"Are they going to be ok?" Xylvia asked the three doctors.
When Xylvia was tending to the family of dragonmen, I ran back into the tree village to find doctors that could help. I managed to find a group of three in one of the hospital huts. One of them possessed gravity manipulation magic which allows the caster to manipulate their target's gravitational pull. They could cause them to either float in the air or fall to the ground from the strong pull. The drawback, however, was that the caster had to be pretty close to the target. It also is mostly used as either a support measure or if you're in a flight situation since using this magic doesn't cause the target to float very high or get crushed into the ground.
Once the gravity magic user "lifted" the dragonmen family off the ground, the were brought over to one of the elevators that lead to the hospital hut.
And that's how everything went.
"How did they even get this far," I questioned. "From what I know, the country that the dragonmen race host is way far out in the east."
"In the state that this girl is in, I wouldn't be surprised if she managed to carry her family through most of the trip." one of the doctors said.
The doctor who spoke was slightly shorter than me. He had light grey eyes that reminded me of the color of relaxing rain clouds and a light shade of black hair. He wore a white cloak with a symbol of a lavender-colored hand reaching out as if trying to help someone up. That symbol told you that they were a part of the medical field.
The second doctor had long and beautiful sky blue hair and flashy light brown eyes. She was at least ten centimeters taller than me and wore a bright and cheery smile.
The third doctor was a lot smaller than the other two. He had plain brown hair and light yellow eyes. He had on a plain and boring face as well.
Come to think of it, everything about this guy looked plain.
"What are you staring at me for?" the plain guy asked.
"Huh!? Uhh...n-nothing." I said quickly.
"It's because of how plain you look Key." the girl said.
"Oh...so the plain guy's name is Key." Xylvia said.
"Hnnnng..." Key groaned.
"Forgive us for not introducing ourselves," said the more cool looking doctor. "My name is Lin, my sister's name is Hetalia, and you already know my brother's name."
"It's a pleasure to meet you three," Xylvia said.
She looked over at the dragonmen family.
"Will they really be ok?" she asked worriedly.
"Dragonmen are famously known for having a strong and everlasting will as well as being very prideful," Hetalia said. "They're much stronger than you might think."
"I thought they were very strong to begin with," Xylvia said. "Then again, they weren't really that tough to deal with during the ba-"
"Aaauggh!"
"...!"
We all turned to see one of the dragonmen awake with tears starting to swell in her eyes. She was the same dragonman that carried her entire family here and collapsed right in front of us.
"You're awake," Lin said with a smile. "That's great to see."
"Can you say something to us please?" Key asked.
"Hey Plain Guy, I think you should give her a little space." Xylvia suggested.
"MY NAME'S NOT PLAIN GUY!!!" Plain Guy shouted.
"D-Did...did my kind...f...ight...in the...battle...?" the girl asked weakly.
"Here, drink this." Hetalia said handing her a cup with a green liquid in it.
"Drink some of this water too." Lin said while setting a tall cup of water on a desk next to the dragonman.
"Your head is burning up," Plain Guy said. "Set this cold towel on your head."
"Mph...Mph...Gaahhh..." the dragonman drank the liquids. "Is...is my family...ok?"
"It's ok," Hetalia said. "They've all been given the tea, some water, and a cold towel as well. Their all resting well now."
"Thank you."
I couldn't help but smile knowing that the girl was ok, but Xylvia looked like she had seen something traumatizing.
"Are you ok?" I asked her.
"All those dragonmen...I...killed...them..."
"..."
I suddenly remembered the invasion that took place a few days ago. An entire army of dragonmen were swarming into the battle while being chained and mounted by demonic enemy soldiers.
Right after I remembered that, Xylvia suddenly did something very unexpected.
"I'M SO SORRY!!!"
She got down on her knees and held her hands together in a position that looked like she was praying to a god or something. I guess this is their way of apologizing.
"They...hic...they all died! I killed... hic... them! But I had... hic... no choice! They... THEY WERE GOING TO KILL US!!!!"
Huge streams of tears were pouring out of Xylvia as she apologized with everything she had in her. I stood their, completely shocked by her behavior. I didn't know what to say, but I knew that Xylvia must've been in excruciating pain on the inside. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of guilt that she must be feeling right now.
All of the doctors were surprised by Xylvia's sudden outburst, but they didn't question it and decided to give some room for Xylvia and the dragonman girl.
However, everything that she just spouted out seemed to have taken a bigger toll on her than it looked to be.
All Xylvia could do was sit their and cry. Still on her knees, she fell to her hand and kept on letting the wet tears spill all over the floor.
"You...did...that...?" the dragonman weakly asked.
Xylvia opened her mouth to speak but ended up choking on her words, so instead she simply nodded her head.
"...I see..."
The dragonman girl suddenly got up off the bed, still keeping her cold towel on her head, and walked over to Xylvia.
"Why... did you kill... them?" she asked Xylvia.
"I... I... I did it to protect the city... hic... and the people who were risking their lives to fight for their people. I swear... I didn't kill them because I... hic... hated them. I... I JUST DIDN'T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO DIE!!!!"
This whole new behavior of Xylvia's was like a freight train going full speed at my chest, but the dragonman girl didn't even falter at her outburst. I don't think she even blinked.
"I just... want this stupid... hic... fucking war to end..." Xylvia said, still crying. "Why do we have... hic... to fight? It's not fair! NO ONE DESERVED TO DIE OVER SOME STUPID FIGHT!!!!!"
"..."
"...!"
In that moment, when Xylvia finished her last words, the dragonman girl wrapped her arms around Xylvia and pulled her close to her chest. The girl gently caressed Xylvia's head and even started rubbing her cat ears a little too.
"Your eyes speak the truth," the dragonman girl said. "I'm guessing... that you had your fair share of suffering as well."
Xylvia slowly nodded her head as the dragonman girl kept petting her head.
"You must've kept so much of this sadness deep inside you, bundled up in a bottle that's about to break. You have no need to feel guilty for what you did. It was a selfless act for your people, not a selfish act for your own cruel desires. Rather than thinking about all the lives you've taken, think about all the lives that you saved."
Her voice was soft and sounded like a very young girl's voice, but the tone of it was filled with inspiration and sounded so mature.
"There's no need for you to apologize anymore. I forgive you, and I trust you as well. And there's also no need for you to keep your sadness inside. You can let it out for as long as you want, until you feel satisfied."
Xylvia looked up at the girl who was still softly petting her head. The girl smiled at Xylvia when she saw Xylvia's ears twitching. They continued to stare back at each other until Xylvia eventually let loose and bawled her eyes out.
"UUUWAAAAAAAHAHAAAAUUUGH!!! huuuu...AAAAAAAHAHAAAAUUGHHH!!!!"
I felt a tight knot begin to develop in my chest. I never knew that Xylvia had so much that she was keeping to herself. If I'd have known that I would've... no. It's my fault. I never asked her about how she was or if she needed someone lean on. I always assumed that she was happy because of her cheery personality, but in reality she was being tortured on the inside. She had to endure so much of that pain for so long...
I couldn't help but start to cry myself. I didn't cry because Xylvia was crying. I didn't cry because of me being an idiot, or because of the war, or because of almost losing her, or because of leaving my parents behind, or because of the Devil's Blade.
I cried... because I finally opened my eyes... for the very first time.