NOVEL NEXT Ch 2.89: All
Elaina told Prisma everything, all of it. She took the news surprisingly easily, mostly just nodding along as Elaina explained the general strokes, only asking for details on the particulars. They were engaged in conversation for a while, neither of them even making mention of the light drizzle that started raining down in the middle of it. “So… no one knows, except you four?”
“And you, now,” Elaina said, still a little nervous about that part. She’d explained why they were keeping it secret, but Prisma hadn’t really affirmed that part. “You’re… not going to tell anyone, right?”
Prisma looked down at her hands, examining the fencing gloves on them once more. “I don’t even know how you kept it a secret for so long. I don’t see how I can…”
Not a, “I’m going straight to Alonse,” at least. “Listen, I know you’re still, involved, with Waine. And I know this doesn’t change that, but there’s room for five in a practicum group, right?”
“Waine won’t let that happen. But after tonight, after what he did… Stars, I’m not even sure what to do.”
“What he did?”
Prisma nodded, looking squeamish. “The reason he was disqualified. He snuck a crystal portrait in, tried to get pictures of us on stage.”
Elaina shook her head, remembering that he had in fact apparently been disqualified from the second round. “That’s…”
“Fucked,” Prisma said, walking back out into the street. “It makes me not want to be around him, knowing he’d do that…”
Elaina followed, making quick glances across the street to make sure they weren’t in danger. She wanted to respond, but for some reason Prisma’s thought process still lingered in the air, like she wasn’t done speaking. Despite that though, they walked three blocks straight, in a direction Elaina wasn’t really too sure about, without speaking. Eventually, the silence was too much for Elaina.
“Why did you play like that at the end?”
Prisma looked back, eyelids hanging, downcast. “I don’t know what you mean,”
“We drew so much at the end. I thought I could read you, but I was wrong, every time.”
“Maybe you just don’t know me as well as you think.”
“It wasn’t just me that was wrong, Prisma. Something was wrong with you, I could tell.”
Prisma stopped, in the middle of the street this time. They were far enough away from Mirage that the lamps of the street weren’t red anymore, weren’t really plentiful at all, leaving them in the pale blue light of the moon and only a handful of overhead crystals.
“Once you were in your underwear, I knew scissors was all I needed to win. I was going to throw it, and I guess you knew it too, but I couldn’t. I remembered back then, in the forest…”
The forest. Elaina winced at those words. “Prisma, we don’t have to talk about that, we—”
“How can we not!” Prisma said, fists clenched. “I did horrible things to you, barely managed to convince Waine to let me stop at your underwear, took a picture of you anyway even though I knew it was wrong, knew it was all wrong.”
“Stop,” Elaina said, trying to ignore the ball in her throat. “That was a mistake, and you were forced to—”
“I made a choice. I put my stupid family ahead of you.” Prisma turned around, and even in the rain Elaina could see her eyes welling up. “At first, I really was trying to beat you up there, cause I was upset about Waine letting Ivis take my place, and annoyed you even agreed to such a ridiculous competition at all. But the more we played, the more you took off, the more guilty I felt. I started to feel I should lose, to make up for back then. At the very least, I wasn’t going to be the one to strip you naked. That was the one thing I could say about myself from that night, the one way I can sometimes convince myself I’m not the the literal worst person in the world, just in the running for the title.”
Everything seemed more wet through Elaina’s eyes now for some reason, even though the rain hadn’t picked up. “Can’t we just forget that?”
Prisma shook her head, looking irritated now. “I can’t, and you shouldn’t either. I’m not gonna force you to put up with me.”
“Prisma, I’m not ‘putting up’ with you. I get things may be awkward for a while, but we can—”
Someone was there, creeping towards them.
Elaina almost turned around on the spot, but from Prisma’s lack of reaction, she knew that was a bad idea. The person was walking up behind Elaina, but if Prisma couldn’t see them, they probably didn’t expect Elaina to be able to know they were there either. “Let’s just get to the meetup point,” Elaina eventually said, trying to inflect some urgency in her voice. “We need to make sure everyone’s okay. We’ll talk about us later.”
Prisma seemed confused at first, but realization spread over her face soon enough, nodding. Elaina had explained the invisible enemies to her, and she hoped the girl was picking up on the seriousness of the situation.
Elaina walked, trying to right herself in directions. She’d know how to get to the meet up from Mirage, but having exited on that back street and then following Prisma off to who knows where, she was more lost than she knew she could be. Damnit, I should’ve paid more attention. The only solace she had was that the person tailing them seemed more interested in following than attacking, for now at least.
Eventually, she did recognize a landmark, the inn they’d stayed at before. Perfect. She turned and walked east, until they reached the outskirts of town right next to the forest. She looked around for guards, anyone, but in the middle of the night, in the rain, they were alone. Guess I have to hope it’s just the one. If it was, they stood a chance, even just her and Prisma. If it wasn’t though, then Elaina could only pray.
“This is the meeting spot,” Elaina said, turning back to the city. Just as she suspected, there was no one there, no one she could see anyway, but she could feel their presence with [Restraint] all the same.
“Right,” Prisma said, ignoring the fact that they very much weren’t at the stables that Elaina had mentioned earlier, turning around as well. “We just wait for them?”
“Yeah.”
Elaina really had to wonder if their hunter knew Elaina was aware of her and Prisma’s status as prey. They just stood there, invisible, only a few feet away. Elaina was itching to make the first move, afraid that their plan wasn’t going to work after all, but if Mirage’s invisible agent was willing to wait, so was she.
“Elaina,” Temmie said after an agonizingly long wait, “it’s time.”
Prisma’s eyes shot to the satchel, clearly confused about the voice, but before she could do or say anything more, six daggers were flying out from the bushes.