102 Family is Where You Are

Chuckling, Aida nodded her head in confirmation and said, "We are family. They bullied you, so I helped you get some revenge."

Then her eyes turned serious as she continued, "But I need you to get stronger too so you can get revenge on your own. Some of the bad guys are still there on the base and it's up to you to get rid of them."

Aida had been mulled over how to help Rose recover. She was concerned that Rose might lose her will to live again after getting her revenge, so she purposely left a few alive just in case. Nothing was as satisfying and as great a motivator as getting revenge with your own hands.

Rose hugged the phone with the video to her chest as she tightly clenched her little fists tightly, as though cheering herself on. She now found a purpose for living, she would get revenge for herself.

Aida internally nodded to herself. It seems her decision to leave the scientists alive was the right one. She could see a tiny spark of life and fire in Rose's eyes now.

Aida reminded Rose again, "You have to get healthier and stronger in order to defeat those bad guys."

Rose heard this and took the initiative to drink the bottle of juice that Aida had brought up. Aida had again included a large amount of her blood into the drink to help accelerate the healing process. Rose's condition was so poor that she would take a long time to heal. The most important first step was to detox her body of all the nausea inducing medications. Once that was done, Rose would have control over her power again and would be able to strengthen her own body using gems. This was the best way for her to accelerate her healing.

Patting Rose on the head, Aida sat on the ground with Little White sitting beside her and Xiao Ai on her head, and they all began absorbing gems. Shortly after she finished absorbing a gem, she felt a soft bump on her right side. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Rose had sat down beside her as well, copying the other two buns.

Smiling slightly, she patted her head. Aida carried them all onto the bed to continue meditating. She threw a blanket on top of all of them to keep warm. The only reason the three of them had been meditating on the floor was to give Rose the space that she needed while also allowing her to acclimate to having people by her side. Now that she felt comfortable with their presence, naturally they would move back to their normal locations.

Soon after, the sun rose and Aida opened her eyes to see that all three buns had fallen "asleep". Little White was a Reaper and technically didn't need to sleep, so it was more accurate to say that he went into "low power" mode and had his eyes closed. Xiao Ai was half machine so she also had a similar "low power" mode that she went into, she technically didn't need to sleep either. Nevertheless, sleep or low power mode was a necessary process of recovery for all three of them, so Aida was careful not to wake any of them up.

Downstairs, Light had already begun making breakfast. They would have pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Light tried to vary up the meals each morning to make sure no one got tired of eating the same food. Aida's eyes lit up, she was endlessly thankful that there was a decent cook on board. Her greatest fear in life wasn't dying, but to not have good food to eat.

The twins were sleeping soundly on the tatami mat. They very thoughtfully chose to sleep downstairs for the night to give the new member of their family a bit more space.

Light sensed Aida's eyes on him and turned around with a genuine smile as Aida resumed her cold demeanor. She would never admit how much she looked forward to Light's meals! They sat down near the driver's seat and ate together in a comfortable silence. Aida had come a long way from her previously anti-social self who would get annoyed when anyone wanted to have a meal with her. Everyone in the RV also tacitly understood that for Aida, food would always come before business.

At the end of the meal, Aida wiped the corners of her mouth before opening her mouth to speak, "Things have gotten more complicated again. I'm going after the organization and the government is coming after Lucifer. Are you sure you and the twins want to continue travelling with us? We could always find you three a nice base to stay in. With your skills and potential after turning into a Reaper, you should be able to live comfortably anywhere."

Light looked straight into Aida's eyes before responding in a deliberate tone, "Family is where you are. We won't leave you even if you try to get rid of us."

The twins, who had been practicing their Unihemispheric Slow Wave Sleep, had been alerted the moment Aida walked downstairs. They were awake and simply lazing around in bed up till now. Throwing the covers away, they squeezed their way into sitting besides Aida and chimed in, "Yeah big sis! You're part of our family now! You won't abandon us right??"

Aida was slightly taken aback by the enthusiasm of the trio. She didn't know how to respond to them.

Emotions were the most intangible things in the world which also made them the least trustworthy to Aida. No one ever knew when they would get backstabbed or betrayed by the people they were close to. Just take Light's family or Lucifer's encounter with Terrance as examples.

Aida was very willing to help them because they had formed a connection, but she never had the confidence nor bravery to expect anything in return. After being abandoned and hunted down by her very own master along with many other experiences, she no longer had the courage to allow anyone to get close to her.