Future Shock (Initial Project)

Vol. 4 Chapter 13 - Their Fates Pt.I

"*sip*" Matthew took a sip of ice-cold Caesar.

His condition... could've seen better days. A bandage is somewhat visibly wrapped around his forehead followed by a few more bandages wrapping around his forearms. There were some bandages wrapped around his legs but his grey pants were covering it.

"You feeling better?" Kara asked nonchalantly, sitting next to his bed. Matthew looked at her.

"D-Director." She added in, realizing her mistake.

"No, that's fine. It's fine, No need to pile up more of your anxiety anymore than what you had to endure back at the temple. But to answer your question; Yes. I'm... Feeling fine." He replied, pausing a bit as his disorientation kicked back in a bit. The amount of mental strain he put himself through was an amount which he never anticipated back then.

"Director... How long will you keep putting that up?" Kara asked, her eyes facing down trying to avoid seeming confrontational, all the while her tone was more solemn than usual.

"What may you be referring to?" Matthew simply replied

"That S**t you did!" Kara raised her voice, while still maintaining her gaze fixed away from him. "You constantly risk yourself and you're only opening up more opportunities of revealing your own weakpoints, You and I both know what happened in that damn temple, and results that followed, If this keeps up-"

"Yes." He cut her off.

"You ar-... Huh?" Kara attempted to continue, before she was a bit stunned.
"You really think the same way as I do at the moment." Matthew commented, noting her visibly being caught off guard by that short and direct reply, Easily noting that she was recollecting the same things he was thinking regarding his overall mindset.

"I said Yes. I was stupid. To even attempt that honestly. That little fragment of naivety was still there, I was either naive or stubborn to assume that I have something like plot armour preventing me from succumbing to that amount of mental and physical pain." Matthew said, solemnly before continuing. "My subconscious was driving me into clinging on to my last semblance of my past self's hope, a wish to be on the heroic side, and under the guise of more mature motivations. And I was a stupid to cling to it." He said, noting him being in the direct middle of the conflict whilst simultaneously being responsible for the maintenance of a whole nation. Remembering about his naivety was slowly becoming a bit funny in his mind.

"..."

"Kara." Matthew soon continued, facing Kara.

"Yes, Director." She responded

"I- May you raise your head for a moment." He said, instantaneously cutting himself off at the beginning as he preferred speaking face-to-face as of the moment.
Kara reluctantly did so and anticipated his next words.

"Maybe you are right. I should stop. I guess I should... well sever everything, erase it, perhaps it's for the best at this point." Matthew said. Recalling Kara's past comments to stop the unnecessary involvement in the battlefield without knowing about his surroundings first, as it has clearly begun to prove it has done nothing but also cause negative effects to himself and potentially his allies, but further implying it may be necessary to not just essentially erase connection to his past life. His pupils are visibly dull as he considers it.

Kara internally froze upon hearing that, immediately knowing what he meant behind those simple words.

"Not everything." Kara cut in.

"Hm?"

"Director. Everything that made you reach this point was because of your past. Even then, simply erasing it all will do nothing good. You are basically deciding to lose yourself."