After the meeting between the United Powers' envoy, Riot's shallow population flooded out the front doors of their Tower headquarters. Jefferson beside Natalia, throwing an apple into the air and then swiftly catching it upon its descent. The two shared casual conversation while Riot's teenagers, the group's originators, skipped out the Tower's lobby. Around Kima and June's arms, Katie was in the middle. With the male spot of the group vacant, the dimness of the lobby was brightened by a stray flame.
From a red lighter the fire atop swayed in the air blowing in from the widened entrance. Alighting a blunt from a ziplock bag, he inhaled the smoke, feeling it flow down his throat and into his lungs. After having fully inhaled did the smoke exit from his lips in the form of a misty-gray blast polluting the clear air.
"Oh, and here I thought Kima was the drug addict," teased his long-haired instructor.
Ace chuckled after having recognized the voice. "That's my secret, y'know. It's how I stay so awake all the time, even when I'm being an asshole. I'm just high all the time and have no filter. That being said, don't tell anyone I said that. Dad would just needlessly worry." he said.
Alex reached Wilder's perimeter, now standing behind him against the curved wall that separated them. Having been handed the blunt without even looking, Alex now pushed it between his lips.
"You won't snitch, will you?" asked Ace.
"Don't speak to me like I'm a stranger, Ace. It's me. Of course, I won't," Alex reassured him muffledly.
Ace was grateful his instructor went beside him. He'd hoped the sound of his content smile wouldn't bleed through the serious facade he vocalized again.
"Right… right, of course. Well, uh, that being said, I was just worried a little bit. I don't know why or how but I feel like something is going on," Ace explained.
"Whaddya mean?" questioned Alex, puffing out smoke from his mouth.
"I mean that Kima and June are acting weirdly. They just skipped along like they were schoolgirls frolicking through the green fields of a fairy tale! In other words: ignoring what happened with Katie in the meeting room. What the hell's up with that bullshit? Out of all people that would try and properly address her issues and comfort her, I thought it'd be June. But no, instead, they're taking her shopping to only heighten her public anxiety further instead of taking her home so I can make sure she's okay. It's BULLSHIT!"
Ace instinctively slammed his fist against the wall in unison with his scream. So blinded by unexplained rage that he hadn't even noticed that Alex held no fear on his face as he'd extended the blunt for Ace to take.
"You're too damn rowdy. Smoke more and calm down," Alex said.
Ace slid his back against the wall until his bottom reached the floor. The blunt between his lips, he gradually pulled more as the smoke was swept into his mouth.
"I agree with you despite your rowdiness. I told them both when Katie first got there that they should be wary of her boundaries, not repeatedly overstep them. I think…" Alex whispered but then trailed off after recognizing the blurry figures in the distance. "Oop, it's August and Azazel. Busted, put your hands in the air."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up. Either put it out or gimme some," Azazel said.
Ace, having made his decision without speaking, handed the blunt to his uncle.
"So, I thought about something. But before I tell you, I'm gonna ask both of you a question on what we should do regarding the attack on Retly?" August asked with his hands in his pockets.
"We should explore as many options as we can before we reach a solitary conclusion. Attacking recklessly wouldn't only warrant an eventual counterattack on our home base, but that would warn the other nations of our power. Some of them, in their arrogance, might be interested and try to attack us in the confusion, adding more enemies for us to defend against," Alex said.
"What he said," said Ace.
"Good answer. Alright then, I want it to be made especially clear. I had the same grievances about that—and I think it'd just be right if we explored as many options as we could before we reach the point where we have to attack Retly. If we're all clear on that, then we don't have anything more to talk about."
As he walked away with Azazel strutting beside him, Alex and Ace watched their bottoms, moving in tandem with their legs. Handing the blunt to his redheaded friend, Alex scratched dramatically at his scruff.
"You didn't believe any of that, right?" He asked.
"Nope, not a word."
But as the Judge and the King mentioned the fallacies of the Reaper's decision, Katie was being taken away by her cousin. It seemed she'd be comatose for quite some time so she had no agency of her own—maybe June was using that to her advantage. She ignored her ignorance until Katie started shuffling. There was no telling how long they could hold her. Despite all their strength, neither Kima nor June even rivaled Kate's power.
Maybe June had hoped that her cousin wouldn't squirm or attempt to struggle. Maybe all those wishes were just the byproduct of a lifetime of fighting and wishing to stop. Maybe… June wanted to let go when Katie finally broke free of her and Kima's grip. But the maybes stop there. No matter what she wished, everything would occur the way it did, and she couldn't do anything to stop it no matter how hard she tried.
Katie, having broken free from Kima and June's hold on her arms, stood behind her two girlfriends. The trio all settled differently against a hill-like road, Convergence examined the Source's attire, reflecting her blackened aesthetic in its pupil as June endlessly stared at her relative.
"What the hell are you two doing? Why're you taking me away like I'm some sort of prisoner?!" Katie tearfully yelled.
'Does she think we betrayed her?' June's thoughts asked as she raised her palms.
"N-no, no! It's nothing like that, Kate! We were just following orders!" She attempted to reassure her cousin.
"Speak for yourself, June," said Kima.
"H-huh?"
June was justifiably confused at the words Kim spoke. Stepping forward, Myers extended her hand. And just as she did, Katie, too, turned confused. Needless to say, everyone was lost, save for Kima extending her hand seemingly waiting for someone to listen.
"Katie, I want you to do me a favor and calm down for a second. Ask yourself what happened and how you got here. Once you do that, I'll fill you in on how right you are."
Kima's words weren't empty. More than anyone, Katie would know how putrid it was to lie to herself for the sake of affirming another. Katie knew her words were true. But that wasn't all she needed for confirmation of her voice's legitimacy. Recalling those words she mercilessly spewed onto Kim's conscience.
'All the detriment in the world stems from a lack of individual ability. If you want to curse something, curse your own incompetence.'
And so, Katie thought. The subconscious hope she held for forgetting that memory inevitably crumpled as she remembered its contents. She fell to her knees, mimicking the action she'd taken inside the meeting room, now holding her head as her clawed fingertips sunk into her flesh. The only thing missing was the unfortunate scream that would eventually erupt from her throat, the sound only stopped by the ulterior force gripping her shoulders, shadowed by the darkened world Katie returned to.
"Kay, calm down. I'm here, okay? It's ME!" Kima's hands on her shoulders following her yelling returned Kate's hazy vision to normal.
"K-Kimmy..." Kate nestled her head into her friend's neck after whispering her name.
In the present day, with her legs crossed, June consistently narrated the events of the past she remembered being forced to observe.
'At that point, I couldn't help but wonder what was torturing Katie. Maybe it was something complex like a binding vow she was uncontrollably tied to. I guess it's something much simpler, though. I thought Ace understood Katie more than anyone. I was right. I just thought, alongside Ace and Kima who remain beside her with Alex, I could... be a part of that too. But that's too selfish of me. Whether I like it or not, what I choose... isn't my choice. If the reason Katie and the others are taking the way they are is that they're 'free' then I can't help but wonder about myself. If they're free, and doing whatever they want, what does that make me? Am I... a slave too..?'
Back in the past, as Kima's arms slid around her girlfriend's neck, she smiled. Reminding her of that lonely night among the skies, seated on that abnormal beast she'd oddly summoned. Then, she chuckled.
"W-what? What's funny?" Kate asked, pulling her head from Myers' neck, now lost in her violet eyes.
"Nothing. Remember that night we spent on the World Serpent I temporarily summoned, eating Chinese food as we casually talked?" Kim asked.
Kate sniffled, swiftly wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Of course I do," she tearfully said.
"Those days were the height of our false peace. All of our lives, we've been surrounded by walls! Enclosed from the rest of the world! But now, we have a chance. You're Death's Source incarnate, Kate. More than anyone, you have the right to live in the world you were born into. And the world we were both born into… is vast. Vaster than any one of us could've ever imagined! Think about the things we haven't even seen yet! Frozen earth, steep mountains, endless plains of greenery! It doesn't matter how terrifying the world is! It doesn't matter how CRUEL the world is! The one who'd see those things would be…"
"The freest person in the world," Katie finished for her friend.
Holding up her head, Katie revealed her iconic dark blue eyes shining in the sunlight, a golden hue now against her skin. Wiping away the tears from her eyes' corners, she chuckled with her head momentarily hung. As she threw her head back, there it was: that iconic smile sending warmth to the hearts of whoever beheld the unexplainable beauty.
"Outside the walls of the Capital and beyond the sea bordering Riverton, what lies beyond… is freedom?" asked the Crow's daughter.
"I-I think so! Well, I think it's freedom to me, at least. That being said, Kate, what do you think? You wish to strive for your freedom and to reach such a goal, you'd do anything, wouldn't you? Even if it meant… destroying everything?" Kim questioned.
"I would."
The conversation was paranormal to the eyes of the watcher: June. All she could do was stare from the sidelines, motionlessly listening to every word spitting from their perfect lips.
'Had Kim always been like this? What if this was her normal? If that was her normal, what version of Kima had I been seeing all along?'
They carried their heavy bodies through the streets of the City, eventually reaching their home and unlocking the door to Kima's apartment. While the trio laughed amongst themselves, Kim opened the door with her hand on the knob. Turned away from her home's interior, once she turned her attention back, she gasped.
"What?" Katie asked, still laughing. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just Ace and Alex. They got here before us," Kim said while removing her feet from her sneakers.
As the purple-eyed woman walked down the corridor to the living room, Katie went to remove her boots. Beside where Kim's sneakers sat, Ace's footwear sat.
June did the same after Kate finished removing them, following Kima and then spotting Ace with Alex comfortably nestled against the sofa.
"It's just us now. The old quartet back together again. That being said, it's probably not for a good reason. So, what's wrong?" queried Kate.
"Nothing. Take this," said Ace, handing her the blunt.
Once taking what she was handed, she walked on over to sit beside Ace. Splitting apart Alex and Ace, the two extremely close together, Kima plopped onto the sofa with a relaxed moan.
"Hello, drug addict. And here we thought you'd turned rogue," teased Alex.
"Really? Of all the people to betray y'all, ME?" Kim asked.
"What're you two talkin' about?" Asked Kate, putting the blunt to her lips.
"Well. You might wanna sit down for this…"
And as Ace said that, Katie could sense it. What she'd experienced once she touched Alex's shoulder—it was just the tip of the iceberg.
How ironic the beginning of the end truly was.
To Be Continued.