Steve Saga - Dawn of the Steves [DISCONTINUED]

CHAPTER 8

     "No, no, no, no! This is not happening... how could I be jealous of something I didn't even put effort in? That's baloney!" Crystal Steve gave a laugh while retorting. Athena pretended to be ambiguous towards her concern to her groupmate's actions and thoughts, but in reality, she was eager to learn what was happening around her and why Crystal Steve would act like that.
     "Well, sometimes, you may even wanted something badly than you had expected, or maybe you wish to claim it without even realising it." Athena explained, calming down from the laugh as she thought Crystal Steve may be pissed if she kept doing so.
     She could feel his sense of doubt and remorse, yet she also couldn't help thinking what happened to them. However how tempting it sounded, Athena decided that it's best she didn't know, or never bring it up in front of them. For now, she thought he would want some time alone.
     "I gotta go now," she stood up and turned her head towards Crystal Steve, who was still sitting on the fallen tree bark, "I suggest you to calm down, and think carefully before you act. If everything goes wrongly, this might break your friendship with Saber. And I'm pretty sure Thena and the others wouldn't want a "Civil War" in our squad." She saw him returning her with a stare.
     Crystal Steve blinked gratefully at her, "I won't forget it," he added.
     Athena was about to leave when she heard a shout behind her.
     "Athena, wait!"
     Turning back to Prism Steve's clone, she stepped towards him, "anything else?"
     She watched Crystal Steve pulling out a cracked, mossy stone plate. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion of the artefact, remembering the fact that the plate looked awfully familiar.
     Pretending to be new with the plate, she asked, "Well?"
     "The Mark of Steve," Crystal Steve read.
     Athena wanted to take the exhibit but left the plate at the Steve's palms. She kept silent, thinking to let him explain his find. And frankly, Crystal Steve, as awkward as ever, added, "I didn't know what it meant, but I found it lying somewhere in a chamber, inside the jungle temple hidden in a broken treehouse right there."
     His expression showed no uncertainty, only neutrality and curiosity, as if he wanted to seek some juicy information about the words, and somehow he knew Athena might had something to do with it. Why would he? She thought, is there something he wanted to know about? About himself? But as long as she didn't spill out that she knew more than she should, Sabre, the mega clones, or who she thought, wouldn't care to even question her backstory. Athena sighed, some things were better left unsaid, she told herself, when Crystal Steve's voice stunned her.
     "Athena?"
     "Uh, What?" She tried acting as if she was just lost in the  thoughts of The Mark of Steve, and to her relief, her old friend's apprentice didn't seem to get what she was worrying about. Then she tensed again, Crystal Steve was a Steve, even though he was only spawned for three days, he had basically gotten used to being wise and to mask his expressions a long time ago. Her stare went blank, thinking about all the times a Steve had used their innocent appearances towards Sabre and Lucas, and they, being ordinary players, didn't even have a clue how deep the rabbit hole was.
     "Athena, are you okay?"
     Athena blinked several times, tired from glaring at the Steve with a tense stare. "I'm okay," she replied casually.
     "You don't have to think that hard, I'll just ask somebody else." Crystal Steve dipped his head. Athena couldn't think of letting her secrets spilled, as she glanced at the Steve's eyes which had the colour of the summer lake.
     "If I have anything I could help you, I'll get to you as soon as I can." She remarked. She saw Crystal Steve staring back at her with an expression she had never seen before, he seemed uncertain and relieved at the same time. Before she tried questioning his thoughts when she stopped herself. "I should probably leave him alone," she told herself, but another part of her wanted a hint from her Steve friend. 
     "You know, I think you should go for it, shoot for the stars, we all will be rooting for you." Added Athena, as she was padding off away from the tree trunk naturally.
     Hopefully I was doing the right thing... she wondered. She decided to let her steps take her wherever she felt like going, and before she knew it, Athena found herself standing in the middle of  a dark plain. It didn't seem as if she was dreaming. The winds were filled of silent whispers which gave her enough creeps, and to her surprise, three different auras appeared before her.
     "Prism Steve?" She asked, "Prism Steve, is that you?" She quickened her steps towards the aura, but then she paused. A widespread of the two other auras were trickling deep inside her skin, even though she thought they were too, awfully familiar, yet, she didn't have a clue about when or where she had encountered them.
     Looking around, the darkness tensed around her, blinding her with her surroundings. Instantly she saw bloody claw mark silhouettes and roars of approaching firecharges. The vision seemed so true and so suspicious at the same time that Athena decided to turn back and run.
     "Hello," a sinister voice echoed in front of her, making her stop. A figure with a greenish pelt with blue patches appeared from the shadows. His eyes shone amber-green which flared a harsh intimidation towards her shocked brown eyes.
     "Rainbow Steve."