Chapter 38: Lies

The doll, Hershey looked at him and her eyes darkened as sadness flashed across her eyes but as quick as it came, it disappeared just as quickly.

"It seems she has also placed her trust in you."

The doll flashed him a cold look and harrumped. "Doesn't matter, its always me who have to fix things anyway."

Rueben looked at her, then opened his mouth to speak. "She wanted me to give all of you salvation."

Hershey looked at him and chuckled.

Rueben then looked back to see a little girl was standing behind him, with a cold smile on her face. "Salvation? How depressing."

Her eyes flashed as memories came into her mind, she softly sighed and sat down and grabbed the doll from Rueben's hand.

"Are you not going to kill me? Seeing that you have fought Annatella and managed to kill her, you must be quite a strong opponent."

Rueben looked at her, then he stood up and tugged on his robe and went to the door before opening it.

The little girl, Hershey looked at him, then shared looks with the doll before standing up and followed after him.

Rueben saw a beast come up from a corner and swiftly killed it, he drank its blood to heal the remaining wounds inside his body before taking its bones to use as a weapon.

Bones are sturdy and would not easily break unless under certain conditions.

Using bones as weapons would be a smart choice but you would also need to find or bring bones with you.

Bones are sturdy but they are not durable, they are not like steel or some other minerals from the earth, making weapons out of bones might look like a great idea, but the bones will break the more you use it.

This was why bones are not used to create weapons, they are sturdy but they are quick to break when you use it a lot.

Though, for Rueben's case, there was no other weapon he could use against the beasts so he had to make do with bones for now.

Rueben then started looking around, ignoring the little girl who was confused.

"I had thought that you would fight me yet it seemed i am wrong. Tell me, what are you planning?"

Rueben looked at the little girl and remembered his initial objectives, the objectives that he had forgot while aimlessly killing beasts.

"Im not going to kill you, nor am i going to fight you. You have information on this place and even possible info about that "Being's" weakness but i have no thoughts on taking that away. My goal are saving Sara and leave this place."

Hershey looked at him, then giggled, "Then the expectations of my siblings? Their wish for you to save them? What happened to that?"

Rueben coldly replied with, "I do not care. I don't have to save them just because they did me a favor. Saving Sara and escaping this place takes priority first."

Hershey went silent for a while, before chuckling.

This was the first time she had come across such a person. He was dead set on achieving his goals that he was willing to forget the little kindness that he was given. It was a very surprising thing for her, who had not met many humans.

For many years she had lived, she felt curious about the man infront of her but she shook it off and thought of Annatella's corpse and sighed.

She need to clean that up and wait for Annatella to reincarnate again.

She then looked at the doll, clicked her tongue, before placing it down and started burning.

"I see. Well, best of luck, i guess."

She then disappeared into the flames that burned her.

Rueben looked at where she disappeared and looked at the doll sitting on the floor. He then grabbed it and started walking away silently.

Screeeeech!!!

Rueben held the bone tightly and took a stance, before throwing the bone towards a beast that came from the corner. It opened its mouth to catch the bone only for the bone to pierce through its skull and killed it.

Rueben looked at the beast before he started chewing on its flesh to sate his hunger and drank its blood to sate his thirst.

The doll, Hershey looked at him, a flash of light appeared on her eyes before disappearing entirely.

Rueben's action, though he does not yet realise that his actions seemed more and more beast like.

Such was a fate of a Hunter.

***

The little girl, Hershey stood infront of a teenage girl who was chained by countless large and thick chains tied to the darkness. A swirling whirlpool was behind the teenage girl as she watched countless beasts eating each other.

Hershey looked at the teenage girl with no expression in her eyes, she touched her white hair, feeling it for a while before sighing and turned her back around.

The teenage girl looked at the little girl leaving and gritted her teeth, she stayed still and continued waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting.

She waited for that single man who she believes would save her, who she trusted to save her from this pain.

Her eyes still burning with life as she looked forward with conviction.

Ignoring the countless other corpses that were eaten by beasts behind the darkness.

***

What was he doing now?

Rueben asked himself.

'You are killing everything in sight, going through aimless search.'

Rueben answered himself.

He looked at the corpses, the puddles of blood, the whole entire place was a mass. His clothes were already ragged and Rueben's whole body was filled with all kinds of wounds from the initial fight.

He grabbed a mouthful of blood from the puddles and drank it, slowly healing himself. He then started dismantling the beasts and took out their bones to use as weapons.

Why are you doing this?

He asked himself again.

'To save Sara and escape this place together with her.'

He answered himself again.

Rueben looked infront of him and saw a reflection of his young self.

"What is the point?"

Rueben became silent. He gave it a thought for a while before answering, though he was still confused.

"I... I think its because i care about her. I want to protect her and keep her safe."

The young Rueben looked at him with untrusting look, making Rueben feel uncomfortable and anxious for no reason.

The young Rueben clicked his tongue as he frowned, making a face that was disgusted.

"Lies."

Rueben became silent, he looked at his young self and looked down, thinking.

"Just a bunch of lies."

The young Rueben walked slowly towards him and looked at his face with wide eyes.

"You just created a reason to continue existing."

His eyes became dark and cold, as he stood there.

"You are a fucking liar."

"No.."

"You wanted to live longer."

"No.."

"You just used Sara as an excuse to live longer."

"No..!"

"You convinced yourself that you wanted to die and end your life, yet you hopelessly cling to life. What the fuck are you thinking?"

"I.. I don't know..."

"You know, you promised me that you would live a life that would hunt down the beasts that killed our parents to avenge them. To drink their blood and become a monster of vengeance and swore to kill every single monsters in sight."

"I... I."

"Now look at you. You broke what you swore."

"..."

"You disappoint me. You should just die."

Rueben kneeled down and started choking, he then threw up and gagged.

The doll, Hershey looked at him and touched his arm in consolation.

Rueben looked at the doll, then tears started flowing.

"Uhhhhh...."

Rueben lied down on the floor and cried silently.

Hershey just stood still and looked at him.

"What is wrong with you?"

Rueben looked at her, then wiped the tears off his face and cleaned the barf out of his mouth.

"I don't know."

Hershey looked at him, then her doll eyes squinted, "Its a surprising sight to see a man breaking down and crying like a little baby. What is inside that messed up head of yours?"

He looked at the doll, then to his hand, then to the darkness of the hallways.

He then remembered what his young self said to him and he felt like throwing up again.

Hershey sighed and wondered for a while.

"Well, tell me if your done with your... 'thing'. Though i am curious why you brought me along but it seems to be the wrong time to ask, judging from your current state of mind."

Rueben looked a her, then he lied down on the floor and became still.

After a while, Rueben opened his mouth to speak.

"Doll, what does it mean to be "Human"."

The doll looked at him weirdly with confusion on her face before answering, "How would i know? You yourself are a human, are you not? Why ask a doll like me?"

Rueben stayed silent before saying, "You are human yourself once, long ago, right? I figured you understood what is 'Humanity'."

Hershey looked at him, then softly sighed.

"Why are you asking me? Have you..

forgotten what humanity means?"

Then the doll softly sighed, "Or have you forgotten that you are human?"

"..." He became silent, thinking about it.

"Both, i would presume?"