Chương 136: 49 - PAYING THE PIPER

"Monanland?" T'balt repeated, letting his jaw hang. Monan's expression deflated some.

"The name will grow on you… eventually." Cannon stepped between them.

"Are you the one responsible for doing that to that man up there?" he said with a stark seriousness. Monan teleported behind him, speaking in the wrestler's ear.

"Shush now… this is a conversation between Redeemers. Any words from the props will not be tolerated." He then teleported back into his original position as if he had never moved, using the Wanderer's Loot just to mess with them. It sent a shiver down Cannon's spine enough to get him to second-guess himself, but T'balt's hand put him at ease.

"I'll handle this for now," T'balt said. But from a particular word, he knew his hunch that this iteration would be difficult was spot on.

"Props?" The word brought back all sorts of bad memories.

"Are we dealing with the old Monan again?" His tone was stiff, almost biting.

"Old?" Monan scoffed.

"Brother, I never change. I'm only ever in it to have a good time. You know this." Tyene interrupted.

"Yeah, well, your idea of a good time is pretty damn sadistic." He took a step back, appearing offended.

"Alright. I see what this looks like to you, but you can put your pitchforks down, alright, red? Uriel asked for this. I'm actually helping him out here." He could tell by the looks on their faces that both the Redeemers opposite him thought that was a load of bullshit.

"Alright, fine." The man put a hand on each of their shoulders as if he were going to whisper a secret. And then they appeared near the chest of the statue, standing on the open book it held. The crowd below collectively gasped, and Vienna was down there throwing a fit as soon as Tyene disappeared. But they had to recollect themselves, realizing Monan had teleported them right below the place where Uriel hung. His body looked like he'd been whipped and beaten with someone's bare fist.

His head drooped to his chest, as his unnaturally silver hair hid his face. Monan called out to the man.

"Yo, Uri! I brought you some company." Uriel started coughing before slowly lifting his head to look at them. His face was even thinner than it was before. He looked like he'd been starved.

"Ah, T'balt," he said weakly.

"Nice to… see you again."

"And remember how you were saying you wanted to meet the real number four?" Monan added.

"Well, look who decided to show up." Uriel looked at Tyene.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Though," he coughed.

"I wish I… were in a position to greet you properly." She took a cautious step forward.

"Tell the truth. Do we need to kill this bastard?" He looked at Monan.

"No… this is something that I've wanted for a long time now. It's a part of my penance. I need to show God that I'm truly regretful for what I've done. I will hang here and watch Corlander destroy everything I love with my own eyes."

"You can't be serious," T'balt said.

"That won't happen for another month at least. And you already look like you're about to die of starvation."

"Nah. The Need Nullification in his neck will keep him nice and ripe for the old man," Monan said.

"So I guess no worries about sleeping or shitting yourself up here," Tyene remarked. With what little strength Uriel had, he nodded.

"There will be nothing for me but to watch it all happen." T'balt shook his head.

"I don't get it. How is making yourself suffer like this gonna solve anything? What did you even do that you feel like you need to do all this?" He raised his voice, suddenly filled with anger. Uriel dropped his head again.

"I don't wish to talk about it." T'balt scoffed, sick of all the vagueness surrounding the leader of Graceland. But Monan was the one who spoke up.

"No. No. Uri, you got the kids looking at me like I'm the bad guy. So I'm gonna tell them the truth." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Uriel said nothing.

"See, Uriel is a murderer." Monan said it as if he were boasting.

"So what? So are you?" Tyene spouted.

"That's where you're wrong. I'm no murderer. Everyone I killed is still alive," he laughed to himself.

"But Uriel here was serving a life sentence long before Zero Day ever happened. Double homicide. The man you see above you is an escaped convict." T'balt stared up at the man. He didn't like seeing the worst in people. It was always one of his problems, but still, hearing it, it didn't feel right. It was hard to believe it when Uriel appeared so mild-mannered with most things.

"Uriel, is that true?" The man just turned his head. That was as good an indication as any that it was true. That was the crime he always spoke about.

"So when you think about it that way, he deserves this. But I told him not to worry. I wanted to be there for him in his time of need, help him cleanse himself and take care of this shanty town while he's up here chatting with God."

"Don't act like you don't think this is all one big joke." Tyene scoffed.

"It isn't a joke," Uriel spoke up with more energy in his voice.

"I killed an innocent woman. I can take everything else back… but not my biggest regret." There was something in his voice that seemed to break him. Sorrow. Desperation. Anger.

"And I've had to live with that for a thousand years. I took death into my own hands, and now death has played a cruel joke on me by abandoning me in my time of need… I need him to hear me again. I need him to find me. I cannot do this anymore." They were all struck silent, confronted with the grim reality of what this was. A man broken because he had lived past his limit. None of them had anything to say…

"Now leave me, please," Uriel spoke.

"I wish to suffer alone." Monan nodded, grabbing Tyene and T'balt by their arms. Then they appeared in the library down below the city. He took a few steps back from them, shrugging before taking a load off on one of the couches. All T'balt could do was stand there scratching his head.

"A murderer…" was all he kept thinking about. He thought about the people he'd killed, specifically Chosa. Even though it was self-defense, he still felt like shit after doing it. But the fact that it was reversed was the only thing that saved him from hating himself for it to this day. If Uriel was in prison before this, that meant he was just a killer, through and through. And the man they saw on that statue was driven to the brink because of his murder. That's what taking someone's life did to sane people.

And that's what they were here to do: to kill Corlander. He was having second thoughts, but all that came out of his mouth was, "So what do we do?" Tyene stared at him, sensing where his mind was going.

"What do you mean, what do we do? Who says anything has to change?"

"What if he does deserve to be punished… for what he did? We can't treat killing as if it doesn't mean anything… especially when the person can't come back."

"So what? You made a promise. We're here to kill Corlander, remember?" Monan cackled.

"That's right. You did always have some major daddy issues."

"You shut up," Tyene quickly approached T'balt, standing inches from his face. She spoke softly.

"This was never about Uriel. You wanted to save these people. Not him."

"I know that," T'balt mumbled.

"It's just—""What did you think, that we're Redeemers because we were good people before? Some holy doctrine picked us because we're supposed to be some beacons of virtue?" She shook her head.

"That's not where you're going to find meaning in this. What Uriel is doesn't change what we have to do. You can be like him and give up, or you can keep living on." He dragged his hand down his face, in a bad attempt to wipe the stress off of it.

"You're right. I know you're right. We still need to stop Corlander. Uriel will just have to suffer on his own. I still want this place to be safe for us, so we have to be the ones to protect it." Monan suddenly stood up.

"Now you're on to something. This is our city. My version of Graceland has a collective leadership. Not just me. It's run by Redeemers, for Redeemers."

"What kind of mess are you spouting now? Monan, we don't have time for one of your games."

"It ain't just a game. It's a family project. I'm telling you that if you want to make this place your safe haven, I'm all in. At least this iteration... Imagine it. We build this place to have everything we could ever need. We all live nice, peaceful lives and we even deal with that Corlander mother fucker while we're at it. And who knows? Maybe Uri might come down once he sees how much fun we're having." Tyene rolled her eyes. Monan was talking like they were planning a frat party. But T'balt took him seriously.

"You mean, you're gonna evenly split the leadership between us?"

"I'm curious what you'll do with the place." He grinned. There was a ruckus from up the stairs. They could hear Vienna's voice threatening the Gracelandians that were guarding the entrance. It sounded like she was two seconds from smashing David's face in.

"I'm telling you nobody down there, miss," Uriel's tall assistant tried to block her at the top of the stairs.

"I have a tracking loot. I know they're here." They had borrowed the tracker from Genya before they left. She shoved her way past him and down the stairs along with Acelin, Ellie, and Cannon. Once they went down there, Vienna ran up to Tyene, asking if she was okay, and the others did the same with T'balt.

"I am confusion," David said in his strange accent.

"Where did these people come from?"

"We're fine," T'balt told everyone.

"But I need to talk to you all. Plans have changed a bit. It seems like… we're in charge now." Tyene watched them gather at the couch so T'balt could explain the situation. Monan suddenly teleported behind her, whispering.

"That was a good performance. They should've given you a Nobel prize." She grimaced.

"As if anyone here buys into your act… None of us are saints."