Chapter 164: Downtime (Part 2)
"Wanna join us? We don't bite. Also, didn't you come here because you're hungry?" asks Ember, Sky turning down the TV volume.
Alex rubs his lips together, avoiding eye contact, "Yeah…"
"Oh, get over yourself," voices Ember. "You feel bad cause of what you did in stage one?"
Not getting a response, Ember continues, "When it comes to Scar, it doesn't seem like you regret anything you did. Are you just worried about what we think of you now?"
"Stop Ember," says Forest, side-eyeing Alex. "Let's just give him a plate so he can leave."
Alex says, "I agree with Forest. I don't wanna cause you guys any more trouble."
Ember scoffs, "Trouble? Compared to what we just went through, you're the last thing I'm worried about, Ace. And it looks like we'll have more trouble down the road, so come join us. Let's talk."
"Hold on. Ace, don't you dare move from that spot," Forest orders, putting out an arm as he looks at Ember. "We can't trust him."
"Can you give me a reason why we can't?" proposes Ember.
"He killed Delta. Killed Blue. Was the reason Violet got killed. Worked with Zeris to take us out. And he's probably still pissed we exiled him too."
"Delta had it coming, I would've killed her myself if it came down to it. As for Blue, that was Ace's decision. He claimed he didn't want to kill him, but he did. Ace has to live with that, and he already knows what that means better than any of us. I don't have any right to talk about Violet... Sky and Hazel do. As for Zeris, he worked with him to survive, just like we worked together to survive. Would you have done something different if you were in his shoes?"
Forest leans forward, looking at Ember, "Probably not, but why are you advocating for him? You were one of the people who said he was guilty!"
"And yet, he spared my life," says Ember, shifting her gaze toward Alex. "Can we trust you?"
Facing the four of them, Alex takes a few seconds before replying, "Yeah, you can trust me."
"Then get over here," says Ember, standing up and walking to the kitchen. "Take my seat, I'll heat up some food for you."
Sitting down on the couch beside Hazel, she and Alex awkwardly make eye contact before they look separate ways again. Across from them, Forest keeps his eyes trained on the television while Sky takes a breath.
"I'm—" Sky begins before remembering what Hazel said. I don't blame you for what you did back then with us three. You were put into an impossible situation, and Zeris killed Violet in the end, not you."
"If we were more competent, we might've gotten away before Zeris could get to us too. What happened to Violet is hardly your fault, any of us could've been put in your position," adds Hazel.
Sky says, "And… I– I wouldn't blame you if you still hold it against us. About being exiled and all."
Alex continues looking at the ground, "That's not your fault. Zeris had Code manipulate you, remember? If there's anybody I should be mad at, it's one of those two."
"But before that, we still thought you killed Grace. Our lack of trust in you gave Code time to do what he did. If we–"
"If you what?" asks Alex, getting even Forest's attention as the microwave beeps with completion. "It's clear that Zeris would have separated me from you all somehow. He was just trying to fester doubt between us with the trial. And it worked. There's no point thinking back about what we could've done differently. The first stage was meant to test us, and it did. But we're past that now. And in the second stage, we're going up against survivors from the other sectors. People we don't know."
As Ember sits down on the empty couch and sets the food down in front of Alex, Alex finishes what he wants to say to Sky, "You've got a good heart. I know what you went through these past few weeks must've been incredibly difficult, what all of you went through. But we're past that now. I'm not saying forget about it, but we need to look forward."
Ember says, "I agree. We don't have to all like each other, but we need to be able to work together."
"Work together? The next stage is combat-related, and Zeris specifically mentioned that those of us who are iris wielders will be more important," says Forest. "We won't even be on the same side."
"You don't know that," says Ember.
"And you don't either. None of us know what will happen next," says Forest, looking at Alex. "You're suddenly a lot more talkative. You trying to fool us into liking you again?"
"No, I'm not. I'm just being me."
"Bullshit. You're nothing like how you were the first few days at camp."
"Probably because I had forgotten that my f*cking family got murdered!" yells Alex.
An eerie silence lingers, and a few seconds pass before Forest looks Alex up and down.
"What? No flames?"
"Yeah," Alex stares at Forest. "No flames."
"Well, that's a relief. I don't have to worry about being burned to death because you threw a tantrum."
"What the hell is your problem?" asks Alex. "Sky, Hazel, and Ember have every right to despise me, but I never did you any wrong, Forest. What do I have to do to earn some trust here?"
"Trust? You want to talk about trust?! How the hell are we supposed to trust you after stage one?! Do you think we can trust Scar or Code?! All three of you only care about yourselves!! Have you ever stopped and thought about our lives when you joined Zeris?!"
"Of course I did," quickly answers Alex, surprising Forest. "I thought about all of you."
Rubbing his hand across his mouth, Forest averts his gaze back to the television.
"I believe you," says Sky, meeting Alex's eyes. Ever since I saw you sprint into the forest to find Flora, it was obvious that you cared a lot about other people. And that's reflected in your hatred towards Scar. I think we all have a vague idea about what he did, but we haven't heard your side of the story—the whole story."
"You really wanna know?"
"I think if there's any chance we can trust each other moving forward, we need to start talking. And maybe if we talk… we can start to figure things out. Even with Scar and Code," says Sky.
Alex bobs his head and says, "Okay. Here's the story about how Scar murdered my mom and sister."
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