Chapter 13: Chapter 11 Duties of the Knights
At the Headquarters…
*Knock Knock* Ether knocks on the door to Jean's office, in case he was interrupting something important. "Come on in," Jean consented, as Ether opens the door.
"My bad… am I interrupting something important?" Ether asked at the sight of Jean and the others gathered around, excusing himself. "Perhaps I will come back later then."
"No, it's fine Ether. You came at the perfect moment." Jean says in response. "Let us introduce you to Ether, Lumine, and Ether, this is Lumine, the one who-"
"Who helped me out and saved me? Yea I heard from Barbara." Ether interrupted, reaching his hand out for a handshake. "Hmm? Is something on my face?"
"Uh… no I am sorry! You just look… look like a person I know." Lumine stuttered at his question, clearly shocked by his appearance as she shook his hands.
"Now that you mention it… Ether and Lumine seemed quite alike." Lisa commented, "Oh dear, their personality even seems alike."
Jean nodded in agreement. After all, not only did they have the same color of hair, their eyes were the same color too. most will probably mistake them for twins if they didn't know Ether. "Oh…? So who do I look like?" Ether asked.
"Hey! Don't forget about Paimon!" *Puff* a fluffy cloud puffed out of thin air, exclaimed. "Paimon is here too, you know?"
"Oh? What's this fluffy creature that just popped out of nowhere?" Ether asked, pretending to not know anything. "Ah yes! You are the one that Barbara mentioned! She did keep saying Pie as she tried to recall your name, ya know?"
"Paimon is not food! Paimon is Paimon!" Paimon said, puffing its chest up looking all proud.
"Oh well, would you look at the time now?" Lisa intervened in the conversation, "We can come back to this conversation at a later time. Let's get back to the topic on hand first."
"Yes, back to the matters we were talking about earlier, before Ether's appearance." Jean agreed with Lisa's point. "We were talking about the temples of the Four Winds and a plan to cut off Stormterror's power at three of them."
"So… I guess you guys need my help with that?" Ether said as he analyzed the situation. "What do I need to do now?"
"Yes, I would love to ask you to assist us with the process of cutting down Stormterror's power at three of the Four temples," Jean confirmed with Ether. "Alongside with Lumine, the Honorary knight of course."
"Mhm," Ether said, smiling at Lumine as he thought of the plan. "Again, nice to meet you, Honorary knight. The name is Ether. Looking forward to working with you."
"Just Lumine is fine. Please to meet you too!" Lumine smiled back at Ether, still recovering from the shock that Ether closely resembles her brother.
"Alright then! I'll dismiss myself and see you guys around!" Ether said before dashing off. "I'll see you guys later!"
"W-wait!" Lumine called out. But it was too late, Ether's back could no longer be seen. "Sigh…"
"It's not like you won't see him again now, Lumine," Lisa says, patting Lumine on the back. "I'll see you guys later too then, Jean, Lumine."
"Don't forget about Paimon!" Paimon shouted as she appeared out of nowhere.
"Yes yes, see you guys later then!"
Just like that, Lisa left Jean's office, leaving Lumine, Jean, and Paimon together. "We'll head out too, see you later Jean!" Lumine waved bye to Jean before heading out of the headquarters, with one thought that lingered in her mind.
Lumine never thought of her brother as anything more than… well… her brother. But the person who claimed to be Ether closely resembles her brother, yet their personality is vastly different. Normal people can't tell but Lumine can tell the difference as clearly as day and night as Aether's Sister(Her brother) She couldn't tell exactly how they were different but her senses tell her that Ether is not her brother. 'So… no. What am I thinking? B-but if he isn't my brother…' Lumine shook her head at the thought of Ether and blushed intensely.
"Lumine, are you alright?" Paimon asked as she noticed Lumine's face reddening. "You don't look so good…"
"Ah, I am alright," Lumine said, covering her face.
"Hmmm if you say so," Paimon said before disappearing into thin air.
"Mhm! Let's go meet up with the others who are waiting for us in the temples!" Lumine said as she walked in the direction of the temples.
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In front of the Temple of the Falcon…
Amber stands at the entrance of the temple, waiting for Lumine and Ether. "Amber!" She turned around as she heard her name being called out, to spot Ether running her way and waved back at him.
"Haaaaa… haaaa…" Ether was trying to catch his breath after running over to Amber. "Anyways… thank … you… for helping me."
"No problem! Just promise me that you'll not put yourself in any situation like that again!" Amber shrugged it off, but her face shows that she was dead serious about him keeping himself out of danger. "Ohhhh ohhh! And here comes Lumine!"
In the distance, two distant figures could be seen making their way over to the Temple of the Falcon, where Amber was waiting for her. "Sorry guys! Paimon had to fill her stomach up and that took me like all that time to clean her up and get her to feel full."
'Why am I not surprised?' Ether shook his head at Lumine's explanation. "Let's get going."
"Before that," Lumine said, cutting Ether off. "Can we talk one on one for a bit, Ether?"
"Sure, I don't see why not," Ether shrugged as he followed Lumine. "Amber, wait for us okay?"
Nodding, Amber gave the two a big thumbs up and a wild smile. 'It seems she gets it… I hope….' Ether prayed in his head.
After walking a safe distance away from where Amber stands, Lumine stops moving and turns to face Ether, who was following her from behind. "So… what do you want to talk about?" Ether asked, shrugging his arms as he was waiting for Lumine's reply.
"D-do you know anyone called Aether?" Lumine said after procrastinating for a bit.
"Aether? Hmm… No, not that I'm aware of at least…" Ether replied after thinking about it for a second. "What about their physical appearance? Maybe I could help answer that if you know what they look like!"
"Umm… pardon me but I'm just asking because you look exactly like…" Lumine continued as she began twitching her body from side to side, playing with her hair and her face blushing as red as fire.
"Exactly like…?" Ether put his hand over her forehead, checking her temperature as he leaned his forehead against hers with his hands in between. Lumine's facial temperature skyrocketed up from his actions she turned away from him.
"Exactly like my brothers…" Lumine says, barely registrable for Ether to hear.
"We should talk about that late. Come on! Let us get to work first!" Ether said as he grabs Lumine's hands before she could react. "Let's go!"
"W-wait!" Lumine shouted but it was too late, Ether already took off running towards Amber, holding her hands along the way. Lumine didn't have enough time to register what was happening, she was still flustered over the fact that Ether had grabbed her hands out of the blue.
———————————————————————
In the Domain… (Temple of the falcon)
*Swoosh* *Pew pew* The sound of weapons swinging and arrows fired could be heard as Ether takes a step back from the Hilichurls and turned around to see Lumine, catching her breath. "You good, Lumine?" Ether asked as he got back to his battle position, holding his sword and facing the Hilichurls
"Y-yes! T-thanks" Lumine said as she caught her breath.
"Here they come!" Amber shouted, informing Ether and Lumine that the Hilichurls are charging in. "Watch out, Lumine!"
But it was too late, Lumine was caught off guard by the Hilichurl charging in from the sidelines. It reached Lumine and got ready to swing before Amber's arrow landed. Lumine shut her eyes, counting 1… 2… 3… nothing happened. And all he felt was her body getting picked up by somebody.
Lumine opened her eyes to see Ether's face inches away from hers. "You alright?" Ether asked as he put her down, "that was close…"
Lumine's face abraded as Ether put her back down. "T-t-thanks." Lumine shuttered, looking away from Ether.
"As long as you are-" Ether says before his vision blackened out and the last things he heard were calls from Lumine and Amber
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Later… In the Cathedral…
"Ugh. My body aches…" Ether groaned as he awoke to find himself in the Cathedral once again. "Why am I here? Last time I remember I was with Amber and Lumine in the temple together and-"
"-And you were knocked unconscious in the process." Barbara hopped into his line of sight, interrupting him. "Geez, what did I say to do? Go rest up!"
"Uhhhh… sorry" Ether apologized as he lowered his head to Barbara, "but where are the others?"
"Hmph! They told me to tell you that they will be waiting at the next temple when you wake up." Barbara pouted, as she turned around to look away from Ether.
"Sorry, Barbaraaaa~" Barbara heard as she felt Ether's arms hugging her.
"I-it's fine! Go do what you have to do!" Barbara says with her face ablaze, steaming as she continued to think about what happened.
"Ok then! I'll see you later!" Ether said as he dashed off to the door of the Cathedral.
A/N: Criticism? I loved this chapter but something feels off… anyone got any thoughts on this? Either way, this is the last chapter of the year for me because it's Dec 31st… and yes
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