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Chapter 26: Truth

Aisha was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night when her phone suddenly rang and she was shocked awake.

Her irritation and grogginess disappeared entirely when she saw that the one calling was none other than her crush Aubrey.

"Hey is everything okay?" Aisha sounded so alert on the phone that Aubrey sighed in relief, believing she didn\'t wake her up.

"C-can you turn on the news?" Aubrey meekly asked.

Aisha fumbled around in her bed for the tv remote before flipping on the news.

There was a breaking news story about an escaped convict who was on the loose.

The man\'s mug shot showed an ugly looking man in his mid forties with orange hair and black eyes.

"Why do you care about…" Aisha\'s words trailed off as the list of the man\'s crimes was displayed on screen.

A sickening feeling spread to her chest and an idea bubbled up into her mind but she prayed that she wasn\'t right.

"…Is that him?"

She received no reply, but judging by the muffled whimpering she could hear coming from the other side of the phone, she knew she had her answer.

"Where\'s Malachi?"

Aubrey spoke through choked sobs as she explained that Mal wasn\'t home and that he wasn\'t answering his phone either.

Aisha\'s anger reached a boiling point.

\'You dick! Your sister is traumatized and you\'re out somewhere doing gods know what!!\'

For about two weeks now Malachi had been acting very distant.

It wasn\'t just with her, even those in the guild noticed and wondered what could\'ve possibly happened to the cheerful young man they\'d seen before.

Aisha had allowed him his space out of respect for their friendship but this had gone way too far.

"Aubrey put some clothes on okay? I\'m going to come and get you." Aisha hoped out of bed and hurriedly began throwing on clothes.

"*sniff* Okay…"

The pair stayed on the phone right until Aisha arrived at her door to pick her up.

"I-I didn\'t ask where we were going?" Aubrey realized.

"Don\'t worry." Aubrey took Aisha\'s hand and led her into the elevator toward her car. "We\'re gonna go and get some answers okay?"

Aubrey wasn\'t sure exactly what that meant but the warmth of Aisha\'s hand in hers did wonders for her nerves.

The sensation was very faint but she started to get the feeling that everything was going to be okay.

-

Bang, bang, bang!

"Aisha it\'s pretty late maybe we shouldn\'t.."

"We\'ll apologize for that later but for right now we need answers and I\'m sure she\'s got em."

"But what if-"

Click!

The door they\'d been banging on so fiercely finally opened and a groggy Sei opened the door with a weary Serana not far behind her holding a bat.

\'Damn it Mal… I hate you right now but you have good taste.\' As Aisha peeked at Sei\'s massive bust that was barely hidden in her bathrobe she had to give Malachi credit where it was due.

"A-Aubrey and Aisha? What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"Sorry to bother you but it\'s about Mal. That six foot sack of shit isn\'t answering his phone and we\'re wondering if you know where he might be."

"Jeez they aren\'t joined at the hip you know? Why would my mom know where he is?" Serana rolled her eyes and returned her bat to its spot by the door.

Sei\'s face took on a complicated expression before she stood aside and invited the girls in.

"Wow mom you guys are that close already? Have you guys had sex yet?"

"N-no we have not!"

Smack!

"Ow! It was just a question!"

After giving her daughter a hard smack over the head, Sei led the girls to the living room where she told them to make themselves comfortable as she went to go prepare tea.

As Serana stared at the two girls on the couch, an evil smirk crossed her face when she saw that they were holding hands. "So, how long have the two of you been together?"

"She just picked me up from my house a little while ago." Aubrey answered.

"No I mean how long have you guys been dating." Serana gave Aubrey an exhausted look.

"Pardon?"

"Come again?"

Seeing the blank expression on Aubrey\'s face and embarrassed one on Aisha\'s, Serana was able to roughly grasp the situation and smiled. "Oh? My mistake."

\'I wonder if Malachi knows.\'

Sei returned carrying a pot of tea and a large briefcase.

After pouring tea for the two girls she passed the briefcase to Aisha and she frowned when she realized it was filled with something.

"Before you open that… I want to say that what I am about to tell you cannot leave this room."

Aisha was suspicious but she nodded and unzipped the briefcase in her arms to reveal its contents.

"Shit.."

"What the hell?"

"We were rich this whole time?!" Serana\'s gave her mother an accusatory look.

"It\'s not ours it\'s Malachi\'s!" Sei corrected. "He didn\'t know what to do with it so he gave it to me for safekeeping."

"Does this have something to do with why he\'s been acting so strange?.." Aubrey hadn\'t taken her eyes off the exorbitant amount of money since it was revealed to the room.

Sei gave a small nod before she explained everything to the girls in the room.

She started with how she called Mal to meet with Rowan one day after training.

She then went on to explain how Rowan hired him to kill someone and Mal initially declined before he realized who he was being asked to kill.

The girls also found out that Malachi was worried about how he\'d be seen by his loved ones for doing something so horrible as killing another man.

They also heard about how he\'d been visiting the old Rowan almost everyday for the last two weeks to learn how his powers were intended to be used as well as their limits.

Finally, she explained that tonight was the night he\'d decided to kill Arthur.

When Sei finished speaking, silence filled the room once more.

Aubrey felt relieved and a little ashamed.

Was she such a bad sister that her brother thought she would look at him like a monster?

All of Aisha\'s rage had disappeared leaving her in a reflective mood as well.

She wasn\'t mad at Mal at all for killing that scumbag, on the contrary she was rather jealous.

She\'d give anything to get her hands on the bastard who destroyed the lives of her two best friends.

\'You bastard you were carrying all this around but you didn\'t even think you could tell me about it?\'

Both girls had a lot to think about.