"I'm sorry, Jeff. But this is the only way... I hope you can understand."
That voice, who else could it belong to besides him? The legendary savior foretold by that psychic oracle that swept over the nation just last year, the Reaper. White strands kept still courtesy of the room's lack of circulation, his hand reached outward. In due time, his fingers, whichever ones gloved and whichever exposed, would scrape against him.
But, an unstoppable force could never muster enough strength to jolt the immovable object that was his black hand. Just one gesture, however minuscule it might seem, spoke volumes. His hand was swiped away--the Reaper's hand was swiped away. August left with half-parted lips before Darrell's lips parted, once more exposing his booming voice from his throat.
"Of course I understand. However, that doesn't mean I have to agree with it. I'll be seeing you all whenever I do, after all, it's not like I can avoid you, right?"
Jeff turned away, pushing the elevator's arrow downward, and watching as those metallic doors mechanically spread to reveal that cold interior. One-step and he was in. Built anatomy covered by his attire, he sighed. Digging through his jacket, he revealed a flask, the silver outside shining in the only light embedded into the shaft's ceiling. Popping open the top, he drove the flask quickly upward, intending to wrap his lips around the top.
He wished to feel that burning sensation he'd grown accustomed to enjoying, didn't he? That's why... he still had this. But one look at the glimmering exterior the bottle was built with, and there he was. His scruffy beard kept out-of-shape, his dry hair, and that face--how long had it been since he looked in the mirror? Had everyone been seeing his ragged, tired eyes? Had they all just grown to accept that in the depths of his heart, there laid some darkness he wished to hide?
Maybe they already assumed he knew? He sighed, shaking his head, temples resting against a nearby wall.
'Doesn't even matter. Doesn't matter what anyone thinks… not anymore.'
The numbers descended with every passing second, gradually morphing to a minute or more. Eventually, the doors would open, and reveal the lobby, abandoned.
'Can I say that, though? That nobody's opinion matters?'
He reached outside, hands in his jacket's pockets. A gust of wind sent hazy itchiness to his eyes, a grunt spitting from his throat. He immediately brushed away some of his dreads from his eyes. Following the conciliation of his vision's clarity, he subconsciously turned his head toward a thundering source. Instinctively, his legs aided him, and he casually landed upon an overlooking rooftop.
In due time, there it was. Hybrid rioters the length of tens of hundreds of city blocks. This great city's righteous inhabitants marched for what they believed to be their right: life. If the ones above who deemed themselves to be 'superior' denied acting, then the subjects unmoved by chains would. To never submit and always keep fighting, no matter what the goal was, that was humanity's nature, without question! He hadn't even realized his mouth was agape--that his eyes were sparkling.
'That's right. I...'
That hopeful youth that was June's emerald glow resurfaced. That ignorant smile that children held so dearly, how he'd missed that spark so.
'I still have her.'
The march stopped at the border before the Requiem Tower. A line of Evolutionary officers. Volunteers. In other words, from what Jeff observed, straight from the innards of his mind,
'Trash. How do August and the others intend to get outta this without one or the other side dying? The losing side, surely, would lose trust within Rivera for his inaction. This is a losing battle; the outcome's the same either way.'
The officers needn't hold firearms. Just their bodies, like he, One of Inheritance, was enough to set the whole Hybrid crowd ablaze. However, they needn't move further. Their minds had been made the second they committed that crime in the mall. But, the Hybrids on the other side knew. The slightest trigger would set their skin to ashes, and without a doubt, whatever laid before them, when provoked, would return to smithereens.
'This is a battle of attrition. August can't keep this up for long. Is he... waiting for some--'
The sound of a female voice intruded upon his thoughts, his head immediately jolting behind.
"Oi, old man!" yelled Katie as she ascended from a crouch.
"Oh, it's you four," commented Darrell as he observed the other three, receiving a biased wave from June's arm.
"Yeah. We just got home, and then..."
As Kima gestured toward the crowd of Hybrid protestors and Evolutionary enforcers alike, Katie perched at the rooftop's verge, watching from afar. Most of the Hybrids near the front stood some feet away from the volunteering officers, but, as always, there was one wolf who had strayed away from the pack. Whether it was courageous or foolish didn't matter. It was only a few seconds before the Hybrid committed a vile action, thereby disrespecting the whole Evolutionary race through some puckered lips and a directed spitball.
Katie's eyes widened. With everyone looking away, they'd be too slow! She was the only one who could react fast enough! Having already manifested her snowy sheathe, she tore out the Blade, the handle just barely intact. But in the mere milliseconds, before she could reach the destination, the sharpened length halted at a tan-skinned neck.
'Did his... skin color change?' She confusedly asked herself.
But, upon further examination, she recognized his face. Those white eyes, those lengthy brown strands, that weary smile he wore, neverminding how greatly they were engraved into the depths of despair. It wasn't a fantasy--never a dream. Without question, that was his face. None of them had to go search for that baseless hope any longer, for there he was, right before her teary eyes. Alexander Amara, the man who gave her hope, was truly in the flesh for the first time in two years.
"Long time no see, Katie," greeted Alex.
"Y-you're... you're real?" She tearfully asked.
"Last I checked, yeah. What? Oh no... don't tell me you thought otherwise! Did Ace lose faith in me too or is it just you who betrayed me?" teased Al, holding her close as he flicked away the Blade still hovering against his active invisible Unlimited.
But to answer his question, there was the ginger. Jumping down from the roof, wobbling with weak knees, whimpering with weak cries before hearing the ugly sound of his weakened sobs. Alex smiled. Despite everything his student was going through with just that sight of his instructor, he smiled. And soon enough, when the time would arrive that Wilder fell to his knees, curling into a ball with a hunched back, the dramatic laments would come to an end.
No matter the threats of the impending world's doom that would soon rain upon them, there was this one moment. If humanity vanished, it'd be all the same to him, but this was what he wanted--this is what he needed. Al's hand grabbed Ace's shoulder, revealing the kid's running nose, his tear-soaked eyes. The look of Ace's unequivocal despair laid incarnated over that handsome face, those sharp features-- what exactly had he gone through in the time he'd been gone? The theories were endless, and because of that, because of that weakness, because of the dormant hatred locked within the prism of his heart, Alexander Amara began to cry.
As the tears continued to flow, the two embraced with their arms around each other's necks, pulling them further as they apologized and greeted one another randomly through indistinct garbling. Spitting out a chuckle, Katie sniffled, then whispered under her breath as she rubbed her teary eyes, "Fuck..."
But the time would come when Ace would have to let go. After all, everyone needed a turn. And most of all, there remained somebody he needed to see, more than anything. Or, in other words--they needed to see him. June's hug was as tight as he remembered, the way she whispered into his pecks, the strokes he gave to the top of her head, nothing had changed at all. And that brought Alex to smile. As the Wilder sister relinquished her hold on Al's torso, there was Kima, hands behind her back, presenting as professional as ever. To her observation, there remained no tears over his face.
'Did he change his appearance just for me or am I seeing things?'
But she didn't have time to ask useless questions, did she? There was only one thing she had to focus on, and the path ahead that'd be carved out beyond those words she'd been begging to say. Who was she? A coward, afraid of someone's words but yelling to die if it meant a good fight? She couldn't be a pushover anymore, nobody's slave, herself, herself, HERSELF!
"Alex, I... I lost my Ketsueki Artifact. And... I don't want to be the Agents' leader anymore. I don't want to be anyone anymore. I want to be beside Ace, leading an exciting life of battling people and being together. Is that... okay, sir?"
Had she been so blind to notice? How ignorant was she, and how long did it take her to realize it? From the beginning, what he wore over his face wasn't a dramatic grimace with shadows covering his eyes. He was... a good person.
"Is that so?"
Silence. Only anticipation. The sound of her heavy breaths as she listened further to hear what he'd say next.
"Then, I hope you enjoy the life you wish for. And, if possible, can live to the fullest without regrets."
Alex had already turned away, she didn't have the time to hug him, not even a cheek peck. Why? How important was she truly in the eyes of the Judge? To see him ignore her after affirming her so confidently, why did it not boil her blood? Why did veins not appear out her forehead, why didn't her teeth grit? Then, it hit her. The burden of his expectations weighing upon her shoulders had all but vanished, and all that remained was freedom, no longer chained down by anyone's ideology but her own.
How could he have known? It didn't matter. Lowering her head, her purple retinas examined the ground. Through the prohibition of her short hair hiding her face, you could just barely make out the tiniest semblance of a smile forming over her mouth. And so, without even having taken a glimpse of her grin, as he walked back toward Ace, Katie, and June, he shared the same relieved grin Kima unapologetically donned over her lips.
Alex pushed his former Agents back, watching as they slipped away, clearing his throat while the indistinct murmurs from the Hybrid and Evolutionary crowd grew louder.
"He's the one from the Oracle!"
"The Requiem Judge, one of our saviors!"
"Huh!? That can't be! Isn't our savior Augustus Rivera up in that Tower there?!"
"He must be an imposter—trying to sway our faith within August! We should kill him before he gets the chance to eradicate us!!!"
"YEAHHHHHHH!!!!"
Abruptly, the Evolutionary and Hybrid crowds burst into a shared cry, dispelling the looming bodies that were the clouds spread throughout overhead. But, before they could inch closer or even attempt the slightest bit to an assassination, Alex's hand raised. With that, everyone turned silent. Katie raised an eyebrow.
"What's Alex doing?" She asked her cousin.
"He's…" Ace sniffled again, "he's showing them his power. He doesn't want to kill them, though. He wants them to listen."
And sure enough, what they'd sought was what they'd find before them. Unparalleled Requiem power incarnated into his palm, oozing out in snowy tendrils glistening brightly like threads of light. They seemed to obey. He wasn't even commanding any of them, but they obeyed. Whether it was their will or someone superior's entirely, it didn't matter. They couldn't combat the urge sent to them, connecting them invisibly. The path they were meant to take, as subjects of the Requiems, was, forever and always, to kneel.
And now, there the Judge towered over them, lowering his hand. Allowing for his power's cloak to dissipate, Alex sighed, scratching his nose.
Instead of casually proceeding, he analyzed their faces. Most of the Evolutionaries held sweaty faces, seemingly frightened at the collective threat of their demise. In contrast to that, behind him, there was the parade of Hybrid protestors. Their very eyes seemed to sparkle, their mouths agape—it was almost as though they'd realized that this was their life. But, to Katie behind her instructor, there was a sneaking urge she couldn't escape or fight away no matter how rebellious the thoughts.
Unbeknownst to Kate, her thoughts mimicked that of her father's on that day, witness to the spectacle that was the Reaper's heavenly resurrection. That, surely, there were in the midst of some extraordinary tale. Only one question remained from where she was standing. August's path was the one of inaction—standing idle like he were a shadow. But… Alex was different from him.
'Alexander Amara is capable of being cold-hearted and selfish. From a position of power, he would value the people closest to him more than anything. That's the type of person I knew Alex as. But, now…'
"Hear me, all Requiem Subjects!"
At Alex's command, the Hybrids and Evolutionaries raised their lowered heads.
"My name is Alexander Amara. I am the sole Incarnated Requiem Artifact existing within the New World. While you measly Subjects have all decided to act stupidly, there's a raging war occurring outside this City's very walls! The nations of the world house other Hybrids, Evolutionaries, even more species beyond what's believed to be the 'norm!' The vastness of this New World formulated by our Allfather's will is unimaginable! However, the very existence of the World is not a free one! While our will do exist and we have the 'free' will to act, we must fight! The enemy is not the Foretold Founder who paved the way for the legendary alteration all over the world, nor is it simply the cruelty of the infamous Deck leader, the Jester! Our enemies are people. Civilizations. Or, in other words--"
'The world,' August finished, staring down at the presentation, comfortably confined within the Tower's quarters.
"Just like Hana said..." whispered Katie.
At the sound of her whisper, Ace's head narrowly turned. To think the rest of the world could be wholly deemed as 'enemy' territory--how large was the scope of the planet? Having spent the remainder of his lifespan hidden by walls, unable to gaze further out into the sea. How far could he expand the extent of his justice? Disregarding the Capital, Hana's Temple within China's borders, what laid yonder? He turned to Katie. She must've been intrigued, too, right?
But her face was different. There was no hope mangled into her features. The depth of her anger was a silent grimace, a low snarl leaking out her mouth as fangs barely scraped against her bottom lip's flesh.
'That's... the face Dad made...'
"We sacrificed our will to act under the jurisdiction of a single superpower! If he does not act, then I will! This is a coup! Mobilize forces to prep an attack on Retly, AUGUST!!"
To think he'd be challenged by none other than his former student, of all people. The way he glared up at him, proudly standing before those see-through borders, there wasn't an angry grimace dirtying the area surrounding his mouth. Instead, as anticipated, August and Alex held the same expression. The world beyond the confining walls of this sprawling Capital, the first step they'd take into the true New World, surely, that time would come.
In the unchangeable predestined future, the path was already carved, all that was left for them was to keep moving forward. No matter the cost--justice, freedom, without a doubt, they would attain those truths!
Evolutionary Injustice Arc - Fin.
To Be Continued.