Thud.
As Bane heard a crashing sound, he turned around only to see Sheele on the floor, kneeling and rubbing her forehead. Nearby her, a pen lay on the floor, suggesting that she had slipped on it while leaving the room.
But what puzzled him even more was that despite his earlier warning, sheele had still ended up falling on the floor.
When sheele opened her eyes, her vision was blurry, prompting her to feel around on the floor in search of her glasses.
"Ah, where are my specs? Please don't be broken, otherwise, walking around will be hell for me," she muttered worriedly, searching for her rectangle-shaped glasses that had landed near his foot. However, she seemed to be searching in the wrong direction.
"....."
Bane stood silently in his room as he observed Sheele, as she looked somewhat silly searching for her specs.
It was a stark contrast for him to see the mature young lady who had been explaining to him about Teigus and answering his questions skillfully related to them moments ago.
But now, that image was completely shattered before his eyes, and he couldn't help but wonder how someone who could easily slip on the floor could also be a skilled assassin in none other than the famous Night Raid, a renowned assassination group which was also a part of the revolutionary forces.
Bane also couldn't forget the wanted posters of Sheele plastered all around the capital city streets, a testament to her fame as a formidable assassin.
'Is she messing with me?' he momentarily thought, but quickly dismissed the idea as he saw her genuinely trying to find her glasses.
But this is not the most concerning matter for him, as another greater problem arose in front of him.
It was because of the young purple haired woman in front of him who was still searching for her glasses had her skirt stuck on her head from the splitting section of her dress which was being upturned.
Bane could clearly see Sheele's curvy figure, her plump thighs which were partially covered by white stockings which were clinging to her fair skin, as well as her well-rounded buttocks adorned with a thin purple coloured panty featuring dark purple stripes around the edges and a cute ribbon on the middle of it.
'....'
'Does everything have to be purple?' He remarked internally, however, he quickly dismissed this trivial thought.
As he watched the struggling Sheele shaking her butt, still searching for her glasses, he couldn't help but wonder, 'Will she be able to help herself?'
As sheele continued to search, her movements inadvertently drawing his attention, he sighed internally.
'Of course she can't,' he concluded.
With no other choice, he retrieved her glasses from the floor and moved closer to her. His first intention was to move the cloth stuck to her head, and then give her the glasses.
Shikk
However, just as his hand reached towards her skirt, everything abruptly changed for Bane and the next thing he knew, he was sprawled on the floor, his back against the ground. His left arm was held by someone and was brutally twisted at an unnatural angle, with blood gushing from several sharp cuts.
When he tried to move his damaged hand, he felt his control over it severed when he tried to move it.
As pain surged through him, he released a low growl but immediately halted, realising the danger of the object that was just an inch away from him, threatening to pierce his eyeball.
'If I move even one inch, it will pierce straight through my eyeball and straight to my brain and I don't think I can regenerate from that,' Bane thought while seeing the pencil, which was definitely his.
With his gaze moving beyond the bloodied pencil, but when he saw the figure who was responsible for assaulting him, his eyes widened in surprise.
The assailant was none other than Sheele, who was perched on top of him, her cold gaze directed at him while her beautiful face which was earlier hidden behind the dull glasses on display.
As Bane's aquamarine eyes met Sheele's deep purple eyes, he felt it clear that it was devoid of the warmth she had previously shown to him just a few minutes ago.
His gaze moved towards her arm where he saw her holding the bloodied pen just inches away from his eyeball, the blood was definitely his own.
His focus then went onto her other hand, that was still holding his twisted arm as if ready to rip it apart if he made any single move.
"..."
But suddenly as if the gears in Sheele's mind began to work, realisation dawned on her as her cold eyes regained their warmth, her hand which was holding the bloodied pencil began to shake as she moved the pencil away from Bane's face and let it fall on the floor while she also let go of her grasp on Bane's twisted hand.
Near the fallen pencil she saw a blurry object in her vision, as she reached towards it she felt her hands touch her glasses that she was desperately searching for a while ago, she didn't waste any time as she wore them regaining her ability to clearly see again.
But as she saw Bane's condition, reality came crashing down on her and she began to realise that she was behind his condition.
Sheel's breath hitched and her voice trembled as sheele spoke, "I... am... sorry... I didn't mean to harm you." As she spoke, tears welled up in the corner of her eyes.
"Sheele,"
"I am sorry... I am sorry..." Her words were filled with regret and anguish. "How could I do this horrible thing to a teammate?"
"Sheele,"
"How could I do this? I nearly killed you and now you will never be able to use your hand again-," Sheele lamented.
But her rant halted midway as she noticed Bane, who had straightened himself up from the floor and sat back, facing her.
Before Sheele knew she found herself sitting on his lap, his gaze meeting her. She wanted to apologise, but before she could say, she saw Bane as he reached out his hand towards her face.
Sheele closed her eyes, her eyelids trembling as she braced herself for his retaliation for harming him. However, she had no intention of avoiding it as she acknowledged her guilt for nearly causing his death, so she accepted whatever consequences were to come.
However, to her surprise, she didn't feel any pain. When she cautiously opened one eye in order to peek, she noticed that his mask was almost an inch away from her face, as she felt his warm breath reaching for her.
As she was about to ask what he was doing, she felt his hand removing something stuck to her head, accompanied by the rustling sound of cloth behind her.
"Now it's okay," after he was done with his task Bane said, looking at her.
"Ehh, what does that mean?" Sheele asked, still confused.
He pointed at her skirt,"Your skirt was stuck on your hair after you fell on the floor, so I fixed it.," he said calmly.
As he finished speaking, Sheele looked behind her where her purple skirt was touching the ground.
"..."
Unable to say anything for a whole minute, she mustered her will and said loudly," Are you mad? You don't understand the gravity of your situation."
She clutched his shoulders as she began to shake him. "I just tried to kill you just moments ago,"
"Hell, I even stabbed you several times, ruining your arm in the process. And now because of 'me', you'll never be able to use it again, do you not care about your life?" Sheele said loudly, her frustration in her voice evident.
Bane tilted his head as he retorted, "Hey, don't you think it's rude to call someone mad, whom you nearly killed just a few moments ago."
He paused for a second as he said, "And if you're worried about my arm, you can see this," Bane revealed his perfectly normal left arm, which was fully healed but still covered in blood.
"..."
Sheele's mouth fell open in shock and her eyes went wide as she saw Bane's perfectly fine arm.
"How the hell is your arm fine-" sheele paused midway as she remembered that he had regenerative abilities which she had seen him using in the medical room, something she had forgotten in the moment.
"I am the last person you should be worried about, miss assassin," he whispered as he closed her opened mouth slowly.
He paused, pointing at her and asking, "But seriously, who are you? Are you John Wick's daughter or someone related to him?, You literally killed me with just a fucking pencil?"
Sheele, still in disbelief, composed herself and replied, "No, I'm not his daughter and I don't know him. But who is he?"
As Bane watched her seriously contemplate answering his question, he couldn't resist and started to chuckle. "I don't know, maybe some badass guy who can take out several men with just a pencil, just like you almost did to me a moment ago," he quipped, seeing Sheele's face turn red with embarrassment.
Bane found Sheele to be quite an enigma. Just moments ago, she seemed like a cold-blooded assassin, ready to kill him, and then she quickly reverted to a docile person fumbling around.
"You really have a few loose screws in your head, Miss Assassin," he said in between his laugh.
Sheele inflated her cheeks in response, "I know I have a few loose screws, but what about you, even after nearly meeting your end at my hands? You're still laughing in front of me." she poked his mask.
Bane's laughter subsided as he pondered for a moment, then admitted, "It does appear that way," He couldn't help but think, 'I might have actually died if that pencil had pierced my brain,' remembering how close he had come to a fatal injury.
However, it didn't hold much weight for him, as he had already come to terms with his impending death after finishing Najenda's diary just a day ago.
"It seems we both have a few screws loose." He said to Sheele with a smile that he had unknowingly made, but Sheele couldn't see it as it was hidden behind his mask.
Bane already knew that he had only had a few years left to live at best, so he harboured no fear of death.
Whether it came at the hands of a powerful opponent or through the slow internal destruction of his body, death was inevitable for him.
But strangely enough, it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. His entire existence, which had felt like nothing more than a painful cage, no longer held any significance to him since he had already taken care of most of his business.
Internally, he reflected, 'I've already avenged Liya and Ron by killing every single person behind the massacre after coming to the capital and the commander which led that unit had already died at the hands of Najenda a few years ago, so there is nothing I can do for that.'
Bane had already eliminated every soldier and official involved in the slum massacre, whether they had good or bad reputation.
He understood that some of them may have been following orders and had no other choice.
He was aware that his hands were stained with the blood of numerous innocent people whose loved ones were taken from them because of him.
But so what? For him, they participated in the massacre, which led to the deaths of Liya and Ron, and that was enough for him to take their lives.
The logic seems straightforward: if they were strong enough to massacre the entire slum, including his family, then wouldn't it make sense for him to hunt them down now that he was stronger than them? After all, why should he care about their families if they didn't care about his family?
'But it's a shame to die before killing that gay bastard of a doctor and the bastard who had ordered for the slum massacre. But what can I do if death is determined to claim me?' he lamented in his thoughts.
After a week of reading Najenda's diary and learning about every Teigu noted in it, none seemed useful for curing his condition. His hopes for survival were dwindling and were close to none.
And because of that he was placing his final bet by asking Sheele's acquaintance to help him find this information dealer who was a pub owner in disguise and could probably help him find the records about the first emperor who was the reason behind the existence of Teigus.
But even then he doesn't have much hopes in finding the records as most of them have already been destroyed at the orders of the emperor himself.
Sheele, seeing Bane's dazed expression, asked, "Why didn't you try to punish me for almost killing you? Even if you hadn't died, you still have the right to hold me responsible for my mistake." Tears began to drip from Sheele's eyes.
Bane tilted his head in thought before responding, "Well, my hand is fine now, isn't it? It's not like you deliberately wanted to hurt or kill me." He pointed at him, "Plus, it was also my fault for not warning you before coming up behind you."
Sensing no deceit in his words, Sheele couldn't hold back her tears. Her head fell on Bane's shoulder as she cried. Until now she felt deeply agitated after witnessing Bane's condition. She had been trying to hold herself together and not cry in front of him.
Seeing Sheele crying while embracing him, Bane was unsure of what to do to calm her. However, he instinctively began to pat Sheele's head in an attempt to console her.
"Seriously, what a day it is when the victim has to comfort the assaulter," he muttered, seeing the irony of the situation.
As her sobs subsided, she quietly asked, "Did you see it?" Her face remained obscured as she maintained her hold on him.
"Hmm, see what?" Bane asked, puzzled by her question.
"That thing," she repeated, her voice trailing off.
Not grasping the meaning behind her words, he turned his head slightly to see her crimson ear, and in that instant, he understood her question.
"If you're referring to your purple undergarment, then yes, I saw it," he said, pausing. "The ribbon was particularly cute," he complimented while continuing to pat her head.
"...…"
Unknown to Bane, he had already lost all memories of his previous life over the passing years and now; he was just a simple teenager with combat skills and some powers, occasionally blurting out weird sentences that come in his mind from time to time without even fully understanding their meaning but having a vague sense of it.
He had hardly ever interacted with anyone aside from Geralt and a few others in the revolutionary army for many years.
While his time was primarily spent on finding a cure for his state, missions and training, resulting in low to no conversation skills when it came to interacting with people outside his circle let alone women.
Due to this reason, he didn't feel any sense of awkwardness or embarrassment when he had blatantly asked Akame to let him touch her bare skin, at the lake and she didn't sense any lust from him.
He lacked the basic common sense and emotions toward the opposite gender that other normal youths like Tatsumi and Lubbock had. While his worsening condition made him unable to feel any urges like any normal teenager may have.
Even now he didn't find anything strange as he was holding sheele in his embrace as he patted her head, which would make Lubbock tear his hair and bleed his eyes because of jealousy if he ever saw this scene.
In short, at that moment, Bane was unaware that he had just fucked up by complimenting Sheele in a way he shouldn't have.
Certainly, it wasn't entirely his fault since Sheele was the one who slipped on the floor,However, understanding the complexities of a woman's heart can be quite challenging, as they are intricate beings.
"Is that so? So it means you saw it," a bone-chilling voice whispered, reaching his ear.
Feeling Sheele's grip tightening and her large chest suffocating him, Bane exclaimed, "What are you doing, Sheele?"
"Surely you have your regeneration, so you'll be okay, probably," Sheele muttered.
Confused, Bane asked, "What do you mean?" as a sudden chill ran down his spine.
CREAK
[Later events are omitted due to graphic content.]