Richie followed the Ponanian boy, who introduced himself as Mike, despite Richie's continued silence. He entered the boy's ship cabin, where Eddie sat at a desk, turning around when he saw Richie.
"What is this?" Richie asked, glaring at Eddie who seemed nervous under his gaze.
"I need to tell you something. About why I ran away," Eddie said in a small voice. "I need you to know this so that we can tell the Ponanians and stay away from Divisus."
Richie rolled his eyes and sat in the chair across from Eddie, not waiting for Mike's permission. "Spill then," he said, crossing his arms and keeping his hard gaze on Eddie.
"You were right. I'm the son of council members. We were in the front section when Klais was sworn in," Eddie said quietly, his face burning red in shame. "I was in the council building after the ceremony and overheard a conversation between my mother and Klais."
Eddie noticed that Richie's glare had faded and was replaced by a concerned, focused expression.
"They were speaking about some plot. Some way to murder every Tenebrian. I think it has to do with the shipments from Pona. That's why I left. I couldn't stay, knowing that the Lucantians would be murdering a whole race."
Both Mike and Richie were silent, processing Eddie's words.
"You didn't think to fucking tell us that earlier?" Richie hissed suddenly, making Eddie's eyes widen in confusion and concern.
"What?" he asked weakly, cowering as Richie stood, towering over him.
"You are a coward! You were going to leave Divisus because you cared about your associations?! You didn't even think to tell us that 'hey my entire fucking race hates you and is going to kill you off, sorry not sorry?!' You're no better than any of the Lucantians still on Divisus!" Richie yelled, standing over Eddie with murder in his eyes.
"I was scared if I told you guys you'd kill me!" Eddie cried back, falling backwards out of his chair, trying to get away from Richie.
"If you had told us we'd have let you go so you could help us! You fucking selfish, weak, disgusting Lucantian!"
Richie was screaming in anger by that point, so Mike forced himself between Eddie and Richie so Richie wouldn't attack Eddie.
Unfortunately, Eddie had gotten over his fear and was now pissed off as well.
"Fuck off, Tenebrian! Your guys tried to kill me because of what I am! It wouldn't have mattered to them what I did to help! To them I'm just a fucking prize and the winner is whoever kills me!" Eddie yelled, pushing past Mike and shoving Richie in the stomach with both hands.
Richie shoved him back, tackling Eddie to the ground and sitting on his waist. "You think you got lucky? The only reason you're alive is because I fucking tricked them into thinking you're important! I thought you'd have another side to you, maybe secret good intentions! I genuinely thought you could be different that other Lucantians, but obviously I was wrong."
Eddie glared at him and tried to push Richie off, but he was much bigger than Eddie from years of running and hunting.
"If you're going to hurt me, fucking do it and then get the hell away from me," Eddie snapped, closing his eyes and bracing for a punch.
Richie leaned close to his ear. "I told you I don't hurt people." He stood up and got away from Eddie. "You're evil and a traitor and I can't wait until I can get away from you."
For some reason, those words cut to Eddie's core and hurt him more than any knife cut ever did.
•••
Mike allowed Richie to release his friends from their cells, as long as they promised that they wouldn't attack Eddie and would help him work out what to say to the Ponanian king.
All reluctantly agreed, knowing it was their only chance.
Eddie had been allowed to lock himself away in a cabin for his safety, while the Tenebrians were shown to a bigger cabin that they'd all be allowed to share.
Mike informed them that he had no idea what was in the shipments that went to Luceat. He said everything was sealed shut and that looking inside of them was punishable. Apparently Ponanians were strict, but for good reason.
It seemed as though everyone was under the control of Luceat.
"We should kill him," Henry said as the Tenebrians all sat in their cabin, drinking tea that Mike provided. "He deserves to die."
"He could have taken us back to get killed," Richie said calmly, but his voice held hidden anger.
"He lied to us."
"We kidnapped him. At least now we have warning."
Patrick scoffed. "He only warned us because the alternative was death! He only wants to use us to stay alive in Pona!"
"Shut up," Stan snapped, and all of the others stopped their bickering. Stan held the most power, as his parents were the rebellion leaders. "Our job is to find out what's in the packages and get the information back to Tenebris. We have information now, so we need to get there and sneak onto a ship back to warn our people."
"What about the Lucantian?" Bev asked.
"Leave him behind. He's not our problem and he ran off too. He won't have reason to go back just to turn us in."
Henry scoffed. "We could kill him. Remove a problem before it comes back to hurt us," he said, standing up.
Richie blocked his path to leave. "We were told to leave him."
"We don't work for a Ponanian, Richie. Move."
"No."
Henry's eyes darkened and he dove at Richie. Stan and Bev rushed forward to help but Patrick fought back against them, knocking out Bev and knocking the wind out of Stan.
"Fuckers!" Richie yelled as they pushed the door shut, shoving a box outside the door to keep the three locked inside. "Stan, help me out!"
Stan stood up and tried to help Richie open the door, but without their weapons, they couldn't do anything.
"Richie, he's not our concern," Stan said, giving up and sitting on one of the cots. "Let them have their way. They're our people."
"Who gives a shit?! That's murder!" Richie yelled, slamming his hands on the door.
Stan grabbed Richie's shoulders and spun him around. "Why the fuck do you care?!" he yelled, matching Richie's anger.
When Stan and Richie fought, it was quite literally fighting fire with fire. They were both short tempered and unwilling to back down.
"I don't know!" Richie shouted, both upset and angry. "I don't fucking know Stan! I just can't let him die, though!"
Stan stopped yelling, noticing the tears in Richie's eyes. Most of the times, his anger was simply dry and aggressive, but right now it was tearful and desperate.
"Richie?" Stan asked in a calmer voice.
"What?"
"Would you kill Henry and Patrick to protect him?"
Richie stared into Stan's eyes, distressed but angry.
"Yes, I would."
Stan nodded and they proceeded to try to open the door.
