221 - Flash

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with me, Ambassador,” Dominic Vacek said as Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan walked into the office. He was so tall that he barely cleared the door, and he looked comically large next to the short, round Jerry, who'd led him in.

They both took seats at the other side of the table, and though Vacek had gotten the largest seat in the building for the ambassador, it still did not entirely contain his mass.

He was muscular for a Fae.

Vacek had offered to meet him at the Ambassadorial Island, but the Ambassador insisted on coming here anyway, because it was his first time on Earth in five decades, and he was curious to see what the hero headquarters looked like after all this time. 

Vacek could not read his expression very well, but he got the sense that the Fae male was disappointed. 

“That’s quite alright,” the Ambassador said, in perfect human language, though he had to swallow back some of his words, and his ear twitched while he talked. “I am happy to help. We would also like to get to the bottom of how a Luminary's child showed up in our Earth domicile.”

“Your guest said he just saw her in his room after he came back from his walk?"

“Yes, as I already mentioned to you last week. And the message from Ryn-Byul-Fo suggested that the young female had been teleported there, which of course makes no sense.”

"You said she was missing. For how long?"

“It is hard to tell. She was apparently being held by General Jyn-Fa-Ro of the Dark Fae during negotiations about a recent mine discovery. She was to be given back once the negotiations were over. However, unbeknownst to the General, her son took the girl somewhere. They have been gone for at least three human years, and I believe the Luminary expected never to see her again.”

"Was the Luminary upset? Didn’t he want revenge?”

The Ambassador weighed his words before speaking. “It had caused quite some tension between the two families, and we have had several meetings on how to handle the matter without outright war. If the General's son was still present, of course, he would bear the punishment, but given his absence, the punishment should then be borne by the General himself. We are still in meetings on how to handle such a thing.”

"Still?" Jerry said. "After three years?"

"Fae meetings take a long time."

Oh, don't I know it, Vacek thought wryly.

“Yes, but doesn’t he care that his daughter was missing?” Jerry asked. "Did he even try to look for her?"

“He has other spawns." The Fae male responded. "So the damage done to the Luminary wasn't too grievous. The punishment is based on the principle of it. He handed his daughter over, under the understanding that she would be kept safe. Instead, she disappeared. Adequate punishment and compensation were necessary."

"Right," Jerry said, but Vacek could see the judgment in his face. Jerry might be mild-mannered and risk-averse with most things, but he was very much a family man and had two daughters whose pictures sat on his work desk.

If anything happened to any of them, he would try his best to find whoever was responsible and make them pay.

"At least she's home safe," Vacek injected into the silence.

"Yes. The Luminary, however, is quite upset that his spawn mingled with all manner of creatures during her disappearance. Fae are very impressionable at this age and are only supposed to interact with other Fae. The Spawn has many imprints now, mostly that of another Fae, but there is some Eldritch influence on her, too. We are currently trying to fix the issue."

Vacek nodded. '

Jerry still looked disgusted by the cold descriptions of what was likely a traumatic experience for the child, but Vacek was already used to it.

The Fae did not really have the same parental instinct that humans did. The word they used for parental love was closer to obligation, a duty to pass on their legacy. There were also elements of pride in there, and they could certainly have affection for their spawn, but it was the same affection they would have for a friend.

Once matured, there was virtually no difference.

Fae gave birth to a lot of offspring over their long lives, and at least half of those were expected not to make it to first maturity, much less to adulthood.

Sometimes it was thanks to one of the many Fae diseases, other times it was thanks to abnormal imprinting that affected their development and proper integration into Fae society. Sometimes they were hunted down by Eldritch and killed.

Therefore, Fae parents didn’t really invest much into their offspring until at least the third maturity. 

“In any case," the Ambassador continued. "We have transported her back to the home planet to have her evaluated by our mind healers. They've spent some time piecing together her memories, but as of yet, it has not given us a logical explanation about what happened. Although there is a picture to suggest that she interacted with quite a few creatures in that dungeon and bonded with at least one."

“Including Lexie?” Over the phone, the Ambassador had mentioned that Lexie's name was the first word she'd said.

“Yes. She keeps saying that name. Is that the human girl you mentioned got lost in the dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“Well. The memories for such a young one are often tangled and not entirely representative of reality, but a picture of a youngish-looking female creature shows up a lot in the mind." A paper materialized in his hand. "I had it crafted for your perusal."

When he slid the paper over, Vacek saw the picture of a mildly monstrous-looking little girl with stern eyes and clawed fingers. She was skinny, nearly emaciated, with fabric hanging off her body. She looked half human and half demon, with a splash of fairy sparkles all around her.

She also had multiple hands reaching out of the picture.

Vacek frowned. He supposed it did look like a little Lexie, albeit a demonic version of her.

"Some of the details might not be real," The Ambassador said. "They might more-so represent the young one's burek toward the being. From my understanding of the image, she has bonded somewhat with this being."

Vacek nodded.

So now it was pretty much confirmed that Lexie had been in the dungeon with the Young Fae. The Ambassador wasn't lying or even attempting to be deceitful–Vacek had pretty much set up this meeting to make sure of that.

But the question remained, who had gotten her out of that dungeon?

Teleportation did not make sense because no one, not even the Fae, could teleport in and out of dungeons. And according to the ambassador, the message they’d received said a human mage and a former human mage had done it.

Was one of them Lexie?

How did she manage the impossible?

Well...it is Lexie Sparrowfoot you're talking about.

She’d already achieved a lot of seemingly impossible things.

But if she’d achieved something of this magnitude, something that not even the Fae had managed, that would be...she would be...

It was incredible what that would mean for Earth.

Excitement pounded in his chest, but Vacek tamped it down. He was getting ahead of himself. The teleportation might not have been Lexie's doing.

There might be something else they were missing.

“The dungeon will appear soon,” the ambassador said. “When we go in and retrieve the hostages, there will be an answer to all our questions.”

“Yes,” Vacek said, but he was still contemplating. He estimated that the dungeon would be back on Earth by the end of the month, although the dungeon was highly irregular, so it was just an estimation. Vacek was ready to meet it at any point.

It didn’t matter because they would be over it soon. 

"Thank you, Ambassador," Vacek said. "We'll call you if we need anything else."

"Of course, I–" The Ambassador's words stopped in a flash. He held his hand up to his ear as though he was receiving some communication, and his eyebrow went up.

This time, Vacek could read this expression clearly. It was a shock.

"What happened?" Vacek said.

The Fae's eyes flickered to him. "It appears we might get our answers sooner than we thought after all."

‘***

“Something is happening today,” Dewie said to Xena, who was flashing light beams at the ceiling with her finger. “Something big.”

“Oh yeah? Any idea what it is?”

Dewie shook his head. While he was getting better at foresight, thanks to Xena’s power and also his pathways being better primed for it, it still wasn’t as intuitive as it could be. He’d learned that he had to pay attention to something for a long time before he could decipher what it meant, which was counter to how he’d spent most of his life–avoiding the things he could see.

The key was focus and constant thought. Some visions took longer than others to comprehend. For example, he’d been able to tell that Jace was going to trip on his feet during a one-on-one duel yesterday, and he’d only needed five minutes of seeing the snake around his ankle to know.

Xena said that wasn’t real clairvoyance because she'd only needed one minute to guess that would happen.

But still it counted because Dewie had seen what would happen with perfect clarity.

Yet it had taken him a few days of staring at Jett's phantom rash to tell that he would come down with a cold, and by the time he realized it, it was too late.

Nevertheless, he was getting better and better, though he still needed Xena around.  

In fact, he'd gotten so much so that he was going to accompany Vacek's team on the dungeon raid to find Lexie.

That’s if Vacek managed to convince his father of it. His dad was still firmly against it, but Dewie didn’t care. He told Vacek that even if his parents said 'no', he was going anyway to save Lexie.  

“I don't know what is,” Dewie said to answer Xena's question. “I sensed it today with Jace before he left for the match, but it was just like a flash of something. I don’t know how to explain it, but his face. He was like...really shocked.”

“Huh,” Xena said. “It probably has to do with the match today. Maybe Torin actually loses to Patriot today.”

“Maybe. But then I think I saw something similar on Jett too, and he’s rooting for Patriot. And Ava doesn't care about the AFC, but it was on her face, too. Something is definitely happening at that match today.”

“Do you think it’s another unstable dungeon?” Xena stopped what she was doing, and her face turned pale. 

“I don’t know,” Dewie said, holding up his hand. “Do you think we should have gone?”

***

Xena thought about it and shook her head. The campus was half empty because most people had gone to the AFC match today. It was a highly anticipated match day with fights between a few of the majors, and Torin was also facing up against Patriot, who was the strongest competitor from the military academy.

Even though Xena barely paid attention to AFC news anymore, she knew about Patriot. The guy had burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere, a Berserker with advanced tactical skills that made him capable of reading his opponents' moves before they even happened. He was currently undefeated and definitely a threat.

Nevertheless, almost everyone expected Torin to win even though it might be close.

It was probably going to be one of the best fights of the year.

But Xena didn’t go. Not only could she barely stand to look at Torin these days, but she couldn’t watch the AFC anymore. It all reminded her of Lexie, and she hated that. 

Xena had received a handwritten letter from Conrad that had just gotten to her a few weeks ago.

Apparently, he'd wanted to check in on her after Lexie’s disappearance, and he told her that he was there to talk anytime. It was really sweet, but Xena couldn’t even be happy about the letter.

She’d burned holes in it with light rays, and when she was done, she’d cried harder than she'd cried in a while. 

So yeah, going to the AFC match was not going to happen. She was better off just hanging out in her room.  

“I’m going to get some snacks from the kitchen,” Xena said to Dewie as she got to her feet.

“Okay,” he said, and went back to reading on his pad when she left.

She walked out of her tower towards the cafeteria, taking the empty hallway, coming to a stop when she passed the spot where she’d last seen Lexie, on her way back from talking with Torin Firebringer. 

She remembered the last words Lexie said to her.

"Let's just table it till tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be a lot better after I sleep."

The memory had regret twisting in her chest. Tomorrow never came.

If only Xena had stopped her from leaving that night.

If only she’d warned her of everything that could go wrong.

If only she had told someone that Lexie was being possessed. 

She could never forgive herself for that.

“What are you doing?”

Xena whipped around to find Zakhar Shadowsbane coming up from behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

He arched an eyebrow. “I go to school here. Remember?"

"So do I, but you asked me what I was doing here first, so I thought I should ask you."

"No, I asked what you’re doing in general, because you’re literally standing there and staring at the wall.

“Oh.” Xena didn’t have a counter for that, which annoyed her even more. 

“You didn’t go to the match?” He suddenly spoke up, surprising Xena. She'd expected to walk off already with some kind of mocking statement.

“No," she responded.

“Why?”

“Didn’t feel like it. Why do you care?”

“I don’t.”

“Good.” 

“Good.”

He stared at her for another second, almost like he wanted to say something, but then he changed his mind and walked away. 

What was his problem?

As Xena headed back to the room, she saw that Dewie was now lying on his belly, staring down at the pad.

When he saw her, he gave her a guilty look. “Sorry. I put on the AFC just to check if I can figure out what's going to happen. But I have it on mute, so it doesn't bother you."

“It’s fine,” Xena said, throwing herself on the bed.

Maybe it was because of what Dewie said, or her encounter with Shadowsbane, but she felt unsettled now. As she pushed her power on Dewie, she kept trying to distract herself, flashing more light on the wall, but then she sighed and said, “Let’s just watch it together."

“Are you sure?” Dewie asked.

“Yeah. I want to see what all the fuss is about." 

***

Tate felt alive. 

He felt like he was flying.

This was the best he’d ever felt, probably in his entire life.

It wasn’t just the roar of the crowd around him. It wasn’t just the lack of pain or strain in his muscles, the freedom he felt when he moved.

It was the fact that he was keeping up.

He was keeping up with Boris the Berserker of all people.

Tate had barely trained for this match physically. Most of his training in the past few months was focused on his magical skills, which he couldn’t use much of in this match. The only thing he could really use was regular-ass force fields.

Yet, he was doing better than he’d done when he'd trained for Months with Conrad.

Even better than that, he was having fun.

He now understood why Boris always seemed like he was having the time of his life in the arena. Because he was.

Without the easy exhaustion and pain, without the pressure of expectations around his neck like a noose, this was actually fun. It was like dancing and warring at the same time. He and Boris had fallen into an easy rhythm, and even when Boris sped up, he kept up with it.

It was almost like he could see the moves coming in slow motion, and he had a counter for every counter. Not to mention his durability. Once Boris had sent him into a wall, and while it had hurt, it didn’t feel like before, like he wanted to die from the blow.

He'd also managed to land a few solid punches on Boris’ face, and both of them were trying their hardest not to laugh towards the end of the match, which was a Boris victory.

Nevertheless, Boris swept Tate up on his shoulder and ran off the arena with him to the sound of the cheering crowd.

They entered the lounge, which had other fighters, including Top Dog, who was just there to spectate with Conrad.    

"Not bad, pint-size," he said once they got into the room, and for once, Tate didn’t mind the nickname. He might be pint-sized, but he didn’t have pint-sized strength anymore.

At least for now.

Very soon, all that would be gone.

He would be gone too, but he would enjoy his time here until then.

After receiving accolades from the team, he went out to search for Aiden. He'd seen flashes of him while he was fighting in the crowd, and now...well, he just really wanted to see what he thought about the fight.

But when he scanned the crowd, he couldn't see him anymore.

He sent out a system call that went unanswered.

Then, he got a message on his system screen that ran his blood cold.

Tate,

By the time you receive this, I will already be gone.

You did amazing out there. I'm so proud of you and the person you've become. I'm also happy that I got to spend these months with you, as short and tragic as they have been. You have been a great support to me throughout, and I hope I have been that to you as well. I also hope you've learned that you are smarter, better, and more loved than you give yourself credit for.

You simply needed to open your eyes and see that.

As for where I have gone, I have gone to look for Lexie. I know I said we would do this together, but I cannot, in good conscience, drag you into something that might very well be a suicide mission. It is very likely that I won't be coming back, but no worries. I have left arrangements for you to be taken care of. Attached is my last will and testament. I will also send Emma, Max, and Luke copies. Please do not feel awkward about what I have left in there for you. It is only a token of how much I came to care for you in our time together.

I know time is not something you have the luxury of right now, but seeing you today made me all the more firm in my decision.

Tate-Live as happily and fully as you can.

Thank you for everything,

Aiden.

No.

No.

No.

A loud pounding echoed in his head.

Tate's knees shook as though something was crushing around him.

He should have known this would happen. He should be used to this by now. Whenever things were going too right, they would inevitably go wrong again.

But he didn't expect this...

He couldn't breathe.

The crowd began to make noise again for the next match. Tate scrambled his brain for how to get out of here and find Aiden.

And then he saw the flash.

Right in the middle of the field.

***

"Hey. You okay?” Flora asked Torin. There was noise all around them, from other hero-fighters, but Torin's corner was quiet.  

He nodded.

"You haven't said anything since we got here."

Torin shrugged. There was nothing to say. He knew he was being unusually silent. Flora, and Kai, who were also there, were both worried, and they thought that meant he was nervous about the fight.

But Torin didn't care about the fight.

He was just tired of telling everyone he was fine.

He was tired of pretending to be fine.

Nothing was fine. It hadn't been fine for months.

"Torin," one of the ushers poked their head into the room to call. "It's time."

He nodded and got up.

"Get your head in the game Tor," Kai said, and though Torin nodded, he didn't even know how to begin to get his head in the game.

Neither mind nor body wanted to be here.

He wanted to be home with Theo.

Theo was trying to find a way to get himself invited to a dungeon raid.

He had used Lexie's invisible frog card to spy on Vacek again, and that was how they knew that Lexie's dungeon would be coming to Earth soon.

Torin wanted to go too, but he didn't know how to get invited. Even if he did, his mother probably wouldn't let them both go.

Torin thought about it as he walked out through the tunnels to the shouting crowd. He barely heard them. The announcer's words were just a drone, too.

Once in the center, he also barely noticed his larger opponent, even when the other boy said, "Ready to get your head taken off?"

"He has a huge chip on his shoulder," Kai had warned. "Be careful."

Torin blinked at the smirking guy expressionlessly. He still didn't care.

He got ready for the bell.

Then a flash of something hit the field right in between them.

It was quiet, but shock had Torin jerking back.

On second thought, it wasn't really a flash. It was like the atmosphere split, opened to swirling chaos, and disappeared just as quickly.

"What the fuck?" His opponent said.

As the dust cleared, Torin blinked again at what was left.

Three people were standing on the field between him and Patriot

All three were covered in grime, dirt, and blood.

One was a woman who was pale and unconscious. She was in the arms of a taller Fae female.

Next to them, a small girl who screamed, “We need a healer! A human one. Now!"

She sounded familiar. 

Hold on...she looked familiar too.

Torin's breathing stopped. Everything stopped for a second. Two. Three.

No.

Yes.

No.

What?

She turned, and he met her eyes. Even with the blood and dirt on her face, with her overgrown hair and gaunt expression, he knew who it was.

"Torin," she said. "Where's my dad?"