don't shed a ____

Zane turned to Effie. She stared—empty, endlessly. Her hands fell limp at her side. Addison betrayed nothing, wearing neutrality like a shield as she met Effie’s gaze.

“…They—what?”

Addison rolled her eyes. “C’mon. Like you didn’t know they were dead. Anyways, since I’ve said too much, just go on and—”

Effie lurched. Zane reached to stop her, but the pain in his arms had him stumbling and crashing just as Effie grabbed Addison and shook her.

“You’re saying there’s some crazy conspiracy about—something that killed my parents, something that killed so many people, an entire ally of Auliam that’s actually one hundred percent true, and you all covered it up like it was nothing!?”

Effie grit her teeth, Addison’s apathetic look seared to her face. “I’m so glad they’re gonna free Vitam and put an end to your horrible church. How dare you—How dare you lie to me all these years!?”

“Where’s the lie? Come up with your own answer.”

She screamed and tossed Addison to the ground. “I hate you! I hate you!”

“Okay.”

Addison curled onto her side. “…You know, I was really hoping you wouldn’t tell me your plan.”

Zane’s blood ran cold.

Addison was a lot of things: reckless, playful, foolish in her own way, but she wasn’t so foolish as to throw her cards on the table the moment things went south. She must’ve known none of them planned to kill or kidnap her. So then, why tell them this, if not to…

Bait something…

“So you’re planning to take Vitam’s power?”

Heavy footsteps, impossibly heavy landed on a flower bed, crushing some rare buds beyond recognition. A toned man with bright blonde hair, piercing green eyes and form-fitting armor scooped Addison into his arms. She fixed him with an unimpressed look.

“That’s what I figured,” she said. “So let’s go and warn them already.”

“I know, I know.” He—the man—Leon laughed. “…Goodbye. You’ll harm Vitam over my dead body.”

Before Zane so much as twitched, Leon’s heels shimmered with Happiness and he bounded off, onto rooftops and out of sight.

Shay turned to Effie. “Why’d you tell her that!?”

“I thought it was obvious!” Effie turned to him, puffing almost as much. “Like, it wasn’t a secret, was it?”

“It was!” Lucian said. “Or at least—I don’t know why they think I want Vitam’s power, but they must have thought we might’ve just wanted to destabilize the church. I took care to ensure they couldn’t gleam my—”

“Okay, stop, stop.” Zane put himself between Effie and Shay before someone walked out without her hair or without his beard. “Doesn’t matter who said what. What matters is we leave right now and book it to Belva.”

They had to pack up and go, go, go. Fuck his arms. He’d grin and bear it. But if the church had another atrocity to escape, then Zane had more fuel than ever to get his feet to the main church’s longtime home, Belva.

“We’ll go once this girl admits she fucked up!” Shay stabbed a finger to Zane’s chest. “What’re we gonna do if they seal the seal, huh?”

“They can’t do that!” Effie dug nails into her overalls, wrinkling fabric.

“What if they can? What if you just messed up our entire mission?”

“…”

“You aren’t gonna say anything? You’re not gonna apologize?”

Zane grit his teeth. With one last burst of Rage, he smacked Shay on the head. “Quit it! She obviously feels bad enough, stop rubbing it in! You know how much pain I’m in for your sake? What happened to being thankful?”

Shay froze. He rubbed his forehead, a red welt shimmering, and grunted, turning away.

…

…

“…Sorry.”

Zane sighed. “Say it to her face. And you too, Effie.”

As if the world itself exerted pressure on him, Shay threw Effie a quick apology. Effie muttered one too, one for everyone, before slumping to the ground.

Finally, Zane gave up, and let the ground take him.

—————————————

Despite Zane’s injuries and their exhaustion, the trio checked out of their inn and hit the road. No knights patrolled Orie’s exit—probably all sent to Belva the second the fighting quelled. Not that Zane minded.

At least, it pushed their burdens to later. But before they crossed from paved roads to seaside paths, someone stopped them.

“Wait.”

Zane looked behind him. Effie wore a cloak and carried a backpack, gaze resolute, as if facing something insurmountable yet standing strong.

“I wanna come with you.” She took a step forward. “…As my real apology. If I screwed things up for you, then I have to try and fix it, right? Besides, everyone’s really strong. They can handle themselves for a bit… I think.”

Even if she said it was fine, it didn’t feel right to nod along and let her leave behind everything she built. “You—” Zane began, but someone’s words stopped him.

“Yeah, come along.” Shay butted Zane’s side, whispering: “You really think you’re gonna stop her? Just let her come.”

“It wouldn’t be right.”

“C’mon. Look at her.”

Zane did as asked. He tried to avoid it, he knew what he saw would only go against what he wanted, but avoiding the truth always made things worse. He prided himself on being honest with what needed to be done.

“…Fine,” Zane said. “We’ll make this end quicker so you don’t have to worry about your friends, ‘k?”

Effie laughed, despite it all. With a tepid silence, the party of four departed from Orie for good, hurrying down the path to Belva. For a while, they’d travel by the sea, the glittering jewels of light against water accompanying their path.

Then, they’d need to veer right—into the heart of Auliam down Vitam’s Path, a road many faithful took to reach the main church.

Shay and Effie filled the silence as much as they could, and Zane happily nodded along with whatever nonsense they prattled on about. But Lucian stayed silent most of the time—carrying a particular secret Zane hoped wouldn’t come to pass.

But they had to get to Belva first, before Vitam’s Guardians put the seal forever out of reach.