Cassandra and Willow sat in Zach's house, each one sitting on an old wooden chair. No ornate design, just ordinary wooden chairs that looked ready to fall apart. Neither talked to each other, they both knew that they were one conversation starter away from a full blown meltdown. So Cassandra stared out the window, at the large white building that jutted out from behind the town. According to Julian, it was the Sharp Life university, the best one outside of Sangaria. It put the nerds in one building to help the jocks get stronger, while ensuring they wouldn't have to deal with their bullshit either. According to Julian, it's a pretty loved system.
The guy Zach was just talking to walked out of the room, waving goodbye to them as he did. Zach beckoned both to the room, a smile plastered across his face as they entered.
"How are my two finalists?" he asked, quickly dropping the smile when the girls entrance dropped the mood with it.
"Fine." Cassandra sighed, sitting on another chair. This one was nicer. Probably custom made.
"Excellent." Zach nodded in reply with a finger snap. "Anyway, let's cut to why I got you here. Now, I'm assuming you've heard the rumours of Legion activity around the tournament."
"Yep." Willow said, giving a side-eye to Cassandra, which she just tried to ignore.
"Well, it's been confirmed. We left a fake gauntlet at the top floor of the hotel to see who'd take the bait. Sneaky bastards got it without anyone noticing, and we're down one bodyguard."
"Wait, you can't mean-"
"Dead." Zach cut Willow off. Willow's gaze intertwined with Cassandra's, but neither said anything.
"So, we gotta scare them. Real bad. And that's where you two come in."
"I'm guessing you want us to use the relic weapons?" Willow asked.
"Right on the money." Zach said as his smile returned. "Keep hold of your weapons, and bring em into the arena. Hopefully if anyone thinks of invading, it'll be stopped."
"Don't they have their own weapons?" Willow asked. "That they can use?"
"I mean, we can fight. We could at least be targets instead of innocent people in the stands?" Cassandra said nervously.
"I mean, if a pleasant conversation doesn't stop them, I guess that plan will have to do."
"So…we have an agreement?" Zach replied, getting out of his chair, his excitement already showing at the explosive replies Willow and Cassandra were gonna give.
"Sure." Willow sauntered out of the room with her hands in her pockets, leaving Cassandra and Zach together.
Zach clapped his hands together in hopes the sound would scare off the tension, which didn't work in the slightest.
"Well. Guess you're free to go." He said after a few seconds.
"Look, can I ask you something before I leave?" Cassandra asked.
"Go ahead." Zach said quietly, sitting back on his ornate chair.
"Look, I don't have memories of anything since I got here, and nothing's jogging my memory. So…what's up with your dad?"
Zach's frown extended, and his eyes lowered.
"You sure you don't remember anything?"
"Nothing."
"Got it." Zach sighed. "My father was the previous ruler of this place. Once the skyspace was established, my family took it upon themselves to ensure the peace. They used to run a country which history forgot the name of, and so were given a grand when humanity moved up here."
"Wait…you forgot the name of an entire country?"
"Weird, isn't it?" Zach nodded. "But two hundred years of my family's rule continued until my dad, Michael, took over. He quickly tried setting up Fightston into a nation focused on glory. He started either deporting or outright throwing out people who didn't meet his qualifications for strength. Because we were the nation defined by it. He managed to fend off some terrorist attacks, stuff rumoured to be the start of the Legion. Whipped everyone into a frenzy. But we didn't have scholars or anyone to maintain the place, so he started issuing demands to everyone for infrastructure. People followed to keep the peace, until old man Rory stood him up.
"Saoloro Rory?"
"Yeah, about twenty-five years younger. He refused to give Fightston any food until they could prove they could contribute, and a few others followed suit. And a few days later, an assassin tried to get him. And the people said the worst part was that it failed. Once that happened, I invited Marcel over to try to start some kind of peace talks, and Cutter showed up in case anything went wrong."
"So then what?"
"My dad died." Zach said casually. "Nobody knows what happened, and his body was dumped out of the Skyspace before an autopsy could be carried out. So it was up to me to fix everything. I begged Rory for help on my knees. And it impressed him enough to get some help sent. So I fixed the place up, got some funds to build a college for the smart people here, and then changed everything from a monarchy to a democratic system. I ran for re-election a year ago, and people liked me enough to keep me around."
"So they never figured out how your dad died?"
"It didn't matter much." Zach answered casually as he moved to look out the window. "What matters now is the present, and the final round."
"So, scaring the Legion off with the weapons?"
"Precisely." Zach nodded.
"Also, on the topic of the Legion, I wasn't thinking of what I was saying during the show last night, so I think I should apologize to you-"
"Why?"
Zach's one word response attacked her, rendering her to feel like a bunch of feathers were stuck in her mouth, trying to get a response out at the same time as getting them out.
"Well, because…you know, people think I'm defending the Legion, but I'm really not, and-"
"Nah, I got your message." Zach said, sharply turning around. "And honestly, I'm with you."
The feathers all left Cassandra's mouth in one divine motion as the endorsement left his lips.
"Wait, you're with me!?"
"You talk sense. Inside the Legion ships are probably a bunch of kids as scared as we are of whatever their leader is, and getting them back seems like a way better option than killing them all. Heck, you could be from there, seeing as you don't remember the rest of the Skyspace."
He started to chuckle at his own joke, stopping when Cassandra was trying to hide her own look of fear.
"You aren't actually Legion, are you?"
"I…have no idea." Cassandra answered slowly, trying to contain the horror in her voice. "When I fought the Legion in Inariu, one of them called me the key to everything."
"And you don't know what that means?" Zach asked, sitting back down.
"I have no idea!" Cassandra screamed. "Am I the daughter of the ruler, one of the old elites memory wiped for some reason!? My boyfriend keeps telling me to relax, but what if the Legion set off a kill switch in me and I wake up over his corpse?!"
"Well, I don't know." Zach sighed. "I don't think there's something that bad, seeing as you've had the chance to take weapons several times. Personally, I think you should sleep on this. Feel free to take a spare room if you want."
"Nah, I'll head back to the hotel, thanks."
Cassandra shuffled out of Zach's house and back to her hotel room. As she passed the busy streets, filled with innocent lives that the Legion could take at any moment tomorrow. She tried to look out for anyone particularly shifty, but it seemed to be business as usual, nothing stood out compared to her previous visits over here, besides a few kids looking up at a rooftop.
"So, what's going on here?" She asked. Even with her hat, the sunset meant she couldn't make much out."
"Our ball's stuck on the roof!" One of the kids whined. The building looked abandoned, probably something Zach's dad probably destroyed and they never got around to fixing. There was a streetlight nearby, and she was able to climb on top of it and get onto the roof without much hassle. On top were several balls, so she just threw them all down below and jumped back on the streetlight, and back to ground level. The kids were too busy playing to thank her, but that didn't matter much. She was happy with her good deed, because an action like that proved she was a good person.
Certainly.
And the finals would just prove that further.
Absolutely.