Chapter 26: What Symbol?

[Fiore's Castle - Infirmary]

"When do you think they'll be ou--" Lavi wanted to ask but the creaking sound of the door stopped him from doing so, "Okay, nevermind."

The queen walked with a hint of anger in her face, "What happened? How are those two that badly injured? And who is that young man?"

Mary, who followed behind her, began explaining, "Your majesty, that's Damian. Um, they were attacked by a Phantom."

"Just one phantom?"

"Probably, Damian just mention about this guy named Erik." Lavi answered.

"Wait, before we continue, is Beck fine?" Ben asked suddenly with a tinge of urgency in his voice.

Hearing that, the queen crossed her arms and huffed, "Yes, he is but... barely. He was lucky that the attack missed his heart. That phantom that they fought most probably possess a dark element."

Mary snapped her fingers and looked over to Ben, "Dark element? Ben, does that rings a bell?"

"There is a couple people that I know." Ben was relieved he heard that his Brother was okay. Heaving a sigh of relief, he slumped against a wall behind him, "But, I don't recognise an Erik. Maybe he joined after I left."

"Well, that's plausible." The queen commented as she held onto her chin, "Whatever it is, I forbid Beck from going anywhere. He should stay here and rest. In the meantime... Anna, can you help me look for a symbol like this?" The queen asked as manifested a piece of paper out of no where, with a unfamiliar symbol that was sketched out.

"Yes, I can, your majesty." Anna bowed before grabbing the paper respectfully, with a courteous nod.

Moving towards her, Lavi took a quick peek at paper in Anna's hands, "What is this symbol? I've never seen this before."

"I'm not too sure myself, but I saw this symbol on Damian's chest momentarily." She answered. She then stretched for a few seconds, before separating herself away from the group, "I'll going to go now, if there's any, just call me, I'll be with the king. Remember to keep an eye on Beck."

"Yes, madam." Lavi replied playfully with a salute.

Seeing that the queen had left, Ben rushed over to Mary, "Hey, can I see Beck?"

"Sure, but he's still unconscious." She nodded with placed one hand on her waist, "And don't wake him up. He needs plenty of rest."

"Alright."

Ben walked into the infirmary, where Beck and Damian were shifted to, followed by Lavi and Mary. When they went in, Damian was already awake and he was standing up, ready to put his shirt back on.

Once this was caught by Mary's eyes, she immediately hurried towards him, "What are you doing?!"

"Shh." Damian silenced her as he pointed to Beck, "...He's still resting."

However, he instantly regretted for raising his injured arm. He winced and clenched onto it, before releasing it after a few seconds. He then grabbed his shirt and started putting it on, but before he actually could, Mary snatched the shirt from his hands, "You need to rest."

"It's fine, I'm good." He said as he put out his hand, asking her to return his shirt to him.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"No."

"Yes."

"I'm the medic here. You should do what I say." Mary snapped as she glared at him, "Now, sit. Down."

This time, he gave up. "Alright, alright." He sat down on the comfy bed behind him and looked at the three who surrounded him, "Do you have any questions you want to ask me?"

"Where were you about to go?" Mary asked as she looked at him suspiciously.

"Um... Somewhere." He replied as he averted his eyes.

Hearing that she gave him an unamusing look, "Seriously...?"

"Okay, fine. The Phantom's hideout."

"Why are you going to them again? What's your motive?" She questioned, but as of now, she sounded like she was interrogating him.

"I'm not. I'm going to quit and I'll probably die. But hey, it's for the better, right? And don't worry, I won't give Emily's location out." He answered with a sad smile.

"Don't be an idiot. What do you you think will happened if Emily finds out? She will be depressed." She protested.

"Think of a better option then. Once you're in phantom, you can't escape. So, if I stay here, the phantoms will find me and kill me. It doesn't matter if I die, but I might actually drag Emily in. If I try to go somewhere else, they'll still find me and I'll still die, but at least she won't be involved then."

Suddenly, out of no where, Ben walked out to Damian and give him an abrupt punch to one side of his cheeks.

Damian fell back to the bed and stayed that way for a second, almost as if he was trying to comprehend what the heck just happened. However, after a second or two, the pain started to kick in, causing him to reach out for his sore cheek.

"Hey, Ben! He still injur--"

"My brother got hurt because he saved you. If you just die now, whatever he did was just meaningless. So, you better keep yourself alive. Otherwise, I will not let you off..." Ben snarled at him, giving him a glower.

"Come on guys, there's no time to fight now." Lavi jumped into the mix, "Emily wouldn't want something like that as well."

Turning away from him, Ben mumbled to himself, "...Sorry. I overreacted."

Just then, a familiar voice called out.

"Ben..."

The four of them turned behind to see that Beck had already regained conscious.

"How are you feeling?" Mary asked as she rushed over to help him up.

"Um... Not too bad." He replied with a weak smile, "Emily doesn't know about all this, right?"

Mary stared at the ground for a moment, before reluctantly answered, "No..."

"...Is it right to keep this a secret?" She asked, "I mean, she should know this, no?"

"Well, it's just temporary." Lavi explained, "We'll tell her soon, just not now. Besides, right now, she can't do much even if she know."

Beck grabbed his shirt and attempted to put it on, "I think we should just act like this did not happen. This way we can keep her suspicions away for a moment--"

Before he could finished, a sharp pain stabbed his chest, prompting him to clench his wound.

He did and he began wheezing, as he struggled to gasp for air.

Professionally, Mary placed a hand on his chest and injected some of her energy to his wound to relieve some of the pain.

That did calm him down a lot.

Afterwards, she helped him back to bed, "You should just rest for a couple more hours first, I think Yukiko and Jai are keeping her busy. So, don't worry."

She then helped to him with the blanket, before turning to Damian, "You should rest too. Emily probably wouldn't come here, unless she's injured or something."

Noting his silence, she continued, "Damian, we don't usually let people stay here, but since you're somewhat Emily's stepbrother, we'll let you stay... Also, don't underestimate us though, we can take on the phantom."