Tolerance Act II

You know... it is amazing how regrets come and go, we think we are right all the time but in fact, even the term "Right" is wrong, for we know what is right and wrong, but what if what we do wrong we think is right... or wrong?

A strong light came and dazzled my eyes and I heard a girl's voice.

"Hello Johnny...you understand don't you?" says the girl

"What should I understand?" I say in a calm tone as I slowly sink into endless darkness

"How expendable you are... you're just a burden" the girl replies

"And you think I don't know that?, I'm just someone who wants to have a simple life, but I can't even have that, I'm someone who just wants to lie on the grass under a tree reading a good book while having a good coffee and sweet cookies" I answer in the same calm tone while sinking

"And you commit to this life of calmness and candy coffees?" the girl asks

"Absolutely not..." I answer with tears in my eyes

"Try harder to receive more Johnny, mistakes happen and you can't run away from them, accept your mistakes and move on" the girl speaks as she starts walking with her voice trailing off.

"Please... don't make such difficult requests of me" I speak in a melancholy tone, as I stop talking my vision starts to clear up and become clear once again, and as I wake up I look at my surroundings and start to see my whole body bandaged and some places with gauzes and tapes.

"Where am I?" I ask looking over and see another bed, and in it was Alice, with some bandages on her face and part of her arms bandaged.

As I look at her sleeping face I begin to cry, not tears of sadness or hate, but tears of joy; Good... you are alive, I thought as I cried.

A few minutes passed and I heard footsteps coming towards me, the place was a little big and had 3 other beds but they were empty.

"GOOD DAY LITTLE JOHNNY" Says the smiling, enthusiastic-tongued guy named Freaks. 

"Go... Good morning Comandate Freaks" I speak in a respectable and somewhat nervous tone, I see that Freaks was with others as well.

"Good morning Private Johnny" Says Commander Henry with the same mask on his face, wearing a dark gray blazer.

"Go-... Good morning Commander Henry" I speak in the same tone

"We learned about what happened...you were really brave, you have my respect" Freaks speaks while putting his fist to his chest and giving a wide smile.

"No need to worry Johnny, Lana and Leonard are fine, Alice is fine too, she is sleeping at the moment...and there is someone else who wants to see you" Henry speaks in a polite and gentle tone, but with comforting cordiality.

So I get up and go to a wheelchair where Freaks helps me to sit and takes me to the corridor of that hospital, it was quiet and had some nurses and doctors passing by from time to time.

The hospital was a bit medieval, but it had its luxurious touch, the tiles where we walked were black and white and every 4 meters had some fluorescent lamps.

We arrived at a big door where it opened slowly and led directly to the courtyard of the hospital, there were no walls or even buildings, just green grass, the sound of birds and some trees and looking from afar there was a chair with a small table that had a bottle of whiskey and some sweets in a small glass container.

We started to go towards that man, I started to look around a little bit and I saw the tranquility and the peace of that place, you could hardly hear any agonizing and polluted sounds, that was a very peaceful place.

When I get close to that tree where that man was, I see that it was John Zagred.

"Good morning Johnny...are you okay?" John speaks in a calm tone with a few sighs, as if relieved.

"Good... day sir... I am fine, thank you for your concern!" I said looking down in a cordial and nervous tone

"Stop with this "Sir" or this cordiality, we treat each other like family here, so just speak normally and without losing respect" John speaks while looking at Johnny, in a non-threatening and very calm tone

"O-Okay..." I speak looking at him

"Come...let's walk around the countryside a bit" says John getting up and grabbing the bottle of Whisky and Freaks and henry following me.

"I see you killed Jack the Ripper, huh?" John asked in the same calm tone

"Yes... I had no choice, either I killed him or we were all going to die"

"No need to worry, you thought more about your allies and that's a respectable thing Johnny" John as he speaks takes a sip of Whisky

"But unfortunately we only completed 50% of the mission, we didn't get much information about Sisyphus" in a slightly disappointed tone I say to John

"Of course they will conclude with 100%...what are you talking about Johnny?!" John speaks with a smile on his face and a bit of humor involved

"C.. What do you mean?" I ask a little surprised

"Just think, your mission was to kill and take information, the killing part was referring to Jack, and the information part I was referring to the word itself" he speaks as he looks up.

"But we didn't get any information..." I speak looking down with a slight melancholic look

"No... you got something better than that, and you'll see tonight, over there in that little cathedral" John pointed directly with the hand where he held the Whisky.

"I still don't understand..." I speak in a slightly suspicious look

"You will understand Johnny, now lie down, rest and have a good vegetable soup to be useful once again...okay?!" John spoke in a smile as he stroked my hair.

"Okay.." 

After the short walk I was taken to a dining hall where I was fed a vegetable soup, and when I finished I was taken to a room that was near a window that had a direct view of the cathedral.

"I see you are interested in that place over there..." a quiet, soft voice comes from the doorway and as I turn around I am pleased with who is speaking:

"Lana...good to see you, are you ok?, and Leonard? how is he?" I speak as I look at Lana, she looked beautiful as always, but there was a bandage covering her left eye and half of her arm was bandaged, the ends of her hair were dark and the rest was silky blonde.

"Calm down Johnny...one question at a time..." Lana speaks in a cheerful and very comforting tone, giggling lightly and sits on the edge of my bed.

That afternoon I explained everything that had happened and I also told a little more about what Jack had told me as well, I told him about how Jack at that moment regretted having taken his life to that stage and I also told him that after that I only remembered waking up in the hospital.

"I see... practically nothing much happened, Leonard went to get us and took everyone to the roof and from there we were rescued by a team of allied firemen and we are here now, Jack was engulfed in flames and the only two things we managed to get from him were a dagger with a sharp blade and an old parchment he had, we didn't open it on the spot because we didn't have time... and that's it" Lana speaks in a neutral tone

"But what about Alice...how is she?" I ask a little worried

"Don't worry Johnny...just go to sleep and get a good rest, everything will be more explained tonight" Lana speaks as she gets up and heads for the exit door.

"Ah... alias Johnny..." Lana stops a little past the door

"Yes?"

"Sometimes... just as we recognize the mistakes of others we must know how to tolerate and recognize our own as well, some mistakes that fall upon us may not be our responsibility, but in truth... the action we take depends on our responsibility" Lana speaks in a somewhat serious tone

"What do you mean by actions and responsibility?" I ask a little curious

"You'll understand...just make the right decision, young Johnny" Lana after finishing her speech continues walking and I listen to the footsteps of her high heels, so I lay down and get some sleep.

                                                                                  ***

After I wake up I feel my body tingling a little, I woke up just as the sun was setting, I look in front of me and see my blazer with our mafia symbol on it, I stand up and see many of John's soldiers going to the cathedral, so I get dressed as quickly as possible.

Arriving at the cathedral I don't find my companions Lana, Leonard and Alice, apparently they haven't arrived yet.

"Johnny Graybarrial" a man wearing sunglasses and gray hair approached me

"Sim?" I say to him

"Sir's chair is up ahead, come with me" he says as he starts walking

"Okay" I say and start to observe the cathedral, it looked small from afar but it was quite big inside, the chairs were far from the altar and it was a bit dark inside, it only had a weak illumination of big candelabras holding candles, that place looked more like a sect, but this stereotype was broken when I saw the suits with the coat of arms.

"Here Johnny, sit down and wait for the meeting to start" the gentleman who accompanied me says and walks off.

I sit on a chair on the left and in the middle there are rows of large benches that fit a maximum of five people.

A little later, the candles on the candelabra begin to dim until they go out and the stage lights come on, on the stage was John Zagred and with a large cloth covering something behind him.

"Welcome...thank you for taking the time to come and listen to me, tonight I would like to begin by saluting a young man who had the courage and determination to kill Jack Ripper...aka Jack the Ripper, Congratulations Johnny Graybarrial.... John speaks in a cheerful tone and with a little enthusiasm at the end of each word, and as he finishes the light turns on where I was sitting and everyone stands up and applauds and after a little while stops.

"Well...tonight is a special night, after the mission that was given to Johnny, Lana and Leonard will achieve not only Jack's death...but also brought us a wonderful gift, a round of applause for Lana and Leonard!" John in that same tone speaks and the lights come on with Lana and Leonard coming out of a door at the side of the stage and standing in front of everyone.

"Can you report back to us on what occurred Lana?" John speaks in a slightly mischievous tone and with a smile on his face

"Yes. On the night of September 02, 1945, Johnny went to an establishment that was used by people from high society to squander wealth and power with drinks, drugs, women and money, a place where it happened from trading goods to smuggling of jewelry, Johnny entered in order to save Alice because he had seen a figure that could be Jack the Ripper, Then he entered and came face to face with Jack, thus entering into combat, Jack had the goal of capturing Johnny and deliver him alive to Sisyphus, Much time later Leonard and I were trapped inside the establishment resulting in conflicts, injuries and a fire, however . . in the middle of all this history I began to realize that it was something very planned, as if they knew we were there, so we managed to find the reason for this . and the reason is underneath these cloths" Lana speaks in a serious tone and when she finishes her speech, she points to the cloth that was on the stage.

"Exactly ladies and gentlemen...and here is the gift we got, it is..." John speaks in a tone of sarcasm and mirth as he pulls out the large cloth that covered the something on the stage, after the cloth is removed entirely, a light illuminates only the stage, and when taken out it showed to be a large stone cross and who was stuck in the middle was....

"I present. ALICE DON FERRAZ" John speaks in great enthusiasm looking directly at Alice, as if she were a child receiving a toy.

At that moment I was totally still, I didn't know what I could do, I knew I couldn't fight against John and much less against Leonard, I knew it was inevitable but I thought it would be different what could happen, I tried to think of all the possible situations to be able to get out of that situation, but I couldn't think of any other situation, only one thought went through my head.

                                                           
                                                            "I MUST PROTECT ALICE"