Chapter 424: The Rightest Wrong
At the last stretch of road for home was when I realized that I never got to fulfill Adalia’s request of going swimming after.
After everything that’s happened, after the hurricane of revelations at the police station had billowed through and ravaged my thoughts to ruin, it sorta got buried and forgotten beneath endless piles of aftermath rubble and debris.
In hindsight, It was quite obvious from the get-go that swimming was just an excuse, tagging along to the police station was also just an excuse. In actuality, I’m sure she just wanted a reason to spend time with me, and as conceited as I sound thinking that, there was just no other explanation.
Alas, in the end, that reason was abruptly cut short, and we were heading home.
As we disembarked on our stop, and walked the rest of the way, I half-expected her to bring it up any second now. But all the way from the bus stop to the front porch, she didn’t utter to me a single word.
Now that could just be her simply forgetting in a half-asleep stupor, or reason number two, she chose deliberately not to bring it up.
Obviously, the obvious answer was obviously obvious...
.....
Amelia had also obviously had it up to here with my company, and had swiftly parted ways for the guest room the very instant I turned my eyes away for a brief second. Adalia followed along in her wake a moment later, choosing to slowly clamber her way up the staircase, instead of just outright slinking out of sight like her sister does frankly quite too often.
With their silent farewell, came then a warm and gentle greeting. Ash skirted across the hall, meeting with curious eyes and a kindly expression. her smile, her bow, her soft, soothing voice welcoming me home in a warm, tender embrace.
I don’t think it was possible to not feel a shred of joy being greeted this way each and every time. The world could have very well ended, but if I saw that smile after – I mean, did the world really end? Nah, can’t have.
“Sammy?” I asked, skipping on one foot, and pulling my shoes off from the other.
“Lady Samantha has yet to leave your room since after your departure,” Ash said, trailing both our gazes to the top of the stairs. “Though it does seem she’s been conversing with someone. A friend, I presume.”
Good, last thing I needed now was another one of Sammy’s question, answer and complain games. Eventually, I knew that the cat had to be let out of the bag at some point, a situation like this, what I was planning, she will have to be informed sooner or later... but right then, I was not up to having that kind of conversation yet.
For now, though, “You’re not doing anything now, are you?”
Ash paused. “Laundry.”
“Later,” I moved us to the living room, onto the couch beside one another. “We have... problems.”
Explaining everything that’s transpired at the station to her was almost like reliving it all over again. I could feel every emotion I felt, hear every word everyone has ever said, but worse than that was the anticipation, what Ash had to say. Does she agree, disagree?
“Do I have permission to speak freely, Master?” She asked the instant I was done speaking.
“Wouldn’t want you speaking any other way,” I said.
She gave a small smile, quickly vanishing in the next second. “If everything is truly as you say, had Jay truly tethered a piece of himself into this person – then, speaking as your Servant, I believe it truly in your best interest to put both souls at rest. There simply exist no other remedies.”
“Yeah, thought you’d say that...”
“But...” Ash placed her hand above my own. “Doing as such... it wouldn’t be you, would it? To you, the impossible is only merely a hurdle, and no doubt you’ll do everything you can to jump over that hurdle. So I shall not sit here advising you to do otherwise... after all, was it not you being you that allowed me to be the way that I am with you now?”
A mix of both, huh? Agree to disagree... in the nicest, most heart-throbbing, loving way possible. This girl needs to run for politics, for real. Swaying trust with little to no effort.
Briefly, I felt my spirits lift – only to trip, fall and stay down once more. There was still the other elephant in the room to tackle.
“Last night, with Amanda, Sera showed up...” I saw the momentary surprise in her eyes, and then the realization dawning on her face, and I continued on, confirming her suspicion. “Yeah, she finally told me what she wanted.”
It wasn’t the least bit easier explaining the third time around, in fact with her, it was even harder. Out of everyone else, Irene, Amanda... it was Ash’s thoughts that I was most curious about – knowing their relationship, how interwoven their fates seem to be – I haven’t a doubt that out of three that she would be the one to be the most sympathetic with Sera’s plight.
Or so I thought at least.
“Do not set her free, Master.” Not a blink of hesitation, without even sparing a thought to consider, Ash gave her answer. “Do not honor the deal.”
The sudden shift between her two answers had me reeling like I’ve gone insane here. This felt so out of character for her. The kindly Ash, the knightly Ash, turning her back to someone she’d consider a friend, what?
After stammering a few times, I finally said, “Sera is – ”
“A threat,” Ash coldly stated. “An ally, a companion, but first and foremost, a threat. Master, the risk she potentially poses to this world, more importantly, to you... should she go rogue, the resulting aftermath would undoubtedly be catastrophic.”
All those times I saw her leave the house to be with her, that one instance I caught her teaching Sera how to cook... the hell was all that, she’s talking like they never happened.
“But how about all that time you spent with her?” I said, addressing these thoughts. “You don’t think she’d... you still think she’d be – ”
“Every one of my visits, of our time spent together, she would talk of a moment, speak of an instance that I have no memory of,” Ash said. “I am not the same Eshwlyn that she knows, and yet despite knowing this, she continues to speak to me as if I am. She tells me of our bond, but I do not feel it. Those feelings, those memories are all hers alone. I believe she yearns for this old way of life that we share, and though earnestly I try to be a source of companionship for her, it is not the same, I am not the same.”
What point was she making? I wasn’t sure, and the confusion must have shown on my face. She went on some more.
“In time, she’ll come to realize that herself, and what of then?” She asked rhetorically. “In this strange new world she harbors no care for, no longer bound to you, no longer seeing me the way she does, what if someday, she decides to bring it all to ruin?”
I think Ash could tell that I was actually expecting to hear a different answer from her than this, and so wanting to clarify a bit more, she followed after with a small sigh.
“Make no mistake, I do care for her, I do think myself a friend to her, and I’ve every intention of staying as so,” She held onto my hand a little bit tighter. “It’s just that... I care for you more. And as much as we try to overlook it, there is no denying her origin, as there is no denying mine – we were both created, fabricated, written, for the sole purpose of instigating evil. It is not a state of mind, it is an irrefutable fact. I do hope you understand where exactly I am coming from. I only have your best interest at heart.”
See what I mean about swaying hearts? She knew just what to say, and how to say them. She presented a valid point, no cracks that showed where I can prod and poke, except for...
“You’re saying it’s impossible, then?”
An impossible hurdle indeed,” Ash caught my meaning at once, and once more, she gave a smile. “And alas, this is merely my say on the matter. In the end, it comes down to you to decide what is truly the right choice.”
“I don’t know the right choice, Ash.”
“Of course you don’t, I never said that you did, Master,” She said. “Only that you have to choose.”
“And what if I choose wrong?”
“You only choose what you yourself think is right, even when you know that it is wrong,” Ash tilted her head, her gaze trailing in wonder. “The wrong choice, but the right intentions. Is this not precisely what you are doing now, intending to save this man from a fate most believe inescapable?”
“At face value, maybe.” I shifted up my seat, hunching myself forward, elbows on my knees. “Look, Sera is – I want to believe in her. Like how I believe in you. What if... what if the things you say might happen, won’t happen? What if she stays good? Listens? Not do what she’s written to do? I want to think that she won’t.”
“But you do,” Ash said.
“I do,” I admitted. “That’s why I’m going around passing the problem around. I guess I just wanna be told that I’m wrong.”
“Sadly, it is a fruitless endeavor, Master.”
I nodded, head going slump. “Yeah, I see that now. For once, everyone is already saying what I’m thinking and not the other way around.”
“The only one that can tell yourself incorrect, is yourself, and inversely – ”
“I’m only right, if I tell myself that I’m right,” I finished for her.
“Precisely,” Ash gently lifted my stare, her fingers propping my chin. “So, think, what exactly are you telling yourself now, Master? Is it wrong to free her? Wronger to bind her? Or is it right to free her? Righter to bind her? Which is the wrongest wrong, and the rightest right?”
Simultaneously, Ash was making no sense, and making so much sense. The rightest right and the wrongest wrong. Simultaneously, either choice was wrong, but also right. It all comes down to what I thought of it.
So, what did I think of it?
Ash slowly slid her fingers across my skin, lowering her hand to her side, before rising to her feet with a bow. “You think on this matter, Master. Think on it hard. But be assured that no matter your decision, even if I disagree, know that you’ll always have my trust, my loyalty, and my understanding.”
“Where are you going?” I asked before she could even finish turning away.
“Laundry, Master. Lady Samantha has personally requested to do so with haste.”
Ah, right, laundry, almost forgot. Also wait, what? Sammy? Requesting? Can’t do the laundry herself? Ash isn’t a maid! Well, technically she is, but still! The audacity, no shame. When I get my hands on her, she’s gonna get a –
“Also, to prepare myself for the journey ahead of us. I assume the trip will be a long one. How exactly will we be getting there?”
What?
“What?”
“Your home, Master, your homeland,” Ash clarified. “What exactly would be our means of transportation?”
Our?
“Our?”
She cocked her head at me. “Master, surely you mustn’t have thought that I’d let you go on this venture alone. I shall be accompanying you.”
“You are?”
“Yes, indeed, I am,” She affirmed. “As is Adalia, is she not? Fresh blood surely would be hard to come by in your absence.”
I narrowed my lips, feeling stupid, feeling dumb. “Slipped my mind...”
“I presumed as much,” She said, breathing a weary sigh. “What is a Servant without her Master, I ask? Wherever you will be, Master, surely you can count that I will be there too.”
Ash, Adalia – train ticket price just keeps on piling. Well, good news was, looks as if I’ll get to fulfill Adalia’s request after all.
“And what of Lady Samantha, Master?” Ash asked. “Surely you don’t intend –
“Her choice,” I said, and left it at that.
Knowing her feelings towards Mom, I’m not too sure if she’s ready for a return trip so soon after leaving. But leaving her in town is also... maybe I can ask Amanda to keep an eye on her for me? They get along well, surely she shouldn’t mind having her over at her place.
Speaking of... I guess it’s high time to break the news to everyone else, isn’t it?
After much careful consideration and deliberation, the choice’s been made, the big man’s going home.
Hope Mom and Dad won’t mind if I bring along a few guests with me...
.....
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