Memory Glitch (Book 2 in the "Glitched" Series)

[THIRTEEN - An Uncultured Hudvandrare, According To Salt]

The dark-haired man slammed open the doors to the village council's meeting room, where the rest of them had already congregated. They hadn't been told why they had to meet up there, all they knew is that it was urgent 'Josh, what's going on?'
'Yeah, we're kind of in the dark here buddy.' JJ spoke up, stepping away from his chair and glancing at the elder with concern. Josh didn't say anything for a few moments, hands on his knees to try and get his breath back, but then he suddenly straightened back up and practically screamed "The boys are missing."

'Vik said that he was going to the parkour course two days ago, maybe he got curious and wandered off?' Tobi suggested to his friends, but Simon just sat with his head in his hands. He was slumped over in defeat, but still tense - One wrong word, and he would probably kill somebody 'Kenny and Mitch said that they were gonna take Preston there as well.'

'...They took who?' Harry flinched, realizing that he may have just given the boys away as he looked to the very interesting ground. Their "leader" slowly looked up from his position at this, locking his gaze onto the smaller male's from as he spoke one word; "What?"

The tone is his voice was so dark, so dangerous that the young blond squeaked out loud, gripping his arms tightly and refusing to look up 'The-The hybrid. His name is Preston, he knew them.'

'And you let a hybrid, one of the kind that tried to kill us, go into the village? He could have killed anybody, he may have even killed Vik - He's probably dead, and it's all your fault!' The silver-haired man snapped, causing Harry to start shaking as he continued to look at the floor. Noticing this, Ethan walked to stand by Simon's side and grabbed his arm 'Si, that's too far. You and I both know that Vik's too smart to let himself into a trap.' The redhead muttered quietly, his grip strong enough to send out a clear warning.

'No! That kid is like a son to me, and you expect me not to blame the culprit?!'

'I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!' Harry burst out, the noise making Tobi flinch while the others all stared at him. 'Do you really think I would do anything to purposely hurt him?' He added in a far more quiet tone, 'Vik's almost my younger brother, I would never put him in danger. If anything, Preston's the one that would be in trouble. The boys know how to take care of themselves, so don't you dare put the blame on me.' And with that, he turned and stormed out of the room.

An awkward silence then took his place. Tobi left after a few moments, stating that he was going to check on the taller male while Ethan stepped back. The outburst had been... Well, they'd never seen Harry like that before 'I don't get why he's denying it, him letting out the hybrid has obviously ended up with Vik-'

'Simon, no. Did you not listen to a word he just said?' When all he got in response was a hardened glare, Josh just rolled his eyes and waved a hand in the air before walking out as well. 'Ethan, JJ, you guys know that it's true, right? It was obviously him'

'No!'

'Kinda, yeah.'

Ethan sent the darker male a shocked look, with a slight hint of hurt - This could end up tearing the group apart, and they were all taking sides? It was ludicrous 'Alright then, you two go ahead and make a plan to kill out all of the hybrids, somehow blaming Harry in the process, and I'll go and get Vik back, Sounds great, absolutely wonderful!'

'You're not going-'

'Peace out, idiots, I'm going to find Harry.'

~~~

'Kenny, the entire group's split up to look for you, and you've been in here the whole time?' The blond shrugged slightly, crossing his arms and giving a lopsided smile. 'Ah, yes sorry about that. I didn't think it would take so long, but we had a slight run-in with somebody.'

'One of the hybrids?'

'...Technically speaking, yes. Matthew somehow managed to get in, but it turns out it wasn't the first time.' His tone became more pointed as he finished his sentence, turning to glare at the golden bird hybrid who just groaned and covered his face with his wings. 'I was going to tell you! I just wanted to get out of the mountains first, incase-'

'Incase what, the Orespawns came back?!' He looked away, whilst Lachlan flinched at the tone in the older blond's voice. It didn't sound like something Kenny would actually say, he was normally far nicer than this 'Kenny, mate, are you feeling alright? This isn't like you.' Vik pointed out, petting the dragon's side as he nuzzled into the human's side.

At this note, Kenny blinked a few times before shaking his head and sighing 'I am fine, just - Annoyed. It is not every day somebody close betrays you' "This definitely isn't like Kenny... Lachlan, you know about the stuff around here, is there anything that can control minds? Anything about shapeshifting?"

"If it was a Cupio, then we would all see different things. I don't think-" 'What the Hell?!' Lachlan had to pull out of the mind communications as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Kenny lunging towards Choco with an unfamiliar knife in his grip. The bird let out a yell of alarm, diving to the side while Salt growled and moved to stand between the two 'An uncultured hudvandrare, Master Lachlan. It's taken the place of your friend, do you want me to destroy it?'

'No, I have a plan... Freeze it up to the neck, so it can still talk.' The deed was done, leaving the group with a mostly-frozen shapeshifter who was threatening to kill everybody and a chocobo who looked as if he was going to start crying any minute. 'Alright, whatever the heck you are; Where's the real Kenny?'

'You expect me to tell you? Ha! That fool has dug his own grave, trying to fight against me. Did you not see, chocobo, how I switched my skin to match his, before I shoved him down the ravine?' Choco held a haunted look in his eyes as he backed away, stumbling over a small rock but staying upright. 'He - You didn't.'

The hudvandrare just laughed coldly, a dangerous glint in it's azure eyes 'Oh, didn't I? You seriously think that I wouldn't kill a human when I had the-'

Smack.

The force of the slap practically knocked the eyeballs out of "Kenny's" sockets. The azure orbs that met his own were almost scary, nothing like their usual calm hue 'I know you didn't kill him, you piece of crap, so where is he?' Choco snapped in a tone the others had rarely heard him use, with the hudvandrare hissing lowly in spite. 'You think I'm going to tell you?'

A second later, a specialised golden dagger was pressed against his throat, the chocobo staring a steely glare at his opponent once more 'I'll ask you again - Where. Is. Kenny?'
'Alright, alright, I'll tell you! Just - Keep that metal away from me!' It shrieked loudly, the skin nearest the blade slowly turning grey, 'It's poisonous to my kind, you insolent-'

'I will not hesitate to stab you, and throw your barely breathing body into a pit of lava before pulling out your skeleton and dancing on your grave.'

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Honestly same tbh.

Things are heating up in the Sidemen house boyssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ;)

(^cringe.)

See you all in the next chapter, and have a great Morning - Afternoon - Evening - Dawn - Dusk - Midnight - Paranormal Timezone!