Unable to take it, she ran towards the desert without stopping. Jin proceeded to head in Arthur's direction; he found the boy crying at the corpse of a mother and daughter with knife wounds through the ears. As he approached, Arthur was silently murmuring.
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault; I should have saved you."
Jin picked up Arthur by the scruff of his shirt, his large frame lifting the young boy entirely off the ground. He then slapped him across the face and spoke.
"El ran into the desert crying. While I disagree with her methods, she is right that we must conserve strength as it will be dark soon. It is also true that we are running out of supplies. She knew you couldn't make the hard call, so she did it for you.
You cannot save everyone; only by being alive can we help others; stop playing hero! Boy, even when she knew you would hate her, she still looks out for you. Go after her. NOW!"
Throwing Arthur out of the supermarket, Jin turned around as he went inside the building, not bothering to listen to the blonde child.
How can Arthur not know that El's action was the one with the highest chance of ensuring their survival? He had two brains and came to the same conclusion. But knowing and acting on the same impulse were two different things. His mental barriers prevented him from working on it as he considered himself less than human if he did so.
Knowing that he could only search and apologize to El. He ran and combed the desert for her; the good thing about the area was its plain surroundings made searching easier. As the sun began to set, Arthur grew worried as he could still not find her.
He proceeded to try sensing the minds around his area with [album mundi]; he then heard a faint female whisper in a voice devoid of life.
"Please let me die."
Frightened by the implications of what he heard, he charged at top speed towards the voice. Only to see El kneeling in resignation in front of a Rank 4 scorpion monster.
It was a scorpion with a humanoid torso with arms protruding from where an ordinary scorpion's head should be. It had a scorpion's face attached to the torso, and it was holding a spear made from materials that looked like granite—seeing this, Arthur no longer held back and activated his 5-Star skill.
"ULTIMATE SKILL [CHÍLIOI THÁNATOI]!"
Holding nothing but a knife made from monster bone, a thousand Arthurs charged the beast and covered the monster like a tsunami. The army of blonde youths stabbed and slashed at the beast. While the scorpion monster was large, it was slow due to the thickness of its armor. It flailed its arms and spear around, trying to hit the youths but being small and fast allowed them to evade.
When they couldn't pierce the monster's armor, the child army tried to use their weight to pull down the demonic beast and pin it to the ground. They pulled and pushed the scorpion monster to break its balance and used anything they could find in the desert to pin the beast down.
They then used the monster's spear as a battering ram to impale the demonic beast through its mouth. Unable to fight the 5-Star 1000 child army, the beast succumbed to its injuries and died.
Arthur proceeded to use his 1-Star skill [Nihil Sentio] Latin, for I feel nothing to shrug off the rebound while it still hurt a lot; at least he wasn't crippled.
He then ran towards El and started checking her.
"El, are you alright? Why are you doing this? Let's go back. It's going to be night soon!"
El lacking any motivation answered.
"Arthur, please leave me here and let me die."
Dumfounded by the young girl's reply, He could only stammer as he responded.
"What? El, I'm sorry about earlier, but you don't have to throw your life away. We have to keep living."
El sounded incredibly tired and didn't even attempt to stand and scream. Despite her heart-wrenching cries, tears no longer flowed down her eyes as if they had dried up.
"Why? What's the point of living? My family is dead; I'm alone in the desert. I'm an 8-year-old who can kill people without batting an eye; you were right; I am worse than a monster. At least they kill to eat. I am a murderer. I didn't even feel anything as I killed all those people. I'm a bad girl, and I'll go to hell.
I don't deserve to live. Why was I even born? Why do I have to go through this? All I wanted was to make my parents happy. You and Jin are still looking for your families. I don't have anyone left. I'm tired, Arthur. I can't do this anymore. Please let me die."
Arthur couldn't believe his ears as his friend broke down and shared all her sorrow and grief, losing hope in living. Unable to accept it, he embraced her as tightly as possible and shouted.
"You are not alone! You have me by your side! I will be your family! So what, if you killed many people, I did too. If anyone says you are a murderer, I will beat them up! If anyone thinks you should be punished for your mistakes, I'll bear them with you; we will take the punishment together. We'll grow stronger and save more people than we killed. We can make it right; you don't need to feel sad.
You don't have to die! We will live together in the future and be happy! We can get through this together! So don't cry, El; it's not your fault. It's the world's fault. You are not to blame! You're not a bad girl!"
Being caught in the moment, Arthur hugged El as tightly as he could while stroking her head with his right hand. Then, hearing all the kind words and being comforted by the only friend she had, El started wailing; she cried as she verified everything Arthur said.
"I'm not a bad girl? Sniff, You will stay with me and be my family? Huhu. Won't you leave me alone? Waaah! You'll hold my hand when I'm afraid? Am I not a bad person? I did well?"
As Arthur patiently responded to each and every question that came out of El as she cried her heart out. He continued to embrace her and stroke her head like a loving parent. Eventually, after close to 15 minutes, El stopped crying and hugged him tighter. She then proceeded to say in a tired voice as the tension in her body abated.
"We'll get stronger so we will never be apart, right? We'll be together forever?"
Arthur answered without missing a beat as he gingerly cradled the young girl in his arms.
"Yes, El, we will be together forever; I will always be on your side even when everybody is against you. We will fight them all together."
El finally nodded her head and collapsed in his arms, nuzzling her face to Arthur's chest as she felt his warmth, a small smile on her face as she closed her eyes. The mere thought that she was not alone in this troubling time pacified her immensely; she internally made a vow to protect her new family even if she had to burn the world to do so.
El was suddenly jolted awake from her reverie when she felt a familiar Force signature she knew better than anyone else.
"El, I don't know what I said wrong, but I apologize. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. It's just that…."
The black-haired mage sauntered to stand in front of Cain as she placed her finger on his lips. She then said calmly. As she made a sweet smile, her eye moist from the tears she had just shed.
"I ask, you listen. Nod, if yes, shake your head. If no."
*Nod*
"You remember the words you said to me in the desert with the scorpion general?"
*Nod*
"I cannot be the perfect wife for you; I will let innocents die or kill them myself. If it's to save you, is that fine?"
*Nod*
"You know I am broken inside; I sometimes do things I don't mean to; will you stand by me still?"
*Nod*
"If I make a mistake one day and the world condemns me for it, will you still stay with me then?"
*Nod*
"Lastly, do you love me, Arthur?"
"I do with all my heart; I can no longer lie to myself. Elaine Légère, will you please let me devote my life to you? Will you please let me cherish you as you deserve? I know I am not worthy of you, but I will try my best to be so. Will you marry me?"
The beautiful woman then proceeded to smile as stunning as a magnificent dawn as she finally said
"I do."
________________________________________________________________________________________
Proofread By: Pearl_Wang
Edited By: WorthyAdversary