Chapter 88

"Where's Mr. Aaron?"

Damien asked as he finally left Shinso's room after awakening from his nap. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as he stepped into the common lobby, only to find that no one was to be seen. Damien's heart started to pound a little, but he was quickly fumed down by the door opening behind him, and everyone except me, Aaron and Raymond stepping inside through the hidden passageway. 

"Y-you're back."

He mumbled as he approached them, looking up at Cattleya, Carter, Demetruis and Officer palau; who had accompanied them shortly after. The young woman looked down at Damien and gently ran a finger through his hair with a warm smile.

"Hello, child."

"Where's Mr. Aaron and Isaac?"

Cattleya suddenly paused as the smile disappeared from her face. She nor anyone else had seen Aaron or me since Maxwell's defeat. But the realization hit Cattleya in the face upon realizing that Aaron's most likely dead due to Maxwell's shared demise. 

"Aarons ...sleeping."

She calmly replied, but her shaky and saddened tone betrayed her words. Demetruis approached the young boy before guiding him towards the kitchen with his hand on his back in an attempt to distract him from realizing it too. Although the maturity of the child would impact the amount of time that he would take to notice.

"Come on, I'll make you something to eat. You're probably hungry after that nap, right?"

In the now calmed streets of the kingdom, the fire department had already begun calming down the fire with the help of the council and their specialized knowledge of sealed artifact usage. Shinso and Aizawa walked down the street, their eyes scanned the numerous stores, services and houses.

Shinso and Aizawa then hung a left and walked into the shooting club, where Sabestisn tipped his hat and nodded.

"I suppose you're lookin' for your friend?"

Shinso nodded before pointing to the door leading to the shooting club, which was half open. Sebastian turned around and gave it a glance before sighing.

"Your friend came in here a good 10 minutes ago, he's been shooting everything, not just them damn targets. Maybe he's stressed or something." 

Shinso raised an eyebrow as he walked over to the door and opened it slowly. He watched as I reloaded and continued to fire my pistol wherever I could.

The targets have already been completely destroyed, there was lots of glass and debris on the floor, and lots of bullet holes painted across the white walls.

Aizawa leaned against the doorframe as he stepped in and approached me slowly and calmly.

"Are you ok?"

Shinso asked, his voice low and hushed. I looked towards him, my face slightly red. I sighed and threw the gun on the wooden table in the corner of the room; the only thing that wasn't completely destroyed.

"I don't know, Shinso. I'm confused, I'm scared. I killed Aaron and I can't do anything about it!"

Even if I had that talk in the afterlife about something similar to the subject with Aaron, Crodio's words about interpretation still clung tightly to my chest, threatening to push all the air from my lungs.

"Let's talk outside, ok?"

Shinso's eyes softened as he took me gently by my hand and led me out of the shooting range and into the bar. He then approached the counter and saw that Barclay had prepared us 2 glasses of non-alcoholic cider.

He handed them to us with a small smile before he went back to preparing the glasses for the oncoming patrons that started to enter the bar.

Shinso nodded to him as he sat down next to me and took a sip. I silently waited for him to finish before he spoke up softly.

"I know it's pretty fucking hard, losing someone?"

I silently nodded to his words, bringing the sweet drink to my mouth. Shinso's expression didn't change as he continued to speak.

"I've dealt with loss, well, not on the same level that you did. I mean, I lost my pet cat a few years back, it was pretty shitty after."

Shinso chuckled dryly.

"I had a cat too. Well, it wasn't domestic but I still took care of it. My parents didn't know about it, they probably would have had me abandon the poor thing. When I moved to Japan I had to leave it behind. Everyday I still wonder how that cat is doing, if it still remembers me it depends though."

Aizawa watched our conversation briefly before approaching us and sitting down across from us, his face sad but solemn.

"I lost a friend too. Oboro Shirakumo, or the guy we met here. I was young, naive and stupid. We were doing one of our first hero missions when a large chunk of rubble crushed him while he was trying to save some kids."

"That probably explains your reaction, why you looked so shocked when you saw him."

Aizawa nodded slowly, taking a sip of his cold, foaming beer.

"We've all lost things, kid. You're not alone when it comes to grief. But what you do with that grief is up to you. You can continue this self destructive behavior, or you can make a name for yourself and strive to improve yourself."

Aizawa's voice grew more stern as he spoke, but there also was a more fatherly edge to it, something I definitely wasn't used to, and something that definitely caught me off guard.

"Should I tell them?"

The Umbridge nodded in affirmation 

"They won't be destroyed, I promise."

The Apocalypse sigil on my forehead began to glow.