Soot

“What are you playing at, Ruby Everbit?”

Every single eye in Headmistress Alaxa’s class was squarely on me. Not that I blamed them, I had just burst the door open and marched on in mid lecture.

“I just need to borrow someone.”

“After class, Ms. Everbit.”

“Nope! No time, in and out, I’ll bring him back in a flash.” I scanned the room.

Truth be told, I hadn’t exactly given Mary or Val much of a plan. We’d been going over potential strategies back in our room when I’d jumped up and declared that we needed another person.

“There you are.” Hidden in the back of the room, Arthur held his head down and tried his best to blend into the crowd.

Wasn’t going to work with me. “Arthur, you’re coming with me!”

“Princess? If there's anything I did to offend—”

“Oh you have no idea.” I used a bit of white magic to dash toward him and grabbed his arm. “But that’s for another day. Come on!”

“But—”

“Sounds like a yes to me.” I tossed Arthur over my shoulder and flashed back to the exit. “I’ll bring him back soon, Headmistress. You’ll understand why once this all blows over.”

“Please let me down…”

“Once we get there, absolutely!” Before Arthur could retort anymore, my body glowed white. “See y'all later.”

I ran off at the speed of sound, letting a small boom shake the grass.

Campus turned into a blur as we crossed building after building. Arthur hung onto the back of my uniform for dear life as we passed through the dorms, though that wasn’t my target. For the kinda conversation we were going to have, I wanted something a bit more… private.

“Here we are!” I skittered to a stop in front of Call Hall. “You can get off now.”

“Let me—” Arthur tumbled to the ground, staining his robes. His face when scurrying back up looked absolutely terrified. “What are you planning? Kidnapping a priest is of the highest offense!"

“Kidnapping?” I tilted my head. He feels technically right about that… “Come on, I got something to show you.”

“Can I say no?”

“What do you think?” I rolled my eyes. “Come on.”

He hesitantly followed me into Call Hall, down the stairs, and into that same dingy hallway from earlier. This place hasn’t changed much. You’d think Vertana wouldn’t allow a place this run-down on campus. “We’re here.”

“We are?” Arthur sounded aghast. “What kind of dungeon did you take me to?”

I stuck Isaac’s key in the wall, shutting him up pretty fast.

I’d looked into how the key worked a lot in the past few days. The magic was pretty simple—as long as I was somewhere inside Call Hall, just sticking it into the wall would open a door to his lab.

Bringing Arthur down here was a bit of personal revenge.

“You were interested in Isaac’s research, right? Come have a look at what's left.”

Compared to the wealth of junk that covered the room last time, the nearly empty tables felt weird to look at.

“The Church has ransacked this place, but there's still a bit left.” I fidgeted with a small mana capacitor tossed aside on the floor. “You can see where they broke in.”

I pointed toward the wall. The school had taken a few spare boards and done a quick patch job to the room. It wasn’t exactly an amazing job, but more than enough to ensure that we’d have a quiet conversation.

“You’re saying the Church raided this place?” Arthur sounded more stunned than anything. “Why didn’t I hear anything about that?”

“Do I look like the Church to you?” I shrugged my shoulders. “Mary and I were here when they started. Left their thugs with a few bruises along the way.”

“I see…”

“Anyway, not why I brought you here, Arthur.” I slid a chair across the smooth wooden floor. “Take a seat.”

Arthur’s legs shook as he slowly sat down. I’m not that scary, right?

“So why did you bring me here?” Arthur’s voice felt meek, not that the usual Arthur was exactly some strong speaker. “Isaac’s lab, his research, you told me Isaac was planning to save Prismas last time we met, then just left me on that.”

“Sounds like what I remember. I figured it was about time to tell you the rest.”

“Tell me the rest?” Arthur’s leg repeatedly tapped the ground. “What are you hiding from me, Ruby?”

I took a deep breath. Here we go, girl, you got this.

Telling Arthur was objectively a risk, and it wasn’t like I was exactly a big fan of his either. But we needed the allies. They were best friends, and as much as it hurt to say, there wasn’t another person I knew with the capability to not run away during our eventual fight with Fairburrow.

“We found out pretty recently as well, back when we found this lab.”

“We? Who's we?”

“Mary, Val, and I,” I said. “Anyway, you were pretty close to his goal, just the wrong side as I mentioned earlier. Isaac’s whole goal was to prove Prismas were no different than Varies.”

“I can’t believe that.”

“Well then, I got bad news for you.” I dug around in my bag, pulling out Isaac’s notebook. “Day three-hundred and seven. You recognize his handwriting, right?”

“By heart.” Arthur caught the book.

Arthur’s expression changed probably twenty times in the five minutes that followed, from pure annoyance to interest, to shock, to something resembling despair.

It was only when he was done that I saw pure astonishment. “You’re saying you found that in here?”

“Right under here, behind the monochrome lock,” I said, pointing toward the desk.

“A monochrome lock? Why that of all things?” Arthur ducked under the table. “Well, you’re not lying…”

“I’d never lie, thank you very much!” I crossed my arms. “But did you never question his hate? Sure you didn’t think he hated Prisma for fun.”

“I wasn’t one to ask. Serving to discredit Prismas is simply part of our duties. I didn’t think much of it.” From Arthur’s face, it was pretty obvious he hadn’t bought my story just yet, though the doubt was clear as day.

“Sounds like obvious projection to me. I didn’t even see him talk badly about Prismas and I figured that one out.”

“Why tell me all this?” Arthur growled. “It feels like I’m a puppet that you’re drip feeding information too. No one likes to dance on strings, Ruby Everbit.”

“In an ideal world, I wouldn’t be. But Isaac trusted you for some reason, and to be honest, we need your help.”

“Help for what?”

“Exposing Isaac’s killer.”

“You know who killed him?” The change in energy was instant, with Arthur nearly leaping out of his chair like a rabbit.

“Fairburrow. I’m assuming you knew about his church ties?”

“Fairburrow? I’d rather you not make unfunny jokes about the situation.”

“This isn’t a joke, Arthur. Why do you think he disappeared over the last few days? Coward tried to kill me, failed, and went into hiding.”

“That’s insane though! Sure, I know about his position in the Holy Vertana, but why would an inquisitor kill Isaac? This research isn’t enough for that.”

“Have you not connected the dots?” I sighed. “Fairburrow was pretty clear that he wouldn’t kill anyone who wasn’t a Prisma.”

Though his word didn’t exactly seem super trustworthy. An inquisitor actually committed to that would’ve let Val and Mary go during our last skirmish.

“So you’re saying Isaac was a Prisma?” Arthur’s voice turned ice cold. “That’s practically accusing him of heresy.”

If just telling the truth is heresy, what does that make me? I scoffed. “Doesn’t matter if you believe it. Isaac was a Prisma, born and raised.”

“Born?”

“You heard me.” I raised an eyebrow as tips of electricity started to dance around Arthur’s fingers. “Truth hurts, but fighting me isn’t a good idea.”

Please go on, Arthur. I’d love nothing more than an excuse to smash you into the ground.

“So you think I’ll just allow you to spew lies about my best friend?”

“Not much of a best friend if you didn’t even know this.” I shrugged. “Isaac told me he wanted to liberate Prismas like the third time we met.”

“Shut it!” That was enough to send Arthur over the edge and then some. Thin bolts of lightning burst from his fingertips, flashing through the air.

Compared to what Gregory had been throwing at us, it might as well have been some kid’s first attempt at magic.

I let the first bolt fly past me, blocked the second with a bit of water, and flashed through the third in a haze of white. “Sneak attack, how manly of you. But I’m always down to repay a favor!”

Before he could blink, I used a bit of white magic to dash toward him, and summoned a giant blade of ice to point toward his throat. “Surrender?”

“You’re going to—Fine.” Arthur spat.

What was he thinking? Surely he has to have heard about one of my fights, at least. I beat Isaac! Arthur’s a million years away from that.

Gods, Isaac. I stared Arthur in the face. Obviously he’d attack like that. To Arthur, I might as well be saying that Isaac’s a horrid sinner.

“Good choice.” I let my sword melt into a puddle. “I understand what you’re feeling, Arthur. Put me in your shoes, and I’d be just as suspicious. But that won’t change the fact that I’m telling the truth!”

“With what evidence?”

“Just come with us. Fairburrow’s planning to reappear with some trap in the next few days. I can’t say I have any idea what he’s planning, but I got a very strong feeling it’ll show you I’m telling the truth.”

“I…” This isn’t right, Ruby. Isaac trusted him, and this is just going to force him on our side by force. “I need to apologize for something, Arthur.”

“You, apologize to me?”

“Believe it or not.” I sighed. “This whole time, I’ve been judging you because of your family and those robes of yours. You’ve never done anything to me. Sure, you’ve said some really, really stupid stuff about Prismas, but Isaac trusted you. Isaac was a Prisma, there's no denying the evidence, but if he was able to trust you despite those robes of yours, then I’m not in a position to view myself as somehow superior.”

“Ruby…” Arthur seemed shell-shocked.

“I know, Arthur. I know I’m suddenly asking a lot of you. It’s too much to ask you to believe me on the dot. You’re right, I have been playing you like a puppet, giving you information only when it benefited me. You were Isaac’s best friend. You’ve been struggling more than anyone else, and it was me who kept everything a secret.”

“Thank you, Ruby.” Arthur stayed quiet for a few seconds after that, though his hands kept fidgeting with the chair. “I can’t promise to believe you on the dot. But I’ll go with you, at least hear you out. It doesn’t matter to me if Isaac was a Prisma or not. Isaac is one of the best, most courageous people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. That I know for a fact.”

“I can’t ask for anything more. That’d be rash of me.” I sounded so un-Ruby, but that didn’t keep every word from feeling like the right thing to say. Maybe all this has changed me a bit. “Now, let's head off!”

“Head off? Where?”

“You’ll see.” I grabbed his arm. “Come on, let me take you to the other two girls, we have a lot to catch you up on.”

Arthur tried to complain again, but he shut up pretty fast as my skin started to glow white, and we dashed away.