"Achilles??"
Odette knocks on his door, trying to not slam their fists against it like most people normally need to in order to grab his attention from in there.
Achilles doesn't open the door. They knock again, a bit louder. This time, the familiar click and creak sound out from the inside as the door opens and light penetrates the shadows inside.
The two stand nearly face to face as he looks up at them and slowly blinks, expression void as ever. Odette crosses their arms.
"Yume's garden is missing. She is distraught and currently looking everywhere for it.... And you, as you were the last to accompany her. Hexe destroyed the garden, yes?"
He nods.
"Do you know where it is?"
Achilles hesitates before opening up the door more and stepping aside.
Odette steps into the room; this is probably their third least favorite room, given the tower it's in and how closely it resembles the dungeon. His bed looks like it's been made but slept on top of for years. There's dust covering the few pieces of furniture, and the chandelier above is shattered.
The only true source of is the candle on the desk, which flickers gently and reveals flashes of green and pink to Odette. Their eyes widen in surprise.
"After Hexe destroyed it, I figured perhaps I still could fix it for Yume. I used to do that a lot, in the real world," he mutters, walking over to his chair and sitting down. Odette reluctantly follows, the uneven, rocky ground serving awfully for their balance.
Achilles uses a spoon to shovel some dirt up, before placing one of the mini trees back into place and packing the dirt back around it. He covers the patch with a little moss, making sure it fades well into the rest of the ground.... Odette can see sections of the wall where he scraped the moss from.
The two sit in silence as Achilles continues to work... Odette hasn't seen him engage in anything like this since before Hexe, and even then they're sure that back then he would have laughed it off as 'childish' or 'unimportant.'
"Are you just going to watch or are you going to yell at me for what I said to Yume?"
"That was my initial idea, yes. But yelling has never really had an effect on you. By now I am plenty sure you know what you did was wrong and are ashamed."
Achilles nods, a bitter undertone washing through his blank face as Odette sits on the bed..... they note that compared to their own, it feels like wood.
"Truly, I just.... I simply do not understand, and I doubt anyone in this kingdom could. Just because she has the understanding of an adult does not mean you can vent to her as one, she is still a child."
Another silent nod.
"You have been unwilling to tell most about this, in fact as far as I know she and maybe 'her' are the only ones who know. Hexe found out by incident, if I remember correctly. Yet you turn around and tell the one member of the kingdom who you absolutely should NOT be telling any of that stuff! What were you thinking, unloading such weight on a child?"
"........"
"Well???"
"I didn't realize what I did until she left. I got lost in my mind, in the words. It's not an excuse, I understand that, but once I started, I...... I couldn't stop myself."
Odette looks out at the blocked out window, covered by bricks that don't match the rest of the interior.
"I think she heard it as well."
"..... heard what?"
"The sounds."
"What sounds?"
"The sounds of the crash."
As soon as the word 'crash' leaves his mouth, Odette's ears prick to something distant and hollow..... screaming. No.... squealing?
"What was that?" They look around frantically, confused.
"That was one of the sounds," Achilles replies, staring at the almost finished garden in front of him. He sets down his tools and faces Odette.
Odette feels a shiver run down their spine. They hadn't heard a sound like that since they were young...... what was it again, what was it.....
Suddenly they realize.
Tires.
"..... Achilles. Tell me what happened. Tell me now."
"You'll hear all the sounds as well. You won't look at me the same way. It's not pretty."
"I often attempt to refrain from talking about this, but I have experienced many harsh trials in my life, Achilles, that I would say have brought me resilience to hearing of most things. I do not take pride in that, per say, but I know if no one else can listen know, I certainly can. Perhaps it would help you-"
He gives them a skeptical, annoyed glance.
".... alright, maybe it would not help... but it would ensure you are not carrying such a burden fully alone. Someone would understand a bit more."
He's quiet for a long, long time. Odette holds their breath, both hoping and dreading to know this information. Maybe it's much worse than they thought.
"... I don't know where to start."
Their heart skips as they simultaneously sigh a breath of relief. This is actually going to happen.
Achilles speaks up again before Odette can. "You had a family, correct?"
".... I did, yes."
He closes his eyes. "I was getting ready to start one with my wife."
".... you had a wife?"
Achilles nods and looks up at the ceiling, leaning back in his chair. "... Galene. We met at college, and she was my tutor at first. I always was working through life, quickly, feeling like I had to do something.... but not with Galene. The silent moments in each others' company were worth more than the world, more than the galaxy, more than every star in the night sky. Her company settled the waves of thoughts crashing into my mind into calm, elegant seas that were still hardly comparable to her grace and tranquil nature."
He smiles, such a lovesick yet heartbroken grin filling his face. "The day we got married, I sobbed at the altar, watching her walk down the aisle with that shy, loving grin that I always wanted to be the cause of. I wanted to give everything to her, and I worshipped the very ground she walked on and the air she breathed. No amount of words in any language could describe her and the peace she brought to my life."
Odette looks up at the shattered chandelier as Achilles describes Galene..... he talks with more pure love and emotion than he had ever once expressed. She can almost feel that calm presence he spoke so highly of, easing the room around them.
His smile grows more.
"And then...... we found out we were expecting."
Odette's eyes light up, forgetting the heaviness of the situation for a moment. "You were going to have a child?!"
Achilles chuckles, thinking back on the memory fondly.
"I was about your age, 32. Seeing the test and Galene's smile was the second greatest day of my life.... doctors said it would be a miracle if she would be able to have a child. Our praises to the heavens and gods above that day were endless. We were going to be parents. I was going to be a father."
Odette feels their smile grow.... he was married. And a to-be father.
....
Was.
His smile starts to fade. Odette hears something in their ears again.... the low, nostalgic hum of a car.... followed by some faded voices.
"We learned we were going to have a girl... me, Galene, and her sister Maharene, all in the ultrasound room. Maharene was more like me. She was loud and confident and oh so protective of her sister.... a fighter. Never afraid to speak her mind... we fought sometimes, but she ended up being my best friend."
They nod slightly as one of the voices grow clear.
"@;#>@^×, keep your eyes on the road!"
"We were driving home from the clinic where we learned our baby's gender... and I was talking with my friends. They wanted to meet up for drinks and games at our favorite bar that night."
"Were you... calling them?"
"No.... texting."
Odette felt their blood run cold. They had forgotten what texting was until that point.... and also the horrors of what happened when people texted and drove.
They suddenly realize what must have happened. Suddenly, knowing this doesn't feel like such a good idea anymore.
A flash of green passes by in Odette's vision, as Achilles closes his eyes. He barely seems to realize they're there anymore, just talking to no one in particular.
"Texting while driving was the one habit Galene couldn't get me to fix, I thought I was a natural. Maharene nearly slapped the phone out of my hand that day. Galene stopped her but kept telling me to get off the phone. I didn't. I kept trying to make plans with my friends."
Odette blinks slowly, and the vision of a car interior down a road fills their mind. The voices are louder and clearer.
"@;#>@^×, get off the damn phone, you almost hit that lady!!!"
"Please, you can message them when you get home, just- please- get off the phone!"
"And I didn't."
The pleading gets louder, as well as the sounds of the car.... Odette feels their breath escape them and mind grow dizzy. They feel like they can't open their eyes, and every direction looks wrong and distorted. Somewhere in the distance, they hear Hexe's taunting laughter.
"I didn't see the intersection. And I didn't notice the red light as I typed out my message."
"HONEY- PLEASE!!!"
"@;#>@^× PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!!!"
Odette sees the shape of a large pickup truck appear from the right side of the vision.... it appears so fast they hardly have time to react.
"@;#>@^×!!!!"
*CRASH*
......
.....
....
...
..
.
Odette gasps as the vision vanishes, not realizing they were blocking their right side. It ended right as the truck made contact.... right as the crash rang out. It looked so real. It sounded so real. It felt so real.
Hexe cackles loudly from afar, a bitter sound added to the ringing in their ears. They look over to see Achilles staring straight ahead at the wall, tears rolling down his horrified face.
"The next thing I see is Galene with half her head missing, and her stomach burst open.... something with one of the truck parts stabbed right through her. Her lap was a mess of guts and what I assumed was Halia..... for once, I didn't recognize her."
His voice is low and dry, as if forcing his vocal cords to work.
"I killed everyone in that crash. The driver.... Maharene... Galene and our daughter. Everyone. I was the only one who lived. And I spent half our savings trying to save any one of them.... but they were all dead on impact."
"It led to prison for 8 years. During that time, everyone in our hometown learned of what happened. I lost everything. Everyone left me. My family. My friends. My job. The rest of our savings. Everything and everyone."
Achilles looks down, voice catching on a sob as he stares at his hands.
"They told me to stop. They told me to put it away. It was only a 20-minute drive, I could have waited. But I didn't. I didn't listen."
Odette feels sick to their stomach. They don't have a good response.... how does one even go about responding to such a thing?
"I think she left me in the afterlife.... I don't feel Galene around me anymore. The silence is just.... silence. No comfort. No love. Just a deafening reminder of what I did. Only reason I didn't kill myself and join her was because it all felt too.... easy. I didn't deserve to see my family again like that. I couldn't."
Odette swallows back a cry and whispers, barely audible.
"... how did you... end up here then? You didn't remember anything when you got here, right?"
Achilles somewhat realizes Odette is still listening. He's a bit surprised they're still there.
"No. I heard that one of my coworkers, who died a while back, his son had taken this job and gone missing... heard sketchy things about that company, figured it was time to die and I'd let them choose how to do it. Not like anyone would care if I disappeared. So I went in, faked some things, got the job."
"The day they put the headset on, I was on some pills that fuck with memory for a bit. Guess it fucked with the headset too.... 'cause I was back to how I was. And I couldn't remember a damn thing."
Odette nods. They remember how Achilles used to be..... bold, brave, loud, confident, cocky... some would even say a bit insufferable. He still played his role of "hero" perfectly, helping people however they needed and not resting until the job was complete. He and Icia shared that sentiment with each other.
"How did you remember...? Was it because of Hexe?"
"No. Dunite."
Odette's quiet for a moment.
".... Dunite?"
"I was curious to know. Everyone was talking about their old lives and... I couldn't remember any of mine. So I asked if she could do something about it.... she could. And she did. Remembering everything all at once was probably worse than any punishment Hexe could dish out."
"I've tried every way under the sun to undo that spell. You've seen the extremes I've resorted to." He stares at his wrists, faded scars along the length of his forearms. "Though, now that you know, can you really blame me...? You'd want to die too if you were forever subjected to remembering the worst mistake of your life, over and over, every minute of every day. You stop fearing seeing your victims in heaven and just want to go to your punishment in hell."
Achilles stares ahead, tears falling onto the greenery of the garden. All the emotion is completely overwhelming him, talking about such an event in depth after so long of keeping silent.
"Every day... every hour... every minute.... every second. I just remember it all and ask myself why. Why didn't I listen...? Why did I think it'd be fine...?"
"Why did I do it....?"
Odette says nothing.
Achilles adds the finishing touches to the restored garden. "Look... I'm not sorry for hiding this, but I am sorry for letting it spiral into this. Yume didn't deserve to hear all of that..... neither did you, although you were persistent. I wish you weren't, It doesn't benefit anyone in any way..... though, I suppose someone understanding a little more makes this kingdom feel a little more like something of a home again. A little less foreign and cold.... even if that's really all this place is now.
"......."
He picks up the garden and turns in Odette's direction without looking up at them. "You should probably bring this back to Yume now...... she didn't deserve to hear all of that. She's a child. Doesn't matter her maturity.... I shouldn't have told her any of that, and I'm hoping this can serve as something of an apology to her. She'll probably know that it was me. She always knows."
He finally looks up at Odette. They're staring at him with the widest, most heartbroken eyes he's ever seen on another person, face stained with blackish tears that soak into their shaking hands folded in their lap. They shake as they swallow a little, trying to hide the sheer devastation on their face. It's a sight that catches Achilles very, very off guard.
"..... Ode...?"
They glance away and wipe their tears with a hand, taking a few shaky breaths and nodding.
"... I'm alright."
"... No, you're not. Don't hide it. No one is okay just... hearing all that. Especially when they see and hear exactly what I'm talking about."
They look back up at him, fresh tears taking their place down their face. Achilles gives them a grief-filled smile. A smile of no happiness, no joy.... simply hollow, dead, unending pain and grief.
"..... I'm so sorry, Achilles. I'm so sorry for you and your wife and y-your daughter and...." They try to continue before their voice catches on a sob, and Achilles holds up a hand.
He shakes his head. "Be sorry for them.... not for me. It's my burden. This is...." He lowers his head, tears lightly plinking against the stone ground. "This is my fault, and my consequence. It doesn't make up for what I did... but if I can't get them back, what's the point of trying to make it better....? It won't get better. I've accepted that. You should, too... being sad over me won't make a difference. Just gives you one more thing to worry about."
He offers them a hand, and after a few seconds, they take it and stand uneasily. Achilles carefully places the fixed garden in their arms.
"Bring this to Yume.... she'll appreciate it."
"... what about you?"
"I'll do what I always do. Like I said, talking about this doesn't make it better for me. Just makes the memories a bit louder," he replies.
They nod and look down at the garden.... it looks good as new. Even the fish are alright and happy.
".... are you going to be alright?"
".... in due time, yes. Will you...?"
"I suppose as okay as I can be." He still has tears slowly rolling down his face. "Go see Yume now.... she's probably looking for you. And one more thing.... please don't tell anyone. This is one bit of gossip I don't want getting to Mirobelle and the twins."
They nod slightly; not that they would even think of letting such a private, horrifying secret reach anyone else's ears. After a few seconds, Odette sets the garden on the bed and approaches Achilles, pulling him into a hug.
He noticeable freezes in their arms as a choked sob escapes their lips.... the hug only lasts a few seconds before they pull back and attempt to smile at him.... it's more like a grimace.
".... farewell for now, Achilles. T-thank you for this talk... I... I hope to see you again soon."
They pick up the garden once more and walk out of the room, desperately trying to stop their tears as the light from the hallway almost blinds them.
Achilles just stares at the open door for a few seconds before looking down at the ground.
A small chuckle escapes his mouth.
It turns into heavy laughter.
And then melts into agonizing, mournful sobs as he falls to his knees, the blunt force of memories whaling on his mind.
(I'm sorry... I'm sorry..... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry....)
Achilles continues to wail out for his lost family, alone in his room, wishing for nothing more than to undo what was done or pay the cost for it with his life.
A price he will never be able to pay.
Meanwhile, the sound of heavy footsteps walking away from the hall rings out from an unknown location.