District 42-Chapter 246: Ivar’s initiative
After the scold that all of them received from the Princess, she felt weak and sleepy and dismissed everyone from that room, except Rurik who needed to stay there to take care of her.
No one could leave that place feeling proud of themselves. As always, the less affected one was Ivar, but even he felt like he committed a mistake.
Anyway, they meditated together about the previous events. No matter how much they looked at it, the only thing that messed with the entire mission was that wrong choice.
They couldn’t talk too much. There was nothing to talk about anymore. If they started a subject, they would end up commenting about that mission and get embarrassed.
Leonel, Eva, and Susie decided to stay there and just wait for more news about Eskil, who was still being treated.
Ivar wasn’t caring too much at all, so he went off. Something in his eyes showed to them that he had plans he needed to accomplish out there, but he wouldn’t respond if someone asked, so nobody did it.
Ari remained there together with the Sgails. He was also waiting to know how Canute was doing. Besides the spanking he received, the man pushed himself on that pursuit too hard. His friend was worrying that he harmed seriously himself because of it. And after having his head stomped so many times, besides the strong first kick, he was thinking if his brain would be fine.
Casper was one of the few that hadn’t much to do there. He was already treated, took a nap, and saw the Princess. His duty there was done. He could go home.
’Anyway, that’s what makes me feel more impotent. I am facing such a situation and I can do nothing but go home, eat something, then go to sleep. That’s frustrating.’
It was hard to take that he made such a mistake that nothing he did was enough to make up for this.
"I think I will head to my home. Maybe some rest will help in the next days." He spoke to the Sgails.
Leonel nodded to him. His eyes were tired and he wasn’t talking too much because the punch he received had shattered his jaw. Behind the mask, it was bandaged all over.
The White warrior nodded to them and left the Healing Center.
The nightfall came earlier that day, at least from Casper’s perspective. He knew that the artificial lights of the Castle just changed their tone and intensity in a specific time that never changed. Because of it, the nightfall shouldn’t have been so early.
His mind, obviously, was just tricking him, making the soldier feel dejected and projecting him from the outside world. The human mind worked in mysterious ways and how it affected things around someone got Casper curious.
He didn’t last too much to finally arrive at his apartment. His legs weren’t willing to work that day, he just wanted to throw himself at his bed and try again the next morning.
His mind was so aloof that he couldn’t notice any of the shadows stalking him in the night. Casper’s senses were screaming to him to get real and pay attention to where he went, but the soldier couldn’t concentrate at all.
That was one of his major flaws. The soldier had put a barrier on his heart and mind to not let his emotions take the better of him and get in his way. However, when something too strong collided with these walls, they couldn’t bear it, and he got deeply affected by it.
The White warrior felt the guilt of having the responsibility for whatever the chaotic thing that those criminals would do in the future. He needed to bear this responsibility because of his own mistakes. That was what made those walls shatter.
In the end, Casper wasn’t cold enough, resilient enough, relentless, untouchable... He was a great soldier, but not a machine; he was too human.
Unfortunately, in the world he forced himself to live in, with the cruelest people lurking in the shadows, wolf in sheep’s clothing, and ruthlessness in each corner, there was no space to be human.
When he arrived at his apartment, the soldier even forgot to eat something and just laid on the mattress of his bed. For the first time, he opted for something comfier instead of the sofa he got in his living room.
Thinking about numerous things that happened recently, he just closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly.
The shadows didn’t do anything on that night... not yet.
...
Ivar was walking on the streets. It was past midnight according to his calculations. He didn’t have a smartphone, nor a clock. There was no particular reason for this, instead of his own laziness and because he always ended up breaking it somehow.
’They found a way to make a ship fly but not an unbreakable smartphone for me. I bet that it is just another way to make money from people.’
He liked to walk in the pale and weak light of the Castle after everyone was supposed to be at home because he could act as he pleased and found more comfortable.
He would like to wield his sword and maybe practice with his bow as well. Unfortunately, because of the mask, he couldn’t take any weapon, even with naive intentions, while out of a mission.
He was a Sgail for a bunch of reasons, and one of them was because the Princess wanted to "seal" him. She needed a reason to make him abdicate his White mask and wear a Black one.
The Sgails used the Black masks because they had some types of information that they couldn’t spell at all. These masks prevented them to talk with people who had White masks, which would help to hide information even under torture. They had special skills and access to the black market as well, so they shouldn’t be able to wield their weapons or attack someone, even for self-defense, out of a mission, just among them. Those, and other restrictions, were exclusive of those masks. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
These rules added to the Exiled masks were made because of the control they needed to have under prisoners, but they fitted very well how the Sgails should act.
’It sucks. Just because of my slight mental issue I can’t walk freely...’
Ivar was attentively looking everywhere. That person might be around there. She knew about everything, after all.
’That girl. She is just crazy. I don’t even know how the Royal Family still didn’t get her to do experiments or this sort of thing... Well, I bet they wouldn’t do it, anyway.’
Behind that always grinning expression and confidence, Ivar was a pretty reasonable person. What was going on in his mind wasn’t something normal, but he was beyond the addiction in adrenaline that he showed outside.
He wandered through the city for a while, just enjoying the environment.
Soon, she appeared, just like he expected before.
"You are too late." He spoke, his grin getting wider.
"You aren’t Ari to keep with this addiction on punctuality, y’know?" A woman walked slowly next to him. Her playful voice echoed in the night.
"Are you trying to go on a date with me, Ivar? It’s fine if you want, y’know? Or not. Depends on how much you will spend on me!" She was giggling while talking about those things. Ivar just narrowed his eyes, chuckling.
"You know very well why I am here. You know everything. I bet that you already made what I was intending to ask you to do."
She laughed out loud. The Wild Aesir thought that her voice woke up the entire city.
"Yeah, yeah, you are good, Ivar. You always take grasp of things quickly, that’s why you are one of the strongest of us 7."
Ivar giggled but didn’t agree with her. He was aware of his strength, but he knew that the others had their way to be strong and deal with problems.
"So... did you call all of them?"
"Yes. But the boss didn’t answer. You know how he is. Always busy. Maybe he shows up when it is already happening."
The Aesir nodded his head.
"I was expecting that he would not appear right on the start. But that’s ok. He always knows what to do when the time comes."
"Why are you doing it so suddenly?" She leaned her body forward, trying to get an angle to look at his eyes.
"Stop playing dumb. You know about it as well. And it’s not something related to your clairvoyance, I am sure that you already heard about it from the others." Ivar had resolute eyes, a wild gleam shining inside them. "They will start. It’s about time. And we, as Aesirs, can’t just stay still and see what will happen with our arms crossed. We need to prepare ourselves."
The short woman smiled at him, slapping his back.
"That’s why I like you, Ivar, y’know?"
