Jon and Mercy both walked up to one of the doors, where the two guards waited.

“You’re the highlander girl?” The first one asked.

“The name’s Mercy,” she answered. “But yes.”

“And your friend?” he continued.

“That’s Jon. He’s my bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard?” He raised his eyebrow. “For a Highlander? But we’re your-”

“We’re not her bodyguards,” the other guard interrupted. “We’re the King’s… ah…”

The guard tilted his head back, stopping himself.

“...I’m gonna walk in my room now,” Mercy said.

“Right.” The first guard looked at Jon. “Don’t shoot anything.”

Jon shook his head. He wouldn’t.

Mercy opened the door and they went inside.

Here was another large room. Except, unlike Amalia’s, it wasn’t just four closed-in walls. Evey's wall had a different type of design.

It might have been bigger than Amalia’s room. It was definitely more colorful. Not just pink.

The bed sat at the end of the room, as opposed to the center. And nearby was an opening to a balcony.

“...Wow…” Jon said.

“All my stuff has been moved in already,” Mercy said. “Not that I had much stuff to begin with.”

She removed her large Vindhazi sword from her hip and held it up.

“How did it go?” Mercy said. “Was Tallow able to use it?”

Jon nodded. “Yeah.”

“Better than me?” she added.

“...Maybe,” Jon said.

She chuckled. “Oh, Jon. I really wish I could give this to her, but I know she won’t ever take it.”

Tallow had a lot. She had the nunchucks, and the claw, with her original sword, which may or may not have been magical, and now the dagger.

Jon looked at Mercy’s tool.

“What about yours?” he asked.

“...Oh, this?” she took her tool off of her hip. “You want to know about this?”

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He nodded.

“...Everyone gets one crafted,” Mercy explained. “whenever you officially learn to become a warrior. I actually got mine early… but my father wouldn’t let me use it. He forced me to learn everything else first.”

She looked up at him. “Actually, You’re supposed to learn a little of everything. You find out what you can do so that when you finally get your own tool, it develops to your fighting style. Except my Dad forced me to master everything. And yet, when I use it…”

She gripped it and summoned her energy blade.

“It’s just a giant, dumb, sword,” she said. “I can cut…”

She put her Vindahzi sword back on her hip and swung her tool in several directions, all without moving from her place, before extinguishing the blade and putting it back on her hip in one smooth motion.

Cool… Jon thought.

“...eight directions,” she finished. “I can swing it in eight directions. Thank Goodness my father had me train samurai style. Still, I hoped it would be worth the hell he put me through. But even Hector seems to have mastered samurai-style better than me.”

“You’re good at everything else,” Jon said.

“Right…” Mercy looked at the tool. “Huh. Then I suppose there’s nothing I could need. I can just power right through stuff anyway.”

She looked at Jon.

“You look tired,” she said. “You want to rest?”

Hearing the word rest immediately made Jon’s body almost shut down immediately.

“...Yes,” he said.

“Come on.” She brought him to her bed. “You can sit down. Take off your stuff.”

Jon barely nodded as he sat down. He removed all of the straps he was wearing, including his gun, and put them on a table that sat to the side of the bed.

It was hard enough not falling over. He didn’t realize just how tired he was.

“...Tell me more…” Jon didn’t want to think about it.

“Much of our battle strategy, the Highlander, is to strike hard and fast,” Mercy continued to explain. “We channel much of our energy into powerful attacks. I’m sure you’ve seen it.”

Jon understood. Despite Hector's strength, Mercy was able to make incredibly powerful single attacks, as opposed to Hector's overall divided strength.

He nodded as much as he could. He found himself getting dizzy, so he laid down on the bed. He was glad to find that the pillow was so soft.

“I was excited at first when I got it.” Mercy sat down on the other side of the bed. “But then, I remembered how everyone else was cooler. and that their weapons had fit their fighting styles. So, after that, I worked incredibly hard to make sure I was better than everyone, despite-”

She heard snoring. She turned and saw that Jon had fallen asleep.

“Right…” she smiled. “Of course. Get some rest.”

Jon dreamed of darkness, like usual. It was a warm darkness. It felt nice and comforting.

He suddenly saw a pair of arms reach down towards him, with hands outstretched. It reached down towards his body and wrapped around his body.

Warm… Jon would be fine with just a warm hug.

He finally woke up that morning.

Bed...He realized that he must have fallen asleep the day before.

He felt bad. He turned over and saw Mercy underneath the covers next to him. He was still on top of it.

Jon felt bad for taking up so much room in her bed. He suddenly felt a pain in his back and passed out.

He woke up again. This time, he was alone in the bed.

He tried to stand up. He couldn't.

He tried again. Other than the top top of his neck, he couldn’t move.

“...Mercy!” He managed to mutter.

There was a sudden rush of steps. He couldn’t see her, but he felt her presence at the side of her bed.

“Jon!” she cried. That was the first time Jon heard any kind of fear in her voice. “What’s wrong?”

“I… can’t move…” Jon said. “I can’t move… Can’t…”

He cursed himself for maybe the first time in his life.

"Oh... shit..."