Nia knew she had promised to stay back. Hopefully, they could forgive her for this.
Chaewon, Elliot, Xander, Kaedan, Hyunwoo, Risále, Zera, Jaeyun, and Roshan were actually going to go to the celebration. They would take turns sneaking off to see if they could locate the Wings before it was showcased while the backup teams would be staying in the forest line behind the castle.
Val and Nia would be staying back at the base. At least, that was what the plan was.
Nia couldn't help it, though. She knew she could help—She had felt practically useless the last few days with her injuries and the fact that she was continuously being kept under watch. They were worried, sure, but she really was alright!
It didn't feel right, sitting back and letting them do all the work.
Honestly, if it hadn't been for Elliot bringing up Val's injuries, Nia wouldn't have backed off. She would have worn them down eventually but she knew that if she went, there was no way Val was staying behind. And while Nia's injuries were mostly healed, Val's were significantly worse. She couldn't allow Val to put themself in danger just for her sake.
That meant that Val could not find that Nia was planning on going to the celebration anyway.
After talking to Elliot the night before, Nia had already started making her plan. She already knew she was going to the celebration, she just had to figure out how to get there. She had taken one of the invitations to the celebration the night before and made a copy of it for herself, and it wasn't too hard for her to find a dress that matched the dress code.
It had taken a lot of effort to quietly move one of the motorcycles in the garage further away from the base so that she could have easy access to it, but she had managed to drag it out without alerting anyone.
This just left the hardest part—Actually getting out of the base without anyone noticing.
"What are you thinking about?" Nia's train of thought was interrupted and she looked up to see Val watching her carefully.
"Huh?"
Val let out a small laugh, "I'm your best friend, Nia. I know when you've got something on your mind. Plus, I've been talking to you for the past three minutes and you've been spacing out the whole time."
Nia glared at them, "Who says I was thinking about something? I could have just been spacing out for all you know."
"Since when do you space out?" Val crossed their arms, raising an eyebrow, "Now, come on. Tell me. You were definitely thinking about something."
The white-haired girl sighed, "Fine. I was just…Well, I don't know if you know this but uh…Elliot actually is from the same place I came from. You know. Before."
To Nia's surprise, Val actually didn't seem surprised. They actually let out a breath, "So, he told you."
"You knew?" Nia asked.
"I mean, of course. Bella, Hyunwoo, Chaewon, Leon, and I all knew. I don't think I need to explain why Leon knew. Elliot told the rest of us when he first saw you again at the ball. He just didn't want you to know it just yet because our memories of back then weren't the best," Val said.
"...Our memories?" Nia asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Val seemed to realize they had misspoke and fell silent for a moment, before sighing, "I can't take it back, can I?"
Nia shook her head, "What did you mean by 'our memories'?" She repeated.
"We…Knew each other at the White Lotus. I was there before you, though," Val said slowly, "We met there. We knew Owen and Fenix as well, granted, we were probably the only kids that age there since Risȧle, Leon, and Bella were scientists. We were all friends but…We didn't get to see Owen and Fenix often."
"Why…I don't remember that? I don't remember any of that. Do Owen and Fenix know this?" Nia asked.
Val hummed, "I'm not sure. I never wanted to ask. That time was kind of…Horrible for all of us. They might have remembered by now, they might not have. That's what I meant by our memories. You…Told me a lot about where you came from. Why they took you."
Nia touched her own face, "...I did?"
The other nodded, "You hated them back then. They were the reason you were going through so much but…I always thought they were beautiful. We couldn't see the stars much when we were held in the facility. So, at least I got to see them in you."
"...That was so romantic, never do that again," Nia flushed, shoving Val, who laughed as they started to topple off the bed.
"Okay, yeah, I did kind of dramatize it. But it doesn't change the fact that I still do think they're beautiful. You're beautiful, Nia."
Nia shoved them fully off the bed that time before standing up, "Alright, I think it's time for you to take a nap before I forcefully put you into a coma," Val was still cackling on the floor, "Get up, you're gonna crush Alya."
"She just snuck under my arm now, not before I fell, bitch," Val said, offended, "How dare you imply I'd crush Her Royal Majesty Alya the Greatest."
"Please go to sleep before I knock you out."
Val sighed as they pulled themself up onto the bed, "Fine, fine. I'm going to sleep now. And you probably should as well. I'm not the only one who just healed from an injury, you know?"
Nia rolled her eyes, "Got it, boss. Resting. Ehan, are you going to stay here with this idiot—Not you, Her Majesty Alya the Greatest, I'm talking about the other idiot—"
"Hey!"
"—Or are you coming with me—Oh. Guess that answers that, then," Nia watched as Ehan slithered over to Alya, snuggling close to the cat, "All on my lonesome, I suppose. This is all your fault," She looked at Val.
Val scoffed, "How is it my fault that animals like me better? And babies. Don't forget babies."
"Babies aren't scared of me," Nia retorted, "I'm scared of babies. They're so small and fragile. What if I break it. If I drop it, it'll just go ker-splat on the ground."
The other just stared at Nia, "Please never say the words 'Baby', 'Drop', and 'Ker-splat' in the same sentence ever again. Besides, if you ever want to practice being around a baby, we've got one. Xingxing is a sweetheart."
Nia hummed, "Maybe when I'm sure she won't wiggle out of my arms and fall flat on the ground," At Val's groan, Nia laughed and walked out of the door, "Come on, I didn't say 'Ker-splat' this time!"
"Fall flat is not any better!"
The white-haired girl shook her head she closed the door behind her, letting out a sigh. Heading towards her room, her expression began to change from relaxed to more tense, anticipatory.
She didn't have much time to pull this off.
As soon as she got to her room, she closed and locked the door, she grabbed the clothes she had bought earlier that morning, quickly pulling them on. She wasn't the best at makeup but Fenix had taught her a decent amount so she just tried her best and let her hair down, pinning some of it back with a clip.
She looked in the mirror, "You know what, for being done in five minutes, this is pretty damn good," She looked a bit closer, "...They look like normal freckles with the makeup on it. Or close enough, I suppose. It kind of looks like scarring actually…Kind of cool."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, "Nia? We're having dinner, do you want to join us?" Uncle Gong asked.
"Um, is Val awake yet?" Nia asked, hurriedly putting her makeup away.
"No, not yet. Do you want to wait for them before you eat?" He asked.
"Yeah, that would be great. Thank you, Uncle Gong!" She responded. A part of her felt bad for lying to him but…She wouldn't have been able to forgive herself if she didn't go and one of her friends got hurt…
As soon as she heard the footsteps retreat far enough that she couldn't hear them anymore, Nia moved over to her window, quietly unlocking the latch and pushing it open, trying to make the least noise that she could. Peering out of it, she sighed as she saw the coast was clear.
There was a ledge a little ways below her window and as she carefully climbed out of the window, she was thankful for it. The bushes beneath the ledge cushioned her fall a bit, but not enough for her to let out a quiet groan of pain, rubbing her back.
From above, she could hear knocking on her door, and she knew she had to get going. It was now or never.
She took off the heels she'd been wearing and tossed them up into her hands before taking off in a dead sprint towards where she had parked the motorcycle she had…Borrowed. Okay, yeah, she had basically stolen it.
Tossing the shoes into the storage compartment of the motorcycle, she swung her leg over the motorcycle, "Alright, moment of truth, will any of my military training pay off," She muttered to herself as the motorcycle stuttered to life. Waiting for the engine to warm up, she gave it about a minute before deciding whatever was going to happen would happen. Shifting it into first gear and twisting the throttle, she gasped a bit as the motorcycle moved forward, "Oh, it has been a while," She murmured, "Alright, I think I'm getting the hang of this."
She hadn't noticed the person watching her from the window the whole time.
To Nia's surprise, she actually didn't die on the way to the place. In fact, she had actually made it in one piece.
The motorcycle, however, had not. It was…In flames. Somewhere.
No one needed to know where, that was between her, God, and the poor soul that would find the wreckage.
She walked up to the arched doors, seeing the guards standing in front of it. She didn't say anything, simply handing them the invitation.
"You seem a bit young to be here on your own," The guard said, slightly suspicious.
Nia took a deep breath before trying to deepen her voice a little bit, "Don't you know it's disrespectful to assume a woman's age?" She asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow, "I would have thought the King's guard had more tact to them than this."
One of the other guards sighed, rolling his eyes, "Don't even bother. It's not our job to curate whether little girls get inside or not. She's got the invite. Just let her in."
The first guard seemed hesitant, but in the end, he gave in to the other and opened the door, letting Nia in. She bowed slightly to both of them before slipping inside, making sure the knife stashed under her dress was secured.
"For a Sector that's supposed to have been completely destroyed, they sure have a gallant ballroom. And a hell of a celebration," She muttered to herself, looking at the large stone pillars, "Or I suppose they probably spent all of their budget on rebuilding the place. No wonder the Sector 1 people would rather have Kaedan as a king."
As she moved forward, though, she caught sight of a person with long, pink hair in the waltz area of the ballroom and ducked behind one of the large, circular tables. Peering over it, she could see for sure that it was Elliot, and Chaewon was dancing with him as well.
If she got caught by one of them, she would never hear the end of it.
Something glinted in the corner of her vision and she turne to see a dark violet, velvet mask that only went around the eyes on the table next to her, almost like a masquerade mask.
Perfect.
She quickly tied it onto herself before stepping towards the edge of the dance floor. If she was going to help the others, then she should probably try and get as much information as she possibly could out of the people there.
"Care to dance?" She asked a boy standing next to her, seemingly waiting for his turn on the dance floor. He looked similar in age to Fenix.
"Sure, why not," He shrugged, leading her to join in the large rounds of the waltz. As they began to dance, the boy asked, "So, I'm assuming you're too young to be here as well?"
Nia raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware this was an age-restricted event."
The boy laughed, "Well, certainly not this part. But the party behind that door," He tilted his head to a large archway door towards the back of the hall with multiple guards, "I've heard that one is age restricted. You know, so they don't destroy the innocence of the children."
She wrinkled her nose, "Huh. Not really interested. I'm more here to see the Wings."
"They're glorious," The boy said, "My boyfriend and I snuck in once when they were transporting it. He wanted to see it, he told me it was beautiful and he was right."
"Really? Where did they even keep it?" Nia asked nonchalantly, trying to stop the excitement from entering her voice.
"Oh, it's in the—" The boy began to say but then stopped, "—I'm sorry, it's time to switch partners. It's upstairs somewhere."
Nia tried to grab his arm, "Wait, I—"
Then, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, and it sounded so familiar, "I believe your next partner is waiting for you?" The person sounded both amused, annoyed, and impatient.
"...Val?" Nia stared at them, eyes wide, "How did you—What are you doing here?!"
Val grabbed Nia by the hand and dragged her to the edge of the dance floor, picking up their long, purple gown with one hand to move easily, "I think I should be asking you that, what the hell were you thinking—"
"—Your shoulders," Nia was staring right at Val's shoulders.
"My shoulders? What about my—" Val looked down and their face paled, "Oh, fuck."
Val's shoulders had the same glowing freckles that were on Elliot's back.
And on Nia's face.