The Safe one wishes for Safety

Selim seemed shocked to see her and moved away meekly and hugged his body. He is extremely pale and weak, and he seems to be extremely tired as his breathing is shallow.

"Are you alright? You seem to be pain."

He pushed her away in response.

"I knew that you are involved in the assassination attempt against Leon, but this isn't the outcome I expected. Are you prepared to die for your cause?"

Selim remained silent until, "Did you come all this way just to ask me that?"

Amy's simmering anger diminished upon hearing his pitiful tone. "Not quite but for the sake of a productive conversation, let's start with the important questions first." she looked at him. He looks pale and cold, so she covered him up with her cape.

"Rana is taken by Rufus to be one of his puppets if you want to know. I know that she's your leader in the school but what I don't know is everything else. You don't seem to have an actual mission to kill Leon, do you? And don't bother lying at this point. I have ways to pry the truth out of you if you dare lie to me." She says harshly.

Avoiding eye contact, he says, "Not exactly. Our original plan was to attack Leon on his first year but after you attack one of our guys, we decided to just set up a more elaborate trap and prepare to take you all one at a time. We did it in a way that made it seem like accidents, and I planned most of that. But you proved to be extremely dangerous to our plan so we waited until you left since the beginning of the school year. Rufus Valerian started killing most of our teammates, so we had to take care of the others quickly."

Amy figured that much.

"How did you do it?"

"I planned and prepared the mineral water, prepared a snake to bite Rufus Valerian, the plague on the Orlando Duchy and caused Sabina White's accident. We also took advantage of the existing fear of the Ripper and attack Nathaniel Yistle though we failed."

"You don't have any intention to kill any of us. Why?"

"Because we didn't want to kill you." Selim answered apologetically. "I didn't want to hurt you. I knew you would eventually find out about me, so I tried my best to spare them. Rana also fears retaliation and says that you are an enigma like you're one of us. After you discovered and killed the Ripper, she figured this as much."

"Your entire team is made up by children. The adults are the ones barking orders, yet I don't see them around."

"All of us came from all over the world. We're orphans and vagabonds with nowhere to go."

Confused, she stared at his shriveling body. He might as well be a vulnerable reed. "Your story doesn't seem made up when you explained it."

He shook his head and turned to her direction though refuses to stare into her eyes. "That story is real."

"You attacked Viola and the others. I know that for a fact."

"I don't know what came over me." He looked away with his head down. "Something controlled me and when I woke up, I was in the infirmary with a broken neck." He says while rubbing onto his cast.

"There was a spell that affected adults in that barrier. It compels adults to start kill the students."

He whipped his head at her with a confused expression. "What?"

She then realized something. "Hold on. How old are you? You're not the same age as me, aren't you?"

"I'm actually seventeen."

Amy had to process this. He's three years older? It's not a huge shock but he tricked everyone that he's fourteen and that isn't easy to get away with. The spell affects everyone older than fifteen after all.

"Is that your people's doing? You lied about your age and infiltrated the school as a student. Then you got yourself exposed to a puppeteer spell without realizing it. Your friends seem to be safe inside the empty space."

"No, it's not. It's..." He then chuckled darkly. "We just wanted to keep the Prince and his friends in there long enough so we can take him to our client but in the end, it all failed. The others told me that Prince Leon and his friends are a lot stronger than I'd thought and there are these dogs that came to their rescue."

"You've been set up. So, who did it?"

"Rana knows the answers." he answered, "She had a spell on her that wouldn't allow her to speak about our client so we don't know much."

"The fact that you're here speaks volumes on who it could be. I had mistakenly thought it could be he Hekaton using Damat slaves to do their dirty work or those inside Solin who wishes to overthrow the Crown Prince. I wish that I could know more but I stepped aside and let this problem fester." Amy says in an angry yet calm tone.

"So, you know who it is?"

Amy whispered it to him. There is no need for that, but she could see him trembling. Honestly, it is like she is seeing him for the first time.

"How... why..."

"I don't know. Maybe it is because their real need is people like you. They think people like you are only good for service or to be used as a resource. A living being in one of these crystals can create and grow these things and they last for decades."

He looked around, finally taking in his surroundings and is flabbergasted with his accomplices being in these crystals.

"What do you get out of this anyway?"

"I just want to be free." he says softly in her arms. "We were promised a life away from slavery for me and our families. We would get paid enough to start new lives and I can be a new person."

Amy was silent and her expression appears cold.

"You don't know what it's like living in the brothels. I was desirable to all sorts of lechers since I was ten years old. My own mother couldn't even support or help me and my brother... he will one day be subjected to this depravity as me."

She grimaced at this. No child should go through this.

"This is the life of the lower class. They are at the mercy at the rich and powerful." Amy murmured before looking at him as she pat his head, "You must hate being in the academy full of pretentious brats, don't you?"

He stopped trembling in her arms. 

"You are different. You are true friend who is willing to listen, but I can't bring myself to say anything to you."

"I can save you." Amy said and pulled him up. His legs are weak for him to stand much less walk.

"No," he protested, "It is already too late for me. They would notice me missing and would search for me. There isn't a place where I could live a normal life besides, it's already too late for me."

Amy was shocked to see Selim vomit blood and set him down. She opened his shirt to notice the bruises and his neck. His injuries were not properly treated and his internal injuries he sustained in his fight were beginning to kill him from the inside. He's been trying to hide his condition this whole time. It's a miracle that he's lived this long but he's injured to the point that she can't treat this. She can erase the infections but even that won't be enough. He's dying.

"Shit! I have a doctor who can treat you." She shouted. She instinctively called out to Boris who appeared close to her.

He immediately came over to her side and examined him. The pained expression on both their faces made Amy panic.

"Just go and leave me in that crystal. It's painful to be out when dying."

Amy couldn't talk. She can't leave him like this.

"I have one last request." Selim says softly. "My mother passed away a few years ago and now my young brother is at the brothel with no one to take care of him. If I die, then he'll all alone and he'll have to live the life worse than I did."

Amy nodded in response.

His hand trembled to her cheek. "Do you know what my dream is? If we met in different times and circumstances, we can truly be friends. I never knew what it felt like until now."

With one shallow breath, he breathed his last and the hand fell.

Amy and Boris were stunned. Neither were saying anything. It is as time has stopped for them.