165 Downtime (Part 3)

"I– I'm sorry you had to go through that, Ace," says Sky, stunned by everything she had been told over the past hour. "Your mom and Bee didn't deserve that."

"Bee didn't," says Alex, narrowing his gaze. "But my mom… I don't know. The more I think about it, the more I realize I barely knew anything about my parents."

"You said Scar targeted her because she was a pure wielder. What is that?" asks Ember.

"I don't entirely know myself. Quinn, Zeris, and my father are probably the better people to ask."

Forest asks, "And you remembered all this because Zeris told you?" 

"Kind of. He shot me with a memory gun, the same tool that was used to block access to our memories before the trials. That's how I remember everything now."

"He can do that?" asks Hazel, gaining the room's attention. "Just… give us access to our memories again?"

"Sounds like it," says Forest, shifting his gaze to a nodding Alex. "Before your father gave you that fake name, you said your name was Alex?"

"Alex Marshall."

Realizing he and Alex weren't all that different, Forest takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

"I know it's not your fault that Hunter and Falc died. You were just trying to survive, and while it'll take me time to process how revenge-driven you became… I understand it now. When– we were in that maze, and all hell broke loose… I couldn't control my fate or theirs. And the fact that I lived and they didn't... there's like this terrible knot in my stomach that won't go away," says Forest, leaning forward and extending his hand across a coffee table. "I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. It's nice to meet you, Alex."

Hazel and Sky softly smile as Alex accepts Forest's offer for a handshake.

"Thank you."

Sitting back against the couch cushions, Forest asks, "So if you're not allowed to kill Scar anymore… what are you going to do?"

"I don't–"

"Shhh," interrupts Ember, silencing Alex. "Somebody's coming."

Staring at the table, Ember focuses on the rhythmic pattern of footsteps walking down the hallway toward them. As they grow near, Ember turns to look at the doorway as a whistling Quinn walks by.

"Hey! Code!" shouts Ember.

The footsteps stop, and Quinn pokes his head back in a moment later. His eyes spark green as he sees Alex and three iris discs materialize between his fingers. In response, Alex suddenly gets to his feet and snaps his fingers, a small flame hovering above his hand.

"Woah woah, relax, you two," says Ember, looking back and forth. "Code, you never had your memories blocked, did you?"

Not tearing his gaze away from Alex, Quinn replies, "That's right, but that's not important now."

"Okay, seriously. Deactivate your abilities. We all know you both aren't gonna do anything."

After a few seconds of the two locked in a fierce staredown, Alex says, "Go on, you started this."

Clicking his tongue, Quinn's discs disintegrate, and he reabsorbs the iris he used to make them. Only after that visual cue does Alex power down as well.

Quinn begins to say, "You say one wrong thing–"

"I didn't even want to fight you," interrupts Alex, sitting down again. "I wanted to fight Scar, and you joined in. Plus, you won't do anything to me. You're tied into whatever shit my father and Zeris have going on, so let's not dress it up. We both can't lay a finger on each other, and that's that."

Quinn smirks, "I'm glad you're actually using your brain."

"Code, if you knew what was going to happen to us in the trials, why didn't you tell us?" asks Sky. "We could've figured out a plan to stop Zeris together."

"No, we couldn't have. There was no stopping him. And even if we did, the trials would've still gone on as normal. They would've just found a new trial runner."

"Oh…" mumbles Sky, feeling dense for asking that question.

"Quinn… about your comment earlier, I'd actually argue it's the opposite," says Ember, meeting his gaze. "I think you having your memories is very important."

"Enlighten me."

"Does having them not give you an advantage in stage two?"

"I guess they could, sure. But don't you have an advantage from your ability, too?"

"Oh, that's right," notes Hazel. "Ember, you never told us what your ability is."

"That's because I don't know how it works. I must've somehow obtained my ability before the trials and forgotten how to use it."

"Well, I remember how you blocked the arrow Cliff shot at Faith. Did you use it then?" asks Forest.

"Don't know. I think I might've, but I couldn't tell you how. I'll ask Zeris about it tomorrow," says Ember, looking at Quinn again. "So you gonna tell us the truth?"

"The truth?"

"The real reason you didn't warn us about the trials. During that conversation earlier, we could all sense your animosity toward Zeris and Kane. Why do you hate them?"

Quinn nonchalantly says, "Honestly? They tortured me, and they also held my parents hostage."

"Ah, blackmail. That makes sense," says Ember, the rest of the room bewildered.

A second or two passes before Hazel loudly asks, "Makes sense? How does that… are we just going to skip past–"

"Yeah," Ember cuts in, shrugging her shoulders. "Does he need to explain any further?"

"Well—no. But," stutters Hazel, glancing at everyone in the room and looking much longer at Alex and Quinn. "You can't drop a bomb like that and expect us not to react. Are you two okay? Like seriously? You've both been through so much."

"Yeah, I'm fine," answers Alex and Quinn in unison, and they give each other a nasty glare.

Ember chuckles before saying, "To be fair, I bet our pasts aren't so swell either. If they're going to such lengths to rebel against this kingdom... let's just say it's good for us that those two are on our side moving forward."

Forest shakes his head, "How are you so relaxed about all this? What do you think will happen to us if we say we don't want to join their cause? They might kill us!"

"Nah, nah, we're fine. They need us, remember? Can't take down an entire kingdom with just six people. That's why they opened up about their motivations and plan to spread their influence through this year's trials," says Ember, making eye contact with Quinn. "At least that's what I think they'll do."

Quinn nods, "They're keeping me in the dark about their plans, but I agree with your assessment. We might be chess pieces to them, but they're trying to win the match."

Forest clicks his tongue, "Just remember, no chess player wins without losing a few pieces first. And that's if they win. I have no idea what this kingdom is like, but it doesn't sound like they have the advantage right now."

"Keyword: now. I didn't know it at the time, but thinking back, it's all a lot clearer. My father and Zeris have been preparing this rebellion for years; they wouldn't risk saying anything unless they were ready."

"You might be giving them too much credit. Maybe they feel compelled to tell us because you were in the trials this year, Alex, and they already planned to include you in their rebellion afterward. It doesn't hurt that your sector also had three other wielders, myself included," says Ember.

"Hey, are you saying us three aren't important?" asks Hazel, slightly annoyed.

"No, the opposite. They said they want you guys playing double agent… to talk with as many survivors from the sectors as possible. Who knows what they want you to say, but that's a task only you three will be able to accomplish in stage two," Quinn answers.

Hazel grumbles while Quinn makes his way to the door.

"Where are you going? You didn't have anything to eat," says Ember.

"I'm not hungry," Queen lies, leaving the room. "Have a good night, everyone." 

"Good night!" Sky cheerfully comments with a smile.

"Night," quietly notes Hazel, the room growing still as Quinn's footsteps drown out.

"What was that about? It's not like we pissed him off," says Alex, still gazing at the doorway.

"No clue. He might just be tired," Forest replies, yawning. "He's not the only one."

"Zeris did tell us to get some rest. We should call it a night," says Ember, looking around to see whether the rest around her agree.

When her gaze lands on Alex, he says, "Before we split up, I just wanna ask something. I know it'll take you all time to trust me, but what will we do about Scar? He's a survivor of the first stage just like we are; we can't exactly ignore him."

Nobody says anything, so Alex continues, "And I don't know if I can forgive Scar for what he did. And now, Zeris wants me to pretend like none of that ever happened."

"That's not true," says a new, muffled voice above them. Zeris's voice.

Looking up at the ceiling and spotting an intercom, Ember says, "We can't even talk without your ass eavesdropping?"

"You are kind of my responsibility," says Zeris, his voice clearing up as he slowly glitches into view on the television. "So yeah, I can drop in and listen to any conversation I want."

Not wearing his mask, a live recording of Zeris sitting inside a well-lit room becomes vividly clear.

Ember smiles at him, "Thank you for being so considerate and responsible."

"You're welcome. Look, you seven have earned your right to compete in the second stage, and I can't afford to lose any of you." 

"So now you give a damn about our lives."

"I always gave a damn. Think of it this way, Ember. I bring along somebody who can't hack it, and they won't last very long. Not in stage two, or in their career afterward."

"That's a comforting thought. I'm overjoyed you cared enough about us to put so much thought into these decisions. Not easy to decide who to let live and who to kill, right?"

"It's absolutely not," says Zeris, his tone grave enough to wipe the smirk off Ember's face. "Let me remind you that we're the guys trying to stop these trials." 

"Yeah… we know. And we also know you expect us just to move on and listen to you."

"Sure, you can think of it like that if you want. But trying to forget… that's your decision. I'll never forget what happened in my trials. I'm sure those memories have been burned into my brain for the rest of my life, and trying to erase them would be an injustice to those I lost along the way."

Nobody says anything back, but a few people eye the scar foiling Zeris's face.

"So if you want to pretend like nothing happened, I'll leave that up to you. These trials are a cancer, and they continue to kill more innocent people every year. And for some reason, only those of us sick enough to put ourselves first… to put our humanity aside, are left alive. I have to put a stop to them."

Zeris's eyes look toward his right for a second, and after a brief pause, he says, "Don't worry about Scar, he's my problem now. You all should head to your rooms. It's late, and tomorrow will be a long day."

The television suddenly goes dark, and the group all silently exchange looks.

Sky voices, "Training?"

Zeris replies over the static intercom, "Yes! For the second stage! Now scram before I turn the lights off!"

An entire second passes without anyone moving before all the lights shut off.

Immediately, Alex shouts, "How the hell were we supposed to–?!"

"Go to bed!!" 

Sighing, Ember says, "Alex, give us some light."

Alex snaps his fingers, and a small flame illuminates the area.

"Thanks," says Ember, her voice shortly followed by the crinkling sound of a plastic bag and then the crunch and chewing of a potato chip.

For at least five seconds, there's not a sound in the room besides Ember munching on her potato chips.

"Did you just make me create a flame so you could eat a potato chip?" 

Everybody stares at Ember as she reaches her hand back into the bag of potato chips.

"Uh, yeah. How else was I supposed to know where it was on the table?" 

As Hazel and Sky stifle a laugh and Forest fails to hide his grin, Ember tosses another chip in her mouth, and the flame starts floating away.

Alex mutters under his breath, "I can't believe I just gave her light so she could—whatever. Good luck eating those chips without being able to see again…"

"You know I can still hear you, right?" voices Ember, making the others laugh even more. "And I'm already holding the bag! I don't need your flame anymore!"

Using his tiny flame to locate the button on the side of the door, Alex presses it with vigor and scurries out of the room as soon as the door slides open. The four left behind all burst out laughing at Alex's expense.

"GO TO BED!!"

Another round of roaring laughter erupts as the group stumbles around the couches toward the light emitting from the hallway. Segmenting off from the rest, Ember enjoys chowing down on more potato chips as a thought emerges.

Maybe there's a chance things will work out between us all...