Liam and Chloe, who had been Mark's loyal lapdogs, nodded like a couple of bobbleheads from the back of the crowded office. Liam even had a little smirk on his face. 'Good,' he was probably thinking. 'Get the psycho out of here before he decides we're next.'
Emilia immediately stepped forward, her hands clasped in front of her like she was praying. "Sir Owen, please. You don't understand. Mark was… he was awful to Nox. For years. And Nox, he's been protecting us out there. We wouldn't have made it this far without him."
"Protecting you?" Chloe scoffed, her voice shrill and nasty. "Or just waiting for a chance to snap again? He had a gun, Emilia! He planned to kill someone!"
"That's not true!" she insisted, though a small, uncomfortable seed of doubt was definitely there. She glanced at Nox.
He was just standing there, arms crossed, looking utterly, completely bored, as if this whole dramatic discussion was a minor inconvenience, like waiting in line at the DMV.
'Why doesn't he say something?' she thought, a wave of frustration washing over her. 'Defend himself? Anything?'
"It doesn't matter what Mark was like, Emilia," Sir Owen said, his voice heavy with resignation, like he was tired of all of it. "Taking a life… that's a line. Especially now, with everything else. The girls can stay, of course. We need everyone who can help. But Nox… he has to go. There's no other way."
Emilia looked from Sir Owen's resolute face to her friends, then back to Nox. His expression was still a blank slate. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach.
This felt incredibly wrong. He had saved them, taught them how to fight, even if his methods were harsh. But then she looked at the faces of the other students, her classmates, people she'd known for years. They were visibly scared. And if she was being really honest with herself, a tiny part of her was scared, too.
"Please," she whispered to Sir Owen, her voice barely audible. "Just… reconsider."
"There's nothing to reconsider, Emilia," Liam cut in, stepping forward with a newfound boldness now that he had the teachers on his side. "He's a danger. Either he goes, or we'll make him go."
A few other students behind him murmured their agreement, their eyes fixed on Nox with a mixture of fear and hostility.
Emilia felt her hope just drain away. She turned to Nox, her eyes pleading. "Nox, say something. Tell them…"
Nox just met her gaze, a slight, almost imperceptible lift of an eyebrow his only response.
'What does she want me to say?' he thought, a familiar annoyance bubbling up. 'That I'm sorry I killed Mark? I'm not. That I won't do it again? If someone deserved it, I probably would.' This whole situation was just confirming what he already knew about people.
The silence in the office stretched, thick and uncomfortable. Emilia felt tears welling up in her eyes. She looked at Kendra and Vasa, who were just watching the whole thing with unreadable faces.
Finally, Emilia bowed her head towards Nox, a gesture of defeat and apology. "I'm… I'm so sorry, Nox."
A blue screen popped into his vision.
[Emilia has left your party.]
'Guess she chose them,' he thought, a little surprised at how little he cared. 'Makes sense.'
Emilia straightened up, her face pale but resolute. She looked at Kendra and Vasa. "Guys… we should stay. There are more of us here. We can help them. It's safer."
Kendra looked from the fearful faces around the room to Emilia, who was practically begging her with her eyes to stay. She felt a little bit of guilt, sure, but something deeper was pulling her in the opposite direction.
'Fuck this,' she thought. 'These people are idiots if they think they're safer without him.'
She stepped away from the group and moved to stand next to Nox. "Yeah, no. I'm going with him."
"Kendra, what are you doing?" Emilia's voice cracked. "You can't be serious."
"I'm dead serious." She crossed her arms, a stubborn set to her jaw. "Look around at them. Half these people can barely hold a pencil without shaking. You think they're going to protect us when something bigger than those dog things shows up?"
Liam scoffed. "Oh, great. Now we have two psychos."
Kendra turned on him so fast he actually took a step back. "What did you just call me?"
"I… nothing. I didn't mean—"
"You didn't mean shit." Her voice was cold. "You know what, Liam? You spent three years watching Mark torture people and never said a word. Now you want to act all righteous? Give me a fucking break."
Sir Owen tried to intervene. "Kendra, please. Think about what you're doing. Your safety—"
"My safety is with the guy who's actually killed monsters," she cut him off, not even looking at him. "Not with a bunch of people who think hiding in an office is a long-term strategy."
Vasa had been quiet this whole time, just watching, analyzing. Now, she stepped forward, too.
"I'm going as well," she said simply, her voice flat and logical.
"Vasa!" Emilia looked like she was about to cry. "Please, don't do this."
"It's not personal, Emilia." Her tone was matter-of-fact, like she was explaining a math problem. "It's practical. Our survival odds are higher with him."
Chloe looked disgusted. "You're all crazy. He killed someone!"
"Yeah, and that someone was a piece of shit who had it coming," Kendra shot back. "But I guess you forgot about that part."
The room was getting tense. Some of the students were whispering among themselves, looking more scared than angry now.
Yeda hadn't said anything yet. She was standing near the wall, looking down at her hands, trying to be invisible again.
'I never even thought about staying,' she realized, a strange clarity cutting through her fear. 'From the moment they said he had to leave, I knew I was going with him.'
She walked over to where Nox was standing and positioned herself slightly behind him. It wasn't a big, dramatic move. She just… moved.
Emilia noticed, and her face crumpled. "Yeda? You, too?"
Yeda looked up at her, and for the first time in the conversation, her voice was clear and steady. "He's the only reason we made it this far, Em. You know that."
"But these are our friends," she pleaded. "Our classmates. We've known them for years."
"And where were they when we needed help?" Yeda's voice got a little sharper. "When those monsters were trying to break down our classroom door?"
Liam tried to defend himself. "We were protecting the teachers and the younger students—"
"Bullshit," Kendra interrupted. "You were protecting yourselves. Same as always."
Nox watched this whole exchange with a growing sense of amusement. He hadn't expected this. Not from any of them, but especially not from Yeda. She was the quiet one, the one who never caused trouble or stood up for herself.
'Would you look at that,' he thought, and there was a strange, warm feeling spreading in his chest that he wasn't used to. 'So this is the feeling of being wanted, huh.'
It was weird. He'd spent so long being invisible, being nobody, that having people actually choose him over the "safe" option felt… strange. Good strange, but still strange.
"You're all making a huge mistake," Sir Owen said, shaking his head. "He's dangerous. Unpredictable."
"Maybe," Vasa said. "But he's effective. And in case you haven't noticed, this isn't a normal situation anymore. Normal rules don't apply."
"Normal rules are what separate us from animals," one of the other teachers said, sounding very dramatic.
Kendra actually laughed at that, a short, humorless sound. "Normal rules didn't stop Mark from being a sadistic asshole for three years. Normal rules didn't save anyone when those monsters showed up. Normal rules are useless now."
A few more notifications popped up in Nox's vision, which he dismissed without reading. He already knew what they said.
"So that's it then," Emilia said quietly, her voice full of sadness. "You're really leaving."
"You're the one who chose to stay," Kendra pointed out. "We're just choosing differently."
"I chose to be responsible. To help people."
"And we're choosing to survive," Vasa's voice was flat. "Nothing wrong with either choice."
Emilia looked like she wanted to argue more, but Sir Owen put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let them go, Emilia. If they want to follow a killer, that's their decision."
Nox finally spoke up, a bored tone in his voice. "You done with the dramatic speeches? Because I've got monsters to hunt, and standing around here listening to you people whine is getting really old."
His casual tone seemed to deflate some of the tension in the room. It was like he'd just reminded everyone that this whole argument was just words, and words didn't change the monsters waiting outside.
"Yeah, we're done," Kendra said, adjusting her backpack. "Good luck with your hiding strategy, guys. Hope it works out for you."
Vasa just gave Emilia a small, final nod. "Take care of yourself."
Yeda hesitated for a moment, then walked over to Emilia. "I'm sorry, Em. I really am. But this… this feels right."
Emilia hugged her quickly, a tear finally escaping and running down her cheek. "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand."
As they walked toward the door, Liam couldn't resist calling out one more time. "You'll regret this! When he snaps again, don't come crying to us!"
Nox paused at the doorway and looked back at him. "If I snap again," he said, his voice quiet and completely serious, "you won't be around to say 'I told you so'."
The casual way he said it made Liam go pale.
Then they were out in the hallway, and the office door closed behind them with a loud, final click.
"Well," Kendra said, breaking the silence. "That was fun."
"Speak for yourself," Yeda muttered. "I feel like I'm going to throw up."
"You'll get over it," Vasa said. "We made the right choice."
Nox started walking down the hallway. "We need to keep moving. Standing around here isn't going to accomplish anything."
The three girls fell into step behind him. After a few minutes of walking, Kendra spoke up again.
"So, uh, just so we're clear… you're not actually planning to kill us, right?"
He glanced back at her. "If I was planning to kill you, would I tell you?"
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer you're getting."
Yeda looked nervous. "That's not very reassuring."
"I'm not here to reassure you," he said. "I'm here to keep you alive. There's a difference."
"Fair enough," Vasa said. "As long as the end result is the same."
They walked in silence for a while after that. He could feel the mood was different now. Before, when all five of them were together, there had been this underlying tension. Like they were all still figuring out how to work together.
Now, it felt more settled. Like the people who were meant to be here were here, and the people who weren't had made their choice.
'Weird how that works,' he thought. 'Sometimes losing people shows you who actually matters.'
He wasn't sure what that said about him, but he didn't really care. For the first time since this whole mess started, he had people around him who had actively chosen to be there.
It was a strange feeling, but not an unpleasant one.
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