The Devil's Crown

XLIX Sound Of Nothing.

“Allen are you sure that this is the right place?” Julian asked nervously, his head scanning the dark hallway as he carried…he had no idea what he carried. It was something that Allen needed and he needed help to get to that place.

He knew that Allen is a genius, they all knew. But, that wasn’t enough for them to swallow down their fear and blindly trust Allen. They really want to trust him but, when there was so much at stack there was no helping the little doubt poisoning their minds. Moreover, it was the best chance that they had so far.

Allen ignored the question as he squatted down placing a piece of metal on the ground and on the wall close to the ceiling. He repeated his actions a couple of times, disregarding Julian’s protests and complaints. He needed to focus on handling the task at hand and keeping his mind intact. For all he knows, the White Cross could be coming at them right now and he was still not done.

He whipped the sweat on his forehead with his sleeves as he placed the last one in place.

“All done,” said Allen as he stretched his back allowing a smile to c***k on his face in an attempt to lighten up the stress that was taking over both him and Julian. “Give me that.”

Julian handed over the laptop from one hand and switched the big box from one arm to another as he felt his muscles contract painfully. “What should I do with this abomination? My hand is giving in.” Julian whined.

Allen barely spared him a glance as he struggled under the weight of the box. “Put here for now,” he said, getting back to his laptop. Julian towered over him as he sat on the floor. The light from the screen lit the hallway. The place was already creepy with the only emergency red light as the only light source, the fact that they were at the spot where they expecting…visitors, didn’t help either.

“What is that anyway?” Julian pointed at the box that nearly broke his arm.

“Something high-tech inside,” Allen simply said without taking his eyes off the screen. Julian caught on the you-wouldn’t-understand phrase said with a little elegance to not hurt his feelings. Well, there was nothing to be upset about anyway.

Before Julian had the time to join Allen on the hard tiles, he heard the footsteps of the rest of the crew approach from behind him.

“Everything going well?” West stated as he looked at Allen.

“Allen said that everything is ready,” Julian replied knowing that Allen must yet to notice their presence.

West eyed Allen, it was better not to distract him. The sweat that was gleaming under the red light of the hallway served as proof that Allen was already having it hard. There was no need to remind him of anything since it was his plan to begin with…which had a clearly bad effect on his nerves.

The continuous reminder that the lives of all those around him rest on his shoulder was enough to break anyone, West knew that very well. It wasn’t a new sensation. In fact, he has gotten to experience it all through his path…however, every time was the first time.

He shrugged the thought away as he glanced down at his watch. It has almost been an hour, yet there was no news from anywhere.

Margret, Park, and Zach were putting an eye on the Nobles making sure that they are quiet was just as important as fighting off the attack. But what was taking them so long!?

“Still nothing?” West asked. He was sorry for Allen but he had his own nerves to settle.

Allen shook his head once. “Nothing so far, everything seems normal…” he paused midway.

“Is something wrong?” West narrowed his eyes sensing the hesitation in his voice.

Allen was silent for a moment. He had a bad feeling, something was wrong with the readings that he was getting. Nothing, dangerous but…a gut feeling. Was that enough reason to make the others worry?

Did he have the right to make them worry about his gut feeling?!

“Allen!” West called out. The Julian was darting from Allen to West in worry but choose to stick to the sidelines.

Allen shuddered. His head jolted to look up at West who was eyeing him slowly and carefully. He regretted locking eyes with West. He took a deep breath while closing his eyes. He had to tell him, he would understand. West would understand him, he was sorry that he was going to make them worry when there was no room for it but…it was better than having them dead because he refused to speak his mind.

By the time Allen opened his eyes to return his attention to West, he was interrupted by the figure that came out of the shadows behind West.

“Scarlet!” Allen exclaimed. The others turned to follow his gaze.

“What are you doing here?” West wasted no time, eyeing her from head to toe as she changed her clothes into another one of their uniforms. The glamorous figure that she had was gone now that she was dressed like them. However, her delicate and simple features never changed. It took West a moment to convince himself not to stare.

“I figured that you might be a little short on men,” Scarlet brightly said.

“What about the Banquet?” West narrowed his eyes. Hating the idea of her absence to cause any problem.

“No one notices I’m even there,” she spoke every word slowly. “Why don’t you just take my offer of help?”

West ran a rough hand through his blonde hair, it took Scarlet strength not to drool over his appearance and sweaty forehead. She shuddered. What the hell was she thinking?!

“You return now and that’s final,” West said as he turned his back to her refusing to take this any further. Allen’s eyes were fixed to the screen and his expression wasn’t getting any better.

“Any news, Allen?” said West.

Julian moved to Scarlet’s side offering her some comfort as she clenched her fists next to her. All she wanted was to help! She hated it the first time that he said that her role ends by letting them in. This wasn’t how she worked! She wanted to be out there in the comfort of the bullets raining on her, carrying her life on her sleeves. Now he was expecting her to just sit quietly as they did all the work!

“Nicholas I’m not going back,” she said through a tightened jaw. It has been ages since she called him by his first name, and it did the effect that she hoped for.

He halted and turned to look over his shoulder. His eyes were two shades darker, he hated it clearly. This wasn’t the time that she could blackmail him into letting her stay.

“Scarlet you are acting childish,” he spat out. He turned to face her, she couldn’t help but notice how bad he limped. He was tired – they all are, and she was only making it worse.

“And your childish acts could get us all screwed and very dead!” he yelled out as he pointed his index at her, it felt as if it pierced through her heart right through her chest.

They were all stopped dead and staring at the show. Even Allen was for a moment before he turned back to his screen. The hallway was dead except for the sound of Allen’s fingers on the keys.

West hated that he had to snap at her like that but it was the only choice. “Allen you were going to say something,” he turned to face him.

“S-Something is wrong West,” Allen cried out as his hands stopped moving. “There is something wrong. There is no disturbance outside, it’s too quiet there aren’t even footsteps. It’s as if there is not a soul over there. There should…”

“Allen! Talk so that we understand!” Julian interrupted first. Scarlet was sulking yet listening to Allen’s breakdown.

“It’s already been over an hour. They should be here by now but they are not,” Allen stated while taking a deep breath. “No disturbance on the ground, no sound detected. It’s like they aren’t even there but that’s not possible because it has been too long.” He waved his hand back and forth with every word mirroring the tension that’s in his voice.

“What does that mean, Allen?!” West hissed. Denial was eating at his insides.

“It…it means that…”

“It means that you are wrong, Rebels”.