As they headed back to the mansion in the now quiet night, Tibaut passed out. It didn't take a genius to figure it out it was from that thing attached to him that used to be called a hand.

"The dumb bastard didn't even cut off blood flow to it," Grace commented, infuriated at his current state. But she probably wasn't as angry as the man she was holding up.

He didn't say a single word to her after they left the village and the little moonshine that provided light on his face only showed a mixture of infuriation and regret. She felt bad thinking this but now that he was unconscious she felt like she could finally breathe easy. She had him on her shoulder, dragging him along but she had learnt a better method of carrying someone.

"Fucking hell, he's heavy." She commented as she laid him on the ground.

She looked at his hand with disdain.

"This is for your own good." She commented.

She looked around her but couldn't find anything she deemed suitable. She sighed and crouched down.

"What the hell am I saying? If I try to do some impromptu amputation with a rock or something I'll probably end up making it worse. Besides, we can amputate it after we reach the mansion."

She tore off one of her sleeves and ripped it open to use as a makeshift tourniquet. Although the bleeding had eased down, it didn't hurt to make sure.

"Still, what the hell did those bastards do to him to leave his arm like that? What the hell is he made of that he treated it like a mild injury?"

Unfortunately, she was talking to someone who had entered dreamland and wasn't getting answers anytime soon. She lifted him with some struggle…

"Okay, osh"

And with that sound of confidence threw him up and onto her shoulders in a fireman's carry.

She staggered before steadying her stance.

"Jeez, dude go on a diet or something."

She soon started to notice how toned his abdominal muscles were and blushed as she tried to ignore the sensation pressed against her back.

Although it was harder than the previous way of carrying him, it was blistering compared to the pace she walked at while dragging him., which made it much more efficient to carry him (she told herself that anyway).

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As she walked down the lonely dirt road, she saw a few figures approach.

As she contemplated throwing Tibaut on the ground to wake him up, she recognised one of the men coming down the road. It was O'Reilly. Upon seeing the two, O'Reilly looked pleasantly surprised immediately followed by horror.

"Oi, oi, oi what the hell happened to both of ye!?" He asked as he jogged over.

"I really think you should check out the village." She responded as she kept walking.

"We will but look at you two! We'll have to patch you two up at the village."

She kept walking without turning back.

"We're going to the mansion to be taken care of. Besides I'm sure those in the village would appreciate your presence more than us."

"(Did something happen there? Shit, the only reason I came back was to gather my men since so many off-duty officers lived there. What the hell could have happened to leave these two like this?) Are you sure that lad on your shoulders can survive the trip? Besides we need to know the details."

Grace was seemingly not in the mood to entertain him and kept walking along.

"We'll tell you when you visit the mansion. In the meantime, you should probably help the men in the village out."

"Oi you, stop trying to walk away, this is no time for this."

She kept walking and O'Reilly begrudgingly accepted that he was going have go to the village.

"Tch, what a young fool." He commented as he rushed towards the village.

She could feel his heartbeat as she walked and felt confident he wasn't going to die anytime soon.

----------------------------------------

"Finished sleeping yet?" A voice asked him.

Tibaut opened his eyes and saw he was in a black expanse that seemed to expand forever. There was no sky and as far as he could tell there was no ground. In front of him was a blurry figure.

The figure sighed as he looked at them.

"I guess I'll commend you on the fact you left your little nest. However, if this was a test you couldn't hope for more than a D-. I had so much hope about this yet you've just run into that boring group again."

Tibaut wasn't sure what to make of them as they talked. Were they a figment of his imagination or were they some malevolent being that had taken hold of him?

"Don't ignore me, you bastard." They said as they flicked his nose.

"Ow, why'd you do that you bastard?"

"Oh you can talk now, I see our link together is getting better. Last time I had to use a dream but now I can come in whenever I want."

"Wait this isn't a dream?"

"No, this would be similar to that state you go into while you sleep."

"How's that different?"

"Have you ever fallen asleep and instantly woken up? Anyway, I was just testing something out. Just know I will communicate with you if I find you useful."

And after saying that the figure snapped a finger. Tibaut slowly opened his eyes and saw himself in his room in the guest building.

"Oh, we made it back. What a weird dream." He said.

He stretched his arms out as he sat up on the bed but he felt something fall off his chest on looked down.

It was a hand.

His injured hand was feeling odd right now and he instinctively turned to it. It was wrapped in gauze and its shape didn't suggest it was a regular hand anymore.

"..."

"Oh, you've finally decided to wake up."

He turned to her.

"I tried to stop her. I really did, but she kept insisting on it to save you from having to sever the whole arm. I really thought that was quite sweet and frankly, I think you needed to learn a lesson. To give you a glimpse of what it's like without my power."

Elizabeth was busy peeling a fruit with a cold gaze.

Tibaut felt his stomach sink and couldn't even find the words to respond with.