JACE

The next morning, Clattonia and I board the train to Tokyo in order to visit Aeryn and pick up everyone's things from Rai's apartment. Whenever she initially mentioned me coming with her last night, I was slightly surprised by the fact that she would want me out and about in my current state, but strangely I don't feel as bad as I used to last night. If anything, I feel more energized than I normally was. And before we left, Clattonia allowed Labyrinth to take Cassidy somewhere he apparently needed to go that was vital. Clattonia seemed to understand whenever Labyrinth requested this and said that she'd explain the reason to her later. After all, if Labyrinth genuinely asks for a favor, you know that she must have a good reason.

And, I must admit that it's odd to see myself with black hair after having it naturally brown for all of my life. As we're traveling on the train, I hold out one of my hands and examine it, flipping it over as if it'll give me some sort of clue as to what I've become and what I can do. Clattonia glances over at me from beside me and a small smile splays on her lips before the train comes to a halt and we step outside, setting foot back into Tokyo. Clattonia grabs my hand and leads me into a back alleyway before she glances around and pulls the hood on her jacket up, grabbing ahold of my hand once more.

"Hang on," she says and I'm about to reply whenever she takes off in a speed run.

My eyes widen in surprise as everything around us flies by at seemingly light speeds, pedestrians blurring by and the colors of scenery blurring together like the Northern Lights. If this is what it always looks like every single time that she speed runs, it's actually pretty breathtaking. My eyes flicker over to a few droplets of water that splash in the air and slowly fall by my face as we race passed a water fountain in a public resting place where a bunch of park benches are. A few seconds later, we arrive at the hospital and Clattonia slows to a halt, almost making me fly forwards and crash into the glass entry doors from the force. Clattonia sends me a sheepish smile before lowering her hood and glancing around again before leading me inside the hospital where she walks up to the front receptionist's desk.

"Excuse me," she starts, "could you please direct us to Aeryn Diadem's room?"

"One moment please," the redheaded receptionist with brownish-hazel eyes smiles and holds up her index finger as she grabs a giant binder the color of pink toffee and sets it on the counter as she sifts through it, her finger skimming across the pages before she finds Aeryn's name, "room 104. Can you please sign in first before visiting her? Thank you."

"Sure," Clattonia nods and the receptionist smiles once again, handing her a white pen with a red cap before going and sitting back down in her red padded computer chair and typing away at her keyboard.

Clattonia signs her name on the clipboard with a sheet of paper asking for her name, relation, and phone number before she hands it to me and I do the same. After placing the pen back down on the clipboard, the two of us make our way to room 104, where Aeryn and Lucian are. Clattonia knocks on the tan door with the black plate that has the numbers "104" engraved on it in white with gold trim and has a holder for a binder below the number plate. The door creaks open to reveal Aeryn sitting up in bed and sticking her tongue out at Lucian, who is sitting in one of the chairs by her bed with his face in his hands in frustration as Valentina sits next to him and chuckles slightly. To my surprise, I see Simon sitting with her as well.

"Simon?" Clattonia raises a brow.

"Oh, hey Clattonia," Simon sends her a lopsided smile before his eyes flicker over to me, "Jace."

I nod in his direction as Aeryn, Lucian, and Valentina all turn to look at us.

"I thought that you were the only one coming to visit her, aside from us, Valentina," Clattonia says.

"I originally was going to come alone, but Kai wouldn't let me leave by myself. So, naturally, Simon had to come along too," Valentina explains.

"And where exactly is Kai?" Clattonia asks.

"He's outside taking a smoke break," Valentina rolls her eyes, "he isn't allowed to do that in here, so..."

"Figures," Clattonia sighs as the two of us enter the room further.

"How are you doing?" I ask Aeryn, whose eyes flicker across my face and she appears amused.

"Please, I'm invincible," Aeryn smirks, "I should be the one asking you that, Goodie-Goodie. I heard what happened to you."

"Did you just call me Goodie-Goodie?" I raise a brow at her.

"I did, because that's what you are," Aeryn shrugs, "Goodie-Goodie, Goodie-Two-Shoes, Stiff, Bor--"

"Okay," I hold out a hand, "I get it. Thanks for the explanation."

"You're welcome," Aeryn beams.

"Well, you seem to be doing just fine," Clattonia chuckles.

"I'm better than fine," Aeryn smirks, her eyes flickering over to Lucian, who glances away and covers his mouth with his right hand, blush slightly rising to his face.

Clattonia raises a brow at the sight and Valentina sighs.

"While you were gone, those two established some sort of...relationship," Valentina explains, "evidently, I guess, they're dating. Although, I'm not surprised. Those two had so much sexual tension that it hurt my brain to witness. But, I'm happy for my bestie."

"Wh--What?" Aeryn stammers, her eyes growing wide as Lucian chokes on his own saliva.

"Anyway," Valentina waves a hand, smirking slightly, her amber eyes glinting with tones of honey and brown, "I hope that Juniper didn't mind we used some of her deterrents up. Aeryn had the strength to teleport them to the hospital, which was ultimately what saved her."

"No," Clattonia shakes her head, smiling slightly, "I'm glad and Juniper will be glad too. After all, that's what those are meant for."

"I suppose you're right," Valentina says fondly before standing up and brushing off her white, ruffled skirt that goes with her icy purple fishnet stockings and her white boots that have fur and strings with balls of fur hanging off of them, which compliment her icy purple tank-top, white jean jacket, and necklace that has a black feather hanging from it, "well, I should go check on Kai. I know he's our bodyguard, but sometimes I swear that we're the ones who have to look after him."

And with that, Valentina walks out of the room to check on Kai, who has most likely been through more cigarettes than any of us could count by now.

"So," Aeryn starts, drawing our attention back to her, "Lucian told me that Cassidy is the person who originally attacked him and that you guys have him captured with Azriel and Genna?"

"That's right," Clattonia nods.

"Don't be too hard on Cassidy," Aeryn says, which makes both me and Clattonia raise our eyebrows in surprise and Lucian's breath hitch as his eyes go slightly wide while Simon's lip part in shock, "but, if you find Nightshade, save that bitch for me, okay?"

"Will do," Clattonia's lips play up into a smirk and Lucian seems to smile faintly.

"You should get some rest for now, Aeryn," Lucian says and reaches over to clasp his hands over top of hers, their eyes meeting.

"Fine," Aeryn rolls her eyes, "but only because you saved my life and I need to save my energy to beat up that wench."

Simon chuckles at that, as does Lucian, and Clattonia looks at me with a smile before nodding towards the door. I nod silently and the two of us wave goodbye before heading out of the room and exiting the hospital.

"Where to next? Rai's apartment?" I ask.

"Mhm hmm," Clattonia hums and nods, her eyes flickering around for anyone watching before she grabs my hand, "come on, let's go."

"Right," I nod and as Clattonia takes off in a run, I can't help but notice how warm her hand feels in mine.

***

After arriving at Rai's apartment, Rai opened the door to greet us with a smile and I noticed that Daemon was sitting at her kitchen counter with a cup of coffee and his arm in a sling, but he seemed fine otherwise. The two of them were more than thrilled to see us and they never said anything about this, but I happened to notice the engagement ring on Rai's hand. I was a little taken aback because they were never even dating, but I guess that they've known each other for so long and cared for each other that whenever it came down to it, it was perfectly normal. After all, with their jobs, anything could happen to them any day and it would be the end. So, it's understandable.

"I wonder if she told Lucian yet," Clattonia says as we step off of the train back to Shibuya with all of the bags that everyone brought to Rai's apartment, "I mean, you would think that he would've said something."

"I don't know," I shrug as I help Clattonia carry some of the bags, "but they seemed happy together."

"Yeah," Clattonia nods, smiling fondly, "they did."

I'm about to ask her about what she thought I meant whenever I told her I loved her, now that we're alone and not doing anything that's extremely pressing during the moment, but she stops in the middle of the sidewalk just as I'm about to speak. My voice trails off as Clattonia's grasp on the bags loosens and a few of them fall to the ground as she stares at a blue eyed woman with magenta hair that's pulled up in a bun with a few long strands falling out and framing her face as she stands there in a kimono with a katana draped across her back. My eyes flicker between the two of them and a feeling of apprehension fills the air as I realize just who's standing in front of us.

"Mom?" Clattonia breathes out.