Chapter 65

"Wait, give me that newspaper."

Aaron pointed to another newspaper sitting on the table beside my bed. I picked it up before handing it to him, and he immediately started to look through it.

"This says that Madame Fitzgerold bought a diamond last Sunday, which is when the banquet was held and Demetruis accidentally opened that black hole which swallowed you up."

Suddenly Aaron narrowed his eyes and a tiny flash of realization crossed his old expression, he suddenly looked around the room as if he was just transported there, his eyes frantically flashing across the room.

"Memories weren't just erased, it's like the entire world was rewritten."

"Wait…"

Aaron's expression faltered even more as he entered a deep train of thought, before looking back up at me and sighing in annoyance.

"That bastard's book."

I felt a rush of confusion after he said that, what book was he talking about?

"What book?"

"That Raymond bastard has a book that can rewrite rules of reality, it's how the rest of us weren't swallowed into that black hole."

"Maybe he magically implanted a rule that renders him either immune to memory erasure, or he was the one who rewrote the world."

I blinked a few times before asking in confusion.

"Why would he want or need to rewrite the world in general?"

Aaron chuckled for a few moments.

"A black hole isn't something that you see everyday, kid."

I leaned back in my bed and lied down, my expression still glued on Aaron.

"I'd like to help, but my supposed injuries from Raymond render me unable to move."

Aaron sighed before standing up and approaching my bed, before pressing his hand onto my wound. He closed his eyes and an illusory green flash crossed his palms, before a strange green liquid began to secrete from his fingertips, flowing into my wound and sealing it up.

"There we go, you should be able to move now."

Aaron stepped back with a glint of pride in his expression. I looked down at the bandages around my lower abdomen, and the rush of sudden pleasure I felt following this healing.

I slowly put my foot down onto the ground, feeling the cold tiled floor beneath my bare feet.

"Thanks…"

I put my other foot onto the ground, and followed that I felt a sudden rush of nausea cross my body, making me stumble forward a little, but luckily Aaron was able to catch me just in time.

"Steady kid, you just stood up."

I looked up at him and gave an awkward smile.

"I figure we should head over to Madame Fitzgerold's place, because that's where I suppose Raymond keeps his book."

Aaron looked away for a few seconds before sighing.

"I might, my connections to the Nightshades and my past trouble with Madame Fitzgerald might cause me some trouble."

Aaron then stared down at the floor with a hint of vulnerability and a little intimidation.

"Well, her memories were altered due to the book too, so I suppose she might forget the important aspects."

Aaron sighed, wiping a little sweat from his brow.

"That might be correct, but we shouldn't push our luck."

The carriage ride over to her house was a little longer considering the weather outside and the distance of the medical facility to the regular parts of town. The sick were put so far out because of the possible complications of infection and catching a sickness.

Me and Aaron approached her door and knocked, before a different servant opened the door, a large bulky man with an eyepatch. It was the same servant that was with Madame Fitzgerold who sacrificed his life during the banquet, which made me question how much this book really affected the world.

"She just woke up, so it might be a while until she's able to accommodate you, although I have no idea how she'll react to visitors this early in the morning."

He said gruffly as he led us to her comfort room where me, Shinso and Cattleya sat in when we first talked with Madame Fitzgerald. The house stood oddly quiet, and only the distant ticks of the grandfather clock near the fireplace was the only suitable ambience.

Soon we heard the sound of footsteps heading down the stairs, and Madame Fitzgerald almost spit out her tea when she saw us waiting in the room.

"By the stars, what are you doing here this early?"

She asked in confusion as she approached the couch across from us and sat down.

"We're here to talk about…stuff."

Aaron replied with some uncertainty, in reality Aaron didn't know what to talk about, so the tenseness on the air only increased.

Madame Fitzgerald narrowed her eyes slightly before letting out a chuckle, and pulling out a chessboard from the bottom drawer of the table.

"The subject may be uncertain, but I'm always up for a nice early game of chess to get my old mine cranking again."

She opened the chessboard case and took out the set, chess pieces and board. Her hands worked meticulously to arrange the board to start the game.

After the board was set, Madame Fitzgerold turned to me and asked in curiosity.

"Do you want to play?"

The last time I played a game of chess, it wasn't all that pleasant due to all the shocking revelations that unfolded, so I just sat back and nonchalantly shook my head.

"That's fine, I didn't think you were much of a player anyways."

She said before turning away from me and looking down at the board before speaking in a casual tone.

"Now, let's begin."

As Aaron and Madame Fitzgerold began to play, I could feel the tension in the air begin to decrease, but another source was simmering elsewhere.

"How did you get involved with the Nightshades to begin with?"

Aaron suddenly asked as he moved one of his pieces, Madame Fitzgerold looked up at him with an expression saying that she didn't know whether to talk about it or not.

"It's complicated, it's also how I got as wealthy as I am now."

She moved one of the chess pieces before speaking in a solemn tone. 

"My family used to be of humble beginnings, it was just me, my sister and my parents. We ran an old bakery a few blocks down, but another family took over after our move."

As Madame Fitzgerold continued to ramble on, Aaron turned to me and gestured to me to get up and ask to use the bathroom.

"M-Madame?"

She stopped talking and turned to me, folding her gloved hands.

"Yes, dear?"

"May I ask where the bathrooms are?"

Madame Fitzgerold nodded before pointing left down the hallway, near the stairs leading to Raymond's room.

"It's near the stairs, you won't miss it."

I thanked her before proceeding down the hallway.

"Anyways, my family wasn't all that wealthy, but luckily my father got a business opportunity to work near the front of the kingdom, where all the wealthy individuals resided."

"The opportunity was for him to work in the mines, where we'd help mine and collect special and radiant ores. One day when my father was on the job, he came across something rather spectacular."

"What he found was actually some Felinac ore, or a very rare and delicate mineral that can nullify magical abilities."

"But before he could really sell it and make a living, the police and authorities took the mineral away for research purposes, but we as a family were rewarded handsomely."

Suddenly Madame Fitzgerald's expression changed, and her eyes hardened, and her lips twitched.

"But later it was revealed that the police that took the ore were actually members of a secret organization, the Nightshades."

"And due to a real lack of members within the group, when I turned 15 they invited me into the group, and allowed me to work among them."

"And after a few years of working there, I met this handsome hunk, Isaiah, or the man you're looking for."

Aaron's eyes widened as this new revelation was brought upon him.

"You met Isaiah before?"

Madame Fitzgerold nodded, before sipping her morning tea.

"Indeed, I even dated him for a few years, and he was one of the nicest and kindest people I've ever met."

"But due to complications between our group work and what happened outside of work, we were forced to either keep our relationship a secret, or break up entirely."

Aaron nodded, before speaking in a dejected voice.

"He was also my friend once, and when I tell you he was a completely different person then how you described him."

Aaron then laughed self deprecatingly before moving another chess piece.

"But then, a man by the name of Maxwell Hammers, a member of the Nightshades who lost control for uncertain reasons started to cause trouble, leading to you and me having to banish him, and me being kicked out along with Isaiah."

"But you paid them to keep you in."

Madame Fitzgerald almost spit out her tea as she looked at Aaron with a gaze of fury, while all the more trying to maintain her placid and calm demeanor.

"I had to protect myself, the only reason I wasn't banned as well is because they never knew about my relationship with him."

"No, you stole the notes that the Nightshades are looking for now, you gave them to Cattleya when she visited a few nights ago, to move the blame over to her. You never protected yourself, you only shifted the blame.

Aaron slammed his hand onto the table, causing the chessboard to shake slightly and a few pieces to fall over, much to Madame Fitzgerold's surprise.

 "Don't act so rash, now Aaron."

Her tone was stone cold as she looked him up and down with disgust.

"I will be rash if I want to, do you know who Maxwell really was?"

Madame Fitzgerold rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Tell me."

"My brother."

Madame Fitzgerald's expression remained unmoving, as if she didn't even hear what he had to say.

"And that ritual that he did, the one that caused his death, you have no fucking idea how much pain it caused me"

Tears started to well in his eyes, and Madame Fitzgerald's bodyguard ran into the room with a stern expression, holding a handgun in case anything went off the rails.

"And here you are hiding behind someone, as always."

Aaron then reached into his pocket and took out a silencer, before pulling the trigger. The bullet landed in the middle of Madame Fitzgerald's chest.

Madame Fitzgerald's bodyguard froze in horror, before turning towards Aaron and charging at him full speed, flipping over the table and landing a punch to his nose.

Aaron fell back into the couch, before kicking the bodyguard in the jaw and landing a bullet in his mouth and through his head.