The mall was much larger than it appeared from the outside.
I say that probably because the malls back in my country weren't this vast — I know projects like this existed, but I had never seen a complete one with my own eyes. Faced with the expressions of some of us, we couldn't help but show our surprise, though Axel seemed the least impressed of all.
Well. After the mission, Axel had managed to secure — in his own words — a high-ranking position in the FBI.
Something even I had my doubts about.
I mean, Axel had never operated in a conventional work environment, and being a U.S. citizen wasn't something he had sorted out either. Though in a conversation I had with Conrad about what Axel mostly did, apparently he had been able to get in because of the last mission — more specifically, for having eliminated Rover. That intrigued me.
Rover Stone and his team had deserted the country, becoming anonymous mercenaries who accepted missions for large sums or, failing that, extremely bloody ones. Something that no doubt reflected Rover's own psychopathy — he was a stain on his own country. The U.S. military had trained him as its greatest prospect, and he had become a deserter who only sought to satisfy his own psychosis. Axel, on the other hand, had been left without missions after the skyscraper incident.
What worried me was that he might be in the same place as me.
Axel has no fixed direction. Exactly what I'll be when the Neura conflict is over.
Just thinking about it made me feel lost. I think Axel felt the same. But unlike me, the path he chose stayed the same color — anti-crime missions, as always. The idea had crossed my mind, but looking at the enormous amount of help we received and the effort it took to remove the majority of the crime from my country, doing it for the entire world feels like a bottomless pit. At least one more country.
With all that internal monologue, we arrived at the restaurant.
◈
It looked like a Mexican food place. Axel had been very insistent on going there, and when it came time to order he emphasized with a force that left no room for argument that the tortilla was to be soft. With no other choice, none of us went with the thicker one.
Already seated, waiting for the tacos, Celia spoke:
— Axel, apparently, knows enough about Mexican cuisine. I had only heard that Mexicans themselves despise tacos with a hard shell. Though I share the opinion — you were very fervent about us ordering the soft tortilla.
— It's simple logic — Axel replied. — I've tried both and the fried one is, honestly, an insult to the original. You know? Not everything about the United States is what it's made out to be. And even if the quality of life is better than back home, it's not the American dream they keep promising. Start with the fact that a regular family with regular jobs can sustain itself, yes — but with mutual support, and only if they don't have more than two kids, which would get complicated. On top of that, all the conflicts it has... this common enemy might be an excuse for a ceasefire, but it doesn't change that this is the second country with the most simultaneous conflicts. And lastly: the complaints and lawsuits. Please — they seem bitter, they sue over everything, they want everything resolved strictly through legal channels. I mean, most people use the law to get some kind of benefit. Remember the big immigration raid? The fact that something like that is considered noble under the law frustrates me. Actually, if I weren't with the FBI I'm sure someone would have come to send me away with soldiers included. And on top of everything, in one of the campaigns they used the music from "Catch Me" from a video game — that was the moment I felt most strongly that life was a simulation. Even though I don't believe in that.
— How did you end up talking about immigration in this conversation? — Celia said.
— I don't know. I think Conrad sounded too patriotic and I had to counter-argue.
— This is exactly the same speech you gave once in class — I said.
— It's true, it makes me laugh to remember. It started with that and escalated into... you know. Into my one-liner. — He looked at me. — One gives you more life and the other the will to live it. You know which one I mean?
— Don't remind me. The good thing is I don't think anyone heard your awful message. Though for me it was good.
— You get me, man.
Nadia interrupted our laughing:
— Excuse me. Weren't we supposed to talk about the vision? Not to be a killjoy, but I have a lot to say.
— Alright — I said, picking up the thread. — Let's start. Is there anything that caught your attention? I know Neura is probably an impossible opponent, at least until we find the sword, or even whether we'll be able to do anything with it.
Axel raised his hand abruptly:
— True. I honestly feel a sense of emptiness since that vision. Though if we set aside the mess of thinking about how to defeat him... Auren, you look a lot like Arthur. Don't you think?
— Really? I didn't think we looked that similar, personally.
— Now that you mention it — Nadia chimed in —, your faces are quite alike. You even look like his son.
She said it with a strange smile.
I don't know why, but Axel and I both felt a chill at the same time. The kind that has no immediate explanation and is therefore more unsettling than one that does.
Axel continued with some haste, as if wanting to leave that moment behind:
— Right. Why don't we move on? What style, art, or whatever it might be could we replicate to improve our chances against Neura?
At that moment the food arrived, and Axel shifted from talker to eater.
— I suppose that's for the best — Celia said, watching him.
— But anyway, regarding the vision — I feel a familiarity with the ability Charlotte used. More specifically, using memories as an exchange to obtain power. I feel I'm the person with the most potential to learn it. You all know why.
— Hold on — I said. — Nadia, do you know about her secret too?
— Yes, of course — Celia replied. — She was actually the first person I told.
— Wow. We really are second tier. Okay, getting back to it — I understand the reason, but I still don't know if the difference is abysmal, especially since you never told us exactly who you were in the past. Nadia, do you know if she has any specific potential?
— Honestly, she hasn't told me who she was in her past life either.
— Could you give us proof? — Axel said. — I don't know, a language?
Celia didn't think about it. Immediately:
— Caballi vadunt ad occidentem.
The silence was genuine. Nobody expected that.
— What? What did you say? What was that? — Axel said.
— Is that Latin? — I asked. — Though something's off. Caballi would be equivalent to equī — horses — and besides it sounding like quite archaic Latin... why did you say horses going toward the west?
— It's more because I watched a manga about a horse race heading west — Celia replied. — Nothing deep about the language.
— Hey — Axel said, with the face of someone who has just connected something. — Celia, were you at the crucifixion of Jesus or not?
— Not at all — Celia replied without hesitation. — He had been dead for centuries by the time I was alive.
I spent a moment processing that.
— Centuries — I said. — Plural. More than two. Jesus was crucified around the year 33. If he had already been dead for centuries by your time, that places you after the year 233 at the earliest. And if Latin was still prominent enough that you spoke it with that fluency... — I ran the calculation. — Latin was a common tongue until the fall of the Western Roman Empire, roughly around 476. But given how archaic what you said sounds, I'd say you lived somewhere between the year 300 and 500, roughly. Though that still leaves us a lot of ground — a girl with a dark past in that era could be just about anything. Axel, what have you come up with?
— I'm still just as lost with our investigation. Auren, these clues just rule out the possibility that Celia was the one with the funny mustache.
— Hey! — Celia objected.
— It seems like you two have had an ongoing thing for a while — Nadia observed.
— Yeah — Axel said. — The two of us have been investigating your real identity. And basically all we know is what's current: that you were evil and that you were a woman. Which still leaves us a lot of ground to cover.
— For the love of... you two are a lost cause.
Both of us raised our thumbs at the same time.
— Thanks for the compliment.
Celia resigned herself and brought the topic back:
— Do you trust now that I have potential?
Axel tried to respond. The words wouldn't leave his mouth.
I continued:
— We're worried about losing you, Celia. That's all it is. Through everything we've been through together, and even more watching your progress — from being someone with a dark past to the version of yourself you are now — you're obviously someone important to us. You're part of our circle, and even Nadia, who I haven't spoken to much personally, probably feels the same. But we won't stand in your way. If we don't use everything we have at our disposal, we could be the reason the world falls apart through our own lack of trust. So as your captain I give you full autonomy to do whatever is necessary. Just understand our worry.
Celia nodded. With melancholy and resolve at the same time — two things that don't usually fit together but that fit in her. That ability could lead her not only to death, but in the best case to losing both the memories of this life and those of her past one, which had surely been precious and formative for who she had become.
Nadia spoke:
— Listen. The truth is I didn't think I had the right to oppose Celia, because I'm going to learn an ability too. Or rather — I'm going to master an ability of Charlotte's.
I tensed up:
— You too? But you don't have memories of past lives—
— No — Nadia interrupted. — Not memories. The art Charlotte used to weaken Neura. One that my grandmother taught me, at its most basic: the art of cursing.
We all went a little still at the same time.
— That art is basically suicide — I said. — Besides, how much do you know about it? And why not just force the one Charlotte used again, destroying his mind directly?
— What if it doesn't work? — Nadia replied. — What guarantees do we have? — Pause. — I genuinely want to contribute. I'm not good in combat, only in intelligence. But we already have Conrad who far surpasses me in that, and I didn't do anything remarkable during the missions back home. Maybe it's very selfish, but I want to give my life for this mission. Please.
Her eyes were freshly wet.
I lowered my head with a mix of resignation and dread.
— I beg you... I don't want you going into combat. Un... unless the situation becomes... critical.
Those words were hard to let go of.
Nadia smiled with a generosity that had nothing of resignation in it:
— Your wishes are my orders, Captain.
◈
Once we finished eating, Axel suggested we had spent too much time sitting — there was a combat arena nearby. He wanted to make sure we weren't rusty, because we were going to fight together again and it was better to know now. Nobody objected.
When we arrived, Axel and I positioned ourselves at a regular distance — close enough that a single step could connect a hit.
— It seems strange to me — Nadia said. — Never having seen the two of you fight in missions. We always just had different paths.
— Honestly, I've only ever seen Axel fight — Celia said. — About Auren I've only heard that he's more skilled. Though that remains to be seen.
As if it were a verdict, Axel didn't wait a millisecond.
A kick in a semicircle, turning almost completely around, so fast that Nadia from her distance couldn't follow it — any closer and the impact would have been unavoidable. It connected with my chin.
— He hit so hard and so fast — Celia said — that Auren's body stubbornly decided to withstand it.
As if her words were a foreshadowing, after that my body crumpled toward the ground.
— Is it over? — Nadia said.
In that small interval of falling a reaction took shape. Using the fall itself, with one foot, I shifted into an offensive position — catching Axel off guard, since he thought he had knocked me out. The punch combined with the launch from almost ground level was moving so fast it was impossible to dodge. Axel could only brace with his arms just enough to avoid serious injury, but even so the force was enormous — it sent him several meters back.
— Enough — Axel said. — It's clear I lost. Looks like he's still just as relentless. — He smiled with satisfaction. — Excellent.
— Is that human? — Nadia said. — I mean, he recovered in a matter of seconds from a knockout.
— I honestly don't think I could beat Auren in combat — Celia said. — Though I think if I studied a style designed to counter Axel's, I could beat him.
— But Axel was incredible too — Nadia replied. — I couldn't even see the kick.
— I could — Celia said. — I can beat Axel in raw strength, though he's better in combat technique. But he's one I know well: too many kicks, acrobatics, and he only uses his arms for hooks. Easy prey for grapples.
◈
My phone vibrated.
Then Axel's. Then Celia's. Then Nadia's.
Conrad had found the location. He was sending us to get ready immediately.
A slight strangeness settled into my feelings — I sensed that this conversation had done me a little good after what happened with Lilian, but the shift the call brought pulled me back toward reality.
In the mall, among the people walking by without knowing anything about what was happening a few meters from their lives, the four of us looked at each other for a moment.
The pause ended on its own.
We left.