It was a cloudy day. The sun was obscured by the greying clouds above, the greenery around the secret grove was dulled, and the sounds of the winds were muted. The air that carried those flat winds was heavy with tension and depressed with fear. Sitting in that atmosphere, gathered around in the secret grove of Bacch, was Vincent Huron, Eliot Zanes, Fang Nola, and Zander Nenmos.

They lingered in silence, each one sitting across from one another. None of them said a word—not even when they entered through the hidden door in the wall. They each simply sat down and looked somewhere other than in the eyes of each other. Eliot glanced up at the sky, Fang looked around the perimeter, and Zander gazed down at the ground. The only one who disobeyed this common rule was Vincent. He continued to stare straight ahead of him, right at the wavering faces of his friends.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, Zander finally coughed and said, “Well, I’m glad that you each got my invitation.”

“Yeah,” Eliot agreed.

“Yep,” Fang agreed.

“Well,” Zander tried to continue, “I’m also glad none of you got lost through the maze that leads here, because I know some of you are terrible with directions haha.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Eliot replied, half-way smiling.

The oppressive silence crept back into the air, shutting down the little conversation that started to emerge.

With his impatience starting to tickle at the back of his head, Vincent spoke up. “So, Zander, what did you want to meet with us for?” he asked. “I’m sure those red envelopes weren’t for show.”

“A-ah, good point, Vince,” Zander stuttered. “I, um, wanted to meet so we can discuss the plan for tomorrow.”

“What’s going on tomorrow?” Eliot asked.

“The, uh, plan to attack, um, you know.” Zander’s coherency began to falter with every word.

“Oh, right.”

A slight gust blew through the stagnant air, rustling a few leaves. Although the wind was present, it wasn’t strong enough to affect any of the heavier greenery. That being said, just as quickly as it came, it left.

After a few more seconds of waiting in the paused atmosphere, Vincent finally stood up. “What are you guys doing?!” he exclaimed.

Jolting slightly back, Zander responded, “We’re planning the thing for tomorrow.”

“I guess, yeah,” Eliot added.

Vincent slammed his fist on the table and responded, “No the fuck we aren’t.”

Fang looked at Vincent and started to say, “What are you—”

“You’re all just dancing around,” he cut them off. “Words are comin’ out of your mouths, but you ain’t said a damn thing yet.”

Everyone else just nervously, shyly, and inquisitively looked at each other, not verbally answering what he just stated.

“I’m not too sure what’s going on, but there are some things that I feel you all aren’t saying. If we’re gonna do this thing, we can’t be beating around the bush!”

As he spoke, he looked to each and every one of his friends, meeting their gaze with his own, even if they didn’t want to. His eyes were intense, desperate, and strangely empathetic. Behind those eyes was a thought that couldn’t help but let itself out.

“We can’t let Livia’s death be in vain,” he finally said.

The small breeze that was blowing through came to a halt. In the stillness, each of the friends sat frozen. Whether it was in fear, in shock, or any combination of the two, it was hard to tell. But still, it was a number of seconds before someone finally spoke up with Vincent.

Trembling, Eliot said, “Y-y-you’re right.” He then stood up and continued. “If we don’t do anything, there’s going to be more victims like her.”

“I-I agree,” Zander added, standing up.

Silently, Fang joined the rest.

Vincent took a deep breath and said, “Now, why don’t we talk about this. I hate seein’ all this jumping around stuff. It’s better to just say shit and get it all out. I’ll start.”

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He then cracked his neck and shoulders. “I’m sorry for not thinkin’ of others and how I affect them,” he said, looking at Eliot. He turned his attention towards Zander. “I’m sorry for being so reckless. I should know that my actions have consequences.” Finally, his eyes landed on Fang. “And I’m thankful that you all have been there to help me.”

“Vince…” Eliot said.

Vincent looked up at the sky and said, “And finally, I’m sorry that I couldn’t save her.” He then looked at each and every one of his friends. “But I know that we can avenge her.”

“Absolutely,” Zander agreed. He then looked directly at Eliot, winced a few times, and finally said, “And I’m sorry that I haven’t been a leader. I’ve done some terrible things, no matter how justified they are, and I haven’t been able to lead you all.”

“And I’m,” Eliot started to say with his head down, “sorry that I haven’t been myself. I haven’t been there for you guys and I’m sorry I left you.” He looked up and continued his thought. “I swear that I’m going to always stay by your sides and that I’m committed to stopping Lucretia.”

Fang finally opened their mouth and said, “I’m willing to help however I can. It’s the least I can do for all of you.” They looked at Vincent the entire time they spoke.

Vincent couldn’t help but smile as a warm gust blew through the space, jostling his hair around. With the impatience gone, replaced by excitement, he asked, “So, Zander,” he looked at the friend, “what’s the plan?”

Zander looked around for a moment, nodded his head a few times in a self-reassuring way, and then spoke up. “Nothing has changed for all of your original goals,” he stated. “But we’re going to have to make one small adjustment.” He placed both of his hands on the table. “After all of our plans go off, we’ll have to converge at Lucretia’s throne room.”

“Why’s that?” Fang asked.

“Because we don't have any evidence against her.” The room silenced a bit. “But in my meeting with Livia before she went off on her own, she told me two important pieces of information. First,” he said, pulling out a map, “is that she was going to go to Lucretia’s private chambers to get information and additional evidence. That being said, she also mentioned that if she didn’t return, that we would have to break into Lucretia’s vault behind the throne room in order to get any kind of evidence.”

“Wait, isn't that…?” Eliot trailed off.

“It’s exactly what you’re thinking, Eliot,” Zander confirmed. “That’s the same place where the obelisk is. So we kill two birds with one stone.”

“What’s the other thing she told you?” Vincent questioned.

Zander reached into his pocket and placed a small gold nugget on the table. “She showed me this.”

“Gold?”

“More or less,” Zander replied, still staring at the tiny chunk. “This alone probably saved my life.”

“You gotta be more specific than that, dude.”

Zander shook his head a bit and looked up at Vincent. “This was lodged inside of my stomach, stuck to the lining. She used Shades to shimmy down my throat, into my stomach, and then back out, pulling this out with it.”

“That’s gross,” Eliot cringed.

“That’s pretty dope,” Vincent remarked.

“But what does that have to do with anything?” Fang asked.

“Well, it turns out that Livia knew what Lucretia's powers were,” Zander stated. “Her ability,” he said, lifting the piece of gold in the air, “is the power to control gold—making her a Dominator.”

“Oh shit,” Vincent and Eliot replied, their mouths hanging open.

“That’s oddly fitting,” Fang commented.

“It really is,” Zander agreed. “So don’t have anything gold on you nor eat any gold flaked food.”

“Who would eat something like that?” Vincent confusingly asked. “Only an idiot would.”

“Yeah,” Zander nervously chuckled. “Anyway, let’s talk about our individual goals for the plan.” He turned towards Eliot and Fang. “You two are going to take those spare keys that you made and open all of the cells. You need to make sure that every last one of them is empty.”

“You got it!” Eliot replied.

“Understood,” Fang answered.

“Now Vince,” Zander said, shifting his attention towards Vincent, “I trust that you have a distraction all thought of?”

“Oh yeah,” Vincent replied, “I finalized it yesterday.”

“Good. But I have to warn you, the plan goes off at 5PM. No earlier, no later.”

“Why?”

“Because if you cause a big scene too early, then my meeting won’t happen, security will be heightened, and Lucretia will remain in her room. We absolutely need her to be nowhere near us.” Zander then looked at each friend. “We can take on any amount of guards and thugs, but there’s no way that we can handle someone with an ability as dangerous as hers—even you Vince.”

“Especially since half of this building is made of gold,” Fang chimed in.

“Exactly,” Zander agreed, snapping his fingers. “Does everyone understand?”

With firm eyes, they each glanced back and forth to each other. Silently, each and every person shook their head at the same time in agreement. Even the air that swirled around them was warm with confidence.

“Let’s do this, guys!” Vincent exclaimed, sticking his hand out in the middle of the table.

Elito and Zander quickly glanced at each other, smiled and put their hands on top of Vincent’s.

“Let’s put an end to this,” Eliot commented.

“This is for real,” Zander added. “We have to pull this off with everything that we have.”

Finally, Fang put their hand in the pile, saying, “We all know what we’re fighting for, right?”

The hands in the middle broke as they all reached skywards.

“For freedom!” they all shouted.