Deception 101

When I came to my senses, I was buried in insects who truly seemed to be out for my blood. I found Chopper in an even worse predicament. He was dying beneath a huge pile of leeches that were sucking out what little blood he had left. I later looked for Sight who was entertaining himself with the battle of some stray beetles. I had to remind him he was supposed to take us home.

"Oh, boy!", he acted like he totally hadn't forgotten about my existence, "We are home, alright. I brought us back to the present. Ah, you must have forgotten, boy, that we were in the past."

He then went on to laugh heartily and when he was done, he went back to his roaming. I had to remind him of Chopper before he decided it might not be altogether bad if we headed home for real.

I wanted to ask him if he had seen Felix's body but then I refrained from asking anything.

"In any case, Sight, who called Lady here anyway?", I asked while we were walking back. Sight was carrying Chopper on his back, something Chopper wouldn't have liked.

"Nobody did, boy. She sent everyone here in the first place", he replied.

"But how did she...?"

"Don't question, boy. They say, Lady is always right. We never question her...ever. Don't you do that either, boy", Sight must have been thinking about my good but it was far too late for that advice. I had been questioning her since day one.

"So you carried everyone to the past, didn't you?", I asked.

"Sure did, boy!"

"And what became of the castle?"

"Who knows!", Chopper intruded. I suppose I was disturbing his slumber, "Oi Sight, I thought I told you not to carry me like this."

"Huh?!", Sight was not in the mood of understanding right now. I suppose Chopper knew that too.

"The first thing I did was to go look for you when I got there. I told you its all thanks to Ebony that I can always sense where you are", that was disturbing in a way but I let him go on, "I met that other kid on my way. He was sitting down with that monstrous Nosferatu. They were having some sort of chat...perhaps of good old days. I didn't mean to interrupt them. Good thing I made it to where you were in time."

Thinking back, I was grateful too.

"Lady took straight towards the big fish. She must have intended to settle things before Deli came along. But oh well", Chopper said.

"I wonder what Deli would be like when she wakes up. I mean her children...Chopper-san...did you know?"

"Of course. That intense magical aura...when that mutant came in, it had Deli written all over it. There was no mistaking it."

I assumed that meant Sight knew about it too. And so...Deli too, right?

"If Sight hadn't put a barrier on Deli, she'd have sensed it too."

"Huh?! You didn't...How could you have done that?! You made her kill them...how could you do that, Chopper-san?", sometimes I simply couldn't keep up with how brutal these people could be.

"There was no choice. At that stage, we couldn't do anything to help them. There was only one way to grant them relief. I tried to make her stay out of it...the reason they were taking in her magic so fast, that was proof that we were right. Then again, I don't suppose we could have killed that thing on our own in our condition. Sight had to expand a lot, keeping her magical senses restricted, I couldn't shove him into a fight. Even if you don't understand Seraph, the truth is that we did what needed to be done."

"You are right, I don't understand. I don't understand it at all! You...and Lady...I don't get any of you", it was revolting to me to have been a part of this.

"Someone had to free their souls, boy", Sight spoke, "Everyone needs a way out. Everyone deserves it."

"I...found them in a ditch. They were completely gone. Their souls sucked right out. In this world...Seraph...sometimes all you can do is close your eyes to hide someone's shame. The more you resist, the more you fight against it, the stronger the realization that you can't save everyone. I suppose, even that Vlad didn't escape death. You don't have to understand anything, you just have to live with it."

Knowing he was right, I still didn't speak a word. We travelled a long way before getting home a few days later.

Deli greeted me. She looked like she had recovered almost completely and to top things off, she was in high spirits. This is definitely not what I was expecting to see. Chopper, Sight and I stood, a little shocked as she came out first to see all of us.

"Seraph! You all are alive, after all! Hey, did you hear, Seraph? They sent them to that old hag Tête. Well, she is a good woman. She'll take good care of them. What do you say? Wanna tag along next time I go for a visit?"

"Uhh...eh? Deli...what are you talking about?", I was dumbfounded.

"My kids!"

I searched in her eyes with utter shock if she really did mean it. She did. She actually believed her kids were still awaiting her.

We all stood perplexed as to what to say to her when Lady appeared outside. One look at her face told me the answer I was supposed to give.

"Yeah...sure!"