They sat around the campfire, looking weary and beaten as they watched the flames dance. It had been a few days since they were forced to flee, and this was the first time they were stopping to rest for the night since then, wanting to get as far from the vampiric army as possible. He was getting used to traveling during the day, although he would never enjoy it, but it was not being tired that was bothering him. He looked over at Elaine, who had laid down to go to sleep. He listened intently, able to faintly hear her crying under her cloak, making his heart hurt.
The elf had said very little these last few days, and he was worried about how she was handling all of this. She lost her mother, people, and last city in a short amount of time, and that would be difficult to handle for anyone, let alone someone as kind and innocent as Elaine. He knew how it felt to lose your family and home in the blink of an eye, and he remembered how poorly he handled it. He nearly lost his mind, and he could only hope that the elf was stronger mentally than he was.
"Staring at her isn't going to make her pain go away." Midnight said, for once not glaring or giving him a dirty look. He said nothing, looking away as Drake patted him on the shoulder, unable to feel it through his armor.
"She is tougher than she looks; I am sure she will get through this. Then we can think about how to avenge her mother and defeat Zillion."
"Alone, the thought of revenge will be nothing but a dream." Noelle said, her tone sharp and her gaze cold every time she spoke to them. "We need allies, allies with armies at their back."
"The humans are our best bet." Midnight said, frowning as she wrapped her arms around her knees. "But the Empire of Duluhan ignored the elves in their hour of need, and have been at war with the Twiverse Kingdom for years. Too many unknowns to deal with, and I suspect Zillion will not wait too long to declare war on the humans."
"It will only get harder from here." Jack added, looking at their small group of survivors. The air that night was chilly, all of them huddled beneath their cloaks, covered in blood and gore as they tried to get warmth from the small fire. He looked back at Elaine, unable to stop worrying about her mental condition.
"Losing your family is...hard to deal with."
Noelle threw some more wood into the fire, her orange eyes matching the color of the flames as she glared over at him.
"You speak from experience? Seems she is not alone; I was young when our village was attacked, and I watched my parents get killed before my eyes as my brother pulled me away. You vampires are good at creating nightmares for others."
Jack met her gaze, smirking at his own thoughts.
"I might be the only one here whose family was not killed by vampires."
The dark elf raised an eyebrow at this, Midnight leaning over to get his attention as she looked at him with concern.
"Jack, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
He shook his head, waving away her concerns; he was not a child, and needed to talk about it sooner or later. He looked at all three of them, his heart picking up its pace as he told them something he had kept to himself for years.
"My father is a sadistic, narcissistic ass, and got with my mother because he wanted to create a child that would be the perfect soldier. I had two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. My sister was sick since she was a baby, and was not forced to join the army. I was, and I would regularly visit my family when I got the chance and share the coin I made with them."
He looked at the fire, his emotions slowly beginning to swirl as he continued.
"I thought this was fine, but my father thought that they were distracting me from being the perfect little killing machine he desired. So, he had them moved to a village at the edge of our nation, claiming it was to keep them away from the war. Then, less than a week after they were moved their, the entire village was attacked by vampire hunters. They are humans who have trained to specifically hunt vampires, and I was given a letter after a battle that told me of their deaths."
He looked up, his anger slowly filling his chest as he got to the worst part.
"I thought it was suspicious that they died a week after he moved them there. I confronted him, unsure of myself, thinking he would never kill his own family. I was wrong, and he didn't even try to hide it; he confessed to me that he not only moved them there, but leaked information to the humans about the number of guards in the village and their rotation of shifts. He said all of this with that fucking smirk on his face, and I swear I will kill him someday."
He felt Drake place a hand on his shoulder again, and he realized that he was panting and sweating, having gotten more worked up than he thought he did. He sat back, taking a deep breath before looking over at Elaine.
"That shit...can mess you up. It is not something that goes away with time. It is a scar, just one on your mind, and just like the one's on your body, they never really go away."
Noelle nodded, surprising him when she said nothing and turned to Drake.
"Your turn, giant vampire. Anything traumatize you?"
Drake chuckled, shaking his head and surprising the dark elf.
"Not really. I am an only child, my father died in one of the wars when I was too young to remember him, and my mom is the sweetest little vampett you will ever see. I was sad about Jack's family though; I went over there often as a kid, and considered his mom like an aunt."
Noelle nodded again, turning to Midnight, who was staring into the fire.
"Not much to talk about. I have an older brother who got injured early in his career and was forced to retire young. My father died when I was young, and my mother simply abandoned us. My brother took care of me until I was forced to join the army, where I used my coin to take care of him."
They all glared at Drake, who was like a shining light among them, the only one who was not bothered by his past or traumatized by anything. Jack shook his head, looking back at Elaine, who had most likely heard everything. They all handled grief and pain differently, and he could only hope that she handled it well, and remembered that they were there for her.