Pablo is laying down. Waiting for his eventual demise. He should've been more careful. He shouldn't have rushed. He should've waited.
Just like he is waiting now.
Even though he doesn't want to die, he waits for it.
Waiting for something doesn't mean you accept it. Pablo understands that feeling very clearly now.
He feels a light breeze wash over him. The pain on him disappears, replaced with the smell of sea.
He feels the hot sand on his back. Surprised, Pablo opens his eyes just to see the sun right over him. His eyes hurt.
"Damn…" He closes his eyes again, but then hears loud explosions around him. He looks around to see bombs being dropped from the sky. He can't see what drops them.
Panicked, Pablo gets up and starts running towards the sea. Lightning cracks in the sky, the sun is replaced by dense clouds.
The wind gets stronger, carrying the light frame of Pablo away from the sea.
"No!" Pablo keeps running, even though he doesn't know why.
All he knows is to run.
As he is running, Pablo notices a giant bird flying towards him. It looks monstrous.
"Somebody..! Somebody help! Please!" Pablo yells out in desperation, he has no idea what is going on.
He never did.
Yet he keeps running.
A bomb is dropped near him, the shockwave sends Pablo to the ground. The bird gets closer.
"I'm so scared…" Pablo yells as he gets up again. He notices a shrapnel hit his right leg, but that doesn't stop him from running.
He sees the sea getting closer, he is almost there. But the bird is now right behind him. It opens its beak, ready to eat Pablo.
"No!" Pablo yells, using his leftover energy for the last stretch.
"I'm almost there… I can't die now!" Pablo reaches his hand as he takes a leap.
The bird catches his shirt. But Pablo doesn't stop. His toes touch the water right before the rest of him is eaten.
The moment he does so, the sky clears, the bird is gone and the sun shines.
Pablo starts hyperventilating. He sits down to catch his breath. In front of him is a woman, facing the sea. Pablo deep down recognises her, but chooses not to.
"Such a shame, isn't it?" Her voice is like a lullaby. Pablo doesn't respond immediately, but after careful thinking, he speaks while panting.
"Yeah. After everything I did, I just died."
Pablo looks down, not wanting to look at the woman.
"But, it's not really your fault is it? It's his fault. It's always his fault. He acted emotionally and put you and himself in danger. It's always his fault, it's never yours." She says in a soft tone. Consoling Pablo.
Pablo doesn't respond, he likes the way her words make him feel. But it feels wrong.
The breeze picks up its pace, howling as the two are silent.
Pablo gets up, still avoiding to look at her.
"I shouldn't have said what I said. I was angry. I hated the person I have become by partnering with him. If I bumped into someone on the streets, I used to think about that all day." Pablo's tone is quiet, just barely loud enough for her to hear it.
"I killed a man a few days ago. And I'm pretty sure I would kill Arzt after I got what I needed." He reluctantly says.
She smiles, but Pablo doesn't see that.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Pablo doesn't understand, he raises an eyebrow.
"How so?"
She slowly turns around. As she does, so does Pablo. He avoids seeing her face.
"You've been hiding in your shell for so long, you had to come out of it eventually. And these are the first cracks. The lives of others can't be more important than yours, can it?" She gets closer to him.
As she takes a few steps forward, so does Pablo. Maintaining the distance.
"Face me." Her voice goes cold. Pablo gulps, his body freezing.
"No." He takes a step further.
She smiles again, opening her arms for a hug. A hug that Pablo won't accept.
"Even after death, you refuse to face the monster you have created."
Pablo closes his eyes. She keeps coming closer. Pablo stops going further as he sees the bird waiting for him. Waiting for him to leave. Waiting for him to take just one step further.
She hugs Pablo from behind, and rests her head on his shoulders.
"If you want to swim, you'll have to look at me."
Pablo violently shuts his eyes. Sobbing.
"But if you won't, then I won't mind helping you until you can." She wraps her hands around Pablo's face, wiping his tears gently.
The bird's beak is just a few inches away from touching Pablo's face. It doesn't move. It waits, patiently.
"What is it that you don't want to see?" She closes her eyes.
Pablo exhales, after a long time of trying to find the correct word, he finally breaks the silence.
"Myself." He speaks in the middle of his tears.
He opens his eyes, to see a mirror in front of him. The bird is gone. Through the mirror, he can see a little part of her face.
"It was my fault, not his." He admits it.
Hearing this, she backs away. With a sigh of disappointment, she turns to the sea again.
"Maybe you aren't ready after all."
Pablo's vision darkens, the world around him disappearing. But his sobbing doesn't stop.
"I really am nothing."
Pablo slowly opens his eyes, laying on the ground with Arzt's feet on his chest. Pressing him. It makes it difficult for Pablo to breathe.
"You aren't dead? The blood you lost will get the better of you eventually. But it looks like you're more stubborn than I thought." Arzt presses harder, Pablo gasps.
Pablo doesn't respond. He has no energy left to respond. The dream he had just now was so… vivid.
He feels rage in his chest. Being suffocated feels worse than Pablo thought. He wants to scream, roar, kill Arzt right here and there. Vent his anger at him, vent it at anything really.
"...I want to eat that leg of yours, so bad." Pablo speaks with his last remaining energy. The violent threat unsettles Arzt a little. But due to having the upper hand, he ignores it.
"You're not in the position to call the shots, are you?" As Arzt presses even harder, Pablo feels something in his chest.
Something more disgusting than rage. It's animosity. Pure animosity.
Suddenly, a mouth is formed on Pablo's chest right where Arzt's leg is. Arzt notices the shift.
"Hm?" But before he can react, his right foot is swallowed by the mouth.
The bite is smooth, and it doesn't struggle at all. It easily overpowers the bones.
"AGH!" Arzt screams in pain. Pablo is surprised by what he just did. His intent manifested as a mouth on his chest. He finally starts breathing as Arzt is holding onto his foot.
He notices his left arm is slowly but surely regenerating.
"My arm…" Pablo's eyes widen, he notices that he just ate something but it didn't come out of his mouth.
He feels too energetic and replenished. What did he just do? He still can't find the strength to get up however.
"Now you've done it!" Arzt shouts with pure anger. He pulls out his gun from his suit and points it at Pablo. He leaves his staff on the floor.
"They told me to keep you on the verge of death, but I don't care anymore! You're dying here and now!" He is intending to shoot.
Pablo's mind is still on the dream he just had. It was his fault, he accepted it.
And because of it, Tsuyoi had died. With pure desperation, Pablo yells with all his might. His voice cracks as he subtly sobs.
"Im so sorry! I'm so sorry Tsuyoi! I'm sorry I called you unreliable! I thought I didn't need you… I thought that was enough! I'm never enough, I never have been! All I do is leech off of other people… that's all I'm good at! I need you! I need you more than I need myself!" Pablo shouts, pain in his voice.
Arzt is surprised by Pablo's rant, surprised enough to not shoot as he starts to be amused by Pablo being this… pathetic.
"The dead won't come to save you, it never does." His finger ready to pull the trigger, he suddenly feels overwhelming heat coming from his left. Arzt quickly turns around. What he sees shocks him.
The room on his left is filled with blue flames quickly coming towards him. Arzt searches for his staff.
"I need to switch it, i need to-" He realises he just left it on the floor to get the gun. It's too far to reach in time.
The room is filled with flames that burn Arzt to the crisp. His suit erupts in flames. He stops breathing as his lungs burn. He holds onto the wall, barely alive.
Pablo isn't harmed however, as the flames seem to be selective.
After the fire clears, Tsuyoi enters the room. A smug grin on his face.
"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard."
Pablo's eyes widen, he is instantly relieved.
"You're alive!"
Arzt tries to breathe, he looks at Tsuyoi. It looks like the dead *did* come to save him.
"You're alive?" Arzt barely speaks, vomiting blood.
"Inconceivable! I know he was sliced in half. I saw it happen…" Arzt thinks, still trying to reach his staff.
Tsuyoi puts his hands in his pockets, watching every move Arzt does.
"I've had worse happen to me. And don't you dare attempt anything. It's over, you shitty old man. You're in the range of my treasure, you can't escape anymore. The moment you touch that thing, I'll turn you into a shish kebab."
Arzt understands that he is cornered now. He stops reaching for the staff, and realises it's over.
"...so this is the power of an A-Grade Elemental." Arzt speaks out, dropping on the floor.
Pablo is now up, he looks at Arzt, a subtle smile on his face.
"Yeah… some of us got the short end of the stick."
Tsuyoi approaches Pablo slowly.
Pablo feels guilty, and looks at the floor in shame.
"Tsuyoi. I'm-"
Tsuyoi grabs Pablo's left arm, and starts healing it.
"Eh, that's all ancient history now, dude. You're welcome." He pats Pablo's back as his arm rapidly regenerates, all wounds on his body now gone.
Pablo is left speechless, all he can do is smile.
"...thanks."
To make sure, Pablo checks his chest, the mouth from before is gone. He tries to forget about it and focus on Arzt.
The air smells burnt flesh, the two of them have smelled worse. So they aren't bothered.
Pablo crouches down and checks his pulse. Arzt is alive.
"He is alive. You can heal him, right? First we need to tie him." He gets up, looking at Tsuyoi.
"Yeah. Sure I can." Tsuyoi gets Arzt on his back and carries him.
Pablo follows him, a million questions on his mind.
"How did you do it? And how did you find me anyway?"
Tsuyoi chuckles.
"It wasn't that hard. I'm using half of my brain at all times anyways. I just regenerated. And for your second point, I heard Arzt screaming so I knew you were kicking ass. I followed the voice. But when I heard you scream, I picked up my pace."
Pablo shouldn't be surprised, but he is. When Tsuyoi mentions he ran faster when he heard him screaming, Pablo feels a strange feeling of gratitude.
"Oh yeah, just regenerated. That answers my question." Pablo rolls his eyes.
After some time passes, Arzt finds himself alive. But he can't see anything, nor can he say anything. His mouth is gagged by a sex toy and his eyes are blindfolded with… also a sex toy.
He tries to break free, but realises he is tied to a chair. He tries to scream but it comes out muffled.
"Oooooh. So this is what this room is for." He hears Tsuyoi speak, followed by a light cackle from Pablo.
He makes more noise, which is noticed by Pablo.
"He is awake." Pablo says. After hearing it, Tsuyoi opens Arzt's eyes and takes out the mouth gag.
After his eyes are opened, Arzt finds himself in a dark room with only a table, a chair and a singular lightbulb that is hanging from the ceiling.
"GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Arzt yells the moment he can.
Tsuyoi slaps Arzt, which shuts him up.
"Nuh uh. We aren't leaving until you tell us what we want."
Pablo and Tsuyoi found out the rooms leading to the vault weren't leading to it. This answered Pablo's question where he didn't understand why someone would leave such an important place open.
"You tell us how to get in that room, or you'll die." Pablo coldly reminds Arzt the power they hold now.
Tsuyoi shrugs.
"We actually found some numbers in one of the books. But that didn't work. It only opened another room." Tsuyoi makes eye contact with Arzt, his eyes widened as he realises what they did.
"Wait wait wait! I can explain!" Arzt shouts.
Pablo sits down and gets to his level.
"Okay, explain."
Awkward silence fills the room, the two wait for a response from Arzt.
"...i can't." Arzt exhales.
Tsuyoi shows the mouth gag and blindfold.
"That's where we found the toys we used on you."
Pablo looks at Tsuyoi with a little bit of embarrassment.
"Dude, don't say that. That sounds wrong."
Tsuyoi rolls his eyes.
"Whatever. Just tell us how we can enter there."
Arzt hesitantly looks around, then he faces the two again.
"I can't… they will kill me."
Tsuyoi shows little blue flames erupting coming out of his index finger, pointed at Arzt.
"We'll kill you anyway! In fact, I've heard being burned alive is the most painful death!"
Pablo nods.
"What he said. But I've got a different idea, Tsuyoi."
A menacing smile grows on Tsuyoi's face.
"Oh, a better one perhaps?"
Arzt starts panicking.
"What- What did you have in mind gentleman..?"
Pablo opens the door. Arzt freezes as he sees the 5 fourteen year old girls holding dangerous things in their hands. From bats to knives.
"I don't know if it's better, but I know it's probably immoral."
Fury on their face, they enter the room. Pablo and Tsuyoi head to the exit.
"You sow what you reap, or something like that. Have fun kids, don't forget to stop if he gives up." Pablo says before leaving the room.
They leave the room, leaving Arzt alone with the kids.
"No.. No… NOOOOOOO!" Arzt yells with despair, as the kids surround him.