During the ride back to Toriel's place, Geno's mind kept coming to those scary moments. The loud firing, the chaos, the crashing glasses... the terror. It was burned in his head. Another scar to add to his collection.
He was thankful that his bodyguards were there to protect him. At the reminder, a sudden wave of guilt hit him. His guards were hurt because of him.
A gentle hand held his own, effectively snapping the glitched skeleton out of his stupor, but didn't look up at the other. Instead, squeezed his hand back; reassuring the other.
"Death?" Geno began softly and he earned a hum in response. "Can we take the others to the hospital? They were hurt real bad." Geno said, remembering that four of them were shot on the legs.
There were a few seconds of delay before Death answers him."Sure," then instructed the driver to change their course. The two black sleek cars behind them followed suit.
~~~~
Geno sat in a chair on the far side of the emergency room from where he can't interfere with nurses' works. Death was on the phone, pacing back and forth as if he's personally guarding Geno by himself.
The young chief was kept updated on the situation with the kidnappers who was currently being held in his station. Because Death ordered so he can personally interrogate them.
Geno watches with heavy guilt in his fractal soul as the nurses patch up his bodyguards. Some merely require simple bandaging on the shallow scratches and tending the bruise and some needed some stitches. But thankfully, nothing too serious and no permanent damage was done.
Which was good but that didn't help ease the small skeleton's welling guilt knowing that this was all because of him. They got hurt trying to protect him.
He saw Death pulls his phone away from his ear and pressed the 'end call' with his thumb. Death then looks at Geno straight in the eye with an unreadable expression which Geno shrunk from. Was Death blaming him?
"I'm getting you a new batch of bodyguards." the taller says as he tucks his phone away in his pants' pocket.
All the self-blaming feeling Geno felt suddenly morphed to surprise. "What?" he asked.
"I'm assigning a new batch of bodyguards to look after you better so this won't happen again." Death said without even bothering to lower down his voice.
"You're firing them?!" Geno realized, his only eye going wide in shock.
"They failed!" Death justified, not caring in the slightest if those 'failures' have heard him. In fact, Death will be glad if they did. That way, he wouldn't have to 'kindly' explain to them where did they go wrong. This way is straightforward, no dilly-dally and direct to the point. "They were supposed to protect you!" the young chief added.
"And they did!" Geno countered just as quick, unintentionally raising his voice but didn't notice it yet. The rest of the room's occupants grew quiet as if giving the two skeletons a moment of privacy. "They risk their lives to save me! The least you could do is thank them!" Geno demands.
All the injured bodyguards in the room perked up upon hearing the small skeleton's words. Although they internally praised him for standing up for them, they still doubt the chief, the deadliest, merciless monster in the city would thank them.
Death was rendered silent for a few seconds, grinding his teeth and growling under his breath. "This is not about them! This is about you!" Death said, jabbing a finger at Geno's chest. "If they can't do their job right, then there's no reason to keep them around!"
"They did their job!" Geno protested, louder than the other. "They did their best to protect me! I saw it! You didn't because you weren't there!" Geno practically screamed right at the taller skeleton's face. He was beyond frustrated because Death doesn't understand.
Day 25: Demand
Start from the beginning
