Back in the village, Baldric and Willow were already finishing up. The slavers realized that most of them were already frozen or defeated, and some tried to run away, but Luna, Ada, and G helped take them down. There were only a few left who attempted to fight back against them, but compared to their skills, the slavers struggling to fight back did not stand a chance.

"Must have gotten a good thirty by myself." Baldric said as they cleared the streets and watched Willow chase down some slavers, which he bit and slammed into the ground.

"Work those numbers up. I’m on thirty five." Luna said as she fired at a slaver and hit him on the shoulder. "Plus a walker, so I instantly win."

"Walkers only count as one." Baldric fired on one Luna missed. It wasn’t long before the sounds of gunfire finally stopped and the smoke shield finally vanished. What remained were dozens of men frozen, knocked out or wincing in pain on the ground. Both of them cleared each house and finally messaged Sylvie that it was all clear.

"Don’t suppose we can ask them for payment for all this?" Baldric said, which caused Luna to shake her head. She took off her large hat as both of them surveyed the area. Willow finally returned to his cub form and she picked him up.

=0o0=

The villagers returned, with Annie and Sylvie at the front. The villagers saw the damage at first as their homes were destroyed, but they thanked them when they saw Luna and Baldric rounding up the slavers. Some shook their hands while Luna pledged to help repay their homes so they could rebuild. Elizabeth and Shiny were with Stephen and Katie at the back, and the old woman held her hand the whole time. They were about to approach when Katie saw Luna, and she suddenly froze. She stopped Stephen and pointed at Luna.

When the old man saw her grey skin and ghostly pale grey eyes, his face quickly flared red with anger. Stephen picked up a rifle from the ground and pointed it at Luna.

"Everyone get away from her! Get away now!"

The crowd immediately parted while Luna and Baldric were confused as to why the village head was suddenly pointing a rifle at them. The two of them quickly understood what was going on.

Luna touched her face and found she did not have her sunglasses on. She forgot to hide her eyes.

"Stephen, it’s alright she’s friendly." Baldric assured the old man.

"No captain! Detain that woman right now!"

Some of the villagers tried to calm the old man down.

"Stephen, calm down. It’s over." Someone said to him while trying to get him to lower his gun.

"No! That woman! She is a murderer! She killed my son and his family!"

"Stephen calm down. She saved us-"

“This woman is no hero! She is a mass murderer! She killed an entire town by herself!”

"How could you know?" One of the villagers said to the old man, but the old shopkeeper’s eyes grew wide when she finally recognized Luna too.

"He's right! Stephen is right!" The woman pointed at Luna. "A woman with pale grey skin and white eyes! You killed my husband! Everyone she is a murderer! She is the skyguard butcher!"

The villagers started to murmur while they backed away from Baldric and Luna.

"That's right!" Another villager joined in. "I Remember her! She killed an entire town of civilians and soldiers!"

When the word skyguard was mentioned, Luna's face changed dramatically. She looked at Stephen coldly, who was shakily pointing the gun at her, and then she smiled.

"Your son was a soldier in skyguard?"

When he saw Luna smiling, Stephen became even more enraged. "He was! And you killed him along with his family! And an entire town of innocent people!"

"Innocent?!" Luna roared, "You dare call your son innocent?!"

"Luna, come on, don’t engage them." Baldric held her back as she tried to confront the old man. "They don't know what they are saying."

"My son and his family were good people. They were kind and you killed them all, even their children! Take her down! Everyone take her down! "

"If your son was there, then he deserved to die." Luna mocked the old man. "If his family was there, all of them deserved to die!"

"You murderer!" Stephen aimed the rifle, but Luna reacted quickly and used her hat to block the shot. The people cowered and backed away when the shot was fired, and Elizabeth, who was in the back of the crowd with Katie, tried desperately to see what was going on.

Luna was about to charge at the old man, but Baldric held her back.

"Luna by the maker enough! Don't make it worse!”

"Captain, arrest her! She should be tried for murder! She should be hanged and shot!"

"If anyone deserves their death, it was your son! He deserved his death!"

"Luna! Enough!" G yelled as he rode at Baldric’s shoulder.

"Luna stop it!" Ada yelled at her back.

"Don’t you defend them! When you don’t know what I have been through!"

The villagers quickly turned on Luna and Baldric, which only made her continue to lash out at them.

"Your son was an evil man!" Luna pointed at Stephen. "My only regret is that I killed your son too quickly! That they all had easy deaths! They all deserve to suffer even more!"

"You animal, my husband was just a trade in skyguard!" The elderly shopkeeper yelled out, with tears flowing down her face. "What did he ever do to you?!"

"They were all evil men!" Luna roared back at the old woman. "I did you all a favor by cleansing their evil from the face of Pandora! I sent them all back to hell where they belong!"

"Luna!"

"Dammit Luna enough!" Baldric and Ada yelled at her.

"I will kill you!" Stephen aimed his rifle again at Luna.

"Go ahead!" Luna drew out her pistol and pointed it back at the old man, while Tinkerton-G and Ada tried to talk her into lowering her gun.

Baldric got in the middle and tried to calm everyone down. Annie and Sylvie also joined in trying to placate the crowd. Elizabeth watched all of this in horror, and Katie, who was holding on to her, tried to get her away from the crowd. But when Elizabeth saw that the villagers were picking up guns and aiming them at Luna and the others, she escaped the old woman’s grip.

"No! Please stop!" Elizabeth used her powers, and a blast of air and light knocked everyone off their feet.

"Mage!"

Some villagers shrieked in fear.

"Heretic!"

The villagers suddenly scurried away from her when they found out she was a mage. They looked at Elizabeth now as though she was a monster, and some of them dropped the weapons they were holding.

"Elizabeth." Luna was the first to stand and called her to their side. "Let’s go."

Elizabeth approached her but looked back and saw that Katie was looking at her and slowly extended her hand to her, as if calling Elizabeth to go back to her side.

The old woman walked slowly towards her. Luna put her hands on her pistol, but Baldric stopped her. Katie held on to Elizabeth with tears on her face, as if pleading that she stay, but the child shook her head. The child gave Katie a hug, which she returned, then Elizabeth slowly let go, but the old woman held on.

"Don’t go."

"I’m sorry." That was all she could say.

"Elizabeth!" Luna yelled out. "Let’s go!"

The old woman finally let go and Elizabeth walked towards Luna, leaving Katie on her knees as she wept.

"You took everything away from me!" The old woman yelled out to Luna as they walked away from the villagers.

She stopped and looked back at the old woman. "And your son helped them take everything from me!"

"You murdered my son, my granddaughter! Kill me here too! Let me join them!"

Luna turned away and caught up with Baldric and the others. Elizabeth looked back and saw Katie was sobbing on the ground while Stephen and the villagers tried to console her. At the edge of the village, Luna grabbed all her pouches filled with gold coins and threw it back towards the village.

=0o0=

The walk back towards the landraider was completely silent. Annie, Baldric, Elizabeth, Shiny, and Willow were at the front, while Sylvie carried Tinkerton-G and Ada behind them. At the very back were Luna and the strider that followed them all.

The child looked back and saw Luna had her head down and was holding on to the reins of the mechanical horse that was walking alongside her.

"Why was everyone angry at us?" Elizabeth broke the silence. "We helped them, right?"

No one acknowledged her question.

Baldric, who was holding on to her hand, gave it a soft squeeze.

"Sunny, the world is complicated."