The Rusted Keys

Mind Meddling

'Chilled?' Ze asked in his head, wondering if he was the only one hearing this. Judging by Skadj's face as he talked to Gem, the answer was yes.

'I'm here Ze,' Chilled sounded almost relieved to hear Ze's voice. 'I'm so glad you let me in,'

'Wasn't much of a choice,' Ze managed to mumble inside his head, which he wasn't sure he could do normally.

'Listen, just know I don't want to do this. I have no control over anything-' Chilled tried to say but Ze felt the rage and annoyance flare up in his chest.

'Bullshit Chilled. I don't believe you, I don't wanna believe you, and I don't care to believe you,' Ze snapped, face lowering into a glare.

'Ze please, listen to me,' Chilled begged him, begged. Ze could have laughed if any part of this was funny to him. It wasn't funny so he didn't laugh.

'Get out of my head bitch,' Ze managed to put up a mental wall and felt Chilled's connection with him snap. They were given rooms and after a few days of staying in the separated kingdoms the group was eventually brought back together. There seemed to be a stationary rift that wasn't real in the place they were brought back together.

"Guys, I have something to say," Ze said after a bit, wanting to finally just tell everyone. Platy had explained about Bertie and his story, and that had been the main topic of conversation. Well, other than DK, he had been silent since arriving.

"Ze?" Skadj asked with a confused look.

"I didn't say anything before because I thought I was going insane, but I'm pretty sure it was real. I heard Chilled's voice, in my head," the other nine went silent, all sharing looks that meant they thought Ze was insane.

"Ze, bud-" Apollo started to say but Ze shook his head.

"No, he tried to tell me that he didn't want to do it. That he didn't have control. I called bullshit and pushed him out of my mind. And maybe I am losing it, but something about it felt real,"

"And you didn't tell me? I'm your brother! Is that what's been bothering you?" Skadj asked and Ze looked down.

"You don't believe him?" Platys voice cut through the murmurs that were spreading through the group.

"Why should I? He's attacked us!" Ze pointed out and Platy stood up, staring down Ze with a look never before seen on the man.

"This is Chilled Choas we are talking about!" Platy said. "Remember what Robin told us? He may not have control! Chilled wouldn't fight us without a reason and we know it,"

"Who gave you that bruise Platy?" 5up asked, eyes rising to finally look at them. "Ze may have a point,"

"But Robin said-" Platy tried to say and Skadj cut him off.

"He said he might not have control. Might. That means he could be doing this because he wants to," Skadj said and Platy gave him a betrayed look. Platy then looked helplessly at the rest of the group.

"Am I the only one to believe that there is good in Chilled?"

"This is Chilled to be fair," Apollo finally said. "I believe that Chilled may be fighting, he just doesn't know how to take control back,"

"I'm with Apollo here, Chilled would never hurt anyone without reason. Much less Platy," Steve pointed out. "DK?" Steve asked, expecting his boyfriend to take his side. DK jumped and looked up, not having been paying attention.

"I don't know," he said and it was clear that he wasn't going to be much help.

"I'm with DK. We don't know how Chilled is reacting. We don't know what's happening to him. So...it could very well be either way," David said.

"Honestly, it doesn't matter. Whether Chilled is good or bad we are still fighting him and running. So we do what we have to do," voices started to rise at Hafu's words before she spoke loudly. "That is Enough. I don't want to hear another word about any of this. No stupid arguments, no stupid fights. We do what we must, no other option. Do I make myself clear?" Hafu asked, standing up.

Everyone who had been standing quickly sat back down.

"Thank you. We're going to be here for a little longer, Pixleriffs is attempting to help us and Scott has offered to do what he can. All the rulers are helping us, so if you can't get along with someone then just go back to wherever you are staying or somewhere else. I don't care," Hafu turned and left, David following behind her as everyone at the table split back up again.

—————————————————————————————————————

Chaos smiled, heading straight to Empires. His eyes raked over the mangrove trees he flew over, feeling the pull to the closest key. He just needed to find where the person was and catch them off guard as much as possible.