PART 2
CHAPTER 16:
The others were playing poker on the table on the living room or watching TV
Haru looked at Zoe momentarily before looking up at the rest
“Well, they've been getting cozy”
As he said that, Sylvia let go of Lana's shoulder, and Zoe let go of Sylvia's arm
Lana walked over to the wall of the living room quietly near the hallways entrance to lean against it
Sylvia lifted an arm up. She put her other arm behind her head, grabbing the outstretched arm, she stretched her back
“It sure feels nice tho that we are home”
“Indeed, it feels like the dread from the before has washed over me”
Cautiously Haru moved over to the couch to place Zoe for her to rest, with what space was left
As Sasha, Annabelle, and Preston were watching TV, specifically a comedic show
Scylla and Charybdi were pretty locked in in a game of chess against Garcia and Matthew
Casually Haru shifted his gaze around at the others awkwardly, a single sweat beat dropping from the side of his face
“Guys?”
His single word being spoken broke the silence amongst them, as everybody looked up
Then Sylvia glanced with half an eye at Haru, wondering how exactly he was going to explain this one
Sheepishly Haru ran a hand through the back of his head
“This is our last member, her name is Zoe by the way, uhh she got tired after a battle that we had, when we uhh confronted her”
Even Lana raised an eyebrow at his words, ridiculing him for it
“Who's we, Haru? It was all me”
“I know that already, it just came out, ok? Cut me some slack”
Sylvia chuckled softly as she saw Haru squirm. It was entertaining to her for some reason
Although Sasha in particular looked very interested in Zoe, looking down at her
She was lost in thought for a bit as she looked at her, her mind going in various places
She remained silent for a bit, her eyes betraying that of deep thought. Only the hand that was to her chin was missing from her stance
Annabelle turned to look at Sasha. She had been oddly quiet
Upon looking at her, she couldn't have the thoughtful expression etched into her eyes
“Earth to Sasha?”
She nudged Sasha, aiming at the ribs
Sasha quickly snapped out of her trance at the nudge
“I'm here, I was just a little distracted”
She said while looking down, avoiding Annabelle's gaze
Annabelle raised an eyebrow, ultimately decided not to push her further
(It's probably something minor, I shouldn't push her further)
Instead, she leaned in on the couch
“So what exactly happened, that made Zoe unconscious, I presume?”
Scylla asked in her usual calm tone while sitting around the table
Haru glanced at her, smiling. He didn't show it too much
“Yes, well, it's hard to explain, but just know that it was very weird”
Scylla nodded. She put a hand on her chin, stroking it gently, seemingly lost in thought
“Good point, the details don't matter as much as the conclusion”
Charybdi scoffed at her sister's words,grinning. She spoke up
“If she's going to be fine, then what's all the big fuss about?”
Scylla looked at her sister in question
“You can't be serious, Charybdi”
Charybdi rolled her eyes and averted her gaze
“She's gonna be fine and all. We don't have to worry about it then”
Garcia reached out, putting down the chess piece that he was holding, a knight, down on the chessboard(c5e)
“I have to side with Charybdi on this once. That seems like the logical conclusion”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Garcia spoke, his arms on the floor, holding himself
While Matthew looked back at the board, with a bored expression on his face
“She is in good hands, I very much doubt that she was seriously hurt with Haru around”
Feeling his pride spiked after hearing those words. He only left and nodded silently
On the couch Preston switched the channel that they had on tv, as the tension was resolved in the room
He put an arm on his leg, leaning back on the edge of the couch to watch the tv
“Oh and Sylvia, thanks for the cd player, It's in an impeccable condition”
Sylvia's expression faltered for a second before responding
“You went through my stuff!?! I never gave you permission for that”
She huffed loudly, turning around and pushing her room to check if everything else was ok
On her way, she yanked the door open and closed it afterward
Lana, who was leaning against the wall near the door, was now stunned because of how much force Sylvia had put into it
Haru's face became comically white in fear, at how Sylvia snapped
Sylvia flipped over her stuff now maniacally, books and gadgets flying all over the room
After digging, she found her cd player untouched
She let out a sigh of relief and gripped the cd player hard
“Sylvia, is everything ok in there?”
He asked, now scared from the living room
“Everything's fine!”
Sylvia answered as she was putting the cd player in a discreet area of the room
She then walked out of the room,rubbing the back of her head softly
She paused shortly, remembering something
Letting out a sigh, she spoke to the rest
“Right, guys, I forgot to tell you this, but the base needs some renovations to be made in order to fit us all”
The others looked up from what they were doing, yet again
“I'll contact an agency that I know, I'm pretty sure that they will take care of this in no time”
Matthew raised an eyebrow at her, seemingly skeptical, letting the rook that he had in his hand down
“Renovations? When did you get that kind of money?”
“You don't know everything, and you don't need to, I have my ways”
“The location I'm sending you guys is super important, it's deep in the forest near Constantinople"
“But why?”
Spoke a very curious Scylla
“I'll be there too, then everything will be explained in due time, I have to get over with the renovations first”
Sylvia said coldly, her glasses almost shining with her gaze
She then raised her wrist and opened her smartwatch, scrolling through her contacts. She found a mysterious number to the rest
She contacted an agency, they talked for a short while, chatting back and forth casually
As the conversation ended, she closed the smartwatch and let her arm fall back into place
Zoe's eyes stirred again as she moved her body around
She opened her eyes slowly, her eyelashes batting back and forth, looking around in her daze
She propped herself on an elbow
“Where are we now?”
Haru glanced behind his shoulder before fully turning around
“This is the place where I was telling you about, Zoe”
“It seems that you are in a much better state than before”
Zoe softly nodded, her usual energetic demeanor coming back to her
“Yeah, I feel much better now, and I got a new home!”
She excitedly got up from the couch and greeted each holy being herself
Her action comes with mixed reactions from everyone
For example, Sasha was blushing furiously, which Annabelle noticed again but decided this time to remain silent
(Ok, this is getting a bit weird but I'll let it slide)
Alongside her inner thoughts Annabelle was also amused with Sasha
Confused but also pissed Charybdi stayed silent, and scylla took it calmly as ever
While all the boys tried to remain diligent with her
While Annabelle just smiled, patting her head
Zoe was left satisfied, squirming softly in joy as she stood there
Warmly Sylvia shaked her head. She pushed her comments in her mind away anyway
“Play times up guys, we have to get moving. They're gonna come here at any moment”
The others reluctantly stopped what they were doing
After about 1p minutes Acylla gathered all the pieces and put them in the interior of the chessboard, folding it closed
Reluctantly Preston turned off the TV, setting the remote on the nearby table
“You all go teleport to the designated spot, I will come too in a bit”
Her hand was already moving, she then raised her hand up and pressed some numbers on her smartwatch watch, which then, she used them to send the message to Haru
On the smartwatch Haru opened on its own, the message was received, he took a look at it, memorizing it, and he kept repeating It in his head not to forget it
He then motioned for the others to join arms, for them to teleport
Seeing this Lana pushed herself off the wall and gathered around with the others, who were all sharing each other's arms
She sighed and took Scylla's hand. She was the last one in the line
Scylla felt her arm being held. She looked up, her gaze falling on Lana
Scylla gave a small smile, while Lana scoffed, she didn't show annoyance either
Haru silently glanced around, seeing all of them joining arms. Without wasting any time, he reached to his back, box, and took out a rune card
Teleporting them all to the location which the coordinates he had memorized from Sylvia's message
They all set foot in the broad and open forest, letting go of each other
In the end it wasn't like they were ever enemies. All of them had met for the first time and surprisingly they had many shared interests
Hastily each one glanced around at the change of scenery
The forest was vast, and the trees laid low
The sun casted down its bright light. It was still early in the morning
Birds could be heard chipping in the background. All kinds of petite animals roamed the grounds of the forest
The scenery was beautiful in its own right. The forest was lush and untouched by unclean human hands
“This doesn't look like the sort of place where Sylvia would send us, I wonder what she's up to”
Matthew looked over at Haru when he spoke, raising an eyebrow
“This is probably just a safe spot. She wants us here so she can lead us, but at the same time not falling behind with us”
Haru glanced at him over his shoulder, letting out a soft sigh, agreeing with him
“That sounds right, Sylvia is the type of person to stall like that”
As they exchanged words, Zoe happily started jogging forward. She was beside Haru
“Zoe what are you doing-”
Haru tried to call her out, but almost immediately, Sasha pulled Zoe back in, grabbing her by the wrist
Zoe gasped loudly. She didn't expect that. She looked beside her in surprise
“You really scared me Sasha”
Sasha let go of her wrist, sounding a bit aloof but still serious
“Idiot, you can't just go moving like that while the rest of us are staying still”
Zoe rubbed the back of the head sheepishly as Sasha scolded her
Haru had to look back to make sure that was a fast reaction, which surprised him
He was no fool, so he picked up on the subtle hint by Sasha, which made him overthink, staying quiet in the end
The others watched with mixed reactions on their faces, but dared not to speak when Sasha was serious, as when they were hanging out at the base before Zoe had arrived, Sasha was the one in control basically
Back at the base, Sylvia moved through the apartment stairs, down to the home's front yard
She looked up, seeing the large trucks that were in place, with the workers getting off and adjusting
She grinned, wiggling the keys to her front gate with her fingers
She moved towards the front gate and slid the small key in the slot. With a soft clanking sound, she pulled the door to the left, opening it
Putting the keys back in her pocket
She watched as the doors of the truck would open, the employees moving around, getting the luggage off, and other stuff
One of them, seemingly their boss, walked towards Sylvia with his head down, wearing a baseball cap and having a clipboard in his hands, with a pen attached to it
“long time no see Sylvia, it seems that you need our services again”
Sylvia leaned against the side of the gate slightly, chuckling. She crossed her arms under her chest
“Yeah, it's been years since our last meeting. Don't get it twisted, though. I'm still not fond of you”
The boss looked up from the ground to meet her gaze,shadows casting over his eyes. He chuckled to himself, enjoying her banter
“Aside from that, I suppose you have no problem with my boys moving in?, we will notify you when we are done”
Sylvia's face lit up after hearing those words. She lowered her glasses a bit to look at him. It seems she had struck gold with her vacancies
“That'd be more than perfect actually, so you're telling me that you don't mind me going away for a while?”
The boss looked a bit taken aback by her question, but he nodded anyway
“No problem at all, you can do whatever you want after all”
Sylvia giggled and got off the gates' side
“Well I don't have cash on me right now, so I suppose I will have to pay you later. Sorry about that”
The boss laughed, and he waved his hand dismissively, trusting Sylvia for the longest time
“It's ok, customers do that all the time, now if you will excuse me, Boys!”
He shouted out to his crew as he walked past Sylvia
Sylvia stood there for a moment before turning her head slightly to glance back at him
The crew started moving into the house, with the stuff already talking amongst themselves. The trucks were almost unloaded
She smiled, turning around and teleporting to the lush forest
Haru's eyes widened momentarily as he saw Sylvia in front of him
“Godamn, you a ghost or something,”
The others were spooked too, including Sasha and all her seriousness, Haru did remember that Sylvia said she'd come back later, but she did not say when
“I should have mentioned one thing, that I would get things sorted out rapidly”
Haru let out a defeated sigh, looking at her head on
“Does it matter now?, the point is that you are here”
Sylvia simply shrugged. She looked forward
“Just saying, anyways, you're right. Let's keep going guys”
She gestured for them to follow her, she started walking calmly
The others didn't even ask. They just went with it. They exchanged glances at first before silently agreeing with each other
As they walked through the forest, nothing changed or happened
Garcia and Matthew were quietly chatting in the back
Preston was looking out for charybdi and scylla
Charybdi was huffing along the way, still getting used to his personality, while Scylla didn't mind it
Sasha was dragging Zoe by the wrist, with Zoe making soft swimming sounds because of it
Lana and Annabelle looked at each other a few times but had nothing to say between them, so they mostly stayed silent
Haru was in the front line, closer to Sylvia while they were walking
He whistled, pretending to be looking around the forest while Sylvia kept looking ahead of her, keeping a straight face
“So uhh, you never exactly told us where we are, you know”
Sylvia looked to her right at the random question, although it was a valid one
“We are in modern-day Constantinople, if you're asking, in a very remote area of it”
“Constantinople you say? That's interesting, but why are we even here again?”
He said, scratching his chin. He tried acting indifferent despite having his curiosity piqued
“It is imperative that you meet some people and find a new place. Trust me, it's going to be important down the line”
Sylvia spoke softly. She only now had realized that she forgot to mention the reason before
“You're being awfully vague again, but alright, whatever you want, I guess”
Haru's expression was deadpan. He talked but not completely, like he was mock serious
Despite the forest being huge and lavish, peace remained the same as the balance wasn't disturbed…
