Chapter 58: Someone Has To

Devon groaned as he pushed himself to stop leaning against the Mansion wall and stand on his feet. He staggered almost immediately and had to place a hand against the wall to prevent from falling.

"Need some help?" Henry asked and offered a hand.

Devon snorted,

"Touch me and I'll break your nose," he said with a grunt before leaving away from the wall again and this time, managing to remain upright with his own strength.

"So aggressive," Henry said with a smile, "Suit yourself."

Henry didn't walk ahead of Devon and kept pace with the Half-orc's slow steps.

They walked a few steps in silence before Devon said,

"You did good."

"What?" Henry asked confused.

"You volunteered to come with me first when the others either couldn't decide or didn't want to. You even took a sword to the chest judging by that wound," Devon said with a vague gesture at Henry's sword cut.

"Oh," Henry said in understanding. The Half-Orc was complimenting him. Or trying to anyway.

Devon grunted,

"I don't even know how you could have survived that. A stab in the chest should be fatal, especially for a scrawny human like you.

Embarrassing that you seem to be fine while I'm here looking battered. It's an insult really… I can still remember how easy it was to smack you aside just a few weeks ago and it seems things are so quickly changing.

I don't like that."

"Is a compliment coming soon?"

Devon pursed his lips,

"I already gave it. I said 'You did good'."

"You can still add 'Thanks' to that," Henry said. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"No."

Henry rolled his eyes and said nothing more.

They continued the walk in silence. When they turned a corner toward the West Wing, their eyes fell on the bodies of three Langlot Gang members against a wall they appeared to have been slammed into.

"Curious way to die," Devon mumbled. There were no gunshot wounds on any of the three bodies. Their skin appeared to have been cracked open all over and the blood that dripped from their body had dried before it could even pool around them.

Henry said nothing. He recognized the markings or at least he recognized what could have caused them but what reason was there to say it out loud?

They soon arrived at the door to the medical bay and when Henry raised a hand to knock, the door pulled open and there was Good ol' Joe, looking well-rested and sticking his head out.

"Joe. Of, course!" Devon said with a sneer,

"Of course, you were here, cowering in safety while everyone else was getting slaughtered outside."

Joe's lips shook a bit but the look in his eyes was defiant,

"What was I supposed to do? Stay there and get shot? I'm not a young man anymore!

You don't get to be se old as I am in this business by being stupid and acting brave in the face of so many guns!"

With that as a final word, Joe pushed past Henry and Devon. They were so close to the door frame that he had to suck in his protruding gut quite a bit to get past before he scampered down the corridor, ran up the stairs, and vanished from sight.

"That coward!" Devon said through gritted teeth.

Henry thought that was unfair. He didn't like Joe anymore than Devon did but he certainly didn't think the man should have remained outside. It's wise to be a coward sometimes.

"Will you just stand there?" Yelena said from inside the medical bay, "Come in. You're dripping blood."

"Aye," Devon said and hoisted himself over the threshold to sit in a chair and allow her to work her healing magic over his wounds.

The wounds all closed up and in less than a minute, all injuries Devon had sustained, internal or external, were healed and he was back in tip-top condition.

"Ah, yes," Devon said as he reveled in his healing, "Thank you, Yelena."

Yelena gave a simple acknowledging nod as Devon stood to his feet, gave Henry a head gesture that was probably the best he could do for goodbye, and walked out.

"You should sit down now," Yelena told Henry.

Henry sat down but he was studying Yelena as he did. He noticed, ever since he and Devon had arrived at the door of the medical bay, that Yelena's tone lacked her usual character. It was monotonous. She didn't have a smile on her beautiful face and her green eyes didn't have their usual twinkle.

"Yelena, are you alright?" Henry asked.

"Of course I am," Yelena said, her tone stiff, "Why wouldn't I be?"

She raked her hand over the sword cut on Henry's chest with a slight frown,

"This was a dangerous attack. You should be glad you survived it."

"Oh, I am," Henry said and then frowned. That was a statement Yelena would have chuckled at if she was actually feeling alright as she claimed.

Yelena's hands radiated her green nourishing energy and Henry's wounds began to stitch together until they sealed up completely without leaving a single scar behind.

"All done," Yelena said in that deadpan tone of hers and made to leave but Henry grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her so she remained right where she was.

"Wait. Tell me what's wrong."

"There's nothing wrong," Yelena said in a low tone while averting her eyes. She pulled once at Henry's grip on her wrist and he released it but she remained seated.

Yelena bowed her head and said nothing for a minute. Neither did Henry. If she was still sitting in front of him, then she was clearly working herself up to sharing and he felt it would be stupid of him to interrupt her process.

"I felt them, you know," Yelena eventually said.

"Felt what?"

"Every shot that hit the walls… Every bullet, every slam, and even an acidic sizzling that still burns. I felt it all. It was more pain than I've ever felt in my life all at once but what I did… Henry, what I did… It hurt even worse."

"What did you do?" Henry asked.

Yelena looked up now and tears were streaming down her eyes,

"I killed them!" She said, her voice sounding like a gasp.

Henry let out a breath as he leaned back. He had guessed that was it,

"You mean those three Langlots, Devon and I walked past on our way here."

Yelena sniffed,

"Must be," she said.

"And that's making you upset?" Henry asked, confused, "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? I killed three people. I took three lives…" Yelena said, her voice slightly bolder and louder.

"And why did you do it?" Henry asked.

Yelena paused and then slowly said,

"They were chasing Joe. I walked out, they saw me, said some things so I- I killed one of them. Another panicked and shot me. I healed, a- and killed him and the third."

"And you feel— bad?" Henry asked.

Yelena scoffed at him,

"You wouldn't understand…" she said.

"Oh, but I do. You are feeling guilty because three scumbags came after your friend —I mean, Joe— and you killed them before they could.

You saved a life."

"But I killed…"

"It was necessary," Henry told her earnestly.

"Maybe," Yelena said and gulped as she looked away, "Well, I never want to feel like that again."

"You shouldn't. Never feel guilty about taking the life of someone who wouldn't think twice to take yours," Henry said.

"I don't want to become…" Yelena started and caught herself.

"… Like me?" Henry completed her sentence with a smile.

"… A killer," Yelena corrected, "I don't want to become a killer."

"Ah," Henry said gently, "You shouldn't have to be."

"Did you feel guilty when you made your first kill?" Yelena asked gently. A bit of her usual character back in her tone.

"No," Henry said calmly,

"And I've never felt guilty once since. Them or me. Someone has to die and I'd rather it be them."

•••

—The Meeting Room within the Hadron Mansion—

Angus was seated in the chair at the head of the table, his eyes closed as he tried to delve into the item on his chest as he had been forced to do after taking the Flame Vykers' attacks to the chest.

No one was with him. The others were all cleaning up after the battle and the meeting they should have had was postponed till after that was over.

*Knock* *Knock*

"Come in," Angus called and the door creaked open as Good ol' Joe walked in.

"Ah, it's you," Angus said with a smile, "Glad to see you survived the assault."

"Well, you know me. I'm a survivor," Joe said proudly.

Angus laughed,

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I've got something to tell you. It's about the Witch, Yelena," Joe said.

"What about her?" Angus asked calmly.

Joe chuckled and shook his head at Angus' casualness for a topic as great as this. He stepped forward, his eyes glinting with delight and his chest puffed out with the pride of discovery,

"You're not gonna believe what I've found out about her."