Sentry of the Arcane: Engulfed

Chapter Six: Fitz

"Does that mean he's here in this hotel?" Sophie asks. "Again?"

"It's unlikely... but there's a chance," I say honestly. Scowling, I add, "If he is here, I won't let him hurt any of you, alright?" I look at the female Percipient, waiting for her response. I know already that either way, I'd most likely repeat history and try to take Fitton on. But this time, I'll have to be careful- just in case he's carrying some spare nebmentia like Mr. Wallace moments before.

Sophie frowns. "No," she states blatantly. "I'm not letting that happen again- you passed out for half a day, remember?!" Pointing at the levitating computer, the female Percipient loudly proclaims, "If he comes back, I'm going to give one heck of a fight..!"

I can't help but scoff, narrowing my eyes at her. "I'm not letting him near you, you know," I say. "I know that he'll threaten to attack you if we're both fighting against him." I frown, "Remember, he has a bigger bone to pick with me, so let's just leave it at that."

"Not a chance!" the female Percipient exclaims as if I just said something completely ludicrous. "I'm not letting you get that bruised from protecting everyone here again..!"

I scowl at her, raising an eyebrow. "Yet you're fine with yourself possibly ending up like that or worse?" I ask sarcastically. When she nods without hesitation, my eyes widen and I quickly say, "I'm not letting you endanger yourself, Sophie..!"

"Well, I'm not letting you endanger yourself, Fitz!" she retorts, returning my intense gaze. The both of us find that we have no other arguments, so we just settle for a very determined staring contest.

Suddenly, Sophie says, "We should probably tell the others what happened, since they have right to now." Nodding, I close the laptop and hold it to my side. The two of us walk towards the elevators, when Sophie abruptly stops. Turning to me, she says, "By the way, you're not going to risk your life alone now. You waited, I waited- so now we don't." The female Percipient then rushes forward and gets on the first open elevator.

I sigh, replaying her response through my head. I would've and could've been able to refuse her again, but the last part was the part that left me without a proper refusal. Sighing deeply again, I step into the elevator. I groan over the ding of arrival that echoes over the elevator when I realize that I still can't find a way to refuse her now.

...

I glance over at the two boys after I finish my explanation about what happened with Mr. Wallace. Honestly, I'm not surprised when I see Benen's shocked expression, but I am surprised when Donovan grumbles under his breath, "Of course he did."

When I raise an eyebrow, Donovan merely shrugs and says, "I never liked Wallace to begin with. If you want, I can go 'test' out one of my new gadgets on him." I can't help but smirk softly at the offer. Frowning, the male Sovereign looks down at his tegalla stars for a moment. And then I see him staring at me.

Well, the area where my scar is, to be specific.

Benen notices this rather quickly. "What're you looking at?" he asks innocently, looking at the same area Donovan's staring at. "It's just Fitz."

I cough quietly. "Um," I say, trying to push all of my self-doubt away from doing this. "It's just... that something happened during the... infiltration."

The male Altruistic's eyes widen with sympathy. "From last year?" he asks. "You looked like you didn't have a scratch on you- wait! Did you get hurt?!" He stands up, trying to inspect me.

I can't help but laugh slightly as I hold my hands up. "I don't have any injuries," I say. "Except for one... exception." Sighing at how much I'm trying to beat around the bush, I stare down at the ground as I explain, "I developed an allergy for nebmentia, which is a crystal that causes someone to forget something and not be able to remember anything for a certain period."

Benen frowns, his eyes wide. "And..?" he asks knowingly, causing me to look up at him.

I sigh. "I found that out the hard way," I say vaguely, thinking back to the time where I knocked Fitton out so he wouldn't make me forget again. "Fitton shot at least eight pieces of nebmentia at me, and then..." I gesture to my chest. "I blacked out after my chest was burning with insufferable pain."

Benen's eyes widen considerably. "Does anyone else know?" the male Altruistic finally asks after a moment of silence.

I shake my head. "None of the girls, including Sophie, know," I admit. "But Steven and Caroline do, along with the two of you. And... "I feel like Mr. Wallace knows as well... And I don't like it."

"He knows?" Donovan asks, raising an eyebrow. "How?"

I shrug again. "I don't know," I say. "But Steven think this as well. I find it really suspicious..."

"Especially with him trying to erase your memory with the one thing that you're allergic to," Donovan mutters, glaring at the ground. "By the way, did you find anything after Mr. Wallace left?"

"Oh yeah!" I exclaim. "It was about Fitton. He's here in Washington again!"

Donovan manages to choke from the air. Looking at me with wide eyes, the male Sovereign manages to stammer, "Seriously?!" before cursing madly under his breath.

Benen's eyes widen. "Wait- didn't you see him at an island?" he asks. "I can't remember exactly, though..."

"Yep," Donovan says, most likely not noticing the last part. "And that means that we have to see him again. He's ruthless, I tell you."

I nod in agreement. I then replay the last part and frown. "How would you not remember where we went?" I ask, furrowing my eyes at him. "I'm sure that we told you where Mr. Wallace said we were going."

Donovan frowns as well. "Yeah, I think so too," he murmurs, looking at the male Altruistic as well.

Standing up, I near Benen. Placing two of my fingers onto his temples, I let my consciousness delve into the darkness of his mind. Inside, I try to look for the memory of us telling him. When I don't find it immediately, I try to send the memory from my perspective, only to see it be projected in front of me and burn out. Suddenly, a rather painful heat washes over the darkness. It's so warm and painful that I retract my hand from his forehead as soon as possible, my fingers stinging slightly.

"What?" he asks. "Did something happen?" Benen shakes his head. "It's just like what happened with Sophie, isn't it?"

I don't realize that I'm in a trance of my own thoughts until Donovan brings me back to reality by shaking me back and forth like a madman. When I narrow my eyes at the male Sovereign, he merely says, "You glazed over."

Shaking my head, I look over at the Altruistic. "Benen," I say, making him look up at me with wide eyes. "Is there a chance that he used nebmentia on you?"

And I receive the dreaded answer when Benen turns pale and says, "I don't remember."