Chapter Twenty-Three: Unification

*

Gate Leader

Aiden Pearce

Olivia stared at the words as if they were her only lifeline on a quickly sinking ship. They were the only method of confirming that Aiden was still alive, even if she didn’t know his circumstances. She wanted nothing more than to rally all the capable bodies they could and storm the Valkyr and try to rescue him, but she knew that wasn’t an option.

And without any other idea for how to get information on how he was or to make a plan to do something to get him to safety and back in Zion, she felt helpless. Utterly helpless, useless, like a burden. He’d made sure she stayed behind to work on the Formations, and she had.

She’d thrown herself at his notes with a fervor she couldn’t muster in a normal situation, almost as if he expected as much of her. The advancements she’d made, the tests she ran, and all the findings felt like they were worth little more than shit and vinegar though. There was potential for them to be useful, to apply them to all kinds of things to enhance their combat power and make life easier, but none of that mattered if Aiden wasn’t there to see it.

The crippling guilt of not going, of staying back with the home group while Aiden and so many of her friends went off to fight, it all messed with her head.

But there it was.

Gate Leader

Aiden Pearce

He was alive and needed her to get over her pity party, squash her negativity and fears, and figure something out that could help in the current situation. She could only imagine what he’d say if he saw her worrying so much, and those things helped her calm. Admittedly, were it not for Cloudy’s support and Anna’s get-shit-done attitude, she didn’t think she’d be able to bring herself out of that doom spiral to do anything more than worry and complain.

They had though, and she felt a fire in her belly like no other before. Closing her eyes, she latched onto that feeling and didn’t let go. Its radiant heat kept the nefarious feelings and thoughts at bay, fueling her to do something, anything at all, that might help.

Opening her eyes, she closed the prompt and picked up the magical compendium, snapping it closed, and left the room. She shut the door on her way out and paused, using that heat to fight back the anxiety of leaving the only way of knowing Aidne’s condition behind. She couldn’t stay there though. She had time to do something to help him, but if she simply watched and waited for the ownership to change, it would be unknown, if not inevitable.

For now, he was safe. She could only move as if he would remain safe long enough for her to throw something together with the others to save him. If she told herself anything else, she didn’t think she’d have the power to keep pushing.

No, she knew she would give up. Aiden was the only family she had left, and, while Zion had become important to both of them, losing him would devastate her more than she could handle. Of that, she was confident. She didn’t want him to die or to have no will to live anymore, so even if it was hard, she took the compendium and walked away from the door.

Making her way down to the second floor, she looked over the railing to see a strange emerald mist coming up from the first floor. She only knew one person whose magic looked like that, the same person who’d left only a few minutes ahead of her to heal the injured.

What’d Anna do this time? she wondered, speeding up her descent. Even before she stepped off the stairs, she could feel the power in the air, though it faded fast. Just from breathing the air, she felt healthier, less stressed, and far more energetic. Wow, that’s something.

In a few seconds, she looked over the room. All the injured were staring in disbelief. A small crowd had formed towards the front entrance, and Olivia made her way over. There, Anna slept against the wall.

Olivia smiled softly and looked around at all the recently-healed who stared at the sleeping girl in awe. However, she pushed her way through and made sure the girl hadn’t killed herself from overexertion. When she felt a sigh, she let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Someone get her a pillow and blanket, please!” she called, shooing the crowd away. “Be quick about it!”

Many nodded, and several took more than a few times being told to scamper off to their corners of the first floor. She looked around the room at all the healed people of Zion and wished Aiden were there to rally them all to get things done.

However, he wasn’t, and she was. Usually, she’d have deferred the organization of all the people to Anna, but the girl was out cold. She took a deep breath and mentally hyped herself up. It took her several attempts, but she eventually got to the point that she didn’t feel like she’d vomit.

“Everyone, listen up!” she called, wincing at the sound of her shaky, high pitch. The occupants of the Town Hall looked her way, quietly and patiently waiting for her to muster up that courage again. “I know a lot of you are struggling with the events of last night. So am I, and I wasn’t even there. I’m sorry for that, however, this is a time to come together as a people. Aiden, our leader, is still out there. Without him, Zion could fall into our enemies hands at any moment, so I must ask something of you all.”

One of the warriors she recognized, Tauvar, stood and approached. His face was like stone, but his eyes told Olivia everything she needed to know.

This… isn’t going to be easy.

“What are you trying to say?” he asked, his words biting towards the end of the question.

“We need to do something…” she said, her voice trailing off as dissatisfied murmurs broke out in the crowd. She looked back at Tauvar as he crossed his arms and shook his head. “What do you want me to say, Tauvar? That Aiden made the right call last night?” She scoffed. “Hell if I know if it was the right call, but it was something. His intentions were good. The Valkyr couldn’t go uncontested, and we couldn’t leave the others there to be used as a sacrificial vanguard or entertainment in blood sports!”

“You weren’t there!” someone in the back of the Town Hall shouted, and a chorus of similar sentiment followed.

“You don’t know!”

“You didn’t fight!”

“Do you know how many died?”

They kept going on and on, and Olivia started to panic as people rose and formed a crowd around her. Their rage-warped faces nearly made her flinch. Their hurtful words, blaming Aiden for everything and saying they should just leave him to suffer, started to get to her. She hadn’t been there, and they reminded her of that fact hundreds of times in the span of a couple minutes, not that she needed a reminder in the first place.

“Enough!”

The crowd instantly turned towards the newcomer who walked down the steps and pushed through the crowd, his signature club slung over his shoulder.

When he got within reach of Olivia, he stopped and stared her down. He looked between her and the crowd, the powerful presence of fury, battlelust, and disdain making many slink back to where they’d been before.

“All of you get on my damn nerves, I swear!” Josh shouted, dropping his club to his side and letting go. The Town Hall floor cracked under the weight. The brute turned to look at Tauvar and pressed a finger into his chest. “And how fucking dare you? Aiden may not be perfect, but he’s busted his fucking ass for all of you—for all of us! How dare you ungrateful asshats try to cut and run the first time things get a little dicey, a little dangerous? All of you should be ashamed of yourselves!”

“Josh, stop,” Olivia said, trying to grab his hand away from Tauvar’s chest. His glare pinned her in place. “Please…”

“You’re no better than them, Olivia. If it weren’t for Claudia,” he said, jamming a thumb towards the girl in question as she stood at the top of the stairs and then pointed towards the other girl slumped against the wall, “and Anna, we’d all be royally fucked right now. You’d think with your brother captured by the enemy, you’d get over your fear for one second to get something done.”

She flinched as if smacked, and Claudia hissed, “Too far, Josh.”

“The hell it is,” he scoffed, looking around them once more. “Admit what’s really bothering all of you. It’s not that Aiden led you out there and you got your asses beat. It’s that you were too weak, too useless. All of you were a burden, and those in my team are no different. You all froze up in the face of the harsh truth of this world.”

Olivia wanted to say something, but Tauvar sighed and took a step back. “You’re right. All’s fair in love and war. Showing mercy to one’s enemy is showing cruelty to oneself. Yeah, shit.” The up and coming, wet behind the ears B-ranker smacked himself across the face loud enough that it rang throughout the Town Hall. He winced and spit a glob of blood to the side then turned to meet Josh’s gaze. “You’re right.”

“I know. Let’s be real here. You all want to hide behind whatever excuse you can come up with to not take responsibility for what’s happened. Aiden may piss me off, and we may disagree on methodology all the time, but he could take any ten—no, fifty. He could take any fifty of us in this room in a fight and win, myself included. I feel that same rage, but my reason for being pissed is far different. He gave me the responsibility of watching over your pathetic asses. This is war, and war isn’t nice or fun. The Valkyr won’t listen to reason, and they’ve made that very clear with how they treated Adam and the rest. They don’t give a shit about your feelings, and feeling bad that you’ve had to kill one of them when they would slit your throat and throw a party? That’s so fucking ridiculous!”

“What do you want from us? We’re just highschoolers, not cold-blooded killers!” a girl shouted, pushing past the crowd to stand next to Tauvar.

Josh sneered at the girl. “Who the hell are you?”

“Name’s Carlie,” she said, pushing Tauvar’s arms away from her. She got chest to chest with the brutish boy, her nostrils flaring. “You and him both expect too much from us!”

“You’re pathetic,” Josh snarled, gripping Bartholomew's handle. “You want me to feel bad for any of you? We’re all in the same situation here, and of anybody, Aiden has relentlessly pushed himself day in and day out to give all of you a place to say, a bastion of hope in the face of unfamiliar territory. The disrespect and audacity all of you have pisses me off. Nobody fucking asked to be here. All of you who came after the first wave don’t know how shit things were. Do any of you know what Aiden accomplished to get us all out of the dungeon?”

“What dungeon?” one of the newer members of Zion asked, looking around in confusion. He shrinked back under Josh’s intense gaze. “S—sorry! Forget I asked.”

“The fact that none of you even realize how lucky you are, how ignorant to what it’s taken to come so far and how much he’s sacrificed so you can all hide away from the truth of the situation. He’s kept you all from it, and I told him it would turn out like this.” Josh tensed up, and Olivia thought he might punch Carlie if she didn’t get away from him. Contrary to her expectations, he let out a deep breath and clenched Bartholomew hard enough that the handle groaned. “You think you’ve had it hard, but the dungeon was something else entirely.”

Olivia stepped closer to Josh and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll explain for those who don’t know.”

Over the course of the next five minutes, she explained the initial transmigration, the dangers of the dungeon, and how Aiden fought the boss singlehandedly, saving everyone from the hordes of Shadowborn that were about to overrun the rest of the students.

“Wow, I never knew,” Tauvar said, grabbing Carlie by the wrist and pulling her away from Josh where she’d remained glaring at him for the entire time Olivia recaptured the events. “I knew he’d done some impressive things, but even I didn’t know about all of that.”

“He’s never stopped working to provide a safe haven for all the humans that unwillingly get brought into Midrath. He rarely eats or sleeps. If he’s not throwing him into a dungeon to increase his own power so he can defend Zion and all of its people, then he’s managing the city and Faction relations with the Naudox. There’s even more than that, but he doesn’t complain about what he does. He doesn’t show how much he does, because he’s our leader. He thinks it’s his duty, his responsibility to do everything he can, no matter what it takes.”

“And yet you all stand here talking shit like you’re not the problem,” Josh said, his nostrils flaring. “There was nothing I wanted to do more than leave all of you shitters behind to go and help him. James is the same way, and Ian is killing himself with guilt for not being there. None of you have a right to complain. Not even close.” He scanned the crowd. “Who here’s reached A-rank?”

There were only four hands raised.

“Who knows that there’s three more ranks above A-rank?” he asked.

Tauvar looked confused, and the sentiment was shared with the crowd.

“That’s what I thought. James, Olivia, and Ian are S-rank. Anna and I are SS-rank. Aiden is the only SSS-rank of all of us, and there’s a damn good reason for that.” He gestured towards the entire crowd and the Town Hall as a whole. “Nobody here works harder than him, beats themself up harder, drives themselves into the fucking ground like he does. He relied on all of you, and look at what it has cost.”

The more he went on, the more the crowd looked ashamed, just as he said they should. Olivia tried to think of a way to stop the recently raised morale from plummeting into oblivion. Josh wasn’t wrong, but his approach was damning. Even Olivia felt shaken down to her soul as she had to accept the truth behind her words. Aiden had done everything Josh said, and if Olivia were being realistic, that wasn’t even half of what Aiden had actually done. The times she’d seen him sleep in the last month could be counted on only one hand.

But she didn’t know what to say.

“What good is all this negativity going to do, Josh?” Claudia asked, stepping down the stairs with crossed arms. “If you’re trying to make everyone angry to get something done, then you’re just the same as ever. You’re speaking the truth, sure, but you’re also making everyone feel like shit.”

Good cop, bad cop. They’re the same as always. Olivia hoped Claudia could reign Josh in and maybe direct the sense of shame and helplessness the crowd exuded into something actionable. Otherwise, Josh would’ve been right but at the expense of any chance of doing something about the things he said. An odd thought occurred as she looked at the brutish boy restlessly palming Bartholomew’s handle. I never would’ve guessed Josh respected Aiden so much since they fight and argue so often.

But after really processing everything he’d said, she realized Josh recognized Aiden as someone stronger than him. So much stronger, in fact, that he could relate to the helpless feeling the crowd experienced when he tried and tried, pushing himself to his limits, only to continue falling further and further behind.

He might even… idolize Aiden’s strength? And he’s always been pretty bad at communicating, so maybe constantly arguing and fighting is his strange way of trying to show his respects? Or maybe it’s to test himself to see if he’s even remotely closed the gap between them. There could be an infinite number of reasons that Josh acted the way he did, but she smiled warmly as the boy argued with Claudia. I’ve known this, but sometimes he does stuff like this to really remind me that he’s just a confused and angry teenager like the rest of us.

The more she listened, the more her own respect for the boy grew. When everyone got depressed and pitied themselves, he was stomping around angry because he hadn’t done more. His anger drove action, and his restless and confrontational behavior was just his way of expressing that he didn’t know what to do but wanted to do something.

“Josh,” Olivia said, snapping to interrupt the two as their bickering started to become anything but productive. “Why didn’t you go help Aiden if you feel this way?”

The question stopped him in place, but once he processed what she’d asked, his face went as red as a tomato. “He gave me a responsibility to get everyone else back here safely if things didn’t go as planned. After our attack, all of them had no will to fight left. If I tried to reinforce his position, it would’ve just been to lead all of them to their deaths.”

“You wanted to help, but instead, you respected Aiden’s command and made sure everyone got to safety,” she said, and he nodded. She let her hand drop from his arm and turned to the crowd. There were many lowered heads, sniffles, and eyes wiped as her focus shifted. “Josh has a very straightforward approach to things and tends to get rather personal and offensive, but it’s his way of showing he cares. He made sure those of you under his command got back safely instead of leading you to your deaths, and Aiden gave that order to put your safety first. He’s not the greatest with words—”

“I’m just fine, thank you very much,” he interrupted, crossing his arms and looking down at her from the brook of his nose. “Don’t speak for me.”

Olivia smiled softly. “Even if he seems like a hotheaded jerk, he’s a soft teddy bear who’s trying to go save his friend and leader.”

“He’s not my frie—”

“Yes, he is,” Olivia, Claudia, and Tauvar all said in unison.

“Whatever,” Josh grumbled quietly.

“Be quiet!” Claudia chided, punching his arm playfully. She grinned and whispered, “A teddy bear, huh?”

Olivia shot her friend a look that silenced the girl before turning back to the crowd. “The night may have turned tragic and our losses may have been devastating, but Aiden, this city’s leader that works his ass off to provide safety and hope to everyone within, needs our help. Now more than ever, we need to rally together to save our leader, our hope. If he falls, the Valkyr will take Zion. If he falls, it’s game over. This is all greater than us, and Aiden’s been carrying that weight on his shoulders since day one. This isn’t just about all of us here. He’s been doing everything he can to fight for the entirety of our home, for all the humans back on Earth, and he’s been doing it utterly alone.”

“He won’t let us help,” Claudia bitterly added.

“That’s right, he’s proud and thinks he has to shield all of us. But now, my brother, their friend,” she said, waving toward Josh, Claudia, a sleeping Anna, and then them, “and a brilliant leader… He needs us, all of us, and he needs us to get our shit together.”

Tauvar nodded, spewing another fortune cookie quote, “The best time to do something is yesterday. The second best time is now.”

Olivia held up a hand to stop Josh from replying, knowing he had no patience for proverbs and the like. “You’re exactly right. So let’s come together as people of Zion, as people who’ve been thrown into an uncertain situation together, as people who have taken and taken and taken from our leader without giving him the support he deserves. Rather than feel bad, we should do as Josh suggested. We should get angry and do something about it. It’s time we give back to our leader and show up to support him when he needs it.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Anna said, stretching her arms wide while yawning. She glared pointedly at Josh. “You’re too loud, dude.”

His face that had recently stopped looking like a tomato regained that same color and intensity. He pushed Olivia out of the way and stomped over to her. “Where the fuck were you, huh?! We needed you, and you were nowhere to be found.”

Her eyes turned into dangerous slits as the air vibrated dangerously. “No kidding, dipshit, but we can all get pissed or depressed about the past. Like Olivia said, he needs us now. We can deal with everything else when we rescue him and get him back, away from the Valkyr, and within the safety of Zion’s walls. If you wanna be pissed off then, go ahead. You have every right to be, but is it your place to scold me?”

“At least I was there and doing what he asked of me, unlike you.” Josh didn’t back down, despite the growing intensity of the magical vibrations. “It shouldn’t be Ian locked up in the cells. It should be you.”

She clicked her tongue in annoyance. “I’m sure your convoluted reasoning makes you believe that, but you’re wrong. Even if I wasn’t here, that doesn’t mean I was out just frolicking in the forest enjoying myself on a casual stroll.”

Olivia perked up, her curiosity growing. She’d been wondering what Anna had been up to ever since she’d been reported as missing, and now that she was back, Olivia didn’t want to wait any longer. “So?”

Anna turned her scathing glare towards Olivia. “I already told you I’d tell everyone when the time was right, but Aiden is priority number one. He’ll want to hear what I have to say too, even if he might have a few choice words for me.” She turned back to Josh. “And whatever he has to say, that’s between the two of us. I’m sure he’s more angry and hurt than you are, so keep that in mind before you try to overstep.”

Claudia placed herself between the two. Metal coated her body to protect her from the violent magic in the air. The raw Essence Anna could control was stunning and even managed to steadily chip away at the layers of metallic armor.

Impressive in such a terrifying way, Olivia thought in awe. She studied the layered armor Claudia donned, wondering if she could figure out a method to replicate the ability. She, too, had the Metal Discipline, even if she hadn’t really put it to good use yet. Looking at Josh, she thought, Maybe it’s time to take things a little more seriously. If I don’t want Aiden to get hurt, I should push myself harder. If I don’t want to feel like a burden, then I need to get stronger.

She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. After she released it, she looked between the two and whistled sharply. “Enough. There’s no time to be fighting between us. We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to even think about mounting a rescue attempt, so stop this pointless in-fighting and let’s do something to save Aiden. We can rest, process the events, and grieve the losses once we’ve done that.”

The two had a long stare down until Anna waved her hands to dissipate the accumulated power. “Fine, but there’s something we have to do first.”

“What is it?” Olivia asked, watching as Josh barely contained his resentment and fury.

“We need to pay our respects to those who have fallen,” she said, her lips trembling slightly. “After that, we make the Valkyr pay.”

“I hate to agree with you,” Josh said, cracking his neck and shaking out his arms and stretching his back, “but that sounds like a great idea. While you all do that, I’m going to go smack some sense into Ian and James.”

“Josh…” Olivia said, concerned for the other two boys she considered friends.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be just enough to get them focused on what’s important. Ian’s decently sturdy, and James is ridiculously quick on his feet. They’ll be okay,” he said, sadness flashing through his eyes for a brief second. Had she not seen it for herself, she never would’ve believed he’d ever revealed that moment of vulnerability. “I hate seeing them like this, and I’m only really good at pissing people off and hitting things really hard. Leave it to me. I’ll take care of them.”

Olivia nodded, and the crowd got out of his way as he headed up the stairs. Claudia looked like she wanted to follow after, but Olivia shook her head. “They all need this. Just let him go.”

Her oldest friend looked displeased, but she nodded acquiescence.

Anna quickly took control. “Alright everyone, let’s go send those who sacrificed themselves for Aiden’s dream of a safe haven for all of us to the afterlife so they may finally be at peace and go on to their eternal rest.”

The crowd didn’t wait to be told again and streamed out of the first floor of the Town Hall. Moments later, Olivia heard Josh’s booming voice barking commands from the second floor. Less than five seconds later, all the people of Zion who’d been upstairs came rushing down and joined the flowing foot traffic that led out of the Town Hall.

Even though Olivia wanted to go and join them, she knew her responsibilities and expertise would be more valuable and effectively spent with Claudia and Magnus. She turned to her friend and tapped the compendium. “Come with me to the forge.”

“You could at least ask,” Claudia said with a playful grin. She pointed to the magical book Aiden had entrusted to Olivia. “What’s that?”

“It’s why I need to talk to the both of you,” she said, explaining what Aiden had found and the contents of the book. “I think I’m on to something, and I was hoping both of you could run things by me.”

“Me too,” Anna said, causing Olivia to jump.

The crowd of departing people had hidden her, and only when they’d fully departed did she approach. Olivia looked between Anna and the last few stragglers. “Shouldn’t you go with them? I’m sure they could use some guidance.”

“You really think they need me there to tell them to find a big empty space, dig a bunch of holes, and then move the bodies in after saying something nice?” She shook her head. “Nope, couldn’t be me. I’m much more interested in hearing about this compendium and your and Aiden’s findings.”

With a shrug, Olivia gestured for Claudia to lead the way to the forge. “For everyone’s sake, let’s hope we figure something out.”