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The world started to slow down for Hugo in the split second it took for Amicia to get shot. The boy could only scream his sister's name as he watched her.
His sister who always seemed so strong, so invincible, stumbled back, disoriented, as if she still hadn't properly realized what had just happened. It only took moments after that for her to collapse and slouch against the deck, eyes now closed.
Hugo could only look on in shock and disbelief as the scene unveiled.
His big sister, always so strong, so invincible was now gone. Just like that.
"Amicia!", he yelled just one more time, perhaps there was still hope, perhaps, she would stir awake, confused and in pain, but still alive.
But there was nothing.
She was so, so still.
Arnaud stood in front of her, covering her with his large, battered shield, but what was the point?
Amicia was dead.
The Carrier of the Macula felt like his heart stopped beating. Why would it beat when Amicia's wasn't? The girl was so, so still.
That simply wasn't right.
"Amicia…"
She was gone. Just like daddy. Just like Arthur. Just like Rodric… Just like mommy…
"You killed her…", the boy murmured.
Hugo had gone still completely. His sister was gone. Everything that had happened, after everything they made it through, she was dead. All it took was a single arrow.
He couldn't bring himself to look away. Not even Arnaud's shield could hide the truth from him.
"Hugo, come with me!"
Hugo had heard the former knight's call, but he couldn't bring himself to move towards him. Amicia was dead.
Dead.
Footsteps from his right became louder, making him turn around, and the boy tried his hardest to look as calm, and yet as angry as possible as he faced the killer.
The Count had stopped there, staring at him with an unreadable look on his face, a pointedness to his glance.
Hugo started breathing heavily. He did this. He took her from him. He was going to pay-
"HUGO!"
Suddenly the kid felt a tug on his arm, and he stumbled as Arnaud pulled him away. He struggled against the much larger man's grasp, and when he did free himself, Hugo dropped to his knees (he had to pull his gaze away from Amicia's still body just a little ways from him), and placed his hands firmly on the ground.
He grimaced, trying to make a connection to the rats. Anything, anything would do if it meant that the Count would die and his sister's death went avenged.
There was nothing.
"Sorry, child. The rats can't help you here.", the Count, the killer, the KILLER, said as he approached, ready to round the corner around the sail.
Hugo felt a growl rise from deep within his chest, nothing but pure anger, rage, fury, bubbling and festering in there. His little legs sprung into action and a scream tore itself from his throat as he charged at the man. He would KILL him! He would make him pay!
It wasn't meant to be however, as there was another tug at his arm, much stronger this time.
"DAMMIT, HUGO! STOP THIS!", Arnaud's thundering voice boomed in his ear, but Hugo didn't care.
"LET ME GO!", he shouted at the top of his lungs, and fought to free himself from the knight's grip as hard as he could, and Lord, he really did!
It was to no avail, however, Arnaud wasn't planning on letting go of him. His arm was hurting now.
"No!"
With that he was roughly pulled behind Arnaud, close to Amicia, and a shield quickly came to block his view of the Count.
"Stay behind me!"
"But-"
"I know."
What did he know?
Amicia was dead, and she wasn't coming back. Because of the Count, the liar, the KILLER. Hugo wanted him DEAD.
"Come on, Arnaud… Don't make this harder than it has to be. Just give me the boy. My son. It will save both of us a lot of trouble.", the man spoke, a sneer in his voice, and the boy in question grimaced in pure rage. The hand that remained in front of him however, reminded him that he had to stay back, for his own good.
"He's not your son, Victor! He already has a family!"
"What family? This girl who will sooner or later be dead anyways?", the Count, Victor, laughed. "No… I am his family now. I owe this to Emilie. To raise him like we said we would, like a god. Because that's what he deserves-"
Hugo was just tired. Tired of people not listening to him. Why did no one care about what he wanted?!
"No!", the Carrier yelled, side stepping out of the shield's cover. "You'll be just like the Order! You don't care about me!"
"You're wrong, child.", Victor responded, approaching once more, and Hugo was pushed back behind Arnaud once again. "I need you to understand… all of what happened in La Cuna? It was all for you, Hugo. You're the hope me and Emilie so desperately were seeking for in this… messed up world! Don't you want all this to stop? Just come with me. Forget about all this, and-"
"That's enough, Victor! I've had enough of your shit! You're not getting to the kid as long as I'm here.", Arnaud cut him off, stepping in front of Hugo even more protectively, still on guard.
"You want to do this the hard way, I see? Fine, let's have it your way, then."
Hugo peeked from around the shield, to see the Count stepping away and then moving his arm, as if he was motioning for something, and he soon figured out why, in the form of the following words.
"Finish him off!"
The archer who had shot Amicia (she was still lying there motionless, blood pooling beneath her still form, so much blood-) fired another arrow, but Arnaud moved fast enough to block it with his shield.
As he did so, he grabbed Amicia and moved away. Hugo stayed behind Arnaud, staring up at him with concern, as more arrows flew loose and lodged themselves on the weathered wood.
The boy's eyes then widened in shock as the knight let his sister's body roll from the deck and into the sea.
"No! What are you doing?!", Hugo yelled.
"I'm saving you.", Arnaud replied, getting him as well, holding him against his side, as he made his way over the wall.
"Don't let them get away!", Hugo heard the Count shout, as the man carrying him plunged into the sea.
He was afraid of the waves, the boy thought distantly as his world turned cold and dark.
~~~
Consciousness came back to Hugo slowly, like calm waves would on a beach.
There were voices all around him, muffled as if they were underwater, and honestly, they might as well have been. Who knew.
What was going on.
Hugo coughed as he willed his eyes to open. It hurt for some reason, but at least he was alive.
He tried to sit up, but steady and strong hands pushed him back against the ground. There was a softness to that touch, it felt like Amicia.
"Easy there, Hugo. You're safe now."
The voice wasn't Amicia.
Hugo looked around, and so a painted, dark skinned face looked down at him, concern written all over her features. It was Sophia.
"Sophia?", he muttered, attempting to bring himself back in a sitting position, and he wasn't stopped this time.
"It's alright. You're alright."
"Where's…?"
Sophia looked like she was going to answer something to him, but she didn't need to, for the panicked voices that had been going on for a while in the background gave Hugo all the answers.
There, in the sand, a few ways from them, Lucas and Arnaud were fretting over a body. His sister's body.
"... still alive, but there's a damn arrow sticking out of her Arnaud!", Lucas spoke quickly, panic lacing his voice.
"We have to get it out then!", Arnaud responded, sounding as calm as he could given the circumstances.
Wait… Alive…?
"Amicia!", Hugo shouted, scrambling over to her in a hurry.
"Hugo, wait!", Sophia called out from behind him, but the boy didn't hear. All that mattered was that Amicia was still alive.
She was very pale, but Hugo could now see what he couldn't before, that she was still breathing, albeit shallow and pained breaths, they were more like gasps really.
While his sister was still alive, it still seemed like she was dying. That made sense, considering that as Lucas said, the arrow was still there, and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.
"Hugo… we have to pull the arrow out… so I'd suggest to look away.", Arnaud spoke quietly, staring at Hugo almost apologetically. But why?
Just as Arnaud grabbed the shaft of the arrow, Hugo was pulled into Sophia's embrace abruptly. That didn't stop him from hearing the sound, practically a scream, that came from Amicia, full of pain, and the following gasps and sobs. Even in unconsciousness, that must have hurted. A lot by the sound of it.
"Lucas, it's on you.", the knight said, and Hugo tried to take a peek. He almost regretted it in an instant.
If he thought there was a lot of blood before, there was a lot more of it now.
"That's a lot of blood… Is she going to die?!", the boy asked, looking between Arnaud and Lucas in desperation.
"Hey, none of that, Hugo. We won't let that happen.", Sophia reassured him, placing her hands on his shoulders.
Lucas pulled out some rags and whatever herbs and alcohol he was carrying with him, and shakily took a breath before turning to his youngest companion.
"Hugo?"
"Y-yes?"
"Listen, this will probably hurt her a lot, but it will help her, alright? I need you to keep her calm while I do this."
"How?"
"We don't have much time.", he said simply, and inched closer to Amicia.
A stray streak of panic ran through Hugo. He didn't know how to do this! He remembered how earlier he was practically begging Amicia to let him help her in the fight, but now? He couldn't even do that.
A pained gasp broke Hugo out of his thoughts, and he quickly turned to his big sister. There were tears of pain flowing down her cheeks and her breathing was fast. What was he supposed to do?!
"Hugo, stay calm, please.", Lucas' calming voice got his attention.
The boy shakily nodded, but he couldn't stop shaking. He tried to take some breaths to control himself, and he remembered. How did Amicia soothe him back then? When the Macula was getting really, really bad?
"It's alright, Hugo, I'll carry you. Come on, get on."
Well, he couldn't carry her, she was too big for that, and it wouldn't really help in this situation anyways… but perhaps he could help in another way.
The Carrier eased himself in a more comfortable position close to his sister, and gently cradled her head in his hands.
When Amicia cried out in pain when Lucas kept going on with cleaning the wound, Hugo softly caressed her head, being careful with the spot where she had gotten hurt before.
"You're going to be alright… please be alright, Amicia… I don't want you to die."
~~~
It felt like a long time, but it was just a few minutes in reality. Either way, Hugo wasn't paying much attention to what the others were saying. What mattered to him was that his sister was still alive.
At some point he noticed Sophia leaving his side and Lucas getting up. They were already walking away, Lucas giving him an apologetic smile as he did.
"Where are they going?", Hugo asked, turning to Arnaud.
"Scouting. Find something to get out of here, and quickly, before the Count decides to come back."
"Oh…"
Hugo felt his mood sour at the mention of the Count, his face twisting into a scowl. What would the twins call him? A bastard? Yes, he was a bastard.
Arnaud, pulled out some bandages, and looked over to Hugo briefly. "We're going to have to put these bandages on… thankfully arrow wounds are generally pretty narrow so they can be closed on their own if they are patched up."
"Uh-huh…"
"I'm going to prop her up… do you know how to secure bandages?"
"We've… we've done it before."
When Arnaud himself had hurt Amicia and she almost died when the head wound started bleeding too much, but Hugo would rather not think about those times.
"Alright, I'm going to trust you on this."
Trust. Arnaud trusted him on this.
"Yes."
"Listen, you'll have to do it tight. That's to prevent any further bleeding. You need to wind up more than once, to be certain…"
Hugo only nodded at what the knight was saying, too preoccupied with trying not to do something wrong. His sister relied on him to help her.
She had helped him so many other times before after all, it was a matter of time until he had to do the same.
Carefully following Arnaud's instructions, he made a knot and tightened.
Amicia let out a cry then, jolting awake with the pain.
"Amicia!", Hugo exclaimed, pulling his hands away, keeping them up, as if he was afraid that if he moved them at all he'd do something else that would hurt her.
Arnaud eased her down on the ground, being as gentle as a giant man of his size can be. While he reached into his pouch, Hugo laid down next to his sister.
"I'm sorry, are you alright?"
"... Hugo? You're here. You're…", Amicia started and then cut herself off, grunting when a single movement aggravated her injury.
"Easy there.", Arnaud murmured.
"What happened here…?"
"You- you were shot, and you just fell, I thought you were dead, Amicia, I-", Hugo began, the words spilling out of his mouth and not stopping. He threw himself around his sister, and embraced her so tightly.
Amicia bringing her arm around his back was a reminder that this was real, it wasn't some messed up nightmare, this was real, his big sister was alive and she was going to be alright.
"Hey, it's alright, Hugo. I'm here. I'm not leaving. Not while I'm still alive. Got it?"
Hugo only tightened his grip on her, but was forced to let go when Amicia softly cried out in pain. "Careful, Hugo."
"Ah, sorry!", the boy apologized, backing off.
"Owww, this is really bad."
Arnaud was there in an instant, holding some sort of small vial. "Here, drink this. It will help with the pain."
Hugo simply held Amicia's hand while she brought herself to a sitting position and downed the vial with some help from the knight.
"It might take some time to work, and it'd probably be better if we waited a little, but I'm afraid we have to keep moving. We might be able to catch up with Lucas and Sophia.", he said, getting to his feet.
Arnaud moved over to help Hugo up and then Amicia, giving her a warning to brace for the pain. That movement alone caused her a great deal of it, but the Carrier was right there to support his Protector.
Maybe things would be alright.
~~~
The Count was right there. On the beach, not far from the docked ship, clad in full knight's armor.
Not that it stopped the rats Hugo summoned from devouring him anyways.
It was all done. They were safe. Amicia was there by his side, alive, and that's all that really mattered.
~~
They rode away from Marseille, in a cart the soldiers had left behind. Arnaud and Sophia were up front, leading the way up north where their new home would be.
Amicia wasn't certain whether they would stay or not, and while she tried to convince herself that even if they did leave, she and the boys would be alright in the safehouse, she still felt a small knot in her stomach at the idea.
Or perhaps the knot was actually something that had healed wrong from all the injuries she had sustained. Lucas would be able to tell as he examined her.
Either way, the girl snorted out a laugh at the idea of misinterpreting something that badly, but winced as her friend, the second little brother she never had, prodded at her torso and peek under the bandages.
"Sorry… How do you feel?", Lucas asked quietly, trying to not to disturb a sleeping Hugo sleeping soundly, pressed against Amicia's side.
"Not going to lie, Lucas, I'm a wreck. I feel like I could sleep for a week straight."
The young alchemist shook his head with a smile. "I don't blame you… it's been a very long… huh. I can't believe it's only been almost two days. So much happened."
"Yes… All this because of one dream.", Amicia muttered, looking down at her sleeping brother.
"At least we know the truth now, about the Macula, and the last threshold…"
"I was thinking… Hugo might be alright still, but… it is going to repeat again. I just know it. Who knows how many other Carriers and Protectors were there before Basilius and Aelia, so why would it stop with me and Hugo?"
"What are you thinking?", Lucas prompted.
"Perhaps we could… set a path? Like the previous Protector did for us. Something to guide the next ones to come after us. Stop them from making the same mistakes we almost did."
"That sounds like a good idea actually."
"First things first however… we have to make sure we're safe, for good.", Amicia said, staring off into the distance.
The rats seemed to be gone for now, Hugo had made them go away, but still, she couldn't bring herself to calm down.
"Agreed.", Lucas nodded and sat beside Amicia, shoulder to shoulder, leaning into each other. "Amicia?"
"Yes?"
"You and Hugo have been through so much together, it just sounds so crazy, you know? I don't want you to get into any more trouble, alright?"
"Well, it's not like we can control that-"
"I'm serious. Listen, after everything… I just want you to be happy."
Amicia's eyes widened a bit before turning her gaze away from Lucas and she nodded.
"We will… we will try."
Right at that moment, soft noises came from Hugo, his brow furrowed. The Protector softly shook his shoulder. "Hey."
The boy woke up and looked at his sister intently with the glaze of confusion fading away slowly. "Amicia…?"
"Bad dream?"
Hugo looked down on the ground, and nodded. "Yes.", he responded, voice breaking just a little.
Amicia wrapped her arm around his shoulders and kept him close. "Do you want to talk to me about it? We won't have to worry about going off to another adventure?"
"No, but… it was really bad. There were rats everywhere, I couldn't move, and I felt like I was dying again, and…"
"... What is it?"
"... You had to kill me, Amicia, because it was- it was the only way for things to get better.", Hugo explained, chest hitching.
"Oh, Hugo…"
Amicia pulled Hugo close and placed him on her lap, holding him in a tight embrace.
"It's alright. It's alright. I'm alive. You're alive. We're together now. Even if we get separated? I promise you, I will try my damnedest to get back to you."
The boy nodded. "And I'll do the same."
"Yes. You see? The two of us are unstoppable."
The two sat in silence for a few moments, only the sound of the cart and the two passengers up front having a conversation of their own filling it.
"Nothing's going to get to you while I'm here. I promise."
~~~
It was the beginning of summer once more, the forests surrounding the cabin were greener than ever and the flowers blooming.
The door to the cabin opened up wide as a young boy, now almost seven years old ran outside, laughing in glee.
"Hey, be careful! Don't go tumbling down the hillside like last time!", another voice followed, and a girl, almost a grown woman really, stepped out.
There was no response, but the girl smiled either way, shaking her head in amusement.
It was hard to believe that it had been a year since, well, everything. And even harder to believe that she and the kid had made it out of all of it intact.
Well, as intact as possible considering all that happened. They both had scars, both physical and non-physical, but the girl had long since come to terms with that it would be something that they would have to live with.
"The scars… we keep them. So that we don't forget. So that we accept. Until they don't hurt anymore."
It had been a long way, and they would have to go just as far.
The young woman took a seat on a tree stump acting as a bench, and watched over the kid as he played, chasing butterflies and other small critters.
It almost felt like nothing had changed at all.
"Amicia! Hugo!"
The both of them turned around at the sound of the familiar voice, and Hugo grinned as he ran towards the newcomer.
"Sophia!"
"Hey, kid! You've grown so tall since I last saw you!", the former smuggler said, ruffling his hair. Hugo giggled as he ran his hands through it to try and smooth it out. His hair had grown long enough to make a small ponytail at the back, it was still hard to tame it though.
"And you, Amicia? Come over here!"
The two women embraced and Sophia placed a hand on the younger one's shoulder, looking over her. Whereas Hugo's hair had grown longer, Amicia kept hers very short. After the Count had made a mess of it in the duel, there was no reason to keep what was left of the braid anymore.
"It's good to see you two again.", Sophia said, looking over the two with pride of sorts. They may not have been her children, and she sure as hell wasn't going to force anything on either of them, but she was proud of them regardless.
The former smuggler looked over Amicia's shoulder and over at the cabin. "Where's Lucas? He's not coming?"
"Oh, no, he uh, he left a few months ago. He wanted to continue his studies as an alchemist, you know?"
It had come as a bit of a surprise to Amicia, but she didn't hold him back. He deserved as much, to try and find his own way.
"Oh, I see. Kind of a shame. I liked him."
"We might come across him.", Hugo suggested, in the way only a true beacon of optimism could.
"I like the way you think."
"So, where's Arnaud?", Amicia asked, placing her hand on Hugo's shoulder.
"He's waiting with the horses. Are you ready to go?"
"Yes! Let's go!", Hugo exclaimed and bolted ahead in the woods.
"Hugo, wait!", the Protector called out, reaching out.
Sophia motioned her head towards the direction he ran off to. "Come on, let's catch up to him."
Amicia smiled and once she grabbed her things, the two headed into the woods.
~~~
Surely enough, there was Hugo, excitedly talking with Arnaud while petting one of the horses.
Amicia sighed in relief at the sight. It was nice to see her brother act like a child his age, happy and excited about everything around him and not all gloomy and pessimistic like he was a year ago.
Arnaud noticed Amicia approaching and he gave one of his rare smiles. "Long time, no see!"
"It's good to see you too, Arnaud."
"Are you ready to go? It's going to be a long way."
"Yes, it's just that… there's one last thing I want to do.", she said, staring up towards the mountain.
Hugo stared at his sister with a curiosity, but there was also something in his eyes that told her that he knew.
"Can I come with you?", he asked, stepping up.
"... Of course, Hugo. Come on."
"We'll wait here then.", Sophia said, sitting down on a rock. "Hell, my back hurts."
"Getting old?", Arnaud remarked.
"Speak for yourself."
As the two adults kept bantering, Amicia started leading the way to the place. She felt her heart at the idea of seeing them again, but… it was better to go do it, since she had no idea when she would be able to come back again.
Hugo kept close to her side, as if he was also uncertain about this.
"Hey… you can go back if you want. You don't have to come with me.", Amicia suggested softly.
"No, I-I want to see them again."
"Alright then."
They weren't far off now, just a narrow ledge away. It wasn't an ideal path, but it was the only one.
"Come on, we're almost there."
"Are you sure it won't break?"
"Yes, I'm sure. And even if it does, I'm not going to let you fall."
"Alright."
Slowly and with care, the two remaining De Runes made it to their destination. It was a grassy clearing, with two large stone pillars rising into the sky, and there were so many flowers.
Amicia and Hugo made their way to the clearing where alongside the two pillars, also stood several cairns of stone. Each for everyone they had lost along the way.
Their mom and dad. Arthur (Amicia wished Melié was here for this, but she was sure she would appreciate the gesture anyways). Rodric. All the people they never found the chance to lay to rest.
The girl looked up at the sound of a bird's cry. Some kind of hawk maybe? She noticed that there were nests up on the pillars.
"Keeping them company?", she muttered with a small smile.
The hawk perched up there didn't give a response, simply staring at her with curiosity and caution.
Since she was certain that it wouldn't do anything, Amicia stepped up to the two graves up front and crouched beside them, Hugo doing the same.
"Want to say hi?", Amicia asked, turning to look at Hugo.
"... Hello.", he said quietly, sadness palpable in his voice.
"It's been a while… We just thought we'd come and say hello before we go. It's going to be a while before we come back most likely…"
"We miss you…"
"Yes… I wish you were here with us… all of you…"
Amicia didn't say anything after that, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Hugo simply wrapped his arms around her, pulling his sister into a hug.
They sat like that for a few minutes more, taking their time to grieve.
It had been a long way and they weren't even close to healing all wounds. But Amicia had hope. It would hurt like hell, but in the end, they were going to be well.