Chapter 316

"Fuck… me? You're a common thief… you weren't there to rescue any elven slaves… just to… to rob somebody." Zesshi landed a kick to Brain's side, rolling him a few feet before he came to a stop and rose to all fours.

"Yes… fuck you…" He grunted as he grabbed his side. "I told you, didn't I? I'm not a good man. But fuck you for judging me for it… who the fuck are you to turn those accusing eyes on me? I'm a common thief, fine. I've stolen lives and property, but you protected people who stole souls, so don't you dare look at me like that…" He rose, shaking, to his feet and glared at her.

The happy go-lucky mirth was gone from his face, "I do what I have to in order to survive. I hadn't planned on doing any stealing on this trip, but there were… unexpected expenses." He said and rubbed his ribs. "Gah, damn I think that's cracked…" He mumbled as his fingers probed the place she'd struck.

It hit Zesshi what he meant, 'Food, medicine, lodging… the things we needed… I needed…'

"So those… forks and things… when you, did you even mean to… were you actually going to release those slaves?" Zesshi demanded, searching his face for the truth and doubting whether she could find it if he hid it, or see it even if he gave it.

"Of course not, I don't hate them." He gasped out… "Fucking bitch… that hurt…"

"What do you mean…?" Zesshi glowered at him, but a rising dread was seeping into her gut.

"I was going to keep this a secret… never tell you… never wanted to tell you since… I've gotten to like you. But they're all dead or severely punished and returned to their masters." Brain gasped, his knees were buckling, but he held fast, wanting to stay up at least a little longer.

"No… I, they should have been able to get out easy… sneaking out the front in the morning or…" She protested, but when she saw the pity in his eyes, she said no more.

"Have you never learned how to put information together?" Brain gasped in frustration. "Okay, fine, I'll treat you like the stupid child you seem to be. What did Layali think you were when you first met?"

"A… A slave catcher." Zesshi answered, a shiver of disgust passing through her bones when she said it.

"What do you think is the penalty for a slave killing their master, or for an elf killing a human at all?" Brain demanded, his eyes boring into the black and white eyes of the half elven idiot in front of him.

"I… I guess, death…" She answered as her skin began to tingle.

"And what do you think people will believe when the slaves you broke the chains of are found gone, or even if they're not found gone, maybe they never left, what do you think will be said, huh?" Brain felt his knees give out and he fell down hard against the ground, but his steady stare never left the half elf.

"That… that they murdered them." She guessed.

"Or… that your brother did. That he came back and killed two humans as revenge and broke the others out. You used superhuman abilities, nobody ever saw you, they assume his power awakened… and just whom will they call for that kind of event you stupid girl?!" Brain spat blood into the grass, and fell forward, catching himself with one hand and holding his ribs with the other.

"Scriptures…" She whispered.

"Which ones… to deal with an awakened Kinget?" Brain demanded.

"The Black. My… my unit." She answered… her knees began to weaken and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.

"Will those give a shit about mercy?" Brain demanded, wiping bloody flecks from his lips and casting the red aside.

"No… no they won't. They put down threats… and the slave catchers…" She couldn't say more.

But Brain could and Brain did. "They'll be out in force to catch the elves you let go in order to keep a rebellion from happening. Runaway slaves with human blood on their hands and an awakened kinget leader… what a story that will be. They're all dead."

"I didn't…" Zesshi whispered, "I didn't want that… I wanted… he was my brother… they were hurting him… I didn't even know I had a brother… then as soon as I did… I saw him being… I just acted…"

She could no longer see Brain's face, her eyes were far too blurry. "I steal to survive… and I stole so we could get Layali out of here… I won't get to fight in that tournament… it'll take years to find a replacement sword on par with the one you destroyed… I'm… I'm okay with that. She doesn't know, she doesn't have to know. I'm just going to get her somewhere safe, murder Cerebrate, andput Layali somewhere where she can grow up, and then…" He spat blood again, and it landed beneath Zesshi's gaze.

"Then I can move on, I'll find a battlefield or something and get a cheap one, and build back up again. Sorry I'm such a disappointment, and I'm sorry about what happened… but I never said I was a hero, and if you'd just asked me for advice, I'd have told you what not to do… and now neither of us can undo a damn thing." Brain said.

"They… they might have made it…" Zesshi tried to protest.

But Brain had had enough. "Don't be naive! Haven't you wondered why we haven't seen any of them? Because they've already been caught or killed. Half elf slave catchers are a copper for a dozen, a new one gets made every time a noble gets a gleam in his eye, and a place like Ikari, with their big latifundias and their large population… yeah, they'll have hundreds of those either working there or operating independently. Everyone you tried to save… they're dead or wishing they were, being interrogated about your 'awakened brother' unless he's already been caught and killed too."

Zesshi said nothing more, she began to weep, worse than Layali had earlier, the totality of her complete and utter uselessness, and the depth of one betrayal after another came crashing down on her all at once.

"God damn it." Brain mouthed the word when he saw her fall apart in the moonlight, and he was reminded of something he'd forgotten. Because of her race, and perhaps in part because of her sheltered life, she was the equivalent of a human fifteen or sixteen year old girl, a child in her own right, with everything that came with it. Parentless, controlled, and utterly lost.

'Great. Now look at what you've done.' He told himself, and, though he was sore and bitter about her earlier judgment still, he had to wonder if he'd gone too far. With that in mind, he approached, inching himself closer to her, and when she all but fell forward, he caught her, and embraced her as he would have Layali. "You didn't mean any harm… and I'm sorry I disappointed you… I'm not what you thought I was, but that's not your fault… you didn't know any better. Nobody taught you any better, any different…" He said that, and many other things as he tried to reassure her.

He wasn't sure how much good it would do, knowing that her comrades would be hunting down her brother, if he was even still alive… and that everything she tried to do had come to naught. But Brain did his best, staying with her and stroking her back until the crying finally stopped.