It had been around twenty minutes since Xain had run off with that look in his eyes. "Why won't you just tell me what's troubling you?" muttered Zee, feeling stressed and anxious. She was racking her brain, trying to figure out who this Grace girl was. It was the first time she had heard Xain mention that name, yet he spoke as if the two of them were close—and not only that, but as if she was close to Zee herself.
"Why did you look like that, Xain?" Zee whispered to herself, remembering the look of desperation and anger on Xain's face when she said she didn't know who Grace was. "Come on, think. Just who could he have been talking about?" she muttered, holding her head in frustration. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't recall a single thing about this Grace.
"Zee!" snapped Larkin, standing next to her. His voice broke through her concentration. "You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm trying to think. Stop it!" he asserted.
Zee faced him, her eyes filled with worry. "But did you see the way Xain looked at me? At us?" she asked, her gaze falling to the ground. "He was so upset, so angry. It had to be our fault somehow," she continued in a quiet tone, rubbing her previously dislocated shoulder. She flinched as it still tingled.
"Are ya okay?" Larkin asked out of concern.
Zee nodded, forcing a small smile. "I'm fine. It's just a bit tingly. And besides, Xain—"
Larkin stopped her mid-sentence. "Worry 'bout yourself for a sec, would ya?" He shook his head and looked over to where Alcor was speaking to Elanor. "Hey! Doctor!" he called out.
Alcor turned and came over. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Larkin motioned to Zee. "She says her shoulder, which was dislocated, is tingly."
Zee looked away as Alcor stepped closer and began to examine her shoulder. He placed his hand on it, and a soft blue glow emanated from his palm. Zee felt the tingling sensation gradually fade away.
"Did you pop it back yourself? It wasn't a bad job," Alcor complimented.
Zee shook her head, feeling a bit confused. "No, I could only pop it back after... after..." She paused, her mind struggling to recall. *After what? Why can't I remember?* she thought, a sense of unease creeping over her.
"Is something wrong?" Alcor asked, noticing her hesitation.
Zee shook her head again, forcing a smile. "No, never mind. I guess I did pop it back myself," she replied.
Alcor nodded, satisfied, and returned to his conversation with Elanor. Zee was left to wonder, *Did I really do it myself?*
Meanwhile, Maverick tapped his foot on the ground, staring off in the direction Xain had ran off. "Why can't I just fly after the little shit!?" he complained, clearly annoyed at everyone's inaction.
"He told us not to follow him," Zalathor said calmly, also gazing in the same direction. "We should respect his wishes. After all, he is one of the reasons we now have names."
Maverick let out an irritated grunt. "That's why I want to go after the kid! He clearly wasn't all there when he went on about that Grace girl or whatever the hell her name was."
Verandez approached them, curiosity evident on his face. "So, I'm guessing that's something he doesn't usually do?" he asked.
Maverick turned to him with a scowl. "No shit, Sherlock. That's why everyone's worried for the kid!" he exclaimed, making Verandez jump back in fear.
"I don't know! I just wanted to say something!" Verandez responded dramatically.
"Do we truly know if this is unusual?" Zalathor asked, maintaining his calm demeanor.
Maverick turned to him, yelling, "I'm pretty sure if someone suddenly starts talking to you about a person you don't know like you do know, it's pretty fucking unusual!"
Verandez sank back as Maverick continued yelling. Zalathor, however, remained unruffled. "While I do agree, we have only known Xain for less than a day. How can we know that this isn't a regular occurrence?"
Maverick pointed over to Zee and Larkin. "They've been with him for a while, and they're clearly shocked and confused about this, so I really doubt this is something that happens a lot."
Verandez looked puzzled. "Wait, you've known him for less than a day?" he asked, receiving a nod from Zalathor while Maverick ignored him.
"But you have to realize, Maverick," Zalathor continued, "both Larkin and Zee have only been staying with Xain for less than two weeks. They do not know this for sure either."
Maverick crossed his arms and looked away, grumbling, "Whatever, it's still not normal no matter how bloody frequent it is."
Zalathor tilted his head. "Is that not the definition of normal?"
Maverick didn't reply, continuing to mutter to himself. Suddenly, Verandez yelled, "Hey, look!" pointing at where Zalathor and Maverick were looking.
Everyone turned to see Xain walking back to the village. Zee, upon seeing him, immediately sprinted towards him, moving past everyone swiftly, most likely enhancing herself to do so.
"Xain!" she exclaimed, closing the distance between them with surprising speed.
Xain's heart leaped into his throat. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed, both surprised and fearful, not expecting her to close the distance so quickly.
"Are you okay? Did something happen? Are you unhurt? Do you feel fine?" Zee asked rapidly, her tone filled with worry.
"Those all pretty much mean the same thing!" Xain said quickly, raising his hands to calm her down. *Also, I was probably doing better before you jump scared me,* he thought but kept to himself.
"I was so worried after you ran off," Zee continued, grabbing his hands. "But are you sure you're okay?" she asked once again, her concern unwavering.
Xain let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm okay, really. Well, I could use a bath about now, still covered in demon blood and all," he said, gently taking his hands out of Zee's grasp and walking past her.
*You're still hiding from me. Why won't you just tell me what's wrong?* Zee thought, clenching her fist before letting out a sigh and putting on a smile. For now, she was happy that he seemed fine.
"Did you find your imaginary friend, brat?" Maverick sneered, still annoyed at Xain for running off.
"Looks like you guys were right. It was actually a demon's ability affecting me, but don't worry, Cain broke me out of it!" Xain said with a thumbs up, lying as easily as breathing.
Larkin let out a sigh of relief. "So that was it, huh? Well, good thing ya had your brother in ya," he said.
"Phrasing, please. You all do this a lot," Zalathor interjected before turning to Xain. "I cannot believe I missed something as serious as that. My apologies, Xain," he said with a slight bow.
Xain rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, don't worry about it. Cain took care of it anyway, so it's fine," he said before walking past everyone towards the communal bath. "Come on, let's go take a bath. For some reason, you guys just stood around covered in blood while I was off fighting my demons," he said, turning to them and jabbing his thumb towards the bath.
Everyone turned to each other and shrugged. They really should be getting this blood off them. They began walking over, with Zee obviously not joining the rest.
*You lie better than a lot of demons I knew,* Ercale said in Xain's head.
*I don't know if that's a good thing, but I'll take it. I could use every bit of mental boost possible at this point,* Xain replied as this long, long day finally came to an end.
End of ARC 4.