Svi moved me to our room, helping me onto the bed. I lay down, still feeling anger and remorse. Meralf was standing behind Svi, a pained look on his face.

"Lie on the other bed, Meralf."

Meralf did as I said, looking slightly thankful. His face wasn't a grin, but that of annoyance and agony. I made his foot worse than it had to be. His healing isn't anywhere as fast as mine.

"Where's Noc?"

"He's behind me. He probably looks hidden," Svi explained, brushing my hair back with her hand. I peered behind, seeing a saddened Noc. His eyes were red and irritated, suggesting he'd been crying.

"Oh... I'm glad he's here, though I'm ashamed he's seeing me like this."

While I lay on the bed, Svi lay with. Noc watched, not saying much as usual. I wasn't feeling any better, as I was yet to have all of my questions answered by Meralf, along with the fact I was afraid of my powers.

"Are you okay, Cri? Why are you still stressed? Every part of you is tense," Svi said, feeling my shoulder.

"Sorry. I need Meralf to answer more questions, and I'm worrying about myself right now."

Svi wrapped her arms around me, squeezing tightly. Her lips grazed my cheek, before fully committing to a kiss.

"Calm down. You're okay now. I don't know what Meralf said to you, but you'll be fine," Svi assured, kissing my lips. I moved my head away, gaining stress. She looked surprised.

"Am I okay?! You won't be safe if you're with me!"

Svi slapped my face, clearly becoming injured from it. She looked extremely angry, though tears fell from her face. I didn't even feel the hit, shaking from the realization.

"I'm never safe! I'm an assassin! If anything, I'll be safer with you by my side! I won't be able to cope if you leave again!"

"I don't know what to do!"

While we were yelling back and forth, tears pouring from both of us, Meralf turned to face me. His face had a serious expression. He gave up the smile a while ago.

"You've had this strength, Nocri. You're perfectly safe. You'll learn how to control which commands are magically fueled. If you calm down, you'll go back to normal."

"Why are you telling me this?! Aren't you pissed off at me?!"

"Not really. You didn't have to make me walk on my foot, but I deserved it. It'll take a few hours to heal," Meralf revealed, looking as if he were filled with regret.

"Why are you suddenly apologetic?"

"I was caught in the moment before. I shouldn't have kicked you."

"Why'd you set me off?" I snapped, still annoyed.

"The archangel thing was just a theory, and I needed to confirm it. You are a fallen archangel. If you weren't, I would've suggested abandoning our goal. It would've been impossible for a typical fallen angel."

"You could've figured it out some other way."

"I had to get you angry. My other attempts weren't working. I could only get you to the golden eye point. It's been building up, so I decided to go full force today," Meralf explained, sighing.

"Are you serious about wiping Flarem?"

"No. It would be counterproductive. I'm trying to give him a good life, as I can't have one myself."

"I thought so."

I breathed out, slightly calming down. Svi looked surprised when she looked at me. Meralf had a thankful expression.

"Your hair is changing! It's turning red. Along with your eyes."

"Good. Red is a step lower."

"Just stay calm," Svi told, smiling.

"Just stay holding onto me."

I grinned at her, trying to ease her nerves. I turned my head back to Meralf. He was staring at me.

"Why didn't you say that you can switch whenever you wish?"

"Would you really want to know that? It would make you, and Flarem especially, worried about me coming out at any time. If I gave you control of when I came out, then you'd feel better," Meralf enlightened, and I had to agree.

"How about your magic? You haven't summoned anything, and you're fine."

"I lied about that, as well. I can store a lot more than I have been, but it takes time. Remember when I said I can summon a young dragon?"

"Yeah."

"I can, but it'd take about half a year of charging. A fallen angel is about fourteen months. To summon you, it'd probably take two years, but I can't summon creatures I'm familiar with unless I'm familiar from past summons. You're truly stronger than fallen angels," Meralf continued, looking at me with awe.

"If you can store so much, why does Flarem get so little?"

"I'm constantly summoning creatures so it'll be low when Flarem gets it. I want him to learn how to create his own magic. He is learning. I could give him a lot, but he would never learn for himself. I've been giving him more so he feels better about his magic. I switch us out right before our magic is fully gone, as you've seen what happens if we run dry."

"You aren't a bad guy, you just don't make the best decisions, Meralf," I said, smiling slightly. He's an idiot, but he's my friend. A grin shined on his face, though it wasn't mocking or intimidating.

"Yeah. Sorry about this. I'll switch over to Flarem when my leg heals. I could summon something to heal it, but I deserve this. I'll deal with it."

"If that's what you want. We should go to a tavern tomorrow," I suggested, as it's the place we made up the last time. The atmosphere when drinking is light, too. Well, at least for us. We're more of fun drunks when compared to abusive or angry drunkards.

"Yeah. We totally should."

I turned back to Svi. She was lying atop me. Her flesh was warm, and her pulse echoed through my ears. I kissed her cheek, then turned back to Meralf.

"How'd you break your foot on me?"

"Demon blood filled with magic is cold and hard. It's liquid when a wound is made, but inside it's like armor. The armor doesn't work with weapons or magic, though. Your healing is strong enough where the armor doesn't really matter. I forgot and broke my foot. At least I didn't injure you. I was planning on it, as I was angry that you controlled me. I was too far into my act."

"If you injured me, it'd heal right away. You take forever, though."

"Can you do me a favor, Nocri?" Meralf asked, sincere.

"What is it?"

"While you're still red, tell me that I can switch back into Flarem. You said I couldn't for twenty-four hours, but I'll heal in four. Flarem still wants to hang out with you guys."

"Okay... You can switch to Flarem when you wish," I allowed, feeling the words become empowered. Meralf looked relieved, sighing.

"Thanks."

I tilted my head back to Svi. She flashed me a smile, so I flashed one back. My arms held onto her, gently pushing her head toward mine. I kissed her for a minute or so, then stopped. She looked at me with thankfulness.

"Your hair is turning black again. Looks like this mess is ending. I've missed your green orbs," Svi commented, kissing my cheek.

"We should wait until Flarem's back to pierce Noc's ears. While Meralf heals here, I'll go cook. The innkeeper lived here, so we just need to go to his section of the building."

"No. I'm cooking for you. You stay here with Noc and Meralf. I'll make enough for all of you."

"Okay. I think there's a staircase leading downstairs. You probably have to go there," I informed, Svi removing herself from me.

"Take it easy, Cri."

Svi left, her chains clinking behind her. It left me lonely and cold. Noc walked beside me, staring into my eyes. The irritation was still there, but it had mostly vanished.

"Are you okay, Dad?"

Noc's voice was as silent and monotoned like usual. Meralf looked at us with curiosity.

"Yeah. I'm fine now. Don't worry about it, Noc."

"How does your head feel? It's your mental state that was injured."

"I have a headache, but it's passing. You don't have to worry."

"Why do you keep telling me not to worry? Shouldn't I?" Noc asked, confusion on his face. Meralf appeared to be fascinated with him.

"No. I'll be fine. You don't need to stress about it."

"I'm looking after your well-being. I don't want you in this state. Is that wrong?"

It was strange to hear Noc's questions. He seemed interested to know a lot.

"It's not wrong. I guess you can worry if you want."

"Okay."

Silence broke out for a minute, then Meralf wanted to talk to Noc.

"Do you know how to read? I have some books."

"Yes. I was given a dictionary and was taught pronunciation. It was when I was very little."

"Have you read anything else?"

"I found some books under my old dad's bed, but I wouldn't count that as literature. It can't even be counted as art, though it was filled with drawings and paintings... They were nude, but it wasn't like normal nude art, as it was dirty, not admirable."

"Debatable. I bet he admired it. Hehe," Meralf joked, his grin reappearing. I wasn't happy. He's too young to hear that stuff.

"Don't say that in front of him, Meralf!"

"I couldn't help myself. Hahe."

The grin faded. Noc was clearly confused with my reprimand.

"I have some books in the corpse room. They're on the bed with my comb. You can get them if you want, but don't look directly at the body. Fetch my comb too."

"You don't have to go get them, Noc. The corpse is repugnant," I said, cringing at the thought of the body.

"No. I'll go. I want to read."

Interest sparked in Noc's eyes. He traveled out of the room, eagerly heading to get the books. Meralf smiled as he left, then looked over to me. I was nervous for the materials in the books.

"What are those books on?"

"One is on demon summoning, another is on potent poisons... Others I have are on philosophy, medicinal herbs, animals and creatures, and one on dragons," Meralf rolled off the tongue, taking a few seconds between books to think what they were.

"I'm not sure if I want him reading all of those... On another note, where have you been keeping all of them? I never see you carrying anything."

"I tuck my comb in the side of my pants, and I just recently got those books. I forced one of the vampires to hold onto them and put them in the room."

"Oh."

"Noc seems smart. He talks as if he's an equal to us. He even bothers to question that which he doesn't know."

"He's tall, too. I wonder if he'll reach my height," I puzzled, thinking it'd be weird for my son to be taller than me. Well, it could easily happen. Guess it wouldn't be too strange.

"He'll definitely outgrow me... Anyways, how's his questioning? Have you had to answer anything difficult?"

"He caught Svi and me naked... I was questioned for a good ten minutes..."

Meralf grinned, laughing slightly.

"That must've sucked."

"Yeah... It did."

We stopped talking, so I looked up at the ceiling. Soon after, Noc returned with the books. He was carrying six large books, his legs wobbling a little. He set them on the ground, breathing heavily.

"You could've made multiple trips, Noc," I remarked, wondering how he carried all of the books.

"I didn't want to enter that room multiple times. The smell burnt my nostrils."

"Did you get my comb, mini Nocri?"

"I don't like that nickname, so can you stick with Noc? And yes, I got your comb too."

Noc moved over to Meralf, handing the comb to him. Meralf took it from his hands, fixing his hair. Noc walked over to me, next.

"Need anything, Noc?"

"Can I read?" Noc eagerly questioned.

"You don't have to ask. Go ahead."

"Okay."

Noc sat by the pile of books, picking up the one on medicinal herbs. While he swiftly read the pages, Svi ran in.

"I finished cooking!"