The plan was simple. We would find, and we would kill, Smiley.
Except, whoever had decided that it was "simple" was a lunatic. Smiley couldn't be contained, and even though he had a nice, alluring bounty above his head, he posed too great of a threat to the city and Gifted. We would have to kill him, which in of itself was a tremendously hard task.
Something about the entire thing kept bugging me, though. Not the plan --- I had gotten over me possibly dying already, and was fully prepared to protect Wilbur until the end --- but the entire Smiley situation itself. We still hadn't found the associate. George and Niki said that they were technically his associates, but not the one we were looking for. I knew it was a bounty hunter. But who could it be?
Tommy, the voices hummed. He admitted to it that night. When will you tell Phil? You promised Tubbo that you'd let Phil handle it.
I continued writing on the paper before me, ignoring them. It didn't matter, not in the broad scheme of things. As long as I dealt with Smiley, Tommy would be fine. He'd be saved from a lot of trouble if Smiley wasn't running wild, making it seem like he had been forced or something to lessen the blow.
It did make me wonder, though. What did Smiley say to him to get him on his side? What had Tommy been doing for him? Probably cause ruckus for Tubbo. Or at least, that was all I hoped.
Tommy hates Gifted. It would've been easy to convince him to join his side.
But he's an innocent child!
...You're delusional.
The sound of my pencil scratching on the surface of the parchment was the only sound apart from the voices, so I focused as hard as I could on that.
I sighed in annoyance and slumped down in my chair. It was getting too dark for me to see the work in front of me, but I didn't want to get up and walk across my room to turn on a light. Philza always said that he'd buy me a desk lamp, but seeing how I was still sitting in the dark, that had clearly completely slipped from his mind.
From where it lay next to my hand, my phone buzzed. I covered my eyes partially with one hand and turned it on, squinting at the bright screen to try and decipher what I had been bugged about.
A text message from Naida popped up. "Hey, plan falls into action tomorrow. You ready?"
Everyone's worried, I thought to myself wryly. Not about me, of course. About whether or not the plan will succeed.
"No," I replied, turning down the brightness of my phone. "Do I seem like I'd ever be ready?"
"You seem like the guy who's ready for everything."
I chuckled. "Clearly, you've been fed false information."
I watched the three dots pop up and dance in the corner for a while before Naida replied. "Do you wanna go to a coffee shop with me to loosen up before your big day?"
It was a nice offer, but one that I didn't need. Coffee would only make me too hyper and possibly lose the little amount of sleep I might get that night. I'd be better off without it.
"Maybe bring Wilbur. I think he needs some comfort as well."
My fingers stalled over the surface of my phone. I didn't need coffee, but Wilbur practically lived off of the stuff. To deny an offer for free coffee would be like the end of the world for him.
Not only that, but we had argued. I disliked arguing with my brother, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make it up to him. No one except for me would argue with free coffee.
"Okay," I texted back. "See you then."
I sat up straighter and stared out the window. I could see figures leaping over the rooftops, running through the dark streets. Bounty hunters. I wondered how many of them would die tomorrow to Smiley's rage.
No one is going to die except for Smiley, I reminded myself firmly. Philza will have it handled. Wilbur will be safe. Tubbo can handle himself. Tommy...
Tommy won't be there. He'll be fine.
Tommy wasn't a Gifted. Smiley had no reason to put him in further harm's way. He was also still young. I didn't think that Smiley would stoop so low as to hide behind children. His ego was too big for that.
I tapped my pencil on the table idly, glancing back at my phone. It didn't seem like a bad idea to relax for a bit before rushing head-on into my possible death. Especially if I could spend that day with Wilbur.
The same bothered feeling came rushing back to me. Everything concerning Smiley bothered me. I felt like I was missing something blatantly obvious, right in front of my face.
I buried my face in my arms and sighed for what felt like the fifteenth time that day.
Even when I was trying to do something about Smiley, I still failed.
***
"Hey, Techno," Naida greeted me.
I gave him a nod in response. We were standing in front of the cafe, where I had found Naida waiting for us at the entrance, his hands in his pockets, wearing a baggy black sweater. He was dressed a lot more casually than me or Wilbur, who had insisted that we wear his fancy dress shirts for the occasion. I felt awkward in the smooth fabric, even more so standing in front of Naida, who was wearing stuff similar to what I'd normally wear in the situation.
It was bad manners to wear a sword to a friendly meeting, but the nerves had finally gotten to me. The day was tomorrow, and I felt the need to prepare today. I had nearly cried an hour or so before when Wilbur missed the last step of the staircase at home and gave a shout as well as a curse, my mind screaming at me that Smiley had gotten to him and he had been killed.
From beside me, Wilbur gave the boy a nod as well. He was wearing a mask, so a smile would've been useless. "Thank you for inviting us."
Naida shrugged. "I figured you guys could use a little pick-me-up before tomorrow."
Wilbur sniffed at the air. Discreetly, I did the same. The smell of fresh coffee was so strong that I almost thought he was going to float through the air and into the cafe.
"Thanks, Naida," I said, following him into the cafe with Wilbur trailing behind me. "You're paying, right?"
Naida laughed. He led us to an empty table next to the large windows, sliding into the spot on the left. I sat across from him, and naturally, Wilbur sat down in the empty seat next to me.
"One coffee, please," Naida called to the boy at the counter. "Three sugar and cream. Thanks."
I glanced out the window. As the days got colder, they also got shorter. It was already dark outside. Despite that, I could see flakes of snow beginning to fall.
A smile crept onto my face. Snow. I loved snow. It brought back happy memories of my childhood, playing in the snow drift with Wilbur, ducking down as Phil shot snowballs at us with the power of a nuke.
"Wilbur," I whispered, nudging him. "Look, snow."
My brother hesitated, probably wondering if I was tricking him or not, then glanced outside as well. A smile to mirror my own one of longing began to spread.
Wistful. That was the word. We all missed our childhoods, when we could run and play and do everything without consequence. When the bad stuff on the news was as far away as the next solar system to me.
Unwillingly, my mind flashed back to my very first conversation with Smiley, that night that my powers kicked in after more than seven years of me refusing to acknowledge their existence.
"But I planned for people to figure that out when they saw his dead body. Looks like she had a different thought process."
"'She?'"
"Did you really think I worked alone? No, not in this instance. So it doesn't matter if I get killed. He'll find another. And so will they."
The "she" was the associate at Tryxel. I knew that for sure. But Smiley said that he had never seen her before.
The "he"... I wasn't too sure about that one. Was it George that he was referring to? I had expected that to be the "they," with him and Niki, maybe even others that I didn't know about.
I must've been staring hard at Naida, even though it was unintentional, because he raised an eyebrow at me and chuckled. "Uh... you okay, Techno?"
"Yeah," I said, shaking my head slightly. "I... just thinking about... the killer... and... his... associate."
I said the last word carefully, testing the waters, as I watched his face for any signs of a reaction. Apart from me, Phil, Tubbo, and possibly Tommy and Wilbur, there wasn't anyone to my knowledge that knew about the associate. But Naida just nodded, like he wasn't surprised. "What do you think?"
I blinked. "What?"
Naida muttered a thanks as the boy brought his cup of coffee, placing it on the table in front of him. I gave the boy a nod as he set down my cup and Wilbur's as well.
"The associate," Naida said. "Who do you think it is?"
"You don't think I'm crazy?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Why would you be?"
Wilbur gave a soft chuckle from beside me and pulled down his mask, raising his cup to his lips. I ignored him. "Come on, no one technically knows what the killer looks like. How could we decide whether he has a helper or not? We don't even have a name for him."
"Sure we do," Naida said, sipping at his coffee. "His name is Smiley."
My brother choked on his coffee. I looked over at him in concern. He waved me off and shook his head.
"How do you know that?" I asked Naida curiously.
Naida simply shrugged. "I went after him, remember? Naturally, the Heads told me the name of my target. I'm surprised all those news reporters haven't put one and one together yet and figured it out. It's not like Smiley had a pristine track record before he started wrecking havoc here." He glanced up at me from over the rim of his cup. "Besides, you knew too. Why are you pretending you don't?"
I froze. "What?" I said, again, like an idiot.
"You knew he was male," Naida said. "Maybe you were just assuming gender, but you don't seem like the type of person to do that. And the way you said 'the killer.' You were hesitant, like you were wondering how much you could trust me with."
"It seems like I was careful for nothing," I said, meeting Wilbur's eyes. There was the hint of a question in them, mixed with confusion and... suspicion.
"Not for nothing," Naida said with another shrug. "You're right to be cautious. Especially nowadays."
My brother set down his cup, which was already empty, and made a grabbing motion towards mine. I gently pushed it towards him. "It's Naida, right?" he asked the boy in question, speaking for the first time since we had arrived.
Naida nodded, meeting Wilbur's gaze coolly. "And you're Wilbur," he said. "I didn't expect you to agree to meeting us here."
Wilbur frowned slightly. "Why not? Free coffee is better than anything."
The bounty hunter shrugged. "Well, even though Techno is your guard, I didn't think you'd agree. You're a busy person, after all."
Right. Naida didn't know we were brothers.
"W-well..." Wilbur stammered. "I... uh..."
Naida leaned back in his chair and smiled. "Don't worry, I can tell. The way you two interact... I guess I finally understand why Techno chased after Smiley that night. You're brothers, aren't you? Cousins, maybe? Related at least, or just very close."
He's so observant, one voice noted in my head. How interesting.
He's kind of cute, another said. You know, in that skater bad boy sort of way. Deffo my type.
"I'm off," Naida said, seemingly oblivious to our sudden, baffled silence. "I better be heading back now."
He slid a couple bills across the table to me, then turned and started towards the door. I watched him as he went, staring at his back, feeling more confused than ever.
My eyes fell on the sheath on his belt, the approximate size for a knife, and suddenly, I found myself thrust back to the day when Smiley had escaped from Tryxel, slaughtering everyone in his way and letting loose some of the worst bounties we had captured. The elated look on his face as he ran past me, the look of one who knew he had won. His knife on his belt, sheathed, as he dashed past me.
Sheathing a knife while it was bloody was an entire mess to have to deal with. If anyone knew that, it would be a killer.
Another scene took over: just a couple minutes before that, down in the holding floor, when I had seen Niki rush past me. I had followed her down, only to find Smiley holding a knife to her throat.
Bodies had littered the ground. I remembered the sickening feeling at seeing all the blood on the ground, forming a river that ran around and between my shoes. But Smiley... his blade had been clean.
So that was why it didn't bug him to sheathe his weapon: he wouldn't have to deal with the painstaking process of cleansing it later on. But if he hadn't been the one to kill everyone, then someone else did.
All the escaped bounties? A possibility, but they would be busy escaping, not letting loose their wrath by killing. Some would probably be seeking a simpler life, free from their past, like Skeppy.
There was also the problem of Smiley being free. Someone had to have let him loose. I had thought that that would be Niki, but after my last talk with her, I knew that it wasn't. Even if she and George were trying to help Smiley, they wouldn't be the ones to let him out like that. The only reason George had protected him that day was because he knew I would try to kill him.
Think. Who else did you see that day?
Plenty of people. Tryxel was never an empty place, and that day had been no exception.
"You're judging."
"Maybe."
"He almost made me spill my boba tea."
That's right... there was someone else Tubbo and I had run into. Someone who had been wearing a friendship necklace, the type that would contain a photo... or maybe the type thick enough to hide something within... something like a key....
Phil's voice filled my head: "What's the name of your accomplice?"
"That falls under the category of 'selling them out.' No."
"How about a hair color, even?"
"Nope. I've never actually seen her before."
Smiley had never seen his accomplice before, but he knew their gender. He spoke confidently about them. I doubted two murderers would talk casually and be like, "Oh, hey, by the way, I'm a girl. You wanna go kill some Gifted for me sometime?"
But by the way he had reacted to Phil asking for a name, Smiley knew the name of his associate. He knew who they were. He definitely knew that they worked for Tryxel.
My gaze snapped up to Wilbur, who had just walked out the door as well, then shifted over towards the shadows of the night. I could vaguely make out a figure standing there, another beside them.
"An interesting name, I know, and meant for a female, but my parents were feeling creative when they named me. At least it's easy to remember."
My brother was a distance away from me when my mind finally registered that he was in trouble.
I was at the door, my hand halfway to the hilt of my sword, when I saw the figure on the left move.
My sword was barely out when I saw him begin to sprint, his knife held out beside him, a crazed smile on his face.
Naida had led us right into a trap. And instead of us baiting Smiley, he had baited us.