Ken set foot within his home with Fang in tow, both dragging the musty stench of the underground inside. As the door swung open, Sandra and Riley turned to Ken, looking away from the textbook they had been reading from.
Sandra’s nose scrunched up. ‘Why do you smell like you crawled through a pit full of dust?’
‘We practically did.’ Ken replied taking off his coat and placing it upon a rack. ‘Oh, and this is Fang by the way.’
‘Hi, miss Fang.’ The two teens greeted politely.
‘Wow.’ Fang whispered to Ken’s ear. ‘You’ve managed to have children with two different women, and now you’re forced to raise them.’
‘Funny.’ Ken dryly remarked, then clarified. ‘That’s my niece,’ he said pointing to Sandra, ‘and that’s a friend of hers.’ Pointing to Riley, who waved back with a smile.
‘I still didn’t take you for the fathering type.’
‘I didn’t either.’ He shrugged. ‘Anyway, head upstairs. My room’s on the left.’
‘Okay.’ She said before proceeding up the steps while Ken stayed just a little bit longer.
‘Sandra.’ He beckoned. ‘Did Agatha tell you what was stolen?’
___
‘An Alfrian manuscript.’ Fang mused. ‘Sounds really expensive…’
‘An Alfrian AND Sylvian manu-’
‘Who cares. The point is, it’s worth a lot.’ Fang interjected as she leaned back, balancing the chair she sat upon on its back legs. Ken rolled his eyes as he compared two blazers to each other in front of a mirror.
‘Whatever it’s worth, I can’t imagine that whoever’s buying it is using it for something good.’
‘Good?’ Her chair landed back on four legs. ‘Since when have you been such a boy scout?’
‘All I’m saying is that I hardly trust anything that the fae are involved with.’
‘Okay… Does that mean that we still can’t sell it off ourselves?’
‘No, Fang.’ Ken said firmly. ‘We’ve already agreed to help out the Yarrows and my client.’
‘You mean you agreed to help out the Yarrows and your client. Might I remind you that I can still take it for myself and run straight to my client and get the cash for it.’
‘If you were planning that, you wouldn’t have told me.’ Ken turned toward Fang holding up two ties. ‘Now, do I look better with this or this?’
‘The first one.’ Fang picked out. ‘And you seem awfully trusting of me when you know damn well I’ve got good reason to betray you once we’re there.’
‘It’s like I pointed out, you need a lot of money. If we do things my way-’
‘Do you always have to take charge?’ Fang interrogated and Ken fell quiet and for a moment, she stared at the man she once loved become utterly crestfallen.
‘Look…’ Ken slowly started speaking. ‘I’m trusting you here. For one more night, could you trust me too?’
Fang’s eyes turned elsewhere, anywhere else other than Ken, but everywhere else was just more of things that reminded her of him. It was his room after all, and from the clean well-ordered way he places everything, she was reminded of the brief period in which she lived with him. This room was a complete turn-around from those days when everything was left in a drunken mess.
‘We can get money from my client and yours.’ She stated with a questioning tone.
‘That’s the plan.’
‘Quite risky…’
‘That comes with the territory.’
‘How would I know that you aren’t planning on backstabbing me?’
‘Because we’re both capable of destroying each-other, but I think we’re tired of that.’ Ken replied before opening the door leading out of his room, revealing the leporid girl sticking up her ear against the now open door. Beside her was Sandra with a wide-eyed stare.
‘Riley…’
‘S-Sandra told me to do it.’ She stammered and stepped back, letting her ear droop.
‘Wha- you snitch.’ Sandra complained.
‘Sandra.’ Ken called out in a stern voice. ‘I trust you know better than to listen in on things that absolutely do not concern you.’
‘B-but.’
‘I don’t want you anywhere near where I’m going, alright?’
‘Fine…’ Sandra frowned and dejectedly descended down the stairs with Riley following close behind.
‘Now.’ Ken entered back into his room, holding the door open for Fang. ‘I gotta get changed.’
‘I have a dress back at the bar.’ Fang stated. ‘I’ll meet you at the party.’
Downstairs, Sandra is seated down with Riley beside her. Sandra looks up the stairs for a moment before turning back to her friend. ‘So, they’re going to a party, is that it? Did you hear where?’
Riley’s ear twitched against Sandra’s probing questions. ‘Yeah, but didn’t he tell you not to follow him?’
Sandra placed her hands on Riley’s shoulders, staring her right in her emerald eyes. ‘This is my uncle. While he gets into trouble all the time, I wanna make sure he’s not falling into something too dangerous. There’s some magic stuff going on, so he shouldn’t be alone.’
‘But he’s not alone. There was that vulpine lady with him.’
‘Do you think we can fully trust her after she openly talked about backstabbing him?’
‘I- hmm…’ Riley pondered as she lowered her gaze. ‘I suppose that it wouldn’t hurt to make sure he’s not in trouble. But we still don’t know where they’re going...’
‘Exactly. If things go well, we can stay out of sight, and out of mind. And don’t worry about not knowing where they’re going.’ Sandra smirked. ‘I’ll take care of that.’
‘Alright,’ Riley smiled, ‘you can let go of my shoulder now.’
Sandra’s eyes widened as she realised that she had been not only a little too close to Riley, but touching her as well. Swiftly, she let go of her and turned away, placing a hand at the side of her neck in a vain attempt to hide her blushing. ‘R-right. Sorry.’
Sandra peeked back at her as she brought up a hand to tuck stray hair back behind her ear before her attention was then brought to the stairs.
Descending from above is Ken with slick-back hair and a full suit and blazer with a bow-tie properly tailored to his proportions. He adjusted the cuffs of his dress-shirt then looked to his niece.
‘Looking good, uncle!’ Sandra yelled excitedly.
Ken smirked. ‘You think so?’
‘You look really fancy!’ Riley supported.
‘Heh, nah. I look quite plain so I don’t think I’ll quite match up to the high-society folks I’m gonna bump into tonight.’
‘Still. A well-tailored suit goes a long way in making you fit in.’ She emphasized. ‘My da told me about it before heading off to one of his meetings.’
‘That reminds me, shouldn’t you be back home soon? It’s getting late.’
‘Nah. My parents are busy right now since they’re meeting with investors out of Edonia, so it’s a little empty back at home.’
‘We still have a spare mattress, so she can use my bed to sleep over.’ Sandra butted in.
‘I see.’ Ken walked to the front door, making the last adjustments to his suit and donning his fanciest leather shoes. ‘Well, I’m off.’
Before he could leave, Sandra leaped toward him as he turned around, squeezing him in a tight hug.
‘Stay safe,’ she whispered.
‘I will, kiddo.’
The two waved at him by the door as he walked off, the sun setting down on this city beneath the World Tree, and the lampposts switched on as the sky turned dark. Sandra stepped back closing the door behind her before practically prancing upstairs.
Riley, confounded as she watched Sandra disappear into the upstairs, waited for a while before seeing her descend with a circular metal device in her hand. ‘What have you got there?’
‘A compass.’ Sandra replied as she sat back in front of the coffee table, tinkering away at the gadget in her hand.
Riley lowered herself right next to Sandra, watching her remove the glass before carving runes into the inner-side of the interior of the compass. She leaned her head against Sandra’s shoulder as she tinkered away. ‘It’s really nice seeing you be so loving to your family like that.’
‘What, you mean the hug?’ Sandra asked as she continued working. ‘That was just a distraction.’
‘Distraction?’
‘Miss Agatha told me about how the library books have a tracking rune.’
‘So…’
‘I slipped a piece of paper with a tracking rune on it.’
‘Sandra!’ Riley exclaimed.
‘What?’
‘That’s genius! And really concerning that you know the rune for that!’
‘Actually, I reconstructed it when we were going over your notes.’
‘I’m reminded how you managed to get in the academy.’
‘Now… Would you like to try my dresses? We got a party to maybe crash.’ Sandra said mischievously.
___
Within the northernmost district of Manafell is where plenty of the wealthiest people in the city live. The asphalt roads run parallel to limestone sidewalks and buildings lined with various metals like bronze and steel. The people of Manafell have taken a liking to polished marble in particular as a choice building material for the interior side of their structures, while also using the revolutionary invention of reinforced concrete to erect the city’s first high-rise buildings, some of which pierced into the lower canopy of the Great Tree, where its branches even formed natural bridges between some skyscrapers.
Soon enough, this style of building spread out into the rest of the city, inspiring entrepreneurs of the other districts to construct their own grand monuments that stretched out to the sky. It became a challenge amongst architects to devise ways to construct the highest buildings as to finally break through the upper canopy of the great tree, a place so high that even clouds struggled to reach it.
Ken stepped through the ground floor entrance of a high-rise building. He scoured through a lobby full of excited well-dressed aristocrats heading upstairs through an elevator with a bellboy operating it, eventually seeing Fang.
She was wearing a black gown with shimmering iridescent specks like little stars jotted through a night sky. It clashed hard against her pale white skin, and silky white-silver hair and tail flowing down like a glowing river of mercury. The few places where it wasn’t black or white was her piercing red eyes, and her gold-coloured mechanical arm. It created an eye-catching ensemble that made people stop and stare at the vulpine woman.
It certainly wowed Ken who approached her unblinkingly.
‘Good God…’ He whispered aloud.
‘You’re late.’ She stated.
‘The… traffic was bad…’
Nervously, he began to rub the back of his neck. Ken cringed and Fang’s ear twitched as some passer-by commented on Ken’s rather poor appearance compared to the stunning beauty in front of him.
‘Come on.’ She beckoned, ‘Elen and Kalem are already upstairs.’
‘Do they check for invitations?’
‘As far as I can tell? It’s an open party so long as you dress the part.’ She nudged Ken.
‘H-hey, I’m lucky enough to have gotten a tailored suit in the first place. And where the hell did you get that dress anyway?’
‘Old acquaintance.’
The two proceeded into an elevator and Ken’s stomach churned as it began to rise. The residual limb that connected to his prosthetic ached slightly as the dial above the elevator doors showed that they had moved above the 20th floor.
‘You’re looking a little pale.’ Fang commented.
‘I don’t drive a lot for a good reason. And how’s your prosthetic? Is it aching like mine?’
‘Slightly. I didn’t realise we were gonna get high enough to feel it.’
Eventually, the elevator opened at the 40th floor, revealing a grand ballroom filled with people dressed far better than Ken, causing him to shrink into himself somewhat. Fang, on the other hand, remained bold in her stance.
She was the one to lead Ken inside, having him tail her through a crowd that parted like waves from a small bridge of sand, all of which practically gasped at the sight of her gorgeous visage.
Walking past the crowd up a set of parallel grand stairs, they reached a familiar red-headed elf dressed in an improperly fitted white dress. ‘Sofia’s tits! You’re beautiful!’ She choked on a flute of champagne.
‘I know, right.’ Ken agreed then turned to look at Fang whom he didn’t quite notice was blushing beforehand. ‘Y-you good?’
‘Yeah… I’m just not used to this amount of attention.’
‘From what I recall, you’ve always stuck out-’
Fang sneered at him.
‘-I-in a good way.’ Ken reassured. ‘Look… You’re a little out of your element, and I am too. Do you want to find somewhere to sit?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Are you sure?’ Ken pressed.
‘I’m sure.’
‘Okay…’ Ken cleared his throat. ‘Kalem, you said Elen would be here?’
‘Yeah, she’s talking to the boss right now.’
‘Perfect. Where is this happening?’
‘It’s happening in one of the boardrooms to the side there.’ She mentioned as she pointed her thumb behind her toward a long hallway.
‘I think I’ll go take a peek.’ Ken suggested. ‘Fang, you com-’
Ken saw Fang who was turned toward the ballroom, her eyes seemingly transfixed on someone in the crowd.
‘Fang?’
‘I-I have to go.’ She stammered as she began to hurry down the steps, only for Ken to catch her by the arm.
‘Fang, where are you going?’
‘There’s just something I need to see. I’m not leaving the party.’
‘Can’t this wait?’
‘No! I-’ Fang’s voice rang out across the ballroom, stunning everyone nearby. She turned to look at the faces now staring at them, causing her ears to lower. ‘Just trust me. I’ll be back.’
‘Okay.’ And Ken let go.
In the distance, two young girls walked through the elevator shutter-door, watching the commotion on display.
Sandra was dressed in a Yellow and white dress held together with a belt around the waist, with a dark blue blazer worn over it.
She turned to Riley, who wore an ocean-coloured dress that was reminiscent of the wings of a blue morpho butterfly. She carried a small purse matching her dress.
Sandra spoke to her. ‘Should we split up?’
‘I can spy on the vulpine woman. She’s got a really nice dress.’
‘I think you should actually check in on my uncle. He tends to sniff me out if I’m near.’ Sandra chuckled.
‘You just find the vulpine woman pretty…’ Riley accused
‘T-that’s beside the point.’
‘Hmm…’ She furrowed her brow and then eased herself to a reassuring smile. ‘Okay. ’
___
Fang’s raven-black dress dragged behind her as she hurriedly followed someone down a hallway with glass-pane windows to the side past a solid wall, through which was a small garden with a fountain in the middle. She continued to follow as that person, a woman, exited through a set of double-doors leading into the garden itself, and in the blue-green hues of the trimmed bushes illuminated by the moon, she approached a white bench lit up by the ochre light of the only other lamppost in the garden. She turned to face Fang who stood by the door, and in that moment, there were only two of them in this whole building- this whole world.
Fang stared at someone who she considered a ghost, a tanned black-haired blue-eyed human woman with a scar nestled beneath her left eye. She dressed in a white coat with a black suit nestled under it.
‘Y-you…’
‘Hey.’ The woman spoke quietly, the dead air between them allowing the chill wind to howl uncontested, and before long, Fang shivered. ‘You look good.’
‘Don’t you dare play it cool, Natalia.’ Fang spat out, the mix of longing and fury revealing itself in her voice. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
‘I told you I had loyalties I needed to answer to.’
‘More loyal to them than me!?’
‘Chao, listen-’
‘YOU listen!’ Fang stepped closer. ‘Do you have ANY idea just how worried I’ve been for you? How many mornings I’ve spent wondering if you’d finally come home?’
‘I really am sorry, but-’
‘And you didn’t write all this time!’
Natalia stared at Fang with a guilty look.
‘I missed you, Nat.’ Fang cried.
Natalia ran toward Fang and held her close, and Fang melted, her tears a flowing river that could have never been staunched by anyone else but the person that had her in a warm embrace. It was there that they stood under the amber light of the lamppost in each-other’s company and there was nothing else, and no one else that mattered.
Meanwhile, over at the corner behind where the wall transitioned into the glass pane window that peered into the garden, was Sandra, slack-jawed and watching the two. ‘I gotta go tell Riley… After I see what happens after this.’
___
Ken walked through a hallway on the upper-right side of the ballroom and made his way past many doors that led to their own respective boardrooms in the process of looking for the one that would let him find Elen and the boss of the Yarrows.
‘Boardroom 4113… Boardroom 4114…’ He muttered to himself checking the room numbers. ‘Gotta reach 4121… Who the hell needs this many boardrooms anyway?’
Continuing further in and counting quietly, he eventually picked up the pace, transitioning into a light jog. ‘19, 20, aaaand 21.’
He reached out toward the sliding door’s handle, shifting it ever so slightly as to allow him a peek within. His eye peered through the small slit he made-
Ken’s eyes widened.
Within boardroom 4121 wasn’t the business meeting he was expecting. Instead, the light from the hallway streamed into a darkened room and across a long oak table were bodies slumped over, some having fallen to the floor. There was also a light mist that had settled in the room.
Ken inhaled deeply then entered. In the room, he held his breath and checked the nearest body seated at the edge of the table, an older gentleman, and placed two fingers to his neck. He briefly shut his eyes in relief as felt a pulse beating against his touch. He then did the same for two more bodies and noted a pulse there too.
Assuming that the rest were also merely unconscious, he then scoured the room for the goblin, Elen, whom he found had fallen to the floor from a high seat adjusted for her. Checking her head for blood and neck for a pulse, she was healthy, and so he lifted her over his shoulder then made his way out of the room.
However, just as he was about to step out and gasp a new breath of air, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on their ends.
Turning around, he faced one of the bodies, now stood up- no, levitating slightly above ground. It was the body of a woman dressed in an ornate robe, perhaps out of place for a party like this, and as his gaze turned further up toward her head. It was a pale white face with a single red lower lip, but the entire upper half above her jawline was gone, replaced with a faint purple glow and a plume of smoke emanating from her neck. It made a hissing noise that rattled Ken to the core, prompting him to slam the door and run.
His lungs burned for air causing him to gasp as he ran toward the ballroom, but he saw something that crawled under his skin. He saw his own back.
He paid attention to the rooms and read each number. 4118, 4117, 4116, 4115, 4114, and then right ahead, 4121.
Focusing down the hallway, beyond the “copy” of him, he saw that it elongated to an impossible length, repeating the halls and boardrooms between room 4121 and 4114. And right before him, the door to 4121 opened.
The mist-headed woman floated out of the room and turned to look left, then right, not managing to find Ken. She then began to wander down the hallway, spewing forth her miasma of sleeping mist.
Ken had hidden in the boardroom prior, sitting in the dark, covering his mouth and holding the unconscious goblin in his arms. ‘Just what the hell did I get myself into?’ He silently questioned himself, and started to plan out his next move.
Running in the hallway would leave him in a loop to get caught by the mist woman, hiding would only delay the inevitable, and he doesn’t quite understand the “entity” well enough to be able to properly combat it. And so, he sat there with Elen sleeping by his side and continued to think his way out of this situation.
However, just as this was happening, a hand grasped unto Ken’s shoulder.
___
Riley watched as Ken disappeared into a distant boardroom. Before walking further, she looked around as if to make sure she had no spectators as she tailed him.
Tracing Ken’s trail, she suddenly thought of something. If the board room beside the one he entered was empty, she could enter and perhaps eavesdrop through the adjacent wall.
And so, without paying much mind to the numbers on the door, she walked past room 4121 and hid inside the next room over.
She planted a raised ear against the wall and began listening, only for a slam to reverberate through, sending a jolt into her ears and causing her to jump back. Heavy footsteps echoed through the hall that seemed to go further away from her only for it to return from the other side.
Fearing any potential of being caught, she sat by the wall a little bit of distance from the door, hoping that it wouldn’t slide open.
The door did slide open, illuminating the dark room she had hoped would hide her, and upon seeing Ken enter, she felt panic well up from within her before noticing the unconscious goblin in his arms. Concerned, she then watched as Ken dropped to the ground, pinning himself against the wall same as her.
Her hand reached out, touching his shoulder.
Ken was halfway through jumping from the floor before he turned to look at the familiar friend of his niece.
‘Riley!?’ He whispered angrily.
‘Mr. Larsen, who’s the gob-’
‘Keep your voice down!’
‘Oh ok.’ She whispered back. ‘Who’s the goblin?’
‘Did you not see the- wait. First of all, why the hell are you here!?’
‘Sandra said you might be getting into trouble,’ she answered very honestly, ‘so we followed you.’
Ken stared at her with a confounded look full of anguish and annoyance at the same time. ‘Oh, I’m gonna kill that kid.’ He stated. ‘Whatever, just listen to me. There’s this thing out there. It looks like a woman dressed in a kimono, except her head’s not all there and there’s mist coming out of it!’
‘Oh really? Can I see?’ Riley asked, but was already in the middle of rising from the floor.
Ken pulled her down and gave her a furious wide-eyed stare. ‘Kid. I don’t know anything about your parents, but they didn’t teach you anything about self-preservation, did they.’
‘They taught me to be curious.’ She responded cheerfully
Ken’s face sunk and a pit had formed in his stomach the moment he heard those words. ‘I can see why you and Sandra are friends.’
‘Alright, look.’ Ken spoke, moving away from the previous topic. ‘You’ve got really good ears. Problem is that the mist-head or whatever you call her isn’t really walking around. She’s floating, so you can’t hear her footsteps-’
‘Wait, why don’t we fight it?’
‘I didn’t bring my gun. I thought that we could handle this quietly, and if worse comes to worse, I didn’t want to risk hitting anyone that wasn’t involved.’
Riley nodded to his response before her attention was brought to something else. An ear raised itself upward twisting back and forth.
‘I can hear a hissing noise.’
‘A hissing noise?’ He questioned.
‘Yeah. It’s coming from both directions. It’s actually quite trippy.’
‘Which direction is it closer?’
‘From the left. It’s getting farther though, and the right one’s getting closer.’
Ken inched closer to Riley and asked one question with a seeming weight to it. ‘Can you tell if it entered a room?’
A short while had passed as they talked through the process of peeking into the room before deciding that they’d have to risk it and look when the mist-headed woman sounded like she was out of the hallway.
Both of their heads poked through a crack formed by the sliding door set slightly ajar. They looked in opposite directions and wordlessly switched perspectives. Ken in particular looked through the glass-pane windows and noted that while the hallway had seemed infinite, the space outside of the skyscraper looked normal; other buildings didn’t stretch, and the Great Tree had the same width in the distance. Ken pulled back into the room causing Riley to do the same.
Ken thought for a moment, then began strategising aloud. ‘The space outside the windows is normal.’
‘Well that makes sense.’ Riley stated placing a finger underneath her chin, and then pulling out something from a pouch. Ken couldn’t quite see what she was doing.
‘How so?’
‘Well. I thought about the logistics of making an infinite hallway and…’ Riley paused as she connected the dots within her brain. ‘Obviously, things can’t really be infinite. Since it’s a spacial anomaly, it would be a lot less taxing on the local ether density if things repeated at a specific point, rather than just trapping us in from every direction.’
‘You’d have to elaborate a little more. I’m not so well-versed in matters of the arcane.’ Ken admitted.
‘Basically, there’s mana or “ether” in the air. Drawing in ether is what fuels magic.’
‘Well I know that much.’
‘Alright. But spacial shifting is a particularly expensive magic, and the further away the warp is, the more ether it requires. It’s why we haven’t cracked teleportation yet. The only consistent forms of spacial shifting are fringe cases like Dawnite tech and Outer-Planar Entities.’
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
‘Well that explains what our “enemy” is. But if this type of magic requires too much mana to maintain, why are we stuck in it?’
‘Because the spacial anomaly saves having to draw in too much ether by being limited to two points in the hallway, and only works entering from one direction.’
Ken leaned back, a little satisfied from the answer. ‘Which is why we were able to enter…’ He then leaned back forward as he recalled something vital. ‘Wait. Then I know where the points of the hallway are. They’re between rooms 4121 and 4114.’
Just as they were in the midst of a breakthrough, the familiar hissing noise hit Riley’s ear, causing her to turn in panic. ‘I think that thing is coming.’
‘Tch. If we can’t leave through the hallway, we’ll just have to make another exit.’ He declared as he stood running up to the wall on the other side from the exit and knocking upon it, only for him to notice not a hint of hollowness within the wall’s structure. ‘The one time I wished they had cheapened out on construction.’
Ken looked toward Riley only to see her slightly illuminated by the gentle blue glow of a rune drawn upon the ground. ‘Wha- when did you do that?’
‘I started drawing it when you mentioned the space outside the window being normal.’
‘Okay?’ Ken remained perplexed as he saw a glowing blue set of ropes materialising in the circle. He soon thought about what the leporid girl was intending to do with the ropes before his shoulders sulked with the realisation. ‘Oh you’re kidding…’
‘It’ll be fun.’
‘You really are the same type of crazy as my niece.’
The hallway was almost silent, only filled with the hissing of the ghastly floating lady ominously approaching the room they were in. Smoke plumes covered the floor, seeping into every crevice and eventually into the crack of the door, a misty and foreboding invitation for anyone to slumber under its influence.
But as the mist began to enter the room, the door slammed open, and from it, a blond man, along with a girl with rabbit ears carrying a goblin charged forth, not following the path of the hallway. Rather, the leporid girl extended one hand, firing out a blast of some sort of energy into the glass-pane window, shattering it, and allowing the both of them to leap out of the skyscraper.
Ken yelled as the momentum of gravity swiftly pulled him down towards the earth, before feeling the tug of a glowing blue rope squeeze around his shoulders and waist, sending him swinging back toward the building one floor lower. Riley fell after him, firing another blast of energy into the shattering the pane before Ken could reach an impact against the glass.
Ken braced himself as he fell and rolled against the floor, careful to hit the glass against his coat rather than dashing them against his skin. He stood up right as Riley landed on her feet, spawning a gust of wind with her magic clearing the glass from underneath her. They looked around as various guests on the lower floor were concernedly staring at their bombastic entrance, and Ken merely flashed a smile and gave them a nod.
‘Alright, kid. Let’s go get Sandra.’
___
Over on the western wing past the ballroom, Sandra continued to spy on Fang and her mysterious lover. She continued to focus in on the scene happening before her, listening intently on every word hanging from their lips hanging ever closer without them noticing.
They talked and talked for what seemed like a small eternity and their conversations never seemed to be about anything that important, and yet from the feeling if it, it meant the world to them. And indeed, illuminated under the lamppost, the whole rest of the world disappeared leaving only them.
‘-Ugh. I still can’t believe someone would trash the bar like that.’ Fang complained. ‘Good thing you were there to beat his ass.’
‘You know I couldn’t just stand around and do nothing. You looked like you were legitimately gonna start bawling.’ Natalia responded teasingly.
‘I was not!’ Fang argued childishly, her ears bent back.
‘Yeah. Your eyes got all sad-looking and your ears were droopy like they are now.’
‘Wha-’ She said flustered, and hurriedly covered her ears with her hands. ‘God, I hate these ears sometimes.’
‘Really?’ Nat leaned closer, peeling her hands away from her ears so she could start to scratch the base of them. ‘I happen to love these parts of you. Very expressive. So cute.’
Fang looked away with a pout.
‘And I missed that face too.’
‘What face?’ Fang said trying to feign ignorance.
‘The face you make when you get flustered.’
Natalia placed a finger beside Fang’s neck and traced her jawline to her chin, drawing her closer with her touch. Fang blushed as Natalia continued, lowering her voice to an almost rumbling whisper, the reverberations of it shaking Fang to the core. Her face turned red, but her eyes remained wide and her ears perked up to listen to her.
‘That face right there.’
Fang audibly gasped feeling Nat’s breathing tickling her lips. She didn’t even notice just how close she had gotten. She had been focused on those eyes. Good God, those eyes. How she had yearned to stare into them once again, and now before her, that familiar sky-blue steely gaze was piercing her heart once more.
Their lips touched. And it was over for her. She belonged to her once again.
Over past the glass pane, Sandra squealed as she spied on them, barely hiding her excitement as a spectator behind a wall. ‘Oh I’m so gonna tell Riley about this-’
‘Move, kid.’ A man ordered he brushed his shoulder against her.
‘Wha- Hey!’ Sandra exclaimed as he watched him walk off, entering the garden. ‘Rude.’
The man, a brown-haired elven man with sharp features marched and stopped with one foot under the lamplight.
‘Sorry to intrude on your little make-out session, Nat. But there’s a problem.’
Natalia pulled away from Fang who was still left in a high from their kiss.
‘Sorry, Chao. I promise I’ll come back.’
‘Nat… Don’t leave.’
‘Please wait for me here. I won’t be long.’
Fang watched in stasis as Natalia began to leave once again, with nothing but a promise, a frustrating word that disappointed her to no end. She looked to the ground, her fist clenched against the wooden bench, and before long, Nat had disappeared from her sight. Just another promise, another word given. Tears formed, but they didn’t fall. Instead, Fang was even more frustrated than before.
‘Promises mean nothing when you don’t keep them.’ She muttered.
As Sandra watched the crestfallen vulpine sulking on the bench, she decided that she’d had enough with just watching, and began to approach her.
‘You okay?’
‘Huh?’ Fang raised her head to face Sandra. ‘I-I’m fine.’
She wiped her eyes and straightened her back before continuing to speak with Sandra. ‘Aren’t you Ken’s niece?’
‘Uh, yeah.’ Sandra scratched her head. ‘Please don’t tell him, but me and Riley kinda came here to make sure he’s fine. But then I saw what happened to you, and well- not that I was watching or anything, but-’
Fang listened to the girl stammer over her excuses with an unamused look. ‘You were spying on me.’
‘You- Well- I…’ Sandra stopped herself knowing that she had been caught in a lie. ‘Yeah… Sorry…’
‘You’re as nosy as your uncle, you know that?’
‘Some folks have said that, yes.’
‘If you’re looking for Ken, he’s over on the upper floor-’ Fang explained, but was interrupted by the appearance of Ken walking along with Riley. ‘Nevermind. He’s right there.’
Ken rushed into the garden looking dishevelled with cuts on his suit, which fang was quick to comment on. ‘What the hell happened to you?’
‘Infinite hallway. We had to jump out the window.’
‘What!?’
‘Nevermind. Point is some folks probably have the manuscript and are already getting away. We already told Kalem to notify the Yarrows, so the elevator should be blocked.’
‘God damn it. As if this night couldn’t get any worse.’
‘Sandra. You’re staying here with Riley.’
Sandra hurriedly stepped up toward Ken. ‘But uncle Ke-’
‘No ifs, ands, or buts, Sandra. You’ve done enough.
‘Are you even armed right now!?’
‘Kid, I didn’t need you coming here with your friend endangering BOTH of you in the process! I thought you knew better!’
‘Knew better!?’ Sandra faced her friend, ‘Riley, he mentioned an infinite hallway. Would Ken have made it out alone without your help?’
‘Riley, don’t answer that.’
‘Riley, I’m your best friend, and as your best frie-’
‘Riley, I’m Sandra’s legal guardian and-’
‘SHUT UP!’ Fang interrupted. ‘When I said this night couldn’t get any worse, I wasn’t inviting you to try!’
‘Fang-’
‘Don’t speak. Just listen. Both of you!’ She ordered and turned to Sandra. ‘Sandra, Ken’s right. You shouldn’t drag friends along when you know that it might be dangerous.’
‘See!-’
‘AND KEN! I told you to shut up.’
‘Sorry.’
‘You had your sorry grown-up ass get saved by a kid! And now I’m hearing that you didn’t even bring your gun!?’
‘Look, I just thought-’
‘Whatever you thought, it’s wrong. You need their help. You want to keep them safe? You’ll just have to use that brain of yours to think of something to keep them out of harm’s way while allowing them to help us.’
Fang sighed deeply and continued. ‘One more thing. Riley, these two chuckle-nuts have been talking over you this entire time. So what is it that you want?’
‘Oh!’ Riley expressed. ‘I didn’t expect anyone to ask me that.’
Riley looked at the three others around her, at Sandra, her close friend, at Ken, Sandra’s uncle who definitely needed help, and at Fang, who respected her well enough to let her choose. In that moment, she was thankful for Fang, but knew that it was a no-brainer.
‘Well, of course I’ll help! I happen to be a pretty good mystic, I’ll have you know!’
‘Then let’s get moving. I have a feeling my ex is involved in this.’
___
‘Our second escape route’s over on the 50th floor. We’re gonna step off on the lower canopy of the Great Tree.’ The brown-haired elven man explained. ‘The lower floors are being guarded by the Yarrows, so there’s no choice.’
‘What about the manuscript?’ Asked Natalia as she followed the man through the side-stairway’s entrance.
‘Kiri’s already pulled the information from their boss’s memories.’
‘Your pact came through then, ’
‘It better have. It cost a lot to summon the damn thing.’
‘What did you have to give?’ Nat questioned as they climbed the steps to the 50th floor.
‘A couple of memories.’ He responded bluntly.
‘Nemo, you didn’t…’
‘Don’t forget your loyalties, Natalia. There is only the mission.’
Nat, for a moment, had lost the momentum of her step, stopping her from continuing any further. She watched as Nemo continued further up, nearly leaving her sight before he called out once more. ‘Nat! Hurry up!’
And so Natalia begrudgingly carried her legs up the stairs to chase after Nemo, cursing under her breath with every step.
However, as they climbed to the 50th floor where, through a set of double doors, a bridge connected the skyscraper to a giant branch leading to the Great Tree, a handful of dryad guards began to crowd the bridge standing in formation. At the front, guards stood with carbonised ornate shields covered in sylvian runes while the rest stood behind with rifles aimed toward the direction of the start of the bridge, prepared to unleash a volley of lead upon trespassers.
‘Damn. Word got out fast.’ Nemo swore as he and Nat hid behind the walls next to the entrance of the bridge.
‘Start fireballing?’ Nat asked with a bit of mischief in her tone.
‘Their shields will absorb most of the impact. I’ll have to call in Kiri.’
From below the bridge, a billowing mass of mists rose like a furious devil ascending from the hells. Within the mist, the purple glow from which the mist erupted from was nestled deep within the neck of the headless woman from before.
Now, she was shrieking.
The wailing of the mist-headed woman pierced through the hard wooden floors of the bridge, echoing through and frightening the dryads.
‘A demon rises from below!’ One shouted.
They would aim, but could not fire. It hovered in the direction of civilian areas. To fire would be to harm and potentially kill innocents, they realised. And so an order was shouted from their commander. ‘Retreat! We need to draw it toward the front of the bridge!’
The guards began started stepping backward toward the direction of the Great Tree, but as they did so, the mist-headed woman erupted from under them, unleashing the mists heavier than ever before. It covered the entire bridge in a thick fog that overflowed at the sides where the railings were.
For a moment, Nemo didn’t know whether it would work. Dryads were physiologically more tree than man, but as they fell one by one into a long slumber, he and Nat grinned.
‘Come on.’ Nemo said as the mist cleared.
They ran, but as they did, Nemo slowed down and hunched over, clutching at his knees. Nat ran up hearing him panting, practically gasping from air.
‘Nemo…’
‘I’m fine.’ He brusquely reassured. ‘The pact just takes a bit of energy is all.’
Natalia took his arm and wrapped it over her shoulders and carrying him through the bridge with unconscious guards littered about.
Nemo lifted his head and faced Nat. ‘You don’t have to do this.’
‘I’m not leaving my brother behind to get arrested.’ She retorted. ‘Now. Where to?’
‘We’ll go that direction.’ He said pointing. ‘We have a contact in the DPS.’
Nat chuckled in excitement. ‘Hell yeah.’
They disappeared through the bridge and began to make their way through an exterior platform that wrapped itself around the tree.
Right as they left, back at the base of the bridge, Ken was leading the group at the front, and everyone was shocked seeing an entire platoon of guards unconscious at the bridge.
‘Riley,’ Ken called out, ‘Are they alive?’
Riley ran up to the bodies and confirmed it. ‘They’re still absorbing ether, so they’re alive.’
‘Do Dryads even have lungs?’
‘Yes, but they subsist mainly off of absorbing ether and carbon dioxide. They’re immune to plenty of toxic gases, but if they can be knocked unconscious by the mist, it likely means that the mist itself has an arcane quality to it.’
‘Alright. If they’re fine, then we should go.’
Ken hunched over one of the guards in the back-line and picked up his rifle, a bolt-action Odingardian Type-30. ‘Don’t mind me, I’ll return this as soon as I can.’ He said to the sleeping dryad.
They reached the end of the bridge and saw a split leading left and right. For a moment, Ken thought about where they could’ve headed. ‘If the Green Guard had already been called, then the rest of the tree is probably swarming by now.’
‘What stops them from just dealing with the rest like they just did?’ Fang questioned.
‘Well,’ Riley adjusted the frame of her glasses, ‘if I recall correctly, if a creature like that mist-head can be summoned, something usually is around to bind it into this world. A pact is usually necessary.’
‘Alright, what would that mean?’
‘A pact usually draws energy from the pact-bearer.’ She explained. ‘That means that they can’t do all of this without expending a lot of energy from themselves.’
‘Which means,’ Ken added, ‘they can’t have gone left. It leads lower toward more blockades and they’d eventually get run down.’
‘What’s to the right, then?’ Fang questioned.
‘The Dragonic Postal Service.’ He stated tiredly.
‘You’re kidding…’
‘I wish I was, but it’s the only spot that makes sense for a getaway.’
Fang dejectedly groaned but still began to walk in down the path, and the others followed. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
‘Riley, Sandra. Do either of you have anything to counteract the mist?’ Ken asked.
‘If the mist is in-fact arcane in nature, then yes. I can dispel it.’ Riley responded proudly.
‘Yeah, I haven’t quite figured dispelling out myself.’ Sandra admitted.
‘Really?’ Riley seemed surprised. ‘Converting arcane energies back to their basest forms was part of the basics back in class.’
‘I-it had nothing to do with machines so I just kinda forgot about it after the exam…’
Ken disappointedly rubbed the bridge of his nose, then looked at the kids. ‘Alright, well. Riley will be at the very back, and Sandra, you’ll have to defend her while she dispels any mists.’
Ken looked to Fang. ‘Fang, you and I will take front. Circle the area while the other two are our back-line.’
‘And Sandra.’ Ken called out firmly. ‘If you have to fire a lightning bolt-’
Sandra looked eagerly toward her uncle, listening intently to his next words.
‘Make it count.’
Sandra grinned.
‘You got it.’
___
On the eastern end of the lower canopy of the Great Tree was an office embedded into it, a department where a large number of items are tracked and stored, ready for delivery in and out of Yggdra City. And behind that office was a stable, one where dragons settled inside pens and handlers would feed and nurse them in-between deliveries. Riders, on the other hand were often required to accompany dragons on these deliveries for the purpose of keeping track of the supplies, operating radio equipment, and otherwise being an aid in emergency situations.
At the far end past a cargo hold were large shutters that opened up to reveal landing pads where dragons would launch off of and land.
Nemo knew two people within the organisation, a Lupine rider named Finn, and a man named Auburn that resembled more of a bipedal centipede known as a Haroish.
These two were hurriedly dragging along a black drake by its head harness over to the landing pad. The rider, Finn swore all the while.
‘Just how in the hell could the plan have gone wrong? It was simple. Make everyone go nappy-time, and then that dream demon swoops in and reads some memories.’ Finn complained.
The handler, the Haroish man named Auburn, responded by snapping his mandibles while rattling a specific series of tiny red spike-like limbs protruding from the sides of his centipedal back. Every shaken limb sounded similar to most people, but not to Finn. He understood every sound making up different words.
Finn huffed. ‘Yes, I know that they effectively raided a meeting room full of those “bor-shwa-see” types, but they screwed it up so bad that they called the Green Guard.’
Once more, Auburn clicked away with his mandibles and spikes.
‘Yes, Auburn, I know it’s pronounced “bourgeoisie”. I just don’t care enough about learning Risveldian-’
‘Is it ready yet?’ A voice echoed from behind them, startling Finn.
‘Uh, yes, ma’am.’ Finn said straightening his back. ‘Just need the saddle and then-’
The source of the voice, Natalia nodded.
‘Perfect. I’ll get Nemo-’
‘So you were involved.’ Another voice rang out, and as Natalia turned to face it, she was frowning recognising Fang even before she turned.
Fang stepped out from under the shade of the hangar unto the stretch of platform leading to the landing pad. She was illuminated by the moonlight, her pale skin gaining an ephemeral glow matched by the stars on her dress. She had her mechanical hand behind her back.
‘So this was what you meant by “loyalties”? You left me so you can go around stealing things with other people?’
Nat took one step toward Fang. ‘Chao, listen-’
Fang’s mechanical hand swung around revealing her holding her pistol, now pointed toward Natalia.
‘Stop.’ She said, and Nat did.
‘Chao-’
‘It’s Fang.’ She interrupted, her tongue hanging onto the last syllable like she was hanging onto a lie.
Nat’s expression weakened, her eyes brows slanting upward in the middle to match with her frown. She looked to the ground for any words to say, but found no explanation that could remedy the situation. Instead, she could only offer the truth she knew, one she clung to in the process of leaving the woman she loved.
‘This is much bigger than you or I. What we’re doing, it’s for the betterment of all.’ She stepped forward only to be met with fang pulling back the hammer on her pistol, and so she stopped. ‘Listen. There are so many lives on the line. You remember what the war took from us. All of us. What we’re doing is destroying the chances that the empire could ever invade our homes again.’
‘So you’re with the Edonian military is that it?’
‘No, it’s-’ She stopped. To speak is to die, and to tell another is to kill them too. ‘I can’t tell you.’
‘Can’t or won’t?’ Fang questioned, baring her canines.
‘Look-’ Nat sighed, looking to the ground once more. This time to find the courage to stare Fang in the eyes without tripping over her own words. Knowing deep down, that nothing she could ever say would mend the past, or make up for her absence, she thought of the only thing that she could say. ‘Come with me.’
Fang for a moment was silent before responding. ‘What?’
‘I can’t tell you the truth, but I can bring you to the person who can.’ Nat took one more step, and upon noticing that Fang didn’t react in any negative way, spoke again. ‘I’m sorry I left.’
‘I showed you my scars, Nat.’
‘I know.’
‘I showed you all the places I’ve been shot, where I took shrapnel from a grenade. I even told you about how I lost my arm after I fell into barbed wire. Told you about how “I was lucky” that the infection stopped right below my elbow. I told you everything before the war too. You know everything about me.’
‘And I showed you my scars too.’
‘But you never did tell me anything about you.’ Fang gripped tightly to the handle of her handgun. ‘You worshipped me, made me feel like I was everything that you were missing. I’ve always regretted not convincing you that I could be trusted with your stories, but now…’
A tear formed in Fang’s eye before being caught by her organic arm rubbing it away.
‘I’m finding out that I never knew you. Because I never could.’
‘Chao…’
They stared at each-other with an unmatched intensity fuelled by a thousand myriads of conflicting emotions.
Fury? Melancholy? Sadness? Longing? Neither of them fully knew exactly what they were feeling in the moment.
Natalia was suspended in place at gunpoint and she knew that the next few moments, if left unchecked, this would only end in tears, be it from her leaving again, or from the quick flash of a trigger-pull.
‘Chao. Please. If you come with me, I promise-’
‘Stop.’ The word felt heavy coming out from Fang’s mouth. ‘Stop promising things. I’m so sick of promises.’
And they were back to staring each-other down.
‘Ch-’
From behind Fang, a massive explosion of smoke erupted, only for it to seemingly be sucked into a single glowing point behind Fang’s back, before getting rearranged and dispersed in the form of gentle blue butterflies that disappeared after a short time.
However, the explosion was enough to knock Fang to the ground, the pistol falling out of her grasp and sliding away from her. The dragon roared and started stirring forcing Finn to try and lull it. ‘Auburn, get the saddle! Now!’
Nat, recognising an opportunity, had hit the ground running. However, her not wanting to hurt Fang and merely wishing to keep her out of the fight, she kicked her pistol further away back into the direction of the hangar.
‘NAT!’ Fang shouted as she pushed herself up and running a different direction into the hangar.
Natalia then ran to the back and watched as the source of the smoke, the mist-headed woman, hovered down from the roof of the hangar, firing balls of mists unto targets she couldn’t quite see from behind rows of crates. She continued running until she saw Nemo bent down on one knee in a small clearing.
‘Nemo!’
*BANG*
A then crackle resounded as a bullet hit the wooden wall beside them.
Natalia, by instinct, snapped her fingers into the direction of the gunfire, releasing a red-white streak falling in an arc before it hit a stack of crates near the source of the shot.
*BOOM*
The white streak ignited upon impact against the crater, gathering and releasing a great amount of energy in the form of an explosion.
‘Ken!’ Someone yelled out of sight.
Didn’t matter whomever was hit. Not to Nat. She ran to Nemo and lifted him up by the arm. ‘Come on! We’re getting out of here.’
In one moment, a bright golden flash illuminated the room, and then-
*THOOM*
Thunder cracked loudly through the air less than a millisecond later.
Nemo cried out as a sharp sudden pain struck his system, slipping out of Nat’s hands. She looked up to the air to find the mist-headed woman falling to the ground still crackling with golden arcs of electricity, her form slowly fading into glowing red ashes that dissipated into nothing.
‘No-no-no… This won’t end here, Nemo.’
Once more, Nemo’s arm was wrapped over her shoulder, but this time, she was carrying his full unconscious weight. She lifted, heaved, and stopped herself from sobbing. ‘Come on, Natalia. You’re stronger than this.’
‘Let me help!’ Shouted Finn as he ran up toward Natalia. He wrapped Nemo’s other arm around him and pulled him alongside her. ‘The saddle’s on the drake. Let’s get on and get out.’
Nat noticed that Finn had picked up the pistol that Fang had been wielding before. ‘Sorry, Chao. Finn will be borrowing this for a while.’ She apologised under her breath.
They eventually managed to reach the drake, now equipped with a large saddle with Auburn seated atop and ready to fly. And upon placing Nemo atop the dragon, Finn stepped up the stirrup and sat nearer to the dragon’s neck, holding the harness.
He then looked back and saw Nat with one hand placed upon the saddle looking away, only to notice that she was staring down the vulpine woman who held them at gunpoint earlier, now armed with a rifle.
He whipped out the pistol he looted and in that same moment, Nat turned to see him preparing to fire at the woman.
Natalia was never the smartest person, and she had admitted it openly before to Fang. She had always thought with her heart before she did with her head.
And in that split second where the fate of her beloved was to be decided by a trigger-pull, she decided to follow her heart.
She leapt without thinking. One moment, she was on her way to mount the drake, and the next, she was in-between Finn and Fang.
The pain hardly registered at first. The bullet dug deeply into her back right below her right scapula. It had pierced through a rib, shattering it, sending fragments into her lung.
That one moment stretched for what seemed like an eternity for Fang. Afterwards, she was holding Natalia in an embrace once again. However, as she held Natalia, her hands felt something warm and wet upon her back.
A small river of blood had started to pour out and stain her white suit along with Fang’s hand clutching at the bullet wound.
‘Nat?’ She called out quietly, but was met with a guttural cough and wheeze. The sound of something that sounded like liquid hit the floor splattering behind her.
Then the dragon took flight from a short distance away, leaving Fang and Natalia.
‘NAT!’
___
‘I guess that’s that.’ said Sandra as she leaned against the railing atop a hospital’s roof. Her face had a large plaster placed upon it, a result of having fainted and hitting the ground, and there was a faint set of red lines that had settled under her nostrils. ‘I don’t think Ken’s gonna let his guard down around me any-more.’
‘Just think about it this way, Sandra. He really cares about your well-being.’ Responded a relatively spotless and uninjured Riley.
Here on this rooftop under the glowing shade of the Great Tree, its leaves now shimmering silver and blue from the moonlight, they stood, breathed in the chilly night air, and sighed out frustrated breaths. They stared idly at the skyscrapers below, only some of which actually managed to reach the lower canopy which this hospital was built upon.
‘I just hope I did enough.’ Riley mused.
‘I mean, you thought really fast about it. You summoned a fishing line and stitched the wound shut. I didn’t know you could even do that.’ Sandra responded. ‘And you kept your concentration on it until the paramedics reached her.’
‘Still. I feel bad.’ Riley said and turned to Fang who stood against the far end of the railing well away from them with her head hung low. ‘I kinda wish I took up flesh-melding.’
‘I honestly don’t think she could even have a chance without your quick thinking, so give yourself a bit of credit.’
‘You should too, Sandra. You killed that mist lady with one lightning bolt.’ Riley said leaning against Sandra.
‘I just wish that Ken can see that I will get strong enough to be able to handle myself. Eventually, he’s gonna get himself involved in something he can’t handle, and I wanna be able to help him.’
‘You helped him tonight.’
‘But I still fainted. I wanna keep practising until I don’t.’
‘Don’t take this the wrong way but,’ Riley turned to Sandra. ‘Why do you want to help him so badly?’
‘‘Cause it’s how I was raised. “Goldhillians help neighbors” is my hometown’s motto, and Ken’s gonna need a lot of help.’ Sandra answered. ‘I mean, for crying out loud, he has a phobia against guns.’
‘Wait, seriously?’ Riley’s ear twitched.
‘Yeah. He’ll never admit it, and it’s not like he doesn’t occasionally carry since he’s still a cop and all, but…’ Sandra grumbled at the thought of her uncle. ‘I don’t think he’s shot a person since he returned from the war.’
‘Ahh. Well, I can’t say I blame him.’ Riley admitted.
‘Why?’
‘A lot of people took up pacifism after the war.’
‘Pacifism’s fine but-’
Behind them, the door exiting to the roof opened, prompting the three to turn, and from it, Ken emerged, his right arm in a cast and sling.
Fang, her ears slanted downward, was the first to walk to Ken.
‘She’ll live.’ He announced.
Relieved, they sighed together in unison.
‘Kids. You two mind stepping inside?’
‘Why?’ Asked Sandra.
‘Here’s ten bullions. Go nuts in the canteen.’ He pulled out a note from his pocket and gave it to the kids.
‘Uhh, Okay.’
Sandra and Riley left through the door, leaving just Ken and Fang alone together.
‘What do you want?’ Fang questioned.
‘Just a couple of words with an old friend.’ He responded as he began to walk to the railing. Fang followed, still brooding all the while.
They stood leaning against the railing side-by-side, Ken facing toward the city as Fang faced inward to the door. Briefly, the shared a moment of silence before Ken started to speak.
‘You doin’ alright?’ He asked, not looking at Fang as he did.
‘Juuuust peachy.’
Ken looked low and high toward the city’s ground and skyline. ‘You sure?’
‘My God, Ken. What the hell do you want me to say here!?’ She exploded.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to-’
‘Mean to what!?’ Fang swung her arms wide open. ‘Mean to barge into my life after years, act like things are hunky-dory between us, and then proceed to watch me royally fuck everything up!?’
‘Royally- What are you talking about!? None of this was your fault.’
‘ALL OF IT IS MY FAULT!’ She yelled. ‘I’m nothing but tons of bad luck packed together in this stupid god damn shell you call a body. And sometimes I just wanna crack it open and leave.’
Ken rubbed the back of his neck while he leaned closer to the railing.
‘I’m sorry.’ That was all he could muster, all he could say.
‘I’m just a screw-up. A no-good failure who couldn’t support a singing career, an utter idiot in heat that would rather chase a guy down to the big city in the hopes that she could spend her life with him.’
Ken was wide-eyed as he turned to face Fang.
‘Is that why you ended up in Yggdra? ‘Cause you were after me?’
Fang rubbed her face and realised that they were wet with tears. ‘I fuckin’ loved you and I hated you for leaving Odingard. We were happier there.’ Her voice faltered under her hiccups as she cried. ‘And then war broke out and I had to find out from your brother that you signed up.’
Ken clutched the railing as he looked back toward the city.
‘So I signed up too. Nothing went right back then either, so I might as well serve something “grander” than myself.’ She revealed. ‘So why do you wanna stick around with a massive screw-up?’
‘I never called you a screw-up-’
‘You didn’t have to! You just had to leave again.’
The winds howled against the conversation they shared, but they could never mask Fang’s emotions now laid bare. She was hurt, long ago, and she never stopped hurting, and all of the scars afflicted upon her continued to build and never heal. Against the cold harsh nighttime wind, she felt colder and more sore than ever before.
Ken took off his blazer, whipping it clean of any remaining glass shards embedded into it. He approached her and draped it over her shoulders.
Fang began to weep uncontrollably. She fell to her knees clutching at the lacerated blazer Ken had given her. In this moment, she released nearly a decades-worth of frustration out to the winds which carried her cries. And in this moment, Ken joined, albeit a little quieter.
‘I’m sorry, Chao.’ Ken spoke. ‘I’m sorry I left Odingard. I’m sorry I left you back then too. I’m sorry I was a scumbag. I used your desperate feelings against you to try and fill a hole deep inside of myself.’
‘I just wanted you beside me.’ She said in-between sobs. ‘I hoped that sharing my body with you would be enough to keep you around.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I should’ve told you how I felt. Should’ve never kept my feelings vague.’
Ken sat next to Fang. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry, Ken.’
They held each-other in a tight embrace as two former friends that had hurt each-other in ways that some would deem unforgivable. However, here under the silver-blue glow of moonlight, all was laid bare, all the love and all the hate swelling from within them.
Time would tell if they would ever heal, ever be able to stand each-other’s presence. But for now, they merely shared in each-other’s warmth, just so they could withstand another cold night in their lives.
CHAPTER END