Andrew was the first to notice Leo's attitude. He had gotten up from his bed with a tired expression and made his way to the table. That's when he noticed it.
"Hey, you alright?" He asked while nudging Leo's shoulder.
Instead of answering him, Leo just handed him the paper. Andrew looked at it, and back at Leo before he grabbed the paper and started reading.
He scoffed and said sarcastically, "Wow, never imagined they'd outright order us to commit suicide."
"What? Let me see that." Faust extended his hand and Andrew handed it over while shaking his head in disbelief.
He quickly scanned the paper and said out loud, "So we have to head all the way into the center of the angel capitol, and sneak into this government building thing to steal some stuff? Are they freaking crazy?"
"It's not just any building, it's their capitol building. It's where they make all their decisions, in other words, there is going to be an ungodly amount of security." Andrew muttered while he paced around the room.
Luke took the paper from Faust and began reading through it.
"We also can't bring our weapons normally. Instead, we've got to store them in Mathias' pocket dimension." Luke looked up from the paper at Leo.
"Yeah, good luck with that." Leo replied with a shrug. He'd love to be able to use his pocket dimension like the other dealers, but well… when wasn't he being fucked over by his soul realm?
"Well, I can store our weapons. That's what they just taught me. We have our own little pocket dimension for weapons, I don't think I can store anything besides bows, guns, explosives, and ammunition though." Andrew said. "I'm not sure I can store a sword though."
"Well, unlike Riftmoor, we won't be fighting humans. Meaning I need a sword to actually be useful." That was, of course, a lie, but only Faust knew the truth about him being able to use the powers of a grim as well.
"Well, hand over your sword, we'll test it out." Andrew said.
Leo got up and walked over to his backpack by his bed. He grabbed the sword that he barely got to use. It wasn't anything special, just a regular longsword given to him by the Abyss. He made sure the sheath wouldn't open and his sword would fall out, then he tossed it over to Andrew.
Andrew caught it and he concentrated for a moment. The others waited for him and eventually he shook his head.
"Nope, guess you'll have to find one there. You can steal one from a Lawbringer while we're over there. You used to be a thief so I can't imagine it'll be too hard." Andrew said with a sigh.
Leo shrugged.
"Wait, how are we even going to get there? They've got that place locked down and it's a peninsula. There's only one way to get into the country." Faust asked. He hadn't read the entire paper, only skimmed the beginning where it told them what they'd be doing at Breles, the angel capitol city.
Luke lifted the paper and read through it.
"We'll be heading to a small island north of East Grimash where it meets the sea. We'll board a boat and go to a small island, once on that island, we'll board another boat and make our way to a small town in Mixilo. Apparently, this is how smugglers usually get into Mixilo. The island we're heading to has a small town on it as well."
"So, there aren't security checkpoints?" Faust was skeptical.
"Apparently not. Here it says the company that'll ferry us has special permission to take people from East Grimash to the island. Then they have permission to take those people into Mixilo. It seems to be a slight loophole and the angels are probably aware of it." Luke said.
"So why don't they do anything about it?" Faust asked.
"I don't know, I'm not a government." Luke said with an annoyed face.
The four started discussing the mission for a while and eventually they all left to eat dinner. It was getting darker out and Leo decided to split off from the others. He instead wandered around the dorms, looking for a specific room.
He found it and hesitated before knocking gently. From inside, Leo heard a pair of footsteps slowly make their way to the door. They turned the doorknob and opened it.
Evelyn stood there and saw Leo. She was about to close the door when she abruptly stopped. Instead, she opened it and asked simply, "What is it?"
Leo looked at her and sighed, "Look, I'm not going to lie or anything like that. I understand you're upset at me, and I can understand your reasoning why. I'm sorry for what happened to Kyle, I really am. I'm not trying to manipulate you or anything, I'm genuinely do care. I really mean it, I'm sorry about what happened. I'm also not going to try to convince you to stay here, if you need time alone, take it. I might not have known you for long, but I know you're a good person. So, take as much time away as you need."
She watched Leo in silence for a while. She sighed and closed the door. Leo didn't linger and walked away, he headed to go eat dinner. On the other side of the door, Evelyn sat on her bed with her head in her hands. After thinking about Leo for a moment, she flipped over and went to bed. All of her things were already packed up and she'd be heading home the next day.
Leo, on the other hand, was eating his dinner outside in the quiet. He was near the forest's entrance, they'd be heading out the next day, so he wanted some alone time. He was thinking about Bun, the crow he had made an acquaintance with.
He ate the crappy spaghetti that he was given. He finished it and put the tray to his side before laying back in the grass and looking at the stars above.
"Wow, depressed much?" Leo heard Bunny from his side. He tilted his head over and saw her walking out from the forest.
"Do you just live in there or something?" Leo asked.
She turned and looked at the woods, "Kinda."
"And I'm not depressed, I'm just stargazing." Leo said while raising a finger and pointing at her.
She laughed and made her way over to Leo, "Are you going to eat those?" She pointed at a bag of pretzels laying next to the tray that Leo had randomly grabbed.
He tossed them to her, and she grabbed them before shoving them quickly into her suit, as if someone would take them.
"Did you just come here to steal my food?"
"Maybe." She said with a shrug.
Leo tilted his head slightly in confusion.
"I'm kidding, I just want to say be careful in Mixilo. There's a lot of death out there for our kind. Oh, and be careful of that island you're going to. I had to go to Mixilo for… reasons… and I went through the island. That was around a year ago, but there was something else there. I'm not sure what, but I'd be way more wary of that place than Mixilo as of right now."
"Think its angels?"
"I've got no clue to be honest. It's definitely something though, and I refuse to head back there. Too bad you aren't high enough rank to complain."
"I doubt even if I was, they'd change how we're getting there."
"Hey, they'd do it if I complained." She said with a smirk. Leo couldn't see it, but he could tell from her tone and slightly crescent eyes.
The two went silent as they began to look at the stars. After nearly thirty minutes, Bunny spoke, "I'm going to head to bed now. Mathias, watch out for yourself."
Leo turned to her and nodded. She turned and entered the forest, quickly disappearing. Leo looked back at the stars for a while. Eventually, he too stood and left. Leo thought that the two of them had gotten closer, Bunny wasn't as formal as she used to be. She was less robotic now in his eyes.
He entered the dorms and quickly drifted to sleep.
The next day the four of them got up and headed out. They dressed in clothes to blend into their environment considering they'd be sneaking into a building in the middle of a city. It wasn't as if they could deck themselves out in military gear. They made their way to the building with the teleporter, and before they entered, they were stopped.
A man handed them four dog tags with their information on them. They looked at the tags for a moment and they put them on.
"Congrats on graduating, go give 'em hell." The man who stopped them said with a proud face. He then took them to the teleporter room where instead of being sedated, they were just blindfolded.
They took them through the machine one at a time, making Leo notice how inefficient they were for transporting a large number of troops. It took them nearly five minutes to set the machine up just for him.
Once he was transported, he couldn't feel a thing. His senses disappeared and it was like he had entered a void. This didn't last for long and upon manifesting, his senses returned. Leo could feel himself wobble slightly as he lost his balance. Someone reached out and grabbed him to help steady Leo. They took him out of the teleporter room and took off his blindfold.
Leo's eyes winced when they were revealed to the bright lights. A man looked at him and spoke, "Just take a moment to breathe. The first ride is always the hardest."
Leo nodded and sat on a bench that was nearby. Eventually Andrew, Faust, and Luke stumbled out of the room and sat near Leo. The group took a moment to steel their nerves and they began leaving the building. According to the man at the teleporter, they were in East Grimash but not at Riftmoor. They were in a smaller city towards the north of the country.
They were navigated through the Tower by a guide and taken to the front of the building. Unlike Riftmoor which was a smaller building posing as a bar, this was a larger building. It was a tall skyscraper much like the first Tower that Leo entered. There was a receptionist at the front who waved the four over.
"Please hand over your mission details gentlemen."
Leo handed over the paper and they started looking over it. They took it to their computer and quickly started filling in something on their computer. Eventually they nodded and they told the four to stay where they were while they went to grab some things.
A few minutes later, the receptionist returned and gave them some stuff. Each of the four received burner phones that worked in Mixilo, they had only one number stored on them reserved for calling for backup. They were also given cash for Mixilo and an overview of their journey there.
The receptionist told them that a car would pick them up and drive them out of the city and north where they would be picked up. They would get on a boat and head over to the intermediary island before finally leaving there and heading to Mixilo. Once in Mixilo, someone would meet them at the small town and take them to Breles.
After receiving this information, they were taken to where they'd be picked up. The receptionist left with a slight bow and the four waited around for the car. Once the car arrived, Andrew couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
It was a van at least ten years old, probably older. They could see the black exhaust flowing out of its tailpipe. It pulled over to the side and a very scruffy looking man, wearing a musky vest that looked as old as the van, popped his head out. His curly hair was incredibly chaotic and hadn't been combed in ages, and his long bushy beard was much the same.
He motioned towards the four and they all walked over with slightly childish faces. They all were smiling in disbelief after seeing the man and his van. But they didn't care as they hopped inside. Surprisingly, the seats were incredibly comfortable, and they practically absorbed the four.
They sank in their seats as the man shifted himself back into the van and started driving through the city. Along the way, the group talked a lot with their driver. The man driving them had a very bubbly personality. He was extremely cheerful and talked with passion about whatever the topic of the conversation was. They had a lot of fun as they drove out of the city and into the countryside.
Leo mainly kept to himself but would join into the conversation every so often. After a few hours of driving, the sun was at its peak in the sky, and they arrived at a little town with a small port. They drove down into it and hopped out. The man in the van waved goodbye with a happy face and drove away.
The four turned and saw a different man dressed in a sloppy outfit. He had on a tee shirt with small but colorful print. On his feet were flipflops and he wore some tan shorts. He was smoking casually when he saw the four.
He quickly put out his cigarette and turned to them, "Are you the…" he thought deeply, trying to remember his passengers, "Yeah, you lot must be the youngins' heading out to Springvern Isle? Then you're takin' the next boat out to Smithchester, am I right?"
"Yes sir, that's correct." Faust responded politely.
"Alright, well," he coughed up and spit onto the ground, "we're still waiting for a couple. They should be here soon. Y'all can either head onto the boat or you can grab something to eat in town. There's also food on the boat if you'd prefer that."
The four of them just decided to eat on the boat rather than go out to the town. They had stopped to eat while driving so they weren't too hungry. They started making their way down to the dock.
It was a long dock made of concrete where cars could line up. The boat was a ferry designed to take cars and people back and forward across the water, but for this trip there didn't seem to have any cars heading across. Andrew got curious and asked one of the ferrymen on the boat why that was. They said that people don't really head to the island anymore, and those who do are from out of town, so they don't have cars to bring over.
The four headed onto the boat and they smelled the fresh air coming from the sea. Then, they began making their way to greet the others that were also heading to the island. They'd be on the boat for a while, so why not?