Mari's return

Pain

“I- I don’t understand… Your… inventory?”

Taking a seat on the couch, Mari projected the same story of her memories to Hero.

Unlike before, telling her story took longer to tell. Mostly because Hero kept on freaking out whenever she found herself in a rough spot during a battle.

“AH! Get out of there Mari! There’s too many of them!”

“Hero… You do realize I did make it out okay, right?”

“Oh… Right.”

Not to mention his reaction to the large Spider General from the Demon Empire.

“Mari, could we skip this part...”

“No, because during the fight she reveals where the princess is held captive! Then, the princess bestows upon me the rank of general which then leads into-”

“But doesn’t the princess hate you? She keeps calling you an idiot. Heck, I don’t even like her.”

“That’s just because she has difficulty expressing her true feelings without abandoning her appearance as royalty! Afterward, she reveals her tragic backstory and-”

“Alright alright. But could we skip the… the big spider-lady?”

“Fine, but now that I think about it she goes on about her type of men for some reason, and I think you’d fit the bill.”

“You’re saying that a giant spider thing would want to go out with me?”

“Don’t tell me that you’re considering it?”

“What? No! I only have eyes for you, Mari.”

“Ew.”

Mari finally finished her tale, despite Hero’s constant interruptions. In truth, she actually enjoyed seeing him like this. From what she gathered from Kel yesterday, she expected that Hero would be a bit of a mess, but he looked pretty good after four years. Too bad he was still a bad liar, she could tell that deep down he must have been hurting.

“Enough about me though, Hero. Tell me more about yourself, Kel told me that after what happened you… you were pretty depressed. And you even got into a fight with him.” Mari watched as he fell silent once again. Maybe she was too direct, but she wanted to help him. “You don’t have to tell me if it's too hard. But I’m here to listen.”

Hero sat up straight, surprised by what Mari just said. “It’s true after you died… I was a complete wreck. It’s not something I’m proud of, especially that night with Kel. But, I’m glad it happened. If it didn’t… I might’ve… I might have followed after you.”

“Hero...” Mari placed his hands in hers, as they’ve been shaking during his confession. “Don’t you ever do that, okay? I know that it must’ve been hard without me… But, please I would never want you to hurt yourself. I love you. And so do the rest of our friends.”