Sab had run away, leaving us alone with the friend turned backstabber, Throne. The ones that were across from him remained firmly where they were, and we who were still face to face with him quickly joined them. This was a silent standoff, no one said a word—and frankly, what was there to even say? We needed more information if we wanted to make this work.
"...."
"......"
"...You know..." I raised my voice, "I don't consider you an enemy."
"And why's that?" Gale got angry with my ice-breaker, "You've seen what he did to Sab! We're left stranded here because of the bastard!"
"He has wings too." I pointed at them with my chin.
Suddenly, the group twitched in unison. For me to even suggest something as stupid as subbing Sab out for him was undeniably disgusting. Even checking for his reaction only proved he wasn't willing to join our side.
"Magnes, stop with the nonsense!" Sheep frowned.
"Hmph." Throne sat down on the floor unamused, "And what good would helping you do me?"
"See? The dude's not good for us." Gale shook his head, "I say we either leave or die trying. He'll obviously accept nothing less."
They were extremely wary of him, very much so. I can understand that what he did could be classified as a dick move, but I can't just accept that the guy who helped us get so far when pitted against the Gods themselves to be a bad person. He has his own goals, but that doesn't mean we can't help each other in attaining them together. We just need him to explain what those goals are, and then we can strike a deal easily.
"...Throne, I apologize if I caused you trouble." Vastoria was the first to apologize despite everything, "I think I understand. You think I betrayed you when I entered the Shrine alone."
"That's-!" He tried to interject, but the rest of us shut him up.
"...Ahem." She continued, "From the moment I passed through the barrier, my goal was to explore as much as I could and relay my findings to you after the fact."
"You... What?"
"We were gifted something incredible back then, Throne—A chance." She smiled warmly, "I didn't want to throw it away. What if there was a time limit for how long I could be in there? Or what if I got tossed out while I waited for you? Can you truthfully tell me you wouldn't consider that a waste of a chance?"
After giving her the chance to explain herself in full, he simply had no arguments to toss at her. Suddenly, his rage became confusion, and over time he blinked from a puzzled to an embarrassed expression constantly. The more she spoke, the angrier he got—but not at her—rather, it was directed at himself and his own failure to discern her true intentions. He doubted Vastoria, and allowed himself to feel like he had been betrayed.
"I..." He stopped himself from even saying another word back, "Kgh..."
"Like I said, you're not our enemy." I smugly crossed my arms, "I know that much."
"Wait, how do you people even still recognize me?" His Eyes shrunk back in fear, "D-Don't tell me! Sab...!?"
"He didn't tell us how to become seraphim, nor are we ones for that matter." Sheep explained, "I'm a shopkeeper, and you already know Vastoria's case more than anyone. These two on the other hand, they're anomalies, alright."
"Anomalies...?" He looked at us all bewildered.
"...Ask her." Gale clicked his tongue, still hellbent on not trusting the guy, "It's because of her "betrayal" that we can even still remember your ugly mug from yesterday."
"Yesterday... Vastoria, what is he talking about?" He turned to her next.
"Pff, that's what I've been trying to get at this entire time." She giggled.
From the top, she told her anecdotes of the Shrine's interior. Going yet again into needless levels of detail, she told him of the many challenges the floors she had to endure, as well as the reward at the bottom—The possible ability to advance time for the entirety of Heaven 2.0.
"Is that why everyone was acting different this morning...?" Throne looked down in a puzzled manner.
"I'm still not 100% certain that what we did caused the time advancement, nor if the checkpoint for resets has been permanently moved just yet." She finished it off with a confident half-affirmation, "But I guess that's what we wanna find out."
"I see..." He realized, "Wait, you said 'we'?"
"So you noticed." She giggled, pointed at the gilded wound on her chest, "Throne, perchance—Have you ever met with one seraphim Energy before?"
The name of her Shrine explorer friend. Apparently he had been acquainted with Throne even before she was, which could be confirmed through Throne's reaction to the name. He was familiar with the man, yes, though we couldn't quite figure out if he was happy to know him or not from his expression. It was a mix of sour joy and exhilarating hatred. In other words, even the grimace he put on made no sense. Again, we were standing on edge to find out how he would react to this, and thankfully—He didn't disappoint.
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"Energy, so he was still there...!" He sounded almost relieved upon hearing this.
"Vastoria wasn't the first person you trapped in there, then." Gale immediately hopped on the opportunity to accuse him, "If you have any shame, you'll find Sab and apologize before bringing him back here. After that, I want you to leave us alone and never bother us again."
"Gale!" I shouted.
"I don't care what you guys have to say, but I'm keeping you away from the danger!" He shot back, "He acts on impulse and doesn't feel the slightest bit of remorse for his actions until their severity is painfully explained to him! That alone is reason enough not to keep him on standby!"
"...I will lend you my honest help." Throne approached us slowly, without any ill intent, "But for that to be the case, I will need your trust."
Geez, and just when I thought things had cleared up finally. Now everything's complicated again, and I don't know whose side to choose!
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"Oh hell no." Gale turned around.
"Gale." Sheep grabbed his shoulder.
"No."
"Gale!" He yelled this time, "Don't do this."
"Do what? You're taking this idiot's side after he attacked you?" Gale retorted, "Cause if that's the case, then you should probably check if you got a concussion after all!"
"My head is in the right place, and my reasoning is sound. We need Throne no matter how you slice it." Sheep reasoned, "He's recognized his actions were wrong, and he's willing to make it up to us. More than willing, even."
"I agree, moreover..." Vastoria added, "It's partially my fault for not making my intentions clear when entering the Shrine. Had I somehow signed or mouthed that I'm not abandoning him out there, then none of this would've happened in the first place."
"Don't pin the blame on yourself when you did nothing wrong." Gale reassured her that her actions were fine, "You were right to hurry and find out as much as you could. Besides, if not for what you did, Sab wouldn't be a seraphim."
"He wo-" Throne bit his tongue, "Regardless, I can agree with what he says. You should not blame yourself for my own misunderstanding, Vastoria."
What did he try to say just now? Would Sab have still become a seraphim? How, though? Perhaps he knew him from a previous cycle and was willing to rank him up regardless? No, right now we should focus on getting Gale on board with this new plan. I know I said he's capable, but he doesn't wanna accept something as simple as a change of plans. When you plan something out, it rarely ends up how it did on paper. It's dynamic, it changes with each new development, and he needs to adapt if he wants to make it work. Throne is our latest development, and I think he's just what we need right now to make all our worries disappear.
"Throne, we were headed for the Shrine." Vastoria explained, "I believed-Nay, I knew we would find you there if we went. But besides that, I wanted to check the place out once more."
"In that case, we can..." Throne then got interrupted again.
"The original goal was to attack the Gods again after we met up with Throne." Gale glared back at us, "Well, since you're so adamant about him joining the team... What gives?"
"Gale, stop being petty." Sheep groaned.
"Am I being petty?" He raised his tone angrily, "Cause right now all I'm seeing is you guys straying from the original goal! And besides, are you saying it's alright to just leave Sab while we go off to explore that damned Shrine without him?!"
"No one said we were gonna abandon him." I replied.
"Stop lying!" He lashed out, "You're just trying to appease this asshole! He failed to enter the Shrine not once, but two times! Hell only knows if there was more before Vastoria and Energy!"
"Gale!"
"No, let him get it off his chest." Throne stopped me.
"He's making me out to be the bad guy here, don't you get it!?" Gale was genuinely shouting at us like a madman at this point, "Vastoria, you're smart, so you have to get what I'm saying!"
"Hey!" Sheep and I took offense to that.
"Sab's reaction just now, and even before when we found him cowering behind the shelf." Gale grabbed her hands desperately, "You can't tell me he was like that for no reason! I'm not telling you to distrust Throne, but please—at the very least—let's go find Sab first!"
"Gale..." She stared at him uncomfortably for a bit before freeing her hand from his grasp.
"No...!" He fell to his knees.
"Got everything out of your system?" Throne approached him, lifting him back up on his feet with ease thanks to his wings, "GaLi, I'm not gonna disagree with you. You're more than right to be saying these things about me."
"Shut up!"
"Even now, I can only praise you for being wary around a scumbag like me." He continued to talk calmly nonetheless, "I hurt you, I hurt our friends."
"My friends!" Gale corrected him, "A monster like you can only see us as pawns for your own sick goals!"
"Gale, shut the fuck up!" I shouted to get him to keep quiet while Throne was talking.
"Thank you, but that was unnecessary." Throne barely curbed his chuckle to remain serious as he explained everything to him, "Gale, I agree with you."
"...What?" Gale didn't buy it, instead angrily furrowing his brows at the remorseful seraphim.
"You still don't get it?" He actually laughed, "I never said I wouldn't just leave Sab! Not after all that I did to him."
"You're going after him?" Gale tilted his head, frown still there.
"Yes, so can we please agree to bury this hatchet?" He extended his hand for Gale to shake.
An incredibly well executed apology, paired splendidly with a follow-up explanation. Gale would really have to be a stuck-up jackass to not accept it. Yet, he found a way, nonetheless. Staring blankly at the hand he was offered, Gale only looked back up at him with a smug grin. It was as if the handshake was never offered in the first place.
"You're not going after him." He turned towards where Sab flew off to, "You guys go to the Shrine. I'll be the one to look for Sab. When I do, I'll clear up the misunderstanding."
"Gale, get back here!" We called out to him.
"It'll be faster if I went with my wings." Throne calmly hollered across to him.
"I'm offering my help here." The bastard didn't even take one look back at us, only raising his hand as if to bid us farewell, "You guys should use those wings to get to the Shrine faster instead. Don't worry, I'll find him—You just have to trust me."
What the hell, must he always be this contrarian? Gale, first it was following Vastoria up the rope which almost ended up making me and Sheep fall off the rope, and now this? Tch, well I for one think we ought to let him! If he wants to leave, then so be it! Less trouble for us, given how much of a pain he would be the entire time Throne was accompanying us. Ah, Throne doesn't look that pleased by this, though. I wonder, did he want to go and apologize to Sab himself, after all?