A Broken Man

Chapter 46: Laurance's Return

Somewhere near a path to a formal nearby village, a rip opened, similar to the one that Dante went through when he followed Beckham. A hooded figure stepped out, they looked around before closing the rip. They rubbed their side, it seemed to be a bit injured, but that wasn't the point, they had some kind a mission. When they realized where they were, the hooded person looked over the direction to Phoenix Drop and made their way there. Back at Phoenix Drop, most of the kids were chasing each other around, Zane rest under a tree and watch over them. But he felt shivers ran down his neck, he looked up and scan the area a bit. Alina was sitting next to him and noticed him acting a bit alert.

Alina: " What's wrong, Zuzu?"

Zane: "... I don't know. I'll be right back, say here."

Zane got up and looked round for a moment, something wasn't right, it feels like something was here, watching them. Zane looked around and hovered his hand over a dagger on his waist, ready to attack anything that jumps out. After looking around a bit, Zane went back to the spot he was before, but someone was actually there, and started following him. When Zane got back to the entrance of the village and heading back to the tree he rested before, Rollo, Lello, Lilith and Alina looked up, they saw something sneak up on Zane and started to run towards him.

Rollo: " ZANE!! Look Out!!"

Zane looked up and without looking, he whipped around and kicked whoever was behind him, knocking them to the ground. It was the hooded person, they rubbed their face a bit as Zane looked over at the kids.

Zane: " Go get Garroth or Aphmau."

They all nodded and quickly ran out of the area as Zane dealt with the hooded person. The hooded person quickly jumped up and tried to attack Zane again, but Zane dodged the attack. He knocked the weapon out of the hooded person's hand and tried to knock him down again, but this time, the hooded person grabbed Zane's arm and flipped him over when they fell to the ground. The two tumbled around and tried to strangle each other before breaking out of the other's grip by either punching, kicking, even biting each other a bit. The hooded person grabbed their weaponed again, Zane pulled out his dagger, blocking the larger dagger when the hooded person tried to attack. They were able to pin Zane down for a while, but before they coud do anything, Aphmau, Garroth and Katelyn showed up.

Aphmau: " HEY!!"

The hooded person looked shocked to see the three, they quickly got off of Zane, backed up a bit and dropped their dagger. Zane got up as Garroth came over to help him up.

Garroth: " You alright?"

Zane nodded, Katelyn and Aphmau stood in front of the brothers, Aphmau held her sword tightly and Katelyn had her gloves on, ready to attack if the hooded person tried to attack again. It was a bit hard to hear the hooded person because they had a scarf around their neck, but they knew it was a man.

The hooded Man: " W-wait."

Katelyn, Aphmau and Garroth recognized the voice, but they shook their heads and kept their weapons up.

Aphmau: " Who are you and what do you want?!"

The hooded man held his hands up, showing there wasn't any other weapons in his hands. He then slowly reaches up to took down his hood and scarf, showing his face to the others, causing their jaws to drop and put down or drop their weapons. It was Laurance, a friend and formal guard of Aphmau.

Aphmau: " L-Laurance?"

Laurance: "... Hey guys, it's been a while."

After the tension faithed a bit, Aphmau, Garroth, Katelyn and Zane went back to the village with Laurance, everyone seemed to be a bit surprised seeing Laurance again. He went missing after the explosion 3 years ago, and here he is. They went over to Aphmau's old house to catch up with each other. Zane and Laurance didn't take their eyes off each other, ready to attack the other if they tried anything, Garroth left to get Emilia shortly after the others sat down in Aphmau's house. They all sat in silence for a good while, till Aphmau took a deep breath and spoke.