Chapter 5

And to think, Pride had begun to feel as if maybe Lindon wasn't so bad after all. Sure the boy was ignorant, stubborn, and possessed a tendency to rush into danger—but at least he could back it up with his skill in the sacred arts. He wasn't a coward, and that was more than Pride could say for many of his sister's other suitors. A memory drifted through his mind.

Shadows crept into the corner of Pride's vision, though he knew this was no Akura family technique, but rather the encroaching embrace of death. Fine, he resolved to himself, if he was going to die then he would die standing. And he was going to die. He knew that for certain. His remnant would drift alongside his family members—Grace and Courage and Douji. His left arm was a ruined, mangled mess that couldn't even channel madra anymore, so he held his right hand up into a fist. One of the Redmoon Overlords fighting—or rather toying—with him raised his bloody axe to strike the final blow.

That was when Lindon barreled through the room like a rampaging bull. The two Overlords turned to him, techniques of blood madra already forming, but then their eyes glazed over as a wave of dream madra overwhelmed the room. They were dead within moments, food for Lindon's white arm and its insatiable hunger.

"Apologies." Lindon's voice was grave as his eyes flickered to the body of Akura Grace. "I should have been here sooner."

Pride pushed down his annoyance—apologizing at a time like this?— and focused on speaking. "Go! Mercy is still up there!" He received a brief nod before Lindon vanished and his world went black.

Lindon had saved his life—he had saved Mercy's life. Pride was not so ungrateful as to disregard that.

Fine, maybe he is worthy after all. That was what he had been thinking before this.

Pride's fist clenched in fury and he tried to burn a hole through Lindon's head with his glare. The Blackflame was openly fooling around with the Yerin girl. He wasn't even trying to hide it! His arm was wrapped around her and she snugly pressed into his chest as the two of them looked over Ninecloud City from the edge of their cloudship. If it wasn't for his wounds then Pride would have stomped over there and challenged Lindon to a duel for the sake of Mercy's honor.

Yes, he reassured himself, it was due to his recovering body and spirit. That was the sole reason preventing him from taking on the newly minted sage and his pseudo-herald mistress.

From Pride's position on the docks he saw Lindon move his mouth dangerously close to Yerin's head in order to whisper sweet nothings into her ear. She let out a bark of laughter and looked up at Lindon with gleaming eyes.

Just how long had this been going on!? How was Lindon able to get away with it behind Mercy's back? Pride's stomach twisted in unease as he realized he would have to break the news to his sister. He would have to tell her that her intended was seeing another woman—worst of all it was her friend Yerin.

"Hey! What are you looking at?" A familiar, cheery voice interrupted his thoughts and Pride felt a hand tapping on his shoulder. Panic grew within him as he turned to see Mercy's smiling face. So happy, so positive, so naive… She had no idea what was really going on. His expression must have been grave because Mercy's smile slipped and she gave him a concerned look.

Pride slapped away the hand that went to check his forehead temperature with the practiced ease of years of dealing with her. "I'm fine." He gruffed. It's you who I'm worried about.

"Alright alright, if you say so. I'm gonna go say hi to Yerin and Lindon." She made to move past him but his hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder. "Wait!" He called out. She stopped and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yerin and Lindon…" He muttered.

"What?" She cocked her head to the side. "Is something the matter?"

"No it's just…" He made an aggravated sound as he failed to find the right words. "It's just…" Mercy looked down at him, her purple eyes overflowing with concern. She placed a hand on his face and patted his cheek comfortingly. "It's okay, you can say it." She encouraged him.

"...Things aren't how they seem." He finally said to her, hoping in vain that his cryptic message would somehow convey all she needed to know. When she gave no look of revelation or realization he continued, though it felt like scraping his body across a bed of rusty nails. "It's Lindon… and Yerin. They're together." He emphasized the last word and waited for it to click.

Mercy gave him an odd look and then glanced past him up to the cloudship where Lindon and Yerin were clearly visible. "They… are." Mercy repeated slowly as if speaking to a child. Pride flushed with irritation and it gave him the strength to push past the awkwardness.

"No, no! They're together behind your back." He said.

"I'm a big girl Pride, I don't feel left out." She replied, totally missing his point. "You're acting awfully strange, you sure you're okay? Maybe we should call in Aunt Charity to have another look at you."

Making a choked sound of pure frustration, Pride reached out and grabbed Mercy by both shoulders. He gave her the most intense look he could manage, though it was diminished slightly by the fact that he still had to look up to meet her eyes. "Mercy. You have no idea how much I hate having to say this. Lindon is being unfaithful to you, he and Yerin are involved romantically, with each other."

For a long, still moment there was only silence. Mercy's expression was the same guise of befuddlement and slight confusion. Pride feared that she had misunderstood him again, or maybe that she was in wilful denial of the truth, so he continued.

"You didn't see what Lindon was doing at Sky's Edge, and who he was doing it with." Pride's eyes hardened as he recalled all of Lindon's indiscretions. "Grace, Naru Saeya, the Matten sisters—even Aunt Charity was involved!"

Mercy's eyes went wide as his words finally sank in. Her head bowed in shame and sadness as the truth of Lindon's treachery and deceit finally came to light. He patted his sister on the shoulder, not knowing how else to comfort her. In the Akura family it was Mercy who usually did the comforting. The rest of them were more than a little out of practice.

"I'm okay, Pride." Mercy raised her head and smiled at him, though her eyes were gleaming and he could feel her body shaking slightly. His grip tightened on her and a burst of rage directed at Lindon welled up inside of him. "When I get my hands on him—" he began but was cut off by his sister.

"No, really. I'm okay. Thank you for telling me. If you don't mind, I'd like to go speak with them." Pride was impressed by his sister's emotional fortitude. She wasn't running away or getting angry, or even breaking down in tears like he feared. Sure she was clearly devastated and struggling to hold it in—her watery eyes, shaking shoulders, and repressed self-deprecating smile made it obvious—but she was resolved to tackle the problem head on and speak with her friends directly.

"I'll go with you." He said, though the thought of confronting Lindon and his white arm made him uneasy.

Mercy shook her head and wiped a few tears from her eyes. "No, I'd like to do this on my own, thank you."

He would have pressed the issue but he was already far outside of his comfort zone and instead just nodded to her, giving a pat on the back to lend some strength and comfort. "Be strong." He intoned sagely.

She turned away from him sharply, clearly losing her composure as she walked away with shaking shoulders and broke down into bouts of audible sobbing that were so tragic they almost sounded like laughter to his ears. He clenched his fist. Lindon better pray that Mercy killed him because—sage or not—Pride's punishment would be much worse.

—-

"And—and then," Mercy was doubled over in uncontained laughter in front of a bemused Lindon and Yerin as she recounted Pride's words, "he gave me this look right? Like I was about to break apart crying, and it was all I could do to stop from laughing in his face."

"You know," Lindon mused, his hunger arm scratching idly at his chin, "this answers quite a lot of questions."

Yerin blew a lock of red hair away from her face. "When did Pride get the idea that you and Lindon were together? Is he a few stones short of a full set?"

Mercy shrugged. "I have no idea. Although…" She looked at Lindon with wide eyes. "What did Pride mean when he said you were 'doing a lot of people' at Sky's Edge?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." Lindon's senses screamed danger and he took a step back.

"You know, with Grace and Aunt Charity and the rest." Mercy's voice wasn't necessarily suspicious but her words left more to the imagination than Lindon would have liked.

Red eyes flashed towards Lindon and all of a sudden he became hyper aware of six very sharp, and very deadly goldsigns hovering just beside his neck.

Lindon held up his hands and chuckled nervously, looking from Yerin to Mercy. "Why don't we all just calm down? I promise it's just a misunderstanding."