"Well?!" Charlotte groaned; her pale skin crimsoned with fury.
I sheepishly looked up to her, quite unmoved, and uttered an anxious sigh.
"I'm sorry."
"I-I'm sorry?" She echoed, scratching her chin in disbelief, and sat down in front of me.
I could hear yet another series of gossips circulating the canteen when Charlotte leaned, lifted a hand and clenched her fist right in my face.
"I could punch you right now!" She whimpered through swallowing words; I could barely understand what she said.
"I said I'm sorry," I repeated. "I know you waited for me last night, Anthony told me a while ago, but I already made up my mind."
Her lips thinned. "You could have at least informed me. Anthony broke the seal, right?! I waited all night for you and I can't leave because Yosuke told me not to, not until we talk about the plan. I even had to lie that we did so they won't get worried."
I looked at her uneasily. "T-the truth is I honestly forgot about you. I was too focused about the plan which Anthony cleared that it was his. Since we already talked, I thought talking to you is already unnecessary."
I could see Charlotte's nose flare. "You little shit," she cursed.
"I'm really sorry," I repeated. "Anthony left the part about telling me what the plan is. If you wanna say it, I'd be happy to listen though my decision will remain unchanged."
"Like heck I'd still tell you. You can just rot in here for all I care, but why tho? Why'd you choose to stay?"
I suddenly felt her eyes pierce through my head when she snorted.
"In order to save humanity and what's more to come, some things have to be sacrificed."
Rage had left Charlotte's eyes and finally placed her fist down the table. We aren't eating anything; we just happen to meet here when I was searching for Zachary.
"Are you really fine with that?" She asked and my head nodded without me willing the gesture.
"Yes," I whispered. "If it means all the three realms will then be at peace after all of these, then I won't mind. I'm not the only one to do sacrifices after all."
"What about your mother? Are you giving up on her already?" She protested. "That's quite idiotic!"
"I had my terms," I smiled. "I traded something for mother to live long, until I'm finished here and find the sorcerer's book, at least."
My voice turned hard and cold as I remembered what the Rulers and I agreed.
Charlotte shook her head, horror filling her eyes. "No, you didn't."
"I had to," I swallowed a sigh. "It's the only way I could think of as I have no way of searching for the book and deal with the matters I have in here at the same time."
Charlotte heaved a deep sigh and nudged her head. "Does your tamed descendants know?"
"No, Aiden blocked any contact I have with them and I don't have any plans in telling them either. They'd just get in the way," I looked up the ceiling and back at her, my bleary eyes clearing a little.
Charlotte nodded. "Yosuke," she said fairly in a soft tone. "I'd save him, too. Don't worry, he won't die."
A smile curved on the edge of my lips. "I know, thank you."
The canteen is huge but still overcrowded. This time, I felt really unease as if the place trying to suffocate me or is it just my mind finally reaching its limit.
"Ahhh... So, what Anthony said was true?"
Charlotte and I turned to where we saw Zachary tapping his forehead. He's only standing at the edge of our table, staring down the white, discolored floor.
The crinkles around his sharp eyes indicated dismay that he could only ask blandly, "So you decided to leave all matters into your own hands, huh?"
"Just leave her be, Zach. We can't just force our plans to her," Charlotte said, eyeing Zach who hovered his way beside me.
"You decided to trust the Rulers after all," he snorted.
"Yes, they're the only ones capable of fulfilling my will before I leave this world for good."
I could see Zachary's lips tremble, but he didn't say a word. He must have already heard it from Anthony.
"I think it's better for us to stay out of it from now on, Zach," Charlotte said, stood up and fixed her clothes to leave.
I looked at her again and the frown on her face has already been cleared. It's better this way, so we can do what we intend to do in different ways.
"I haven't run out of arguments here yet!" Zachary raised his voice, loud enough to make the crowd tone down a little and turned to look at us.
The ladies must have not noticed him beforehand as they looked quite surprise to see him again and started shrieking.
"Well then, let me hear it so, I could convince you," Charlotte was the one to answer as he's gotten quite a handful already.
"I-I can't put it into words," he stuttered and looked at me. "But I won't let you be a sacrifice."
"I am bound to disappear the moment I was born--I never should have been born anyway," I let out a soft chuckle. "I was just lucky enough to live this long and meet all of you," I placed a hand on top of his.
"You have my thanks, Zach. I'm not blinded by what you have been doing for me all this time and I am entirely grateful for that."
I saw a glint of sadness in his eyes when he suddenly held my hand.
"I-I just can't let you do this; we still have another way--"
"No," I cut him off. "This is the only way. I have been avoiding my fate for so long, now's the time to redeem myself."
I stared into his eyes; a slow smile relieved the inexorableness plastered on his face.
"I am living in hope that one day I'd finally gain mine and my mother's freedom without any fear of losing what I have here," I mumbled, enough for him to hear. "And I have no intentions of dying until that hope is fulfilled. I'm now fighting for what is right and not for what I want."
• • •
"It has already been a couple of days since the last time she contacted us, now we're only left with twenty days before the sealing," Yosuke bit his nails, trying to calm himself and turned to look at Carter who stood in gloom beside the huge window which leads towards the Enchanted Forest.
"Is there something we need to know?" Tyler asked as he walked outside a chamber behind a huge curtain which held some of Tabitha's valuable treasures--a set of enchanting pieces of gold and silver arrows which simply rivals the items of Anthony's marksmen and a set of gems that were passed to her by the goddess of harmony, Ailbhe.
"I don't know," Carter mumbled, staring at his own fingers clutching at the edge of the window.
The descendants stared at him with great disbelief. Carter has always been on his right shape, but looking at him now, he looked rather burnt out or depressed as he cannot enter Sheol to visit and check his sister.
Sheol is taboo for a god of love such as himself which he finds unfair as the others can but not him and his mother, Lelith. The descendants are not allowed to do anything either without any command from their master.
Carter's sudden reaction bespoke guilt when he remembered what happened to Paige, the reason why she has been locked up in Sheol.
He blamed himself for not seeing through his sister's sufferings as she used to deal things on her own, even her descendants failed to do so even though they are most likely to read her mind through telepathy.
Tabitha is just too good at negating them in some sort of way which he blindly took for granted, thinking everything would turn out to be okay, but didn't.
"Tss!" Yosuke hissed. "You're supposed to be the one to keep an eye on her, you have that god of war or whatever he is in there to send us a message! Lelith is even your mother: one of the Rulers! You can just go ahead and talk to her to go with our plan!"
A flicker of intense guilt passed over Carter's exquisite features. "You don't understand," he whispered indignantly. "If you try and look closely to what's happening, the rulers are starting to keep what's in Sheol within Sheol."
His words came like a static crossing their minds and they ended up looking lost.
"When did the last time you've talked with Charlotte?" Carter asked to no one in particular, but his eyes then locked to Yosuke.
"The night Charlotte talked to lady Tabitha about the plan," Heie answered in his behalf.
"But she accepted the plan, right? Charlotte said so," Lee asked briskly, blinking hard, but Kurama shook his head.
"Unless she lied."
Carter looked at him for a moment and tears started misting his canny eyes. "And perhaps, she might have already been working with the Rulers and agreed to take the risk of sealing Lelith's power and Zeke back inside her."
"GODDAMN IT!"
Everyone almost leaped in horror when Yosuke landed a blow on the wall near him which caused the bricks to crack a thousand pieces and scattered on the floor.
"We need to break her out of there or heaven help us all!"
Yosuke's eyes began to glow in different shades of red and his fangs started to creep out of his well-shaped lips. Thin crimsoned miasma started circulating the space within them that Kurama had to step up and slap him.
"Get back to your senses, Yosuke!" He growled. "Stop acting so recklessly, you might just end up making things worse! Use that Libra brain of yours and start attaining balance. If you let that toxic trait, get the best of you, you'll just put lady Tabitha in even greater peril!"
No one dared to talk, they only watched Yosuke slowly calming himself down until the miasma started fading and he led himself on a renaissance chair to sit.
"I think that settles everything for now," Kurama heaved a deep sigh and turned to face Carter who's now nudging his temples.
"So, what's the plan? Are we just gonna let her do things on her own?" He asked.
Carter was about to speak when a woman, dressed in all black, loomed from the dark part of the room just behind him.
All of them stood cautiously, preparing for a fight if ever as none of them sensed her coming.
Kurama and Ryuu, who stood in charge in Tabitha's absence, stepped forward just enough to hide Carter behind their backs.
"And who art thou?" Ryuu calmly asked.
The woman didn't look like a threat, but the descendants remained on their fighting stances.
"My name's Heather, Chaos's messenger, and I've come to give you a warning."