"So, what you're saying is… Riot is doomed and by extension, the whole of the reconstructed Evolutionary Capital?" Katie asked from beside Ace.
"That's the non-complex version for idiots, I guess," Wilder teased with his eyes on his phone.
"But where'd you get that from?" Katie asked Alex.
"After the meeting, your dad and August came up to us. August asked us what we thought about Retly and a planned attack on them. I responded safely and said something like 'we should explore all our options before we attack'. That being said, I was lying and so was he after he'd heard what I said," Alex responded.
"What'd he say?" June interrupted curiously, hand at her chin.
"He just… I don't think he wants to save the City. Not only did he choose the path of inaction regarding the Evolutionaries and Hybrids but us, too? This is us we're talking about? He trained me, we both think of Ben as a father and I think of him as a brother. It's just… it's just a hunch of mine. Nothing more, nothing less," spoke Alex.
"But if that's the truth then—"
Kima was interrupted by the irritating audio of gnashing teeth infecting the air. Everyone's head turned to Katie, now with gritted teeth and angered eyes. Both Ace and Alex could tell what that look held, for the unbeatable resolve of Dark Determination was aflame within her pupils.
"If that's the truth then what the hell is the Reaper fighting for? We've spent all our goddamn lives trapped behind walls formulated by someone else's desire. And the one time we get to choose our paths, he enforces his pathetic law and demands we stay put? Why should we listen like slaves while he has us die out like whittling cattle he can gradually slaughter?" Katie angrily asked all of her friends.
But everyone was silent. While they'd been subtle in delivering this info to her, sugarcoating the meaning behind those words, Katie reacted so loudly. It wasn't like they could've stopped her—that was just the person she was. Regardless of how she reacted, though, the fact remained that every word she vented from her lips was right.
"Does Dad wish for us to remain ignorant and accept the world's hatred? But that'd seal our fate, especially if we didn't fight back! There's no way he could do something like that, right? The path of suicide can't have been… what dad chose…"
June held her head, tears leaking from her eyes to fluidly course down her face. Ace now stood beside his sister, stroking her hair with his hand holding her head.
"There's not much we can do about this unless we plan on rebelling against them. But even then, that seems impossible. Imagine going against the Reaper and our Master. Now THAT is suicide," Kima added, scratching her forehead.
"Realistically, I don't think they could fight us. Especially if our suspicions about August are true, I'd think he wants us to live peaceful lives instead of actively battling Retly. There's also the fact that Ace and June are his children. Katie's the same way. Azazel would never be able to kill his beloved daughter if he's unable to kill August," said Alex, smoke leaking from his throat.
Katie attached her fingers to her chin. Ace instantly recognized this pose his cousin had made. Thanks to her spontaneous nature, he sometimes forgot how smart she was. Then again, with her being the Detective's child, it only made sense she'd inherit his unrelenting intellect. Seemingly out of nowhere to everyone who hadn't noticed her actively pondering, she asked a question.
"What about the walls that surround us?"
Alex shrugged. "The Harbinger girl said that the last Requiem soldiers built them to protect their people before their powers diminished. They must've been infused with at least equivalent or superior power to mine. Why do you ask? Do you think there's something more than meets the eye?" he asked.
"It could be possible. Think about it! Uh, when you destroyed the wall, what'd you see when the debris flew back?" Kim questioned their mentor.
"I… what I saw? B-but I didn't see anything, that's the thing! It was just a really strong Requiem wall, wasn't it? What more could lie beneath the surface… that we're not seeing?" Alex asked his students.
"It's probably something only the Allfather would know. I mean, if none of us can think of it off the top of our heads, even with our parents' memories from the Artifact then—"
Before Ace could finish, Kima jumped up. Everyone's confused sight locked onto her body, they awaited what she had to say, without silence, of course.
"Why's everyone so jumpy today?" asked Alex while leaning against Kate.
"Wait, wait! Ace said that if anything truly resides below the surface then the Allfather would know what it was! I had two Artifacts, remember?! I was able to glimpse through the Ketsueki swordsmans' memories… he was—"
"Oh shit. Jason," Alex finished.
"Jason?" Katie asked with an ascended eyebrow.
"Who's that?" June added.
"That's—"
An experience he naturally deemed 'forgettable', to think that he'd remember it now, of all times. Everyone turned to the special redhead, awaiting Ace's addition to their debate.
"Jason Rivera."
Two years ago, November.
The black-haired bearded man clad in a trench coat and darkened boots, the one who wielded Ketsueki's crimson blade. The Bloody Hunter that'd ruthlessly massacred almost every member of the Jester's Deck and killed himself right before the boy's young eyes.
'Welp… good for you.'
"Two years ago, when I was fighting the Deck, someone helped me. Kima's the only one who knows and that's because she summoned him. I didn't know who that man was but the more I thought about it every time after that incident, I felt like… I'd seen him somewhere else before. That man was Jason Rivera. My grand uncle," Ace said.
"So, what do we do? When we raided the Tower after first emerging as Riot, we came to recover the Key to Hell. It was suspected the Head's forces collected the leftover Ketsueki from the museum to lock it in the Tower, but when we got there, it was gone. Icarus Chrollo probably has it," Kim acknowledged.
"Wait. Don't you remember what Hana said about your power? If you could incarnate Jason from the shadow realm you use to make your Beasts, then it could've been possible for your father, too," Ace reminded his girlfriend.
At the mention of her father, Alex's eyes widened just enough to send Katie's eyes to his scruffy face.
"You can summon dead spirits from the Old World?" Alex inquired of his student; his tone hushed.
"Yeah. I have been able to for some time now. Then again, I guess it has been two years. I should've told you. Sorry, Al," Kim apologized with a sympathetic look across her face.
"No. It's fine. I just—it's possible to see Whitney again? Have you tried it yet?" He asked yet again.
"I haven't. I don't want to. I'm sorry…" Kim said, turning her head away.
Katie quickly inhaled with her hand on her mentor's shoulder. "The fact remains, Alex. If we can use Kim's power to access that realm and summon Jason again, we could probably learn the truth about the walls. What lies below the surface of the Evolutionary Capital—the secret sits inside the lost mind of the banished Bloody Hunter endlessly roaming the cold depths of that permanent hell," she said.
"But why? What's the point of learning the unattainable truth? What if we find out nothing, and Katie's suspicion is bullshit?" June asked with her head hung. "Where did this stupid suspicion come from anyway? What does this have to do with the path to suicide that our Dad has taken?" she asked.
Her head now raised, emerald retinas glistening with tears at her eyes' corners as she demanded an answer from her cousin.
"What? What do you mean 'bullshit'? What're you trying to say, June?" Kate queried her white-haired relative.
"There's no way to confirm whether you're right or wrong, Kate. What's the point of even trying to use Kim's power to summon Mr. Rivera anyway? What do we hope to find when we ask him the question we want an answer to?" June requested.
Kate looked to her cousin without anger in her eyes, allowing her pupils to examine the floor's design. Her hand on her arm once her lips parted. Her voice wasn't drenched in unstoppable anger nor unexplainable admiration. At the sound of her vocals, Kim's head turned and Ace's crimson retinas peeked out the window.
"If I'm right and my suspicions are correct, then the 'answer' we hope to find holds the fate of the world. Technically, by asking him, we're burdening ourselves with the fate of the world. Despite that, though, I don't want to back down. Even if it means the world's destruction, I want that truth. More than anything… I… want this…"
'Where does it even start? Back then? No. It doesn't even matter anymore. The cycle keeps moving no matter what we try. The best we can do is try to end it despite everything. End everything that's sprawled forth from that unfortunate beginning. I just never thought… the end of the cycle would be so horrible.'
To Be Continued.