A/N: Valtor catches Griffin sneaking behind his back to meet someone else, an enemy of theirs, but is that a good enough condition for him to rip her out of his heart and tear her apart?
He'd followed her to Magix to find out where she disappeared off to every other week. She usually had excuses that were even good enough for his mothers but not for him. Not when he knew her and knew she was lying. She got distant and cold every time he asked her about those trips and it was like a fire he couldn't control spreading through his veins and burning him, filling his lungs with ashes to know she didn't want to trust him with the truth when he'd trusted her with his soul and his love. He could only think of one reason that could explain her behavior and as much as he hadn't wanted to doubt her, he was getting proof that he'd been right to.
She was off with more than just a few planets from her supposed destination, lost somewhere at the busy streets of Magix where she couldn't find anything about the magical tome she'd claimed she was after but would at least lead him to the truth. She'd covered her tracks well, to the point where he'd had trouble tracing her–he was torn between being proud of her and getting even more suspicious if that was even possible–but he'd found her. Just in time to see Faragonda walking out of the mall where he knew Gtiffin was.
He felt a different heat surging through him and the anger almost got the better of him as he barely stopped it from pushing his magic to burn through his disguise and go after her to finish her once and for all. He couldn't get sidetracked with revenge, though, if he wanted solid proof that Griffin had done nothing that would hurt him, nothing that would require him to hurt her. He had to find something, something that would make him believe that even after he saw her coming out of the mall herself a few minutes later. Something that would allow him to keep loving her even when it was confirmed that she'd been meeting with the fairy, for his love wasn't conditional and just because he was supposed to purge it from his heart when he'd have to burn her, didn't mean he would be able to.
He grabbed Griffin's arm as she was walking down the street, headed towards her next stop which would be crafting a deception good enough to trick even Lysslis, and pulled her into an alley that seemed forgotten by the world where she would have all the time to give him some explanation that could save their love.
She struggled against his grip at first when she thought it was someone attacking her but it all ceased when she saw it was him and the look on her face broke him and made him want to scream but that would draw attention to them and steal away her opportunity to save them both. So he held himself back even at the sight of the terror in her eyes at the face of what they both knew he had to do to her and it only proved their love was lost, for she'd given him a reason to give her a reason to be afraid of him. Or perhaps she was afraid of herself, of what she'd done to them.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, holding on to her, for he didn't want to let her go. He was giving her infinite opportunities to lie to him with being so vague and yet none at all because he wouldn't have been there in the first place if she could get away with hiding the truth. So he hoped that she could find some roundabout way to explain her actions or weave a net of half-truths that he could let himself fall into, otherwise his soul would follow her in the flames where they'd both die.
"I haven't betrayed you," Griffin said, her voice full of restless energy like she had so many ways to explain things that she didn't know which one to go.
He hoped she'd find the right one because he wanted to believe her. He wanted to, wanted to trust that the way she was grasping at his sleeves was a desperate attempt at holding on to him and not a measure to prevent him from hurting her. He would never. He didn't want to. He couldn't.
"This has nothing to do with you or the Coven," Griffin sounded torn but whether between lying and saying the truth, or between keeping her firm grip on him and reaching to cup his cheek, he couldn't really tell. "This only has to do with me and Faragonda," she said as she seemed to have made her choices, her fingers opening and letting go of his sleeve and it felt like she was abandoning him even if she was reaching to touch his skin.
"She's one of them," he hissed, still wary of their surroundings, and grabbed at her hand, to keep her off of him, for he was too vulnerable and he was afraid her touch wouldn't be soothing now like he was used to it being. He was still gentle enough not to crush her hand in his outburst, though. He didn't want to hurt her, even when she was hurting him. Faragonda was an enemy, one of the Company, and he couldn't understand how Griffin had trusted her enough to meet with her and put herself in danger. It could've been a trap. She could've gotten herself killed, leaving him with all that love for her in his heart that would've remained unshared and would just stick to its walls until it hardened enough to stop it from beating.
"She's my friend," Griffin objected, her voice quiet and tears filling her eyes. He'd hurt her despite his will when it had been the one thing he'd wished to avoid. "She's my friend and I miss her," Griffin sobbed out as her body slumped in defeat against the wall behind her back, the tears falling from her eyes, and if he hadn't been there to hold her, she would've fallen on the ground, like a body with no soul, like a corpse.
It hurt him that she'd trusted Faragonda enough to share her secret with her but not him. Faragonda was on the side of the Company, yet, Griffin had been meeting with her and hadn't even told him about it, trusting the fairy not to betray her while she'd been fearing he'd hurt her. It should have alarmed him, should have been a red flag, but the world would lose all color without her and he couldn't see anything through her tears. Her cries echoed in his mind like those of a bat that had no other way of finding home, for it was blind and alone. And it hurt more than his thoughts.
He drew her into a hug and felt her wrapping her arms around him slowly, weakly, but with intent, as she held on to him and her touch didn't hurt like he'd feared it would. It had been the doubts that had hurt him and they seemed distant and unreal now that she was in his arms and he was in hers and they were together again, no secrets standing between them, no lies that were painful. Just their unconditional love that could survive anything, for they were fully devoted to it.
"I love you," Griffin whispered, but it was still the loudest sound in the universe. The only sound he wished to hear. "I don't ever want to leave you," she said, and he believed her because he wanted to. Because his love was unconditional and he wanted to believe hers was too. And he did.
He did believe it when she offered to stop meeting with Faragonda and he said he'd cover for her if she needed him to because he couldn't watch her suffer, even if he felt like he was on the wrong end of her love and she was giving more of it to Faragonda than to him. He did believe it when she came back every time even if he wished she would've never left because she took his heart with her and he was afraid she wouldn't return and he'd have to go look for her only to find her dead with his heart clutched in her grip, making it impossible to pry it from her cold, lifeless fingers. He did believe it when the Company kept fighting them without any further knowledge on them, for she hadn't betrayed them and was risking her life just to go see her friend. He did believe it and he came to regret it just like he'd been afraid he would when she left him. Because he'd believed a lie.
He should have killed her right then and there when he'd caught her sneaking behind his back but that would've killed him, too. She was so deeply entangled in his soul that he couldn't have removed her without destroying himself. She'd known it, too, and she'd still left even after he'd put so much faith in her, even after he'd put himself in her hands. She'd let him down and torn him apart and now he was in a million pieces broken against the floor, not even a body left behind, when he could have avoided it if he'd just killed her on time, but his heart had made him weak.
Never again. He wouldn't listen to it anymore. No matter how hard it was to ignore it with the need it was making him feel to kiss her, and look at her face, searching for a reflection of his own feelings in her eyes, searching for a reflection of himself, for he was all woven from his love for her and without it he'd unravel out of existence but he was safe because it was unconditional and no matter what she did, he couldn't stop loving her even if he wanted to. And he did. He really wanted to stop loving her. It felt too good even when it hurt and made him weak. Weak for her.