You are not alone

A week after the accident...

The Dian Cecht Familia store was busy as usual. As one of the best healing shops in town and an expert in making magical prosthetics, it had made the Dian Cecht Familia the wealthiest in Orario, especially under the leadership of the god Dian, a greedy lover of money.

However, the shop was not limited only to sales, but had a large area that served as a hospital, and among the various rooms available, a boy was fast asleep.

There was a clean smell in the room that reached the point of being pungent, similar to hospital rooms on Earth, but perhaps due to the substances used to clean it, it brought a feeling of freshness.

'twitch'

Mark's eyes twitched for the first time since he'd fallen asleep. With some effort, he began to slowly open his eyes. The light that he didn't see for a long time seemed to bother him as he still kept his eyes half closed, but even so, he steeled himself and opened them wide.

Still perplexed and disoriented, he looked around confused, realizing he was in a simple room with small windows through which the light entered.

"Haaaa… this time was dangerous…" - He mumbled in a hoarse voice.

When the drowsiness finally wore off, Mark began to remember the events that had occurred, and the fact that he was still breathing made him sigh with relief.

[Good morning, Host.]

'Hey, Guide. Tell me, how long have I been out this time?'

[A week.]

'So much? This explains why I feel this headache.'

Rubbing his forehead, Mark felt like he was having the worst hangover of his life.

[Can the Host remember everything?]

'Honestly, at some point, I didn't understand what was happening anymore.'

[Let me explain.]

The Guide told him what had happened since he had been poisoned. Some scenes Mark could remember, while others nothing at all. The fact was that he had arrived just in time, right before he stopped providing aura to his organs to protect them.

'I have to say, your advice saved me this time. Thank you.'

[...It's my job.]

Feeling a little better, he tried to lift his back, but only then he noticed the weight on his arm.

'Now… this is an unexpected surprise.'

Moving his gaze to his arm, he saw the bizarre scene of Tiona sleeping with her head resting on his forearm, while the rest of her body was stretched out on the floor.

[While the host was in a coma, this amazon was always near you, and in case she went out, she would return shortly after.]

'She didn't do anything strange... did she?'

Mark trusted Tiona and that she wouldn't do anything wrong, but considering all the amazon he'd dealt with, especially the last one, Lena, he wanted to be sure.

[She mostly spent her days telling you stories or events of the day, or she helped you eat.]

'That's all?'

If it was just that, he should have at least thanked her for what she had done, leaving out that there were probably reasons behind it.

[Another thing, she seemed to enjoy poking your face with her finger or stroking your hair. Is this what is defined as a show of affection?]

Setting aside the Guide's question, Mark realized he needed to take Tiona's matter more seriously. He'd always hoped it would be momentary, but against his expectations, she seemed to have growing feelings, and if it continued like this, their relationship would become too ambiguous.

'Maybe I should just be honest and end it like this.'

He knew of the strong character of the amazons, that they didn't accept defeat easily, on the contrary, they would become even more motivated. Even so, he hoped that Tiona would be different than them since he didn't want to have a bad relationship with her, so considering the various options, he decided that he would be honest with her when the time was right.

"Hmm."

Perhaps annoyed by Mark's sudden movement, Tiona woke up.

"Huaaaa…"

With a yawn, she looked around still sleepy.

"Morning."

"...Morning..."

Rubbing her eyes to remove the last traces of sleep, she naturally answered back, but after a couple of seconds, her hand froze. She lowered her hand and moving her gaze to the bed, she saw Mark looking at her calmly, and soon after, her eyes seemed to shine like hundreds of stars.

"MARK!"

Excited yet concerned, she began checking every part of his body, firing question after question to see how he was doing.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Now how about if you call someone?" -Mark tried to calm her down.

"You are right!"

With those words, she stormed out of the room at lightning speed, making Mark sigh.

'And to think that Finn has been dealing with Tione for several years, I'm starting to have a certain respect for him.'

Laughing at that, he reached over to the bedside table where a pitcher of water stood, which he drank slowly, clearing the dryness in his throat, but his expression was frowning.

'Corruption?'

[22%]

'Fuck...'

He knew it as soon as he 'tasted' the water, but there was nothing he could do about it. At the very least, Mark was satisfied that the corruption hadn't gone up much, and considering that it had already been a week, it meant that it would start to go down in a few days.

"W-Wait, Tiona, I can walk by myself!" -Scream could be heard approaching from outside.

Next, Tiona walked in as fast as she'd left, only this time, she had a wriggling girl on her back.

"Does it seem normal to you to carry someone like that?" - The girl scolded Tiona once she was put on the ground.

"Hehe sorry, but look, he woke up!"

Following the direction she was pointing, she turned to Mark, who was looking at her crestfallen.

"I'm sorry for her manners."

"Forget it, fiuu… We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves properly Mr. Mark. My name is Airmid, and I was the one who took care of your recovery." -After settling down, she formally introduced herself.

Obviously, Mark already knew her as she was considered the best healer in the world, and he had already met her briefly after the events of Knossos.

Called the Saint, her face resembled that of an elaborate doll, with long, wavy silver hair and violet eyes, and even in her serious face, it was still possible to see traces of kindness behind her expression.

"I'm going to inform the others!"

Still full of energy, she left the room beaming with happiness, eliciting dry laughs from both Mark and Airmid.

"Although she's a bit eccentric, I prefer her that way. The days you were sleeping, she was always depressed and spent most days here with you, helping with what she could do. When you can, you should thank her."

"Obviously." -That was the least he could do.

"Well, how are you feeling? The poison was very potent, and while I'm sure I eliminated it completely, I don't know if it caused any damage that I couldn't pinpoint." -She asked.

"I think… good."

Making a few movements and deep breaths, Mark didn't feel anything wrong, except to feel a little stiff, but that depended on the fact that he had just woken up.

Nodding, Airmid still did several checks on Mark. She tested the nervous system, muscles, blood, and other parts of his body with maximum detail, showing her pride as a healer.

'SBAM!'

"Hey-Hey! Look who has finally woken up!"

When Airmid finally finished checking and was ready to give her result, the door was suddenly opened, and hearing the annoying voice, which he certainly hadn't missed, Mark immediately understood who it was without even looking.

"Loki, at the very least try to have respect for those close to you." - Mark sighed.

"He is right, we are still in a hospital. Anyway, good to see you well, Mark." Riveria gave a small smile.

With her, the remaining members of the main group also entered and congratulated him on his recovery, except Bete, who only gave an annoyed snort.

"So how is he?" -Loki asked Airmid.

"Before you came in with all that aggression, I was going to tell Mr. Mark that he is fully recovered and can be discharged today if he wants to."

"Ohh, this is great." -Loki said in surprise, but inside she was laughing mischievously.

'So I can give him a good lecture right now.'

Even if she thought it ironically, Loki was serious this time. Mark's reckless behavior of going to an area, which was known to be dangerous, alone and without letting anyone know anything, was both stupid and extremely dangerous. But before she could say anything, she was startled by Mark's next words.

"I am sorry."

"Wha-"

Loki and the others were speechless as Mark apologized as bowed deeply.

"My arrogance made me end up in that situation, and even if it is true that the situation turned out for the best, there was the risk that I would be captured by the Evilus and used as a hostage, consequently limiting the movements of the Familia. For this, I want to apologize for my shameful behavior."

Still bowing, Mark said the words sincerely.

While Airmid was checking him, various thoughts wandered through Mark's head, especially about how he could better solve the situation he was in. But nothing came to mind, because everything had started to go wrong when he decided to explore the red light district.

Mark was still human and with the fact of his continued victories coupled with the fact that he was getting strong faster and faster, he made the grave mistake of overestimating himself due to his arrogance. He believed stupidly he could handle an organization that had been wreaking havoc in the city for several years and he paid the price for it.

'It was a necessary lesson. Sometimes I need the hard truth to put my foot down and remind me that in the big picture, I'm just another level 3.'

That fact saddened him a little, but it made him want to get even stronger even more. There was one thing though that was making him a little uneasy.

'Why don't they say anything?'

Rising up, he shifted his gaze to them, who were looking at him strangely.

"Who are you and what have you done with the real Mark?" -Loki said suspiciously.

Rolling his eyes, he looked to Riviera for a more positive response, sadly that didn't turn out to be the case.

"Maybe…Maybe you should stay a little longer and see if everything's okay…" -Riveria said uncertainly and Finn seemed to think the same.

He shifted his gaze to Gareth, who was scratching his beard in confusion.

"Did you hurt your head or something?"

"Indeed, you gave me goosebumps." - Said Tione.

Then he shifted his head to his last hope.

"Are you okay, Mark? Airmid, I think he has poison left that is making him delirious." - Tiona said worried, making the confused Saint raise an eyebrow.

Out of options, he looked at Bete, who returned a disgusted look before saying.

"What the fuck are you looking at, cockroach?"

'Silly of me to even consider him.'

Helplessly shaking his head, he couldn't help but sigh.

"What kind of person do you think I am if you react like that to my simple apology?"

"A madman."

"A masochist."

"A mysterious scholar."

"A direct type."

"Arrogant."

"A cool guy!"

"A big piece of shit in human form."

It was left to the imagination who the adjectives that described him came from.

"Jokes aside, I admit that I never expected you to apologize so sincerely. Initially, I thought I'd give you a good rebuke about your behavior, but you seem to have figured it out pretty quickly, so I won't dwell on it."

Loki said it with a laugh but then became serious.

"Mark, I know you're strong and growing fast, plus that brain of yours is always thinking of some plan, but you're part of a Familia. It's okay to go alone once in a while, but you have to understand that there are people you can rely on. Mark, you are not alone."

'I'm not alone...'

Those words seemed to sink into his soul.

Mark felt alienated from the outside. No matter how much he lived his life and how many people he interacted with, he didn't feel alive. Maybe it was because of the guilt he had towards Selene, maybe it was because of missing the Earth, maybe it was because of all the secrets he had, or maybe he started losing pieces of his sanity as he went on, the fact was that this feeling didn't go away and the addition of corruption didn't help.

However...

Not being alone, only then did he realize that those words were true. Since he joined the Loki Familia, there has always been someone close to him. Whenever he returned from the dungeon or recovered from some mortal wound, there was always someone to welcome him back, even while he was eating, there was always someone with to talk to. At one point, he had begun to consider these things as normal, so much so that he didn't realize it.

However, this did not mean that Mark would have completely opened up to them and forgotten his goal, no, but he would start to take small steps. He would try over time to eliminate this estrangement from him and mix with the others, and who knows, maybe one day, when he achieved all his goals, he would have no problem telling the whole truth.

"I understand..."

"Well, let's leave the sad speeches alone now. It's party time!" -Loki said cheerfully.

"Party?" - Asked Mark confused.

"Idiot, it was supposed to be a surprise!" -Shouting at Loki, Tione looked at the dejected Tiona.

Seeing the confusion on Mark's face, Riveria explained.

"When Tiona came to tell us you woke up, she also offered to have a small get-well party, and the other members seemed to agree."

"Come on, stop talking! It's time to go have some fun!"

They all shook their heads as they saw Loki walk out of the room laughing loudly, but followed her anyway after thanking Airmid once more.

'It seems that there is still a long way to go, isn't it, Guide?'

[That's how it seems.]

Whether it was to maintain his humanity or achieve his goal, Mark would do his best.