Chapter 62 - Vera's Teardrops

He's unaware of the period of this torture, but Valentine Wagner is not a stupid individual without reasoning capabilities.

The Bringer of Euthanasia had already been tortured before, no physical damage could crack his soul and render him to forsake his rationality.

But his loved ones have always been his dragon scale.

His mother, his sister, his wife... Rose... and even Fayette and Vera... his team.

He eventually realised that everything is just an illusion created with the purpose of sinking him further and further into the abyss.

They continued to say, 'Don't look'.

And that's exactly what he did, what is the point of looking? if he can't end their anguish.

His eyes raised up to notice that his body was still embracing Fayette, the latter squirmed and twisted inside, likely going through the torture of her own as the branches shamelessly crawled through their innards like massive worms, it hurt like hell.

But it's better than watching that nightmare.

"F-Fa...ye..." He tried to shake her, sure that she's likely going through worse torture than his, she has her daughter and her son...

No matter how much he shook her body, it was meaningless, she never woke up or stopped her silent screams and he too wasn't able to keep that pain for much longer before his rationality started to recede.

Transitioning between torture, nightmares and despair, who knows for how long, Valentine opened his silver eyes again to find himself in a foreign place.

Some kind of place enclosed in darkness, only the noise of a sobbing lady together with dripping tears emerged or is it the slim water drops of the rain?

"Vale... Vale..." Those lightly cries of hope kept resonating gleefully beside his ear, like a lover that hadn't encountered her beloved in years.

"Ve...ra..." He naturally recognised her voice, as his mind came back to its senses and rationality clouded his mind, he came to realise that everything is likely thanks to Vera.

"VALE!!"

!!!

He felt his lips get sealed wantonly, without asking for permission and Valentine couldn't find the strength to push her away, nor the desire to do so.

It was a tender kiss, not one shared between two passionate lovers, but rather, one of relief and infatuation.

It was the brief touch of two soft pieces of flesh.

"Sorry... I can't hold myself back, it was really difficult." After coming to the realisation of what she did, Vera's pretty cheeks blushed, it had been so spontaneous as if it had been her rightful reward.

"I understand... you must have worked really hard, I'm proud of you." This time it was him that surprised her by taking her chin and kissing her!

!!!

When their lips separated once again, he caressed her cheeks but the beauty looked as if she couldn't realise what happened, one of her fingers moved to her lips and caressed it!

For a while, Valentine still didn't understand what was happening... what is this place? why is Vera here? where is Fayette?

He struggled to move and look sideways while Vera just remained there... like a tree as if wanting to make sure she's not dreaming.

"V-Vera, what's happening...?" Valentine felt his body numb all over, perhaps it had reached a stage where not feeling pain and worms crawling through his regenerating flesh was 'odd'.

Even as he asked, Vera still didn't say anything, she just embraced him and laughed as if she was a psychopath.

"H-He.. hehe~"

The man sighed and caressed her head as his gaze caught up Fayette's body that lay on the side, also naked and regenerating with holes all over her body that gave way to her living flesh.

"We're okay..." He sighed, finally out of that nightmare.

"Yes! you're okay... it's over now, Vale." Vera finally released him and reassured, yes... now she can have peace of mind and start explaining the situation to him, he must be quite bewildered, still as she regarded his body marred with holes, she couldn't help but feel some wrath towards the tree, it's obviously the cause of all this.

"Thank you, Vera..." He said sincerely and moved one of his hands towards the still unconscious Fayette, of the two of them she surely had it the hardest.

"It was nothing..." Vera giggled, took his hand and caressed it, not saying anything else, if one listened closely, one could even hear a sigh in the background together with the waterdrops of the tree in the middle of this fantastic room.

"..."

"..."

"Yes, and... what happened? where are we?" Seeing that she only regarded him with a stupefied expression, not saying anything else, Valentine realise he had to lead the conversation or else she wouldn't get a grip.

"It's complicated... I sort of made a deal with the tree in exchange for getting the two of you... this is the core of the mahogany tree." Still caressing his hand she showed him around the small 'cave', the only light in the room was one coming from the dept of the lake.

His eyes were immediately glued to that lake, it's perhaps the most 'pure' thing they have seen in this place, that water couldn't be any more clear and pristine.

"How long has it been?"

"Outside, more than five months, I departed the alleyways only once and I got materials to burn the tree." She explained, but got suddenly interrupted by a third party.

"Something I'm not very appreciative of."

!!!!

Valentine heard that voice that despite not containing any threatening intent, just the fact that it came from 'something' he couldn't see, was enough to straighten all his inner-alarms as he immediately regained a sobered state!

He moved his hand swiftly, looking for a knife, only to be stopped by Vera who held his hands in place tightly and reassured him.

"Calm down, there isn't any threat... It's the tree..." Vera explained but her calm tonality turned into outrage when she recalled that the cause of their suffering just spoke.

"Did you really have to torture them this badly!?"

"They are sinners of wrath and the purpose of my existence... is to punish them, rather than be angered with me, you should be grateful that I have chosen you and given you the opportunity to save them, girl..." The Mahogany tree in the middle of the room shuddered slightly, dropping some of its beautiful leaves that fell on the lake.

"..." Vera could only grit her teeth and accept that indeed, were it not for 'her' they wouldn't be in front of them like now.

"Hmn..."

!!!

Valentine and Vera heard the muffling noises coming from the third person in the room, the blonde... Fayette is waking up.

"Faye!" Valentine struggled to crawl up to her body, aided by Vera.

The two of them shook her a bit and the blonde heterochromatic eyes showed themselves to the accursed world.

"Uhg..." Fayette release a groan of pain, unable to move her body completely, but when she regarded the two people in front of them, she thought she was dreaming.

She has seen them for months, perhaps even years... but right now they're not getting stabbed, tortured, crushed...

"V-Valentine... Ve...ra...?" The memories of their last encounter reappeared in her mind, so diffused by the resemblance of the nightmares she had lived, that the beauty had to struggle to place those memories in her head yet again.

"We're okay, Faye... Vera saved us... you're not in that place anymore."

"I'm... not?"

"No... you're out of that nightmare, this is reality..." Vera caressed the blonde's hair with tears in her eyes, out of the two, it's clear Fayette had it worse."

Seeing their appearances, it had been a hundred times more gratifying than she expected it to be.

The tree shuddered again and released some more leaves, seemingly paying attention to everything that transcurred and placing the entirety of its senses in Valentine and Fayette.

'...'

**

**

"It's time for you to leave... I'll open the path for you... this is the maximum extent of my grace, Vera... I hope you respect our deal, don't disappoint me, take the seed."

One of the tree's roots moved, took the remaining seed from the altar and placed it on Vera's waiting hand, closing the palm.

"Protect it with your life... this is extremely important..." The tree emphasized the importance of this task, but she didn't give further insight, something that confused both Valentine and Fayette who didn't understand anything of what she was saying.

"I will. Regardless of what you did, if not for you, I wouldn't have gotten to them so quickly... I'll respect my end of the deal as you did yours, can I plant it anywhere?" Vera planned to take this seriously, but it's difficult to do so when this tree is giving such a scarce piece of information, she'd do better with something more specific.

"Plant it where your senses scream you to, that 'will' is my will... when the time comes, the seed will do its job, you just need to plan it... my only message to you, is to remember... you're no longer 'human' right now, you're a mahogany tree... even if it doesn't look like that for now, if I was you, I would try to never get in contact with fire again."

"..."

"What does she mean, Vera? what did you do?" The further the conversation went, the more Valentine furrowed his brows and worried, what exactly did she accept in order to save them?

"... I'll explain to you later, Vale. Can't we stay here until they're okay?"

"You can stay here... but don't drink this water..."

"... why?"

"Because you're not qualified to do so... if you do it as you're now, your soul will explode... even yours, boy." The tree warned, it's not for 'her' convenience, it's for theirs.

"..."

"..."

The trio just regarded one another and decided to let this slide.

"Let me go out for a minute, I need to tell an acquaintance that everything is okay... I'll be back, alright?" Only now Vera recalled the possibly anxious Sasha who is still outside, waiting.

"Acquaintance?" Fayette gaped when that word was mentioned,  what kind of acquaintance? how long exactly were they in that nightmare?