Abyssal Awakening

"Pft! Ahaha, I know he doesn\'t look like it but he\'s actually really excited to help you. He\'s usually only like this when he\'s too eager and can\'t hold himself back." Allura laughed after seeing Alice\'s reaction.

Not many get to see this side of Kaden and now Alice was one of the few who got to see this.

"So even Kaden gets eager like this huh…" Alice muttered considering in the future, he seemed bored all the time. Doing anything and everything that could possibly interest him.

Perhaps it was a side effect of living a long time after Ayr was destroyed. Regardless, she was still unsure why Kaden was so reluctant to be in the Abyss and to see Allura again.

Especially when the two had a good relationship.

Allura went from loving cake to smoking all the time. Kaden went from being happy in the Abyss to hating himself more than anyone and avoiding the realm and Allura if he could.

\'A complete 180 to what they\'re like right now. I guess it\'ll be too rude to ask them since they wouldn\'t know either.\' Shaking her head with a sigh, she glanced back at Allura.

"What\'s up?" Allura blinked, noticing that Alice was staring at her.

"Nothing. Just wondering about a few things."

"Ohya? Want to share or is it a secret?" Allura chuckled while Alice thought about it for a moment before opening her mouth.

"So I know a few people who used to be dedicated to something. Kind of like you with cake. But something happened to them and they\'ve done a complete 180 and gone against what they used to like. I\'m just wondering what could\'ve possibly happened for them to be like that." Alice explained, making sure that Allura didn\'t know she was talking about her in the future.

While Kaden and Velouria may have found out, the fewer who knew the better.

"Hmm… That\'s a hard one. For someone to have done a complete 180 against something they love that much, something drastic must\'ve happened. Enough for them to abandon what they enjoyed before.

"I\'ve never told you about why I like cake have I?" Allura smiled bitterly while placing the plate down.

Shaking her head, Alice watched as Allura leaned back for a moment, recalling her memories before opening her mouth.

"It happened before I was chosen as an Apostle or even knew about the Sigils. I found myself I the middle of a forest, presumably right after my rebirth from being a beast and the only thing I could think of was to survive.

"Beasts would constantly find me, trying to kill me while finding food and shelter was difficult. Yet strangely, I had the instinct to lay out traps. I killed and ate their flesh raw. Slept in their carcasses and used their skin for clothing.

"But the constant consumption of raw flesh and Abyss Blood gave me quite a bit of side effects you know? One of the side effects was that it ruined my sense of taste. I can\'t taste flavours properly. The only flavours I can taste are sweet and bitter. The rest are all just bland textures.

"I thought that everything tasted like this since I\'ve been eating nothing but flesh. Later, I was found by Kaden during his patrol. After he took me back to Ayr, he noticed that I wasn\'t really showing any reaction towards food and realised I could only taste two flavours.

"Did you know what he did afterwards?" Allura asked with a smile on her face while Alice shook her head.

"He spent the whole day figuring out what textures I enjoyed and what flavours I could taste. Ahaha, it took him a long time but by the end of it, he realised that I really liked the texture of cake and could taste the flavour of sweetness. From then on, he spent time figuring out some recipes for the \'perfect\' cake." Allura laughed while looking at the cake on her plate with fondness.

"Afterwards I just kind of kept looking for him to get cake. I didn\'t really care if it was perfect or not ya know? Since he\'s the one who made it." She smiled softly while biting her fork.

Glancing over to Alice, Allura saw her with a smug grin on her face.

"You love~ him."

"!!!" Choking on her saliva, Allura blushed and smacked Alice on the head.

"Ay! I didn\'t say anything wrong!" Alice pouted.

"Shaddap! Urg… but is it that obvious?" Allura held her cheeks while Alice nodded.

She couldn\'t help but find this side of Allura rather cute compared to the more serious version of her in the future.

"Do… Do you think he\'s noticed?" Allura coughed and whispered softly while Alice froze up.

"Shut the f*ck up. What do you mean do I think he\'s noticed? You haven\'t told him?" Alice blinked her eyes in disbelief.

\'Mother! You live with him for Gods sake!?!? What do you mean has he noticed???\' She shouted out in her mind.

"Hey hey! Not so loud, I don\'t know when he\'s going to be back." Allura panicked as Alice was taking a moment to recover.

"So you live with him, but you haven\'t told him that you love him?" Alice asked as Allura shyly glanced down and nodded her head.

". . ." Massaging her eyes, Alice wondered how this was even possible.

"So how the hell did you even get to living in the same house together?"

"It just kind of happened okay?! I asked if I could since it was a pain in the ass to keep finding him for cake. I thought it would be better if I just lived where he lived so I could get the cake." Allura poked her fingers together while Alice felt an arrow stab through her heart.

\'Why is my mother so damn cute?\' She couldn\'t get over the fact that Allura, the Executioner of the Abyss and Apostle of the Goddess was such a maiden.

"So why haven\'t you confessed yet?" Alice asked as Allura froze up and her smile began to twitch.

Gritting her teeth, she reached over to Alice and pulled on her cheek.

"I wonder who the f*ck\'s been getting in the damn way every time I\'m about to!!!"

Hearing this, Alice burst out in laughter as she didn\'t think her interruptions were blocking her confession.

No wonder Kaden looked a little annoyed on the stairs the last time she knocked on the door.

"Stop laughing! Do you know how awkward it was for me??? After the first one failed I wanted to hide myself from embarrassment! Then you came and knocked on that damn door right before I was about to ask him! Couldn\'t you have waited a minute or something?! It\'s hard working up the courage!" Allura rambled while Alice couldn\'t stop herself from laughing.

Clutching her stomach, Alice wheezed for breath while Allura only crossed her arms in annoyance.

"How are… PFT ahahaha! How are you able to fight Apostles… AHAHAHA! But can\'t muster the courage to confess???" Alice wheezed while wiping away the tears forming around her eyes.

"It\'s just different okay?" Allura pouted while resting her chin on her hand.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, Alice took a drink of her mead.

"So are you planning on confessing to him again any time soon?"

"Not right now since we\'re back to looking after you. Not only that, but we need to help you get your fourth Sigil. And once that\'s done, we\'re not sure when we\'ll be called into Action since apparently they\'re close to finding the Will." Allura grumbled in annoyance after being reminded that her chances had been reduced to zero.

"Can\'t you just confess while I\'m out getting the Sigil?"

"Of course I can\'t! it\'s all about setting the mood. How can I get the mood right if both me and him are worried that you\'ll randomly get stabbed and almost die?" Allura rolled her eyes.

"I\'m not that easy to kill."

"Doesn\'t matter. We\'re still going to be worried. We watched the entirety of your fight against Tiamat and saw the damage you took. We were on the verge of just charging in and stopping the whole thing if it wasn\'t for the fact that you went bat sh*t insane and started to go toe to toe with Tiamat." She flicked Alice on the forehead while taking a bite of her cake.

"Hmm… that is tough." Alice sighed.

"You don\'t say."

*Sigh

"I\'ll figure something out later. And this time, please for the love of Ayr, don\'t interrupt again. I\'m actually going to die if you do it a third time." Allura pouted.

If she gets interrupted for a third time, she doesn\'t know how she could face Kaden again without just imploding.

"Just let me know when I\'m about to interrupt and I\'ll go take a walk or something." Alice reassured with a thumbs up while Allura couldn\'t help but doubt.

Just before she could stay anything, a portal opened up as Kaden stepped through.

Seeing Alice and Allura awkwardly sitting there without saying anything except smile, he couldn\'t help but raise his eyebrow.

"Did you spend all this time in silence?" He asked but Alice shook her head.

"Don\'t worry about it, just some girls talk." Allura coughed while finishing her cake.

"I see… Well setting that aside, I\'ve found the target and the conditions align for a hunt. All that remains if for you to get some information and accept her as a bounty target." Kaden smiled as Alice sat up in excitement.

"Your target…"

"Seraphim of the Void."