Scarlet

Yeah, they’re definitely a team.

Unless they’re all just close friends wearing matching outfits. Or rather, matching armor. All magi-tech by the looks of it, and all black for some reason.

Not that I’m complaining. Black is a wonderful color after all.

Anyways, their armor is the typical black magi-tech armor created by Silver Works, with black armor and a different colored core embedded in the chest plates of each of their armor. The big guy with incredibly dark eyes and a darker toned skin than the others has a black core, while the rather petite girl with pinkish-white hair has a white core, the man who looks to be about the same age – mid-twenties ish – as the pink haired one has full on red hair that appears to be letting out tiny sparks of flame and has a red core, and the last one has black hair with violet highlights and a violet core. They’re also quite androgynous, making it hard to tell if they’re a guy or a girl.

Guess it doesn’t really matter though.

“Talking about someone behind their back isn’t the best way to make a first impression,” I tell them bluntly while scowling, surprising every last one of them but the pink haired one. “If you’re here to check on me or something, don’t bother. Just go help Sylver upstairs.”

They stare at me – with the exception again of the pink haired girl who just stays silent – for who knows how long in stunned silence. Eventually though, I get bored of waiting and begin walking towards them, hoping to pass them by and enter the stairs.

But I guess it was too much to ask.

“Wait!” the large guy shouts right when I’m about to pass by them. “How are you able to- OOF!” he bends over and begins coughing when the guy with red hair elbows him in the gut. That very guy then bows his head towards me and says, “We apologize for our rudeness. Please forgive us.”

I raise an eyebrow, turning my gaze between the others to find the pink haired girl still seemingly uncaring of it all – likely because she wasn’t actually rude to me – and the purple cored one just standing with their hands linked behind their head. But after a second they do give me a nod, so I’ll take what I can get.

“Alright,” I state while turning my attention back to the redhead. “You three are forgiven.”

He nods his head, only to pause for a second as he likely notices that I said three and not four.

“In all honesty, I don’t really care much about what you say to me,” I state while looking at the guy who is getting back to his feet while holding his stomach with a frown. “But I’d prefer it if you said it to my face.” His frown grows even deeper and he begins to open his mouth to speak, but I cut him off again as I turn to the redhead and add, “I won’t let it create any problems between us though.”

After a second of silence, I glance at the pink haired one to ask, “By the way, what’s this ‘young miss’ thing about anyways?”

She looks surprised for a second before shrugging and answering, “You’re the boss’s daughter, so I think it’d be self-explanatory.”

This time both my eyebrow and my ear twitches.

“I’m not his daughter,” I tell her with a frown, making her raise a brow.

“I thought you weren’t going to say that anymore?” Tar questions.

Correcting someone who is saying it despite me saying he’s not my father is different from correcting someone who is saying it without me having said it before. So everyone deserves being told it once, and if they don’t listen after that? There’s no point in repeating myself.

Of course, the woman doesn’t listen to me as she says, “Well, young miss, we were going to leave Zachary here to stay with you,” she pauses as she indicates the big guy who grimaces at the same time, “but I see that that’s probably not a good idea. So what about you, Alex?” she turns to look at the androgynous Guardian who apparently has an equally androgynous name.

Alex nods their head and turns to look at me with a grin.

Why do I feel like I’m being stared at by a predator of some sort?

“Oh, right, we forgot,” the redhead suddenly says in the silence that follows the pink haired one’s statement. “My name is Leon Ledger. The one with the pink hair is Bridget Harwood, the big guy is Zachary Harris, and the last one – who is a girl by the way – is Alex Barker. And our team is called Team Obsidian.”

Called it. They are in a team.

I glance at Alex for a second.

Also, turns out they are a girl.

She grins at me, sending a shiver down my spine before I focus on Leon again – the most sane one of the group judging by first impressions.

I’m almost tempted to just go off on my own and ditch her, telling the others that I don’t need someone to be with me here. But considering what I’ve seen of this Alex girl, I get the feeling it would just make her excited about chasing me instead or something like that. Which is even creepier.

Seriously though. What’s up with this team?

I should ask Allen about them later.

That aside though, I turn to narrow my eyes at the girl, creepy or not, as I warn her, “Don’t steal my EXP.”

She just laughs.

Of course, she does.

I turn around and begin walking up the stairs, ignoring them as I reach the twenty-fourth floor and begin walking into the hallway, briefly noticing the very light footsteps behind me but nothing else. When I glance back, I just find Alex following me with a few meters in between us and her hands clasped behind her head with a wide grin still on her face.

Certainly carefree about being in a Fracture.

Also very quiet, even with my hearing being as good as it is. Makes me wonder if she specializes in stealth or something.

Regardless though, I turn around and begin hunting demons on this floor, now with a babysitter who looks to be the same age as me.