Wound (2)

Lost in the delusion that he is Donovan throttling his younger self, Guts has in fact pinned Casca against the tree by the throat. Snapping back to awareness, he releases her and blurts that he never intended to kill Gambino. He then tells Casca of the torment Donovan inflicted on him and how helpless he had been to stop it.

His childhood floods back, and he recounts being taken in by Gambino only to be sold off by that same man to Donovan. Guts admits he killed Donovan and staged it as an enemy raid, and that he later killed the drunken Gambino by accident while defending himself. Collapsing onto his hands and knees, he calls out for the adoptive father he lost. When Casca lays a hand on his shoulder he jerks violently, then returns to the present.

Struck by how brutal he made her first time, Guts throws her his cape to cover herself and offers to leave if she wishes it. He explains the nightmares of Donovan and Gambino had been gone for roughly a year before their attempt at intimacy stirred them awake. Casca casts the cape aside and embraces him from behind, more at ease now that each has bared their scars. Their second time is far gentler, and afterward Guts recalls a boyhood moment of working Gambino's salve into the very nose wound the man had dealt him. The two sleep in each other's arms until dawn.