258 258: From the sky [pt3]
“I will leave now and give you some time to think this over. In the end, the decision will be yours so don’t take too long in deciding what you want.”
Quince winched as he heard those words. As much as he wanted to be left alone, he also knew that he needed all the help he could.
His legs were aching and refusing to work at the same time. It made him feel numb inside out because he could feel a lot of his body.
Even when he tried to reach toward something, all Quince could do was make a half-hearted effort before letting go.
“Fine, I understand so stop trying to make your injuries worse. You don’t want me to leave your side for now, right?”
Aurora sat back down once she felt that hesitant pull on her sleeves. Quince might try to act tough but he was a kid right now. He neither had the experience, nor the memories of having grown up.
There was a tense silence after that and they both did not know what to talk about. However, Quince seemed to be eaten away by something in his mind. That something seemed important so Aurora decided to ask him outright.
“I…why did this happen? I understand Lady Asami having a possible grudge against the tower but for Clove to betray us as well. I always knew she was a bit twisted but I never thought she would do this to us.”
Quince sounded torn up at Clove’s betrayal. And it was a given for him to feel like his. He had been with Clove for a long time and he had seen Clove differently than anyone else.
He must be feeling torn up after all this happened. And Aurora found herself sympathizing with him.
“No one could have seen this happen, least of all you. You might try to act all grown up and whatever but you are still a kid at heart. Don’t let these failures define what you can and cannot do.”
Aurora tried to make Quince feel better but he unexpectedly started crying. It started as a sob but it quickly evolved into a full-blown cry.
The more he cried, the more panicked Aurora felt. She had never been good when it came to children. And when Quince acted like a child, it was even weirder.
“Stop crying. If you do then I won’t know what to do.”
For most of her life, Quince had been the same age as her and incredibly mature for his age. Aurora had never found fault with his conduct before.
But now she felt distressed as she had never felt before. And it was all because of the Quince that was crying in front of her. Silent tears that were streaming down his face were a little too much for Aurora to bear.
“I don’t even know why I am crying. Maybe it’s because I always knew that Clove was going to be troublesome but I still wanted to help her. I…she was the only friend I truly had and it hurt to realize that nothing was real from the start for her.”
The more Quince spoke the more Aurora realized that he was just venting out to her because he had no one else.
For the first time in her life, Aurora saw Quince not as she wanted to but as he was. He was an insecure kid who did not know what was going on and Aurora felt bad for him.
“Pull yourself together. Clove decided what she wanted to do on her own so you cannot fault yourself for her decision. The only thing you can do is to march forward and decide what you want to do.”
Aurora’s speech might sound harsh but Quince could not allow himself to wallow in self-pity.
“What is it that you want to do? Think of this, not as a disaster but as an opportunity. The main branch of the tower might be destroyed but the tower is still there.”
No matter how harsh things might seem, it was truly not over until Quince gave up on his life and allowed himself to die.
He was a natural-born leader so Aurora knew that he could bring the tower to its former glory.
It made Aurora gag to say these things about the tower’s revival since she had spent so long hating it. But now it was no longer a danger to her.
Besides, the presence of the tower was required to keep the world stable. It was necessary to keep the south and other regions in check.
“It’s amazing that you are the one who said that. I always got the feeling that you hated everything the tower stood for. The ‘you’ in my dreams always made comments about it. I guess it was all a dream.”
Aurora felt shocked at the admission. Her sharp eyes looked at Quince but he seemed to be too out of it to realize how much of Aurora’s interest he had at that moment.
“It’s weird, right? One night both I and Clove got a dream about being deep into the abyss and you were with the tower as well. It felt so real and you felt familiar as well. At first, I thought that it was a vision but now I think it was all a weird dream.”
“I do get those dreams often. There are you and Clove in them and you both are married. Gosh, look at how creative my imagination had gotten.”
Each word Quince spoke was like a knife to Aurora’s heart but it was getting numb as well.
If Quince had experienced all that then that meant Clove had as well. She was not lying about the memories coming back to her.
And she had still gone ahead and pulled all that crazy stunts of hers. The more Aurora was reminded of that, the more she felt angry at herself for falling for Clove.
“It was all weird but it was a dream, right?”
Quince sounded desperate when he asked Aurora this and Aurora did not want him to wallow in this darkness anymore.
He needed release as well so Aurora was going to give it to him.
“Yup. It was all likely a weird dream you had. As far as I know, we did not know each other well enough to travel together.”
Aurora’s denial made Quince let out a sigh of relief.
They were done talking right in time for the room door to be knocked open and Ava to march inside with a happy grin.
“We are done. We passed this floor so let’s head down to floor 16. Oh, is our little guest awake as well? Are we taking him with us as well?”
Ava sounded hyper and a little too happy with what was going on. But it was so much like the overlooker to be excited like this.
She was letting loose all she wanted and no one was there to scold her. And the sense of belonging in the abyss must be doing her some good as well.
“Aurora, what are you planning to do with that ‘thing’? You cannot possibly be thinking of taking ‘it’ with you.”
The only one who seemed to be having a problem with Aurora’s decision was Rita. the redhead glared at Quince and she seemed to be rejecting him entirely.
Truthfully, Aurora had not expected to be met with such resistance so she had no idea what she could say to Rita in such a situation.
Rita’s experience with Quince had not been the best and Aurora did not want to choose between them.
So she hoped that Rita would listen to her this time as well.
“Rita, stop calling Quince a ‘thing’. He needs our help and I intend to help him out. We are in the same boat now since the tower’s main branch was destroyed. You know what that means, right?”
Rita went quit for a second before she exploded.
“THE TOWER HAD WHAT? WHEN AND HOW?”
No matter how much Rita hated the tower, even she understood that it was a necessary evil one could not get rid of all of a sudden.
It would create a power vacuum and plunge the world into a bloody fight.
“Thankfully, Quince is alive for now and he can take command once we send him out. The resistance would help us in this case and Lord Alan would understand our worries.”
This much Aurora was sure about but she did not want to go out of the abyss for such a thing.
“But how do we send him back? There is no major tower post for the next few floors. The next one is on floor 18th.”
Which was true. So they had no other choice but to take Quince with them for the time being.
“Hey, kid. Buckle yourself up because it is going to be a long ride from here.”
Quince looked green in the face but he also knew he had no other choice but to follow Aurora along. As much as he did not like Aurora, she was his only safe option.
For now.