Gray Clouds

Chapter 11 - The Era of Shackles.

"I saw Dust's recent video, by the way." Mouse mentioned suddenly. Eli and Gray had gone back to the Entertainment District with Mouse, who introduced them to a music shop not too far from the indoor theatre. They were sifting through a box of guitar picks of various colours. "Congratulations! How'd you manage to get your music found by the big shots, hm?"

"I don't really know, either..." Eli chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Pure luck." Gray shrugged, smirking. He gave Eli a smug look, and he stared back in confusion.

"Shame you can't compose for a while, huh?" Mouse turned to Eli, their hands now picking up a guitar care box. They had a look of sad pity on their face. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out."

"Mm... Thanks." Eli said, looking in interest at the keyboard display.

The music shop was mostly empty, the only people inside being Eli, Mouse, Gray and the one staff member who had just disappeared into the back door. Gray wandered off not too far away from Eli to admire a display of electric guitars hanging on the walls and leaning on stands.

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"Here you go." Mouse hummed happily, handing Eli a phone. "Just for you. The password's '35099,' by the way."

Mouse had taken Eli and Gray to a tech centre in the Shopping District to get him a new phone. It was a much more advanced version of the phone he used to have, and it even had an app store! His old phone didn't have that.

Eli thanked Mouse, tapping on his contacts list. "You should probably put your number in here."

"Oh, yeah." Mouse took Eli's phone, inputting their number in before giving it back to him. "Should we head back? It's already late, and Emy let me know to bring you back before "

Oh, right, Eli thought. I'm supposed to be answering questions about The Community.

"Yeah, Starboy, let's go back, I'm exhausted." Gray yawned dramatically, leaning on a disgruntled Eli.

"You've been flying this entire time, how are you tired?" Eli scoffed under his breath while Mouse walked in front of the two back to The Raven's Gem.

"My wings get tired too, you know." Gray pouted, taking out a lighter from his pocket and a cigarette from the other.

"You were the one who wanted to get out in the first place." Eli sighed, pushing Gray's hands back into his pocket. "Also, no smoking near me, I'm tired of having to smell that."

"I need to take a break somehow, Starboy." Gray rolled his eyes, keeping the lighter and cigarettes in his pockets.

"Oi, quit talking to yourself, you'll get landed in a fuckin' psych ward!" Mouse yelled from the other side of the street. Eli felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment, speeding up his walking pace to catch up to Mouse. He heard Gray laugh behind him, following Eli with ease.

"Yeah, Starboy, you look pretty crazy right now." Gray teased, whispering in his ear. "Who're you talking to?"

"Shut up before I stop talking to you for the entire month." Eli growled quietly, swatting Gray's face away from his own.

"I'm just messing with you."

Eli slowed down once he caught up to Mouse, entering the Entertainment District again. The three found the nearest stop to take a bus for the rest of their trip. Mouse and Eli sat down, with Mouse stretching their legs with a long groan. "Ughhh, I hate walking..."

"You're not the only one." Eli chuckled half-heartedly, looking to his side. His smile was replaced with confusion when he realised Gray was missing. Eli's eyes flickered to Mouse, who was now checking their phone for how long they would be waiting for the bus to arrive, before standing up to peek from behind the bus stop.

He spotted Gray not too far from them, staring at one of the buildings. The building, worn and towering over everyone around it, was a small history museum of some sort. Eli walked over to Gray, who was staring at one of the metal signs above the door: "1922-1935: The Era of Shackles."

Eli turned to Gray, who stared at the sign with his lips pursed, eyes wide with his lower eyelids tense and shadowed like they were heavy, begging to close shut.

"What is the Era of Shackles?" Eli asked nervously. Before Gray could respond, Mouse appeared behind them.

"You don't know about the Era of Shackles?" Mouse asked, their eyebrows raised for a second before nodding to themselves. "Right, you were stuck in that cuckoo cult for your entire life 'till now, so you probably wouldn't have been taught at school about this."

"I would suggest we go inside, but the next bus'll be here in a minute." Mouse shrugged, their phone being tucked snugly into the pocket of their oversized jacket. "The Era of Shackles is basically when some Mistfelden guys decided it would be a brilliant idea to take foreigners looking for refuge a few years before the time and allow them to be taken as slaves for compensation for using the land. They'd take anyone; Men, women, kids, the elderly... As long as they weren't of Mistfelden blood."

"The biggest rebellion happened right here, in Delafield, in 1934, and it was a bloodbath. It's probably one of the reasons why they'd stop the enslavement of foreigners next year. And since the massacre happened here, it was only natural the museum'd be built here."

"That's..." The rest of Eli's words died before they could leave his mouth. Could something so terrible have possibly happened at all?

And he thought that Ramora Lane's cult was the worst thing that had ever happened on Earth.

Mouse checked the time on their phone, their brows furrowing in annoyance as they walked back to the bus stop, swearing under their breath. "The bus should be here right now, for fuck's sake..."

Eli turned to look up at Gray, who was still staring with the same nervous face. The sight was pretty scary to Eli, as he had never seen Gray like this before; not even when they were escaping The Community.

"Gray...?" Eli called out gently to the angel, his black wings trembling slightly in response to Eli's voice. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay..." Gray muttered quietly, his voice as unstable as his shaking hands as he looked down to light himself a cigarette. "It's just... A bit of a heavy topic, so I was just surprised. It's nothing to worry about, Starboy."

"...Okay." Eli decided to leave Gray be, stepping back a little. "Well, the bus should be here soon, so you should probably wait with us."

"I'd like that." Gray mumbled, taking a long drag from cigarette in between his fingers. He followed Eli on the bus, which had just arrived a minute late, looking to be a lot calmer now that they were moving away from the museum.