Chapter XXVII - Better than I did then

"Kenny? Are you sure?", I hissed in alarm. How come that this bastard suddenly was here too? For so long we had searched for him and had pursued his trail and now we should just meet him by accident in the forest?

"I'm sure. I did not forget this smell.", she whispered back and put on a determined expression, which I did not like at all. She seemed ready to fight, but that was actually the last thing I wanted. But I knew as well that I certainly could not convince her to run back to the others, so I kept my mouth shut. Wendy looked intently, but purposefully, among the trees, for apparently the smell seemed to come from there. So, too, I looked in that direction, and after a while, a figure moving between the trees.

I recognized Kenny at first glance, because the distinctive face and strong build of him were unmistakable to me. However, I had to admit that I was very surprised to see him in that condition. Because unlike our last meeting, he was not just bursting with power and fighting spirit, but walked slowly and with a languid posture towards us. Blood spilled from a wound in his forehead over his face and I also noticed a lot of blood spots on his clothes.

He's wounded, it shot right through my head! Without much thought, I wanted to use this huge advantage and finally capture Kenny, but a tiny gesture immediately brought me to a standstill.

Barely noticeable Wendy pulled at the hem of my shirt and this stopped me. Of course, I could have just ignored her gesture and walked on, but I knew right away that she certainly had a reason to do so and so I froze in my movement. Jerkily I turned my head to her and looked at her questioningly. With wide eyes, she looked right at me and shook her head slightly.

"Levi.", she said softly, "He is wounded.".

"One more reason to fight him now.", I hissed back, but she did not release my shirt. Stubbornly, she continued to look me in the eye and slightly scratched her forehead.

"He looks pretty weak and he does not give me the impression that he wants to attack us.", she whispered and I rolled my eyes annoyed.

"Yes, because he has not noticed us yet.", I grumbled impatiently, "And now let me go, damn it.".

"No!", she countered immediately and her eyes hardened, "Even though he may be our enemy, we can not attack him in this condition. That would be inhuman.". Really? She told me something of inhumanity towards the man I would count among the most inhumane persons. I was not sure if it was just her naivety or just her too good heart that made her act that way.

"What the fuck?", I growled, but I also did not have the heart to just pull away and impose my will, "The only inhumane thing would be if we just let him get away with it.".

"Did you finally decide if you want to attack me or not?", Kenny's voice suddenly intersected our quiet discussion and all my muscles tensed up immediately. Dappled, our two heads drove to him and only then we did realize that he had stopped a few steps away from us next to a tree and now looked directly at us. Now that he was standing right in front of us, he seemed even more frail and weak than before. What in the world had bothered him so much?

"I made the decision.", I growled, and now, despite Wendy's hand on my shirt, I began to move toward him.

"Levi!", Wendy prompted me immediately and her grip on my clothes intensified. Irritated, I stopped again and gave her piercing glances.

"Let me go.", I ordered, but she did not move a bit. Instead, she looked at me with a defiant and slightly angry look.

"If you attack him now, I swear to you that I will attack you with my sky dragon roar in a very strongly way!", she said in a forceful voice to me and in fact I remained silent. After all, I had already seen once, to which forces this little girl was able and that I definitely did not want to feel it on my own. Behind me, Kenny was laughing dirty.

"Haha! The little one has you under control!", Kenny grunted and I could clearly hear that the laughter and talking caused him pain.

"Shut up!", I snapped, and my eyes shot back to him, "What the hell are you doing here?". Instead of giving me an answer, he broke out in a violent cough and I realized that he was also spitting blood. It really had to be worse for him than I thought. Then he collapsed slowly and could barely catch himself until he hit the ground. I felt Wendy's grip loosen on my shirt and before I could react, she had already passed me and headed straight for Kenny, who had slumped down.

"Wendy!", I exclaimed in horror and could not believe that she was just approaching him. I also doubted that she approached him with the same intentions as I did. As I knew her, she probably wanted to help him, but that would only put her in great danger. She arrived at him a few seconds before me and knelt down next to him when I grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her away from him.

"Levi!", she exclaimed indignantly, trying to free herself from my grip, "He's hurt. I have to help him.".

"You don't have to do anything!", I snapped at her, "He's dangerous.".

"But look at his wounds!", she said immediately and resisted me with all her strength. Of course I had also recognized that Kenny was pretty badly wounded, but my bad experience had taught me, even with such an opponent to remain extremely cautious. However, his condition and the nature of his wounds made me realize something else as well.

"Yes, look at his wounds, Wendy.", I said, trying to make my voice quieter, "He's beyond saving.". As I said this, she looked at me with eyes widening. Apparently she had really believed that she could still have helped this bastard, but not even her powers could heal such wounds. Kenny was doomed to death, that was clear.

"And yet you try to keep the little girl away from me, Levi?", Kenny snapped with a faint laugh behind us and Wendy and I turned back to him.

"You can't blame me for that.", I growled, because even in its current state, I thought of him as a potential source of danger. However, it was also a strange situation for me. Now that I said out loud that Kenny's life would probably not last much longer, I was overcome by a certain discomfort. I could not describe this feeling directly, it was neither grief, nor anger or even joy. It was as if a certain emptiness was spreading in me, and as if my heart and mind were hoping or waiting for something, but I did not know exactly what was going on in me right now.

"Levi.", Wendy said, slightly disapprovingly to me and looked me straight in the eye, "If he dies, then don't let him be alone at such a moment.". For a moment, I looked at her in confusion. Did she really expect me to sit next to Kenny and hold his hand? I was not sure if I could do it after everything that had happened between us. But before I knew it, Wendy had already wriggled out of my grap and headed straight for the heavily breathing Kenny. This damn stubborn brat! Why did she have to do something like that?

Maybe it was the instinct to somehow protect Wendy, or subconsciously I listened to what she had said. Anyway, my legs started to move almost by themselves until I came to a stop next to Wendy and Kenny. He had now managed to lean his back against a nearby tree, so that he would not have to squat huddled on the ground. Wendy was already kneeling next to him and it almost gave me a slight heart attack when I saw her so close to him. But Kenny stayed calm and peaceful. He probably could not have done anything to her, even if he wanted to.

"Sad, Levi?", he gasped, looking at me with a faint but mischievous grin, but I stared at him stubbornly and shrugged awkwardly.

"What are you doing here, Kenny?", I asked him instead, "Why are you so messed up?". Another fit of coughing haunted him before he could speak, and I had to admit that I was surprised when he seemed to answer truthfully.

"Surely you know meanwhile of my client. Marley.", he gasped and I slowly nodded, "Well, since I had not quite fulfilled my mission to fight you fairies, so I drew his anger on me.". Astonished, I raised an eyebrow. I honestly did not expect anything like that. Sure, Kenny had not done a job well or satisfactorily a few times in his life, but being so messed up for such a reason surprised me.

"He was pissed off and did not want to pay me for it and so it came to the dispute.", he continued strained, "We fought bitterly against eachother, but I was so badly wounded that I could save myself only with great difficulty. Since then I drag myself wounded around here.".

"Where is this Marley?", I asked further, hoping that this time he would answer me with the truth. Kenny snorted loudly a few times and seemed to gather strength to continue talking.

"Not far from here. He is in his bunker, which he has built. This warehouse nearby is just for distraction. But they will surely be here soon.", he gasped.

"I could still try to heal you.", Wendy said, ignoring what Kenny had just said. Already she raised her hands and began to work her healing magic, but Kenny pushed her hands away slightly. As he moved I was about to leap up and possibly defend Wendy, but one look from her was enough to stop me.

"Let it be, kid.", Kenny said weakly, looking at her seriously. Bewildered, Wendy looked back and apparently could not understand why anyone should say that.

"But otherwise you will die.", she answered quietly and received a hoarse laugh in response.

"So what?", Kenny gasped, "Then it's like that.". Strange as it was, somehow I could understand it. If you felt that the time had come to die, then you certainly did not want to delay it.

"What else do you know about Marley?", I asked, because the way it looked, I would soon have no opportunity to question him. But he only answered with another stertorous laugh.

"I'm not going to make it that easy for you, Levi.", he croaked, looking at me with small eyes, "You know I've never made it easy for you.". I clamped my jaw tight, but secretly I had expected something like that. He was right, he had actually never made it easy for me, had always presented me with the most difficult challenges. But maybe that was what had helped me to survive. For some reason, I could not really blame him for that. Until last he stayed the Kenny, whom I knew. But now, as his death approached more and more, another, tormenting thought struck me. A thought that I had been carrying with me all my life, and I was sure I would deeply regret it if I did not address it now.

"Kenny ... tell me one thing.", I started slowly and his weak but attentive eyes watched me, "What were you to my mother…really? ". He looked at me in surprise for a few seconds and there was absolute silence for a a moment. Then he burst into a coughing and wheezing laugh.

"You idiot." he said, "I was just ... her brother.". I did not know exactly how to record this information. I could not be disappointed or relieved. For so long I had wondered if Kenny was my dad and now I finally knew the truth. He was my uncle.

For a long time I just looked at him with wide eyes. Now that I knew he was my uncle, so many things from my past made sense. That's why he had turned up shortly after my mother died, and probably that's also why he had taken care of me. But one thing was still unclear despite this new information.

"That day…", I started and looked directly at him, "Why… did you leave me?". Briefly, the images of the memory of that moment flared up again, when he had suddenly disappeared from my life and I had been completely on my own. He was just gone then, as if he had never existed and I had always wondered why he had done that. Kenny huffed and seemed to gather strength and air to answer me, but he looked me straight in the eye.

"Because ... I ...", he managed with effort, "...can't be some kid's dad.". I had expected everything, but not this answer. It would probably have been easier for me to if he had said that he just was not in the mood for it or that he had not seen any potential in me. But he admitted that he had at least in some way tried to be a father to me and then at some point he had realized that he was unable to do so. As much as I reluctantly admitted it, and had been so angry with him for years, that statement from him warmed my cold heart a little bit. Even if he had disappeared then and said of himself that he could not be my father, that was not the truth. For the truth was that I had already seen a father in him without wanting to admit it to myself.

And only now, after such a long time, did I realize that I had always regarded Kenny as a kind of father, and even now that I knew the truth, it did not matter that he was just my uncle. It was thanks to him that I was still alive. And as these thoughts, much too maudlin for me, flowed through me, I felt Wendy very slowly take my hand and hold it. I do not know for sure whether it was because I was too upset or that I actually did not feel uncomfortable by it, but I let it happen. In a way, it was also a comforting, nice feeling because I knew that despite everything, I was not alone.

Slowly my eyes moved to her and she smiled lovingly at me. There was so much trust and affection in her eyes that I felt instantly relieved. All the confusion about my feelings diminished and took a back seat just because of her presence and her gesture. Almost as if they were acting on their own, I felt my fingers close around her hand in mine and also lightly squeeze her hand. What had this little girl done to me?

A rattling laugh from Kenny tore me out of that stage and my gaze immediately returned to him, but Wendy continued to hold my hand tight. A faint smile played on his lips as his eyes moved between Wendy and me.

"I hope you do better than I did then, Levi.", he said in a faint voice and I frowned in confusion. What exactly did he mean by that?

"What?", I asked visibly puzzled.

"Although ... the way she looks at you, you've probably already done better than me.", he added, and I was beginning to understand what he meant.

"What do you mean?", Wendy also asked and seemed to be as obtuse as I have been until now.

"You two almost look like father and daughter.", he said in a hoarse, shallow voice, breathing more and more slowly. And for the second time in such a short time, I realized something that I had already felt inside of me for some time. As bizarre and absurd as it was, I now seemed to see something like a daughter in Wendy. No girlfriend, no comrade or companion, but a daughter. Something about this girl seemed to evoke all my protective instincts and bring out the good in my heart. It was actually that easy, but I had resisted these feelings for so long that it would never have occurred to me.

And it was Kenny who had helped me to realize this, but when I looked at him, only two blank eyes stared at me. His body leaned limp and lifeless against the tree in front of us, but I also knew that Kenny was gone now.

My uncle, my father, was dead.