Chapter 233 Scorpion's Tragedy
2 months later after the war…
"Cough…, cough…"
Gandalf was woken up by 2 coughs that reverberated close to him.
Quietly, he turned his head to look at his friend only to see a familiar pair of eyes open. The only problem this time was that his friend's eyes were not normal, they were filled with confusion and bewilderment.
Having woken up more than a month ago but pretending to still be unconscious, Gandalf already learned a lot of things about their current state.
He didn't do anything though, he simply waited for his friend to wake up and now Scorpion finally woke up. He kept his silence as he looked at his friend.
Scorpion just kept on staring at space for a few seconds before blinking twice, then he finally turned to face his friend. After 2 months, all his injuries both internal and external already healed, all that remained for him was his consciousness.
Now, he was fully awake and fit but psychologically, he didn't feel fit.
As Scorpion stared at his friend, he could not hold himself, even while trying his best to harden his face and prevent it, tears flowed from his eyes uncontrollably.
He clenched his fists so hard till they bled as tears flowed from his eyes.
Gandalf did not say a word as he looked at his friend. The next moment, he patted Scorpion slightly on the back before pulling him into an embrace.
On his friend's shoulder, Scorpion's last line of defense finally shattered completely as the tears flowed without cease like rivers of waters flooding down towns and villages after the falling of a dam.
For 5 minutes, this powerful warrior and notorious assassin cried his heart out till he finally regained control over himself.
Without saying a word, Scorpion slightly patted his friend on the back before pulling away from the embrace. Gandalf also did not say a word as he finally sat cross-legged and started meditating.
Scorpion did the same thing, he sat cross-legged and meditated.
As soon as he started meditating, a lot of things went through his mind, moving around chaotically but he didn't put in any effort to arrange them. They moved chaotically for some time before they finally settled.
With his eyes closed, Scorpion started replaying his life in his head.
After years of forgetting it already, he remembered his name. "Jack".
His life started from one of the small shelters, the Twin domain shelter. The specialty of the Twin domain shelter was that most of the warriors born there tended to master a battle domain focused on using 2 weapons.
At a young age, Jack developed a love for twin swords.
He had 2 warrior parents who supported his ambitions to become a mystic warrior. They supported him but the problem was that he didn't get the expected love of a parent, his parents were both overly militaristic.
They always criticize him when he failed and barely complimented him when he did good, this developed a tendency of not being satisfied with anything that he did in him, he always strived to go stronger and surpass his parents.
At the young age of 15, he became known as a genius.
Everything started spiraling down when he was 16 though. During a war against mystic beasts, to save his life, his father sacrificed her mother on the battlefield just to buy a chance for himself to escape.
His mother died, while his father survived and was left in a coma.
The trauma of the truth devastated young Jack. Not willing to face his father anymore, young Jack at 16 being a newly awakened basic mystic warrior ran away from home to pursue his career as a mystic warrior.
Due to what happened, he vowed never to love again.
In the years that followed, he strived in the wild, growing stronger and developing a notorious name for himself. He became known as the Emotionless Scorpion, this was when the name Scorpion first became synonymous to him.
Once he heard the name, he accepted it and ditched his real name. He successfully cut off the last link that connected him to his parents and anyone that he ever loved, he succeeded in cutting all his bonds.
With this, he started growing stronger even faster, becoming an Advanced mystic warrior at the tender age of 22 years old.
This was when he took his adventures elsewhere to the Gundam Shelter. There, he met Gandalf who he allied with on the basis of pure benefits.
Together, they became the notorious Scorpion and Snake with a venom that very few mystic warriors could go up against and survive.
They fought and killed a lot, establishing a name for themselves in the chaos. No matter how much they fought together and grew closer though, Scorpion never accepted Gandalf as his friend, he vowed to never develop bonds long ago.
Later, they were joined by the Butcher Mama who together, they established one of the most notorious assassin trios in the history of the Gundam Shelter.
His life seemed smooth-sailing in his opinion until he met her on a mission, Sophia, the warrior princess that stole Jack's stony and lonely heart.
He didn't know how it happened, it was just like magic but what mattered was that he fell in love. Unwilling to admit it before his assassin companions, Scorpion abandoned them and ran away with Sophia.
Together, they expressed their love for years and a beautiful gem in the form of a baby girl became the warmth that finally melted Scorpion's heart fully.
Young Sonia only got to live for 3 years before tragedy befell them. Sophia was ruthlessly killed by the rampaging Holmes warriors who were on a hunt for a certain ancient family, and in the process Sonia was taken.
Scorpion was left terribly injured but he survived.
On waking up and seeing his dead wife with himself alive, Scorpion remembered his father, he literally went mad from grief and guilt.
This was when his vengeance hunt started. A few years later though, when he almost killed the culprit who killed his wife, the truth was finally revealed to him that his daughter was still alive.
They gave him one alternative. To see her, he should fight for them.
Scorpion knew that this being the truth was extremely unlikely, but Sonia was one of only 2 things in the world that melted his heart. With them involved, he always thought irrationally and this time was no different.
He believed them and his journey started as the Holmes' family's pawn.
For over a decade, he worked for them, going on inconvenient missions, killing targets all round but still he didn't get a glimpse at his daughter.
What kept him going was the promise that he would see her one day. This was until he met Rex who told the truth to him plainly without hiding anything.
After the ultimate showdown, before Rex fainted from exhaustion, while he spoke to him, Rex used his upgrade mystic ability to draw him into the world of his mind where he showed him a lot of things.
Having been plagued with the curse of revenge too since his 18th birthday, Rex understood how Scorpion felt and was why he was reluctant to kill him.
Through the world of his mind, he showed Scorpion the full encounter of the annihilation of the Ancient Vector family under the hooves of the Holmes.
He showed the scene of his father being killed and his reaction on knowing the truth, he also showed Scorpion his conversation with Cassandra where she revealed the truth about Scorpion to him.
After everything, Rex left him with some last words.
"We all have our own sufferings, how much it pains depends on us".
"I understand your feelings, that is why I can't bring myself to kill you".
"When you learn to stop channeling your hatred and fury at the whole world but rather at just the right people, perhaps you will understand".
"Sonia would not want to see you and I who are victims of the Holmes family killing each other, she would rather see us bringing vengeance on the Holmes".
"Scorpion, make the right decision".
That was Rex's last words before he fainted.
Scorpion also fainted in confusion in bewilderment while he thought about all the truth that he just learned about himself, Rex, and the world as a whole.
After waking up now, as he meditated, Scorpion thought about all this. A few minutes later, he finally opened his eyes then he muttered.
"I am Jack…". He made a decision.
Click!
The door to the prison suddenly opened with Aragorn and Elanor making their way in, they stood before the 2 mystic warriors who were in chains.
"You've both woken up".