Gate Guardian - Tale of the Blazing Heart

Phase 28: A Promise

Phase 28: A Promise

[Black Cross Haven – Myrrh City]

[4:02 PM]

Upon hearing that terrible news about the Quarterhelm Legion, I decided to get a crutch and sneaked into Zion's room in the infirmary this afternoon. The brown-haired pervert is there, sitting on her bed, and staring at the framed group picture in his wooden table.

"Zion..."

He looked at me and smiled for a millisecond, and faded. He then continued staring at the pictures.

"It's been days since you almost died."

"Y-Yeah, Erylle said that I had a 2-day coma."

"..." He just bowed silently.

My eyes widened in shock when I noticed a chubby-faced macho man with a shaggy hair on the picture. He was the one protected me when I'm trying to revive other fallen Guardians. I immediately pointed the face of that man, who was sitting beside him.

"W-Who was that?"

Zion started to have his tears flowing from his eyes. I patted Zion on his shoulders, trying to let him gain some good vibes from me...I wish.

"His name is Ranley Marquez." Zion's tone became more shaking and he tried to conceal his cry. "I call him Ran. I and Ran had...It was something you see once in a lifetime... He's my best buddy. Ran was one of those guys you can make out with...He is a gay man, b-but he's proud of it. We all accepted his sexuality in the Legion. He's happy with us, and we're happy with him..."

Then everything became strange when Zion started to cry and smile.

"He would actually touch my butt a lot... and it would tickle...in the nicest way...And it will not be awkward the day after..."

Enough with the gay jokes. He just wanted to lighten the atmosphere a bit. Ranley will never like someone crying on his grave, he said. I can't even imagine Zion talking nonsense while imitating a third rate soap opera character.

He continued telling stories about his whole Legion the whole afternoon-long. After three hours of listening to him, his emotions became a lot brighter. He can now make perverted jokes when I left him on his room.

But seriously, I do feel sorry. I'm even scared. Scared that we might face the Cursed Guardians again.

<>

Nighttime came. It was after supper when I decided to go to the rooftops. I'm searching for Erylle, honestly. She's the one who watched me while I'm out in two days. I should thank her.

As I thought, she's fond of watching the stars. She's sitting there, watching the stars twinkle. There's no moon right now. I quite miss the moon on Transfield.

I slowly went beside her and sat, looking at the same skies. Then I formulated the perfect words to say thank you.

"U-Um...Thanks for watching m-me for two days..."

She stared at me in the eyes, with signs of doubt on her face. Then she opened her lips, and nervously spoke.

"I-I'm the one who must say thank you... If it wasn't for you, I would be dead by now...I'm the one who swore to protect you, but you ended up risking your life for me...Geez"

Then her face became tomato red again. I don't know what to reply, so it turned to be an awkward dead air. But then I remembered something that I wanted to say to her for a long time.

"Ummm...Erylle...I'm-" , "Ummm...I have somethi-..."

Then it was a dead air again. I never thought we would like to say something at the same time! We turned out to be blushing at each other, so we both glanced away and gazed at the night sky.

"You first."

"No, ladies first."

"Geez...Okay...I-I know that you are working h-hard about the Light Charge ability because of a prize...S-So I'll give it to you in Sunday, even though you haven't mastered it yet..." She mumbled. Then she switched moods. "What are you going to tell me again?~"

"I-I..." I made a deep breath. "I...I want to talk to you about something, once the battle is over..."

Then she scratched her cheeks gently with her finger and forced a laugh.

"Can't you talk about it now?...Because we're always in battle...hehehe..."

Right...Eidolons never run out of number.

"I-I mean when the Aeternos and the Dark Legion is destroyed..."

"...Sure~"

She made a delicate smile that lasted in my head for the whole evening. That's it. I'll tell her everything once this is all over. I'll tell her that I love her. It will be okay for me if she rejected me, but I really hope that she will feel the same way for me too.

If we can stay alive, that is.