I.
Every time she calls him Perri, an entire year is added onto his lifespan. At this rate, Perrihart is going to live forever.
"Perri," Harnier says, her beautiful blue eyes curious and timeless, "what do you think you'll do when you grow up? Are you going to become head of the Solace clan?"
Harnier lives in a blissful state of innocence, one that he cannot hope to match. Perrihart's chances of becoming the Solace patriarch are incredibly low, especially because Siegmund is determined to convince Father to disown him.
But he can't break Harnier's heart like this.
"Maybe," he tells her. "Maybe someday I'll be the head of the clan."
Her eyes light up like sparkling stars. "When that day comes," she squeaks, "will you let me stay with you in the big house?"
"Of course." Even if Siegmund kicks them both out now, Perrihart is determined to keep fighting for Harnier. "And then by then, we'll be old enough to read all the books in the library, and we'll be tall enough to reach the big encyclopedia that Siegmund keeps putting on the highest shelf!"
Harnier laughs, and her laughter sounds like a happy little stream, rushing through a cold forest. "C'mon, Perri," she says, grabbing his hands and spinning around happily.
"If that's what the future is like, then I can't wait to grow up!"
II.
"There's a whole other world out there," Perrihart surmises. "We've just been away from it for so long that we forgot it existed."
Harnier inhales the night air, letting the breeze of the evening carry her hair across her face. "We should go see the world together someday. We're not kids anymore. We can do it."
Perrihart looks stunned. "You want me to go with you?" He asks, shocked.
"Why, who else would I go with?" Harnier laughs. "You're my best friend, Perri. You've been here for me since the very first day. I'd trust you with my life."
"That's good, then," Perrihart tells her, "because I'd trust you with mine, too."
They sit on the edge of the roof and swing their legs over the ledge as Elrianode sleeps below them. Stars twinkle above them, little gemstones set amidst the cosmic tapestry. "It's sad, isn't it," Harnier muses. "The city is always so cold, day and night. I wish things would be a little livelier, a little less dreary."
Perrihart chuckles and wraps his arm across her shoulder. "They should know that the most amazing girl in the city - no, in the world, is celebrating her eighteenth birthday today."
Harnier pouts. "Flattery will get you nowhere, mister."
"You deserve the title," Perrihart says, shrugging. "Harnier Solace, light of my world, most amazing girl in the world, happy eighteenth birthday. You're finally legally allowed to drink alcohol."
"As if I would," she grumbles, though a playful smile blossoms on her face. "Thank you, Perri. This is the best birthday ever."
Perrihart leans forwards and presses his lips to her forehead gently, letting them linger for just a second.
"You've become a more wonderful person for every year I've known you."
III.
"Perri."
He opens his eyes to a happy, shining Harnier sitting at his bedside. "Wake up," she says. "It's Sunday morning."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He mumbles, still groggy and disoriented. "What time is it?"
The sun isn't even beaming through the curtains yet, which means it's not even eight in the morning yet on a Sunday, and Harnier is here.
"I wanted to cuddle with you," she pouts. "Aren't you gonna let me in? It's freezing out here."
Even in his half-asleep state of mind, Perrihart can fully register just how cute she is.
He opens up his blankets, and Harnier slips her feet in and presses her face softly against his chest.
Her hair is messy and it smells like lavender and apples. Perrihart twirls a lock of her hair around his finger absentmindedly as Harnier's soft heartbeat beats a rhythm against his own.
"I had a nightmare," Harnier confesses, her face muffled in Perrihart's chest. "I dreamed that the world was ending, and you were dying in my arms."
Perrihart reaches his hands behind her and pulls her close. "If that meant you would live, I'd do it a million times over. But," he adds, "let's try not to destroy the world and die, alright?"
"Not dying sounds good," she agrees.
With Harnier securely wrapped in his arms, Perrihart wishes he could live forever like this.
She is soft and warm and smells like home and Perrihart loves her with every bit of his heart and needs to protect her forever.
IV.
Harnier doesn't need to open her eyes to see anymore.
She can see the light in people, a light that transcends their corporeal forms. They tell her she radiates light, but she only sees theirs. Ebalon has a soft white light. Rosso burns with a wild fire. Ventus' light comes in little wisps, like the wind. Everyone she knows shines in their own way, but the brightest light comes from beautiful, destroyed Perrihart.
Her Perri.
"You really did come for me," she says as he enters her throne room, his hands folded softly in front of him. "Even after they took me so far away."
"I had to," he replies. "I couldn't risk losing you."
"Those are mighty words, Master Solace, El Master of the Sun."
He smiles sadly. "Perrihart Solace, milady."
Harnier rises from her seat to walk to him, steps on her perfect skirts to reach his perfect face. "Perri," she murmurs, kissing his lips softly. "My Perri."
"You're amazing, Harnier," he says, lips still pressed against hers. "You've come so much further than I could ever have dreamed of. You're stronger than all of us."
"I have to live," she tells him. "I have to live so I don't lose you."
Their laughter fills the throne room, warmth for the first time in this cold, cold room. Perri, her Perri, picks her up, less-than-perfect skirts and all, and spins her around and kisses her.
Harnier feels her heart blooming with light and life and love.
V.
When the glass casket shatters, so does Solace's heart.
He doesn't care that the children of this new millennium are watching, with their curious eyes and strong resolve, just like Harnier. They must have loved and lost at some point. The bonds between them are much like that between Solace and his Lady.
Solace runs to the remains of the coffin that held Harnier for a thousand years, and scoops her limp form off the ground.
Harnier's eyes are closed, but she is warm and breathing and she still radiates light and life. That alone washes waves of relief over Solace. She is the El Lady, lady of life, light of the world.
(Light of his world.)
But then she opens her eyes, and Solace watches as the El Lady drains away and Harnier returns.
She coughs, her voice ragged from a millennium of disuse. "Perri," she whispers.
Perri. It's a name he hasn't heard in a thousand years. "Harnier."
The years leave him, and life returns to his face. Master Solace, El Master of the Sun. Perrihart Solace, youngest of the Solace clan.
And to the one who loves him most, Perri.
"You're awake," he says softly. "Did you have a nice nap?"
Harnier nods. "I was never really asleep," she says. "I watched over you all along."
That's just what Perrihart was scared of. "Harnier, I've done a lot of bad things," he confesses, not daring to look back at the children behind him. "I'm so sorry."
Monster, they call him. Tyrant. Enemy.
For a thousand years, he has longed to be called Perri again.
Harnier's eyes fill with tears and light. "I forgive you," she says. "Because I love you, and I know you're a good person."
She sits up, her skirts draped across the glass-covered floor. "We'll makes things better again, together," she says, brushing tears away from under Perrihart's eye. "But right now, all that matters is that we're back together again."
He kisses her, and all is okay.
VI.
They're just two children, who grew up too quickly. They've loved and lost and now they love again.
Harnier holds Perri's hands and spins him around, just like they did as children.
The world is ending around them, but they dance together in the light of the sun and they are happy.
A/N: so um apparently ffn doesn't have a tag for solace or the el lady and that makes me kind of sad
the first draft of this was shown to my best friend and she said "usually when they're numbered like this you kinda know it's gonna be angsty"
And I was like "um no scuse you this is supposed to be FLUFFY LIKE BUNNIES"
but yeah! this is my entry for the current Els Fanfic Brigade current prompt, which would be fluff. unfortunately my default setting is angst and who doesn't love some SoLady
someday i'll write some straight up angst SoLady when i'm not operating on spite, tea and allergy medication, and then we will all suffer
~Marg