Chapter 12: Calm and Storm

 

 

 

[Do you hide when the truth comes out?]

 

~Vincent~

~Fifteenth day of Celest, Year 1403~

 

A problem had arisen.  Actually, a couple had.  Problems seemed to just be rising out of nowhere, especially around Vincent.

The first problem was that Simon, with no notice or warning, had disappeared from the Crush Squad residence while he was attempting to gain favor with the Guild’s warriors – he had successfully gained some headway in relaxing their opinion of the Crush Squad, and by extension himself, and they had given him some new information regarding the higher-level spellcasters of Saruja and Mial.  He had returned only minutes after Rinkyu and Kozari had (on a mission to procure ingredients for the week’s meals), and had opened the door to the chaos of them discovering Simon’s absence.  Because of the odd blend of emotions he was displaying before he passed out, each member had shown concern for his physical and mental health, and wanted to help clear their load in any small way.

Luckily, this problem had solved itself – Simon had reappeared at the door of the unit as Rinkyu was rushing out to find him.

“I’ll look near the Central-West gate!” she shouted in a panic, running toward the door.  She was clearly deeply worried, almost as much as she was when Vincent had mentioned he’d been poisoned.  Her eyes were anxious, her face pale, and her body language more aggressive than he’d thought possible of her.

As she passed the threshold, she continued to direct the team, but stopped as her face planted into Simon’s chest.  The three looked in astonishment as Simon, covered in holes and blood, stood just as surprised as them with a new face in tow.

…Which led to the second problem.  As soon as the warrior behind Simon saw Vincent, she drew her sword with a swiftness for killing enemies.  She loured at him as if he was a murderous beast, which made sense considering what she said next:

 

“Why in the rings of Hell is there a Baael here?”

 

Her angry roar lingered in the air, followed by a bitter, heavy silence that no one dared break.  Vincent struggled to breathe for a long period, unable to clearly think of an answer.  She could see that he was a Baael?  With what technique, and how so quickly after seeing him?  How could he explain this in a way the others would accept?  He cursed himself for being so hesitant to tell his team the truth, and now, it seemed, it was coming back to bite him, hard.

 

“Hold on!”  Simon pushed himself into the doorway, facing the warrior and standing between her and Vincent.  “I know what you’re thinking, but Vincent is not a Baael!”

Rinkyu swung her arms out defensively and stood in front of Vincent.  What was going on?  There seemed to be some sort of Crush Squad memo that Vincent missed.  Did they already somehow know about his secret?

The warrior didn’t change her stance, and her glare was still fixated on Vincent.  “Explain.”

Simon adjusted his glasses (for some reason likely related to his wounds, the lenses were missing), and stated, “Vincent has a mana spill due to some unchecked magic potential.  The reason you can see Baelis Essence around him is because he has affinity for it.”

He locked eyes with the warrior, a struggle in itself, and continued, “Vincent has untapped magic potential, that’s it.  He’s the co-leader I mentioned earlier.  He’s not a Baael, Miel, I promise.”

 

The warrior was still and quiet for a minute, not daring to lower her sword while she contemplated.  Finally, after a good minute of thinking, the blade slowly dropped and returned to its sheath.  She still seemed to be on guard, but her eyes had softened and the anger she was showing was (at least somewhat) withdrawn now.

Simon smiled, and motioned to Rinkyu that Vincent was safe now.  Vincent’s heart was beating out of his chest, and he glanced at Kozari, whom he hadn’t realized was completely prepared for combat – her hardlight gauntlets were activated, and she was dropping out of her normal fighting stance. when he looked her way.  It was humbling that all three were willing to protect him so quickly.

“Sorry about that,” the warrior said shortly.  “I’ve only met two other people with Baelis Essence, so I forget that mortals can have it sometimes.”  She leered at Vincent for a moment, adding, “You’re a Hjina, aren’t you?”

Vincent nodded slowly.  “Yeah, from Aheya.”  He felt a little offended that she was going straight to talking after she’d nearly initiated combat in their home.  “Didn’t catch your name.”

“My name is Miel,” she said calmly.  “I’m a former captain of the Miral Primary Force, and I’d like to join your task force as soon as possible.”

She sure is straightforward, Vincent remarked internally.  He gave her a quick up-and-down – she was almost the same size as Rinkyu, barely taller and barely more muscular, as far as he could tell.  Her posture was definitely that of a soldier, standing straight and focused on whoever she was talking to.

“How old are you, Ms. Miel?” he asked.

“Thirty-two this year.”  She was older than Vincent.

“Why do you want to join us, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Her face turned to a scowl, and she clicked her tongue angrily.  “There’s someone waiting for me, and to get to her, I need support from a powerful force.”  She glanced at Simon before returning her look to Vincent.  “I was informed by multiple sources that this task force was the best option for this quest.”

 

Now, Vincent glanced at Simon, who glanced back with a difficult look.  His face said he wasn’t terribly sure about her motives, but also that she was just as determined as any of the current members.

“If I can clear some things up real quick,” Vincent said after a bit, “first of all, we’re technically still on probation for actual travel work.  We were approved to build the unit last month, but we’re currently dealing with a city-wide investigation.  We can get around Saruja pretty easily, but we’re not really approved to travel outside it.”

“Secondly, our group goals are to ease the military’s stress and to help the citizens.  Most, if not all, of our missions will be in regard to Saruja or its people, so going outside the city would be mostly for diplomatic reasons.  If this person you’re looking for is outside Saruja, we’re probably not the best option for work.”

Miel looked disappointed by Vincent’s points, but more than that, she looked… betrayed.

“Lastly, we’re supposed to have some form of camaraderie here – working together to find solutions, splitting up jobs to get things done quicker, and lessen the overall load on the group.”  He looked hard at her.  “It’s not really fair to let you just join us, especially after raising a sword the moment you see someone different.”

Vincent knew that last point was a bit unfair, even if no one else knew it, but it had to be made.  If it came down to it, yes, the other members would probably turn on him when the secret came out, be it today or ten years from now, but for now, they were a team… and a team had to rely on each other.

 

With another scowl, Miel put her hands on her hips and looked down.  “…I apologize for lashing out at you,” she said reluctantly, “but I really do need some sort of assistance.  I need…”  She looked at Simon with a difficult face, then at Vincent again.

“I need help.”

 

Vincent once again studied the warrior in front of him – her posture was much less aggressive than when she saw Vincent for the first time, and her face was more focused and soft than before.  Somehow, he was reminded of someone else… but he couldn’t remember who.  Someone close to him, maybe?  A family member?  Or possibly someone from the insurgent team?

“Well,” Vincent began after a brief pause, “we’ll still have to do the interview as normal, but you at least seem honest.”  He extended his arm in greeting, and said, “For now, it’s good to meet you… Miel, was it?  I’m Vincent Laverse.”

Miel stared at Vincent, then at his hand.  There seemed to be disbelief in her mind, like she didn’t think he’d actually consider her for membership.  She hesitantly extended her arm in kind.

“Miel Andyphony.”

 

As they shook, Rinkyu spoke up angrily.  “Am I the only one worried that Simon is full of holes?!”

She had approached to assess Simon’s wounds once Miel had covered her blade, and started casting a healing spell, but Simon stopped her.

“I’m fine, I promise.  Don’t use healing magic on me right now, though.”  He pointed to the center of his chest.  “My Essence is currently on empty, so it would be painful to heal me with magic.  I’ll grab some pain meds if I can’t bear it, but the worst is over.”

Rinkyu gave into his oddly relaxed statement with some reservation.  She withdrew to a more relaxed look after noticing that none of his wounds were actively bleeding, though she was still clearly worried.

 

***

 

After a quick chat with the prospective new member, Simon took some time to show Miel a nearby inn, with Kozari pushed onto them as a guardian for Simon on the way back.  With the panic and conflict that had just darkened their doorstep, Vincent felt a brutal wave of exhaustion, and looking at Rinkyu after the three left, she had obviously also felt it.

Vincent sat on the couch in the central room with his journal in hand, writing a quick summary of the day’s events; the information on three possible spellcasters other than Warbelle had been noted at the guild hall, but now he had to include his impression of Miel alongside more specific notes.  A few seconds into writing, however, he realized it was barely enough to fill a quarter of a page.  He sighed, frustrated and mentally exhausted, and closed the book.

Just as he was getting up to head out again (this time to find the cigarette vendor that Longlund had told him about), he noticed that Rinkyu hadn’t disappeared upstairs as she usually did – she was on the far end of the couch, staring at a book she had pulled from one of the shelves.  It looked like one she’d read occasionally when they had downtime (the few times he’d caught her in the common room), but today she seemed oddly unfocused on the information in the book.  She seemed not to be reading, but staring, until she suddenly looked up straight into Vincent’s eyes.

“Can you tell me something?” she asked out of the blue.

“Uh, sure?” Vincent hesitantly agreed without thinking.  Her stare was overbearing, much different than any other time she’d looked at him.  It was cautious, careful… almost scared.

“That warrior… Miel… she drew her sword because she saw something unnatural, not just because of the Essence.”  She looked unblinking at him.  “I saw it when we met on the balcony, but I ignored it because you seemed…”

She paused.  Her eyes glanced away for a moment towards the door, then reconnected with Vincent’s.  Vincent felt a heavy weight growing in his chest as she assessed him.

“…you seemed like a good person.”

Her eyes scrunched as she finished her request: “Are you really a Hjina?”

 

She hadn’t figured it out, not completely, but she was suspicious.  If she could see the Essence radiating off him as good as Miel could, she must have been suspicious since they met.  Why now, of all times?  Vincent held his lower face as he tried to think of an excuse that would get past her analytic mind.

Stop hiding it.  His mind was fighting every nerve in his body, telling him to tell her the truth.  Someone had to know the truth, someone else needed to be informed before anything bad happened.  He needed to tell her now.

“I…”

Could he wave it off by just saying “no” and telling her that he’d explain it later?  Would she accept such a lazy response, or would she pry?

Tell her the truth.

What would he do if she told Simon and Kozari the truth?  Would they all accept him, or would they turn on him?  Could he go on living this way if he told them?

They need to know.

Vincent’s mind was racing, and his heart was beating a million times a second.  What could he do?  What should he do?

 

“…You deserve to know,” he finally said, dropping his hand from his face.  “You all do.  When the others get back, I will explain all that I know.”

He looked at Rinkyu with a struggling face, unsure if this was the right option.  Her face had become more cautious, but despite the obvious tension in the air, she was no longer scared or defensive.  She could clearly understand whatever Vincent was going to say was difficult for him to say, and that he was reluctant to share it.

“…When the team gets back, then.”

Rinkyu closed her book, sighing with a sense of relief.  Vincent knew, though, that this relief would be short-lived.  Everything was incredibly heavy inside him, and he hoped that explaining everything he knew (and that he didn’t know about it until Warbelle had told him) would soften the burden in some meaningful way.

“If you end up being a threat, I will personally erase you.”  The haunting promise that Warbelle had made to him echoed repeatedly in his mind.  If it got out that he was a Baaelite, would Warbelle take him out without cause, under orders of the King or Knite-Siege?

He needed to prove that he wasn’t a threat, more than through proving the Crush Squad’s usefulness.  He needed to prove that he, as an individual, was safe for the city and its people – safe enough to keep alive, at the very least.

But first, he needed to know his team trusted him.

 

Simon and Kozari returned to the unit about fifteen minutes later.  Simon still seemed a little unsteady, though Kozari was watching him diligently, catching his arm as he stumbled over the threshold.  He chuckled awkwardly, and they walked over to the couch, where Kozari sat him down gently.

“Are you going to tell us what happened?” Rinkyu asked immediately.

Simon nodded.  “Don’t worry, I’ll explain.  I just wanted to settle in for a moment.”

He adjusted his sitting position so that he was straight, though he started slouching almost instantly as he cleared his throat.

“To be brief, I took a walk to Turga, and a Prime Baael spawned in the middle of the road.”

 

Each member exuded a tense aggression to that statement, but Simon reached into his coat and pulled out two sheets of Essence paper.  “I already alerted the authorities, and the nearby districts are now on lockdown.  Only people with special passes can pass through the gates easily, and I’ll be writing my report in a few minutes.”

He placed the papers on the desk.  “I was feeling a little overwhelmed when I woke up, and the only thing that seemed calming was a walk.  When the Baael spawned, I tried to help people evacuate by buying time, but I didn’t have a weapon, so…”

He looked down and patted his hole-covered shirt.  “…I had to try something a little more drastic.”  He looked up quickly and said, “But, it didn’t work, and Miel arrived in time to sa- er, help me finish it off.”   He smiled weakly and finished, “We got to talking, and she was interested in joining.  She seems strong and clever enough for a useful member.”

Rinkyu looked at Simon with admonishment.  “Didn’t you bring your phone with you?  One of us could have rushed to your location as soon as it had formed!”  She was clearly still upset at him leaving with no warning or note.

“I usually keep my emergency pistol and phone in my coat pocket, but I was in a bad headspace, so it didn’t even occur to me to grab it.”  He pulled his shirt forward a bit, and added, “Also, I wasn’t really expecting to get into a fight in the middle of town.”  His face fell into a glower as he said, “More importantly, this Baael had a ring of gold in its eyes, and spoke to me in a distorted voice…”

He looked at Vincent.  “Just like the unknown creature you encountered last month.”

The rest of the squad looked at Simon with great concern.  “So it is someone within the city,” Vincent confirmed.

Simon nodded.  “It seems to be.  I’ll be sure to highlight it in my report to Knite-Siege.  The fact that it emerged in the city might narrow down where the creator is.”

“Are we also under the lockdown command, or will our passes suffice?” Rinkyu asked.

“I’ll know when the courier comes to pick up my report.  For now, we’ll treat it as if we’re under the order.”

 

Kozari had been oddly silent during this conversation; when Vincent looked at her, her face was unusually stern, lacking the excitability that normally emanated from her.  “Are you okay, Kozari?”

“There’s too many odd things in this city.”  She looked at the door, then at Simon, and then at Vincent.  “Prime Baael every few weeks, unknown monsters, and the eyes…”

She shuddered, the first time Vincent had seen her express any kind of weakness.  “There’s so much to track, and so little information.  And, Simon got hurt while he was alone.  Is it not safe in the city anymore?”

 

They all contemplated this.  If a Baael (moreover, a Prime) could manifest itself inside the barrier and not be affected, it was indeed a glaring problem for anyone within Saruja.  The Crush Squad would probably have to do patrols moving forward, assuming they were still together… which was something he’d need to address soon.

“We’ll do what’s necessary to keep everyone safe.  We’ll crush any threats to Saruja.”

 

Kozari and Simon relaxed at this statement, but Rinkyu looked at him with an uncertain face.  It was fair, on her part, to doubt this confident statement, but Vincent looked to her with a resolved face.  He’d already decided to tell them everything, and he wasn’t backing down now.

“Once you finish your report, I have something I have to tell you.”

 

***

 

About fifteen minutes was how long it took Simon to make a front-to-back two-page report, much quicker than the thirty it took Vincent to write three one-sided ones.  Simon returned downstairs with the papers carefully folded into an envelope for the courier, whenever they’d arrive.  He sat on the couch with the squad once more, still shaky, and steadied himself into a comfortable position.

“Sorry for the delay, everyone,” he said once he’d settled in.  “What is it you wanted to tell us?”

The team laid their eyes onto Vincent, all showing different forms of curiosity.  He thought he was prepared for this, since he’d been mentally focusing on how to tell them about this for a month now.  But this suddenly, his throat felt blocked, and his chest felt tight.  His body felt like it was being dragged deeper and deeper into an ocean, pressure and all.  With their eyes on him now, Vincent’s thinking became muddy and unclear.

He hesitated as he said, “I… uh… I have to ask you guys a question first.”  He looked around before continuing.  “What do you guys think about me?  As a teammate, as a leader, and personally.”

The group shared looks of confusion and uncertainty as a cold silence loomed over them.  He could see they were caught off-guard by his question, though he needed this answered as honestly as they could.  This would determine how they’d react to his hidden truth, and whether he’d have to go on the run or not.

 

“You’re really stubborn,” Simon said, “and you tend to go off on your own in the middle of investigations.”

“You’re also overconfident in your abilities,” Rinkyu added.  “When you fought the Prime Baael last month, you excluded us because you thought you could beat it alone, even though Simon warned you.”

Kozari nodded.  “But you think of our safety before yourself.  You want to do everything by yourself because you don’t want to… risk us.”

The other two nodded.  “You’re definitely trying to atone for your past,” Simon stated, “and you seem genuinely repentant of your actions when you’re criticized.”

“Not to mention, you honestly and thoughtfully work towards improving your shortcomings, and take mind of us tactically and emotionally,” Rinkyu piled on.

“As a leader, you could work on being a bit more reliant on us.”  Simon shifted his glasses.  “Although, its beginning to seem like that’s a flaw for others among us as well.”  He gestured to his body – he had changed clothes again before coming back downstairs.

 

They all nodded, and Rinkyu added a final point.

“None of us are perfect… but you’ve become more trustworthy since you arrived last month.  I want to say we can be a great team, but…”

She looked at him with a hard look before finishing:

“…we need to trust each other more.”

 

Vincent looked at his team once more, his body feeling a little lighter than it had since the Baael assault.  He was grateful to them, in so many ways, for telling him this.  He knew it had to come out now, before he second-guessed himself again.

“Thank you, you guys,” he said with a tired smile.  “What I have to tell you is incredibly-“

 

There was a knock on the door, and everyone turned to face the sound.  “Is that the courier?” Simon asked.  “They got here awfully quick.”

As Vincent began to approach the door, it swung open with a glittering of Essence.  Warbelle once again stood in the doorway, her normal imperious grin missing from her face, replaced now with a strict and alert one searching the faces of the Crush Squad.  Her stave was slowly dissipating from a gleam of mana to its regular metal-and-polished-wood sheen, and her eyes held (more noticeably than before) a white glint in their centers.

“I’m glad I got here before it was too late,” she said, her normal face now worn, albeit much more exhausted.  She strided over to Simon and held her hand over his head with a sharp quickness.  “Stay still.”

Though no sound left her mouth, Vincent could see Warbelle’s jaw move ever-so-slightly as a white Essence coated her hand, extending over Simon’s forehead.  He wasn’t familiar with this spell, and he had no idea what she could be casting, or for what reason.

“I was right.”

Warbelle pulled her hand away quickly in a grabbing motion, the Essence lingering on Simon’s body for a moment more before pulling away as well.  Simon shuddered, and they all saw a small black… something in her hand.  She held it gingerly between her hands, which were still coated with the white Essence.

“It looks as if someone is trying to track you all,” Warbelle said as she crushed the mass in her palm.  “This is the second time I’ve had to deal with a powerful Essence tag haunting your group.”

“Second?” Vincent questioned.

“I tried to do it more subtly for you,” she said with a smirk.  “Though, from what Listrean had told me later, it seems I didn’t get all of it off of you, Mr. Laverse.”  She looked back at Simon, the glow in her palm shifting to a warm golden color.  “I’m going to heal you a little bit, Doctor, so please bear with me.”

 

Once more, she laid her hand atop Simon’s head.  A pulse of gold-and-white mana swirled quickly around  Simon, changing from two strings encircling him into a funnel of magic energies wrapping to his form, then silently enclosing him briefly before fizzling out into strings of light.  The spell ended a minute later with the strings of energies flowing down from his head alike to hair, fading into nothingness after a few moments.

“You’ll probably feel sick for a few hours since you didn’t have any Essence left, so take it easy for a day or two until you can regain some mana.”  Warbelle handed him a small… something; a green, shriveled plant or something.  “Chew on this to avoid vomiting.  It’s a Belberry.”

Warbelle sighed and stretched to her full height, her back snapping and popping like a bundle of dry twigs being bent apart.  Vincent hadn’t noticed before, but her hunched stance didn’t do her full size justice – at her proper posture, she towered over Vincent by at least two heads.  She was incredibly tall, he silently remarked, probably the tallest person he’d ever met.  Only a few seconds later, she returned to her normal pose, barely shorter than him now.

 

“As for the other reasons I came,” she said, “I came here for Listrean’s report, but I sense that my timing was… inconvenient.”  She glanced at the door, then back to the squad.  “I can take the report and leave, if you prefer.”

Simon shook his head for a moment, still feeling the mana on his head, more than likely.  “Give me a moment and I’ll grab it for you.  We were just having a team meeting.”

“Actually,” Vincent said, “I think you have perfect timing.”  He looked to Warbelle, who looked back with a curious face.  “I wanted to tell the team something important.”

Warbelle caught his emphasis on “important”.  Her face scrunched into a difficult-to-read look, though if Vincent had to guess, it meant that she understood what he was going to say.

“Are… you sure you want to say this now?” Warbelle narrowed her eyes at Vincent.  “Especially after…” She glanced at Simon quickly, then returned her gaze to Vincent.  She didn’t finish her sentence, but Vincent knew what she meant.

“I made a promise,” Vincent said with conviction.  “I need them to know.”

 

With that statement, the three crush Squad members were even more confused than before.  They all looked to Vincent, who simply sighed.

“I… I wasn’t completely honest when I said I was a Hjina.”  He found it hard to make eye contact with anyone here, and he felt his arms cross in a defensive pose.  “I learned recently that I’m not… normal.  I’m something called…”

Say it, Vincent.

“…I’m a Baaelite.  I learned that the reason my body was affected so much by the Prime’s Essence tag, and why I have an attachment to Baelis, are because I’m a half-Baael.”  He looked forward to his group with some miniscule determination.  “I didn’t tell you guys before because…”

“He didn’t know before the assault last month.” Warbelle finished his sentence, her stony look returning to her face.  “He was unaware of his heritage, so there’s no way he could have known.”  She stared at Vincent.  “Sorry to step on your presentation, but I think being brief and clear will be the best course of action.”

 

The rest of the team shared a stunned and uncertain look.  Vincent knew it would be a hit to the knee to say this all so suddenly, so he waited for a moment before continuing to allow the information to process.

“Basically, I was probably born one, but wasn’t aware that I was a Baaelite until Warbelle told me when she picked up my report last month.”

Simon was the first to speak, again after a brief silence.  “Wait, why… how did Lady Warbelle know you were a Baaelite?’

Warbelle smiled, though it lacked the strength of her normal grin.  “I can perceive the most paltry flows of Essence in anyone I want with a relatively simple spell.  Each mortal race has a specific kind of internal flow, and Vincent had a peculiar Essence presence.”  She glanced at Rinkyu and added, “He’s not the only one I’ve met recently.”

A soundless contemplation covered the group as each person looked between those present.

“I want you to know that I’ve never experienced anything that made me feel less… human… and I don’t want anyone here to be afraid of me.”

 

Rinkyu stared at Warbelle.  “…It seems coincidental that you came just as Vincent decided to tell us this.”

Her voice was short and sharp, almost like a knife slicing through the air, but Vincent was unclear if this was cutting towards Warbelle or him.

“Don’t misunderstand,” Warbelle said calmly.  “I am just as surprised that he decided to present now of all times.”  She crossed her arms and looked at Vincent.  “I recommended taking this secret to the grave, since the idea of Baaelite is enough to send entire communities into fits of violence.”  She hesitated, then added, “I commend your leader for taking the revelation with such strength, and the fact that he decided to tell you at all should speak magnitudes of how much he trusts you.”

Rinkyu glared at Warbelle, who mystically lazed back a stare unconcerned with her tempered anger.  “I’m not one to tell people how to live, but the fact that he knew the risks of telling you all his truth tells me that he trusts you with his life.”

Rinkyu’s glare became weaker as she considered this.  Simon had remained quiet and stoic as he processed the information.

“Is there any actual evidence of Baaelite causing the destruction of society or randomly attacking their friends?” Simon questioned.

Warbelle fixed her gaze on Simon.  “No,” she said simply.  “The few Baaelite that have been publicly discovered were either hung, exiled, or hidden away until their quiet deaths.  The prejudice that comes from a supposed curse has been enough in the past to not see the final results of the one criticized.”  She glanced at Vincent shortly.

“He is a rare race, with no clear line to corral him.  If he were plotting the extinction of a species, we couldn’t know without years of torture and research, which would be…”

She looked at Vincent again, somberly this time.  “…unpleasant.”

 

“I thought Warbelle being here for this meeting would be welcome if it was too shocking or heinous to announce,”  Vincent interjected, “since she’s promised that she’ll take me down if I ever become a threat.”

There was another long silence, with the sound of the night wind scraping against the windows.  The shutters on the outside ofthe house clacked a few times, the first one causing Vincent to jump.  He was incredibly nervous, to say the least.

No, not nervous.  He was scared.  He didn’t know what would happen next, and he didn’t know if his trust in the Crush Squad was reciprocated, to his chagrin.  Maybe had he attempted to build stronger relationships with his team, he would be more hopeful that they’d believe him, at least to the point that they’d not kill him or pass along the information to more threatening powers… like Knite-Siege.

 

“When you killed Cestalian…”

The unexpected voice of Kozari rose among the silence, starting a question.  Vincent waited with bated breath to hear the rest.

“… was there a joy or pleasure when he died?  When you were killing him?”

 

Vincent looked wide-eyed at Kozari, unsure of how to answer that question.  He’d thought about the insurrection millions of times since it happened, but Cestalian’s death was always pretty static: he’d threatened Vincent’s squad, he acted, and he died.  It was a kill from revenge and anger, and it had never really left a feeling behind once Cestalian was dead.  Cestalian’s death was no more pleasurable than any other mark Vincent killed.

“…No joy, no pleasure.  He was a monster that needed to die before innocent people did.”

Kozari tightened her mouth in a thoughtful look.  “Then why do you think about it so much?”

Simon twitched towards Kozari as she said this.  “Kozari, he has trauma from that battle.  It’s not as if he wants to think about it every day.”  He stopped, cautiously turning to Vincent.  “You don’t want to think about it, right?”

 

Vincent took some offense to that.  “Of course I don’t!  Cestalian was a part of my life that I would rather have never happened!”

“But you learned all you know because of his intervention, right?” Rinkyu pointed out.

“And you wouldn’t have met Vesic if not for the SSM,” Kozari added.

Vincent bit his tongue.  He couldn’t find fault in their logic; moreso, if he hadn’t gone through the trials involving the SSM, he’d never meet the Crush Squad.  Where would he be now, if not for the events of the SSM and Cestalian?

“We’re getting off track,” Simon said quickly.  “Vincent has shared something deeply personal, and we should treat this as a building moment.”

“More like ‘personally damning’,” Rinkyu muttered.  “Do you expect us to just be fine with this?  Simon, you’re taking this all awfully well, considering your history with the Baael.”

“Well… it’s a surprising revelation.” Simon glanced at Vincent, uncertainty on his face.  “I won’t say that I’m ecstatic at the idea of leading beside a Baael- er, a Baaelite, but I’ve seen no reason to extradite him for standing up to a tyrant or building a unit that stands for the people.”

Rinkyu scoffed, and whirled around to Kozari.  “Zari, what about you?  Wasn’t your home destroyed by the Baael?”

Kozari shrugged.  “The Baael that attacked my Czeathe was not Vince, and he is weaker than me.  There is no certainty that he is like them, through what I’ve seen of him.”

Rinkyu seemed to be the only one trying to find issue with this.  She looked wordlessly between Simon and Kozari, then finally stared at Vincent.  Why was she so adamant that Vincent was a threat?

And why was it that her face showed the same fear he’d seen when she’d thought her friends were dying?

 

Warbelle challenged Rinkyu’s concerned face with a studious one.  “Is there something you’d like to say, Ms. Asakura?”

Rinkyu bit her lip, thinking hard.  “No, ma’am,” she said after a long pause.  “If no one else has a problem with this, I won’t make one.”

Vincent wanted to interject, but Warbelle breathed an airy chuckle.  “In that case, I hope you all realize you are now accomplices in hiding his true species.”

Simon, Kozari, and Rinkyu all looked at Warbelle incredulously.  “Having a known Baaelite may impact your group negatively in its formative stage, so it would be best to tell no one of this secret.  Keeping this between us five would be ideal, and you may want to wait to tell any other members you end up hiring in case they’re not… fully trustworthy.”  She looked  at Vincent as she finished the sentence.  “Know that more people knowing this makes it harder to keep secret, and more than likely something will go wrong.”

Warbelle waved the parchment in her hand as she twirled around to the door.  “I’ve got to get back to my own duties now.  Play nice, sleep well, and take care!”

 

With no more than that, the Crush Squad found themselves alone with each other, much more tense and much more informed than before.  Vincent wanted to say something to them, but he didn’t know what.  He had laid out the truth, and while no one seemed too opposed to his presence, it was clearly awkward now between him and them.

“Well, since we’re done hosting for the night, we should get dinner ready,” Simon voiced collectively as he stood up.  “Kozari, could you help me prepare?”

Kozari nodded, though she hesitantly looked at Rinkyu for a moment before going with him.  Vincent studied Rinkyu’s demeanor – it was clear she was unhappy with something from the conversation, but what specifically?

 

“Rinkyu,” Vincent said, steeling his approach.  “You’ve been improving your social fears through leading the team-building exercises, but you’re still being hesitant on expressing yourself.  You wanted to say something about my secret, right?”  He carefully sat across the table from her.

Rinkyu looked at him with a neutral gaze.  It felt like she was staring past him, ignoring his question.  She glanced over at Simon and Kozari, who were chatting in the kitchen.

“…I don’t know if I can trust that you won’t hurt us,” she said finally.  “I’ve seen what normal Baael can do, and I’ve seen lives lost because of them.”

She stared longingly at the two conversing.  “I’ve finally reached a point in my life where I feel safe and wanted, and I don’t want to lose that.  I don’t want to lose anything else important to me.”

 

As much as it hurt to hear this, Vincent understood her apprehension, and understood it well.  When he had started doing takedown missions for small Baael swarms attacking villages around the west coast of Alhose, he had seen the destruction a coordinated group of them could cause.  Buildings and bodies torn to shreds.  Children orphaned and crying in the streets and in shelters.  It was the result of war, he knew, but he remembered thinking at the time how similar the parallels between the wars of mortals and the war against the Baael came.

Vincent cleared his mind again, refocusing on Rinkyu.  There was nothing he could say to alleviate this fear she felt.  Only his actions would prove any promise he’d dare to make to her.

“I will do my best to protect everything important to you.  You, Kozari, and Simon… I won’t let anything disrupt your security.”

He looked hard at Rinkyu as he said this, and she stared back at him.

 

“Not even me.”