The Extra's Rebellion
Chapter 104: Therapy again

Chapter 104: Therapy again

The room was white. Uncomfortably white.

Walls. Ceiling. Even the couch he was seated on—too soft, like it might swallow him whole if he let his guard down.

The room reeked of sterile calm. The kind of peace you only find in padded walls and dangerous minds.

There were only a few things in the room besides the couches— a glass table in the center, a pitcher of untouched water, and a large circular clock ticking just loud enough to be annoying. One of those ’modern’ designs with no numbers. Just ticks.

Besides him sat Zephyr, slouched slightly, his aura clearing showing he was here in body, not in spirit. And his eyes had proven that point. Detached. Far away. Like he wasn’t in the room at all.

Noctis had seen that look once before.

On the soliders who had given up on life, soldiers who had concluded that fighting a minute longer in the war was torture, they had that look moment before commiting suicide. And on their corpse.

He shifted uncomfortably on the couch. His eyes flicked around the room again out of habit.

He didn’t understand it—why he felt this way, anytime people did horrible things he felt bad and although Zephyr had succeeded in raping the princess in his past life, he didn’t succeed in this one. But still he felt somehow whenever he hunted him. Sad? Guilty?

’If anyone heard what I’m thinking’. He mused bitterly. ’They’d call me a hypocrite’.

And they’d be right.

When he first regressed, he was angry. Really angry. Armed with the knowledge of betrayals to come, failures he couldn’t prevent.

He had tried reaching out to the princess. Oddly, she agreed to talk to him, that was strange. Seralyn never just spoke to people. Not like that, especially not to someone like him.

But he chalked it up to timing, she hadn’t been violated yet. Not broken, still whole.

No matter what he said, though, she still went home. It was her birthday, after all. What had he expected? That she’d abandon her clan’s ceremonial celebration just because he’d begged?

Then the news of the rape came, and fortunately for her, Zephyr didn’t succeed, but that didn’t stop him from hating Zephyr and even actively hunting him when he got promoted to Red Sphinx district.

But over time... the fury dulled and gave way to self-loathing.

He hated Zephyr for what he did to the princess—while he, her lover, had slept with Teressa the night they laid Seralyn to rest.

The battlefield made him soft, the women made him weaker. Maybe it was their shared survival. The scars. The blood. He didn’t know. But he hadn’t resisted. He could have left. Could have said no.

But he stayed, and he did it.

’I really am a hypocrite...’. He thought, bitterly. ’But not anymore’.

Not this life.

This time, he’d stay loyal to Seralyn and she wasn’t going to die this time.

Right?

He winced at the memory. "Last time didn’t end well," he muttered inwardly, but at least this time, no one knew of his pathetic betrayal. His failure.

That made it easier to breathe.

’i really am a hypocrite, but not anymore’. He concluded in his heart, in this new life, he would stay loyal to Seralyn. It’s not like she is going to die anyway.

’The last time didn’t end well’. He inwardly cringed. ’At least no one knows of my distasteful behaviour, or overwhelming defeat’. The thought made him feel better.

Then the door burst open.

"Are you out of your damn minds!?"

The man who stormed in looked like a therapist only by badge—hair tousled like he’d been pulling at it all morning, glasses askew on the bridge of his nose. His coat was white, sure, but it was open, revealing a faded black shirt that read ’Peace is a Process’ in cracked letters.

’Peace, huh?’.

He pointed a shaking hand at both of them.

"You’re academic students! You hear me? Academic! Not drug addict! Not thugs! Not frontline soldiers".

His voice climbed with every word, cracking under the strain.

"You were supposed to engage in an approved team battle, a spar between teams. Not a demolition derby with body parts! You collapsed half a fucking cliff! Do you know the resources Vulnerable Magnus used to build his domain".

Noctis raised his hand politely. "Excuse me."

The man blinked, mid-tirade. "What?"

"Aren’t we supposed to be in a therapy session?" Noctis asked, tilting his head innocently.

The man stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

"Yes, we are!"

Noctis mumbled under his breath, "Doesn’t feel like it."

The therapist’s eye twitched.

Deeply.

"You know what? Fine! Let’s talk therapy then! You want therapy? Let’s go! Let’s talk about the absolute lunacy it takes to sink a blade into your fellow classmates neck, rip open another student’s leg, then ride an avalanche like a damn snowboarder trying to win gold at the Death Olympics!"

He swung around toward Zephyr, gesturing wildly.

"And you! Despite the fact that you mistakenly impaled yourself with your own katana! You didn’t even react like a normal teenager".

Zephyr gazed at him for a moment before speaking underneath his breath. "Was i supposed to just lie down and die". He even sounded offended.

Then the man turned back to Noctis. "You guys were too brutal".

Noctis’s gaze flicked over to him again.

’Brutal?’ he thought dryly. ’The only one brutal was him. And all the crimes you mentioned were all committed by him".

But he didn’t say it out loud, instead he folded his arms and leaned back into the couch. ’comfortable’. Too comfortable, it felt like a bed shaped as a couch.

The therapist’s words blurred into background noise as he focused on his next cause of actions.

Unlike the rest of his mates, he didn’t need to hunt for his source. Well in his past life he did hunt for one but this life, he decided to take it easy.

Why hunt for a source when he could just clad his soul with the extremely rich Aether oozing from the Abyss eye.

It was of a higher quality of any darkness source he could hope to find.

Then a sentence managed to slip through his train of thought.

"What was your reason for fighting like that". The therapist stood at the center of the room, arms crossed. He was serious now. Quiet.

Noctis blinked.

And in that moment, memories surged.

Ambushes. Betrayals. Artifact retriever gone wrong. Black Omnibus infiltrators among their own.

A general of Extinction—whose gaze alone could snap bones.

In the end, fighting wasn’t about glory. It was survival. It was desperation. It was the shield you raised so someone else wouldn’t be torn apart.

Sometimes, he didn’t even remember why he fought. He just did.

Because stopping meant death.

And now? Now that question didn’t feel difficult at all.

Noctis looked up, voice steady.

"I fight to protect."

Silence followed.

Then the therapist said in a quiet voice. "I asked why you were fighting like animals! And don’t you dare lie to me, who were you trying to protect by fighting like that".

Noctis’s face turned awkward, sometimes he forget he is the only one with the memory from the future.

"Hmm for revenge". That was the only thing that would sound accurate to his actions. Spreading out his darkness creations to sniff him out, to waiting for him while he could have been hunting points for his team.

"And you". The therapist turned his gaze to Zephyr who simply replied.

"To win".

"That does make sense, from you past history with him, you tend to lose a lot". The therapist muttered under his breath before turning to Noctis. "But you on the other hand, apart from the team battles you guys don’t have any form of relation with each other, why the unnecessary violence".

Noctis already had an excuse to that question a long time ago. "Because of what he did to the third princess". Now that he said it out loud, Noctis realized how crazy it sounded.

He could see the face of the therapist morphing into one of realization then one of pity, but the pity was directed at him.

"Look you have talent, don’t waste it by chasing after revenge when you could do so much more".

’so they really are keeping tabs on us’. In his past, the Black Omnibus had too much information about them, from their strength to their every weakness.

Knowledge only their squad instructor was supposed to have access to. It was as if they could just pull out a book and study them, just like they did with troublesome riftsprawn.

Although he was thinking, it didn’t stop him from answering.

"I will be sure to heed your advice".

"Good, that would be all for now". With that he left just like he arrived. Loudly.

They both got up from their seat and walked out of the room, at a point they each went their separate ways, but not before Noctis called out to Zephyr.

"Watch your back out they! You’ll never know where a blade is coming from".

’Things are about to become messy’.