No Longer Alone


I'm feeling the slightest bit down because I just lost my DS, which had my Pokemon FireRed with approximately 130 hours to its name and an almost brand-new Pokemon Platinum in it.

It's not a pleasant feeling.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Night had fallen by the time the soldiers had finished securing the castle, and sweeping it of any potential threats. After posting a lookout for any surprise attacks or insurgencies, Ephraim had told the rest of the soldiers to go get some rest – apparently the rosters for who got which room had been drawn up some time before on the assumption that they would, indeed succeed in their assault on the castle.

Somehow or other, the rest of the soldiers had completed their assigned duties without needing to involve Franz in the proceedings, which was a good thing since he was in no fit state to concentrate on anything.

Or maybe it was because the others knew that trying to get him to do anything would be a waste of time and so they left him alone.

He didn't know. He didn't care.

The world passed him by in a blur – somehow he'd managed to fall in, standing at attention until Ephraim had dismissed them without calling too much attention to himself, and now he found himself wandering the halls of the castle, without much memory of how he'd got here.

Well, that was fine, maybe if he just kept focusing on putting one foot ahead of the other, he wouldn't have to think about what he'd done, about the look of pain and anguish on Amelia's face that had been the first thing he'd seen upon coming out of the blood haze, wouldn't have to replay the sound of wheezing gasps echoing in his ears, wouldn't-

With a snarl of frustration, Franz shook his head, trying to dispel the images. Of course, they remained stubbornly lodged in his mind, and he halted, shaking his head in silence.

Damn it all. I swore to myself that I'd watch over her, that I'd make sure she was safe, and then what do I...

"Hey."

Turning, Franz sighed as he saw who had called out to him. "Ewan. This really isn't a good time."

"Yep. Not good by any standard definition of the word." The mage popped what appeared to be a grape in his mouth as he walked up. "I mean, strangling your girlfriend half to death is going to leave most anyone in a pretty poor hurk."

Franz held his grip around Ewan's throat for a couple of seconds longer to ensure that the young mage knew he wasn't fooling around before releasing it and stepping away. Ewan slumped against the wall, massaging his neck and shaking his head. After a moment, he shook his head.

"Going two for two, are you?"

The knight wheeled around again, fists clenched. "You – shut up. I don't know what you think you're doing here, making all this out to be some kind of joke, but I am not in the mood for any of this."

Ewan chuckled softly, the sound harsh against the gloomy quiet of corridor. "Listen to you. You want to know why I'm here? I was about to ask you the same question."

"What am I doing here?" Franz snapped. "I hurt Amelia! I nearly killed her! Do you know what it was like, seeing the look in her eyes when I came to? She was afraid of me! I… promised. I promised Ephraim I'd protect her. I promised myself I'd protect her and then I…" He trailed off lamely and turned away.

Ewan nodded, stepped forward. "Okay. So you hurt Amelia, and you feel like crap about it. That's fair. My question stands: What are you doing here?"

"What am I-"

"Do you want to know how Amelia feels right now, right this very instant? She's scared, all right. But she's not scared of you. She's worried sick about you. She was wandering around this place throughout the day looking for you until Neimi forced her to go to the infirmary to get her wounds looked at." The mage sighed, and his voice softened somewhat. "She was there, remember? She saw what happened, she knows it wasn't your fault."

Even as he spoke, Franz could feel his anger against Ewan deflating, fading into a cold shame. "I can't…"

"You and I both know what you should do. Whether or not you'll go through with it…" Ewan shook his head and began walking away. "Well, it's out of my hands. Good luck, sir knight."

And then there was only Franz left, staring silently into the semidarkness of the castle.


"Hold still." Natasha's voice was gentle as she applied another minor healing spell to Amelia's neck. "Well, that should just about do it for now. You're still going to be sporting a bruise for a while, though."

"I figured as much." She said softly. A faint ache still throbbed every now and again, but she'd been through worse many times before. "Thanks, Sister Natasha."

"Don't be silly. It's my job and my duty." Natasha smiled, although Amelia could tell that she was only keeping it on her face with effort. Given the incident that had landed her in here in the first place…

Leaning back in her chair, she closed her eyes, breathing in and out slowly. She wasn't sure what to do right now – well, aside from her desire to rush out and scour the castle from top to bottom in search of Franz, but that left out the pertinent observation that she didn't know what she'd do when she actually met him.

What was she supposed to say? 'It wasn't your fault,' sounded so… so trite and flat. But it was the truth, wasn't it? She didn't blame Franz for what had happened. Abruptly she remembered staggering away from him, leaving him lying on the ground, and she felt and urge to smack herself on the head. How else was he supposed to interpret that? She'd just needed some time alone… to gather her thoughts, to recuperate. But he wouldn't know that, would he? All he would see was her walking away from him.

She could remember the look of shocked anguish on Franz's face, a part of him still refusing to accept what he had almost done. She bit her lip. Knowing Franz, he was probably killing himself up over it right now. She'd seen that look of guilt on his face before, and she could imagine it even now…

"I have to find him."

"Hm?" Natasha looked up from where she was putting away her equipment into her satchel in time to see Amelia sitting up. "Amelia?"

"I… I have to find Franz. I can't just leave him alone." Saying so, she hoisted herself to her feet, stumbling towards the door.

"But your leg and hand – they're not fully healed yet… Look, Amelia, you sit down. I'll go-"

The door creaked open, catching the attention of both of them in the room.

Franz stood in the doorway, eyes downcast.

There was absolute stillness in the room for a moment, and then Amelia found herself moving forward, reaching out to grab his shoulders, steadying the both of them. Even under the tough material of the tunic – he hadn't changed his clothes all this while? – she could feel him trembling.

"Franz…" She whispered softly.

At the sound of her voice, he closed his eyes, turned away slightly. "Amelia…"

At the sound of his voice, raw with guilt and pain something inside her broke and she reached forward, holding him in a tight hug, her head on his shoulder. She felt his body stiffen, felt him try to pull away instinctively and her grip only tightened.

After a long moment, he relaxed, and she felt his arms coming up around her as well.

"I…" Suddenly, Amelia realized that he was shivering, his voice having the peculiar quality of someone trying to force it out past a squeezed throat, and all of a sudden Amelia realized that he was crying, tears running freely down his cheeks. "I'm sorry!" He finally blurted out tremulously. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry…"

She shook her head, opened her mouth to speak, to tell him that he had nothing to be sorry for, that it wasn't his fault – but after a pause, she closed it again.

She just held on to him. That was all she could do.


"I wanted to become a soldier so I could protect people… like my father did. He always told me that it was the duty of the strong to watch over those who couldn't do so themselves." Franz spoke softly, staring down at the mug in his hands. After a while, Natasha had gently but firmly forced Franz into a sitting position so she could look to his wounds, and after that she'd produced a hot drink of some kind that she insisted would be good for him. "After a while, after the whole mess with Grado started, 'people' got narrowed down to you, I guess." He cast a sidelong glance at Amelia.

"So that's why." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Whenever I had a close call, whenever you rescued me at the last second… whenever you weren't there when I got hurt… you always had that look in your eyes. You were blaming yourself."

"Prince Ephraim laid a charge on me… he told me to make sure that you were safe." The knight closed his eyes and sighed. "Not that it'd have made much difference if he hadn't."

She gave him a look of mild annoyance. "Franz, I can take care of myself, you know." Then she paused. "Or, well, I'm getting better at taking care of myself. That's the same thing, almost."

He looked away. "I know that, I really do. But that doesn't change how I feel. Amelia… I want to protect you."

When Amelia spoke up again, there was a definite edge to her voice. "Funny. If that's the case, then what did I become a soldier for?"

As Franz sat there pondering, he was suddenly struck by the question itself. "Amelia…" He spoke softly as he turned his face to look at her. "Why did you become a soldier?"

"Don't –" He saw a flicker of alarm wash over her features, an instinctive withdrawal, and he realized he'd struck a nerve. "Don't change the subject." She finally finished, a little more forcefully than was entirely natural.

Silence descended upon the small room once more, and Franz sighed. Well, he wasn't going to pry if she didn't want to talk about it. Perhaps a change in subject was in order? He opened his mouth to speak.

"…It was…" Amelia spoke up softly. "Because I didn't want to be alone."


Silently, Amelia wondered if she'd done the right thing. She'd never told anyone else, not even Neimi. But then she forced the voices of doubt down. This was Franz. If there was anyone in the whole world that she could place her trust on, it was him (even if his recent remark about protecting her stung a little).

And so she continued to speak.

"When I was just a little girl, I lived in a village – it's called Silva – at the outskirts of Grado. My dad… well, I never found out what happened to him. He was long gone before I ever had a chance to form any memories of him. All I had left was my mother."

She paused, unwilling to continue speaking, as if to say the event out loud would transport them back to that awful, awful day, force her to relive those awful memories.

"And then, one day… there was a bandit raid. They stormed my house, stripped it bare, and… and… they took her away. They took my mother away."

Her eyes were hooded, and she was looking away so that she couldn't see the expression on his face, but she could still here the sharp intake of breath at her statement.

"And when they came, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even scream for help, or stay with my mother. I was too scared, too panicked. I just… hid under the bed, praying they wouldn't find me." Her fist was clenched tight, her nails digging deep into her palm. "She was sick at that time… but she never stopped working, to make sure that there was always food on the table for me. And I couldn't do anything to protect her. I couldn't even protect my own mother!" She was suddenly aware that there were tears flowing down her cheeks. Hastily she reached up to wipe them away.

"And so that's why. I wanted to become strong. I wanted to make sure that I would never lose anyone else again. I wanted to make sure I could protect those I care about. I… I wanted…" She could speak no more. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to swallow past the lump in throat.

Franz was silent for a long while, the expression on his face betraying nothing. Silently, she wondered how he was taking it in. Finally, he stirred softly.

"To protect those you care about, huh…" He paused. "Amelia… I understand that this isn't something you're very comfortable with sharing. Thank you for taking me into your confidence." Another pause. "I want you to know something, too. My parents… they're gone as well."

She nodded. She'd never heard him discuss his parents, but given the closeness between Forde and Franz… "You too, huh." There didn't seem to be anything more to add than that.

"Yes, but the point is, well, when I was standing in front of their gravestones, I made a promise to them that I'd live a long and worthy life, for their sake. I would make the most of the time I had here." He looked up at her. "Isn't it the same with you, Amelia?"

"The same?" She looked up towards the bare ceiling. "Ever since that day… I guess I had a goal in mind, one I kept running after." She closed her eyes for a long moment, and the hint of a smile graced her features. "Franz… you said you wanted to protect me, didn't you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, I want to protect you too. Franz, I… care about you." She really couldn't be much more specific than that, and she was half-afraid she'd already committed too much, but judging by the look of pleasant surprise on his face… "We're in this together, and I'm a full fledged soldier, too. So let's treat each other as equals, okay? I've got your back, you've got mine." She realized that she was dangerously close to slipping into babbling to try to distance herself from her earlier statement, and so she shook her head. "Franz, let me be your shield. I'll protect you."

He nodded, and something flashed in his eyes – acceptance? "Very well. And I'll be your sword to fight for you." He chuckled softly as he completed the analogy. Then, serious now, he turned to face her. "Amelia, I care about you too. You're not alone anymore. Remember that, okay?"

On an impulse, she walked over to embrace him. "Thank you, Franz," she whispered. "I will."


Chapter End


After doing this chapter, which is supposed to be a sort of emotional highpoint, all I can think about is how often I used ellipses.

Well, thanks for reading. Please review.