Chapter 40: Shattered
"And that’s why you definitely shouldn’t go after Eric again. I know I’ve talked way too much, and I can see that from the look in your eyes, but it makes sense, doesn’t it?" After spending most of the day with Aurora in the hospital explaining to her everything that she knew about Eric, Aria finally ended her sentence off with a smile and then waited for her response.
"..." Aurora, who was honestly about to lose it from having to sit there all day arguing with Aria and listening to her talk about Eric nonstop, didn’t say anything and simply stared at her blankly.
Seriously, she knew her best friend could be quite the talker at times, especially when it came to topics that interested her, but this was just way too much.
After all, Aria had spent the entire time praising Eric like she had personally watched him save humanity or something, and every single time Aurora tried to say anything even a little bad about him, Aria would look at her like she had just committed the most unforgivable sin imaginable before going right back into another rant about him.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Aria was her best friend, and the fact that Aurora also wanted to gather some intel on Eric and maybe pinpoint the cause of his sudden change in this life, she probably would have already asked one of the nurses to throw Aria out a long time ago.
Anyways, the entire conversation Aurora had with Aria today could basically be summed up in one sentence.
Aria believed that Eric was some kind of higher being, like someone who had once lived beyond this world, and because of that, Aria wanted her to not go after him anymore, no matter what might’ve happened in the past.
And while Aria didn’t go into the specifics of how she had even arrived to that conclusionin the first place and kept being vague about it like it was the plague, it was clear that Aria truly believed in what she was saying.
And truthfully, Aurora could see why.
Even she herself was starting to believe all of that nonsense even though it sounded incredibly ridiculous.
That being said...
"Sure, it makes sense." Aurora replied with the most deadpan voice ever and didn’t say anything else.
"Then can you promise me that you won’t try and attack him anymore?" Aria asked.
"..." Aurora didn’t respond back and stared at Aria quietly again.
Although Aurora for the time being had no plans to attack Eric in the foreseeable future, mainly because she couldn’t see any way to defeat him in the first place, she didn’t want to lie to her best friend or make a promise she might break in the future.
Eric was definitely still on her kill list despite everything that’s happened so far after all, and she wasn’t about to just forget what he had done to her in her past life just because she no longer had the will to do anything to him right now.
Besides, Aria seemed to be somewhat fascinated with Eric now, and Aurora didn’t like it one bit, so if anything, she had even more of a reason to kill him now.
"Come on, Aurora! We’ve been going back and forth at this for so long now! I keep giving you reasons why you shouldn’t go after him and explaining to you what I think he really is, and all you do is stay silent every time I ask if you’re going to keep trying to kill him afterwards! We can’t keep doing this! It’s almost midnight now!" Aria whined and complained.
"Then just leave me alone. It’s none of your business anyways." Aurora replied.
"It is though! I don’t want to see you and Eric going at each other’s throats like this! If Eric’s willing to stand down, then why can’t you?!" Aria argued.
"If you knew what I knew, then you’d understand why." Aurora answered.
"Help me understand it then!" Aria retorted.
"No. And me explaining it to you won’t help either way. You yourself said that you knew Eric was in the wrong already, so there’s no point." Aurora countered back, "Plus, I don’t want you involved in this."
Hearing this, Aria couldn’t help but sigh loudly as it was clear that they were starting to go in circles again for probably like the 100th time.
Regardless, Aria was determined to get Aurora to give up her vendetta against Eric no matter what, and so after staring at her for a little while longer, she got up from her chair and began walking out of Aurora’s room.
But just before she left, Aria waved goodbye to Aurora and said...
"See you tomorrow, Aurora."
And with that, Aria finally left the hospital, leaving Aurora to get the rest she had been waiting for all day long.
***
As Aria made her way through the cold streets late at night on her way back to her apartment to get a few hours of sleep before another long day’s work of trying to convince Aurora again, a couple of police cars suddenly sped past her with their sirens blaring and turned left toward a row of large buildings.
More specifically, they were heading in the general direction of where Eric’s penthouse was located at.
At first, Aria didn’t think much of it and simply kept walking home, but after thinking about it for a little bit longer, she decided to go after the police cars instead.
She didn’t know why, but she had a very bad feeling about it all of a sudden.
And so after walking for a few minutes and following the sound of the sirens, Aria eventually found herself standing in front of a tall, dark grey building with multiple police cars parked outside and a small crowd gathered around the caution tape blocking the entrance.
And as she looked around the area, she couldn’t help but feel her heart start beating faster and faster by the second.
After all... this was the building where Eric’s penthouse was located.
And it looked like a complete mess.
There were shards of glass everywhere, the windows near Eric’s penthouse had been completely blown out, and for some reason, deep cracks were lining the building’s walls.
But surely... nothing has happened to Eric...
Right?
And even if something did happen to him... he could just always heal himself back to normal again... couldn’t he?
Aria tried her best to hold on to thoughts like that and not break down like she had the last two times at the hospital, first when she saw him collapse after he unlocked the operating room, and then again when he suddenly disappeared without telling her in advance.
Eventually, Aria managed to calm herself down a little by taking a couple of deep breaths, and once she felt fully prepared, she approached the crowd to try and figure out what was going on.
"Um, excuse me, Miss. Do you happen to know what’s going on here?" Aria politely asked after tapping the shoulder of one of the ladies standing closest to her in the small crowd.
"Oh, hi there. Wow, you probably get this a lot but you’re extraordinary pretty." The lady couldn’t help but compliment with a warm smile, causing Aria to also smile in return before continuing, "Anyways, I just got here myself not too long ago, so I don’t really know what’s going on either, but from the looks of things and what the police officers have told us so far, it seems like there’s been a small gas leakage in this building or something."
"A gas leak?" Aria tilted her head slightly to the side in confusion, "Then what’s with the shards of glasses on the ground?"
"Oh, that?" The woman said as she followed Aria’s gazes, "From what I heard, the leak might’ve also caused some kind of pressure problem in the building. Even the police don’t seem to know exactly what happened, so they’ve got a safety inspector coming to check it out."
The lady then gave a small shrug and said, "Honestly, it’s probably nothing too serious. You know how these things are. The police always make everything look a lot more dramatic than it actually is."
Hearing this, Aria stared at the shattered glass on the ground for a little while longer and thought about it.
Maybe the lady was right.
Maybe she really was just overthinking things.
These things can happen all the time after all.
And while it was a very weird coincidence that it just so happened to occur in Eric’s penthouse as well, it really shouldn’t have been a cause for concern.
If anything, knowing him, he was probably just more annoyed than anything else and simply just left the building without a care in the world the moment the gas leak started.
And Aria could honestly even picture him doing exactly that, and she couldn’t help but smile a little bit at the thought of it.
Because that was definitely something that he would do.
After thinking about it for a little longer and trying to look at the situation more rationally, Aria finally reassured herself that everything was completely fine, politely thanked the lady for the information, and then turned around to head back home.
Just as Aria was about to walk away, however, the lady suddenly spoke up again from behind her, as if she had just remembered something.
And in an instant, Aria froze.
Because...
"Mm... come to think of it though, I believe I heard that a decapitated body had been found as well..."
