Chapter 14: Relief

"So what were you two talking about?" Serena asked as he sat next to her.

The sky was dark and they could see the stars.

"I asked her where we were at, and where we were heading." She asked.

"And it took you that long..?"

"We ended up talking about a lot more things. Did you know that there were magic academies and spells were given classes and ranks?" John asked.

"Of course I knew..."

"Yeah, you know a lot of things. Sometimes I'm not even surprised." John spoke

"Right back at you..." Serena responded.

"Fair"

"Hey John..." Serena muttered as she looked at him.

"Yeah?"

"Is everything really okay?" She asked with a slightly worried expression.

"Huh..? What do you mean?" He asked.

"Elves have the ability to feel emotions... I could feel sadness coming from you..." Said Serena as she looked at the path.

The path was illuminated by one of their light spells, so there wasn't any problem seeing anything.

"Looks like you got me..." John responded.

"Wanna talk about it..?" Serena asked as she continued to stare at the path.

"Haven't you been sitting here for the past few hours? Aren't you getting tired?" John asked.

"Don't try to change the subject, and no, I'm reinforcing myself with magic." Serena answered.

"If you can feel emotions, does that mean you can feel a person's excitement? That means you could feel it whenever I get excited for a fight?!" John asked with a shocked expression.

"John!"

John looked at Serena and then stared at the path with her. There weren't any obstacles, it was just a nice quiet path at night. The only thing he could hear was the steps of the horses and Ariel talking with Eleanor at the back.

"Fine..." John muttered as he let out a sigh.

'Might as well tell her, there's no reason to hide it.' He thought.

"When I was told I killed the mage, I felt relieved. I wasn't sad about it and didn't feel the least bit guilty. We could've tried to tie him up, but he most likely would've gotten free and put us all in more danger... And I didn't want that..." John spoke.

"Even though I hated it... I still felt relieved... I took a person's life even if I wasn't fully conscious at the time."

"I'm a horrible person... Even if he was evil... Because I'm so weak, I had to kill him, and didn't even hate it..." John spoke.

He hung his head and could feel tears streaming down his face as he said.

"I'm just like him..."

Suddenly the carriage stopped and John felt something embrace him.

"Don't say that... You are nothing like him, what's wrong with being relieved that your friends are going to be safe? I was also relieved when you got rid of him, I was scared of what he could have done if he'd gotten away." Serena spoke.

As John kept his head hung down, he could see tears dropping. They weren't his, but Serena's.

"Just when we finally managed to get out of the dungeon... You're nothing like him... He felt joy in killing people, he had no problem killing children... We were just defending ourselves... So, please don't call yourself that..." She said.

'Serena... but I…' John thought.

As John was wondering that... he felt someone embrace him from his other side.

"She's right..." muttered Ariel.

'Ariel..? When did you…' John thought.

"Sorry, I overheard you two talking and I couldn't just sit back and watch... It doesn't matter how John felt or what you did, it won't change the fact that John did it to protect us. No matter what anyone says, John is a good guy, and that won't change." Ariel spoke.

"You two... T-Thank you..." John muttered as he kept his head hung down.

'The tears won't stop flowing... I can't show them my face like this... Ah, I can use magic too…' John thought.

"Thanks, but I'm fine now…" John said as he lifted his head up.

"John, There's no use in trying to hide the tears. Your eyes are red," Said Serena as she stared at him with an interrogatory expression.

"Even though you wiped yours away, it's obvious that you were crying." John said as he stared back with the same expression.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Said Serena as she grabbed on to the lead.

The horses began to move, and the carriage started advancing.

Serena kept looking at the path, trying to act like nothing happened just now.

"You two are so dishonest... It's obvious that you were both crying," Said Ariel.

"We weren't!" John and Serena simultaneously said as they looked over at Ariel.

When they did, they were both surprised.

"Ariel..." John muttered.

"What's wrong?" Ariel asked.

"You're still crying," He replied.

"Eh?" Replied Ariel.

And just like that, they continued their journey to the capital of Xoleria.