When Ryuu woke up, a massive headache attacked her but she shook it off and immediately tried to get a sense of her surroundings. A second later, she realized that Kisuke was carrying her on his back as they moved away from the debris of fallen rocks from the Colosseum.
She tried to get off him but the moment she tried to move, a wave of pain overtook her consciousness, 'Uggghh!!! T-this...'
"Don't move. You have several broken ribs and even if you want to walk on your own, you won't be able to thanks to your leg pointing in an awkward direction.", Kisuke explained with a slightly gleeful tone. While Ryuu was unconscious, Kisuke was studying what just happened earlier and gave him a big boost in understanding and realizing his spells, 'Not just how I manifested the spell, but also how it affected the enemies depending on the intended effect, I was able to gather a lot more data thanks to the earlier incident. Maybe I should do it again sometime later.'
Ryuu, however, didn't notice this weird tone and instead, bit her lips in frustration and asked, "Why...? Why did you come back?"
"As I said, I can't allow you to break my good record."
But Ryuu became even more frustrated, "You should prioritize your life over some stupid record!"
"That's true. However, that's not all the reason. You've taken care of and are good friends with my girls. That alone was enough of a reason. If I'm here just because of a simple commission, I would have left you alone when you threw yourself among the monsters and give my employer a report, 'The target sent me away and died on her own volition,' or something along those lines and be done with it."
Ryuu was stunned for a moment before muttering, "...I don't deserve such kindness."
"What about you? Why did you prioritize my life over your own? I don't think I've done something to warrant such a response."
Ryuu became silent for a few moments before answering, "...It's because you're a good friend of Syr and I think she'll be extremely sad if you were to perish."
"And you think that she won't if you were not to return?"
Smiling wryly, Ryuu replied, "Of course not... It's just that... I don't deserve to be saved. Not after what I have done."
Kisuke stopped walking and said, "Whether you deserve to be saved or not, frankly speaking, it's really not up to you."
Ryuu's eyes widened in surprise and Kisuke resumed walking while adding, "I'm sorry to rain on your parade but the one who can decide whether you should be saved is your savior. If he or she deemed you're worthy enough to risk their lives for you, you don't have a say in it."
"B-but that's... stupid."
"Right? However, that's the reality. It's stupid, but also extremely beautiful, don't you think?"
"Beautiful?"
"Yep. Even though you've already given up on yourself, someone out there hasn't. I think that's beautiful. Though after you're saved, it would be up to you if you want to make it a worthwhile effort for your savior."
Ryuu buried her face on Kisuke's back and thought about the nightmare she had, '...I knew it... I already knew it long ago but chose to ignore it. They sacrificed their lives just to save me but I wasted it... Instead of using my time to make our ideals a step closer to reality, I wasted it on the revenge that they never wanted. And in the process, I also made it hard for the Goddess that took me in.'
A single tear came running down her cheek, 'I'm just using Urahara-kun to justify my worth... If I had died back there, I'm not saving him, but just burdening him with my death. I never changed... All this time, I'm just a burden to everyone.'
Remorseful for the very late realization, Kisuke's warm back was just what Ryuu needed in this deserted and cold part of the Dungeon. But amidst this comfort, she heard a steady pitter-patter on the ground and turned her head around in curiosity.
As she comprehended what she's seeing, Ryuu's face became filled with horror as she shouted in panic after seeing a long trail of blood behind them, "Y-you're bleeding profusely!"
"Hmm? Ah... Don't worry about it. It's not as serious as it looks. I mentioned that I'm in a weird situation, but it didn't mean I became weaker. I just become like this whenever I use a relatively strong Magic."
Of course, Ryuu didn't believe that he's fine, "Put me down now! Even with one leg, I'll be able to manage it! What's important is to tend to your wounds!"
"Save it. Look. A cave in front of us." Kisuke spotted a relatively large cave when they turned a corner and immediately entered it.
Inside the cave is a flickering light and Ryuu thought that someone else was on this floor, but upon closer inspection, it's a pair of skeletons with one of them holding a Magic lamp that was about to use its final fuel.
Nevertheless, the cave was large enough and Kisuke gently put down Ryuu on the opposite corner where the skeletons are before sitting down on his own. It's only now that he was able to calm down his energies sufficiently to start his regeneration.
Ryuu, on the other hand, did her best to approach his side as she chanted her healing magic. But just before she could cast it, Kisuke lifted his finger. All of a sudden, Ryuu saw her chest area glowing and felt the effect of her healing magic, "W-what!?"
Not explaining anything to her, Kisuke replied, "Just heal yourself. I'll be fine on my own. I just needed to rest and all of these wounds would disappear."
And inwardly, Kisuke thought, 'As expected, I can use it like this. As long as I understand my opponent's spells, I can reflect them back to him. I wonder what else I could do?'
Ryuu gritted her teeth and tried again using the rest of her Magic Power but the same thing happened as her broken ribs fully healed, relieving her of pain just from breathing.
Editors:
28th00: Won’t lie, Ryuu’s mentality is one of the types I hate the most. I do find him reflecting her healing magic back at her hilarious though.
Ryuu finally gave up when she was about to lose her consciousness from depleting her Magic Power. She doesn't know how Kisuke was reflecting her healing magic back at her but this isn't the time for that.
Standing up with great difficulty, Ryuu went towards the two remains of the Adventurer. After offering her prayer, she picked up their bags and took a good look inside them.
The food has already gone bad and the bottle of half-used potion only has a little bit of Magic Power in it. However, what she's looking for is their first aid kit. While the cream that can close small wounds has already gone bad, there are still clean bandages left, 'Great. This should be enough with the potion.'
Although the potion was almost useless in healing wounds, it's still useful for safely cleaning them. Grabbing what she needed, Ryuu struggled with the pain of her broken leg before reaching Kisuke once again, "Remove your clothes. Let's bandage those wounds up."
Kisuke looked at her eyes for a moment and saw the extremely serious expression she's making. Figuring out that there's no way to convince her otherwise, Kisuke slowly took off his clothes while smiling wryly, 'I guess she won't be comforted until she does something.'
Finally taking off his blood-soaked top, Ryuu drew in a cold breath from what she saw what seemed to be hundreds of cuts covering his entire body, "Y-you... You're not dying, right!?"
"Hmm? Of course not. Take a closer look. They've already stopped bleeding."
And indeed, upon closer inspection, none of them were shedding any more blood and a huge feeling of relief came to Ryuu, along with intense guilt, "I'm sorry... This is my fault."
"Promise me that you won't do a stunt like that again."
Ryuu looked straight into his eyes before saying, "...I promise."
Smiling, Kisuke replied, "Then you're forgiven~"
But Ryuu could only smile wryly on that, "I don't know what to feel if you were to forgive me that easily."
"There's no reason for me to make it harder. Besides, there's something else you need to say, isn't it?"
Ryuu's wry smile eased up to a gentle one and said, "Yes. That's right. Thank you. Thank you for saving me."
"You're very much welcome~" Kisuke then closed his eyes to refocus his concentration on what he needed to do. However, that doesn't mean he didn't leave any attention to their surroundings and Ryuu herself.
Ryuu, meanwhile, seeing Kisuke's behavior, got free reign over what she wanted to do. Carefully managing the potion and water they have, Ryuu was able to clean Kisuke's wound without wasting any of their supplies. But also thanks to that, Ryuu was able to properly see Kisuke's current state and couldn't help in shivering, 'Each one of them are deep wounds... How is he still fine with all of this? And he didn't even let out a single yelp despite my being rough in some places.'
Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Ryuu proceeded to wrap Kisuke with the bandages she got. And while doing so, she couldn't help but think about all sorts of things due to the silence. Inadvertently, she asked, "Say... Urahara-san... What do you think of revenge?"
Without opening his eyes, Kisuke entertained Ryuu's question, "Hmm... Let's see... There are many types of revenge out there but generally speaking, it's an attempt to regain what you've lost. Even if you're successful, you're just zeroing out and nothing would really change except for momentary fulfillment. And depending on how much that 'revenge' got hold of you, it'll be followed by emptiness."
Ryuu became silent and momentarily stopped what she's doing but resumed it not long after, "...I see. This is the first time of hearing such a take on revenge, however, I fully agree with you. After the momentary fulfillment, it was followed by endless emptiness."
If not for Syr taking her out of that emptiness, Ryuu doesn't know how she would have ended up.
"Do you mind if you listen to my story?" Ryuu suddenly asked.
"Sure. We have all the time we need."
.
.
.
Ryuu reminisced and narrated her days within the Astraea Familia. She told Kisuke how they were widely accepted as the police force and a very welcome one at that in the time of Dark Ages where the Guild can't do their job in suppressing those who wanted to harm the city.
Her story then reached the part where the alliance of 'evil' aligned Familias formed and came to be known as the Evilus and their large attack led by Erebus and two former members of the Zeus and Hera Familias 7 years ago.
It was while defending the city with all their lives they came to understand that, while the rest of the Evilus just wanted to raze Orario to the ground with their twisted beliefs, Erebus, the Evil God, Zald, and Alfia, the former members of the Zeus and Hera Familias, just wanted to destroy the lid that is blocking the Dungeon in attempt to return the time back to the Heroic Age.
"So they were hoping for a hero to arise from the destruction they wrought. Why did they hope for that in the first place?" Kisuke commented.
"It's only something I'd heard later, but apparently, despite being the strongest Familia and successfully subjugating two of the World Quests, they couldn't even wound the Black Dragon. However, the fact that it has one of its eyes taken out was a testament to the strength of the people of the Heroic Age, where monsters ran rampant on the surface despite having only the assistance of the Spirits."
Ryuu then shook her head before continuing, "But I can never agree with their methods of sacrificing the innocent even if it means saving the world from the threat of an unbeatable monster. Then again, I don't really have the right to say that because I turned my back against those innocent people to pursue my own darkness."
Kisuke stayed silent and allowed Ryuu to continue her story. He wanted to say something to her, but he held it off because he wanted to hear the rest of her story and make sure that he wasn't misunderstanding anything.
Ryuu touched the subject regarding the nightmare of the 27th floor 6 years ago but didn't know much of it because it was mainly the Loki, Ganesha, and Freya Familias' attack on Evilus.
And when she reached the subject of 5 years ago, Ryuu's tone audibly changed as she slowly narrated how her Familia fell into the trap of the Rudra Familia and summoned a Juggernaut just like the incident earlier which resulted in the annihilation of the Astraea Familia with her surviving only because her precious companions sacrificed themselves so that she could have enough time to run away.
Being overtaken by her desire for vengeance, Astraea left her after 'ordering' her to discard her 'justice'.
Hence Ryuu started her rampage on those with even a slight connection to Evilus, killing everyone except for the Deities. Even though what Ryuu committed was a very heavy crime of massacring people, it also ended the Dark Ages with the round-up of the remaining Evilus members.
At that point, Kisuke finally understood clearly what's bothering her and said, "You can't move on because you can't admit it."
"What...?"
"You can't admit and come to terms with yourself that you thought that the heinous crime you committed was the right thing to do."
Editors:
28th00: Denial isn’t supposed to last this long, ya know?
Goyya: It’s her only way of escape. Sometimes, denial is a good thing to keep on moving on, until it comes back and bite you.