The Laughing Swordsman

Chapter 312 – An Old Memory

Tears began forming in Maya's eyes.

"Wh-What? But Apollo was supposed to be right here!"

She began banging her fists against Azazel's leg, using her full strength. However, there was little effect.

"Bring back Apollo!"

Azazel looked down at her.

"Um… Apologies."

Maya pouted, eventually realizing the futility of the situation.

"Where is he?!"

Lucifer scratched the back of his head.

"If we hurry, perhaps he has not gone too far?"

Azazel lowered his chin slightly.

"Unfortunately, he has already gone quite far."

Lucifer sighed.

"How far?"

Azazel kept his hands behind his back.

"The Everwinter region."

Lucifer visibly cringed.

"Did you really hate that child?"

Azazel shook his head.

"No, he was a rather pleasant child, save for some tendencies. I simply overdid it."

Lucifer held his forehead with his hand.

"Overdid it all the way to the Everwinter region?!"

Azazel cleared his throat.

"I initially thought that I may have been overestimating the power from the wind elemental. However, it appears to be the opposite."

Lucifer was silent for a moment.

"…Well, I suppose we shall head off to the Everwinter region now."

…

Taking a step back, Apollo was still falling through the center of the city, where all of the trash and waste was disposed of.

He tried to struggle, but quickly came to realize that no matter what he did, his body was simply powerless.

Once the light got really small, he began to speak.

"Hey."

There was a moment of silence.

"Hey."

And another one.

"Hey, wake-"

"I'm trying to sleep!"

A voice rang out in Apollo's head. He responded softly.

"Ah, hi again."

The voice was displeased.

"Mm… Hi. Why did you wake me up?"

Apollo scratched the back of his head.

"I wanted to talk?"

The voice internally sighed.

"But… wait, where are we?"

Apollo crossed his arms.

"Currently falling down the center of the city because Mark won't let us do anything."

There was silence for a moment before the voice spoke up.

"What?! Then did we get to kill all those people?"

Apollo shook his head.

"No."

The voice freaked out.

"Then go back up and do it!"

The corner of Apollo's lip twitched.

"I tried to!"

He sighed.

"Mark just suddenly turned on me and decided to shove me out."

The voice internally grumbled, like a little kid denied candy.

"Ok… then we will go back soon!"

Apollo nodded.

"Alright, that sounds good."

There was a moment of silence. The voice let out a bored groan.

"Mm… I'm going back to sleep."

Apollo cleared his throat.

"Wait."

"What?"

The voice was displeased, but Apollo continued on.

"How were we… separated?"

He scratched the side of his head.

"It just doesn't really make a lot of sense. Most people only have one person inside their body, right?"

The voice let out a soft hum.

"…That is a little weird."

Apollo sighed.

"I guess it was that time when we were forced to fight against Mother. After all, it hurt really bad."

The voice paused.

"Hm… that is right. But I wouldn't really call it a fight."

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"But we had been fighting for so long, over and over again."

The voice seemed confused.

"Hah? We fought against Willow lots and lots! But mother… it wasn't really a fight."

Apollo grabbed onto the side of his head and furrowed his brows.

"Willow? Who are you talking about?"

The voice paused.

"…Oh, I forgot to tell you, oopsies."

Apollo shut his eyes tightly. His breathing began to become disorderly.

"No… I was doing all of this because I have to kill mother. I have to kill her!"

The voice paused, waiting a few minutes for Apollo to calm down slightly.

"Um, do you not remember?"

Apollo blinked a few times.

"Remember what?"

The voice let out a faint humming sound.

"I think this was the time that we split, but it is a little bit foggy for me."

Apollo grit his teeth.

"Wait… stop, don't say any more."

The voice seemed confused.

"Eh? Why not? I don't really remember it well, but I think we-"

"STOP."

Unfortunately, despite Apollo screaming at the top of his lungs, the voice in his mind continued cluelessly.

"-killed our mother."

Apollo began to let out a groan of pain. He held onto his head and began twisting around in the air, as though trying to exorcise himself.

The voice was quite confused.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

…

Apollo was standing at the front of his kitchen, staring out the window. It was night, but the moonlight gave off enough light to see things fairly clearly. The full moon was out, making it look quite beautiful.

Yet, Apollo had a rather dull expression, almost like he couldn't see it. His head was tilted to the side slightly, but that fact didn't seem to register with him.

Almost like he couldn't really tell if things were crooked or straight anymore.

Apollo slowly reached out. His fingers trembled fiercely.

Then, wrapped his hand around a handle. The handle of a kitchen knife. As he did so, his face twitched. Even the action of flexing his fingers had become painful to him.

Afterwards, Apollo slowly pulled it out of the knife block. It made a rather soft sliding sound as it did so, and upon finally being freed, an ethereal swish.

It almost sounded like a banshee had been shrieking far off in the distance.

Apollo slowly brought the knife up to his neck as his eyes drifted towards the moon. His head felt empty.

He had cried until it no longer got rid of his stress.

He had vented his anger until he lost the will to be angry.

When Apollo rested the blade of the knife against the side of his neck, there wasn't a single ounce of hesitation in his mind.

He had already realized that it was simply too much for him. There was nothing he could think of to fall back to.

But then, he thought of Ivy.

And began crying.