“HOLD THE FUCK UP! MISERA. YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU SWIPED OFF AN INSIGNIA PIN OF THE FUCKING ARC ON FEIN THAT NIGHT?!?!” Rylan unbelievably yelled.

I looked up into the sky, debating whether it’s time to tell Rylan who his great-grandfather was…

“HEY!” snapped Rylan before letting out an exhausted breath. He pulled me closer and hugged me tighter. “Please tell me what you’re thinking. I just… I can’t…”

I patted his head and caressed his cheek. Looking into his eyes, I asked “How much do you really know about The Arc?”

“Honestly? I thought I knew a lot until you asked that. What should I know about them?”

Sighing once again, I said “I don’t know if you were either afraid to ask, didn’t care to ask, or were too stupid to even notice. If your great-grandfather was a normal civilian, how the fuck did he know how to fight like a mercenary and form an underground group?”

Rylan was stunned silent. I rolled my eyes. “I take it the answer was you were too stupid to notice.”

I bundled us up in a tighter blanket cocoon and began to tell the story of his heroic great-grandfather.

“Avengle was your great-grandmother’s family name. Neral’s original name was Arc. Neral Arc. You know the Arc as Shadow’s rival but do you know in what way and why?”

“… I’ve never really questioned it but every time we ran into them they act like pompous jerks and arrogant assholes. Something about them just rubs me and the whole team the wrong way. They never explain anything but it always seems that their purpose is to go up against us.”

“So in conclusion you know nothing about them.”

“… I guess so…”

“What is Shadow’s purpose?”

“Our purpose? … I’ve… never really thought of that… Revenge?”

“Hah… Seriously, you’re a leader. You should know at least fundamentally what you’re leading for!”

“Well I have you!”

“That’s not good enough! I need someone to be able to take over when I’m not around.”

“But you’ll always be around… And if there really needs to be someone to take charge, we have Ryker for that! Why do you think we have two leads? The brains and the brawns. Together, we’re perfect!”

“Oh. My. Gawd. You’re starting to annoy me.”

“Well I bet you Ryker doesn’t know the original purpose of Shadow either! I mean you’ve been here the longest out of… How… Did you come to Shadow?”

“AND THE IDIOT FINALY OPENS HIS EYES! HUZZAH!”

“No. Misera. Seriously. How did you come to Shadow. I mean I knew you’ve never talked about your blood family but I had always assumed… We had always assumed something bad went down. But even if it did, it still doesn’t explain how you ended up…”

“Ended up… how? Here? Ha….. Do you remember the night we fucked for the first time? Do you remember what I told you then?”