Too few words can describe pain - its exact degrees or sensations, its faint touches and brushes, or even its texture. But none who have truly been in love, or even known it can say that they are strangers to torment. And that's not to say about physical pain either.

Happier times… Arno thought. He recalled days of laughter and wonder. Colours and tastes were sharp and beautiful, but what was most exquisite – was what he felt. When he looked into Élise's bright eyes – sometimes they shone, other times they glowed, when she kisses him or smiles at him. When Élise laughs, it's almost tender. They are gentle bells and soft breezes. They were better days, when the hardest he had to work was enduring the minutes, the nights, without Élise and her happy smile. Well, that and shovelling the horse manure for Olivier…

We were so carefree. We were so innocent.

Arno lamented when he saw Élise change. He knew hate, and he knew blood. It was almost all he had known for the past few years. The only thing to keep him going was the memory of Élise and summers in Versailles. Monsieur De la Serre's stern but bemused looks. But this turn in her was far darker than he'd dreamed. This wasn't Élise.

Nor was he quite the same Arno either…

"If you get a shot at Germain," Élise said, "you take it." Without further words, she turned from him. Arno frowned. It was bitterly cold that morning, and the sun had not even the chance to warm the stones. But what Élise had said chilled him to the bones more than any winter the weather could conjure. The gnawing feeling he had in his gut hardly left him anymore. He had learned to trust his instincts. And this was a bad feeling. Why? This was what they had worked for.

Wasn't it? Or could they have had another choice? Leave Germain. Turn away. Start anew? Was that something they could really want? Seeing Élise's hardened eyes, stark like opals… No. She wouldn't want to. She would want to make things right. Germain was a villain, a bastard and fiend. He had taken so much from the both of them. If he had to be honest with himself, Arno wanted this too.

But at what cost?

/

Élise always loved the chase. But this time it wasn't a joke. Arno yelled her name as she sprinted by him with a cry of rage. As soon as the doors opened, Arno knew he could not stop her. And Germain did not give them the opportunity. A blaze of light, Arno knew, would kill them in seconds shot past them and nearly took out the door. Arno and Élise dodged expertly and ducked behind the ceilings. Arno knew he had to keep Germain distracted while he had that infernal weapon. Looking out from his hiding place, it looked to him to be a sword. But it glows. And it crackles as if lightning burns through it. True enough, the second he stepped out to shift positions, a bolt of light crashed into the rock he ducked under. It was impossible. Sorcery, Arno thought. What in blazes was that thing? How did Germain come to possess such a weapon?

Arno looked to Élise, who had proceeded to distract Germain while Arno crept closer. She met his taunts with sharp words of her own, but even he could see the effect they had on Élise. Her rage and bloodlust were visible. And Arno saw, for a fraction of a second, Élise about to step out…

Arno shot out then, approaching Germain and shooting his blade out at his neck, but before the metal met flesh, the sword blazed with unearthly light and Arno felt a force hit him square in the chest, pushing him backwards. Dazed and disoriented, Arno got up, to hear Germain's continuing taunts, goading them, edging them. In his blurry vision he saw Germain reappear in the far corner, raising the sword to him. Arno acted quickly, dodging behind a pillar before the beam of fire hit the rock behind him.

After the second time Germain disappeared, the pair began to notice his pattern, and Élise began to position herself where Germain might appear. Arno made his move, showing his bluff and forcing Germain into the corner Élise hid, and when the light subsided, with a cry Élise brought her sword down, where Germain sidestepped and struck her with a painfully audible crunch with the butt off the sword. Élise cried out and backed away.

Sensing the change in the battle, Germain raised his sword a final time, and with a flick of his wrist, the unholy light shot from the tip and destroyed the cavernous ceiling, rubble rained down on all of them, as Germain turned to flee.

"He's getting away!" Élise shouted, dashing forward.

"Élise, don't!" Arno cried, pushing her out of the way of falling debris. In his desperation, Arno shoved Elise, with more force than he had intended, and they both crashed into a wall. "Élise, be careful!"

Ignoring his warning, Élise stood and dashed ahead. Exasperated, Arno flung his sword with precision, and the blade crashed into the rock before Élise feet. Elise gasped and stopped. Instead of stopping to think, or pausing to apologise, Arno dashed past Elise's stunned face. He ran to give chase to Germain. He needed to finish this. Quickly, before Élise could recover and throw herself in reckless actions. He needed to end Germain before anything he said could spur Élise into further stupidity. Her eyes blazed too brightly, she was not thinking with her head. She blindly threw herself into battle, and given the chance she would hurt herself. Arno would not allow that. Now, when she was down, he needed to kill Germain.

Silently, but swiftly, he closed in on Germain's exposed back. Steel on steel met, and hidden blade struck on sword. Germain smirked at Arno.

"What's this? - The Assassin choosing to meet me in combat? How unusual." Germain taunted. "Tell me, is this the petit mademoiselle's influence, or did you truly wish vengeance?"

With a great ferocity and tremendous cry, Arno tackled Germain, taking him by surprise. The two crashed into a cavern-like room. He drove his blade down unto Germain's chest and attempted to knock his sword away, but Germain with a cry of pain, bashed Arno's head with the sword hilt and pushed him off. Arno rose quickly and stepped into Germain's space – he needed to be close enough to kill him but not far enough that he could use the sword's power against him. Germain swung the heavy sword, but not without skill or effort, and Arno dodged and rose his hidden blade to meet him. Though Germain had the upper hand, Arno was quicker and light. But despite that, he was also driven by rage and desperation, in his haste, his mad dash to Germain was quickly countered with a blow to his side. Arno fell and collapsed onto rubble and broken doors.

"Ugh…" Arno groaned. The pain was bearable but his ears were ringing. As skilled as he was, he was no match for Germain's calm demeanour and ungodly senses.

"I suppose you are responsible for Levesque? Perhaps even so far back as Sivert and Le Roi?" Germain spoke. "Well. I must say, you are quite the talented killer. But the fun is over. Your little tussle with Mademoiselle De la Serre and our affairs is over." Germain raised the blade over Arno, and Arno grasped blindly around him. His hands closed in on a thick block of wood, and with a great cry of rage, swung it at Germain.

The sword let forth a shrill ring, and light shone from it, brighter than before. It was as if the sword had cracked, and not its power was leaking from it. Germain gazed down with horror at it, gripping it tightly as it sung with pain. "What have you done? You imbecile!"

Footsteps and loose debris loomed over Arno who stood up, holding his side, and he looked up to see Élise staring down at the two of them in horror. She glanced at the sword that seemed to glow brighter and brighter, until it was too painful to look at. She gasped and screamed at Arno. "Arno…RUN!"

Arno looked back at Germain, who was looking just as terrified as Élise, yet he still held the sword, which seemed to burn his hands where he wielded it. The awful ringing emanating from the sword reached a screech that pierce the room, and Arno sensing danger, turned to flee.

In that moment, a great noise not unlike a scream of pain brought forth a great explosion of light and fire, engulfing the room. Arno screamed as he felt his body rip open in pain, the blast spinning him round and he landed on his face and was still.

Élise shut her eyes and ducked down, screaming Arno's name. When the light died, Élise looked over the room with great fear. Germain was there, still alive it seemed, but his body was badly charred and his face was splattered with blood.

"Arno!" Élise shouted. She scrambled down the rise and dashed to where he lay face down in the rubble. She skidded to her knees and gently but urgently turned Arno over. The sight that met her eyes nearly had her in tears. There was a gaping wound across Arno's chest, quite unlike any Élise had ever encountered. The exposed flesh singed like a burn, too precise to be anything but a sword. It was a bloody mess that Arno clutched at, breathing hard. Copious amounts of blood flowed down Arno's side and dripped down unto the broken rubble beneath him. Arno gasped each breath and each time he did it was raspy and laboured.

There's no way he will survive…

"Arno! Mon dieu…" Élise gasped and cried. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she knelt at his side. Ripping up Arno's cloak, she tried desperately to bind it and stop the bleeding. "Oh god… Oh, Arno…" Élise cried. Her hands shook with such fear as she had never felt before and she slipped, with her bloody hands to wrap it around his torso. With each strip of cloth she placed on it, it immediately soaked red with Arno's blood.

"Oh, mon dieu… Arno! Oh god…" Élise gasped. She frantically pressed at his wound but it she knew it would not help at all. Despair flooded her and engulfed her, looking down at Arno, rasping away. She called out, "Au secours! Est-ce que quelqu'un est là! Au secours!" Élise screamed. Her tears falling steadily down her face

"Élise…" Arno whispered. He weakly lifted a hand and held hers. "Go get help. I'll be fine…."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not leaving you!" Élise shouted.

"What…" Arno laughed weakly. "Are you going to carry me out?" Arno mocked.

"How…" Élise sniffed. "How can you say such things now…?" Arno was beginning to turn a grey shade of pale, and his skin was starting to feel cold as ice.

"I need to get you out of here… I need to… We can get more bandages…medicine… Merde!" Élise cried, wiping her tears from her eyes, which unpractically blocked her vision with pointless tears. Arno's blood smeared over her cheek and she crawled up, and tried to reach for Arno's shoulder, trying as hard as she could be to be gentle with him despite her anxious desperation.

"Élise." Arno called. He lifted a gentle hand, and almost infinitesimally, stroked her cheek softly, moving down her temple, down to her lips and then her chin. His hand dropped to his lap, and he coughed, blood staining his lips and flowing from the sides of his mouth. He smiled, one so brittle and kind that Élise felt her heart ache.

"Go…"

Élise shook her head, wordless and pained. She was not leaving him.

"Go… I'll be here…" Arno whispered

In her heart, Élise did not want to leave. But if she needed any hope of saving Arno, she could not do it alone. With great effort, that left a stinging mark on her chest, she rose, bending over Arno and kissing him deeply. He tasted of blood and salt. She breathed deeply, holding his face between her palms and feeling the heat from his forehead burn into hers. She looked him deep in the eyes, sternly and sadly.

"You'd better be here…" Her voice shook. A gurgle caught in her throat, threatening to come out as a sob. Arno only smiled and nodded.

"Not…going anywhere…" Arno smirked weakly. "Élise…"

Je t'aime

/

Élise sprinted back into the stilled battlefield, several citizens whom she had pulled from the street with her frantic screaming and the blood all over her, in tow. "Arno!" She called. She passed Germain, whose glassy eyes and still form could only mean he was dead. A man bent down over him and pressed fingers to his neck and shook his head. Several others filed in, the voices churning around Élise who was oblivious to it all and dashed straight to Arno.

"Arno?" Élise called. Curious. Where…what happened? The space was empty. The pile of rubble and charred wood was exactly where she had left it but… Élise's heart skipped a beat and lurched into her throat. "Arno!" she swivelled around.

What was this? There was only a pool of drying blood, and smears of it on the floor. She knelt then beside it, and examining it, she surmised that Arno had dragged himself to Germain, and finished the job. Oh, Arno…what are you doing?

"Arno? Where are you?" Élise called again. "Arno!"