The Last Dainv

11:37 AM, August 13, 2070, High Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Not a rift.

Gale sat under a tree, eyes darting everywhere, observing the people in the park with their families. Children ran and played around with a red, brown, orange, black and white, yellow and white balls, screaming and laughing. He pretended to read while observing as not to appear suspicious. This was all to protect the group from any of the kids who might turn into a ghost in broad daylight and start attacking them.

It was a truly important mission.

By the picnic table, near the shade of the tree, Rachel, Lily, and Xinyi talked with each other as they sat on the picnic table. Kyle and Clyde 'manned' the grill, which drew Gale's attention. This made him wonder why a grill would need to be manned when it's not a defense equipment.

Rachel was eating a mango. Lily and Xinyi ate skewers glazed in barbeque marinade with sauce that made Gale's mouth water.

They tried to bait him; told him to stop reading a book. Little did they know, the dark hunter was preventing the underbelly of the city's void from turning them all into ghosts.

But seriously, this was his first time going to a "barbeque" in a park. He didn't realize it would be with other people around them. Whatever happened to the safety of the wilderness?! But alas! They rejected that idea and opted to go to this place called 'High Park'.

"Gale, you don't have to be on the lookout!" Rachel shouted. "Just eat!"

"The borders of the picnic demands a lookout," Gale growled in a low voice, hurting his throat and causing him to cough.

"Idiot..." Lily muttered.

"Do you want me to bring you a skewer, Gale?" Xinyi asked.

"Shh, let him come," Rachel said. "He'll get hungry eventually."

"Sure..." Xinyi said. "Is he always like that?"

"Uh, not really. He grew up rough," Rachel said.

"Like a feral," Kyle said as he flipped a burger.

"Don't call him a feral!" Rachel shouted.

"I am a feral," Gale said. "The strongest feral."

"You are not!"

"Feral beats being an idiot," Lily said.

"Now, you see, your insults would work if I'm not part of the #1 absolute special smartest duo in Division 16," Kyle said.

"Don't forget handsome," Clyde said.

At this point, a couple of children had come to stare at him, two boys and one girl. They looked between him and the book that he held. But Gale didn't relent. He didn't dare look away from their stares as he clearly made sure that the book wasn't upside down before he sat down. There was no way they were staring at him without ulterior motives, like being children eating ghosts.

I'm staring at you, children, if that is even your real identity!

"Mister, what you reading?" the girl asked.

"Stupid, the book's title says..." The boy narrowed his eyes to look closer. "Red Rising."

"Can kids read that too?" the girl asked.

"No, it's not for kids," Gale said. "It's red and bloody."

"Why would something be not for kids if its red and bloody?" the second boy asked.

"You make a good point," Gale said. He hasn't even started the book yet, so he wouldn't know. It was something he had randomly picked out from the library. The red wing cover caught his eye. One thing he knew about books: judge them based on their cover. The fancier, the better, and since the colour red caught his eye, it was that fancy.

"Why were you staring at the soccer ball, mister?" the boy asked.

"Why are you asking?" Gale asked.

"Did you wanted to play too?" the boy asked.

"Why do you want me to play?"

"Are you just going to ask questions instead of answering?" the girl asked.

"Who's asking?!"

Rachel came over and ushered the kids away from Gale. "Go on, kids. Go back to your own families and leave this mister alone."

"But what's the book about?" the girl asked.

"You can search it up later, can't you?" Rachel asked.

"That's true..."

"Why is your hair red?" the boy asked.

"Like really red and not orange," the second boy asked.

"I dyed it," Rachel said.

"Are you toxic?" the boy asked.

"What?! What does that mean?!" Rachel almost shouted.

"My dad said red haired women like yours break men's hearts," the boy said.

"Did you break a man's heart?" the girl asked.

"No!"

"Then why isn't he with you?" the girl pointed at Gale.

"I'm keeping a lookout," Gale said proudly.

"No! Gale, zip it." Rachel glared at him, causing him to shrink back. "I'm not toxic, I'm actually very warm. Now move along, children. Nothing to see here."

"It's very toxic thing to do to prevent us from talking to an interesting mister," the boy said.

"Well, your parents should've told you not to talk to strangers," Rachel said as she pushed them softly.

This story originates from NovelPhoenix. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"A stranger with a book can't be that bad..." the girl said.

Gale watched them cross the threshold of the border as Rachel guided them back to their own families. That's right, children, do not cross the border of our small encampment, just like back in the Eclipsed.

As Rachel came back from outside the border, her eyes directly stared at Gale. A slow dread boiled up from his gut, which could be literal or something that came from the light of the city. Either way, he stood up immediately, dropping the library book on the ground.

He immediately sat down at the picnic table beside Rachel's plate. When she arrived at the table, she squeezed his arm and sat down.

"Good," she said. "Want some skewers or mango?"

"Mango," Gale said. It wasn't even a contest. The mangoes were small, but so sweet that he wondered where they came from; somewhere from Southeast Asia, Lily said, but where?!

Rachel sliced a couple of mangoes into halves, putting them on a plate. In total, she put six cheeks on the plate and left the stones on her side.

Gale took a spoon and started shovelling the mango into his mouth. While he did, Xinyi put a couple of skewers on his plate.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome, Gale," Xinyi said.

"How long are the twins going to 'man' the grill for?" Gale asked.

"We got a cooler full of meat," Kyle said.

"We ain't stoppin' till we done," Clyde said.

"Where's the vegetables?" Lily asked.

"Vegetables? Pfft, she said vegetables," Kyle said.

"The letters of meat is literally in barbeque," Clyde said.

"No, they're not," Lily said.

"Lily, it's fine. Ollie's bringing some vegetables," Rachel said.

"He's coming?" Lily asked.

"Yup, he'll be here in a bit."

"Laaaame," Kyle said.

"Only women eat vegetables," Clyde said.

"WE ARE WOMEN, IDIOTS!" Rachel shouted.

"Did you meet Ollie yet, Xinyi?" Gale asked.

"I haven't. Is he really the Oliver Glory?" Xinyi asked.

"Hey, hey." Kyle tapped his spatula on the grill. "Don't inflate the bastard's ego."

"Just treat him like a normal evil CEO, and you'll be good," Clyde said.

"Don't listen to the idiots, Xinyi." Lily sighed. "You'll see. Ollie's more normal than you think."

Gale leaned forward after finishing the last cheek of mango. He whispered, "and he can build stuff that can create rifts."

"That is definitely not normal..." Xinyi muttered.

From afar, Gale's Presence Between caught sight of two entities walking towards their border. One wore a loose hawaiian unbuttoned collared shirt with a white shirt underneath, brown board shorts, flip flops, and sunglasses. The other wore her usual ethereal-looking lab coat, fake walking, and a pair of dark sunglasses that was clearly made of ice.

"Erin!"

"Silence, woman of fire. Must I hear your shouting even in the presence of families in the moment of peace and quiet of what Earth's culture calls a 'picnic'?" Erin asked.

"Children are staring!" Rachel shouted.

"Their stares do no damage."

"Erin's right, Rachel. The children haven't turned into children eating ghosts yet," Gale said.

"What?! Is that what you were on the lookout for?!" Rachel shouted.

"Most definitely." Gale nodded.

Xinyi laughed while Lily just went on to bite at her next skewer.

"I got some vegetables." Ollie laid a bag of mushrooms, tomatoes, and onions onto the table. Suddenly, he floated the spatula into his hand.

"Ollie, no floating stuff!" Rachel shouted.

"Hey! Give back my spatula!" Kyle shouted at the same time.

"You mean my spatula. I'm taking over the grill," Ollie said.

"No way you ain't taking shit!"

"No way the evil veggies are coming into this grill," Clyde said.

While the twins and Ollie fought over the grill, Erin sat down on the picnic table. She looked at the mangoes on Gale's plate.

"I've heard of this specimen called mangoes that are full of water, yet are one of the sweetest fruits on this planet."

"You want one?" Gale asked.

Xinyi put a plate in front Erin and Gale put a mango on it. Erin grabbed the mango and took a bite without peeling it.

"You can peel it first before eating..." Xinyi said.

"The skin is part of the fruit. Such a waste cannot happen."

"She's right..." Gale muttered, taking a mango for himself before his hand was slapped away by Rachel.

"Peel it first," Rachel glared at him.

"Alas... the light of the city once again prevented me from following the floating bluey."

"By the way, I'm Oliver. Just call me Ollie, though," Ollie said to Xinyi.

Xinyi nodded. "I'm Xinyi Zhou, maid of the twins."

"We gotta do something about that," Ollie said.

"Hell no, you ain't taking our maid too," Kyle said.

"This is tyranny," Clyde said.

"It's ok. The twins' apartment is actually clean. I don't have to do much."

"That's a surprise," Lily said.

"I was surprised as well."

"It's the principle of the matter." Ollie shrugged.

The barbeque continued with its chaos. Rachel, having known that Ollie was joining, had actually prepared 3 spatulas, one for each of them. They all shared the grill with their own borders, fighting over 'land' to keep the vegetables away from the 'purity' of meat. Xinyi kept the picnic table fed as the 'men' finished cooking the meat and vegetables. Lily demanded more vegetables, which made Ollie's 'land' on the grill bigger. Rachel peeled mangoes for Gale and Erin while smiling at the chaotic conversation that somehow devolved into children eating ghosts and Witch Nyx's new original fictions on a website called Ao3 that had somehow garnered thousands of followers.

"Anyone heard anything about Sombra, though?" Lily asked as she finished her 9th skewer.

"Uh, about that," Ollie said. "There might be some evidence that Sombra's related to the recent string of murders in NYC."

"That's weird. Why NYC?" Rachel asked.

"Dunno. But I got Frank to chase after the lead."

"Who's Frank?" Gale asked.

"Just a mundane detective, part of Aur. But he's really good."

"Not better than us, though," Kyle said.

"Well, you're still suspended so fuck both of you," Ollie said.

"More like paid vacation," Clyde said.

"I see. That must explain why both of you barely leave the house since I came," Xinyi said.

"How late do they wake up?" Lily asked.

"1 pm." Xinyi said. "How did you two get suspended?"

Kyle and Clyde glanced at Gale. "No reason. Just bad luck."

"Are we going to do something about Sombra eventually?" Lily asked.

"Eh, they're not really bothering our operations right now, so it doesn't matter too much," Ollie said.

"That is correct. We are currently set to finish the Rift Aperture System in October 7, 2070. I have also located our next rift for our next expedition to gather Origin Shards to fuel the Rift Aperture System," Erin said. "We shall depart for the rift on October 14."

"About that..." Ollie said. "I'll pass on this rift."

"For what reason must you 'pass'?" Erin asked.

"I have something to do on the 16th."

"Oh." Rachel and Lily said at the same time.

"What happened?" Gale asked.

"It's Cassie's death anniversary," Lily said.

"The group requires a controller on this next mission. I will once again be set as the supervisor," Erin said. "However, your reason is understandable. The remembrance of one's allies must be adhered to. We shall set the departure date to October 18th."

"Really?" Ollie asked.

"I state only facts. There is no need to confirm."

"Hey, Ollie, how about letting us all come with you to her grave?" Rachel asked.

"You guys sure?" Ollie asked.

"Yup." Gale spoke up. "Death hurts, and personally, I want to be there with you on the day she died. If you'll let us."

"Don't give us a hard time, man. We just wanna be there for you," Kyle said.

"Erin, you coming too, right?" Gale asked.

"That is a given as the supervisor."

"Sure. Let's all go." Ollie smiled, face flushing a bit.