Love

(WARNING: VERY DISTURBING)

The topic of 'love' has always been hard for me to understand. Yes, I do love Alberu, my adopted dad and Wren but, I don't think loving any of them would make me weak like the type of love William was talking about. There's different types of people, magic and books, so surely there's different types of love too however, I only know one type; love between family members (or at least I think it is). I'm not too sure how close you have to be to love a family member properly or if I could really feel that hurt if a family member is in danger, but I do know that I love them to some degree.

"William, you're close to you sister right? How do you feel when she's hurt?" I asked.

"I feel hurt too," answered William.

"Even if you're not physically injured?"

"Yes. That's what loving someone is," William said, looking at me with pity in his eyes, but why? If I don't love someone enough to feel weak, then isn't it a good thing? It's not causing me any harm at all. "Felix, did you love any of your family members in your original world?"

"I didn't have any. I grew up in an orphanage with my hero, but I don't think he counts as 'family'."

"What about friends? Surely you've made some here right?"

"You think that's possible when I'm a villain?" I questioned, he looked like he was both surprised and in pain.

"So even if I were to leave here, there's no chance for me to live a normal life?" William held a desperate expression.

"None, unless if you can be like Wren," I replied which seemed to immediately shut down any hope William had.

Seeing William's sad face made me remember what Wren told me in the future. Every time I was upset, Wren would always pat my head say I looked like a sad puppy and puppies are quite cute, so maybe that will cheer him up?

"You look like a sad puppy."

"... Felix, are you calling me a dog?" William and I stared at each other dumbfounded. I felt like I could hear crows cawing in the background.

Did it not work? But I repeated exactly what Wren did. Oh, was it the head pat?

"Want a head pat?"

"You brat I am not a dog!" William shouted, smacking the back of my head.

"Oh, that didn't hurt as much as I thought it would," I said.

"You brat!" I felt like I could see fire surrounding William, "just tell me how to make friends as a villain!"

"I told you, you can't unless if you can become like Wren," I began to think, "oh! Or you can become a knight like Wren and become acknowledged. That way everyone will definitely like you for serving the nation. Just don't abuse your powers and there'd be no reason for someone to dislike you."

"You didn't do anything either and no one except for the people here likes you, so why the hell can't I be a dog to them if I'm already serving their nation?" scoffed William. "But there's no way I'd do that since I'm extremely weak and don't have any combat abilities so I'd just immediately die."

"Oh, so you are a dog," that seemed to be the only thing I heard.

"What?" William was bewildered.

"You lied to me, you are a dog."

"You idiot that's not what I meant! How dumb can you be?! I don't understand why you were chosen by Esper at all!" William crossed his arms, "maybe your stupidity was how you were able to entertain Esper."

"He may act like that but he does have some redeeming qualities," Wren suddenly appeared.

"I do?" I pointed at myself.

"Like...?" questioned William.

"Well if I were to go buy some food and there's a long line, all I need to do is bring Felix and the people there will most likely leave! There's either no more line or a shorter line!" Wren's answer made me stare blankly at her. Surely William won't-

"That's false!" William exclaimed. "What I assume according to what Felix said is that if you were to bring a villain there, they'd immediately close the store let alone have a line!" What the fuck William, you too?! How is that a valid conversation?! They're just flaming me at this point!

Wren then let out a gasp "you're right!"

"Ok enough with this. Wren, why are you here?" I asked, turning to Wren.

"Felix, you do know that this is my village right?"

"... Right."

"..."

"..."

"So Wren, do you need anything?" William broke the silence.

"Well I heard you guys were talking about me, so I came to check," replied Wren. What? Was someone listening in to our conversation?

"Who told you?" I questioned her.

"Lucas," Wren pointed behind her with her thumb. Both William and I look behind her to see Lucas waving at us with a smile, sitting in a tree... Does this count as stalking? I'm pretty sure it does in a way, right?

I continued to stare at Lucas, trying to figure out his intentions when he mouthed something towards me, but I couldn't tell what he'd saying.

"True evil," I suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice say.

"Is someone there?" I asked, but there was no one here whose voice I haven't heard before (aside from Lucas but he's sitting too far away for me to hear him anyway).

"Felix, who are you talking to?" asked Wren, "no one has said anything."

"Oh sorry, I thought I heard someone say something," I decide to shake it off. Perhaps it's just my intrusive thoughts? It's not uncommon for me to hear random things in my head one in a while. The only thing that's strange is that usually when I hear random intrusive thoughts, I'd be able to tell that it's in my head, but I couldn't tell this time. I must be slowly going insane.

"So what about me were you talking about?" asked Wren.

"Just about how you're a strong warrior and stuff," I replied. I suddenly remember something, "oh, can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead kiddo."

"Can you tell me about Lianne? William told me that you named the village after the person you love and that you got hurt because of them, but I'm confused why you'd get hurt for loving someone," I said, watching Wren's cheerful expression slowly disappear.

"So you think that if I told you about how I love Lianne you might be able to understand?" questioned Wren. I nodded. "Alright, it might be a little long though ok?"

"That's fine."

"You want to listen too William?" Wren turned to William.

"Nah it's fine. I'll be going now. I need to throw these apple cores away and wash these pates and forks then return them," William said before leaving. Hold up... where did the plates and forks come from? The apple cores as well. Isn't the sky darker than before too?

"Kiddo? Hey kiddo, are you going to listen or I'll just leave to give you some time to think about what's on your mind," Wren's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"No! Please tell me I'm listening!"

"Alright then. Back in my world, I met a beautiful girl at the age of eight named 'Lianne'," Wren started. "She was fairy-like and the opposite of me. We grew up together and I became her personal bodyguard. It was tough protecting her since as we grew older, she became a bigger target because of her beauty. When we were 15, she told me she had an arranged marriage," Wren bit her lip. "I proposed that we both run away together because I loved her so much I couldn't bare to see her with another man, and she was too young to get married."

"Did she agree?" I asked.

"No, she didn't. She asked me if I loved her and I honestly replied, but she didn't love me back. I was heart broken but I guess it was partly my fault for mistaking her kindness as mutual feelings," Wren showed a sad smile.

"Did it make you hate her?"

"There's no way I could hate her," Wren shook her head, "I love her too much to. Even now, I still wish to be with her even though there's no way to."

"Was that the end of it?" It sounds like that's the end of it but William said that she appeared in this world with injuries because of the one she loves, so maybe she liked someone else to?

"It wasn't. Lianne's fiancé found out that I loved her, and told the head of Lianne's family. I was punished and hit by sticks 500 times when they tried to make me say that I didn't love Lianne. I never said it and died instead, ending up here. That's it."

"If you had said that you didn't love Lianne, would you still be alive there?"

"Probably, but I don't regret it all. Lianne's last memories of me may be bloody, but at least she will remember me telling her that I love her 500 times," Wren's sad smile didn't vanish, but I could see the tenderness in her eyes as she talked about Lianne. "So Felix, do you understand now?"

"No," I shook my head. "Your story just made me think that you should abandon love if the consequences could get you killed or badly injured."

"Hm, is that so?" Wren looked up at the sky. "It's alright sunset? How about you sleep here tonight and I'll bring you back to the Infermel mansion tomorrow?"

"Sure," I replied. Something felt wrong though. I felt like time was going faster than it should be. I swear it was only morning or maybe even lunch time a while ago. Was time messed up after things reversed?

Wren brought me to a spare house and let me sleep there. I closed my eyes and fell asleep in no time but suddenly, it felt hot, really hot.

"Hurry!"

"Put out the fire!"

I snap my eyes open and instantly notice the pale blue flames that almost looked white surrounding the area around me. Outside the window, I could see the villains trying to put out the fire, but nothing worked.

'I'm extremely weak and don't have any combat abilities', my eyes widen, remembering what William said.

Without a second thought, I rushed to William's house but it was completely destroyed. I searched the around a bit, but he was still nowhere in sight.

"Hey, I heard the fire had spread to the other side," I head a villain say.

"I hope those heroes burn to death."

Other side! Yes! If there was a problem, William would most likely go check on his sister first!

I rush towards the wall, and found William standing frozen in front of it.

"Your sister's dead. We weren't able to save her," I heard the familiar voice of Kelan say on the other side.

William didn't say anything, but he approached a burning house.

"William, what are you doing?" I grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Oh, Felix. You're the perfect person to give them to," William looked completely dead.

"What are you saying?" What does he want to give me?

"Felix, do you want to know the truth about everything? Do you want knowledge that only a God can give you?" asked William, looking me dead in the eyes.

"I... no, I don't."

"Liar," smiled William. "Don't worry, I'll help you obtain any information you want," before I could react, he yanked his arm out of my grip and dug his eyes out, leaving me horrified.

"You-!"

"If you find Nova and offer my eyes, there's no request she would deny you of," William extended his hands; holding his eyes towards me with eyes closed, blood streaming down his face. "Goodbye Felix," he said before backing into the fire.

Pain. All I felt was pain. Maybe I've never felt this before because neither Alberu, dad, or Wren ever died but... is this the pain love leaves behind?