Lucas Cavelier's Story

Sitting lazily on the edge of his bed, Lucas struck a match of the box in his hand, using it to light a cigar that was held firmly in his mouth. He had only really been up for a couple of minutes but he was already dressed in his normal sloppy business attire, and his large blackout curtains had just been pulled back a fraction to let enough light in so that he could see. He had requested the blackout curtains, so that he could indulge himself and watch a film as and when he wanted, without the glare of the sun trying its best to claw its way inside the room.

Wandering outside his room, he noted some noise coming from Williams room down the corridor and simply shook his head. The morning did not treat William fairly at the best of times, so it sounded like a normal day so far to Lucas. Making a bee line to the kitchen he paid no attention as he walked in and set the coffee machine into life. Turning now, he nodded slightly to Valeria, but simply stared at the two new faces and as he took a long draw of his cigar. Taking the cigar out of his mouth he spoke " That explains the noise to roust the owner from his bed" he said, the smoke cascading out from behind his lips.

Still not greeting the new faces yet he simply turned, now to pour his mug of coffee, and take it with his free hand. " So... are these new residents, or have we been degraded to hosting a breakfast club?" he asked more so to Valeria, but it would of been hard to tell as he only turned back round to to look at them after his finished speaking.

Shio then heard someone come over to the breakfast table and said
"So... are these new residents, or have we been degraded to hosting a breakfast club?"
Shio looked over and saw that the man had sunglasses covering his eyes. She was a tiny bit afraid of him but she had to meet him.
"H-Hi... I'm Shio..."
That had worried Aika quite a bit. Shio was never this timid around everyone. Whoever this person was could be dangerous. So, she decided to study the man for a bit, holding onto Matt's arm because of fear and now having a decent idea of where she was. Her hand trembled. Shio then heard a question come from Matt.
"I have to ask this Shio... but why, when you created Aika, did she not have her sight?"
That had sobered Shio even more than the appearance of the new man. Shio then turned over to Matt and softly sighed.
"Well, I can tell you this much. It's not because I want her to be blind."
Shio then concentrated a bit and a perfect red apple appeared in her hand. She took a bite of it and then showed the contents. The inside was rotten despite the perfect flesh.
"You think I just created a rotten apple, didn't you? Well, it's not rotten. If anything, it's the best apple ever. That's part of the problem with my powers. With everything I create, there's always a flaw to it. I create a gun, it shoots darts. I create a knife, the blade is more like a sword. Such is the nature of my power. If I wanted Aika to have sight, she could have her hearing or voice taken... I wouldn't want that."
Shio said that with a small smile but secretly she was seething at her lack of strength. Aika noticed based on the change in Shio's tone, however slight it was.
"Shio... I'm okay with being blind..."
Even if it was a lie, she wanted to make Shio feel better.

"Oh just get out!"
With those words, William threw a pillow at Apsel's head. Apsel merely laughed and dodged the attack.
"Very well. Meet me in the kitchen when you are done."
Apsel then made his way into the kitchen. Lucas and Valeria were already standing there. Apsel smiled and greeted the two.
"Hello, Lucas. I trust you slept well. And a good morning to you as well, Valeria. I hope your cousin didn't cause any trouble."
Apsel then noticed three new faces. One of them was an orange haired girl who held a strange and rotten apple. There was another girl with white hair holding onto the final person's arm. He had glasses and an odd collar around his neck. Apsel gently smiled at the three.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to harm you. My best friend is on his way to give a proper welcome. But for now, I'll introduce myself. My name is Apsel Lehrer. It's nice to meet you."
Shio felt a smile grow on her face and hugged Apsel tightly.
"Hiya Apsel! I'm Shio Naona!!"
Aika merely tried to focus on the man.
"I'm Shio's dream, Aika."
Apsel was briefly confused, but he decided to save his questions for later. They needed to get used to the manor first.

Liliana chuckled as William's annoyance with the three other tenets showed. He threw the three of them out of his room. After William had finally felt the urge to get up, Liliana felt that her job there was finished. She began walking out of his door to go to her room when Jude called after her. She turned to face him.

"Lil, want me to make you some sandwich? You gotta work right? I wanna make my second after this anyway, or do you prefer pancakes? Unlike you, I won't let it end up in a disaster." Jude said while laughing freely without any bad intention.

She chuckled along with him. "What are you saying that I can't cook?" She smiled. "I'd love a sandwich, if that's alright with you, I couldn't stand being so friendly down there with a bunch of newbies." She began to walk downstairs and waited for Jude to follow after her. She could still hear the sounds of craziness downstairs and wondered what was happening. "It's weird knowing that they just could show up here, ya know?"

As she asked this question, the lights in the corridor flickered and turned off. She sighed and looked over at the wall to where a sconce had gone dark. "Looks like the power is out again, I think its the squirrels, will you come with me to start it back up, the circuit board is near the kitchen anyways." She began to feel her way down the stairs and shouted down to let everyone know what had happened. "Power's out, I'll fix it!"

Taking a sip of his coffee his attention fixed onto the orange haired girl who he did not recognize. " Shio.." he was about to carry on when he heard the boy he did not recognize ask a question, and quite a bold question at that. Listening to the explanation Lucas couldn't help but nod in agreement. " The most beautiful blossom is often the shortest live... but its already dawned on you that there is a price to everything hasn't it?" Lucas said, taking another sip of his coffee.

" I cannot complain... but i trust William might with the effort you went through to awaken him" the closest thing to a smirk flickered at the edges of his mouth, but never did it manifest as he turned his gaze to acknowledge Apsel. Though he couldn't help but raise a brow at the statement of no intention to harm, while it probably stood true that none in the room at the intention as of yet, did it really warrant it to be stated as such.

Catching the glance from the boy, he decided he answered his own question. Such statements were necessary with so many different people and personalities within this house, not to mention some powers make others feel uneasy. Then, the power went, Modern homes would of been fine, since they are built to let light in, but this old manor struggled with that so some rooms went dark. Raising his cigar, the dull embers lit up as he took a drag, he heard the shout so he knew someone else was going to fix it. " I do hope none of you are afraid of the dark.... its even worse at night"

Apsel smiled at Lucas.
"I'm glad... And yes, it was an utter nightmare to get William up. You're aware of how he gets..."
Apsel then turned his gaze to Mattrim.
"And likewise for you, Mattrim."
He then noticed the strange looks around the room. He mentally cursed himself while his face was still smiling and caring. He really shouldn't have said that. The last thing he wanted was a chance for Teufel to come out however small it was. Lucky for him, the power went off. Seeing the power go off made Apsel sigh a bit.
"Oh dear... I suppose I'll-"
He was cut off by Liliana's announcement that she'll take care of the power. He smiled.
"Very well then."

Shio had blushed at Lucas's statement. But then she had frowned a bit at his near morbid statement.
'How did he know?! Does he...? Don't tell me...'
Shio had wondered if he went to the same hospital that she did. She decided to get to know this guy a bit better. He seemed pretty interesting. Or maybe Shio was over analyzing things... Still, she wanted to get to know this guy with sunglasses and the girl with the brown ponytail. Aika on the other hand merely blinked. She heard the power go out and decided now would be a good time to disappear. So she did. Shio smiled.
"Oh, I'm not terrified of anything really!"
That was a lie but she certainly wasn't scared of the dark. She was scared of death... and that was going to be inevitable. Shio shook off the morbid thought and continued to smile.

The cheerful looking girl whose name appeared to be Shio pounced on her and squealed as soon as she mentioned Liliana's lightning."That... is... AWESOME!!!!" She glanced towards glasses boy and whoever or whatever the other figure was. Usually she would know a persons name by just looking at them but this person's aura was a bit different. Well she seemed nice enough when when she explained Shio's actions. "Yes, she's like this with everyone she meets, not just you. Heh, I remember when I was created the first thing she did was hug me." Wait a minute did she just say she was created? She now looked at all the people in the room with a perplexed expression but she decided not to question anything. She never got to answer Shio's question about her power since the girl's attention was whisked away by a handkerchief? If that was Vito's and it should be since he's the only one that carries handkerchiefs she wouldn't touch it, god knows where that has been.
Opening the book she brought with her she focused on reading. She smelt cigars she absent mindedly waved in the direction of Lucas and continued reading. "So... are these new residents, or have we been degraded to hosting a breakfast club?" The question made her smile a bit but she shook her head and squinted at Lucas to hint him to at least pretend to be polite. "A breakfast club would have more food." She pointed at at table which was empty, except for her cereal.
Shio's display of her power left Valeria a bit stunned, to create something out of nothing seemed like such a good power, it's just a shame it didn't work properly. Well even it you couldn't create exactly what you imagined it was far better that getting random visions of peoples futures, and not even the interesting parts of their future.
Apsel's appearance meant that the mission to wake William up was a success. Although waking the manor's owner didn't mean he'll be down soon since he still needed to dress himself and sometimes that could take a very long tome.
Valeria's vision blurred for a moment and she saw the lights flicker, her foresight always showed her the most unnecessary things. The power itself had potential but it seemed that power shortages were more important that lottery numbers. Well it looks like we'll have another power shortage in about 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. now. The lights went out and a distant "Power's out, I'll fix it!" could be heard.
Valeria wasn't afraid of the dark but she preferred the sunlight much more. And this grand mansion barely had any windows on the ground floor so some rooms seemed shadowy and dark even during the day. "Wouldn't it be nice if our newcomer Sun had the power of glowing in the dark? We could certainly use it with the bad wiring of this place." She crossed her arms and looked around the dim room, there were no conditions for reading and she felt rather uncomfortable around groups of more than four people. "If you will exuce me I'll go check if our charming host managed to dress himself or did the power shortage make him believe it's night and go to sleep again."

"If you will exuce me I'll go check if our charming host managed to dress himself or did the power shortage make him believe it's night and go to sleep again."
When Valeria said that, Apsel felt a weird pain go through him. It wasn't anything that badly hurt him, it just... felt strange. He shook off the strange feeling and smiled at Valeria.
"I would feel safer if you did that. My attempts to wake Will had resulted in a near execution via pillow. I'd be careful if he's still cranky."
With those words, a loud bump was heard.
"Ah, Achak must have returned with dinner."
Shio looked at Apsel confused.
"Achak? Ooh! I'll go help him!! But first... Let there be Sunlight!"
And with those words, Shio created... torches. Shio felt herself sigh.
"I wanted candles but these work too. Where is this Achak located?"
Apsel wondered a bit.
"Well... knowing him, he's probably near the entrance. But don't move. Will wants to greet you and besides, you don't know the manor that well. I'll get him."
And with that, Apsel walked over to the front of the manor, leaving Shio alone with Lucas and Mattrim. Shio shivered a bit in the darkness.
"This is almost like the time the hospital's lights went out. At least I can stand instead of being in a bed most of my life..."
This was said aloud. It may have made no sense to anyone but the thought comforted young Shio.

Apsel eventually found the front of the manor. He frowned a bit.
"It really is impossible to see in the darkness."
But the darkness proved to be helpful. Apsel felt the calmest when he was in darkness. With nothing to see, everything is perfectly balanced and he could feel human. He then heard drips and followed the sound to greet a Native American man.
"Ah, hello, Achak! Was the hunt successful?"

Just as Valeria counted down, the lights flickered then died out. 'W-what happened to one?!' was the first thought to flash into Matt's head followed by the lack of natural sunlight in the house. This seemed to be a drawback of such a huge house, there were not very many windows inside the interior rooms. The more disturbing though is how had Valeria known that such a thing would happen? Matt did not see the lights flicker until after she had told them it would happen. Precognition maybe? or some other power he could not fathom. A release of pressure on his arm had Matt straining to see in the darkness, he could make out the form of Aika but then sudden it just seemed to fade away into nothingness. Was it because of the lack of light in the room that she faded? Matt peered at Shio wondering if perhaps the sudden darkness startled her.. maybe she needed to keep a constant concentration in order for her 'created' objects to exist continually.

A shout from a voice he recognized as Liliana claimed she would take care of it. Hopefully it was as simple as flipping the breaker. If something had shorted... maybe Matt could help. Ever since his 'incident' he had been unsure of his skill set. Sometimes he would set out to do a task he was unfamiliar with, but suddenly his hands would move and accomplish the task with ease. 'Muscle Memory' it was called in certain medical books he recalled but never remembered reading.

Valeria excused herself from the room but not before referring to Shio as the 'newcomer Sun'. You could hear the capital 'S' in her voice. What about Shio was a sun? The image of the carvings etched into the stone outside the front door flashed into his mind.

"The Arcana" Matt mumbled aloud. The words written across the book 'Strength' and the card he had taken for being a bookmark. If he recalled correctly 'Strength' was also one of the Arcana. Then did that mean that Shio had something to do with the Sun Arcana? As if on queue all of a sudden she shouted out.

"Let there be Sunlight!" accompanied by the appearance of not sunlight, but old fashioned torches. This power was seriously as crazy as it sounded.... even if the objects were only temporary. If the 'Sun' could do this... then would could someone who was supposed to represent 'Strength' do? Matt's eyes ached a little from switching from the darkness to the sudden light of a torch and it was not helped by the headache he felt coming on. 'Why can't I remember?!' Matt's angry voice echoed in his thoughts.

Liliana dashed down the stairs into the foyer and turned to find that Achak and Apsel standing near the doorway.

"Hello gentlemen, I suppose we really should get this manor fixed up. I'm just going to turn the lights back on now." She flashed a quick smile then began walking quickly again towards the kitchen. In the dining room people still sat around the table, though some were standing now due to the sudden disappearance of light. However Liliana could see in this room because of the torches that burned near to the people. "Ah, hello again, I'll just go and fix this right now." She turned away from the people at the table and entered through the kitchen to a back room hidden by a door.

She turned the knob and opened the door to find the fuse box and all sorts of other necessary things to keep a manor running like it should. It was dark in here too, so Lilian backed into the kitchen again to open a drawer and grab a flashlight, with this, she entered the utility room again and opened the fuse box. It seemed that the circuit had shorted, so Liliana put the flashlight under her arm and re-arranged the wires, they shocked her several times, but she merely shivered, enjoying the feeling of electricity pulsing through her. She removed the obviously broken fuse and took another one out of the box that lay underneath the fuse box, they had one since this happened at least once a month. She replaced the fuse skillfully and then gave it an extra zap of charge to make sure that it stayed on a bit longer.

The lights flickered back on slowly and Liliana turned her flashlight off, smiling in victory.

"Done!" She grinned.

[Note: This could be entirely wrong, I'm no electrician. Don't fix a fuse box on your own.]

Lucas paid little intention to the things that happened in the darkness, not out of impoliteness, he just let everyone do there own thing, it was only after Aspel was departing , and shio had dimly filled the room with improvised lights, that he refocused attention back into the room. " The lights should not take long to fix.."

As if on cue, Liliana made her way through the room to carry out her duty of fixing the lights. " ..Especially when the one fixing them does not mind being electrocuted by the outdated wiring" His words were meant in a light hearted manners as always, but his near monotonous voice often made that hard to tell. Seeing the lights start to flicker, he took a sip of his coffee, hearing the exlamation of the finished job. " Took longer then last time." he said again meaning it in a lighthearted sense, but it would be doubtful anyone could tell the difference.

Shio smiled and looked at the man with the sunglasses.
"I wonder how long it took the first time."
Despite her initial fear of him, the sunglasses man didn't seem to want to hurt her. This had comforted Shio. She then slapped herself on the forehead.
"Oh, duh! I completely forgot!! God, I'm an idiot... This is what happens when Aika's not here to guide me. Well, Sunglasses Man, since I said my name, could you please tell me yours? Also what's your arcana? Mine's the Sun... But you probably figured it out, huh?"
Shio laughed a little bit and fiddled with her hair in embarrassment. This action caused the previously lit torches to disappear.

Apsel had seen the power go on.
"Oh, well that's convenient. Come, Achak. I'm sure you're aware of the new residents. Why not introduce yourself?"
Apsel helped to guide Achak down to the kitchen, dead deer and all. When Apsel and Achak had arrived at the kitchen, they noticed that only Shio, Mattrim and Lucas were there. Apsel smiled warmly.
"This is Achak. He's also one of our residents."
Shio was about to give her traditional hug attack with her introduction but stopped upon seeing the dead deer on Achak's shoulder. Her eyes widened as a flashback appeared in her mind.
"Big Bro, I'm scared..."
Shio stared as her mother shook on the hospital bed. Her brother stood beside her as they both watched a potentially fatal operation to replace her mother's heart. Her elder brother, Hisashi, allowed Shio to cling to him. Their father refused to attend the surgery.
"It's okay, Shi... Just... Just don't look at it, alright?"
Despite the advice, Shio couldn't look away. The blood was a brilliant scarlet and seemed to stain the white bed. Her normally cheery eyes were filled with both tears and fright. She could hear the erratic "beep, beep, beep" of the monitor keeping track of the heartbeat. Then it all went silent. That was Shio's first experience with death and it had made its mark.
"A-Ah...!"
Shio had backed away at this point and then hid behind sunglasses man for safety. She was still reeling from that flashback and needed to take a few minutes to calm down with someone. Unfortunately, Aika still needed time before she could come out again. Apsel for his part looked at Shio in confusion.
"What's wrong, Miss Naona?"
Shio didn't answer... She was still thinking about the bed turning red and how she lost her mother.

Bear had heard footsteps coming towards him and once he felt the presence in front of him, he instantly recalled whose voice was talking to him. "Avsal. Hunt good. Big deer for feast." He shifted the deer back onto his shoulder and sheathed back his axe into the holster. "Need... skinning."

Apsel told him that the new guest arrives and it would be a good idea for him to introduce himself. Bear seemed to understand that he should greet the new guest as well, thinking that it would be wise to get his pipe from the tent first. But Apsel ended up dragging him to them already. The whole house lit up again and he sees two unfamiliar faces in the group of familiars. Bear had picked up which are the new residents and gave them his traditional greeting. He placed his fisted hand on his chest and tapped it twice, a signal of peace and welcome.

The crowd was a bit silent and one of them looked like she was going to approach him but froze like a statue. "Oi, oi. I think you scared the poor child. She looks very much like a stone sculpture from the looks of it." Bear just nodded in recognizing the voice's will. "Avsal, I will skin meat." He left the group with a sort of bow and walked out of the kitchen exit into the backyard.

" Yes i overheard what Arcana you possessed" he said, glancing quickly over to the boy to make sure his attention was in the room as Lucas did not like having to repeat introductions " I am Lucas Cavelier, holder of the 13th card in the major arcana.." a brief drag on the now almost finished cigar "..Death"

Seeing Aspel returned he waited for the breifest of moments before finally seeing Achak, and his impressive deer. " Your hunt went well this morning it would seem" he said towards Achak, though something caught his eye, it wasn't movement within his peripheral that took his interest, it was a sudden lack of movement. Turning his shaded gaze back to Shio, he raised a brow. The sudden freezing, which momentarily seemed to be all, but then the slow backing up, pretty much behind him.

" Aspel.. perhaps we should be more cautious about bringing still bleeding deer in front of the new residents..Blood and Death invokes different thoughts in everyone" shifting his position, he used his free hand and placed it gently on Shio's shoulder " Do you need a moment to gather your thoughts?"

Apsel was confused. Shio hadn't acted like this the first time he met her. He then saw Shio hiding behind Lucas.
'Perhaps... I may have messed up...'
His suspicions were confirmed when he heard Lucas tell him
"Apsel.. perhaps we should about bringing still bleeding deer in front of the new residents.. Blood and Death invokes different thoughts in everyone"
Apsel really did feel guilty. He hadn't meant to scare Shio. Although, different people had different balances. He had assumed too much again.
"You're right, Lucas... I apologize."
He then heard Achak speak to him.
"Avsal, I will skin meat."
With those words, Achak walked out of the room after a bow. Apsel turned his attention towards Shio.
"Miss Naona, I apologize. I didn't think about your past... I hope you can forgive me."

Shio was still reeling from the flashback. The bloodstained bed, the monitor suddenly going silent, her mother no longer being there... She started to shake and tremble, but something made her snap out of it. Or rather, someone... A hand was placed on Shio's shoulder. She looked up to see Lucas looking down to see Shio.
"Do you need a moment to gather your thoughts?"
Shio blinked and slowly nodded. She then heard Apsel's words to her.
"Y-Yeah... I'm sorry, it's just... I-I have to go."
Shio quickly ran out of the kitchen to get some fresh air. It turned out to do her some good. With no one to watch her, silent tears began to roll down. Shio darkly laughed at the tears.
"Stupid... Getting all worked up over a little blood and a memory... See what you did, Shio? You made everyone worry about you..."
The tears fell down quickly. Shio was silent for a moment before continuing to talk to herself.
"Death's inevitable... No one knows that more than Lucas... but I know it too."
Shio hugged her knees.
"Mom... I miss you..."
Shio wiped her tears and heard the door open. She noticed someone had followed her outside. Shio took a deep breath and turned around to see who had followed her.

Matt was about to follow Liliana to help her restore the power but by the time he got to the doorway she had vanished down the lights were already behind to flicker and power back up. In that dim light Matt could see small arcs of electricity radiating from the blown fuse box but Liliana seemed to pay it no mind.

" ..Especially when the one fixing them does not mind being electrocuted by the outdated wiring" he heard Lucas saying from behind him. 'M-masochist' Matt thought to himself and then oh-so-casually backed away. Even if it did not bother her, she could very well be 'holding a charge' that would shock the next thing Liliana touched. Matt did not feel like having his heart stop just yet.... though when he turned around and saw a giant man with a dead deer across his back all his attempts seemed for not.

Breath in, breath out. Matt had always found that simple breathing technique settled his nerves. The man did not seem violent, but it was a bit unorthodox to bring a deer into the home.. especially when it was still dripping blood, making dark red splotches on what had to be an expensive floor once. Shio had reacted even worse than himself. She cowered behind Lucas who was, surprisingly, gentle with her though Shio ran out of the room regardless. Matt was starting to follow her when suddenly a piercing headache had him down to one knee. Gritty faces of men he did not know, bared steel and flashes of a reflection of a moon in an ever widening pool of blood. The stares of those same men, the light long-gone from their cloudy eyes.

Matt was panting for breath once the sights passed. 'That has never happened before' Matt thought to himself, even thinking the words hurt. His head felt like it was on fire and when he tried to stand his legs felt weak. "What in the hell is happening to me?" the words escaped before he could bite them back. Matt looked around the kitchen and paled slightly. This was bad, he couldn't let them know anything about this. Matt made as if to retie his shoelace and with much effort he pushed himself back up to his feet and leaned with his hip against the table. It made him appear casual, though truth be told the table was doing more work than his legs at keeping him standing.

"Would someone mind checking on Shio?" Matt suggested

---

Adira was now outside of the kitchen, she sighed slightly. It was a bit quieter than earlier, so going to grab something now would be probably be more successful, that way she wouldn't have to push through everyone if it ever became busy again. Adira had made the decision to get some fruit, it would be awkward if she was to prepare herself a complete meal in front of anyone in there, plus, she still had to introduce herself properly to the new arrivals.

I'm fairly certain there are some oranges in there... Adira thought before shrugging, she walking into the kitchen. There was some blood on the floor, which was a little concerning and she started to think about what she could've possibly missed while sitting in the library for a short while. She glanced over at the others in the room, there were still quite a few of them and it surprised Adira that they had been stood in the kitchen just talking. Or well, that was what she assumed they had been doing.

Adira grabbed an orange, though she was still quite distracted by the blood on the floor.

Um, why is their blood on the floor?

She asked slowly, staring in confusion. The girl started to peel the orange, disposing of the peels as she did so. Adira wondered if she had interrupted some form of conversation that was going on in the room, she hoped that asking about the mysterious blood wasn't too rude.

Is someone hurt or something?

She asked, it doesn't seem very hygienic to bleed all over the kitchen... Adira thought. Well I guess it isn't everywhere...it's just a puddle.

Apsel jumped back a bit.
"Oh, Adira... Um, that's because Achak went hunting and caught a deer. One of our new residents saw the blood and she went outside to calm herself down. Though, I am worried for her..."

Lucas watched as Shio stuttered back into life, before running out of the kitchen. Letting out a tsk sound he stubbed his cigar out on the side " When i suggested a moment i was not quite expecting her to go outside" Just as Lucas had said that he made his way slowly towards the kitchens exit, only stopping because he noticed Matt drop down, Turning his curious gaze he watched for a moment before noting the movements of retying a shoe lace " I will go.... lest she accidentally find Achak with her wandering"

Seeing Adria enter the kitchen, he nodded his head before walking to the door, just stopping short, so he was close to Aspel " Keep an eye out... these new ones seem to be keeping us busy" he said before walking out of the kitchen and head through the entrance of the manor to the large doors.

Opening one of the large doors he briefly squinted as his eyes took a moment to readjust the light, even with the sunglasses on it was a sudden change. Closing the door behind him he took a moment standing, scanning the area till he finally caught sight of Shio " Do not mind me... take the time you need... i am only here to guide to back once you are ready, or to answer the questions that may plague your mind"

Shio gasped a bit at Lucas's voice. She didn't expect that he would come. She expected Apsel or Matt. But... it was a nice surprise.
"O-Oh..."
Shio put on a weak smile to avoid worrying Lucas, though it was obvious that she had been crying due to her red eyes and soft tremble in her voice.
"I am only here to guide you back once you are ready, or to answer the questions that may plague your mind."
Shio stared up at Lucas.
"I do have a lot of questions, actually... But first... I think I owe you an explanation about why I ran out like that. When I was born, my mom had a pretty bad heart condition. She had to be confined to a hospital most of her life. Me and my big bro Hisashi would play by ourselves while Dad would stay by my mom's side. At first, it was fine. Mom could see me and Big Bro even if she was stuck in a hospital bed. But, when I was five, my mom decided that she wanted to try and live out her life. So she wanted to get a heart surgery so she could be a part of us. But..."
Shio trailed off. She took a deep breath and shakily said
"But... It failed. And what's worse is that the condition she had... it's hereditary. So, I'm on a time limit for the rest of my life. I think I only have a year left before I die... And... that's what I wanted to ask you about! I'm not going to ask you to turn back time so that I don't die or anything like that but... Can you teach me not to be afraid of death anymore? I'm going to die, I know I am... but I'm too scared to face myself. So, can you help me defeat my fears?"
Shio looked at Lucas dead in the eyes and came a little too close to him. Shio didn't notice how close she was to Lucas until she said her final sentence. She realized that her face was inches away from his. She backed away.
"Sorry, I get passionate... So, will you help me?"