I'm sorry..

After saying my childish comment I began looking back down at my arm the fresh scar still tinted a dark red looking like a line of magma was drawn against my pale skin which made me feel as though i lost another part of my original self.

'yay another grotesque scar, not to mention I have to now explain this to sophie as well.' I shuddered just thinking about it. Not feeling very keen on telling this story to her.

Turning my gaze to face the two seemingly heavily traumatized girls sitting next to me I expected to see faces full of sadness or even resignation like they knew what they had done was wrong. However the only emotion written on their faces was anger and frustration.

'I guess bleeding out all over them and playing it off as a joke was a bit too much.' I sighed while bracing myself for the inevitable blow or smack that I could feel coming. What I was expecting never came though much to my suprise something even more shocking transpired.

With a stifled cry gwen jumped on to me wrapping her arms around my shoulders tightly as if afraid id leave her any second, "I'm so s-sorry... I hurt you and I can never take that back...p-please forgive me ranika.." She sobbed choking back tears.

This is a side of the commander I never thought I'd see however I was used to the playful joking gwen and even the harsh but fair commander but seeing the vulnerable and open side of her made me remember something I always seem to forget.

'She is just a human after all...ascended or not any human would break seeing someone they care about suffer..' with that sobering thought I went to embrace her hug and tell her all was well between us and that i was fine however a cry rang out echoing through the lobby.

The stunned bystanders seem to come to life jumping back expecting to see another fight or even worse another pool of blood, but what they got was somehow even more heart wrenching.

What no one expected to see was olivia down on her knees her face tucked into them, shaking as if her world was threatening to fall apart. Her small body trembled as each guttural sob was torn from her throat, the whole lobby seemed to feel her sadness. With a pang of guilt bubbling up from the pits of my stomach from watching the fragile slave girl lose her composure, I spoke as soft as I could, "olivia come here I want to make sure you're alright..." not being able to find the best words for the situation that was all I could manage.

Who could blame me? I haven't even known her a day, I rescued her from the slave trader out of a sense of kinship and curiosity not because I'm some brazen hero destined to right all the wrongs of the world, i can barely solve my own problems as it stands. Even so, seeing her like this made even that steel resolve I tell myself begin to shake.

Olivia moved close enough to be within my reach and without a second thought I grabbed her small body and placed her head to my chest. "Hear that? I'm still alive and kicking, don't go writing me off so soon ok?" I said with a gentle smile while releasing the grief stricken girl.

With a subtle nod that was almost too faint to even notice she shot back forward and embraced my body with the tightest hug her small build would allow. Still shaking it was apparent she wasn't eager to let me go so soon either..

'I want to say something about how sore I still am sure the wound was healed but the pains from over exerting myself are still there..but I get the sense they'd both want to hurt me instead of hug me if I did' I thought while wincing from the pain. As the minutes passed by I grew slightly uncomfortable and finally went to stand much to their dismay.

"Okay, I think we've spent enough time on the cold floor now and it's getting dark. Let's start heading home you both can get cleaned up there while i prepare dinner." I said with a gentle smile. Olivia simply nodded in acknowledgement illustrating that her throat was too sore to even speak at the moment. Gwenavere on the other hand sprang up with renewed vigor and smiled brightly as if everything that just transpired was just a dream or a figment of her imagination.

"You're still gonna cook me food!?" She shouted with uncontrolled excitement. Which was an unsettling sight considering she still had blood that hadn't quite dried dripping from her hands on to the concrete tiles.

Placing my face in my hand I paused for a moment before looking up.

"Yes I'm still going to feed you now can we stop with all the yelling and excitement? I've had a splitting headache ever since I walked into this god damn place..." Which was of course also her fault with the help of tatiana of course.

'Not that I'm going to mention that.' Mentally sighing I stood up and noticed my once pristine and clean outfit now covered in blood and grime.

"Well shit, at least I don't smell like a rotting corpse just a fresh one this time!" Speaking aloud as if somehow that shitty joke would make me feel better about ruining one of my favorite shirts. Not even thinking about the others around me that could hear my odd outburst.

"What do you mean this time?" Gwen asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh nothing you know how people get when they fight the creatures for days on end that's what I meant." Replying to her with my hand rubbing the back of my neck I added, "I mean surely you know, it's not like we have showers and soap out there."

"Of course I know what you mean but you don't carry a washbucket with you? All the other division commanders made it a requirement when deploying." She quipped obviously knowing that it always stung when I was compared to my colleagues.

With a frown I just stated bluntly "you make a good point but check the deployment logs and see who's division has pushed back the abyssal horde further, then you'll understand why I don't carry a stupid ass bucket." With a confident smirk I looked away and headed for the doors.

'Finally, god today feels like it dragged on forever i should've just stayed home...' I thought as we began the short walk back to sophie's apartment a fact I had neglected to mention to the two girls following closely behind me.

As we were walking we passed the familiar slave merchant, he seemed to notice olivia glaring at him with absolute disdain and decided to open his mouth, "what you dumb girl are you missing your old master? Is that new guy not good enough for you? Do you want to come back in to my arms? If so I'll just refund the disgusting demon and we can be together all night, haha!" He yelled out, not provoking only me but the other equally scary person who was walking with me.

'Well earlier I was being nice but this time I'm going to seriously kill this fucker..' I thought a cold and ruthless smile spreading across my face. However before I could make even a step gwen was in his face in an instant, electricity seemingly crackling around her.

"What little lass? You want to spend the night with old jamie too?" He chuckled obviously not very aware of the giant sword strapped to her back. Deciding to let gwen take care of this one I looked over at olivia hoping to lighten the mood from before and smiled "Hey, we get to see a show before dinner isn't that just swell?"

Olivia looked at me with wide unbelieving eyes before gazing back at the situation unfolding in front of us, her fists clenched as she looked at the old man a clear and distant rage suffused into her hands making her nails draw blood from the center of her palms, as her aura began to stir again it was clear his snide remarks were more than just jokes.

Then startling even me olivia spoke with such a cold and frigid tone that I flinched back. "She better skin him alive....or I'll fucking do it."

'See that's how you make a threat, is it odd that I feel proud of her?'