The rain lasted three days.
Cold.
Relentless.
Endless.
Elsa kept walking through all of it.
Not because she needed to.
Because stopping meant thinking.
And thinking always led back to him.
---
At night she slept little.
Sometimes beneath ruined shelters.
Sometimes beneath trees.
Sometimes not at all.
When she closed her eyes—
She remembered the blade falling.
Every time.
Perfectly clear.
---
On the fourth morning—
She returned.
Not to the capital.
Not to the square.
Somewhere smaller.
Quieter.
---
The hill overlooked a forgotten stretch of land behind the city outskirts.
No markers.
No statues.
No names.
Just simple graves.
People the kingdom no longer needed remembered.
---
Elsa stood still at the bottom of the hill.
Wind moving softly through wet grass.
Her chest tightened.
She already knew.
Before seeing it.
---
A fresh grave.
Unmarked.
Uncelebrated.
Alone.
---
Her steps slowed.
For the first time in days—
She looked uncertain.
Not afraid.
Something gentler.
More fragile.
---
She stopped in front of it.
Silence settled naturally.
No anger.
No heat.
Only absence.
---
"They didn't even give you a name."
The words came quietly.
The wind carried them away.
---
She knelt slowly.
Her fingers brushed the damp soil.
Cold.
Real.
Too real.
---
For a while—
She said nothing.
Because what do you say to someone who already gave you everything?
---
A memory surfaced.
A small room.
A weak candle.
His tired voice.
"You can take the bed. I've slept on worse."
---
Another.
A forest trail.
"You're walking too loudly."
"I'm not."
"You stepped on three branches."
---
Another.
A quiet laugh.
Rare.
Warm.
---
Elsa lowered her head slightly.
Not crying.
Still not crying.
---
"I'm trying."
Her voice trembled faintly.
"I really am."
The wind answered with silence.
---
She placed something on the grave carefully.
An old cloth cap.
Worn.
Faded.
Stitched badly in one corner.
His stitching.
---
"You hated this thing," she whispered softly.
A faint smile almost appeared.
Almost.
---
Then—
Footsteps.
Behind her.
Measured.
Familiar.
---
Elsa didn't turn immediately.
"You followed me."
Jack stopped several steps away.
"I guessed."
---
Silence.
The hill felt colder suddenly.
---
Jack looked at the grave.
No name.
No honor.
No recognition.
Just dirt.
His jaw tightened slightly.
---
"He deserved better."
Elsa finally looked at him.
"You killed him."
The words weren't angry.
That made them worse.
---
Jack accepted it.
"Yes."
Silence.
Then quietly—
"I thought it would prevent something worse."
Elsa stared at him for a long moment.
Wind moving through her hair.
Red horns dark beneath the gray sky.
---
"And did it?"
Jack didn't answer immediately.
Because he didn't know anymore.
---
Elsa looked back toward the grave.
"That's the problem with people like you."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"People like me?"
"You decide suffering before it happens."
The words landed cleanly.
Precise.
---
"You feared what I could become…"
Her gaze lowered slightly.
"…so you created it."
Jack felt that one.
Deep.
Because part of him already believed it.
---
"I'm trying to stop this."
His voice was quieter now.
More human.
Less knight.
---
Elsa asked softly—
"Why?"
---
The question caught him off guard.
Not accusatory.
Genuine.
---
"You owe him nothing."
She touched the soil lightly.
"He trusted you."
A pause.
"You betrayed him."
Jack's chest tightened.
---
"I know."
---
Silence again.
Heavy.
---
Then Elsa spoke without looking at him.
"He still trusted you at the end."
Jack froze.
---
"He told you to protect me, didn't he?"
The wind suddenly felt sharp.
---
Jack looked away briefly.
"…Yes."
Elsa closed her eyes for a moment.
A faint, tired exhale leaving her lips.
"Of course he did."
---
That hurt more than blame would have.
Because Edward had died still believing in him.
---
Jack stepped closer slowly.
Carefully.
"I can still help you."
Elsa laughed quietly.
Not mocking.
Just exhausted.
"You sound like him."
---
That made Jack pause.
---
"But you're not."
Her voice softened slightly.
"He would've stood beside me."
Silence.
---
Jack looked at the grave again.
And realized something unbearable.
Edward had been the stronger man.
Not because he could win.
Because he chose love knowing exactly what it would cost him.
---
Elsa stood slowly.
The wind shifted around her.
Calm.
Controlled.
But sadness clung to her like shadow.
---
"I don't hate you."
Jack looked up sharply.
That surprised him more than anger would have.
---
"But I can't forgive you either."
Fair.
Completely fair.
---
She stepped past him.
Stopping only once.
Without turning—
"He died believing people could still choose kindness."
A pause.
"You should decide if he was wrong."
Then she walked down the hill.
Leaving Jack alone beside the grave.
---
The knight stood there for a long time.
Long after she disappeared.
Long after the wind settled again.
---
Finally—
He knelt.
Not as a knight.
Not as a protector of the kingdom.
Just as a man carrying guilt too heavy to stand beneath anymore.
---
"…I'm sorry."
The grave gave no answer.