“Are you sure about this? There’s no rush, you know…”
Rei wasn’t in the least bit surprised that she seemed to be aware of why it was he’d gathered them all together. He supposed there was always the chance Aria had explained what had been discussed in the Security Center training chamber, but Rei thought it more like she’d only said they would be meeting in the Arena, leaving out the rest of it so as to avoid proving questions. Viv, if anything, probably only had the clues set before her now, in that moment.
They were clearly more than enough.
“Yeah,” Rei answered her quietly, ignoring Catcher’s odd looks over her shoulder. “Yeah. It’s time for her to know too.”
Viv pulled back, appraising him a moment more.
Then—either because she saw his conviction or knew better than to argue when Rei’s mind was made up—she nodded.
“Come on, you,” she said to Catcher, reaching back to grab the Saber by the sleeve, hauling him past Rei quickly. Rei didn’t turn to see where they went, but judging by Catcher’s confused protests, Viv had only dragged him to the end of the row.
Leaving him alone, once again, with Aria.
Facing her now, Rei’s mouth was dry. All the weight, all the doubt and concerns, bore down on him at once. Again he saw her back, saw her turned away from him, as she had been in his fitful dreams. Again he tasted that fear. In her face now, too, he could tell that she wasn’t without her own worries, her own uncertainties, and all of a sudden he started to question if he was, in fact, ready for this.
His answer came from Aria herself.
She hadn’t looked away from him, even as Viv had done her last diligence. She hadn’t looked away, even as he stood sweating silently before her. Her green eyes watched him steadily despite her nervousness. She was taking him in, her forehead wrinkling a little in what might have been concern. He wondered what she saw, there, wondered which of his dreads she could make out.
Whatever they were, they seemed enough to spurn her into action, because suddenly she took two steps forward, halting now no more than a foot from him.
“Rei… It’s okay. I’m not going anywhere.”
The words, a repeat of the very promise she had made to him that morning, turned out to be exactly what Rei needed. The assurance settled into him, and like a key clicking into place he felt the latches of his hesitation open and fall away in slow succession. Taking a breath, then another, he lifted Shido’s right band to his face, pulling his NOED as he did.
Rei didn’t tell her not to shout. He didn’t swear her to silence, didn’t instruct her not to speak to anyone of the information he was about to share, or warn her of the potential repercussions if she did. He didn’t say anything, in fact.
He just input commands to grant Aria viewing permission, then swiped them over to her in silence.
The script popped up in Aria’s frame instantly, and she squinted a little as she took it in. Realizing what was expected of her, she accepted the allowances, then looked down at Shido’s black-and-white steel, the glowing blue of its vysetrium bright in the fading light of the day. Rei watched, feeling like he couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to, as the Specification Request scrolled up over Aria’s green irises, her pupils flicking back and forth in quick succession as she read each line carefully.
Then, at last, she reached the bottom of the list.
As with Viv, as with Catcher, Aria froze. She didn’t reread the line, didn’t trace it again and again, as though unsure if she had taken it in correctly. Instead, she just stared, transfixed on what had to have been a single character, the one letter that popped out to anyone who had access to Rei’s numbers.
S.
He said nothing. At his back he didn’t even notice that Viv and Catcher, too, had gone quiet. Rei only lowered Shido, watching Aria stare in shock at his Growth Rank. Not counting Valera Dent, she was the third, now, that he had shared it with, but there was nothing less concerning or alarming about seeing someone register the truth of the situation, understanding the reality of Shido’s true strength:
Potential that might very well be without limit.
Finally, at long last, Aria closed her frame with a slow blink, though she kept staring at the same spot she had before, like the text had been burned into her version. After another few seconds she turned, still gazing off at nothing, and eased herself unsteadily to the nearest cushioned seat. Once settled, she was quiet for a time yet.
Then she opened her mouth.
“Ooookay, then… Wow…”
That was all she said for nearly half a minute, her mouth and cheeks twitching as she obvious struggled to come to grips with Shido’s specs. Eventually her face shifted up towards Rei—though she kept staring at the same spot, as if her mind couldn’t quite let go of what it had seen—and asked the eternal first question.
“That’s real, right?”
“It’s real,” Rei answered with simply.
Aria nodded slowly, pausing once more before speaking again. “And… it’s been like that since your assignment?”
“Since day one.”
Another nod, this time coupled with a second “Wow…”
The silence this time only held for 10 seconds or so. Then—with a sharp inhalation—Aria seemed to come to herself a little.
“Well I get why you would be worried about showing me,” she got out with a strained smile, looking at Rei directly, this time. “That… That’s a lot to trust someone with…”
“I told you already. That’s not why I’m worried about…”
Aria managed a tight grin. “Well you should be. This is a big deal, Rei. A really big deal. Telling more people than already know is… well…”
“Necessary,” Rei finished while she struggled to find the words. Before she could obviously insist that that was very much not the kind of statement she’d been trying to make, he pressed on. “For my own sake, Aria, it’s necessary. We’re too close. I don’t mean that in a bad way, mind you. I just mean that there’s no separating us anymore. You, me, Viv, Catcher. To pretend like everything is fine and normal, all while Shido grows like it has been… I would feel like the relationship I’ve developed with you guys—with you—” he couldn’t help but make her distinct, even in some small way, “—would all be structured on a lie. For my own sake, it’s necessary.”
Aria had watched him carefully as he’d spoken, and when he was done it only took her a second or two before she nodded slowly. “I get that, I suppose… It’s not like I didn’t know something was going on, but this…” She shook her head in disbelief. “S-Ranked Growth, Rei? I was betting you were A. I’ve heard it happens on occasion. But S?”
“It’s a first,” Rei admitted, feeling a little of her amazement himself. Despite the five months they’d had together, now, Shido still didn’t seem quiet real to him if he thought too much about it. “At least according to Valera Dent.”
“The chances of that…” Aria murmured, her gaze drifting while she considered. “I was one of the top assignees in the ISC, this year, Rei. After I developed Third Eye, I honestly probably became one of the top hundred in the galaxy, maybe fifty. The likelihood of that was astronomically enough, even with my family history. But you…” She blinked, then looked at him sharply. “Have you thought about what this means? Like really thought about it? Do you understand what Shido is going to become?”
At this last question, Rei felt his heart sink a little. This. This was what he had been afraid of. Aria had asked him what Shido was going to become. Shido. His CAD.
Aria, though, read him like a book.
His face must have fallen, because she narrowed her eyes at him, scrutinizing Rei so intensely she might have been trying to make out his thoughts. Something seemed to click with her after a moment, because her expression softened, and she even smiled again—with a bit less difficulty, this time.
“Let me rephrase: do you understand what you are goi
ng to make Shido become?”
Rei felt his jaw drop halfway open, catching himself in his surprise. Again, however, Aria didn’t miss it, and she laughed.
“Ah. I get it. That’s what you meant when you said you were worried about me seeing you as someone else.” She contemplated him a little more, her face drifting back towards serious. A moment later she stood up, coming to stand in front of him again, even closer this time, like she wanted to make sure he could hear her every word. “Rei… As much as I would get flack for saying it from every instructor I’ve ever had: Shido is not a part of you. It’s a tool. A learning one, sure, but at their core our Devices aren’t anything more than weapons and armor we get to disguise as fashion accessories.” She lifted Hippolyta in example, the CAD’s green glowing over its red-and-gold. “You’re being unfair—to both of us—if you think I’m ever going to think of you as anything but yourself. When I told you—” She paused, her gaze lifting briefly to where Viv and Catcher had to be waiting a ways behind Rei, and when she spoke again her voice was lower. “When I told you about the colonel, I was worried what you’d think of me. I was worried if it would change your opinion of me. It’s why I’ve been… been quiet, since Tuesday night…”
Her face flushed a little, but Rei pretended he didn’t notice as he nodded.
“I know. I’m really happy that you trusted me with that, but…” He smirked. “If it’s unfair that I’m worried about this, then it’s unfair that you were stressing about—”
“No.” Aria cut him off. “Not it’s not. I’m not going to go so far to claim that I wanted this situation with my uncle—with my family—but it’s still something I had a say in. Something I’ve taken advantage of, if only in small ways. If someone was going to judge anyone, you should be judging me, not the other way around.” She smiled again, and it was definitely starting to come easier, now, the warmth of it spreading through Rei’s chest and into his limbs. “But—since you decided to show me that—” she glanced down at Shido “—I guess I was worried about nothing.”
“You were,” Rei assured her. “Your family pressured you, Aria. And it’s not like you’ve needed help getting to where you are. You didn’t want to come here. You would have been happier in the Sol System, right?”
Aria’s smile turned crooked, and she shook her head. “No… No, I don’t think so. I’m glad I came here, in the end. You and Viv and Catcher…” She hesitated, and something like sadness flashed briefly across her face. “I haven’t had friends like you guys in a long time, Rei… Maybe ever. And now this.” She looked down at Shido again. “I’m excited about this. I admit that, but not because you’re something more, or less, or different. It’s not you that’s changed. CAD-assignment isn’t arbitrary, or randomized. Our exam wasn’t just to separate us into ‘yes’ and ‘no’ categories. We were assigned based on aptitude, based on potential. Shido shouldn’t make you you in anyone’s eyes.” She was meeting his gaze steadily now, and Rei managed to keep himself only a little distracted by how close they were. “If anything, the fact that it has specs like that says more about the kind or person you are—and might become—than it says about your Device alone.”
Though she’d spoken quietly, once she was done Rei felt like his ears were ringing. Far below, Sense, Kay, and Joy were the only three left in the Arena with them, still warming down after their matches, but the distant echo of the trio’s conversation and occasional laughter was lost to him.
He had eyes only for Aria.
Like a vast weight had been lifted off his shoulders, Rei felt like he could have leapt off the marble seating and taken flight, then. He felt… hot. Energized. As though he’d been released from chains he’d only been partially aware of. His fears melted away, letting her words sink in as he took her in, and when he could let out a shaking exhalation Rei became aware of a distinct, almost-painful clawing in his chest.
Unbidden, he found himself lifting one hand to grip at the fabric of his jacket, over his heart.
“You’re gonna be trouble for me,” he muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” Aria asked with a faint smile.
“Nothing,” Rei answered quickly. “Just… I’m happy. I think I was more worried than I realized, about all this…”
“About revealing to me that you’re probably a unique case among every User to have ever lived, and that your CAD likely has the potential to become an engine of destruction of ungodly proportions?” Aria cocked her head at him in feigned confusion. “Can’t imagine what there was to be worried about…”
“Hey! I thought I was the one with potential!” Rei retorted with a mocking frown, crossing his arms and going for a pout. “Wasn’t that the whole point of your speech?”
Aria laughed. “Sure was. But I didn’t think calling you an ‘engine of destruction’ of any proportion would have come out right…”
Rei almost choked, and it was his turn to feel the heat of his face. “Yeah… Okay. Maybe not.”
Aria continued to grin at him. After a few seconds, though, her expression shifted, her gaze sharpening.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she said. “You have thought about it, haven’t you? Where you could take Shido?”
“Yeah…” Rei nodded unsteadily. “A lot. Like… a lot, a lot. I try not to, anymore, actually. It becomes hard to process.”
“Of course it does,” Aria said gently, and for a moment Rei thought she might reach out and touch him. Her hand twitched, but if she’d been considering anything she seemed to think better of it, because she only repeated herself. “Of course it does. All the Users I’ve ever heard of who’ve been assigned B-Ranked specs end up impressive, in one way or another. I can only imagine the As are the same. So you…” Her expression shifted into something between pained and excited. “You’re kind of in your own class, aren’t you?”
Rei snorted, gracing her with an uncertain smirk. “Are you trying to make me feel better? Cause if you are you should go back to telling me again how you’ll never see me as anything thing less than me.”
“Sorry!” Aria said quickly, realization dawning on her face. “Sorry! I just… I got caught up in it, I think…”
“It’s okay,” he assured her with a light laugh. “Trust me. I know the feeling. But yeah… I’ve thought about it. For days on end, especially after Shido started to grow. You might not believe it, but I started in the low Fs. Like… really low Fs.”
“I definitely believe it.” Aria nodded. “For a D6 most of your stats seem to average closer to E9, if you exclude your Growth Rank… If you started at F8, that means everything else must have been abysmal to being with. What did you start with? F3s? F4s?”
Rei made a face. “Try F0s. Almost unanimously across the board. But it’s okay,” he kept on quickly as Aria looked shocked. “It’s okay. Shido grew fast, even just against simulations. By the time I got my letter from Galens, everything was a lot higher.”
Despite his assurances, Aria’s surprise only faded a little. “F0s… Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Rei answering, waving her incredulity aside. “But it’s okay. It didn’t take too long for me to get some sense of what was happening. Maybe not as in-depth as I do now, but I had a basic grasp. If anything, to say I’ve only thought about it would be an understatement…” He sighed, recalling the constant state of astonishment he’d been in, in those early weeks. “Honestly, I don’t want to brood over it anymore. If I did, I would start obsessing, and I can see that being a spiral I could take downwards really easily, really fast. So trust me. Trust that I’ve considered, okay?” He grinned a little. “Or at the very least trust that Valera Dent and the rest of the higher officers who know my specs are watching me close enough to make sure I don’t go all ‘evil ruler of the galaxy’ all of a sudden, or anything.”
Aria blinked. “Evil ruler of the… What now?”
Rei grimaced. “Nothing. Forget it. Something Catcher once said.”
&
nbsp; After a second of quiet, Aria giggled. “I’ll have to tell him you’re quoting him. He’ll be way too pleased.”
“Don’t. You. Dare. Don’t get him started.”
“Or what? You’ll go ‘evil ruler of the galaxy’ on me?”
“If you force my hand, you never know…”
Another pause, then the two of them burst out laughing together. Rei felt the last of his trepidation melt away. This was how it was supposed to be. This was all he could have hoped for. No more secrets. No more invisible chains.
No lingering on Shido’s heavy truth.
As though it had been waiting patiently in the wings for him to take notice, Rei’s stomach decided that was the moment to let him know with a rumble that his appetite had returned.
“Oh man…” he muttered, recalling how he’d only picked at his breakfast and lunch for nerves, that day. “Pseudo-tyrant or not, I’m still starving.” He glanced to Aria. “Want to head to dinner?”
“Definitely,” she answered brightly. As Rei turned to make the aisle, though, she stopped him with a word. “Wait.”
He looked around at her again curiously. She was smiling at him, and there was something even warmer about her, now, something that seemed to have her glowing.
“Thanks,” Aria said softly. “For telling me. I feel… It makes me happy, knowing a little more about you…”
Rei had to stop himself from snorting again. “If you think this ‘a little’, you’re gonna be really disappointed when you find out that’s all the fun and secrets I have to doll out.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Huh?” Rei frowned. She’d spoken so quietly, he hadn’t quiet caught what she’d said.
“Nothing,” Aria told him quickly, stepping forward and prodding his shoulder to get him going. “Now move it. You’re not the only one who’s hungry.”
Rei didn’t need telling twice, and together they made for the end of the row. Viv and Catcher had taken up the last seats by the stairs, and didn’t bother hiding the fact that they’d clearly been waiting for them anxiously.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 60