Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of the witcher. Those are property of Mr Sapkowski and I using Netflix series canon mixed with the books and my twisted version of the lore.

Warnings : blood and wounds. Mental break down. Disturbing thoughts. Emotional whump.

Here is the final chapter of the first part of the story. I am going very hard on this one. You are warned lol

The dragon hunt - part 5

Rupture

###

Geralt approached Yennefer and put a hand on her shoulder. She shuddered but then slowly turned around. In a tender gesture he hugged her. For the first time maybe, she seemed fragile and vulnerable to him. She wasn't crying but she smelled of sadness. He squeezed her gently to make her understand he was here and she was safe.

Two silhouettes emerged from the shadows. Two persons that shouldn't be breathing, walking, pulling out their swords, nor menacing them. The two Zerrikanians warriors were standing there, almost perfectly equidistant from the dragon, her egg and them.

- "How ?" He whispered. Yennefer broke their union and looked at the women, as puzzled as him.

- "State your intentions. Are you here to arm the egg ?" Asked Vea. The two women were looking specifically at the sorceress.

- "No…"

They lowered their swords and took a less aggressive position.

- "Villentretenmerth wasn't sure you would change your mind." Said Thea.

- "Villentre… who ?"

Both warriors looked up to the pit of light. Something big suddenly hid the sun but shined as such. Geralt put a hand in front of his eyes. Slowly the thing repted into the den and stood up in front of them, next to the two ladies.

He removed his hand and discovered the most beautiful creature. A golden dragon. The light was playing with its scales. His breathing was loud and vibrating.

- "Villentretenmerth is my real name."

The voice was in his mind and he recognised Borch instantly. Everything made sense suddenly, at least for a part.

- "Why fake your death ?" He asked.

- "We needed to Iet go or you would have killed everyone trying to save us. But that was a great moment to judge your hearts. In emotions lies the truth of one' soul. You are a protector at you core and that to a fault. But that what I need... I hired you, sir Witcher, because you were the famous White Wolf of the songs. The one that had a heart for monsters and for justice if the lyrics were true. I had to see it by myself. And you, my lady, I can feel your struggles and your determination. You were a danger until now."

- "You wanted me here ? What for ?"

The dragon turned its head toward the egg.

- "Because the most precious treasure is here and I needed strong allies to protect it."

- "The mother died a few days ago from her wounds but the egg can't be moved as it is expected to hatch soon." Said Vea calmly.

- "I saw that, didn't I ?"

- "You did, I shared the dream with you yesterday."

- "The Wild Hunt ?" Things were coming back partially in his mind. "But this is a myth…"

- "They are not a myth, sir Witcher. They are part of the invisible world. One that was outside our reach for many years. But hidden in the dark, forces are moving, playing with ancient things that should probably stay dormant. And the veil between the spheres is thinner than ever. The Wild Hunt killed her. But people only saw her roaring and flying over their kingdom. She wouldn't have come this far into the valley if it was not to protect her egg from them. I heard her call in my dreams from Zerrikan, as I shared it with you, and with my friends we came as fast as we could. But I was too late… Only the egg remained alive and the king had already put an announcement for the hunt."

- "This is even better than expected." A male voice came from the entry of the cavern.

The Reavers were reaching for them and blocking every exit. They were armed and ready to fire.

- "We've got it all." The man smiled menacingly. And in a very cold manner he sentenced them. "Killed them all."

The Reavers took aim in an instant.

- "Aard ! Now !" Screamed Yennefer running toward him.

Geralt's reflex was fast enough but fear filled his heart when all the guns discharged. Aard was enough to pull arrows out of the way, not bullets. But the sorceress touched him and he felt chaos rushed into his system. His sign was amplified. The bullets ricocheted against the blast and took unreadable trajectories, before the magic wave pushed everyone back. Two of their assailants didn't move after that. A simple look was all it took to see the gunshot wounds.

The rest of them believed that guns weren't the solution to kill them anymore and pulled their other weapons out. This was turning into an old fashioned fight. They had a chance. Yennefer's call had been perfect and provided them a substantial advantage here - as long as they didn't realize that this strong bullet repulsion only worked in duo.

Their opponents didn't have good swords - those were more like machetes - but they knew how to use them efficiently. The Zerrikanians warriors entered the melee. Thea and Vea were using their sword in a masterful way. It seemed like they were dancing and their attacks were fast and precise, like the sting of a scorpion. But the Reavers were astonishingly strong and resistant. It was taking several normally mortal hits to strike them down definitely.

Yennefer was protecting the egg with the golden dragon at her side and they were not less brutal. She used her magic to break bones and rip bodies apart as pain wasn't stopping them. Borch was torching alive those who escaped the melees. He didn't move much, he was mainly shielding the egg with his imposant body.

Geralt too came to fight with them and was surprised by the Reavers strength. Some of them had been wounded by the bullets ricochets in the first place and were still moving like it didn't matter. This was fighting very close to one particularly strong one that he noticed their dilated pupils. They were drugged.

There was something very wrong hidden in all this. He had to keep one alive to make him speak. He used his natural strength to take the advantage on one of them. In a quick succession of parades, he found a weak point and disarmed his assailant before pushing him against a cavern wall. He had to break both his legs and arms to stop him.

- "What drug ?" He growled looking at the man who was laughing hysterically in a twisted position, only half standing because Geralt was lifting him off the ground.

- "Fisstech." He replied nonetheless.

Of course that was it. The White Death, in high dosage, could have that effect. But why were Reavers using it for a hunt ? Or… could it be that the dragon wasn't their real target ?

He turned his head and analyzed the situation quickly. Considering the position of the assailants, the dragon and the egg weren't the main objective here and now. Yennefer was. She was virtually surrounded. The dragon quest was a bonus. Without even looking at the man he had in his grip, Geralt slit his throat in a swift movement and ran toward his loved one.

The savary needed to kill those men was making his blood boil and it was with a terrifying detachment that he saw himself inflicting the worst wounds possible to get through. He just wanted to protect her from anything, and he knew that those peons falling under his attacks weren't even the real threat. That drove him crazy.

He was feeling a cold rage and for a moment forgot everything about morale and humanity. When he reached Yennefer he simply growled.

- "They're here for you."

It triggered something in her too and with tears in her eyes she unleashed her own desire to kill. The Wolf and the Crow danced together in their most monstrous form. Claws and fangs. Beaks and bites. Black and white splashed with red.

Geralt stabbed the last Reaver standing in his way, without a second thought. He pushed his sword to the hilt in him and growled in face while the dying man was laughing.

This was when the dead body almost slid off his sword that he kinda came back to his senses. And a simple thing brought back so many fears and self loathing to the surface. Jaskier was standing there at the entrance of the cavern, slightly disheveled. He had left his harp at the camp, sign that he was so afraid for him that he came right away. He was pale as death and clearly in shock, proof that he certainly witnessed at least a part of the massacre if not everything. But the terrifying thing was that he wasn't afraid of them. He was looking at the golden dragon with wonder. He wasn't afraid of him. He was looking at him with the same loving eyes as always, when he saw how inhumane he could be. These were the wrong eyes, considering everything that happened. He remembered his friend's from two years before when they met his heart sister : This is not the killing part I like, Geralt. Sometimes this is just very sad. But there is something beautiful when you fight, and this doesn't have anything to do with your sword and gun. Even when you fight with words, the thing that I like is there. This was so wrong at this moment and Jaskier was blinded.

- "What have I done to you ?" Geralt whispered for himself.

In a golden glow Borch changed back into human form and asked Yennefer a favor without speaking. He was still reaching their mind. The sorceress nodded and smiled sadly before pronouncing a complexe incantation in elder. The egg vanished. And it was just a moment before the dwarves arrived running. They were free from the enchantment that froze them earlier.

Yarpen swore a lot. He wasn't happy because the dragon was already dead and they couldn't even join the party against the Reavers. That dwarf was one of a kind for sure and he had a weird approach to fighting also.

Borch proposed to them the teeth of the dead green dragon so they could get the reward for the hunt. They accepted his proposition and went away. During this time, Geralt inspected the bodies of the Reavers. He found some white powder in little zipper bags on some men : the Fisstech they had taken for the fight. And after a moment, he found exactly what he was searching for.

He found a letter with one of the Fisstech bags, in a pocket. It was an order to act during the hunt to get rid of Sir Denesle and his mage counselor. This was made old fashion so they couldn't track the origin. He guessed even that there were several writers till it reached the Reavers. This letter should have been destroyed by those men but even found it couldn't be used to find the source.

- "They - whoever they are - want to trouble the northern politics." Said Yennefer reading the letter, and seeing more political connection than him. "Even written in common language, it seems Nilfgaardian to me. Or at least some parts are connected to the South. This letter suffered from several translations. The way some sentences are constructed feels like a poor translation of Nilfgaardian dialect. Maybe your friend here could help with that."

Jaskier understood that this was about him and approached. Yennefer gave him the letter to analyze, against Geralt's advice.

- "She is right, there is at least Nilfgaardian and elder. This went through the hands of some elves."

- "It wasn't very clever to keep that with them." Said Geralt, taking the paper from his hands and giving it back to Yennefer with a glare.

- "Or it was made to be found." Commented Jaskier.

- "I hate to agree with him, Geralt, but he is right. The person behind all this knew already that if I were to survive, I would probably inform Aretuza, causing maybe more problems."

- "So what are you going to do ?"

- "Tissaia, my mentor, has a special position on the council and I know she can retain information if need be. She will know how to handle these things. But we are not on very good terms. I need to make things right with her first, before trying anything."

- "I am sorry to interrupt you, lady sorceress, sir witcher, but I need to talk to you." Said Borch.

Geralt remembered suddenly that the old man had promised him to give him answers to his questions, after the hunt. He squinted. Was the dragon aware of all of this from the beginning ? Did he already know how it would end ?

Thea and Vea began to loot the Reavers and put the bodies on a pile. Yennefer walked down the main path and sat on a flat rock about a hundred yards away. Borch looked at Jaskier and said.

- "That conversation isn't for you, I am sorry. You should go now."

It sounds like a warning. Geralt didn't like that. The old man joined the sorceress. His friend scoffed.

- "To go where ?"

- "Anywhere…" Jaskier looked at him quizzically.

- "I don't want to go anywhere."

- "Of course you don't." He sighed.

- "I can wait here. I won't listen to your secrets. I just don't want to stay alone."

- "Are you ok ?" Geralt finally asked.

- "Well everything is a bit terrifying, I won't lie. Political shit, dragons, massacres, secrets…" Finally a normal reaction. "We are in the middle of nowhere, on top of that."

- "You may want to get your harp back first." Pointed Geralt.

- "Oh shit yes. I had this weird nightmare and I ran here right away, believing you were dead."

- "This is why you came then ?"

- "Yeah… Remember that basilisk ? Could have been the same."

- "This was a dragon hunt, at which moment you believed you could have helped ?"

- "I don't know. I just… "

He didn't finish his sentence but Geralt recognised his look. Jaskier was battling inner demons. There was something from Julian coming back to the surface in this whole experience and it was terrifying to see his friend losing his mental balance. But the swing didn't last and he seemed to regain control. He smiled.

- "I'll come back in a minute."

The witcher felt better when he saw his friend returning to the dwarven camp. He walked down the path and joined Borch and Yennefer who were waiting for him. He sat next to her.

- "I guess you might have a lot of questions." Said the old man, smiling slightly. Geralt nodded.

- "This one might be just practical but how can you take human form ?" Borch' smile grew.

- "I had to learn chaos magic and study human civilization for a long time to understand how you speak and create new spells. This one might be the only one triggered by dragon words." He laughed a bit.

- "Dragon words ? I have heard a long time ago about that as I mentioned two days ago. So it is a thing."

- "Very much. And I am the first to successfully make the bond between my race and the humanoids. Whatever it is said about humanity, it is not doomed to reject everything that is not human. This is a construct of your history and current civilization. Zerrikanians were very open to my kind and without them I wouldn't be there talking to you. My goal is to teach the new generation what I know so they can survive in a human world, beginning with that little one that you helped saving. I don't have enough words to thank you. Especially you, lady sorceress. Your change of mind made a huge difference."

Yennefer bowed slightly. Geralt took her hand, knowing what it meant to her. That contact triggered some dormant memories. The dreams. The words forgotten. And they were gone again.

- "What did you do to us ?" He asked. "Did you manipulate us ? I have the feeling you told us important things but I can't remember."

- "Dragon words are not said out loud, but conveys emotional response and meaning directly in your memory. The fact that you both don't remember what I told you only means that you were not ready to accept those words. So you can say that because you came and did what you did for me, I manipulated you in a way. But this is up to interpretation."

- "What did you say to Jaskier ?" Geralt was curious now.

- "Oh for your friend, it was tricky. There were things that I wanted to share with you only, but I had to be sure he didn't hear me, because that funny lad can hear me for sure, ready or not."

- "Why ?" Yennefer was perplex now.

- "Because he can hear and figure out monster's languages." Replied Geralt first.

- "You can say that. But the reason he can do that is because he has way too much empathy and his work is basically to put words and music on emotions he experiences. He evolved to understand people to survive… well I am pretty sure you know what I mean, sir witcher." He nodded. "But Jaskier isn't relevant anymore, Destiny has worked its ways down to you and there is no running away this time."

- "What do you mean ?"

- "I won't use dragon words to say this and, believe me, I don't like to be the one to say these truths to you, but it will save you a lot if pain later." He sighed before taking time to enunciate properly what he had to say. "The sorceress will never get her womb back and despite you being afraid of losing her, your wish won't be fulfilled as such."

The first part hit Yennefer like a hammer. She immediately teared up but the second part just slapped them both.

- "What does that mean… your wish ?" She asked, trying to keep herself together. Borch looked at him as a response. "The Djinn ? Geralt ? What does that mean ?"

- "You were in my life for so long - even before we really met - I didn't want you to die over that Djinn. I used my last wish to save your life."

- "Yes I remember but… what did you wish for exactly ?"

- "I genuinely don't remember what I said. I was almost in trance. This was the first time in my life I articulated love."

- "Love…" She whispered. "Then everything that we lived could be a lie. You twisted our lives with that wish. This is so wrong, Geralt !"

She removed her hand from his in an almost disgusted way.

- "My feelings for you are true."

- "But what about mine ? You took my choice away, just like them… you are just like them…" The look she gave him broke his heart. "Now everything makes sense. Like why we keep on meeting each other, even when we break up, or why I feel this way inside. Our story is an illusion..."

Geralt shook his head, his eyes pleading. Everything word she was saying was a knife in his heart. He couldn't speak, even to save his life right now. She was crying now and the last words she pronounced came cut by heavy sobs. Yennefer wasn't the kind of woman to let things out like that in public. He hurt as much as him. His silence was what sentenced him though.

- "You were afraid of losing me, but this is it Geralt, you already have."

She didn't give him the time to recover from that and to respond. He watched her walk away, with this terrible pain ripping his chest open. She passed in front of Jaskier who was coming back from the camp with his harp. He looked at her quizzically and then him. Geralt looked at the Borch.

- "Was it all you had to say ?" He growled at him when he recovered enough to say something.

- "My words were interpreted that way. Human language lack of nuance but it is at it should be. I am only the messenger."

- "And what did it mean then, as I see my love go ? She will never forgive me for that and if this is not what it was supposed to mean then nothing is my fault. You did this. This is quite convenient that dragons words we can forget and humans words we can misinterpret. You chose the way to deliver that message. You did this..." He repeated, defeated.

- "I did nothing. You did this. How long did you plan to keep that secret from her ?"

- "I love her and this has nothing to do with a wish !"

- "You linked your destiny to hers. You changed things, that'd you accept it or not."

- "Just because I said I love you and I wish to share my life with you - however it came out that day - I have to suffer that loss ? This is not fair ?"

- "I was given that message for you. I don't control how you can react to those words. Yennefer has her own journey in front of her now, as you have yours. Choices were made and still have to be made. You have to choose your own path now."

- "Who gave you that message ?"

- "Destiny."

- "I don't believe in Destiny."

- "You don't have to believe it to listen to the voices that warned you. You listened sometimes, but only what pleased you only when you found it acceptable. Dreams are powerful omens, sir witcher."

- "What do you know of me ?"

- "Not much really. But Destiny gave me pieces of your dreams and the songs as guide."

- "And that was all you needed to destroy my life..."

- "You did this. I just put the reality in front of you. Now... What you are searching for is still waiting for you to come. Hurry sir witcher. Your destiny awaits ahead of you but the next time you bail the reminder could be even more painful. That loss you just experienced is nothing compared to what could come... Good luck for the rest of your journey. This is where we part ways. I have my own Destiny to fulfil.

Borch smiled sadly, stood up and saluted him, before simply going. He had done his task, even if it was destroying him. Geralt stayed silent and looked away. In his mind were flashing so many warnings and pieces of dreams. He was angry and sad. But the more he was thinking about everything that happened, the more the anger was winning over sadness. He never asked for this, he didn't want that Destiny. He just wanted the simplest life a witcher could dream of.

He heard steps in his back. He recognised his friend's way of walking and his first mistake was coming back to poke at him. Right now he was a wounded beast and he would respond as such.

- "Phew… What a day ! I guess…"

Adrenaline was rushing in his system like before a fight. He was ready to bite back.

- "Are you serious ?!"

- "I just want to cheer you up a bit… It's…"

- "Are you enjoying seeing me break up with Yennefer again ?"

- "No."

- "Really ? Because as a reminder you never liked her."

- "I am always there for you when she hurts you. I am here again… that's all."

Always there. Geralt snapped totally. In his mind memories, dreams and feelings were mixing in a strange picture. And in the center of it there was this man, with crazy grey eyes. He was always there as he said. He was...

- "Oh no no no… you are just waiting for it, aren't you ? You are always there, the better version of any relationships I could have when the others have failed. You took advantage of it and my innocence on the subject, didn't you..."

- "What ?!"

- "The reality is that any time I find myself in a pile of shit these days, it's you, shoveling it."

He saw Jaskier's heart break with those words, but he didn't care. His own heart was broken and shouldn't be… Vesemir was right all along. He shouldn't have let that boy enter his world and change it. He poisoned him with his love, feelings, whatever.

- "That's not fair." Came the small defense that wasn't even one.

This enraged Geralt even more. Fair ? As if life was fair ? As if what just happened to him was fair ?

- "I spent seventy years without problems before I met you." He growled.

Everything happened because of him and all inside was telling him that he was the root cause of his problems. Everything was connecting. He let him come into his life, twenty plus years ago, and all that went wrong was his fault to a certain degree. The fact that Jaskier wasn't acknowledging this now was driving him crazy. So he didn't hold back when the moment of letting the pain that was piercing his heart out came.

- "I made you the White Wolf. A heros in the eye of the public. While you were the Butcher for almost thirty years."

- "I didn't ask for anything. You made choices."

- "Do you regret it ?"

- "Are you asking me right now if I regret your choices ? Yes ! And not so long ago I was blaming myself because I believed I made you some kind of monster. But Borch was right, I should have listen to the voices, to the warnings. But I got all of the wrong. It was right in front of me though. No-one, no human should be like you. You like it when I am a killing machine. You write songs about a blood thirty mutant and you don't even see it ! But the reality is that you are mentally impaired from the get go. You are the monster."

Jaskier was trembling now but still holding. Geralt suddenly felt the need to break him. Like he massacred the Reavers he would rip this human to shreds. He was the cause of all this pain inside of him right now, after all. And the man just gave him the perfect occasion to finish him off.

- "I know you hurt right now and you want to hurt me back... Call it the way you want but all I did was because I lo…"

- "Don't say it. Those words are wrong !"

Jaskier flinched. Geralt knew he had triggered the singer's deepest wound. The one linked to a promise he made at Novigrad. He suddenly remembered the force of the sexual impulse he had toward him in the Passiflora and it made him sick. This was all he needed to unleash the worst. Then only, maybe that man would understand how painful the situation was for him. The wolf inside was howling.

He saw his young human friend in the forest like the first time. He was smiling. He approached him, he was saying something he didn't understand. He saw the hand trying to reach for him. He bite.

- "You are so wrong ! That little thing you carved for just caused me so much pain over the years. I thought I was healing but you destroyed me. I didn't have to be like you."

- "Like me ? I never wished for you to become like me..."

There were tears in his eyes. The White Wolf bite again. Harder.

- "This is worse. You changed me. I never wished for these emotions you cherish so much. All those ineffective relationships with people leading to deeper suffering. You put yourself in this deepshit whole, and you made me fall with you !"

- "What do you mean by I did this to myself ?"

His old friend was shaking but visibly trying his best to hold on something. He could feel the blood on his tongue. This felt good.

- "This is because you are who you are, that shit happens to you, you idiot. Just open your eyes."

- "I never asked to be born or to be that way…"

The response came almost whispered. Jaskier was breaking but for the wrong reasons. Geralt grimaced. But then came the sentence that triggered the avalanche that would bury him whole.

- "This is not my fault…"

Geralt exploded.

- "Are you kidding me ?! You are that stupid ?"

The White Wolf went for the throat. There was no resistance when he plunged his fangs inside, or maybe he was too strong. His jaws snapped close and blood splashed on his immaculate fur. This was the moment to kill.

- "I don't talk about your birth curse or whatever ? I am talking about everything else you did to me. The child surprise, the djinn, Yennefer ! THIS is all your fault. I came to the betrothal because of you. I met Yennefer because of you. I pushed my family out because I believed you were right. I experienced anxiety because you opened me in half forcing wrong things in my being. I am a mutant, I shouldn't have done all those things ! And now that they are essential to me and torn away from me, I find you there waiting. I am sure you lied to me. Maybe they were right. You are a deviant who just wants me for himself, trying to convince me that you were innocent. Yennefer was the love of my life, you dumbass ! You were trying to kill that from me, every time, every day. And you managed to win this time ! You know what ? If life could give me one blessing it would be to take you off my hands." He growled, ignoring the devastating pained expression on Jaskier's face.

The beast let go and his prey stayed still. Now that felt wrong. The murder he just perpetrated was suddenly too hard to handle.

Geralt knew already that anger had made him say too much. But he meant it this time. The truth was that if he hadn't met that young man at Posada nothing of this prophecy that was plaguing him for years would have happened. In the back of his head, a little voice said : You would have missed the best years of your life too. But this was easy to ignore.

Eyes locked he observed his old friend just trying to hold it together and failing. The predator inside was satisfied but not the man. If you are not careful you will destroy him. This was as painful as the rest. But it was too late now.

In the forest, the White Wolf was looking at the life quitting the man's body. In real life, Geralt was seeing all light quitting his sunshine. He felt dead inside.

Jaskier was fighting the tears, probably trying not to give him what he wanted, in a last attempt to keep his dignity. So Geralt simply turned his back on him. He could hide his own emotions better that way and let devastation take the last bit of that man he wanted to forget already. He didn't want to see the agony.

There was an awful long silence.

- "Right then… If this is all that you want... See you around Geralt." Jaskier's voice was hollow.

He didn't speak but he wanted to say. No. This was farewell this time. The soft sound of the fabric when Jaksier moved away was the last thing he heard of him. And he stood there, looking at the landscape, fighting his own tears.

Silence at least. Peace. But suddenly the cost was too heavy.

His heart was pounding painfully in his chest. He was sweating. He was in pain.

He needed to move forward now, to put some distance between him and the people that hurt him so he didn't wait long to take the way back to the hunt camp where Roach was parked.

###

The way down the mountain was easier in a way, even if it was hard on the knees. And he forced his way down, making very little stops to drink and eat, even sleep. He arrived at his car, in the middle of the night, on the second day.

He sat at the driver's place and immediately he was angry. It smelled like Jaskier in there. The floral perfume of the bard had impregnated his belongings. No, that was too strong to be that and he would have noticed by now. He sniffed the air, trying to figure out where this was coming from.

He suddenly remembered that Jaskier had left some things behind the passenger seats. He looked into the box he had built for them a long time ago. He pulled out the small bag and opened it. There was nothing more than some spare shirts and pants, with some hygiene products. For a brief moment, he realized that Jaskier had followed him in the wild, within his parameters, leaving his basic needs behind. He conformed to the hunt.

Geralt searched a little bit further in the bag and found the origin of the strong smell. This was a bottle of perfume that had lost the top and that probably had dropped some concentrated liquid in the bag. There were flowers on it.

He sighed. In two days of intense hiking, anger had partially left him, and he was regretting being so harsh, but he knew he had to assume his words now. There was no coming back from what he did. Somehow this was maybe for the better. The dragon's words were still parasitizing his mind and there was that warning. Jaskier had been a tool of Destiny and that would destroy him if he'd stayed. So leaving him behind was best for him. But at the same time, he clearly had broken the man himself and abandoned him on this mountain. Well he was technically not alone and Jaskier was a nomad at heart anyway. He would be fine. Yeah he would be fine… Delusion. This was pure delusion. But still easier to accept than the truth.

He put everything in place and dropped the bag by the window. It rolled a bit, and stopped by the roots of the next tree.

Now it was the time to cut every string or Jaskier would ramp back into his life, like he already did. So he took his phone, and with a heavy heart, he finished what he started.

He blocked the number and the Nomee account. There were already several calls and messages he'd missed. Then he went to his special folder full of memories. Pressing delete was hard but necessary. It only took a few seconds to erase twenty two years of souvenirs. The last shot to disappear, and stayed like a remnant image a fraction longer than the rest, was the one called "we are alive". Both of them hurt. Him the monster, Jaskier his sunshine.

He didn't feel better after this. He felt empty and even sadder. But he knew what to do to make things better. He will force his mind to forget.

He started the engine and drove straight south, toward the Nilfgaard kingdom. He didn't believe anyone anymore. He had to see with his own eyes what the dwarves had said about Ebbing and then he would ponder what to do about his Child Surprise. He was a protector at heart, not a murderer, so if he had to protect that child from the war, he would do that. And maybe that was all Destiny wanted in the end. He hoped at least that would be sufficient.

Oki, so are you ok ? Because I am not lol. This was so painful to write.

Anyway the dots from the very first chapters are connected. Geralt has made a full circle but he really misunderstood Borch's words for a part. Now it i time to face Destiny for him. And that won't be smooth.

I need some time to put the next story right so there will be a gap.

See you soon. Lots of love everyone.