Great Responsibility
“...Hey Maka…are you okay?”
Love is standing over Maka waiting for her to wake up so that they can finally finish this mission and go back to the school.
“...Yeah…” Maka takes a second to get her bearings. “...Yeah…I think I am fine…”
Maka looks around and notices that she was in a different place then where she passed out.
“Hey Love?” Maka rubs the back of her head. “...Where are we?”
“...Oh…I just moved you into a room so you weren’t just out there in the open…”
Maka nods her head and looks around for a little while.
“...Wait a second…Where is Andy?”
Love instantly felt a pang of guilt surge course through her body.
“...Um…about that…” Love thinks about where to even start or how to bring up what happened. “...What is the last thing you remember before you passed out?”
“...Huh…” Maka thinks for a moment. “...I think it was you saving me from the guillotine.”
“...Okay…”
“...Love, I can tell that you aren’t telling me something…So just say it.”
Love closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
“...The thing is…that…Andy…that…he is…” Love tried to say what happened, but it felt like something was stopping her from doing so. Recounting the events in her mind again were starting to make her tear up.
Maka notices how upset Love is so she stands up and puts her arm around her.
“...Hey…” Maka wasn’t that good at talking about stuff like emotions or feelings.
Maka sighs.
“...Just tell me what happened…I’ll be able to handle it.”
“...Okay…” Love took a deep breath. “...After you passed out I still had my red eyes…so the details are kind of fuzzy for the rest of the fight itself…but after I beat Noir again…I noticed that…Andy…was…” Love sighed. “...He had a giant hole right through the center of his chest…Maka…Andy’s dead…”
“That bastard!” Maka said after she immediately started to get angry. “I’ll kill him!”
“...Maka…it wasn’t Noir…” Love took another deep breath. “...There is something else I haven't told you yet…when I had my red eyes…I was…actually the one who shot Andy…”
“...Love…” Maka’s anger instantly deflated and was suddenly replaced with a feeling of emptiness. “...What happened?”
“...I…I shot at Noir to finally win the fight…but Andy was standing right on the other side of him…The arrow I shot pierced through Noir and went through Andy as well…”
Maka started pacing and had her hand on her chin.
“...This…is bad, Love…Like…really, really bad!”
“...Yeah…I can’t control what I do when I…get like that…not…yet at least…” Love started to tear up again. “...But I still feel like this was all my fault…”
Maka instantly puts her hands on Love’s shoulders.
“You can’t tell anyone else about this!”
“...But…we have to tell them what happened…They need to know…”
Maka pinches the bridge of her nose and thinks for a moment.
“...What if…we just tell the others that Noir did it…”
“...I…I can’t like Maka…I’m not good at it…”
“...Love…haven’t you been lying to yourself your entire life…”
“...That’s…that’s different…”
“...I mean…if you think about it…Noir is still the main reason why this happened…You wouldn’t have shot that arrow if he wasn’t there…”
Love rubs the back of her neck.
“...Yeah…you’re right…”
“...We should get as far away from the crime scene as possible…”
“...Yeah…”
Love and Maka don’t exactly know where they are going, but they knew that they had to not be where they were.
When they walked past the location of the fight Love refused to look towards it. Maka looked for only a second, but that was more than enough time for the scene to be scarred into her mind.
When they left a small puddle of blood started moving.
It slowly, but surely made its way over to a vent panel and crawled inside.
Urchin, Rick, Ash, Violet, Candi, and Takeru are walking through more halls of the villain hideout.
“Okay everyone. Follow close and stay behind me.” Urchin says to the others. “Rick, stay in the back so we can keep the kids safe.”
“Roger that.” Rick says as he takes another puff of his cigar.
After walking for what felt like another half hour they eventually ran into more people.
“Love, Maka, Thank God! there you two are.” Violet says as soon as she sees them.
Candi runs up to them both and gives them a big hug.
“...Wait…” Candi looks down for a second before quickly letting go of them. “...Why…why are you guys covered in blood?”
“...We fought Noir…” Love responded.
“...Where’s Andy?” Urchin asked.
Tears instantly formed in the corners of Love’s eyes again as she looked at Maka.
“...I’m sorry to be the one that has to tell you this…” Maka takes a deep breath before continuing. “...But Andy…was killed by Noir…”
“...What?” Is all that Urchin could say.
“...Yeah…we beat Noir…but Andy…didn’t make it…”
Urchin closes his eyes and puts his hand over his mouth. One singular tear falls from his eyes, but after that he shakes his head to refocus himself.
“...What happened to Andy is very unfortunate, but we should all do our best to make sure his death is not in vain…”
“...I didn’t know that it could rain indoors…” Rick said as a few tears fell from his eyes.
Noir takes a deep breath.
“...Alright, let’s keep going…”
The heroes start to walk further into the building, but they are soon interrupted.
“Urchin! Slick Rick!” The American Dream yells out as he quickly heads over to where the heroes are.
“...American Dream…” Urchin says with his arms crossed.
“...That’s too formal, you can call me Andrew.”
“...Okay…Andrew…”
“...Nevermind…just stick to American Dream.”
“Sir!”
“Wait! Before you say anything I have something I want to say to you first.”
“...Yes…”
“...Would you and Rick be interested in a new job opportunity?”
“...I don’t think this is the right time or place for that Sir…”
The American Dream sighs.
“...Fine…What did you need to tell me that was so important?”
Urchin takes a deep breath and prepares himself for what he needs to say.
“...I’m sorry to say this, but Andy didn’t make it…”
“...Okay…and…”
“...Wait, what?!” Urchin was dumbfounded. “...Is…is that all you have to say…”
“...What? He was a good sidekick, but…he could have been…you know…better. This is proof of that.”
“...Do…do you hear what you are saying right now?!” Urchin started to get angry…like…ANGRY angry!
“...Not my first sidekick…Definitely not going to be the last…”
“Andy was a person! Not just your sidekick!” Urchin was yelling now. Tears started falling from the corners of his eyes as he spoke.
“...Eh…” The American Dream said with a shrug.
Rick stomps towards The American Dream, throws his cigar at the ground, and uses his anger to quickly stamp it out.
“...Are…are you tellin’ me that you are okay with leaving a soldier behind?!”
“...He knew what he was getting into. This kind of thing just comes with the territory.”
Urchin and Rick are both shooting daggers at Mr. Dream with their eyes. One wrong move and they were both going to snap.
Urchin walks up to The American Dream and pokes him in the chest.
“If you don’t want to help people, why did you even want to be a hero in the first place?”
“Easy! The money!”
Urchin extends his claws and Rick gets in a boxing stance.
“...Wrong answer, Andrew…”
“Fine!” The American Dream also takes a combative stance.
“...If you want to fight…” Mr. Dream slams his fists together. He does this with so much force that the room shakes around them. “...Then I fight you shall have!”