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ENVY
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“So that’s pretty much it, Pop." Kat leaned against a crate in the basement. "We will have at least six months of hard training, with only three days off.”
Pop's faced flushed red. His blood is boiling right now. Kat was mad herself, and she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her, but still, she paused her story to swallow a tough pill. I won't let any of these boys see me cry.
“And that’s just the beginning,” Cyrus said. What an idiot. How Jules has been friends with you for this long, I'll never know. “He said the real training starts after that.”
Once again, Pop took in all the information before speaking, and once again, he fumed at the boys. He crossed his arms. "Sounds to me like you've come to take my girl away.”
“Pop…” Guilt silenced Kat. She was unsure of what to say, of how to comfort him in this moment. He laid a hand on hers.
“Don’t misunderstand me," Pop said. "I know you lot have no other choice. But if you three hadn’t come here, my Kat would have been much safer.”
“As you said before, though,” Jules said, “you knew this day would eventually come. If not around her System Unlock Day, then sooner.”
Without breaking eye contact with Jules, Pop cracked his neck left and right.
“At least I’m with someone like me—”
Pop pounded his fist on a barrel next to his chair. Whiskers leapt up to the rafters. Rukia panted. A splintered hole remained. “That is what frightens me most, child!”
“She’s in good hands, Sir." Flattery will get you nowhere with him, Cy. "If anyone will keep her safe, it’s Jules. Plus, she has me and Rukia to back her up as well. I know I’m the most invested in this plan, but I—”
Whiskers dropped down in front of him and hacked up a hairball at his feet. Shouldn’t have left him out of that one, moron. Kat cracked a faint smile. This feeling was so new and unusual to her. I’ve been alone for so long. A little camaraderie is nice.
She caught Pop studying her face and her smile. His hardened demeanor softened up, if only a little. She thought he’d smile, but he did not. He addressed the two boys and fox. “It’s time you three go. If this is to be my last night with my daughter, I’d rather not spend it with you.”
Jules, Rukia, and Cyrus stood up. “I’m going to split off, too, Jules. You can have the room tonight.” Cyrus looked back at Kat with a stupid grin. Pop turned red. “I’ll sleep amongst the stars tonight.”
He left the basement, but Jules lingered at the base of the stairs, his back to them, until Cyrus shut the door above. This is so embarrassing, always insinuating in front of Pop. But why is Jules still here?
“Listen, you three…” Jules kept his back to them. “I’m sorry for how I left things last night. It was a foolish and stupid thing to say. It came from a good—Ah, forget it. I’ll never bring it up again.” Jules ascended the stairs and shut the door behind him.
“I want you to be careful, Kat." Pop picked a splinter out of his fist. "I need you to be careful.”
“I’m not your little girl anymore, Pop.” He doesn’t see me for who I really am, grown, almost a woman… A Sin.
Why is he being so quiet? Why won't he push back for me?
“What do you want, Kat?” The question confused her.
“I don’t know. To survive this life without being captured or tortured? Though being stuck with these imbeciles sounds like its own form of abuse.” That, and the training.
Still not cracking a smile.
“I meant in life, Katarina. What do you want from life?” She furrowed her brow.
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“No. Both those boys want safety, too. Everyone does.”
Kat thought about it for a while. She was shocked she didn’t have an answer.
“I guess… I want a goal just like those two have. Something to yearn for, to drive me, but I don’t. Maybe that’s what makes them idiots, but I get jealous that they have so much to live for. Me, I’ve just been surviving day by day. I guess I just want a normal life, to have what everyone else has. And a normal…" Family.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
> [Quest Reminder: Kat's Out of the Bag is still available.]
“I have never doubted you are Envy, Kat, but I have also never doubted that you’re my daughter."
She sat down on the unharmed half of the broken barrel. Pop sat down next to her on the splintered part. Always the tough guy. Kat buried her head in her hands. She couldn’t restrain the dam of emotions anymore.
“I hate it, Pop. These feelings I have deep inside of me. Feelings for everyone—hate, jealousy, greed. I’m so, so envious of everyone, and everything they have, and everything they are. And to see Rukia and Jules bond the way they—” Kat cut herself off there and moved on. “I just don’t know who I am.”
She wept into her father’s chest. Whiskers remained at a distance from her.
“I know exactly who you are. You are Katarina, my little girl—No, listen. You will always be my little girl, even when you are sixty and I am, hopefully by then, dead. That is who you are, to me. Sweet, but caring—though you don’t show it. Tough, charming to the right people.” A tear streamed down his eye. “To others, you are Envy. That is who you are, too. That is who you are, partly to me, as well. I have never doubted that.”
“What are you even saying? You sound like one of those fools.” She spoke between choking coughs and tears.
“The point is, my Sweet Kat, that I know who you are to me. And others will know who you are to them. But you must find out who you are to yourself. That is what matters.” Kat choked back more tears and composed herself.
“What happened that night?” She looked up at him. Snot streamed down her face. He took one of her hands in both of his and patted it.
“Some things are better off left unknown. I will carry that weight. For the three of us.”
“Three of us? You mean you don’t even know?” Whiskers gazed at her through half-closed eyelids. Damn cat. Sometimes I wish you really did have only nine lives. “I have nightmares about it, you know. I can never remember them when I wake up, but I know they’ve gotten clearer since I met Jules and Rukia.”
Pop wrapped one arm around her shoulder and dragged her in until it was difficult to breathe.
“I just have this missing piece, like I'm empty inside. It’s better when I’m around them, but somehow worse. I feel hope, but also worthless at times.”
“You’ve had no friends, Kat. Besides Whiskers here—who damn well better do better to her while I’m not around.”
“Better do better," the cat mocked. "Got it."
Pop drew a long and slow inhale through his nostrils. “And you better watch out for Jules, too.”
“I can trust him. He and I are in this together.”
“No, I meant that in a, uh…” Pop looked away. “Loverboy sort of way.”
Kat looked down and gripped her sweater wrapped around her pants like a skirt. “Is that all you men can think about? Each of you but Jules and Rukia has pushed that on me. Hard. We’re just kids—”
“For now. Soon you will be a woman. And your journey together will be long. Watch out for Cy, too. Even Jules is on edge with him right now. He’s blinded by power from that so-called Alter.”
“Yeah. Blinder than our blind beggar friend.” At last, they shared a laugh. “But speaking of The Painter, it seems he knows who you are—Ow! What are you doing?”
Pop turned to her and studied her face with intense focus. “What do you mean?”
“He mentioned a Master Forger—when talking to me. Nothing is coincidence with him. Why are you…?” Pop let go and rubbed her back.
“I'm… I'm sorry, Kat. Of course he knows that. He’s an Alter. You don’t attain Genius Rank lightly. It takes decades.” Then why would he have promised Cy to do it in one decade?
“That was a weird reaction.” Kat shrugged his hand off her shoulder. If you don't want to share, I won’t press you. Not starting a fight, not tonight.
“Katarina.” Whiskers curled his tails into himself. He looks so pretty. Wise, but sad. Kat rose.
“Pop. Father…" Another tear fell from her eye. "This is farewell, for now. I’d prefer to leave tomorrow on my own, and I’ve decided I’m not going to come visit you on my days off.” Oh Salvos, please don’t cry. “I will come visit you again before I leave Aquilantis. I have to march forward, alone. Blaze my own trail and all that crap. I hope that when I return, I’ll have a goal of my own to confide in you.” Kat saw the strain on her father’s face, the control he exerted to hold back tears. “It could be years—”
Pop cut her off and wrapped her in a bear hug. Wet drops fell onto her face from his. “Go, Kat. You go, and you blossom. I love you now, and I will love you then.” He broke the hug and dropped to one knee. He was so massive that they were now at eye level. With one arm still on her shoulder, he thrust a red crystal necklace into her hand. “When you have thought long and hard about it, tell me what item you’d like for me to Forge. Whisper it into that crystal while thinking of me. I will keep myself busy practicing so I can make you the strongest tool possible—and to keep my own sanity.” Kat's heart dropped. “When I deliver it to you, I’ll tell you everything. Your parents, and who I… Once was.”
> [Kat's Out of the Bag — Quest Objective ADDED: Complete Quest: Master of Forgery.]
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> [New Quest Available: Master of Forgery]
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> [New Reward Available for Master of Forgery: …Do you really need me to tell you?]
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> [Master of Forgery — Quest Objective ADDED: Whisper what Forged Object you'd like into Pop's red crystal.]
She wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him one last time. “I love you,” she whispered. Then she ran upstairs and outside into the cool, crisp air.
Hot, flustered, and depressed, Kat descended the steps outside of the inn. She wiped tears and snot from her face. Man. Had to get out of there or I was gonna explode. I can calm down out here. She gazed at the night sky. Two crescent and one nearly full moon ascended through the stars. Whiskers emerged from the shadows.
“Do you love me?”
“Would I follow someone everywhere they went if I didn’t?” You are such an asshole.
“You’re tied to me, so you have no choice. But do you love me?” Whiskers just licked his paws. And I thought I was the one with issues. “Well, I love you.”
Whiskers purred. Guess that's the closest thing to yes I'll get.
“I wish you would show it more often. You know how I am.” Who I am.
Whiskers put his paw down and wrapped his tails into himself again. He looked at the moons with her. “You are putting me in a very difficult situation."
“I have never noticed Rukia inciting Jules’ anger.” Got you there, you little bitch.
“You and Jules are less alike than you think.”
“Oh, how so?”
“For starters, you are The First Sin, and he is the last—”
Whiskers cut himself off. Odd.
“Keep going.”
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