After parting ways with Selene, Sasha headed over to Maruti's place. It was the same apartment the academy had given her. Even though she had the address and a pretty good idea of where to go, she'd never actually been there before. This was her very first time visiting her sister's home.
Or at least that's what she remembers.
Then again, you couldn't really call it a "home." It was more like just a single apartment room with a bedroom, kitchen and a separate living room.
She climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway until she was standing in front of the right door.
She knocked three times, but no one answered.
Instead of leaving, she grabbed the doorknob, fully prepared to break it down with one good shove. But as she applied a little pressure, the door swung open by itself.
"Mei, what were you—", she started to say, ready to scold Maruti for not keeping in touch, but the words got caught in her throat and her whole body froze. The scene in front of her was not what she was expecting at all.
Inside the room, Ravenna was on her hands and knees on the floor. The look on her face was one of pure pleasure, as if she was enjoying every second of it. Brenna was sitting on top of her back, holding a frying pan high in the air, positioned in a way that made it painfully obvious she was about to smack it right down on Ravenna's butt.
The very second they saw Sasha standing in the doorway, they both froze solid, staring at her with wide, terrified eyes.
"My bad, wrong house," Sasha said quickly.
THUD!...
She slammed the door shut with one loud, solid thud. Even with the door closed, the image she had just witnessed was crystal clear in her mind and she knew it wasn't going away anytime soon.
She shook her head hard, trying to clear the image from her thoughts. "Was that Princess Ravenna? Losing her royal status has really hit her hard, huh?" she muttered to herself.
She immediately decided to just leave and go find Maruti's real house, but just then, the door opened again. Ravenna and Brenna stepped out, but this time they were both fully dressed and acting like normal, respectable people.
"Sasha, right? Were you looking for Maruti?" Ravenna asked, her voice a little shaky.
Sasha turned back to face them and nodded. "Yes, it's been a while since I last saw her."
Ravenna glanced over at Brenna with a hesitant look in her eyes, then turned back to Sasha. "Actually, this is Maruti's house. We live together. She isn't here right now, though. She went on a little journey to grow stronger," she explained, a clear hint of sadness in her voice over the fact that Maruti wasn't there.
"Huh... what?" Sasha asked, the answer completely confusing her.
"I said, we live together," Ravenna repeated. "And it's not just us. There are two more people living here, too. As for Maruti, she's gone on a short journey. It's been a little while now, but I'm sure she'll be back in a day or two," Ravenna said again, forcing a bright smile that showed off her perfect, white teeth.
Sasha felt even more weirded out and shocked that there were actually two more people living there. She was so stuck on the first part of the sentence that she barely heard anything else.
"How big is that bed, anyway?" she thought to herself, but she decided not to ask that question out loud. Instead, she just put on a fake smile.
"I see, You are Revanna and she is?" Sasha said, letting a confused look show on her face while keeping the fake smile plastered on.
Ravenna quickly cut in, trying to explain. "She's Ethan's mother, Brenna."
"Ohh, Ethan, I know him, he helped me out once," Sasha said, reaching out her hand.
Brenna took it and shook it. "It's nice to meet you," she said, smiling back at Sasha.
"What about the other two? Where are they?" Sasha asked.
"Ohh, the other one is Kailith. But just like Maruti, she's on her own little journey, too. The three of us are here taking care of the house right now," Brenna answered honestly, her voice sweet and innocent.
"How polite of you. You're the one who does most of the work around here," Ravenna added with a light chuckle.
But Sasha's mind wasn't really on their friendly conversation anymore.
"Kailith?" she thought to herself, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly.
Sasha was actually quite happy to hear that. Who didn't know Kailith?
To think that her sister was making friends with the Dragon Queen's daughter—that would definitely be helpful for both her and the Vanara tribe.
Maybe it would even make Lilith work with the Vanara tribe and reopen the academy.
The Awakened Academy wasn't just a place where young awakeneds went to study. It was meant to be train talented people to build Kingdom's future foundation.
And there was a lot more to it that someone on the outside wouldn't really understand.
But for that very same reason, she wasn't happy to see Ravenna here. Ravenna was the former princess, and just letting her live was already a huge act of kindness.
There was a very good chance she was plotting something against the Vanara tribe by getting close to Maruti, who was basically the second princess of the kingdom now.
But all of that made her very curious about the last person living there.
"Who's the last one?" she asked.
"It's Alice Arlecchino. She's from Class C... well, she was," Ravenna answers.
"..." Sasha just stares blankly at both of them. She was getting one shock after another.
"That idiot," she finally sighs.
"Ohh, you know her?" Ravenna ask, and now it was her turn to be surprised.
Sasha nods. "Yes. Where is she? Let's meet her instead."
"She's in the park with Miss Meldia. Oops, you might not know who Miss Meldia is—" Before Ravenna could finish what she was saying, Sasha simply turns around and walks away.
For Sasha, just knowing where Alice was was enough. She had no interest in meeting this Meldia person at all.
As Ravenna and Brenna watched Sasha walk down the hallway and head downstairs, they both finally let out a sigh of relief.
"She was kind of scary," Ravenna breathes out, placing a hand on her waist.
"And too tall," Brenna added, feeling just as relieved.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Sasha couldn't help but feel so weirded out by the whole situation. Somehow, it still hadn't occurred to her that they might actually be in a relationship.
"A former princess, a dragon, a beast woman, and a mother. What kind of strange group is this?" she thought to herself, but then she shook her head to clear the thought away.
"Whatever, it's better than living with four guys," she told herself, trying to feel better about it. She changed direction and headed towards the garden area.
"Let's see how that idiot is doing," Sasha said to herself. She remembered the last time she had met Alice, back during that whole illusory inheritance thing. Alice had talked so much nonsense that Sasha still sometimes had nightmares about her crazy bullshit.
But somehow, despite all that, they had become sort of acquaintance.
******
Meanwhile, in the garden area of the building, both Alice and Meldia were standing in front of each other, with a few feet of empty space between them.
"Umm... what are we doing here?" Alice ask, scratching the back of her head in confusion.
Instead of answering her, Meldia asks back with another question.
"Do you trust what I say?" she asked in a serious voice.
"Huh? What kind of question is that? I don't even really know you," Alice answeres, completely confused about what was happening.
"Hmm... then let me be clear. I'm a very straightforward person, and when I say something, I mean it," Meldia answers.
Without waiting for Alice to respond, she took a step forward and got into a fighting stance, holding her wand ready.
"Now, do as I say. Make your other personality come out and fight me," she says.
"What? Right now? The area around us will get damaged, and Maruti will be mad at me again," Alice hesitates. Her hesitation made perfect sense. Even though Arlecchino had been behaving better lately, who knew what kind of destruction she might cause in a fight.
"Don't worry about it. We'll just have some hand-to-hand combat, that's all. I'm sure she'll cooperate. She must be dying to beat someone up, right? She can take out some of her frustration on me," Meldia replies with a smile, as if she wasn't challenging a dangerous person but just asking for a friendly spar.
Alice let out a deep breath, hopping lightly from one foot to the other to shake off her nerves, and then she nodded.
"O-okay, I'll try," she says, but then her eyes suddenly got wide.
"Miss Lortell, you're here?" she exclaims, looking over Meldia's shoulder.
Out of pure instinct, Meldia turns around to look, and that was all the time Alice needed.
Alice—or Arlecchino, to be more precise—shot forward towards Meldia.
BAM!...
A punch flew towards her at an incredible speed, but right before it could hit, Meldia blocked it with her wand without even having to turn all the way back around.
"That was a good one."
"Tch...," Arlecchino immediately steps back, getting into a defensive stance.
Then, she attackes again. She threw a hand jab, followed by a few kicks, and even used some fakes to try and lure Meldia in, exchanging a few blows with her.
But no matter how many tricks she tries, Meldia had a counter for every single one of them.
After a few rounds of fighting, Arlecchino clearly understood that her power and speed were definitely superior to Meldia's. Despite that, she was seriously lacking in one thing—experience.
Every single move Meldia made screamed of muscle memory. She just had way too much experience. She knew exactly how to use everything with the most efficiency.
Meanwhile, Meldia also notices that Alice wasn't using any magic or essence. It was all pure physical combat.
"This just shows that she doesn't have a completely berserk nature. Although she's malicious, she can still think and follow on terms," Meldia thought to herself as she continues their spar.
"All or nothing," Arlecchino murmurs to herself.
With the wand in Meldia's hand, she was having a hard time getting any closer to her.
So, she decides to just ignore the wand completely and make one straight bolt towards her, planning to land the closest hits she possibly could.
DASH!...
She shot forward in a blinding leap, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Just like a spear, Meldia struck at Arlecchino's right thigh and then her shoulder, trying to stop her advance.
Then, using her wand vertically, she landed another hit on Arlecchino's waist.
But it didn't slow her down at all. Gritting her teeth, Arlecchino closes the last bit of gap between them.
"Ack!", Meldia realises with a jolt that Arlecchino had gotten way too close.
She immediately tries to take a few steps back, but as she did, a heavy weight was already pressing down on her feet.
It was Arlecchino's foot, planted firmly on top of hers.
Meldia's eyes widened in surprise.
"Checkmate," Arlecchino grinned, pulling her hand back to throw a punch straight into Meldia's face.
But just before her fist could connect, Meldia's expression turns deadly serious.
A black fog wrapped around Meldia's hand, and she directly blocks Arlecchino's punch with her bare palm.
At the same time, she swung her other foot at Arlecchino's leg, the one that was on top of her own foot, immediately knocking her off balance.
As Arlecchino was falling forward, she saw Meldia's punch coming straight at her face.
Out of pure instinct, she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the impact and the fall.
But that moment never came.
Instead, she felt the sensation of arms wrapping around her, hugging her tightly and saving her from hitting the ground.
Opening her eyes in shock, she saw exactly what she expected.
Meldia was hugging her tightly and carefully sitting down on the ground. Now, it felt like Arlecchino was hugging her belly while sitting on her lap.
Before she could even question the absurdity of the moment, Meldia spoke softly.
"I know you two share memories, but I still wanted to talk to you, not the other Alice," she says.
"I've been looking into your past. A mysterious day where your parents died, leaving you as the only one alive. Others suspected that you were the one who did it. Carrying the burden of being called a killer while still being just a child... that must have taken a huge toll on you. Your days at the academy weren't great either. It must have been hard for you, wasn't it?" Meldia said, her voice as soft and mature as she could make it.
"Let go of me! You know nothing!" Arlecchino tries to struggle, but Meldia's grip was just too tight.
"Alice, I don't know if you did it or not, but I'm sure there were reasons for your actions," Meldia adds.
"But I'm not here to dig up old wounds. I'm here to help you heal," Meldia spoke further, making Arlecchino struggle even more wildly, but Meldia still didn't let go.
"I know how hard it is to share your true self with the world, always being alone with no one by your side," she added.
"Shut up... shut up... shut up," Arlecchino struggles again, but this time, her fighting was much weaker.
Her eyes had already grown heavy as she was forced to remember her past.
"You've always craved for a guardian who would always be there to watch over you," Meldia continued.
"I already have Maruti," Arlecchino says.
"No, not like a partner. I want to be yours in a more... familial way," Meldia answeres, her whispers sounding like a soothing melody.
"Let me be your guardian. Your mother," she says, delivering her final, gentle blow.
"Mother?" Arlecchino's eyes widens, and tears starts to drop from them.
"Yes. From now on, you'll be my daughter, and I'm your mother. You are not an orphan anymore. That's why you don't have to hold all that pain inside yourself anymore. Let it all out," Meldia exclaims.
"Mommy," Arlecchino said weakly, this time hugging her back even more tightly.
"Yes, Mommy is here," Meldia replies, gently patting her on the back.
If anyone had been watching this whole drama from the beginning, they surely would have cried from all the emotion.
But right now, someone's mouth was wide open in shock at the current situation.
It was none other than Sasha.
She had just arrived here to meet Alice, but instead, she somehow saw her hugging another woman and calling her 'mommy'.
And this woman was accepting it, too.
But just by looking at her, Sasha could tell that the woman was just a human, not a beast woman like Alice.
And most importantly, who cries out 'mommy' in broad daylight in the middle of a park?
"I've had enough of today. I'm not meeting anyone else," she thought to herself, Deciding to end this bizarre walk and go back home immediately.