Pause System: Harem In The Apocalypse - Chapter 209: Slumber's End (part 2)

‘System… That dream I saw, I only saw parts of it. Give me an exact run down of what happened.’ Gray thought to himself with Violet laid down beside him.

Her head was resting on his elbow and her arms were wrapped around him.

She didn’t want to let go and was staring at him with stern narrowed eyes.

[As you know, Violet was in a deep slumber created from her vast irregular and unstable energy flow. dream, you needed to go inside to pull her out since she wouldn’t be able to escape herself.]

[Inside of the dream, or more specifically her memory, you witnessed the abuse and trauma she went through as a child.]

[While watching this, you lost yourself in rage, and destroyed the dream world, forcing her to awaken.]

[Although it was not the plan I had in mind to wake her, it worked just as well.]

‘Why was she put through all of that…?’ He asked.

This whole time, Gray had thought he was the most unfortunate child, he thought he was the only one who had truly been through hell.

But Violet, she had seen even worst…

And even after going through all of that.. She could still smile.

How? How could she be so strong?

[…As I suspected, the girl has a natural talent. She is one in ten million if not more.]

[She was most likely placed through that torture because of the ability which she harboured.]

[I would assume her parents had sold her off for the precise reason of her being gifted.]

‘…Gifted… Judging by her age, this happened long before the calamity struck.’

‘How was it possible that she could use her ability?’

[The answer is simple. She is one of the very few who awakened it.]

[I previously said there was a one in ten million chance… I apologise, the statistic used was incorrect.]

[One in one hundred million.]

[She is a special human who awakened her own energy without the intervention of the Labyrinth.]

[What’s more… I assume after the Labyrinth intervened, that energy grew exponentially.]

‘…You’ve truly gotten better at communicating, System.’

[…]

‘..Then, last question… When and how was she able to escape that place?’

[Only she knows the answer to that.]

[However, whether or not she wants to talk about it is up to her.]

‘…’

Gray turned his head to face her.

Catching her, who had been staring at him all this time, off guard.

Her cheeks grew redder, but she didn’t move her gaze, she continued to look him in the eye.

“You’re a strange person…” She claimed with an unwavering gaze.

“Why is that?” He asked with a clueless look

“Wouldn’t most people find someone like me weird and not want to associate themselves with someone like me?”

“I mean isn’t it strange… You haven’t asked any other questions about it.”

“Aren’t you curious of the fact, that I could use my powers before the calamity?’ She questioned. ‘What’s the deal with him… I can never understand… Don’t tell me he’s not saying anything because he’s worried about me?’

Gray looked up at the ceiling, forcing his hair to sway down and cover his eyes. With his expression being hidden, he muttered but a few words.

“I am but… After seeing how hurt you are from thinking about it…”

“Besides… I doubt you know much about it yourself… How you got your powers that is.”

“…”

Violet was left speechless, he really was thinking about her, just as he always did.

She slowly turned her head to the ceiling, causing her purple hair to sway over her eyes, thus covering most of her expression.

“God… I feel so silly right now… Why do you always have to be so considerate?”

Gray chuckled slightly.

“Because you’re someone important to me. Obviously I will be.”

Violet’s cheeks reddened once more, she slowly turned away for a few seconds before turning back to the ceiling.

“…”

At first she was unsure of whether or not to say it, but now… What could possibly be the harm?

“My family wasn’t always like that…”

-Memory

“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday~ to you! Happy birth~~!! Day to Violet! Happy birthday~ to you!” The couple sang simultaneously.

Joy spread through the air, the smiles on their faces grew as they watched their daughter blow the candles of the big strawberry vanilla cake they had gotten her.

She struggled at first, but on the fifth blow, all the candles went out.

“Hurry~ Make a wish, Violet! Don’ tell mama or papa so that it can come true!”

Upon hearing their words, with a bright smile on her face, the girl said her wish out loud.

“I wish for mama and papa to always be happy, and for papa to finally get that pwomotion he always wants!” She wished, joyfully.

“Aww~ Isn’t my daughter the cutest in the world?” Her pink haired father asked as he quickly went up behind her and picked her up, spinning around with her in his arms, up in the air.

“Hey! Be careful! You might end up almost falling like last time.”

“Hm~ Don’t be such a party pooper Margaret~ Aren’t you enjoying it Violet?”

Violet who had been laughing non stop, quickly nodded as she repeated her fathers words. “Party pooper~!”

Margaret, a fully grown, tall and long beautiful red haired woman had veins bulge out of her neck as she watched this behaviour.

“Fa..I..Th..!!!!” She yelled out his name.

“Okay, okay! I was joking, relax!!!” He laughed before putting her down.

Faith, he was both tall and muscular man with dark purple eyes and red glasses over his nose. His expression showed just how full of love he was for his daughter.

“Eh~ But I wanted to fly for longer!” She complained.

He crouched down before her and gave her a pat before saying.

“Are you sure you don’t want to see your presents first~?”

The young girl’s eyes instantly lit up as she quickly nodded once more.

“Haha~ Let’s go!”

“Let’s go~!” She repeated.

Margaret who had been watching, sighed.

“Honestly, those two…”

-Memory End

“I don’t remember much, but I’m sure that before ‘That’ event… Everything was perfectly fine.”

Gray’s brow raised up. “That event?” He repeated.

“Yeah…” She responded with a cold and dark look.

-Memory.

The family was eating together in a well-known, cheap yet luxurious restaurant in the centre of New York City.

It was dark out and night time, they had just had dinner and were getting ready to leave.

Violet was having her favourite desert, vanilla ice cream while her parents were discussing a somewhat important matter.

“The market has crashed this month… There are less stakeholders willing to invest in the company… There’s a chance all my hard work could be ruined…” Said Faith.

“Is that all you have to say?” Margaret asked.”I’ve seen your transaction history… Have you been… Gambling again?”

Faith grew increasingly more nervous, he slowly nodded.

“Faith!” She called out his name.

“I had to!! We’re lacking on funds! You know what will happen at this rate if I don’t do anything! The company will shut dow and we’ll go bankrupt!! Our life as we know it will end!!”

Violet who had been eating her ice cream suddenly cocked her head to the left with a confused expression.

Despite her parent’s raising their voice at one another, she hadn’t heard any of it.

Her eyes were blank and staring solely at the glass with the half eaten ice cream on top.

THe longer she stared at it, the more the glass began to shake.

Eventually-

*Swoosh*

The Glass slowly levitated upwards right before her eyes.

“Mama… Papa… Look!” She called out before turning to them.

The first thing she saw was the shock in their faces. It wasn’t because they were staring at her… No, it was much deeper than that.

The shock came from not only them but everone inside of the restaurant.

Violet’s blank glowing purple eyes saw it clearly.

All of the plates in the room were levitating up in the air.

“What in the hell is this…?”

“What’s… What’s happening?”

“Why the fuck are the plates flying?! Did someone spike my meal!?”

Violet’s eyes sparkled as she saw this.

“Wow~! Look!” she exclaimed as she pointed at the group of flying plates to the tables beside them. “It’s flying!”

The instant Violet moved her hand and pointed in a direction, All the plates there were propelled in said direction.

*SHATTER!* *SHATTER!!!* *SHATTER!!*

One by one they crashed into the walls, shattering into pieces in the process.

Fortunately most of the tables were paced away from the wall so none of the shards of glass ended up hitting anyone, but people still panicked.

“WHAT THE FUCK!! I’M OUT OF HERE!!”

“I-ITS HAUNTED!!! EVERYONE RUN!!”

Filled with panic, the people not understanding the situation rushed towards the exit. The workers were even more confused than them, just standing there watching with shocked expressions.

Violet’s parents slowly turned to her, noticing that the plates had moved after she had pointed at them.

Her parents were just as confused as anyone else, grabbing her and rushing with her out of the store along with everyone else.

Their expressions held fear, confusion and worry, all in one, but they didn’t stop.

*Beep* *Beep*

And they had failed to realise the beeping camera at the end of the room, turned to them.