Megamio

Sorry for the short chapter, you know it's the final weeks; there is too much shit to do and my mind is burning. The only reason I even wrote today was so that I don't break my streak of publishing a chapter daily, and I don't plan to. Soon once my mind is free, I will make the chapters longer and give you a chapter or two extra every two days to the end of summer.

Once Leonna finished her lessons for the day, she went straight for the Crafting hall, before she was led to the crafting room Audra was in. 

There she saw the weird puppet reading a book she was familiar with, and it seems it was almost done reading it. Once she was close enough, the puppet acted like it was startled, before imitating a sighing expression. It was truly a weird and curious thing.

"You're here, have you considered my offer?" It asked.

"I don't think you offered any offer," she replied.

"..Right, I didn't, I have promised the old man that I will take care of you-"

"And I said I don't need anybody to take care of me."

"..Look, what I'm trying to say is .. that.. ugh! How do I explain this, help me here Audra."

"As much as I would ha-love to help you, I got my own things to worry about, so goodbye." And she left the room, unwilling to listen to the fight that was about to happen.

"You said my grandfather made you, right?" Leonna walked around the table the puppet was on, sitting in a chair next to the table.

"Well, to some extent, it's complicated."

"What's so complicated about that, for all I know he has been busy preparing for your creation for years, completely ignoring his granddaughter." There was some hostility in her voice, one that didn't skip the ears of the puppet.

"I'm sorry, but that isn't something I caused, his choices are his, you're lovely and your grandfather probably cared for you."

"Probably? Are you mocking me?"Said Leonna indignantly, feeling insulted by this toy.

"We should move on from this and not waste our time wi-"

"No. Who are you to order me or tell me anything?, For all I know you could be the one to cause the death of my GRANDFATHER!!" She shrieked standing up with rage in her eyes.

"Don't act like a child, we shouldn't be fighting, we have to plan our future-"

"ARE YOU HEARING YOURSELF!!? Why are you acting like you know me!? What future!? In fact, How can you even prove that you're related to my grandpa!?"

The puppet stayed silent for a few seconds, his tiny arms shaking involuntarily. He calmed himself down, not wanting to start arguing with an emotional teenager, even though he wasn't that much older than her.

He opened his mouth, taking out the storage crystal of the old man. 

"Here, he gave me this before he teleported me out of the tower." he stretched his hand holding the crystal toward her.

Leonna took the storage crystal with a shaking hand, carefully touching it before she exhaustively sat down back in the chair.

"This still doesn't prove your innocence, you might have taken from him force-"

"For Fucks sake!! Just open it and let's get this annoying thing out of our way!"

The puppet believed the old man would have expected to give this storage crystal to her, and it hoped there was something in it to prove his innocence. 

Leonna just harrumphed, bringing the storage crystal closer to her head. She encountered a spell that probed her mana, more specifically its signatures, cluing her to the fact that this was truly her grandpa's storage crystal as she received command over the storage crystal shortly.

The puppet watched carefully as Leonna took out a small notebook after a few seconds, opening it to see it was full of sketches and calculations of some kind of a puppet. 

"Why are you so different compared to the notes?" She asked with a frown, she recognized the metals or their description were somewhat the same as what she was seeing now, but the shape and size were drastically different.

"My body got destroyed repeatedly and crumbled before I got to the academy. It was only thanks to Audra that I have this new body."The puppet wasn't pleased with his new body, but he was still grateful for her work.

"What else is in there? Is there an instruction book on how I can rebuild my previous body?" the puppet asked hopefully.

"No. Here take this." She put the book on the table and began to stand up, intending to leave the room.

"Where are you going? we haven't discussed about our collaborations and plans!"

"I don't care about your 'collaborations' or 'plans', you're nothing to me; don't bother or look for me again." Leonna left the room, closing the door with a bang.

…

…… 

The puppet looked around the spacious room, Its metal and crystal eyes showed a sad and lost visage. It plopped on all fours on the table, bringing its short stubby arms to hold its face in a crying posture.

'..... I don't know what to do... please someone…. please…..' 

No matter how much he begged, no one was there for it, no one has ever been there for it. It was just coming to face its reality, a reality that he distracted himself from for all his life, the reality of being an incomplete and broken person, no one to love it, no one to care for it, no one.

--- --- ---

Leonna had a sour mood, quickly navigating through the halls of the crafting hall, and shortly leaving it all together. At this point she didn't care for anything, all she wanted was to be in her room and sleep for the night, seeing the moon hidden by thick clouds.

As she was going through a park littered with small trees, a path she liked to walk through to reach her dorm, she heard quiet shuffling noises, which crept her out more than she liked to admit. She focused on the storage crystal that was in a hidden pocket under her shirt, looking for a weapon she could use to defend herself.

"Who is there!? show yourself before I attack you!" She took out a short sword that was in the corner of the storage crystal, more than to fight she just wanted to show that she had a weapon that could deter the hidden person.

Suddenly, a figure emerged behind her, and before she could react it bounced on her, causing her to fall to the ground.

"What the Fuck!!"She cursed as she tried to get the figure off of her, but it too was pinning her further into the ground, restraining her with a rope it took out from behind its completely covered robes.

"You fucker!! get off me, HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!! I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!!!" Just as she wanted to continue her screaming, her mouth was shoved with a cloth, a cloth dripping with some liquid that caused her to become dizzy instantly.

"HHMM-hmmmmm--HNooo-... noo......" She was nearly falling unconscious, seeing the dark figure getting ready to drag her away. 

BANG!

Just as she was closing her eyes, she saw the figure getting blasted away, as a young dark-haired boy wearing a metal glove box, stood protectively over her.

She closed her eyes and began hearing loud bangs and other sounds that could only mean the fight between the two was intense, and she lost consciousness at last.