The world turned suddenly airless, and it wasn't because of Dezel's artes. The words were so stark, laid so barely before her, that for a moment Rose wasn't sure how to take them. Even if she had anticipated a confession of some sort, she'd expected him to force her to pry it out of him; those innocent words, open and true, were reasonably close to the last things she thought she'd hear.

"You… what?" asked Rose eventually, but her voice sounded high and faint and foreign to her own ears. All other thoughts fled her mind—all lingering grief for Lunarre, all remaining nervousness over the approaching final confrontation with Maotelus, all scraps of concern regarding Dezel's partial amnesia. All that mattered was his answer, and the doors it might open.

…But he did not seem especially eager to repeat himself. "You heard me," responded Dezel, glancing aside self-consciously, and ran his fingers restlessly along the brim of his hat. Rose could sense him withdrawing into himself already, sensing nonexistent disapproval—perhaps even regretting his words. He seemed so convinced that her answer would not be favorable that he didn't even ask how Rose felt in return.

She had to bring him back from the edge before he shut down again. "Yeah, and I wanna hear you say it again," Rose told him, her voice stronger now, full of the excitement flooding her body like electricity. Unfortunately, her assertion had the opposite effect from the one she sought, as Dezel's every muscle visibly tensed.

"What do you want from me?" he snapped, bristling, and dropped his hands to his sides, curling his fingers into fists. "You know I'm not good with words."

In retrospect, it had not been a good idea to test him like that without first making her own feelings clear. Fortunately, there was no shortage of creative ways to convey them: "That makes two of us," pointed out Rose, putting her hands on her hips and edging forward: though Dezel shifted in place uncertainly, he stood his ground. "Just kiss me, you idiot."

He stared at her in apparent disbelief, but his hands relaxed all the same, and he moistened his lips—perhaps unconsciously. "Wh-what?" he asked, his voice hushed and hoarse and incredulous, and he brushed his hair out of his face to get a better look at her. Even after the restoration of his sight, Dezel almost never troubled to make eye contact, since the wind could still tell him everything he wanted to know: if he needed visual input as well, Rose must have really confused him.

"You heard me," she returned, as teasingly as she dared, and quirked an eyebrow in as clear a challenge as she could manage: thankfully, Dezel accepted it. Taking Rose by the shoulders as if to steady either her or himself, he leaned down cautiously, as though expecting her to shy away or push him back or tell him she wasn't serious. Perhaps if she closed her eyes…

Surrendering herself to the wind and the darkness, Rose allowed her other senses to take control, telling her what was happening around her as though she could read the wind herself. It was several seconds before she sensed any change at all in her surroundings, but her heart jumped instantly at the feel of warm breath on her lips just before they finally, finally met his.

At the touch of his mouth, soft and mute and experimental, her eyes opened again without her permission to find that his had shut. Realizing that she had been holding her breath, Rose exhaled slowly through her nose, breathing into his skin, sliding a hand up to his neck to draw him closer… but he broke away as if afraid of something, and stumbled back.

"S-sorry," he told her, flushing. "I… uh, don't think I've done that before, so I didn't know what to do, and—I just—panicked, I guess." He hung his head, pulling his hat farther down over his eyes. "I screwed up, didn't I?"

Rose shook her head, knowing Dezel could feel the motion in the wind. "Not even a little bit," she assured him. It had been a tad chaste for her extravagant tastes, to be sure, but definitely nice. "Figures that it was your first kiss, though," added Rose, tossing him a wry smile. "You're clueless."

"Shut up and tell me you love me," retorted Dezel, pushing his hat back up to look her sharply in the eye. Rose could barely hold his mesmerizing gaze, burning like green fire. She had almost forgotten that she hadn't told him how she felt yet; to her, it was obvious—but kisses weren't enough for men like him, who thrived on promises of the spoken kind.

It took Rose longer than she cared to admit for her to muster the courage to tell the truth. Kissing was easy. Even falling in love was easy. Tying herself down with promises, articulated or implied, was something Rose had always made a habit of avoiding. "Dezel my dear," she began eventually, quiet in her honesty, "if I love anyone, I love you."

She couldn't meet Dezel's eyes for long after she spoke, but she knew he was staring at her, as if he hadn't been the one to ask her to say it, and the winds were the only movement around them until the corner of his mouth twisted into something like a grimace. "I… thought I'd catch you lying," he told her, jerking his head away as if in shame. "You should be lying. Why aren't you lying?"

Distant memories of their talk outside Alisha's manor flashed through Rose's mind. Why don't you hate me? asked his voice in her head, from long ago. You should hate me. He probably didn't remember that, of course, but he hadn't changed a bit after all; she almost wanted to cry, or maybe laugh, at the parallels. "Don't you think this is a little sudden?" pressed Dezel, when Rose could say nothing. "You and me, I mean. Together. I don't remember—!"

"I won't force you to give a name to our relationship," murmured Rose, lost in memories and thoughts of the future alike; for the moment, time had as little meaning as if she had transformed into a seraph herself. "If you think it's better for us to stay away from each other till everything's over, that's fine. It's enough to know you love me after all." And, to her own surprise, that much was true. She would wait, and gladly, now that they had at least been able to reveal their feelings.

"I never said that," protested Dezel. "About the staying away from each other, I mean!" he clarified hastily, before Rose had a chance to be shocked or distraught. "I just… it's you I'm worried about. And your feelings, since you remember things I forgot. I don't… I don't want this to be…" He took a deep breath. "I don't want to mess with whatever we have by trying to make it into something it's not. I don't want to move too fast, since I'm a different Dezel from the one you knew."

Rose blinked at him for a few seconds. He was serious, wasn't he? "Oh, Dezel, you don't have to worry about that," she told him, struggling not to smile lest she seem patronizing. "Believe me, even if you have changed a little, I can see you're still the same per—seraph—and besides, it feels like I've been waiting for this my whole life. So if you want me, go right ahead," she added, gesturing to herself. "I'm all yours."

"M-mine," repeated Dezel, stepping forward and reaching tentatively toward her to brush a few stray strands of hair out of her face. "You're… mine?" Rose got the feeling he hadn't meant to ask a question, but his voice curved incredulously up all the same, as if he still couldn't quite believe this was real.

"On one condition," smiled Rose, lifting a hand to caress his cheek as she gazed into his eyes once more. They were so much softer, now that she'd been clear about her own feelings. Still, Dezel did not meet her stare, nor did he respond except to raise his eyebrows slightly. "You're mine now, too. Right?"

"Well, obviously," muttered Dezel, taking her hand in his and bringing it away from his face—and, to her girlishly giddy delight, did not let go. "Nobody else is dumb enough to want someone like me."

"Hey, be nice," returned Rose, but she couldn't stop smiling long enough for her words to have their usual bite; then again, with Dezel in this sensitive and vulnerable a mood, that was probably for the best. "I'll be generous and pretend you didn't just basically call me an idiot, but I'm putting my foot down at dismissing my boyfriend as worthless or something."

Dezel blinked, evidently disarmed, and mouthed the word your—but said nothing, clearly waiting for her to say it again. Rose decided she may as well humor him, just this once, but only because he'd managed to put her in such a good mood. "Boyfriend," repeated Rose. "Unless you prefer 'lover', but… that implies a few things we haven't gotten to just yet."

Coughing faintly, Dezel blushed furiously, but did not acknowledge said implications. Instead, he raised a hand to his chin and looked her up and down as if he'd never seen her before. "I guess that would make you my… girlfriend," he mused, mostly to himself. "Weird."

"You're weird," retorted Rose playfully. The apocalypse seemed a world away; all that existed was the two of them, light hearts and quick tongues.

"Yeah, well, you're weirder," shot back Dezel. "And you said you loved me." Rose opened her mouth to make some kind of joking retort, but he wasn't paying attention, and cleared his throat before she could speak. "Could you…" he began, but swallowed. "Say it again?"

"I love you," Rose told him simply, without hesitation. Ordinarily, sappy displays of affection like this rubbed her the wrong way like nothing else, but then again, she'd never really considered herself in love before. In the moment, she'd gladly have told Dezel she loved him a thousand times, just to revel in the truth of it all.

"R-really?" asked Dezel, sounding as surprised as if Rose hadn't already told him so.

"Gods, Dezel, you're so ridiculous," responded Rose, rolling her eyes, but this time didn't even try to suppress her grin. "Yes, I love you. How many times have you made me say it, now?" She did not wait for his reply. "Talking is boring and hard; kissing is fun and easy. I think our course is clear."

Dezel snorted. "Remind me why I love you, because I seriously don't know."

"I don't know either, but you're stuck with me now," laughed Rose, beckoning him forward: Dezel stepped obligingly forward, wrapping both his arms around her and pressing on her back to draw her close. It may not have been particularly comfortable, but Rose knew better than to complain, because his heartbeat pounding rapidly against her chest told her exactly how nervous he was. Still, his lips parted under her gentle pressure, and she smiled into their kiss.

They separated all too soon; he didn't give her enough time to make things interesting—but it was better than breaking away within a few seconds like the first time. "We should be heading back," murmured Dezel, pulling her in closer still and almost smothering her in welcome warmth. Rose nodded hesitantly; she'd been so absorbed in their banter, she hadn't remembered that she and Dezel were both supposed to be asleep. Of course, at this point, she felt like she'd never sleep again, but…

"Should we tell them?" asked Dezel, making an effort at nonchalance, although Rose could still sense the anxiety in his tone. "About us, I mean," he added. "I don't want them to know about my memory. They have enough on their minds as is without worrying about me." Rose frowned; it'd be a lot harder for her to help him out if the others didn't know, and they could fill in details she was missing too—but really, it was his decision.

"They'll figure everything out by this time tomorrow night," she said instead, thoughtfully. "Sorey is way more observant than he lets on, and the others are all pretty sharp too. Even if Lailah doesn't act like it about half the time."

"Fair point," returned Dezel, offering his hand, and Rose took it without hesitation; he led her gently out of the cave, and this time, his wind redirected the raindrops. "I just hope you're ready for whatever they'll say about us."

"They've already said plenty about us before now," remarked Rose, narrowly resisting the urge not to skip alongside him. "If anything, knowing we're actually together might take some of the novelty out of teasing us," she added, grinning outright. "The key is keeping a level head."

"I know enough to know you're not the best at that," chuckled Dezel, squeezing Rose's hand.

"Says the pot to the kettle," returned Rose. "Your temper hasn't gotten any less short since you lost your memory. I mean, it might be for a different reason now, since you're under a lot of stress trying to keep up appearances… but you've always been a little, well, confrontational." She decided it was best to speak delicately, so as not to give off the wrong impression. Spiky as he could be, she'd never resented him for it.

Dezel laughed, and Rose's lingering apprehension vanished; she didn't have to worry so much about inadvertently insulting him after all. "You probably know me better than I do." His voice was affectionate, but there was no hiding the serious note in his tone.

"Yeah, well, you used to know me better than I did," returned Rose, the past tense tripping up her tongue. "Turnabout is fair play, and all that. Or maybe all's fair in love and war?" she added, scratching her head. "Some stupid old saying like that. What are you grinning about?"

"You," responded Dezel, but sobered even as he spoke, and frowned into the distance as if anticipating something terrible awaiting them on the invisible horizon. At this point, no matter how curious she was, Rose knew better than to ask what he was thinking about; if he wanted to explain, he'd tell her.

Sure enough, Rose had only to wait a few more fleeting moments before Dezel spoke again. "About my oath…" he began, his voice edged with a sigh and full of more confused emotions than Rose could count. "I know you want to hear what it is, but I can't tell you. Not yet. Sorry."

"Not important?" asked Rose, raising her eyebrows. She knew better than to think for a second that was the case, but at least she could gauge his reaction.

"More important than anything else," Dezel assured her, almost before she had finished speaking, and she felt her expression soften at the truth in his tone. "That's exactly why I can't tell you anything. But don't worry," he added. "I may not be able to say it has nothing to do with you, but it's not going to get in the way—I promise."

Braving a smile up at him, Rose squeezed his hand. "Then I won't ask," she told him resolutely: Dezel's only response was the ghost of a grin, and a faint chuckle she felt in the breeze. In light of his reassurance, Rose discovered that her desire to discover his real oath had all but disappeared. Guardian angel or angel of death, Dezel was hers, and that was all that mattered.


Currently in the midst of a ton and a half of miscellaneous depression/anxiety, so I'm praying I haven't totally lost my touch here. Shorter chapter, because resolution has been needed for nigh on a month, and also because I need to put something up so I can feel like I'm still moving forward with this.

Anyway, on to cheerier notes: Dezerose party at my place! Assuming I executed it right, this chapter is worth a jamboree, even considering the amnesia… except I have no idea how to throw a virtual party, so I have no clue what I/we should do to celebrate. Any ideas? I'd hold some sort of creativity contest, except it'd be a tie since I love everything you guys do for this story, so…

queenofcats81: Oh, that wasn't meant to be an admonition to people who are too busy to review! I mean, it's not like you don't have good excuses, and you'd probably rather read pretty much anything than go through everything you're dealing with. No worries!

lazycat66: Yeah, Dezel's still pretty similar overall, just for different reasons than before. But yeah, Rose's feelings on the matter are pretty bittersweet too. Once she gets over dying of happiness, she'll come back to that.

linake11: Hey, review at your own pace! But contrary to popular belief, including Dezel's, he's not a totally different person or anything, so we'll see what happens once he stops being quite so on edge all the time. And of course I'm still motivated to continue the story! People like you have used it as inspiration for all sorts of wonderful things; it'd be nothing short of a sin to let them down!

NaotoShirogane: Heh, you shouldn't have died last chapter. What are you going to do now?