I apologize for the incredibly long wait. This is the first time in over a year where I fail to update without notice.

So I apologize and hope to now get back on track.

Please take this GO Seto drawing as a token of my apology. (I've been working on designing his curse marks, so that's why he has no clothes lol)

~~~~~

GAME OVER

Chapter 16 [A Proposition]

~~~~~

The next day, Adam stood outside Jason's lab. When he died there was no one to meet him, so he wasn't sure if Jason knew he died or not. Not that he was doubting Jason and his knowledge of things, but he thought he should just check in to be safe.

Adam walked into the building and down the hallway. He heard some sort of angry grumbles coming from within, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"Dammit!" Adam jumped at the shout, that was definitely not Jason, but Ross. He wondered what Ross was doing.

"Hey Ross," Adam walked into the lab, this offered Ross a moment to look up with a scowl. Ross' tail bobbed in an angry fashion, Adam wasn't sure if it was because of him or not. Probably not in this case.

Ross was crouched beside a medium sized machine with a couple tools in his hands, "What do you want? I'm kind of busy."

"Sorry, I'm just looking for Jason, have you seen him?"

Ross grumbled under his breath and placed his tools down, "Seen him? Ha! Give me a break! He left without a word for the capital yesterday!"

"Oh..., s-sorry, I didn't know," the atmosphere began to feel like stew, hot and thick. Adam was fully prepared to leave but he stopped himself to ask, "Hey Ross, are you ok?"

Ross' nose twitched and he stood up, Adam was taken aback by the angry expression on his face.

"Notch! It pisses me off!" Ross started to pace, his ears laid back and his mouth drawn into an angry snarl, "Who does Jason take me for! I've graduated top of my class in both Tiered classes and university! But no, he treats me like a helpless child who doesn't even know the fundamental basics of mechanical engineering!"

"Fundamental what?" Adam watched Ross grumble and stomp around and ignore Adam's question.

"I didn't come all this way to fix a machine that does absolutely nothing!" he pointed a finger at the medium sized machine he was working on earlier, "I mean it. That thing does nothing, he says I'm to deconstruct and reconstruct it in order to learn how to fucking construct a machine. A child could do this!" Ross plopped down into Jason's lab chair.

"Er, I can't--"

"No one here would understand the amount of frustration I feel while Jason constantly treats me like a child!"

Adam stood in silence as Ross continued to fume, "I can understand..."

Ross glared, "What the fuck would you kn--" he stopped himself and sat quietly for a moment. It seemed without having to say a word Ross realized the answer to his question. They were silent for a few moments until Ross spoke up.

"I ran away from home. Sure I'm legally an adult so it's not like the authorities can bring me back, but that isn't what I mean. My father is the CEO of a rather large company, at least as large as it can be in this small patch of land we call home.

"He runs mining and construction, and as his only son, I stand to inherit the business. But I don't care about a job like that; however, no matter what I say to my parents, they continue to say I'm too young to know what I want. That I should sit still and just listen to all the lessons they give me.

"I was tired of that kind of treatment, I figured if I could become an important person in the kingdom, to the point the kingdom couldn't live without me, then my parents wouldn't be able to force me to take over the company... but all this has led to nothing, Jason won't even teach me anything. It's like he's stalling."

Adam took a seat on the floor, he hadn't expected Ross to tell him something so personal like that.

For several long moments, nothing was said between them. Adam finally had something to say, "A lot of people think I'm stupid for my dream. Maybe they are right, I'm just a human, it's not like I can learn how to be a player so easily. Even my parents think I'm a fool. But my father once said that my mother was like me when he first met her.

"Her eyes were just like mine, bright and shining like the sun, albeit her dream was different, and more attainable for a Human. But the two of us so desperately wanted to help people, just in different ways. My father said that when I was born, the light from my mother's eyes dimmed to a muddy yellow and she lost that energy she had.

"Eventually people were so openly against my dreams that I moved out of my parent's home and deeper into the city. I planned to work hard to get a job into the AHD one day. But the circumstances are different--"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Yes! You see what I am trying to get at Ross, look at me. Despite all the people that try to get me down and the obstacles in my way, I won't give up. I'm going to prove even if only by a little that a Human can be a Player. And you shouldn't give up either."

Adam grinned, he felt like he did good. He wasn't as inspirational as Alesa was yesterday, but still, he didn't think he did half bad, "What..whatever." Ross mumbled while combing his fingers through his tail, he avoided all eye contact.

"What are you doing to your tail?"

"N-nothing!" Ross shouted; he let his tail go and stood up. He kept his back turned, Ross' tail hung limply, "Th-thanks I guess..."

"No problem! Oh, and Ross, if you ever need to talk you know where to find me," Adam waved and left.

When Adam was out of earshot Ross grumbled quietly before returning to his task.

Adam decided to return to Level I, he figured if Jason wasn't around he should help Seto. Plus he's been tossing his head around trying to decide if he should tell Seto the truth or not. When he returned he was surprised to find Seto not potion making nor researching into that mysterious book; in fact, Seto wasn't in the main room at all.

"Seto? Hello~" Adam walked around the oddly silent cave, he peered into not only his room but Seto's, and still, there was no trace of him. Adam wracked his brain trying to think if there was any other place he would find Seto, he thought that maybe Seto was on a different level of the AHD, but when he saw Seto's staff lying against the wall and his cloak dangling from a hook he thought otherwise.

Adam determined that Seto must be nearby, he's never once seen him in public without his cloak or his staff. So Adam left the cave and peered into the darkness of Level I. He still didn't understand why it was so dark down here, it kind of defied logic. The ravine was deep, but it was open to the sky and he could see the sun, but it was like the moment it reached this level it didn't matter. It was just dark.

Adam didn't want to stray too far from the cave or the hardly visible balls of fire, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to find his way back.

"Seto~" Adam called out into the darkness, there was no response. Adam scratched his head in confusion. Adam turned around and went back into the cave, he figured Seto would eventually return. So until then he should make himself useful and perhaps clean the place up a little bit.

Adam noticed that strange and mysterious book lying open on Seto's desk. He thought that if his visions were truth then this book was a history book, undecipherable at this moment, but a book with answers Seto was looking for.

Adam reached out to flip through the pages but paused, last time he touched the book he had a weird vision. He wasn't very fond of the visions he had and found them odd and somewhat terrifying. Adam bit his lip and decided to try.

He let his fingers brush the pages but nothing happened. "Wh-what?" He placed his whole hand on the book and nothing happened.

Adam's eyes widened he grabbed the book and flipped through the pages and turned it this way and that. But nothing happened at all. He didn't understand. Was it a one-time thing? Why did nothing happen now? He just didn't understand; honestly, he didn't understand why such a power just appeared out of nowhere.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Adam spun around with a look of fear. Seto was in the cave doorway lacking his cloak and staff as previously believed. The shirt Seto wore had no sleeves, leaving the arms bare and allowing Adam full view of spiraling purple markings all along his arms.

"S-Seto! I-I'm not doing anything, please believe me! I was just testing something! I didn't mean to mess around with your father's book!"

"Father's book? What?" Seto looked confused, "Just what are you babbling about?"

Seto narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "N-nothing!" Adam set the book back on the wooden desk.

Seto opened his mouth to speak.

Now, let's take a moment to pause this tale. There is more to this story than simply following our young and inexperienced little hero, every now and then we must delve into matters our young hero will never experience, will never witness, and will never hear.

As of this moment in this tale, AHD member Jason Stars arrived in the capital. The very place where our young hero hails from. It should be about midday there and with the sun high over the mountain, no dark shadows are cast over the city and its people.

Jason Stars always has this air of self-importance about him, he's gone his entire life knowing that he was special. That there was no one in this world who could match his level of intelligence, he was even greater than his father. And after parking the AHD car he made his way towards the only place a guy like him would go in a place like this.

The castle.

He had matters to speak of with the King of this small little kingdom. Yes, he saw this kingdom as small.

See, Jason truly found the confines of this kingdom unbearable. He was never fond of small spaces unless he was underneath the gears of a machine working to build it just right. However, the kingdom was not a machine.

To Jason, this kingdom was just a blueprint, the basis of plans for something even larger. The past 500 years was nothing more than prep work, he knew with his brain he would soar higher than his father, He would be the one to do what his father could not, he would be the greatest and the smartest.

Unfortunately for Jason, those plans would be stalled for over 300 years. But he did not know that, at least not at this time.

When Jason reached the castle he was greeted with curt nods to which Jason responded with a smug smile. He knew his way around the castle, his father took him a few times when he was younger before he passed away. He made it a point to memorize the layout, not that it mattered, he was now a very important member of the AHD, to the point he knew this kingdom could not live without him.

"Jason sir, the king will see you in a few moments," a guard who was posted in front of the throne room door said to Jason, "He is a bit busy at this moment discussing--"

"After I came all this way? Unbelievable!" Jason pushed past the guard, "This is a very important matter that I need to discuss right now, so if you'll excuse me--" Jason pushed the doors open abruptly halting the conversations from within.

Within the large throne room was a man sitting on a large throne and a woman of raven hair stood in front of him.

Before I continue I should mention this king is not the same king that Seto Magi once met as a child. That king passed away centuries ago, this man is a different king that took that man's place.

The woman whirled to look at Jason with his smug grin, she scowled, "Jason, you seem to have a knack for interrupting!" She brought her hands up and clenched them into a fist, her other hand rested on the hilt of her sword by her side.

Jason laughed, his metal books thumped against the marble floor, "Your Highness! I've come to discuss my request with you!"

"Hm, Jason, you do tend to do this often. You disregard even the smallest bits of manners when you're in the mood, however, your timing is just right. My discussion with Ms. Mau was just finished."

"Hmph! Even if it wasn't I don't have the time to wait." Jason stood beside the woman who glared down at him. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper, "I've come to propose an expedition to the End for valuable resources needed to continue my research. Of the council members; obviously, not including Ms. Mau here, Seto Magi has signed his agreeance to this matter. Tyler Lox was unwilling to sign."

"I see, and you've come here not only to speak to me but in order to convince the final council member, so as to gain the popular vote, correct?"

"Yes, and I guarantee this expedition is well worth any casualties. Though I don't believe there will be many if we go according to the plans I've devised just for this occasion. I'm here to convince you of the benefits for Rekrium should we go through with this."

Jason smiled, "Ms. Mau, take a seat and please, the both of you, hear me out."

~~~~~

So despite being gone for so long, was this an acceptable chapter?

Did you all enjoy it?

What theories do you all have brewing in your minds today?

Is Seto hot???? (>///<) *Gonna take my teenage self to the trash now*

~CATtheDrawer