Chapter II

“What is this?” Ailia was interrupted from her breakfast by her father placing a
piece of paper on the table in front of her. He was a very tall, burly,
ginger-headed and scruffy old man.

“Uh, a piece of paper?” She responded, removing the fork from her mouth. “Is it a
napkin? Do I have something on my face?” Her father lifted his hand to reveal a
wanted poster with Ailia’s face. Ailia winced before plastering a nervous smile
on her face.

“Would you believe me if I said it was a different Ailia that happened to look just
like me?” Her father’s face didn’t falter. His striking green eyes didn’t look
angry, not necessarily.

“What have I been telling you?” He said in his stubborn, gruff voice.

“Don’t get caught,” Ailia responded in a low voice.

“Don’t get caught!” He repeated louder. “I’ve been teaching you that for years!” He
took on an easier, calmer expression. “I know you, and I know you never get
caught unintentionally. What happened?” Ailia paused.

“I was reckless,” she soon said. “I thought I could get away with stealing in front of
a guard. I’m sorry.”

“They don’t put up wanted posters for stealing small stuff, I know you’re hiding
something.” He put his hand on Ailia’s shoulder. “You know you can tell me
anything.” Ailia’s walls broke at that.

“Sky stole a record player, for their mom. Her birthday is today, and she used to
have one just like it. I knew it was risky, but they needed a distraction and-”
She started to ramble, but her father cut her off.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright.” He said calmly. “I’m not angry with you, and I’m not angry
with Sky, Alstana knows how much their family has been through. I just worry
about you, ya goober. So just,” he placed his hand on her shoulder, “Just promise
me it won’t happen again.”

“Ok, I promise,” Ailia responded with a small smile on her face.

“Good. Now, return to your fruit.” He said as he walked off, similar smile on his
face.

~~~~~

After she finished her breakfast, Ailia went out. She wore a hooded cloak to conceal
her face. If she was caught, it’d be harder than ever for her dad. He already
had so much on his shoulders, she didn’t want to add more. She made her way to
the burned-down building, only to see people there. She panicked for a moment,
before realizing it was just more volcanists. Two tall, imposing, masculine
figures. Both wore a matching attire; grey clothes darkened by years of soot
exposure. She snuck behind a nearby Krackelwood tree to eavesdrop, curious to
see what was happening.

“So, do we have to rewrite the building code again?” One of the volcanists said with
an exasperated look.

“Looks like it,” The other said. “30 feet should be enough. And if some still burn,
we’ll say those are just outliers.” They made some notes in a journal before
walking off.

When they were finally far enough away, Ailia came out of hiding and went to the
house. She quickly checked to make sure everything was still there, but it
looked like the volcanists didn’t even enter the house. Shortly after she
checked everything in the house, Kie showed up. He again entered through the
window next to the front door.

“Yo, is Battery here yet?” Kie said. Ailia rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“You know Unakite hates when you call them that.” She said as she walked toward him.
“And why do you insist on entering through the window when there’s a working
door right there?”

“I don’t know, I just like it.” He grabbed a bag of rock candy out of a cabinet.
“And it’s not my fault he’s named after an ancient crystal,” he said, pouring
the candy into his mouth.

“Haha, very funny,” Unakite said, entering through the door. Kie choked on his rock
candy at the unexpected intrusion. Ailia and Unakite laughing at the reaction.

“Must you laugh at my suffering?” Kie asked, false seriousness on his face, as well
as a tinge of red.

“Yes. Yes we must.” Ailia responded drily. Kie joined in on the laughter, before it
was abruptly stopped by Sky running in, paper in hand.

“Ailia!” They called to her, out of breath. “Ailia, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think about,
I mean, I wasn’t-” Sky cut themself off. “I’m sorry.” They said, handing Ailia
the paper in their hand.

“Sky,” Ailia said as she took her wanted paper and placed it on the table next to her.
“It’s fine, trust me. It just means we have to lie low for a bit. The bounty is
only,” She glanced back at the paper. “250 Shanks. Give it a few days and no
one will care.”

“Yeah, about that...” Sky said, pulling a piece of paper from their pocket. “Our
bounties aren’t the same.” They held up the paper, a wanted poster with Sky’s
face on it. But it wasn’t Sky’s face that made the group gasp. It was what was
right underneath it. A bounty of 5,000 Shanks.

“Oh s**t,” Unakite said quietly, grabbing the paper from Sky. “That’s like, six
times what that old record player is worth!” He was about to talk about how
ridiculous that bounty is before he was cut short by heavy banging at the door.

“We know you’re in there, come out with your hands up!” A loud voice called.

“S**t! It’s the guards!” Kie whispered. “Get to The Hole.” Kie, Unakite, and Ailia
lifted a section of floorboard to reveal a carved stone tunnel. But Sky just
stood there, frozen.

“Sky!” Unakite called quietly. “What are you doing? Come on!”

“Uh, right. Coming.” They said slowly, tearing their gaze from the door. Right after
they closed the entrance to the tunnel, the guards kicked down the door.

“Search the house.” They heard one of the guards say. They slowly and quietly crawled
through the tunnel. Unakite turned to Sky, only to see that they hadn’t moved.
He carefully turned and made their way to Sky. He made sure they had seen him
before putting his hand on their shoulder as to not startle them. He nodded toward
the path in the tunnel. Sky quietly sighed before nodding. The two made their
way towards the end of the tunnel, following behind Ailia and Kie.

When they got to the end of the tunnel, Kie barely lifted the stone top to check for
any bystanders. When he saw none, he pushed open the door the rest of the way
and climbed out. He helped up Ailia before turning to make sure no one was
coming. Ailia helped Unakite and Sky out before the four snaked away.

“We should split up for a bit to draw less attention to us,” Kie said quickly. “Come on.”
Kie quickly grabbed Ailia’s hand, splitting the group in two. Ailia waved
goodbye towards Unakite and Sky as Kie pulled her a bit closer to him. After a
few minutes of walking, Ailia finally spoke.

“Do you think I can have my hand back?” She questioned.

“What? Oh! Yeah, yeah. Uh, my bad.” He responded as he let go of her hand.

“Are you ok?” Ailia put her hand on his shoulder. “Your face is really red.” Kie’s
face flushed even redder.

“Yeah,” he said with a nervous laugh. “Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” He responded a bit too quickly.

“Are you sure?” She moved her hand to his forehead. “You’re burning up! Are you
sick?”

“I-” His voice squeaked. He cleared his throat before continuing, red on his face
growing even more. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.” He grabbed Ailia’s hand, removed
it from his forehead, and quickly let go.

“Well, ok. But you know you can tell me anything, right? We’re friends, after all.”
Ailia tried to assure him.

“Yeah, I know. Thanks,” he responded almost dryly and with a slightly sad smile. “I
think it’ll be safe to meet back up with Sky and Unakite, let’s go.”

Ailia looked at him with a confused expression, but his back was already turned,
walking away. She wanted to comfort him, he was one of her closest friends, but
she could tell he wanted to be alone. She began walking, keeping the distance
he had unintentionally set.

When the two met up with the rest of the group, Ailia pulled Sky aside.

“Sky,” Ailia began, “I think Kie’s mad at me. Whenever I’m around him, he gets all
fidgety and nervous like he wants to be away from me. Did I do something
wrong?” Sky looked at her with a dumbfounded expression.

“Ailia. You can’t be serious.” She nodded her head in response. Sky’s eyes widened
slightly. “Oh my Alstana. I knew you were oblivious but damn” they laughed.
Ailia looked at them with confusion. “It’s not my place to say anything, so I
won’t.” Ailia stayed silent for a moment.

“What are you talking about?” She eventually asked.

“Ailia. Please. Look at me.” They placed their hands on Ailia’s shoulders. “I love ya
and all, but you are an absolute idiot.” Sky shook her a bit to punctuate the
words.

“What are you talking about?” Ailia exasperatedly responded.

“As I said, not my place to tell. But I’m honestly a bit concerned you haven’t
figured it out. Just know that Kie definitely does not hate you or anything,”
they said, putting the back of their wrist to Ailia’s forehead. Ailia pushed
their hand away.

“I really hate you sometimes, you know?” She said, looking at Sky with an
exasperated expression.

“Yep. Now come on. The guys are waiting on us.”
Sky pulled Ailia by the arm. It was going to be a long day.