To see a Darkened Sun
chapter 17
The couple remained silent for a while, simply enjoying the view and the comfort they brought each other. Though Arias was starting to feel vulnerable, his back was exposed to anyone who decided now was a good time for a stroll through the hall and he did not like that.
"Sorry, But could you wait here for a second? I'm just going to adjust a bit." Arias asked, his paranoia finally getting to him.
"Oh, alright." Gwyndolin agreed, lifting himself off of him, though he was clearly already as comfortable as he could ever hope to be and also a little disappointed that he'd have to move so soon.
Arias moved himself over to the window frame, shifted himself sideways and leaned against it. It was surprisingly comfortable and thanks to the thickness of the wall there was no chance of him falling. Gwyndolin on the other hand was not so impressed, crossing his arms and huffing, though despite his clear intention of looking angry, it just made him look cute.
"Arias. How art I supposed to cuddle with thee if thou'rt all the way over there?" He asked, his voice stern.
"By coming over here maybe?" Arias joked, holding out his arms in offering. There was a clear change of heart as Gwyndolin went from pouty to visibly excited by the offer. He did love the hugs Arias gave.
"Very well, that is certainly an offer I cannot decline." He said, lowering his arms and lifting his legs up onto the windowsill. Instead of just scooting over, he sat cross legged and had his snakes slither him over.
Arias was impressed to say the least, a shocked expression on his face as Gwyndolin giggled lightly. Once he reached him, he took no time in falling directly into Arias' wide open arms, happy to be embraced by them again.
So warm and tender, he couldn't believe he'd gone his whole life without something like this. It was so comfortable he could fall asleep in his arms right now, though he refused to, he wouldn't miss out on a second of this.
Arias loved this, it was like something out of a dream, though the whole thing had been like that for a while. But this moment in particular was heavenly. Comfortably cuddling with his lover while basked in the rays of the moon, truly things couldn't be better in this moment, there's nothing that he would change about this.
He looked out to the moon for a minute before looking back to Gwyndolin, lifting his right hand to gently run it through his hair. So soft and silky, unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
Soon Gwyndolin caught himself almost falling asleep and decided something needed to be done. So he carefully rolled around so that he was facing the ceiling instead of Arias' chest. Now laying on top of him, his forehead was just under Arias' chin and Arias' hands were wrapped around his midriff.
"Were you uncomfortable?" Arias asked, worried if he'd accidentally caused his lover some discomfort.
"No not at all. 'Twas more like I was too comfortable. But this is just perfect." Gwyndolin giggled slightly, resting his hands atop Arias'.
"That it is." Arias spoke happily, smiling as he embraced his lover, and the two looked out at the moon and the stars once more.
The bite of the cold air was getting increasingly stronger, and soon his mind was drawn back to his quest, soon it was all he could focus on, as if fate itself was almost forcing him to put everything down and just go. And it was working.
"Thou canst feel it too canst thou not?" Gwyndolin asked.
"Hrm?" Arias mumbled, dragged out of his thoughts.
"The fire, calling for souls. Time is running short."
"...Yes." His voice was low, he knew there was nothing in his way now, he had no other option. Neither of them wanted to say it, they just wanted to stay there for a little longer.
"Well, looks like there's no more waiting, I need to go, and get this over with." Arias was surprisingly the first to speak, shocking Gwyndolin considering how he'd been dreading it up until now, but looking into his eyes he saw. Eyes that stared back at him, tired and weary, but also full of determination and painful remembrance.
He could remember, almost. Pain he'd endured, friends he'd met, their painful deaths, what they wanted, what he'd sacrificed to get to where he was. He couldn't stop now.
"Arias?" Gwyndolin spoke, turning over so that they were face to face.
"Hrm?" He mumbled, the cloudy haze of remembrance fading away.
"Art thou well?" He asked, looking at him worriedly.
"Yeah, I was just thinking some things over, sorry to worry you." Arias lied. He knew Gwyndolin would want him to tell the truth, but he didn't want to worry him, or upset him. He just wanted this to be over, he was tired.
"Alright. I suppose it's time we get up then." Gwyndolin sighed, kneeling up before getting off the windowsill. Arias took a quick look at the moon before he too got down, and they walked back to Gwyndolin's room, silently.
Arias once again donned his armor and equipped his weapons, his greatsword sheathed alone on his back. Gwyndolin sat on by the wooden table as he got ready, solemnly thinking on how nice the days previous had been.
"It's time I leave now." Arias said, walking over to Gwyndolin.
"Very well. I bid thee the best of luck on thine journey." Gwyndolin responded, standing up to say farewell. Arias smiled a somber smile and nodded, before leaning in and placing a small kiss on Gwyndolin's lips.
"I'll be back soon, my love." With that, he took a bone from his pouch and crushed it in his hand, quickly fading into an ashy mist as he did.
Gwyndolin stood there for a minute, suddenly alone. It was strange to him, for so long he had lived exactly like this, alone in his room, but now that life seemed dreadful, unthinkable even. It was like he could no longer be without Arias. He looked at his hand for a moment. Thinking on how much he'd changed as a person thanks to Arias.
Arias reappeared at the lord's tomb bonfire, bright fog shimmering from down the stairs. He rested by the bonfire for a moment before moving onwards, going back to the city's gigantic wall to meet with the darkmoon firekeeper.
"Well you've been long away." She spoke as he walked down the stairs.
"Were you unwell?" She asked, her gaze remaining on the bonfire.
"Yeah, a big fight with a few trespassers, knocked me out of the fight for a few days." He told her, sitting next to her by the bonfire.
"Strange, that you would've been incapacitated for so long, the bonfires tend to heal even the most fatal of injuries within mere minutes." She pressed him on the matter, clearly more curious than someone in her position should be.
"There were quite a few... external factors that kept me from the bonfire." He told her, clearly quite uncomfortable.
"Alright. Well either way it is good to have our finest warrior back in fighting shape." She said, noticing his discomfort.
"You know, there was quite the battle within the Lord's tomb just a couple weeks ago, just after you went missing." She told him after a brief moment of silence.
"What?" He asked her, looking surprised but not for the reason she thought.
"Yes it's true, I heard it myself. I was coming down to give an offering to the master when I heard shouting. Something about someone named 'Oscar' which is a name I've heard so many times I can't be sure of to who it was referring." She sounded confused. Luckily Arias' visor was covering his face so she couldn't see the panicked expression on his face.
"But that's not the strangest thing, there was a long battle and a clashing of swords which is odd considering our master is known to prefer sorcery. It went on for hours but when it finally ended, there was panting and a small conversation. I couldn't hear it from behind the fog wall but there was certainly another person in there besides the trespasser and the master. Such a curious state of affairs." She finished, turning to face Arias as she finished, worrying him with her glance.
"That is very strange. I wonder who in Lordran would be in there with hi- her." Arias spoke trying desperately not to come off as suspicious but tripping up as he remembered Gwyndolin's gender was a secret.
"You're not wrong there. I am very curious of who 'Oscar' refers to as it does narrow down possibilities quite a bit, at first I thought of you but I remember you got your name changed from the master so that rules you out as a possibility. And there's the question of how the intruder got so far undetected, we should bolster security maybe." She lost herself in thought again.
The firekeeper went on to pose possible answers but never settled on anything and Arias sighed quietly in relief as he realized she wasn't suspicious of him at all, now he just had to keep things that way.
"Oh I'm driving myself crazy with all of this. I should just forget it, if that master hasn't told me then it's clearly not important or for me to know, sorry for putting this burden of knowledge on your shoulders too." She apologized.
"Oh no, it's fine, I've carried worse. But you are right, it's probably not important. The master does care deeply about all of us, which is why I believe in them so much. H-She was likely just assisting one of the blades after a battle." He told her, once again stumbling over his gender.
"Yes, I suppose you're right... Oh by the way, that does remind me of a question I've been meaning to ask of you." Arias was a bit disappointed as she said that, he just wanted to know where the Duke's Archive was but he was instead being dragged into this big conversation and panicking about whether or not his secret relationship with Gwyndolin had been uncovered.
"Sure, though there is something I want to ask you too. You can go first though." He said, a tad too polite for his a own good but also a bit curious.
"Alright. I've wanted to know for some time now. How is it that you were knighted so quickly? You only joined our covenant three months ago at most, yet, here you are." She asked him, a serious tone in her voice.
Arias was bewildered by the question. It was crazy that she'd be so bold to ask him something like that outright, but even crazier considering that she knew he had no memory.
"How should I-" He started but she cut him off.
"Oh don't start with that 'hollowing' excuse. I've seen it happen first-hand and when the memory is lost, that's it, it's over. Your pathetic lie is insulting considering how easy it is to disprove. Yet somehow you fooled the master." She was suddenly really fired up and in his face out of no where, like a cannon that was just fired.
"I'll say it now, I don't believe you, not a thing you say. I know something is wrong here and your reactions just now only proved your meddling." He realized she was referring to how he reacted when she was talking about the fight in the Lord's tomb. Clearly she'd misunderstood everything but he couldn't exactly clear the air, it'd only be worse if he told the truth. For him and Gwyndolin.
"I will not confront you with violence however, you outrank me and clearly you hold more trust than me already. But mark my words if you continue down this scheming path with whatever plot you've conjured up, I will expose you and snuff you out. I swear it on my loyalty to the Dark Sun Gwyndolin." This was bad, very bad. He wasn't even scheming in the first place how was he supposed to tell what she thought was suspicious or not.
By the way she talked, he could tell she wouldn't be convinced otherwise with a simple 'No I'm not' It would take time and time he did not have. He had to just get the information and go.
"Look, I don't know what you think I'm doing, but I can tell you all I what *am* doing is trying to find the Duke's Archives. I know you have the information I need and the master has ordered you to hand it over." He stood up and spoke down to her. He didn't like intimidation or polishing his position of trust all the time but right now it was urgent, he had a day at most to get everything done.
He could feel her gaze of spite from behind her mask but she told him anyway.
"It's not far, just to the left balcony and up the mountain." She told him, looking away and refusing to talk to him any longer. Arias nodded and walked up the stairs once more, the view of a rising sun behind the magnificence of Anor Londo's cathedral filling his sight.
Looked as though his timer had just started, he turned left and broke into a full sprint, he didn't have much time and he intended to make full use of all the time he did have. And if he was quick enough to retrieve the Lord's soul by midday, then maybe he could spend one last afternoon with Gwyndolin, he knew he'd like that.
A/N We're nearing the ending now, only about two or three chapters left.