-Hess-

Hess couldn’t see properly. Her head was ringing, and every part of her face felt like it was going to fall down the second that she did not try to keep it in control. The inside of her mouth was filled to the brim with blood, and the flesh had been torn in almost eight different locations. She did not even have the courage to speak anymore. That would cause her entire body to hurt. Even then, she clutched the dagger in her hand. Because if she was going to die anyways, then she did not want to do that before killing the man that she had unleashed on this world.

Moving closer and closer, she wanted to thank everyone for helping her out. She knew that there were people among them who hated him just as much as her. But Ginzari was respecting her decision and standing in a corner, Typhen had his arrow nocked but his eyes were on her, Ryworn was doing what he could to help. Most importantly, Kaisel was giving his all to make sure that the man did not even move until she got there. She would need to grovel at his feet for forgiveness after today. She had pushed him so far.

Then, Jillesha collapsed. She wanted to tell everyone to run away, to save themselves. A part of her wanted to believe that he might be dead, but that was never going to happen. The others stopped tensing themselves, and kept staring at his body. She still couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth. She would collapse if she did. She needed to believe that all of them would be smart enough to consider it. They were, but their expressions did not suggest that they were thinking straight right now.

When he started moving, she continued too. Her doubts had been cleared, and everyone else had sprung into action. Her feet started to ache more than before, possibly because she had just stopped and started walking again. Her entire body was shaking. It felt really, really cold. And at the same time, way too hot. She wanted to lie down on the floor and give up. But her hand still clutched that dagger. Jillesha began to move around a bit more, and got on his feet. He looked different than before. The devil must have taken over, finally. She kept moving closer. The end wasn’t that far now.

Just as she was thinking that; convincing herself that it would be fine, Kaisel died.

She stopped once more. Ginzari had tried, but he did not reach her on time. Jillesha was really fast, so he got to him in the blink of an eye. It took Hess a second or two to process the body falling down, headless. Her hand did not let go off the dagger, even though her mind gave up. There was no point to this anymore. She wouldn’t be able to keep up with a possessed Jillesha. Not in this state. Ginzari would be able to handle it, though. He could work on the same level. So, everyone would be alright at the end. They would live.

Hess wanted to sit down for some time, so she just let go of the little bit of strength keeping her on her feet, and fell down. Ginzari would take care of everything else. On the ground, she could see two blurs moving around from the corner of her eyes. Those two had started fighting. She wished with all of her heart that Jillesha would lose. He deserved to. They were going way too fast for her, though, so she wasn’t even going to try to keep up. Her eyes moved to Kaisel’s body.

Sylvia was right beside him, crying her eyes out. Typhen was right above her, and Ryworn was trying not to intrude on them. That stupid kid. All he needed to do was go and stand beside them. Every single time, he kept stepping back to let others take the stage. That was not fine. He would just end up distancing himself from them even more by respecting their supposed boundaries so much. She was a bit angry at him. But she couldn’t be like that for long. Kaisel had all of the people he loved so much, around him.

He had always told her that he wanted to keep people happy. That was why he did not like to kill people or resort to violence all the time. She wondered if she had ever asked him why. Probably not. She couldn’t ever know anymore. Maybe she hadn’t even talked to him enough. Would he be alright with her crawling there and seeing him once? She had caused all of this to happen, and now he was dead. Unable to spread the happiness that he held in such high regard.

Ah, perhaps the reason Ryworn wasn’t closer to him was because she had instructed Kaisel not to talk to him during that time period. Knowing him, he would have rushed to the kid to comfort him. She made sure that he didn’t. Had she stopped him there too, from doing what he truly wanted?

A large crash shook the whole group. Her teeth hit the wounds inside her mouth, and it made her cry out of pain. She looked up just a little to see that the whole room had a large hole torn through it, going straight towards the direction of the throne room that they had come here from. Sylvia was standing up, readying her magic, while Typhen tried to stop her. Even now, Ryworn just stood there, looking at the two. In that frame, also lied her hand. Still holding the dagger tightly. She tried to open it, to throw it down. But her fingers did not unfurl.

There was something else, too, that had been floating in front of her eyes. The moistness all around made it difficult to make out, so she just ignored it. After a few seconds, she apologized to him, and started crawling towards Kaisel’s body, groaning. She wanted to see him at least once, even though he might not want to see her there. As she made her way there, pushing through all of the edged rocks and dust, Ryworn turned to her and ran forward. Sylvia had already gone behind Ginzari and Jillesha, and so had Typhen.

The kid put his hand around her shoulder, and pulled her up. Then, he carefully walked forward with her, pulling her along to the body. He had worked really hard to get here, and he had a truly good heart. She wanted to tell him that, at least, before she died. Her hand unconsciously went up to the top of his head, and she kept it there, giving him a very faint smile. Then, when they reached the body, he slowly let go of her, and she got down on her knees to look at Kaisel.

Hess tried not to focus on what he looked like. His hands still had their lovely gloves on them, and he was wearing his favorite armor and clothes. Even dead, his unmoving body had a grace to it. Only he could maintain something like that from beyond the grave. She put his hand over his chest, and the day they had first met came back to her. That small meeting with Ginzari. The words both he and Jillesha had said had stuck with her. Ginzari told her something beautiful, while Jillesha was the one with the questionable response. The mercenary leader hadn’t spoken gibberish at all. Only someone as heartless as Jill could have mistaken it as su-

“I’m sorry.” A voice next to her murmured. She turned to Ryworn, who was looking at her and Kaisel with a sad expression.

She tried to question him as well as she could with her eyes, given that she did not want to risk opening her mouth and ruining the entire moment. He did not meet her eyes, though, so he did not read anything in them.

“I…I thought that it was supposed to be you.” He whimpered, “I was so sure, and yet, Kaisel…”

What did he mean?

She inched closer, and forced her shaking and shivering hand to his face. It landed on his chin and pulled his face up to meet hers. Her eyes asked that question once more.

“The…directions, they’re gone. The one they meant was Kaisel.” He cried. A thin, horizontal line of blood appeared on his forehead, flowing down over his eyes and his face. But he did not care about that. He kept looking her in the face.

She…wasn’t going to die? Why?

Revenge, Ryworn had said. What did that have to do with Kaisel? She looked at his body, and held his gloved hand, thinking about what could have possibly happened. That day, maybe. The one where everything had changed. Did Kaisel hold himself responsible for any of it? It hadn’t been his fault, since Jill had started getting power hungry a while back. But perhaps he, like her, thought that it would have been better if he had killed Jill when he had the chance. Kaisel had said something like that just now, but she hadn’t been sure if she had heard right.

How many people had that villain affected like this? Was this just supposed to be some cruel plot by God to make her feel worse? Maybe Ginzari blamed himself too, for not being fast enough to save Hike. Maybe Typhen and Ryworn blamed themselves, for not being strong enough to save the messengers. Maybe Sylvia blamed herself, for not being able to save Kaisel, even when she could see where that attack was going. How many other members of the band, were blaming themselves for not being able to save someone they loved today? All of that sense of revenge was concentrated on Jill. God could have claimed any life to fulfill his story. In the end, he decided on Kaisel.

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But.

That, wasn’t Ryworn's fault.

It wasn't even her fault.

It was Jill’s.

It all made sense now. Kaisel spread happiness, and Jill spread misery and hate. They were enemies meant for each other. The perfect opposing forces for a story. She had just been standing there in the middle, thinking that it was about her. And she had everyone convinced that it was about her. Ryworn was feeling so terrible because of that. But that, too, wasn’t her fault. That man had spread so much misery everywhere he went, that people couldn’t help but hate him. Anybody could have convinced themselves that they were the one meant to kill him. That was how terrible he was.

She looked at the dagger in her hand once more. Hike had made them for her, a long time ago. They worked so well even today.

She could have told him that herself, if he wasn’t dead. How many times had she thought that? How many times, in the last eleven years, had she blamed herself for everything that Jillesha had done? No matter the number, she had found herself going back to the day she had decided not to kill him. And thought that she should have. But now, as her hands held Kaisel’s, she was sure that he would have told her something else. Yeah.

There was nothing wrong about not killing a crying kid.

Hess had done the right thing. She had saved a life that was worth saving. What he did with that life was his business, and not hers. Kaisel had actively led his life trying to make people happy, and he had actively led his life destroying other people’s. They were both the ones responsible for what they ended up becoming. There was no way that any of it led back to the day they were born. Was it Jillesha’s mother’s fault for giving birth to him? No. Definitely not.

That was why, saving him had not been her fault.

She thanked herself for not letting go of that dagger. Finding it again would have been tedious. She removed her hand from Kaisel’s and gave it a small pat. Then, she moved it to Ryworn’s shoulder, and pushed herself up using him as support. He looked up, asking her where she was going. She still couldn’t speak, so she just kept walking to follow the large hole that Ginzari had made. It felt a bit easier. Maybe it had been the short rest she got, or maybe earlier she had just convinced herself that this was over. Right now, her body was not shivering.

The thing that had been floating in front of her eyes got clearer as she walked.

It made her scoff. Perfect opposing forces? How the hell did any of that matter? Not about her? She needed to put herself in place for thinking that. Perhaps there were others who hated him more than her. Perhaps her character did not oppose his directly. But this was her story, no matter what anyone told her. This was her story, because saving him that day hadn’t been her fault. Because he had ruined the life that she had so happily given him. Because he had disrespected everything that she stood for. Because despite all of her wishes, he had decided to become a hate-spreading infection on this world. Even the one standing above it all, craving for impeccability, agreed. Even he did not need the correct hero and villain today. Even he bowed down to her truth.

Stage Directions (Day 3) –

Kill Jillesha

The mercenaries were moving away from the throne room. Even as they scurried away, they made way for her to walk through. Some of them had wounds, some had a few limbs cut off, almost all had blood on their bodies. Her eyes couldn’t apologize to them right now. They were focused on something else. But her heart did. She let them know that it would all be over soon. She would put an end to all of this, and crush that worm like he needed to be crushed.

The throne room came into view. Ginzari had blood flowing from the top of his head, while Jillesha had an arm missing. The leader never failed to impress her. He was a monster in his own right. But he had done more than enough. She brandished the dagger in her hand to attract their attention. Ginzari smiled before rushing in for another attack, while Jillesha did not even look at her.

The two hit one of the walls, and Ginzari pushed him deeper with his axe, leaving a large scar on his stomach. Jillesha tried to attack him with his mouth, but the leader had already moved his head away.

In the corner of the room, Sylvia and Typhen were crushing the walls one by one to look for something. She let them be and moved to the ones fighting, readying her dagger.

Jillesha tried to kick Ginzari away, but he did not budge. Hess jumped into the fight with her dagger, going straight for the man’s eye. The bandit leader took the chance to hold her hand as she came in, and bash her body into Ginzari’s. The two of them lost their balance, and Jillesha got free of the axe, which stayed lodged in his stomach. Before he could take it out, however, Hess ran in and pulled it out, passing it to its owner, who was just standing up.

Aiming the dagger once more, she attacked. Jillesha tried to hit her in the stomach, but she sidestepped the attack and kept her aim on his eye. He moved his hand up, still at an angle, and caught her by the neck. It became impossible to breath. He could crush her like this, and both of them knew it. Hess changed the direction of her attack too, and stabbed him deep in the arm before curving the whole dagger down to leave a large gash there. The grip got weaker, and he just bashed her against the wall, causing her entire brain to rattle. She fell down on her feet, taking a second to reorient herself while Jillesha attacked Ginzari once more.

She wiped the blood off her dagger and started walking towards the two of them again.

Back when she had been fighting his real form, some part of her had been worried that he would kill her before she killed him, and that would be bad. But now, she made the directions flash in front of her eyes once more, getting strength in those words. Today, here, right now, she was immortal.

Her dagger reached for his neck while he was busy attacking the other opponent. Jillesha gave her a small glance before keeping his attention on Ginzari. Ignoring her was a mistake. He thought too highly of himself. She increased the speed of the dagger before twisted it to move up. In a slice, she cut off his ear; also leaving a large wound on the top of the skull in the process. Jillesha kept his hand busy fighting Ginzari while turning to kick her. As he reached her, she grabbed his leg and pulled it before stabbing him in the ankle, and using the same movement as with the arm to cut it.

Jillesha let go of Ginzari and brought his other leg around to hit her on the side of her body, sending her away. The leg with the wound buckled a little, but he pushed himself up and headbutted Ginzari, who used the positioning to hold their heads together with one hand and bring the axe straight up for his neck with the other. Jillesha growled and pushed his head down with all his strength. The weight on his opponent’s body increased, and his legs gave in, causing him to slip. As he did, however, he sliced across one of the bandit leader’s knees.

Jillesha raised his better leg to stomp Ginzari’s face as he struggled to cope with the impact. Before it could fully come down, Hess ran in and kicked the leg up with her own. He lost his balance and also fell down. She bent down and stabbed his other ankle, before tearing right through it too. The devil made him weak. That was the truth. All the strength in the world meant nothing when he was fighting like a mindless ogre. It was ironic that in his last moments, he became what he was always meant to be. It felt sad to kill an opponent who couldn’t even think for himself, but it was a cruel world.

Hess stabbed him in the thigh, and pulled the dagger up through to his hip. Then, she moved to the other leg. Jillesha moved his upper body up, and held her by her hair. She groaned for a second, but her expression and eyes did not change. He could try whatever he wanted. She would be the one to win this fight. Jillesha hit her head on the floor, again and again. Her brain had already suffered enough damage to kill her once this ended. That was fine. She didn’t care. She wasn’t dying before finishing her job, though. Even with her head being bashed in, and her entire body losing its strength and direction, she forced her hand to move up. She could see nothing, feel nothing, think nothing. Her hand wildly moved around and guessed where his hand was.

She pushed the dagger in and ripped through the skin. He let go off her hand, and she pushed herself up. She couldn’t see at all. Most of her teeth were broken and swirling around in her mouth. She spat all of them out, and tried to wipe off her face to get rid of all the blood making her itch. Her nose was broken, but she did not care. Her lips were torn everywhere, and she kept drinking the blood that fell down inside her mouth. She raised her dagger, and guessed with Jillesha would be by now. She brought it down, and hit flesh. Unsure of what she was doing, she sliced and slashed all over, without regard.

“Tha…nk. You.” Jillesha’s voice croaked between the slashes.

It made her stop. His voice sounded so real, so heartfelt. So pure. It almost made her hesitate for some time. But she tried to think of her brother, and of Kaisel, and of all the mercenaries who had passed her just a few seconds ago.

Her free hand roamed around the air to find his body. Eventually, she caught hold of the side of his face. He was still sitting where he had been when he was hitting her head on the floor. She moved the hand up to the top of his head, and kept it there for a moment. After checking the grip of her dagger, and that it was pointed enough, she brought the dagger close to her other hand, pointing it straight towards his brain. Making sure that the aim and angle was perfect, she put both of her hands on top of the dagger’s hilt.

She wanted to say something. Tell him so many things about how horrible he was. But she was pretty sure that his attack on her neck had done a lot of damage to her voice. It was a shame that he wouldn’t hear her berate him as his final moments, but she hoped this hurt better.

With all her strength, she pushed the dagger into his skull.

Her legs gave in, and she fell down. Before she could hit the ground, she felt Ginzari catch her.