Disclaimer: I do not own Edens Zero, or any of its associated characters and lore. That right belongs to Hiro Mashima.

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Hermit and Valkyrie's Charges

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Granbell Kingdom, Planet Granbell, Sakura Cosmos, X492

Having watched over Shiki since his infancy, Hermit had grown accustomed to the quiet life on Granbell, although with her recent activities, the planet would be expecting visitors of some sort if possible. With the Kingdom's Machines running out of power to remain active very quickly, Hermit had transmitted out interplanetary distress calls from Granbell offering the location of valuable minerals to be mined from the planet in exchange for new batteries to supply the amusement park Machines with.

A week after Hermit's original distress call was sent, the park was soon approached by a young, navy blue-haired woman wearing a yellow kimono with a seemingly flat look on her attractive face. Upon the girl's entrance into the park, many of the Machines came out to greet their first customer in a long time which the kimono-wearer took in a polite stride. Seeing the commotion, Hermit was making her way to the new girl as well before she heard a loud, ecstatic voice.

"Hey, guys!" Shiki himself called out as he used his Gravity Ether Gear to speed along into the gathering and straight into the visitor.

Seeing that he was going too fast, Hermit called out. "Shiki, stop!" But by the time he slowed down, Shiki had crashed into the new girl just as she brought out her own Ether Gear that Hermit quickly recognized before they both fell to the ground with the former nursing a headache and the latter unconscious. Sighing, Hermit then sarcastically said. "Well, that could've been better." Nonetheless, seeing that the girl was more than likely Valkyrie's student on account of having the same Soul Blade Ether Gear, she nonetheless couldn't resist thinking of a naughty thought. "Hey, Shiki! You knocked that poor girl unconscious! You better do something about that!"

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Homura Kōgetsu was slowly finding herself awake when she felt something sweet on her lips and something even slimier in her mouth. When she tried to speak about what was going on, Homura found out that she was being kissed by a wild-haired boy much to her surprise and shock. Pushing the young man off of her, Homura got back on her feet and demanded. "What was that about?! It may have been exceedingly pleasant, but that doesn't mean it was called for!" She then brought her sleeve to her face when she realized she spoke that last part aloud. "Why did I have to speak my mind about that?"

"Uh, sorry." Her first kiss apologized with uncertainty before he pointed to a young-looking android with a smug smile. "I was just doing what Hermit told me to do."

"Couldn't resist." Hermit answered herself with a teasing giggle.

"Wait, you're one of the Four Shining Stars?" Homura asked her to which she nodded. Showing a small smile of the possibility of both finding a lead to Valkyrie and perhaps challenging the Demon King, Homura commented. "Answering that distress signal is bearing more fruit than I realized."

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With the whole toss and turns of the Hermit arc, I originally disposed of my separate one-shots ideas featuring Hermit and Homura in order to save room, but then after some prompting from Warmachine375 on FFN and the remembrance of a certain GIF, I had an idea to both make an AU of Hermit raising Shiki on Granbell and Shiki himself being paired with Homura.

I know that Homura doesn't seem to have her own spaceship at the moment, like the Aqua Wing, but since she was at the Adventurer's Guild when she was introduced, then it's more than likely she's already an Adventurer, or someone who might do travel occasionally.