"You're dying?" While my voice was no longer that of a child, I still nearly reached the level of a screech with my more mature tone. My hand clasped to my chest, I stepped quickly towards him, my eyes drawn in fear. "Folken…what…no!"

"Yes, Eries."

"There has to be something we can do!" I simply could not accept it. I was…I felt something for him. I could not just stand idly by…

"No, Eries." I opened my mouth to yell at him, to stop speaking to me like that, just my name and 'yes' or 'no'. But he held up his mechanical hand to stop me before I could.

"I have known for some time. It is…it is a result of the fate alteration, I think. It is my punishment."

I blinked, hard, trying to keep the tears from cresting my lids. "Folken, what do you have to be punished for?! You came to us, you're helping us defeat Dornkirk! What could you possibly have left to atone for?"

He stepped to me, and took hold of my shoulders. Part of me wanted to go to him, and the other part was so angry, I couldn't move. "Eries. There is so much you don't know. So much I never told you. I was not a good man. There is plenty to atone for."

"Tell me now," I said softly.

"No. I won't. That part of my life is over, but I will still pay for it. I…" He put his good hand on my face, and tilted my chin, making me look at him. "These last weeks, I've been a changed man. And you've been such a part of it, Eries. You've given me so much, and with everything else that has happened to me in so short a time, I've come to realize so many things. I am grateful for you, Eries Aston. You never gave up on me, and it took me a long time to realize what that meant. I never had…after I was reborn in Dornkirk's laboratory, I withdrew from what I was. I pushed everyone and everything away. I couldn't see those that…those that cared for me. But now. Now I see, Eries. Now I see."

"Folken," I said his name plaintively, and a single tear escaped from the corner of my eye.

It ran down my cheek, and touched his hand as it held my face. It was soon joined by another, with yet a third poised to fall.

The third reached my cheekbone, and sat there for a moment.

Folken leaned in, his eyes closed, and put his lips there, to my tear, kissing it away.

That only made it worse, and my eyes squinted shut, tears escaping out both sides, falling silently down my face.

He leaned in again, and kissed just below each of my eyes, on the crest of my cheekbones. His lips were still close to my face when he spoke.

"Shh. Eries. Shh. No more tears."

I bit my lip for a moment, my eyes still shut, and then inhaled through my nose, trying to stop them.

Then I felt his lips on mine, ever so gently, and I kissed him back, before pulling away and the sobs that had been threatening burst forth.

I laid my hands on his chest and buried my face in them.

I felt a light brush on my shoulders, on my back, and then his arms were around me, and so were his wings, enclosing us.

# # # # #

He sat on the floor, his back against his desk, his uniform reordered. I sat curled next to him, his arm around me, my head resting on his chest.

"Hitomi was here earlier."

"Hmm?"

"She wants to go after Dornkirk as well."

"What for?"

"She wants to help Van. She wants Dornkirk to stop the fighting."

"He…"

"No, he won't listen to her. I told her I was the one that should go. I should be the one that saves my brother. I…I've failed him in so many ways. I wanted nothing more than for him to be as far away as possible from this sort of life."

"You protected him as well as you could."

"Not well enough."

I was silent. I didn't want to ask, but I knew I wanted to know.

"When?"

"Soon."

We were quiet again.

"Folken, I…"

"You don't have to say anything, Eries. Just let us have this, now."

I nodded once against his chest.

We sat like that for a few minutes, and then I made to stand. He stood as well, and helped me to my feet.

"I should…I should go. My sister, my…father. Our people are out there now. I should…be with them."

He nodded. "Yes. You should."

I turned to go, and he reached out and took my hand. "Eries," he said, and I turned back to him.

He pulled me to him, and my heart began to race. His hand was on my cheek, and we both seemed to hold our breath. He closed his eyes and I did the same, and our lips met.

It was the second time I had kissed him – the second time I had ever kissed anyone. But I did not seem to need that experience behind me, because it felt so natural to kiss him, and then kiss him again, this time my lips parting under his. My arms went up around his neck, and he crushed me against himself, and deepened the kiss.

I was breathless when he pulled away, and I couldn't help but let a grin break out across my face. He laughed, which only made me smile wider.

"Eries," he laced his fingers into my hair. "What did I ever do to deserve this?"

"When I was eleven, you made me laugh."

He smiled. "Your family…"

"Yes." I unwound my arms from his neck, and slid them down his chest, and he grabbed my hand, just holding it.

"You will come back, won't you?"

"Eries, I will come back to you."

I smiled at him. "Sounds like you have a bit of faith, Folken."

"Only what you gave me."

I walked away, my hand slipping from his, and I felt him watch me climb the steps out of the laboratory, and I turned the corner, glancing back at him. He smiled at me.

I couldn't've been happier.

A/N: It seemed interesting to me that Folken should seem so happy when Hitomi finds comes to him to make him take her to Dornkirk. And I always suspected that Folken knew he might meet his death at Dornkirk's hands. But hearing it from Hitomi's mouth, so blatantly, that drove it home – hence his surprise. And maybe it's just me, but his speech he gives to Hitomi, yes, it was the same he gave to Van, about dying and the black wings, but didn't it seem a little more rehearsed? Like it wasn't even the second time he went over it. It was, perhaps, the third?

Time to break Eries' heart. Again. I'm sorry, Eries.