Failures and Goodbyes

"NOW KLAUS!!!"

Rowan shouted as he tackled the guard to the ground.

The guard tried to push Rowan off of him and was relentlessly punching and kicking.

Rowan had to do something, the other guards were already rushing to their colleague's aid.

Adrenalin rushed through Rowan's head, before the guard could use a skill, he sliced the thrashing man's neck with his stone-reinforced-hand with a skill, a skill he used only for mining. Rowan felt sick to his stomach and almost vomited as he stared at the lifeless body beneath him.

At the same time, Klaus caught the captain of the guards by surprise and off guard. He didn't think that the 'lowly' Transmuters would do something bold like this and retaliate.

Klaus touched the pavement with both of his hands coating them with the same material. Leaving a small crater on the ground, his right hand was transformed into a sharper version much like Rowan's and his left hand looked to be bulkier.

He punched the surprised captain with his left bulkier hand that pummeled the golden-eyed captain to the ground.

Klaus quickly picked him up and secured the captain's hands behind his body and pointed his sharp right hand to his neck.

"None of you move or else I'll fill your captain with holes!" Klaus shouted as he saw his friend Rowan, about to be surrounded by guards.

"Get up and kneel!" He commanded the limp captain, almost lifting him up entirely. The captain reluctantly obeyed Klaus's order but rather calmly which seemed really unusual to his captor.

However, Klaus moved to more pressing matters and continued to give commands to the soldiers who were about to surround him, as he held the captain hostage.

"Here's what's going to happen! All of you will not move an inch and you will let every single one of us leave! Do what I say, and there will be no more bloodshed!"

"Rowan! Help the villagers up and get them out of he— AAAAAGGHH!!"

Klaus suddenly screamed out in pain, unable to finish his sentence.

A hand pierced through his chest from behind him. The same kind of hand that he threatened the captain with.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!" Carol screamed as she witnessed her husband's body fall to the floor.

The guards quickly pointed their weapons at her to stop her from rushing to his side.

Everything became silent as Klaus began to lose consciousness. He looked up to see who had stabbed him in the back.

"Robin? Why?" Klaus managed to ask in a coarse voice as he coughed up blood from the large gaping wound in his chest.

The panting Head Miner couldn't reply as his jaw was still broken from Elric's assault. Klaus quickly bled out which took the light from the brave man's eyes.

"This is why you do not go against the Kingdom! Nothing will ever work out for you!" The captain of the guards barked as he stood up, spat and even kicked Klaus's lifeless body.

Carol Steele was devastated beyond belief. She could not believe that her loving husband was now dead, just meters from her but was still not able to be by his side in his last dark and cold moments.

"Kill them all." He said in a lower tone as he witnessed the crying widow. The captain of the guards turned around as he wiped the splattered blood of the fallen Klaus from his face.

Everyone started screaming once more as each and every one of them was stabbed by spears from all directions.

All the men, women, and even the helpless children were mercilessly slaughtered. The town square started to flow with blood that glowed from the reflection of the lanterns.

"Let me go! I have to save them!" Klein sobbed as he witnessed his father's gruesome death. He desperately tried to free himself from his friend's grasps but was unable to do so.

"Klein, stop! Please!" Alice held on to Klein as hard as she could.

Klein then turned and couldn't help but embrace his friend and started sobbing uncontrollably. They were helpless.

Acting recklessly could only lead them to be discovered and suffer the same fate as the captured villagers.

On the other hand, Elric locked eyes with his grandfather, Edward, who had tears flowing from his eyes while holding his wife tightly as he met his grandson eyes before seeing him with the two young ones.

He smiled and tried to mouth words to Elric before his time came.

"It's okay Elric. Go!"

He knew that there was no hope for them and tried to tell Elric to run and escape.

But Elric then turned his eyes to his grandmother and saw her sweet, gentle smile while snuggling closer to his grandfather. It broke his heart seeing his beautiful grandmother down on the pavement with bruises and scratches.

As the soldiers came to the front and started to thrust their spears into Rowan and Maya Cornflower, Elric quickly moved his body to shield Alice's eyes from the horrific scene.

However, Elric himself could not help but look back as he held his two best friends in his arms.

He saw how the spears pierced the flesh of his helpless grandparents until they fell on the ground still holding each other.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Elric shouted in pain as he saw them slaughtered.

The screams of the classless masked their own wails of agony as he and his friends cried helplessly.

"Hey!" A guard shouted. He saw the three from afar, hiding inside a tall hedge. The guard started to run towards them with great speed, sending Elric into a panic.

"We have to go! Klein, Alice, we have to go now!" Elric said while still crying. He lifted his friends hurriedly and without turning back, they started to quickly crawl out of the hedge and just started running towards the woods.

"Burn the bodies!" A voice echoed in the distance as they were trying to escape.

"Don't turn back, we have to go! Keep running" Elric said with pain in his voice.

They kept running as the guard that chased them slowly vanished behind them.

They went deep into the woods without stopping.

They ran for what felt like hours and hours until they reached the foot of a mountain.

"What are we going to do now?" Alice asked with blank and lifeless eyes.

"We have to look for somewhere to hide in" Elric replied as he grabbed Alice's hand but quickly stopped when he noticed that her feet were bleeding from running without wearing any shoes.

Elric then grabbed Alice's hands and carried her on his back and glanced at Klein, who had the same expression as Alice.

"Klein! Help me look for a safe place, like a cave." Elric shouted but had no response from Klein.

"Klein! Put yourself together and help me! We need to keep moving!"

This snapped Klein out of his deep trance caused by the trauma they had just experienced.

"I'm sorry Elric, I was just..." His voice trailed off as he lifted his face and made eye contact with Elric.

"I know Klein but please... We need to get through this, and I need your help with that."

"Okay." Klein said as he moved forward with Elric in the lead, carrying the now unconscious Alice.

After a few minutes, they spotted a small entrance big enough to crawl inside of. It lead to a cave wide enough to fit the three of them and tall enough to stand on.

They slowly laid Alice down on the ground with Elric's rolled up scarf as a pillow to support her head.

"Go get some rest, Klein. I'll go outside and keep watch for a few hours. I'll wake you up to take the second shift." Elric said in a soft voice, almost like a whisper.

"Uhm, Elric?"

"Yeah?"

"No, nevermind..." Klein wanted to bring up what happened but stopped as he met Elric's eyes with his own.

He saw.

That his friend was only keeping himself together in front of him.

"Okay, I'll wake you up in a few hours." Elric said with a sad smile.

He then crouched down to go outside the cave.

Elric looked up to see the starry night sky as tears once again started to fall.