«Are you listening to me, Guts? You should take a break!»

The poor Puck seemed to want to give up on making the warrior stop, since he didn't seem to listen to him; sunset was approaching, but Guts didn't care, he absolutely didn't want to camp and waste precious time...days passed and the search seemed to lead to nothing, no trace that could lead him closer to you.

Puck felt his anger and discomfort, despite his stoic expression, but he couldn't do anything to improve his mood; for his part, he couldn't feel your energy and that meant there was still a long way to go and the directions for it were endless...finding you was like finding a needle stuck in a giant haystack and the chances you were beyond the borders of Falconia were frighteningly high.

«Why did you go away from me...» The black swordsman kept wondering as he rode, sure that he was the reason for your escape and after Noelia revealed to him you were pregnant, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

He was cursed...and now that he had put the mark on you, Death was after you and his future child.

«I won't let it happen again.»

He thought deeply as he found himself facing a precipice. This was a blind spot and he would have turned back, if the horse's neighing hadn't alerted him of something...he looked down and at the bottom, he found the corpse of another horse, your horse to be precise.

You weren't there, fortunately. Judging by the animal's condition, the fall was accidental and you were unable to stop it, but Guts observed there were footprints belonging to several people, probably two.

«I can feel a strange energy here, the same as Becchi!» Puck pointed the finger at the warrior's stone and Guts frowned, not liking what he just heard; if this was true, you had met someone who had the Beherit and that also explained why his was vibrating strangely.

«No. There's no way she found it...» Again, he examined the tracks and started to move in the direction they were pointing, until he stopped suddenly; the human footprints disappeared and those of a unknown animal appeared, but they were too large to belong to a normal predator...something more demoniac was involved in this.

«W-what if Y/n was kidnapped?!» Puck got chills just thinking about it, worried that you had met some bad guys and that they had taken you away against your will «We have to do something right away Guts, and not only her, even the baby she carries is in danger!»

The man tensed his muscles and without saying a word, he started to listen to his guidance. The elf was right, Guts believed you had met someone on your path and in the worst case scenario, that someone was an Apostle, a human being who had sacrificed the lives of those he loved to achieve his goal...another demon who posed as the savior of the world, but was just a monster appeared on Earth to spread more Evil.

Just like him. He had become the "Falcon of Light", or so the inhabitants of Falconia called him, but for Guts, he had been the same one who had condemned his friends to become what he aspired to be most, becoming something worse in the end...

A Femto. This was Griffith's new identity.

Despite his threatening thoughts, he was sure that it had nothing to do with you and would have gone back in search of you, if it wasn't for a sudden scream, somewhere in the valley.

The scream of a woman.

«H-have you heard? It was coming from that direction!» Puck got into his hood as the horse quickened the run, heading off the previous path and following the voice which was begging for help...but what they found was something gruesome, a tall goat-man had captured a woman, holding her by the arms.

Guts didn't hesitate and, brandishing his giant sword, stopped the creature's every perverse intent to harm the girl, who fell to the ground completely unharmed.

Puck wanted to make sure she was okay but there, he found himself face to face with an unknown woman with tanned skin, long, dark hair and just a long robe to cover her slim body; her stunned eyes looked at him curiously, before returning to the swordsman's back.

«Oh. And who would you be?»

The small flying creature said in a surprised tone and Guts turned to see who he had saved. Maybe it was fate, a cruel fate, but of all the punishments that could be inflicted on him, he never waited for this one...and after two years of separation, his gaze met that of his old comrade in arms, as well as the first woman with whom he felt love.

«...her name is Casca.»

• • •

«Aagh!»

The glass of milk spilled onto the floor, as well as on Sonia's skirt. She had come into your room to bring you something to drink, but she hadn't expected you to react like this, slapping her hand away so roughly.

«Damn it Y/n. You have to eat properly, otherwise the baby will suffer!»

You didn't turn to listen to her, staring out the window with one leg bent on the sill. Though you had no chains, all your stuff was gone, stuck with people who pretended to help you, including the blonde brat who came to bother you every hour.

«I don't give a shit. Leave me alone now.» Your eyes were red from sleepless nights and your body wasn't in good shape, but you still had the strength to face anyone who dared to tell you what you had to do. Sonia sighed deeply and bent down to clean up the mess you had made.

«If you continue like this, it will only get worse for you. Take Griffith's advice and you won't regret it.»

«The only one who knows what I need is me. And I don't want this.» You pointed a finger at your belly, which had slowly started to swell and even if it wasn't very evident yet, you could feel it inside you.

You thought it was over, but Sonia's grimace made you turn completely in her direction.

«You say it like it's not your fault, but I think you know how babies come...maybe you shouldn't have slept with a man, if you didn't want this.»

The girl stood up, meeting your threatening gaze, every word that came out of her mouth was disturbing to your ears, giving you confirmation of the unsanitary nature of that place; you wanted to slap her face so badly, but you preferred to let her go, so as not to have her around you a little longer.

Until she stopped to give you one final warning.

«I want to inform you, Griffith has decided that from this moment on, you'll have a guardian watching over you, so that you can heal quickly and maybe learn something about us...we want to help you prepare for your true potential.»

You didn't fully understand her words, but from what you knew, that strange stone had something to do with it. On the contrary, your shocked expression refused to believe that someone had to spy on you all day and for this reason, you rushed out the door in search of that knight with the annoying feminine features.

«Wherever you are, I've had enough—!»

«What's all this fuss about?»

There, a baritone voice echoed throughout the big hall and was so deep that it was able to freeze you on the spot.

«You make too much noise for a pregnant woman...are you looking for some attention?»

There, the silver on his armor shone so brightly to the point of blinding you and due to his enormous stature, you struggled to find where he was looking from. However, you raised your guard when recognized the shady and giant individual that you had seen during the meeting with Griffith and his Band of the Falcon, also remembering you had borrowed one of his flying daggers...

«...who the hell are you?»

Your tone was calm, but hostile as always and you tried to step back to get a clearer view of your enemy, until your foot no longer touched the ground; you didn't realize there was a staircase behind you and thanks to your pathetic balance, you started to fall downwards.

But you defeated gravity again, thus attracting a large hand of steel, which covered your entire back to not let you touch the hard floor...you opened your eyes wide at the sight of those red, reptilian irises, now scrutinizing you just a few centimeters away and without blinking at all.

You knew he wasn't him. But it was like you were watching Guts right now and for this reason, you couldn't help but keep your gaze towards the mysterious man.

«I'm Grunbeld. I serve my master as the leader of the Band of the Falcon giants and now, you're under my custody.»

It took you a while to realize what was happening and when you did, your expression turned in indignation, you couldn't believe this brute of a man was the guardian Sonia was referring to!

«I don't know what you're talking about but let me go, I don't need—ugh!» You squinted at the sudden pain in your leg and the red-haired warrior tightened his hold on you, in an attempt not to let you fall.

«You would have hurt yourself if I hadn't caught you. You should be more careful.» He brought you back down to the ground, away from danger but your frown didn't change in the slightest, not believing in his good deeds after the second time he saved you.

«Whatever it is, I don't need it. I don't plan on staying here much longer and that's why I need to talk with your "master".» For you, it was curious to see a giant treat himself as a faithful servant to a man so small compared to him, but you ignored the reason for such loyalty and returned your steps, turning your back on the man «You can tell me where he is, otherwise I'll do that myself.»

Your words sounded biting and an equally chilling silence followed, pissing him off was probably not a great idea but showing your discontent was stronger than any form of kindness...but when you thought you had escaped, a giant shadow loomed over you, accompanied by a breath that was anything but human.

«I'll take you to see Lord Griffith as you wish. But your attempt will be useless, since I'll have to keep an eye on you as he ordered.» His voice was deadly serious, but he had no intention of attacking you for your insolence, even after you let out an amused chuckle and he didn't understand what was funny about it.

«Well, it must be embarrassing to look after such a woman like me then.» You added, this time turning to face his coldness, he was definitely like Guts in that and further fueled your urge to challenge «Good luck with that, Dragon Knight.»

In that moment, you had memorized his armor covered in scales, similar to the skin of a dragon and though you had never seen one, you thought it was appropriate to call him that; on the other hand, Grunbeld hadn't stopped staring at you in his almost ten feet of height and suddenly, something seemed to alert him of imminent danger, like an unexpected flame of war...

And he glimpsed your defiant gaze burning inside it. This woman would undoubtedly be a troublemaker, he thought, looking at the palm he had touched you with.

• • •

As promised, Grunbeld took you to where you would soon speak with Griffith, hoping to find a solution to your forced stay.

The knight waited for the order and then, he opened the door to show your presence to the Falcon of Light, ready to welcome you with a warm smile...

You had enough of his lies.

«I was wondering when the two of us will have a chance to talk face to face...I'm glad you came to meet me, Y/n.» The room was smaller than last time, as the silver-haired man was just sitting on a chair and judging by what was on the table, he was eating his dinner alone «I assume Sonia is taking care of that, but I hope you still have some appetite to accompany me.»

It was as if he already knew that you would come there, since there was another plate in front of his...you had no choice but to please him and so, you sat down, being careful not to strain your leg too much. In fact, seeing all that food made your stomach growl more, having fasted for many hours.

And maybe because there were two of you now...

«As I thought, you struggle to find the answers you're looking for...» Griffith started his speech, cutting a piece of his meat with a knife with delicate movements «I can give them to you. But before that, I need you to do the same for me.»

You weren't too surprised, it was obvious he wanted to know who the hell you were and you looked straight at him, remembering every messy bit of your life so far.

«I grew up in a mercenary camp on the edge of the Midlands, but I left that life five years ago, after the death of my commander and during my journey, I stopped temporarily in Falconia...»

The man listened to every word you said, without looking away and when you mentioned Falconia, he spoke up to ask a different question.

«I see. But you weren't alone on this journey, otherwise your particular condition wouldn't be explained, right?» You had purposely omitted the names of the people you had met, but for some strange reason he seemed to want to know something from you...

Something about Guts.

«My personal affairs are of no interest to you. And what matters to me is to correct my mistakes, but the more time passes, the more this mistake grows because you're keeping me here...why?» You reiterated your position, without touching the food in the slightest. Griffith was more and more interested in you and this fire burning in you was something he hadn't seen in a long time.

And that's why he had the perception that you were hiding something from him.

«Why, you say?» The White Falcon said in a low voice, looking at you with those deep, blue eyes and stopped eating to grab the glass of red wine «Because I want you to come over my side, Y/n. I want your skills in the service of the Band of the Falcon.»

He decided to be totally honest with you and couldn't wait but see what your reaction would be...and when you left the room later with thoughts clouding your mind, Locus came out after eavesdropping on your conversation.

«You were too hasty in saying that, what if she tries to escape now?»

The knight didn't question his leader's word, but he didn't believe it was that easy to convince a hothead like you and Griffith smiled at that, staring at your empty seat at the table.

«She won't, as long as we give her what she wants. And she wants liberty.» He answered by standing up and with one hand, he took your glass to sip it between his pink lips. Even the strayest of dogs could become the most faithful of allies and that was what Griffith aspired for, so that you could become his precious pawn...

So that through you, he could meet with the Berserker again.