"It can't be. I remember clearly—it was right here."
Aki still remembered the image: the Tyrant raising that black greatsword high.
She couldn't bear to look even one more second. She'd run, forcing back tears.
If Cid had died—even if he'd been torn to pieces—he should've been here.
"Could it be…"
Noin thought of one optimistic possibility.
Maybe Cid wasn't dead. Maybe, clinging to his last shred of clarity, he'd dragged himself somewhere safer and more secluded.
She didn't voice the guess.
To be honest, Noin had held a little resentment toward Aki—Cid was a longtime companion from the same Familia, after all.
But seeing Aki's raw, unfeigned pain, Noin let it go.
Even if they weren't from the same Familia, Aki was still their companion too. Noin didn't want this ending either.
So before they truly found him, she couldn't hand her friend a flimsy hope.
However… Aki had already arrived at the same possibility herself.
"Noin… could Cid maybe…?"
Aki didn't dare finish the sentence.
The people who hope the most… fear disappointment the most.
And often the result is: you hope on your own—and you break on your own.
"Let's search around. With those injuries, even if he can still move, he can't have gotten far."
Noin checked the medicines she had on her.
The recent big battle had burned through a lot—especially their panacea, which was now completely gone.
The one piece of good luck was that they still had some emergency, life-saving healing drugs.
As long as they could find him—so long as he still had even a breath left when they did—it wouldn't be too late.
The two of them left and began searching, not noticing any movement back where they'd been.
The slime Cid left behind waited until they were gone, then began writhing at high speed.
Before long, it found Cid himself.
"So soon?"
Cid had assumed that after a fight this violent, the Astrea Familia wouldn't have the bandwidth to worry about him.
And that area was dangerous—how could they have gotten there that quickly?
"Because of the big battle just now?"
Even from far away, the commotion had been enormous.
They probably realized Chardo had already left that zone, so they rushed over immediately.
Cid recalled his slime equipment.
Now it was time for Mob Cid's performance.
When Filvis saw his "true face," her pupils practically exploded.
Not because of his face, though—
"Lord Shadow, your injuries…! Please—go to the Dian Cecht Familia or the Miach Familia, quickly!"
Even though the wound was stitched, the torn clothing alone made it obvious how terrifying that slash had been.
"Huh? This? It's just a fatal wound."
Cid glanced down. The slash he'd taken back during his "mob phase" still wasn't healed.
He'd taken that hit on purpose—and he'd left it unhealed on purpose.
With a wound like this, his "injured person" act would actually be believable.
Wait—if I put it that way, I also counted as seriously injured during that fight just now. Conditions were… kinda equal?
"You literally just said it's a fatal wound!"
Filvis had no idea what he was thinking. She was panicking.
Who gets injured like that and still acts like nothing happened?
"It's fine. This isn't from the fight just now. If I'm hiding my strength, getting a little hurt in a battle like this is normal. I deliberately didn't repair it."
Cid pinched Filvis's ear, successfully calming the little elf down.
Her face turned a bit red, though—hopefully she wasn't angry.
"…Lord Shadow, you can touch my ears whenever you like. But right now, please go get treated first."
Even after having a sensitive spot touched, Filvis forced herself to stay composed.
Seeing Cid so unconcerned, she also guessed the injury wasn't truly dangerous to him.
But it looked far too frightening. He had to be treated immediately!
Lord Shadow was powerful—reassuring, even—but sometimes he didn't consider her feelings enough.
"Alright, alright. I'll go get treated."
Cid withdrew his hand reluctantly.
Elves really did share that same "dead serious" streak, didn't they?
Still—using Ryuu as a reference point—Filvis was already remarkably restrained.
Cid pulled back the magic stitching threads, went somewhere farther away, and flopped down "dead."
Face-down. One arm stretched out. A single finger pointing dramatically forward.
He lay there quietly, waiting to be found.
About two minutes later, he heard a familiar voice.
"Cid? Is that you, Cid? Aki—we found him!"
"He's still breathing… thank goodness, Cid is alive!"
"Hurry back and get Mary. I'll feed him some medicine first."
"Okay—I'm going!"
Cool liquid slid down his throat. Cid felt happy… and also not that happy.
His flawless acting hadn't been exposed—this was his acting.
But his exquisite "mob collapse pose"—a classic on the level of the legendary face-first pratfall—didn't even get a single comment.
Well… if nobody even noticed the pose, that meant he'd performed "mob" convincingly enough.
Thinking the day's chaos was probably finished, Cid simply went to sleep.
Though using a thigh as a pillow didn't make for the most restful nap.
...
The next day, when Cid opened his eyes, Hestia was staring at him with alarming energy.
When she saw he was awake, she finally let out a breath.
"Cid-kun, how do you feel?"
Can I say I slept great?
"Lady Hestia… I'm a little sore."
"Then you're basically fine. You really are an adventurer—tough enough to survive."
Hestia smiled in relief, then chopped him with a hand-knife.
"Cid-kun, you're my Familia member! Running off and playing hero without your goddess—if I round it up a bit, how is that any different from making me a widow?"
"Widow?"
"No arguing! This time I'll let it slide because you had your reasons, but next time you're in danger, run—understood?!"
"…Understood."
"That was too quiet. Louder—no, forget it, you can't speak loudly right now."
Hestia stood up, preparing to call the others.
Just because last night's battle was over didn't mean everyone got to rest today.
Post-battle cleanup was its own headache.
Hestia, aside from being good at eating, sleeping, and reading, didn't have much else—so she'd stayed here to watch over Cid.
"I'm going to call your big sister over. She cried so much last night. Cid, you'd better remember—your life doesn't belong to you alone."
With that, Hestia turned and left.
Cid, meanwhile, was already worried about this door.
With Alise's personality, in her panic she might actually smash the door off its hinges.
I shouldn't have to pay for it, right?
Shadow's little stash had to be used to build Shadow Garden—he couldn't waste a single valis!
Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door.
"Come in."
Cid didn't think much of it—then watched Alise walk in.
"Wait. Who are you?"
"Huh? I'm Alise."
The red-haired girl looked even more confused than he was.
Their last meeting had been… the last meeting, right?
Had Cid really forgotten his big sister that quickly?
"No. Alise can't possibly have this personality… and your voice is so quiet."
Cid desperately wanted to rub his eyes.
Was he still asleep? Was this a dream?
Was this really the red-haired gorilla he knew?
"Looks like you've got plenty of energy, Cid. Good."
Alise kept speaking softly and tiptoed over to the chair by the bed.
Looking at Cid in the sickbed, she had a thousand things she wanted to say.
But when those thousand thoughts converged… she couldn't decide which sentence should come first.
After struggling for a long time, she simply reached out and held Cid's hand.
"Cid… thank you for being alive."
....
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