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SCARS

All he could see were blurry blends of light and shadow dancing rapidly . The sounds melded together in a symphony of grating noise, yet he could not voice a complaint . Something was stuck in his throat – blood, he was certain . Unable to move a muscle, each breath was a strain, bringing with it burning pain that shocked every inch of his body . Yet, he had to breathe . One in and one out . Slowly . As gently as he could .

The first feeling to return was in his fingers; he could barely strain them, almost an invisible flicker, but he could . A faint trace of joy jolted his heart – so long as he was getting better, he would get well . It was all a matter of time and patience .

After fingers came toes, and after toes came lips and after lips his throat . It was dry, gratingly so, yet he couldn’t voice out the desire for some water . He could patiently wait and endure . Soon . He would be able to talk soon .

Alison stood on the side with a horrified expression, her fingers clutched together, pressed against her chest, shaking . She could hardly recognize the disfigured man lying on the bed ever after a general clean-up . Though his wounds had closed and stopped bleeding, and though the blood itself was washed away, the wounds themselves still stood sore . Gash after gash, hole after hole, there was barely a whole patch of skin untouched anywhere on him .

Standing right next to her was Lucky who dealt with it seemingly better . Her arms were crossed over her chest, her back leaned against the cold stone of the wall . It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Lino on the brink of death, though it certainly never got as bad as it did this time around . Behind the façade, in the ever-flickering gaze, there was a shimmer of painful light coveted in guilt and shame .

"—he’s... he’ll really be... okay?" Alison mumbled uncertainly, turning to Lucky, unable to look at him any longer .

"... yeah," Lucky nodded . "He’ll be just fine . Don’t worry . There, you saw him . Wanna head back?"

"... yeah . " Alison nodded . "Let’s go back . "

The two glanced at the body strapped to the bed once more before leaving .

He could hear them, though he couldn’t call out to them . The footsteps grew distant, but it brought joy to him once more – he could hear . It was no longer a painful blend of everything, but distinct sounds that made up the world itself . The quivers in their voices . The solemnness of their footsteps . The faint trace of voices coming from the outside . Slowly but surely, he was getting better . It was only a matter of time .

"... was it worth it?" a robotic voice spoke to him inwardly, causing him to groan in a reply . "You could have escaped scarless . "

"..."

"Your insanity will only get you so far," Ataxia said . "And a similar transgression in the future will mean death . If they hadn’t come, you would have either been crippled permanently or outright died . You have learned nothing . "

"..."

Lino didn’t reply, not because he couldn’t, but because there was nothing to say . In more than one way, after all, Ataxia was right – he did cross a boundary he shouldn’t . He could have contained himself, limited his injuries, merely at the expense of some Dragons he didn’t even know . Why didn’t he? He couldn’t say himself . Even introspection – the sole thing he could do at the moment – was inadequate . He can’t even quite recall his thought process before sending the Dragons away . Or even the one that led him to tell Ella to stay out of it no matter what happens . No, that he could still recall .

Lying there, covered in wounds and scars, unable to utter a word, he had all the time in the world to think and understand, yet he couldn’t . Something first has to make sense in order to be understood – his actions today, or yesterday, or a century ago as far as he knew, did not . He merely made a dent in an army that will never dry up nearly at the expense of his life . He hardly feared death, but the life of those he’d leave behind . Whether he coaxed them to his side or whether they joined him willingly was irrelevant; he was, in a way, responsible for them . Not merely as a symbol uniting them all underneath the same banner, but also as the shield .

Today, or yesterday, or a century ago as far as he knew, that shield cracked and splintered and it bled . And, worst of all, it nearly split permanently . Why? Because he fancied himself a sword? Perhaps . He couldn’t quite understand, which made him frustrated .

He used that frustration, however, to groan audibly and move his arms for the first time . They were weak, feeble, and they hurt – so much so he winced and cried out lowly – but he moved them nonetheless . There was no one in the room to notice his achievement . But, he didn’t care . The walls were his witness, in the end .

After a few more attempts, he managed to weakly pull himself up and sit . He was stuck in a corner of a rather wide room, a curtain to his left blocking the majority of it; opposite of him was an empty stretch of well-lit, tiled floor and bricked walls holding several, white cabinets on the other end of the room . He was all alone in this massive ward that can probably host at least a dozen other souls .

Almost all of his body was either draped in gauze or punctured by very thin needles trickling blood directly into his veins . He hung his head low, exhausted, strained . It was too much; he shouldn’t have rushed it .

He tried stirring his Qi, barely managing to summon a whiff to circulate through his body once . Even that, solitary action caused him to soak in cold sweat right after, his body temporarily quivering as a nauseating feeling overwhelmed him, nearly causing him to vomit his innards .

Taking a few deep breaths in succession, he managed to recover somewhat, lifting his head up once more . Right as he did, blood in his veins froze; she stood right there, by the bed’s edge, still as a frozen river . In her hands she held a small babe, fast asleep, sucking on its thumb .

Hannah wore long-wound, draped, white dress, her crimson hair spilled freely a stark contrast to it . The pair of emerald-green eyes stared at him, but he couldn’t see even a trace of anger or disappointment – just fear and joy . Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, breaking out soon after, folding over her rosy cheeks .

"... do you want some water?" she asked, quickly wiping her cheeks, holding Aaria with one arm while pouring a cup of water with the other . Lino nodded faintly as she walked up, helping him to a few gulps . The somewhat chilly water jolted him awake, seemingly cleansing whatever was stuck in his throat .

"... t-thanks . " he said somewhat groggily .

"... you hurt?" she asked, sitting on the bed, glancing over his body .

"I’ll... be fine . " Lino replied, trying to smile with little success .

"I was really worried, you know?"

"... I know . "

"Do you, though?" she asked, meeting his gaze once more .

"... o-of course I do—"

"I don’t think you do," she interrupted . "I don’t think you really understand how worried we are for you, Lino . Not just me . Everyone . Do you know... how silent the fortress is right now? Whereas we should be celebrating, celebrating so many things, we can’t . "

"..."

"Don’t look away . " she said, gently pulling his head back over until his eyes faced hers once more . "You can’t always look away, make a charming comment, and wait till it blows over . I’ve tried to tell you many times, many times, that you’re now a leader . But it seems to me you don’t understand what that implies . Not wholly, at least . "

"—I’m sorry..."

"I don’t need you to be sorry . We don’t need you to be sorry," she added, her lips curling up into a faint smile . "We know you, despite your crippling fears over it . I know you . I know you will never stop being who you are . I know you’ll never step back and push others to fight your battles, even if they’re unwinnable by you . I know you’ll never sacrifice the lives of others just so you can escape . I know you’ll gladly scar yourself time and again, and that you will never regret it . Not even if it costs you your life . "

"..."

"But, we need you to fear dying, Lino . We don’t need a fearless, dauntless leader," her voice grew a pitch lower as she glanced at the little girl in her arms . "We need someone who understands the full capacity and consequences of him suddenly dying . "

"... you think I don’t?" he asked .

"Then why are you testing the fate time and again?"

"Because I have to, Hannah . "

"You don’t," she said . "Not anymore, at least . Why didn’t you let Ella help you?"

"Because—"

"No more ’because’, Lino . Save the thinly veiled excuses for the public speech you’ll make to others," she interrupted . "Not for me . Tell me... do you love me?"

"I do . "

"Do you trust me?"

"I do . "

"Do you respect me?"

"... of course I do . " he met her eyes once more, biting his lower lip .

"Then why don’t we be honest with one another . Just this once . Forget the façade, the implied understanding . Be honest with me . Be honest with us . Why didn’t you let Ella help you?"

"... because... I’m terrified of her . " Lino mumbled after a short silence . "Because I’m terrified of her, Hannah..."

"... why?" Hannah asked, seemingly having expected the answer .

"For the same reason you are," Lino replied . "Because she’s a piece that doesn’t fit into any of the puzzles . I know... I know, deep in my heart, she would never let anything happen to me . I know she would even die for me . But... I just... can’t rectify it . I tried . So hard . I really did..."

"I know you did," she stretched out her free arm and caressed his cheeks warmly . "I know . But... tell me – what are our options?"

"... either to doubt her—"

"—or trust the kindness, love, and warmth she’d showed you your entire life . " Hannah completed the strung end of the sentence .

"... yeah . " Lino said, taking in a deep breath . "Or that . "

"We’re not simply trying to figure out our roles in all of this anymore, Lino . We know our roles . From now on, we have to figure out a path that takes us to the end of this nightmare . Together . "

"..."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah . "

"Did you learn anything new?" she asked, slowly snuggling next to him, holding onto Aaria carefully .

"Nothing I didn’t already know," Lino shrugged faintly . "Just that the end to all of this might not be too far away . I’ve seen One, by the way . "

"One? The Descent’s One?" Hannah asked, seeming somewhat shocked .

"Hm," Lino nodded . "It was his form of greeting me, I’m assuming . A way of recognizing me . It looks like he won’t participate in the Origin War . "

"... that’s good . Did you figure out how strong he is?"

"Heh..." he chuckled bitterly, shaking his head . "I’ve figured out nothing . Absolutely nothing . "

"... we will, one day . Until then... we can just take it slow . " Hannah said . "However many timers are pressing us to push onwards, nobody is forcing us to obey them to a tee . "

"... sometimes," he mumbled . "I forget just how brilliant you are . "

"Oh? You do? My, my..."

"Ha ha ha, yeah . How’s Aaria doing?"

"Great, now that her dad’s back . "

"Ouch . That was low . "

"Yeah," she nodded, grinning . "I felt it . Sorry . "

"... no matter," he said, kissing the young girl’s head gently . "I’ll become better... for you, for her, and for everyone else . I promise . "

"... I know you will," she said, leaning over and kissing him gently . "Because you always have . "