Honkai Impact 3rd AU: The Runic Anomaly

***

After a fun game of Hide & Seek with the ELFs, Einstein and Vill were analysing the data they received on the ELFs through said game. So far everything was great, better than expected actually.

Thor had shared what he found on the possibility of sentience with Einstein, something he told her to think long and hard about.

"Hah…" Slumping in the chair Einstein tosses the data pad onto the desk. She tilts her head back and stares at the ceiling.

"Just one thing after another."

***

"Move that table over there and keep the drinks by the wall…" Eden directed, while Elysia nearby, watched the party planning unfold. With her tour on break, Eden had taken over as organiser this year.

"How's it going?" Thor suddenly came up next to her, he scanned the room noting how the place looked, and he couldn't say anything, to him it looked good, but based on Eden shuffling things around, something must be off.

Elysia held onto his arm and cooed, "Ohhh~ Back already, Himeko and Aura couldn't handle it then?"

Thor kept a straight face, "So it was you two that put them up to it. It was very enjoyable to say the least." He smirked at the end causing Elysia to pout.

Thor just laughed and pulled her cheek gently to which she swatted his hand away. Moments later Elysia's eyes gained new light as she grinned, "I noticed how close Aponia has been to you recently~ There wouldn't happen to be something your not telling us~" 

Her eyes shone pink and Thor stared into them and just ignored her question and gave her a peck on the lips.

Elysia's momentum broke as she just stared blankly at him.

Thor, noticing her blank state, chuckled and detached himself from her and walked over to Eden, leaving Elysia staring blankly into space.

***

As the day of the party came both Mobius and Himeko were once again pulled aside by Eden and Elysia to decide their outfits for the party.

"Seriously, how do you two have no sense of fashion?" Eden said while adjusting the jacket she was fitting on Himeko.

Himeko scoffed, "And Thor does? The guy walks around in trousers, a shirt and a jacket everyday. I bet he will come to the party dressed the same way."

"Yeah, but he looks hot like that," Elysia shot back, grinning smugly as she shut Himeko down. She then held up two outfits to Mobius.

Mobius gave her an annoyed stare, "Why are we wasting time again, Elysia? This is the 13th and 14th outfit you're showing me."

"Mou~ But they all look so good on you Moby-chan. And you haven't chosen one either." Elysia gave her the puppy dog eyes that did nothing.

Mobius choked, "Are you saying I could have just picked the first one and been done with it…?"

Elysia tilted her head, "Why yes?"

"I'm leaving." Mobius turned to leave, she couldn't believe she wasted so much time here.

Elysia panicked and grabbed Mobius's hand. "Wait!" She leaned in close and whispered. "What if Thor saw you in something like this?" She moved the 14th outfit in front of her.

Mobius frowned, "Why would that matter?"

Elysia covered her lips with her hand and giggled prompting Mobius to look at her strangely.

"Is she that dense?" Himko asked Eden as she witnessed it.

Eden nodded, "Quite in fact, she thinks being near Thor is just to raise her endorphin levels." Himeko winced at that, the woes of being too literal.

Eventually Mobius reluctantly wore the 14th outfit to just get out of there. Himeko was also put into a wine red dress.

***

With the combined efforts of Elysia and Eden's speech, the party was now in full swing, the general public being able to attend was a major point of this party.

Thankfully, they managed to keep the amount of attendees manageable, and the broadcast had already been turned off following the end of the speech.

People mingled and others gathered around parts of the team, most Moth employees that attended had more breathing room, but still had the stray question come their way. 

Thor however, was unbothered, no-one gathered around him, he could see many of them stealing glances his way wanting to interact with him but, there was one problem.

Thor looked to his side to see a dressed up Aurora that had one arm locked around his, she took a sip of champagne every now and again, she was also letting off a "Leave us alone" aura, and it was clearly working.

Thor laughed to himself causing Aurora to tilt her head at him wondering why he suddenly started laughing.

"Never change Aura, never change." His words caused her even more confusion, but Alter told her to just go with it.

…

A while later, a little girl he recognised to be the daughter of Ato and Blanca, had wandered over to him, her eyes glazed over.

Completely ignoring Aurora's "Leave us alone" aura, Griseo came up to Thor and tugged on his sleeve.

Thor looked down at her with a questioning gaze.

Griseo pointed at him, "Gold. Black. White. Blue." She then took a hold of his hand and just stared off into space.

Thor furrowed his brow, he'd heard from Rin and her escapades with this girl about this weird quirk of hers, he didn't think much of it until she just did what she did. 'Soul Sight, or something similar at least?'

Thor thought this based on how the girl clearly saw traits of him, albeit traits he doesn't try to safeguard, but still traits nonetheless. Moments later Ato and Blanca pushed through the crowd only to see Griseo next to Thor holding his hand.

Blanca sighed in relief and Ato wiped his brow. Both sending Thor an apologetic look. Thor just shook his head, telling them not to mind it. So the two parents just watched as Griseo gained a small smile.

…

"Urgh, why do I have to wear this crap?" Hua was struggling to move freely in the clothing, she'd much rather wear her combat gear than this stuff. "Ugh." She tugged at the neckline as it felt weirdly tight.

"It's just something you'll have to get used to Hua." Himeko said from beside her, waving off a group of people that had been trying to curry favour with her. 

Handing her glass to a nearby waiter she continues, "If you want to have more responsibility like you've been asking for, attending parties like this is something you just need to get used to."

Hua wanted to complain more but something cut her off.

"Disgusting. They throw a party instead of protecting us?" Her head snapped to the source and saw a small group huddled together.

She slowly looked back to Himeko and noticed the woman's scowl, 'Yep, your fucked…You deserve it.'

But contrary to what she thought, Himeko didn't move, instead she just stood there giving the group a death glare.

To Himeko, she honestly wanted to pull out her gun and shoot them, but she held off, 'Ungrateful shits.'

*We'd be better off without them*

Himeko then went into a daze, 'We would.'

*To discredit our efforts demands death,*

'Right…'

*we must destroy them, incinerate–* Hua suddenly pulled her arm.

"Himeko?" She looked at her with worry.

"Huh?" Himeko snapped out of her daze. She looked at the group that were being escorted out by security already then back at Hua's concerned face.

She smiled and ruffled the girl's hair, "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Hua groaned, "Why do you keep doing that?!"

"Hmm? Thor does it all the time, why can't I?"

"That's because…" Hua couldn't say anything and Himeko took her silence as permission to continue patting her. Unknowingly an orange crest had appeared on her back, but vanished soon after.

…

Meanwhile Thor felt an ominous feeling that quickly vanished, he scanned the whole area and found nothing. Knowing that it obviously wasn't nothing if the way Aurora and the rest of the group that could feel it, had hardened looks.

…

But even after checking the area and beyond with the ELFs multiple times they found nothing.

So the party just resumed except for the weird tension between the superpowered group.

Once the party had ended the group gathered, much to the confusion of those oblivious of the ominous feeling they all got and explained what they felt, along with any ideas to what might have caused it.

In the end they couldn't find anything, but decided to up the security and surveillance of Moth for the future.

***

A/N: Hi