It's like the walls are caving in

This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. A deep frown came on his forehead and he slightly shook his head in confusion. He did not want her to know that he was aware of whatever was going on in the world. It was best if she didn’t, which meant he had to lie to her.

“What?” The word rolled off his lips swiftly, his voice layered with faked confusion. “What should I know?” It felt wrong to lie to her, yet here he was. He kept things from people for years, and he could only hope that would help him in this situation. The less people knew about this whole thing, the better. If she had indeed discovered the same item as he had, it made him wonder if she had also received the same assistance.

“If you think Sāng has already told me, he hasn’t. We are not exactly on good terms right now. You are the first one to speak to me about this.” The words easily left his mouth. Perhaps too easy. They were not a lie however.

The words spoken by the fortune teller echoed in his own mind. She had talked about people walking the dark path around him. Then there had been the clear anger radiating from the spirits as he left the tent to join Lucina. What if they meant Lucina? In a way, it made perfect sense. Yet back then he had been blind to it.

Míngzé hoped she would believe him, but it was hard to say. The voice of her phone revealed nothing, neither would her expression. A silent sigh escaped from his lips. All he could do was pray that she did in fact believe him. Lucina was done talking about this, but he wasn’t. “Why would that be?” It was too late for that anyway, he was in it already with no easy way out.

The sirens that had first been distant, now sounded close by and it did not take long before they were right at the door. “Let me help you get outside,” Míngzé said, extending his hand. He would support her until they were outside, and then they could take over. Then he would join them towards the hospital.

Even if she had been willing to talk before, she no longer wanted to do so now. Míngzé gave her a short nod. “Alright.” Trying to pry answers from her would not work. All he could do was wait and hope that she would reveal more to him. For now it had to wait. Help has arrived, which was their first priority.

As they traveled towards the hospital, Míngzé stayed at her side for as long as he was allowed to. He did not say much and only listened to what the doctors and nurses had to say about her condition. That was when his mind was not drifting off.

If she had indeed found something similar, he understood why Sāng had taken it away from her. For that reason, he also could not be angry at him. While they had a fallout a few days ago, he still trusted the man. Far more than he trusted Lucina. Too much about her was unknown. He did wonder how exactly she acquired hers, and how many similar objects there were. What would she even want to do with it and why had she been carrying it around?

Those questions were haunting his mind and he was desperately trying to come up with answers to all of them while he waited. At some point Míngzé had his phone in his hand, thinking about sending Sāng a text anyway. Yet he was not sure if it was a good idea. As long as Sāng had it, it was in safe hands. Yet this meant his previous efforts to keep both Sāng and Vince away from that thing had ultimately been in vain.

As this was not an emergency, it all still took a while. Too long in fact. With this new found information, he did not want to stay here. There were questions that needed answers, but he would not find them here. Míngzé waited, his legs crossed and his foot tapping the air. Sometimes he picked up parts of the conversation, but he was mostly too distracted. At some point he found himself with a cup of coffee in his hands, which made the waiting less terrible.

Míngzé was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt a soft pulling at his sleeve. After blinking a few times and taking a deep breath, he came back to the land of the living. “Is it done?” Already he straightened his back, ready to stand up.

“I assume you want to go home now?” Míngzé asked as he grabbed his cane. It was his spare one and not foldable so it had been standing behind him against the wall. Next he stood up and offered his hand. He would call her a cab and pay for it if necessary.

With this whole visit to the hospital it had been a long day. Míngzé wanted nothing more than to go home and decide upon his next course of action. “Right, lead the way,” he said with a nod after hearing that she needed to pick up her medicine. The interior of the hospital was fairly unfamiliar to him, meaning once more she had to be his eyes.

Not knowing what to say, Míngzé remained quiet. It had been easier when the doctor had been present, but now that they were alone, the silence weighed heavily in the air. He wanted to ask her how she felt, how her jaw was. Normal questions. He kept them to himself however as he noticed Lucina using her phone. So she did want to talk about it some more. Míngzé turned his head towards her for a moment.

“It was foolish of you to risk your life,” Míngzé decided to say. Perhaps he was not the right one to say this to her, knowing full well he had done the exact same thing. A deep sigh escaped. “Do you know what it is or does? You said it gave you answers.” He would not admit that he knew what she was talking about, but there was no harm in asking more questions.

They headed out of the Hospital after getting her medicine, the fresh air a nice change. It felt like his heart skipped a beat as she told him about the dangerous power these objects might possess. Míngzé was glad Sāng had done what he did, even if the result had been a broken jaw. “All the more reason to stay far away from it.” Except that he couldn’t, as it was hidden away in his home.

Having a conversation like this was anything but easy. Each time he had to wait for her to type the message before they could continue. In a way it gave him more time to think and process everything. His eyes narrowed slightly as she continued her explanation. “You are not making any sense,” he said shaking his head. Except that she was. Her story aligned in a way with his own. Míngzé was lucky he held his cane in one hand and Lucina’s arm in the other, or he would’ve reached for his stomach.

He could still remember the voice that had spoken to him back in that temple. The laughing still haunted him. It was best if Lucina remained ignorant of the things that happened to him. “You mean this ‘deity’ has been with you all this time? Does it often talk to you?” A concerned expression had taken over, his mind once more going back to the warnings of the fortune teller. Just who was this girl next to him? He could feel his trust in her slipping away as realization broke through.  

Míngzé knew he had to be careful with what he said, especially if he wanted to keep up his own facade. It was not easy, but he was managing. While he did not learn much that was news to him, he was now certain that she had found the same thing as he had. It made him wonder if there were more and what they could do.

“Surely you do not trust them, if you nearly died because you made a mistake.”Míngzé knew he didn’t trust them. No matter the fact that he was standing here right now because of them. Even though he agreed to an alliance. It did not mean that he trusted them. Not after everything he’d heard so far. Yet, a part of him was still grateful. No matter what, the affinity that had felt more like a curse, was gone. Not a day had passed wherein he’d missed the Ghost Affinity.

Softly he tugged on her arm, asking Lucina to stand still. “Perhaps it is for the better that you’ve parted ways with it. This item I mean. It does not sound like it has done you much good anyway.” With a calm gaze he looked at her, trying to have some sort of eye contact. “If you even think about getting it back from Sāng, just forget it. You can’t win against his pokémon, they are too strong.” And they will certainly be guarding it one way or another.  

Míngzé breathed in a sharp breath at her response. From what he knew, this deity nearly let her die because of a mistake she made. The only reason she survived was because she had that item on her person. It did not at all sound like this Deity had saved her in any way. Not when they were the one to put her into danger in the first place. Slowly he shook his head. “Not want I meant,” Míngzé said without elaborating on it further. His own feelings towards this Deity were complicated, but trust was not part of it.

For now however, she would not go after the piece Sāng had stolen. That is if he could believe her word on it. Taking it back right now would be suicide anyway. “Good.” With things the way they were now, he had at least time to think it all through. “Has it at least given you the answers you’ve been looking for?” That was what all of this was for, right? Because Lucina wanted to know more about herself. As far as he was aware, these things held no information at all. Unless she knew more about it than he did.

This Deity she spoke of hadn't provided him much reason to place complete trust in them. It was why he wanted to warn Lucina in a way, but he feared she was blind to it. Or perhaps she knew and simply didn’t care. If the Fortune Teller had meant her, she was just as trustworthy as this Deity. Míngzé could only wait and see if this would change in the future.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Míngzé asked carefully. So far it did not seem like she was willing to fully open up to him, which was fine. Still, Míngzé wanted to give her the opportunity to do it if she wanted to. The more she told him, the better.

Meanwhile Míngzé came to a halt once more, grabbing his phone in his hand. They both still had to get home and he had to fix a cab for her. It was then that the thought crossed his mind that maybe he should warn Xīyuàn. She had provided Lucina a place to stay at her own home. It was a good thing Xīyuàn wasn’t currently here, so for now he saw no reason why he should alert her about these recent developments.

From what Míngzé had gathered, everything she did was to discover more answers, yet he doubted that was what she’d found. Each time he asked something related to those answers, he barely ever got a reply. It made him wonder if she had discovered anything at all, or that she was simply clinging to the idea. A silent sigh rolled over his lips as he nodded. “Alright.” For now the mystery that was Lucina remains.

A smile broke through as she promised him that she would tell him if she ever knew more. “Please do, you are not alone in this.” Or at least, that hinged on the information she would uncover. She too had help from a Deity, one that he did not fully trust and when she left the mountains an artifact had also been in her hands. It made him wonder if she was somehow more closely connected to all of this.

In the meanwhile he had managed to order a cab. “A cab will soon be here to drive you home,” Míngzé told her. He would take the bus home as that was cheaper, and he wished some time alone to think all of this through.