Return of Anima

"What?! What do you mean our stuff is destroyed?!" The people yelled out in the crowd.

"I couldn't save it. In fact, your entire city is nothing but dust now. You don't own anything anymore." I told them.

An uproar of curse words and bad wishes from the people surrounding Fuki and me started to make me forget the meaning of silence. Their loudness spoke volumes about their rotten values.

"HEY!" Hex shouted out from behind me. I was so glad to see her alive... I didn't want to ruin what she planned on saying though, so I held back for a moment.

"You ungrateful shitheads really only care about your stuff?! Why didn't any of you run in there?! Because you're cowards! That's why! You care about your life and you put your responsibilities on our Heroes, Anima and Fuki, and then have the nerve to curse them for not saving your stuff?! What about your lives?! You shitheads. If I hear one more word out of your mouth that's negative about our Heroes who sacrificed their lives to save yours... I will kill all of you." Hex said.

That was a total shift in her personality!

But... it worked...

The people, blinded by their belongings and their riches, were quiet. Not a single word came out of their mouths.

"I'm so sorry, Anima and Fuki… please, forgive the ignorance of this town." Hex said, profusely bowing to us. What, was that some sort of action of regret or something?

"It's fine. Truthfully, I didn't save these people because I cared about them. I killed Zeus because he almost killed all of my friends. I still don't care about these people, Hex, but I'm glad people like Fuki and you still have compassion for these Rats." I said while facing the crowd.

"What do you mean, you saved us? Fuki probably did all of the work!" Another member of the crowd shouted out. They started agreeing with each other... which I didn't care about, but then Fuki began talking.

"I was frozen... Zeus hit me with an attack that should've killed me. If not for Anima... I would be dead... the real Hero today isn't me... it's Anima." Fuki stated.

"Fuki! You helped me out in that fight as much as I helped you. Don't give me that credit!" I yelled at him for trying to put this all on me.

"Don't be ridiculous, Anima. Without your strategy, your skillset, and your final blow... we wouldn't have won that at all. The credit goes to whoever deserves it. And that's you. Anima is the Hero that took out a Patriarch, not me." Fuki said.

The crowd began whispering in disbelief as I looked at Fuki in confusion. He slightly smiled while resting his hand on the end of his sword in his hip-sheathe.

"Anima!" Ruby came over the small hill Hex did and she ran over to me, jumping onto me and latching to me with her arms wide open. I was tackled to the ground and could see Ken, Ipa, Soul, and Tama standing on that same hill.

What the hell was this? I was feeling embarrassed now that everybody was looking at me.

"Rejoice! Our saviors, Anima and Fuki are here today and have saved our lives from the terrible Patriarch that ruled over all of us!" Hex yelled out. It must've given the crowd momentum, as they started slightly chanting too.

"A-ni-ma, A-ni-ma, A-ni-ma," They said, enunciating each syllable of my name.

I couldn't even hear everything over the uproar of the inconsistent crowd, but Ken took my hand and lifted both Ruby and me up.

"Before you say anything, Ken, we need to talk about your abilities and why you didn't say anything!" I yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, Anima. I wanted to keep my abilities hidden so you would be able to defeat Zeus alone." He told me.

Wow... he was even thinking about how lacking I was in magic skills and power. Ken didn't miss a beat, I guess.

"And I didn't show up because I was relaying information to Hex and the others, on top of finding Zeus's weakness," Ipa explained on his own end.

"You don't have to give me excuses... I'm just glad you're all okay." I said, looking at the floor. Come on Anima... don't cry...

"Well, thank you all. Zeus is dead, and I couldn't have done it without everybody's help." I told them. I looked toward Soul and Tama as well, wondering how to break the news.

"I briefly talked to Ono... and, I couldn't find a way to save him. Ono told me that he wanted to die... so, I'm sorry, Soul, Tama. I regret not finding a way to save him sooner... I'm sorry." I told them.

They went silent and looked away from me. I knew they were upset with me, and I didn't know how to fix it.

I put my hand on Soul's shoulder and handed her back the gift she gave me.

[Titan's Wand +4] was placed in her hand and I backed away to tell her to keep it.

"It has done me a great service, and it was the weapon I used to stop Zeus from abusing Ono's body anymore. You should keep it... I already have one." I told her. Soul stood silent, but Tama began to talk to me.

"She may not want to talk to you know, but we're grateful you listened to Ono's wishes... what will you do now, Anima?" Tama asked me.

"I have to talk to Papiya. Dex, where is she?" I turned to Dex and he pointed to a nearby house, where I began to walk over in order to talk to Zeus's partner.

She holds the key to my next plan.