next day

The following day, the light shined through the cottage's windows. Edmund hadn't slept a wink since Natalia had passed out, as she had woken up screaming twice through the night; he was thankful he could get her back to sleep. Edmund was more afraid that Natalia would return to her old ways, where she hid behind the walls she had built, but more so, he feared her magic. He had never seen it re-ack like that before. They knew the queen was hounding down magic uses more than ever; she was even searching above her kingdom, so Natalia's life was more in danger than usual; only certain people knew of her magic and those who did have somehow ended up dead.

Finishing cooking breakfast, It wasn't the best meal he could make. Still, with little money they had left, they needed to ration what they had, and with little food in the Slums that was grown by themselves but with the heat they suffered from, it was hard to grow, and the queen had very little care about this place, everyone tried their best.

Hearing footsteps, Edmund smiled, seeing the brunette shuffle into the living room from the bedroom, looking better than before with the blanket wrapped around her frame. “Morning, sleeping beauty”, he greeted, received groaning in return as Natalia inhaled the food that was placed down. “Wow, take it easy. There’s enough to go around.” getting a `mhm, ' Natalia did everything but look into Edmund's eyes as if she had tried not to remember last night. She still felt the blood on her hands and the magic still lingering on her skin; she barely slept last night, and she knew Edmund didn't either, making her feel ten times worse; she wished she had gone back to her house rather than facing Edmund “....I'm sorry about last......” Natalia's voice was small, barely a sound that Edmund struggled to hear, but he knew. “Stop right there. You have nothing to be sorry for; you protected that child from those men who make it their pleasure to hurt other people no matter what it is or who.” silence shifted through the house, only the sound of the fire. “I wasn't able to control it. Last night, just seeing Tommy, something snapped, seeing him. looking at her, it able to control it. Last night, just seeing Tommy, something snapped, seeing him. looking at her, it reminded me of my past...” Natalia whispered, her voice coming out crocked after last night's panic attack. Feeling her chest tighten, she felt horrible for scaring Edmund; there had only been a few times when her magic had lost control and ended up hurting people.

‘I need to be more careful.’

“Hay, are you okay?” breaking from thought, seeing Edmund's concerned gaze. “I'm okay. Just tired,” Natalia reassured, moving to stand up. “Hay, where you are going?” “I'm going to see that child, hoping to see if she got home safe from last night. And find those missing children,” she explained, returning to the bedroom to freshen up before leaving, seeing she was already late.

“Missing children!?”

Edmund questions the girl, as following her lead in getting ready and trying to get answers out of the girl. “Tommy said he had taken children”, Natalia spat in anger, forcing Edmund to stop in shock, hearing the words fall from her mouth. “Children, whose children? And how have we not heard about this?” questions dripped from him, getting no answers as Natalia was securing her belt for her sword; she prefers using her sword on more significant missions, only her hidden dagger is more for stealth. Natalia let out a huff as the cuff wasn't allowing her to tighten. Edmund, sighing, moved closer, trying to help.

“I can do it, Edmund!”

Natalia yelled, snapping at the boy and making him jump in shock.

“Shit... I'm so sorry.”

“sorry”, whispered Edmund.

Both spoke in unison, Natalia in horror that she snapped at him and Edmund in fear that he made her angry.

“I'm so sorry, Ed,” Natalia stuttered and apologised. “I uh, I never meant to snap at you”, she spoke, trying to help the boy; she could never forgive herself for hurting him and seeing the look of fear in Edmund’s eyes made her more disappointed in herself, and she could see the clouded look in eyes “Edmund, please forgive me I'm so sorry I'm just so stressed and seeing Tommy just everything is stressing me out and now they're missing children I didn't even know about its just.....” “It’s okay. You're right. We have a job to do, so let's go.” she was cut off by Edmund moving to fix his clothing, grasping his bow and arrows, leaving the house, not looking back at Natalia, making her rush to follow him.

“Edmund?! Wait, please! I'm sorry....”

Before she could continue, she was cut off by a huge crowd surrounding the village square; people were yelling, and some were talking. Both the teens looked at each other in shock. Their talk would have to wait, “What the hell is going on?” Natalia questioned, both moving to try and rush to the front to see what was happening. Finally, they made it to the form, both gasping in shock, seeing blood gushing out of a human body, missing a human head. “What the fuck?” Natalia looked in shock. The smell hit her almost instantly, making her uneasy, feeling bail wanting to leave her. Edmund, trying his best to ignore the sight in front of him, quickly tried moving the crowd away from them, stopping the loose children from getting closer. They were already traumatised enough from the smell they didn't need to see the body, too.

Natalia had never smelt anything so wrong before; sure, she had smelled blood. Her hands were covered in enough blood to know that the blood that was spilling out of the body was days old, maybe months.

A scream shot out of the town, silencing the attire street. Both teens rushed to find the source, fighting through the crowded streets. Natalia and Edmund rushed to the stable, where the screams were heard.

“HELP!” Young children came running out, scaring the horses as the children ran to their mothers, holding on tightly. "What the...” “shit, is that the head?”

Natalia felt the air knock out of her, seeing the dismantled, disaffirmed head just lying on the ground, but no blood surrounded them.

Shouting could be heard outside as the hoarse shaking in the stalls created more noise. “Oh god. Okay, Edmund, I need you to see if you can calm the people outside, and I'll try to cover whatever hell this is.” Natalia instructed, getting a quick nod from Edmund as he rushed out. Natalia moved to cover the head with her cloak before commotion was heard outside as James and his daughter Maria followed quickly behind him. James was out of breath, and sweat was bearing on his forehead. “God dammit was hoping this was all a prank and some buggers was just messing around.” he gasped, looking at the dismantled head with disgust; Maria frowned at the smell covering her nose, looking at Nat with apologetic gaze “James. who the hell is this and why is there half a body in the village square smelling like a pig in a desert?” looking at the giant in annoyance, in her voice as the giant looked even more sheepish “It may or may not be the man you were looking for.” he whispered, hiding his shame .“Guess you found your target...” he chuckled; silence echoed through the barn, even from the hoarse.

Natalia was too deep, hoarse, and shocked even to acknowledge Edmund had come running in carrying multiple blankets in their hands.

“Meet Erik Paul. Your target.”

Both teens felt their hearts stop, the man they had been after only a day ago. One day, they could start a new life. Their ticket out of there was destroyed like everything around them. “no. No, it can't be. We hadn't even heard of the guy till twenty-four hours ago. The guy may as well have never existed. Nobody who knew who he was ever minded killing him.” Edmund tried. “This is to be a joke. It could be anyone. You said it yourself. You had never seen the guy... it could be anyone, right!?” Edmund rushed out, trying to find some, explaining some hope that they didn't just lose their way out.

But Edmund could see the regretful look from both father and daughter; James even looked guilty. Edmund felt his eyes gloss over just from the sheer frustration; he felt angry that he didn't even realise he walked headstrong to the giant before it was too late.

Before he knew it, he felt the air knocked out as he landed on the ground floor. “Edmund. Come on, snap out of it. The man is not worth your anger, even if he fucked with us twice now.” Natalia whispered, pleading with Edmund to listen and not go punching a giant “he's fucked with us more times than we can count, Nat; you can't say punching him is the least of his worries.” the boy argued, fuming, his face red from anger as tears were fretting to fall he just glad Natalia was hiding him so he won't get laughed at by the duo.

“Seriously!”

Both ignored the man's pitiful moaning, and they stood up, shaking the dirt as Edmund glanced nervously at the man but with no anger or annoyance, just pure understanding. James had known the boy since he arrived four years ago, and he watched him grow into the boy he is now, yes he has a long way to go; he knows what his mother is like and wants to do nothing more than to see them be free far - far far away from this place - this life. That is why when he got the contract and saw the gold, he waited; he gave it to no one, even with his source, and he made sure they kept quiet.

So, getting a blooded note to his office had put him on edge. He had a lot of enemies that could do damage not only to his daughter but also to his two main assassins. "Come on, why don't we get back to the bar? We can talk more there.” Maria insisted, shaking her head at her father, telling him not to add any more to the conversation until they were back inside, as she turned her gaze to the people in the corner whispering.

No one can be trusted.

Back in the rusted blade, the bar was already in a rushing crowd, and talk was already being spread around them; some were talking about the body in the street, and some were just everyday talk.

(They didn't care enough about the body. Everyone had seen a dead body. It's not uncommon to hear someone is dead.)

“Did you guys hear? Tommy is dead!”

The duo moved with James into his office and stopped stubble, hearing the dreaded name shit; how did it get out so quickly? Natalia's thoughts were racing. Everyone hated Tommy, but they were even more afraid of the man. Who knows what it could mean now he's dead? Natalia looked at her partner as both shared a look of worry before quickly catching up with the giant before he noticed they were not there.