?


    Seeing the gathered children caused Nino to imagine what her future with the Doctor would be. In it the two of them had a daughter and all of them seemed extremely happy as they spent time together.


    For some reason she didn''t understand, that one fantasy caused her to blush. She already knew that her feelings for him were growing quite fast, but now she was imagining them having a child together. The very thought left her with a great deal of happiness and embarrassment at the same time.


    "Oh! If it isn''t Ms. Nino!"


    An old voice forcefully dragged her back to the real world and her blush disappeared as if her entire body grew cold. When she turned to its source, angry that her daydream was interrupted, she saw old Ra in her wheelchair, being pushed by the same assistant they met before.


    "Hello!" Juni greeted cheerfully. She didn''t seem to realize the old woman couldn''t see.


    "You have brought a new friend with you." Ra said, turning in Juni''s direction. "I''m Juni! Nice to meet you!"


    "I''m Ra. Nice to meet you too."


    The tomboy seemed to get a lot more excited. Nino guessed that it was because it was her first time seeing a human this old.


    "Did the Doctor send you by any chance?" The old woman asked, directing her head in Nino''s direction once again.


    "No." Nino shook her head slowly. "We were just walking around and ended up here."


    "Oh, I see…" Once again the old woman turned her head as if looking somewhere. Nino guessed that she wanted to face the children and it seems the assistant thought so as well since she turned the wheelchair to face the crowd. "The evacuations are going well. At this pace, we will be able to depart at the intended time."


    "I see."


    "Since you''re here, how about you introduce yourselves?" The old woman asked with a smile. "The children have been asking a lot of questions about you. They''re dying to know more about their heroes."


    "Heroes?" Juni repeated, seeming confused. But then her eyes began to sparkle as her smile spread to her eyes. "Nino! She said we are heroes!"


    "Calm down." Nino said in a tired voice, closing her eyes as the tomboy shook her again.


    Ra let out a shortugh, coughing a few times all the while.


    "The soldiers have been talking about your battle against the monster swarm. The children were especially excited to see the recordings."


    When they made their way to where they were all were gathered, the children''s eyes seemed to light up with excitement.


    "It''s the Angels!" One of the boys said, pointing at the Valkyries. "That one beat the big monster!"


    "It''s really her!" Another boy eximed.


    "No no no." Juni stepped forward, shaking her index finger and refuting what the first boy said. "We are not ''Angels''" nting her legs firmly into the ground, she raised a fist high above her head, taking a strange pose with a big smile on her face. "WE ARE VALKYRIES!!!"


    The children stared at her for a couple of seconds and then the cheering erupted.


    "Valkyries are heroes who fight evil!" She went on. "Valkyries are heroes who protect humans!"


    "Valkyries are awesome!" One of the children eximed.


    "So pretty…" a little girl said, looking up at Juni with great admiration.


    "Say, are you always fighting monsters?" A little boy asked.


    "Is it true that you''re from another world?" Another one added.


    "Are you an alien?"


    The question kepting one after the other. Nino quickly felt overwhelmed, but thankfully Juni seemed to handle everything just fine by herself.


    As she took a step back, she noticed a familiar face standing behind the adults. It was Karim, the boy who she spoke to briefly when they first came to the Sanctuary. He was giving her a strange look, his eyes so dark they didn''t seem to reflect light. After a few seconds, he turned away and left. His actions were a bit weird, but it wasn''t anything different from how he was during their previous meeting.


    ''Could it be…'' She thought to herself. ''Did he grow a crush on me?''


    Obviously, the boy showed no such signs. But she could see that he was around that age so it wouldn''t be strange if his hormones reacted strongly to the beauty of a Valkyrie.


    ''Sorry, little boy.'' she thought, smiling as the Doctor''s image appeared in her mind ''I prefer taller, much older men.''


    "So, how have things been since then?"


    Ra''s question dragged Nino out of her thoughts once more. At first she didn''t understand what she was referring to, but after a couple of seconds she got the idea.


    "Say, in your previous visions…" As she was with Sam during all of his meetings with the old woman, Nino got to hear all about her vision. She had a good grasp on everything she saw, and because of that the young Valkyrie began to wonder, "We never fought the Olympians before, did we?"


    "... Indeed." Ra replied, her voice bing serious. "Until I met you a few days ago, the battle never came up in my visions." She paused for a while, seeming to consider what she should say next. After gathering her thoughts, she turned in the Japanese doll''s direction and stated in a dry voice. "When I thought about it, I came to the conclusion that my ability doesn''t allow me to see anything directly rted to you. The only reason I found out about the battle was because your Doctor received a report that his ship was destroyed."


    Nino was rather calm despite hearing something that should''ve left her unnerved. It was as if she found the whole thing natural.


    "Well, you are just a human from a lower realm. It''s normal for you to be incapable of perceiving the Threads of Fate, especially ones that are connected to a higher being."


    A moment of silence passed, then she finally realized what came out of her mouth. Nino noticed the assistant giving her a strange look, and the old woman seemed to be in quite the shock as well.


    Once again Nino felt the bone piercing horror slowly creep up her back and the urge to flee the scene returned with much more strength. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, then spent a few seconds reorganizing her thoughts.


    It was just another instant of her life as Lachesis seeping into the present. Nothing about her has changed, only that she now knows a few things she wouldn''t have learned through normal means.


    "Ah, Doctor didn''t tell you, did he?" Nino spoke, trying to hide her nervousness. "Apparently I''m a reincarnation of a goddess of some sort, and one rted to Fate at that. Maybe that''s why you were unable to see me in your visions."


    "A goddess?" Ra muttered. "Is that even possible?"


    "Who knows? It''s not our first time running into people who use such names to refer to themselves." Nino shrugged, trying to y the whole thing as nothing important. As far as she knew, a lot of Nephilim named themselves after characters from Norse mythology. It wouldn''t have been surprising if it''s the same for the Olympians. "Still, I don''t know what the past me was thinking when she called herself Lachesis."


    The Japanese doll let out a sigh, retreating into her own thoughts. From what she learned before they departed on this mission, the entire Greek mythology is supposed to take ce in Europe. But looking at herself, she was clearly from an Asian lineage, something that''s been confirmed by the way her sister looks. That alone was enough for her to believe that the Olympians were just using Greek mythology as a base from which they draw their codenames.


    When a few seconds passed without her hearing a reply, Nino nced at the old woman, feeling a sudden chill envelop her body when their eyes met. After using her ability thest time, Ra had lost her sight leaving her unable to open her eyes. However they were now open, staring at the young Valkyrie with pure white pupils, portraying a look of utter shock.


    Just as she was about to ask the old woman what was happening, the conversation Juni was having with the children caught their attention. A little girl about four years old approached the Valkyrie, holding a small plushie in her hands.


    "Say, you can fly, right?" The little girl innocently asked, her eyes shining with curiosity. "How do you do it?"


    "Well, It''s our super power." Juni replied with a smile, forming the runes of her blue halo over her head. "We used to have this rocket thing we had to wear, but now all we have to do is make this and think about flying, then we are up in the sky!"


    "Whoa…" the little girls gapped while staring at the halo. Her eyes then moved back to Juni and she spoke with a voice full of excitement. "I wanna try it too!"


    Juni didn''t know how to respond, not wanting to crush the little girl''s expectations. An idea urred to her just then. She was about to suggest carrying the little girl and flying her around, so she turned to the adults to ask for permission, but then a weak glow drew her eyes and the smile she wore fadedpletely.


    Small particles flickered into existence, turning into square and rectangr shapes before joining to form a series of strange symbols.


    The symbols moved in a circle, their speed too slow to make their shapes indiscernible. Still, the halo seemed to serve its function and the one who created it began gradually floating up. As the little girl slowly rose up from the floor, a halo of golden light casting a weak glow on her dark skin, everyone''s eyes followed her inplete silence.


    "... Did I do it?" Opening her eyes and seeing that she was floating in the air, the little girl eximed with extreme joy. "I did it!"