After the War: an MTG story

Chapter 9: Silence

"Your fist kill didn't affect you because of the ice running through your veins!" Chandra yelled at the vampire, her hair igniting.

"Say what you want, but the fact remains that I'm right," Sorin concluded.

"I hate to admit it, but he does have a point," Jace sighed, "Killing is a part of war. But eventually, unfortunately, it will get easier in time."

"You keep telling me that, but I don't want it to get easier," Nate said quietly, still staring at the shag carpet.

"I know," Jace continued, "but there's not much else I can say."

"Why don't we just give him some space for now," Karn suggested, "give him some time to process today's events."

Sorin turned on his heels and went upstairs without a second thought, but the others were a little more hesitant about leaving him. Eventually, the other planeswalkers started filing out, leaving Seth, Sera, and Amy with him. After a few more minutes, Nate's parents left, just leaving Amy. When she turned to leave, Nate quickly grabbed her hand. Amy looked back to see the poor broken boy still staring at the ground, "Please stay," he softly pleated.

Amy sat down next to her boyfriend and held him in her arms, this time though, he held her back.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently.

"I-It never even occurred to me that I would have to kill people," Nate whispered, trying to keep his voice from breaking.

"I know, it didn't for any of us either."

"I don't want to kill anyone."

"I know you don't."

Nate looked up into Amy's eyes, "What should I do?" he almost yelled, "If I fight, then I'll have to kill someone again, but if I don't then it puts all of my friends in danger!" Nate's voice started to break, his eyes welling up.

"I don't know," Amy said, not sure how to feel about this whole situation.

"What about all of our friends that joined Nicol Bolas? Will we have to kill them too?"

"I don't know."

"Amy, why don't we just leave?" Nate asked hysterically, tears starting to fall, "if we just leave then we won't have to fight, we can just leave it to the Gatewatch!"

"Nate!" the girl yelled, getting his attention, "we can't just leave our new friends behind like that."

"I know, I just want you safe."

"I know you do, but as long as Bolas is on the loose, no one is safe."

"Would it be too much to ask you to stay behind? That way you can't get hurt."

"And let everyone else put themselves in danger while I stay at home and watch movies? Like hell that's happening!"

"I was afraid you would say that."

"We've known each other since we were eight, and I told you that I would stick by you, no matter what. That's not about to change."

Nate forced a small smile, "thanks."

"You know what? We need to do something to get your mind off of what happened."

"Like what?"

"How about a match? That always puts you in a good mood."

"A friendly match does sound fun," Nate admitted.

"Then let's get set up."

"Ok."