Chapter 19: Mending wounds

Johnny didn't know for how long he just stood there. In Filarion's arms, with Feneria sitting close by. The elves didn't speak. Johnny was grateful for that.

A part of him still thought that Filarion needed to pay. Another part wanted to forgive. He was as conflicted as he would ever be. Chances were, the elf had been the one to supply the bandits with the weapons that killed Johnny's parents. Yet...

"When we get out of here," Filarion finally spoke, snuggling into Johnny, and breathing in loudly. "When I start anew. Do you think?"

"You want another chance?" Johnny murmured. Filarion nodded, his chin brushing Johnny's shoulder with the movement.

"I'll think about it," the tank said, and then gently shrugged the elf off of himself. Filarion was staring at him, soaking up all the details of Johnny's face. Searching for something in his eyes.

"I am sorry," Filarion finally said. "I know that no matter what I do, it won't bring your family back. If you want, I will make sure to find the bandits who did it, if they are still alive, and bring them to justice."

"Even if that puts another nail in your coffin?" Johnny asked softly. He knew that it was unfair to test the elf's love now. But he couldn't help himself.

"I have many years. Would you wait for me?" Filarion asked. He didn't need to say that Johnny was going to get off easy. The tank had not been able to find the bandits who ruined his life, and so didn't have a murder staining his soul.

"I will be old, by the time you are let out," Johnny reminded Filarion of his human aging. On good days, they both forgot about it. Filarion didn't think that Johnny could die as fast as Johnny could. For Filarion, it would be like the blink of an eye.

"If you give me a second chance, I will gift you with something that will hinder that. Heck, even if you don't, and want to see the end of eternity, even if it is without me, then I will still gift you with the apple," Filarion murmured. He reached out, and took Johnny's hand in his. Bending, he kissed the knuckles. His own hands were still stained red from the fight. A sharp contrast to the creamy skin of the tank.

"The apple?" Johnny asked, breath hitched. "You don't mean?"

"If you tell anyone of it, I will be in deep shit," Filarion spoke. "It was hard to steal."

"Filarion, are you out of your mind? You stole from the emperor?" Johnny whispered. "What were you planning to do with that apple?"

"Give you half, eat half myself. My siblings already ate their halves," Filarion grinned in a devil-may-care way, and leaned in. "I was going to sneak it to you in a fruit salad."

"You are mad," Johnny breathed out, a smile tugging on his lips. Filarion wanted to spend eternity with him. The apple tree that gave golden apples had dried up some fifty years ago. The last of its apples stolen. Now, Johnny knew who did it.

"Are you certain you want to give it to me? After everything that happened?" Johnny spoke, keeping his voice low.

"There is no one else who I would give it to," Filarion said. He stared into Johnny's blue eyes with such love and devotion that the guilt threatened to swallow Johnny whole.

"What were you going to tell people, when I refused to age?" Johnny asked. Filarion shrugged.

"That you ate a golden apple. That I found them as a gift in my mailbox, and thought them normal golden apples," Filarion winked at him, and Johnny couldn't help but laugh.

"Did you eat your half?" Johnny asked. He hoped Filarion did, for he might still get the death sentence.

"No, the apple would have spoiled, had I done so. I was keeping the apple to share with my soulmate," Filarion said, a wistful smile tugging at his lips.

"You are impossible," Johnny said, letting a little laugh escape him. "So, you had bigger fish to fry all these years ago?"

"Much bigger," Filarion told him. Then, the elf looked at his sister. "Don't look at me like that, Feneria. I had to tell him."

"If we don't get out of here, neither of you are getting that apple," Feneria said, as she stood. The guards were walking towards them. Johnny blinked at that, and felt Filarion letting go of him. He felt the loss in his very bones.

"See you at the next lunch," Filarion more asked, then said, and he stood as well. Soon after, he was in chains, and escorted out.

The prisoners were herded back in their cells, and Johnny went to the stone slab that served as a bed. Filarion was someone who gave him no rest.

Now that he knew the truth about the elf, he should feel something else but love for him. Maybe hate? Filarion might as well have held those swords that cut up Johnny's mother and father. Might as well have been the one to laugh, as Johnny ran from his house that rainy May afternoon.

Yet, that all didn't matter all that much. Because Filarion had not been the one to hold the weapons, and he would never laugh at Johnny, unless it was to laugh with him, at some joke or the other.

A guard came to Johnny's cell then, and the tank's eyebrows rose. The cell was unlocked, and Johnny had even more questions.

"Follow me, you were bailed out," the guard's nose was scrunched up, as if he wanted to tell Johnny that the tank was scum and should have rotted inside this cell.

Johnny wondered who could have spared the money for his bail. Then, after changing the prison garb for normal clothes, he was led to the front of the station.

Adam waited there, leaning on a staff. Johnny smiled at the necromancer, and went to him.

"You owe me one hundred gold coins," Adam said, and Johnny nodded.

"I'll pay them. Is Fluffs well?" Johnny asked.

"The cat is well, although some of the trees that the elf used to hide in are not. She scratched them up really badly. I think she misses his presence; can you believe that?" Adam asked, and Johnny nodded again.

Yes, Fluffs would miss Filarion. The elf never put her on a diet, always had fish for her. A gentle hand to pet her between the ears, a kind word to whisper in her ears. A gentle smile stretched upon Johnny's lips.