Resurgence

Resolve

Rain

It had been a few weeks since Rain's encounter with the Nether Queen, and he was tormented with regrets. In the past few weeks, Abigail had been a force of destruction against the Frostbourn. She was skilled at tactics, her scouts were extraordinarily through, and she herself was a monster on the battlefield.

She was responsible for many deaths and losses for the Frostbourn, and Rain couldn't help but blame himself. He had the chance to kill her, back in the Nether. But he had been weak, and hadn't followed through.

Rain had been sulking in his room for the past few days, which was where Azura found him.

"There you are," she said. "I've been looking all over for you. Ser Patrick has called a meeting and he wants you to attend."

"I don't know why he'd bother," Rain replied. "I'm the reason that we're losing the war."

"You can't blame yourself for something like that," Azura chided. "We're not even losing in the first place!"

"Well, if we aren't now, then we will be soon, and all because I couldn't kill the Nether Princess."

"Rain," Azura said, sitting down next to him. "Nobody blames you for that. To be honest, it would have been a shock if you did kill her."

"A shock would be better than this."

"Rain, you loved her. Even though she is an enemy now, she will always be Abigail in your eyes. That means that killing her is not an option for you."

"Well it should be!" Rain snarled, standing up and pacing. " If I had killed her when I had the chance, hundreds would still be alive. We might have won this war already!"

"You don't know that," Azura said, still sitting. "And either way, you shouldn't have to kill someone that you have affection for."

"It doesn't work that way, Azura. 'The need of the many outweighs the need of the few'. You've heard that right? Well, by sparing Abigail's life, I put what I wanted before what was really important."

"Rain," Azura said sternly. Rain looked over at her and saw that she was now standing. "The deaths of our soldiers is not your fault. Yes, by not killing Abigail you might have allowed her to do this, but any blame for these actions falls upon her. She made the choices to do those things, not you. You need to stop beating yourself up about that, and let go."

Rain thought about that for a moment, then sighed in defeat.

"You really are too smart for your own good, you know." Rain said. "It will get you in trouble one day."

Azura smiled at that, happy that he was at least starting to let go.

"So," she said. "About that meeting."

"What's it about?" Rain asked, walking over to the door.

"We've located the Wither Skeleton camp," she replied. "We are trying to decide the best way to attack it."

"Well, I guess I'll come then," he replied. "Lead the way."

As they walked to the meeting room, Rain couldn't help but think that this attack was the perfect way to get to the Nether Queen. Though what he said to Azura was true, about not blaming himself for Abigail's choices anymore, he still felt that there were some loose ends that needed to be tied off.

Though when they had fought before, Rain had not been able to kill Abigail, her actions since then had proven to him that the person he loved was gone.

In his mind, Abigail was dead, and the Nether Queen was just another enemy to kill.