The sound of rain hit the tree leaves, a delightful sound, definitely. When she opened her eyes, her body was covered by a few ribbons, mostly around her private areas.
Elisa ran a hand over her head, smoothing the white strands of her hair. Her gaze lifted to the dark sky, thunder echoed in the distance, and her instincts warned her of danger nearby.
She leaned on the tree and could not find her sword. As she walked, everything in her body seemed to hurt, but after a short while, a warm sensation began to spread through her.
A campfire. A man sat in front of the flames, placing meat on a stick and holding it over the fire. Beside him, a familiar figure lay unconscious.
"Shaphira...?"
His head turned toward her. Even with the red cloth over his eyes, he still seemed to see her somehow.
"It is her. Before you start yelling, sit and eat."
Elisa felt her throat close, as if her own body betrayed her to stop her from speaking. She sat beside him with caution, placing a hand over the ribbons covering her, and asked in a calm yet restrained tone:
"What did you do while I was asleep, Slady?"
He stayed silent. He brought the food to his mouth, chewed, swallowed, then answered her.
"I took care of you."
The answer was direct, dry and cold, which confused Elisa.
"Why would you take care of me after almost killing me and Shaphira?"
Her tone rose slightly. Shaphira's ears twitched, almost waking up. Slady gave Elisa a stern look.
"Because I wanted to. And lower your voice, your sister might wake up."
"How... how can you tell me to be quiet?!"
She grabbed him by the neck and pinned him down. Her hands wrapped around his throat, trying to strangle him.
"Ten years, Slady! Ten years!! You abandoned everyone! Me, Shaphira, Ferinish, everyone!"
Her fingers tightened with all her strength, veins popped on her arms, and the fury in her face was clear.
"You promised you would stop hunting criminals, you promised you would help Shaphira be accepted in our society, you promised Ferinish that you would never kill an innocent person to escape death! You deserve to die!"
But no matter how hard she tried, the man's neck was like steel, completely intact.
She lowered her head, sobbing as her strength faded. Shaphira, who had awakened, could only watch in shock.
"You promised so much, but not only did you break every promise, you also betrayed everyone who once stood by your side. Do you know what these last ten years were like without you?! It was like losing life itself. Shaphira was found out and expelled from Libretãnhya. Ferinish lost her strength and felt unable to protect the one she sees as a daughter. And I had to hide behind a stupid smile while eating the worst food in the army, being stepped on by damned men who sacrificed their own soldiers for a single disobedience..."
She looked at him with eyes full of tears, a bitter laugh covering her pain.
"You ruined everyone's life, Slady."
He remained expressionless, but his body trembled, as if every word pierced his soul with slow pain.
"I..."
Before Slady could speak, Shaphira interrupted, her claws digging into the mud.
"I remember that day to this very moment. We all waited for you, and when we saw you would be executed, my heart stopped."
Her sharp teeth bit her lips on instinct, drawing blood.
"Hearing all that from you, I could not hold my emotions. When the destruction happened, I thought you had died, which was even worse... but ten years later, I find out you lived, and on top of that, you tried to make everyone forget you, turning our world into a lie for years!"
Her face lifted. Her expression was filled with sorrow and desperation for an answer.
"And I had to live alone among demons, scared, without hope that I could ever be saved! Slady... be a man for the first time in these centuries you have lived and tell us: what was all this to you?! What did I, Elisa and everyone who cared about you mean in the end?! Were we just puppets for your goals or did you, even once in your life, feel something for us?!"
Slady stayed silent for a few seconds. His breathing was slow, but with pauses, as if those questions were affecting him. With a trembling sigh, he answered with absolute sincerity:
"I never felt anything for anyone. I wanted to feel, I wanted to express emotions, but I was incapable. When I felt a drop of what it could be to feel human, I froze. I felt every emotion flood my mind like an avalanche."
His hand slowly reached Elisa's arms, tightening her grip on his neck.
"But it all vanished too soon, and when I desperately wanted it back, it was too late, I had already caused the destruction. In the last ten years, I tried with all my strength to be who I once was, but killing people seemed to be part of me already. And when I tried to fulfill my goals to maybe free myself from the only intense emotion I ever felt, revenge, I went back to zero. I did not remember how to reach that peak again, only what I once was and how things might have been if I had made different choices."
His hand reached for Elisa's, guiding her to press harder on his neck.
"I do not see myself worthy of forgiveness or anything else in this life. So if killing me can free you from the pain I caused, please do it, because even in death I will feel that I did something right."
His throat relaxed, and he left his one remaining arm open, surrendering to death.
But even with the perfect chance, Elisa could not tighten her grip. She could not kill him.
Even after everything, she still saw him as a second father.
"Slady..."
She buried her face in his bare chest. Her eyes filled with tears, her breath heavy.
"You... you still have not told us what we meant to you."
Shaphira, at her side, almost dug her sharp nails into his chest, demanding a final answer. Then, with a deep breath, he said:
"Everything. Even though I cannot feel anything anymore, I know that in my mind, you two are everything to me in this world. I only allow myself to keep living so that one day I might be near you again, even from afar."
With a trembling voice, Shaphira asked:
"What will happen in a few years when we are dead? We are not immortal, we will die one day. What will you do when those you saw grow and mature rot beneath the soil?"
"I would move forward as punishment, even if it hurts, even if it destroys me. It is the fate I am bound to. And maybe in some years, I will finally free myself from my pain."
Silence fell among them. Elisa cried softly, and Shaphira stared at him in sorrow.
"Do you still think you can fix what you did?!"
Shaphira asked.
"No, absolutely not. But I will do everything possible to at least try. I do not care what I sacrifice, my blood, my body, I would do everything possible and impossible in this life to one day hold you both again and never let go."
His only arm reached out slightly to hold both of them with the gentleness of an angel's wing, pulling them close.
"Let me hold you. I do not care if tomorrow you kill me in my sleep, I only... want to feel you one more time."
With no more strength to resist, both women, overwhelmed, allowed themselves to embrace the paternal figure once more.
Elisa stayed seated on his waist, feeling like a child again, resting on his chest like she did when nightmares disturbed her. A comfort that soothed even the most shattered minds.
Shaphira hid her face against what was left of his arm, feeling like a little fox again, seeking warmth from her owner, master and father.
Under the sound of rain and thunder, the two grown women felt like children in the arms of a father who, despite his coldness, would give his life and more for them.
If it were possible, the three would have stayed that way forever.