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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Lanzen_Jars on 2025-10-14 22:38:59+00:00.

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Chapter 241 – Stepping down the Saint’s path

A loud string of what must have likely been the worst of curses in whatever native tongue she was speaking still escaped the Councilwoman Wiechatsech when James and his escort made their way over towards her.

Otherwise, the staweilechird stood shock-stunned, only able to keep on cursing as her wide-open eyes stared at the scene surrounding her; her fur and quills both stained with dark splotches of various colors that had been sprayed onto her when the hail of bullets from their guns had torn through the would-be abductors sent by the local forces to take her.

Their corpses now littered the ground around her. Their lifeless bodies crumpled on the floor as they had been sent to join with those whose lives they had taken just shortly before.

Andrej and Koko both broke away from James’ side, hurrying over to the mortal remains of the escort the Admiral had sent out to protect the Councilwoman. However, there was nothing that could be done for them anymore, except give them a worthy sendoff in the near future.

Twelve brave people, dead and gone just like their killers whose bodies now lay strewn among their own.

“We’re too late…” Koko exhaled with a tone of controlled pain as she pushed up from her crouching position, her face morphed into a stern gloom.

“They opened fire right away,” Andrej spoke up as well, his red eyes darting around as he read the traces of the previous battle. There was a resigned anger in his voice.

James followed his gaze momentarily; reluctantly looking at the corpses of his comrades. He could see what the Major meant. The way the soldiers had fallen. The surprise still burned into their expressions. The positions of their wounds and of the weapons that had fallen from their grasps.

Seemed like it had hardly been a battle at all.

“I- They- I-,” Wiechatsech stammered. James was now only a step away from her, turning his face to look at her horrified expression.

Taking the last step, he stood in front of her. The difference between their sizes wasn’t too great, so he could look directly at her.

“Wiechatsech,” he said in as calming a tone as he could muster in the current situation. “Breathe. You have to breathe.”

As she looked at him, he wondered if maybe his presence was only agitation the Councilwoman more. They had only met each other quite briefly before. Only in the context of the Council at large. And she had never been one to particularly speak up when the more controversial topics were being discussed.

There was a good chance a cyborg and a deathworlder were the last things she wanted near herself right now. Still, it was what she got.

“Breathe,” James repeated and lifted his hand for a calming gesture.

The Councilwoman flinched at the movement, and her quills instinctively rose to stand in a defensive posture – though with her front turned to him rather than her back, they offered little immediate protection.

Her beady, almost black eyes were wide and wet as she stared at his face.

James froze as he was. Though they were pressed for time, he didn’t want to frighten her any further if he didn’t have to, so he decided to give her at least a moment to process.

Finally, her eyes widened a little further when she suddenly let out a quiet,

“Aldwin?”

Her quills sunk down again as recognition washed over her face which caused her jaw to quiver and her eyes to slowly close.

“They- they just killed them,” she let out, shaking her head so that her quills rattled on her back while tears swelled from her closed lids. “They came for me. They- they- said it’s not s- and then- and then- they- and then you-”

She took in a distressed breath as her own words fought her in her attempts to explain. Her eyes opened to look at him pleadingly, searching for any understanding of what she couldn’t get out.

James nodded solemnly.

“I understand,” he confirmed for her. Gently, he reached his organic hand out to place it on her arm. “You don’t have to say anymore. At least not now.”

Turning his head, he looked over to his companions. Though, in the motion, his eyes inadvertently dashed down to those who had laid down their lives one more time before he managed to school them and pull them up.

“Let’s get her out of here,” he said, earning quick nods as the other three formed up with him.

“Come, Ma’am,” Koko said as she moved next to the Councilwoman to take the lead. “We’ll bring you somewhere safer.”

Then she turned her gaze towards Shida.

“I know you’re not technically on duty, but I’m counting on your ears, Scratches,” she said, her voice firm. For many, the call-name would’ve not seemed appropriate given the severity of the situation. However, between the women, James knew that it only showed Koko was putting Shida into the shoes of a peer, suspension or not.

Shida nodded. Of course, her ears had never stopped standing and scanning every little sound in their surroundings, so she didn’t exactly need the invitation. Still it was true that, should their eyes fail them, the feline’s fine hearing would’ve been their next line of defense against potential threats trying to sneak up.

Especially now that it seemed the local forces were beginning to shoot first and ask questions later.

“Count on me,” Shida confirmed, determination in her voice while her tail gave a single, sharp swing.

Wiechatsech was hesitant for a moment as they tried to get her to move. Well, perhaps hesitant was the wrong word for it. Most likely, she was still in some sort of stunned state after the sudden onslaught of violence around her that the politician was most likely not remotely accustomed to.

However, through some gentle coaxing under careful avoidance of her quills they soon managed to get her walking, even if a little slower than they would’ve preferred.

Once she had started to take her first careful steps, James lifted his phone up to his ear. He suppressed the urge to look back once more, but just because he didn’t see them didn’t mean he forgot what lay just a few measures behind him.

“Hey Avezillion,” he opened without waiting for any greeting on her side as soon as he heard that the line was clear. “I know that you’ve got more than enough to do already, but...do you think you’ve got the capacity to do me a favor and have a bit of an eye on their bodies? I’d like to make sure they get the funeral they deserve, if that’s possible.”

The line remained quiet.

At first, James attributed the immediate silence following his question to an understandable annoyance on the Realized’s part as she likely had a million more important things to focus on than the remains of those who could not be hurt anymore.

However, when roughly ten seconds had passed, he was really beginning to expect either a rather reluctant agreement or a sassy comment of denial any moment now.

Then, when five more passed, he began to worry.

“Avezillion?” he asked again before briefly moving the phone away from his face to check its screen, making sure that he actually had a connection and wasn’t just blabbering into a dead mic.

By then, his behavior was also starting to catch the attention of the others.

“James?” Andrej asked with some concern, his red eyes scanning over his protege as he apparently tried to judge just how worried he ought to be.

“That’s not good…” Shida meanwhile grumbled, her own eyes locked onto the phone while her ears twitched in either expectation or hope of a reply.

However, the line remained silent.

And Shida was right. This was bad. They all knew the pattern by now: If Avezillion went silent, something bad was just over the horizon.

“Let’s get a move on!” Koko ordered, speeding up her step while gesturing for everyone else to do the same. Her eyes were darting around, scanning every street and corner; every turn and alley; every roof and walkway both ahead of and besides them for any hints of danger while Andrej turned and watched their six. “Try to call the Admiral instead.”

James nodded and complied, quickly ending the ongoing call and instead switching to another line. It took a bit longer until a proper connection was established that time. However, at least the line immediately came to live the very moment it was established.

“James, what’s your status?” his mother’s voice immediately came out in an urgent, pressing manner. She sounded about as calm as she could possibly be given the circumstances, however James knew her well enough to hear every bit of the oceans of stress which were dripping from her just underneath.

However, there was another thing about her question that told him a bit more than was on the surface.

“How’s your blood?” was the first thing he said to her.

“Flows like water,” the Admiral replied right away, a hint of relief already in her tone after hearing the familiar question.

“I take it you have no pin on our position?” James then asked directly right after, without responding to her first inquiry. No answer at all would be enough of an answer for her here.

“Not one that I trust,” the Admiral replied outright. “Are you in contact with Av...

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