Glimpsing the Shroud - Part 2

In the chaos of their tumultuous arrival and the shock of what had happened to Farrah, John hadn't considered the exact place that they'd hurriedly left from. Nor had he considered how little time had passed from the moment they’d left. Rather than the quiet of a grassy field outside, John and Farrah arrived at the edge of the lounge, surrounded by the noise of early morning... and most noticeably, very excited kittens.

"He's back!"

"It's Papa!"

"That was so fast!"

"I told you we shouldn't have left for snacks!"

"Get-"

"Everyone, stop!"

For all their rambunctiousness, even the kittens seemed aware of the shift in John's demeanor. The six of them skittered to a halt, even Magnus, who had to do an awkward somersault to cancel out the momentum of what might've been a ferocious leap. John stayed in place all the same, his hand held out to the others, until Farrah's own gently slipped around his wrist and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"I-I-I'm fine," Farrah whispered, sounding anything but.

"The hell you are," John grumbled affectionately, turning his eyes back to Farrah. "Whatever that was, it definitely wasn't fine, and you don't need to pretend it was."

"Really. I'm... I'm good." Farrah went so far as to start pushing away from John, easing herself away from his chest and swaying as she tried to get her own feet underneath her crouched form. She gave him a smile that couldn't outshine the effort taken to conjure it. "That feeling is gone now. The kittens are okay. I’m okay."

"And do you have any idea what exactly ‘that feeling’ was in the first place?"

Farrah's fragile smile faded to dust, her eyes quivering back and forth, unable to find a safe place to rest. "I don't know. I've never felt anything like that before, John."

"You've felt some pretty bad emotions before. None of them have ever made you react the way you just did. I've seen you uncomfortable, maybe even distressed, but I've never seen you look terrified like that before, Farrah."

By this point, the others had come, some slowly, others faster. Sophia stood at the top of the stairs, blade in hand, clearly ready for some sort of attack. Maera and Mithra huddled with the kittens, whispering soft reassurances and mewling affectionately at the startled kittens trying to process the scene before them.

"I know." Farrah nodded softly, her eyes finally settling on an empty spot on the floor. "Like I said, this was different. I'm not sure what I was feeling. I'm not even sure if it was an emotion."

"Where was it coming from? You acted like it was everywhere, you said that I was the only thing you couldn't feel it from... but there weren't even that many people around us," John said gently.

"It wasn't just the people. It was in the air, the ground, the shed, it..." Farrah shuddered a little, some of her composure fading and her pupils dilating noticeably. She put a hand on the coffee table and went back down to her knees, seeming to find standing still a little beyond her capabilities. "It was everywhere around us, not just from the people. We were practically swimming in it, and it almost seemed to be pouring into my mind, no matter how hard I tried to keep it out. Like... like I was drowning in it."

Orria and Aclysia stood in the doorway to the kitchen, their eyes locked on John and the kneeling woman. Aclysia took a half-step forward, but Orria's hand on her chest brought her to a halt, and Aclysia seemed startled when she noticed what she was doing.

"You didn't have this problem before. Do you have any idea why that might be?" John hated prying into this, but the events of the last few minutes had rattled him, and he didn't like the idea of not knowing what might have caused Farrah so much distress. She seemed to sense his discomfort; she turned back to face John and comforted him with a slow caress of his cheek, another **** smile crossing her lips.

"I didn't learn how to sense feelings like this until I was already in your world. Maybe I was just... ignorant to it before?" she offered, fingers still drifting across his face.

"Perhaps some sort of enchantment, or other magical effect, on the Brighton Manor itself caused this?" Orria proposed. "I've never been to this place myself, but most of the others have. Even if we can't sense emotions the way you do, I can't imagine that so many of us could be completely immune to something that affected you so severely."

"Maybe." Farrah offered the word hesitantly, and clearly she didn't relish lingering on the feeling any further. "We were in a little shed, I couldn't really see what the outside looked like, but I could feel it everywhere, in every direction, as far as I can sense. And it didn't seem like it was weaker or stronger, just... everywhere. If I could've sensed where it was coming from, I probably would've run out the door and in the opposite direction."

"And how far can you normally sense emotions from?" John wasn't sure whether to be annoyed at Orria for pressing Farrah on the matter or grateful that he didn't need to do it himself.

"For something that strong?" Farrah asked, a note of fear underlying her words. "I guess I haven't really experimented very much with measurements. Maybe... from here, about twice as far as the place John makes his potions?"

John looked up at Orria and shook his head. He doubted that they were going to get their answers here. The alchemy lab was one of the furthest buildings from their home, very intentionally so. It wasn't a very long walk, but it was long enough that doubling it meant Farrah would've been feeling things from well beyond the Order's borders.

"Alright, enough of that," John cooed, stroking Farrah's cheek to ward away the painful memories. "You've been through a lot, we don't need to be making you go over it again and again."

"But if I can help stop anyone else from-"

"Farrah, if you think of anything that might be useful, you're more than welcome to tell me all about it tomorrow. Tomorrow," John emphasized, poking the tip of her nose with a finger to silence her reflexive disagreement. "For tonight... Aclysia, would you please help Farrah up to her room? And stay with her tonight. I don't want her on her own for a little while."

Farrah looked ready to object to defend her own independence, but she never got that far. John was already bringing her to her feet, supporting her weight with a cautious grip around her slender waist. When Aclysia slipped her left arm under Farrah's shoulders and carefully wrapped Farrah's right arm around the back of her neck, the brunette's complaints vanished immediately. Despite her reassurances that she was fine, John could see the way Farrah practically melted into Aclysia, the same quiet need for safety in her body language as he'd seen back in the garden shed.

"Forgive me, Farrah. I should not have informed you of..." John missed the rest of whatever Aclysia was murmuring to Farrah when the others approached, Sophia leading the way.

"Father, I did not wish to interrupt, but... what exactly happened?" Sophia asked, her stance askew, body half-turned toward Farrah and her eyes occasionally darting to watch the shaken woman ascend the stairs with the aid of her guardian. "We only arrived to you consoling her."

"You probably already know about as much as I do." The lack of information brought the same frown to John's face as it did Sophia's. "I'll run it back again anyway, just give me a moment."

With that, John moved to kneel down, putting himself closer to eye level with the kittens, most of whom were still frozen in place, save for the slightest of movements to gradually cuddle closer together with each other.

"Okay, it's alright now," John whispered, holding his arms out toward the startled teens. "Sorry, everyone. Farrah was just a little scared, I didn't want you to frighten her even more by jumping all over us."

"Papa, we're not scary!" Mika protested, mewling loudly as she and Miya were the first two to throw themselves into his embrace.

"You try to scare me all the time, you silly girl." John chuckled softly as he nuzzled his chin against the top of his affectionate daughter's head. The others followed closely behind the twins, soon jostling for position as each of them tried to get as deeply embedded in the group hug as they could manage.

"And it never works!"

"Papa, did something bad happen?" Midoriya asked worriedly, his emerald brows furrowed nearly as much as his father's were.

"Not that I know of. We're going to talk about it in a moment, but it's okay, I promise. Farrah just got a little spook, but she's okay now, you heard her yourself."

"Are we safe?" The question this time came from Magnus, who was holding himself more than any of the others, looking anxiously toward the staircase. "Is someone else hurting and scaring people out there? Was it Vallya?"

"Magnus, Vallya was here the whole time." John's eyes met those of his son warmly, though his voice held an almost chiding tone. "No, it wasn't her. She's been making great strides, I doubt she's a danger to anyone at this point."

"Easy for you to say..." Magnus either sensed John was being a bit overenthusiastic about her progress or else the teen boy simply didn't believe the word of his father on the matter. There was a deep scar beneath the pout he allowed himself as he tucked his chin and dove back into the pile, concealing himself within the flailing limbs of his siblings.

While John was debating on how to handle that matter on top of everything else, the faint sound of whirring reached his ears. Just a few moments later, the handle to the front door twisted open in an only slightly awkward manner, swinging wide to reveal one of Tricia's drones, already projecting a screen before itself that displayed a particularly worried looking Moira and Tricia.

"John, what in the Lady's name was all that about?" Moira said, just as loud over the drone's speaker system as she often was in person. "I've got garden staff thinking someone was being murdered in our tool shed. What the devil happened out there?!"

"Short story without a lot of answers, I'm afraid." John paused to give the others that had gathered around a quick nod of acknowledgment before he began the retelling.

Despite being alone with her in the shed for so long, there wasn't much John could really tell that the others hadn't pieced together. Moira had talked to those in the immediate area when John vanished, and the others had heard enough of John's little debriefing to piece the rest together. Still, he tried to organize things and describe the strange effects that had befallen Farrah as best as he could, emphasizing just how instantly she'd been overwhelmed, and how severe the effects had been.

"Do you think this could be some sort of effect brought on by your Purify ability?" Moira asked when he finished, the third guess thus far she'd thrown out. It was the third he had to shoot down as well, and with each explanation he gave as to why, her expression only grew more disturbed.

"It hasn't happened with anyone else, either at the Order Manor, or anywhere else. It could be specific to her, but then we'd have to explain why it's seemingly tied to these empath abilities of hers. Besides, if there was something about her that was so different from the others, or even from normal humans, Tricia should have picked up something on her scans."

"No significant results in either regard," Tricia confirmed, alternating her glance between the camera that was streaming the feed and one of her workstations. "According to my scans, Farrah is as human as any of us, despite the way she came to be. Even her magical signatures are more consistent with Abyssal human physiology than that of your other creations."

"And the scans you were able to get before John took her back home?" Moira pressed, arms folded over her chest. She had the look of a Warden, the presence of a potential threat bringing out her protective and more domineering side.

"I've compared the readings that I have of Farrah from previous scans and those that I was able to gather just now. Physiologically, she displayed significantly accelerated vital signs, a marked spike in neurotransmitter and hormonal activity, and other symptoms consistent with experiencing severe psychological distress. Speaking in terms of magical activity, her readings were all within normal parameters. Some minor fluctuations in the flow and resonance of her natural mana, but nothing that couldn't be explained by the acute trauma she seems to have experienced."

"Not even a trace of any spell, enchantment, anything that wasn't there before?" John didn't expect her to leave out such an important detail, but his drive to secure his home and his family wouldn't let him leave the question unspoken. "What about the work you've been doing with the mercenaries? No signs of any meddling from them, any enchantments weaved into the Order's barriers?"

"Nothing that I could detect." John frowned at the lack of resolution from Tricia's answer, but nodded his acceptance of it all the same.

"You're sure she never showed any signs of this before? Not the entire journey from the west coast?" Moira voiced the question in that prying tone she used when she thought she was being misled, but John saw the same look in her eyes that his own had held moments ago—the refusal to leave any stone unturned.

"No, quite the opposite. She was thrilled at every little thing, to the point we had to stop her from reading every sign we passed," John grumbled. "Believe me, if any of this were normal, I wouldn't have been so stricken by the sight of her like that. She's resilient enough to be almost startling at times... she took the truth of her own origins in stride as if it were nothing at all."

"You told her about how you made her?" Moira's eyes fluttered for a moment, torn between bursting open and twitching with that same frustration only he could gift her. "You told her that she used to be Arista?"

"I told her everything." John nodded without hesitation. "I told her the general story, the details of what happened that brought me to Purify Arista, and I've given her more details since then as she asked about them. I even did my best to explain who Arista was... what little I knew of it, anyway. She's been incredibly understanding of it all."

"I can't say that my own sympathies extend so far," Moira cried out, tone somewhere between a plea for help and an exasperated shout. "John, I admire you being so honest and forthcoming with her, but did you even have a plan for what to do if she didn't take it as well as she has?"

"No, not really." John at least had the decency to look abashed as the Warden's gaze shot to the heavens, as if hoping the Lady herself would reach down to smite some sense into him.

"I shouldn't be surprised, but Lady help me, I am."

"I mean, no matter what I did, she wasn't going to end up worse off than if I'd never Purified her to begin with!" John protested. "Worst case, we were right back where we started—with her trying to kill me, where the options were leaving her to rot in the Order's dungeon or killing her myself. I told you, I wanted to give her a fresh start. It wouldn't have been fair to hide all that from her. Can't imagine what she'd think if she found out now. Or a year from now. Or-"

"I... agree," Moira said reluctantly, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Or at the very least, I can't fault you for being more chivalrous than pragmatic. Back to the matter at hand, though, you should bring her back again, John. Back to Springfield, I mean—but outside the Manor this time, far away from it. She might be able to tell us more accurately just what it is that she's feeling. At the very least, it'll let us know if we need to do a more thorough inspection of the area surrounding the Manor."

"No." John's answer was already decided before Moira had even finished speaking; only politeness delayed him. "Absolutely not. Farrah did her best to put on a smile for me there at the end, but she's still incredibly shaken up by what just happened. I'm not bringing her back there. Even if we prepared a sedative, or one of Tricia's suits. I just-"

John's spine trembled as he recalled the horror in Farrah's voice, the first time he'd ever heard her so deeply distraught. Even witnessing Vallya's treatment of Magnus hadn't left her quite that disturbed.

"I'm not making her go through that again. Maybe if I get World Shift's cooldown to a minute or less, but it was all I could do to drown out the background noise so that she didn't have a full-on meltdown."

"I did want to ask you about that matter. While Farrah's readings were nothing unusual, yours were another matter. John, did you-"

"Is he in any danger?" Moira cut in, her eyes pivoting to Tricia in an instant. "Was something affecting John?"

"No, no danger," Tricia clarified. "I believe it is related to the Shard of Bishamonten in his body. It was behaving in a highly unusual manner, inconsistent with both its usual state during activation and its passive state."

"New technique. Well, not really a technique," John quickly corrected, "I thought it might be a way to empower the Shard, but all it really does is give me an adrenaline rush. It's nothing more than combat usually does for me, so I haven't had reason to use it yet. It seems to have a strong effect on how my emotions feel to other people, though, going by what Aria and Farrah said. I tried to get Farrah to focus on me, but she couldn't drown out the noise of whatever she was feeling until I did that."

"This Aria, she can sense emotions as well?"

John realized his error the moment the name left Moira's lips. "Ah, well, sort of. Mostly just mine, I think? At least, that's all that she's mentioned; I don't think it's widespread like Farrah's."

"Hm? Oh, I can sense most people's emotions if I'm close enough!"

"Shit."

"It's just that I can sense yours from pretty much anywhere, Master," Aria elaborated. "Well, except when you go back to that other world. I can still feel you, just... not very well."

John reflexively reached for the drone as its rotors whirred, but it was a half-hearted effort, and he just missed catching it before it swung around. Aria was standing near the bottom of the stairs, casually leaning over the railing. When she saw Moira and Tricia staring at her on the screen she gave a happy little wave and her widest smile.

"Hi there! Are you two friends of Master? Ooh, I bet one of you made these neat little flying drones, right? That suit looks super high-tech, must be the blonde one, right? I'm Aria! Nice to meet you."

John hastily moved over in front of the drone, leaning into frame in time to catch Moira shooting Tricia a disbelieving look.

"So, err, that's Aria. Newest addition to our little family here," John began awkwardly, making a poor attempt at being inconspicuous as he slid himself in front of the drone's frontal camera, as though Aria's horns weren't one of the first things anyone would notice about her. "Purified her a few days ago. Been a real bundle of joy to have around."

"I see," Moira said evenly, her eyes still locked on Tricia. Her jaw was clenched as she continued, and there was a blazing intensity in her eyes that John hadn’t seen in a very long time. "Aria, would you be willing to help us investigate that matter?"

"Mmm, it's up to Master." Aria had stalked up behind John while he was busy trying not to wince with every word Moira spoke. She leaned over his shoulder as she answered the Warden, smiling brightly the whole while. "What do you say, Master? Would it make you happy for me to help your friends?"

"I…"

"Yes, John. I think I'd like to meet this one," Moira interjected as he hesitated. John had to fight not to visibly cringe as he responded.

"I'm not sure that-"

"The manor must be completely secured if our plans for the future are to continue, John."

This time there was no hiding the way he flinched at the choice of words, nor the tone they were delivered in. He considered denying the request outright, but the damage was already done. Hiding Aria away was only going to drive a wedge between Moira and the rest of them. It wasn’t as if he had actually done anything wrong anyway, it just… wasn’t the best look, as far as creations went.

"...Alright. I’ll discuss it with Aria quickly. In private,” John emphasized. “If we think it’s something she might be able to help investigate, we'll be back in a few minutes, Moira."