Nicolas felt the sudden shift of emotions from their souls in the air. It pulses, it wavers, flow is disrupted as Alisa held him by the shoulder, “I’m sorry for your loss, Nicolas.”

He faintly smiled, “Enough with that, let’s talk about you first. How did you end up here? How did you survive? Are you a ghost? Am I dead? How are you?”

Alisa could only laugh as the barrage of questions kept coming on her way, “One question at a time, please”, They could only laugh at each other.

Like the old times of their youth. “First of all, I’m fine, more than alright knowing that you’re alive”, her voice faltered as she looked down, her hair hiding her face, sobbing as tears kept pouring down her cheeks, “I— I resented myself every waking day, thinking that you died because of me, because of my weakness.”

Nicolas patted her head as she finally looked up. He gently smiled at her before combing her hair towards the back of her ear before clipping them in place, “This is a treasure and no equivalence in gold would make me give it up, but I was wrong; it’s the owner that I cherished the most. It’s alright now, Alisa, I’m back.”

Alisa caged her in an embrace. “Thank you”

“Your welcome, but please spill the tea to me first”, he laughed, holding her by the cheeks and squishing her face. After a little more banter, they finally recollected themselves, and Alisa rested his head to his shoulder as they watched the stars above.

“Remember my father? they said he died on the war after we were born, but that night, he saved me like a flash of lighting. I’m too weak to move but I know how fast he was when he saved me”.

“Alvor?”, Nicolas held his head, trying to fight off a headache.

“Yes, turns out our ancestors are from Yggdryas and because of these abilities he also had, going back to us would be dangerous”, she added. “About that, Hunter, that bastard out of all people has it as well, and guess what his soul reflects as”.

“What?”

“A shield”

“Shield? but shield wielders are—”, Nicolas looked at her in disbelief.

“Unbelievable right? Far from the selfish person that pushed me for his own safety, although thanks to him I’m right here with you”, Alisa held his hand.

Nicolas returned the gesture by holding her tighter; a sting on his head hitting is worsening the headache, “Have you forgiven him?”

“As if”, Alisa laughed. “I was beaten up badly by Meriane. All I could do was to wait for death as she thrust her blade towards me. It was hopeless that I even imagined my corpse being eaten by animals and what’s left as fertilizer for the trees but then he came. He saved me, but that does not mean I can finally forgive him”.

“I do owe him one then”, Nicolas sighed. “So many interesting things happened since I left Gregoria. I hope mother would be prepared to listen to all my stories, and I also hope that father could also forgive me”.

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Alisa sat properly up and faced him with worry, “But Nicolas—”

“Could you believe how I almost died of hunger? Mother would be totally angry with me when I get back”, he laughed but tears streamed down his cheek.

“But Nicolas, they’re—”, Alisa, even more worried, finally held him by the shoulder.

“And just today, I jumped off a waterfall. Mother would be really furious...”, he continued laughing, The headache felt like crushing his head as his eyes became indisposed.

“NICOLAS”, Alisa shook him, “SNAP OUT OF IT”, he held him by the sides of his head as she desperately called for his name.

Nicolas saw his reflection in Alisa’s eyes and his laughter gradually shifted to wails of sorrow, “It’s my fault, isn’t it”, he uttered, “It was all my fault. IT WAS MY FAULT.”

“No, no, don’t say that. What’s happening to you”, Alisa said, shaking him again.

“IT WAS ALL MY FAULT. I SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFT. I COULD HAVE DEFENDED THEM IF I HADN’T LEFT”, he pushed Alisa away before grabbing his head and pulling his hair, feeling the headache worsening.

The gentle light of thus surrounding them turned into a violent tempest, a destructive tornado that’s mercilessly swaying the tree and the grass. Faint fragments of the boy’s memory flooded Alisa’s brain, “Nicolas, listen to me, please.”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. If only I did not leave, they would still be alive. It was my fault, that incident, all of those I killed, It was my fault, everything.”

“You’re hurting yourself”, Alisa exclaimed before caging Nicolas in an embrace. “It’s not your fault, it was never your fault, please, stop, please”, she kept repeating, trying to drown Nicolas’s destructive thoughts.

“MY FAULT, if I only knew that that would be our last conversation, then I should have stayed”, he kept saying, “I should have hugged mother, I should have forgiven father, I— I should have been a better son.”

“Look at me Nicolas, look at me”, Alisa forced him to say, “It was not your fault”, she locked her eyes with him. “I know you’ve had a hard time, all this time, on your own. You did what you think was right; you did nothing wrong.”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND”

“SHUT UP, I can feel your pain; hell, I can even see your memories, both painful and good”, Alisa yelled back, “There is no use regretting the choices you have made in the past, whether it're right or wrong. What matters now is that you learn from them and you keep moving forward”, She once again caged him in an embrace, this time even tighter, preventing him from once again pulling his hair.

She wrestled him to the ground, pinning him there. She had no idea how long it took, but she kept at it until finally, the storm passed. It calmed Nicolas for a bit and his tantrum lessened into a sob.

They both lied down on the grass alone in the starry night. The moon watched them through its rays as it went past the tree’s canopy. There, peacefully, they reconciled for all the things that happened, all the things they missed, regrets, thoughts, and feelings.

Despite the conflicts they had fought for, it was indeed peaceful.

It did not take long for the morning to come, basking them both with radiance and warmth. Alisa opened her eyes to see Nicolas still fast asleep. She fixed her hair and took off the hair clip, adoring it with a smile, knowing that it was a testament of their friendship.

“And perhaps something more”, she thought as she remembered the time they shared while fishing. No words could explain how she felt then; she could not explain why she felt it back then, but now she has a clear idea.

“It’s already morning, sleepy head”, she tapped him by the chest but she got no response. “Hey, stop messing around; this is not funny”, she pushed him but again, he gave no response, not even a grunt or complaint.

Worry finally ate her up when the worst scenarios filled her mind. She placed her head on his chest and listened to his beating heart, placed their foreheads together but fever is out of the question. Breathing, injury, broken bone—she examined all the possible reason he wouldn’t wake up, but as hopelessness started to cause her panic, she had no other choice but to carry the limp, unconscious boy back to Anton and the others.