Remnants

"Hey… Master. Wake up."

Huh? What? Who’s talking?

A fist slams down on the table before a voice bellows out above me.

“I SAID WAKE UP YOU DRUNK!”

My eyes slowly begin to open as I look at the figure.

“Oh, Kira, it’s just you. What do you want? Are you here to bask in the glory of me? Sorry but everyone else did it before you.”

Kira sits back down with a sigh, before looking at me.

“How long do you plan on doing this Zero? It’s been 15 years, you can’t just keep moping around like this, it’s not like you. You know that.”

My shoulders tense slightly before I sit back up straight on my chair and face her, my eyes dark and hollow.

“You… you weren’t there Kira, you don’t know what I feel. Why does everyone do this? Why can’t you all just leave me alone?”

It’s all my fault.

“You think you can tell me what I can do? You left us! It was your fault! It’s all your fault!

It’s no one else’s fault.

“Don’t you dare tell me to not feel this way. If… if you had stayed and not left… maybe… maybe…”

I’m the reason Vivian and Mabel died.

“If you had stayed, Mabel wouldn’t have died! Vivian would still be alive! IT’S YOUR FAULT THEY DIED!” My fingers clamped the tankard like a vice, draining the blood from them.

Kira just stares at me blankly, staying silent for a moment before leaning in with a smirk.

“Oh really heroboy? My fault? Do you want me to remind you exactly what happened? Jaro did tell me — “

I slam the tankard onto the table before lifting myself up and staring down at her.

“Don’t you dare, you don’t get to mention them. Not after all these years.”

I suddenly felt a light tap on my shoulder, I turn my head back to face whoever it was that had their hands on it. It was Gabriel and the rest of Kira’s group.

“Hey Zero, calm down a bit. Kira didn’t mean anything bad by it. You know she cares about you, she just wants to see you better yourself than stay like this.” He sighs before removing his hands from my shoulder and stepping back a bit to make some space.

“We’re just here because we need your help. We’ve stumbled across some things that you might be interested in, more specifically… The OathBreakers.”

My body tenses up, I feel like I was burning inside from hearing that very name.

“Why should I care about them? They — “

“Oh you know what Zero, stop with the obtuseness , you keep insisting you do nothing, but so far, everything you’ve done these past few years have been picked up by people, and I mean a lot of people.” Kira mutters irritably.

I sigh and sit back down. “Fine, what did you need help with? I’ll decide after hearing it.”

Gabriel smiles and gestures to the rest of the group to sit around the table.

They still all look the same as they always do. Zoe, Zane, Urlas, Uhhhh…

I stare toward the same person who has always been quiet and distant at every interaction.

“Hey Kira.”

She leans forward resting her arms on the table and propping her chin on her palm. “What?”

I point towards the person of interest, looking toward Kira with a glazed stare. “Who is this again? You’ve never told me their name before and they don’t talk at all.”

Kira shrugs as she leans back on her chair. “Honestly, I don’t have any ideas either. They joined us only a few days before we arrived at the village all those years ago. I just call her Gem since she likes to search for jewels and rocks when she travels with us.”

She? So she’s a girl huh.

Gem… leave it up to Kira with the most simple names

I pick my nose and flick it onto the table before rubbing my fingers into it. I couldn’t care less of what they thought of me. I’m already at the lowest point, can’t go any lower. “So what exactly did you need help with that you had to find me out?”

Gabriel sighs, staring at my finger before pulling out a small piece of paper. I look over and grab it to read.

Monsters here and there… missing towns people… blood sacrifices…

This… this is —

Kira got up and walked over, pulling out the chair next to me and sitting down. “It’s a repeat of what happened 15 years ago, isn’t it.”

My heart quickens as my grip on the paper tightens. “How much do you know about what happened? What did Jaro tell you?”

She leans forward, her legs closed together as she leans forward with her hands on her knees, her outfit leaving little to be hidden as her cleavage shows. “Interested now hm?”

I lean back in annoyance. “Huh?! Interested?! I just said I wanted to know what Jaro told you, I don’t want to look at your breasts, put them away.”

She chuckles softly before leaning back up. “I only know what he told me. He said he noticed that the bandits at the camp were all killed the same way. Mutilated and spread out in one area.”

Gabriel chimes in and pulls out a small local map, pointing to specific locations on it.

“Alright, so far, our group has gone out to scout these areas, we’ve been to the ones near the outer edges of the border, then some others by the city. There’s been nothing out of the ordinary.”

I lean in and look at the locations. “Yeah I’ve been to those locations too, the locals are just traders and farmers. Why would there be any problems there?”

Gabriel shoots up an eyebrow. “You’ve been there? When?”

I close my eyes to think. “I think… It's been about 3 months? Maybe 5? I was there to hunt down some ratkin that was destroying crops.”

He looks at me and sighs. “Zero, there’s no one there anymore. They’ve all gone missing.”

Missing? What? That can’t be.

“Since when? I just saw some of them in the forests a few weeks ago. They — “

“They were nightwalkers.” Gabriel leans back, his posture tense. “We met them… a few days ago, by the riverbank. We killed them to save them from suffering any longer.”

Nightwalkers… that can’t be… that little girl and that old lady…

He pulls out a small cloth pouch and hands it to me. “The little girl that was there, she asked if we could give this to you before…”

My hands, shaking, as I slowly untie the pouch and pull out a little woven piece of cloth. Beside it, a small note.

I open the note and read it.

See big brother? I told you that I’ll get it finished for you! This will keep your face warm and stop you from looking sad all the time! Thank you so much for helping me and my grandma! I hope you’re happy with your gift! I can’t wait to see you again, don’t forget your promise!

My eyes begin to well up as I kept staring at the paper, holding the wove cloth tightly.

Kira softens up slightly, her teasing posture gone, the protective big sister comes back. “Zero? What’s wrong? What did it say?”

I wipe my eyes before sitting back up straight. “The little girl and the old lady. Did… did you make it fast?”

They both nod in silence before looking at each other and giving me a bit of space.

I calm myself down quickly before closing my eyes again. A few moments go by, I open my eyes, my hands turning to fists. “Give me the details of what you need help with.”

They explain to me that, with all these similar turn of events, closing mirroring what happened 15 years ago, they couldn’t leave it to chance that it was happening again. There has been a lot more disappearances the past few years, but nothing on the scale of this and with the kingdom still at war, the King isn’t able to mobilize soldiers to quell the suspicion, and has since requested Kira and her party.

15 years… will I finally be able to do something…

“Wait, why is the King asking for you specifically Kira and everyone else here? The king has the Kingsguard and also those three idiots.”

Kira laughs and slaps her thigh. “Haha! So you’ve met them?! I wouldn’t call them idiots, but they’re a special case. As for why the King asked for me - well, the thing is we’ve become part of the kingsguard.

I tilt my head. “Huh? You? Kingsguard? Did you hit your head or something?”

Gabriel and the rest laughed together. “She’s right Zero, we became part of Kingsguard. The King didn’t want to continue hiring us due to the guild fees, so he made us an offer we couldn’t resist.”

Zoe giggles as she leans in and whispers. “Actually, the real reason was because the King had heard rumors about you and your 'exploits'. He wanted Kira to come ask for you to go scout alone and report back and have her back in the capital to help with the war. But she chose to come here instead."

I chuckle and smirk at Kira. “Oh really? Don’t think I can handle myself huh?”

Kira looks away, her face flushing a bright red hue. “Oh shut up, I just thought you’d need help since you’re always getting yourself drunk; and you Zoe, no more telling this idiot anything else. I’m already dealing with more than enough on my end.”

I chuckle softly and gently flick her forehead. "Let’s head out at nightfall then. Less people to worry about. I’ll meet you all by the gate.”

Kira rubs her forehead as she stands up with the rest. “Yeah yeah whatever! We’ll see you then.”

As the group heads out, Kira stays behind a moment longer. The flush on her cheeks slowly fade away, her face replaced by a weight that felt like she had been carrying for a long time. She runs to me and wraps her arms around my neck, clinging to me like I might just disappear. “I’m sorry…I wasn’t there for you with Mabel and Vivian. You’ve been through so much Zero. I promise you, we’ll avenge them. No matter what.”

My lips curve up in a small smile as I embrace her back. “I know, it’s not your fault, you don’t need to be sorry for anything. I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”

She leans back and looks at me. “You’ve grown up well, I’m glad you’re still the same Zero."

She extracts herself off me and turns to leave with a wave. “See you tonight!"

I wave back at her before dropping my hands to my side.

The same Zero… I’m sorry Kira… But I don’t know if that’s true anymore.