บท 19: Finally Awake
He had heard about the surprise attack on the Advocates and how badly it had rebuffed. How desperate were the Guild that they wouldn't rest until these siblings were caught. They had sent the least member of Grade one and instead of carrying his mission by himself, he had decided it was best to take with him amateur Guild members to a room filled with Advocates. Such stupidity couldn't be condones and he had been executed the instant he returned from his failed mission. Not only did he fail in his mission, he had also reduced their headcount by over a hundred and it was just unforgivable.
He had been present during the execution and he watched how a grade one member was easily beheaded, his organs used for sacrifices and his body fed to their dogs. It was both a terrifying yet pleasing sight to behold. Pleasant in the sense that he didn't need to overwork himself to retain his position any longer. They were now six grade ones and he honestly didn't want to climb the ranks any longer. Being one of the six was already stressful enough.
He had finally healed completely and he knew soon, another burden would be rested on his shoulder. His failure was only pardoned because this was his first time failing and he knew a second failure would either mean his death or demotion from the ranks. The latter was a much better punishment but the shame that came with it almost guaranteed suicide.
"Nigel" someone called out to him. He turned around to meet a familiar face, Zayn Owens. Number two grade one Guild member. His ability illusion. He changed his worried looks in seconds, his face once again appearing ruthless under the mask.
"Zayn" He returned, "How are you doing?" He asked
Zayn used to be his neighbor during when they were still kids, the both of them offsprings to Powerful Guild members even though they weren't aware of it at the time. Zayn's family had moved out when they were teenagers and he never saw him until he was fully initiated into the Guild. He had finally come to know the reason for their sudden disappearance, his father's enemies had found them and would eventually end up catching up to them and killing his parents leaving him in the custody of the Guild.
Zayn had become a ruthless killer after his parents murder easily and speedily climbing the ranks upto number two. He took on missions that were considered impossible including the assassination of the Brown parents even when they were under constant watch. His ability had made the work so easy that everyone had considered the incident as an accident when in reality, he had slit their throat and left them in a moving vehicle to crash.
Why the kids of the people that Zayn had killed had become so important was a mystery and not knowing the answer crippled him.
"You don't have to wear a mask when you're with me Nigel" Zayn reminded pushing the masked man to finally rid himself of his coverings and breathe properly.
"What do you want from me Zayn?" Nigel asked flatly. Both of them were something that weren't meant to be. Since their teenage days, he hadn't quite figured out his feelings but it was obvious Zayn had, and it wasn't for him. He had lived in torture ever since he had left and when he thought he had finally gotten over his obsession, he had reappeared only to be married with a child. He had done his best to avoid anything related to him but the man never made it easy for him.
"Can't a man just hang out with his pal?" Zayn questioned rhetorically throwing his hand around Nigel's shoulder's.
"We're not friends" Nigel reminder moving the man's hand away from his shoulder. "What do you really want Zayn?" He repeated not buying the whole friend charade.
"I just wanted to check up on you, heard you got beat up pretty badly by an Advocate" Zayn mocked, his eyes searching around the man's body for scars.
The memories of that night flushed back to his memory immediately Zayn finished his sentence. 'who was that man?' he questioned himself again. Nobody had gotten him that bad and this man did it with relative ease. If he was to speculate, this man was definitely stronger than Zayn was even though it might go either way, but this was just his speculations, he couldn't be sure. He had never gone up against his former friend before.
"I'm fine now" Nigel assured stopping Zayn's head from moving around in search of injuries.
"I've been tasked to kill this man that has attempted to kill you. Nobody touches my best pal and gets away with it." Nigel relayed.
He almost choked on his breath at the man's word. No, he wasn't going to lead his friend to his death simply because he wanted revenge. Even though he might have suppressed his stupid emotions and probably hated Zayn now, he wasn't going to let him go on with this stupid mission which he was pretty sure wasn't even a mission. He had simply tasked himself with it just to fight for his friend. Typical Zayn, always leading him on and leaving him heartbroken later on. Must be always be this Charming?
"I said I'm fine. don't want you to fight my battles for me, I can do that myself!" Nigel replied almost immediately. "You should focus on training the amateurs instead of poking around in my business" He finished before walking out.
He felt relieved, he was sure those words would get to him and hopefully, would knock out the spirit for revenge out of him. It was for his own good and the Guild at large, they've already lost enough members and loosing a higher up like Zayn, would be more than devastating. It would clearly write down the superiority of the Advocate's and nobody wanted that. Not even him.
***
Ashley finally woke up. She opened her eyes weakly and sat up on the bed only to find his brother fast asleep by her side. She looked sideways to the clock beside her, it was few minutes past one am and she had just realized she had been unconscious for more than a whole day. She was famished and the grumbling sound of her stomach made that clear.
She climbed down from the bed and walked out of the room. She needed food and hopefully, they would be some leftovers in the refrigerator. She held her head with her hand, the second one gripping the rail of the staircase firmly as she walked down.
Everywhere was dead silent as she walked down towards the kitchen The only audible sounds were those of her pounding heart and her unsteady breathing. She switched on the kitchen lights and almost jumped at the sight of another beings shadow behind her. Her hands immediately gripped the first thing she touched and she swung around ready to kill whoever it was.
James swooped low immediately just before the kitchen blade swung right above his head.
Ashley finally turned to see a teenager on the floor behind her.
"Who are you?" She questioned, the blade still in her hands, its tip pointing downwards towards the boy on the floor.
"I'm James, I was just hungry" James replied immediately. Just before another figure came running down the stairs.
"Ashley" Justin pronounced happily at thesight of his standing sister. "He stays here now, you can put the knife down" Justin explained making the girl finally drop down the blade.
He walked speedily towards her and embraced her the second he was close enough.
"You're embarrassing me* Ashley whispered softly in her brothers ear but it seemed the man wasn't listening. She finally wriggled herself free from his unending embrace. Her eyes fixed on the boy who had now walked up to the refrigerator and pulled out a plate of leftover noodles.
"Forget about the leftover, I'll make you something to eat" Justin offered. He had noticed his sister's eyes trailing the Guild boy and his plate. The boy had refused to eat earlier because he didn't trust Charles and here he was eating the same food he had rejected.
Ashley heeded to her brothers words and headed out of the kitchen to the living room. Her head was still hurting but not as before and she could still hear people's thought, specifically Justin's thought. She could hear him promising to make her the best me he could from the resources available, he was overjoyed by her waking and she didn't need to hear his thoughts to confirm that fact.
For some reason, she couldn't hear the thoughts of the boy who sat opposite her eating a out of a plate of almost frozen noodles. He didn't even reheat the meal before eating. He seemed weird but what was even weirder was the absence of thoughts in his head and she knew, everyone thought about something. Something was definitely off about this new boy and it had piqued her curiosity.
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