"So close!" Kyo glared daggers at his fingers for failing to properly execute the bar chord transition. Every time he tried, his fingers would clam up. "Bar chords suck," he leaned back and groaned with the strength of a thousand old men.
Ragna chuckled at his frustrations. "Those can be a real pain, yeah." Thirty minutes had gone by since Rachel departed and he'd taken over as guitar instructor for the two siblings. Admittedly, not much progress had been made. He peeked over where Noel isolated herself and found her still fidgeting. Ragna understood social interactions weren't her strong suit but felt this was different. She kept going back and forth in and out of the living room, looking no better than what she left. It concerned him but he refrained from bothering her. I'll pick her brain about it later. "You're still fixing some bad habits so it's nothing to get too pissed about."
"But you were able to play it," Kyo grumbled.
"I've just been playing longer."
"How long have you been playing?" Emy inquired. The skill he demonstrated was far beyond that of her brother.
Ragna considered it for a second. "Probably, uh… three years? If I'm factoring in all the breaks I took in between and stuff."
"No wonder you managed to play the whole thing so quickly!" she awed.
Honestly, it wasn't a hard song; Ragna managed to get through it after a couple tries. That may have been intimidating to Kyo in hindsight, but he insisted on practicing nonetheless. "Is there a reason why you wanna learn this song so badly?" Ragna questioned. The boy seemed intent on mastering it, if his zealous practice and disappointed sighs when he messed up indicated how important it was to him.
Kyo hummed. "I think… uh, yeah. I think I just like it. One day I heard it, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. I feel comfortable when I listen to it." Words couldn't do it justice. The song was called To the Twilight and it brought a wave of nostalgia every time he heard it. "Whatever mood I'm in, angry or whatnot, the moment I hear this, I just feel at peace. That's why I wanna learn it. I just really like it."
"That right?" Ragna had a couple songs like that. He initially picked up the guitar to have something to busy his mind from all the crap in his life. At some point it wasn't needed anymore and he shelved it. It was a nice guitar, too. Now he felt a little guilty making the poor thing collect dust in his closet.
"The lyrics tell the story of a defeated woman who followed her heart and found the Twilight," Kyo went on.
"Here I thought the melody was sappy enough. What's the Twilight supposed to be?" Ragna asked.
"It's more symbolic than an actual place. However, that isn't the main point of the song. It emphasizes the journey more than the destination." Kyo lazily plucked the first couple notes of the song, closing his eyes in rumination, filling the residence with a calming ditty. A smile tugged at his lips, as if recalling something pleasant. "That's why I think it's called To the Twilight, instead of just The Twilight or something like that. Maybe I'm overthinking things."
Now Ragna was curious. "What'd she lose? Or is that up to interpretation, too?"
"She lost her son."
"...Oh." The massive tone shift made him clam up. Kyo ceased strumming and his eyes fell to the floor. If Ragna knew asking would trip a landmine, he would've kept his mouth shut. "Listen, sorry for—"
"But that's…" A wistful smile curled his mouth. "That might be why I like it so much. Why it resonates with me. It's something I can relate to." Kyo looked at Ragna in consideration, who stared back at him expectantly. "I, uh, don't know my real parents. Never met them," was the bomb the boy dropped after much deliberation.
"I see." Ragna kept his response neutral, let him know he was actively listening while showing no pity. Sometimes, that could be the worst feeling to receive. Although Ragna wasn't too proficient at reading people, when it came to sifting through a certain mindset, he had a PhD.
"I got passed around from home to home. Some of them were nice, and others not so much. But in the end they all tossed me out. Every time I got picked up I always waited until they eventually dropped me back off, then handed me to another family. Used to hurt. One day it stopped. Then, Mr. Ai came to get me, and introduced me to Emy. Maybe you've gotten the picture why I don't call him 'father' just yet."
Crystal clear. He was just waiting until they kicked him out again, kissing whatever attachments he'd formed goodbye. A pretty screwed up mentality for a kid his age. "Yeah."
"This song is my motivation to be strong like the artist. Maybe look past my stubbornness and embrace my current life, instead of being so absorbed in what happened in the past. Especially since I found my Twilight."
"Guess this song really is special." Now that he knew what it really meant to Kyo, the melody hit a more poignant note with Ragna.
"Certain things cannot be gained unless you look back," came Rachel's philosophical input. "Those who ignore the past are just as blind and ignorant as those who refuse to look forward at all." Her comment made the three of them wonder how long she'd been back. Long enough to walk in on their conversation, clearly.
"I remember this one story!" Emy piped up after an extended silence, "about someone who looked back and lost their chance at happiness. If they kept moving forward, their wish would have been granted."
"Can you say they regretted it? I know the tale you speak of. Had he not looked back, he might have been reunited with his wife. Some may call that a mistake. I deem it inevitable."
"In…evi-table?" Emy sounded out.
"Meant to happen," Rachel clarified. "Doubt is merely human nature. He simply wished to confirm his happiness for himself. Enact that scenario a million times and the same result would occur. Many interpretations are available, but I believe the most clear-cut explanation is the man looked back because he loved his wife and was eager to see her, no matter the cost."
"Even if it made him sad and hurt?" Naivety and innocence shone brightly in Emy's eyes.
"What-ifs is what caused Orpheus' 'downfall' to begin with," Rachel spoke with a finality that ended the conversation right there.
"What a crap-ass answer," Ragna muttered to himself. He didn't know why her statement struck a nerve, but it wasn't like dwelling on it would produce any worthwhile answers. Instead of wasting time trying to psychoanalyze her, Ragna figured the best course of action was getting back on track. "Gonna tell us where you've been?"
"I believe it best to simply show you." Rachel glanced at Noel, who had been quietly sitting on the sofa for the entire exchange. "Come, we depart."
"O-okay," Noel nodded.
"We're leaving again?" Kyo asked.
"We are." Rachel gestured toward Ragna and Noel. "It won't take long. I have merely discovered something that might interest them. You should remain here, stay with your sister."
Kyo opened his mouth to argue but shut it before offering up any protest. He eyed his sister who appeared lost in her own world. She'd brought up Orpheus to defend him, he knew. She wanted Kyo to accept Mr. Ai as a father, which meant letting go of the barricades he'd placed around his heart. At the root of it all was his stubbornness. He'd made joyful memories here, and looking back only caused him to grieve. "I got it."
"We will return shortly," Rachel said as she marched out the door. Noel remained silent in her wake.
"Hey, Ragna," Kyo stopped him as he turned on his heel to exit, "sorry about, you know, just laying that all on the table. I get lost in my thoughts when it's about that. I really brought the mood down."
"No worries." Ragna placed a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm not gonna grill you for airing shit out. Besides, it was partly my fault, anyway. My question started it."
He laughed. "That's a stretch, isn't it?" He then nodded, ditching his downcast attitude for one of determination. "When you come back, we'll get right back to it! I'll get it down pat."
"Heh. It's gonna take more than a day of practice to really learn."
"Then…" Kyo scratched his flushed cheek. "T-then, how about you come back and help some more? Not just today, but tomorrow too. We can even do other stuff! I got a ton of games we can play as well. That, uh, cool with you?"
Ragna smirked. "So you wanna hang?"
The boy's face turned a brighter shade of red. "I, um, don't really have a lot of friends. You seem pretty cool. So I thought maybe you could come over more? Y'know, after this whole thing is done with and those Nightmares are gone."
"Sure, why the hell not," Ragna shrugged.
Kyo's eyes lit up. "Seriously?!"
"Ragna, will you hurry up?" Rachel's irritated voice came from outside.
"Coming! Keep your dress on!" Ragna bellowed back at her. "Once this is all over, I don't mind swinging by every now and again. Teach you some more tricks with guitar."
"That'd be sweet!"
Ragna eyed Emy, who still looked a bit sullen. He poked her in the forehead and got her attention. "Next time, we go get ice cream, my treat. Doesn't matter how much you want, I'll cover it."
Her radiant smile filled with a child's innocence returned. "However much I want?!"
"Yeah, all on me. That's a promise." Ragna ruffled both their hair. Nostalgia hit him like a cement truck. For an instant, the jovial smiles of the siblings were replaced with one crying boy. Waving on his way out the door, the gentle smile that had claimed his lips turned bitter. "Alright, out with it, Rabbit. What've you been up to and what did you need to show us?"
"You will see the moment we step away from the premises."
"Cryptic, cool." Ragna glanced at Noel beside him. He would've had to try not to notice how fidgety she was during his guitar lessons, leaving the room and returning randomly, unease plastered across her features. But all of that nervous energy had left her as soon as they stepped outside. "Had to take a shit or something?"
"Wha?!" His out-of-the-blue question made Noel flush. "N-no! Even if I did, you don't ask a girl that!"
Her outburst perplexed him. "Why're you so embarrassed? Taking a dump is normal. If you gotta go, you gotta go." Seemingly more miffed about his confusion, Noel dragged him after Rachel who had kept walking. Catching up to her and stepping free from the barrier the residence provided, their environment changed in an instance, bleached white nothingness as far as the eye could see. "Okay. This is where you start talking, Rabbit," Ragna demanded.
Rachel cast a sidelong glance at him. "You asked where I was. I have shown you. Of course, not here specifically, but I am sure you get my meaning."
"A Bounded Field? It's different from the last one. Is it… bigger?" Noel scanned her vacant surroundings, not by using her eyes but by feeling it out. Something was amiss. "Why now? And so suddenly?"
"I walked in and noticed your strange behavior. I am sure you now know why." Noel's body went stiff as a board under Rachel's gaze. "A certain someone is not present with us. As such, there is no reason to be concerned with his safety."
"His?" It took a moment for her words to click. "You mean Kyo? I mean, it makes sense, right? Doesn't his power prevent the Observer from catching us like this?"
"The Observer simply refused to do so. It was mere conjecture earlier, but now I believe there to be some kernel of truth. As we can see from the Observer's swift action in ensnaring us, they clearly view us as an enemy demanding attention. If need be, like now, they simply could have intensified their range of Observation. Noel, you are aware of what I speak, yes?"
A visible tremor shook Noel's shoulders as an exasperated gasp escaped her. Ragna focused his curious gaze on her. She opened her mouth to explain but thought better of it. Glancing away from Rachel, as if staring into the sun for too long, she nodded, defeated. "Yes."
"Like always, I'm out of the loop," Ragna said with an annoyed sigh. "Wanna run the joke by me or what?"
"We have found who we are looking for. Emy, was it? I believe that child to be the Observer."
"...Pardon?" Came his befuddled response. Ragna waited for the punchline but it never came. "Emy? Really? You think she's the Observer?" He forced a laugh at the ridiculous notion.
"Yes, I believe so," she replied curtly, not an ounce of amusement in her voice or eyes.
"Sounds like a load of bull to me."
"It could be. However, logic points to her as a prime suspect."
"Logic? You mean fucking guesswork." There was something else he couldn't put his finger on. This whole thing seemed fishy and Ragna wanted to get to the bottom of it. "Gonna have to put something a little more concrete forward. That just sounds like a coincidence. Kyo encountered a Bounded Field. Why the hell would Emy put her own brother through—"
"A Bounded Field he escaped, Ragna," Noel interjected. Her voice was low but firm. From the explanation Rachel gave in regard to leaving a Bounded Field, running around aimlessly wouldn't free someone from its clutches. Thinking about Kyo's explanation with that in mind made it far too suspicious that he managed to escape by neither destroying the core like they'd done before, or using sheer force to shatter the field. Noel doubted Kyo possessed the kind of power to destroy a space of this nature, large or small. "I don't think we should jump to conclusions, because you're right, it is just a guess. Still, isn't this a bit too coincidental?"
"The Observer is weak, right? Didn't the Rabbit say he could've just slipped through a crack in the barrier?"
"I said that in mere jest. Once deployed, unless influenced by a third party like us or the Observer themselves, the field will remain intact indefinitely," Rachel said.
Ragna folded his arms. "I don't buy it. Doesn't make any damn sense that that kid could be the one we're after." Something dawned on him and hoped returned to his eyes. "She's living in the same place as Kyo. How can a place where intervention is impossible, created by this order crap to evade observation, be the home of the fucking Observer?"
"She is able to perceive Nightmares as an anomaly. Both he and her can. Due to the nature of Nightmares, the laws that govern this world make them unable to be perceived by ordinary people here as a threat."
"Then that just makes my point stronger! If she was the Observer, she wouldn't be attacked by the things meant to keep this world in check. An Observer can't even see that house, right? It's invisible. You said so yourself." Ragna eyed Noel with a "Hey, come to my defense here!" but she avoided it. She can't seriously agree, right?
"From the outside, yes, they cannot perceive it. However, if the Observer is already there, that is a different case entirely," Rachel countered. "The reason I left was to confirm my theory. Once I set foot outside their field of anti-intervention, we will call it, I was sent into a Bounded Field. One far more potent than the lingering one that boy escorted us to."
"Which is why you called only us," Noel surmised.
"Correct. An Observer being in the same place as one like Kyo is unorthodox, at least in our eyes. By instinct, they should clash. I am sure on some level they might even notice something. However, it is only natural to be with your family, is it not? Regardless of your reservations, that girl remains suspect. Being able to perceive those Nightmares gives me more than enough cause to be dubious." Rachel faced the uncharacteristically silent Ragna. "Have you nothing else to say?" He remained quiet, only glaring. "I am not saying she most definitely is, since you are correct in the argument that their living situations point to something else, but it remains in the realm of possibility. I am more than willing to admit when I am wrong. However, since that clearly does not satisfy you, if that comes to pass, you may strike me as hard as you wish," Rachel offered with a casual shrug.
"T-that's a little…" Noel feared the near future. A prime opportunity like that wasn't something she figured Ragna would pass up. However, he offered no response and merely leveled a glare at her. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
"What a load of shit," Ragna spat after an extended period of mean-mugging. Without another word, he marched onward with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"R-Ragna, wait!" Noel exchanged frantic looks between him and Rachel before running after him, begging him to wait up.
"I wonder if they're going to take long." Emy puffed out a breath, kicking her feet on the couch in an effort to keep herself occupied.
"Maybe. Rachel was gone for a while." Kyo browsed his phone for videos to complement Ragna's instruction, but he didn't find what he was looking for. He wanted to wait until Ragna returned but was antsy to continue his lesson.
"What are they even doing?" Emy didn't comprehend the whole monster business too well, other than they were dangerous. Seeing others like her brother made her far more curious of the surrounding circumstances, but they were so secretive.
He shrugged. "Dunno. They never told me." Which was disheartening, truthfully. Kyo believed there was no ill intent behind the secrecy, but it would have been nice to clue him in somewhat. They shared a common enemy, didn't they?
"I'm booored!" Emy whined. "I wish I could shoot beams out of my hands and run up walls and stuff."
"It's dangerous out there. Remember, you can't fight like I can." Kyo wouldn't want to see her going up against those monsters anyway. Better him than her any day.
"I know. Stupid monster things…" She pouted.
He grinned at his disgruntled sister. "Things will work out. We've got way more hands on deck. Especially that Rachel chick."
"The one with the pigtails?" Emy got off the couch. She padded over to her brother then climbed onto his lap. "Is she really strong?"
"Crazy strong." Also crazy. Kyo decided to omit the part about almost getting deep-fried by her. After what he saw her do to the massive Nightmare, heaven forbid if that hit him.
Emy rocked back and forth in thought. "Ragna and Noel too?"
Kyo folded his arms. "They're strong too, but not as strong as Rachel." From the way they conversed and conducted themselves, he deduced Rachel to be the leader of their group. However, they weren't friends by any means, especially in Ragna's case. For some reason or the other, he appeared to almost despise her. Maybe it IS a romance thing.
"She scares me a little."
"Rachel?" Emy nodded. "Yeah, I see that. I feel antsy around her, too." There was something off-putting about Rachel in particular, and it was more than just her apathetic attitude. Kyo couldn't put his finger on what. Seeing his sister share his sentiments only put the boy more on guard. He wanted to inquire about her but had a gut feeling nothing much would come of it. "Those who don't look back are just as ignorant, huh…"
Emy blinked at him. "What was that?"
"What Rachel said about the past and stuff. It's been in my head ever since she said it."
A dejected look. "Oh. Is thinking about all that sad stuff really what someone needs to do? Is it, um, inevitable?"
Kyo remained silent for a beat. "It depends on the person, I guess." Not like he was one to say no. Listening to To the Twilight always transported him to life before he met Emy. He had to get over it before moving on; at least, that's what he personally resolved himself to do. Dwelling on events in the past without moving on would only trap him in a perpetual state of isolation. "I want to live in the here and now, but I guess, for her, it's different."
"You're my big brother," Emy suddenly said. Small arms wound around him, hugging him with all their strength. "Right now, you're my big brother. Nothing else matters."
"Yeah." Kyo stroked the back of his sister's head. He really did wish he could let go of all the complicated stuff and just accept this to be his true home. After all, he was trying to protect it. Enough time had passed. I'll give it a try, see if it feels weird to call him that. Hearing the knock on the door directed their attention to the front. "That was fast."
"Are they back already?" Emy wondered.
"I'll check." Kyo gently lifted his sister off his lap and headed toward the door. Before fully opening it, he tensed and closed it. An ominous chill shot through him. Don't open it, his subconsciousness warned.
"Hm?" Emy skipped over to her brother and tilted her head. "Is everything okay?"
"Y-yeah." No. Not one bit. Observing the shadow at the threshold, it appeared to be just one person. Don't open the door, his instincts screamed. Something terrible would transpire if he did. This wasn't the anxious sensation he felt around Rachel; this was every single danger alarm in his body resounding at once. For some reason he was parched; he swallowed hard and it hurt. "Maybe… we should ignore it. It might be one of those nosy salesmen." Kyo sounded frenzied despite his efforts to reign it in.
"We haven't gotten those in a while. I doubt it." Emy didn't understand why her brother seemed so tense. Shutting the door in someone's face was incredibly rude, too. "Could it be papa?" Her eyes glittered at the prospect. It'd been so long since she saw him; they hadn't received so much as a call from him. Giddy, deaf to Kyo's censure, she opened the door. Standing there was exactly who Emy hoped to see. "Papa!" She leapt into his arms… or at least she attempted to, but Kyo caught her mid-air and jumped back. "W-what are you doing?!"
"I…" Kyo acted on reflex, a sixth sense he hadn't been aware he possessed. He set his sister down, shielding her with his body. Dark eyes stared right through him at Emy, as if he wasn't even there. The relationship between Kyo and Mr. Ai was somewhat strained, mostly because of the boy's adamance, but there was something extremely disconcerting about the man right now.
"This home is no longer safe for you, Emy." Mr. Ai spoke, his tone curt and direct. "I came to take you somewhere you can truly feel safe."
"Not safe?" Emy instinctively stepped back.
Something definitely isn't right. Appearance-wise, he wore the same boring suit and tie he did every time he went to work, never growing tired of that tacky blue yellow-striped tie. It was Mr. Ai's mere presence that swarmed fear across the boy's face. "She isn't going anywhere with you," Kyo declared.
Hostile eyes flashed to Kyo, sending a cold chill down his spine. "It took me far too long to find her again. There's no telling when they might return. This is for your own good."
"Are you mad at me?" Noel asked.
"For the hundredth time, no, I'm not mad at you." Ragna facepalmed and dragged his hand down, pulling his grouchy face with it.
Her expression turned downcast. "I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize either, you didn't do anything wrong." He wasn't pissed off at anyone. All he needed was time to process things, but that probably wasn't what it looked like to the others. Ragna truly wanted to believe that Emy wasn't the Observer, because that would mean he might have to fight her. Not to mention… if she turned into that...
"Did I do something wrong?" Rachel mocked.
"You're not ten feet away from me," he spat.
Her hands shot up in fake terror. "Heavens, I am terribly sorry."
A vein popped out on his forehead. "Every single word that comes outta your mouth just makes me wanna punch you."
"I see you haven't been taught how uncouth harming a lady is. Noel, soothe this boy by giving him your best puppy-dog eyes."
"Me?" Noel pointed to herself, unsure where Rachel was going with this.
"Indeed. He seems to curl up like a pup when you do."
"I-I see! Okay!" Noel pumped her fist, eyes full of determination. "If it will make him feel better, I'll do whatever it takes!"
Ragna rubbed his temples. "Can we PLEASE get outta here before I end up going crazy? And for the love of hell, stop giving me that look! Don't believe everything that Rabbit says."
"Yet your facial muscles have loosened significantly thanks to the miracle panacea," Rachel commented.
"Like hell they have!" Ragna rejected.
"Your denial only makes it far more apparent." Rachel came to a halt. Her mocking grin that set Ragna's blood boiling fell into a straight line. "I believe it is time. We will be breaking free now."
"About damn time. What, is the core around here somewhere?" Ragna received no answer. He couldn't see or sense zilch. Noel didn't appear to be in on Rachel's scheme, either.
"Brace yourselves."
Neither of them liked the warning in her tone and were right to be concerned. Rachel held her hand up in the air. Tendrils of lightning shot from her palm and tore into the surrounding space. Ragna and Noel dove to the ground with their hands over their heads.
"Are you fucking crazy?!" Lightning continued to rage and roar. Ragna shut his eyes and squeezed his hands tighter over his head. Countless seconds went by until, suddenly, it stopped.
"I-is it over?" Noel, who clutched at Ragna like a lifeline, peeled an eye open. They were no longer in that white void, but it didn't appear like they had returned to where they were. Pedestrians were nowhere to be found, replaced by the grossly growing presence of Nightmares and seithr. To top off how ominous this all seemed, the cloudy sky had turned scarlet and the surrounding buildings were in shambles. "Ragna, this reminds me of…"
"Yeah. The first world we got sucked into." A desolate wasteland of a city, as if it had been abandoned for hundreds of years. "Rabbit, are we in the same place as before?" Ragna had to ask.
"We are," she replied, calm as ever. "Currently, the Observer is attempting to reconstruct this world. Doing so means unraveling what it once was. With all the skin torn off, the truth is revealed, hence the change in scenery."
"That a good thing or a bad thing? I'm guessing bad."
"How very astute of you."
A tick mark. "Could you maybe not give me shit right now and vomit your explanation already?"
"Suffice it to say that we will be back to square one if this reconstruction process sees fruition. Reconstruction brings refinement. Whatever errors that might have been born upon this world's creation will most likely be perfected. This process also means there is far less the Observer must keep their attention on."
Noel didn't like how she phrased that. "Um, meaning?"
"Meaning, prepare yourselves." A cloud of seithr materialized upon her warning. Scores of Nightmares emerged from the purple smog. Hungry wolves bared their fangs and humanoids hunched and stalked toward them. "We break through, then make our way to the siblings' residence."
Mentioning them made Noel realize something. "If the world is like this, does that mean…"
"Save your words for later, we are against the clock. However, whatever you were about to say is most likely correct."
Kyo slumped against a pole. Panting from exhaustion and the aching pain all over his body, fighting the vertigo that threatened to beat him into unconsciousness, he overlooked the mountain of debris he'd just pulled himself out of. His home had come crashing down around him like it'd been made of shoddy papier-mâché. Emerging from the wreckage into a desolate world briefly made him believe he had died; however, his pain proved otherwise. Something terrible had occurred. What, he did not know. At least… where the world was concerned.
Kyo gripped his side, gasping as his fingertips brushed against blood-wet, swollen flesh. He bit his lip, steeling himself to the point where he wouldn't scream. Kyo felt his body gradually start to recover. That was another strange power that came with the awakening of his Drive. Lucky too, because any normal person trapped under all that rubble would have died from the sheer weight alone. "Emy…" Kyo sobbed silently but refused to allow the fatigue to send him to his knees. His grip tightened on his wound, lashing him with pain. "I'm alive… which means I can still save her," he resolved, pushing himself off his crutch and stumbling down the dilapidated road. He didn't get very far, tripping over a crack. Kyo braced himself for impact, but it never came.
"Kid, you okay?"
"Huh?" Kyo gazed up at the one who saved him from colliding face first with the pavement, relieved to see Ragna. "Hey…"
"You look like hell. Sorry we took so long, had a bunch of Nightmares to fight through." Ragna looked past the boy to the ruins where his residence once stood. "This the work of the Observer?"
"That would be the most likely case," Rachel answered.
"Observer? Isn't that the one you guys were after?" After all the times they brought it up in conversation, there was no way he could forget. It was their target, the one responsible for the mess happening in the city.
"Kyo, can I ask where Emy is?" Noel asked.
"Gone." Kyo clenched his fists and grit his teeth. "Taken. And I couldn't do anything to stop it."
Ragna frowned. "Wait, taken?"
"Mr. Ai. He just… showed up out of nowhere, said some weird stuff about not being safe, and took her. There wasn't a thing I could do to stop him."
"Interesting." Rachel crossed her arms, donning an analytical expression. "I suppose I was quite foolish not to factor someone close to her into the equation."
"But that doesn't kick her out of it either, does it," Ragna surmised.
She spared him a glance. "We will know soon enough, once we find them."
The boy's eyes widened. "You know where they are?!"
"I do not believe tracking them should be an issue any longer, now that the Observer's attention is no longer focused on maintaining this farce or even concealing their core. Finding them should be very simple. Noel, you can detect it too, yes?"
"Yes. Stronger than ever, just like the first time." Which means we might run into that thing again. Remembering the monster that nearly killed her and Ragna made Noel cringe. Perhaps an even worst beast awaited them.
"Then we had best be on our way. Stopping the Observer before the reconstruction process is complete is our number one priority," Rachel declared.
"Reconstruction?" Kyo echoed.
"Think of it as a big reset button. Long story short, we'll have to start over from scratch if we let it go through. Don't know anything else other than that."
"Because that is all you need to know which pertains to our mission." Rachel knew that last comment was directed at her. "Standing here giving you an entire lecture will only waste more time, knowing how much you like to ask questions."
Ragna rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Whatever. Kyo, you can move right? Not too banged up?"
He nodded with confidence. "I can move. There's no way I can stand still when my little sister is in danger. Not to mention I've got a few question to ask Mr. Ai, and not before paying him back."
"We'll knock the idiot around, don't you worry," Ragna promised.
"Now that we are all good and motivated, Noel, lead the way, if you please."
Noel pointed to herself in surprise. "Me? Oh, um, sure!"
"Why can't you just do it? Aren't you better at it than her?" Ragna wondered.
Rachel wore a mocking grin. "That is rather rude. Are you calling Noel useless because I am here?"
"You know what I fucking mean," he grumbled.
"Nothing will come from spoon-feeding her," came her schooled response. "Like I said before, her ability to sense abnormalities is comparable to my own. However, she does not know how to fully use it. Times like these are perfect practice to become more attuned to weeding out the Observer's presence."
"Practice, eh…" Ragna wasn't sure this should be called practice, but if it helped Noel improve, so be it; he wasn't going to argue. Like Rachel said, they didn't have the time for it. "Alright Noel, we're counting on you."
"Got it! I won't let you down!" With that determined proclamation, they headed off.
This and last month have been busy, which means I've got far less time to focus on writing. I did say this would be a longer wait but man... it still bugs. Anyway, it's out and I'm pleased. Thank you to Wild Blue Sonder for beta-reading yet again. Here's hoping the next update won't take longer than this... oh who am I kidding lol
Give thanks to Mori!