While I’ve been to DEED’s Headquarters before, I was a little too incensed to take a good look around last time. The second elevator ride was a bit claustrophobic, especially since we were trying to fit 7 people and a wheelchair inside. There wasn’t much useful conversation, it was mostly just people complaining about how close they were to one another. Eventually, the elevator door opened once again, and we all poured out into the meeting room that I had already been in before. It almost looked like an interrogation chamber, now that I could give it a good look, except that it had a large table in the center lined with nine seats.

“So, about the matter at hand,” Eden said. “I can remove the girl’s memory of the incident, but it might not be necessary. She might not remember anything anyway.”

“You know that it isn’t worth the risk,” Blaise added. “If anyone finds out about DEED, we’re screwed.”

“What does DEED even mean, anyway?” I asked.

“The Department of Extraterrestrial and Extradimensional Defense, that’s what DEED stands for,” Scarlet explained. “There are two branches, as you already know, East and West. DEED’s East branch is dedicated to alien technology and research, while we, the West branch, form something of a task force to deal with threats of the immaterial variety. DEED initially took us a lot more seriously back during the pentagram incident, but they pulled out all of their resources when they found that egg underneath New York.”

“Hold on, what egg?” I asked.

“Something codenamed ‘orphan’, the focal point of Project Psi. We’ve been deliberately left out of the loop on the matter, but it’s very classified information,” Eden replied.

“Why are you telling me then?” I asked.

“Because even if you believe us, nobody else would. People call in reports of UFOs all the time, but DEED hasn’t ever actually found traces of alien life, we only have theories,” Scarlet said. “The egg is a massive breakthrough because it’s so wildly different from anything else we’ve seen before. It’s much more interesting to the higher-ups than some string of murders in Washington State.”

“Well, it’s nice to know that you think I’m dumber than the average person,” I said.

“No, it’s just that you’ve seen way more than they have,” Scarlet said. “Like Noe, for instance. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to accept that the world is bigger than they are, I’m surprised you took it as well as you did.”

While we were talking, Eden took off his glove and put his hand up to Brooklyn’s temple, and closed his eyes. He seemed to be concentrating on something, which I assumed to be erasing Brooklyn’s memory. As messed up as this is, it’s probably for the best that Brooklyn doesn’t remember. Eventually, Eden removed his hand from the side of Brooklyn’s head and slipped it back into his glove.

“It’s done,” Eden said. “The girl should have no memory of the incident. My abilities aren’t precise enough to alter someone’s preexisting memories, but I made sure to keep everything leading up to her encounter with Mr. Abner.”

“How long do we have before she wakes up?” Scarlet asked.

“About two hours, you should probably bring her to your place with Ashton so she doesn’t wake up here,” Eden said. “I don’t want to have to erase her memories again, it isn’t a completely harmless process if done too frequently.”

“I guess we have to head out now then, I’ll try to get Ashton up to speed about working with us on the way there,” Scarlet said.

[ cut ]

Scarlet and I headed up the elevator and to his car, which I hadn’t ever seen before. It was small and at least a few years old, but it seemed fairly well-kept. We put Brooklyn in the back seat before driving up to the second elevator.

“So, Ashton” Scarlet said as we sat in the stopped car, waiting for the elevator doors to open, “try to keep Noe’s nature on the down-low until Ronin leaves again.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“I think its best that he doesn’t find out that she’s really a demon. He’s the overzealous type, a lot like Blaise,” Scarlet explained. “I understand your reluctance to keep information from him, especially if it could be important, but if you get into a fight with him and he truly intends to kill, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“He’s that strong?”

“I don’t know why, but there’s something different about him from last time we met. His sword is a manifested demon, that much I knew before, but when he took that gun from me, it was in the blink of an eye.”

“Wait, did you pull a gun on Blaise with the intent of goading Ronin into using his ability?” I asked.

“That was part of it, yeah. If I really wanted to shoot Blaise, I would have just made a gun out of the iron and blood in my body like I did when I fought against Noe. Ronin fell for the bait hook, line, and sinker.”

“What did you find out?”

“There wasn’t a second between him standing on the other side of the room and him having the gun, the only explanation would be that he stopped or otherwise manipulated time. You know based on what he said in the van what that means.”

“He has a contract with an angel of death, doesn’t he?”

“Unless he was lying earlier, it certainly seems that way,” Scarlet said. “There’s something different about that sword as well, it reminds me of the scissors that Noe uses. That light means something, but these are the only two times I’ve encountered it. Either way, you said something about seeing Ronin move, what was that about?”

“Oh, it was probably nothing,” I said. “I must have been seeing things.”

“You said something about me shooting you earlier. Back when I was fighting Noe, I did intend to shoot you. Maybe not in the head, but I stopped because Noe put down her weapon.”

“So you believe me?” I asked.

“Why wouldn’t I? You haven’t lied to me about something like this before,” Scarlet replied.

“I have lied to you before,” I said. I don’t know if it’s true, I haven’t been keeping track.

“What did you see when Ronin took the gun?”

“I saw him walk over, take the gun from your hands by force, and then everything just went back to the way it was a few seconds before,” I explained. “I think he put his hand on his sword right before everything jumped back though.”

“I definitely didn’t see that; I would have remembered. There’s something going on with him,” Scarlet said. “If you see him do something like that again, you might be the only one who can stop him.”

“I think Noe saw it too.”

“She didn’t.”

“What?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Noe would have said something,” Scarlet said. “I already filled her in on the situation with Ronin. He contacted me as soon as he saw Blaise go after you, he said the situation was bad. I was worried you might be dead before we could get to you, so I asked him to intervene. I told her to not be afraid to speak up if he’s doing anything crazy because everyone else who was there could have easily taken him out in the worst-case scenario.”

“You said you trusted Ronin, why are you being so paranoid now?”

“Because I want him to think I trust him. I want you and Noe to keep an eye on him, she’s the most competent fighter we have,” Scarlet said.

“Blaise can make people explode from the inside out.”

Scarlet paused.

“Did I say something wrong?” I asked.

“First off, how do you know that? Second, You saw the fight between the two of them. Ronin is well capable of killing Blaise,” Scarlet said. “I’m more concerned about what Blaise might have done to show off his ability, unless…” Scarlet’s words trailed off, leaving an uncomfortable silence to grip the vehicle as we drove down the road. “Don’t tell Ronin about anything related to this, understand? He can’t know about Noe’s abilities.”

“What? What abilities?”

“For now, it’s better that you don’t know. If he finds out, he will kill you, both of you. If you feel like you’re in danger whatsoever, text me immediately, do not call me if Ronin is around, do you understand?”

“I… Yeah. I understand,” This sucks. I was really looking forward to learning about how Ronin fights, now I have to avoid talking with him about something I don’t even understand. Wait… Every time I’ve ‘died’, I’ve gone back to a point in time that allows me to retry again. That’s… Time travel, right? An angel of death, a spirit unbound by the laws of time. Noe was an angel of death, she had to be. That’s why I traveled back in time when I died, it was the power that Noe gave me when I became a sorcerer. Whatever she put in my eye, that must be what’s causing me to go back in time. What if it’s just back to the beginning of a projected future though, is it erasing the projection? Demons can hurt each other in projected futures, just like Noe said, but what if that future is erased? This is all too complicated for me, but one thing is for certain, Scarlet knows something that I don’t, and he probably has a good reason for not sharing it with me. If I knew whatever that piece of information is, it could put me in even more danger.

[ cut ]

Eventually, we arrived at Scarlet’s house, well, less a house and more a townhome apartment. I was still unsettled by the conversation we had in the car, but there was no use worrying about it now.

“By the way, I had your sister drop off a change of clothes for you,” Scarlet said. “I figured you’d want it after diving face-first into an ocean of blood.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I said. I was genuinely thankful, though it is a bit weird how well Scarlet knows my sister. I wouldn’t be surprised if they started dating or something if it weren’t for the fact that Scarlet is never going to make the first move, and Claire probably loves tormenting him even more than she does for me.

“You can change in the closet upstairs if you want, I’ll wait with Brooklyn until you’re done,” Scarlet said as he unlocked the door and waited for me to step inside. He then went back to the car and picked up Brooklyn. Considering how slight his build was, I was surprised by how easily he was lifting a girl who was at least 110lbs. Then again, I know his body structure is really messed up, so it follows that he might be stronger than the average person of his stature.

Scarlet laid Brooklyn down on the couch and took a seat on another chair in the living room before taking out his phone. I went upstairs and stepped into the room that looked like a closet. It was, in fact, a closet. Hanging on the sides of the room was what seemed to be Scarlet’s wardrobe, which consisted of both men’s and women’s clothing alike. Scarlet was very insistent on being called a man, but he always dressed like a girl whenever he had to go around in public, I should probably ask him about that.

After I shut the door to the closet, I heard the sound of something moving from somewhere above me. There was a shelf layer that spanned across all of the walls, and atop it was a small, black cat. It spooked me at first, I wasn’t expecting something else to be in here with me, but when I reopened the door, the cat jumped down and left the closet.

“Sorry, that’s Skittles,” Scarlet said. “He’s been living here with me for a few years now, ever since the original pentagram incident. Don’t mind him, he’s nice.”

Somehow, I’m not surprised that Scarlet is a cat person. Skittles is a really stupid name though; it sounds like something a kid would come up with.

The clothes that my sister brought me were functional, there wasn’t much more to say. The only problem with them was the jacket she had left for me, a dull red coat with a grey inner lining. I hated this jacket for very personal reasons. They were what I had worn on the day of that car accident.

Thinking back on it, something was definitely going on with the incident in which my parents died. They were in some kind of daze, practically unconscious. It was just like those people when I was near the market, the second one of the new pentagram killings. That wasn’t just a freak accident, my family was killed on purpose. Just another reason to hate the world that took them away from me.

I swallowed my bad memories and put on the coat before walking downstairs. Waiting for me down there was Scarlet and the still-unconscious Brooklyn. Skittles was somewhere out of sight.

“What happened to the cat?” I asked.

“He’s a bit… troublesome,” Scarlet said. “Especially so when he doesn’t want to be found. It’s bizarre that he’s so timid, especially considering how we found him.”

“How did you find him?”

“Skittles was involved in one of the pentagram killings, during which he was possessed by a demon, likely the same demon we’re dealing with now. We were worried about him possibly having a backdoor to further possessions, so I decided to keep him in case that happens again.”

“Another question,” I asked. “You’re so insistent on being a man, so why do you own so much women’s clothes?”

“Well, it’s partially because I look good in them,” Scarlet replied, laughing a bit while putting his hand behind his head.

“You’re lying, aren’t you? That’s not a reason, that’s an excuse,” I said. It was probably rude to say, but I knew that wasn’t the reason why.

“Eh… You’re right. Sorry,” Scarlet said. “In reality, I guess it’s because that’s how people expect me to dress,” Scarlet reached into the neck of his shirt and pulled out a small silver pendant in the shape of a cross. “Others of my religion don’t tend to be too accepting of those who break the norm in certain ways.”

“Why do you care about what they think?”

“I… I guess it’s because I don’t want to bother them.”

“So, you’d rather stop being yourself than upset a few stuck-up people.”

Scarlet nodded, almost ashamed.

“That’s stupid. Just so you know, I don’t care how you dress, I doubt my sister does either,” I said.

“I'm glad that you feel that way, but not everyone else does.”

“To hell with what they think! You’re going to let the world around you dictate the way you get to live your life? Be who you are, not what others tell you to be!” I shouted. “If you don’t get to choose the clothes on your back, what do you even have?!”

“Ashton… I-“

“No, you don’t understand! If the world is keeping you down, destroy it! Nothing should stand in your way if you’re doing what’s right. No one should be oppressed like that, not by the government, not by their peers, not by society as a whole! Be yourself, not what they tell you to be!” I continued to raise my voice in anger. “Everyone is so obsessed with telling people that they’re part of some category, as though you’re trying to sort everyone into a different box. People need to embrace their uniqueness, that’s the only way to fight against this rotten, corrupt world!”

“Ashton, are you trying to hit on me?”

“Huh?!” That’s a good question, what was I trying to do? What was the point in what I was saying, why did I care about Scarlet? This wasn’t because I liked him, was it? He’s a dude, I don’t usually swing that way.

“What you’re saying isn’t wrong, but what does that have to do with our current situation.”

“I… Uh…” My mind was still racing. Maybe I did swing that way, I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about that very much.

“I thought you already knew that I like your sister. I was serious when I said I wasn’t into guys,” Scarlet said.

“Yeah. Yeah, I know. Sorry, that was awkward.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Why do you own a ma-“

“Your sister bought it for me as a birthday present, she thought it was really funny. I didn’t. I have not, nor do I ever intend on wearing it,” Scarlet crossed his arms and sighed.

“Hold on a second, I didn’t know my sister was-“

“That she was into that sort of stuff? Claire thought I was a girl until halfway through our senior year, at which point we were already dating. She said something very similar to what you were saying earlier, about how I have to stop hiding who I am for the sake of others. If it weren’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have told you or anyone else that I’m a dude,” Scarlet said. “We broke up after the pentagram incident, she said she needed some time to cool off after everything that had happened. I’ve considered asking her if we should get back together, but I think you already know how hard it can be to say something like that.”

“Yeah, I get it. Sorry for… Everything.”

“You shouldn’t apologize, I knew that you weren’t hitting on me.”

“Why did you ask then?”

“Because I wanted to get you to shut up. Sometimes people don’t want to talk about all of their issues. You aren’t saying anything I haven’t heard before,” Scarlet said.

I didn’t realize he could be like that. Whenever I saw him interacting with the others at DEED, it was like he was a completely different person. Now, he was acting more like he did when he first interrogated me. Maybe, once he breaks out of his introverted shell, Scarlet isn’t as laid-back a person as I first thought.

“By the way, the girl should be waking up any minute now,” Scarlet said.

“Yeah, let’s hope so.”

[ cut ]