Chapter Forty-Two: What If…?

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“Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?” Cloudy asked him. She met his stare nonchalantly, pressing harder on Josh any time he tried reaching for his bat.

“What’s going on?” Aiden asked, folding his arms. He felt like a parent, catching two children misbehaving. Shooting a glance over his shoulder toward Anna, he remembered what she said about playing House.

Turning back to the duo on the ground, he raised a brow. “Explain.”

“He challenged me ‘cause he got a new toy, so I had to show him that he was being a very silly boy.” She emphasized the last few words by digging her knee into his chest a bit more.

He’s gonna be sore later, that’s for sure. “Shouldn’t you be - I don’t know - resting?”

“Nothing’s happening and we weren’t sleeping, so we thought we’d have some fun. Lay off it,” she grumbled back, removing her knee from Josh’s chest. She pulled him to his feet, grinning victoriously. “That’ll teach you to talk less smack.”

“Oh, please,” he said, waving a hand in her direction. “You got lucky. Next time, I’ll make sure I don’t hold back.”

Cloudy guffawed. “You’re too slow and swing that thing like your target is a turtle. Not a chance you’ll beat me any time soon, but it’s cute that you think you might. Just know, I’m gonna put you on the ground harder next time.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said, grinning.

“I’m just gonna-”

“Attack!” Isaac called. “A few more evils is all. Me and Ian got this, guys.”

Aiden raced to the edge of the path, the others trailing behind him. Sure enough, there were only a handful of Evils scaling the mountain, spreading out in pairs.

Something’s not right here. Compared to the last group that attacked, this couldn’t be all they attacked with.

“Don’t worry, boss man,” Isaac said, seeing the confusion on Aiden’t face. “They keep sending feelers every now and then. They’ll go skittering off back into the woods if one of them gets hurt.”

That didn’t make him feel any better. In fact, it had the opposite effect. If they were gauging his group’s strength, then they had some kind of leader capable of planning and tactics.

And that didn’t bode well.

“How many times have they come like this since I’ve been inside?” he asked, eyeing them as they skittered up the mountain. They were thinner versions of Big Boy with -

He groaned. The damned things had wings!

“This is the third group,” Ian reported from next to Isaac. “The wings make them hard to pin down.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he grumbled.

Ian slinked away from Aiden, nervously rubbing his arm.

The wings were thick with spikes dripping in the familiar black goop lining the edges. They lay flat against the shadow creatures’ backs, making it look like some kind of leathery armor. He wished that were the case.

Turning away from Ian and Isaac, he looked around. “Where are James and Olivia? She should be out here, too.”

“They’re on the other side. There are a few entrances into the Town Hall that they tried sneaking into, so we split up.” Isaac said it like it was no big deal, but Aiden wanted to scream.

Aiden stretched his will while casting Arctic Gale, connecting it to one of the Evils. A Hoarspike, as long as he was tall, cut through the air and instantly froze one of the Evils. Immediately, they all turned back toward the woods, their wings unfolding and carrying them away.

Olivia came rushing out from behind the Town Hall. “Aiden? Aren’t you supposed to be resting?”

James ran next to her, watching the Evil as it crashed down and shattered into bits and pieces of ice. “Nice shot!”

Aiden glanced toward Cloudy and Josh out of the corner of his eyes as they started to slink away. “I can’t sleep, and I heard Isaac’s call.”

Josh flashed a grin, giving him a thumbs up, then ran off with Cloudy in hand. He rolled his hand at the antics of the two, but he really couldn’t judge. As much as he was avoiding establishing some kind of relationship with Anna, they had also run off to be alone.

Albeit, he wanted to show her the Town Control Hub, but he doubted the excuse had a leg to stand on. It was, after all, still an excuse to spend more quality time with Anna.

Judging them would be hypocrisy at its finest, so he just shrugged as they disappeared within the Town Hall. Olivia glanced over her shoulder, rolling her eyes.

“All these power couples,” she said, squinting toward Anna. Anna stared back unashamed, causing Olivia to huff in displeasure. “Didn’t even make you blink. I can’t figure you out.”

“Oh, she’s very easy to figure out,” Aiden responded. He held up his hand and started counting as he continued. “She’s calm and rational, fancying herself a cool intellectual but then turns into a little kid whenever someone discovers something new about magic, the system, whatever world we’re in, or-”

He yelped when she pinched his butt.

“PDA!” Olivia cried, shielding her eyes from Anna’s antics. “It buuuurns!”

“Oh, please. Don’t think I didn’t notice the hickey,” Aiden said, squinting back at her.

She gasped, pulling her hoodie tighter over her shoulders and pulling the drawstrings closed. “I’m going back to watch for monsters. I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone.”

“We’re gonna go back to talking about attribute distributions and theory-crafting different builds for Ian, so…”

Aiden and Anna got the hint, walking away from the duo.

“They’re awfully friendly now,” he noted. “I’m glad Ian is making a friend. I was worried when he first joined us.”

“You talk like you’re so much older than them,” Anna said, giggling.

“You’re the one that said we’re the parents in our group’s game of House.” He locked his arm with hers, walking toward the steps of the Town Hall.

“Just like the first time, here we are again, all alone.” Isaac laughed loudly from where they’d left him with Ian. “Well, for the most part.”

“You know, the path goes farther up the mountain. We could always go check it out,” he suggested.

“What are we still doing here?” She grabbed his hand and pulled him into the Town Hall. The main hall led to the end with the two Association Hubs. Right before that room, two side doors let them out on the opposite end, revealing the path leading up to the peak. “Do you really think we can make it there and back in a little over an hour?”

Looking at his watch, he shook his head. “We’ll have to do it after our shift.”

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The first shift ended and the second one rotated. Ever since Aiden attacked the Evil, another scouting team hadn’t appeared.

“We’re gonna spar over there. If you need us, give us a holler,” Cloudy said, pointing to an empty space nearly a football field’s distance away. “Try not to need us.”

They walked away, their voices loud and unruly even when they reached their impromptu sparring grounds.

“Good riddance,” Anna muttered. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind an ear, then turned to him. “What kind of ideas do you have for your Disciplines? Also, what Rarity are they at? James only mentioned your attributes.”

He pulled his Status up and accepted the prompt so that she could see it.

“All three at Uncommon already with those attribute numbers?” She tuttered in annoyance, biting her lip. Her eyes glanced over the transparent notification several times, before looking up at him with scrunched brows. “You’ve had to absorb so much Essence in such a little time to have a Status like this. No wonder you were so fatigued.”

He ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. “I just did what I had to. Using more Essence raises the amount you can use the next time, so I try to use as much as I can without pushing myself into ‘unable to move’ territory. Also, you and Isaac knew about it when we met you. How’s that?”

She groaned. “I did it by accident before the Spawner started to overwhelm us. Isaac held them off while I recovered. Talk about walking on thin ice.”

“Adam absorbed too much. That’s how we knew,” he said, briefly wondering how Adam fared after they left. He felt like his choice to leave was too hasty, but he didn’t have a time machine. What had happened, happened, and he couldn’t undo it.

“Anna,” he started, sucking on his cheek. “Do you think I made a mistake?”

“We all make mistakes, but in regards to what, specifically?”

“Do you think my choice to leave all those people behind was the right one? I could’ve tried to convince them to come with me - to do more.”

“You gave them a choice, and they made theirs. I don’t think there’s too much to analyze there, but I can see how you would overanalyze things.” She took his hands in hers and started playing with them. She ran her slender fingers up each of his fingers, drawing different shapes and letters in his palm.

“I wonder how many of them curse me for not trying harder. You’ve seen everything I have,” he stated, his tone grave. “There’s no way some of them haven’t died, and I feel like-”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she interrupted. “There were several strong fighters left, and Adam - as much as I can’t stand his way of doing things - is fairly competent when he wants to be. If someone died-”

“Is it really that easy for you? I could only ignore the chaos because of what was going on. With everyone turning into monsters around us, I didn’t want to be around anybody that might be able to turn on us, to threaten us. People are already unpredictable enough, but to add in the ability to gain power an-”

Anna’s finger pressed against his lips, silencing him. “Overanalyzing. It was a bad situation for everyone, and you did what you thought you needed to so that you and Olivia could survive. I did the same thing when we met. I didn’t let myself get attached to either of you until you both literally saved me and Isaac. Don’t beat yourself up like that. Just don’t.”

She pulled his hand to her face and lay her soft cheek in it, staring up at him.

“I don’t like when people hurt, especially people I care about,” she said, sniffling. “I know what it’s like to overthink. I do it with anything and everything, so trust me when I say don’t do this to yourself.”

He closed his eyes, focusing on the soothing tone of her voice and the softness of her face. “I see their faces when I close my eyes, you know? I wonder who among them is dead now.”

“I know what the burden of responsibility feels like,” she said, nodding slightly in his hand. “Even when the decision has been made, it clings to you. Was it the right one? What if you did this, that, or the other thing? Was there a better choice, or was it the only one available at the time? The questions will never have answers, so don’t force them on yourself. It’ll only cause frustration.”

“Thank you, Anna.” He opened his eyes and looked into hers, seeing a deep pain.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, hugging her tightly.

“Thank you.”

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