**Present. Outside the Valley Hospital**
We had said our goodbyes to Ryo, Ark, some of the Crimson Dragons, and Tubolt before we left.
After hearing the news that Wrath had broken out of Tartarus, I was a bit more solemn than normal. Not even Star dared to interject her shenanigans with me; she instead took it out on Jo who seemed detached from the world as usual.
That Idiot King lied.
Wrath was not secure. And we—the Black Wolves were not just his escorts. We were his back up as well.
As much as I hated Envy, I'd have rather faced a hundred more of him than a single Wrath. His ability—his Tantra… it was on another level.
Daz might as well have asked us to die when he asked if we could come with him…
And then Ryo's words echoed as if it was somehow sent to calm me. I promise, when you and Arcane King Daz come back, not only will I be walking again, but I will be twice as strong as I was! he said before we parted.
I looked to the sky to find some comfort in the situation at hand.
Belle, I need you now… I thought to myself.
It was then a familiar, comforting, and yet obnoxious voice entered in. "Captain Greed! Captain Greed!" a robotic male said as he happily chuckled our way, waving a hand to us from the distance.
Star shifted her attention, and her attitude followed suit as she darted toward him with a disgusted expression.
In a blink she was there as she thrusted an upward kick to the cyborg's jaw. And sent him flying…
His voice echoed as he flew away, but in a literal blink he was with us once more like he had teleported. I swore… his speed was incredible…
"Captain!" He resumed without a care in the world.
"Hey, Brand," I said with a solemn tone.
"Is something the matter?" he asked.
"Lots happened while you were out doing errands."
"I see."
It was then that I finally realized that he and I barely talked. He was always the 'yes-man' in the group when it came to Asura, Code, me and even the Execs. Ever since that day when we recruited him, I knew nothing about him except that he was just some half-human, half-mech in the back of an old repair shop.
"Well, I am up for it no matter what! I'm by your side, Captain Greed!"
After all, you were there for us when we needed you. It only makes sense that we return the favor. Ophelia's words from earlier this morning.
"Do you have a program where you stop addressing me so formally?" I asked him.
"I absolutely do!"
"Can you turn that on please?"
"Absolutely, Captain Greed! Your wish is my command!" he replied obliviously.
"Never mind…"
"Keeper… Shut up!" Star groaned.
"Ah… I see the domesticated beast is with us…" Brand whipped his mechanical head around me to say to her.
"I see you're still as useless as every waking hour of your useless existence," she snarked back.
"See, why can't you ever just talk to me like that?" I asked.
"Like what, Captain Greed?"
I facepalmed and said nothing more. Jo was in the background while we bantered, bored as usual as she made herself a popsicle and began snacking.
We proceeded on our way back to the Den. It was time to address a few things.
***
Before we made it to the South Gate of the Valley, we stopped by the market to grab some ingredients Code told me to get for hot pot later. It was a bit ironic how no one noticed us without our standard Black Wolves uniforms. Even Brand was wearing a different kind of jacket than normal.
I heard trudging in the distance of the vast green fields that opened out to us.
There past a far grove, I saw the Wolves Den heaving and hauling in our direction.
"I was expecting to walk…" I said like a drag.
"I will call them back right now and tell them to head back, Captain!" Brand replied like he was ordered.
"No." I loosed a quick sigh. "Never mind…" I said futilely.
"Idiot," Star commented as she glared at him.
He ground his 'teeth' at her with a fist in her direction as the rest of us waited patiently for the walking castle.
The mechanical, steampunk atrocity arrived, perching itself at the end of the long bronze and stone bridge of a walkway outside the South Gate.
Steam burst as it settled and metal clanged in our ears, powering down for a moment.
Citizens who were passing by watched in contempt as the castle made a scene. It was then and only then they finally realized who we were.
Sooner than I could comprehend, gathers of people began to crowd and shout at me—all of them still satisfied with the answers I had given them the other day.
"And that's my cue," I said as we headed toward the Den.
We left without a moment's notice, evading the crowd of citizens that had accumulated.
***
When we were far enough away from the Kingdom, we perched the Den in a valley of tectonic plates to tie up a few loose ends. All of us—Daz included—were occupying the wide balcony atop.
"So when were you going to tell me Tartarus was compromised and Wrath escaped?" I dare commanded the Arcane King, wasting no time on the matter.
The others were there as well: Code, Ophelia, Jo, Havoc, Star, Brand, and Alice—who had just recently come back after leaving Belle at the Desert Kingdom—all of them to their own devices as we held this meeting.
Nash was in his room again for another two weeks, and Envy was being stored in a vacant room with monitors, Daz's sensors, and being kept watch by Arabella Housekeeping just outside where he was being contained.
"Wow…" Daz said, looking out into the distance. "Perhaps when we get back, I will ask Sirus to build me a moving vacation home!"
"Hey! I'm fucking talking to you, Idiot King!"
"Me?"
"That's it. Fight me!" Code and Jo held me back.
Daz cleared his throat, and faced me at last. "I was going to tell you once you accepted to come along."
"An underlying motive… Now I decline."
It was silent atop this balcony now. Only the howling winds spoke for a moment as they passed by us.
"I urge you to reconsider your stance," Daz said and I felt the air shift.
"No."
"By the Keeper… you truly are selfish."
"You might as well have asked us to die." All eyes were on me now. And he didn't respond, so I went on, "Wrath is a monster."
Daz held my stare for a very long time. And then he responded, "I know."
The tension thickened. I took my time to think…
Back when we Sins were younger, our father—the Lord would always make us fight. It was his way of 'awakening' our abilities.
Abilities that were different than magic. Abilities that stood outside the standard rules. Ones that could break them and push past.
If the natural enemy of magic is Tantra—the lack thereof—then what the Sins had was a hybrid of the two. Something that looked like magic, but felt like Tantra. Though at the time, I didn't know what else to call it.
Out of the seven of us, I was the one that could never awaken it.
And out of the seven—even though Pride's power was nothing to pass up—Wrath's was one I never wanted to be on the other end of.
He humiliated me with that power of his…
At times I just wanted him to say "Die" and get it over with. He never did. Probably ordered by father to keep me alive so I could suffer. Or maybe back then, it put more strain on his body than I knew…
But the worst part of it all was that solemn look on his face after every win. Mocking me. Looking down on me behind those false, kind eyes of his.
If time had given Envy an edge, what more for Wrath?
If I was honest with myself… I was deathly afraid. And it seemed… Daz knew that as well.
This whole time, nothing was said.
For some reason the last thing Wrath said to me when we were younger arrived at the forefront of my mind.
You understand why you lost, right?
Daz let me brew in my thoughts as I met him again with a glower from my two piercing black eyes.
"Promise me one thing," I said.
He listened.
"Promise me, my crew will be safe no matter what."
He stared at me for a moment, closed his eyes and turned away. He faced the beautiful view of green valleys and shifted tectonic plates as the breeze fluttered his brunette hair.
When he spoke, it was assurance in and of itself.
"I think you're all capable of promising yourselves that. After all," he said, but his next words caught me off guard like a bad memory resurfacing again, and forcing me to recall,
"You're ex-W.M.A.. What do we possibly have to lose?"