Chapter 156

Army of the Dead (II)

After half an hour of back-and-forth on the whole ‘how to fight the kid’ topic, the group still had split views on certain issues. For example, Emma and Senna thought it was better that nobody picks up the tears and that they instead keep killing golems, while Diya and Kramer thought it would be better if people did pick at least one every three tears since fighting with golems over and over again would exhaust their resources rapidly.

Furthermore, there was also the disparity on how to deal with the ‘Horror’ debuff as two camps formed -- one that believed they should cleanse immediately, even over stacking the Cores to end boss’ immunity, while the other camp believed that the boss should be a priority and that their healers can power through for at least 2 people at the time.

“Stop, stop!” Emma groaned and temporarily ended spiraled-into-nowhere discussion. “The key to the fight will be healers and their Mana, far more so than the fight with that crazy bitch. Our overall damage has gone up monumentally, probably three if not four times at least so we can hang with the golems rather than just slowly downsizing our party further and further. The fewer people we have Entombed toward the fight’s end, the better.”

“Has anyone thought how big these ‘tombs’ will be?” Senna asked suddenly.

“What do you mea--oh.” Emma mumbled lowly, her brows furrowing. “You’re saying... if there’s too many ‘tombs’, we might not even be able to get to the boss?”

“I dunno, maybe,” Senna shrugged. “We can play it by the ear.”

“Playing it by the ear...”

“We need to plan better...”

“I still think we need to absorb tears...”

Senna groaned and rolled her eyes, tuning everyone out and turning to the side where she saw Daniel silently drinking. He’d done that often recently, she realized -- ever since they saw Larua’s ‘ghost’ at the entrance of this place. Grappling with tossing herself back into the discussion that seemed to have no end or becoming an emotional ear for someone, she sighed and walked over to Daniel, sitting next to him.

“Whatcha’ drinking?” she asked.

“Something illegal for you.” he replied.

“... in the spirit of friendship, I’ll let that one slide.”

“...” Daniel glanced sideways and looked at her strangely. “Did... did you sneak a few of these without us seeing?”

“Yup, this was a mistake.”

“No, no, wait,” Daniel chuckled stealthily and held her back from leaving, forcing her to sit back down. “Sorry. I apologize. You want one?”

“Na, they give me a headache.”

“And yet,” Daniel said, taking a sip. “You always drink when Cain offers you.”

“...”

“Cheap shot?””

“Very.”

“Hah, sorry,” Daniel chuckled. “I guess I’m not the optimal conversationalist.”

“... you okay?” Senna asked suddenly.

“I’m fine.”

“You... you can be honest, okay? I... I can listen.”

“... that’s both cute and nonfactual,” Daniel said, ruffling her hair as she grunted in annoyance. “But I’m really fine. Besides, she was technically an alien. Can you imagine? Pff.”

“...”

“...”

“Somehow it’s not that hard.”

“Yea, she was very human-like.” the two laughed for a moment as Senna took the can of beer from Daniel’s hand and took a sip. “And that’s all you get.”

“Heh,” Daniel chuckled softly, shaking his head. “What is it about him, anyway?”

“Hm?”

“I know, like, three things about him -- he loves telling bad jokes, he smokes way too much, and he’s the luckiest, awful person ever. But...”

“... if you ever tell him what I’m about to say,” Senna took a deep breath as she spoke. “I will split your gonards in half and serve them to the dogs, got it?”

“Uh... they’re... they’re already kinda in half--”

“Got it?!”

“I got it, I got it.”

“... growing up, he’s... he’s the dad that I imagined as... as this perfect version of one in my head,” Senna said, her cheeks flushing. “He... he makes lame jokes, he, he embarrasses you, he makes you angry... but... he’s always there. And, no matter what happens or what you need... you know you can always go to him. And... I think that’s the ‘it’,” she added. “You know that... no matter what crazy request you had, if you walked up to him and asked... he’d say yes.”

“...”

“Like... like I’m sure that, if you walked up to him,” she continued. “And told him -- ‘hey, I saw this ghost and the Shopkeeper says it’s Larua’s’, he’d... he’d find a way, some way, to--”

“It’s alright, Senna,” Daniel interrupted with a light chuckle. “While I’ll admit I didn’t know your level of worship for him went this far--”

“--hey!!”

“I’ll say this -- if you tell him all that, the stuff about him being the perfect that and always finding the answers and whatever... he’d smile and make a lame joke while stroking his ego.”

“... yeah, pretty much.”

“But, think about it,” he said. “If he really was that guy -- the man who can solve everything -- why... why do you think the rest of us are here?”

“Huh?”

“Maybe Emma, if we stretch it, but what about the rest of us? Strangers, pretty much, he picked up and dragged along into this place. If this were a story,” he added. “He... he wouldn’t be that paragon character, the wise oak that disperses wisdom at the young ones going on an adventure. Nor he would be one of the young ones going on the adventure. He’d be that mentor, important -- but ultimately disposable guy -- that we forget about by the finale of the second book.”

“... maybe,” Senna said, taking a deep breath. “No... you’re right. That’s probably what he thinks of himself. But look at us, Daniel. Are we really a bunch of heroes sent off on an adventure to save a world? Half of us would have died by now without him, and the other half would have become... well, you know what. And he can do it alone,” she added with conviction that startled Daniel for a moment. “For fucks’ sake, he is doing it alone. If he were here, with us, do you think any of these goddamn fights would be a struggle? No. They wouldn’t. Because, like every other time, he’d do the actual difficult part alone and let us have our fun on the side.”

“He didn’t do it alone! She did it! He just took the credit!” Daniel barked back, making Senna realize what it was all about and prompting her to sigh. “I... I’m sorry. I know that’s not true.”

“... no, you’re right. He can’t do it alone. That’s why we’re here. At least that’s why we’re supposed to be here. So... next time... let’s make sure he doesn’t have to bend over backwards because we’re still not cutting it.”

“Yeah...”

“...”

“But man, you’re really, and I mean really pining for him. I mean, we all knew you were kind of a daddy’s girl, but sheesh, it looks like you’d kill for him.”

“...”

“Yup. There’s those eyes. Well, I’m gonna, uh, I’m gonna go and see what the guys chose to do. Good talkin’, kid.”

“...”

Senna escorted the hastily-scurrying Daniel with a glare before sighing and leaning further back. Others hardly saw past the veneer; and even Emma, who did, didn’t realize just how further down it went. She, though, caught a glimpse; a brief glimpse of a man who’s struggling, even twenty-five years later, to improve, to not be left behind. His constant bickering and crying about how others’ stats were higher... finally made sense. But, to her, none of that mattered.

She knew she would have made it without him -- since he expressly told her so -- but she would have also never found something far more important than success and strength and the independence she believed would be her salvation.

The talented he believed she had... she finally had a purpose for it. Smiling sweetly, she giggled, feeling jittery. Perhaps for the first time in her life she understood how kids felt both expecting and knowing they will get praised for something they either did or thought of. None of them were perfect, and even though she only knew a fragment of the entire life he already led... she saw countless cracks that he was desperately patching, day after day. Emma saw them too, she knew. But both believed... life was going to find a way.