The Butterfly Effect

{-Ouka-}

She knew exactly what would happen to her if she failed, or if she got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But she forced herself to go inside the base anyway, with the reassurances of Brenan and Mazel that proved they didn’t really know how she felt.

She just told herself that this was a combination of all the missions Hiero had given her and all of her knowledge from the past few years on the street. Though… it wasn’t exactly like she had imagined.

The building, for one, looked like an unassuming inn—the kind that would see many kinds of patrons throughout the day. There appeared to be three stories that, from an outsider’s perspective, allowed for the restaurant portion, the inn portion, and the owner’s apartment to each have their own floor. Though she crept in through a back entrance, she couldn’t help but feel like she could’ve just walked in and no one would’ve batted an eye.

Or maybe she just didn’t want to acknowledge that all of these people were a part of the Ravens.

“Thank the gods that kid went upstairs,” she heard one of the likely-Ravens grumble. She only lingered, still praying that no one would draw attention to her, because she hoped he’d give away what was here. “If I had to stand another minute of his complaining, I would’ve thrown him in front of the clergy then and there.”

“I wish I could argue with you. To think he really sees himself as being capable of replacing Boss one day…”

“He brought this on himself. Rumor has it he’s been annoying the hell out of Boss. Apparently the kid keeps pestering Boss’s charge and the new girl.”

“Yeah, that’s definitely the kind of thing that’ll get you put in an outpost like this for a few weeks…”

Ouka, deciding she’d heard enough, started to slip away again. The overheard conversation assured her, almost; “Boss,” in her experience, only really stood in for the Ravens’ or gangs’ leaders, and “outpost” suggested this wasn’t just a normal inn. She guessed that “upstairs” was wherever the stuff she was looking for was—the third floor, if she was right about her guesses about the first and second, would be the perfect place to put that kind of stuff.

No one seemed to notice her, to the point she decided that she would’ve just made herself more obvious by sneaking. It was almost surprising how, though she passed a fair amount of people, no one questioned why she was there or what she was doing. She heard others mentioning things that made it sound like this base was made up of Ravens from all over the nation; their words and actions were vague enough that, even if they later learned that who they’d spoken to wasn’t another Raven, it wouldn’t make a difference.

This didn’t even change when she reached the third floor that, to her, was obviously more than just an apartment. She was able to piece out the decorations that were often used to symbolize the Ravens. And she knew how to use those decorations, and other subtle motifs, to determine where the records were most likely to be kept.

When she began to wonder if this was too easy, she simply told herself that only someone with a good amount of knowledge of the Ravens would be able to get this far.

She was actually reassured to see that the door to what she assumed to be the records room was locked. Unluckily for them, however, she’d known how to pick locks even before meeting Brenan. It wasn’t long before she could enter the room, gently closing the door behind her in hopes that no one would notice she was in here.

Mazel said she wanted copies of their reports, so that’s what Ouka set out to find. They had to be in here somewhere, at least…

Ouka shuffled through some of the papers, hoping to find something useful. It actually wasn’t long before she found the reports and the copies weren’t too far from it. She gave a sigh of relief, hoping that meant her mission was halfway over.

And then she heard someone walking down the hall, getting closer to where she was.

Worse of all, she recognized that voice, even if she couldn’t associate it with the words he spoke.

“That damn girl is going to ruin everything. I’d give it three more weeks, then she’s going to let it slip, and we’re all done for. Why the hell am I the only one who sees that?”

Panicked, both at the idea of being caught and facing the owner of that voice, she tried to find a way to escape. The only other way into the hall—where he undoubtedly was—was through that door. Otherwise, outside was the only option, and Mazel had told her that the bird was the more important of the things to get…

Not like Ouka understood how important a bird could be, but she didn’t quite want to risk it either.

So, placing the reports somewhere she could grab and run if she needed to, she braced herself for the person walking ever closer to the door…

“Oh, great, something else they can blame me for. The damn door’s unlocked.” There was a sound of him messing with the lock. “And it’s not locking again. I suppose I should go and make sure everything’s—“

Then the door opened, revealing Aravind—who she recognized, yet somehow acknowledged she no longer “knew.” And when their eyes met, he stopped, likely coming to the same conclusion she did.

Finally, the one thing he said was, “What the hell do you think you’re doing here? You’re supposed to be dead. And ‘dead’ people aren’t dumb enough to come back to the same places that ‘killed’ them.” He noticed the reports she’d taken out. “And you’re taking something with you? What are you trying to do?”

“Look, I don’t want to be here any more than you want me to be,” Ouka said. “But I’ve got a mission here, and I’ve got to see it through.”

He laughed, though. “There’s only one reason you’re here, right now, isn’t there? What other fucking thing could it be? You’re just the latest attempt at the universe doing whatever the hell it wants to try to mess with me! But guess what? I’ve spent the last five years being beaten down. You’re sure as hell not going to be the one who keeps me there.”

Ouka hesitated. If it was anyone else, she would’ve dismissed everything he was saying and just bolted. But… she remembered their shared past, and despite her better judgment couldn’t help but ask, “What..?”

“So are you playing dumb, or do you really not know any better? What do you think I’ve been doing since you left—since you were supposed to die out there? I’ll tell you, it wasn’t like you were the root of my problems! You weren’t even the start! Hiero finally let go of me, sent me off to somewhere near Hyasari. Amazing, isn’t it? It was my chance! Prove myself to Boss and assure myself the spot of his protege in one fell swoop. Except, guess what? Apparently he has some damn half-blind grandson, who somehow is a better fit than I am! It never mattered what, all I ever did was make a fool of myself. And that wasn’t it! Then that girl came and I swear she will tell the queen all about us. But no! No! Apparently he thinks she’ll be fine! Because, guess what? I never mattered. Not to Hiero, not to Boss, and certainly not to any of these Ravens. But you know what? I’m going to find my place among them anyway. And I cut Hiero out of my life—I thought I’d done the same to you. Apparently I missed a few things, though—and I’m not afraid of fixing those mistakes now.”

He slipped out his own dagger, making it clear that he wasn’t afraid to use it. “I suppose I probably should’ve done this years ago… but I was weaker then. And I’m not about to face the consequences of failing twice.”

“Wait! Wait, before you do anything.” Ouka didn’t really know what she intended to say. She just wanted to say something. “Look, I really don’t intend on being here any longer than I have to. My mission is just to get some copies of the reports and to get some bird that’s in here. You help me find the bird, and I’ll be out of your way. You can pretend like everything was all one big, bad dream, and neither of us has to do something we don’t want to do. Alright?”

That seemed to calm Aravind down a little, at least. He didn’t quite relax, but he did curiously ask, “A bird?”

Ouka nodded. “The person who gave me the mission told me that there was a captured bird somewhere in here. I need to get it for her.”

Surprisingly, Aravind turned around then and there. He put away his dagger and, without looking over his shoulder, said, “That loud thing’s been nothing but a pain, I don’t believe anyone would miss it. It’s… in the third hall on the right, second door.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. You’ve got five minutes before I go and tell the others I saw you. It’s just… it would be a shame if someone survived the impossible once, yet died here. It makes the sacrifice worthless.”

Then he left.