The sinking sun diminished the rosy hue of Chelsea's eyes as her red checkered miniskirt billowed in the wind.
Even though she had watched the dusk settle countless times, today she found the sight quite hollow.
'Ugh, I almost forgot what this felt like,' she thought bitterly, recalling her days as a puppet assassin and the cruel tyrant of a lord she had brutally murdered herself.
Even now, she could vividly recall the sensation of that bastard's blood splattering on her face.
Snapping back to the present, she lifted her gaze to the fully settled dusk, but the moonlight now touching her skin offered no solace.
Her gaze drifted to the bottles scattered across the dusty ground, their glass catching glints of light.
She had been waiting with him for hours.
Chelsea's eyes drifted toward the quiet figure beside her.
Despite being unable to see his face, she sensed he appeared utterly hollow and …. lonely.
A feeling she knew well from her own experience.
He was just like her….the past her.
Like a puppet with its strings, staring into nothing, his small visage looking at the buried ground where the remains of his father.
After arriving, he had taken his father's remains from the wooden stake and buried them near a burned-out house, under an old oak tree.
'We should move…' she sighed.
'Guess I have to kick some life back into him.'
She cleared her throat.
"Ahem, So….wanna come and meet Miss Merraid?"
"....."
The question remained unanswered, creating an awkward silence.
But she pressed on, "Hey maybe she knows something? Maybe she can somehow cure your illness. I mean, yeah... sure, boss is kinky and you might lose your dignity… ahem.." She looked away, adding, "but that's still a fair deal, right?"
Bane, who had been silent until now, finally let out a quiet chuckle.
Being quiet around this auburn ball of energy was impossible.
A slight sense of relief washed over him, however brief the moment.
After everything that had happened over these past months.
Especially after Mine's death.
Yeah ….even if he never showed it, never spoke about it, that girl's sudden death weighed on his mind.
More than he cared to admit.
Strange.
He'd seen endings like this before countless times by now. Enough that they should've blurred together by now.
And yet… the memories never really disappear.
They just settled somewhere deeper.
Maybe it was how they happened. Or maybe—
No.
It wasn't that.
What lingered wasn't the death itself, but the people left behind to carry it. Someone once said that the ones who leave don't feel the pain, it's the ones who stay that bear it.
That felt… about right.
And here, that weight had fallen on Sheele.
He'd seen her like that, barely holding together, as if one more push would be enough to break her completely.
Seeing her teetering on the edge of a total breakdown, shattered by the loss of her best friend, had sent a sickening jolt through his stomach.
He'd gladly take the sting of her blade over that.
Life had already been rough as hell for him, so pain was nothing new, it was just part of the deal. And honestly, getting stabbed by Sheele felt easier than seeing that empty look on her face.
He'd rather take all her pain himself than watch her bottle it up inside.
He just hoped that letting it out would help her get back on her feet somehow.
But actually seeing her pull herself out of that darkness?
That felt…. inspiring.
Watching Sheele find the strength to say goodbye to her friend at the grave… it did something to him.
Gave him a bit of that same courage.
Enough, at least, to finally face his own past and give his father the proper burial he'd been avoiding for way too long.
It was a step forward… even if it felt like walking through broken glass.
Because of this he finally felt free from the invisible burden that he had been carrying the whole time.
It was the final, bitter note on an already wretched day.
And now… somehow, sitting here, listening to Chelsea ramble….
His mood improved a bit.
Taking a soft exhale, he stared ahead at the distant stars, his eyes a lot calmer than before.
"Nice sales pitch lollipop girl, but I don't want to be anywhere near Merraid. Tell that crazy heterophobic lass that her debt has been repaid and now she can mind her own damn business," he replied, while idly twirling an empty bottle, his gaze fixed on something far away.
He felt uneasy around Merraid and that alone said a lot.
He wasn't new to brutality, he'd seen plenty of it to stop reacting to most of it.
But whatever he'd walked into with her… that was different.
His first meet-up or, you know, spy-up was when he watched her straight-up feed human corpses to her 'kids.'
Those 'kids' were just nasty, remote-controlled bugs, and she was using the bodies as 'breeding material' which was seriously gross.
He would honestly rank the sight as one of the top five most nauseating experiences of his life.
Because of this 'tiny' issue, he'd rather not go up to her door with his regenerating ass. Otherwise, he may very well end up being a lifetime supply for her 'kids'.
Oh, but wait, he's still dying from his illness, so maybe that doesn't matter anymore.
'Nah, I'd rather not.' he shook his head inwardly.
Unaware of his inner thoughts, Chelsea puffed out her cheeks in an adorable pout and muttered, "Don't call me 'lollipop girl,' you infuriating jerk!"
Bane laughed, unbothered by her comment.
With a long breath, he set the bottle down and shook his head.
After staying quiet for a moment, he spoke.
"Hey… Chelsea."
Slightly caught off guard by the sudden shift in his tone, she blinked and hummed in reply.
"Can you do me a favour?" he asked.
"Hmm, why should I?"
"Let's say, for old times' sake," he suggested.
Chelsea crossed her arms, her eyebrow arching in skepticism.
"'Old times,' you say?" she scoffed.
"We've barely met, what….twice before this? And now this is the third time."
With a teasing smirk, she tilted her head. "That hardly qualifies as 'history,' you know."
Bane let out a low huff of amusement.
"Second," he corrected.
"That doesn't make it any better,"
"…You're seriously hopeless, you know that?" she murmured.
"Yeah," he replied.
A short silence fell over them.
"Tell me" Chelsea finally asked as she shifted slightly, sitting down more comfortably beside him.
"And, don't get used to this," she added, resting her chin on her hand.
Bane chuckled faintly.
"I won't, Your Highness," he replied.
She nudged him with her elbow.
"Shut up," she huffed.
And under the quiet moonlight.
They stayed.
—x—
A/N : Hello fellas… long time no see.
Yeah yeah, I know...I disappeared like…forever.
Also yes I am not dead.
Not my proudest arc by the way.
Honestly, I don't even know if anyone's still here reading this. And yeah… it stings a little. But let's not open that emotional side quest right now.
If you are reading this though, respect (つ≧▽≦)つ. You've got more loyalty than half the characters I've written.
So, where was I?
For the past one to one-and-a-half years, life decided to drop a full boss raid on me. Health issues, job struggles, random chaos… you name it. I've basically been grinding XP in real life instead of writing chapters.
Oh, and yeah, I got a job now. Which is hmmm good enough for now… except it drains my energy like a cursed artifact. By the time I sit down to write, my brain is like: "We regret to inform you… we are closed."
So here's the honest truth. I don't know if I'll be able to upload daily.I don't know if I'll even be consistent.
But I do know one thing, I promised myself I would finish this story.
And I'm stubborn enough to see it through, even if it takes way longer than it should. (At this point, even my plot is probably waiting like, "bro???")
So yeah… I'm back. Slowly, inconsistently, but genuinely.
Thanks to anyone who's still here.And sorry for ghosting harder than my own characters.
Let's see this through to the end.