Roughly Sixteen Years Ago

Alfreda was making her way through the castle when she overheard her younger sister Cori speaking with a servant.

"Would Her Highness like her room to be tidied?" asked the servant, bowing.

"Yes," replied Cori. "I would want tidy room- my room to be tided," she tumbled over the words and glanced at the floor.

The servant winced a bit, then nodded. "As you say, Your Highness-"

Princess Cori stopped the servant from leaving and placed her gloved hands on either side of the servant's head, then a green light shone from her fingers; Alfreda recognised it as the same spell her father had tried to use on Osmond.

Cori was wiping the servant's mind just to clean away that small, embarrassing slip-up in a conversation.

Alfreda hid away, her breath catching in her throat. Cori was already capable of doing such a spell at the age of twelve, so what could she do by the time she was an adult?

And then there was the fear of what else Cori had erased. What other memories? Had she done it with Alfreda's memories?

Princess Alfreda calmed herself. No, of course, Little Cori wouldn't do that. She was so innocent and naïve, and yet Alfreda had witnessed herself what Cori would do even with such a minor part of her day.

Present Day

Day: 3302

Henry had been making great strides with learning sign language, more progress than the majority due to how hard he studied as well as the extra private lessons. Sumit and Henry would often go out for dinner together too after the private lesson, though Sumit was unsure if Henry insisted because he was paying him back for the private tutoring or because he actually thought of him as a friend; Sumit hoped for the latter, he was at a severe lack of friends at the moment.

They were in the middle of their private lesson when the door flung open and in bombarded three imps that immediately began to climb on the desks and spin around in Sumit's office chair.

Sumit let out a tired sigh and it was clear to Henry that this was a usual occurrence.

"Please stop messing around," Sumit said in an already defeated tone.

"Now, now, none of this belongs to you!" snapped a voice. "Be respectful."

Henry turned to see that at the doorway was Vice-Captain Alfreda, Lili's second in command of the guards; she was currently in her human form, wearing an elegant red gown and silver and gold jewellery in her curly hair, the imps matching with red garments and the same kind of jewellery hanging from their small pointy horns.

Sumit seemed to tense up as soon as he saw the woman, his eyes darting away as if he was not acknowledging her existence.

"I do apologise," said Alfreda, before she cleared her throat loudly and the imps came running back to her side, standing straight with immaculate posture. Henry would have thought them to be her actual children what with the resemblance of her fire demon form and the imps' design but of course, they were just masks.

"It's okay," said Henry, smiling, as it seemed that Sumit was not going to respond so he did it for him. "Are you here for a music lesson?"

"Lesson?" Alfreda scoffed. "I already know how to play the piano; I do not need to learn anymore. I am here simply to play."

At hearing this, the imps jumped up and down in excitement, clearly wanting to hear music as they pulled at Alfreda's dress for attention.

"How is your learning?" Alfreda asked, whilst signing.

Henry replied, "great, thank you. My ninth lesson," and said slowly as he sighed what words he could.

Alfreda looked between him and Sumit, who was still silent and avoiding the conversation entirely. "We haven't had a proper chat, have we?" her voice purred. "I am Alfreda, vice-captain of the guards of the city."

"Pleasure to meet you," Henry smiled. "I'm Henry Best."

"Oh, I know," Alfreda returned a smile. "Miss Warren's dear second cousin, from the same staunch royalist family that has served the crown for so many years."

Henry paused, wondering why she was mentioning that when it clicked; her name... "P-princess Alfreda?"

"That's right, pet." Alfreda smirked. "You can bow if you like."

Henry didn't know what to do in the moment, too stunned that she would be down here in the first place, thought a part of him did not feel as surprised for some reason. "Why are you-"

"Oh, it is a long story," Alfreda sighed. "I can tell you another time, but you are busy with your lesson and as am I." With a snap of her fingers, the imps got in line and followed her through the door. "We can have a little chat another time, dear Henry, ideally when you haven't already got company." She glanced at Sumit, then smiled again at Henry before shutting the door behind her.

Henry turned back to Sumit who's body was completely stiff, his hands clenched into fists.

"Hey, are you okay?" Henry asked softly.

"Yeah, yeah." Sumit cleared his throat. "Sorry, just annoying when there are interruptions. Now where were we?"

Henry didn't press on it but he could easily tell that something had occurred between Sumit and Princess Alfreda as Sumit clearly did not like her presence. So they continued their lesson, though Sumit was a bit distracted at times, especially when they could hear the slight mumble of piano coming from the sound-proof music room. Henry offered again to have dinner afterwards but Sumit declined politely, wanting to spend the night to himself.

*

After the private lesson, Sumit headed to the food hall to get takeout, splitting off from Henry who waited in the dine-in queue. Sumit saw him talk to Oscar, and then sit with some friends he had made from the sanitation unit when he first arrived. Sumit felt a slight pang, reflecting on who else he had to sit with for food at the moment; Rin and Kai were two options though both at the moment were opting to just eat at their house, Rin because she prefers being alone most of the time, and Kai because he was too tired after work to socialise. Calixte always made the offer, but he would of course be dining with Alfreda.

Alfreda...

Sumit dragged himself through the streets, trying desperately to not think about her and her meddling with his love life to cause himself to be in this maudlin state. All she did was say a few words to Oscar and then Sumit's life came crumbling down; it wasn't completely all of her fault, Sumit himself was mostly to blame with how he reacted to things, but he wondered what would have happened if she had never said anything. Would he still have been with Oscar? Or would they have eventually broken up regardless?

No stop thinking about that. Stop or...

Sumit froze as he reached his house seeing that familiar creature waiting nearby; the black hound, its fur still messy and scraggly. And yes, it was larger than before. It had grown.

Sumit looked around, seeing people just walk past it, one person even went straight through it as if it wasn't there. Was it even there? Was this all just a hallucination of his again?

Another person went straight through it and the hound remained unbothered by it.

An illusion?

A hallucination?

Some incorporeal form that somehow Sumit could only see? If he could see it, would he be able to touch it? Maybe that could confirm if he truly had gone crazy. And yet when he took another step towards his front door, his body froze up, warning signs blaring in his head, activating his fight or flight instincts. 

Run, just run.

What are you doing? The dog was probably not even there and yet was he too scared to enter his own house. Why had the dog grown? It isn't even in the way, he could rush inside, its not like dogs can open doors, they don't have hands. Why was the dog there? Would it start chasing him if he got near? Why are you so scared of a dog? But its not just a dog, right? It would be a monster down here in the Eternal Abyss, one that only Sumit could see and possibly touch. If he was in trouble, would anyone be able to help him?

Sumit backed away, eyes on the hounded that remained sitting still, watching him, eyes unblinking.

Sumit decided to take up Henry's offer on dinner and returned to the food hall, sweat covering his entire body, his clothes sticking to his skin.

I am not crazy.

Its just a dog.

Hopefully it would not be there by the time Sumit had finished his dinner. He scanned the dine-in area trying to find Henry or anyone else he knew to sit with and wait for it all to be over, when he saw Henry; he was sitting with Princess Alfreda, alongside Calixte and her three imp minions that followed her everywhere.

Sumit knew Princess Alfreda wanted to talk to Henry from the previous conversation but did it have to be now.? Why now? Sumit needed Henry, anyone to distract him. Sumit even considered striking up a conversation with his ex before he stopped that stupid thought.

With no one to sit with, Sumit found an empty table in the outside area, away from Princess Alfreda, and ate alone. His body shook as he thought about the monster lurking near his house, and hoped that it won't be there by the time he finished.

*

Henry had caught his friends he made in his time in the sanitation unit just as they were finishing their dinner. They stayed to catch up, Henry discussing how his job at the requisition office was going and learning sign language with Sumit, before his friends had to leave as they had an early shift the next day. No soon after they had left, did their seats get immediately taken by Princess Alfreda and Calixte, with the three imps fighting over who got to sit next to who on the bench before Alfreda scolded them to behave.

"Dear Henry Best," cooed the princess, gently placing a napkin on her lap. "May we have this seat?"

They had already sat down but Henry said with smile, "of course."

"I hope we are not intruding," said Calixte. "I would love to talk more with you too. It is lovely to see Corinna's family, she talked a fair amount about you before she lost her memories."

"She did?" Henry perked him. "Hopefully nice things," he joked.

"Of course, of course! I can see why, I have heard only great things about you from everyone else too!"

Henry tried to maintain his humility with his response, but his cheeks still flushed from the flattery.

Calixte continued to ramble on about what people had said, then went off on a tangent about his choir which seemed like he was mentioning to try and persuade Henry to once again join. Meanwhile, Alfreda was quiet, though she seemed to study Henry intensely, her eyes never leaving him even when she disciplined or nurtured the imps. The two were an odd pair, and Henry was unsure of their relationship; they were somehow matching yet different, their attire with Princess Alfreda's gown and Calixte waistcoat and frilled shirt were an anachronism amongst the other residents wearing jeans and hoodies, yet matched the rustic wooden architecture and medieval structures, that once again were juxtaposed from the random items collected from the Land of the Lost. They did not look related, but had similarities in how they behaved and talked, not that they were from the same time period, but it seemed that Calixte was some form of nobility or even royalty.

"Sorry if this is personal," Henry began, hesitating as the question was bugging him. "Are you two..." he could not finish, not knowing what to ask. A couple? Adopted siblings? A weird found family with the three imps?

"I am the bastard daughter of his lover's 7th generation great grandson, so he is my step-father's very, very, very great-step-grandfather," Alfreda said casually as if it was so simple of a connection, and not a great revelation that she was not King Casimir's biological daughter but likely a product of an affair. "And now, these are not my children," Alfreda scoffed at the thought, motioning to the three imp. "This is Princess Thalia, my third cousin four times removed," she motioned to the imp who had devoured all of her food first and trying to steal from the others. "Duke Valtair, my great great uncle..." The imp called Valtair was moving the food on his plate into a picture of a smiley face. "And finally Prince Tristan who was bethrothed to my great-grandmother, obviously the wedding did not go through since he was cast down here." The said Prince who would not stop tapping on the table and humming, which Calixte then corrected the pitch of his voice and the tapped along to create a steady and in time rhythm.

"We are family!" Calixte beamed.

"Just like you and Corinna," Alfreda joked.

"Right," was all Henry could say. He couldn't judge their weak blood connections himself when he and Corinna were second cousins, but it did explain their odd family dynamic. Henry attempted to create a family tree in his mind but it was too complicated.

Henry asked questions about the imps, directing the questions to the children themselves who replied in their gibberish language, with Alfreda and Calixte either translating or perhaps just answering for them.

Even still, Princess Alfreda still looked at Henry with a quiet study and curiosity, and perhaps caution with how intensely she stared. Henry maintained speaking formally with her, addressing her as you should a princess though it was strange to be sitting opposite her in a cafeteria.

The topic came onto blood moons and masks as a blood moon was coming up with Alfreda asked what preparations Henry had made.

"Since I can't sleep in my monster form, I've just asked for any additional work," replied Henry. "I'm on standby for an emergency nurse too since I have first aid training, and on repairs too."

"You cannot sleep?" Alfreda asked slowly.

"That sounds terrible!" exclaimed Calixte with pity. "I know that some of us are awake during the whole blood moon sometimes because of our jobs, but not having that choice!" He shook his head.

"Yes, truly terrible," said Alfreda, though she seemed to not have any sympathy in her voice.

"Oh!" Calixte perked up. "We could try and see if my powers work on you! My mask turns me into a humanoid fish that could put people into a trance, or cause them to go unconscious! Perhaps that will help you sleep!"

Henry would have found Calixte's description of his monster form absurd if he hadn't witnessed it in action. He shrugged. "I would be up for trying it out, though I fell like it won't work, but worth a try."

"You cannot sleep, but you can put others to sleep," Alfreda said to Henry, her eyes narrowing.

"Well, I don't put people to sleep," Henry began to explain. "I enter their mind and cause them something similar to a nightmare. They can be awake."

"Just nightmares?" Alfreda's head cocked to the side.

"They don't have to be scary, they can be... happy dreams." Henry thought to the experiments he did with Nia and glanced away, cheeks hot. "It works similarly to using any mind manipulation magic."

This was when Alfreda straightened in her seat, her eyes even more focused on him. "Yes, I did remember you being a mage. Do you enter someone's mindscape in your mask form, do you suppose?"

"I..." Henry frowned. "Did you know me before the Abyss?"

"Yes, I vaguely remember you from hosting the broadcasts," Alfreda quickly explained, wanting to dismiss that topic. "Do you go into people's mindscapes with your mask? Or does it feel similar?"

"I would say I do. It seems to work the same but I am limited to the mask's powers of creating nightmares." Henry replied quickly too, wanting to get back to how Alfreda knew him and only just mentioned it. "You said you-"

"You can only create dreams, nothing else?" Alfreda pressed.

"As far as I know-"

"Why, have you not tried? For instance, mind control? Or seeing someone's memories?"

"I can hear their thoughts." Henry frowned, disliking all of these questions when he wanted answers himself. "I can work out what they will be afraid of if I am in there long enough."

"Nothing else? No seeing their past?"

Henry shrugged. "I don't think so, just their present, though I haven't tried."

Alfreda leaned back in her seat, arms folded in disapproval of what she heard.

"I have tried controlling people," Henry admitted. Perhaps she was trying to gauge how safe he would be during a blood moon, if he should go berserk, how dangerous would his powers be? "But it failed. I tried stop someone from attacking me but I could only give them nightmares, not fully stop them."

This seemed to somewhat satisfy Alfreda as she no longer looked annoyed. "Very well," she said, standing up. "Thank you, darling Best, it has been a pleasure talking to you." Henry was unsure if that was true. Then she left, the imps stacking the empty plates, mugs, and cutlery to the washing up area.

"Oh, it seems we are leaving," said Calixte with a chuckle. "Lovely to talk to you, Mr Henry, I wish you the best- ah!" He smiled upon the unintentional joke with Henry's surname. Henry smiled back though tired of having heard it so many times since getting here.

With the rest of the table empty, Henry sat there for a moment, contemplating on what Alfreda had asked what she was trying to get from him.