[Noah's POV]
I walked without thought.
No, it was more than that, I walked while refusing thought.
Thinking, meant realising. Realising that all along he had been here. Fighting in this hell alongside me, all this damn time.
For months.
He had been here for months.
Without knowing we had fought together. Bled together, all without ever meeting.
How many times? How many times had I just missed him? How many times I wonder if I had just turned around once more, or waited a second longer, would I have just bumped into him.
We could've spoken.
Dammit I could've protected him!
But no.
Fate it seemed had made its decision. It had decreed that the last time I'd see my father would be in death.
That was a level of cruelty I could almost appreciate.
And so I stumbled through Umbra, expression blank. The others laughed. Joked. Smiled as they revelled in their new found peace.
I didn't.
My legs had decided my journey. All I knew was that I was walking. Even staying aware of that took all the effort I could muster.
Then I stopped walking.
Looking up, I saw that I was standing outside the Unit 7 building.
"Why am I here?" I mumbled.
But I already knew the answer to that question.
Because it was home.
Not the home of my childhood. Of my memories. Not the home I sometimes still dreamed about. The home of my mother, father and little sister.
This was my new home.
Battle had baptised me in the scared lifeblood of others. And now here I stood, reborn from the violence. Standing in front of my new home.
A home fitting for my new life.
'Should I just kill everyone?'
Where had that thought come from? It was idiotic, suicidal. Proof that I was far from my right mind.
But...suicide didn't seem to bad right now.
It would be an end at least.
A much quicker and nicer end than the life that lay before me. A life of servitude for a country I hated, while my remaining family was enslaved.
'Should I go inside?'
No, I couldn't do that either. Inside would be unit 7. They too would be laughing. Joking, enjoying the peace.
I couldn't be a part of that right now. I just couldn't.
Yet to my surprise, someone walked out to meet me instead.
It was a boy. With pale skin, hair the colour of clouds and eyes like blood. His eyes were drawn with exhaustion, body toned and thinner than what it should've been. He looked like some tortured prince.
Oh...and he wasn't smiling.
"Noah?" Arthur called, as he walked up to me. "Where the hell have you been? I was just about to go looking for you."
I didn't say anything. I merely stared, my eyes blank and listless as if I was in a trance.
'Oh right. I should probably say something. I'll just tell him I'm fine.'
But my mouth it seemed, had decided to stage a rebellion against me. "I need a favour."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "What do you need?"
"Follow me."
Turning, I began walking. I didn't turn back to see if he was following. I didn't need to.
"Hey, man, are you good?" Arthur asked as he caught up.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I just need help with something."
Arthur nodded and didn't say anymore. Thankfully he seemed to realise I didn't want to speak right now.
We walked through camp, boots crunching on the dry dirt. The air rank and sour.
Many turned to whisper and stare as we passed. The news of the trial was meant to be strictly confidential. So naturally, everyone knew. They knew exactly what we had done, that we had saved the General, in turn saving them.
Once I would have revelled in the infamy. Now I couldn't care less. Ignoring the whispers, I kept my head down, walking as fast as I could. From the corner of my vision I could see Arthur doing the same.
Hurriedly, we escaped Umbra, making our way to the now eerily silent battlefield.
Everything was still. Too still. For months this place had been nothing but action. Chaos.
Now the fires had died overnight. No new bodies joined the rotting stench. And nothing moved.
We continued the silent trek, making our way to the far left of the battlefield.
It was only then I mustered up the effort to speak. "My father is somewhere here" I spoke, voice blank.
"Your dad?" Arthur repeated, shocked.
I nodded, lips trembling beyond my control. 'Damn lips. Don't you dare cry. I won't accept repeat rebellions damn you.'
"I don't want to talk about it. Help me move these bodies."
Silently we began working as we sifted through the endless sea of corpses.
It took hours.
Yet to me, it felt as if only moments had passed by.
Arthur didn't suggest taking a break. He didn't ask me to talk about it, or tell me how to deal with what I was going through.
He knew as well as I.
Words were hollow. I didn't want them.
Instead he worked in silence, and that was all I needed.
Eventually I found him.
A long breath left me as my eyes rested on him.
'It was true. It was really true.'
A part of me had hoped, hoped that I wouldn't find him.
Because if I didn't, there'd be a small chance he was still alive.
But no, there he was.
My father had been a fierce man, and it was clear to see in his death. Two spears jutted from his chest, his body riddled with deep gashes. The blood had long dried, his face barely recognisable.
'So, it hadn't been quick.'
Shuddering, I fell to my knees beside him. It seemed my legs were next to stage their rebellion.
'Damn legs.'
Hands trembling as I reached out.
Arthur knelt beside me, expression solemn, voice quiet as he spoke.
"What was his name?"
"Lamech" I whispered softly, voice cracking without my permission, again.
Arthur nodded. "Lamech. I never met you, which is a damn shame considering your son. But please, accept this gift."
He reopened a cut on his palm, allowing the blood to flow freely down into my father's mouth.
Rage roared in my chest. It flared to life, as if waiting for an excuse to be let free. Any excuse. "What are you doing!" I exploded, shoving him back. My breath came heavy and laboured, fists clenched tight.
Arthur said nothing, instead he pointed.
I followed.
Looking back down, my breath hitched.
My father, his wounds were healing. The grotesque injuries knitting together. Body regenerating until he looked more...more like himself again.
He seemed peaceful even. As if merely sleeping. The change was slow, and yet I didn't once blink until it was completed.
"Thank you."
Arthur nodded. "I've got a place to bury him if you want."
I shook my head, a rueful smile spreading on my face. "Dad never wanted to get buried. He hated the idea of it. Always wanted to be cremated. And his ashes to be spread across the garden in our home."
"Let's cremate him then."
I nodded, reaching down and helping Arthur to carry his body back into Umbra, finding a small secluded place.
Together we watched as we lit the pyre we built, watching as they consumed Lamech's body until only ash remained, which we gathered and placed in a small sack.
"Keep those safe Noah, we'll do his wish one day."
A cold laugh tore out of me. "We're criminals. It'll be decades before I get a chance to spread his ashes."
From the corner of my vision I saw Arthur hesitate. He seemed to be debating with himself. Eventually he let out a heavy sigh, red eyes inspecting me with a new light.
It was almost...clinical.
"Two years, give or take."
"Hmm?"
"In two years, let's spread his ashes."
"Yeah, sure" I laughed bitterly.
But Arthur didn't. No his face was the picture of solemnity.
"You're not joking?"
He shook his head.
"How?"
This time, Arthur chuckled. "Let's put on the list of things I shouldn't know but do."
I opened my mouth to speak. But it seemed my voice had decided to fully join its coup d'etat, refusing to come out. For the first time I didn't mind.
A faint hope seemed to glimmer within the dead of my chest. A sole spark in the darkness.
"It won't be easy," he continued sternly. "No, it's going to be hell. But if we do it, there's a chance that in two or so years you can fulfil his dream."
"You're serious" I realised, the lingering smile on my face dropping instantly. "You're actually serious."
"I am, are you?"
"Two years," I muttered softly.
It was such an impossible number. It felt so far. And yet it was infinitely closer to what I'd resigned myself to.
"I'll do any damn thing I need to if I can get out in two years."
Arthur grimaced softly. "Good, cause you might just need to."
End of Part 1 of Volume 1
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A/N
This was a mostly introductory part of the volume. Establishing a setting while giving me a chance to get better at writing to do the later volumes justice.
Good new, things will begin picking up from here.
Bad news, the next three weeks I have constant exams. I'll try and publish what I can, but for the next three weeks the volume of chapters releasing will drop. Afterwards it will increase again, so bear with me for the next three weeks.