Morningstar
Chapter XXXII: A Way Out

When Xeon steps out of his room, he replaces Hakea and Agrion staring at him. He met Demetrio last night by the lake. He trained him on tricks with the scythe. He also told him that his best strategy is to remain in the shadows until striking. After that, Demetrio handed him a black cloak and told him to change his hair a little, to make it messy instead of covering his eyes.

“What…” Agrion begins but trails off.

“Where did you get that cloak?” Hakea asks.

“It was a gift,” he answers.

“From who?” Agrion asks.

“From someone that I am training with,” he says.

“But we have Icarus for that,” Hakea says.

“You do, but I don’t,” Xeon says as he begins to walk away.

“What do you mean by that?” Hakea asks as they follow him.

“Nothing.” Demetrio told him that if he wanted to attract women, the tactic that most suits him is being mysterious and dangerous, somehow like Icarus. He also told him that Icarus will waste his abilities. And somehow, Xeon is believing it to be true. Icarus is training Agrion every morning, and he has even helped Hakea with his techniques, but he has never approached Xeon directly. “What’s been going on with you two?” Agrion’s eyes grow wide. “No-no. I-I mean, separate, like with your own unique lives.”

Hakea laughs. “Nothing much. My life isn’t entertaining.” Xeon can tell that Hakea is hiding something.

“And you?” Xeon asks Agrion.

“Same,” he only answers, but his eyes drift away. He is also hiding something. Since when has their friendship became secretive?

They don’t talk much until they arrive at the lunchroom. Xeon spots Zanna already there. He remembers Demetrio’s words. He told him not to pay attention to her. She will crave the attention and search for it. Xeon grabs his tray and places the breakfast on top of it before turning and leaving to an empty table.

After a few minutes of not talking to Hakea or Agrion, Xeon spots Killam making their way to their table. He grabs the seat next to Agrion. “Hello, cutie pie,” he says as he turns the chair around and sits. Xeon just glances at Hakea, but he is equally lost. “Are you going to answer my question from yesterday?”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” Agrion answers as he plays with the fork and his food.

Killam only stares at him for a few seconds. “You know, I won’t leave you alone until you answer me.”

“What seems to be the problem?” Hakea asks.

Killam glances at him. “There isn’t any problem. Besides, I was not talking to you.”

“But I do not like the way that you are talking to him,” Hakea says.

“Hakea,” Agrion warns. “Stay out of this.”

“And who are you? His knight in shiny armor?” Killam asks. “I think that he is perfectly capable of standing up for himself. He doesn’t need anyone to stand up for him.” Agrion looks for the first time at Killam.

“But when someone is talking to my friend like that, I must do something,” Hakea says. He is on the edge of his chair, ready to stand up.

“No,” Killam answers. “You only want to stand up for him because you itch for that feeling of superiority. You want to feel stronger than him. You want him to depend on you.”

Hakea stands up with his fists clenched. Xeon reacts quickly and grabs him by the arms. “Come on and say it to my face!”

Killam stands up. “No need.” He returns the chair to his place. “I don’t waste my time with people like you.” He looks at Agrion. “I’ll talk to you later.” He leaves without looking at Hakea.

Hakea jerks his arms away from Xeon. He sits down grunting. Xeon sits down too. “Who does he think he is?” Hakea says. “He shouldn’t be talking to you that way.”

“I don’t care if he does,” Agrion says. His eyebrows are furrowed. “He was talking to me, not you, and I do not need you to stand up for me. I could have handled this myself.”

“Sure, you could,” Hakea says sarcastically. “You could have told him to leave, but you didn’t.”

“I don’t want to talk about this,” Agrion says. “Just don’t get in the middle of my problems. I don’t need you to defend me.”

“Your problems?” Hakea asks. “I thought that we were friends. I thought that we all shared our problems and we all helped each other.”

“But that changed,” Agrion says.

“Since when?”

“Since you decided to touch me,” Agrion yells. Silence rises between them. Xeon sees that nearby eyes have started to watch them. When Agrion notices, he grabs his tray and leaves.

***

“Outside, now,” Icarus says. His voice is rough, angry even.

Phoenix is sitting at the lunchroom. Rin and Zanna are by her side. “No,” she answers without looking at him.

“I am not asking,” Icarus answers and leaves the lunchroom. Phoenix decides to stay at the lunchroom.

“You better go,” Zanna whispers.

“Yeah,” Rin says. “He sounded pretty pissed.”

Phoenix groans. She stands up from the table. She will talk to him only because her friends are telling her to. She heads outside. When she does, she searches around for him. He is standing meters away, even out of the road and in the grass. She walks towards him. “What?”

“Didn’t Rin give you the message last night?” he asks.

“She did.”

“Then why didn’t you come to my dorm?”

“Because I am not your puppet, Icarus,” she says. “I am not something that you play with, hurt, and then come the next day and expect to everything be normal.”

“It wasn’t that,” he says. “I am sorry that I hurt you, but what I need to tell you is more important than that–”

“More important than my anger? Did you really just say that?”

“Phoenix–”

“I don’t want to hear it, Icarus,” she says and turns to leave.

“Let me speak–”

“No.”

“Angelina!” she hears Icarus yell.

Phoenix stops walking. Did he just… She turns. “Did you really just call me by my name? I didn’t tell you my name so that you can throw it at me whenever you are furious!”

“I-I did not mean–”

“Fuck you, Icarus,” Phoenix says as she turns again. She feels Icarus grab her wrist.

“East and Slier know about you,” he says. They know about her. They know about her… fire.

“How?” she says as she turns around.

“They said they saw you using it two nights ago,” Icarus says. “They do not saw you clearly, thanks the saints.” He lets go of her wrist. “Let me block your blessing. Let me block it until after graduation.”

“No,” Phoenix says as she shakes her head.

“Pl-Please,” he says. She hears his voice break. He looks down for a second before looking at her again. “I cannot lose you. I cannot see you get killed. Please, I beg you. Let me block it. Let me lose my worries that someone will catch you. Let me believe that you will be safe.”

She shakes her head again. “I would never be safe, Icarus. As long as I am at Morningstar, I run the risk of getting killed. I know that if I do not have my guns, this fire will protect me. I cannot let it disappear and be vulnerable.”

“I…”

She grabs his hands. He is worried for her, she can tell. Right now, she just wants to hold him. She wants to hug him and tell him that he should not worry for her. She is strong. She can defend herself. She knows that she cannot hug him now in public.

“I will be fine,” she tells him.

He looks at her for a second before nodding. “I know,” he says. “How I wish to hug you now and kiss you until my lips hurt.”

She looks down. “I know.” She releases his hands.

“Well,” he says, trying to return his voice to normal, “I guess that I’ll see you at practice.”

Phoenix looks around. She turns her head to see behind her. There is no one around, and the people that are, are yards away. She decides to take a risk. She removes Icarus’s mask and kisses him on the lips before putting it back on. She turns and leaves, trying not to smile.

***

Tilray is standing outside of Draconic. She told Ilya and the rest to wait inside. She needed to do something first. She waits for a while. This is the first time that she has arrived super early to Draconic. She watches Fey’s group enter. She pulls her finger out at East when he walks past her. She watches Lexan and his weird friends enter. He even watches the forgettable trio enter too. Then, she sees Phoenix and her group arrive.

“Hi, Nix,” Tilray says, smiling.

“What do you want?” Rin asks.

“This doesn’t concern you,” Tilray says, not bothered enough to lose the smile. “You two can continue heading inside while we talk.”

“No,” Rin says.

“What do you want, Tilray?” Phoenix asks.

“Are you sure that you want me to say it in front of Zanna and Rin?”

“Whatever you have to say, they can hear it.”

“Fine. Don’t say that I didn’t warn you,” Tilray says. “I thought that it was Demetrio.”

“What?” Phoenix asks.

“I thought that it was Demetrio who you were seeing, but I was wrong.”

“What are you talking about?” Phoenix asks.

“You and Icarus,” Tilray says. She sees Phoenix’s eyes grow wide.

“I’m out,” Rin says as she grabs Zanna by the wrist. They go inside.

“How-How did you know?” Phoenix asks.

“You two hid it very well,” Tilray says. “You fought all the time and pretended to be mad with each other. He even punished you. Wow. It was a great act. You sure fooled me.”

“But… how?”

“How? I saw you two kissed a few minutes ago. That’s how.” She waits a second. “Well, I didn’t saw you kiss exactly. The way that you held his mask blocked your lips, but I know that you did. He let you remove his mask, after all.”

For the first time, Tilray witnesses Phoenix crumble. She watches as her face melts. She watches as her eyes suddenly water. Her bottom lip quivers for a second. “What…” she breaths. “What are you going to do?”

Tilray thinks before speaking. How could Phoenix break like that? She has known Phoenix. They were best friends, and in all of these years, Tilray has seen her as strong. She envied her strength and willpower. She envied how she could face any situation. How can that woman that she knew break so easily? What is on the line between her and Icarus?

She knows that she might regret this later, but she cannot do it. “Nothing,” Tilray answers. She sees Phoenix’s eyes light up. “I am going to do nothing about it.” Phoenix opens her mouth to speak, but Tilray doesn’t let her. “Compose yourself, woman. No one should see you like this, not even me. Don’t let something like this get you down.”

Tilray turns and leaves to Draconic. She hopes that she doesn’t come to regret this.

***

Beta is sitting literally on the table. In front of her is Moneo, sitting on a chair. She is moving her legs alternatively while Moneo is holding one of her hands with both of his. He is also gazing at her with a huge smile on his face. How can’t he get tired of her? She sometimes can be too annoying, but he never stops looking at her like he is now.

“Where is Icarus?” she asks. Everyone has arrived except him. It is usually the other way around.

“I don’t know,” Moneo asks as he looks towards the door. “Do you think that he is hot?”

“E-Excuse m-me?” Beta asks.

“I ask if you think that Icarus is hot,” he repeats. “I have wondered how he might look without the mask. I don’t think that he’ll be cute without the mask. All that I think is that he might be hot.” He returns his eyes to Beta. He might have seen already the puzzling look in her face because he chuckles. “Relax. I am not gay. I can honestly say when a man is hot or handsome.”

“Is this a trick question?”

He chuckles again. “Not at all, honeybee. A thought came in my mind that if you were ever going to cheat on me, I at least hope for the guy to be hot, so Icarus came to my mind.”

Now it is her turn to laugh. “I wouldn’t cheat on you. I would first break up with you before doing it.”

“Thanks,” he says sarcastically.

“But yeah, I do think that he might be hot,” she answers. “But not my type. He is too rough.”

“And I am not?” Moneo asks.

She smiles. “Of course not. You are more like a cuddly bear.”

“I am not big nor hairy,” he answers. “But bears like honey so I agree to be the bear.”

Beta hears the door open. She turns her head to see Icarus entering. He is holding a cuboid of wood that he places on the desk. Moneo lets go of Beta’s hand. She jumps off the table and sits beside Fey.

“What’s that?” Fey asks.

“A clue,” Icarus says while looking at the wooden piece.

“Wait, is that a clue for the trial?” Tilray asks.

“It is,” he answers.

“What?” Killam asks.

“What is it?” Lexan asks.

“A maze,” Icarus answers. He grabs the cuboid and moves closer to them. He takes something from it to show a small metal ball. He then shows them the cuboid. It is a labyrinth made of wood. “This is a game that they give to children to test their intelligence. You place a ball at the beginning and the child has to move the maze until the ball gets to the end.” He places the ball in the maze and gives the cuboid to the closest person, which happens to be Lexan. He begins to move it, trying to solve it. “The third trial is in two days. It was about time that they have given us a clue.”

“But why now?” Beta asks. “Why wait until now to give us a clue.”

“They do not want us to train for it,” Icarus admits. “They didn’t want us to prepare for it.”

“Finish!” Lexan shouts. He then looks up. “Sorry.”

“It is a kids’ game, Lexan,” Icarus only answers. “Anyway, they think that giving us the clue early would be too good of an advantage. That gives–”

Icarus stops talking and moves to the direction of the sound of a gun being fired. Then, the shot is followed by a scream.