Grounded

13

"Hey Diluc..?"

"Yeah?" Diluc whispers back to him.

Este takes a deep breath, his mind calming down somewhat.

"How do we... avoid them?"

He gestures to the camp of Treasure Hoarders and feels a grimace grace his face.

The two of them were all but surrounded, and trying to go back in the direction they had come from meant facing the Stonehilde Lawachurl they had ran away from to this direction in the first place.

And trying to face it would be worse than suicide, so the treasure hoarders were the safer pick here.

"A-aah.. " Diluc paused, and took another glance around.

Este copied him, because he is trusting Diluc in this situation. He is the one with proper and thorough tutoring to train to become a knight of Favonious. He must be seeing something they can use to their advantage that Este can't.

"Well, we could, theoretically, just knock over their camp fire and run..." Diluc pointed out the small gathering of burning wood in the middle of the camp to Este.

He shot a glare at the red head, who definitely knew they would both be pummeled before they reached the middle of the fucking camp, where they would be even more surrounded.

"We're fucked..." Este let out a remorseful sigh, hanging his head low.

The bush they were crouching in gave them very little cover, and it was possible for them to be discovered any minute-

"Boss! Look, two rich kids!"

Ah fuck.

Este and Diluc immediately burst into action.

While the red head quickly swung his wooden training claymore at the first person he saw, Este quickly leapt up and stabbed one of the crooks in the eye with his pocket knife.

Blood splashed around in the air, and stained both of their clothes.

Este didn't give the man a break, and stabbed the other eye while he rotated around to hold the man in choke hold with his feet.

The guy would lose both his eyes, but Este didn't feel any guilt blinding him in this situation.

Diluc had swiftly knocked out the first man he attacked, and was in the process of knocking out another.

From his position on the crooks back, Este could see five more men around, two of them preparing to throw knives.

He quickly abandoned his leverage point on the blinded man's back, after making sure the man was unconscious with a sturdy hit to his head.

From there Este leapt again to slice the Achilles heel of the next man.

Or he would have, but the man's shoes were sturdier than Este's pocket knife, which snapped in two.

Este couldn't spend even a second staring in numb shock at his only weapon getting broken by some boots, when a knee struck swiftly into his stomach and sent him flying.

"Este!"

Este gnashed his teeth, and endured the pain as he crashed into one of the tents.

He quickly took a look around to observe the situation.

The two with knives had shifted their focus from him to aiming at Diluc, the one who broke his knife was approaching Este with caution, and Diluc was being cornered by the last two.

Este sprang up from his crouched position, and quickly fell into a sprint.

The man approaching him fell back to kick Este, but he quickly dodged to the side. From there, Este dug the splintered knife blade in between the man's ribs.

The man cursed him out loudly, and Este pulled his half-knife out of the other, causing blood fo spray out of the wound.

A small pang of satisfaction spread through him.

The blood loss would keep the man down even if Este didn't incapacitate him completely.

From there Este swiftly swung his half knife up with the intention of blinding the man, but the crook dodged the swipe at the last second.

Este clicked his tongue, and was just about to jump and stab the man once again-

"Este! NO!"

Diluc's yell came in too late, and Este fell to his knees with one of the throwing knives stuck to his thigh and another in his shoulder.

Blood slowly seeped out, and Este's already labored breathing got even more ragged. His hand went to his shoulder, where the most pain was located.

It might have hit the bone, and Este has to close his eyes and grind his teeth together to not scream.

Even now when the pain was being dulled with adrenaline, it was excruciating, he could only wonder what it would be like later on.

Este ignored his pain hazed mind and he opened his eyes to the sight of-

A man standing above him, hand reaching out, with a leering grin on his face.

Dark, and intense eyes focused only on Este, who could feel shivers start to travel down his arms.

Fear making him break out in hives, as all he saw was a hand reaching in, with certain death looming just above Estchel.

He trembled, as pain wrecked his body, fear overriding his rational thinking.

Este squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable blow that will kill him. His hands clasping in one last prayer to Barbatos.

"Este!" Diluc's roar was full of anguish.

Then there were numerous alarmed yells, along with a heat wave.

Este's heart hammered in hope. He had braced for it, but the killing blow never came.

The air had turned warm, and slowly a putrid smell was spreading. He pried his eyes open, to peek and what he saw was-

Red.

Flames.

Diluc surrounded in fire.

A scene bathed in yellows and reds of the glowing heat of the flames. Most likely to sear his skin if Este tried to touch it.

A phoenix made of fire in gorgeous flames curling protectively around him, painting the scene of a stunned Diluc and flaming ground in a soft glowing orange.

It made a view superior to any renaissance painting Este had ever seen.

The grass was burning and every single one of their attackers were on the ground. Collapsed, with the smell of burning flesh and blood mixing in to make a horrid smell.

The burning pain in Este's body dulled if only for a moment to witness the scene of beauty and horror in front of him.

The smell of death surrounded this scene of wonder.

They both killed men the day Diluc got his vision. Este didn't hesitate to drive the knife into the man's side, and leave him there to bleed out. Diluc burned the treasure hoarders, and Este saw at the very least two who were charred so much, they couldn't possibly be alive anymore.

Survival, accidental, self-defense.

Whatever it was later on called in the report, the fact is that both Diluc Ragnvindr and Estchel Krüger killed people the day the older boy received his vision.