Doubts

"Why are we back here again?" Scarlet sighed, surveying the town where this whole mess had started. "Honestly, we already checked if people were okay. So why are we here?"

"Well, you see," Victoria started. "You idiots don't have any armor whatsoever, and I know that this place has the best of that. So we're going out shopping and such, you fucking… melons….." She paused for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. "Listen, I'm running on two brain cells at the moment, give me a break."

"Are you ever not running on two brain cells?" Bartholomew cut in. Victoria glared at him, but didn't return any comments. "I guess you're tired as well. Any other time, you'd shoot back with an insult."

"Gimme a break… I have to use my own magic to use that gun, and it's tiring! Especially the sniper, don't get me wrong." Victoria explained. "So anyways, I may just go take a nap. Any good places?"

Pedro stepped towards her. "Here, I can go show you. I've been here before."

"Thanks, Avocado!" Victoria said brightly.

"I'm not an avocado. Where did that even come from?" The two walked away, their conversation becoming intangible as they went. Miracle stared at them, before shaking her head and turning back to the others.

"Well, what should we do?" She asked.

"Hold on, you've gotta give me a sec." Asa replied, flitting about. "Holy shit, what the fuck are these?" She asked, pointing at the buildings.

"They're houses, Asa." Harper explained.

She stared in slight amazement, as did Brock. "I've never seen things like this before!" Brock explained. "All I've seen are the forests and caves!"

"Similarly, me too." Asa shrugged, turning back to the others. "I have no clue what the fuck I'm doing! So, you people wanna give us two a tour? Since we haven't been out with regular people ever in our lives."

"Sure!" Miracle smiled at them. "While we do that, can you tell us about yourselves? I'd be nice to get to know you all."

Asa hummed in thought. "I guess so… mine isn't so interesting. Pretty sure I was born from an Iris."

"An Iris?" Bubble asked, seeming slightly confused. "Isn't that a flower?"

"Well, fairies are kinda flowers, I guess." Asa grinned, shrugging slightly. "It's funny though, that my favorite is a water lily. My name tends to stand for hope. Funnily enough, an Iris stands for hope as well. It's cool how God made it that way." Asa paused for a moment, tapping her lip. "Actually, was it God, or just something else? Was it Harper instead, or some other natural force?"

"It was probably God." Harper replied. "He likes to do things like that. Plus, I'm pretty sure he likes flowers and such, along with the rest of the angels in Heaven."

"Cute," Asa laughed. "Didn't think she'd… fucking... I mean HE'D be the type to like things like that." She sighed, shaking her head and covering her face with her hands. "I promise I'll get it one day, just give me some time…."

"Take as much time as you need." Harper replied. "You'll get it… eventually."

"Well anyways, after that, I just kinda, learned things." Asa started again. "Found out how my own magic works, and figured out how the place I lived in worked. It's a bit weird, to be fairly honest. But I manage." She smiled a little, looking back at Miracle. "Is that enough? Because I honestly don't have much more to say."

"Thanks for sharing!" Miracle grinned. "Mine isn't all too interesting either, I just went adventuring with my parents. The only real 'highlight' I have is that I lost my best friend…."

Asa frowned. "That's rough. I had something similar, I guess." She went silent, a sad expression on her face. "Sorry, but I'm not comfortable with sharing that."

"Oh no, it's fine!" Miracle reassured her. "You don't have to share anything you're uncomfortable with."

Asa glanced at Miracle, seeming to scan her face for a moment. A confused expression appeared on Asa's face for a moment. "What's with… sorry, but, something about your words doesn't match your expression. It's weird." Asa thought for a moment. "Are you lying, about that?"

"W-What?" Miracle stuttered. "What do you mean?"

Asa paused for a second, before she shook her head and shrugged. "Nevermind. Forget I said that."

"Is it my turn now?" Brock asked, having been silent for the past couple minutes. "I would like to share!"

"Sure, go ahead…." Naomi replied. "I'm curious… as to what happened."

"Okay!" Brock smiled. "So, I was living with many other people just like me! They were really violent, and I didn't really like that, so I tried to convince them not to!" He sighed a little, but the smile remained. "They got mad at me, but I'm pretty sure they forgave me in the end!"

Asa shook her head frivolously, her eyes wide. Her expression clearly said 'that's not true', which made the rest of the others in that group frown a little. "The next day, I found myself in the middle of a forest! I don't know how I got there, but I didn't recognize it at all!" It didn't take long for Miracle to connect the dots there. He got kicked out for not liking violence? How could he possibly not understand that? And, how is he still so cheerful, even with that fact? "I was wandering around, when I stumbled upon Asa!"

Asa nodded her head. "Yeah, and I just decided to let him live there." She bit her lip, showing the slightest amount of disappointment. "I really wish that I could have just sent him home, but… I'm sure you all know why I couldn't do that."

They all nodded in agreement, deciding to stay silent. "Hm? What's wrong? You all seem upset." Brock piped up. "Is there something bothering all of you? Did I do something wrong?" he seemed to get worried for a second.

"No, you didn't, I can assure you." Harper bowed her head. "We're just feeling a little unsettled, that's all. No need to worry."

Brock smiled. "Okay! I will not worry then!"

No one decided to say anything about that, so they just stood in awkward silence for a moment. "So anyways, let's go walk around!" Bubble cut in. "I wanna go look at some places with Naomi!"

Naomi sighed, a small smile on her face. "Alright then… I'll go out with Bubble, I'll see you all later."

"Yay!" Bubble smiled, taking Naomi's hand and dragging her away.

"Well, Asa, I'd liked to catch up with you, if possible." Harper continued. "I'd also like to get to know your friend a bit more."

"Sure, I guess." Asa shrugged. "C'mon then. Brock, you're coming too."

"Okay!" The three walked off, heading in the opposite direction as to where Naomi and Bubble had gone.

There was silence for a moment. "Well, it's just us three." Bartholomew admitted. "So, where to?"

Miracle glanced around the place, not entirely sure where to go. "Hm… I don't know…."

"Hello there!" A voice called out to them. The three turned to look at where the voice came from. "I see you all are looking for things to do!"

"Oh, yeah, kinda." Miracle replied. "Excuse me, but who are you? I haven't seen you before."

The person in question shrugged. "You probably don't because I tend to stay in one place all day! But any who, my name's Layla!" She smiled at the group. "Who are you three?"

"Oh! I'm Miracle!" Miracle quickly introduced herself, taking Layla's hand. Layla seemed to study her face for a moment, before she nodded her head.

"I'd rather not say…." Scarlet admitted.

"Me as well." Bartholomew nodded in agreement.

Layla frowned a little. "Oh… okay. That's a bit rude, but it's whatever!" She turned back to Miracle. "Anyways, who exactly are you people? You surely don't live here. I know practically everyone here."

"Oh, we're all adventurers." Miracle explained. "I was here before, when the town got attacked."

Layla nodded her head. "Oh, then! Right, of course! It was a little unfortunate timing, then. But it's fine!" She smiled, taking her hand away. "I own a church."

"You do…?" Miracle asked, feeling slightly uneasy.

"I do!" Layla's smile widened, but it had the hint of fakeness in it. "I wanted to ask you all, what's your opinion on God, as of now?"

Scarlet spoke up first. "I hate him."

"Scarlet!" Miracle hissed. "You can't just say that!"

"Why not? Pretty much everyone does, so there's no issue." She responded.

"Scarlet, even so, you shouldn't say that in front of someone like Layla." Bartholomew told her.

Layla's previous happy tone seemed to fade, as the smile dropped off of her face. "Why is that? There's no fucking reason as to why you'd hate him. Are you so deluded that you can't realize that?"

Scarlet glared at her. "What do you mean? You seemed to be the deluded one, if you can't even realize what's been happening."

"Oh really?" Layla countered. "Can't you realize that this never happened before now? It doesn't make sense that God would just suddenly start attacking. We did something. There's a reason, there has to be. So explain to me now, how I'm the deluded one, bitch." Miracle wouldn't have expected such harsh words from someone with such a happy exterior as Layla. Scarlet was just about to retort, when she caught herself.

"That's…." Scarlet tried to counter, but found herself at a loss for words.

"That makes a lot of sense…." Bartholomew admitted. "Actually, that never occurred to me…."

Layla sighed. "People never realize until I tell them. At least you all aren't nearly as stupid as those other people who just refute all my claims." She paused for a second, before the bright smile finally reappeared on her face. "Well anyways! I'd like to apologize for what I said about you all before! I just got a little angry, I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine." Scarlet replied. "I took it too far from the beginning anyways."

Layla shrugged. "And I escalated it! So it's my fault as well!" The four then went silent, not entirely sure what to say next. They stood around awkwardly, avoiding each other's eye contact. "Well… I'm gonna go now! I'll see you all later!" Layla then turned around, walking away.

"Well that… was enlightening." Was all that Bartholomew said, before returning to silence.

"I never thought of it like that…." Miracle muttered. "I guess I was just too angry about my… friend…."

Scarlet grimaced. "I don't know. Lucas… Fabian… I can't be sure about it. Lucas didn't seem like the type to abandon us, so it makes me wonder why he did that."

Miracle nodded, but didn't say anything else. Her mind was tugging at her, filling up with doubt the more she thought about what that Layla character had said. It made her question her thought process before. "Hey, Miracle, c'mon. Let's just go get something to eat." Scarlet ripped her from her thoughts, snapping her out of the daze.

"O-Oh! Okay!" Miracle nodded. "I'm coming!" The two were slightly ahead of her, as Miracle ran to catch up. She slowed down next to them, walking beside Scarlet. Everyone remained silent, not quite sure what to say. Miracle didn't have anything to talk about, as she was swimming around in her own thoughts.

There was one, plaguing question on her mind. Do I really… want to kill God?