When they arrived back at the castle, they found all of Gramorr's former prisoners already milling about the throne room, waiting. When the Princesses arrived, every eye lit up and the newly restored building was filled with cheers.
Ecstatic, the Princesses rushed to reunite with their loved ones.
Iris started to follow them, but hung back, looking over her shoulder. "...Mephisto?"
Mephisto was standing just outside the door, out of sight. "You should go on. I..." He looked away. "...I'm not welcome, here."
Iris set her jaw in that stubborn way of hers and walked over to him with her arm outstretched. "Don't be silly. Of course, you're welcome."
He looked at her incredulously, but eventually let her lead him into the room. He stayed several feet behind her as they entered, trying to hide behind her silhouette, but he knew he was all too visible.
The low rush of whispering rose around them, quiet at first but growing louder as more people saw him. Mephisto felt every alarmed and suspicious gaze like a burning spotlight on his skin. A deep blush began creeping up his neck and bloomed on his cheeks. He considered teleporting away.
"It's all right!" Iris hurried to reassure them. "He's a friend! He helped us defeat Gramorr!"
The whispers seemed placated and mostly faded away, replaced by a few moments of rather judgmental silence before the buzz of excited conversation resumed.
Mephisto and Iris both let out relieved breaths.
"Um... Thank you." He shot her a grateful look. His cheeks were still glowing a dull red.
She smiled and then went to join the crowd. Mephisto followed, although he couldn't help but notice that people instinctively drew away from him. He decided to stand further off to the side and just watch.
Talia was talking to her sister, happier and more animated than Mephisto had ever seen her. Auriana was still hugging Jodan, which gave him a guilty twinge and he looked away. Carissa and Lyna were currently besieged by children. Apparently all the Princesses were popular with little ones.
A gasp went up and most of the room dropped to one knee. Iris looked around in confusion, then saw them.
Her parents had entered the room. The High Queen and King of Ephedia, their regal beauty none the worse for their long imprisonment.
Iris instantly teared up and ran to embrace them. The royal family was together again, the way they'd dreamed for so long. Iris drank in their faces and voices, unmarred by the veil of a Vocalextra, and for the first time could actually touch them. Her heart was so full of love she felt it might burst. She thought this might be what heaven is like.
Mephisto stared at them as one would an approaching lion, with a mixture of awe and terror. He realized with a horrified start that he was still standing.
Panicking, he knelt so fast that he banged his knee on the floor with a loud thunk! He hissed under his breath at the throbbing ache in his kneecap and bowed his head, hoping to avoid the royals' gaze.
Of course, he couldn't be that lucky.
Iris felt her parents tense and looked at them in confusion. She turned and followed their gaze to Mephisto, who was bowing far deeper than anybody else, practically groveling.
"Is that not one of Gramorr's servants?" the King asked her quietly, his expression guarded.
"...It's okay," Iris told them. "Mephisto's a hero! He helped us."
"He betrayed Gramorr?" Her mother evaluated Mephisto from where she stood.
The three of them were speaking in low voices most did not hear, but Mephisto was straining to listen from his place across the room. He actually managed to bow a little deeper than he already was.
It was very difficult to breathe in this position, bent almost to the floor with his knee digging into his torso, but it would be a whole lot harder to breathe if he couldn't get into their Majesties' good graces.
"Yes! You see, his sister..." Iris felt a stain of sorrow seep across her happiness. "...Praxina... She... died. During the battle." The words felt wrong on her tongue, so very wrong.
Mephisto winced, tears blurring his view of the elaborate tiles beneath him. Hearing Iris say aloud the words he'd been trying not to even think... He hoped the Queen and King couldn't see how bad he was shaking.
"Mephisto." The Queen's calm yet stern voice immediately silenced the room.
His heart leapt into his throat. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to bow more (could he even bow more? Was that physically possible?) or look up. Probably it would be ruder not to look.
Mephisto timidly raised his eyes and met the Queen's gaze.
Dear heavens, she was as beautiful as the stories always said. He'd thought they were exaggerations, but in truth they were understatements. Power, grace and nobility radiated from her and the King.
"...Y-yes?" His voice shook badly. "Your... most royal, um, Majesty?"
She was staring coolly down at him. Oh gosh, this was it, wasn't it? She was about to pass judgment on him. He swallowed hard.
"We wish to extend our condolences for the loss of your sister."
He didn't respond for several seconds, he was so surprised. He'd thought he was headed to the dungeon, at best.
"Th-thank you, your- um, your kind... goodness!" He really needed to work on this. He wasn't used to addressing anybody but Gramorr this way.
The Queen and King smiled benevolently. For they did see how much he was shaking, and their generous hearts went out to him.
"You are hereby given a full pardon for the crimes you committed under Gramorr's command," the Queen said. "You will also be rewarded for your assistance in the final battle."
His gaze flickered to Iris, who was smiling excitedly at him. Reassured, he mustered a small one.
"I... thank you, your Grace. You are... most good and generous. But..." He took a deep, nervous breath. He was scared to push the situation, but needed to say it. "But I need no reward. I... only did it to avenge my sister. The pardon is reward enough, and, frankly, far more than I deserve." He bowed his head, hoping desperately that the royals wouldn't be offended.
It was in that moment that Iris understood exactly how profoundly he had changed. Mere hours ago, the most important thing in the world to Mephisto was the wealth and rank Gramorr had promised him. Now, he wouldn't hear of it.
Perhaps because he'd realized he was mistaken. The most important thing was actually his sister, and she was lost to him. No amount of gold could ever fill that void.
The King closed the distance in two long strides, stopping just in front of Mephisto. "If you will not take gold, would you be more interested in a position as a royal guard?"
The crowd tensed at this. A few whispered their astonishment.
Mephisto looked up at him with a small gasp. "Me? Really?" His throat became tight with emotion. "...My parents were in the royal guard," he said quietly.
The King's smile widened. "...Yes, I thought you looked familiar. Arcturus and Belladonna's son. I remember your parents very well. They were excellent people and the loyalest of soldiers." He reached his huge hand down towards Mephisto. "If you are half as good as they, we will need you. Gramorr has left quite the mess behind, after all."
Mephisto looked up at him with tears in his eyes. Their goodness knew no bounds, it seemed. To think, he'd fought so long and hard to keep Gramorr in charge and them in the dungeon. The very thought made his face burn with shame.
He tentatively took the King's hand. "...If you're certain you want me, your Majesty."
The King pulled the boy to his feet as if he weighed nothing. "Princess Iris seems to believe in you, and that is good enough for me."
Mephisto looked over at Iris. She was still smiling, and he realized that nobody had ever smiled at him quite like that. Like she... trusted him, and even liked him. Like... he was a friend.
It made him want to earn that smile, to be actually worthy of the trust and friendship she gave so readily. Too readily, really. He didn't deserve it.
He was looking straight at her as he answered the King. "In that case, I'd be honored to serve you, your Highness." He bowed at the waist.
Iris's mind flashed to the golden afternoon when he'd first said those words. Her heart lurched in her chest, just as it had then.
The celebration continued well into the evening. Iris found there were a lot of people who wanted to meet her. She was thankful for her natural talent for remembering names and faces, or she would've been in trouble.
Mostly, though, she was hanging out with her friends and their families, as well as spending a lot of time getting to know her parents. Which was a little more awkward than she'd imagined.
"-And then there's Nathaniel." She felt a rush of giddy joy as the thought of her boyfriend. "He's so great, you guys would love him! He's smart, and kind, and thoughtful, and funny, and really caring..." She trailed off, blushing. "...I could go on and on. Anyway, he works at a local smoothie place after school and during summer. We hang out there a lot."
The thought of not being able to see Nathaniel again anytime soon circled Iris' thoughts, but she refused to give it any harbor. She could be sad, later. She'd waited too long for this.
Her parents looked like they were interested, of course, but also confused.
"He sounds lovely, Iris," her mother said. "But, tell us, what is a 'smooth ee' place?"
"Yes," he father added, "and why do you girls 'hang out' there? What do you hang from? Is it a training exercise?"
Iris blinked at them, then smiled. "...Have I mentioned in the last five minutes how happy I am to see you guys?" She grabbed their hands across the table. "I love you."
Her parents beamed and replied that they loved her too. (Though, they still wondered about the benefits of smooth ee hanging.)
Her eyes wandered around the room and landed on a certain lonely boy, standing in the shadows and watching the crowd. She watched him wipe his face with the back of his hand.
Iris excused herself from her parents and went to talk to him. "Mephisto?"
He blinked at her, trying not to cry.
"...I'm sorry you have to watch us with our families. It must be hard."
He sighed and nodded slightly. "Yeah, kinda..."
Iris looked down. "...I just want you to know that... I won't if you don't want me to, but I'd like to have a memorial built."
"You'd do that?" He blinked at her again, surprised. "For Praxina? She hated you."
"Maybe, but she was still..." She swallowed. "...I owe her that much, Mephisto."
He shifted from one foot to the other. "Look, what I said about it being your fault-"
"No, you were right. I should have been more careful." Her voice caught in her suddenly tight throat. "...I just... never thought I might hurt someone like that. I'm..." She stifled a sob and whispered, "...I'm so sorry..."
"N-no, you..." He wasn't good at this. He didn't know how to comfort people. "You did what you had to do, Princess. I'd have done the same in your place."
Iris forced a tearful smile, but couldn't get it to stay. "...You're... way too forgiving, Mephisto..."
He held his breath to keep from laughing aloud at that. He was too forgiving? As if he'd never tried to kill her, before. As if she didn't have every reason in the world to hate him.
She cleared her throat and tried to collect herself. "...Do you want me to send someone to look for... Um..."
The unspoken concept of recovering Praxina's remains hung in the air heavily.
Mephisto shut his eyes wearily. "...No, it's... very kind, Your Highness, but..." He shook his head. "...There's nothing to find. The explosion..." He winced at the unbidden memory.
Iris nodded numbly. "...Um, if you want to, you're welcome to go rest in any of the bedrooms, if you want to..." She looked down. "...Grieve in private?"
He sniffled once and shook his head. "Thank you, Iris- uh, Princess Iris. But... I'd really rather not be alone right now. If..." He cleared his throat. "If I could just... borrow some clothes and change? I... don't want to wear this." He gestured distastefully at his clothes.
He couldn't bear to wear this uniform. Gramorr's uniform. The one that matched his sister's. He could always glamour a different outfit onto himself, but... he'd know. He wanted the very fabric away from him.
Iris smiled sympathetically. "Of course, you can."
"Thank you, Your Highness." He tried to convey his massive amount of gratitude with those words. "If you'll excuse me, then?" He bowed at the waist, his eyes never leaving hers, and turned to leave.
Iris tried to justify the way her heart thumped when he looked at her like that. Nathaniel flashed into her head and she felt a stab of guilt.
She returned to her parents, happy for the distraction from her confused and irrational feelings.
Mephisto had no idea where he was going. He hadn't been in this part of the castle in years. Now that the halls were restored to their former state, he didn't even have dark crystal landmarks to recognize.
"Well, I'm completely lost." He turned. "Prax, where..."
The empty space beside him felt like it punched him in the gut.
He leaned shakily against the wall as fresh tears flooded his eyes.
Mephisto had never been alone for this long, before. He and Praxina were never apart for more than a few hours, and even then she was always nearby. He was only just coming to the realization that he was truly alone, and would probably be alone quite often from now on.
He missed her so badly, already. He didn't know what to do on his own. He'd never made his own choices.
He was lost, in so many senses of the word.
Eventually, the wave of grief subsided enough that he was able to keep going. Unable to find his old room, he eventually chose one at random and stepped inside.
The room was smallish but still tastefully decorated. It was probably meant to host a low-ranking noble or high-ranking commoner. The castle's restoration was thorough; the only thing that revealed the room's former decay was the wilted state of the flowers occupying a vase.
Thankfully, Mephisto found that the clothes hung inside the wardrobe had been restored as well. They were very basic and versatile in nature, probably meant as emergency changes of clothes for guests. He found a dark, plain tunic and held it up to the thin beam of light filtering in from the door. It might be a little small, but it would fit well enough.
There was a stash of ornaments bearing the seals of the various kingdoms. He debated with himself over picking out an Ephidian one, but it seemed... wrong, considering he'd tried very hard to bring about the destruction of the kingdom a mere day ago. No, he'd wait until he was given his official garments for that.
The reason for choosing such dark clothes weighed heavily on him, and soon he was fretting over the teardrops soaking into his borrowed tunic. He hoped they wouldn't show once he was wearing it.
There was a whoosh behind him, followed by a low growl. Mephisto froze, terror suddenly snatching him in freezing tendrils. He whipped around and found himself practically face-to-snout with Banes.
He made a strangled sound in his throat and jumped back, pressing himself against the wardrobe doors. The dark tunic fluttered to the floor, forgotten.
Banes flicked his firy tail and looked at him expectantly. His unsettlingly intelligent eyes glittered in the dim light, and his entire form radiated strength. He could take Mephisto out with one well-placed swipe, and they both knew it.
Mephisto tried to swallow, but found his mouth too dry. His heart was hammering to make up for skipping several beats in a row.
Finally, he managed to force words out, although his voice was a little too high and shaky. "...W-what do you want of me?!"
Banes, obviously, didn't answer. Instead, he lowered his massive head and dropped something on the ground just in front of Mephisto.
Something gold and white and evil, so incredibly evil that the shadows were thicker where it lay, as if it were consuming the very light.
"...Gramorr's mask?" Mephisto breathed in a mixture of fear, awe and confusion. "Why would you-" His eyes widened as he understood.
Banes was offering it to him.