by Max Jager
But what sickened him even more than the rotting bodies before him was something on the ground. There were two words written in blood only inches away from the couple, and these two words made Bandit so incomprehensibly disgusted that he wondered if he had ever been so sickened in his entire life.
The two words were 'TAX EVADERS'.
Angered beyond belief, Bandit closed his eyes as he gritted his teeth and balled up his fists until his knuckles turned white. After several seconds, he slowly opened his eyes, hoping that his anxiety, disgust, and blood pressure would go down after allowing himself to breathe for a moment.
Unfortunately, opening his eyes only elevated all three of those things.
For when he opened his eyes, he saw his brother standing several yards away from him.
Before he had the chance to think of something to say to his brother, however, his brother quickly blurred into the building adjacent to him.
You bastard! thought Bandit as he ran into the building after him, You killed them because of…tax evasion!
Bandit ran into the room Red disappeared into ready to fight him with everything he had, but to his surprise, Red was not there.
In fact, what he stumbled upon was an altogether completely different disturbance.
For on the floor of the room he was now in, a red-haired woman lied dead with a large spear stuck through her chest.
Bandit gasped in shock and awe as he stared at the image before him, and as he did so, his heart practically exploded out of his chest.
Unlike the couple he had seen outside, there were no words written anywhere near the deceased.
The woman had not been killed because she had committed a crime. Bandit knew why she had been killed, or rather, why she had been set up in such a way, and he panted in fear as a wave of guilt suddenly came over him.
Red had wanted him to see her like that because he himself had killed someone Red loved the very same way long ago, and Red wanted the guilt of what he had done to eat away at him.
Lucky for him, his plan worked like a charm, for Bandit was so scared, he could not even think.
In the mercenary guild, Rachel quietly sat in her room and closed her eyes as she thought about how distraught Bandit had been during their lunch earlier that day.
Suddenly, she heard a knock on her window, and looked up to see Bandit sitting on the windowsill outside of her window.
She was shocked to see him there, but she nevertheless stood up and looked at him with concern as she opened the window.
"I don't know what to do…" he began as he climbed into the room without looking her in the eye, "Things have…spiraled out of control at this point… He's hell-bent on making sure every person he thinks is a criminal pay…and even though I haven't gotten in his way for all this time…he won't stop hurting others in order to make me suffer… I can't… I… I can't go on like this…"
Tears filled Rachel's eyes as she looked at Bandit. He was so incredibly morose that he could not even look her in the eye.
Her, of all people.
Heartbroken by her best friend's look of complete and utter despair, Rachel slowly walked towards him as she spoke.
"Then don't…" she said, "At least…not alone…"
"He has to be stopped…" continued Bandit with a broken tone of voice, "…but…I feel like I have no right to be the one to stop him… The only reason this is all happening…is because of a choice that…I made… I turned him into this monster…"
"No," asserted Rachel as she placed her hands on his face, "You didn't… There is a person to blame in all of this…but it's not you, Bandit… Look at me, Bandit…"
Tears welled up in Bandit's eyes as he continued to look down at the floor.
Rachel lifted his head with her hands, and watched as a tear rolled down Bandit's cheek.
"I know you're scared…but you have to remember something… You are not alone… I'm here…Mary's here… We're all here to help you… You don't have to deal with Red on your own… If he wants to mess with you…then we'll mess with him…"
Bandit sniffled before he spoke.
"But what if he goes after you guys…? If anything happened to you guys because of him…I don't know what I'd…"
Rachel wrapped him in her embrace, and Bandit sighed as he allowed her to do so.
"You know how we are..." she began, "…We aren't that easy to take down… We're going to take care of Red…and save this land…as a team… We're here for you… Okay?"
Bandit wrapped his arms around his best friend as he nodded his head.
"Okay."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Ice Lands, Red sat atop a building and looked up at the starry sky, when he heard the roof access door behind him open. He looked in that direction from the corner of his eye, and watched as Wake Noran simply stood there and looked at him with his hands in his pockets.
Realizing that Wake was not going to do anything but stare at him, Red scoffed before he spoke.
"What is it?" he asked irritably, "What do you want?"
Wake looked down at the roof and took a deep breath before he spoke.
"You've been training pretty hard for the past several weeks," he said without looking at Red, "…I assume you're doing so because of…how your fight with…Bandit went several weeks ago…"
Red scoffed as he clenched his fists, and Wake looked at his back sullenly as he began to say things he never thought he would say to anyone.
"Don't do this…" he said, "…Don't act like this towards your brother…"
"Excuse me?" asked Red angrily as he turned to look at Wake irritably.
"I've seen plenty of people in my life deal with familial issues… It's never easy to deal with them…but…believe me…you have to deal with yours. If you don't…I promise…you'll regret your actions for the rest of your life."
Red gritted his teeth in anger as Wake continued.
"You told me you didn't come here to seek vengeance on your brother… That was a lie. You can't do this to him, Red… You can't treat him like he's your mortal enemy… I can…but you can't…and shouldn't. He's hurting just as much as you are… You have to stop hurting him the way you have been. He's your family."
"Fuck you!" yelled Red furiously, "What the hell do you know? What gives you the right to speak like that to me? You… An idiot like you can just shut the fuck up!"
Wake put his hands up as he spoke.
"Take it easy, Red…"
Red glared at him as he stood up and got in his face.
"You have raped countless women in this land! You have done your fair share of hurting others, so don't stand there and lecture me on who I should or shouldn't hurt! What the hell do you know about dealing with family, anyway? You don't even have one!"
Wake looked at Red in shock, but after several seconds, he closed his eyes as he nodded his head.
"You're right," he said, "I don't have one… I don't have one because when my wife died, I pushed my only other family member so far away, she decided she didn't want to have anything to do with me because of the emotional pain I shamelessly brought upon her."
Red gasped in surprise, for he had never known that his associate had once had a family, and his jaw dropped just a bit when he saw genuine hurt and sadness in Noran's eyes, something he had never seen before.
"I have done my fair share of hurting others, kid…and like you…I hurt someone who once loved and cared for me…because I couldn't move on from the death of someone else I loved… Despite whatever it is you believe, Red…you aren't the only person who has ever lost someone… We all have our traumas…but even I have to admit… Those traumas aren't to be used as an excuse to hurt other people…"
For the first time in a long time, Red was actually a little ashamed of himself, and he lowered his head as Noran continued.
"So it turns out…you and I are more alike than we thought… We've both hurt people who we were once close to… The thing is, Red…I don't think I'll ever get my daughter to forg
ive me…but it's not too late for you…"
Red closed his eyes as he remembered the bright way Bandit smiled when they were kids.
"I know I'm not in any sort of position to tell you what to do or how to feel…" continued Wake, "If you want to continue ruling over the Ice Lands, I won't stop you… I know you have good intentions for this land… Just…think on what I've told you… You may have lost someone long ago…but both your sister and your brother are still here to fill the void."
He sighed before he said the last words he intended to say to Red.
"You are one of the most powerful and menacing people I've ever met…" he began as Red sat down and looked down at his feet, "but you shouldn't use such power on your own flesh and blood. I believe, despite your stubborn personality, you know how it should be used."
With that, Wake disappeared through the roof access door, leaving the emotionally damaged Red Blood to think on his words.
Unthinkable
November 14, 1854
In the middle of one of the Ice Lands' four snowy forests, Bandit Lane was in the middle of performing a number of strength exercises, including push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lifts, and abdominal crunches. His loss a couple of months ago had broken his body, and had caused him to lose his confidence, so now he was doing his best to build both of those things back up to fighting weight.
After having spent the past four hours on physical training, he decided to train a bit with his ice abilities. He created a spear of ice and gripped it in his hand as he looked around for something he could practice his aim on. To his dismay, however, there was nothing around him that presented him with much of a challenge.
"Aw, man…" he said as he looked around, "There's nothing good around…"
His eyes suddenly widened when he sensed movement in the area. Thinking it was an animal of some sort, he quickly spun around and took aim at the object of his senses, only to discover that it was only Brayne, Rachel, and Mary, all three of whom gasped in fear when it looked like Bandit was about to throw his spear at them.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Brayne with widened eyes, "It's just us!"
Bandit lowered his spear and rubbed the back of his head as he closed his eyes and grinned.
"Whoops," he said innocently, "Sorry, guys."
"I see your rehab is going well," said Rachel with a smile.
Since he always trained alone, he did not realize just how much of his old fighting self he had gained back, so after hearing Rachel's compliment, he chuckled with pride.
"You think so?" he asked with a slight smile, "Thanks. So…what are you guys doing here?"
His eyes widened in slight fear when Rachel raised one of her eyebrows and gave him a look that told him he should have told them where he was and how long he had planned on being in the forest.
"Bandit…" she said with slight irritation.
He put his hands up defensively as he nervously spoke, for he had actually known better than to disappear for a few weeks without telling her, especially since he had already done something like that after the invasion of Lax.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly and guiltily, "I…probably should have told you where I was…"
So far, his words had done nothing to calm her down. In fact, they may have gotten her even more irritated than before.
"I-I-It's not that I'm not happy to see you…" he quickly said, "but…"
"But what?" she asked as she walked closer to him, "Go ahead, Bandit. I want to hear how you justify this disappearing act."
Bandit gulped nervously as she took a deep breath and continued.
"We were worried sick," she said with her calmest voice,"You went away again without telling anyone…not even me."
Bandit averted his eyes from her as he spoke.
"I-I'm sorry, Rachel, I wasn't thinking about that this time around…"
"This time around?" she asked, "What does that mean? The last time you left, you didn't tell anyone, so tell me, what do you mean by 'this time around'?"
"O-Okay, fine," he submitted, "I'm sorry. I'm wrong, you're right,but you knew I would come ba-."
"Oh, come on, Bandit," she asserted, "You know better than that. You should have told me you'd leave to go train. Do you not realize what was going through our minds when you were gone?"
Bandit looked at her from the corner of his eye as she spoke.
"The first few days, we figured you had just gone away to train. After a week, we thought you'd be on your way back from wherever you were. After two weeks, I feared that Wake or Red or someone had captured you again, but you were here, yet…"
Rachel gulped as she looked into Bandit's deep, apologetic eyes.
"I didn't mean to make you guys worry," he said with furrowed eyebrows.
"Well you did…" she quickly confirmed.
"…and I'm sorry," he said immediately after she spoke.
This time, Rachel averted her eyes as she spoke.
"Alright," she sighed, exasperated.
Bandit walked over to her as he spoke.
"I… I'm… I'm going through a lot…" he explained, "I… I have…many things on my mind, Rachel…and the only way I know how to deal with such stress is to…be alone…"
He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she sighed as she looked him in the eyes.
"I know…" she said, "but…please… The next time you decide to leave like that, just…tell us… Even if you don't want to tell anyone else, at least tell…me…"
"Okay…" said Bandit as he nodded his head.
There was an awkward pause, and after a few seconds of silence, Brayne cleared his throat to indicate that he was about to speak.
"Right…" he said in an attempt to move on from the conversation that had just occurred, "Well…we came here because we have some things to discuss with you. Us mercenaries have performed extensive research, and have finally discovered a number of details we did not know before, details that might interest you."
"Okay," said Bandit as he looked at Brayne, "Go ahea-."
His eyes suddenly widened when he sensed a malevolent force. He quickly raised his spear into the air, took aim in the northwest direction, and threw his spear with as much force as possible, sending it flying miles into the air.
Afterwards, he crossed his arms and looked at his friends as though what he had done made sense to them and was a completely irrelevant issue.
Brayne, Mary, and Rachel looked at him in complete shock, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Are you guys okay?" he asked, genuinely confused as to why they were looking at him like that.
"What the-?" began Mary, "You just… You just threw that spear into the air like some kind of crazy person!"
"Oh, that?" he asked as though his actions were no big deal, "Don't worry about that. So…"
He directed his attention to Brayne, whose mouth was still agape.
"What did you find out?"
Brayne continued to look at him in shock for a few more seconds before he shook his head and tried to regain his composure.
"Uh… Um… Right, well… First, we discovered some of the names of Red's primary associates."
"Plural?" asked Bandit, surprised, "You mean there's more than just that other guy I fought?"
"I'm afraid so," said Rachel, "We don't all of their names, but we do know some of them. Philemon, Noran, Sar Nasu, Sean, and…"
Rachel paused, and took a deep breath before she said the last name they knew of.
"…Scarlet…"
Bandit's eyes widened in surprise at the mention of his sister. He was about to ask if they had any more information on her, no matter how seemingly small or irrelevant, when he realized that Rachel was the only one of them who knew that Scarlet was his sister, and that if he told the others who she was, he could end up having to tell them that Red, the primary antagonist of the Ice Lands' recent history, was his brother.
The thing was, he did not want anyone to know that Red was his brother, for that would lead them
to question why his own brother is the way he is, which would force him to reveal what he thought to be an unforgivable act that played a part in Red's descent into the depths of darkness.
Rachel looked at Bandit sympathetically as Bandit closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Bandit…
"Unfortunately," began Mary, "we can't connect these names with faces. We've only heard them. Besides Red, we couldn't identify them even if we tried."