Destinies: The Origin

Chapter 22: The Trickster

Fian POV

A rare event happened when we returned to the mansion. Adzima left Falco's side to go to her room, giving the Troublemakers and me the perfect opportunity to approach Falco and ask him something. 
Fian:"Captain, can we ask you something?" 
Falco:"Sure" 
Aditya:"When are you going to confess your feelings to Adzima, Captain?" 
We all grinned, ready to tease him, but his answer left us stunned. 
Falco:"Maybe, never" 
Riski:"What? Why?" 
Falco:"I don't deserve something as beautiful and pure as love" 
Ryan:"But everyone deserves to be loved" 
Falco:"Not for a monster like me" 

After saying that, he immediately left, leaving us all in silence. 
Tetron:"Honestly, I didn't expect that" 
Fian:"Yeah, no one expected that, considering how he usually acts" 
Aditya:"Why does he always looking down on himself like that?" 
Tetron:"For some reason, he reminds me of someone" 
We all nodded, agreeing with Tetron's statement. 
Troublemakers:"Yeah" 
Ryan:"What happened to him in the past, I wonder?" 
Riski:"Let's hope he'll finally open up to us so we can help" 
Fian:"He won’t. He’s not the type of person like that" 
Aditya:"Right. You three are still new here, so you don’t know him very well yet. Falco isn’t someone who talk about himself even to Adzima"

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Adzima POV

We were all preparing our things while Falco told us about the next person we would meet. 
Falco:"The next person is a girl who can control metal at will" 
Falco:"So, it’s better if you leave any metal items here" 
We took off our metal accessories, like rings, belts, earrings, and so on, after hearing this. 
Fian:"So, a metal bender like Gimbul?" 
Ryan:"I’m a Technopath, Fian, and I can only control certain types of metal" 
Fian:"But it’s the same, right?" 
Falco:"Not really" 

Falco:"This girl has no limits; she can control anything that contains metal, no matter how small" 
Falco:"As long as she can feel it, she can control it" 
Ryan:"Hm, that’s interesting" 
After we were ready, we headed to a large museum. 
Anjas:"This is interesting, it’s been a while since I’ve been to a museum" 
Anjas looked excited in front of the museum, but then we heard someone teasing him. 
Voice:"Isn’t it because your brain is too small to understand history?" 
Anjas immediately turned to Fian, annoyed, thinking it was him who said that. 

Anjas:"Fian! Why do you keep bothering me?" 
Fian:"Hey! It’s not me this time" 
Fian, clearly annoyed, pointed at Tetron who was laughing. 
Anjas:"Sorry, Tetron!" 
We all smiled and shook our heads at their antics. We then entered the museum and realized that, despite there being no other visitors, the museum was still beautifully maintained. The exhibits were very complete, including armor, weapons, old coins, manuscripts, dinosaur bones, and more. Unfortunately, the museum was very dark and cold, creating a somewhat eerie atmosphere. 
Adzima:"Ugh, why do we always going to places like this?" 

As we passed an ancient suit of armor, we heard a scratching sound coming from its direction, which made me shiver even more. Without thinking, I moved closer to Falco and clinging to his hand. He smiled when he saw me doing that. 
Adzima:"I am so sorry, My Prince. I can’t really handle scary things like this" 
Falco:"Don’t worry, Princess" 
We could still hear the scraping sound as we entered the next room. In addition, we began to hear other disturbing sounds, like footsteps that weren’t ours and tapping on glass. Despite that, we tried to stay positive. 

Elsa:"What’s wrong with this museum? Why is the atmosphere so scary here?" 
Fian:"Shit! I’m starting to feel PTSD here" 
Aditya:"Me too" 
Tetron:"I didn’t know you two had trauma with museums" 
Fian:"Not with museums, but with creepy places" 
Tetron:"What happened?" 
Ina:"Ah, they did something stupid to Adzima, then Falco punished them for it" 
Aditya:"Captain can be really cruel if he wants to" 
Tetron laughed loudly hearing this, clearly entertained by their story. 

Their behavior eased the tense atmosphere a bit, making it feel somewhat enjoyable. But this didn’t last long. As we reached the hall, the disturbing sounds we had heard earlier returned, louder and closer. Anjas, irritated by the noise, tried to confront whoever was causing it. 
Anjas:"Oi! Whoever is making those noisees, come out and show yourself! We’re not afraid of you!" 
As soon as Anjas spoke, the noises stopped, and we all sighed in relief. 
Fian:"Good job, Anjas" 
However, the silence didn’t last long. Soon after, laughter and footsteps echoed hauntingly through the entire hall. 

We also heard grinding sounds, like teeth being knocked together. Shortly after that, we heard coins falling to the floor, followed by metal clashing. We realized that the footsteps we heard were coming from the skulls and iron armor on display, which were now moving and approaching us. Shocked, we immediately screamed and held onto each other. Then, someone wearing a black robe and a hood that covered their entire face appeared. The figure quickly laughed and greeted us, and from their voice, it sounded like a girl’s voice. 

Voice:"Welcome to our home. Please play with us, we’re so lonely here" 
The coins that had fallen to the floor began to float around us. 
Voice:"We need friends, please play with us" 
Voice:"We won’t ever let you leave" 
Our faces turned pale, and some of us were so scared that we almost fainted. That’s when Falco started speaking to the girl. 
Falco:"That is enough. Don’t you feel sorry for seeing your friends in this state?" 
Voice:"You’re right" 
The girl laughed again, taking off her robe. It turned out she is Santa. 
Santa:"Sorry for scaring you, guys" 

Santa then returned the things that had scared us back to their original places. 
Qori:"Why did you scare us like that, Santa?" 
Santa:"Sorry, but when I saw you enter on the camera, I really wanted to come out and welcome you" 
Santa:"But when I saw how scared you were, I couldn’t resist playing a little pranks on you" 
Santa:"I didn’t expect to see something so interesting, though" 
Santa grinned at us as we hugged each other. We quickly released our hug, blushing—especially me, because I had hugged Falco very tightly. I looked at Falco, who was also smiling. 

Adzima:"Did you realize that all this was Santa’s doing, My Prince? Why didn’t you tell us?" 
Falco:"I was also entertained seeing your reactions" 
Upon hearing that, I pouted at him, but he just patted my head. Meanwhile, Santa, who overheard the conversation, laughed again. 
Santa:"I like you. What’s your name?" 
Falco:"I am Falco" 
Santa:"I’m Santa. Nice to meet you" 
I puffed up my cheeks even more after hearing this. 
Falco:"What’s wrong, Princess? You really look like a squirrel now" 

I stayed silent, choosing not to reply because he didn’t tell me about the prank. Meanwhile, Falco suddenly pinched my cheek and started playing with it. Fian then invited Santa to talk. 
Fian:"Sorry burst your bubbles, Santa, but Captain is already with Adzima" 
Santa smirked at me again. 
Santa:"I can see that" 
Santa:"And that’s not what I meant, so you don’t need to worry, Adzima" 
Santa:"So, why are you here, guys?" 
Everyone then looked at me, so I gently removed Falco’s hand from my cheek and answered Santa. 

Adzima:"We are forming a team of people with extraordinary abilities to save the world from Zalgo and the Soul Devourers. Would you like to join us?" 
Santa:"That sounds interesting, fine I’ll join you" 
Santa:"By the way, Rima, are you okay? I can sense a lot of metal in your body, which is unusual for a normal human" 
Rima:"You can sense these too?" 
Rima then changed her claws to black and sharp and explained to Santa what had happened to her. After hearing her story, Santa became very angry, and several metal rods in the museum bent on their own.