The meaning of Trust

Matteo glanced at Andre quietly sleeping on the couch before moving his sight to his tiny audience of only two people, Jamal and Lina, who were staring at him with great attention as if a problem may happen if they miss one gesture of him.

" The truth is that what I saw is not related to what is about to happen... or rather, not directly, " the boy began to say as he didn't want to give them false expectations.

" What do you mean? " Jamal looked at him confused after a quick glance at his lover beside him.

" It's quite difficult to explain... the dream itself is not clear but I... I just have this feeling, " as he was talking, Matteo stared down at the floor seeming a bit frustrated while clenching his fists.

A gentle hand landed on his knee and when he suddenly lifted his sight he saw Lina's face with her so confident smile looking at him.

" It's alright, we don't expect for you to reveal to us what exactly should we do to get ourselves out of this problematic situation, you know? So, there is no point in putting so much pressure on yourself. Just talk and we will figure out the rest later, " Lina kept rubbing delicately his knee like a mother would do to convince her son to open his heart to her.

It seemed like it's worked since Matteo started to feel more at ease. " The thing is that this dream is very different from the one I saw that day, the only similarity is that it is difficult to find a sense in it ".

" That's not an issue " Lina exclaimed, " dreams rarely make sense, that's how things are so don't bother yourself with that. You can even tell us that you saw an eagle with purple feathers peeling a banana, we will be anyway satisfied ".

" She's right you can tell us ev- " Jamal tried to support her point but stopped when he realized what she just said, he turned and looked at her with an expression which says " really? "

Lina gazed back at him and shrugged while raising her both hands with her palms facing forward, " what? Be thankful, I could have talked about the dream I have made of a female hyena jerking off on the very place you're sitting right now ".

Jamal suddenly jumped from the couch and later tried to seem natural, after he realized she was kidding while he started to walk slowly towards Matteo. " What I wanted to say is that you don't have to get the sense of what you have seen as the last time, you just have to tell us and we will figure it out together ".

Thanks to them, Matteo felt the atmosphere became less tense, he thought that he finally could relax and reveal everything he had seen. He tried to be as clear as he could when it came to describing the feature or the ominous feeling he got from that mysterious person.

After that, as their usual, both Lina and Jamal stayed quiet, each of them trying to silently think about the meaning of that odd vision.

" So what do you think? " Matteo shyly asked after a moment.

" Well, seems that someone is trying to intimidate you," Jamal crossed his arms and sighed.

" Me? " the boy pointed to himself with his forefinger trying his best to not look afraid.

" Yes, that's quite logical," Lina nodded still looking thoughtful, " you said you couldn't recognize the place you were, moreover, you said that at the beginning of your dream that mysterious person was already there... surely waiting for you which can supposedly mean that she is the one who summoned you ".

" Why? How? " Matteo almost screamed while beginning to feel anxious, again.

He was working hard his brain, trying to figure out what could have happened for him to stand out that much until being considered as a target when Lina responded to him. " Isn't it obvious? " She paused and gazed at him, " it is because you're dangerous ".

" I'm not. I don't even know how to fight, " Matteo tried to defend himself as if that mysterious person could hear him right there and be convinced by his words.

She clammed her tongue while shaking her head right to left before she started exposing the facts. " Think about it, in war what is the most important thing we must have, mighty soldiers? Powerful weapons? No. Though they are indeed indispensable, the very most necessary thing which is capable of turning the table and give the advantage to one side is information ". Lina lifted one finger and stopped Matteo as he was about to comment before she continued her explanations. " One of the most precious tools that could ensure an army or a group of people to win a war is the possession of reliable pieces of information. Whatever they concern the state of the battlefield they are fighting on or the enemy they are fighting against ".

Matteo's eyes widened as he started to get the meaning of her words. This time, he didn't interrupt her and let her completely exposing her point.

" So what I wanted to say is that you are our exclusive source of information which is capable of guaranteeing us the victory against our enemies and that they are now aware of that ".

" What explains why sending this menace... " the boy concluded with a weak voice, " by taking me out of the equation we would lose our advantage of being aware in advance of what they are plotting ". He, then, blinked as another interrogation popped up in his head, " so why don't they simply come and kill me, and how the hell would they know about me and my ability? "

" Concerning the second part of the question which is how they know... " when Jamal paused and took a glance at Lina, Matteo immediately understood that they have discussed that already. At that moment, he couldn't take out from his head the possibility of someone spying on them under the orders of the enemy, even though deep in his heart he knew that it couldn't be possible, that's why he was so curious about his reply.

" We already had our doubts... " Jamal finally began to speak up, " but after what you have just revealed to us, we have reasons to think that you may not be the only one having that capacity of yours ".

Matteo was speechless as he had never imagined such a possibility.

" The main factor which made us think about this possibility was the timing of their attack and the ambushed they had set for us when we were about to come back, " Jamal began to explain after seeing the confused face of Matteo. " First, they got to know about my journey to the neighbor cities and even the day I was supposed to come back knowing. Until there, we could raise the hypothesis that they just got the information from someone, however, the road we took to return should not have been known by anyone since it was decided on the spot. So, knowing that the undead can't be killed by normal means, they sent a group to intercept and eliminate the army brought to strengthen Stainfall defenses so it would never reach its destination before they sent the army of undead, earlier than expected, to come destroying the city as there was just one person to defend it ".

He paused to look at him in the eye while declaring, " only by relying on visions like the kind of yours, could they have known all these ".

" But if they could do that why did they not send their army during those few days you were absent? " Matteo found it weird and didn't hesitate to point out.

" Because they didn't know, " Lina simply responded. " We have two plausible suppositions. The first one is that they don't exactly have the same power as yours and the second one is that maybe their version of that power is not as strong as yours, which is justifiable since they didn't know about Carla could kill the undead too, as well as the extent of Natasha's power and potential. "

" That would mean that they just have an ability allowing them to keep an eye on us from time to time but not capable of predicting our actions, " Matteo quickly conclude.

Matteo spoke those words with a sound of relief, which let Jamal believe that the boy had dropped his guard that was why he didn't wait to warn him, " though they probably have a weaker ability to yours that doesn't make it less troublesome, they are still able to overhear us discussing some of our plans to fight them ".

Hopefully, he didn't have to repeat himself twice for Matteo immediately realized the gravity of the situation, he gazed at him with worried eyes when he muttered, " do you mean that they know what- "

" No, there are very few chances that they are aware that, " Lina quickly interrupted him after she got what he meant.

" How can you be so sure of it? " Matteo was not totally convinced.

" Because if they knew they wouldn't come to menace you, " she shrugged making it look like a simple deduction, " think about it, why would they do such a thing and take the risk to reveal to us their trump card which is their ability to spy us? "

" Maybe because they have another trump card so they don't mind ".

" Or they are worried and are thinking that they don't have other choices but to do that ". Before Matteo could express his doubt she empresses to justify herself, " I have never played poker but I know that the more you don't show the adversary the number of good cards you have the more chances you have to win. And whether it's a bluff or not it doesn't matter now, what we have to keep in mind is that they are now expecting something from us so we just have to be two times more careful ".

Matteo didn't reply and Lina and Jamal could guess that he was reacting in such a manner because he was just stressed. Even he could and tended to sometimes behave like an adult he was still a teenager, so it was understandable that he couldn't react so calmly like both of them when his life is clearly in danger.

The three of them remained quiet until he asked with a soft voice, " when you say that we have to be two times more careful what do you have in mind? Because though we know that they can spy on our conversations we have no way to counter that ".

Lina didn't respond which was a sign that she had no idea.

[ Oh wow, that... rarely happens ] Matteo noticed without saying it out loud.

" I see only one solution, " Jamal was the one to respond and when all eyes were on him he gazed at the boy and told him, " you have to stop them ".

" What? "

" You heard me well, you will use your power to make sure that they don't hear us talking, " the man repeated more clearly as if as it was not a big deal.

" But I don't know how to do that? "

" You will learn, " Jamal replied with a smile, " that mysterious person forced you to her way I don't see why you couldn't do the same. You just have to practice your ability so that you will be able to keep her trapped in your world dream whenever we would be having strategy discussions... and who knows maybe you will be able to get something from her ".

" Or she will be the one to get something from me ". It seemed that Matteo had already taken the habit to not keep his thoughts for himself when he would be with those two, " even if we suppose that I managed to control my power to be able to trap her what guarantee me that I would still be able to keep the control? I'm sure you understand that it will be a battle opposing our minds, so how can you be sure that mine is stronger? "

" That's because I believe in you, " Jamal simply replied, still wearing his confident smile which would always make Matteo feel like everything would be alright as long as he is with him.

[ How can he have so much trust in me? I didn't do anything special to deserve this trust though ] Matteo kept interrogating himself.

As if he had read in his mind, Jamal suddenly added, " dangerous is the man who doesn't know how strong he is. Just like we have said, the enemy decided to pass on the offensive with you after they have realized how dangerous you are, they began to fear the potential you have, so they will try to get rid of you before you realize it yourself. So if you ask why I have so high expectations from you that's because I have the hope that you will rather choose to fight your fear and go beyond your limits than letting us down ".

Lina moved toward Jamal and when he took her in his arms, she surrounded hers around him, too, she rested her head on his chest while staring at Matteo, " you have to know that this city has stayed well and steady all this time because we have learned to place our trust on every individual living here. Just like we had faith that Natasha would rather go beyond her limits than letting the undead menacing our Stainfall, we have faith that you will rather choose to go beyond your limits than letting that scary hooded woman threatening our peaceful lives ".

Until there Matteo had never truly realized the meaning of trust since he had always relied on only himself to survive without depending on any person, but since that tragedy of 2 years ago and with all the events that followed, he had lost hope of a peaceful life. That day he had arrived in Stainfall and met with Jamal and Lina, before he could realize it, he had unconsciously grabbed tightly that hand they were tending him and little by little he started to count on them to save him.

[ They saved me since all that time though I have never sought for their help... now it's my turn to repay for all this kindness even though they have never asked me anything in return. That's how trust works after all ].

He then made up his mind and after he raised his sight to stare at them, his eyes full of determination, he announced to them, " I won't let you down, I will do my best and fight to protect you and this city ".

The two people before him smiled satisfied, Lina even used this chance to put a sweet kiss on Jamal's lips.

" And so will I ".

They suddenly heard the voice of a man coming from the other side of the living room. They all suddenly turned their heads and saw Andre awake, sitting on the couch while staring at them.