Thick headed

*Cough cough… cough*

A choking and disarmed Robin fell heavily to the ground while clutching at his throat. Knife now in hand, Chance scanned the room impatiently as traces of anger started to show on his cold face. Taking a deep breath, he asked in a much more neutral tone. "Rob, where's the money?"

Despite his initial hesitation, the innocent look still remained on Robs face as he redirected the question as quickly as he could. "Where's the money Chris?"

In the middle of the group, everyone suddenly pulled a step away from the snaky looking youth. "… Where's the money Charlie?"

"W-where's the money Robin?"

It only took a few seconds for the complete turnaround, but all attention was now firmly placed back on Robin, who had only just recovered his breath. The other throwing the blame around faster than a hot potato.

"It gone." Still on the ground, Robin sputtered out the two word through clenched teeth. Despite his pathetic state, there was no remorse in his voice as he confessed to losing what seemed to not even be his. "If you want it then you can go get it back from the channel guards."

There was burning anger in Robin's voice as he spat the words towards Chance's feet, but also an unmasked tone of gloating and satisfaction. The loss of the money wasn't as important as the fact that it would never reach Robins hands again. Back from the grave, Chance had returned and within ten minutes, everything had been flipped sideways many times over. There shouldn't have even been any contest between them, yet here he was, on the ground like a broken puppet as everyone watched on in silence.

"The guards? Why... how could they lay hands on it?" Chance asked but there wasn't the expected frustration in his voice just a slight confusion. It seemed like he was talking about something that didn't have any relevance to himself. Even the twins found his tone strange much less the others in the room. The expected explosion of emotion didn't show any sign of igniting.

"It doesn't matter! All that matters, is that it's gone! You came here for nothing. What did you want to take from us? Our brothers? Our money? Out home? You could have be-" Robin struggled to his feet while shouting self righteously once again. The last-ditch effort was cut short as Chance strode away and sat back down on the bed without a care.

"You're right, all that matters is that it's gone. Why are you all still here? Take what you need, it's about time you guys left, no?" Waving dismissively, Chance waved off the others before seeming to remember something. "Loki, Rykar. Pick any of the beds you want, there's plenty of space."

Even with their slightly larger numbers, the thoughts of a confrontation dissipated without any more fuss. Half of their group were already injured to some extent, with the others not wishing to follow in their example. The five, including Robin, began to move listlessly through the mall hall while picking out clothing, sheets, bags and other odd objects.

The twins finally found the confidence to make their way through the opposition and stiffly selected two beds which were farthest away from the group of scavenging teens. Due to their reservations of getting close to Chance or otherwise, the sheets and pillows on these beds were untouched, making the twins marvel at the colourful and soft cotton.

"Put it down." Loki had just picked up a pillow before the Chance's voice startled him, immediately dropping the fluffy wonder, he spun towards Chance's bed opposite him indignantly.

Chance wasn't even looking in Loki's direction as his eyes burned into Chris's back. Compared to Robin's much more dramatic movements while stuffing his bag with belongings, Chris had been much more lowkey while packing a smaller sized bag with clothing, forks, knives and plates.

Despite the unassuming behavior, he was heavily sweating throughout the entire process. This could be easily caused due to the pain stemming from his injured right hand, but Chance disregarded the possibility entirely. As he spoke up, it wasn't just Loki who jumped. Robin and Chris froze at the same time as they looked over while trembling.

"Do I have to ask you again, Chris?" Chance slid his feet off the bed from his reclining position, planting them firmly on the floor. He was now sitting completely upright while directly facing Chris as though ready to rush out in a moment.

After a brief look of apology towards Robin, Chris reached into the cotton sack-like bag and pulled out a small wooden box which looked as though it was meant to hold jewelry. The lightly dyed wood seemed inconspicuous when compared to the rest of the room, easily blending in no matter where it was placed, yet Chris showed a huge reluctance while setting the box down.

After withdrawing his hand, he then busied himself once again with collecting other miscellaneous items but at a much faster pace than preciously. Robin was obviously more reluctant to give up on the box but after looking hatefully between it and Chance, he soon gave up any other notions and continued his work.

Before long, half of the smaller and more portable items within the hall had been stuffed into bags, sacks or makeshift blankets and pulled out of the door. Silence enveloped the room as the four that remained found nothing to talk about.

"Rob, this seems to be as good a time as any for us to have a catch up, what's been going on while I've been gone?" Again, it was Chance who broke the silence.

With the absence of Robin and the others, It felt as though there was a large pressure relieved from Rob as it was now much easier to speak freely without the confliction between both parties. Despite clearly demonstrating his stance towards Chance's side, it still remained that he had been a part of the others up until this point and the feeling or betraying them still left him uneasy.

After a long period of detailed explanation from Rob, the other three in the room developed a more complete picture of the last three years of events on this side of the fragment.

By the time Robin had been captured, the goal of the entire group was close to fulfillment. Out of the seven thousand gold needed to cover their transport fees, over five thousand had already been stockpiled, only needing a last surge to push them over the threshold.

As Chance's longest friend and right-hand man, Robin naturally stepped out in Chance's place and began to make decisions for the group, gaining their acknowledgment without an issue.

By a stroke of 'good luck' Robin had come across a bet which was supposed to have lead to sure fire profits as long as they had the capital to invest. The time this would have saved them in coming up with the last two thousand could be measured in years and this temptation was too much for him to bear.

Of course, after losing over two thousand gold to the fixed bet, they had been left completely devoid of hope when it came to leaving as a group. At this point, it became a consensus that two of the group would ascent to Grace while the others would support themselves here, waiting for the others to make a name for themselves before coming back to retrieve them.

Of course, the two chosen to leave, along with the startup funds, were Robin and Chris.

Shortly before their departure, Robin once again came across an offer which was too good to resist, but this came directly from the guards managing the transportation array.

If they were to pay them directly, instead of taking the official route, then the guard would be able to sneak them into the array during one of the trips at the cost of only half a standard ticket! By forgoing their startup costs, this would have been enough to get the entire group of six into the Grace mainland!

However, with all shortcuts come risks. After handing over the money, the guards denied all relation to the group while pocketing thousands of gold, all at the cost of a few sweet words of promise.

Without anything left to rely on, they began saving once again yet this time… Robin was the sole focus. By saving the first thousand, Robin would ascend before returning when he was able to help their situation. The money in the box was most likely all that had been saved up for his ascension.

"hmmm" Chance let out a sign before leaning heavily onto the bed. "I don't think I've met anyone with as thick a skull as that idiot."

It wasn't only limited to those two occasions that Robins attitude and short sightedness had led both him and the others down the worst possible path. Without learning from his ways, they had just walked out on the biggest opportunity they could have imagined.

The abilities of the twins in itself were already staggering, much less the wealth that had been accumulated within the camp which they wouldn't even be able to spend in their lifetimes no matter how luxuriously they wished to live.

From the side, Loki and Rykar listened intently to the tail as it was recounted as their emotions stirred frequently, feeling both hope and disappoint, yet at the same time, glee blossomed wildly as they reveled in the disaster which Robin and Chris had faced.

However…

"Are you going to tell us what ascension to the grace place is or nah?"