Garden Of The Abyss

"I've always seen you as the hot-headed type who doesn't really think much if his opponent is weaker or stronger than him, and just always gives it his best shot anyway," she told him, "I guess I was wrong. You might be a bit of a coward after all."

"Is that what you think?" He said in a strained voice as he stretched his arms, ruffling his own locks as he faced her with a smile, "Seriously, when did I say a single thing about losing? I'm going after this guy–full force."

"That's not what it sounded like a few seconds ago to me," she replied.

"Yeah, well, I was just trying to be a little bit of a pessimist for once. I learned that it's not really my style," he smirked, pacing back and forth around the room.

"What're you planning to do?" Emilia asked with a slight hint of worry in her words, knowing full well what Sirius was capable of–good and bad.

Sirius continued to pace around the room for a bit, bouncing a green-skinned fruit in his hand before taking a bite out of it and seeming to ponder for just a few moments.

"I think I have a theory, at least," he told her.

"Yeah?"

"It's about the identity of this magic user, or rather, his affiliation," he told her, "I noticed it earlier–he was in the same tavern as me, but he didn't do anything to me while I slept there."

"It is weird, but what's it you found…?" Emilia asked.

"He's not trying to kill me. That, or he can't," he said, looking straight at her, "I don't think he's affiliated with the Argonauts, at least. They wouldn't waste a breath without trying to send me to a grave."

"That I can agree with," she replied with a small exhale.

He sat himself down on the bed across from her, rolling the sleeves of his dark coat up as the woman watched him curiously.

"What's the plan then?"

"Well, with something like this, he likely attached some sort of spell to me, right? That means there has to be something connected to me, somewhere," he said.

Emilia watched him check his own body fruitlessly for a minute before letting out a disheveled sigh, moving over to him as he watched her in surprise.

"What're you–"

"Just shut up and sit still. This happens to be my specialization, you know," Emilia told him.

Of course, he kept quiet and watched as the amber-haired, pale woman began to trace around him with radiant, magical seals that were drawn around his body.

He took in her features, realizing now as she was close to him, in the moment absent of words, that she was indeed a beautiful woman, blessed with nice features despite her career.

While he kept quiet, he listened to the constant sounds of the people still exploring the capital even in the night, filling the nightly ambience with something beyond the twinkles of the stars.

Waiting for her to finish, he blinked.

It was that single blink.

As his eyelids closed, and opened once more, she was gone.

"Emilia…?" He uttered out.

It was jarring; so jarring as her very existence was plucked from the room in the space between a blink of an eye–the subtle sounds of her breath that filled his ears, the sounds of the chattering denizens of the city were also swept away in that brief moment. were gone, leaving them ringing in the sudden silence.

All he could do was sit there for a few minutes, absent of answers as his mind tried to cope with the swift, complete change in atmosphere.

Peering beyond the window, there wasn't a single person he could see, yet it didn't seem like a dream.

The stars still hung beautifully in the night sky, and the chill breeze brushed against his skin in such a way he was sure it wasn't a dream.

In those few seconds of utter perplexity, unknowing of what he looked at–his mind was once again shifted in a different direction as he saw it: people were still walking the city.

He then noticed it; the town was still very much occupied, it was just a freak moment of chance that it appeared empty, he had realized.

But still, Emilia wasn't there in the room.

The only explanation he found now was that the woman must've left the room at some point, for some reason.

"Wait…" His eyes widened at a realization that came to him.

Was everything before…just a dream? He thought.

After being caught in a trance at the sheer absurdity of the shift of perception, he brought his head out from the window and into the room, taking a moment to catch his breath.

In any case, where is Emilia? He questioned.

Quietly, he opened the door to the room, entering the creaky, old hall of the inn as he did his best to stay silent in the night.

He couldn't exactly go around opening each door to the inn, as there were likely some occupants there, but he quietly looked around, checking the supply closets.

Where is she…? He thought.

"Are you looking for something?"

The sweet, old voice nearly caused his heart to jump as it came so suddenly, forcing him to turn around.

Standing in the dimly lit hallway, the hunched over, elderly, but kind owner of the inn looked at him with a smile, stood a few meters down.

I didn't hear her approach at all…He thought.

"Yeah, my companion might've gotten lost though," he told her with a small laugh.

"The golden-eyed girly?" The elderly woman asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, that's her. Do you know where she is?"

For a moment, his question received no answer as the wizened owner of the inn simply stared at him with dark, sunken in eyes; the shadows that hung in the dim hall obscured most of her appearance to him.

There was something off, he could tell that much, though he couldn't place his finger at that.

"Do you know where she is, Grans?" He repeated the question.

"Oh, forgive me," the woman answered cheerfully, though her obscured expression left him uneasy, "I believe I saw her in the back. Come, come. I'll show you there."

He hesitated to follow the small, old lady who was dressed in olive and brown robes, walking with a cane in front of her.

The elderly owner came to a stop, standing still without facing him before slowly turning back to look at him, "What's the matter, dear?"

"...Nothing, sorry. Just tired," he said with a wry laugh, beginning to follow behind the owner.

He kept his eyes on her back as they traversed the quiet inn, only hearing their footsteps journey down the creaking floorboards.

For the first time, he was realizing the size of the inn; it was already known to him from an outside look that it wasn't a single-floored, small establishment, but it surprised him. The halls curved, showing dozens of rooms–occupied or not, he wasn't aware.