From The Ashes [#NaNoWriMo16]

Chapter Seventeen - Quinton Mattos

"Don't you think this guy needs to be stopped before the entire world is destroyed?" Issey asked him, frowning, and Quin shrugged.

"Well, yeah," he protested. "But why are we the ones to stop him?"

"I know it's really confusing," Arlo told him. "I'm kinda lost myself. But honestly, if I get the chance to stop this bastard from killing everybody, then I could probably go home to my family. I'll be able to sleep at night."

"I won't," Quin admitted, his eyebrows creased up as he gestured around the room. "I have nothing to go back to. You all have a reason for being here, I'm sure, but what's mine? All I have to come back to is this."

"Then you have nothing to lose," Issey replied with a small shrug. Quin looked at her, and took in what she was telling him. She was right, though. He didn't have any reason not to help Reichon, despite all the hardships it's given him in the past. It was because he had nothing to go back to that made it seem all the more worthwhile. Maybe he'd have something when he was done, but in the meantime, he needed to do this. Maybe not for Reichon, or any of these people, but for him. Just so he knew that he could do something good, considering all the people the 'other guy' had killed with his face. So he nodded, stepping back to let Helio continue.

"I can certainly take you from there," Helio assured Kida, "but you need to be there for me to come get you. If you get ambushed, I cannot help you."

"We can manage," Kida scolded him. "Just look; we have a crazy sword lady with poisons in her belt, we have a woman with two axes heavier than myself, we have an assassin who literally cannot be heard, and we have a psycho that managed to slit my throat somehow. Trust me, we'll be fine."

"What about me?" Arlo protested, and Kida raised an eyebrow at him.

"You have a stick," she reminded him, as if that was evidence enough.

"I've actually almost killed someone with this thing," he shot back, and Issey raised an eyebrow.

"I don't believe it," she scoffed. "Not you, no way."

"Yes way," he exclaimed. "I was running around with my mates one day on Ioven Island, and these guys came up to us and threatened us, telling us to hand over our money. But this stick saved my life; I friggin swung it around the back of his head and stuck it in the back of his head, then he fell forward and hit it again. He almost died, but we have a good healer, so he didn't. Good for him, right?"

"I'm proud of you!" Kida cried, ruffling Arlo's hair up with her fist. He growled, shoving her off.

"Back off," he muttered, tousling his own hair to make it how he liked it. Kida grinned, and Issey rolled her eyes.

"I will go talk to Ryia," Hallee said quietly, moving past everyone to step outside as well. Quin watched her go, tilting his head sideways. Only a few days. They'd all known each other a few days, and they were already treating each other like they had no family. As Helio spoke to Kida, Quin approached Issey with his arms crossed over his chest as he thought.

"What happened to everyone's families?" he asked suddenly, and she turned to him, eyes wide.

"Their families?" she echoed, and he nodded, studying her eyes.

"There's no way everyone would abandon their families for something like this," he commented, "unless they were doing it for their families. What happened? Why is everyone alone?"

Issey hesitated, but then sighed, moving so she was standing beside him as they overlooked the room. "Arlo's parents kicked him out a few months ago," she explained quietly, looking at the half-elf who was drawing a picture in the sand on the stones. "He then got me out of the palace's cells in Voleai, which was a huge weight off my shoulders."