Then, Sigvor says something that makes Dzan's heart freeze.
"Dzan, from what you're telling me… it sounds like that first attack wasn't just an attack. It was at the very least a distraction." Dzan feels like that much is obvious.
"Well, yeah, but–"
"A distraction by a group that is planning to do something else, something more. Don’t you remember what Ajax had said about those weirdos who were trying to bring some other human supremacists out here?” Sigvor recalls the two people that Ajax had met who tried to attack him and were trying to bring human supremacists out to the area for some unknown reason.
“Yeah…”
“What about the psycho humans with the rings who were trying to lynch Willia and her mom?”
“…You think they were behind this bombing? But… why would they attack the human supremacists?”
“Dzan. Think about how many demihumans live in those three buildings. I don’t know why they needed to go so far as to set the people on their side on fire, but… well, honestly, I can’t say anything for certain. I have a bad feeling, is all…”
“We have to tell someone, Sig. Should we… tell the guards—“
“Don’t even fucking joke about that, man. The fuck do those pricks know about protecting people?”
“Well, we can’t just go into each building ourselves! I think there were multiple people going into each building… you know, unknown large numbers, numbers I might not be able to fight and win against.”
“There… There is someone we can ask.”
Sigvor looks over towards the person carrying people away from the smoke filled corpse floor. Ajax. She starts walking towards him with urgency. This information they put together must be somewhat time sensitive.
“…Are you sure, Sig? Look at his face.” Dzan points out, while catching up to Sigvor’s pace. However, either Sigvor’s sight is not as good as his or she simply doesn’t look directly at his face, because she isn’t able to see what Ajax’s current condition is. He does briefly glance at him and doesn’t notice anything too crazy, except for his dirty clothes.
“He looks the same, Dzan, come on. He’s always been strong, you know?”
“No, I know he doesn’t look pale or tired or anything. I mean…” Dzan is referring to Ajax’s expression of regret and pain, one that he can make out as clear as the sun in the sky. Sigvor slows down a bit, taking notice of this.
“…How close do you think he was to that crowd?” Sigvor asks, now growing concerned for Ajax’s wellbeing and state of mind.
“He must have been seeing so many dead bodies already. Even I can see the basically headless corpses strewn around everywhere. He must be smelling them up close, he must be… Well, I’m just glad I wasn’t close enough to see all that suffering.” Dzan’s face darkens, his jaw clenched in discomfort. How much has Ajax suffered in the past few minutes?
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However, Sigvor can only walk forward.
“Yeah, he honestly looks like he’s seen better days… But, we have no choice, Dzan. He might be capable of actually dealing with people like that, the only one who can do so in time. Hell, maybe he could at least offer us some information to come to better conclusions, just that much would… Fuck. Come on.” Sigvor continues walking over to Ajax without any more thinking.
Dzan can only reluctantly follow her. He can’t help but feel that Ajax is out of his depth here just as much as the both of them are. He’s still young, maybe a year or two younger than Dzan; he’s not meant to solve these situations alone. Though, nobody told him to help the suffering people, he just did that.
Realistically, he could prove to be of more help than either of them put together.
I hope he’s alright.
***
Ajax can only continue to contemplate the mistakes he’s made so far. He considers how he’s been today. The assumptions he’s made. His attitude. His very self. The more he considers it, the more he wants to pinpoint which aspect of himself resulted in this needless slaughter proceeding.
Because… wasn’t it my fault? Didn’t I take this whole thing too lightly?
Ajax believes that he’s been taking things too easily. He hasn’t needed to be serious at this festival-turned-statue march, even with all the tension in the atmosphere around him.
The human supremacists clashing with the demihumans and humans on their side.
The guards who were spraying everyone with liquid pain.
The statue marchers and their needless violence.
Even his handling of those two humans who tried to lynch a stranger, just for being demihuman. Couldn’t he have taken things more seriously, brought out more of his power?
If I had dealt with that woman there then…
Why did it feel to him that he was always just a bit too late to offer any kind of serious help to the situation? He considers the attitude he’s taken today, really the attitude he’s taken over the past few weeks.
He hasn’t needed to really exert himself here. He could just take things as they came to him, both he and Shaula had that luxury. No obligations, no setbacks, no weaknesses. He and Shaula were never in any danger when they faced people, such as the criminals they hunted every so often.
Even today, when he was helping Dzan and Sigvor protect the demihumans from the statue marchers, he still only had to do the bare minimum.
He is strong. He knows that. He is strong enough to deal with things like this statue march on his own. He could attack the guards, he could defeat the statue marchers. He could wield unilateral force in his favor.
Aren’t I like a fucking demigod? The kind of strength I can just pull out of my ass… why didn’t I ever think to use it!? If I did… couldn’t I have prevented this?
But, it was never the right time to reveal himself. It would hypothetically always get both him and Shaula in more trouble than they could handle. His friends on Omicron could be scrutinized for their association with him. Of course, it was obvious to him that he couldn’t simply pull out his power for every conceivable crisis.
But, Ajax mistakenly believed that he should not pull his power forth for any situation. He doesn’t need to think about helping people with his full force, just as he doesn’t need to fight people with full force. He still had the mentality of being one individual.
So, what else could he do but become complacent? He gets involved in problems without fully reasoned plans of action, simply because he never needed to fully reason things out. He never thought things through and he never worked diligently. He helped people half heartedly specifically because half hearted help had worked out fine for him so far.
What… What is this? Why haven’t I noticed any of this before? Why do I notice it… only now.