Tomorrow, things had started off poorly from the very moment I had woken up. Everyone was called up to the main room to have a discussion on Aria's sudden disappearance, and as one would expect, all Eyes were pointed at me.

"...Surprise?" I winced.

"Edward, I do believe we have told you time and time again to let her go." Meil shook his head.

"You flubbed it, kid." Harper puffed the cigarette she was holding, "I understand it was for some petty revenge fantasy of yours, but killing a little girl? That's quite below what the real Ed would do."

"The real Ed?" I raised my voice at them, "The fuck do you know about such a being!? Are you saying that this "real Ed" would just let her roam free to kill all of you in your sleep!? I'm the hero here!"

"You..." Anna couldn't even properly scold me through her tears, "You're kidding... right, Ed? T-This isn't you..."

"Fuck yeah it is!" I shouted, prompting Cene to start crying again in his mother's arms.

"Dammit, Ed! Stop shouting curses in front of the kids!" Cecily started berating me as well.

"You too, Cecily?" I grabbed my aching head, "Shut the hell up... You were the one who most wanted these girls dead, y'know?"

"Wrong, I wanted Vivia dead, and I got that and more yesterday." She stared me down as she cradled her boy, "I had no affiliation with Aria, there was no justifiable reason to kill her."

"Gramps, aren't you gonna say something to him!?" Anna turned all frustrated to her grandfather.

Arthur, the person who witnessed me kill Aria off last night firsthand, refused to give his two bronze coin on the matter, instead only choosing to sigh as he looked at me with a guilty expression. His terrified gaze as he looked like he was staring down a crazed murderer made me lose all my spirit at once, but still, he refused to give his input.

"I..." He suddenly drooped his head down before he started softly sobbing, "I'm sorry..."

"Great Grandpa!" Nelly went to console him, "What's wrong? Don't cry."

"You all..." I slowly started backing away, "You're all treating me like I'm some sort of monster, but don't you know what I've been through!?"

"The same thing me, Cecily and all the other Generals have been through." Meil responded without missing a beat, "You are not a special case here, Edward, so quit acting like your actions are excusable."

"Fuck you!" I finally snapped, "If Grim was still here, he'd be fucking disappointed as hell to have such lousy acquaintances like you! The fact of the matter is that I'm the only friend that truly let his soul rest in peace! I'm the guy who did it, not fucking you!"

Watching the entirety of my outburst with their mouths agape, the entire room got dead silent. No one was expecting me to say such a thing, it seems, but it's the truth and they know it. Grim, he's a good guy, so he definitely would forgive them immediately if he saw how lightly they're treating his death, but he'd still think something like "Still, I'd at least liked it if you could have made them truly feel bad for killing me or something..." We've been best friends since we were 5, goddammit! I know for a fact that that's exactly something he would say!

"You... truly think he's a lunatic like you?" Cecily tilted her head, angering me further.

"He's a fucking adulterous bastard who cheated on you, dumbass!" I shot back in full, "He's an irresponsible jackass who feels up every fire he finds just to see how hot it is! An idiot who left his family just to see the world, not even ONCE coming back to visit his home village! That's who Grim is, and I'm the buffoon who followed in his footsteps to continue his legacy!"

"...Ed, calm down." Harper stood up and approached me.

"Get the fuck away from-!"

"Calm. Down." She put her coffee cup to my lips, thus shutting me up, "Right now, you're experiencing guilt-induced stress after killing someone. A side effect of PTSD. Your mind can't yet process that you killed someone, so it's desperately trying to find someone to pin the blame on."

"Cack, cough, ugh!" I choked on the Latte she had me suddenly drink.

"Just take a seat, take some deep breaths. You're gonna get through this, but you're gonna need to listen to me." She said as she pushed me down on the chair by the shoulders, "Alright, four seconds to breathe in, four seconds hold, then four seconds to breathe out and four seconds hold. Remember what that's called?"

"Box breathing?" I recalled as I followed her instructions.

"Good boy!" She lightly patted me on the head, "Now keep doing that and don't stop. In a couple of moments, the regret will start to kick in, and you'll inevitably have to face it head on, I'm afraid. But don't be scared, because right now, you're in a warm room surrounded by a ton of people who genuinely love and care about you."

As to be expected, she had completely predicted the outcome. Like clockwork, a strong sense of nausea had started creeping its way into my heart, but I just continued breathing the way miss Harper told me to. I felt sick, repulsed at all of their gazes, but I just closed my Eyes and continued breathing. I wanted to throw up, to run out of the room and vomit all of my guts out, but I just remembered her words of encouragement and pressed on. This went on for an entire five minutes or so, nothing else but breathing as I felt the strong pitying gazes of all of my loved ones. Finally, I had opened my Eyes once I felt calm enough to do so, and upon seeing all of them smile at me, I couldn't help but coop up into a ball on my chair as I let out a long sigh.

"I need help, don't I?" I finally admitted.

"What took you so long?" Miss Harper chuckled as she puffed a bit more of her cigarette.

***

"Ed, do you need anything?" Anna casually asked as I silently packed our bags onto the ship, "Food? Water?"

"Or perhaps... me?" I finished off her relentless questions with a joke.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, just treat me like you normally do." I sighed, "Help the others out with packing, Meil and I'll be carrying our things onto the ship."

Ever since I admitted I had some underlying mental problems to deal with, everyone's attitude towards me had suddenly changed a bit too drastically. Everyone feels like they're walking on eggshells around me, and it's really not helping my case. Really, the only two people that are treating me properly are miss Harper and Meil, but that's because miss Harper is a doctor and knows how to deal with depressed individuals, and Meil is just too emotionally inept to even act any different. The others, though...

"Ed, let me carry that for you!" Cecily went to reach for the heavy barrel I was carrying.

"Nope!" I swung it behind myself, leading to me hitting a nearby box on the dock with it, "Shit!"

"I-I'm sorry!" She suddenly backed away, unsure of what exactly she should do in this situation, "I-I'll stop bothering you now!"

"Edward, my boy." Arthur approached.

"Don't even try, old man."

"Yeah, my bad..." He then turned around.

"Geez, what's with you guys?!" I suddenly plopped the barrel down on the ship before yelling, "Listen! We're packing our bags and heading to Cardina to live at Cecily's house! Meanwhile, Meil is gonna be studying abroad in Simpleton! So why are you all acting like I'm on the verge of suicide all of a sudden?!"

"Sorry if you feel that way, Edward." Meil patted me on the shoulder as he suddenly appeared behind me, "I understand our sudden change in behavior may lead to you getting to the false conclusion of us treating you like a frightened beast, but please rest assured that we are only doing this because we wish to ease your nerves."

Ah, did he say we? So does that mean that he actually was trying his best to treat me differently, at least in his Eyes? Huh, I guess I've gained a bit of respect for him now, but still not enough to let Nelly go with him to University. Oh yeah, that's right. Now that I think about it, I might've screwed up my relationship with her pretty badly after she saw how I've been acting as of late. I should probably check in with her and see how she sees me.

"By the way, where's Nelly?" I asked, not at all expecting her to pop out of the barrel I had previously just plopped down.

"Boo!" She scared the living daylights out of me, "Surprise, uncle! Hahaha, did I scare you or what?"

"Grr...! You little prankster, you!" I scruffed up her hair with a smile, "Man, for a second I thought you started avoiding me after that embarrassing outburst of mine."

"Uncle, I could never hate you." She said in an adorable tone, "But just for future reference, don't do that again. I felt so embarrassed for you since you really looked pathetic."

"Harsh..." I deflated, "But true nonetheless! Thanks for believing in me and giving me some awesome advice, kiddo!"

"Hehe, no problem!" She smiled, "A big girl pampers her men, after all."

"Hold on, where'd you hear such a thing!?" I immediately turned to Anna.

"Wuh-Don't look at me!" Anna pointed the spotlight to miss Harper, "I might be the one who spent the most time with the kids, but every now and again I would catch Harper whisper all sorts of indecent tips on how to snag a man in her ear!"

"Miss Harper?" Meil suddenly frowned at her, "Is this true? What all have you been teaching her?"

"Humu, you'll find out soon enough." She teased, making Nelly panic for a moment.

"Harper! Don't tell him!" Nelly pleaded.

"I..." Meil turned to me, "...don't get it. If I'll find out soon enough, then what is the point of not revealing it to me now? How suspicious..."

This guy's too dense for his own good. Wait no, that's wrong, since he admitted to wanting to do things with Nelly the moment she comes to University. He can't play the innocent oaf card now! Eh, then again, he's way too cold to even notice something as complex as a woman's feelings, so maybe he just genuinely is that dense.

"Alright then, everyone aboard!" I called out to the folks down by the dock, "Come on, no time to waste! We need to set sail while the weather is still clear!"

"Ah, that's my cue to leave, then." Meil dapped me up and hugged Nelly before heading down to the dock, "My ship's course is set to Simpleton, so this is where we part ways. Thank you for everything."

"Meil..." Nelly waved him off, "I'll come for you soon!"

"Ha-ha, yeah..." I tried my best not to shatter her dreams, "Sure you will..."

"Meil, you've helped us immensely. Lune would be proud." Cecily shook his hand, "Good luck in Uni. We wanna see some stellar report cards, y'hear?"

"Are you seriously doubting me?" He struck a smug grin at her, "I just hope the curriculum isn't too easy for me!"

"Mister Meil, we haven't known each other for long, but for whatever reason, you remind me of Lune quite a lot." Anna shook his hand as she wiped away her tears, "Don't... Don't worry about Ed, we'll make sure to take good care of him. And when you come over to visit us, you'll hopefully be greeted to the same old funny and kindhearted Ed you knew from before."

"If..." He stuttered before taking a deep breath and finally speaking, "If I really do resemble Lune, then I'm sure I can at least accurately estimate what he would say in this situation. "Don't rush him" is what he would advise, and I tend to agree with him on a lot of matters."

"Heh, to think even you can be funny sometimes." She chuckled as she boarded our ship, "Good luck on your studies, Meil!"

"You too, good luck!" He responded vaguely, not clearly giving away who exactly he was telling this too.

As the ship slowly left the island, we had officially separated from Meil to go live in the safety of Cardina. There, with the help of Anna, Arthur, Cecily and miss Harper, I would get the proper treatment for my PTSD. That's the plan, at least, but who knows where it'll end up leading us to? Despite that, I'm sure Cecily will have a lot of work to do, both in preparing Nelly for her entrance exams and in raising Cene. It's gonna be tough, but Grim certainly didn't choose me as his best friend because I was weak! You might've died, friend, but I'll live for the both of us!