#sparkby

Spark grumbled as they walked, hands deep in his pockets as he glanced at the trees around them, “This seems a bit out of town.  You sure this is a good idea?”

Grey glanced back and nodded, “Yes, Rose likely had something ready in case things turned south.  He usually thought ahead.”

Blue felt tense.  He hadn’t been out this way before, but he knew Vio had been held there and suffered horribly, but also where their leader had lived.  He couldn’t stand how torn he had gotten over the bastard.  Roseby.  He was a bad person, simple, yet it seems to have gotten tied up with the events of the past few weeks.  He glanced at Azure and Gold.  They seemed to be chatting, lack of any real sign of concern from either of them.  Ashen had stayed behind to watch the injured, regardless of her protests that she should also see her brother’s home. In less than a day the house already felt like a tomb as they looked at it, no one moved for some time.  Gold stepped forward a bit and looked over them, “I know it’s terrible, but he was your friend.  He probably wanted us to be here now.”

Grey sighed and opened his mouth, but Blue was already speaking, voice raised, “He killed people.  He did so many damned things that would cause people to run or kill him.  He was no friend of mine.”

Gold looked at him without flinching, smile turning a bit more somber, “I get a feeling there is a group that really does care for him, despite his flaws.  And a friend doesn’t have to be good all the time, just be able to be good and change to help and be helped.”  He turned, the other’s a bit lost to say anything else. Grey looked over at Azure as if to ask what that had been, but Azure only shrugged as if to say he was just as lost, Spark not seeming to pay much attention to it, as if it’s too common for him to be bothered.  They walked up to the door, Grey took the knob, and turned, expecting it to be locked, instead opening up with ease. Grey looked back a bit concerned, “I get the feeling he’s not the kind of guy to leave his home unlocked, be careful.”

A few nods and murmurs responded before they slowly walked in.  It seemed very plain and normal, couches for a living area, kitchen clean and visually spotless, the only real blemish on the rooms at first glance was a singe on the wall, but they were aware of the events for the scar on the interior.  Gold moved and sat on one of the couches, looking around with a look of wonderment, but most of the group had already dismissed his attitude.  Spark leaned on the wall, not seeming to offer much in the form of help besides being a lookout.  Blue moved into the kitchen, Azure deciding to follow after, not completely sure of where to go.

Grey began to move down the hall deeper into the house, a strange feeling as he moved in, both of fear and also peace.  He had been told that Roseby had been in the war, maybe a part of him sympathized with Roseby more than the others, simply for understanding the past.  He wondered if he could have slipped down the same path as Roseby if things had been any different or if he had held onto malice for those in the war.

He shook his head, those thoughts weren’t going to help him now, and concerning himself with the motives of a dead man would do him no service.  He opened the door to the left finding a staircase leading downward into a dim cold corridor.  He quickly closed it and took some quick breaths, he knew what was down there, and wanted nothing to do with it.  He looked at the other door in the hall, moving over and turning the knob.

Walking in he was surprised at what he saw, not for anything horrible or strange, but for the fact it seemed so normal.  A normal bedroom.  He saw a desk and walked over, breath freezing in his throat a moment when he was a trinket lying on the desk, but let out a sigh as he calmed.  A human relic, and a royal ensigned one.  He didn’t know where Roseby got it, but there was clearly quite the story behind it, and one that will never be told again.  He looked away at last seeing a sealed envelope on the table, smooth signature reading, ‘Allies’.  Grey lifted and opened, taking in the letter and the room a bit longer.

_______________________________

Blue groaned as Azure tossed another pan haphazardly to the floor, “Would you stop doing that already?”

Azure looked over a bit taken aback, “Mate, it’s faster to just toss it aside.”

Blue placed a hand on his forehead as he spoke slowly, “It’s loud, obnoxious, and damaging to both the floor and the items.  So would you just stop?”

Azure looked him up and down, “I really can’t get a bloody read of you.  One second you ‘ate Roseby, the next you want to do whatever the ‘ell you can for the guy.”

Blue snarled, flames jumping a bit when a cough was heard to the side.  Everyone looked over, a cold calming passing over the room as if a winter’s gust had passed through the walls.  Grey gently lifted the open letter saying he found what they had been looking for.

Grey seemed a bit dimmer, clearing his throat, “It’s a lot, but he seemed to have thought ahead.”  Blue opened his mouth, but Grey cut him off, “I’ll read it out:

Comrades,

If you are reading this, then I’m dead.  If I would have returned home, this note would have been burned.  I felt something could have gone very wrong in our meeting, something about those two and how relaxed they are about the situation leads me to believe they will get someone killed, likely me.  I won’t blame their ignorance, I knew we needed more help, and if things went wrong, I apologize for my mistakes.

However, finding this note means you have not yet given up.  I don’t know who will still be with, but I trust that Grey will find what comes hard.  If the information I’ve found is true, he has a long since forgotten connection with one of the enemy.--”

Grey took a breath at that looking at the page for a moment, taking in that Roseby decided not to warn him, but also understanding that if Roseby had said anything, Grey might have tried to reason with Jade.  It was for the best he didn’t know.  He took in a slow break, continuing the note.

“All my tools and weapons are your’s to use to help.  I understand if you don’t want to touch them, but they might also be required.  At this point, you likely all know what we face, if you need extra help, I have an old friend in waterfall by the name of Azure.  He’s likely to lend a hand.”

The group looked up at Azure, who raised hands in surrender, “Bugger, ‘kay, so I knew Roseby.  We ‘ad met in the war, and he didn’t seem that bad.  I know he had his darker side, but ‘ell, I didn’t see much of it.  The war did it’s damage to everyone, you can’t blame him.”

Grey nodded, and before anyone could respond to Azure, he went to finish the letter.

“I want to request that someone be sure a girl named Ashen is safe.  She’s in hotland, though she travels all over the underground.  Whatever you do, don’t let her get involved.  She has no fighting ability, and cannot know who I was.

I have faith in this group, I wouldn’t have worked with you if I didn’t trust your motives and personas.

With best of luck, Surrexit Roseby Sana.”

Blue folded his arms and looked at Grey, “Surmexit Suma?”

Azure shook his head, “Surrexit Sana.  I heard him say once or twice that Roseby wasn’t his actual name, but I thought he was just going mad.”

Gold tilted his head, “Mad?  Like he was getting angry?”

Blue groaned, “No, like going crazy.  I swear you’re the one mad around here.  You keep rambling things that don’t add up.”

Gold smiled, giving a thumbs up, “They add up somewhere, don’t worry.”

The group kept going on, mostly about things unrelated to the madness around them, but Grey just stared at the page, rereading the part he didn’t read aloud.

‘Grey,

I didn’t realize at first meeting, but after some time, I got a feeling I had known you from somewhere.  After looking into it, I found why that was, and why you don’t remember yourself.  The war, after you had escaped that prison the humans kept you in, we met.  I was trying to go A.W.O.L. when they dragged me back and entrusted me to help you in a shattered mental state.  I don’t know if this will jog your memory at all, maybe you won’t consider these words, but you are the only one I trust with this now.  I don’t feel anyone else that could be left would understand what a war between humans and monsters would truly bring except you.  I don’t want to ask this of you, knowing the pain this fight has likely already caused, but I’m going to anyway.

Save this world, Grey.  I was never fit to be a hero anyway.’

The group jumped as the paper in Grey’s hands were engulfed in flames and quickly scattered to the floor as ashens.  Grey looked over them, eyes harder than they had been before, “Let’s collect what we need from here and move out.  We don’t know if anyone will come looking here for anything.  We’ll burn it down.”