I Can't Bare To Lose You

The two can be seen under a blanket. Ethelred was hugging Hua from behind, his face buried between her neck and shoulder, his head mostly hidden behind her hair.

Soft groaning and moaning could be heard as the two slowly stirred awake, the two not having any intention of separating themselves with the other. The two moved and shifted position for a bit before continuing to lay down for a while.

That was until Ethelred spoke up.

"What time is it?"

Fu Hua immediately opened her eyes, darting to the nightstand beside her and looked at the time.

"Ethelred hurry up, we need to leave now," Fu Hua tried to stand up. Keyword tried. She fell down almost immediately, her legs sore. Ethelred stood up and covered her body with a blanket before picking her up and made his way to the bathroom.

"You are in no condition to move,"

"You beast," Fu Hua huffed and Ethelred closed the door behind him. The sound of the shower turning on followed suit a few seconds later.

Meanwhile in the dorms a girl with white hair and blue eyes just woke up and went downstairs to see her friend, and teacher sitting down, but she did not see Fu Hua.

"Weird. Where's the class president?"

"She didn't come back yesterday, but she left a message that she was doing something outside school. Personal matters she said," Himeko replied and Mei walked in and placed a plate of food on the table.

"Da Bronya thanks subject Mei for the breakfast and Da Bronya suggests Subject Idiotka to quickly eat. We are going to go to school in a moment,"

"She still hasn't come back? Shouldn't we be looking for her?" Kiana asked as she made her way to an empty seat where her food was placed.

"Nah. Fu Hua is capable. But if she does not come back today then a search party would be sent out,"

The sound of a phone ringing cut them off as Himeko picked up her phone and saw that the caller was Fu Hua.

"See," Himeko showed the phone to Kiana and answered the phone on speaker.

"Where are you Fu Hua?"

"I'm heading to school right now, go to school without me,"

"That's new. Did something happen?"

"Hua come on or we're gonna be late!!" A male voice could be heard.

"Ooo," Himeko had a knowing smirk on her face while Fu Hua stared ahead with a deadpan expression.

"Himeko-sensei please don't think of anything weird,"

"I don't understand what you mean. Travel safe," Himeko hung up and turned to see Kiana and Bronya staring at her confused.

"It seems like our class president is having some fun,"

Kiana quickly devoured their breakfast and they were set to go, but they happened to see Fu Hua and the familiar apprentice of the history teacher enter the school with Fu Hua moving slightly funny which kinda made Himeko a bit gloomy.

There were a few words that Himeko muttered before she let out a deep breath and ushered the three students behind her to go to class first while she approached Fu Hua and the apprentice.

"You two are late," Himeko spoke up when she was near them. The two people looked beside them, seeing Himeko walking closer towards us.

"Did you two have fun?" Himeko asked with a teasing smirk.

"W..what?"

"It was a pleasant experience," Ethelred replied with a polite smile.

"Y..you. What are you talking about?"

Frowning, Ethelred asked. "Was it not pleasant?"

That question rendered Fu Hua silent.

"Huuh, so you did enjoy it. I never thought you of all people would get laid before me," Himeko smirked while Fu Hua had a small blush on her cheek. Her fist tightened, ready to punch Himeko at any given moment.

"Y..you two. Arghh. I'm going to class first," Fu Hua stomped away from the two, the two people smirking victoriously as they watched her walk towards the school building.

"So how long have you two been dating?"

"A few years give or take. We took a break because I had to go oversea,"

"Oh? This is the first time I've heard that she's in a relationship,"

"You know her, mostly keeping to herself,"

"Well can't argue with that,"

The two chatted like friends along the way to Himeko's class and parted ways as Ethelred needed to go to Welt.

"Yo," Ethelred called out to Welt when he saw the man walking towards a classroom.

"I thought you'd be late,"

"Come on, I'm not that unreliable,"

Welt just hummed and the two entered the class.

Later that day Mei who was seen alone in the cafeteria suddenly saw a glimpse of Ethelred amongst the crowd. This was only possible because he let her see her and without thinking she chased after her to the physical training room.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Mei took out her weapon and cautiously entered the room.

"Let's see how much you've developed," A sudden voice spoke up and a sword went past her. The blade barely touched her skin, but she could feel the sharp edge of the blade hovering close to her cheek.

Using her sword she hit his blade and turned around to strike, but she was kicked on the abdomen and was sent flying back until she hit the wall.

"You can let loose, this space is not connected to reality anyways,"

Mei let the core inside of her lose control for a bit before turning towards Ethelred and instantly appeared in front of him. Ethelred had raised his sword and the two swords met in a fierce clash.

"You've gotten better at letting out some of that raw power," Ethelred commented before pushing her back with his sword, soon four trees formed from the ground and the roots of the trees charged towards Mei trying to catch her.

The vines tried to wrap around her, but she created a coat of lightning around her body and pushed the vines away and disintegrated them.

Her body seemed to still be able to continue so Ethelred continued his assault until her breathing was starting to get strained and continued until she was breathing rough, but Ethelred didn't stop there. He kept on pushing her until he stopped when Mei started to cough out blood.

"Okay that's enough for today,"

"Remember Mei. Hunters were made by training like this. The survival rate was two percent, and let me remind you the survivability of accepting Honkai blood into one's stream is 0.02 percent. This is one of the reasons that now only three thousand ish Pure blooded hunters remain,"

"Pure Blooded? Mei noticed the words Ethelred used were strange.

"We call hunters who were not born a Pure Blood, while those who were born from hunters are called half blood, and those who were born from a hunter and non hunter as mixed blood,"

"Then what do you call the 0th generation?"

"Our Progenitors,"

"I see,"

"But what does that make me?"

"...." Ethelred had no answer for her question.

He stayed silent for a while, ignoring Mei's request to let the matter go. Mei's pleas fell into deaf ears as Ethelred thought long and hard about it.

"A blood relative," Ethelred muttered softly.

"Since you and us hunters are basically related then let's just call you a blood relative, a hunter that was not made nor born from our Progenitors, but still have the same blood that flows inside us,"

"Then what about the Honkai beasts?"

"Prey,"

"Hostile Herrschers?"

"Prey,"

Mei stared at him in deadpan. The man seriously had no hesitation when he answered.

"How about allies?"

"Bait or meat shields?"

"Friends?"

"Allies,"

"Best friends?"

"Friends,"

"Brothers in arms?"

"Best friends,"

"Alright we've been here for too long, let's get back," Ethelred cut the conversation short, snapping his fingers, Mei returned back to reality as the training room was empty and there was no one else there but her.

"I need to get stronger," Was what ran in Mei's mind. A determination to at least land a hit on Ethelred.

The next day Ethelred could be seen on the rooftops of St. Freya enjoying his break as Welt said that his class was an asynchronous class because he had to grade a lot because he had a tight schedule a few days ago.

Ethelred looked down from the roof until he could feel someone hugging him from behind.

"Is the tight and disciplined Hua starting to become a rebel?" Ethelred mused while he turned his head to see Hua's hair. Her face was covered by his back while her arms were tight around him.

"What happened?" Ethelred asked concerned as this type of behavior from her was when something was wrong.

"I had a dream," Fu Hua said and Ethelred hummed while Fu Hua started to tell him her dream.

Ethelred was laying down amongst the rubble above his pool of blood. Fu Hua who saw this immediately went towards him and quickly examined his wound before covering the wound with a bandage and prompting the hunter up against the rubble around him.

The hunter stirred awake, his eyes stared at Fu Hua for a while before letting out a deep breath.

"Fu..Hua," He managed to muster the strength to call her name, Fu Hua heard him and wanted to tell him to shut up and let her treat him, but Ethelred grabbed both her hands. He winced in pain during the motion, but it got her attention.

"Listen to me before it's too late," The voice of Ethelred was gentle yet stern, soft yet carried a weight in his words that Fu Hua and Kiana could feel just by listening.

"It's finally my time. I'll be meeting with my brother again. I have 50.000 years worth of memories to talk with him…"

"There's still time," Fu Hua cut him off, Ethelred stared at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"I've taken a direct hit in most of my vital organs. The only thing keeping me alive is my heart. We are miles away from a hospital and I can't contact the other hunters.

"Fu Hua," Ethelred moved his hand up her cheeks as he caressed it one last time.

"Listen to my words and don't say anything else," Ethelred took out a recorder and played it.

"I love you Fu Hua. I always did and always will. It is a shame I'm leaving early, but know that I will always watch over you from another place. My final request to you is *Coughs out some blood* After I die. Cremate me and scatter my ashes in the sea, let the sea carry my ashes along its waves and bring me around the world until the world ceases to exist," Ethelred stopped the recorder and handed it to her.

"Even if you lose this. It will always return to you. No matter where you are. No matter when it is. Just think about me and it'll appear in your hand,"

"Kiana," Ethelred turned to the Kaslana.

"It is a shame I can't see your reaction," Etherled tossed a coin at her.

"Show it to any hunter. They'll know what to do. Take Kevin as well if you can,"

"Watch over Mei would ya, and tell her that her master apologies for leaving his apprentice alone after dragging her into this world,"

"At least I died an honorary death and didn't die as a crazy monster," Ethelred tilted his head up as a lone tear trickled down his. The moment he finished those words Ethelred closed his eyes and drew his last breath in the hands of Fu Hua who soon gently and carefully hugged him.

She treated his body delicately as if it was the most fragile thing she owned.

"Class president," Kiana placed her hand on Fu Hua's shoulder trying to find a way to console her friend, but she found no words that could possibly calm her down.

Picking up the corpse of her beloved Fu Hua turned to Kiana.

"Let's find a hunter," Fu Hua simply said and walked ahead of Kiana, her gaze stuck on Ethelred's sleeping like face, she wanted to think that he was just sleeping. But her heart and mind knew he was dead.

"Kiana, can you leave me alone for a while," Fu Hua suddenly said and Kiana nodded, not uttering any words she left Fu Hua alone.

Fu Hua gently laid down his body on the ground as tears slowly dropped down his chest.

"Why… Why did you leave me," Fu Hua's voice cracked as the dam she tried so hard to hold was broken. The sorrow, the grief, the disparity, and the anguish she wanted to let out later was no longer bearable for her to contain.

Taking out the recorder he gave her she played it again. Putting it close to her ear as she hears his voice over and over again. The longing feeling inside of her was uncontainable. The tears she held back flooded his body as she cried.

"Please. Not like this. I don't accept this. I won't. I don't accept this outcome," She could barely speak, her words were cut off between chokes and sobs.

"Please. Come back," She desperately begged. Fu Hua who was on her knees bent down and hugged Ethelred's body which was gradually getting colder.

"I don't want to lose you yet,"

"I still have so many things to say to you,"

"I still want to see your face beside me everytime I wake up,"

"I still want to hear your voice saying you love me,"

"I still want to feel your touch"

"I still want you to live with me,"

"Why fate. Why must you be so cruel to me? Haven't I suffered enough? Now you take the one thing that has given me solace throughout my life," She looked up, she wanted to curse fate. To spit on its face, but she knew all she could do was talk.

"I..I love you Ethelred. I will always love you,"

Fu Hua hugged and buried her face on the crook of his neck, she kept on weeping until she could feel herself unable to let out tears anymore. She slowly woke up and looked at him again hoping that by some miracle he would be granted life again, but nothing had changed. He was still dead and there was nothing she could do to change that.

"Maybe in another life we can be happy together. The two of us together," Fu Hua softly muttered as she carried his body again and walked towards the exit where she found Kiana who was waiting for her.

"Let's go," Fu Hua walked ahead of Kiana. Kiana saw her red eyes, but she didn't want to disturb Fu Hua now. She wanted to give time for her friend to settle her emotions.