Beyond the Tower, the masses celebrated the return of night. The Light that had so plagued Norvrandt was but a recent memory, and the scourge of Lord Vauthry had been laid low by the Warrior of Darkness and her stalwart companions. The Exarch had been returned to the Crystarium after his kidnapping by fell forces unknown, and all was right with the world. Or, so went the refrain that sounded through the crowds.
Within the Tower, however, the night was silent and still, and there was little jubilation. Although he'd taken time to move among his people, the Crystal Exarch had finally retreated to his private sanctum, taking refuge among his books and devices.
Hiding, he could privately admit, from the Warrior of Darkness and her Scions. He was not looking forward to the inevitable confrontation; what he had done to her was unconscionable, and whatever she and her companions deemed suitable recompense, he would provide. That his motives had been beyond pure did not matter; that he'd had the aid of one of her closest friends did not excuse his abuse of her trust.
That she meant the world - worlds - to him only made it worse.
That he would come due for a reckoning, he had no doubt. That he would deserve it in full measure he whole-heartedly concurred. But the idea of seeing contempt - or worse, hatred - in her eyes made his heart quail as nothing else ever had. So, like the coward he was, he hid away in his crystal tower, pacing restlessly amongst his books and trinkets, delaying the moment of his fall.
"So." His foot rolled under him as he stopped suddenly, and he cursed at the sudden piercing pain in his ankle. "This is where you've been hiding."
Kneeling, he rubbed at his ankle, keeping his head bowed as his shoulders hunched, his tail curling between his legs. "I'm not hiding. I am contemplating the issues that still stand before us."
He did not hear her footsteps as she glided across the floor, coming to stand before him, but he could feel her hot gaze on the back of his head. "Stop lying to me." Temper simmered at the edges of her words, crisping them.
Exhaling heavily, he felt his shoulders sag. "Alright, yes. I'm hiding, for all the good it has done me."
She remained silent, and he gathered the tatters of his courage and dignity and rose unsteadily, gripping to his staff as he raised his eyes to meet hers.
There was nothing of warmth in her lapis gaze as she peered at him from beneath the feathery fall of scarlet hair. Her delicate features were set in resolute lines, her full lips pinched thin by her ire. Her ears were laid back, her tail lashing at the back of her calves as she stood, hands fisted on her hips, and regarded him. "What have you to say to me?"
He felt his own ears sag downwards, his tail coiling limply along his calf as he lowered his eyes again, exhaling heavily. "I am sorry for the pain I caused you. I am sorry for the agony I put you and your friends through. I am sorry that I abused your trust in such a heinous manner; would that I had known a better choice."
"Why not just tell me the truth?" she asked softly.
He looked up. "What would I have said? 'I am from the future - your future - and you're going to die. When you die, the entire world will be plunged into chaos because no one will be able to prevent the Eighth Umbral Calamity, and Hydaelyn as we know it will cease to exist'? Would you even have believed me?"
Her expression did not change. "Did you give me the benefit of the doubt?"
His gaze slid from hers. "I did what I felt best. Right or wrong, I judged it right to hide who I was, what I was doing, lest I cause irreparable harm to the timeline. A chance word during a visit back to the Source and all might have come tumbling down." He hesitated, then sighed. "Too, I think I did not want you to know it was me. I worried… I worried that you would think this just another ill-advised adventure. Coming from Urianger, I judged you more likely to accept it as fact."
She closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Twelve forfend," she muttered. "G'raha Tia, what am I going to do with you?" He blinked at her, watching her ears flick forward, her tail still, anger tempered in the face of his honest remorse. "What you did - what I went through… gods, there are no words to describe it." Lowering her hand, she opened her bright blue eyes to glare at him. "I would have been fine with dying," she said softly, "but you almost turned me into a monster."
He clenched his teeth, looking away. "I know. I never expected it to get that far. I was going to take the Light from you, and cast it into the void, and you would have been safe, the First and the Source no longer in jeopardy."
"And kill yourself in the process," she replied flatly.
His eyes slid back to hers. "Are you the only one who may make that sacrifice?" he demanded.
She moved too swiftly for sight. One moment, she stood there glaring at him, the next she stood before him, the front of his robe clenched in her fist as she drew his face down to hers. "I am the Warrior of Light, G'raha Tia. Such a sacrifice is my most likely fate. But I will be damned if I see anyone else I care about sacrificed in my stead. I am so damn tired," she rasped, "of losing those I love because they judge me more important."
He gazed at her across the ilm separating them, his allegan red eyes anguished. "You are more important, Ainyan," he said. "You are the most important person in the world."
She scoffed. "It's not like Hydaelyn can't find another Warrior of Light."
He hesitated, then, "I didn't mean because of that."
She stiffened. "Oh." Her fingers loosened in the folds of his robe as she searched his face, her brow wrinkling with her slight frown. "Oh," she repeated, and he started to pull away. Her fingers tightened, preventing his escape, and her lips curved in a curious smile. "'Tis good to see you awake, G'raha Tia."
The same words she'd spoken to him after the defeat of Emet-Selch, when he'd first proffered his apologies. Now, as then, he felt his eyes fill, spill over down his cheeks. "'Tis good to be awake," he whispered.
She searched his face a moment longer, then leaned in. He felt his breath still in his breast as her mouth touched his, a testing brush of lips against lips. At the spark that speared down his spine, he sucked in his breath and heard her gasp in kind. As he reached for her, she released him, only to slide her arms around his neck and draw him in, body to body.
His arms wrapped around her waist; it was difficult to remember to be cautious of his crystal arm, to ensure that he did not bruise her - especially as her mouth fastened on his, hot and hungry. As he responded in kind, he felt her lips part, her tongue flicking out testingly, and he closed his eyes and let himself go.
Let himself fall.
He did not know how long they stood there, trading kisses between them. Long enough for the celebrations outside to die down. Finally, though, she pulled back, reluctance in her every movement. "I came in here," she murmured throatily, "to yell at you."
"Aye, my lady," and how those words had taken on a different meaning with her in his arms, "you did. And I would deserve it," he agreed, dropping his gaze, his ears drooping slightly. "What I did, Ainyan, I did with the best, the purest of intentions. I never intended it to go so far; I never thought you would truly be in any danger for longer than it would take me to…"
She closed her eyes, stepping forward to rest her head upon his shoulder. His arms tightened about her, and it was a great deal more difficult to moderate his strength than he'd ever imagined it would be. "I suspected," she whispered, "for some time now who you were. Did you ever stop to think about how I would feel if you'd succeeded?"
He buried his face in her hair, his hands tightening on her back. "No. I couldn't bring myself to consider it," he admitted. "I was afraid if I thought too long on it, I wouldn't be able to go through with it. But it was the only way I knew of to get rid of the Light. I never thought about using it to fashion your Blade."
She sighed. "It's not like you even knew I would need my Blade," she murmured. "You had little reason to suspect that there would be Ascians involved until you'd already set your plan in motion. And by then…" She trailed off, and he felt her tremble in his arms. "I know the cost to myself, more than you can imagine. But, G'raha Tia… full glad am I that your plan failed."
He leaned back, bringing his hands up to cup her face, urging her to look at him. His scarlet eyes searched hers and he sighed. "I am of mixed feelings," he admitted. At her surprise, he offered her a bittersweet smile. "That you know who I am is a blessing I thought never to know. That we are here, in this moment, I never dared dream for. Full well do I understand that it was the failure of my plan that has led to this. And yet," he sighed, "the torture you underwent beneath the burden of Light. The torture I underwent at Emet-Selch's hands. And the fact that your comrades yet linger here, when my death was to have sent them home…"
"You will find a way, G'raha Tia," she said, her eyes on his, and he exhaled to see the faith in her gaze. "I have no doubts in my mind or heart that you will solve this dilemma - without," she added, her voice hardening, "undue risk to yourself."
He winced, looking away. "Ainyan."
"Raha," she mimicked, and he turned back to blink at her at the familiarity. She raised an eyebrow, her gaze dipping deliberately to his mouth before rising once more to his. "Will you deny me the right?"
His breath grew thick in his lungs as his fingers curved to fit her face, his eyes gazing intently into hers. "Never," he murmured. He lowered his head and she raised hers, meeting him halfway. As his mouth covered hers, his hands slid down until he once more wrapped her within his arms, drawing her against him and holding her as tightly as he dared.
Eventually, he drew away as he felt his blood begin to burn, his heart begin to yearn. As he gazed upon her satisfied expression, he bit his lip and drew away. She opened her eyes, frowning after him. "My lady," he whispered. "Understand. I have wanted you for more years than I can possibly remember. But…" He trailed off, then extended his hand to her.
His crystal hand.
She stared at it, then reached out to touch it, her slim, nimble fingers skimming across rigid flesh. "I admit," she murmured, her voice shaky, "I'd wondered how much of you was this way. Not," she added hastily, "out of salacious curiosity…"
He smiled. "You are not alone in that wondering, my lady," he murmured. "Suffice it to say, more of me is crystal than man these days, and for each time I call upon the Tower, a little more of what I was fades to stone."
Her lip trembled slightly and he reached out with his still-living hand to trace it with his thumb. "Is there no cure?"
With a soft, breathless laugh, he withdrew his hand. "It is not a disease, dearest one," he replied hoarsely. "It is payment. It is the demand the Tower makes of me that I may use its endless bounty. Someday, I shall be a part of it. This is the bargain to which I agreed in order to save two worlds." He hesitated. "To save you."
She could hear the warning in his voice. "Raha, I never would have asked this of you."
He shook his head. "No, you would not," he agreed. "You would never ask any to sacrifice in your name; you would be the sacrifice. But no man may stand alone, my heart, nor any hero, either. And sometimes," he whispered, "we must accept that those who walk at our sides do so but fleetingly, their fates writ to ensure ours continue unabated."
Her jaw set; he saw it and sighed. "Have you not already proven, my Raha, that our fates are not set in stone?" She gestured to herself, then around them, to the Tower and, beyond, to the Crystarium and Norvrandt.
"How did you come to be so stubborn?" he wondered; a foolish question - she had always been, he knew, stubborn beyond measure. One had to be, to endure what she had endured at the hands of fate, destiny, and those nearest and dearest to her. "But you make me want to buck against the destiny I drive myself towards."
She reached up, cupping her hand along his cheek, and he nuzzled into her palm. "G'raha Tia," she whispered. "Once I watched you walk away to a destiny you had to fulfill - I watched the doors close between us and I railed against fate that it should bring you to me only to snatch you away. I cried that night," she admitted, and he reached for her before he could stop himself, drawing her closer. "Though it had only been a few short weeks that we worked together to unravel the mysteries of the Crystal Tower, you had come to mean much to me."
"Ainyan," he breathed, but she shook her head.
"You were the first to sacrifice in my name," she whispered. "Would that you could have been the last - but I have lost so many to a destiny I never wanted; now here one returns to me. And you would ask me to lose you twice?"
He gathered her against him and she buried her face against his shoulder, her arms banding tight about his waist. "I ask only that you be cognizant of the possibility, my heart," he whispered. "I don't want to leave you. I never want to lose you again."
"Just shut up," she hissed against his shoulder. "I don't want to think on this any more this night." He turned his head, tucking his face against the curve of her shoulder. "Just hold me, G'raha Tia. Let me know that you're here."
He closed his eyes, his arms banding around her almost too tight for comfort. "I am here, my Ainyan," he whispered against her skin. "I am always at your side."