It was evening by the time Kai got back to his apartment, and he had spent the entire day running errands for Tom, which included everything from making phone calls to buying him coffee to making notes on his schedule. Compared to the past few weeks he had spent at home playing games, it was incredibly exhausting.
He walked into his room, took off his jacket, and was putting it back in the closet when his eyes fell on the box of things he had hidden away while he was dating Maria. He crouched and flipped open the carton lid to find Lightgrave, the BLOODRAGER posters, and Nekoko's body-pillow. He remembered buying the pillow two years ago while drunk and how embarrassed he was when it finally arrived. Then, he thought back to the time he had first started watching her streams, after his mother died, when he was locked up in his apartment, entirely alone. Her positivity and humor had been a ray of sunshine in the darkness, an antidote to his loneliness, giving him something to look forward to in a time when he had lost all hope.
Why did you stop watching my streams? Her question haunted him. Because you are fat and ugly, he answered, then shook his head. What a stupid fucking reason, he reprimanded himself.
He turned and was startled to find Vira standing before him in her human-form, a tired frown on her face.
"Show me your hand," she reached forward, and he let her have it. "I'm sorry," she said, her fingers tracing the lines of the Omen's mark. "I didn't want you to get involved in this, but after the last time we spoke, I figured you wouldn't listen to me, no matter what I said."
"What are you talking about?"
She lowered her head with a sigh. "Sit down," she turned and went behind his gaming chair, spinning it for him. "There's something I need to show you."
He narrowed his eyes but went along with her and sat down.
"I should have warned you about all this much earlier, but… I was hoping to save you the trouble by dealing with it on my own." She sent her magic into the computer screen and pulled up the same website Gabriel had shown her.
"What… what is this?" His brow creased with worry as he recognized the mark of the Omen.
"An account of accidents and natural disasters, all connected to the mark that's on your hand and the witch who gave it to you."
He gave her a puzzled glance. "You mean Hexaphalia is… connected to all this?"
She nodded, noting the witch's name to herself so she could relay it to Aqwyn whenever she got the chance. "Not only that, but having seen her magic… I believe she used to be a fairy like me."
"What? How is that possible?"
Her fingers reached absently to her star-shaped pendant. "All fairies gain their magic from Titania, the Fairy Queen, and are able to channel it through a focus, like my pendant. This power is given to us so that we may use it to help others find true love… But some fairies use it to their own selfish ends." She lowered her eyes. "When a fairy does that, the focus becomes corrupted, and the queen's magic can no longer flow through it… So, to sustain herself, the fairy must find another source of power, and instead of love, she uses hate and misery to fuel her magic."
Kai looked at the mark on the back of his hand, remembering how it stung his skin while he was in the tram and how Hexaphalia told him to focus on his wrath—his hatred. A sinking feeling grew in his stomach.
"Based on all I've seen, I suspect Hexaphalia has been seducing Oathless into her service, then using them to cause these terrible events."
He let out a nervous scoff, not wanting to believe it but being unable to deny the logic. The 'other men', the sisterhood, the power in conviction—everything fit perfectly into Vira's explanation of things. "So, what? Are you telling me that if Nekoko hadn't bumped into me and broken the spell—"
"The tram would have had an accident—been knocked off the rails, or maybe collided with another," she said, her tone sad but matter-of-fact. "Many people would have been injured, and many would have died, including you."
His blood ran cold as it started to sink in, piercing through his denial. She tried to kill me, along with everyone else on the tram, he thought. I knew she wanted to hurt people, but not like that, not to this extent… He scanned the list on the website. And she had done it before… so many times, probably promising them all the same thing: to be with her, forever after.
Some of the names at the top of the screen were familiar.
The Gloomglade Forest Fire, where Mason was hurt.
The Crescent Beach Disaster, where Mike died.
And then, as he kept scrolling down…
Lux Junction.
He shot up to his feet, knocking down the chair behind him, and clicked the link with a trembling hand, pulling up the blurry image.
The driver.
The mark on his hand.
Kai shook his head slowly and covered his mouth, feeling nauseous. With his hand over his face, the Omen made it into the periphery of his vision, and he held it in front of him, staring at it, his heart pounding. "G-g-get—" he stuttered, then rushed Vira, pinning her against the wall. "Get it off me!" He yelled, holding his arm up in front of her. "Use your magic—do something—just get it off!"
"I can't!" she protested. "You made a deal with her—only she can break it."
He staggered back and fell to his knees. Memories of his mother's last moments flashed before his eyes, blending with those of the pleasurable nights he spent with Hexaphalia—the mixture of which made him sick to his stomach. She knew; she must have known, he shuddered. And she played coy all along, like she gave a shit about me. He punched the floor. It was all a game to her from the start. Of course, it should have been obvious.
"I should have known!" he hissed through gritted teeth and punched the floor again. "I should have known it was too good to be true!"
"Too good…" Vira hesitated. "What exactly did she offer you?"
"What I've always wanted…" he said mournfully, shaking his head and sitting down on the floor, anger giving way to desperation. "She offered to love me, no matter what—as long as I did the same. She called it 'pure love.'"
"Is that what you really want? To be loved, no matter what?"
"Why not? It's unconditional love. Isn't that what all the fairy tales are about? Like, love at first sight?"
"You have no idea what you are talking about."
"What's the difference?" he protested, feeling a strange need to defend his decision, even though he regretted it… At the time, he didn't know what she was. "Falling in love at first sight, before you know who the other person is, that's pure love—that's what she offered me."
"Love at first sight doesn't work like that; in fact, it is the exact opposite… When you see that special someone… in that moment your eyes meet… you know that person, know them completely, like seeing into their soul, and that—that is what you fall in love with, their true selves."
He shook his head. "That sounds like magical fairy nonsense."
"It is magical…" she admitted. "But it's not nonsense."
A moment of silence passed between them, and Kai lifted himself back into his chair, glancing at the image on the screen. The driver who caused the death of his mother and of so many others was an Oathless, tempted by Hexaphalia's promises, bearing her mark on his hand. Kai almost became just like him. The father with the wife and daughter, the married guy, the young couple—Kai could have killed them all…
He was starting to feel sick again. It was all because of her, he thought, hoping to absolve himself by blaming the witch for everything, but the guilt wouldn't go away. She could only do what she did by using his anger—his hatred. If his conviction was what gave her power, then he had no choice but to admit some fault. Because without him, or the other Oathless like him, she wouldn't have been able to do any of this.
A part of him still wished that none of this was true, that he could still have her unconditional love without all the death that came with it.
"Wouldn't you rather be loved because of who you are, instead of despite it?" Vira asked, as if reading his thoughts.
"Sure," he scoffed. "I'd also rather be filthy rich, but that ain't happening anytime soon, either."
"Kai—"
"Even you, a fairy godmother, couldn't find a single woman in this entire city who would love me for 'who I am!'"
"Kai, stop—"
"And I don't even blame you. Who could possibly love a pathetic, worthless loser like me?"
"Stop it—"
"My only chance to find love in this world is to become a suicide bomber for the witch who killed my mom. That's how low I have fallen, how completely hopeless my situation is!"
"Kai, please—"
"Maybe I should have just offed myself when I—"
She slapped him. "That's my godchild you are talking about," she yelled, a lump rising in her throat.
Kai touched his sore cheek and lowered his head.
"Think how you have grown over the past months… You stood up to your father, you learned to take care of Vermallelia, you invited us all to the beach…" She wiped her eyes, holding back the tears. "You proved you have the capacity for courage and kindness, Kai… all you need is the will."
He leaned back in his chair, thinking it all over. "What's the point of being kind and courageous… if no one will love you for it?"
She chuckled lightly, her eyes puffy and red. "What's the point of being loved if you are not kind and courageous?"
"I'd be happy…"
She shook her head. "The kind of woman who will love you for being a 'pathetic loser'—is not the kind of woman you want to be with, Kai. She will not make you happy… The pure love Hexaphalia offered you is a lie, and even if it wasn't, it's not something to be desired. It can't make you fulfilled."
"I felt pretty fulfilled during the past couple of weeks," he argued. "Before I knew…"
"I am sure you had fun," she crossed her arms. "That you felt pleasure… but I would not call that happiness."
He shrugged. "What's the difference?"
"You'll know…" She frowned. "Trust me, when you feel it… you'll know."
"So…" he said after a moment of silence. "What do we do now?" He looked at the mark on the back of his hand. "Will I see her again tonight?"
"Do you want to?"
"Of course not. I want nothing to do with her."
She pursed her lips. "I can try to shield you from her, but my magic will be weak after midnight… Honestly, after today… I don't think she will bother you anymore."
"Because she has others…"
"Yes… I am afraid there isn't much I can do about that. I kept an eye on you, so when she got to you, I could act to stop her, but tracking down her other familiars is… tricky."
"You sent Nekoko… using your magic?" he asked, hoping to confirm his suspicion.
She nodded.
He sighed. "So… there's nothing we can do about Hexaphalia?"
Vira hesitated. "If we had… would you do it?"
"Of course," he said, offended that it was even a question.
"Even if it meant putting yourself in danger?"
His lips parted, but there, he was stumped. He wanted justice, wanted revenge; he just didn't consider what it could cost him until now.
"She is more powerful than I am, Kai. If we face her, even together… we could die."
He let out a hopeless laugh and tilted his head up. How am I supposed to fight off a witch that powerful? I don't even have magic.
"Then…" he sighed. "What are we gonna do?"
"I've called for help from the other fairies, but until they arrive, the best thing we can do is continue doing what we have been all along," she straightened her back and spread her wings wide. "Turning you into someone worthy of true love!"
"How is that gonna help?"
"Trust me, it will; but even if it doesn't, it definitely won't hurt."
"Alright," he sighed and got up. "Where do we start?"
"Exactly where you started last time," she smiled and pointed at him. "By cleaning your room!"