[Bonus chapter] Side - The Two of Them

Today Lulu was thinking of finally taking a tour of the village. Even though she had been living here for more than six cycles now, it was going to be the first time that she got a good grasp of the place she was residing.

Sliding herself out of bed, Lulu quickly and carefully put her hex plates on her legs and arm, she wanted to walk around. She'd only use her wheelchair once she was more comfortable.

Something which she wasn't right now.

Even though she had met a few of the villagers in her time here she hadn't familiarized herself with them, neither did she trust them, nor would she ever in the coming days.

It was something she thought of from the beginning, after all, there were many after her life, even to this day. She couldn't even take into account the consequences she would be forced to endure if she mistakenly trusted the wrong people, especially when it could affect her family, her friend - her people.

Just thinking of having people that she could call, hers, simply and easily brought a smile to her face. The first person to come to her mind had to be her mother.

After her, was Karma, she spent most of her days with the redhead after all. Karma was a breath of fresh air to be around, not to mention the fact that she was one of the most trustworthy and lovable people that she had ever met.

Karma had this aura about her that could just attract others to her, perhaps that was why that "Nino Bastard," as Lulu likes to call him; started hanging around her, he started hanging out with her more, talking to her more, hunting with her - they were together quite commonly.

Yet, no matter how much time the two had spent together, he could never replace Lulu in Karma's eyes. She would always put Lulu first no matter what happened.

That was why she loved the girl so much so. Other than her family, Karma was the only one that treasured her to such an extent, even caring about her more than her mother would.

Whenever there was something she didn't feel comfortable or confident enough about to share with her family, Karma would always be there for her to talk to, that's why at times she had been the light of her life. Even when she wasn't, she was always an irreplaceable person for her.

Though, it was quite worrying at times. The sheer fact that Karma viewed her as such an important person worried Lulu to no end. She would constantly think about the possibility of her sacrificing something to protect this meaningless life of hers.

It was okay for Lulu to think about it, but not for Karma.

Karma had a bright future ahead of her, she would never be meant to die an early death, nor was she to live the life of a cripple; Lulu would bear it for her — that's what she wanted.

Of course, it's not like Karma would ever agree with this flawed mindset of hers, but luckily, for Lulu, she didn't know of it, at least, not yet.

Removing her focus from her thoughts Lulu stretched her legs a bit, she had just gotten a prototype set a little while ago, and now she got to try them out.

With that that she raised her hands to her neck, and she started to lightly rub the pipes connected to her collar as if she were trying to get a genie out of them, a silly act.

Still though; she had to bear with this inefficient collar of hers, she was hoping that she would be able to get an upgrade soon, having to unlink the pipes, clean them, and replace the fluid every time the fluid would be diluted was not just time-consuming, but also annoying.

The people who did it for her would never complain about the repetitious process, but she could understand the ingrained annoyance that would grow just from taking care of her, after all, she had many needs, just the other day she was struck by a mass of phantom pain.

Someone had lost her anesthetics, so she was forced to endure the pain for a long while, her grandmother and mother, Nizael and Lalia, both quickly rushed to the village to try their best to soothe her.

They weren't with her right now though, according to what she saw when she was blinking in and out of consciousness they left to speak with the doctor about something serious — something she assumed from the look on their faces.

Making her way to the door Lulu made her way out of the room, hesitance remained in her step.

Even though she wanted with all her heart to get used to it, she would never get used to going out in crowds, moving alone, or standing out. All of it made her anxious and made her heart beat rapidly - It was the same for her even in her past life, to the Lord Tyvetta was Sociology a hard class for her!

Making her way to the front door of the house, Lulu reluctantly placed her hand on the door. She didn't know whether she should continue or not, she honestly didn't know.

Taking in a deep breath she opened the door and was greeted by bright rays of sunlight beaming down on her face, nearly blinding her eyes,

Once she could see again she took a moment to take in the sight of the beautiful scenery in front of her, scenery she had seen for five cycles straight, but a beautiful scenery no less.

Laid out in front of her eyes were fields and holds of pure white, the rays from above beaming onto the ground were reminiscent of an angel's descent, it was a sight to behold and one that in some ways, calmed her.

The houses littered in the distance weren't necessarily the most reassuring sight, but... it was one nonetheless.

The house that Lulu and Karma resided in was quite a bit away from the village. Although they remained safe from Spectral Beast, Lulu was told that the house was still within the perimeter of the Stargazers' Guidestones; whatever that meant.

Near their small home was a small clearing that was located right in front of the Spectral Forest, it was a nice and relaxing spot for some reason and It was a place that Lulu liked to visit quite often on her daily walks.

Placing her hand on her chin, Lulu began muttering to herself, looking back at the house for a moment.

"Karma's not here either, she must be somewhere in the village at the moment."

Karma was the exact opposite when compared to Lulu in almost every aspect, it was something the both of them took pride in actually — they enjoyed their differences.

The fact that they were so different from each other yet remained as close to each other as they were now was a pure example of how they were with each other — they were connected with only one singular fact: having no friends.

It was quite a sad and funny thing to say you have in common with a person, both of them had no friends before meeting each other but that wasn't the only reason.

They had nobody other than family to lean on, so meeting someone in the same conditions could only be seen as the threads of fate tying them together.

Shrugging her shoulders Lulu assumed she was either playing around somewhere in the village or playing- hunting out in the snowy plains and hills. She might have even ventured out to the forest of large trees.

Although she, herself hasn't set foot in that forest yet, Lulu saw it once they came here. Not to mention the fact that Karma likes to go hunting there.

Looking at the house once more she took to the path, towards the village — she would get this annoyance out of the way so that she would never have to do it in the future.

While in the house a moment earlier; Lulu had thought about whether or not she should wear something to cover her hair while she was out, after all, her hair wasn't exactly a positive sight for most, but she shook her head on the matter — it wouldn't change anything.

She had barely remembered how her grandmother had brought her into the village when they first arrived here without any cover. She had a slight chuckle at how nervous she was at that moment, and now those nerves were coming back to her.

As she walked along the path while looking to her left and right. Outside the small gate of the village and scattered outside the decently tall fences were small snow structures built by most likely the children of the Nazare Clan.

The Nazare Clan is a group of warriors made up of a collection of varying species that were usually formed after serious events. Other than that as long as they weren't out for the blood of any of the clan members — the clan head would allow any person to join them, no questions asked.

The kids, from what she knew of from Karma, were quite the violent cubs. Other than knowing that they were a collection of warriors all she knew of the clan came from the mouths of Karma and her mentor, Norten.

"Morning-"

"Morning-"

Stopping at the gate of the village, Lulu bobbed her head down quickly at the sight of the two large men, her heart pounding so hard she couldn't hear their greetings.

Noticing through her winced eyes that the gates were open, Lulu quickly entered, nearly stumbling over her feet she accidentally ignored their words.

Not knowing that she was just extremely rude, Lulu didn't stop moving, if she did she knew for a fact that she would fall over herself, that wasn't something that she wanted.

With hastened breath, she looked around trying her best to find somewhere where she could calm down. Finding a small spot between the houses; she quickly made her way over to the spot. Crouching in the snow, Lulu covered her ears with her arms.

Taking deep breaths in and out Lulu continuously muttered to herself.

"It's okay, calm down. It's okay, calm down. You'll be okay Lulu, you'll be okay."

Moments later, though she wasn't completely in the perfect mental space, she was at least able to think with a semblance of clearance. After taking another deep breath, Lulu heard a familiar voice enter her ears — causing them to twitch.

"Lulu?"

"K-Karma?"

Looking up with teary eyes, she found herself looking up to Karma. Dressed in a fiery-red long thin jacket that hung off her shoulders, a large black shirt, and black pants; Karma stood in the snow in front of Lulu, holding two cups of blue steaming liquid in hand — one of which she was sipping out of a moment earlier.

"What happened, why are you sitting in the snow? No, why are you crying what happened, I thought you would be at home. Tell me what happened."

With a tone full of worry, Karma crouched in front of the sniffling girl. Making quite the ugly face, Lulu, with haste, wrapped her arms around Karma making her fall on her behind; nearly knocking the drinks out of her hands.

"I wanted to stroll around the village, I'm sorry, I thought I could handle it. Just, just having their eyes directly on me was already too difficult."

"I see..."

Not saying anything more, Karma sat there, allowing Lulu to embrace her in their silence. She didn't wish to speak, no, she didn't have to.

After almost 30 minutes of their comforting cuddle session, Lulu had finally calmed herself down. Removing her face from Karma's chest, she had an awkward expression on her face as she laughed sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"Don't think too much about it, Lulu. You can do whatever you want and I won't be upset. J-just take care of yourself, okay."

Karma hesitated when speaking. Just thinking about something happening to this messy bluehead pained her heart.

Seeing the seriousness in her eyes nearly made Lulu want to lie to her about what she could and couldn't do; so she struggled to get the words out.

"I... can't make any promises."

"Lulu..."

"Right, I'm sorry... I'll try my best."

"...As long as you try, that's all that matters."

"..."

Returning to their previous silence, Lulu's grip on Karma's shirt tightened as she dug herself deeper into Karma's embrace.

Looking down at the top of Lulu's head Karma couldn't help but give her the warmest of gazes; it was at times like these that she was grateful for being quite a few heads taller than Lulu. Being taller as well as being stronger.

Since she was taller she could easily hug her, not to mention that it made it easier to tease the girl. Making fun of Lulu's height was a daily goal of hers.

Being stronger than Lulu was something that came as naturally as her height, but even though she was happy being able to protect her, it wasn't something she enjoyed bragging about; after all, Lulu was quite self-conscious about her ability.

Ever since the attack on the city and her first time seeing Karma in action, Lulu had always wanted that type of strength, the strength to protect her family, but most importantly to protect the weak her.

Knowing how Lulu felt about their difference in power Karma held off on speaking about her power and what she did, that is unless she asked about it — she would never hesitate when it comes to bragging to Lulu.

She wanted Lulu to be proud of her, she wanted to receive compliments from her, and she just wanted her respect, as she respected her.

"Hey, I got some drinks. Do you want one, Lulu?"

"Really?"

Finally pulling her face away from Karma, Lulu sat a bit away, ignoring her now damp pants made wet from the snow she's been in for more than an hour now.

"Yep, I got us some Tortle cups. It has some nuts and fruit mixed within it. They taste pretty good, here."

Passing the untouched cup to her, Karma watched her pop open the straw, sticking into the lid before puffing out her cheeks and wrapping her lips around the straw. Taking her time with little sips as if she were nibbling on a large stake.

Lulu had stars in her eyes as she took her sips, her chees were warming up and she didn't bother removing her mouth from the blue drink that released the soothing scent of nature and the sweetness of an assortment of fruits perfectly mixed with the simple yet strong taste of the smaller assortment of nuts.

It was almost as if an angel had blessed her tastebuds.

Haha — Seeing the look in Lulu's gaze, if her actions and the warmness displayed on her face weren't convincing enough, her eyes clearly showed the fact that she was enjoying the drink with all her heart. It brought a chuckle out of Karma as she watched her with a smile on her face — this expression of hers was much better than when was having an attack earlier.

Right now, they didn't bother with the people on the paths or walking around the village, nor did they pay attention to the animals in the sky or the small critters digging under the fence.

It was only the two of them.