Before the Bond

Blood dripped from her fingertips. Not hers. Not this time.

The battlefield was silent now, except for the wind and the howl of something broken inside her.

She looked down at the body.

His body.

"This wasn't how it was supposed to end," she whispered, voice hollow.

The Moon hung above them, indifferent. The very same Moon that once blessed their bond—the bond he rejected... and she never wanted back.

She kneeled beside him, her armor cracked, her soul splintered.

"You were my curse," she breathed, tears finally falling. "But I loved you anyway."

And somewhere, beneath that bleeding sky, fate laughed.