Chapter 22: When That Pillar Came Crashing Down

Reimuz POV

Taking a quick glance over my shoulder, I notice Celes has finally left. Good. I sigh and focus my gaze ahead. Cynthia hugs me tighter, burying her crying face on my chest. Such a pleasurable reunion, but I know we’re both past that now.

Pushing her hair to the back of her ear, I murmur, “Cynthia… Don’t make me do this. I do not want to kill you for the second time.”

Cynthia stares back into my eyes, unable to stop her own tears from flowing.

“Kei… I’m as guilty as she is… So if you want to kill her… Then you need to kill me as well…” she groans, croaking in between her sobs.

You know I can’t do that…

I pat her head and push her away from me slightly. Increasing the intensity backing my gaze, I glare at the figure standing behind her.

“So it is you,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. It’s indeed the maid working for the Ramburg mansion.

The girl smirks a playful smile. “It’s been a few days, Master Reimuz,” she retorts back, moving her index finger to the corner of her mouth.

Seriously? Acting cutesy even on this situation? The gall of this bitch...

“Kill Zone,” I murmur, activating my deadly skill.

A dark miasma spewing out strong paralytic poison emits around me as the epicenter, covering a small area in this forest with a poisonous toxin that is harmful for all living beings—except for me. A single breath of this dark mist is all they need for them to fall on their knees. Disregarding my childhood friend gasping for oxygen on the ground, I turn my shoes on this girl wearing a maid outfit. I grab her by the neck and lift her off from her sorry state.

What a shame. For such an innocent looking woman to be this twisted, looks can be deceiving indeed. Tightening my grip on her neck, I shake my head and croak a laugh. There’s no need for mercy; these types of human beings are the worst in the lot. I know, because I am no different.

“Cyn……th…ia…” she reaches out a hand and grasps my shirt, her eyes bursting into tears.

“Kei… Please…” I hear Cynthia groan.

Damn, my chest constricts with the residing guilt in my heart. I release the girl from my choke-hold, deactivating my skill at the same time. The mist clears and the air is clean once again.

“Leave… and never return…” I say, resisting the urge to dwell in my emotions.

This is it—my final ultimatum. Maybe I want her to change. Or maybe I want her to see how beautiful this world is. I don’t even know why I’m letting her go myself. I know that with this, I am betraying the expectations of my friends, but I had to do it. Even though I know they’re both but a victim in all of this, someone also need to pay for their heinous crimes. But one thing’s for sure. If I let the authorities have them, they will meet their fate—and my conscience wouldn’t want that to happen.

“Come with us, Kei…”

I shake my head and smile, bitter emotions swirling in my chest. “I’m sorry, I already found my place in this world.”

“Kei…” she murmurs my name again, longingly.

“Cyn… You two really need to go… I’m giving you this last chance…”

One glance. Crunching on her lip to hold a sob, Cynthia gives me a quick glance full of pent up emotions she probably held inside her for three long years, and picks up her friend. Until her shadow is gone, I watch her totter away, leaving nothing but ashes of our former self. Maybe this is the wrong choice, maybe it’s the correct decision—I don’t really know myself, but perhaps the future could tell.

“You’re letting them go?”

Cliona suddenly materializes on my shoulder, murmuring some words that I haven’t thought of answering. Much more she feels… weightless.

“I guess I am… For now…”

I look skyward and hope; that they too could find their place in this world.

Celes POV

Sylphie picks me up and drags me back into town, to where Reimuz instructed me to wait obediently. Puzzled and confused, she tosses me on the bed to shake my brain to work. I sit up and lean my back against the wall. I reach to my pillow and stifle my sobs—wracking sobs that cause my ribs to ache—with it.

“What would you like to do, Lady Celes?” My trustee companions asks, none of the usual bright smile that peers on her lips. She’s mad. And she’s not the nicest spirit when she is.

“Just give me some space,” I murmur, trying to sound strong, but her face retained its neutral expression, telling me that my attempt at lying did not work.

“It’s better if you sort this out yourselves,” Sylphie advises with a gentle tone. I nod, and she dissipates into spirit particles. “Just call me if you need me,” she whispers, using her motherly tone that I’ve always relied on.

How can this relationship possibly work out if I follow my heart and this is what I get? I close my eyes, and involuntarily, my thoughts turning to that day when I accidentally heard his oath.

“Haha, I don’t really know myself. Call me impulsive, but at that time, I just don’t want to see her sad. That’s why even if you don’t know, I’ll find a method myself.”

His promise made me happy, more than I have ever been. My heart jumped to my mouth, squealing like a little girl. But his next words were my undoing.

“As I said, I don’t know. I don’t even know as to why I’m here… But I feel like as long as I’m with Celes, that’s all I need. For now at least. And that sword is something very important to her. That’s why I want to find a way.”

I open my eyes and gaze into the moonlight streaming from our window, memories of our time together flashing through my mind. The holding hands, the kissing, the cuddling, the lovemaking… I don’t want our relationship to end, I don’t want to separate with him, but this is it… I need to leave and rethink things through. Whether this is just a simple foolish love or something serious, I need to make sure, or I’ll just end up getting broken in the end.

My thoughts scatters when I hear the door open. He’s here, I just know it. He put some stuff on top of our table and climb on the bed to sit beside me. I want to run and be alone, but my legs fail me. Gingerly, he pulls me into his arms, burying his face into my hair, inhaling me softly.

“Celes,” he says my name in an aching voice that almost undid my heart. Anymore, and I’m terrified that I might burst into tears. “Stop crying, Celes, please,” he whispers, kissing my neck. He continues to kiss me, to woo me, but I remain cold and silent.

“Celes, tell me what’s the problem. We can sort this out, I don’t want you mad,” he murmurs, planting a tender kiss on my cheek.

I roll my eyes.

“Problem? You! You’re the problem!” I snap at him, and he stops kissing me.

This time I managed to pull away from his embrace. He sit crossed leg in front of me and I do the same. I give him a good glare—a questioning glare—and his eyes widens and his face darkens, but I ignore it and continue.

“You haven’t told me anything, Reimuz. Nothing! I know nothing about you,” I vent, my throat parched with all the crying.

“Celes, please,” he reaches out a hand to me, but I shrug it off. “If I could make you understand—”

“Then tell me what I need to know!” I scream, my voice packed with anger unforeseen. “I don’t know what to believe Reimuz, everything’s so fucked up my head’s in pieces.”

“If you’re worried about her, she’s nothing Celes. It’s all in the past. She’s nothing but a sister to me. Please, you have to believe me, Celes. I do not mean to hurt you,” he gazes into my eyes, and I see his fears showing on his face. “I just wanted to keep you out of harm’s way. She's armed and her friend is mentally unstable—God if something were happen to you, I shudder to think… I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

Suddenly I feel nauseous. I need to know him better than this. I need to know the extent of his feelings for me.

“We barely know each other,” I say, not exactly meeting his sincere gaze.

“Celes, please—”

“Stop it with the “please!” You’re a grown man, Reimuz. Be clear at what you want to say!” I snap again, and this time I have his full attention.

He grit his teeth and swallow. What? If you’re gonna get mad, then feel free. But for a moment, he closes his eyes and turns still. He takes a deep breath, as if to clear his mind of unneeded thoughts, and when he reopens them, he grasps my hand and kisses my knuckles.

“Celes, I’ll be lost without you. How many times would I to say this just to reassure you? You know I’m spellbound by your beauty, your kindness, your innocence, your pointed ears, your sharp and witty tongue, your sweetness—the list never ends. Celes, if you’re a witch, you cast some extreme magic,” he murmurs, kissing my knuckles again. I flush a little and shift my head to face the other way. “That’s how much I love you, Celes,” he mutters softly, making my heart leap.

“And I love you, too.”

He sighs. “So why can’t we work this out peacefully? I do not want to fight with you.”

“Yes, you say you love me, but I don’t even know why you like me. I don’t get it, Reimuz.”

“Do I need a reason, Celes?”

“No,” I say, feeling defeated.

“Then that’s the end of this argument, Celes. I see no reason to continue,” he says, showing his full toothed smile with a hint of tears. He leans to me, but I hold my hands up to deny his kiss.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

“I’m going back in Altea… I need time to think… To think about us.”

He gape at me, trying to assess the weight of my words. All of a sudden, his gentle mood shifts. He frantically run his hands through his hair, fear and anxiety reflects into his eyes again. Not a trace of the gentle Reimuz a while ago—just as if… he’s a different person entirely. I’m scared… Who is this guy?

“You’re one needy bitch.”

In one swift move, he whips his hand across my face. Hard. What? My eyes widens at the palpitating sensation on my cheek, but his sudden change of demeanor surprised me the most.

‘Lady Celes, should I?’ Sylphie murmurs at the back of my mind and her voice brings me back to the harsh truth. Back to the cold reality.

Reimuz just slapped me? Why? But before I could even process all of this information in my head, he snaps back to his old self again. This is so fucked up. What the hell just happened?

He puts a hand on his face, his eyes dilated. “Huh?”

He reaches out to me again, but fear grips my heart and I swat his hands away in reflex.

“Celes, I’m sorry,” he mutters in confusion, barely understanding what he did himself.

I shrug. “No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I realized it just now. You’re one fucked up guy, Reimuz.”

My head hurts just trying to think things through. I stand up alarmed and head for the door. Twisting the wooden knob, my thighs bristles. I glance behind. Reimuz entangled them both, and he looks up to me with pleading eyes.

“Celes, please don’t go… I’ll be lost without you… I didn’t mean it… I was just confused…”

I gaze at him and he looks… sincere. Not enough to sway my already made up mind though.

“Reimuz, I need some space to clear my head. This is all too sudden…”

He shudders and sobs after hearing my reply. My Goddess, what have I done?

“Celes, I don’t want you to go,” he murmurs on my skin, his voice full of yearning.

No more. Seeing him broken like this would only kill me. I need to go, now—while I’m still rational, or else my last vestige of self control would dissolve completely. I wipe the unwanted tears trickling on my cheek with the back of my hand, trying not to sob myself, and tear him off away from me. He lie on the ground, weeping, looking beaten and subdued.

That’s all the time I could spare. The longer I stay, the more I would want to comfort him instead. I step past the threshold and close the door behind me. I sag my back against the door, slowly sinking down on the wooden floors.

My vision blurs, and then I feel a familiar warmth wrapping around me.

“Celes… It’s okay to cry,” Sylphie says, burying my face on her bountiful chest. I start crying in earnest, agonizing sobs that tormented my chest.

“Sylphie,” I gasp. “This hurts, Sylphie. And it feels like it would never end.”

Returning her embrace, I place my hands on her back and yield myself to grief.