Trust

Chapter 17

The room was silent, at first they thought that they were seeing things since they didn't think that the High Leader would actually show up, not after being gone for so long. They could all feel some anger boiling beneath their skin seeing as she was only showing up now, after so much has happened, and the same day as they could have used her help two times. Where, with Astaria's help, they could have dealt with, or at least tried to, the admins and watchers from 800-900 years ago who sent chills down their back, instead of just being able to push them back, where they would have to deal with them another day. "Where the ⎓⚍ᓵꖌ have you been?" Gryff yelled, the tone shocking everyone back from their frozen states, it wasn't often when Gryff cursed so his hearing him swear felt like ice water had been dropped on everyone's heads.

Even Lysabel was surprised, and she had known Gryff for a long time. She was pissed as well so she followed up by saying, "We have just fought two battles in a row against people without even a word from you! The last message we got was you just telling us you were still around after the shift in the alternate reality and you weren't even here to help us after being put threw that mess!"

The council members were less surprised at Lysabel's outburst, out of the two she was normally the one whose tongue would not mess around with what she wanted to say.

The High Leader, who had now flown down to the ground was yet to say anything, or even make a move. So Zyrex, being the impulsive watcher that he is, decided to air out his own frustrations, "We have no idea where you have been and everything has gone to ᓭ⍑╎ℸ ̣!"

Kelin then yelled, "The people of the Main City rely on you!"

Erin followed by saying, "We rely on you too!"
"∴ᒷ'⍊ᒷ ᔑꖎᒲ𝙹ᓭℸ ̣ ↸╎ᒷ↸ ᒲ⚍ꖎℸ ̣ ╎!¡ꖎᒷ ℸ ̣ ╎ᒲᒷᓭ," Tori said, a mix of anger and sadness filling her face.

"You're meant to be the leader of us, you're the High Leader! But you haven't been here!" Hayden cried.

"So many people have been hurt during the battles, I'm honestly surprised there have been no deaths," Neferus said.

"We've barely had any sleep since we've had to keep fighting," Blaze screamed out.

Cirrus, who was also normally a calm person, frustrated, screamed out, "How do we know that you won't just disappear again when we need you the most!"

"You know I thought that after all those times you comforted each of us when we were crying on the roof that you actually cared. I guess I was wrong. You only cared for us when you were safe, when you wouldn't get hurt," Via said, in a cold tone.

Xelqua was the last of the council members to yell out, "Why has somebody who we've only recently met helped us more than you have,"
Then both Lysabel and Gryff spoke, venom lacing the words that they spoke, "How are we meant to trust you!"

The last two words that were shouted out echoed around the room, almost making the room feel colder as each reflection of the noise came back to the council members repeatedly.

The others all seemed to share the sentiment as everyone glared towards the High Leader, if she reacted in any way as each member aired their frustrations they couldn't see with her mask on, and she didn't move her body in any way that would have given away how she perceived the anger that was thrown her way. There was a cold air in the room now, not the same as what they had just experienced from the watchers and admins that Astaria has sent back, that was a painful kind of cold. The cold surrounding them now came from the council members, one that was like standing in front of a fan on a summer's day, but they guessed that for the High Leader, it would be a sharper kind of cold as it was directed at her. Lysabel could see how the High Leader's aura didn't seem to move either, not the air between them became colder. No one was saying anything, they wanted to say more, scream more, about how things had been, how tired they'd been and how she wasn't there for any of it, but they wanted to see if she was going to reply to anything they said. To see if she had known what had happened, they all thought she must have after all, so then why wasn't she there, they wondered. What was she going to say to explain her absence, to explain why they had to trust a stranger that appeared at the same time as the threat they were facing over someone who helped bring the war to an end in the first place, they asked themselves.

There was a couple more seconds of silence before the High Leader spoke, with there still being no visible movement, "I suppose I should clear some things up,"

Blaze, also being a very impulsive person, cried out with a bit of hysteria in his voice, "Should? Obviously!"
"Blaze," Via said, even though she completely agreed with what he was saying, she knew that this was for the High Admin and High Watcher to deal with, as they had the biggest burden when the High Leader disappeared.

"He's not wrong," Lysabel said, more venom lacing her tone, it felt as though it was a serpent going in for a kill on its prey, "It's the least you own us for everything that is happening. Maybe you could tell us what you were off doing since we know that you weren't anywhere inside of ᓵ||∷╎ℸ ̣ ⍑⚍∷╎ᓭ since we know that you weren't here! Some of us spend ages seeing if we could find you because we needed help!"

All of the council members felt that feeling of betrayal sinks inside of them, they had been fighting, barely getting any rest and they had no idea where she was. They all had some sadness because of the feeling of betrayal, and that they couldn't trust her any more, but it was covering up. Covered up by the anger that had been collected that boiled over the moment they saw her emerge from the balcony that she always did, coming in silence rather than with an apology, one that they definitely deserved. Lysabel's anger then ignited another spark within Gryff who again let out a shout as the anger that had festered inside of him since the incident with the alternate reality, exploded out for another time, "We know nothing about you! Lysabel and I have known you for 100 years but we don't even know what you look like! No one knows what you look like! Do you not trust us either?" His voice changed to a plea at the end, he could feel himself holding back tears of sadness thinking that someone he looked up to might not trust him, and anger because he felt betrayed by the person who saved him 100 years ago. Someone who wasn't afraid to go against what had been in place for a millennium, but he also knew that he wouldn't cry, he would not shed a tear, not now, not for her, he wouldn't give her that, not as he still bared wounds from the battles that she didn't fight.

"I guess we'll just have to change that," She said.
Her hands slowly started to move up to her face and a light purple mist was barely visible around her fingers as her hands went around the edges of her mask. The council members were once again frozen, and for some, their breath came to a halt, none of them actually believed they would ever get to see her face, a couple of them thought that somehow they ended up in another alternate reality. Her movements were at a regular pace but because of the surprise of the moment, it seemed as though everything was moving in slow motion. Lysabel could see that as she was taking off her mask her aura started to flicker and change, she didn't know why. She never considered that she could be hiding her aura, or changing it, after all, it had always been like that, which made her think that maybe she didn't actually trust them from the beginning. As she began to take off her mask the light purple mist surrounded her from the tips of her wings down to the bottom of her surrounding her. The mask came down from her face and the mist started to glow to the point where the other council members had to look away. When they looked back they saw scarred purple wings, scarred skins, eyes that were white with a cloud of grey in them, and white hair tied into a braid and Lysabel saw her aura change to a mix of purple and red. "Surprise?" Astaria said.

TBC in Book 5, the final book in this series, 'Grian'

WC~ 1526

A/N: Hope you enjoy the penultimate book in the main series (not including the prequel I'm writing). I know some of you guessed the twist so well done! I enjoyed sprinkling hints throughout! I have finished writing the final book so posting will be every week until it ends (and in less than a month the prequel will release all at once)