by L. C. Mawson
Empathy nodded, a look of distaste across her features as she followed Love back outside.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Neither Love nor Empathy returned to the masked woman.
They didn’t need to, since Love now had control of her complete abilities again, and Empathy had never visited the masked woman out of anything other than curiosity.
With Love now able to control her powers, and the wall nearing completion, she spent her days going through the city, relocating nests while Vengeance and the younger Aspects watched her back.
“Okay, I think we’re done for the day,” Vengeance said as a group of Dragons made their way out of the city.
Love frowned, looking to the sky. “It won’t get dark for hours yet,” she protested.
Vengeance nodded, placing his hands on his hips. “True,” he conceded. “But it’s the middle of summer. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure the days are longer here than back home.”
Jealousy gave a hum of agreement. “But they will probably be shorter in winter,” they explained.
“Regardless, it’s not winter now, and we shouldn’t overextend ourselves.” He turned to Love. “You’re looking a little on the tired side.”
Love frowned. “I feel fine,” she told him.
“That doesn’t mean you should push yourself. Everything is going according to plan, if not ahead of it. There’s no reason to push yourself more than you have to.”
Pain nodded in agreement. “If you tire yourself out, you may not be able to finish getting all of the nests out of the city.”
Vengeance shook his head. “Not that there is any need to worry about that now. I am far more concerned about your health than I am about whether or not you can finish moving all of the nests. So many of the nests have already been moved, I’m sure the rest of us could handle getting the others.”
Love gave a humourless smirk. “That’s assuming that the masked woman would let you.”
Vengeance sighed. “At the very least, you should take a short break. Go back to the Tower for a week and sleep in a real bed again.”
Love tensed up at his suggestion before shaking her head vigorously. “No, I’m fine,” she said, a little too quickly.
He gave her a sympathetic look after a moment. “Ah, I forgot Hate was still back there.”
Love looked away, knowing that any argument over his assumption would sound false.
“What happened between you two, anyway?” he asked. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but... Well, your explanation that you just ‘wanted different things’ still confuses me.”
Love sighed. “It still confuses me as well,” she admitted.
“I mean, you know I hate to sound like I’m infantilising you, but what kind of different things could you possibly want at sixteen. I mean, this isn’t a case of one of you wanting something casual and the other one not, not after a year in a serious relationship.”
Love nodded. “With trying to reclaim the city, I had been focusing on what that meant our future could look like,” she explained. “I had always kind of thought that my future will involve, you know, getting married and having kids. All of the stuff I couldn’t remember from my own childhood.”
“And Hate broke up with you because...?”
“Because she was vehemently opposed to the idea and said that she never wanted anything to get in the way of what she wanted to do with her life. Which I guess I do kind of get, I just think...” She trailed off, unsure of exactly what she thought. If she had the words, she would have said them to Hate already.
Vengeance had an unamused look. “Are you actually kidding me? That was why you two broke up?”
Love sighed. “Well, it’s why Hate broke up with me. She’s never given me much opportunity to talk her down whenever she’s decided that us being together is a bad idea. Not that she should necessarily give me that, I mean, if she really doesn’t want to be with me, I have no right to demand she hear me out, I just...”
“You just think she’s being an idiot, because you are both – again – only sixteen and you probably aren’t even going to start seriously thinking about this kind of thing for another ten years?”
Love nodded. “Yeah, that. But this is what Hate does. It’s what she’s always done. She sees a problem in the future, and no matter how big or small it is, she bails. When we were dating before I became an Aspect, she was worried that I would get sick of her having to sneak out to meet me and she wanted to call it all off before we had even really started going out. And then when I became an Aspect, she was so convinced that us being together would eventually dull our powers, even though we had no proof that it was doing that at the time, that she refused to even entertain the idea of being together...”
“And now she can see a point in the future where the two of you might want different things – despite the fact that, again, you have a decade before you’re probably even going to start thinking about this seriously, and there is no guarantee that either of you will still want the same things at that point – so she broke up with you?”
Love nodded. “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”
Vengeance groaned. “And all of this drama is why you lost control of your powers and why we almost couldn’t reclaim the city?”
Love gave a sheepish shrug, looking away. “Well, it sounds bad when you say like that...”
Vengeance gave her an unamused look. “I can’t imagine why,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You know, you probably should try to talk some sense into her. I mean, you’ve done it before, and yes, you should respect her wishes if she truly doesn’t want to be with you again, but hell, this is an incredibly stupid reason...”
Love sighed, folding her arms. “You know, a few weeks ago, I probably would’ve agreed with you, but now... I finally have the full use of my powers back. If I get back together with her, what’s to say that our relationship wouldn’t damage my powers again. Maybe that was the one thing she was right about all along.”
Vengeance shrugged. “Maybe,” he conceded. “But maybe it won’t matter now. I mean, you have already figured out how to use your powers without Hate, so why would getting back together with her now cause them to stop working? You won’t suddenly switch back to using her as the foundation of the powers, so it would probably be fine.”
“I don’t know...” Love said, shaking her head. “I’ll think about it, but I would rather just focus on reclaiming the city for now.”
“And as commendable as that is, I’m still recommending that you go back to the Tower for a week to rest, even if you don’t talk to Hate. We’ve been out here for months now. To be honest, I’m going to recommend to Justice that we all start splitting our time between here and the Tower, not least because I think she and Loneliness need to start doing that more. The further along Loneliness gets, the closer to a hospital she needs to be.”
“Good luck convincing her to leave this project to the rest of us.”
Vengeance gave a humourless smirk. “I won’t pretend that it will be easy, but she’s my sister as much as Justice at this point. I know what buttons to push.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
While Love had no want to see or talk to Hate, once Vengeance had suggested that she should take a break from moving the monster nests and return to the Tower, everyone else jumped on the idea enthusiastically. Not least Justice and Loneliness.
Love had tried to insist that she was fine, that she really didn’t need to go, but she could see by how quickly they were ready to pack her off that the others were still feeling guilty about how much they were asking her to do, and they saw this as an opportunity to alleviate that guilt.
Love decided that she wasn’t going to argue with them over that. It would only make them feel worse, and as Vengeance had pointed out, they were reasonably close to reclaiming the city.
One week couldn’t hurt.
So, Love found herself arriving back at the Tower on Sleepy’s back, more t
han a little nervous.
Could she really avoid Hate for the whole week?
Sure, they had their own apartment in the Tower, but Hate had practically moved into Love’s months ago. Had she been staying back in her old apartment since she'd arrived back? And what about communal spaces? Would Love spend her entire time while she was back asking the Tower AI where Hate was so that she could avoid her?
Love grimaced at the thought as she hopped off Sleepy, but still found herself asking, “Lita, where’s Hate?”
“Hate is not currently in the Tower.”
Love frowned. “And where is she?”
“There have been reports of strange creature activity just outside the walls of the city. Hate had been putting off investigating until more Aspects arrived, given that it didn’t seem to pose an immediate threat. However, as soon as she heard that you were on your way, she headed out to deal with the problem on her own.”
Love groaned. “Seriously? She was so desperate to avoid me that she went out on a dangerous mission?”
“There is no evidence to suggest that the mission would be any more deadly than those usually embarked upon by the Aspects. Protocol dictates that she should have taken another Aspect with her, but she seemed confident that this was not necessary in this case.”
Love rolled her eyes. “I bet she did.” She shook her head. “Never mind. I’m going to go to my apartment and unpack. Tell me when Hate returns.”
“Of course.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Love had to admit, after having a long, hot shower and changing into clothes that had been cleaned with a sufficient amount of softener, that Vengeance had been right about her going back to the Tower for a short rest being good for her.
She hadn’t realised how much being around the others constantly had been draining on her until she was alone again. It was like breathing clean air for the first time in months.
As she finished unpacking, however, she looked at the clock only to frown.
“Lita, has Hate returned?” she asked, wondering if the AI had malfunctioned, or if she'd simply been too lost in her own thoughts to hear.
“No, Hate has not returned.”
Love’s frown deepened as she looked out of the window. “It’s getting dark... Even if she hasn’t finished her mission yet, she should really be arriving back by now. Lita, did she say when to expect her back?”
“No, she did not. However, the reports she was investigating are on the Control Room terminal. That’s where she has been working from while the rest of you were away from the Tower.”
Love nodded. Usually, the Control Room was Empathy’s haunt, but with her gone, she supposed it made sense that Hate had made use of it when dealing with official Aspect business. It would still have all of Empathy’s information on the location of the nests surrounding the city.
Love made her way to the Control Room, finding that Hate hadn’t shut off the terminal when she'd left.
She never did...
Love quickly scanned over the reports, seeing that the creatures had been edging their way closer to the city. Close enough to be seen, but that was it.
And there was no evidence to suggest that new nests had formed...
Love frowned. There was no reason why creatures would venture close to the city if their nest wasn’t nearby. They had to know that it was dangerous.
And even then, why would they come close, only to leave as soon as they were spotted?
It didn’t match up with anything they knew about creature behaviour. Except...
Except when the creatures had been controlled by a Rena.
A Rena like Geral.
Or like the masked woman...
Love headed straight for Sleepy’s nest, grabbing her staff, a Rena pistol, and an armoured vest as she went.
She hoped she wouldn’t need them, but she refused to walk into this unprepared. Not if Hate had done the same thing, and was now potentially in danger.
“Come on,” she said to Sleepy as she climbed on her back. “I can’t believe I’m hoping for an awkward encounter with my ex instead of a rescue mission, but here we are. Let’s go...”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Love arrived at the coordinates that Hate had highlighted in the report on the Control Room computer. The coordinates of the last creature sighting.
Love’s blood turned to ice in her veins as she spotted Hate’s bike, but no one there.
That didn’t mean anything, she told herself as Sleepy set down next to it.
They were at the edge of a dense forest, so it made sense that Hate would leave her bike outside the treeline. It would have been dangerous to ride it inside.
But Love still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
That Hate’s disappearance had a far more sinister explanation.
Love slid from Sleepy’s back, though the creature made sure to stay close as Love approached Hate’s bike.
The bike seemed to have been parked, not crashed, but there were fresh claw marks along the side.
Love tried to activate the engine, but it only sputtered for a moment before dying completely.
Love bit her lip. One of the creatures had clearly attacked Hate, and while she'd seemingly managed to land her bike without incident, Love doubted that whatever creature had attacked her would have simply given up.
The only hope Love still had that Hate was okay was the lack of blood in the surrounding area. The creature hadn’t attacked Hate here, which meant that Hate had managed to get away before they had caught up with her bike.
There was a possibility that, given that she would have been on her feet, Hate would have been able to evade the creature through the forest, but that would rely on the creature being unfamiliar with the terrain.
Love went back to examine the claw marks, trying to ascertain exactly what kind of creature had attacked her. If creatures from nests further out were venturing towards the city, there was a chance that the creature wouldn’t know the area, which could give Hate the advantage.
As Love ran her fingers over the damage, however, she realised that it was warm to the touch.
She frowned. The section she'd touched was nowhere near the engine, it shouldn’t have been warm...
She moved her fingers over the metal just above the damage, realising that it got colder the further away she moved from the hole in the metal.
She examined it once more, almost cursing aloud as she realised that the edges of the metal were melted, not frayed.
A creature hadn’t caused this damage. Heat had. Heat that had most likely come from a Rena weapon.
Love tried to ignore the knotting in her stomach, but it was difficult. If it had been a Rena who had attacked Hate...
As Love stood back from examining the bike, she heard a rustling behind her, causing her to spin around and draw her staff.
“Hey,” she heard as the newcomer approached and she managed to identify her as the masked woman. The masked woman held up her hands to show that she didn’t have a weapon. “It’s just me.”
Love responded with a glare, refusing to drop her staff. Instead, she tapped the end against the ground to electrify it before pointing it towards the masked woman’s throat.
“Okay, I know we didn’t part on good terms, but this is a little extreme, don’t you think?” the woman asked.
Love just glared at her. “Extreme? Hate is missing, and her bike was grounded by a Rena weapon. The only people on Earth with Rena weapons technology are the Aspects, and you. As far as I’m concerned, that makes you the prime suspect in her disappearance. So no, I don’t think this is an extreme reaction at all.”
The masked woman sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry that Hate is missing, but I promise that we are on the same side. Whoever attacked her is probably why I’m out here in the first place.”
“What do you mean?”
“I first came to Earth to find you and your sister because I was sure that more would fo
llow Geral. I had hoped that they wouldn’t come so quickly, but it appears that I was wrong. I began to suspect that there was another Rena on Earth a few weeks ago, and I have been tracking them ever since. The trail led me here, so I can only assume that they were the one who attacked Hate.”
Love frowned at her. “And why should I believe you? You have given me no reason to trust you, and you have certainly given me no reason to believe that you don’t bear ill will towards Hate.”
The masked woman sighed again. “You know, ever since I realised the extent to which the original Aspects were revered here, I have been wearing this mask so that I could move freely. I suppose I should have realised after you brought me the tapes that I didn’t have to fear that from you...”
The woman slowly lifted her hand, making it clear to Love that she wasn’t going to attack as she went to lift the mask from her face.
After she'd pulled it from her startlingly familiar features, she turned to Love with eyes that were identical to her own.
“You... You’re Captain Jia?” Love managed, sure that her inability to read faces was tricking her.
“Well, I can’t say that I have ever gone by the title ‘Captain’. Most stick with ‘Princess’.”
“But you’re dead. You’ve been dead for centuries. Rena lifespans aren’t that much longer than Humans, even if your death had somehow been faked, there is no way that you would still be alive...”
Princess Jia nodded. “That is, indeed, true. As far as I’m aware, Jia – or, Captain Jia, I suppose I should call her for simplicity – came to Earth and died here.”
“But... You’re saying you’re her?”
“In every sense that matters, yes, but I suppose there are some who might disagree with that assessment.”
“I’m very confused.”