[TW ahead]
How long had she been there for her skin to already be greying?
Was she cold before she died? Afraid?
Did it last a long ti? And where was he?
Saving others. Others who made no difference to him.
anwhile, his life was crumbling, and he had no idea. The future he planned in his head was no longer. It had been cruelly ripped from his grasp before it could even truly begin.
Agnes was the love of his life, and he knew it. From the first ti he spoke to her, he knew that she was soone he didn’t want to live without.
Yet as he sat there on his knees, unable to tear his eyes away from Agnes, his heart was beating, and hers was not. He couldn’t live without her, and yet that’s what he was doing at that mont.
William rely stood to the side, unsure of what he was ant to do. Felix pretended it was a secret that he was in love with one of the maids, but everyone knew about what was blooming between them. He was so unbelievably obvious. The sweetness between them could give soone holes in their teeth.
With her head against the wall, Felix saw the most beautiful girl he would ever see in his life with a sword going through her chest and pinning her to the wooden floor. She must have been gone from the world since the very first wave of attack.
It felt like a blade was going through his chest as well, but he managed to crawl forward until she was finally in his reach.
"Agnes," he managed to say. However, that was all he could muster.
His throat felt like it had closed. Tears stung his eyes, and he reached for her long since cold hand that was grey by that point. Her warmth was gone. He couldn’t even warm her up as she often asked him to when the weather was harsh.
With trembling hands, he removed the sword from her body as if there was a chance he could make her comfortable. He threw it to the side.
However, he realized her other hand was clutching sothing against her chest, and he wanted to see what her final thoughts were. What was important enough for her to protect?
He had to know, even if it killed him. It already felt like his heart had died.
From her grasp that was hardened by death, he pulled sothing red, and he realized it was a leatherbound notebook with a strap keeping it shut. However, the strap was open and loose. As soon as he got the notebook free and it opened slightly, dried flower petals fluttered out of it, covering the corpse he had just taken it from.
A couple of pages slipped out of it, and one fell right side up.
Felix recognized his own writing.
Her last thoughts were of him.
He also realized that all of the flowers she had pressed in that journal were the ones he had given her through the years. The brief years they had with one another.
A sob fell out of his lips. He couldn’t hold it back any longer.
There was a shuffling towards the entrance of the kitchen, and only William was there to react. He braced himself with his sword, but he only saw Leif and Irene appear. He felt unbelievably relieved.
Before he could justify what was happening, Irene rounded the corner of the center workstation, and her gloved hand imdiately covered her lips. Tears ca forward instantly, and she knew right away the scene she was witnessing before her.
Their most worthy apprentice was crumbling, and she ran forward before she herself could collapse. Her arms went around Felix.
There was nothing more she could do than offer comfort to him and hope that it would be enough for him to keep going. They wouldn’t survive if Felix lost his way.
Felix relaxed onto his heels, and he felt the arms of soone unknown go around his neck and pull his head against them. He saw red hair and he knew who it was. His free hand went to Irene’s arm, and he squeezed it as if it were the one thing that was keeping him anchored in the world. His other hand was occupied with the notebook that he would carry with him until the day he died.
"I’m so sorry, Felix," Irene muttered over and over.
Her voice was unstable as the tears fell from her eyes, and she felt them drip on the top of Felix’s head, but she wouldn’t let him go. She wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone. It wouldn’t be easy, but they would have to get through it together.
anwhile, Sir Gunnar had given up on going into the basent. There was too much uncertainty for him to go with only a squire for backup.
Since the others had seemingly disappeared, Sir Gunnar went into the Duke’s Tower.
At first, the knight was worried as he walked through the back entrance and saw that much of the floor had collapsed but, as he looked down into the storeroom below the kitchen, he didn’t see any sign that the kids had fallen down there and gotten themselves hurt so he slowly crossed the thin space of what was left of the floor.
Since it seed that the stairs on the far wall were blocked off, Gunnar decided the only place was the dining hall, since that’s where they decided to et one another and gather food that they could bring to the barracks while they waited for so help.
The last thing the knight expected was to go further into the kitchen and stumble upon a scene where his youngest apprentice had her arms around his oldest apprentice as they both wept over what he could only imagine.
The knight quickly rushed forward and grabbed a drying towel from one of the drawers. He covered Agnes’s body so they wouldn’t have to see her any longer. What a cruel sight to even have to witness.
He could only imagine just how damaged the apprentices would be after witnessing that.
Perhaps the worst part was not knowing if he could prevent them from having to witness sothing so awful again.
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