The price of living

'It seems the master has been having fun all by himself,' thought Tesse as she walked over the butchered goblin corpses that littered the hallways.

She followed the blood trail that her master had left behind, walking all the way up to the roof.

"N-no, master. Please no," shouted Tesse, tears already rolling down her cheeks as she looked at the state that Gray was in.

She walked slowly towards his blood-covered naked body, hoping that it was all just a bad dream.

"H-he's alive," sighed Tesse in relief as she saw Gray's chest lift, however even then his breathing was laboured, like he was being suffocated.

She tried healing him but he wouldn't wake up, and his breathing remained ragged.

Tesse tore off a piece of her shirt and began wiping the blood of Gray's body. As she was doing this her cheeks tinged red, the thought of Gray lying there naked, unable to protect himself made her blood rush. But out of respect she resolved not to do anything without the master's permission.

'When did the master's mark become this big?' thought Tesse as she wiped all the blood of his arms.

'And his hair, why hasn't it turned black yet? What happened here?' thought Tesse looking around before she noticed the shriveled-up goblin corpse lying a few feet away.

After wiping all the blood off him, she removed the black cloack that the goblin was wearing and put it on Gray.

'Handsome,' thought Tesse as she stared at the unconscious Gray, his black uniform contrasting beautifully with his white hair.

She slung her sniper over her shoulder and picked Gray up, however his long hair kept getting in her face so she put him down and tied it into a bun to prevent it from flying around.

'I hope he doesn't min-' Tesse thoughts were brought to a halt when she noticed the silver blade lying a few feet away from the goblin's corpse.

'He certainly wouldn't forgive me if I left some of his loot,' thought Tesse before picking up the blade.

"Perhaps," whispered Tesse as she put the blade in the scabbard behind Gray's new uniform.

***

"Thantos division, the Captain wants to talk to you guys," said one of the government officials to the two girls who were eating dinner.

Clare nodded in her frail demeanor while Suzzie completely ignored him, focusing on the food in front of her.

"Pfft this new division is a joke," snarled the official as he walked away.

"Let's go," said Clare, before standing up abruptly and walking towards Ria's office.

'Fuck, what is it this time? Don't tell me they found out my real identity. Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, I wonder what the odds of me killing everyone in this base are. Maybe if I get the girl to help me I'll be able to make it out alive,' thought Clare as she looked back at Suzzie.

"Captain you called?" said Clare in a shaky voice as she entered Ria's office, looking at her innocently.

"Yes I did. Some new information has come to my attention that will affect the group's operations," replied Agent Ria, pulling out a few files.

'It seems there's no way around this,' thought Clare as she gripped the knife hiding in the sleeve of her oversized black suit.

"The information guild has released a statement that they will be raiding a new E-difficulty ruin along with the Riot and Hephaestus guilds "

"Based on past information, the rewards from ruins are higher than those from dungeons and even lower level tower floors, as such the government has secured three slots in this new raid, and you two will be part of it," announced Agent Ria still going over her files.

"I'll be going with you two to personally monitor your strengths and weaknesses, and begin a training schedule based on it. We'll be entering tomorrow at 19:00, so wait for me near the garage at 18:30. That's all you may go now," said Agent Ria, looking at the two girls in front of her once she was done.

Clare had sweat dripping down her face as if she was nervous about something, and kept fiddling with something in her sleeves.

'god I hope I didn't make a mistake recruiting these two,' feared Agent Ria as she stared at the nervous Clare.

"You know if you want, we can get you one that fits better. It seems your suit is a little too big for you,"

"N-no, I'm fine. I like it this way," replied Clare before walking out of the office, Suzzie following close behind her.

'That was close,' thought Clare, a nervous smile on her face.

***(For clarification, Gray isn't awake, these are merely his thoughts,)

'Shut up! Stop it! Stop it!' shouted Gray, the voices in his head swarming his mind like a hive of angry bees.

'Leave me alone you bastards,' it felt as if a billion different voices were shouting into his ears, each one of them eating away at his sanity. His mind was in such disarray that he couldn't hear his own thoughts properly.

'Souls, souls, souls,' this was the single phrase that the specters within Gray's mind demanded from him. He was given no rest although his eyes were still closed. Every second he lay there trapped in the dark abyss that was his mind, the specters would constantly demand the souls owed to them, the souls that Gray promised the demon.

"Master," whispered Tesse in a worried voice as she watched Gray turn in his sleep, his pillow soaked wet by the beads of sweat that constantly ran down his pale face.

His mark was glowing red and was becoming hotter by the second. It subdued for a bit each time Tesse healed him, but after an hour the symptoms would come back.

"Gray, white, come in, over." said a voice over the walkie-talkie on the dresser of Gray's mirror.

'White? Do they mean me?' wondered Tesse before answering back.

"The master is currently unable to answer. However this is white speaking... over,"

"This is a reminder of tomorrow's raid at 19:00 Central Plaza. Don't be late, over and out,"

"Fuck," whispered Tesse under her breathe before healing Gray once more.

'If the master doesn't wake up by then. I'll just have to do it myself,' thought Tesse, scared that the master's deal might be canceled if they didn't show up tomorrow.