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_ Sutato _
"Mr. Wolf isn't bad! He's not! He's good! I can sense it in him!" Bambi said, running over to Neptune who looked like he was about to break down. He jumped into his lap and gazed up at him. "You're good right? Please tell me my elemental powers aren't lying!"
"... I-... I-I don't t-think ... e-e..." Neptune trailed off with every stammer he made. He seriously looked like he was about to go into a panic attack. I quickly stood up, walking around the table and over to him. I can't sit here and watch this happen.
"Sutato, what are you doing?" I heard Setchi call behind me as I halted by the couch. I ignored Setchi and watched Tempest look over at me as I gave him a look. I gazed over to Neptune who was hugging himself with wide eyes. Tempest looked at him and immediately got up, assuming he knows what to do now.
"Take him downstairs, Sutato. I'll explain everything up here." Tempest told me. I nodded in response.
"I'll help too!" Bambi volunteered, getting off of Neptune.
"What?! Why are---"
"SHUT your pipe hole or you won't have one by the end of this conversation." Tempest threatened Tyler, making him squeal at him. I gently grabbed Neptune's wrist, flinching when he snapped his attention at me. He looked so confused, so lost as to what is happening. "Come," I whispered to him as he stared at me with his panicked expression before nodding, and getting up to his feet. I guided him around the table, past the couches, and over to the staircase with Bambi at his side. I heard the group start up again as I led him down the stairs. Once we reached the floor, I took him to the couch and allowed him to sit on the seats.
"Mr. Wolf! Can you see anything?" Bambi asked him, climbing onto the couch and sitting next to him.
I turned and walked over to the kitchen. I entered, grabbed a cabinet that was full of cups, or at least a few, and grasped one of them. I turned to the sink and turned the faucet on. I filled the cup with water and turned the faucet off, turning and walking out of the kitchen. I padded back over to them as I set the cup down on the table. I sat on the other side of Neptune where he was saying quiet words to Bambi's questions. He was saying things about our surroundings and Neptune was answering them truthfully as I watch his expression lessen from the panic.
I sighed in relief, placing a smile on my face. That is good, let's keep that up.
"We're good? Or ... better than before, Mr. Wolf?" Bambi asked, tilting his head.
"... I-I... Y-yes... s-still ... s-stuttering. But yes ... a ... l-little better. T-Thank you." Neptune turned to the kid, nodding his head.
"Good!" Bambi smiled widely. "Mr. Wolf. You are good. You've been good ever since!"
"... But o-once ... Tempest tells them ... t-they won't see me ... t-the same anymore." Neptune frowned, drooping his ears.
"But we don't. Sutato saw the good in you too!" Bambi pointed out as I nodded.
"... It ... was strange to see you ... defending me." Neptune turned to me.
"Wol... wol... woloxolk good." I smiled.
"... Wol- what?" Neptune blinked with confusion.
"Wol-ox-olk," I said quietly. "Wolo... wol... wo-lolk... and ... foxolk?" I asked, tilting my head.
"OH... you combined them." Neptune nodded his head. "I guess so." He shrugged afterwards.
"Yeah. We both know you're good!" Bambi smiled widely.
"Of course, you two would think that," Neptune said. "But what I did is still bad."
"Forced?" I asked.
"... I ... well ... I'm not so sure if I was forced against my will with missions I was given. I did ... beg for it because ... I didn't want Sparrow to harm my brother. But ... he did ... force me with certain things." He said quietly, lowering his ears. "Those certain things were horrible."
I frowned, rubbing his back. "... Sparrow ..." I looked down at the floor, remembering that name from my days locked in that white room. "Advisor--- no ... no no... Sparrow bad."
"He is bad. A wicked person if I ever came across such monstrous thing." Neptune said, nodding his head.
"Is Sparrow a humi?" Bambi asked.
"No... he is not. He's a Dark Elemental who ... turned against us." Neptune told him. "He's working alongside the humis to take us all down."
Bambi frowned, "But ... what did we do to ... have him take all of us down?"
"I don't know the answer. Sparrow never tells me anything." Neptune frowned, looking away.
"Then ... then we take him down!" Bambi declared.
"... It'll be hard to take down someone that ... I am afraid of," Neptune told him.
"Oh... I'm sorry." Bambi frowned.
"It's alright," Neptune said, rubbing the kid's hair.
"... Back up?" I asked. "Second floor?"
Neptune turned to me, frowning slightly. "Let's wait for a bit until they call us. I want to--- ... I don't want to know what the given decision they make for me."
"They won't be cruel! We don't allow it, right Sut?" Bambi asked me.
I nodded with my smile.
Neptune softens his eyes, "You two are something else. Well, since the truth is told upstairs, I guess I got exposed. But I am not exposed to my real name. You can call me Seiro if Neptune isn't ... that well or good in any way."
"... S...S... Se... Sei... ro?" I said slowly, tilting my head.
"Yeah." Seiro smiled at me.
I smiled softly, nodding my head. "Gorgeous name."
"... Thanks." He said as I watched his face light up with warmth.
"Guys!" I turned over to Carla's voice, who stood by the staircase. "The group wants you three up here, We're ... ready to discuss what ... we've learned from Tempest."
I frowned and turned over to Seiro who did the same expression as I did. "Be okay. We'll be here." I told him softly.
"I know that for sure." Seiro nodded his head, getting up to his feet. He let out a sigh before putting his hands on his hips. He turned towards us with a discontent expression. "Well, let's get this over with."
We three followed Carla back up the stairs and onto the second floor. The group was quiet, too silent for my likes. It feels like everything is crawling on my back but I must stay by Seiro's side in case he falls into another panic attack. I gazed over to Bambi who had hold of his hand, holding it tightly. Seiro pats the kid's head with one of his tails with a gentle smile that could still be seen with hurt in it. I frowned slightly and looked forward, staring at everyone who had their eyes on us.
Setchi was glaring straight at Seiro, along with Tyler as well. Carla was frowning, as well as Paradise. Winter was ... empty as usual, it's ... it's hard to tell what she is feeling most of the time. Purity was there but she was on the frowning side. And Tempest was standing there with an unreadable expression. This seems like a mess, a terrible mess we caused to happen. Why did Tyler bring it up?
We halted by the two couches, standing in the center of them as we stayed quiet with all of the stares. "So. We heard this guy's backstory ... that still doesn't make it right." Setchi began.
"You are the stupidest person I have ever--- No, no actually, you are the second since I told the fake purity she was the first stupidest person." Tempest glared at Setchi.
Setchi stared at him, soon glaring right back at him. "Well, it'll be better if you stop trying to defend Neptune."
"I'm not. I told you his story and I thought you would use your brain and think about the possible ends or I don't know ... be in his shoes for once. But I guess you can't think that when your hatred for someone got you to think really stupid in these cases." Tempest bluntly told him off.
I saw Setchi open and close his mouth multiple times as he blinked and gazed down at the table with a half-guilted expression. "I won't blame you for the trust issue that you had with Neptune, but since I told you there was a reason for this all, shouldn't there be thoughts in that head of yours to see if there is a difference? I don't want to see you going through these actions you keep making with this wrong set of thoughts." Tempest continued, frowning.
"... It's just ... what Carla said about her visions. It happened, Neptune was working with a guy for years and he literally slipped right underneath everyone's nose except me." Setchi gazed back up at him. "I knew he was suspicious from the moment I met him."
"I did too," Tempest said. "But I handled it differently than you did."
Setchi glared at him, lashing his tail around. "You're missing the point--- HE WORKED---"
"He was forced to work with Sparrow. That's the point you can't even manage to shove into your brain. What if you were forced to work with Sparrow? Which is true in this case because you were collared by him first." Tempest pointed at his own brain before lowering it and continuing. "But if that didn't happen and you were forced under his rulings, what would you deem yourself as? An enemy to The Folks or someone who was just used against his will?"
Setchi stared at him for the longest as I turned over to Tyler, who was the other person who disliked Neptune. However, it seems like Tyler is frowning at the sight of being placed in Seiro's shoes. He looked down at the couch, shaking his head lightly. He gazed back up at Tempest and then at Setchi. "... He has a point, weird folk." He said.
"... But... but ... what if..."
"I don't want to work underneath Sparrow anymore. I was forced against my will." Seiro said, interrupting Setchi from speaking. "Until I learned the truth, that was it for me. I didn't need to work for him anymore."
"... I ..." Setchi trailed off, looking down to the floor. He lowered his tail and gazed up at Tempest. "... This ... this is a bit to handle."
Tempest rolled his eyes, "A bit to handle my ass. You were the one who caused every fit to literally be handled in the first place. You can take your time if you want, however, the majority here does not side with you, Setchi." He said.
"... Then answer my question. Did Neptune cause the vision of destruction to happen in Carla's visions?" Setchi asked, staring at him. "That's ... that's all I worried for."
Tempest turned over to Seiro who pinned his ears down. "I wasn't the only spy, Setchi." He said.
"What?!" Setchi turned over to him as everyone did the same besides Tempest. I blinked with surprise, staring at him with wide eyes. "You weren't?"
"So you can go yell at that spy, but ... you already did or have before," Seiro said before continuing. "Aloe is the second spy and I bet she was telling Sparrow everything. Everything where this colony is, all of it."
195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡACiGMIJtPG
...
"... That bitch." Tempest cursed.
"So ... it was going to happen, regardless of what we do?" Setchi asked.
"We can stop it!" Paradise said, standing to their feet.
"... There is no chance to stop it." Seiro shook his head. "Sparrow and his army are too powerful for you, let alone a group like this. And especially when he has Aloe on his side."
"So ... maybe ... this is another chance to take some supplies and leave," Setchi suggested.
"Or let Aurora know and take everyone to a different place." Paradise suggested.
"That is a good idea but ... remember, the demons have been spreading rumors and having everyone all worked on who's good and who's not. Some are with Aloe while the others are with Aurora. That could cause half of the colony to flee and it could allow ... if the enemy plans to attack this colony--- to that to happen." Tempest explained.
"Which is the truth. Sparrow is planning to attack this colony." Seiro nodded his head.
"When?"
"Sparrow told me ..." Seiro trailed off, looking around for a moment. "... Is Aloe here?"
"No," Tempest said, shaking his head. "My throat doesn't hurt."
"... Can Aloe control her enchantments? Like, decrease and increase the pain in your throat?" Seiro asked.
Tempest slowly widened his eyes, "... She can ... and I forgot she could."
"Then she could be here?" Setchi asked. "How would she even know? She can't possibly hear through the walls and we have all of the windows closed."
"..." Seiro slowly turned at all of us, "... She could have enchanted someone in this room where she could hear through her enchantments."
"... WELL, if she can." Carla cleared her throat. "LEAVE US THE HELL ALONE!"
Tempest and Purity snorted, "Even if that worked, she'd still stay." Tempest said.
"I know but who is enchanted in here?" Carla asked.
"... Tyler," Winter spoke, walking forward. "Do you still want to leave this colony?"
"Yes. That option is still there." Tyler said, eyeing her.
"You told me once that you would like to help others who are in danger of the enemy's presence. If that is true for this colony, would you still want to leave?" Winter asked.
"Yes. We could save ourselves and get out of the danger." Tyler answered.
"... That is not you, Tyler," Tempest said, narrowing his eyes. "Seiro. Would you?"
Seiro nodded his head and turned towards Tyler who turned to him. "What did you tell him to do?" He turned back to Tempest as Seiro made a gesture with his hand. A white circle appeared and it floated toward Tyler. Soon green mist rose off of him as he shook it away. "What ..." He trailed off, looking lost a little. I blinked as I flinched from a loud thud in the walls to my right. I stared at the table next to the wall on my right, before looking over to a spot that looked weird. I tilted my head and walked over to it, narrowing my eyes.
It looked like someone punched a hole through the wall, leaving a dent in the wall. I stepped away and glared at the wall. Nice way to know that you were there. I turned and walked back over to the group that was watching me. "Aloe here."
"So she was listening through the enchantment on Tyler. Do you still want to leave the people who are in danger of the enemy here?" Tempest asked Tyler.
"No! Why would I?" Tyler said, looking as if Tempest was crazy. "I mean ... it depends on the situation, but ... as before, I always free the people we came across and let them go on their own paths and far from the humis."
"So ... why did your aunt enchant him to remove that part of him?" Winter asked.
"... It might be a question Tyler answered, letting her know that ... for two years, she's been spying on our small group even if she was far away. But ... if she was here and she was needed here to listen in. Then that wouldn't make sense at all... Unless it was an enchantment to remove that and then force Tyler to leave because of the danger he 'spotted,' along with being a tracker at that. And then when he was captured, Aloe put the spy enchantment on him and she could hear everything through him if she was near Tyler." Tempest guessed.
"It could ... lead to how the group of feaolks, in the beginning, found us. Perhaps she could last track where Tyler was in the wilderness and it was near The Vined Forest. I'm not so sure who handles the rescue teams..." Tempest continued.
"... It was Aloe ... before Aurora took over when she banished her sister," Carla told him. "I heard it from some folks near the combat area when I was walking on my own in the colony one day." She added on, frowning.
"So you're saying that is ... Aloe could have sent a rescue team to our location and brought us back to this colony at any time she could?" Winter asked, widening her eyes.
"Yes..." Tempest slowly nodded with a surprised look. Everyone here had one on their faces as I frowned. ... Aloe is starting to sound scary. With that much power, she ... she's terrifying.
"Why?"
"Well, for one. Aloe's mission for herself is to ... have Purity to herself and train her to be the strongest enchanter in history. That is part of the reason why she enchanted my sister's whole character to be different from how she used to be. So, of course, she called a rescue team to where we were at last time. To bring her back to the colony so she could continue her training with her. But ... there are some pieces here and there that are ... confusing at most." Tempest answered. "These are all theories by the way, so I have no idea if they are true or not."
"But with how much power Aloe has, she could have been able to do all of that." Seiro pointed out.
"If she was smart enough to do so," Winter said.
"And if we have someone who's very clever and evil, then that's a bad combination." Paradise pointed out.
"Along with ... Mr. Big Evil Guy, Also known as Sparrow over there," Carla added to Paradise's point.
"... Okay. I think I know who to be mad at and it's not Neptune." Setchi said, turning over to look at Seiro. "It's Aloe and Sparrow."
"Told you." Seiro rolled his eyes.
"Hey! I didn't trust you or know any of this stuff." Setchi glared at him.
"And now you do." Seiro shot the glare right back at him.
Setchi rolled his eyes and turned away. "Yes ... now I do."
"Okay. What do we do about this?" Carla asked. "Aloe is ... only after for Purity right?"
"No. She's also after Tempest." Seiro told her.
"For what?!" Carla, Setchi, and Paradise asked at the same time.
"... For being friends with us apparently." Seiro blinked with a deadpan expression. "... I have no idea if that's the true reason for her decisions but ... I think that's why she's after him too. She's ... trying to keep Tempest away from us so that he can be isolated and far away from us. Or ... also known as making his life a living hell. A lonely world where he can't have anyone on his side."
"Why does she keep doing that?! I don't know what I did to cause that in her!" Tempest said, looking confused and horrified at the same time.
"... It's because ... you told Elegant on her, brother." Purity spoke, making us all turn our heads to her.
"... What? I don't... I don't remember, Purity." Tempest said, frowning with confusion on his face.
"... I blame Aloe for that one." Purity nodded her head slowly. "I'll tell you and everyone here what happened when we were nine years old." She said, looking at everyone and breathing in and out. "I still remember it being fresh in my mind. I lost myself when I turned ten, so ... you have that. But the event was so terrible. Our father took Ca- Tempest out to one of the tallest rock formations in the colony. I ... have no idea why, usually when a feaolk is up there, you'll lose your breath up there as oxygen is so less up there. Anyway, I was left with Mom and Aloe was panicking that our father killed you. Mother believed and so did our grandparents."
"So when he came back with you, I was relieved to see you were alright, but that didn't satisfy Aloe. She accused our father of trying to kill you and the rest of the family believed her and went forward to kick him out of the family. I tried to stop him but Mom got me before I did. You tried to stop them too but Mom was there. Father must have told Elegant, our leader there in the Eastern Colony about this mess because he questioned every one of us. You told what Aloe had been doing to you and everyone else. And that made ... oh god, I remembered what Aloe's face looked like when you told him everything."
"She wanted to kill you but she couldn't when she was taken away from us for punishment for 10 months. I wish it was longer than that because by then, she came back and she had a face that I don't want to be by at all. I remember that everything froze besides us ... and that you were there in front of me, protecting me from her. Even if you were small back then, you still protected me. But that wasn't enough and soon, I lost myself." Purity finished, frowning with tears well in her eyes.
"... Oh my god," Carla said after several minutes of silence. "So. This started ... no no, I'm not even going to blame you, Tempest. This is her fault!"
"... What did she do to me?" Tempest asked her. "I remember that she abused me afterward but..."
"She also abused you before I lost myself." Purity answered. "... I want to think that ... there is something else going on in our family that made her like this."
"... Why did she even..."
"Maybe because ... you weren't like an enchanter like I was." Purity frowned. "... Or that ... she wanted to control you. Because ... well, maybe you didn't trust her. I don't know." She shrugged.
"... I need a break from this," Tempest said lowly.
"We can continue talking about this after the festival," Carla suggested. "But we need some way to keep Aloe out of the colony though."
"You can ask your mother to enchant the entire colony to have a barrier that doesn't allow Aloe in the colony," Seiro spoke to Tempest. "And ... have her erase another enchantment that is on you, Tempest."
"... What...? What else did she put on me?" Tempest asked, looking tired and so done with Aloe.
"... Just an enchantment that increased your nightmares," Seiro answered, frowning.
...
"Okay. We can do this today and right now so that, afterwards, I won't have to pass out." Tempest said, tiredly.
"I can come with you." Purity said.
"Me too!" Carla volunteered by raising her hand.
"Yeah... that may be good." Tempest nodded his head.
"Could I come too in case... Aloe decides to attack you because of what happened with that wall?" Paradise offered.
"... Sure."
"Okay. Everyone else, stay where you are and SLEEP." Carla told us.
"... Sleep?" Tyler asked, looking confused at her.
"We're all taking a break tomorrow and making it the best day and night for fun!" Carla answered. "So. We need to rest our brains from this. We can continue to decide what we want after it."
"... Yeah. I agree with that suggestion. Because if we work on stressed and tired brains, we may not even get the right choice to decide." Tempest agreed, nodding his head slowly.
"And by then, we might come up with something much better than what we have right now," Seiro added on.
"Good idea." Setchi nodded, collapsing onto the couch faceplanted. I blinked down at him, tilting my head. "Wake me up when it's tomorrow." I heard him muffle through the seats. I chuckled quietly at his response.
"Will do. Come on, let's go." Purity said, pulling her brother alongside her. Tempest nodded as Carla and Paradise followed them over to the staircase.
Once they were gone, Seiro went ahead and sat on the couch across from the two couches we were standing in between. He curled up on it and closed his eyes, sighing quietly. I turned over to Setchi, who sat up from collapsing and began walking around the second couch. He sat next to me before lying down on the couch beside me. I smiled softly and pat his head as I watched his hand touch mine.
"Adult talk is ... too stressing." I heard Bambi whine, walking over to me and crawling into my lap. "It made my brain hurt." He continued to whine, rubbing his head.
"... Castit has ... a nice group..." Tyler spoke, nodding his head.
"Yeah, dear. Tempest really has a nice one. A one where he can call home to." Winter said, sitting on the first couch right beside mine.
"... Tempest?"
"Did you forget that information too?" Winter asked him, looking up at him as he was towering over her with a confused expression.
"... I ... probably did."
"Well. He doesn't go by "Castit" anymore. He goes by Tempest and I think it's ... perfect for his sudden threats because I didn't realize he could make serious threats toward people." Winter said, blinking with surprise.
Tyler raised his brows, looking surprised. "... He grew so much..." He smiled softly, "And I'm proud of him that he did."
Winter blinked at him before slipping in a small smile, "I guess but ... I am waiting for his forgiveness for the things I said."
"As you should." Tyler glared at her. He shook his head with disappointment before looking over at me. He tilted his head, dropping his glare and walking over. He halted right beside me as he gave me a content expression. "Thank you, three for taking care of Tempest."
I smiled up at him, nodding my head.
"Oh. That one can barely talk that well." Winter commented. I frowned as Tyler turned over to her.
"That was mean," Tyler told her.
"Oh... sorry." Winter looked away from me. I turned over to Bambi who was sleeping on my lap. I softened my eyes as I leaned back on the couch to get comfortable. I might as well get some sleep.
Tomorrow is a big day.
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- End of Chapter 32
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