"No, no..." Lucian's lips trembled. He appeared by her side in a flash, catching her just before her head could hit the ground, using himself as a shield against the shackled.
The shackled froze after it saw Celine's eyes when she turned around to look at it. It stood over the body of the woman it was meant to protect. The mud slicked its palms, mixing with the blood pooling beneath her, "My...Lady...?"
It slowly fell on its knees, its golden eyes filled with terror, unable to comprehend what it had done. It started to lose all its strength as its worst fear came to life.
Lucian snatched the heart from the shackled and pulled Celine into his lap, trying to put it in, his hands hovering over the gaping wound in her chest.
'No, no, no,' He chanted, 'I only wanted them to save her.'
'I only wanted to help.'
'I only wanted to protect her.'
"Celine, look at me. Please, Celine. Stop playing." He tried to press down, to stop the red tide, but it slipped through his fingers. "Don't do this. We have plans... the ring... I haven't given you the ring yet!"
"You…are here…" Celine's eyes fluttered, focusing on his face. A small, bloody smile touched her lips. "...my...hero."
"I'm sorry," Lucian sobbed, "I'm the worst hero ever."
Her eyes were already unfocused, whispering, "Apology…hug?"
"Apology hug," Lucian wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight, careful of her wound but desperate to keep her warm.
Her arms, the one that had always held onto him so possessively, now barely had the strength to reach out for him.
"We were supposed to go on a date," Lucian whispered into her hair, his heart shattering.
"We... still... can," she mumbled, "In... our... dreams…"
Lucian's bloody fingers fumbled at his collar, smearing red across his neck as he clawed for the thin chain hidden beneath his shirt.
He struggled with the clasp, his hands shaking so violently he nearly tore the skin, until finally, he yanked the chain free.
A small ring slid down the chain.
It wasn't heavy, definitely not fit for a future duchess. It was a simple band he had bought years ago, right after their first kiss, right after he realized he had fallen for her completely.
He carried it on him every day, a secret promise weighing on his chest, waiting for the day he felt "worthy" enough to place it on her finger.
"Look," Lucian choked out, holding the ring up to her dull eyes. The gold caught the reflection of the burning camp, together with the promise of their now charred future, "I had it. I... I had it the whole time."
He tried to slide the ring onto her finger, but his hands were too slippery with blood. It slid off and landed in the mud with a silent thud.
"Celine?"
Silence.
"CELINE!"
Lucian's mind still raced to find a way to fix it. To make the impossible possible.
He was famous for fixing broken things and breathing a new life to them, but how did one fix death?
He only wanted Celine back, nothing else.
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"Celine..." A voice came from the hiding place. Edmund clutched his chest as if he had been the one stabbed. The twin bond, the connection they had shared since the womb, had screamed her death to him.
Edmund dragged himself out of the hidding place despite his broken bones, ignoring the frozen shackled and the burning camp, until he reached them.
"Celine?" He froze when he saw the absentminded Lucian and the limb Celine in his arms.
"I'm a good blanket, aren't I? I'll warm you up," Lucian pressed his forehead to hers, rocking her back and forth, "You have to wake up after you're warm, okay? Promise me, you will wake up, and we will have a wedding..."
The burnt tents and trees looked distorted, as if the world itself was dissolving along with Lucian's sanity.
"...You will wake up, and we will get married. Then we will have a big family, like you wanted to. You will become the most powerful duchess, and I will become the richest man in the world. We will travel the world, have fun. We will have so much fun together, okay? So you have to wake up...wake up and marry me."
"Celine?!" Edmund's voice made Lucian pause, his heart stopping in his chest.
"She's not waking up," Lucian said, voice hoarse, "Edmund, she's not waking up."
Edmund limped over to them, the pain in his body nothing compared to the pain of the reality in front of him, "You... killed her. You killed her!"
He screamed, launching himself at Lucian, trying to take away the most precious thing he ever had in his hands. "Get away from her!"
Lucian's eyes flashed gold.
"Never," he said in a low, inhuman, voice that sounded out of the world.
He pushed Edmund aside with his right hand, and the force of his power sent the man flying to the other side of the clearing.
Edmund coughed up some bile as his body slammed against a tree, "You...you are one of them."
Lucian rose to his feet, carrying Celine's body in his arms, "And if I am?"
He appeared before Edmund in less than a blink of an eye, and kicked a dagger laying around in Edmund's direction. "Pick it up."
Edmund struggled to pick it up, his hands shaking as he tried to grip it. He looked as broken as the fallen soldiers and camp around him.
Lucian embraced Celine's body closer to himself, "You want her back? Then make a wish. Pray for her life, so she may open her eyes again and smile."
Edmund knew there was no coming back from the dead, but he also couldn't accept it. He wouldn't and would rather believe Lucian's words than.
"Pray!" Lucian raised his voice, "I'll make sure to grant that wish," he paused, "For the price of your life."
"Is that all?" Edmund didn't look at Lucian; he looked at his sister. His hands stopped trembling and his grip tightened around the hilt of the dagger.
"Only genuine desires have a chance of becoming true, and only a few are strong enough to make them a reality," Lucian's tone was calm, almost firm, as if he were stating a fact.
Only the force in his voice suggested how much he needed it to be true.
Edmund looked at Lucian, and for the first time, they weren't merchant and noble. They were just two desperate men willing to burn the world for the same woman.
"Celine always liked to read stories about heroes to me when we were children... I promised...I promised her that I would become one, and slay all the monsters in her way..."
Edmund tears rolled down his cheeks.
"...I shouldn't have persuaded her to come with me to the hunting competition... I knew she would be in danger here, but I wanted her to see me, to see me grow," he continued his speech, as if confessing his sins before a priest, "I'm the one who should be dead, not her."
Edmund closed his eyes, his body relaxing as he raised the dagger over his head, pointing it at himself.
"Tell her I love her, and that I will always be watching over her, no matter where she is," he said before bringing the dagger down, piercing his heart and ending his own life.