Knight's Honor: A Skullgirls Prequel

Carol's Nightmare...

Rejection. Absolutely nothing but rejection for the poor soul. Those parents screamed as they scrambled to shut the door upon their own kin. That...that was...

"What the...? I...hold on a minute," Filia stumbled over her words a bit, but her tone changed from shock to a growing anger.

As she passed by Carol with a brief glance I couldn't help but linger on this sudden change in atmosphere. The girl that I had witnessed in that lab. The girl that I found from the streets. The girl that was just finding freedom for the first time in a while...cast out. Left behind to figure out everything for herself. What kind of parents do that to someone of their own blood? Even a stranger like me could look past these imperfections given to her by an uncaring scientist. Cruelty by strangers is one thing, painful yet easily washed away. This? This is a pain that causes scars, larger than the ones that existed upon her flesh.

The maple trees that gave this suburban neighborhood blew quietly; There wasn't much hope in these trees anymore. No. With the leaves flowing before us, a new feeling was stirring here. Dread. A somber reminder of how easily innocents can be tossed into the wind without much care. Regrettably a fitting visage coming from such a shocking blow.

I took a few steps away from the car to the person truly hurting. Tears were welling despite her own attempts to will them out of existence. Filia herself in her own way attempted to bring the parents back out, percussive notes on their door.

"Hey! It's still us! Your daughter is right there! Do you not care about seeing that she's alive?!"

"Filia..."

"Come on! You are her parents! This isn't how treat a child of yours-"

"FILIA!" That was remarkably loud of me. Yet it was enough to gain her attention. The real problem being her friend currently in pain.

As she whipped her head back towards us, her gaze fell on Carol. Her expression switched from an infuriated one to a much more solemn one. It was clear to most of us that this trip, as well meaning as it was, would not bear any fruit. With a sigh and one last annoyed glare behind her towards the doors of this house, we were well on our way back to the vehicle.

Even with the imperfections pressing my side, I refused to let go of this lady. I wouldn't dare even try to push her off now. Not when she needed a shoulder to cry on. Not when her world had shattered in one afternoon.

I'll never forgot this day either; her weeping gaze was forever imprinted in my memory.

***

"That sounded a lot like..."

"Would we need to tell the Medicis..?"

"I...I honestly don't know dear. I don't know,"

***

Renoir Manor South Wing 'Music Room'

"It's concerning not hearing anything from the front. Is Lab 5 on it?"

"A little, although it looks as though they've just crossed into the arctic circle. The undead have frozen over once the duel moved away, so clean up is smooth over there," Adam mentioned.

"Heh. Clean up...? None of this is clean up. Lorenzo Medici was always able to go toe to toe with the Skullgirl in the past...but, he's exceeding expectations. A bigger mess is going to show up, I just know it..." Parasoul groaned.

"Perhaps..." I myself wasn't as invested in this meeting as I had thought. We had just left the main planning room and I was being escorted to the music room.

There Carol had chosen to secluded herself since that unfortunate reunion occurred. Familiar yet unfamiliar behavior for this girl. And just when she was opening up.