"There was no such thing reported on her crimes. She's just a person that joined…"
"THATS A LIE!"
I yell but it gets muffled out by everyone else's voice, only making the table we are on tense.
"I WAS THERE! I was the victim…"
I finish my milk.
The crack even more prominent since the glass is empty, reflecting the area of the crack.
"Do you even have evidence of that?"
Angel asks.
I look at her.
"I am the evidence."
My words all coming out as clear as day and night.
"La... Lazuli? Are you okay?"
Timi asks me.
"Your eye kid."
John tells me.
I feel a tear roll down my eye.
"It's red now and... you're bleeding."
John says again.
Bringing my finger to my eye I feel it, the thickness of the blood as I wipe the smear across my face.
'Just the thought of her...'
"This is the second time."
"Is... Is what you said t... true?"
My voice grows strong with a huff.
And I can see it their aura spiking, but at the same time flowing down.
But not just that, I can see a line, like the way the aura flows besides just looking at the exterior.
A line from their brain to their, heart, and nose, neck, temple of their skulls, every place on their body, leading from the brain and away. Like its showing the vein layout of their bodies.
"As true as day and night."
I feel a hand grasp my shoulder and without thinking my body does what it did when Steel grabbed my shoulder.
"Lazuli..?"
I feel my body displace and move away from the seat to see the purple hair of the same one I'll call mentor.
"Good, you know how to do it now."
She says in her same monotone way.
"Sply?"
"Lazuli? Your eye?"
Her voice betraying her usual tone for a second.
I see hers as well, the way all of them flow, with the interor and exterior of her body, but now staring at her aura, and the gray strings, it begins to burn my eye even more. My hand flies to my eye, covering it along with smearing the blood along the palm of my hand. Stopping the auras from appearing again.
Then with a quick turn to the people at the table. Sply looked at them with a face, that her face probably never made before and she asked a simple question:
"Did you do this?"
"No... We asked him about Jahar and he ended up like that?"
"Y... Yeah. W.. We didn't kn... know what to do."
Angel grabs the mace beside the stool she is on.
"Who are you lady? This kid is too trusting... I don't want him to get hurt from you."
"Lazuli."
She turns her head to me:
"Is what they say true?"
"Yeah.."
I say sounding a bit out of breathe.
"Jahar, she's the reason I need to get stronger, so that I never grow scared to face someone, even if they are revealed to be the strongest that Squea has to offer..."
Sply tilts her head and hears my voice, not just the words, but the way I'm saying it, the desperation in it, the want to get stronger, so...
"So... So that, I don't end up having Marcilene get hurt, never again."
"So, I'm guessing you have also made the decision about staying or leaving?"
"Yeah. I'm going."
The mace drops on the table and smashes through it to slam against the ground. People stop their talking and begin to look toward our table in confusion of the loud crashing sound.
"Angel, god you had two beers, why drink and have no tolerance to it."
John says, barely even affected by the beer he drank.
On the contrary to Angel, she is drunk and red faced.
"An... Angel. Plea.. Please stop it okay."
Angel a hulking woman, walks to us.
"She thinks that it's okay to try and get Lazuli to leave the place without us knowing where he's going?"
"Angel we barely know the kid."
John says trying to calm her.
Sply tilts her head at the woman, standing there unafraid.
A metal necklace, slaps the collar of Angel.
"What rank are you?"
All three of them stop their arguing, even making Angel stop her talking and look at Sply, without anger in her tone.
"Br... Brass."
Timi says, pulling a necklace from under the collar of her shirt.
As she does that John pulls out a brown/gold looking necklace from his neck, and holds it up, just above his collar bone.
"Copper."
Angel looks at the both of them and says hers, not pulling out the necklace.
"Silver."
They look between each other, with a look of wonder about what they told her about.
Sply, reaches for her eight sided necklace and holds it in place.
"Steel."
"WHAT?!"
All three of them say in complete unison of what they hear Sply say.
"Why is a Steel ranked hunter doing in Squea?"
John asks with his voice breaking slightly.
Angel stands down, looking very apologetic.
"I'm so sorry, I never meant to offend you in any way."
Angel says, betraying her strong and brave tone that she gives off.
Timi also nods her head profusely.
"Ye... Yeah, We are re..really sorry. Di... DIdn't mean to offend you in an... any way."
She stutters a bit more than usual.
"As long as you understand what you did is wrong, then I'll let it be for now."
Sply looks at me now.
"I'll take you to your father now. And this time. don't go and follow strangers into random pubs."
Her tone telling me she's very serious and somehow still, makes her sound like she doesn't care.
"Hurry up."
My hand still on my face, rubbing the blood on my palm.
I follow after her as she pushes the door open, and i follow through the door after her. She has her coat on to protect her against the rain as I Just get pelted with it.
"Why were you in a pub?"
Sply asks, not knowing about what happened today. Looking foward and not looking back at me.
"I didn't feel like going home."
I look down, the rain puddles all around the place.
"And you went to a pub?"
"They invited me. And... at the moment I didn't think straight."
"Why were you bleeding? Doesn't that only happen when you absorb too much Soul Energy?"
"Well. Turns out, when I get angry enough, I don't need to absorb Soul Energy to bleed from my eye."
"But it causes discoloration in my eye as well."
"Oh, thats why it was red I'm guessing?"
"Yeah."
We pass more people, heading further and further from the pub, and seeing a dirt pathway, that we'll soon transitioning into, from the cement pathway.
"Lazuli. What's wrong?"
"What do you mean?"
"You told me yourself, that it only happens when you are angry. Why are you angry?"
"Because of Jahar..."
"Thats the only reason?"
"What?"
I pause trying to make her words enter my mind.
"Well. She's the main reason."
"And you don't feel like going home why?"
"Because...? Because...?"
"Because you lashed out at the people trying to help you didn't you?"
"Yeah... I did."
I say sounding heavily disheartened.
We enter upon the dirt pathway and continue pass the sign that says we are entering the outskirts of Squea.
We continue in silence this time.
My head held down, as I walk and my hand covering my eye, afraid of feeling that weird pain again.
The rain on the dirt, is making ugly murky water, that makes the ground look ugly compared to other days, where the ground is this beautiful brown path, that anyone takes to make sure that they get to their destination. Without any trouble.
My feet sometimes skids across the ground and I force myself to pick up my feet.
Sply stops. I can see her feet, stop moving.
"Your son."
She says and my eyes linger up.
"He was at a pub with strangers."
Sply turns and walks away.
"And he decided to go. So, make him go home and you all have a conversation. He also has to have a long talk with you."
Her voice is calm and not any different from her speaking in regular times, but I can hear the small hints of matter of factly in her voice.
I stand there staring at Steel with my face, being halfway covered with my hand.
"I'm..."
Before I can finish he starts.
"I'm sorry Lazuli, I've betrayed your trust as your father."