"Vera!" It was Silica, calling for the half-conscious girl she was hugging.
I don't know much about their connection, but it seems like they were close friends.
"I told you not to use that spell," it was anger, the emotion that was laid with those words, but her actions betrayed any hints of it.
She's crying. A pool of tears poured heavily underneath her eyes.
Behind her, it was her party members, but most noticeably, Shiina and Cleo, tears streaming down their faces.
Vera's voice, so weak now, barely registers in my ears. "I just want to continue... to be... useful," she whispered, her breath ragged. "I wanted to protect... this place. The things that.... gave me a reason..." her voice barely coming out but she continued "A reason to this life..."
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. They cut through, a deep wound, the haze of confusion and self-indulgence I'd been wrapped up in since I arrived in this world. All this time, I'd been living in the illusion of something special, like I was meant for something greater like this world was some grand playground just waiting for me to take it all in and enjoy.
But everyone. Everyone else had something real to fight for. Something that gave them purpose. Some reason to keep going, even if they would die for it.
And then there was me.
I never had that.
"A reason... for who I am."
Silica's face crumpled, and she held Vera closer as if her arms could somehow bring her back. "You don't have to be useful. You just have to be here." Her voice was choked, barely more than a sob. "It was you who taught us to see the world as they are." Silica's face dug into Vera's face, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for everything!"
Behind us, I could hear Shiina and Cleo, soft sobs escaping from their broken faces. They stood still, unsure, helpless.
Vera whispered again, her voice fragile. "I wanted to protect... something... but I couldn't..."
I felt Silica's body shake with her sobs and heard her voice crack again as she pressed her forehead to Vera's. "Don't say that. Don't you dare say that."
But Vera's eyes were already fluttering, and her body began glowing "Thank you for everything." Her voice was a ghost now, barely a breath.
Silica's grip tightened on her. "You don't get to tell me that. You can't... please..." But her words faltered, caught in her throat. "Right! The peace... Our plan is already moving! Right! it was your idea, right? That is why..."
I felt the weight of her grief in my chest, pressing down on me until I could hardly breathe. Her anger, her guilt, it was suffocating. And I felt it too.
"Please,"
She pleaded, but no matter how much she begged, it seemed the world had other plans. Vera's lips formed into a faint smile.
It made my heart ache. More than my injuries were.
Her body began to glow more intensely, a soft, radiant light that filled the space around us. Her lips moved, but there were no words, no sound.
'Thank you.'
One final message before she disappeared.
Her body dissolved into light particles, drifting away like dust caught in a breeze.
I wanted to say something, anything, like what I always do. Say something weird, say anything, to erase the pain but the words stuck in my throat.
There was nothing I can say.
I couldn't keep watching.
I could barely stand it.
I had to leave.
...
"It's over," I whispered. It was little more than a breath, yet it carried a weight that words couldn't fully capture.
But at what cost?
The town, once alive with movement and noise, now stood silent. There wasn't even a hint of what it had been just hours before. The buildings were reduced to rubble, walls had crumbled, and dead bodies lay in rows, some I recognized, faces of those who had helped me in the last days.
Agatha was gone. A mere shadow of what it was.
I'd like to say everyone did their best. They won. We won.
That we did everything.
For what?
We did everything, and yet...
Is this what they had fought for?
What did I even do? Nothing. Just a useless bum.
I hate this.
I hate that this world, this nightmare, has forced me to feel. The emotions I had kept hidden.
Was it my delusions that gave me that idea? That I could live a grand future in this world? That I could continue living like I was before all this. That I could be of use to the people of this world.
But I was never a hero.
I was never the compassionate one.
I was never a good person.
So why?
Why am I feeling this?
Why am I crying?
They were just acquaintances, people I had known for only a few days.
So why does it have to hurt like this?
...
Someone's POV
"Uwaa... Uwaa... Uwaa..." Somewhere in a remote village, the cries of a newborn baby rang out. Loud, full of energy, as if the world itself had been waiting for this baby to be born.
"Liora! It's a girl! It's a girl! Look how beautiful she is!" A woman, no more than twenty, exclaimed energetically as she passed the baby to another woman, the baby's mother.
"Mmmm... She is." Liora's voice was soft but full of love as she gazed at her newborn child. Though she was still weak from the labor, her smile remained unshaken. "Your name... From today onwards... your name..."