175 Old Scars and New Wounds

What laid before the group was a scene unmistakably unnatural, even beyond what Reed had grown tolerant of. There was a limit to his resolve. Reed was willing to push forward and do what was necessary in the face of great adversity, but what loomed inside of the fissure was something that demanded more than just a determined spirit. 

Five mountains stood solemnly inside the fissure, their strange peaks barely jutting out of the miserable scar on the ancient city. As much as the group wanted to deny, they were unmistakably...

"....Fingers," Ophelia said in a lifeless voice, "But that can't be—" 

"What? They can't be real? Are you seriously listening to yourself," said Reed mock-disbelief.

He gestured towards the colossal hand inside of the fissure and said, "You are imbued with the essence of a deceased goddess, can manipulate reality itself as you see fit, and have some understanding of the monumental threat that exists outside this sealed world and yet...

You still cannot come to terms with what we have already explained to you? Even after it's staring at you in the goddamned face?!" 

Just do it, Reed. Say the words and don't hold back. 

Reed marched up to Ophelia, grabbed her shoulders, and shook them. He knocked on her helmet and said, "Wake. The. Fuck. Up. Because if this too much for you to accept, then you sure as hell won't be able to handle whatever's down there in that... pit of souls." 

His words were scathing and incredibly rude, but he was absolutely right. Nevertheless, Reed's direct approach had not been the most optimal course of action.

Horatio did not take kindly to Reed's brutish act and quickly interceded on Ophelia's behalf and shoved Reed backward with a strong push. The youngest Silverline of the Restus family did not pursue the matter any further, but the indifferent gleam in his eyes told another story...

He was holding himself back, not wishing to further exacerbate the already tense situation. Where another man might have gone off the rails after seeing their beloved treated the way Ophelia had been, Horatio had kept his wits about him.

It was proof of the quality of training he had received and the level of maturation he possessed as an individual. 

Reed laughed when he noticed the buried hostility with Horatio's eyes and said, "Good on you, Horatio. You're a real stand-up guy, you know that? Must be really hard living like a good dog twenty-four-seven though, am I right?"

You can apologize later. You can ask for forgiveness later as much as you want.

Horatio did not respond, but the glare in his eyes intensified. He would not allow himself to fall for such cheap provocation.

They will still be alive if you do this, friends or not.They won't have to die a meaningless death because of their foolish naivety. 

Even though Horatio still kept quiet and had not retaliated in any way, his restrained emotions had begun to unravel out of their shackles. When Reed felt tiny surges of Anima beginning to envelop Horatio, he knew that he had gotten through to him. 

Alright, it seems I've finally struck a nerve. One more push should be enough to set him off.

...Still, I think I might be getting too into the role. I should probably tone my insults down a notch before I say something completely unforgivable.

Alas, Reed's plan would never come to fruition.

Lu'um very easily recognized what Reed was doing and slammed her foot down on the ground with a portion of her strength. A small tremor shook her immediate surroundings and caught everyone's attention in an instant. 

"Enough. I will not allow this circus act to progress any further than it already has," said Lu'um with a dispassionate tone reminiscent of an executioner from Hell. 

Reed clicked his tongue. He had hoped to sow enough discord to warrant a change of plans, but he had been curtailed near the end of his goal. Truth be told, Reed had expected Lu'um to catch on from the beginning, but he had not anticipated to have been foiled so quickly. 

Ahhh... I really can't do anything bad with this girl around. And yet, here I was chastizing Horatio about being a dog. Well,Imade an honest attempt at playing the dickhead.

Lu'um angrily strode toward Reed and did something that left the group speechless. She yanked one of his ears and pulled on it until Reed screamed in protest.

It was a disturbing thing to see a nearly eight-foot man, a genetic monstrosity of a human, howl like a child as he desperately tapped on the arm of a woman who was no less abnormal.

They looked less like real people and more akin to statues in some kind of abstract art piece. The absolutely alien environment behind them also did not help in the slightest, either. It dyed the entire event in an eldritch light in a disturbing sort of way. 

Two strange fellows tussled about in a ruined field of interspersed crystal pillars and shattered city buildings in front of a... colossal hand that shot up from the depths of the earth.

Surreal couldn't even begin to describe the spectacle as Lu'um subdued Reed into obedience with an expression of pure wrath.

It was a literal fever dream made real, which made the disturbed trio wonder as to whether they were actually awake or not...

Unfortunately, for Reed and Lu'um it was anything but a nightmare. They knew it to be real and understood that it was something they had to deal with, whether they liked it or not. 

To them, everything that the trio had experienced so far constituted a "normal day". There was nothing special about it.

And that was where Reed had found it troublesome. He, unlike Lu'um, realized that they were not normal people at all. What they had gone through surpassed the common sense of even the most veteran of Chosen on the continent, much less a couple of contenders like his friends.

To put it simply, he recognized that Astor, Horatio, and Ophelia were clearly out of their element. 

They did not belong here. Not in the mess that he and Lu'um were about to get into. The moment Reed saw what stirred within the black maw inside of the fissure, he knew that they could not bring them along.

They would die.

It was not a prediction, It was a guarantee.

Reed eventually capitulated and raised the white flag after a lengthy mental argument with his tormentor and better half. They had discussed at length on how they would proceed, all the while they squabbled physically on the outside.

The couple shot each other a dozen gazes that each had their own meaning as they approached the unsettled trio. 

"...Listen, what happened back there when I lashed out you guys... don't take it to heart. I was trying to bust your balls on purpose, but I... have seen the error in my method."

Reed sideglanced a certain someone when he finished the last part of his apology and received an appropriate reward for his honesty.

The heel of a certain foot subtly crushed one of his own feet with a horrifying amount of pressure. Reed's helmet visor fogged up mysteriously as his staggered breaths obscured his vision. He was gone.

"I'm sorry that happened, you guys. If anything, it's my fault — I should have known that he would have tried something like that. He can occasionally be somewhat imbecilic, but he always means well with what he does," said Lu'um.

Astor, the first to realize what Reed had tried to do, smiled faintly and said, "Don't worry about it. I saw through his ruse the moment he started baiting Horatio. I was gonna call him out on his bullshit first, but you beat me to the punch."

Reed skeptically frowned and said, "How?"

"You were trying too hard. It came off sort of stale and by the numbers for my tastes. A real piece of shit bastard wouldn't have held back his punches, buddy."

...What? But I thought I was going pretty hard on them. 

Horatio seemed pretty ruffled up, too. What the hell is he talking about?

Astor chuckled when he saw Reed's perplexed reaction and said, "You have no idea what real poison sounds like. If you want to hear what proper vile is like, you should go and enlist in the Patrol Corps for a year."

Horatio and Ophelia traded gazes in a language known only to them. A silent conversation was held in the span of a minute and after it was finished, Ophelia spoke up and said, "Don't worry about us, it's all water under the bridge. We know Reed meant no harm, after all, he's never been the type to speak ill of others. If anything, I was surprised that you were capable of even raising your voice like that, Reed. It really caught us off-guard."

Horatio nodded in agreement and said, "You were always rather reserved and somewhat quiet back during our Spire days. It always felt like you were walking on eggshells when you were around us, so your outburst real did catch me off-guard for a good while."

Astor smirked and slapped Horatio's back before he said, "It told you it was too forced, bud. Even this blockhead picked up on it."

Though he wasn't completely delighted with what Reed had said. He had done something stupid enough to warrant some reprimand.

"Still, you're real lucky that the Spirit of Bountiful Charity's signal is unable to pierce into the heart of the city. Had this entire spectacle been recorded, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened to Horatio and Ophelia..."

Reed frowned when he heard that and said, "That's true. I should have accounted for that. Sorry about that, you two."

Although they had dodged the bullet, it did not make Reed feel any better about what he had done. 

That was a careless mistake, even if I hadn't explicitly stated the nature of their hidden relationship.

Ophelia quickly interrupted and said, "It's alright, don't let get you down too much. No harm, no foul. Let's not worry about hypotheticals right now, okay?"

Generous, understanding, and forgiving.

More than ever, Reed felt that he could not let these three tag along with them any further. He had to put his foot down, now. For their sake.

He took a deep breath and said, "You can't tag along with us any further. I'm sorry, but I won't have your blood on my hands today."

The trio did not take what Reed had said too well and immediately started to object, but it had all fallen on deaf ears.

Reed understood where they were coming from and knew why they were so adamant about staying around.

He knew that this was something that had become a chip on their shoulders, but never really addressed it during their Spire days.

They wanted to prove themselves to him and Lu'um. To prove that they were not the same trainees as before. The same three fellows could not keep up with his rate of growth. 

Reed still remembered the day that they split apart and began to walk on different paths. He could still recall Lu'um's firm words when she settled the matter years ago.

He's too powerful for you to handle.

How are you supposed to grow if you're always going to be coddled by Reed?

You will only hinder each other's growth as unfortunate as that may be.

Her words range true as cruel as they might have been on the tender souls that had been his young friends. There was no way they had not taken what she had said to heart back then.

The years had gone by and they had undoubtedly grown and then some, but...

It just isn't enough. They tried their damnedest, but the fissures are outside their skill level.

Even we're having difficulties with them despite having a natural advantage of our own.

Reed clutched his chest and said, "You're going to die. I can't explain to why or how that's going to happen, but I can assure you that if you go down there, you're never going to come up."

Even Lu'um, who had been the one to advocate their inclusion into the operation, had changed her mind after she saw what laid within the fissure.

"It's hopeless for you three, as much as I hate to be the bearer of harsh news. I had originally thought that we might be able to guard you or at least keep an eye on you three, but the situation's changed. Take it from us in the kindest way possible — you will die if you down there."

Needless to say, the trio could not accept what they had just heard. It was one thing to fail, but to be denied even the opportunity to prove themselves was too much for them. 

That was unfair of them to say. To be judged before one even had a chance to state one's case was the height of unfairness.

Astor raised his hands up in frustration and said, "What are we supposed to do, then? Watch you two descend into the fissure and play the role of moral support? Do you mean to turn us into glorified cheerleaders?!"

Ophelia protested and said, "We've already come to the conclusion that there's nothing in the city that can help us with the infected cases in quarantine! The is solution is likely down there and you want us to sit up here and do nothing?!"

"We are duty-bound to participate in the retrieval of a solution to the Itroch cases. Although this is a joint operation between the North and the East, we have directives given to us by the royal family that supersede any orders that His Highness Goldentree might impose on us," said Horatio.

Reed couldn't refute anything that they had said. They all had counter-arguments worth their weight. He understood where they were coming from and sympathized with them but, even so, it all meant jack shit to him. 

When Reed noticed Lu'um about to answer in his stead, he raised a hand toward her. That was all that needed to be said between them. 

"...I understand, I really do. Whether this is an opportunity to prove that you've improved or not, I think Lu'um and I are both of the same mind that you three have grown since we have last met. I also greatly admire the motivation you have to see that your comrades are taken care, to the extent that you'd delve into the fissure to find a cure. 

The loyalty you have to your empire is also admirable, though I may not completely comprehend it as a foreigner in this world. I understand the attachment you have to your land and people because I— well, that's not the issue here. It isn't about me, this whole problem is about you three." 

It was funny. The words he was speaking to them was a million times harder to get out of his mouth than the stupid drivel he had assaulted them not too long ago. 

"You three are excellent contenders and have an incredible passion to make a difference, regardless of what may motivate you but..." 

Just say the words and don't think. You're doing it to save them from themselves. It's the responsible thing to do.

"It's still not enough. The difference between us too wide to be overcome with ambition alone. I didn't want to tell you three this, but since we're not being listened to I'll make an exception and tell you the truth." 

A tense silence filled the air in the midst of a desolate, surreal landscape. The blood-red constellation shone such strength that dyed the center of the ruined city with an ominous hue of pure dread. 

"I'm not at one hundred percent anymore. I've lost most of my strength as of late. In fact, I don't doubt that right now I'm probably only a little bit stronger than the three of you. No one knows this aside from myself, Lu'um, and now... the three of you. I have not told even the likes of Velvund for fear of worrying the poor old man too much."

The trio did not know how to respond when the truth reached their ears. It was as if they had heard the biggest joke in their lives. At first, they did not believe Reed and wondered if this was another ruse of his, but they eventually noticed that his tone was anything but sporting.

The look on his face was as grave as could possibly be. He looked as if he had died a little on the inside when he revealed the truth. 

"...Then how did you—" 

It didn't take them long to realize what it implied of Reed. How had he repaired the last two fissure along with Lu'um if he had not been at his full strength? 

Reed knew that if he was to convince them of the futility of their actions, he would have to deeper than that and said, "In reality, Lu'um's been handling most of the heavy lifting, despite what she might tell you. I... am just a living key at the moment, one that can fix these damned fissures.

That's the real truth of the matter— I would be a complete liability myself were it not for me being a necessity to fix the fissures. It's hard enough for her to handle protect my useless ass on these life-or-death situations, so what do you think will happen if you three tag along?" 

He had to drive the point across so that they could not even think about objecting anymore. Make them understand that what they were doing was beyond stupid.

"I would have died on both of the previous fissure operations had it not been for the assistance of other people saving my powerless existence. I'm asking the three of you to be bigger than yourselves and do the responsible thing— remain here and do not waste your lives."

It was not something he wanted to reveal to anyone at all, for doing so broke the illusion of what he was capable of. Though wary about the responsibilities that came with being a hero, Reed knew that heroes could not show weakness to the people. 

That was a taboo that destroyed whatever hope people had in a hero. Old scars and new wounds could not be shown in broad daylight. They had to remain hidden away from hopeful eyes. 

And yet, here Reed was... doing the very thing he had not wanted to do. 

...Still, it was a price well worth compared to what he would have lost had he not admitted it.