Chapter 205: Declaration

Sasha wasted no time and quickly ran to her leader's side and looked at what he was holding in his arms with concern.

"What happened Boss, are you hurt?" 

Sasha's green eyes finally noticed the figure wrapped in the man's arms and recognition gleamed on her face. 

She recognized this girl! She's the same one from this morning's newspaper!

But why was the Boss holding her in his arms? Wasn't she missing? Had he rescued her?

Adryan saw the extremely confused look Sasha was giving him and he just shook his head.

"I'll explain later. The important thing is for her to get medical attention and rest in a bed. She's been through enough."

"James! Are you okay?" a familiar voice rang out and the masked man looked at Opera coming towards them with a worried expression on his face and nodded calmly.

"Long time no see Opera you look good. Don't worry I'm fine, but I'm afraid she's not." 

Opera looked a little confused at her savior, but as she got a better look at what he was carrying in his arms her expression changed to one of horror and she put her hands to her mouth.

"Mother Earth! What happened to her?" Opera ran over and began to check Jerry well, her hand was placed on her forehead, and her eyes scanned the little girl's body.

Her movements were so clean she looked like a Doctor.

"Luckily she has no fever, but she is very dehydrated and malnourished, lay her down here for a moment. I'll go make some soup so she can eat. I will also prepare something to clean her wounds." Opera gave the diagnosis and pointed to where Adryan could lay the girl down, done that she ran to the kitchen.

Adryan looked at this in utter shock and could feel his stomach turn. He quickly tapped his palm twice and his vision changed.

The once turbulent and transparent aura now glowed a soft light green color that conveyed life.

'Opera is a Beyonder...' Adryan thought dumbfounded and he thought he knew which pathway Opera took. 

'Planter...' The redhead thought tensely but a groan of pain from Jerry made him push those thoughts away for later.

Laying the girl down on one of the church chairs, Adryan draped his jacket over her and then looked up at the Father who walked towards them with a calm expression.

"How is the little girl?" Father's voice was gentle as he bent down and gently touched Jerry's head with his huge hand.

"Opera said she's malnourished and dehydrated, she went to make her some soup in the kitchen as well as prepare something for her wounds." Sasha repeated Opera's words and the mountain man nodded calmly taking his hand away from the girl and standing up.

"That's good, but this is no place for her to rest. Take her to the back so she can be treated more carefully."

Adryan looked at the man still with his mask on and nodded slightly. He then turned to look at his teammate.

"Sasha, please take Jerry in the back. I need to have a little talk with Father."

Sasha thanks to the length of time she had known the redhead noticed the slight hint of annoyance in his voice so she nodded and carefully lifted the girl and took her in the back.

Now alone, the two tall men looked at each other for a few seconds before Adryan sighed and gave a small bow.

"I'm sorry for barging in unannounced and asking for your help on something like this. If I have to pay anything for Jerry's treatment just name your price and I'll do it."

At the redhead's words, Father Utravsky smiled gently and raised his hand in denial.

"That's not necessary young man. If an injured child enters any Church of Mother Earth we have to attend and see to their health." The older man as he finished saying that made the Mother Earth prayer.

Adryan nodded and hearing that no one was coming towards them and that they were completely alone, he removed his mask and pulled down the hood of his windbreaker. His red hair was tied in a low ponytail and his handsome face was marked by a few stray pieces of hair.

Father Utravsky's eyes widened slightly at this movement and thanks to the fact that he hadn't seen his face in a while he noticed how the red-haired man had become more handsome than before. But the father could not continue his thoughts for the younger man spoke.

"Why did you give the Planter potion to Opera?" Crimson's eyes looked deeply into Utravsky's whose expression never changed.

"I'm sure Sasha was briefing you on how Opera was doing here so you must also know that she presented a talent for medicine."

Adryan said nothing and just nodded.

"I was quite impressed by this and decided to teach her a bit of what I learned in my time at Mother Earth Church. And I must say that her talent far surpasses what I could have foreseen, it only took her a few sessions to learn something that took me weeks. With such talent and in the face of the Church's teachings it would be a waste if she could not use them to their fullest potential. So last night I offered her the choice of taking the potion or specializing at our base." 

The giant looked into the red-haired man's eyes and continued.

"And you already know what choice she made."

Hearing Father's words, Adryan could only sigh and take a hand to scratch his brow.

"If it's any consolation I explained to her all the dangers of consuming it and the kind of life she was entering, but she still accepted. Why she did it isn't my place to say, you'll have to ask her."

"If she took the potion willingly then there's no problem, but I can't help but feel a little annoyed." The redhead admitted with another sigh.

Before they could continue their conversation, the sound of heavy footsteps reached Adryan's ears who looked calmly down the hallway, still with his face uncovered.

He wasn't worried because by the weight of the footsteps he knew who was coming and putting on his mask wasn't necessary. 

Sasha came out of the hallway and looked at her boss who had his face uncovered with momentary surprise, but that didn't last long because she knew that Father was one of the few people who knew Holmes' true identity.

"Boss, Jerry woke up and is asking for you."

Adryan was not surprised by this and just nodded calmly. He put his mask back on and raised his hood hiding his hair, done that he followed Sasha.

...

"I'll leave you two alone."

"Thank you, Sasha."

Watching as the tall woman closed the door, Adryan focused his attention on the small figure lying on the bed.

"Where am I?" Jerry asked hoarsely from crying so hard.

"You're at the Harvest Church on Rose Street. They're going to take care of you here until you get better and you can even stay here to live if you want to." Adryan replied as he grabbed a chair and pulled it closer to the bed and sat down next to the girl who looked at him with reddened eyes.

"... Thank you Mr. Holmes, but I'd rather go home... I don't want to keep bothering you after all you did for me" Jerry tried to get up, but Adryan placed a hand on her shoulder and put her back to bed.

"I'm sorry, but there is no more home for you to go back to. Your landlord cleaned out your room and it's already for sale again." Adryan replied calmly and Jerry simply covered herself with the sheets and turned her back to the man and began to shiver.

"He took everything from me..." Jerry whispered in a voice so low it sounded more like a breeze, but the red-haired man's keen hearing picked it up and this caused him to clench his fist tightly.

Letting out a sigh to calm himself, Adryan looked at the girl and spoke softly.

"Is there anything you want me to retrieve from your room?" 

"...We had no material items or pictures together so don't worry Mr. Holmes... It's not necessary." Jerry said in a voice void of emotion and Adryan said nothing.

"Could you leave me alone for a moment? I'm tired and I want to sleep." 

Adryan nodded and got up from his chair.

"In a few minutes a black-haired woman named Opera will come, she will bring you food and medicine so listen to everything she says. The tall woman from before is named Sasha and the older man who looks like a mountain is named Father Utravsky, those three will be taking care of you starting today so listen to them too, ok?"

Jerry said nothing just stared at the wall. 

Seeing this Adryan sighed but before leaving he took out of his pocket a piece of newspaper and placed it on the bedside table.

"I managed to get this back, it was a bit damaged so I fixed it up a bit, I hope you don't mind." 

Again Jerry ignored him.

Adryan smiled sadly and left the room.

"..."

After a few seconds, Jerry turned around, and tears were falling from her eyes.

The little girl looked at the object Holmes had left and her eyes widened. With trembling hands, she picked it up and read it.

She could recognize that this was the drawing she had asked Holmes to sign but thought she had lost it when she was attacked.

It was quite dirty, but she noticed how the drawing was redone with better quality, and instead of being only 1 people in the drawing it was 3.

A girl was on the shoulders of a brown-haired man while a man dressed in black seemed to create firebirds that were flying in the sky.

*For my number 1 fan*

She could recognize herself, also Mr. Holmes. And also her...

She cried and hugged the drawing tightly to her chest, being careful not to stain it with her tears. 

...

With his back to the door and listening to Jerry cry, Adryan let out a sad sigh and turned away from the door. He looked next to him at a tearful Opera who couldn't hold back her tears as she heard the girl's cry.

"Take care of her, okay?" 

"Of course James. I won't let anything happen to her."

Adyan nodded and turned around and started walking with a heavy step. Opera waved her hand goodbye not knowing what else to say and grabbed the tray with Jerry's food and medicine and knocked on the door.

...

Walking down the hallway of the Harvest Church, Adryan's expression under his mask was one of death.

"What will you do now Adryan?" Flora asked seriously, but inside she already knew the answer...

And she couldn't wait to hear it from the redhead.

Adryan laughed darkly.

"What's not obvious? I'm going to kill a sewer rat."