"So, to finally talk about the elephant in the room." I stared both of them down seriously, "We're not gonna help the Gods get Sab at all, right?"
"That much is already a given." Sheep agreed.
"Obviously." Vastoria nodded.
Good, so we're on the same page. That makes this discussion pretty much done and dusted already. Okay, bring out the cookies and tea! ...Ah, right, she ate them all.
"Vastoria has her wings, so we can go back to the Shrine immediately if we want to." I continued.
"To get the other pair of wings?" Vastoria tilted her head.
"More like to explore further down."
As I said this, the two stared back with bewildered, wide open Eyes. They were completely confused on my thought process, especially since we've already reached the fourth floor and found nothing.
"There isn't anything down there, though?" Vastoria recalled, "The Gods said..."
"The Gods also told us to betray Sab. I don't think we should really be so trusting of them."
"That's... H-Hold on, but what about Gale?"
"What about him?" I returned her question innocently, "The White Monster brought him back home, so he's safe."
Sheep was quick to reprimand me on this, however.
"And his memories are wiped. We still don't know if his reset makes him remember that day we went to the Gods' Abode."
"Guys, he showed us Throne's true Colors, he's done enough!" I lashed out, "The guy's been working overtime for cycles on end, and it amounted to him getting put to sleep regardless!"
"..."
"Look, what I'm saying is—He'll find a way back to us if he wants to." I sighed, "He's the most capable out of all of us, so I have no doubts about that."
Vastoria made a difficult expression. She was torn between trusting my judgment, as what I said wasn't inherently wrong, but she also felt it wrong to just abandon him after all we've been through together.
"Then, let's make a vote." She decided, "All in favor of going back to find Gale, raise their hand!"
Immediately, I was outnumbered by the two of them raising their hands against me.
"Tch!"
"All in favor of visiting the Shrine again?" Vastoria put her hand down, with Sheep following suit as mine shot up aggressively.
"Then, it's decided."
"Wait!" I recalled a hidden third option, "A-All in favor of just storming the Gods' Abode and trying to see what's inside the Book again?"
Again, I was only being met with empty stares this entire time. They were constantly left without words at my wild ideas, but surprisingly, this time they weren't inherently opposed to it.
"Wait, you're not gonna shoot it down immediately?" Even I was shocked that their hands were half-mast.
"It certainly beats going back to that horrid Shrine again." Sheep considered the possibility.
"And we were so close last time, so now that we know what our goal is..." Vastoria thought about it, "Besides, we have my wings now too."
"T-Then!" I smiled expectantly.
With solemn nods and friendly smiles, they got up from their seated positions and dusted themselves off, ready to face the challenge head on.
"You've got some sound logic there, partner." Vastoria's Eyes gleamed excitedly.
"You reckon that Book is actually just a diary dictating all of the Gods' most embarrassing secrets?" Sheep joked, "Heh, given how overprotective of it they were, it wouldn't surprise me one bit!"
With the cheery mood well-established, we promptly made our way out onto the yard. Sheep's traumas began to act up slightly as he recalled me trying to kick him off the ledge earlier, but everything was fine after Vastoria lifted us with her wings.
"How are you not afraid of dangling like a keychain while flying, but you're afraid of ledges?" I asked, semi-annoyedly.
"When Vastoria is the pilot, I know I'm in safe hands." He glared back at me, "When you’re trying to kick me off, I have no wings to safely let me meet the ground down below."
Again, Vastoria sort of gave me a disappointed look herself, to which I just stuck my tongue out back at her. Seriously, it was just a slight joke, and it's not like he'd even die, even if I HAD decided to push him off... N-Not like I would, though!
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"Then, we're going straight to the Gods' Abode?" Vastoria glanced down at the two of us hanging from her waist.
"Yep!"
"Are we gonna crash straight through the roof like last time, or are we going to sneak in?" She asked.
"Isn't that obvious? The Gods spotted us immediately when we tried to sneak past them." I replied, "I'll take destroying their house some more any day of the week!"
Thus, with a confident nod, she zipped us to the Gods in less than a second. It always baffles me just how fast these wings are, and the speed is only amplified with the wearer being confident in their skills as an aviator. In that regard, Vastoria was much faster and comfier to ride with than Sab, but neither can hold a candle to what little we saw of Throne's flight. He was just on a whole 'nother level.
"Approaching the Abode!" Vastoria warned, "Brace for impact...!"
"That's quite enough." A stern, tired voice echoed inside everyone's ears, "I believe we already told you what your orders were, so what are you doing back here?"
"Selzion!" I shouted.
"Ah, could it be that thing you asked us as we snapped you back to Vastoria's home?" He pondered, "You asked what was "in it" for you, so allow me to answer that question. Ahem, kill Sab for us, that is your one and only order. Fail to hunt that bounty... and we will place a bounty on you next."
Just like that, a loud snap of the fingers practically burst our eardrums. I reflexively closed my Eyes, and when I opened them back up, we were once again in Vastoria's palace.
"So that's how it's gonna be..." I bit my nails in frustration, "Dammit, threatening us like that is so unfair!"
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The Gods see and hear everything, that's what they said. In truth, I didn't wanna believe that, but after what just happened, it can't be anything but the truth. So long as they're at home, we can't ever go back inside there.
"Tch, looking back, our previous attempt had Throne, Sab and Gale with us." Sheep reclined back on his spot on the sofa, "I just assumed Vastoria would be enough to fill in for them, but yeah, that was a lost cause from the start."
"I'm sorry." She replied weakly.
"No, don't be. He didn't mean to offend you, Vastoria!"
"But now we need to kill Sab, otherwise the Gods will send other Heavenly Beings to kill us!" She frowned, "It's messed up!"
Well, no one's arguing back with that. But what else can we do? If we ignore the Gods and they end up finding someone who successfully kills us, then they'll surely employ that guy to kill Sab immediately after. It's a lose-lose situation where either he dies... or everyone does.
"I don't care." I shook my head anyways, "Sab did nothing to us to deserve death! Besides, if he's a so-called "Catalyst of Heaven's Fall", then doesn't that make him our ally?"
"Is our goal to destroy Heaven?" Sheep cocked his head back.
"Our goal is to discover as much about this world as those skeevy Gods don't want us to know." I reiterated, "And if that means knocking Heaven down to its knees, then so be it!"
The heartfelt speech was more than heard by them, and once again we were motivated to face anything that came our way. Given that a frontal attack on the Gods' Abode was now out of the question, and killing Sab was always off the table to begin with, we were pretty much back to square one all over again.
"Then, what to do?" I chuckled, "Do we go find Gale, or do we go to the Shrine again?"
"Let's go find Gale, THEN explore the Shrine with him." Sab raised a fair point.
"Oh, why didn't we think of that sooner?" Vastoria giggled, "Right, let's do that!"
"Sigh, you guys..." I chuckled, shaking my head, "Well, you indulged me last time, so it's only fair I listen to your suggestion this time."
"Hooray!" They raised their arms triumphantly in the air.
They seem happy. Well, guess it's time to go back home again. I haven't been there in a while, probably since I first woke up if my memory isn't deceiving me. Honestly, I don't even remember exploring it much, but I saw a ton of interesting doohickeys as I was rushing out last time. After we find Gale, it wouldn't be a bad idea to look through the house for some useful stuff.
"Then, ready for take-off?" Vastoria asked just to make sure as we tightly hugged her waist out in the yard.
"Aye!" We nodded.
With a zip, zoom and dash, we were already at our destination. I really tried my best to focus on where we were going, but it was just too fast so the motion blur got in the way. I wonder how she can see where she's going? Maybe it's that, where you're a lot more alert if you're the driver than when you're the passenger. I should ask her later.
"This is the place." I stood in front of Gale's residence, "Hey, wait a second. How do you know that?"
"You mentioned before that you two are neighbors." She shrugged, "And I know where you live from a previous cycle."
"My stalker girlfriend can't be this cute!" I hugged her, though she ignored it as she walked inside.
To everyone's surprise, Gale's house was empty. As in, completely vacant. Barring the walls, ceiling, floor and occasional window, he didn't have a single other thing inside. Could it have been taken? Stolen by others? Or...
"Heh, lucky man." Vastoria giggled, "He must have lived such a full life that his Heaven home has nothing he wanted when he died."
"Pretty sure he just got burgled." I chuckled.
"Then, where is he?" Sheep looked around, occasionally calling for him, "Gale! Oi, Gale...!"
No reply, huh? Well, it HAS been a while since morning arrived, so he's definitely already left to go find us. Thing is, we don't know where he went. Without wings, it's probably not too far, but still.
"...Hey." I looked across the road to my home, "My house... My doors are wide open."
"Ah, I guess burglary isn't as rare in a Heaven without locks." Sheep shrugged, "What, did you have things in there you cared about?"
"Silly, it's her Heaven home! Obviously she did!" Vastoria shut him up, "Migu, go check inside if everything's still in place."
"...N-No, I don't know what all was in there to begin with, so there's no way for me to know if anything got stolen." I sighed, "All I can hope for is that the person that took it put it to good use."
It's a shame, but that's how it is. There was nothing to do about it, especially since we're looking for someONE, not someTHING. The other two were quite surprised by my nonchalant reaction, however.
"Migu, did I perhaps go too fast?" Vastoria worried.
"Huh, why?" I furrowed my brows.
"She's asking about you suddenly turning all mature all of a sudden." Sheep smirked, "She's worried your brain might have gotten left behind on the island."
"You idiots better take that back!" I hissed back, "I'm mature when I want to be, goddammit! I just prefer saying funny and cute things more!"
"She actually called herself funny and cute." Sheep muttered, "Yeah, that's the kind of idiocy we expect of our Migu."
Y'know, just for that, I'm gonna push you off the ledge next time we're on the sky island. I mean it, I'm not joking here. Count your days, even if they're infinite, 'cause you're so going splat the moment that ledge meets your gaze. Vastoria might not talk to me for a good while after that, but I don't care. I'll seriously do it.