X777 July 14

As I walked back to my house with my hands in my pockets, I couldn't help but think about what had just happened.

After activating the sword, Layla slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep, Grammi hugged Lucy and started crying, and Aquarius stared at what was happening with an annoyed expression.

After that, I explained that they would have to put one of the many swords I left in the corner of the room, on the bed, making contact with the one that Miss Layla had.

Those would be in charge of gathering the malice that would come along with the natural energy, that way, she would not take any risk, although the swords had to be changed every day.

I had created a function to discard them where someone had to enter a little of his magic through the handle.

That way, the sword would activate the mechanism so that the holy energy inside would attack the malice, and both would be canceled; when that happened, the blade would disappear.

Grammi didn't answer, and I thought she wasn't paying attention to me, and I would have to repeat what I said, but before that, Aquarius spoke.

"I'll take care of letting Jude know, just this time, leave the annoying things to me; you've done enough, go back home and get some rest"

I nodded to let her know that I had registered her words, I turned around, and before leaving, I looked at Lucy; she was crying while she hugged Grammi, who was also sobbing.

When I got home, I found my mother sitting in the dining room, as soon as I entered, she gave me an expectant look; she knew that I would try to save Layla and when I would do it.

Probably that was why she visited the Heartfilia house this morning, so I assumed she was expecting me to tell her what had happened.

I walked without stopping until I was in front of her. "Jean? What hap-"

I interrupted her when I hugged her; finally, the tears I had been holding came out. "I'm sorry, I really wanted to save her, but that… that was the only way, I couldn't think of anything else, sorry". She was a little startled at first, but after a second, she hugged me tightly; it was similar to when we spoke in the hospital.

I apologized many times, I knew it was not my fault; I knew that I should let it go and focus on improving, but at this moment, I wanted to be selfish and cry until calm down.

Since I had met Miss Layla, she was one of the sweetest and kindest people to me, there were times when I was in Heartfilia's house, and she was the one who told me about the time when my mother was younger, how they both became friends and how she was happy for my mother had a son like me.

In my second life, I had only cried when I spoke to my mother in the hospital, and that was because of a promise I made when I was reborn.

That I would do everything possible to make sure that the bad things I went through in my previous life and what could happen to me in this I would not define me or depress me.

I wanted to remember the happy parts and good people of both lives and smile twice as much in this life.

People like my uncle's family, who tried to take me away from my father's cousin and adopt me; however, the day before I left that man's house, the worst happened, and I ended up meeting the higher-dimensional inhabitant.

I promised myself that I would not be sad that they could not save me but that I would be grateful to them for the mere fact that they had tried, and I wish they weren't sad for not making it.

I was selfish, and now I wondered if the way I felt was similar to how they must have felt, trying with all their might and still failing.

I did not know how long I cried and stammered apologies, but during that time, my mother hugged me and told me everything would be fine while she sobbed a little, too.

I knew that I was breaking the promise made to myself.

'Just for today, let me break that promise just for today'. I repeated in my mind as my mouth continued to apologize.

#########

X777 July 15

Walking through the courtyard of the Heartfilia mansion, I went to the room where Layla was, I had decided to come to check if everything was still working as planned, and there was no problem.

Standing outside the door, I felt someone's gaze, and when I turned to my right to look into the hallway, I saw a lock of blonde hair quickly hiding in the corner of the corridor.

I found myself smiling a bit before moving forward as silently as possible; when I got to the corner, I stopped and waited; about 15 seconds later, a small figure peeked out again, her eyes snapped open, and she froze there.

"Hey, Lucy". I greeted her.

"J-jean"

"What are you doing hiding like this?"

"Is that I…"

"You?"

"I want to ask you something"

"Sure, don't hold back; I'll answer the best I can"

"My mom, when is she going to wake up?" The innocent question startled me a bit, but I didn't let any negative feelings wash over me, I had already regretted and cried enough yesterday and promised that I would focus on getting better from now on.

"I ... I don't know, I'm sorry Lucy, I promise I'll do my best to do it in the shortest time possible". I said, trying to calm her doubts.

"Liar"

"Eh?"

"You lied to me, you said that you would come every weekend to play with me, but you did not do it, are you lying to me now too?"

I was a little surprised by the answer she gave me, but she was right; the day I found out about her mother's condition, she was coming here to spend time with her, but after trying in vain to help Layla, I ran away and didn't come back.

An adult could understand my motives without explaining them, but a child? That was different, so I bent down a bit to be level with her and said while raising my hand.

"That happened because there was something important that I had to do to help your mom, and if you forgive me, I promise that I will definitely not break a promise again; what do you say? I promise with the pinkie". I said while wagging my finger.

"Do you really promise?"

"Really, and if I ever break the promise, then my punishment will be to eat a thousand needles; I think that's a severe punishment, right?"

This seemed to be effective because she giggled a bit and raised her pinkie. "Okay, I'll trust Jean, so please, bring mom back"

"Don't worry, no matter what, I promise I will". I said before our pinkies intertwined, sealing the promise.

"You will stay to play today?" She asked, giving me a pleading look.

"You will stay to play today?" She asked, giving me a pleading look.

"Actually, I came to see how your mother was doing; after that, I would leave; I have to start practicing more to be able to help her"

"Umm…" She made a distinct sound of discontent but relented in the end.

"I'll tell you what we will do, bear this for today, and I promise that next time I will stay a little longer than normal, what do you say? Also, remember that the last time I promised you that I would tell you about the best detective in history, do you remember what was his name?" I asked.

"Yes, it was L"

"Exactly; just wait a bit longer, and I'll tell you about his biggest case, okay?"

"Okay"

"Now, do you know if there is someone in your mom's room?"

"I recently saw Miss Grammi come in, and my dad is there too"

I winced when I found out that Jude was there too, but hid it as soon as possible. "Thanks, Lucy, now I'll go check it; see you"

I said goodbye before walking to the room door and knocking; shortly after, Grammi opened the door and let me pass.

Entering the room, I could see Jude sitting next to his wife's bed while holding her hand; a moment later, he glanced in my direction, he released her, and then stood up.

"Grammi, please leave the room"

He said, looking directly at me; Grammi hesitated for a moment before lowering her head and leaving the room.

When only the 2 of us were in the room, he got up from his chair and walked over to face me; everything was silent for about 5 seconds before he spoke.

"I don't like you"

Without taking my eyes off his, I gave him my answer. "I would be lying if I didn't say the feeling is mutual." I interrupted him with the most serious voice I could give; I had no interest in what he would tell me, so I refused to listen to him, and I decided that it would be me who would speak.

"Every day since we met, you have treated me as if I were an intruder; at first, it was even fun to watch, but now? It's like I'm the worst person you've ever met; I never gave you a reason, I was never rude, not to you or anyone in your family or employees, but you know what? From this moment on, I don't care if you think of me, because as far as I am concerned, nothing I do from now on will be for your benefit, it will be for the benefit of the people I care about, and if you benefit from that, then for me it will be simply an annoying side effect of my actions, I will save Miss Layla, not because of you, but because she is one of the noblest and pleasant people I have ever met, and because no child should grow up being raised only by a man like you"

Finally, I took out some of the annoyance I had towards that man; after that, I turned around and left the room without hearing whether or not I had an answer to my tirade; as far as I was concerned, the conversation was over.

I saw Grammi standing in the hallway a few feet away as I left the room and closed the door. "Miss Grammi, have you noticed something strange with Miss Layla since yesterday?" I asked as I got closer hoping to get some information before leaving.

"No, everything has remained the same since the moment she started sleeping"

"I see, by the way, you came back to visit Miss Layla, right?" I asked, wanting to change the subject, Jude hadn't left the room yet, so she probably wasn't going to follow me.

Grammi froze when I finished my question, which seemed strange to me, although a few seconds later, she started walking with me while answering. "Y-yes, I received a letter from Lady Layla, and I came as soon as possible"

"I see; I'm sure she was glad that you came to see her"

She lowered her head a little when I said this. "I wish I could have helped her more"

"It's like Miss Layla said". I replied, I felt guilty for not being able to do anything too, so I would like to help her overcome it.

"What?" She asked me, confused.

"Remember what was the last thing she said to me?" I asked her and waited a couple of seconds before continuing.

"No matter what happens, you don't need to blame yourself for any of this". I repeated every word she said before falling into a coma.

"Do you think that if she expected more from you or me, she would use the little strength she had left to make sure we were okay?"

"…"

"To be honest, if she really blamed you for something or if she had a grudge against you, I doubt she would have greeted you with a smile, I doubt she would have chosen to spend several of the last few minutes she had talking to you, that's why I think that blaming ourselves, either by thinking that we could help her more, or that some of this was our fault, would be to disrespect her feelings and wishes"

I could see her thoughtful expression for a few moments, and then she smiled with a hint of resignation. "Even if I'm not entirely convinced, if you say something like that, then I feel like I don't have a choice; thank you, Jean"

"No problem, but what will you do now?"

"I have to go back to Alakitasia, I left my daughter in the care of a friend, but I would not like to be away from her for a long time"

"I see, are you leaving soon?"

"Yes, actually, I was saying goodbye to Lady Layla and Mister Jude when you got to the room"

"So you go to the station to take a train to the port?"

"Yes, I already have my suitcase packed". She said, pointing to a brown suitcase next to the stairs.

"Would you like me to accompany you to the station? I could carry your suitcase"

"Is it really okay? I don't want Claire to worry"

"Don't worry, after all, every day I walk almost the same amount of time to get to my secret training place". I said an excuse hoping that she would let me accompany her; her expression told me that she thought about what I told her, and in the end, she accepted.

"Then I appreciate it". She replied as we left the house and she handed me her suitcase.

#####

I was a coward; that was the truth that I was struggling with right now; what I had told Grammi before we left Lucy's house was true, it would not be reasonable to torture myself thinking that I could have helped more.

But what happened now... what happened now was different.

Because although he could not change the past, he would still be able to decide about the future doing or not something.

And every moment I avoided taking the next step in my training, I was deciding to prolong the moment Layla would wake up even more.

I was afraid of trying to use senjutsu without a sword that would absorb the malice of the world, I was scared that I would make a mistake and end up corrupting myself and losing my mind, for me, mental corruption to the point of insanity was almost as terrifying as death.

Even when I had taken some protective measures, I kept postponing the matter.

Yesterday I told myself that I would train after speaking with my mother, but when she forbade me to go out, I accepted it without question; even when I could practice in my room, I decided not to.

That night I decided that this morning, I would go out after breakfast to practice all day. Still, in the end, I ended up going to Lucy's house with the excuse of checking the sword that I left Layla, which was stupid in my opinion, I had practiced hundreds of times how to make that sword, and I was 100% sure that I had done it right.

And before entering the mansion, I told myself that after leaving there, I would definitely go directly to my training place, and yet here I was, using Grammi as an excuse to delay as much as possible the moment when the next level of my training would begin.

It had been 40 minutes since we started walking, and I was still lost in thought, repeating over and over that after leaving Grammi at the train station, I would definitely go to start training.

Such was my distraction that I managed to ignore the warnings of the instincts that I worked so hard to perfect with my uncle until the danger was so close to me that all I could do was push Grammi aside; a second later, I felt clearly something cutting my skin.

#####

She was guilty; she had killed her; if it weren't for her, then Lady Layla would still be here.

He had to do something; when he saw her arriving and entering her room, he felt as if his chest exploded with rage and pain; even when she caused her so much misfortune, did she dare to appear in front of her?

Unforgivable, she was taking advantage of her good heart.

When he saw her lying there with her eyes closed as if she was asleep, suffering a sentence when she never committed a single crime.

His fists clenched until his palms bled; he had to avenge her; Grammi would pay for Layla's life with hers.

And when he saw the child walking next to her, he felt betrayed; how could this child ignore that woman's sin? Didn't he appreciate all the kindness with which Lady Layla had treated him? Did he secretly hate her?

Not only that, that child did not save her; that child had also attempted against Lady Layla, he gave her hope when there was none, killing the true Layla and leaving only an empty shell in her place; that was the worst kind of treason.

Yes, he surely had colluded with that woman to harm Layla.

They will pay, he would make them all pay, only in that way Lady Layla could rest in peace, knowing that one of her genuinely loyal servants had brought justice by punishing those who had harmed her.

That was why he had followed them, waiting for them to go away, and despite their trembling steps, neither of them noticed his presence,  both surely laughing at the fate that Layla suffered, the very thought made him tighten the daggers in his hands, appeasing the shaking he had been having until now.

And when they finally got far enough away, he took the courage to do what was due and ran in their direction.

However, at the last second, the boy pushed Grammi, and he moved a few inches, not enough to avoid the dagger, but enough that the cut wasn't fatal, and now the side of his torso had a considerably long horizontal gash that began to bleed.

#####

"Z-zoldeo?! What are you doing?!" Grammi said, quite shocked; she quickly stood up and placed herself in front of Jean extending her arms to protect him.

"Do you really ask that? Even though you… you are the reason for Lady Layla's state". He replied through clenched teeth and an annoyed look.

The words of her former co-worker made Grammi take a few steps back, but she only needed to look at the boy behind her, who was covering the wound on his torso with one hand to steady herself again.

"Everything that happened is my fault; leave Jean out of this; he is the only one who can bring Lady Layla back"

"That's a lie!! You're lying; he also betrayed Lady Layla to leave her in this state!! He will not deceive me with his tricks; you'll both pay for what you did to her!!" He screamed with tears falling when he launched himself towards the woman with both daggers in her hands to kill her.

Grammi froze at Zoldeo's words; she was the only one who was to blame for all this, if she had received the letter that transmitted Layla's message earlier, then she would have been able to arrive on time, but Jean had been able to perform a miracle and protect Layla's life to bring her back in the future, and for that to happen he had to survive.

Grammi had no combat skills, like most people who used celestial spirit magic; close combat was her greatest weakness, but even so, she clenched her fists and faced Zoldeo, not hoping to save herself.

But for the sole purpose of keeping alive who could make up for the mistakes she made, even if the price for doing this was her own life.

So even if she was scared, even if her legs wouldn't stop shaking, she didn't pull away, at least not of her own free will, since just before the edge of the weapons reached her, a hand took hers and pulled her back.

While her feet followed the movement in a futile attempt to prevent her from falling, she could see how Jean jumped in front of her with a sword in his hand.

And a blinked after, all was over, Jean dodged Zoldeo's attack, and his sword struck the man's stomach.

A groan came from the magician's mouth when he fell to his knees, Jean quickly took distance from him, putting himself in front of Grammi still in position with his sword in hand, being closer, now Grammi noticed that the weapon in Jean's hands did not have edge, so Zoldeo only received a solid blow to the stomach, and his life was not in danger.

"Y-you, how are you able to move with that wound?" The man asked between gasps.

"It hurts a lot, I can assure you, but if you think that is going to bring me down, then you underestimate me too much, Zoldeo"

"D-damn brat, you will pay for what you did to Lady Layla"

"Pay? You keep repeating that as if Grammi or I had done something bad to her; from the time you have seen me in that house, even if it was short, you should know that it would not hurt her, and I may not have been able to save her now, but in the future, I'll be able to bring her back"

"You lie !!! You try to cover up for yourself and that woman, she… if she hadn't been late, then Lady Layla would still be with us!!" He said through gritted teeth.

Jean's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by that?!" He asked in a severe tone.

"Don't act innocent! Lady Layla sent her a letter to return immediately because all the golden keys were necessary for a spell, but since she wasn't here, Lady Layla had to use her own life as a replacement; she caused this!" He yelled at Grammi.

Jean's eyes widened in shock, his neck turned slowly to look at the woman behind him, and what he found was Grammi with her head lowered and tears falling from her face.

His teeth clenched as the green-haired woman's actions confirmed Zoldeo's words; he quickly put the pieces together of what might have happened.

Surely Grammi had trouble traveling, or the letter was delayed for a few days, and as a result, she couldn't reach time, but even so, Jean watched as Layla treated Grammi.

She did not seem to hold a grudge at all, so she surely understood that it was not Grammi's fault, so if the victim herself did not blame her, what right would Jean have to do so? But the man spoke again when Jean was about to say that.

"And you". He said, this time looking directly at Jean. "You are also guilty, giving false hope to everyone, talking about saving her when in the end you failed her"

The grip on the handle of his sword tightened, trying so that those words did not affect him and then speaking. "That's not true, I can save her, but that trying to do it now would be very dangerous, both for her, and for me and-"

"See?!! You can save her now!! But you don't do it because you don't want to!!" Said the increasingly annoyed man.

At that moment, Jean understood that man was listening to what he wanted, leaning on whatever came to his mind to justify his actions.

Zoldeo would not listen to reasons and would continue with what he had decided to do; that is why Jean needed to buy a little more time.

"And what was the spell that-"

"Enough! I have nothing more to say; you will become one of my puppets, and then I will force you to save Lady Layla". He said, interrupting Jean's attempt to buy time, then dropped the daggers, pointed both arms at the boy, and screamed. "Human Subordination: Human Rise!!"

#####

The moment the words left Zoldeo's mouth, I felt an intense chill run through every part of my body.

Everything around me darkened, and a moment later, I felt how the fog began to fill my mind.

It was similar to the first time I could feel the world's malice, but this time it was not through a sword but directly inside me.

My hands released the water sword I had created to activate my divine protection and went to my head, squeezing it with all the strength I could put.

"ARGH!! NO, GO AWAY!! GET OUT OF MY HEAAAAD!!!" I screamed as I began to lose control of my body.

Then, just before I plunged into the darkness, my hand moved at full speed, taking the small sword that hung from my necklace, pulling it off, and stabbing my shoulder with it.

The little sword began to emit a bright light that expanded throughout my body, filling it with warmth and driving away the black mist that covered my mind.

The entire landscape around me returned to normal, and I found myself falling on my knees as my right hand squeezed my chest, ragged breaths coming out of my mouth as the sword vanished into golden particles now that it had done its job.

"T-that's impossible; how come you avoided the effect of my spell?" I heard Zoldeo's voice in shock.

I quickly stood up, clenching my teeth from the pain of my wound that had increased the rate of bleeding again now that I didn't have the healing of the spirits.

I threw myself toward him; the surprise that his spell did not work on me allowed me to get closer enough to hit him.

When my fist connected with his jaw, I could hear a "crack", and as he flew off, I saw a pair of teeth falling to the ground.

I quickly created another sword of water to reactivate my blessing, and I could feel how the pain diminished, and I had more energy.

I approached the man and noticed his eyes were white, showing that he was unconscious; crouching down cautiously, my fingers touched his neck to check his pulse.

When I checked that he was alive, I turned around and started walking towards Grammi, who had been looking all with wide eyes.

When I was close enough, she seemed to react and spoke with a concerned tone.

"Y-your wound," She said, pointing to the injured in my torso. "We must cover the wound to prevent you from losing more blood"

She quickly took her small suitcase off the floor before taking out two blouses and then approached me, pressing one against the wound.

I hissed in pain when she wrapped the other blouse around my torso, making a knot over the first one to keep pressure on the wound. "We have to go back to the hospital quickly"

"Okay, but don't worry too much; as long as I have this sword, the wound will not become something that puts me in mortal danger". I said, waving the weapon in my hand.

When we started walking I looked in the direction of the man, it would not be a good idea to leave him there, if he got up before the runic guard came for him, he could run away and do something dangerous afterward.

But bringing him with us would also be a risky gamble, a single moment of carelessness, and he could try using that magic again.

Which reminded me, I quickly concentrated, and a few seconds later, a new pair of necklaces with a small sword dangling on each one materialized on my neck.

At that moment, I decided that we should take that guy away, his magic was dangerous, so the sooner he was behind bars, the better it would be; and to make sure he didn't wake up, I already had the perfect sword in mind.

"Miss Grammi, we must also take Zoldeo to hand him over to the rune knights; if we leave him here and he escapes, it could bring trouble in the future"

Her expression instantly changed to worry, so I rushed to calm her down. "No problem, I can make a sword that will keep him unconscious until we-". My words stopped when Zoldeo's body began to be covered by a black mist before transforming.

My eyes widened, I recognized that figure, the white fur, the dark glasses, and the horns on his head; however, his suit was much smaller than I remembered. "Ca-capricorn?"

"This time, I'm going to crush you, brat". Said the goat with a growl.

He wasn't the Capricorn I met years ago, which could only mean.

"Zoldeo, what did you do to Capricorn?!" I yelled at the man.

"You don't need to know, after all…." He said with a threatening tone.

At that moment, the water sword in my hand disappeared, and my arms formed an x in front of me with a new pair of swords that I managed to create a second before a punch hit me.

"You are going to die here". The force of the blow was such that it broke both weapons and threw me several meters back; I could clearly feel how my arms went numb from blocking the excess power of that attack.

At that moment, Zoldeo turned his head a little and looked directly at Grammi. "You wait there; once I finish with him, it will be your turn". And after that, he started walking toward me.

Seeing him approach, I clenched my fists and took a stance, preparing myself for the fight that was about to begin.