“Tyria Ionar was a lost cause.” Felix scratches out the name on the piece of paper. “But, her pa is a healer so maybe not such a lost cause.” He adds a line then a question mark in startling red ink. “We are going to need some of those after all. Given, in the war he fought for the humans so he might not be very pro-nephlim.”

“Age is also a part of it. He’d be what, 50? 60? Retiring age. I wouldn’t be doing jack shit if I was that old.” Rizeal tacks an X next to the question mark.

“He’s still a possibility. We could look into why Tyria didn’t show up for her own protest and figure things out from there. Now what about…” Felix moves further down the list, skipping through names before circling Daicho, “Daicho is supposed to have one of the best healer schools with a focus for nephlims. You could try your whole… protest recruiting thing you do there.”

Rizeal puffs up in indignation and Felix can’t stop the smile from slipping onto his lips. “Joking, joking. But, Daicho- what do you think? We could hit some of the other cities and towns on the way up north.”

“It’s close to the CME’s main hospital too.” Aizel chirps up, leaning forward with a cigarette hanging from his lips.

“What? Where’s that located? I thought the CME only used the human hospitals?” Felix perks up, scrambling through the pages before stopping at a blank page. He taps the red pen on the paper three times while staring up at the boy.

Aizel huffs a breath, smoke floating out and dispersing in the air around their three heads before he tugs at the map underneath the stack of papers Felix had sprawled out. “It’s not exactly a hospital, more of a research facility, but its right here.” He taps at a dot a few inches away from the dot labelled Daicho. “I used to work there, the upper levels are for urgent care and the bottom levels are the research facility.”

Felix gives a hum, dragging his papers closer to him. “You messed up my organization. I had a specific order for those-“

“Oh no,” Aizel reaches over and brushes some of the papers off of the tiny table, “whatever will you do.” He’s smiling at least, which is better than the pout he’s been giving them since they left Mavinsport. Doesn’t mean Felix appreciates the brattish behavior though.

“You bloody brat-“ Felix snaps, scrambling to grab the papers floating to the floor. Rizeal gives a sigh before she taps on the tiny wooden table between them,

“Focus idiots. Okay so, let’s say we go to Daicho- what’s the plan? I think we should stick south. If they have a secure job they aren’t going to want to risk anything. So we should be going after the ones that don’t have that going for them.” Rizeal taps one of the dots further to the west side of the map.

“Untrained healers would be useless to us. They’re just as likely to kill someone as they are to save them. Oh hey, I know you’re missing a leg so I regrew it but I fucked up so now you’ll have two legs on one hip joint.” Felix snaps, frowning down at the paper. He’s seen it done before too, a novice healer taking on more than they can chew.

“So we train them. You have books, I have connections. Aizel knows his way around places and I’m sure the others can come up with something. Natalia’s sister is learning to be a healer, so I’m sure she knows some things.” Rizeal has this stubborn look in her eye, hands folded on the table as she leans even closer.

“You can only train so much. Some people that are healers aren’t actually gifted. It’s spelling for disaster if you guys just pick up any street urchin.” Aizel pipes up, his previous mischievous grin wiped from his face. “At Dracein they did experiments with it. Nasty, awful things. If you couldn’t afford medical it was the best thing you could get and they made you sign all these papers. If it went wrong they were not to be held accountable.”

“We can’t be picky though- not if we are planning to do this sooner rather than later. If we just bide our time waiting for trained healers… We won’t get anywhere.” Felix frowns down at the papers, moving them around to get them back in their original order. “We could-“

“I don’t know why you think you can talk someone out of a guaranteed job to a life where they will most likely end up being hunted down if things go sour.” Rizeal is the voice of reason, she always is. She’s like Felix’s conscious, the little voice in his head telling him that everything he thinks of is a bad idea. “Plus, if we are going to recruit the elder Ionar then it’d be better to be close by. It’s at least a week long journey from Daicho to Mavinsport and that’s if we don’t stop for rest. An old man could never do that kind of journey.”

“That’s true. How about this…” Felix hums, bringing the piece of paper with three dots on it closer to him. He scribbles down the names Daicho and Dracein, then circled Dracein and writing the word possibility on the side before going lower on the page, “what if we just stayed on the shoreline? Not too far but if need be we could travel by sea to get to Mavinsport faster. And there’s more nephlims on the shorelines anyways.”

He scribbles down the word shore, writing down the names of the towns and cities close by. Rizeal makes a humming noise before adding, “There’s some groups around those areas that we could grab people from. Or even… we could merge? We’d have to do some work and see who’d even be willing to go with this.” She gestures at all of the papers. All of the scribbled red words depicting possibilities and ideas.

“It shouldn’t be that hard. I mean, it’s not right what they do. How they go about it.” Aizel huffs out another smoke filled breath before stubbing the cigarette out on the table.

“Careful, careful. All of this is flammable you know?” Rizeal scolds, a disappointed scowl on her face as she wipes away the butt of the cigarette. “And just because it isn’t right doesn’t mean that people will be willing to become terrorists.”

“We aren’t-“ It’s an age old argument, one Felix is honestly tired of hashing out.

“Attacking the CME unprovoked makes us terrorists.” Rizeal bites out.

“What does that make them then? They kill people for no bloody reason! Oh, you’re a hybrid? Guess what, to the chopping block you go! Look what happened to bloody Nathan!” The words fall from Felix’s mouth like poison. He’s leaning forward, halfway standing as he glares over at Rizeal.

“Just because they are monsters doesn’t mean we need to be monsters. There’s more than just violence to get things to change.” She’s bitter, sour and guilty. Nathan was a soft spot for both her and Felix and Felix can’t help but dig his fingers into it and tear. Aizel sits back, eyes wide and clueless and he’s such a naïve child.

Felix’s lips tighten as sits back and grabs the red pen again. “Your way didn’t get anything done. Nothing has changed, just more and more death. We aren’t- we’re getting healers so that nobody dies. It’s just to send a message. To say hey, we are here. We aren’t going to stand by and just let them kill nephlims. That we’ll actually do something. Not just stand on the streets and yell things at them or talk about things.”

“It’ll start a war. It’s not going to go the way you want it to, you should know this. When has it ever-“ Rizeal bites her lips before swallowing down whatever she was going to say. “Anyways, are we in agreeance at least on where we are going next?”

“Even if it did start a war, it would just be us and the CME. Humans don’t like dealing with the nephlim populace.” Aizel says after a moment of stilted silence. Voice timid and small at first. “It’s actually- The CME tries not involve humans as much as possible and most nephlims would surely be on our side rather than the CME.”

“It’s not- How old are you? Did you even live through the war? The aftermath? The CME was built by humans. They wouldn’t just-“ Rizeal spits out the words, lips thinning before she adds in a much calmer voice, “The CME is there because of the humans. That’s something you both need to understand.”

“Not exactly, it was the so called hero that formed it. Or the laws for it anyways. Nephlims are the ones that actually enforce everything. Humans just sit around and make the rules they enforce.” Felix taps the paper with the pen, adding a fourth ink blotch on the paper.

“I lived through that- Just because I’m not as old as you two doesn’t mean I don’t know what happened!” Aizel sits up straight, a scowl taking over his features and eyes darkening as he glares over at Rizeal.

“And that’s why you joined the CME, right?” Rizeal scoffs.

“I was drafted!” Aizel stands up, voice raising with every word he shouts, “I’m not even a bloody nephlim to begin with and I was drafted!”

Rizeal’s eyes shift to the side, silence sinking into the room after the outburst. It’s stilted, Aizel still standing, chest heaving and Rizeal refusing to acknowledge the words. Felix is left floating, unsure of the proper words to say for once in his life.

Rizeal was still angry, she’s always angry. Furious that Tyria wasn’t there, that her last stance was broken and lost leaving her with Felix. She didn’t agree, she never would. She didn’t see how it’d help.

She didn’t see how if the CME was dismantled they’d be free. They could do her peaceful route afterwards; do all the talking and negotiating afterwards. Until then, the CME stood in the way. This unflinching killing machine that just followed the laws that were passed blindly.

Yes, they could do peace talks and whatever else Rizeal wanted now, but it’d just be squashed ruthlessly by the CME whenever they seem to threatening. Rizeal knows it, he knows she knows that. She just doesn’t want to acknowledge it. Like she doesn’t want to acknowledge everything else.

They’ve seen it happen before, back when Felix agreed wholeheartedly with Rizeal. Back when Nathan was still alive and leading them, promising them impossibilities that they thought were possible. Nathan always promised a new world. A better world. Where everyone is equal and the same. Where it didn’t matter what kind of magic you had or even if you did have magic. He always promised a change.

A change that none of them even thought of. Rizeal being her protesting self never thought of the big picture. She only thought of the tiny bits and Felix never once thought of the possibility of those kinds of changes. It was something Felix has since learned would never be possible, at least not with the CME in existence.

“I think... This is enough for now. We have things to look into. Aizel,” Amber eyes burning with frustration look over at Felix as he speaks, “look into Ionar and Tyria. Figure out why she vanished, what she was involved in, things we can use to get her dad to join us.”

Aizel just stares, emotions fluttering through his eyes before it stills into a yellow lake and he nods. He gives one last glare over in Rizeal’s direction before pushing himself away and leaving. The door to the small room slams shut and the walls quake around them.

Felix sighs, pinching his nose before looking over to Rizeal. She’s looking properly shamed, mouth pinched and arms folded across her chest as she digs her chin down. The words are weak when Felix says, “You can’t just- You agreed.”

“I know. I know I did, it’s just…” Rizeal sighs, blue eyes flashing up at him behind her golden hair. “This isn’t going to go well. Aizel shouldn’t even- He’s just a kid.”

“We were that age when we started.” The words taste empty as soon as they leave Felix’s mouth.

“And look how that ended. Nathan is dead and both of us are using false names. Can’t even go home because we are counted as wanted criminals. I got a mom at home who thinks I’m dead.”

“It wasn’t because of that though. You know that. It was-“ Felix stops, unable to put the words in his mouth and Rizeal just stares at him with these horribly sad eyes.

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“I know.”

She’s the only one that does.

“We’ll still use your protests as a cover. But we need to actually plan what we are going to do. What we’ll attack. I’m thinking…” Felix taps the name Dracein with the red pen. “It’d be a good way to send the message. And it’s further away from civilians. Plus, Aizel would know his way around.”

“We’d be attacking a hospital, that’s not exactly a message we want to send. That we’re willing to injure the helpless and innocent.” Rizeal cautions, but she’s speaking softly. Bending oh so softly to the idea.

“That’s why we’d get the healers. Your plan remember? To make sure there are no actual casualties? And… if we do go for Dracein we won’t actually hit the hospital level, mainly just the research levels. You heard Aizel, it’s practically human experimentation.” Felix goads, reaching out to touch her hand.

“We won’t rush this. Everything will go exactly as planned.” Felix offers a cocky grin, “We aren’t those naïve brats anymore after all. We know how this world works.”

Rizeal’s laugh sounds more like a sob but she’s nodding her head. “Let’s go south first. I want to hit up Avalion. There… there’s supposed to be this big group of nephlim rights activists down there. It’s where I met Tyria before. One of the meetings they had about the decrease in jobs for nephlims.”

“Sounds solid.” He clasps Rizeal’s arm, “Would you mind cleaning up in here? I’m going to go find Natalia and see what she thinks about the healers.” He waits for Rizeal’s nod before getting up from his chair and leaving the back room of Andreas.

The lights are bright in the tiny shop, light flooding in through the wide windows in the front of the store. Much brighter than the barely lit back office they sequestered as their headquarters. It fit its purpose though, something hidden in plain sight that no one would take a second glance at.

Kristen is sitting in the front, folding paper planes and paper cranes and setting them out on the desk. An interesting soul, that one. “Anything happen?” Felix asks, walking straight up to the desk.

Kristen yelps, bolting straight up and staring with wide brown eyes at Felix. “Well- Um. No. No one really is interested in your guys’ shit. I’m telling you, you’d have better luck selling nephlim mummies.” The brat leans back in the chair, crossing his heel over his knee before flicking one of the paper planes onto the floor.

“Uh huh. Just shut up and do your job why don’t you?” Felix laughs, reaching over to rustle the brat’s hair.

“Hey, hey! Leave the hair alone, you old man!” Kristen is shouting, quickly shoving at Felix’s hand and trying to duck away.

“What, trying to impress some girl?” Felix was joking when he said the words but in a flash he could actually see the girl. Some young, pretty thing. He retracts his hand and just settles at smirking at the young boy.

“Maybe. So what if I am.” Kristen is puffing up in agitation. Eyes cross and a pout on his lips.

“Nothin’, nothin’. I wish you luck in your lady wooing. Don’t let me catch you napping later though!” Felix pats the boys head before heading out of the shop.

Laqrea was a rather large city. Loud and busy, cars polluting oxygen as they stalled and rumbled up and down the paved streets. Horses wondered about, but not as many as people preferred walking or the automotive transportation in the city. Not enough space for everyone to have their own stables and renting a stable was horribly expensive.

If one was born in the city, they usually never left. Aizel being a prime example. The CME barely moved him out, just right on the doorsteps of another city. Felix was almost in the same boat, probably would have been in the exact same boat if it weren’t for Nathan.

Felix breathes in the air, shutting his eyes and letting the woes of the city wash over him. The thoughts prickling his own mind, emotions rubbing off onto him before vanishing into thin air. He honestly loved cities, they felt so alive. Nothing like the countryside where everything was quiet and still.

Natalia worked a nice distance away, a mile or so if Felix were to guess. A good hike and, peeking up at the sky, he might be there just around lunch time. Natalia always was fond of food and he might need to bribe her if he’s going to be inquiring about her sister.

Natalia was one of the bartenders to a renowned bar. One that opened at 10 and stayed open until 5 in the morning. Small and cozy in the early hours and then crowded and loud later on in the night. One of the few places that opened its arms to nephlims needing a job.

Natalia was, not exactly older but she was on the higher end of her 20’s. Rizeal was the one who found her struggling to take care of her baby sister after her parents got fired from their jobs. A helping hand and a debt owed and Natalia was suddenly helping them with the easy tasks. When they left for extended periods of time Natalia was the one that made sure Andreas was kept alive and running.

“Nathan. What brings you here?” Natalia is at the bar wiping down the glasses when she notices Felix walking up to the bar. She pauses for a second to make eye contact before looking back at the wine glass she was wiping down.

“Hey Nat, I was just wondering if you would be interested in grabbing some food?” He offers his most charming smile, sliding into one of the swivel chairs and leaning on his forearms.

“Getting a bit late for that don’t you think?” The words are calm and collected, but Felix would have to be blind to not notice the way she tensed. She’s suspicious, she always was whenever Felix reaches out. Usually it was Rizeal dealing with her since the two had a friendship going whilst Felix stayed on the sidelines.

Rizeal wasn’t the best at certain things though and… well.

Felix trusted his ability to twist the conversation into his favor if push comes to shove.

“Never too late to grab some food. Plus, I have something I wanted to ask you about.” Those words got her attention, murky eyes snapping up to stare at him before she gives a sigh.

“Give me… ten minutes. I need to finish this and let Thomas know I’ll be taking my break now instead of later.” She’s already sliding the glasses up on the high shelf behind her. Felix just keeps smiling, chirping out,

“I’ll be here waiting.”

It takes her a bit longer than ten minutes, but Felix doesn’t mind too much. He settles in, gaze dragging around the little bar. There’s barely any people, a couple sitting by the window and talking in whispers and there’s an older man at the other end of the bar reading a newspaper.

He wouldn’t have given the old man a second glance if it wasn’t for the headline on the newspaper in big bold, black letters NEPHLIM PROTESTOR MURDERED. He pauses, staring at the newspaper and then suddenly Natalia is tapping on his shoulder.

“Are you ready?” She shifts on her feet, cocking her head in the direction to the door. Felix gives a hum, one last glance towards the newspaper before hopping off of the bar stool and swinging an arm out in a lazy form of a bow.

“Ladies first.” Natalia rolls her eyes at his words before heading out the door. “Is there any where specifically you want to eat? Me personally, I could kill for some noodles.”

“I’m sure you’ve killed for less.” The words aren’t even snarky. Natalia says them as if she honestly believes them. Felix isn’t sure how to tell her that he actually has never killed anyone. He’s just seen people die. He laughs it off as if it’s a joke anyways.

“So, want to hit up Umichi’s?” Felix suggests. Natalia offers up a shrug; shoving her hands into her pockets as she caved in on herself. He gives a sigh before leading the way. There’s no way the two of them could do small talk, not with how Natalia is prepared for the worst.

It makes him wonder what Rizeal told her, or what she thought she knew. Sure Felix looked a bit on the guff side with the red dye he put in his hair faded more often than not and scruff on his chin, but he wasn’t exactly scary. Felix was all bark and no bite in all honesty. The only people he ever did bite deserved it.

“So, we’re looking for healers.” No reason for Felix to beat around the bush.

Natalia instantly stiffens, footsteps haltering for a second before she’s charging forward and shoving at Felix, “No. You are not- No. My sister is not getting involved in your silly little war.”

Normally, he’d say isn’t that her choice but he knew what a landmine those words would be. Instead he raises his hands, placating and calm as he says, “We can talk about it at Umichi’s over a hot cup of noodles. It’s nothing too serious, promise.”

A wary glance, Natalia is still scowling but she relents, backing away and going back to her sulking slouch.

Felix debated on saying something else, but sometimes silence is better. Natalia was already a fuming ball of anger, turning his words over and over in her head. She’s trying to find the trick, he can tell. She’ll keep searching until she finds it, not even giving a thought that maybe, just maybe Felix doesn’t actually mean to screw her and her sister over.

Umichi’s is a large sit down restaurant, brown wooden tables with a deep blue wool covering the center. Some have candles, others have the little ceiling lights that flicker on and off. There’s a waitress standing in the front, tapping at some piece of paper and counting what Felix assumes is the tables.

She looks up, smiles and asks, “Just two?”

“Yes, table for two. The name is Nathan.” Felix gives her a bright smile, Natalia melting in the background somewhere behind him.

The waitress grabs two menus throwing out the words, “If you could follow me.” She pauses, checking one last chance that Felix and Natalia are following before she leads them further into the restaurant.

They are seated at a table by one of the tiny windows, a candle flickering on the table between them. The waitress slides the menus down to their respective seats before informing them, “Jannel will be your waitress; she’ll be here in a few minutes.” The girl flashes a smile before taking a step back and aiding another group of people waiting at the front.

Felix bids her a goodbye before turning his attention onto Natalia who’s stubbornly browsing through the menu. “It’s really not that bad, we aren’t looking to recruit your sister. I was just wondering if she’d be willing to train people.”

Natalia freezes, eyes no longer stuttering over the menu before she looks up. She’s still frowning, eyes tired and worn as she spits out, “No. My sister isn’t getting involved.”

“She wouldn’t be touching anything. If anything it would help with her studies. We are just… we’re going to recruit some healers who might not actually know anything, they’d just have the magic. We just want her to offer some... pointers or suggestions. We just want her to meet them when we have them.”

He’s calm, eyes not even flickering away from Natalia’s tense face. He gives her a minute before Felix starts thumbing through the menu. “Rizeal was the one who came up with the idea. It’s not a bad one. You know Samantha has been itching to actually do something to help. Really, it’s a good option.”

“What do you mean good option? That’s not an option.” Natalia straightens up her posture, eyes narrowing even more. “She’s not getting involved. I want you and your slimy hands as far away from her as possible.”

“Rude and offensive.” Felix pauses on one of the pages in the menu, making a humming noise. “I’ve talked to her before you know, she actually came over to Andreas and asked what she can do to help. I told her there was nothing for her to do, but she is interested.”

Natalia’s eyes get wide, there’s panic brimming in her mind about the possibilities of things going wrong. “I’m not going to try to recruit her. She’s got a perfectly happy life as is. Just, we could use the help.”

“I can help.” Natalia snaps, hands folded on the table and knuckles going white with how tight her fingers clench together.

“You’re a great druid. We don’t- We need healers. Not-“ Felix raises a hand when he sees Natalia tenses again readying herself for an argument, “Not your sister. She doesn’t even need to know that it’s for us. Just say you had some friends that want to learn how to use-“

The waitress, Jannel Felix supposes, pops up with a bright smile, “What could I get for you two to drink?”

“Two waters please.” Felix doesn’t even wait for Natalia to speak.

“Two waters and… do you know what you will be eating today?” The waitress scribbles down something on the paper before giving them an inquiring look. Felix cocks his head in Natalia’s direction, cocking an eyebrow. Her mouth tilts to the side for a second before she looks up to the waitress and offers her order. Felix quickly follows with his best smile.

Felix waits for the waitress to turn before the smile drops from his face and he continues, “We are just looking for a way to teach people a few tricks. She doesn’t even have to know what it is for.”

“That’s still-“ Natalia chews on her lips before she rewords her thoughts, “She’ll find it weird if I suddenly bring people over to learn things about healing.” She’s still twisting the words in her mind, turning them every way and looking for the trick. Felix lets her.

“So ask after her studies, say you have a friend that’s trying to get into healer school, but didn’t make the cut.” The words fall smoothly over Felix’s tongue like water. Lies for someone else to say for him. If Natalia agrees, he knows she’ll say them. That way she can still blame someone else if everything goes upside down.

“That’s-“ She frowns and Felix leaves her to her thoughts. Silence is a welcome friend engulfing them in a warm hug. He thumbs through the menu some more.

“Have you met Aizel yet?” It’s an innocent inquiry, something that he could build on later depending on how it goes. Natalia doesn’t even pause at the name, brows furrowing before she’s asking,

“Who?”

“New kid. I found him a few months ago. Ran away from the CME.” Felix continues to thumb through the menu, flipping the pages back and forth as if he found something interesting. He hasn’t even read a single word on the menu after ordering.

“He’s from the CME? And you brought him here?” Natalia honestly sounds repulsed; when Felix looks up he can see her recoil away. “Why?”

“He’s human.” Is all Felix offers before getting to the real reason he brought the kid up, “I was wondering if you’d be willing to take him under your wing? Get him a job with Tanya?”

Natalia freezes, pauses and her mind is a whirlwind before she finally says, “I’ll think about it.”

It gets her mind off of her sister though. Felix smiles, “Rizeal and myself would greatly appreciate it.”

Natalia hums, still tense and wary but throughout the lunch she relaxes bit by bit. Not enough to do anything and she still hasn’t promised anything but she’s melting. Slowly. She still warns Felix off of her little sister, but it didn’t go as badly as it could have.

Quite promising if someone were to ask Felix. All he needs is for Rizeal to butter her up and maybe slide a baby healer into her bar asking for help and Natalia would be sold. No point in angering the families to get things done.

As Felix heads back to Andreas he notices a little grocer and suddenly remembers the old man. Mainly the newspaper and the headline and he’s curious. The place is a small little thing, nothing grand like some of the others. Probably owned by some local that lived a bit aways.

Right by the clerk is a stack of newspapers. It’s a quick transaction, Felix flashing a smile and a greeting as he trades coins for paper. The walk back the newspaper burns his hand. The possibilities, the thoughts because what if this was an explanation.

Or if it was a gate opening to other possibilities?

Or a warning, of other possible difficulties he and Rizeal should be wary of?

It was both. It was neither.

The newspaper boldly confirmed the death of one Tyria Ionar with the possibilities of anti-nephlim associations carrying out the murder. Tyria’s death was one hundred percent a murder, a bullet shot to the stomach. There were no signs or warnings on who. Just a shot in the dark that made a hit.

The impact it made was borderline explosive.