Chapter 125 - More Interludes : Part 3

A red hair girl with a plaster on the right part of her forehead walked down the hospital's hallway in silence. Her ponytail fell from her shoulder and rebounded back a little.

She had no significant scars or wounds whatsoever. She was being examined and treated like porcelain because she was the president's daughter.

Rune hated that. There were more people that needed help than her. But in this corrupted city and country, it was all pointless.

Besides, she did not get hurt in any way because Axel-

The girl stopped suddenly in the middle of the hallway. Her hands began to tremble as she felt the walls were closing in. Her eyes widened in terror when she started to feel something climbing up her throat.

Then she clenched her fists in a hollow rage. The young girl closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and threw any thoughts away that related to Axel.

The girl opened her eyes and returned to the same confidence glinting within her gaze. Then Rune began to walk again, avoiding the guilt, regret, and grief that kept screaming in the back of her mind.

She made her way to a room with two bodyguards guarding the door. They stepped aside a little, letting the girl open the door carefully.

Rune closed the door behind her as she let herself in. A man was lying on the bed with an IV in his hand. The red-haired man opened his eyes and weakly gave a smile to his arriving daughter.

"Father." Rune greeted and sat on the chair near his bed with an unwavering small smile.

"Hello, my daughter." Alfred's hazel eyes wrinkled as he stared at his only child.

"I got stabbed by a certain scientist, you see." He tried to lighten up the situation and laughed. "I look like a mess, aren't I?"

Rune chuckled and held her father's hand gently. "You're still the best president and father I've ever known."

They fell into a comfortable silence for a while. The sound of a beeping monitor and their breaths filled the room.

"I heard the news about your friend. Are you alright?" Alfred began, scanning his daughter's gorgeous face.

"I'm fine." Rune smiled and gripped her father's hand even tighter. "Really."

"He's not my friend anymore, and he's a criminal, so it's alright." She continued, flashing her teeth to form a wider smile. "I'm okay, so you don't have to ask."

Rune tried to count the breath that she exhaled, calming herself down in front of her father. She hardened the grip and smiled through her wavering gritted teeth, "I'm really really okay so.."

"So.."

"You don't have to make that face to me." Rune looked up at her father's pitying face as if he knew. As if he understood.

"I'm okay," Rune repeated her statement as she tried to stop her trembling hand.

Alfred returned the grip and brought his other hand to his daughter's cheek. He caressed her skin softly, wiping the one tear that had fallen down from her hazel eye.

"But your face is saying the otherwise." He smiled reassuringly for his daughter. "It's okay to cry too, you know?"

And then she wailed.

She let out a train of hiccups, ignoring how her grieving cry adorned the room. Her shoulders shook as she fell into her father's chest, wetting the hospital clothes Alfred was wearing.

Her nose started to run, and she could slowly feel the headache in her head. But yet, she still cried anyway.

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"I hate criminals. I wish they would just vanish." The words that Rune had uttered one day to Axel repeated in her mind. She did know it then. Yet she wondered how Axel silently kept up with her.

Maybe he did not want to tell her because he knew she'd hate him. Maybe if she had been trying to understand him more then-

Then what?

Rune gripped the paper bag in her hand and walked under the half-hidden sun. She kept walking, with her mind going elsewhere. She could not stop these voices that tried to haunt her down—the voices of her guilt.

Her other hand gripped the necklace that she gave to Axel. She had found this right after he-

Rune choked and almost dropped the paper bag in her hand. Everyone that passed by stared at her with a frown. Some that were kind enough shot her a concerned look.

Count the breath. Inhaled. Exhaled. Everything would be okay.

"I can explain, please-" Axel had tried to explain that time. The desperation that he felt ricocheted onto her eyes.

Rune slapped the hand and jerked away from him. The loud slap rang in the air, so loud and clear. "Get your filthy hand away from me, you monster!"

Rune bit her lip hard. The voices of her guilt just would not stop. She did not want to hear it anymore. So just stop.

"I am your best friend. I've always been. So please-" Axel begged, pleaded. He begged as if he would die. He begged like he was asking someone to spare his life.

The voices kept mocking her by playing Axel's words like a broken record. She did not want to remember what happened after. She was wrong, so please-

"Then I wish you were never my best friend."

"No!" Rune yelled suddenly, causing weird stares given from the people. She wept pitifully on the side of the road. The paper bag had turned crumpled from how hard she was gripping it.

"I don't- I don't want to kill anymore." Axel had truthfully confessed to her that day, and yet-

"Then maybe you should consider killing yourself, murderer."

Rune's knees had given up, and she let herself fall onto the ground, crying under the sun that did not even try to accompany the wailing girl.

The paper bag dropped down and spilt the cupcakes inside.

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Rune had bought another bag of cupcakes and tried to reach the grave again. She had stopped so many times in the middle, seeming to can't bring her feet down the road to meet her best friend.

This time, before the sun completely disappeared from the world, letting the moon take over, she finally arrived in front of the source of her regrets and guilt.

She walked down silently as the guards let her in. She noticed a certain dirty blond hair boy standing in front of the grave, standing in silence with a pair of expensive shoes that did not match with his worn-out clothes.

It seemed like the boy hadn't taken care of himself that much, considering how pitiful he looked right now. It was funny how Rune matched with him so much right now.

Though, no one let out a single laugh of irony, only a haunting silence that morphed with guilt and regret.

She did not say anything to Aster as she brought out the cupcake and put it in front of his grave. She also put down a white rose beside the cupcake then stood beside the blond.

None of them talked. No one greeted each other nor tried to acknowledge the other presence. They just stood there, drowning in their own grievances.

They only stared at their dead friend's grave with matching hollow eyes. For the first time, they did not try to bicker with one another like they usually did.

After felt like ages, Aster finally turned around silently and walked a couple of steps from Rune. "I'm leaving." He said, breaking the silence.

"You're going home?" Rune asked without looking away from Axel's grave.

"No. I'm going to therapy." The blond answered, considering if he should continue to talk or not for a moment.

Aster sighed and looked back at the girl. "You should too."

The blond walked back slowly toward her and grabbed her shoulders to face his face. The green eyes met with the teary hazel eyes that had been pouring tears for too long.

"You're clearly not okay," Aster stated, staring right into her soul with his tired, understanding eyes.

Rune did not realize that tears had fallen down from her eyes, unstopping. She did not know that she had been grieving. Had she been crying all these times?

Yeah, maybe she should go to therapy. Maybe she really should.

Then suddenly, someone wrapped his arms around her. And so, Rune cried in someone's hold once again. Aster held the back of her head softly, gazing down at the pitiful red hair with two dull eyes.

Had Axel got enough hugs? Had he got enough love like her?

She was selfish. Aster was selfish. They both were selfish.

And Rune had the audacity to stay selfish by denying. She thought she was a good friend. She had never been. She never was.

The two stayed like that for a moment in front of their dead friend's grave. A cupcake was sitting right in front of the grave, knowing that no one would eat it anymore.

Little did they know, right after they left that afternoon, their friend would be stolen by a certain demon.