Adopted Soldier

Alex was sitting down still unable to find the answer to what he needed to do. It seems that no matter which route he took, someone from his group was going to die. If this was the old him, he would have chosen the route with the least deaths. Yet now he could not even let one person die. 

It has been a few days since Richter told Alex to either kill his friends or watch Rachel die. By now the probability of his friends being captured was high. If it was anyone else trying to capture his friends, he would have some hope, but seeing that it was that grandfather of his doing the capturing Alex could not even hope. 

As despair quietly sunk deeper into his body, Alex heard the door to his room open. He didn't even bother to lift his head up to see who came in since there is only one person who comes to talk to him. 

"Alex I have good news, all your friends have come to play," Richter spoke in a cheerful tone, but Alex didn't respond. Since he already knew this was inevitable Alex wasn't surprised by the news. Richter looked at Alex a bit surprised since he wasn't expecting Alex to have no reaction at all. 

"So now that your friends are here, I hope you already decided what you will do. Just a reminder if you forgot, your choices are to kill all your friends and I'll let Rachel live and not only that I will even let Sayaka and Evangeline live. Your second option is not to kill anyone, which will make me kill not only Rachel but everyone else, so what do you wish to do? Are you going for option A or option B?" 

Alex didn't respond as he continued to curl up in the corner of the room. Richter was confused this was not part of the plan. The last time they interacted Alex was nearing perfection, he was so close to the ideal but only failed at the last moment. Now it seems like he went into a totally different direction from before. 

Richter came closer and tried to attack Alex with a real intent to kill, yet as his hand got closer Alex didn't move, not even an inch. Richter then held Alex upward and looked at his grandson's eyes and saw a deadpan expression. This was different from the stoic look that was full of logic, this was the look of one waiting for death to come. This was the look of one who has given up in life. 

Richter was truly disappointed when he saw Alex like this. Even that foolish Lyner continued living even while looking for death, he didn't even give up until the end. Yet here his grandson was being even more foolish than that person, he actually gave up while he was living. At this state, he was no different from a dead person.

Richter gritted his teeth in irritation as his hand that was holding Alex up were shaking in anger. If he and Alex weren't the only Greyhounds left he would've killed Alex this very moment. Richter then tossed Alex to the side and left the room. 

'Fine, I will help you get back up again. If I didn't see the potential within him, even if we were the only two left of the Greyhounds I would've killed him already.'

...

A few minutes later, Alex once again heard the door open. He was expecting Richter to try and kill him this time, but then he heard the voice of someone he was longing to see. 

"Alex?" When he heard that sweet loving voice, Alex couldn't help but lookup. The moment he looked up he saw a girl with long raven black hair, that was tied in two messy low pigtails. She had a fringe just above her blue eyes, her body was fair and slim. This was the girl Alex had dreamt to see all this time and he was there right in front of him. 

"Rachel?" When Rachel heard his voice her eyes started tearing up. The Alex that she remembered was now different from before. His face no longer showed that stoic look of his, now he was showing a wide range of emotions. Rachel was so happy to see him again that he wanted to run to him and she was about to do that until she felt someone clutching her neck. She wanted to go into her full RELEASE state, but for some reason, her body wasn't responding normally. She was helpless in the face of Richter's iron grip.

Alex who saw Rachel being held by the neck was about to charge in, when Richter suddenly shouted, "STOP!" Alex stopped midway as he looked at Richter with a murderous gaze. 

"Hmm, not the reaction I wanted to see, but it's good enough. So Alex are you not going to thank your grandfather for making this reunion possible." Alex wanted to respond with vulgarities but he was unable to since he didn't know what Richter was planning to do now. This grandfather of his seems like he was doing everything with a plan but it felt like it was also at random. So he wasn't sure what Richter would do if he misspoke. 

"Nothing to say? Well, it doesn't matter, so now that you know Rachel is really here. Now that you can see her with your very own eyes, how about you tell her your choice? Will you abandon her, or will you kill your friends for her?" 

Rachel who was struggling to get loose from Richter's hands was stunned to hear what was just said. Killing their friends, to save her? She then saw the look Alex had on his face, it was not the stoic look that inspired confidence, it was not the look of the man who always seems to know what to do, instead, it was the look of a man caught in despair. 

She didn't like seeing Alex like this, but what she hated, even more, was it because of her that he was showing such an expression. If she wasn't captured this psychopath wouldn't be able to use her as blackmail. 

"So Alex, decide now," Richter spoke as he looked at his grandson who was radiating such thick and heavy bloodlust.