The Dawn of War

As Matt entered the dimly lit bar, the familiar scent of cheap booze invaded his nostrils. He, Kordelle, and Emily had practically spent their entire childhoods at this bar, "Speakeasy", and as he looked around, Matt realized that it hadn't changed a bit. The same crappy leather booths that had tears in them, and the same old bartender. "Is that you Matt?! I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?" Sasha asked from behind the bar as he walked in. Sasha was a distinctly kind woman, likely in her late 40s. Her dark complexion was the perfect match for her attractive face, and because of this, Matt and Kordelle used to have to always stop flirtatious drunks from hitting on her. Matt chuckled to himself as he remembered the simpler times.

"I'm good, Sasha. Yourself?" he replied, his mind elsewhere.

Sasha laughed heartily. "It's been what? Two years since you've been here? And that's all you have to say?" Sasha smiled at Matt, turning around to mix his favorite cocktail. "All these years have gone by and you still carry yourself with that same determination, kid. Will you ever learn to take a load off? We need to catch up, stay here a while, yeah? Drinks are on the house for you tonight."

"Sasha… I would love to. But I'm meeting someone here tonight. I should be in town for a while, can we catch up some other time?" Matt said, taking the drink from Sasha with a nod of appreciation.

"Don't tell me you're here to meet that damn girl Matthew!" Sasha said sternly. "I love both of you to death, but you ain't good for each other! Besides, she's moved on, I just saw her the other day here with Kordelle. I miss the days when you three were all so… innocent. You guys would be here every single night with new stories. You and Emily were always making lovey eyes at each other. It brings me back…"

As Sasha's sentence trailed off and Matt reached the bottom of his cup, he looked at her with a deep sigh. "I miss those days too, Sasha." he said, glancing at the clock above the bar counter. "I'll keep my promise, sometime soon I'll stop by and we can catch up, but I have to get ready to meet her."

Sasha handed Matt his newly refilled glass and gave him a serious look. "You better. And please don't let yourself be obsessed with her again, you two went your separate ways for a reason, kid."

Matt contemplated Sasha's words as he found his seat at the booth. Did he and Emily truly need to go their separate ways? His feelings for her never changed, and he liked to imagine that she felt the same, but life had pulled them in opposite directions. Matt had never changed from his roots, he's a soldier through and through. But Emily was something more. She was a leader. Her ambition had landed her a position as Envoy's chairwoman, on paper she was in charge of the Ten Masks. His heart fluttered as he sat in anticipation, equally nervous and excited to finally see her after two years. Hearing her voice on the phone was amazing, but to finally speak face to face again…

As if on cue, the door to the tiny bar swung open, the sound of rain outside filling the bar, disrupting the rhythm of the raindrops Matt had been feeling vibrate on his face from the window he sat next to. Matt took a deep breath as he heard Sasha greet the patron. "He's over there" he heard her say. His heart had begun to beat almost out of his chest, so he stood up to greet her.

"Hey." The simple greeting from the beautiful woman in front of him was enough to make tears well up in Matt's eyes. This moment was what kept him pushing forward for the past two years, and it had finally arrived. Sure, the circumstances were dire, but at this moment, they were just Matt and Emily, hanging out in Speakeasy as always.

Matt cleared his throat and noticed the purple in her hair. "I like what you've done with the uh" Matt said, awkwardly pointing to her hair. She smiled and pulled Matt into a tight hug.

"You look rough," she said mockingly, pulling away from the hug.

"Been a tough couple of days" Matt said, smoothing down his matted hair.

The two of them sat down across from each other at the table, awkwardly sipping their drinks. "We have a lot to talk about," Emily said, somewhat coldly. "Am I right to assume you've teamed up with Gladiator?" she pressed.

"Damn, two years and you get straight to business?" Matt asked incredulously. "Don't you think there's stuff to get out of the way first?"

Emily sighed, resting her chin on one hand. "Matt, it's been two years. I said what I needed to back then, and honestly, it feels like a lifetime ago. Those feelings don't exist for me anymore."

"Emily, we've had these feelings for our entire lives. Don't tell me two years is enough for you to forget that?" Matt said as his leg began to bounce under the table. Has it been one sided this entire time?

"We were kids, Matt! You're my family and I will always value that. In that way, I will always have love for you. But so much has happened since then. I'm sorry but in all honesty, I haven't even had the time to think about you." Emily said before taking a sizable swig from her drink. "It's not that I don't care about you, it's just that the place in my heart that used to be reserved for you has become empty. I don't have room for those feelings, so I did away with them. You should do the same."

Matt chugged down what remained of his drink, hoping to ease the pain her words left in his heart. "That's bullshit, Emily." he said matter-of-factly. "Without those feelings, what's the point? These past two years, everything I've had to do… those feelings are what kept me going. The thought that someday, it would reach a point where I can open my heart again and be happy. And you say I should do away with that?! Truthfully, Emily, just be honest with me here and then we can move on to business, okay?"

Emily nodded sorrowfully.

"Was there ever a moment where I was more to you than family? Even a second? Or was it all a lie from the start? Please, I need to know. Was it ever going to work?" he asked coldly with a hint of regret.

"I have never lied to you, Matt. About anything. Yes, there was a time that I felt those things. But that time was a lifetime ago, and I'm no longer who I was back then. You're still my family, I still have your back no matter what, but the part of me that used to see you as more than that is cold and empty. That's the truth. I'm sorry that you expected more from me."

Matt closed his eyes and inhaled before exhaling in a long and exaggerated manner. The breath that he let out also carried the weight of his sorrow and regret. Life had simply passed him by, and the opportunity was stripped from him while he daydreamed about it for two years. If only he had made different choices, maybe things would have worked out differently.

"Alright, yes. You're correct about Gladiator. Let me catch you up on the last two days so it all makes sense." Matt said, his words sneaking their way through the tiny cracks in the wall Emily had built between them.

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A blue haze washed over their faces as One and Astoria sat on the bed next to the window in Kazane's apartment. Despite the beauty of the night sky, the familiar sounds of poverty and oppression rang through the air, giving them both a cruel comfort. The streets were filled with people begging, people arguing, and people drinking. One was fidgeting with his knife, tossing it back and forth between his hands as he struggled to sit still.

"This was a bad idea." He said. "If either Kazane or Emily decides to betray us, we're helpless here and Matt is in danger."

"Kazane is a good person." Astoria said with a confidence that suggested it to be an inarguable fact.

"And you know this after spending a few hours together?" One asked.

"How did you know Matt and I were good people? You only saw us for a few seconds!" She responded.

"That's different. When I saw how far he was willing to go to protect you, it made me realize that I might finally find my purpose." He said.

"Your purpose?" Astoria asked with a perplexed look. "What does that mean?"

"You'll get it when you're older, but when you're a soldier like me or Matt, your purpose is to find something to die for. You get so used to following orders and risking your life on other people's whims that it becomes a second nature. But with you guys, I finally saw an opportunity to commit my life to something I wanted to do. It's rare for a soldier to live long enough to have that chance." One said in a serious tone.

"That's stupid." Astoria said. "The point of living is to die? That doesn't even make sense! The point of living is to live! Who cares about something like a purpose? Just do what makes you happy!"

"Like I said," One replied in a dismissive tone, shifting his attention back to the window. "You'll get it when you're older."

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"Musa Coffee" read the cheap sign above the door that Kazane opened and hesitantly walked through, pulling her Oni mask off. It was a tiny coffee shop in Sector C that was owned by a woman named Asha Musa. What most didn't know, however, was that Asha Musa only used this place as a front. Asha is the Queen of Information, known to her allies and enemies alike as "Vixen".

"Damn, you know I have a car right?" Asha said from behind the counter, laughing at Kazane's wet jacket.

"Yeah, I would have called but then you'd have a shitty cup of coffee waiting for me." Kazane replied, approaching her friend.

The two shared a hug that Kazane seemed to linger on, and Asha smiled at her before saying "I'm going to get you a towel. Is this a social visit or business?"

"Thanks, and both. We need to catch up, but I also have something very important to discuss." Kazane said.

Asha nodded, heading into the back of the shop to grab a towel. Kazane couldn't help but smile to herself, Asha has such a hard shell around herself, but inside she truly was the best person Kazane had ever met. After her discoveries from this long day, this was the only place Kazane wanted to be: with some she could truly trust.

"So, to what do I owe the occasion?" Asha asked, scaring Kazane, who was too deep in thought to notice that she was staring at the door Asha walked through.

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"So Oni… you trust her?" Emily asked, still digesting Matt's recounting of the previous days.

"She seems trustworthy enough. Not as much as I trust Gladiator, but I do trust her." Matt replied.

"So why share all of this with me? What role do I play in your grand scheme?" Emily asked

"You know how to play the game, right? You've spent the last two years knee deep in the world of politics, and look how far you've come. When the dust settles and we have turned Sector D into a new nation, we're going to need leadership. That isn't me. I'm a soldier. So that is where you come in." Matt explained. "When the time comes, I'm asking that you agree to become the president of the new world. There's no better fit for the job."

"You're serious?" Emily asked Matt in astonishment, to which he nodded. "Then I'm gonna need another drink." Emily said. She stood up and walked to Sasha for a refill. As she walked away, Matt was filled with a warm feeling. Maybe the two of them are okay like this. Perhaps Emily was right and it wasn't meant to be anything more.

Emily sat back down, an already half empty glass in hand, and looked at Matt with an intensity in her eyes that made his heart skip a beat. "If I'm going to do this, I need to know we can win. I have your back no matter what, but to get this involved I need certain…assurances." She said, "When the time comes, and trust me it will come, do you have what it takes to become a monster? You're a good man, Matt. By far the best person I've ever met. If I betrayed you right now, could you kill me? What happens when you face Kordelle? And what if Gladiator or Oni stabs you in the back? Can you handle any of that?"

Matt returned her gaze with the most sincerely cold look Emily had ever seen from him. "To save the innocent people out there, to save Astoria" he said with a growing intensity. "I would slaughter every last person who would dare stand in my way. The person who will be fighting this war is not Matt. Matt is too weak to do something like this. The man who will save this world is The Plague."

Emily gave Matt's words a moment to settle in the increasingly intense atmosphere between them, before reaching across the table to grab his clenched fist. "Then I'm in, I'll be your leader and we can save this shithole together. Gather whoever you truly trust and meet me here tomorrow at noon. We'll discuss our plan then." After this, she got up and after Matt gave her a nod of acknowledgement, she waved and walked to the exit. Matt opened his hand, noticing the blood from his clenched fist on his palm. He wiped it on his pants and also stood up.

"Thanks for everything, I'll be back tomorrow and I'll be paying you for our drinks tonight. And you aren't allowed to say no." Matt said to a smiling Sasha

"Just glad to have you back, kid. Stay safe out there." she replied.

As Matt stepped into the humid night, the scent lingered on the asphalt from the showers earlier in the day. He felt a strange mix of emotions boiling up inside of him, but those were something he had to deal with some other day. Right now he just needs to focus on the task at hand and get back to One, Astoria, and Kazane. He began walking down the street, throwing his hood over his head.

"Sorry, my friend. I didn't want to have to do this" a familiar voice said behind him, clearly filled with sorrow. As Matt turned around to look at who was talking to him, he heard a loud bang and noticed the pistol in Kordelle's hand, about ten feet away.

To be continued in Chapter 7, September 12th.