Chapter 36: Hope Obey Oath Dream

Lila remembered it all too clearly. 

The emotionless message from NextEdge.

– ([ We are sorry say, our employee, your related family member was lost in a recent accident along with the rest of their crew ])

She ran out of school immediately after she tried to message her parents who should have been home that day about the message, to see if they had received it. 

After an extremely short trip home she found her parents on the couch watching the tv.

With tears flooding her eyes, Lila asked if they had received the message.

“Yeah, we saw.” Her Mum answered.

“What’s the problem?” Her Dad replied.

She knew they were emotionally distant, she knew they were indifferent to the issue of others. She even knew they had their reason why they acted that way, but this was their own daughter!

That was when she first felt everything truly breaking. 

And with her sister not a call away anymore to support her… everything spiralled out of control.

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“I hoped they were hurting, I prayed that they felt the pain and that they were just putting on an act.” Lila was still laying on the flat rocky rubble with her hands over her eyes, clawing into her face. “But the longer time passed, the more it seemed–No–the more I knew they didn’t care. That fucking bloody thirty-minute funeral four months after Rosa died!”

I was no longer standing over Lila, just sitting on the rock next to her.

Lila cried out, mimicking her Mother’s and then Father’s voices.

“We told you, these things would and will happen. You need to grow up. Just follow our example, and your life will be much better for it.”

“She ain’t coming back, full stop, no point to worry about the dead, or in fact anyone that’s not yourself.” 

(“ I can feel the anger boiling inside you ”)

Not now Espr.

(“ I’m just trying to help you out, at the rate your emotions are increasing you might– ”)

Quiet! I’m fine. I need to focus on Lila.

“I hated them, I hated everything.” 

…

“My friends, they were sorry for me… but the pain was unknown to them, so they moved further away after I wasn’t getting better.”  

…

“Then they, and she came.” 

…

“It felt like an accident…” 

…

“Maybe it was… or it might not have. It could've been a surprise for them as well, but they saw an opportunity and they took it, or they could’ve had me in their sights from the beginning.”

Lila's voice dropped and with a tinge of chaotic energy, she tried to mimic someone.

‘“ We and now you live by these four commands, Hope, Obey, Oath, Dream. ”’

Then she switched back to a younger version of her own voice, ‘“ What are they supposed to mean? ”’

‘“ A few different things, but honestly that isn’t important. What is important here is you.  ”’

Lila’s nail dug deeper into her skull, “I did many things, and they supported me in many ways. They helped me emotionally and financially. Helped me grow stronger and promised me that if I did my job with diligence I could have a spot on our eventual raid on who harmed my sister.”

I just stayed still and quiet by Lila’s side as she processed her emotions.  

(“ An interesting turn of events hasn’t it? ”)

You knew all along, didn’t you?

(“ And you suspected all along, didn’t you? From the beginning, you had fears that someone had grabbed a hold of Rosa’s family as they had yours. And the moment you felt you saw a crack you latched onto it without hesitation ”)

Didn’t you want to help me? You could’ve confirmed it. I replied, knowing my question was pointless.

(“ I could see her skills, but none of them says ‘This person works for Dominous Hood’, she was at a higher level than one would expect, but still possible. Especially if it was a hard-working individual who has emotions to deal with ”)

I left Espr alone and moved back to Lila and asked, “Do the Hood have any plans you are currently aware of?”

She answered, “Yes… there was a plan to steal Nina Clarword staff when she appeared in the area for the festival.”

“So she is coming?” I asked. 

“...Yes, apparently they’ve been trying to track her movements for a long time.”

Lila paused before continuing, “...Her staff could go wild if she was ever injured, causing massive damage to the surrounding area.” Lila finally pulled one of her hands off her face and looked at the sky above, “So it was deemed to not be safe in her hands and should be locked away in the final vault.”

“That was the reason given?” I asked. Maybe the staff had some dangerous element to it? Why did that matter when it was in safe hands by a universally recognised high-level hunter and healer? 

“…Yes.” Lila sounded remorseful, realising the hypocrisy in Dominous Hood’s reasoning. No, maybe she always knew but ignored it for her own selfish endeavours. 

“Do you know any others?”

“No…” Lila looked away, internally sick, “We usually only got information about a job not long before it happened. The longest ever being a month, which is this current one.”

Lila's complexion worsen, and I had a feeling why, so I asked, “Lila, have you done anything you regret?”

“I don’t know… now yes, but before…” She released her second hand and both arms were now quiet on the ground next to her. “I’ve killed pirates, stolen their goods, done small-time spying on some space stations, and even normal acts like hunting monsters.” 

There is the chance some of those could have some darker underlining elements to them but…

“Those things seem pretty fine to me,” I replied, “They made you do things you would agree with, I think if they threw something actually bad your way while you weren’t 100% devoted in their eyes, it might have pushed away which could be a danger to them.”

“No, it's not…” She shook her head, “I even came here to kill you…”

“Then why didn’t you bring your contacts?” I simply asked. 

Lila froze silent. 

I pointed out, “You used to always wear contacts, you and Rosa. Both of you hated glasses as there were parts of your vision not covered properly, even though you could buy ones that would.”

Lila continued to stay silent. 

“I did think there was a possibility you just decided to switch, but if you were a member of Dominous Hood you would’ve had something to communicate with. Implants or contact Inter-CGs have always been the easiest for combat or high-intense situations. And the few I fought had contacts and earpieces, which would be harder to track but also replaceable.”

Some hunters–like myself–did choose to not use anything extra besides basic communication devices but for groups like Dominous Hood. There was extra security and secrecy required in their endeavours.

[Disruptive Starlight] messed with any and all mana recording devices around me so I wouldn’t have needed to worry about being recorded, but Lila still chose to not bring them with her. 

If she wanted to kill me, she would need evidence–clear evidence–if her colleagues ever found out about this situation, so that she had proof that it had been dealt with. 

For the first time tonight, Lila laughed, “Aha… you know my plan was to threaten you if you kept being persistent?”

She started to smile and her eyes began to water again. “...I think I was worried that my superiors would find out that I had such a pushy aunt and take me off missions, try to get you involved thanks to your relationship with Rosa, or threaten you themselves… or maybe that was all just me believing the best.” 

Lila’s tears flowed down in rivers to the cracks between the rocks. “I didn’t… but… you mentioned the Hood… I snapped…”

… 

“So many times… Over again… I was told to not let anyone know about Dominous Hood go…”

She mimicked her boss’ voice again,‘“ While it is a burden we must pay, our mission stands on higher ground, it won’t always be pretty, nothing either truly is, but for a better, safer future we must move on. ”’ Lila gritted her teeth, ‘“ You know that best Lila, those with monstrous self-interest will rob the lives of others while avoiding the law because of the legal powers, so we have to stand up and fight for what should be protected. ”’

“Lila–” I was about to console her but she interrupted.

“STOP!” She yelled heartbroken, “For a moment… in that instant, I thought it was okay to kill you… so that I moved on… so that I could still get justice for Rosa…”

Lila… Rosa.

“Okay, Lila.” I pulled her off the ground and embraced her in a hug, “Everything will be better now.”

“But it won–”

“Trust me, for I am me.” 

Lila slowly raised her arms and brought them around me, “That’s so stupid Aunty.” She had one chuckle full of tears and then cried in my arms.