Chapter 17 - Revealing Secrets

The following morning, Petru was on edge waiting for Azel or Mead to arrive with news about the Dry Vein's future. He went about his routine of preparing the pub for customers with a worried look on his face. Percy watched the ibex man while doing his own rounds helping with the preparations.

"So, Percy, how do you think they managed last night?"

"I can't imagine it went too bad, boss. It's Azel and Mead we're talking about, after all. They're both sharp enough to manage."

"Spirits, I can only hope you're right…" Petru slammed a fist down on the bar counter. "Damn it! Why couldn't they have told me about this?"

Percy walked over and put his hand over Petru's. "Easy there, boss. It was a bit of a short notice thing, going off what Lucia and the others said."

"So they fall in love and then try to talk Mead's parents down just like that? Short notice indeed." Petru responded ruefully.

"I think their feelings had been there for a while now, actually. Yesterday was just the push they needed to go all the way."

"Yeah? Maybe they had those feelings this whole time, that doesn't excuse them from making huge decisions just like that! We're not just talking about a curfew here, this is my damn livelihood they're messing with!"

"Hey, like I said, they're both sharp, it's probably fine." Percy said, shrugging. "And even if it isn't, you've still got options. Never too late to join the Marks for real, you know."

"Percy, I don't think becoming a full-time criminal is…"

A knock on the door kept Petru from finishing.

"Hang on, that's probably one of them right now!"

Percy followed shortly behind Petru on the way to the door. Petru unlocked the door, and opened it forcefully as soon as he did.

"Alright, you have a lot to answer for-" Petru began, but his voice died out. Lucia, Fen, and Nadine were at the door, looking unsettled by Petru's outburst.

"Oh, Mr. Laurent. I'm sure I do, love, but perhaps you meant those words for one of your employees?"

"Yeah, pretty sure 'Dine's not tha one ya meant ta blow yer top at, boss man! Fuckin' apologize to 'er!"

Nadine turned slightly and gave Fen a look. "Fen, that's not necessary. In fact, his anger is understandable, all things considered."

"No, no, he's right. I'm sorry. Just going through a lot of uncertainty right now."

"So I guess that means Azel and Mead haven't shown up yet?"

"Afraid not, Luce. But when they do, you can bet we're going to have some words."

Percy moved out from behind Petru. "Well, until then, we may as well let our guests in. No point making them freeze out there."

"Ah, right. Let me just get out of the way, then."

Petru backed off from the doorway to let the group in. Once inside, the three took seats at one of the tables and started making themselves comfortable.

Once everyone was settled in, Petru quietly returned to his work. Percy returned to his own work as well, listening in to the group as they started having a quiet conversation.

"Wow. Dark fuckin' mood in here, am I right?"

"Yeah," Lucia said with a nod. "I guess it's going to be like that until Azel or Mead show up."

"They, they wouldn't be avoidin' comin' over 'cause they've got bad news, would they?"

"Hm, I could maybe see Azel doing that, but Mead loves this place. I'm sure she would want Mr. Laurent to know what happened as soon as possible, good or bad."

"An' yet, here we are. Waitin'." Fen sighed. After just a moment, his expression darkened. "Y'don't think Mead's parents would keep her from comin' over if things went wrong, do ya?"

"That… might not be out of the question…"

A moment of silence lingered between Lucia and Fen as they considered this.

"Well, there's nothing we can really do but wait and find out," Nadine said. "Putting that aside for now, Lucia, I'm aware it's only been a day, but how have you been adjusting to… things, love?"

"Oh, you mean with that?" Lucia asked. "Well, it's been kind of hard to find a good time or place to try it out. I did it a little at home, but not very much."

"Well, I've thought up a few self-defense ideas that ya could try out with it." Fen offered.

Nadine blinked. "Oh, I didn't think you'd be interested in that, love. Especially since Lucia's a bit more of a scholar than a fighter."

"Hey, 'Dine, gimme a little credit, here! Self-defense is my whole deal! So Lucia's a scholar, so what? Even a scholar can learn a few tricks ta keep herself safe!"

"Hm, that could actually be pretty interesting to learn," Lucia mused. "I mean, Azel's an artist, but even he has some experience with self-defense…"

Percy chuckled to himself as he heard the group censor themselves. Even with no one around to hear them talking about powers…

The conversation went on for a while as the Dry Vein's day shift employees started to show up. Around an hour after Mead would usually show up, the door opened one more time, catching Percy and Petru's attention. There in the doorway, Azel and Mead stood with mixed expressions on their faces. Petru rushed over to them with all the speed he had. Percy followed behind him.

"Finally, there you two are! You've got a lot of explaining to do!"

Azel recoiled instantly, his tail beginning to rattle. "Ah, s-sorry sir. It's my fault, I should have told you…"

"You're damn right you should have! Spirits, if you went and…"

"Mister Laurent, it's okay!" Mead spoke up. "My parents aren't going to cut your funding! They even agreed to lift my curfew!"

Petru seemed to deflate hearing this. "They- Wait, they did? How in the nethers did you manage that?"

"We agreed to a business deal! We're… we're going to need some space in the cellar to prepare for it, though. And we need it quick, my parents are coming by today to look it over!"

"A deal, you say?"

"Yeah. We pitched the venom fermentae idea to them, so we need the space to start making that. S-sorry for the short notice…"

"And now you need space for that… Spirits, it's almost as if the two of you think you own the place…" Petru paused. "Well, come on, then, let's get down there and start working on it."

Mead's expression brightened. Azel seemed to relax, and his tail's rattling slowed down.

"Really? Thanks, Mister Laurent!"

"Y-yeah. T-thank you, sir."

"But make no mistake, when we're done with all of this, the three of us are going to have a little talk." Azel and Mead stiffened as they heard Petru's voice. "For starters, you two can't just make huge decisions like what you pulled last night without at least letting me know!"

"R-right, sorry, sir…"

"Yeah, sorry Mister Laurent…"

Petru grumbled and shook his head as he turned to Percy.

"Percy, since I'll be needing these two to start working on their new project, can you handle taking our guests over there down to the Mirage?" He gestured at the table where Lucia, Fen, and Nadine were sitting.

"Sure thing, boss."

Petru gave a small grunt in affirmation as he led Azel and Mead down into the cellar. Once he did, Percy moved over to the group's table.

"Did I hear that right?" Lucia asked him. "They actually got Mead's parents to lift the curfew?"

"Seems that way." Percy said.

Fen jumped up from his chair. "Aw, fuck yeah! That's just tha thing I needed ta hear!"

"Hm, good for them. It's nice to see everything worked out." Nadine said with a nod.

"Thing is, they're going to be busy for now, so I'll be taking care of everything with you today. I imagine you three are interested in trying our latest batch of Diony Mirage?"

"By all fuckin' means, Percy, lead tha way!"

With that said, Percy started leading the group down into the cellar.

—

Once the four of them were in the Mirage Bar, Lucia, Fen, and Nadine moved over to a table in the center of the room. Percy sat at another table close by, keeping part of his attention on the door just in case someone needed to be let in.

"So, Fen, what was that idea you mentioned earlier?" Lucia asked.

"Well, ya see, I've been thinkin' about how yer power works. Right now it's a flow of info ya don't always get tha shit ya need ta know from, right?"

Lucia frowned. "Yeah, it would be nice to be able to single out the important stuff quicker…"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin'! We gotta get yer power more focused, an' I think I got just tha way ta do it! Lucia, I'm gonna teach ya how ta use yer power in a fight!"

Lucia took a moment to think. "Yeah, I think it would be nice to know how to do that, but are you sure it'll make my power more focused?"

Percy spoke up. "I think it could work, actually. Powers tend to be more effective in tense situations, so a fight might just be the thing to get your power to focus on a single goal."

"Yeah, an' with practice, it could even end up becomin' somethin' ya don't need ta think about, like how my power works in a fight!"

"Well, when you put it that way, what's the harm in trying, really?"

"An' there's tha answer I was lookin' fer! Trust me, once we start fightin', yer gonna see tha difference in yer power fer sure!"

"Just so we're clear, you're sure this isn't just an excuse for you to get to fight someone today, Fen?" Nadine asked with a laugh.

Percy chuckled. "Oh, it's an excuse all right, he just put a lot more thought into the reasoning this time."

"Ah, fuck tha both a ya!" Fen laughed. "Couple a jokers, actin' like that's all I ever think about! Can't a guy just wanna help someone learn their power?"

"Well, to be fair, your way of helping me does involve you beating a defenseless girl up!" Lucia jabbed.

All four of them shared a laugh.

"Ah, but fer real though. I'm not plannin' on beatin' ya up too hard, Lucia! In fact, if I'm right about this, yer power may end up givin' me a rough time even hittin' ya ta begin with!"

"Well, I guess we'll see about that, then!"

Fen smiled. "Right! Okay, everyone, help me clear some space!"

The group started moving the tables and chairs in the bar off to the side. In a short time, the bar was set up as a mock arena with Lucia and Fen in the center, and Percy and Nadine sitting off to the side.

—

Lucia stared over at Fen. Both of them had their hands up, and she felt a sense of tension in the air.

"Okay, now try usin' yer power on me." Fen said, gesturing at her. "I'm not gonna tell ya when ta expect an attack, so yer gonna have ta use yer power fer that."

"Okay, I'll try." Lucia activated her power and focused on Fen.

~ Fen. Power inactive. Prepared for atta- ~

Before her power could complete the feed, Fen rushed in at Lucia, swinging his fist in a slow arc towards her. She quickly moved to the side to avoid the attack.

"Hey, that's pretty good, even if I was tryin' ta make it kinda predictable! Did yer power say anythin' about it?"

"Uh," Lucia gasped slightly, "no, it was just telling me basic stuff before you came swinging."

"Well, that means ya got pretty good reaction time, at least. Let's keep goin', see if ya can't get somethin' this time!"

Lucia focused her power again. ~ Fen. Power inactive. Plans to kick. ~

"Ah, there's something-" Lucia started, before instinctively ducking under Fen's predicted roundhouse kick. "Hey! I was trying to tell you-"

"Can't be doin' that, Lucia!" Fen interrupted her, frowning. "In a real fight, yer opponent's not just gonna let ya talk!"

"He's right, you know," Percy said from the sidelines. "But it sounds to me like you at least got warned this time."

"Well, I mean, yeah, my power did say he'd be kicking."

"Good! Sounds ta me like we're gettin' somewhere! Okay, no more warnin's fer real this time, let's see if yer power can keep up with me!"

Lucia sagged slightly.

"Don't worry, love," Nadine said. "If he gets too close to hitting you, I can keep the worst of it from connecting with my power!"

"Ah, right…" Lucia muttered, before scrambling to barely dodge another of Fen's punches. She quickly resumed using her power on him, hoping it would be of better use going forward.

The fight continued for a while longer with Lucia's power occasionally helping her avoid some attacks. A few strikes made light contact, only held off by a timely use of Nadine's ribbon holding Fen back from doing any real damage.

"I don't think this is working as well as you think it is… I'm supposed to be doing most of this with my power, right?"

Fen shrugged before launching into another barrage. "Eh, it could be yer power, or it could be yer instinct. Way I see it is if ya can dodge well enough usin' at least one a those, yer learnin' some valuable shit from all this!"

"Oof," Lucia panted. "Is that how you trained Azel last week then?"

"Well, with swords an' only a bit less holdin' back, but yeah!"

Lucia frowned as she continued to dodge. "Spirits, you really are serious about this being a fight! Feels like I'm getting a full workout, even if you really are holding back right now!"

"To be fair, that's just the way Fen is," Percy said. "He's full-on serious about fighting."

Lucia turned to Percy. "So, this is how he-"

She paused as her power fed her new information.

"Wh-what the…"

"Hey, ya can't get distrac-" Fen started moving in for another punch, before being held back by Nadine's ribbon. "Fuck, 'Dine! Come on, how's Lucia gonna learn if ya-"

"Lucia, love," Nadine said over Fen's voice, "you just saw something… unexpected with your power, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah…" Lucia said. "Percy, my power told me…"

—

In another part of the mine shaft, near one of the exits to the mine, the sound of a crate being dropped filled the chamber.

"Spirits damn it…"

In this part of the mine, Scinter's Mark was moving contraband into a groundcar for transport. Percy stood among the group of criminal dreamkeepers, with a pink halo over his head and the fallen crate at his feet. He silently thanked the spirits that there was nothing fragile in it.

"Hm, something wrong, Percy?"

One of his fellow smugglers walked up to him after hearing the crate being dropped.

"Something came up in the Mirage. You know that girl with the insight power I mentioned?"

"Yeah? Wait, shit. You don't mean…"

"I think she knows I'm using my power now."

"Damn, man. Just the worst kind of shit to slip through the cracks, huh?"

Percy shrugged. "Well, I suppose with her power, it was bound to happen some time."

"Ya need me to take over while you deal with all that on the other end?"

"No, I should be fine. Better to get back to work, deadline to meet and all."

The other smuggler simply shrugged and returned to his own duties. Grabbing the crate from the ground, Percy continued loading it into the groundcar as half of his attention turned back to his other body in the Mirage Bar.

—

"…You're using your power right now."

"I guess I have some explaining to do…" Percy said with a sigh.

"But wait, that doesn't make sense! You don't even have-" Lucia paused. "Of course…"

Percy chuckled faintly. "Seems like your power's saving me half the trouble. But just to be clear, this isn't my main body. That's the one with the visible halo."

"So this whole time…"

"He's been in two places at once! Pretty fuckin' cool, huh?"

"It's Percy's best kept secret," Nadine said. "Only Radiant Ring and the Marks know about it. And you too now, I suppose…"

"And you never told anyone else? I get not telling me, but Azel, Mead, not even Mr. Laurent?"

"It's not something I like getting out." Percy admitted. "Better to keep my best tricks under wraps. But to be fair, Azel knows a bit more about it than he might think."

Lucia tilted her head. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, think back to his very first performance. Who do you think gave him the idea for a body copying power?"

"Wait, that was your power the whole time?"

"He got a few details off, but pretty much."

Percy waited as Lucia paused in thought. He could already imagine the next thing she was going to say.

"So," Lucia began after a moment, "now that Azel's in Radiant Ring, are you going to at least tell him?"

"Hm, no, I don't think so. It's like I said, better to keep it under wraps. And it's not like him knowing about this is going to change a whole lot between us."

"B-but…"

"Hey, Lucia," Fen said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "just let him have this. Percy's not tha kinda guy ta let shit like this get out of hand. An' I'm pretty sure if Azel knows, he'll tell Mead fer sure, then she'll tell Laurent, an' so on."

"I think you're underestimating just how well they can keep a secret, Fen. But just in case, Lucia, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't let this slip."

"Keeping up the whole 'man of mystery' image, even now, love?" Nadine asked with a smile.

Percy chuckled. "Some things never change, Nadine."

Lucia took a moment before speaking. "I, I guess I could keep it a secret…"

"Thank you. If it's really important that he knows, I'll tell him. But for now, promise me you'll keep this our little secret."

"Ah, r-right. I promise."

Silence lingered for a brief moment after the agreement was made.

"So!" Fen said. "We gonna get back ta trainin'? I think we were really gettin' somewhere with yer power, Lucia!"

"Oh, s-sure. It'll be something to take my mind off all this, I guess."

The two of them walked back to the center of the bar and returned to their practice.

—

Fen and Lucia continued to train over the following hours. Percy watched on idly, focusing more of his attention on his main body. Moving crates and chatting with his fellow smugglers, he would occasionally let them know how the training was going.

After a few hours, Percy noticed the two fighters took a short break. Once they returned to fighting, Fen switched things up by having Lucia actually trying to land a few hits of her own on him.

He's certainly giving her an easier time than he first did with Azel… Percy noted from Fen's much more supportive demeanor while guiding Lucia on how to throw a punch.

In time, the groundcar Percy's main body was occupied with was loaded up and sent on its way. He started heading to his resting place in the mine with his main body, shifting most of his focus back to his copy in the Mirage.

The hours kept crawling by as Fen guided Lucia on how to use her power in a fight. Eventually, around the late evening, Percy heard a familiar rhythmic knock on the door. He moved over to the door to let whoever had knocked in, and was somewhat surprised to see that Azel, Mead, and Petru were all there at the entrance.

"Hey, Percy! How's everything been going?" Mead asked.

"Hey. It's all been going well. Didn't expect to see all of you here at once," Percy said with a smile.

"Well, after dealing with Mead's parents all day, we figured it was time for a break." Petru said. "Besides that, Azel and Mead mentioned they have some bad news."

"Yeah, the kind that everyone needs to hear." Azel confirmed.

"Worse than Mead's parents shutting down the Dry Vein?"

"So much worse! We almost forgot because of them, but there's another thing that happened last night that could ruin everything!"

"That bad, huh? Well, head on in, I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be easier to take as a group."

Percy backed up and let the other group into the bar. Fen and Lucia stopped sparring with each other as they saw them enter.

"Ah, hey! Everyone's here now!" Fen said. "We were just havin' a little fight ta help Lucia figure out how ta use her power!"

"Phew, yeah, I think I've gotten a little better at it, even!" Lucia panted, dispelling her power. "So, what's going on? Mr. Laurent, you didn't bother coming down here yesterday."

"Well, Luce, today there's something we need to talk about that affects all of us."

Nadine stepped forward from where she was sitting. "This wouldn't have to do with Mead's parents, would it?"

"Oh, n-no! We took care of all that! It's, well…" Azel let out a sigh before continuing. "We got approached by a cop last night, and I think the police have been following a lead on my shows."

Silence hung in the room for a moment after Azel spoke.

"Shit…" Fen muttered.

"What kind of lead are we talking about, here?" Lucia asked.

"My last name, and apparently what I look like. The officer said I fit the bill exactly."

"I convinced her to let us go, and maybe got her to think the lead was wrong. Not sure how much good it did though…"

"I'm still really glad you were there to get us out of that," Azel said, resulting in him and Mead sharing a hug. "What I don't understand is how they got a lead like that in the first place."

"Aside of rumors and gossip from customers, I'm sure no one's been letting anything slip around here." Petru said.

"I know the last thing the Marks would want is to let this place be found out, so we're secure on that end, too." Percy added.

"Well, it couldn't've been us, either! 'Dine an' I wouldn't sell Azel out like that!"

Nadine fidgeted. "Um, actually, love, I think I might have an idea about the lead…"

Azel paled. "You don't mean…"

"At the Head to Tail. If the police only know your last name and appearance, it could be because someone was watching us talking about your orders there."

"And they probably tied the costume requests I've been putting in back to my shows… Damn it, I thought I was being careful, taking that outside of Ruskol to get done…"

Mead hugged Azel tighter. "It's okay, Azel! You couldn't have known!"

"It seems neither of us could have, love. And I'm supposed to be the careful one…"

"Hey, 'Dine, don't beat yerself up! It was probably before ya even knew about Azel's shows!"

Nadine gave Fen a faint smile. "I- I'm sure you're right. But it doesn't change the fact that somehow those conversations got back to Ruskol's police."

"So, what do we do now?" Lucia asked. "If the police know even a little, chances are they're going to try and find more. And who knows where their next lead could come from?"

"Well, all I can think of right now is giving Azel's shows a rest." Petru stated.

Mead stared at Petru. "Wait, really? That's it?"

"What do you- We can't just give up on this!"

"Azel, relax. I'm not saying you should stop altogether. But if the police are out looking for leads, I'm thinking we shouldn't give them anything else to work with, at least for a couple of weeks."

Percy nodded. "Letting the trail go cold, right boss?"

"Exactly. If there's not enough to go off of, they'll have to drop the case."

"Yeah, that's probably tha best answer. We've had ta do shit like that too, right 'Dine?"

Nadine nodded. "True. Taking time for the heat to die down is common in this line of work. It sounds like a solid plan. And besides that, I'm sure Azel could use a break, too."

"But sir, you yourself said-" Azel began.

"That was before we had the threat of police action, and maybe even shock troopers, on our backs. You need to think about these things, Azel."

"I- Damn it, you're right again… Guess it'll be more time to put towards making the next show even better…"

"Well, that's an upside, at least!" Mead said. "Still sucks that you have to stop for a while. And after we got my curfew lifted, too…"

"More time to practice, more time to work on the venom fermentae, I guess…"

"Hey, that's right, Azel! We've still got that!"

"And we could still work on figuring out our powers together." Lucia noted. "Turns out Fen's a pretty good teacher when he isn't just beating his students up!"

"Ah, stop it, Lucia! I'm not that great! But yeah, yer right! You an' Mead've still got that goin' fer ya!"

"Well, it seems like you've all already figured some things out to pass the time! But if I could make a suggestion of my own… It occurs to me that while I've seen your act, Azel, you have yet to see mine. To say nothing of the other members of Radiant Ring."

Mead smiled. "Oh, yeah, that's right! Going around Anduruna to see Radiant Ring's other acts! That's perfect!"

Azel perked up. "I could even get some inspiration for my own shows, I think…"

Fen laughed. "It'd be a helluva date night plan fer tha two of ya!"

"That, that would actually be perfect, I think." Azel gave Mead a smile, then turned his head to Nadine. "So, since you suggested it, do you have a time for your next show?"

"Well, it'll be in a couple of days. Fen could show you where to go to see it, and all of you could come!"

Nadine started explaining the details of her coming show, with Azel, Lucia, and Mead listening with great interest. After a while, hunger settled in, and the group, with the exception of Percy, left the Mirage Bar to get something to eat.

Once the others had left the bar, Percy focused back on his resting main body and canceled out his power. Now returning to having only one consciousness to attend to, he started to think over the conversation back in the bar.

Things have been going smoothly up until now. This is the first time that Azel's really started to feel the heat, but that's just the cost of going against the law. I can try and keep things contained on my end, but if things start to get out of hand, I wonder if Azel will be able to handle his life crumbling for the sake of his art… Not to mention the lives of everyone else…

Azel, Mead, Lucia, Petru… Even Fen and Nadine. They all still have their freedom, but for how long? They're walking on a razor's edge right now, and I know just how bad things can get when you fall off. If worst comes to worst, I can only hope they'll be able to get up after…

Well, until then, the least I can do is help them along the way…

With that last thought, Percy shrugged and started to make his way back up to the Dry Vein. His friends may not have known about it, but he was determined to keep the worst away from them.