A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Chapter 226: Chapter 226 - A last look

Silence descended among Erik and his comrades.

Alice cried silent tears while her trembling hand tightly gripped the headstone of what was, presumably, her father's grave.

Erik subtly indicated towards Emma, who quickly nodded and moved behind Alice before wrapping her arms around the girl in a sign of silent support. Content source m-vl|emp,yr

"I guess that Frostfang cared more than he let on…" Astrid mumbled softly as they all looked at Björn's grave, which had almost certainly been created by Frostfang.

Erik softly nodded, "My mother and the Enclave are his two highest priorities, but he's clearly not uncaring towards his fellow students. At least so long as it doesn't cost the Enclave anything."

Of course, Erik's new appraisal of Frostfang changed nothing about his intentions towards the man.

Frostfang had caused Elora great pain, and there would be a reckoning.

In response to Erik's words, a noise came from Alice's direction. It was a noise that sounded suspiciously like a strange combination of a sad sob and an angry snort. "Don't make excuses for him," she growled softly, without taking her eyes off the grave. "He was just trying to assuage his guilt… not much different from you."

Erik calmly and slowly shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, little Alice. I feel no guilt over your father's fate. A deal was struck, and he went into it knowing full well the consequences. The reason I'm taking care of you is because of that deal, and the reason we're here today is because I like you. And because you decided to put your revenge on the line for it."

Alice directed an angry glare at Erik, finally taking her eyes of the grave. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, of course not," Erik shrugged. "It's just the truth. I think your father was a good man, and a great father. He believed that one should sacrifice everything for the people they love. The deal he made with me and Elora was a consequence of that belief, and to feel guilty over it would be an insult to his conviction."

While all that was true, Erik also simply didn't care enough about Björn to feel anything but a little lament at the fate of good people in this universe.

He also knew that, at least in the aspect of attitude towards loved ones, he wasn't that much different from Björn. Did that mean Erik thought of himself as a good person? Not exactly.

Fact was, Erik preferred not to classify himself in notions like good or bad. They were far too abstract for his liking. He simply was.

After Erik fell silent, Alice stared at him for a moment with a little surprise. Then, she turned her gaze back to the grave, while mumbling, "That… actually does make me feel a little better."

When Alice's words reached Erik, he smiled a little.

Their group remained silently standing around the grave for another few minutes, before Alice finally released a sigh. "Let's… Let's get to the next part."

Victor had just finished his last sigil and the result was once again clear, so Emily nodded and called him over to them.

In the meantime, Erik raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity. "I thought you wanted to look at him one last time?"

Alice quickly shifted her gaze towards him with wide eyes, "You… We are not digging him up!" she exclaimed in horror.

The others around them didn't react much better, but they had trust in Erik, so they didn't say anything.

Erik chuckled at her disbelief. "I don't mean that, obviously, but… Elora can create a projection of what he looks like now. If you want, of course."

Alice still didn't know much of this mysterious Elora, except that she was apparently somehow stuck in Erik's body at the moment.

When she realized Erik's plan, her gaze showed some struggle and uncertainty. She looked towards Emma, the woman that always gave her a strong feeling of support and warmth, hoping for some advice.

"I think you might regret it if you don't," she said with a warm smile. "But you should be sure about this. The only one who really knows you, is you."

Alice closed her eyes and fell into thought, spurred on my Emma's words.

Finally, she sighed and looked at Erik with all the determination her small body could muster, before nodding.

"Good," Erik nodded and bent down to one knee next to Björn's grave. Under Alice's anxious gaze, he placed his left hand on the stones, before a dark green aura began seeping into the earth. Soon, the green aura began rising up from the grave again, but this time, it took on a humanoid form.

At Erik's request, Elora had taken the liberty of slightly adjusting the image to represent what Björn's remains would look like if he died in human form, since that would be better recognizable for Alice.

While shapeshifters could easily recognize each other, even in their more uniform beast-forms, this was mostly done through smell and mannerism, rather than the way they looked. And since those last two did nothing in this case, it was better to just go with the human face instead.

Slowly, Björn's human body, in the form of a green specter, took shape, floating slightly above the grave. His hands were crossed in front of his chest, and a peaceful smile graced his lips.

"Dad…" Alice softly sobbed and extended her hand to touch his face. Unfortunately, the hand went straight through him, reminding her of the current reality.

She quickly retracted her hand and cried softly, with Emma silently supporting her from behind.

After another few minutes of mourning, she finally sighed, and wiped away her tears. She took one last, hard look at Björn's face, as if to imprint his likeness in her mind, and then turned to Erik with a quick nod. "T— Thank you," she mumbled. "You can… let him rest now."

Erik nodded, and removed his hand from the grave, causing Björn's image to slowly dissipate in the wind, with Alice's longing eyes following the last specks of green light.

"You're a brave and resilient girl, Alice," Erik said softly. "I think Björn would have been proud of you."

Alice nodded quietly, but didn't otherwise acknowledge his words.

Instead, her eyes lost their longing, warmth, and sadness, to be replaced by a cold fury when she looked at Victor's face.

It was time to avenge her father, and her adopted parents, by putting down the dog that ruined her life.