T
The fire crackled low.
Morning was bleeding across the sky, but no one moved.
Lucius sat where he'd been all night, his sword stabbed into the ground beside him like an anchor.
He hadn't slept.
He didn't need to.
Because the dreams weren't the ones that haunted him anymore.
---
Claire stirred first.
She didn't speak.
She just wrapped her arms around her knees and stared at the fire with hollow eyes.
Zara threw a stone into the trees, not looking at anyone.
Lilith stood apart—always apart—her wings folded tight, her gaze locked somewhere over the horizon.
Velda wrote, but the ink was shaky.
---
They were still a team.
Still breathing the same air.
Still fighting the same gods.
But something had changed.
Something cracked the moment Lucius whispered:
> "She didn't die for me."
---
They hadn't talked about it.
They wouldn't.
Because if they said it aloud—
If they said that Lucius had been carrying a guilt that didn't belong to him,
If they said that Arielle's death wasn't his burden to bear,
If they said that maybe—just maybe—Lucius didn't need saving…
Then what were they still fighting for?
---
Zara broke the silence first.
"Next town's two days east," she said. Voice low. "Plenty of bounties. Plenty of blood to burn off."
Lucius didn't answer.
She didn't expect him to.
She just kicked dirt over the dying fire and started walking.
---
Claire watched her go.
Then stood.
Walked to Lucius.
Soft.
Barely a whisper:
> "Even if she didn't die for you...
We'll live for you anyway."
---
She squeezed his hand once.
Then followed Zara into the trees.
---
Velda didn't say anything.
But as she packed her scrolls, her sleeve slipped just enough for Lucius to see the faint rune burned into her wrist:
> "Soulbound."
Not magic.
Not contract.
Something deeper.
She caught him looking.
Smirked.
"Guess some people don't get a choice who they remember," she said.
Then she was gone too.
---
Only Lilith remained.
She didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Didn't breathe until the others were out of earshot.
Then, quietly:
> "I knew you didn't remember me."
Lucius looked at her.
She kept staring at the horizon.
"I knew it the moment you looked through me instead of at me."
Her wings shuddered.
"But I stayed anyway."
Pause.
Soft:
> "Because loving you isn't about being remembered."
---
Lucius didn't speak.
Didn't trust himself to.
Lilith finally turned, just enough to meet his eyes.
And for once, she smiled.
Sad.
Broken.
Real.
---
Then she walked away too.
---
Lucius stood alone.
The flame inside him guttered.
And from somewhere deep inside—
from a life before Sovarion, before Lucius, before memories and blades and bonds—
came the ghost of another voice:
"You couldn't save me either, could you?"
---
Lucius clenched his fists.
And for the first time in a long time—
he wanted to run.