Justice/Loneliness (Aspects Book 2)

by L. C. Mawson

  Jealousy shrugged. “Maybe,” they agreed. “I’ve never tried to track a person before, but I can give it a go.”

  Empathy nodded, stepping in. “I want to go, too. Geral was hunting me as well.”

  Love bit her lip before saying, “We probably shouldn’t divert too many people with this mission. I mean, what if Vengeance is right? What if it is just a wild goose chase? We still need to reclaim the city, and we can’t do that if half of us are going off every five minutes. While I am unable to, the others will need you to clear the monsters out of the city. Especially now that you’ve gained access to more of your powers. I mean, I hope that this woman can help me regain my own abilities, but if she can’t... The others will need you here with them.”

  Em frowned, looking as if she wanted to argue, but didn’t. While Love might have ulterior motives for wanting her sister out of the way, her logic was sound.

  Vengeance sighed. “All right, then I suppose we’re chasing after this mystery woman in the morning.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Love found herself unable to sleep again that night, so she headed out for a walk. At this point, it was simply part of her routine.

  What she hadn’t expected, however, was for Hate to get up and follow her out, tugging on her leather jacket as she went.

  Love frowned at her, folding her arms and stepping just a little bit back, to keep a wide space between them.

  Hate had made it clear that she didn’t want to talk with her before, so why was she following her out now?

  Hate sighed a little, apparently spotting Love’s reaction to her. She pushed her fingers through her black bob, pushing any loose strands of hair from her face.

  “Can I walk with you?” Hate asked.

  “Why?” Love asked. A moment later, she realised that her reaction might have been rude, but she was too tired and worn out to reword it.

  Thankfully, Hate didn’t seem to take offence. She merely shrugged. “I wanted to talk to you. About your plan for tomorrow,” she explained as she followed Love down the dark streets, the moon and stars more than bright enough to illuminate their way.

  Love wondered if she would ever get used to seeing the night sky like this. The Aspects tended to avoid staying away from their city when night fell, as it gave the monsters an advantage over them. But to see the night sky without the pollution of the city lights...

  “What about it?” Love eventually asked as she realised that Hate wasn’t going to continue on her own.

  Love’s arms tightened around her chest. Hate had believed her about the mystery woman, but she hadn’t exactly been optimistic about why she was there.

  “I don’t think you should go after that woman,” Hate explained, confirming Love’s fears. “If she truly is another Aspect of Love, that probably means that she’s a Rena, and the last Rena who came to Earth came here to kill you. Who’s to say that she doesn’t want the same.”

  “If she was sent to kill me, why didn’t she just let the monsters do the job? If she truly was the one to stop them, doesn’t it prove that she doesn’t want me dead?”

  Hate frowned, not buying it. “She could want something else from you. Something else that would require having you alive. For now. It doesn’t make her a friend.”

  Love grit her teeth, looking away as her stomach twisted. She couldn’t stand Hate looking at her like that. As if she actually gave a crap about what happened to her...

  “Why do you care?” Love eventually asked. “This job requires taking risks, and you gave up the right to have any say in the risks that I take.”

  Hate stared at her for a moment, her lip just shy of quivering before she took a deep breath to steel herself.

  “Just because we shouldn’t be together doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you,” Hate said. “That I don’t care whether you live or die.”

  “If you care so much, then how is us being together such a terrible idea?”

  “Because life isn’t some fairy tale where you can just pretend that other things don’t exist - that we don’t want different things out of life - because we love each other. That’s not how it works.”

  Hate stormed off, back to the base, before Love could repeat Vengeance’s words about them only being sixteen and none of it mattering.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Love headed off with Jealousy and Vengeance the next morning, taking Sleepy before anyone else woke up.

  “I take it you and Hate talked last night?” Vengeance asked as Love told Sleepy to take them into the city, leaving the rest of the directions up to Jealousy.

  Love frowned. “How did you know? Did you overhear us?”

  Vengeance shrugged. “No, but you’re doing that thing where you hit your thighs with your fists. Do you not get bruises?”

  “Sometimes,” Love admitted. “My legs are covered in them anyway. I tend to walk into stuff.”

  “So, what did you two talk about? I assume that it wasn’t you two getting back together.”

  Love gave an exasperated sigh. “No, it definitely wasn’t. She was trying to convince me not to find this woman. She thinks it’s dangerous.”

  “I have to agree with her there,” Vengeance reasoned. “I know you think that whoever this is might be able to help you learn to control your powers, but I don’t believe she’s a friend.”

  “She saved us.”

  “Maybe she’s not an enemy, then. But she could have her own reasons for helping. We just don’t know. We can’t know.”

  “Not until we ask her.”

  “If she was up for talking, wouldn’t she have stayed? After saving you, I mean. Wouldn’t she have stayed to talk then instead of disappearing off?”

  Love sighed. “Maybe. But we can’t know until we’ve spoken with her. I’m not willing to just let her go like that. You saw what she did, and you know how important it is that I get my powers back. Can you honestly tell me to just let the one person who might be able to help me disappear? And even if she can’t help, even if she is an enemy, isn’t it better that we know who she is and why she’s here, instead of waiting for her to come and attack us?”

  “I’ve got a trail,” Jealousy said, drawing their attention.

  Love frowned as she looked around, realising that they were close to the watering hole they had visited the day before.

  Where the woman had saved her.

  Had she been looking for them, or had crossing paths simply been a coincidence?

  Love couldn’t think of another reason why someone would be in a dead city, so she had to assume that the woman was there for them. Especially if she was a fellow Aspect.

  Jealousy led Sleepy through the streets, eventually finding a large building, made of large grey stone, with the familiar scratches to signal nesting within. A few Icers wandered around the outside, but none of them reacted when Sleepy approached.

  Love frowned. They should have moved into defensive positions to protect the nest. They shouldn’t let strangers - especially not people - just wander up to them. They were fully grown, so it wasn’t as if they were babies who didn’t know any better.

  Love slid from Sleepy’s back, approaching the front door of the building.

  The creatures looked at her with curiosity, but none of them attacked.

  “Weird,” Jealousy said as they slid down to join her. “Are you doing that?”

  Love shook her head. “No. They’re docile, but it’s not through any bond I’ve formed with them.”

  Jealousy approached, but the Icers immediately bared their teeth, growling.

  Jealousy stepped back, staring at them warily. “What happened? Are they... Are they going to attack?”

  Love shook her head as the Icers calmed. “No, I don’t think they’re going to attack. It’s a warning.”

  Vengeance gave a hum of agreement as he approached. The Icers bared their teeth, but he didn’t get close enough for a growl. He turned to Love. “It seems they’ll only let you in.”

&n
bsp; She nodded.

  “I’m not happy about this,” he warned.

  “Maybe we should head back,” Jealousy suggested.

  Love shook her head. “No. If they’re going to let me in, I want to know why. I’ll be back soon.”

  “If you’re not, we’ll come for you,” Vengeance said. “You’ve got fifteen minutes.” His firm tone made it clear that that was a hard time limit.

  Love nodded before opening the door and heading into the building.

  The large door was a little stiff on the floor, and as Love entered, it swung closed heavily behind her with a loud thud.

  The creatures turned to look at her as she walked through, their eyes glinting a little in the dark, offering the barest illumination to the large building.

  Love walked across the stone floor, her footsteps echoing as she moved.

  If anyone was in there, they had company.

  “Hello?” Love called out, her voice loud and echoing despite the fact that it left her throat as barely more than a whisper.

  There was no response, so Love kept moving, heading through rooms filled with bookshelves.

  Love frowned as she moved, pausing for a moment to examine one of the shelves. Had this been a library?

  “It’s a shame, isn’t it?”

  Love spun around at the voice, turning to see the woman from the other day.

  Her clothing wrapped around her body strangely, as if there was no stitching in the thick brown fabric. Her shimmering white-blonde hair spilt back behind her mask in tight curls, and what Love could see of her skin was a dark olive colour.

  “That this reserve of knowledge was lost,” the woman continued as an Icer came up beside her. She stroked its head as she spoke. “I wonder how many like it were abandoned when the creatures were dumped here.”

  Love shrugged. “I think a lot of it was digital at the time. We probably still have most of it.”

  “Probably,” the woman agreed.

  “Who are you?” Love asked. “Why do you have an Aspect mask? And how are you controlling the creatures? Do you have Rena technology that does it or powers like mine?”

  “You could argue that the two are the same,” the woman said. “The powers of the Aspects come from Rena technology, do they not? Some spark of them exists within us, but it’s the Bands that draw it out.”

  The woman approached, holding out her wrist to show an Aspect Band. It was bulkier than Love’s, with the wires that burrowed into her skin hidden beneath metal plating, but it glowed with the same fuchsia light.

  As the woman placed her wrist by Love’s the glow of the Bands intensified, as if they recognised their sibling.

  Love frowned. “How can you be an Aspect of Love?” she asked. “There’s only supposed to be one.”

  Love got the impression that the woman was smiling behind her mask as she said, “As far as the Rena are concerned, there are none. Not anymore.”

  Love’s frown deepened. “Are you a Rena? Why are you on Earth? For the same reason as Geral?”

  “Geral came for you, so in a sense, yes. I came to find the direct descendant of Princess Jia and the heir to the Rena throne.”

  Love’s heart thundered in her chest, and her mouth went dry. “Are you here to kill me?” she eventually managed, her tongue stumbling clumsily.

  “No,” the woman said. “I’m here to observe, nothing more.”

  Love nodded, suddenly very aware of her friends waiting outside. Had it been fifteen minutes yet?

  The woman must have seen her looking back towards the door, and said, “You should return to your friends. Tell them that they are in no danger from me. If you wish, you can come back tomorrow. I won’t move from this nest.”

  Love frowned. “If you’re just here to observe, why did you save me? Why are you talking to me? This looks like more than observing.”

  “I can’t observe someone if they’re dead,” the woman said with a shrug. “And you seem to be trying very hard to get that way.”

  “I am not!” Love protested but shook her head instead of continuing to argue. “I have to go. My friends are waiting.”

  She hurried back outside to see the other two standing by Sleepy, the other monsters not paying them much mind.

  “How did it go?” Jealousy asked as she approached. “Is she in there?”

  Love nodded. “Yeah.”

  “And?” Vengeance asked.

  Love shrugged. “I think she’s a Rena. She said she was here for me.”

  “Like Geral?”

  Love shook her head. “She doesn’t want me dead. She said that she was just here to observe.”

  Vengeance frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “I think she’s okay,” Love said. “She has an Aspect Band just like mine, and she said that I could come back tomorrow.”

  Vengeance sighed. “And I suppose you’re going to?”

  “Yes.”

  He sighed again, shaking his head. “Come on, let’s get back to the others.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Once they arrived back, Love recounted everything to the others.

  Justice sighed once she was done, pushing a loose strand of hair back into her ponytail. “I don’t know if you should go back tomorrow.”

  Vengeance nodded in agreement. “That’s what I said! It’s ridiculous. The last Rena who showed up wanted her dead. I don’t care what this one says she wants, I don’t trust her.”

  “If she wanted me dead, all she had to do was stand back and let the monsters attack,” Love pointed out. “She didn’t, which means that she at least doesn’t want to kill me.”

  Empathy nodded in agreement. “We should at least hear her out.”

  Vengeance shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

  “Vengeance is right,” Hate said. “This could all be a trap.”

  “And what do you propose instead?” Serenity asked. “Allow her to keep spying on us from a distance? Or attack her, despite our lack of proof? At least if Love is talking with her, we know where she is and what she’s doing. Even if we don’t trust her, it’s the safest course.”

  Lo bit her lip in thought before saying, “I wonder what she wants. I mean, Geral wanted you dead, but that want was fuelled by his fear that more Rena would come looking for you. That they would seek you out so that you could replace him in the line of succession. Maybe his fears have finally come to pass...”

  Justice frowned. “A conflict over an alien throne seems like exactly the last thing we need to get involved in.”

  Love held up her hands defensively. “Hey, whoa, no one said anything about a fight for an alien throne. I just want to ask her to help me figure out what’s wrong with my powers. That’s it. If she wants me to get involved in that fight, I’ll politely tell her no.”

  Lo bit her lip again. “And what if she doesn’t take no for an answer?”

  Love shrugged. “I guess we won’t know until she asks. If she asks. I don’t think she will. If I were her, I wouldn’t want some Half-Blood from what they consider to be a backwards planet getting anywhere near any kind of throne. There’s probably just something I have to sign to say that I give up my right to it or something.”

  Hate gave her an unamused glare. “You can’t possibly think it will be that easy.”

  “Maybe not, but I can’t just ignore her. Whether she has an ulterior motive or not, it’s safer if we’re talking to her and finding out exactly what’s going on.”

  Hate gave an exasperated sigh, folding her arms. “I don’t know why you’re so convinced that she’ll help you figure out your powers. I mean, you didn’t ask her, right?”

  “No,” Love admitted. “But asking can’t hurt, right?”

  Justice shook her head. “I’m still not happy about this, but you’re right; it is our best option. And the best way for us to figure out exactly what this masked woman is doing here.”

  Love nodded. “Then I’ll go back tomorrow as planned.”

&nbs
p; “If you’re going back, I’m going with you,” Hate said, surprising her.

  “I don’t need you babysitting me,” Love bit back. She didn’t want to spend more time around Hate than she had to.

  “I can handle taking Love back and forth,” Vengeance said. “The rest of you should focus on the wall.”

  “No,” Hate said firmly. “If this woman does turn out to be a threat, you’ll need someone who can attack her with their powers before she hurts anyone.”

  “She has a point,” Justice said, though her voice was sympathetic and her words were clearly directed towards Love.

  Love turned to Vengeance, who was mirroring his sister’s sympathetic look. “We can take weapons with us,” he reasoned. “But it would be good to have another offensive Aspect with us.”

  Love sighed, shaking her head. “Fine,” she said, deliberately not looking at Hate. “We’ll leave in the morning.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Love awoke the next morning and quickly got ready before looking over to Vengeance, who had already roused Hate from her sleep.

  Love sighed as she made her way outside. She'd been hoping that Hate would sleep through their departure, and that Vengeance wouldn’t bother to wake her.

  But she supposed that it had always been a futile hope.

  Love climbed aboard Sleepy, getting her ready to leave as Vengeance and Hate walked out of the base to join her.

  “Good morning,” Vengeance said as he climbed up Sleepy’s back to meet Love. “Did you sleep okay?”

  “I guess,” Love said, her words clipped and quiet as she spotted Hate climbing up behind Vengeance.

  Vengeance turned back to Hate. “And you? Did you sleep well?”

  “I guess,” Hate muttered, looking off into the distance.

  Vengeance gave them both a reproachful look. “Well, it’s a bit of a way to go before we get to the nest. Should we play some kind of game as we go? Jealousy and I usually see how many strange street signs we can spot.”

  Love stayed silent, her mind unable to conjure up words with Hate present.