Henry opened his eyes. No, wait – something wasn't right about that. He opened one eye. The spot where the other one had been, was throbbing with dull pain. The pain was the first thing he registered.

The second was, that his face was pressing into fur. Fur, drenched in dry blood. His own blood.

Thanatos. He had – wait, what had he done? Where were they... what had happened? Henry almost started to panic when he realized he had no recollection of what had happened last night.

"D... Death?", his voice was barely a hoarse whisper, but he saw the flier's ears twitch, as they did at any noise. His eyes flung open and he released the grip on Henry instantly – "Henry... you live!"

The exiled prince blinked a few times and frowned – what was going on? Since when was Thanatos so concerned about him? His voice right now was overflowing with joy, like Henry being alive was the greatest thing that had ever happened – oh well, maybe his joy wasn't that hard to understand after all.

It was just that Henry was so used to the flier being grumpy and pretending to not care, that seeing him actually care was a new experience. Most likely for both of them. "Heh... of course, I do. What did you think?"

"Do not even joke about that, it's very serious." This anxious tone in Thanatos' voice was so atypical for him, and yet Henry thought he could get used to him expressing his emotions more often. Just to make things easier overall.

Groaning and realizing he was still tired and stiffer than he'd been in a long time, Henry got to his feet somehow and stretched his aching body as well as he could. When he carefully touched the makeshift-bandage over his right eye, he realized it was hard with dry blood and sticky. He knew he'd have to take it off soon and clean the wound properly – of dirt and of any remaining hanging skin, that could possibly cause an infection. Well, he was certainly looking forward to that.

"How's your eye?", Thanatos called from where they had slept, and Henry managed one of his crooked smiles. "It's seen better."

It took Thanatos a second to get it, but when he did, he forcefully suppressed laughter and after the coughing fit that followed, sounded a loud groan. "This... this is only the beginning isn't it? You'll be making eye-puns to no ends from now on, won't you?"

"You could have SEEN that one coming, honestly."

"Henry, I swear, if you do not stop this immediately –", Thanatos voiced a suppressed giggle, before shaking his head. "Well, if you're joking around already, you must be feeling a lot better."

"I do. I just... don't want to take this thing off... ever." He pointed at the crusted bandage. "Or look at myself in a mirror."

"Oh, come on, it's not THAT bad." Thanatos was lying. He had only seen his injury before it had stopped bleeding, but he still knew it would be bad. From what he had seen, the serpent had torn off a huge chunk of skin along with the eye.

Henry grew serious and shook his head. "I don't remember much from last night, but what I do remember is the look in your eyes when you first saw me. I don't want anyone to ever look at me like that again, and I don't want to realize I'm looking like that at myself when I see my face."

"You... look, when I first saw you, your entire face was covered in blood. You can't take that as my reaction to – wait, did you just say you don't remember what happened last night?"

Henry shook his head while walking up to the river. "All I know is that I leaped for the serpent when it attacked Aurora, and then the pain – after that, it's just blank, besides a few impressions. The fear when I couldn't see you, your face when you looked at me, the taste of water and vomit – I couldn't tell you any more about last night if I wanted to. It may all just as well have been a fever dream."

Henry looked away. He had lied – there was one last thing he thought he remembered, but then again, there were so many nightmarish and unreal pictures in his head from the chaotic fever dreams he'd been subjected to while he assumed Thanatos had flown them out of the Labyrinth, that he wasn't entirely sure if it had actually happened. And if he told Thanatos, and it ended up having been a dream, he'd embarrass himself to the bone.

The image of which he wasn't entirely sure if it was real or not, was the impression of an intertwined claw and hand, words he thought he had heard – and whispered back – familiar words.

Henry shook his head. It had surely been a dream, and one that he wished to bury somewhere where nobody would ever find out about it.

"Oh well", Thanatos shrugged, but he did not look at him, "it's not like you missed much. I pulled you out of the water, you threw up a bunch, made the splint for my wing and then I carried us out. There are really worse things you could forget."

Nothing. No mention of anything like – it actually had all been a dream. Great.

Resigned, Henry decided it was time to face himself. To take the bandage off and look at what he had become. Get it over with, so to say. He kneeled down at the river, but when he attempted to lower his hand into the water to fill it and drink, he grabbed nothing but air. He tried again, further down this time, and nearly sunk half of his lower arm into the liquid. Cursing, Henry realized he had no sense for depth or distance anymore.

"The hell are you doing?" Thanatos had dragged himself closer too, presumably to drink as well.

"I cannot judge distance anymore, it's... it's like... I see the water but I couldn't tell for the life of me if I can reach it with my outstretched hand or if it is five feet away!" Suddenly, a wave of fear inundated Henry. "H... hold on... if that's because of the eye... how in the world am I supposed to fight like this? Or fire a sling? Or DO ANYTHING?!" He turned to Thanatos, fear in his remaining eye.

"Henry, Henry... we can worry about that when we don't have any more pressing matters." The flier tried to sound comforting, but his expression was concerned as well now.

Henry unsheathed Mys and stabbed at a passing fish, but missed by a mile. Frustratedly, he hit the water with the blade. He was useless once more. The feeling gnawed at him – how hard had he worked at becoming independent, at mastering everything this stupid exile could possibly throw at him – and now he felt like he was back at the beginning. Same location, same companion, and same skill level – zero.

In a fit of anger at himself, he threw Mys against the neighboring wall – or at least he attempted to. The wall was much further away than he had perceived and he hadn't thrown hard enough. The dagger landed a few feet before it.

"Hey, hey! You know Teslas will claw your other eye out as well if you so much as make a scratch on that thing", Thanatos chuckled, "Just a few minutes ago you were making jokes, and now you throw your precious dagger at the wall. Make up your mind."

Henry's only response was a groan, and Thanatos turned away, resigned. He could have sworn he heard the flier mumble "teenagers...".

"SHUT UP!", Henry screamed, angrily tearing at the bandages. Thanatos, surprisingly enough, listened to him, probably concerned with his own injuries for the time being.

The cloth was hardened with dry blood and stuck to his hair and the skin on his face, so it took Henry a few minutes to get it off without hurting himself more than necessary. When he had finally done it, he tossed the bloodied chunks of fabric aside disgustedly and, taking a deep breath, finally leaned over the streaming water, holding the torch over his head to be able to see against the glow of the river itself.

What he saw froze the blood in his veins. Henry almost dropped the torch into the water and winced back, for the second time now scared of his own reflection. But this wasn't like last time.

Last time had been bad, yes, he had not recognized his own face for being haggard and neglected, but it all had been fixable. He had fixed it, after all. Well, more or less. He was still thinner than he had ever been, and his features had matured visibly, but he had tried to keep himself in well-enough condition from then on.

Henry realized he was trembling as he turned to Thanatos. The flier raised his head when he heard the movement, and for a short moment, Henry saw the exact same expression that had burned itself onto his inner eye, the one he had never wanted to see again. That mix of fear and disgust when you see something unnatural, something disfigured and something that would scare you if you saw it in a dark and lonely tunnel.

"It... it really is as bad as you thought", his voice was resigned. "I can see it. The way you looked at me again... I'm a monster now, aren't I?" His throat lumped and all he wanted to do was cry. Roll up in a ball in some corner and cry... and never show himself like this to anyone.

"No, no... Henry, it's alright. It looks... bad – I mean, painful, that's all. It will get better. I promise." Thanatos tried to sound reassuring, but Henry knew what he had seen himself.

It wasn't just his eye that was gone. A big chunk of skin was missing around the eye, the wound reached across his forehead and into his scalp in an arch, forming the pattern of a serpent's jaw.

"Henry, the skin will grow back. Will it leave a scar, yes, it will – but it won't look half as bad in a month or so."

The exiled prince had to admit Thanatos had a point. But still. "Hey, I lost my good looks forever." And my ability to fight, to shoot a sling, and to judge if I can hit a wall if I throw Mys or not. He chuckled and tried very hard not to start crying. Why was making bad jokes his coping mechanism for everything?

An hour later he had finally mustered up the strength and stomach to clean the wound and the socket of remaining chunks of eyelid and other things, of which Henry didn't even want to know what they were.

When he was done, at last, he had taken a disinfecting liquid from his sparsely filled bag of medical supplies, that he had thankfully put in his waterproof container with the notebooks, and treated it as well as he could. Then he put on a fresh bandage, as it had started bleeding again. Not nearly as much as last night, but enough.

Next, he had turned to Thanatos. They had inspected his wing and thought about what to do with it. A piece of tissue, as big as both of Henry's hands, was missing entirely. The flier was unbalanced in the air because of it, and he had doubts, whether it would ever grow back.

Henry eyed him and suddenly felt ashamed for whining as much as he had. Yes, he had lost an eye, but here Thanatos was. His injury was equally permanent, and not a single time had he complained or even showed a sign of discomfort. No, he had even flown them out of the Labyrinth, in this state, somehow.

"Hey, I have an idea. I'm not sure if you will like it though." Henry was determined to show he could be useful, despite the eye, and being a whiny teenager.

"I'm currently very open to suggestions", Thanatos sighed.

Henry fetched his backpack and dug through it for cloths. He finally pulled out the most robust one the spinners had given him, it was meant for carrying heavy loads. Well, that would be what it would do from now on as well – kind of.

"You want to... sew that... onto my wing?"

"It's the best material I have at the moment. We'll probably need to replace it soon, maybe if we go back to the spinners they can give you something they could make specifically to imitate the tissue of your wing. And I'm sure they can sew it on better as well." The exiled prince fetched Mys and started cutting the fabric to a fitting size. "Remember, they still owe me for the three additional buzzer wings I gave them last time."

"Are you sure this will work?"

What was Henry supposed to say? "Nope. But do you have a better idea?"

"Henry, this is fantastic!"

The exiled prince was standing at the river, squinting his remaining eye to spot Thanatos. The flier was in the air again, after he had – with much struggle, but nonetheless – makeshift-fixed the wing. The hardest part had been to stretch it so that it wouldn't differ from the rest of the tissue more than necessary, but after a little toing and froing, he had finally succeeded.

When Thanatos landed, Henry saw he had eased up visibly since he'd taken off. The exiled prince thought he must have feared he would never fly properly again, and threw him a smile. "Hey, I mean you look like a patchwork rug, but if it's working...!"

"Says the boy with half the skin on his face gone."

Both of them laughed, even if the matter was everything but funny. But if you can't laugh at your misery, you'll succumb to it, Henry thought and was happy they at least had each other to keep the despair at bay.

"You ready to leave then?", Henry asked, grabbing his things and putting the sewing supplies back into the waterproof box.

"More than ready. The tip of the wing is still broken and I'm not yet entirely used to there being a piece of something other than my own tissue in it, but it'll suffice to get us out of here. This place is maybe safer than most of the rat's land – for some reason that I haven't figured out myself yet – but nothing beats our good-old Dead Land."

"Let's get to it then."

Soon after Thanatos had taken off, Henry fell asleep. His eye had started throbbing again and he had gotten a terrible headache. All he did was lie on Thanatos' back, and eventually, sleep had engulfed him.

When Henry awoke, the headache had gotten better, though not disappeared. He realized they were no longer in the rat's land. The exiled prince looked around and rose a bit, thinking he recognized the location. There was a river streaming beneath them through a canyon. Then, Henry's eye widened – there, at the top of the cliff above them, hung the remains of a bridge.

"Death, this – this is the bridge!"

"What?", Thanatos' voice sounded confused. But he gained altitude and soon crossed the canyon directly above the destroyed bridge.

"This is where the rats attacked us, back when I was on the quest for the Prophecy of Gray. We had to sever the ropes to prevent them from following us!"

Thanatos twitched his ear. "Oh? Where did you come from, before you entered this cave?"

"There", Henry pointed at a tunnel entry in front of them, "Why?"

"It's as good a way as any. And besides, you told me you saw the spinners on your quest. Aren't we on our way to them, to have my wing fixed?"

Henry nodded and Thanatos entered the tunnel, flying along the winding wall. Around ten minutes later they suddenly found themselves in a bigger cave with only two exits – including the one they had come from.

With an exhausted sigh, Thanatos landed. "Finally a resting spot. Hey, this place is nice. I assume you camped here as well, during your quest, if this was your route?"

Henry shrugged while he mounted down. "Maybe, I mean, do you expect me to remember every –" Then he froze in his tracks.

The exiled prince held the torch he had lit on the fly higher, and suddenly felt a lump rise to his throat. He recognized this cave all too well.

You know, where I come from, we don't think much of someone who sneaks up and stabs a person in their sleep – Henry still heard the clear, determined voice of Gregor after he had, being the oblivious madman he was, stepped in between Ripred and Henry, when –

He instinctively grabbed his own right arm and traced the scar, that was still very visible against his pale skin. The rat had sliced it open in self-defense, and Henry remembered his fury and frustration at that moment. He had been frustrated he had lost to a rat, furious at Ripred for having survived, at Gregor for having warned him, and at everyone for siding against him.

The exiled prince clenched his jaw in discomfort. "Hey, Thanatos, can't we just press on? I'm sure there are enough suitable spots to rest ahead of us."

"What is wrong with this one?" Curiosity shone in Thanatos' eyes as he settled down in a depression in the floor.

"I... I don't like the memories it holds." Henry averted his eye.

"Memories, memories – it's the past. The cave can't hurt you, Henry, and I am exhausted. Don't forget I'm flying with a broken wing here. So be a little less picky about resting places, won't you?"

There was little Henry could say to that.

About ten minutes later, Thanatos was rested enough to fly back to the river to fish, and he came back some half an hour later with a bunch of fish unlike Henry had ever seen. He took one and inspected the sharp teeth in its mouth when he remembered Ripred had warned them the fish in that river were carnivorous. "You got us flesh-eating fish? Really?"

"Are you getting picky about your food again or what? I thought we were over that for good", Thanatos scoffed, before curling up on the floor again to eat.

"No, quite the opposite. They look neat." Henry grinned, while, with more trouble than usual, due to the lack of depth-perception, made his torch stand so that he could grill the fish on it.

"What do you think happened to the... the others?" The question had been on his mind for a while, but he had never had the opportunity to ask.

"I have no idea. I only thought of saving you at that moment. Though... I believe Ares and Andromeda managed to get away before I dove into the water. I have no idea about Aurora though."

A lump of fear clogged Henry's throat. Out of all people... it had to be Luxa who was unaccounted for. She'll be fine, he told himself. If anyone will be fine, it's her. She's resourceful and clever, she'll pull through. Like I have. And she has Aurora with her. They will protect each other.

Henry knew that there were situations you couldn't escape, even if you were resourceful and clever, but he decided to be positive for now. Worrying about the others wouldn't get him anywhere.

"So...", Thanatos interrupted his thoughts, "what is the matter with this cave? What memories could it possibly hold?"

Henry sighed. "Do you remember how I told you I once tried to kill Ripred in his sleep?"

Thanatos was quiet for a moment, then he widened his eyes in surprise. "That was HERE?"

"Yes, it was. Right over there", Henry pointed over to the opposite corner of the cave, "Gregor warned him – I have no idea why or how he woke up at the exact right time, but he did. Otherwise, Ripred would be dead now."

As much as he had despised having failed back then, Henry suddenly asked himself if it wasn't for the best if Ripred was alive. Back then, his only motivation to kill the gnawer had been to impress Gorger, but now? Henry realized he didn't hold a personal grudge against Ripred, though the way he had embarrassed him during their first meeting still gnawed at his pride.

In this very moment, he swore to himself that one day – one day he would challenge the gnawer to a rematch. And when that day came, he would give him a fight Ripred would remember for the rest of his life. Well, if he ever found a solution to his new depth-perception-problem, that was.

Henry sighed, and decided instead of reminiscing on the past, it was time to see if the water had done any harm to his belongings. He held his backpack upside down and shook everything out. There were his spare clothes, fabrics and rope, all a little moist, but otherwise unharmed. The ignifer-pellets were safe in their container, as was the fuel he carried with him. He noticed he didn't have much of it left. His firestones and the rock he had gotten from Teslas to sharpen his blades were fine as well.

He took the waterproof container with his notebooks and medical supplies to inspect if it had done its job well. When he opened it and checked the notebooks, something fell out all of a sudden.

Henry didn't recognize it at first, but then the realization hit him – it was the leather scroll he had received from Gregor. The one meant for the Death Rider. He had almost forgotten it existed.

"What do you have there?" Thanatos tilted his head to look over his shoulder. The exiled prince shrugged. "The scroll Gregor gave me, the one for the Death Rider."

"Well, don't you want to look at it?"

"It's... Death, it's not meant for me, I'm very sure." He snorted, "How crazy would it be if I ended up actually being the character I loved to roleplay as when I was a kid."

The flier hesitated for a moment – "Show me that sketch of the mural you made before again", he demanded, and Henry reluctantly opened the page in his notebook. He inspected his own drawing in the torchlight and ran his fingers over it carefully. Suddenly, he felt excitement rise in his chest.

"Do you... do you think I could... actually be him? That would...", Henry's eye shone with anticipation.

"Read the scroll. Maybe it will tell you", Thanatos shrugged.

The exiled prince took it at last and untied the ribbon that held it together. He unrolled it and, to his surprise, it was a prophecy.

"The Death Rider", Henry read aloud, shaking his head. "I never knew there was a prophecy about him! Why did nobody tell me?"

"Oh, I'm sure you had plenty of opportunities to find it, but you probably didn't care enough."

Henry chuckled. "Maybe."

"Well, what are you waiting for – read it! I'm curious myself now."

Henry turned his gaze to the lines, written in Nerissa's pristine hand. She had always had the neater handwriting between them.

The prophecy wasn't long, but the words nonetheless managed to shake Henry to his core as he read them aloud, his voice echoing from the walls of the cave.

Bound to fall and then to rise,

Life reaped by Death, in darkness flies,

Corrupted child, now you atone –

For every turn you have taken wrong.

Adamant your fate is sealed,

True self in you will be revealed,

Darkness, solitude, and pain –

Endure them all and reap the gain.

For redemption, you will strive,

In their hands, you place your life,

Heart and blade alight, you run –

Condemner, savior has become.

After Henry had read the last line, they were both quiet for a moment. Thanatos spoke first – "It is you. It most certainly is you. It had me at "corrupted child", to be honest."

Henry elbowed him, but couldn't deny the truth of his words.

"Hey, you don't believe me? Hold the scroll so that I can read it myself and I'll prove it", Thanatos demanded, and Henry obliged, holding it closer to the flier while making sure the torchlight still illuminated it well enough to read.

"Bound to fall and then to rise – you sure did fall. And currently, you are very much on the rise again. Life reaped by Death, in darkness flies – this is the second time Sandwich used this metaphor for your presumed death."

"Actually, it's the third. From what I remember, the Prophecy of Bane has a line like that too." Henry pondered. "You still think you're the Death that reaps my life?"

"You still doubt it?", was all Thanatos responded.

"We already talked about the "corrupted child"-line. That's the one that convinced me. Or do you not feel like you're atoning right now?"

Henry nodded. The more he thought about it, the clearer it became. This was unbelievable...

"Adamant your fate is sealed – so adamant you asked me to put you out of your misery when we first spoke, remember?"

Henry chuckled. "And you didn't."

"True self in you will be revealed – ahh, I mean we're getting there. Not entirely there yet, but we're working on it."

Henry elbowed the flier once more.

"Darkness, solitude, and pain – endure them all and reap the gain", Thanatos continued reading.

"That line is weird", Henry muttered.

"It is actually not – in fact, I believe it is most accurate. Or do you attempt to deny you were faced with all these things – now that I think about it, even in that exact order", Thanatos continued, "darkness is all around you always, especially before you had a torch – solitude when I was kidnapped by the spinners – and pain now, or does that eye not hurt anymore?"

Henry couldn't really say anything to that, and the flier went on – "and if you want to tell me you didn't reap any gain from your time as an outcast, including all those ordeals the prophecy speaks of, I will carry you out and throw you into the river with the flesh-eating fish."

Henry chuckled. "I say no such thing. Though I lost much, I admit the gain wasn't cheap either." He thought of all the things he'd learned, the friends he had made. It hadn't been for nothing, that was for sure.

"For redemption, you will strive – as you did, when you sought out your former friends on their quest. In their hands you place your life – well, I..." Thanatos was silent for a moment. "That didn't happen if I remember correctly. Maybe it will in the future."

"Oh, it better not. My life is in my hands, and mine only, please and thank you." Henry shook his head.

Thanatos ignored his complaints and continued – "Heart and blade alight, you run – the last time I checked you were very capable of lighting your blade on fire. Condemner, savior has become." Thanatos was quiet for a moment.

This time, it was Henry who spoke up – "Maybe it means I condemned everyone by betraying them, and now saved the same people – or will save, later", he pondered.

"I like that interpretation." The flier lied down again. "Convinced yet?"

Completely aghast, Henry held the scroll of leather in his hands. Had it really been him all along? The looming Death Rider-mural came to mind and he fetched his sketch of it again. Then he froze.

Henry quickly picked up his pencil and started drawing over it. "What are you doing?", Thanatos asked, and Henry smiled, "I just now remembered – back as a kid I focused so much on the image of the human that I completely forgot the mural showed not only him."

He held his notebook up, to show Thanatos what he had added. Behind the human was now, spreading his wings menacingly, a flier. And it wasn't just any flier. Henry remembered vividly how he was confused at the flier's face as a kid because he, in fact, wore a mask. A mask shaped like a skull. "It's you. It can only be you. You are the only flier for whom that image makes any sense."

Thanatos nodded slowly. "It is strange to have it in set-in-stone prophecy-form now that your role in all this is indeed far from over. And mine."

"I can genuinely not believe it was me all along." Henry shook his head unbelievingly, "My entire childhood I was looking at a mural – of myself, and hey – hold on, the mural was what gave me the idea for the flaming sword in the first place, but if it is, in fact, portraying me, already having the sword – that's a self-fulfilling prophecy!"

Thanatos chuckled. "Your Sandwich-guy seemed to have been a clever man. Even though I usually don't care much for prophecies. They are too... abstract, too fancy, they require you to go out there and actually DO things. And besides, they are worth little, out here in the Dead Land – usually."

"And yet one of them binds us together." Henry pondered. "It wasn't a coincidence you saved me, and not anyone else. And neither is it one that we remained together."

Henry thought about how Thanatos had wanted to leave him in the Dead Land when they had first met, about how many times they had almost split up. But it hadn't been their destiny. It was strange, having a prophecy about things that had already happened, usually, they knew them ahead of time. But maybe it was better this way, just this once.

"What you essentially just tried to tell me, was, that you ask yourself if we will ever be bonds, am I correct?"

Henry froze. How had he...?

"Hey, and what happened to that "bonds are useless anyway"-attitude you had earlier? Last time I checked you were still angry with your last one."

"I'm over it", Henry shrugged. He sighed and prepared to speak on, but Thanatos interrupted him – "Henry, we can't bond."

For some reason, his words hit the exiled prince like a bucket of cold water to the face. Thanatos noticed his expression and chuckled a little. Then he took a deep breath, "– because I maybe kind of forgot to mention that it would be for the second time. And that is just pointless."

Henry sat there like rooted to the spot. The image flashed in his mind again, the one he had dismissed as a dream. Instinctively he stretched out his hand in Thanatos' direction, and the flier took it with his claw.

"You... I... I remember, I think..."

"Listen, you were being stubborn as ever, there was no other way to convince you to let me save you", Thanatos admitted.

"And you... just so happen to have left out that MINOR DETAIL when I revealed I had no memory of last night?"

"Exactly." The flier chuckled a bit.

Henry shook his head. "You always call me an idiot, and yet here you are yourself."

"Hey, you didn't ask me about it either. So shut up, will you?"

Henry couldn't really say anything to that. Instead, they sat in silence for a while, claw intertwined with hand, thinking about what would be now.

"You're aware that now you'll have me on your back for the rest of our lives, right? Figuratively and literally."

Thanatos laughed. "Oh yes. And before you ask again, because you did already – yes, I know I will regret this someday. And yet I have a feeling I will also not."

Henry frowned, trying to make sense of what Thanatos had just said.

"Don't.. don't try to understand that. It made no sense, even to me." They laughed.

"Alright", Henry took a deep breath after a while, and rose to his feet – "and what do you want to do now?"