"T-Theo..." Valorie looked hesitant, keeping her White Death close. This felt less like a battle to the death and more of something petering out, like a flickering flame. The man in front of us did not look at us with hatred, but with a stringent denial of what was true. This is the death rattle. He met his end a long time ago, and there was no other option now; he's giving us a reason to go through with it. "P-Please..."

  "As he said, you're your own separate person. That doesn't mean I'll stop doing what I need to do here." He scoffed at himself. "Well... it kind of makes sense I ended up here though, doesn't it? Some say that the Organs represented the sins, and if there was a sin that fit the most, it was the Nerve's envy." He sighed one final sigh before meeting our gazes. "I might as well end it like this. On my own terms rather than constantly following my insane brother into the abyss. My final art piece is now."

  He leveled his weapon at us, and we scattered. In a blur, he dipped into the wheatfield, causing the rest of us to become alert, whipping to look at where we saw him last, attempting to narrow down his location as he was forced to push through the field in front of us.

  Suddenly, a shot rang out across the field, instantly dropping Valorie, watching as Theo rose out from the golden grass that surrounded us, chambering a round from their rifle. "The nuisance is out of the way..." He growled.

  I sprinted toward the dying Valorie, who held onto her neck desperately as blood seeped out from the wound. Quickly, I sealed her injury with a simple touch of my hand, which seemed to have revigorated her as she pulled herself off the earth below-- all at the same time, Tel and Toto rushed straight toward Theo as Dorothy and Chris were just about ready to fire at the man before us.

  In that moment, I spun around with my Anchorbow, ready to retaliate as well, Valorie extending the range of her rifle by pulling at a lever on the barrel of her White Death. The others fired out and only a string of misses followed, and just as I leveled my Anchorbow at the man, another shot rang out, shaking the air.

  I feel heat in my left shoulder suddenly, following the sensation of something impacting me, my body going slack on one side momentarily, witnessing in that same moment as Tel whipped a shield out from his wrist, tanking a shot point blank from Theo, and simultaneously, a shadowy chain formed in the air between all three of us.

  I wasn't going to waste this opportunity, keeping my aim as true as I could, steadying myself so that I could make this shot. I grew lightheaded suddenly, causing the burst of pressurized liquid to careen off its path and past Theo, and with a pinched face, I loaded back another pressurized shot before firing again, not letting up on the man in front of me, my surroundings turning into a blur.

  This time, my shot met its mark, and in a sort of cosmic irony, as the arrow of pure liquid sped through the air, it slammed against the very end of his weapon of choice, bouncing off before rebounding into the left side of his face, taking his left ear with it.

  Followed by my assault was Tel and his rapid attacks, the backend of his hammer digging into one of Theo's arms, shots from Dorothy missing. At the same time, Toto violently bit down onto one of the man's legs with a sickening crunch, causing him to stagger momentarily. Theo took that moment of weakness to duck, the flaming steel balls that Chris had fashioned into weapons flying over his head.

  "Stop this, Theo!" Valorie screamed before a shot from her White Death rang out as well, amidst all of the present assault on this one man, the bullet barely grazing their cheek as they weave out of the way.

  Theo gave Valorie a momentary glance before huffing, taking the butt of his rifle to the chain connected between him and Tel before breaking into a sprint in Valorie's direction. Upon breaking the chain, a chunk of Tel's head was suddenly cut open, the blood getting in his eyes, leaving him stunned, unable to react, as Theo, just before running, freed himself from Toto's bite with a simple kick.

  With a flick of the backend of his rifle, an axe appeared just as he reached Valorie, who, instinctively, raised their White Death into the air to defend themselves. Theo took the curve of the axe, pulling the rifle down below Valorie's waistline, allowing him to strike her straight in the stomach with the butt of his weapon, causing her to reel onto the floor, heaving.

  I stood to my feet in full, but before I could even react, I found myself being pulled at an absurd speed toward Theo's direction, thrown onto the floor in a bleeding heap, but using that momentum, I took the hand anchorbow into my hand. I swung hard at the head of the Raven.

  The metal cracked across his head, blood streaming into the dirt below, and in one last attempt to get at the man, I swung again, but he weaved out of the way before I could get another hit in, progressively becoming more and more lightheaded as crimson seeped down from my shoulder, and into my clothes.

  Tel rushed forward to get back at Theo again, but with a wide swing, he whiffed the attack as the man simply stepped back from the rushing assailant, but that led to Chris finally getting an opportunity to hit the man with a strike from those heated spheres of hers, eliciting a triumphant "Yes," from the woman as it dug into Theo's shoulder.

  By this point, though, we all had him surrounded.

  Sliding the barrel back down into its shotgun form, Valorie shot the man two more times, but it appeared that both shots had been absorbed by the bizarre scarf he was wearing, though it wasn't as if he didn't feel it at all, as the cumulative damage had Theo lightheaded, barely clinging to life.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  A quiet sigh left Theo's lips, "I'll give you a gift to remember me by, Valorie..." He smiled, "We'll be matching in death."

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  A realm of inky black darkness met her. The ground felt like shallow waters, and before her was the man she had found at the village. Instead of the soldier, it was just Theo, the average townsperson. His injuries were gone, and he was sitting in Victor's seat, sitting in front of an easel as Victor had been before passing away.

  The left side of Valorie's face felt wet with blood; she could smell the iron, but it didn't hurt. She let out a shaky sigh, then looked back at the man in front of her, who had just now turned to meet her gaze.

  Valorie approached, sitting on the ground beside him, looking out at the easel as well. "Are you going to paint anything?"

  Theo looked at her, then back to the easel, and then back to Valorie. "Does it look like I have a canvas?" He chuckled, turning to look out into the darkness, past the easel.

  "It doesn't really hurt... It's actually. Hold on." Valorie changes where she is sitting, instead opting to have her right ear directed at Theo. "Can't hear out of my left ear anymore..." She let out a hesitant, grim chuckle.

  Theo pointed at his own ear. "Well... I didn't really lose an ear, I guess, since the whole ear wasn't removed, but I think a scar would've been left after all of this was over."

  "Well... I-I think my ear is gone for good..."

  "Could you make a painting for me?"

  Valorie looked up at the man, considering what she wanted to say next. Those golden fields again... Valorie stood up, her hand gliding across the grains. Theo, moving as an old man should, stepped away from a canvas he had placed there, gesturing for Valorie to step closer. With that, she smiled, nodding at the man, "I will... n-not sure how good it'll be compared to your brother's but..."

  "Of course it won't..." Theo laughed, "You aren't my brother after all!"

  Valorie laughed with him, sitting down in front of the canvas, grabbing a nearby brush, before dipping it into a dab of paint set on a part of the easel that dipped into a small section in front of the canvas itself. "I haven't drawn since I got here, actually... normally, I'd draw at least once a day, y'know?"

  "That sounds like hell."

  "Kinda!" She chuckled. "I'm feeling a little inspired, I think..." Valorie took the paint-coated brush and pressed it against the canvas.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "Valorie!" I clicked my tongue, holding her unconscious body in my arms. "Maybe she lost too much blood?" Across from me, surrounded by the rest of my team, was Theo with his chest blown open, dead, the ground distorting around him as the forest slowly is encased by the darkness of night.

  Dorothy looked up, "The Perception is falling."

  Alex approached from afar, "Is that a bad thing?"

  Tel cursed under his breath, "Where have you been?"

  "Watching, which is all I could've done back there. The watch didn't mark him as a viable target."

  "Fuckin'... is it gonna be this way every time? The guy almost killed Valorie, for God's sake."

  "Don't act as if you care now."

  "I have been caring, I just know how to pick my battles!"

  "And that goes for me too! Do you think just because I'm stronger than you that means I don't need to consider my next actions carefully!? I have to surv--"

  I grabbed the handle of my Anchorbow and threw it as hard as possible into the ground beneath them, causing a miniature creature to fall into the ground.

  Alex simply stepped back, while Tel whipped around to look at me. "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?"

  Chris chuckled, "Wow, they're really starting some shit now."

  "Are you trying to look for a fight, shortie!? What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

  I respond, "There is a time and place for certain things, Tel. So far, you have been reasonable, but I'm tired, and frustrated, and I don't want to fuckin' deal with the bickering!"

  "Fuck your feelings! Is this not supposed to be a valid concern of mine!? I guess I'll fuckin' die, huh!? Thrown under the bus by this stupid fuckin' contract!"

  "We're all going through this shit, Tel! We're all in the same place, and continuing to cry about it isn't gonna do shit for anyone!"

  "Well, is it bad to go to a person in the highest position I know near me!? I have a va--"

  "It's not about whether your complaint is valid or not, Tel! It's about what the right time and place are to voice these complaints! I have complaints too! In fact, I have so much to say about what had happened to us, but I'm tired! Low on blood, everyone else has been close to death at least once today-- Valorie isn't waking up!"

  "Talk your shit, sis!" Chris thought it was a genius idea to take a witty jab in this moment, causing me to whip around to look at her.

  "Shut the fuck up, Chris! Just because you have a witty thing to say doesn't mean you should voice it! Y'know what, frankly! This whole thing has been a mess from the get-go! This makes sense to you, Tel!? It's been only a day and..." I sighed, rubbing my face, trying to calm down before turning to Alex. "What time is it?"

  "It's 2:30 am."

  "We haven't fuckin slept since we got here... We haven't even eaten." I glance over to see Valorie looking over Theo's corpse. "We could use his gear..." I mumbled, stumbling back to the home we had effectively hijacked.

  Tel sighed, "She seemed more affected by all this than me."

  Valorie glanced at everyone else before looking back down at the body. "I think this was the worst day of my life."

  Chris snickered. "I think it'll get worse from here." She commented before kneeling over the body, throwing the Raven gear over at Dorothy, "I think you need it!" Before breaking into a cackle.

  Dorothy sighed, taking the gear as requested, following the rest of the group as we all headed back inside to finally rest.

  "How much do we get paid anyway?" Chris questioned.

  Tel looked over his shoulder to see Chris, "You don't know?"

  "Nuh uh."

  "For missions, we get paid by commission-- Hey, Alex, sorry for yellin' earlier, but how much are we getting paid for these missions!?"

  Alex sighed, "It's technically one big mission, so... 9k? Around there?"

  "Oh, shit."

  "For patrol missions, though, it's hourly, so it's... for Rank I's, it's 35 an hour, I believe?"

  "Thats not bad at all... and if we move up in ranks, we get paid more."

  "It's a 15-buck pay boost per rank for patrols. For commissions, it's a 1k pay boost, even for more low-maintenance missions."

  Dorothy looked lost in thought for a moment, "Oh yeah... while in training, we got paid around 20 an hour, right? Getting boosts if we interact with any TULPAs."

  "Yeah, I believe so-- been a while since I did Gardner training though, so I'm not sure."

  Tel rubbed his chin, "Maybe this all is worth it after all."