I woke up, still feeling dazed. What was the last thing I remembered? Oh, the brown trench coat's downward attack, and Valeria and I are trying our best to block it.
And then everything went black. Right in that moment, all of my doubts and thoughts in my mind finally crescendoed. I am not enough, and I wasn't happy with it. If only I were a little better, maybe we wouldn't have been in this situation.
I perused my surroundings, and I saw bruises along my hand, shoulder, and chest. I winced in pain as I took in a breath, and I saw a couple bandages wrapped around my abdomen. I was in bed, in some room of what seemed like a lodging facility.
I perused the room, and the room was extraordinarily unremarkable. It seemed like a really neatly maintained room, but not very pimped out.
A small wooden nightstand stood to the right of the bed, adorned with a simple lamp whose warm glow cast a gentle radiance across the room. On the nightstand, there was a glass of water placed next to a prescription pill bottle, indicating the need for medication. A worn yet well-maintained novel lay open beside the glass, its pages turned down as if it had recently been enjoyed.
"Yo!" I heard an energetic voice beckon to me from the door. I turned, still writhing in pain, and it was Valeria poking her head in, with her head bandaged up.
"Are you okay?" I leaped from the bed, but I lost my footing because of the pain that was coursing from my leap. The pain came in waves, and each wave paralyzed me.
Valeria's smile quickly fell off, and she had a look of concern. "Hey, what happened? Are you okay? Did you perhaps hurt yourself a bit too much?" She let out a small giggle as she helped me up and sat me down on the bed.
I was groaning in pain, not responding to her. She had a momentary pause, considering if she should be nice to me or just be an asshole. and then decided on the latter.
"The attack by the man was so powerful, it broke both of our guards, and you collapsed like a ragdoll." She had a small chuckle on her face as she said that, and I was painfully reminded of my inadequacy.
Being unable to face myself, I got up and, despite the sharp pain, started to walk. "Oh, you're running away? Instead of admitting you're weak, you want to run away?" Valeria asked me as she got up and started to support me, and despite my best efforts, I found myself relying on her again.
Even during the battle, I kept relying on her to take the initiative; I worked as her decoy, her distraction, always the disposable person. I didn't like that.
She saw the look of frustration on my face and seemed to calm down a bit. "Look, I'm sorry if I hurt you with my words, but the fact is, if you were anywhere near me in strength, we could have taken down someone like this guy."
Saying that, she pointed to the doorway, and the man in the brown trench coat was leaning on the doorframe, looking at us. With his hat off, he looked like a very nice, slightly older gentleman with
an angelic face.
I looked at him with confusion, not realizing that the face behind that terrifying person would be so calming. "Woah, you look great, sir."
"Thank you, and you looked amazing today too. I'm definitely surprised that you two made me work for it." He replied, twirling the metal object in his hand around.
"May I know your name?" I asked, still curious to unmask this person's name, and I pulled the chair close to the bed, pointing to it.
The man let out a small chuckle. "Oh well, my name is..."
"Adante!!" A familiar voice screamed from outside the door. It was Zorro. What is he doing here?
Zorro rushed in, and he was looking furious. Adante got up to greet him, but Zorro just punched him in the gut without warning.
"I told you, and I only gave you permission to talk to them! not fight and injure them, you fucking bastard!"
Adante fell to his knees, reeling from the punch. Zorro didn't pay any heed and turned to Valeria and me.
"Are you two okay?" He asked while looking at our injuries and bandaged wounds, and he sat by me in the bed.
"Do we look like we're in our best shape?" I sarcastically asked Zorro, and he grumbled. Valeria let out a small chuckle.
"I mean, it is courtesy to ask how you're doing before I do anything, right?" Zorro beamed back, sounding a bit hurt.
Seeing his concerned face relieved me a lot, and I started to smile a bit. Seeing me smile, he also couldn't help but smile. Valeria was standing to the side and seemed to be thinking about something, and then she walked right up to the bed too and tugged at his hand.
"Hey commander, I want to ask you something." She had a serious look on his face.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Can we take it outside if possible?" Valeria nodded her head towards the doo.
"Alright, Vice Commander, who just lost a fight with a man advantage." He joked as he got up.
"Well, I'll let you know that the man advantage was almost non-existent." Valeria instantly shot back, and Zorro couldn't help but look at me with a face of pity as she dragged him away.
I was sitting there, not knowing what to do, and then Adante got up.
"Thank God they went outside. If I had stood up, Zorro would've probably pummeled me more." He let out a chuckle while still sounding ragged. Even though he was trying to mask it, that punch shook him up for sure.
I turned to face him and asked, "How do you know Zorro? And did Zorro tell you about who I really am?"
"Yeah, Zorro and I go way back. The civil war is on the frontlines. That is where we first met each other." He said it with a tinge of warm nostalgia in his voice.
"Oh, I see." I had something on my mind, but I was nervous to ask him, and I started to fidget around a bit.
"Uh, Adante." I looked up at his face, and his eyes were expectant.
"Can you teach me how to fight better?" I asked him.
The window of the room opened because of a strong breeze, and a calm aura with the sound of a breeze took over the room. He looked to his left, thinking for a bit, and then met curious gaze with an intensity that matched my drive to improve. To stand beside people like Valeria.
"Alright, kid. Let me teach you the Adante way to fight."