A Broken Man

Chapter 33: Conquering Fears

As time passed, Alexis been zoning out lately. She's been getting a few nightmares lately of her past, and zone out when she outside. After what Zane did to her when she was a baby, of course she'll have trouble with him roaming around. Not to mention, she fears that he could snap at any moment, or he could be fooling everyone this whole time, and is planning to attack anyone. Whenever she sees him walking around, she freezes and doesn't take her eyes off him till he leaves the area. While watching Dmitri and Nekoette with some of their training, Nekoette called out for Zane when she saw him, causing Alexis to freeze and zone out.

Past Zane: " I call apond the deepest parts of the Nether. Take this Vesical to lend a hand for the Darkest Bean that was made of the Darkest Magic. I Want You All To Witness This, To Witness The Rise Of The Most Powerful Bean That Ever Live And Walk The Earth. The Rise And Power OF THE SHADOW LORD!!"

While Alexis was zoning out, Dmitri called her out.

Dmitri: " Alexis? Alexis. ALEXIS!"

Alexis: " Huh?!"

Dmitri: " Are you okay?"

Alexis: " I uhhh.... Yeah. I'm fine. You know what, let's call it a day. You two were really good today."

Before Nekoette or Dmitri could say anything, Alexis was already walking away.

Dmitri: " What was that all about?"

Nekoette: " Don't know, Alexis-Chan always acts weird when Zane's around."

After walking away from the two kids, Alexis rubbed her face and sat down on one of the roots of the large tree in the village. She needs a break and calm herself down. Someone then came over to her, thinking it was Zane for a moment but she calmed down when she saw it was Malachi, Aphmau's other adopted son.

Malachi: " Alexis? Is everything okay?"

Alexis: " *gasped* Oh, it's just you, Malachi. And I don't really know."

Malachi: " Do you want to talk about it?"

Alexis scoot over a bit for Malachi to sit next to her.

Alexis: " It's Zane."

Malachi: " Ah, now I get it. He's really messed you up, huh?"

Alexis: " Wouldn't you be acting like me if Zane turned you into a Shadow Knight when you were a baby?!"

Malachi: " Yes, but it does seem like he regrets doing it."

Alexis: " Malachi, this is Zane Ro'Meave, the same Zane who started wars and killed millions of innocent people. He could be fooling all of us for all we know and is planning something."

Malachi: " I know, but Zane was raised different form you and me. He was manipulated to follow the Shadow Lord and thought he wasn't the bad guy because of it. At least not right away. I understand you're still scared of him, but Zane really has change, Kawaii-Chan told us he isn't the same man he was in the past, and she's been keeping an eye on him, and she said he hasn't try to do anything to cause damage to anything or anyone."

Alexis looked away, she didn't know if she could trust him like nearly everyone already have. Even Aphmau got used to him.

Malachi: " If you want, I can take you to him to talk to."

Alexis: " What?! No way. I'm not doing that, not in a million years."

Malachi: " Alexis, it's alright. I'll be with you the whole time if you go talk to him. If you go through with this, I'll make sure nothing happens."

Alexis: "... Promise?"

Malachi: " I promise."

Alexis was quiet for a while, she let out a sigh and nodded. Malachi and Alexis went over to Zane, he was reading a book while eating one of Kawaii-Chan's cupcakes she made earlier. Alexis gulped and started to have second thoughts.

Alexis: " On second thought, maybe this isn't a good idea."

Before Alexis could walk away, Malachi stopped her.

Malachi: " Alexis, you said if I come along with you, you'll talk to him a bit. He's just sitting there. Come on, let's just go chat with him for a minute, and it's going to be alright."

Alexis nodded but she remains still, so Malachi had to help her move by holding her hand and dragging her a bit. When they were next to Zane, Malachi cleared his throat, catching Zane's attention.

Malachi: " Good evening, Zane."

Zane: " Evening."

When Zane saw Alexis, he felt a little awkward, he made a horrible mistake in the past, he didn't know why he did what he did to Alexis, believing it's was the right thing because he still followed the Shadow Lord. Malachi gently nudge Alexis a bit, and shift his head over to Zane, telling her to go ahead.

Alexis quietly: " ... Are you planning to hurt anyone?"

Zane: " Parton?"

Alexis a bit louder: " *looks away and rubs arm* Are you going to hurt anyone?"

Malachi: " Alexis wants to know if you're going to hurt anyone."

Zane: " Unless they tried to attack or kill me first, no."

Malachi: " See?"

Alexis looked away, Zane didn't blame her.

Zane: " I don't blame you for being afraid of me. I hate myself for what I've done after seeing who I really was. I know I can't change the past or forget what happened, but maybe we can start over and forgive each other."

Alexis looked away for a moment. Before she or anyone could say anything else, Alina and Lilith called Zane out.

Lilith/Alina: " Zuzu!!"

Zane looked away for a moment and turn pink a bit. Malachi and even Alexis chuckled a bit as Zane tried to cover his face. The two came over to him with big smiles.

Lilith: " Zuzu, Zuzu! Look what we found."

Lilith held her hands out, covering whatever clutch in her hands, Zane slowly put his hand down, he didn't know what she was giving him and shivered a bit when he felt something slimy on his hand. He looked down and there, sitting in his hand was a large toad.

Alina: " We found him near the tree! Isn't he cool? He's probably the biggest froggy we found."

Zane: " ... Thanks.. I guess, but I think your buddy here want to go back."

Zane put the toad down and rubbed his hand on his shirt to get the slim off it. Alina grabbed the toad before it hopped away.

Alina: " Okay, but we're going to show him to mommy before we let him go. Malaci, you think she'll like him like Zuzu does?"

Malachi: " ... Uhh, sure?"

The two giggled before running off to find Aphmau, Alexis looked over at Zane, she smiled a bit seeing how sweet Zane was towards Lilith and Alina. He noticed her looking at him and smiled a bit as well, it was a bit hard to tell with his mask, but Alexis could see it in his eye a bit. As Alexis and Malachi left, Malachi looked over at his friend with a smile.

Malachi: " See? I told you he wasn't the same man in the past."

Alexis: " Yeah. I guess he... Is someone we can trust."

While Alexis and Malachi were talking to Zane, Dante watch from afar. He glared at them, upset seeing that Alexis was starting to trust him a little bit like everyone else.