Things Lost and Found (a Waglington and Mianite fanfiction)

Chapter 10

This chapter is a little longer and is in a new POV. Let me know what you think. :) I hope you all enjoy!

*Tom's POV*

I sighed in frustration as I closed the book I had been staring blankly at for the past hour. I couldn't even remember the name of the stupid thing. I put it back on its dusty shelf as I looked out one of the library's windows. The starry midnight sky lay over the slumbering city of Urulu, moonlight making the sandstone rooftops glow faintly against the darkness of the desert. The club and bar district was the only section of the city with lights still lit, aside from our room in the upper level of the library. Even the librarian had left what felt like hours ago. He remembered Mot from when he was younger, and had told my alternate to lock up when he was done. Apparently Mot had spent a good deal of time here hiding out or doing research for Dianite before he disappeared 10 years ago. How long have they been at it? I just want to go sleep!

I turned back to see Mot staring at a map spread across one of the tables with a few books holding the curled edges down as if it held the answer to a very important question. I wondered if being trusted and involved in managing Dianite's trade network was really worth it. Mot looked like a cocktail of worn out, sad, and frustrated. He had absentmindedly run a hand through his green hair like two hours ago. I noted with a smirk and a shake of my headthat he still hadn't fixed it.

He had gotten back from his latest scouting mission earlier today. He had been gone for a whole week this time and was waiting for me back at my tree after my race with Wag, knowing Dianite wouldn't be far behind me. Sometimes that Mot dude has the worst timing. I didn't even get to rub it in Wag's face that I'd beat him. I'll have to call him up tomorrow.

Mot had hurriedly told us that his mission—which had been to track down some of Dianite's old trading partners—was a failure. The pirate smugglers he'd set out to find had been caught by Mianite's navy years ago, and no one had heard from them since. We could only assume the worst. Images of Inertia floated through my mind, causing me to shudder. I'd never be able to forget the blood stains on the floor and the pitiful cries for help echoing off the steel corridors. Yeah, the Dianite in our old world had been a sadistic dude, but the mind that came up with the Inertia prison was something else entirely.

Dianite had teleported Mot and I to Urulu to look over some of the world maps they had in the library. They had started talking trade routes and other contacts they might pursue before I had spaced out entirely. All I'd caught after that was that whatever contacts were still alive were too afraid of Mianite—if they hadn't outright converted to his side—to trade with Dianite openly again. Cowards.

Dianite and Mot had been trying to get me interested in the business, but so far it looked like the only place I might fit in their scheme was as a body guard. I could fight, threaten, and blackmail, but I was not one for delicate negotiations. Guarding valuable shipments of goods was a far cry from the assassinations I had become so proficient at in the old world as my Dianite's champion. This Dianite claimed both Mot and I as his champions, but it was clear to anyone with eyes who his favorite was and that Dianite was more than glad to have him back after his long absence.

Even so, I couldn't bring myself to hate Mot. I'd only met the guy a month or two ago, and he already felt like the big brother I'd never had. Looking at him stifle a yawn behind his red scarf, I wondered when the last time he'd slept was. "Mot, when was the last time you got a decent sleep?"

Stunned that I had spoken for the first time in hours, and that I wasn't whining about how late it was, he stared at me for a moment before answering, "I slept at an inn before heading back here."

"And when was that?" He hadn't answered the question.

He had to think about it a long time before answering, "A day and a half ago, maybe two days. Why?"