Chapter Text
Blade coughed a bit and wiped his hand over the spot where Elio had smacked him, the man seemed angrier than before
“Who said you could come back!?” he yelled at him. In response, Blade stood up straight and locked eyes with Kafka standing in the infirmary's doorway. Blade instantly went up to her resting his hands on her shoulders
“How is she doing?” he asked her, Kafka looked up at him before responding
“She's beaten up, but stable…” Blade nodded and walked past her into the infirmary and saw the state Silver Wolf was in. Her arm was twisted in the wrong direction, there were cuts zig-zagging her body. Blade almost instantly took a step back, but Kafka caught his arm before he could leave.
“It's not your fault Blade, so don’t go thinking for a second that it is,” Kafka said firmly, Blade let out a shuddering sigh.
“But he took his anger out on her because I wasn’t here…” Blade said hugging himself tightly, Kafka sighed and gently squeezed his uninjured hand.
“Would you have preferred you in her place?!” Kafka asked him firmly, Blade sighed and nodded just a bit. Only for Kafka to shake her head, Blade was about to say something else about how that should be him instead of Silver Wolf, but Kafka cut him off and said
“She’s still alive, isn’t she?” she said quietly, their conversation was interrupted by a small coughing fit from Silver Wolf. Kafka quickly left Blade’s side and went over to Silver Wolf. the hacker was sitting up slowly using her uninjured arm to prop herself up.
“I-Is Blade okay..?” Silver Wolf asked Kafka, Blade tensed up a bit surprised that the first thing she thought of was him.
“Physically I think he is, but mentally I think he has some stuff to work out,” Kafka said glancing at him over her shoulder.
“Look what Kafka dragged back home!” a sudden voice exclaimed as the door slid open, Blade looked over and saw Sam prancing over in his cat form. The swordsman sighed and held out his arm, Sam leaped up and curled around his shoulders.
“Hi Sam,” Blade said, the cat hissed a bit and poked Blade's cheek with one of his claws gently.
“Where were you?! If you hadn’t run off we wouldn’t be standing here in the infirmary!” Sam berated him sheathing his claws and batting the side of his face multiple times before Kafka stepped in, catching his paw mid-swing. Sam looked at her with angry yellow eyes, Kafka shook her head and nodded at Blade a bit. Sam looked up at him and saw that his eyes were hooded and dilated.
“Bladie? You okay?” Kafka asked using her spirit whisper to try and get a response from him. Blade stiffened up visibly and held out his arm resting that hand on Kafka’s shoulder, Sam took the hint and moved to sit on Kafka’s shoulders instead. Blade moved to take Kafka’s spot next to Silver Wolf, he held out his hand for her to take. Silver Wolf hesitated but took his hand. She tried to pull out of his grasp the moment she realized what he was doing, as she felt a gentle healing energy spread through her body. Blade let her go the moment he felt slightly drained.
“It's the least I could do, get some rest,” he muttered to her and stood up, Silver Wolf stared at him in shock with an underlayer of gratitude.
“I have to go, take care of her. You know what to do if I don’t return for a while.” Blade said to the other two before leaving the room without giving them much of a chance to respond. Blade made his way to his room at the base, hoping not to bump into Elio or anyone else quite frankly. Of course, as he turned the corner to his room, he spotted the one person he wanted to avoid the most right now, just leaning on the wall next to his door.
“Blade, I believe we need to have a small talk,” Elio said gesturing towards the locked door, Blade sighed and unlocked the door holding it open for Elio. The leader of the Stellaron Hunters stepped inside and Blade followed him, closing the door behind him.
“Blade… it’s time you tell me what you were doing on the Luofu earlier today.” Elio said not facing him as he spoke. Blade flinched a bit and narrowed his eyes at Elio,
“I have a feeling you know already,” Blade said trying his best to keep his voice steady. Elio nodded proving that he already knew about Jing Yuan, Elio suddenly turned on his heel and slapped Blade across the face. The swordsman fell back a bit holding a hand to where Elio’s hand had slapped him.
“My relationship with Jing Yuan has nothing to do with you or the hunters.” Blade spat back at him, his fear giving way to anger.
“You told him about the script didn’t you…?” Elio asked his voice filled with fury, Blade remembered briefly mentioning how he had broken the script by responding to Jing Yuan’s question.
“Only about how I broke it…” Blade said quietly his anger dying down and switching to caution mixed with fear. This response only served to anger Elio more, the man grabbed Blade’s wrist
“Maybe I should break your arm too, just as punishment for breaking the script,” Elio mused. With that evil smile on his face, he clearly enjoyed watching others' pain, Blade didn’t say anything he just stared at Elio from his position pinned to the floor in front of him.
“But I’ve become curious about what’s under the bandages all over your arms…” Elio hissed, and before Blade could interject the bandages were sliced away from the arm in Elio’s grasp. Blade looked between the golden cracks and Elio multiple times before finally pulling out of his leader's grasp. He stood up quickly and backed away from him until his back hit the wall.
“So this is your price of using a path your body isn’t built for,” Elio muttered dropping the torn bandages and studying the golden cracks all along Blade’s exposed arm.
“I can’t stay here…” Blade whispered staring at Elio in genuine fear, the Leader of the Stellaron Hunters glared at him arching his brow questioning what he meant by that.
“I’m leaving the Hunters,” Blade said in a firmer voice standing up straight, and walking over to the side table of his bed. Picking up a new roll of bandages.
“What makes you think this is a job you can just walk away from?” Elio asked him, before Blade could respond, however, there was a sharp dagger at his throat. Blade held up his hands, barely breathing as he looked over his shoulder at Elio. whose eyes looked absolutely furious, Blade grabbed Elio’s wrist twisting it to an awkward angle to make him drop the dagger, quickly disarming him.
“Now I’m leaving, is there going to be a problem?” Blade asked holding his sword at Elio’s throat. The stellaron Hunter leader scoffed and shook his head.
“Just get out of here,” he said to him, turning on his heel and leaving the room slamming the door behind him. Blade let out the breath he had been holding, his calm and emotionless facade shattering into a million pieces. He dropped his sword on the ground and grabbed the roll of bandages again, wrapping it around his arm shakily. He flinched when he heard a knock on his door, he looked up and heard Kafka’s voice on the other side,
“Come in…” he muttered holding his exposed hand close to his chest. Kafka opened the door and stepped inside closing the door behind her, she turned on the dim lamp next to Blade's bed. She picked up the roll of bandages from where he had dropped them, only then did she notice the golden cracks on his hand.
“Bladie..?” Kafka asked him looking into his distant eyes, Blade looked at her waiting for her to say the normal reaction to the scars, calling them gross or creepy.
“Elio told me what you said, I understand why you have to go… and don’t worry we can take care of ourselves,” Kafka said while taking Blade’s hand in hers and helping him cover the scars. Blade blinked at her a bit surprised,
“Thank you… for everything Kafka…” Blade said to her as she finished wrapping the bandages over the glowing cracks. The woman smiled gently and nodded, Blade managed to muster himself to offer a small smile in return.
“Go on, take care of yourself,” Kafka said to him, Blade nodded standing up and grabbing a few more rolls of bandages and his sword from the ground. He hesitated at the window, he went back up to Kafka and took out a slip of paper,
“If you're ever worried about me, you should be able to find me here.” He said handing her the slip of paper. Kafka nodded and put the paper in her pocket.
“Goodbye, Bladie…” Kafka said quietly as he turned on his heel and left the room via the window.