"Arima." He stands before her, bright gold eyes never leaving hers. He smiles that smile she loves so much. "Ah... I don't know what to say. Just… Keep on helping people, just like you've helped me thousands of time. You are an inspiration. A true hero."

"Tomix..." Her eyes are glistening, the dark gold taking on a sorrowful quality.

"I just want to say–" he begins, but has no chance to finish. She grabs his collar and pulls him towards her and into a fiery kiss. He wraps his arms around her instinctively, and one of hers moves to his shoulders while the other cups his cheek. It lasts forever and yet it's all too soon when they break apart. When she blinks her eyes open again, her vision is clouded with tears which she immediately blinks away. All she can think is that he shouldn't be leaving, he shouldn't have to die to kill Envy, none of this should be happening.

"...Don't go…" she says brokenly. She swears she can see his heart shatter in his eyes.

"...I'll miss you."

He pushes her away and falls over the edge.

"NO!"

Arima sat up in her bed, her arm outstretched and tears streaming down her face. A frigid hand on her shoulder brought her to her senses, and she looked over at Aegis's worried face.

"It still hurts," he said. It wasn't even a question anymore. She knew he could feel her pain through their bond. She simply nodded, and wiped away her tears before wrapping her arms around her SoulAlly. Erion fluttered onto the bed and crawled into her lap to try and comfort her in his own way.

"Why does it have to hurt so much?" she murmured to no one in particular. Her breath clouded up in the presence of Aegis's cold.

"I would say that it will be alright," he began, "but I know that it is not true. This kind of pain doesn't go away easily. But know that I will always be here."

She nodded. "Thanks, Aegis." She felt Erion crawl out of her lap, and she pulled away from the spirit to watch the little dragon pull open her bedside drawer, pull out an envelope, and drop it in her lap. She stared at it in response. It was the letter that had come from Mortem – his hometown. "Erion, why…"

"I think you should open it," he said simply. "It's been a year. They're probably wondering why you never wrote back."

She looked at Aegis.

"It would probably do you some good to read it," he said.

She sighed. "Okay." She steeled herself before breaking the seal on the envelope.

Dear Arima,

I don't know if you remember me. We met at my brother's funeral. We didn't talk, and both of us were grieving. But Tomix talked about you a lot, and I feel I owe it to you to write to you.

You made my brother so happy, you know. Especially after finding out about Envy, he didn't smile much. But when he would visit us, he would tell us about you, and his eyes lit up and he really looked happy. That's how I'll remember him best – with the entire galaxy in his eyes, talking about the one person he loved most in the world. I could tell he loved you. Even if he never said it aloud, the dolt.

Mom says that you're welcome at our house any time you want to come. She also says talking about what hurts helps us to heal. I know you need to grieve still, but I'd like it if you visited someday, I think. Maybe we could talk. Since we both knew Tomix really well, we could swap stories, and think about all the good stuff, instead of the bad. Maybe then we can help each other heal.

Katia

By the time she had finished reading, tears were streaming down her cheeks one more. Erion curled up against her side, and she laid a hand on his back. She set the letter down on the bedside table, and then took a shuddering breath and wiped her tears away.

"We… we're going to Mortem."

Aegis did a double take. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "It's been a year," she said. "Maybe Katia is right. Maybe talking to her about him will help."

He was still for a moment before smiling and nodding. "Alright then. Get yourself ready."

It was well past sunrise when Erion landed in Mortem, and the heavy gray clouds threatened rain. Arima jumped off as the dragon regressed to a baby, and Aegis floated down to stand next to her. They had landed in a field of flowers, and this gave the SoulWeaver an idea. She removed her SpiritLooms and tucked them away into her backpack, and then she knelt down and began gathering as many flowers as she could. Then, arms full of flowers (some even the same shade of vibrant violet as her hair), she began walking in a direction she had been fearing to walk. Through their bond, she felt Aegis's confusion turn to understanding as the stone slab came into view. Her knees shook as she knelt down in front of it, and she carefully arranged the flowers until she was satisfied. Now unable to distract herself, she looked up at the name carved into the gravestone.

Tomix

Aegis took this as his cue to retreat a distance away, and motioned for Erion to do the same. She didn't notice, lost as she was in attempting to gather her thoughts.

"You know," she said aloud after a while, "this is almost like the last time I was here. All my memories of our adventures are just rushing me right now. Remember when I first found Ravenloss, and I almost sliced your head off with my scythe because you snuck up on me and I was scared? Or when we found my brother and met Riadne and you and she were flirting with each other like crazy?" She giggled, even as her eyes began tearing up. "Those days seem so simple now." She traced over his name. "Did I… did I ever tell you that I swore I would never fall in love with anyone?" she asked quietly. "I thought it would distract me from being a hero. I was right… but it's only because I lost you." Tears began to drop onto the nearest flowers. "I keep having nightmares… about that moment. I remember every single detail. Sometimes I dream that I jump in after you. I wish I had… Tomix…" she said his name for the first time in a year, and fell silent for a long while. Finally, she cried out, "I can't do this! I can't… I can't do this without you! I miss you so much… I'm sorry that I wasn't good enough to save you… I'm so… sorry…" she trailed off, and lost the ability to form words through the sobs that now wracked her body.

For the first time, Arima truly let herself break.

She wrapped her arms around herself and screamed as she cried, something she had never allowed herself to do even when alone. She hadn't noticed it start but it was raining heavily now, and something in the back of her mind registered that Aegis and Erion were probably taking shelter under one of the nearby trees. But right now, she was finally letting out all the pain and frustration and heartbreak that she had bottled up until only they ever caught glimpses of it, and now that the bottle was broken there was no putting it back until it was all let out. She screamed and sobbed until she no longer felt the need to, and then she sat despondently and let her tears flow.

It felt like ages before small arms wrapped around one of hers and a small body pressed up against her. It took her a moment to regain enough motivation to look, and then she almost wished she hadn't because the child's hair was crimson, a shade she had only seen a few times before (falling into the Ynnungaap, filling in what had once been silver-white, crying at a funeral that should never have happened), and her heart clenched violently and for a moment she had hoped. And his SoulThreads felt so familiar… But he was probably a cousin or something, come to visit the grave only to find her there already, may have even heard her screaming sobs and come to see what was the matter, and she hoped she hadn't frightened him.

"You haven't come here since the funeral," the boy said, Azaverian accent thick on his tongue. He didn't sound like he was accusing, just stating a fact.

She nodded, trying to find her voice again. "I couldn't stand the pain," she said at last, almost wishing she hadn't spoken because her voice was so rough and raw from her screams.

"Are you okay now?" he asked, not looking up at her. By his voice he couldn't be older than thirteen. She tried to smile but couldn't.

"No," she admitted. "But I needed to let everything out."

She felt him nod against her shoulder. "Okay." It was silent again, save the rain, which has lessened significantly. Then, something dropped into her lap, and she looked down in curiosity.

Violets. The boy had dropped a bunch of violets into her lap.

She picked them up carefully. "These… these are my favorite," she murmured, then looked over at him. "How did you–" She cut herself off as he finally looked up at her and she found herself staring into a pair of too familiar bright gold eyes. She remembered a conversation from long ago. His eyes… they were blue. Now they are not.

Gold eyes too old for the face they inhabited. Familiar SoulThreads.

"...T-Tomix?" she asked tentatively, not wanting to hope but feeling it bubble up anyway.

He smiled that smile that she only ever saw so few times but loved all the same. "I waited for you to come back, Arima."

Tears once again filled her eyes, but this time from happiness. She quickly pulled him close into the tightest embrace she could manage, and she half-waited for a complaint but one never came. Instead he hugged her back just as tightly and in the chaos of their actions it took a moment to realize that both of them were laughing and crying in joy and relief. She was sure that the violets' stems were being crushed in her hand but it didn't matter because Tomix was alive Tomix was alive!

"I missed you so much!" she managed to say after a while.

"I missed you too," he returned breathlessly. The rain had stopped finally, and the beginnings of twilight warmed the moment. They pulled away after a long while, and she cupped his cheek with her hand, discarding the violets on the ground beside her because wow, holding her fist closed like that hurt. "You going to kiss me now?" he asked, smirking.

"You're like, thirteen now." She couldn't help but giggle at the realization. "I'm seventeen. That's gonna have to wait a few years."

"Technically you're twenty-two–"

"Nope." She shoved him away playfully and turned away, crossing her arms in mock annoyance. "I was sixteen when I went into that ice, I was sixteen when I came out. No technicalities." Suddenly she heard an oof! and turned in alarm, only to laugh as she saw that Erion had taken the chance to tackle the boy himself. Aegis had returned to her side as well, and his smile told her that he had seen every bit of what had just happened.

"This explains why I couldn't find your soul in the Plane of Elemental Spirits," he said to Tomix, who finally managed to pry Erion from where he had latched onto his torso. "You never left this plane of existence!"

The boy stared up at him before shrugging. "I guess I didn't." He turned back to Arima. "You were really hurt by what happened. I'm sorry that I put you through that."

She shook her head. "It makes us even, in a way," she said. "I got frozen and made you wait for me to thaw out. You fell into the Void Core and made me wait for you to come back."

He blinked. "Well, when you put it that way…" Then he shook his head and smiled, taking her hand in his. "Mom and Katia said they wanted to meet you if you ever came here," he said, changing the subject. "Want to come?"

"Of course," she replied. They stood together, not letting go of each other's hands, and with Aegis and Erion a step behind them, they walked to Tomix's house, the sunset bathing the rain-soaked landscape.

I literally just started playing DragonFable again after a year of inactivity. My heart was crushed when I finished Tomix's Saga. It's been a while since I posted anything on this site, so I figured I'd go ahead and put this up. I wrote it all in one day, between classes and during mealtimes. It was kind of a word vomit before I fixed it up lol. But my dear Arima would not take losing Tomix well at all, and I needed to let my own feelings out as well.

I let a friend beta read this, and even though she knows literally nothing about DragonFable she said that she loved it and was glad I ended it the way I did. I hope anyone who reads this feels the same way. I'm just proud of myself for actually finishing a story ^^; Shout out to Tmae3114 and Gamma Cavy for writing their stories about this same subject and inspiring me to write mine. I know there are some similar elements but I tried to personalize it enough to make it my own.