OoO( 7 )OoO

Gray opened the door to the smithy and stepped out into the clouded, rainy day. After he locked the door behind him, he pulled the collar of his coat up and began to shuffle quickly through the torrent of water towards the building at the northwest corner of the village. When he reached the door, he opened it up and walked inside, seeing the small librarian sitting at the desk. When the girl looked up, she smiled at him. "Hey." she said simply.

"Hey." he said back to her, a small smile of his own on his face. He walked over to the shelf, pulled his usual book off the shelf, and sat in one of the cushioned chairs to read. He sat for a while in the chair as the librarian continued her work, typing away on a large typewriter. The 'tak tak tak tak, kaching' of the machine not doing anything to disturb him.

The two of them had been in an awkward state when they were last here. A bookshelf nearly collapsing had been the cause of a close encounter for the two, one that he wasn't able to forget. She made him promise not to tell anyone, but that didn't stop him from thinking about it quite a bit. So he continued to come back to the library in case she needed any more help. Or...until he could grow enough of a spine to talk to her without collapsing furniture threatening her existence.

His mind drifted a bit as his eyes scanned the mind numbing book he was reading about the proper method of removing impurities from steel, back to the night where he was almost cornered into revealing his and Mary's accident. But then Jack... His face darkened. That was an awkward night for everyone. Jack had admitted to the group under oath of the game that he had indeed killed someone before. Nobody was really sure what to make of that, however one thing was clear. Jack had stormed off, ignoring anyone's pleas to wait up. And for the past few days, he had all but closed himself off from the others. Anytime Cliff visited, he put him to work, did whatever it was that they did afterwards, then sent him home. No spare words for anyone, not even Ann, someone he figured was at least the equivalent to Jack's girlfriend right now.

The young man just sighed to himself, something Mary apparently had heard. "Is something wrong?" she asked curiously.

He looked up, stunned to hear the question. Then reached up and tilted his hat down. "Uhhh...no. I was just...thinking about the other night."

"At the inn?" she asked solemnly. He nodded, and she seemed to slouch slightly. "Yeah, that kind of upset the balance of the community. At least for us 'younger crowd.'" she said, using air quotes and rolling her eyes at the term her mother used for them. He just chuckled, making her smile slightly. "What do you think he did?"

He just shrugged. "I'm not sure. He's too mysterious a guy for us to really tell. But he seems really broken up about it." he said, scratching his chin. Then he looked at her sharply. "Do you think it was an accident?"

She tilted her head. "Hmmm...it's possible. But if that were the case, I don't know if he'd willingly say he killed them. But the remorse is there, that's clear." she said. "We might have to consult Ann, or..." she said cringing. "Karen. They seem to know a little bit more about him than we do."

He just nodded. "Oh...I had a quick question for you." he said, sitting up. She looked at him inquisitively. "You're smart with weird stuff, right?"

She scoffed, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "You too Gray!?" she asked, huffing.

He just chuckled at her. "I'm just joking Mary." he said, making her calm down. "But there was something I hope you could help me out with. Back at the inn that night, before we started the drinking game, Jack called me something. Could you elaborate for me?"

The young librarian adjusted her glasses with a small smile. "I'll tell you what I know."

Gray nodded, leaning back again. "When he was asking me about...well, about any girls I liked..." he said, clearing his throat nervously. "He called me Hefastis. What does that mean?"

She tilted her head again, thoughts spinning through her head rapidly. After a few seconds, she had that adorable small smile on her face again, something Gray couldn't get enough of. "He probably called you Hephaestus."

"Yeah, that was it." he said, nodding rapidly.

She nodded. "It's a good name for you. Hephaestus, or known as Vulcan by the Romans, was the Greek God of blacksmiths. As well as numerous other things, sculptors, metallurgy, fire, and volcanoes. But he was believed to be the blacksmith of the gods, creating their weapons, tools and chariots for..." she said, then stopped dead in her tracks.

He looked at her curiously, reaching forward and waving his hand in front of her face. "Uhhh...Mary?" he asked worriedly. She didn't respond however. It was as if something had paralyzed her in place. "Mary, if you don't move, or at least say something, I'm going to kiss you again." he said with a sly smirk.

"Vulcan!" she said as she dashed around the table and began scrambling through her numerous books. When she found one of them, she flipped the pages rapidly until they rested on a page with a lot of information sprawling on it.

Gray, who was looking at it upside down, walked around the desk and looked at it with her. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"It was a planet the whole time!" she said smiling brightly.

He looked over the page, seeing different information about some Greek god. "What was?"

"This!" she shouted, pointing at the red orb on the page. "Mars, or Ares, the God of War!" Gray looked at the drawing of the planet Mars on the paper. Then he looked over at her, just as lost as he was before. She sighed and flipped the page, showing diagram of an abyssal black wolf.

Suddenly, the mystery dawned on him. "His tattoo?" She nodded excitedly. "But...why does he have Ares tattooed on his back?" he asked, bewildered.

"I..." she said, then planted her chin in her hand, thinking deeply for a moment. "I'm not sure...I was so caught up in the excitement of finding out what it meant that I forgot that part." she said, plopping down in her seat again. "I guess that's the next step. At the very least, I can update Elli."

"Uhhh...alright." he said. Then he sat down again, thinking to himself. After a couple moments of silence, he looked at her again. "Hey, I don't like Jack being closed off."

She sighed. "Me neither, but...what can we do?" she asked shrugging.

"Maybe there is something we can do." he said, an idea forming in his head.

OoOoO

Day in, day out. Working, suffering, eating, sleeping. That had been Cliff's life for the last four days. Coming back to the inn, he almost always collapsed and passed out immediately on the bed, just to wake up the next morning and repeat the process again. He had questioned himself many times over the last few days, whether he should continue working and training with a man who claimed to have killed someone. But he knew deep down that if he didn't train, he might as well hand his life over to the Kaluzny brothers.

So he went to work again and suffered again, and came back again. But, this time, when he came back to the inn bone tired and his body practically blazing with pain, he found that most of the others had gathered there as well. Karen, Popuri, Ann, Mary, and Gray had all gathered into the inn and were talking heatedly to each other.

"I don't think he'd do it intentionally." said Ann as she looked away, her face crestfallen.

"Ann, you've known him all of two weeks. You don't actually know what he's capable of." said Karen as she sighed to herself.

But the redhead stood firm. "Even so, I've been around him long enough to know what he's like. He wouldn't do something like that purposely." said the barmaid said as she crossed her arms defiantly.

Popuri puffed herself up importantly. "I agree with Ann. Jack is a sweetheart."

"We're just going in circles with this." said Mary as she rubbed her head in irritation. But when Cliff walked in, everybody looked up at him. "Cliff!"

"What's going on?" he asked tiredly.

Ann jumped up and pulled him over to the table, despite his painful protests. "We're talking about what to do about Jack." she said, sitting him in a seat and feeding him a glass of whiskey to ease the pain. He drank eagerly and nodded.

"Okay, I'm game. What's the plan?" he asked curiously. He regretted the words however, after everyone looked at him in dead silence.

"We were hoping you could tell us." said Ann, her eyes locked on him.

"Why me?" he asked incredulously, his arms akimbo.

"You've been over there every day, more than anyone else has. So likely, you know more about him than we do." she replied eagerly.

"How would I know? You're his girlfriend, don't you know something?" he asked with a glare. Everyone in the room froze when they heard the redhead inhale sharply. "Uh oh..." said Cliff as he looked up at Ann.

Karen inched over towards him. "Uh, Cliff...I give you about five seconds before she registers what you said. You may get to the church if you run fast, and bar the door behind you.".

Cliff went to stand, but the fiery woman jumped on him and grabbed one of his ankles, twisting sharply. He shouted in pain as the maid ankle locked him and put him into submission. "Please! No more!" he shouted pitifully.

The others sighed to themselves and pulled the pair apart before continuing the conversation. "Well, something has to be done. We can't just let him sit on his farm and brood for the rest of his life! He still has to take me to the Goddess Festival!" Karen pouted with her neat eyebrows furrowing.

Ann glared at her as she shook herself loose from the young woman's grip. "Yeah, because that's what's important right now." she said, then turned back to Cliff. "Alright Scooter. Spill the beans! What is this training that you and he do after work?" she asked, kneeling next to the groaning farmhand.

"He teaches me to fight..." he said in between moans of pain.

They all looked at him. "Why do you need to know how to fight?" asked the redhead as she prodded him in the side with her finger, causing him to flinch.

"None of your business!" he growled, getting to his feet.

Ann cracked her knuckles with an evil grin. "Make me beat it out of you!"

He slammed his foot down and glared. "Then try it!" he said, stepping up to her challenge. The redheaded girl immediately took a step back in surprise. She just stared at him widely, shocked by the presence he gave off when challenged.

Karen snickered at the two. "Uh oh, I think Ann fell in love again." The redhead whirled on her and dove like a lioness onto the brunette. The others just sighed, realizing that they'd gotten exactly nowhere.

OoOoO

Jack sat in his house, watching a cooking infomercial about some kind of device that chops everything with the slap of a hand. The puppy, still unnamed at this point, sat with its head on his lap, looking up at him with its water-colored eyes. But Jack just ignored the look, and continued to pet the young beast as he watched the man slap the contraption once, twice, turning a potato into cubes.

The rain had always been soothing to Jack. So when it started storming earlier, he thought it would at least allow him to relax. But, he was so on edge because of the inn situation that he couldn't even be granted that. He just sat, staring at a boring channel on his unusually large television.

It was then that he heard the knocking on his door. The puppy's head popped up and stared at it curiously. Jack turned and looked at the door. Standing up, he opened the door, expecting the vagabond to be standing there, ready to say something. But to his surprise, in front of him stood the nurse, Elli. She had an umbrella to protect her from the rain, and was shivering lightly from the cold wind.

"Hi." she said, smiling lightly when he opened the door.

"Hey..." he said, staring at her confused. Stepping aside, he motioned for her to come in. She stepped inside and folded her umbrella up. Though it had apparently kept the rain off her head, the same couldn't be said for the rest of her. Today she had worn a long sleeve black shirt and a pair of jeans, and both were thoroughly soaked.

He put her umbrella aside, and immediately ran to get her a towel. Coming back with one, he looked her up and down. "You really should get out of those before you get sick." he said, feeling awkward about telling her to undress.

She just chuckled. "I'm fine. Don't worry." she said sweetly.

"You are a nurse, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Very astute of you Jack." she said with slight sarcasm. He just chuckled and pointed to his room.

"If you are going to stay here for a bit...which given the circumstances I imagine you are, then you are not allowed to do so soaking wet. At least hang the clothes up in front of the fireplace so they'll be dry before you leave." he ordered, handing her the towel.

"And what, per se, shall I wear in the meantime?" she asked, her hands now on her curvy hips as she gave him a threatening eye.

"I have a bathrobe in the bathroom. It's a big fluffy one, so don't worry. It'll cover everything. Including the tattoo." he said, chuckling as she glared again.

"Alright, fine." she said, walking into the back room. Jack pulled some pieces of lumber that he had chopped out of the branches in the field and stacked some of them in the fireplace that had gone unused up to that point. It took him a few minutes to start the fire, but once he had it going, Elli came back out in his thick black bathrobe, her soaked garments on a clothes hanger in her hand. Walking over, she hung them on the mantle, so that the fire could dry them faster. The puppy, who had just watched the interaction at the door, ran up to her now, panting happily. She knelt down and scratched the small creature's head, smiling brightly. "How adorable."

"Yeah. Wanna give him a name?" he asked causing her to look up curiously. "I still haven't come up with one yet."

She smiled gently. "Perhaps later." she said as she stood up again before sitting on the couch. He sat down on the opposite end, and they stayed there uncomfortably for a long moment before either of them said anything. Elli, was the first to break the silence. "I know."

His heart almost stopped at the proclamation. But he calmed himself, reminding himself not to assume anything. "You know what?"

"I know what you're going through." she said, scooting a little bit closer.

"How could you?" he asked, turning his head away.

"You didn't do anything illegal, or that could get you into trouble, or you would never have brought it up. You feel guilty over it. You're making it your fault, even though it wasn't." she said, staring at him with a gentle expression.

He looked up at her, anger flaring in his eyes. "How the hell would you know!?" he asked harshly. But no matter his tone, she gave him a sad smile.

"I saw the look on your face Jack. I know, because I once had that same look on mine." she said, brushing a few strands of her hair away from her face. "A few years ago, I was in the same position as you are." she said morosely. The melancholy tone in her voice immediately killed his anger. "When I was in college, I was sent many times to assist surgeons and other doctors in their duties. A way of learning from experience."

"Do you want some coffee?" he asked. She looked up at him. "If we're going to be talking for a while, you should get something warm in you." he offered. She smiled, but shook her head.

"I prefer tea." she said with a pretty smile.

"I have some...but I don't know how to make it." he said, scratching his head. She stood up, then grabbed his hand and dragged him to the kitchen. Taking an old kettle, no doubt well worn from his grandfather, she filled it with water and set it on the stove. Once the kettle was boiling, she took the sealed jar of tea leaves and scooped some out into what looked like a thin paper bag.

After a few minutes, steam started shooting from the teapot, resulting in a loud whistling sound. He watched as she gracefully took the pot from the burner and set it on a cool one, then turned the stove off. Lifting the lid off the kettle, she placed the bag of tea leaves into the pot, and closed the lid on the string. Smiling up at him, she said, "It's that easy."

He just scratched his head again. "I guess it is." he said. Opening a cabinet, he pulled out two mugs for them. After the leaves had steeped, she pulled the tea bag free from the kettle and poured them each a glass full of the steaming green liquid.

Once they were back on the couch, she continued. "One time, while I was working with a surgeon on shift, an emergency call came in. Someone had apparently been in a horrible accident and was bleeding internally and externally." she said, taking a deep draw from her steaming mug. "It's always different, the routine surgeries and the emergencies. The routines, you have time to prepare for. You expect things will go business as usual."

"Not this time..." he said calmly.

She nodded, her breathing calm as she continued. "When the doctor began asking me for things, I just froze up. There was so much blood that I couldn't look away from it. He eventually sent me out of the room. I sat there in the nurse's station, unable to move, unable to close my eyes. Because every time I did, I just saw blood." she said, shivering as she recalled the image. He reached out and gently squeezed her hand, surprising her. But she just squeezed his back. "They came by a short time after and said he hadn't made it. He lost too much blood, and ended up passing away shortly after I left."

"And you blame yourself?" he asked solemnly. She looked at him and shook her head.

"I used to. I told myself everyday for months that if I hadn't frozen up, if I'd just snapped out of it, he could have lived. He could still have lived the rest of his life, if it wasn't for me." she said, then sighed sadly. "But, after a few months, the man's daughter had apparently heard about me. She approached me and gave me a hug out of nowhere, saying that it wasn't my fault. She had talked to the doctor, and he told her that with his injuries, it was a miracle that he'd made it to the hospital still alive. Saving him was, unfortunately, not possible." she said, taking a drink. Then she looked him deep into his eyes, her brown, earth-colored eyes meeting his own dark ones.

"I suppose I should tell you my side now." he said, feeling a sinking feeling in his gut as he said the words. But, she just shook her head, much to his surprise.

"You'll tell me when you're ready. You don't owe it to me, and I would certainly never intrude on something so close to your heart. Once you find peace with whatever happened, I'm sure you'll let us all know." she said, then scooted over to him. "Just know, that whatever happened, wasn't your fault. There are some situations that you can't help, and in those cases, blaming yourself helps nobody. Especially not you."

Jack's eyes were wide. As he stared into her lovely dark eyes, he felt as if the chains of Atlas were cracking and splintering, allowing some of the weight to be freed from his shoulders. Soon, without his consent, tears began to spill from his eyes. He quickly countered them and tried to wipe them away, but he couldn't stop them.

Setting aside the tea, she stood and pulled him to his feet, then wrapped her arms around him. He gladly embraced her tightly, letting them finally spill free until he couldn't anymore. And the entire time, she didn't say a word. She just held him, gently stroking his back as his grief ripped from him in frustrated sobs.

When he was finally finished, he felt exhausted. Pulling away from her gently, he smiled. "Thank you..." was all he could say.

"Hey Jack!" came Cliff's voice from the door. Both Jack and Elli looked up to see not just the new farmhand, but the others as well, all staring wide-eyed at the two of them, still embracing, while she wore nothing but a bathrobe.

"Cliff?" asked Jack oddly. But anything else said was drowned out by a loud growling as Karen ran into the room and slapped him.

OoOoO

"Oooooh! So she came to cheer you up!" said Karen, cheerful again after Elli explained her visit, and the reason for the bathrobe. The entire interaction had Karen feeling like a child, being scolded. Jack sat on his couch, still clearing his head as the surprise attack had landed him square on his head.

Elli, still wearing the bathrobe, held an icepack on his sore cranium as she glared at Karen. "Not very lady like Karen, attacking on sight." she said, snorting in disapproval.

Karen just fidgeted. "Sorry...it was a protective reaction." she said, feeling ashamed of herself.

"You mean jealous reaction." said Popuri as she huffed.

"Hey, finally I'm not the only one in pain." said Cliff with a smile. But his smile vanished as Ann headlocked him.

"That can change scrub!" she said as she started to give him a noogie.

"Everyone quiet!" shouted Jack. Everyone in the room went as quiet as the dead at the call. Ann even let go of Cliff and stood straight. "My head is killing me." he said, holding his sore cranium. "So, that's twice now I've been assaulted on my own property. Is there any better a reason for this one?" he asked painfully. Popuri, as usual, looked oblivious to the statement.

"We just came by because, we wanted to hear your side of things." said Mary as she stepped forward. "Our last parting wasn't exactly...enlightening. And we know how gossip spreads in this town. So we wanted to clear everything up before...well...you know." she said, looking at her feet awkwardly.

Jack looked at her a moment, then sighed. "Alright." he said as he looked at the rest of them. "To be clear, my past is off limits to everyone. So let's get that clear right off the bat. Any questions are to be directed solely towards this one incident." he said firmly, making sure he eyed everyone down to let them know how serious he was.

Mary, Ann, and Cliff all looked downtrodden, but nodded like the rest. "Are you in trouble with the law?" asked Mary curiously.

Jack shook his head. "No." he said, not illuminating further. Regardless, Mary stared at him.

This time, Ann stepped up. "Do you regret it?"

He sighed and rubbed his head. "Every day of my life."

Gray stepped forward this time. "Was it accidental?"

Jack just looked up. He knew he was going to have to leak something if he wanted to get through to them. "If I hadn't done it, a lot more people would have died."

A dawning look appeared on everyone's faces. "So...you did it to save others?" asked Karen, relief flooding her. He just nodded with an annoyed expression.

"As I said, if I hadn't, a lot of people would have died, including myself." he said, accepting another glass of tea from Elli. Mary, standing in front of Jack, noticed the pain on his face when he mentioned the event. She smiled to herself and nodded to the others, who let out a bated breath.

"Well...glad we've cleared the air of that nonsense." said Popuri, who was smiling victoriously at Karen. The brunette just glared at her.

With the air finally clean between everyone, they all parted ways. Karen left last, aside from Elli, who the shopkeeper gave a threatening look before heading out. With the nurse's clothes now dry, she took them back and changed again. And when she emerged from the room, she greeted Jack with a smile. He met her with one of his own as he saw her to the door. She popped the umbrella open again and stepped outside.

"Thank you...again." he said, now smiling more than he had in a long time.

She just turned back to him and gave him another gorgeous smile. "Anytime Jack." she said, then headed off again into the rain.