Luke staggered back, ripping at his own face, unable to believe what had happened.
Had he been a fool for assuming that it would be any other man behind that mask? Had he just killed The Iron Thorn with his mask on, he wouldn't have let down his guard.
Had he just left behind his honor as a man, he wouldn't have died like this.
Varden smiled softly, as Luke fell backwards.
Then he stood up, lifting his only chained mace left, looking down on the man who had once been his friend.
Somewhere on the other side of the room, Poppy screamed in horror...
Luke closed his eyes.
A terrible guilt rushed over him, as he spiraled into his own thoughts...
'Had I just picked up the sword... Maybe I would have been there to stop him...'
Then a terrible yet swift sound of flesh tearing was the only noise to be heard within the room.
But Luke was able to open his eyes.
A snake-like blade had torn straight between the eyes of the man Luke had once loved like a brother...
On the other side, a disfigured face was snarling as blood spilled from the face that had once been of a boy Luke had taught.
A gargling noise escaped the lips of Varden, but it was too late. Neo's blade had severed his brain, killing him in seconds as Neo let go of the blade, letting the man fall to the ground with limp limbs.
Neo looked down at Luke, his face so unrecognizable, so bashed in and broken that you wouldn't have been able to tell he had only been a boy, yet Luke knew from the single strand of blue hair that hadn't been stained by blood.
"How..."
Luke could only mutter as Neo continued to stand, looking up at the ceiling with an unidentifiable emotion on his cracked and caved in face.
Gargling and snarling escaped his missing lips, as only a small blood hole could be assumed as his mouth now.
"I- Ngraah- Dy- DRhginh- TODAY!"
He screamed, as he continued to stand, his legs shaking violently.
Luke pushed his sore body up, hastily making his way over to Neo's dying body that refused to collapse.
Luke could only wrap his arms around the boy...
"P-Poppy..."
Neo whispered, lowering his gaze towards the girl sitting in a pile of her own blood, the only part of her face visible being the bloodied cheek behind her smashed in helmet, and the holes where her eyes could see out of.
She was crying, and frantically trying to stand as her friend was no doubt going to die soon.
Luke understood what the boy was trying to say...
A true act of selfishness...
He wanted Luke to tend to the girl's wounds, to support her, not let her fall back as the rest of the team pushed forward for this grand purpose.
Luke couldn't believe himself, he was a fool, he could have ended this fight on that fateful day in Willowmere, and yet his foolishness has killed a promising child who no doubt had great things in his future.
"Go... Take... Her... I... Won't fall..."
When those words escaped Neo's lips, Luke shivered, feeling the warmth fade from what was left of the boy's skin.
"I'm sorry..."
Luke cried out quietly.
"STAND BACK!"
A familiar voice called out from the door, as Luke was shoved out of the way by Neo.
"You..."
He said in disbelief, as the girl with elven markings caught Neo as he fell backwards.
Then the air around the room began to grow heavy, as Kaylynn's markings glowed with a beautiful lime green hue...
"Can you save him?!"
Luke cried out from his crouched position.
She did not answer, as she held her hands above the boy's face.
A look of pure determination on the girl's face as she was probably forcing all of her energy into her healing magic.
Luke stood up, and darted with a limp towards Poppy.
She tried to speak but the only thing that escaped her lips were strange mumbling noises of panic and worry.
Luke immediately picked his bandana off of the ground, sliding down next to Poppy, as he quickly pulled her helmet off of her, trying his best to avoid bumping the shard that had cut straight into her delicate face.
It wouldn't budge.
He grabbed the broken edge of the helmet with both of his hands, feeling it cut apart his skin on his one good hand.
He pulled.
He screamed, as he ripped the helmet in half without hurting the girl.
When it came off, her lips were trembling, as a large amount of blood spilled from where the mask in her helmet had held it in place.
He gently put his right around the shard that had stuck itself into his flesh, and used metal hand to pull as gently as he could.
"Hang on..."
He whispered, as he slowly dislodged the shard from his flesh, and quickly tried to come up with a way to close the wound.
He began to pour his primis into making the smallest of threads out of energy, and then pulled a bolt from his quiver, ripping the broadhead off of its tip.
He tied his magic thread to the edge of the broadhead, Luke grimaced, as Poppy winced as he used this makeshift method to tied her flesh back together.
...
Somehow, and someway...
Luke had mended the girl's face, well as mended as he could get it.
Her cheek was shriveled up, only being held together with magic stitching, but it would work for the time being.
He tried his hardest to ignore the yelling on the other side of the room.
"Don't speak for a while..."
He told the girl with a shaky voice as he tied his bandana around her face and over her mouth.
She then lifted her arm, pointing towards the other side of the room with widened eyes.
Luke refused to turn, he couldn't bare to see it...
Until Poppy put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it, then pointed again.
Luke slowly turned around...
His shoulders slumped, and tears began to well in his eyes...
"Thank the gods..."
Neo was sitting up with a terrible amount of bandages wrapped around his face, making him look like a mummy who had woken up from a thousand year nap.