ZAC

"How is he doing?" I looked over Abigail's shoulder to see Louis lying on the bed.

"He's doing fine. . . Just exhausted, that's all." Abigail declared as she began to patch up Louis's injuries all over his body.

We were lucky Louis was out cold from exhaustion and wouldn't feel anything.

"What happened to get you guys at this stage? You weren't meant to be here till tomorrow."

I chuckled, scratching the back of my head, "Some bandits were messing around at night hurting Louis, so I did my best to get him out of a shitty situation."

Those damn bastards.

It was the only thing that I could think of at the moment.

I am sure they will regret it the next time they try anything like that, especially Olfen.

He'll have what's coming to him soon enough.

Every single one of them should die.

If it was up to me.

"Let me guess." She giggled lightly, "It was Olfen and his people?"

I stared at her blankly, surprised at how she could guess that right.

It was as if she had read my mind.

"H-How'd you know?"

Abigail sheepishly shrugged, "I was friends with them once."

Seriously, what the hell was going on here?

The information she gave me was as if it had flipped my life upside down.

I titled my head, "You're joking, right?"

She placed her finger on her lip and shook her head. "I'm afraid I'm not. I'll admit it, but I'm a bit ashamed. We all had our phases here and there."

I couldn't help but chuckle as I leaned against the wall, "So you were a rebel, I'm guessing?"

"A rebel?" she smiled in amusement. I guess you could say that."

I slowly nodded as a question crept into my mind, "What made you become a medic then? I mean, it's a hard but respectable job."

Abigail froze for a slight second. This wasn't a question she was asked daily.

"Sorry, was that question a bit too insensitive of me?"

She immediately waves her hand in dismissal, "No! Of course not! Just resurfaced some memories, that's all." Abigail paused for a moment, "It sounds stupid being in a place like this, but I've always liked helping people and whenever I have the chance to. . . Sorry if that sounds a bit stupid of me, it is, isn't it?"

I shook my head, giving her a big thumbs up, "Not at all; you're making the most out of a shitty situational."

A gentle smile washed over her face, "Thanks."

"Uh. . . Where am I?" Louis stretched his hand in the air as he realised we were towering over him. "Oh, hey, you two."

I chuckled, patting him on the shoulder not so hard that he would start whining in pain, "Welcome to the land of the living."

"It's good to be back." He cheerfully said, standing up on his own two feet.

I was surprised that he could move around, and he was surprised about it as well.

"Woah! Thanks for patching me up." He grinned.

Abigail nodded her head, "Don't mention it."

Louis began to examine his hands as he looked back at Abigail. "It's no wonder they call you the medic goddess."

"The what?"

"You kn-"

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Before he could say anything else, I bounced towards him, putting him into a headlock.

He tried his best to talk, but I silenced his voice with my hand.

That cheeky bastard.

I cleared my throat, chuckling nervously, "Sorry about that; I think that's what people describe you as."

I was expecting the worst from Abigail, but to my surprise, she seemed to find humour in that.

"That's interesting, to say the least."

I nodded as I released Louis from that headlock of mine.

I cleared my throat before Louis could say anything else, "Louis and I should get going now. I wouldn't want any more trouble with the bandits."

Abigail titled her head, "Oh. . . But I still haven't checked up on your injuries yet?"

I waved my hand in dismissal, "Don't worry about it; I'm sure my injuries will be gone before you know it."

She slowly nodded, "Okay, but if you still want to come by tomorrow for a checkup, I'm always too happy to help." Abigail smiled softly.

I nodded back, "Thanks. I'll think about it. Bye!"

With that, I left the medic bay with Louis.

While walking, I was instantly nudged on the rib with a bit of a kick.

I whipped my head, looking over at him, "Hey! What was that for?"

"Did you not just see that." He punched me on the shoulder.

Okay, what was going on? And why was he punching me on the shoulder suddenly?

"See what?"

He groaned, rubbing his temple: "If you keep acting clueless, my injuries might return." Louis took a deep breath: "Since you don't see it, I'm going to just say it to you. . . You're in." He eyed me with such seriousness that I had never seen before from him.

Whatever he was trying to say, he meant business.

"In for what?"

"With the medic goddess." He cheered too loudly, "I don't know what you did, but keep doing it." He patted me on the shoulder.

Honestly, I had no clue what he was talking about or what I was doing to make him do that.

Louis turned around, giving me his full attention as he firmly touched my shoulder, "Just promise me one thing."

"Uh, sure." I nodded as I saw a glint of seriousness and determination on his face, but that wasn't the strangest part—a big smile was also on his face.

"Go tomorrow."

"Bu-"

"No buts. Just go tomorrow, alright?" He looked at me almost as if he were pleading with his eyes.

I sighed, "Fine, I'll go."

"Yes!" He struck a pose. "Alright, that's enough from me for today; we should probably head back now."

Now, that was something I could agree to.

We both walked to our little area, cramped with people.

However, I could tell in the corner of my eyes that Olfen and his other bandits were staring us down, examining every little detail.

If anything, they were worse than going up against Plantea Beasts in the dungeon.

That was how bad they were.

One thing was for sure: They weren't done with their punches yet, but I was sure to think they wouldn't be doing them today, let alone anytime soon.

After all, Olfen and his bandit's friends had already been told off by the leader; they wouldn't dare to risk anything more now.

Maybe they were trying to scare us into budge.

But it didn't work all too well as Louis didn't even realise that they were there in the first place.

After Abigail had patched him up to the entire detail, all he was doing now was living in his little world.

But who wouldn't want to be doing that?

"I'll catch up with you," I said as Louis tilted his head over me.

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to go do something; I'll be back, trust me."

Louis looked back at me with reluctance but decided to trust me.

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit!"

He waved at me as I did the same to him.

There was only one thing I could do, and it had been stirring in my mind for a few minutes now.

You know what?

I'm just going to do it now. What was the worst thing that could happen?

While they were all talking and having the time of their lives, one of them alerted Olfen to my presence.

Instantly, their chatter died down, and their gazes were directed towards me.

Their glare was evident to me, each more menacing than the other, especially Olfen.

I could tell that he wanted to rip me apart from where I stood.

Luckily for him, we both were thinking that, but if he had any brain cells, he wouldn't have been doing anything.

"Looks like you got patched up." He grinned lightly. "But it seems like you're asking to get hurt more, right?"

I chuckled, waving my hand in dismissal at his remark, "Listen here, you know how that would go; we'd fight, and you probably have a couple of bruises, but you'll end up in the dungeons."

As soon as I mentioned the word dungeon, I could see his eyes faltering in composure.

But he soon recovered with his usual smirk as Olfen folded his arms, trying to make himself look superior to me.

Like that was ever going to work in front of me.

"Get back to where you belong." He spat with venom onto the ground, "You're supposed to be working, not talking to us, now fuck off."

I stood there silent but knew I didn't want to start any fights; after all, that would be a total disaster.

That was the last thing that I wanted to do here.

I moved away, walking back to my area. I could hear Olfen snickering behind me, but I ignored it all.

"Yeah! Run along! Like you always do, you bastard."

The words he was lashing out from behind were nothing I could do about it.

When the time was right, I would show him what it meant to feel actual pain, exciting pain, the type of pain that you would feel once and it would leave you stunned for the rest of your life.

You wait, Olfen, you wait.

My mind had begun wandering and drifting to another place in time.

I had not seen Lenin anywhere the whole time I had been here.

I knew this was a prominent place filled with people who worked there, but still, I would've expected him to be someone here, at least in the dungeon.

I hadn't seen him once.

Could something have gone wrong? Did Lenin get injured something?

But those worry questions instantly vanished as I chuckled, shaking my head.

What a dumb question I was asking myself. Of course, he wasn't injured; why would he ever be?

After all, he's the strongest.