[Can’t Opt Out]

⸂How much has your sister told you about the Guard?⸃ Rin asked, eyes turning toward Key.

He hesitated, a look of concern briefly crossing his face, so fast that Emilia would have assumed she had imagined it if Rin’s expression hadn’t sharpened. ⸂Not much,⸃ he said. He reminded her of a guilty child, trying to skirt the truth of the matter and not completely aware of how bad they were at it. ⸂More than she should have, less than I would have liked.⸃

An echo of general disbelief surrounded them, before Rin continued. She obviously didn’t believe him, but apparently wasn’t about to push the issue. Another small nod to his authority—to his power. That, or she’d force the information out of his sister later.

⸂We are recruited from the city and the cities within,⸃ she began, waving a small, delicate hand through the air. A deep red band, wrapped tight around her wrist, sparked and an image appeared between them, teenagers standing in less than perfect lines. The image shifted through fragments of training, brutal and fierce. How to use weapons, to avoid blood magic, to use more advanced forms of acceptable magics, the excited teenagers slowly growing into dead eyed young adults as the years passed. ⸂While we can refuse, it is considered an honour to be chosen. We are taken for training, returned home every few months for a break.⸃

“You’re on a break now?” Emilia asked. Best to be on the same page.

⸂There’s a holiday in a few days,⸃ Key supplied, smiling as a servant appeared along the path with their food, floating on platters around her. ⸂It is one of the bigger celebrations, so the break is longer.⸃

⸂It will not take the Risen Guard long to track us down, not when Rin and I do not return to training next week,⸃ his sister had said.

“Sorry to be spoiling your holiday,” Emilia mumbled as she eyed up the food, the servant placing it onto the large table set between them with ease. It was interesting, seeing the way these people seemed to use skills—magic—so fluidly when she had seen nothing like it below. Even the elevator operators, who could surely have benefited from the use of magic, had used none.

Rin shot her a glance she couldn’t quite interpret, plating food and then handing it to Emilia. ⸂Eat, you were unconscious for quite a while. You must be hungry.⸃

Emilia didn’t have the heart to tell her that no, actually, she wasn’t. Not yet, anyways. Not only had the food she’d eaten earlier sated her for the moment, but her hunger knotted away behind a knot Payton either hadn’t noticed or hadn’t gotten to yet. Hunger was distracting and annoying, and usually she relied on her friends or Censor to remind her it was time for food. Eventually, she’d notice outright stomach pain, as her stomach tried to eat itself in desperation, but until then she’d exist on whatever was inside her, her genes lending her an extra boost in energy naturally, even if she was starving.

“Thanks,” she said instead, smiling warmly at the girl. She knew enough about raids to know you took friends where you could find them—collected them like trophies, some said—and even with how outwardly cold the other girl seemed, she had also been pretty nice to her so far.

She nibbled at her food as they spoke, learning some of the intricacies of the Risen Guard. Mostly, they were just an extremely secretive organization. They policed the city and monitored visitors, that was what most locals knew about them, and it wasn’t until nearly a decade into their training that trainees learned they did more than that.

⸂Not everyone learns,⸃ Rin said, digging into a frozen desert that had been delivered for her specifically. It glistened in the sunlight, but gave off a slightly off-putting smell, even the servant having been unable to fully hide the grimace on their face as they handed it over. ⸂Most of the trainees graduate, before learning more. Harmony and I are— …were part of the group who was allowed to continue on. It has only been a few years, and we still do not know much.⸃

Information delivered in drips and drabs.

“I’m guessing that your group lessens slowly, as more trainees are deemed ready to graduate?”

⸂Naturally.⸃ Rin took a small bite of her desert, eyes squeezing shut in the most expressive look Emilia had seen her wear. Happy, delicious, ecstasy. ⸂People are stupid,⸃ she added, ignoring the way Key choked on his own food at her words. ⸂The Guard thins the pack as necessary.⸃

So cold.

Emilia chewed delicately on her own food, melting oddly over her tongue. It wasn’t bad, just strange. “So, what do you know that regular people shouldn’t?” she asked, wondering if someone needed to pound Key on the back as he continued to cough, the only sound she had heard come from any of the locals mouths thus far. Even their eating and drinking had been eerily silent.

⸂The heartcores, for one.⸃

Key went to say something, eyes wide, surprised that she knew about them, before another coughing fit overtook him.

“That’s the thing he took me to last night—was it last night?”

⸂Last night… yes. It is late evening, however. You were asleep nearly an entire day.⸃

“Ah…” That was a while, no wonder Rin had assumed she would be hungry.

⸂And yes, Key took you to one of the heartcores.⸃

“One of?”

Rin hummed an agreement, looking off towards the other side of the lake. Waves slapped lightly against a dock nearby, red splattering over the heavily stained wood. A collection of birds sat on it, pitch black and squawking when the water dared hit them. It was a dreadful sound.

⸂There are many, buried beneath the cities, guarded by the Enclave.⸃ She turned her gaze onto Key, just recovering his breath. ⸂He will know more about that.⸃

⸂Ah… figured that out, did you?⸃ he asked, aethervoice curiously rattled from the stress of his experience. ⸂Or, did my lovely sister tell you?⸃

⸂It does not take a genius to realize only a member of the Enclave could have passed those guards, once you know enough of the pieces.⸃

Key didn’t look convinced—if anything, he looked like a man about to rip his sister to shreds for revealing information she shouldn’t have. Ironic, given he had also admitted she had told him more than she should have about the Risen Guard.

⸂Well,⸃ Rin sighed, fingers drumming against the edge of her bowl, ⸂in any case, the Enclave and the Risen Guard are something like enemies, each fighting for a different goal. The majority of the population do not know of the Enclave’s existence, however.⸃ She shrugged, telling Emilia that the most basically trained of Risen Guards only knew where some of the access points to heartcores were, knowing nothing about what was within them. They were simply told to report anyone visiting them to their superiors.

“So, they don’t know who or what they’re trying to stop? What do they and locals usually think those Enclave guards are, then? And the people who are allowed into that place? It’s not like the door was hidden, or like we tried to hide going down there.” She glanced between the two, Rin looking at Key with pure judgment as he tried and failed to resist fidgeting. “Couldn’t the Risen Guard have seen us go in?”

⸂Ah… yes…⸃ Key admitted sheepishly, hand once again scratching the back of his neck. ⸂Normally, we would try to visit at a better time, with transportation or illusion magic—which the guards also use to hide themselves and the entrances. I was a bit too hasty. Although, I believe the Risen Guard has magic to tell when a heartcore is activated—as do we. It would not have taken them long to realize you were missing and likely involved, even if we had waited for a more opportune moment.⸃

“Has anyone else in this group of visitors activated any?” she asked, latching on to him as a potential source of information on her competitors—not that this had to be part of the raid they were meant to be meddling with. It was still good to keep up with her competition, in any case.

Key hesitated before admitting he didn’t know. He had heard whispers of a visitor being brought into another Enclave family’s home, but he was unaware they had been taken to any of the heartcores yet.

⸂We as in the Enclave, then?⸃ Rin teased, snickering slightly when he looked at her like he wanted to tell her to fuck off but—

“You can communicate more, ah… directly, yes? Person to person? Less publicly?”

Rin nodded, while Key actually managed to look embarrassed at having been caught leaving her out of the conversation. Understandable, given how unimpressed he’d been being left out by the two of them just a little while ago.

⸂Sorry,⸃ he told her, actually standing and giving her a fucking bow! ⸂Rin has been friends with my sister since their early training years. I am comfortable speaking to her in ways I am not in front of relative strangers.⸃

“Ah, it’s fine!” Emilia said, huffing at Rin when she translated her words as, ⸂It is a bit rude…⸃

“Seriously?”

The other girl shrugged, going back to her desert. ⸄There are very few things in life I find pleasure in. Annoying this guy is one of them.⸅

Emilia hummed as she waved Key off, urging him to sit back down and stop apologizing with her body language. He seemed to understand… maybe. Or he just thought she was even more upset, she wasn’t sure.

⸂The Enclave is a rather… diverse group,⸃ Key explained, each word slow and careful. His eyes shifted around them, a whisper of energy warping outwards, searching for any listening ears. ⸂We do not always cooperate, even if our goals are the same. There is some… prestige, if your family sponsors the victor.⸃

Rin scoffed, a flutter of annoyance bursting out of her.

“You disagree?” Emilia asked while Key’s expression darkened.

⸂The Enclave is idealistic. They seek change that is not always good for the world.⸃ She motioned around them, her illusion magic sparking across the grass, transforming everything into a land of colour.

Emilia gaped, taking in the greens and oranges, the deep blue of the water, just barely touched by the girl’s ability, then it ruptured out of existence and the world returned to red.

“The result of visitors, and the Enclave?”

⸂Yes,⸃ Rin replied, tossing her empty dish towards the table, magic grabbing hold of it with lazy efficiency. ⸂Visitors bring change. Change is not always good.⸃

⸂That’s just an excuse to keep things the way they are,⸃ Key broke in, lips pressed tight in anger. His jaw flexed as he told her, ⸂These latest changes gave the Risen Guard power. Of course, they don’t want to risk a visitor changing the status quo.⸃

⸂The status quo is better than the situation worsening.⸃

⸂We are beholden to the Guard. We have no freedom, no choice.⸃

⸂We have safety. More people die up here, where the laws are treated more as guidelines, than in all the cities combined.⸃

Key scoffed, looking away from her as he told her that people dying of injuries was a normal part of life. ⸂What is a life if there is no fun? No risk? You saw those people yesterday. Didn’t you notice how things have worsened since we were teenagers? You are sequestered near year round in that place,⸃ he practically snarled, his demeanour so different than the soft, cheerful—playful—boy she had previously seen that it was rather shocking. Even Rin’s expression looked somewhat shocked at the change in her… friend? Were they friends? She had assumed so, but now, she wasn’t quite sure. They had clearly been raised to believe two vastly different things, and—

⸂You make it sound as though their lives are not worth living.⸃

⸂Can you say they are? Everyone, so afraid the Guard will appear and drag them away—kill them under the claim they are a danger to society.⸃

“What kind of things make them do that?” Emilia interrupted. As illuminating as their argument was, it seemed to quickly be escalating, the aether around both of them beginning to boil with power that she, quick frankly, was not inclined to be caught in the middle of. She was as powerless as a newborn! She couldn’t handle a magic fight!

Key rattled off a collection of reasons, which varied from serious—fights that should have been avoidable—to insane—women who had dared to bleed out of cycle.

“They kill women for having an irregular cycle?” she asked, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, food long forgotten on the plate in her lap.

⸂Yes,⸃ Key spit out, glaring at Rin and daring her to deny it. She couldn’t, her own expression tight with the reality that something like that was unfair, regardless of what the Risen Guard may want people to believe. ⸂They’ve even taken women who had miscarriages and early births away. Women are not allowed to bleed in the cities.⸃

Emilia’s stomach rolled. Normally, such things weren’t common in Baalphoria, medicine being as advanced as it was, but with the war… So many women had become pregnant during the long decades of war and lost their babies. Stress, doctors focusing on the war effort, women having to flee their homes as the war raged around them. There were so many reasons for a miscarriage—reasons completely out of their control and—

⸂Are you alright?⸃

Emilia blinked through watery eyes, finding Key kneeling in front of her. He reached a hand up, wiping away a tear as it slipped down her cheek.

⸂I’m sorry. I did not mean to upset you,⸃ he whispered softly, intimately—words just for her then.

She could feel Rin’s eyes on her as well, could feel the ugly reality settling into her as well—the reality that this had become a world where the unpredictability of life and having a body could lead to your death.

⸂Key… I didn’t know,” the other girl said, her voice cracking and almost making Emilia smile, because how could a voice that isn’t actually a voice crack? ⸂They… the laws are altered so often, they do not teach us most until we are to join the force directly.⸃ She swallowed, her hands digging into her loose, pale pink pants. They were nice, the fabric as expensive looking as Key’s clothing—as those children’s had, even from afar. Only the man, Sk’lar’s, had looked more average. Not cheap, but certainly not as nice as the other’s. Now, they were both going to wreck their pants, because she was crying. Rin was going to tear holes in hers. Key was going to scuff and stain his.

All because of her and her heart, aching for the children she hadn’t been able to save, for the people she hadn’t been able to spark to safety fast enough, for the doctors who had been healing her stupid ass rather than being with the people who needed them, for—

⸂Generally, we prefer to keep our visitors happy, not leave them sobbing in our hideouts.⸃

Key visibly tensed, eyes growing wide as they all slowly turned towards the old woman now sitting in Key’s seat. She delicately placed a piece of food in her mouth, shaking her head slightly.

⸂Oh, Key, at least request something better than this for our Harbinger.⸃