| Apology

Fanny opens her eyes.

She blinks, why couldn't she see anything? It was pitch black where she currently was—either that or she'd gone blind. Fanny hopes it's not the latter.

Everything felt numb. She tries to move her arm, but not even her finger would budge. Where was she? Was this the loading phase? It couldn't be, she didn't even remember being selected for a game.

Her confused mind tries to recall what happened before she found herself in this cold, dark void.

'Tigreal'

Huh? Who was that? Fanny tries to parts her lips to call out for the voice, but instead gets her mouth flooded with water. She subconsciously gasps, making the water get into her throat and into her lungs. In a state of panic, she gives every bit of her strength to try and move her body, but fails.

Fanny was close to losing hope, but a golden ray of light suddenly tears through the darkness with its soft glow, causing her eyes to widen. She feels her finger twitch, and realising that the numbness had disappeared, she automatically swims up to the direction of the light.

The soft gleam of the light turns into a strong, hot blaze as Fanny swims closer to it. She sticks her hand forward, trying to reach for the light as thought it would save her from this harsh and cold void. Just a little more and she'd finally be out of here.

It was just an inch, really, just one inch away from the tip of her finger before the last glimmer of hope in her amber eyes disappeared.

Five smoke like spears penetrate through Fanny's chest. Her blood pours out of the holes in her body, forming quaint patterns as it mixes itself with the water. The warm light fades, once again leaving Fanny in complete darkness. As Fanny's eyes slowly close, she hears her name being called before her heart stops beating.

"FANNY! WAKE UP!"

The woman jolts up from the bed, gasping for air. Sweat runs down from her forehead, her clothes sticking to her like another layer of skin. Fanny heaves as she looks around, visibly flustered. Her breathing gradually becomes even as she looks around, recognizing the faces around her.

Rafaela takes Fanny's hand into hers, "Are you okay? Does anything hurt? Do you remember anything?" the angel bombards her with questions. Fanny glances down at their hands, feeling the comforting warmth that radiated from Rafaela's holy glow.

"Where am I?" Fanny asks, "How did I get here?"

Minotaur replies, "You're in the castle's infirmary," he raises his eyebrow, confused as to why she didn't recognize the place, "Why don't you know? You've been here countless of times before."

Fanny stares up at the beast, "I—uh—" Fanny shuts her mouth and looks down, "I-I don't know?"

"Maybe she's feeling groggy," Rafaela states, giving a soft pat on the assassin's head. "Just rest, don't think about anything for now."

"Do you remember anything?" Gusion asks, disregarding Rafaela's words. Removing his back from the wall, he walks to the bed Fanny was sitting on, taking a seat beside her. Gusion props his leg over the other and turns his head to Fanny, "Does your head hurt when you try to think?"

Fanny hums, "All I remember is that we were summoned to the arena with Kagura, Tigreal, and Minotaur," she stares up at the ceiling, trying to recall more. "I can't remember what happened afterwards. Something went wrong, right?"

Gusion remains silent, realising how he made a mistake. The support sends him a glare, and Minotaur sighs while rubbing his forehead. Fanny was awake enough to notice these reactions and furrows her eyebrows, "Will you tell me what happened, or not?"

Rafaela sends her an antsy smile, "Maybe you should res—"

"We should tell her," Gusion cuts Rafaela off, his cerulean eyes stern and unwavering. He was adamant about apprising Fanny of the situation. "Waiting might just make things worse."

"Gusion," Minotaur gives him a warning glare, "Being impetuous won't help, either. Letting Fanny know will be as troubling as—"

"Then what'll happen if she finds out?" Gusion retorts irritably, returning the glare. Fanny's lips pout slightly as she cluelessly watches the two dispute. "What will we do? What's the point of keeping it from her now when she's obviously bound to figure everything out later on?"

Minotaur lets out an aggravated sigh and turns to exit the doorway, "Make sure you don't regret anything afterwards. Rafaela and I will be talking with Kaja about this."

The room remains noiseless as Minotaur walks out. Rafaela, feeling unnerved from the argument, quietly stands up from her seat and flies out, leaving the two assassins alone. Fanny, who still had no idea about what was happening, wore a bemused look. She raises an eyebrow at the man beside her, "So, you going to start talking or not?"

"Fanny," Gusion says her name, concern laced along with his voice, "please don't do anything rash after I tell you about what happened. Promise me?"

Indecisively, Fanny nods. Why did he look and sound so serious? Fanny feels her insides churn. The tension in the room perturbed her, she couldn't stop feeling queasy.

"Earlier, we went into the battle arena with Tigreal, Minotaur, and Kagura," Gusion starts off slowly, not wanting to be blunt with her. "Everything was going smoothly like a normal game would've, but something went wrong during mid game."

Gusion explains everything to Fanny without missing a single detail from what he went through. Fanny kept her mouth shut, nodding as she let him talk without any interruptions, but he suddenly stops.

"Hey," Fanny nudges his shoulder, her eyes narrowing. "What's wrong? Continue! I know you're hiding something from me!"

Gusion places both of his hands on Fanny's shoulder as if he was holding her down, which he would really have to do after he finished. "I got shot right here," he removes one hand from her to point at his left shoulder that was still wrapped with Angela's golden threads. "I was lucky, but Tigreal wasn't."

Fanny shifts on her seat, "What do you mean?"

"Claude shot Tigreal in the heart," Gusion averts his eyes from her. He had to tell her, but something was stopping him. The image of Fanny's helpless state from earlier was still haunting his mind. Her bloodshot eyes, the dark marks on her face from crying—he didn't even want to remember it anymore, so how could he handle seeing her like that gain?

Gusion raises his head to look at her. Fanny's eyes were screaming at him, she was clearly dying from curiousity. Beyond the firmness of Fanny's aura, he could sense the fear, the anxiousness she was trying to hide. Gusion tries to comfort himself, she was strong enough, wasn't she? Fanny wouldn't be one to fall again for the second time.

Gusion breathes, his eyes remaining pinned on Fanny, "I'm sorry, but Tigreal wasn't able to make it."

Not even a second passes and Fanny was off of the bed, stomping towards the table that her gears were placed. Her hands were shaking as she tried to attach them to the locks on her belt, her eyes intent on killing. Gusion rushes beside her, grabbing her hands and making her drop her equipment, "Fanny, you PROMISED. You can't do this!"

"I can and I WILL, Gusion," Fanny jerks her hands away and pushes him away. As Gusion falls to the grounds, she grabs her blades that were leaning by the door and runs out of the room. Fanny dashes through the corridor, slowing down every time she passed a doorway to see who was inside.

Two, four, six rooms, she ran like lightning. Adrenaline rushed through every vein, hundreds of thoughts filled her head, but she was focused on one thing; killing the murderer.

Fanny's eyes catch the face of her target, and she abruptly halts, her hand gripping onto the side of the doorway to stop herself. She ignores the feeling of her arm almost getting torn off and walks into the room.

"Fanny!" Angela gasps and dashes to block the assassin. She spreads her arms wide to cover Claude, "Please! Don't do this!" she begs, her mechanical voice seemingly wavering from fear.

Fanny ignores her pleas, effortlessly shoving the doll to the side. Angela stumbles and falls onto the tiled floor, letting out a soft whimper. The skein on her back rolls, golden threads pulling themselves up into the air and wrapping themselves around Fanny's limbs. Fanny feels the warm strings crawling up her arm, and her now animalistic mind registers this as danger. She immediately jumps onto Claude, yielding the blades onto his neck.

"Do you think Tigreal would want you to do this?"

Gusion's question was like an arrow piercing through her head. She hadn't asked that to herself yet, too blinded by revenge to even do so.

"I. ." Claude mumbles in his sleep, face twisting in pain and sadness, "I'm so sorry. . ."

With these words, everything comes back into Fanny's mind. The start of the game, her chat with Claude, her fight with Gusion, Tigreal scolding the two of them—everything. The golden strings that binded her to her spot shatters. She falls onto her knees and drops her swords, the metal blades making a soft clank as they hit the ground.

Gusion kneels beside Fanny and pulls her head onto his chest. He gestures Angela to go, which she does, fleeing out of the room to call for the others. Fanny doesn't make a sound. She couldn't cry, she didn't have the energy to do so, she was too tired to even blink.

Her lifeless eyes stare at Claude's unconscious body. It wasn't his fault, she knew that, but who else could she blame? Several emotions were swirling inside her beating heart; sadness, anger, confusion, she didn't know which one to respond to first. Gusion closes his eyes, almost sensing how broken Fanny felt.

Fanny does nothing else but breathe, and asks Tigreal for nothing but forgiveness.