The Eden Projects (FINAL EDITING)

Chapter 44 // Pt. 2

- Ace - 

Camp couldn't have come soon enough. Too soon. Everything else had happened too soon. Another plan dashed on the rocks. "Grab his arms." Ace prodded Kasper who only glared with his tired, amber eyes. "Yeesh. Don't say the quiet part out loud." 

Together they slid Zak from his resting spot, careful to keep their movements deliberate. Ace's mind was elsewhere, wandering through a haze of worries and fears. He had been seen and shot at within shouting distance of the group. Fog said nothing but was clearly in a state of disbelief, taking in the gravity of their situation. The implications weren't good, a hard realization was settling in the pit of Ace's stomach. He could think of nothing to explain away his closeness. He would have to meet with Maliver again and head it all off before things spiraled further.

The group had already begun settling into their new homes by the time they had arrived. Topher and Rook stood at the top of the centermost guard tower. 

"Already?" Topher jumped, landing nearby before shoving Kasper away to more adequately help him move Zak. Kasper let him. 

"Not my choice." Ace saw Kasper linger, looking back towards the entrance. "Where are you going." 

"I have to find them."

"No, you need to stay here." Rook took his position so he could follow after the fleeing Kasper. "If I have to make sure you stay here myself then I will."

"Zak's yours. You said so yourself, I have to go. I have to get him back."

Ace scoffed. "Your so quick to just throw things away. Get him back- what about what you already have?" He questioned. Seeing the determination Kasper held. "You can barely walk."

Kasper didn't say a thing. He was going, whether he liked it or not.

Ace sighed. "Look. I understand alright? But you can't do this right now. Fog and I will go find him. You need to be here. With your group." He took a step forward. "With Zak."

"It has to be me." A complex mottling of sadness, anger, fear, and despair cloaked Kasper where he stood. "It has to be me or he won't listen."

Ace saw it then, a simple slice of what Kasper would become. It felt like gazing into a dampened future. "You're being selfish." Ace shook his head. "If you go out there, don't bother coming back. Your screwed in the head."  

Kasper blinked.

"You're shaking." Ace reached for him. He knew a break when he saw one. "You need to stay in reality. Reality is, you don't know where or how to find him. You don't know where Ark is, and you have no tracking skill whatsoever."

He looked at the ground. His normally clenched hands were limp at his sides. "I have to try." Kasper looked up. His eyes were glassy and his complexion was paler than it ever had been. He was more ghost than person now. "Don't ask me to choose."

"I'm not asking you. I'm telling you. You will stay here. I know where to start. Let me do this for you."

Kasper closed the space between them, the entirety of him tensing. He looked down into Ace and his lip quivered. For a moment, it seemed he was mustering a way to argue but Ace knew better.  

"I want to help Zero too. If he's still in there. But we have to play this smart." Ace tried. Re-arranging his words. "They'll expect you. Not me." 

Kasper let out a breath, and pushed past, heading in the direction Zak had been taken.

Ace let out a huff before rubbing his forehead. "God. His decision making is too quick for his own good."

"This is bad." Fog muttered joining him where he stood. 

The two watched Kasper slink away.

"No really." He crossed his arms. "I was wrong in thinking I could control him. If Zak doesn't pan out we are ten miles up shits creek with our mouth's wide open."

"He sounded like he has his mind made up." 

"Maybe I was wrong thinking he'd follow Zak anywhere." 

"You've come this far. If he slips, what makes you think he won't get back up."

Ace sighed, and the door Kasper disappeared through slammed. "No one gets back up this many times without repercussions. I'm beginning to think my debt has been adequately paid. I'm thinking about cutting ties with it all. Sooner rather than later. But what Kasper can do, is worth the trouble. There will never be something quite like him again."

"And Maliver?" Fog looked to the sky.

Ace stretched. "Well... I have some explaining to do."