A/N: So has been my latest obsession since I started watching it during the first season. And after watching the last episode yesterday I was just so moved and so upset and just all around overly emotional over fictional characters. I really wanted a certain closure to Slaine and Asseylum, so I decided to just write one myself. So if you have not seen the last episode of , this probably won't make much sense to you. But I hope you enjoy!

To See You Smile Again

-:-

Slaine snapped his head toward the barred window when he heard a flurry of flapping and a song of chirps. Squinting at the broken light pouring on his face, he could just barely make out the image of a small sparrow that had just perched itself between the iron rods. It tilted its head from side to side, hopping here and there. The little bird angled itself so one of its eyes were fixed on Slaine and subsequently let out a tiny little ring. The corner of Slaine's lip curved upward into a smile, his eyes catching just a bit of the light that found its way into his dark cell. The image of a girl with flaxen hair found her way into his mind.

It was a girl who, for the second time, had saved his life. A girl he loved so much that it hurt him so. A girl he had taught everything he knew about a place she loved. A girl who loved birds. It was like she was watching over him whenever a winged friend had come to visit his cell or fly past his window.

All at once, the iron bars of his cell cracked and started moaning as the bird flew back out to the sky. Slaine's smile disappeared as he whirled around on his dusty, hard bed toward a face he had unfortunately grown accustomed to. The warden. He couldn't tell if he was frustrated with him or pitied him.

"Troyard, you have a visitor."

It was Orange again, huh?

The door to his cell was wide open now with the warden standing as a silhouette, backed by the light on the ceiling. His eyes were carefully looking over Slaine, assessing his condition. When Slaine didn't get up right away, a flicker of impatience lit his eyes.

"Well?"

Slaine stood up then, his back aching a little and feeling the draftiness in the cold air coming off the metal walls surrounding him. Wordlessly, he approached the warden keeping his head down, looking at his feet the entire time. Sighing, the warden moved to the side to let him through and slid the iron bars back into place when Slaine stood next to him. Slaine then began to move one foot after another, slowly walking forward as the warden followed behind him. His hands remained un-cuffed—at one point during his stay, they had just stopped giving them to him.

As they made their way to the room where he was to meet Inaho Kaizuka, Slaine craned his head every time they had passed a window, hoping to see a bird fly by. Perhaps him looking so fervently to the outside was the reason why he was so caught off guard when he was called again.

"Hello, Slaine Troyard."

Slaine darted his head toward the door, now seated at a metal table.

This was not Inaho Kaizuka. It was a girl. One he didn't know. He presumed she was with the military, with the way she was appropriately dressed and for the fact that he was not allowed "personal" visitors. But it was always Inaho that took the time to come see him—to check in on him once and a while, Slaine presumed. So why was this girl here?

"Commander Kaizuka is out on business today, but insisted that you be checked on. So I am here in lieu of him."

"I see." Slaine's voice was just barely a whisper. Thin and spread out over the air.

The girl, he assumed that was the rank of an ensign judging by her uniform, circled around him and seated herself in front of him. For a moment, she stared fervently at him as if searching for something on his face. Slaine's eyes went immediately to her hands crossed over each other on the table when she had settled herself, not permitting himself to look upon her face.

"How are you?"

He wasn't sure what it was about her tone just then, but it was a lot softer than what he was expecting. Maybe he was so used to being snapped at that any kind word spoken to him was soft. He allowed himself to look a little higher: this time to her arms.

"I'm fine."

"Are you treated well?"

"As well as they should treat me."

A pause followed and Slaine rubbed his fingers together in his lap out of nervous habit. He saw the woman in front of him shift a bit. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He couldn't bring himself to look at her face. Not just yet.

"You've… had a lot of time to think about things, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"What have you been thinking about?"

What a question. "Everything" was what he wanted to say. How much he hated himself. How much regret was piled on his heart. How much he wished he could just end it all. However, since that day that Inaho spoke to him, one thing stood out the most.

"That I need to live…"

"Pardon?"

Slaine was looking at her shoulders now, "Someone…saved my life…"

He was thinking about birds again.

"I hardly deserved it, but she showed compassion to me even though I was absolutely wretched to her. I have done so many wrongs, but I want to at least carry out her final wish. It's the very least I could do for her."

Slaine's whisper cracked and his eyes glassed over. His hands were in fists now as his heart began to thump again, beating in painful love, "I just wanted to be worthy of her…"

A gasp for air caught his attention. Slaine was looking at her neck now.

Then suddenly, her voice quivered, "You haven't changed at all."

Slaine's eyes widened and he gasped, looking up all the way. He still did not recognize the girl's face, but her eyes gave her away. They were brimming with tears, beads of glass rolling down her cheeks. Her eyebrows were pressed together and her lip was trembling.

"I'm so sorry," she uttered between gasps.

"A—"

"Please forgive me."

"No, please…" Slaine leaned forward a bit, "Please don't say that."

The girl lifted her palms to her cheeks and wiped away the moisture that doused her skin. Sniffling, she looked at Slaine again, smiling, and with a new light in her eyes. Something in Slaine's chest fluttered and he reached to clutch for it, tears of his own sliding down his cheeks.

"Slaine…"

A short laugh came involuntarily out of him and he hunched over while covering his mouth, but the smile was still in his eyes. Oh, how much the sound of her saying his name meant to him. The way the sound slurred off of her tongue in that gentle way of hers.

"Thank you for teaching me about Earth. Thank you for everything."

Slaine moved his hands to the back of his neck and clutched a chain around his neck. Unlatching it, he brought the object in front of himself and gingerly held it in the palms of his hands. He watched the girl in front of him grin a little wider.

"Please give this to the princess," he uttered, his voice like silk, "and tell her that I will always look after her."

The girl reached her hands out and cupped his pale, bony ones, clasping her fingers around his callouses and bruises. Wounds that he had sustained for a girl he loved so much. Her fingers brushed around Slaine's most prized possession, but she held on to him for a second longer before drawing back, now clutching his heart in her hands.

With eyes carrying a new hope, Slaine gazed fervently at her, muttering very softly and gingerly,

"I love you."

The girl held the necklace a little closer to her heart, "I love you, too."

-:-

A/N: Writing that made me feel SO much better. Let's just say that Slaine eventually gets released on good behavior, changes his identity, and then watches over the princess. c: I hope this makes you feel better too!

Also, I hope that made sense. I tried to leave a lot to inferring and I tried to stay true to the characters. (I had to throw in a bit of my OTP, too ohohohohoho) And fun fact: I took the title from the lyrics of Slaine's oh, so depressing version of . It's just a little happier now. ;u;