Chapter 63: Research Center (I)

"Dante, I..."

He stopped, irritated, and turned to Marcus. The shooter still had the same ashamed look as before, but a certain determination lingered in his eyes, as if there was no fear. And there shouldn't be, he thought.

"I don't want to know the reason. I know you're upset, angry, or whatever is going through your head." He stepped closer, pressing a finger against Marcus's chest. "But you pressured the person who trusts you the most in front of everyone. And when everything seemed lost, you reached for your gun."

Marcus took a step back, swallowing hard.

"Do you understand that drawing your gun means you're ready to point it at someone?" Dante didn't let him back away and closed in on him. "Answer me, Marcus. Do you know what that means?"

The shooter snapped, yelling, "How could I not, damn it? I'm doing everything I can to keep my sanity intact. Did you see who's there?"

"How could I not?" Dante clearly hated having Meliah around. Even without holding any grudges, Kappz's history was long and destructive. "That's why I pulled you out of there. If you push the wrong side, Clara won't withstand the pressure."

Then, Marcus finally dropped his furious expression and rubbed his eyes. After that, he crouched down, taking a deep breath. Dante and Jix said nothing. It wasn't about whether he would overcome it or not. Above all, he needed to reflect on his decisions.

The main way to grow was to question oneself. It had taken Dante years to conclude that he was ready to grow, which was why, at that moment, the dilemma of being an old man no longer haunted him so much. Being old and neither fat nor bald was already enough.

Clearly, some wouldn't be as lucky. Marcus was one of those lucky ones, he could live a good life if he wanted, yet he refused to understand that in this world, words had different meanings.

"There's no honor in raising a gun at an unarmed person." Dante waited for Marcus to look at him, still crouched. "Honor has always been a word I carried with me because I hoped people would use it when they understood that conscience is the main weapon in the world out here. Men like me believe the right path is the hardest one, but honor isn't for everyone. The world has never been fair, and it never will be. Never."

Dante crossed his arms.

"Meliah doesn't deserve forgiveness," Marcus said. "Not even a shred of it."

"I never asked you to forgive him. I want you to understand something." Dante extended his hand. Marcus stared at it for a few seconds before taking it and standing up. Dante gripped it tighter. "Forgiveness is given to relieve ourselves. Don't forgive him, no one asked you to, but if you're going to draw your gun on someone, make sure it's to shoot. Honor is just a word to justify an end, so justify it. Just don't instill fear and walk away like a coward."

He squeezed Marcus's hand even harder.

"I understand what you're saying." Marcus tried to pull away, but Dante wouldn't let him. "I get it, Dante. I won't do it again. Even if I do, I know what must be done."

Still staring intently at him, Dante didn't want him to become overconfident. Good warriors ended up being destroyed by their own pride and arrogance. Where had he learned that? From his father.

He had never beaten him, but whenever he managed to land a different strike, he swelled with pride. It took nearly six days of beatings for humility to return to his actions.

Dante felt a little sad. Ah, home. He missed it.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Marcus asked, rubbing his sore hand. "Where are you taking me, old man?"

"Dante found a different place," Jix answered, silent until then. "I thought it would be something more robust, but we'll be looking for a small object. It has a special name, one I haven't heard in a long time."

They resumed walking through the streets. The Research Center was too far for just the two of them to go on foot, but with Marcus by his side, Dante had to proceed this way. Jix's ability was still active, making movement difficult, and holding Marcus back would be a genius idea that would crush him.

Gravity acted as a form of training, and Dante had gradually adapted to it, increasing the challenge bit by bit.

"And what would that be?"

"It's the Lunar Stone," Jix replied, excited. "A stone with a high-level healing effect. They say it was forged in the early days of Cosmic Energy, about two hundred years ago, when people could still walk around without worries."

Was the world really like that? Dante had no idea. People who only worried about work or the distance traveled by cars, with some kind of job that didn't involve survival instincts. A world like... the Capital.

Simone's words echoed in his mind in smaller waves.

He really had everything in the Capital. They didn't.

"And why are we retrieving such a stone?"

"Because your friend Meliah Jones wanted to make a trade with me." Dante didn't turn to Marcus. "He asked me to bring the stone that could bring his brother back. In return, he would provide all the resources needed to build a good place to live."

Jix turned to see Marcus stop and gape.

"You... negotiated with him?"

"As I said before," Dante took a deep breath, clenching his fist, crushing his fingers. "I have to pay my debts."

Marcus had no time to respond. Making bets or deals kept the involved parties in either conflict or interest, in that order. If the shooter cared about what Dante did in his spare time, he had no clue. All he wanted was to finish that task.

And it already seemed complicated just imagining how much ground they had to cover.

Over four hours of walking along highways, winding through buildings, climbing up and down rubble, they got closer. The city's vegetation had changed a bit, with far less grass than where they lived. Trees grew between windows, forming around a train that had crashed through walls, and the elevated platform, supported by pillars, was in ruins, with water trickling through all the cracks.

Marcus was impressed. It was his first time there.

"So, this is it."

Dante was already descending the mound of earth. The shooter followed but didn't walk in a straight line.

"I always saw this place from the Tower. There was always some lunatic running into the Research Center."

Dante stopped and stared at him.

"You've seen someone around here before?"

"Every time I was on watch. There's a manhole near the entrance. About fifty meters ahead." Marcus pointed forward with his carbine. "He comes out, runs toward the door. Stays inside for two to three minutes, then runs back out."

There was silence. Dante hadn't expected others to have arrived first. Jix seemed to sense the contemplative atmosphere.

"It could've been someone from Antton's group trying to find something."

"At night?" Marcus immediately dismissed it. "Antton never came this way. He always said it was a waste of time. Arrogant bastard."

Dante ignored the insult.

"He wasn't wrong. The last ten times I came, I had no encounters with creatures or trouble. In fact, this area is pretty clean."

The three of them observed the cars lined up along the street. The stones and rubble were cleared away in spots where they wouldn't block the path. The vegetation had also been trimmed up high. Dante hadn't noticed until that moment, but the place was actually well-kept.

"Something's not right," Jix announced to the two. "If it wasn't Antton, and neither Meliah, Clara, nor Luma would come here just for the Research Center..."

"Marcus." Dante didn't really want to ask, but he needed the answer. "When you first met me, you pointed your gun at me and said that if I were from a certain place, you'd kill me on the spot. So tell me, what is GreamHachi?"