I'm sorry

All the fairies died and Alexander returned to the chief's house. Everyone ran away from him because of the blood staining his clothes.

"H-How many did you kill?" Ren asked stupefied.

"A lot"

"Can you make the medicine now?" Alexander said while looking at the chief.

"There isn't really anything we need to do, just eat the heart and it will heal the poison"

Chief looked up at him and then turned to the villagers. Everyone was scared after what happened, so he tried to comfort the people.

As the chief spoke with the villagers, Alexander tried to make Ren eat the heart.

"Eat it"

"Not yet, we have to save Hans first"

"I'll take care of that"

Ren was holding the heart with a complicated face and Alexander kept pressuring him into eating it.

"The longer you take, the less time I have to get the second heart"

"...Okay, okay, I'll eat it"

After some thinking, Ren decided to give up. He couldn't think of any better plan right now, his feelings were clouding his judgment.

*Tak*Tak*Tak*

Alexander heard a sound coming from the side.

He turned his head but he couldn't see anything.

*Tak*Tak*Tak*

The sound continued but he still couldn't see anything. There weren't any places to hide around them and the sound was coming from really close.

"Okay, I'll eat it now"

"Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

*Tak*Tak*Tak*

"The noise. Are you hearing it?"

",,,No"

The sound got closer and louder but Ren still didn't hear it.

*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*

And Alexander was looking around frenetically, trying to find what was it.

Finally, he saw a small shadow jumping across the ground.

It jumped over the pile of dead bodies but strangely, there was only a shadow, he couldn't see anything else.

It was coming towards Alexander at incredible speed and when it was close enough, it jumped at him.

*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*

The sound got even louder

Alexander raised his arms and punched the air in front of him. He felt the flesh of a fairy hitting his fist and suddenly he could see a fairy dead with the chest pierced on his hand.

This fairy could turn invisible and even he couldn't see it. Its body was made of wood and leaves, its wings were made of thin branches covered by a layer of leaves. Its tail was made of thin twigs which makes it impossible to detect its presence in the middle of the forest.

The moment it died, the sound stopped completely. Everything became quiet.

"Are you okay?" Ren asked.

"Yeah"

"What is that?"

"Just another fairy" Alexander said as he removed the corpse from his arm. He looked at it with a curious face as he still didn't know how it was making that noise.

But less than a second later, he found the answer... It wasn't

*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak*Tak

The sound suddenly returned becoming louder and even more frequent.

Alexander turned his head to the sound's direction when...

*BOOOM!*

More blood splashed on his face and he turned his head back. Then he saw it, Ren's head exploded. He couldn't understand why or maybe his brain couldn't think about it right now.

He stared at Ren's headless body as it fell to the ground. He stood there for a few minutes, not moving a muscle while staring at the body. Until his thoughts snapped and he was forced to accept reality by his own head.

Why did Ren die? Why did this happen? What was he supposed to do? These questions circled his mind like vicious little birds.

"I'm sorry" Alexander whispered as he picked up the iron glove from Ren's body and grabbed the heart that fell on the ground. Alexander felt responsible for his death and promised to come back to give him at least a proper burial.

He entered the chief's house and went to Hans' bed, he wouldn't make the same mistake by letting Hans like that for even one more second.

He brought the heart to his mouth and opened his mouth as he crushed the heart with his hand and made Hans eat it.

Hans woke up the second the heart entered his mouth. After he ate it, his body started shaking furiously on the bed.

His limbs were numb as if he had been asleep for days. Then, He opened his eyes and saw Alexander standing over him.

Alexander was covered in blood and he looked very strange. His expression wasn't good at all.

"What happened?"

"I will tell you later. Are you okay now?"

Hans couldn't move his body but he didn't feel the pain anymore.

"I think so, but I can't move yet"

Alexander almost sighed with relief when Hans suddenly started shaking even more than before.

"What happened?!"

"I don't know but... AGH!" Hans started feeling pain all over his body and Alexander could see his veins becoming green and blood coming out of his eyes.

Fortunately, a few seconds later, it stopped. But Hans didn't look good at all. His eyes fluttered and he looked at Alexander weakly.

"I think I'm gonna die... I feel my strength leaving my body"

"You ate the medicine, you should be fine after some rest" Alexander still believe he would heal after some side effects.

"I don't know what happened but... I can feel it, it's really strange. Can you hear me out one last time?"

"Stop saying that, you will be fine"

"...Can you do what I asked earlier? The village, can you take care of it?"

"..."

"Please, it's the only thing I want"

"Then get up and do it yourself"

"I..." *Cough!*Cough!*Cough!*

"...Okay, if you can't, I will do it"

Hans looked at him with gratitude and closed his eyes.

Alexander stood there waiting for him to recover.

A few seconds later, he heard the chief entering the house but didn't say anything.

After a few minutes, he couldn't understand why Hans wasn't getting better.

He wanted to ask the chief what was happening when he suddenly felt something on his chest.

Alexander looked down and he saw a knife. Blood flooded his mouth as he looked back and saw the village chief holding a knife that pierced his chest.