Resonance

After what happened in the temple, Victor had taken some time to process everything he’d learned, seen and experienced, focusing on school and the ordinary day-to-day to at least let it seem like he had a firm grip on his life. He knew Archie would be there for him, but he didn’t want him to witness another meltdown like last week. Nothing had truly happened after all. He’d made it out alive, that was all that mattered, and now he had to find out what it all meant.

There was one person Victor had talked to about affinities before and so he’d called Mingze and asked him if it was alright for him to come over. Victor wasn’t sure yet what he wanted to share with the other, but he did know that their last conversation had helped him; and he was curious what Mingze had discovered on his own search.

Victor had recognised the address as soon as he’d received it. It was the same building where he’d dragged a severely hurt Sang to last year and where his friend still lived currently. Now, he stood in the familiar hallway on the bottom floor, but pressed another button, ringing the bell to Mingze’s apartment.

Once he was let in, Victor went up the stairs and through the front door that was already open for him. “No, thank you,” he answered Mingze’s question whether he would like something to drink. Right now, he wanted to get to the reason for his visit as quickly as he could.

Going into the living room, Victor didn’t notice the faint darkness radiating of the artefact Mingze had hidden, and anything he did feel, he shook off as his imagination. After all, he was still on edge from what had happened in the temple so it probably was just his nerves. “It’s good to see you again,” Victor said with a smile, greeting Mingze. “Thank you for letting me come over.” His own place wasn’t really suitable to receive guests with how small it was.

“Did you find out anything about your affinity?” Victor got straight to the point. Last time he’d seen Mingze, the other had been looking for a way to get rid of it and Victor wanted to hear more about that before he did his own story.

After sitting down, Victor immediately asked the question he’d been wondering about ever since Mingze first told him about his goal. He still wasn’t sure what he wanted to tell the other about his own quest, so he wanted to find out more about Mingze’s search first.

Victor raised his eyebrows when Mingze answered positively. He’d found information on the internet about a key near Opaline Beach that had cured someone else of their affinity, but hadn’t been able to find anything himself. Nodding thoughtfully, Victor went over the new information in his head. “Did you find out what the key was?” he asked. The book he’d found in Xerneas’ temple had said that the artefact in the room held transformative powers and the first theory that had sparked in Victor’s mind was that maybe it could be used for what Mingze sought: the transformation of an affinity. What if this key this person had spoken of was the same thing Victor had almost lost his life to?

Asking Mingze about his affinity of course resulted in him getting the question back. “No,” he tried to reassure the other. “I even got some more control over it.” Victor smiled. He still wore his gloves to be sure, but he now knew that he didn’t have to fear the slightest touch.

Despite Mingze's efforts, the true nature of the key remained a mystery. Victor nodded in thought when the other said that even though he was still stuck with his affinity, he wouldn’t be held back from finding a way. Internally Victor couldn’t help but feel a pang of concern at those words. If Mingze’s search led him anywhere near what Victor had uncovered… Victor didn’t want his friend’s determination to lead to his death.

Victor smiled when Mingze told him it was good to hear that he now had better control over his affinity. If someone had told Victor about his progress with his affinity a month ago, he wouldn’t have believed them, but through the trust others had in him he’d let them help him. He was eternally grateful for Archie’s kindness and Sang’s willingness to break his resolve until he was annoyed into letting the other touch his arm.

The downside of getting to business as soon as he’d gotten here was that Mingze also wanted answers. While Victor didn’t want to tell the other everything, he was sure of one thing: “I want to warn you.” The artefact he’d encountered was dangerous and he was scared of what Mingze might come across if he further sought to find a way to remove his affinity. “I tried to learn more about my affinity like I told you I would, but it only led to danger, to darkness.” He paused for a moment, letting the meaning of his words sink in. “It would’ve killed me if I hadn’t gotten out,” he finished with to put weight behind his warning. He wasn’t going to tell Mingze about the artefact, afraid the other might disregard his words and be tempted to go look for it himself, but he could share the peril of his journey.

Had he said too much? Victor tried to analyse Mingze’s reaction; when the other finally spoke, Victor decided it was simply concern he’d seen. He’d be worried as well if someone told him they had almost been killed by darkness. “It—” Victor stopped. Thinking back on the experience was still difficult and he had to focus on his breathing to get the words out. “It was similar to the poison that gave me my affinity: it wanted to take hold of me, control me, but not just that—” A shiver ran down his spine. There was one way in which the darkness had been different from the poison. The poison had given him an option: accept it or die. “It wanted to extinguish all the light in me.” The darkness had wanted him dead; he could only tell the tale because he’d found a hidden way out at the last moment.

Victor doubted whether to answer the second question. If he told Mingze where he’d been, the man could easily go there if he desired to and Victor wanted to prevent that at all costs. On the other hand, Mingze already knew that he was going to Xerneas’ tree from their last conversation so even if he didn’t say anything the man could probably peace at least that together himself. “It was near Xerneas’ tree,” Victor went with, leaving out that he’d gone into the temple. “I was looking for information on affinities when the shadows in the room started to grow. I could barely move or think. I—It’s dangerous. I know you’re looking into affinities as well so I wanted to warn you. It was pure luck that I survived. If you come across the same thing… it won’t let you escape.” He wished he could tell Mingze all about the artefact, but he was scared that the other would think it was the crucial piece in his search to get rid of his affinity and would go after it, and so Victor withheld that information.

Insane was a good way to describe it. Sometimes it felt like he was going crazy when, from the corner of his eye, a shadow seemed to move and come closer, only for him to realise he’d imagined it.

Mingze asked the question that had occupied Victor’s mind as well. “It is,” he agreed. “I think it’s to keep it locked up and keep it safe from people.” That still didn’t completely make sense, but maybe this theory would drive home how dangerous the artefact was.

Once Mingze thanked him for the warning, Victor smiled softly. “No problem, I just didn’t want you to stumble upon the same thing.” He’d gotten out, but someone else could come across the artefact and end up not being so lucky.

Victor shook his head. “No, I didn’t find anything that could help.” He was technically telling the truth. While he’d found the artefact and information on it, he hadn’t found anything good or helpful. Even if the artefact could get rid of affinities, it wasn’t worth it. It was too dangerous.

It wasn’t easy for him to lie. He wanted to help Mingze, but the artefact and the darkness that had surrounded it were just too dangerous. Even if it could get rid of an affinity, Victor couldn’t imagine the prize would be worth it.

Mingze’s sudden eagerness made Victor’s eyebrows scrunch together while he moved a few centimetres back. “Yes I’m sure,” Victor spoke up, observing Mingze’s reaction. He was lying, but there was no way the other could know that.“Why are you so invested in this?” he asked Mingze. “There was nothing. Where would it have come from?” The question was to see why Mingze was so eager to know as, for so far the other was aware, the darkness had come out of nowhere. Victor didn’t understand why the other was so sure it must have come from somewhere. He hadn’t said anything that would indicate the presence of the artefact, right?

The answer Mingze gave didn’t do anything to set Victor back at ease. It was true that it was likely the darkness had come from somewhere, but the other’s eagerness to know where from still disturbed him. “If only I knew what it was,” Victor sighed. He had his theories, but he couldn’t be a hundred percent sure.

“No,” Victor let out, his voice slightly raised. “I came here to warn you, to stop you from stumbling into what I barely escaped from and now you say you might seek it out yourself?” He couldn’t believe Mingze would be willing to risk his own life like that. “It’s dangerous. You can’t go anywhere near it. It won’t help you.” It had wanted his life from him, who knew what it would ask from Mingze in return for the answers he sought?

Victor let out a sigh of relief when Mingze said that perhaps he was right. “I am.” Nothing was worth seeking out that darkness. All it wanted was to kill. Even if it could offer what either of them was searching for, it would ask something impossible in return.

When Mingze asked him if he’d told anyone else about this Victor shook his head, only to realise he had. “Only Archie,” he answered, thinking back on how Archie’d rushed to him, sword ready to fight anything he was facing, when he’d needed him. “But he won’t come anywhere near it.” If anything, Archie was more likely to keep people away from the artefact if he needed to.

“Can I trust you?”

The simple words made Victor look at Mingze intently, studying his expression. Someone didn’t ask that for no reason. There was clearly something Mingze hadn’t been telling him that he was now gauging whether or not to share with him. It was giving Victor the feeling that Mingze had discovered more than he’d been letting on in his search to get rid of his affinity.

“Of course,” Victor answered. Whatever it was the other wanted to share with him, he could trust him.