Legacy Fragments

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Regret wasn't something Rannith was at all familiar with. He believed that he did all that he felt to do but the more he sat with his own loss, the more he felt. Why hasn't he ever just stood up to his parents when he's already stood up for his sister against everyone else? Why hadn't he just left sooner? Why didn't he stand up for himself when he lost his own home, teammates, job, second home and so much more? Where were his answers when he wanted them? Why did everything happen the way it did in the end, up until the General's final hours; his own adoptive father's.

He grieved the General's loss for hours. He couldn't count how many that went by, everything was all a blur. He could hardly pick himself up off the floor, when his phone turned on. There was a message. It was the only thing that illuminated the room since the doctors and staff closed the curtains.

There was a message from that demigod girl.

What was it that she wanted?

The message said help.

What was it that she needed help with? Why ask him?

He didn't remember typing any of the messages that were sent from him, but watched as his hands moved as if they had a mind of their own.

Mr. Laveau wasn't responding to anything.

She said he was dead.

Did he die? How long has he been sitting in this dark room? What was going on outside of this room? The house? The world could be burning down and he wouldn't know the difference. 

Guenevere was hardly replying and it seems incoherent. Maybe something is wrong.

The demigod asked for help again.

She had questions too, just like him.

When they first met, she asked questions. Maybe she still has questions. Did she find answers? She said she was in danger.

She's scared.

So was Kahlia. 

Kahlia was always scared of everything, and it had to be him to be there for her.

But Kahlia never reached out to him. Here was the demigod, Pumpkin. Was that her name? Pumpkin was reaching out. Pumpkin had questions that she's done nothing but look for answers and she needed help. She was scared. 

Before he could realize it, he had set out. The first decision he made as the new Lord Lupisulvian. 

-

Reaching the demigod, it was hell. The teleportation had barely set in before his senses were hit with the overwhelming sensations of a blasting cold fighting against a burning inferno, carrying the toxic fumes of machinery exhaust.

Rannith hardly had a moment to assess the full situation but it was enough for him to understand the needed information. A coordinated group with weapons, chains, nets, binding enchantments and a box. At best, this was a kidnapping; at worst, an assassination.

Unlike his previous encounter with hitmen, he was now trained, well-experienced, and prepared to handle the crisis in the safest way possible. His actions were quick and precise. Blind and stun the nearest assailants who unleashed a torrent of attacks on Pumpkin, then incapacitate them while they were disoriented. For those still outside the gaping hole blasted into the castle's front, they had to be dealt with as swiftly as possible so all focus could be placed entirely on the iron golem. The hulking construct trudged through the debris, its presence formidable as it melted ice and steel alike with every step.

He made quick work of those that made it the furthest inside. While Pumpkin wasn't alone, they were easily outnumbered. Guenevere had thankfully arrived as well, raining molten astral rocks down onto the already damaged sovereign residence for a much needed advantage. 

The adrenaline coursing through his veins woke him from his grief in the heat of battle before it came crashing back down after victory. What was he doing there? Why was he helping someone who he was told not to trust? Why was Guenevere? He hadn't worked with her for long, but they had grown close, connected through their mutual association with Alexander; his business partner and a temporary teammate for Rannith.

All those questions weren't going to be answered any time soon but he wanted answers. What happened to Alexander and why was he now dead?

Before he could leave, Pumpkin gave him all answers; the ones he needed and ones to questions he didn't know he had. Vivian Survost, Tsaritsa of Iglaceas, shared with him each and every memory Pumpkin had, what she's seen, what she's heard and all she's experienced. It all flowed into him all at once in a much more disorientating experience than he expected.

-

With so many new thoughts to sort through, his fleeing from the demigod was short lived.

Rannith followed Guenevere back to her own base of operations to pick through everything he now was granted to coherently know as if it were his own memories. But he also did have questions of his own for all the new information too. Guenevere answered most of the questions but after a certain point, she kicked him out. Not to send him away but to send him back to the one he had now non-stop questions about, telling him "If you have questions about someone in particular, specifically So Many questions, go ask them yourself." 

And that's exactly where Guenevere had left him. Not just to his own devices but to Pumpkin's as well.

The phoenix didn't neglect to give him some advice but there seemed to be something more terrifying about talking to the woman who he knew everything about now, than facing a palace full of assassins and hitmen. He now knew how she saw himself, how for so long she's wanted to reach out to him and how her feelings pined for him at the distance Alexander had set.

It was awkward at first, but all they needed was time. They both did. And in time they learned together. They learned to explore the feelings that kindled between them-not just from passion but from trust and understanding for all they went through, all they survived, and how they healed.

Time was their blessing, like the twisting thorns that marked his skin, up his hands and to his arms; the vines around his heart began to blossom. Love is what he had found with her the more time they spent together, the more they got to learn, explore and experience life.

The General had always been a guiding figure in his life, even after he was gone. Rannith continued to learn from the footsteps he left behind in his diary. Though the General could no longer be there for him, on the day of the most important decision of Rannith's life, he felt his presence. The assurance Rannith had came from the elder's retelling of his experiences—how he fell in love and recognized what love truly is when it reaches its most genuine and authentic state.

Rannith had no regret and knew in full confidence when he got down on one knee before Pumpkin. This is the woman whom he had fallen in love with, the one who brings him happiness in his every day that has never been there before. She is his confidence, his sanctuary and the most precious thing in his life. So there was no doubt, joy was all he could feel when she said yes.