CONCLUSION
As the Apprentice Leader passes through the portal back home with Owen in tow, he makes a beeline for the infirmary to check on the wounded. Medics give him detailed reports about Maxwell’s, Sienna’s and Walter’s condition. It appears that the Rainbow-clad albino is still unconscious, and might only wake in a day or two’s time. Walter and Sienna seem to be doing well, however, and are seated by the unconscious Maxwell’s bed, their open wounds now neatly cleaned, disinfected, and bandage. They should be fully healed before the end of the week.
Fran sighs softly down at the sleeping Maxwell as he takes his seat beside him, a look of taut worry evident on his face, despite the small, serene smile still firmly etched on it. He pulls out a chair for Owen beside him as well, patting it and motioning for him to take a seat beside him. The five Apprentices sit in silence for a few minutes, the still silence punctuated only by the peaceful, even breathing from the Rainbow Biscuit laying on the bed.
“…I suppose…I owe you guys an explanation~” It is the silver-haired Apprentice Leader who eventually breaks the silence, looking up finally from his slender, entwined fingers, to Owen, to Walter, to Sienna, and to the unconscious Maxwell. “I could easily request and trust that, whatever is said within these four walls,
remains within these four walls, but…” A melancholic smile spread across his features. “…in hindsight, if more of us knew of such things, the end results…wouldn’t be as catastrophic, perhaps?~”
The pale Apprentice from before suddenly appears beside Fran, holding a few documents in his hands. “H-here, Mr. Rhys… This is what you asked for. It took some time because the files were buried as if it were some top classified something and
I’m really sorry about the delay I-” He is abruptly cut off by a gentle pat on the head, and the soft ruffling of his hair. “You did your best, and your best is more than good enough for this man’s request. Thank you, Iggy~” Fran smiles gently, taking the files from the pale Apprentice and shaking his head at his apology. To the frantic protests of the blushing Iggy, Fran requests for the available medics to give him a thorough checkover, to see if the boy suffered any wounds from escaping The Man In The Bowler Hat.
“
The Man In The Bowler Hat…” Fran muses to the Apprentices sitting before him, opening one of the Apprentice files on his lap. Inside this file, there is a picture of a dishevelled looking man, bangs covering part of his eyes, but somewhat still pushed aside for the photo. On his face is the biggest, toothiest smile one could humanly achieve -- although staring at for too long might prove to be a little creepy to most. Maybe not to Owen, but yeah. A red stamp “
HUNTER” is stamped across this picture, with the usual cautionary fine print and the like stamped beneath it.
“...I knew him better...as Sebastian, or “Bastion”, Underwood. Many moons ago, he too was an Apprentice here, just like all of you~” Fran smiles up at the small crowd, though the expression in his crimson eyes appears somewhat forlorn. “He was a quiet fellow~ Smiled a lot, but was...otherwise quiet. Had the familiar backstory of having to Reap his entire family,
yadda yadda, but managed his job pretty well, as a Guardian. He fought to protect...the weaker ones. The smaller ones. And...that’s what leads us to-” He opened the second folder placed on his lap, pointing at the picture of sweetly-smiling girl that Walter would’ve been especially familiar with, “-Annabelle~”
“This child was another troubled child. We see a lot of them here in HQ, don’t we? Mufufu~ But, Bell… She was one of those child Apprentices, you know? As the years pass, they are forced to grow up, despite retaining the appearance of a child…” He looked fondly at Walter as he said this, giving him a small smile, before pointing back at the folder, to the red stamped “
HUNTER” just below the sweetly-smiling girl’s face. “It is most unfortunate that Bell bore this ironic, persisting grudge against SA Humans in particular -- her family was embroiled in conflict in her childhood regarding her and some of her siblings’ Spiritual Awareness, you see... She was a sweet child, but something in her always seemed… a tiny bit broken, a sentiment carried over from when she was still alive. When I was around here, she'd sometimes muttering things about how ‘
they’, the living, ‘aren't supposed to see
us’, the threadless...” At this point, Fran turns to Owen, ruffling his hair and giving him a small, sad smile. “...let’s say that Bird Prince over here...he probably can understand this best,”
This is why I didn’t want you see… came the thought in the Apprentice Leader as he shook his head and continued.
“These two were inseparable -- like metaphorical Siamese twins, or something. It was cute. And creepy. Creepy cute~” Fran lets out a soft laugh at this, closing his eyes as if reminiscing something happy, and yet distant and far away. “They were known as a single entity for awhile, ‘
Bell & Bastion’ -- if you saw one of them you were sure to find the other somewhere nearby. Bell, the tiny ball of energy, and Bastion, her loyal, committed Guardian…”
“There was a day...when Bell received an order to retrieve Apprentice Weapons from a group of SA Humans who seemed to have chanced upon them. Of course, she brought Bastion along as her Guardian, just in case, but when the two returned to HQ… Well. They didn’t return for long. The retrieval went awry, a fight broke out from the panic, and...let’s just say that a lot more threads were cut that day than Fate had accounted for~”
“I think something in Bell...snapped that day. Bastion, on the other hand, has always been...a little off. But protecting children, especially Bell, was probably what you might call...his totem. It grounded him, kept him sane, kept him...human. Or whatever left of ‘human’ you might call us Apprentices~” Fran chuckled mirthlessly as he sighed at the memory.
“Have any of you read
Soul Eater? Quite the riot, that series~ Mufufu~” Despite the gravity of the situation, the eccentric leader still found it in himself to joke here and there. “I think the author puts it very well -- madness is sometimes like a downward spiral, that consumes you from the inside. It eats away at you bit by bit, seemingly undetectable...until...it escalates to a point that it becomes unstoppable.”
“Long story short, the two left HQ not long after, and went on a culling of Spiritually Aware Humans -- Bell believing that she was liberating them, Bastion believing that wherever they were sending them was better than this empty, threadless existence. The two were a deadly combination -- Bell being the bait, and Bastion being the Hunter, in every sense of the word. With years of Hunting, I suppose they somehow acquired the ability to distinguish between those of higher and lower Spiritual Awareness, the former of which are their priority targets.”
“As for
Lenne… You know, that girl you met, bird prince?~~ That poor crying mess back there… Walter and the lemon tart must’ve seen her as well, ehe?~ Well...her brother was the one of the latest victims of this duo… I...apologise on her behalf, for anything she might’ve done or said to any of you. She hasn’t...quite had the best experiences with…
’our lot’. Heh… I hope you can find it in yourselves to...
understand.”
Fran firmly stamps a “
DECEASED” stamp on Annabelle’s file as he makes a mental note to check in with regards to the status of the other Hunter. “Somewhere along the way, some of us lose ourselves to the thing that spurred us on in the first place.” Looking up from the folders, Fran smiles warmly up to his Apprentices, and out of nowhere, pulls Owen, Walter and Sienna in for a brief, tight hug. His voice is a soft, ethereal melody, drifting in each of their ears, just before he pulls away.
“I’m just glad...all of you are fine…”
Getting to his feet, the usual bright smile resumes its place on the silver-haired Welshman’s face. “Feel free to stay as long as you like, you know where to find me when you need me~”
With a swish of a snow-white scarf, and the yellow gold from his outer vest, Fran gives everyone in the infirmary a genuine smile of relief, bows his head at them, and disappears behind the infirmary door.
Back in the world of the Living, Lenne ponders over both Fran’s and Owen’s words and loses track of time as she sits there, wiping the tears from her eyes on her shirt sleeve cuffs and cursing silently under her breath, as she laughs bitterly to herself. “Not my battle...eh…?” She sighs softly as she pushes herself to her feet.
“Then why do I always...always find myself caught ‘n between, huh? Tch…”
Before long, Lenne is back out of the maze (following Fran’s created short-cut instructions), reunited with a Zel who near tackles her out of sheer joy to see her friend relatively unharmed, and an apprehensive Stanley who looks mildly concerned by her shaken state. She pushes the energetic blue-haired girl off of her, before leading them to her car. Strictly refusing to entertain any questions till she had a nice, long shower and a cup of hot cocoa, Lenne turns the ignition key to start the engine.
Maybe this is just...my fate…? She turns to check up on both her passengers seated in the backseat, the girl bouncing in her seat and insisting for them to quickly get a move on, and the injured man beside her just leaning contentedly and resting in his. A small smile of relief spreads across her otherwise taut features.
At least...they’re safe. We’re safe...for now.“C’mon guys...let’s go home.”
END
Thank you for the fun ride! I hope you guys enjoyed this almost as much as I did ; v ;
