Four people sat in a meeting room.
The atmosphere was heavy and tense.
Irwin sat in one of the chairs and looked at the table, his eyes wet with tears.
Carl looked with seriousness at the two people on the other side of the table.
Ramona Illium was rubbing the bridge of her nose.
Hera Marion looked at the table with deep thought.
Silence.
"What do we do now?" Carl asked.
Ramona sighed. "It's not up to us."
"It's up to Nick," Hera said without looking up from the table. "What we do doesn't matter."
"He was the victim, and whatever he wants to do is what will happen."
"The best thing we can hope for is that Nick won't fault Solace," Hera said.
"I don't think he will," Carl said. "I spoke to him, and he seemed like a genuine guy."
Hera didn't seem certain. "I thought so, too, a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure if that's still accurate. He changed quite a bit."
"He used to be really nice, almost na?ve, but he hasn't been like that in years."
Knock, knock, knock!
"Come in," Ramona shouted to the door.
The door opened, and the receptionist peeked through the door.
Irwin didn't seem to react.
He knew that this was probably his fate knocking on the door, but he just didn't care anymore.
"Miss, the Chief Zephyx Extractor of Dark Dream wants to talk to you," the receptionist said.
Almost everyone in the room took a deep breath.
"Bring him here," Ramona said with a neutral voice.
"Of course, miss," the receptionist said before she closed the door again.
"Well, at least we don't have to wait for much longer," Hera said, looking away from the table and leaning back.
Carl looked at Irwin.
Irwin's fists were clenched as his gaze was fixed on the table.
He hadn't said anything ever since he had returned.
The four of them waited in silence.
Knock, knock, knock.
The atmosphere in the room became tense.
Ramona and Hera took deep breaths.
"Come in," Ramona shouted.
The door opened fully, and the receptionist gestured for the person beside her to enter.
Naturally, it was Nick.
Nick wordlessly walked into the room with a neutral expression.
The door behind him closed.
Hera stood up. "Nick," she said with a careful voice.
"It's fine," Nick said, casually waving her off. "I do not fault Solace. Carl did everything he could to help me, and since he was the leader of the excursion, he also represented Solace. As far as I'm concerned, Solace did its absolute best to help and protect me."
Near the table, Ramona sighed in relief.
Hera also sighed, and a relieved smile appeared on her face. "Thank you, but still, one of our Extractors has done something horrible, and we still feel like we owe you an apology."
"If it makes you feel better, sure, I'll accept the apology," Nick said.
Hera just smiled.
Next, Nick looked at Ramona and nodded in greeting.
Ramona returned the nod with a smile.
Next, Nick looked at Carl with a quick smile.
Carl returned a weak smile.
Finally, Nick looked at Irwin with distant and disregarding eyes.
Irwin didn't dare to look at Nick.
"Irwin, look at me," Nick said.
Irwin's body shook, and he turned his head to the side.
"You tried to kill me, and now, you don't even want to do me the small favor of looking at me?" Nick asked neutrally.
Irwin's body became very tense.
And then, he slowly moved his head to look at Nick.
Nick looked into Irwin's eyes.
"Do you regret what you've done?" Nick asked.
Irwin's eyes fell, and he looked at the table again.
"Look at me," Nick said.
Irwin looked at Nick.
"Yes," he said with a soft voice.
"Do you feel guilty?" Nick asked.
Irwin sighed and nodded.
"Are there other things you regret? Have you done things in the past you would change if you could?" Nick asked.
Irwin looked at the table again with forlorn eyes.
Nick didn't tell him to look at him.
A couple of seconds of silence passed.
"I don't know," Irwin said. "I looked at some of my past mistakes positively since they brought me to where I am today."
"But now, I don't like where I am."
"So, maybe I should have regretted some of my mistakes more."
It was quite obvious that Irwin was honest.
The best thing for him to do was to answer with yes and recount a couple of minor bad things to show that he wasn't a bad person.
Yet, he said that he didn't know.
Many times, when someone found themselves in a horrible situation they had never been in, they didn't know what to think or how to evaluate themselves.
"You regret your current situation, not the situations you have placed others in?" Nick asked coldly.
"What does it matter?" Irwin asked.
Silence.
Nick looked deeply at Irwin.
Irwin hadn't looked at Nick again after he initially looked away.
He had a rebellious look on his face, almost like a teenager who had been caught doing something bad.
Thanks to all of Julian's lessons, Nick could take a good guess as to what was going on.
Oftentimes, people didn't act according to their true feelings.
Nick took out the confession that Irwin had written.
"You're not like me," Nick said.
Crrr!
Nick tore the confession apart, put the torn pieces on top of each other, and tore them apart again.
He did that a couple of times until only tiny bits of paper were left.
The other three looked at Nick with wide-open eyes.
Irwin didn't look at Nick, but his body shook.
Nick let all the pieces fall to the ground.
"Carl is someone I learned to admire, and he believes you to be a good person," Nick said.
"Today is the closest you have ever gotten to death, and it is 100% your own fault. If you had died today, it would be completely on you."
"Your past has led you to this point."
"Take this as a wake-up call."
"This is the last chance you're going to get."
"Change or die."
Then, Nick looked at the others in the room and nodded.
"We'll talk some other day."
Finally, Nick walked out of the room.