He snarled as he pressed on. Yet something was off. The more he fought demons and monsters the angrier he got. He couldn’t tell if it was the endless fighting or the voices he heard. He knew it was theirs. Father’s and Cruella’s. No matter how many lives he claimed or how high he could see his rank reaching, it was never enough. They were berating him, yelling at him. The thoughts blurred his vision. He could feel the demon residing inside of him come out. Claws replaced his hands, his weapon dropped to the floor. As the scenery all but turned to black, he’d seen a girl with strawberry red hair and ruby red eyes staring back at him. As if she whispered to him “enough”. By the time the sirens rang, warning of the end of the trial, the battlefield had ended up a bodily field of corpses.

People were shocked, amazed, and terrified. Ken was the only person who cheered him on. Alexis was fuming as the others had joined the crowd in their mixture of feelings. Even Karin was a tad bit thrown off. Lee glanced at his score and saw what he ranked, he had mix feelings. He could still hear those voices echoing in his head.

He accomplished tying in first place with Alexis, but still felt like it wasn’t enough. He’s still not enough.

Ken: What’s the matter?

Ken came up to him after the trial, in the medical tent. The nurses assigned that day were checking him out for a little too long.

Lee: I should’ve been able to take first place, not tie into it.
Ken: Oh, come on, mate! You made it into the top 5! Cheer up.
Lee: For all that damage? It really doesn’t feel like I did good enough.

The nurses left as soon as they saw an annoyed Alexis stomp on in.

Alexis: WHAT!? Not good enough!? You rotten prick you did wanna steal my spot.
Ken: To be fair, you surprised us all when you basically made the ranks a while back. No wonder someone with a cursed, demonic soul, would’ve almost topped you.
Alexis: You wanna say what you’re trynna say, punk?
Ken: Yeah, you’re literally the human form of a demon.

Ken laughed as Alexis tried to punch him. Lee completely ignored the antics going on.

Lee: Yeah, the keyword being almost. I didn’t even place on a rank, I just tied with someone else.
Alexis: Oh my fucking god, just take the fucking compliment and the fact that you are in the top 5. You know what that means?
Ken: Big money quests and mad respect all around.
Lee: Still, what stopped me?
Alexis: You kinda just stopped yourself.
Ken: Yeah, none of us could figure out why you sorta just stopped there. Kingdra just felt that with the carnage all around, you had proven yourself.
Lee: Wait so there wasn’t a girl on the field?
Ken: No?
Alexis: What girl would be there in all that carnage?

Alexis hung her arm around a solemn Lee.

Alexis: Listen, you’re getting off track. Point is, you don’t have to be perfect, you made it. That’s good enough.

Lee sighed loudly.

Lee: Alright, now what?
Ken: Now, we celebrate.

Alexis: You guys really don’t want girls around huh?
Ben: It’s not that at all!
Terra: Uh-huh, sureee.
Ken: Look, it’ll give us sometime to connect with Lee.
Karin: Are you sure you’ll be alright?

Lee gave an awkward smile as Danny agreed for him. Lee wanted to try what he could to be a better brother. One who didn’t make his younger sister worry so much about him. He knew she tried so much more than ever to maintain some form of normalcy. He knew she tried more than he did to maintain their relationship. And now that the house he had purchased felt too big for just the two of them was now filled with the friends they made, he needed to put effort in. He couldn’t bare losing the only family he had left. He wanted to respect what she wanted. He wanted to still feel like he had a relationship with his sister. So, regardless of how he felt of the other guys around, he reluctantly accepted going. They took off through the portals all around the offices of the Dragon’s Nest, off to a place where there was no magic, no powers, yet somehow someone was born with the ability to intrude into people’s minds.

As they stepped through the portal, they found themselves on the dirty streets of a major city. Lights went dim as dawn was approaching. As soon as they arrived, Ken gave Lee his official Corp’s smart phone. He called it Yuni as every now and then it produces a female-like voice.

Lee: Does it really work in every world?
Ken: Most worlds. It’s only the one’s that have satellites. We use this as our primary form of communication with each other. The only thing that works on each and every world is a particular magic someone had installed as an app on the phones. It’s what allows us to portal in and out of other worlds back to home base.
Lee: So, what about the worlds where there aren’t satellites?
Ken: Only very skilled operatives go there. But the Portal app still works, just contacting people is a pain. Most anyone can do is send an SOS signal and that’s about it. But that’s if it’s you that time will rarely come.
Lee: You seem to have way too much faith in me.

Ken laughed as Lee shook his head. Ken furthered explained that the smartphone was used to find anomalies in a twenty-mile area. They split off into groups of two. Ben and Ken decided to cover the areas in the Northern region while Danny and Lee covered the areas in the Southern region. Awkward wasn’t something the situation could be described as. Lee scanned around the area while Danny’s heart race increased every minute he was with Lee. Every time Lee asked Danny a question, Danny’s response was filled with panic. As if he was afraid if his answer was wrong, he’d anger Lee.

Lee sighed.

Lee: Dude, are you alright?
Danny: Y-yeah. Why do you ask?
Lee: Well, it feels like you’re super afraid to even be near me.
Danny: Whaaat? N-n-no. What m-makes you th-think that?
Lee: Well, for starters, you’re walking ten paces behind me. And I don’t know if I’ve gained super hearing as well but, I can hear your heart rate beating like crazy.

Danny fiddled with his fingers, trying to come up with a response. Lee sighed once more, then stopped in his place.

Lee: Listen, just tell me what’s on your mind. Seems like you wanna tell me anyway.
Danny: A-alright look. I wanna ask you something but I hardly know you well enough to even begin asking something like this.
Lee: Just ask.
Danny: Y-you know we’re all moved in, right??
Lee: Yeah.
Danny: Well, Karin wanted me to move into her room. And, I wanted to ask you if it was alright if I can go steady with her with the hopes of someday marrying her.

Lee had a shocked look on his face. How long have they been living in Eiridelium and how often were the two of them talking with each other? Hanging around with each other? How much did I miss from her life?

Lee: Wh-why are you asking me? Does it really matter if I say yes or no?
Danny: Well, she talks a lot about you. You’re her only family left and I just, I just wanted to get your blessing. It’d mean a lot to her. A-And me too!

Lee chuckled a bit at that. A blessing? Really? From her older brother? But I guess since their dad isn’t around that isn’t too far off from what she’d really want.

Lee: Look, man. I don’t even know if I’m qualified for that right now. I haven’t been present in her life. Not when we were living in that world and not even now. I hardly think she really needs my permission, let alone my blessing for you two to date.
Danny: She really does want it you know. She wants a relationship with you, and she wants you to be okay with this. She…she doesn’t want to feel like she’s leaving you behind or alone or anything. I just know it’ll mean a whole lot to her if you’re okay with this.

Lee pondered it a bit.

Lee: I want to support her in everyway possible. Be a better brother than what I was before. If it makes her happy, all I hope is that you treat her better than anyone else ever did.

Danny leapt in joy and jumped towards Lee, hugging him tightly.

Danny: Thank you thank you thank you!! And don’t worry. She’s in the best of care. And I don’t ever want to come between the two of you. You’re still her brother. No matter what.
Lee: Yeah, some brother I am. All I do is worry her and make her feel bad.
Danny: You know, you encouraged her to be a medic. When she found out she had healing abilities, she took a bunch of courses to become a staff at the Phoenix hospital. She says it felt like her calling considering all the times she’s helped patch you up when you would show up to her room covered in bruises and scars.
Lee: Ahh, so she’s probably told you about all the fights I’ve been in.
Danny: Yeah, she’s joked about how she was going to run out of supplies within a week because you’d get your ass kicked every day.
Lee: Oh! So, she’s got a sense of humor! I’ll have you know 90% of the times I won the fight.
Danny: Haha, I believe it. The way you handled yourself back there at the Dome, you seem to be the kind of person who doesn’t lose in fights that often.
Lee: Only when I’m too confident in myself.

They both started to joke with each other. Coming up with quips and the likes.

Danny: You’re not so bad.
Lee: Yeah. Sorry about that. I…it’s hard for me to let people in. Most people just want me for my status or what I can do for them and when I can’t do anything for them, they or I’m not what they were looking for, they end up ditching me.
Danny: Well, if it makes you feel any better, the only thing I want from you is to be your friend.
Lee: I’d like that.

As they wandered around the city, their smart phones started buzzing as an anomaly was coming inching closer and closer to them. They started to become more alert, watching every corner, scanning every street. Passing through the masses of civilians, Lee spotted something unusual. He signaled to Danny that he was pursuing the unusual being. He walked into a store where he had first noted it and saw her. A fairly tan skinned woman with dirty blonde hair pulled into a ponytail and small beauty marks on her cheeks. She looked to be about 5’4” and had amber eyes. She was…breath taking to him. Her eyes met his as he awkwardly stared at her.

Her: May I help you?
Lee: Ah uhm no. Sorry.

She shrugged and started minding her own business. He noticed that the app on the smartphone buzzed like crazy around her. She was startled by it as she stared at him.

Lee: I think you’re someone I’m looking for.

Her eyes widened in panic. She cautiously stepped away from him.

Her: Wh-who are you?
Lee: My name’s Lee. And I-I’m here to take you home.
Her: Well. This is my home and you can’t take me anywhere. That’s basically kidnapping.
Lee: Look, you don’t really belong here. I’m here to take you -
Her: Get away from me, you freak!

A crowd gathered around with Danny in it. They were cautious of Lee, attempting to ensure the safety of the girl. When she spotted Danny, she begged for him.

Her: Please help me, this psycho is chasing after me.

Danny gave her a puzzled look. He looked at Lee then back at the girl.

Danny: K-Karin?
Lee: What are you talking about? That girl isn’t Karin.
Danny: Dude, can’t you tell it’s your sister.

She gave a sinister look as her illusion had worked.

Her: Please, please, my brother is acting super weird right now. He’s saying really fucking creepy things to me.

Danny looked around and saw the crowd whispering to each other.

Danny: H-how about we go somewhere else then, dear? I’ll take you away from him right now.
Her: Sounds like a good idea.

Danny signaled Lee to follow him, but at a safe distance. Something was off. Deep down, Danny knew that this wasn’t Karin but somehow doubted himself. He took the girl by her hand and started leading her to a more private area. Lee silently followed along. As they got to a secluded park where no one was around, he then placed his hands on her shoulders.

Danny: Who are you really?
Her: I-it’s me. Karin.
Danny: Sorry to say but your illusions don’t really work if you don’t know the person. Karin never swears. Not once. Trust me, I’ve tried getting her to swear, literally impossible.
Her: I-um-I…h-how did you know?

Danny smiled. In a blink of an eye, his eye colors changed from his viridian green to a dragon’s eye; golden yellow with a black line striking through.