Broken

"Eli!"

Sitting at his desk waiting for customers to come like every other day he turned to see his wife rushing at him in frantic panic. He almost couldn't remember the last time he had seen her this flustered. Getting up he walked up to her to see what was wrong and let her crash into him. Holding her in his arms he felt her breathing slightly calm down.

"Try and calm down a little, then tell me what's got you so out of sorts."

Trying to calm her down he was also trying to keep himself calm. He knew his wife wouldn't be acting like this if it wasn't something important.

"But."

Not finishing her sentence she weakly brought up a bracelet in her hand. Looking at that bracelet it took him almost a second to realize what it was. Grabbing it from her hands he examined it

"It Broke..."

Leaking that out he was beginning to panic himself as he finally understood why his wife was so panic struck. Getting ready to leave he instantly detached himself from her.

"Don't worry, I'll go check on her. Nothing bad will happen to her under my watch."

With that he turned to leave but not before getting stopped one more time.

"Wait! After I heard it snap I went to check on the other ones just in case and I happened to smell something weird and found this hidden in one of her drawers. "

Stopping he looked at the glass vial and grabbed it. Seeing it was empty he took a sniff to see what it was and instantly recoiled backwards disgusted at the smell.

"Poison."

"Yes and one specifically for Astral Beasts."

"You said you found this in her room but you don't make these types of things. So why was it there."

"I'm not quite sure but I have an idea."

Hearing his wife's explanation he shuddered at the thought of that possibility. Now he knew he had to leave before anything bad happened.

"Don't do anything rash when you get there, please."

"I won't, I promise."

Watching her husband disappear before her eyes she let out a long sigh releasing all of her emotions as she went to the door to close the inn before taking a seat where he was sitting behind the counter. With him gone now she had a lot less things to worry about. But everytime she thought about that vial her heart pained blaming herself.

"If only I said something...."

Arriving above the area where the bracelet last resonated he scanned his surroundings. Below him lay the giant Astral Zone of Belturn but it wasn't too far into the Zone at least. "Good, The place is a death trap for most after all." Remembering all of his Adventures in this area he was calming down as he sent out his Astral Energy and scanned each and every inch looking for his target.

"Found you."

Not even a second later he found what he was looking for and rushed there in a second. Arriving he looked down at four figures trapped in a barrier surrounded by forest with no others in sight. But the sight inside the barrier was what he cared about the most. Looking at the scene before his eyes his anger almost spiked uncontrollably seeing that scene but remembering what his wife had said he calmed himself down as he stared at that form he had never seen before. "Seems familiar somehow...." Unfortunately he had seen to many things in this life and couldn't remember every single little detail especially if it wasn't important. So instead he focused himself while listening and got ready to make a move whenever he would be needed.

"It seems like you finally hit a wall my girl...."

Xilo watched as their Attackers body dropped to the ground after the plants fell. Without so much as a hesitation he stabbed it once again and watched as his blood flew in the air. Seeing that sparkling red dancing in his eyes excitement washed over him and slowly led him forward. "Now come Child." Listening to the voice he slashed once again and watched as blood flowed onto his palm. That insatiable hunger and thirst was quickly showing itself as he looked at the blood and began to drink it off his hand. His body began to change slowly as blades began to appear as a wing sprouted from his back but compared to the past there weren't nearly as many blades or the same pain. Ignoring his changes he went for more blood but was interrupted by a sharp scream behind him.

"You!!"

Snarling his voice came out deep and sinister like as it echoed all around the little area they were in causing slight vibrations in the air. Seeing Tearia behind him staring at him he forgot all about the blood in front of him as he finally gained some clarity while standing up and bolted straight at her. With ease he appeared in front of her while grabbing her neck and dragged her across the ground until eventually slamming her against a tree that broke apart and slammed her against the floor.

*Thud*

*Cough* *Cough*

Choking, well coughing blood Tearia was having trouble breathing as she struggled to open her eyes again and see that sight in front of her. The boy she had once seen before as a handsome god that she fell in love with was holding her down with a look she had never seen before but could only be described as demonic in her eyes. Especially all those sharp teeth that threatened to tear her apart. But more then anything it felt like for the first time since meeting Xilo she was actually properly looking at him and he was scary to her. Scared she began to cry again.

"You!"

Struggling to control himself he tightened his grip once again on her neck as he looked deeply into her eyes ignoring her tears.

"Was what he said true."

Asking the Question that mattered the most to him at the moment he was beginning to gain more and more clarity but it was still a struggle. But Tearia didn't reply to him, she just kept crying.

"ANSWER ME."

Getting angry that she wasn't responding, his grip tightened once again on her neck. Hearing the slight cracking of her bones he didn't let up as he finally felt some form of relief for his frustrations as he held her. However he still wanted to know her reply. With a voice of burning Iciness he asked again.

"Tearia. Was what he said true."

His patience was drawing painfully thin as Tearia finally opened her eyes and looked into his but he only got one word as a reply that he didn't want to hear.

"S-orry"

With that she started crying again and leaking out sorry after sorry whenever she could. Besides the silence of the forest and the breathing of others it was filled with the soft sobbing of a young girl. But hearing that didn't make him happy in the slightest. It only made him more angry as his Astral Energy raged all around him in a vortex similar to his emotions currently. If he tightened his grip a little more he could kill her in a second but he managed to stop himself. He wanted to know why she did such a thing to them. After all in his mind they weren't enemies or anything of the sort but friends before.

"Why..."

Xilo's voice no longer filled with pressure softly travelled as it leaked out. No longer filled with anger, only disappointment and sadness. Tearia looked up at his face hearing him but she only had one answer to that question.

"Because...I love you."

Hearing that Xilo was speechless. Out of all the answers he had thought of or expected this was the one he least expected.

"Because you love me...?"

Between sobs and breaths Tearia leaked out a soft reply.

"Yes. I''m s..orry...."

"Because you love me, Because you love me, Because you love me...."

It almost felt like he was going crazy as he repeated that sentence. She had caused so much pain and trouble and even almost all of their deaths for such a reason. Hell could that even be called love? To him love was a positive emotion and not something that brought harm to others and that was all Tearia did. But like a broken record Tearia repeated that under him as his emotions jumped around. Tired of hearing her voice he gripped her neck harder once again as his blades dug into her neck and slowly dripped out blood. Seeing that blood again his attention was absorbed by that as he squeezed harder and the same woman's voice became louder again inside his head. "Do it Xilo, I'm sure she'll taste wonderful. This is what you wanted after all. Her Death. You have no more reason to run from the truth or lie to yourself about it anymore. Just a little bit couldn't hurt right?"

Listening to that voice's soothing melody Xilo was once again in a trance as he dragged the blood from Xelfia neck to in front of his face while Tearia watched each and every single moment in terror. Studying it he truly wondered how good it would taste. "The other blood I drank tasted good already but this has to taste better right?" Thinking that he slowly brought it to his mouth but right before he could taste it his eyes happened to meet Tearia's. Freezing in place the memory of a certain girl from his past came back to him like a lighting bolt as he quickly stopped himself and backed away from Tearia as much as possible. Looking at himself and seeing all the blades clearly he panicked as he looked around.Filled with the urge to leave and run suddenly he found the unconscious Xelfia a little bit away from him and picked her up while running deeper into the forest without looking where he was going or saying anything else. Confused at Xilo's action Tearia watched him run away while her exhaustion started to take over her body.

Sighing, Eli finally showed himself as he appeared in front of Tearia and gently picked her up to her surprise. Too tired to speak anymore Tearia seeing her Grandfather fell asleep in his arms exhausted. Looking at his surroundings he checked the man's body to see if he was dead but there were no signs of breathing from him anymore. After that he looked in the direction Xilo ran while sighing but he didn't chase after him.

"Come now, Let's go home.."

Turning he left the Astral Zone.