The heavy oak doors creaked open. The sound was quickly swallowed up by a thick oppressive silence. I had expected to hear the noise of the Flower Guild. The clatter of training blades the smell of medicine and my friends chatting loudly. Instead the hallway was eerily quiet like a tomb. Even the big chandelier, which usually lit up the manor with a glow flickered weakly.
As the maids led me deeper into the house our footsteps on the marble floor sounded loud echoing off the high ceilings like a warning. A chill ran down my spine.
"Why is it so quiet?" I whispered.
My throat felt dry and scratchy. My voice came out raspy.
Kiera, who was supporting most of my weight, looked down at me. Her jaw was. She was clearly trying to hold it together. When she met my gaze I could see the truth in her eyes. The guild leader was locked up in Caria City; Natalie, Ned, Barry and Carin. The newly promoted silver-ranked adventurers who joined the search team in Rebelbub Mountains were scattered over the region. They were busy about their missions because of their rank.
The Granhart brothers were gone too. Luke was the primary conductor of the town's failing water supply and Luck had isolated himself after the tragedy of the infection.
Even Veer and Leonhard, the couple who brought much joy to these halls, had left to start a new life. They had been married ever since i left the manor in hope for searching Cassuis. I witnessed them fucked uninterrupted at the bushes at the Eastern district. I was already sure that these two lovebirds were far enough for each other.
Even I wasn't invited to their wedding, which is more of a pain seeing their relationship more wild.
"It's just us, Roxy," Kiera whispered, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Maine."
When they led me into my quarters the door creaked open to reveal him. Maine was at his workbench surrounded by rows of his research. A stark contrast to the chaos inside me. He turned, a greeting forming on his lips but when his eyes landed on me the words died in his throat.
He looked at my face at the empty sleeve of my robe where my arm used to be.
The silence that followed was absolute. Maine didn't just step back; he seemed to shrink. His skin turned a grey as if the blood had drained from his veins. He collided with the edge of his desk and his glass vials and notes tumbled to the floor in a mess of ink and broken glass. He didn't even seem to hear the crash.
"Roxy...?"
His voice wasn't a question; it was a jagged plea. He stared at the emptiness of my sleeve at the blood-stained bandages at my left arm, his eyes widening in horror. He began to gasp, his chest heaving in violent bursts. He looked at his steady capable hands. Hands that had never known pain or loss. And then back at my broken frame. The difference between his safety and my nightmare seemed to shatter him.
"Oh god... Oh god what have they done to you?" he choked out.
He didn't walk to me; he collapsed. He hit his knees on the floor ignoring the shards of glass cutting into his skin. He reached out his fingers hovering inches from my cloak shaking so violently he couldn't touch me. He looked terrified that I might be a ghost or worse that I would simply fall apart if he dared to make contact.
Then he broke. A raw animalistic sound tore from his throat as he pressed his forehead against the floorboards. He was weeping, a sound born of crushing shame.
"I was here" he sobbed into the wood, his voice muffled.
"I was just sitting here... Reading, eating, sleeping... While you were suffering alone"
He crawled forward clutching at the hem of my cloak as if it were the thing tethering him to the earth. His face was streaked with tears and ink. He looked up at me, his eyes bloodshot, his expression one of shattered helplessness. He didn't look like a researcher anymore; he looked like a coward who had been playing games while the world destroyed the person who had ever truly been his friend.
"I am so sorry" he whispered, his voice trembling hard it was almost unintelligible.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I didn't see it coming. I'm a coward hiding in my books."
I looked down at him, my heart feeling like a hollowed-out cavern. Seeing him completely broken. This boy who had always shared my quiet solitude. Shifted something deep within me. I reached out with my remaining hand. Rested it on his trembling shoulder.
"Maine, look at me" I said, my voice raspy.
He hesitated, then slowly lifted his head, eyes red and raw. He looked like he expected me to strike him.
"Stop, You couldn't have known. If you had been there you would just be broken, too. I don't want that. I don't want anyone else hurt because of me"
I squeezed his shoulder forcing a sad smile.
"I forgive you, Maine. You're the thing that feels normal in this room. Please... Just be my friend again. That's enough for me"
Maine's breathing hitched. He stared at me clearly stunned by a mercy he didn't think he deserved. He wiped his face, stood up on shaking legs and moved to his desk. He brushed aside the ruin of his notes. Pulled a heavy reinforced box from the shadows.
He set it down with a thud. His grief seemed to sharpen into a somber determination.
"I didn't tell you, I didn't tell anyone because I thought it was a pipe dream. I've been staying up for weeks. Not for the guild. Because I've been trying to understand the sickness that took luck."
He said, his voice dropping to a serious tone. He opened the box. Inside bathed in an iridescent glow sat a single vial of swirling translucent liquid.
"I've been working on a cure, It's not perfect. It's not finished. I wanted to save him.. Looking at you now Roxy... I realize I was doing it for the wrong reasons. It wasn't, for the guild. It was to make sure no one else ever had to come the way you did"
He pushed the vial toward me, his hand finally steady.
"I wanted to prove I was useful. Now? I just want to prove that this nightmare has an end." he said softly