Chapter 42: Her Smile

Step after step, Neo walks. He follows the compass, walking along the flowing river. Both of them looking down as the place becomes more and more lit up as they approach the ground light sources as well.

He continues to march forwards for hours.

Charlotte moves her eyes to the side and looks at Neo. She remembers how he has a different air to him recently, He seems more . . . focused. And his steps feel as if they hold purpose, towards a goal.

Charlotte wants to say something but can't. It's weird, even though her head is detached from her body, she can still somehow feel something akin to having a flustered heart for some reason.

Neo shifts his eyes and looks at her. She notices that and reflexively looks away shyly.

Looking at her for a second and then back towards the path, Neo's mind races that maybe he should try having a conversation with her to distract her from the current situation, even if it is for a few seconds. A part of him wants to dismiss the thought of attempting to do so as he feels like there is a huge elephant in the room that he has no idea how to navigate about.

Would she even want to have a conversation after what happened?

What if she gets angry at me?

If I were to ask this or that, would she respond well?

What do I do if she doesn't engage?

What if she finds me talking as annoying?

I mean . . . if she wanted to talk, she could have said anything by now, but she hasn't!

Maybe I should just walk quietly for now . . .

He takes a deep breath.

Well, here goes. Good luck to me!

"By the way, can you tell me more about the pilots and the Rope? Like any idea on how things operate on the Rope?" he asks, deciding to throw what he thinks sounds best to ask about and also hitting two birds with one stone.

"Oh! Well, from what I heard and read, the Rope stretches all the way down along the fall and is very spacious. So, people have inhabited a certain part of the Rope going up and down, and because the place was too big to be managed by one person, they split their regions into two where the upper region is managed by a female pilot called Tahara, I think. They say she is the third strongest pilot. And the lower region is managed by what they call the fourth strongest, a pilot called Chad," says Charlotte, an uncontrollable smile growing on her face.

"For the most part, it's managed well, and they have most of the facilities we have at the Castle, with the absence of a few,"

"I see, sounds like a nice place. But what do you think about the pilots?" asks Neo.

Charlotte hums in quiet contemplation as she lowers her gaze to the grassy ground.

"Humans like me and you, is how I see them now," she says finally.

Neo tilts his head in confusion, "Human?"

"Yeah . . . at the start, whenever I would hear of abnormal stories and legends about them, like the stories of the infamous Kayn or when I see their mind-bending powers in action, it felt alienating to me. I saw them as something above . . . and a lot of times, something I should avoid because I felt like they are dangerous . . ." she pauses, looking at the void above.

"But with time, a curiosity inside me grew. I had started going down a path where I started being involved with pilots more, and my understanding and mind would continue to change about how I saw them . . . about how I saw existence . . . there was a time where I wanted to be one of them . . ." she confesses, smiling and laughing gently as Neo sits down, leaning back on a tree to take a short break.

But that isn't the real reason why he did so, it's because he deems what Charlotte is saying to be important enough to him that he decides to stop and give it his full attention.

He places her head on his lap so it's facing the flowing river. The sound of the flowing water is calming. But hers is more to him. Closing his eyes, he listens, memorizes, and contemplates her words as she utters them, while pink flowers bloom around them and the wind blows gently.

"But recently and especially after talking to Adora, I have come to realize the immense responsibility that's been placed on these people's backs. She informed me more about the situation and the task they are on when she visited me. And I had asked, why doesn't Kayn just use his powers to level the Castle and find the kidnapped pilot? But she told me that he can't," continues Charlotte.

"She stated some reasons before ending it and noting the most important part, she said that Kayn told her his power is a burden in the form of responsibility,"

. . .

"Seeing the pilots uphold such responsibility with such bitter conditions . . . when I saw him talking while his head was cut off . . . and talked to him . . . I never imagined that it was extremely painful until I had experienced it. Was that a part of the training he had as a pilot? I don't think I can do their tasks or uphold what they do . . . I might lose my mind," she explains.

". . . I guess I should just take care of what I have and do what I can do . . . she was right,"

Neo hums, "Responsibility placed by who, or answered to whom, or upheld in response to what?"

". . . I don't know. I didn't ask her. I should, the next time we talk. But . . . maybe society?"

He shakes his head, "I don't find that answer satisfying. Why should it be society?"

Above him, the wind rustles the leaves of the tree, leaving them to sway gently in its wake.

". . . Maybe the person chooses what they answer to?" suggests Charlotte.

Neo hums again as he stands up to continue the walk.

"Maybe," he concedes, walking. He feels that he's caught the fraction of the answer but states to himself that there is still a full picture missing.

He's still tangled in his thoughts when he hears Charlotte's laugh.

Neo raises an eyebrow in curiosity, "What is it?"

"Sorry, it's just that I remembered some things Adora told me about her relationship with Kayn," she giggles.

"Did you know that she actually used to be a top-tier assassin and her first meeting with him was a group attempt to capture him?"

"Really? That's surprising!"

"Yeah! Who would have thought that he would end up marrying someone who wanted to chop him u─"

Neo's eyes widen as Charlotte stops talking and he worries over her wellbeing.

Crap! That went the wrong way. What can I do to get her mind off it again fast?

"You know, you seem to have become good friends with Adora! And she seems to have changed and become a great person! Also, the Rope seems to be a nice place, wanna go back there and invite her with us?" babbles Neo in panic, throwing anything to see if it sticks.

Charlotte smiles, "There is no need to invite her. She is going back to her child after this mission is over. She actually mentioned to me how she regrets leaving her child to come on his mission. We can just go with her!"

"Kayn has a child?!"

"Oh crap! That's supposed to be confidential, sorry!" shouts Charlotte, panicking that she let it out.

They both pause, laughing.

"My lips are sealed, don't worry,"

"Thanks!"

"Wait. What's that? Do you hear that?" says Neo and they both go quiet.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

A certain sound becomes louder and louder as he walks down the river. Neo notices that he is approaching a sharp edge. Standing on a cliff, he looks down on final steep fall that finally leads to ground level. Next to him is the river flowing into a waterfall. The scenery is mesmerizing, they stand there silently in momentary awe of the view.

"Um, N ─ Neo . . ." murmurs Charlotte.

Neo strains to hear her over the loud rush of the water from the waterfall.

"Yes?" he responds loudly.

"This is a crazy s ─ suggestion but . . ."

Swish! Woosh!

The water continues to fall loudly, and in a moment, he feels as if time freezes when he hears what she says next.

"W ─ want to get . . . m ─ married?"