Arcfall (Male Reader Insert)

Chapter Forty Eight

You palmed your flask in your pocket, turning it over as you debated draining all the liquid within as you followed team JNPR, who followed Hel, who was doing her absolute best to tease you every step. It had been years. Years. It would be so much easier if she was furious, cold, or just straight-up unresponsive. But no. Here she was, being a tease. Or a flirt. You didn't know which was worse, to be perfectly honest.

"What's with all the cleared trees? You couldn't have used all this for buildings and firewood," Jaune asked. You looked up from your boots, waiting for Hel's response.

"Good catch Rook, it's so that we can see people coming from further away. Grimm usually announce their presence, but bandits? A nighttime raid can have half the village dead before the other half even realizes there's an attack if they utilize stealth properly," Hel explained. You grimaced. When did she get certified as a huntsman? What prompted her promotion from the simple blacksmith? Was it Raven's raid? Was this all your ironic comeuppance?

"And what about the ripped-up grass and stumps?" Nora asked, "What's that about?"

"It's to prevent fires," you chimed in, "Or at least to prevent them from spreading."

"Good catch love," Hel said, making the lack of the letter R painfully obvious. At least to you and her. "When your brother was last here, the bandits set fire to a barn to distract us, get us all in one place. After that, we ripped up the grass and stumps to help stop it from spreading to other buildings," she finished, turning to Jaune as he spoke. You relented, pulling your flask from your hood and throwing it back. You couldn't take a whole week of this.

"I'm gonna walk the perimeter. Take a look around," you said before pointing at Hel, "Stay close to her. We don't need anyone disappearing." And with that, you shoved your flask in your pocket and marched onward, looking for anything to distract you from the fact that you were stuck with Hel.

***

You made it to the field where your old battle against Raven raged, plopping yourself down on an old stump. You didn't want to be here. And not just because of Hel. Hell, if you asked she'd probably stop with the teasing, she was a touch softer than she acted after all. But this whole village. Leaving it marked the start of a spiral downward. Of what your life would become after Balur. But the time here? It was pleasant. It was healing. And you couldn't have that back. Not ever. No matter how much you wanted the past was dead and gone. And now you had to spend the week walking among the ashes of what could have been. Nostalgia was a trap and it had snared you, no matter how much you wanted to admit it hadn't.

"I'm sorry," Hel said as she plopped down next to you. "I didn't realize that it bothered you that much."

"It doesn't," you responded, "It's not you, it's this whole place. Memories of a better time. I wish I could say I don't yearn for it." You and Hel sat in silence for a while.

"Wanting to return to the past isn't a bad thing," Hel finally said, after a few minutes passed, "our memories are what ground us. What builds us. All a man truly is is a collection of experiences. All we are is the product of what we've learned over the course of our lives and we all have mistakes. We all want to go back and change things." The silence between you grew louder as you refused to speak. "I regret things with you. Rushing you. Pushing you. What we had was wonderful but you needed space, and I didn't get that. Maybe if I had waited, you wouldn't have run."

"Maybe," you said. Your throat felt like sandpaper.

"But one way or another you left and that's a choice you can't change. All you can do now is do what's best with what you have," Hel continued.