"Betray Arthur Gravewalker."
The room seemed to freeze, my breath caught in my throat. "Betray…Arthur?"
"Yes. Do it and your family can be free tomorrow."
I swallowed. My throat felt as if it was closing up.
It was so tempting. More so than I'd ever admit.
'Who's Arthur compared to my family. Over my mom? It wouldn't even be a wrong thing. There's nothing wrong looking out for my family.'
"What would you want me to do?" I whispered hoarsely.
Thanason smirked, his face morphing into an unbearably smug smirk. "Only a few things. Sign a testimony saying he threatened you. Say that he was a coward who ran from battle. Be a witness to a few meetings of Arthur colluding with rebels, and you're done. Easy as taking candy from a baby."
A long, mirthless laughter bubbled out of me. "As easy as that huh?" I said nothing for a long time. A long, long time.
Then I closed my eyes, as if that way I could simply refuse reality. I clenched my hands. Balling them into fists until I drew blood.
'Blood. Ahh fuck.'
I spoke one word. One word that was harder to say than a speech. A furious word. Perhaps the hardest thing I'd ever have to say for the rest of my life.
A word that burnt as I formed it.
"No."
"No?" Thanason repeated. He stood slowly, approaching me in a dangerously calm gait. A gait like a predator right before it pounced.
"You'd choose him over your own family? A noble? Did I misunderstand you Noah?"
I shook my head, smiling. "Naa you got me about right. But you don't understand my mother."
"Your mother?" Thanason repeated, confused.
"If she ever found out I had betrayed a good friend to get her out, she'd kill me. So, I'll just have to rescue her my own way."
Thanason scoffed. "Is Arthur Gravewalker truly that good of a friend?"
"Good enough to deserve not to get betrayed I guess."
"Good."
"Good?"
Thanason nodded, returning to his desk. The pressure around him vanished instantly.
"I'm a General not a central noble. Outside Gravewalker lands I have little influence, I have no power to control a noble from the central lands."
"So, everything you said was a lie?"
"No."
"But you can't rescue them?"
"Yes."
"Then why did you test me?" I growled, clambering back to my feet.
Thanason shrugged. "I had to make sure your friendship with Arthur Gravewalker was legitimate."
Bristling with rage, I turned around to leave. Right before I opened the door, Thanason spoke up again.
"Your father, he was stationed in unit 47. They were fighting on the far left of the regiment during this last battle. You might find him there."
I nodded once, cramming down the emotions that threatened to spill over. "Are you going to give up on torturing Arthur?"
I looked back to see a cold smile on his face.
"Perhaps."
————————————
Arthur dug.
He dug through corpses, through mud.
With cracked nails he dug.
With fingers bleeding and body shivering, he dug.
He could not stop digging.
Because it was here.
He knew it was here.
This was the place where he survived. The place where once again he had cheated death.
Only, he did not cheat it at all.
No, he had traded death.
Someone else had taken it from him. Stolen it. Shoving him out of the equation entirely. How rude was it to just take something like that? Without the slightest forewarning nor explanation.
But then again, since Arthur had known him, James Skelter had been nothing but a bastard.
Even still, Arthur could not just let him rot out of here.
No, for at least that one inexplicable action of kindness, he deserved a grave.
And it seemed fitting that the one who dug it for him, was the one whose grave it should've been in the first place.
Faint, mournful light shone down through the cloudy veil.
But all that surrounded Arthur was darkness as he burrowed under the earth. Rummaging within the semi-filled crater that he was sure Skelter had collapsed in.
After a while, his fingers brushed warped metal. Immediately Arthur knew he would not have to dig much longer.
"I found you, you damn bastard."
Sometime later, Arthur finally managed to fully extricate the corpse from the possessive clutches of the Earth.
First he tried lifting him, heaving with all his might as he tried to throw Skelter above his head onto the ground above.
But it proved impossible.
The combined weight of Skelter, and that armour he was encased in, proved too heavy.
"This is where you are" a voice echoed up from above.
Looking up, Arthur saw two yellow eyes peering down at him. They glinted not with anger, but with something more inquisitive.
"Yeah" he replied simply. He was in no mood for talking right now. Especially not with Thanason.
"Who is he?" Thanason continued, his voice almost too composed.
"Officer Skelter, you don't know him."
There was a beat of silence before the General continued. "Were...you two close?"
Arthur paused for a moment. Then he laughed. "Close? I hate the bastard, and he hated me. That's all there is to it. Now leave me alone."
He didn't care that he was talking to a General. That his tone was rude, or that Thanason could probably punish him for it.
Arthur just wanted to be left alone. Blissfully alone to deal with the weight of his sins in the privacy of his own company.
"So why are you retrieving his corpse?" Thanason pressed.
'He really isn't going to leave me alone.'
Letting out a weary sigh, he turned back to the General. "Bastard saved my life. He deserves a burial."
Turning back, he tried once more to lift Skelter up. Heaving, Arthur managed to get him to his shoulders, using mana to strengthen himself. But he couldn't do anything further.
"Come onn" Arthur growled, pushing with all his might.
The weight refused to move.
Then it disappeared altogether.
Turning around he saw Thanason had lifted Skelter out of the hole with one hand, heaving the dead Officer up as if he weighed no more than a feather.
Arthur raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"If you're going to do something, do it properly," Thanason muttered. "Follow me."
——————————-
[Arthur 1st Person POV]
And so I did, scrambling out the crater. I had to run to catch up with the General, who hadn't checked to see if I was following.
My eyes narrowed as I watched him.
There was something in the way he cradled Skelter in both arms. Not because it was heavy, but fragile. Like it was special to him, sacred even.
To my surprise, Thanason led me to the Unit 7 building. Officer Mara was outside, leaning on the wall as if she had been waiting for us. Her expression showed no sign of surprise as we approached.
I shifted awkwardly behind Thanason's back. We hadn't spoken since that day, months ago. The day when I saved her life, and she'd given me her necklace. The same necklace that I still wore.
"Is that his?" Officer Mara asked bluntly.
General Thanason nodded. "Yes."
"And why is he here?" She asked again, pointing towards me.
"I found him where Skelter's body was, he was trying to dig him out."
Her eyebrows shot upwards. "I see. Well, the carriage is ready, and so's the portal."
Thanason nodded.
I looked back and forth between them. 'Did they know each other?'
Both of them began walking away, paying as much attention to me as to a fly.
Sighing I turned away from the retreating figure. 'I guess it makes sense for the two of them to handle his funeral. Guess I'll go catch some shut-eye.'
"Where do you think you're going boy?" Thanason's growl echoed.
I looked back to see both of them had stopped walking. Staring at me expectantly.
"I-I though-"
"You thought wrong" Thanason interrupted. "You dug him out. And he died saving your life. You, of all, should be attending his funeral."
Swallowing, I nodded, hurrying to keep up with them.
There was a carriage waiting outside Umbra, it looked similar to the one that had brought me here.
"Get in" Thanason ordered as he loaded Skelter's corpse in the seat opposite.
With no other seat available, I sat next to Officer Mara while Thanason opted to sit next to the driver outside.
Soon, the carriage began moving.
My mind raced, trying to think of something to say. Anything to ease the awkward atmosphere. Officer Mara for her part looked relaxed, calm at the very least if not happy. While I never felt more out of place.
I was going to a funeral for a person I hated, with a person who hated me and a person who I saved. It sounded like the start of a bad joke.
"How are you holding up?" Officer Mara finally asked, breaking the silence.
"Fine. And you?"
She shrugged. "Good, all things considered."
"I see."
"So", she asked after another awkward silence. "How did he die?"
My heart plummeted as she spoke. I didn't want to answer, I didn't want to tell her it was because of me.
But at the same time, how could I lie?
"Because of me. He…saved my life."
I didn't turn to see her expression. I was too afraid to see the shock and disgust on her face. No doubt Skelter and her were friends. And I had ended that friendship. A friendship that had probably existed for longer than I had been alive.
What I didn't expect her to do was laugh.
And yet she did.
A soft hoarse chuckle.
"I see" she finally responded, a sad smile playing on her face.
"I guess the dog died free." [1]
[1] In this way, Skelter betrayed his title as the 'Dog of the Army.' Which is why this chapter is called betrayal.
I know I had you in the first half.