Rising Shards

After a week of tests, I finally got word the following Saturday. It worked.

A rare smile crossed Mother's lips when she told me. At least, that's what I thought I heard from her voice over the phone.

When I pictured finally telling the Faleur sisters the truth after learning that Zeta attended Rising Shards, I pictured it happening on the school grounds. I didn't worry about how I'd be at her campus, I just knew that fate would guide me there. And sure enough, I was overjoyed when I learned I was among the Wildfire Hearts students jumping over.

But Zeta apparently spent some Saturdays at home. I couldn't wait another day, so I had to find where she lived. Mother refused to say, and wouldn't drive me there.

I stormed around the facility after I'd heard that, marching around.

"She knows how important this is to me, and this is how she responds? It's utterly ridiculous!" I growled, grabbing a pillow from the couch and hurling it across the room. Its landing was woefully soft for the anger I put into the throw, not even managing a thud as it fell near one of the booth seats where we ate The devils in the room were used to my outbursts and barely reacted to any of this until I stomped toward the pillow again.

"Please don't wreck that pillow, it's my favorite," Ash said, barely looking up from her cereal bowl. She sat with her sister Myles, with Sai and Esther across from them.

"Fine," I said.

"What's got you so pissed today?" Myles asked.

"The treatment worked," I said.

"That's great!" Ash said.

"Yeah, congratulations!" Sai said.

"Why are you upset about that?" Esther asked.

"I'm not mad about that, I'm thrilled," I said. "But I need to tell the Faleurs immediately, I refuse to wait another day, but Mother won't tell me where she is, and she won't take me! She knows! She knows exactly how vital it is to me that I tell them!"

Sai, Myles, and Ash looked at each other.

"What?"

It just so happened that Sai, Myles, and Ash were at the Faleur compound preemptively scoping it out for me. Esther had business with Charmaine, but those three were getting a ride from one of our contacts at the lab to the Faleur home. After some intense discussion, I managed to convince them to bring me with.

When we got there, though, the others stopped me just as I practically leapt out of the van, the Faleur's quaint house coming into sight.

"You can't stop me now," I said.

"Well, wait," Ash said. "This is probably gonna make a scene, right?"

"It better," I said.

"Well, we still want to hang out and have a fun time, so..." Ash said.

"Are you stopping me here? Just like my mother, halting what I've literally dreamt about for years?" I said.

Sai took a less combative approach.

"How about this?" Sai said. "Go take a couple walks around the block, and decide when you're less keyed up. You don't want to do this when you're this...amped up. You'll trip over your words, and you don't want that with the big speeches you've been working on."

My hands were literally shaking with both anger and excitement.

"You might be right," I said.

Just a few walks around the block wouldn't hurt. I didn't want to flub the speech I'd been preparing for ages due to anger. If I got incredibly emotional, I might shift to full devil mode. I grabbed my mask from the seat next to mine, which I had brought for a vital purpose.

"I'll text you while we're in there," Sai said.

I watched as the three went inside. The driver offered to bring me back home, but I declined. I put the helmet on and began walking, final rehearsals in my head of what I'd been waiting so long to say.

Why would I put that helmet back on? Sai texted me as soon as they were all settled asking something along those lines. I texted back that I needed to be free of it, rid of it, and as such I needed to cast it aside the moment I cast the Faleurs away. Then they dropped some other news on me that nearly made me drop my phone.

"WHY DIDNT YOU SAY THIS WAS A TOWER WATCHALONG PARTY? WHAT EPISODE ARE THEY WATCHING?"

"You sound like a weather alert"

"I WANT TO CONVEY HOW IMPORTANT THIS INTEL IS TO ME."

"Intel..."

"WELL?"

"Its the one where they're like all fighting in space. It's like a movie."

"OHHH THAT MADE FOR TV SPECIAL!

"I guess."

"ARE YOU ENJOYING IT?"

"no"

"WHY NOT? SAI? SHOULD I COME OVER NOW?"

"Im coming to talk stay there"

Well, alright, it was more like they were all just hanging out but they were also gathering intel. It made me ill to think of the Faleurs enjoying the same show as me, but my love of Tower overcame my revulsion.

Sai glared at me as they approached, hands in their pockets.

"What?" I asked.

"Congrats Ana, I just blew up at Zeta," Sai said.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," I grinned.

"It is a bad thing!" Sai said.

I did enjoy the mental image of Sai chewing Zeta out, but I hated to upset a friend.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I should not let my personal issues affect you or your friendships."

"Thank you, I guess." Sai said.

"But I'm going to again in a bit, so I apologize in advance." I said.

"Well, hopefully you get something out of telling them." Sai said.

"Is it just you three and the Faleurs?"

"It's us three, Zeta, Marmalade, Kalei, and Roux." Sai said.

"Kalei's there?" I said.

I had some recent run ins with Kalei. I had become acquainted through her friendship with Nikki. Nikki brought up Kalei a lot, but I tried to not let it upset me. Why wouldn't she be obsessed with Kalei? Wasn't everyone who met her? Like any Nikki obsession though, it took over her mind for a while, but it faded away.

"I have a suggestion," Sai said. "Consider maybe not saying it today? Do you want to ruin Kalei's day, too?"

"It would be some good payback," I said.

Kalei had somehow ended up with the same devil medication the rest of us had, and we'd sparred a bit. I was still stinging from losing a fight to her in her powerful devil form, one that sent me in a spiral after my mask was destroyed. Once I'd calmed myself down, though, I found myself respecting her more for her power. Still, some revenge would be sweet.

"Give her payback at school, get into another fight or something," Sai said. "I'm just gonna say it: we'll all be pissed at you if you do this today, just so you know."

"Mrrgh," I growled, mainly because I was starting to see their point. I didn't want to hurt anyone else, just the Faleurs.

I told them I'd take one more lap and clear my head, and maybe go home if my mind was cleared up. But as I walked by myself once more, I wondered.

Could I really wait another day?

I would be going back on my word a bit, but I had put so much time, so much thought into this day. I turned around and marched right for the Faleur household, determination fueling me.

Years of rage at the two Faleur sisters brewed in me, waiting for this very moment. This was the culmination of many things, but it was also the beginning.

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