Chương 29: Weak Heart

Moments later, Adam woke up. For a while, he did not move. He did not speak. He simply stared at the ceiling of Medusa's castle while the dream bled away from his mind. His hands felt wet. They were not. There was no blood on them. No knife. No tiny body. No wife screaming at him. And yet, Adam could feel it. The stain had sunk deeper than skin. Flashes of the dream kept tearing through his head. Celia crying as he held the knife.

The way he had struck quickly, cleanly, expertly, so even the fake version of his daughter would not feel pain. The way Melanie had screamed. The way she had called him a monster. The way she had said he left her to die. The way he had forced himself to kill her too. Adam's fingers twitched against the floor. He did not cry. Something inside him had gone too empty for that. Slowly, he sat up. The others were still unconscious. Noah lay on the floor, trapped in whatever sweet lie Quinn had made for him.

Ava was beside him, her hand still curled as if reaching for her daggers. Cyrus was motionless nearby, his expression strangely peaceful. And Quinn was still cleaning the windows. He hummed softly as he wiped the glass, as if nothing had happened at all. Then he glanced over his shoulder.

"Oh." He blinked.

"You woke up." Adam stood. Quinn turned fully, tilting his head.

"I really did not think you could manage something so cruel." His voice was not mocking. If anything, he sounded curious.

"Is your heart that strong? Strong enough to endure such a blow?" Adam stared at him. His eyes were hollow. Dead.

"No." Quinn's smile faded slightly. Adam's voice came out low and empty.

"It's so weak that another moment without my real daughter would break it." For a moment, the hallway was silent. Quinn looked at the sleeping children on the floor.

"Are you going to wake them up?" Adam glanced down at Noah, Ava, and Cyrus. Then he looked back at Quinn.

"Nah." His voice was calm. Too calm.

"Those kids don't need to see what I'm about to do to you." Quinn's fingers tightened around the cloth in his hand. Adam raised one arm. The air around him changed. Dark pressure filled the hallway.

"Come to me." Black light gathered in his palm.

"My Regalia." The shape of a weapon began to form.

"Oh, Lion Spear Knight." A long black jousting spear appeared in Adam's hand. Its surface was dark and polished, heavy with the presence of a legend carved into the stars. Quinn took one step back. Adam lowered the spear toward him. His face did not twist with rage. His voice did not shake. That made it worse.

"You gave me my family back." The black spear pointed at Quinn's chest.

"Then you made me kill them again." Adam's grip tightened.

"So I'm going to be very clear." The hallway seemed to hold its breath.

"You are not leaving this room untouched." Quinn's face went pale. Then golden light gathered around him.

"I'll put you in an unbreakable dream." His voice shook, but his ability answered him.

"Ability Activate." The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Above Quinn's head, a ring of glowing yellow dolls appeared. They looked like tiny angels, all holding hands in a circle. Their blank faces smiled as they turned slowly above him, spilling warm light across the hall.

"Cherish Song." One of the angel dolls broke from the ring. It curled into a small golden orb and shot toward Adam. Adam did not dodge. The orb struck his chest. His eyes rolled back. For one second, he was gone. Then he returned. His eyes focused again. His grip on the black spear tightened. Quinn took a step back. Adam had killed them again. Quinn could see it on his face.

"Get away…" Another angel shot forward.

"Get away!" The orb struck Adam. His wedding day. Melanie in white. Her smile brighter than sunlight. The knife in his hand. Adam blinked and stepped forward. Another orb hit him. A younger Adam drinking with Walter and Cyril, laughing like fools beneath the night sky. The spear in his hand. Another step. Another orb. The day he met Melanie. The first time she smiled at him. The first time he thought he might be allowed to be happy. Another step. Another orb. Celia's birth. Her tiny hand wrapped around his finger.

Melanie crying with joy beside him. Adam's breath trembled. Then his eyes opened again. He kept walking. Quinn fired again and again. Each dream was sweeter than the last. Each memory was warmer. Each illusion begged him to stop. And Adam killed every one of them. One slow step at a time, he crossed the hallway. Quinn's breathing turned ragged.

"No…" Adam raised the Lion Spear Knight.

"No, stay back!" In one swift slash, Adam tore Quinn's arm from his body. The severed arm spun through the air and hit the marble floor with a wet sound. Quinn screamed. The ring of angel dolls above him flickered. He clutched the bleeding stump and staggered backward, tears filling his crimson eyes.

"You're a monster!" Adam said nothing.

"What kind of person could do that?" Quinn screamed.

"What kind of person could kill the people they love that many times?" A tear rolled down Adam's cheek. He kicked Quinn to the ground. Quinn hit the floor hard, gasping. Adam stepped onto his chest. The black spear lowered beside him, its point scraping against the marble.

"I am a monster." His voice was cold. Empty.

"I'm about to betray the children of my two greatest friends." Quinn froze beneath him. Adam slowly increased the pressure of his foot.

"All because I was too weak to protect my family." Quinn clawed at Adam's leg with his remaining hand.

"Stop it." Adam did not move.

"Stop it, you psycho!" The pressure grew heavier. Quinn's ribs creaked. Adam stared down at him with hollow eyes, tears still slipping silently down his face.

"Use your ability on yourself." Quinn froze. Adam's voice remained cold.

"Do that, and I'll spare you." Quinn's breathing turned shallow beneath his foot.

"Suffer the pain of killing your own loved ones…" Adam leaned slightly closer.

"Or rot in that dream forever." The black spear rested against the floor beside him.

"Either works." Quinn trembled.

"I'll do it," he choked out.

"I'll do it." Adam lifted his foot. Quinn curled in on himself, clutching his chest with his remaining hand. Golden light flickered weakly around him.

"Ability Activate…" His voice shook.

"Cherish Song." The ring of angel dolls appeared once more, but this time, they floated above Quinn. Their gentle light fell over him. His eyes rolled back. Then he went still. Slowly, the bleeding stump where his arm had been began to close. His demonic blood gave him just enough regeneration to seal the wound, though the arm itself did not return. A faint smile touched Quinn's face. The dream had taken him. And within it, he was no longer lying broken on a castle floor. He was back at the beginning.

Back to the day he met Lady Medusa. Before she was the Black Witch. Before the castle became a cage of memories. Before sorrow swallowed everything. He had only been a maid then. A servant in a quiet household. A man who cleaned windows, prepared meals, and watched over her children. Twins. A boy and a girl. Quinn smiled in his sleep as the dream wrapped around him. Adam watched for a moment. Then he turned away. The hallway was silent again.

Noah, Ava, and Cyrus still lay unconscious on the floor, trapped in their own perfect dreams. Adam wiped his face with the back of his hand. It did nothing. The tears kept coming. He walked over to Noah first.

"Sorry, kid." Then he punched him in the face. Noah woke with a gasp, jolting upright. Before he could speak, Adam moved to Ava and punched her awake too. Ava snapped up, dagger already halfway drawn. Cyrus was next. Adam hit him once across the cheek. Cyrus opened his eyes and sat up slowly, adjusting his glasses with a quiet grimace. Noah looked around, breathing hard. Then his eyes landed on Adam.

"Are you okay?" Adam did not answer. Ava stared at him. Her expression softened.

"You're crying." Cyrus remained silent. He looked at Quinn sleeping against the wall. Then at the blood on the floor. Then at Adam's face. Whatever he understood, he chose not to say it. Adam turned away from them.

"I'm fine." His voice was soft. Too soft. He lifted his spear and started down the hallway.

"Let's just keep going." No one believed him. But no one stopped him. Together, they continued deeper into Medusa's castle, leaving Quinn asleep behind them. Smiling inside a dream that would never forgive him.