The silhouettes of two people were visible through the large picture window of Kriheira's official residence. Inside, the spacious office welcomed a new guest who was about to become Kriheira's new Mayor.
"No, Ms. Clementine. I still believe that addressing the dam is our top priority right now. Some council members are really eager to make it a focus, especially since we haven't received any updates from the old faculty for over a month. "
"Of course, of course, I hear you. The dam is important, we will send a group there in the coming days, but making changes in the town as soon as possible is what I'm aiming for."
Alkeid rested his chin on his palm and leaned back on the chair and listening to Clementine's plans for the upcoming few months and even weeks.
"If I can implement this much, soon enough, these people will recognize me as someone better than Harrison. He was nothing but a sitting duck anyway."
Keeping the politeness intact, "I wouldn't say that, Mr. Harrison was a great person, if not a great mayor at the very least."
"Alkeid! You know how much he had done for this town was next to nothing, except for being a "good" representative for the council, and now even that is completely in Madoc's hands!"
The woman emphasized herself by slamming her fist into the palm of her other hand.
"Doesn't matter to me anymore now. I am going to be making changes to this damned town and kick Madoc's ass off that high life he's living."
"Well, I have to do nothing in that regard, but I'll be helping you as much as I can."
Alkeid took out a pile of documents from the satchel that he had laid on the desk.
He noted Clementine's speed reading and occasionally nodding as she scanned through the documents and threw them back to the table.
"The damsite hadn't been giving back signals and NOW the council reacts? Incompetent as always. The second I reach there, I'm going to be replacing all of those aged and ragged harebrains."
"It sounded weird to me, too. But I guess with the constant difficulties in transmission, it would be a normal thing, but no venture to the damsite has been unresponsive for this long."
Rolling her eyes, Clementine got up from her black swivel chair before tapping on the steel call bell on the desk that was smothered with the color of gold. She had been both surprised and disgusted at the lavish conditions of the Mayor's residence.
Just how obsessed with wealth had that jerk been?
Clementine watched as an old man with a thin mustache and a neatly combed sod of white hair entered into the room and with a slight bow, waited for instructions.
She ordered two cups of coffee but was met with immeasurable disappointment when learning that they were out and wouldn't be acquiring it due to export shortages. She dismissed the man and slammed back down on the chair.
Alkeid smiled and pressed a light remark, "The fallout has been tough in more ways than one, huh?"
Clementine asked Alkeid to tell her more about the current circumstances of the town, the constant power outages and increasing crime rates had become banal and along with a disconnection previous mayor for majority of the town's population.
"To top it all off, the fallout has been damaging to the other regions of the country as well but I'm sure they'll sustain themselves, although the same cannot be said for Kriheira specifically especially with the rise in prices that will continue. Mr. Harrison tried to do a lot of good for the town but, he never managed to related and understand the people."
"More like he never tried to. No need to have concerns, I'll do wonders for this town."
Clementine smirked and Alkeid returned a smile. Clementine thanked Alkeid for his cooperation and offered him to turn to her in any time of need.
Setting this aside, Clementine wished to learn more about the interesting events that had been occurring in the country, particularly about the sudden increase in the export from the Heminlay's port and other rumors that had been spreading.
"I believe that it's aid to the Empire, the sudden loss of connection with the other countries has made it quite difficult for it to sustain itself but its managing somehow."
"Pillowens? Giving aid to the Empire? Now this is getting interesting, I wonder how Rohesia will react to that!" Clementine's amused laughter filled the room.
"It is really interesting, though I'm sure she wouldn't be outwardly expressing it, and with the growing distrust of a small group towards Pillowens's council member. I heard that a rally broke out on the street in the capital."
Clementine crossed her legs and triumphantly leaned back on the chair as she was in glamour wondering about how she could overtake Madoc's place once there are actual difficulties that will put him in pressure.
How deep in hell will his competence take him?
She found the situation amusing, and Alkeid, without any shift in expression was still smiling at her.
"Alkeid, I'm going to be making you a mayor once I'm done replacing Madoc."
To her surprise, what should have been a momentous offer was met with a concerned and disappointed look from Alkeid, who refused the offer, saying that he did not desire to be in such a demanding position.
As their meeting came to an end for the day, Alkeid took his leave congratulating Clementine once again for taking office in Kriheira and for her prosperous future and even jokingly warning her to not overwork herself.
With Alkeid gone, a realization that she could have never become mayor if Alkeid had wanted to be one dawned on her.
Her only choice now would be to keep him as an ally at all costs.
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"Ow, Ouch! Can you not- SHIT!" A shrill cry filled the clinic room that was drowned in walls of white.
"Calm down! Stop acting like a child, it's just antiseptic!" scorned Malena.
"Do you- not have any better options?!" Ethan Stuttered as he threw back in pain.
"For goodness sake, stop moving! And no, I will not use anything else, do you have any idea how expensive the other antiseptic are!"
"You used it for her!" Ethan called out to Ellie.
"Gosh Ethan! She's a child!" she chided.
Ethan's only choice was to groan in pain as Malena cleaned the large cut on his left arm followed by dressing it properly.
His shrill whimpers died down as Malena applied some finally bandages,
"Doc, I don't think you're doing a good job with treating your patients nicel-"
Before he could finish his sentence a sudden sharp pain jolted through his arm and Malena pressed on his wound with a uncaring look on her face.
"Mind repeating what you were saying?"
"Dear doctor I sincerely take back my words and I am extremely thankful to you for attending to my wounds I will never make the mistake of speaking ill- AND OH GOD I AM SORRY!"
After putting Ethan back in his place, she sighed and decided to back off. And he thought doctors were supposed to be some of the friendliest people, but the pain lingering in his arm said otherwise.
Even a child wouldn't act in such a way, thought Malena, as she looked at Ellie.
Her worries exacerbated as she saw the girl with her head down sitting quietly near the wall without saying a word.
The sight of the girl had not only been concerning but it made her question again whether Ethan was actually telling the truth or not about him getting involved in a fight.
No, she was sure it wasn't.
Malena reached towards Ellie, her voice low and gentle as she came down to her level and asked her what had happened. She made sure to slowly voice her questions ensuring to not scare her.
She didn't care about what kind of situation Ethan had gotten himself into, but if he had been the reason for the girl's injuries then she would not let him go.
Ellie's eyes watered up as she looked at Malena and stuttered but was able to discard Malena's suspicion of Ethan with her constant replies of "N-No. H-H-He did not do anything!"
This had always been a possibility.
She had found it unusual how Ellie had led her to Ethan and also embraced his leg when she found him.
Whatever it was, it didn't matter right now.
What was necessary was to address the crying girl in front of her.
Malena gently patted Ellie's back and allowed her to rest her head on her shoulder but she wouldn't stop crying.
Calling for her parents, Malena reassured Ellie that they were on their way but it wasn't enough to stop her from bursting into tears.
Stunned and not knowing what to do, she repeatedly patted her on the back and talked to her but all seemed in vain until a loud voice started blurting words in a playful yet sarcastic tone,
"Hey! Did you hear? Ellie's parents told me before when she came here that they had a surprise ready for her! They even invited her friends over! But I didn't get invited! I was so sad to hear that you know!" Ethan would win the Oscar for giving the most pretentious and laughably bad performance, thought Malena.
But it seemed to work as Ellie's eyes lightened up and she laughed alongside Ethan as he tried desperately to keep the act up.
What followed was the undying laughter of the 2 and Malena soon joined afterwards after being unable to hold back.
After settling down from the small misadventures, Malena sat across them on the blue chairs with metallic frames.
She shuffled through a document in her hand, making corrections from time to time until she voiced a concern that Ethan couldn't dismiss.
"Ethan. I finished the reports but I need more information about something."
His smile became hard to sustain as he heard Malena ask about what had happened to Caia,
"A fall wouldn't have caused such injuries and she had screamed so much that her voice was raspy and barely a whisper. Thankfully it didn't damage her vocal cords."
Ethan fiddled with his fingers thinking of an answer, "I'm not sure myself what the hell happened. She helped me and she started..screaming and I don't really know what happened next, she just started running around and threatening us and what not."
"Helped you? What does that mean?".
Ethan hesitated to answer but he decided there was no good in hiding it, if Malena could know what had happened she would help them, but the events that had occurred would have been better off forgotten, and yet, he was unable to stop talking.
Moving the chair closer to Malena as to ensure that Ellie wouldn't have to go through the displeasure of finding out the unfortunate series of events, Ethan continued to speak, pouring out what he knew.
Him running through the town, bashing with Alkeid and Madoc, the venture to the derelict building, him being cornered and Caia deciding to do what was necessary.
But the simple fact was that she had committed murder, just like him.
Both of them had made the conscious decision to do so and he should have kept it a secret and yet, he poured it all out in just one moment.
Shameless. Hypocrite.
He vowed to not tell anyone about the crime that he had committed, then why was he exposing others? Why was he exposing the very person who had saved his life?
Malena's eyes widened in surprise but she was quick to regain her composure and only nodded to Ethan's response after a short delay. What could this mean?
His questions were left unanswered as he heard a voice calling out to Malena and she, instantly upon hearing it, got up from her chair and exited the room, asking them to wait.
There.
A singular moment, that was all it took. He couldn't clarify himself, ask her to keep it a secret, or even keep his mouth shut in the first place.
He sat in the chair with his hands on his knees and his head bent down, he could hear feel the throbbing sensation of his heart, his vision narrowed as he took his fists and banged himself in the head.
An idiot beyond comparison, a fool and now even a murderer.
He felt something besides him, someone's eyes on him.
His hands moved to his scalp as he pulled on his hair, he never let out a single noise, he couldn't hear anything, not even the door to the clinic opening.
He felt someone pull on his shirt and looking to his right, he found Ellie waving goodbye to him. Confused, he looked up to see the figure of two people one being a man and the other a woman.
Before he could greet them, he witnessed as the woman taking his right hand hand and bowed to him, followed by words of gratitude and shrill cries.
Behind her, he could see the man embracing Ellie as both of them cried.
He finally managed a simple greeting and struggling to process their reactions all he could say was,
"I'm really not the one you should be thanking, the person who actually deserves it is the doctor here. She helped Ellie a lot you know!" He blurted out, his voice was evidently cracking.
"But you brought her here right? You brought our Ellie back." The mother added, with tears in her eyes.
He simply nodded, and asked them desperately to get back up, they didn't need to thank him, he didn't deserve it.
He watched them turn to Malena as she emerged from the back of the clinic. Their words of gratitude was met with smiles as she reassured the about their child's state of health.
She went as far as to excuse the dues of the child, even when the family was against it, she simply refused.
Before the family took their leave, Ellie came up to Ethan, saying a "Thank you" in a loud voice.
As the family exited, he could barely hear Ellie's voice, "Mummy! Daddy! You have a surprise planned for me?"
The embodiment of mischief itself, but still gullible.
The same child that had been trapped in the cellar by a madman. He still recalled the scene and it still angered him. To know that if he were alive he would prey on other's as well, it was a frightening thought. Maybe that is why his worried alleviated a little, he knew that if he had gone back to the same situation, he would have always killed him.
"So? Are you feeling better now?" asked a voice in a playful tone.
"Welllll, that depends. Would you keep what I told you a secret?"
Malena raised her eyebrow in confusion, upon clarification she could only scoff, "A move made in self defense, I do not see a reason for me to go spreading it around. So? Now do you feel better?"
Self defense?
"I would but I feel as if I'm about to hit by something that'd wipe that relief off my face." Ethan remarked.
"Spot on! You are now in even more debt. I'm covering for Ellie of course, but you should be paying for yourself." Replied Malena nonchalantly.
"Are you gonna connect me with someone who can give me a loan?"
Malena nodded triumphantly.
"Can I-"
"And for your knowledge, no. Your kidneys are still out of the picture, or well, should I say still in your body?"
"Even my eyeballs?"
"Willingly wanting to be partially blind? This is quite new to hear, even for me."
Ethan pointed to his eyes as he rolled them around.
"It's got eagle vision ya know? Would sell for a lot more than you think." He sarcastically responded.
"Sell it to me once you have microscopic vision. I am someone who deals a lot with bacteria."
Ethan's face dropped but only momentarily as both of them laughed at the situation.
He finally remembered his coat and upon mentioning it, Malena brought it from the back, apparently they would have sold it if he had not come back to get it.
Getting up from the chair, Ethan stretched himself as he headed for the door.
Looking back once more, he thanked Malena deeply for all that she had done, he was met with a smile that felt rejuvenating.
He almost didn't want to leave, but he remembered that Caia was still in bed without anyone else there. But he still didn't feel the urgency, even after knowing the hundred slurs he would be faced with.
He smiled back at her before eventually taking his leave.
A number of events, pain and tragedy, and the smiles of two people was enough.
He walked down the road and felt a sting in his eyes and a heat welling up, wiping the tears off of his eyes with the back of his right hand, he smiled, once again.
A smile that he decided would stand no matter what happened it would withstand everything, even the presence he felt lingering on him.