Soul Trade AU

Outnumbered Part 2: The Journey

"See, I don't get what you're getting out of this." Grian said, as the group walked in the direction of the nHo base.

"Atonement." Azin replied, simply.

"Oh, so you think fixing this will make it like you never did anything?" Grian asked, accusatory.

"Hell no." Azin replied. "But it's a start."

"Then what are you gaining from doing this now?" Grian pressed.

"Atonement." Azin repeated.

"Can you two please stop talking in circles, you've been doing this for at least five minutes now." False interrupted. "Azin's motivation here isn't for you to judge, Grian. Yes, he's hurt us, but he's willing to try and fix that, and like he said, it's a start."

With that, the group continued in silence for a bit, until Grian spoke up again.

"You have no idea what you've put us through."

"Oh, do I?" Azin sniped back, the wording striking a chord within him. "Let's see, hm? I know what it's like to be hunted down by a world that's turned against you, to watch as your loved ones are torn away by something beyond your control, to be put through centuries, hell, it's basically a millennium now, isn't it, of pain and fear and suffering."

"That's no excuse."

"It is one hell of a reason, though."

"It isn't. It really isn't."

"Now, let's not let this argument get out of hand, y'all." Joe interrupted. "Such division amongst us could lead to our great downfall."

After that, the journey continued in relative peace, albeit with a heightened sense of tension, and Azin and Grian shooting each other looks.

Meanwhile, after another group had just finished a travel skip of their own...

The Authors were approaching the entrance to the Demons' base when, suddenly, they spotted a wild Tango. He was staring blankly at the door, seemingly upset for an unknown reason. Aqua gazed at Tango for a few moments, trying to gauge what could be wrong. They eventually came up empty, and began to approach cautiously. AC was also concerned, and followed Aqua, hoping that no one was hurt.

"...Tango...? Are you... alright...?" AC asked quietly, a worried frown on her face. "...Did something bad happen...?" At this, Tango turned, startled by the Authors' approach.

"I'm sure you'll find out." He replied bitterly. "Such a glorious victory on the part of the nHo will never be forgotten." He continued, his voice dripping with sarcasm and a faint choke of grief. With that, he opened the door, walked in, and slammed it behind him. A magic shield appeared over it. Aqua blinked in surprise.

"Okay then... the nHo clearly did something..." They muttered. "One of us should go check up on them to see if we can figure out what he meant, I think. AC, Cupra, do either of you want to do that?"

"I could go..." AC volunteered. "If they've done something that caused Tango to be upset, I'd like to know what happened from both parties... Aqua senpai, permission to give your brother and his friends a good talking to if necessary?" She explained. Aqua nodded in reply. "Oh! But will senpais be alright?" She quickly added on.

"I think that's best." Aqua agreed. "And yes, you're definitely allowed to reprimand them if necessary. In the meantime, I'll look for another way in. Cupra, do you want to come with me or go with AC?"

"I'll stick with you, since we're going into enemy territory, and AC isn't." Cupra decided.

"Okie, senpais!" AC smiled. "I shall return as soon as I can- stay safe and good luck! I love chu!"

With that, AC went off on her way, and Aqua and Cupra began planning alternative ways to get into the Demons' base, since that's where they'd guessed Wels would be.

Time Skip brought to you by the sheer amount of genuinely amusing deleted author scenes that had to be cut because they threw off the tone or there just wasn't enough space in the chapter. I'll post those in a different chapter at some point.

Azin was the first to notice AC joining the little group on the way to the nHo's base.

"...AC?" He asked, surprised. "Weren't you supposed to be with the other Authors, looking for Wels?"

"I was, yes- Aqua senpai and Cupra senpai still are." AC explained. But we ran into a change of plans. Called Tango." Azin's face immediately fell into an expression of worry. "He seemed kinda upset..." AC continued, "When we asked him if he was alright, he said something about-" she shifted her voice to sound like Tango - "Such a glorious victory of the NHO never being forgotten," and she shifted he voice back to normal, "So I came here to try and understand what might've happened."

Azin gasped softly in reply, the thought of the worst briefly flashing across his mind, but he dismissed it just as quickly. Stress gave him a worried look, and conflict flashed in Grian's eyes.

"He was probably just talking about Biffa, right?" Azin guessed, forcing a smile back onto his face. AC gave a concerned frown.

"I... I hope so... Yeah, it could be that, couldn't it?"

Meanwhile brought to you by HAHA NOPE

Cupra and Aqua were about to pop up when they realised that the passageway they were in opened up directly into a room where it sounded like Kelgi and Tango's voices were coming from, so they decided to lay low, at least until it was safe to head up and in without getting shot and stabbed at the same time, since that wouldn't exactly be the most funky fresh turn of events.

Of course, because of how sound works, that meant they couldn't help hearing what Tango was telling Kelgi.

"It didn't go well." Tango sighed.

"How bad? You can give it to me straight, I won't get mad." Kelgi asked. Tango remained conspicuously silent. "Well, Gee can tell me, then." Kelgi paused for a second. "...Where is she? Tango, where's Gee?"

"They had a circle." Tango answered, barely above a whisper, voice cracking with tears.

"Oh. Oh. Oh no. She's... no, she can't- you can't be... oh my god. She's dead. She's... dead." With that, Kelgi's voice seemed to harden. "I will paint the ground with their blood, and the blood of anyone who sides with them." She growled. "Even if it kills me."

Three more parts of the main story to go, and four days to release them in before y'all're allowed to hunt me for blood sport.

The clock is ticking for everyone now. Especially one of the people in this chapter.

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!