Chapter 152
Refusing to Cooperate
The next morning, Erin told the others that they would have to pack up their stuff and get out, as Rayleen’s people would be using the hideout. She decided to leave out the part about Ao holding up a poker night, as there was no need to aggravate the others further. Even without anyone saying anything, she could feel a tense atmosphere hanging in the air over all of them. To make it worse, she fully knew the source of the issue and was directly responsible for it. And that issue was none other than Stacey.
The redhead watched as her friends went about their day, chatting among each other and doing their morning routines. While everything seemed to be just fine on the surface, she could tell that things were different deeper inside. Everybody was doing their best to avoid the new addition to the group, moving around her and not saying even a word to her. None of them even really looked at Stacey, only giving her short glances. Erin could also just imagine the conversations some of the others were having about her old friend. Even without hearing them, she knew that the talks weren’t nice.
Erin had hoped that at least some of her members would have tried to socialize with Stacey, like Durge had tried last night. Unfortunately, it seemed like that was not going to happen anytime soon, as her behavior so far had poisoned her image in their eyes. To make it worse, the redhead wasn’t sure if her old friend was even willing to try and improve things, as she herself kept away from the others.
Not being able to stand the uncomfortable air hanging around everybody, Erin decided to go outside for some fresh air. Even if the air was anything but fresh in the slums of Graven Hills, she still found it far more tolerable than the passive aggressive hostility that was going on inside.
“Goddammit… You try to do the right thing and this is how it all ends up,” the redhead muttered to herself as she took in some deep breaths to calm herself. “What did I do wrong here?”
“Don’t tell me that I actually have to tell you what you did wrong. I’m pretty sure that has been the trending topic since yesterday!” Zeldana’s voice called out from behind. “Do you perhaps need me to draw you a map on how you screwed up? It won’t take long!”
“Zel, can you not do this right now? It’s too early,” Erin said with a sigh as she rubbed her temples, already feeling a headache coming. “You’ve made it very clear that you don’t like Stacey, so do you have to keep bringing it up?”
“Well, since what I’m saying doesn’t seem to get through to you, I might as well! Maybe at some point, you’ll get a hint!” the elf argued. “But if you’re not going to at least take our issues into consideration, you at least owe us a goddamn explanation! Is that too much to ask!?”
“I already explained it, didn’t I!?” the redhead said. “If I just leave her, she will-!”
“Enough of that pathetic excuse! You know goddamn well that it’s not good enough!” Zeldana shouted as she grabbed Erin by the front of her shirt and glared at her. “Tell me why she is so goddamn important! With the way you’re acting, it’s almost like you know her!”
Upon having the truth be blurted out like that caused the redhead to freeze and look away. For most people this wouldn’t have been much, but for the elf it was an indication that she had just hit the nail on the head.
“...You have got to be kidding me,” Zeldana mumbled with wide eyed. “Alright. You need to explain this. NOW.”
Erin was about to start explaining, when loud noises from inside caught their attention. The two of them immediately rushed inside to see what looked like a very one-sided fight breaking out.
Stacey was backed up against the wall, her face a mixture of fear and anger as she glared at Ryle, who was roaring at her like an enraged maniac. The only reason the blonde hadn’t been able to tear apart Stacey was because she was being held back by Durge, who was having a hard time to do so. Next to them, Arkay was kneeling on the floor, holding his arm in pain, while Lexton was trying to help ease the pain the cat boy was in.
“YOU STUPID ARROGANT BITCH! HOW DARE YOU PULL SHIT LIKE THAT!?” Ryle screamed in fury as she tried to get her hands on Stacey. “YOU’LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU JUST DID! I’LL TEAR YOUR ASS APART LIMB BY LIMB!”
“STAY AWAY FROM ME! I DON’T WANT ANY OF YOU NEAR ME!” Stacey screamed in a mix of anger and fear.
“Cool it, Ryle! Killing her is not going to do us any good!” Durge said as he struggled to keep the blonde in check. “I get why you’re angry, but acting up on it like this is not going to help!”
“I DON’T FREAKING CARE! YOU SAW WHAT SHE DID!” Ryle screamed at the orc. “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO REMAIN CALM AFTER THAT!?”
Hoping to prevent a murder from being committed, Erin quickly rushed over to the others, followed closely behind by Zeldana. The redhead went to see Arkay first, as he seemed to be injured.
“Arnie, are you okay!?” Erin asked as she tried to look over the cat boy’s injuries, finding out that he not only had a nasty bruise on his face, but his left arm seemed to be burned. “What happened over here!?”
“Your new addition to the group is what happened!” Lexton said angrily, as he held a cold towel against Arkay’s burnt arm. “Thanks to her, Arnie got hurt!”
“...What?” the redhead asked as her face turned pale. “What did she do?”
“W-We made soup for breakfast… a-and I tried to bring some to her,” Arkay explained as he was trying to do his best to lessen the pain. “W-When I got to her, she suddenly smacked me across the face. The bowl of soup I had fell on the floor and managed to burn my arm.”
“And as soon as that happened, our resident moron went ballistic and tried to strangle little miss too good for us!” Lexton said, finishing the story. “Not that I can blame her! If I wasn’t busy here, I would be wrapping my hands around her neck at this moment!”
“Okay, I get what happened. Can you keep helping Arnie?” Erin asked, before looking over to Zeldana. “Can you help them as well?”
“Sure, but what are you going to do about them?” the elf asked, pointing over to Ryle and Stacey. “The way I see it, you should just let her tear the bitch apart. The world would surely be a better place after that.”
“Yeah, I’ve taken note of your opinion! Thank you very much!” the redhead said in a frustrated tone. “Just… Just help treat Arnie’s injuries, okay? I’ll do something about this mess.”
Erin walked up to Ryle and Durge. While the blonde still had her eyes set on the one who had angered her, the orc took note of the redhead approaching them.
“Durge, can you try to calm her down?” Erin asked the orc. “I’ll try to see if I can do something about Stacey.”
“You say that like it’s easy,” Durge replied sarcastically. “I’ll see what I can do. But if I may make a suggestion, you should get her out of here for a moment. As long as Ryle has her eyes on her, I doubt she’s going to calm down anytime soon.”
“You got it. Thanks,” the redhead said before walking over to Stacey. She glared at her old friend with absolute fury over what she had done. “You. Outside. Now!”
“Why should-”
Stacey’s question was cut off, as Erin grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall. She gave Stacey such a hateful glare that her old friend lost all will to resist.
“I said NOW!” the redhead commanded through gritted teeth.
Stacey simply nodded, before being dragged outside. Once there, Erin threw her to the ground, having grown tired of her antics and not caring about hurting her old friend at the moment.
“What’s wrong with you!?” Stacey asked angrily as she got up. “Why are you acting like this!?”
“Those should be my questions!” Erin shouted back. “What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you trying to get yourself killed or something!? Why do you insist on pissing off everybody around you!?”
“All I wanted was for those freaks to not get near me! I don’t want any of them touching me!” Stacey ranted. “How is it so hard for them to understand that I don’t want them around me!?”
“Are you even listening to yourself!? You do know that they helped save your life!?” the redhead shot back. “It was bad enough that you try to keep to yourself and treat them like crap with all of your passive aggressive bullshit, but now you’ve actually hurt one of them! And for what!? For bringing you food and trying to be friendly!? How is that such a crime in your eyes!?”
“I never asked that thing for anything, did I!? I never asked for his food and I certainly didn’t ask to be his friend!” Stacey kept arguing. “Was it that hard for that freak to not come closer to me!?”
Hearing her old friend badmouth Arkay in such a way finally caused Erin to snap. She was going to put Stacey in her place right now, no matter what it took.
Stomping over to Stacey, the redhead grabbed her by the hair and slammed her face to the ground. Even if the ground was soft mud, it still hurt quite a bit to get forced to the ground like that. It did have the effect Erin desired, as it caused Stacey to shut up and look at the redhead in fear.
“Now listen here. And make sure you listen carefully,” Erin said in a voice that was dripping with barely contained rage. “You’ve just made the biggest mistake of your life. The boy you just hurt is someone that a lot of us have been saved by and we care about him quite a bit. The fact that you decided to not just throw away his kindness, but you even actually hurt him has angered everyone around you right now. This obviously includes me, too. If you want to keep yourself alive, I suggest that you get on your knees and apologize to him. Otherwise, you will-”
“I will what? Get killed by you?” Stacey asked with a sneer on her face. “Go ahead and do it. What have I got to lose?”
“You… What?” the redhead asked, having been taken by surprise. “What did you just say?”
image [https://i.ibb.co/CKJj6GY/Ch-152-Pic-1.jpg]
“I told you to get it over with and kill me,” Stacey said. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? So why don’t you just do it? It seems to be the way that this hell operates anyways! So just do it! Wouldn’t be much of a loss for me either!”
“Are you… Are you actually being serious right now!?” Erin asked, still in a bit of a shock. “After finally getting rescued from the clutches of your abuser, you’re suddenly telling me that you want to die!? Have you finally lost your mind!?”
“Oh, I am thinking very clearly here!” Stacey replied as she kept glaring at the redhead. “You said it yourself, didn’t you!? We are stuck in this world and have no way of getting back! Do you actually expect me to live here!? Surrounded by all these freaks and monsters!? And having to deal with Gabe and his thugs!? No thanks! The way I see it, you’ll just save me from a lot of pain and suffering, if you just end my life here! So do it!”
“You… You have no idea what you’re saying!” Erin said, as her shock was now being replaced by anger. “Do you really think that living in this world is that horrible!? Then what about me!? I’ve been able to do just fine! The only difference is that unlike you, I put in some effort!”
“Is that really it? Or could it be just that Gabe and those other creeps changed you back then?” Stacey asked in an accusing tone. “Even I know that this is similar to those games those losers liked to play back home. I think you simply learned from them how to survive here and have changed into one of them!”
“I am NOTHING like them! And you know it!” the redhead said angrily.
“Not how I see it. After our prank was over and one with, I could tell that you weren’t the same person we had play our little trick to them. The way you looked like you were ashamed of yourself and regretted what you had done made me want to vomit!” Stacey explained. “The only reason I didn’t bring it up was because I still considered you our friend. I hoped that with time, you would forget about the losers and hang out with the people you were supposed to be with! Now I regret never saying anything, as you’re just like them!”
“How!? Explain that!” Erin demanded. “Back then I should have been more like them, so none of this would have happened… But now those people are gone! Replaced by these monsters that we created!”
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“And you’re just like them. Willing to coldly kill anyone that either gets in your way or upsets you,” Stacey said with a smirk, causing the redhead to go wide-eyed. “Don’t try to deny it. Judging by how you look, you’ve had to have killed numerous people already. Tell me something. Were they all in self-defense or were there some that could have been avoided? Or better yet, should have been avoided?”
“Y-You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Erin said as she stepped away from her old friend. “I had no choice! I had to-!”
“Don’t even start that. From what I can tell, you know this world a lot better than I do. Are you honestly trying to convince me that you couldn’t find a way to live a quiet life here?” Stacey asked as she got up from the ground. “Since you understand this world so well, couldn’t you have just found a way to stay hidden and not get involved in any of this? Seems to me like you chose this path because you wanted to.”
“That’s not how it is! I didn’t want to become a killer!” the redhead yelled. “I had to do that in order to survive and to stop Gabe and the others!”
“I’ll admit that I don’t know the full story. There might have been something that forced you to start out like this, but did you ever even consider quitting?” Stacey asked. “If you were ask me, I think you’re doing this because you want to kill Gabe and his friends. Just so you can live a better life without having to worry about your past.”
“...What?” Erin asked.
“It’s like you said, we were the ones who drove Gabe, Devin and all the others here. That’s why you’re doing your best to avoid letting your freakish friends know who you are, isn’t it?” Stacey asked with a smirk. “You don’t want them to know just who was behind them going crazy, do you? I wonder how they would react, if they ever found out about it.”
“...So what exactly do you want?” the redhead asked in a low voice as she glared at her old, now former, friend. “You do realize that the moment you let that unfortunate truth slip, it won’t be just me who has to face their wrath. It will be you as well.”
“I’m completely aware of that. I’m just pointing out that I have far less reasons to keep such a secret than you do,” Stacey explained with a smile. “After all, you pointed it out yourself. I can’t survive here on my own. That’s why I’m going to have to ask for your assistance.”
“So in the end, all you want is a glorified babysitter to look after you,” Erin said with a sigh. “You know you could have simply asked for my help. I wasn’t going to abandon you.”
“Of course you wouldn’t! That much is obvious even to me! God, are you stupid or something!?” Stacey said in a frustrated tone. “What I want is for my life to be at least a bit more comfortable. From now on, you will not only keep me safe, but also keep those freaks of yours away from me. I don’t want to speak to them. I don’t want to have them near me. You get the idea. Keep it like that and your secret is safe with me. Sounds like a good enough deal to me.”
“You do know that this can’t go on forever, right?” the redhead asked. “There is no way that I’ll be able to keep on doing this for you for a long time.”
“True. But so what? It’s not like I’ve got anything else I can do,” Stacey said with a shrug. “Seeing as I’m stuck here, I might as well try to enjoy myself to the fullest. And you better make sure that I do so, unless you want to lose what little you have left.”
Erin didn’t respond, as she simply stared at the ground in silence. Her mind was in a storm of emotions and thoughts that she was trying to sort out. Some of them wanted her to simply kill Stacey right then and there, while others told her to simply bear with it. The redhead was torn between wanting to be the better person and helping Stacey, and hoping to put an end to her former friend’s life to make things easier for herself.
“So? What do you say to my suggestion?” Stacey asked in a smug tone. “Do we perhaps have a deal or not?”
In the end, Erin chose the option that she hoped would lead to less regrets.
“...Fine. You have a deal,” the redhead said in a low tone. “However, I don’t want you to intentionally antagonize my friends, okay? Don’t insult them or hurt them. If you do that, I might just say to hell with our deal and let them tear you apart. Okay?”
“Oh, how scary… Relax. I don’t intend to waste my breath on those creeps at all. You just need to make sure that they don’t get close to me. That’s all,” Stacey said as she walked past Erin towards the hideout. “Now, how about we go inside already? Even if I don’t like being around those things you call your friends, the air inside there at least won’t smell as bad as it does here.”
“Just one more question,” the redhead said as she grabbed her former friend’s arm and stopped her. “Why do you hate them so much? They never did anything bad to you. That was done by Gabe and his people.”
“Why should I like them? You can tell that they’re not human,” Stacey replied. “All they do is remind me of everything I’ve lost by being thrown into this world and the people who tormented me every single day since. Why the hell should I even bother trying to like them?”
Erin gritted her teeth out of anger towards Stacey’s stubborn nature. What her former friend was doing was associate everybody in this world with Gabe and the torment she had gone through. This was something they had done back in the day as well. During their days in high school, anybody that was caught showing interest in similar hobbies as Devin and his group were immediately labeled as freaks that were to be dehumanized and made into outcasts. It was a sickening game that they had enjoyed playing back then and it seemed like Stacey was still playing it to some extent.
The shadowy figure’s warning came to Erin’s mind and she couldn’t help but wonder if it had been a bad idea to bring Stacey along after all.
Despite her worries, the redhead followed behind her former friend into the hideout, where the others were waiting for them. The others were gathered around Arkay, who now had bandages covering the part of his arm that had been burned. Ryle had an arm around his shoulders in an attempt to offer comfort for the cat boy. Lexton, Durge and Zeldana were also close to the other two, talking among each other. It was obvious to Erin just what the three were talking about.
“Hey, they’re back,” Durge pointed out, noticing the return of Erin and Stacey.
“About time,” Lexton said as he glared at Stacey. “I hope that Erin was smart enough to do something about the issue at hand.”
“If she isn’t, I will!” Ryle said with a growl, staring daggers at the newcomer. “And I won’t be kind about my methods either!”
“If you need help holding her down, I can do that,” Zeldana said.
Hearing the comments of her friends and seeing the looks they were giving her and Stacey made Erin nervous. She knew what she had to do and knew that they wouldn’t like it, yet she had no choice. Her back was against the wall.
“Guys, I talked to Stacey about what she did and made it clear that what she did wasn’t okay,” Erin said, doing her best to keep her voice calm and steady in the face of the storm that was about to break out. “I made sure that she understood that such actions wouldn’t be forgiven in the future and that there would be consequences for them. For now, I suggest that we do our best to keep our distance from her, so that further incidents won’t occur.”
Silence fell over them, as the others stared at Erin in shock and disbelief. The redhead couldn’t really blame them, as she had a hard time believing her own words either. The way she saw it, she was essentially betraying the comrades that had protected her during times when her life had been at risk. And for what? A person that used to be her friend, who was now blackmailing her in order to do whatever she wanted?
It didn’t sit well with Erin. And it certainly wouldn’t sit well with the others.
“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?” Ryle shouted furiously. “You mean after the stunt she just pulled she just gets a slap on the wrist!? Hell, she isn’t even getting that! She just got to hurt Arnie without having to pay for it in any way!”
“I completely agree with Ryle, Erin! This is completely ridiculous!” Lexton said, joining the blonde’s side. “After what she did, I would have expected you of all people to know better than to simply let her walk away without any repercussions! Have you lost your mind!?”
“Look, I understand that you guys are disappointed and upset, but what else am I supposed to do!?” Erin tried to desperately argue. “I can’t really punish her in a physical manner or anything like that! We’re not like the goons employed by the Overlords!”
“The least you could do is kick her out!” Zeldana said. “Why the hell are we dragging what is essentially a tumor in our group anyways!? What is it that she contributes to our cause that makes it necessary to keep her around!?”
“I… I can’t fully explain it,” the redhead said, growing desperate in her plight for a reasonable excuse. “I just need you to trust me on this! Honest!”
“YOU’RE TELLING ME TO TRUST YOU AFTER THIS!?” Ryle practically roared in her fury, as she pointed at Arkay’s injured arm. “HOW THE HELL CAN I TRUST YOU, WHEN YOU DON’T SEEM TO CARE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO ARNIE!? IS THAT GOING TO APPLY TO THE REST OF US, TOO!?”
“My thoughts exactly!” Lexton shouted angrily. “I thought that you were a fair and honest person, but you’re clearly showing favoritism here!”
“It’s not favoritism! I’m doing all I can here!” Erin tried to argue. “Like I said earlier, I talked this through with Stacey and made sure that this was not to happen ever again!”
“That sort of elementary school bullshit doesn’t work and you know it!” Zeldana said. “All you’re telling her is that she can get away with whatever she might do, as there are no real consequences from her actions! I knew you had your stupid side, but this is even beyond my imagination!”
As the shouting increased and tensions were getting worse, Durge decided to step between the two sides and held up his hands. Seeing the orc do this caused both sides to calm down and silence to fall over.
“Alright, listen here. This kind of arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Durge said calmly. “If we just keep yelling and getting angrier, all that will accomplish is that we make ourselves divided and that will cause bigger issues in the future. We need to remain calm and rational for now, okay?”
“How can you expect us to be calm after what just happened!?” Ryle asked, still angry. “Are you just telling us to forget about what she did and let it be!?”
“I’m obviously not saying that! You should know me better by now!” the orc replied. “All I’m saying is that I trust Erin. She has got to have some sort of a reason for keeping Stacey around. Now, I do have my doubts about her, but I’m sure that it can all be explained in the end.”
Durge then turned his attention towards Erin. He had a gentle smile on his face as he addressed the redhead.
“Come on, Erin. You can tell us the truth about her, right?” the orc asked. “I’m sure you have a reason for keeping her around, so what is it?”
In all honesty, the redhead wanted to tell the truth. She wanted to tell everything about herself and Stacey, and how they were connected to the Five Overlords. It was at the tip of her tongue.
However, just as she was about to break down and admit everything, she remembered what happened with the people who did find out about her past. How Eba and Ryan had betrayed her soon after they found out the truth about her. It wasn’t something she was willing to risk happening again.
“I… I’m sorry,” Erin apologized as she fought against the tears threatening to fall from her eye. “I just… I just can’t tell that. To anyone.”
“Not even us?” Durge asked with a slight frown.
“...I’m sorry,” the redhead simply apologized in response.
“...Well, it can’t be helped the, I suppose,” the orc said with a sigh. “I have to say, though, I thought you could trust us a bit more than this.”
Erin looked up to see Durge look at her not with contempt or anger, but with an emotion that hurt her even more. The expression on the orc’s face was disappointment. It was that look that told her that she had now broken the trust between herself and him.
To make it worse, Durge wasn’t the only one that she had done this with. Everybody else in her group was now staring at her with such looks that told her she had betrayed their trust. Zeldana had a look that was mixture of disappointment and contempt, obviously unhappy with how she had handled the situation. Lexton was similar, except far more frustrated. Arkay had a look on his face that was a mixture of fear and betrayal, which just broke the redhead’s heart. Yet the worst had to be Ryle, as she was so far Erin’s first and oldest friend in the group. The blonde’s look of absolute fury was something that the redhead had hoped to never see in her life.
As if to rub salt in her wounds, Erin noticed Stacey was smirking at her, clearly enjoying her plight. The redhead had to grit her teeth in order to prevent herself from losing her calm at that moment.
image [https://i.ibb.co/thy8WX0/Ch-152-Pic-2.jpg]
“...Hey, Arnie, how is your injury?” Erin asked, hoping that by changing the subject she might be able to rebuild things between herself and the others. “The burn on your arm looked pretty nasty. Can I take a look at it, so I can-?”
The redhead stopped her question upon seeing Arkay turn away from her, keeping his injured arm out of her line of sight and not looking her in the eye. Ryle still had a protective arm around the cat boy, as she began to lead him away from Erin, but not before giving her one last hateful glare.
“Well, those are some friends you’ve got there,” Stacey said sarcastically. “I can see why you like them so much.”
It took all of Erin’s willpower to not just simply beat her former friend within an inch of her life right then and there.
Later that day, Erin and the others had managed to pack up their belongings and left the hideout, like Ao had requested. They soon got back to where they had hidden their van and were happy to see that nothing had come to the cave during their absence.
By the time they had packed up everything in order to continue their journey, it was already late, so it was decided that they would sleep in the cave for the night. They would begin traveling early in the morning once again.
As everybody was setting up their spots to sleep, Erin could tell that there was still tension in the air. Even if everyone had calmed down with time, the others had not forgotten what had happened earlier that day and were still very upset. The others kept their conversations with the redhead to a bare minimum, only speaking to her when it was necessary. In just one day, Erin had become the outcast within her own group that had considered her their leader.
Hoping to not antagonize the others any further, the redhead decided to keep her distance from them, only keeping Stacey nearby in order to avoid further conflicts in the group. Yet while this might have helped in keeping things peaceful, Erin couldn’t help but feel a sense of loneliness in her heart. Until today, the others had become the greatest friends she had ever had, to the point they were practically family. Now she felt like she was a stranger to them at best.
The redhead was about to quietly cry herself to sleep, when someone poked her cheek with their finger. She opened her eye to see Zeldana stare down at her with a blank expression on her face.
“Hey, if you’re not too busy weeping like a little baby, mind joining me for a moment?” the elf whispered. “I felt like we should continue our earlier conversation that got interrupted.”
Erin looked around, seeing that everyone, including Stacey, were already asleep. Turning towards Zeldana, she gave her a slight nod as a response before getting up and following her away from the others.
“Okay, so how about we get back to where we left off?” Zeldana suggested, once they were far enough from everybody else. “Last time we talked, I believe you let it slip that you actually knew this Stacey person, right? So mind telling me just how do you know her? Is she just some passing acquaintance or is there a deeper relationship between the two of you?”
“...She used to be a friend of mine. Back in the world I came from,” Erin replied. “She and I used to be part of the same friend group in school.”
“I suspected as much. No wonder you wanted to do so much for her, despite how much of a pain in the ass she is,” the elf said. “Now, on to the next question. What is her connection to Golorath? I feel like there lies the reason as to why he disliked her so much. I mean, you don’t just imprison someone to be tormented for days out of some small issues. Something tells me that she did something even bigger to him that earned her his ire.”
“Well… The thing is that we were the ones who bullied him and his friends, as you’re already aware,” the redhead began to explain. “Out of all of us, Stacey was the one who really did the most towards Gabe. She was even the one who gave him the nickname “Porky Gabe” that was soon used by everyone in our school. I think it’s because of that why he decided to torment her so much.”
“That certainly checks out. But now we need to figure out our current situation with her,” Zeldana said as she nodded to herself thoughtfully. “In short, just what is her deal?”
“Huh? What do you mean by her deal?” Erin asked, completely confused by the question. “Could you at least try to elaborate a bit?”
“Her deal. Her attitude! Her shitty behavior towards all of us!” the elf said. “What is up with how she’s acting!? Last I checked, this is literally the first time any of us, outside of you, have met her! And despite that, she’s acting like we are some sort of diseased creatures that she doesn’t want to even get near! Like she did with Arkay earlier today! Mind explaining where this weird despise towards us comes from!?”
“W-Well, isn’t it obvious where that comes from!?” the redhead asked in return. “I mean, this isn’t the world she’s used to living in and the moment she gets here, she is taken prisoner by one of the tyrannical rulers, who torments her every day! With her only experiences of people from this world being like that, is it any wonder that she is fearful towards others!? Especially ones who aren’t human!?”
Upon hearing Erin’s explanation, Zeldana leaned towards her, so that their faces were mere inches apart from each other. The elf looked the redhead straight into her lone eye without blinking, causing Erin to get even more nervous.
“W-What is it?” the redhead asked. “Didn’t you like my explanation or something?”
“Of course I didn’t like it. You know why? Because it was obvious bullshit,” Zeldana said in a calm tone that held within it a hidden threat. “I could tell by how much you were stammering and looking around like a nervous wreck that you couldn’t even believe what you were saying yourself. So how about we try this again and this time you actually tell me the truth?”
“...It’s because she threatened me,” Erin said, feeling ashamed over herself. “Stacey said that if I didn’t simply let her be, she would tell the others the truth about me. If that happens, they will tear me apart for everything that has happened in this world!”
“Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about?” the elf asked with a raised eyebrow. “Do you really think that will be the reaction from those guys? I feel like you’re being way too paranoid about this.”
“How could I not fear that happening!? It has happened to me already!” the redhead argued with tears now falling down her face. “I’ve already been betrayed by people I trusted twice because I let them know about my past! What makes you think it won’t happen again!?”
“Because those guys aren’t like that. You should know them better than that already,” Zeldana answered. “You’ve already faced some of the most dangerous people and creatures this world has to offer, and they have always had your back. You’ve done the same for them. Do you really think that they would betray you, after everything you’ve been through? I don’t think so.”
“But… But still… How can I tell them the truth?” Erin asked. “I don’t know how to break it to them.”
“You use your words and speak honestly. Simple as that,” the elf said, before she started to walk back to where the others were sleeping. “I’m going back to sleep. Just remember that even if you end up losing those guys from the truth, you might end up doing that just by what you’re doing right now. Also, in case you care about that Stacey bitch as your friend, think about everything she has done and ask yourself whether she’s worth keeping around. That’s all for now.”
Once Zeldana was gone, Erin was left alone to ponder what she had just been told. A lot of what the elf had said made sense. The only risk was whether the others would take the revelation well.
However, was it worth keeping that secret, if it caused her to lose those who were truly dear to her?