Happiest In The World

Vasilis watched the phone in his hand ring and show the message 'user not in range' again before he finally shut the device and decided to go report to Zina. He entered the hotel room Zina was staying in and walked towards the bed.

"Zina," he called. Zina hummed in response, "It seems Basilius does not intend to meet with you. He has ignored all of my calls"

Zina turned around in the bed and sighed, "Find your brother, Vasilis. Or I'm going to send him to meet our lord early"

Vasilis bowed and walked out of the room. He only hoped his brother hadn't done anything stupid yet, he won't be able to save him if Zina really wanted to kill him.

-----

Damian, Persephone, and Adrain were given a day to rest on the ground before their helicopter would be coming to get them. Adrian had lost even more blood, so he had to go to a hospital to receive treatment. The doctor there told him to not use his injured arm too much for the next couple of days, but otherwise, he would be fine.

The night before they were supposed to go back to Olympus, Damian stayed awake in his bed and pretended to sleep till he was sure Adrian had gone to sleep. He opened his eyes at some point late at night and sat up in bed.

Damian didn't know what made the principal simply let him out of the citadel without proper supervision, but he knew he couldn't let go of this chance. He stood from the bed and grabbed his bag from the side. He threw in a few things and threw the bag over his shoulder before making his way to the door. The hallway was dark and Damian almost got lost at some point in his journey, but he finally managed to make his way to the front door of the hotel they were staying in and walked out into the busy Tokyo street.

He kept his head down as he walked, trying not to make anyone notice him. He planned to get to a phone booth and call his grandfather. He was sure he would come to pick him up in a split second if he knew he was back.

"Damian,"

Damian froze in place.

"Damian, W-what are you doing out here?"

Damian turned around slowly and looked at the person standing behind him. He sighed, "Persephone…"

-----

He was supposed to be on a flight right now. On a flight that would take him as far away from this place as he could go, maybe even to the Caribbean where he could finally live a peaceful life. A simple life that didn't include fighting monsters and running from crazy principles.

'So why the hell am I here!?'

From her place sitting opposite Damian, Persephone took a lock of her hair and placed it behind her ear, exposing a bit of her neck to Damian. They were currently sitting in a cafe a short distance away from the hotel and she was wearing a form-fitting pair of jeans and a dark blue top.

Damian had somehow managed to convince Persephone that he had only been taking a short walk around, but then she had invited him to join her for coffee while blushing in a way that made his entire body shiver.

How could he refuse?

"Y-You're still wearing your combat suit," Persephone said in a low voice, trying to begin some conversation to fill the silence, Damian thought it was a weak effort.

"Yeah," he said, "I didn't bring any other clothes with me"

He didn't even have any other clothes other than the ones provided by the school. It was like that principal was taking over his entire life!

"Is something wrong?" Persephone asked as she eyed him worriedly and Damian realized that he must've shown his distress on his face. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"N-No. There's nothing wrong. I just…"

Damian went silent then. What was he even going to say? That he didn't belong here and simply wanted to get back home? That he was afraid of what his grandfather was going through to find him? That he was simply afraid?

A hand reached out to touch his own and Damian jerked backward on reflex. Persephone's hand flew back in a blur and she blushed a deep crimson, "S-Sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!"

"No-No its fine," Damian said with a blush of his own, "I'm just not used to it"

Persephone breathed out deeply before she turned to him "Y-You can talk to me"

"Huh?" Damian turned to her in shock.

Persephone had a determined look on her face, "I-If you have any problems, you can talk to me! I-I want to help you!"

Damian blinked. The waiter who had been moving towards a table blinked. The entire cafe looked towards them.

From the back, someone catcalled, "Heck yeah!"

"Ahhh!" Persephone screamed in embarrassment as she finally realized what she had said. She covered her face with her hands and threw her head to the table with a clunk!

She couldn't believe she said that! It was so embarrassing!

Damian looked away from her with a small blush as he scratched his cheek, but after a while, his expression turned serious, "I don't think this is something you can help me with, Persephone"

Persephone looked up.

Damian's eyes were moist, "I'm scared, you know. Really scared"

"D-Damian?"

Damian used his sleeves to clean the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes, "All this is just new to me. The monsters and the fighting. I didn't know anything about this till a few weeks ago. I just... I just feel so overwhelmed"

Persephone brought her hands to her chest. She finally understood what was bothering him: she couldn't believe she had actually forgotten for a moment that he wasn't like the rest of them. He wasn't someone that grew up in the twilight world all his life. He was a newblood, someone who was dragged out of the real world by the responsibilities his blood placed on him.

"Sorry," Damian suddenly said, "I-I'm destroying the mood, aren't I. Suddenly saying all this heavy stuff, it isn't -"

"No!" Persephone said sharply and Damian's eyes widened. She then realized she had shouted again and blushed while looking away, "I-I don't think that at all," she said in a softer tone, "I don't know what sort of life you lived before coming here, and I don't think I have any sort of say in how you feel about the twilight world."

Damian looked away

"But you're still here," Persephone continued, drawing his attention to her again. She was still looking away, staring out the window at the side, "Even though you were dealt a bad card, you're still here. You're still fighting to protect people who you've never met and who might never thank you. To me, I think that's the bravest thing ever"

Damian couldn't look her in the eye. He bowed his head, "Yeah," he said, "Brave"

Persephone noticed how his mood seemed to have gotten worse and she suddenly felt like it was her fault in a way. She quickly stood from her chair, "W-Well I guess I better go back," she said while almost tripping over herself in her haste to leave the table, "It's getting sort of late"

Damian nodded at her and then watched her as she left the cafe. Even with the turmoil going through his mind, he still thought she had a beautiful ass.

"I'm an idiot," Damian said as he slumped forward and mushed his cheek against the glass table. He turned to look outside the window, watching the lights pass by in a blur of colors.

His reflection frowned.

"Such an idiot"

-----

Damian dropped his bag on the floor of the phone booth and picked up the phone. He put his hand into his pocket and hesitated for a moment before he brought out a coin and slotted it in.

He moved the call button around a few times and then put it to his ear.

"Hello…?"

A few meters to his left, Thalus squeezed his hand around his gun as he listened to the conversation.

"Grandpa… is that you?"

Thalus narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, grandpa… I-Its me, Damian… Yeah, it's been a while. Where am I? O-Oh, somewhere in Tokyo. I don't really know where."

The line went dead for a moment and Damian felt his heart squeeze. And then finally his grandfather spoke again.

"No, grandpa. I… I think…" he squeezed his hand tight enough to draw blood, but his voice was steady "I… I'm in some sort of training camp from school, I'm surprised they didn't tell you. Oh, no don't worry grandpa, I wouldn't be kidnapped that easily"

Damian laughed, but his grandfather didn't. until finally, he spoke up again.

"Anyway, G-Grandpa. I need you to come -"

Click!

It was not a feather-light touch. Damian's heart skipped three beats in quick succession as he felt the hard cold metal against the back of his head. He swallowed thickly...

"Be careful now…" a voice said from behind him and Damian's eyes widened. He recognized it, "You wouldn't want to do anything rash, would you?"

"A-Adrian?" Damian whispered

"Tell him you're fine. Say it like you're somewhere in the middle of Tokyo with a million dollars in your pocket. Like the happiest person in the fucking world."

"W-What the hell are you…?"

The gun pressed deeper into Damian's head as his grandfather said:

[Are you happy, Damian?]

Damian closed his eyes tightly. What had he been expecting? He had let his guard down, thinking no one would know what he was doing. Such an idiot.

Damian sniffled and brought his hand up t these eyes. When had he even started crying?

"Y-Yes, grandpa," he said, his voice thick with emotion, "I'm happy!"

[Ah.. okay then. That's good]

Damian leaned his head against the wall of the phone boot as the call died with a muted 'peeeeee'. He slowly, shakily, put the phone back in its place and finally burst out into tears. His sobs racked his body and he fell to his behind in the phone booth as he felt his legs give out on him.

Adrian took a step back from the booth before he turned around and began walking away. Somewhere in the darkness, Thalus holstered his own gun and disappeared.

-----

Vasilis stood in awe. Looking over the large area that he knew had once been a forest. The entire thing was destroyed. Broken trees and destroyed earth, melted rocks, and scorched land. The ground will recover, but it would take some time.

Vasilis then remembered something, 'Well, maybe not for them,' he thought as he began walking down the hillside leading into the forest. He got to the ground floor and touched a tree at the side. It had a large part of it broken off and charred by an explosion, and immediately he touched it, it began to fall.

Vasilis continued walking, looking for any signs of what happened here.

Crunch!

Vasilis stopped short as he stepped on something on the ground. He looked down and saw a metal object lying beside a destroyed nutshell. Vasilis bent down and picked up the earring.

He squeezed it into his palm, "What did you get yourself into this time, brother?"