Chapter Nineteen: Hercules's Brave Part Two

“Out of this city,” Marseille said. “Out there. See the world. Go on adventures.”

I lost a word for a moment there. “W-w-what makes you say that?”

She chuckled, “You didn’t come out here just to get some fresh air.”

My cheeks pinked to my embarrassment, then reddened when she flew close to me again.

“Call it a woman’s intuition, but I think you and I are pretty much alike.”

“Alike? H-how?”

Marseille jumped back on the merlon, gazing at the city again. “Here we are, standing alone in the middle of the night, looking beyond this city, beyond those mountains, wondering what’s out there.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Sure, there are many dangers in the Yellow Zone, but there are other Blue Zones and wonderful places as well. Sometimes I wish I could go out there and visit them all.”

“And leave all your problems behind,” I agreed with a sigh.

She nodded. “But something weighing us down that we couldn’t.”

I knew the answer to that. “Responsibilities.”

“See, Sam.” She grinned. “We’re both alike. The only difference is that you are a newcomer. You have a choice to stay here or get out there. All it takes is a leap of faith.”

What Marseille said was all true. I had thoughts about leaving this city. With Hercules’s powers and the thousands of chaffs stashed in my apartment, I might survive out there in the Yellow Zone. Like she said, all it took for me was a leap of faith. However —

“I wish I could leave. All my responsibilities are back on Earth.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

Before I could respond, memories of my time with Wilt and the gang flashed in my thoughts. I almost cracked a smile as I answered truthfully, “I have friends. I can’t just abandon them.”

“Good for you,” she heaved a long sigh, “I have real responsibilities.”

We went quiet once again.

Wanting to break this silence, I opened my thoughts out loud. “You know, if I want to leave everything behind, all I need to do is to have enough money to survive out there until I find a decent job and a place to live. Sure, I’ll be struggling at first, but things will get better in the long run.”

“That’s a great idea!”

I blinked. “Huh?”

“Run away and leave everything behind,” she said. “I can do that too.”

“B-but, that’s….” Trying to think of a reason for her not to proceed with that idiotic plan of mine. I didn’t want to be a bad influence on her. “Are you willing to leave all your responsibilities behind? That’s — you know, a leap of faith. Like you said.”

“Leap of faith, huh?” she chuckled bitterly, then her shoulders sank. “You’re right. How stupid of me.”

I felt guilty for saying that. Wishing to cheer her up, then I just remembered the chocolate squares inside my coat. I took the chocolates out and unwrapped the tissues before offering them to her.

“Would you care for some?”

“Chocolate,” she gasped. “I love chocolates.” Before she could pick one, she noticed something odd about them. “What’s with these colors? Why are those ones green?”

“They’re different flavors.” I pointed my finger at each of them. “These are dark chocolate, and these are salted caramel, and these are green tea.”

“Green tea?” Out of curiosity, Marseille took that piece first. Her lips wiggled to her delight upon placing it into her mouth. She gobbled all the green tea-flavored chocolates, enjoying every morsel. “Where can I get those?”

“There’s plenty back in the hall, along with twenty-five other flavors.”

“There are more of them,” she gasped. “I’m going inside.” She jumped into the air and landed in front of the entrance.

“Wait, Marseille! You need an invitation for you to get in.”

She stopped to beam at me over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’m from the Dragonheart Guild. I can get into this par-tay anytime I want.”

So Marseille was from Dragonheart. After gathering some clues about who she was, and the fact that she said, “Real responsibilities.” This girl must be one of its high-ranking members.

Before Marseille could step inside, she glanced back. “Aren’t you coming?”

“I just ate,” I replied with an excuse not to go back in the hall.

“Do you have room for more desserts? I could still use a company there.”

“But, there are other Dragonhearts inside the hall, and King Magnus’s in there too.”

“I know, but Magnus told everyone to leave me alone, so I’m free to do anything until I settle the issues with my boyfriend.”

“Is he in there?” I asked reluctantly.

She smiled again. “Don’t worry about that jerk. He’s on a quest somewhere. So, how about guiding me to those treats.”

“I don’t know.” Wanting to decline, I gestured to the chocolates in my hand. “Also, I already have these.”

“Come on,” she begged. “We’ll be back here once we grab more, please.”

I thought very hard about this. As much as I didn’t want to get stared at again, there was no harm for me to go back, and she did say we would return here once I helped her little quest.

“Alright, I’ll take you there.”

“Yay!” She shot her arms in the air.

We headed inside, munching the rest of my chocolates along the way. Marseille stated she enjoyed the green tea flavor more than the others. Too bad that I didn’t get to taste one.

Back in the hall, we stealthily approached the long tables. As we stood in front of the twenty-eight chocolate fountains, Marseille’s wide eyes sparkled.

“I think we found El Chocolato, the lost city of chocolate,” Marseille said, letting her imagination ran wild. She must be getting her inspiration from El Dorado, the lost city of gold.

“Which one would you like to pick first?” I grabbed a few paper plates nearby.

“Green tea, I love them.” She paused for a bit until her face frowned. “Great, he saw us.”

“Who?”

“Magnus.” Across the hall, the King of Dragonheart was giving us a small wave with a toothy grin.

“Are w-w-we in t-t-trouble?”

“Just him.” Marseille pouted. “Wait here, Sam. I’m going to talk to that dummy for a second.” She angrily marched toward her king. I was impressed that she was going to confront him and call him by his first name. I was right about her.

“Ahem.”

All the hairs on my skin shot themselves straight. That was Katie’s voice. Upon turning around, I was stunned to see Katie and Brock grinning ear-to-ear.

“Smooth, Sammy, smooth,” Brock exclaimed. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Who’s the girl?” Katie asked. “She’s beautiful.”

“No, no, you got it all wrong. I was only guiding Marseille to the chocolate fountains.”

“She has a French name.” Katie’s grin grew wider. “Oh, la, la.”

“No, she’s Danish.” Crap! I shouldn’t have said that. They were going to tease me more.

She gasped, “And you already got to know her.”

“That’s our Sam.” Brock slapped my back with his metal hand. I grunted in pain.

The two kept teasing me until I glowed red, wishing I had my hoodie coat right now to bury my face in shame.

“Knock it off, you two.” Alex arrived with Wilt and Li from behind. “Is this what you called, little encouragement? We’ve talked about this,” she scolded.

“You heard the lady,” Wilt said.

“Sorry.” Brock and Katie chorused to apologize.

Alex motioned me to go after Marseille. “Go have fun, Sam.”

I blinked. “But, she’s from Dragonheart.”

“Does that matter?” Katie said. “Look around us. Everybody here is supposed to be enemies, though they’re having a good time. Tonight, we can do whatever we want.”

“So go to her,” Wilt coaxed. “We’ll be far away from you two.”

“Just be yourself, okay?” Alex added.

I blew a sigh of relief. Having my friends’ support, I gathered up some confidence to go with Marseille. Well, it wasn’t like we were dating or anything.

“Hercules’s Brave!”

The pupils of my eyes immediately contracted.

Hercules’s Brave. Those words caught the ears of every person in the whole castle. In an instant, voices went silent, all the feet on the dance floor ceased tapping, and lastly, the music stopped. Chills were shivering down my spine as every gaze in the hall fell upon me, but my biggest concern was the group of nine approaching us. Seeing Del Rio was among them, they must be from the Jormungand Guild.

Cold sweat started running down my forehead. There was no way for me to escape back outside, so I turned to the guy standing in front of them. He must be their leader.

“What are you talking about?” I kept my tone calm and held my shaky legs.

“Come now, how else can you explain the truck you lifted in the air?” His voice! It was him who called me out. He ordered Del Rio to pull out her cell phone, showing everyone a video of me beating up the raiders. I was astounded that they figured out my powers.

“Sam, is it true?” Katie asked, surprised. “Are you Hercules’s Brave?”