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I pushed the bullet out of the wound, utilizing a sewing kit Dori lent me to stitch the cut closed along with the slash on his face. From a short distance, Dori approached and crouched over our suspect. A tinge of gunpowder whispered into my nose, making me sneeze as I pulled the needle, a twang ringing as the thread snapped.

We remained on the sidewalk, with the other Saturni Specialty Division members keeping their distance until backup arrived. I imagined the streets were long since closed with the lack of traffic, so it was only a matter of time until they showed their faces.

“Sorry,” Dori said. “What’s your name? Maybe I can get you an…apology ice cream, or something.”

The man, now able to speak, glared at him.

“Don’t fuck with me,” he spat.

“But I’m not,” Dori said with a frown. He sighed, and held a hand out. “It’s cool if you don’t accept it, but, uh, don’t like shooting people, so…course I’d apologize?”

His mouth fell agape. He looked at Dori, then at me. I glanced to my left—Kelsey, Ale and Charya were no longer talking amongst themselves. Now they ran to a vehicle with the Maia Planetary Forces symbol on it.

“Shit,” he mumbled, and sat up. “Listen, I don’t have much time. You need to listen. I doubt you will, but I don’t care. I don’t—I can’t let this shit go anymore!”

“I—” I began, and he hissed at me with his teeth fully bared.

“Zip it,” he snapped, voice dead cold. “Kaleo Bonnet. Yes, that’s my name. If you bothered to learn anything about me, you’d see I grew up as some unidentified missing kid ‘cause my soul was turned into a godsdamn weapon by the Society of Xaviais. Crazy as it fucking sounds, they’ve been doing shady shit for years! I got away, but so many kids didn’t!”

At that point, Kaleo had begun to scream, “Those monstrous assholes are just gonna keep doing it until someone wises up and believes me for once! They all need to die!”

“Dude…” Dori said. His eyes were wide, and his hands shook ever so slightly. “Wait, is this like…”

Kaleo turned to Dori, but before he could continue, someone grabbed his arms and pulled him up. Serena, in uniform but helmet off, began to drag him away.

“All right, that’s enough,” she said, giving me a look. “Erna, you need to get your wound treated, immortal or not. I’ll take care of the arrest.”

“Wait!” I said and got in front of her, but another MPF member with his face obscured grabbed my shoulder and forcefully tried to lead me away.

“No buts!” Serena snapped. “If you need to interrogate him, do it after you get medical help. Everyone on your team is exhausted—focus on them first and let me take care of the dirty—ow!”

Kaleo wrestled out of her grip and darted towards me, whispering to me in a harsh growl. “If you really were some hero that built an empire of peace, Erna, you’d go after the Society of Xaviais,” Kaleo said, fangs bared. “Not me. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“…You truly recognize me?” I said, and he gave me yet another awful glare before Serena grabbed his arms and dragged him away for good this time. She shoved him in the back of the MPF van, then rubbed the spot on her torso where he had hit her with a sigh.

Dori caught up with me—he opened his mouth to speak, but after a long look at the van, got caught in a yawn before he slipped back towards the other specialty division members. I joined him shortly after, seeing as Serena was intent on handling the arrest.

Kuh…I trusted her not to hide anything from me. Surely, Kaleo would be holed up at MPF headquarters overnight, exactly where I needed him to be if I wanted answers.

A masked medic wrapped up the scrapes and cuts Charya, Ale, and Kelsey obtained in the scuffle. “Great work,” I said. “Charya, your spirit mastery seems to have served you well.”

I clapped my hands together, fighting back shivers. The clatter of boundaries being placed around the intersection mingled with the chatter of onlookers who filtered in now that the danger died down. I wiped away the dried streak of blood which dripped down my neck earlier, pinching the fragments and watching them float away in the wind. “Kelsey, I must say, I’ve also been impressed with your control over Axel magic. The uncharted space of the void is not to be handled lightly, but your confidence in how you control it is key to not becoming its victim.”

“Its what huh.”

“Nevermind that!”

I then put a hand on Dori’s shoulder, one I immediately removed when a shot of pain reminded me why I called for medics. “And you handled Kaleo perfectly. Thank you for the rescue at the end.”

Dori didn’t look at me. Rather, he looked at Ale.

“Was that always there,” Dori said and pointed at…

Hm. This—floating thing.

“Nope, that’s new!” Charya said. “I’m sooooo curious where you’ve been hiding it all this time~. What kinda cool high-tech weapon didja pick up? Were you that chicken about this whole thing?”

Next to Ale, who was the only one sitting on the ground with a bandage on his forehead, was a floating red ball. Its texture resembled a still body of water, while it appeared as about the size of a larger baseball. Even stranger, it matched the colour and patterning of Ale’s eyes, floating obediently at his side.

“This? I was…it was…” he began, then sighed and held a hand out. It floated over, and then stretched out. It morphed into the shape of a hunter’s knife, one he gripped by the handle for a moment before he let go.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

It took on a ball form again without further prompting.

“It’s complicated,” he mumbled. He looked away while running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to disclose all personal belongings, but…I’m not good at offensive magic. So, I, er, picked up weapon magic again…yesterday! And bought this—this new shape-shifting weapons tech, it cost a lot, but—if it made me useful, it’d be all right! Right?”

“Smuggling shiny new weapons onto the job?” Charya snickered. “You’re sooooo going to jail! Say, where’d you get it?”

“Wait, please no! I—I mean, from this—uh, really super expensive place. You’re fine, you don’t need it!”

“Ooooh, so you’re super duper rich? Gimme some money.”

“Uuuuuh…” Ale forced himself to his feet, shoving his hands in his pocket as he inched away from Charya.

All the while, I couldn’t help staring at that marvelous orb. It reminded me somewhat of high tech weapons Bella showed me before. Even still, though an untrained eye may overlook it, I knew the weapon he wielded functioned nothing like any sort of ‘advanced trinket’ on the market.

I knew.

And yet—no, he hadn’t done something so horrendous. It didn’t feel quite right. With the weapons of light, I could tell in an instant a soul laid inside. But in this case, the orb acted as though it were more than a simple tool.

And so this marvelous thing, combined with Ale’s words of desperation, filled me with an odd sensation. Something cold lapped in my stomach—uncertainty? The great Erna Dee Belmonte never gave into uncertainty.

I never felt afraid.

Never, ever…

No.

He lied to me. He was—I needed to know what that thing was. I needed to understand everything: his true intentions, his true capabilities, everything Ale had to hide and then some.

I needed to know Kaleo’s justice, why his light shone so brightly and destroyed with such cruelty. I needed to what led him on the path of a killer. I needed to know about those magical weapons of light who were so alive, so angry, so much like him but without a mouth to beg, without legs to trudge onwards.

I needed to know if Ale had done something unthinkable, or was a victim of circumstances I somehow missed in my thousands upon thousands of years of life—or an anomaly, or a—a—

I needed to know the nature of this impossible, weird weapon one of my citizens pulled out of thin air, I needed to know, I had to know, why didn’t I know?

What didn’t I know?

I, who knew everything. From the very beginning.

“Are you good?” Kelsey said. Hah, but I hardly possessed the mind now to reply to her. The medic started to work on my shoulder, but I pulled away, reaching to grab Ale’s wrist. He froze, and for a second, I felt as though I were a beast in a children’s tale ready to whisk the naughty child away to face punishment—harsh, unrelenting, unmerciful.

If he did nothing wrong, though, then he’d evade that fate. But I needed to know.

…

I forced myself to say something.

“We’re heading back,” I said, and everyone grew quiet. Was there something wrong with me? I couldn’t tell. After all, I did everything I could to help them. They had no reason to be afraid. “You’ll be given thorough medical examinations at the hospital. I’ll have you all sent there—everything, everything will be checked and looked after. You’ll go as you are, and I’ll cover the bills.”

“Booo,” Charya said and pouted. She puffed her cheeks out and waved her hands in the air. “So soon? What about celebratory dinner? Or maybe candy? At least some candy.”

“Charya,” Kelsey said as she leaned towards her, arms crossed tight against her chest. “Not. Now.”

“Ughhh.” Charya’s posture deflated, shoulders slumping in defeat.

No one else argued. The excited chattering died in an instant, and we took the last MPF vehicle back to headquarters. Ale said not a word on the ride back. He didn’t even look at me, which made me wonder what kind of guilty conscious he might hold.

From there, it was all formalities. While Serena managed to get Kaleo into a highly secured cell according to the text she sent me on the way, I held everyone in the lobby so we could have one last discussion before they all left for the hospital.

Except for the fact Ale started to cry before we even took our seats.

“You’re—I’m so, so sorry!” he yelled at me, tugging his arm away with a force I didn’t expect from him.

“Huh?” I said and turned to him. He jolted back, and Charya pointed and laughed at him as he folded in on himself.

“C’mon, Erna, you’re giving him a look like you wanna snap his neck,” she said, shifting from foot to foot, “and you’re wondering why he’s so afraid?”

Was that so? I covered my face and forced it into the most neutral expression I could consciously muster. At least it was an amusing enough gesture to illicit laughter from Kelsey —I believed that’s why she laughed, anyhow.

“I….”

Ale took a deep breath, and pulled me into a hug. I briefly considered it a combat maneuver, but when he began to whisper I truly understood the intent of his actions.

“It’s not what you think—I promise. It just—I bought it last night. I swear I didn’t do anything wrong. I know I’m stupid and unreliable, but…it’s my power. I’ve never been confident in it, so I—uh, I…I hope I helped. Sorry I didn’t mention it earlier…I didn’t think I was good enough to even control it yet.”

He pulled away, burying his hands in his pockets as he looked down. “I’ll try harder from now on.”

“…I see.”

“Well,” I began, pressing a finger to my chin. “It’s admirable you’ve already invested personal funds into our cause. In the future, though, simply ask if you need a decent weapon. I’ll be happy to provide, though to honor your efforts, I grant you permission to use your expensive new trinket.”

That was all it was—I’d let the others think that.

But. I. Knew. Better.

I put on a smile. “I must say, I was impressed. You’re a resourceful one—keep your wits about you, and you may succeed yet.”

Those were not the words and emotions I’d use to to describe my thoughts, but it placated him enough that I needed not say more. He took his hands out of his pockets and his odd orb bobbed in the air before it floated into his uniform coat, out of sight.

“Alright! Er, okay…I’m happy we came to an understanding.” Ale reached over to rub the back of his neck. “Ah, a river finally meeting the ocean and fusing with those it was so different yet similar to. All water, salt or not, is—”

“Tired!” Kelsey yelled and hit Ale’s back. He sputtered and stopped. “I’m tired, and I’m sure you’re all fucking exhausted. Can we go? Before this gets any more annoying?”

Right—the mission concluded the moment we let Kaleo be locked away. And now…

Ugh, what weighed on our shoulders next?

Something nagged at me. That feeling from before, when Kaleo’s words brushed me by, when Ale’s odd magic became all too clear, but I filed that away. If there were no leads, I couldn’t promise them employment in this division for much longer. Sunny would likely provide them with other jobs—as loathed as I was to rely on her judgment, she had the budget books and not I.

Such is the fate of emergency divisions. Never meant to last long.

“Yes, we’re done,” I said, taking on a professional, leader-ly stance I perfected over the centuries. “I’ll be sure to contact you all when I need you again, though rest assured it’ll be soon, and you’ll receive a bonus for a job well done.”

“Nice,” Charya said and winked. “This was fun, but a bitch needs her beauty sleep. See ya!”

“Bye,” Kelsey said.

“Farewell, friends! Ah, wait—too forward?” Ale left last, throwing me another glance before he went out the door.

Now, merely I lingered in this lifeless lobby, sucked dry of all chatter and humanity as the night reigned supreme. Serena surely finished her work ages ago, but I hadn’t seen any sign of anyone coming out the front. In the end, I decided to return to my office. Knowing her, if she concluded her shift for the day, she’d be diligent enough to leave me a note.