“Dan ~ I’m sorry Bro. I won’t ditch you ever again… Probably.” Carl said with tears of joy in his eyes as he hugged Daniel. The battle was finally over, the combined forces of the children, molrrets, and prisoners had taken out every single undead in the room. There might be some more undead, trapped in the caved-in corridors, but those were none of their concerns. Just in case, they moved some of the still burning undead to the entrance of each corridor, making a makeshift barrier of flame. They were already starting the evacuation process, most of them already escaped to the sewer or climbed back up to the tunnel system. All that left was a few people, waiting for Regulus to return.

  “Should we just wait for them outside? I’m worried about the smoke.” Kisara suggested to John. The smoke from the burning bodies started to fill the room and became more dangerous by the second. “You can go first Kisara… I’ll wait here. Regulus should be done soon.” John rejected Kisara’s suggestion, he looked unconcerned by the smoke.

  Kisara was not sure whether she should leave or not. There were still some people left in the room. Mostly some of the kids who were in leadership positions, Tera who was talking with some of the prisoners, and some other kids who were in the process of getting out.

  “Should we get some people and follow Regulus?” She wanted to expedite the process, leaving this undead filled dungeon as soon as possible. John just looked at her blankly, “Up to you.” John’s attitude annoyed Kisara a bit. So she decided to just go ahead and follow Regulus. She called some girls to gather around her, readying themselves to go inside the corridor.

  But there was no need for them to go inside, Grigori came out of the corridor, crying. Behind him, Eda, her face and hair disheveled, one could easily mistook her as an undead. Seeing them, Kisara dreaded what happened to the six kids, and she got her answer as soon as she saw Regulus. He was carrying the upper body of Azali — Kisara knew, all six of them were dead. They were too late in saving them.

  “Regulus… are you… feeling alright?” Kisara cursed herself for asking such question. There was no way Regulus was alright. Azali was special to him, she could tell that much just by seeing how they interacted with each other. Regulus’ face was blank, “... I… I don’t know Kisara.”

  Kisara did not know how to respond to that. “Regulus… are the other bodies still inside?” so Paulie took over the conversation. Regulus just nodded weakly. Paulie ordered Kisara’s girls to go and grab the rest of the bodies. That was all he could do, just like Kisara, he had no words that he could say to soothe Regulus’ loss.

  “So Regulus, what will you do now?” John remarked callously, surprising everyone in the room — his tone lit Uri’s anger. “I’m the cause for all of this. I’m the one who killed Azali. What will you do now, Regulus?” John said, taunting Regulus.

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  The taunt worked for Uri. He pulled out his axe, ready to strike John. But before he could, Grigori spoke up, “What do you mean by that John?” he was no longer crying, murderous intent, aimed at John, replaced his tears.

  “Exactly what I mean. I sold out Regulus. And this is the result.”

  Grigori and Uri charged at John, weapons in hands. They were about to kill John, before D’aka got to him first. D’aka punched John from the side, knocking him to the ground. He mounted him and pounded at John, “WHY JOHN? WHY?” John did not answer, he stared at D’aka with empty eyes.

  D’aka became more enraged, he tightened his fist and was about to pound John even more, “I would keep my words, John.” Regulus answered John’s question as he gently put Azali on the ground. “You might be responsible for all of this… but that did not change the fact you’re still one of us… I will not do anything to you.”

  “... heh… HAHAHAHAHAH” John laughed at Regulus’ answer. D’aka became confused, angrier at John’s laugh. He swung his fist at John, but John struck first. He palm-striked D’aka’s jaw, unmounting him from John. Uri, Grigori, and even Kisara were shocked by John’s sudden action. They were about to charge at him, but were stopped when they saw John already standing over D’aka — his pistol drawn at him. “Don’t move. This is loaded.”

  “John… don’t be rash.” Paulie tried to calm the tense situation. Even Regulus was now in leaping posture, ready to jump at John and grabbed his pistol. But he was unsure if he could do it before John fired. “John… Why?” Kisara asked. Not understanding why John would do any of this. Why John betrayed Regulus.

  “Why?... D’aka… Kisara… You two are good people. You should know why.” John said, he then looked at Paulie. “Would you look at that. Judging by your face, you could tell why Paulie. You’re always quite observant.”

  The rest of the children looked at Paulie. John was speaking in riddles, and Paulie the only one who truly understood John’s motivation. “John… They were our enemies. You shouldn’t let them bother you.”

  John smiled at Paulie. “Yeah… They’re our enemies. They wronged us. It’s not wrong for us to get back at them. They're scum, thugs, gangster..." silence dawned on the room, his smile gone. "But they're still people...humans...just like us... I tried not to care. I did, Paulie. Trust me I did… But it was... hard...harder than I thought... I can't do it...I just... can't...” John's hands trembling. His conscience eating him alive.

  “Mark my words. One day, all of you will regret ever following Regulus.” John announced to the kids who were still left in the room: Paulie, D’aka, Uri, Kisara, Cooper, Tera, Eda, Grigori, and Regulus.

  John turned to face Uri, “Sorry Uri. I’m going to break my promise.” He said apologetically before he aimed his pistol at his own temple. D’aka tried to stand and Regulus leapt. But they could not beat a bullet at point-blank range.

  BANG

  Brain splattered — John’s. The bullet pierced his right temple and came out of the left. His body dropped to the ground before Regulus could reach him…

  … John was dead.

  ********

  Grigori did not understand. He did not understand what happened. John mentioned he betrayed Regulus… and now he was laying on the ground motionless. Killed by his own hand.

  He did not get it. Wasn’t John responsible for all of this? So why did he kill himself?... Because he felt responsible?

  The rest of the kids looked at John's body, shocked, dumbfounded. Grigori’s heart was in turmoil; various, dirty emotions were mixing together, making it beat uncomfortably fast. John's last words kept repeating in his head. There was something about it that resonated with him… but he could not explain it.

  “What the hell just happened?” Grigori muttered, breaking the silence that filled the room.