Faunus were beings known to having extraordinary hearing abilities, but for Ceyla of all people to not notice the obvious footsteps told him that something was going on and he had to wonder what she was thinking. Though understandably, today's battle have taken a great toll on the hunters physically - as well as mentally, and the two were no exception to the case. As she moved up to him with a rather tired-looking smile on her face, the woman gently wrapped her arms around his back, making male jolt slightly from the pain which shot through his senses from the attack he'd received from the flying Grimm earlier. Even with mending abilities done by the hunters who knew how to perform them, he still required stitching and bandaging up afterward. That one was definitely going to leave a mark for sure, not that he'd particularly minded, but as her hug tightened around him, Alburn gave her a light tap on the shoulder.

 "I'm fine with hugs, but go easy on me, will you?" The male pleaded, "You're sort of hurting me, but... that aside, what's wrong?" 

“Just been thinking a lot, I guess.” The woman replied in a weary tone, “Between making sure the city is clear, to thinking about home and visiting my father - even thinking about…us.”

It seemed like a lot of things were in her mind. Alburn let out an audible 'hm', as a familiar warmth washed over his body when Ceyla rested her head against his chest. He let her stay there, and whether she eased up on that hug of hers or not, the Officer wrapped his own arms against her body to help her relax so that she may lean her weight against him, but perhaps this was more so for the ensured security of himself over hers. Maybe it was a bit selfish of him to take such liberties.

Still, after feeling as if he'd nearly lost her in this battle, the male wanted an assurance. A small assurance that she was still yet here with him, in his arms, in this world, where she belonged. It just... made feel everything right - to know that someone that you love was still here with you, still standing by your side, holding your hand, talking to you like so, but was this what he truly wanted? To feel the fear and the despair of losing someone he loved all over again? Alburn could still yet remember his hands trembling. No, stop thinking... I don't need that. he tried to tell himself. 

“I suppose I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.” 

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, "I know... I'm not exactly the one to talk, but you aren't going to sleep well if you keep those thought locked up inside your head. Besides, it's not like anyone else is listening other than us here." 

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Despite Ceyla's warnings, Alburn was well used to being the listener rather than being the talker in their conversations by now. Thus, it didn't surprise him very much that if the Prime Minister just went off about something she had in her mind, the woman would simply just go on and on about it for hours on end without stopping. Quite contrary to her thoughts, she never truly bored him in any way. Truly, he enjoyed being able to listen to her and watch her face lighten up at the end of the day. Seeing her smile at least once was more than enough for the hunter. In response, he shook her head, almost as if to tell her: Go on, I'm listening. 

"I don't know where to start...." She began, collecting her thoughts carefully. Then, after a while, the woman spoke of her home. How she missed it, but of all else, her father. He remembered her talking to him about it once during the public open house celebration at the Police Station. It made Alburn tad bit envious of her to know that she still had someone like that in her life - even if they weren't blood related. He'd do anything to see his father again. "I miss my father. It’s been so long since I’ve been home, so long since I’ve seen him. Hell, I haven’t even written to him - and I had promised I would. Just… It’s just been a long time. I’m afraid. What if he’s mad? What if he doesn’t want to speak to me?”

Alburn laughed lightly at the question. Not because he thought the nature of her inquiry was rather humorous in nature, but because he recalled himself asking the same thing when he was much younger. He remembered how he ran home late, never calling his father home afterwards, how he got mad about it, asking him how worried he was afterwards. "You know, I remember I once ran home late after school because I stopped by arcades with a group of old friends. Before I knew it, it was night time and it was pretty dark out, and when I came home I expected exactly the same thing you expected: An angry father. My old man got pretty mad, yelled at me, and then whipped me across the back of my shins with his uniform belt, asking me if I knew how worried he was," He gently stroked the side of Ceyla's face, "But that's a pretty normal reaction out of all parents - at least, for most of them. What I'm trying to say is that he will definitely scold you, but he'd be more than happy to have you back at the end of the day. When my father scolded me, things went back to the way it was. Except... he kind of put me on a strict curfew afterwards."

When her calmed sigh of relief reached Alburn's ears, the male knew that he somehow managed to get the message across. However, somewhere in the back of his mind, the Officer knew that she was far from finished. “Then…I was also thinking about…us.” She began to add on, “I love you, Alburn. But it’s not like that mushy storybook love, you know?”

As their fingers intertwined, Alburn firmly grasped onto them, and continued to listen.

“Whenever we’re apart, I feel some compelling force trying its hardest to bring me back to you. When you get hurt, that same force pushes me to make sure you’re okay. It’s there when I’m alone and sad, with no one to comfort me. It’s you, and the way you make me feel.” She paused again, “I love you, Alburn. After today, I know that now more than ever. Sorry if this was all really cheesy, sometimes I feel like such a girl. So, how about you? How are you doing? You always do that - get me all talking, then never say anything yourself. You shouldn’t be so bottled up, either. You know you can tell me anything, right?”


To be honest, Alburn would be lying if he hadn't thought a single thing about them. Their future, what it'd be like, what he feared. He felt throat tightening at the thought, almost as if to keep him from talking. Was it best that he truly talked about it? What if she began hate him for it? What if she thought that the whole notion of that strange? What if he drove her away, thinking that he didn't want her to be at his side? He wasn't sure if he could deal with that, to lose something so close to him all over again. That was the reason why he chose to walk about his life alone by himself without anybody else at his side. Then Ceyla came along, and she began to relinquish those fears. No - perhaps it was more along the lines she helped him forget it, but after the battle that he'd experienced on this day, the old memories of his father resurfaced. 

No, it was fine like this. As long as she was at his side, everything was going to be okay. At least - that's what he thought. Alburn could take on anything - even his innermost fears, but he the more he tried to reassure himself, more he felt mind became plagued by those very same thoughts which poisoned him with doubts. It was a vicious cycle. Truly he wasn't the one to say not to bottle things up.

"Besides the fact that I'm feeling somewhat tipsy from the pain medications, I'm fine, I've taken worse." He gave her a light kiss on the forehead, "I just came all the way out here to make sure you're okay; though, I've been thinking: Since we're already here, how about we go to Cela Monasteries to meet your father? We have an airship as well procured as well for a ride back, too. Sounds like a win-win to me, don't you think?" 

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Alburn's proposal for them to visit the famous Cela Monastery didn't go without a form of consideration from Ceyla, but from the looks of her face - she didn't seem all that keen on visiting her old home at this time. Was it from the fear of her father at home may get angry at her? Or was it something else? The Officer wasn't too sure of how their organization operated, however, she seemed to have mixed thoughts about the whole visit. Why wouldn't they welcome her with open arms? The monks had no reason to refuse her - let alone her father. This was a perfect time to visit as any since they were Pinnacle, so why the hesitation? He tried to ask if there was something wrong, but almost as if she knew - the Prime Minister gave him her affirmation: 

“Yeah, I like the sound of that. I can finally introduce you two, too.” She began, “I’m sure my father would love to meet you, after all. You might not believe it, but I was never really popular among the guys here. I think I intimidated them, or at least that’s what he told me.”

Intimidated... Now that Alburn had thought about it, he knew very little about her early life in the monastery. Even with all the records he'd researched and cases he read about the 'Red-Eyed Maiden' back when they were still enemies, he had almost little to no information regarding her history. It was often a shot at the dark, and when she revealed to him that she was from the monastery back when they first met, he knew that the monks residing at that place wouldn't be too fond of sharing an information about themselves, especially if it was one of them. However, a question remained: Why would the monks feel so intimidated by Ceyla? She was a ferocious warrior, and her skills with her sword deserved acknowledgement. He knew this the moment they met. 

"I actually find it rather surprising that someone like you weren't so popular with the guys," Alburn noted with a small grin on his part, "But I guess that makes me all the more lucky, huh?" After giving her a light kiss to the cheek, the two headed to the clearing of the city where the labyrinth of concrete and stones were cleared out for the airships to land. The sound of the jet engines and propellers drowned out the sounds of their footsteps, as well as their thoughts. He never realized that the airships could be so loud - especially the smaller helicarrier they were about to hop on. The compartment was packed with equipment, relatively small, enough for a squad to fit into the back for the ride, but only him and Ceyla would be getting on. 

The Officer studied the equipment, taking a brief look and familiarizing himself with where all the buttons and the controls were before he put on a pair of headset over on his head. He could hear the comm chatters and pilots talking with another, double checking on some systems before flight. That was pretty natural. Though Alburn had never flown one of the military-grade airships before, the overall setup looked same along with its police-version counterpart. He never thought he'd be in a co-pilot's seat again after graduating the police training. As he flipped over some switches to run a basic safety checks, he looked over towards Ceyla. She seemed tense, almost afraid that she was going to fly this thing. He considered asking for them to switch places, but instead, she said:

“I’ll be okay. Just got myself a little worked up, I guess.”

Well, it wasn't matter if Ceyla was okay or not, it was a matter of whether or not she can fly this carrier without them crashing into something. However, he could trust her. Wrapping his fingers around her shaking hands, Alburn attempted to make eye contact. "It's okay, I'm here with you 'till the end." He gave her an assuring nod as she flipped through several switches, "I don't know what's going through your head right at this moment, but... whatever your fears are, we'll work it out together. Besides, I'm your co-pilot. You can count on me if anything goes wrong." As the engines roared to life, the Officer placed his hand over on his headset as he checked on each of the engines from his side of the window.

"Tower, this is flight two-niner. All checks are clear, requesting take-off back home." Alburn spoke over the radio. 

"Flight two-niner, you are cleared for take-off. You're home free."

"Whenever you're ready, Ceyla."

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The flight itself was relatively quiet, but tense. Every now and then, Alburn looked over at Ceyla, who seemed to grow increasingly nervous the closer they got to their supposed destination. He could understand and sympathize with the feeling. Not only did she failed to visit her father for god knows how many years since she'd left the place, but also, neither of the hunters were sure how the monks there obviously trained for all forms of combat would react to the sudden unnanounced visit from outside world. The Monastary, in a short description was like a small country of their own. To intrude on their domain like this could have unforseen consequences. If that place had trained and raised the woman he'd loved so much, then just how much deadlier could these monks be? The Officer didn't even want to think about getting into a fight, especially in the kind of condition that they were in, but he was prepared for it, though he doubted that he'd be able to put up much of a fight after what he'd previously gone through. 

Suddenly, Alburn's attention was ripped away from the display in front of him when a warm feeling closed around his hand. Ceyla put on a rather forced-looking smile, more so than usual, perhaps in hopes of masking whatever that she was feeling at this very moment as they soared through the grey clouds. Unfortunately for her, she could do very little to hide them, and the Officer grew increasingly worried, questioning himself if this was truly was a good idea, half regretting the fact that he proposed it. He simply wanted her to see her father again, as she'd talked about when they first officially met. Was he being a little too forceful about the reunion? Maybe they should've come back when Ceyla felt more ready, but considering their limited fuel, it was far too late to turn from their destination. 

"Are you nervous at all?" She'd ask him with a still forced-looking grin on her face, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. Thank goodness you’re here though, huh?" After a small pause, she genuinely smiled at him,  “I dunno what I’d do without you here.”

In response, Alburn gently squeezed her hand and returned her smile with his own. A rare one, more genuine than any others. To be honest, he could say the same thing. The only reason he'd come so far was because of her, and like she said, he didn't know what he'd do without her, and indeed, thank goodness that she was here. "The only reason that I've managed to come so far is because of you," He expressed, "And to be honest, I'm always nervous. I always get this tight feeling in my stomach when I travel to new places. It's a gut reaction after working in the force for so long. Maybe I just got pretty good at hiding it." As he let out a light laughter, he paused as his eyes took in what seemed to be small flashing lights in the distance. As he'd suspected, the Monastary didn't utilize the kind of technology that either the Rift or the Legion had used, but it was also far behind in comparison to other two kingdoms. One could say it was so old that one could probably date it back to the days when the kingdom of the Legion was still yet called 'Atlas'. 

As they got closer, Alburn saw a small figures, cloaked just as monks would be. He couldn't get a good look at their faces. As a Police Officer, one of the major things that got him on guard about was being unable to properly indentify the faces of the people he met. Now there were several, in front of him. He was unable to tell their intentions, what they were hiding in their robes, and their expressions. For all he knew, they could make them out to be a threat, attack and incarcerate them, then take away their weapons all the while at it. In preparation for a new conflict, Alburn flipped off the safety switch of his gunblade that was lying at his side. 

“C-could you take the controls?” Ceyla asked him. Even she was feeling somewhat unsure about this. “I need to… I just need to calm down a second, I think…” The woman breathed heavily, almost as if something was choking the life out of her. Quickly Alburn shifted the controls over to his side and made sure the aircraft would stay afloat all the while keeping an eye out on her. The stress was just too much for her to bare, so the male quickly let her head lean against his body as he made a landing down on the pad where several cloaked enigmas surrounded them from the front. They would have to meet them head-on sooner or later. 

"Take deep breaths and stay here until I give the 'okay'. Make sure to locks all the doors, and keep the engines running. If anything happens, then take off right away. Do not wait for me." Alburn forewarned as he opened the hatch, making sure to close it on his way out. 

As soon as he stepped his foot on the monastary grounds, he could tell two things: These monks by nature were as strong as he'd suspected. He could feel their auras radiating from their body, each of them were individual instruments of war, sharped and forged through rigorous training. Also, their leader wasn't present to greet them. Alburn kept his hand close to the Second Sun, ready to draw it out from his belt at moments notice when any of them showed any form of hostilities towards him. "... I am Alburn Redgrave, a Police Officer from the Legion," He announced, loud enough for the entire group to hear him "I do not come here to harm any of you. The Prime Minister, and I simply have some business to attend to with the Renault. Is he present?"  

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