There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 45 - 44. Where Farewell Bidded

"Oh, we’re canceling the dinner?"

"No, that’s not quite it," Han Shin waved his hand immediately. "You can continue with it if you want, since the provisions were already sent anyway."

Initially, they had planned to hold a banquet—well, a Unit’s dinner to be precise—after the expedition ended. It was a token of gratitude like usual, a tradition of formality held by the expediting company to commemorate successful enterprises.

The moment they sent a message to the base, informing their departure from the Deathzone, Naomi immediately called Mortix division in area 14 to send a provision truck, filled with fresh logistics and food ingredients.

The initial plan was for them to stay another night to hold the banquet and then came back the next morning. But a change of plan needed to be made because the researchers were anxious about the shard, and they would like to reach a proper laboratory as soon as possible.

"You can still have all of those ingredients, Captain. We just can’t participate in it," Han Shin shrugged with a wide smile. As a Chief Researcher of Trinity himself, the healer also shared Eugene and Anise’s enthusiasm about their finding.

Agni looked at the fidgeting researchers near the van, who seemed to be ready to jump inside and go at any time. But they also seemed to be busy looking around, as if searching for someone.

"I trust that Naomi already finished all the necessary agreements?" Han Shin turned to look at Mortix’s representative, who nodded with a confident smile on her face.

"All the agreed equipment arrived last week, and the additional bonus settlement would arrive this afternoon with the promised logistics," Naomi turned to the Captain, who nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it’s a pleasure of mine to have Mortix and Trinity here," Agni smiled, glancing at Ron who was bidding his farewell to Sierra and Balduz. "I’m glad you return my crew safely."

Han Shin crossed his arm smugly and smirked. "Do you think anything bad could happen with Bas present?"

Agni just smiled subtly, refraining from any comment about ’anything can happen in the Deathzone’ and swept his gaze around the compound instead. "Speaking of Sir Vaski, I don’t see him anywhere?"

Instead of a concrete answer, he received a sigh from the healer, followed by a scoff. "You might also notice your guide is nowhere to be found."

Agni raised his brow at that. "Well, Zen is the type that always slips away once the job is over," he titled his head then. "So I gathered they’re together somewhere?"

"Together...together...of course they’re together," Han Shin pursed his lips like a sulking child, mumbling in annoyance. "Acting like he was getting dumped or something...what’s that all about if they would just act like nothing’s happened?"

Agni looked at Naomi with a raised brow and a silent question, but she just shrugged with the same confused look.

The same confused look was also apparent on Zein’s face, somewhere near the headquarter’s gate, as he gripped the Black Pearl’s hilt. "What do you mean I can take it?"

"I told you I don’t even use it, so isn’t it better in your hands?" the esper replied nonchalantly, as if giving out a high-grade artifact was as easy as sprinkling candies. "It’s not like you don’t want it."

Zein stared at the esper’s smiling face with narrowed eyes. He stood there wordlessly, just staring into Bassena’s face until the esper shifted his gaze and chewed his inner cheek nervously.

"Fine, I just want you to have something that might remind you of me..." Bassena admitted finally, scratching his neck like a timid schoolboy.

Even since that morning, his confidence in wooing Zein was plummeting to the ground. He thought big like willing to chase the guide from the scratch again, but honestly, with him having to go back to Trinity and Zein still refused to end his contract with the Unit...

The anxiety of having something totally out of his control was even more apparent when it was high time for goodbye. Bassena felt like Zein might just forget about him again, just like before.

It was so ridiculous for someone like Bassena Vaski to think that people would forget about who he was. But Zein wasn’t just any people, and he did forget about Bassena once before.

"Heh..." Zein actually chuckled, tapping the dagger on his palm. But he stopped just a second after, pressing his lips again. "You can’t summon yourself through this right?"

He looked at Bassema suspiciously, and the esper had no idea whether he wanted to laugh or cry. "You know very well it consumed blood. I wouldn’t be struggling with that trap formation if I could just teleport through that."

"Eh, who knows..." Zein shrugged, and Bassena felt like it was safe to laugh a little bit.

"...if I said I’ll visit you—"

"No."

Zein looked up, staring straight at the amber eyes. "I might not know much about the world, but I know enough that you have a lot of work to do," he saw Bassena press his lips in admittance and continued. "I won’t say anything if you come here for another expedition or work that is highly related to the reclamation project. But if you come here just to see me, I will not come out to meet you."

Bassena bit his lips, and Zein could see that dejected puppy look from this morning was back. He turned his head to stare at the glum marsh and the dark jungle, eyes hardened. "That reclamation project, I want it to succeed."

The esper stared at the older’s face, the deep blue eyes dancing with cold flame, alive, lighting some spark of hope inside Bassena’s heart. "So you’ll come?"

But contrary to Bassena’s wish, the guide shook his head. "I don’t know," he said, "but I’ll cooperate regarding the shard at least."

Bassena couldn’t help but feel disappointed. But the spark of hope was still there, behind the unsurety of the guide’s answer. He didn’t cave, but he didn’t reject it also.

"...then," the esper took a step closer, hands itching to reach for Zein but he held it in. "Is it alright for me to ask it again after your borderland contract ends? Can I come to visit you then?"

The amber eyes suddenly gleamed with new determination. It was quite something to see that kind of look thrown at someone rather than a boss monster—as if Zein was something akin to that.

Like a mountain to be climbed.

It was quite adorable, honestly. "Sure," it made Zein want to answer positively, and his hand was raising reflexively.

But he paused before his hand raised any higher than Bassena’s shoulder. The hand moved back down swiftly, but not before it caught the esper’s keen eyes.

"I’ll earn it again," Bassena smiled, eyes blazing with determination.

"Earn what?" Zein turned his head again, looking at the esper with confusion.

But instead of answering with words, the amber eyes stared at Zein’s hand, before shifting his gaze to the blue eyes. With a smile, he raised his index finger and tapped on his cheek.

"That," he said in a low voice that felt almost like a whisper, as if he was making a secret pledge, that Zein couldn’t help but scoffed.

"How annoying," he shook his head. "Waste your energy for something else."

Bassena’s smile didn’t falter, nor did the determined gaze within his eyes. "It’s not a waste for me."

Zein knew that if he wanted to end everything, he had to tell it flat to the esper. He knew that if he ban the man from approaching him, Bassena would concede. He understood that he had that much power over the esper.

But in the end, Zein said nothing.

He neither refuted nor agreed with the esper’s statement. Just like always—if it come to Bassena, he didn’t seem to be able to reach a clear conclusion.

* * *

"Did they ask you to join?"

Ron blinked languidly at the question, squirming inside the blanket and grunting. His mind was still too groggy for a conversation so early in the morning. Especially after a boisterous dinner followed by passionate exercise.

He squinted his eyes inside the dim room, staring at an ember engulfed in swirling smoke. The scent of roasted coffee and tobacco mingled wonderfully to garner enough energy for his mouth to move.

"They asked for Zen..."

"That’s obvious," he heard a scoff, and smirked to himself. "But I’m asking about you."

"Why?" Ron chuckled, a rustling sound accompanying his rousing body as the blanket covering his bare skin slipped and pooled around his lap. "You think I’ll leave you rotting here alone, Captain?"

"So they did ask you."

He tilted his head, a lazy smirk hanging on his lips, eyes staring at the flying spark within the dim light.

"Who knows?" Ron let out a small laugh and crawl his way to the other side of the bed, snatching the half-smoked cigarette and inhaling the smoke coming out between the other’s lips with his own. "I’ll stay as long as you’re stuck here," he flicked the red strands falling down the Captain’s forehead lightly. "Does that satisfy you?"

"And after?" Agni filled his now empty hand with the scout’s waist, but Ron nimbly move away and climbed down the bed, leaving the Captain to chuckle silently.

"That would depend," the scout walked toward the scattering of clothes on the floor and pull out his pants after slipping the cigarette between his lips.

"On?"

Ron turned his head after taking a long drag, lips stretched into a mischievous smile. "On how well you seduce me."

The Captain scoffed and leaned his back on the headboard, lighting another stick and filling the room with even more smoke. "Talking about seducing," he suddenly remembered something from yesterday’s conversation. "Did something happen between Zen and Bassena Vaski during the expedition?"

"Something already happened before the expedition even start, I think," Ron stared at the floor, looking for his shirt but gave up soon after, and just walked straight to the coffee machine. The perk of spending the night in the Captain’s room—free-flow non-instant coffee.

"You mean they’ve met before?" Agni straightened his back in surprise. "Zen didn’t seem to recognize him at all before the expedition."

Ron poured the coffee into a cup with a laugh, and replied lightheartedly. "You know him, Cap, he forgets about people easily."

"I don’t think people could forget about someone like Bassena Vaski easily."

"True, but then, it’s Zen," Ron said it like it was an answer to everything, and the Captain chuckled before nodding in agreement. "He did seem to remember him in the middle, and..." Ron tilted his head with eyes full of contemplation. "Well...let’s just say it’s breaking some walls."

"Zen’s walls? Breaking?" Agni let out a hearty laugh as if he just heard some miraculous things, almost choking himself with the smoke while at it. He stood up after putting the cigarette off and snatched a jacket from his wardrobe. "So it took someone of that quality to breach his defense, huh?"

Ron put down his cup, finger tapping on the hard surface, filling the room with a clicking sound as the Captain draped the jacket on his shoulder. He reached out his hand toward the window in front of them, and shifted the blind open slightly.

The Captain’s room was situated on the highest residential floor, and from there, they could see the Redridge desert and mountains far away that separate them from the rest of the civilization. They had to traverse the cracked, dry land and the treacherous mountain range if they wanted to reach the land of the living.

Such a cruel reminder for someone who was stuck in this place for life.

If the Captain wasn’t such a danger and battle junkies, he would probably go down with madness for such unfair punishment for something he didn’t do.

Yeah...no sane person would willingly get stuck here without reason. "Agni..."

The Captain froze, eyes blinking in surprise. It was rare for Ron to call him by name, which meant the scout was about to have a serious conversation. The hand which had been reaching out for the cup of coffee paused, settling on top of the pantry cabinet instead.

"What?"

"You should talk to Zen," the scout leaned back, feeling the rough scars on the Captain’s torso with his back. He said it softly, laden with a sprinkle of guilt.

Asking someone who was chained to this place to let another person go was a cruel thing.

Agni lowered his gaze, staring at the saddened, brown eyes with a smile. Although he had repeatedly said that he had long accepted his fate, Ron never stopped feeling sorry for him. What was he said back then—I will be sad and angry in your place instead? Something like that?

"You want me to convince him to leave?" he asked, resting his face on the other’s shoulder, grazing the scout’s skin with his stubbles. He felt Ron’s fingers on his hand, rubbing tenderly. "Does he even want to?"

"I think..." Ron looked far into the empty, deserted land, mentally replaying the many expression Zein had been making during the expedition—no, during his interaction with Bassena Vaski. The ripple of suppressed emotions inside the blue eyes as the Mortix van drove away. "I think...he wants someone to give him a reason to." ƒгeewёbnovel.com

He let out a sigh, and then a small chuckle. "You know... the last push," he glanced toward the red mass on his shoulder, nudging the Captain slightly.

Agni let out a hum, but did not give any response for a while. He stayed on the scout’s shoulder, engulfing the other man with his arms wordlessly. The soft tapping he gave above Ron’s abdomen told the scout that the man was in the middle of contemplation.

"There’s something else that you want," the response came in a heavy tone, and Ron couldn’t help the smile appearing on his lips. "You were always compassionate, but you never meddle in other’s business."

Ron let out a small laugh. Yeah—he wasn’t that nice of a person. But it was true that he felt the apparent dilemma on Zein’s mind, and that he thought it would be better for the guide to stop wasting his life in the borderland. Unlike the Captain, who was chained to this place by duty, and Ron, who was staying for his heart, Zein had no real reason to get stuck here, looking like his soul floating in limbo.

That being said, Ron had another reason why he wanted Zein to move on from whatever tied him to this godforsaken place.

"I want them to succeed—whatever Mortix and Trinity are brewing right now," he spoke in firm conviction, fingers tightened around the Captain’s wrist. "And they need Zen for it."

Agni raised his head then, tilting his head so he could see the scout’s face properly. "Why? What’s in it for you if they succeed?"

Ron leaned back, sinking himself into the berserker’s embrace, eyes hard and blazing quietly. He remembered everything they talked about inside the Deathzone—the fragment of Setnath, reclamation, the erasure of Deathzone and thus, the borderland. He looked far into the place beyond that mountain range, the place of the living, and muttered firmly.

"Your freedom."