A few days later, Micah was awake early and was roaming around the cottage. He usually slept in, but today he ended up waking up before everyone else. It had been a peaceful few days, especially after he had gotten their stepfather to leave.

He made himself some breakfast and sat down at the table. He had managed to make a decently good breakfast. If only I could share this with William, he thought to himself with a sigh, and he toyed with the emerald ring on his finger.

Micah began to eat his meal when he heard a sudden and rapid knock at the door.

"I was just about to eat, what is this about?" Micah grumbled and went up to the door and was surprised to see two palace officials at the door.

"Are you Micah Cohen?" the men asked, and Micah nodded.

"Please take a seat, we need to speak to you," the two men said, and Micah only gave them a confused glance.

"Isn't it too early for you to be here?" Micah asked, and the two men exchanged a glance.

"It is an urgent matter," one of the men said, and Micah sighed, and he let the two men in before taking a seat at the table.

"So what is it?" Micah asked, and the other two men exchanged nervous glances before speaking.

"It is about someone in the troops."

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Elizah awoke to the sound of someone sobbing loudly. She immediately leapt out of bed and headed out to the kitchen to find Micah sobbing and Roxanne holding him with tears in her own eyes. She looked over to see two palace officials standing there with sombre expressions.

"Please tell me it isn't true," Micah was begging between sobs.

"We're sorry for your loss. We will return in a few days after you have gotten time to think," the palace officials said as they left the cottage and closed the door behind them.

Elizah slowly managed to garner enough strength to find out what was happening, so she walked up to Micah and Roxanne.

"Mama, what happened?" Elizah asked softly, and Roxanne looked up at her.

"The captain of the squad that Micah was in is no more. He was found dead yesterday," Roxanne said, and Elizah's eyes widened. But this still didn't explain why Micah was so emotional.

"He wasn't just the captain," Micah said softly between sobs, and Elizah looked down at him, "We made a promise, he broke it. I promised we would live together after all of this. He promised me he would be fine."

"What promise?" Elizah asked gently. She knew that Micah had all the reason to be upset, but he seemed far more upset than she would have expected.

"I--," Micah began to choke on the words, and tears rolled down his cheeks faster, "I loved him. We promised to get married, and now he's gone. He left me alone."

Micah began to cry even more, and Elizah could feel the tears in her eyes. It hurt her to see her brother so heartbroken. She threw her hands around Micah and embraced him to help him calm down slightly. Micah hiccuped and still sobbed, but Elizah held him tightly because she didn't know what else to do.

"You may want to pay a visit to their house," Roxanne said after a while. Micah had cried till no more tears could come, but his heart hurt more than anything.

"Mama, maybe tomorrow? Let him rest a while today," Elizah interrupted, but Micah shook his head.

"I will go today itself. If I go tomorrow, I will probably never get a chance to see him again. I'm going to get dressed now," Micah's voice was rough from all the crying and still in so much pain.

After he had left the room, Elizah walked over to Roxanne.

"Mama, will he be okay?" Elizah asked, and Roxanne sighed.

"Losing someone you truly loved isn't easy, dear. Micah is going to take a while to recover from this. Till then, try your best to slowly make him happy, okay?" Roxanne said, and Elizah nodded rapidly.

"Why don't you go with him to meet the family?" Roxanne asked, and Elizah nodded reluctantly.

Elizah hurried over to her room to get ready, and Roxanne sighed before sitting down and praying that her son didn't have to be in pain for long.

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Micah and Elizah walked silently towards the city where the general’'s family lived. They had asked for directions from some of the people in the town. By the looks of it, the family seemed very well known.

There was a grim silence between the siblings. Neither knew what to say. They made their way up to the house door and walked into the doorway to see a young woman crying next to a casket.

"Why? Why did this have to happen?" she screamed out and sobbed. An old man stood behind the girl and looked up when he noticed Micah and Elizah.

"Hello, are you Micah by any chance?" the man asked and hobbled slowly over to Micah.

"Yes, I am," Micah said solemnly, and tears began to stream down his cheeks.

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"Will always talked about you. He sent letters back to little Laura every week talking about you," the old man said softly and put an arm on Micah's shoulder. The girl crying by the casket suddenly stood up as if a bolt of lightning had hit her. She charged towards Micah.

"You. You are Micah Cohen?" she asked as she was trembling.

Micah was about to nod, but the girl raised her hand rapidly. Elizah noticed and pulled Micah to the side, and her hand went past his face without touching him.

"You killed him!" the girl from before was screaming now, "It's all your fault. You promised you wouldn't leave him and you did. Look, he's now gone from all of us."

The girl crumbled to the floor, sobbing hard and shaking.

Micah was stunned in place for a few moments before he suddenly began to shake slightly, and the tears rolled down his cheeks. Elizah, on the other hand, was surprised by the girl's outburst but wasn't angry because she knew the other girl was in pain.

"Laura, dear, please. He is our guest, and it isn't his fault," the old man said and put an arm on the girl's shoulder, but she didn't back down.

"You helped him drain his magic, didn't you? Then why did you leave at the peak of Darkness when you knew his powers would lose control," Laura said between ragged breaths.

Suddenly Micah stumbled back as if he had been actually slapped in the face, and his face went white. Memories he had dismissed as romantic gestures suddenly overwhelmed him in waves. He was an idiot for not noticing the signs.

"Micah," Elizah called gently, but he couldn't hear her words clearly. He was spiraling through his memories that he never bothered to overthink.

"You keep me alive," William had once said to Micah, and only now it made sense. Micah had let William use magic on Micah. William used to say that it was his way to 'stay sane', and Micah dismissed it as William just wanting to show off his powers. But only now he truly understood it all.

Micah felt his vision blur, and his knees suddenly gave out. Micah heard William's voice echo in his head before he fell on the ground, and the world went black.

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Micah didn't fully remember the rest of what happened that day. All he remembered was waking up later and quickly leaving William's house. Elizah had said something about him collapsing, but the whole thing was a blur to him. There was only one thing on his mind: William's death was all his fault.

The next few days also continued in a blur. Micah didn't want to leave his bed, so he stayed there. Elizah would walk in for every meal to try and get him to eat, but he just ignored her. He didn't eat for days because he felt like he didn't deserve it. His body was screaming out in pain, and his mind wouldn't stop thinking about William.

To silence these thoughts, Micah tried to sleep, but every dream was about William, and that just made him cry more. The crying didn't help with his feelings either. It felt like a large hole left in his heart, and there was no way he could patch it.

About a week later, Micah awoke to a hand on his face.

"William," Micah said. He opened his eyes and nearly leapt out of bed. He expected to see William's blue eyes and long hair but instead was met by a different person. They had mismatched eyes, one blue and one green, and shoulder-length black hair.

"Are you alright?" the person asked, and Micah it took Micah a moment to recognize them.

"Aunt Levi?" Micah asked, and the person smiled slightly. Aunt Levi was Roxanne's good friend who had helped her out with many things in the past.

"Sorry if you were expecting someone else. Your mother sent me a letter saying she was worried about you. So I came here to help. You were crying in your sleep, so I was wiping the tears away," they said, and Micah sat up slowly and touched his face. He had been dreaming about William again, and subconsciously, he had begun to cry.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, I'm just-," Micah began to say, but Levi just put an arm on his shoulder.

"That's fine. I heard what happened," Levi said gently, and Micah hid his face, fearing that he might break into a sob.

"It's not that big of a deal. I will get over it soon," Micah said as his voice cracked slightly and Levi's gaze grew concerned.

"It doesn't seem like a small thing. He meant a lot to you, didn't he?" Levi asked, and Micah was silent but nodded.

"I just want to talk to you for a bit. Maybe that will help you get your feelings out, instead of just thinking about them alone. What was William like?" Levi asked, and Micah looked surprised by the question.

"He was funny and handsome and…." Micah began, and all of a sudden, he remembered so many things that had happened between them. Words tumbled out without even him thinking fully. How William was always carefree and smiling, or how just one kiss from William made Micah's day. And slowly, he also listed out everything about William's magic. Micah listed everything, and he began to cry again but kept going until there was nothing left to say.

"He sounds like a wonderful person," Levi said softly. They had listened to every last word Micah wanted to say with their full attention and didn't interrupt.

"He was," Micah managed a croak, and Levi wrapped an arm around him.

"And it sounds like you truly loved each other," Levi said with a smile.

"Aunt Levi, do you think it's my fault? That because of me, he lost control of his magic and died," Micah asked, and Levi shook their head rapidly.

"Of course not. That is more of a fault of the system. It has taken far too many good souls in the process. You absolutely mustn't blame yourself for that," Levi said with a sigh.

"'Have you lost someone like this before?" Micah asked, and Levi nodded.

"That's a long story, back from before when my name was still Levanna and I still loved someone. I made a grave mistake back then, it's a story for another time," Levi said and stood up.

"Well, did talking about him make you feel a bit better? It isn't much, but I hope it lightened the weight you carry," Levi said, and Micah nodded slightly.

"But, do you think it's odd?" Micah asked slowly, and Levi raised a brow.

"What is odd?"

"That I liked a man?" Micah said with a bitter taste in his mouth at the word liked.

"Absolutely not. It is just as ordinary as if you had liked a woman or if you had liked someone like me. There's nothing wrong with that. There's just a lot wrong with the system that didn't let you get married," Levi said, and Micah suddenly felt a weight lift off his back that he had never realized before. He had been scared about what others would think about him this whole time, but now, his fears dissipated upon hearing Levi's words.

He rapidly threw his hands around Levi, and they were caught off guard momentarily.

"I want you to remember one thing for me, Micah. Cherish the memories you have with William, but also be ready to make new memories with someone new. This isn't the end for you. Live the life he didn't have to the fullest and never ever think that this was in any way your fault," Levi said as they broke the embrace, and Micah nodded.

"But that's a lot more things than one, and it's hard to not blame myself," Micah said, and Levi patted him on the shoulder.

"Take your time, take all the time you need, and when you are ready, move on and live your life to the fullest," Levi said with a small smile and walked out of the room. Micah followed slowly behind, his heart feeling a little less broken and heavy than before.

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