After narrowly escaping, Team Unknown takes refuge at a hidden base, their forms barely visible in the dim light.
Each member, concealed beneath their cloaks, feels the weight of the recent battle as silence settles thickly over them. Behind their masks, their eyes meet, acknowledging the tension without words.
---
The underworld factions, too, gather in secrecy, deep within darkened chambers where whispered plans are woven into schemes of betrayal.
One of them, from Serpentine Syndicate, a woman in dark robes with her golden snake tattoos glinting faintly, sneers, "The Bellator line's power… wasted on a boy who doesn't understand it. We should have harnessed it ourselves long ago."
Another one, from the one who the team had encountered several times in the past during their missions, Hades' Wrath, an elderly figure with his voice a low rasp as he adjusts his cracked mask, nods. "Impatience won't serve us now. His instability is an advantage we can exploit. Let him unravel, and when he does, we'll be there to pick up the pieces."
The factions agree on a plan to attack the base, to seize Val for their own purposes, unaware that their internal alliances are just as fragile as the ones within Team Unknown.Meanwhile, back at the base, Ember and Exeo share a tense moment in a quiet corner. Removing his mask, Ember's face shows signs of deep concern as he faces his brother.
Ember looked at Exeo, in a low voice, "Val's power is… spiraling. If we don't find a way to stabilize him, the Void will consume him completely." His voice, though calm, carries a sadness laced with determination.
Exeo nods grimly, voice low, "And we'd lose more than just a brother." He pauses, casting a glance at Bo and Riggs, before continuing. "We have to prepare for every possibility."
Ember calls Bo and Riggs aside, looking at them intently.
His tone is quiet, but his words bear a gravity that pierces the shadows. "I need you two to be with Val. Watch him. If we…" He pauses, his gaze hardening. "If Exeo and I aren't here, you're his last line of defense."
Bo's fists clench, his voice betraying his own turmoil. "You're saying he can't trust himself?"
Ember nods, the faintest trace of pain evident in his eyes. "Exactly. And you can't let him slip. Whatever happens, make sure he knows he's not alone."
---
Ember decided to try and talk to Val, while Exeo had made the plans and talk with it with Dr. Lewis.
Ember stood outside of Val's room in the undisclosed base, he knocked. He heard some shuffling and after some time, the door half-opened, with Val peeking from inside.
"What do you want, brother?" Val asked, averting his gaze from his brother.
Ember, seeing how their youngest brother looked right now, he pained to see the disheveled and tired look of Val. Val has this look in his eyes, full of life, but now, looking at it, it seems it's no longer there.
Noticing that Ember wasn't answering, Val, hesitantly looked up, and with a flicker in his gaze, he saw concern in his brother's eyes. It tears him up inside, he wanted to let it all out in front of his brother, like the old times.
He was closer to Ember than Exeo, Val knows that. That look, in Ember's eyes, in his brother's eyes, he knew what was that look. It was not pity.
But because he had these memories, so vivid that it mixed up his emotions, he doesn't want to burden his brothers more than this. So, he had to distance himself and fight this demon, or the Void alone.
He averted his gaze down, he doesn't want to crumble here right now in front of his brother, knowing the enemies are on their tails.
He repeated his question, "What do you want, brother?"
Ember saw that hesitation, and with the sliver line of hope he saw on Val, he smiled, "Val. Can we talk?"
Val just nodded and opened the door wider, letting him in.
Ember sat at the edge of a small bed, patting it beside him, telling Val to sit beside him.
Val hesitantly walked over and sat beside him, but didn't look at this brother directly. His gaze downcast, with his hands resting on his knees. He decided that whatever Ember would be talking, he would just nod and not talk further.
Ember sighed, and grabbed Val's head, pulling it towards his shoulder, letting Val rest his head on his shoulder. Then he patted his head, humming.
With this action, Val gasped, but when he felt his brother's broad shoulders, he couldn't resist crying. He let out a choked sob, he doesn't want to, but he can't. His brother's actions, his warmth, is what makes him, Ember.
Ember, didn't force him to talk, with just this action, he knows Val has been carrying the weight of the Void power alone. He silently kept doing what he was doing, patting Val's head. He could feel Val's shoulders trembling.
He knows he was trying to muffle his cry, but he didn't point it out to Val.
He just let it be, and just listened to Val's choked sobs all night, until he fell asleep. He tucked Val on the small bed, like how he used to before when they were at the manor.
He then knelt in one knee, and stared at Val, knowing his eyes were red from crying, he chuckled softly.
Then, with a slight glint, he spoke as if Deleo was listening, "I know you can see what is happening around Val."
Then, a small wisp of smoke surrounded Val, Deleo materialized behind Val as somewhat a spectral form.
"Ember Bellator." Deleo's voice was not malicious, but that of sadness.
Ember's eyes narrowed as soon as he saw the spectral form of Deleo.
"What do you want, Ember Bellator?"
"What other ways we can help Val to stabilize the unstable Void energy?"
Deleo, flickered at the question. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "I told Val that in order for the Void not to go rampant, the Purple Fire ability is needed, but in Val's case, he needed more.", then looked down on Val.
Ember frowned, and asked, "What do you mean he needed more?"
The shadowy presence looked straight at Ember, and continued, "His Purple Fire, is slowly being consumed by the Void. The Void inside of Val has more than the Purple Fire ability."
"Then, you mean..."
Deleo nodded, and added, "That was the purpose of the Purple Fire ability being passed down to those not chosen by the Void. To hold down the Void if it goes rampant."
Ember contemplated Deleo's words, then looked at Deleo, with steeled determination.
"Then, if that is what it takes for Val to be pulled back from being consumed, my brother and I will do it.", and clenched his fist as soon as he stood up.
Deleo, astonished by the brother's determination to save Val, he paused, then asked, "Why?"
Ember was about to go out, when he halted his steps when he heard Deleo asked him. "Why what?"
"Why are you not asking if what will happen to you if your Purple Fire ability is gone?"
Ember's eyebrow raised in confusion, he asked, "You have been with Val all along since he was a baby. Let me ask you, do you need a reason why you wanted to keep him alive? You mentioned before you have met our ancestors, then, why did you keep them alive too?"
Deleo was speechless. Instead of answering his question, Ember threw him a question instead, making himself wonder as well why did he do it.
When Ember saw the form wavered at his question, he scoffed, and said, "You gods may be powerful, but do not underestimate human emotions. You may not be familiar to this since you are a powerful being once, but what you have experienced with our ancestors, you cared for them. They are more than a vessel to you."
Deleo's spectral form flickered more, but didn't fade. He looked down on Val's sleeping posture, then added to Ember, "Are you sure you both are ready for it then?"
Ember looked straight at the spectral Deleo's form, and said, "If this is the only way for us to lessen Val's burden."
"He might blame himself for it, and I will not be there for him...temporarily."
When Ember heard it, he frowned, he asked, "What do you mean you will not be there for him?"
"Once the Void has consumed the Purple Fire, it may take some time for the Void to stabilize, so I will disappear during that time."
Ember now is looking more confused, asking for more explanation.
Deleo continued, "What Val is experiencing right now, his instability, is because of the Void. The Void itself lets him see what he desires, what he fears the most. Honestly, I couldn't reach or talk to Val anymore."
"Remember, the Void is everywhere, but it doesn't exist at the same time."
This is what your ancestors...had somehow forgotten to remember... was left unspoken, as Deleo doesn't want to make matters worse anymore than what Ember is feeling right now.