ayesha smiled at me when my stomach grumbled, and I lowered my head shyly. She stood up and brought my food tray to me.

"...T-Thank you," I said to her, almost a whisper.

She dragged the rainbow chair along with the study table towards me and I thanked her again. We ate together this time, with Ayesha trying to open up a conversation every now and then. I did not reply when she asked nor did I followed up on any statement she made. To put it simply, her soft voice was the only sound I heard in the room.

"Here, it's alright. I'll take this."

Once we were done eating, Ayesha picked up our trays and went to the door before someone entered.

"Ah, Ludwig. Take care of ʼānisa while I put this away," said Ayesha to the bespectacled man wearing a lab coat.

After Ayesha left, he waved a hand at me and put up an amicable smile. The half-empty glass of hot chocolate in my hands shook when he took a few steps towards me.

For some reason, I did not like him.

Unlike Ayesha, who I could feel her genuine sincerity when she took care of me, this man had a rebarbative presence about him. I could not pinpoint why since I barely knew this person, but, his countenance and the way he carried himself narked me.

"Gray Ludwig, miss Ava. That's my name. I hadn't got the chance to introduce myself properly to you before, didn't I?" he said.

Ludwig was here with Ayesha after Grandpa left. He watched from the side when Ayesha put me to sleep if I remembered correctly. I could not tell if he was merely gazing at me or observing, trying to pick up any diminutive detail deemed important to him.

"Hm? Are you afraid of me, miss?" said Ludwig as he took a seat at the rainbow chair in front of my bed, "Hmm. Normally, I would convince you I'm nothing like you perceived, but then again, it's my fault for giving the little miss a bad first impression. You have the right to think of me however you want."

"..."

"Ah, wait. I think I have some chocolate."

"C-Chocolate?"

Ludwig fished in his lab coat's pockets and produced two round chocolate sweets in glittering golden wrapper. He held one hand with the said sweets towards me.

"You can have both, little miss," said Ludwig with a smile.

"..."

I hesitated for a moment before I took the sweets from him.

"I-It's good..."

After I popped one of the sweets into my mouth, I ate the second one. The chocolate's essence melted and perfused into my tongue, and then I savored the lingering sweet aftertaste.

"Oh, what's this?" said Ludwig with his right hand slipped into his lab coat, as if searching for something.

Ludwig then pulled out a golden slim, cuboid object and waved it high in the air.

"A chocolate bar!" I said.

"Here, you can have this as well."

I happily nibbled the tip of the chocolate bar as my feet dangled at the edge of the bed. Every now and then, my eyes caught Ludwig watching, but it did not bother me much as I continued to eat the chocolate bar. Like Ayesha, he tried to open up a conversation with me whenever he could. And like how it went with Ayesha, I did not respond to his queries and any topic he thought would interest me was instantly brushed off.

When I was halfway done munching off the dark chocolate bar, Ayesha popped in with two bottles of drinking water.

"You're back, Ayesha. That took you a while," said Ludwig.

"Jessica needed me for something. The usual. Hmm...? Where did you get that, Ludwig?"

Ayesha placed one of the mineral bottles in her hand on the study table as she asked this.

"Haha. I always have some prepared when my patients are little kids, you see," replied Ludwig, "Have you tried talking to her? I can't seem to make her talk."

"It might take a while. Our ānisa has only been here for half a day after all."

"True. What about the children in the nursery? Do they need me to babysit them anytime soon?"

Hearing this, Ayesha tried to stifle her giggle with one hand.

"I don't think they'll miss you. Gawain and Arisa are taking good care of them even without us around."

"That so? Then, the Boss must have something for me, yes? Like, an upcoming recon mission or something. I'd heard from Arisa we're sending some scouts to check on the enemy's holds."

If I was not mistaken, they called Grandpa, "Sir", or "Boss". When Ludwig mentioned him, I could not help but perked my ears to listen further into their conversation.

"Ludwig, you're a doctor," said Ayesha with a hand at her hip, "There's no need to involve yourself with recon missions. Unlike last time, we have the Second and Third Squads to assist us, so Za'im can just request them to do most of the reconnaissance."

"Hmm. If we're sending that many scouts, that means the enemy is holding off their attack," said Ludwig.

"Jessica said they're resupplying."

"We could strike them now."

"And get ourselves in the heart of the enemy's headquarters?" said Ayesha with a frown.

"Ah... That might take a turn for the worse. But if we're fully prepared, we could do it."

"I don't know... Unless we cull enough of them, no one will make out of their headquarters alive. And so far, their number just keeps increasing."

Both Ludwig and Ayesha sighed.

"I guess I'm spending the rest of my days here with Ava," said Ludwig.

"You don't like it?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"Za'im had entrusted us to take care of her until our mission is accomplished. We'll get back to our home soon enough."

Ludwig glanced at me and he smiled, and that rebarbative presence came back surrounding him. Instinctively, I tried to not meet his eyes.

"Come to think of it, have you seen the footage?" said Ludwig to Ayesha.

"...I did. What of it?"

"Say, what will happen if Ava's Aegis cut loose right here and now? From what we saw, she doesn't have any control over it."

"H-Hey, what are you saying in front of ʼānisa!?" said Ayesha with a nervous tone.

Both Ayesha and Ludwig turned to look at me, and I tilted my head. I did not understand the complicated topics they brought up a minute ago, but the mention of my name and Aegis made me thinking.

"...Ava's Aegis?" I said.

"Ludwig, you!"

Ayesha punched him in the arm and then she talked me into dismissing what I'd heard. But of course, I did not want to. They knew about the red crystals inside me and yet they kept it a secret.

"...Please, tell me more," I said to both Ludwig and Ayesha.

They looked at each other and after a few moments, they finally nodded. Ayesha suggested for Ludwig to ask Grandpa before he began explaining, but he refused, pointing out that the time was already midnight. Since I wanted them to explain right then and there, it seemed they did not have a choice but to spill the beans on what they knew.

"Back then, ānisa was using Aegis... The thing that morphs into swords. You used it to fight and protect yourself. From what we observed, this Aegis is not one you can control since it seemed to do its own thing regardless of what's happening around you."

I nodded at Ayesha, agreeing with her.

"But that's all we know," continued Ludwig.

"...Eh?"

"Your Grandpa explained this to everyone after you were brought in. You can ask anybody around here and they will say the same," said Ludwig.

That meant, Grandpa knew about this Aegis and chose to not tell me. Ludwig and Ayesha denied knowing anything else about my condition but Grandpa might have withheld some information from them. With luck, perhaps I could find out more from him directly.

Though this could wait until tomorrow. Ayesha put me to sleep after Ludwig left the room, and the night passed without me having a dream.