258 - The Offer

“Xena?” Lexie blinked at the other girl. “What are you doing here? I thought school wasn’t letting out for another few days.”

“Yeah, I decided to bail early.” She shrugged. “I was done with exams, and Lionel told me that we would be going to Planet Fae before the break ended, so I figured we should start the break earlier.”

“Cool.” Lexie was about to ask Xena why she didn't answer her calls, but then she recalled that there were other people in the house. “Abernathy and Doyle are here, by the way.”

“Abernathy and…” Xena frowned. “You mean from Everstone?”

“Yup.” Lexie stepped out of the way, allowing Xena to enter the space. Her eyes immediately travelled to Doyle and Abernathy, who were having a whispered argument on the couch.  

Doyle tore his eyes away and addressed Xena first. “Hey, Zee. Fancy meeting you here. You look great! The leather jacket brings out your eyes.”

"Thanks?” Xena gave Lexie a curious look. She knew Lexie had been pretty casual friends with the trio back at Everstone, but she probably never expected to see them in Lexie’s home. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Just visiting," Abernathy said.

“We were talking about what happened yesterday at the AFC.” Lexie went back to her seat, then patted the couch beside her for Xena, who slowly shifted to sit beside her. “I don’t know if you saw, but the Patriot, the guy fighting Torin, basically had a huge Eldritch ghoul thing next to him on the arena, and it was boosting Torin's fear so he would lose the match.”

“Yeah,” Xena said. “I saw. There’s a video of it with almost 50 million views at this point.”

“Yeah?" Doyle said. "It was only ten million when I saw it.” 

“Different video. This new one has Lexie as the focal point.”

“Me?” Lexie frowned. “Why me?”

“Because some people thought you summoned it.”

“I didn’t.”

“Right, but they don’t know that.” Xena materialized her black pad and passed it over to Lexie so she could watch the video Xena had projected on the screen. “Watch it from the beginning.”

Lexie scrolled back to the beginning of the video. 

It showed her stepping out of the fighter's area in her hoodie, staring ahead. She couldn't see her expression with most of the hoodie shielding her face, but it did show her hand moving at her side, drawing a card, followed by the light show when the card shattered in her hands, one after another. Then the video spanned to the shimmering in the atmosphere, which eventually led to the reveal of the ghoul. 

The top comments on the video said things like:

Oh come on, it’s obvious. How much more obvious can it be? That thing is practically her pet! She tried to take out Patriot with it, for Torin.

How is Patriot the one getting blamed for it, when this possessed thing summoned her emotional support demon?

I have no idea why the heroes are letting her just walk around. For the system's sake, stick her in a lab or something and figure out what that dungeon did to her.

Where are her fans now? Deckheads, EXPLAIN THIS!

That isn’t Lexie Sparrowfoot. That’s Lexiethulu, Princess of Darkness.

“I didn’t do it,” Lexie said. “The only thing I did was reveal that it was there.”

“How did you know it was there in the first place?” Abernathy asked.

"I have good instincts,” she responded, and finally met Xena’s eyes. She was more concerned that Xena didn't believe her, but Xena nodded.

“Yeah, we know you didn’t do it." She took the pad back, closing out the video. “People are just stupid. Ignore them.

If she wanted Lexie to ignore it, then why did she show Lexie the video? 

“Anyway, the most important thing I wanted to talk about is where Patriot got that from," Lexie said. "The Eldritch was attached to him, and Doyle said he might have gotten mechs from some guy on the Undernet.”

“Eldritch-mechs?” Xena said.

“He calls them Darktech,” Doyle said.

“How do you know about this guy?”

Doyle shrugged. “I know about a lot of things. I got my ears on the ground. I’m really good at hearing.”

“What he means is that he’s very nosy and likes to eavesdrop on conversations," Abernathy says.

"Potato, Potahto. Which reminds me,” Doyle cleared his throat. “I wanted to ask you something, Lexie.”

“Sure.”

He cleared his throat again and folded his fingers on his knee, like he was about to give a presentation. “Well, I don't know if Abernathy mentioned it, but I finally got an internship. My dad's friend is a retired reporter, and he's setting up an image consulting and PR thing. He agreed to hire me, and I get to help out with everything, between school and the podcast."

"You started a podcast? Neat."

“Well, starting. I still need money for a microphone and speakers. And everything else you would need to actually start a podcast. But we're getting there."

“Oh ok." Was he going to ask her for money? Lexie didn’t mind. He had more than rough to go around. “Sure, how much do you need? I have a limit on how much I withdraw at a time, but–"

“Oh no, I don’t need money,” he said. “I want to be your manager."

The request came out of left field and left Lexie puzzled. "My manager?"

"Manager, agent, PR guy. Something like that."

"Those aren't the same things," Xena pointed out.

"It is when your company's broke, and one person does all three," Doyle responded.

Lexie looked as confused as she was. "Doyle, you know I’m not going back to the AFC, right?”

“No, I don't want to manage you for the AFC." He held his hand up and out. “I mean, I would have wanted to if you were still fighting, but for now, I mean, management in general. Media stuff. Statements. Damage control. Telling people to calm down on their conspiracy theories. That kind of stuff.”

Lexie and Xena shared looks. Abernathy also looked confused. 

“Wait, this is why you wanted to come see her?” he asked.

Doyle blushed. “No. I wanted to say hello to her, too."

“Liar,” Abernathy accused. “You tricked me.”

“Wait, I don’t get it,” Lexie said before they could start bickering again. “Why would I need a media manager?”

“Well, obviously, because people keep lying about you." He gestured to the black pad as proof. “I mean, even before you came back from the dungeon, you were kind of a controversial. A lot of people liked you, but you also had a ton of haters. And now, you have even more fans and even more haters. It's probably going to keep growing. Eventually, you might want to actually use that clout, instead of letting everyone else control the narrative."

“By everyone else, you mean the Video Alley comments?”

“I mean, everyone,” Doyle shrugged. “Heroes aren’t really doing great right now, media-wise. As a matter of fact, they’re struggling. A lot of people kinda lost faith in them after everything that's been happening and the fact that it took you and your dad to capture the Alchemist and that Vulcan guy... I mean, it kinda sends a message, doesn't it?"

“How do you know that?”

He gave her a look. “Have any of you actually been online in the past few days? Like at all?”

Lexie shook her head. She hadn’t been online at all since she got back, and she’d become so used to being disconnected from the system that she didn’t even think about it. She still had the phone that was connected to the Undernet, but she hadn't even logged into that either, though she was no longer scared of Madswick tracking her.

"The whole thing was livestreamed," Doyle said. "And a few people caught it and put it on the Undernet. And someone keeps uploading it to the regular NET, and sometimes it's up for over five minutes before they delete it. Which means a lot of people have watched it. For better or worse, people know that you and your dad were the ones who rescued everyone. The heroes might get threatened and might want to knock you down a peg. And the villains might also want to use that somehow. You need to get ahead of that, and it's better to do it now than to play defense later. My dad's friend always says that it's not enough for you to have a voice. You have to use it too. That's where we come in."

At Lexie’s doubtful look, he continued to talk a bit desperately, “Look, if you’re worried about my doing it because I’m a kid or whatever, I can take the idea to my boss. He'd love you as a client. And maybe it seems dumb because we're new and don't have any clients yet, but–"

“No, it's not dumb," Lexie said and brushed her hair off her cheek. “Let me think about it, okay?”

‘Yeah." Doyle brightened up. "Totally. Take your time."

They chatted for a few more minutes, mostly with Lexie trying to figure out more about this Duru figure. Despite Doyle saying he knew lots about Duru, it turned out that he didn't actually know much of anything useful.

He knew about his existence and knew about the mechs he was rumored to have sold to people, but he didn't know how to actually buy one, didn't know where Duru was located, and didn't know any of the mech users personally, only through stories.

But he swore to find out, probably to get on Lexie's good side so she would work with his dad's friend's agency.

After Abernathy and Doyle left, Lexie returned to the couch where Xena was nibbling on one of the cookies. 

“They’re not good,” Lexie warned her.

Xena shrugged. “I’ve had worse. Specifically, my mother’s.” She chewed slowly, deep in thought.

“Are you thinking about taking Doyle's offer?” Xena asked. 

“I don’t know,” Lexie said. “I mean, what do you think?”

“I think it’s a good idea to get an agent, if not Doyle’s agency, then another one,” she said. “We’re learning about it right now, in Heroes and Helpers. Ms. Love always talks about the importance of having good PR and all that stuff.”

“I’m not a hero or a helper.”

“It doesn’t matter. You’re a public figure now, like it or not, and people are going to start getting weird very soon. Did you know people who don’t even know you are saying they’re friends with you? Now other people are claiming you did something you didn’t do. Think of how easy it would be to have someone release a statement on your behalf and clear up the confusion.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know. I guess I'll have to ask my dad first of all and see what he thinks."

Xena nodded and nibbled on the cookie some more.

Lexie paced. "But that Duru thing is still bothering me. He's linking the Eldritch to mechs and possibly tricking people to act as hosts to the Eldritch.”

“Yeah, that’s terrible,” she said. “We should tell someone, right? I can tell Lionel."

"Yeah,” Lexie said. “But maybe hold off for now.”

“Why?”

“Because if Duru knows we’re onto him, he’s going to go into hiding. Not to mention, he’s probably going to destroy whatever it is that he’s using to make them. We can’t let that happen.”

“Why? Because you want to stop anyone else from doing the same or because you’re curious as to how he’s doing it?"

“Both,” Lexie said as she paced some more.

She noticed belatedly that Xena was still staring at her. It was a strange stare, the type that told her she had something to say. But even when Lexie prompted her, she didn’t say anything. 

"Does Dewie know you left early?” Lexie asked. 

“Yeah. It was a last-minute decision, so I sent him a text. Emma doesn’t even know yet. I used an orb to get home.”

“Okay.”

Xena bit her lip, took a breath, and finally admitted, “It’s because of you, actually. I came home early because I wanted to talk to you.”

“Really?"

“Yeah.” She swallowed. “Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan came to see me.”

Lexie’s stomach tightened with anger. “Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?”

"No, he didn’t hurt me. But he did uh, he gave me this.” She opened her palm and materialized a tiny orb, dark and glowing.

“What’s that?” Lexie asked.

“A memory orb. A fae memory orb.”

“Oh.”

Xena gave her a meaningful look. “It’s from the Fae lady that was with you in the dungeon.”

Lexie frowned, then it suddenly descended on her like a dark cloud. She sank into the seat. “Oh."

***“Yeah, oh.” Xena sighed. “It supposed to show me what the two of you went through from when you first got there to when you appeared back on Earth. And before you say anything, you don’t have to apologize. I know that wasn’t you and you were out of your mind and the Eldritch part of you had taken over and–"

“No,” Lexie shook her head, holding her hand up to stop her. It would be easier to let Xena believe that who she’d been wasn’t who she was now, but that wasn’t the truth, nor was it fair to Xena. “That was me, Xena. It’s still me.”

Xena’s eyebrows furrowed. Fear flashed in her eyes.

Lexie sighed. “When I was trapped in the dungeon, there were trolls surrounding me. A lot of trolls. Maybe hundreds. They attacked and…” She shook her head. “I needed to use all my strength to fight them off. If I were just human at that point, I would have died. And I guess I did die. Everything was broken; I had my stomach gouged out, and my head bashed in. I mean, you probably saw how I looked. No human could have survived that. The human side of me was effectively dead at that point, which only left the Eldritch there to keep going. That was me at my most, purest Eldritch form.”

Xena swallowed what looked to be bile. She clearly didn’t like hearing everything that Lexie had suffered. She looked grey and sick at the thought. But Lexie kept going. 

“As an Eldritch, we have a concept of light, which I'm not sure how much of that you understand, given your powers. I mean, you might get it from a hero's perspective, but it’s difficult to explain to a human. Essentially, the light is a drive, the thing that keeps us existing, and furthermore, makes you want to keep existing. It's the center of every thought, feeling, and every action. It's the anchor for every creature. Some have more than one, and can diversify their light, but if you only have the one...it feels like the only thing that matters is fulfilling it, and that's the reason for your existence. Ad if you don’t, not only do you not have a reason to live, there’s just this infernal itch that takes over your body, driving you crazy.”

“That’s why you killed the Fae guy?” Xena asked quietly.

“Yeah. My light was wrath. I liked killing things, but most importantly, I liked killing things that tried to kill me and things that I deemed more powerful than me.

There was no reason behind it, no thought in my mind but fulfilling that hunger. I didn't kill him because he attacked me. I made him attack me because I wanted to kill him. I didn’t even think twice about it. If Ryn hadn’t stopped me, I would have probably killed her and Little Fae, too.”

Xena looked more than just ill now. She looked disgusted, too.

It hurt, but Lexie understood. She kept going.

“It took a while for my humanity to come back, as you probably observed,” she said ‘Most of it came when I was with Uncle AMx, even though I tried to hurt him too. But it still wasn’t a hundred percent. I will never be a hundred percent human. I stopped killing as much, but that was because it was wasteful, not because I thought killing was wrong. Even now," Lexie took a deep breath. "If it were ever between killing someone to save someone I love, I would probably do it."

Xena swallowed hard. She was no longer looking at Lexie, instead looking at the orb in her hand, as though remembering what she'd seen. "But you're better now? Right? Do you still have the itch?"

Lexie shook her head. "No. I feel restless sometimes, but that's about it. But I don't necessarily want to kill anyone either. And I feel more like myself. My complete self. I won't ever hurt you, Xena. Or Dewie. I love you guys, and I love my dad too. But I will never think or feel like a pure human. That’s just not going to happen. I don’t have the restraint or the guilty conscience of a human, and even if I regret some things and regret some of the hurt I caused, it still doesn't make me less Eldritch. Just more human."

"So you do regret it?"

"I regret some things," Lexie admitted. "I regret killing that Fae, and I regret anything that led to others losing people they cared about. That being said, if I could choose, I would still choose to be as Eldritch as I am now."

Xena nodded, swallowed again, and shot to her feet. "I have to go. I'm not mad or upset, but this was...this was a lot."

"I get it." It was painful to see her best friend pushing her away, but she understood that Xena needed time.

It had taken Lexie time to accept herself, too. Xena deserved at least that much time to come to terms with it.

So Lexie swallowed her hurt and led Xena to the door, pulling it open for her.

"You're my best friend, Xena," she said, her parting words. "And I love you. That will never change."

Xena gave her a long look and then left.

"Wow." Lexie heard a voice behind her when the door closed. Uncle Max was standing by the stairs, leaning against the railing. "She took that better than I thought she would."

"Were you listening the whole time?"

"Please." He rolled his eyes. "Like I have the time or stomach to listen in on your teenage angst. I was going to grab a beer from the fridge and figured you didn't want me interrupting your grand speech."

Lexie bit her lip, feeling heavy as she returned to the living room. "She might not be able to accept what I told her. Might not accept me."

"It's a possibility," Uncle Max said, closing the gap between them to ruffle her hair, "But I would give your friend a little more credit than that, if I were you."

Lexie's doubt persisted, however, occupying her thoughts for most of the day. She wondered what it would be like to lose Xena's friendship forever. She didn't even know. It had become so integral to her identity that it would feel like ripping away a part of her.

But she would survive. She always did. The important thing was for Xena to make the right choice for herself.

Eitherway, Lexie figured that their trip was off, and she wouldn't see Xena for a long time.

That was until she heard movement at her window in the early evening.  

She glanced over from her desk to find Xena attempting to open the window from the outside.

Confused, Lexie walked over and twisted the latch. "Aiden made it inaccessible from the outside. To discourage catburglary, he said."

"Well, you should have told me that."

"How would I know you would be in the mood for sneaking through windows this evening?"

Xena grunted, dusting off grass from her pants.

"Can I sleep over?" she asked abruptly.

Lexie raised an eyebrow. "Did you have a fight with Emma?"

"No."

"Then why do you want to sleep over?"

"Because..." She exhaled. "You've been my best friend since middle school. For like three years. That's nearly a quarter of my life."

"And?"

"And I'm not going to throw away a quarter of my life and let you go just like that." Her chin was set stubbornly. "If I keep running from...what you are, I'll never be able to wrap my head around it. I need to face it, even if it's scary and weird, and I hate it. I need to face the messed-up ideas I have in my head."

Lexie cocked her head. "With a sleepover?"

"Look, it sounded good at the time, okay. Can I just stay?"

Lexie effected a casual shrug. "Okay." She didn't want to show Xena how giddy she was on the inside and how important this was to her, so as not to add unnecessary pressure. This was just a trial, a step forward, but Xena could still decide this friendship wasn't working for her anymore. Lexie wanted Xena to be able to cut her off if she needed to without feeling guilty.

She smiled, though. "I'm glad you came."

Xena responded with a weak smile. "Yeah. Me too."

For the rest of the evening, they lay in bed and watched movies like the old times. There was still the weird tension, but neither of them acknowledged it, focusing on calling out stupid movie tropes and plotholes, and stuffing their faces with pizza Uncle Max ordered.

Xena was dozing off about three hours later.

That was until an alarm blared in Lexie's brain, and Pvilycht's hologram appeared suddenly at the foot of the bed.

Xena screamed and sprang out of bed. Lexie frowned at Pvilycht.

"I didn't summon you."

"Yes, I apologize. This is an emergency alert. You told me to alert you if I feel as if I’m in danger.”

“And?”

“I’m in danger," he said calmly.