Nathan helplessly watched as the light in Harry's eyes slowly faded away, with his bracelet falling to the ground. Overwhelmed with sorrow, tears of anguish fell from his face and dropped on the lifeless boy in his arms.
He cried.
The pain of losing Harry weighed more than the pain he felt throughout his body. Memories of the first day they met flooded his mind. The day he saw a fragile boy behind his mother's skirt, afraid to talk to strangers, but opened up after receiving a warm smile from a younger Nathan after buying from his family. Transitioned to his first day at the academy, an eager boy who came up with theories and formulas that seemed like they came from scholars. Ending off with the smiles he gave to others.
Nathan aggressively sobbed from all of his memories with Harry. To him, the world stood still. In that moment, time froze as all that was present was him and Harry in his arms.
But such a moment wouldn't last as he was interrupted by a distressed Prof. Nowell. Nathan snapped back into reality from his professor's attempts. He saw bruises and cuts on his face, along with pieces of his clothes torn off.
He gently placed Harry's head on the floor, grabbed Prof. Nowell's shirt, and yelled, "WHY WEREN'T YOU HERE? WE NEEDED YOU! WE NEEDED ANYONE OF YOU, BUT YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP. WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG!?"
He understood Nathan's pain and knew that whatever he said wouldn't have changed anything. All that the seemingly cold-hearted Professor could do was hold Nathan in his arms and regret that he couldn't hold both of his pupils. "I'm sorry…", he softly answered. The only sounds that came from the floor they were on were the cries of Nathan and the incoming footsteps of Imperial guards.
After some time, injured students and staff members were taken to healers. The unannounced death toll of the attack was 8, with one of them being Harry and the rest being part of Xavier's group.
Prof. Nowell took Nathan to where the rest of the students were at the assembly point. "Stay here. I will help give a brief to the guards." Nathan only answered with a nod. He then wandered aimlessly with blood on his shirt and nails around the assembly. The rest of the students were anxious and silently panicked among themselves. His walk was then halted with a forceful yet gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw that it was Noah. "I thought I was talking to a zombie, dude. Thank goodness you're alright." He hugged his Nathan as his hands were trembling in fear.
A girl's voice in the background called for Noah. "Sera, over here, I found him.", said Noah. Seraphina appeared with Ariel by her side. She rushed over to hug Nathan. "I am so glad you're okay.", she said in relief.
As Ariel was about to ease herself from her stress, she noticed that Nathan's shirt was covered in dry blood and asked him, "Why is there blood on your shirt?"
Seraphina pulled herself away from him after hearing this. "What happened?" she asked.
Before Noah was about to ask the same question, he saw faint redness under his eyes. "Why were you crying?" he asked. Without getting an answer, he looked around the assembly and saw that Harry wasn't there.
"Is it Harry?"
No answer came from Nathan, but a long sigh and trembling lips. To them, this was more than enough of an answer than words. Noah crumbled to the floor in disbelief after finding out. Seraphina held her chest as her heart was frantically beating out of her chest. But Ariel, who had no interaction or involvement with Harry, walked up to Nathan and held his hands. "I'm so sorry." She whispered to him, looking deep into his violet eyes that were holding back tears from her condolences.
Then, Oscar's voice came from the front of the assembly and grabbed everyone's attention. He instructed everyone to gather around as Headmaster Celestia wanted to make an announcement regarding this attack. She went up to the podium, and those by her side were the student council members, Captain Cedric, and some of the Imperial Guards. Before she began her speech, Eleanor directed her attention to her friends, and among them was weary Nathan. Her heart sank after seeing his bloodied shirt, and she hoped she would talk to him afterwards. The headmaster began her speech.
"I would like to start off by saying that I apologize to all of you who fell victim to this attack, but unfortunately, time is against us at the moment, as I have brought Captain Cedric with me here today to shed some light on who and why this has happened. The group of people that terrorized this academy is known as 'The Heralds of Life'. They came from outside of this country but have hideouts which they call 'hollows'. With the help of Captain Cedric and the rest of the Magus Sovereign, we were able to apprehend and interrogate some of their members. The reason why they attacked is still unknown, which country they came from, or who their leader is. This is still valuable information that we are able to provide at the moment. Although this has been a tragic event, I am grateful that casualties aren't as severe as I initially thought."
One of the students shouted out her concerns, "How many died?"
Captain Cedric answered in the headmaster's stead. "8 people have died today."
The students murmured to themselves, questioning all the rumors they heard.
"How many students died?"
He turned to the headmaster about whether they should withhold from giving them this information until one student came out and said, "I heard one of us didn't make it."
This shook everyone in the assembly, including Oscar, Eleanor, and the rest of the student council members. They all asked as a crowd who it was among them as they all got louder and louder, demanding their question to be answered, until finally the headmaster answered. She looked among the crowd of worried students and saw Nathan. His eyes were looking directly at her, but she didn't feel as if they were. She grasps the podium and reluctantly says their name.
"The student who has died was… Harry Reed."