"Do folks really spend money and enjoy themselves in these things?!" Ember asked her brothers as they were on a rooftop watching the customers as they entered "I bet the whole complex inside smells like sewage, everyone bunched up in there like that? Ew." She finished out loud as she shook her head.
"Been inside once. It's way too loud in there. One time is way too many for me." Lyle responded with his genuine opinion. Ember was in a flexing squat while Lyle was standing with his arms crossed, "I don't want to imagine having to be clumped up like that either, you especially don't know who got the decency to shower and who didn't that day?" Lyle added onto her point.
"Oh, C'mon, guys, you're being way too hard on a simple movie. theater. We need to see a movie one day, the three of us." Artus replied to his siblings' complaints and rude ideas, "Ember that was straight up mean for no reason."
"Hey, you guys want to hear an interesting historical fact about this place I learned the other day?" Ember asked her brothers when she recalled it. "Not really, but you'll let us know with a split vote, Embs, so go ahead." Lyle replied.
"This is the only theater in the entire city to begin with showing plays that's been around since back in the 1700s, that's all it was in the beginning, a simple play stage that was turned into a full theater and it was open by one man, he's now long gone but his family has been owning it for generations since!" Ember recounted from her reading.
"I have to check it out right now and see the inside, I'm going to also need an ancient photo of the place to compare." Said Artus as he had an excited expression "You guys go ahead, I'll wait here." Lyle told his siblings as they asked, Artus asked him if he was alright with a look Lyle vastly recognized following Lyle assuring his Brother and sister with a look in return.
Lyle's siblings leapt from the edge they were speaking from to enter the beautiful relic of a theater across the road to ease their curiosity about it. "I'm thinking about it right now." Lyle thought to himself as he stared at the theater.
Suddenly he heard commotion from below, he looked down and saw a man rushing out of the theater like his life was over if he got caught, shoving a few of those who wanted to see a movie and possible loiters, Lyle saw him expertly climb his way up the theater, that reminded him of a woman he was fond of, still in the present.
"Ly, there was a thief or someone that was intimidating the current owner of this place, he's quick. I lost him but he's heading out." Lyle heard Ember relay from his gauntlet's talkie with an urgent tone. Lyle didn't hesitate to give chase and came out of his confusion about the situation. He performed a side flip and as usual the Sangfroid paragon teleported towards this thief, he saw Lyle and jumped off and vanished. Lyle was taken aback before he surveyed the area and saw the thief were where he was perched previously, the two clashed eyes before the thief took off and Lyle chased.
Lyle never wavered in his pride over his free running talent but this wasn't the time to use it, he teleported straight behind the thief and realized Ember was right, the mysterious perpetrator was fast, as swift and nimble as the best free runner at S.I.O.M but he assumed Ember couldn't keep up due to certain obstacles found in the theater, he could stay on his trail but not out speed him like he would anyone else in the city besides Ember.
The Thief made it to the end of the random building before he vaulted off of it and vanished again, Lyle halted and surveyed the area again, he was picking himself off the ledge of the building a few away from him, he would be a bit behind but it was a distance he could still teleport his to catch up and he did but the thief was relentlessly leaping and appearing around him. The Sangfroid Paragon thought of two plans the mysterious and familiar thief was doing, stalling until he had a plan or was hoping to tire and exhaust him but he has some of the best stamina out of all the juniors in the military academy he trained at in his childhood but he could see that this thief wasn't average either. Lyle followed after him until he got to the end and as usual the thief leapt off like he wasn't afraid of the ground below, the Sangfroid Paragon had to time their familiar powers together, if he blurs everything else but one person or thing sufficiently, he could move to that very thing with his powers. Lyle stops, steadies his breathing, feels intense heat in his palms then he feels himself on top of tithe mysterious thief. This Thief realizes he teleported right on top of him.
"Let me… explain myself? Please, yeah?" The mysterious Thief asked Lyle as he got in a stance like he was ready to run but didn't and instead attempted to calm the situation. Lyle gave no reply as he was thinking about how his voice sounded familiar to him. "Go away!" The mysterious thug said in his head as he did a familiar sequence of arm move and hand movements Lyle recognized from his days in the academy. Two saffron colored beams moving exceptionally quick were blasted from his body, Lyle had quicker reaction time than the beam's movement but he then blasted these very strange and very familiar Saffron beams like his palms and his feet were a flashlight.
Lyle attempted to roll out of the way of a beam heading for his head, his armor was the only remains of him after the thief predicted he'd rolled out of the way but into a sweeping leg kick saffron beam as soon as he blasted the first. "Aaron." The Sangfroid Paragon thought as soon as he realized he lost but finally figured out just who he lost to begin with, a man from the Trio's past in the program. "He's gotten much slower but he's gotten better at using his powers. Even brand new powers?!" He finished in his thoughts. He looked around his brand new surroundings and didn't recognize where he was in the least bit. He did notice that all of his equippable pieces of armor didn't follow him because Aaron's powers were always unstable and faulty, instead, only the blue and tight suit he wears under his protective equipment on his patrols followed him.
He got lost in this unfamiliar land, the headaches he used to receive out of nowhere returned, passing by new and unfamiliar faces staring his way made him uncomfortable. Lyle's palm stayed very sweaty and he refused to look anyone in the eye and he kept his face down, he kept himself together enough to wander until he figured out a plan to put into action. He felt weakened all of a sudden as well, he remembers that he felt similar feelings when he first arrived at the academy for a month, the cough he used to get made a return as well. He decided to take a break from walking aimlessly in this new and unexplored town he's never been to before. He finally brought himself to ask someone, a woman passing by he caught the attention of who had friends with her, what town they were in.
"You're in New Orleans, sir." The woman answered him with a New Jersey accent, Lyle thought her accent was cute and found it sounding nice. "Thanks." He replied before he went back and sat down near the building. He began coughing chronically again ending with a gray pile of ash appearing in his hand. He put it behind him so they wouldn't see it.
"No, no, nope, don't you dare, we don't get involved with the freaky bums, man!" The woman's friend warned her urgently and assertively after she noticed Anastasia giving that nervous and stalk-ish smile she does when she has feelings, the two looked at him chilling, looking fairly cheerless and lost. The woman wanted to go strike up conversation with the hero trying his damnedest not to allow that sadness they noticed to actually overcome him for the safety of others.
"How are ya, I'm Anastasia." The woman introduced herself with the friendliest tone she could draw out, Lyle saw the cars pass by and heard her speaking but all that he could see were smoke and ash within it moving in closer towards him at a snail's speed until he coughed, it continued then the illness, heated his palm which he felt and had him eventually teleporting on the very rooftop of the building he was leaning against on the ground but he didn't care. He didn't care that his powers were becoming increasingly unstable and continued thinking about the girl from the military program he grew up in and next to, that he fought in the past as an exercise.
The next thing he noticed was him being in a small bait and tackle shop, exchanging a glance with an older man before he looked away and around him but the man continued staring truly shocked by his powers.
"Oh no, you don't look like you have much money on you, kid." He heard the older man behind the counter tell him in a tone that didn't match the way he was looking at him, which made Lyle have a high brow.
"Uncs, we outta—" she abruptly halted, childhood friends Lyle and Iona froze gawping at one another with intense silence appearing, they were recollecting their fondest moments as they stared each other in the face. Iona's uncle switching between the two struggling what to make of it and wondering himself about what their story was together.
"Alright." Followed by a quick chuckle before he calmly walked over to him as the eyes stayed in contact and calmly grabbing Lyle by his shoulders asking for him to follow him, Lyle followed him on his own after the uncle asked with arms around his shoulders still "Who are you, and to her?" Her uncle asked him as he turned them around.
"Name's Lyle, she and I attended the same… school as children." Lyle answered him in a similar tone, the uncle knew what the code word meant and what he was talking about, he looked at the customers that entered for Iona that walked in while the two were staring at each other on his way to see Iona's face. The uncle removed his arm respectfully as he went back to his station behind his counter. The two old acquaintances moved in closer after her customer left with—Lyle saw it clearly but was trying to figure out what it was exactly as he saw the customer leave. They couldn't take their eyes off each other.
"What are you doing here, Lyle?" Iona asked with a genuine tone. "Aaron, we got in a tussle… fight." Lyle answered her as he coughed. He gave a thumbs up to her uncle who looked at him due to his chronic coughing. "It's fine, he's fine, he doesn't have a contagious illness." Iona assured her uncle for her old friend as he wouldn't stop until she inched her way closer to him. "This brief… whatever this is has always calmed down when you're this close to me." Lyle said in his low tone as she walked out of the bait shop with him. She smiled at him.
"Aaron's able to teleport people now?!" Iona asks while she and Lyle moseyed down the road of the shop. "Apparently. I only recognized his voice and his incredible fluid movement in his martial arts and free running but I never actually saw his face." Lyle answered and admitted. "Why were you two tussling… fighting?" Iona asked him with a curious tone. "Really, he was running and apprehending him." Lyle answered with his palms not sweaty. "At graduation the girls and I voted that you'd be most likely to become a gym teacher, we thought Artus was most likely to become a Gardner and Ember would be a grief counselor." Iona replied with an unserious tone at the end. "I never thought you had it in you to make a joke but you got my guts hurting. Attending any comedy shows now that you're out here?" Lyle asked before he began feeling physically weaker, hearing ringing in his ears before he fainted and blacked out. Iona didn't panic since this happened a few times when he was younger. She knew exactly what he needed and called for her uncle.
The Sangfroid Paragon woke up and observed his surroundings immediately, he quickly realized he was asleep in a very feminine room and bed, he gasped when he realized it was Iona's room but it seemed as though she was long gone. He observed her bedroom, seen but stayed far away from her clothes draws, he instead felt the early morning sun that shines through from the window and loved what he was feeling. He waited a few moments before he decided to explore the house he woke up in, her uncle was leaning against the wall outside her room with a casual outfit and a hat that would belong to an older man.
"Tell me a few truthful facts about you, young man." Her uncle, Corval Coranillas asked very politely with a stern tone. "I'm a year younger than Iona, nineteen. I'm extremely athletic. My favorite color's gray. I can speak French decently but my first language is English. My favorite hobby is boxing. I recently saw a movie with my bro—" Lyle answered but Corval stopped him with a gesture. "What are your morals, what are your goals for your life, what is your political stance, do you need to stay here and for how long?" Corval asked Lyle with the same curious tone. Lyle had to think about those big questions to himself for a brief moment.
"I'd treat your niece like I always have and always will, with respect. My goal right now is to get back home and work harder. And I don't have one, not into it. Finally, I do, sir, thanks, it'll only be hopefully a full week at most?" Lyle answered with uncertainty for the final answer and Corval took notice. "I have honestly zero clue." He finished with his calm tone and sincerity mixed in. "I can see you two are close, closer than that other boy who came along acting like he was a friend to her a long while back, 'least she likes you so follow me." Corval, Iona's uncle, told Lyle before Corval insisted on following him. "Definitely talking about Xander, he never changed." Lyle responded in his head as he followed him, feeling a mixture of respect and disappointment in his brother from another mother.
The two walked downstairs to a framed photo of him in a military uniform, he looked prestigious and happy as his smile was the brightest Lyle's ever seen from a military man, than any of his mentors and colleagues. "I'm glad to have heard your answer up there to my first question even though it didn't answer it much." Corval told him as he stared at the photo. "She's had a… strange life… her father gives her up for the military, only to save her mother and I from enemies in the ranks, her mother ends up tragically dying from… illness. As a man with knowledge, expensive training and nothing to lose, he only needed resources. The only thing that he lacked, that he needed to save his daughter from the plan and murder his enemies." Corval informed Lyle as he gave the kid wide eyes. "You're telling me that—?!" Lyle asked after he realized what he implied and wondered if it was true, how it was possible, he had so many questions and was shoving down how annoyed he felt when Corval changed the topic and refused to elaborate further. After Corval lets the Sangfroid Paragon borrow some clothes, they decide to walk down to the store together after Corval informs Lyle that Iona arrives and opens the shop early at nine every morning for him.
"From the blue tights, I'm guessing you work for that French dictator, huh?" He asked Lyle, only to get answered with utter silence. "I'm just kiddin'" Corval admitted, he couldn't pry into Lyle's mind like he could others, Lyle walked but remained silent and would be the entire walk. "Iona's father was spared by him." Hearing this had Lyle's eyes turning as he was recollecting what his brother had told him exactly. "I'm not going to lie, I owe that cruel monster a handshake and gratitude, Nash, was the greatest soldier in his day on a team of vile mercs to assassinate him but Josue told him he saw something filled with potential to change in him and spared him. The others though, Nash told me, they shouldn't have been spared. Some of the brightest and top ranking though." Corval had put Lyle in the picture. The pair finally arrived after their turn of the hour walk and talked all the way to his bait shop as Iona was waiting outside the store for them.
After Artus and Ember spent all their time and effort tracking down Aaron, the mysterious thief that eluded the siblings in the theater, he spent the night in jail, now cuffed and spending his entire night in jail. They returned for further questioning, especially hellbent on extracting answers after Artus found his Brother's protective armor and equipment lying on a random building with the assistance of a friend.
"I'm ready to speak, if she leaves, she's scaring me a teeny bit." Aaron admitted and insisted on Ember's exit from the interrogation room, she obliged for the info on Lyle's status but she exited keeping her glare aimed toward him.
"Imagine living with her and she gives you that look for even leaving the cereal open or the TV on." Said Artus with the same unserious tone Aaron remembered as he shook his head. "She's gone now. We know you'd never murder Lyle purposefully and personally. Just keep your word, bro, and let us know if he's dead or not." Said Artus with an stern tone at the beginning, Aaron felt a different feeling from Artus than what his tone portrayed.
"I was going to kill the masked man that chased me, as you already know was Lyle, I truthfully didn't at the time and if I did well— I changed my mind anyway though. I changed it, don't worry yet. You know how the effects of my saffron light are based on movement?" Aaron asked rhetorically as he gave Artus the feeling he was telling the truth from his tone. "With an ounce of experimentation and the help of Mentor Durayniao, I learned how to send the, I mean because I can't find a better word, victims of my beams to the person on earth that they desire to be in the presence of the most." Aaron confessed and revealed it to Artus. Ember saw the two, her brother and an old friend, dancing and cheering together. "Give me that celebratory news right now!!" Ember bursted into the interrogation room with a relieved feeling and demanding tone over her brother.
The next day came and Lyle found himself waking up on the floor of the woman he once dreamed about a future with in his dreams before waking up at five AM. A slight smile made its way before he found himself walking down to Iona's uncle's bait shop alone and didn't like it but he kept it to himself. Him arriving to see her smile made it feel worth it.
"Come with me again, Ly, I really want to show you something beautiful." Iona told Lyle as he was just arriving, before he got comfortable in the shop. Lyle was confused but curious what it was she did and went with her without a word.
"What is this for and where did it come from?!" Lyle asked as the two got out of the truck to a gigantic rock in a forest. "We've got some… very, very versatile and strange abilities, Ly, my terra-authority brought this thing here out of thin air." She answered as she grabbed a few clumps of the huge rock and floated them around him turning them into a liquid substance then into different shapes. "This is your side business, huh? Custom rock statues for the customers? And this is where you're supplied?" Lyle asked with his curious tone. "They surprisingly love them and I'm only living with uncle until I get on my feet and find a job, maybe a trade?" Iona responded as she formed herself out of the rock clumps circulating around him. Lyle loved how artistic she became and even were.
"He seems like a man another could put your trust in, Io." Lyle replied, complimenting seriously. "He's the only family I have left, so hopefully I can repay that back." Said Iona as she made the humongous rock form two hands and got on hers. "My condolences by the way, he told me about your father." He replied as he got on his own rock palm. She didn't give him any response, he could tell she didn't know what to make of that story by her uncle. He extended his fist out then opened his hand up for her to grab it. She did without any hesitation, she made the hands they were standing upon move closer into one platform they stood on as she placed her other arm around his neck while their sights were aimed at the beautiful green trees.
"My job is the dream you always wanted, Io." Lyle jokingly teased in his calm tone. "We weren't trained to hold off or counter literal monsters." She replied. "Even though an enormous boulder like this one catapulted by me would smash a thing very well." Iona finished as she made a gesture of smashing her fists together while stating it. "We really could've used something like that more than a few times to tell the truth." Lyle replied as Iona turned her gaze toward him. "Tell me more, how is the monster slaying? Uncle did let me know how you work for him now." Iona asked as she brought his face closer to hers. "It's—". Chronic coughing began for Lyle as she leaned in feeling intense passion and romance, it turned to genuine worry. He turned around before it did as he felt it, when he was finished, gray ashes were piled in his hands like earlier which he then let drop. "What's—?" Iona asked, he shrugged the question and what happened under the rug.
"What's going to happen?" Iona asked as she fought hold of herself and the passionate flames went out when she saw Lyle give her a certain look. "Well… I have to return to Generil and get back to work." He answered her hesitantly. "I wanna say you don't really need to…" She replied with slight disappointment. "Yeah. I wanna say that I don't have to…" He replied with his own tone of disappointment as he looked at her long brown hair. "Do the Aerial teleporter need a ride to the airport… or…?" Iona asked with sheer ignorance. "You know all of my limits, I'm going to take this as an opportunity to push them. The growth you've achieved in yours may have inspired me a bit?" Lyle finished with a cheerful and optimistic attitude. "Like you've inspired me to see the bright side of life and bring me out of my depression when we first met. You remember how you used to smell your scalp after scratching your head?" Iona replied as more great time poured into her thoughts after his news. "Only if you remember how your powers backfired and used to make you lose your equilibrium before your sparring fights in combat?" He fired back mimicking her tone, making Iona laugh uncontrollably.
Lyle worked since their talk, day and night, holding different forms, postures, poses while holding his concentration and body heat like he's been taught, memories of the scientist that experimented on him before his arrival to the military program where he, Iona, and his siblings alongside much more children within five years of each other acquired their talents and more control over their authority. The third day he attempted to break past the limits of his teleportation, he was disappointed in himself for making no progress, ashamed even without ever being able to admit it. The fourth day, the ash stormed almost the entire day, his fever worsened, Iona nursed him while Corval Coranillas took care of her shifts and attended to her customers in her place. The fifth day, his fever cleared up, his spinal pain was relieved and the storm of ash that took place in her room because of him during it all, began to ease up, until it ceased and his health became clearer. The sixth day, he thought maybe he was going about it wrong after a conversation with Corval that helped him come to the realization. The phrase "Same results, different methods. It's all a matter of surfacing." Which came up in it, a phrase coincidentally repeated by the man that guided him, through his ashen fevers as a child, through the destruction of the military's program. The seventh day rolled by and felt slow as he pushed himself like he imagined Iona and Aaron had at some point.
The Sangfroid Paragon's body felt heated like it was summer and a high-grade electrical heater was in front and behind him at full blast. Sweat was running down his pits and hair, he paid no mind to any of it and kept in his position. A cloud of smoke appeared a few meters in front of him, finally, he could hear Ember and Artus' voices from it, very faintly, only clear enough to recognize it was them but anyone else wouldn't hear a peep. He denied his excitement and kept to his focus. He denied Iona's presence and didn't let her entry disrupt him. She leaned against her door, slightly confused, slightly with a clue. If Artus and Ember looked up and behind them to their ceiling, they'd notice that there was a cloud of thick smoke their brother, Lyle had produced to bring himself back.
Lyle spent the next hour searching for Iona beginning with her home leading him to the bait shop, until he got a clue of where she could be, he remembered the way and walked to her gigantic boulder but she still wasn't there. He searched around the area looking for a clue on the ground before he realized he only needed to turn his head and eyes towards the leaves above. He looked up and saw an entrance-less treehouse that wasn't there before when she invited him. He admired the workmanship and was overcome with a sense of bewilderment. He's never been the student that relied on his powers for something he could do himself. The Sangfroid Paragon climbed the tree she built her house at the tip of and asked to be let in. She never answered but he did hear a sound that sounded similar to someone that tears would be pouring down their face. He let himself into it by teleporting his way in, leaving behind some smoke without care.
He saw her turned around, his eyes didn't get teary-eyed like hers when she showed him, he grabbed her head and embraced her into his arms. A string of silence followed as she poured everything she's been holding in as he rubbed her back. "I don't believe the one behind the attack was him. I remember when he gave me over to the men that took me to S.I.O.M. I'm going to search for him." Iona verbalized her feelings as they embraced each other. Lyle took a lot of possibilities as valid and pondered through his entire tenure as a Gen-Oath squad member but this one he was at his most confused. He replied with nothing.
"I obviously can't force you to stay with me, I've been wondering this entire time about what I can do to make you stay... With me though." Iona confessed with a tone filled with someone that felt longing for half their life. "Nothing. I've sworn an oath and you know that I don't break my word when it actually counts towards something bigger than myself." Lyle answered with a stern and soft voice. She grabbed and held onto his hand tightly without uttering a word. "I'll swear another here just for you. I'll master this skill of my Smoke-Authority and visit you then as often as I possibly can, keep the hope that we'll see each other again burning fresh." Lyle promised before finishing. "You're too optimistic sometimes, are you sure that you know where exactly it leads to, Ly?" Iona asked with sincere concern and uncertainty wandering her thoughts. He shook his head as he kept it up and concentrated on a destination but the voices he heard out of it weren't his siblings. He chalked the first time up to a true fluke and a missed fee ticket back home at that moment, before stepping through it.
Before the Sangfroid Paragon had entered his smoke portal, he paid close attention to the voices, the languages, the accents. He cycled through with each one requiring feeling like pounding on his brain as he focused on concentrating his will and devotion into it. There was a cost to using his powers. The two Old friends hugged for their final time. He heard Italian, Russian, Swedish then eventually a French voice allowing him to feel comfortable enough to enter.