If we decided to say 'fuck it' we'd lose everything we fought for. If we remained, we now had the next four years to endure even more hardships.
We'd have our opportunity to learn the truth, but did we want the truth? Would the truth glitter in shiny gold or would it be a rock of disappointment and broken dreams?
We thought today as we walked down that stage and received our diplomas and medals of honor that we'd start our lives as spies. Instead, we discovered the trials were just the icing on the cake and we wouldn't know how deadly the next four years would be until we made this important decision.
Twenty-four hours. That's all we had to analyze through this as a team and decide on what path we'd walk on as a unit.
It may have been obvious, but I knew without a doubt that we weren't going to make our decision based off the obvious. The question still remained, even after four years of secrets.
Do we still want to become supernatural spies?
To Accept Or Decline, Part One
The ticking of the living room clock was finally louder than my beating heart. My breathing had calmed, and I could finally think straight, but the heaviness in the room wasn't going to dissipate anytime soon.
I sat in the middle of the couch that was facing the kitchen island. Dimitri was to my left side while Yuriel was on my right. Ryuu was sitting to our right on a stool while Wolfgang was parallel to him on our left side.
Uzziah was leaning against the kitchen island, his arms crossed and eyes staring down at the floor. Star was anxiously sitting in my lap, and I'm sure like all of us, she was wondering what the next step was.
What do we do? To accept or decline...
I couldn't recall how much time had already passed. Once I broke down, it seemed to be the catalyst of breakdowns as we all couldn't fight the emotional burden just dumped on us.
It was one thing to fight for your life, but at least that was a choice that was granted. Our situation now didn't feel like a reward of any kind.
This was a forceful decision that was rather obvious as to what path we'd want to walk upon. They knew that, and it upset me even more because they were playing with our lives.
Not just our emotions or mentalities, but with our lives.
There's no way I survived all this time just to lose my five princes. That's exactly what the Dark Kingdom wanted, which left me to wonder if we were playing on the wrong side of this battlefield after all.
"It's obvious what we need to do." Uzziah was the first to speak, his closed eyes beginning to open and reflecting a mixture of colors all too similar to the rainbow. His gaze appeared to be as though he was seeing a whole different world with those dazzling jewels, and now I was curious as to what he had to say.
"Did you peek into the future?" I questioned.
"Maybe?" he tossed back in an attempt to lighten the mood. He'd endured his share of tears, the tension of everything weighing on his shoulders just as potent as ours. He was now the sixth member of our team, and whatever we decided now included him.
"We can assume the option to decline is a sad one," Yuriel muttered.
Uzziah glanced at my healed fallen angel with a conflicted expression.
That doesn't look good.
"Just tell us, Uzziah," Dimitri urged. "After everything we've dealt with, I'm sure we can handle it."
Wolfgang and Ryuu exchanged looks and nodded.
"Might as well know where both paths are going to lead to if we can," Wolfgang added.
"Better safe than sorry, I guess," Ryuu commented.
I looked at Uzziah, who still looked like he was debating on revealing the truth.
"Please, Uzziah?" I quietly pleaded. He closed his eyes and sighed.
"If we decline, it's exactly like they said. We'll forget everything. Meeting one another, our crossed paths, everything. They'll attempt to guide us from afar as we go back to our daily lives, but before any of them realize, we'll be murdered one by one, until we've all been slain by mysterious causes of death."
That was hard to hear, and I expected him to end there, but he continued.
"Yuriel would have been the first to die," he announced. "They would make it so he'd be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hunters would kidnap him in the late hours of the night, torture him, and pick all his feathers. And once he was bare to the bone, they would skin his flesh for research and leave him for dead."
All of us were gawking at the revelation, but Uzziah seemed to be in a trance as he went right along.
"Next would be Ryuu and Wolfgang. The two of you would get into a big argument. Something about a forced engagement and Wolfgang stating this chosen woman is not suited for Ryuu. Wolfgang wouldn't know that Ryuu doesn't have much of a choice in the matter, but the tension and hurt that impacts your brotherly bond would separate you. Wolfgang would eventually find a wolf pack, but the wolf alpha leader would be envious of his power. He'd work together with the pack to segregate Wolfgang in an area where they would fight to the death and rip you to shreds. You'd die from your injuries. Ryuu wouldn’t find out until he's married. That's when things would go downhill in the entire royal family. Your sister would die of mysterious causes and your parents would soon disappear, leaving you no choice but to marry and rise with the woman Wolfgang disapproved of. Once you’d risen to the throne, the woman would betray you by giving you poison that leaves you paralyzed. She'd then lock you away, stating that you're on your sickbed, and ask Guardia to rise to the throne with her. Together, they would be king and queen while your body rots. Before your death, this woman would tell you the truth of what deeds she and Guardia committed. They killed your sister, parents, and anyone who would have saved you. They're also the ones that ensured Wolfgang found that specific pack to finish their end of the bargain."
I was blinking back tears while Ryuu and Wolfgang's faces were pale as ghosts. Uzziah's trance gaze lifted to look at Dimitri and me.
"Dimitri and Silver. The two of you would meet again, or a few times actually. However, both of you would be in relationships. Dimitri would somehow be dating Nikko, and Silver would have gone back to Callister. Behind the scenes, Nikko would slowly get into Dimitri's head, and manipulate him until he does something that he'll regret badly. A place of comfort...or safety. A place with cherished creatures of fire that will burn to crisp, leaving everything lost forever. The heartache of that loss and the continued abuse from Nikko would drive him insane, but what would push you to that final brink of hopelessness is being invited to Silver's wedding. Somehow that would trigger some sort of memory relapse, and you'd realize that you were supposed to be hers. You won't be able to stop the marriage in time, and that will lead you to end your life."
Uzziah paused for a short moment. "By the time Silver's wedding arrives, all of you will be dead. That's when Nikko would appear at the wedding to crash it and declare she's been with Callister this entire time and that she's pregnant. The disgrace would push Silver to isolate herself, and when the shock finally settles in, she'd remember everything. All of this that had happened in these four years. She'll try to contact all of you, but to no avail, until she finds out you're all dead. That would trigger the gene and she'd die in isolation with not a single loved one to say her last words to."