Embers of Sun and Flame: Before We Have It (Fuegoleon x OC)

Chapter 49: The liar

Fuegoleon ran.

He couldn't remember the last time he had run like this.

He didn't think he had been... quite so terrified before. Not... quite, perhaps. Or maybe he had. Back in Spade.

He wasn't sure, but neither was he about to stop and try to compare the memory of what he had felt, to what he was feeling now. Because in the end it didn't matter.

What mattered, was that Julius... if that person had been Julius, had come back. And just as they had feared, the kingdom was again at peril. But not just the kingdom. Everything else along with it as well.

Just like a year ago.

But worse.

It felt worse. This time.

The threat wasn't coming from another plane, but this one. Threat was already on this side, and was ready, almost ready, to bring about the horrors that they had feared. Actually, the threat was ready to bring about horrors that were more than what they had feared.

And that was why he ran. Through the corridors. The hallways. Past doors and corners that he had passed countless times before.

But now, it was all just a haze. His mind didn't register it. Any of it. There was just the sound of his beating heart, and the taste of iron in his mouth. Because he had to. He had to. Had to. Had to had to hadtohadtohadtohad to! Get to her. To their bedroom. The only thought, and even that was incoherent, was to get to her and their children.

I need to...

His steps must've echoed around, but he didn't hear them. His breathing must've been rugged, but he didn't hear it, not until he reached the door, and stopped.

Stopped.

Hunched over the door with his arms placed on opposite sides of the door frame.

There was a presence of mana on the other side; warm and welcoming. Radiant and fluttering.

But most importantly, the mana, the person, was alive.

His eyelids fell as he swallowed. Calm down.... Calm down... he told himself. You need to be able to talk about this to her. You need to... convince her. You need to...

His train of thought came to a halt as he bit down his molars with the bittersweet thought that was obvious, had been obvious; one statement and wish that he had never imagined to be as painful as it was at that moment. And yet, it was something he still wanted, more than anything else.

...Protect them...

It was, quite simply, that this time, protecting them would involve the hardest thing he would have to do in his life. And it pained him, but it didn't pain him as much as the thought of what would happen, if he wouldn't do this, did. He was sure, that it'd be the right... choice. The right choice to make.

Yes. The sensible thing to do. The... smart thing to do.

And more often than not, one needs to choose whether to be happy, or smart about it.

This time, again, as with many things in the course of his life, he'd choose the smart thing to do. And he hated it.

He despised it even. Having to choose the right thing. The smart thing.

Why do the right choices continue to hurt me... He thought, but as soon as he did, there was a memory flashing before his eyes. And then another, and another and another... memories of her taking his hand, holding him close, wearing a white wedding gown... her placing her hands onto the baby bump and just humming that tune of hers that he'd recognize even in the darkest of nights. The right things that don't involve her... they continue to hurt me... he corrected himself. The one right, and smart, choice I made...