Alchemised

by SenLinYu

“Why would you be willing?” Kaine asked, sneering down at him, his eyes scorching. “You’ve hated me since before I was born.” Atreus looked away. “Your mother would want me to save you.”

“Why is it that I have to keep all my promises, but you never seem to keep a single one of yours?”

“The first promise I made to you was that I’d be yours for as long as I live. I’m keeping that one.”

“I never understood why she wanted a child so much. I would have adopted an heir from another family in the iron guild if need be. I should have been enough for her.” Helena watched him pityingly. He was pathetically jealous. “He’s all that’s left of her now.”

So pathetic

“Enid was my life,” he finally said. “If she were here, she’d tell me to save him. I never could say no to her about anything.”

Kaine nodded but then went towards the door. The remaining servants were gathered in the hallway beyond, Davies standing in the front. “Is Amaris ready?” he said. One of them nodded. Kaine stood there, not moving. “I never—I never told you—I’m sorry I couldn’t save any of you.”

Kaine...

As Amaris levelled out, something flickered below. It grew, becoming an immense, glowing ring of light as Spirefell was consumed by roaring flames.

“We did it, Kaine,” she said. “Just like we always said we would.”

“We have to stop hurting ourselves for each other,” she finally said. “Both of us. We’re not going to last if this is the only way we know how to love.”

“You’re not going to have any more luck killing me now than you have at any point in the past, Bayard,” Kaine said. “Lose any more limbs, and you won’t be much protection for that little Principate of yours.” Lila gave a snarl like a wildcat, looking ready to tear out Kaine’s eyes. “Stop, both of you,” said Helena, furious that they’d managed to ruin the reunion in less than a minute.

“Lila, if you hurt him, I will never forgive you,” she said. Lila just shook her head. “You could do so much better.” “No. He’s what I need, and he’s what it took to save you.”

She looked at Kaine and almost jumped. His hair was brown, nearly as dark as it used to be. It made him look starker, given the contrast with his pale skin and eyes.

Amaris was lying down, her enormous head resting on his lap. He didn’t look up when she entered; he was rubbing his hand through Amaris’s fur behind her ears. “I should put her down,” he said softly. “It would be kindest. She won’t understand if I leave her behind.”

NO AMARIS. MY HEART. THE BEST GIRL

“I’ve killed so many people,” he finally said. “I never thought I’d get stuck on an animal of all things.” The morning they left, Kaine got up silently and went out to the stable while Lila was packing up the last few things she wanted to bring. Helena sat tense as he disappeared inside, her stomach twisting into a sick knot. A minute later he came back out. He stood there, staring up at the sky for so long that her heart began to pound in her chest.

!!!!!!!

“You don’t read the papers? That High Reeve of Paladia is finally gone. Novis and the other countries are expected to be moving in any day. It’s been in all the news lately.”

YEAH NOW THAT MOST OF THE HARD PART IS OVER THEY STEP IN

Eternal Flame Banners Rise Again: As the Countries Unite Against Paladia, Some Do So in Remembrance.

“Do you like the house?” he finally asked. She looked around the room, trying to rally herself. “I do. How did you manage this?” “It was mostly by correspondence. You talked about the sea, so I started looking before the war was over. I thought it would be easier for you, if you were going somewhere you liked.”

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM

“Before that, I’d just sent things along as I thought of something I thought you’d like.” She looked around again. All this, while he hadn’t even known if she was alive.

THE AMMOUNT OF FAITH THIS MAN HAD TO FIND HER 😭😭😭

She studied him sadly, realising their difference: He didn’t have any dreams about what he’d do or be after the war. He had never even allowed for the possibility. He had no idea how to do anything but be a soldier.

Running back and forth outside the house, wings outstretched, nose to the ground, was Amaris.

YOURE NOT DEAD 😭😭❤️❤️

“We don’t know how long I’ll…after everything. I need you to promise that if I’m not here, you’ll love her for me”—her voice cracked—“the way I would love her. She has to be that important to you. Do you promise?”

GIRL PLEASE NO, DONT LEAVE THIS MAN ALONE

Helena was put on bedrest during the last month of pregnancy when her heart began to struggle with even simple things like the stairs.

He would not hear of Helena doing anything, and when she tried to protest, he cited passages from the books.

UNO reverse

“I know.” Kaine smoothed her hair. “It hurts.” “Yes.” “I’m tired. I’ve been pushing for hours.” “I know.” “Stop agreeing with me.”

😂😂😂

Lila was saying something, but Helena could only stare as the baby furrowed her featherlight eyebrows, eyes widening briefly. They were as bright silver as a lightning storm. Helena gave a sob and held her tighter. “Kaine—she has your eyes.”

SHE HAS HIS EYEEEESSSSSS 😭😭😭😭

“She’s your daughter.” The muscle in his jaw jumped. “Yes. I know. I remember how it happened.”

Kaine please give yourself from grace...you did what you thought best...

He barely brushed the baby’s palm, as if he thought his touch might poison or break her. The tiny hand instantly closed around his finger, gripping it. Helena watched him and recognised the expression that slowly filled his eyes as he stared at the tiny person tenaciously clinging to him: possessive adoration.

Smitten

Once Enid could safely sit up, she would spend half the day sitting on Kaine’s shoulders, riding about with him while he walked the perimeter of the property over and over, checking all the buildings and visiting Amaris, who would vibrate with excitement but hold utterly still when Enid tugged her ears and patted her.

BEST DAD

From Pol, Enid learned to climb hills and trees, tearing her clothes to bits scrambling down the cliffs. She made mud pies and soups and “healing” potions in jars stolen from the kitchen. She learned to wrestle, and to fight with the play swords that Lila had made to teach Pol combat basics.

How different it could have been if the international community had decided to put even a negligible amount of effort into caring sooner.

“I won’t be able to send letters, but I’ll send messages sometimes, all right? And whenever you see Lumithia, that means I’m thinking about you, and when you see the sun shining, that’s your dad, watching you for me.”

THIS WRECKED ME

“I’m not going to leave him,” Helena said after a pause. “There’s no version of me that survived the war without Kaine. I was loyal to Luc, and I know you want Paladia to remember him, but that country killed him, as much as Morrough did. I can’t go back to it.”

“Love isn’t as pretty or pure as people like to think. There’s a darkness in it sometimes. Kaine and I go hand in hand. I made him who he is. I knew what that array meant when I saved him. If he’s a monster, then I’m his creator.”

Criminal Found Drowned in Hevgoss. Kaine’s eyes gleamed. Helena looked down, studying the words. “It was Stroud. She was found in a lake. She appeared to have had a heart attack while swimming.

“You shouldn’t have looked. You should have left it alone.” She glared at him for a moment longer and then burst into tears. “I’m so glad she’s dead.”

“I hope she suffered, but I didn’t want it to be you—why is it always you?” She buried her face in his chest. “I hated her. I hated her so much. I’m so glad she’s dead.”

They stood, fingers entwined, as the last cloud of smoke from the steamship vanished. “It’s just the two of us now,” Helena said wistfully.

“So, what do we do now?” The corner of his mouth curved into a smile that had only ever been for her. “Anything. Whatever you want.”

Bawling my eyes out rn IM SO HAPPY FOR THEM

She flipped rapidly through the book, finally stopping at a glossy photo page in the chapter on Lucien Holdfast. Enid and Pol both stared at the photograph. Soren Bayard, Helena Marino, and Luc Holdfast sat together on a sofa, Luc’s arm slung around Helena’s shoulders, as they all stared at the camera.

THE PICTURE, ITS THE PICTURE OMGGGGGGGG

She shouldn’t be a footnote. This shouldn’t be the only entry she even has. She deserves her own chapter. She deserves a whole damned book of her own.”

She deserves compendiums that talk about all her efforts put into the war with her healing, her scientific knowledge, her inventions, HER SACRIFICE THE ONE WOMAN ARMY OF THE RESISTANCE ITSELF

“You’ll always have me.” Enid nodded, lips pressed together, but then she slowly smiled back. There was a pause as they stood together, both seeming suddenly aware that they were alone in an empty aisle. Enid’s cheeks flushed. Pol’s eyes darkened and he shifted forward, closing the space between them.

Helena Marino. Marino left the city at the start of the Paladian Civil War to study healing. She survived the war but died during imprisonment prior to Liberation. She was a non-active member of the Order of the Eternal Flame and did not fight.

*CRYING CRYING CRYING CRYING CRYING CRYING* 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭HELENAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAH THIS WAS A MASTERPIECE