Legendary Shadow Blacksmith

“I… woke up an hour ago. I told MEGAN not to tell you, so don’t blame her,” Ellie’s voice was still a little hoarse, but Julian could hear her moving already. Every faint sound—her footsteps, the rustling of her hospital gown—gave him a strange comfort.

Relief completely washed over Julian’s throat, which almost locked up when he heard the beeping sounds of the machine no longer beeping. Her voice still sounded hoarse and slightly whispering, but from the tone of her voice, she truly had been awake about an hour ago—Julian would know, he had memorized every cadence of Ellie’s voice and what they meant.

“How are you feeling?” Julian asked as he followed her with his ears, each of her steps bringing solace to him.

“I’m… fine now.”

“...No, you’re not.”

There was a long pause before Ellie’s soft, trembling voice answered. “No, I’m not…”

Her vulnerability broke through, and the tremble in her voice became more apparent, each word shaking as though carrying a weight too heavy to bear. Her steps faltered, a near stumble that betrayed the strength she tried to maintain.

“I’m… terrified, Julian.” She stammered.

“You don’t have to be.” Julian stood up and placed the LinkGear on the chair, not even bothering to grab his cane–this may seem like a small, insignificant gesture to many, but it was not at all. His cane had always been his item, the thing that made him feel safe and comfortable. But with Ellie in the same room, he didn’t need it at all.

“The men that did this to you…” Julian stepped forward with a whisper, “I met with them and talked—”

“I know what you did. And that’s why I’m scared…” Ellie approached Julian and placed her palm on his chest, “...I’m scared for you. Those people are dangerous and… I would have paid them eventually, I was just a little late because–”

“Because you’ve been taking care of me my whole life, Ellie,” Julian whispered, gently lifting her hand and placing it on his cheek. “And I’m sorry for that.”

Ellie’s breath hitched, her hand trembling as she lightly bumped her fist against his chest in frustration.

“Why… would you be sorry for that? I chose to take care of you. I chose to be with you—that was my choice. I would never be sorry for that because I loved you then and I love you even more now.”

Her words, spoken without hesitation, carried the weight of years of suppressed emotions. Each syllable felt like it was dragging something raw and painful out into the open.

“It’s just…” she continued, her voice breaking, “It became too much, you know? I got tired. Tired of always having to take care of you. We’ve lived under the same roof for more than a decade, and I can count the number of times we had sex on one hand, Julian. Don’t you know how weird that is?”

“...” Julian remained silent, letting her words hang between them like the heavy air in the room.

“We’ve been friends for more than 20 years, Julian—and in all that time I had to take care of you. Always putting you first even when we were children, always… always you.”

Ellie’s hand started to tremble on Julian’s chest, causing her to grip his shirt to stop herself from doing so before she continued the words wanting to escape her lips.

“And I did all of that because I wanted to.” Her voice became weaker, “I wanted you to need me. I wanted you to want me. I wanted you to rely on me. I was obsessed. I am obsessed with you, and it destroyed both of us. We’re not… we’re not healthy for each other, Julian.”

Julian did not respond at all, only letting out a small breath to let Ellie know that he was listening. And for a while, the two of them just stood there. Inside a hospital room, letting the silence linger for more than it should.

But perhaps that is what they needed. Silence.

“Do you…” And that silence was broken by Julian as he finally held Ellie’s trembling hand; his large hand completely covering hers, “...remember the first time we met?”

Ellie smiled softly, a weak laugh escaping her as a tear slipped down her cheek.

“Winter and Summer,” she sniffled. “Primary school. You weren’t talking to anyone and the teacher just put us together because of our names. You were so weird back then… but I guess you still are now.”

“I don’t remember it. I don’t remember any of that.”

Ellie’s soft laugh quickly faded as she heard Julian’s words. “Oh…”

“I don’t remember meeting you because, in my mind, you’ve always been there.” Julian continued, his voice soft but steady. “I know that you weren’t there physically, but… you were. You saved me. Our parents died at the same time and place, but I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that you were there—you were holding my hand, and I wasn’t scared anymore… And I realized all of that now, Ellie. I realized how much you’ve sacrificed for me.”

Ellie gripped Julian’s hand tightly, her own breath shaky as the memories of that day flooded her mind.

“I didn’t sacrifice anything, Julian.” Ellie shook her head, her voice firm. “I told you—I wanted you to need me.”

“MEGAN…” Julian sighed. “When I asked how you were able to afford MEGAN, you told me you received a settlement from the daemon incident.”

“That’s true,” Ellie quickly said. “I was young, and I wanted to give you something, I didn’t care how much it would cost—”

“That was a lie,” Julian interrupted, his voice soft but resolute. “MEGAN told me the truth. Your aunt paid for her, in exchange for your inheritance. You gave up everything for me.”

“MEGAN!?” Ellie looked into Julian’s eyes, “Why would you tell—”

“I don’t know if I could ever repay what you’ve done for me…” Julian gently placed his hand on Ellie’s cheek, “...but I’ll try. I’ll try my best.”

“No…” Ellie quickly shook her head, “...Julian, we… we’re already done. I love you, I really, really do—but this isn’t going to work, it never will and—”

“It doesn’t have to work,” Julian cut her off. “I am not asking to be together again, Ellie. I am asking you to let me take care of you from now on. We don’t need to be lovers, we don’t need to be anything else than friends—let me take care of you from now on, please.”

Ellie blinked, her hands moving to Julian’s hair, smoothing down the messy strands. “You can’t even take care of yourself, Julian…” she whispered. “Look at you.”

“MEGAN has already paid for the hospital bills.”

“What…?” Ellie’s breath hitched as she heard Julian’s words. “What… do you mean? With… what money?”

And before Julian could answer her, her phone that was resting on the side of the bed rang.

[‘My Baby’ is calling. Would you like to answer?]

“My… baby?” Ellie’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Julian—that was him. But it did not really take long for her to realize that it was MEGAN calling, “Answer it.”

[Fufu… 3258 Credits] MEGAN did not even bother with the greetings as her cheeky chuckle whispered in the air.

“...3258 Credits?” Ellie blinked a couple of times as she looked at her phone, which now had a hologram of MEGAN floating on top of it—well, since she and MEGAN looked alike, it was practically her who was being projected.

[That’s how much Julian earned during a single stream,] MEGAN continued. [Of course, since it was his first stream and highly promoted, the number might drop in the next one. Still—3258 Credits. And I’ve already subtracted Cyrus’s cut. But we still need to pay taxes… or do we? Hehehe…]

“You earned… 3258 Credits from a video game?” Ellie’s voice trembled slightly, disbelief creeping in. She turned fully to Julian, eyes wide. “Wait, a single stream? What does that… mean?”

[It means that in a single day, Julian earned more than your monthly rent.] MEGAN’s smirk grew more pronounced as if she were savoring the revelation.

“What…?” Ellie’s shock deepened as the reality of it hit her. “Julian… that’s more than what I make in a month. What…?”

“We… earned that much?” Julian echoed her shock, clearly just as surprised.

[Yes,] MEGAN’s smug tone returned as she started dancing. [YES! Hehe… Hehehehe!]

“Julian…” Ellie’s breath caught as she looked into his face, grabbing him by the cheeks. “You can buy new clothes now. You can… you can groom yourself… Maybe next month you can even put a down payment on buying your apartment back! This… this is very good, Julian! This is—”

“I can take care of you now,” Julian cut her off, his voice calm yet firm.

Ellie’s excitement faded as quickly as it had come. Her hands slowly dropped from Julian’s face as she shook her head, a weary sigh escaping her lips.

“Julian… no. Taking care of someone is more than offering financial support. You need to actually be there for them. And this is your chance—a chance to finally live on your own. Be independent. It’s just—”

[Oh!?] MEGAN’s mouth opened; her hologram closing her eyes as she saw Julian suddenly leaning down and placing his lips on Ellie to shut her up. Of course, it was useless closing her hologram’s eyes as she was actually seeing everything happening up close since she was Julian’s eyes in the first place.

“You…” The kiss was soft at first, hesitant. But soon, Ellie’s resistance melted away, her hand rising to cradle the back of Julian’s neck as she leaned into the kiss, even sliding her tongue inside Julian’s mouth as her body betrayed her.

After a few moments, however, she pulled back, her chest heaving, cheeks flushed. “What… What did you do that for!? That’s… that’s unfair, Julian!”

Julian sighed, a small apologetic smile tugging at his lips. “I’m… sorry. But we always kiss when we’re celebrating something.”

“I kiss you.” Ellie gritted her teeth, words barely forming in her mouth. “You’ve never kissed me. Why would you… that’s… that’s so unfair, Julian. Why would you do that? I’m… I’m so ready to just be done with all of this and you… We were making progress of being independent of each other and… and you… you…”

She trailed off, the words stuck in her throat. For a moment, it seemed like she would pull away entirely, like she was about to walk out of the room. But then, she closed the distance between them again—this time with more force. Her arms wrapped around Julian’s neck as their lips met once more; the kiss, deeper, more desperate.

[Wow, great. The toxic couple is together again. But children, this is a hospital!] MEGAN waved her hands, [This is a hospital! Guys! I think someone’s coming… Guys!]

***

“They… trashed my apartment too.”

After the eventful moment in the hospital, Julian and Ellie found themselves back at her apartment… only to find it in complete disarray.

The front door hung loosely on its hinges, and the inside looked worse—broken furniture, shattered glass, belongings strewn across the floor like an angry storm had passed through—and from how one of her windows was shattered from the outside, they probably entered from there.

Julian ran his hand along the floor, feeling the broken pieces of glass and debris.

“It’s not safe here anymore, Ellie,” he said quietly. “MEGAN’s already searching for a place for us to stay tonight.”

“Hm…” Ellie only responded with a deep breath, “...I’ll go pack some of my clothes.”

[Julian.] MEGAN whispered, sounding far more serious than before.

“You already found a hotel?” Julian stood up, brushing the dirt off his hands before supporting himself with his cane.

[No. There’s something else. I don’t think Ellie wants to tell you, but… there are words written on the walls.] MEGAN’s tone was sharp, a hint of unease creeping in.

“Words?” Julian’s brow furrowed as he tilted his head. “What words?”

[They are very… revolting.] MEGAN’s voice started to quiver. [I don’t know if I should tell you too.]

“What is it?” Julian’s grip on his cane tightened.

[They are… They wrote that they would… rape her if she doesn’t pay up soon.] MEGAN’s voice slowly became mechanical. [And then sell her organs. They wrote all of it in red paint, Julian—the color of blood.]

“What…?” A squeeze whispered in the air as Julian gritted his teeth.

[They wrote it everywhere, Julian.] MEGAN seemed to reflect Julian’s growing wrath.

“Do you still have their IDs saved?” Julian could barely contain the tremble in his voice.

[Yes.]

“Then… We’ll pay them a visit tonight.”