"And where are you off to this morning?" Krista asked, sipping his coffee.
Frost lingered at the doorway for a long while. "Out," he finally said. Somewhere deep inside, he felt that this wasn't enough. "If I don't come back, you can have what's under my bed."
"What? Alright, I guess. But you're gonna come back, right?"
Frost opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, drowning Krista's voice out behind him. It was better this way. Besides, he had no one else to give the money to in the event of his untimely demise. Frost didn't plan on dying, but it was best to take precautions in this new and dangerous world.
"'Kay" he huffed, "time to go."
He'd made up his mind now. No matter how it went with Lex today, he was going into the Void to find Ren. It would be awhile before he was back. It had only been a few days since he'd come back from Dragonsfold, too. Still, he had a lingering feeling of dread. Once they'd figured out that he escaped, they'd come for him. Frost needed to be first.
[Checkpointer20: You didn't forget anything?]
Gun. Knife. Tactical weave. He was as ready for this as he'd ever be.
"I didn't forget anything," Frost said. "Reality, though, seems to have forgotten its form. I'd like it very much if it could remember."
[Checkpointer20: Wouldn't that be nice.]
"When I get back from the Void," Frost said longingly, "I'm having a whole tub of ice cream to myself in celebration."
"Good morning. Although I can't say I'm too happy to see your face." Lana sauntered up with her old, usual, student look.
Frost himself was wearing his glasses, inspired now by Lex's acting skills. "I thought we were supposed to be friends on this side."
"Make no mistake, I'm hear because Lex wanted me here. This has nothing to do with you." She crossed her arms.
They were standing in the middle of a park outside of the cafe they'd been at only the day before. This place, as it turned out, was Lex's chosen meeting spot.
"It's got everything to do with me," Frost growled. He leaned against a tree, trying to overcome a faint sense of anxiety. What if Lex showed up with a bunch of cops? Could he reliably call upon the abilities of the Void to run away? He still didn't know how to properly use them. He seemed to have a shocking amount of power when he did, but that meant very little if it wouldn't work in a crucial moment. He had no choice but to trust in Lex. The last thing he ever wanted to do.
"So he didn't tell you what he wanted at all?" Lana asked. "He's usually vague like that."
"I wanted help," Lex said. "Is that not good enough for you prying little racoons? You want the when? The how? The why?"
A bell chimed noon in the distance.
Frost spun around urgently. Lex stood before him in an outfit not entirely different from the one he'd been fighting in yesterday. This one was much more black, and much more formal. He'd been doing something important before coming here. If only Frost could figure out what, he might have some leverage.
"Knowing these things is necessary for considering the offer," Frost said, confused. "You can't expect us to come along if we don't know the why."
"Unfortunately, I'll have to agree with Frost on this one," said Lana with great disappointment. "Besides. I thought your pride would stop you from ever asking me of all people for help."
Lex unbuttoned his blazer and leaned against a tree opposite of Frost, ducking into the shade. "I'm not so prideful that I'd avoid getting needed assistance. It's simply that I've never encountered a scenario quite like it before."
Lana turned to Frost. "Prideful," she explained, "almost to a fault."
"I noticed."
"Will you hear me out or not?" Lex asked, growing slightly agitated. He stomped his foot in the dirt and sent little bits flying towards Frost.
"I'm listening," he and Lana said in perfect unison, even shocking each other. Lana, however, looked angry to have synced up with him even accidentally.
Lex looked amused at this, but the words that came from his mouth defied his laid back attitude. "If you tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, I'll have little problem killing you both. Do you understand?"
The crowds moved around them. It was busy at midday in the park and at the cafe. None of them knew that a deadly conversation was happening just out of earshot.
Frost and Lana felt no need to contribute a snide remark, and instead just nodded for him to continue
"I would consider myself to be a historian of the highest integrity, whether it's this personality or the other. The only difference is that the me you see now concerns himself with the history of the Void. I've cross-referenced materials from the university library to discover how our own world history interacts with the Void. I won't bother you with the details, but you should know that our world has interacted with the Void at least since humankind has existed, and maybe even before."
This was an intriguing history to Frost, who was listening quietly for the first time in his life. He was compelled to ask, however. "What exactly does this have to do with the job?"
"The streamlined history that the Realmguard spews is highly falsified… To say the least. I was massively renowned in Void Academia, but when I tried to speak out about it, I found an assassin at my doorstep the very next night. A lovely individual by the name of William Fletcher, the so-called "Gravedigger" of the Void." Lex clutched his chest recalling the memory. "He shot me. I 'died', awakened, and then came here." He produced a notepad from the inside pocket of his blazer. "It's been two years since that time. With access to the university's library, I've made discoveries that would terrify you. But all of that is pennies compared to this. A scoop, if you will. A deadly secret."
Frost liked the sound of that. "A deadly secret about the Realmguard?"
"A secret that will shake the very foundation of the Void."
Frost took the notepad. It had scribbled on it a date and time in a format that Frost didn't recognize. At the top of it was the word "archive". "And this is?" He asked
"An archive transfer of old history books. Belleram Medeara keeps them under ridiculous surveillance, but with mounting pressure after my "death" and the academia bullying her into releasing them, she's opted to have them all burned instead." Lex frowned, stepped forward, clasped his hands together, and bowed his head. "If those books are destroyed, the only truth about the history of the Void will vanish. It will become whatever the Realmguard wants it to be. This matters to me more than my own life, and I can't do it alone. So I'm asking… Eternity's sake, I'm begging. Help me recover those books."
Frost looked at his bowed head with curiosity. So this is what you care about, Lex Aitsuko. Interesting, indeed.
Lana shrugged. "All I needed to hear was that we're fucking over the Realmguard. I'm in."
Frost was surprised at her insistence on the matter. What exactly had they done to her that made her this way? Maybe Frost should be angrier as well, seeing how Ren was Realmguard. Even more so than that… Living under a false narrative, false rules, a false regime. That wasn't freedom. This was a good way to establish a name for himself and get closer to his true target.
Yes, he thought, training under Lex will bring me more much needed experience.These two will be handy allies. I ought to help.
"Very well," Frost said. "You'll owe me."
Lex nodded gratefully. "I finished reading your book. I saw what they did to you."
Frost still wasn't sure how he felt about this man being able to quite literally read him like a book. He just frowned.
"I understand your fury. In fact I think you've shown restraint by not being after them already," Lex continued. "If you help me, I swear I'll help you track down that Ren bastard to the edges of the Void."
"Right." Frost shrugged. "And stop reading about me. Those are my terms."
Lex understood immediately. "Alright. I can do that. And you, Lana? Any terms of your own?"
"If we see my sister, you leave her to me."
Frost wanted to question more on that matter, but decided to simply nod in agreement for now. "Right. If that settles it, then when do we leave?"
Lex surveyed the scenery and placed his hand firmly against the tree as if to say goodbye to the Earthly scenery. "It's a Friday afternoon… You two don't seem to have classes and you won't until Monday. That gives us ten days in the Void to finish our business. I say we don't delay."
Hearing that, Frost looked back towards his dormitory, feeling a sense of nostalgia and also a distinct feeling of being watched. If all went well, he'd return after the weekend on Earth.
"No complaints," he said, ignoring the sensation. "Let's depart immediately."