Chapter 7 - Spark and Flame

“N-Nell?”

I stared into Ame’s eyes. They looked the same as from when I first met him, but I had enough knowledge to see the difference. The rough seas I saw in his eyes were guarding his identity. The reason, I did not know. But I wanted to.

“You… seem okay enough? You just passed out.”

Ame smiled shyly and looked away while speaking.

“A-Anyways, my goal here was finished.”

He looked down as if he was trying to say something else.

“I-I...”

He looked nervous, so I spoke to try and calm him down.

“Thank you.”

“H-Huh?”

“Isn’t that what you say when you’re grateful?”

“Yeah, but…”

I couldn’t see an issue with this. Ame was the one who planted the seeds of identity in me, after all. He spoke to try and tell me what I couldn’t see.

“You… that was my goal, Nell. Thank you. Thank you for joining me. Thank you for killing the commander.”

All I could respond to this with was a smile.

A genuine smile. It felt as if all the pain and guilt I felt was rewarded.

Ame sighed as if he was relieved and plopped down on the grass.

“The first step is down, but we still need to kill Justin Beckwith. The first commander. My goal wasn’t necessarily to kill #97, but to watch the complete collapse of the Jeti army. Justin’s the strongest person under the president, and he’s the only we’ve set our sights on. He could kill us at any moment. But first, we need to go somewhere.”

“Go where?”

Ame sat up and smiled.

“To go meet the rest of us.”

More humans… I wasn't sure how to feel about that. Ame was really the only human I knew, besides the doctors… and the commander. If Ame was good, then I was sure the others would be too. He wouldn’t associate with people like that. But the idea of them being similar to the commander scared me.

“We’re gonna take the car.”

Without another word I followed him down the mountain and back to the house. I gently opened the door and walked inside. Not a single book on the floor. Everything was stacked up neatly inside of bookshelves around the house. I looked over at the kitchen as plates were cleanly stacked inside a cabinet. I went through the backdoor of his house and saw him speaking to his mother.

“I’ll be back soon.”

His mother hugged him and waved to me while smiling. I waved back and got in the vehicle. It rose off the ground, seemingly powered by wind magic as it shot forward.

The scenery around us changed from a city to a plain grassland as we continued driving. Every couple of minutes, a massive slanted spike of rock came by that we had to float over with the car.

Eventually, after around an hour of driving, we made it back to civilization.

“Are we there yet?”

Ame stared at me like I just asked him the stupid question he’s ever heard.

“We’re gonna be halfway there soon.”

I looked back out the window. We continued driving until Ame slammed on the brakes as a honk burst my eardrums.

“MOVE BITCH!”

Ame kept slamming a button on the steering wheel.

“Nell, should I run him over?”

“Please don’t do that.”

“Hmph.”

Ame turned the car and drove through a couple fences as the person he almost ran over looked on in shock. After a bit more driving, he stopped again. The sky began to get slightly darker, until it appeared to be about afternoon.

“Hey Nell, your turn.”

“Um… What?”

I didn’t know how to drive and I didn’t know what gave him that idea.

“I’m tired. Drive for me please.”

Without another word, Ame got out of the driver's seat and pushed me into it. He sat down and adjusted to the chair so he could lay down.

I stared at the wheel, pushed the gas and immediately smacked my head. I had probably woken up Ame.

I turned my head to the passenger seat and saw him hanging out of the window, shooting balls of water at people passing by.

“Weren’t you going to sleep?”

Ame smiled wryly at my question.

“I forgot about that. Goodnight.”

He rolled up the window and put his head against it as the person he threw water at sprinted at the car.

I slammed on the gas as we flew off, away from the city. The car moved before I had even hit the gas, so it must have been able to predict what I was doing. It was some really incredible technology, I had never seen anything that could read my intentions (if that was what it was doing). I honestly had no clue where I was supposed to go. I didn’t know how to work this thing.

I decided to test out what it could do. I picked up my foot and slammed on the button next to the gas as hard as I could, but nothing happened. I turned the wheel, but nothing happened.

Ame, next to me, pretending to be asleep, was trying his hardest to hold in his laugh.

“Bitch.”

Ame giggled as I leaned my seat back and let the car drive itself.

“Where did you learn such language, Nell?”

He taught me it about five minutes ago.

I ignored him as I laid back and took the time to decompress before I eventually couldn’t anymore. The fact is, I was able to do this all because of Ame. I couldn’t tell what I was feeling, but it definitely improved. I didn’t want to die anymore, at least. That's… improvement.

Ame had truly fallen asleep by this point, his head hitting the window every time the car rose. Civilization started to appear as we got closer and closer. The more I looked, the less it looked like actual civilization and more like an abandoned field of factories and storage units. Run down buildings filled the area as a sign was strung across the front.

It read ‘Welc me to Barye’. The sign was falling apart and the o was missing.

BOOM!

The ground shook as the car’s magic stopped working and hit the concrete floor.

…

BOOM!

It happened again. Ame immediately woke up and stared through the windshield. Flames were rising up from the floor nearby with every explosion.

Ame, without wasting a second of time, flung open the door and turned to me with a serious expression.

“Follow me.”

Without even a drop of hesitation, I followed. Ame dashed forward and I could barely keep up.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Every explosion, Ame ran faster and faster until I lost him.

“Ame! Be careful!”

No response.

I turned the corner and saw where the explosions were coming from.

A short, crimson haired girl with light purple and dark grey coat was yelling at a man while attacking him. She held her obsidian dagger while attacking, as her opponent only defended while using his sword.

Ame was nowhere to be seen.

Uncoordinated slashes hit the man's sword in fury as he stood there calmly, his weapon acting as a sturdy barricade between him and the flames. After the man blocked the dagger and its flames yet again, the crimson haired girl yelled at him.

“Let me keep it!”

“No. You’re only 14. When sh-... I was 14, I-”

A slash came at him again. I may have known a lot, but I had never seen this kind of interaction before. I had no clue what to do.

Little slimy noises were heard to my left. I turned my head and saw a massive worm crawling over to me. I was confused. The worm was real. It looked real. But it felt distant. It had the same feeling as the guy on the toilet, the guy I bumped into, and the 2nd guard. As if it was imitating me.

It looked up at me in pain as I looked back at it.

It didn’t look very happy to be observed while weak.

I patted its head and turned away to abide by its wishes.

With an explosion and a massive wave of hot wind, I saw a person in the corner of my eye. It was the girl, shooting toward me with fire underneath her shoes.

A flash of flames almost smacked me in the head before I ducked.

“Get away from her!”

Her?

Was she talking about the worm?

I looked down at the worm as the girl held her hand up to my head, ready to burn me at any moment.

“It's a girl?”

I smiled softly to the worm without looking her in the eyes.

The girl lowered her hand and walked back without a word, seemingly giving up. She seemed sad yet as if she acknowledged something. I didn’t want anybody to feel like that.

“I’ll take care of her for you!”

I had no clue how to take care of a massive worm, but I yelled that out to her anyway.

I could see her childish smile before she dashed into a run-down building.

The man sighed as Ame turned the corner and yelled to the man and I.

“Hey Nell! Hey Dominic!”

The man, looking to be around 29 with dirty blonde hair that reached his shoulders, olive colored sweatpants and a gray sweater, whose name was apparently Dominic, turned over to Ame.

“Welcome back. I shouldn’t even be surprised that you came back late again. It’s October now. You left on September 15th. Sy’s birthday is in a few weeks.”

Ame looked a little guilty, but before he could apologize, Dominic spoke up again.

“You saw this whole thing. Why didn’t you stop Kaya? I wouldn’t have had to damage her dagger by blocking if she never attacked me.”

Was this guy more concerned about damaging the girl's dagger than his own health?

Ame spoke up as if this was completely natural.

“Well, I wanted to see what Nell could do. First impressions are important, you know.”

Dominic sharply turned his head towards me and glared.

Slightly intimidated, I tried to speak to him.

“Hello…!”

He instantly turned his head back to Ame.

“Why did you recruit another child off the street?”

Ame burst out laughing as I put my head down in embarrassment.

Dominic's demeanor changed from strict to caring upon seeing my reaction as he walked towards me and gently placed his hand onto my shoulder.

“Come with us to our base. We’ll get you situated. Don’t worry. If Ame tries to make you fight with anybody besides us, I’ll kill him.”

He spoke firmly yet his smile was as soft as silk.

“Please don’t kill him.”

Ame grabbed my hand and lifted it up in a celebratory manner.

“Welcome to our new member, Nell Moren!”

Dominic ignored him and continued walking towards the abandoned building as I stared at Ame blankly.

He closed his mouth and walked with Dominic. He was embarrassed, but quickly got over it. I ran over and caught up with Dominic just before he got to the door of the building. The walls were falling apart, and despite it being cold outside, I could feel warmth coming from it.

He reached his hand out to open the door, just before Ame bursted through it.

“Surprise! I’m back!”

Kaya, the red haired girl, sat there with stars in her eyes as a short, white haired kid jumped out of his seat and rushed to hug Ame.

The white haired kid glared at me. His white button-up shirt was a bit too large for him. He wore black pants that were also a bit too large. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just buy new clothes. He seemed to be around a year or so older than Kaya.

“Who's he?”

Ame proudly smiled at the white haired kid after he made this remark.

“He-”

“I’m Nell.”

He smiled wryly at me.

“Are you strong?”

I had been training, but I still didn’t know my standing with any of these people. I couldn’t answer this.

Thankfully, Ame knew these people better than I did.

“Yes, Sy. He is strong.”

His name was apparently Sy. I was glad I was able to meet so many people. They all seemed rather intimidating though. Sy’s gray eyes stabbed into me as he stopped hugging Ame and walked up to me.

“Fight me.”

“Huh.”

Didn’t humans only fight if they don’t like each other? I felt a little hurt by this. I looked over to Ame for help, but he threw me a thumbs up and a smile as I was dragged outside by Sy.

He threw me onto the floor before speaking.

“If you beat me, I’ll let you join us.”

Didn’t Ame already let me join?

Kaya and Dominic stared at me from the sidelines as I got up and wiped the dirt off my clothes. Kaya was fidgeting in excitement as Dominic sat there, entirely still with a hint of concern in his eyes.

Ame rushed back into the house before coming back out with a bag of popcorn that he handed to Kaya and Dominic.

Sy stared into my eyes as he stood across from me.

There was no resentment in them despite wanting to fight me. They were caring. A pair of protective eyes.

It seemed I had a lot more to learn about humans than I thought.