The Edge of the Labyrinth

"You want to do this here? Why don't you wait until I can get my friends out of here," Shike said, keeping his arms up.

"Why don't you pay attention to me first, bitch?" I asked her.

Out of thin air, Hikari summoned a pale weapon with a weird look to it. It didn't look sharp in any way, rather dull and boring. She held it up so Shike and I were able to stare down the barrel of this weapon.

"In a millisecond, I can end both of your lives. If I wanted you dead, it could easily be done. This is the La Armament. This closely resembles a gun from four hundred years ago, and it's used because I lack the strength to go head-to-head with people like you two. I have the smarts and can predict your movements, but in a battle of strength, I inevitably lose. I was gifted this Armament by Sky Asterio. My Master mentioned Avie a lot... is she still alive? Is she doing okay?" Hikari asked us.

"...what?" Alex muttered under his breath.

"My sister, Avie. Is she okay? Is she doing well?" Hikari recited.

I almost couldn't believe this stalemate... but so long as she wasn't trying to attack us, we couldn't do anything.

"Orion, if you try to move toward Boo, I will shoot Charlie in the head. You know what a gun is, don't you?" She told Orion adamantly.

"Your sister... Avie...? She's fine. She most recently held off all of Quake on her own, at least that's what Sky told us... you don't think Avie would hate you if you killed me?" I asked Hikari, slowly moving forward.

Her grip tightened on her gun and she pulled the trigger. Something small, something I could barely see, zoomed past my head at a high speed and she playfully waved the barrel of it around.

"Next time, I won't miss. Of course, I'm worried about Avie hating me. But in the grand scheme of things, Umbra will always be on my side, and you only need two sisters to fight the other. That's the way we were designed. Avie doesn't have to exist if she'll get in my way. To answer your question, I'm sure it wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things," Hikari added on.

I couldn't figure out why she was holding us here... if Boo is in that Flaming Mode, then Genesis doesn't stand a chance. Hikari should be going to help him as soon as possible, yet she's just sitting here...

"You say you're the smartest being, or whatever it is that you claim, yet you don't act like one. You act under Genesis's orders, and you haven't even pulled that trigger yet. If you were smart, you would pull it and end me, because the second I can move and attack you, the second your life is over," Shike mentioned to her.

"You're right, maybe it was a misplay of my words to say I'm the smartest being, especially when my Master is so much smarter than me. I'm a pattern-recognition A.I., meant to block all ranged and fast opponents that might've tried to attack the one I serve," She explained, slightly moving positions with the weapon still in her hand.

"I will allow Chi-Chi and Asoh to leave, but Orion, Alex, Charlie, and Shike must stay. My conditions will be clear, and very easy to follow," Hikari said, waving her weapon toward Chi-Chi and Asoh. The two left, running toward the center of the Labyrinth... or what was left of it, to help out Boo in any way they could.

"Your conditions, on the other hand, will just be some simple explanations. Things that went unexplained under my radar as I followed Genesis around. This is my pure curiosity and has nothing to do with what Genesis wants. Firstly, I want Charlie to tell me the names of the two boys that died in combat during the war with Orion," Hikari asked me.

"That would be Cody and Robby. Both were killed by Orion's soldiers," I quickly told her.

"And you don't want Orion dead... for what reason? It must be a lapse in my brain because I don't understand it," Hikari said blankly.

I could see through her deception. Everything she said was something I took with a grain of salt... she was probably attempting to turn me against him...

"Who is to say that I don't want Orion dead? What I do know is that he's a valuable ally, capable of protecting me from danger and keeping me mounted to the ground when your dumb fuck of a Master traumatized me. If anything, you're the one I hate now, and I wish to make both you and Genesis suffer for what you're doing to my friends," I told her.

"Your ideals closely resemble those of Sky Asterio's, or so I remember. You only care about keeping your family safe, and so long as you are fed an idea that will get you that same result, you don't care who is on your side or against you. Your rage, your anger, your misfortune, is unbiased in the face of people who may or may not cross you one day. You might find Shike on the opposite side of your engagement one day, but your brain can't draw that line between friend and foe, can it?" Hikari said in a strenuous explanation.

"A whole lot of words just to say that as long as my friends are okay, I don't care what I have to do, and that won't ever change. Hikari, if you're going to sit in my way, I have to warn you that you'd be considered my foe as well," I told her.

"Surely one day, I will be. But for now? I'm not too worried about it. Now, Shike, was it before or after your death that you began to care for Belle Asterio?" Hikari asked Shike next, throwing my responses in the dust.

"Getting personal now, aren't we? It was long before my death that I started to feel things for Belle. Why, are you jealous? Everybody on Earth seems to like white-haired boys," Shike playfully asked Hikari.

"I have no romantic feelings possible in my brain, otherwise, I may have joined your teasing session," Hikari finished and turned to Alex next.

"When did you start to feel the need to betray those that you trust?" She asked him.