Chapter Summary: Kai is too drunk for this shit.
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"Ta-da!"
Aiko made an extravagant flourish, smiling brightly as she presented the two-story house behind her.
Sadly, despite her immaculate presentation and theatrics, her audience did not react with the wonder she had expected, staring oddly at her instead.
Clearly, they lacked good taste when it came to showmanship, housing, and as a whole. Aiko just barely managed to contain the urge to grumble beneath her breath. And here she had been practicing that flourish for days.
It was, all things considered, nothing too special. When she received the request to find a house for Sunless, or Sunny as he preferred to be called, Aiko had expected to be looking for an absurdly big and opulent mansion, with a massive pool, far too many rooms, and some other extravagant, wasteful quirk. The kind that would show up in TV shows about decadent celebrities and politicians.
Instead, she had been asked for something like what they were looking at.
The house in front of them was two stories high, with grey walls and a slanting tile roof. It had a synthwood porch, a lawn that was currently covered by a faint layer of snow, and a big window opening onto the view of a spacious living room. There was even a garage for a PTV, and a hedge fence to separate it from the neighboring homes.
All in all, it was a relatively small, humble, but welcoming house. Kind of like the one her parents had always wished to own before they died.
Standing at the front was Sunny, his pale skin, mane of obsidian hair, dark clothes, and abyssal black eyes almost making him look like the Grim Reaper come to claim a soul. Aiko had even spotted an elderly couple hurriedly walking back inside their home upon spotting him.
The only other person present was standing beside him: a teenager who looked like a female version of Sunny, though far livelier. Rain was looking around curiously, taking in the details of the house.
"What do you think?" she asked, hoping to move past her embarrassment.
Sunny was looking around too, from the immaculate porch to the window and finally the roof, with a strange, disbelieving expression on his face. He did it a few times, as though he couldn't believe that it belonged to him now.
"I like it," he answered quietly.
Aiko nodded, proud of herself, but also understanding, to some degree, how he must have felt.
If things had been even half as bad for him as that terrible, tasteless movie -she didn't even show up!- had painted them, then this might very well be more than he had ever expected to call his own.
"You weren't lying when you said that you wanted a house close to mine," Rain said in an amused tone, lightly elbowing his side. "We are neighbors now."
Sunny chuckled lightly, making no effort to defend himself from her 'aggressions'.
"What's wrong with wanting to be close to my adorable little sister?" he asked, smiling kindly. "Besides, I also wanted something nice and affordable. Can you imagine the fortune I would have to spend to maintain a mansion like Neph's?"
Aiko wondered if he was aware of just how much every single house in the district, and likely around it too, would skyrocket in price if it came out that the Black Star lived here now.
She had already made plans to sell it for a whole order of magnitude or two more once he got tired of it. Former celebrity homes were expensive? Try a Saint and a celebrity like him!
Aiko could almost taste the fortune she... they! The fortune they were going to make out of this!
Coughing to hide her excitement at the idea, and wanting to escape the cold of an early December morning, she motioned for the pair of siblings to follow her inside so that she could complete the tour.
Following Sunny's requests, the interior was minimalist and simplistic, more functional than decorative, and as reinforced as it could feasibly be. Though she had also followed a little of her own feminine instinct to add some touches that the boss would surely appreciate.
If this was to be their little love nest -though why they didn't say so evaded her- then she couldn't just allow Sunny's lack of taste to ruin it. The boss better be thankful.
She walked them through the living room, dining room, kitchen, pantry, and the small guest room that Rain unceremoniously claimed as her own for when she wanted to come over. Though Sunny complained about the needless decoration -what did he mean that not leaving a room empty save for the bare minimum was excessive!?- he didn't really seem to hate it, so she took it as a win.
After a short visit to the underground dojo and the bunker he had asked to be installed for Rain's family's sake, they finally went upstairs to the second floor.
In there, while Rain looked over the home office and the two smaller bedrooms, Aiko made sure to inform Sunny of the 'safety' measures installed in the main one.
"The room is completely soundproofed," she said suggestively.
Sunny looked at her oddly. "That's... great?"
Nodding at the fact that he understood, she pointed at the king-sized bed next, with its frame made of an extremely resistant metal alloy.
"There are no Saint-proof beds on the market, but this Master-proof bed should hold as long as you are careful," Aiko continued explaining in the same suggestive tone.
Disappointingly, he didn't react with an over-the-top scandalized expression as she had expected from Effie's stories of him.
If anything, he looked confused.
Ah, she understood. The boss was crazy. Of course, there was nothing capable of scandalizing him anymore after being in a relationship with Nephis.
She was going to explain some other features, but Rain came over at that moment, so she saved that information for another time. It was a pity; it had taken a while to find all the things Effie had suggested she get.
The visit ended shortly after that, with the pair of siblings remaining inside to explore more at length, while Aiko got into her PTV and started driving to her next task.
Sunny wanted to throw a housewarming party, and as always, she had been saddled with making the preparations.
Nephis was so lucky she paid well.
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Plink
The room she was sitting in was old and decrepit, long past its glory days. Though she seriously doubted it had ever had them.
It reeked of mold and old paint, as well as the vermin that had made it their home before they too succumbed to the lack of food on the outskirts.
The roof was caved in at the center of the room, leaving a wide-open hole through which the wind flowed and droplets of rainwater fell from the rusty pipes of the drain and onto the ground, where a small puddle of acidic water slowly accumulated.
Plink
The smell was almost like a punch to the stomach for her senses, heightened as they were even above those of most other Saints. Of all places to set a tether, it just had to be this one.
Fortunately, Cassie didn't have to wait long before the person she had been waiting for deigned to appear.
The first thing she noticed was the smell, iron with an oddly spicy touch, as though the blade itself was burning with a deeper purpose. The sound was next, almost imperceptible if she weren't alone in a quiet room with no other distractions present.
With a quiet shink, Cassie felt as much as heard space being severed just enough for a presence to appear in the room before the cut in the fabric of reality mended itself as though the cut had never been there.
The final thing was sight, though not her own. Through the newcomer's eyes, she saw a blonde woman sitting quietly on a plain wooden chair, a rapier placed on her lap and her back against a moldy, barely standing wall. Those very same eyes narrowed immediately after, and Cassie was sure that their owner was already considering whether to kill her where she stood.
"Congratulations, Saint Morgan," she spoke first, seeking to seize the initiative in the conversation.
Plink
Another drop of water landed on the floor, and at the same time, a light burbling could be heard as she felt Morgan's hand turn into a mass of liquid metal from which a sword emerged, already pointed at her throat.
Though the Princess of Valor made no sound to indicate it, she didn't miss the way Morgan glanced at her own hand in surprise, as though she herself were surprised by such a thing happening. The transformation of a Saint took time to be mastered and understood, but it was also something deeply instinctive, explaining why she had invoked it so naturally.
"How did you know?" Morgan asked, increasing the pressure of the blade just enough to draw a drop of blood.
Cassie adopted a mysterious smile, the kind she knew the woman before her expected from the all-knowing oracle she presented herself as.
"It's obvious enough, isn't it?" she answered lightly, refusing to flinch when the sword pressed tighter.
Plink
"You saw me in a vision," Morgan answered herself, and her eyes narrowed again.
"Correct," Cassie agreed, her smile remaining unmoved.
"Should I expect Black Star to show up and end the job?" the Princess asked next.
Morgan's sword pressed deeper once more, enough for a thin stream of blood to start flowing. The message you won't live long enough to be saved was loud and clear.
"He won't get a better chance to end me than now, after all. And I doubt he's not the resentful kind."
Plink
A drop of water and her own blood touched the ground at the same time, and Cassie still didn't flinch.
Slowly, very slowly, her small, dainty hand rose to grip the edge of the sword and push it away from her throat. The blade was so sharp and Morgan's Will so ferocious that she was cut even though there was no friction behind the movement.
"Sunny is not coming," Cassie answered in the same light tone.
Even though the other woman allowed her weapon to be pushed aside, she didn't seem any less wary of her, as the tension in her posture indicated.
"Changing Star, then?" Cassie felt a sharp smile painting itself across the woman's lips. "I must admit that I'm looking forward to a rematch."
A small, vindictive part of her, the one that didn't appreciate being held at sword point, was tempted, very tempted, to tell Morgan of Neph's new status. She silenced that part, aware that it would make things far less manageable.
It was a close thing, still.
"No, I have come alone," she replied calmly, letting go of her smile now that it had accomplished its objective.
Morgan tilted her head, her grip hardening on the metal hilt of her sword. Whatever she thought was beyond her, but it was probably some variation of what is she playing at?
"What are you playing at, Elegy of the End?" So she had been right. "If you are as omniscient as you pretend to be, then you knew the exact moment I would return from my Third Nightmare, yet you come alone and, as far as I can tell, with only that pitiful Echo as defense."
Cassie shrugged leisurely, as though her answer wouldn't decide whether she was going to die in the next few seconds.
"I came to talk," was the answer she gave after consulting her Awakened Ability.
In the precise simulations she witnessed through it, this was the only answer that didn't result in her becoming a head shorter almost immediately afterward. And she was already plenty short, thank you very much.
Morgan observed her quietly for a long, tense moment, her body language screaming just how tempted she was to swing her blade and put an end to this farce once and for all.
Then she threw her head back and laughed.
Plink
Drops of water and blood hit the ground once more.
Cassie calmly retrieved a bandage from one of her hidden pockets and slowly started dressing her bleeding hand.
The Princess of War turned silent after laughing, though it only lasted a moment before she took a step back and her body bubbled once more, reabsorbing her sword. A throne of black steel emerged next from her body of liquid metal, upon which she sat with all the dignity and poise of a queen overlooking a low-life she was about to execute.
"Then talk," she ordered imperiously.
Cassie did not beat around the bush.
"You hate your father."
"I do," Morgan agreed easily, her voice almost making it sound like she was asking, Why are you stating the obvious?
"You also hate the responsibilities and expectations placed upon you," she continued.
Morgan tensed, and the smell of spiced iron intensified across the room. Though she did not strike at her, Cassie could almost feel the small wound on her neck grow minutely deeper.
Plink
"Are you going to make your offer already, or do you love your own voice that much?"
Cassie smiled apologetically. "I'll cut to the chase, then."
"Do so."
"Join the Immortal Flame clan," Cassie said with complete seriousness. "We can offer you protection from Valor, freedom to pursue your own goals, and the chance to prove yourself as just Morgan, rather than as the Princess of Valor."
The sound of groaning metal reverberated across the room as Morgan gripped her armrest so tightly that it bent.
Cassie did not flinch, blind eyes still looking unrelentingly forward.
"I didn't know that, aside from being Changing Star's oracle, you were her jester," Morgan said, her voice filled with steel. "My father can crush all of your precious clan with a flick of his Will."
"He already tried to and failed," Cassie answered, omitting the fact that it was only Ki Song's interference that stopped him from doing so in the end.
Morgan laughed again, full of mirth and vindictive joy. She muttered, "Not so easy, huh? You old bastard," beneath her breath, low enough that she probably didn't expect Cassie to be able to hear.
"And what of when he tries again?" the Princess prodded.
"We have contingencies," she replied evasively, not wanting to share that information.
Morgan hummed thoughtfully, and Cassie could feel through her body language that she was genuinely considering it.
Time passed slowly as the Princess of War thought, seconds turning into minutes as she ruminated on the decision.
Plink
In the end, the answer was always bound to be the same.
"No." It was said with such conviction and authority that the word itself almost gained weight. "I refuse to change one tyrant for another. Your precious Changing Star wants me? Then let her come personally so that I may say the same to her face. No more compromises, no more obeying someone else's whims. I will live under my own rules and Will, and no one else's."
Morgan leaned forward on her throne, and a sword swiftly bubbled its way out of her palm and was poised at Cassie's throat once again.
Plink
"Now tell me, why shouldn't I kill you here and now?" she asked dangerously.
Cassie smiled serenely. "Your father would want you to."
Morgan froze, staring at her for a long moment, long enough for her heartbeat to start accelerating, before she erupted into laughter one final time.
"Changing Star's jester indeed," the Princess said with a shake of her head, and took the sword off her neck. "Very well, you have convinced me."
She nodded calmly and stood up with slow, unhurried grace. Had she shown any doubt or weakness, Morgan would have struck.
"The offer is still open, if you ever change your mind," Cassie said with the same calmness, already turning to walk out of the room.
Behind her, Morgan didn't even bother to reply, already leaning back on her throne.
With the same slow, unhurried steps, Cassie left the building behind, revealing nothing of what she thought about the results of the conversation.
Back in the room, only once Morgan was sure that she had left -and unaware of her Ascended Ability- did she finally allow her exhaustion to catch up with her and sprawl over the throne. The very same one she had conjured just to hide that she could barely stand anymore, exhausted beyond words after the harrowing Nightmare she had challenged.
Cassie didn't smile until she was many blocks away from the building.
For a moment there, she had been worried, thinking that Morgan would accept the offer and ruin her plans.
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Jet sighed, massaging her temples in an attempt to stave off the incoming headache.
She was dead. How come she was still suffering from the damn things?
Maybe she could pretend a Nightmare Creature had snuck in and destroyed the pile of paperwork she still had left to complete? It couldn't be avoided; there was just so much of it that it could almost be considered to have gravity of its own; a Nightmare Creature would surely be attracted.
She had expected many things after Cor left to challenge the Fourth Nightmare, but being saddled with his paperwork wasn't one of them.
The old bastard.
Setting Crow Crow on the paperwork and claiming it had been a Nightmare Creature was starting to sound very tempting...
"You already tried that, and it didn't work."
The glare directed at the paperwork turned to Winter instead. The other Saint raised her arms in an act of surrender, still wearing those ridiculous polarized glasses even though they were deep inside the Government's headquarters, and finished entering the room, closing the door behind her with her hips.
"I didn't say anything," Jet replied coldly.
"We both know what you were thinking," Winter replied, slowly lowering her hands as though asking her not to attack.
Rolling her eyes, Jet dragged a hand across her face and agreed.
"How do you get yours done so fast?" she asked, desperately hoping to find out the secret.
Winter smiled impishly. "You know how my Aspect allows me to never miss a target? It can also be used to never miss where I have to sign the forms. I get them done in barely a minute nowadays."
So that was why Winter's secretary always double-checked her paperwork...
That poor, overworked woman, having to deal with such a horrible boss.
...
Would hers mind if she did the same?
Shaking her head, she cast the paperwork out of her mind for the moment and turned to meet Winter's dark eyes.
"Anything I can help you with?" she asked in a tired tone.
"Not really. Just wanted to see if you are still up for tomorrow night."
Tomorrow night? What happened tomorrow night?
Jet grabbed a synth-paper cup and filled it with water from the cooler while she thought, her mind sluggish from all the work she had been doing in the past few hours, not helped in the slightest by how tired she was after handling the Gate that had opened earlier in the day.
At least her team-up with Sunny against the Corrupted Tyrant had been fun.
It was only when the refreshing liquid hit her throat that she finally remembered.
Saint Thane had organized one of his social gatherings, and she had been invited. Though that wasn't saying much, given that the eccentric Saint's events were minor Awakened Balls in their own right, where you could be expected to find a good chunk of the upper class of Awakened and Mundanes alike.
Honestly, she was going to refuse, not interested in the slightest in such things, until Winter had insisted. How she could make puppy eyes that well with those creepy eyes of hers, she had no idea.
"Yes, I am," she answered, placing the cool synth-paper cup against her forehead, hoping that it would help with the headache.
"That's my bestie!"
Rolling her eyes again, Jet set the paper cup back on the table and lifted the pen to keep working.
Winter took it as the request to leave her alone that it was and stood up to leave her office.
Distantly, she heard her steps starting to draw away, only to stop right before she opened the door. Confused by the hesitation, Jet looked up in time to see Winter standing still, her hand placed on the handle without moving.
The air thickened, a silent tension building up in the room.
"What is it?"
Winter didn't answer immediately, looking at the door for a good while longer before turning around with a serious expression.
"How do you think it's going?"
On another occasion, she might have told her that she couldn't read minds and asked her to explain what she actually meant, but this time it was easy enough. She had been thinking of it just a little earlier, after all.
"No idea," Jet answered honestly. "For all we know, they are wrapping up the Nightmare right now, or they're all dead."
There were Memories out there that could be used to track if someone was still alive, but those were produced solely by the Sorcerers of Clan Valor and were highly regulated by the Clan due to their strategic significance. Given the secrecy involved, neither the Government nor House of Night had been willing to risk attracting their attention by requesting one for their participants in the Nightmare.
Jet could still remember the one time she had bought one for herself, back when she was still Awakened, out of curiosity about how it would interact with her Flaw. It had instantly shattered. The Sorcerer's dumbfounded face still made her laugh whenever she remembered it.
"You know Wake of Ruin better than I do," Winter continued, her grip on the handle a little tighter. "Do you think he can succeed?"
"The old bastard? Probably. If he managed to survive decades under the Sovereigns, he can survive a measly Nightmare." She said it confidently, the mere idea that Cor would die that easily absurd. "What about you? Dale was part of your unit, wasn't he? What do you think are his chances?"
A smile drew itself across Winter's face. "That blockhead? His only talent is taking hits until his enemy gets bored and allows him to win out of pity. I'm sure he's fine."
They shared a laugh at that, the air already much lighter.
Winter left shortly after, and Jet resumed working.
Minutes passed in silence as she slowly scribbled her way through the forms, though, in truth, her mind was elsewhere.
Cor had grown on her at some point, and whether she was willing to admit it or not, she was concerned too.
"You'd better come back, old bastard," she muttered beneath her breath. "There is a lot of paperwork I'm going to saddle you with when you do."
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They lowered the small wooden vessel into the water, their movements careful not to dislodge the occupant.
It was a person, wrapped up in a shroud and coated with flammable materials.
All of them watched in grim silence as the vessel started drifting away with the currents, carrying its occupant into what he hoped would be a better place.
Finally, once the vessel was about to disappear on the horizon, he unleashed the flaming arrow Memory he had prepared, and the vessel was set on fire.
Cor sent one of his crows to watch until the very end.
Dale had made the ultimate sacrifice so that they could live to see another day; the least he could do was not miss any details of his last moments.
"He was a good man," Knossos muttered, his voice grim and filled with mourning.
"That he was," Cor agreed quietly.
And that was the problem, wasn't it? How many good men had he buried already? How many more would he have to before the world was safe?
It was at times like this, when it looked like it would never end, that he truly felt his age.
"We must continue," Typhaon said sternly.
Despite his words, the man's face was set in an apologetic expression, his body language screaming that he despised the words that came out of his mouth, necessary as they were.
"Typ..."
"No, Knossos. He's right," he interrupted. "Our mourning won't bring him back. The least we can do now is go ahead and conquer this accursed Nightmare."
The two men returned his determined stare and nodded with a heaviness that he felt in his bones.
Cor forced himself to stop thinking about it and started walking first. Knossos and Typhaon hesitated for but a moment before following.
His crow watched until nothing remained of the vessel carrying Dale's remains, and Cor vowed to complete this Nightmare. For Dale, for the Government, for humanity itself. It was his duty, and he wouldn't allow anything to stop him from fulfilling it.
A minute. In the end, that was all the time he could afford to mourn before forcing himself to look ahead.
The objective of the Nightmare wasn't clear just yet, but he had the sensation that the rumors of a Daemon being present in this land were somehow related.
-------------------------------------------
Kai brought the glass to his lips and drank it all in one go.
The liquid burned on the way down, bringing with it an itching sensation that made him feel as though there were an army of ants marching down his throat. Surprisingly enough, the taste was quite pleasant.
"I didn't expect to really find you here," someone commented.
It was a woman, tall, silver-haired, and with an emotionless face that left you wondering what she was thinking. She had shown up without him even realizing it and took a seat beside him without asking for permission.
Kai regarded her quietly and briefly considered asking what she was doing here.
He didn't, both because he already knew and because he wasn't sure if he could voice it without sounding like an accusation.
"Nephis," he greeted quietly, then signaled the smiling bartender to hand him another glass. "How did you get past the check-up at the door?"
The place was quite exclusive, after all. The kind that required a very expensive membership and was invitation-only.
Nephis had the money and the status, but he had never expected her to accept an invitation to a place like this.
"I didn't," she replied simply. "I just walked through the door, and nobody stopped me."
Ah, right. It wasn't like anyone would be brave -stupid- enough to tell a Saint to go away. He must have drunk more than he thought he had if he couldn't figure that out.
"Should have expected that," Kai admitted, then returned the bartender's smile when the next glass arrived.
This one was a deep amber, "liquid gold," he thought it was called. Probably because of the price. As a Master, it was hard to find alcohol strong enough to affect him, which meant settling for exclusive -tacky, in his opinion- clubs like this with Awakened staff.
It burned on the way down, so that worked well enough, at least.
Nephis invoked a silencing Memory and activated it, her expression still as unreadable as ever.
"We are worried about you."
It was with surprise that he realized she was frowning, just a little, but she was. The frown only deepened when she saw him down another glass.
"Why would you?" Kai scoffed. "It's clear you don't value me enough as a friend to tell me the truth."
Nephis didn't rise to the bait, merely looking at him with those calm gray eyes of hers.
"You don't answer our calls, stay away from your house, avoid all of us, drink alcohol like it's water, and I'm supposed to not be worried?" she asked evenly.
Kai's grip on the glass tightened. "Why do you care?"
"Because I care about you," she said, and damn her, but the words rang true.
He was tempted to smile, agree that he might have taken it a little too far, and apologize for worrying her. All of the things that were expected of him: nice, polite, stupid, naive Kai.
"I don't want to hear it," he said instead.
Nephis didn't flinch.
"What's your plan, then?" she asked, looking him up and down. "Sit here and drown your sorrows? If you want me to leave, say so and I will. But I would much rather we talk about this like adults."
For once in his life, he hoped that his Flaw would activate and tell him that she was lying. It didn't, and Kai was forced to accept that she was being honest.
He gritted his teeth and glared at Nephis, finding her calm gaze more infuriating than it should have been possible to be.
The glass in his hand cracked when he grasped it too hard, splitting into two jagged shards that scratched against his palm. He left them on the counter and smiled apologetically at the bartender, who didn't seem bothered.
Kai looked at his hand next, which was completely unharmed. The body of an Ascended was far too resistant to be even scratched by something like normal glass.
Her hand shot out too fast for the eye to follow anyway, white fire coating his hand to undo any possible damage.
And damn her, but he was grateful for that.
"How can you be so calm?" he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice quiet. "You enslaved Sunny. Forced him to stay back. Lied to us for years, and yet you are sitting there, looking as though you did nothing wrong. How? Just how!?"
Nephis let out a long exhale, and for the first time in the conversation, her expression shifted, revealing a weariness that ran bone-deep.
"Do you want to know what the first lesson my father taught me was?" she asked calmly.
Kai narrowed his eyes but nodded, at the same time signaling the bartender for another glass.
"It was to control my expression. 'The face is like an open book for those who know where to look, little Nephie,' he would say. 'Every twitch, every movement, is a betrayal of intention. A proclamation of what you think and what you are going to do.' So he taught me how not to show emotion, how to wield my facial expressions like I would any sword. I didn't stop when he died, practicing for countless hours until nobody could tell what I thought."
Nephis' hands closed into fists for a moment before relaxing.
"To answer your question: I'm not calm. In fact, I often find myself the opposite when I remember what I did."
Once again, her words rang true.
"Is everything you have said the objective, unembellished truth?" he asked anyway.
"Yes."
Truth.
Kai felt relieved and resentful for it at the same time.
"Did you force Sunny? To forgive you or something of the like?" he asked with steel in his voice.
If she said yes or lied... he swore he would summon his bow and attack. She would beat him easily, but he intended to make her pay for it anyway.
"I didn't. I haven't ordered him even once ever since the Crimson Spire," Nephis replied immediately, and just like last time, the words rang true.
"So what? Sunny just let it go like that?" he asked, straining to keep his voice from breaking. "Someone as petty and vengeful as that just decided to let it go, forgive and forget?"
Nephis exhaled once more, and for the second time, her expression shifted slightly.
This time, it was an odd mix of sadness and joy.
"We didn't tell you the full story of our encounter with Merias. I'll give you the details on another occasion, but in short, that coward's words were the straw that broke the camel's back for Sunny. All of the tension between us, the paranoia, the things left unsaid overflowed, and we fought."
Kai scoffed. Of course they had hidden more things from him.
"So what? You won, and Sunny was left with no other option but to submit?" he asked bitterly.
"No, he won," she admitted without pause. "Sunny defeated me, had a knife poised at my throat. He could have killed me then, and I wouldn't have been able to resist. Do you know what he did then?"
"What?" he asked, feeling as though the answer wouldn't be a pleasant one.
"He asked me why I wasn't ordering him to stop, but I didn't answer. He asked me again, even ordered me to. I refused." She took a deep breath. "I made a promise, Kai, to never order Sunny again. If dying was what it took to keep it, then so be it." A faint smile drew itself across her lips. "In the end, he chose to try and forgive me instead, hard as it might be."
Kai swallowed the lump in his throat, finding himself at a loss as to what to say. What could he say after hearing that?
He could ask again if she had been telling the complete, objective truth, but it only took a look at her face to know that she had. He wouldn't, anyway. Reliance on his Flaw was what had brought him to this very moment; to keep doing it wasn't the way forward.
Thankfully, his glass arrived right at that moment, and Kai was spared from having to say anything but a quick "thank you" to the bartender before he left again to give them privacy. He brought it to his lips and drank it in one go.
When he set it down, Kai spent a long time looking at its clear bottom before he finally found the words.
"I need more time."
Nephis looked him in the eyes for but a moment before nodding and standing up.
"I understand," she said, and her words once more rang true. "Take as much time as you need."
He watched her go in silence, the silencing Memory going away with her, and Kai was met once more by the endless noise and chatter of the club.
Kai asked for another glass, "Black Forest" or something like that this time. He was sure that Sunny would love to rant about them, how expensive they were and how stupid they sounded. That idle thought brought a smile to his face at last.
Guilt followed right after.
He was furious at Nephis for what she had done.
But in truth? He was more furious at himself for not figuring it out on his own.
He had noticed the signs: her evasiveness, the suspiciously similar way in which she always told it, the way they looked at each other. He had told himself that it was nothing, then, when he couldn't deny it anymore, that it couldn't have been that bad. Maybe they argued about it, fought even, but ultimately had done nothing that couldn't be taken back.
Kai had been blind of his own volition, and for that, he didn't think he would ever be able to forgive himself.
"Rough conversation?" the smiling bartender asked while cleaning some glasses.
Kai turned in his direction and properly looked at him for the first time. He was a young man, maybe in his thirties at most, handsome, with dark hair and light brown eyes. The smile on his face seemed honest enough, unlike the usual plastic ones that he was used to.
"You could say that," he agreed quietly, sipping from his drink.
"It happens," the other man said empathetically. "Just remember that bad things are usually followed by good things."
Quirking an eyebrow, he stared oddly at the man. "Where did you hear that? Sounds weird."
"That's what my pastor always says. You should attend one of his masses. They can be quite enlightening."
The bartender put a hand in his pocket, and from inside it, he retrieved a small business card, which he passed to him.
Not wanting to be rude, Kai took a look at it. The first thing he noticed was the name of the organization, Church of the Moon, in big, bold letters. He also saw the address of what he assumed was their place of congregation and a communicator number.
"Sorry, but I'm not interested," he replied politely.
"I understand," the man said and fell quiet.
Kai was thankful for that, grateful to be left alone with his thoughts.
Although... for a brief moment, he could have sworn that the light brown eyes of the bartender had turned... golden?
Shaking his head, he decided to tone down the drinking a little.