The Mystery of Albus (Part 1)

The next couple of days went by smoothly. The training was good, with only a few small disturbances. Other than fighting one lone Abyss Warrior, everything went well.

... Until the group went back to the Apex Tower.

(Outside the Tower...)

"Well," Chihiro said, holding his hands behind his head, "I guess we'll just keep training here until we find out who the Abyss King really is, then."
Ryu nodded. "I guess so," he said, his voice a lot more relaxed than usual. "I kinda hope we still have a while til he fight him, though. I just feel like I should train a bit more."
"Oh, by the way, Shiro," Makoto said, remembering something, "why did Marjat call you Alus? Was that like, a nickname you had or something?"
Shiro looked at Makoto, seemingly a little surprised, but not that fazed. "Oh, that," he said nonchalantly. "Heh, yeah it was an old nickname."
Makoto nodded, and then asked, "and why did you have to say that chant about playing or something for Marjat to appear?"
"That's because," Shiro began, "she used to protect that village, and sometimes, she was like a babysitter to the children of the village, so she would play simple games with them."

Makoto nodded again, and the group continued on their way inside the Tower.

(Inside the Tower...)

The group did got inside and went to see the Apex Master.
"Ah, you're back," the Apex Master said when he saw them. "Shiro had said he was going to go see someone with you three."
"We did," Ryu said. "And that person helped us train."
"And it went quite well, too," Chihiro added.
"Well, that's good," the Apex Master replied, standing up. "By the way, I have something I have been meaning to tell Shiro, so I must ask you three to go elsewhere for the time being."
"That's alright, we'll be outside with the other Paladins, near the Arena" Chihiro said. "Alright," the Apex Master replied.

After Makoto, Ryu and Chihiro had left the room and were out of earshot, the old man turned to Shiro.
"I suppose you haven't told them?" the Apex Master asked.
"No," the young Paladin replied.
"You're going to have to tell them at some point, you know that, Shiro," the Apex Master said, his voice sounding concerned. "You've been bottling up a lot and hiding a lot for 9 years now; all the things you've pushed away and tried to forget about will surface one day."

"I know that," Shiro replied, looking down at the floor. "But who amI supposed to tell it all to? Those kids, who can barely spend a day away from each other?"
"Maybe don't tell them," the Apex Master said, "but tell someone. Because you've been bottling up a lot over these past 9 years, and one day, all those secrets are going to be uncovered, and they're going to blow up in your face."
Shiro looked away. "Trust me, Shiro," the Apex Master said, his voice sounding concerned. "I'm saying this for your own mental health."
Finally, Shiro nodded. "Alright, I'll find someone who'll be able to handle it."

(Meanwhile...)

Makoto, Ryu and Chihiro stood near the Arena, watching the few brand new Paladins train.
"They're doing quite well," Ryu said with a smile.
Makoto nodded. "Mhm," he replied. "Especially since some of them just got here."

Just then, suddenly after he blinked, everyone seemed to disappear, and it was only Makoto and two other Paladins who were standing in the center of the Arena.
The two Paladins were male. The first one had short, jet black hair, and seemed to be the more confident of the two.
The other Paladin had long white hair, and his uniform had longer sleeves than the first Paladin.

"You've been getting better, Albus," the first Paladin said, helping the other one, who he called Albus, up from where he had seemed to have fallen.
"I'm still no where near as strong as you, though, Shinsuke," Albus said.
'Wait, Shinsuke?' Makoto thought to himself. 'But wasn't that the name of deceaced Shiro's friend?'
"Hey, you two!" A voice called. It was another young Paladin. He had green hair and eyes, and wore a slightly different uniform.
He walked over to the other two Paladins and stood next to them. "So," he said, "Albus, I see you've been training hard with Shinsuke?"
Albus nodded, "yes, I have been."

Just as they began talking, everthing seemed to show back up again, and Makoto was back in the present.
"Huh?" He said, confused. "What was that?"
"What was what?" Chihiro asked, looking at Makoto. "Did you see something?"
"I don't know," Makoto said. "I mean, I saw Shinsuke, a guy named Albus, and one other guy who's name I didn't hear."
Ryu turned quickly and looked at Makoto. "Shinsuke? But he died 9 years ago, and Albus went missing at around the same time."
"Who's talking about Shinsuke?" a voice suddenly asked. The three spun around to see who it was, but none of them knew who it was. Well, Makoto did.

                        It was the guy he had seen who's name he didn't get to hear.

                                                                              ***

"I'm not mad or anything," the man said, "but how do you know Shinsuke?"
"I uh," Makoto stuttered, "I think I saw a vision of you, Shinsuke and Albus."
The man clenched his fists. "Albus, you say?" he said, his eyes darkening. "matter what you may have seen of him," he said, "Albus wasー"
Just as he was about to continue, Shiro suddenly showed up behind the group.
"Salー" he stopped when he saw the man. "Wait, Feng?"
"Oh, Kamiyama," Feng said when he saw Shiro. "What brings you to the Arena? I know you don't need any more training, haha."
Shiro chuckled a little. "You're right about that," he said. "I was just coming over here because I wanted to make sure no one had been attacked by any Abyss Warriors."
Ryu shook his head. "There aren't any Abyss Warriors here, no worries."

Afterwards, Makoto watched Shiro and Feng talk, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Shiro was, for some reason, scared of Feng. He seemed kinda tense, but he also looked like he was shaking a bit. Makoto had no idea why Shiro of all people would be so scared of someone or something to shake like that, but he knew that there was definitely a reason.
"Uhh," Makoto started, trying to ask Shiro a question, "by the way, Shiro, do you know who Albus is?"

Shiro recoiled slightly, but seemed to be unfazed overall.
"How did you hear about Albus?" Shiro asked.
"Uhm," Makoto started, "I think I saw a vision or something of him."
"Ohh," Shiro mused. "I see. Well, Albus was gone by the time I got here, but I heard from Feng that he... did something really bad."

Makoto stayed quiet for a minute. He didn't know that this Albus had ever existed, but he sure as heck didn't know that this Albus had been, essentially, a criminal.

                               「"It's Obscurus and Albus, they can't get along."」

Makoto thought for a moment. If Albus was a real person, then who was the Albus that Shiro had mentioned that time after he had been attacked by that fake Abyss King? Which was real and which was fake? Was the Albus Shiro had mentioned that day just delirium taking over a bit too much, or was that Albus the real Albus that Feng and Shiro where talking about now? And if that first Albus was the real Albus, then who was Obscurus?
None of it made any sense.

"Uhh, Shiro?" Makoto asked, looking up at the Paladin.
"Yes?" Shiro answered.
"Did Feng know Albus personally, or...?"

Feng scoffed. "I'm going to talk about that day. No one can make me. All anyone has to know is that Albus Aurelius was evil. He was working with the Abyss King, I'm sure of it, and everything he had said before was fake. It was all a lie."
Makoto, Ryu and Chihiro stood in silence, shocked by how aggressive Feng had suddenly become over one person. And Shiro seemed scared of Feng, but Makoto couldn't tell why. Could it be because Shiro had actually known Albus and didn't want Feng to hurt him? Or was it because Shiro, even though he didn't know Albus, didn't want Feng or anyone else to hurt or get hurt?

Makoto couldn't tell, but he was sure he'd figure it out. Soon. Someday.

Yeah. He'd win.

;)