Horses ground-tethered off to the side, Touga and Utena stood and gazed out from the dueling arena into the fog. The sun wasn't setting yet, but it had reached the portion of its descent where it turned the fog into a brilliant sea of opalescent fire. They stood in silence for several minutes, Utena unsure how to broach the subject or even what subject to broach, and Touga unsure of where to start.

"You're beautiful," he said quietly. It wasn't what he needed to say, but he felt it should be said none the less. "I'm so happy I was able to meet a person as lovely as you."

"Touga…" Utena turned away from the fog. "You didn't ask me here to compliment me." Not that she minded.

"No, I didn't." He took a deep breath, his fragile dream held firmly in both mental hands. "I want to ask you something." He glanced over at her, lost himself momentarily in her eyes, knew he was bleeding through his. "Can't I be your prince?"

The longing in his voice bit deeply into Utena, leaving her speechless.

"You're the only one for me." Touga closed the distance between them, trampling down the pride that didn't want to be so vulnerable, to show his feelings so openly. Fuck it. Pride and hidden feelings never got me anywhere with her. "I love you," he said simply. There was a momentary flash of guilt in Utena's eyes. Probably because she doesn't feel the same way, he thought. "From the bottom of my heart. You're everything to me."

It was true, Utena knew. He wasn't making the slightest attempt to hide anything from her. She could see that he was completely sincere. He was exposing his fragile heart to her, and she didn't have the slightest idea what to say. The wrong word, even the wrong tone, would kill him. Not that he would keel over dead, but he would no longer be Touga, normal boy. He would revert to what he had been. That thought scared her.

"Even if I cannot be worthy of you…" There, that was guilt again. He knew it, everything he had done was useless in the end. He couldn't be worthy of her. "…let me be here with you for this moment," he pleaded. "Just that would be enough." For the second time, he went down on one knee before her. She didn't resist as he took her hand, didn't slap him as he kissed it. "If I can just engrave this feeling into me, of being here with you tonight, it would be enough."

Her hand turned in his grip. "Touga…"

To his surprise, she didn't pull her hand away. He leaned into her touch as she cupped his cheek, trying to memorize the warmth of her hand on his skin.

"Touga, what's wrong?"

The concern in her voice nearly undid him. He closed his eyes, but a tear slipped out anyway. Her thumb moved gently across his skin, brushing it away.

"Can't I be your prince?" he asked again, despair choking him until his voice was reduced to a whisper.

"I have to save her," Utena whispered back, and Touga knew she was talking about the Rose Bride. "I have to be her Prince, and to do that, I can't be your Princess."

"I don't want you to be a Princess." He opened his eyes, meeting her sad gaze with his own. "You're lovely enough to be one, but your strength and nobility make you a Prince. I don't want you to lose that for any reason, especially not for me. But…" Touga bit his lip. Should he tell her what he knew? Would she give up her dream if she knew the truth of the Rose Bride? Did he want her to give it up, even knowing that achieving it could kill her?

No. Even if she was charging towards her doom, he didn't want her to let go of her dream.

"…why do you want so badly to save her?"

Utena looked away. "That night in the church, I realized no one was going to save me. And then a Prince appeared, and showed me a girl who was in a worse place than me. A girl who didn't believe that anyone would save her, either, or even want to. She was in so much pain, I almost couldn't bear to look at her because in her eyes, I could see that she'd given up. She was just…accepting it. The Prince told me that it was her punishment for doing something unforgivable, but I thought…she's in so much pain, hasn't she been punished enough?" The hand that wasn't cupping Touga's cheek went to her eyes, scrubbing away tears of her own. "I begged the Prince to help her, but he said he couldn't."

Utena closed her eyes, not bothering to wipe away her tears, remembering the scent of roses and the feel of lips on her cheek. She could feel Touga stand up, holding her hand in both of his.

"And then I thought that if I just found her, maybe I could save her. That's when he told me to never lose my strength and nobility. He gave me this ring to help me remember, and lead me to him again."

Touga's mental hands twisted. His dream shattered, but he didn't care. Even if it killed her, killed both of them, he didn't want to stand between Utena and her dream of freeing the Rose Bride. He put his hands on her shoulders, and she didn't pull away. Slowly, he leaned in and kissed away her tears.

"Go to her," he said softly. "Free her."

Her eyes flew open. "But you said she can only be awakened by a Prince."

"You are a Prince," he said, smiling sadly. "You saved me, didn't you?"

One hand crept up to cup his cheek again. "Did I? The curse isn't broken."

"It doesn't matter," Touga said, closing his eyes. "I just wanted you to know that I truly love you. I wanted to have this one day to remember. And I want you to know that tomorrow, when you leave, you won't be alone."

"Touga, what are you talking about?"

"I gave the rings back. Everyone is free to go."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. Why would I leave?"

"There's a new girl coming tomorrow. I won't be strong enough to fight the curse."

"Touga, look at me." Utena waited until he obeyed and then stared into his eyes, all fierce determination and nobility. "I'm going to save her, Touga, and then I'm coming back for you. Got it?"

He nodded, unable to form any kind of coherent thought under the pressure of that gaze. She held his face in both hands, then suddenly leaned forward and kissed him.

"Wait for me, princess," she whispered.

And then she was gone, running for the light stallion, Sword of Dios bouncing at her side. Despite everything he knew, despite the girl who would shatter this brief happiness tomorrow, Touga couldn't help but believe that she would succeed. That she would come back for him. His shattered dream knitted itself back together.

In that instant, the thorns of the roses in the glass coffin exploded outward, shattering the glass and impaling the Rose Bride on long fingers of jagged steel.

Unable to watch Utena fly towards what he was certain was her doom, Touga gazed over the side of the dueling arena, out at the mist which began to swirl strangely. The faint chiming sounds and flickering glints deep within did not alarm him, ignorant as he was. It wasn't until he felt the gondola descend in response to a summons from the foot of the stairs that he understood.

The castle was under attack.