Ayden raised his hands to his head, Zev's words mixed with his emotions when expressing himself gave him a headache.
"Say no more, keep quiet," he told him in a more neutral tone.
Zev noted his discomfort and fell silent.
"Milo, come here," he ordered.
"Please! Don't do anything to him," he insisted, "I swear I'm not lying, I seem crazy but I told you the truth."
"I know," Ayden said, throwing a fleeting look at Zev, "I believe you, being the traveler, must be difficult, distinguishing between sanity and reality is not easy. Everything you say to me is something strong…"
Ayden remained silent for a few seconds, looking down at the ground while holding Milo's arm with one of his hands.
"This is going to get ugly, my brothers are going to react badly, if your destiny is death there is no place where you can flee."
"I don't have to die," he expressed, "I don't necessarily have to die, maybe if that entity leaves my body everything will be resolved."
Ayden's eyes widened, speechless, both he and his brothers didn't want the mother ether to come out of Zev's body.
"She said that it would be time soon, although she still mentioned that she liked being inside me and how comfortable she felt but I have to force her out, I can force her, I'll find a way," he said very enthusiastically.
Ayden's breathing became heavy, he was watching Zev as he spoke and saying nothing about it.
"I don't know what that woman wants but if I'm going to die, I want to do it being myself and not a possessed human, I want to die sick or protecting someone, drowned or crushed but not saving the world," the tone of his voice decreased, "not for have a gift I am special…"
Zev at that moment felt a slap to the face, a reality check from the waterboy. This was the most sensitive and empathetic of the reinforcements, for that reason he reacted that way when he heard the traveler's words, he hated that people belittle themselves.
"Stop saying negative things because your brother resents everything inside him, I'm going to free him from my charm but not with you here, I'll talk to the commander and the others, I don't know what decision they will make but I hope that for as long as it's something good, Zev," touched him on the shoulder.
Soon he saw him leave the room along with Milo, still hypnotized.
Zev let out a long sigh, he felt lost, restless, he wanted to give up and die right now but the strength inside him was not going to allow it.
Ayden went to the meeting room, everyone was there, except Ocean, who was still recovering from her own power.
"Well, what's going to happen then?" Barret asked, annoyed by the situation, "I suggest we kill him now."
Evander agreed with that decision, especially since it made him uncomfortable that Zev harassed Ocean so much, his hatred was something personal.
"Kylen?" Ronda looked at him, "you're the boss, you decide."
He closed his eyes for a moment, took a breath in and then expelled it forcefully while putting his hands on his waist.
"Zev hasn't spoken, he hasn't said anything, we'll keep him locked up, tied up and watched 24 hours a day," he looked at each one of those present, "no one outside these walls should find out that he's the traveler."
Ayden was undecided on whether to comment that he had made him talk or not, besides they already had enough problems to attend to.
"The brother is still hypnotized, isn't he?" Kylen asked.
Ayden just nodded.
"Well, like it or not, Luna, Milo and Zev will now be part of this team, we have to investigate if the brother also has a hidden power or if he's someone normal, take care of him, Ayden," he pointed out, "for now I need to think about what to do with Maeko."
"Yes sir," he replied.
Kylen was frustrated, dejected, there was so much to deal with that he didn't know where to start, many times he wanted to throw in the towel but he couldn't fail his reinforcements, so he went to his office to organize his head.
"Hey Evander, how available is Ocean? Because I guess you haven't told them that Zev is back," Ayden mentioned.
"Why do you ask, bro?"
"Because there is something important that all of you should know," he answered with a very serious expression on his face, "I'll see you at night, preferably in Ocean's room."
Ayden left the room leaving everyone uneasy. He walked around the bunker until he made a stop at the showers where he found Luna crying as the water hid her tears.
"Why are you crying?" he asked, getting into the same shower as her.
The girl yelled asking him to get out because it was uncomfortable for the boy to come in naked next to her.
"I'm sorry," he apologized and waited for her to finish.
Luna changed and wiped her face swollen and red from crying.
"What 's wrong?" He was really worried, she had saved him and he didn't like to see her sad.
"Nothing." She looked away.
Ayden said nothing, knowing full well that she would soon confess.
"It's because of Zev, he's an idiot, an idiot, I hate him so much, it makes me angry that he rejected me, it even bothers me that he can be stronger than me, it's not fair that while I try to improve my power, he gets theirs by divine work."
"What did you say?" Ayden's curiosity aroused, "how could it be by divine work?"
Luna told him about the voice of conscience that Zev had commented, just the same thing that he told Ayden. She also mentioned that Ronda and Ocean hadn't heard about it that night.
"The most beautiful woman," Ayden thought, with much more urgency he had to talk to his brothers.
"What do you know about that?" Luna asked, taking him out of his thoughts.
"It's an old legend," he bit his lip.
"In my dimension there are no legends, things just happen and that's it," Luna said smiling.
Ayden took the time to talk to Luna, learn about her, about her world, and if she could bring more than just optimism to the reinforcement team, but he didn't want to involve her too much, so he didn't mention anything else.
Before dark, Ayden stopped by to pay a visit to someone he knew.
"Excuse me, only authorized personnel can pass here," said a soldier.
"I'm reinforcement 088, now let me pass," he said as calmly and politely as possible.
Apparently not all the resistance personnel were informed about the rescue of the fourth reinforcement, the soldiers let him pass when they saw him handling the water.
Once inside, a layer of water emanated from her hands that formed a mirror right in front of the little prisoner, who was caressing a rabbit.
"Ayden."
"Hello little traitor," as transparent as always.
"What did you come for, crybaby?" She bothered him.
"To question you, noisy little girl."
"And what about that ugly mirror? Do you believe me capable of lying to you, the most honest of all, or not?"
Ayden tried not to take her comments too personally, after all, that was the way the two of them got along.
"Listen girl with the voice of a gentleman," he laughed, "what do you know about mother ether?"
"I don't know anything," she hugged the rabbit, using a rather thick and serious voice.
"Because a little bird told me that she heard that you told Ocean about her."
"Ah, the other traitor told you, Luna."
Ayden squatted in front of Maeko's cell.
"Well, here among traitors you should tell me what you know about that woman," he softly touched the rabbit's cheek behind the bars.
Maeko began to smile with malice and mockery at the same time, she told Ayden what she knew, so he decided to take her that night with the other reinforcements, it was time for a talk between brothers united by the loops and talk about the woman who gave them gave life.