Mary's phantoms all halted when Shahbaz's head rolled lifelessly onto the ground. The earth barriers fell all at once as Rahim turned to the woman and tossed the body at her feet. Her eyes went to the head, unmoving body, until they landed on Rahim's who met her gaze without a shred of emotion. His sword remained out as if it was a challenge, one that she could choose to take, but his eyes told her he didn't care one way or another.
The woman breathed through her nose, before dispelling all of her phantoms. The two of them shared a long look with one another before Rahim raised a hand and a sheathe materialized in his hand. With a flourish his sword, he sheathed it and the blood red world around them returned to normal with his eyes returning to their original dull red.
A moment later the ground rumbled until Gluttony rose out of a crater nearby. Rahim said nothing as he walked past her and stood next to the Voracious Sin, the two of them sinking into the crater and it filling up like nothing had happened.
Mary crouched down and took Shahbaz's head in her hands trying to sense if he had any life left in him. As expected she felt nothing but a hollow shell, her facial expression was blank. The sky above roared with thunder before rain started to fall, the moon peeking out enough to illuminate the battlefield.
She heard footsteps make their way up behind her and stopped to stand by her side. Looking back, she saw that it was Talib staring down at the dead body of the boy he had taught. His earlier troubled expression was gone, Rahim likely being far away now was probably the cause. Instead his face took on a thoughtful one, there wasn't sadness in his eyes, he and Shahbaz didn't care for one another in the slightest, but a small part of him required he be here.
The alchemist tore his gaze from the body to the woman next to him and could see water streaking down her face. If he wanted to, he could figure out if it was from the rain or if she was in fact crying but he decided against it. The two of them weren't emotional creatures to begin with and it served no purpose for him to know if she was acting on those emotions or not.
"I know the location of where his mother was buried, it's typical for humans to be buried with their family members."
It was such an odd gesture from the logical man that had her thinking of Garret back in Arendelle. She was sure, if the man was here, he would've wanted that. So she agreed.
Two of her phantoms had gathered the body and transformed into a large bird so that they could transport it. Before they left, she looked back at the demolished castle and part of her wondered if they should leave. She was aware that Lilian had seen most of the battle and could relay what happened to the approaching Prince. What the Elemental couldn't relay was the shift in the world only Soul Weavers like her and artificial ones like Talib could understand.
Speaking off, it was odd that the alchemist had chosen to remain here. He should've left with Rahim but instead stayed where he was. She was under no illusion that the two of them were on the same side, she had just hoped to appeal to the logical side of him that knew there was no benefit to be gained from hunting Pride.
He agreed but couldn't disobey or stop Rahim from doing what he wanted. The same way she couldn't stop the avenger either. Whatever the case, it was over, and now they needed to move on. She acquiesced that she could recount the details of what happened here later, burying Shahbaz came first.
Edward watched as Haruna whispered sweet words in Luna's ears before gathering the girl in her arms. She turned to him with a troubled expression before nodding to Garret. "I'm going to put Luna to bed, can you please stay with him?"
She didn't give him an opportunity to respond as she disappeared deeper into the house leaving him with the grieving man. The young man didn't know what to say or even what to do, he was no stranger to grief but he didn't even know why the man was crying. Rising to his feet, he reluctantly made his way over to Garret and laid a hand on his shoulder.
A flash of Elsa crying into Edward's shirt that one time had him give the man a firm squeeze to show he was there.
The alchemist's sobs settled slowly as he worked to master himself, when he could, he slowly rose to his feet. Turning to the young man, Garret cleared his throat before wiping his face. The sadness that lingered in his eyes was almost like looking into a mirror, from one guy that fell into the deep pit of sorrow to another.
"Thank you."
Edward silently nodded. There was a question in his eyes but he understood if the alchemist didn't want to say anything. Garret sighed before he began speaking.
"The feeling that washed over us, I could tell, was coming from both of my sons. I could feel them grinding against one another before Rahim…" The alchemist shuddered once more before he took a controlling breath.
"I can't sense either of them anymore, Rahim's changed into something I can't sense anymore while Shahbaz is just…gone." Edward's eyes were downcast. He couldn't imagine feeling that a loved one had died from so far away and there was nothing you could do about it. He was well aware how much Garret loved his children and he could only guess that he just felt as if he had lost them all over again.
The alchemist cleared his throat before gesturing to the table still being set for dinner. "Well, I think it's safe to say our dinner was a bit of a letdown, believe it or not, Luna wasn't trying to get you to leave. She just gets to the heart of things and says it like it is, she's smart, just not great with social cues. Probably because I kept her hidden for so long and she doesn't have any friends her age."
Normally, he would've remained quiet, his depressive mood still persisted but he found himself sympathizing with the alchemist. "It was a well meaning thought, and I appreciate it. As for Luna, while she is young, she's definitely ahead of the learning curve and can probably interact with kids older than her."
Garret hummed in agreement, picking up the bowls and placing them into the sink. The dark mood was still hanging heavily in the air and Edward could tell the alchemist was trying to distract himself from the grief he was feeling. The young man watched him mull about not really doing anything, he had left the main pot of stew on the table along with both of their bowls and utensils, cleaning up only the females'. After doing so, he sat back down at the table and just stared into his bowl, not moving to get more.
It crossed Edward's mind that this would be the perfect chance to leave, Haruna and Luna were gone while Garret was…preoccupied. He looked at the door, the opportunity was very tempting considering he had no business being here. He and Garret were…
…he really didn't know.
He wouldn't call them enemies or friends and acquaintances was a stretch so he had no real obligation to stay with him, even if his wife had asked him to. So he was perfectly within his rights to leave, he didn't volunteer to come here. He didn't ask Garret to pick him up from that bench and invite him into this home with a warm and loving family.
At least it was warm before Shahbaz had…
A jolt of pain flared in his chest. He didn't realize that his palm came up to rest against where his heart was. Why did he feel this way, Shahbaz wasn't his brother? To him, Shahbaz was just Pride, a Sin like him which he never met. The strongest of all of them and the one that Father had the highest hopes for.
Yet, when he thought of Pride, he didn't picture a towering invulnerable champion that could conquer the world if he wished.
He saw a small boy who'd stuff treats into his fine clothes, ruining them, but allowing his little brother to have some whenever they had a particularly rough day. He saw the boy wake up with a skunk in his bed and yell at the top of his lungs before being sprayed. He remembered the boy wrapping his arms around his little brother that he had just met a few days earlier.
Before all the darkness, power, and loss, Shahbaz was a loving brother that tried to retain both his and his brother's humanity that their mother left for them.
"Why are you crying?"
Edward was so far gone he barely registered the question. He focused on Garret who was now facing him, the sadness still soul deep but his curiosity was roused. He unconsciously brought his hand up to his face and confirmed that he was indeed crying. He wiped his tears but more replaced them, a never ending stream going down his face.
"I…don't know…"
Was he feeling what Rahim was feeling at this moment? The avenger should be feeling something like this, considering it was his brother but Edward didn't think that was the case. Maybe it was their mother, Dawn, maybe the part of him that came from her was weeping at the loss of her son.
Garret opened his mouth to say something but slowly closed it without a word and returned his focus onto the bowl in front of him. Edward thought that perhaps he was about to say that the young man had no reason to cry over the loss of his son. Who was he to cry over someone that meant nothing to him?
A simple door never looked so inviting. Edward didn't expect to have such an emotional response from a dinner and it was so draining to feel all of this. To experience the grief that came from losing a loved one and these feelings weren't his how could they be, he was just some puppet!
"I'm sorry…"
The alchemist exhaled a long breath. His response was automatic.
"It wasn't your fault."
Sniffles could be heard as Edward started to sob, months of pent up emotion finally breaking down the dam he tried so hard to maintain.
"I'm so sorry!"
Garret turned back to the crying young man, his face was etched with utter pain and loss. As if he was a child that had suffered his first real tragedy, tears flooded down his cheeks as he gave up even trying to stop them.
This isn't my son!
He knew that, Garret knew that but seeing Edward crying like this opened a deep pit at the base of his stomach that seemed to go on forever. He tried to ignore it, to close the lid on the well he knew contained a wellspring of emotion he wasn't ready to feel right now. Yet with each tear that fell to the floor, a splash of unknown emotions spilled out of the well.
He didn't have time to decipher them before they had him standing up then walking over and enveloping the young man in a tight embrace. Tears started to leak from his eyes as well, he continued repeating that this wasn't his son; to lessen his desire to hold on or try and create distance between them, he didn't know. Yet he knew that his wife's soul echo may have given Edward a conscience but it didn't dictate how he'd feel or act.
These tears belonged only to Edward.
The unknown feelings that continued to spill from the well inside him reached out toward the young man, the grief they held truly beginning to share with one another. Garret never expected it but it was undeniable that the young man across from him truly understood the loss of Shahbaz and mourned him just as much as his own father.
His grip tightened on the young man who froze at the firm presence for a long moment. His face took on a spooked expression, ready for some sort of retaliation but nothing came. Slowly, like a wounded and scared animal, his arm began to rise, pulled by the desire for comfort and paused at the top of the alchemist's back.
He wanted to, he truly did but he didn't deserve to. He had wronged Garret and was the reason the man had lost a family. He shouldn't be in the man's home, near his new family. He could still remember Dawn's blood on his hands, Rahim's as well. Women and children futilely fled from him as they were cut down. Even though he knew now that Rahim chose to do that, the avenger wouldn't be what he was if not for him.
All of this was his fault!
Garret shouldn't be holding him right now, Garret should be killing him right now. He has every right to, maybe if they had just freed Rahim during the invasion, the alchemist could talk him down. Perhaps get him to change and then the two of them could go after Shahbaz and be a family once again. Instead, he and Walter chose to save a useless puppet who has no right to exist!
He should never have been created, it would be better if he-
"I forgive you. You're carrying all this weight on your shoulders like everything depends on you but you have to remember, you're just one small being. We're so small that in the grand scheme of the world we don't matter. Only to people we're close to do we matter. The feelings that connect us to one another allow us to grow to expand who we are more than we thought possible. I thought I could never open my heart to others after all that I've lost but now I have Haruna who showed me I could. I also have Luna, who fills it up everyday with her smile."
Garret pulled back from his embrace and revealed the tears that were streaming down his own face along with a relieved smile. The sadness was still in his eyes but it was as if the soul crushing weight of the grief he felt had lessened.
"I now have you, Edward, to help share the weight of my failures from my past. We are small beings who didn't have a choice when we started but now we do. I know that all these feelings are hard and overwhelming but we can share them with people connected to us so that it doesn't seem all that unbearable. You chose to share in my grief, allow me to share in yours."
Edward didn't really know what had happened next, he remembered the words clearly but the flood of emotions that hit him completely pulled him away from the world around him. When he regained enough sense, he felt his knees against the floor and his arm wrapped tightly around someone who held him against a shoulder that he cried into.
The despair and hopelessness that had consumed him all these months gushed in the flood as he cried every tear he held back, holding on to this merciful man that had said words he didn't know he needed to hear.
Neither of them noticed Haruna standing just beyond the kitchen. She smiled sweetly before disappearing back the way she came, giving the two of them privacy.
Ledgar had a grave expression on his face as he and Jorgen both silently considered what had just happened. A surge of pressure hit them all over and had them so tense that every muscle in their bodies threatened to grind their bones to dust. It had been a long time since either one of them felt something like this.
They had expected it from Walter sooner or later but they didn't expect it to come from that child. Jorgen had brushed against the boy's soul time and time again, even though it was covered by a shell, it was still entirely unremarkable to him. Ledgar on the other hand had a closer encounter with Rahim when Walter asked for his help.
The avenger had potential, unsurprising given what he was but his all consuming obsession for revenge made him an easy target to manipulate. The old man wasn't too worried when Rahim escaped from him and Walter, prioritizing the runt who was still transitioning. He didn't expect this level of power to come so soon.
Maybe my senses have dulled…
He still would've prioritized Walter but things would become far more complicated in the near future. For now, he needed to focus on ensuring Jorgen didn't make any ill thought rushed decisions. Turning to the aforementioned man whose intense face revealed that he was furiously coming up with ideas on how to respond to the display.
"Jorgen, whatever you're thinking of, I suggest you take a moment and think it through. Right now isn't a time we should be rushing recklessly. I know that Walter isn't the only plan you have in play, what else aren't you telling me?"
The harbormaster's eyes slanted over to the other occupant in the space with a look that debated if he should answer that question or not. Personal grudges aside, Jorgen could admit that having Ledgar help would be very useful but was well aware that he wasn't the only one hiding things. He may have planned on Walter becoming a Soul Weaver by taking that puppet's anchor, but he had no idea what his chess piece and this ancient hypocrite had done afterwards.
He supposed that he could leverage revealing some of his plans for that information but there was no guarantee Jorgen would go for that or if he would even tell the truth. Just offering the deal would let the old man know that the harbormaster was planning something which would put them on unequal footing.
Jorgen had to stop himself from tearing his hair out, they both had just felt the presence of a being that could very well become another Archibald and the two of them were sitting here trying to outwit one another. A truce would be the most prudent course of action, one that Ledgar probably wanted to employ but doing so required one of them to give ground, and the other to share information.
It wasn't that the harbormaster hated the old commander, truth be told, conflict between Soul Weavers were in most cases pointless. They were a collective, vastly scattered pieces that ultimately ended up together at the end, no matter what path they chose or choices they made, it would all lead to the same end.
To them, to die was to return to a singular consciousness. He remembered countless days ago when they warred with one another until finally one stood alone, only for that one to split itself back into the infinite pieces that made itself. What was the point of fighting when eventually, you'd see that same opponent again, that no matter how hard you tried, that opponent was a part of you that would never be truly gone?
This coupled with their lifespans, lack of any real emotion, and the fact that their souls were entirely separate worlds, ushered in an everlasting peace between them. That was until humans started noticing their presence, they all had their ideas to deal with the problem but all of them failed which forced some radical thinking.
That radical thinking led to Archibald who single handedly rewrote their natural laws. When he killed them, they didn't return to the singular consciousness, he stole them, corrupted them, turned them into beasts even the damned would fear. It had taken so much and sheer blind luck to seal him away.
Jorgen had thought he could better manage his next attempt, Abraham, which led to half of his own soul being taken. It was fortunate that a Soul Weaver needed only a sliver to "live" and he knew that the other half of him would give his apprentice nothing. The fact still remained however that he was stuck in this hovel trying to combat a problem he created and his best asset was another potential Soul Eater.
It wasn't that he was incapable of learning or was arrogant in thinking that it couldn't not work. He was just well aware how effective his methods were, Archibald had laid waste to thousands of humans. Millions when counting the damage his descendants had done. Abraham compounded that toll and now even though he had lost many of his race, the humans were on the brink of a war that could end with him on top if he played it right.
That was why he was hesitant to include Ledgar, the ancient man had a soft spot for these humans and if he knew this was all a means to subjugate all the humans, he would most certainly oppose it. Which made it ironic that the instrument that would bring about this change was a human who despised war yet was war incarnate.
Walter, left to his own devices, would carry out the harbormaster's will knowingly or not. As long as Jorgen didn't threaten Arendelle or his daughter then it was very likely that everything would fall into place. The hard part was just waiting for Walter to do what he needed to, patience wasn't a strong point for the harbormaster. Despite the centuries of practice he had, just waiting for someone to do something for him annoyed him to no end.
He would've like to force Walter to accelerate his efforts by prodding at what the man held dear but he had learned from his encounter with the man during the invasion. Walter was not one to be trifled with, he knew how to use others' fears and goals against them. If he pushed Walter, the man might damn the world out of spite.
All of these thoughts had him taking a deep breath before exhaling then sitting down on a chair that he had conjured with a thought. "What I may or may not have planned is mine to share when I feel like it. For now, I am content to simply observe the situation and respond when it becomes necessary."
Ledgar narrowed his eyes, a headache beginning to form at the back of his mind due to the fact he couldn't get any insight on what Jorgen was planning. Soul Weavers didn't change much over the years, and he knew that the harbormaster hated to wait but also didn't think he was lying. Which meant that he was really banking on Walter to finish what he needed to do.
That brought another twitch of annoyance in his skull as he remembered that when Walter came to see him for help, the commander couldn't get any insight on what Walter was planning also.
Ahimoth's hands tightened at the reins of his horse to keep himself anchored to the world. The castle that had stood so proudly and withstanded several wars was now destroyed. The stormy moonlit night cast a somber shadow over the ruins of his home. Debris was littered everywhere as if the castle walls themselves fled from some terrible being.
The prince couldn't imagine how many people had died in the time since he left and he didn't even spare a thought on it. The only thing on his mind was his fiancee. He knew he should've been more concerned about the fact that his kingdom had been attacked by an unknown force that had wiped away a mass number of villagers and that the capital of his kingdom was now destroyed, effectively leaving his kingdom in ruins.
He knew all that but it didn't stop him from dismounting his horse and screaming over the pouring rain the name of the woman he loved. His shouts echoed across the dead terrain, as he ran blindly screaming until his voice was hoarse. He had lost so much already; first his mother, his men, his best friend, his father. Was his soon to be wife next on the list?
He roared her name one more time before he noticed it. There was a faint flicker of something closer to the base of the ruined castle. He sprinted for all his worth when he recognized the small flame that sputtered over and over on top of a pile of rock. He immediately started digging, his fingers grasping the stones and chucked them out the way as he dug until his hands felt something warm and wet.
Looking at his hand, he recognized the sight of blood and his efforts started to turn into a frenzy. He ripped a large chunk of a castle wall to reveal one of his soldiers, forcing himself to slow down. Ahimoth searched for a pulse and was somewhat relieved when he felt a flickering beat under his fingers. Carefully, he grabbed the man and began to lift him out of the pile, when he saw what was under the soldier, he almost tossed him to the side without a second thought.
Lilian was breathing heavily and she looked a little dazed but upon locking eyes with Ahimoth, a slight smile graced her lips. "..Ah..im…oth?"
The man in question's heart broke at how weak she sounded but forced himself to focus as he quickly yet still carefully laid the soldier down off to the side before returning to the pile. Instead of pulling her out, he quickly dug around her, careful to make sure none of the stone collapsed on her. It took some time but he was able to extract her and gently laid her next to the soldier from earlier.
The rain had washed away the blood that was dripping from down her head, but he could still see the trickle continue down her head but the damn rain was getting in his way. Giving her a quick apology and kiss, he ran over to his horse and pulled it over the two of them to at least get their heads out of the rain.
Going over to the wet pack of supplies on the horse's back, he was about to start some basic treatment when Lilian softly called out to him. He started to reassure that everything was going to be alright but she reached out and grabbed him by the hand to get him to pay attention.
It was then she rasped out everything that had happened.
This took FOREVER, I had NO idea how to get through Jorgen and Ledgar speaking, I do hope yall enjoyed Edward and Garret speaking to one another, I rewrote that one yesterday. Believe it or not, we're about 65% done with the entire fanfic and I know how its gonna go, I wanna finish up each group of chapters per month, its gonna end THIS YEAR and I'm really excited for it and hope yall are too. :D Feel free to PM or Review to let me know if you think this is hot garbage.