Half Destruktion

Chapter Seven: This is a bad idea, this is a really bad idea.

“Fight for the future.” Gwenn said, “Poetic.”

 “Rather fitting for us.” Said Maize, “Considering no one in this guild has ever thought of more than ‘here and now’.”

“Bitch was clever though.” Corin grumbled, “If I have to give credit for anything is that we never saw it coming.” He retreated into his tankard.

“The others are going to be so heartbroken.” Cristina said.

“And murderous.” Wilma muttered.

“Maybe, we’ll get arrested on the first day for trying to kill someone.” Gwenn mused; Maize didn’t even bother to reprimand her, she was in a bad mood too, anyway.

I huddled next to Leech watching everything fall apart.

“Leech.” I mumble quietly, there was an unsure hiss in response. “Promise me you’ll try your hardest.” He nodded and scooted closer, his body gave off a comforting heat and I was glad he’d moved closer.

“Always.” He hissed.

“Good, cause if you don’t I’ll make you talk for days on end, whether you like it or not.”

“Too late.”

“I’ll make sure nobody asks you a question ever again, as long as you or I live.”

“…”

“Leech?”

“…”

“Leech?”

“Deal.” There was a sudden flap of tattered cloak and a strange pressure around my body before Leech disappeared. Odd, I thought at the tiny flutter of something in my chest, I could have sworn…No; I’ll just talk to Beatrix later. I waited for the others to come back and I sat with them as Master Lowing informed them of the change in circumstance and I held Beatrix as she sobbed and cursed me for putting her name on that ‘Gods be damned list’.

In an effort to cheer her up I told her about what happened with Leech.

“Leech may or may not have hugged me today.” I said as Beatrix lay faced down on the bed—she had cried herself out hours ago and just lay there, unmoving.

“What?” She sat up, puffy eyed and confused. “Leech hates physical contact.”

“I may or may not have promised him that nobody would ever speak to him again.”

“He’d hug someone for that, considering he’s talked more in the last few weeks than in the last eleven or so years.”

“Yeah…” She’d stopped crying now.

“Why did ya even promise him such a think anyways?”

“I made him promise he’d try his hardest tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“I-I wanted someone else besides me to try.”

“We would have all tried…”

“No, you all acted like the world had ended when you heard, it was like you thought we were nothing without those idiots. I just wanted someone to promise me we can stand our own, ya know just a little bit o’ hope.” Beatrix stared at me as I said those words.

“Monty, we were just…”

“Never mind Bea, just go to bed.” I crawled under the covers and did my best to fall asleep with the sounds of everyone else’s dissatisfaction crowding my head.  

 ***********

I crawled out of bed before dawn—as usual—and began rifling through my bag for clean trousers. After finding a dark blue pair that was not as distressed as the rest I grabbed a white shirt and a grey vest. The washroom like the rest of the world was pitch black and cold as fuck; the inn keeper doesn’t start heating up the bigass cast iron furnace until the sun has been up for at least an hour. After scrubbing my body raw and wringing grime from my hair I dressed and went upstairs to the main dining hall, only to find my entire guild in the dining hall.