There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 172

Chapter 172: Chapter 166. Touch of Malice

It was always the hardest when you had no idea what to do as someone you loved went through something.

Bassena knew, from the darkness curtaining those usually brilliant blue eyes, that Zein was inside his negative space again. But this was a topic Bassena couldn’t touch upon unless Zein started to open up first, so all he could do was sit there, debating if he could at least ask if the man was fine, only to shrink back because he didn’t want Zein to clam up even more.

"I’m fine," Zein said, suddenly. Bassena had been staring so much that the esper might as well voice out all of his concerns. "Just let me think on my own for a while."

"...okay," Bassena shifted his gaze back to the front, at the darkening sky that seemed to make everything gloomier than it was supposed to be. Because he knew Zein was lying. The guide wasn’t fine.

But he said he’d wait, so he’d wait. Whether it was for Zein’s heart to be ready to open up, or to accept his own feelings.

But at least Zein held his hand again, so Bassena was quite happy with their little wordless, intimate session on their way back to Althrea.

He would have liked it even more if Radia didn’t suddenly pop up through his commlink, again. [What are you going to do with them?] the man asked, in a completely serious tone that Bassena couldn’t even get mad at him.

Because it was a totally needed question. While the group had been fine on their own, they also had been hanging to that effort of finding their Master’s son. And yet, now the son said he didn’t want anything to do with them.

"I don’t know..." Zein answered truthfully. He knew, much like him, those people also needed closure. "But I don’t think I’m ready to face them now."

They fell into wordless contemplation filled with the sound of propellers and wind belting. But when the Trinity compound started to appear on the horizon, Radia broke the silence. [Can you leave them to me?]

"What do you mean?" Zein frowned for a bit.

[They are part of Ishtera’s household, which was once a house of heroes of past. Old House like mine had a few programs dealing with the remnant of such households] Radia told him. [All I’m going to do is offer them the option, however. And I think...they might want to see the name of Ishtera clean again. The Templar business had done some damage to that. Of course, that decision now lay on you too, but you take your time thinking about it]

Radia paused for a bit, before adding at the same time with a new message coming to Zein’s commlink. [Even if you don’t want the name, you still have the right to that decision]

Zein stared briefly at the files that Radia had just sent. It was scan images of what seemed to be old book pages. One thing he could glimpse was the word ’Ishtera’, so Zein had an inkling of what the pages were about.

"Alright," Zein replied after taking a deep breath. "Thanks."

[Rest well. You too, Bas]

"Mm,"

Taking another deep breath, and exhaling it in a long sigh, Zein sunk himself into the seat, holding tight into the sturdy hand as the helicopter started to land. The back of his neck still felt cold, but at least, his hand was warm.

Yes, it was warm.

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Not really," Zein shrugged. But he didn’t do it because he thought it was a good idea. He did it because he thought it might lead to something, and because right now, he wanted to do something.

If he had to be honest, he just wanted to run away a little bit from all the thoughts about his parents and the remnant of the Templars.

"But we have to try it at least once, since we don’t really have much time anymore," he added to the argument. The deadline for the framework was less than a month away, so anything that could help them must be tried.

Fei, the Chief Researcher, let out a long sigh, and Zein tapped on the shorter man’s shoulder. "Look, we even have a doctor and a healer on standby, so don’t worry."

Between Zein’s willingness and his own desire for progress, the Chief’s concern had to give way, and Fei nodded at the esper guarding the door that led to the room where the three tubes containing the Specter cores were.

A button was pressed and Zein could hear at least three locking systems at work before the door finally hissed open. "We can’t accompany you there, Sir," the guard told him. It was a precaution to minimize casualties in case any mishaps happened.

"It’s fine," Zein replied nonchalantly. But his eyes were firm and everything from his mask and his containment suit was accounted for, so the esper nodded and Zein walked in.

It was quite fascinating inside. Zein realized that the room was actually of the same kind as the shard; from the wall and the floor, to the pedestal and the measuring equipment attached to the tubes. What made the whole atmosphere feel different was simply the subjects.

Zein didn’t remember the core to be this eerie before, when they were still in the Deathzone. It had to do with the fact that the Deathzone environment was sinister enough to mask the malicious energy from the cores. Not to mention, they instantly sealed the cores in a safe containment box and put them inside a dimensional storage bag.

Still, it wasn’t as bad as actually facing the complete Specter, or spending days in the Deathzone. As he walked to the pedestal, he wondered if they could use the energy wave from the cores and duplicate it to create a Deathzone map in the simulator. It would be good if they could make anyone who would be sent to the reclamation project get used to the atmosphere.

But it wasn’t a vision of the past like how it was with the shard. At least, it didn’t feel like it was in the past. It felt more vivid than a memory, something that was happening now.