Shadow Slave

Effie, who was already standing up to leave, froze, then slowly sat back down. Kai dropped his wooden mask to the floor and stared at him with wide eyes. Even Cassie seemed a bit stunned, despite knowing most of the things he had just said already.

A deathly silence settle in the room, and Sunny found himself being pierced by two dumbfounded gazes.

He scratched his neck, then coughed awkwardly and looked away.

"Yeah… that's more or less all that I wanted to say…"

Of course, the decision to reveal these secrets to his friends had not been an easy one. In fact, it went against everything that Sunny believed in… every instinct in his body screamed that he was making a terrible mistake.

But instinct was not always the best advisor. Otherwise, what was the point of having intelligence and the ability to think about your decisions?

The fact of the matter was that Sunny had already done irreparable damage to his relationships once because of his untrusting nature. Back on the Forgotten Shore, he had kept his secrets a little bit too well, failing to understand how his deceptiveness would make others perceive him.

Sure, he had a reason to behave the way he had… and yes, he had never really lied to his allies, simply withholding or manipulating the information a little to keep himself safe.

But the others did not know about his reasons. All they knew was that their trust was never returned fully, and that he was full of secrets, discrepancies, and insidiously subtle ways to keep those secrets to himself. Sunny had never explained himself… and in the absence of an explanation, the misunderstanding was bound to inevitably take its place, perhaps to dire results.

Who knew… if had been more open with Nephis, she might have not considered him a liar, absorbing that false perception into her own forming self. Would things have ended differently, then?

Regardless, currently, Sunny knew both the Aspects… and, more importantly, the Flaws of every member of the cohort. But they couldn't say the same. They revealed their weaknesses to him, but he held on to his own, failing to reciprocate this trust.

For now, everything seemed fine… but that one-sided nature of their friendship was bound to fester in the future, and the small crack it created could grow in size, eventually destroying it.

Plus… even Mordret knew his secrets. It would have been silly if the Prince of Nothing did, but Effie and Kai did not. Not to mention dangerous…

faith and put his trust in his friends. It

did being honest with people feel so…

loathsome sensation… curses,

a full minute of stunned silence, Effie finally spoke, her voice

on, wait a

her small hand and

Flaw… we sort of already had a general idea, after spending so much time with you.

Sunny shrugged.

aloud, and I am compelled to answer any question asked of me truthfully, or

showing just how bewildered she was. Even her usual mischievousness disappeared. Instead, the little girl simply

You seemed reluctant to share it, for some reason,

heavy sigh, hesitated for a moment, then forced

I kept it a secret… and

face grew a

makes enemies underestimate you. I'm more than fine with people thinking little of me. But… uh… after I started pretending, things

remained silent

I guess that explains a few things. Now, about Lord Mongrel — we knew, of course! I mean, it was sort of

turned to her and spoke simultaneously.

"What?! I didn't know!"

a bit confused. She asked

am sorry, but

stared at them with a

you did not know? You were the one who helped him buy that