Alright, found something that isn't total crap. Well, at least somewhat bearable.

Summary: Some time after the first and second game. Soma is forced to go onto a social function. And he gets a message.

Kind of shit: Shipping shit. (Lucifer x Soma/MC x Soma) Implied at least, if you squint. Verges more on character study.

Canon?: Like everything shipping: Nope.

Warnings: One sentence might be a little bit...Let's say Soma has stuff to deal with.

Polite, formal interactions were not his forte. As his leader once put it: If she wanted to sabotage a delicate, diplomatic gathering in the most formal, spectacular way without bloodshed, she would probably choose him as a representative. While she more meant it as a joke, he couldn't help but agree.

The air around those politicians in the upper ranks of Fenrir left a bad taste in his mouth and he wanted nothing else than hole himself up in his laboratory or on a mission right now. But since he was a researcher with an 'impressive' legacy now, a veteran God Eater and a member of the independent Cradle Unit, he was required to be here.

And by 'required', it meant that old man Paylor 'insisted' that he had to make an appearance with that dark, creepy, fox-like smile of his. There wasn't much of a choice. At least, he could wear his usual uniform. They tried to force a suit on him but he had the excuse that it was in case an emergency was coming up.

And with a champagne glass in hand and trying to find a place to hide from these pesky people that started to flock around him ever since he entered the room. Fellow higher-ranked researchers were the least of his problems and he actually enjoyed exchanging theories but most of the times, they couldn't help to compare him to his father. How intelligent he was, how he furthered the development of God Arcs and the Bias Factor and how it was such a pity that he had to depart so soon from this world.

Yeah, he did all that by emotionally abusing his son, almost killing his former leader and friend, manipulating a girl into doing his dirty work, hurt another girl he considered a sister and almost killed all of them in a last ditch effort to bring Armageddon upon the world. Then at the very end, he dared to pull the 'father' card by begging him to go to safety.

Even though he made peace with his father in his mind, it stayed a delicate subject matter. His father had been an intelligent man with good intentions, just like his mother. He was just so blinded by grief that his sanity went completely downhill. Still, it was not enough that Soma could forgive him for what he did. It didn't revoke either all the years that he was treated as a mere test subject, tool and monster for his cause, nor the consequences his father's actions on the others.

Shio was gone. Lindow's arm was permanently mutated. Some officials still gave him and the Far Eastern Branch a hard time because of the 'failed' project that dumped a large portion of their investments with no result.

His eyes trailed over all the finely dressed people. The chit-chat was unpleasantly loud for his senses as was the collective cloud of perfumes and after-shaves that hovered over them. It felt unpleasant. He tried to not inhale deeply as he sighed and eyed the untouched champagne glass in his hand.

For a straight hour now, he was contemplating to just drown his misery in alcohol and then excuse himself saying that he felt sick. There were just two problems: First, it wouldn't shine a good light on him or the Cradle Unit and second, that his heightened metabolism was straight up sabotaging this plan from the get-go. God Eaters didn't get drunk easily and downright needed an almost impressive amount of high-percentage beverages to even get to that point.

Run-of-the-mill champagne for normal people won't do the trick.

And still, his brain was calculating how many flasks of this fancy stuff he would need to get at least tipsy. Alcohol put a damper on his senses and he rather had that than halfway suffocating in here. Just as the glass touched his lips, he tracked a rather faint scent of something that caught his interest.

A more subdued scent, not sweet nor sharp and reminded him of the sickbay.

Sometimes they gave out herbal pastes against burns and treating scar tissue but he knew just one person who used it, or God Eater, to be specific.

It felt off in a place like this. His rational mind tried to write it off as someone attending being sick or injured. Some people here were God Eaters, after all.

An image flickered through his mind. A hint of iron, a hint of herbs and flowers. A slim pale back where the artistic tattoo of a moon and flowers hid most of the scars and past affiliations. A red gash was across it, a wound not deep and just beginning to heal.

"Could you do that for me?"

Soma closed his eyes and let his head hit the wall behind him.

It had been years since he last seen her. Her former unit spoke to her a couple of times when she called to report a new sighting or just to make sure that they knew that she was still alive and kicking. The most he got from her were her handwritten reports and tales that he got from other people that crossed her path.

But the messages came just in sporadically since the frontlines were still considered to be 'unclaimed'. There was no infrastructure to speak off and it was highly dangerous. He trusted that she was alright and didn't worry as much as the others about her. Alisa even accused him to worry too little about her well-being, especially when reports of new Aragami variant came in.

He was worried but if he lost his cool and expressed it openly, he feared that Alisa might snap and board the next chopper towards the frontlines. A year ago, this probably might have been a hand waved joke at the young woman's expense and Alisa would deny ever thinking about it but now…

Now it was a very real thing that could happen and he was very tempted to highjack the ride.

At that thought, he downed the champagne in one go and tried not to grimace at the taste. One down and a couple of more to go. He would need it to go through the night and not to think unwelcome thoughts. Work distracted him enough but when he was alone and had nothing to do they came up again.

Images of cold covers, an empty bed, the lack of the smell of coffee in the morning when he got up and an empty dark room assaulted his mind. And then somewhere in-between, a nightmarish picture flickered through. Of bloody corpses and hers own among them.

Soma kept his expression straight although he could feel his muscles tense for a second.

"She is fine." He thought to himself and tried to rain his rain of thoughts in before it went fully to the dark side of his mind.

Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, he heard Kota and Lindow telling him that he should brighten up a little.

With a sigh, he took his phone out of his jacket. There were new messages he hadn't had the time to go through. One form the science department that told him some results will come in tomorrow, Kota who – again – asked for advice how to deal with his new unit and Lindow who – also again – spammed him with pictures of his and Sakuya's son.

But then there was one mail with a sender he didn't recognize.

"We reached the encampment. Will have a stable connection now. – L."

That was the first time, she actually sent him something directly but he wouldn't complain. Still, he worried, though, since it wasn't like her.

"Is everything alright?" He typed and hit the send button. Of course, she was probably sleeping or on a mission or whatever she was doing. A message won't hurt and it wouldn't distract her like a phone call.

To his surprise, the answer to his question came almost immediately. With a frown gracing his features, he read it.

"I miss you."

He almost dropped the glass as he could feel how his heart made a leap in his chest. A curse escaped him as he felt some gazes turning to him.

If someone asked, he would just blame it on the alcohol, consequences be damned.

A/N (because I seem to like to do that): As a former social outcast, I imagine that Soma hates social functions because he just feels incrediably lost. (That's why I put him there.) But since he goes the science route like his father, he more or less has to network with other scientists (which are mostly employed by Fenrir).

The difference to Alisa's relationship path (let's call it like that) is that Soma is quite no-nonsense and not outright verbal with how he feels, especially at the beginning. That stocism mostly because he has no idea what to say, or how to act since I can't imagine him being in that sort of relationship ever before that. And because he likes being brutally honest sometimes. Likewise, Alisa's romantic route has more of the tradtional confession and going from there. With Soma and Lucifer there wasn't a confession. It just evolved and...happened. Cannonically, getting physical with a woman is easier for Lucifer than with a man. Alisa's relationship would advance more quicker than Soma's. Because issues.

So, I'm going to bed right now. Sleepy. Tired. Finished.