Despite the graveyard of corpses, flesh, and unrecognizable fluid, Ailetta walked unhurriedly toward Noah amidst his feeding. Her many eyes comfortably took in the scenery as if it were a work of art, but the most beautiful display was Noah, finally being able to be true to his deepest desires.
As she walked, she instinctively shaped her lower half to maintain a humanoid form. Her small gelatinous feet would almost audibly meet the ground, sometimes slightly deforming into their more natural state before reshaping themselves in time for the next step.
The chilling nature of her appearance, flavored with the carnage backdrop around her, should have made her presence unapproachable. And yet, her comforting smile slightly grew annoyed at the interruption approaching her. When before, her multitude of eyes were appreciating the scenery, now nearly all of them had snapped to the location of a small group of people heading in her direction.
"Hmmmm?" Ailetta easily noticed the small group approaching her.
Her scenic smiles remained, but her patience began to wear thin with every step she took as she noticed the group getting closer, despite the fact she was blatantly ignoring them. Her once leisurely steps began to quicken, and her physical form lost its solid composure with the irritation she was trying to suppress. It wasn’t just because they were interrupting her moment of peace, but the fact that there was still something that she desperately needed Noah to do, and she couldn’t wait any longer. Now, just moments away from reaching Noah, ready to savor her predestined desire, she was being forced to deal with an unnecessary distraction. Follow current novels on novel※fire.net
Her eyes irritatingly narrowed with an unsettling focus, tracking the groups every move, seemingly glaring towards them as a silent warning for them to turn back. She could sense their resolve, seeing it in the way they didn’t hesitate or retreat despite her clear warning, despite the ominous aura surrounding her. It was almost laughable, really. Did they not understand what they were walking into? Or were they simply too foolish to care?
Despite their determination, Ailetta wasn’t concerned about them posing any real threat. No, she had become something far beyond what any of them could handle. Besides, leading the group was Jasmine, who was driven by an emotion that Ailetta hadn’t expected, frantic desperation. The tears streaming down her face, the way her voice called out as she neared, these were not the actions of someone who saw Ailetta as an enemy. In fact, Ailetta was slightly surprised, finding Jasmine’s desperation and worry for her both amusing and laughable.
But even if they did see her as a threat, it wouldn’t matter. Ailetta’s confidence in her own power was absolute. The group’s auras were faint, their strength depleted after a battle that had clearly taken its toll. They were diminished, weakened, and she could see it in the way they moved, in the lack of the same fire they had before.
She almost pitied them, really. Almost.
Seeing that their confrontation was unavoidable, Ailetta decided to stop, avoiding any possibility of disrupting Noah while he was still in a precarious state. She couldn’t help but sigh, a failed attempt to keep some of her more sinister thoughts at bay. Despite the fact that her humanity was now practically in shambles, her empathy warped, twisted, and horrified; she still wanted to avoid disgracing her former self’s feelings, at least not so soon.
Unbeknownst to Ailetta, the only person unaffected by her ominous aura was Jasmine. While the others, despite understanding that the monster before them was once their "friend", began to grow uneasy, while Mark stiffly gripped his sword’s handle firmly.
It wasn’t long before the group eventually stood across from one another. Jasmine stood closer than the others, but not even she dared to breach any closer. Not only because there was still an off chance that the monster in question wasn’t Ailetta, but more importantly, she couldn’t be sure if the Ailetta in front of her was still the quirky friend she remembered.
"L-Ailetta?" Jasmine stammered, her unease causing her to have a slip of the tongue, almost calling her the name that Ailetta had been adamant about was only for Noah to use.
"Is it really you?" Her simple rhetorical question triggered small drops of tears to become streams of water. Just the question alone brought about budding feelings that resided inside her when she once believed that she lost someone so important to her. All of the times Ailetta’s life was endangered, the moments where she feared she might lose her forever and regretted not risking her own life to save her, despite Ailetta risking hers for them.
All of her emotions piled up into a mass of self-guilt when she had believed that Ailetta had truly died, and now the dam of her pent-up emotions finally broke.
Hesitantly, Jasmine took a step forward, her voice breaking in between. "I’m so sorry...I failed you again, I thought you were gone forever...I don’t want to lose you...Ailetta, please, I-"
But the words caught in her throat. She wanted to say so much more, to apologize, to express her relief, to beg for forgiveness, but all she could do was stand there, tears streaming down her face as she finally came to realize Ailetta’s impassive stares.
Looking towards the emotionally broken woman, Ailetta didn’t feel the least bit inclined to entertain relieving her of her burdens. By all accounts, Jasmine had already failed the old Alietta. Her tears, her apologies, and her weighted concerns, all of it should have been given to her when they were needed the most. Reflecting on it, Ailetta realized that she wasn’t that different from the person in front of her. Jasmine may be selfish, but the old Ailetta was ’too’ selfless. She could have confronted Jasmine and the others for the times of their abandonment, she would have focused on herself, and gained the necessary power so she wouldn’t have had to sacrifice herself for others who didn’t value her.
In the end, Ailetta was just as flawed as Jasmine and the others were, but in her new form, she realized that much of her old flaws had vanished.
The realization and the confirmation from her choice helped to relieve Ailetta slightly of her annoyance with their untimely interruption. To return the small sense of gratitude, she felt that she should at least listen and let Jasmine get everything off her chest. However, instead of saying anything else, or even questioning Jasmine’s lack of silence, Jasmine continued to cry distraughtly, her body strongly trembling from Ailetta’s unknowingly harsh demeanor.
"I found this discussion... enlightening. But I have something important to take care of, so don’t follow me anymore." Ailetta’s tone was as chilling as it was dismissive. Without giving them a chance to respond, she continued on her way towards Noah, leaving only one of her eyes to linger on the group.
Not only did she leave them without any room to respond, but her lack of compassion and harsh dismissal to Jasmine’s overzealous concern raised conflicted feelings in everyone.
Mark felt uneasy by Ailetta’s new appearance, but seeing his sister crumble to the ground in her tears made him feel bitter towards Ailetta’s attitude. Jasmine had laid her heart out bare to her, showing how much suffering she was going through when she thought she lost her friend. And it’s not that she was abandoned that gave rise to his resenting emotions, she was practically dismissed as if the two shared years of friendship together never happened. Feeling vindictive for how his sister was treated, Mark wanted to be her voice, but before he could say anything, someone else beat him to it.
"I know that you aren’t the same friend that she thought you were," Alicia voiced out, unable to back her anger and sadness after being influenced by Jasmine’s tragic state. "But you could at least acknowledge her feelings. Or did you lose your heart too while you were at it?"
Her words caused many to look at her with surprise. She had said what was on a lot of their minds, but they still couldn’t believe she said it. Not only because of Ailetta’s somewhat terrifying intimidating presence, but also because of the powerhouse behind her, the same "person" who has supposingly lost all of his rationale. So, although they wanted to applaud Alicia for her boldness, they feared the consequences her words might provoke.
Eyes quickly snapped to Ailetta’s direction, fearing that she would take offense. But to their surprise, Ailetta was already some distance away, showing no intention of defending herself or even acknowledging that she even heard what was said.
Feeling so blatantly ignored, Ailcia wanted to scream out to her but was held back.
"Alicia, don’t make this about you, if anyone should be upset, it should be Jasmine." Isabelle said promptly, stopping Alicia before she could do or say something that not only, she would regret, but they all would come to regret if they didn’t stop her.
"What?? I’m doing this for Jasmine!" Alicia shot back, her frustration at being indirectly called selfish boiling over. "That ’thing’ doesn’t care about her, so why should you care how I talk to it? Shouldn’t we find out the truth? Did that thing kill Ailetta and take over her body? Did it eat her? What if Noah forced her to become that...thing? And what about you? Did you not see how Jasmine was just treated? Does it not make sense after seeing her like that? If you don’t feel the way I do, then you have no right to have a say in this."
Isabelle’s once firm expression softened to Alicia’s words, despite the harsh tone within. She could see the pain and confusion etched into Alicia’s face; it reflected the same emotions she herself felt when she was trying to find her way after blaming Noah for Derrick’s death. Isabelle deeply understood that Alicia’s outburst wasn’t just about defending Jasmine; it was a desperate attempt to make sense of the terrifying reality before them, as well as redirecting their own personal turmoil.
"I get it, Alicia," Isabelle said, her voice calming as she watched Ailetta’s back. "We’re all hurting. We were all close to Ailetta, and we all feel that we deserve answers." Her tone took on a mysterious quality as she continued, "But sometimes we aren’t ready for the truth... and blindly trying to find our own truth will only lead us further away from it..."
Upon reaching Noah, Ailetta took a moment to watch him feeding in silence. Despite the interruption from earlier, she found herself smiling warmly once more.
"Noah?" Her voice cut through the carnage, causing his savage feast to abruptly stop. With his mouth still full of his last bite and claws smeared with various body parts and grime, Noah snapped his attention to the voice. Despite his deranged behavior, he could never mistake Ailetta’s voice.
His crazed pupils dilated upon seeing the slime that was supposed to be Ailetta in all her glory. But instead of waking up from his deranged state, his eyes widened further, and a ferocious, almost hell-bending growl erupted from him just before he attacked.