Teo awoke to the sight of an empty wooden ceiling, something he did not yet manage to get used to. Busy voices and the sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the shut, but very thin door, which cut the small room off from the rest of the clinic.
Apparently, he had been here for almost a week now, just that he could not remember most of it.
After getting rescued by one of the groups of guards who had been sent out to comb the area, he had fallen into a deep sleep, or rather, into a coma, presumably from stress and exhaustion.
He only woke up yesterday around lunchtime, much to the surprise of the nurse that was trying to change his bandages at the time.
Goliath, on the other hand, was still out cold, due to expending too much of his internal Mana.
Teo had not been injured that gravely, apart from his leg, and had not been in a life-threatening condition when he was brought in. Still, his sudden coma had caused quite the ruckus and got the medical staff worried over the boy.
His condition was still much better than Jack's though, even if the spunky boy had regained consciousness much faster than him. His friend was currently lying in another room close by, the best healers of the town working tirelessly to improve his condition.
The arrow that impaled Jack's chest had caused a lot of damage to the surrounding tissue, and even though it did miss most of his vital organs, the severe blood loss, as well as a pierced lung, were still far from harmless.
It had taken days for him to be declared stable again, and it would take a long time for him to regain his former strength and mobility.
Shortly after regaining consciousness, Teo had been interrogated by an attendant from the Sigella Town Guard Headquarters, who was tasked with recreating the events of that fateful night.
There was not much that Teo could hide, given the surprising amount of evidence lying around the place and the clear marks of battle, which no one had the time to erase. He did try his best to play down his feats and make everything less dramatic than it was, yet the devastation that had been left in his path made his words somewhat unbelievable, which earned him the secret admiration of the guards and medical staff alike.
Officially the information was on lockdown, unsuitable for public display, and potentially even harmful for Teo's future development. However, this did nothing to stop the small talk from going on behind closed doors, and soon the whole medical ward was fond of the tiny hero who had valiantly saved his friend from mortal danger.
Something that could not have disgusted Teo more.
He was no hero.
Guilt was still gnawing at him, eating him from the inside.
Teo had not forgotten even a second of that day and could do naught but blame himself for it — all of it.
He had taken it too lightly before. Everything. Even their own lives.
How could he be so unresponsible? How could he just trust in fate and that everything would just magically work out in exactly the right way?
He just had to stumble forward without a care in the world, and everything would be fine... right?
Had he really been so stupid?
Had he really been so blind?
They could have both died that night. Many times over.
If even a tiny part had been slightly different... Had they dodged a bit more slowly, even a single time...
They would have been dead now.
It was not some distant concept, not a possibility. It was close and real. It was a fact.
Teo did not want to think about it, unable to stomach the possible consequences of his own actions, yet this was what kept him awake at night; what haunted his dreams when he eventually did fall asleep.
Death. He had never really thought about it. What it meant.
What it REALLY meant.
Teo looked at his own hands, his palms outstretched in front of him; shivering.
He could still feel the blood on them. Covering his body. His face. He could taste it.
He had never felt this unclean in his entire life. It was a weird, indescribable feeling, making him sick when he thought about it for too long.
He, Teo Grassdown, 9 years of age, had killed a man that night. Another human. A living, breathing, thinking, and feeling being.
He curled up like a shrimp on his minimalistic bed and wept silently, complex emotions slowly eating away at his mind.
There was a knock on the door.
Two short, gentle yet powerful knocks, signaled the arrival of a visitor.
Teo hurriedly wiped away his tears and fixed his blanket to look somewhat proper, then he answered in a slightly hoarse voice,
"Come in!"
A tall and muscular man stepped into the room with wide strides, flaming red hair that almost reached down to his shoulders framed his rustic face in a manly fashion.
"You must be Teo. Good to finally see you awake," he said with a broad smile.
Teo had never seen the man so far, yet he was obviously dressed in military fashion, clearly not a doctor, and his smiling face did show a slight resemblance to a particular friend of his.
While Teo was still mustering the new arrival, the man introduced himself in a loud voice and offered him a huge, calloused hand.
"I have come here several times when you were still unconscious, but this is the first time we officially meet. I am Allvar Jumpheart, acting Commander of the Town Guard Brigade, as well as Jack's old man."
Teo tried to reciprocate the firm handshake but could just not muster any strength yet. He could also not help but be impressed by the Commander's aura. He was clearly very charismatic and would leave a deep impression on anyone he met.
"In the name of the whole city... or rather, as a father, I want to thank you!"
Before he could react, the stately soldier had already bowed so low that Teo was afraid he would accidentally hit his head on the nearby nightstand.
He tried to sit up into a more appropriate posture to stop Allvar from acting so exaggeratedly, but the stabbing pain radiating from his splintered knee stopped him after a short jerk.
"I have done nothing you should thank me for," Teo said dispirited, and averted his eyes, staring blankly at an empty wall on the other side of the room.
Allvar smirked knowingly and did not intend to continue poking in open wounds. He had years of experience dealing with crime and tragedy, enabling him to somewhat reconstruct the mental state the boy in front of him was trapped in.
"You did much more than anyone could have asked for. What happened is not your responsibility; it is but my own failure!" he put on a serious expression and voiced his honest opinion in front of Teo. Then Allvar put one of his large paws onto Teo's arm and continued,
"It may sound harsh to you now, but a life taken in self-defense is a life of someone precious saved. I cannot tell you that you will ever forget it, but it will get easier, and it has not been in vain."
"I... I just need time to think," Teo said, unable to find the right words.