The Crimson Champion

Chapter 14: A New Beginning

I sit at the table with Lorelei and quietly eat, neither of us saying a thing. It's been a few days since the kiss, and she's said almost nothing to me outside of planning talk.

Even when I try to start a conversation about something else, she just dodges it and leaves. I just wish she would tell me what's wrong, so I could try to help...

I look over at her. "So, we should be ready to leave tomorrow, right?" She responds without looking at me. "Yeah." I sigh. "Lora, what's wrong?"

Lorelei refuses to make eye contact. "Nothing." I put a hand on her shoulder. "Lora, we've known each other for almost all of our lives. I know when you have something on your mind, so please, tell me. I'm always here for you."

Lorelei sits there silently for a few minutes, then she sighs and stands up. "Okay...we should talk, then..." She goes into the living room and I follow her, then I sit directly next to her on the couch. "So, what's wrong?"

Lorelei looks me in the eyes. "What I did was a mistake. I took advantage of you, and that was wrong." I place a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't a mistake, Lora. I...I've wanted that to happen for a long time."

She turns away. "Even so, we shouldn't be together." "Why?" She gets an undecipherable look on her face. "Because I'm a monster, Brutus."

"What are you talking about? You're nothing like that!" Lorelei looks at the floor. "There's something I never told you. About what happened to everyone in the village after Yuri killed you."

"What do you mean? You said Yuri killed them all, what else is there?" She looks up at me, tears welling up in her eyes. "I...lied. After all that happened to us, I was given a choice when I woke up. Kill them all, and survive, or refuse, and die..."

My eyes widen. "So you're saying...?" Lorelei lets her tears fall. "I killed them all..." I immediately wrap my arms around her and she buries her face into my chest, sobbing. "I'm just as horrible as the bastard we're trying to kill..."

I hug her to me tightly, not saying a word as I hold her. After a little while, she stops and she moves away a little bit to wipe her eyes on a sleeve. "I'm sorry about that, I-"

"Don't apologize, Lora. It's okay to let it out." She sighs. "But don't you see why we shouldn't be together? I've done too many horrible things in my life, Brutus. Think about it. Do I truly deserve happiness?"

I place my hands on her shoulders and look at her. "Of course you do. You may think that you're no better than Yuri, but you're wrong. Just the fact that you want to try and do better makes you thousands of times better than him."

Lorelei looks into my eyes. "Do you really want to be with someone like me?" I smile. "Of course I do. I've always wanted to be with you, Lora. That'll never change."

I sigh. "Besides, I'm not perfect either. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, you know. I've killed hundreds, maybe even thousands of soldiers over the years. Some of which were most likely good people, with families. But I did what I had to do to survive, just like you did."

"I'm not perfect, you know." I give her a serious look. "Neither am I. But...maybe we can be perfect...if we're together." Lorelei gives me a hopeful look. "Really?"

"Yeah. We can help each other be better, and after Yuri is gone, we can finally have a happy life together, with no worries." Lorelei smiles and takes my hand. "That...sounds really nice. We've earned it, haven't we?"

"We've more than earned it, we deserve it." I hesitantly lean in and kiss Lorelei, and my heart jumps for joy when she immediately kisses me back. After a little while, I pull back and I chuckle as I see Lorelei faintly blushing and grinning happily.

I put an arm around her then she cuddles into my side and rests her head on my shoulder. I sigh contentedly as I sit there with the one I care for the most. "After tomorrow, we'll have the rest of our lives ahead of us." Lorelei smiles. "Yeah. What do you want to do first?"

"I don't know, but as long as it's with you, Lora, I'll go anywhere. For now though, let's just stay like this."  She kisses my cheek. "There's nothing I'd love more."

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I wake up and I get off the couch, then I go into the kitchen to make breakfast, with Spiritus following. As I start to make pancakes, I hear Lorelei come out of the room, yawning.

I turn and smile at her. "Good morning, Lora! I'm making breakfast!" She looks confused. "Why are you doing that, we don't have the time for it! We should go immediately, before we waste-"

She's interrupted by a loud growling sound and she chuckles nervously as I raise an eyebrow at her. "That must've been Spiritus, you should really let him out more so he can hunt for food."

I chuckle and roll my eyes then point at a chair. "Come on, I know when you're hungry, so just sit and eat, okay? We have time." She sits and after I'm done, I put the pancakes on two plates and set them down on the table, then I sit in the chair next to her.

Lorelei starts eating and she smiles. "Your cooking's as good as always, Red! How do you even do it?" I put an arm around her. "Kara taught me. She said food was one of the ways to win someone's heart."

Lorelei laughs. "Well, she wasn't wrong. You sure as hell won mine!" I grin then eat my breakfast too, and after we're both done, we get dressed in our armor and start walking off to Lazarus, ready to put our plan in action. You're not escaping this time, Yuri!