Xelfan12 merely grinned at this.
About this time, Gaaz started to really revive from whatever state he was
in when he first came out. "My name is Gaaz, and I'm one of the fancy-"
"We know!" shouted Xelfan12 and Xelkitti in unison.
Verath was sort of relaxing at this point, the initial shock of his secret
having already subsided. He leaned back a little, putting his hands behind
his head. "Sooooo.."
Xelkitti grabbed him by the collar. "Soooooo WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR
YOURSELF?!" she demanded. "Aren't you going to APOLOGIZE? Aren't you going
to come up with some NEW, IMPROVED PLAN?!"
Verath eyed his counterparts, who were also eyeing him, and put a hand to
his chin. "Hmmmm.."
Xelkitti promptly punched him in the face.
"Owwwww.." Verath complained. "What was that for? I'm only human now, you
realize!"
"Oh, right. Whatever."
Xelfan12 walked over and put an arm each around Saej and Verath. "Actually,
I knew Verath had more than one component all along!"
Verath and Xelkitti fell over. "What d'you mean, you knew it all along, you
liar?!" yelled Xelkitti.
"Hey, maybe there's more of you, too. You seem pretty stressed out to me,"
Xelfan12 replied casually, trying to squirm out of the headlock. "Don't you
think, uh. that we should ask Verath some more stuff? And maybe plan for
the battle against Dynast accordingly? Because I thought that-"
Xelkitti promptly let go of him. "That's right, Verath! What's your big
excuse for not telling us about your other components?"
"I prefer to be called a portion," Gaaz put in.
"I prefer to be called a compensation," Saej added.
"Actually, I like to-" Verath began.
"Shut up! You're all as annoying as the original Verath!" Xelkitti
complained.
"All right, fine," Verath said. "Look, first of all, aren't I entitled to
my own secrets?"
"No," stated Xelkitti.
"C'mon, go easy on him," Xelfan12 defended. "After all, I have my own
secrets too."
Xelkitti opened her mouth to say something, and then decided against it.
"Spit it out, Verath!"
"Well, actually it's because I can only do this when I'm stressed out, and
you two would no doubt want me to use this 'technique' against Dynast. And
also, this isn't exactly safe, you know. That's why it doesn't happen
often. See, if one of my thirds are destroyed, then it's gone forever, and
I won't have that element anymore. But mainly it's because I'm a lot more
vulnerable as only a human. I mean, it just sucks," Verath explained.
"Well, you could've at least TOLD us about it!" Xelfan12 said angrily.
"Why are you so angry? I thought you were defending him," Xelkitti said.
"I dunno. I just didn't think I was producing enough dialogue," Xelfan12
replied.
"OK, look," Verath got their attention. "I actually concentrate better
after this separation, because then each one of me can think specifically
about something. That's how Saej, Gaaz, and I came up with that plan for
the Lord of Nightmares. Right after the stress that causes this is an
intense feeling of calmness that balances it out, which is when I can think
the best. In fact, I'm feeling calm right now." He grinned.
Xelfan12 shrugged. "So, is this going to change our plans against Dynast
any?"
