236 Opening Up (1/2)

Both Daliea and Keela agreed to help as they turned and made their way upstairs, leaving Eliza alone as she went back to the edge of the hallway and listened in on the rest of the conversation.

”Out with the Jack, come on.” Rydel gave Jack a nudge to try and jumpstart his brain.

Jack grumbled, ”It's different than it was before…”

”And why is that?”

”Because… Because I…” Jack shook himself, trying to find the last bit of sense still inside him. ”Because I care about you guys…”

”What… What do you mean?” Bewildered by that strange statement, Rydel gave Jack a goofy look.

Jack continued to slowly put his thoughts together and open up to the hunter. ”Before… I didn't really care much about others. It was totally different than it is now too… Before I wasn't even here, and I had no clue who the other heroes were, nor did my actions affect the real lives of those heroes. But now it's different… Now I'm here and not only is my life in danger but yours, as well as everybody else's too…”

Even more confused, Rydel asked, ”You mean you didn't care about anyone before? Anybody?”

Jack let out a self-mocking chuckle but it slowly turned into a whimper. ”No, I didn't. I only cared about myself… And since we could respawn in the past, I planned all my tactics accordingly, not really caring about how many people died because it wasn't real death… I thought…

”If you think about it… I'm not really a hero, am I?”

Only their breathing could be heard, along with the bubbling of stew. Suddenly, both Rydel and Jack heard a sound in the hallway. They traced the nearly silent sniffling back to Eliza who finally revealed herself.

Jack tensed up even more, now completely frozen in fear of disappointing his friends. But as he avoided Eliza's gaze he suddenly felt warm as her body embraced his.

”Jack… Do you think we care about what you did in the past?” asked Eliza.

”Well… Isn't that why your dad married you and me?” grumbled Jack, struggling to even reply.

”Maybe, but do you know why I agreed to it even if I knew nothing about you, personally?” whispered Eliza, making sure that the girls upstairs wouldn't overhear them.

”I love my father, but he never let me do anything I wanted. You were the only way that I could escape that sheltered life that he gave. For the very reason that you were against the marriage, I agreed to it. That's how I knew you wouldn't mistreat me.

”Yeah, I'm too pushy at times and I'm sorry for that. But I didn't know how else I could thank for helping me find my own life…”

Choked up on emotions that he still wasn't too familiar with, Jack couldn't find any words to reply with. But Rydel laughed, ”See, Jack? I told you the others would feel the same way.”

”I guess, but it doesn't change the fact that you'll all be in danger because of me,” reasoned Jack.

”You're so stupid sometimes.”

Eliza released Jack's torso and placed both hands on his cheeks. She held him tenderly but firmly as she pulled him in close for a kiss.

After a few moments passed she released the emotion-filled hero. ”Since we were kids, all of us have seen plenty of death, Jack. It happened when my mother gave her life for my father and many other times when the guild was in danger during its growing years. We all understand what we signed up for, especially after meeting gods face-to-face and learning what you have to do. If anything, you're the only one stupid enough to not realize that till now.”

Eliza fixed her hair and walked toward the stew pot. With a smile, she picked up a spoon and gave it a taste. ”Not bad for a couple of boys. I'm guessing Rydel took the lead?”