A/N: Look at me writing for another tiny fandom. What am I doing? All that aside, Hwaryun is a fascinating character and its amazing how little we know of her motivations and thoughts taking into account all the screentime she's been given so far. And so this fic was born.
Spoilers up for Season 2 Episode 196; Alt. Episode 276.
The Boy walks ahead of her with his two companions, smiling for the first time in a long while. To his back are the rest of his teammates: Wangnan, with his optimistic, yet ultimately ill-fated paths, the Yeon girl, who follows the Boy, and the hodgepodge of personalities that the Boy has somehow attracted to him. The Princess and her Guide are to the side, towards the back: an optimal place to observe the team dynamic. Hwaryun carries herself on the opposite side, alone. The silver dwarf turns her way and stares, a moment, no more, before turning back to scrutinize the white haired cast-off.
He is still suspicious of her. Not that it matters – he will see the truth with his own eyes, given enough time. She hadn't been lying when she told him that the Boy would be making all the choices.
A Guide cannot create paths, cannot forge them as Regulars and Rankers do. They can only illuminate the paths available, and perhaps judge if someone is worthy of walking them. In the past, she had speculated if those she guided were limited by the Tower-ordained paths she could see. Now, she wonders if she herself is doomed to only see the paths she can walk, and be blind to the unknown possibilities.
But now she is not guiding anyone. She is following. She is not following the Boy with the intent to sway him back over to FUG. That organization never had her allegiance, had only been a convenient corner in which to bid her time. She is here to help the Boy forge the path he so desires.
For he is the Irregular who opened the door.
She has been waiting for him for a long time. Until he arrived, bursting with kindness and naivety, she had quietly despaired of ever finding someone exempt from the rules of the Tower. Until he arrived, it did not matter who else entered or ascended, did not matter how many sons of Khun or Princesses were born; for the paths they could take were limited, and all were predestined to end up in one set configuration or another. No, there was nothing new. The paths were many and varied, but the end destinations were all the same, had already been trodden on hundreds of times.
But the Boy is different. He and Rachel, the Irregular Who Should Not Have Been, have the agency to change the tower. And as the Boy laughs, she watches the shining path below his figure flicker silver and gold as he walks on, oblivious to the potential sleeping beneath his skin.
Comments & Critique greatly appreciated. Discussion for the recent chapters is welcome as well!