Unrecognizable

~Chapter Thirty-Four~

Citrus's eyes went wide. "Oooh, murder?" Her voice twinged with obvious excitement. Sage was such a boring person-- he 'refused to hurt anyone more than needed'-- so hearing that was unexpected. Her tail swished. "Can I help?" Not that her job was already super important, but this sounded like it might be more fun than pretending to be a spoiled kitten.

But her hopes were immediately squashed. "Wh- no! I'm not killing anyone," Sage immediately yelped. Digging his fingertips into his forehead, the faux-Hermit muttered, "Jeez, is that all you think about?" ...Did he think that Citrus couldn't hear him? No, he probably knew she could hear full well. "No, it's... no. Just no." And that was apparently that, as he went back to scribbling in his notebook. His handwriting was equivalent to chicken scratch.

"Fine." The cat rolled her eyes, but still did not leave. After all, she wasn't just here to annoy Sage. Though she was quite good at that, and did it whenever she could. Honestly, Sage probably hated her, and he wouldn't be wrong in doing so. "Anyway, guess what I found out."

Reluctantly, Sage dog-eared his page in his notebook and set it aside. "Right, this. What is it?" He was clearly trying to seem uninterested but was failing miserably. "Anything of actual use?"

"Oh, yes," she assured the other. "Scar and the one that kills all the birds-"

"-Grian," Sage intervened, rolling his eyes. "His name is Grian."

Citrus chuckled. "Of course. Scar and Grian are coming over here in a few days to snoop around." Sage's eyes widened slightly, and the cat smirked. Who's job was important now? "Remember our plans to go visit Grumbot? It would be quite coincidental if we just happened to be there to notice the two idiots flying towards the base, wouldn't it?" Her tail swished mischievously, and she peered into Sage's amber eyes expectantly, looking for an answer.

And Sage did not disappoint. A smile ghosted his face. "Well, I just went over to Him last night, and He was rather adamant in His refusal... although..."

"I can be rather convincing," the cat finished. She purred, jumping back onto the cell. "So? How does that sound?"

After a moment, Sage grinned widely. Was this the first time he actually seemed to enjoy her company? Perhaps. "It sounds like you might not be so bad after all."

----------------------

Present day

Sage's POV-

There was a whoosh of an arrow, cutting off a panicked yelp. And then she was gone. Quite literally. A flurry of orange particles was all that was left of her, and those too quickly dissipated.

What.

What just happened.

It didn't quite register. In fact, nothing registered. The world faded away, and Sage's vision dimmed. He was hardly aware that he was now on the ground. Not a single word entered his mind. No, there was just a void there now. Was it raining? There was some liquid falling onto the ground from his face. He heard a whimper, and it seemed to grow louder. Who was that?

It was him. He was crying.

But he didn't feel sad. He didn't feel anything at all. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sage was still. His body was still as a statue, kneeling on the ground, staring into nothingness. His mind was empty as well, devoid of any emotion, thought, or action. It was as if the entire world ceased to exist.

It lasted for thirty seconds, a minute, ten minutes, an hour, or years. Who could tell? When nothing was no longer anything, time was a measurement that wasn't real.