"Do you think they are okay?" Emily asked, still scared. Pedro remained silent with a downcast expression, Lysa and Stuart checked on Clark, who was slowly recovering from before. John was deep in thought, looking at the horizon.

"I'd like to believe so." said the archer, preparing his weapons. "maybe we should go back and check. Girls, stay here with Clark, okay? And if anything happens, run as fast as you can."

Eagle-Eye and Stuart started making their way back, but the hammer-wielding man noticed Pedro in silence.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Huh?... well..." The priest remained thoughtful, reflecting on his life, the situation he was in, and... how strange it was to be with people again. "Don't worry, I'll be right behind you."

Pedro then got up and joined the duo, leaving the two girls by Clark's side, who was lying on the ground, trying to process what he had felt. For a moment, there was silence among the trio, and during this time, something strange was happening in Emily's mind. Looking at Clark, she began to notice details like the faint drops of tears on his eyes, every crease in his clothes, and looking at Lysa, she noticed a more downcast expression. Suddenly, she began to reason and a flash of memories and dialogues came to her. But it came so quickly that she couldn't keep up, so she still didn't understand what had happened, only knowing that she now had a severe headache.

She felt she had come to a conclusion, but it was so sudden that she didn't fully comprehend the conclusion she reached. Lysa noticed her friend's movement, as she placed her hand on her head, seeing various colors around Emily, entering and exiting her head, as if something was in process there.

"Emily, are you okay?" asked Lysa, Clark heard the girl's question and turn his attention to the hermit with a stressed expression.

"What is it now?" The tone of voice said it all, and although brief, it scared the girls. Lysa and Emily knew how Clark wasn't as kind as Helena and the others thought, even though he often acted kindly, there was a colorless aura emanating from him that only Lysa could see, and a guard that lowered whenever he was alone with the children.

"N-Nothing." Emily mutter, not wanting to get scolded. Her pain was going away, but an annoyance remained. Her body was in the middle of a process she didn't understand. Lysa, on the other hand, was focused on not irritating Clark, being the most responsible she had to take action quickly.

"Well, Emily, how about we let Clark rest, okay?" said the blonde to the brown-haired girl while guiding her away from him. "It's better to stay away from him at times like this, Emily. He's already mad at me for before; I don't want him to get annoying with you too."

The other girl just nodded, she was too thoughtful, which worried Lysa, after all, Emily never thinks.

"Hey, Lysa... I'm sorry for earlier about the book thing, I didn't mean to upset you." Emily's apology was sincere, and Lysa could see that very clearly. She was happy and felt bad about it; Emily was truly a good friend, but Lysa... was terrible with her.

But it wasn't her fault; Emily was too childish and did everything without thinking, leaving Lysa to clean up the mess. It was natural for her to be so on edge; it... wasn't her fault. Adults get irritated with each other and argue without ever apologizing, especially with children. Lysa didn't need to apologize even if she owed it; Emily should forgive her on her own, as adults do.

"You're still on that? I forgive you, silly, don't worry."

The trio stayed there for a while longer, waiting, and after what seemed like long minutes, the others returned, bringing a battered James and Helena.

"HELENA!" Clark shouted in concern, immediately getting up and removing his friend from Pedro's shoulders, laying her down on the ground. Stuart laid James in a nearby area. Emily saw that both uncle and niece were covered in cuts and holes, although none were fatal or too deep. For some reason, she could tell the width and depth of the wounds; James had a broken nose as well as a red and swollen face, and she felt as if she could see the fractures inside his body.

"They'll be fine." said John calmly. The archer was always so detached from everything, it was as if he wasn't part of the others' world, it was as if he felt nothing or was simply very good at hiding what he felt. "Let's let them rest a bit, but stay alert. We don't know why she left them alive; for all we know, she could be following us."

"This is all a lot." said Stuart, sitting down exhausted. "The world was normal and decided to go insane, and now that the madness has normalized, it decided to go insane again. I've seen James defeat creatures of all kinds; losing to a woman with a sword, and with Helena's help... I don't know if I want to get involved in this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said. This is... too tiring for me. If you want to save the universe, then fine, but I'm out." The man rummaged in a pocket of his clothes and pulled out a photograph, dirty and crumpled.  "The universe has never done anything for me anyway."

John didn't say anything; again, he wasn't sure what to say. Emotions were too complex for him to talk about, especially regarding delicate issues. Pedro and Clark were quiet, Pedro lost in his own world while Clark was still focusing his efforts on Helena. In fact, the man hadn't heard a single word of what they said.

Lysa had heard everything but didn't know what to say. She wished she had answers or could help with something, but her mind didn't come up with anything she could say. At least she felt relieved to see she wasn't the only one with this strange feeling.

"Don't be stupid." With sudden sincerity, Emily made an offhand comment. Lysa looked at her angrily, wanting to hit the girl for not knowing how to control herself. "The universe isn't a person to do something for you; it's where you live. You should save it because it's the right thing to do, simple as that."

"Emily, have some respect." Lysa whispered. "Stuart is like this because of Lindsay and..."

"Don't talk about what you don't know, kid." The man retorted. "The right thing to do? Who decided that? I couldn't care less what happens here, and I'm not obligated to act if I don't want to."

"YOU'RE JUST A BIG COWARD. " That headache was killing the girl; looking at Stuart, she could see the muscles in his face moving, difficult words she didn't know came to her mind. But she didn't have the patience for that now; that man was acting like an idiot for no reason, and she couldn't just stay silent watching it.

"What did you say?" Stuart threatened to advance toward the girl, but John held him by the arm with a "not worth it" expression. Pulling away with force, Stuart turned his back and moved a little further away. The archer was about to follow, but not before turning to Emily and saying simply:

"Thank you."

Both girls were confused, Lysa even more so. What Emily did was wrong and reckless; she just acted and said what she wanted without any reason. It made no sense to thank her, so why did she see such bright colors emanating from the girl? "Stuart, wait, I want to talk to you."

"Let me be, John, I want to be alone."

"Stuart, you're just like me. You're always alone. I don't feel comfortable talking as much as you do, but I still want to talk. Listen, Emily may have expressed herself inappropriately, but she's still right."

"You know as well as I do that there's no meaning to life."

"I wouldn't say that. If I were to look at life like a mathematical formula, I'd say the meaning of life is: zero. Therefore, it exists."

"Zero... is equivalent to nothing. Isn't that the worst of all?"

"Of course not. There are negative numbers behind it. Look: As soon as we are born, the value of our life is zero. No matter the condition we arrive in, whether we subtract or add depends entirely and completely on us. The numbers are infinite; you can endlessly decrease or increase the value of your life if you just use the right thinking."

"You think too much, man. That view is somewhat sad."

"Maybe, but it's always been that view that kept me going. Listen, Stuart, Pedro arrived today and already has more interactions with the rest of the people than we do; obviously, we're recluses. Like it or not, the truth is you've been dragged into this too. I'm not going to tell you how to act, but just... don't give up so easily."

"HEY, THEY'RE WAKING UP." Clark yelled, checking Helena's temperature. Everyone else approached, and slowly both she and James opened their eyes and sat up.

"Where are we? What happened?" James asked, placing his hand on his head.

"In the void, and we also want to know, how did you escape from her? Obviously, you didn't defeat her."

"I don't know, I passed out before I saw her leave. Helena, did you?"

"She... just left. Said something about us being useful to her and how we're lucky she didn't die. If not, everyone would have died or something like that."

"Lucky she didn't die?" The archer was thoughtful, then as a click came to him. "I understand. Do you remember what the monk said? "Nature, life, and youth must come before death," or something like that. If that woman destroyed the virtue of death, killing her means returning death to the world, and in the state humans are in right now, no one would be able to resist."

"Now it makes sense." James continued. "Without nature, there's no oxygen, without life, there's no health, and without youth, they'll die of old age. Ugh." The older man placed his hand over his broken nose, but the sensitivity was too great, causing him pain.

"Be careful when touching it."Emily said suddenly. "If you touch it wrong, you might worsen the injury to your nose."

"How do you know that, Emily?"

"Huh? It seemed obvious." Lysa looked at her confused; Emily barely knew how to use a band-aid, and now she was giving medical advice?

"Anyway, it's a relief to see you're okay." Clark interrupted, holding Helena's hand, relieved. However, the woman didn't pay much attention to him at the moment, she was too distracted.

"So? How strong is she?" Stuart asked. "What powers does she have?"

"Powers? I think... she didn't use any?"

"What? Helena, I've seen you and James face monsters; you're telling me a woman with a thin sword defeated both of you?"

"She's not lying, Stuart." James defended his niece. "That woman was fast, agile, and skilled. Her sword wasn't a normal sword, but all the attacks were physical; she didn't use any special abilities like we do."

"But what about Clark?" Lysa asked. "She used some power on him, didn't she?"

"True, what happened to you, Clark? You had a panic attack out of nowhere."

"I... don't want to talk about it right now."

"There's something else that intrigues me." said the archer, continuing the topic. 

Huh? Emily had felt something wrong. John completely ignored what happened to Clark? No one seemed to object, so it seemed fine, but... what a strange feeling the girl just had. "If that woman didn't use any power to defeat you, then why was there a completely destroyed area of the floor? It didn't look like something James's barriers could cause, and besides, Helena's sword was completely disintegrated."

"What?" Helena said, alarmed, finally realizing her weapon wasn't nearby. "Oh, right, I lost it. DAMN IT... that was me; apparently, I awakened my power too; it's some kind of destructive energy."

"Just like your anger." Stuart commented, intrigued. "The protector has barriers, the isolated one talks to animals and plants, the girl who always wants to help apparently has sharp instincts."

"I DO, they are real!"

"Whatever and now the explosive one destroys things. Once again, you were right, John; the powers reflect the nature of the user."

"But would that power be enough to defeat those guys? Two of us lost to one of them; there are twenty in total. Only God knows where that women stands in their strength levels; for all we know, she could be one of the weakest."

"Power isn't everything in battle" James said, standing up. "The reason Helena and I lost is precisely because we didn't know what to expect, and that also refers to that swordswoman and reflects on the others. A human can be killed by a spider if he doesn't know it's poisonous. The fact that their powers are unknown is what makes them so precarious, but the same can be said for them. That woman was obviously surprised by my barrier, which means we can catch them off guard if we know how to use our powers. And listen: Even the strongest of the powers can be circumvented if we know the rules it follows. If you encounter an enemy stronger than you, try to use your abilities to bypass their skills. Even if they seem far superior, that's our best chance."

"I... wanted to apologize to you."Finally, Pedro, who had been quiet throughout the conversation, spoke, directing his voice to Helena and James.

"What's this all of a sudden?" Helena asked in her usual blunt manner.

" Well... I ran away... I left you behind with that woman."

"We all ran away, Pedro." Stuart said.

"But it's different for me; I also have powers; I could have helped you."

"Pedro, your powers are limited to plants and animals, something we don't have here. You wouldn't have been useful at all."

"No... no, man... I could have helped... I'm stronger than you think..." This last part was whispered, making none of the others understand the young man's comment. He continued. "The truth is, I felt fear. I've always been alone... so thinking in a group isn't natural for me; I'm used to having to think only of myself."

"Stop being an idiot." Helena scolded, startling him. "If you really only thought of yourself, you wouldn't have been brooding over this until now. Actually, I think you care more about what others think of you. Isn't that why you're all agitated and anxious? You were scared; life goes on. I was scared too... for a moment." The girl said, a reddish hue spreading across her face. The priest stared at her speechless for a moment, then tears began to form in his eyes. In a comical tone, he started crying like a child.

"HELENA, I THOUGHT YOU WERE PURELY A SHREW, BUT YOU'RE A KIND SHREW. WAAAAAH!"

"SO I'M STILL A SHREW, YOU IDIOT?" The woman jumped on him, putting him in a sort of headlock.

"Okay. Just half-shrew." Pedro said amidst the struggles.

"I'M NOT A SHREW, I'M A LADY, NOW REPEAT!"

"I... I'm not a..."

"IT'S NOT FOR YOU TO LITERALLY REPEAT, YOU IDIOT!" Even though Helena was rough, Pedro still felt a certain affection in her actions, he felt quite comfortable around her, a strange feeling... which immediately vanished when she stopped.

Suddenly, Helena just stopped holding Pedro, and with a closed expression, she let him go.

"But... you know, Pedro, now that I think about it... it was really very selfish of you to run away like that."

"Huh?" Pedro and Emily immediately found it odd. Helena wasn't joking; she didn't joke like that, but this was the complete opposite of what she had said moments ago. "Helena, but you just said that..."

"Yes, she said you're a coward, a lackey, nervous, and incompetent." Stuart said, with no control over his tone of voice.

"You literally just arrived..." Clark continued. "How can we trust a useless guy with no powers and a complete stranger?"

"W-W-Well..." Those words hurt. They were just words, they shouldn't have any effect on him, but they still hurt. "I-I-I can help you... so be a little patient with me... please..."

"Patience?" Now came James. "I don't even like you; I don't think anyone here does, and you're saying we should wait until you decide to be useful?"

A heavy air settled over everyone there. Emily then realized the same was happening to her. Looking at Pedro, she felt an imminent anger rising within her, a pulsing need to insult and expel him. But these emotions didn't make sense; they came out of nowhere. In psychology, it's explained that no emotion grows so intensely from one second to the next... Wait? Psychology? Since when did the girl understand psychology? What a headache; her brain seemed to pulse. As if something was coming, and she couldn't understand it.

"Okay, I'm leaving. Sorry, guys, I didn't mean to bother you, just help. I shouldn't have come in the first place; I don't belong anywhere." Pedro said, running away from the group, completely red with embarrassment, humiliated... again. Could he have been born for humiliation?

"What are you waiting for?" Clark finished. "Go away then."

And with a click, Emily finally understood; irrational emotions out of control, chaotic changes. It wasn't the first time this happened. No, it was quite common in her day; there were several moments when people's hearts seemed to be... affected.

"Oh, oh, oh... the kid tried to see my heart, didn't he?"

"Clark." Emily called. The redhead looked at her curiously, as did everyone else. "What are you doing with us?"