OBJECT

CHAPTER TWENTY

"Don't tell Doctor Hyle." He laughed, slipping on a grey, oversized shirt, "I don't know who she'd kill, me or Stephen." Conner felt a smile spread across his face, so it was Stephen. Of course, who else would it be? But still, it made him happy that his friend had found love in these times of war.

"Are you happy?" He asked, remembering Gracyn's panic filled realization from before he fell asleep, and wanted to make sure he was in the right mindset, "in general, I mean. It's obvious you're happy with him."

Gracyn embarrassingly cleared his throat and pulled his hair into a bun before leading Connor out of the infirmary, and that's when he got a little worried, "is everything okay?" He asked.

"Y - Yeah, everything is...Okay." His voice had trailed off almost completely by the end, and Gracyn bit into his lip, glancing up at Conner. "It's just that...I have another clearing mission tonight."

"What!?" Conner gasped, "y-you just died, and they want you out on the battlefield!?"

"We don't have a lot of warriors, Conner. Joseph has to command for Evelyn, since she can barely walk, and he's not even in the best shape, and they're pulling everyone they can, someone needs to protect the people out there, Conner."

"Then I'll do it!" Conner argued, "I almost lost you once, I'm not taking that chance again!"

Gracyn couldn't help but think, that if Conner was arguing this much, he was terrified to tell Stephen. "They need me, Conner!"

"Yeah well, I - I need you too!" He shouted, and Gracyn looked at him in utter shock. "You almost died because of my order, and I won't let you get killed because of someone else's, let me do it!"

"You don't know how to shoot a bow." Gracyn scoffed, but Conner wasn't going to let that stop him, and he knew that, "look, this isn't a risky mission, we just need to keep them from getting into the palace," he briefed, "the demons are...Getting more intelligent, it's as if they've had a goal implanted into them."

"I don't care, Gracy – " Connor emulated, raising his hands, and Gracyn reacted by grasping his wrists, which shocked him enough to cut him off. Gracyn got up close, so close Conner could feel him breathe, and could've sworn he heard his pulse in his neck.

"Stop this," he whispered, his voice shaking, "because no matter what you say, I am going on that mission. If I don't, I'd feel like I'd be letting all those people who died back there down."

"Gracyn that wasn't your - "

"I died, Conner, and I saw nothing...Nothing!" He reminded him, "and I told you, lying in that bed, that that's what I was kept fighting so fearlessly for. I was willing to die for
anything, because dying didn't scare me!"

He glanced down at the floor, forcing himself to breathe before continuing, "I had to find something new to fight for, and I did. It's those warriors, those men and women who won't get to go home to their families, won't be able to tell their parents, their friends, their kids that they love them!" His voice was getting sharper and sharper with every syllable, "I don't want their death's to be in vein, that's what I'm fighting for." He let go of Conner's hand and he almost fell back, stumbling. He'd lost feeling in his legs the moment Gracyn took a hold of him.

Gracyn's word's playing over and over like I record in his head.

"Let me fight for it." Was all he said before leaving, walking to his bedroom, his fists clenched, and that's when Conner truly realized, that the lovable archer he grew to love and admire was long gone. Gracyn had become cold, and he could see, clear as day, that this was messing with him. His façade was crumbling, while his walls were building.