"Theresa, would you be a dear and take over my place for some time?" The current Overseer smiled at his protégé. "There is unfortunately some outside work that requires my direct presence, and I'm afraid that I couldn't bring myself to entrust my responsibility to anyone but you."
"Yes, Grandfather," little miss Apocalypse obeyed like the lovely granddaughter she appeared to act, even when they both know where her loyalty lied.
Like grandfather like granddaughter, no?
"Lovely!" One could mistake Otto's default smile as happiness were they not familiar with his mind. "My departure should be in two hours. I have booked my flight and accommodation beforehand, but of course you would have known my schedule by now. If you don't, feel free to recheck it with Rita, although I'm sure she's busy with our dear Durandal at the moment. Other than that, in order to take some burdens off your coming days, I have also finished all the foreseen paperwork!"
Half-heartedly listening to her grandfather's rambling, she wondered to herself why her grandfather still talked that way - as if there was any audience in this vast office but them. What show was he putting on the façade for?
It was never a good sign.
"Grandfather," Theresa tried to inhale as calmly as she could manage, and exhaled. "No, Overseer sir. I have one wish that I hold close to my heart and I hope you would grant for me. I'm asking this as your - and Schicksal's - successor." She bowed her head as she wished not to see his watchful eyes.
Otto nodded. "You may speak, and your wish will be granted, Theresa Apocalypse. As long as it does not interfere with our Schicksal's goal, of course you have already known that, then I see no reason why you feel the need to make a formal request this way, my dear."
'And that's exactly why I have to make this a formal request', Theresa calmed her racing heart and continued. If this angered her grandfather enough, who knows what he would do afterwards.
"Overseer Sir, if I may, I wish no other work done onto the Kiana Kaslana girl. Not as her friend or principal, but as another human being," she looked up, slightly grimaced to herself as her grandfather's smile suddenly got uncomfortably wider, "I see it pointless to engage another...experiment on her. As she already is-"
"Consider it done then!" Otto interrupted.
"... I beg your pardon, Grandfather?" Theresa could not believe in her ears. "Could you please repeat that?"
The Overseer laughed. "Alright alright, you have my words, Theresa: I, and any other Schicksal researcher, will not conduct any other experiment towards the girl who bears the name Kiana Kaslana under any circumstance. It is what you wish for, correct?"
"I... Yes, Overseer, that is indeed my wish. I could not express how much gratitude I'm feeling right now. If you excuse me, I...need some time to gather my thoughts a bit. May I speak to you later on?"
"As you wish, Teri~ See ya tomorrow then. Perhaps through online meeting because, you know, I will have already been on my way by then. Bye bye bi~" Otto waved his hand, inviting her to escape from the office which she clearly wanted to for a while.
He softly chuckled at her puzzled expression when she walked out and closed the door behind.
Come now, don't be like that, he did keep his word. He would not do anything harm to [Kiana Kaslana], exactly as Theresa wished for!
Not that he could do a thing to that existence anymore afterwards.
Well, at least he had already managed to get the Kaslana-genetically suicidal tendency out of his lovely granddaughter and one of the [Kianas].
It should still count as a win, no?
___
Step by step, the Overseer walked to rooftop of the headquarter after putting on some finishing touch at work. Obviously, there was no one sane would choose to stand on such height during this hour just because they wanted to.
Sue him, he liked to be tall alright?
Well, Kallen would love to argue with him on that, considering how many times she used to kick him in the ass for wearing high-heels after his puberty hit back then (though she did compliment his ass afterwards, so...) Dear little Kaslana used to be taller than him by some centimeters when they were both kids, and by the time they reached the age, let's just say, his best friend had not been very pleased with his absurd growth. She had said her biggest fear was that he would lick the top of her head when she was not looking.
(Where did she even get the idea from, honestly? Although, he had said that he was indeed tempted to try doing so just to see her chasing him across the garden with the Shamash.
You could not outrun a Kaslana with their superhuman strength, he learnt that much.)
Looking at the person he became by now, he was sure his solium body could take her kick. Kicks, even. She could kick him as many times as she wanted. She could even take all of his sweets as he still kept the habit of calling for two servings whenever he got to that corner shop. As long as she was here, she could take anything, even his own heart and he would be gladly carve it out to serve it to her on a silver plate-
.
Ah, he was getting too delusionally sentimental to his liking. Where was that heartlessly heroic Overseer character he always enjoyed pretending to be?
(Kallen would not want such tainted heart anyway.)
___
"What makes a human, human?" - a stray cat made him wonder the other day. He asked himself that question as well.
After all, Otto Apocalypse is nothing more than a lingering consciousness. His original body should be rotting six feet underground had it not be one of his last belongings directly connected with Kallen Kaslana.
He viewed it as endearingly as a person saw a cockroach approaching their homeland.
He wished to stomped it to death.
___
Even after hundreds of years, Otto Apocalypse had yet to comprehend how Kallen Kaslana had come to love this meaningless, pitiful world.
Those people were painfully humans. Pathetic, merciless, carefree being. The very being who threw his dearest's sacrifice away to the fire and noose as if she had not risk her life protecting them.
As if she did not choose their lives over hers.
And yet.
He did not hate this world as he had always thought. He must be drunk if he honestly thought so (His solium body could not get drunk). He disliked human being, humanity in general and anything that went along with them
And yet
And yet.
At the end of the day, wasn't he just a human himself?
(Would anyone look at Otto and see a human underneath that hideous skin? He himself certainly would not.)
___
Otto Apocalypse slowly stood up as the ever right-timing night gradually approaching the land. He let the wind breeze through as he untied the old, tainted ribbon off the solium hair.
All of sudden, he laughed to himself. Loudly.
What's done been done. Nothing would change.
He would certainly miss the tea time with his old friend Hua, his Sherlock (he would not call her that to her face though). It was not easy to find a friend who trusted you that much, even if he chose to betray that trust himself.
He would miss his Teri's nagging about his overworked tendency all the time, yet she was no better than her grandfather in term of that. He was not sure if he should miss her bitter melon juice though.
He would miss his student's reunion with her father. He would pay to give that airhead Siegfried Kaslana an earful for endangering his niece back then, and threaten to take Dudu's custody to himself should the situation require.
And he would miss the graduation of...that Valkyrie.
Ha.
And they all would be the problem of the future him.
.
Glancing back to the sunset desiring to dye and dissolve the whole world in its colors, he wished to embrace the last warmth of the light as he knew he would never deserve such privilege again, and smiled
(Rita confirmed to the next Overseer later on that there was no planned departure on her grandfather's schedule)
as he took a swan dive off the Schicksal's roof.