11. Apologies

Zesha let out a breath as he looked around, knowing fully well that he was alone.

"What did I do...?" He muttered quietly, glancing down at himself before getting lost in thought.

He blinded his own brother. His own brother. He didn't mean for that to happen, he really didn't. He was only protecting her because if he hadn't, Zepha would have broken Zangurak's orders not to have her harmed...

And then he went and broke said orders by backhanding her so harshly.

What if she was bruised? Did he give her a black eye? What did she ever do to make it 'her fault?" Nothing, of course. He just went and vented all that frustration, anger, stress-everything-on her.

"I hurt her again..."

He looked downwards, still thinking.

All I can ever do...is to hurt her...

Therius frowned a bit, looking around quietly. He had fully recovered from the paralysis needle, much to his relief, but Zepha was still blind, Callista's healing powers couldn't do much about that, and speaking of Callista she was...currently not in the best mood. The white knight thought it best to give her some time by herself and instead he focused on making sure there was no one around to threaten her or the others.

He glanced at Yin, who looked at him before shrugging once. She paused, before speaking.

"Don't worry. Zesha will come back. He's just pretty frustrated at everything."

"I see..." Therius paused, unsure if he wished to say anything, before Yin spoke up again, leaning against a tree close to him.

"How did you get past my needles so quickly?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking at her quietly as she continued to speak.

"I mean, usually people have to wait days before they regain their movement, but you were able to get past it in a matter of minutes..." Yin seemed to grin at that. "You know, you might actually make for a decent sparring partner if you weren't an enemy. You have guts to go at me barehanded. No one else has done that except for you, Zepha and Zesha."

He nodded in agreement. This Gurak woman was different than the other Gurak, as he discovered-far nicer than his torturous experiences with Zepha and Zesha. And she was a good opponent in battle, he admitted-he hadn't been expecting the needles in the first place. She lacked the formality of the Gurak twins, but made up for it in style, as he noted from her attire, and friendliness towards him despite the fact that they were supposed to be enemies. She almost seemed too easy to talk to, but it could always be a way for him to slip. Though he doubted that she could do too much harm to him at the moment...

He paused, before speaking. "I subjected myself to several types of poisons during my training as a knight. I felt that if I did so, I would be able to...increase my resistance greatly." Therius couldn't help but remember those times-General Asthar hadn't been too happy about it, but it proved to be worth the pain in later battles...

"Looks like it worked, then." The assassin tailor smiled at Therius in approval. "Perhaps I ought to drown my needles in stronger poison next time. Let's see how you do with that the next time we get a chance to fight."

Therius paused, before nodding again. "Agreed."

Yin let out a sigh. "Gee, do you have to be so formal? You're the only legitimate knight here, chatting with your everyday tailor who has the skills of an assassin. Surely you can give up a bit of formality..." She then paused, looking around. "Ah, crap. Lady Callista is gone."

"What?!" Therius got to his attention, looking around before starting to rush off. "Lady Callista..."

"Oy, no!" Yin pulled him back. "You're staying here with Zepha, because there are spiders here and I can't have you two being eaten alive while I'm gone! You don't even have a weapon with you!"

"A knight's duty," Therius hissed back as he tried to loosen his wrist from the other's grasp, "is to protect those who-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it! But you're still in no shape to fight!"

Therius gave her a look. "If I have to lose all my limbs and life to find Lady Callista and bring her back here, I will!"

Yin paused, before letting go of Therius. "Alright. You can go find her. But you're bringing a weapon in case." Yin took out a sword, handing it to him. "Here. Use it for now. I don't use it much, anyway..."

Therius nodded. "Thank you..." He paused, before rushing off further into the forest, hoping that Callista would be alright...

Yin heard Zepha cough a bit, and she turned to face him as he spoke.

"You actually trust that human?" He asked, a bit of sharpness in his voice.

Yin shrugged. "Trust? Enough for him to use a sword and not kill us? Yeah. Might as well-he doesn't even have any armor on to protect himself with. To save his life? Ehh...not yet." She chuckled a bit. "In fact, it makes me wonder if he'll be able to find Callista and come back intact. Without proper protection, he's a sitting duck...just like how he was with the needles earlier."

Zepha still didn't seem convinced. "Just make sure you get the sword back eventually. Even if you don't use it that often, you might need it sometime."

Callista looked around, trying to find Zesha.

He was still not back yet and it was starting to worry her. What if he got attacked by one of the spiders lingering around here? Or what if...?

It was then that she noticed a flickering of a reddish aura-an aura that she was far too familiar with by now.

"Zesha!?"

Her Gurak captor turned to face her, an almost bewildered look on his face as she made eye contact with him. Callista paused, before speaking again.

"Are you alright...?"

The other paused, before speaking.

"What are you doing here, Calli-I mean, human?" He managed. "Would your fellow human companion not be worried about you going alone?"

Callista glanced behind her momentarily, remembering Therius, before speaking. "Your brother and Yin were getting worried." She finally responded after a moment of hesitation.

The other let out a weak laugh. "I suppose I let my mind wander for too long..." He paused, before noticing her face. "Your face, it..."

Callista shrugged a bit. "I just healed it. It wasn't anything major."

"I see." He paused, before speaking again. "My apologies...about earlier. It wasn't...right to blame you for a mess that I obviously created."

"Oh-"

"You don't have to say anything else about it. I'm fully aware that it is my fault for slapping you in the face, disobeying Lord Zangurak's commands not to harm you, blinding my own brother, and nearly killing the white knight."

Before Callista could speak up, that was when Therius rushed into the clearing.

"Lady Callista! There you are-" He stopped midsentence as soon as he noticed Zesha. "So you were here as well..." He paused, before speaking. "We should head back. I don't believe going separate ways at this time would be a good idea-even if we are enemies."

Zesha didn't say anything for a moment, before finally nodding.

"...Agreed." With that, he turned on his heel and starting going the opposite direction where Therius came from, the other two following quickly.

Author note: Apologies for the delay in updates to any of my fanfics in this category, as writers' block and life outside fanfiction were keeping me busy. Hopefully I can update some other fics such as Carnevale di Felicita, perhaps put up a oneshot, and...

If I ended up starting another fic somehow soon (though it would be extremely insane for me to do so at this stage because I should REALLY update Carnevale di Felicita first), do you think you guys would be cool with a fic that takes place between the canon!characters of the Last Story and the carnie!characters of the Last Story (which is in my fic Carnevale di Felicita)? Thanks for your patience, and reviews, and I hope you continue reading this fic and the others I've written for the fandom! Thanks! XD