Fae didn’t feel much when she saw it.

She had never seen a body before, and it wasn’t like it was someone she knew. She understood that she should be scared or disgusted, it was just that she felt nothing. Was she just in shock? Was it natural that she didn’t know how to react?

“Fae?” a voice set her hair on end.

Standing near the body in a clearing in the crowd, there were five people looking back at her. One set of those eyes looked back at her like those of a dead fish. She immediately recognized who they belonged to.

“…Ocean?” Fae asked. Based on what Minerva told her, she knew he would be here. Despite that, it didn’t change how strange it was seeing him surrounded by a crowd of frozen people.

Ocean looked over to the other four and then quickly snapped his neck back toward her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but his mouth just hung open.

A man in a gray suit pointed at her. “You… know this girl?” Another man in a suit and a man in a baseball hat stood next to him, both eyeing her silently. None of them looked particularly friendly.

“She goes to my school,” Ocean finally spoke. “But… she’s supposed to be missing. That’s what our teacher said, anyway.”

Uh-oh. Somehow, she had almost forgot about being a fugitive. Hopefully they wouldn’t try and capture her or something. She had done enough fighting for one lifetime.

“Uh… Stingray…” a girl she recognized from school said. If she remembered right, her name was Liliana. Liliana leaned over to Ocean, but spoke loud enough that Fae could hear her. “She’s not wearing a watch.”

Fae held up her wrists in front of her. “Oh,” she said. They meant those watches that Minerva made. “No, I… I’m not, uh… I mean, they probably don’t work on everyone,” she suddenly realized how much pressure five people staring at her caused. Did knowing about the watches come off as suspicious?

“Don’t work on everyone?” Liliana yelled. “Really? You guys never said anything about that! This whole plan could have been, uh, what’s the word?” She put her hand on her chin. “…Compromised! That’s it. This whole thing could have been compromised!”

“Don’t look at me,” the man in the suit snapped back. “I’ve never seen anyone without a watch moving around during a stop. Never even heard of it.”

“Compromised!”

“Will you quit that?”

“Anyway,” Fae raised her voice a little. “I… don’t need one. So, yeah.”

“Can this day get any crazier?” the man in the gray suit sighed. “No matter how you look at it, this isn’t normal.”

“We’re talking about watches that stop time,” Liliana poked Ocean in the side repeatedly. “I think we left ‘normal’ behind a long time ago.”

“Ouch,” Ocean groaned. “Why are you attacking me, exactly?”

Fae let out an exasperated sigh. This was going nowhere fast.

“Uhh, I’m just here to get my brother,” Fae said. “I think he should be somewhere around here.” She took a step forward, and they all flinched. “Sorry. I’m… really not going to hurt anyone…”

“Sorry, girl,” the other man in a suit said. “But is there any way you can prove that?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“Even if you’re not here to fight or something,” the man reached into his pocket. “How can we know you’re not going to tell the cops you saw us here?”

“Because…” the words almost got stuck in Fae’s throat. She recomposed herself and looked straight at the man, not an ounce of fear in her. “The police are looking for me. As long as you keep seeing me a secret, I’ll do the same for you.”

“Is that right?” the man gave her a crooked smile. “I don’t like that look in your eyes.”

“Enough, Marco,” the man in the grey suit grabbed him by the arm. “She’s just a kid.”

“Luca, a kid is more than capable of fucking up our lives.”

“I’ll… vouch for her,” Ocean spoke up. “Fae isn’t someone that goes back on her word.”

Fae wasn’t sure how he could say that about her given that they never talked, but she wasn’t going to argue.

The man, Marco, shrugged the other man off. He walked over to Ocean and stood uncomfortably close in front of him. “You willing to put your life on the line for her word?”

“Hey, that’s enough,” the man in grey, who was apparently named Luca, said.

“It’s fine,” Ocean replied without a moment’s hesitation. “Because I’m more than willing to stake my life on it.

“Yeah?” Marco cocked his head to the side.

“Yeah,” Ocean replied. “Don’t underestimate me. You saw how prepared I was to fight to the death today.”

Fae had no idea what they were talking about, but judging by the dead body, it was safe to say something had happened here as well. This must have been what Minerva was talking about when she asked her to bring Ocean the watches. But… if her previous master was the ‘player’ Minerva wanted to expel from her ‘game’, then who was this?

After a moment of silence, Marco lifted up his hand. He placed it on top of Ocean’s head and ruffled his hair. “Alright,” he said, smiling again. “I’ll trust the girl then.” With that, he walked away into the crowd.

“Where are you going?” Luca called after him.

“Getting the hell out of here while there’s still time,” Marco yelled back.

“What happened to killing me?”

“I’ve had enough killing for today. I can take care of you whenever I feel like it.”

Luca sighed. “Fuck head.”

Fae looked on, a dull frustration swelling up inside of her. She didn’t exactly want to spend any more time here if she didn’t want to.

“Fae,” Ocean walked over to her. “I know where Jaden is. I can show you… if you want.”

Fae took a deep breath. “Please do.”

“Okay,” Ocean nodded before looking back behind him. “You three should get Celeste and Ruby and hurry out of here.”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“What about Xavier and Quinn?” Liliana asked.

“They said that if the watches came into play, they would take care of things themselves when they could move again,” Ocean replied. “Besides, Quinn is way too heavy right now. Moving her around is too risky.”

“Okay,” Liliana’s voice got quieter. “But… what about you?”

“It’s alright,” Ocean said. “I’ll manage one way or another.”

Liliana didn’t look like she was buying it, but another voice spoke up before she could say anything else.

“Wait a minute,” the man with a baseball hat said, his deep voice almost booming. “I know this girl.”

Fae turned to look at him, and her heart dropped. This was the man she electrocuted when she came in the convention center earlier. The one she knocked out. Thankfully, he was still alive, but he didn’t look happy.

Before he could continue, Fae cut him off. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “I didn’t have control of myself when I did that. I’m… so sorry.”

She honestly felt bad, but that wasn’t the only reason for her outburst. After already wasting enough time with these people, she didn’t feel like explaining why she could create electricity with her bare hands. She just wanted to get her brother and get out of there.

“Hmm?” Liliana looked confused. “Did something happen?”

The man in the hat blew air out of his nostrils. “Forget it,” he said. “I guess it doesn’t really matter.” He turned to Ocean. “Be careful.”

“You too,” Ocean gave him a thumbs up.

“Ocean…” Liliana frowned. “I’ll see you soon, right?”

“Yeah. We both need to pay a visit to Cory in the hospital after all.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “It’s a promise.”

“Pietro, you get the girl on that side,” Luca pointed into the air to the second floor. “I’ll get the one over here.” With that, Liliana and the two men disappeared into the crowd.

When they were gone, Ocean spoke. “Follow me,” he motioned to her with his hand. “I’ll show you where Jaden is.”

“Thank you.”

They snaked through the mass of people. Everyone was stuck with their hands up and mouths open. It was unsettling. Neither of them said anything, which only served to to make the atmosphere even worse.

Finally, Ocean stopped. “Here he is.” He pointed out in front of him.

Jaden stood there with a look of terror on his face. It was a look she had never seen on him. One of pure vulnerability. What in the world happened here?

“The, uh, guy from earlier,” Ocean must have understood what she was thinking from her expression alone. “The one of the ground, I mean. He took Jaden hostage.”

“Took him hostage?” Fae mumbled the words.

“Yeah,” Ocean cleared his throat. “Don’t worry though. We made sure nothing happened to him.”

“I… see,” Fae said. “Well thank you for that.”

“Of course.”

They were quiet for a minute, both just staring at Jaden.

“Well, I suppose I should get going then,” Fae walked over to her brother. “Thank you again.”

“Won’t you need help carrying him?” Ocean asked.

“I should be fine,” Fae replied. After all, she managed to carry four people at once earlier that same day. One was nothing.

“Alright, if you say so.”

She moved to wrap her arm around Jaden’s waist, but Ocean speaking again made her hesitate.

“Hey, I know this isn’t the time or place,” Ocean said, a slight shudder in his voice. “But I… want to tell you something.”

“Hmm?” Fae looked up at him. His eyes darted to the side. “Is it important?”

“I don’t know if it’s important or not,” he went on. “It’s just… I feel like if I don’t talk about it now, I might not ever get to. If it’s okay with you, of course.”

“Uh, okay…” she tilted her head. She had no idea where he was going with this.

“I guess… it all kind of goes back to when I first moved here from California three years ago,” Ocean’s gaze was still cast downward. “I sort of had to restart my whole life when that happened.”

“That… must have been hard,” Fae said what sounded natural for someone to say in this situation. Whether or not she actually felt any sympathy, she wasn’t sure.

“Thanks,” Ocean said, his voice starting to steady. “The main thing was… my brother went missing when all that happened.”

“I never knew you had a brother.”

“Yeah. I don’t talk to people about him much.”

What was this? Why was he telling her his life story? She didn’t want to spend any more time here, but she wasn’t sure how to end the conversation. Instead, she just stood there and listened, a pit forming in her stomach.

“Anyway, my mind wasn’t on school after that happened. I stopped caring about my grades, and I decided that I hated school,” Ocean sighed. “I started being really sarcastic too. I think I just felt like everyone would think I was happy if I made everything into a joke.” He laughed bitterly. “I guess it didn’t really work. I just came off like an asshole to everyone.”

“I see,” Fae said. She didn’t want to say it, but he was right. His attitude had rubbed her the wrong way too.

“After a year of that, I really started to hate the person I was becoming,” Ocean swallowed. “I wanted to change, but… before I knew it, I didn’t know how to be any other way.”

There was a long pause.

“And then, in my sophomore year,” he looked up. “I met you.”

Fae’s heart jumped in her chest. When he met her? What was he trying to say?

“Don’t worry,” Ocean quickly added. “I’m not expecting you to remember the first time we spoke or anything. It obviously didn’t mean as much to you as it meant to me.”

Fae’s face flushed. This wasn’t what she thought it was, right? He wasn’t seriously going to… confess something to her, was he?

“That day, I was asked by a science teacher to bring some books down for them. I wanted to get it over with, so thought I’d bring all the books down at once,” Ocean put his hands in his pockets. “When I got there, I dropped them all over the floor.” He took a deep breath. “You helped me pick them up, and that’s when you spoke to me.”

“I-I-I s-spoke to you?” she stammered. Why couldn’t she remember this ever happening? This was practically a scene out of ‘The Bookshop of Mysteries’.

“You asked me if I liked science.”

“Huh?”

“Well, all the books were science books.”

Fae was almost afraid to ask, but she asked anyway. “And what did you say?”

“I said I sucked at it.”

“…Oh.”

“Then… you looked right at me,” Ocean glanced up at a window on the ceiling before moving his eyes back down to her again. “You looked right at me and said, ‘That’s okay. You don’t need to be good at something to enjoy it’.”

Fae narrowed her eyes. “That’s… it?”

Ocean laughed under his breath. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said. “But believe it or not, those words changed my life.”

“What?” Fae thought Ocean might have been joking, but the look on his face said otherwise. “Why would that…”

“I guess I just never thought about it that way,” Ocean scratched the side of his head. “My mind was other places when I was at school, and my grades suffered at lot. If my grades were bad, then I thought I must have been a bad at the subject. If I was bad at the subject, I thought it was only natural to hate it. When I started to look at it with that you said in mind… school got a lot more fun.”

“But… what I said…” Fae stuttered. “I mean, it’s not like I said anything special. That changed your life?”

“Fae,” Ocean said. “Those words were special. They were to me, anyway. As insignificant as they might seem… they were exactly what I needed to hear back then. So… Thanks.” He smiled at her, and for a second, his dead fish eyes seemed to light up.

“You’re welcome,” she managed to choke the words out. She didn’t know what else to say. The idea that anything she had ever said or done could affect someone’s life so much had never even crossed her mind. She spent so much time avoiding any real contact with people, she didn’t even know something like this was possible.

An awkward silence descended on them. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do now.

“Anyway,” Ocean sighed, looking down at the ground again. “That’s all I wanted to tell you. Sorry to keep you for so long.”

“It’s o-okay,” Fae turned to Jaden, nearly tripping in the process. She caught herself, and turned back to Ocean.

“Actually… I’ve been thinking a lot about changing myself lately too.”

He looked back up at her. “You have?”

“I realized that I didn’t even know who I was anymore,” she said. “So… I wanted to change, but I wasn’t sure how I’d do it either.”

Ocean waited for her to continue.

“It’s hard to explain,” she went on. “A lot happened, and what you just told me made me realize that maybe… today can be my new start. Maybe today is the first day for the new me.”

As the words left her lips, she felt a weight leave her chest, like all her uncertainty had been replaced with something else. Something warm. Something that belonged to her, and her alone. She could feel herself smiling. It felt good. Smiling was something she could get used to.

It took him a moment, but Ocean returned the smile. “I’m… glad you feel that way.” Somehow, the room seemed a lot brighter.

“Alright,” Fae exhaled. “I guess... I really should take Jaden and get out of here then.”

“Yeah.”

Fae wrapped her hand around Jaden’s waist. “Will you be alright?” she asked. “All your friends seem like they’ve already left.”

“Uhh…” Ocean’s shoulders dropped. “I’ll figure something out.”

“If you want…” Fae started. “I could carry you too.”

Ocean looked at her like she was crazy. “Carry me?”

“What?” Fae asked. “You don’t think I can do it?”

“…Can you?”

“Come here,” Fae felt the jolt of electricity shoot through her body. “I’ll show you.”

“Wait,” Ocean said, looking around the room for a moment. “I heard there was a… ‘magic battle’ going on out there or something.”

“Magic battle?” Fae tilted her head. “Oh, yes. The city’s a little crazy right now, but it’s all over with. Don’t worry.”

“Uh, okay,” Ocean narrowed his eyes. “So how exactly are we going to make our great escape?”

“I told you already,” Fae said, picking up Jaden under one of her arms like it was nothing.

Ocean jumped.

“I’m stronger than I look.”