In Which Mercedes Makes Her Vow

YOU GUYS WHY ARE YOU READING THIIIIS IT MAKES ME WANT TO WRITE MORE OF THIS AND THAT IS TERRIBLE. D:

I-I honestly didn't expect to get reviews from anyone other than SorasKey because I basically told her to do so. S-So uh. Thanks guys! ;A; I'll try to make this and future chapters at least kind of worth reading!

Ingway had just graduated, and the whispers had already started.

'Why would an orphan chose such a career?'

It was ridiculous, but for a while, Ingway thought that, because it was him, the opinion of people would change. Because isn't that always the case? Things will be different so long as oneself is part of the equation. Nothing too bad could every possibly happen to you. But the belief was totally unfounded, as it always is. Ingway was just another doctor.

'It's all just knives and blood and death. I hardly trust doctors.'

And in this day and age, it was those beliefs that were founded. Doctors really couldn't be trusted, could they? They held lives in the balance, and who would really trust something to precious to a person with a scalpel who had read a few books, passed a few tests?

'It's as though they're going against the natural order of things.'

That was all Ingway's life had led up to. Being ridiculed for becoming a doctor. It was pretty much par for the course, though. It wasn't as though he had been successful at anything else in his life. He'd always been skilled, and at least reasonably intelligent, but he hadn't even been truly successful, ever.

'The only people who are appreciative of that kind of profession are…'

So perhaps someday he'd be employed by the mafia.

***

Ingway was usually considerably better about thinking ahead. In fact, it was something his sister used to remind him about before she accepted it as just a part of his personality.

"Ingway, calm down, you don't have to do everything," she would say. But that was a lie. Ingway did have to do everything, because how else was he supposed to insure that it would be done correctly? But even so, he expected better of himself than tossing a girl over his shoulder and jumping out the window.

Being on the first floor didn't put much distance between him and the apparently mad doctor, but Ingway managed to get the girl and himself far enough into the woods that he was fairly certain they wouldn't be caught right away.

Thankfully, this girl hadn't put up much of a fuss when Inway swept her off her feet, but now that the moment had ended, she seemed to be up in arms about the whole mess. And if nothing else, it was a mess.

"What in the world was that all about?!" the breathless girl finally managed to speak. And Ingway honestly couldn't come up with a decent reply. Oh, I just didn't want my boss forcing me to murder you, that's all, didn't really come across very well. He still wasn't sure of this girl's circumstances, but it hardly seemed fair to kill her for no good reason.

"Well, it's a rather complicated situation," Ingway decided on.

"For the both of us," the girl sighed, clutching her side worriedly. Ingway did hope she wasn't in too much pain.

"My grandfather took me away before I could do something very important. I need to return to the city," the girl said, getting up.

"No, you need to rest."

The girl looked as disdainful as her cherubic little face could express, with a, "says the man who practically tossed me out the window."

He just sighed, and the girl's face wrinkled with distaste once again. She knelt down, coming eye-to-eye with the still-seated Ingway.

"My name is Mercedes Ringford. Odin and his gang murdered my mother, and I'm going to kill him."

There was nothing but silence for a while. How in the world was Ingway supposed to react to that statement? Honestly, this girl was full of surprises, if nothing else. Ingway had thought he was doing right in saving this girl, or Mercedes, as she'd introduced herself, but now it seemed that he had just saved a prospective murderer.

"I'm going to kill him, doctor."

And it was then he noticed there were tears in her eyes. Somewhere within the words, 'I'm going to kill him,' Ingway again forgot that she was a little girl. But even now, he did nothing more than sigh.

"Well, your eye-for-an-eye tactics will hardly bring your mother back, now will they?"

Tough love, Ingway. Way to be.

"That's not the point! It's my job to carry on her legacy!" Mercedes shouted, and Ingway hoped to all the powers that be that they really were far enough away that Urzur couldn't hear them.

"You don't understand!" Mercedes shouted, "Y-You just…"

"Mercedes," he stated bluntly, looking upwards towards her, as she was still standing, "if you confront these people in your current state, regardless of who you are or who they are, you will die."

And now it was her turn to fall silent.

"And I doubt that would be what your dear mother would want."

This whole ordeal probably would have been more of a shock to Ingway if he had ever lived in the city. Not knowing of the Ringford family, or the Ragnanival gang, was a bit of an issue, and the words he chose may have been vastly different had he known the circumstances.

Either way, Mercedes bit her bottom lip and looked away, and Ingway realized he really didn't know how to deal with kids.

"Well, I suppose seeing as we have to be heading in a direction, the city is as good a place as any," he said, finally getting up, realizing for the first time just how big the height difference between the two of them was. Beforehand, that fact had been either distracted by her lying down, pointing a gun at him, or being carried.

She looked at him with a hopeful glint in her eyes that silently thanked him, and the words were spoken as well, "Thank you, doctor."

"Ah, I suppose I haven't introduced myself properly, have I? I am Ingway."

"Ingway… It's a pleasure to meet you."

Well, at least this little potential murderer had manners. He nodded at their belated greeting, and then said, "However, you are still injured, and my conscience as a doctor will not permit me to let you walk."

"Huh?"

"Please allow me to carry you on my back," He said as he kneeled down in front of her. He probably shouldn't be doing this, as she still had a gun, but really, what else was he living for at this point? His existence, honestly, had lost most of it's meaning. His family was all dead, and his dear sister didn't need him anymore thanks to that Casanova, and all the people he cared for either begrudgingly came due to government mandates, or were named Mrs. Fairaway. So what was the point in not going all out, since he had already dived into this ordeal head first.

Silently, Mercedes climbed onto Ingway's back, and he was surprised that she hardly weighed a thing, even without the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Almost as though she had wings.

***

"I fear she has escaped with him," Urzur whined.

"No matter, Odin's gang will defeat her soon enough."

"Will you intervene?"

"There is no need, she's already done for. But do tell me, who is 'he?'"

"One of mine. A doctor."

Then he is the one that should be dealt with. Oswald."

A third voice, "yes?"

"Kill him."