Markus wasn't angry when Aura came back in.
In fact, there wasn't even a trace of a sour mood lingering on his features, as whispers of lights kissed his skin.
Well... There didn't seem to be a trace of anything lingering on his features. Except that unreadable expression he'd decided to adopt.
Or perhaps he'd always been this way.
Aura paused, expectantly by the door after he had summoned her, Skye perched patiently beside her.
He stood like a soldier, the spacious, empty room was the middle of a vacant world, to which he knew better than to depend on anything except himself. A burst of admiration sparked through Aura's heart. She saw the natural steel in his eyes that he couldn't seem to be rid of, even in his kindest moments.
Aura could only wish that she too, could one day stand like that.
Like her father could.
Markus glanced at them from the corner of his eyes, the whisper of a tug against his lips.
"If I asked you to tell me something, no matter the secret, not matter how personal, would you tell me?" He asked, stalking towards them as he gazed face on. Aura's unimpeachable soul stared at him head on, bewildered as to the direction of the conversation.
She nodded, clutching her fists in anticipation.
Pausing only when he was two feet away from her, he crouched to her level. "Then tell me Aura, how you managed to paralyze a lyrite?"
She stared, dumbfounded and caught off guard completely, for that moment.
Rarely had she heard of lyrite. Ferocious beasts with two separate souls within a single body. Hence why they were always referred to as plural.
Monsters that could shift into deformed monsters with shards of venom infected spikes. Like a hedgehodges spikes, except theirs resembled claws. Her father had come home once in a victorious jeer about how he had successfully executed a herculean mission, having to deal with several lyrites. She remembered his voice reencountering his adventure, about how his team had assassinated lyrite who dared to defy God's message through Gabriel.
They were about to murder an angel on sacred grounds. Though, even if the little girl hadn't begged for His help, she would have been assisted anyway. She was an angel to begin with, a defenceless one who was born out of peaceful nature, not warrior. He protects His own.
Just like He is for her father right now.
Even if the lyrite had managed to get away with murdering her, they would have spilled blood on sacred ground.
Accursed is he who spills on sacred ground.
"Aura?"
Aura blinked.
So deep in thought she had been, she had forgotten that there was still a question to be answered.
"I-I..." She stammered.
She had never told anybody about him. Not even her own father. Though... She must admit he only began to appear to her a few days before she left Heaven. Nobody had really asked, except from querying eyes, of Dakota and her cubs whenever Aura dreamt.
To this day, she never knew why.
"Think carefully about your answer." He warned, broken sapphire crystals scattered across his iris that made them such a fascinating shade of blue.
Aura had never lied before. She wouldn't start now.
"He told me what to do."
She felt his eyes watching her, as she imagined the stone grey. But he didn't say anything, he was silent, even as Markus spoke.
"Who told you what to do?"
"The man in my dreams." She explained, her eyes staring at where she felt his presence. She felt it when they had locked eyes, even though she couldn't see him.
Markus glanced in the direction of her gaze, and though he saw nothing, he felt an eerily cold presence.
Goosebumps skimmed across his arms, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, even as he listened intently.
"He took my pain and fixed my bones. Then I felt him tell me, without needing to speak, how I was meant to move my body. Where exactly I was meant to hit. He gave me the strength to hit hard enough. And when I did, Rodrick stopped moving."
Her gaze locked onto Markus'.
She could only guess what was most likely soaring through his brain at that very moment. But she chose against speaking, and waited, patiently for his answer. Watched every hint of movement as a sign of reaction.
But Markus didn't judge her.
Instead, it seemed as if she had only conformed one of his theories.
"You understand that lyrites are among strongest shifters in existence?"
Aura nodded.
"Which would mean that whoever this man is, is stronger. And because of you, Rodrick will never be able to move again?"
Markus didn't seem to particularly care about the unfortunate fate of the grisly boy. And Aura didn't feel particularly guilty either. A part of her felt it was only just, she had sensed the hatred and sadism that plagued his heart.
She didn't think someone like that should be given the power to be so dangerous. Therefore, she might have saved lives.
Aura could only glance at the grey eyed man's direction.
When she looked back at Markus, she found him watching her intensely, with a shockingly keen interest to know.
"What is his name?"
__
"Amos?" Aura muttered.
Her gentle voice so sweet with innocence rung true in the air with the same after-feel of a harp.
She was so confused.
So many questions raced through her mind, and she felt as if once upon a time she had known the answer, but a thief had swiped them out of her memory.
She knew that there were things her brain wouldn't allow her to know, that there were secrets locked tightly, secrets she couldn't access that sought refuge within. And it bothered her, in the darkest hours when she would try and catch some sleep.
But that was okay.
It wasn't time yet, and Aura respected that.
But there were still things she didn't understand. Still things she didn't know, was confused about. That Amos knew and understood and refused to tell her.
That too, was perfectly okay. He would tell her when it was time. And it didn't seem to be at that moment.
However, right now, there was a question she needed answered that she wasn't sure could wait. That she hoped wasn't relevant to waiting until it was time, because it was how she was feeling. And she didn't yet know if that was the correct thing to feel.
"Yes hakeesee?"
Burying her face further into his chest, she sighed, a sound of content as a feeling of nostalgia washed over her. Her thumbs smoothed circles against his neck, cheek flat against the smooth skin by his collar bone.
She gazed at the fiery sky, swollen with darker colours the further down it went, like a shade scale, setting an oddly romantic glow that she had come to love since the first dream with him.
"Is it okay to be afraid?"
"Are you afraid?" He queried.
He already knew the answer. He always knew the answer. He knew every thought that ever raced through her mind, he felt every beat of her gentle heart. He knew what fed her fears.
His wings stretched out behind him, like another pair of arms during action of a yawn, before he let them sprawl like a halo around them. Creating the image that they were almost cradling his giant form, with her minature one.
Aura raised a tentative finger, stroking a silken soft silver feather. She felt him relax further, behind her.
"No." She muttered, her brows tugging together as she focused on what her heart felt. "I am not afraid... But I should be."
"Is that so?" He muttered.
They spoke so quietly, as if afraid of breaking the serenity of their surroundings.
"I'm alone, in a land I don't know. Surrounded by people, creatures that I do not know. I depend on Markus to keep me safe, but what if anything ever happens to him?" She asked."Who will keep me safe then?"
There was a moment of silence. She thought that perhaps he had decided not to answer, but just before she could breathe another word, he spoke. "You forget about me."
She had hurt him.
"No, I don't mean it like that, you know that I trust you with my life--"
"Then what need for anybody else?" He asked, petting her light brown hair, playing with the strands between his fingers, lashes long and low as he gazed at them with intensity.
"It's just that I'm so used to my father being here for me." She explained, "I've never had to depend on anyone else. Now, he's not with me, I feel naked. I feel inclined to depend on Markus because he is a good person, and because he knew my father but..."
"What about me?" Asked Amos.
Aura frowned.
"What about you?"
"How do you feel, knowing that I'm always here to protect you?"
When Aura glanced back to lock gazes with him, she felt something. She didn't know what it was, staring into his silvery eyes.
But she felt something.
While feeling safe at the exact same time.
"I feel safe."
"Then you don't need to worry about anything else."
She looked away before she could witness the smile she heard in his voice.
Like this, they stayed a moment longer.
The lithe, muscular man, and the fragile, miniature little girl.
Until Aura decided to ask him something.
"Have you ever been afraid?" She asked.
"Why? So you can taunt me when you're in the mood?"
"So you have been a scaredy cat before." She giggled.
A sound of disgruntlement grunted from his throat. "I wouldn't call it scaredy cat, I don't run away when I'm in fear."
"Really? Prove it."
Aura had no idea what she had just asked of him. Because the only time he'd been afraid... It wasn't for himself.
"The only time I've ever been afraid," He drawled, "Was in my last moments as Damaeyus. Before I became Amos."
Perked to attention, Aura stiffened. She knew what he was. She felt as if she had an extremely close relationship with him, but she didn't know how he came to be. She never asked either, because she knew she wouldn't like it if she were him.
"And even still, to the very end I stuck true to my name. Damaeyus, which meant selfless in my mother tongue." He explained without indulging, much to Aura's disappointment. "Because even though I was afraid, I was not afraid for myself. Would you like to know whom I was afraid for?"
She nodded tentatively.
"I was afraid for you."