Back on the surface of the New World, the former Agents of ANZEN kept their gaze locked on that darkened portal magically ingrained into the apartment floor.
"You think it's warm in there?" Ace asked another stupid question.
As usual, someone humored him.
"It's more likely there's no weather in there and it's just a weird mix of chilly and warm. I wonder if there are any air bubbles in there," Alex thought aloud.
"You two are idiots," commented Katie.
"Here-here!" June agreed.
Just then, Kima was spat out of her portal and slammed against the ceiling. It was like she were a sticker, attached atop there without any way to move. After spending some seconds engraved up there, Myers peeled her skin away and crashed onto the actual floor of their apartment.
"I think she's okay!" Ace yelled from behind Alex.
"Yeah, just an ice pack and she'll be fine, sure," Katie joked while walking over to Kim's moaning body. "You alright, Kimmy?" She asked.
Uplifting Kim into her arms, her fingers slid onto her face. After turning her head from side to side to check for wounds, Katie sighed; relieved.
"She's fine. I think she was in there too long," Kate reassured their friends.
"That doesn't explain why she was launched out there. Doesn't she usually just jump out?" Ace asked, walking to them both.
"Eh, whatever, she'll be fine. Let's just put her in the bed and let her sleep for a while. When she wakes up, she'll tell us what Jason said," Alex took Kima from Kate as he spoke.
After being guided to the vacant bedroom, Alex stepped inside. Covering his student's body with a furry blanket, she nestled against the pillows, holding a teddy bear she'd found close to her chest.
"I'm guessing this is June's bed," Alex whispered under his breath.
In the living room, Ace sunk into the couch's cushions again. His arms already outstretched over the sofa, his head leaned back afterward; parted lips relinquishing a relieved sigh. Katie soon followed as she sat to his left. Scratching her chin, at that moment she thought: 'I hope Alex doesn't give Kima my bear.'
The only one left standing in clear view was June. Arms crossed, her movements stiff, she sat to Ace's right. As she sat against the cushions, she revealed her phone from her pocket. Seconds before she started scrolling, her head turned. Noticing their eyes locked onto her, the sweat drenching her face increased tenfold.
"W-what?" She asked nervously.
"Why're you so sheepish? It's just us," Ace intoned.
"I-I know that!" June replied, shuffling around to fix her seating.
"Then why're you acting like that? Like this is our first time hanging out and you don't know any of us so you just sit in the corner and play on your phone," said Kate, showing a comforting smile.
"It's… I'm just thinking about dad. And not just him, but the Detective too! Out of all the people to understand where we're coming from, I thought he would be the most—"
June's monologue was cut short by knuckles knocking on the apartment door.
"Hold that thought," Ace advised his sister, preparing to stand up.
"I got it," said Alex, exiting the bedroom.
Rushing down the hallway, his hand grabbed the knob. Opening the door to reveal what lay on the other side, Alex's head turned at what he saw. How could he mistake that face and body?
"What do you want, Kosuke?"
What a surprise that the former Harbinger seated at the right hand of Riverton's Founder would come to them without the intention to kill. Rizia feigned smiling at him, dimples embedded into their cheeks with closed eyes. Then, their arms dropped instantly fell and they shrugged.
"Nothin'. I mean, I came to talk you bout an important something but I'm also kinda hungry," the former Harbinger said.
"If only you were the same person that you were two years ago," Alex said, pulling them inside.
Walking past them, his hands sunk into his outfit's pockets. "We were gonna order anyway," he said.
"Are any of you vegan? Cuz I'm not and I'm not gonna eat some leaves or whatever," Riz said, suddenly appearing in the living room from the corridor.
"What the hell? Where'd you come from?" asked Ace, pointing at Kosuke.
"It's funny how a little perspective changes you from enemy to ally, huh?" Kate asked without even turning her head; arms crossed.
"Isn't it? And it's all thanks to your father, Katie! You're so lucky to have a parent as kind as him!" exclaimed Rizia, plopping down beside Katie.
"I know. It's so weird to think about how there was a time in my life where I didn't live the life I do now," commented the Crow's daughter.
"Bleghhhhhhh!" Ace cried out with his mouth widened. "We love you, Katie, get used to it!"
He said this while yanking her closer, arm around her nape. With her entrenched into his shirt, she dramatically groaned, the sounds of Rizia's laughter distancing in the background.
"What was it that you wanted to tell me?" Alex asked Rizia, voice muffled due to the blunt sticking out his mouth.
"Oh, I just got back from a meeting with the higher-ups of the Evolutionary brass. August told me his intentions. Not anyone else, just August Rivera," said Kosuke, watching Al sit across from them.
After alighting it again and inhaling the smoke, the mist infested the air with Alex now allowed to talk. "And what were his intentions?" he asked.
"He planned for the end of the New Requiem Empire. He told me he didn't have any plans for actually attacking Relty as long as everyone was gathered in one location. You, Katie, Ace, June, Kima. Expanding the duration of reconstructing the entirety of the Capital until even Riverton's extended. With that much land under just one rule, the Requiems' rule would have expanded so far that it couldn't just fly under the nations of the worlds' notice. They'd be labeled a threat and be accused of building a new Requiem weapon to destroy the rest of the world. The Requiem Subjects of the world are finite, unknowing of their true heritage even after the Evolution thirteen years ago. But he also has no plans to counterattack if the nations of the world do decide to do so. Meaning he's planning the absolute extermination of the Evolutionary Capital, all Requiem Subjects and Riot's population over the next 50 years."
"At least he isn't euthanizing us," Ace whispered.
"No, but more children will die in an attack than they would've if he did. It's genocide on an unprecedented scale. I can't even be mad at the world because if August expands our territory that far, he's just asking for it. But why… why would he ever dare to do such a thing? I don't understand this," Alex frustratedly facepalmed, holding the smoky blunt between his fingers.
"Shouldn't we want to believe that we have a future? Even if we're all dangerous and hold the power to be a god, we don't have to be a devil for they don't make us one! Why would we spend our days breeding like livestock behind the walls of the Reaper's jurisdiction?" Katie started to stand up, cycling her turning head so she could look at every one. "Don't you agree?! This is bullshit! I know my circumstances are stronger than everyone else's but that doesn't matter! We all don't have to live the way we do just because someone stronger than us says so! We were all born into this world! Don't you think we should deserve a chance to live in it?!"
"So, then what? What're you saying we should do?" Ace asked.
"I'm saying fuck August! Fuck the brass, fuck whatever bullshit they tell us to say! We're not staying down and obeying his suicidal commands! Whether he likes it or not, I want to believe that I have a future—outside the walls of that which confines us, I want to live! I want to live in Paradise outside the walls with everyone I love. If I have to obliterate everyone in the world, leaving only empty plains in their wakes, then that's the path I have to take! That's the dream I want. I'll slaughter every enemy outside these walls and claim the freedom we were born to! If you cowardly assholes wish to continue obeying the Reaper, stay seated! But if you wish to fight then stand with me! Stand with me against the Reaper, and watch me ravage the lands of our enemy's territory until our freedom is claimed!!"
Katie cheered with her fist to the sky, her nostrils flaring and her eyes burning brightly. Needless to say, everyone was stunned for sparkles replaced their eyes' signature irises. They could only look in awe at her. Whether it was because she was their one beacon of hope in this cruel world or whether it was because she'd come too far, it didn't matter. What mattered was what was yet to come. But whatever laid at the end of the inevitable future would be faced by them; together.
"We're with you!"
June was the only one not cheering with the rest of them. Unbeknownst to everyone, more in the past than in the present, she was appalled by what Katie said; cringing at the mention of indiscriminate genocide.
'The weirdest thing about that moment was the fact that I didn't believe it was out of character for her. Katie was always like this, whether she'd been like this since birth or she was just like this when we met, it's irrelevant. She might be a bad person. She might very well be a mass murderer. Yet, I can't help this urge. Maybe it's because we're tied together. Because I'm a Rivera and she's a Karlo… but I want to help her. I want to stand beside her… always.'
The seeds of conflict had already been sown. All that remained was an opportunity for them to bloom. Sometime after the envoy's arrival, despite Katie's decree to form a new organization undermining the Reaper's rule, they continued dining at the same table. Of course, that included lying to Azazel's face on multiple occasions. Not only did it send stings to Alex's heart, but Katie's most of all.
While having lunch with August and Alex, Azazel moaned while chewing on a fry. Savoring all the saltiness mixed with the crunchy shell, he washed the food down with a burning chaser of bubbly Coke.
"Do you not feed yourself?" asked August.
"Suck my dick," Karlo insulted, still chewing.
"You guys are idiots," Alex said, sinking his teeth into a chicken tender.
"What makes you think so?" August asked again.
"Because you're stupid." Alex suddenly looked down at his food, holding the chicken. "Do you ever think about what the other people outside the Capital eat?" he asked.
"Haven't you been there? It's just nasty bullshit out there, right?" August asked, resting against his fist.
"I was sorta taken to Relty against my will and held there for two years, thank you very much," Alex corrected his colleague, sending him a fake smile.
"Yes, yes, I remember. Ace wouldn't stop thinking about it the whole time I was living inside his consciousness… got so annoying," August said.
"Well, don't just shoot him down right away!" Azazel exclaimed. "Don't you wonder about those types of things too? Most of the kids and even some of the brass has been confined to the Capital and Riverton for so long! They have no idea what the outside world is like. And if they don't know something, they should figure it out for themselves! That's what human curiosity is; it should be satiated!"
"Aren't we all gonna die anyway? If that end is assured for us, I don't want the kids to live out the rest of their lives hidden behind walls without knowing what's beyond," Alex said.
And what more could August say? Both men were speechless, for what was Alex's words if not criticizing the suicidal decision the Reaper unusually chose? The white-haired man sighed, allowing his shoulders to fall as his head did the same.
"You two are right. I'll start organizing a trip to the outside world so we can see how the people on the other side live. If I'm going to trap everyone in here and push them to their deaths, that's the least I can do. At least so some of them don't die in ignorance of the world they live in."
Was August even disgusted by his actions? At first, it was easy to mistake the Reaper to be as one-dimensional as they come. Protecting everyone with unlimited power that could rival the gods of legend. To think that the path he'd end up choosing, after all, they'd all been through was the one of suicide… surely, this wasn't reality.
For them to suffer at the hands of their foretold savior, this tale had to have been a tragedy composed by the cruelest god among them all.
Time accelerated, the schemes advanced. The triumphs of Riot unfolded as the confirmation for the trip to the outside world was announced. A select number of normal citizens unassociated with the Evolutionary brass would be placed under military protection after signing up to go on this trip.
'According to Alex, Retly wasn't a big place. It was slammed in the center of a desert in Europe. Meaning we had to cross the sea to the other continent and then march through the drylands to the city. Ten months after the dispute between the Evolutionary residents and Alex's return, we ventured to the outside world and saw it…'
Standing at the bow, bathing in the sunlight, Katie gawked at the never-ending expanse of the sea's horizon. Beside her, Ace leaned his back against the same edge. His red hair flawlessly flowing with the chilly ocean breeze, he reached for his shades. Removing them easily led to the revelation of his scarlet orbs upon his eye-opening.
"Haven't we already seen the truth of the outside world when we went to Hana?" Ace asked.
"Our residents need to be reminded about the threat Retly poses to the Capital. And Riot needs to implant our spy to activate the next stage of our plan. If everything goes as planned, then we should be able to force August to move. For if their strongest asset suddenly goes missing, there remains no other choice but for them to come and recover it as quickly as possible. Don't doubt Alex's plan, Ace," Kate told her cousin.
As the redhead scoffed, he slid the shades against his scarlet pupils. "Yeah, yeah. Let's just hope you two're right."
The duo of Karlo and Rivera's distant descendants continued to hope as the spark of their future threatened to be smothered by the Reaper's looming hand. But even if their plan came undone, Katie could look to the sea and reminisce on those times before the end. If she were anyone else, maybe she would've had sparkles in her eyes. Yet it was all the same to her. At the end of the sea's seemingly endless horizon, there sits ashore. Filled to the brim with people—Evolutionaries, Hybrids, Retlyians; completely more than what anyone could've anticipated! To think that just halting at that verge signaled their exiting, and from then, they'd have to start marching.
The road ahead was long and dark. Regardless, Katie knew where she was going. They would complete their mission without fail. As long as her loved ones were beside her, she had no doubts about her future. Maybe she was born like that or maybe she'd been carved into this person. It was irrelevant regardless. She was Death's Source—the Crow's daughter. She would be the one to bring an end to this putrid hateful cycle, and she would do anything to ensure it.
Even if it meant destroying everything.
To Be Continued.