Chapter 59 - For the Love Of All Things Holy...! (1)

'Pitter patter…pitter patter' was the sound of rain hitting the umbrella of a man, recently broken from losing one of the people closest to him. One who was broken enough to not know who he was or where he was.

In front of him was the grave of the man who was so close to him that he had bitten the dust for him, and right in front of his eyes. A blank face, devoid of tears despite the sadness in his heart.

"HEY! SAITO!" One of his friends yelled over, not in a friendly tone, but one to get the other to look at them. When he looked over, he found Keiji, waving and speed walking over to him, umbrella in hand.

"Oh, hey Akihito. And you've finally made it, Keiji," Saito said blankly, his face devoid of emotion, but still somehow so distraught.

"Hey bud, I heard what happened…I'm so so sorry this happened and that I couldn't make it to the funeral," Akihito apologized, his usually bright smile gone from his face and replaced with a guilty frown.

"Mmm, it's fine. I understand, the government loves to load their workers with tons of work, enough to make them work for days without sleep," Saito said spitefully, not to his friend, but to the state of this wretched world.

"..." Keiji and Akihito were silent as they went to stand beside their friend, beside him in grief, in guilt they felt for not being able to do anything about their companion's passing…Yasuo's passing.

"Hey," Saito interjected after a few moments of silence, then started the usually guilty feeling spiel, "Do you think he regretted it?"

"What? What on earth are you talking about?!" Keiji spoke in disbelief, shocked at his comrade's statement. And beside him, Akihito looked at Saito in shock.

"I think you know perfectly well what I'm talking about. There's no way in hell he didn't regret what he did in the least bit," Saito stated, in scorn of himself and his own failing.

"Saito, that's not true…I'm not sure exactly what happened out there, but I'm sure he chose his actions without any regrets whatsoever and as thoughtlessly as he usually acts," Akihito assured, frowning.

"Exactly, so whatever you're thinking you better stop. I hate seeing you all depressed like this, and I'm sure Yasuo would too…so try to smile a little," Keiji lectured, then tried to offer some solace. But Saito was already too far gone for that.

"Smile?...SMILE?!" Saito shouted, now starting to actually cry, "YOU WANT ME TO SMILE AFTER TOOK THAT DAMN BULLET FOR ME AND THEN DIED RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES?!"

The images of what had happened flashed in his eyes. On the bloody battlefield, he and Yasuo were right next to each other hiding behind a wall, Keiji a few feet away doing the same.

They were found by another enemy troop, and won, but…One of the enemy soldiers in the troop was still holding on and tried to shoot Saito.

But Yasuo noticed them, and before in could his his commander and best friend, he jumped in between, taking the bullet for Saito…right in the neck. Yasuo smiled as Saito turned around in shock and caught him before he fell to the ground.

Right before he passed, he raised his hand to touch Saito, who grabbed it. And said some very meaningful words, words that he would never ever forget.

By the time Keiji made sure the rest of the enemy soldiers were dead, the limp Yasuo was lying in the kneeling Saito's arm. Blood spilled from his neck and mouth, a smile spread on his face matching his smiling dull eyes.

"IT'S MY FAULT HE'S DEAD IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I COULD POSSIBLY SMILE!" Saito yelled at the two, now fully crying in anger. Not giving a damn if he wasn't being manly, after all, he was mourning the loss of a dear friend.

"It's fine to not be happy, but you don't need to yell or act like it's the end of the world!" Keiji shouted back, not being as loud as him. He didn't want to trigger Saito any more than he already is.

"It may not be the end of your world, but at the moment, it's mine! I AM SUCH A USELESS IDIOT! I SHOULD HAVE MADE SURE THE ENEMIES WERE ALL DEAD IF ONLY I-" Saito shouted back again in refutal, not thinking any of them knew how he felt. And before he could get the rest out, Akihito slapped him, knocking the umbrella from his hand.

"YOU FUCKING MORON, SHUT THE HELL UP! DO YOU HONESTLY THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE FEELING THAT WAY?!" Akihito lectured, furious at Saito's selfishness, "HE WAS IMPORTANT TO US TO YOU BRAT, SO DON'T YOU DARE GO THINKING YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE HURT BY IT!"

Akihito was so mad at his companion that he was huffing in anger, staring furiously at him, watching the tears fall from his cheeks along with the rain.

"Akihito! You didn't have to hit him!" Keiji lectured, turning the former toward him with a rough grip on his shoulder, causing him to wince. "Saito, you do need to realize though…You aren't the only one grieving. It's as much of your fault as it is mine!"

Saito looked at the both of them in disbelief, and more so with sorrow at Keiji. He hung his head in disappointment, not at his friends, but himself.

Keiji then pulled him into a tight hug, starting to cry as well, which was more visible than Saito's since he kept them under the umbrella.

"It's okay Saito, you just to finally realize that you aren't alone…you still have us," Akihito assured, putting his hand on the side of Saito's arm in a friendly manner and smiling at him warmly, tears also starting to run down his face.

 The now trio shared a sorrowful moment, staring at their fallen companion's grave. Then before they left, they poured beer on the grave, the one thing Yasuo wanted them to do after he left…well, other than continue to be friends and have lots of get-togethers.

The trio was in their late 20s at the time, so in their superior's eyes, it was still alright for them to get emotional, especially after seeing the death of their closest comrade.

***

When my consciousness returned to reality, the sun shone down on my face, blinding me from seeing who was standing by my window sill. I squinted my eyes and put my hand over my eyebrows to see who it was, and it was a much familiar back.

It was the large but small back of Llyr Vellamo, who was currently changing out the flowers in the vase on the window sill. As I sat up, he didn't seem to notice my waking and just kept on humming to himself as he clipped the bottom part of the flower stems at an angle and placed them into the vase.

"Heh, isn't Araleun supposed to be the one doing that?" I questioned, smiling over at the startled King. I was in a good mood for some odd reason, so I decided to be nice and go along with whatever shenanigans he was up to today.

"AH! My gods, Lev! You startled me…WAIT! You're finally awake!" He exclaimed, scurrying over to my side.

"Hm? Yes, I am. Is that such an odd thing?" I joked, raising my eyebrow at his odd behavior, then said in a gentle voice, "Haha, I was taking a nap, so of course I was sleeping."

"Sorry! It's just that you've been unconscious for the last three days! I was so worried that you'd somehow gotten yourself into a coma! How are you feeling?!" Llyr explained in a rush, he awkwardly got up and shuffled around to find a wet rag and dab it on my head.

"Pfft- HAHAHA!" I laughed at him, then took his hand away from my head and shook it, "I'm fine, in fact, I feel 10x better! So there's no need to worry!"

"...If you say you are then I'll believe you, but! The moment you start to feel something is wrong, you need to tell me immediately! Understand?" Llyr ordered, putting the rag away and looking at me with a serious expression.

'Ugh! That smile of his was so cute! I just want to *** *** while he **** and **** **** ***.' Llyr thought, just barely containing his urges.

"Yeah, yeah," I said, getting out of bed and going to my closet to pick the outfit for the day, "So, what happened while I was out?"

"Hm, well for starters, the hero's party crashed onto one of the 11 islands and has chosen to seek refuge here, so they've been here for the past three days while their ship is being repaired," Llyr explained, recounting what had been going on, "Other than that, I've just been doing office work and unfortunately eating alone since you were conked out."

When Llyr told me that the group I had been trying to avoid the entire time had shown up, I froze in shock. It seemed to me that all of my efforts in avoiding that damned hero all ended up in vain.

'...I suppose all I can do now is just hope for the best and wish that Atlas is as merciful as possible.' I thought, crying internally.

I picked out my outfit for the day: a white button-up shirt, black overall capris with gold buttons, a red vest, a black tie, flat boots, and a red ribbon for my hair. Aware that Llyr probably wouldn't leave until he was done messing with those flowers, I started to go to the bathroom to change but was stopped when he asked me a question I wasn't surprised by.

"Hey, we'll have lunch together right?" Llyr asked with an innocent face on, though I knew inside he probably just got some odd satisfaction from watching me eat and feeding me.

"Hm, I suppose I am rather hungry, so why not!" I replied smiling an awkward smile as my stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Haha! Alright, then let's go together once you're done changing," Llyr exclaimed. I smiled and made my way into the bathroom, but instead of just changing right away, I took a shower, unaware of the thoughts and suggestions going on in Llyr's head as he heard me turn the water on.

'Ugh! HOLY SHIT!!!' Llyr thought, then turning to think about something increasingly dirty, his junior hardening the longer Lev took and the more he thought.

Lev was obviously unaware of what was going on outside of the bathroom, and Llyr took full advantage of that fact.

In a daze and feeling all hot and bothered about being in the room of the person he had feelings for as well as knowing they were showering in the other room, he walked over to the showering man's bed.

Llyr then took Lev's blanket and shoved his face right into it, sniffing in and almost rolling his eyes back in his enjoyment of Lev's smell. He then dove into the bed, smelling the pillows, blanket, sheets, everything.

Feeling even more excited, and because he can't keep it in his damn pants, he started to unzip them, revealing his hard long shaft. Soon, Llyr was rubbing the tip and rubbing it up and down, being extra stimulated by the smell of the one he greatly sought after.

"Haa, hng!...Haaa, My dearest knight in shining armor- HNG!" He moaned as he came. Then cleaned it all off and brushed off the act he had just done, smiling and going back to putting the flowers he was tending to in their vase.

Lev came out of the bathroom just a moment later, fully dressed and freshly showered, his hair in the usual side ponytail. Llyr noticed almost immediately, shuddering in the enjoyment of his newly clean smell entering the room.

***

"Hey, how much longer do you think they're gonna take?" Sylvia asked, impatiently puffing her cheeks in boredom.

The two of them, plus Alexandria were poking their heads out from behind a pillar they were hiding behind, using magic to conceal their presence. Atlas and Lance were hiding behind the one next to them, still not believing themselves for going along with their silly idea.

"I'm not sure, but I hope it's not much longer," Evangeline replied, sighing then quietly exclaiming, "Oh! Look! Someone's coming out!"

Llyr, joined by Lev, had finally come out of Lev's room. Both looked clean and untouched, except for the few unkempt strands of Llyr's head from his inappropriate behavior during Lev's shower.

"Oh, thank goodness nothing is wrong with the envoy!... Wait, I've met him before!" Lance exclaimed, recognizing Lev as the one who bought him the food from the street vendor. He then got Atlas' attention, which made him curious to know who it was.

However, when Atlas finally peered behind the pillar, he froze. His pupils shaking from the shock of seeing an eerily familiar face, one that he had hoped to meet again someday, and under much different circumstances.

The only person to have made him cry sorrowful tears after the destruction of his village, Lev Ambrose, or just Ambrose for short — The demon king of monsters.

Though of course Lev, with his excellent elven hearing, heard their whispering and knew the group was there. But for the betterment of his life, he ignored them and just went on with Llyr to have brunch.