Chapter 41: Learning Lessons the Hard Way

Allie tugged on Aejaz' clothes as they ran. "Are you ok?"

Aejaz' wound was still bleeding. "Yeah, I'll be fine. That pill you gave me is already working, I can feel it healing me." 

"Thank you for saving me."

The snatcher had broken into the room and targeted Allie from the start. Aejaz hadn't managed to get any hits in, but he stood resolute and lasted long enough for the cavalry to arrive while protecting Allie from harm. "I'm just glad you're safe."

Enyo chuckled. "I would tell you two to get a room, but you already have one."

Aejaz and Allie both blushed. "Speaking of, how's rooming with Ares been?" Allie changed the subject.

"Great. Phenomenal even. I'll talk to you about it later. For now, we've got to deal with this snatcher."

The prison in this town was actually just a mock-dungeon underneath the mayor's mansion. Bret was supposed to be looking out for the people here and dealing with these snatchers, but had been hyper-focused on spoiling his son who had arrived recently. If he wasn't going to do anything about it, then Enyo would drag them to his front door so he had no choice but to acknowledge the issue. She really did wish she could have brought them all, but this would have to do as the situation was out of her control.

They arrived at the mansion and explained the situation to the guards who looked at each other under their helmets and shrugged. One went inside while the other told them to wait. About five minutes later, the guard came back and escorted them to Bret's office. From outside, they heard what was presumably Bret speaking, "I'll handle it, Crayn."

They walked inside and looked around. There was a young man that was obviously Crayn as there was no one else present. He had a face somehow even more forgettable than the Lighter Duo and his only real defining features were his long neck and lanky body. As for the office, it was a pretty ordinary office. That was still saying a lot though considering the living conditions of everyone else in this town, there was a clear discrepancy and Enyo immediately disliked this 'Bret'. Bret himself was a rather large man who looked tired and fed-up with something. 

Enyo decided to get the conversation started. "Are you aware of the snatcher issue that has been plaguing this town?"

Bret responded in a neutral tone, "I am. What of it?"

"You should be held accountable for your lack of care, but that's a different issue. We've dealt with the problem for you. This one here was their leader, the rest are currently all being murdered by our companion. I'm bringing this one here for you to imprison and bring to justice."

"He's in quite the state. Well, hand him over then." He nodded to a guard who took the snatcher off Enyo and took a step back. "Girlie, do you know how much of a pain you are?"

"What? We're filling in the blanks that you're leaving. There is effectively no law in this city, you should be thankful for what we've done."

"No law in this city? I AM the law." Bret waved his finger in a circular rotation and the guards blocked the exit. "Tsk, those snatchers were good men. They were expensive, but had high cultivation bases and their illusion magic could fool even me. Now, because of you, I'm going to have to shell out more stardust and hire lower quality workers. Do you understand, or do I need to spell it out for you?"

Allie huddled closer to Aejaz who, in turn, moved closer to Enyo. "Despicable. So that's where the women went? They're in your dungeon? You're scum of the earth."

"Me? No. Him?" Bret pointed at Crayn. "Yes. I wish my son would stop being a lousy pervert, but I'm just enabling him, so blame him not me."

Crayn rolled his eyes. "There's nothing else to do in this infernal, god-forsaken town."

"You say that, but you do this in every town you visit. Tsk, what I wouldn't give for a son who isn't as pathetic as you. If you weren't doing well as a cultivator, I would have kicked you out by now."

"So you've said, many times." Crayn looked over at Allie. "Thank the heavens for travellers, the women in this town aren't anything special. That one in the back is really cute, I'll go play with her, while you deal with them, ok?"

"Why don't you do it yourself you lazy brat? Also, what about the knight?"

"It's because of the knight that I can't be bothered to do it myself, she looks like trouble. Also, she's not my type. She'll just struggle and I bet it won't even be worth it. How good looking can she be if she's hiding her face anyway?"

Bret wasted no time in getting out of his chair and kicking his desk out of his way.

"Behemoth!"

Bret's cultivation of sensory enhancement, 2nd stage, flared and he bound across the room. Enyo put everything she had into blocking with a magic barrier and held him back with relative ease. 

Behemoth was an art of the bare-fisted aspect. It was extremely simple and just made the user stronger, that was literally it. The art was rarely used as it lacked any kind of utility and did nothing special of any kind. It was the type of art used by big, bulky, stupid morons who were too dumb to learn anything that required actual technique. Whereas other arts would perhaps be able to get around Enyo in some fashion, Bret could do nothing but keep swinging at the barrier like a brute to try and break it. Sure, you could overpower people and rend the heaven and the earth with the might of a thousand blah blah blah, but any other art could do that if you practised enough with it too, and other arts had other benefits. There were some freaks, however, that took it to the extreme, and used dedication cultivation and spent innumerable amounts of resources to hone their body into the ultimate weapon. They could wind up a terrifying existence, sure, but it required complete commitment in order to really make it work and to get to that point. Bret was luckily not at that point.

The guards and Crayn had run around the sides while Enyo focused on Bret. Aejaz couldn't hold off all three as they all had cultivation stages two levels higher than him, sitting at mental accumulation, 4th stage. The most he could manage was two and, even then, he was on the defensive. Even though he was completely untouchable, he cursed his lacking offensive capabilities. He managed to get hits every now and then, but none of it was substantial let alone lethal. Maybe if he wasn't still injured he could have done a little better. He despaired and wished Ares was here right now, he would have already killed all three.

Crayn had ignored Aejaz and went straight for Allie. Allie only had a cultivation of 3rd realm flesh unfettering, 10th stage. She had done the two mana related realms first as she was safe inside the sect and only had to focus on her alchemy and not her cultivation for fighting purposes. She had been considering switching from standard cultivation to dedication so she could increase her cultivation faster but had yet to make the switch. Despite the difference of over an entire realm, she was still ready to put up a fight.

"Status Surge!"

Status Surge was Allie's first ever Mini-Pilly aspect art. She waved her hand and a large, multicoloured wave of Mini Pillies appeared from behind her, rolling over Crayn who had charged in thinking he had enough of a cultivation advantage to be carefree and hadn't seen this coming. When the wave subsided, Crayn was looking incredibly worse for wear. The thing that made Status Surge deadly was that each and every single one of the 100's of Mini Pillies could individually inflict status ailments like poison, burns, freezing, paralysis, etc… Being hit by that many at once would leave you in a pitifully weak state regardless of Allie's cultivation. 

Crayn was on his knees throwing up some strange blue liquid. He tried taking a healing pill, but one of the Mini-PIllies that hit him had the effect of preventing healing, so it did nothing for him. He tried standing, but a jolt of electricity ran through his leg and made him collapse again. He tried getting up again, but suddenly became blind as one of the Mini Pilly toxins set in. Status Surge was a prolonged bombardment of crippling de-buffs that couldn't be removed.

This was really fucking annoying but, then again, fighting alchemists was annoying in general. Due to the wide varieties of pills in existence, who on earth knew what they were going to chuck at you when a fight started? Noone, that's who! 

Crayn shook his head and tried to power through, only to look up and see something hurling toward him.

"Go! From The Top Rope!"

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

The entire room collapsed and everyone fell down two floors until they all landed on the ground floor. 

No-one ever said Allie couldn't put up a fight. 

Although, technically, it was the Mini-Pillies doing everything.

Mini-Pilly Strength hopped over to Allie with its 'chest' puffed up in a self-satisfied manner. Enyo and Aejaz had landed a bit further away so Allie turned to run over to them, but something grabbed onto her foot and pulled her to the floor. She looked over her shoulder and saw Crayn encased in metal, gripping her foot and dragging her backward. 

Crayn had managed to use 'Metal-Morph', an art of the 'Moulding' aspect under the metal pillar, just before Allie's art had hit him. Metal-Morph was an example of one of the hundreds of arts that just straight up did a better job than Behemoth. It empowered the user, but also changed the structure of their body, similar to Aqua Anatomy. If two people of equal strength used two arts; one being Behemoth, and the other Metal-Morph, the Metal-Morph cultivator would win 99% of the time. Metal-Morph was quite a strong defensive art which allowed Crayn to block the Mini-Pilly's attack. If he hadn't used it in time, he'd be unconscious no questions asked.

Mini-Pilly Strength jumped at him but, Crayn, who was now putting in effort instead of relying solely on his higher cultivation, was too much for the Mini-Pilly. Crayn swatted it out of mid-air with his full strength, breaking it. Crayn pulled a frightened and quaking Allie closer. When she was close enough to hit, he beat her mercilessly while she curled up and cried until she was limp and couldn't even defend herself, let alone fight back. He picked up her bloody body and took her out of the room.

Enyo was in a stalemate with Bret and was too busy holding her ground to use an art as Bret's offensive was ceaseless. She had no issue in maintaining the status quo whatsoever, and could probably even hold back two Brets at the same time if need be, but reversing the situation was impossible as things stood. She looked over at Aejaz who hadn't made any progress with the two guards and couldn't help but feel angry at him for being so useless. FUCK. Ares was right about him. Ares was right about me too. This is my fault. FUCK. I should have just killed the snatcher. This never should have happened. DAMN IT. "AEJAZ! GO GET ARES."

Aejaz was on the verge of crying when he saw Allie being taken away and wanted to run after her, but knew he wasn't strong enough to even beat the guards in front of him. Ares' words just kept playing on loop in his head and he felt more and more guilty every single time. Ares would have killed everyone. Ares was right, and now all Aejaz could do was run away and find Ares. Aejaz hated it. He hated everything. He hated Enyo for being stubborn and getting them in this mess. He hated Bret and Crayn. He hated Ares for not being here, but he knew the only person he could actually justify hating was himself. How could he stand in front of Allie if he couldn't even defend himself? His heart sunk as he did the only thing he was good at, running away. He hated that he hadn't even managed to kill one guard. He hated that he hadn't even created one single art that he could use to fight with as even Allie, an alchemist, had done so. He hated that his legs weren't moving quicker and that he wasn't faster. He was distraught by the fact that the slower he was, the higher chance was that Allie was going to be abused and raped because he was so incompetent and utterly useless. His only solace was that it wasn't too far to the inn, so he tried as hard as he could to put those thoughts out of his head and just run.

When he rounded the final corner, if he weren't in a rush, he would've been awed and full of reverence for his brother. Ares had killed everyone already. The street's width had doubled in size from all the explosions, creating new space, and was littered with corpses. Ares had just finished crushing a skull with his foot and looked majestic with the golden fires of his Omniscience and his cape gently swaying behind him. Blood gushed out from under his shoe and he flicked the blood off his blade before cleaning it on his cape, which he then replaced with a fresh one.

"ARES!" Aejaz ran up to Ares with tears in his eyes. "ALLIE…"

Smack

Ares beat Aejaz and dragged him along without saying a word. He didn't really need to. He could tell by the panic in Aejaz' voice and his desperate, pleading look that something had gone wrong. Ares could also tell his brother was vexed and frustrated with himself as Aejaz had the exact same look that Ares did when he was hurting himself for upsetting Enyo. He wasn't going to have a go at him, he was just going to let everything sink in for Aejaz until he came crawling and begging like he should. It didn't need to be like this, and he had warned Aejaz countless times before. For him to only truly get it now that Allie was in danger wasn't good enough. On that same note, he wasn't exactly sure what to do with Enyo who was also in a similar position to Aejaz. Her stubbornness had finally caused the people around her to get hurt. It was only a matter of time and Ares had known this was the likely outcome when he was first sent away from their group in Baja Forest.

'I hope you all learn a hard lesson because the easy way has been too soft for you three.'

Ares didn't regret saying it, he just wished it never had to happen. The only good thing about this was that they were all learning collectively from one awful experience, rather than over the course of three separate issues. He wanted to have a go at them, but it was probably better to just let them deal with it themselves. Aejaz explained the situation to him on the way and Ares doubled down on his Shifts to get there quicker.

When Ares arrived, he threw Aejaz towards the mansion and demanded he go and save Allie for two reasons. One, Ares was going to be busy dealing with the guards, who were now amassing at this location, while Enyo held off Bret and therefore neither of them could do it. Second, it was just one person Aejaz needed to fight, and he seriously had to be responsible for his actions at some point. Ares was also convinced that there was no way in hell Aejaz could ever lose if he just used his fucking head for once. 

Ares could clearly envision the way Aejaz should fight. If Aejaz had ever figured it out, then even Bret would have already been dead by now. 

The way Aejaz should fight should be completely unfair, it shouldn't even really be a fight to begin with. 

There was a reason Ares had been trying, with all his heart, to recommend Aejaz become an assassin despite his history.

Aejaz was still uncertain and had little faith in his skills. "But… I…"

"You're such a good con-man you've even managed to convince yourself you're useless. Go down there and just be yourself. Stop trying to be me and kill everyone in a head on fight. You can fight in a way that no one else can. Stop relying on me all the damn time AND GO."

"Can I have a Shock Bea…"

"NO! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?"

Aejaz turned and ran as Ares started massacring the guards, drawing their focus.

Enyo couldn't move, but she wasn't really under any duress, just stuck in place, so she could actually have a surprisingly calm conversation with Ares who was also not having a hard time. "Can he do it?"

Bret was furious that Enyo was ignoring him and put more magic into his fist, but still made no progress. What the fuck is this magic? Why can't I break it? Why is she so damn strong?

Ares killed a whole slew of guards and yet still wasn't even remotely done, still he took a second out of his slaughtering to reply, "If I told you that idiot could even kill me if he used his head, would you believe me?"

"Seriously!? How?"

"He's a pretty damn good actor."

"... Huh?"

"I was told that, unlike me, he was actually able to fool your bloodline, right?"

Enyo thought back, remembered the incident, and started putting two and two together. "Hahaha. Ok, I see it now. It's incredibly cowardly, and it's not exactly fighting, but I don't see how anyone can stop that."

"I know right? And it gets even more ridiculous. I've looked up his family's bloodline… And the things they can do with it… Aejaz is going to be a serious threat when he stops feeling sorry for himself. That aside, did you think I wasn't going to give you flak as well?"

"... Fine… I admit it… You were right. Right about everything."

Ares rolled his eyes and tutted. "I already know that. what I'm asking is if you're going to stop being obstinate about it?"

"For the most part, yes."

"Good, then I'll stop hassling you about it, but I have to ask, what do you mean by… 'For the most part?'"

"Tsk, I'm not going to kill a petty thief or a jaywalker, am I?"

"... Ok… You got me there."

Enyo snickered. "You must be SOOO pleased you were right and got to have me admit I was wrong."

"Ha, of course. There's nothing quite as satisfying as a good 'I told you so' moment."

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!?" Bret had had enough.

"Mind your own business."

"Fuck you." Ares and Enyo weren't happy when their little moment was interrupted, leaving Bret bewildered by this strange and annoyingly overpowered couple.

---------------------------------

Aejaz hurtled down a flight of stairs and into the dungeon with Ares' last piece of advice bouncing around in his head. Be myself? Who am I? I'm Aejaz? I'm no one… If I'm no one… Then I can become anyone I want to be? Who do I want to be? Who would be convenient right now? Ares? No, that's not convenient. It would be easy, but not convenient… But why does it matter? No matter who I try to become, it's just an act… Why would that help me? I can't pretend to be someone I'm not around people who already know me… But… What if? What if? What if… Aejaz passed by numerous women who were in tattered clothes, beaten, and huddled up against the walls of their prison cells. He would save them on the way out but, first, he had an asshole to kill.

Allie was lying battered on the floor with her back up against the wall. Crayn had broken her hands so they could no longer push him away. He crouched down next to her and put his hands on her waist, brought his mouth next to her neck, and bit down causing her to yelp out loud. Crayn liked to taste his women all over before playing with them. He removed his mouth and was about to start removing her clothes and feeling the rest of her body when the door behind him opened and Aejaz walked in. "You!? What are you doing here… What are you… What are… What?" Crayn's eyes had gone white and hollow for a split second and he looked confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm one of your father's personal guards. He asked me to come and tell you something important."

"Tsk. God-damnit it, really? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something!? Fine, whatever, hurry up."

Aejaz walked over to Crayn and whispered in his ear, "Rot in hell." 

Aejaz slit his throat and pushed Crayn off to the side so he could sit there and spend his last few seconds on this earth trying to figure out what just happened.

Aejaz had used 'Memory Muddle,' the same art he used to steal his own memories back in the cave when he was questioned. 

Aejaz had been an idiot. 

There was no valid reason he couldn't use it on other people to make them forget about him as he had just done with Crayn. After that, it was just a matter of acting and playing around with their trust. There were so many potential combat related applications of his thievery aspect, and this was just the tip of the iceberg. Aejaz was preparing himself to beg Ares for his insight on the matter as he had opened a whole new world to him, but he still wanted to learn to fight too. It was no good relying excessively on external factors, he'd learnt that the hard way now. He would just have to train like Ares had wanted him to all along. Aejaz crouched next to Allie, whose eyes looked distant and unfocused. "Allie?"

Upon hearing her name called by Aejaz, she started crying as she hadn't been allowed to before or Crayn would've hit her. She leaned forward against Aejaz' chest and wanted to hug him to feel safe but couldn't because her arms were too injured to move properly.

Tears were falling from Aejaz' face as Allie's state was heart-breaking and he felt responsible. The worst part was that she wouldn't even blame him. Not even for a second would she think this was his fault. He lifted her and put her on his back to carry her out of the room. He opened the rest of the cells with the key he stole from Crayn's corpse and led the other women out. 

Some of the women couldn't walk, but Aejaz couldn't help them as he was already helping Allie and she took precedence, so they had to lean on the other women that were escaping. Of all the women that had been captured, one had died before Aejaz arrived, but there was nothing he could do to bring back the dead. They reached the surface and went outside.

Ares, meanwhile, was still killing guards like it was going out of style and had amassed a small mountain of corpses that he had to step over in order to add more to the pile. The snatcher leader's body was also buried somewhere deep in the pile. The guards had started to give up as they weren't being paid enough to deal with this devil flinging himself around everywhere with his sword and that damn cape. Gamble had, on its own, killed off at least 7 guards. When Ares ripped out one of the guard's still-beating hearts from his chest and shoved it down his throat, the last few guards decided life was still worth living, so they turned around and started scarpering away from evil incarnate. 

Ares was having approximately none of it.

"Grand Annihilation!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

The front of the mansion was torn off and there were no guards left, not even a single trace could be found amongst the wreckage, save a few shredded limbs lying about here and there. Parts of the building were crumbling now that the structural support underneath them had been obliterated. Bits of plumbing had been unearthed, water was spraying everywhere, and a fire had started in the kitchen which was now missing half its walls.

Bret stared stupidly at Ares who was basically a demon disguised as a human. Ares had been swatting his guards like flies and that last magic bombardment was absolute lunacy. WHO THE FUCK ARE THESE PEOPLE!? 

The women who were recently freed, and hadn't used their legs in far too long, couldn't handle the shockwaves and were all knocked over.

"Ares," Enyo spoke in a disapproving tone of Ares' carelessness at having floored the women. She was deeply impressed by Grand Annihilation, as she had never seen it before, but right now there were more important things to be worrying about.

"Hm? Oh… Uh… My bad… Sorry." Ares was so engrossed in his murdering spree he hadn't even noticed Aejaz' return. He Shifted over and helped the women to their feet. "Enyo, how long can you keep him there?"

"This pitiful fool? For an entire day at least, and pretty easily at that. Why?"

"I'm going to help take these women back to safety as my Shift art will make the whole process a lot quicker. I'll come back for you when I'm done, ok."

"Mhm. Don't take too long, this guy's breath reeks of alcohol."

Ares chuckled and started moving the women back to the inn. Thankfully, Bret's inattention to the city meant he would have no clue where everyone was going to hide from him. They couldn't fight Bret, as they would've had to lower Enyo's barrier first, and his cultivation was just too high to beat in a straight up fight. He also didn't rely on gadgets like the snatcher did, so running away from him was the only real option… For now.

Ares was amazed with how easily Enyo was fending off Bret, she was seriously unmoveable like a literal mountain. She wasn't even breaking a sweat. Still though, like Aejaz, exclusively focusing on defence meant you couldn't ever actually kill the other person. That was going to have to change, and Ares had no issue helping Enyo with that. It would be far easier than with Aejaz though as Enyo already knew the basics of how to fight, she just needed a bit of direction and to familiarise herself with offensive arts and she would be on the right track. When Ares looked at her, he could tell from her build, the length of her arms, and the stance she was comfortable with, that she would do good work with spears. Maybe he could convince Gladius to teach him how to use them quickly thanks to his Omniscience and then he could teach Enyo. Actually, there should be an Elder back at the sect who could help. There was a department for just about everything in Heaven's Path. Ares would search for an Elder proficient in the weapons pillar when he returned, he'd been wanting to try new weapons out anyway. Of course, this wasn't to say Enyo couldn't fight at all as, given enough time, she could probably beat Bret on her own but, then again, so could Ares. The issue is that there was potential for it to go wrong and there was no need to take the fight in the first place as there was another, perfectly valid, far easier method of killing Bret. It was a little thing called 'patience'.

It took a few hours to ferry everyone to the inn and Ares left Aejaz to take care of Allie when he was done. The bartender had kicked out everyone who wasn't related to any of the women and was using every room available to house them. The bartender also called for the local medic to come and treat all the women. He was incredibly helpful.

Ares arrived back at the mansion and found Enyo sitting on the floor cultivating while holding Bret back, bored as all-hell. "Slowpoke."

Ares decided to tease her a bit. "What can I say? With all those pretty women…"

Enyo wasn't about to let him get away with a comment like that. "You what? Got an erection?"

Ares was floored that she brought that up and couldn't believe he had been verbally trounced by Enyo. "I… You… That… But…"

Enyo was cracking up and in stitches. "Hahahahaha, it's cute when you're flustered."

After an entire week, it was now Ares' turn to blush and be on the receiving end of the emotional bullying. "...Um… I'm going to… Um, hold onto you, so I can Shift you, ok?"

"Ok." Enyo smiled evilly. "But do tell, is it going to be a… Bumpy ride? Hahahahaha."

Ares meekly walked up to Enyo and put his hand on her shoulder from a longer distance away than he had with the other women, which just made Enyo laugh even harder. He Shifted with Enyo a few times and they ended up back at the inn. Ares walked up to the room Allie was in with Enyo cackling all the way behind him. "I'm genuinely glad you're having a wonderful time at my expense, but Allie is probably not in a good condition mentally, so you may want to stop laughing before you enter." 

Enyo coughed to herself to stop. She still snorted once more but managed to cut it out when she walked into the room.

A doctor was peering at Allie's injuries and making notes on a clipboard about the kind of medicine she would need. Ares just walked past the doctor.

"Diagnosis!"

"Ah, stay back from the patient please," the doctor complained.

"Look pal, the people in the medical profession would kill to have even half the healing prowess I do. Go heal the other women."

"How dare you!? I won't let some no-name brat… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Ares had identified every single injury and was digging his fingers into his chest to coat them in his blood before using it to paint over Allie's injuries. It looked like he was applying blood-red war-paint in some tribal-esque ritual. "Quiet you fool."

The doctor was about to gripe again when Ares turned around and shoved his head over Allie's body. "She's healing, isn't she?"

The doctor looked dumbfounded. "How? What did you…" The doctor's head spun and, when everything settled, he was outside with his ass on the floor. He dusted himself off, kissed his teeth, and went to check on the other women whose injuries weren't as severe. Ares was clearly going to heal any of the major problems anyway, not him.

Sure enough, Ares went around doing the same routine. He even stopped by the people the doctor had already visited and healed them too as his blood was hard to use up fully; it regenerated at an astonishing rate, so why not? He went back to the room and Allie was awake, but still quite timid and shaky. "How are you holding up?"

"... I'm scared," she put her hand up to her neck as she spoke. 

The memory of that bite looked like it was going to be a real sore spot for Allie if it wasn't dealt with in the appropriate fashion now. The physical wound would disappear, but the mental scar wouldn't. She needed help getting over it. 

Ares came up with an idea. 

He stood in an exaggerated 'I'm thinking' pose with a hand on his chin as he looked slightly upward with a contemplative look on his face. He suddenly smiled, removed the hand off his chin and lifted a single finger in the air. "Eureka!" He bent over and pointed at the bite mark that wasn't quite gone yet. "Allie… Pretend he was a vampire."

"ARES!" Both Aejaz and Enyo yelled at him and dragged the damn lunatic away from Allie, only to realise she was giggling like she used to. They looked back at Ares who had arguably the smuggest face the world had ever seen. "Ugh." Enyo and Aejaz both wanted to punch him to make it go away.

Allie spoke up a little less quietly than before, "Thank you… Um… Ares? Can I sleep with you tonight? I just want to feel safe…"

Aejaz nearly fainted, but Ares ignored him. "Alright, fine. I won't hassle you too much because you're injured and you've been through a lot, but I have to at least ask if you've learnt your lesson?"

"Yes… I'm sorry for sending you away. I was wrong. You were just doing what was right… And I was entitled to think I could be sheltered forever…"

Ares blinked repeatedly. "I mean, I appreciate it, but I was only really expecting you to say you were wrong and leave it at that… Wow… You're probably more mature than Enyo is!"

Thud

"Ignore him, Allie." Enyo had bonked Ares with the shield and had him in a headlock.

Allie giggled heartily as she really liked watching Enyo and Ares play around like this.

"... I'm sorry Allie." Aejaz was nearly crying again.

"Hm? Why? You saved me, didn't you?"

That was all it took for the flood-works to start and for Aejaz to feel terrible. "No… It's all my fault this happened to you… I'm sorry."

"Aejaz… It's ok."

"No, it isn't… I can't look at you without feeling worthless. I've let you down."

"You didn't."

Ares Shifted out of the headlock and interrupted, "Yes, he did. Don't be needlessly supportive of a man who can't support you. It's like encouraging an alcoholic, he needs to learn his lesson. He'll get there in time, but right now he needs every second of that time to get there, so leave him to me. I promise he'll be in one… May〜be two pieces by the time I give him back."

Allie giggled again.

"Good, we're all agreed then. On that note, fuck off!" Ares literally kicked Aejaz out.

"I'll go and stay in that room tonight and make sure Aejaz is ok," Enyo said

Ares gave an appreciative smile. "Thanks."

As Enyo was on her way out, she turned and threw out a warning, "Allie, don't accidentally end up on top of him, you'll be in for a surprise if you do!"

Ares stammered, "E… Enyo? Enyo we can talk about that…"

"Hahahaha, goodnight you two."

"Enyo? ENYO?" Ares was calling out to a closed door.

Allie was curious. "Um… What did she mean by that?"

Ares stiffened on the spot, thankfully not in the way Enyo had been referring to. "Uh… I'll tell you when you're older."

"I'm 17!" Allie pouted.

"Yeah, so is Aejaz." Ares expertly dismantled the situation by bringing up Aejaz, making Allie embarrassed and unfocused.

"You're getting along really well with sis'."

"Yeah. The days we've spent in this room have been amazing." Ares hopped into the bed next to Allie. This would have been a little strange to him if it weren't for his experience with Appa; but this was, in essence, an identical scenario for him. Although not his daughter, Alllie was like a little-sister to him. "You should get some rest; you've had a long day."

"Ok… Can you pat me on the head like you did at the mission hall?"

"Alright." 

Ares obliged until Allie got sleepy and then he hugged her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Allie snuggled closer and felt really secure in Ares' arms. She was glad she'd asked Ares for this favour as she could tell she was going to sleep well tonight in spite of everything that happened. As she dozed off, she wondered when she'd be able to do this with Aejaz.

---------------------------------

"Stop," Enyo sounded fed up. "What is wrong with you two brothers? Why is it you both resorted to hurting yourselves because you hurt the person you love?" Enyo had gone into the room to find Aejaz about to do the same thing as Ares and scratch himself out of frustration. 

"... Ares did it too?"

"Yes, he upset me so he did what you were about to."

"... Do you… Know?"

"That Ares loves me? Yes."

"... Oh… You two seem to be getting along…"

"Yes, we are. We're doing things differentky from you and Allie, but that's fine because we're different people. I'm not Allie, and you aren't Ares, even if there are some similarities."

"... You lucked out, you got the good brother." Aejaz laughed in a self-deprecating manner.

"Don't be stupid. God, I see why Ares punched you, even I'm tempted to. Me and Allie both got the brother that's right for us. You're as perfect for Allie as Ares is for me, and vice versa."

"I'm not perfect for Allie, I need to change."

"You know, Ares makes me feel perfect regardless of whether or not I want to change. Even now Allie still likes you. You can still change, but that fact never will. You don't need to get like this. Allie would be devastated if she saw you doing that, so don't ever do it again."

"Ok… I was just annoyed… That she wanted to sleep next to Ares for comfort and not me."

"Yeah, no kidding? I left to make sure you weren't hurting yourself, but it was also partly because I knew I'd be unreasonably envious while lying across from Allie and watching her cuddle with Ares, even if I know it's not like that." Enyo sighed. "Look, just do what Ares says for a while and he'll help you become who you want to be. He did it for me, he can do it for you."

"... Really? Right now, I just want to hit him."

"Ha, yes, he really can. In fact, if you want proof… It's not perfect yet, but…" Enyo took off her helmet.

Aejaz' jaw nearly dislocated as it swung open. He wasn't sure whether he was dumbfounded by Enyo taking her helmet off, or by how beautiful she was as this was his first time seeing her. "THAT BASTARD! Do you know what he said to me?"

Enyo took a deep breath and looked at Aejaz because she really wanted to know. "What?"

"He said he didn't want a 'white jade' and then he goes and falls in love with you! You must hands-down, easily, be the best-looking woman he's ever seen! Hypocrite!"

"Well, he did fall in love before he even saw my face, right?"

"Yeah, that's my point, the bastard won the jackpot! He got what he wanted and the best of both worlds! Lucky man."

"And you?"

"Hm? Oh, don't get me wrong, Allie's perfect. If he hit the jackpot, then I cleaned house."

Enyo looked away. "Can you help me?"

"What with?"

Enyo explained her helmet situation and Aejaz responded, "Sure. Aren't you already doing really well though? It seems you were able to skip a few of the steps you did with Ares."

"He did say it would get easier, I guess he wasn't wrong."

"As much as I hate to say it, I'm not sure that bastard is ever wrong - at least not when it really matters anyway."

"Ha, tell me about it. It would be less annoying if he himself wasn't so damn annoying with that punch-able face of his."

"Hey… Thanks for stopping me before. I'll help you out with the helmet thing whenever, plus it'll get me some brownie points with Ares. Maybe he'll make me some cotton candy."

"Ha, only after he makes me more of that damn honeycomb. I'm addicted and he knows it."

"I think everyone knows it."

"Mhm, good. I want everyone to know, especially that idiot Trew. Well, anyway, it's getting late so goodnight."

"Goodnight."

---------------------------------

Next morning, Enyo and Aejaz woke up, got out of their beds, and left the room. Today was the day Zhang would meet up with them, so they went downstairs to wait for him as he would arrive shortly. Ares and Allie weren't up yet. Enyo and Aejaz waited for around five minutes until Zhang eventually showed up and were immediately asked a question by him after he saw the state of the inn, "Where's Allie?"

Enyo responded, "She's safe, it's just… Well, things are complicated."

"Complicated? Where is she?"

"She's sleeping with Ares right now…" Enyo didn't get a chance to continue her explanation as Zhang charged like a raging bull up the China shop that was the stairs leading to the second floor, all the while shouting 'BASTARD!' as he went.

---------------------------------

Ares thought he heard a shout coming from outside the room, but paid it no heed as it didn't seem important. He yawned and looked down at Allie who was still sleeping. Almost as cute as Appa. Almost.

CRASH

"Huh?!" Ares had barely enough time to squeak out an exclamation before Zhang picked him up and dragged him outside the inn in one fell swoop. He couldn't see what was happening as everything was a blur, but he could hear Zhang repeatedly cursing him under his breath.

"Incorrigible scum. Pervert. Sly rogue. Bed-fiend."

Ares could finally see again as he came to a halt, but everything was upside down for some strange reason. 

Ares looked around and realised Zhang had tied him up in rope and left him dangling off the inn's sign. "Uh, Zhang? I think there's been a misunderstanding of some sort… AGH," Ares groaned as Zhang punched him in the stomach.

"No. I really don't think there has been!" He punched again.

"AGH."

Aejaz, Enyo, and Allie rushed outside just in time to watch Zhang's fist connect. "Dad? NO!" Allie shouted.

"Allie… He… WHY HIM!? OF ALL THE PEOPLE!?"

"I… Felt safe with him."

Punch

"DAD, NO! STOP! I ASKED HIM TO SLEEP WITH ME!"

PUNCH

"WAIT! NO…" Choose your words carefully, Allie! Be clear! Be concise! "I DON'T LOVE HIM!"

PUNCH

"DAAAAAAD! STOP! WE DIDN'T… You know…"

Punch?