I don't own RWBY

BOOM !

I woke up in panic at the sound of an explosion. "Fuck!" I cursed, my heart jumping out of my chest.

"What was that?" Sylvia asked as we got up to our feet.

"Oof!" I heard Ebony trip on something in the dark. Naturally, we had closed the shutters to avoid getting attacked by goblins from the windows. "Open the shutters!" She urged, and Steele, who had been on guard duty, did so.

The shutters creaked as they opened, letting the light of the morning sky get inside the storage room.

We looked outside into the courtyard.

There, someone was running for his life, chased by a horde of all kinds of zombies. Big tigers, something that looked like orcs, centaurs. And humans and faunus of course. All zombiefied.

"AaaAAAHHH!" He screamed as he was tackled down and eaten alive. "HeeEElp…"

The sky suddenly darkened, turning all black.

BOOM!

Then the body of the student exploded, lighting the horde on fire and burning them into mere skeletons, leaving only a bunch of black bones behind. After that, the sky turned back to normal.

"What the fuck?" I breathed, gaping at the sight, eyes wide.

"Look!" Ebony pointed at a building on the other side of the courtyard.

There… People were there. Leaving the building. Actually going out.

Two people were dragging along a guy.

"N-no! Please! Don't leave me outside!" His screams could barely be heard from where we were. "I'll be good, I won't defy him anymore, I swear!"

The two guys threw him outside, and dashed back into their building, before slamming the door shut.

"AaaAAaaah!" The guy screamed as the horde surrounded him.

With grim horror, I suddenly realized what was going to happen next.

The sky turned black again.

BOOOOM!

The amalgam of monsters turned into ash.

"What the fuck is going on," Ebony voiced everyone's thoughts as we stared at the courtyard with wide eyes.

We waited for a bit, but they didn't come out again.

"Did they use that guy as a bait?" I hummed, scratching my chin.

"That explosion, could it be the boss?" Steele wondered, shivering in fear.

"Nah." I shook my head, "You saw them. They were human."

"And they were faunus," Sylvia pointed out. "The two victims."

"…It doesn't mean anything." Ebony frowned anxiously.

"Did you see how the sky darkened suddenly?" Sylvia added, "That couldn't have been a simple guy carrying a bunch of fire dust. It was something else."

"It's like Shenron was summoned." Steele nodded along.

"What?" I groaned, annoyed, and the faunus shrunk on himself.

"N-nothing. Maybe… Could it be a skill?" Steele asked.

"…A skill …?" I repeated, considering the idea.

Could a skill so powerful exist? What kind of monstrous skill was that? A Unique Skill, maybe?

"N-no way," Ebony laughed nervously, "Even my father, who's a Huntsman and knows how to use Dust, can't do that."

"But the world has changed." Sylvia said. "We can't rely on knowledge of the old world."

There was a moment of silence as we continued to stare at the courtyard, still shocked.

"…Well," I eventually spoke up, "Whatever that was, we can agree that was not the boss. Right?" I asked, and the three of them nodded.

"I mean, we clearly saw two big guys throw him outside." Steele said. "He was bait, to regroup the horde in the same place and kill a bunch of them in one go. Like a monkey bomb."

"A what?" Ebony blinked at him.

"A monkey bomb." Steele repeated, before shutting up when I glared at him.

"Right." I nodded, "My point is, whatever that explosion was, if that wasn't the boss, then it is something that we can use against the boss."

"But whoever it was that did that, just killed two people!" Sylvia pointed out, narrowing her eyes at me. "Three if we count the explosion from yesterday! And you want to ally with him?"

"Yeah." I simply nodded. "We don't know the whole story. And besides, how else are we going to beat the boss? As we are now, we can't even scratch a troll."

"…"

"And you guys can't even handle a simple zombie or goblin yet."

"…"

"Well, hopefully that will change today," I sighed and stepped away from the window. "Let's eat. It's going to be a long day."

Grimly, we sat at a table that we had set up the day before, and we shared the two leftover goblin rations.

As I chewed on the disgusting blob, I looked at our room. With the tarp, we had made some sort of hammock that all four of us – well, three if we didn't count the one on guard duty – slept together. There was enough space to share, and it was certainly better than a chair or the floor.

Not to mention, I got to sleep with two chicks.

"So…" I spoke up after we finished eating. The three of them nervously looked at me. "… Who wants to come with me to kill goblins today?"

"…" Silence.

"Come on…"

"I-I do!" Ebony spoke up, her eyes meeting mine.

I took a moment to glare at her. She didn't flinch, narrowing her eyes at me in challenge.

I smiled and clapped my hands. "Good. Pack up, then, blondie."

"Wh-what?" She gasped anxiously, "Just you and me? Not the others?"

I glanced at the other two. "Nah, these two are not ready, they can't step out of their hole yet."

"H-hey!" Sylvia exclaimed. "I- I'm not…!"

"No?" I raised an eyebrow at her, "All right, come with me then, Sylvie. Ebony, stay here."

"U-uh…" Sylvia's eyes widened, looking away, "Th-that's… I-I still feel a bit weak…"

"Sure you do." I scoffed condescendingly, grabbing the shortsword, and handing the hammer to Ebony. She took it and attached it to her belt, and wore the goblin bow around her shoulder. I grabbed my trusty backpack and put some bandages we had crafted inside it just in case.

"Let's go." I called, and the blonde girl nodded nervously.

"Wait! I thought you were going to teach us how to fight?" Steele asked. "All of us!"

"Oh, I'm going to." I said, glancing at Sylvia. "Whether you like it or not."

"Then -"

"Don't worry," I groaned, reaching my hand to ruffle the faunus' hair. "I can't watch three people at the same time. For now, just stay alert and be ready. And mind the windows!"

With that, Ebony and I made our way through the barricade and stepped into the corridor.

Immediately, we fell into a silence, as I positioned myself in front and her in my back.

'Sneak.'

"You got the sneak skill yet?" I whispered.

"N-no…" She hissed back.

"You gotta learn that one. It'll be useful." I said.

We carefully walked to the next classroom, the one where I had originally been poisoned by a stab in the palm of my hand. I peeked inside.

Empty.

I looked at the stairs. It was a bit too soon for Ebony – or me - to handle the fourth floor, but it was still worth taking a peek.

Carefully, I looked downstairs. There seemed to be a barricade blocking the stairs, with spikes and blood painted on it to warn strangers. The goblins had completely blocked the stairs with barricades.

Looking at it, there didn't seem to be any hole, so it worked both ways. And I actually liked that.

"Let's check our old classroom," I said, and Ebony nodded at me with visible relief.

We slowly walked to our former 'base', and peaked inside.

"Kah…"

Goblin Scout
Goblin Warrior
Goblin Archer

"Three already…" I mumbled to myself. I would have prefered one, to take it easy on Ebony.

One goblin was looking through the window at the courtyard, probably still shaken by the explosions from before, while two others were busy searching through the satchels we had left behind.

It seemed like they had memorized where we had hidden and tried to surprise us, only to find nothing in the classroom. It was good that we had moved away.

Something poked me in my back. I glanced behind me at Ebony. She raised her goblin bow, eyes wide, an arrow between her fingers.

I paused to stare at her, raising an eyebrow. 'Can you do this?'

She gulped and nodded. 'I'm going to try.'

I slowly nodded at her, moving out of the way. She did have an Archery skill and an Accuracy stat.

Carefully, she grabbed an arrow out of the goblin quiver, and propped it to her bow's string, before slowly drawing it to her cheek.

She was trembling, taking aim.

"..." As i watched her, I remembered my father. Not my step-Fuhrer – my real father. I remembered how, when I was scared, anxious or angry about something, he would pat my shoulder. A simple gesture of support like this was usually enough to calm me down.

I decided to reach my hand and put it on Ebony's back. She glanced at me. I met her eyes and nodded to the goblins. 'Focus. I've got your back.'

She nodded and looked back at the goblins.

She took aim, her fingers still wavering, but not as much.

She exhaled softly. Her hands stilled.

She released the string.

The arrow flew in the air and silently hit the back of the goblin who was looking through the opened window.

"K-kah…!" The goblin gasped and fell off the building.

My heartbeat accelerated, watching the other two goblins.

They hadn't noticed.

Ebony was already aiming again.

I gulped, eyes wide. She was doing much better than I expected.

Again, she exhaled softly, and released the arrow.

This time, it landed on the leg one of the remaining goblins.

"KaAAh!" The goblin screamed in pain, holding its leg.

The other jumped on its feet, staring at his buddy in surprise. "K-kah?" He blinked, before turning towards the direction the arrow came from.

I was already on him.

Shtlack!

Swinging my short sword, I cleanly cut off its head.

"K-kah!" The other, injured goblin gasped in terror as I towered over him. With a kick, I disarmed him of his knife, and placed my foot on his chest, maintaining him in place.

"Ebony!" I hissed, glancing at the girl. "You kill him!"

"Wh-what?"

"Kill him." I ordered. "With your hammer."

The blonde girl gulped, "R-right…!" She nodded and grabbed the hammer that hanged off her belt.

She walked to the goblin, and raised her weapon.

"K-kaaaah! Kaaaaaah! Kaaaah~" The goblins pleaded, crying.

"Do it," I hissed at Ebony. "Smash his brains out."

"…" Ebony's arm remained still, holding the hammer in the air. "I-it's crying…"

I scoffed. "Ooooh, I see. I guess we'll let him live then." I grinned sarcastically, and removed my foot off the goblin's chest.

To my surprise, the goblin didn't even move, its arms raised in a defensive posture, still whining.

Ebony's eyes softened. "It surrendered." She lowered her hammer.

"K-kah!" The goblin suddenly kicked at her leg, destabilizing her. "Kakakaka!" It laughed tiredly as it rolled on the ground and grabbed a nearby piece of chair. He swung it at her legs, and she cried in pain, losing her balance and falling on the ground. The goblin jumped on her.

"H-help!" Ebony cried out as the goblin bit her arm viciously. "Help meee!"

"Kah kah kah kah!" The goblin continued laughing at her naivete.

"Nah, it just wants a hug." I said, crossing my arms. "Can't you see, it's just adorable."

"Hh-eeelp!" She struggled under the goblin, and the monster started biting her arm. "P-pleassse!"

I sighed, shaking my head. With a kick, I sent the goblin's knife sliding towards her.

"Kaha!" The goblin cried in triumph, his arms reaching for it while he was munching on Ebony's arm, blood rolling down her skin.

"Hngggaaahhh!" Ebony gritted her teeth and raised her arm, which also raised the goblin in the air, making it impossible for him to reach the knife. With her other hand, she grabbed the blade, and with a quick, decisive move, slashed the goblin's throat.

I nodded, "Good jo-"

"GrraaaAAHH!" Ebony roared, slamming the goblin's body on the ground, before grabbing her knife. "Aah!" She stabbed the dead creature in the chest.

Then she raised her arms again, and repeated that move.

"Die!"

And again.

"Diiiie!"

And again.

And again. And again.

I said nothing, glancing at the door to make sure no one was coming. I walked over and closed it just to be safe, and pushed a table against it.

When I looked at her again, she was done, and she rested for a while on her knees, panting, staring at the mess of guts and blood she had made. We couldn't even tell it had been a goblin anymore.

She stood up, breathing heavily.

"You happy now?" She groaned at me, her expression hidden behind her messy hair.

"…No." I replied.

"…"

"I didn't get off watching you struggle like that. But you wanted to spare him." I waved my arms ar her and the mess she made. "This is the result. You needed to understand that."

"…" She raised her head and met my eyes.

She wasn't crying or anything. She wasn't angry, either. Not at me at least.

No, it was something between resignation and determination.

"…I would have intervened if I ever thought you were in trouble, you know." I still said, "Are… you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah." She breathed, before raising her arm that had bite marks on it. "I mean. No. I'm not."

"Come here," I demanded, grabbing a chair, "Sit down."

She did what I said, still breathing a little loudly. I grabbed some makeshift bandages from my backpack and started wrapping it around her arm.

"Are you angry at me?" I asked softly, as I did my job.

"No..."

"Do you resent me?"

"…No."

"..."

I grinned, having finished my work, and patted her arm. "Good. Great."

I stood up and went to pick up the flask of elixir that had dropped from the goblin warrior I had decapitated.

I opened it and raised it to her lips. "Drink." I ordered.

Gulp gulp gulp.

She drunk from the flask, without making a fuss, and leaned her head back more and more as I raised the flask higher and higher.

Man. She seemed a bit down, but honestly, this girl had no idea how much my respect for her had increased over the last five minutes.

"Pwah…" She breathed, scrunching her noise. "This is pretty effective." She said, swinging her arm around.

"You see? We can do this. I told you." I stated, and she nodded absentmindedly, staring at something else.

She was reading some windows that were invisible to me, I realized. Had she gained a skill from the fight?

I gave her a moment, deciding to loot the bodies. Nothing much. One goblin ration and a bunch of weapons. No skill shard.

I looked back at her, and she nodded at me. "I'm ready." She declared, standing up, "What's next?"

I barely hid my smirk at the tone of her voice and the expression on her face.

Determined. Uncompromising.

But also, willing to learn. Hungry to get stronger. Ready for the grind.

"We pull the same shit on the others." I declared without a second thought.

"…" She paused for a second, "…Roger that." She nodded eventually.

I grinned. Out of excitement, I couldn't help but lightly smack her shoulder again. She snorted and smacked me back, saying nothing.

I wouldn't be alone out there anymore.

Later.

"AaaAAAH!"

"HeeEELp!"

"Don't." I glared at Ebony, who was aiming an arrow at one of the goblins.

We had set everything up in the same classroom from before. We had attacked and disarmed two goblins, and I just held them against the wall behind a table while she fetched the other two. While she did that, this time I took the time to punch their jaw, breaking a few teeth in the process. Hopefully, this would deter them from biting limbs.

Then Ebony came back with Sylvia and Steele, and I unleashed the two creatures and stepped back to watch the chaos.

Steve handled his relatively cleanly, compared to Ebony. He had the crowbar, so he had some range. He still hit the corpse a few times afterwards, though, to make sure it was dead.

Sylvia though? The goblin had managed to disarm her from her dagger. Now she was struggling on the ground against the goblin.

"Don't help her," I said to Steele, who nodded absentedmindly. He seemed to be reading windows.

Was there a reward for everyone when they killed their first monster? Now that I thought about it, [The Gamer] skill had been one such reward.

"Hhhyaaaa!" Sylvia screamed desperately, tears rolling down her cheeks. Somehow, she managed to find a screwdriver in one of her pockets, and she stabbed the monster through one of its eyes.

As blood splashed on her face, she pushed the goblin's body off herself, and sat up, breathing heavily.

Then, she stood up and looked at me.

"You! You…!"

Sylvia stomped her way towards me, her expression full of rage.

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Slap!

Ding!
[Withstanding]'s level has increased by one.

I blinked at the window in front of my eyes, my cheek burning.

"How dare you pull something like this!" She cried, her voice breaking as she trembled, "We could have died, you... you psychopath!"

I had been slapped plenty of times before. This time, however, for some reason, I didn't know why, seeing the [Withstanding] skill pop up suddenly reminded me of some unpleasant times with my step-douche.

Something hot surged in my stomach. A fire erupted from inside me.

SLAP!

With a swing of my hand, I sent the girl flying over several meters. She rolled on the ground and held her red cheek, tearing up again.

"W-waaah…" Sylvia sobbed. She started crying, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I-I'm sorry… D-don't kill me!"

Pathetic. Disgusting.

Kill her? Me? Who the hell does she think I am?

"You fucking…!" I gritted my teeth as I started stomping my way over to her.

"Calm down!" Ebony stepped in front of me. "Leave her alone."

She- She slapped me!" I furiously pointed a finger at Sylvia, breathing heavily. " After everything...!"

"I know. Just… leave." Ebony insisted, "Please? This isn't me taking her side. I'll talk to her. For now, just leave."

"…" I paused and looked at Ebony's eyes while Sylvia was still sobbing.

The blonde girl didn't look angry at me… But she still clearly wanted me gone.

"Fine." I grunted.

I walked angrily to the corridor and tried to slam the door behind me for good mesure.

A foot got in the way at the last moment.

"Aouch!" Steve winced, and followed me outside.

"Fucking great. Now I also get to walk the…" I barely caught myself, "...boy."

"…You were about to say dog." Steele stated, giving me a flat look.

"…" I stayed quiet for a moment, still fuming, before letting out a loud breath, deflating like a balloon. "…I was." I sighed. "Dick move. I know."

"You... you were a dick to Sylvia, too." Steve said, watching me curiously.

"No, I don't think so. Well, maybe a little bit." I admitted reluctantly. "It's just, don't slap me like a bitch like that. That's fucked up. It… triggers me."

"Do you regret slapping her?"

"Nah." I shrugged, "Shit happens."

"So… You're not gonna…" He frowned at me, before shaking his head. "Uh, nevermind."

There was a tense silence between us. Did this guy actually expect me to apologize? That was not. Happening.

I let out a heavy sigh. "Anyway. Let's loot the north side of this floor." I said, and we walked north in the corridor. "I only checked south last time. Cover my back."

"Okay!" Steve nodded eagerly.

The next classroom was empty, with only a few corpses lying around. I started using identify on everything as I searched the bodies.

"You know what's the good thing about goblins living a floor below us?" I asked Steve.

"No?"

"They kinda filter out the zombies a little. Same with the trolls." I chuckled, as I searched a bag, "That's probably why we didn't get many zombies in here."

"Makes sense."

Aside from a melted chocolate bar, we found nothing of value in this classroom.

We continued exploring to the north. Aside from a couple of crawlers zombies, there weren't any enemies. Steele got to kill his first zombie, without making too much of a fuss. I had to admit, as annoying as the faunus was, he was much better at handling himself than Sylvia.

Then, we reached the stairs.

"Look, a ladder!" Steve pointed at the metallic bars in the wall, "We could get on the roof."

"Shh," I hissed, shutting him up.

Carefully, I looked over the into the staircase, all the way down to the ground floor.

"…"

I didn't see anything.

"All right, let's try the rooftop first." I said.

I climbed the ladder and opened the latch.

Or tried to.

It opened a tiny gap, but something was keeping it closed. "It's stuck."

"Try this," Steve suggested, handing me the crowbar.

I grabbed it and placed like a lever in the small gap.

"Hnnngh!" I pulled with all of my strength, and the latch gave away.

I finished climbing the ladder and stepped onto the rooftop.

"Phew." I breathed, enjoying the light breeze as Steele joined me.

"So, why are we here?"

"To look around the building," I said, handing him back the crowbar, "And to get some fresh air, of course."

The two of us circled around the roof of the building, looking down along the walls.

There weren't many zombies.

On the east side, was one of the school's exit, mainly for teachers, with a parking.

"Hmm…"

I grabbed a knife from my backpack, and with all my strength, threw it to the outside.

Bang!

Unexpectedly, the blade collided with some kind of force field and fell to the ground, making a bit of noise.

Some zombies walked lazily to it, looking around searching for a prey.

"...I know we can't leave this Dungeon, but I didn't expect a freaking force field around the entire school," I said, a little awed by the concept.

"It looks like most of the zombies formed a horde," Steele spoke up, "Around the cafeteria, right next to the building where we saw the explosions."

"Dammit. That's where all the food is." I sighed as I continued looking along the edge.

All in all, it didn't look like there were many zombies around the building anymore. It was actually possible to go down the stairs and step outside if we were careful enough.

Though, it bothered me how I hadn't seen other actual monsters outside. There was what looked like zombie orcs, but no actual orcs. Same with tigers and centaurs, all zombies. Maybe all their spawn points were inside buildings?

Considering the horde of zombies would attack anything that stepped out of buildings, maybe that was why. The monsters were stuck inside, just like us.

"..." I thought back to the overrun cafeteria. Were there monsters there, too?

Food was going to be a problem.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to eat goblin rations again tonight." I said.

"Me neither."

"So I was thinking. Maybe we could try going to the teacher's break room." I continued, "With any luck, it should have a fridge and some counters with some food inside."

"I think it's too soon," Steele said, fidgeting anxiously, "We can barely handle goblins."

"True. I still want take a peek on the floors below though."

"But-"

"Come on, just a peek." I insisted.

He looked away, "You're just gonna go without me if I say no…" he mumbled.

"I won't deny that." I smirked, "Let's go."

We climbed down the ladder and carefully went down the stairs.

On the fourth floor, we took a peek in the corridor.

On the middle of the corridor, was some kind of barricaded structure, much like the one Ebony and I had seen in the stairs, but with human skulls impaled on spikes.

"I guess that's the goblins' territory now." I whispered, to which Steele nodded apprehensively. "Let's check the third floor."

The third floor had a few zombies roaming in its corridor.

Zombie(Human)
Zombie(Human)
Zombie(Goblin)
Infected(Goblin)

"Are you up for it?" I asked Steele, raising my sword.

"N-no… L-let's go back to the others."

"Of course you'd say that." I rolled my eyes, "Let's go down one more floor then."

"…Oh god…" The boy whimpered besides me.

We went down to the second floor and peeked in the corridor once again.

Troll
Troll
Troll
Troll
Troll

"…"

I gulped at the sight of so many unbeatable enemies.

The giants had apparently smashed a big hole through the floor to directly jump down.

They could probably bring down the entire building if someone angered them.

I bit my lip as I narrowed my eyes on a familiar item in the corridor.

My bag. It was right there. A few meters away.

'Sneak'.

"What are you doing?" Steele hissed at me as I carefully sneaked into the corridor.

"Shh." I hissed back at him.

The trolls weren't looking this way. In fact, it seemed like some of them were asleep, snoring loudly.

"Grru?"

I dove into the nearest room as I heard a troll groan. A bathroom.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Each of its steps shook the ground as it approached the doorway. I quickly opened a stall and hid inside, hoping Steele would go back upstairs alone.

Sniff, sniff.

The troll sniffed the air.

"Grruu…?"

It sniffed again for a moment, before releasing a sort of sigh. Then it walked back to its spot.

Ding!
[Sneak]'s level has increased by one.

"Fuck me. That was close." I whispered to myself as I walked out the stall.

Tink!

I jumped at the unexpected noise coming from another stall.

"Anyone here?" I hissed, raising my sword. "Come out, now!"

The stall's door opened, and my eyes widened at the person who stepped out.

Caitlyn.

It was Caitlyn.

Caitlyn March
- Survivor -

She had big bags under her eyes, and traces of tears on her cheeks. Her brown hair was messy.

"…"

We stared at each other for a long moment.

Caitlyn never talked first. She never talked at all.

"…You… Okay?" I asked eventually.

Her lips quivered.

She shook her head.

She was not okay.

"You… wanna come with me? On the fifth floor. It's safe."

She shook her head.

She did not want to come.

"If you stay here, you're gonna die." I stated.

She nodded. Then she raised her arm.

On her pale skin, was a bite mark.

My heart turned into ice.

"A-ah…"

"…"

"You're… You're…" I struggled with my words. "You're… You're bitten. Is that from a… zombie?"

She nodded again.

I turned away. For some reason, I lost my sense of balance, wavering. "Haaa…" I gasped, leaning on a wall, and slid down into a sitting position.

Still stunned, I watched Caitlyn grab something from her stall.

A bag.

She opened it, and handed something to me.

My medicine. She had grabbed my asthma medicine for me.

"…" I didn't move, staring at her.

Seeing as I didn't accept her gift, she simply put the medicine in my bag.

Then, she started putting more and more items into my bag. A box of cookies. Some scotch. A water bottle. Pepper spray.

I watched silently as she filled my backpack with her items.

Caitlyn always had my back.

During my first year in high school, there had been a time I had gone 'missing' for a month. When I came back, she had helped me catch up in school work.

I hadn't admitted it at the time, but it had meant a lot to me.

Then, she handed me a gun.

A gun. A revolver, loaded with dust rounds. Where did she find that? Did this quiet girl go to school with a fucking gun? At our age, it was illegal.

"This... Is it yours?"

She nodded.

To think, she had thought necessary to bring a gun at school. Did she bring it everyday? What for?

And I had no idea. All this time, I had no idea.

I felt my eyes becoming wet. I blinked the tears away furiously, groaning.

Finally, she handed me back my short sword, with a note.

"Kill me."

"No." I replied automatically.

She wrote something on the paper again.

"Don't waste my death."

"…"

"You'll get the XP."

I scoffed, tearing up the paper in my hands.

Another paper.

"Kill me."

"Stop." I groaned, looking away.

"…"

"…"

"Please."

I looked at her again when I heard her voice for the first time. It was soft and quiet.

Her eyes filled with sympathy, she handed me back my sword, putting it in my hands.

At the same time, she squeezed my hand. Then she stood up, turned her back to me and knelt on the ground.

Waiting.

"Haaa…" I took a deep breath, and stood up as my heart hammered in my chest. I knew what I had to do.

I walked around her, and knelt to look into her eyes again.

Her eyes were not particularly sad. Nor resigned.

She smiled at me reassuringly.

Maybe this silent girl had never been all right in the head... All this time, and I never noticed.

I stood up, and walked over to the mirror. "Gaaah…" I gasped softly, my eyes tearing up again. Fuck. I never felt such a weight in my heart before. But I needed to do this.

Thinking back on my time with her... I was angry and bitter all the time. But that girl, to reach such a state of apathy, must have been through much worse shit than me.

Perhaps this was why we were able to get on so well. Though I never even considered her a friend. I never talked to her much, all we did was studying.

But it still felt like we were close. Which was why I had to do this.

"Haaa…" I gulped, and released a shaky breath again. I gripped the handle of my short sword, turning to Caitlyn.

I raised the sword above her head, aligning it vertically.

Shit. Could I even do this? Was I really going to ...? I never killed anyone before. I never thought I would have to.

I raised my blade with shaky hands, my heart hammering in my chest.

Fuck. Come on, Shean. Be responsible for once. You need to do this.

"Hngh…" I gulped, a knot in my throat. "...Goodbye... Caitlyn..."

Summoning all my willpower, I swung the blade down.

Shlack!

With a sickening, soft noise, the blade cleanly embedded itself into her skull.

Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!

Rewards rained on me as I panted quietly, and I felt something wet roll down my cheeks.