Chapter One Hundred and Seven
Once we finally were in sight of Mistral's walls, I could feel the blood within my veins start to move again past the tense nervousness that had encompassed my body. Yet it was only when we stumbled into Haven's infirmary with Professor Vash pretty much walking by his own power that I found myself relaxing, tension draining from my shoulders.
We were tired, and could have used some rest, but we were also grinning brightly at having dealt with a notorious assassin and having completed our mission with success.
"Could someone go fetch my Prosthetic?" Vash grumbled as we landed him in Haven's infirmary, the doctor nearby merely giving us a glance before deeming us all incredibly healthy and thus not needing his aid. "My Scroll's inside."
In that moment, I realized that Vash' arm was perfectly healed. His Semblance had to be something similar to flawless regeneration, but then the question remained-why would he need a prosthetic arm? It wasn't like-
"Professor," Zhelty muttered, "Why do you use a prosthetic if you don't have the need for it?"
Vash rolled his eyes. "That's a secret, maybe when you lot become older." His eyes zeroed on me, and I quite calmly made a 'zipping it' gesture against my lips. He nodded at that, a small smile settling on his lips. "But let us say that when you reach a certain age, you're allowed some form of madness."
Chez giggled at that, "Duh, unless you're born with it, then it's even better."
"I put it in storage," Zhelty remarked, glancing at me, "I'll go fetch it, but installing it is another thing-"
"I'll handle that part," Vash said with a sigh. "Won't suck as much as the first time it was installed anyway."
"Why do I have a feeling it's going to be bloody and traumatizing?" I muttered, even as Gorm calmly filched out his Scroll and began to look at it.
"Tyrian Callows had a couple of nifty bounties on his head," he acquiesced. "We could get them, and then split it with the Drunkmaster when he returns."
"But since his Semblance is bad luck," Chez said offhandedly, tapping her chin in thought, "Wouldn't it be better if we didn't split it with him? That way, we'd be sure he'd return, because if he comes back to a big pile of Lien, then it would make him too lucky!"
Gorm blinked at that. He took a small breath, then looked at me. "Split it evenly," I said with a roll of my eyes, "But if he doesn't come back within the end of the week, then we'll take care of it."
"Understood, my liege," Gorm said.
"And knock it off with the liege thing. I don't want no crown," I grumbled back, before glaring daggers at Vash for having opened that peculiar can of worms. The man remained a bundle of smiles, if with the clear caveat that his face showed just how much he enjoyed the idea of seeing me annoyed.
"Anyway, I hope things have been going smoothly while I was busy being a stabbing bag," Vash grumbled.
"Yeah!" Chez grinned, "We didn't burn more than half of the city!" she added with a smirk, "and we might-might have enrolled a couple of kids that are a bit too young, but I'm sure we can handle that."
Vash turned thoughtful, "I see. So, you'd rather spend the rest of the full year here in Mistral then? With Tyrian's death, our mission here is completed."
"It is warmer than Atlas," I mused.
"There are less tests to take," Gorm added.
"There are kittens to spoil so I can practice for my own!" Chez pointed out with a cheeky grin.
And as if on cue, Zhelty stepped back inside with Vash' prosthetic arm in her hand, "And they gave me access to the whole garage, and funds," she said with a bright smile. "No way I'm sharing a workplace in Atlas again, or get to suffer stuck-up asses telling me my time is up and to vacate the premises."
"I see," Vash mused, grabbing hold of his prosthetic and popping open a lid on its side, revealing a slightly cracked screen. He sighed, letting aura shift through the metal and turning on the Scroll in question. In a matter of moments, a set of rings, messages, and whatnot began to appear from the screen as the arm buzzed like the angriest of Scrolls.
"Well, would you look at that, I'm famous!" he said with a chuckle. "Not answering the phone in a week's time is a capital offense? Who knew! Seamus' furious I missed her birthday-and, oh, hey King of Birds, I've got fifty-three messages from your older sister. Why is it that she's contacting me and not you?"
I furrowed my brows at that. Very gently, I moved to look at my Scroll. "Oh," I blinked. "I forgot to turn the Airplane mode off from my Scroll," my voice was the poster-picture of innocence. It was a lie. It was the best lie I could cook up on the spot.
"Likewise," my teammates all said the same thing, looking incredibly innocent at the same time.
We would never, ever admit to having blocked Winter's number because she kept pestering us for mission-update reports every day. Operational security and all that required to keep the Scrolls silent during missions, so...
Yes. We'd stick with that.
It was our final line of defense. It was our greatest wall against nagging older sisters. Seriously-Winter never felt, or looked, like a worried older sister. Perhaps she had been, and was really good at hiding it with Weiss, but there was no need to query about my caloric intake!
Vash seemed to understand. "You are all horrible people."
"The desert is filled with sand," Zhelty quipped back.
"Money makes the world go round," Gorm added.
"Water is wet," I pointed out.
"Fire's hot," Chez finished, before blowing out a kiss in the air, "And so am I," she placed a hand on her hip.
Vash rolled his eyes, held a silly grin on his face that seemed the product of some inside knowledge only he was privy to, and then pushed a button on his Scroll.
"You heard them," he said into his prosthetic.
"That I have," the cold, freezing voice of Winter came from the arm itself.
As one body, as one courageous entity, as a single system born of incredible will and tenacity...we ran for it.
All four of us ran for it.
Vash's laughter echoed behind us...
...but Zhelty would have the final laugh at the end of the day...
...for we had to learn to ride the Sunsizzle Z's motorbikes-form.