The Region Of Rosa

The first attack.

The following morning Sam cringed when she saw the square piece of paper with a painting of how they were the night before whereas Lyna cheered and said she’ll cherish it forever and Leo smiled bashfully as he ran his hand through his bedhead. It was then we heard a crash. We all jumped to our feet just in time to feel the ground shake. We ran outside to find a cannonball crashed through the staircase, “my staircase…” Sam said while looking visibly ticked off. She then spun around while saying “Kaela, go gather some food and blankets, then you and Lyna need to evacuate the innocents to the base I made in the forest and put up a barrier, Ok?”
I hesitated before muttering “but what about you… I don’t want to lose you Sam… We just made up again…” I fought back the tears but I knew my eyes were watering and she stared at me with the sweetest smile before saying as she wiped my eyes, “Kaela, no matter what. I will come back to protect you.” It was then she took off her necklace that grandma gave her and put it round my neck, “now go, we can’trust stand around.” I nodded before running off to get the supplies last thing I heard Sam say before leaving was “Lyna, make sure to stay with Kaela, don’t leave her side OK?”

We evacuated into the base Sam made it wasn’t very comfy but honestly quite spacious and sturdy, we could hear the faint sound on cannons in the distance but to be honest, it wasn’t the cannons that I was worried about. I hadn’t seen Xalve when evacuating everyone so I didn’t know if he was alright and my sister and friends were fighting while I sat here and held up a barrier… I felt so useless… I was snapped out of my thoughts when a young child about seven years old broke though my barrier to go outside, I reached out to grab him but just missed, he came back a few minutes later though with a familiar face, he had one hand guiding the young boy back into the base and the other full of canteens, I jumped up and hugged him which caused him to almost topple over. He wrapped his now free arm around me while saying “I just brought more canteens of water for everyone so you stay hydrated, it’s an absolute state out there so I recommend you all stay put I’m here. It isn’t fun I know but your safety is most important.” He put the box down before cupping my face and saying “Kaela. I need you to be strong and keep the barrier up we’ll be fine so don’t think bad thoughts ok?” From that phrase alone I knew he was going back our there but he didn’t let me get too disheartened before carrying on by saying “I know how strong you are Kaela, I also know how strong everyone in this village is and I’m not exactly weak I can do this.” He picked me up and carefully twirled me around before placing me back on the ground with a smile, “we’ll be fine so do your best ok?” I nodded while still smiling about being twirled around in the air and he gave me a quick peck on the cheek before leaving again. Seeing him readied my resolve so I set the barrier up again, it came up stronger than before.
 
When the horn was sounded signaling the end of the war we all came out of the base carefully and once the coast was made clear children like Lyna stayed with the bakers at their bakery while we all went to find our loved ones, I found Geoffrey first who came with me to find Sam, Xalve and Leo. After about two hours of searching we found Sam and Leo lay on the ground motionless, we rushed to Sam's side and Geoffrey took her pulse, it was weak but she was still alive. He did however say she felt quite hot, he then checked Leo’s pulse and he was fine just unconscious but there was a concerning amount of blood on his clothes as if he got stabbed but there was no wound. We got them to Geoffrey’s and got a doctor to check over them.
After a while the doctor said Sam had a high fever and needs to rest and Leo just passed out, he’ll be awake soon enough it was probably caused by exhaustion.

The following morning Leo woke up, and when he saw me he immediately asked about Sam. I told him how she just has a fever and will be fine but he wore an unreadable expression and hesitantly asked,
“Kaela..? Does Sam have powers like you..?” he turned away after asking this and was biting his lip, I replied by saying “No, Sam isn’t really able to control magic unlike the rest of us… Why’d you ask..?” He said it didn’t matter and instead went to get something to eat and drink.
That night Geoffrey came home from his shift and Sam was no better, he asked me if she had ever been in this state before and I shook my head.

I went to go check on her to find Leo sat beside her holding her hand while saying “Sam, I- I don’t know if you can hear me or not but… I need you to wake up… I don’t know how you did that but please… please… please… come back to me, I can’t imagine my life without you anymore Sam… hah… This may be cheesy but… meeting you was like destiny… I’ll accept you no matter what… I promise so… Please come back to me… Don’t give in…” He gripped her hand tightly, but not too tight as tears rolled down his cheeks, “Sam… I know I joked around quite a lot but honestly… I’ve never cared about someone as much as I care about you…”
As I was about to make myself known a familiar pale hand reached up and stroked his cheek gently and affectionately, I could just about see the weak smile on it’s owners face as she gazed up to him, “You know… Its pretty bad when someone like Kaela can speak up on a thief like yourself… Maybe you’d be better off without a distraction like me...?” she said weakly. Leo opened his eyes and said “I’d rather have a distraction like you in my life than live 30 years longer due to awareness…” it was then that Sam started tearing up and I realised Geoffrey was there because he pulled me out of the room before scolding me for ruining their moment.
We decided that we should leave Sam there for a little bit longer, Leo came to stay at ours to help with Lyna and so that Geoffrey wasn’t on the floor any longer, and Geoffrey made sure Sam was given the ok by the doctor to be able to start going back into her routine.
 
I picked some daffodils before I went to see Sam the following evening and the smile that lit her face was worth it, She looked incredibly happy despite struggling to sit up and then we all listened to Leo's adventure tales for the rest of the evening before heading home and going to bed.