So, what happened after your kiss with Caleb?

After you two calmed down from the kiss, there was one other problem to tackle. Dinner. You and Caleb needed to eat some real food. Cooking was out of the question because there were no groceries left in the fridge. Meaning, the next best option was delivery. Yeah, you accidentally ordered too much (you allowed your hunger to cloud your judgement).

With a plethora of leftovers, you two visited the cafeteria where your support team was. Before you could even utter a word about sharing the food, Ness, Lily and Lucas bombarded you with questions on what happened during the operation. It took a solid ten minutes to calm them down.

"(Y/n)." Lucas placed a hand on your shoulder. "Quit the speciality force and come back to us––"

"No can do~" Caleb pulled you over to him. "Miss Support belongs to us now."

Ness folded her arms. "But we're so much cooler. Right, Lily?"

Lily, who didn't expect to be roped into the conversation, almost dropped her utensils at the sudden mention of her. She nervously pushed up her round glasses and said,

"U-uhm, I'm fine with wherever (Y/n) is happy." Then she proceeded to mumble, "though, it would be nice if she leads more operations with our dispatch."

"Oh! I can file a report for that," you said.

Lily flushed in embarrassment. "You heard that?"

Ness raised an eyebrow. "That's a thing?"

You nodded. "Think about it. If you work well with a dispatch, wouldn't it be preferable to have operations together often?"

"That surprisingly makes sense," Lucas said. "Wow, you talk like you've been an SF member for years."

You giggled to yourself recalling the memory.

So where were you now?

It's been a week since then. You were in the library surrounded by mountains of books with a small lamp by your side as you indulged in a fictional world. The library was empty since it was late at night. There was also the fact that the library wasn't very popular amongst AEI members in the first place. If you were a game character, the library would be the place where you resided so that the player could find you.

"I knew I would find you here."

Slender fingers pressed down the tip of the book you were reading and jade green hair entered your field of vision. It was Cecil. When he met your eyes, he tilted his head, causing his glasses to shift a little. Oh, he wasn't wearing his contacts.

"What were you reading?"

"Erotica"

"Really?"

"Really."

Cecil laughed quietly as he sat down on the seat across yours. You had to shuffle some books out of the way or else he'd only be talking to a quarter of your face.

"Hmm, but you looked so focused. I thought you were reading a textbook or something."

"Believe me, I can read the spiciest things with a straight face."

"Oh? We should have a reading session together."

"I'm actually so down for that," you said. "Moving on, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," Cecil replied. "I heard you had a hectic day today."

You groaned. "Don't get me started. I barely had any time to eat. Balancing work in the AEI and building a reliable image for the public is exhausting. Especially with the introduction of my new allies."

Copper, Sam, and Alec were known to the public now. As expected, there were many mixed opinions. But hey, it was better than you expected. The fact that some people were willing to accept apparitions as allies was a start.

Cecil nodded. It was then you realised that he had placed a plastic bag on the table. "I have some snacks here if you'd like. I'm pretty confident that I got your favourites."

"You got them for me? Wait, I don't have to pay you back double or something, right? No 70% interest every three seconds?"

Cecil frowned. "Why do people become so guarded when I'm nice?"

"No, no. People become guarded when you're willing to spend money as opposed to making it."

"That's..." Cecil furrowed his eyebrows. "Moving on, I wanted to talk in greater detail about something."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it's about the operation with James."

Even after a whole week, news of it was still as prevalent as ever. Well, how could it not? An old SF member, one that had a good reputation, had come back as a speculated vengeful apparition. Sure in the original game there was a similar reaction, but James wasn't exorcised this time.

Information was restricted, even to speciality force members. The ones in the SF who knew the details were you, Caleb and Elias.

Cecil showed you a pleased smile and looked at you with half lidded eyes. Normally, that would come off as flirtatious, but there was an all too familiar curious glint in his gaze. That's when you know that Cecil wasn't going to stop until his curiosity was satisfied.

"Aw, what a cute expression."

You blinked. "Huh."

"You're looking at me all serious. You know exactly what I'm after, huh?" Cecil tilted his head. "I always wondered if you have some sort of sixth sense. Sometimes you know me a little too well."

"We have known each other for a few months."

"And yet it seems like you've known me for years sometimes."

"I guess I'm decent at picking up the habits of others." You shrugged. "Anyways, what do you wanna ask?"

"The purple mist. The chairman did a wonderful job quelling the public's worries about it's unknown source, but it's not good enough for me."

You sighed. "You're so nosey."

"I rather use the word curious."

"Of course," you said. "I know the cause of the mist. Caleb and I both saw, but Caleb won't remember."

"Remember..." Cecil hummed. "The seventh specialty force member?"

"You already had your suspicions, huh?"

Cecil's smile only became more sly. "I'm always making assumptions. Usually I can't prove them right, but when I am right I get fun answers."

"Huh. I'm kind of curious about the assumptions you made about me."

"Oh, plenty."

You raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"I'll keep my lips shut."

"Boring."

When you didn't bother to hide the disappointment on your face, Cecil reconsidered.

"I have a minor one."

"Oh?"

"I thought you hated me upon our first meeting." Cecil sighed dramatically. "Otherwise, how else could you not ask me out?"

"What––"

"You showed little to no reaction when you first saw my face. For example, when I first met Sara she said that she wanted to try makeup products on me. I was a perfect canvas, after all. Jade complimented me. Very simple, I know. But it was still something. Even Elias! He asked me if I was a model and I so humbly said that I wasn't."

After Cecil finished rambling, you were left baffled and on the verge of dying of laughter.

"Cecil, have you been torn by that ever since we first met?"

"Yes."

Seeing Cecil, a charismatic and flirtatious individual with a silver tongue, express exasperation over something so trivial was hilarious to you.

"Cecil, I didn't hate you upon our first meeting." You laughed at his small doubtful frown. "Come on, it's not like everyone throws themselves at you."

Cecil sighed. "You're right. I guess I felt kind of petty because I was interested in you."

"Interested how?"

"Anomalies always catch my eye." He pointed to you. "A support member selected for an SF trial is odd, so you clearly fit the criteria."

"Does that mean Amias also caught your eye?"

That's what happened in the game. Amias was a guy with an unknown backgrounds who was suddenly selected as a speciality force member. That was literal bait for Cecil's interest to be captured.

Not gonna lie, I died (in a good way) behind the screen at Cecil's flirtatious comments when he was first introduced. Thank god I built up a tolerance before meeting him in real life.

"He did, but you were more interesting. Amias already had exorcism abilities while you did not. I was curious how on earth you were going to survive," Cecil said. "Watching your development was fun, but mostly motivating. It made me want to take more risks and gambles."

"Hey, you're making me sound reckless."

"Aren't you?"

Letting a vengeful apparition possess you on several occasions, working with apparitions, trying to go up against irregular apparitions without any exorcism abilities––Okay, Cecil had a point.

"I'm surprised."

You shot him a confused look. "Surprised?"

"I thought you'd take my words in another way."

"Oh, as in you thought that I would assume you meant romance when you said you were interested in me?"

"Wouldn't have blamed you given my flirtatious tendencies." Cecil then furrowed his eyebrows. "Do you even find me attractive? Genuine question."

"Yeah."

Cecil was caught off guard by your immediate response, but it didn't take long for his signature charismatic smile to grace his lips.

"Really now?"

His voice was significantly more suggestive this time. Just one hint, no matter how subtle, that you were interested in Cecil was all it took for him to make a move. And this was Cecil you were talking about. You had no doubts that he'll take great care of you.

Maybe if this was a week earlier you would've responded with coquetry of your own, but your kiss with Caleb was still fresh in your mind. You glanced off to the side and Cecil got the message.

"Sorry, did I make you uncomfortable?"

"No, no. It's just..." You took a moment to think over your words. "I have someone in mind. I mean––they said that I shouldn't let their feelings hold me back on pursuing love elsewhere, but I guess it feels weird to get involved with someone else at the moment."

Cecil nodded. If anyone would understand romance, it would be him. You didn't need to elaborate any further as Cecil had already grasped your situation.

"I get that. Understanding your feelings doesn't come with a snap of your fingers. Take your time with it, there's no need to rush."

"I have a feeling you give good love advice."

"Oh, trust me. I give out a ton of love advice at my bar. It makes me happy to help someone understand their approach to love," Cecil said. It was nice to see him talk with such an earnest expression. "I understood a lot about myself when I stopped locking away my promiscuous side. Of course, I always kept communication and consent in mind."

Cecil opened the door to a luxurious looking lounge. You looked around in awe, it felt like you needed to pay an hourly rate to breathe in its air. Momentarily taking your focus off him as you observed the room, you didn't notice the faint click of the door being locked.

So when you turned around and saw that Cecil had already taken off his vest and was beginning to unbutton his shirt, you almost screamed.

"Wait! Cecil, hold it right there!"

The male paused. "Oh, would you like to take things slower?"

Recalling that memory prompted your next words, "So if I agreed to your advances back then..."

"I would've communicated exactly what I was going for before we take things further."

What Cecil was telling you now wasn't exactly mind shockingly new, but it definitely had some details you weren't aware of. In the game, Cecil opened up to Amias a little about himself, but not as in depth as this. Likely because Amias had little to no interest in love in the first place.

Game aside, you were simply happy to learn more about Cecil.

"A lot of people assume I have hook ups because I'm lonely or because I lacked affection as a child. I don't blame them, my parents have caused many scenes in my bar before and they weren't shy about their hatred towards me." Cecil's gaze became wistful as it drifted off to the side. "While in the past I have made the mistake of finding a lover because I was lonely, I've grown from that. I simply believe that exploring my sexuality is completely fine."

You didn't have much to add as this wasn't a topic you had experience in, but you appreciated Cecil's words nonetheless.

"Well, there's my little spill," Cecil said, a note of finality in his words. "(Y/n), I'm going to ask you something. What are your ambitions?"

"Ambitions?"

"People who inspire and motivate me to push myself are people I want to be around," he said. "That's why I was more than willing to work with you. But... things have been a little quiet from you."

Ah, you knew where this was going.

Behind his glasses, Cecil's eyes illuminated a beautiful gold and green. His pupils turned into slits, resembling a snake. Your breath hitched as you felt something sinuously slither around your frame; like a python trapping its prey. Your limbs were paralysed as a ghostly snake wrapped around them. It wasn't like it was trying to suffocate you, but the presence of it instilled so much tension that it may as well be.

Somewhere intrinsic, you could feel Alastor's alarm of the situation as he gained consciousness. You calmed your heart to send a message that everything was fine.

"(Y/n), this is a snippet of how I'm feeling." Cecil chuckled, looking down at his palm. "I feel like I'm going to collapse because of how eager I am to do something. I know you have a wealth of knowledge stored in that cute head of yours, so why aren't you taking advantage of it?"

Cecil won't hurt you, but you felt like you could be crushed by the tension. A long time ago you mentioned that Cecil was a very ambitious individual. That was a strength and a weakness of his. His overly ambitious nature was what got him killed.

You took in a shaky breath and steadied your breathing. Without a sense of resolve in your words, Cecil won't take them seriously.

"I need to wait for the right time."

"Wait? Do you think that I'm the type to wait around?" Cecil almost scoffed out of exasperation. "You know very well that I'd rather create opportunities than wait for one."

You've recently come to terms with not being too caught up with your immense knowledge of the game and learning to trust your gut a little more. If you had done that sooner, maybe you could've helped Caleb earlier.

However...

"I know that, but it doesn't always work. You need to map out things and ensure you have backup plans. You need to be prepared. Risks are called risks for a reason, there's a chance of failure." You swallowed your apprehension. "And one failure could affect us for the rest of our lives."

You've learnt to not get caught up with your immense knowledge of the game, but you were still going to be strategic about this. There needed to be a balance.

Cecil hummed, his nails drumming against the table. You felt small under his eyes; this really was a prime example of being under a predator's gaze. You already knew of Cecil's extremities, but experiencing it made you almost doubt if the person across the table was the Cecil you befriended and talked to for the past few months.

"So that's your answer."

With that final sentence, your limbs were finally free. You breathed a sigh of relief and almost collapsed onto the table.

"I wanted to test your resolve." Cecil smiled. "It looks like you've changed a little ever since that operation with Caleb."

You laughed weakly. "Humans are always changing."

"I'm surprised you're not angry."

"Oh." You blinked. "I mean... you weren't gonna hurt me."

"How do you know that?"

"You know what, let's just say I'm naive."

Cecil laughed. "Another mystery about you to unravel, huh? Stop by the bar when you're free, I'll treat you to drinks as an apology." He stopped to think for a moment. "Come to think of it, I've never seen you get genuinely angry before."

That briefly reminded you of Lyle's words.

Lyle was silent. "(Y/n)."

"Hm?"

"You're a little too understanding."

"Thanks?"

Lyle shook his head. "You're a sympathetic person. It's a good and bad thing. There are people who take advantage of that." He looked at you. "You should get mad sometimes, too."

Cecil stood up from the table. "I should get going now. Don't stay up too late. You'll look cute with eyebags, but I would rather not see you in bad health."

You lazily bid goodbye to Cecil as he left the library. A yawn escaped your lips as you stretched your arms over your head. Welp, you were getting a little groggily anyway. Might as well head to bed. Plus, if you stayed up too late, you will most likely get an earful from Amias.

But before that, you guess it was time to make an attempt to get in contact with the chairman.

People in the AEI have gloves that help balance the onslaught of heat from their abilities, you were going to need the reverse. Someone was going to have to design gloves specially for you.

You smiled to yourself. "It'll be great if I can meet Eve face to face through that."



===



"Do you want me to get you anything? I heard that the new bakery that opened up has interesting pastries."

"I have been wanting to stuff my face with bread these days. You're a lifesaver, Finn."

"No worries. Good luck on your patrol."

"Have fun with your operation."

You turned off the device on your wrist, a grin on your face at the prospect of coming back to your room and being welcomed with pastries. Since you have been out of the centre of the city for the past week, you've been missing out on Caleb's baking. Hopefully, the bakery Finn suggested would be a decent replacement.

Yup, a week has passed. And within the week, you were stationed to the west edge of the city with Finn. East was Caleb and Cecil whilst everyone else remained in the centre. You had explained this little system to Amias a few months ago.

"So there are several AEI buildings scattered throughout the city. The one we're in is the main one, located in the centre where most apparition activity happens. There are two––I guess you can say they're secondary in importance––other ones located on opposite ends of the city. They only have one SF member each. Well, it used to be two each before the others... you know," you did your best to quickly divert the flow of your explanation. "Anyways, apparently outside of the city is really dangerous. A rising issue is how quickly apparitions are evolving and how more are entering the city."

Amias was devastated when he found out that you two would be separated. The guy was about to request for Finn to switch places with him, but you stopped him before he could. As much as you liked Amias, you wanted to get to know Finn more.

You weren't scheduled for an operation at the moment, so might as well do some patrolling. And by patrolling, you were trying to test out some hidden lore and theories you had of Anomalous. You told Alastor and the kids to go off and explore together while you investigated alone.

Unfortunately, after an hour of investigation, you didn't find much. Well, you did manage to stop a few minor scaled apparition attacks with Mochi, but no cool funky secrets were in sight.

Eventually, you found yourself wandering to an isolated place in the city. Since this was your first time being outside the centre of the city (the game didn't count), the quiet space threw you off.

"It's so weird not hearing cars honking––"

Like a gentle tap on your shoulder, you felt a subtle chill on your nose. You touched the tip of your nose and felt water. Confused, you looked up to see snowflakes slowly descending from above.

Snowflakes... That means––

"I didn't expect to see you here. We left off rather abruptly last time, didn't we?"

...

🅾️🦌.

A monotonous yet dangerously alluring voice. It was one that could sing you into a dreamless sleep or be used to sweetly lure you into a deadly trap.

You turned around and were met with silver eyes hidden behind beautiful long white eyelashes. With his hands in the pockets of his lab coat, the individual walked towards you. His demeanour was casual, it was as if he was walking towards an old friend.

But the moment you saw the subtle smile on the silver apparition's ghostly white lips, you had a bad feeling.

And that bad feeling was spot on.

Your instincts lit on fire and you jumped back to avoid a row of icicles that shot up from the ground. They formed a circle, it intended to trap you. What was it with this guy and cages??

The silver apparition sighed and shook his head as if he were dealing with a disobedient child. "It would be best if you cooperated."

The earth trembled under the motion of the silver apparition's fingertips and the wind tripled in intensity with a wave of his hand. The apparition continued to summon icicles around your general area. At this rate, all of that ice would close in on you.

Well, I just need to get rid of it.

You ran up and kicked the icicles. They shattered like thin glass and there was hardly any pain. You grinned at your improved strength. Of course, you needed to borrow some of Mochi's, but the results of your training were coming to fruition.

Lyle, thank you for terrorising me into not skipping leg day.

The silver apparition didn't seem impressed. Damnit. Physical strength was not on your side. Your unique abilities with the book involved a bunch of emotions and psychoanalysing apparitions. And even then it wasn't like you could use it recklessly.

I'm grateful for my abilities, but can someone give me an OP cheat?

"You've gotten better at controlling your abilities, huh?"

Yeah, you were stalling for time to catch your breath.

The apparition paused for a moment. "You noticed?"

Was it you or did he seem happy for a moment?

"Anyone would have noticed," you quickly said. "Anyways, there's no way I'm actually winning against you. But it is good practice to see how much I've improved."

"You're not afraid that you'll die?"

"You won't kill me, you're too curious about who I am."

And if things got really bad, you could always call Alastor back. If Alastor possessed your body and fought in your stead, it was anyone's game really.

The silver apparition hummed. "You're correct, but I can always do irreversible damage to your body. Death would look merciful."

Now the last part sent a chill down your spine, especially with how indifferent the silver apparition's voice was saying something so morbid. And seeing what he dud in the game, you doubted that it was a bluff. Especially at this stage of the plot.

"Can I kindly ask you not to do that?"

"I'll consider it." He didn't sound genuine at all. The silver apparition then motioned for the wind to die down. He also stopped assaulting you with icicles. "Here, I'll give you a chance."

He was looking down at you, but you weren't mad at all. This actually gave you an opportunity to test something out. With all the strength you could muster and borrowing Mochi's strength, you sprinted towards the apparition. Even he was surprised by the power in your sprint. Sadly, this speed was temporary, but it was enough to get you close enough to the silver apparition to land a kick.

When you landed a hit, the apparition clumsily blocked. He successfully stopped the impact to his face, but you could see his arms shaking from your attack.

You smiled. I knew it.

Lyle and the rest of the SF had trained you in hand-to-hand combat, so you were more skilled than the average person. The silver apparition had minimal experience in a one-on-one fight without his powers. Plus, he was a researcher before he became an apparition. There's also the fact that his body wasn't sturdy like James.

Well, to make up for those weaknesses, the universe blessed him with an absurd amount of power. There was no need for him to even throw a punch let alone fight.

"It's been awhile since I've felt something tangible," the silver apparition mumbled. "Though, a kick isn't exactly pleasant."

The silver apparition snapped his finger and conjured up a whole snow storm.

To cut things short, despite your best efforts, you ended up being caged anyway. You crossed your arms and sighed.

"There's this unexplainable feeling I'm experiencing at the moment, would you hear me out?"

You gestured to the makeshift ice bars. "Do I have a choice."

He proceeded to ignore your statement.

"Whenever I gain a feeling of control, I feel excitement." The silver apparition held his palms out before curling his fingers inwards. "I don't have any desire to harm you, but the idea of having you in my grasp is exhilarating."

Okay, so you're a top.

"There are three million ways to label that." You shrugged. "Just make sure you keep your hands off my neck, thanks."

The apparition gave you a confused look. "Are you afraid?"

"Afraid I might like it, yeah."

"What?"

"What."

"You said––"

"I didn't say anything."

The silver apparition, knowing that you weren't going to budge, moved on. But he did give you a look of 'we'll talk about this later'.

"I have another question. When people see an apparition, a typical reaction is fear. Is that right?"

"I mean, it varies. But yeah, common consensus is that apparitions are dangerous," you said. "Though, I have been making an effort to show that not all apparitions are big bad villains."

He nodded. "I see... Perhaps it was because of your influence."

"Huh. What happened?"

"On the rare occasions when I am spotted, people don't show signs of apprehension. Sometimes their faces would heat up when I draw nearer. They would stutter when talking to me as well."

Faces heat up? Stuttering––ohhhh.

You snapped your fingers. "It's probably because you're hot. Halo effect and all. I've seen it so many times with Cecil."

"Hot?" The silver apparition furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I'm certain that I radiate cold air––"

"Hot as in you're gorgeous. You literally glow ethereally in the snow. It's unreal and unfair."

Up until now, apparitions were blurry silhouettes. There weren't any apparitions with defined features such as James, Alastor, the kids, etc. So yeah, the silver apparition may evoke some apprehension when people find out that he isn't human. However, you couldn't blame those who stopped to process his looks.

Don't tell me the secret to overcoming apparition prejudice is to introduce hot ghosts.

Despite the fact that your life was somewhat in danger, you couldn't help but giggle at the silver apparition's dumbfounded expression. The guy probably had centuries worth of intelligence regarding anything, but when it came to human emotions he was no better than a confused child at times.

"I'm still rather confused. You mentioned the halo effect, what is that?"

The guy sure loved asking you questions. Well, he was a researcher. Questions, searching for answers, testing hypotheses––all that must come naturally. He and Cecil would get along.

"It's basically when your opinion of someone is influenced by your overall first impression of them. For example, if you see someone attractive, then your mind forms a kind of bias and you unconsciously treat them better."

The silver apparition was listening attentively. "I see, but that didn't seem to be the case with you."

"I can acknowledge that someone is attractive, but I'm not that down bad to where I'll go along with a guy's words just because I like his face... ˢᵒᵐᵉᵗⁱᵐᵉˢ." You sheepishly coughed. "The halo effect doesn't apply to everyone. In fact, there is no concrete way to define our actions and thoughts. But we can find patterns to label certain behaviours. That's what psychology is for."

"I see... how complicated," the silver apparition mumbled. "But thank you for explaining, it was very insightful."

"All goods."

"As a thank you, I'd like to take you out on a date."

"Alln't goods."

"I heard that dates help people grow closer." He seemed excited to share that information. "Will you not go on one with me?"

"I thought we confirmed that you didn't have romantic feelings for me already."

"We don't need to call it a date, then. What was it..." The male furrowed his eyebrows. "Ah, a hang out. We can just hang out."

"Hang outs are for friends."

"Are we not friends?" You gave him a look. For the first time, the silver apparition looked a little sheepish. "Are you sure you want to refuse?"

"I dunno. Do you think it's logical to go along with the guy who attacked me several times?"

Then the silver apparition chuckled softly. The sound was so rare you thought you were hallucinating from the cold.

"You could've asked your apparition friends for assistance, but you made no attempts to when I attacked you."

The apparition's lips curved into a sly smirk. His white bangs fell over his silver eyes as he looked at you with a tilt of his head.

That look should be ILLEGAL.

"Just like how I'm curious about you, you're just as curious about me. From the very beginning, you wanted to talk. Is that correct?"

He got you. You were a sucker for information. The silver apparition was one of the few characters that you didn't know major details about. Plus, he was the main antagonist. Why wouldn't you want to know more about him?

You sighed in defeat. "If we're going to hang out, at least tell me your name."

A/n: 🅾️🦌 = oh dear