Jennifer and I came to a stop in the middle of the hallway.

The Cathedral was oddly quiet today. Likely thanks to the cold weather. It wasn’t raining anymore, but the chill in the air made it feel as if it was about to snow.

“Well, back to waiting I guess,” Jennifer said with a smile.

“Hm. Thank you, Jennifer,” I said to her.

She nodded and grinned at me. “You’re more than welcome. I got to see you in action, got plenty of drama to gossip about, and your stories of your youth will keep me fueled for years to come!” she happily said.

My eye twitched, but I nodded. I had told her a few unique stories of the nobles and royalty I’d known a long time ago. A small price to pay as thanks for her efforts.

She had after all, just sacrificed her life for me. Not her literal life, of course, but her figurative one. She had made a home there in that castle. She had friends. A place to belong. A job. A lifestyle she had loved. She had given that all up to help me kill that king, and then hunt down the information we needed.

Luckily it had all led to an easy end. We had tracked down the king’s nephew’s man easily. And from him I had learned the names and groups of those who had been involved. More than half of them had been fake names, rumors from hearsay he had heard along his trip. The other half had been names of those I, or others in the Society, recognized. I’d be able to deal with them later.

“Next time though I’ll not let you deny my original request,” Jennifer then said, grinning broadly at me.

“Then let us pray we never need to kill a monarch together again,” I said.

She broke out into a laugh, happily stepping over to me as to pat me on the arm. “Vim!” she said happily.

I smiled as I nodded. Yes. A funny joke. Coming from me, here in this holy place.

“That was great! Monarch, prayer, and your lame attempt to turn me down gently! No one is going to believe me when I tell them how witty you actually are!” she said.

My eye twitched again. What the heck, this again. Did the Society think I was a dullard or something?

Jennifer happily giggled as she sighed and calmed down. “Ah. That was great. I bet you’d be fun, Vim. If you ever need to dull your sense of taste further, just let me know,” she teased me, referring to something I had said a few days ago at that castle.

She was quite witty herself. I bet she was right. We would have fun together.

“Sure. I’ll see you later, Jennifer. Try not to spread too many weird rumors about me, would you?” I begged as I stepped away, before I gave in and indulged in her.

She giggled as she waved me off. “No promises Vim!”

I shook my head at the strange woman as we separated. She had plans to go to find something to eat. I though had to report what I’d done. What we’d done. I picked up my pace as I headed for the sisters’ offices.

Rounding a corner, I noticed a few familiar faces in the distance. Near my destination.

I smiled at little Prasta, and the oldest of the sisters. The sister noticed my presence first, even though her back was to me. She turned, her glowing eyes blinking at me… and then Prasta noticed me.

“Ah!” she nearly screamed at the sight of me, and I went still.

What the…?

She then darted straight at me. Tiny Prasta ran with all her might, and my heart thumped heavily as I realized something was terribly wrong.

“Vim!” she let out a cry of pure agony as she ran into me. I grabbed onto the young girl as she wrapped grabbed at my shirt. “Vim!” she shouted again.

“Prasta…? What’s wrong? What happened?” I asked as I studied the suddenly sobbing girl. The young lizard looked as if her whole world had just ended. Which made no sense at all.

The Cathedral was fine. Jennifer and I had seen a few of our members on our way in. Nothing seemed amiss. I smelled no death. No…

Wait…

I did smell blood. On her. Not hers, though… but…

“My daddy…!” she wept, her hands wiggling around my waist as she wrapped me in a hug.

Clenching my teeth, I looked up at the one approaching us. The eldest of the sisters, Norah, hurried over.

“What happened Norah?” I asked as the young girl began to cry in my arms.

“Yangli. He tried to force himself on Lilly, and… well…” Norah went quiet as she looked down at the girl weeping in my arms.

I bent down a little, and picked the young girl up. She switched her hug from my waist to my neck, as she clung to me. She began to tremble as she began to full on bawl into my chest.

“Where is he?” I asked coldly.

“This way,” Norah nodded and turned.

What…? Yangli was still here? He wasn’t dead?

What the hell happened? Why was little Prasta weeping so hard if…

Wait…

Feeling lightheaded, I realized very quickly what had likely happened.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Following Norah, we quickly descended into the hidden sections beneath the Cathedral. I paid no heed to those we passed, and luckily they all seemed to understand why. Several bowed their heads in silence as I walked past them. If their actions weren’t enough to tell me what happened… the smell of death that quickly grew stronger as we neared a door clinched it.

Norah opened the door gently, and I sighed at the sight of the man on the bed within.

Yangli. The father.

Little Prasta was quiet as I stepped into the room. I carried her, even though she had fallen asleep in my arms. I glanced around the room, and noted the bloody tools and bandages on the tables nearby.

I didn’t need to ask. In fact, I didn’t even need to look.

I could smell it.

“Vim…” Yangli greeted me with a weak smile.

“What did you do, Yangli?” I asked my friend.

His smile grew, and I did my best to not see the seeping wounds beneath the bandages wrapped around his now strangely misshapen head. Was his skull caved in…? How was he alive?

“I tried. I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it,” he told me.

I gulped heavily as I shifted Prasta, and glanced to Norah. “Would you, please?” I asked kindly.

Norah said nothing as she nodded and stepped forward. She took the sleeping girl from me, who clung to my shirt so desperately I had to wiggle out of it as to separate us.

Norah took Prasta, who held my shirt, out of the room. I didn’t go to close the door behind her, since there was no need to. The few people around likely wouldn’t pry, out of respect, and even if they did I didn’t care what they heard.

“What happened?” I asked Yangli as I stepped over to his bed.

“He… tried to force himself. On Lilly. I stopped him.”

Glancing over to his chest and legs, and the obvious parts of his body that were missing… I bit back the bile that wanted to rise.

“I’m sorry Vim. I promised you I’d stop him myself. I hadn’t been able to,” he said, and then coughed.

I didn’t correct his phrasing, since I knew what he meant.

He had stopped Yangli, his son, from doing anything to Lilly.

But he had not been able to stop his son for good.

Although his son was a strong warrior… I knew better than to think it was from a lack of effort.

Yangli should have been able to kill his son. He was strong enough. Experienced enough.

This failure was not because he had not been strong enough of skill or strength… but instead…

“Where is he?” I asked.

“Who knows. He ran,” Yangli said with a labored breath.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Why? Why now?

“Is it because I was gone?” I asked.

“I don’t know Vim,” Yangli answered.

It must have been. Maybe my disappearance in that cave… maybe he had seen it as an opportunity. Either he thought I was dead, or missing for good. So he had taken his chance with Lilly.

“Vim…” Yangli drew me from my thoughts, and I smiled down at my dying friend.

“Oh, Yangli. I’m so sorry,” I apologized to him.

He smiled at me again, but this time I saw it was softer. He was in pain. Horrible pain. “It is I who am sorry, Vim. For raising a bastard.”

Bastard indeed.

How could a son do this? To his own father?

Even if I had been strong enough to hurt my father like this… the mere idea of it made me sick.

Plus it wasn’t as if this man had been abusive, or evil. He, his wife, and Yangli’s whole family had been and were such good people. Pure-hearted. They may be cold blooded creatures, but they were the farthest thing from cold.

Reaching over, I grabbed my friend’s arm. What little was left of it. He had no hands to hold anymore.

He didn’t even seem to register I had grabbed onto him. But still, I held on.

“What can I do, Yangli? What do you need?” I asked him, even though I feared and knew the answer.

His eyes watered, and leaked blood. “Do for me what they won’t, my friend.”

Clenching my jaw, I kept my own eyes from leaking blood too. “Which Yangli, Yangli…?” I asked softly.

He smirked at me. “Both.”

I gulped, and nodded. Yes. I had figured.

What was I going to tell his wife? What was I going to say to little Prasta…?

She was going to hate me.

What horrible deeds my failures wrought.

I should have killed the bastard. I should have beaten sense into him.

This was all my fault.

“Please, Vim,” Yangli begged.

I nodded as I accepted blame. “Okay.”

He sniffed, and nodded back. Upon doing so he flinched, likely because he had just irritated his head wounds.

They really did look horrible. He had to be missing half his head. How was he even talking? How had Yangli done this? Such brutality…

Over a woman. A woman that didn’t even want him.

It was never one thing. Sorrow never traveled alone. And lately it had so much company that the world felt crowded.

When would this end? I was tired of this.

This was…

“Tell… Lilly I’m sorry…” Yangli whispered.

I blinked blurry eyes as I nodded. “I will, Yangli. I will.”

“And… Prasta… don’t let her, be like him,” he added.

I nodded again. “She’s far too good, Yangli. She’s your pride and joy,” I said.

He smiled as he closed his eyes and nodded. “She is.”

Was… was his wife here…? Should I let her and Prasta say goodbye?

Had they already…? Did he want it ended now…? Should I ask?

Feeling horrible, I gulped as I glanced at the door. No one was in sight in the hallway.

“I’ve said my goodbyes, Vim,” he then whispered.

Turning back to my friend, I smiled at him. “You’ve always been able to read me,” I said. He had that knack to know what people were thinking.

“You’re easy, Vim. You’re gentle. Gentle people are…” he didn’t continue, and I noticed the way his face went deadpan.

He was still breathing and twitching ever so slightly in pain, but…

Had he just had a stroke?

Did… did he hold on this long… just to talk to me? To ask of me his last request…?

Taking a small breath, I decided to do what he had asked of me.

Or at least, the first part of it.

Reaching over, I slowly and gently cupped my hand under his neck. To grab at his spine. The spot with all the nerves and veins.

I’d not decapitate him, or crush him cruelly. Even if his head was already nearly broken like it was. I’d not do such a disservice to him.

“Goodbye Yangli. You were a good friend, and a better father. Go into the abyss knowing you were not the failure of your son, but the cure,” I said softly.

He showed no signs of hearing, or understanding me, but it was fine.

Closing my hand around his neck, I bowed my head as I ended my friend’s life.

Rather he died by my hands than his son's.