Naivy froze while she was staring at Anas who was holding a weapon in his hand.
The weapon was a short black sword. But Naivy did not freeze because of the sword, rather because of Anas's state.
While everyone was leaving, the pain reached its highest levels, then his heart began to beat strongly until he felt that it would explode, but he was feeling something seeping from his hand, so he lowered his eyes with difficulty and looked at it, so he saw what resembled deep red blood that had begun to form a short black sword... now that feeling that he is incomplete had begun to disappear and what was missing took its place.
This sword, it is one of the weapons that Priscilla formed for him to choose one from among them.
'So this is it, I chose this?'
For some reason, Anas's memories about choosing the weapon seemed slightly blurry, only short flashes but they were enough for him to understand the situation.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
At the moment when everyone left, the pain began to recede finally, leaving Anas while he was panting strongly as if he had run for a whole day without stopping.
"Are... are you okay?"
The soft childish voice was filling Anas's ears, distracting him a little from his state.
When he turned, he found Naivy staring at him with hesitation, so he tried to speak with her but his heavy breathing did not allow him to stop to speak.
Naivy stepped toward him one step and looked at his face, so she became more confused.
His right eye was igniting and extinguishing with a red glow and its pupil had become straight, while on his right hand there was a black mark in the shape of a heart drawn with extreme precision and in its middle a red eye.
For a moment, Naivy imagined that the eye in the mark had moved and stared at her then narrowed as if it... smiles? But as soon as Naivy blinked in confusion, she found that it returned to its normal state. The girl did not understand anything of what is happening.
'Is there something wrong with Anas? Should I move away or stay? But he is the only one who accepted me, how do I not accept him? I will accept him even if he is a monster.'
While Naivy thought and drifted for a moment, a familiar broken voice woke her.
"Why... did you not go... with them?" Anas coughed a little then continued, "I... am going to danger... to the nightmare as they say, do you not see me as a strange... fool?"
Anas's strenuous attempt to communicate was disastrous, but this was what he could say after his breathing began to calm and the pain disappeared. But Naivy smiled, she smiled a slight smile.
"It is true that I have been with you for a short time, but I feel that I understand you... therefore, I will not leave you."
Anas stared at her for moments and he had begun to regain control, so he let out a tired sigh.
Naivy caught everything that the others overlooked, the sweat that covered Anas's body, his difficult breathing, and even how he was clenching his teeth.
"You were suffering, right? While everyone thought that you were arrogant and do not feel anyone, you were suffering in silence and did not complain, I saw you give up your share of food for us, you were protecting us. Then in one moment of mistake everyone abandoned you. You resemble me. Even if we tell others about our pain, they will not help us. (She fell silent for a moment) Do you feel sadness?"
A short silence prevailed before Anas opened his mouth finally.
"Maybe a little, but I do not care. As long as they abandoned me now, then this is better than abandoning me later. I do not need them because I was fine alone. Only... this is a little annoying."
Anas stared into Naivy's pink eyes with his dark eyes which both became normal again.
"Do you still want to stay with me even though I am going to danger by my own will?"
Naivy thought for some time while she was putting her index finger on her chin then she said: "Yes, but we must go to the doctor first."
Anas tilted his head to the side.
"I know. But I want to see the monster first."
"Why?" Naivy asked.
For a moment, Anas's eyes widened.
Since his childhood, everyone used to judge his actions only and he used to hate justifying them.
Why does he justify his actions?! Is he a criminal in a trial?!
This reason is what made Anas not tell anyone his goals and motives, as for the other reason, it is that no one asked him simply without accusing him... until now. Therefore he was feeling something strange as if it is... something of satisfaction.
"Because I want to take an idea about it and think of a way to kill it. In addition, I am not a fool to run after it to see it and let it kill me. I will see it from a far distance only, then we will go to the doctor."
"Hmmm, I agree." Naivy answered after quick thinking.
For a moment, time seemed as if it froze for Anas. Anas was looking at the thin girl as if she were something rare.
And suddenly a cold breeze blew from the hole in the surface of the sewers which made Naivy shiver for a moment. At that, Anas realized that Naivy feels cold, so his mind began to work, although the matter is simple, he likes to complicate matters... or he only likes to weigh all solutions to see the best solution, even that he forgot the matter of the sword and the mark and the pain, or perhaps he did not yet know that seeing that is no longer restricted to him only.
"Listen, I have a better idea. Let us go to my house, we will get supplies and clothes for you. Also we need to bathe from all of this, maybe I will treat myself there, then we will go to the doctor."
'What?! He is thinking about bathing? Is his house not there in the middle of ruin and monsters? But he does not seem tense.' Naivy thought then decided that the question is the best way to understand. When she asked about the reason of Anas's desire to see that monster, he answered her, therefore she will ask again simply, what will she lose?
"Anas, how will we reach your house in the middle of danger? What if a dangerous monster appears to us or those who were holding me find me?"
A slight smile appeared on Anas's face, it was a rare moment, but it happened.
"We will hide our presence like animals, also I will put your safety above my own safety."
Naivy tilted her head to the side.
"Like animals?"
"Did you not read about animals before? When prey hide from predators, and when the predator hides to hunt the prey. Did you not watch them?" Anas asked in astonishment, for he was obsessed with everything living around him and tries to learn anything that may benefit him including their behavior, and because of the lack of animals in the surroundings, reading was his means to learn.
Naivy held the end of a strand of her black hair mixed with pink and began to play with it and her eyes moved from Anas's face to the ground before she stared at him.
"I... do not know how to read."
Anas's eyes widened and an involuntary shout escaped from him.
"Whaaaat?!"