Writer's Note: This fic takes place post-series and contains spoilers. It also implies a very major character death, so uh, yeah. I don't know WHY I wrote this, since I ADORE the character in question, but still. What. Don't flame me x.x.

Not everyone can live forever. Those within the Alliance knew that most of all. It was probably one of the first lessons a soldier from any army learned.

People get sick. They fall apart. They grow old, or frail, or suffer an accident. They become heroes, or villains, or statistics. These are also realities that most people of the Alliance were born knowing.

But sometimes it's hard to remember that when it comes to people you've grown close to, especially if you, yourself do not bear the mark of passing time.

There were hints over the past few months. Cryos was usually the sort that didn't like to leave people unawares, didn't like to throw surprises at people he loved. The first was with his sudden succession of the throne to Zera.

"Wait a second," Zera said when she was told, holding up her hands and giving her father a very confused look. "I'm not married. Nor am I even into my third decade. You can't quit now!"

Cryos snuck a glance over to Tekla, who was struggling to keep a straight face. The reaction was so typical of Zera, really. "I think you're old enough to take responsibility as you are right now," he replied, and Tekla had to admire how he kept his voice even.

Zera's eyes went hard, so hard that Tekla was surprised - she doubted that she had ever seen that kind of anger directed towards Cryos before. "What's going on?" she demanded, her voice clipped and tight. "Why are you doing this, so suddenly, without any warning?"

"I beg your pardon?" Cryos shot back lightly. "I've been 'warning' you all of your life for this moment."

"Okay, but why now?" Zera's eyes narrowed, and Tekla wondered all of a sudden why; did Zera know something? Was she seeing something that Tekla, herself, was missing?

"Because you're ready," Cryos answered, his voice now soft with pride. He reached forward and pressed a hand to Zera's forehead, and she relaxed a little, her glare easing.

That was probably the most damning of hints, but it wasn't the last.

"Tekla," Cryos called to her one day, walking up quickly to join her. She had been on her way to the main procession room (Jade had called her and snapped something about Zera, clothing, and shrill voices, and that "if you don't get here in an hour, I will have committed regicide") when Cryos had turned the corner and called her name. She stopped and waited for him to catch up to her.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Shouldn't you be readying your speech?"

"Yes," Cryos said, his voice somewhat agitated and terse. "Of course. I just need you to confirm that you know the security passwords to the main archives of the Palace."

Tekla blinked, surprised by this seemingly random subject change. "Yes; we reviewed then last month, and Voxx has encrypted back-ups in case something should happen that I cannot access my own files."

Cryos's stance instantly relaxed. He placed a hand on her shoulder and grave it a squeeze. "Excellent," he said, sounding like he really meant it. "Thank you."

On that, he turned and walked back the way he came.

Tekla stared after him. Somehow, deep in her chest, the stirrings of understanding had begun to swirl, but she buried them deeper into her core. It was something she didn't want to think about.

The coronation ceremony was almost flawless, until the end when Zera and Pyrus got into a huge fight over something undisclosed and ended up actually physically tussling over it in front of everyone. Luckily, by this time it was the private dinner for family and friends, so they were spared the scandal that such an event could have caused.

Tekla marveled at the fact that the two still fought like children and still tried to solve their problems - whatever they may be - with punching, slapping, and the occasional drawing of a gun or staff. There was a sadness there, one that Tekla couldn't quite get her head around, but she could see it nonetheless, despite the screaming and swearing and brawling.

Once they were separated and Pyrus was led out of the Palace by Graveheart, shouting out something about promises, Zera stormed away to her new chambers and didn't come out for the rest of the day. Cryos stayed behind in the largely emptied room, rubbing his temples and sighing deeply.

Tekla walked to his side and touched his shoulder, and he looked up. She offered a small smile. "She will come around," Tekla said. "she has plenty of time to figure this out, and you will be here to advise her through it all. She and Pyrus will make amends."

Cryos's face darkened. "Time," he said, looking away and returning his fingers to his temples. "There's never enough. You of all people know that."

Tekla blinked. "Yes," she agreed slowly. "I suppose I do. But I also know that time can be good to you, and give you more years with new people you come to love than those you loved once and had to leave."

Cryos's smile was small, but it was there. "Yes," was all he said.

For a while, things were quiet. Zera struggled to get used to her knew role, trying to adopt her father's calm demeanour and fighting to control her temper, one she was never encouraged to smother. When she revealed her distress to Cryos and Tekla, Cryos's reply surprised them both.

"Zera, my dear," he said calmly, reaching down and cupping her face into his hands. Even after all of this time, she was still shorter than him. "Don't fight your nature. If you're angry, be angry. If you're sad, be sad. Just don't let it control you. But do not smother these things. They are who you are."

Zera lowered her eyes. "But, Daddy..." she murmured, sounding like a small girl again. "They don't want me to be me. They want me to be you."

"You are not me," Cryos said sternly. "And you never will be. I expect you to be better."

Zera snorted. Cryos tapped her cheeks lightly, and she looked up again. He smiled. "You are the first ruler in peace, untainted by past war, for hundreds of years. Things are different now. You can do this. And you don't need me."

Her face fell. "Yes, I do."

Cryos shook his head. "No, you don't. Trust me; You do not."

Tekla felt a little uncomfortable being privy to such an exchange, but at the same time, she was haunted by it. Cryos's eyes were sad, sadder than she had ever seen them, even when the anniversary of his wife's death passed by every year.

It was then that she knew it for sure. But she needed to hear it from him.

Cryos stared at her, then sighed, sitting down and holding his head in his hands. Tekla had managed to cut him off and lead him into one of the security rooms, where she asked him the simple question of what was wrong with him. At this reaction, Tekla felt her entire core stutter, as if she was having a random power fluctuation or system reboot, and she, too, sat down.

"I should have known that someone would guess," Cryos said, his eyes shut.

"So, then, you are sick," Tekla blurted out.

He nodded slowly. "It's my head," he answered slowly. "An affliction common with my people in older age. An uncle of mine succumbed to it - and I'm happy to say he was younger than me, so I'm lucky in that respect - but yes, I have it, too."

Tekla stared at her hands, the way they were clasped in her lap and held together tightly. She couldn't think of anything to say. Her entire core was sore, and slowly, her eyes filled.

A long silence passed between them, broken with Tekla saying slowly, "Zera. Does she even know?"

Cryos uttered a short laugh. "Yes, she knows," he said dryly. "Although I didn't tell her. She's too sharp, that girl. She says nothing, admits nothing, but I know she knows. We've always been close. Some things...we don't need to share. We just know."

Tekla's thoughts fell to the coronation, to the fight between Zera and Pyrus, and how moved Cryos had been by it. Some things we don't need to share, indeed, she thought sadly.

"She's angry," Tekla said softly.

"I know," he agreed. "But she will be stronger for it."

"How long?" she blurted, her voice cracking. "Do you...have."

Cryos looked up, his eyes dark. "To be honest, I should have gone long before the coronation," he admitted flatly. "So it's any day now."

Tekla seemed to just...crumple. Everything inside of her just broke. Cryos was her best friend, her confident, her kindred spirit and her fellow tactician. They had shared so much together, grown so close, and without Cryos, Tekla was sure she would have perished to loneliness long ago. She reached out, her hands empty, wishing she could grab this moment of time and stretch it out.

Cryos grabbed them, filling them, holding them close, and for a moment, she felt like she had. She dissolved before him, a mess of sorrow, and Cryos said nothing - he merely held her hands close to his chest, so that she could feel his heartbeat flicker - still beating - for now.