For the Best

--Ricard... help...

A familiar face called out to him. He stood and watched, unable to do anything. He tried to call out, only for it to end in failure. He tried to reach out, only to realize that he had no legs to be able to. He tried to help, but all his options were cut off.

--Ricard... please...

Theman he once knew was being dragged away as he called out once more.Who did the hands belong to? Who dragged the man away, the one Ricard loved so dearly.

--Ricard... I don’t want to die...

Ricard continued to watch, shouting at himself in his mind to move and save the one who called out. The man who was his only brother.

---

------

“---!”

He shot up from his bed, sweating and breathing heavily. He glanced around, not knowing if this was reality.

His wife was to his left, her breath soft and her eyes shut as she slept.

The man stood up from his bed and walked down the stairs, no hesitation in any of his steps. Stepping down the final step, he turned and walked towards the kitchen.

--I know who those hands belong to... the fucking humans. They’re the ones who took my brother away. The stupid war that he was dragged into, they’re the cause of all of it.

As if he already had an objective, he entered the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Not wasting any time, he exited just as fast as he entered, then went into the family room.

--I’m an idiot. How could I ever accept one of those humans into my house? They killed my brother!

He dragged his feet closer, until he stood in front of the couch that Ace slept on.

--I’m sorry Mila. I can’t let this human take you just like they took Michel.

His knife raised as he stared down at Ace, who slept just as calmly as his wife did.

He remembered back to when Ace asked him to keep Aliza and Mr. Legot here in exchange for himself leaving.

The memory that occurred only a few hours ago caused a slight hesitation, but could not sway Ricard’s goal. He was going to kill him here and now, so that there was no danger to his family.

“I’m sorry.”

He apologized, because Ace may actually be a good person. He was going to take this young man’s life, to have security for his own family. He felt an apology was necessary.

He let everything go and resolved himself. He clutched his kitchen knife harder and stared once more at Ace, who slept without a care in the world.

“Here we go.”

Sweat caused from the nightmare dripped, and the knife was about to be brought down, but--

“Mr. Betano?”

His victim spoke, as if he was prepared for the attack.

• • •

He watched as the man squirmed and shuffled in his bed. Sweat dripped onto his pillow and his pain was visible.

--Mr.Betano...?

The young man watched from a short distance away, as if he was a part of the bedroom wall.

“...”

The young man continued to watch, as the sleeping man now arose from his nightmare.

The nightmare clearly left the man confused, as he glanced at his wife when he woke up. It was as if he wanted to confirm this was reality.

Receiving his confirmation, the man moved to the kitchen. He shuffled around before grabbing a knife and watching the blade’s glare in the moonlight.

--Wha--?

The man seemed to be satisfied with his choice as he made his way to the family room, where two guests slept.

--Stop... where are you going?! What are you going to do with that knife?!

He could see it all unfold, but he wasn’t given an option to intervene.

The young man watched as the man stopped in front of the couch, where the dreamer’s body slept. The dreamer watched as Mr. Betano raised his knife above the boy’s head.

--Why?! Why does it have to be like this?!

He watched the stages of the demihuman’s emotions. Resolved, hesitant, then returning to resolved. The man clutched his dagger once more, then--

--STOP!

He dropped his dagger into the boy’s neck.

--Why... why does it always have to be like this...?

The observer dropped to his knees, just as the demihuman had. The murderer sat there and contemplated as to if this was the right choice.

The man seemed out of it after becoming a murderer. He seemed tired. Without touching the body or the knife, or even cleaning himself up, he returned to his room and fell asleep.

---

As the dreamer sat on his knees, the scene changed itself. Instead of the moon illuminating the room, it was now the sun.

The first to awake was the blue-haired traveler, who went downstairs to check on her companions.

“Ace, wake u-- ... ...”

She glanced at the couch where the boy her age slept. Confusion, shock, sadness, who could tell what else this girl was feeling?

“AHHH!!”

She screamed as she witnessed her love with a knife in his neck.

Hearing her screams, the young, blonde demihuman rushed down, and witnessed the same scene. The pattern continued until every resident had seen the crime... except for the middle-aged man, who continued to sleep.

He woke up a few minutes later, with the sight of his wife in front of him.

“Ah, good morning...”

The man seemed to have no recollection of the events from last night.

“What have you done?”

“What are you talking abo--”

He glanced around, wondering why his wife was scolding him before he had even got out of his bed.

“AH!”

He found his answer, as he saw his hands, pillow, and face bloody with the blood of the young man. The memories of last night came flooding back to him. He rushed to try to explain himself in front of his wife, who stood in front of him.

“You don’t un-understand... it was a m-mistake...”

“A mistake... horrible...”

Any explaining was pointless. She stared with disappointment and sadness, at the man who was once her husband.

The man rose and ran out of his house, skipping past the crying traveler, skipping past his daughter, who comforted the traveler, and skipping past the old man, who grieved the life of a young man.

He ran and ran, with only one person following behind... the dreamer.

--This is how it’s going to go...

Knowing what to expect, the scene changed once again.

• • •

“Mr. Betano?”

Awaking from his prophetic dream, he glanced above, seeing his killer stand over top.

“Ah--”

The man’s resolve dissipated, and he stepped back, now starting to sweat. Ace should have been asleep, and the murder should have gone smoothly. Seeing his plan ruined, the man continued to sweat.

“I’m sorry.”

An apology, not from the killer, but the victim.

“Wh-why...?”

Expected confusion came from Mr. Betano, who stood in shock at Ace’s sudden wake up and apology.

“I should have known me sleeping here would make you uncomfortable. I’ll be leavingearlier than the others.”

Ace raised from the couch where he slept andcrept up to Mr. Betano.

He grabbed the knife from Mr. Betano’s hands, then placed it on the counter. It wasn’t a forceful grab, Mr. Betano’s shock loosened the grip on his knife, practically allowing Ace to grab it.

“Wh-why are you not mad...? I just tried to kill you...”

“I’m not mad because it’s not just your fault. It’s both of ours. There’s a problem that needs a solution, and the solution is for me to leave, so I’ll do that. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

“I-I’m sorry...”

“Thank you for apologizing. At least I know you regret doing it. Our friendship can now continue on tomorrow.”

Seeing Ace say he wanted to continue being friends caused regret to swell up inside Mr. Betano once again.

“You can sleep here if you want... but I guess you probably don’t want to... haha...”

He knew that offering was stupid, but he felt the need to after seeing Ace be nice to him.

“Sorry, but you hit the mark... haha...I’m a little too scared to sleep here tonight, so I’ll go somewhere else. I appreciate the offer though. I hope you’ll continue to let me be Mila’s friend, and continue to be nice to me also.”

Ace knew that Mr. Betano wouldn’t try the same thing again after what just happened, but he couldn’t help but feel scared. He only has one life, and it was about to be taken if it wasn’t for his power. He needed to stay alive for his goal, and he would do anything to achieve that.

Ace remembered back to his dream, and specifically, his death. He glanced over at Mr. Legot who was sleeping nearby. Aliza was upstairs, sleeping next to Mila, but she also crossed his mind. He remembered her crying for him, and Mr. Legot grieving.

--I’m lucky to have them.

Thinking about how his life could be lost so easily, he thought that the same could be said about theirs.

“Mr. Betano, I trust you, but please... please... don’t do anything to Aliza and Mr. Legot.”

Ricard Betano, still shaken up from everything that happened, listened to his near-victim's request. It was only natural that he would ask something like that after being almost assassinated.

“Oh--uh... of course... I would never hurt them. I have no reason to.”

“Thank you. That’s all I guess, I’ll be leaving now, see you tomorrow maybe.”

Ace left the house quickly, not glancing back to see the man’s face.

--That seemed like it went okay. No deaths, and he seemed like he regretted it. All good.

• • •

“Agh...”

The sun shined on his eyes as they opened. Ace was in the forest, sleeping on his backpack. He left it there before going out for the cave quest.

“Oh, good morning...”

“Good morning.”

Her blue eyes stared into his own and she laid only a few meters away.

“Wait, why are you here?”

It didn’t surprise him to be woken up to the sight of her face, but the reason behind why she was there.

“No, first tell me why you’re here. I wake up and you’re gone from Mila’s house. What’s that all about?”

“Oh, that. Me and Mila’s dad had a little misunderstanding. I thought it would be for the best to leave, and it was. It solved all our problems.”

“All our problems? What about mine? I told you that I would move with you now that we’re partners.”

“I couldn’t just wake you up to move. Would you do the same to me?”

Aliza hesitated before responding. His case was fair, and she could see herself doing the exact same thing.

“Okay, I guess you’re fine there. But what could have possibly happened between you two?”

“Uhh, nothing... Just a little misunderstanding like I said.”

“I want specifics.”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Aliza started to heat up. Not a cute mad, but a serious mad.

“Don’t leave stuff from me. We’ve only been working together for a few days, and you’re already not telling me stuff. Lack of trust is the cause of a lot of falling outs.”

“I’m being serious. If I tell you, I know stuff will get out of hand. It’s best for everyone.”

“Ace, please. I promise to stay calm and think it through.”

“And I’m telling you that won’t happen...”

“Ace.”

Her eyes caught his own and her words from a few seconds ago came back to him.

--Lack of trust is the cause of a lot of falling outs...

That was the last thing he wanted, a falling out. Aliza was his partner, if he lost her, he would be lost in this world.

--I guess I shouldn’t keep it to myself.

“*sigh* I’ll tell you...”

“Thank you.”

Ace caught her eyes and gave her all his attention to show this was serious.

“Aliza, you already said you would, but please stay calm and talk to me before doing anything.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Okay, here I go. First, I need to tell you about something.”

Her head tilted as he switched the topic to something other than the misunderstanding.

“I received another power from Deepa. Some of my dreams can now tell the future.”

It took her a few seconds to process that. He was already given advantageous buffs, but this one seemed to be in a league of its own. Dreams that could tell the future, he hasn’t even explained it yet, but it already sounds super useful.

“Woah... that’s crazy...”

“Yeah, my first prophetic dream was two nights ago. It showed the exact scene of Mr. Legot in front of the fire. After that, you ran into the fire to save him, and you were killed. It seems some stuff is different from reality, but the basic situation is the same. I didn’t tell you about it because I didn’t know what it meant at the time.”

“Oh, okay... that really is crazy...”

“I’ll continue with the main story. Last night, I had another prophetic dream. It was a dream of... Mr. Betano... killing me.”

“What?! What are you talking about?! You two looked perfectly fine a few hours before!”

“Calm down Aliza. In the dream, Mr. Betano wakes up from what seems to be a nightmare, then he grabs a knife and kills me in my sleep. After that, he goes straight to sleep. The next morning, he wakes up to see you crying, Mila comforting you, and Mr. Legot also grieving. He runs out the house and the dream ends there. Some of that info wasn’t as important, but I didn’t want to leave anything from you.”

“I don--”

“Wait, let me tell it until the end. The dream ended, and when I wake up, it was the middle of the night. Mr. Betano stood over me with a knife in his hand.”

“Wha--?!”

“After seeing me wake up, he got scared. I grabbed the knife from him and talked. I told him I would leave and that’s where we are now.”

He finished his story and waited for Aliza. He didn’t want to rush her or try to influence her. She seemed shaken, but it was better than her rushing into things.

“I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

The first words she dropped were an apology, followed by hands on her face, as if she failed.

“I let it happen again. Over and over, you go through something, and I can’t do anything.”

“Aliza, it’s not your fault. You were sleeping, what could you do?”

“I know, but... it still hurts. I know that I should be the one to be strong right now, but I hate that I can’t be there when you need it.”

“I don’t know what to say...”

What could he say? He couldn’t promise her anything, nor could he comfort her. That would only hurt her, because she feels as if she’s supposed to be strong.

“---!”

She jumped up, and put her hand on her hips, as if she was resolved.

“I’m done being depressed! I say I should be strong, but I avoid doing that. I’m done! Ace, let’s go!”

“Oh, okayy--!”

He was pulled before he could finish the words leaving his mouth.

“Where are we going?”

“Where else? Mila’s house!”

He was pulled at an incredible speed, headed for his murderer’s house.