The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
37. The Forbidden Song

JULIO HAD EVERY RIGHT to be horrified.

From the moment Rachael luckily changed back after being corrupted, he must have since been looking into ominous prospects, wondering how such phenomenon could have been possible. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that Rachael was only cured the moment he had professed his love to her, that we had only gotten lucky, as Julio had said. Nothing bad had happened to Rachael since, and there was comfort in that thought. But Rachael just sang a song her former lover had written, which should have no longer existed in the current timeline.

“How is that possible?” I asked Julio. “Rachael said she wrote this song herself. She was even able to perform one time.”

Julio shook his head as the song’s bridge kicked in. “I don’t know…”

Then, among the riffs and bass lines, an absurd thought formed in my head. “What if Rachael’s been having faint memories of you all this time? Maybe that’s why she was cured in the alleyway.”

“That’s impossible,” he snapped. “She jumped into the Lethe, erasing all of her memories, and even if she did have some left, it would corrupt her instantly.”

“But she was already corrupted when you said you loved her. And she became okay after that.”

Julio then let out a sigh of annoyance. “You know what, maybe in this timeline, it’s just a song. And that’s it. Rachael couldn’t possibly make a connection just like that.”

At once, the song called Falling came to an end, and Julio’s voice had died with the cheers from the crowd in The Red Herring. The members of Deus Ex Machina waved at the audience as Rachael took the mic.

“At this point of the show,” she gestured toward Philip on stage, “my bandmate Philip over here will serenade us with a special solo number. Give him a round of applause, everyone!”

Philip pulled out a stool from behind the curtain and took center stage as the rest of Deus Ex Machina stepped down and blended into the crowd. Indeed, there was applause as Philip took out an acoustic guitar and played a happy little tune, contrasting the mood surrounding me and Julio.

“Once we get out of here,” Julio said, “we never speak of this night again. And if you can, never let Rachael perform that song.”

I nodded promptly. At this point, I should have been used to Julio being all cold and mysterious whenever he wanted to, but that only led me to suppress more questions. I understand that he had trouble moving on from his relationship with Rachael, especially considering how it ended. However, I couldn’t grasp why he would steer clear of any signs of Rachael slowly remembering who he was. She could get corrupted, sure, which appeared to be Julio’s main concern, but why did he try to talk to her at prom during the previous school year?

Julio and I never spoke another word to each other that night. He had quite the skill at killing conversations, deciding to aimlessly roam around The Red Herring so that he could appear to be keeping watch just in case Cassandra took over the place. With no use talking to him anymore, I decided to join Takahiro at his table with his platter of fish and chips. (Or fish and fries, whichever you want to call it.)

There was something important I wanted to ask, but a part of me didn’t want to disrupt his enjoyment.

He noticed me as I approached him. “Hey, Quinn,” he said. “Fries?” He pushed his platter toward me.

My mind was too preoccupied. If I were to start eating, I would finish the whole thing without even realizing it.

“No thank you,” I said, taking a seat. “There’s something I’d like to ask.”

Takahiro pulled the plate back toward him. “What’s up?”

I looked at the people around me. They appeared too engrossed in Philip’s solo performance to notice the supposedly nonexistent boy right next to me. “Has corruption…” I stammered, the word still difficult for me to say, “Always been a thing?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know Julio tried to talk to Rachael once after being separated.“

Takahiro’s eyes went wide. “He did?”

“Yeah.”

He shook his head. “How did you know? Did he tell you?”

Well, I could say that I knew through a vision I had at The MacGuffin, but it would be inappropriate to reveal that I had the means to peer into someone’s life without their permission.

“Yes,” I nodded. “He did tell me.”

“Well,” Takahiro stroked his chin. “That doesn’t seem like him at all. Julio’s too, well, responsible for that. He’s sure to be aware of all the risks of corruption.”

“That leads me to my initial question. Was there a time when Metropolitans and Forgotten Ones could exist together harmoniously? And not tiptoe cautiously around each other?”

“Depends. Do you know when Julio tried to talk to Rachael?”

You know that you’re reading a teen fiction story if this word is dropped:

“Prom,” I said.

“Prom at St. John’s is in February,” replied Takahiro. “In fact, at that time, corruption wasn’t that much of an issue.”

“Really?”

“I think it was the last time the Metropolis was most stable. We saw, however faint, hints that the Author was making progress with his work.”

“Her work.” I butted in.

“The Author’s a girl? How did you know?”

I wanted to say that Cassandra told me, but I felt like just uttering her name could ruin the night. Everything was going on without a hitch so far. I didn’t want to wait for danger.

“I… just have a feeling,” I said. “To think that only guys can write stories… how sexist is that?”

Oh no, I just quoted her. Is the world coming to an end?

Takahiro shrugged. “Anyway, last February was around the time Rachael and Curtis got together, a part of the story that never existed before. Curtis was shown to have feelings for her, sure, but they couldn’t have fallen in love on their own. They were both Metropolitans, after all. The rule is, if the Metropolis is stable, Metropolitans are, too.

“In the rare moment that they come across something that could corrupt them like, let’s say, a memory from a previous timeline, they would just forget about it in a matter of minutes, or probably even think of it as déjà vu. With that in mind, maybe that was why Julio tried to meet with Rachael. I mean, we can talk to Metropolitans, even to this day, provided that they don’t know or remember who we really are. It’s not a total off-limits thing, it’s just, these days, with Cassandra on the loose, we take extra precaution…”

I thought about what Takahiro said for a while, staring at his fish and chips. I finally took one and chewed it, preparing myself for what I was going to say.

“So is Cassandra… causing corruption?”

“I wouldn’t say she caused it,” Takahiro said, waving a fish fillet in his fingers. “There is still the undeniable rule that jumping into the Lethe without the Author’s permission will corrupt you, also if a Metropolitan steps beyond bounds for too long. However, corruptions back then were different. Corruptions reduced individuals to merely mindless beings wandering around the forest. But ever since last June, when Cassandra came along, corrupted people have never been so violent. Truly, it’s something we’ve never seen in a long time…”

“So, these violent corruptions have happened before Cassandra?”

“Yeah. But it’s basically an urban legend now. They called her—” Takahiro’s eyes darted in every direction. His lips trembled as he lowered his voice. “The Girl Beyond Bounds…”

“The Girl Beyond Bounds?” I said, my curiosity stirring. “Can you tell me all about her?”

Takahiro took a long time to respond. He stared at his piece of fish and dropped it right back on the platter.

“Ms. Louise is better off explaining that,” he said. “She’s been around longer than I have, after all. You should drop by The MacGuffin again sometime. She’s sure to tell you everything…”