Chapter 80: Speak Not
Moon decided to let Ed know he had awakened his Ascension Gift at last, since they were planning on trusting one another, but what he didn’t expect was the reaction he got instead. It was the furthest thing from everything he had expected.
"Hey brat, if you don’t want to say it, just don’t... I didn’t force you," Ed stated flatly.
"What are you talking about? I’m telling the truth!" Moon retorted, waving his arm in protest.
"Can you even recite the shit you made up a second time?" Ed was sure everything Moon had said was pure nonsense.
"Of course I can. As I said, it’s called Hypothetical Prospective." Moon said, putting his spoon down and ignoring his food.
"And the description, smart ass." Ed wasn’t done just yet.
"Ah, wait a minute... this shit is too complicated, I couldn’t memorize it," Moon explained before he summoned his status window again and started reading, even though his eyes only had small slits open. "It says..." Moon started reciting the description word by word.
Listening again to everything Moon said, Ed shouted, "Are you messing with me?"
"I’m not." Moon crossed his forearms. "I don’t even have a reason to."
"Then tell me, you must have used it since it actually awakened." Ed squinted. "Tell me, what does it do?"
Moon licked his lips, thinking for a moment. "I don’t know."
"You little bastard." Ed threw a spoon at Moon, landing perfectly on his head.
"AW AW AW!" He expressed his pain before gritting his teeth and squinting his already nearly nonexistent eyes. "What was that for?"
"You’re lying." Ed pointed his finger.
"I said I’m not, I swear..." Moon rubbed his head. "I thought I needed to ask someone smart and old for help, but..." Moon didn’t continue. Instead, he sat down and proceeded with eating his food.
Ed didn’t pester him further either. He also sat down behind the counter.
After a couple of minutes, "Hey, did you feel any abnormality, or maybe felt something weird or unusual during the last few days?" Ed asked before adding, "Or maybe during fights?"
Moon was chewing slowly and swallowing slowly. He was being extra slow this time.
Ed rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, I’m sorry, you stupid kid."
"Stupid my ass, you didn’t get it either." He pointed with his spoon.
Ed rubbed his temples. "And, are you going to answer or not?"
"Fine." Moon placed a finger on his bruised forehead, seemingly in deep thought. "There was that one time when I tried to think, imagine the movements I’d take in the fight... But unlike every other time, my leg failed me suddenly." Moon tried to explain his experience to Ed without too much complication. "It wasn’t my first try though. I tried to think of more methods... only one failed so badly that I couldn’t understand it, and at that time I realized my foot was useless."
Ed, on the other hand, kept blinking rapidly. "Come again?"
Moon shook his head in disappointment and proceeded with his dish.
"Brat," Ed spoke in a low voice, almost alien to his tone just a moment ago, "never mention what you just said to anyone else... Don’t mention anything about your gift to anyone."
Moon paused his spoon midway to his mouth. "What do you want now?" He was dissatisfied.
"I’m not sure, but... what you just did doesn’t sound like something that would be allowed to exist," Ed explained vaguely, to Moon, who had not the slightest idea what kind of bullshit he had just explained.
Before Moon could speak again, "You must never tell anyone about this, do you understand?" Ed spoke in a more serious yet aggressive manner.
Moon nodded, unable to come to terms with the sudden change. "Okay, okay, but what was that for?"
"Good thing I make sure to block ears and eyes before major speeches," Ed said, pleased with himself. "Anyway, do not say it again, not to anyone ever. The less spoken, the safer you are." Ed just said that before adding, "Your ability is still vague even to me, so make sure to use it plenty while we train you," Ed advised.
"How do I even use it? I still don’t understand what it does." Moon retorted again.
"You brat, just try everything in your head as many times as you can..." Ed said through gritted teeth.
Moon’s enlarged eyelid twitched. "That’s it?"
"That’s everything. Now finish your food and piss off, get your foot treated and rest... you’ll probably suffer tonight."
With that said, Ed made his way out, leaving Moon with his food behind.
Time ticked by. Moon went to the medical ward, got only his leg fixed by the now zombie-looking Uon.
He looked exhausted, but he just raised his thumb.
Moon was too tired as well. He went back to his room and closed his eyes... grunting in pain with every breath, but pain was something he had grown too familiar with that he was quite tolerant at this point. He still managed to sleep soundly.
He forgot about the knife, the quest and everything else... the day was too messy that he found himself delaying everything that could be delayed without even giving it the slightest thought.
Though his sleep didn’t go on for as long as he desired. Knocking sounded on his door, and he, as usual, found his hands seeking Liquid Mountain first, before coming to terms with the fact that he was now awake.
Moon stood and approached the door, opening it ajar, only to find Ed’s smiling face on the other side.
"Did you wait long- Huh?... You have been sleeping soundly?" Ed suddenly looked depressed.
"I thought you would be sitting eagerly, waiting for the time to come." He looked rather hurt as well.
"Only a few things in my body I managed to guard." Moon said. He patted his chest on the side. "These hurt like hell."
"Yeah, I know, tried there a few times." Ed said, his eyes falling on the potato foot. "That one still looking the same."
"Yeah, big brother Uon already knew what to do with my foot and did it right away." Moon nodded.
"Good, let’s get going then," Ed said before turning around, heading to Samuel’s hidden room.
Moon followed after him. He wanted to wash his face first, but on second thought, he decided against it... He would clean it with something dry, not dampen the wounds again and reopen them.
Inside Samuel’s room, Samuel himself was waiting inside, and Ed, followed by Moon, joined him. Without a word, Samuel moved his arm and the door sealed itself shut with everyone inside.
Moon looked around. There was a change there, not a major one, but the round stone he sat on last time was not there. Instead, there was something that resembled a bed made of stone, and it was also much higher.
Moon stayed wordless and just stood inside till someone told him otherwise.
"Take off your shirt and lay down on here," Samuel instructed, pointing at the stone bed.
Moon nodded, took off his shirt, the small ring-like tattoos still there...
Samuel snapped his finger.
The two rings came apart.