SPOILERS FOR C3E33 GET THE FUCK BACK IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE EPISODE. HEAVY SPOILERS!
Uncertain Times.
He feels the floor of the ship shift violently beneath his feet. Dorian grasps onto the railing, looking around in surprise at the sudden jolt on such a peaceful ride.
Looking about in the distance, he spots the cause.
A storm, a roiling, swirling mass of black crackling with brutal red lightning.
"Cyrus!" he calls out, looking for his brother and starting as, to his surprise, someone else holds the wheel.
A familiar someone draped in ribbons and fabric, a pleasant smile on her face, ears flicking as she stares unflinchingly into the oncoming Storm.
"Fearne?" Dorian asks, and she turns to look at him.
He falters as he moves for her, noting the tears are leaking from the edges of her eyes.
They...they're tinged just the faintest red shade.
"Fearne?" Dorian asks again, approaching even as thunder booms in the distance, "Are you okay?"
"I...I suppose I might be." Fearne states, smiling at him and opening her arms wide as if asking for a hug.
And from behind her, another figure steps, that familiar sad smile plastered across his face.
"Orym?" Dorian asks, smiling widely and rushing for them both.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, clutching them both, and he is shocked at how cold they both feel as their arms wrap around him in an ever-tightening embrace.
The wheel is forgotten, even as the Storm overtakes the prow of the ship, the sky tinging read all about them.
"We wanted to see you," Orym states, clutching close to his side, looking up at him, the faintest bit of red shimmering in his eyes.
"We missed you." Fearne agrees, leaning her head against the top of his.
"Well, I was never that far away." Dorian returns, leaning back to look at them both as Orym hops onto the nearby railing, "I promised, didn't I."
"You did." they return in eerie unison.
Dorian looks at them both, feeling a cold chill go up his back, "Is...is everything okay?"
"We..." Orym begins, looking down for a second, and Dorian swears he sees his tattoos pulse with red light.
"We don't know." Fearne finishes, smiling sadly.
"Learned a lot," Orym states, looking up at him, "But we could have used you."
"Oh?" Dorian asks, laughing slightly, "Why?"
"You were always good when things got slippery." Orym returns, looking off to the side.
The Storm had fully overcome them now. The lightning flares about, and Dorian swears he hears a voice screaming, a familiar voice.
'I-Imogen?" he calls out, looking around, his hands going for the Gambler's Blade. He turns to the others, the lightning flaring in their eyes...no within their eyes.
"What happened?" Dorian demands, backing away and looking around, "What's wrong?"
Orym and Fearne share a glance and look back at him, and the tears begin to fall.
"Our time with you..." Orym begins.
"Was some of the best of our lives." Fearne continues, sniffling.
"We just wanted you to know..." Orym states, grinning sadly.
"We love you so much." the pair says in unison.
Dorian blinks, a hollow feeling sinking into his very core, but the Storm swallows his next question.
A thunderous boom shakes him, and he wakes up, sitting bolt upright.
He grasps for the sending stone, fumbling the smooth object out of his pocket, and goes to speak into it when he notices some of the others stirring.
Morrighan and Cyrus stay asleep, the latter snoring loudly, while the former's eyes flicker back and forth, lost in her dream.
Dariax rolls over, staring across the fire at Dorian, his eyes filled with confusion and worry.
"Dorian?" he asks, sitting up.
"Yeah?" he returns, trying to keep his own worry out of his voice.
"You okay?" Dariax asks.
"Yeah, buddy, why wouldn't I be?" Dorian lies.
"No bad dreams?" Dariax returns, sitting up.
"N-No." Dorian states, "Did you?"
"Fearne and Orym...something...something was wrong." Dariax states, and Dorian feels the contents of his stomach freeze over.
"I-." Dorian begins.
"He's lying." Opal mutters, sitting up out of Cyrus's arms, her ichor-touched eyes burrowing into Dorian, "Aren't you."
"Why would I lie?" Dorian returns, looking away and freezing as he sees Fy'ra silently sitting staring at the fire with tears in her eyes.
"Because you don't want to worry him," Fy'ra states, wiping a tear from her eye.
"I saw them too," Opal states, clutching her knees to her chest.
"As did I." Fy'ra mutters, "I fear..."
"It's just a bad dream." Dorian states, cutting her off, "We-we've all had plenty."
He gestures to the crown atop Opal's head. She stares back at him peevishly.
"Dorian..." Fy'ra begins.
"We're worried about them. That's natural." Dorian states, "And dreams...dreams can be manipulated with magic, we know that we've seen it. I told you guys about the...the Nightmare King, maybe it's just..."
"Mister?" Dariax asks.
"What?" Dorian returns, shooting him a confused look.
Dariax points at the fire, and Opal gasps.
In the flames, despondent, shrunken, pawing at his face, was Mister, ash pulling away from his body and floating into the sky.
Fy'ra reaches for the little Fire Elemental, and he looks up at her with his wide eyes, normally filled with curiosity and mischief, now only glimmering with a soul-wrenching sadness.
He reaches out to all of them briefly, and then he is gone, a spark fluttering out before any of them can return his gesture, trying to make sure he is real.
Fy'ras eyes roll back, Dariax swears and stands up, and Dorian can already see the tears dripping freely from the dwarf's eyes as he turns away. Opal pinches and raises both hands to her mouth, looking at the stone in Dorian's hand with ravenous attention.
Dorian brings the sending stone to his lips and whispers the activating word, trying to ignore the hole in his stomach and the unsteadiness of his hands.
"Orym...can you...can you talk to me?" he asks, "I-I just...I need to hear you right now. Please? Please."
He puts the stone to his forehead, and he waits, and waits, and waits.
But Orym's voice never emerges from the stone.
"He...he just couldn't hear." he mutters, placing the stone down and rubbing his face, "He dropped it, or they're fighting, or...or..."
He pauses as Fy'ra reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder.
"Dorian..." she begins, and she shakes her head slightly.
"No." Dorian returns, "No...no, they're fine! They are. They have to be! They have to be fine! I...I told him...I TOLD HIM!"
The tears begin to flow, and in moments Dariax is wrapped around him, sobbing openly into his chest. Opal leans her head against his shoulder, ichor mixing with true tears as she clutches him. Fy'ra wraps her arms around the three of them, whispering soft comforts like the mother they had all accepted her to be.
Cyrus and Morrighan awaken with confusion but swiftly read the moment and push in close.
"They're fine." Dorian mutters, "They'll be fine. They've got the others...they'll be fine. I know they'll be fine."
And miles away, Bassarus is consumed in the red, raw grief of a young woman beloved of the Omen Star.
Tears of electricity mar her cheeks as she stares down at the crumpled body of her beloved...her beloved will suffice.
The Old Wolf crawls across the ground towards the Young Pup, heedless of his lifeless eyes, covering his limp body with his scarred, aged form, clutching to him even as the Storm threatens to tear him away.
The Eldest stares on in helpless awe; the Healer Forged for Death, watching as what little truth he has in his life is viciously cast aside.
The Star-Touched Stone sees the world behind him turn to ash and dust, tinged with the red anger of a false dawn, and he turns around, rushing to hold the Seelie Fire in his arms.
And through it all, the Thrall laughs, shouting her victory to the sky as A Thrice Lived Demon watches through emerald eyes within the Once Dead Woman at her feet.
And then there is Nothing, but a Black Winged Harbinger, come to Collect and Left...Uncertain.
I...that last episode fucked me up good, fam. Thursday, Are You There Yet?