We're just going to completely ignore the date today.

Possible mitsakes. I was watching Netflix while I previewed this. The distracting was real.

K bye

• • •

~ Lily ~

I stared up at the jungle trees. There were tall ones that reached the skies, and regular sized ones. Cocoa beans grew on the smaller ones, and bushes covered the floor.

"You live in this biome?" I was shocked.

"You sound surprised."

"I never took you as a guy that would live in a jungle."

"Far away from people. Hardly any noise." He shrugged. "It's okay once you get used to the rain and moist atmosphere."

"You sound like Harold." My voice wavered at his name.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cole glance at me. "We should continue." He moved forward.

"Wait." I stepped onto the jungle leaves and followed him. "We're going to your house?"

He was hesitant at first. "Yes."

"That's awfully coincidental. You know, that it's on our way."

"Yeah. It is."

Cole was not good at conversations. He gave short answers, usually in "yes" or "no" forms. It was hard to get explanations out of him. It was harder to make friendly conversations with him. I wanted to get to know him better. He was this mysterious figure that showed up in my life and was somehow intertwined with my destiny. How could I not be interested?

It's not that I was interested in him. I was just curious about his life story. Only that.

After a while of walking, I realized how bad the biome was for traveling. I don't care how hard it is to journey through a desert. Going through a jungle is worse.

The air was hot and sticky, I kept getting leaves stuck in my hair, I tripped multiple times, and I was pretty sure there was an ocelot following us. Preying on us.

"Are we almost there?" I called to Cole, who was about ten blocks ahead of me. If he made a sharp turn, I probably wouldn't have seen him do it. That's how dense the jungle was.

"I think so. Never entered the biome from this way."

That wasn't a yes or no answer. We were making progress.

Suddenly, he stopped. When I caught up with him, I saw that he was staring at a two block tall tower of cobblestone placed next to the tree he was by.

"We're getting closer." He said in a whisper.

"You made that?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he continued forward a little faster.

I followed after him.

• • •

I was so focused on the ground that I didn't realize Cole stopped until I bumped into him. He didn't budge an inch, but I almost fell back.

After I steadied myself, I asked, "What's wrong?" Then, I saw what he was looking at. "Oh."

We had reached a cliffside. We were gazing down at a large pool of water next to the cliff. The area around it was cleared of leaves for a few blocks out. Two ocelots were drinking the cool water.

"It's pretty."

He redirected my gaze by tilting my chin up. From the place we were standing, we were able to see above the high trees. A little bit away, on the top of a tree, was a flag. It was made of red and blue wool, with four squares. The top right and bottom left were blue, and the top left and bottom right were red. It was giant, but you wouldn't be able to see it on the floor; only from an elevated place.

"Is that yours?"

"Yes."

I took the opportunity to ask a personal question. "Why do you have a flag if you don't want people to find you?"

Again, no answer. He looked over the edge at the pool.

"We're not going to jump, are we?" I stared at the water forty blocks below.

He turned to me and gave me the are you stupid? look. "Of course not. Who jumps off a cliff when there are plenty of more options to go with?" He crouched down, and grabbed something on the other side of the dirt edge. When I moved to get a better look, I saw that there were vines on the side going straight down.

"Oh. That's easier."

After we climbed down, we continued to walk toward the flagged tree.

"So you live in a treehouse?" I asked.

He climbed over a pile of leaves. "Yes."

"That's cool."

A few minutes later, we were practically at the foot of the tree. I didn't see anything special, but apparently Cole recognized the place. When we got to the clearing, he looked up.

"No..." I heard him whisper.

I was a few blocks behind him, so I didn't see what he saw until I caught up. I turned my gaze upward as well, and my jaw dropped.

There were remains of what must've been a beautiful house in three trees that formed a triangle (Cole is illuminati confirmed). They seemed to be around fifty blocks apart. There were spruce wood circular platforms and houses that wrapped around the tree trunks high up. Bridges connected them, kind of like Harold's tree.

Except it was destroyed. Most of the wood was either gone or charred. Bridges were broken. Almost all the buildings were burned down or chopped through manually. The crop farm that was on the ground in the middle of the three trees was stomped on and smashed apart. The whole scene was depressing and horrible.

Cole ran to the broken steps that spiraled up one of the trees. I followed after him, careful to not fall through the holes.

The room that the staircase led to was a random circular place. There was nothing in it except for a table on either side, some flower pots, glowstone for lighting, and bookshelves. However, the books were on the floor and one of the glowstones and multiple flower pots were smashed. The staircase continued up, but Cole went onto the bridge that led out of the right side.

"Be careful!" I warned him.

We went across the broken bridge and into the next place. I didn't get much time to look at it, for Cole ran up the steps, and I wanted to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

The room that we went into was a bedroom. Or, what was left of it. There was still a bed, but the slabs around it were charred, and the blanket was torched. Books from the shelves were tossed onto the ground. A table in the corner was flipped over. The crafting tables and furnaces against the wall remained untouched, but the ocelot painting above them was crooked. A large portion of the wall was broken.

"Flint..."

I looked at where he was facing. He was on his knees in front of a bed of red wool. Next to the bed were two little bowls. It was a place for a pet.

"Oh no..." I covered my mouth with my hand.

"He could still be alive." He stood up, and looked at the bridge going out of the room. "He could've escaped before they got here." He left the room.

"Who's they?" I asked, going after him. When we were in the middle of the wooden bridge, I grabbed his arm. "Cole. Tell me. I want an explanation. Who did this? Did you know this was going to happen?"

After a few seconds, he turned to me and looked me right in the eye. "I knew GATU was coming here. I had to beat them. But I didn't."

My mouth was open, but no words were coming out.

I was finally about to say something, but I heard a creak from under us. Then, the floor gave out and we fell through.

• • •

~ Amber ~

I felt like a hacker. Even though the information was given to me. But it was illegally, so it made me feel all spy-ish and hacker-ish.

My eyes flickered across the screen as the fast forwarded footage from earlier today was going. So far, we had gone through two days of footage. It was annoying and boring work, so I was the one that worked on it the most. Sky was at Rae's house learning more about his past. Or kissing.

I really didn't care about it. It wasn't his fault that we stumbled upon his girlfriend who is really the only one at the moment that can explain Sky's past. If I were in his position, I'd probably spend all my time with the person as well. Still, it would've been nice to not be working alone on this.

I yawned, and tilted the screen. I was on the laptop Rae lent to me in a cafe between her apartment and ours. We were only a few blocks away from her, so it worked out well. The videos she gave me were in her dad's office, and she managed to break into it and get them. I didn't ask how. All I knew was that she downloaded files from one computer to another.

"Ma'am."

I looked up at a boy a little bit older than me. He wore the employee uniform, with a notepad in his hand.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to either order something, or leave. We have a policy here about loitering."

I really wasn't loitering. However, I didn't feel like arguing, so I just said, "I'll get some water."

"Any particular kind?"

I stared at him. "The wet kind."

He walked away without another word.

About a minute later, two people approached my table in the back. Sky and Rae.

"We thought you could use some company." Rae sat down, smiling.

"I'm sorry I haven't been around." Sky apologized. "Just... you know. Trying to learn about myself."

"I understand. It's all good." I accepted his apology.

"I organized a fundraiser to care for our veterans." He grinned, feeling proud of himself. "I was a really good person."

"He also did volunteer work at the old folks' home." Rae added with a smile.

I snorted. "So he was a kid wonder? Perfect role model?"

"Basically."

"Ew." My face contorted into disgust.

"That's mean." Sky frowned. He got up. "Be right back. Bathroom break."

We both watched him walk away. After a few seconds, Rae spoke.

"Hey." She leaned forward. "Um, what's... what's your relationship with Sky?"

I laughed. "It's all good. I'm not trying to steal your man. We're just friends."

She exhaled, relieved. "Okay, good. Because that would've been awkward."

"You just gotta give him time. He may not seem interested right now, but those old feelings will spark back up again."

"I hope." She looked down. "I just wish the whole thing didn't have to happen. Why him?"

I shrugged. "We're not sure yet. But we're going to find out, trust me."

She sighed, shifting around. "So what do you plan on doing with this guy if you find him?"

"When we find him." I corrected her. "And sorry, but I really can't say."

It wasn't because I didn't know myself or anything.

"You think he's tied in all of this?"

"He definitely is."

"I'm back!" Sky plopped down next to us. "What were you girls talking about?"

"Girl stuff." Rae answered.

"Blood and death." I expanded upon her answer.

His eyes widened. "Oh. Very girly."

I smiled, and passed the laptop to him. "Here. Do your portion of the work. I'm sick of it."

"Fine." He grabbed it and hit play.

I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. I tilted my head up and leaned back.

Not even a minute later, Sky said, "Found him. I think."

"What." I opened my eyes and took my hands off my face.

"I said I-"

"It was a rhetorical question." I took the laptop from him and looked at the still frame. It was in black and white, but as I scanned the screen, I saw a very distinctive black trench coat at the entrance. It belonged to a man with sunglasses on and... seriously? A fedora. He had a bow on his back.

"Could he be any more obvious?" I zoomed in on his face. However, his hat and glasses covered up any facial recognition.

"Why do they even allow bows in train stations?" Sky asked, raising an eyebrow.

I hushed him. "We're not supposed to become self aware."

"Only police officers can carry bows around." Rae said, moving so she was in between us and able to see the screen. "Play the video."

I grumbled that I planned on it. Then, I pressed play.

We all watched closely as the guy walked a few steps into the large, crowded room. There, he was immediately stopped by a police officer stationed there. The officer most likely asked him about the bow. The man pulled out something small, showed it to the officer, and walked right by him.

Sky's jaw dropped. "That was a badge. He showed him a badge."

"Either our guy is a corrupt cop, or he made a fake badge. That stuff takes skills." I remarked, my eyes narrowing.

The man went to the ticket office, and stayed there for a little bit, talking with a person. He gave them some money, and they gave him a ticket. Then, he walked over to a sitting area, and sat down in a chair.

I fast forwarded it a while. People came and gone, but the guy remained in his seat. Finally, at 8:50 AM that morning, he got up, and left through a different door.

"That's where you board the train." Rae explained. "What trains leave around that time?"

I paused the feed, and zoomed in on the giant sign in the background. It had a list of all the trains that were leaving at certain times that morning. "Only one train leaves at 9:00 AM. The next one isn't until 9:40."

"And where's that train going?" Sky leaned closer to get a better look.

I moved back. "Wenechenca City."

• • •

RIP Cole's house. And his pet.

But hey look. Wenechenca. You can probably guess that both groups are going to that city. Will they finally meet up? How will that turn out? Will I ever continue the fanart for this book?

¸,ؤº°'°º¤Ø,¸¸,ؤº° ⓡⓞⓒⓚ ⓞⓝ, ⓜⓨ   ⓛⓘⓣⓣⓛⓔ ⓡⓔⓑⓔⓛⓢ °º¤Ø,¸¸,ؤº°'°º¤Ø,¸