On Botkin's advice, Louis had decided to rest from Combat Training. His schedule had since been modified to adjust more hours with Baghra and history classes, learning about Grisha and their talents. Mostly, he'd spend his days in Baghra's hut, trying to call the light within him.
Baghra was an old woman built of thin stature. She had a pointed nose and deep sunken eyes. Despite her timid appearance, the woman was anything but. Her voice was shrill but stern. Louis hated to admit it but the woman scared him to some extent.
The first day, Baghra had ridiculed Louis, mocking him for not knowing how to control his powers. Every day followed the same. No matter how hard Louis tried to call the light, he would fail.
"You could be a little encouraging," Louis scowled one day as Baghra hit him again with her cane. Apparently, it was how she trained all Grisha.
"I am not your mother," she had replied, paired with another hit to Louis' arm.
“Good morning, Mr Tomlinson,” The General greeted Louis as he rounded the pond where Baghra's hut was hidden just a few bushes away.
Startled, Louis jumped. He hadn't expected to see the General.
"How are you finding it here?" The General asked as he tied his horse to a nearby tree.
Louis couldn't help but smile, eyes following every movement of the General.
It had been a week since the demonstration at The Grand Palace. Louis had barely seen the General since then, catching only a glimpse here and there. Louis half suspected that the General did not want to meet Louis. Perhaps news of his not being able to conjure light at command had reached him.
"Strange," Louis said truthfully.
The General smiled and walked over to the pond, watching the still waters. "You did well in your demonstration."
A smile mirroring the General's graced Louis's lips. "It was not my doing. Not entirely," his voice lowered at the truth in it. Had it not been for the General holding Louis' hand, Louis would not have been able to summon light at his command. He had barely managed to call upon sparks let alone rays of the blazing sun.
"You're stronger than you think, Louis."
Louis found the statement more comforting than it should.
“You and I are equals, Louis,” the General said, gray eyes flashing to that of moss green. “The only power greater than you and I are us, together.”
Louis swallowed, breath hitching at every word the General said.
“All of Ravka is waiting for you to destroy the Fold, to remove the abomination that has left this country crippled,” the General said. It was the most Louis’ heard him speak since his arrival at the Little Palace.
When Louis looked back at the General, found him already staring back.
“You’ve given me hope, Louis. Hope that all this hatred can one day come to end, that peace might finally prevail. That Grisha are no longer hunted to their death.”
The General’s eyes filled up with unshed tears, his voice cracking with every word that he let slip with no regard to defense, no barrier holding him back.
“Hope is dangerous,” Louis was quick to counter, the words hot on his tongue. It went against everything that had caused Louis to be a prisoner in a world where he was supposed to belong, where he wasn't alone. Or so he was told.
The General smiled and said, “Be as it may, it's the only thing I’ve held onto,” cutting off Louis’ train of thought. He hesitated before saying, “Until you came along.”
Louis stared back at the blue water still in the pond and the wilderness surrounding it. He breathed deeply, trying to find a reply that wasn't just a hmm when he felt the general hold his hand.
He looked up at the Darkling, his eyes turning to the color of green moss as he said, “you and I are going to change the world.”
It left Louis breathless, heart thumping a little harder at the earnest tone in the General’s voice. Though nervous with the sudden weight of the responsibility of saving his country, for the first time in days, Louis felt it lifted just a little.
The Darkling removed his hand from Louis’ as abruptly as he had held it. Chuckling airily, he said, “We should go,” already making his way to the horses. “Can't keep the summoner all to myself.”
Louis smiled easily at the remark and watched the still waters again. He tossed a coin into the pond, a prayer to the Saints. If there were any.
Hope was indeed a dangerous word.
“Call me Harry,” The General said with a smile softer than the richest of silks, as he mounted his horse.
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Burning through the Shadows (Larry Stylinson)
Fanfic"He's Louis Tomlinson," the General spoke from next to Louis. "The Sun Summoner, moi tsar," the General said, looking at Louis. "He will change the future," the General said, looking at the king and the queen. "Starting now." The General raised his...
