"Do you even wanna listen to me rant about something as trivial as this? Then again, it's not like you have a choice. I'm sorry about that… but I guess there's no helping it. Three years ago, we were arrogant and helpless. I wish we could've been able to change something back then."
June, seated on the wooden floorboards below the Tower, recounted the not-too-distant past.
Three years ago:
Mere seconds after Alex arrived on the scene following his two-year absence, he was followed by those he once instructed as ANZEN's Agents. Barging through the doors of the Requiem Tower's meeting room, August turned to him with open arms, stepping closer as Alex inched forward.
"Ah, Alex! It's been so long since I've seen you, how about a hug to welcome you home-?"
Just before August could finish his entrance, he was punched square in the face, blood flying out the corner of his mouth as the Judge's knuckles sunk into his former instructor's fair-skinned cheek. Hana watched without care as he was hit while Azazel stifled laughter.
August fell to the ground, bleeding into the floor from his scarred lips. Chuckling after wiping the blood with his sleeve, he spat out more from his mouth's corner.
"Alright. I kinda deserved that," he said.
"You're just like Dad sometimes, y'know that? Not taking action because you saw some incomprehensible future we can't avoid so you act according to the events you foresaw… and here I thought we could be better than that," as the Judge said this, his white eyes angrily flared.
Out of nowhere, Alex felt a tight grip attach itself to his shoulder. Turning his head, long hair jerking along with him, he looked behind him to see Azazel.
"That's enough, Alex," The Detective warned.
"Suck my dick, you old piece of shit," Alex insulted, swatting his hand away.
"The hell'd you just say to me…?" Karlo snarled, a vein popping out his forehead.
"I said 'suck my dick'. Do you have no agency for your life? Out of everyone I'd expect to act on something, it'd be Rose's brother: you! But you're so loyal to August you can't even CONSIDER thinking for yourself for once. How pathetic you are, Azazel."
Alexander had insulted his every right to act—his freedom. Perhaps Azazel was blinded by anger, maybe he was in the right. Nevertheless, he went for the punch, aimed at his face. As expected, the attack was caught in the Judge's hand once his fingers sunk into Karlo's wrist. His arm shaking, bones creaking as he applied pressure, Azazel inhaled through closed teeth as he looked at Alex, presently breaking his wrist.
Before the situation could escalate any further, Katie intervened. Taking Alex's hand away from her father's wrist, she stood in front of her father, extending her arms as if to protect her dad.
"Dad didn't do anything wrong. He was just… doing what he thought was right," Katie quickly went to defend her father.
At the sound of her words, he looked to his daughter with soft eyes and parted lips. Alex released one breath, and let his shoulders fall.
"You're right. I'm sorry, Azazel," Al apologized, looking straight at Azazel.
"It's… it's fine. But, in August's defense, I don't think he saw the future or anything. You and he have a close connection. It could just be that he didn't have to do anything because he sensed you were here," Azazel suggested.
Alex looked to August on the floor, then scoffed.
"Whatever."
He turned away and sighed. August cleared his throat while ascending, now standing tall yet again.
"My inaction isn't involved with the Retly situation. While I wanted for Fate to guide the indiscrimination between the Evolutionaries and Hybrids, we haven't decided what to do about Icarus's army. We should… think of something together," suggested August.
"Go fuck yourself. You're not the only one with a dreary future resting on your shoulders. I'm tired and haven't slept on a bed in years," Alex flipped the bird to his former instructor on his way out.
As he left, June and Kima shrugged. Kate kissed her father on the cheek then ran to follow Alex, Ace doing the same.
August sighed as they all fled. Leaving Jefferson, Natalia, Hana in the room, excluding the obvious Azazel. The pink-eyed Master shook her head from the chamber's dark corner.
"He's much more rambunctious than he used to be, don't you think, Augustus?" asked Hana.
"I forgot she was here," Natalia whispered to Azazel from behind her.
"That's the Requiem Judge, huh? I thought he'd be nicer from what I'd heard," Jefferson added.
"Your thoughts are correct. Alex is nicer than anyone. I deserved that, just then," August says, wiping away more blood with his sleeve.
"Really? What makes you think so?" asked Azazel.
"I've just been turning into the very thing that's always disgusted me. Selfishness is so hideous," August chuckled at his confession.
But Azazel was silent. He didn't have anything meaningless to add to what August said. Instead, he just stared with eyes, pupils trembling at the potential of his words.
'Selfishness was hideous.'
Now with Alex and the Agents, he was guided toward their quarters.
Standing behind Katie as she unlocked her door for him, Moon and June stepped aside for Amara to enter their apartment. Walking through the corridor, he was met with the kitchen to his right at the hall's end.
The world seemed quiet momentarily. Despite how violently his pupils quivered, he remembered that time when it was just so simple. Back then, during the New Era, he learned under August… and sought to figure out himself. Looking to see where he was in the world—how he compared to legends like the Reaper and the Emperor.
"Are you okay?" Kate asked.
Alex jolted. Returning to reality, he examined his surroundings temporarily before his white eyes returned to Katie's face. At the beginning of this nightmare, she was so small, and now, she was halfway to his head. To think that so much time had passed and for half of it, he'd been asleep.
His hand patted Katie's head. She closed her eyes, brightly smiling.
"Just fine. You kids're all grown up now. It's weird to think… how much everything's changed. Two years ago, we were on the island and you'd just become an Agent. We were ignorant back then, searching for such some small truth while unknowingly spiraling in the middle of a hugely complicated chaotic story. But despite that, it was fun. Wasn't it?" Alex asked Kate.
She nodded, affirming him with a sound. "Mhm!" she joyfully replied.
"Are you grateful to me? The way Ace was when I told him what he needed to hear, it was almost like he was my son. Did you fight for me or… for yourself?" He asked.
But for her to ponder the answer to a question like that, they shouldn't have been standing in the middle of the hallway. Piling onto the couch in the living room, Katie settled on Alex's right while June sat below him to his left foot against the floor.
Fiddling with her fingers nervously, she searched for an answer, opening her mouth, spouting out incomprehensible sounds. She stumbled over her speech after she'd managed to form words. If this went on, it was clear she'd have a panic attack. June jerked, attempting to stand.
However, Alex's hand stopped her. While she obeyed his silent suggestion to let him hand Katie, she scooted upward and now sat on the couch beside Alex. Leaning over him, her chin squished against his shoulder while Al started comforting her black-haired cousin.
"Look at me. It'll be okay, alright? Just focus on me and let it out. Figure out the words you want to use and when you're ready, speak. I'm here, June's here—one call, and your dad'll come running. We're your family. It's okay."
He massaged her arms so continuously and gradually. Soothing her skin to an inexplicable relaxation, Alex tilted his head and then smiled. His eyes closed, his lips beginning to part.
"It's hard, I know. You're burdened with so much and at such a young age, even after all you've been through. But it's okay, Kay. You're not with them anymore. You're with us," as Alex reassured her, she wiped away the tears' blurry mist from her eyes.
In due time did she relax her breathing. As her joints relaxed, Alex slid back. Noticing June watching on his shoulder, he smiled. But that's all he did—he didn't take any note of anything besides that, for perhaps he was blinded by how bright the stars in her eyes sparkled at his amazing he'd acted with her grieving cousin.
"Oh!" Upon remembering, he turned his head back to Katie. "You didn't answer my question. Do you fight the way you do for me or is it for yourself?"
Only after being comforted was she capable of responding, for the sinews of anxiety that tormented her had been washed away. Nevertheless, she searched for the right answer, if there even was one.
'If I tell Alex I killed all those people, what would he… what would he think? Wait, no, stop—STOP! I'm okay, remember? Don't think about that, don't think about that. Control your breathing. Up…' she inhaled sharply. 'Down…' she forced out an exhale.
After controlling her breathing, she finally arrived at an answer.
"I… don't fight for anyone anymore. I'm grateful to the people who gave me the life I live now but I don't want to live for other people. Not because I'm selfish or anything in the slightest. Just because that's what I think is 'right'. Because it means… being true to myself."
And he smiled. Her eyes were wide, her face full of shock—he was smiling. Then, he erupted into spontaneous laughter, holding his face, scratching his beard.
"H-huh? What's so funny?" she asked.
"Nothing, it's just…" he turned to her with tears at the corners of his eyes. "I'm so glad to hear that."
For the longest time, everything she tried to reach was too far away. No matter how much she extended her arm, it would've climaxed with failure. Whether it was lotion on the counter her arm was too weak from the plentiful scars to grab, or the freedom she so naturally dreamed about day after day. That's all it was to her--a loving family, warm arms she could nestle into, she never believed she could've had any of these things before. But now, she stared at the embodiment of those dreams with hearts in her blue eyes. Alexander Amara: the man who gave her hope that she could accept love and act on her own.
From behind him, her chin still against his shoulder, June's eyes moved to Katie's content face. She smiled at the sight of her cousin's joyful expression.
'Katie and I felt the same on that day. The day Alex returned, none of us knew it but the flames that burned for our justices to persist were lit once again thanks to him. I know it must torture you to hear me speak about someone you hate so much but I don't have... I don't have anyone else.'
In the present, a tear streamed down June's cheek as she dejectedly looked to her reluctant listener.
'I'm sorry. Where was I..?'
Where she left off was the next day.
Sprawled out across a couch, blankets warming his tanned skin, his arm over his eyes, he loudly snored through the moonlit night and into the sunny morning. Who woke him was neither June nor Katie. Somehow, the one who threw a pillow into his face was Ace, of all people. Registering the ginger through sleepy morning vision riddled with hazy, he started to sit up, scratching his eyes' corners with his unclipped nails; almost like claws.
"A-Ace?" sleepily moaned Alex, now sitting up on the couch.
"Yeah, it's me. You probably don't remember but last night, you passed out while watching a movie with Kate and June. Since that's a girls-only apartment, they brought you over to me since... I have guys' clothes. Y'know, just cuz I got a big ol' dick swinging around everywhere I go doesn't mean I have to be a 'guy'."
As expected, Ace consistently spouted problematic nonsense even into his adult years. Alex scratched his head with his claw-shaped nails, wincing as he accidentally stabbed himself. Sliding his feet off the couch, he sat at the edge, then realized he was only in boxers.
"Who undressed me?" he asked.
"I did. I hated it because it made me feel insecure. Then again, WOW. Were you blessed or what?" Ace jokingly questioned from the island peeking into the living room.
Alex chuckled. "No, no. It's all the product of hard work, training, eating right most of the time and then cheating other times." he stood up after saying that.
The two continued baselessly conversing until Kima entered the kitchen. Not from her and Ace's room, but from the front door.
"Oh, you're back. When I woke up you were gone so…" Wilder trailed off after noticing her exasperated figure—she must've been running. "Were you just our jogging or something? You're… really sweaty." the ginger said.
She snatched the water bottle from out his hand and chugged it. After gulping it all down, Kima sighed longingly. Ace and Alex shared an unknowing look of confusion, even shrugging their shoulders in tandem as their eyes connected.
"There's… an intruder!! Someone's infiltrated the Evolutionary Capital from the forest!"
That was all she needed to say. Whether or not it was Retly's forces surveying the area for a future attack, whoever dares to disturb their peace would feel the wrath that was Riot's unparalleled Requiem might.
Trusted Hybrid officers were stationed against the broken wall bordering the outer forest from the Capital's concrete jungle. Rifles pointed at the plentiful green, their fingers ready to press the trigger at the tiniest signal. One of the leaves dared to rustle, and just then, a bullet fired from one of the many barrels pointed at the emerald wildlife. That single soldier, frightened to their very core at the thought of being executed, their life at the merry of whoever laid behind the bushes.
"I-I'm sorry…" they uttered, earning the overlapping, disapproving mutters of their fellow soldiers.
"Stood back, soldier. We'll take it from here," as a hand clasped onto the soldier's shoulder, Azazel's voice accompanied the action.
"Mi-mister… Karlo?"
"In the flesh. No need to worry, though. We know exactly who lies behind the greenery enveloping our vision in mystery," Karlo said, reassuring his inexperienced comrades.
"We-we do? Who is it, then?" Another soldier asked.
"Truthfully, I'm a little bit surprised they're still alive. You should've heard of them: they were Callum Rivers' right-hand man. To think they'd return to us one day… after I spared their life so long ago," Azazel reminisced on chaotic times amidst enemy territory when they returned to Riverton.
"H-huh?"
The soldier remained puzzled. Unfortunately, Azazel's answer being incredibly vague only enhanced his confusion. That was when Karlo looked down at the soldier and chuckled at his blatant ignorance.
"Heh, I guess you've never heard of 'em before then. We don't know why or how they're here, but we know one thing for sure. Their name is Rizia Kosuke. The former Harbinger and pawn of the Foretold Founder."
Clad in a black leather outfit, their short black hair jumped as they climbed up the hill leading to the broken wall. Peeking through the hole, they smiled, not at the sight of the plentiful soldiers ready to shoot her, but at him. Their savior: the Crow of Justice. For the first time in a few years and even more chapters, Rizia Kosuke had returned. And fortunately for Riot's elite, they came bearing gifts.
To Be Continued.