Resentment -- MCD S3 Zenix x Laurence

Chapter 4

Laurence POV:

I sat back in my desk chair, while Zenix began to pace around the room.

I thought about our plan again, thinking through the logistics. Did we even have the time or materials for such a daunting project? I bit my lip. There were too many unknown variables that we didn't have the answers for yet.

"So before we begin anything, we need to run this plan by the engineers." Zenix starts. "Before we get our hopes up." I nod.

"Should I call up Lilianna and Everett then?" I ask.

Zenix stops in his tracks and nods. "Yeah lets meet with them sooner rather than later."

I nodded and stood up, making my way to the door.

Zenix POV:

Laurence closed the door behind him and I was once again left alone is his eerily quiet office. I sighed, left to my own devices again.

His office was littered with his Overworldly possessions that he refused to let go of. I had been in this office for countless hours, and every time I noticed the items scattered around the office I felt my heart burn.

He kept old keepsakes from his adventures across Ru'an. That Phoenix Drop pendant he was given when he officially became a guard of Aphmau's rested against a photo of himself, Garroth and Dante. He kept an emerald green ball of yarn on a shelf on the other side of the room-- I don't think the Meif'wa curse was ever truly lifted from him.

And the thing that I hated the most in this office was the picture that he thought no one knew about, the picture of him and Aphmau that was taken over twenty years ago at that baby shower that he hid in the bottom drawer of his desk. In fact, that entire drawer was filled with little things about Aphmau that he didn't think anyone knew about. Love letters he never sent, letters he had received from her,  old trinkets that I'm sure even Aphmau herself had forgotten she had given the man all sat in that stupid drawer. I never understood my hatred for the drawer, but I was sure that it was only because he still dedicated himself to the woman even though she had never once treated him properly.

"How stupid can one man be? Love is a stupid thing." I scoffed and turned away from his desk. I didn't want to think about that drawer anymore. I didn't want to think about Aphmau or the Overworld or any of its inhabitants anymore. They had all abandoned me.

I let out a low growl.

"I hate this office." I mumbled.

With nothing else to do, I looked out the bay window towards Shad's fortress and took out my binoculars again.

"Still five guards to the East, ten to the West..." I mumbled. "And it looks like four to the South now."

I heard the door open, and feet shuffle into the room. I glanced out my peripheral and saw Laurence gesture to our guests to sit in the two chairs in front of his desk.

Now sat at the desk were two Shadow Knights-- Everett, who we had been appointed as third-in-command, and Lilianna who was the official engineer of the Rebellion.  Everett had a sturdy build and could swing the heaviest of long swords like they were sticks off the ground. He was tall and intimidating, but his face and hair gave the impression of a golden retriever pup. Needless to say, he was adorable but still had an intimidating aura about him that put you on edge. Lilianna who sat to Everett's right was covered head-to-toe in burn scars. If Everett was a puppy, Lilianna was a sleek alley cat. She had a glare that could almost cut holes through you, yet still retained an elegant demeanor. She was smart and conniving, and I often wondered why she even joined the rebellion when she would fit in much better amongst Shad's army.

Laurence sat in his chair across from the two knights and began to talk.

"Zenix and I had come up with a plan, and we want to run it by you first before we thought out too many logistics." He began.

Lilianna rose her eyebrows and glanced at Everett, who looked at Laurence puzzled.

"A plan?"

"Yes, but we don't know if it's possible. Which is why we wanted to run it by our next in command and our engineer." They both nodded.

"So what is it?" Lilianna asked, her expression returning to her usual uninterested scowl.

"We want to build a pathway under the lava ocean to Shad's Fortress to attack."

Everett and Lilianna sat up straight in surprise, their brows furrowed in thought. Laurence turned more towards Lilianna. "Do you think this could be possible?"

"Well," she began, relaxing in her seat again. "I have some ideas, but I'm not sure."

"Tell us your thought process." I say, finally joining the meeting at Laurence's side.

"It's been a while since I have handled the stuff, but redstone would definitely be the way to go." She paused, taking out a notepad and began drawing a diagram.

"I could build some sort of machine that could displace the lava and build a tunnel in its place." She turned the notepad towards us and explained the drawing. "If I remember correctly from my days as a student, soul soil and blue ice can turn lava into basalt."

I glanced down at Laurence and saw him nodding along with her words. Everett's expression became serious again, obviously in deep thought.

"As the mechanism moves forward, it directs the lava toward the soul soil, and next to the blue ice. The ice will cause it to solidify, creating basalt in its place. If we set this up so its on all sides of the machine, we should be able to create a tunnel from one side of the ocean to the other."

Laurence leaned back and nodded. 

"So you're saying it's possible?"

"Technically speaking, it very well could be" She replied.

Laurence nodded again.

"And what kind of materials do you think you'll need?"

"I can give you an estimate once I finalize the plan more, but definitely things we can't get from the Nether."

"That's what I thought."

Lilianna closed her notepad, and sat back in her chair again.

There was a moment of silence, everyone deep in thought when Everett spoke up.

"How will we test the machine? We don't want to put it straight in the lava right away, but building it out in the open will surely gain Shad's attention."

"And building it in the Overworld is out of the question. People will get curious and if Shad senses knights going in and out of the portal regularly, he'll get suspicious." Laurence added.

There was another period of silence, everyone once again deep in thought.

There aren't really any places in the Nether where Shad doesn't have knowledge of what is going on, and the Overworld is out of the question. If only there were an in-between dimension of sorts where not many people have access to, but is close enough where we don't have to worry about being found out. After a moment of thought, an idea pops into my head.

"I'm not sure if it's possible," I started, gaining the attention of the other three knights in the room. "But if we could find a way onto the Nether roof, we could do our testing there."

"The Nether roof? You mean the thing covered in multiple layers of bedrockium?" Everett asked.

"Well, think about it. It's not in the Overworld, so we won't be bothered by outsiders, and it's technically not part of Shad's domain but is still in the Nether, so we won't alert him by leaving and returning through a portal."

"But that still doesn't address our problem of the multiple layers of bedrockium." Lilianna scoffs. "Stop defending an idea that is doomed to fail because of a major flaw."

"Maybe it's not as unobtainable as we think..."