Andy nodded as Andrew finished explaining what had happened.

 

 

"Dude. That's... damn." Andy was at a loss for words.

Andrew nodded, "Yeah... damn." He repeatedly smacked his forehead with his fist, "I'm so stupid."

Andy frowned, "Why?"

Andrew looked up, "Oh c'mon!" He gestured to the door, "Miriam! I fucked things up with her!"

Andy frowned deeper, "How?"

"Seriously?" Andrew rolled his eyes, "How much of our lives have you forgotten? We're thirty and single for a reason. Do you remember WHY we made a supporting character?"

Andy scratched the side of his head, "Actually... I'm a little fuzzy on that."

 

Andrew sighed, "Well, allow me to remind you." He hung his head as he spoke, "We had just gotten dumped, AGAIN. We went to the gaming store on game night for a pickup game when we found out nobody wanted to play with us. Everyone kept saying they were full up. When we pushed the point, Ben took us aside and explained that they wanted to play a low-key game." He looked up at his duplicate, "We hog all the glory. Remember Pyrus Incendium?"

 

Andy nodded, "Oh. The Fire priest who could default to any elemental spell? Yeah, he was kick ass."

 

"That one. Yeah. He was kick ass. TOO Kick ass. We didn't let anyone else have any fun because we'd wipe the encounter before anyone else had a chance to go." He scratched the back of his head, "Which... got me thinking. We always have to be on top. We always have to be the one who fixes everything. We have to be ready for ANYTHING. Even at work, we were that way. It's why we never got promoted. Nobody wants to work with us! We were always the first to point out where everyone else screwed up." He pointed out the window, "It's why she dumped us. Because we're too much of a perfectionist."

 

Andy scratched the back of his head in the exact same way as Andrew, but with his left hand, "Oh yeah... I forgot about that... or it didn't transfer over." He looked up as he snapped his fingers, "That's right, we made a supporting character to prove we could be a team player."

 

Andrew abruptly stood up, "And you saw what being on my TEAM did to Miriam." He rubbed his face, "Being on Team Andrew BREAKS you." He shook his head and turned away, "I'm... not cut out for this."

 

Andy put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, "Look, I know things-"

 

Andrew spun around, slapping away Andy's hand, "Oh SPARE ME." He stabbed a finger in Andy's face, "You're LITERALLY half the man I am, and you think you can fix me?" He shouldered Andy out of the way as he stormed out of the bathroom, "Save me from our problem-solving bullshit." He slammed the door behind him.

 

Having nowhere else to retreat to on the second floor, Andrew fled to the first floor and into the shop's main room. He was too wound up to sit down and found himself aimlessly pacing between the shelves and display cases, trying to sort out his thoughts. As he was making his fourth circuit around the room, the front door abruptly opened.

 

The Silver Hounds's leader Otto poked his head in, "Andy?"

 

Andrew looked up, "Uh... yes?"

 

Otto leaned out to motion to the rest of his team to wait outside before fully stepping inside, "Hanna was walking by and she said she heard a woman screaming." Otto closed the door, "We wanted to check on you." He looked Andrew up and down examining his outfit and how different it looked from the shopkeeper's outfit Andy usually wore, "You... look different." He gestured at Andrew's monk robes and adventuring equipment, "You... going somewhere?"

 

Andrew froze as he realized what was going on. He looked at the stairs, trying to think of an excuse to go upstairs and switch with his counterpart, "Ah... well... Maybe? It's... hard to explain." He forced a smile.

 

Otto shook his head, "No need." He bobbed his head a bit, "I assume you and Mir had a fight or something, right?"

 

Andrew's face fell, "Yeah. You could say that."

 

Otto kept bobbing his head, "Look. Remember when we first met and you told me what an idiot I was for... what was it you said, uhh... only an idiot with your strength uses a sword and board?"

 

Andrew blinked, "That sounds like something I'd say."

 

Otto hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "Then you dragged us back here and made Soldis buy that hammer that fires spikes on impact?"

 

Andrew snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah! The War Spikard! I oversized it and put in the tumble spikes, right?"

 

Otto smirked, "Yeah. Yeah, you did." He looked at the floor, then looked up, "I don't think I ever thanked you for that. We've been trying to crack the fifth floor forever, you show up, and now we're down to the ninth in a month." He stepped closer, "We bought that scroll for you to get home because you've done a lot for us. But..." He glanced up the stairs, "I assume the fight is over that, right?"

 

Andrew glanced at the stairs then turned back to Otto, "Uhh... actually... it's something else. It's not the... uh... scroll."

 

Otto shrugged, "Look. We'd love you to stay. The whole town does. People here aren't stupid." He turned to the shelf next to him and picked up a contraption that looked like a blade you strapped on your arm, "The weapons you come up with are revolutionary. Your suggestions for the team-" He cut himself off, then slowly put the blade back where he got it, "If you got to go, go. We'll survive." He turned and stepped closer to put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, "Did I ever tell you why the Silver Hounds are trying to crack that dungeon?"

 

Andrew shook his head.

 

Otto squeezed then let go, "It's because I left town. I grew up here, I became a success. I left. I got a message my parents had died. So I came back for the funeral." He frowned, "There had been a monster wave." He turned away, "Nobody had been delving into the dungeon because the loot was terrible. It's too much work for the result. The monsters built up, there was a wave... the town was devastated." He turned to Andrew, "My parents were killed in that wave."

 

Andrew said nothing.

 

Otto stiffened his lip, "And... I wasn't about to let that happen again. So I asked some of my team to come here and help me. A few did, most stayed in the big city." He pointed at Andrew, "You'd make much more money at the capital, you know." Otto sighed, "Eventually we became the silver hounds and we've been keeping the dungeon under control ever since. We like it here. We won't make it big here, but this town is... our home." He gave Andrew a half smile, "I hope you know, no matter where you go, or what you do, you got a home here as well."

 

Andrew swallowed. It took a moment to compose himself before he spoke. He cleared his throat a few times before he finally said, "Th-That..." He looked up the stairs, "That means more than you could possibly know." He stared off into the distance for a while before turning to Otto, "Thanks. You helped." He cleared his throat by coughing into his fist, "I'll let you guys know about the scroll thing later." He walked over to open the door leading outside, "There's a conversation I need to have. Right now. So if you don't mind..."

 

 

Otto raised his eyebrows for a second, then nodded in understanding, "Aha. Got it." He gave Andrew a pat on the arm, "Hope to see you later." With a head nod, he walked out while giving his party, which was waiting outside, a thumbs-up as he left.

 

 

Andrew took his time thinking about what just happened.

 

 

With a deep breath, he turned and slowly climbed the stairs.

 

---

 

Brooks felt like a fool.

 

 

 

 

He knew what mistake he had made as he did it. He knew he had killed his subordinates as the lightning bolt spread out across the water. If it was strong enough to nearly kill him, it was definately strong enough to end the life of his aides.

 

Then a miracle occurred.

 

Then a giant gelatinous fist knocked him out cold.

 

Then Brooks woke up in the infirmary.

 

He was informed he was healed first, because of his rank, but there had been a shortage of healing items. They had been deployed to deal with the crisis. People overreacted and assumed that Andrew was leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. It wasn't until he escaped that they figured out the worst he had inflicted was a few scraped knees when he shoved a few people to the ground.

 

This left Brooks sitting in the infirmary, looking at his friends, and having all the time in the world to review just how lucky he was.

 

~Why did that infernalist save your lives?~

 

It made no sense. It was a complete contradiction of everything he knew and believed. He would receive reports that explained what had happened. Apparently, Elyin bluffed her way into taking command of the town guard and had gotten damn close to capturing him. She certainly saved lives by telling the guard to back off and focus on protecting civilians. Brooks was unsure of many things, but one thing was apparent.

 

Andrew had fought with one arm tied behind his back.

 

If this had been any other infernalist, the death toll would have been massive. Brooks was certain of that. He had plenty of time to think as he sat there, watching his friends, waiting for a medic to come back from the field and wake his friends up. He knew he should go back to his office, but he couldn't. He needed to sit right here until they were awake so he could say how sorry he was.

 

The more he thought, the clearer it became that he had made a colossal mistake.

 

Elyin had been right. This one was different, For the hundredth time that day he cursed himself for his foolish choices. He knew he made the correct choice at the time, based on what he knew and established protocols, but he had not made the RIGHT choice.

 

Eventually, a medic with a charged wand of vigor returned. His friends were revived. He said he was sorry and they forgave him. He knew they would, because of his rank, so their forgiveness meant nothing. No, if he was going to earn forgiveness, it would have to be from someone who didn't care about his rank. He went back to his office and called for Elyin. He was told she had gone home to rest. He understood and had no desire to drag her to his office just so he could say he was sorry. It would have to wait until the morning. Except when morning came, Elyin was nowhere to be found.

 

Elyin was missing along with a suit of moon ivy from the armory.

 

Elyin still had friends. Specifically, she knew people who handled the city's teleport grid. They were the only ones capable of teleporting around the city, as well as outside it. After some investigation, it became clear that someone had made use of one of the city's teleport circles to go to an unregistered destination. The entire department collectively shrugged, assuming that Brooks was angry with her so they stonewalled and covered for her.

 

Brooks was far from angry.

 

Ironically, he would have sent her off to do the very thing he assumed she was doing, trying to find Andrew. Alas, the only note she left behind was a formal resignation. He cursed himself and the gods for being too slow. If he had just talked to her last night, he could have sent help with her. He could have properly equipped her. He could have asked for her forgiveness.

 

Brooks sat in his office, trying to figure out what to do.

 

Brooks stared at the resignation letter.

 

Brooks carefully folded the letter up, then slipped it into a drawer in his desk, which he locked. He thought for a moment about who he could send on this oh-so-important assignment. A few names came to mind, but whoever he picked, they would have to have a delicate touch. He took a deep breath, then pulled out some parchment and proceeded to start writing out orders to be processed and filed by the government's bureaucracy. This was a very important first step. Backdating the orders and sending the newly reinstated Captain Elyin off to find Andrew and bring him back was going to be tricky, but not impossible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooks just hoped he could get a copy to her before it was too late.