there was a bit of a chuckle and the teen looked up at them,
looking at them with both a crimson eye and an amber eye, running a
hand through his slightly faded blue hair.
''evening, were ya tryin' to shoot me...? heh, it ain't gonna work
against me'' he said, his voice surprisingly mature, but still
smooth like silk and like any other teens voice.
Ivy stayed back and kept an eye at the mouth of the cave as Oliver
moved forward and stood at the little area's entrance, aiming at
him as he narrowed his eye's.
''lad you got some explainin' to do'' he said, and the teen looked
at him and grinned rather smugly.
he got up but kept his hands up in surrender and tilted his
head.
''about what... the kid's corpse outside my home..? wonderful work
ain't it, my sword made the cleanest cut i've ever made when i
chopped through the limbs.. even sliced through the bones with
ease!'' he laughed, a bit maniacally but soon ceased and
sighed.
Oliver gritted his teeth and gripped the guns barrel a bit, careful
not to pull the trigger just yet.
''i'm not planning to retaliate in anyway... there are four of you
against me, you all easily out number me.. so i'm being nice and
showing no harm..'' he muttered.
Elli stared at the stranger with a brooding green gaze, the gears
of his mind running rapidly. He's not part of the game. He
noticed the slight motion that Evie made and jumped to put a hand
on her wrist, forcing it down. She scowled at him.
"What was that for?" Evie hissed through gritted teeth.
"It's an unjustified kill," Elli repeated, his voice calm.
"Clearly he's not in the right state of mind, and he said he's not
going to fight back--"
"Which means we're not supposed to kill him." Her eyes narrowed at
him but she obliged. She sighed and crossed her arms, now turning
her attention to Dexter. "How long you been here?" She asked, her
expression almost bored.
he looked up at Evie and chuckled, grinning a little.
''now why would i go an tell ya that when you barged into my
home.... very reckless you know kid, and i should probably
introduce myself as well! i'm not anyone famous though... the
name's Dexter shade, and if my memory serves me right...... there's
still a war going on, unless someone's finally decided to do a
sweep of this wretched place.... y'see, i'm not quite caught up on
anything news related about the world too much anymore.. so i'm
askin' if it'd be alright to know the stare of the lux and nova,
have they finally stopped this pathetic war yet?'' he asked,
looking back up at Evie with a rather confident and cocky gaze as
he rambled on, though he never once lied.
"They're trying to stop it," Elli said when Evie wouldn't reply.
Her amber eyes were narrowed and she looked at Dexter with just a
tinge of menace. "They're getting desperate and so we're the ones
to finally end it." He ruffled his hair a bit nervously.
''wow, that's real low... the nova's sent a bunch of nova out
again...? didn't they learn they're mistake years ago about doing
that.....? they're such idiots if they did that stupid mistake
again..... though this is a closed off city, it still amazes
me.....'' he grumbled, the grin he had disappearing as a rather
irritated expression replaced it.
"It was a pact agreement among the Novas and the Lux. They're too
cowardice to fight each other full power, so they've assigned
representatives to fight for them instead. To put it simply,
they've selected underaged, angsty teens to settle the future of
our continent," Evie replied, pushing her glasses up her nose a
bit. She still held her gun tightly in her hand but hadn't raised
it back up to Dexter's head.
he raised an eyebrow and crossed his arm's.
''they've brought lux teens into the mix now? i swear, they should
have simply had adults handle matters like this for gods sake,
besides i want nothing to do with the war again, i've had it with
the fighting.. but i'll fight if i have too...... and if you want
to know part of who i am, take a look at the back of my hand, use
the flashlight to see better'' he said, holding his hand up with
the back of his hand facing Evie and was calm the entire time.
Evie had long since given Ivy's flashlight back, but she could see
the crudely scratched out mark of the Lux on his hand. She took his
still gaze as a challenge and still hadn't taken her bored and
unrevealing expression off of him. Her face was the worst place to
look when reading her, and she knew it. She made sure of it, in
fact. One day she decided that she wouldn't show her emotions
through body language, and she hadn't since.
Evie was a bit fed up with the conversation; she wanted more than
anything to shoot Dexter in the head, if not for Elli. It wasn't
for the sake of killing Dexter (well, he also reminded her of
someone she didn't like)--Elli's innocent, silent pleading had
caught her off guard and made her hesitate. She had promised
herself to never to do that again, yet here she was.
"Are you Nova or neutral?" Elli asked.
''war rebel you could say... i favor the nova's though......'' he
muttered, looking down as he put his hand down and lightly gripped
the locket that rested against his chest, exactly over his
heart.
Oliver listened and watched him, studying how he reacted.
''so your... a lux.. but you dated a nova.....?'' he asked, trying
to analyze Dexter's sudden shift from hostility and cockiness to
depression and heartache so quickly.
Dexter glanced at Oliver and gave a bit of a weak smile.
''she'd still be alive if it weren't for my carelessness... we made
a promise, that once we got out of this hell hole and were old
enough, we would get married....... but.... i never hid her gun and
once she got a hold of it....'' he muttered, slowly trailing off
before he brought his hand up to his head and simply mimicked what
she did, just not with an actual gun in his hand.
Elli bit the inside of his cheeks, feeling a pang of sorrow for
Dexter's misfortune. He said nothing, though, because he had long
since stopped reassuring people who didn't seem to want it.
''heh...... it's been about.... nineteen year's now since that
happened.. i've stayed hidden here for a good while... i've lost
track of what's gone on with the outside world but couldn't care
less, i've had plentiful game to hunt and keep me well fed and boil
stream water to purify it, i've got myself a quaint little home
here in this cave'' Dexter said, letting his free hand fall to his
side.
Oliver's eye's widened as he stared at him, listening to him speak
but was a little caught off guard with one thing that he said.
''you've been here for nineteen year's?!'' he said, utterly shocked
since he only looked like he was eighteen.
Evie was anything but shocked; she simply assumed that he was older
than he looked, like her. She now regretted going into the cave in
the first place. I'm not sure how this will end. It's a bit too
dangerous to turn our backs and walk out, especially since he has
an unstable mental health and a gun. Those never go well
together. She ran her thumb across her belt.
Dexter perked up as he heard faint footsteps at the entrance of the
cave and sighed, picking up his sword silently before he managed to
slip around Oliver in a swift motion and started walking toward's
the entrance, splitting the sword into two and dragged the tips
along the side's of the cave, causing sparks to start flying.
the footsteps that had sounded of a couple teens entering the cave
ceased and then soon the sound of feet stomping as they scrambled
away echoed through the cave.
Oliver blinked and looks at where Dexter had been and then watched
as he went to the entrance of the cave.
''what the hell, he got around me...'' he muttered, completely
shocked and confused.
"Should we leave, then?" Elli mumbled, staying close to Ivy. Evie
turned her attention to Elli, "I think so. He clearly doesn't want
us here and we've got no reason to stay." She slid down the
boulders with ease, walking closer to Oliver.
Dexter soon walked back after he chased off his unwanted guests at
the entrance and put his swords back together, then sheathed it
before he crossed his arm's.
''hmm..... tell you guy's what.. i can let you crash in the cave on
one condition'' he said, grinning a little.
Oliver glared at Dexter and kept his gun aimed at him.
Ivy simply kept quiet and kept her face hidden the bed she could,
staying close to Elli.
Elli blinked rapidly. He didn't trust Dexter, but the offer brought
his attention--he hadn't killed the teens that had been at the
entrance of the cave. "What's the condition?" Elli asked before
Evie could butt in and say anything. She shut her mouth.
''you four help guard the cave, plus with the added help with
providing food of course and going on little supply runs in the
ruins known as the old lux city.... seem's fair enough since i'm
being kind enough to allow you to stay'' Dexter said.
"Oh... um... well..." Elli flushed, scrunching his shoulders. He
wasn't quite sure what to say and he didn't want to make a vote for
the group. He thought that it was reasonable but he was
known for being naive and illogical. "We're going to... uh, take a
moment to discuss it," he mumbled, turning to the exit.
"What do you think?" Elli asked softly once they were out of
earshot. Evie holstered her gun under her skirt and crossed her
arms, her face stern. "I honestly think we should kill him and be
done with it," she admitted through clenched teeth. Elli frowned.
"It's worth a shot, isn't it? He wants something from us, so he's
clearly not gonna kill--"
"It could be a trap. He's clearly insane and I doubt that tricking
a few teens is out of his comfort zone. It probably makes it even
worse that some of us are Lux," she interrupted, her eyes narrowing
skeptically.