Till Again After the End

"Okay, Maya… don't be afraid… just be honest with me…"

Roland tried to look at the woman in front of him. Perhaps the cheap liquor he shared that with Mister Breen and Melvin had got to him, or probably the scene of them sharing a table with a couple of bottles of mead beside the decapitated head of their fallen enemy, or maybe that he couldn't believe the development of their talk inside his shop but at this moment, he found it hard to peer into her brown eyes as she looked at them with face her flushed and embarrassed.

"What do you mean?" She replied indifferently as she glanced at the bag of coins on the table before turning her head away.

"Did you mug someone? Who was it? Come, I'll take you there so let's apologize together," Roland added while the other two continued to laugh.

"Damn, when you barged in while talking about breaking my home to build a goddamn tea shop out of nowhere, I thought you've hit your head during the mission and became even more retarded, but dammit, dammit I say, you've bought me!" Mister Breen bellied out as she patted Melvin's back while he was emptying his cup.

"Hah… Not bad old man, not bad," Melvin scoffed with his voice sounding a bit groggy. He then placed his hand over the decapitated head on the table and followed, "But no, this guy turned me into mush!"

The three glanced at each other once more where they shared a moment of silence. They opened their mouths wide as they waited for something but contrary to what Maya had expected, they all lowered their postures, they picked up their mugs with their fingers as if they were holding a teacup and giggled like little girls during their tea party.

"Anyway…" Maya shouted, unnerved from watching them. She clenched her firsts and pointed at the bag of coins on the table."I sold my battle horn. I'm giving this to you guys."

Just then, the lively atmosphere that polluted the smell of rotten potatoes of Mister Breen's shop was flushed out along with the drunkenness that lingered on their bodies. Silence had fallen as the three looked the young woman in front of them that had a mix of determination, doubt and sadness burning in her eyes. None of them dared to speak but after a moment that seemed to be eternal, the door behind them was opened.

"Hey guys, did I miss-"

"Shut the hell up, this young woman is talking!" Mister Breen stood up and growled at Charles before he faced her once more.

"Wait, what's happening? Sir Roland wha-"

"Why the hell did you sell your battle horn?" Roland exclaimed before looking down on the half-empty mug in his hand."And for Melvin no less! Why didn't you talk to us about it?"

"Why?" Maya sat down after pulling out a chair under the table. "Isn't it enough? I-I'm sure that there's s-"

"No…" Melvin scratched the back of his head. "Now you're making me feel bad too. I was supposed to make Mister Breen pay for the renovations once he's drunk enough."

"Hey!" Mister Breen retorted.

Roland leaned forward to look her in the eye. "But why? Isn't that battle horn precious to you? Why did you have to give it up? Even I don't know if Melvin would continue with this joke of an idea!"

Charles scoffed and walked to the table with a smug smile. He placed another bag of coins on the table and followed, "Well, I guess now you don't have a choice but to make it work you bastard."

"You…" Melvin looked at Charles smiling with his jaws slowly dropping. Then after a moment of freezing in place, he lowered his head to let out a long high-pitched breath that sounded like a small balloon slowly losing its air. "What the fuck is happening?!"

Seeing Melvin dropping the bottle in his hand to rake the hair out of his scalp while screaming painted a wonderful smile on Charles' face, and with that, he marched to Maya's side where he sat down in a chair before placing his hand over her shoulder.

"I actually saw her earlier so I guess we both have our reasons." He glanced at Maya and looked back at them. "So, who's going first?"

Maya sighed before taking her eyes off of him. She then leaned forward and smiled. "That idea bought me too…" She grabbed Roland's cup and emptied it herself, and after taking a sharp breath, she followed, "... so, this is an investment that you can't make me back away from. I've thought about this and I think… I think… I think-no… I wish that selling away that horn of mine would be enough to keep this group of criminals longer…"

The others fell into silence yet again, now with the wind turning cold as if the light filling the room started to flicker because of them blinking as much as they could to process what she just said.

"Well… I do feel bad but to ruin the moment even further… I have something to say while you're still thinking of an appropriate response to that." Charles, on the other hand, nabbed the cup from Melvin's hand and filled it with mead. "I'm being sent away… they're taking care of everything so instead of letting another guy or girl from the church take my stuff, I-I sold off my belongings save for some clothes so I could give you some money."

"Hah! You're in deep shit now you- you- you- merchant wannabe bastard!" Mister Breen shouted as he sank his finger deep into Melvin's cheek.

"Damn… what's with all the sudden news and moments?" Roland replied, opening another bottle to fill his mug.

"Well…" Charles paused to take a glance at Maya who's keeping her head down and followed, "The green knight that stomped us and almost made me piss my pants approached me after we parted ways. He told me that he wanted my ass so-"

"Goddamit, you sold your body just for this?!" Melvin interrupted him with a shout. "Why the h-"

"Shut the hell up and drink, I wanted to do this seriously before we go!" Charles replied with his voice mimicking the intensity of his. "Unlike... unlike before… I don't feel like just disappearing on the people that I know… I wanted them to at least know what's going to happen…"

"Bah! You sound like a woman who's planning to confess her feelings right at the part where everything ends, what a wuss!" Mister Breen laughed.

"That sounds… oddly specific…" Roland took a sip from his mug and followed, "In any case, what were you saying again?"

"Yeah, apparently, our performance with our failed mission caught the eye of that green knight and so, he's taking me back to the capital and have me trained as a mage. It'll take me about two years or so before I could finish so…"

"That long?" Maya asked. "Why? I haven't heard about green knights recruiting other knights much less priests."

"Yeah, it wasn't like, mandatory or something but, I accepted it. I don't have much of a reason not to, especially when he mentioned the things about the cult and what's gonna happen to this city now." Charles' expression sank into a face tinted with fear and regret but the air around him that reeked of determination made the others smile in comfort. "So yeah, when I come back, let's pick up a decent mission if possible and let us all have fun together!"

"Ah damn it…" Melvin then stood up and threw his mug away. He looked at the two of them with his face now beet red and followed, "fine then, Maya, thank you for what you did to us and I can't really put my head around what you did so at least, don't worry. We're not just gonna leave you yet and we won't die either."

"Man that talk feels cheap only when it comes from you..." Roland sneered and the others shared a cheerful laugh as they looked at him.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up Roland, I know you love me too, but to you, Charles…" Melvin leaned forward and placed his hand over his shoulder. He tightened his grip and with his look stern yet warm like those of a father, he said, "I want you to know that I'm proud of you so go and don't worry about us. I'll make it work. Go and train to be the greatest mage there is and when you come back to us, you'll find yourself walking inside the greatest tea shop ever!"

They all then shared a toast above their bittersweet laughs and with that, the night grew longer.