Strangers From Another World 21 All's Well That Ends Well

That evening, Joseph returned as scheduled, and after having a lively dinner with everyone, including the vice commander and the Oracle, they began planning for their departure the next day. They'll leave at morning, and riding on Joseph's caravan, they'll arrive back in Atra in the matter of about a couple of hours or so. Due to Gene's injuries though, only Alex will be riding with Joseph, as the common trading caravan would be too rough a ride for Gene. Instead, Gene will ride with the vice commander and the Oracle on a rented carriage, the expensive kind, the kind that is very comfortable. At first Gene was hesitant, but upon hearing that he didn't need to pay, he was all too ready to jump on.

The next morning arrived quickly and they went on as planned. As the caravan left the walls of Greenhill and proceeds along the main road towards Atra, Alex looked back upon this town that, while he did not stayed very long in, seem to have taken up a large chunk of his memories of this world. Perhaps in time, as he grow to know this world better, as he experience more things in this world, the memories here would seem insignificant. However, Alex was sure, that at the very least, he wouldn't forget what had happened here for a very long time to come, perhaps not even in his entire lifetime.

***

Upon finally returning to Atra, Gene went on ahead to the outskirts of the city, a place outside of the walls. To get there, one must first travel up a hill and enter an area fenced off by ivy covered iron fences. Once through the iron wrought gates, one will see rows upon rows of stone slabs, and carved onto them are names and epitaphs. These are gravestones, and this place is a graveyard.

Gene was sitting in his wheelchair and Joseph pushed him from behind. Alex walked beside them, wondering for who are they here for. Though, in truth, Alex already had an idea who it might be, and when he heard that Gene was heading to the graveyard, he asked to tag along. The final words said to him by Fittoa in his dream, they still bothered him.

Gene pointed Joseph towards the newly paved section of the graveyard, and as they continued on the stone paved path, a large bald man comes into view. Alex recognized this man, remembering from that bar in the slums.

"Looks like you've been through some trouble, Sword Saint." said the bald man.

"Not as troubled as you are, guild master."

The man shrugged. "Come, she's this way."

Following the along, the three was eventually led before a tombstone, and upon this stone the name "Tina" was carved upon it.

Immediately, it was clear to Alex what Fittoa was talking about in his dreams. The friend that Gene was supposed to meet with but did not due to Alex, it was Tina. And during the time when Gene was dealing with him, Tina met with misfortune, one that could have been stopped had things played out a little differently, one that could have been avoided had it not been for Alex. That was, at least, what it appears to be in hindsight.

"I'm sorry about this, guild master," said Gene, his head hanging low.

"What's there to be sorry about, neither you nor I could have done anything. She was out of our reach at the time."

"And isn't that the worst part, so helpless were we to stop this that it can't even be our fault."

"Stop it, Sword Saint! That's a dangerous line of thought you're having. We as human beings have only so long a reach, our arms and legs can only go so far."

"Isn't that the truth," said Gene, staring at his own arms and legs, despising their fragility. He had told Fittoa that he had been gifted more than enough, but the truth is, he wished he had more, especially in this world, where he knows more than this is certainly possible, where he has seen feats performed that went beyond what was thought to be the human limit. If only he possess the same prowess, if only he had even a fraction of strength that the like of the vice commander has, Gene occasionally thought of such things, and he knew that this part of him is dangerously similar to Fittoa.

"Here," suddenly, the guild master handed him a small, rectangular object, one that could not be found in this world, an object of plastic and stuffed with electronics. It was a phone, one with a cracked screen. Gene tried to turn it on the moment he receives it, but the batteries were long dead.

"Where did you get this?" Gene asked.

"Tina found it at the bazaar, said it was hers a long time ago and that she had lost it once. She went ahead and immediately bought it at full price. That girl rarely spends money on herself, but she went ahead and paid a good amount of silvers for a piece of garbage."

"So why give it to me? Wouldn't you rather keep it?"

"She said to give it to you, if anything happens to her."

"That doesn't sound like her, not to mention that thieves don't usually get involved in bloodshed, not the thieves here anyways."

"She only became a thief after I took her in four years ago, and before that she had done some bad things that she expects that she would have to pay for eventually."

"Four years? That's when the Thieves' Guild dispatched that crime syndicate isn't it?"

"You have a good memory. That's right, and that's when I found her. Back then she didn't even have a name, didn't remember it apparently, the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds must have beaten it out of her when she was young. They were using her as an a.s.sa.s.sin, her mystic sight, the one she called [Critical Line], it was useful for that sort of thing apparently."

"No doubt, I could have been killed by it had I not been one step ahead and on my toes," Gene continued to stare at the cracked screen of the dead phone. "Still, why give this to me? I don't remember doing anything special enough to warrant this."

"Nothing special to you perhaps, but for that girl, for someone like her who was stranded in this world, an existence like you is something of great comfort," the guild master turned towards Alex. "The boy knows what I'm talking about."

Gene looked toward Alex in wonder, and in return, Alex silently nodded, he understood what Tina must have felt. After all, these past few days, even though they may just be what comes natural to him as his job, for Alex, he knew that had it not been for Gene, he probably wouldn't be standing here, he might be rotting in a cell somewhere, waiting for a help that may never come. Tina and Fittoa, they were probably waiting for someone like Gene, helplessly waiting. For Tina, the guild master came for her, but for Fittoa, no one came and she had only herself to rely upon.

In truth, Alex felt a little bad, he felt bad over the fact that he was glad that he was saved and not Tina. Of course, if both could be saved then that would be great, but if there has to be a choice, Alex was glad that fortune chose him. It was truly too bad for Tina, too bad for Fittoa, but Alex wouldn't trade his place for theirs, and he felt bad for feeling this way, it made him feel like a bad person.

A hand was placed on Alex's shoulder, it was warm and gentle. "He couldn't save everyone, that's how it is," said Joseph.

"But-"

"But if you feel that bad about it, then pa.s.s on this gift fortune has bestowed upon you, pa.s.s it on so that more can be saved, so that the ones that died in your stead would not have died in vain, and so that fewer others will share their misfortune."

"Can I really do it? I mean, I'm not even half as strong as Gene."

"Well, maybe not now, but if you learn, you'll naturally get stronger. It's not as if he was born like that you know, definitely not him."

As the other two talked, Gene handed the phone back to the guild master, reluctant to accept it.

"You should keep it then, you're the one who picked her up in the end," said Gene.

"I did what I did out of pity, Gene, not like you. You are driven by your sense of duty. My loyalty lies with Lady Grains, Sword Saint, if she had ordered me to abandon the girl, I would have. However, had it been you, you'd turn on the Lady immediately if she told you to do the same. That is why she wants you to have it, she want you to keep doing what you're doing, for those that are like her."

Once more, the guild master hands to phone over the Gene, and this time, he properly accepts it.

"It's getting late, beasts and ghosts may be on the prowl if we stay too long," Gene said as he watched the sun setting.

"I'm no stranger to darkness, Sword Saint, you go on ahead."

And so, Gene, along with Joseph and Alex, left the graveyard behind and retreated behind the safety of the city walls.

***

That night, Gene rented another room in the inn he stays in, the Seventh Haven, for Alex. It was expensive, but before a room is prepared from him in the Strangers' dorm run by the Administration, he'll have nowhere to stay. Gene was a miser, but having taken care of the boy so far, he can't just leave him mid way.

After Alex had retired to his temporary room, Gene and Joseph gathered at the inn's lounge with the innkeeper coming out to serve them. Gene order wine for both of them, but only Joseph got the wine, Gene got served tea, being told by the innkeeper that drinking would hinder his recovery and simply would not serve him no matter what.

"What were you teaching the kid back there, back at the graveyard?" Gene asked Joseph as they drank their respective beverage, glaring at the other man accusingly.

"Just some stuff," Joseph gave an uncommitted reply and turned his eyes away.

"Don't you put any strange pressure on the boy, you hear me! He does not need to carry this burden."

"Fancy hearing that from you. Aren't you doing what you do because of the same reason?"

Gene went silent, his glare becoming sharper, fiercer.

"W-well, I mean, someone picked you up when you first arrived in this world right? So I thought you want to share that kindness with everyone else, you know?"

"Where did you hear that from?"

"I-it was Lieze, I met with her in the Magic Kingdom Tyto. She told me after we went drinking."

For a bit, Gene went silent again, thinking about the girl that he came into this world with, the girl that's practically family now, perhaps even closer than their real family.

"It's not something so altruistic, Joseph. It was just guilt, that's all there is to it, a guilt I'll carry to my grave. In truth, Joseph, I only do what I do to show that I was worth saving back then, worth it for someone to throw away her life for. That was all. It is not such a pleasant burden, Joseph, and I rather the boy to never have to experience such a thing."

"Yu..." Joseph stared Gene in his eyes, searching for something. "You're not actually drunk are you?

" he asked, never in their entire history of friends.h.i.+p had the Sword Saint ever been so open about his thoughts.

Without bothering replying to Joseph, Gene turned towards the innkeeper. "He's paying, by the way," he said as he points towards Joseph.

***

End of Chapter 21