Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 6. Tree carving
After spending all day at Ryos boring boot camp, Gray Soku and Rosemary walk home through the snow.
Gray: “What do you think Peter’s been up to?”
Soku: “Either he slept all day or he’s working in that shed outside the house.”
Rosemary: “I forgot we even have one of those, we never use it.”
Gray: “I think it’s where Edward keeps a lot of extra stuff, like metal, crystals extra.”
Soku: “I told him he could use it last night.”
Rosemary: “Actually…Gray, can I walk with you for a bit?”
Gray stops walking and takes a second to answer. Normally Rosemary has a kind and hopeful feeling surrounding her, but her tone changed so suddenly it made him worry.
Gray: “Yeah sure, you walk the last bit home I guess…wait can I walk Dema while we do it.”
Rosemary: “Yeah sure, go get her.”
Rosemary seems to be saddened by Gray seemingly prolonging the conversation, which Gray notices. He puts his hands together and he becomes surrounded by spirits. Rosemary and Soku look in awe as he is seemingly communicating with them. The spirits pulse a ring around them and suddenly vanish. They hear something in the distance, something barreling through the air. They look up and see Dema heading towards them, landing right in front of Gray. She nudges the hard, sharp scales on his face, and he gives her a great big hug.
Gray: “And they say a dog’s man's best friend.”
Soku: “How the hell did you do that?”
Gray: “It’s how I called Dema way back when we were fighting Calgary. I pulse my mana and have her in mind, and she can sense it.”
Rosemary: “She’s gotten a bit bigger since the first time we met her at the mansion.”
Soku: “I mean she’s pretty young, and the stuff at the mansion happened like…what was it, oh yeah that was almost three months ago.”
Gray: “She’s growing pretty fast though. Alright, where do you wanna walk?”
Rosemary: “Oh…up the hill over there, by that tree.”
Gray: “Alright, NOW WE EMBARK!”
Soku sighs and walks off, leaving Rosemary, Gray, and Dema to do the same. They start to move through the frozen village, oddly silent. Dema looks at all the houses and shops like an animal would, but Gray’s just staring at his feet.
Gray {What do I say? IS SHE GONNA BREAK UP WITH ME!? OH GOD DAMMIT! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!}
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Rosemary interrupts his thoughts by tugging on his arm. He looks up to see her sad face, almost like she’s trying to speak but just can’t. Gray goes in to hug her but she pushes him back. He stands confused and worrisome that he did something wrong. Rosemary slowly goes in to hold Gray's hand and leads him up the hill. The entire time Gray and Rosemary have been back together since they departed back on New Year's Eve she has been distant. They’ve kissed each other but nothing more than that, nothing like how much they were all over each other when they first got together. Ever since her time with Calgary, something has been off. Gray knows how Calgary kissed her, but he doesn’t know how much it affected her. When Gray first got to this world, he was best described as a man-child. Overreacting, not listening, and being rude to Edward for no reason. His “persona” of being this main character-like person was a big issue, especially with his ego. But it broke and he pieced it back together. But Rosemary is better at reading people than Gray, and she can tell he’s falling back into his past way of acting. Having trouble sleeping, and acting more eccentric than normal. The only difference is his ego, which seems to have stayed dead. They finally reach the top of the hill and lay by the single, naked tree. Gray lies against Dema and waits patiently for Rosemary to start speaking.
Gray: “Is everything okay? Are…are we okay?”
Rosemary: “Are you okay?”
Gray: “What do you mean? Nothing happened to me. But you’ve had to deal with Calgary and all this nonsense about the golden knights…and I’ve done nothing…”
Rosemary: “That’s not true! You being nice and not treating me any different after Calgary kisses me is enough…”
Gray: “Oh…so that’s what this is about.”
Rosemary: “You didn’t know!?”
Gray: “I’M SORRY! It’s just…I could never look at you with mean intent…especially if you didn’t have any say in the kiss. He assaulted you and broke your trust. I am so, SO sorry that happened to you.”
Rosemary: “I didn’t wanna talk about me though…back at the mansion I was ignorant. I knew you had something going on, you were tired and struggling and I just accepted it. But then you got hurt…and gave up.”
Gray: “And I am SO sorry. I screamed at you for no reason…and I just left.”
Rosemary: “STOP APOLOGIZING! I WANNA SAY I’M SORRY FOR BEING A BAD PARTNER!”
Rosemary stands up and starts breaking down, and all Gray can do is watch.
Rosemary: “When I first saw you…I knew you were important. Without you even speaking I knew the type of guy you were. Nice, warm, and brave. And I feel for you immediately…my entire life all the people in my life wanted something from me…especially from the men. I am the daughter of the Golden Knight's leader. So everyone wanted something from me…a child…a child forced into war.”
The endless streams of tears coming off of her face are killing Gray, but he knows due to his own experience, to let it flow out, whether he likes it or not.
Rosemary: “I killed my first person when I was six years old…and I didn’t feel anything…I just killed Calgary…one of my own and the last member of my family…AND I FEEL NOTHING! I DON’T UNDERSTAND! I didn’t feel anything until I met Soku and Ophelia…I took advantage of their hospitality and just stayed with them. And then I meet you…the first man to just look longingly at me, not wanting something….just thinking. And then when you saved Soku, and then from Jeremiah…with all that mana…I knew you were special. I know that sounds weird…and it’s gonna get weirder…but when you jokingly asked me to sleep in your room back at the mansion…I wish I could have said yes faster than I did. I took advantage of your goofy nature and used it for myself. I could tell you were having nightmares…that you were overworking yourself…that you were putting on a mask…and I did nothing about it. I just didn’t wanna accept it. Then you said you were gonna leave and I tried so hard to make you stay, I was so scared that you were gonna leave me at some point…and then you did.”
Every word Rosemary speaks stabs into Gray, he would love to think he can understand her, but it would be impossible. Seeing somebody hurting, and you’re physically unable to do anything, the exact feeling Gray had put on Rosemary back when he left them, right before Kioshi and Musashi’s death.
Rosemary: “You told me I knew nothing about you…and you’re right. Then you tell me everything about you…and you leave…but then you come back! You saved us and acted like it was normal…but Ophelia died in the process. Soku watched her sister die and now she’s just suffering…she doesn't wanna tell me about her feelings about it and I’m just stuck. You went through all that pain and I just accepted it…and now I’m doing the same thing to Soku…and I don’t know how to help her. Then you find another friend, after Arthur…I could tell you didn’t wanna interfere with stuff from wherever you’re from…but Caesar shows up and befriends you. You were so happy…but then he also turned out to be evil…and you’re just doing nothing about it. But I can tell you’re building up again like you’re gonna break AND I WON’T LET THAT HAPPEN! So please tell me what’s wrong.”
Rosemary slouches her back onto the tree and slowly slides down. And Gray seems to understand what had just happened. He broke, all that pressure got to him, and he screamed all his issues at her, and now she’s doing the same thing. He knows what can happen when you feel that low, and all he wants to do is help.
Gray: “Rosemary…I love you. And I wanna tell you all the ways you could help Soku, and how I’m suffering in silence…but I can’t.”
Rosemary: “WHY!?”
Gray: “Because it’s not possible. All you can do is talk to her. And with me…I’m not suffering…but I have been thinking a lot. Caesar is my failure…I knew how he got here and I just figured he made it out of that hole of despair just like me. But he didn’t and he fell even further…and he broke. But he took an entire country with him. I didn’t make him do that but if I could have done anything different…it would have been to ask him what happened when he got here…and just continue to talk to him until he felt a little better.”
Rosemary: “So…what should we do?”
Gray: “I’m not in the relationship for the physical stuff…I just wanna be with you. So take all the time you need, because I’m not gonna ask and I'm gonna be mad.”
Gray gets up and focuses mana on his finger. He slowly carves something into the tree, and when he backs up Rosemary sees what he did.
A heart with their names in the middle, now forever carved into the tree.
End of Chapter Six