Some time had passed and most people had left their dinner tables and were standing, drinking alcohol, and engaging in conversations. There was a lot of talk about the logistics of the weapons as well as theories about Eve's future appearance. In the game, you remember going around as Amias to eavesdrop on every conversation. Can't do it now since you don't have video game logic to defend you.

Currently, you were swirling your glass of wine in the corner trying to act mysterious and cool. Cecil was next to you. He actually looked mysterious and cool.

Cecil tilted his head over to your side, "It'll start soon, huh?"

You took a sip and smiled. "Whatever do you mean? It's just a normal night."

You didn't tell Cecil about your collaboration with Shen and the others, but you wouldn't be surprised if he came to that conclusion alongside the million other theories about you stored in his brain. You wondered how many assumptions and judgments about you Cecil had.

"Did someone turn on the aircon? It's suddenly very cold."

"Maybe a few stray apparitions slipped in here?"

"In the AEI? That's impossible."

A stray passing conversation, a set of simple observations that one would not normally bat an eye to. However, it piqued your and Cecil's interests. You two exchanged knowing glances.

Soon, that subtly cool air plummeted to a freezing temperature. It was almost as if someone had draped an ice sheet over you. A paradoxically gentle but sharp feeling. You shivered a little. Those fleeting mutters of the temperature now turned into confused chatters. Laughter turned into surprised gasps and you even heard a few champagne glasses fall to the ground.

Elias immediately took action, quick to take on the leadership role. He swiftly went on stage in front of the microphone and issued orders for division leaders and vice leaders with no traces of panic in his tone as if he had rehearsed his words several times over.

You and Cecil went your separate ways to attend to your respective tasks. You quickly made your way over to the people you were tasked to keep a watch over.

"Miss Support, catch!"

An AEI jacket was thrown in your direction. Mid-running, you caught it and slipped in without a second thought.

"Right this way," you said, approaching a group of men and women. Thankfully, they didn't hate your guts. Being a controversial figure was tiring at times. "I'll make sure no apparition gets to you."

Whilst you were escorting people out, you got a better look at your AEI jacket. It wasn't yours, the design matched the defence division. Confused, you looked around and spotted Caleb. He threw you a thumbs up and mouthed 'found some spares'. Well, a jacket is a jacket. Any kind of extra warmth was welcomed. Plus, the combination of the dress and jacket was kind of a look.

You continued escorting the guests. God. Why was this venue so big?? At least you didn't have to go upstairs, this venue does have three floors.

Frost began to creep onto the walls and the wind grew in intensity. Visually, it was obviously Shen. However, because you were always subjected to his abilities, the cold distinctly felt like his. Thankfully, you wore a nice pair of warm tights. Having your legs freeze off for fashion was not the plan.

Before you could escort the guests out of the venue, ice began rapidly covering the floor, hungrily preying on every tile.

At least let me finish my job, Shen.

With a snap of your finger, you summoned your book. The pages flipped rapidly as a blue light illuminated from it and manifested Mochi. The wolf was able to shatter the ice before it could reach you and the guests. You quickly escorted the guests out, essentially acting as a meat shield for apparition possessions.

Finally, you arrived at the exit and were surprised to find Cecil there.

"I'll handle it from here, focus on helping those inside the venue."

You nodded, but then quickly whispered to him, "Looking for a chance to slip away?"

He chuckled. "Do put in a good defence for me."

"Be careful. Remember what I told you."

He winked. "No promises, being a little reckless here and there gets me going."

You frowned. "Cecil."

He seemed a little surprised by your firm tone. "Okay, I'll be careful. Don't worry your pretty little head. Trust me, I have too many ambitions to fulfil. Can't go out yet."

With that, Cecil left to tend to the chaos outside.

In the original game, Cecil also disappears to slip into the TDD lab. He briefly mentions it to Amias in passing. It was the last you ever saw of him before having to encounter his corpse. That was an imagery you did not need to recall at the moment. To be honest, you were nervous letting him go considering this was the same path that led to his death.

However, you made sure to have a thorough discussion with Cecil before all of this (over a few drinks you paid for). You were glad your efforts to build his trust ever since your initial approach at the bar was reflected in Cecil's cooperative nature.

A condensed version of said discussion: you directed him to a space where he would encounter Kein, you warned him to be careful of a certain factor, and you were going to keep in touch with him and made it clear that he would immediately inform you when he sensed even the smallest bit of danger.

So, what was the certain factor? It had to do with the direct cause of Cecil's death. Someone had murdered him and you didn't know who. No Anomalous fan knows, but there were theories.

No point in worrying. Okay, time to focus.

You quickly surveyed the venue and saw that some people upstairs had difficulties getting past the ice. You rushed up there and encountered Elias and Finn on the way. Without a word, Finn utilised his fire abilities to melt the ice and Elias exorcised the apparitions to clear the path whilst you helped the guests down.

"Hey, Finn. Do you think we could work alongside each other?" You asked. "Your fire is literally the best thing against all this ice right now."

"I was thinking the same––"

Not even a few seconds later, a blizzard conquered the space and filled your vision with a blurry rush of white. You closed your eyes and placed a hand over to shield your face. Well, so much for working with Finn.

Suddenly, cold hands reached out to your cheeks. Following that was a hushed whisper as pale lips almost brushed against yours. You could faintly make out familiar ethereal features that seemed to perfectly blend in with the snow.

"I was excited to see you again. I trust you've been well?"

With those fleeting words, the blizzard disappeared and an unusual calmness settled over the venue. One glance towards the stage was all it took for you to grasp the situation. A gust of wind mixed with snow swirled onto the stage before dramatically dispersing and revealing Shen in all his pretty boy glory. It almost made you forget about the fact that his lips almost touched yours.

Calmly, Shen tested the microphone. He almost seemed fascinated by it.

After cleaning his throat, he said, "A shame the cameras aren't working anymore. I would've liked my presence to be broadcasted."

As he was speaking, you wondered why everyone was staying put rather than rushing at the chance to get out of here. That was until you realised that most people had their legs trapped in ice. Even if they weren't trapped, running on such a slippery surface wasn't all that efficient, especially for those wearing heels.

"I suppose I'll introduce myself. You can classify me as the silver apparition, my true name is something that would be disclosed to the public eventually," he said, voice indifferent and levelled. "I was an apparition cultivated in the technology design division's lab and broke out months ago. It's quite ironic, really. I was originally a researcher there decades ago."

Despite being unable to touch physical objects, Shen grasped onto the mic. You almost caught yourself thinking 'I wish that mic was my neck.' Lyle was right, Cecil was having too much of an influence on you.

"I've explained my reasons for my endeavours in the past, but I'll quickly summarise it into one sentence: I intend to rebuild this entire system and that starts with destroying the AEI. I hope this does not cause too many inconveniences."

The last part had to be a joke. Shen delivered it with the flattest tone; it was almost comedic. You almost snorted and caused the entire AEI to turn against you.

Anyways, his little introductory speech––that was new. Shen didn't drop a bunch of free lore in the game. If he did, the Anomalous fandom didn't need to scavenge the ends of the game to piece together his past.

"Now," Shen continued. "I––"

Interrupting Shen, an explosion blasted away all the ice on the floor. You turned around and saw Caleb literally do a front flip in mid-air before perfectly landing on top of a table.

You snickered. "Show off."

"But of course." Caleb chuckled and jumped down from the table. He placed an arm over your shoulder. "How else would you fall for me––"

A sharp shard of ice zipped through the air with the intent to hit Caleb, which he swiftly dodged with an easy shift of his feet. Alarmed, your attention was directed back at the stage. Shen's eyes narrowed towards Caleb, his apathetic expression replaced with one of disapproval.

Caleb whistled, amused. "What? Seeing two close friends got you all jealous?"

Shen didn't respond. Instead, he snapped his fingers and a tornado of apparitions furiously rushed into the space. It was to the point that many were visible to a regular person's eye.

"Whoops, made him angry."

Caleb said it as if he made a toddler frustrated, not an all-powerful apparition that could break your back with the snap of his fingers.

Apparitions headed straight towards the guests and you and Caleb worked together to defend them. He exorcised the apparitions (and of course, did tricks here and there that annoyed some people because it didn't look like he was taking his job seriously) whilst you freed everyone from the ice. You handed the guests over to some of the division leaders and tasked them to get everyone to safety.

Thankfully, there were precautions in the building. Someone was able to switch on the heaters specially designed for attacks such as this. You had a feeling it was Elias.

They won't be effective for long, though. Gotta get everyone out of here before that happens.

"Question, where did you even get these jackets?" you asked Caleb.

"There's a storeroom around here," Caleb answered. You noticed that was wearing the offence force jacket. Seeing red on Caleb was rare. "Found it when I was snooping around because the party was boring."

That didn't happen in the original game because Caleb wasn't around during this time. Ouch. Okay, that hurt.

You and Caleb continued to work together. At one point, you did your little 'let the apparitions possess you and then use their strengths' trick. It was a skill you developed over the months. It wasn't a complete exorcism, but it rendered the apparitions harmless once you were done with them. Basically, you were using your high possession tolerance to your advantage.

After what seems to be a few minutes, a flash of yellow captured your attention.

"Amias!"

Gold eyes filled with relief met yours. Amias immediately tackled you with a hug, a world's amount of concern was felt with how tightly he squeezed you. Though you were surprised, you happily returned the embrace.

Amias whispered, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

Now that Amias was here, some information about the original storyline came rushing back to you. Around this time, a mini-boss fight with Shen would take place. Rather than the usual turn-based battle, you needed to navigate everyone to safety all the while avoiding getting hammered by Shen's ice. If too many citizens were hurt, then it was a game over.

"Ah, I missed the days when your uniform matched your eyes," Caleb said. At his words, you examined Amias's jacket that was thrown over his suit. It had the yellow accents from the support unit. "Maybe I should put in a petition for our uniforms to match our aesthetics."

You rolled your eyes. "You just want an excuse to bother Elias."

"Pretty much." Caleb laughed. "Anyways, so the late-night fast food trio is here. Let's quickly finish this job so we can do another run."

The three of you worked together to exorcise apparitions and keep things under control. Working as a trio made things go by extremely smoothly, Amias's teleportation abilities allowed you to take many shortcuts.

Eventually, Shen succeeded in blocking off all the entrances. Well, that was obviously bad. There were still people inside the building and some SF members were locked outside.

However, the amount of people trapped is significantly less compared to the original game.

Good to know your contribution was useful. You did a quick check of your device and messaged the other SF members.

"Ah," you said. "Everyone's stuck outside beside us."

"So they all ditched us." Caleb sighed. "Would've been nice to have the flamethrower trapped in here. The ice is annoying me."

Amias shot a confused look. "Finn?"

"Who else?"

"Eve is also nowhere to be found," you mumbled.

Amias nodded. "They said the chairman called for them, right? I wonder where they are."

"Would be pretty pissed if they're sipping tea while we're doing all the work," Caleb added.

The conversation couldn't continue for long as the building began to break apart and collapse. Falling debris, lights, electricity––yeah, pretty chaotic. Thanks, Shen.

You just got done avoiding a whole ass table from slamming your face. Caleb and Amias switched to fighting Shen directly whilst you tended to the last few people still trapped in the venue.

The strategy was to break down the ice Shen put up with your own strength and with Mochi's help. Then you'd use the twins' ability to slow down time and quickly carry the guests outside before Shen could block off the entrance again. It would be lovely to just summon all of your apparition companions and let em go wild, but you needed to be smart with your energy.

Finally, everyone was evacuated and it was only you, Shen, Amias, Caleb, and a whole bunch of apparitions. You breathed a sigh of relief, your body beginning to grow tired from all the action. But there was no time to rest as you turned your attention to Amias, Shen, and Caleb.

You found an interesting observation.

When Shen fought you, his expression was always calm and he did minimal movements; the epitome of elegance. Now? Shen's expression was bitter, his sharp glare looked like he held the entire world's hatred towards Caleb and Amias. Once minimalist movements evolved into bold and forceful gestures and the ice in his abilities took on jagged forms, the sharpness mirroring his heightened emotions.

That was odd. Shen didn't think much of Caleb in the original game, but he definitely didn't hate Amias. And even if you put the original game aside, what reason would he have to hate those two?

You couldn't dwell on those thoughts for long and quickly went to rejoin the two. When you stepped between Shen and the others, you could see his expression softened a little. However, this wasn't the time to engage in discussions or enjoy each other's company. In this moment, you two were enemies.

"Miss Support, finally joining us?"

Amias added, "Be careful. He's gotten a lot stronger."

"Cover me," you said. "The silver apparition is weak to physical attacks."

"Right! I forgot you could do that fun trick." Caleb patted your shoulder. "I got your back."

"No need to go through that trouble," Shen said, his gaze lingering on Caleb's hand on your shoulder. "I'll come right to you."

The moment Shen's sentence finished, a rapid succession of icicles erupted from the ground––sharp and dangerous. Getting a leg caught in one of those was game over. Amias and Caleb were able to evade the attack, but Shen had carefully crafted the direction of the ice to where the two were forced to leap away from your side.

Shen took a deep breath, extending his hands and clasping them together. His eyes illuminated faintly. That was when the temperature dropped dangerously low. It was to where your body had literally gone numb all over and you dropped to the floor. When you drew a breath, you swore frost was climbing up your throat.

It only lasted a few seconds, but the panic and agony you felt made those seconds extend into hours. When you came to your senses, you realised that you were stuck behind an ice cage. Well, the design was very pretty at least. Fancy swirls and patterns.

In the corner of your eye, you saw Amias and Caleb immediately take action to help you. Shen directed a reproachful look their way before conjuring a blizzard-like wall; an armour-like storm of snow and wind isolated you and Shen from the outside world.

Slowly, Shen approached you. With a firm voice, he said, "We're leaving."

The silver apparition looked so visibly upset you had almost forgotten he literally imprisoned you.

"Shen, what are you talking about?" you asked.

"I..." Shen's expression was full of conflict. "I can't stand seeing you around them."

Amidst your exhaustion and the millions of thoughts running through your head, you realised that you were in due for a moment to calm down and process what was happening. You took advantage of this moment to catch your breath and clear your head.

Cautiously, you asked, "Are you jealous about my friendship with Amias and Caleb?"

"I..." Shen's eyebrows furrowed together. He seemed to be directing that frustration towards himself rather than you. "It's a little more complicated than that."

He didn't deny it.

Time to play therapist in the middle of a snowstorm.

"Complicated how?"

"I just..." Shen averted his eyes, lost in thought for a moment. With a shake of his head, he redirected his gaze to you. "That doesn't matter right now. I'll be taking you somewhere––"

You stood up and delivered a powerful blow towards the cage (you felt bad for ruining the nice design), smashing the heel of your foot against it. Bits of the cage were successfully shattered. Shen was surprised at first but quickly patched up the broken area. Not like it mattered. You weren't looking for freedom, but to make a statement.

"You're acting very unreasonable," you said. Despite Shen having every advantage here, you tried to stand your ground. "We leave? And then what happens from there?"

Shen remained silent, a sense of reason returning back to his eyes. "When I saw you working with the others I was reminded of the distance between us."

You nodded. "While it's true that Caleb and Amias spend more time with me, our relationship is special in its own way––"

"It's not the same!"

You flinched. Even during Shen's final scenes in the game, during the peak of the final boss fight between him and Amias, he never yelled. Yet he just did that to you. Ok. Your sensitive side would've actually cried a little.

"It's not..." Shen drew a trembling breath. "No matter how much we talk, no matter what I do I will never match up to them."

Shen's composure was slowly crumbling, like the subtle trickle of sand within an hourglass.

"Others are allowed to see you in the morning on a daily basis, are allowed to share a Christmas with you, they are allowed to stay by your side."

The idea of Shen watching the city from above as everyone happily celebrated the holidays with their loved ones whilst he was left with no company made your heart heavy with pity and guilt. You never thought about seeking Shen on a casual basis. Aside from being busy, there was a thought in the back of your mind that said 'well, he's someone you can't see so casually anyway.'

"My resolve is strong, I am adamant in my pursuit. But sometimes..." In Shen's next words, his voice was soft and vulnerable. "Sometimes I wish I was born as an exorcist in your time so I could experience a normal life by your side."

Your eyes widened.

Shen wearing the SF uniform and seeing and interacting with him in your day-to-day life, arguing with Caleb, getting along with Elias, joining your reading sessions; it all felt so right. Yet, that wasn't the reality. Here Shen stood before you as an apparition who had died decades ago.

"Shen..."

You were at a loss for what to say. You knew he cared about you, but you never knew it was enough to cause him to become this emotional.

"We can still have something like that even if you are an apparition. Why do you think I'm doing all of this?" You smiled. "I'll rebuild my own system, one where we can meet up like friends."

Shen returned your smile, but his one was more bitter. "In a perfect world that would be lovely, but the world isn't that forgiving." He looked at his palms. "I feel myself slipping away at times."

You gave him a confused look.

"You know what I mean, (Y/n). It's the same for James, isn't it?"

You had to work your brain a little to understand what Shen was getting at. James and Shen what did they have in common—Ah! Right, James was injected with something that tampered with his self-preservation. In a way, you could say his apparition state was artificially created. Shen was literally cultivated in a lab. Honestly, you didn't know much of the details of what happened within the lab or Shen's backstory as a researcher in the past, but there was a connection between the two men.

Interrupting the natural process of being an apparition has consequences, consequences that weren't shown in detail within the game.

How stable would their apparition forms be?

Honestly, this was all speculation from the Anomalous fan base. It was crazy how subtle details in the game are made such a big deal now.

"Can you elaborate a little more?"

Shen took a moment to gather his thoughts. He had a habit of glancing down when he got lost in contemplation, which only made his long eyelashes more prominent.

"I'm learning more about humanity as time progresses. I'd like to believe that makes me a little closer to being human. However, my very existence rejects that. As an apparition, I naturally reject anything detrimental to my survival."

Shen's eyes met yours and his expression softened as though he had laid eyes on a serene field of flowers.

"It was a little different for you. I grew attached. You'd hypothesise that my nature as an apparition would try and terminate those emotions, but... I suppose I got a little too attached," he said, voice soft. "Your existence is necessary for my survival, for my happiness is highly dependent on you, I believe. It's quite complicated to wrap my head around. There are times I believe that things would be easier if I just kept you for myself, that I could lock––"

Shen stopped himself and a stressed sigh seeped past his lips.

"I... I don't know... I just—I want to be close to you right now. I..." He frowned. "Sorry, I must be confusing you, huh?"

You've never seen Shen so stressed before. If you weren't stuck behind the cage, you would've reached out a comforting hand. Plus, his...confession? Would this be considered a confession? Well, whether Shen loved you in the romantic sense or treasured you deeply on a platonic level, it doesn't discard the fact that he cared for you. You had to admit, it tugged your heartstrings.

"Thanks for telling me all of this." You showed him an appreciative smile. "And I'm flattered you care for me that much. "However, I can't just ditch everything here and come with you. If you want, after all this we can—"

Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind crashed into the cage. You were fully prepared to have ice shards make themselves home in your skin, but a protective layer of wind had sheltered you from the threat. Before you could comprehend what was going on, someone pulled your face right into their chest as they pulled you away from incoming debris.

Did I ascend to heaven?

You heard the distant sound of crows and snapped out of your thoughts. Crows? There was only one apparition who was associated with crows. You pulled away from the individual and, as expected, were met with a pair of emerald green eyes.

"James?

"Sorry about that," James said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Was it just you or was his tone a lot friendlier than you remembered? "What an entrance. I was wondering if you were ever going to show up."

"Needed to think through some things." James looked at Shen. "Sorry if I interrupted a moment."

Shen's gaze was cold and his expression was void of any of the vulnerability you previously saw. It made you wonder if the emotional moment between you and him ever transpired.

Shen called the blizzard off with a snap of his fingers. You wondered how much longer Shen could continue fighting. During your conversation with him, he needed to keep Amias and Caleb out from interrupting him. His emotions were also more prominent in this fight, leading him to exert unnecessary stamina as well.

"(Y/n)!"

Amias did not hesitate to teleport over to you.

"Are you okay? What did he do to you?" Amias dusted off some snow off your jacket and checked for any injuries. "You've got a few cuts."

"Miss Support! Are you still..."

Caleb stopped when he saw James.

"Oh." He laughed. "Guess it's two on three now, huh?"

"Four on one," James corrected.

James sent a sharp tirade of wind towards Shen. The silver apparition managed to narrowly dodge it. With a glare, he said,

"So this was your choice."

James didn't respond to Shen. Instead, he turned over to you.

"You said that it'll help your case if people saw me helping the AEI, right?"

You shot him a confused look. "Since when were you so considerate?"

"Since I gained a bit of myself back."

You weren't sure what happened behind the scenes with James since the last time you met him, but it seems he gained a bit of introspection in his own time.

I wonder how many thoughts are going through Caleb's mind at the moment.

James and Caleb's relationship was theirs to figure out. You'll offer your help when you can, but it was not your business to insert yourself into their business or stress over it unless something dire was going tp happen.

You smiled. "Welcome back."

James actually returned your smile, the kind that reflected a mature older brother. Damn. Okay. When he doesn't act like a prick, he could be very likable.

"Not sure how long I'll be back, though."

"Sorry?"

"Can't elaborate right now." With a wave of his hand, James stopped an incoming snowstorm. "We should focus."

Shen came at James with no mercy. Amias pulled you back in time before a whole rainfall of ice shards stabbed you. Ack, you really needed to pull it together. Can't have everyone saving your ass every time.

To your surprise, Caleb jumped in to help James. The brothers exchanged glances before they worked together. No words were needed to be spoken. It was so natural, an unspoken connection only those two could understand. You couldn't help but smile fondly at the sight.

However, that moment was interrupted when you received a message from Cecil.

[ We've got trouble ]

Your heart sank. Immediately, you asked Amias,

"Can you teleport us somewhere?"

Amias nodded. "Of course. Where do you need to go?"

Shen's head immediately snapped towards you and Amias, his calm facade replaced by increasing frustration. Shen's momentary focus on you allowed time for James to get behind him and and a solid kick to Shen's stomach. Caleb smoothly followed that up with an explosion that even made you wince. Never you would've thought Shen would be at such a disadvantage.

Will he get exorcised...?

You shook your head. No time to think about it now. You felt bad for leaving Shen in such a vulnerable state, but Cecil was your priority at the moment. You quickly told Amias to pull up the map and directed him where you needed to be. Amias worked swiftly and you grasped onto his hand when he was ready to teleport.

When Amias pressed the key to teleport, the last thing you saw was Shen's eyes wide in panic.



A/n: Shen fr experiencing emotions. Can't wait to make him suffer even more! :D (the other characters are also not safe)