The walls were closing in on him and there was nothing he could do. He repeatedly slammed his fist into the wall as if his meager strength could somehow turn back the inevitable.

The smell was the worst part, the iron scent of blood and rotted breath filled his nose. The only sound was of his panting breath wasting what air he had left and the wet thwack of flesh hitting flesh. There was no light in his prison, but he could feel the walls beat and pulse to the rhythm of a heartbeat.

There was no way out, he knew that. Despair filled him at the thought. But he still slammed his fist into the wall.

"Not like this." He muttered, hitting the wall. "Not going to die like this."

Hit after hit he pounded the wall. Until finally with a sharp crack light filled his cell.

"Huh?" He looked at his hand. There was a small crack in his palm. The light seemed to be coming from inside of him.

"Weird." He lifted his hand to examined it. His hand felt normal enough, but the area around the crack felt almost like porcelain. There was no pain from the crack in his skin, but it didn't exactly feel comfortable.

"I'm not going to die like this." He punched the wall again, shattering another piece of himself.

When the light touched the walls, they shivered and tried to back away. Seeing this he clenched his fist once again and swung. Each hit made the cracks in his hand grow and more light shined from him. He didn't stop punching even as the cracks traveled up his arm and reached his neck, it even spread across his chest and down his legs.

If he had to choose between self-immolation or being crushed. He'd pick the fire, he'd always picked the fire. Then with one final punch both the prison and his body gave in. The cell he was in disappeared.

"What the hell?" He opened his eyes and found himself floating in space. He was still alive and the light that was shining through his body was gone.

All that remained of him was his head and parts of his chest, everything else was consumed as the light left him. The light soared out and consolidated into a large butterfly.

It was as if he was nothing more than the chrysalis needed for the creature to be born.

The butterfly gave him a sad and solemn glance, then with a single flap of its wings took off into the cosmos. At the same time that flap of the wings was enough to reduce him to nothing more than cosmic space dust.

What a stupid joke, he thought as oblivion took him.

"Gah!"

Finn screamed as he was jerked awake, bolting up from his bedroll. The suddenness of his awakening got his adrenaline pumping and he was instantly aware of his surroundings. He was placed next to a fire, which had a pot affixed above it, something steaming in it. The whiff Finn got of it he knew it would be delicious.

Idol's carriage and Andrew's food cart was sat down near the road. Finn noted however that a tarp had been thrown over Idol's carriage. It was a smart idea, walking around with that thing out in plain view was asking for trouble.

Finn looked around and spotted Andrew on the other side of the fire. The Chef had ditched his uniform for more comfortable traveling clothes. A Short sleeved off-white tunic and black pants, with a red cloth wrapped around his waist

Andrew was in the midst of ladling soup into bowls and handing them over to Keel. Keel in turned was ferrying the bowls over to the former slave children. Who were using Andrew's filolial, Roganta, as a bed. It was a careful routine to try and keep the former slaves calm. But It was disturbed when Finn screamed.

Everyone stopped moving and looked over at Finn. The sudden attention made the Sword Hero flush in embarrassment. He tried to stand up but felt a burst of blinding pain that put him back on his bum.

[You have not recovered from your battle yet.] Owl said.

Finn looked down and what was left of his clothing had been stripped away and the only thing protecting his modesty was the myriad of bandages that covered him. Leaning down Finn noted an odd medical scent coming of the bandages.

"They've been soaked in a healing ointment. It's not as fast acting as a health potion, but a lot cheaper to buy. They'll get you back on your feet soon enough." Andrew said walking over to Finn and placing a bowl of soup in his lap.

"Thanks." Finn said. The soup tasted as good as it smelled and soon Finn was licking his bowl clean. He held up the bowl back to Andrew. "Can I have some more?"

"Sure." Andrew said, fetching him another bowl. "Anything for you, Mr. Hero."

Finn paused mid sip as he looked over to the Chef. "How did you know?"

Andrew pointed at Finn's right arm. "The main way people describe the Sword Hero, is the one with the metal arm."

"Huh, good to know I guess." Finn said. He finished his bowl and handed it back to Andrew for thirds.

Andrew grumbled a bit about gluttons but passed a third bowl to Finn.

"Guess the only question now is what are you going to do next?" Andrew asked, settling down in front of Finn.

"Hmm?" Finn looked at Andrew confused. "Do you mean for tomorrow or like for the next year?"

"Let's try tomorrow. Just what are you planning on doing with these kids?" Andrew asked.

Finn looked over to the children. Keel had finished passing out the bowls of soup and was now anxiously standing guard over them. Some of the children were eagerly eating there food as fast as Finn was. The ones that most concern Finn were the kids who just held their bowls in listless arms, staring down into the soup with blank expressions. Finn spotted some of the same bandages wrapped around him on the children as well.

How much of that stuff did Andrew have, and did he use it all on us? He would have to pay the Chef back, but the kids came first. They needed help, and not the kind Finn could give them.

But what was he going to do? If he was still in Ooo Finn would have brought the kids to Bonnie, she would have insured that they'd have a safe place to stay and have someone watch over them. He wasn't in Ooo though so the only thing could he actually do was to shepherd the kids until he found a safe place for them.

Speaking of that, Finn looked at Andrew.

"You wouldn't happened to know as safe place for me to take the kids?" Finn asked the Chef.

"You really had no plan at all when you went in there did you." Andrew comment, giving Finn a look that was equal parts amazement, and annoyance.

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face. It's what you do when you're in the mess that matters in the end." Finn defended himself.

Andrew scoffed in mocked disdain. After letting Finn sweat for a minute, he eventually offered some advice.

"If it is a safe place, you're looking for some Demi-human kids, then your best bet would be to head over to Van Reichnott's territory." Andrew said.

"Van Reichnott? Right, you mentioned him before. You think someone there will be looking for them?" Finn asked. Indicating the kids, hopefully some of them had family looking for them.

"Probably, you might even get paid for it too."

"Would they even be safe there?" Finn asked, chewing on his spoon thoughtfully.

"Safer today than they were yesterday."

"Hmm? What is that supposed to mean?"

"There have been rumors abound about how Rabier was making moves to take Lord Reichnott's territory. There have also been mentions of inquiries to the Church and suspicions of heresy. But with Rabier dead, and now Lord Reichnott will most likely take over Rabier's territory instead."

"The Church? Why would they have a say in what happens?"

"The Church has a pretty strong influence about what happens in Melromarc. Even more so now that the Queen is away and left matters to the King, a devout follower of the Church. The King even had Lord Seaetto's daughter arrested on the same charges Rabier was looking to bring down on to Lord Reichnott."

"Is the Church really that dangerous?" Finn asked, remembering the talk he had on his only outing with his previous team. According to the Church out of the four Cardinal weapons the shield was the evil one and the one who wielded it was basically the devil.

His old team had also left him the moment Finn defended Naofumi in public.

"I mentioned before how Lord Seaetto died during the first Wave, right? What I didn't mention was that he died countless miles away from where any monster could have possibly reached him. And his territory was then raided and taken over before his corpse was cooled."

"Well, dang." Finn muttered. "Guess we're heading towards Reichnott."

Andrew looked over at the covered-up carriage. "You should do something about that too. It still has markings that denotes it belonging to Rabier."

"I'll deal with it tomorrow." Finn said, fanning away the Chef's concerns. "Thank you for your help today. I really appreciate it, and I'll do what I can to pay you back."

"Don't mention it." Andrew sighed, settling down for the night. "You just take first watch and make sure nothing nasty takes a bite out of me."

"I can do that." Finn stood up and started to stretch. When he felt limber enough, he started to walk the perimeter of the camp. When he got close to where the Demi-human kids were staying, they all shied away from his approach.

He didn't fault them for their actions, if the same thing happened to him, he would be wary of people too. Finn could only hope that time and care would mend the wounds in their hearts.

The night passed quickly, Finn waking up Andrew to keep watch as Finn sat down on a log overlooking the fire. Finn stared at the dying embers, still too wired up from his dream to sleep. When he felt something knock against his shoulder. He peeked out the side of his eyes to see Keel resting her head next to him. Finn didn't say anything and waited for Keel to talk.

"Thank you." Keel said.

"Don't mention it." Finn said, echoing Andrew's words. "Anyone would have done the same thing."

Keel shook her head vigorously at that.

"No, they didn't." Keel said, looked up at Finn with wet eyes. "After the soldiers came, I thought that nothing was going to be okay again. Then you showed up, and you saved my friends. All I could do was sit there like an invalid. Too weak to do anything. But that is going to change. I'm going to become strong, so strong that no one will ever be able to hurt my friends again."

"I can't wait to see it." Finn said, ruffling Keel's hair.

"Uh huh." Keel pressed her head deeper into Finn's palm. "So next time you charge into a group of baddies I'm going to be right there beside you."

After a few more minutes of petting, Keel laid down in Finn's lap and went to sleep. And soon enough Finn joined her.

When morning came Finn tore off his bandages to inspect the state of his body. There were several lash marks from where Idol had struck him that now look pink and tender, instead of the bleeding cuts they were a day before. They were still sore, but it was a manageable pain.

His clothing on the other hand were completely ruined and he had Owl make him some more. Nothing to fancy just some regular traveling clothes. Once he was done with that, he also had Owl make some clothes for the other demi-human kids to wear.

Finn the turn his attention to the carriage. He ran Owl along the sides of the carriage the prosthetic scouring clean any signs that it used to belong to a noble by breaking part of it down into digi-resin.

After that was done Andrew and Finn hitched the carriage and food cart together and attached it all to Roganta. Finn looked at all the extra weight the filolial would have to pull and shot a worried glance to the bird.

"Will he be alright moving all of us?" Finn asked the Chef.

"Of course." Andrew answered with a laugh. "Filolial love to pull things, the heavier it is the better. Shows everyone else just how strong they are." He rubbed Roganta's neck. "Ain't that right, buddy."

Roganta let out a happy twitter, and he started down the road. Finn and Andrew were quick then to hop on the carriage before it could get away from them. Andrew took the reins and started to guide Roganta down the path. Finn settled down next to him.

"How long will it take us to reach Reichnott." Finn asked.

Andrew looked up in thought.

"About a day or two." He said. "Provided we don't run into any troubles that is."

"Hmm." Finn grunted.

They moved at a sedate pace through the countryside. Taking regular breaks to let the kids stretch their legs and use the restroom if they needed. At some times Finn took Keel out to hunt some monsters to grind a few levels on the trip and provide food for their charges.

Finn tried to bridge the gap between him and the kids, but they still did their best to stay as far away as they could from him and Andrew. Though there was some progress he could take pride in.

Keel had introduced him to her two friends, Raphtalia and Rifana.

"He… hello." Raphtalia said, keeping her head bowed looking down at the ground. Raphtalia was a raccoon type demi-human with long brown hair and reddish eyes. She had a set of fluffy red tanuki ears and a cute bushy tail.

"Hi." Rifana mimicked her friend, keeping her head equally as bowed. Rifana was a weasel type demi-human with short pink hair and large crimson eyes. Her weasel like ears were small and adorable. She held her long furred tail in her hands.

"Nice to meet you both." Finn greeted them. He made sure to leave his hands were they could see them and didn't move from where he was sitting.

The two of them opened and closed their mouths, not really sure of what to say. And despite Keel's gentle prodding they turned around and fled back to the others. And that was that for the night.

The next morning, when they came to the town of Hawthorn, it was bustling with activity.

"Welcome to Hawthorn." Andrew said.

"Nice place." Finn replied.

All in all, it was as Andrew said, and in two days they were at the town from where the Reichnott ruled over their territory. Andrew pulled in Roganta, and they joined the line of people entering the town.

The Chef leaned over to whisper to Finn.

"Just leave the talking to me." He said to Finn.

"Sure." Finn replied. The Sword Hero kept his hand on the blade, not drawing it but readying himself if he needed to.

They progressed through the line and soon enough it was there turn. Just like with Bourgraunds two guards stood at attendance watching and checking everyone who stepped through the town gate. Finn noted however that one of them was a demi-human, with a pair of dog ears sticking out of his head.

"State your business." The guard on the left, the human looking one, ordered.

Andrew gave him a beaming smile, before hooking a thumb over his shoulder. "We picked up a few strays and were looking for a place for them to call home."

The guard looked over Andrew's shoulder to see the group of demi-human kids peeking out of the windows. Many of whom still had bandages covering their forms. When they saw them the two guards tensed up.

"What happened?" The guard on the right asked. The way he said it carried the implications that if they didn't like our answer bad things would happen. To us.

Andrew waved on of the guards forward. Warily the guard on the right approached Andrew. The Chef leaned down and began to whisper into the guard's ear. Finn didn't know what Andrew was telling them, but from the way the guard tensed up even further and the white knuckled grip he had on his spear it couldn't been good.

The guard stepped away from the carriage and waved them through the gate.

"Head straight in then turned right after going three blocks. From there it's a straight shot to the orphanage. Tell the matron there what you told me, and she'll take care of the rest. Welcome to Hawthorn."

"Thank you." Finn said.

"Any time."

As they made their way through the town Finn leaned over to talk to Andrew.

"What exactly did you say to him?" Finn asked.

"Bit of lies, but mostly the truth. We found them being abused by a sick bastard and his gang of cronies. Killed them rescued the kids, just didn't mention that the bastard in question was a noble." Andrew explained.

As they drove through the town Finn watched as the kids poked their heads out of the windows to look around. Following the guards directions led them to a well furbished three-story building with a courtyard in the middle. Andrew stopped the carriage infront of the building.

There were other kids in the courtyard who had stopped moving as they pulled up. Some went inside to find someone while the others just stopped and stared.

Andrew had headed inside to find whoever was in charge. While Finn hopped off and opened the door. He looked at all the scared and frighten children and gave them the biggest smile he could.

"You're all safe now." He whispered to them.

It was the words that they had been hoping the most to hear and like a damm bursting. The kids began to cry. Tears streamed down their little faces as some surged forward, bowling Finn over. They hugged him and nuzzled him. The last bit of tension leaving their bodies.

"Thank you! Thank you for saving us…for taking us with you, please don't go away…" The youngest child whimpered. She clung to Finn's shirt, sniffling with tears streaming down her face.

At least they're not afraid of me anymore. Finn thought as another of the children wrapped their arms around him, sobbing and trembling. Not knowing what else to do, Finn held them until they stopped crying.

Andrew took that moment to walk out of the building, a matronly woman following behind him.

"It looks like someone's been accepted." Andrew said. He then gestured to the woman. "Finn, this is Miya."

Miya was an older woman with snow white hair. she had a set of curling ram horns and a collar of fluff around her neck. With a gentle smile she began to pull the children off of Finn.

She whispered soft words of encouragement to each one as she did, that seemed to calm the kids down. Soon enough she had them in an organized little herd.

"Now come along children, we need to get you all cleaned up and fed." Her voice had that motherly quality, soft but authoritative. She had them walking behind her as returned to the building.

Even Keel was following along behind her.

Miya led them to the entrance but stopped to cast a glance back at Finn. She looked Finn up and down. Her nose twitched and a frown settled on her lips.

"You too." She said.

Finn who had got up and dusted himself off looked at her confused.

"What?" He asked.

"You need to wash up too." She said, her frown deepened. "I can smell you from here. Come along now."

"But I don't..."

"Now." Miya's voice lost its softness and was now all steel.

Finn slumped forward and started to walk forward. He heard the children snicker at him.

"I don't need a bath." He muttered. Finn sniffed himself. "Do I?"

[I do not have smell receptors, so I cannot tell you that.] Owl said. [But it has been over a week since you have last cleaned yourself.]

"Well, you stink." Andrew said, snickering at Finn. That is until Miya turned to look at him. He stiffened at her look, then without a word joined him in line. Five minutes later Finn was soaking in a tub that filled nearly half of a room the size of an apartment.

Miya had taken the other kids to a different bath to clean them up herself. While Andrew had only stayed for a few minutes before he got up and left.

Finn slowly soaked in the tub, as he did his mind began to wander. About Bennett and Idol, what they had done and what they might have done next. They had other people backing them, Finn figured. People who would be mad that they got taken out.

He was standing on the edge of something complicated, and he had no idea what to do about it. So, he decided not to bother with it, unless it comes to bother him.

"Nothing I can do, except take things one day at a time, I guess."

Finn finished washing up, putting on the set of clothing Miya had laid out for him. He was now feeling much better.

Miya led everyone to a mess hall to eat. Andrew had finished bathing before the rest of them and was already there making brunch for everyone.

But after everything that happened Finn just didn't feel that hungry.

The rest of the party sat down and ate. The kids kept glancing at Finn between bites. Someone walked into the room and whispered into Miya's ear. Miya suddenly stood up.

"Excuse me."

All eyes followed her. The children hung on her every movement.

Miya nodded to Finn. Then she went straight to the door. Stopping only when she reached it. She put her hand against it and opened the door. Revealing four men, three of which were wearing finely made armor.

It was the man in the lead though that drew Finn's eyes.

He was a youngish looking man, probably in his twenties. He had dark bluish hair in a bowl cut with bangs at the front. A very slim build, and delicate facial features like a porcelain doll.

He had a pair of small, round, armless glasses that looked to be made of gold. And was wearing a dark blue overcoat and brown pants, underneath a long white cape.

He looked over the gathered children with a kind gentle smile, then his gaze sharpened onto Finn.

He took a step towards the seated Hero and bowed deeply at the waist to Finn. His actions shocked the others in the room who seemed to know the man.

"Finn Mertens, I would like to personally offer my thanks for your service this fine day." The man said.

"Oh, that's cool, I guess." Finn said, scratching his cheek sheepishly before he added. "Who are you?"

The man chuckled.

"My apologies. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Van Reichnott, and I would love to have a private talk with you. If you don't mind?"