Chapter 105 - Apologies

They rain pattered lightly against the puddles, plants and mud as Trey pulled down his cloak over his eyes. His black horns protruded out from beneath and his tail curled about the tree he sat against. The storm had died down to only a fraction of what it had been, and he felt at ease in the jungle.

He sighed. Maybe he had made a mistake in allowing Ezdeath to come with them at all. She had seemed alright, and he had originally pitied her when she was trapped in Xil’s tomb. He was definitely attracted to her, and even thought she was kind of funny. But after that display she had put on earlier, he was so turned off that he couldn’t even stand the thought of being in the same room as her. For her to try to put that wedge between Sithis and him was the equivalent of a thousand-fold smacks to the face. Why would she have tried to do that? Why would she have said those things? He grew angry just thinking about it. They would all be better off without her if that’s how she really was.

Across two trees in front of him he was able to see an injured parrot enter a nearby clearing. It was a rather small parrot, beautiful, and probably still young. It actually surprised him as it looked nearly identical to the palm cockatoos from earth. Did they have identical species here? They did have horses and dogs, sheep and pigs, and many others. So he shouldn’t have been too surprised. The black feathers and frill atop the parrot’s head alongside its red cheeks gave these types of parrots a very unique and cool look. He admired the bird for a long time as it hopped on one leg further in, until he noticed that its wing and other leg were actually injured. He grew concerned and hastily stood up to walk over to the poor creature. Coming closer to where it hopped to pause next to a large tree, Trey looked about and saw no other animals nearby. Whatever had injured this bird was now long gone, so he approached it carefully until he was about a foot away.

The bird had noticed him coming and had began squawking loudly as he did, but it refused to unfurl its left wing or use its left foot, so in its panic it fell into the mud and tried frantically to escape the approaching human.

“Oh stop it.” muttered Trey as he gently picked up the bird. The animal tried to struggle but failed in getting away, and Trey remained firm but gentle in his grip until the parrot had become calm to look up at him sideways. Trey sat down next to the tree and began stroking the head of the parrot before holding out a fruit he’d stashed in his cloak.

“Want it?” asked Trey as he placed the parrot in his lap and nudged it towards the fruit. The rain was still beating down, but the tree was giving them some shelter. The parrot eyed the man and then the fruit, before looking back up to the man to sit in contentment without moving. “You’re quite the cutie aren’t you?”

“That’s what I had thought when I first saw you,” a woman’s voice called out from the jungle. Trey looked up to see Ezdeath walking slowly over to where he sat. “Though that parrot gives you a run for your money, as you would say.”

Trey grimaced and didn’t reply as he looked back down to the bird.

“You are quite trusting you know,” commented Ezdeath as she continued to approach him, and slowly placed herself next to where he sat. “I could attack you right now and you’d be all alone, taking that sword and void essence for myself like you told Sithis to do.”

“The others would hear us fighting before you got the better of me, we’re not too far off,” replied Trey unconcerned as he pulled out a healing potion and began to pour it down the injured animal’s throat. “I thought I had told you to leave. Why are you still here?”

“You think I’m pretty, do you? Or so you had said before you left...” said Ezdeath with a sly grin.

Trey straightfaced her as he looked up. “You need to go.”

There was an awkward silence as Ezdeath stared back at him, and she sheepishly avoided his gaze. “Master, I-”

“I’m not your master, Ezdeath. And I’m not interested in having you around. Why are you still here?” Trey was getting angry. “I’m not going to say it again. You need to leave.”

“That’s not fair!” Ezdeath exclaimed, now visibly upset - rainwater glistening against her porcelain skin. “I don’t have anywhere to go! I… I made an oath to Eleknar - to protect any heir that he may have. You would strip that away from me? Why? And I like it here! I like Ashe and Izumi, I like Napoleon… I haven’t had friends in so long. Please...”

“Well you’re sure as hell not staying with us after that little show you put on.” retorted Trey as he finished healing the parrot and set it down in front of him. The parrot squawked and flapped its wings to test them out. “You’re absolutely gorgeous and you’re quite capable. I’m not at all concerned for your safety with how strong you are, and you’ll easily be able to seduce as many men as you want with those looks. Go find a sugar daddy and leave us alone.”

Ezdeath looked dismayed as she stared at Trey with an open mouth. “What even is a ‘sugar daddy’? Trey, I didn’t MEAN it when I said those things! I was only teasing!”

“You OBVIOUSLY weren’t teasing Ezdeath!” snapped Trey with a glare. “So now you’re a jerk AND a liar! You were dead serious! Why the hell you’d try to make Sithis feel like I think of him as nothing but garbage is beyond me. I don’t know WHAT was going through your head but I do NOT want anyone like you around us. People with a toxic attitude like that, like you, can go make ‘friends’ elsewhere. You’ve only been around for a few days, and I’d hate to see what it would be like if you stayed around for longer if you’re already saying things like that.”

Ashe and Izumi had followed Ezdeath from behind and were listening to the two talking. Izumi wore an expression of concern and Ashe looked gloomy.

“Trey, can we talk to you in private?” asked Izumi cautiously with her hands clasped behind her.

“What about?” said Trey angrily.

Ashe snorted in protest. “Just COME!”

She walked over to where Trey sat next to Ezdeath and yanked on him hard to pull him up. Beneath him, the parrot squawked and flapped its wings to fly away into the drizzle of the storm.

“Actually I’m going to stay with Ezdeath,” said Izumi as she knelt down next to the succubus who was trying to hold back tears. “Ashe, can you fill Trey in?”

“Fill me in-” Trey was cut off by a hard shove to his back as Ashe moved him along and further into the jungle. They had not gone but five yards until Ashe turned him around briskly.

“Trey, you are way WAY overreacting here. We heard what happened. What’s your problem?” Ashe folded her arms angrily.

“Oh, OH!” Trey sneered back at Ashe and leaned forward. “MY PROBLEM!?

It was the first time Trey had ever raised his voice to either of the Earthborn girls, and Ashe froze up with the unexpected retort.

Trey scoffed. “You say you know what happened. Ok. Fill me in princess.”

“Wow.” replied Ashe. “You’re being very rude right now-”

“I wonder why.” snapped Trey. “You come to me high and mighty, making a scene about something you weren’t even a part of. You know I usually don’t care when you pull this kinda crap but right now I’m not really in the best of moods so can you lay off me?”

“The ENTIRE group thinks you are way out of line Trey. EVEN RIVIA! It isn’t just me, so if you have a problem with what I’m saying why don’t you go tell it to everyone else.” Ashe regained her composure and stood her ground. “What makes you think you have the right to just tell Ezdeath to leave without asking us for our opinions?”

“How can you think it’s ok for her to-”

“SHE WAS TRYING TO FLIRT WITH YOU TREY!”

Trey rolled his eyes. “A real FINE job she did with that. Don’t try to pull that one on me Ashe, I don’t know what was going through that girl’s head but that was just toxic.”

“OH my GOD!” Ashe threw up her hands before wiping the rain water out of her eyes, and began to yell. “You are SUCH an IDIOT! She’s been alone for hundreds of years and was just trying to make SMALL TALK WITH YOU! AND EVEN IF SHE WAS SERIOUS WOULD IT REALLY MATTER SO MUCH THAT YOU’D KICK HER OUT OF THE GROUP ON HER FIRST TIME DOING SOMETHING LIKE THIS!?”

Ashe stopped her screaming and stared Trey down until he buckled under the peer pressure. Putting his hands on his hips he looked irritated and down to the side to avoid her gaze. She walked up to him and forcefully moved his face back to meet her stare again.

“Trey… look. I know that you’re not very trusting of people after what we’ve gone through. All the hardships that have come at us. But throwing Ezdeath away like that not only is a stupid idea for practical reasons, but it’s downright mean. You’re being mean.”

Trey just continued to scowl.

Yet Ashe pressed the subject even without a reply. “Trey! Not all people from this place are bad people! You need to learn to let go!”

Trey folded his arms and defiantly huffed back at the blonde woman. “Let go? I am solely responsible for Jason’s misery over the past half year, or however long it’s been - eight months? Elise and her family died because the king wanted something I had. Don’t even get me started on the people who live in Teretog. And the cultists? Jesus. People are shit, and they've been particularly shit ever since getting here to Nagochus. We can’t even leave Ornthas or the Lawless Lands because of the bounty on our heads Ashe.”

“That has NOTHING to do with Ezdeath!” exclaimed Ashe. “Atharost, Napoleon and Sithis - and even Talshy are ALL from this place Trey! And they are family to you!”

“That’s different,” Trey retorted.

“NO IT ISN’T! You haven’t even given her a chance! Imagine if that was you sitting over there crying because the first people to show you kindness in ages suddenly don’t want you around anymore!? That the religion you’ve grown up on and devoted has suddenly been stripped from you by the highest possible authority? She’s not a bad person Trey!” Ashe sighed and slapped him hard on the shoulder. “Get a grip man. She fawns all over you. She didn’t leave after you went to go on your pouting escapade and instead nearly had a panic attack because you ‘didn’t want her’ anymore. Not only does she have nowhere else to go, but I think she genuinely likes being with us. And you really hurt her by doing what you just did.”

Ashe held up a hand as Trey was about to protest. “Sithis is completely fine. You made your point loud and clear. Neither Sithis nor Atharost are upset, and they even tried to comfort her when you left. Napoleon, as always, was a little ball of sunshine and just kept giving her head pats.”

Trey stood confused. “They did?”

“THEY DID!” yelled Ashe frustratedly. “Like I said, even RIVIA thinks you’re overreacting! She even came over and told Ezdeath that she could come try to change your mind - and I DON’T THINK SHE WAS BLUFFING! If you don’t believe me then go ask them yourself! Like I said, we ALL think you are WAY overreacting! Trey… seriously. She was just wanting an excuse to talk to you and she fucked up what she meant to say. It’s obvious by the way she looks at you and treats you, and even how she talks about you when you’re not around. It makes all the other guys here jealous if you can’t already tell, even your home boy Jason. To her, you are her knight in shining armor, Eleknar’s Heir, the chosen one - Vatosis Inferna… whatever that means, that took her away from the big bad lich. EVEN WHEN IT WAS HER THAT SAVED YOUR SORRY ASS FROM AZOTH! Start acting like it instead of the grade A and immature asshole you are right now.”

She took Trey by the hand and led him back over to where Izumi and Ezdeath sat. “Go apologize to her. Now.”

He wasn’t sure he believed what she was saying, but if everyone else thought he was in the wrong… well, he was probably in the wrong. He had to admit that. His friends weren’t stupid and he trusted their judgement. Reluctantly, Trey nodded and began to trudge forward to where Izumi sat with her arms wrapped around the upset succubus.

“Hi…” said Trey awkwardly with Ashe staring daggers into his back. “Ezdeath… would it be ok if I talked to you alone?”

Ezdeath didn’t raise her head but nodded, and Izumi got to her feet after giving the girl a final hug. Together, Ashe and Izumi slowly walked back to the cabin before Ashe gave another mean glare backwards as they departed.

Trey was quite uncomfortable, but tried not to make that obvious as he slunk down against the tree in his original spot from earlier. The rain was still lightly pouring, and Ezdeath was absolutely soaked. She still wore the same tattered clothes she had on when first in the tomb and looked absolutely miserable. Trey saw that she had been crying hard and immediately felt guilty. He took his long black cloak and wrapped it around her before laying back against the tree again.

“Hey… So Ashe and I obviously had a talk.”

Ezdeath didn’t respond and continued to stare at the ground.

“You know, I kind of have a hard time trusting the motives people have anymore. Not that it’s a good excuse, but if I overreacted… and I probably did, well. That’s why.” Rubbing his forehead to alleviate the pressure building, he wrapped his arms around his knees and bent forward. “I really try my best… to be a good person. Sometimes, and honestly a lot of the time - I’m an absolute failure.”

He shook his head, wiped away droplets of water from his face, and coughed once. “I’m sure Telipe probably thinks I’m a terrible person, as does Jason.”

Trey paused, then smirked - droplets of water still sliding down his face amidst the tropical drizzle. “Definitley Jason. I think that today is a good example of how my moral compass is off, or how my ability to rationally think when I become emotional is seriously lacking. I failed… and I am sorry. Truly sorry, if I hurt your feelings Ezdeath. If there’s any way I can make it up to you, please let me know.”

Ezdeath sniffled and rubbed her eyes to look up at Trey from underneath her curved black horns. For someone so powerful, it was odd to see her like this. “So I can still stay with all of you?”

Trey nodded. “Yeah. You can stay.”

Ezdeath slowly nodded in turn, and turned back to stare at the ground. “I should say sorry too. I didn’t know what it meant to you… I really wasn’t trying to drive any wedges between you and your friends, Trey. I don’t know what I was thinking. In a way, I really had a hard time believing what I was hearing. That doesn’t mean that I meant it maliciously, it just sounded too good to be true - that you would give them up like that to make them happy.”

She pulled her hands up to hide part of her face, and scrunched up her knees to her chest. “And then when you unchained my soul and walked out, I felt like such garbage. Like trash, like Eleknar didn’t want me anymore. It was different from when you unchained Sithis and Atharost, they knew you still wanted them with you. But for me, when you told me that I had to leave, it hurt so much. I don’t have any friends left alive, Trey. They were all killed. And even if I did, it’s been over a thousand years since I last saw them. Would people even remember me if they were still around? And finally you came and got me out… The Heir himself. I had tried so many ways to kill myself over the centuries, but Xil wouldn’t let me do it. Every time I would commit suicide to rid myself of the misery that tomb brought to me, he would just bring me back and laugh at my contempt for him. But now I’m here! I’ve made NEW friends! And I have never been so happy before!”

She looked up to him and placed a hand on his own. “I don’t think any of you realize how much I owe you and appreciate what you did. I realize that we started off as enemies, but you forgave me for that after I realized who and what ou were. I am so sorry about the things I said today, and I will never say anything like that again. Just please, don’t ever leave me behind…”

Now he felt even more guilty. She seemed genuine. But at the same time, it was offputting that she was so focused on ‘who and what’ he was. She didn’t care about him, not him. She cared about Eleknar, and what Trey was as the Heir - or more recently, the Vatosis Inferna.

He put his forehead in one hand and shook his head. “No Ezdeath, you don’t need to apologize. I was wrong and jumped to conclusions when I shouldn’t have. I was a jackass. If you can forgive me, then I’ll try my best not to act up like that again.”

Ezdeath giggled slightly, sniffled again - resting her head on his shoulder. “Sithis was telling me about how you don’t trust people, and why. It must have been hard to go through what you did.” She moved her hand over to his again and this time grabbed it to hold it in her own. “Do you really think I’m gorgeous?”

Trey suddenly blushed - even despite knowing that she was trying to manipulate him. He couldn’t help it, she was a 10/10. “Well of course… it’s obvious. You’re beautiful.”

It was Ezdeath’s turn to blush. “I’m just curious is all. And I forgive you.”

Trey looked down at her hand, and wrapped her fingers in his own. “Thanks. Also, could you try to get along with Rivia? I know you two started off poorly, but I’d really like it if you got along.”