Chương 115: 28 - SAVING GRACE

T'balt stomped his way around the half-built city, feeling like a kid throwing a tantrum. He hadn't fully put together why Uriel had made him so angry. He supposed he'd been pissed off since the start of this iteration. Ever since Monan showed up again, acting like nothing was wrong. For weeks, he had to hold in that anger, pretending to be cordial in front of everyone, and it just blew up on Uriel in his Sisiphus speech. A walk outside under a cool autumn sun, inside an ocean breeze might've worked to cool him…

If Monan wasn't still following him.

"I don't need a chaperone!" T'balt yelled back at him. He was following about ten paces behind, hands in his pockets, looking as unbothered as usual.

"Well, you got one anyway, so quit bitchin'." T'balt stopped.

"What are you even still doing here? You got your reunion. Leave me alone now."

"I'm just tryna make sure you're good, brother."

"Don't call me brother. I don't need or want you checking on me." T'balt feigned walking away, only for his emotions to bring him back.

"You're probably the reason he thinks that way. It's you messing with us, trying to get us all not to care about the world anymore, just because you don't." Monan put his hands up, pleading innocence.

"Uri's got his own issues. Always been a little fucked in the head since before Zero Day… maybe even since birth, who knows. But that ain't my logic floating around in his noggin. The way I see it, everyone in hell has to sit there wallowing in their own shit. At least I get a rock to play with." T'balt sighed, trying not to squeeze his hair out. He wasn't going to get anywhere talking to any of these people. But just then, a ruckus kicked up in one of the nearby buildings as the sun dipped over the horizon.

Looking around, it was the same saloon as before. The one where Lila Bloom was being exploited. Almost instinctively, he marched straight to the front door, intent on making good on his promise to Uriel. It was much the same sight as before: a bunch of men hooting at the woman on the stage and shouting obscene things at her. Though this one wasn't the singer but someone else, much younger, early twenties, dancing like an actual stripper.

The place was just a temporary strip club for men to get their fix in the apocalypse. T'balt scanned the room, and sure enough, she was in the back corner. That chain was wrapped around her neck as a man with half his teeth yanked her around like a dog. The only difference was that she had more clothes on this time; instead of just a loose bikini, she was wearing a skimpy silver short dress as she stood obediently behind him, eyes glued to the floor.

He walked up to the man and, without warning, punched him right in the mouth. The man flailed over, shouting, "What the hell!?" and everyone stood up. Lila screamed. The woman ran off the stage, and several of the men barged up to T'balt and grabbed him, likely to beat the shit out of him. He didn't even think this far ahead. Ellie and the others weren't with him, and he wasn't looted, leaving his bag in Uriel's library. He was completely defenseless. That didn't mean he wasn't in the mood to fight.

"Come on! You wanna fight!" To the outside world, he was sure he looked like he'd gone rabid, even making some of the men step back, despite them being looted.

"Go get the police!" One of them shouted.

"We got a crazy man in here!" Three people ran outside, and not two seconds later, one of the police men walked inside. But this one was different. He walked alone, wearing a cowboy hat and holding his waist belt like an old western sheriff. But he still only had that shoddy vest with the word police painted on it in white letters. The other men in the saloon started gloating.

"Oh, you're gonna get yours now. The police are here." T'balt just rolled his eyes. Instead of rushing towards T'balt to arrest him, the policeman got on stage.

"Alright, you little shits, listen up!" The policeman called with the voice of Monan Ryker.

"There's been an oversight in Graceland's book of laws. I'm here to rectify that…." He looked down at the man holding Lila's chain.

"Ownership of another human being is now against the law. Anyone who doesn't abide by this will be thrown off this island without a lifeboat." This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The men in the saloon didn't seem to protest. Everyone just looked around like they had been caught shoplifting by their parents. But one man had a lot to say about it, Lila's captor, who stood up, wiping the blood from his spitting at Monan.

"That ain't what I was told when I got here! I was promised that my property would stay my property no matter what it was!" Monan leaned back, if only to avoid the man's hideous breath. When the man was done, Monan whipped out his combat knife, touching so close that it sliced hair off the man's neck. Once he was nice and scared, Monan doubled down by forcing him against a wall.

"Now you listen here fuck bag. The law is the law. So if you go anywhere near that woman again, I will wrap that chain around your dick, tie the other end to a rock, and throw it deep into the ocean. You got me?" The man rapidly nodded, handing Monan the chain. And as soon as he got the chance, he sprinted out of the saloon. And for a moment, Lila Bloom was left in Monan's clutches.

He grinned, then unwrapped the chain from around her neck, tossing it to T'balt, who looked dumbfounded as he watched tears come to the singer's eyes.

"Is it… really over?" She stuttered as her honey touched her skin, wiping the water from her mature but beautiful face.

"Yep, you're free, little songbird…"

"That man… had been stalking me for years. Then everything broke down, and there was nothing stopping him from breaking into my house and… he protected me from those demons, so I felt I had to stay with him, but now I… thank you." She looked at both of them.

"Thank you so much."

"There's a dirty-looking beach on the back end of this place. There's a shack back there that looks beat to shit, but if you knock on one of the walls, the Bestower will be there." Her eyes looked shocked.

"The Bestower? I… don't know what…"

"Tell him Monan sent you." After a moment of hesitation, she cleared her face, making it presentable enough to meet one of the few people more unattainable than herself as a famous singer.

"Ok." She walked out the door to do as he said. When she did, Monan yelled at all the lingerers still waiting around for the next show.

"What are y'all looking at? Scatter! Get back to work!" And they followed Lila right out the door. T'balt just stood there quietly, still holding Lila's chain.

"What game are you playing, Monan? You trying to convince me you suddenly have a good heart now?"

"This game, I think I'm calling T'balt's sidekick route."

"Right… You're just having fun with people's lives again." Monan then spoke quietly, almost sounding sincere.

"I don't know. It's fun to be the villain, but sometimes it's good to feel like the hero every now and then." He walked out the door, and when he did, he tore his police vest and hat off, tossing them to some guy outside with a black eye. T'balt groaned.

"What? I asked nicely," Monan said, walking down the road. T'balt followed him to the city square, where a giant statue of Uriel was being built. One man was summoning the white stone to build it while another sculpted it, sitting on the man's currently headless shoulders.

"Listen, Monan," T'balt said.

"I'm not here to just feel like a hero. This power… being a Redeemer. It saved my life. It made me someone I can believe in. I want to do something with that, but you people keep telling me that nothing I do ever matters. How am I supposed to go on… if none of it means anything in the end?" Monan shrugged.

"Sorry, kid. A feeling is the best thing you're gonna get. I told you saving the world is a pipe dream. Trust me. I know… Eventually, you're gonna try everything in your power to get this thing to stop, and then you're gonna roll back down that hill anyway. It's a good feeling every now and then, but it ain't worth the effort in the end. Eventually, you'll just fade back doing whatever makes you feel good."

"I can't live like that. I won't," T'balt said, shaking his head. Monan put a hand on his shoulder, surprisingly tenderly for all the times that the hand had tried to kill him.

"I've been doing this a long time. After ten thousand tries, saving people like Lila isn't worth the extra effort. You'll live, save her, die, and then see her in the exact same place with that exact same man. Sheesh, one day you might even kill her. And she'll still be a slave the next time you redeem."

"She won't be if I save her," T'balt said, pushing Monan's hand off him.

"Every time?"

"As long as I'm able." He laughed. A poor, pitying laugh.

"You don't stay home for Zero Day anymore, do you?"

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"I remember you used to get all choked up about that jogger outside your place. The one that gets ripped up by the deer." T'balt froze.

"Yeah. I bet you haven't thought about him in a while. Because you were too busy running to try to save the kid from his fucked up dad. Then you run and go save those poor people at the church. All the while, that man is dead right now. Why? Because you wanted to do something else this time..." Monan condescendingly patted T'balt on the back.

"See? Just a feeling."