Baron leaps towards the sprite but the former was much slower now, allowing the latter to easily step to the side of the attack. The dark-haired mystic gathered his energy around his fist and threw a wicked punch straight to the jaw of the dark-skinned man, knocking him out.
Hunter began racing to the spot he was supposed to meet up with Sophia and the others. The sprite took out his phone as he continued running towards the furniture shop.
He had missed a call from Camille but nothing from Sophia or Aislinn. The sprite began scrolling through his contacts when he came across two unfamiliar names.
Alice and Alexandra.
'I don't remember meeting an Alice ... or Alexandra,' he thought.
[You did, at River Pot.]
'Who were they?'
[One thing at a time.]
The sprite sighs before searching for Sophia's name and dialing the number, it starts ringing.
Once. Twice. Thrice.
And just as the sprite's heartbeat went up by a thousand percent, the redhead answered.
"Hunter?! Are you okay?" She asked, her voice filled with worry and concern.
"I was just about to ask you that," he replied.
"Your friend was here: dark hair, red eyes; she wasn't too pleased you took a detour from your original mission," she said.
Hunter stopped running.
"Was? You guys are gone already?"
"Well ... Yeah, she gave the girls a small speech about freedom and gave them the choice to either come along on their accord or go about their life elsewhere. Almost all of them chose to go with her."
"Almost?"
There was a short silence on the other side of the line before a reply came from the red-haired woman. "Yeah. H --"
"Hold on," Hunter interrupted. "I still have a few things to take care of, I'll call you soon, okay?"
"The r --"
The teal green-eyed boy cuts the call.
'Well, he wasn't after the girls.'
[So ...]
'Sasha.'
.
.
.
Sasha found herself in an empty, dark, space. The brown-skinned girl seemed to be floating in the endless darkness.
She couldn't see anything around her and felt nothing but pain in her heart. The one person she trusted the most had just betrayed her trust.
The ecru-haired girl could not comprehend why she trusted the Metropolitan School of Mysticism student so much and even though he had gone back on his word, she felt she still ought to trust him.
The brown-skinned girl attempted to take in a deep breath but couldn't, she opened her mouth to speak but could not make out any words, she tried her best to scream but her voice evaded her.
A wave of panic soon hit the brown-skinned girl but it was immediately washed away by a feeling of calmness and she was suddenly happy to be there and found her surroundings soothing.
Sasha loved the feeling of weightlessness and the beautiful darkness that surrounded her. She enjoyed the silence and uncrowdedness of the space.
Just as the gleaming purple-eyed girl was starting to really take in and enjoy the space around her, gravity was restored and she found herself on the floor. She felt as though she was falling but even if she had, it was from a very low point as she felt neither pain nor any impact.
The ecru-haired girl got up to her feet and looked around, the surroundings were the same except for a glowing light she saw slowly approaching her.
The light turned into a figure, and the figure morphed into Hunter with teal green eyes and dark, long hair.
"Hunter," she said, immediately feeling a calmness wash over her. "What is this place?" She asked.
"It's a place containing something you've bottled down for a really long time ... Something you need to see." As the teal green-eyed boy said it, the beautiful darkness around them turned into a living room with the duo standing in the middle of it.
"This is --"
A small girl with brown skin and long, braided, ecru hair runs into the room, bright and giggly.
"The shirt ... No, no, no," Sasha cried holding her hand and turning away. "I don't wanna see this, I don't want to see this!" She repeated more aggressively the second time.
Hunter squatted down and held her, placing one of his hands on her shoulder and another on her knee. The gleaming purple-eyed girl looked into the dark-haired boy's teal-green eyes, the latter could see the dread in the girl's eyes.
She hit the sprite repeatedly on the chest, tears streaming down her eyes as she pleaded. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop."
Hunter moved his hand from her shoulder and placed it on her chin. "Sasha ... I know this isn't a good memory nor is it something you want to see but you have to bear it, that's the only way you can finally understand everything." The sprite shifts the gleaming purple-eyed girl's head upwards so that her eyes now level with his. "Do you trust me?"
The ecru-haired girl hadn't known the tanned-skinned boy for long but no matter how many times she was asked that question her response would remain the same. "Yes."
She rose to her feet and looked at her younger self who held a wide smile on her face, a wide smile that wouldn't last long as that was the day her mother died.
...
"Let me go!"
Sasha flinched as she heard the noise from the other but Hunter quickly took her hands in his, locking their fingers together.
"Get back here, Nora!" A masculine voice ordered. The voice was followed by rustlings and then a loud crash.
"B - Baron?" A feminine voice said.
"Daddy? Mommy?' The little girl said, moving slowly towards the room the noise was coming from.
"Look what you did now you stupid --"
"Please," the feminine voice pleaded. "Just let me go."
"You're not going anywhere with my daughter, Nora!" The second voice exclaimed loudly.
"What is this?" The older Sasha asked confused. "I don't remember this ..."
The Retribution member walked past her younger self. She had an afro hairstyle, looking more assured as she moved to see the happenings inside the room.
Baron held Nora's wrist in a tight grip with the latter struggling to break free. Gathering all her strength, Nora hits the dark-skinned man with a low blow before pushing him through the window, before she could even think about the repercussions of her actions, a voice draws her attention. "Mommy?"
Nora turned to the source, panic written all over her face as she saw her child. The older woman had a black eye along with several cuts on her face.
"Daddy is --"
"Come here honey," said Nora, beckoning her daughter. "You remember what I told you the other day, right? Daddy and Mommy are just playing a game ... Come." Nora hugged her child and the two remained like that for a while before the former broke the hug and took the young girl in her arms.
"We'll be going for a ride while Daddy takes a nap, okay?"
Nora grabbed a luggage with her free hand and rushed out of the room. The older Sasha was stunned by everything but still managed to follow her mother and her younger self.
...
Nora drove past several dunes, her eyes shifting from the road to her daughter and then back to the repeatedly.
Sasha was glancing out the window staring at nothing, the older woman could tell the young, brown-skinned girl was thinking about what happened earlier at their house. "How about some music? I know you like shifting through the stations," Nora suggested but she was left with complete silence, prompting her to call the girl's attention. "Sasha?"
"I prefer the silence," Sasha said coldly, her gaze unshifting.
"Sash --"
Suddenly, there is a rumbling followed by large rocks popping out of the ground. Nora tries to avoid the rocks, steering whenever one appears in front of them but a rock pops out below the car, throwing it into the air before it comes back crashing into the sand.
"Sasha? Sasha, can you hear me?" Nora took out a dagger and punctured the airbag. She cuts her seatbelt with the dagger before turning to her daughter who looked out of it.
The car was now upside down so it was difficult to move freely. "Sasha! Sasha can you hear me?!" Nora shouted once more but got no response.
Just then, a figure pulled the door before yanking the older woman out of the car.
Nora groaned and looked up at the person who had pulled her out of the car. The man had green skin and long, braided hair that extended to the middle of his back, he held a smirk that infuriated the former.
Holding her weapon tightly, Nora charges at the orcane who quickly dodges her attack. "Oh, this should be interesting," he said.
Nora charges forward again but the green-skinned man easily avoids her attack once more. The orcane then laughed at the woman's pitiful attempts to strike him.
"At this point --" Before he could finish, he felt a hand grab him by the shoulder before sweeping his leg off the ground and sending him to the ground. Nora swiftly jumped on the man and stabbed him in the shoulder with her dagger.
She raised her hand aiming for his head but someone else held her hand, Nora looked up to see another orcane with crooked eyebrows.
He kicks her in the side of the stomach, sending her crashing into the sand before helping his kinsman up to his feet. Three more orcanes join the duo and they surround the woman.
BANG!
One of the orcanes drops to the ground.
BANG!
One of the orcanes drops to the ground.
BANG!
One of the orcanes drops to the ground.
The remaining two panicked, looking around for the shooter; this opened a window for Nora to grab her dagger and jump on the back of one of the orcanes and stab him repeatedly on the side of the neck.
The last orcane - who was also the first orcane at the scene - threw himself on the ground and blew a whistle before crawling away and creating a huge rock that he hid behind.
Nora rushed to the other side of the car and pulled the door open, she hastily dragged her daughter from the car and lay her on the ground.
Then came the shooter - Baron. His face was bloodied as he approached his wife and child.
"Please, leave us alone Baron," she pleaded with teary eyes that remained on Sasha. The dark-skinned man grabbed her by the hair and pulled her towards himself. "You're not going anywhere with my daughter!" He exclaimed before pushing her away. Nora stumbles and falls into a sharp metal rod that goes through the back of his knees and out through the front.
Sasha blinked and opened her eyes. "Daddy? Mommy?" She said. "I had a weird d --" she stopped upon seeing the huge gash on her mother's knee. The young girl's eyes became teary and she rushed to her mother's side.
"It's fine Sasha, I'm fine," said Nora assuredly as the ecru-haired girl took her hands in her little ones.
The moment is interrupted by loud chants from behind. Baron turned to see hordes and hordes of green-skinned men and women descending from the dunes around on their sandboards while screaming at the top of their voices. "Woo!"
Nora tried to get up but the wound on her leg caused her to fall back on the ground. "Mommy ..."
Nora blinked, she was losing blood and fast. She placed her dagger in her daughter's hand before shooting her small smile. "Be safe, Sasha."
Baron grabbed Sasha and placed her over his shoulder. "What about mommy?"
"She can take care of herself," said Baron as he tossed the older woman an unpinned hand grenade. "My parting gift to you."
The older Sasha shook her head at the scene. "This is not what happened!" She exclaimed. "I told my mom I wanted an ice cream so she took the car to get me one ... We were attacked by the orcanes in the city --" The ecru-haired girl stopped and looked around. "The orcanes never attacked the city."
.
.
.
Hunter ran down the stairs to the underground prison just as Sasha opened her eyes. The sprite placed both his hands on each of her shoulders. "Hey ..."
"Please, hold me," Sasha requested, prompting Hunter to pull her into a tight embrace.
"I never would have thought he'd do something like that to her," Sasha said. "They always looked like they were deeply in love with each other," she added.
Hunter remained quiet, not quite sure what to say.
'Weird, Baron isn't here either.'
[You're acting like you wanted him to be here.]
'Well no, but I'd prefer it to him just popping out of nowhere; you know I hate surprises.'
[Better leave before he pops out of nowhere.]
"I hate to say this but we need to get out of here before your Dad shows up," said Hunter.
"You're right." Sasha sniffed. She got up and started towards the exit with Hunter following closely behind. They got up the stairs to the main building and then out to the streets.
Just as they did, an explosion rocks the Retribution building, knocking a part of it to the ground.
'What the --'
Out from the flames came Baron.
Here he is.]
Hunter pushes Sasha behind him before stepping up to fight the dark-skinned man.
"Congratulations," said the brown-eyed man. "You did it! You successfully destroyed the greatest group the mystic world has ever seen. This moment, relish it, 'cause it's the last time you get to be positive about anything," Baron declared.
"It's over Baron; you're all alone. Surrender now and I may spare your life."
[Does a trash like him deserve to live?]
The dark-skinned man breaks into laughter. "The last person to tell me that --" he paused and looked into the sprite's eyes. "That's it! That's where I recognized you from: you're Honor, Hans' kid."
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