SIS B5: Chapter 15: Full Sentences and Diplomatic

A/N: Sorry about missing the chaps last week. This is the chap for Saturday just passed, and I'll try to get another up for the 25th, Christmas.

***

Several minutes of silent walking through the football-field-sized courtyard of Castle Arundel passed.

Daz, Madison, and Alison, were free from ambushes or being disturbed in any way shape or form which struck Daz as odd. 'It seems they have no plans to stop me or to run. That begs the question why avoid me in the first place at all? If it's some stupid test then someone is getting the flat side of Hamson's blade right to the skull.'

He had no patience for nonsensical tests that ended up proving nothing of any significance in the end. Just like how his father's constant attempts to awaken his emotions during his childhood through hatred had failed miserably.

"Do you have any idea how skilled her mother is when it comes to Alteration?" Daz asked Alison to fill the silence.

"That's hard to answer," she said in an honest tone.

"How?" Madison questioned, chiming in despite the obvious discomfort she felt.

That filled Daz with a near-endless amount of pride, seeing his most cherished person trying her best to break past her anxiety.

[Ember of Love [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 70%.]

"Uh, well, I've seen her use Alteration a few times. Everyone in the family has, but I have no idea of the specifics. I don't even know if I should be telling you this or not," Alison admitted. "I mean, I don't know all that much about the ability beyond the basics since I wasn't born with it."

Daz shrugged. "As I said before, I'm pretty sure you're fucked. It's up to you though if you want to stay loyal to the McArthurs considering they used you as little more than a sacrificial lamb to us. I won't force you to tell me what you know since it isn't really critical information."

Madison suddenly stopped walking. "Daz."

"Hmm? Something wrong with what I said?" he asked as he turned to face her.

She shook her head then narrowed her eyes. She gestured with her hands in a circular motion. "All, around? Altered. Intent, keep, away. Not, hostile, still, careful. Will, counter, Alter."

Daz furrowed his brow. "I see. I'll leave it to you then."

Madison nodded with a determined look in her eyes. Daz then felt her internal energy gathering before she pushed in outwards in every direction.

She closed one eye as sweat began pouring out of her every pore. "Powerful. Mother, definitely. Maybe, combined, effort."

"The Alteration won't affect us with your efforts?" Daz asked quickly.

"Mmm, not, for, long, though. Running, out, energy," Madison explained.

Wasting no time, Daz got in front of Madison and crouched. Thankfully, she knew his intent and climbed on his back without him needing to explain himself.

He got up and ran to Alison's side before he grabbed the nape area of her dress shirt and jacket.

"Eh? W-What's going on?!" Alison exclaimed to which Daz ignored.

He then summoned Hamson and jumped atop the shovel as he controlled it. Like a bullet, he flew through the air with Madison on his back. All the while, Alison flailed around wildly like a cat which desperate didn't want to be held.

'Despite being held like one, you sure as hell aren't going limp like a cat would when held by the neck,' Daz complained internally.

Regardless, in mere seconds he had arrived at his destination without dropping the extra McArthur luggage. He dropped her and she unflatteringly fell onto her face.

'Didn't land on your feet either,' he noted when he felt Madison wrapping her legs around his waist.

"Few, more, seconds. Getting, stronger," Madison weakly whispered into her ear.

He nodded and jumped off of Hamson. He then used the godly weapon to cut the ornate and likely ancient door in front of them into ribbons.

Walking in with confidence and just a smidge of anger, he said to the room full of people, "Stop using Alteration now or heads start rolling. I've had more than enough of your delaying tactics already, High Queen."

The light from the mid-afternoon sun shined through the beautifully hand-carved stained glass windows. Candles dotted the open chamber that had recently been cleared of its altar and the pews that had no doubt lived in this room for decades, if not centuries.

Illuminated by the multicoloured reflected sunlight were dozens upon dozens of formally dressed individuals, both young and old, male and female, tall and small, all concentrating deeply.

At their centre could be seen a woman with a striking resemblance to Madison. Standing at her side was a young man maybe a couple of years Daz's senior but infinitely more handsome.

The man looked emotionless but the woman, on the other hand, wore a smile on her face. "High Queen is much too formal. Please, Mother-in-law would suffice."

Daz watched carefully while she raised a hand and waved at the other people in the room, presumable to signal them.

'Hopefully to stop using their power,' Daz thought.

The mass focus seemed to come to a gradual halt and the dense internal energy flowing through the room also receded.

Madison exhaled deeply and tapped his shoulder. He nodded and crouched, letting her get off of his back.

"What just happened...?" Alison's groggy voice questioned as she stumbled through the ruined doorway only to freeze up. "L-Lady McArthur... I... Uh, I can explain!"

The woman looked past Alison as if she weren't there, instead casting her gaze upon the destroyed door. "Such a waste."

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Like lightning, the door seemed to travel through time as it fixed itself, returning to the pristine condition it was in just before Daz had destroyed it.

With a warm smile, the High Queen said, "Perfect. Son-in-law, you really should be more careful with antiques. They can be fragile."

"Just like my patience. Why the mind games? Explain," Daz demanded.

A silence befell the room until Madison's mother looked at her one and only daughter. "Why, how you've grown. Almost no training and yet you're already at level three? Mummy's very impressed with you, darling. Why don't you come over here and let me get a bet-"

She flicked her fingers to the side slightly and Hamson - which was flying right for her head - moved just ever so slightly, instead going straight into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Well, that was rude," she exclaimed.

Daz controlled Hamson to return to his side. At the same time, she snapped her fingers again and the new slice in the wall disappeared.

"So is a mother expecting her daughter to forget being abused and to just brush such an important matter under the rug. Is that what you want to get into right now? The family issues before the royal ones? Fine, let's leave the political mess for later. You wanna talk about your relationship with Maddy? Let's talk about how you're a shit mother and why you think that should just be forgotten," Daz demanded coldly.

"I-It, okay..." Madison squeaked out.

She was trembling and her eyes refused to move from the floor where she couldn't see anything. Daz felt his heart aching seeing her acting like this.

[Ember of Love [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 71%.]
[Ember of Love [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 72%.]

"No, no, I should address it," Madison's mother said, surprising both of them. "While a bit rough around the edges, my future son-in-law makes a valid point."

Daz controlled Hamson so that he could sit on its blade while it floated just behind him. Folding his left leg over his right then crossing his arms over his chest, he raised an eyebrow.

"This should be good. Go ahead and explain to us why child abuse is suddenly okay just because you have superpowers. I wonder if your explanation will be any better than my father's was?" he asked with a slight shake of his head.

"Had I not been cruel to her, had I not made her fear me and resent me, she likely would have died, I'm afraid. What I did shouldn't have been done by any mother, but in the name of saving her life? I don't think it was wrong," the high queen claimed.

Daz frowned. 'She isn't lying, but that doesn't mean there aren't cracks to chip at.'

"Define 'saving her life'. In what context? Don't go telling me her powers would have killed her. We all know she isn't me. She is perfectly normal with one power and one bloodline, not three and two respectively," Daz pointed out.

His body shutting down his emotions to save himself as a child likely wasn't a secret to the top-ranking espers. Neither was the fact such a thing should be impossible. It was a miracle for Daz, everyone knew that.

He wouldn't accept some weak response to his probing here. 'Just try to deflect or deny me of an answer.'

"Daz..." Madison mumbled.

He simply reached over and squeezed her hand. He gave her a reassuring look as if to say 'everything's okay'. And truly, it was. He wouldn't allow anything contrary to that.

With his defacto immortality and with Mr Barrier present, no harm would be coming to his fiancée today. Of that, he would make sure.

"It brings me so much joy to see that you've opened your heart to her. As a mother, I couldn't be more proud," High Queen McArthur stated. "What woman doesn't want to be loved by a caring man?"

'My sister,' Daz snorted mentally as he turned back to face her. "And you also haven't answered my questions. With no more side-stepping; what did you mean by you were saving her life? Why did you delay meeting us as much as you could?"

"Hamilios are never this blunt from the family's recorded history," Madison's mother sighed. "You truly are very unique."

"I'm not a Hamilio so that hardly has anything to do with me. Final warning," Daz said as he stood up and raised Hamson next to him into an offensive position.

The room seemed to tense up though the woman at its centre was just as calm as when they had first entered the holy room.

"... Do you think she would have survived in the world of espers with a heart as kind and compassionate as hers? A hard and unforgiving upbringing was all I and her father could think of to keep her safe. Her somehow winning you over was a stroke of good fortune. Or perhaps she altered her surroundings to make that happen? I don't know, but it kept her safe. Our power is very desired, I'm sure you understand. We can make millionaires overnight, and just as quickly, can we ruin a man," she explained.

"... There's no way that's true. You're altering my ability to detect lies somehow, aren't you? Maddy, that's possible, isn't it?" Daz asked the woman by his side who was slowly gaining some confidence in the situation.

Madison narrowed her eyes. "Can, feel, it. Hard, to, see. She, Altering, you, system." She then nodded her head slightly. "Didn't, notice, before. Sorry. Can't, alter, people. Skills? System, stuff? Can. Take, focus, but, can. Will, notice, if, done, again."

Madison slowly lifted her eyes from the floor and glanced at who Daz could only assume was her elder brother, Christopher.

The man seemed to wither upon meeting her eyes, quickly choosing to break contact and look elsewhere.

Daz could see some pain flash through Madison's eyes at that but he then saw her move to lock her gaze onto her mother's eyes.

"You, abused, me. Hurt, me. Only, child. Toddler. Unacceptable. Daz's, father, do, similar, to, him. Just, as, wrong. No, reason, justifies, hurting, young. Now, you, try, manipulate, him? Man, I, love? Unforgivable." Madison took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then reopened them with a newfound resolve.

"I hate you," she said as clearly as any other person might.

Daz's heart damn near stopped then and there. 'That's... that's the first time I've ever heard her say a sentence clearly.'

She didn't stop at just the one either. Stepping forward with pride in her chest and a roaring fire in her spirit, Madison spoke.

"You berated me for speaking too much. I still remember. Daz chose Aila, not me. You were so angry at my return... you hit me and treated me like trash. A disposable tool to be used for your gain... For the family's gain," Madison declared, her words growing louder as she voiced each new one.

Not a soul moved in the room but Daz saw the young man by the high queen's side begin to cry softly. Why, he didn't know. Madison's mother still wore the same friendly smile without any changes on it whatsoever.

"Well... Well fuck the family!" Madison swore, another foreign thing for her to do. "I'm not a McArthur anymore! I'm just Madison! And I'll stay as 'just Madison' until the day I become Daz's wife!"

[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 73%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 74%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 75%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 76%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 77%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 78%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 79%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 80%.]

The messages just keep coming and coming, Daz feeling a flood of emotions overwhelm him, all positive in nature. He quickly got to the final message as he didn't want to be distracted during such a pivotal moment of growth for the woman he loved so dearly.

[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (middle mastery)] has increased to 100%.]
[Ember of Empathy [Entry-level (final mastery)] has increased to 1%.]

The slowly mounting silence was broken in the chapel as Madison's mother clapped once and then kept her palms pressed together.

"How lovely. You've broken out of that childish speech impediment of yours. I'm so proud," she said with the sort of pride a parent spoke with when praising their child's objectively terrible art project before sticking it on the fridge or a shelf.

What followed could only be described as a bit of a diplomatic incident.