Year 2: The Gathering Fires - Chapter 10

“Ah, my dear, what a wonderful day it is to go shopping!” Yve proclaimed, striking an exaggerated pose.

“…It’s a fine day for resting.”

“Nonsense, Hailey!” Yve grasped her friend’s hand tightly. “On a beautiful day like today, on a day with no training and without aches in our bodies, we must make the most of the time we have to ourselves. Failure to do so would be a great shame.”

Hailey sighed a little as her friend started to drag her down the busy streets of Rhodes.

As they were both in their heroic armour, they drew attention wherever they went. People bowed, waved, smiled, wished good fortune on them and more, and Yve was more than happy to reply to their kind words.

Hailey, however, was grateful she was wearing her helmet and so only had to nod and wave back; if she hadn’t been wearing it, they would’ve seen her wearied face and miserable expression.

“Is there a reason you didn’t invite Kayleigh or one of the other girls instead to go shopping? Well, I say invited.”

When Hailey had tried to avoid Yve’s morning alarm call and invite, Yve had broken down the door and forcefully dragged Hailey out of bed. She’d even gone as far as to help her dress and apply some makeup.

“Next time, you’ll open your door when I knock,” Yve joked.

“Next time, I’ll charge triple for the repairs.”

“How horrible!”

“Please stop with the random French.”

Yve grinned. “What? Jealous because you can’t speak two languages?”

“It’s not like you learnt it, Yve,” Hailey grumbled.

“True, but still.” Yve giggled. “It’s not like I’m saying anything bad about you.”

“I wholeheartedly disagree.”

“Why?!”

“I asked Guy to translate from time to time.”

“Bastard.”

“I know that one.”

“Regardless!” Yve started pushing Hailey into a perfume store. “Today, I am going to get you all nice and dolled up for an afternoon date, and I will not take no as an answer.”

“…Why?”

“Why? Because I hate seeing your pretty face being confined by this metal-okay, I’ll stop. Please don’t look at me like that. I’m not like Liam and his friends, I’m not!”

Hailey sighed. “What’s the real reason?”

“Hmm, well, I didn’t really have any greater purpose in mind other than having a bit of fun with you today.” She pulled a cute expression and gazed up at Hailey like a sad puppy. “Is that so wrong?”

Hailey removed her helmet and smiled. “No, it’s not. It’s just…it makes me a bit nostalgic if anything.”

“Nostalgic?”

“Yeah. I used to be the one who dragged people around like you do, so I guess I sort of miss it.” Hailey laughed. “Back on Earth, whenever Kara and I wanted to go shopping, we’d always try and find clever ways of tricking David into coming out with us to…” Hailey stopped herself.

“…So, that’s his name?” Yve smiled gently.

“…Yeah.”

“Kara’s his-?”

“Sister.”

“Right.”

“Hey, Yve.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you…mind listening to my story?”

***

“So, one of these people is who you suspect to be a traitor?” Elysa purred.

“Yeah.”

A week had passed, yet Kayleigh and Akane were nowhere near close to figuring out who the traitor could be. They had tailed their lead suspects to no avail and had tried to pay extra attention to everything going on in the palace, but it had all been for naught.

Thus, with Akane’s permission, Kayleigh was informing Elysa of everything they’d discussed so far, including that they’d been holding their private one on one meetings for months without anyone’s else’s knowledge.

“It’s a decent list, I’d say, but you have, at present, no evidence for any of them?”

“Nothing more than circumstantial or hypotheticals.”

Elysa hummed as she folded her arms, staring intently at the list of names before her.

“It’d honestly never occurred to me that someone among us thirty would be capable of such things, yet it’s the most likely explanation given everything you’ve told me,” she said. “Initially, my instinct points to Guy or Yve.”

“Why?”

“There’s a lot of coincidences there, too many. For starters, out of all the people our age that could have died in France and been reborn in Aangapea, there are two people who knew each other? Or so Yve says. Guy didn’t remember her when they first met. In fact, he said as much in plain English, though Yve insisted that she used to pick him up after school. It’s possible she’s lying and jumped on his story; after all, he did introduce himself before she did.”

“…Did she?”

“Oh, you don’t remember, boss?”

Kayleigh shook her head. “I’m honestly surprised you do.”

Elysa giggled. “I might not have many talents, but I am confident in my memory which is not something Guy can say with confidence. It is possible he was lying too and they are in on it together, though that appears to be increasingly unlikely. Ever since the teams were divided, the two barely share a word with one another.”

“They talk when the leaders have our weekly meetings.”

“Have you been monitoring them both more closely after coming up with this list?”

“A little, but there was nothing suspicious,” Kayleigh said.

“So, either they are working alone as a single traitor, or they’re somehow managing to secretly communicate with one another without any of us realising how? Well, hypothetically speaking that is.”

“What about Feng Li?”

“A stupid pick.”

“…Why?”

“He’s too honourable for his own good. The man cannot help but conform to his code of honour and conduct, no matter the situation. He’s too respectful to those he’s close to and too honest even with strangers to be the traitor.”

***

“It could be an act,” Talon argued.

“Unlikely,” Dao Chen countered.

“Based on what evidence?”

“My gut instinct.” Talon glared at Dao Chen. “It’s only ever failed me twice in my whole life.”

“Was the second time when you got killed?”

Dao Chen sighed quietly. “Feng Li isn’t the type. Gabriel, however, I agree with.” She scoffed and viciously stared at his name on their list. “Sexual harassing pervert.”

Talon nodded. “I’ve heard people say he’s changed, but no one breaks a habit like that this quickly. I know his type, and I know they don’t change.” Her hand clenched her dagger more tightly. “Never.”

***

After hiring a private boutique room, the two heroes asked not to be disturbed as they sat down. Cakes, tea and other light refreshments were brought in before they locked the doors and made sure the windows were sealed shut.

Then, once they were both sitting comfortably and Hailey was out of her armour, she began her story.

“My childhood friend, my best friend, David, was someone I’ve loved for as long as I can remember. I don’t remember when exactly I started looking at him that way, but all I know is I’d always dreamed he’d look at me in the same way. I started wearing more stylish clothes, I dressed up a bit whenever we went out somewhere and I always tried to find excuses to hang out with him.

“Homework, chores, shopping, errands, help me practice my lines, Kara wanted to borrow a game; anything and everything, just to get to see him a bit more. Not to like a stalker’s level, but just…” Hailey smiled solemnly at her hands. “I wanted to always be with him at least for a few minutes every weekend, just the two of us. Every year, I told myself I’d confess to him and I’d even pick the date and rehearse how it’d go.” Hailey laughed. “I started practicing scenarios with a cuddly toy or myself in the mirror, and my mum caught me a few times.

“Never heard the end of that, let me tell you.” Hailey shut her eyes. “But I was always too scared to say the words. ‘I like you’, ‘I want to be your girlfriend’, ‘Do you want to go out?’. I always got anxious and feared he’d reject me and I’d ruin our relationship forever. On the day I finally resolved myself to do it, just after we left 6th Form, he was…killed before my eyes.

“A burglar broke into his house and David tried to protect his mum from the man. I was…was too scared to move. My legs gave out on me and I couldn’t even crawl towards him, even as David was fighting for his life, I just sat there and watched. And then…I saw it. He was stabbed, right here.” She traced a finger over her heart and winced. “That broke me out of my trance, but it was too late. He told me he was sorry that he couldn’t see me become a star, the biggest and brightest actor in the whole world, and then…he asked me to take care of his family for him.”

Hailey laughed resentfully, before leaning back against the sofa, holding her head in her hands. “I couldn’t even do that right. I got hit by a car right in front of his sister for fuck’s sake…I couldn’t save Kara’s big brother and then I died right before her eyes.” She scoffed. “Honestly, I’m so pathetic.”

“…That’s why you hoped he’d be here?” Yve asked.

Hailey mumbled something as tears started to form in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Yve, but I’m a terrible person. When it really matters, I can’t do anything and…” Hailey began to bawl. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Yve quickly raced to hug her weeping friend, holding her in a kind, almost-motherly embrace, lightly stroking the other girl’s hair and back. “It’s okay, let it out. Let it all out, Hailey.”

***

“Ewan is, in effect, the prisoner’s dilemma or Schrodinger’s Cat of our group,” Elysa said. “If he is telling the truth about his amnesia, suspecting him will only make his isolation and detachment from the rest of us worse. If he’s lying, then not doubting him will come back to haunt us all. If we had a definitive way of testing the authenticity of his words, then I’d be all for it; however, Dante’s taken quite a lot of interest in him, so perhaps that means we can trust him too.

“Dao Chen, on the other hand, is far too suspicious to be left alone.”

***

“Why don’t you suspect me?”

“Why?” Talon repeated. “Don’t you remember what I said to you back when we first spoke?”

“A hatred you can never break free from.”

Talon nodded. “Like I said back then, I don’t know what happened to you and it’s not my place to pry if you don’t want me to. That, for now, is good enough for me.” She showed Dao Chen a rare smile. “Call it my gut instinct.”

Dao Chen smirked back, before quickly composing herself once again. “Getting back on topic, I agree with you - there are definitely other agents inside Rhodes or the palace itself that are helping the traitor leak information to the Demon Emperor. I don’t think there could possibly be more than one turncoat among our numbers; there’s no way the Gods that summoned us here would ever permit it.”

“I agree.”

“So, we need to find a way of hunting down those other elements. If we’re able to grab their tail, we can unearth the traitor too.”

“But how do we hunt them?”

“A good question.” Dao Chen put a hand to her chin. “Based on what you overheard King Alexander and Princess Hiiragi say, there’s a good chance that there are some very difficult to detect spies lurking within the walls. I believe Dante called them Ravens.”

Talon nodded. “If they can cloak or go invisible like me, then you might be able to find them.”

Dao Chen chuckled a little. “True. Maybe we should start patrolling the castle during the day or the night to see what we find. Of course, you can follow behind in the shadows, make the enemy let their guard down.”

“Sounds good.”

“We just need to take great care that the traitor doesn’t discover our actions, or any of the other heroes as well. The fewer people that know about this betrayer, the better.”

***

“Do you think Kara’s okay?”

“I’m sure she is.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Well, I can’t,” Yve confessed. “But I’m sure she’s a fighter, like her big brother and big sister.”

“…I never got to be that to her.”

“Not officially, but you were, Hailey.” Yve rubbed her friend’s arm softly. “You were.”

The two had been hugging for quite some time and while Hailey’s tears had dried up, her eyes were rather red and her nose was a little runny.

Nonetheless, Yve did not let her friend go.

In that moment, Yve needed to be there for Hailey.

“If you want, I can offer her a prayer every night.”

“You can?”

Yve nodded. “I might not look it, but I also used to lead the morning hymns at the kindergarten. I was almost a fully certified priest before I died.”

“…Thank you, Yve.”

“Don’t be silly - something like this doesn’t deserve a thank you. Just seeing you smile is enough for me.”

“…Don’t ruin the moment by trying to flirt with me.”

“Honest to God, I wasn’t flirting that time. It’s just you have a wonderful smile and it brightens my day when I see it.”

“…Stop saying embarrassing and cringey stuff.”

“C-cringey?!”

“Yve.”

The two girls laughed at the ridiculousness of the moment, before relaxing against one another.

“…Thank you, for listening.”

“Anytime.”

***

“Oh, Hailey’s name’s on here.”

“Yeah - why?”

Elysa frowned a little and stroked a finger across the girl’s name. “I don’t know why, but…hmm, wait…ah, that’s it.” She smiled a little. “I remember now.”

“What?”

“It might not be anything, but our conversation about Guy reminded me of the first time we met Kella and Dante. Just before they left, Hailey said something and Kella glared at her; she was staring daggers, if only briefly, at Hailey right as they were about to leave. I didn’t hear what they said, but something about what Hailey said greatly upset Kella. I didn’t think much of it at the time and thought maybe it was an insult thrown at the adventurer, but now I wonder if it’s something more.”

“…How could it be?” Kayleigh asked. “They’d never met before, so what could she have possibly said to anger Kella?”

Elysa shook her head. “I don’t know, but I think there might be more to that moment now. It might be worth closely examining Hailey and Kella both.”

***

Beneath the moonlight in a deeply isolated place, two people were intertwined with one another.

Their clothes had been discarded along the shores of the lake and they were sharing an intimate moment together, one that they had shared many a time.

It had been a while since the two had embraced in such a passionate way, but Kella didn’t mind. She was happy to be wanted, to be needed, to feel some form of warmth inside of her heart and body.

David, beneath her, was happy to be with her and she knew it.

He often said very little when they were in the act, but Kella knew. She smiled sweetly as she continued to move up and down on his body, making sure that they both equally enjoyed the experience.

It’s only in these moments, she thought as all the troubles and worries she felt during the day faded away. That I feel alive. That I’m not alone. That I’m loved.

Hey, David, do you know how happy and disgusted you make me feel? She leant down and kissed him repeatedly. Do you know how much I want to ask about my parents, but I’m too scared to ask? Do you know how much I hate hearing my heart break whenever we meet and part?

Do you want to know what’s inside my heart?

She broke away from his lips as a small, wretched feeling crept into her heart.

I can’t hate you, but I can’t love you.

Hey, David.

…Why am I even alive?