Chapter 14: Reasons

Fearing that the catastrophe that woman spoke of could already be happening, I ran towards the edifice hosting that convention as fast as I possibly could, depleting all my stamina in the process: I would have much preferred flying instead, but I could not risk blowing my cover (and that of my friends, possibly) over something as meaningless as my personal worries.

As soon as I reached the staircase that led to the building, my ring shined once again, allowing me to see into the 'Astra-grid' even though I was not technically within it: the area around the hotel was littered in decomposing black goo, meaning that an intense battle had taken place there... or rather, as I discovered by looking upward,s towards the entrance of the building, that it was still taking place. A dark robed figure, which I immediately recognized as my friend Dante, was finishing off what appeared to be the remains of a group of 'F.E.A.R.'s with meticulous efficiency, slashing through the bodies of his enemies with his scythe as if they were butter; I briefly considered joining the fray, but then I remembered I did not have the ability to do so... and besides, the real battle was already over.

“You're late." the man commented as he cut the body of his final enemy in half, causing him to slowly shift back to reality.

“I did not know I was on a time limit." I replied, confused, while trying to remember if Dante had ever told me to be quick in dealing with my own group of enemies.

“You weren't: I'm just teasing you." he immediately returned, just as serious as always. For someone who never expressed any sort of emotion, that man sure had an odd taste for unfunny jokes... I wondered if everyone else thought so as well or if I was the only one who did.

“Anyway... has Merle by any chance passed through here?" I inquired, a bit scared she might have been attacked by more 'F.E.A.R.'s on the way to her stand.

After thinking about it for a second or two, he finally answered “Yep, she sure has: she's with your friend right now, if you're wondering. Oh, and Fortune finally arrived too: I think she said she'd go help Felicity, and... well, I guess they're done by now." the last words were spoken with a little bit of uncertainty, but he did not appear too concerned about the well-being of his friends: evidently, he had extreme faith in them... which was understandable, considering how powerful they both seemed to be.

Nevertheless, wasting any more seconds outside would have been pointless, so we both decided to return inside and head towards our respective partners: in our absence, however, the crowd of masked humans had somewhat grown, and making our way through that sea of people was definitely not going to be easy... and finding our friends, or rather a way to reach them, was going to be even more difficult.

“I think the path towards the 'Artist's Alley', or whatever that area's called, is pretty much overflowing with people: if you don't want to get squeezed, I suggest spending some time with me and the girls while the crowd disperses." Dante suggested, just as annoyed as I was by that inconvenience; I was a bit disappointed by my impossibility to meet up with Lepris promptly, but those humans did not seem very eager to move to a better place to converse at... so I decided to accept the man's proposition, even if just to warn him about the things I had learned just minutes before. Of course, the idea of spending some more time with Fortune and Felicity was not unwelcome at all: I wanted to learn more about them anyway, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Dante swiftly navigated through the crowd all the way towards the centre of the room, where that big 'elevator' device stood: he then pushed me inside of what appeared to be a much, much smaller room and pressed a button on a nearby wall, causing some metal doors to close behind us, separating us from everyone else in the process. A moment afterwards, a somewhat powerful force gently pushed the whole room upwards for... roughly twenty seconds, I believe, before suddenly stopping. When the doors reopened, I was... surprisingly, not dumbfounded to find myself on the balcony on the fourth floor of the hotel: the miss and the girl were chatting a fair distance away from the elevator in a rather heart-warming way, a sign that led me to believe the two of them had not seen each other since a long time.

“Hmm? Oh, it's you guys." Fortune greeted us as she acknowledged our presence; soon after she turned to face me with an ecstatic look on her face, before hugging (or rather, squeezing) the little girl as tightly as humanly possible and telling me “Look at her! Ain't she the cutest cinnamon roll ever? I've missed her so much!" although I had, and still do not have, no idea what a 'cinnamon roll' is, I believed poor Felicity would have been more similar to a sheet of paper if the woman did not cease hugging her at once.

“Fortune I... I can't breathe..." Felicity somehow managed to say, causing the lady to let go of her immediately “Oh, right. Sorry." from her expression, she was anything but ashamed of her conduct: in fact, I bet she would have continued had the child's lungs been more resistant.

“So anyway, have you two already met?" Fortune asked me and the child right next to her, and we both nodded; “We only met half an hour ago, and we didn't speak for long because some monsters attacked, but... I can already tell Red's a very nice person! I bet he has a whole library of stories to tell me, and I can't wait to hear them!" Felicity explained, making me smile at her gracious innocence.

“Oh, I have plenty of stories alright... I am not sure you have enough time to hear all of them though..." I replied, making Felicity chuckle happily for some odd reason; “Oh, and since you mentioned that 'F.E.A.R.' attack from earlier: I owe you my sincerest thanks for saving that feral, Merle." I added as I bowed to that brave girl, truly thankful for her assistance “Without your help, she would have surely perished... and that is a thought that still scares me immensely. Once again, both on my behalf and hers, thank you kindly."

“T-Thanks... but I really don't deserve any praise..." the girl shyly replied as she buried her blushing face into Fortune's chest; “Really? Those monsters had already attacked this place just thirty minutes ago?" Fortune inquired baffled as she caressed the beautiful hair of the young child “What the Hell's going on in this place?"

“I have no idea..." Dante finally spoke, a slightly confused look on his face “...But I do have some clues: some malevolent people are lurking around the edifice, but they're too far away for me to read their minds..." as soon as he pronounced those words, my heart began pounding like thunders in a storm: that may have very well been the beginning of the catastrophe that woman, Sophie, had warned me about earlier!

“What do you mean with 'malevolent people'? Are they dangerous?" I asked, already prepared for a fight.

“Don't get so fired up: just because they have a lot of malice within them doesn't mean they're going to be a problem. After all, none of us are complete saints... well, most of us at least." Dante briefly glanced at Felicity for some reason, before continuing “Look, if I counted every person who has even an ounce of malice within them in the world as an enemy, humanity would've gone extinct ever since I obtained these powers. I'm still going to monitor these idiots, but you shouldn't be too concerned by their presence, I think." I supposed the man's words had some truth behind them... but I had a very bad feeling about that whole situation.

“Hey, where are all those people going?" Fortune asked as she pointed at the masked humans downstairs: they all seemed to be heading somewhere else in the building, kind of excited for whatever reason.

“Oh, I think I heard from a few of them before that some 'celebrities' of sorts are going to speak here shortly." Felicity explained that weird situation to us “The main lobby will go empty soon... maybe we should use this opportunity and go see your friends, Red?" that was exactly what I was thinking... I immediately nodded in approval.

“Nah, I'm sure they can wait a little bit." Fortune stopped us as she returned hugging the little girl “I haven't seen you in ages, dear! I want to learn more about what happened to you after we departed half a year ago!"; Felicity attempted to break free of the woman's embrace, but eventually she just conceded to her, a smile on her face “Alright, we can go see them later... I missed you too." the tenderness between the two ladies melted my heart... it reminded me of myself and Sol, for whatever reason.

“You, on the other hand, should go immediately." Dante told me as he distanced himself from the girls, and invited me to do the same; “Before you go though, is there something you need to tell me?" he added, suspicious.

“Could you not see into people's minds? I thought you had already learned what preoccupies me as soon as you saw me..." I replied, confused by his demeanour.

“I can only see others' evil thoughts and bad memories... I can sense something's troubling you, but I can't get a good grasp of what it is exactly." he returned.

“No, wait... that thing you pointed out about Merle before was definitely not a bad memory!" I pointed out a flaw in his words “I have yet to understand what you two were talking about... but embarrassment is not that much of a bad feeling, that I know for sure."

“Oh, that." he shrugged his shoulders, just as calm as ever “I was bluffing, and she fell right into it. Very amusing." his answer made me laugh for a while, but he did not even flinch at his own hilarious words “Now, what did you find out?"

It did not take me long to inform the man of Sophie and the unsettling prophecy she gave me... but, even though Sophie's words seemed to trouble the human as much as they troubled me, something else I told him appeared to be even more important to him than the imminent doom she had prophesied “You mean that that woman from yesterday evening was with you and that girl just a few minutes ago? Are you sure of that?"

“I am positively sure." I answered, quite confused by Dante's question, before making a question of my own “Why does that trouble you though?"

“Again? But there were only..." he quietly muttered to himself before shaking his head and changing the subject “Nevermind that: this 'catastrophe' is much more important right now."

“Indeed." I nodded as I proposed a strategy “You must inform Fortune and Felicity about this, then you must keep those people you mentioned under extreme surveillance and be ready if some of them begin acting oddly; I, on the other hand, will make sure Lepris and Merle know about this impending doom and get them ready to face it, whatever it is... any objections?"

“None." he replied as he turned around and walked towards his friends, who were looking at us a bit concerned; as the man began explicating everything I had learned to his comrades, I headed towards the elevator and went to find my own...

When I finally reached Merle's stand, I could not believe my eyes: more or less half of the dove's goods had already been sold, and a small crowd had gathered in front of the booth, meaning that the woman's profits had increased exponentially since we left. Merle herself, along with Lepris, was, for whatever reason... hugging complete strangers while another person stood in front of them with a phone, using it to flash light at them; soon afterwards, the two gave a painting of hers to the people they had embraced, then received some paper and coins in return.

“Amazing, isn't it? I was the one who gave the bunny the idea!" I jumped when I realized Karma had been standing near me the whole time, their usual grin printed on their face “With every purchase you get to have a photo of yourself cuddling those two furballs... free of charge! Oh, how I love exploiting people and their interests..." I was honestly surprised by the cat's cunning: they found a way to increase purchases without actually having to invest anything... other than their time, of course.

“That's... quite clever, actually. Merle must be overflowing with joy." I congratulated the cat's initiative... even though I did not buy even for a second they had helped Merle out of kindness: perhaps I was being a bit negative towards Karma, but I knew they rarely had completely pure intentions...

“Alright, that's the last of 'em for now." Merle said aloud as the last of her buyers left the area, clearly exhausted; nevertheless, as soon as she finished putting all she had gained in her large bag behind the counter, she literally flew into Lepris and hugged him so strongly she literally landed both of them on the ground... why was everyone around me hugging each other, I wondered?

“Man, I so wanna marry you right now... you can't even imagine how happy I am!" the girl shouted as Lepris gently moved her away from his lungs and stood up, blushing embarrassed “It was nothing, really..."

“'It was nothing'? I almost sold all my freaking stuff! You're a genius, Lepris!" she replied, making my friend blush even more; “Actually, Karma had the idea... I just did as they said is all." the feral pointed at the cat, who smiled weirdly at the girl “Hi! I'm Karma! Don't mind me, I'm just a collective hallucination... or am I?" once again, Karma proved to be the less coherent individual in that already incoherent world.

“Al...right... I'll thank you later then." the avian quickly dismissed the cat before turning to face Lepris once again “Seriously though, I'm sorry. I treated you like crap before, and you didn't deserve it. I shouldn't have judged you based solely on my previous bad experiences with ferals... really, it was dumb. I really, really hope you can forgive me..."

The rabbit did not seem to think that whatever the bird had said and done needed to be apologized, and immediately replied with sad eyes “You acted the way you did because of some bad memories... and I guess I did the same." before any of us could inquire further about this detail, he continued “If there's one thing Red helped me realize, it's that I don't want others to be treated the way I was, or suffer the same I did... and I think you don't want that either. So, instead of suffering because of your bad memories... why not use them as motivation to help others instead?" neither me or Merle knew what Lepris was talking about at the time, but we did understand what he was saying... especially me: his resolve to turn his regrets into his strength... it was the same as mine.

“Anyway..." Karma interrupted us as they grabbed a fair chunk of money from the dove's bag and began toying with them nonchalantly “Since I had the fantastic idea of fan-servicing those furbies, I'm going to take a small percentage of your dosh for myself..."; truth be told, I was not quick enough to see the dove launching herself onto the unsuspecting cat, throwing them on the ground just like she did with Lepris... only in a more aggressive fashion “Back off, you thief! This is my cash!"

Whatever the cat tried to utter in return was quickly silenced by the woman's witty responses, which in return drew a large crowd of spectators that were not sure whether to stop the fight or let it be. I remember some of them even calling it 'cute', which is... weird. Since when are fights between animals (or... pseudo-animals, in this case) supposed to be 'cute'?

“Hey, uh... maybe we should leave." Lepris suggested, almost embarrassed on the dove and the cat's behalf “I... don't think there's anything we can do to stop them... and besides, we haven't had a chance to chat since morning. Wanna go to the cafeteria and grab a snack?"

“No, thank you: I already satiated my thirst and hunger some time ago." I answered as we headed away from the crowd of onlookers; thinking my friend might have had the wrong idea, I quickly informed him I still wanted to chat with him, before adding “Besides, Merle told me the cafeteria inside this edifice gives people free rides to the nearest hospital."

We eventually found a nice, quiet hallway in which to stay: nobody was in sight and, considering there was an event happening at the time, nobody was going to stumble on us either... which meant I could have explained Lepris what was going to happen without having to worry about potential eavesdroppers.

However, before I could explain him everything that woman told me, the rabbit quickly inquired me something completely unrelated “So, what did you and Merle do while you were gone?"

“Nothing important, trust me: we just went to a bar in the area and... well, I told her everything she needed to know about the 'F.E.A.R.'s and all that is related to them..." I answered, quite calm “Then Dante suddenly joined us, told us a bit about himself and... well, we had a quick encounter with another feral-"

“Another feral?" his ears stretched upwards, which I assumed meant he was quite interested in the subject “Did you talk with them? What were they like?"

“I think Dante described them as a 'dinosaur' or something along those lines... but no, we did not talk with him, although his demeanour gave us some insights about his personality. He did not look very pleasant, at all." I explained, before suddenly remembering that part of our conversation when Merle told me about her past experiences with ferals: I was still unsure whether or not to tell Lepris about it, considering his... very frail character, and the repercussions my words might have had on him. Now that I look back at it, between me and Lepris, the weaker one was most definitely me.

“Is... something the matter?" the rabbit asked, his worried gaze making me fall from the clouds “There's something you need to tell me... right?"; back then, I was still unsure whether telling him was a good idea... but his concerned expression forced me to say everything without me even realizing it “Do you remember when Merle said she behaved the way she did because of her past experiences with ferals?" he nodded, and I continued “Apparently, she was not kidding: all, or at least most of the ferals she met so far in her life are... admittedly, not very good people. They actually made her doubt good, kind-hearted ferals even existed... but this should not stop you from trying to meet more of your kind!"

“I know... but you know what? It doesn't really matter." Lepris replied with a smile on his face, surprising me incredibly so “Before meeting you, I wanted to meet new ferals because I felt alone, because I wanted someone to feel at home with... but now I realized that I already have someone like that: you. Sure, I've got plenty of other friends to talk to and be honest with as well, but... you were the first to accept me for who I really am, and that's more than I could ask for. What other ferals are like isn't important... it's interesting to know for sure, but it doesn't affect me at all. Not any more, at least." he added while holding my right hand with both of his, a

Lepris's words truly astounded me: I never would have thought something so incredibly deep and true could come out of the mouth of an individual who I thought was, ultimately, quite frail despite his inner strengths. In fact, his words made me remember how much I valued our friendship, and made me conscious of how much he valued it as well... although something in his speech made me slightly uncomfortable, for some reason I could not understand.

“You are right: what other ferals do is none of our concern... our mutual friendship is all that matters." my words caused him to lighten up even more, so I decided to reinforce the concept a little more “I promise you: no matter what happens in the future, we will always be the greatest of friends. Nothing more, and nothing less."; even though my first sentence instilled joy in the rabbit, the second one was met with... shock and disappointment: Lepris's ears fell down to the ground as his expression turned into one of daze. He quickly regained his usual composure and laughed nervously as he replied “Oh, yeah... friends! Best friends forever... woo hoo!" his reaction seemed... a bit forced, but I did not notice it (or, perhaps, I only pretended to not notice it).

“Anyway, can I ask you something?" the rabbit inquired, hoping to change the topic of conversation “When I told Merle to use her bad memories to do good before, you... had a really weird look on your face. I-If it doesn't upset you, can you... explain why?"

“Had I, really?" I asked, not remembering if I truly had such a weird expression on my visage during his talk; after receiving confirmation from my friend, I explicated “Your words... they made me remember the reason why I fight. The reason why I feel obliged to helping people in need... the reason why I will never give up... it's not a happy story, but I will tell it to you if you so wish."

“No, wait! If it's sad, you don't need to say it out loud... I don't want you to relive any painful memories if you don't have to..." Lepris tried to dissuade me, but I shook my head in disapproval and responded “A true warrior never lets his emotions hinder him in battle... and neither does a true friend in a conversation. I appreciate your care for me, but my past is not my burden: it's the foundation of everything I am now... of everything I will be in the future."; my words seemed to have an effect on Lepris, who nodded in approval and kindly asked me to tell him what I hinted at before.

“This story... has a lot to do with my mother." I began “Her name was Scarlet Blaze, and she was the queen of Flammaria back when I was a kid. She was a fair and benevolent ruler, one of the greatest my kingdom ever had... and a wonderful mother, as far as I can remember. Most importantly, she was a cunning general and a fierce warrior: for as long as she was in charge, peace reigned all over Draconia... but it was not destined to last forever. One day, back when I was nothing more than a whelp, my mother decided to go on a voyage to... Gods, I cannot even remember where: the point is, I foolishly attempted to come along with her... and she foolishly allowed me to, even though I had just learned to speak. We departed from the capital with more goods than necessary for a safe travel, and an entire legion of expert knights to ensure our safety... but it was not enough." even though I promised myself not to cry, I could not help but shed a tear as my story went down-hill “A day or two after we departed, we were attacked by assassins: I was too young to understand what was happening, but I saw lightning aplenty, and my mother proudly launching herself into battle, my sword Justice in her hands... the only thing I remember before collapsing inside my carriage was an ocean of fire, as wide as the earth itself." my story seemed to be scaring Lepris immensely, mainly because, he explained, he was imagining everything I was saying in his head, so I paused for a second to allow him to regain his composure before finishing my narration “When I came to my senses, the land all around the convey had turned into a massive graveyard: charred bodies littered the ground and rivers of blood coursed through the cracks in the earth, but one heart had yet to cease beating... my mother's. I ran to her and tried to help her, but what can I child do in such a dire situation? She was terribly wounded, and plenty of blood dripped through the cuts in her beautiful dress... but, despite the pain she must have suffered and despite death already calling upon her, she could not help but smile to me. She told me she was soon going to die, and that she was going to miss me more than her own life... I told her not to leave me, that I was scared, but she simply hugged me and kissed me on the cheek as asked me to tell my father he had been an invaluable part of her life... and then, she collapsed before her own sword, and before her own child."

“That's... horrible!" Lepris almost screamed, crying almost as if he himself had gone through my ordeal “I'm so, so sorry for you... I never imagined you... lost your mother like this!"

“Do not feel sorry on my behalf, it will not bring you anything but sadness." I said as I helped to dry his tears, a gesture he appreciated greatly; “So, what happened after that?" he asked, still curious.

“I stayed with my mother's corpse for the next few days, watching it burn to ashes while enduring hunger and thirst; eventually, we were found by a whole army led by my father, who had seen the battle raging from his castle and had set out to help us... needless to say, he arrived too late. I told him what had happened, and the words my mother uttered before dying, and... well, I do not think what happened next is relevant." I finished my tale, before explicating what it meant for me “If only I had not been a weak child, back then... perhaps my mother would still be alive. It was not that very same day I swore to become stronger to protect those I held dear... but on the day I did, the memory of my mother was what gave me the strength to do so."

After I finished my speech, silence filled the air for almost a minute. Neither of us knew what to say next. It was clear, though, that Lepris was thinking about something quite depressing of his own... but the only time I tried to open my mouth to say something that might have helped him cope with his inner pain, he signed me to halt. Whatever he was thinking, I thought, must have been very important.

Suddenly, the rabbit began crying once more as he embraced me: his hug was soft and warm, and it almost made me shed a few tears as well... almost; “You're even stronger than I thought... I wish I was even half as strong as you..." he cried, but I immediately replied “Your tears prove you are well past that point."

We spent some time like that, embracing each other like my mother used to embrace me when I was a child (although it was quite difficult, considering that in his morphed form Lepris was much higher than me)... until we heard a loud noise coming from the entrance of the building, followed by shouts, yells and screeches all over the edifice: something weird was going on, and I had a feeling it was not a part of the convention.

I only realized what was happening when the door that led to the hallway we were in was busted and a small group of uniform-wearing, weapon-wielding humans ran inside hostilely: I did not know who they were, but they definitely were not there to enjoy the convention.

“Get down on the ground, and you may live 'till tomorrow!" one of them shouted at us, threatening us with his... 'machine-gun'? Gods, humans gave their weapons such weird names...

“Red!" Lepris shouted, fearing for our safety, but I silenced him with a sign of my hand and proceeded to follow the man's instructions... or rather, pretend to follow them. After quickly summoning some of my strength, I unleashed Hell on those pretentious bastards: “Fire Pillar!" I yelled as pillars of pure flame emerged from the ground below the enemies' feet, launching them in the air before dropping them on the ground, causing some of them to lay unconscious and others to roll on the floor uncontrollably, trying to kill the fire that enveloped them wholly.

“Is... is it a bit too late to ask you to not kill them?" Lepris innocently asked me, already fearing the worst for those clearly evil humans; “No." I responded as I killed all fires in the room with the flick of my finger, not wanting any of them to die either... at least for the time being.

However, I could not risk having any of them get up and stab me in the back, so I proceeded to 'forcibly put them to sleep' with a few well-placed punches; as I did so to the last awake hostile, Lepris received a call on his phone, which he quickly passed to me, saying “It's Dante... wait, how did he get my number?"

“It matters not." I replied to the rabbit as I seized the device and spoke “What is going on?"

“You know that 'catastrophe' you told me about earlier? Well, turns out you were right: the entire building is full of hostiles, and plenty of 'F.E.A.R.'s are roaming the 'Astra-grid' as well. We're surrounded... especially you. Multiple enemies are inbound on your location." the catastrophe! I had completely forgot about it... and I forgot to warn either of my friends about it too!

“Darn it, where's Merle? Is she safe?" I inquired, worried for her well-being.

“She's under attack, but Felicity's there with her. She'll be fine... but you two need to stop idling around and start kicking some ass. Neither me or Fortune can get rid of all these enemies alone... in a timely fashion, that is." he responded, evidently busy: from what I gathered from the sounds I heard from the other end of the call, Dante was evidently busy with the 'F.E.A.R.' menace... I supposed someone needed to handle them before they could do anything terrible.

“Wait, what's happening?" Lepris asked me, concerned; “We are under attack, that's what's happening." I swiftly answered, before further clarifying “And we are going to strike back, right now."