Chương 121: 34 - WE DIE TOGETHER

It was just past midnight over the Hunter's Club Estate, and a storm was brewing, the clouds diffusing the rays of moonlight. It was misty and dark, with the aura of the mansion lights being the only real light to see the woods around. Vienna Misling was burrowed in a small hole she'd dug for herself. She'd covered it with leaves and made it just big enough for her to curl up in. Not even her track jacket fit in with her. So instead, she used it as a ceiling to hold the leaves above her head.

Her black tank top and yoga pants were better for staying undetected anyway. She hadn't left that hole for an entire day, instead constantly scrutinizing the hidden camera feed on her mobile screen. The sandbags under her eyes had become too heavy, and every time she felt herself drifting to sleep, she'd squeeze her right fist tight enough to draw blood.

"I'm not going to sleep until I find you." Thunder sounded above her, and a sharp wind blew away some of her leaves. Though it wasn't enough to expose her.

"Vienna?" T'balt called in a loud whisper.

"Are you here?" She carefully slid the jacket covering the hole aside and raised her hand to signal him.

"You moved from where you were yesterday," T'balt said, kneeling above her.

"You can never be too careful. What is it?"

"Ellie and Cannon were able to approximate Tyene's location with the tracking loot."

"Where?"

"She's somewhere in the basement." He pulled out the map of the building he had given her. All floors were mapped except for the basement.

"The only way they saw down there was the elevator, but it doesn't let you go to the basement without a special key. So they weren't able to see exactly what it looks like down there, but according to Ellie, it's somewhere under this room," he pointed at the dining hall. Vienna considered for a moment.

"Can you teleport there?"

"No. I have to at least have an idea of what the place looks like before I can teleport there. Otherwise, it doesn't work."

"Understood. There are two entrances that I've concluded lead to the basement. The elevator, as you mentioned, and an emergency staircase hidden in this back room," she pointed.

"How do you know that?"

"German Casas disappears into this room for extended periods of time daily. He is not the type to leave her alone." From the look on her face, T'balt couldn't tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"But both entrances are under guard 24/7," she continued.

"Now that I know where she is, I can begin the extraction tonight." She rose from her hole in the ground, scrubbing the dirt and leaves off her pale skin. She grabbed some tools from a bag she had hidden off in a bush and began strapping herself with gadgets that T'balt couldn't even name.

"So what's the plan?" He asked.

"I go in and get her," she said flatly.

"I? But don't you need me to come with you?"

"No. If you can't teleport down to get her, then you're useless to me. Bringing you with me will only slow me down. Your services are no longer required."

"So what, you're just getting rid of me now? Wait." he grabbed her by the wrist, preventing her from walking off, and in that moment, he would've sworn he was a bout to die. To Vienna, he was the one thing standing between her and her glare, which was something out of nightmares. But he didn't let go.

"Are you coming back?" The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. She pulled her arm away.

"I have no intention of it… But if Lady Tyene wishes to speak with you, then you will see me again, whether that be this life or the next."

"You don't have to be afraid of me," T'balt said.

"It's you I want to talk to."

"Me? I don't have anything further to say to you."

"That's not the point. I'd just prefer it if we were… friends." She looked at him as if she didn't know what the word meant. Vienna turned her head.

"Tyene is my only friend."

"You know it's possible to have two."

"And what would I need that for? That won't help me protect Tyene."

"It is if we both do it. But to be honest, it isn't just for your benefit." T'balt crossed his arms, reflective.

"It'd be nice to have another Redeemer as a friend. I didn't realize it until I talked to Tyene, but what she said in Graceland was true. It is easy to feel alone being who we are. I don't want to treat anyone else like they're not important, but they just keep forgetting who I am. Even the people I love the most. It'd be nice to have a friend that didn't." Vienna crossed her arms too, mirroring his expression.

"I can't be that friend for you." He sighed.

"I know what it feels like to want to protect someone so much that it's all you can see."

"You don't." She cut him off, handing him back the map. And she pointed to a particular set of words on the page.

"Razorwind."

"What about them?"

"They're the mercenary group assigned to protect Mitas Corlander, his assets, and his immediate family. Led by a man named Desmond Hobbs, who is my adopted father. He adopted many children, but I was one of the few who made it through the training. The rest were given back. I never had a family. Only a regimen. My entire childhood was nothing but field exercises, intense physical training, physical and psychological torture tolerance training, and the list goes on.

All so that one day, I could be sold off under the tagline, Better protection than the president's own secret service. Corlander bought me when I was 16 and told me to protect Tyene, a girl the same age as me, with my life. And my brain will physically not allow me to think about anything other than her and keeping her safe. Desmond Hobbs did not let me sleep until that was the case. So I learned everything about her, everything about everyone who knew her, and everyone who might've hated her father."

She let out a deep, exhausted breath before she spoke again.

"At some point, during all that, I watched a normal girl grow up. I watched her be happy, sad… lonely. And I realized the only way I could feel those things, too, was through her. We're bonded in that way. But I only ever watched her from a distance because she said I would scare her friends away. But that was enough. I still felt through her. It wasn't until Zero Day that she finally recognized me as more than just a thing.

And I cherish that because everything that happened to her felt like it happened to me, too. So if she dies, then so do I. Not that my attachment matters. Because that's what my commander drilled into me so hard that I have the scars to prove it. I was born and raised to protect that woman. The Redeemer stuff has confused everything, but at the bottom of it, my core still remains. If Tyene dies, I die." She breathed heavily as if a massive weight had just been lifted from her chest.

And she stared at T'balt, who didn't quite know how to take all that.

"You're right," he said after a moment.

"I didn't understand. But I do now."

"Alright," she said quietly.

"Then, like I said. If Tyene wants to speak to you, then you'll see me again. But in my estimation, she remains in danger as long as she's around other Redeemers."

"Ok… If she dies, you die." Vienna nodded and started walking towards the building.

"But dying sucks, you know," T'balt said after her.

"One day, I want to make it so we don't have to do it anymore. And that includes Tyene." He watched her go until she disappeared into the shadows. When she was gone, he sat down in the grass and looked up at the clouds covering the moon. He felt like he understood her all too well. How many times had he just let himself die when something happened to Acelin, Cannon, or Ellie? He had just gotten better at keeping them safe lately, but still, if he knew that if any of them died, then he wouldn't be long after.

They were his family after all. But it was his strength as a Redeemer that gave him the ability to protect them, and the ability turned into a responsibility. They were as much a part of him as his own limbs. So for Vienna, every second Tyene might've been in danger must've been absolute agony to her. That was exactly why T'balt hoped she would come back. The other Redeemers treated people like pawns for their entertainment or, at best, tools for another end. But the cycle was endless.

That's what made them that way. But as long as T'balt had something to protect, he could avoid the meaningless abyss on the other side of each redemption. That's what he told himself. That's what he believed Vienna would understand. But there was something prodding the back of his mind that wasn't adding up. Some contradiction his brain hadn't found, because it was based on feeling, crumbled under the logic. Then suddenly he stood. He had to speak to Tyene.