Seth remained near the deceased men he had recently killed, sitting alone with his back leaning against a tree as he hugged his own legs together in front of his chest while his eyes were closed and he was breathing softly. With the heavy rain beginning to pour over him, the soaked boy shivered uncontrollably due to the bitterly cold air that engulfed him entirely.
The once-morning sky, which had transformed into dark gray clouds, where water droplets continued to fall upon him like tiny beads, creating puddles on the ground and causing dirt to turn into mud. But he wasn't too concerned about getting wet when his eyes were focused on the corpse lying at the ground a few distances away from him.
"Murderer!"
Jacky's echo called out loudly inside of his mind, which made Seth shut his eyes tighter before wincing from the mental pain. The screams kept on coming, followed by more voices of unknown origin, repeating similar words over and over again until it became too much.
Covering his ears, he tearfully shouted back at them, "I'm not a murderer!" Defending himself in frustration, he said, "I never meant to kill them!" His tone exhausted itself due to a lack of air in his lungs, leaving him panting heavily afterwards. "They left me with no choice; what else was I supposed to do?" Questioning these voices who kept on tormenting him, "Just go away and leave me alone!"
But no matter how much he told them, they simply didn't stop, as if they enjoyed seeing him in turmoil. "GO AWAY!" Louder than before, "Please, don't do this to me anymore!" Feeling completely helpless against these terrible things, "Just go away; I'm sorry." Begging for them to stop sinking further down to his depths
He felt extremely awful about having to kill them, even though it was out of self-defense. God knows Seth isn't a murderer, but it still doesn't feel right in the slightest. This is the first time in his entire life that he has killed someone with his own bare hands.
It is a sickening and gut wrenching feeling he is going to remember from now on; he had never expected it would hurt this badly, and now that he is alone in the cold with thunder rumbling and lighting flashing, sit near their corpses while he endures the mockery of the chants reverberating throughout his skull.
Was it legally right? Probably. Was it morally questionable? Yes, but for him, he would like to believe he acted in self-defense, but despite knowing this, Seth still feels bad for killing them. Even if they tried to kill him in return, it would hurt him to do so.
They weren't bad men, just misguided people who were either fueled by hatred or money. Nevertheless, Seth isn't one who is known for taking a life for himself, not like Billy is or Guan Yu. All his life, the teen has been passive, always the type of kid to run away and hide from danger.
However, the deeming voices became much more aggressive in their pursuits of mentally breaking him; he didn't know how much he could take of this, wondering if this nightmare would ever end, for it was becoming bearable to the point of almost going insane.
Just when things were getting worse, his attention completely shifted to the approaching footsteps of another individual, which made his eyes slowly open wide from the sounds, seeing a familiar silhouette standing not far from his spot.
Could it be another of those adventurers again? Possibly the spirits of the men he killed wanted revenge on him? The chances of this are slim, but a welcome change nonetheless, as he stopped caring about anything anymore when he murdered someone in cold blood.
But his dreadful anticipation completely shut off his accursed voices in his head when he saw who it was after the figure was close enough for Seth to see who it really is. "Billy?" Exhaustedly spoke the boy, whose voice was a mere whisper in his tired display.
A few more steps forward, the young gunslinger was shocked to see him at a place like this, especially with a fresh corpse of man laying just between them. "Seth?" He quietly uttered under his breath, eyes widened in a mixture of relief and surprise, "Why are you here, of all places?" Shaking his head in dismay, he was uncertain what to make of this scene.
"You see...I—"
"Is that a dead body?" Billy immediately noticed it, despite the heavy rain continuously pouring all over the forest they are in. "How in hell did you kill someone without my help!" He pointed his accusing finger towards his trembling friend, caring little about someone's death.
Seth was taken back by this response. He would have expected his friend to be horrified by what he had done, but instead, the unruly blond teen is more concerned about him than some stranger whom he is unfamiliar with. "It's not what it looks like!" Panicking as the boy tries desperately to explain it, "This is an accident; they attacked me out of nowhere!"
Eyes widening at this revelation, he nodded in understanding, "So that's how it is," assuming this in mere moments before glancing towards the dead body on the ground, "Okay," shrugging his shoulder in acceptance, "Come on, we should go now." Turning back to his friend, the blond urged him to get on his feet.
This...this doesn't seem right? Shouldn't they talk about this when he is responsible for having to kill another human being out of self-defense? Won't Billy at least be shocked at this action for taking his life even though he had to defend himself?
"What...what about the body?" Seth weakly pointed his shaky fingers at the corpse on the muddy floor. "Should we bury it somewhere or do something with it?" He stared at the blond teen who was listening to his words: "Can't we just do something right now?" Despite feeling so fatigued right now, he felt the need to give them a proper burial out of respect, regardless of whether they were his enemies or not.
Surprised, Billy took a step from this: "Seriously, Seth?" Raising his eyebrows in disbelief of the notion, "He tried to kill you, hasn't he?" Trying to make his friend understand the current situation they are in, he says, "Even if we do bury him, we don't have a shovel, and the weather right now is extremely awful," suggesting a different alternative that makes sense to him.
His friend is right, but it still doesn't sit well with him. Seth knows this is their only choice given the situation he was forced to partake in.Okay, "okay," slowly standing from the ground, he relaxed his tensed muscles for a moment before taking a few steps. "Let's go home," tiredly walking away from the corpse with his friend following him from behind.
Not looking back, the boy didn't waste a second glance at the man he killed just a while ago; there were other two bodies that were turned to salt, but the rain had already washed them off, so the possibility of finding them even during or after this harsh weather is near impossible.
Regardless, Seth is just happy they are finally heading back home, for all he wants to do right now is lay on the bed and sleep forever if possible. It is so tiring that he nearly collapsed a couple of times in the process, being saved by his friend every time before it was too late.
"Hey," Billy worriedly began in concern, "you sure you're fine?" Seeing the condition Seth is currently in, especially the dark circles under the nerd's eyes, something is clearly wrong here, and it is more than evident by the way Seth is behaving: "You look like you haven't slept in ages," expressing his feelings on the matter.
Stopping on his tracks, he chuckled tiredly at this comment: "You could say that," sounding unsure of it while rubbing his eyes for a few seconds. "I was...lost in the woods," lying to how the events transpired rather than explaining everything from the get-go.
But Billy was smart enough to know this was a lie, for he had already seen all of it. "Seth, you know that Asmodeus bastard is the one who did this to you," stating out the obvious in his view of the situation, "whatever he did to you must be pretty traumatizing for you to stay up at night like this," frowning in displeasure at being reminded about that powerful demon.
Seth quickly turned to him and said, "You knew? How?" Finding this quite strange since he thought his friend wouldn't know at all after he got possessed by one, he said, "I thought you were unconscious throughout the possession," scratching the back of his head, feeling worried about having to explain everything from beginning to end.
"Nah, I saw through the eyes of my possessed body while the son of a bitch was controlling me like a darn parasite," informed his friend with visible irritation in his own face. "Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do at the time, especially when he has my body in his grasp," scowling from the recollection of seeing the nerd's struggles in fighting those freaks.
"Oh..." Slowly nodding his head in confirmation, "then you know..." Feeling rather uncomfortable about having some of his secrets revealed, he said, "I hope you don't hate me more." Sadness is clearly displayed in his depressing words: "Not like I'm a weirdo or something, right?" I was somewhat worried about being hating him even more than before.
This made the blond teen flabbergasted by such an answer: "Are you kidding me?" Spreading his arms in the air, he hugged Seth with force. "Why the hell would I ever hate you over that?" Expressing his frustration by doing this unexpected act, "The only person I hate the most is myself," the embrace shocked his friend to the core.
His...embracing him?! Billy has never done this kind of thing, let alone touched a weak-willed loser; he had always called him nearly every time, "You never do hugs; are you really Billy? This is probably one of the demon's tricks again." Suspicion filled his thoughts in regards to being fooled.
Letting Seth go, he took a step back in order to give each other space, smiling genuinely towards him for the first time ever since they were together in this foreign world. "I'm the real deal; I ain't going to trick you into seeing the real me in your sight," reassuring the doubtful boy of his existence, "those are not some tricks or anything; it is who I am."
And it is the very person with whom he has to come to terms with accepting, "Are you sure?" Unable to believe what he is hearing, "could I pull out my crucifix to check if you're actually just a demon in disguise?" Requesting permission in case this is an illusion or trick, "I don't want to be fooled again, just to be safe."
Crossing his arms together, the blond kid scoffed in annoyance before sighing with a smile on his face, "Go ahead," nodding to the request, "it will put you at ease if that makes you feel better," permitting the scared teen to pull out the holy relic.
Without delay, Seth raised his right hand, aiming it towards his supposed friend. "You are really..." No burn or discomfort was seen in the cowboy's eyes. "Him," his heart beat accelerated in realization, "it really is you," lowering down the arm as he closed his eyes tightly, "its over." He is truly back in the world of the living.
"Yeah, I told—"
Suddenly, he embraced Billy with great strength while tears flowed down from his closed eyes. "Billy! You're back to normal; I thought you were gone for good!" Holding the stunned blond boy tightly, he felt happiness from what felt like forever of staying in that horrific dimension. "I did it! Your saved!" The tired boy was in shock. "I have my friend back!" He shouted out loud to the heavens.
Amused and surprised at the same time, the gunslinger cowboy smirked at this shocking news: "News flash, I'm not someone who can die that easily, partner," hugging him back in return, "You already know my awesome skills, don't you?" He boasted out loud, "Nothing can kill me! Not even death itself, because I can recover like a regenerating cell!" He smiled widely with satisfaction while also joking altogether.
"I'm...happy..." Seth slowly saw his eyes closing as if being pulled into some abyss of eternal slumber. He struggled to keep awake, "just like the old days...with us as friends," fighting hard against the forces of slumber before finally, it consumed him.
His body dropped down, prompting Billy to hold him in a hug. "I got you, partner," a pitiful expression formed on his own face. "Sorry about everything," mentioning the many times he hurt him intentionally. "I am sure you will understand why I do the things I do," regretfully muttering underneath his breath, "just wait for me there; I'll be joining you soon."
"Seth?!"
Morgan's voice caught his attention as she and Guan Yu were sprinting in their direction. Worried and relieved looks were plastered on their faces from finally having found the missing kids. The elderly warrior then asked the blond child, once they were close enough, "Are you alright, young man?" His focus turned to Billy's weary gaze.
Smirk forming on his lips, the gunman nodded in return, "Ya guys, worry too much; we're fine." Still embracing the boy sleeping in his arms, Billy expressed gratitude for their efforts in finding them: "He's just tired; I think he'll be fine after getting some rest."
