Funeral Rites

Respect For The Dead
Asterion walked up the mountain, heading towards the Magic Council's building, while carrying John's dead body in his large palm. Alyssa has finally stopped crying, and listened to him. He told her to go back home, that it would be too dangerous for her to stay. Even though she didn't really agree at first, until he insisted.

Odd.

He wasn't designed to do such things. Command others. Asterion was programmed to obey, only. Yet, he disobeyed the program. The damages he recieved from his battle against Amon must have damaged his system as well. Atleast, that's his excuse.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, Asterion noticed Joan being mended by medics, having removed her armor in order to patch her up.

Joan glared at Asterion, but her eyes widened upon seeing him carrying John in his hand.

"Jo-...John?!" Joan shouted, quickly getting up, right when one of the doctors was bandaging her arm "John! Are you okay?!" She yelled out to the dead man.

"He is dead" Asterion bluntly replied. His monotone voice unhinged, despite the news he was delivering. "He has been killed by Thanatos, the Automaton. Project Gamma."

"No...No! Jo-...!" Suddenly, Joan coughed blood, as her shirt became dyed in blood from reopening her wound.

"Please, Miss Arc, don't over exert yourself!" One of the doctors said, rushing towards Joan and helping her stand back up on her feet "Allow us to take care of you now. We will worry about John later".

"I require the location of the Medical Facility" Asterion said to the doctor, who turned towards Asterion.

"It's probably occupied. There were alot of injured, and dead." The doctor replied, as he began to take care of Joan's wounds again.

"What is the cause?" Asterion asked.

"The intruders, of course. There's no one else who could possibly be doing these things!".

Asterion began walking to the building, about to enter it.

"Wait!" Joan shouted, stopping Asterion as he turned around "Who...are you...?" Joan asked in a weakened voice, clutching her shoulder as it bled.

"I am Asterion. Project Alpha. First Automaton. Designed by Eva Kiesler." Asterion replied, as he continued walking into the building.

Asterion scanned the area, no one, but seeing a trail of blood drops leading into the next room. Ignoring the blood trail, he continued forward.

"Target Detected" Suddenly, another monotone, robotic voice came from under Asterion, as two large hands pierced through the floor and grabbed his legs, pulling him down through the floor to the lower floor of the building.

Asterion lost John's body as a result, due to not gripping it, since his strength would simply crush it like it's carbon. Asterion landed on his feet, crushing the floor as he his feet hit the ground, due to his massive size and weight.

As Asterion got a good look, he saw what pulled him down. It was a large, four legged Automaton, with the same color design as Asterion. It had a large tail, adorned with golden ring linings around it, two large, flat and crescent-shaped "rings" potruting from his back. It had a flat, circular top head, with one singular red eye.

"Scan...Analyzed. Centaurus, Project Beta. What is the meaning of this attack?" Asterion asked the four legged Centaurus.

"Objective: Retrieve the body of John Deschain. Terminate all potential threats to the mission." Centaurus' words were even more soulless than Asterion's, truly sounding like a machine driven by logic alone.

"What is the reason for the retrievel of his body?" Asterion continued to question Centaurus, who began scanning the area.

"Classified" Centaurus replied almost instantly and sternly.

"Then I must be in your way as a result" Asterion began walking towards Centaurus, who has just located John's body lying dead on the floor.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Asteri-..." Centaurus was cut off by Asterion delivering a powerful blow to Centaurus with his fist to Centaurus' face.

"Objective: Terminate Centaurus and deliver John's body to the medical bay" Asterion said, as Centaurus' eye glew and aimed a laser at Asterion's chest, firing a red beam that cleanly pierced through him, causing him to be knocked back and stumble onto his knee.

"Project Alpha has gone rogue. I repeat. Project Alpha has gone rogue. Identify as enemy. And asign objective. Terminate Asterion" Centaurus said, sounding surprisingly menacing despite his monotone voice remaining unchanged.

Incurable Death
Lamia kicked open the door to the medical room, where a nurse quickly turned in response.

"You! Who are you?! What is the meaning of this?! We have patients he-...!" The nurse was cut as Hera entered holding Amon. The state he was in made it clear for why Lamia rushed to kick the door.

Amon was a mess. Aside from his upper body being completely drenched in blood, he also had his bone sticking out of his left arm after being broken, he was bleeding severely from his stomach and shoulder, and had a large wound across his chest, going from his right shoulder down to his waist.

"What...happened?" The nurse asked, absolutely shocked upon seeing Amon.

"Just give me a bed and medical tools. I'm a doctor, his doctor" Lamia said, almost as if ordering the nurse. The nurse did as she was told. She led Lamia to a free bed, and quickly brought her medical equipment, as the other patients simply watched, being thankful what they have are just mere illnesses compared to him.

Lamia put a medical mask around her mouth, and gloves, as she removed Amon's jacket and shirt from him, injecting Amon with anesthetic, as she began to take care of his injures, as Hera stood aside, patiently watching.

"Would you like some help?" The nurse asked Lamia, who turned to face the nurse, glaring at her with a...not very friendly look in her eyes "I mean...there are no other patients needing care now, so I can help you, doctor...?"

"...My name doesn't matter right now. Just get me more bandages, and I need something sturdy to fix up the arm and bone. Can you do that?" Lamia told the nurse, who nodded in reply.

"I know just what to bring you! Leave it to me!" The nurse said, quickly rushing to get Lamia what she requested.

"Lily...wait a little longer. I just need to save your Papa. So please, just a little bit longer...!" Lamia thought to herself, as she began to sweat from her forehead. Lamia carefully took a look at Amon's injuries, the most severe one being his stomach. "I won't lose you again...You will not have a second funeral!" All Lamia could remember now was a tombstone in the middle of the snowy forest, near a cave, with the name "Ira" spelled on it "Please...you're my first and best friend...and I only realized that a few days ago...".

Almost an hour has passed, and Lamia was almost done. All she had left to do, was stitch the slash across his chest. Until now, she managed to fix his arm, putting the bone back in place and patched up his arm, while doing her best to make sure no serious damage was inflicted onto his stomach, and that his insides weren't too severely injured, stitching his stomach and closing it.

Lamia was drenched in Amon's blood, both her coat and gloves were covered with the red substance. Lamia sat next to Amon, unconscious on the bed, as she took a sigh of relief "He'll live...atleast, as long as he doesn't get into any more trouble..." That didn't sound very relieved though, but more of worry.

"What happened to him anyway?" The nurse asked, also stained with blood after helping Lamia take care of Amon.

"He uh...got in a pretty serious fight against some crazy guy...don't know the rest though" Lamia said, and before the nurse could reply, Aph kicked the door open, exhaling and appearing exhausted.

"This place...has too many doors!" Aph said, her voice sounding parched "Water...I need...lil' ol' cup of water..." The nurse quickly filled glass with water, and rushed to give it to Aph, who drank it all up, smiling kindly at the nurse "Ah, thank you, missy. What's your name?" Aph asked the nurse with her usual cheerful demeanor.

"Me? My name is-..."

"Yeah, great story, now where's my Amon?" Aph cut off the nurse as she continued towards Lamia, as the nurse appearing rather annoyed. "Awww, he's all tuckered out" Aph said upon seeing the unconscious Amon on the bed.

"He's at the risk of dying...I think tuckered out is an understatement" Lamia sighed, getting up and patting Aph's shoulder "I'm going to leave him at your care for the moment. I'll be right back".

"Where're you going?" Aph asked Lamia, still smiling.

"I'm gonna go get Lily. Keep an eye on Amon and make sure he doesn't go anywhere after he wakes up" Lamia told Aph, though it sounded more like an order "If he as much as runs, or does any kind of action, the stitches on his stomach will rip and he's wound will reopen. He will die if that happens. Do you understand?".

"But why me? Why won't you look after him? I'll be able ot handle the Rune Knights better"

"Because he won't listen to me, and I can't stop him if he persists. But you can, with or without your magic, I trust you to do this for me."

"...Alright. You can count on me then. Don't worry, he won't be leaving" Aph reassured Lamia, sitting down next to him, and placing her sword next to her against the wall "Go on now. Lily's waitin'".

"Thank you, Aph" Lamia said, as she turned around and walked away, but stopped next to the nurse "And you, thank you for your help. If we ever meet again, then I owe you" Lamia said to the nurse.

"Ah! No! There's no need to really!" The nurse put up a forced smile "I'm a nurse. My duty is to help people who are injured and in need, no matter who they are."

"...No matter who they are, you say? Well...that's an interesting thing to say..." The nurse seemed confused as to what Lamia meant by that "Either way, I'll be going now." Lamia exited and closed the door behind her, as she heard the footsteps of a large group coming towards her "...They're hear already...eh?" Suddenly, a smirk appeared on Lamia's face as she cracked her knuckles "I ain't lettin' them get in my way this time".