[It's finally over.]
Completely out of breath, Nathan fell over to the ground, lying there beside Xavier's corpse. He looked up at the sky and gave a sigh of relief.
[My body hurts like hell. Who was that woman? I feel like I know-]
Just as he tried to remember what the woman looked like, a crushing, sharp pain came in the form of a headache. He held his head tight and was gasping for air. Flashes of her started piling up in his mind. The overwhelming pain caused him to fall unconscious.
Time passed as Laurence arrived on the scene. He saw Nathan lying down next to a bloodied corpse and rushed over to check on him. He checked his pulse but realized he was still breathing with his mana nearly depleted. Just as he was about to carry him, King Augustus showed up behind him.
"My, my, what a scene."
He wanted to ask questions on how he got here so fast, but stopped as Nathan coughed up blood.
"I don't have time for this. I'm taking him to get healed." He said after putting Nathan on his back.
Lawrence stopped him from leaving and put his hand over Nathan's chest. A yellow aura emitted from his hand and transferred over to Nathan's body.
"What did you do to me?" Lawrence asked.
King Augustus replied, "I partially healed most of his injuries, both internal and external. But he'll still need some assistance later on."
Augustus looked around and went over to Xavier's body and grabbed his hand. He saw the horn tattoo on his right hand and turned to look at Laurance, and said,
"Let's go, I'll come back here with the others."
With Nathan on his back, Laurence left with King Augustus beside him.
After some time of brisk walking, Nathan woke up and heard Laurence and Augustus talking. Augustus looked over to Nathan and sarcastically asked,
"How was your nap?"
"Huh, King Augustus, what's going on?"
Augustus replied,
"You had a busy night, so we rushed over to check up on you and looked as dead as the guy next to you."
Lawrence then asked Nathan,
"Can you stand?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
After letting go of him, Nathan started losing his footing and fell on one knee.
"I'm okay."
He started stretching his joints, and cracking sounds came out.
"Don't go overboard and tear something. I only healed most of your injuries, so take it easy."
"Thanks for that, but do you mind if I ask where we're going?"
"We're dropping you off at Captain Regina's manor first, and Laurance and I will come back here with a few others and see what exactly happened."
Nathan looked over to Laurence and asked,
"Are you going with them?"
He turned to Augustus and back to him.
"Yes."
"I see…"
King Augustus brazenly said,
"Don't worry, it won't take long. And rest your brain in the meantime since we'll be asking questions once we get there."
"Okay."
As they were walking, Lawrence noticed that Nathan had an unhappy expression on his face. His head was facing down, and sorrow was in his eyes.
"Are you alright, Nathan?" Lawrence asked.
"I'm fine, it's just…"
King Augustus interjected himself before Nathan could finish what he wanted to say.
"You don't have to tell us, we know. He didn't leave you with any choice, so you did what you had to do. Which is why we're not taking you to your mother instead. You don't want her to see you in such a physical and mental state, right?"
"Yes."
Along the way, none of them spoke until they reached the gate.
The guards lifted it up and let the three of them get inside the kingdom.
The walk all the way to Captain Regina's manor felt grim. Once they arrived, they were greeted with more guards and a home that would be mistaken for a castle. As they got to the door, they knocked, and a servant opened and welcomed them in.
The servant called out to her and said, "Lady Regina, you have guests."
She rushed down in her night gown and was in shock to see the three people in front of him.
"King Augustus? Nathan? And you are…?"
"It's Laurence."
"Ahh, I remember now."
King Augustus asked Regina, "Is your daughter around?"
She replied, "Yes, she's upstairs, why?"
"I was thinking that Nathan hangs around with her while we talk about what's going on."
"That's alright. You remember where her room was, right, Nathan?"
"Yes, Captain."
"I'm not working right now, so you can call me Ms. Regina."
"Yes, Ms. Regina."
Nathan began walking up the stairs, trying to remember where her room was the last time. He walked around the manor, almost lost.
[This place is way too big to remember one person's room.]
Just as he was about to give up, a little girl's voice called out to him.
"Are you lost, mister?"
He turned around and saw a little girl holding a teddy bear in her arms.
"Hi, your name is Abigail, right?"
"Yes, and who are you?"
"I'm a friend of your big sister from school, my name's Nathan."
"A friend of big sis?"
"Yeah, I was wondering where her room was, but since your home's so big, I got lost."
"Mhh, I don't remember you, mister. She said her friends were like rays of sunshine every time she met you guys. But you look angry and sad and tired."
Nathan covered his face and looked over at the teddy bear she was holding.
"What's his name?"
"His name is Mr. Buzzy."
"Mr. Buzzy? What a cool name. How did you come up with it?"
"I was going to name him Mr. Fuzzy, but that name didn't suit him, so I took the B from bear and put it instead of the F for fuzzy."
"Wow, that's really cool. Can I hold Mr. Buzzy for a moment?"
She began holding her teddy bear tighter in suspicion.
"I'm sorry, I don't want to do anything bad to him. I just thought that since you're so happy holding him, I thought that maybe if I held him for a bit, then I'll also be happy."
Abigail looked at Nathan's sad expression and patted his head. She gave him her teddy bear.
"Wow, he's so soft. Do you clean him every day?"
"Yes, the maids always clean him up when they wash my bedsheets."
Nathan put the teddy bear in front of his face and acted as a puppeteer with him, using a cartoonish voice, saying,
"Hello, Abigail, our new friend here has had a sad day today. He wanted to ask your big sister how he'd cheer up. So don't judge him too quickly. If he's a friend of Seraphina, then she's a friend of ours, too. So, let's help a friend out."
Nathan then showed a warm smile to Abigail, and this made her laugh cheerfully.
"Okay, Mr. Nathan, let's go to big sister so that she cheers you up quickly."
She grabbed his hand and ran with him to Seraphina's room at the end of the next hallway.
"Let me go in first because she doesn't like people coming in besides mommy and me."