They sat there in a quiet room of the Organization, private enough and empty that the three of them could speak as freely as they wanted without any fear of external disturbance, at least not for now.
Morden sat up first; since he was the one that had initiated the conversation, it was sure that he would take charge. Darlus was already sat up, so it was left to Lisa, who was casually staring at the two of them with a serious face.
"So," Morden said.
"Who wants to go first?" he asked.
None of the other two answered right away. The silence that followed stretched just long enough to feel uncomfortable and also ascertain that something was wrong with their relationships before Lisa finally broke it.
"I’ll start," she said in a voice that was quieter than usual.
Morden and Darlus both turned their attention toward her, and noticing the way she avoided his eyes made Morden’s stomach tighten before she’d even said a word.
"When I tried spotting the weak point of the Shadow during the fight," she said slowly.
"my ability didn’t just show me the shadow. It went further than that. It showed me through you."
In response to her statement, Morden immediately raised an eyebrow while one question dominated his mind.
"Through me?" he thought and said at the same time.
"Images," Lisa continued.
"Though they were fragments and I am not too sure what it was about, I might as well just give an explanation of what I saw.
"A man arriving somewhere unfamiliar. A monkey. The two of them together, growing older side by side."
"That sounds like—" Darlus’s brow furrowed.
"The murals," Morden finished, his voice barely above a whisper.
"The ones I saw in the Old World."
Lisa nodded to confirm that she had guessed that too from all of their experience not too long ago.
"I didn’t understand it then, and I still don’t fully know now."
"My ability shouldn’t have been able to see something like that. It never worked that way the first time I tried it."
Morden sat with that for a moment, the pieces shifting uncomfortably in his mind.
Whatever was connecting him to that place, probably the tattoo on his chest, had now proven that it was already more deeply tied to him than just a plain tattoo.
’First the title on my status screen. Now this. How many more threads are tied to me that I don’t even know about.’
On the side, Darlus just sat there stricken and at a loss for words; to him, he was the one holding a large secret, but now that belief had been wiped away.
"I don’t know what it means either," he admitted.
"But I think it’s connected to everything else."
"Everything else being?" Darlus asked from the side, obviously feeling slightly kept in the dark from everything.
Morden hesitated. He thought about the Flaming Lion, the cave, the long conversation about Attributes and defects, and the Matrix’s quiet effort to erase things it couldn’t control.
He thought about the phrase burned into his own status screen, the one he still wasn’t ready to say out loud.
"The Lion explained what Attributes actually are," he said instead, choosing his words carefully.
"He said they’re defects, apparently. Errors in whatever system runs the Omnisphere. The Matrix doesn’t like things it can’t predict, so it tries to get rid of them."
"Get rid of how?" Darlus’s expression darkened.
"Depends on the severity," Morden said.
"Sometimes it’s just monitoring. Sometimes it’s worse."
He didn’t elaborate further, and he didn’t mention the word "erased." He had chosen not to because it wouldn’t affect the decision-making in any obvious way, and if it actually does, it will only bring some chaos and uncertainty.
He didn’t mention how the Flaming Lion had hesitated before saying it and surely didn’t mention the guards at the gate or the strange, deliberate salute they’d given him on his way back in.
Though they had experienced it the first time it happened, keeping that extra information was safe. It was having an edge over others in situations that involved him alone.
Some of it felt too heavy to share yet, and some of it, if he was honest with himself, felt like it belonged to him alone for now.
’They don’t need to carry this either. Not all of it and especially not yet.’
Lisa studied him carefully, and for a moment Morden wondered if she could tell he was holding something back, but thankfully for Morden, if she noticed, she didn’t push.
"So we’re all just walking around with pieces missing," Darlus said, leaning back with a humorless laugh.
"Great. Love that for us."
It was obvious he wanted to lighten the mood, but at the same time, it wasn’t really working since no one was really paying attention to the joke.
"At least we have some pieces now," Morden said.
"That’s more than we started the night with."
Nobody responded to that immediately. The air between them had grown heavier since Lisa’s confession and Morden’s exposure.
It felt thick with everything unsaid and everything still sitting just beneath the surface of the conversation.
Morden could feel it pressing against his own chest, the urge to say more warring with the instinct to keep certain things buried a little longer.
He glanced between the two of them, Darlus staring off toward nothing in particular, Lisa’s arms crossed tightly over her chest like she was holding something in by force alone.
’We’re all hiding something tonight. Every single one of us,’ Morden thought.
The thought didn’t sit well with him, but he didn’t know how to fix it either, not with the mental exhaustion still clinging to every part of him.
A door creaked open somewhere behind them, cutting through the silence.
"You three are actually back."
All three of them turned to see Mona standing in the doorway, her expression unreadable as always, her eyes sweeping over the group with practiced efficiency.
"I’ve been waiting for you," she said.
"Come with me now."
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