“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the shapeshifter! We meet again, it seems,” Feather grinned after teleporting himself, Leocadies, and Kya inside the dungeon, keenly avoiding all the guards that stood at attention near the entrance. He’d already changed from that over-the-top decor Artemis had dressed him in, though he had to admit he’d felt awfully stunning in all of his phoenix themed attire. Wearing it, he really did feel like royalty again, and it had been a nice high to ride, even for a short while. But Alroy sat there in his concept-numbing chains, looking completely disbelieving at the man who was smiling at him from the chair Feather had brought for himself, sitting in it backwards as he rested his chin on the spine of it. “How are you doing? Is the prison food any good?”

  “...it sucks,” Alroy responded tentatively, leaning back in his chains to stare at Feather. He looked like he didn’t know why the blond was here, golden eyes a bit malicious, before he snapped impatiently, using any words he could think of to poke at Feather’s dignity, “You gonna torture me? Or is that not your style? Just know I won’t give you any info any other way, ya hear?”

  “I get it, I hear you,” Feather nodded pleasantly, further unnerving Alroy with his pure casualty. Kya was outside patrolling the nearby halls, making sure people didn’t come close, while Leo stood by the door without an expression. The entire aura of the group put Alroy off guard, like he was some sort of enigma getting his brain picked. Feather didn’t even look mad at him for walking them into a trap back inside the laboratory. In fact, the more he spoke, the more it seemed like he didn’t care about it at all. “But nah, I’m not gon’ torture you. I just wanna talk.”

  “Talk? Really?”

  “Yeah, just a little conversation. You did say that you thought we could be friends in different circumstances, didn’t you? So why can’t we get along, just for a bit?” Feather’s eyes gleamed, Alroy’s heart thumping unreasonably fast in his chest.

  He couldn’t explain it, but he felt scared. He wasn’t used to being scared, especially when a person wasn’t even doing anything close to being scary. Torture didn’t particularly scare him, either. His biggest fear was being trapped in here forever leaving Elray to fend for themselves, but he wouldn’t allow that to happen. It was just that right now, he felt on edge, and Alroy didn’t know what to make of that.

  “Fine, a little talk. Care if I start, then?” he tested, Feather giving him a bright chuckle as he met Alroy’s golden eyes with his own.

  “Of course not. Go ahead.”

  “Why don’t you kill people?”

  “Excuse me? What kinda question is that?” Feather stared at him, not really reacting to it as Alroy stiffened. He’d been expecting to get a rise out of him with that. Orvana had mentioned it before, but it really did look impossible to get a rise out of Feather unless you were holding someone hostage.

  “Well, I’m just curious, is all. Our oracle says you’ve never even killed anyone before but yourself. But yet you’re willing to torture people and have even maimed them if you don’t like what they did,” Alroy explained, staring deeply at Feather as he lowered his head, the cuff on his neck cold and uncomfortable. “I don’t get it, honestly. If you’re gonna be so violent, at least finish the job and kill ‘em. You seem nothing but hypocritical to me,” he snarled, carefully admitting the thoughts that circulated his head. “You know I admire you and how powerful you are, I’ve already told you that to your face. But you pretending to be some sorta saint for not killin’ people gets on my nerves. I’m all for people following their beliefs, but I don’t understand yours in the slightest. Just admit it, you’re morally grey like the rest of us, and fuckin’ kill me.”

  It was just a test. That’s all it was. To see what kind of person Feather really was beneath all his provocative flair. But Alroy didn’t know what the hell to think when Feather just laughed at him, his arms tapping along the face of the chair as he smiled wide. “Why would I kill you? I have information to get out of you, you know. I just wanted to have a talk first,” he grinned, ruffling Alroy’s pride as the man continued to glare. “Though, to answer your question… hm. I already know I’m not a good person. I don’t think I really try to be, either. I have no interest in being seen as good or bad. I just want to do whatever I want, and I don’t want to kill people. That’s all there is to it, I think,” Feather blinked, vision beginning to stare off into space as Alroy begrudgingly listened.

  “To me, torturing someone or maiming someone for doing something bad still isn’t as bad as killing them, and it never will be in my eyes. Because even after I, say, cut off someone’s arm for raping someone, perhaps that pain and lifelong injury can help teach them to never do it again. They will never forget the pain I inflicted on them, and I hope they will live a better life because of it. And then who knows, maybe they’ll go on to do great things… I don’t believe someone who does something morally horrible isn’t also capable of doing a good thing later. Morality isn’t linear like that. So that’s why I don’t kill ‘em, because who knows what kind of good thing they might be able to do if they learn from the pain I inflicted and grow as a person because of it? Killing them would be a waste, don’t you think? I don’t want to strip others of their chances to be better people,” Feather admitted, eyes slowly zeroing back in an Alroy, the man at a complete loss for words.

  “You… you aren’t seriously trying to argue that even I could be a good person, are you?” he seethed against his chains, skin prickling with an angry heat he didn’t know how to dissect. “Are you stupid?”

  But Feather just smiled at him again, looking entirely pleased with the reaction he was given as he giggled. “Of course you could be a good person. Even you. Anyone can. No one is solely defined by the bad things they’ve done in the past so long as they are trying to move past them. Do you want to move past your sins, Alroy? Has it even crossed your mind that you can?”

  “What… no, of course it hasn’t!! How can you even say that, I almost killed your ally!! Would you be treating me the same way, then?!” he snapped, Feather’s smile unshakeable as he gave another easy laugh.

  “Oh, don’t be silly, Alroy. Don’t think of useless hypotheticals like that. The truth of the matter is that Kya is safe, and you did not kill her.”

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Well you know I’ll try to if I get another chance! Let me out right now and she’s dead!”

  “See, and that’s the kind of behavior we’re trying to curb,” Feather sighed in his chair, hands moving to hang at his sides while his chin hung on the spine. “Just why are you so violent, eh? Jeez, I’ve had a pretty harsh life too, but somehow turned out better than you…”

  “Who cares if you’re better than me? It doesn’t change anything,” Alroy glared, Feather’s smile turning a bit sad as he moved his arms back onto the top of the chair to support his head.

  “You’re right. It doesn’t change anything. If anything is to change about your life, the only one who can cause it is you,” he agreed, Alroy feeling increasingly threatened by these words as his entire body felt like it was on fire. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone down a path where I wanted to destroy everything around me… rather, because of everything I’d gone through, I’d decided the only thing I wanted to destroy was myself. Everything felt pointless,” Feather sighed, smile turning melancholic as he closed his eyes. “I wanted to die. And, well, you know I use the concept of anything. In order to even revive myself with my concept at all, I have to want to live. Or, at very least, I have to not want to die. Luckily, during that time, I still didn’t really know how my concept worked, so I never used it, therefore my body never degraded… so I never actually died from overusing it, but there were many attempts I tried to make on my life regardless. Everything felt like too much to want to live through, like I was suffocating… I could barely move, I never left the ground, I had to be coerced into eating. It’s a different situation from yours, sure, but I believe the despair and sense of being lost I felt then is like how you feel now. Do you know how I overcame it?”

  “...get on with it.”

  “Hm,” Feather smiled, eyes flickering open to give Alroy a better grin, giddily leaning forward in his chair, tilting it back on its legs to get right in Alroy’s face. “I helped someone! I didn’t even really mean to. I was wandering aimlessly in this crowded town, when I heard someone crying. It was a lost little girl, and I helped her home. Her parents thanked me and invited me over for dinner, it was great,” he sighed pleasantly, reminiscing on those fond memories with rosy cheeks. “Though I’d still say I’m a selfish person. I helped the kid because it felt right and I didn’t know what else to do, but the praise and validation I got afterwards… all those thankful faces… it made me so happy to look at them. I began to really enjoy helping people and making them happy. It saved me. Helping them saved me, I mean it. It gave me a guide to my life. That’s why I always say that when you’re lost and don’t know what to do, simply find somebody to help. It’ll make you feel happy and fulfilled. And who knows, you might even get something in return,” he grinned, Alroy’s features twisting further into frustration as he listened to that horrid story.

  “Oh don’t give me that, that’s bullshit,” he snapped, Feather’s smile making him want to hit something as he leaned away from the face that was intruding on him.

  “Don’t be silly, you’re already following my advice in a way, aren’t you?” the blond laughed in Alroy’s personal bubble, the man entirely enraged as Feather continued brazenly. “You help and guide your twin brother Elray to make yourself feel better, don’t you? Or at least you think you’re helping him. But honestly, Alroy, if you let your brother follow this path, just where do you think he’s going to go? You can’t really think he’ll end up happy this way, do you? Is helping him destroy everything really helping him at all?” he hummed, Alroy’s face breaking as he felt something in his heart shatter.

  No. He wasn’t going to let himself be swayed this easily. Elray truly wanted to destroy everything, they were always talking about it. They were always telling him about how they wanted to get back at the world, and he did too. He wanted to destroy the place that had rejected him and tried to kill him since the moment he was born. His father’s corpse, his mother’s looming eyes, the bowls of soup, the knife in her hand, Elray’s crying, the feeling of ripping through skin, the blood on his hands…

  He was completely shaken. Alroy didn’t even know what he was supposed to say to that, merely glaring at the ground as Feather stood up from his seat without another word to him. “Come along now, Leocadies. Alroy won’t have any new information anyways, except for where more of their bases are. Make sure you tell Cirrus to ask him about that later, okay?”

  “You got it, boss,” Leocadies saluted, the two of them leaving Alroy alone to brew in his thoughts. And as they left, Kya quickly moved to follow in sync, Leo’s bright orange eyes pinned on the back of Feather’s head, intrigued with what his actions here meant. “Why were you trying to recruit that guy? He seemed like a lost cause to me, boss. Do you think any of what you said will actually work to make him see his wrongs?” the lion-like man asked, expression curious and catlike as he watched Feather smile.

  “Who knows? I just wanted to try. Since he said he thought we could be friends. And because he seemed lost,” the blond laughed, jumping up the stairs two at a time with a pep in his step, extending his arms out wide to his sides as they teleported out of the dungeon’s grim area. “Though if he doesn’t switch sides, it’s no skin off my back! Next time we talk though, my hand will still be open for him. I think that’s about all I can do.”

  “Hm… yeah, I guess you’re right, boss,” Leocadies purred, Kya silent as the three of them began walking through the palace that Feather already had mapped out.

  He’d gone straight to the prison from the meeting, wanting to get his talk with the hostage out of the way as soon as possible so he could leave the castle faster. Being here in such a big, fancy space with so many open rooms really did make him feel uncomfortable, like he was walking through a memory, even though this castle was very different from the one he’d grown up inside. Some things were nice, like the plush beds, quality foods, and soft blankets, but he still hated the feeling of there being so much empty space around him… he liked it better when he was in smaller places with more hiding spots and nooks and crannies for him to curl up in.

  Though, Feather’s eyes nearly shot open and into focus when his group came across a single man wearing black robes, his stature short but sturdy with eyes the same amber color as Cirrus and Nadia’s. His hair was black and silky, the sides of it shaved off with the rest of his thin strands tied behind him in a ponytail that barely brushed the back of his neck. Besides the shape and size of his body, he looked an awful lot like that pushover prince, too… it made Feather pause. Who could this be? He was certain the only sibling Cirrus had was Nefion. Though… wait, wasn’t there something about him having a cousin, too? Right, right, right… the one who was the sole survivor of Viscendant! He remembered now, him and that pesky prince had talked about him before! It made him happy to at least vaguely know who he was talking to, and Feather smiled brightly as he shot this lone prince a shiny smile. “Oh, hi there! You must be Cirrus’ cousin, right? He told me a bit about you, but ah, sorry, I forgot your name…”

  Though… he didn’t get a response. Instead, the man was silent, amber eyes wide and looking strangely angry. Had… had Feather done something to offend him already? Surely his little political stunt earlier during his meeting with Queen Nadia hadn’t already painted a bad image for him, it’d barely even happened two hours ago. Except, when the man raised his chin ever so slightly, Feather had never expected the words that came out of his mouth.

  “You… you’re Arcadia, aren’t you?” Lavimo’s eyes narrowed, fists balling up at his sides as he barely held himself together. “Did you… did you really start the apocalypse?”

  Feather's morality! He's a solidly morally grey character, or at least that was my intention when writing him. But I also wanted his morals to be so complex that it was honestly just up to the reader's interpretation, and that he could be seen as good and bad depending on the person. Honestly, I wanted it to be something you could debate over. So let me know what you think! And as always, thank you for reading!