revamped october 9, 2016
He always comes to collect her body. Sometimes, he witnesses her fall to the ground, entirely lifeless and sometimes, he isn't there to see her last breath or hear her last word. He always lays her body to rest eternally.
Every time she dies, which is a number far too high for Caius to remember, there is another that will come. Another Yeul will guide Caius through the timeline, but also another Yeul that is doomed to be replaced. One, he remembers, loved to sing, and another loved flowers. Although each Yeul was different depending on the timeline, they were alike in several ways: the same face, eyes, blue hair, and tragically beautiful burden.
Caius was just always meant to lose her━nothing could stop her fate it seemed. His only wish was to save his precious Yeul, even if it cost him his own life. He knew that by going through time, there would be a way to fix her inevitable fate. He would do anything to figure it out. She was the seeress, the one who could foretell the timeline, and he was her guardian, the one who was supposed to protect her.
But she still dies. What good is he as a guardian if he can't even protect her? He cradles her lifeless body, his tears falling onto her face. He is no guardian in his eyes━he is a failure at trying to save the one he cares so much for.
When he lays her to rest in the waters of Valhalla, she is smiling. She looks happier than she did walking through the timeline. Perhaps knowing of her death is what causes her lack of happiness.
But Caius also thinks that the way her lips are shaped into a small smile as he holds her lifeless body is a way of saying something: "Don't cry. We will meet again."
Caius holds in his tears, standing up straight and letting her sink into the water. He will wait for his new Yeul to come. He would look for her. Either way, they will find their way back to each other no matter what.
In each of her lives, they would meet again. She promised him that they would, didn't she?
"Don't worry," Caius recalls, "we will meet again." Remembering her words hurts because he knows she will eventually leave the world again, but he also knows that she will be reincarnated once more. Again, and again, and again.
She will be reborn endlessly until he changes her cursed fate and ensures there will be a time where she won't fall to the hands of death. He will make sure that Yeul can live a long and wonderful life, even if it means he cannot be there to see it through.