Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

XI: something joyful (Part I)

Ch. 11: Something Joyful (Part One)

"You don't want to be dead?" Godo repeated with a confused expression. He frowned even more and massaged his chin. "This is an awful thing to say to someone, Mara. I can't think of anyone here who would want to hurt you."

"There must be a clue in here somewhere. Are you sure you didn't hear or see anything else?" Tai insisted. "Is there anything left of the note?"

Mara shook her head and let Mirtes hug her tighter.

Sitting on a chair at the back of the room, Kiki kept her eyes lowered, swinging her legs back and forth. She looked so tired and scared, Mara's chest tightened even more.

Moments earlier, when Mara's eyes started watering, Kiki had dashed out of the room, promising to bring Mara's friends to help her.

Right now, her entire squad was there for her, with a mix of worry, anger, and disbelief on their faces. For a split second, Mara wondered how her sister could have managed to find them all so quickly, but the thought disappeared from her thoughts while Godo, Tai, and Mirtes barreled her with questions. The only one who looked composed and alert was Bernardo.

He took a step forward and placed a hand on Tai's shoulder.

"Asking the same questions won't change her answers."

Tai huffed and furrowed their brows. "It was a death threat, Bernardo. We can't just ignore this like—"

"We won't ignore it, Taiguara," Bernardo cut in. He took a step forward and looked down to meet Tai's brown eyes. "I would never ignore it."

"Oh, really?" Tai said with a growl. They inched closer to Bernardo, narrowing their eyes. "Because as far as I remember, last time something like this happened to a Sent, you didn't give it the time of day."

Mara frowned, and Bernardo's eyes widened. His hand twitched and moved towards Tai's t-shirt as if to grab it, but Mirtes stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, you two. Godo?"

With a nod and a titan's ease, Godo wrapped an arm around Tai's and Bernardo's necks and tugged them at his sides, separating them like children.

"Good. And you too, Mara," Mirtes said with her sugary, slow drawl. "We'll investigate this, and we won't stop until we find the one behind that threat." She popped a loud kiss on the side of Mara's head. "So don't you worry a single hair on your beautiful head, you listen?"

Mara nodded. "Thank you, Mirtes."

"Yeah," Tai grunted and squirmed away from Godo, slippery like an eel. "We'll have someone with you at all times, Mara. You can count on m—us!"

"At least in that, we can agree." Bernardo glanced at Godo, and it was enough to make the giant let him go. Bernardo completed in a hard tone, adjusting his shirt, "No one will touch you while we're around."

Mara nodded. It felt good to hear those words.

"Thank you, everyone," she mumbled.

***

But maybe she thanked them a little too soon.

"And finally, in the event of a fight, you'll always defer to your senior Sentinel, no questions asked. We may discuss our strategies and talk about our plans here at HQ, but out there in the field, there's no space for individuality." Mirtes clicked a button and the projector clacked to show an image that read teamwork; squad goals. "In our case, since we all started basically together, seniority gives way to rank, and Bernardo, as our squad leader, has the higher one. If we fight alongside other squads, though, you might have to obey people you're not used to working with, and that's why it's so important to be in sync with your squad. Things go downhill pretty fast if you can't count on other people."