A Learning Curve - Etrian Odyssey 4 - Boyxboy

Chapter 22

AN: Thanks so much Ame_Tasogare for commenting on the previous chapter!

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Chapter 22:

That heavy murkiness of unconsciousness...never got any easier. Roxbury should know. The jumbling of thoughts, the sensation that your brain was literally throbbing in your skull, the heaviness of limbs; it was a truly horrible feeling.

With a low groan slipping past his lips, Roxbury forced his eyes to open. His vision was blurry, everything out of alignment. But he could make out a ceiling and he knew that he was inside somewhere. Somewhere warm and comfortable.

The Researchers' Clinic.

He was home.

"Roxbury?"

Rolling his head to the side, Roxbury could make out the form of a certain purple-haired dancer. Despite the blurriness of his vision, he could see that Mahalah was pale with worry, dark rings of exhaustion under his eyes.

"Mahalah?" he questioned.

Mahalah immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're all right," he murmured as he reached out to run his fingers through Roxbury's hair, seeming comforting the both of them. "When you returned to us, I thought...Your lips were as pale as snow."

"I'm sorry for worrying you," Roxbury immediately replied with a slightly croaky voice. "...Again."

"This had better be the last time," Mahalah said to him, his tone both joking yet serious.

"I'll try," Roxbury returned before frowning softly. "What happened?"

Slowly, Mahalah began to explain to him what had occurred. About Kirjonen's poisoning, about Ciaran being stranded in an airship crash in the Windy Plains, about Falkner's near kidnapping, about how the guild was forced to part in four different groups, all with an important agenda of their own.

Roxbury listened closely, absolutely dumbfounded by it all. So much had happened and...he wasn't there, wasn't around to offer his guild guidance and support like he should have.

But...that was the point of his kidnapping, wasn't it? The Empire had hoped that without him, the leader, the Phaedron Guild would crumble from the lack of guidance and direction. They wanted them to flounder from the uncertainty of chaos and become enraged by his kidnapping.

His guild, however, was stronger than that.

How foolish of the Empire to think that they would be so easily defeated.

Mahalah then went on to explain how Zesiro and the other seeming antagonists were in fact working for another elder, and elderly woman known as Elder Gratiana. A woman that Baldur called Grammy. She had been forced to hide away, stay silent in the background while trying desperately to stop the resurrection of the Titan.

For some reason, hearing that Zesiro was actually part of a shadow Empire hoping to protect Prince Baldur and prevent the Titan's release made Roxbury feel relieved.

And then, Mahalah went on to tell him how the Empire had wanted Baldur to...die. How they spent ten years training him to become the ultimate sacrifice to the Titan, all without his knowledge. All while training Neolani to take his place.

That...that made Roxbury angry. Such callousness was truly sicking. He was glad that Baldur was under the care of the Phaedron Guild now. No one was going to use him again. Ever.

"Ah, it's good to know," Roxbury said as he sent Mahalah a smile. "That my guild can function without me."

Mahalah gave him a tight-lipped smile in return. "...It wasn't easy," he admitted.