(Octavian 29, 59 / 7:22AM)

(Sean) Are you still holding a grudge after a whole year?

Sean continued to raise both of his hands high, as a trickle of sweat formed alongside his pale cheeks. Tracing along his glowing porcelain skin, the single droplet of water finally fell onto the wooden floor that evaporated from the 0% humidity.

Luke curled his lips into a large frown while having his hair block his right eye. Unable to lose concentration on the elf in front of him, even the footsteps from behind him weren’t enough to break him out of it.

(Hope) Luke!

Giving Luke a small tug toward her, she had both of her hands gripping onto his forearm, having her fingernails dig deep into his skin. Her eyes started to form tears, her body soon began to shake under the immense pressure that both men were in.

(Hope) Just leave Sean be, I got over it.

(Sean) See Luke, be like Hope. At least she moves on, you know, move forward.

(Luke) Some things I can forgive … but what you did …

(Sean) Look, it was an accident. I know I messed up, but that’s what humans do you know.

Luke gripped the collar of Sean’s black leather jacket, gripping it tightly as the height difference between the two of them was immense. With Sean being four inches taller than Luke, Luke had the advantage of having a hellish glare that surprisingly suited his face.

Even though he was well known for having a soft and caring smile.

Inhaling and exhaling in large quantities, Luke’s lungs started to expand outward as he forced unneeded air into his body.

(Luke) What humans do?

(Sean) Yeah. Everyone makes mistakes. Besides, some people have done a lot worse.

Seeing that Luke remained silent, Sean lowered his hands down to his sides.

Luke looked down onto the wooden floor, his face darkening evermore with his eyes radiating the vibrant color of red. Hunching his back, he couldn’t dare to look at the gingered-haired elf that was in front of him, turning his head to the left.

Sean moved his body forward, hovering over him with a wry smile.

(Sean) Don’t mean to change the tone, but how’s everyone doing? Is Jack good? Stan and his friends? What about Gwen?

Luke let go of Sean’s collar.

Like a pendulum of anger that soon released from his body, Luke slowly lifted his head upward with a nervous face. His legs, stomach, chest, knees, elbows, arms, feet, and hands; all were utterly loose like owl feathers in the early fall.

Hope and Miles looked away toward random parts of the wooden floor that were beneath them, not wanting to look into Sean’s eyes. As for Luna, she stared right into his eyes, not letting him escape from her grasp.

(Luna) Gwen died during the attack on Lagefor.

(Sean) W-What…?

His entire tone changed in a snap.

Replacing his cocky yet nervous tone with that of full-on confusion and despair, Sean let his hands drop down to his sides. Unable to bring his arms upward to his stomach, chest, or even face, Sean’s eyes started to twitch under the heaviness of the news.

Turning his attention back to Luke, Sean curled up his hands into fists.

(Sean) Is this true…?

(Luke) Yeah. She died by someone more powerful and smarter than her. And she made me the commander of the team as her last wish.

(Sean) Oh.

Sean glanced all around the diner, his eyes peering into the empty tables and corners of the building that they lay in. Analyzing specifically the corners, Sean continued to stare into the pitch-black void, his eyes fully immersed in the depth of the comfort of the shadows.

Luke furrowed his brow, glancing at the corner that caught Sean’s eye. Even though both men were looking at the same pitch-black corner, something was amiss in between those dark corners…

(Luke) Sorry, you didn’t hear this sooner.

(Sean) Sooner?

(Luke) Well, how would the news reach?

(Sean) But why her…?

Sean continued to blankly stare at the dark corner, as a black figure leaned its body onto the stone wall.

Like in suspended animation, the silhouette folded its arms as it stared blankly at the ground, not paying attention to anything around it. Keeping his eyes on the figure, Sean slanted his eyes while talking to Luke without maintaining eye contact.

But at an angle, Luke couldn’t see what the shadows lay, as his hair somewhat blocked his sight.

(Luke) Well .. it's complicated.

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(Sean) How would that be complicated?

(Luke) Look. I know I shouldn’t say this, but what’s done is done. We were the ones that were with her, you weren’t.

(Sean) What?

Sean instantly grabbed a hold of Luke’s collar.

Even though Sean didn’t hold any anger or rage inside of his throat, the only thing that he let out was a small chuckle. Pushing his eyes upward, he lit up a small smile despite his knuckles starting to ache from the force he inflicted upon Luke’s jacket.

Hope and Luna, as well as Miles, placed themselves right behind Luke.

(Sean) Let me get this straight. Gwen kicked me out, you guys don’t want anything to do with me, and now you’re complaining that I didn’t show up to bring her sunflowers?

(Luke) I don’t mean it like that—

(Sean) Then what exactly?

Pulling Luke close, Sean had his face centimeters away from Luke’s, as Sean continued to smile and grin even though his fists said otherwise. His feet began to motion his body in an unstable manner, he glued his heels down while straightening his back.

All the while Luke made a cold frown, the crevices of his lips reaching down onto his jawline.

(Sean) No no, tell me. What do you propose that I could’ve done? You already knew that I had no means of contact.

(Luke) Then—

(Sean) Go on.

Pulling away, Luke tightened his stomach. Putting his left hand into his leather jacket, he looked away from the ginger-haired man, his chest feeling as if he breathed in a heavy block of gold.

Letting his right hand rub his front thigh, he also took two steps back rather than just one. Unable to talk with him any further, Luke also took the extra mile to let out another load of air, his breath reaching Sean’s face.

(Luke) Nothing…

(Sean) You have no arguments against me. You practically always villainized me like I was some sort of deadweight.

Sean noticed a clear gas of whisky right next to him.

Extending his right hand, he grasped the glass shot with just his thumb and pointer finger, his eyes purely focused on the brown liquid. Letting the glass caress his lips, the foul contents of the devilish drink scrub away the water and moisture that kept his mouth clean from sin.

Stinging his throat, Sean instantly put the glass down on the bar table, wobbling backward as he then pointed toward Luke.

(Sean) Because Gwen died, you’re lacking a team member. You were assigned to recon, same as me, but now that you’re commander, who’s going to be recon?

(Luke) I could do both things at the same time.

(Sean) You’re not recon material. You wanna know why?

Sean showcased his right hip that holstered a black-coated Tommy gun. The grip of the gun shone its waxed state toward the rest of the Dark Angels, Luke raised both of his hands to his shoulders.

Followed by Miles and Hope raising them along with Luke, their eyes peering onto Sean’s hands. Luna meanwhile, hovered both her hands on her hips, watching Sean carefully like an eagle.

(Sean) You have a simple blessing of instinct, combined with luck. You may be a good survivalist, but who knows how well in terms of actually succeeding in trying to get info?

The black silhouette from the corner that Sean kept his eye on started to walk out from its dark home.

Slowly, the figure pulled up for the sun’s rays to cast its shadow, causing the four Dark Angles to look at the figure whose hands were in his pockets. Wielding just a black leather jacket, black slacks, and black leather boots…

The figure was Sean.

(Luke) What are you doing…

Glancing at the figure that looked exactly like the ginger-haired man in front of them, Sean let out a chuckle as he continued to showcase his Tommy. Noticing that Luna had her fingertips on the edge of the metal batons that she holstered, Sean tilted his head back while looking down at them.

As the figure with ginger hair and sharp elf ears also let out a smile and grin, exactly the same as the real deal, the figure also showcased its Tommy gun as well.

(Sean) Let’s play a little game of tag. If I win, you get to let me join back into the Dark Angels.

(Luke) And if you don’t?

(Sean) Then I could request another round.

Luke scrunched up his face, followed by a cold frown curling the ends of his lips down to his jawline. Combined with his hands hardened into fists yet again, his forearms bulged despite the lack of muscle and meat attached to them.

Luna took out both of her batons with both of her hands, holding them while giving daggers straight at Sean. Pointing her baton at Sean, he nodded once as he placed his left hand onto his gun.

(Sean) I see that Luna is down to play.

(Luna) I’ve been urging to punch someone for a while now.

(Sean) Good luck, because I’m not that easy to catch.

(Luke) Hold on, I didn’t say that we’re going to—

Having his right hand in his pocket, Sean took out a metal device, holding it with both of his hands. Throwing the object down to his feet, he jumped back while making headway to the back of the restaurant.

In no time, Luna lunged forward, her batons not fully unleashed even though she carried them like blades.

(Luna) Come back here!

As soon as Luna was right on top of the black metal device that Sean threw.

An explosion of smoke burst free from the walls of the gray steel.

In just one-fourth of a second, the plume of blinding smoke instantly clouded top of them, surrounding them in every aspect and angle. Covering their eyes from the initial blast, Luke had his sleeve tainted with dust that came off from the top of the ceiling.

Being covered by dust, the others let out horrid coughs.

(Luke) Sean!

(Luna) Shit! Where did he go!?

(Miles) I always hated that thing!

(Hope) We got to find him before he makes a huge scene!

Luckily, Luke was the first to escape from the plume of smoke. Opening up his eyes, his irises soon began to puff up as the strain started to jab him like a sickle. Using his hand like a fan, he continued to cough as he turned his body to see the cloud of smoke that still held the poor coughing souls.

(Luke) I’m over here!

In just a few seconds, the three of them got out of the smoke, panting and exasperating heavily since oxygen was deprived of them for a good half a minute. Thumping his chest two times, Miles placed both of his hands on his knees while hunching his body forward. Letting in the excess oxygen to be trapped within his body, Luna and Hope did the same.

Luna looked up toward a blackened window that couldn’t be reflected even from the morning's rays.

Hope looked down onto the wooden floor that engraved a footprint.

(Hope) That’s Sean’s footprint! We got to find him now…!

(Luke) Don’t worry, we’ll find him.

(Sean) Hello?

Sean put both of his hands inside his pockets.

Right in the dead center of the restaurant, Sean started to laugh uncontrollably as he placed his right hand on his stomach. Hunching forward in the process, his cackle managed to stir something from within Luna, who began to hover her fingers over the buttons latched on her battens.

But she placed her thumbs back onto the side of the metal.

(Luna) There you are!

By positioning herself, she leaped from the old creaky wooden floor while barreling two metal batons straight toward him. Thrusting back her right arm, she then threw it onward as she closed the distance between herself and Sean.

All the while Sean continued to stand with his arms folded between one another.

As she aimed the baton onto the crook of his nose, the metal made contact with his—

She passed through Sean like thin air.

Taken aback, she stumbled forward with both of her hands and arms barely holding her up as she fell down. Her two metal batons denting the wood near her, she ignored them as she looked up to see Sean still standing with his arms folded.

(Sean) What’s the matter?

(Luna) You fucker…

Sean began to flicker and glitch, as his body soon dissipated like some sort of hologram.

Grinding his enamels against one another, Luke let out an angry groan from out his throat, his vocals colliding against one another. Turning his head toward the front end of the restaurant, Luke noticed that the door had a huge dent mark, as the wood was recently damaged.

Putting his right palm onto his right eye, his hair soon grazed against his knuckles; he couldn't even soothe the normally calm man.

(Luke) Damn it…

With no other choice, Luke and the four others had one job.

A job to track down Sean to the bitter end, even if it means that they’ll gain an audience by doing so.