With Luna and Uriel gone, all dusa wanted to do was to spend the day inside the workshop. All she could think of these days was to remain shut inside four walls and as far away from other people since she still couldn't control her trait.
But the possibility of hurting innocent people wasn't the only reason she wanted to be alone, she wanted privacy to silently cry the passing of Nika without anyone noticing.
No matter what Uriel said, dusa still believed Nika was actually dead and she felt a part of her soul dying every ti she had to pretend everything was fine. It got to a point where even inventing new gadgets didn't bring her much joy and she only used it as an excuse to distance herself from her friends.
At least while she was working she didn't need to wear that blindfold since no one was supposed to interrupt her while working.
"May I co in?" A fresh voice ca from the outside of the workshop, one that dusa knew to belong to Kalos. He was quite popular back in college because his family owned the Dolminico's restaurant, but dusa knew him because he was also his classmate.
"Wait, please." dusa said as she stopped working and put on the blindfold.
"I brought you food." Said Kalos after placing a surprisingly delicious looking dish in the ssy table, but dusa couldn't see it.
"Thank you, is that all?"
"I actually ca here to apologize, last ti we spoke..."
"It's all in the past." dusa shortly replied. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate him apologizing for how aggressively he flirted with her on Fermi's class, but she was used to people acting like that. Besides, it seed like it happened in the distant past or maybe in another life. Things were so different now it was hard for dusa to care about anything other than her secret remorse.
"I was hoping to see Professor Fermi around..." Kalos, of course, was lying.
"He has his own workshop now, I can't work with other people with my... special circumstances." dusa replied, sowhat expecting Kalos to flirt with her, but instead he seed curious.
"About that, if your company doesn't have enough serum to help you heal, I can go back to my island and bring you so back."
"I'm not wounded, It's my trait... I can't control it." dusa answered trying to sound dismissive, but the pain could be heard in her voice and Kalos didn't miss it.
"I see, I rember you used to co to class wearing an iron mask. It was... very eye catching." Kalos chuckled.
"Don't act like you weren't staring at my chest, you couldn't see my face but I could see you."
"You caught , but... can't you do sothing like that now?" Kalos insisted trying to redirect the conversation.
"Not really, I tried doing the sa, but unless my eyes are closed flux just keeps coming out of my eyes. It's like a dam breaking I can't... I can't..." dusa's blindfold contained her tears, getting soaked in the process.
"What about training?"
"Look, I know you're trying to be helpful, but if I'm still wearing this thing is not because I think it looks good on ."
"I'm just asking because my sister went through sothing similar when she acquired her trait. Everywhere she went plants grew out of control and we had to seal her trait, just like you did. With ti and enough training, her trait beca more manageable and now she can control it almost to perfection.
Her problem was that her body stored way more energy than she could control and also that plants were everywhere..."
"I didn't think other people had my sa issue." dusa muttered to herself.
"Why don't you let help you, perhaps we can find a solution to your problem together. After all, we used to be classmates."
"I'm not sure if..."
"I was told not to disclose who it is, but there's soone you know back on our island and I'm sure you want to et with him." Kalos said with enough confidence to make it believable.
"I still can't go without my friends." Said dusa, as a new spark of hope was lit within her heart.
"Sure, we can wait, but why don't we go now? I an, wouldn't recovering your sight make a lovely surprise for them?"
"Fine, let's go... just let finish lunch and let's be on our way?"
"Oh! This!? I just made this using military rations and a few spices, just wait and see the kind of food I'll prepare for you back on my restaurant." Kalos said as he dropped the plate on the trash.
"You have a working restaurant!? But that ans you have a food source!" dusa gasped.
"Of course we do, we're all cooks after all. There's always so ingredients if you know where to look." A dark grin appeared on his face as he guided dusa outside the camp. Oddly enough, the Masons didn't charge them a toll for passage on the islands they crossed towards the Dolminico island, but dusa didn't think much of it as she rarely went out.
Besides, she was too busy thinking on how everything would return to normal once she recovered her sight and even how she might be able to fix things with her friends. After being offered the chance to go back to her life, she even felt bad for thinking so low of Kalos who turned out to be way more kind and friendly than she expected him to be.
"Who's your guest?" Asked a deep voice.
"This is the girl I told you about, father."
"It's so nice to finally et you, my boy never stopped speaking about you. I'm Alessandro."
"Likewise, I'm..." dusa was just about to introduce herself, a bit disappointed that the person who Kalos wanted her to et wasn't who she expected.
"We know exactly who you are, Miss Winona, Winona Works."
"I-" dusa's face paled and she couldn't think of what to say, but the following words the man spoke reassured her.
"Don't worry Miss dusa, your secret is safe with us."
With that, Alessandro Dolminico asked a woman to lead dusa to a table where the sll of freshly cooked food reached her and a familiar voice greeted her.
While the Dungeon Raiders possessed one of the largest food supplies on the dungeon, they lacked anyone with the ability to prepare fancy als. Still, even after the horrors she witnessed on the factory, dusa still found herself longing for a good ol' cup of cheeky chicken. However, those thoughts vanished as soon as she recognized a voice amidst the crowd.
"Hey! Winnie! It's been a long ti!" Jon, or rather, what remained of him spoke cheerily in spite of his grievous wounds. In a sense, it was fortunate dusa didn't see him, as he was so battered and maid it would have given her nightmares.
"Uncle Jon, is it really you!?" dusa cried as she threw herself at full speed at the direction of the voice expecting the man to catch her like he always did. What happened instead was Jon yelping in pain while awkwardly holding her with a single arm as they fell to the ground.
"I just need so ti to help, that's all," The man apologized, but then his voice beca serious. "We need to talk."
***
"Miss dusa, are you there?" Longlegs knocked on dusa's workshop with the intention to invite her to a sparring match. She heard from Amy that dusa was also a martial artist and she was in dire need of soone to practice with.
"Geez! Show so familiarity, you can't keep calling her miss all the ti." Amy scolded scolded jokingly.
"I refuse to address a heavenly rank hunter who also happens to be one of the founding mbers of the company I work for without the proper respect. Perhaps you should revise your careless behavior." Longlegs returned a scolding glare, one that Amy was already accustod to.
"dusa, I'll be out on a date with Uriel." Amy shouted before giggling like a kid, but when she didn't get the answer she was expecting knocked on the door again and called for her again. "dusa?"
Amy waited for an answer for a few seconds, but when dusa failed to reply she forced the door open at the sa ti she activated her trait expecting trouble, though she was t with an empty workshop.
"Like she would believe you and the boss would ever date." Longlegs scoffed.
"It's happened before. What can I say? He and I are quite close." Amy held herself in a hug while moving the tip of her feline like tail hinting that sothing else happened between them just to ss with Longlegs, but she didn't pick on the joke and a scowl ford in her face.
"Sothing's wrong, Miss dusa should be here."
"Huh?" Amy didn't share Longlegs worries, but that changed when she morphed her olfactory organ and picked up on a strange scent that ca directly from the trash can where the untouched al remained. "This slls like dicine..."
"Where's our guest!? Where's the Dolminico kid? I swear to the flag, if he did sothing weird to her..." Longlegs threatened, to which Amy replied by exiting the workshop trying to pick up the scent.
"This is bad." Amy said, though not because she found the scent trail she was looking for, but because her cat like eyes allowed her to notice the island was surrounded by hunters and had taken control of all the bridges connecting them to other islands.
"What should we do? The bosses aren't here..." Longlegs muttered, then a neon brightness ca from behind her.
"Everyone to their posts, our priority is to protect our food supplies." Phlox commanded as she fired up a flare that she hoped was seen by allies.
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