Unreality

16. Closer

Once more, Virgil York had been summoned to Luther Weiss' office, where the Commander of Anima awaited him on the rotating chair by his large, silvery desk, as the glass walls behind him allowed the morning sunlight to illuminate the glossy room.

Precisely because this meeting was taking place then and not the night before, Virgil surmised something — Luther had already spoken to Mephisto. And surely, she had informed him of everything that had transpired during his and Umbra's visit to the Seymour family, especially the things they had spoken of in their privacy.

Furthermore, Virgil did not believe for a second that Mephisto — whom he had always seen as Luther's personal agent — had happened to be there of her own accord, without the Commander's knowledge or consent.

He had never trusted that man and, after what had happened the day before, he was now certain he never would.

'First of all, allow me to apologize for Mephisto's actions yesterday,' started Luther, whose words surprised Virgil somewhat, although he did not let that show. 'Now, I cannot be certain of what she may have told you, but you should know I was the one who commanded her to follow you in secret.'

Virgil couldn't believe the nerve of this man — was he seriously admitting to essentially spying on him?

'...Because I did not feel it was safe to leave you and agent Umbra to your own devices with your brother still at large.'

The Anima agent couldn't hide his surprise this time, but it didn't take long for him to suspect the Commander's explanation either.

'Then why didn't she just go with us?'

'I thought you might be able to infer that — we imagined your brother might hesitate to show himself if he saw her accompanying you, considering how he struggled against her when they clashed in your previous mission.'

'...So you used me as bait to lure him out?'

'I suppose that is one way to put it, yes.'

'And why keep us in the dark about it? Why couldn't you tell us she'd be following us?'

'...Although it may only amount to a marginal improvement, I have observed throughout my career at Ethos — even before joining Anima — that, in this type of mission, a bait that is not aware of its status as bait... tends to be more effective.'

More so than any other prior explanation, Virgil had trouble swallowing that one, but, in spite of the indignation he felt towards Luther, he realized pushing the issue any further would only bring more attention to the fact that he had said things he had not wanted the Commander to know.

'Still, York...' said Luther, clasping his hands under his chin, 'I must say I did not imagine having Mephisto around to protect you from the man who almost killed you last time would bring you as much discomfort as your present line of inquiry appears to imply. I wonder why that is...?'

And there it was. Of course. Virgil had anticipated it would only be a matter of time until Luther tried to move the conversation in that direction.

'Perhaps,' the Anima agent ended up retorting, 'it has something to do with the fact that Mephisto herself ended up trying to kill me this time?'

'...Well, of course, I understand your distress concerning her behavior — she certainly overstepped her authority in attempting to apprehend you based on her own admittedly rash judgment.