POV: Nameless Narrator
Date: Week After Nitsuo's disappearance
Location: Narshia Town, East Gate
---
They'd given up watching the gates.
After a week, hope becomes dangerous.
Even Alice stopped pacing. Even Lily stopped scanning the moonlight. Even Elric had finished praying.
And yet, when the guards called out—
> "Someone's coming—"
They ran.
One by one. No words. No breath. Just movement.
---
It wasn't heroic.
He didn't stride through the gates with a blade of fire or victory on his shoulders.
He limped. His cloak torn. His boots broken. His eyes sunken and dull.
He looked like a man who had drowned and clawed his way out of a sea no one else could see.
But it was him.
Nitsuo.
---
Riya
Riya was the first to reach him.
She didn't speak. She didn't ask questions.
She just hugged him — tightly, her sunflower warmth almost burning against his coldness.
> "You're back," she said, through tears.
"You're back and not a ghost."
---
Elric
Elric arrived next. He didn't cry.
But he knelt.
Not out of formality — but relief.
He placed his hand on Nitsuo's shoulder and whispered something only they heard.
> "I thought the gods had taken you."
Nitsuo, for the first time in days, managed the smallest nod.
> "They tried."
---
Anna & Leander
Leander came running with Anna clinging to his sleeve.
Anna saw Nitsuo and froze.
She wanted to cry, to joke, to scream. But she did none.
Leander approached and reached out — but stopped just short.
> "Tactician," he said, voice soft. "Need a hand?"
Nitsuo didn't answer.
So Leander just stepped closer, and gently helped him stay upright.
Anna finally moved forward. She stood beside Nitsuo — not touching.
> "You look like death," she said, voice shaking.
He gave a ghost of a smile.
> "Felt worse."
---
Gideon
Gideon didn't speak.
He stood a few steps away. Just watched.
His eyes, calm and silent, studied Nitsuo like a shield checking the wind.
Then he stepped forward and handed him his waterskin.
> "Drink," was all he said.
And Nitsuo did.
---
Alice
Alice didn't run.
She walked.
Slowly. Deliberately.
She looked at him with red-ringed eyes, unreadable and piercing.
Then, she knelt beside him, reached forward…
…and touched his chest. Lightly.
> "Still yours?" she asked.
He hesitated.
> "I don't know."
Alice pulled him into a hug.
> "Then let us remind you."
---
Lily
Lily came last.
She had not run.
She had walked with the weight of every broken possibility behind her.
When she reached him, she didn't say anything.
She just took his hand, gently.
Looked into his eyes.
And wept — silently, beautifully, like moonlight turned into tears.
> "Never leave like that again," she whispered.
"Or I'll follow you into whatever hell you fall into."
He said nothing.
But his hand squeezed hers.
And that was enough.
In the Night
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Nitsuo sat on the edge of the bed, barely touching the sheets. His cloak had been folded. His boots were drying by the door. But he hadn't moved since entering.
He hadn't cried.
He hadn't even spoken.
The moonlight slipped in through the half-cracked window like a watchful eye.
---
Then came the knock.
Soft. Three times.
He didn't answer.
The door opened anyway.
Lily stepped in.
She said nothing at first. Just stood there. Her hands trembling at her sides.
Then—
> "You were gone," she whispered.
"You were gone and I— I thought…"
She bit her lip. Her voice cracked. She closed the door behind her and walked in with cautious steps — like the air itself might shatter.
He didn't look at her.
> "Lily, I—"
> "No," she cut him off gently. "You don't have to explain."
She knelt before him. Reached up. Took his hand in both of hers.
And she cried.
Silent at first. Then harder.
> "You don't get to die, Nitsuo. Not without saying goodbye. Not without letting me find you."
He didn't cry. But something in his chest moved. Like a door unlocking.
She hugged him then — her face buried in his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his back like a lifeline. And finally… finally… he allowed himself to lean into it.
> "I didn't mean to disappear," he said hoarsely.
"I didn't know how to come back."
Lily just held him tighter.
> "Then don't ever leave like that again."
He didn't promise.
But he didn't pull away either.
---
Later that night, another knock.
Lily had already returned to her room. Her tears dried, her heart steadier.
This time, it was Alice.
She didn't speak.
She entered, shut the door quietly, and walked over to him.
She looked at him for a long time — her crimson eyes softer than usual, more human than cold.
Then she sat beside him.
> "You haven't slept," she said.
> "No."
> "Then I will."
She leaned back onto the bed, pulled the spare blanket up, and simply… closed her eyes.
He watched her, confused.
> "You came here just to sleep?"
> "No. I came here so you could."
He didn't know what to say.
So he lay down beside her.
Back to back. Close, but not touching.
But her presence was grounding. Steady.
When he trembled, she didn't speak — just shifted closer.
And when sleep finally reached for him, it wasn't with claws.
It was with a whisper:
> "You're not alone anymore, Tactician."
Final Narration:
> "That night, there were no monsters."
"No illusions. No deaths."
"Only breathing. Only warmth."
"Only the quiet truth of comrades who refused to let him fade."
— Nameless Narrator