Elliot

"Mason?"

Ugh. I knew there was the chance I might run into someone I know here, despite the city's size, but there was nothing that could mentally prepare me for it. In front of me was a kid with messy blonde hair in one of The Order's uniforms. 

"Elliot. What do you want?"

I snarled at him with a low intonation. I wanted to make it very clear that I had no desire to speak with him further. However, he seemed to ignore, or perhaps somehow failed to notice, my indignation.

"It really is you! Are you back? Are you back for good?"

His face lit up as I confirmed his suspicion, grabbing the sides of my arms and looking me over before I broke free and stepped back.

"No, I'm here for six months. Maybe less. And I don't intend on rekindling old friendships that died for a reason, so I'll be going on my way now. Goodbye."

He was a nice enough kid, but his behavior during my falling out with The Order had done enough to warrant the severance of whatever connection we may have had. I turned around and lifted the hood of my sweatshirt over my head, placing my hands deep into my pockets and briskly making my way through the crowd, hoping he wouldn't follow me.

"Mason! Mason, hold on! Come on, don't be like that. Are you still mad? Mason!"

He jogged behind me pushing through the stream of pedestrians, calling out to me. Dammit, doesn't he get the damn message?

"Ugh, seriously! I just wanna talk! Come on, give me a chance!"

Motherfucker… maybe I should just keep going. Maybe I should push through. However… this kid isn't the kind to give up easily. If I avoid him now, he could end up harassing me for weeks. Besides. It isn't easy to escape from an S-Rank hunter.

I stopped and pulled my hood back down.

"Fucking… you still haven't learned to mind your business, have you? Fine. I'll give you ten minutes, and then you'll leave me the hell alone so I can work. Deal?

He smiled toothily and extended his hand.

"Deal!"

Fifteen minutes later, I found myself sipping on a hot mug of coffee.

"Isn't this place great? They always clear out the other customers for me when I come by. It's like my own private clubhouse!"

I looked around. It really was nice, but it was quaint, too. It was a cafe, decorated to be comfortable and homey, and looking at the grinning fool across from me, I couldn't help but feel bad for the owners. They were probably terrified of him, and he just thought they were doing him a nice favor.

"Don't you know you're losing them business?"

I sighed.

"So, what did you want to say to me? Now that you have me here, even though you practically fucking forced me, I guess I'll listen."

I leaned back and took another sip of my coffee. Unlike the bitter taste of the beans grown in basements back in the fringe city's I'd been staying in, the coffee here was sourced from actual plantations maintained within sanctuaries in South America. Only the city of Eden could afford the importation costs of such luxuries.

I didn't mind giving this kid his moment to talk too much. It was nothing like speaking with The Oracle. Elliot here, at the very least, wasn't a direct contributor to the conspiracy I'd gotten wound up into. However, he had decided to stay with The Order despite his knowledge of what they had done. That alone enabled me to forget him entirely.

"What do you mean? I haven't seen my buddy in years! Of course I want to talk to you! What have you been up to, man?"

The innocence on his face was irritating.

"What have I been up to? I betrayed the fucking Order, Elliot. I was practically exiled. I've spent the last few years slaving away in D-Rank dungeons, nearly to my death. What the fuck do you think this is? Some kind of casual catch-up? I'm here for important reasons. Don't fuck with me, Elliot. Don't think that the years have caused my wounds to heal. I won't forgive you for staying with them simply because some time has passed."

I said, lightly hitting my palms into the table and leaning close to him before returning to a more relaxed position. I stared at him with a stone cold look, and sipped my coffee in the midst of the awkward silence I had just caused. For the first time in the last twenty-odd minutes, the smile disappeared from his face. Finally, after taking a deep, shaky breath, he spoke back.

"Do you think you're the only one it was hard for? I relied on you. We all did. You were weak, but god, you were this shining light of knowledge piercing through a sea of the dark unknown. When the rest of us just survived, you were one of the only people on the planet capable of making advancements in our understanding of our situation, Mason. You were a hero to us. You think I was happy with what The Order did, or how they treated you? Do you think it was easy for me to stay with them after what happened with Project David? It wasn't. It really wasn't, Mason, but if all the good people ran away, who the fuck would be left? Huh? I had to stay. I thought you would've maybe understood that by now. I thought we could start over, but maybe I was wrong. You were right; I should leave you alone."

He stood up, harshly pushing his chair out to the side and pulling some chips out of his coat pocket which he promptly slammed onto the table and started to storm away. I was completely dumbfounded. What the hell? I'd never seen that guy get even a little angry, and now he snapped at me? What changed? What happened to him?

My eyes widened as I was frozen in shock. The happy-go-lucky kid who had decided to stay with The Order back then. Did he really do it for those reasons? Did it really damage him this much? My shock faded quickly and my head bowed a little. Fuck. Am I the asshole here? I left him behind.

"Elliot. Elliot, hey, hold on."

He stopped with my voice calling out to him as he was about to leave the cafe.

"I'm sorry. You're right. Let's sit down and talk."

I spoke to his unmoving back. Slowly, his head started to turn, revealing a big smile. Dammit. This annoying son of a…

"Yes! Haha! Mason and Elliot, friends once again! Let's rule the world, mon frere!"

He ran towards me and wrapped his hands around my shoulders in a hug which I begrudgingly accepted. It was the least I could do. I had been too harsh. I'd let my hatred force me to forget that the real enemy wasn't the people making hard choices. It was Shin Hye-Rin.

I didn't indulge him for long, though. After a brief moment I pushed him off and demanded he return to his seat. This guy… even if he has been hardened by his work, he still acts like just as much of a puppy. 

His name was Elliot Jackson. He was an S-Rank hunter under the employ of The Order of the Oracle, having joined shortly after me. He was two years younger than me, twenty-one, and most importantly, he was an S-Rank hunter.

He was one of the members of Hye-Rin's core party, as was I. He was also one of its few remaining survivors.

"And then, bwoosh! It was crazy, man! I mean…"

He was talking about some battle. Initially, I had been inclined to listen to his stories, but as he kept on going, seemingly with bottomless lungs as he barely took a breath between words, I quickly lost interest and allowed him to do his thing while I zoned out and enjoyed my coffee.

I guess it couldn't hurt to make a friend in this guy again. As annoying as he was, he was also quite powerful. One of the most powerful men on the planet, actually. His power was pretty unique. Of course, most S-Rank hunters possessed some kind of specialization, but his was quite strange. 

Actually, now that I thought about it, I wanted to research it. I wanted to research it really, really bad. Because now, with an understanding of planes, his ability became a lot more interesting. As the thought popped into my head, I wondered; is Elliot connecting with another plane? Is his power the breakthrough I need to better understand them? Last time I tried, I faced something horrifying. Did he have a method of bypassing that?

I looked up at him with my fingers rubbing my chin. He stopped talking for a second.

"Uh... hey... I know that look. Hey, man, why are you giving me that look? I'm not a frog you can dissect. Hey! Are you listening?!"

I was giving him a look. One that said I wanted to experiment on him lots. After all, Elliot could enter another world at will.