[The forest is in sight and he knows his own strength and speed better than anyone else; they'll make it in record time. It should be fast enough. He can almost tell exactly what's supposed to happen, but he doesn't allow himself to think about it at all. If he stops to think, they die.
The loud crack and the simultaneous lightning strike answers that question, and if he'd been even a second slower, they both would have been hit. He doesn't stop and he doesn't allow himself to think about it, because he doesn't know if there will be a second one that follows. With (magic) a storm like this, there's no telling what will happen.
They reach the forest and Alaric only stops once they're further in, where there are plenty of trees for the lightning to target instead of them. He sets Blanche down gently and takes a moment to catch his breath.
If he's being perfectly honest with himself, he'd rather not consider just how close they were to dying, and how he knew that something would happen, even if he didn't know exactly what it was. That doesn't seem possible. That's the sort of stupidity people claim to have all the time - seeing the future, being able to predict your fate, that kind of bullshit. None of it is real. So how exactly is this something he - and Blanche - knew would happen?]
...Yeah. I... You were going to be hit by it.
[It occurs to him as he says it that yes, that's exactly what would have happened. He doesn't exactly see it so much as he feels it - he knows that's what was supposed to happen. There's more to it than that, though; the feeling that she got hurt on his behalf, the terror at the thought of losing her because of his own stupid mistake—
They're outside now and relatively safe. There isn't anything else he can focus on but these thoughts. But gods above if he doesn't wish he could have anything else to keep himself busy right now.]
You felt it too, didn't you?
[Not the lightning strike, the knowledge of what was supposed to happen.]
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The loud crack and the simultaneous lightning strike answers that question, and if he'd been even a second slower, they both would have been hit. He doesn't stop and he doesn't allow himself to think about it, because he doesn't know if there will be a second one that follows. With (magic) a storm like this, there's no telling what will happen.
They reach the forest and Alaric only stops once they're further in, where there are plenty of trees for the lightning to target instead of them. He sets Blanche down gently and takes a moment to catch his breath.
If he's being perfectly honest with himself, he'd rather not consider just how close they were to dying, and how he knew that something would happen, even if he didn't know exactly what it was. That doesn't seem possible. That's the sort of stupidity people claim to have all the time - seeing the future, being able to predict your fate, that kind of bullshit. None of it is real. So how exactly is this something he - and Blanche - knew would happen?]
...Yeah. I... You were going to be hit by it.
[It occurs to him as he says it that yes, that's exactly what would have happened. He doesn't exactly see it so much as he feels it - he knows that's what was supposed to happen. There's more to it than that, though; the feeling that she got hurt on his behalf, the terror at the thought of losing her because of his own stupid mistake—
They're outside now and relatively safe. There isn't anything else he can focus on but these thoughts. But gods above if he doesn't wish he could have anything else to keep himself busy right now.]
You felt it too, didn't you?
[Not the lightning strike, the knowledge of what was supposed to happen.]