255 - Loss

“What?” Lexie jumped out of her seat immediately, assuming a defensive stance. “No. That’s not happening.”

“I don’t believe I need your permission, Lexie Sparrowfoot,” Ambassador Raz-Ro-Nan said. 

“Why are you taking him?” Lexie asked. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“That’s not for you to decide." He regarded Aiden. "The Fae and Human authorities have agreed to surrender you for a full advanced memory sweep. We must discover the true origin of your new power, not to mention your degree of susceptibility to the recent attack in your hometown.”

“What attack?”

“The Koifor dungeon. The one that engulfed your home. It can have some…lasting effects if not cleared properly.”

Lexie’s eyes widened, and she glanced between her dad and the Ambassador, stunned. “And you’re just telling us this now?”

“Well, I assumed your Saintess would be adequate to resolve the problem.”

"No, you didn’t.” Lexie didn’t know how he was getting away with such a blatant lie, but she knew for a fact that he didn't think it had been cleared, because he'd already known something was wrong with her father.

At that stupid dinner, he’d asked her how Aiden was doing. He knew something was up, but didn’t say it till now. '

Why not?

Maybe because he was waiting for Aiden to make a mistake. 

"Well, I assumed you would have received frequent visits from a Saintess," the Ambassador stated. "That would have been enough to clear it."

Ah, there was the catch.

The Saintess had only purified the area once, though, and she'd never been in Lexie's home, because Lexie would not have been able to tolerate it.

So, the lasting impact...was that part of the strong desire she'd felt in the pocket dimension? Was her dad also affected by it?

Had it influenced his mental state and made him do something he wouldn't otherwise do?

But that didn't make sense. He wouldn't have any reason to hurt Vacek.

Unless...

Unless he'd heard what Vulcan had said.

Lexie had suspected that Vulcan's whole speech hadn't been for her. Vulcan hadn't just been speaking for Lexie's benefit after all. Maybe it had all been a trap for Aiden.

At least that's what the Ambassador suspected.

In which case, the Fae Ambassador had let it all play out, let Vacek die, to trap Aiden and Lexie.

That would make the Ambassador truly evil.

But when Lexie glanced at her father, she thought maybe she was being absurd. He didn't look guilty of anything at all, nor did he look panicked at being caught.

He didn’t seem all that bothered by the accusation or the request. 

“How long is this going to take?” he asked. 

“About a week," Jerry said.

“That long?” Lexie blurted out. “It takes that long to do a memory sweep? It just took us five minutes.”

"Most of that time will be spent in travel,” the Ambassador said. 

“So I can just teleport you there.”

“No,” Aiden said before anyone else could respond. “That’s too far, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Lexie sighed. "But Dad–”

“But nothing.” Aiden straightened his jacket. “Give me a few hours to get my affairs in order, and then I’ll go with you.” 

“Are you serious?” Lexie exploded, making Jerry wince and tug at his earlobe. “You’re actually going to do it?”

“Why not? I have nothing to hide.” He stared at the Ambassador. “Since the Ambassador enjoys wasting his time on conspiracy theories and vivid fantasies, we have to oblige him, don’t we? Our magnanimous overlords.”

The Fae Ambassador raised an eyebrow, and Jerry cleared his throat. 

“We can give you an escort back home and about an hour to pack,” he says.

“Okay. That’s fine.”

“I’m coming with you,” Lexie announced. 

“No,” Aiden said. “That’s not necessary, is it?”

“It’s not,” The Ambassador said. “And unfortunately for you, Ms. Sparrowfoot, the warrant does not include you.”

“Why not? I was there too, wasn't I? I got touched by the fire. Also, haven’t you been trying to get me to go to your planet for weeks now? Well, now you can.”

“I can’t actually. You are an unknown entity; we cannot just take you to the planet for no reason without binding your authority. Unless, of course, you would also like to voluntarily submit to a memory sweep and a soul analysis so we can classify you and place you under an oath.”

Lexie bit her lip as the Ambassador’s eyes glinted. He had that cat that ate the canary look. Had her exactly where he wanted her. 

Until Aiden laid a hand on her shoulder. “Lexie, can I talk to you for a second? In private?”

She glanced around. “How?” The room was small, and the voices echoed throughout. 

Aiden nevertheless pulled her to a corner and squatted till he was at eye level with her. “I don’t want you to come with me.”

“But…”

“I’ll be fine. I haven’t read through the special warrant yet, but if it’s what I’m thinking it is, then it’s simply to search through my memories. They can’t imprison me there, and even if they wanted to, I’ll still have to come back to Earth for the initial trial.” He cocked his head. “Besides, I haven’t actually done anything wrong.”

Lexie raised an eyebrow. He might not have hurt Vacek, but did he forget about illegally breaking his Tilling bands and practicing Alchemy? Not to mention consorting with Naem and the fact that he’d stolen a Chosen soul and melded it with his daughter’s, and the essence of an Eldritch Lord?

Lexie appreciated the optimism, but wasn’t he being a little delusional here?

He smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’ll be fine. Trust me. I’ll be going with some human chaperones and will be safe on Planet Fae for the week. Their jurisdiction over me while I’m there is limited, and I will be staying at the Earth embassy. I’ll have Max stay with you in the meantime. Unless you want to stay with Emma?"

“I don’t need a babysitter, Dad.”

“Oh yeah? And who’s going to make sure you eat something? If I let you, you would have air for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

She frowned. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like it at all.

But she knew the alternative would certainly be entrapment.

It would be exactly what the Ambassador wanted, for Lexie to demand to go with them and submit to his control.

Nevertheless, getting Aiden was likely the next best thing to him.

“Fine,” Lexie said, then announced to the rest of the room, “If he isn’t back in exactly a week, down to the hour with not a second overtime, you’ll have to deal with me.”

The Ambassador’s ears twitched, and Jerry frowned at her. 

“Is that a threat, Ms. Sparrowfoot?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she said, much to his surprise. “And I suggest you take it very seriously.”

“Leixe…” Her father started.

“Aiden…” She said in the same tone of voice, causing him to smile. She didn’t find it very funny. She was serious. If her father wasn’t back in exactly a week, she would teleport right to the Fae Planet and raise hell.

***

Aiden managed to make enough food to last them a couple of days. She didn’t know how he did it so fast, whether it was magic or simply that he’d made it all earlier because he’d expected something like this to happen. After all, he didn't look shocked.

Neither was he tense. Despite the accusation of having his mind influenced by the fire dungeon, he didn’t seem too affected by it, so Lexie herself was starting to think that the Ambassador really was just grasping at straws, trying to take Aiden no matter what.  

"What about the prisoners?" Lexie asked. "Who's going to watch after them while you're gone?"

"The pocket dimension will be safe," he said. "And I will be handing Jerry and Stella the access keys before I leave. Just in case."

"Hopefully their trial is short." She wanted to kill Vulcan and be done with it.

At that point, Tate came out of his room and down the stairs. He saw the officials standing as a chaperone in their living room and tensed up.

"Who are they?" he asked, walking into the kitchen.

Aiden explained what was going on, and Tate frowned. 

“Wait, they think you killed Vacek deliberately?”

“They’re not saying it in so many words, but they’re implying it,” Lexie said. She was sitting on the counter, swinging her legs and enjoying a cookie as Aiden packed up the rest. “Can you imagine? After everything he did to help Vacek, now they’re trying to turn him into a villain again. It’s discrimination, and I’m sick of it.”

“Yeah,” Tate said, looking worried.

Lexie, on the other hand, was in the anger phase.

“People think they can just assume things about someone because of how they look or because of their past,” she continued ranting, her mouth full of cookies, spitting out crumbs. “Aiden gave them zero reason to doubt him, yet here they are anyway, dragging him off to the Fae planet and invading the sanctity of his brain. If it were me, I would told them to stick that warrant up their–” She cut off when her father spared her a scolding look, but she continued anyway. “Their you-know-where. I wouldn’t have been as nice about it, that’s for sure. That’s your problem, Dad. You’re too nice.”

"Is that so?” He smirked. “Remember that the next time you get in trouble for something.”

When he was ready to go, Max finally arrived in full tactical gear and a duffel bag, glaring at the officials like they were things at the bottom of his shoe. 

“Why are you dressed like that?” Aiden asked. 

“You said that the Fae were taking you somewhere. I wanted to be ready in case you changed your mind about complying.” He looked at the officials threateningly when he said it, and at least one of them swallowed. 

“I'm fine, Max. I don't need to be rescued, just need you to babysit.”

“Babysit?” Both Tate and Lexie exclaimed, sounding offended.

“Sorry,” Aiden raised both hands. “Teen-sitting. Is that better?”

Not by much, but Tate said, “I don’t see how we need someone to watch after us.”

"Yeah, we can take care of ourselves," Lexie concurred.

“Not like I want to be here either, kid," Max said. "But there are child safety rules to consider. And I'm a much better cook than Emma."

Oh, right. Lexie had even forgotten about that. 

As time was about to elapse, Aiden gave Tate and Lexie individual, lengthy hugs. “Don’t worry about me, okay? The two of you just be good and make sure you stay out of danger and don’t give Max too much trouble.”

They nodded. 

Aiden focused on his daughter. “I mean it, Lexie."

"Why do you assume I'm the one who's going to be trouble?"

He shook his head. "No using your powers indiscriminately. I’ll be back in a week.”

“You better be,” Lexie grumbled, hugging him again, burying her nose in his belly and inhaling his comforting scent.

She still didn't like the fact that he was leaving, but she told herself that she would keep busy in his absence so that she would have less time to think about him being gone.

And she would need to be ready in case she had to go rescue him from the Fae Planet after all.

Which meant that she needed her living cards. 

***

Lexie tried her hardest to sleep. She wanted to talk to Naem, wanted to see if he had any ideas about how to make a living card.

She also wanted to get information about the Ambassador.

But she couldn’t make her body relax enough to doze off. Aiden had premade some iced muan tea in a jug for her, but even drinking that didn’t help. 

Maybe she should make a sleeping card. 

She sighed, then decided to stop by Tate’s room on the way back to hers. 

He was in bed, with the mist book hanging above his head, turning the pages without touching it.

"Hey,” she said, walking to lie beside him, “What are you reading?"

“Ancient legends of the Champions at Echo's Pass."

“Why?”

“No reason.”

Lexie thought he might be lying, but she didn’t want to pursue it. She wanted to talk about what was bothering her instead.

She sighed loudly, obviously, then did it again when Tate ignored her the first time.

He turned. “Something on your mind?”

“I’m just worried,” she said, “And I need to sleep, but I can’t. Have you been feeling weird for the past few days?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, like you really want to do something, or maybe take something? A strong desire?" She picked at the lint on her pants. "The Ambassador said that the fire that burned you might have lasting effects if not properly purified by a Saintess."

"Oh." He thought about it and shook his head. "I don't think so. Then again, it wasn't my real body that was engulfed in the flames. Just the fake one."

"Still. You haven't felt anything weird?"

"Nope."

That eased Lexie's suspicion somewhat. If Tate had been engulfed fully in the fire and hadn't felt anything, then Aiden couldn't possibly be influenced either.

Lexie took out her phone.

Xena still hadn’t responded to her messages. Lexie didn’t know if that meant anything or if she was just busy.

Probably the latter, but it didn't help Lexie's anxiety.

It felt like too much had happened today, and yesterday, and she hadn't yet had time to process it all.

Lexie tried calling Xena, but she didn’t pick up. Then again, it was late at night, so there was that.

"What exactly is bugging you?" Tate asked, eyes on his book.

"I don't know for sure," she said. "I just have a bad feeling about...well, everything."

***

Lexie did manage to sleep for about thirty minutes, which wasn't enough time for Naem to appear. But she thought about him hard during the day, because she thought that might encourage contact.

She still went to the AFC match the next day, held at the stadium in Zell City. 

Lexie was in the VIP fighter's room that they’d rented, watching the match, but was mostly distracted. She tried to pay attention to Cara's match, but she was still zoned out and didn't come back to herself until Cara lost the match, her health banner dipping below the red.

“Damn," Jan said. He was sitting next to Lexie, sharing his popcorn with her. "She’s going to be sour about that for the entire dinner. Especially given who she lost to.”

That was when Lexie realized who Cara had been fighting. The girl had been wearing a mask, but the fighting style should have clued her in. “Is that Diana?”

“Yup. She's back and better than ever with a huge chip on her shoulder against our whole team. Thanks to you, of course." He raised a piece of popcorn in congratulations.

"Oh,” Lexie said.

When Cara stormed in, looking healed but heated, Lexie said, “Hey. Sorry about the loss. Were you having problems with the card?"

“No, it wasn’t the card. I just couldn’t focus.”

“Why?”

“Family stuff,” she said and headed off to the stew in the adjoining room. Lane followed her.

Two fights later, Urmas faced a new weaponist Lexie had never heard of, and luckily, he won. This lifted the atmosphere in the room, and everyone celebrated Urmas' win.

Then it was time for Torin’s match.

Even just by walking on the pitch, Lexie could tell that Torin was tense. He obviously still hadn't resolved his anxiety problems from the day before, and when he stood against Patriot, a smug, muscular guy with a buzzcut, it almost looked like he was worried.

Of course, Lexie knew he wasn't actually worried about the fight. He was worried about what came after, but anyone who was just watching would assume it was Patriot that made him so anxious.

"Damn. He's scared of him," Shadow said. "Shaking in his boots. I told you he would lose."

"Get ready to eat those words," Conrad said, although he didn't sound as sure as he did yesterday.

This fight actually managed to hold Lexie's attention, as it began with a bang.

Executing a very Conrad-like berserker leap, Patriot launched an aerial attack on Torin, who dodged at the last second.

He followed it up with a high kick that Torin also dodged, and then he used nunchucks, attempting to trap Torin's leg.

Torin flamed it loose.

The fight continued in much the same vein, with Torin sharply and adeptly avoiding all the attacks, while placing targeted bolts of flame on his own. Torin, of course, couldn't go all out, but Patriot was managing to avoid the attacks so far.

The Patriot was good, even better than Conrad. He had Conrad's reflexes with much better accuracy and less of a conscience. He pulled low blows all the time, like groin attacks, and at least one sand-in-the-eyes maneuver.

Yet, Torin stayed just ahead of him.

Until something happened. It was like Torin froze for a second, his eyes widening in horror, allowing Patriot to close the gap and slam his fist in Torin's face, sending him flying.

"What the fuck?" Conrad and Boris both bolted to their feet.

"Told you," Shadow cheered. "What did I say?"

"What just happened?" Boris murmured.

Lexie wondered the same thing. Torin stuck the landing, and with a hand to his crushed nose, he managed to avoid the follow-up attack, but the damage was done.

Lexie guessed that this was the first time Torin had been hit during a fight from the way the crowd reacted to it. Some people cheered. Even more people gasped and shouted sounds of encouragement to Torin.

But it was certainly noisy, including the announcer who made all sorts of comments that Lexie would have found entertaining before. Now she found it irritating.

Torin seemed shaken by the blow, too, if not physically then mentally. He wasn't as adept at avoiding the follow-up attacks and even took one more to the chin. He managed to hover in the air with a flame jet, but then Patriot boosted himself up with some mechs to meet him, too.

I can't just watch this.

Lexie got up, and everyone was so glued to the screen that no one even saw her leave. She couldn't watch Torin lose like this. It had already been a shitty set of days.

She didn't want to end today on this note.

She walked out of the fighter's section with her hoodie up to avoid being noticed. Out here, the sounds were pronounced, and they reminded her of the first time she'd appeared back on earth, how discombobulated she was.

How the only thing she'd wanted was to see her dad

She shook the thought off and walked closer to the arena, wondering how to help Torin.

There wasn't much she could do. Torin didn't need physical help. It was an attack of the mind, as he was scared of being perceived as less than perfect, scared of failing in such a huge and public spectacle.

And it was looking more and more like it was going to come true, which only made him fumble worse.

Lexie couldn't let that happen. Even if she had to cheat on his behalf.

She watched Patriot, using DECODE to analyze his movements.

She spread her magic throughout the earth, thinking of maybe disabling his mechs from afar. But that would be too obvious and he wasn't staying on the ground long enough for her to.

Maybe she could telepathically give Torin some words of encouragement in the meantime. But she didn't even know what to tell him. She'd never had words of encouragement for herself, much less anyone else.

I wish Aiden were here. He'd know what to say.  

And just then, Lexie sensed something with DECODE.

She thought she was mistaken at first, but upon further probing, it confirmed her suspicion.

Strange.

There was a third presence in the arena.

Someone else was there with Torin and Patriot.