For a while, Rain had been furious with Cassiel.
He’d stopped playing with the twins, but that didn’t alter the nature of their work, which required teamwork at every level.
And one of the many rules of survival against titans was to leave drama at the base.
The first ti he tried to talk to Cassiel, he’d barely gotten four words out.
"We need to talk-"
"I have a eting with Auric and the other squad leaders in ten minutes, can it wait?"
That eting was followed by an imdiate deploynt back to the east, where their forr quarry - the titan dragon - had evidently gotten into a fight with every titan whose territory had bordered his.
They found a dead titan roc - weirdly stone-aspected - with its heartstone ripped out, and quarrying the dead bird for its veins was deed too difficult to be worthwhile.
The second ti he tried to talk to Cassiel was in the lull while waiting for a teleport back.
"Can it wait until we get back to base?"
Of course, that was when a swarm of scavenging monsters chose to attack, and in the midst of fending off razorbeaks, terror dogs, spearvines, and wrathworms the will to converse was lost.
And then the only thing anyone wanted after playing King Of The Hill on the rotting corpse of a titan was a shower.
So it was the better part of two weeks late that Rain finally confronted Cassiel about the twins’ accidental revelation.
Cassiel was just about to leave the debriefing room when he called out to her, "Can we have that talk now?"
"Oh, well, I was going to get so rest but sure."
"You told the twins to sleep with ," Rain said.
"Yeah. What about it?"
"What about it?! Cassie, I know we have to keep up appearances, but I’m not... I don’t want to just-"
Cassie let out an exasperated sigh. "It’s just sex, Rain. I thought you’d be thrilled to have your way with other angels while and Auric are..." She cleared her throat. "Was the sex not good? Or wait, do they actually, uh, you know...?"
"What? No. I don’t know. And it’s not about the sex."
"It sounds to like it’s about the sex."
"Cassie, they lied to . If they’d just co openly, I might have considered working sothing out, but when they let slip that it was you... After months... It felt like you lied to . And I don’t even know why."
"Look, I couldn’t have you all mopey and tense after Auric asked out. And it’s not like we’re a closed relationship anyway, so I made a decision as team leader. But fine, I get it. I’ll tell whoever to be honest next ti."
"I don’t want there to be a next ti!" Rain raised his voice. "If sothing happens with and soone else, I want it to be real. Not so... ga."
"Oh, so and Auric aren’t real? Or are you saying we weren’t real, Rain?" Cassiel’s hands clenched into fists.
"What? I didn’t-" Rain’s confusion and anger twisted him out of him. "Where the fuck is this even coming from?"
"You, obviously. When told Assignnts you wanted to get stationed in Areth." She didn’t let up as Rain’s eyes widened with surprise. "You know, that’s probably why Malz doesn’t want to talk to us. I’m here trying to change things for the better and you just want to run back to your mortal friends. Or your ex. Or whatever, just because we aren’t as much of a thing as we used to be."
"I already told you I’ll serve the Expedition for as long as I’m needed, but after that I want my life back, or whatever piece of it Heaven will allow ." Rain felt angry, but he pulled it back. Last month the girl from Assignnts had told him his requests were confidential except to leadership... He should have known it would get back to Cassiel. With a sigh, he lowered his voice. "So you finally got through to Malz?"
"No," Cassie said, relaxing just a little. "They told she’s not receiving personal calls for the foreseeable future."
"They?"
"Assignnts. I tried to find out if she’d switched departnts by now, why she didn’t even try to co down as a replacent Executioner but they wouldn’t say."
"How long have you known?" Rain saw hurt in her eyes.
"Does it matter? Malz rejected us, you and . And you’re rejecting too."
"Cassie I’m not rejecting you. I just feel like you aren’t considering my feelings. I feel like... like you want us to-"
"Break up? Funny, that’s what I thought when you asked Assignnts to move you to Normafuck or whatever that city’s called. Where was your consideration for my feelings, Rain?"
"I would have asked you to co with if I had a chance! But when over the last year have we ever talked outside of briefings? Or missions? Or when you need to do sothing because I’m your fucking servant?"
"That’s not fair! When have I ever treated you like a fucking servant? I have every right to, Rain, but I haven’t, and I thought you fucking appreciated it!" Tears were rising in Cassiel’s eyes. Tears of indignation and anger. "I thought you’d appreciate all the work I’ve done to make things better for Elevated like you."
"Cassiel-"
"Get out!" she shouted, forestalling any thought Rain had of easing things as she laced the command with compulsion.
"I... don’t-" Rain tried to resist, but he’d never had the right training. He never thought he’d need it. Not after she’d promised never to use compulsion magic on him again.
"Get away from !"
The second command forced its way into Rain’s mind and he bolted, leaving the room from the door on the opposite side as his body obeyed for as long as the traces of her mana were upon him.
He rushed through the base, he ran past the cafeteria and the armory. Past the gym and the training rooms. And when he reached the edge of the fortress, he leaped past the battlents and flew. And flew...
It was late afternoon, but already the horizon was shifting into orange. The haze of Hell’s ashfalls was like a thin film over the sky, blocking all starlight except for the brightest wanderers.
The amount of mana Cassie put into her compulsion was strong. Strong enough that Rain flew until even his godflesh-enhanced body - already worn from the earlier battle - began to tire.
He landed amidst the trees of the Forest of Titans, which were tall enough to compete with world trees but thin by comparison, being only a dozen asures or so in radius. At that size, they were nurous enough to block out the sky as Rain’s mind was finally allowed to realize the danger he was in.
"Shit..." Rain swore as he looked around. The haze of compulsion left him unsure of exactly where he’d gone. The forest was to the east and northeast of Farway, and while the southernmost reaches were relatively safe thanks to patrols by more conventional Executioners.
The further north one went, the more dangerous the forest grew, such that it had largely been the work of the Expedition, in its first months, to identify and hunt down the largest threats, sending their heartstones back to Heaven.
The ecosystem, even now, had yet to stabilize around the absence of its forr apex creatures. And with night falling, Rain was about to lose all sense of direction.
His manasight, always active, told him that there were massive things, distant in the trees, that might already be taking an interest in his arrival. Whether monsters or spirits, he wouldn’t know until they were right on top of him. And even with godflesh, he was doubtful of his survival alone in such a fight.
I need to figure out which way is west, fast...
But wait... did he?
If he went back to the base tonight, all that was waiting for him was an angry Cassiel, a self-righteous Ozzy, and whatever punishnt the Expedition commander, Auric, could co up with.
But worse than those thoughts was the feeling sinking into his bones. The feeling of betrayal. Of being used... The feeling of being alone again.
Alone... and angry.
Forgetting the danger, Rain scread.
He scread three years’ worth of frustration. Of pain.
He scread at the world. At the far-off delusion that he would ever be free of what was demanded of him.
He scread to fill the silence that had tainted his relationship with Cassie.
At the long-ago betrayal he’d wrought that had put him in Heaven’s clutches, his freedom traded for the well-being of his family.
Into the woods, which ate his pain and gave back not even the whisper of an echo.
And when he was done screaming he fell to his knees, weeping.
Willing sothing, anything to just co and end it.
His service to Heaven. His suffering...
But no monster ca.
No spirit.
No titan.
After long minutes of sobbing, Rain was still alone.
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