When This Is Over

⭑ · · ᯓ 𐃈 ᯓ · · ⭑

Before they knew it, two days had passed. Things proceeded smoothly enough as they stocked up on essentials, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings in the meantime.

It was now morning on the third day, and Felix noticed Elora sitting on the steps outside the inn, a small knife and a chunk of wood in each hand.

“Hey, Elora,” Felix said as he exited the tavern doors. “What are you up to so early?”

“Ah, Felix. I was just carving some spirit dolls,” Elora said. “Care to join me for a bit?”

“…Sure.”

Felix sat down on the steps on Elora’s left. On her other side was a row of pre-carved wooden animal statues. At a glance, they could almost be mistaken for real birds. Her whittling was remarkably detailed, Felix noticed. He had a talent for it himself, long ago.

“Those look pretty neat. I like what you did with the wings.” Felix nodded, impressed. “Where’d you learn how to carve like that anyway?”

“Well, it’s something you taught me, actually.”

I should’ve guessed…

“But the real magic begins after they’re finished.” Elora raised the half-finished wood block in her hand. “These will make for decent surveillance tonight as we wait for the prophecy to pass.”

“Surveillance?”

“It would be easier to show you, I suppose…”

Elora and Felix stood outside, feeling the cold chill of the wind as Elora held the first statue close to her chest, a green glow entering the object’s eyes as she did. As she released the wooden doll, it took flight despite being made of wood—behaving as though it were a real bird.

“Incredible…” Felix said. “Is that something you can do with nature magic?”

“Hmm, not quite.” Elora shook her head. “Wayward spirits drift through this world without bodies of their own. My divine blessing, Spirit Medium, allows me to sense them and bind their essence to a focus like these dolls. Supernatural beings are notoriously hard to control, so these small ones are all I can work with.”

Elora released several more of the dolls, watching them fly into the trees in the near distance.

“I will have them patrol from the skies,” Elora explained. “Through a shared sense, I can see what the spirits see.”

“More eyes certainly couldn’t hurt.” Felix agreed. “How are you feeling overall? Knowing we might have to fight…”

“Crow may be a Champion Class illusion mage, but his real strength has never been his magic. Even so, no man is unbeatable.” Elora didn’t appear the least bit concerned. “To have the opportunity to claim the Necro Sword for myself is a great enough honor, but you can be certain he will not lay a finger on you if I can help it.”

It should have made Felix feel better to have such reliable allies.

“Thank you, Elora.” Felix smiled warmly. “I think I’ll quickly check on Moon again to see if she needs anything.”

“That’s right, she’s still waiting by the stables.” Elora returned his smile. “You seem to inspire loyalty in everyone you meet. You ladykiller, you.”

That was what worried him.

“You make it sound so scandalous.” Felix rubbed his neck. “Anyway, I’d better get going.”

“Hm. See you in a while.” Elora waved him off.

33.2

After checking on Moon, Felix spent the rest of the afternoon making what preparations he could. By the time he returned to his room alone, evening had nearly arrived. Glowing orange lanterns lined every street as revelers took to the Citadel to celebrate the opening night of the Tribal Unification Festival.

The weather, however, had taken a slight turn after a few days of sunshine. Grey clouds formed outside Felix’s window as he noted the change. Now distant thunder threatened to rain on Windia’s prized occasion.

From the moment Prim’s Future Sight stopped working, Felix had decided on something. The things Felix had quietly procured over the last two days went into a suitcase—food, water, spare clothes, everything he’d need to leave the Citadel alone.

That’s right…

“This is how things should be.”

Having stowed away the last item, Felix’s hand lingered on the suitcase cover. His gaze drifted toward the door, his expression suddenly lonely. The axe rested beside it, waiting for him.

“…”

A click sent him into a small panic as the door to his room suddenly swung open. In his haste, he kicked the suitcase haphazardly under his bed. Kite emerged in an instant, eyeing him curiously as he scrambled into the most natural sitting position he could conjure up.

Did she notice?

Kite’s eyes fell to the corner of the suitcase still sticking out from under the bed. Felix sweated as Kite pursed her lips, her emerald gaze flickering back to his.

Yep, she definitely noticed…

“…I just wanted to stop by and see how you were holding up.” To Felix’s surprise, Kite didn’t mention his poor hiding job. “The guards are all over the place; we haven’t seen anything unusual through Elora’s dolls, though.”

“Where is she?”

“Downstairs keeping watch on the tavern in case someone tries to come up,” Kite said. “It’s getting pretty rowdy down there with all the revelers. The place is more packed than we expected.”

“I see…” Felix swallowed hard before relaxing a little. “Well, I’m doing just fine, as you can see. No point in worrying ourselves sick about a prophecy that might not even come true, right? Actually, I was… just about to get some rest.”

Felix dropped a small hint that he’d rather be left alone. Kite was perceptive, but that didn’t mean she had any intention of bailing at the first sign of resistance. She had come to talk to him, after all.

“Right...” Kite stepped farther into the room and perched on the low dresser beneath the open window, facing Felix on the bed. “If things weren’t so crazy, I’d have liked to check out the festival. I never got to when I was a kid... Left too soon.”

“That’s right, you did mention something like that...” Felix recalled. “When this is all over, do you think you’d want to stay here in Windia? Sure, you don’t remember much about it, but in a way, isn’t this your home?”

To Felix, home was his ultimate goal. The place to return to at the end of a long, arduous journey. However, such was not the case for his companion.

“I don’t really see it that way.” Kite folded her hands in her lap. “To me, this is just the place I was hatched. Then again, Aberdeen isn’t really home either… So if I’m being honest, I’m not sure where it is.”

Kite thought back on her life up to that point.

“You know, Felix… before I met you, I didn’t have much to look forward to.” Kite finally said. “When you’re stealing for your next meal, you end up thinking only about that moment. You don’t really get to dream or plan anything out.”

“Well, you couldn’t help the circumstances you were given,” Felix noted. “Are you saying you have a lot more to look forward to now?”

After everything that’s happened…

Somehow, with the prophecy on top of all the other struggles they’d faced, Felix had been considering whether Kite and Elora would be better off if they hadn’t run into him at all.

It was a thought born of his inner guilt, and something that even he could admit was ugly. The thunder that had rolled in the distance grew closer, bringing the glow of lightning to the street outside.

“When I got dropped in that cell next to yours, hearing you talk about home and family like it was the only thing that mattered to you…” Kite smiled bitterly. “It made me realize something about myself.”

“And what was that?”

“I was empty,” Kite admitted, opening up for the first time.

“Empty…?”

“Mhm.” She nodded. “Of my siblings, I was one of the survivors. We were taken out of the city by some very bad people, treated like property, and the bastard I ended up with wasn’t all that different.”

“I’m sorry, I never knew…”

“But I wasn’t dead. I should’ve felt grateful for that, and yet…”

“…”

“It wasn’t enough.” Kite wore a serious look. “I wanted more from life! I was ready to quit stealing, I swear, but when I got locked up, I figured my last chance had passed me by. I think that’s why I stuck myself to you at first. You made the future feel like something worth hanging around for.”

“I did?” Kite’s confession collided directly with his intrusive thoughts. “And you really don’t regret any of it?”

All this time, he’d thought his heroic past had placed an incredible burden on his friends’ shoulders. Especially since it seemed to follow him wherever he went.

“Why would I?” Kite said, her face reddening slightly. “When this is all over, and we’ve kicked Crow’s ass… maybe you’d have room for one more at your farm? I could help out with whatever, just please, buddy…”

Felix looked upon the pleading face of his friend.

“Don’t try and leave us behind for our own good.”

“…”

I’ve been a real idiot, haven’t I?

Kite was right; he had no right to decide their future for them. He should have known that. Just like he knew how much he had grown to care for the two of them, on par with the very family he had striven so long to return to.

In his endless quest, he had managed to find something worthwhile. Felix smiled softly, opening his mouth to give her a proper reply.

“Caught you.”

Felix’s smile vanished just as quickly.

Lightning split the sky just outside the open window, bleaching the small room white. For the briefest of moments, a third person appeared against the light. A tall silhouette stood directly behind Kite.

A black halter top, a pale face, and a curved blade already slashing through flesh, the image seared itself into Felix’s mind.

“Ki—!”

Something warm splashed across Felix’s cheek.

For a heartbeat, Kite remained sitting perfectly upright, confusion overtaking every other emotion on her face. Then a thin red line appeared across her throat. Blood sprayed violently as both her hands flew to her neck.

“—GHK?!”

“KITE!”

Felix lunged forward to catch his friend before she could hit the ground. Crow was already moving, sidestepping Kite’s crumpling form as if she were yesterday’s trash. His eyes met Felix’s, cold and unnerving.

There was no satisfaction in them, nor was there anger. The assassin’s hand went to his belt, flinging several spheres into the inn room, a small string sizzling at the end of each. Felix knew immediately what they were, his face twisting in panic.

Grenades!

Crow disappeared through the window and vanished as quickly as he’d entered. Felix didn’t even look at his axe, still leaning against the doorframe. There wasn’t enough time to.

He pulled Kite close to his chest, one arm beneath her knees and one around her back, as he made a break for it.

“I’ve got you.” Felix’s voice wavered. “I’ve got you, Kite, hang on!”

Felix threw his weight against the window instead of climbing through, crashing through the pane. For one moment there was nothing beneath his feet as they fell freely along with shards of broken glass.

The inn room erupted before they hit the ground, the heat hitting Felix’s back in midair.

Gravity took them two stories before Felix’s spine hit the dirt, knocking the wind clean out of his lungs as Kite’s weight came down on top of him.