Euryce ~ I'll save you, even if you already gave up

Countdown for the cut: Two hours before the end

When they finally brought me to Howard I could not stop myself from hugging him. His horrible beard poked my head when I did, but at that moment I could not have cared less about it.

“Sorry if I worried you.” He said, lightly patting me in the back. He just kept doing that, instead of hugging me back.

Can’t he even give me a hug right? the thought flew by, and left as quickly as it had arrived.

I let him go, looking at him with tenderness. He was still squinting his eyes as he was doing before, but now it was even more obvious than before.

“Does Orphie know about…” I said, pointing to my own eyes.

Howard had to squint even harder to understand what I meant. He simply sighed.

“Unfortunately when they brought me here the first thing I did was crash into a doorframe, and then he immediately asked where ‘the transparent things I always kept in my face’ were. The cat is out of the bag.” He said, with a dry unspirited laugh.

I looked at him in the eyes. He looked calm, but I could only wonder what did he actually see through those defective eyes of his. He looks really strange without his “glasses”, but I like the look on his face, either way.

Then, when looking at him from that close I saw a strange whiteness in his pupils that was not there before. He must have seen the change on my expression because he immediately turned his face away.

No. Not this time.

“Howard, turn your face towards me now.” I said, not giving space for him to come up with a bullshit excuse.

He released a single dry laugh, and then obeyed. Good, I didn’t have to grab his face and turn it towards here myself.

“What’s that white thing in your eyes and why are you trying to hide it from me?” I said, going to the point immediately.

Anything concerning his eyesight was definitely bad news, but if he wanted to hide it from me? That could only spell out doom.

“That’s something that we call cataracts, back in my world” He said, grabbing my hands and holding them with care. “It generally happens with age and… in short, they will ruin my eyesight even further.”

He said that last line as a sigh, as if he was telling me he was gonna die.

I hated to see him like that.

“I see. What do we gotta do then?” I said, grabbing his cheeks, getting my face closer to his to make sure he could see me.

“I knew you would say that. I’m surprised that even now, that fire on your eyes rages on.” He said, putting his hands over mine, without moving them away.

We stayed like that for a moment. I kept looking at him, waiting for an answer. He seemed to avoid it, but finally relented.

“Back home I would maybe have an option or two, but around here there’s nothing I can do. They simply… will get worse with time.” He finally admitted.

It took all off me not to ball my hands in fists. I clenched my jaw so hard I felt my teeth were gonna break.

“Is this because of what happened with your glasses?” I said, trying to veil the anger that boiled within.

“No, no. You can’t land this one on Pole too.” He said, with a soft laugh. “This is something separate. Seems like all paths lead to rome. Either way, seeing with clarity is now a thing of the past for me.”

“I was not gonna blame Pole again.” I lied, swiftly changing the topic. “I just want to know what’s going on.”

My voice cracked a little bit. If he noticed it, he was kind enough not to say anything about it.

“Eury… thank you.” He said, taking one of my hands and pressing it against his lips. “Regardless of how everything turn out, I am glad to you for helping me live all these years. I never would have gotten this far without you.”

I don’t like that smile. How can you smile while looking so sad?

He continued:

“I… you know what’s gonna happen now, right?” He said, failing to keep a strong facade, but the mask wasn’t put well. The fear was clear in his voice.

“I know what’s not gonna happen. You know I won’t allow it.” I said, my anger starting to seep through again, no matter how much I clenched my teeth and tried to stop my guts from spilling out.

“Euryce…” He said, smiling again, with the same sad expression. He was talking slowly, choosing every word carefully. “I… would love to keep living. With you, with Lyra, with everyone else.” He said, a small sob contained as he pushed on.

I looked at him, starting to crumble.

“But I also know that I was a burden back in the village, ever since I lost my glasses. And now that my eyesight is doomed for good… I don’t want to burden you any further.

I was supposed to die all those years ago when I got summoned, but you saved me, Eury. And I’m so glad for it and I have worked so hard to try to repay you all that you have done for me. But… in the end someone has got to enter the stream.

Pole has an entire life ahead of him. I can only go downwards from here on. If someone has to enter the stream to keep everyone safe, then I do think it should be me.”

As he finally finished his diatribe I could only take a deep breath. Trying to stop myself from doing something stupid.

“Howard…” I started saying, every syllable with more anger than the last.

Then, I could not stop myself anymore. I already had his head in my hands, I pushed his head down and headbutted him in the forehead.

“Fuck, Euryce, again?!” He said, grabbing his forehead and taking a couple of steps back after I let him go.

“I’m sorry but I’m not gonna take that bullshit from you. The next time you say something as stupid as that I’ll give you two of those, you understand?” I said, rubbing my own forehead.

“Euryce, do you think I want to die or something? I don’t wanna do this!” he said, letting his forehead go and walking towards me.

“Good, then you won’t complain once I get your ass out of the coals, again.” I responded, with a smirk, crossing my arms while looking at him.

“You probably already talked with that creepy guy that came with Orphie, right? You do know that the barrier of Nochightdad needs a sacrifice this cycle or the great veil will start to seep through.” He said, leaning towards me when he talked.

“Do you think I don’t know?” I said, looking at him with an eyebrow raised.

“Then tell me, what do you plan to do?” He asked.

Hell if I know!

“You leave that in my hands. I won’t let Orphie sacrifice you, and just so you don’t complain, I won’t let him sacrifice Pole either” I said, bluffing with confidence I didn’t truly have.

But of course he doesn’t have to know that… although he probably can intuit it.

He looked at me as if I was mad, then he looked at me like I was stupid, then finally, he sighed in resignation.

When he looked back up, he was smiling, somehow, he didn’t look as sad as he did before.

“You always say things like this, don’t you.” He said, with a bit of a more genuine laugh. “I do have a note for you, for future reference”

“Huh? I’m gonna save you and now you want to complain?” I said, trying not to do something stupid, again.

“Yes. Try to not solve disagreements with violence. I think Lyra is going to end up taking up after you if you do.” He said, laughing a little bit.

“Cmon, do you think my sweet little Lyra would do something like that? Unlike me, she always has her feelings in check.”

“Euryce, if I hadn’t kept an eye on them, I think Pole and her would have ended in a fistfight or something.”

“Did he touch her? Because I swear if he laid a single finger on her...” I said every word faster than the last, the anger growing rapidly in size.

“It's not her who worried me.” He responded, trying to calm me down.

I tried to imagine the situation. Yeah, the poor fool would not stand a chance. My little girl can handle herself.

“Where is Lyra, by the way?” he asked, looking worried all of the sudden.

I could feel the warmth I had been feeling dissipate instantly.

“She… not here. I told her to run away, find somewhere else to live.” I said, as blankly and straightforwardly as I could.

“Eury…”

“What?”

“I give it an hour before she comes busting that door, looking for you.” He said, smirking.

“Who the hell do you think I raised? She wouldn’t disobey me like that” I said, slightly offended.

Then the ground shook for a moment. We looked at each other with profound fear in our eyes when we recognized what that ground movement meant.

It was just like that time.

We busted the door open and went outside, the guard was too shocked by what had happened to stop us. When we did, we saw a veil appear in the middle of Nochightdad.

There must be no veils here. What kind of lunatic would…

“Fuck, Lyra is here.” Was all I could say.

“Did you never tell her what happened if you create a veil here?” He asked, his eyes open in fear.

I didn’t have time to respond, as soon enough, a group of guards came and surrounded us, Accompanied by Orphie.

Seems like I won’t have time to make a plan this time.