COLOURS || Seth Clearwater

NINE

July, 1304

"Lucinda, we cannot just kill them," Charlotte pleaded, following after her friend back into the cottage. Lucinda spun around and glared harshly at the woman, who in turn flinched.

"They killed Kane, now they all must die," she snarled, her hands clenching and unclenching in anger.

"Please," Charlotte murmured, pausing in the front entrance of the cottage, her arm resting on the door frame. "Just think about it, Lucinda, I do not want you to do this and regret it." Lucinda rolled her eyes and scoffed, shaking her head as Charlotte left the one room house.

"If I hadn't thought about it, do you really think I would be as angry as I am," she muttered, and was brought out of her mind by a quiet 'swoosh'. She turned to face the cauldron at the opposite room, and almost threw up at the sight. The potion was ready. "Are you god damned kidding me! " She bellowed, moving across the room in six swift strides.

"Lucinda?" Leon called, but she was too angry to answer. "Lucinda are you alright!" He walked in to find her slumped against the wall next to the cauldron, her face buried in her hands as quiet sobs broke past her lips.

"It's finished," she muttered bitterly, her bottom lip quivering.

"Come here," Leon murmured, opening his arms to her. She stood her ground for a moment, eyes quickly filling with tears. Eventually she caved into what she needed, and Lucinda ran to him and buried her pale and blotchy face into his shoulder, her small hands clutching his shirt tightly.

"I can't do this without him," she sobbed her body slowly crumbling. Leon didn't attempt to hold her up. Instead, he fell to the floor with her, and kept her wrapped up tightly in his arms.

"I will help you. I will introduce you to Dorian if you'd like; we can all figure this all," Leon murmured his promise, running a hand soothingly through her long red hair. He had never had a sister; only brothers. In the month Leon had known her, Lucinda had filled in that void and given him the chance to be a big brother.

"Will you help me burn them all?" She asked him quietly, breaking the deafening silence. Leon held Lucinda  tightly in his arms and rested his chin on top of her head, sending an ache through her chest. She missed Kane. She missed him immensely; and there was nothing in the world she could do to bring him back.

"I will not help you, but I will stand by your side until the very end," Leon whispered honestly. Lucinda pulled away from the hug, an emotionless expression that would soon grow to be common written into her features, though her bright blue eyes were sad.

"Then off we go."

•••

Lucinda marched through Harpoon with her hands clenched at her sides, the hood of her cloak pulled tightly over her head. Because of this, she appeared to be Mary LeBlanc yet again, though her intentions were anything but sweet. She stalked into the town center, Leon watching from close behind her as she shouldered people out of her way.

Lucinda climbed onto a merchant's table and stood tall, smirking as people turned to face the persona of Mary LeBlanc with confusion.

"You all killed someone very important to me," she announced, her hands on her hips as she casually walked from one table to the next, not caring what was in her way. "You killed the man I loved. For that; you will all pay the same price."

"We only killed the warlock, how could you have loved him?" Someone demanded, and Lucinda watched as Olenna ripped his throat out before flying and landing on the witches shoulder, blood dripping from her talons. Andromeda had flown above the crowd with her keen eye sight waiting to alert her owner of any threatening signs.

"Because it is impossible to not," she scoffed, a strong gust of wind blowing her hood from her head, and Mary LeBlanc slowly faded back into Lucinda Emrey.

"Burn the witch!" Someone cried out, and Lucinda glared daggers into the crowd.

"You've tried that already," she scoffed hotly, her hands falling to her sides and clenching into fists. "It did not work the first time, and it will not work this time. So I suggest you begin running, because it is your turn to burn." Lucinda then raised her hands high in the air, and swirled them around for a moment before she shouted the trigger words that would explode her hex bags.

"Infernio! "

The explosion was tremendous. The entire village shook with the tremendous force, and it was then that Lucinda and Leon had sent their two loving human friends packing. Within minutes, the entirety of the small town had been engulfed in flames.

"Lucinda! We must go now!" Leon cried out above the villagers screams, though the red haired witch stood her ground, taking in what she had done.

Lucinda ignored her new friends pleas, and instead stood immobile on the merchant stand and watched as the flames slowly ate away at the small town of Harpoon.

"You should go, Leon," she murmured, her long red hair blowing in the wind that spread the fire quickly from building to wooden building. "I do not want you to end up dead as well." It was then that Lucinda's intentions dawned on him; she wanted to die.

"I will not leave without you. Kane told me that I was to take care of you after he passed, and have no desire to disrespect his wishes," the large man explained in a moment of panic. He took his friends shock and threw Lucinda over his shoulder, running through the fire, turning the odd piece of flame into ice.

She wasn't sure how he did it, but she was too numb to care. She had lost too much that day, and she had no clue as to how she was supposed to handle it.

•••

"Where do you expect us to go, Leon," Lucinda asked, her voice monotonous. The two were standing on one of the many mountains that surrounded what was left of Harpoon, staring blankly into the blazing inferno that she had created.

"Well, we have all of eternity to go anywhere, so you choose," Leon murmured tiredly, rubbing his eyes with one hand while scratching his scruffy chin with the other. "Just know that I will be with you the whole time." Lucinda fought away the twitch of her lips and nodded, her chest aching as she let out a shaky breath.

"I heard Rome is beautiful this time of year," she sighed, blinking away tears. Leon wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lead her back to his brothers cottage. Lucinda paused outside the front door, her bottom lip beginning to quiver as she took in the sight of Kane's grave. "Can you pack my things, please," she whispered, her voice cracking.

"Of course," Leon murmured, pressing an brotherly kiss to her forehead before stalking into the small one room cottage. Lucinda rested her fingers on the top of the hand made wooden cross for a moment, tears falling from her eyes and landing onto the freshly upturned dirt.

"I failed you, my love," Lucinda whispered, chewing on her lower lip to keep it from trembling. "I swear I will never forget you."

A warm breeze wafted through the small clearing and it encircled her, and Lucinda could almost picture Kane holding her in his arms once again. A choked sob broke past her lips and she covered her mouth with her hand, her left arm wrapping around her stomach and gripping her right hip.

"I am so, so, sorry." The breeze picked up, and while it was still warm, she could practically feel the swirling frustration. Then she heard the voice.

"There will come a day, my darling, where I will not be here to hold your hand, but I will always been in your heart."